Poor Ethiopians payment for survival !!

Tedla Asfaw



Addis dimts Radio on its September 7 broadcast disclosed the 2001 Ethiopian Calender EPRDF/TPLF's expected income from Ethiopian poor farmers and government employees which totals to  16,500,000  Ethiopian Birr. The farmers will pay about 7,000,000 Birr and  the government employees about 9,5000,000 Birr. Urban dwellers, students and the proletariat will shed half million Birr and EPRDF/TPLF's "officially "disclosed budget for the coming year will total to 17,000,000 Birr.

This is the money squeezed from our poor urban and rural people on top of what TPLF collects from its so called private companies by controlling all the economic sectors in the country. Most of the profit is invested also out of country and generates  millions of dollars for Meles and his cohorts. This is  TPLF's style of  "Development" and that is the reason why TPLF will not allow any freedom inside our country because such blatant corruption and exploitation of our people will not survive the public protest in a democracy.

TPLF will not leave power nor share with any "opponents" because it will lose its financial domination and most of its business empires which are acquired illegally will no doubt will be put back under the public control.

This official budget disclosure  for the year 2001 EC is also to show "transparency" for its financial donors that all is on the book but the fact of the matter is what is disclosed is just a tiny fraction of the TPLF's book. TPLF's book is not even disclosed for the so called its own ordinary members let alone for the Ethiopian people or foreign donors. Billions of dollars are stashed in foreign banks looted from Ethiopians while our country  is known around the world as a beggar nation.

TPLF's inner circles are now millionaires and within few years we will have billionaires par with the nearby oil reach countries. Whereas more than fourteen million people are currently starving among whom are millions of children. TPLF which started its business empire early in the 1980s by confiscating and selling donated food for famine is currently will make millions of dollar profit from current famine..

A business empire of TPLF which started from donated food for famine is now  similarly  profiting from selling donated food for urban and rural starved Ethiopians in open market. These poor Ethiopians are  forced also to shade 17,000,000 Birr to get favour on their daily life from their master, TPLF. This is payment from millions of  Ethiopian "slaves" for survival to "master" TPLF in the twenty first century.

Axum Obelisk erection should be a national holiday !!!

Tedla Asfaw


Axum Obelisk erected back in Axum, Ethiopia  yesterday after seventy years of "exile" in Rome, Italy in front of the office of Food Agricultural Organization (FAO). Tourists who traveled to Italy including many Ethiopians had a chance to see it. However, the young Zeraye Deresse was no ordinary "tourist" who appreciates the obelisk to go back  home and sleep.

Zeraye Deresse was angered by seeing the treasure of his beloved country erected on foreign soil and lashed out. We  learned this patriot story in school and we heard also different "story" from the TPLF's boss Meles that downgrade the importance of Axum Obelisk  for Ethiopia and Ethiopians eigtheen years ago.

Meles said, "What has Axum to do for non-Tigrayans ?" and we heard also from his short speech yesterday on the ceremony of erecting the obelisk in Axum that did not equate the glory of Axumite Kingdom with one ethnic group rather as a history of Ethiopia. However, by not celebrating  this holiday as a national historical day for all Ethiopians he did not come clean for his past crime, declaring what Axum Obelisk  has to do for non-Tigrayans.

This is Ethiopia's history and we the children of Ethiopia and the whole Africa  should be proud of it for coming home. Adults should  teach and educate the importance of this monument for their children. Had Zeraye Deresse the power it should not have taken us seventy years to bring it home.

We should also honor Zeraye Deresse by  portraying him and his sword  in the vicinity of the obelisk to educate future generations that someone paid his dear life  to bring it back home.

I have no doubt that the day of the return of the obelisk and its erection after three years of hard work was possible by  historians  like that of  of Richard Pankhurst who loved Ethiopia, the Italian government to come clean for its past crime and the hard work of our engineers and they are all our Zeraye Deresses.

Name change with the same foundation !!!

Tedla Asfaw

Engineer Hailu Shawel after trying all avenues to reclaim the "kinijit" name which was sold on a flea market at a retail level not wholesale by TPLF forced to take another avenue according to his yesterday interview with VOA Amharic and reclaim the name "Melaw Ethiopia Andenet Dereget"/ All Ethiopia Unity Party/AEUP rather than as he said "seat and cry". Make no mistake, AEUP is more than ninety percent of Kinijit/CUDP that voted "Kinijit" in the stolen election of May 2005 and had wide support in the cities and rural Ethiopia. This action is a survival action and it is not and will not guarantee AEUP to function freely in today's Ethiopia. AEUP had a record of mobilizing millions of Ethiopians before the May 2005 election and was and is the root and stem of  CUD/Kinijit party that was formed including  some new comers like "Rainbow", TPLF's planted Lidetu's party and Beyene's party. Engineer Hailu is on a new mission, he is taking huge risk for himself and his supporters on challenging TPLF once more and as he said he will not be part of any election to give legitimacy for the ruling mafia in 2010 unless  the right to organize and assemble is respected for our people. If the recent so called "local election" is a clue, TPLF is ready to rule for more years to come by buying votes and fielding millions of candidates and AEUP will not be part of such a joke and such willing collaborators are plenty in the name of "opposition", the likes of Lidetu and other new comers.

Politicized famine in Ethiopia !!!

Tedla Asfaw

I do not understand why the international organization failed to hold the Ethiopian regime responsible for its denial of famine in South and Eastern Ethiopia. The Meles regime even went further and is downgrading the famine to shortage of food and  declaring that there is plenty and what is in "his Ethiopia" is lack of money to buy food.

Southern Ethiopia is devastated, many children are perishing and the on going visit by the high official will find this reality. I am sure he or she could have been informed very well on the devastation on Southern and Eastern Ethiopia from similar visits by previous visitors.  The problem we have in Ethiopia is international committee that failed to declare Ethiopia is under famine for political reason  pressured by West.

Let us all agree Ethiopians are dying from famine and the current regime and its financiers are accountable for it.

Moreover, the only difference between this famine and  the previous famine in Ethiopia is this famine is going on under the  watchful eye of rich Western democracy.