የዞን ዘጠኝ ጦማርያን እና ጋዜጠኞች በዛሬው የካንጋሮ ፍርድ ቤት ቀርበዋል::

የዕሰረኞች ቁጥር በመብዛቱ ችሎቱን የመከታተል ዕድል ጠባብ ነው::
የሃስት ምስክሮች እና የሃስት ማስረጃዎች መቅረባቸው የቀጠሉ ሲሆን የመእጀጀመሪያው ምስክሮች የትሰሙት በጦማሪ ማህሊት እና በጋዜጠኛ ተስፋአለም ላይ ነበር.. ችሎቱ የቀጠለ ሲሆን ዝርዝሩ ችሎቱ እንደተጠናቀቀ አፕዴት ይደረጋል::...

« በጉልበት ወደ ዘመናዊነት »

የኢትዮጵያ ምርጫ እና የጀርመን የዘገባ ሽፋን
እሁድ በመላው ኢትዮጵያ የተካሄደውን 5ኛ ሀገር አቀፍ ምርጫ ለመታዘብ የአውሮፓ ህብረት ልዑካን ወደ ኢትዮጵያ ባይሄዱም ፤ የዶይቸ ቬለን ሬዲዮ እና ቴሌቪዥንን ጨምሮ የጀርመን ጋዜጦች ስለምርጫው ዘግበዋል። የጥቂቱን የጀርመን ጋዜጦች ዘገባ እንደሚከተለው ነበር።
የጀርመን ታዋቂ ዕለታዊ ጋዜጣ « ዙድ ዶይቸ ሳይቱንግ» ስለ የኢትዮጵያ ሀገር አቀፋዊ ምርጫ ሲዘግብ ርዕሱን« በጉልበት ወደ ዘመናዊነት » ነው ያለው። የጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር አቶ ሀይለማሪያም ደሳለኝ ፓርቲ ኢሀዲግ እንደሚያሸንፍ ጥርጥር የለውም ሲል የዘገበው ይህ ጋዜጣ ፤ «ኢትዮጵያ ባለፉት ዓመታት በርግጥ ጥሩ የኢኮኖሚ እድገት ያስመዘገበች ሀገር ብትሆንም አሁንም ድረስ እንደ « ልማታዊ አምባገነን» ነው የምትታየው፣ መንግሥት የኤኮኖሚውን አቅጣጫ ብቻ ሳይሆን ህብረተሰቡንም ይቆጣጠራል ሲልም አትቷል ።ጋዜጣው የሰብዓዊ መብት ተማጋች ድርጅቶችን ዋቢ በማድረግ፤ ሂስ ሰንዛሪ ጋዜጠኞች በሀገሪቱ ቦታ እንደሌላቸው ወህኒ ቤት የሚገኙ ጋዜጠኞችን እና የኢንተርኔት ዘጋቢዎችን በምሳሌነት ጠቅሶ ያብራራል። ጋዜጣው ስለ ሃገሪቱ ልማትም ፅፏል። ምንም እንኳን ልማቱ ዝቅተኛ ደረጃ ላይ የሚገኘው ማህበረሰበብ ጋር ባይደርስም፤ በአዲስ አበባ ትላልቅ ፎቆች እየተሰሩ ስለመሆኑና በቅርቡ የቀላል ባቡር አገልግሎት ስራውን እንደሚጀምር ይጠቁማል።
« ዙድ ዶይቸሳይቱንግ»የኢትዮጵያ ምርጫ ሀተታውን ከማጠናቀቁ በፊትም፤ የተቃዋሚዎች እጣ ፋንታ ከባለፈው ምርጫ ጋር ሲነፃፀር አለመሻሻሉንም አንስቷል። እንደ ጋዜጣው ቀውስ ውስጥ ከሚገኙት ከሶማሊያ እና ከደቡብ ሱዳን ጋር ስትነፃፀር ምዕራባውያን ኢትዮጵያን የተረጋጋች ደሴት አድርገው ስለሚመለከቷት የዲሞክራሲ ርዕስ ሲነሳ ፤ ጆሮ ደባ ልበስ ብለው ያልፉታል።
ሌላው ስለ ኢትዮጵያ ምርጫ የዘገበው «ታገስሻው» የተባለው የጀርመን የዜና ማሰራጫ ነው። «ተቃዋሚ ድምፅ የለውም» በሚለው ርዕሱ፤ የምርጫው አሸናፊ ፓርቲ ኢሀአዲግ እንደሚሆን እንደማያጠራጥር ያትታል። ታገስሻው ከዚህም በተጨማሪ ፤ በቴሌቪዥን ሥርጭቱ እና በድረ ገጹ ከሀገር ሸሽቶ ናይሮቢ ውስጥ ጥገኝነት ስለጠየቀው ጋዜጠኛ የትነበርክ እና ደረሰብኝ ስለሚለው በደል ዘግቧል።
«ፍራንክፈርተር አልገማይነር » የተባለው የጀርመን ጋዜጣም ቢሆን እንደሌሎቹ ጋዜጦች ፤ማን ምርጫውን እንደሚያሸንፍ ግልፅ ነው ይላል፤ « እንደ ብረት የጠጠረ አገዛዝ ባላት ሀገር» በሚለው ርዕሱ ከ457 የምክር ቤት መቀመጫ 456ቱን ኢሀአዲግ ይዞ የመራው ሀገር እንደሆነ በመግለፅ፣ ጋዜጣው ፤ የተቃዋሚዎችን ነፃ አለመሆን እና ብሶት ያትታል። ከዚህም በተጨማሪ ጋዜጣው ፤ ምናልባትም ነፃ ምርጫ ታይቶበታል ያለውን የ97ቱን ምርጫ እና ከዛም በኋላ ስለተነሳው አመፅ እና በወቅቱም ከ200 በላይ ሰዎች ስለመሞታቸው አውስቷል። ከዚህም በተጨማሪ የኢትዮጵያ መንግሥት ፣ አሸባሪ ቡድናትን በመዋጋት የዩናይትድ ስቴትስ ስልታዊ አጋር መሆኑን ጋዜጣው ጠቅሷል ።

Upcoming Ethiopian polls carry lessons from past for journalists now

Covering Ethiopia isn’t easy for any journalist working in the Horn of Africa country. For years it has been ranked as one of the worst offenders for press freedom in the world and in April the Committee to Protect Journalists placed it fourth on their annual list of the 10-most censored countries, right after Eritrea, North Korea and Saudi Arabia.

