Ginbot 7 Report, 14 August 2009 — So much has already been said about the Ethiopian economy and so much more can be said. The TPLF regime trumpets sustained GDP growth, opposition political parties decry bad economic policies that alienate the poor, the IMF questions the pace and scope of financial-sector reforms, and most Ethiopians ask - where is the food?
No matter what is said and who says what, the Ethiopian economy is one of the least productive economies in the world, and the Ethiopian consumer, with a nominal per capita income of $324 (IMF, 2008) is one of the poorest consumers on earth that barely affords two meals a day. According to the United Nations Human Development Index, an index that measures the level of human development (life expectancy, literacy, Educational attainment and GDP per capita), Ethiopia with the index measure of .406, is ranked 169th in the world.
With its abundant natural resources, and its second largest consumer base [≈ 80 million] in Sub-Saharan Africa, Ethiopia is one of the most attractive investment and commodity markets in Africa. Besides, Ethiopia is one of the world’s oldest continuous civilizations with an interconnected culture and history that spans over three millenniums. In fact, this historical continuity and cultural homogeneity is a rare resource that can replicate economic development efforts throughout the country. However, despite its abundant resources and three regimes in just 35 years, Ethiopia is still a textbook example of abject poverty.
In its broad development strategy, which is “Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction Program (SDPRP)”, the fundamental development objective of Meles Zenawi’s regime was to build a free-market economic system which among other things will free the country from food dependency and make poor Ethiopians the main beneficiaries of the development strategy. However, after 18 years of development rhetoric, Ethiopia is not a free market economy and millions of Ethiopians depend on food aid for survival.
The Meles regime has repeatedly claimed that Ethiopia has experienced a sustained GDP growth rate of 10%. If this claim is correct, then why do more than 40% of Ethiopians depend on food aid? And, why does a nation that claims to have produced ‘millionaire’ farmers suffer from acute food shortages year after year?
Evidently, the classical economic concept of total government “hands-off” free market economy is not valid in today’s sophisticated economic environment where the self-indulgence of human logics has exceeded those of the market. The role of state institutions and political processes is inexorable in shaping socio-economic development in Africa. However, this role does not imply a total government takeover of the economy, as is the case, in Ethiopia.
Most free market economies have two main sectors: a dominant private sector and a public sector. However, in Ethiopia, there is a state run economy [public sector] and there is a “state within a state” that runs a parallel economy. The ruling party in Ethiopia, the TPLF, calls this sector a private sector, a misnomer, since the rules and regulations that govern the private sector do not apply to the party owned business enterprises known as parastatals. In reality, the parastatals, with unlimited access to public finance, are not public enterprises because the income they generate does not flow to the federal treasury.
The Private Sector
In Ethiopia, economic transition towards a market economy with increasing private ownership has been one of the major objectives of the TPLF regime. However, the reform process has stalled due to lack of political will. Moreover, all past and present actions of the TPLF regime in terms of legislation and policy revision has proven to be nothing, but empty words to please donors.
The Ethiopian Privatization Agency (EPA) was established as an autonomous agency in February 1994. In accordance with proclamation No 110/1995 and its amendment proclamation No 193/2000, the agency is accountable to the Ministry of Trade and Industry. However, five permanent board members of the EPA were designated by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the agency directly reports to the Prime Minister in all matters.
With the Prime Minister at the helm of the EPA, the agency created a powerful ethnic economic empire under the “phony” name of privatization, and transformed the formerly state-owned public enterprises [public monopolies] into party owned private monopolies. This illegal process paralyzed the movement of private capital, and as a result, today, the Ethiopian private sector is dominated by small and fragmented service oriented enterprises.
Deliberate monopolistic government policies and high entry costs have prevented domestic private investors from entering into the manufacturing, finance, and communication sectors. In almost all the cases, private investors that are not willing to venture with party parastatals cannot enter protected markets, hence, they are forced to divert their capital to less productive service sectors, or go out of business. For example, “Unity Insurance” was able to penetrate the lucrative insurance market because the powerful Guna conglomerate (owned by Sebhat Nega, ex-TPLF Politburo member) was a major investor in it.
