Ethiopia: Where are Bekele Gerba and Olbana Lelisa?

The Horn Times News April 13, 2013,,by Getahune Bekele, South Africa

Ethiopia in distress as the TPLF junta begins sending key political prisoners to remote jails

*where are Bekele Gerba and Albana Lelisa?

Despite holding thousands political prisoners in  dungeons of the reclusive iron curtain province of Tigre where the ruling Tigre People Liberation Front, TPLF reigns supreme, the minority junta is currently going ahead with its evil plan of dispatching key political prisoners to remote jails where torture and execution is prevalent.

Some well known Oromo and Amhara political prisoners accused of having links to Ginbot-7 and OLF have been violently taken from Klinto prison in Addis Ababa to malaria and bubonic plague infested seaside concentration camp of Zeway, near the rift valley in southern Ethiopia.

Regarding the reason for this disturbing move, the only thing clear is that at least overcrowding for common offenders, but for political prisoners, there was no prior pretext to justify their clandestine departure from Addis Ababa.

Jailed Ethiopian female journalist Reeyot Alemu in critical condition

The Horn Times Newsletter 13 April 2013
by Getahune Bekele, South Africa

*spare Reeyot, CPJ pleads with Berhan Hailu

Her predicament touched millions of hearts around the world in 2012 when it was established that she had a malignant tumor in her breast which prompted her lawyer father and others to plead with the late Ethiopian despot Meles Zenawi for clemency on humanitarian grounds.

However, the fiend fuehrer refused to pardon Reeyot, an iconic figure in Ethiopian free media fraternity and she went under the knife, and rushed back to jail in most brutal show of barbarity by the hateful prison authorities.

But against all odds, even after being forced to recuperate in filthy cell, the courageous Reeyot survived.

Held since 2011 on trumped up terrorism charge alongside blogger Eskinder Nega and young politicians Andualem Aragie and Natinael Mekonnen, in the past two weeks there were reports of heated exchanges between Reeyot and the extremely rigid wardens who threatened to put her in solitary confinement for two months.

Then those reports were followed by yesterday’s disturbing news of her illness, appeared on moonofthesouth BlogSpot written by renowned African journalist Issa Sikiti Da Silva.

According to Da Silva who lamented the terrible state of journalism in countries like Djibouti, Somalia and Ethiopia; CPJ, a New York based media watchdog has written an open letter to Ethiopian justice minister Berhan Hailu, pleading with him to spare the already ailing Reeyot and relax her tight prison condition.

“Prison authorities have threatened Reeyot with two months of solitary confinement as punishment for alleged bad behavior toward them and threatening to publicize human rights violations by prison guards, according to sources close to the journalist who spoke to the international women’s media foundation on condition of anonymity. CPJ has independently verified the information. Reeyot has also been denied access to adequate medical treatment after she was diagnosed with a tumor in her breast” CPJ’s letter sent to Birhan Hailu by its executive director Joel Simon reads.

“We would like to draw your attention to 2011 report by Juan E Mendez, the United Nations special rapporture on torture, in which he urged the prohibition of ‘the imposition of solitary confinement as punishment- either as judicially imposed sentence or a disciplinary measure.’ We would also remind you that Ethiopia is a signatory to the United Nations convention against Torture and other cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or punishment and is legally bound to uphold these principles.” The letter which was distributed to diplomats and various human rights institutions says.

Nevertheless, it remains to be seen how warlord Berhan Hailu, a Meles Zenawi loyalist who is well aware of the plight of more than 56,000 political prisoners would respond to CPJ’s plea.

How Can You Make A Deal With A Power Hungry Priest Who Is Driven By The Devil?

The Devil’s Shepherd and Advocate, Aba Girma Kebede

“He either miscalculated a failure of judgement or he underestimated the churchgoers of Reese Adbarat, London”.

“Having never had any modern education in theology and mental vision too, he has now lost his bodily sight, a

Aba Girma Kebede

silly coxcomb, farcifying himself as a beastly priest/leader, with nothing more human about him than his guttering eyelids”. He is a creator of wicked plans and schemes and a self-made man who worships his creator: himself. Truly too, he is not at all a normal church leader too, but a broken down peddler, a notorious liar and disturber of the public mind. His supporters are hard-core thugs bent on destruction. They are indeed nothing more than original baboons in foreign animal zoos looking & communicating as intelligent as human-beings: specimen to have been at the head of our church.

by Dr G Bekele, 12 April 2013 – London, England

The troubled Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church of St Mary of London Debre Tsion, that was meant to preach the true Gospel of God and also provide spiritual services to the Orthodox Christians and of the practice of Ethiopian Orthodox religion, further provide Christian counseling, encouraging the community, teaching the young religious education, promoting understanding and harmony within our community, the society and in general, supporting humanitarian and disaster relief in our beloved country Ethiopia and all around the world has unbelievably, embarrassingly and annoyingly too, turned out to be the very few shameless Woyanes’, their TPLF recruits’ and some rude children’s ugly private circus.

