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The
Jihadists are coming! The Jihadists are coming |
Prof. Al Mariam
Novemeber 28, 2006
Here we go again! Trot
out the Somali jihadist bogeyman (aya jibo).
Get out the smoke machine and mirrors. Show
time! Act I: Narrator Zenawi: “Somalia is
becoming a haven for terrorist. The sheiks
of terror have declared an unholy war on
Ethiopia, and the U.S. of A. They are on the
outskirts. This is the time for all good men
and women to come to the aid of their
country. Patriots
When the going
gets tough, the Zenawi Road Show gets going.
And these are indeed very tough times for
Zenawi. The floodlight of truth has been
trained on him over the past couple of
weeks, and he has had no place to hide. He
desperately wants to divert the attention of
Ethiopians and the international community.
Enter: Somali jihadist bogeyman. Let’s get
the show on the road! Not just yet, buddy…
No doubt, the last two weeks have not been
kind to Zenawi. He has been stuck on the
international stage with the spotlight on
him, and the world saw him for what he is:
An emperor with no clothes. No more talk
about the “new breed of African leader,”
first among equals in a “new generation of
African leaders” committed to human rights,
democracy and economic development.
The truth about the post-election massacres
came out in the most unexpected forum.
Zenawi had planned to have his Inquiry
Commission put on a show for his parliament.
But he couldn’t stage manage it. Instead,
the truth was hand delivered to the United
States Congress in a briefing, by none other
than Inquiry Commission chairman and senior
judge Frehiwot and vice chair and senior
judge Woldemichael.
The facts ascertained by the Commission are
shocking and incontrovertible: at least 193
men, women and children protesting the
election results were murdered by Zenawi’s
security forces. Over a thousand
demonstrators shot and wounded. 65 prisoners
of conscience executed in cold blood in a
hail of machine gun fire in Qaliti prison.
(Compare all this to the Sharpeville
Massacre on March 21, 1960 when apartheid
South African police opened fire and killed
69 African demonstrators protesting pass
laws and injured as many as 300.)
But that was not all: The commission
determined that no property was destroyed by
protesters. Not a single protester was
armed. Shots fired by government forces were
intended not to disperse the crowd, but to
kill protesters by directing fire to their
heads and chest areas.
The report was not sensationalized. It was a
dispassionate factual account of the
Commission’s investigation, and the
forensically meticulous methodology used in
documenting the killings and the gross
abuses of human rights. In the final
analysis, Judges Frehiwot and Woldemichael
presented a devastating indictment of Zenawi
and his regime for crimes against humanity.
Zenawi desperately tried to keep a lid on
the truth. But truth always has a way of
getting out, even though Zenawi tried to
keep it from seeing the light of day by
turning off the power that lighted the
offices of the Inquiry Commission.
Zenawi knew the jig was up, but he pleaded
with the Inquiry Commission for hours:
“Please, pretty please, change your
conclusions. Just don’t say it is the
government’s fault.” He tried to seduce
them: “I will give you riches, whatever your
heart desires. Just do it the way we did the
Anuak report. Blame the victims.” Frehiwot
and Woldemichael sat in stony silence,
listening to Zenawi ranting and raving. Then
he gave the commissioners a stiff lecture on
the jurisprudence of “excessive use of
force.” (Such legal buffoonery must have
amused the judges, but I suspect they must
have reserved a measure of pity for Zenawi.)
He cajoled them: “Your report is very
important to Ethiopia’s international image.
Your conclusions about government
responsibility in the massacres will harm
the country. I appeal to your sense of
patriotism. Destroy this report and issue
and new one favorable to the government.”
When he sensed his words were falling on
deaf ears, he reminded them of his standard
operating procedure: “You change your
analysis and conclusions, or.…” That was it!
Time to get the hell out of Dodge. And the
two judges were out of there before sundown,
with the evidence bagged and in tow --
reports, documents, videos, audios, the
whole kit and caboodle.
What a great disappointment -- and a
shocking surprise -- it must have been to
Zenawi when Frehiwot and Woldemichael looked
him straight in the face and said with
steely resolve: “No deal, Zenawi. We don’t
sell the truth. We expose it!” How proud we
are of these men of courage and valor!
“What now?” Zenawi must have asked himself
in stunned disbelief. “Are there really
Ethiopians who will not sell their souls in
exchange for a house, a car or luxurious
lifestyle? These guys would rather live with
nothing in a strange land than live a life
of luxury and comfort at the cost of a
little white lie? What the hell is happening
in Ethiopia!?”
Well, I can imagine why Zenawi would be
flabbergasted. No offense to anyone, but
these are the “new breed” of African
leaders, “vanguards of change” that Tony
Blair and Bill Clinton were really talking
about. Woldemichael Meshesha, Frehiwot
Samuel, Mitiku Teshome, Alemayheu Zemedkun,
Getachew Jigi, Teshale Aberra, just to name
a few among thousands of other young
Ethiopian leaders who would rather live in
exile than continue to serve a tyrant, and
be tools of terror and oppression against
their own people.
