The Contest for The New Prime Minister And the Way Forward in Ethiopia part three

By Orion Demame
Tigrai Online, March 20, 2018

The Signs of Colour Revolution

There were so many colour revolutions in many countries some of which went terribly wrong.  Most notable of them are the Libyan, the Syrian and Ukrainian.  It is well known that the former Libyan leader Colonel Khadafy was an alai of the West in fighting Al Khaida who had a strong foothold in the Easter province, Benghazi.  When the Arab Spring started in Tunisia, the Al Khaida in Benghazi launched attack against the government.  When the government tried to protect its citizens from Al Khaida, the masters of destruction sided with the same terrorists that they claimed were fighting to eliminate and stood against a sovereign country.  They then used the usual human rights protection pretext that they devised to subdue, and control developing countries and unleashed an assault on Libya from air, land and sea only to destroy and then abandoned it to its destiny.  Similarly, they wanted regime change in Syria and pumped massive resources and modern weapons to various terrorist groups including ISIS that would give a hand to achieve their design for that country.  The war that started six years ago and still going on has left most of the infrastructure and the buildings in ruins and took the lives of about 700,000 people, left many injured including over 10 million displaced and refugees.  Yemen situation is a modern human tragedy where infrastructure including schools, hospitals, potable water facilities, etc are bombed daily this time with the help of a neighbouring brotherly country, Saudi Arabia.  As we speak, 16 million out of a population of 27 million Yemenis have no potable water and food.  The situation is exacerbated by a blockage which the western main stream media chose not to report.   Another intervention by the West was in Ukraine.  Before the conflict, Ukraine had a vibrant economy governed by a democratically elected president.  A certain group of ultra-right groups some of which belonged to Stepan Bandera who was a Nazi collaborator and a war criminal made an unlawful coup d'état against a sitting president with the help of the West.  They then put Western friendly government to which the Eastern part of the country opposed the illegal regime change that left them out.  The peaceful opposition was then interpreted as a revolt and, as a result, a brutal war has been unleashed on the East and is still going on. 

They even tried in Ethiopia using the Muslim "DimTsachin Yisema" incantation that was curtailed with utmost wisdom and speed, the Ethiopian way.  But that wisdom and speed was nowhere to be found this time around.  riot and unrest in Ethiopia has much resemblance to that of Ukraine.  Like the Ukrainian in the initial stage, the Ethiopian rioters have no leader or at least they are not visible.  The rioters in Ukraine staged a coup d'état against a democratically elected government.  The ones in Ethiopia also aim to bring down the government by force.  The rioters in both countries are few that never represent the populations but able to shout very loud.  If we look at the sequence of events in Ethiopia, it is impossible for a very few peasant Amhara and Oromos to stage such a well-coordinated and choreographed destruction in the country.  It is also impossible to believe that the instability created by the hooligans was spontaneous.  Not at all, they have taken time to plan and execute in what looked to have militaristic content which the intelligence must have missed at one point or another.  Of course, there is nothing that the Ethiopian government can't do if it gets to work, of course, the Ethiopian way.  But the architects of the colour revolution have changed the strategy and made it a bit complicated.  While the unsuspecting government was focussed on the economic development trajectory, the agents of destruction immersed themselves in some of the opposition parties and the two state governments.  One doesn't need to be a rocket scientist to find the clues. 

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It is well known fact that Western countries shelter some who call themselves Ethiopian Opposition Parties. In my view they opposition parties.  If they were oppositions parties, they should then live in Ethiopia because the very people they claim to lead are in Ethiopia and not elsewhere?  The truth is they are not what they claim to be.  Rather, most of them are criminals and thugs that escaped justice for their crimes committed in Ethiopia.  Irrespective of that, they disseminate fake news, imagined lies and incitements on various media outlets in contravention to the laws of the countries where they reside.  To start with, the Amhara State top leadership and his cohort are prime suspects of working with the terrorist group that calls itself Ginbot-7.  Some media outlets covered at the time that an agent/member of the terrorist group participated at one of the conferences organised by the former state government.  Gedu was heard at one time that his administration would be willing to work together with opposition parties domiciled abroad although not clear with whom.  The bottom line is the so-called Diaspora opposition parties are sworn to tear the Ethiopian constitution and would be crime to work with any or all unless they recognise the constitution and accept to improve on it rather than tear it.  Negussu Tilahun has also been giving interviews to unfriendly media outlets.  Dr Berhanu Nega, the leader of the terrorist group Ginbot-7 who started praising the State Leadership, has on several occasions claimed that he would cooperate even with the devil if it meant to bring down the EPRDF Government.  So, as I see it, it would be naive not to suspect that he would use the Amhara State as a conduit for the colour revolution.  Moreover, while it was expected a change of leadership in the Sate despite a series of mishaps and incompetence, ANDM chose to continue with the status quo hoping that it would finish the unfinished task of the undergoing colour revolution. 

