Blogger/KaffaI haven’t blogged for a long time and that is much thanks to the terrible internet connection down here. The state of Ethiopia is not well known for its achievements on providing good internet service and with the Chinese taking over more projects, don’t expect any technical improvements in the near future.
Here are some stories I wanted to write about. First of course is the funny story of Al Amoudi. Someone else was scribbling on JimmaTimes by begging Al Amoudi to use his influence to democratize EPRDF. What a joke! That writing itself was nonsense but it seems like Al Amoudi doesn’t have any less intolerance (keyword) for negative news about him at all. According to rumors I heard, he was very mad at Addis Fortune newspaper for publishing about a mass robbery at the Millennium hall. (not good news for this newspaper since his Sheraton hotel advertises on its prints) The Sheik certainly didn’t like his millennium contribution made fun of. But we have to wonder, if a witness complains about necklace, wallets and watches being stolen under the dim lights of this expensive hall, what’s the big deal?? Anyway, I don’t want to write more about Al Amoudi and risk ****. After all, he is also a philanthropist that has done too much for Ethiopia to be picked on by us for the littlest things. (?)
Also there was a rumor about Jimma university student leader who protested against the government. His name is Hunde Dhugassa and he complained about imprisonments of Oromos and injustice by the Oromia regional EPRDF government. But from what I have seen before, Hunde has been saying these things for many years now. He has even written papers defending OLF and claiming a referrendum for Oromia is the only way to solve the country's problems. Not that what he is saying is false, some of them are true of course. But he has become like one of those “untouchable opposition politicians” like Merera Gudina. The government officials just let him speak his mind and (in most cases) he has even become indispensable and necessary. The reality is, as long as you don’t take up arms, occasionally complaining about injustice is a good thing for EPRDF. I think they even love it, and it is an indication of freedom of expression, they say.
One annoying story I really wanted to write about was the recent imprisonment of Muslims in the north, mostly in Amhara state. Yes, such crackdowns have occurred many times before, even more in the previous governments. What is annoying is that western watchdogs of persecution are always outspoken about their Christians who face persecution in Ethiopia and around the world. But when it comes to persecuted Muslims, the silence is deafening!! One can easily see that such “watchdogs” are polarizing the situation in countries like Ethiopia by becoming a guardian for only one of the numerous religions in Ethiopia. Some Ethiopian Muslims feel as if these western watchdogs have become more of a comrade for Ethiopian Christians than their own countrymen Ethiopian Muslims are. Is the thousand years of religious co-existence and companionship being replaced by politicized foreigners siding with one group in Ethiopia? I fear that this is the dangerous road we are going. My suggestion for our government would be to be like Isaias Afewerki and use the Eritrean policy of constantly ridiculing these western persecution watchdogs as "imperialists" who have no mandate to monitor our country!! Of course, this does not mean our government should become a lunatic like Isaias Afewerki by banning evangelical Christians. That would be backwardness. But still, there are some positive lessons we can humbly learn from dictator Isaias.
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