With general elections coming on May 24, Western and local media in country are remaining vigil. Many of the country’s most notable and prominent journalists have been locked up on what human-rights supporters have called fabricated terrorism and treason charges, with the government using a 2009 anti-terror law to intimidate the press. Others have fled the country, changing the landscape of how large-scale events like national elections are covered in Ethiopia.

The disputed 2005 elections, marred by the deaths of 193 people at the hands of state security forces, and the arrests of tens of thousands of citizens cast a dark shadow over Ethiopia. By the 2010 polls, the ruling political party – Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) – consolidated their power to win 99.6 percent of the vote, which the Geneva-based Human Rights Watch(HRW) said was marked by a government that “pressured, intimidated and threatened Ethiopian voters.”

Only one opposition member won a seat in parliament in 2010.

Ethiopian elections: free and fair?

Simegnish Lily Yekoye, a veteran Ethiopian reporter who has written for several international publications, is in the U.S. working for the Washington, D.C.-basedNational Endowment for Democracy after being forced to flee her country last July.

“In 2005, there were long lines – people waiting for hours to cast their vote because they thought a real change might happen,” Yekoye said by telephone on Friday from New York. “There was a lot of optimism then. But in the 2010 elections, there was no optimism. Everything was quiet and there were no long lines to vote.”

She doesn’t think 2015 will be different from 2010.

Fresh reports in the last two weeks that opposition representatives are being harassed are not helping the outlook for journalists. William Davison, an English reporter who lives in and reports from Ethiopia for Bloomberg News primarily, said the election will favor the EPRDF.

“I think the EPRDF’s control of all tiers of administration and the evidence and suspicion of a lack of autonomy among key government institutions … makes life tough for the opposition,” Davison, who has lived in Ethiopia since 2008, said by Facebook from Addis Ababa on Saturday. “It’s apparent that the EPRDF’s hold over government workers allows it to mobilize efficiently … The opposition also seems short of ideas, energy, personalities, organizational skills, and resources, so it looks like it’s going to be a very one-sided election.”

Sue Valentine, Africa Program Coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists, said the government’s influence on the media has a direct impact on the elections.

“It is difficult to imagine how Ethiopian citizens will be able to make an informed choice … when they have been unable to access and engage with news and opinions from a variety of critical and independent sources,” she told IJNet on Monday via email from New York.

Covering the 2015 polls

Ethiopia is the second-most populated country on the African continent, with roughly 94 million people, according to the World Bank (2013 figures). There are a lot of things to consider when trying to get out and cover an election that big on your own or with a team.

Keeping in mind who you approach is key and Ethiopians are notoriously reserved when they’re asked for a statement or remark.

“I will try to get comments from those who vote for and against the ruling party [and] why they did so,” one Ethiopian reporter, who has worked for more than a decade as a journalist in his country and also spoke on the condition of anonymity, said on Monday. “The problem is it will be difficult to get someone who vote[d] for [the] opposition and [will be] willing to comment [to the] media [without] fearing the ruling party supporters’ direct or indirect attack … afterwards, sooner or later.”

Getting out of the capital is important, as reporters can’t let it be the gauge for the rest of the country, according to Davison, who echoed some of what the Ethiopian reporters said.

“My idea for the election is to speak to as many non-politicians as possible,” he said. “I am fairly familiar with the mantras of the EPRDF and the opposition, however, you can always learn more from the citizens. Addis is hugely important, but also completely unrepresentative of the country, so I don’t feel like I’m doing a thorough job unless I get out of the capital as much as I can,” he added.

Technologies available

Smartphones, apps and social media are all reported to be popular among journalists in Addis Ababa. Androids and iPhones are prevalent. Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp are also used by the media.

“Both Facebook and Twitter seem to be a relatively ‘free’ space in Ethiopia – meaning that Ethiopians seem somewhat liberated to speak their minds more frequently on those platforms,” Davison also said.

In the past, Ethiopia has blocked some websites, including opposition proxy or diaspora sites. However, social media sites appear to be accessible to anyone at Internet cafes through the state-run telecom Internet system, Davison and the Ethiopian reporters confirmed.

“The best Internet network in Addis right now is 3G, which you can get on mobile or through USB dongle,” Davison said. “It’s quick, but still not up to international standards, as it’s very expensive and you have a restrictive download limit per month on the pre-paid option.”

Two Ethiopian journalists told IJNet they would not be using social media at all during the elections for fear of being singled out by the government.

Advice for covering Ethiopia

What should you expect if you are traveling to Ethiopia for the elections?

“Covering Ethiopia regularly involves keeping an open-mind and continuing to batter away doggedly at issues, and people of interest,” Davison said. “Logistics, like the telecoms and bureaucracy, are tricky, so expect to be frustrated frequently.”

Consider other things, recommended the Ethiopian journalist with more than a decade’s experience under his belt: “When it comes to events like elections … it will be very risky to try moving alone for reporting.”

And finally, Ethiopia’s global status on censure does precede itself.

