Kinijit North America Support Editorial, January 31, 2007
Mr. Meles Zenawi had falsely accused the leaders of Kinijit of treason and genocide when he placed them in jail in November 2005, and the court is going to provide a verdict in February 2007. This editorial points to the role Zenawi had played in Ethiopia since 1991,indicates the likely verdict that the court is instructed to pass, and suggests the meaning of that verdict.
Ethiopia has been dealt a bad hand ever since Mr. Meles Zenawi ascended to power with a promise to give away Ethiopian coastal and maritime territories to another Ethiopian guerrilla group headed by Ato Isaias Afeworki. Both guerilla leaders belong to the Tigrai ethnic group that pursued Marxists philosophies. Their hatred of Ethiopian history was such that they worked to give "geography of poverty" to the Ethiopians of both the coastal and landlocked regions. By providing a referendum given to the inhabitants of the coastal areas that involved a choice between freedom or slavery under Ethiopia, yet a referendum that was not given to the larger Ethiopian population, as a basis to support his intentions Zenawi gave away coastal Ethiopia (Eritrea) to Ato Afeworki in 1993 and worked hard to place an international boundary within Ethiopia. In so doing Zenawi felt that he would deny the great contributions of the inhabitants of the coastal region to Ethiopian history and their Ethiopianess. Measured by any justifiable angle Zenawi has committed an unconscionable and highest form of treason; yet he did it with impunity. War broke out between Eritrea and Ethiopia in 1998 and Ethiopian soldiers prevailed and regained some of the territories, which they had lost. Zenawi asked the victorious soldiers to return back to the landlocked part for he had planned to place an international boundary. The purpose of the war apparently was to place an international boundary within Ethiopia which Zenawi brokered at Algiers. About 100,000 Ethiopians died from both sides due to that senseless war which Zenawi oversaw with impunity.
After ascending to power in 1991 and making Ethiopia a landlocked nation, Zenawi incorporated into his ethnic homeland of Tigrey parts of the inhabitants and territories of neighboring administrative regions of Gonder and Welo and his security apparatus killed thousands of those who opposed the incorporation. As the leader of his party, Zenawi is responsible for the genocide, but he oversaw the commission of such atrocities with impunity. He divided landlocked Ethiopia into territories to which he designated ethnic names. Each so-called ethnic homeland ("Kilil") had several different ethnic groups that live within it, and people from one ethnic group live in different "kilil". Hence, the ethnic homeland is a misnomer. Zenawi intended to use the concept of the "kilil" in order to bring internal division and to weaken opposition to his tyrannical rule. His security forces instigated fights and murders in the name of other ethnic groups and outright murdered unarmed peasants such as
the Anuak. As head of government and the leader of a party that occupies the leadership positions of the overwhelming majority of the security forces, Zenawi is responsible for the murders. Clearly, Zeanwi's tyrannical rule is founded on genocide and treason, but he committed these acts with impunity.
After two sham elections Zenawi was so confident that he would be elected in a more open process in 2005. He was pursuing the strategies laid out in his "Revolutionary Democarcy" instrument
(http://www.kinijit.org/static/RevolutionarDemocracy-EtR-96..pdf)
, which stipulates that his party would not lose elections come what may, and that earlier elections must be used to prepare the ground for winning votes much easily in subsequent efforts. However, Zeanwi was wrong. A coalition of pan-Ethiopian parties called the Kinijit (CUDP) participated in the elections legally and won the elections of the May 15, 2005 overwhelmingly. Zenawi went through all sorts of recounting of votes and re-election procedures to reduce the seats gained by Kinijit (CUDP) and ordered all to join in his sham parliament. The Kinijit requested eight points, including having an independent news and television media, as a way of making parliament operate democratically. Zenawi disagreed to the request of kinijit an its huge followers, declared emergency powers and announced that he has taken full command of the security apparatus of the country, after which demonstrators were killed or imprisoned in June and in November 2005, and he placed the Kinijit party leaders in jail by alleging that they had committed treason and genocide.