The Government Sector
In Ethiopia the TPLF regime consumes an estimated 25% of the nation’s gross domestic product. With ever increasing internal conflicts, intervention in Somalia and military buildup on the border with Eritrea, the regime’s voracious appetite for larger consumption doesn’t seem to slow down any time soon.
Against the liberalization policies of IMF and the World Bank, the TPLF regime has continued to own and run large public enterprises. Currently, the regime is engaged in agricultural, mining, industry, trade, construction, transport, finance, and service activities. This unusual behavior of the TPLF regime has strangled the development of the private sector and has constrained its ability to govern the country.
In most cases, the TPLF regime appears to have stalled private sector reform by deliberately dragging the privatization process until the TPLF party parastatals gain strategic position in some economic sectors. For example, the TPLF business empire’s total incompetence in the field of Information Technology has prevented it from playing a dominant role in the highly lucrative IT market. Hence, liberalizing the IT and telecommunications sectors is delayed until the party parastatals position themselves as major players. As a result, the Ethiopian IT and telecommunication sector is one of the most inefficient.
The Party Parastatals
The TPLF party parastatals are a myriad of companies owned and run by the TPLF party members and their families. These party owned business conglomerates under the Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT) enjoy preferential access to capital, contracts, physical infrastructure, administrative services, tax breaks and other politically motivated support and privilege. For example, in 2003, the U.S. based international accounting firm, KPMG, audited the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) and reported a huge non-performing loans (NPL’s) linked to EFFORT, which basically means EFFORT borrowed a huge capital (>3 billion birr) and never paid back a penny.
As indicated in our economic statement last week, the TPLF business empire has a large number of companies that operate in different strategic sectors of the economy. To see the list of TPLF companies click here.
At the start of the 21st Century, Ethiopia is confronted with the fierce urgency of a crisis that links the country’s present to its future. The crisis is political, economic, ethnic. As hard working and as resourceful as Ethiopians are these crises are still preventable. The question is when, who, and how? When a network of ethnic plutocrats controls the economy, and when land and other important economic resources are owned and run by an ethnocratic state, anyone who adheres to the myth that Ethiopia can join the exclusive club of middle income nations by 2025 is an absolute psychopath. The boldly heralded 18 years of GDP growth story of the TPLF regime has definitely created millionaire party and government officials, but the life of the majority of Ethiopians hasn’t changed from where it was in 1974.
In poor nations like Ethiopia, development strategies must be designed to effectively change the life of poor farmers, artisans, and the urban working class. No matter what the GDP grows rate is, and no matter how many skyscrapers are built, at the end of the day, if more than half of the population can’t put bread on its table, there is a serious problem in the strategy. In the case of Ethiopia, this is more than just a problem; it is a failed strategy from the get go which is put together to benefit the ruling elites of a single ethnic group. The Ethiopian economy has severely suffered under the personal rule of the ‘ethnocrats’ who use their power to transfer a large fraction of society’s resources to their ethnic empire.
No issue merits more urgent attention—or more immediate action than changing the political and economic realities of one of Africa’s oldest country. Ethiopia, the cradle of civilization and the birthplace of the African Union, has been torn apart by seventeen years of military dictatorship and eighteen years of ethnic kleptocracy. When the rest of the world is talking about the prospects of space tourism; most Ethiopians are talking about the possibility of the next meal. Evidently, time is not running out for Ethiopia, but it may be too late if the correction doesn’t start today.
As anxious as we are, sometimes our impatience might compel us to cry out desperately for time to pause in her passage, but the very secret of life is enjoying the passage of time. Obviously, we should never regret for wasted time, for doing so is wasting more time, however, in this unfolding riddle of evil and good, existence and extinction, and progress and regress, there is this pathetic word known as “Too Late”.
The 1950 World Bank’s first country report on Ethiopia cited its “industrious and intelligent” people and believed that “the possibilities for the country’s further economic growth are significant” Observers have long noted the achievements of the Ethiopian Diaspora around the world. Despite these hopes, Ethiopia has had one of the lowest growth rates in the world over the past half-century and as a result remains one of the least developed nations in the world. This poor nation has tried various types of regimes, from monarchy to Marxist-Leninist and now to an ethnic dictatorship, but economic development has been mediocre to poor under all of them.
