#Ethiopia: “What is the Solution?”
Some Facebook friends are recently tagging me with their posts of 'solutions' to the contemporary crisis in Ethiopia. (i.e. the anti-government protests in Oromia and Amhara, two biggest regions in Ethiopia). Most of these Facebook friends recommend maintenance or what's otherwise called 'cosmetic change' to the regime. Others seem to be conspirators against the 'unprecedented' cooperation of biggest players in Ethiopian politics, the Oromo and Amhara people, against the ruling Tigrian elites group, TPLF. (The group claims to represent 6% of Ethiopian people (Tigrians) as compared to 62% - Amhara + Oromo people). The latter (of facebook friends suggesting solutions) claimed that it is only Oromo Protests that's genuine and some went far to portraying Amhara protests as an act of power mongering.
There is no Half Liberty!
In my opinion, it is hardly possible to give one sect of a society its freedom and denying the rest. Freedom will either be assured for all or is denied for all. One of the nations in Ethiopia cannot be given regional autonomy and proportional representation in the federation while others are denied these. It will be oppressed with the rest, or get freedom with them. Even TPLF (which is the supreme Front in the coalition of four parties in the name of EPRDF) including its makers and supporters will only get liberated or be free when it lets others free. The common understanding that a jailer is not free until it frees its prisoners is true. One has to free their prisoners to regain their freedom of movement; otherwise, they will have to be sitting there watching their victims.
So What to Do?
The solution should be all inclusive. But this happens only if all of us have the genuine intention to compromise on our interests for the sake of justice, fairness and peace. Now, all the power and opportunity is controlled by the ruling party, EPRDF. So, EPRDF must be the sole body willing for this to be true. The issue is freeing the party itself as well as its dissent. Otherwise, however its oppression increases, the public grievance and riot will also increase and the challenge that can be solved through compromise today may not tomorrow.
In this, maybe naïve, understanding of mine that EPRDF may become willing to hear alternative solutions, I suggest a filtered compilation of alternative solutions from what I heard of people's recommendations.
1) Apology
Ethiopian people deserve an apology. TPLF/EPRDF should ask the Ethiopian people an apology for all the mistakes and wrong doings that it has done from its conception up until today and even for leading the country to a dangerous end. This has to be done in a written format.
2) Amnesty and Warranty
We have to cross the bridge of past failures at some point. EPRDF should give amnesty and release all people who were convicted and are on hearings of court proceedings in relation to their political stance. The amnesty should not be with any pre- & post-conditions. In addition, the ruling group should cancel the proclamation that labelled dissent organizations as 'terrorists'; it should give warranty for the return of exiled politicians, journalists and activists so that they would be able to contribute for the political fate of their country. Rebel groups should also be given the guarantee to peacefully and legally act according to their political program. A proclamation of amnesty and warranty should be passed by the parliament as to this end.
3) Discourse
Anti-terrorism proclamation, the charity law and the press laws inacted in the country are used to restrict democratic discourse. Therefore, they should be cancelled for the time being until a legitemate house ratifies other ones (or until it amends them in a way) that don't stifle constitutional rights. In the mean time, successive and multiple country-wide dialogue that are broadcasted live in the state-owened television with the participation of all stake holders and with moderation of international rights groups should be conducted.
4) Election
Finally, by freezing the current parliament including the electoral board and by establishing a temporary electoral board of technocrats from other independent countries, there should a new election to be launched at ‘national’ and regional level.
Having suggested that, I have also considered possible criticisms for these alternative solutions:
A) These don't consider TPLF's position not to ever compromise;
B) A naïve comment that has assumed the recent protests have shakendown EPRDF's hold;
C) A solution that encourages dependency on foreign support;
D) A comment that disregarded the immediate necessity of resolving the controversial issues regarding federal structure, electoral system, Parliament system, land ownership and others in the constitution.
Regarding the first two possible comments (put in 'A' & 'B'), it is because I have the fear that the crisis we are in go worse than better that I wanted to take the risk of being ignored speaking rather than keeping quite. On the other hand, I suggested the participation of independent foriegn technocrats and rights groups because they are the only possible bodies who wouldn't have much interest to rig the election for transition. My answer for the possible criticism put in 'D' is my enthusiasm that if we once established a legitimate house of representatives, the rest would be taken care of by them. Controversial issues will always be there. But, in the way down the road from there, everything to reform including constitutional ammendments is possible for it is easy to do so once a platform is lay for democracy. The most urgent and important issue, for me, now is forming a legitimate government for the majority.
