Arrests of journalists show Ethiopia's sterner side

The Christian Science Monitor


The arrests of two Swedish journalists – captured by security forces in early July after a firefight with ethnic Somali rebels – and the detention of a long stream of local journalists with critical views of the Ethiopian government is showing once again the ruthless streak of America’s biggest friend in the Horn of Africa.


Prime Minister Meles Zenawi – president of Ethiopiafrom 1991 to 1995, and premier of Ethiopia ever since – is praised for his economic vision in steering the country toward a path of economic growth and foreign investment, as well as his cooperation with the US’s counterterrorism efforts in Africa. But Mr. Meles’ decisiveness and vision is matched by an intolerance of dissent, critics say.



Over the past year, more than 100 opposition activists, local journalists and others have been detained under a catch-all anti-terror law that can mean up to 20-year jail terms for those who merely publish a statement that prosecutors believe could indirectly encourage terrorism.  

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Former president of the republic Negasso Gidada, who left the ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) in 2001 to join the opposition, says that Meles and his followers still hold a belief agreed a decade ago that they are the only ones capable of leading the historically impoverished nation to prosperity.

"They decided then it is only the EPRDF which can lead the country to middle-income level in 20 to 30 years' time," he says. "All other organizations should to be brought on board or eliminated."

Little room for dissent

Meles' proven track record in overseeing economic growth and stability lead some to praise his rule. Human rights groups and journalist organizations complain that the government targets those who simply disagree with the ruling party.

Senior government spokesman Shimeles Kemal rejects rights groups’ claims that the pattern of arrests reveals an intolerance of dissent. He says that those arrested for terrorism – including the two Swedish journalists – have left behind evidence of links with banned militant groups. Ethiopia’s concerns over terrorist threats were bolstered recently by a recent UN report detailing an Eritrea-backed plot by rebels aiming to cause carnage in downtown Addis Ababa during an African Unionsummit in January this year.

Connections of some sort between opposition politicians and outlawed organizations such as Ginbot 7 are possible. Ginbot 7’s exiled leader, Berhanu Nega – sentenced to death in-absentia for his role in a tumultuous 2005 election – was a former colleague in the defunct Coalition for Unity and Democracy.

But while exploiting such connections to crush the opposition is a predictable maneuver, the prosecution of the Swedish journalists Johann Persson and Martin Schibbye is a departure for the government.

The arrests of two Swedish journalists – captured by security forces in early July after a firefight with ethnic Somali rebels – and the detention of a long stream of local journalists with critical views of the Ethiopian government is showing once again the ruthless streak of America’s biggest friend in the Horn of Africa. 

አሥራ ስድስት የደርግ ባለሥልጣናት ተፈቱ

በጌቱ ጥበበ- በዘር ማጥፋት ወንጀል ተከሰው በሞትና በዕድሜ ልክ እስር እንዲቀጡ ከተወሰነባቸው የደርግ ከፍተኛ ባለሥልጣናት መካከል 16ቱ ተፈቱ፡፡

በዘር ማጥፋት ወንጀል ከተከሰሱት 23 ከፍተኛ ባለሥልጣናት መካከል 20 ዓመት በእስር ያሳለፉት 16 ባለሥልጣናት በአመክሮ በትናንትናው ዕለት ተፈትተዋል፡፡

ትናንትና የተፈቱት ባለሥልጣናት የቀድሞው የደርግ ጠቅላይ ሚኒስትር ሻምበል ፍቅረ ሥላሴ ወግደረስ፣ ምክትል ፕሬዚዳንት ኮሎኔል ፍስሐ ደስታ፣ ሻምበል ለገሰ አስፋው፣ ኮሎኔል እንዳለ ተሰማ፣ ሜጀር ጀነራል ውብሸት ደሴ፣ ሌተና ኮሎኔል ናደው ዘካሪያስ፣ መቶ አለቃ ጴጥሮስ ገብሬ፣ መቶ አለቃ ስለሺ መንገሻ፣ ሻለቃ ደጀኔ ወንድማገኘሁ፣ አቶ እሸቱ ሸንቁጤ፣ አቶ ልሳኑ ሞላ፣ ብርጋዴር ጄነራል ለገሰ በላይነህ፣ አቶ ገስግስ ገብረ መስቀል፣ አቶ አበበ እሸቱ፣ አቶ በሪሁን ማሞና መቶ አለቃ ደሳለኝ በላይ ናቸው፡፡ ቀሪዎቹም ባለሥልጣናት 20 ዓመት ሲሞላቸው ጊዜያቸውን ጠብቀው ይለቀቃሉ ተብሏል፡፡