As one Ethiopian reporter, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity and has been a journalist since 2010 put it, the country doesn’t “have a good reputation regarding media activity and political activity. So if anyone want[s] to come to Ethiopia for media business, [they] should be aware of the history and the existing fact of the country’s political situation.”

The New Dictators Rule by Velvet Fist

THE standard image of dictatorship is of a government sustained by violence. In 20th-century totalitarian systems, tyrants like Stalin, Hitler and Mao murdered millions in the name of outlandish ideologies. Strongmen like Mobutu Sese Seko in Zaire left trails of blood.

But in recent decades, a new brand of authoritarian government has evolved that is better adapted to an era of global media, economic interdependence and information technology. The “soft” dictators concentrate power, stifling opposition and eliminating checks and balances, while using hardly any violence.

These illiberal leaders — Alberto K. Fujimori of Peru, Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Viktor Orban of Hungary, Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, Mahathir Mohamad of Malaysia and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela — threaten to reshape the world order in their image, replacing principles of freedom and law — albeit imperfectly upheld by Western powers — with cynicism and corruption. The West needs to understand how these regimes work and how to confront them.

Some bloody or ideological regimes remain — as in Syria and North Korea — but the balance has shifted. In 1982, 27 percent of nondemocracies engaged in mass killings. By 2012, only 6 percent did. In the same period, the share of nondemocracies with no elected legislature fell to 15 percent from 31 percent.

This sea change might have started with Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore, who combined parliamentary institutions with strict social control, occasional political arrests and frequent lawsuits to cow the press — but also instituted business-friendly policies that helped fuel astronomical growth.

The new autocrats often get to power through reasonably fair elections. Mr. Chávez, for instance, won in 1998 in what international observers called one of the most transparent votes in Venezuela’s history.

Soaring approval ratings are a more cost-effective path to dominance than terror. Mr. Erdogan exploited his popularity to amend the Constitution by referendum and to pack Turkey’s Constitutional Court.

The new autocrats use propaganda, censorship and other information-based tricks to inflate their ratings and to convince citizens of their superiority over available alternatives. They peddle an amorphous anti-Western resentment: Mr. Orban mocked Europe’s political correctness and declining competitiveness while soliciting European Union development aid.

When their economies do well, such leaders co-opt potential critics with material rewards. In harder times, they use censorship. The new autocrats bribe media owners with advertising contracts, threaten libel suits, and encourage pro-regime investors to purchase critical publications.

They dominate the Internet by blocking access to independent websites, hiring “trolls” to flood comments pages with pro-regime spam, and paying hackers to vandalize opposition online media sites.

The new dictatorships preserve a pocket of democratic opposition to simulate competition. Elections prove the boss’s popularity. In Kazakhstan, President Nursultan Nazarbayev was recently re-elected with 97.7 percent of the vote.

Advertising technology that was devised to sell Fords and cans of Pepsi gets reapplied. Mr. Putin hired a top Western public-relations company, Ketchum, to lobby for the Kremlin’s interests in the West. Others recruit former Western leaders as consultants — Mr. Nazarbayev, for instance, hired Tony Blair — or donate to their foundations.

Above all, the new autocrats use violence sparingly. This is their key innovation. Hitler took credit for liquidating enemies. Mobutu hanged rivals before large audiences, while Idi Amin of Uganda fed the bodies of victims to crocodiles. Claiming responsibility was part of the strategy: It scared citizens.

The new autocrats are not squeamish — they can viciously repress separatists or club unarmed protesters. But violence reveals the regime’s true nature and turns supporters into opponents. Today’s dictators carefully deny complicity when opposition activists or journalists are murdered. Take the case of the former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma. A tape of him reportedly ordering the abduction of a journalist, Georgy Gongadze, who was later found dead, helped fuel the Orange Revolution of 2004, which brought Mr. Kuchma’s rivals to power.

And violence is not just costly — it’s unnecessary. Instead, the new authoritarians immobilize political rivals with endless court proceedings, interrogations and other legal formalities. No need to create martyrs when one can defeat opponents by wasting their time. Mr. Putin’s agents have begun numerous criminal cases against the opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny: He has been accused of defrauding a French cosmetics company and stealing wood and interrogated about the killing of an elk.

The West first needs to address its own role in enabling these autocrats. Lobbying for dictators should be considered a serious breach of business ethics. Western democracies should provide objective native-language news broadcasts to counter the propaganda and censorship. And because the information-based dictatorships are susceptible to the pressures of modernization and inevitable economic failings, we need patience.

Besides propaganda, citizens get information by their paychecks — in the Russian idiom, they can choose either “the television or the refrigerator.”

Sergei Guriev is a professor of economics at Sciences Po, Paris. Daniel Treisman is a professor of political science at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Aaargh! T-TPLF “Wins” Again!

Congratulations are in order to the T-TPLF for winning a hard fought thuglection!

“Politicians are like diapers. They both need changing regularly and for the same reason.”

But not in T-TPLF’s Ethiopia!

Poor Ethiopia is condemned to wear the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People Liberation Front (T-TPLF) diaper for five more years, for a total of 25. That is a quarter of a century. Talk about a country with a super-duper streak of BAD LUCK.

Well!! First things first.  I should like to think myself a gentleman, a scholar, and an officer, of the court, that is. Even victors of rigged and phony elections deserve obligatory profession of homage.

Naturally, it is a matter of noblesse oblige for me. I should react with magnanimity and discreet charm in acknowledging T-TPLF’s crushing “election victory.”

Well!! Congraaaatulations T-TPLF! (Of course, I congratulated the T-TPLF last year for winning the election today. I have done it several times over the past few months.) Still, what must be said must be said.

Congratulations, T-TPLF for a flawlessly rigged election. Way to go T-TPLF for putting on an exquisitely whitewashed election.   Hip hip hooray for conducting the best thuglection anywhere in the second decade of the Century!