In the last 10 years the TPLF regime has claimed a sustained 10% GDP growth rate while the Ethiopian people have continuously asked –Where is the bread?
Any reasonable person who watched the “10% Growth” vs “No Growth” parliamentary debate between PM Meles Zenawi and the Honorable Temesgen Zewde can easily tell where the bread went. Even if we blindly believe TPLF’s claim of 10% GDP growth rate, GDP is nothing more than the measure of monetary transactions for all final goods and services in a country without any regard as to who receives that money. In a country where the government’s primary objective is to benefit its own ethnic group, answering the question- who benefits from Ethiopia’s GDP “growth” is trivial.
Let’s go further and ‘trust’ the regime’s policy of providing tax cuts or other benefits to party businesses and rich individuals is intended to benefit the broad population (trickle-down economics). Well, even if this is the case, nothing is trickling down in Ethiopia except the fact that the rich are getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Between 2001 and 2008, as the GDP grew at double digit rate, so did the inflation rate [40% IMF, 2008], gobbling up the hard earned savings of millions of poor farmers and working class Ethiopians.
Recent academic studies of poverty-profile estimates have indicated that the incidence of poverty in Ethiopia is virtually as high in urban areas as it is in the rural areas. Unlike many African countries, in Ethiopia, poverty is not just a rural problem. Ethiopia’s urban economy has not been very dynamic; as a result, incomes in many urban areas are very low. However, in the last 10 years, urban income levels have grown at a relatively faster rate than rural income levels. This discrepancy is explained by parastatal activities in the construction, service, and manufacturing sectors.
The current economic paradox of Ethiopia, which is economic growth and acute poverty [poverty among plenty], is fully explained by the symbiotic relationship of the Ethiopian state and the TPLF party parastatals. In simple layman terms, the Ethiopian economy that absorbs a large sum of donor capital benefits only the few, not just the ordinary few, but the ethnically selected very few.
An increase in Ethiopia’s growth potential would require addressing the poor quality of institutions, the low level of openness to trade, and the low degree of structural transformation of the economy. Most importantly, since there is a direct correlation between governance and prosperity, Ethiopia needs a systemic change of governance. Building a true democracy in Ethiopia is an absolute necessity not just for economic prosperity, but for the viability of Ethiopia’s survival as a nation.
Ginbot 7 strongly believes that it is not too late for Ethiopia to change its course, but as in the words of Martin Luther King Jr., where does Ethiopia go from here: chaos or community? The choice is ours. We may sometimes be forced to avoid making choices by doing nothing, but even that is a choice.
Ginbot 7 and the Ethiopian people strongly agree that choice is ours. The less choices that we are allowed to make, the less we are aware of our freedom to choose. This time we will make sure we will have as many choices as our people wish to have. Our choices are freedom, justice, democracy, peace and prosperity.
August 14th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
It has written very well and we all have to support the G7 Movement.
August 14th, 2009 at 11:37 pm
Let’s not forget about the sting when cutting down the honey
I couldn’t agree more ethioforum. We need to do the same thing Melese is doing, using Western media and news magazines to expose the horror and poverty our people had been going through for the last 18 years. There are many media outlets that are willing to dig deeper to find the truth rather than a conference call like the economist. This struggle is not just with the Melese gang, it is way deeper than few arrogant individuals. It is very obvious Melese is acting recklessly due to the assurances and cover-ups he is getting from the west. Melese couldn’t last a month or two without the billions of dollars, tons and tons of food assistance, military, intelligence, and guidance that has been poured on him. It is very obvious and clear that Melese was installed and continued his existence as a robotic living heads of state for the last 19 years not for the benefit of Ethiopia or Ethiopians. Rather, it is the other way around doing a great damage and causing pain and horror to our people. He is a man without a soul just like those who sold their integrity to fight and kill their own brothers and sisters throughout Ethiopian history.
