Thursday, May 23, 2013

" The truth behind the PM Meles Zenawi death"


The death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in August in a Belgian hospital brought an end to a 21-year rule characterized by repression of dissent and iron-fisted control of the independent press. His fatal illness was shrouded in secrecy. After Meles disappeared from public view in June, the government played down rumors of his illness and suppressed in-depth domestic reporting. The government also faced rare demonstrations by members of the Muslim community, who protested what they called government interference in their affairs. Security forces violently dispersed the gatherings, cracking down on journalists who reported on them, and  The government drew widespread international condemnation for the convictions of nine Ethiopian journalists on vague and politicized terrorism charges. The journalists, five of them exiles tried in absentia, were handed sentences ranging from eight years to life imprisonmentMore than 70 newspapers were forced to close because of government pressure during the 21 years of Meles' rule. according to CPJ research


The authorities arrested members of political opposition parties, and other perceived or actual political opponents. Arbitrary detention was widespread.
According to relatives, some people disappeared after arrest. The authorities targeted families of suspects, detaining and interrogating them. The use of unofficial places of detention was reported.
  • In January the All Ethiopian Unity Party called for the release of 112 party members who, the party reported, were arrested in the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples (SNNP) region during one week in January.
Hundreds of Oromos were arrested, accused of supporting the Oromo Liberation Front.
  • In September, over 100 people were reportedly arrested during the Oromo festival of Irreechaa.
Large numbers of civilians were reportedly arrested and arbitrarily detained in the Somali region on suspicion of supporting the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).
  • The authorities continued to arbitrarily detain UN employee, Yusuf Mohammed, in Jijiga. His detention, since 2010, was reportedly an attempt to get his brother, who was suspected of links with the ONLF, to return from exile.
Between June and August, a large number of ethnic Sidama were arrested in the SNNP region. This was reportedly in response to further calls for separate regional statehood for the Sidama. A number of arrests took place in August around the celebration of Fichee, the Sidama New Year. Many of those arrested were detained briefly, then released. But a number of leading community figures remained in detention and were charged with crimes against the state.according to  Amnesty International 2013 Report: Ethiopia .
 After knowing all of these facts and evidences of horrible crimes committed by the EPRDF regime it is beyond me to comprehend why the West or any country that declares to be democratic continues its relationship with this criminal regime.

What is the point of having Amnesty International if the west keeps ignoring those compiled reports of crimes happening on a daily bases against Ethiopians. When is the West going to stop funding those abuses?

Without the West’s fund EPRDF would not have been able to do that.
The EPRDF government in Ethiopia is obsessed and has been abusing and torturing citizens and violating their basic human rights since the last 21 years. EPRDF is not a government but a group of mafias from Tigray ethic that controls the army, the economy, power, the courts and the country’s land.
How can any country accepts this as a regime when it is totally obsessed with controlling everything and leaving nothing to citizens? Where is the people to work, speak freely, the right to own property, peaceful protest and live on the land they cultivated and developed? How can anyone say Ethiopia is my country when they have nothing to claim theirs and he or she is owned by on ethnic group?





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