Kudos! T-TPLF. You have “won”. I mean your “thuglection”. Obviously, not the hearts and minds of the Ethiopian people. That you will never win. Just like you will never, never win their respect, admiration or gratitude. Not in a thousand years! Deal with it!

How did the T-TPLF manage to exact such a crushing “victory”?

That’s not exactly ancient Chinese secret.

Perhaps I will take that back. I am sure the Chinese have taught the T-TPLF a thing or two about hijacking (thug-jacking an election, another one of my new word contributions to the English language) an election.

In the 2007-08 National Peoples Congress election, the Communist Party of China won 100 percent of the 2,987 seats.

In 2010, the T-TPLF missed winning 100 percent of the 547 seats in “parliament” by 2 seats. The T-TPLF won 99.6 percent, missed it by a doggone measly four-tenths of one percent.

How did the T-TPLF do it in 2010, and again in 2015?

Here is the secret to T-TPLF’s thuglection winning streak:

The T-TPLF “won” by exchanging “votes” for cash. Straight up!

The T-TPLF traded “votes” for seeds, fertilizer and welfare payments.

The T-TPLF used US aid (also known as “hard earned American tax dollars”) to round up “votes”.

The T-TPLF used a racket called Protection of Basic Services (welfare payments) money to squeeze “votes”.

The T-TPLF bartered food for “votes” with starving people.

The T-TPLF bought “votes” under the table.

The T-TPLF bribed, intimidated and threatened to get “votes”.

The T-TPLF did a whole lot of wheeling and dealing to get “votes”.

The T-TPLF stole “votes” in broad daylight.

The T-TPLF stuffed ballots to show it got all the “votes”.

The T-TPLF got the dead to rise up just to vote.

The T-TPLF owned and managed the election commission that “monitored” the “votes”.

The T-TPLF assigned its goons at the polling stations to ensure the voters “voted” as they should vote.

The T-TPLF jailed, prosecuted and persecuted its opposition so they will not compete for “votes”.

The T-TPLF thug-terrorized “votes” out of people by pitting one ethnic group against another; one religious group against another. If you don’t vote for the T-TPLF, the “Amhara” will come back. If you don’t vote for the T-TPLF, the “Oromo” will throw you out of Oromia. If you don’t vote for the T-TPLF, the Christians… the Muslims… will… If you don’t vote for the T-TPLF, the sky will fall on your head.

The T-TPLF discounted the “votes”.

The T-TPLF counted more votes than there are voters (not including the dead voters that rose up just to vote.)

Above all else, the T-TPLF counted the “votes”. The T-TPLF counted the votes and decided that though all votes are created equal, some “votes” are more equal than others. The T-TPLF “votes” are more equal than all other votes! One T-TPLF votes equals to thousands of other votes.

So that is the little secret to the T-TPLF’s “free, fair and credible” thuglection winning streak.

Thugs (continue to) rule in Ethiopia! 

The T-TPLF has ruled Ethiopia since 1991. Today T-TPLF-ites are dancing in the streets celebrating their crushing “electoral victory”.

They go on marching and chanting, “T-TPLF today! T-TPLF tomorrow! T-TPLF forever!”

Umm! That reminds me of George Wallace. He was the rabidly racist governor of Alabama in the 1960s. He was the one who declared, “Segregation now! Segregation tomorrow! Segregation forever!”

That analogy is not really that farfetched when you think about it. The T-TPLF’s “kililism” is nothing but a modernized version of apartheid “Bantustans”. The only difference is that in apartheid it is all about racial segregation. In “kililism” it all about ethnic segregation. Apartheid was used by the white minority government to divide and rule South Africa by racial segregation. “Kililism” is used by the T-TPLF to divide and rule Ethiopia by ethnic and linguistic segregation. The T-TPLF has practiced ethnic demonization and ethnic cleansing widely, especially against the “Amhara” and the people of Gambella.

The former T-TPLF defense minister a few years ago said, “Kaliti Prison speaks Oromiffa, and 99% of one of the camps housing hundreds of inmates at Kality Prison are Oromo. Many of the detainees don’t know their charges but have counted years as OLF suspects.” Even in prison the T-TPLF practices segregation.

Truth be told, the T-TPLF’s “kililism” is the real-life equivalent of “Jim Crowism” in the old American South. By law, they segregated everything by race. They even segregated drinking fountains. The T-TPLF segregates Ethiopians by their ethnicity and language. It is the law. They call it “nations, nationalities and peoples”. It is a clever scam to keep the people divided, confused and without a national identity.

The T-TPLF expects to keep its grip on power through “elections” today and tomorrow by keeping “kililism” alive. The T-TPLF holds “elections” every five years to rejuvenate “kililism”. There is no T-TPLF without kililism. There is no kililism without the T-TPLF. They are peas in a pod. Such is the deadly cancer that has metastasized in the Ethiopian body politics.

For the T-TPLF, elections are convenient gimmicks to buy time; to prolong their grip on power for one more day; one more week; one more month and one more year.

With the active support and encouragement of the fat cat donors and loaners, the T-TPLF runs election scams and con games.

For the T-TPLF,  “elections” are powerful weapons of mass deception.

For the T-TPLF, elections are also powerful weapons of political destruction. They use elections to decimate the press, the opposition, dissidents, civil society and human rights advocates.

A T-TPLF election is an elaborate illusion stage-managed to hoodwink and bamboozle the people. The loaners and donors are the all-too-willing stage hands. They pull all the strings and levers behind the scenes.

T-TPLF elections are as real as the Easter bunny and Santa Claus

Anyone who believes in the T-TPLF victory today (besides needing to get their heads examined) must also believe in the Easter bunny handing out colored eggs from a basket and Santa Claus flying in his sleigh delivering gifts on Christmas eve.

