A 5 billion dollar baby Semhal Meles: Is she Ethiopia’s version of Imelda Marcos?

The Horn Times opinion July 31 2013
by Getahune Bekele, South Africa

“Doesn’t the fight for survival also justify swindle and theft? In self-defense anything goes.” Former Philippines first lady Imelda Marcos.

“The amount I earn is well known. My riches, my most prized possessions are my books.” The late Ethiopian ruler Meles Zenawi Asres.

Semhal Meles Zenawi is known in Ethiopia for her lavish and jet-setting lifestyle. She starts her morning off with delicious breakfast different to her late father’s steak and scrambled eggs accompanied by heavily spiced red tea, strong enough to remove paint.

The lady always looks for best nourishment. Her Holland trained eunuch private chef from Adigrat knows how to make challah French toast and cast iron waffles but the billionaire princess prefers a bowl of vegetal touch traditional soup, with four boiled eggs and roasted red pepper swimming in it.

Then Queen Marie Antoinette’s breakfast would be washed down with her favorite single malt whiskey known as the 10 year old Ardbeg, which delivers flavors of cooked apples, orange marmalade, clove and cinnamon, set against smoke and vanilla.

Semhal, who often boasts about nosing and tasting all finest malt money can buy including the limited edition of lemon and honey flavored Lagavalin; is famous for empting a couple of Ardbeg or Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban bottles in just one sitting.

In the beginning, we all (journalists) thought that, at the rate she  churns out  her ill-gotten wealth, the young lady will soon squander all her inheritance and join the miserable world of infamy where stars turned slaves and kings turned paupers beg death to take them away.

However, thanks to a whistleblower in the form of Dr. Wondimu Mekonnen, an exiled Ethiopian academic, today we know that Semhal Meles Zenawi’s net worth is 5-billion USD; all by virtue of being born to   family of a thieving tyrant and a cunning knave. No matter how she spends, lady Semhal will never run out of cash.

The extremely wealthy TPLF warlords were quick to condemn the patriotic academic Wondimu Mekonnen, calling him ‘terrorist’ and ‘a nasty piece of work.’ But they didn’t utter a word when celebrity Net worth site, respected for its accuracy earlier made a startling revelation that the dead tyrant Meles Zenawi Asres got a net worth of 3-billion USD.

This means Without speculating how much his corrupt widow Azeb Mesfin is worth or without including the enormous wealth of Bereket Kinfe- their real-estate mogul step son, or without guessing how much money is stashed away in offshore accounts for Zenawi’s two other children Senay and Marda, the tyrant who once told Ethiopians that his only priced possessions are his books; had stolen more than 8-billion USD from the indigent people of Ethiopia.

But how did he manage to carry off such a staggering amount of money unnoticed and undetected?

Just few months ago his widow Azeb Mesfin, in her attempt to bury the Zenawi myth once and for all and move on with her life, told the world that her late husband had no identity document, driver license or fixed salary; not knowing that other notorious backward despots such as the late Mobutu Sese Seko of former Zaire and the late Idi Amin Dada of Uganda had no fixed salaries as well, because they didn’t differentiate their own money from the budgets of their respective nations. They used state coffers like their private bank accounts.

Hence, in the absence of any form of accountability, for African despots past and present, stealing such huge sums has been as easy as stealing candy from a baby.

This massive heist by the Zenawi family, one of the biggest in recent memory, is the carbon copy of what the legendary Filipino thieves Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos did to the Asian nation’s downtrodden between 1965 and 1986

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GadaaTube: Wallo Oromo Cultural Heritage (Oromia) « GadaaTube

GadaaTube: Wallo Oromo Cultural Heritage (Oromia) « GadaaTube

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Ethiopia and the next revolution By Abebe Gellaw

Exactly a year ago, ESAT (Ethiopian Satellite Television) declared the death of Meles Zenawi. That was the most important breaking news in the last two decades. TPLF went into frenzy to bury the news under a barrage of counter-propaganda. Bereket Simon went on ETV to curse ESAT and reassure the nation that the “great leader” would return intact. The propaganda chief and his foot soldiers had already kept the local media extremely busy with so many bizarre stories.

