An
Open Letter to the Peoples of the Nations & Nationalities of Ethiopia &
Eritrea in the Diaspora
By
Hailemariam Abebe
11-08-20
As all of you know, the man who slaughtered some sixty most senior government officials of the late Emperor Haile Selassie’s administration without the due process of law, the man who brought Communism to our sacred country, the man who unleashed the “Red Terror,” and war just about all over Ethiopia, lives in a mansion in Harare, Zimbabwe. Despite of his horrific crimes against humanity, the man who turned Ethiopia into the “Misery Index” of the world lives not only a normal life but an opulent life. But that is how Menguistu has been living to this day! The question is that how is that this man who literally changed our society’s sacred tenet, from that notion that we had on the reverence of life such that it could only be extinguished only by the Creator, to one, like a game in the Serengeti plains, disposable at a whim or one’s pleasure! What is even unconscionable is that there are those compatriots of ours who would like to have him return to the helm of power and have a go at us again! But what is even sadder is that history is about to repeat itself right now. No one would have imagined three years ago that, that young man with such an infectious smile and wonderful words, would turn out into a would be King, King Kong gorilla! But that is in fact what he had metamorphosed into. Just about until a few days ago, we had eight of the nine Kilils under command post, so many killed, imprisoned, and dislocated! Like never in the history of Ethiopia, our sovereignty over the Abay/Nile has fallen into the hands of our historical enemies, and the domestic and international interests of Ethiopia compromised! Government driven inter-ethnic and religious violence has mushroomed in our country, and the political leaders from the various Nations and Nationalities, have been killed and others imprisoned. And as of a few days ago, he has Tigray in the receiving end of a total war courtesy of the combined forces of some members of the Ethiopian armed forces and that of Isayas’s forced elderly recruits and soldiers. Despite his depraved barbarity however, the sun is setting on him! As reported a couple of days ago, the Ex-PM has already shipped his wife and children to the Americas. And as the Ethiopian people squeeze him anaerobic, those who served him extinguish so many lives and put our country in such an apocalyptic predicament, are about to flee the country and head either to Europe or the Americas. Some of Abiye’s killers have already been rewarded with diplomatic assignment overseas! As the flood gate is about to open ajar, those of us from the Nations and Nationalities of Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Diaspora, must never allow these killers to settle in the save heavens of the West! Never again, another Harare! If we want justice done and ensure peace and security guaranteed by a democratic law in our countries, those of us in the Diaspora must do our part for such an outcome! Those of who live in the West, live in democratic countries. We live in countries where the rule of law is supreme, and where criminals with crimes against humanity in their hands, could be held accountable for the crimes they left behind. We have legal experts from the various Nations and Nationalities of Ethiopia and Eritrea in the Diaspora. It is the least we can do to give justice to the tens of thousands of our compatriots whose lives have been extinguished by these killers, imprisoned and tortured by equally if not more tens of thousands and made refugees by the hundreds of thousands in their own countries! We must too, do all we can so that the money looted from the Ethiopian and Eritrean people, never ends up financing their lavish lifestyles in the Diaspora but returned to the Ethiopian and Eritrean people! But that is not all we can do. Those of us in the legal profession have a role to play too. We should identify those killers who have made it to the West, and let the people of the democratic West know who is hiding in their midst by holding peaceful and legally sanctioned demonstrations so that the authorities of the Western countries, can be aware of these criminals, deny them political asylum and even prosecute them for the crimes against humanities the have committed at home! In this regard, one may wonder what about the wife of the Ex-PM and other wives of those husbands who have perpetuated crimes against humanity? Obviously, it is their husbands who have committed the crimes and not the wives! But even though the wives may be innocent of human rights violations, but they may be the Trojan Horses for the loots of their husbands! And so, if not for human rights violations but for the fact that they may have escaped with the public’s money, and for drawing the attention of what their husbands are doing in Ethiopia and Eritrea now, those of us in the Diaspora must organize and let the people of the West know who is in their midst! And there is still more, we can do. It is one thing to campaign for legitimate political stand. For example, ESAT, Ethio360, The Habesha, OMN or Tigray Media House, have the right to support a legitimate political organization with legitimate political stand. In fact, we need such a healthy political discourse so that the best ideas could come to the top and save our country from the cycle of tragedies. But what should be forbidden is that no media outlet advocates for inter-ethnic, religious or any other agenda which could result in inter-ethnic, religious, and other crimes against humanity. And so, not only should we become vigilant against those top dogs of the Abiye and Isayas regimes with blood of our people in their hands but also those who may either set ethnic and religious fires but also pour jet fuels into the burning inferno using media outlets from their safe heavens in the democratic West!