In a dramatic display of disrespect of the votes of Ethiopians Zenawi, though admitting that his party had lost the elections in Addis Ababa to Kinijit by a landslide, refused to handover to the winning party the administration of the capital city. Instead, he jailed the elected Mayor and other elected city councilors of Addis Ababa. He threatened and coerced the elected members of Kinijit, who were not jailed, to separate themselves from the incarcerate leaders. Zenawi who, through murder and imprisonment of opponents had effectively demonstrated that opposition to him is not and will not be tolerated, had artfully worked to divide the opposition by initially providing favors to a group among them only to proclaim later that all are worthless entities; thus causing division among his opponents and rendering them ineffective. He then declared all opponent groupings unworthy of being administrators of the capital city. A year after the election on May 10, 2006 he appointed a so
-called caretaker municipality authority, with his security forces serving as policemen of the city.
In an effort to appease donor countries to his budget, Zenawi's rubber stamp parliament had been ordered to appoint an Inquiry Commission to look into the massacres of June and November 2005. The Kinijit Party had no input in the naming of the Inquiry Commission. Yet, the commission determined by a vote of 8-2 that Zenaw's security forces that were under his direct command had killed 193 individual and that the act was a clear case of disproportionate use of force by Zeanwi's security forces. Fearing for their security and because they were unwilling to change the verdict of the Inquiry Commission, some of the members of that commission had fled the country. These fugitives had carried copies of the facts and conclusions of the commission with them before Zenawi and his parliament was able to adjust the determination to Zenawi's preferences.
The court proceedings regarding the accused leaders of the Kinijit Party, who are identified as Hailu Showel et al., showed a prosecution team that changed charges as it pleased, brought no credible evidence to show the merits of the accusations, and included witnesses that it brainwashed as exemplified by at least one of the witnesses who told the court during cross examination that the prosecutor had actually instructed him as to what he should say. The charges were framed by Zenawi and were prosecuted, no doubt, under his supervision. On the basis of what Zenawi has so far been able to do with impunity it appears that Zenawi will prepare the verdict and ask the court to implement his verdict. All the indications are that Zenawi's verdict, and hence the court's verdict, will likely result in imprisonments of most and perhaps the release of a few as a token to give the semblance that each case was viewed carefully and independently.
These innocent leaders of Ethiopia who had been voted to office by the overwhelming majority of Ethiopians in the May 15, 2005 elections have endured such humiliation and even more may be done against them under the hands of the Woyane and their leader Zenawi. Zenawi's predictable actions leave no doubt that he intends to kill the elected leaders, many of whom are seniors in age by imprisoning them, and also kill democracy and the nonviolent movement which they championed. He is confident that he can do as he pleases with impunity for he is on the good side of Western Administrations. His invasion of Somali in December 2006 which posed no imminent aggression against Ethiopia is a further testament to the lengths of unconscionable acts he would take to divert attention from the plight of the elected Kinijit leaders, and to defame otherwise blameless Ethiopia and bring harm to the entire neighborhood.
Obviously, there is a serious challenge to Ethiopians who are opposed to Zenawi's tyranny. The times are rife for the application of the "Yang" or armed struggle in Ethiopia. Yet, those who pursue nonviolent means of struggle have to focus more on activities that result in "hizbawi imbita." Also, all Ethiopians have to redouble our efforts and contact world governments including those of the West to make them comprehend the continued plight of Ethiopians under Zenawi.
Western administrations over the last decade and half might not have been respectfull of the rights and interests of Ethiopians and Ethiopia though other parts of Western governments and the peoples stand for human rights. It is to these sectors of the Western governments and peoples that Ethiopians should bring the plight of Ethiopians. The Western values will in due course align with the rights of Ethiopians, which has been so trampled by Zenawi and his supporters. Therefore, Ethiopians should not feel hopeless if as can be anticipated, representatives of Western administrations likely will congratulate Zenawi for applying the law and releasing some, and they promise to work on better determinations for the others down the road including by providing assistance to train judges and prosecutors.
Thus we can anticipate the February verdict going in. We hope that our predictions are wrong. However, the history of Zenawi and the alignment of forces against Ethiopia's interests indicate otherwise. It is prudent to assess the result of the array of forces and tell the reader as truthfully as the data and experiences allow.
Ethiopia shall survive.
Kinijit North America Support Editorial
January 31, 2007