ETHIOPIAN COMMENTATOR Editorial

The most revered, able and patriotic leaders of the TPLF/EPRDF are no longer manning the affairs of Ethiopia. The entire Siye family along with Bitow Belay is behind bars on tramped up charges. General’s Tsadkan, Abebe and Tadesse, perhaps the most brilliant military strategists Ethiopia has ever produced, are fired from their jobs! President Negasso, a man of great character and integrity, is forced out by real and ominous threats to his safety and that of his family! Tigray is virtually reduced to an imprisoned state! The Ethiopian Courts are powerless to enforce their rulings! Shaibia is literally on our front door waiting for Meles to give him the green light to blackmail our country! And at the helm of it all, a man who has lost all his senses and sold out to the black race’s worst enemy! What a nightmare! It ought to be a dream but as we all know it is not!

Make no mistake about it. Our country is in fact in the midst of an apocalypse. Meles Zenawi, backed by his "Place Group" and remote-controlled from afar, is pulverizing not only what has been the achievement of a quarter of century of a bitter struggle for democracy and the rule of law, but also he is undoing the very essence of the Ethiopian state molded and refined over a time span of more than three thousand years! From our history to our coastal frontiers, from our revered and patriotic leaders to our defense forces, and from our Courts to our economy, Ethiopia is under a massive blitzkrieg! What Mohammed Gragn, Yodit Gudit, the Italian fascists, the Arab menace and Shaibia could not accomplish, is being accomplished and done so by remote control! And time is running out! The quicker we realize that Meles has jumped ship, the better our chances of saving our country and our very existence! This is not a mere rhetoric but a reality of which most of it is obvious and the other camouflaged in Bonapartistic "vision" and dressed up in the gown of "tehadiso movement!"

We have an obligation. We have a responsibility. We have halafinet for our country, our people and our leaders! We need to rise to the challenge by remote control. And we know more than anyone that gain is never without pain and that chigir is resolved by tigil! And struggle is what must wage and do so at once!

We urge every Ethiopian in the Diaspora to become a guardian of the interests of our country! We urge every intellectual to use his/her pen to explain and defend Ethiopia and its interests. We would like to remind everyone that seizing with anger will not bring democracy; only working for democracy will bring democracy! We would also like to remind everyone to realize that it will take the contribution from each and everyone to get Ethiopia’s interests protected. Accordingly, we urge everyone to get engaged and do so with the pure interests of our country and not with selfish interests in mind! Every Ethiopian must realize that pursuing factional interests can only play right into the hands of Meles and his handlers, and to the detriment of our country’s interests! At this critical junction, every one of us must meditate on the wisdom of "divided we fall" but united we triumph!

We would first like to salute those compatriots in the Diaspora who have been tirelessly speaking on behalf of our martyrs, working on behalf of our people and country. In this spirit, we salute the formation of the Tigrean International Solidarity for Justice and Democracy (TISJD). This organization has already become exemplary dedicated solely to service. As an organization without an agenda for power and privilege but with a puritanical agenda to lobby for our peoples best interest, it has already become a major forum for those compatriots devoted to speak for our martyrs and our people currently choking from the tyranny of the "Palace Group" and their handlers!

What is also exemplary about TISDJ is that it is not only an organization which stands against tyranny and the abuse of power, and for justice, equality and for the rule of law but also it is an organization which can never be bought off or sold off! It is an organization with a mind and heart, an organization with a soul and conscience consecrated for the cause of justice and democracy! ETHIOPIAN COMMENTATOR believes that it is only when people are organized in such a manner, only to help the people and the country and nothing else, our people and country will become the ultimate beneficiary of good! Using the slogan of good for a selfish end can only throw our people to the deeper end of injustice and oppression!

We also salute those Tigrayans (the "money hunters ") currently networking with NGOs to track the " money trail!" These are a group of patriots devoted to finding out the net worth of Ambassador Birhane, Adis Alem Balema, Sibhat Nega, Ambassador Tewolde Agame and the biggest fish of all, Meles Zenawi! Watch out D.C., London and Rome and Stockholm; the "money hunters" are on your trail! We urge all Ethiopians residing in Switzerland and others to organize and become "Money hunters" too! We urge you to network with NGOs in your area, which specialize in tracking fraud and embezzlement from developing nations!

We salute too those chapters of UTNA (Union of Tigreans in North America) through out the world for their courage to stand up for the TPLF they fought so much for and brought it to victory! We salute them for speaking against the unlawful behaviors of Meles and his "Palace Group." We salute them for standing up for the Constitution of the TPLF, the State of Tigray and Ethiopia! We salute them for standing up for the Audit Commission and for honoring its decisions! We salute them for speaking against the "ration-for-petition" shame and sham carried out to oust the peoples elected representatives! We also salute them in the strongest possible term for speaking out against the Meles "yes men and women" roaming the world trying to hijack UTNA, and trying desperately to sell Meles’s betrayals! And finally, we salute these men and women for speaking against the Meles-Shaibia ploy to destroy our people and country!