Why? The emotionally unbalanced sick Priest who was and still is unable to control his temper, his desire and urge for power andmoney and also his blinded, brainwashed idiots and screaming woyane bimbos has gone bonkers in a country where medication and hospital treatments are virtually free. Perhaps he had no close friends and or family and relatives to help him seek medical help before he sadly lost his marbles and faculties. This was a Priest who Wondimu Mekonnen eloquently described in his recent article, saying he was not that bad until now. But years ago, Aba Girma Kebede was rewarded with a higher Priesthood position by the new TPLF Patriarch: Dagmawi Aba Diablos, after he went to Jerusalem to be ascribed to a higher rank in the Orthodox Tewahdo religion by the then Aba Mathias (The New TPLF Patriarch) and is now alleged to be a TPLF Agent not only to return the favour he received in Jerusalem, but also to be appointed as a Bishop at a high cost of making most Ethiopian Christians cry and making us a laughing stoke with his brainwashed and underage teenagers whose defence knowledge has been only screaming and the elders too barking with his other few Mindless Disciples like Qes Dawit, Qes Abate, Mengesha, illegally named trustee: ex-Deacon Dawit, his wife Meseret & Mergeta Alemayehu, who all seemed to have worshiped a sinful priest than the Almighty God?

The sudden running away of Aba Girma: with the keys of the Reese Adbarat London Debre Tsion Church, has made it too difficult to

Ethiopia: Bereket Simeon’s mother lavish funeral

The Horn Times Newsletter April 8, 2013
by Getahune Bekele, South Africa

Demeke Mekonen stole the show at the lavish state funeral accorded to Bereket’s Mum

Is he eying the PM’s post?

One of the main collaborators and loyal disciples of the genocidal minority Tigre Junta, Ethiopia’s Deputy Prime minister Demeke Mekonen was among thousands of mourners descended on the northern historic city of Gonder for the lavish funeral of top TPLF warlord and undisputed king maker Bereket Simeon’s late mother.

The old lady, said to be in her late 80s died in Bereket’s mansion next to Tewodros square in Addis Ababa on March28 2013, after long battle with cancer.

Appreciated for her blandishments and duality, She was described by legions of Tigre warlords as “lioness” who fearlessly spied for the two main rebel groups, Tigre People Liberation Front (TPLF) and Eritrean People Liberation Front (Shabia) in the 80s and 90s until the Durg regime succumbed in May 1991.

Hence she was accorded state funeral which angered and irritated the residents of Gonder city, further exasperating the growing resentment towards the ruling Tigre gang.

But the most inauspicious moment occurred Monday morning before the funeral procession began, when a federal police band attempted to march through the streets of the city playing the so- called liberation songs such as “Tigrai Adi Weyanay”, Tigrai land of bandits, a song regarded as profane and ethnocentric by Ethiopians.

Sensing trouble as angry crowd began to assemble the band was hurriedly removed from the streets.

Moreover, according to eye witnesses from Gonder, the city was completely shut down from Saturday until late Monday where a detachment of the TPLF army from the Tigre town of Adigrat and the federal police took control of every intersection and key installations including strategic surrounding hills and villages.

The road from the city center leading up to the Gonder St Gabriel Orthodox Church was also completely cordoned off to insure the safety of the grieving warlords.

Among the mourners were Tigrai republic God mother Azeb Mesfin, Tigrai republic’s multi-million Dollar brewery Raya beer co-owner Gen Tsadkan Gebretinsay and his business partner former TPLF spin doctor Salome Taddese, the retard Tigre warlord Sibehat Nega, feared Tigrai republic president Abby Woldu, former Marxist Leninist League Tigrai political commissar Tagay Tekestebirhan, today known as his Holiness Abune Samuel, Tigrai republic Mufti Elias Redman and Tigrai high priest, pastor Daniel Gebresilassie.

Warlord turned citizen journalist and owner of Reporter newspaper Amare Aregawi was also there to mourn the passing of his boss’s mother.

As it is the norm in the world’s unofficial apartheid state, non-Tigre mourners were kept away from the elite by security officers in plain clothing.