The zeal to bury the truth was too evident to miss. But the spin and misinformation campaign got out of control beyond anyone could have imagined.  Addis Fortune, Addis Admas, Reporter, ETV, Walta…had all different versions of the same story. All of them said Meles was alive and kicking and was on his way back to his throne.

The lies were too fast to catch. Addis Admas, which has a bad habit of publishing fabrications, told us that Meles was working from the palace. Addis Fortune famously splashed its front page with a memorable headline: “Meles back in town.” But it was ESAT that accurately told the story that truly mattered. And then, Meles finally returned home in a coffin….It was a watershed moment for Ethiopia after the great demise of the late tyrant.

Frenzy attacks

After suffering for 21 years under the brutal grip and bouts of Meles Zenawi, Ethiopians had to witness a political melodrama.  The plot was twisted, the lies were sinister, the propaganda was shameless and the mass hysteria, carefully planned for weeks, was one of the worst in the world. Ethiopians were told to come out and shed their tears to bury the “great leader” who was feeding them lies, kicking, torturing and killing their children and nephews with tyrannical ruthlessness.

As the lead investigator to verify the death of the despot, I was focused on a leak from the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG). Despite conflicting rumors, it was the most compelling and verifiable information one could get about the death of the despot at St. Luc University Hospital in Brussels, Belgium.

A few hours after ESAT’s breaking news on July 30, 2012, I published the story online, which was deliberately titled, “Meles Zenawi is dead”. The TPLF camp launched more savage campaigns, death threats, defamation and saber rattling. Tigrai Online took the lead in the frenzy attacks.

‘Dilwonberu Nega’, a certain TPLF scribbler and apologist, doodled and scribbled a lengthy piece full of insults on Tigrai Online.  “So Abebe “The foolish heart” and the gang of cowboy journalists at ESAT came up with a ‘brilliant’ idea of hoodwinking the international community by concocting a “Breaking News” on the “death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi…. ESAT’s future, as a result of its totally irresponsible act of concocting the death of Prime Minister Melees Sinai, is now vulnerable to a quick and painful death as people who have been contributing money to ESAT are bound to ask a justifiable question: Are they or Ethiopia getting value for their money? The answer is a big NO.”

While the foolhardy TPLF and its puppets are still confused and depressed, ESAT and the movements for change are gaining ground and building momentum. TPLF is still unsure of its future one year after the demise of the captain of the ship destined for a tragic wreck.

ICG’s report, “Ethiopia after Meles”, was written in July 2012 but the release had to be delayed until the official announcement. After exhaustive planning, TPLF decided to reveal its top secret that it could no longer keep. It admitted that the tyrant was dead on August 20, 2012, over five weeks after his demise. ICG released its analytic report the next day. We were vindicated again.

Cracking pyramid

ICG warned that the one-man regime, without its creator, could be unraveling sooner rather than later. “For more than two decades, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi managed Ethiopia’s political, ethnic and religious divides and adroitly kept the TFPL and EPRDF factions under tight control by concentrating power, gradually closing political space and stifling any dissent. His death poses serious risks to the ruling party’s tenure,” the report said.

ICG’s prediction was on target that reflects the current reality. “Deprived of its epicenter [Meles], the regime will find it very difficult to create a new centre of gravity. In the short-term, a TPLF-dominated transition will produce a weaker regime that probably will have to rely increasingly on repression to manage growing unrest.”

Meles Zenawi was supposed to last longer. In a 2002 article, “Ethiopia Proves There Can Be Life after Death,” British journalist Jonathan Dimbleby had even quoted him as saying: “Africa’s downfall has always been the cult of the personality. And their names always seem to begin with M. We’ve had Mobutu and Mengistu and I’m not going to add Meles to the list.” Meles, who built a personality cult still in place, envied lifetime dictators and wanted to outlive Mugabe, Mengistu or Mubarak.