Some of the local opposition parties are also known to shuttle between their offices and the foreign embassies, such as the US.  We all remember Dr Merara Gudina of Oromo National Congress and Ato Yilikal Getnet of Semayawi Party who spent time in the US during the first Emergency Decree last year.  Obviously, they must have been there acquiring the necessary tool kits to stage a successful colour revolution otherwise what would they have been doing there when their electorates are here in Ethiopia.  They returned to Ethiopia just at the time the decree was lifted hoping that the events went their way successfully and that they were ready to assume government.   To their dismay, the colour revolution then failed.  But they were not discouraged, they rather continued organising for the second round.  Ato Lidetu Ayalew is another spoiler that has shown much contempt to the ruling party and continues to spew poison to the Ethiopian people.  I wonder why the media brought him for interviews frequently when he never showed adequate capacity to provide fair, intelligent, unbiased, balanced and based on facts rather than myth answers to the hard questions posed to him.  I have difficulty where to put him in the political barometer as he always moves from one end to the other hoping to desperately scavenge political gains.  He is neither party leader nor expert in any field.  His modest knowledge and good communication skills without taking the substance into consideration should be recognised though.  Since he is very hungry to assume the highest position in the country, I would argue that he is a perfect candidate to be a facilitator towards the colour revolution.  Besides, his connection in Ethiopia is extremely small as almost all his relatives are in the United States.

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The recent revelation in the house of parliament should also indicate in the direction of the colour revolution.  I can't say that all the 152 MP no voters, abstainers and absentees at the vote for the Emergency Decree last week would have anything to do with the colour revolution.  But it would be natural to suspect that most of them have in one way or the other a link to that.  Some may have involuntarily joined the ranks to hide their involvement in corruption.  The vote was not about tax increase or decrease.  It was not about deciding whether a highway project should be to the east or south east of the city either.  It was about stopping the ongoing destruction and bring law and order to in country.  Most importantly, it was about whether Ethiopia should continue as a country or not.  If I may borrow Shakespeare's famous phrase, it is about "to be or not to be".   The peace-loving Ethiopians who crave more development rather than see what they already have being burnt down will never forget these enemies of the state and will soon punish them soon.

A final clue I want to point out is that of the US Embassy in Ethiopia.  The new Ambassador through his press officer did not take time to strongly condemn Ethiopia for declaring the Emergency Decree.  This is unheard of before even during the Military Government that they had strong disagreement with among others on democracy and governance issues.  What did His Excellency the Ambassador expect the Ethiopian government do when the country was being destroyed by hooligans who did not even have leaders?  Besides, there was no one to take responsibility from the hooligan’s side that was willing to sit with the government and find solutions to their grievances. The demands that they wanted fulfilled overnight were also plenty and multiplying by the day.  Of course, the leaders were hiding somewhere.  The Ambassador's quick reaction has really mesmerised me.  In the first place, I don't think he has any right to meddle in the Ethiopian affairs.  Secondly, he should present his advice or concern to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which is the proper channel for him.  Third, he should first consult the appropriate body before throwing damaging condemnation in the media.  I believe the Ambassador did it purposely with intent of destructing Ethiopia from its operation and at the same time send a coded message to the hooligans that the US supports their actions in destroying the country and that they don't need to back down.  So, all these seem to work in union to make the colour revolution a success.  A wise top diplomat Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, mended the Ambassador's fault by saying that "the United States understands Ethiopia's need for the Emergency Decree and hoped to shorten the duration".  Of course, Mr Tillerson.  Ethiopia have no love for Emergency Decrees, it is only out of necessity.

Continue to part four

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