However, it was the performance of Deputy PM Demeke Mekonen that caused beards to wag and jaws to drop.
Moving around the TPLF flag draped coffin in labored manner, gliding backwards and forwards like a moonwalker, Demeke lamented the death of the woman he barely knew in traditional Amharic mourning poems using a strangely sonorous voice.

Although some mourners gave a smirk, according to our reliable sources, others were spellbound by Deputy Prime Minister Demeke Mekonen’s wailing skills and sheer display of loyalty, whispering ‘is he eying the post of the Prime Minister?

“Look, all non-Tigres who were given key positions in the past had to use TPLF functions such as this to show their loyalty- Demeke was simply following suit. But am not so sure how that exaggerated false sorrow is going to lacerate the cold hearts the Tigre coterie and propel him to new heights. I don’t see him gaining any kudos.” A former non-Tigre TPLF politician who attended the funeral told the Horn Times magazine from Addis Ababa.

In additional news, after the funeral at St Gabriel church, mourners were treated to scrumptious after tears provided by the dream liner owner captain Mulatu where liquor was made available with gay abandon.

The violent, greedy and stupid Apartheid regime only choice is to surrender

by Teshome Debalke

The notorious and corrupt ethnic Apartheid regime of Woyane ruling Ethiopia is pushing every button of Ethiopians. If any Ethiopian has iota of doubt that Woyane is anything but a violet, corrupt and stupid regime in cover of Ethnic Federalism and development, they need to get their head checked. The time has come for all Ethiopians with out exception to burry the ethnic Apartheid regime and move on to better alternative sooner than later. Ignorance of that reality or making up off the wall noises to divert the issue isn’t going to be an excuse anymore. It only proves as a desperate attempt to preserve something proven to be rotten or the goodies it provides for those that are willing to stoop at its level.

‘Stupid is as stupid does’ is an expression that demonstrates the action of one’s stupidity. It also extends to one’s imagination in thinking her/his stupidity can outsmart the rest. Such mindset further makes stupidity a virtue for those that live in a bubble of the Apartheid system.

Unlike anytime, Woyane and its entourage of messengers-of-death and corruption are testing the limits of all Ethiopians. Surprisingly, the stooges still couldn’t figure out their stupidity is beyond anything we have seen in modern times; with the exception of a few brutal tyrannies in Africa and the Middle East. Tyranny is its own worst enemy because it congregates stupid people. Then again, tyranny wouldn’t survive without them.

Therefore, it is not unusual for Woyane to assemble violent, corrupt and stupid individuals incapable of rational thinking. It seems, the messengers’ stupidity is getting out of hand and overwhelmed even the top warlord of the ethnic Apartheid regime that unleashes them to terrorize and robe the people with impunity. It appears the warlords are trying to restrain the same messengers of death and corruption they unleashed and used to get Woyane where it is to cause havoc on the population.

Eskinder is a hero to the world but a villain to Meles Zenawi and his disciples

Right in Prison, Wrong on the Throne

by Alemayehu G. Mariam

Last April, I wrote a “Special Tribute to My Personal Hero Eskinder Nega”.  In that tribute, I groped for words as I tried to describe this common Ethiopian man of uncommon valor, an ordinary journalist of extraordinary integrity and audacity.

Eskinder Nega

Frankly, what could be said of a simple man of humility possessed of indomitable dignity? Eskinder Nega is a man who stood up to brutality with his gentle humanity. What could I really say of a gentleman of the utmost civility, nobility and authenticity who was jailed 8 times for loving liberty?  What could I say of a man and his wife who defiantly defended press freedom in Ethiopia, even when they were both locked up in Meles Zenawi Prison just outside of the capital in Kality for 17 months! What could anybody say of a man, a woman and their child who sacrificed their liberties, their peace of mind, their futures and earthly possessions so that their countrymen, women and children could be free!?

Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega is a special kind of hero who fights with nothing more than ideas and the truth. He slays falsehoods with the sword of truth. He chases bad ideas with good ones. Armed only with a pen, Eskinder fights despair with hope; fear with courage; anger with reason; arrogance with humility; ignorance with knowledge; intolerance with forbearance; oppression with perseverance; doubt with trust and cruelty with compassion. Above all, Eskinder speaks truth to power and to those who abuse, misuse, overuse and are corrupted by power.