Is there any reasonable person who believes the T-TPLF won the election today fair and square? Is there anyone who is fooled by the thuglection victory of the T-TPLF ignoramuses?

To believe the people of Ethiopia today voted for T-TPLF representation for another five more years is to believe lambs voted for a cackle of hyenas or pack of wolves to protect them.

A T-TPLF election is like inviting starving people to a cookout. When they show up for the feast, they are handed glossy photos of mouth-watering dishes. They are allowed to look at the photos and salivate and drool all they want, but they will never get to taste the tasty morsels.

Today, May 24, 2015, Ethiopians went to the polling stations dreaming to feast on a banquet of democracy. All they got is a piece of indigestible pulp to drop in the ballot box. They went home with an empty stomach.

The great Bob Marley taught us something about men and women going home on an empty stomach. “Them belly full, but we hungry;/A hungry mob is a angry mob… /Cost of livin’ gets so high,/ Rich and poor they start to cry:/ Now the weak must get strong; /…/ Now the weak must get strong.

Talking about being hungry, Meles Zenawi once said the ultimate test of his accomplishments will be whether his regime is able to ensure Ethiopians had three meals a day. Only T-TPLF members and supporters get three meals a day. Everybody else gets an empty stomach. Today, the test is building the biggest damned dam in all of Africa.

People are starving, the T-TPLF is building dams. Damn, that’s just messed up!

Today, May 24, 2015, the people of Ethiopia are angry because their voice has been stolen in broad daylight. They are also hungry for democracy. There are millions of angry and hungry Ethiopians today sitting and chafing, biding their time.

So, no more crying for them. No more crying for the beloved country. Ethiopians weakened from division and confusion must now unite and get strong and stronger every day because the T-TPLF is getting weaker and weaker every day.

How the T-TPLF looks at its “victory”

The T-TPLF’s core belief is that Ethiopians, other than T-TPLF members and supporters, all ignorant and dumb cowards. That is just a fact. I did not make it up. It is their people who told me.

The T-TPLF’s core philosophy is, “those who are not for us are against us.” They have no regard for the benevolent maxim, “Those who are not against us are for us.”

The T-TPLF practices its belief and philosophy in their own fantasy echo chamber. “The people love us. They adore us. They want us and nobody else.”

In 2010, Meles Zenawi, the late demi-god of the T-TPLF, anticipating (assured of) his triumphant “victory” in which the T-TPLF “won” 99.6 percent of the seats in “parliament”, proclaimed how much love and support he and his gang enjoyed in the population. Meles said:

The preliminary results have shown that the great majority of our people have with great dignity reached a consensus as to who should lead the country in the next five years, in a spirit of freedom and peace…. With great humility, [we] offer our gratitude and appreciation to the voters who have given us their support freely and democratically. We also offer our thanks to the real backbone of our organization, the women of Ethiopia… and youth of Ethiopia for their unwavering support and enthusiasm!… We also thank… the vast majority of the residents of our cities and the farmers of our country who actually consider themselves and the [TPLF doing business as EPDRF] as two sides of a coin…

In a curious remark, Meles pledged to win every last vote of those who did not vote for his party in 2015:

We… understand that there are people who have not voted for us. I would like to state here in no unequivocal manner that we will respect the decision of those who did not vote for us…  I would like to confirm to those who did not vote for us that we will work hard to look into your reasons for not voting for us with the view to learning from them and correcting any shortcomings on our part. We will work day and night to obtain your support in the next election. (Emphasis added.)

Few knew “great majority” and “vast majority” meant 99.6 percent control of the seats. In the T-TPLF’s fantasy echo chamber, a 99.6 percent victory makes perfect sense because the people “love” them. Moammar Gadhafi said the same thing. “They love me. All my people with me, they love me. They will die to protect me, my people.” A few days later, the people showed him how much they loved him. It was not a pretty sight.

Why would the T-TPLF announce a 99.6 percent victory and expect to be believed? There are only two answers: 1) The T-TPLF believes the Ethiopian people are dumber than a box of rocks. 2) The T-TPLF is dumber than a box of rocks to believe the Ethiopian people believe its 99.6 percent “victory”. Take your pick.

By the way, Evelyn Sherman, the T-TPLF’s newest protector, guardian and champion, copped the attitude that Ethiopians are dumb from the T-TPLF. I just don’t understand how dumb must one be to say, “Ethiopia is a young democracy” poised to execute “a free, fair and credible election. Talking about dumb and dumber, somebody needs to tell Evelyn Sherman and her T-TPLF flunkies that the Ethiopian people are not as dumb as they look.

It is funny how Sherman thinks or doesn’t. She says “Ethiopia is a young democracy.” A young democracy being raised by an old and decrepit dictatorship? Do hyenas raise lambs? Do snakes give birth to doves? Can you make new wine by pouring old wine in a new bottle? I just don’t understand how some people think or don’t.

Of course, Sherman is not the only willfully ignorant high level American policy maker to feel free to insult our intelligence and injure our dignity.

Susan Rice, Obama’s National Security advisor did it in her eulogy of Meles Zenawi in 2012. She said, Meles “of course had little patience for fools, or idiots, as he liked to call them.” She was obviously proud to let the “fools and idiots” know how Meles felt about them. She did not say who they were exactly. It is not difficult to decipher who “they” are. It is well-known that Meles had great contempt for many of the very top leaders of the T-TPLF. He had even greater contempt for the Ethiopian people. Those who knew him closely can testify to that.

Meles once said his T-TPLF’s crushing victory was assured except in “pastoral areas” (among nomads?): “There is no village that I know of in the rural areas that did not vote for us.  Expect in the pastoral areas. We stand no chance in those areas. We are not even going to contest elections there.  People there are completely ignorant and not interested. The opposition is completely ignorant so we had the whole field for us alone…” (Emphasis added.)