We the Diaspora should not respond to any of these none sense western sabotage to sugar coat what we know and will probably never forget the horror and misery caused by Melese. What we need to do is wage our fight in all directions and opportunities we can possibly find. There is nothing to lose until we get our mother land Ethiopia back from these pigs and scavengers insiders. Shame on the Economist which dares to tell 80 million Ethiopians how good melese is; he is a killer as far as we know. How smart he is; we don’t think so, and we know so that he is narrow minded and self centered who didn’t hesitated from putting his own colleges let alone innocent citizens. Don’t tell us how progressive melese is; melese is a dictator and would not let go power for the last 19 years and melese used anything in his disposal to make sure he stays in power. The ignorance and the unconditional support of the West to dictators like Melese is disrespect to Ethiopians and Africans as a whole. When our destiny is taken away by few individuals like Melese, we should rise up to the moment and say enough is enough.
August 15th, 2009 at 3:38 am
The Tigres and other followers of the ethnofascist Meles Zenawi are getting richer and accumulating wealth at an astronimical rate. Foreign aid has not been of good use to Ethiopians because it is controlled by the ethnofascists who are eating it as their cake. The economic growth the ethnofascists and their western allies are talking about is the increasing production of the new Tigre rich in the country.The ethnofascist regime is condemning the rest of the Ethiopian population to sheer poverty and famine.
August 15th, 2009 at 3:45 am
I hope Melese will read this and will know that we are not fulled by his statistics. He should know We Ethiopians are very smart than him in analysis.
August 15th, 2009 at 6:17 am
It is true that Ginbot-7(G-7) are based on facts and they seem to have far more better economic strategy for the country than any other though I amn’t Economist.
August 15th, 2009 at 6:47 am
you good for noting over there !
i think at leasst by now you have to look for a medical doctor to some kind of treatment.
you are loosing your mind.
which you a fast recover.
olla
August 15th, 2009 at 7:38 am
Ethiopian!
“GET UP STAND UP”
“STAND UP FOR YOUR RIGHT”
August 15th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Woyane would have been by now history, had it not been for Dr Berhanu and his foreign advisors. The disintegration of CUD did not benefit either the splitted parties or the Ethiopian people, it has only prolonged the suffering of the Ethiopian people.
Even now it is better to learn from past mistakes and cooperate with Ethiopian parties like AEUP rather than anti-Ethiopian parties and personalities. The attempt of G7 to remove Woyane by relying on liberation armies of OLF and ONLF will only lead to the disintegration of Ethiopia.
August 15th, 2009 at 11:28 am
This economic crises should be looked at in a modular context, that it has already been stipulated from existing narratives about the TPLF/eprdf regime that TPLF and TPLF affiliated enterprizes have a political and economic strangle hold of the country. Land as a means of production is not not in private ownership of the farmer, and the size of the allotment is to small and further shrinks as the family size grows, and current landholding does not follow a business like model, and is below subsitence level, mired with fertilizer and seed debt from the regime or regime affiliated enterprizes, the fertilizer applied on a rolling topography contributes to polutuion of drinking water to raising the level of productivity.
This events should led to a peaceful struggle with strategies like boycott of goods and services of TPLF and TPLF affiliated enterprizes to be followed by detailed analysis like this one to raise further awareness to the camp for genuine peaceful struggle to bring down the entrenched system of running the country with few cliques in an apartheid like set upof divide and rule supported by security, Agazzi forces, military, police forces, & judiciary system. The peaceful struggle need to be reinforced with armed struggle fought from within by Ginbot 7, EPPF and TPDM fighting from within Ethiopia, but not from Eritrean territory or sponsorship, the other side of the two coins with TPLF, as much as Medrek is the other side of the two coins with TPLF. It also denegrates the dignity of Ethiopians to seek to Eritrea as liberating force a territory that librated itself along its ports from the colonizing Ethiopia, much in the same way that TPLF is boasting of liberating Ethiopians form the dergue than claiming liberating themselves from the Dergue regime.
Narratives and analysis about the current economic crises does not take us anywhere, but an inductive approach of identifying the crises unifying on common goals that of unity of Ethiopia, freedom of all Ethiopians, maintaining the territorial integrity and sovereignity of Ethiopa with unified strategies is the only answer to reversing the system of disintegration, corruption and economic and political dominance by TPLF and TPLF affiliated enterprises.