Now almost a year since I wrote my tribute, I remember my great friend and brother Eskinder Nega as he languishes in Meles Zenawi Prison.  But I do not remember him in sadness or with heartache.  No! No! I remember Eskinder in the hopeful, faith-filled and resolute words of American poet James Russell Lowell (“The Present Crisis”): “When a deed is done for Freedom, through the broad earth’s aching breast…/ Once to every man and nation comes the moment to decide…/ In the strife of Truth with Falsehood, for the good or evil side… For Humanity sweeps onward: where to-day the martyr stands…/ Truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne…/

Eskinder and his wife Serkalem did the right deed to defend the right of press freedom in Ethiopia. They spoke truth to falsehood in their newspapers and never backed down. They spoke right to wrong in kangaroo court. The man who tried for 20 years to right the wrongs of tyranny, today, like Lowell’s Truth, hangs on the scaffold in the belly of Meles Zenawi Prison, a place of  “wrath and tears where the horror of the shade looms”, with his head bloodied but UNBOWED!

Last week, Birtukan Mideksa wrote an opinion piece for Al Jazeera urging the release of Eskinder Nega and  other journalists including Reeyot Alemu (winner of the International Women’s Media Foundation 2012 Courage in Journalism Award) and Woubshet Taye (2012 Hellman/Hammett Grant Award) and all political prisoners in Ethiopia. Birtukan is the first female political party (Unity for Democracy and Justice) leader in Ethiopian history. Birtukan, like Eskinder, was the personal political prisoner of the late dictator Meles Zenawi.   Meles personally ordered Birtukan’s arrest and on December 29, 2008, a year and half after he “pardoned” and released her from prison, he threw her back in jail without even the usual song and dance of kangaroo court.  On January 9, 2010, Meles sent chills down the spines of reporters when he declared sadistically that “there will never be an agreement with anybody to release Birtukan. Ever. Full stop. That’s a dead issue.” On January 15, 2010, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention adopted an opinion finding that Birtukan Midekksa is a political prisoner.

It is heartwarming to read Birtukan’s moving and robustly principled defense of Eskinder Nega and the other Ethiopian journalists and political prisoners. It is also ironic that Eskinder should replace Birtukan as the foremost political prisoner in Ethiopia today.

Few can speak more authoritatively on the plight of Eskinder and all Ethiopian political prisoners than my great sister Birtukan who also spent years in in the belly of Meles Zenawi Prison, a substantial part of it in solitary confinement. In her Al Jazeera commentary she wrote:

My journey to become a political prisoner in Ethiopia began as a federal judge fighting to uphold the rule of law. Despite institutional challenges and even death threats, I hoped to use constitutional principles to ensure respect for basic rights… [Ethiopian] authorities have detained my friend Eskinder Nega eight times over his 20-year career as a journalist and publisher. After the 2005 elections, Eskinder and his wife – Serkalem Fasil – spent 17 months in prison. Pregnant at the time, Serkalem gave birth to a son despite her confinement and almost no pre-natal care. Banned from publishing after his release in 2007, Eskinder continued to write online. In early 2011, he began focusing particularly on the protest movements then sweeping North Africa and the Middle East. Eskinder, who does not belong to any political party because of a commitment to maintain his independence, offered a unique and incisive take on what those movements meant for the future of Ethiopia. Committed to the principle of non-violence, Eskinder repeatedly emphasised that any similar movements in Ethiopia would have to remain peaceful. Despite this, police briefly detained him and warned him that his writings had crossed the line and he could face prosecution. Then in September [14], 2011, the government made good on that threat. Authorities arrested Eskinder just days after he publicly criticised the use of anti-terror laws to stifle dissent. They held him without charge or access to an attorney for nearly two months. The government eventually charged Eskinder with terrorism and treason, sentencing him to 18 years in prison after a political trial. Unfortunately, Eskinder is not alone; independent journalists Woubshet Taye and Reeyot Alemu also face long prison terms on terrorism charges.

Eskinder is a hero to the world but a villain to Meles Zenawi and his disciples 

Who really is Eskinder Nega? In Meles Zenawi’s kangaroo court, Eskinder has been judged a “terrorist”, a “public enemy”. In the court of world public opinion, Eskinder is celebrated as the undisputed champion and defender of press freedom.

When speaking of my brother Eskinder, I could be accused of exaggerating his virtues, hyperbolizing his singular contributions to press freedom in Ethiopia and overstating his importance to the cause of free expression throughout the world. Perhaps I am biased because I hold this great man in such high respect, honor and admiration. If I am guilty of bias, it is because seemingly in Ethiopia they have stopped making genuine heroes like Eskinder Nega, Woubeshet Taye, Anudalem Aragie, Temesgen Desalegn… and heroines like Birtukan Midekssa, Serkalem Fasil, Reeyot Alemu….