Imagine that! The High Priest of Ignoramuses calling “pastoral people” and the “opposition “ignorant”. Well, ignorant is as ignorant does, and says.

Anyway, the lesson Meles taught his T-TPLF disciples in 2010 for the 2015 “election” was simple and clear: “Work day and night” to get the support of “those who did not vote for us” in 2010.

Meles has nothing to worry about. In May 2015, the only thing the T-TPLF has to do is take a leisurely cakewalk to a 100 percent victory.

In 2010, only four-tenths (4/10) of one percent did not vote for the T-TPLF. They had shagged, snagged, tagged and bagged the 99.6 percent.

How difficult is it for the T-TPLF to win four-tenths of one percent of the vote in 2015?  As difficult as taking candy from a baby?

Post “Election” Analysis

For the past year (actually for the past 5 years), I have been predicting that the 2015 Ethiopian “election” will prove to be a sham, a travesty of democracy and a mockery and caricature of democratic elections. So, what’s the T-TPLF election song and dance all about?

Fact #1: The May 24, 2015 election has nothing to do with the Ethiopian people, democracy or good governance.  

Ethiopians and others interested in Ethiopian affairs should clearly understand that the May 24, 2015 elections is not about good governance or the welfare and well-being of the Ethiopian people. The “election” has everything to do with the interests and demands of the T-TPLF bankrollers including the U.S., the U.K., the EU, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

The 2015 election was ordered by the mighty donors and loaners! Everyone should know and accept this fact. The donors and loaners wrote the election script for the T-TPLF a long time ago and handed it to Meles, the Architect-in-Chief.  With the advice and consent of the loaners and donors, the T-TPLF installed a bumbling country bumpkin who gets tongue-tied trying to answer a simple question.

Were it up to the ignorant TPLF thugs, they would just as soon forget about election games and cling to power thug-style, by brute force.

But why would the donors and loaners order an election? For several reasons.

First, they can evade and avoid moral responsibility for supporting a thug regime that arbitrarily jails, tortures, and kills its citizens.  The Obama Administration would have a more difficult time to support the T-TPLF without an election ritual. Last month, Evelyn Sherman, U.S. Undersecretary of State showed up in Addis Ababa to give final instructions on how the T-TPLF is to conduct the “election”. The T-TPLF got the message. That’s why Sherman  declared, “Ethiopia is a democracy that is moving forward in an election that we expect to be free, fair, credible open and inclusive in ways Ethiopia has moved forward in strengthening its democracy every time there is an election. It gets better and better.”

Second, an “election” provides a moral excuse for the donors and loaners to continue pumping and dumping billions of dollars in the T-TPLF black hole where all aid and loans check in but never check out. Of course, the donors and loaners know they are  supporting thugs in designer suits.  Wendy Sherman showered the T-TPLF with praise last month to the point of making some T-TPLF leaders blush. Even some T-TPLF leaders thought Sherman went a bit overboard with her praise.  The Washington Post in thinly-veiled disgust editorialized:  “If the election is not judged by independent observers to live up to Ms. Sherman’s billing, the administration should swallow her words — and change its approach.”

Third, an “election” shields the loaners and donors against criticism from human rights organizations. On April 17, 2015, a day after Wendy Sherman put her foot in her mouth with the “Ethiopia is a young democracy” statement, she faced the wrath of Amnesty International USA, Ethiopia Human Rights Project, Freedom House, Freedom Now, Human Rights Watch and International Rivers in a letter to Secretary John Kerry. They urged “the Department of State to issue a statement on the elections highlighting the systematic deficiencies that will prevent the Ethiopian government from meeting the standards of democratic elections outlined by the African Union.” Not a word from Kerry or Sherman.

Fact #2: Election is a carnival for the T-TPLF

Is it necessary to drag the Ethiopian people thorough a year-long election carnival?

The truth of the matter is that May 24 is when the T-TPLF Brothers Circus comes to town. All of the T-TPLF clowns, acrobats, tightrope walkers, jugglers trained animals, trapeze acts and stunt masters will be out in full force. The ringmasters will slither out of the woodwork and proclaim how “Ethiopia is a young democracy” and how the T-TPLF “won” a hard fought election. The fire breathers will come out and threaten anyone who demonstrates or protests the outcome of the elections. The T-TPLF jugglers will be juggling gibberish about how fair the election is. The contortionists will contort the truth. Of course, the big clown (or is it the marionette, puppet) will grandstand and declare, “The T-TPLF has won.”

It’s fun to go to the circus. The T-TPLF has succeeded in creating a great circus atmosphere. I even got to watch one of the sideshows on TV. The T-TPLF calls it a debate. It wasn’t much of a debate. The Blue Party chairman made breakfast, lunch and dinner of the malaria-researcher-turned-instant-foreign-minister Tedros Adhanom. What about the “political space that has been closed”? What about the “journalists, political activists, civil society leaders that have been sent to jail or forced to leave the country?” What about the fusion of party and government?

Tedros sat there vacant and lost. He did not have much to say that made sense. “We expected the opposition to come up with a plan… blah… blah… blah…” Really, like his bogus Growth and Transformation Plan?

Adhanom was as uncomfortable as a rooster in a pond. Talking about a pond, Adhanom should really go back to the pond and chase mosquitoes. He has no place in politics. Oops! He is the next prime minister?! Touché!

Fact #3: The May 24 “election” in Ethiopia is not an election

They say what is sauce for the goose is good for the gander. Or is it?

Not to the Obama Administration. An election may be an election or not an election depending upon who does the election rigging and stealing. If the SOB who stole the election is not a friend, then it is a stolen election. If the SOB that stole the election is a friend, then a stolen election is not a stolen election. It is just an election that does not meet international standards. That is the Obama African election drama.