August 15th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
“What goes around comes around.” This regime is creating tremendous anger against our Tigryan brothers. The Parasitic Tigryan Group, sucking the blood of Ethiopians, has forgotten the historic realities of oppressed people. The anger and frustration against the Melese regime and the collaborating etnic Tigryans has reached an irreversible stage creating a massive resentment towards all Tigriyans. The historical reality is that the power of the Parasitic Tigryan regime will crumble one day and the wealthey Tigryans now will be left with NOTHING. What is the use of building wealth the mafia way if you are going to loose it some day.
August 15th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Addendum: In their liberation movements/armed struggle EPLF and TPLF were inclined to oppression of the nationalities by Amahara ethnic group as a pretext to liberating their ethnic group from the colonization of Ethiopia., rather than class struggle between the the royalists, the ballabats and their subjects, the landlords and their tenants and the employers and the workers classes, which led to ethnic federalism and secessionists type type of frame work of constitution. This configuration has been the the first layer of Ethiopian political and economic crises of Ethiopia, whic gradually leads to disintegration of Ethiopia, which is of no concern to foreign governments, but genuine Ethiopians. But western democracies can only assist this endeavor through the resetting their policy direction in the form of HR2003/SR3457 in the Senate.
August 15th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
you people you said unity unity…. what is unity while you are living under slivery of TPLF Some peole here commented that they are in support of the armed struggle but it should with out Eriteran’s help and we should not use a free land from Eritera to start the struggle… what type of madness it is I do no ? I don’t how you are thinking ? shall G7 get engage TPLF from the space ? as funny as you are. Think before you start to write. You can say there no a possibilty of armed struggle so we shall live under slivery of TPLF… period .
Unity is nothing for me while i am living under slivery a small click group.. I need my free dom even if it cost the distigration of Ethiopia , but it will never happen.
August 15th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
http://www.ethiotube.net/video/5312/Revolution
“What goes around comes around.” This regime is creating tremendous anger against our Tigryan brothers. The Parasitic Tigryan Group, sucking the blood of Ethiopians, has forgotten the historic realities of oppressed people. The anger and frustration against the Melese regime and the collaborating etnic Tigryans has reached an irreversible stage creating a massive resentment towards all Tigriyans. The historical reality is that the power of the Parasitic Tigryan regime will crumble one day and the wealthey Tigryans now will be left with NOTHING. What is the use of building wealth the mafia way if you are going to loose it some day.
August 15th, 2009 at 8:44 pm
This is a perfect mature, responsible posting. The same article is posted in A.M. ( Abay Media) and the superimposed images were more damaging than helpful.
For that reason I just want to post my comments here for the record.
Dear Ginbot 7 editors and other Ethiopian websites that dispatch information ( news or otherwise) to their readers.
It is imperative that you all have to know your readers are not only Ethiopians, they are neighbors, who like us or otherwise, others who simply search information over the internet and archive them for future use when a need arises for good or bad, and even for policy making processes.
A point in case, the 1980 graphic famine report to the world by an unknown kenyan man left an irremovable damage to our motherland and our proud people for quite a while, eventhough the generosity of the world was appreciated dearly by our country and the victims at that time.
You do not have to show your whole internal body parts to the world to get a medication for a particular body damage. You don’t even have to make it social for that matter if your disease is sometimes a societal taboo, because it paralizes your social life latter and that for some people even may be suicidal, because every human being wants to live a life up to the best of societies expectations and to the heighest standards.
Therefore when you post such an information on the web, you are letting all world readers look at it. The information you post it should not be potentially damaging our society in the long run and left scars in the psyche of the incoming generations who may even equally confused with outsiders when confornted with such things.
In the western society such things are considered to be national security threats and will not be allowed to happen. Infact people will be hunt down who try to do such things that potentially may harm their society and paralize their images to the outer world now and for a distant future.
Though such things should not happen to our society at all time, but because the things are purely a survival question for the victims but a question of intelligence for other members of our society as to why we are not be able to solve such old social problems where almost the majority of the world left that mode of existence several decades ago.
I therefore say to you that the images that we post, the information that we put should not at any time harm an individual or a group of people or our society for a long run.
At all time we have to show civility, and magnanimity towards our oponents or towards ideas that we do not support.
