Open letter to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi

 

Mr. Prime Minister,

This letter is prompted by your short speech at the inauguration of the new African Union Headquarters built by the government of China at a cost of 200 million US$ as a ‘gift’ to Africa.

In that speech you said “China, its amazing re-emergence and its commitment to win partnership is one of the reasons for the beginning of the African renaissance,” adding “Over the past decades, China-Africa cooperation has gone from strength to strength. The future prospects of our partnership are even brighter.”

I would yes your ‘partnership’ with China is serving you well in blocking freedom of access to information from independent external sources. Communist China and your regime have a stake in denying media freedom to their citizens; respect for human rights is irrelevant!

Jomo Kenyatta once said something like this: European missionaries came with their Bibles in their hand to preach the word of God and while Africans were gazing towards the sky for mercy, the ‘holy men’ surveyed the land for the purpose of colonizing. I would like to add that the shrewd Chinese traders would do no less than the former colonial masters to protect their US$ 150 billion investment on the African continent. So, Mr. Prime Minister, the warm relation with China of which you spoke in adoration could prove detrimental to the healthy development of democracy in the third world. Go no further than the recent veto by China and Russia to stop UN resolution calling Bashar Assad to step aside in order to end the carnage being meted out by his armed forces to civilians demanding dignity and freedom.

It is high time, Mr. Zenawi, that you desist from brain washing our children and stop acting like a hired salesman of the resurgence of China for the benefit of Africa. As it were birds of the same feather go together and so no wonder that China was embellished with accolade in your short speech.

Mr. Prime Minister,
The founding fathers of African Unity including Emperor Haile Selassie and Dr. Kwame Nkrumah would not have accepted the Chinese ‘gift’. They would have rather advocated for contribution from member states to build the Headquarters at the right time when the goal for unity is clearly within sight. For now AU is a very distant dream as long as its leaders are mere puppets.

In that speech you also said that the building stood on a plot on which the infamous and oldest former prison known as “Alem Bekagn” (enough of the world for me) once stood. You certainly meant to denigrate former Ethiopian regimes accusing them for letting prisoners rot in hell.

I should point out to you that all the dignitaries listening to your speech pretty well know that maximum security prisons no less infamous than Alem Bekagn exist in their own countries symbolizing the deficit in human civilization. They (diplomats and dignitaries} also know about the infamous filthy and congested Qaliti dungeon built by the TPLF regime is located a few kilometers away, to the south of the new AU Headquarters; there political prisoners are tortured mentally and physically like in the most inhumane atrocity to which the icon judge Birtukan Midekssa was subjected. Are you not ashamed of your infantile attempt in trying to underestimate the intelligence of diplomats and dignitaries in the Hall?

The former and only prison house in Addis Ababa was always officially referred to as “Wehnie Beit”. Alem Bekagn was coined and popularly used by ordinary citizens to underline that it was a prison house among others for criminals sentenced to life imprisonment or death by the judges in the high court. The people meant it was wrong to do crimes.

Perhaps I should remind you at this juncture that Ethiopia is one of the first, if not the first, civilized countries in the world to develop systems of laws by which to govern the country. Europeans were barbarians but have now reached a level of enviable civilization where no one goes to jail for his/her political views or activity.

So, I would characterize your speech as a cheap shot by a tyrant whose heinous crimes including genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and betrayal of vital national interests is unprecedented in the history of Ethiopia. Your speech was simply another manifestation of your hatred for Ethiopia. I wonder what political capital you have made out of your inordinate tarnishing of the image of Ethiopia at every opportunity. Given that you are on the final unholy act of selling or ceding historically and rightly priceless Ethiopian lands at cheap price, you have no legitimacy or moral authority to blame past regimes at all; you have lost the trust of the Ethiopian people.

Mr. Prime Minister,
You are an illegitimate ruler of Ethiopia who took power by the barrel of the gun; your agazi force, bolstered by tanks clearly marked “Libya” invaded Addis Ababa (Shagar) walking over the corpse of the children of peasants strewn across its path socked with the blood of the dead heroes defending their country, Ethiopia.

It is well documented in the public domain, that your regime had stolen every election in the last 20 years of your misrule. The memory of 2005 and 2010 elections is in particular unforgettable, the former for the overwhelmingly convincing and humiliating defeat of your party at the polls; the latter case, the 99.6% ‘win’ was a grand lie too big to hide thus putting to shame even the Western donors which had been keeping you, and still do, your tribal and genocidal regime afloat.

In the aftermath of election 2005, you declared a state of emergency and your party claimed ‘victory’; the real victors were thrown into the infamous Qaliti jail – to the graveyard of democratic values; in Addis Ababa, close to 200 unarmed protesters against the daylight robbery of votes were killed in cold blood by security forces under your direct command; tens of thousands of supporters of the opposition mostly young were incarcerated in various environmentally harsh locations in Ethiopia with their heads shaved with a single unsterilized blade used on several detainees. I ask, as millions of fellow Ethiopians do, has there ever been a regime as cruel as the TPLF in Ethiopia?

In conclusion, Mr. Prime Minister,
Here is a famous quote by William Shakespeare: “What is the city but the people?” Given the rampant severe limitation of civil liberties by your government and abject poverty inflicting the masses of Addis Ababa, boasting of the high rise buildings and wide roads in the city amounts to nothing. Chuck out the scary and infamous Anti-Terror Law. Revise your land policy radically. Open up the political space and embrace the opposition as partners in development. I am saying this because I strongly believe that people-centered participatory development in a free democratic society must come first. Otherwise, I assure you that the time has come for a popular uprising and you have no one but yourself to blame. Think about it.

I recall that my first article way back in 1996 was about peace and reconciliation emulating the example of South Africa. Your regime ignored it. Do consider it again before it is too late or else the tsunami of change will sweep your regime out of power. I urge you to release from hostage the valiant people of Tigray in whose name you are trading to deter reconciliation; let them freely savor the sweet fruits of genuine democracy.

You are swimming against the current of history, as it were battling against an “idea whose time has come” in the 21st century in which values of dignity, freedom, democracy and above all respect for universal human rights go hand in hand with socio-economic development in a free society. I urge you to heed the message and embrace peaceful change in order to avert bloodshed. To that end, I urge you to release all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally.

Sincerely,

Robele Ababya