Zenawi says, “but they worked for my
government all these years. Now, they are
saying these lies just to get political
asylum in the West. They can’t be trusted.”
Sure, they desperately tried to be
instruments of good in an evil system, but
in the end these young people learned that
in an evil system one has very limited set
of choices: be part of it and try to change
it, and in the process risk being changed by
it, destroy it or in the process be
destroyed by it, or escape from it. In the
end, they chose to escape, and did so by the
skin of their teeth. Now, Ethiopians the
world over salute these heroes, champions of
human rights who used the truth not only to
bring light on the darkness of Zenawi’s
regime, but also to defend their people and
set them free. Hallelujah!
But Zenawi does not want to talk about the
truth. No, he wants to talk about the
jihadist bogeyman from Somalia. (By the way,
when did the warlords grow up to be
jihadists, anyway?) He wants to tell the
world that the Somali jihadists are on the
warpath; and watch out Ethiopians, and
Americans too for supporting Christians and
Jews. Pleeease, give me a break!
Classic Zenawi: When the going gets tough,
distract the public’s attention. These are
hard times for Zenawi. Recently, he went to
the European Union to deliver a speech on
development and good governance. (It
reminded me of a speech once given by Idi
Amin on human rights.) Someone remarked that
Zenawi’s speech at the EU was not unlike the
devil preaching the gospel. But he did not
get to preach. The crowd in the gallery
booed and jeered him. He had to stop after a
few minutes, visibly shaken. But there
wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it. He
could not arrest or jail his hecklers.
Impolite and rowdy hecklers, but free people
nonetheless who have the right to say
whatever they wanted, including the epithets
“murderer,” “killer” and “dictator.” If the
shoe fits, wear it, I say.
But I wondered how Zenawi must felt at that
moment, to have a rowdy bunch shut him up
cold; and prevent him from speaking,
expressing his thoughts and ideas about
things he feels are important to Ethiopia
and Africa. It couldn’t have been a good
feeling. But that moment, Zenawi must
understand, is “groundhog day” for ordinary
Ethiopians who are trapped in a time loop
where everyday is like the day before: Not
allowed to speak their mind, not allowed to
read their favorite newspapers, magazines or
books. Not allowed to visit their favorite
websites. Not allowed to listen to their
leaders. Not allowed to be themselves. Not
allowed…(Zenawi ought to share his feelings
about his experience at the EU with the
journalists enduring in his jails. I bet
they would have something common to talk
about.)
But that day at the EU, Zenawi learned a
real lesson in democracy and human rights:
The right to free expression means not only
the right to expound on sublime and lofty
ideas, or profess the party line or
regurgitate the official ideology. Freedom
of speech also embraces the right to heckle,
pester and tease politicians! Heckling, even
if it is rude, is a protected form of
expression in the West, particularly when a
politician is on the stand. So, the hecklers
won the day, and Zenawi did not finish his
speech.
In a way, I wish he had completed his
speech. Perhaps he might have been able to
share with the world his special expertise
and insights in the use of indiscriminate
killing of rambunctious but harmless
demonstrators to establish good governance,
or the special use of mass arrests and
imprisonments to accelerate the economic
development of Ethiopia. We’ll never find
out now.
But, in all sincerity, Zenawi could have
stolen the show at the EU and earned the
respect of the world, and enjoyed watching
his hecklers and critics dumbfounded and
confused. He could have started his speech
with something like: “The foundation of good
governance is admission of mistakes by
leaders; and God knows I have made my share
of mistakes, as has my regime and party. It
was a tragic mistake that 193 men, women and
children were shot and killed and hundreds
more wounded by my security forces. It was a
terrible mistake to imprison the opposition
leaders. It was wrong to have allowed the
massacre of the Anuaks…. But, it is never a
mistake to acknowledge a mistake and make
amends…I am deeply sorry…”
Zenawi would have set a new standard, a
historic milestone, of transparency and
accountability in the practice of good
governance. That was his golden opportunity
to redeem himself in the eyes of his people
and in the court of world public opinion.
But in his usual style, he will not miss an
opportunity to miss an opportunity; and so
he let the hecklers win the day.
Back to the jihadists. The Somalis say they
want to drive out the Ethiopian invaders
from their country and reclaim their
territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Ethiopia admits having a contingency of
expeditionary forces in and around Baidoa.
The Somlais say Ethiopia is preparing to
make war against Somalia and break up their
country into permanent clandoms. They have
no choice but to fight, they say.
In all fairness, their argument is not
unlike the arguments Zenawi made when Badme
was occupied by Eritrean forces. Back in
1998, Zenawi’s Foreign Ministry declared:
“Eritrea has committed aggression against
Ethiopia in violation of international law.