The numerical facts and the politically oriented reports are just for the readers, but negative social and psychological dimensions are not to be read, they are not even ephemeral, they last long within and with out.
Have a nice week end!!
August 15th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
WHY ARE OROMOS FIGHTING WEYANE?????
TO STOP MASS KILLING
WE SHOULD SUPPORT THEM!!!!!!!!!!
ARE THEY TERORISTS??? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
PLEASE LOOK AND SEE WHAT IS HAPPENING
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1829664_1745839,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1829664_1745838,00.html
Tragedy
Three children’s bodies lie in a makeshift morgue at the South Oromia clinic.
August 15th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
As pointed out by professor Nega income distribution in present day Ethiopia is highly skewed. No matter how hard the Melese regime tries to convince us that the economy under his leadership continues to register a 10% per annum growth, the fact remains that Ethiopia’s economy is at best dismal and at worst a basket case. What is true in present day Ethiopia is the rich are getting filthy rich and the poor are getting dirt poor. The middle class is also finding it difficult to make ends meet.
What I would like to hear from professor Nega and other opposition groups is their vision for Ethiopia and their plan, if any, for how to turn things around. An economic white paper will be a great starting point. Simply talking about throwing out the rascals and pointing out the ills of the current regime is not enough. By now all of us know things are really bad and getting worse by the day. Sooner or letter Melese and his cronies will relinquish power one way or another.The big question in my mind is then what?
Please engage your supporters in an intelligent policy discussion. Economic policy, health policy, education policy,foreign policy and your overall vision for post Melese Ethiopia.
The struggle continues
Tazabi
August 15th, 2009 at 10:58 pm
koster,
I think your shallow and unsubstantiated comment is just like your name, it adds no value to our cause. The very purpose of making a comment is to add something to our struggle. I’m not sure why you are blaming Berhanu when you have an enemy sitting in front of you. This is not the time to talk about Kinjit,let leave that for historians and we just do the fight. Who told you Berhanu is depending on the army of the liberation fronts? Why do you have to be a “pregnant male” to jsut give birth to a premature “Bere welede” news? You don’t have to support Ginbot 7, but you also don’t have to be throwing a stone on the last reming strong group that is keeping the hope alive!
August 16th, 2009 at 10:38 am
Work! Ginbot 7 is engaging in armed struggle for unity of Ethiopia and freedom of Ethiopians. That being the case you can not choose over another, when Ginbot 7 is fighting for both. What addressed as “you people” are genuine Ethiopians concerned, thoughtful what I am questining the strategy and the messangers but not the message. Freedom fighters are home grown and tumultous, they are not run by remote control and with the enemy you may not thrust and in a scenario that is no more different than TPLF and EPLF collaboration against the Dergue, except Ginbot 7 is not home grown. In that case how could it be different than 1998-2000 war of war between two dictatorial regimes that lost 100 000 lives and the collaboration with Eritrea as a liberator goes against the dignity of Ethiopians, to say the least.
August 16th, 2009 at 1:42 pm
work !
Aha.. I told you one has to have a freeland before it start a geniune armed struggle. Tell me how to start a armed with out having a freeland , which scholl of tought is that. I think you are woyane who try to hinder from our struggle from freedom.I told you if you can understand I don’t prefer to live under slivery and fake unity of Ethiopia,who your brothers TPLF telling us day and night, I think which you also prefer it . But I need my freedom even if it goes to cost the distigration of Ethiopia. I wish it will not happen and I work hard for that but I will never sit down under slivery fearing that the country will going to distigrate, what you try to tell us. It is people like you who let us to live under the name of unity unity with out doing nothing. Please don’t try to degrad people who try to work day night for the freedom of the Ethiopians People.
August 16th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
work !