ባለፈው ዓመት ታህሳስ ወር በወንጌላዊት ቤተ ክርስቲያን መካነየሱስ፣ በኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋህዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን፣ በካቶሊካዊት ቤተ ክርስቲያንና በኢትዮጵያ እስልምና ጉዳዮች ጠቅላይ ምክር ቤት የሃይማኖት መሪዎች፣ በደርግ ዘመን የተፈጸመው በደልና ጥፋት፣ በአገራዊ ይቅርታና እርቅ እንዲጨረስና ሁሉም የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ የእርቁና የይቅርታው ተካፋይ እንዲሆን ጥሪ አቅርበው ነበር፡፡ በወቅቱ ባለሥልጣናቱ የፈጸሙዋቸውን የተለያዩ ወንጀሎች በማመን እግዚአብሔርን፣ ሕዝብንና መንግሥትን ይቅርታ መጠየቅ እንደፈለጉ የሃይማኖት መሪዎቹ አስታውቀው ነበር፡፡ የእርቅና የሰላም ሥራ የአገሪቱ የተሀድሶ አንዱ አካል በመሆኑ ከፍተኛ የመንግሥት አካላት እንዲያውቁት መደረጉን የገለጹት የሃይማኖት መሪዎቹ፣ በዘመኑ የተፈጸመው በደል ፈጣሪንም፣ ሰውንም ያሳዘነ እንደነበር በመግለጽ ምሕረትንና ይቅርታን መጠየቅ እንደሚገባ አሳስበው ነበር፡፡

ከአራቱም የሃይማኖት ተቋማት የተውጣጣ ዓብይ ኮሚቴ ተቋቁሞ ለሁለት ዓመታት መሥራቱን የገለጹት የሃይማኖት መሪዎቹ፣ በዘመኑ ጥፋት ሰለባ ከነበሩ ማኅበራት ጋር በመመካከር መግባባት ላይ መደረሱን ገልጸው ነበር፡፡ ሆኖም የሃይማኖት መሪዎቹ የይቅርታና የእርቅ ጥያቄ ከተለያዩ አካላት ተቃውሞ ገጥሞት ነበር፡፡ በተለይም በደርግ ሥርዓት ተጐጂ ከነበሩና ከተጐጂ ቤተሰቦች የሃይማኖት መሪዎቹ የጀመሩት የይሁንታና የይቅርታ እንቅስቃሴ በከፍተኛ ሁኔታ ተቃውሞ ገጥሞታል፡፡

በእንደዚህ ዓይነት ሁኔታ የባሥልጣናቱ ከእስር የመፈታት ጉዳይ ዘጠኝ ወራትን ካሳለፈ በኋላ፣ 16ቱ ባለሥልጣናት ትናንትና ከቃሊቲ ማረሚያ ቤት ወጥተዋል፡፡ ከባለሥልጣናቱ መካከል በደርግ ዘመን የደኅንነት ሚኒስትር የነበሩት ኮሎኔል ተስፋዬ ወልደ ሥላሴ በቅርቡ ከዚህ ዓለም በሞት መለየታቸው ይታወሳል፡፡     

TPLF found in global terrorism blacklist

By Abebe Gellaw

Criminal records rarely go unnoticed wherever they are meticulously archived and preserved. Let alone leaders that hold state power, ordinary people are even required to go through criminal background checks for jobs that require high level of trustworthiness. Today one of the most serious criminal offenses in the world is quite obviously terrorism.


The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START), which is a center of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at the University of Maryland, has made the Global Terrorism Database (GTD) available online “in an effort to increase understanding of terrorist violence so that it can be more readily studied and defeated.”


GTD is arguably the most authoritative and comprehensive open-source database on terrorism incidents from 1970 to date. The database also reveals “the date and location of the incident, the weapons used and nature of the target, the number of casualties, and--when identifiable--the group or individual responsible.”


