Ethiopia: Oromo opposition officials detained by Zenawi Govt

According to local newspaper Sendek, the main opposition party Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity Forum (better known as MEDREK) has announced the imprisonment and beating of two of its officials by the Ethiopian government of Meles Zenawi. The officials, Berhanu Emiru and Malese Chala, are executive members of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM). The OFDM is one of the member parties under the Medrek coalition.

Opposition members are regularly detained and sometimes killed under the one-party government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. During last year’s national election that was stolen by the ruling party, hundreds of opposition officials were detained. Several opposition members, including Beyana Deba, were killed. Deba was a regional campaign manager for the Oromo People’s Congress (OPC), which is another member of the Medrek coalition. In 2005, the OPC (previously known as ONC) and OFDM together won the regional election in Oromia before the votes were stolen by the Zenawi ruling party.

This week, a blacklist written by Prime Minister Zenawi given to Voice of America (VOA) radio included nearly the whole Medrek top leadership. Zenawi demanded that the Washington DC based VOA media forbid dozens of Ethiopians from appearing in its radio programs. Some of these Ethiopians banned include the main MEDREK executive officials Dr. Merera Gudina (OPC), Professor Beyene Petros (UEDF), Dr. Negasso Gidada (UDJ), Bekele Gerba (OFDM) and Dr. Hailu Araya (UDJ). In a press statement this week, Medrek accused Meles Zenawi of using its “draconian laws” to criminalize the opposition and restrict freedom of expression.

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Added: September 10, 2011. 05:05 AM GMT

Meles is not invisible.

Ethiopian Opposition is just by name. True opposition is a force, in case of ethiopia, they all work for Meles. When a real opposition appears, Meles is scared and often fast to eliminate them. So, the only possible and viable opposition to Meles are the freedom fighters such as OLF and Ogaden. Meles is just like a snake, he has long list of loyalist working for him. In order to distroy a snake you have to cut off the head. Same is true for Meles as the head of a snake that has gone out of control.

Humbana

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Added: July 27, 2011. 05:44 AM GMT

can you tell

Mr. Assefa, you have mentioned one parties as the father and the other one as the grandfather. Let it be as you said, but you did not tell as how they were died or who was the killer. could you tell us this?

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Added: July 24, 2011. 06:54 PM GMT

Oromiyas Destiny

The cause for the food shortage in Oromiya region can be attributed to the actions of
1. Mengistu Hailemariam's Communist Miitary Derg Revolutionary Government - That confisicated the privately owned farm lands within Oromiya and made it the property of the Communist governemnt .
2. Then few decades later to make matters worse the Meles Zenawi's Western Supported Guerilla Fighters Capitalist Junta sold these farm lands of Oromiya region to foreign Corporate real estate and farming investors whose primary concern is to make as much profit as possible by using mechanised farming and exporting the farm products to outside markets .
Unless these two actions mentioned above are reversed Famine is the inevitable destiny of Oromiya .
Oromiya will be Prosper !
Children of Oromiya will rise up against exploiters!

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