መፍትሄው የዘር ፖለቲካን እንዳይወለድ ማስቆም ህዝባዊ መንግስት መመስረት እንጂ ወያኔ አሁንም ህዝብን የሚያታልልበትን የረጅምና ያጭር እቅድ ይዞ መርዙን እየረጨ የመልካም አስተዳደር እጦት እያልፕ ህዝብን በጠራራ ፀሀይ በጥይት እየቆላ ያለን መንግስት ጆሮ መስጠት እንዲሁም የህወሀቱ ኢቲቪ ለህዝብ በጡጦ መልክ እያቀረበ ያለውን ውሸት የተሞላ ወተት ይህው አሁን ሁላችንም አቀርሽቶን እየጮህን ባለንበት በዚሁ ወቅት የትግሉ ባለቤት ህዝብ ነውና ወያኔ ራሱን ለድርድር ያዘጋጅ የሚሉ ሞኝ ወገኖች ቢኖሩም ህገመንግስቱን ለመናድ በሚል በርካታ ሙህራን በስራት በስደት ለግድያ በቁም እስር ሆነዋል ይህ ባለበት የዘር ፌድራሊዝም ከፋፍለህ ግዛን ስርአት ህዝብ ሊያስወግድ እንዲሁም ትግራይ ሪፐብሊክን ለመመስረት የአጎራባች ክልሎችን ማለትም በጌምድር ጨምሮ ለዘመናት በወንዝ በተራራና ባዛፎች የመቻቻል ችካሉን የነቀለው ወያኔ አንዳችም ለም መሬት እንደማያገኝ ህዝብ ቁጣውን አሳይቷል ማንነቱንም በደሙ አረጋግጧል እስካሁን ህዝብ ያልተዋጠለት ጥያቄ ቁርሾን ብንመለከት
የባንዲራችን ማንነት
አንቀፅ 39
የመሬት የማንነት
የሀገር ሉአላዊነት መደፈር
እነዚህን እንኳ እንዳንኳር ከታዩ በርካታ ስርአቱ ያቆሸሻቸው ጉዳዬች እንዳሉም አንዘነጋም ይህን መሰሉን የበሰበሰ ስርአት ለማስወገድ ህዝባችን አያንቀላፋም።
ድል የህዝብ ነው እንደሰው ተወልደን እንደብሄር ሳናስብ እንሙት።
መፍትሄው
-በማጭበርበር ስልጣንን ይዞ ምህዳሩን ያጠበበውን ማስወገድ
-የህዝብን ድምፅ ደፍኖ የጥይትን ድምፅ ሲሰማ የሚደሰትበትን ጆሮው ይክፈት
-የድርድር ግዜው ያለፈበት ነውና ስልጣኑን ለህዝብ ያስረክብ
-በራሱ ገንፍሎ የወጣን ህዝብ ፈቃድ አያስፈልገውም
-በፀረ ሽብር አዋጅ ስም አፈና ይቁም አዋጁ ንፁሀን ህዝቦችን እያፈነ እየገደለ ይገኛል
ሞት ለወያኔ ዘረኞች ቡድን
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The question itself offends one’s sensibilities.Is the answer to the extremely silly question not clear? It is the unconditional surrender of the enemy, which is Woyane Tigres’ occupation force. Period.
Whatever it takes, Ethiopians will bring these untamed, beastly savages to book for the unspeakable atrocities they have committed against us for years.
Those who label the AMHARA struggle as power mongering and the OROMO as genuine are supporters of the TPLF divide and rule policy and are wolf in sheep’s clothing type politicians-tribal politicians. What is their measurement and standard to say for and not-for “power” except their hate mongering mind set towards this genuine Ethiopian ethnic group. After all, its the AMHARA freedom struggle that has shaken the edifice of the TPLF/EPRDF deeply since began shortly. They afraid that the AMHARA raised high and put back in place the true Ethiopian freedom flag which they don’t like as they have no place in the future to benefit from racism and tribal politics reigned in and leading the country into ruin, destruction, corruption, suffering, destitution, hate, etc in the past 25 years. In truthful eyes, senses and observations, the AMHARA struggle is for freedom, Liberty, democracy and justice as is same for the rest of the Ethiopian people.
It’s a good solution but you forget the natures of TPLF.
One thing that readily comes to mind is an Ethiopia without TPLF and possibly Tigrai.
The TPLF, either through coercion or persuasion had created a mass Tigrean movement aimed at seceding from Ethiopia. They had in fact managed to break away as the previous fascist regime had pulled out the army from the region.
Thus, the solution lies in letting TPLF keep to their Tigrai. To that effect, Ethiopia’s border with future Tigai ( whatever name they may give it; perhaps Golden Republic of Tigrai) will be drawn once the dust settles- Woyanes are ejected.