The Meles regime has recently adopted a new strategy of crushing dissent by accusing famed and respected journalists, politicians and activists of committing acts of “terrorism”. It is for this very reason that I found it necessary to do some background checks related to terrorism on the accused as well as the accusers.


Using the searchable GTD online interface, I started entering the names of some of the “terrorists” 

accused by the Meles Zenawi of committing acts of terrorism. The search result for Eskinder Nega, Reyot Alemu, Woubishet Taye, Andualem Arage, Bekele Gerba, Olbana Lelisa, Debebe Eshetu, the two Swedish journalists, Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye among many others, was negative. As some of those charged with terrorism were linked to Ginbot 7, it was also needed to check the group’s terrorism record. But as consistently as the suspects, the search result for Ginbot 7 was nill. According to the GTD record, there is no single terrorist act that has ever been linked to the group.

And then it was TPLF’s turn for the terrorism background check. It is an open secret that TPLF’s history is tarnished with violence, bloodshed, brutality, mass killings, genocide, robberies, corruption, mass displacement and kidnappings, to mention a few in the long litany of crimes the group has been committing since it started its armed insurrection in 1975 as an ethnocentric bandit group with a declared mission of seceding Tigray from Ethiopia. Along with the world’s most virulent and violent terrorist groups Al Shabaab, Al Qaida, Hezbollah, Basque, Islamic Jihaad, the drug cartels in Latin America, the Tamil Tigers, the TPLF’s the terrorist records linked to committing mass killings, assaulting civilians, NGOs and hostage taking of foreigners. The GTD record on TPLF is not very comprehensive given the fact that TPLF became the government in 1991 and changed its terrorist tactics to state terrorism. It is a tragedy for Ethiopia that the terrorist group TPLF now controls Ethiopia abuses its power to crush innocent civilians like insects.


TPLF has obviously committed countless acts of terror before and after it seized state power in 1991. GTD only contained TPLF’s terrorism record from 1976 up to 1991. Puzzled why GTD does not contain acts of terrorism that the TPLF has been committing after it came to power, I called Erin Miller, Project Manager of the Global Terrorism Database.


Miller explained that despite the fact that in circumstances where terrorist organizations like the TPLF have succeeded in seizing state power, they automatically fall outside the domain of the GTD due to the fact that it only records and archives terrorists acts committed by non-state actors. “The rule of inclusion does not include state actors. Terrorism acts committed by governments are state terrorism,” she said.
The Tigray people’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has almost total monopoly over state power, the economy, the military, the security apparatus, and every key institution and public resources from 1991 to date. It continues to use the TPLF as the name for the main political party that controls the ruling EPRDF.
Meles Zenawi, the prime minister and the chairman of the TPLF, had a candid interview in Tigrigna with the Eritrean magazine, Hiwet some years back. The translated version was published in Amharic in Ethiop Magazine, Vol. 5 Issue No. 52. Answering a question on when he was first engaged in armed combat operations, he told the Eritrean magazine with a sense of pride that he took part in a bank robbery in Adwa, his birthplace. He also said that prior to the bank robbery effort in Adwa, in which he admitted to be one of the armed robbers that raided the rural bank; TPLF had also robbed banks in Axum and Shire. He referred to those robberies as “victories.” TPLF’s mindset of promoting every criminal and terrorist misadventure as a heroic act has been one of its chronic problems.


The former US Chargé D’affaires to Ethiopia, Ambassador Vicki Huddleston, is widely known to be one of the hawks in US government circles that publicly declared that the Meles regime should not be abandoned or admonished by the United States as it is a key US ally on the so-called “war on terror”. Currently based at the Pentagon as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Africa in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Huddleston has played a key role in maintaining unqualified US support to the Meles regime. In an op-ed Huddleston and Tabor Nagi published in the New York Times in November 2007, she advocated on behalf of Meles that the US congress lacked wit when it unanimously passed HR 2003, Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007, which eventually died in the US Senate.


Despite her support to the TPLF hegemonic rule in Ethiopia, Huddleston did not try to hide the terrorist acts of the regime. In the Wikileaks diplomatic cables, there is a very interesting secret cable that Vicki Huddleston wired to Washington.