The Meles regime was built like a pyramid to serve him. He had created a monolithic power structure. On top of the highly corrupted ethno-power pyramid sat the emperor himself followed by his most trusted lieutenants. At the very bottom of the pyramid, the masses shouldered the whole brunt and weight of the top-down tyranny. It was a system designed to crush and oppress the multitude at the very bottom of the pyramid.

The man on top of the pyramid is no longer there.  Now this system built to serve the strongman is cracking and unraveling slowly. The reasons are not complex. In reality, no one has replaced Meles Zenawi. No one has his power and privilege. No one has his skills to rule with brute decisiveness and Machiavellian tricks. Everyone assembled in the power structure is the tyrant’s loyalist. No one can hold the cracking pyramid as much as he did…. After all, Meles Zenawi was the supreme ruler, a kind of superglue that held together the complex ethno-political structure. Without the superglue, the pyramid cannot survive long enough.

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Oromo Political Prisoners Continue to Be Tortured by the Woyane Abyssinian Army (VOA Audio)

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Eskinder Nega’s Letter on The New York Times

July 24, 2013

The New York Times

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — I AM jailed, with around 200 other inmates, in a wide hall that looks like a warehouse. For all of us, there are only three toilets. Most of the inmates sleep on the floor, which has never been swept. About 1,000 prisoners share the small open space here at Kaliti Prison. One can guess our fate if a communicable disease breaks out.

I was arrested in September 2011 and detained for nine months before I was found guilty in June 2012 under Ethiopia’s overly broad Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, which ostensibly covers the “planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt” of terrorist acts. In reality, the law has been used as a pretext to detain journalists who criticize the government. Last July, I was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

I’ve never conspired to overthrow the government; all I did was report on the Arab Spring and suggest that something similar might happen in Ethiopia if the authoritarian regime didn’t reform. The state’s main evidence against me was a YouTube video of me, saying this at a public meeting. I also dared to question the government’s ludicrous claim that jailed journalists were terrorists.

Under the previous regime of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, I was detained. So was my wife, Serkalem Fasil. She gave birth to our son in prison in 2005. (She was released in 2007.) Our newspapers were shut down under laws that claim to fight terrorism but really just muzzle the press.

We need the United States to speak out. In the long march of history, at least two poles of attraction and antagonism have been the norm in world politics. Rarely has only one nation carried the burden of leadership. The unipolar world of the 21st century, dominated for the past two decades by the United States, is a historical anomaly. And given America’s role, it bears a responsibility to defend democracy and speak out against those nations that trample it.

I distinctly remember the vivacious optimism that inundated the United States when the Soviet Union imploded in the early 1990s. This was not glee generated by the doom of an implacable enemy, but thrill germinated by the real possibilities that the future held for freedom.

And nothing encapsulated the spirit of the times better than the idea of “no democracy, no aid.” Democracy would no longer be the esoteric virtue of Westerners but the ubiquitous expression of our common humanity.

But sadly America’s actions have fallen far short of its words. Suspending aid, as many diplomats are apt to point out, is no panacea for all the ills of the world. Nor are sanctions. But that’s a poor excuse for the cynicism that dominates conventional foreign policy. There is space for transformative vision in diplomacy.

Sanctions tipped the balance against apartheid in South Africa, minority rule in Zimbabwe, and military dictatorship in Myanmar. Sanctions also buttressed peaceful transitions in these countries. Without the hope of peaceful resolution embedded in the sanctions, a descent to violence would have been inevitable.

Now that large swaths of Africa have become safely democratic, ancient and fragile Ethiopia, where a precarious dictatorship holds sway, is dangerously out of sync with the times.

In May, America’s secretary of state, John Kerry, visited Ethiopia and lauded the country’s economic growth. His words showed how little attention he paid to reality. The State Department’s annual report on human-rights conditions has been critical of Ethiopia’s government since 2005. I’d like to think that report represents the real stance of America’s government, rather than Mr. Kerry’s praise for our authoritarian leaders.