Aha.. I told you one has to have a freeland before it start a geniune armed struggle. Tell me how to start a armed with out having a freeland , which scholl of tought is that. I think you are woyane who try to hinder our struggle from freedom.I told you if you can understand; I don’t prefer to live under slivery and fake unity of Ethiopia,ውሂችህ your brothers TPLF telling us day and night, I think which you also prefer it . But I need my freedom even if it goes to cost the distigration of Ethiopia. I wish it will not happen and I work hard for that but I will never sit down under slivery fearing that the country will going to distigrate, what you try to tell us. It is people like you who let us to live under the name of unity unity with out doing nothing. Please don’t try to degrad people who try to work day night for the freedom of the Ethiopians People.As to G7 is not home grown you seem to be you are joking….whoelse are being struggle back home now G7( an employed people from diaspora.. really Aha.. you are funny.)
August 16th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
work !
Aha..I told you one has to have a freeland before it start a geniune armed struggle. Tell me how to start a armed with out having a freeland , which scholl of tought is that. I think you are woyane who try to hinder our struggle from freedom.I told you if you can understand; I don’t prefer to live under slivery and fake unity of Ethiopia,ውሂችህ your brothers TPLF telling us day and night, I think which you also prefer it . But I need my freedom even if it goes to cost the distigration of Ethiopia. I wish it will not happen and I work hard for that but I will never sit down under slivery fearing that the country will going to distigrate, what you try to tell us. It is people like you who let us to live under the name of unity unity with out doing nothing. Please don’t try to degrad people who try to work day night for the freedom of the Ethiopians People.As to G7 is not home grown you seem to be you are joking….whoelse are being struggle back home now G7( an employed people from diaspora.. really Aha.. you are funny.)
August 16th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzdGR5FNZx4&feature=related
we, ethiopian must free ourself from tigrains
by all meansThe Tigrayans are backbone of his ethnofascistic rule ethiopia.we must fight them by all means
August 16th, 2009 at 1:52 pm
http://www.eppfonline.org/
http://www.ginbot7.org/
ethiopia has been under sieged by weyane TPLF for the last 18 years.
if we ethiopian don’t wake up. it will contune and our people will suffer.
The looser between ethiopian-eritrea coopeartion is the tigrain people. Isayas of eritrea believe united sudan, somilia & united ethiopia, not ethnic based politics like weyane TPLF. you only have to listen to the interview he gave to Elias of ethiopian review.
August 16th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
http://www.eppfonline.org/
http://www.ginbot7.org/
ethiopia has been under sieged by weyane TPLF for the last 18 years.
if we ethiopian don’t wake up. it will contune and our people will suffer.
The looser between ethiopian-eritrea coopeartion is the tigrain people. Isayas of eritrea believe united sudan, somilia & united ethiopia, not ethnic based politics like weyane TPLF.
you only have to listen to the interview he gave to Elias of ethiopian review.
August 16th, 2009 at 2:42 pm
http://www.eppfonline.org/
http://www.ginbot7.org/
ethiopia has been under sieged by weyane TPLF for the last 18 years.
if we ethiopian don’t wake up. it will contune and our people will suffer.
The looser between ethiopian-eritrea coopeartion is the tigrain people. Isayas of eritrea believe united sudan, somilia & united ethiopia, not ethnic based politics like weyane TPLF.
you only have to listen to the interview he gave to Elias of ethiopian review
August 16th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Aluta…Contuniwa.The struglle continues with woyane.It is the matter of time.We the Ethiopiians will win.G7 please work on the unity of opposition for concret strength & power to srurend Woyane.Especially the OLFS come to the cump for the formation of Democratic Ethiopia which is the home of all nation & nationalities.
Unity is power.
G7 is a reliable source of information.
Death to Woyane.
August 16th, 2009 at 7:15 pm
Birhanu Nega’s posture in the photo is annoying. His supporters are languishing in prison but here his is showing us he is living a comfortable life. On shorts for hot summer day, reading a news paper on an early bright Saturday morning sitting on a comfortable sofa; probably had a drink or two on the prevoius night of Friday, the end of his work week.
What a posture of irresponsiblitiy!
August 17th, 2009 at 10:52 am
Worku,
Please look at the psotive side. What do you want Berhanu to do? Go sit naked? Go to prison? Shut his door,stay home and not read anything like you? For God’s sack what do you want him to do? Please go to Ginbot 7.org read and listien what the people he assembled are doing? Have you seen any kind of PR, statment , report, or article addressed to Ethiopians and the international community by any oppsotion party other than Ginbot -7 in the past 6 months? Have you seen any organizaion trying to build consusnus and going from city to sity, state to state, country to country and conitent to conitet othen than G-7? Come un now! Please stand up right and use your upper part to think, not the other! All these are the fruits of Berhanu! Berhanu is the last hope we have, let us help and stns with him. Please don;t be a stone on hispath!
