TPLF's Environmental Terror !!!

Tedla Asfaw



The Koka Lake I know has turned green thanks to the chemicals damped to the lake. Fertilizers, Nitrogen, Potassium and Phosphorus heavily used to produce commercial flowers and the untreated water from factories surrounding  Addis Ababa are the main causes. The less than thirty minutes  video on Al Jazeera, " People and Power and Green Lake " aired on Feb 21 is now posted on www.nazerth.com and it is a must see, what I call another terror by TPLF, environmental terror that feed the algae while killing our people.

Mothers lost many  children due to the carcinogen which is now contaminating Lake Koka and people are dying that was not the case the Koka I know more than twenty years ago. Al Jazeera billed  the program as a cost of the heavy growth of Addis Ababa and its surroundings and avoid to blame the government who owned most of the these polluting industries and flower farms.

Except one European owner of the flower farm around Lake Ziway far from the Green Lake of Koka no owner comes in public to be interviewed. The Ethiopian tyrant while he was addressing his Youth in Addis Ababa few weeks ago, there was one question of water related hazard for which he blames the hide industry and that was a one minute question and answer and so much for the concern of the government.

Ethiopia has no government that is accountable for the health and the safety of its citizens and that is the bottom line. Human lives are secondary and Al Jazeera if it zoomed its lenses they could have shown children, young and elderly with no home  begging in the surrounding government owned high rises.

The sad thing is foreign partners of this regime do also  miss the Green Lake. Haven't they seen or took pictures on their cell phone  on their weekend driving to Sodere ?  Polluted rivers in  Europe and USA are now back to life supporting  fish and  become a recreational area after years of toxic damping and poor Ethiopia is encouraged to destroy its water resources by pumping loans for a regime that is making fast money at the expense of poor Ethiopian farmers ? Why are we not learning from other countries or we have to first  grow by destroying our ecosystem and then start cleaning the mess ?

In a country where there is not any law that protects the public, it might be considered a luxury to look for environmental law. However, this is a criminal case where the harm is done to our people purposely and someone has to be accountable.

 

Fitawerari Geza Reda ordeal in the hands of TPLF

Tedla Asfaw


Fitawerare Geza Reda told us his ordeal almost four decades ago on Addis Dimts (Feb. 15 2009 ) www.addisdimts.com. He was tortured on fire accused of being a member of Ethiopian Democratic Union (EDU) a party formed in Tigray after the  the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. There is an Ethiopian saying, let someone who witnessed the event speaks and let someone who buried a loved one talk about the dead person, "Mane Yawere Yenebere, Mane Yenager Ye Kebere" . This was a chilling interview and the elderly man's voice is still shaking in outrage after  forty years .

There are many sad stories similar to the one Fitawerari Geza  narrated on this one hour program but what this one makes it chilling is this elderly man can be  our father or grandfather  exiled never to be buried on his motherland. This story is also timely because the criminals who abused him are now preparing to celebrate their "victory" on Yekatit 11.

 Yekatit 11, to Fitawerari Geza and thousands he mentioned who are still locked up and their whereabouts are not known for four decades, is a nightmare.  The reason why TPLF not freed thousands it jailed when they were marching to Addis Ababa eighteen years ago is clear because these victims have many stories to tell. Leaders like Debteraw of EPRP and  thousands are in one of the prisons Fitawerari mentioned on his interview.

TPLF wants to hide this crime, to be forgotten and tell the Tigrayans to celebrate the formation of TPLF on Yekatit 11. Sure we will  remember this day for the long time because of such brutality which is the trademark of TPLF and those who are responsible for this crime should face trial. There is no expiration date for a crime, truth has to come out or "Hisabe Mawerarade".

The likes of Abebe Teklehaimonte/General of TPLF Fitawerari mentioned and others who have blood on their hands should be remembered for their brutality as modern day fascists in North Ethiopia, Tigray on Yekatit 11 for years to come. We have to encourage all who  are alive to come out in open and expose the crime committed to them, friends  or family members.

What TPLF did to this elderly man has been replicated in all corners of Ethiopia and three years ago the Addis Ababa residents got their fair share by  TPLF Agazis. The recent crime in Eastern Ethiopia, Ogaden  is well documented and the perpetrators will face justice one day. 

Fitawerai Geza Reda and all others who fought TPLF did there part and paid for it. It is true that the Tigray people has been on war for the last forty years and many time fighting TPLF. The people are now subdued by gun like the rest of Ethiopia and the TPLF strategy of isolating Tigray for its future hiding place will be defeated by Tigray people. Tigray will never be a base again for fascists.

The divide and rule of TPLF will be defeated if we separate the proud people of Tigray like Fitawerari Geza from few fascist looters and rise up as one. 

Tekeze Dam on its first anniversary

Tedla Asfaw

I followed the interview Meles Zenawi  gave to an Ethiopian audience this past week. For the question of making Ethiopia an exporter of power while domestic power shortage including the capital Addis Ababa, the answer he gave and caught my ear was the completed Tekeze Dam a year ago which is still not operational.

The completed Tekeze Dam reservoir is too low to generate power accodring to Meles. If we build the dam based on hydrological study of the area  dry seasons will force a lower capacity. The other reason might also be a grander structure for political reason and if that is the case we will never have enough discharge to fill the dam to its capacity. The truth will be known on the coming year or years.

Unaccountable regime like Meles Zenawi do not take  responsibility for the cost of such huge projects. If this huge dam never to be operational because of lack of water the cost will be for poor Ethiopians since it was  built with foreign loan. If the catchment area of the dam is deforested as many believe it is not only we will have shortage of water but we will have unavoidable silt problem.

We have silt problems affecting dams in Ethiopia and the Awash Dam which was built more than fifty years ago is at the end of its life mainly because of silt problem but Tekeze is the first dam in Ethiopia  not to be operational for lower reservoir capacity on its first anniversary.

Is prejudice based on skin color unique to Ethiopia ?

Tedla Asfaw

I read a piece by Obang , Aiga Vs. Obang, eleven pages posted on many websites and I want to bring my own observation to help the discussion. Few years ago there was an archaeological/paleontological study in middle east which concluded that Jesus is a short dark skinned man. When survey was made  to see the reaction of people to this study  in Europe and South America,more than 90 percent of the people most of them  white/light skinned and some brown rejected the study and concluded that Jesus can not be black.

In neighboring Somalia many dark skinned Somalis were killed and chased as slaves because of their dark skin. We have many of them settled here in USA. In Iraq half million Iraqis are treated as second class citizens because of their dark skin and are expecting change because of the Black President Obama.

What Obang mentioned in his piece about Ethiopia is true but it should have been put in context. The Ogaden movement or OLF movement is not led by people of "dark skin" and their struggle is not to be free from the "light skinned" Ethiopians. I do not know any movement for that matter in Ethiopia who wants to be free from Ethiopia because of skin color.

During Siad Bare's Somalia the propaganda coming from Mogadishu was insulting "Kucherawe Mengistu/ Mengistu the slave" and his father "Menelik Barreywe/slave" and I have not heard such insult against King Haile Selasse. Many African leaders  and for that matter many Africans supported Mengstu for being dark and condemned those who opposed him for being racist or light skinned.

We know Mengistu killed all who challenged his power and I do not know anyone who was saved because of his skin color. If we draw a skin color map, light skinned,brown and dark the struggle in Ethiopia will be very complicated because there is no one major ethnic group in Ethiopia who do not compromise substantial percentage of dark skinned people like myself.

It is good to talk about skin color in open,however, I do not believe it will help us solve our political problem. Prejudice against skin color is a world wide phenomenon and it is not unique to Ethiopia.