Eritrea's unprovoked and naked aggression is
a crime which cannot be justified by any
pretext of border dispute.” See any
parallels there?
But Zenawi spins a nice yarn about the
threat of radical Islam in the Horn, and the
insufficient response from the international
community to deal with the threat. “The
international community could have done
more, and should have done more,” he said.
The drumbeat for war on the Somali jihadists
is deafening. “Somalia is going to be
another Iraq or Afghanistan. The Horn is
teetering on the brink of war. Al-Quieda is
spreading its tentacles throughout East
Africa. All the Westerns experts agree. CNN
says it’s real, so does the BBC. We need to
get the international community to support
Ethiopia in its fight against terrorism and
Somali jihadists. Ethiopians, quick, circle
the wagons! The Somali jihadists are
coming!” (I wonder if the jihadists are
telling their people: “The infidels are
already here! The infidels are in Baidoa!
Let’s drive them out!”)
But wait just a cotton pickin’ minute!
Amnesty International, Human rights Watch
and the U.S. State Department all say,
Zenawi’s regime is among the worst violators
of human rights in the world. Western
experts say Zenawi’s regime commits gross
violations of human rights, and he keeps
thousands of political prisoners in the
country, and conducts mass arrests and
extrajudicial killings. The U.S. House of
Representatives has made legislative
findings on gross violations of human rights
in Ethiopia in H.R. 5680. CNN has reported
on it, as has the BBC. To echo Zenawi: “The
international community could have done
more, and should have done more.” About
human rights in Ethiopia, that is. But it
hasn’t.
So, we got a problem. Mr. Zenawi says the
Somali jihadists are lurking behind every
desert rock and boulder. He wants Ethiopians
to come out and fight them in every hamlet,
town and city. We say, the gross violations
of human rights continue unabated. We want
Ethiopians to come out of the jails and
prisons and rejoin their families. We want
them to come out into the streets and
peacefully express themselves, show their
opposition to government policies and
actions, engage in constructive dialogue
with their fellow citizens and enjoy basic
human rights, which according to Zenawi’s
constitution is the natural right of every
Ethiopian citizen. So, what do we do? Which
way do we go?
Surely, Zenawi must know that it is
pointless to ask Ethiopians to come out and
circle the wagons when they feel they are
themselves victims of a political war he has
declared on them. They seem infinitely more
afraid of his regime and security forces
than any wild-eyed Somali jihadist they had
never seen. Pray tell: What would the Somali
jihadist do to them that Zenawi’s regime has
not already done to them anyway? Ummm!
Common sense would suggest that it is hard
to convince Ethiopians to come out and fight
a jihadist bogeyman when they are themselves
fighting for survival, everyday, against a
regime that terrorizes them and keeps them
in a state of perpetual fear and misery. It
is hard to excite them to rise up in a fit
of patriotism and rummage the featureless
Ogaden desert in pursuit of an invisible
jihadist when they are themselves hunted
down like rabid dogs in their city and town
streets, jailed, tortured and murdered.
It seems futile to sound the bugle of
nationalism and jingoism when thousands of
Ethiopians languish in jails for no other
reason but for supporting democracy and
exercising their human rights. The problem
is the Ethiopian people can not fight two
wars at once: defend themselves in a
political war declared on them by Zenawi and
his regime, and mount an attack on a distant
and invisible enemy rattling sabers
somewhere in the “failed state” of Somalia;
an enemy, by the way, that seems incapable
of bringing the whole of Somalia under its
control let alone expect to win a war
against a vastly superior Ethiopian military
(so say the experts).
But the whole jihadist business smacks of
political fantasy. It’s surreal. Mr. Zenawi
says the Somali jihadists and their Al Qaeda
partners should be opposed and defeated
because they are undemocratic,
anti-democratic, oppressive and
authoritarian. The jihadists don’t believe
in human rights and do not allow political
or social dissent. They are fanatics who
want to impose one-party rule, and do not
believe in a democracy where the people
elect their representatives. Duh!!! Has Mr.
Zenawi looked at the mirror lately?
Now, we have a choice to make. We can follow
along the Zenawi Road Show and entertain
ourselves with stories of Somali jihadist
bogeymen, Mickey Mouse and the Easter Bunny.
Or we can stay focused on the real issues of
human rights, civil liberties, the rule of
law and democracy in Ethiopia.
I shall keep my eyes fixed on the 800 pound
gorilla in the living room that Zenawi does
not want to talk about or acknowledge: How
about freedom, democracy and human rights in
Ethiopia, Mr. Zenawi?
Well, if you are not inclined to answer my
question, good luck on your road show: “The
Jihadists are coming, the Jihadists are
coming… ”
Source:
http://almariamforthedefense.blogspot.com/
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