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America, the US Administration must stop aiding the Meles Regime.
Once again, let us flood the streets of the cities in US, Europe and Canada.
On May 24th, 2008, I stayed up late in the evening to make my usual calls to Ethiopia to find out how my close relatives are doing or how they are coping with the skyrocketing food prices, the lack of water, electricity and other basic life support necessities. I was about to pick up the phone and start calling when I suddenly realized what is waiting for me on the other end. I know most of you have gone through this experience.
We have heard it on all mass media outlets. Our people are dying left and right, fourteen million of them are patiently waiting for their fate not from the much talked about "drought" or the failure of the rains but from an infantile and mercenary government that does not at all care a bit about the citizenry except strengthening its grip on power.
For some minutes, I felt num and very furious. My mind went to the most affected areas because I know these areas well under similar circumstances years back and try to imagine the agony of a single family waiting for the donor's alms or the governments' handout. It is a life and death situation. Each family member knows the strongest amongst them might have a chance to live for hours or a few days while the weakest mostly children will eventually die. I got sick to my stomach and wanted to throw up.
What a tragedy? What kind of government is it that does not at least plan to make sure its people have enough to eat to survive? Nothing tells more about the nature of a rotten administration than the fact that millions of its citizens starve to death year after year. During the Emperors' time, the government denied the existence of massive shortages of food when millions perished in spite of the overwhelming generosity of the entire world after a British Journalist Jonathan Dimbelby brought the story to the attention of the international community late. The Derg, the Military Junta, was forced to admit the seriousness of the drought in the early 1980's, but still many perished because much of the aid was snatched from the hungry to feed its enormous army personnel. In the case of the current ethno centrist regime, it is even worse for it has the US backing to camouflage the naked reality that people are dying everywhere in the country due to the dictators utter disregard for the well being of our people.
For over forty years, the Ethiopian people have been subjected to starvation through no fault of theirs. It is mainly because of the inept and selfish rulers all through the three administrations noted above. I was told that there are now about over three hundred non-governmental aid agencies, perhaps the largest in a country, in Ethiopia and the government which is supposed to take care of its own people is busy fighting the US war by proxy. We have lost over eighty thousand able, productive and energetic youngsters to the mind boggling and very primitive war the dictators waged against each other in early 2000. It was a big time labor loss for which our people are paying the ultimate price at this moment. No body for sure knows how many farmers were forcibly snatched from their villages and deployed to fight in Somalia, the Ogaden and Eritrea.
What is very annoying and disturbing is the propaganda support the dictators get from the so called IMF and the World Bank. While the international media and the aid agencies are loudly talking about the impending catastrophe in food shortages and other basic necessities, amazingly, the World Bank and the IMF write about the record output in agricultural production the country has registered in the current year. I will only say shame on you, for the world clearly and unambiguously knows now what you stand for. You may have been asked by the regime or you concocted the stories yourselves, it just puzzles me how you sleep well after disseminating the false propaganda that may curtail donors to lend their hands for the millions of children dying as I am writing this appeal letter.
Adding insult to injuries, the regime has recently given away the most fertile and a large stretch of Ethiopian land (1600 Km) to the Sudanese Government well known for its massacre of the Darfur people. Another war is certainly on the horizon because the Sudan has occupied the legitimate lands of our people, given away to bribe the Sudanese government to extradite political refugees back to the gallows in Ethiopia. The Sudanese army has taken over the Western Boarder of our country. A case where one should certainly be alarmed for it might be a heaven for terrorists.
Fellow Ethio-Americans, Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia, as the Amharic saying goes ‘Rehab Ken Aysetem". On each and every passing day, we are losing thousands of our people. We cannot sit idle here in the comforts of the west and do nothing. I believe we can do something. We have done it before when the leaders of Kinijit were in Jail.
LET US FLOOD THE STREETS OF THE USA, EUROPE, ASIA, CANADA, AFRICA ONCE AGAIN AND EXPOSE THE TPLF REGIME FOR What IT IS.
ASK THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO LEND THEIR HANDS THROUGH THE NON-GOVERNMENTAL AGENCIES.
LET US CALL ON THE US ADMINSTRATION TO STOP HELPING DICTATORS AND LEAVE OUR PEOPLE AND COUNTRY ALONE.
LET US TELL THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THE INJUSTICES AND MASSIVE HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS PERPETRATED AND SUPPORTED BY THE CURRENT US ADMINSTRATION.
LET US DO SOMETHING, ANYTHING TO HELP OUR PEOPLE. THE OPPOSITION AND THE PRIVATE MEDIA INSIDE THE COUNTRY ARE BEING SYSTEMATICALLY SHUT DOWN NEVER TO BE ALOWED TO EXERCISE THEIR RIGHTS AS LONG AS TPLF IS IN CONTROL.
Somebody has to call the shots. This time the aim is to save hundredth of thousands of lives.
May god protect Ethiopia and help our people at this critical moment of our history.
Berhane Tensae
May 24th, 2008
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