E-Mailed to blackinformant.com by Young Ethiopian Diasporans
UPDATE: January 9, 2006
The farce that is Ethiopian democracy keeps unfolding, and were it not for people dying for it, it would be hilarious.
In a perverse way, you’ve got to hand it to Ethiopia’s government. It’s nothing if not long on a depraved sense of irony.
That was from a January 5 editorial in the Virginian-Pilot. Among the 131 people charged with “genocide” by the Ethiopian government is opposition leader Dr. Yacob Hailemariam, who “worked as the lead prosecutor for the United Nations’ International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, putting the genocidal thugs who murdered nearly 1 million Rwandan Tutsis behind bars.”
Dr. Yacob led a comfortable life in America. He was a business professor at Norfolk State University for nearly 20 years. When the opportunity came to serve his country, he retired early and moved to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He ran for a seat in parliament and won. Now he is in jail, facing the death penalty.
More articles on Dr. Yacob can be found here and here.
It is people like this who are fighting for democracy in Ethiopia.
A little bit of good news: The World Bank and the EU, after realizing that the government of Meles Zenawi is inflexibly brutal, have decided to withhold $375 million in direct aid to the Ethiopian government, deciding instead to direct aid through local NGOs.
Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) introduced a historic bill, HR 4423 , “to encourage and facilitate the consolidation of security, human rights, democracy, and economic freedom in Ethiopia.” Congressman Smith has proven himself a tireless supporter of democracy in Ethiopia, and it is because of people like him, people who fight for a cause seen as irrelevant by most others, that Ethiopia will eventually break the cycle of poverty and tyranny.
Meanwhile, Dr. Yacob “sits in prison because of a dogged belief in democracy and a faith in the power of American values.”
From the Virginian-Pilot:
Sphere: Related ContentYet we encourage brave souls like Hailemariam, who’ve embraced our values, to spread them in a tangible way. When they do, America has a moral duty to back them.