On October 6, 2006 Huddleston reported: “A series of explosions were reported in Addis Ababa on September 16, killing three individuals. The GoE announced that the bombs went off while being assembled, and that the three dead were terrorists from the outlawed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) with links to the Oromo National Congress (ONC). An embassy source, as well as clandestine reporting, suggests that the bombing may have in fact been the work of Government of Ethiopia security forces.”
Despite the fact that the diplomat linked the TPLF regime with such a despicable terrorist act that is not expected of a responsible government, the regime chose not deny or admit the damenning accusation. One of the reasons why TPLF cannot argue with US officials about its terrorism records is due to the fact that the United States backs up its statements with accurate intelligence that it collects throughout the world using overt and covert means.


The Global Terrorism Database provides incontrovertible evidence that TPLF is indeed a certified terrorist organization that has seized state power two decades ago. TPLF has continued terrorizing the people of Ethiopia using the apparatus of the state. TPLF’s scandalous anti-terrorism law, which is being used to silence critics, only shows the great danger a nation faces wherever ruthless terrorist organizations like the TPLF seize state power. For those TPLF fans who puff up their chest when they try to sell the TPLF as a heroic liberation movement, we should only encourage them to visit the Global Terrorism Database, where the TPLF is permanently housed along with its peers such as the extremists Islamic Jihaad, Al Shabaab and Al Qaida. TPLF is nothing but an ethnic Jihadist group that has taken hostage an entire nation it has been terrorizing with arrogance and impunity.


So many ordinary Ethiopians and scholars are very puzzled with the TPLF. But the best way to understand it is in the context of its well documented terrorism for the last four decades and driven by not its mask of leftist ideology that it claims now to have abandoned but a virulent ethnofascist ideology.
In spite of the the fact that GTD does not document state terrorism, Genocide Watch, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Committee to Protect Journalists, Reporters without Boarders, local and many international organizations have been documenting the state terrorism that TPLF has been committing with impunity. No matter what TPLF says and does, one cannot teach new tricks to an old dog. TPLF is a committed terrorist organization that will not change at all.


Those Ethiopians who frequently take to the streets and condemn Meles Zenawi and TPLF as terrorists are not expressing their disdain. They are telling the truth which is certified by the United States Homeland Security, which keeps the most comprehensive database of terrorists around world.
Given the weight of evidence, facts and figures against TPLF and its leaders, it is totally absurd and childish that Meles is still playing this terrorism and treason cards in its most outrageous form. In fact that following people are currently terrorizing the people of Ethiopia.

Ethiopia:Dictatorship is State Terrorism

By Alemayehu Gebremariam, PhD

Terrorism by “Anti-terrorism Law" 

Lately, Meles Zenawi, the dictator in Ethiopia, has been rounding up dissidents, journalists, opposition party political leaders and members under a diktat known as “Anti-Terrorism Proclamation No. 652/2009”. This diktat approved on a 286-91 vote of the rubberstamp parliament is so arbitrary and capricious that Human Rights Watch concluded “the law could provide a new and potent tool for suppressing political opposition and independent criticism of government policy.” 

The “anti-terrorism law” is a masterpiece of ambiguity, unintelligibility, obscurity, superficiality, unclarity, uncertainty, inanity and vacuity. It defines “terrorism” with such vagueness and overbreadth that any act, speech, statement, and even thought, could be punished under its sweeping provisions. Anyone who commits a “terrorist act” with the aim of "advancing a political, religious or ideological cause” and intending to “influence the government”, “intimidate the public”, “destabilize or destroy the fundamental political, constitutional, economic or social institutions of the country” could be condemned to long imprisonment or suffer the death penalty. Making or publishing statements “likely to be understood as encouraging terrorist acts” is a punishable offense under the “law”.   

Anyone who provides “moral support or advice” or has any contact with an individual accused of a terrorist act is presumed to be a terrorist supporter. Anyone who “writes, edits, prints, publishes, publicizes, disseminates, shows, makes to be heard any promotional statements encouraging, supporting or advancing terrorist acts” is deemed a “terrorist”. Peaceful protesters who carry banners critical of the regime could be charged for "promotional statements encouraging" terrorist acts. Anyone who “disrupts any public service” is considered a “terrorist”; and workers who may legitimately grieve working conditions by work stoppages could be charged with "terrorism" for disruption.  Young demonstrators who break windows in a public building by throwing rocks could be jailed as “terrorists”  for "causuing serious damage to property."  A person who "fails to immediately inform or give information or evidence to the police" on a neighbor, co-worker or others s/he may suspect of "terrorism" could face upto 10 years for failure to report.  Two or more persons who have contact with a "terror" suspect could be charged with conspiracy to commit "terrorism". 

