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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