We salute too those working on the "Legal Group," "IMF and World Bank Group" and the "PR and Communication Group!" The work thus far done is stunning. It is extremely vital that the IMF and the World Bank are properly advised that any loan to the Meles regime is money wasted and money destined to foreign banks! It is also extremely important that these institutions are properly advised that the Meles regime is a lawless collection of thugs without any serious constituency in Ethiopia!

We call upon Ethiopians in overseas assignments to exercise wisdom and stop serving the interest of Meles Zenawi, and indirectly serve those forces bent on destroying our country. They should stop lending Meles and his rogue regime any legitimacy! We urge them to speak up and denounce the Meles-Sibhat madness!

It would be unconscionable for, let alone Tegadelti, any Ethiopian to defend the betrayal and treason committed by Meles Zenawi and his group. We urge Ambassador Tewolde Gebru, (Agame), Teje (real name Tebege), Assefa Mamo, Oumer, Muligeta Berhe, Wezero Alganesh, Fisseha Asghedom, Abay, Belay, Shumiye, Hailekiros and other Meles cadres in the Americas to stand, work and speak for the martyrs and the people of Ethiopia! We urge too those other cadres of Meles in New York, Boston, Chicago and elsewhere in North America (a total of about thirty of them) not to betray the cause for which our mortars died for, not to betray our Wudib, our leaders that is the Guardian-12 and the people of Ethiopia!

These men and women cadres must realize that the facts can not be any clearer. Meles Zenawi and his "Palace Group" have trampled the Constitution of the TPLF, the Constitution of Tigray and that of Ethiopia! They have ignored the ruling of the Audit Commission, dismissed members of the Commission for doing their job, and have imprisoned some of the most towering heroes and heroines of the Ethiopian people as well as fired the most brilliant military strategists and commanders of the EDF!

But more importantly, these cadres in North America and elsewhere in the world must open us their eyes and see that Meles and his "Palace Group" are savagely choking our people to death! Meles and company are torturing the people of Tigray. The people are in virtual prison. Meles and his "yes men and women" are committing dirty tricks, black mailing our people into "ration-for-petition, and out right force to compel our people to agree to that which they do not believe! Meles’s cadres in the Americas and elsewhere in the world please wake up and see what the people are saying! Do not betray the ideals of Weyane Tigray and work for your pockets. It is far more honorable and in the spirit of the WILL of our martyrs to work at McDonalds than to work for Meles!

Similarly, we urge Ambassador Abdel Mejid and other Ethiopian distinguished personalities to publicly denounce what Meles Zenawi is doing. As an intellectual of international prominence, we urge Dr. Abdel Mejid to denounce Meles Zenawi’s killings of students, illegal dismissal of TPLF/EPRDF leaders, imprisoning political dissidents, and for jailing Siye Abraha and his family as well as the others in jail on tramped up charges and in violation of Court orders!

We urge businessmen and women in the Diaspora to withhold investing on Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopia! It will be an investment destined for Shaibia! Besides, what guarantee is there for your money? Meles Zenawi has clearly spoken that he does not give a damn about the Ethiopian Constitution and the Courts, which interpret it! For those of you who have already invested, we urge is never to serve as Meles’s cadres in exchange for the safety of your investments! Invest your money, time and energy on true and secure investments- undo Meles, his Palace Group and his remote controllers!

We also call upon all Ethiopians to support the honorable stand taken by the President of Ethiopia, His Excellency, and Dr. Negasso Ghidada! This great man of honor has stood up for our country, for us and challenged Meles Zenawi’s betrayal and sell out of our country to the lowest bidder!

First and foremost, We call upon the people of Tigray to defend their brave sons and daughters currently being hunted by Meles Zenawi. We call upon our people, once again, to make whatever sacrifice is required to defend our Wudib, our leaders and our country from the savage assault waged by Meles Zenawi, his "Palace Group" and their handlers! We specially call upon the students of Tigray to never allow Meles Zenawi and his mindless thugs ruin everything that we have sacrificed so much for and what we have held so dearly for eons of time! We call upon the youth of Tigray in general to carry the torch of Weyane to every corner of Tigray and inform our people of the devil within us!