The procedural due process rights (fair trial) of suspects and the accused guaranteed under the Ethiopian Constitution and  international human rights conventions are ignored, evaded, overlooked and disregarded by the “law”.  "The police may arrest without court warrant any person whom he reasonably suspects to have committed or is committing a terrorism"  and hold that person in incommunicado detention. The police can engage in random and “sudden search and seizure” of the person, place or personal effects of anyone suspected of  “terrorism”.  The police can “intercept, install or conduct surveillance on the telephone, fax, radio, internet, electronic, postal, and similar communications” of a person suspected of terrorism. The police can order “any government institution, official, bank, or a private organization or an individual" to turn over documents, evidence and information on a “terror” suspect. 

A “terror” suspect can be held in custody without charge for up to "four months". Any “evidence” presented by the regime's prosecutor against a "terror" suspect in "court"  is admissible, including "confessions" (extracted by torture), "hearsay", “indirect, digital and electronic evidences” and "intelligence reports even if the report does not disclose the source or the method it was gathered (including evidence obtained by torture). The  “law” presumes the “terror” suspect to be guilty and puts the burden of proof on the suspect/defendant in violation of the universal principle that the accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty.  

Such is the “anti-terrorism law” that was used to arrest and jail Eskinder Nega, Debebe Eshetu, Andualem Aragie, Woubshet Taye,  Zemenu Molla, Nathnael Makonnen, Asaminaw Birhanu, and Swedish journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye and thousands of others over the past few months and years. In any country where the rule of law prevails and an independent judiciary thrives, such a “law” would not pass the smell test let alone a constitutional one. But in a world of kangaroo courts, rubberstamp parliaments and halls of vengance and injustice, the diktat of one man is the law of the land. So, 2011 Ethiopia has become George Orwell’s 1984: Thinking is terrorism. Dissent is terrorism. Speaking truth to power is terrorism. Having a conscience is terrorism. Peaceful protest is terrorism. Refusing to sell out one’s soul is terrorism. Standing up for democracy and human rights is terrorism. Defending the rule of law is terrorism. Peaceful resistance of state terrorism is terrorism.

Dictatorship is State Terrorism 

Zenawi’s “anti-terrorism" diktat is intended to muzzle journalists from criticizing, youths from peaceably demonstrating, opposition parties from political organizing, ordinary citizens from speaking, civic leaders from mobilizing, teachers from imparting knowledge, lawyers from advocating scholars from analyzing and the entire nation from questioning his dictatorial rule. It is a “law” singularly intended to criminalize speech, police thought, outlaw critical publications, intimidate hearts, crush spirits, terrorize minds and shred constitutional and internationally-guaranteed human rights. When the State uses the “law” to silence and violently stamp out dissent, jail and keep in solitary confinement dissenters, opposition leaders and members, suppress the press and arbitrarily arrest journalists, trash human rights with impunity, trample upon the rule of law and scoff at constitutional accountability, does it not become a terrorist state?  

"Softness to traitors will destroy us all,” said Maximilien Robespierre, the mastermind and architect of the Reign of Terror in the French Revolution. Robespierre justified the use of terror by the state to crush all opposition and those he considered enemies of the state: “Are the enemies within not the allies of the enemies without? The assassins who tear our country apart, the intriguers who buy the consciences that hold the people's mandate; the traitors who sell them; the mercenary pamphleteers hired to dishonor the people's cause, to kill public virtue, to stir up the fire of civil discord, and to prepare political counterrevolution by moral counterrevolution-are all those men less guilty or less dangerous than the tyrants whom they serve?” asked Robespierre rhetorically as he rounded up tens of thousands of innocent French citizens for the guillotine. 