Nobody can any longer create a rift between Amaras and Oromos. Many had been deceived, misled for years. The two great people more than any others, created the current Ethiopia as we know it.
Woyanes’ rhetoric confounded millions of gullible Ethiopians. They used the diabolical divisive strategy which worked for them for sometime.
Any devious and mischievous action we commit either as individual or a group will somehow have adverse consequences in the long run. Evil is never rewarded.
like millions of Ethiopians, my proud ancestors were Amaras and Oromos. I am proud of them because of their unwavering patriotism. Many died in Adwa as well as Maichew defending their motherland and the ungrateful forefathers of TPLF members. That these people chose to uproot the pillars of the nation by creating an artificial division between Amaras and Oromos, is an unforgivable crime for which they will pay very dearly.
Tigres perhaps with a few exceptions, have no sense of justice. They are so primitive that they do not think it is morally and legally wrong to favour a less qualified Tigre for a cerain post or scholarship. For a Tigre official generally, it is alright to prejudice a non-Tigrean however competent she or he may be.
This is the nature of the beast. They cannot do otherwise. The primitive folks mind is hard-wired that way. Their bias for their fellow Tigre is instinctive. They should be made to apply to rejoin Ethiopian in some sort of federation after proving to us that they have evolved- developed a sense of justice.
መፍትሄው ወያኔን ማስወገዱ ላይ ማተኮር ነው።
If there is no good governance, there is no good government. If there is no good government, the people has the right to get good government. When the people denied to exercise their rights to get good government, they straggle by any means necessary to realize their goal. The cause of the current Amhara and Oromo protest is not only bad governance but also a harsh human right violence, killing and genocide on Ethiopian people impose by the TPLF-led EPRDF government of Ethiopia for the past 25 years. To solve the problem it needs new ideas, new political reform and new governance. Identify the source of the problems, give right answers and be part of the straggle moment. ጥሩ አስተዳደርን የማግኘት መብቱ ከተከለከለ የመቃወም መብቱ በራሱ ፍቃድ ያረጋግጣል። አሁን ያለው ህዝባዊ ተቃውሞ መንስኤው የኢህአዴግ ብልሹ አሰራር ነው። እናም ኢህአዴግን በመደገፍ ችግሩን ማቃለል አይቻልም፤ ችግሩን ማባባስ ካልሆነ በቀር። ችግሩ ለመፍታት ሌላ አዲስ አስተዳደር፣ አዲስ አስተሳሰብ ያስፈልገናል። ስለዚህ አሁን ችግሩን ለማስወገድ የሚፈልግ የችግሩን መንስኤ ለይቶ በማወቅ ችግሩን ለማስወገድ በሚደረግ ትግል ይሳተፍ። በቃ ህዝብን ማስተዳደር ያልቻለ መንግስት ስልጣኑን ለህዝብ ያስረክብ።
TPLF/EPRDF is damaged beyond repair. The 3 pillars of government – the parliament, the executive and the judiciary are rotten corrupt and hollow. Including the security, the military, and the police, all are instruments of one ethnic group and one party (Tigrai and TPLF). One can not reform a stalinistic system to make it democratic. The only solution is to remove TPLF from power and disband its security, military and police apparatus and replace with a genuinely democratic system with people’s military and police force. These can not happen through negotiation with the fascist TPLF regime. Let’s not fool ourselves!
Ethiopians should strength their unity all over the Country and eliminate the dirty fascist slaves Tigray People Liberation Front from Ethoopia !!
United Ethiopians should say NO for Dirty Trash Tigre Leaders !!
God bless Ethiopia and United Ethiopians !!
Amien !!
United Ethiopians shouldn’t beg any cooperation from Tigraywan !!
NO !!
They should fight against their dirty trash and clean up their HOME Tigray first !!
We United Ethiopians know very well that they are still
SAFEGUARD or DEFEND their Fascist Chickens !!
Tigraywan People still Shield their Tigray People Liberation Front/ Killer trash party !!
Why we United Ethiopians begging Tigre to join the struggle against TPLF when we see them Protecting their dirty trash Chicken Party !!
NO we Shouldn’t !!
Tigre People should stand by them selves by the end when the time comes like this !!
We don’t beg them, but they did, they do and they will !!
God bless Ethiopia and United Ethiopians !!
AMIEN !!
In short, the solution to the predicament of Ethiopia and Ethiopians is the removal of the cause for our problem. That is the dismantling, removal, and destruction of TPLF/Woyane/EPRDF which is the reason for our problems.