We call too upon the farmers, merchants, priests, artisans, and laborers, to come to the rescue of our Wudib and our leaders from the poisonous jaws of Meles Zenawi! We urge the intellectuals of Tigray to take the leading role in condemning and exposing the evil betrayal of Meles Zenawi. But of all our citizens, we call upon, once more, our Weyenti and Tegadelti to never be hoodwinked by the foreign agent, Meles Zenawi! We call upon these finest men and women to be more vigilant and alert than ever before to what Meles Zenawi is doing and to come to the rescue of Tigray, Ethiopia and the leadership which has brought us so much joy and pride! No Tegadalay must ever forget that the baton of our martyrs is in his/her hands! They must sit down with the misinformed cadres and teach them of the creeping tyranny of Meles Zenawi and come together to clip it!

We call upon the Parliament and government of Tigray to discharge its duty with foresight and arrest those agents of Meles currently devouring our Wudib and people! First and foremost, we urge the Parliament and government to publicly denounce the activities of Meles Zenawi and his clique, and make it plain that Meles Zenawi does not speak, let alone for the people of Tigray and TPLF, for anything that has to do with Tigray! We call upon the Parliament and government of Tigray to protect TPLF and reinstate the duly elected leaders to their respective positions. We especially call upon the government of Tigray to reinstate Ato Gebru Asrat to the Presidency and dismiss Haleka Tsegay and Abay Woldu!

Similarly we urge the people and Government of Tigray to reinstate Ato Tewolde Wolde Mariam - Vice- Chairman of TPLF and EPRDF, Ato Siye Abraha- Chairman of EFFORT, Ato Alemseged G/Amlak- EPRDF's Propaganda Head, Ato Abay Tsehaye- Political advisor to the Prime Minister, Wt. Aregash Adane- Head of Social Affairs with the Office of the PM, Ato Awalom Woldu -Ethiopia's ambassador to Eritrea until recently, Ato Bitew Belay - Head of Regions Affairs with the PM's office, and Ato Solomon Tesfaye –Head Propaganda.

We urge the entire people of Tigray too to demand the resignation of Ato Seyoum Mesfin - Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ato Arkebe Equbai- Board member of EFFORT and Board Chairman of Mesfin Engineering, Ato Abadi Zemu- Working in EFFORT, Ato Tewodros Hagos- Economic Sector, Ato Berhane Gebrkirstos -Ethiopia's ambassador to the USA, Ato Addis Alem Balema- Ethiopia's ambassador to China, Ato Mulugeta Alemseged- Head of the PM's Office, Ato Getachew Assefa- Federal Police, Ato Gobezay - Head of Southern Zone of Tigray, and bring to the Court of law Ato Meles Zenawi, and Ato Sebhat Nega!

We urge the rank and file of all Tigrean organizations such REST, EFFORT and TDA to close ranks and denounce as well as protect public properties from the ongoing looting by Meles and his "yes men and women!" In short, we urge all Tigrayans to close ranks and deny Meles Zenawi any access to us as well as to our properties!

Once again, we appeal to the EDF to open its eyes! It is about time that the EDF stopped listening to the "yes men and women" of Meles and listen to the Ethiopian people, the Constitution and the Courts! If in fact the EDF is committed to its mission of defending the people, Constitution and country, the people, country and Constitution are screaming for help! How about giving a helping hand to the Courts? How about asking the real questions and asks why Generals Tsadkan, Abebe and Tadesse were dismissed? And how about asking the real questions and ask why are those staunchest supporters of Ethiopia’s national interest and cause are being dismissed and subjected to an incredible cruelties? How about asking real questions and ask why Meles Zenawi is fractionating the EDF leadership along ethnic lines? How about the real questions and asks why is Meles Zenawi secretly meeting Isayas and why he desperately wants rapprochement even though the Ethiopian people are against it? In short, when is the EDF going to come to the defense of Ethiopia and ask Meles Zenawi the questions of the Ethiopian people? We urge the EDF, in the strongest possible appeal to open its eyes and come to the rescue of Ethiopia and take Meles Zenawi before the Court of law!

We call too upon the rest of the Ethiopian people of all ethnic and political affiliations to close ranks with their Tigrayan compatriots as they did when Shaibia invaded our soil, and, rise to defend our country from the treason and betrayal of Meles Zenawi and his stooges in the "Palace group!" More importantly, we have to come together and defend our country from those devils that are Meles Zenawi’s bosses screwing our country by remote control! In this spirit, we urge all Ethiopians to speak up and denounce the sell out of our country by Meles Zenawi and his mindless thugs! We urge all students of higher and intermediate schools to lead the way and stop Meles Zenawi from destroying our country!

We urge too all intellectuals in the Ethiopian landscape to publicly make their stand known and support the student movement for democracy and defense of our country! We urge this body of reason to come to the defense and rescue of the Ethiopian Courts currently being mocked by Ethiopia’s renowned outlaw Meles Zenawi!