August 17th, 2009 at 3:24 pm
http://www.ethiotube.net/video/5312/Revolution
http://www.eppfonline.org/
rahel,you are tigrain. we ethiopian are comming after you.
Final battle. All ethiopian call. Let’s smash those tigrain.final call to all ethiopians.
lets get those tigrain bastard who is raping & looting ethiopia. all ethiopian including amahara, oromo, somilia, Gurage, and souther ethiopian must unite against tigrain rats. Destroy the tigrain before they destroy us.The solution to all these would be, to unite, fight our enemies the Woyanes, kick them out of the country and run the affairs of our country by loyal, national and patriotic Ethiopians. There and then, we would say to the con-merchants of Arab and their likes, no thank you for your offers to buy our farmland because we have enough educated and experienced farmers. And say to them Enkebar and good-bye! Are you with me on this or with the Woyanes
August 17th, 2009 at 4:02 pm
Addendum: The fourh layer for the political and economic crises of TPLF/eprdf regime is its inability to mitigate the drought, the famine, and with the humanitarian monetary funds and food aid for short term and long term relief program in no better way than the Dergue regime and non-humanitatarian aid funds for development to reduce poverty and stagflation.
August 17th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Work! “Yemiategib injera kemitadu yastawikal”, so goes the saying with refernce to your dead set belief of attaining freedom at the expense of unity of Ethiopia, which go hand in hand with unity of Ethiopia. The premise of attaining freedom by a liberator which helped create ethnic federalism and secessionism and alter ego to TPLF can not not be trusted and also can not win over the current regime to bestow you individual freedom by decree following victory from armed struggle, similar to 1998-2000. It mindless, thoughtless, costly in terms of human lives and capital, than armed struggle fought from within Ethiopia, with full support of the people.
What is going on now is revamping the the beleagured Eritrean economy in addition, to say the least of being liberated by Eritrea goes against the dignity of Ethiopians.
August 17th, 2009 at 5:22 pm
aha !
i don’t like to reply any more. I can a sure one thing , you can not do/ you haven’t done something for the mother land better than Berahnu Nega… Ante worre bicha neha…TPLF agent
August 18th, 2009 at 1:40 pm
ግሩም ነው::
August 20th, 2009 at 4:57 pm
Work! The quotation refers to contention about your statement, not about Dr. Berhanu. Validate your statement. My position is that of evaluating the validity of Ginbot 7, the approach and the messangers, but not the message. That is my contribution to healthy discussion about saving Ethiopia from disintegration. That does not make me a TPLF agent, either.
September 15th, 2009 at 8:53 am
HMMMMMMMMM
Dear friends, You know what , Ethiopia is really a hail for the CUDs who left the democratic field and people of Ethiopia who a bit gave them a vote in the 97 Election and I don’t believe CUD to bring any better change to Ethiopia coz these gangs are just group of different ethnocentered led by the Amharas which who just are running here and there to quinch their power thirst none of you had ever tought for the ppl of Ethiopia.
Look nowadays Ethiopia is starting to have hundreds of PhD hoolders who will truck the country the right developmental direction we never and ever need war in our country for sake of those economists like Birhanu Nega this is a time to march towards productivity is it coz birhanu is not in power in ethiopia that our country be distablized, I don’t think this is healthy.
Get treated you need really psychotherapy. Here in Ethiopia we have a matured leadership that is directing our home land towards development demicracy and economic prosperity, this might be a fictious majic numbers for the pisimists but for real Ethiopia and it’s people are far advanced in politics.
Just shame on those trying to fool the ethiopian people. This is not America US assignment is somethink that Birhanu is designed to perform in Ethiopia but too late to do that.
We Ethiopians hate US instruments, who run aafter every white senator for help. Difficult to name Ethiopian the country known for its strond leaders and people.
BYE Birhanu and your cliques
Getachew