When Robert Mugabe “won” his presidential election in August 2013 by 61 percent,

Secretary of State John Kerry sent the following “congratulatory”note condemning Mugabe’s victory:  “Make no mistake: in light of substantial electoral irregularities reported by domestic and regional observers, the United States does not believe that the results announced today represent a credible expression of the will of the Zimbabwean people…”

Two weeks ago when Omar Hassan al-Bashir claimed reelection in the Sudan by a 94.01 percent and declared that his National Congress Party (NCP) has won 323 of 426 parliamentary seats, the “Troika” (U.S., U.K. and Norway) damned him.  “The Troika regret the Government of Sudan’s failure to create a free, fair, and conducive elections environment. Restrictions on political rights and freedoms, counter to the rights enshrined in the Sudanese Constitution, the lack of a credible national dialogue” make “the outcome of these elections” as being not “a credible expression of the will of the Sudanese people.”

In the next few days, the U.S., U.K., Norway and the rest of the Western donors and loaners will come out single file to pay homage to the great Ethiopian election.

I am going to be really disappointed if the T-TPLF does not win by at least 94.02 percent. They can’t let Bashir beat them. Frankly, if they win by 90 percent or something, I don’t know what I am going to do. That’s just rock bottom. That will make Meles, not roll, spin in his grave. The T-TPLF gang has street creds to keep. I just hope they won’t wimp out and report anything less than 99.7 percent. They gotta keep the winning streak going.

I can’t wait to hear Evelyn Sherman bleating praises to the T-TPLF and how they have strengthened democracy in the “young Ethiopia democracy.” I can imagine her babbling, “The young Ethiopian democracy has won!”  Maybe she is so happy she might sing, “Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay.  My, oh my, what a wonderful election day in May for the T-TPLF.”

We should all prepare to hear a whole lot of horse feathers (I did not say bull feathers) about the election from menda-duplicitous U.S. diplocrats (a term I coined to describe hyprocrisy-ridden, lyin’-through-the-teeth American and Western diplomats and poverty pimps).

Let them knock themselves out celebrating a scam election. After all, they paid for in cold hard cash. They deserve a little fun for the billions they have dumped on the T-TPLF. It’s only fair.

What happens after the T-TPLF balloons pop and the popped champagne bottles run dry?

It will be business as usual on March 25. That is not to say the T-TPLF is not prepared to deal with any protests. They have their well-armed goons itching to pull the trigger. All it takes is a snap of the fingers to loosen those dogs of war on civilian protesters. Remember 2005. REMEMBER THE MELES MASSACRE! 

In the next few days, expect to read a statement along the following lines from the White House and the National Security Council:

We acknowledge the conclusion of Ethiopia’s parliamentary elections on May 24, 2015. We commend the people of Ethiopia for their civic participation and note that the voting proceeded peacefully.

We are concerned there were few international observers and are concerned elections fell short of international commitments. We are disappointed that U.S. Embassy officials were denied accreditation and the opportunity to travel outside of the capital on Election Day to observe the voting.  The limitation of independent observation and the harassment of independent media representatives are deeply troubling.

An environment conducive to free and fair elections was not in place even before Election Day. In recent years, the Ethiopian government has taken steps to restrict political space for the opposition through intimidation and harassment, tighten its control over civil society, and curtail the activities of independent media. We are concerned that these actions have restricted freedom of expression and association and are inconsistent with the Ethiopian government’s human rights obligations.

As voting concludes and the results are announced, we call on all parties to reject violence. We await the final assessments of the electoral process from independent observers, and encourage the government to address in good faith and impartially any concerns and disputes that are raised.

Ethiopia and the United States have a multifaceted relationship and share a number of important interests.  We urge the Ethiopian government to ensure that its citizens are able to enjoy their fundamental rights. We will work diligently with Ethiopia to ensure that strengthened democratic institutions and open political dialogue become a reality for the Ethiopian people.

Expect a statement along the following lines from the U.S. State Department”:

The preliminary results announced by the National Election Board indicate that the ruling party secured an overwhelming victory. It is our assessment that throughout the electoral process, freedom of choice for voters was constrained by the actions and inactions of Ethiopian Government officials, the National Elections Board of Ethiopia, and the ruling political party and its cadres. A number of laws, regulations, and procedures implemented since the previous parliamentary elections in 2005 created a clear and decisive advantage for the ruling party throughout the electoral process.

We have a broad and comprehensive relationship with Ethiopia, but we have expressed our concerns on democracy and governance directly to the government. Measures the Ethiopian Government takes following these elections will influence the future direction of U.S.-Ethiopian relations. It is important that Ethiopia move forward in strengthening its democratic institutions, and when elections are held, that it offer a level playing field to give everyone a free opportunity to participate without fear or favor.

Karl Marx said, “History repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.” Could it also be the other way around? We have seen one more T-TPLF election farce.  What tragedy could be repeated in 2015?

Mixed state of security after election in Ethiopia

(iReport CNN) — Addis Ababa remains largely calm following Election Day, yesterday. Security has clashed with protesters in Oromia, the largest and most populous state that has seen large pro-opposition rallies over the last weeks. At least one killed in Midakengi district of west Shewa in election related violence.

About 85% of nearly 36 million Ethiopians casted their votes, says the National Election board of the country. The board has said the election was peaceful, free and fair. The only international observer, the African Union mission, on its part has said the election has met their standards.

Compared to the rest of the country, turnout was low in Addis Ababa and there are many reports of voter intimidation, observers harassment, and other irregularities. In places where results are announced, the incumbent regime has won most of the votes. The opposition has dismissed these results citing they are rigged.