Not much has changed since our last dictator, Mr. Meles, died last August. There have been no major policy changes. The draconian press and antiterrorism laws are still there. There has been no improvement when it comes to press freedom.

With a population fast approaching 100 million, Ethiopia, unlike Somalia, is simply too big to ignore or contain with America’s regional proxies.

As Ethiopia goes, so goes the whole Horn of Africa — a region where instability can have major security and humanitarian implications for the United States and Europe. Al Qaeda has a presence here, and hundreds of millions of aid dollars flow into the region while millions of emigrants flow out.

In other words, Ethiopia must not be allowed to implode. And it would be irresponsible for the world’s lone superpower to stand by and do nothing.

It is time for the United States to live up to its historical pledge by taking action against Ethiopia, whose reckless government has, since 2005, been the world’s star backslider on democracy.

I propose that the United States impose economic sanctions on Ethiopia (while continuing to extend humanitarian aid without precondition) and impose travel bans on Ethiopian officials implicated in human rights violations.

Tyranny is increasingly unsustainable in this post-cold-war era. It is doomed to failure. But it must be prodded to exit the stage with a whimper — not the bang that extremists long for.

I am confident that America will eventually do the right thing. After all, the new century is the age of democracy primarily because of the United States.

Here in the Ethiopian gulag, this alone is reason enough to pay homage to the land of the brave.

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በቅርቡ በኦሮሞ ወንድሞቻችን ላይ የተፈጸመዉ ሰቆቃ ሊቆጨን፤ ሊያንገበግበንና ሊያስተባብረን ይገባል

የተባበሩት መንግስታት ድርጅት አለምአቀፋዊ የሰብዓዊ መብቶች ድንጋጌ አንቀጽ ዘጠኝ፤ አንቀጽ አስርና አንቀጽ አስራ አንድ የማንኛዉም አገር ዜጋ ያለ አግባብ መታሰር እንደሌለበት፤ በወንጀል ተጠርጥሮ የሚታሰር የማንም አገር ዜጋ በአስቸኳይ ፍርድ ቤት መቅረብ እንዳለበትና የፍርድ ቤቱ ሂደት አስከተፈጸመ ድርስ ደግሞ የተጠርጣሪዉ ዜጋ ንጽህና የተረጋገጠ መሆን እንዳለበት ይደነግጋል። በዚሁ የተመድ አለምአቀፋዊ ሰብዓዊ መብቶች ጥበቃ ድንጋጌ ሰነድ ላይ ተመስርቶ የተጻፈዉ የ1994ቱ የኢትዮጵያ ህገመንግሰት አንቀጽ 17 ንዑስ አንቀጽ ሁለት ደግሞ ማንም ዜጋ ያለ አግባብ መታሰር እንደሌለበት፤ ማንም ዜጋ ከፍርድ ቤት ትዕዛዝ ዉጭ መታሰር እንደሌለበትና በፍርድ ቤት ትዕዛዝ የታሰረ ዜጋም ቢሆን በአስቸኳይ ፍርድ ቤት መቅረብ እንዳለበት በግልጽ ይደነግጋል። ኢትዮጵያ ደግሞ የተመድ የሰብዓዊ መብቶች ድንጋጌ ያረቀቀችና ያጸደቀች አገር ብቻ ሳትሆን ከሃምሳ አንዱ የተመድ መስራች አገሮች ዉስጥ አንዷ ናት።

