Zenebe G. Tamirat
(Last Minute Appeal)
President Obama’s visit to authoritarian Ethiopia is fast approaching.
Soon he will step on the blood-washed streets of
Addis Ababa where students remained silent unable to breathe and unreciprocated
to their homes because they were shot by brutal
TPLF forces on their way back from scholol. Soon, he will step into the
bloody streets of Addis where hundreds were mascaraed because they were
demonstrating against injustice, suppression of human rights, and oppression of
freedom. Soon he will breathe in the Air
of Ethiopia, the stink of the remnants of hundreds of Agnuwak and Amhara victims
of genocide that the tyrants who invited the president mascaraed indiscriminately.
The President is doing all these in spite of the many
complaints addressed to him concerning the human right violations of strict Ethiopia where dictatorship rules. Most
of all, he is doing it contradicting his belief voiced in his famous speech
while visiting Ghana in 2009, “Africa does not need strong men, it needs strong
institutions.”
Some people think the President’s visit may turn good
because he may discuss human right issues with the tyrants at home. I doubt it.
I have a reservation on this because the President had the tyrants in his office
only a few months ago and hardly mentioned the human
rights issue. He only murmured a few words on an election that he hoped to be free but turned to be right in Nowhere
on earth except in North Korea.
Some innocent guys even tried to add some points to add to
his agenda in the bilateral talk. In vain. The
tyrants at home have already started imprisoning opposition party members. On
the pretext of “thinking to disturb peace during President Obama visit,” many
are being detained. Mind you it
is not “planning” it is “thinking.”
The case of the legitimate President of the All Ethiopia
Unit Party, Mamushet Amare, can be cited here. He was arrested accused of
instigating violence during a demonstration against ISIS, who slaughtered Ethiopians in Libya. But the allegation being
unfounded he was set free by a court that was hearing the case. However, the police refused to obey and release the
prisoner. Therefore, the victim has remained in jail right up to the date of
this article. It so happened, presumably,
because the authoritarian TPLF thinks that the victim “may think” a demonstration during the visit of President Obama. Therefore,
his visit to Ethiopia is instigating even more authoritarian
ferocity instead of reducing the extent of human rights violations.
Media like the Washington Post,
however, do not share the idea of the above well-wishers. Instead, they try to show the president the real feeling
of the People of Ethiopia as a whole. They, mainly reflect what Ethiopians in
the Diaspora particularly those in the U.S. sense. They also press the president to consider the issue
of human rights before his visit Authoritarian Ethiopia. In doing so,
they consented expert ideas. Sara Morgan, Human Rights Watch, Director in
Washington DC, for example, is cited referring
Ethiopia as a “human rights disaster” as reported by the website, “East African.
(http://www.theeastafrican.co.ke/news/Obama-criticised-for-scheduling-visit-to-Ethiopia/-/2558/2767132/-/y8065bz/-/index.html).
As quoted by the Washington Post,
Former President Bush director of operation, Joseph Hagin consents that “The real key on any of these
trips is, ‘What’s the deliverable? What good would the visit do? ” The post also quoted Hagin as have said. “If
you think you’re going to get a commitment to change behavior, and you think
that’s valuable, that could be enough to go.” The question is “Is the
deliverable human rights issue? Assistants of the President say the United States and Ethiopia have a lot
of questions. But they do not assure the
public the visit stresses the issue of human rights.
The Washington Times indicates
that there are´”
growing fears that Mr. Obama will largely sidestep any talk of human rights and
democratic reforms during his visit, a silence that activists fear will be
taken as a sign of support for the current government.” There is no doubt about this. The U.S. relationship with Pinochet of Latin America
and Habre’, who is often referred to as the “Pinochet of Africa” is a living witness
for the U.S. deal with dictators.’The cover is a step in exchange to what they
call the preservation of “American interest” in the region.
Although many democratic forces of the world have protested
the President’s visit to Ethiopia, the President has turned a deaf ear to all.
What we want the President to consider was nothing but a universal human right
issue and not political support. Since our appeal
to cancel his visit fails, I should be obliged to insist on including the notorious
“Qality Prison” in his list of sights to see in Ethiopia as suggested by a
writer before this article. This idea is not my invention, but it is my last minute appeal; for, there, the
President may learn where exactly “hell” on earth is. Otherwise, his visit to
Ethiopia cannot be complete and worthwhile!
The writer Zenebe Tamirat is available at ztamira@yahoo.com
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