In Oromia region, the situation is very tense. In West Shewa zone that had seen large crowds of demonstrations in support of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), and a stronghold, there has been number of incidents of disputes and conflicts. In some places such as Gudar, dispute between observers, between voters and observers, voters and reps of election board escalated to confrontation. In other places such as Gindeberet, local militia opened fire on the local voters harming some of them.

Eye witness are reporting reinforcement and deployment of large regime security forces to districts such as Cheliya, Ambo, Toke-Kutaye, Bako, Jeldu, Dandi, Gindeberet and Midakengi. These areas had also seen widespread protests last year against the Addis Ababa master plan.

The opposition bloc Medrek has claimed that over 90% of its observers were chased away from polling stations by security of the ruling party. According to reports over the last hours, situation remains very tense after one individual was killed in Arsi zone, another one also was killed in Hadiya in SNNPR.

In Bule Hora university, ethnic Oromo students broke through security and closed the polling station citing ”no need to vote if it will not be counted properly”.

The Ethiopian regime has already declared it is a winner through its affiliated websites and openly on its state radio. The regime will likely continue its 99.6% share of the parliament, even more if no

- See more at: http://www.zehabesha.com/mixed-state-of-security-after-election-in-ethiopia/#sthash.sJoO9QfA.dpuf

Activist’s Suicide Shows Opposition Plight Before Ethiopia Vote

The mother and sister of Getahun Abraham, an Ethiopian activist who committed suicide a month before May 24 elections. Photographer: William Davison/Bloomberg

A month before Ethiopia’s elections, opposition activist Getahun Abraham walked into a compound of government offices in the southern town of Gimbichu, doused his body in gasoline and set himself alight. It took more than 10 minutes for bystanders to extinguish the flames.

“We were in a meeting when we heard a scream,” local police chief Moges Bafe recalled of the day the 25-year-old physics teacher committed suicide. “When we ran out, he was burning and we also screamed. The fire looked like a big house was being burned.”

Getahun had become desperate after the authorities rebuffed his requests to transfer him from his home village to Gimbichu and believed the refusals were politically motivated, according to his friend, Teshome Demissie, a hospital cashier.

Unlike Mohamed Bouazizi, the unemployed Tunisian whose self-immolation helped trigger the Arab Spring in December 2010, Getahun’s suicide hasn’t sparked protests in Ethiopia. Africa’s second-most populous nation after Nigeria with the continent’s fastest-growing economy over the past decade remains under the firm grip of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front, which won all but one of the 547 parliamentary seats in elections five years ago.

Little is expected to change on May 24 when Ethiopians vote for federal and regional lawmakers.

‘Big’ Victory

The ruling party “will win big time” because of its development record and better organization, Dereje Feyissa Dori, Africa research director at the International Law and Policy Institute in Norway, said in an e-mailed response to questions. While the opposition is divided and unable to articulate alternative policies, they might gain “at least some protest votes,” he said.

When Getahun joined Medrek, a four-party bloc that forms the main opposition to the ruling EPRDF, his brother Wondimu Abraham warned him he was risking trouble.

“I told him don’t be part of Medrek, don’t get involved, as after a time you will face a problem,” Wondimu, a 30-year-old member of the EPRDF who works at the main court in Gimbichu, about 211 kilometers (131 miles) southwest of the capital, Addis Ababa, said in an interview.

Getahun grew depressed by the authorities’ denial of his repeated requests to be transferred from the school in his family’s village of Humaro, to Gimbichu, 7 kilometers away, Wondimu said.

Political Activity

The chief administrator in Gimbichu, Elias Ersado Benchamo, said local officials weren’t aware of Getahun’s political activity and didn’t receive any transfer requests. Getahun killed himself because he was lovesick, isolated from his family or addicted to the stimulant khat, Elias said in an interview on May 8.

Medrek members say they face routine harassment by the authorities. The U.S., which backs the Ethiopian army’s role in battling al-Qaeda-linked militants in neighboring Somalia, has echoed United Nations’ condemnations of the government’s jailing of activists and journalists.

Ethiopian officials say they only prosecute activists and journalists who break the law.

The nation’s authorities have used “multiple channels” to enforce “political control,” London-based Amnesty International said in a February report. Steps include “politicizing access to job and education opportunities.”

Transform Ethiopia

The four-party EPRDF, with more than 7 million members, says it’s seeking to transform Ethiopia into a middle-income nation by 2025. The state controls strategic economic sectors such as telecommunications.

The party’s dominance was clear in Gimbichu, located in the ethnic Hadiya zone of Ethiopia’s southern region. On a muddy high street of small cafes and barbershops most buildings were plastered with the ruling coalition’s worker-bee symbol. A couple of Medrek posters were also displayed.

A color billboard on Gimbichu’s outskirts showed images of some of the EPRDF’s economic achievements: low-cost housing and a hydropower dam. Infrastructure and social-services spending has helped economic growth average 10 percent over the past decade, the UN Development Programme said this month.

While Ethiopia’s poverty rate fell from 39 percent to 26 percent between 2005 and 2013, a quarter of the country’s 100 million people still live below the UN poverty threshold of $1.25 a day, it said.

Talking Politics

Getahun didn’t believe in the ruling party’s success claims and often stopped people in the countryside to talk about politics.

“He thought the EPRDF used democracy as cosmetics,” Teshome said. “Internally they use dictatorship, and their cover is democracy.”

About two weeks after Getahun’s self-immolation, charred scraps of clothing still litter the grass at the government compound. Nearby, he had left cash, a copy of the New Testament, a suicide note and his Medrek membership card, his brother said.

In the five-page letter, Getahun took responsibility for his actions and described his despair over family issues and feelings of persecution.

“Being in politics shouldn’t get you punished this much,” he wrote.