የ17 አመት የጫካ ዉስጥ ትግል ያካሄደዉና በ1983 ዓም አዲስ አበባ ገብቶ ላለፉት ሃያ ሁለት አመታት የኢትዮጵያን በትረ ስልጣን ጨብጦ የያዘዉ ህወሃት ኢትዮጵያ በፊርማዋ ያፀደቀችዉን የተመድን አለምአቀፋዊ የሰብዓዊ መብቶች ድንጋጌም ሆነ እሱ እራሱ አርቅቆ የጻፈዉን የኢትዮጵያ ህገመንግስት ማክበር ቀርቶ የሰነዶቹ ምንነት በዉል የጋባዉ ድርጅት አይደለም። ህወሀት የተወለደዉና ጥርሱን ነቅሎ ያደገዉ ጫካ ዉስጥ ሲሆን ዛሬም ከ22 አመታት የከተማ ዉስጥ ቆይታዉ በኋላ ኢትዮጵያን ያክል ትልቅ አገር የሚያስተዳድረዉ በዚያዉ ተወልዶ ባደገበትና በተካነዉ የጫካ ዉስጥ ህግ ነዉ። ህወሀትን ይዞት ካደገዉ ባህሉና ከዋና መገለጫ በህሪይዉ ተላቀቅ ማለት ዉኃ መዉቀጥ ሊሆን ይችላል፤ ሆኖም የጥቁር ህዝብ የነጻነት ምልክት የሆነዉን የኢትዮጵያን ህዝብ በጫካ ዉስጥ ህግ መዳኘትና ማስተዳደር ግን የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ በፍጹም ሊቀበለዉ፤ አለም አቀፉ ህብረተሰብ ደግሞ አፉን ዘግቶ ሊመለከተዉ የማይገባ በህዝብና በአገር ላይ የሚፈጸም ከባድ ወንጀል ነዉ።

ዘረኛዉ የወያኔ አገዛዝ የተቃወመዉን ማሰር፤ ሀሳቡን በንግግር ወይም በጽሁፍ የገለጸዉን ማሰቃየትና የዘረኝነት ፖሊሲዉንና ኢትዮጵያን የማፍረስ አላማዉን ያወገዘን ዜጋ ሁሉ አስሮ ሰቆቃ መፈጸም ወይም ከአገር እንዲሰደድ ማድረግ ከመደበኛ አገር የመምራት ፖሊሲዎቹ ዉስጥ ዋና ዋናዎቹ ናቸዉ። በወያኔዋ ኢትዮጵያ ዉስጥ ወንጀል ተብለዉ ዜጎችን ከሞት እስከ ዕድሜ ልክ እስራት ድረስ የሚያስቀጡት የፈጠራ ክሶች አፍሪካን ጨምሮ በብዙዎቹ የአለማችን አገሮች ዉስጥ የማይገሰሱ የዜጎች መብቶች ናቸዉ። የሚገርመዉ ወረቀት ላይ የሰፈረዉ የወያኔ ህገመንግስትም ይህንኑ ይደነግጋል፤ ሆኖም ኢትዮጵያ ዉስጥ ሁለት አይነት ዜጎች ያሉ ይመስል በአንድ በኩል ህገመንግስቱ የሚቆምላቸዉ ዜጎች አሉ በሌላ በኩል ደግሞ ህገመንግስቱ የሚቆምባቸዉ ዜጎች አሉ። ዜጎችን በግልሰብ ደረጃ በባህሪያቸዉና በችሎታቸዉ ሳይሆን በቡድን ለይቶ በዘር ማንነታቸዉ የሚመለከተዉ ዘረኛዉ የወያኔ አገዛዝ ስልጣኔን ይቀናቀኑኛል ብሎ ካሰባቸዉ ከሁለቱ ግዙፍ የአገራችን ብሄረሰቦች ማለትም ከአማራዉና ከኦሮሞዉ ብሔረሰቦች ጋር ለብዙ ግዜ ጥርስ ተናክሶ ቆይቷል። ባለፉት ሁለት አመታት አማራዉን በአማራነቱ ብቻ እያሳደደ መድረሻ ያሳጣዉ ዘረኛዉ የወያኔ አገዛዝ በቅርቡ በግፍ ታስረዉ በቁጥጥሩ ስር በሚገኙ 69 የኦሮሞ ተወላጆች ላይ ይህ ነዉ ተብሎ በሰዉ አንደበት ሲነገር አጅግ በጣም የሚዘገንን ወንጀል ፈጽሞባቸዋል።