Similarly, we urge the trade unions, teachers associations, industrial workers, farmers, merchants, taxi drivers, civic organizations and others to rise and ensure our country’s survival and stand against the evil designs of our mortal enemies currently being implemented by Meles Zenawi and his "Palace Group!"

We urge the pilots of Ethiopian Air Lines (EAL), management, technicians as well as ground support personnel to shut down the airline and deny Meles Zenawi any out let as well as any cash for his evil activities against our country! We also urge all employee of Ethiopian Air Lines to come to the aid of Siye Abraha who, it is to be recalled, not only smashed Shaibia and brought us so much pride but also prevented (following the take over of Addis in 1991) Meles Zenawi from giving half the fleet of the EAL to Shaibia! We also urge the Ethiopian public in and outside the country to boycott Ethiopian Airlines until the regime of Meles Zenawi is vanished from our land!

We urge all workers of Ethiopia’s commercial and state banks to stay alert and ensure that Meles Zenawi and his gangs never loot our banks and treasury! We urge too Ethiopians working in critical sectors of our economy as well as museums to be more vigilant than ever before and ensure that none of our public wealth and priceless treasures get transferred to the bank accounts of Meles and his cronies over seas, and to foreign museums, respectively!

Dear sons and daughters of Ethiopia, this is the worst period in the history of our country! We must never be fooled by Meles Zenawi’s rhetoric of democracy and capitalism, and "vision" and "renewal;" there is one of the most devastating plagues devouring our country beneath the surface of things! Meles Zenawi has completely surrendered and is at the service of foreign forces that are committed to wreck our country into another Somalia, Rwanda, Sera Leone or Liberia! He has concretely demonstrated his treason and betrayal of our country not on one occasion but on many occasions and for more than a decade! It is about time, we open up our eyes and see the dire danger our country is in!

Meles Zenawi has thus far removed those leaders of ours who smashed Shaibia and stood for Ethiopia’s independence and sovereignty! And in their place, he has installed "yes men and women" of questionable loyalty! He has removed and is secretly eliminating patriots in the EDF who stood against Shaibia and for our country! He has not only saved Shaibia from the wrath of the EDF but is behind the scene trying desperately to bring back Shaibia and have, once again, our country looted bone dry! He has mass murdered our university students and arrested everyone who exercised his/her right of free speech! He has ignored Court rulings and distinguished our country as the land of lawlessness! And that is not the end of the tragedy. Meles Zenawi is destroying our EDF through ethnic fractionation and out right extrajudicial killings!

The question that begs answer is how long do we wait before we rise to defend our country? What more evidence do we need before we stand up for Mother Ethiopia? As far as ETHIOPIAN COMMENTATOR is concerned, we believe that we have waited too long and that time is running out! We believe that our country is being compromised by the day, and its strength quietly sapped by Meles Zenawi and his bosses! We need to take charge of our country before our country is rendered toothless and irreparable! We need to take our country back and reverse what had become Isayas’s bravado of "it is easy to create insecurity anywhere in Ethiopia!"

We strongly recommend and urge all Ethiopians to align behind the Guardian-12 or the "dissidents" and remove Meles Zenawi from the highest office of our land! The membership of the ETHIOPIAN COMMENTATOR as well as its supporters is absolutely convinced that the Guardian-12 is Ethiopia’s last hope! We believe that these leaders are the ones who can transition our country into rapprochement, reconciliation and heal all wounds! We believe that the Guardian-12 is the most realistic leadership with proven patriotism, which can bring together all political parties inside and outside Ethiopia to truly create a democratic Ethiopia! And there can be no question that with the Guardian-12 at the helm of power, Ethiopians can sleep peacefully knowing full well that their country is secure, strong and in legendary hands!

We also believe that the Guardian-12 is the only realistic leadership which can put together the best minds of Ethiopia and fight for Ethiopia’s rightful ownership of a lot of Eritrea all the way to the coastal frontiers! We believe that it is the Guardian-12 who know the language Shaibia understands and it is this group of leaders who would see to it that no Ethiopian is ever confined to concentration camps, and it is this leadership which would outlaw Shaibia from the face of the earth!

There is also another reason why we must be courageous and stand for what is right. We honor the martyrs if only we can speak for them. We cherish their selfless sacrifices if only we guard those sublime principles for which we asked them to sacrifice their lives for! You see, the martyrs are eternally alive only if the dispossessed of our country are no longer chained to tyranny, and if only the rule of law has rendered evil men/women powerless from ushering misery and destitute upon the citizenry!

So what are you waiting for? Come together and do your part! You and only you, us and only us, and we and only we are the vanguard of operation rescue! Now go tell it! Set the siren loose! Come together! And unleash people power!