Prime Minster of Norway,
Dear Prime Minster,
I grew up in Addis Ababa and had contact with the Norwegian missionary in my neighborhood. I still remember the service the Norwegian missionaries gave to our neighborhood in the 1970s before the 1974 Ethiopian revolution.However, I had not a chance to visit Norway when I was a student in Belgium, 1985-1987 to see how Norwegians live and what made them kind to fellow human beings.
I have been granted political asylum in United States since 1989 but never went back to Ethiopia after the fall of the military dictatorship of Mengistu Hailemariam. Ethiopia under Meles Zenawi in fact break a record for sending the young educated people out of Ethiopia for the lack of basic freedom, right to assemble, write and speak. We can say without any exaggeration that Ethiopia is a country not to return to but to run away from for most of the young educated people.
The news of Ethiopian asylum seekers who fled the Meles Zenawi regime threatened by your government to be sent back to Ethiopia is incomprehensible to most of us who are following it closely. Ethiopians have staged a hunger strike on harsh weather condition in Oslo and I am afraid lives might be lost unless you intervene kindly. Norway is an old friend of Ethiopia and I want you to give the asylum seekers legal protection.
I want to assure you that the estimated one million refugees in the diaspora will go back to Ethiopia when our people get back their dignity after they remove Meles Zenawi 's led ethnofascist dictatorial regime that has been financed by the West including Norway for the last two decades.
Regimes come and go what will remain is the historical relationship between the good people of Norway and the Ethiopian people. Ethiopians love their country and have never stopped worrying about their people and try to help our people struggle by informing the people of the Western countries. The last week Munich Ethiopians protest estimated to be more than one thousand is one of the recent effort by the Ethiopian diaspora
The sad reality is the Western leaders took our shyness as a sign of endorsement of their failed policy towards our country. If it takes our personal sacrifice to get your policy review we will be doing it and Ethiopians in Oslo are doing it right now, lives will be lost on the process. Liberty and freedom demand that unfortunately.
Sincerely,
Tedla Asfaw
USA
Dear Prime Minster,
I grew up in Addis Ababa and had contact with the Norwegian missionary in my neighborhood. I still remember the service the Norwegian missionaries gave to our neighborhood in the 1970s before the 1974 Ethiopian revolution.However, I had not a chance to visit Norway when I was a student in Belgium, 1985-1987 to see how Norwegians live and what made them kind to fellow human beings.
I have been granted political asylum in United States since 1989 but never went back to Ethiopia after the fall of the military dictatorship of Mengistu Hailemariam. Ethiopia under Meles Zenawi in fact break a record for sending the young educated people out of Ethiopia for the lack of basic freedom, right to assemble, write and speak. We can say without any exaggeration that Ethiopia is a country not to return to but to run away from for most of the young educated people.
The news of Ethiopian asylum seekers who fled the Meles Zenawi regime threatened by your government to be sent back to Ethiopia is incomprehensible to most of us who are following it closely. Ethiopians have staged a hunger strike on harsh weather condition in Oslo and I am afraid lives might be lost unless you intervene kindly. Norway is an old friend of Ethiopia and I want you to give the asylum seekers legal protection.
I want to assure you that the estimated one million refugees in the diaspora will go back to Ethiopia when our people get back their dignity after they remove Meles Zenawi 's led ethnofascist dictatorial regime that has been financed by the West including Norway for the last two decades.
Regimes come and go what will remain is the historical relationship between the good people of Norway and the Ethiopian people. Ethiopians love their country and have never stopped worrying about their people and try to help our people struggle by informing the people of the Western countries. The last week Munich Ethiopians protest estimated to be more than one thousand is one of the recent effort by the Ethiopian diaspora
The sad reality is the Western leaders took our shyness as a sign of endorsement of their failed policy towards our country. If it takes our personal sacrifice to get your policy review we will be doing it and Ethiopians in Oslo are doing it right now, lives will be lost on the process. Liberty and freedom demand that unfortunately.
Sincerely,
Tedla Asfaw
USA