መለስ ዜናዊ ከመሞቱ ከአንድ አመት በፊት ከፍርድ ቤት ፈቃድ ዉጭ በግፍ ሰብስቦ ያሰራቸዉና ፍርድ ቤት ሳይቀርቡና ለምን እንደታሰሩ እንኳን ሳያዉቁ ለሁለት አመታት እስር ቤት ዉስጥ የከረሙት 69 የኦሮሞ ተወላጆች ባለፈዉ ሳምንት እስር ቤት ዉስጥ እንዳሉ እጅግ በጣም የሚዘገንን ወንጀል ተፈጽሞባቸዋል። ባለፈዉ ሀምሌ 6 ቀን ፍርድ ቤት ለመቅረብ በዝግጅት ላይ እንዳሉ ቀጠሯቸዉ በአራት ወር የተራዘመባቸዉ ስልሳ ዘጠኙ የኦሮሞ ተወላጆች የቀጠሮዉን መራዘም በመቃወም አቤቱታቸዉን ለጠቅላይ ሚኒስትሩ ጽ/ቤት ለማቅረብ ሲሞክሩ የማረሚያ ቤቱ አስተዳዳሪዎች እንዴት እንዲህ ይታሰባል በሚል በቂም በቀል በመነሳት እስረኞቹን በቡድን በቡድን በመከፋፈልና እጅና እግራቸዉን በማሰር ከፍተኛ ድብደባ መፈጸማቸዉን ከሆስፒታል ምንጮች የተገኘዉ መረጃ ያመለክታል። በዕለቱ ድብደባ ከፍተኛ የአካል ጉዳት ከደረሰባቸዉ እስረኞች ዉስጥ ስምንቱ በድብደባ ብዛት እራሳቸዉን በመሳታቸዉ ወደ ሆስፒታል ተወስደዋል። ስልሳ ዘጠኙ አስረኞች በሶስት ቡድን ተከፍለዉ ድብደባዉ የተፈጸመባቸዉን ክፍሎች በአይናቸዉ ከተመለከቱ ሰዎች በተገኘዉ መረጃ መሰረት እስረኞቹ የተደበደቡባቸዉ ክፍሎች በደም በመጨቅየታቸዉ አርብ ቀኑን ሙሉ በውሀ ሲታጠቡ አንደነበር ለማወቅ ተችሏል።

ይህ ወያኔ ቀድሞዉኑም ቢሆን ያለ አግባብ ባሰራቸዉ ንጹህ የኦሮሞ ተወላጆች ላይ የፈጸመዉ ወንጀል በኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ላይ በየቀኑ የሚፈጽመዉ በደልና ወንጀል አካል በመሆኑ ግንቦት ሰባት የፍትህ የነጻነትና የዲሞክራሲ ንቅናቄ እያንዳንዱ ኢትዮጵያዊ የህንን ዘግናኝ ወንጀል በራሱ ላይ እንደተፈጸመ አገራዊ ወንጀል በመቁጠር ከወያኔና ከዘረኛ ስርዐቱ ለመገላገል የሚያደርገዉን ትግል በያለበት እንዲያፋፍም ወገናዊ ጥሪዉን ያስተላልፋል። ኦሮሞዉ ሲጠቃ አማራዉ ካልደረሰለት አማራዉ ሲረገጥ ሶማሌዉ ፤ አፋሩ፤ ሲዳማዉና ወላይታዉ ወዘተ ካልደረሱለት ከፋፋዩ የወያኔ ስርዐት እያንዳንዳችንን ተራ በተራ ማሰቃየቱንና መርገጡን መቀጠሉ የማይቀር ነዉ። ስለዚህ ከወያኔ ጋር በምናደርገዉ የሞት የሽረት ትግል የኛ ኃይል አንድነት የወያኔ ኃይል ደግሞ መነጣጠላችን መሆኑን አዉቀን ይህንን ዘረኛ ስርዐት በቃ ብለን ከጀርባችን ላይ አሽቀንጥረን ለመጣል በህብረት እንነሳ።

ድል ለኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ!

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