Zenawi once provide a definitive answer to his “enemies within and without”: “If opposition groups resort to violence in an attempt to discredit the election, we will crush them with our full force; they will all vegetate like Birtukan (Midekssa) in jail forever.” He is always ready to crush, smash and thrash his opposition.  He  described the leaders of opposition political coalition that won the 2005 elections as a bunch of "insurrectionists" (euphemism for "terrorists"): “The CUD (Coalition for Unity and Democracy) leaders are engaged in insurrection -- that is an act of treason under Ethiopian law.” When 193 unarmed demonstrators were massacred and 763 grievously wounded by security officers, Zenawi shed crocodile tears but said they were all terrorists lobbing grenades:  “I regret the deaths but these were not normal demonstrations. You don't see hand grenades thrown at normal demonstrations.” His own handpicked Inquiry Commission contradicted him after a meticulous investigation: “There was no property destroyed. There was not a single protester who was armed with a gun or a hand grenade (as reported by the government-controlled media that some of the protesters were armed with guns and bombs). The shots fired by government forces were not to disperse the crowd of protesters but to kill by targeting the head and chest of the protester.” 

Zenawi has demonized opposition groups as "terrorists" bent on "creating a rift between the government and the people.” He has put on “trial” and sentenced to death various alleged "members" of the Ginbot 7 Movement, and contemptuously described that Movement as an organization of "amateur part-time terrorists". He has undertaken a systematic campaign of intimidation against his critics describing them in his speeches as  "muckrakers," "mud dwellers", "sooty," "sleazy," "pompous egotists" and good-for-nothing "chaff" and "husk." He even claimed the opposition was filthy and trying to  “dirty up the people like themselves.” 

In the police state Ethiopia has become, opposition political and civic leaders and dissidents are kept under 24/7  surveillance, and the ordinary people they meet in the street are intimidated, harassed and persecuted. The climate of fear that permeates every aspect of urban and rural society is reinforced and maintained by a structure of repression that is vertically integrated from the very top to the local (kebele) level making impossible dissent or peaceful opposition political activity. As former president and presently opposition leader Dr. Negasso Gidada has documented, the structure of state terrorism in Ethiopia is so horrific one can only find parallels for it in Stalin-era Soviet Union:   

The police and security offices and personnel collect information on each household through other means. One of these methods involves the use of organizations or structures called "shane", which in Oromo means "the five". Five households are grouped together under a leader who has the job of collecting information on the five households... The security chief passes the information he collected to his chief in the higher administrative organs in the Qabale, who in turn informs the Woreda police and security office. Each household is required to report on guests and visitors, the reasons for their visits, their length of stay, what they said and did and activities they engaged in. ... The OPDO/EPRDF runs mass associations (women, youth and micro-credit groups) and party cells (“fathers”, “mothers” and “youth”). The party cells in the schools, health institutions and religious institutions also serve the same purpose.... 

State terrorism is the systematic use and threat of use of violence and coercion, intimidation, imprisonment and persecution  to create a prevailing climate of fear in a population with a specific political message and outcome: “Resistance is futile! Resistance will be crushed! There will be no resistance! "  State terrorism paralyzes the whole society and incapacitates individuals by entrenching fear as a paramount feature of social inaction and immobilization through the exercise of  arbitrary power and extreme brutality. In Ethiopia today, it is not just that the climate of fear and loathing permeates every aspect of social and economic life, indeed the climate of fear has transformed the "Land of Thirteen Months of Sunshine" in to the "Land of Thirteen Months of Fear, Loathing, Despair and Darkness". 

Inspirational Thought from Nelson Mandela 

Africa’s greatest leader, Nelson Mandela, was jailed for 27 years as a “terrorist” by the apartheid regime in South Africa. In 1993, three years after he left the notorious Robben Island prison, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Those jailed as “terrorists” in Ethiopia should draw great comfort and inspiration from the words of the greatest African leader alive:     

  I was called a terrorist yesterday, but when I came out of jail, many  people embraced me, including my enemies, and that is what I   normally tell other people who say those who are struggling for liberation in their country are terrorists. I tell them that I was also a terrorist yesterday, but, today, I am admired by the very people who said I was one.  

We should all express our admiration, gratitude and appreciation for today's "terrorists" and tomorrow's peacemakers, conciliators, hopegivers and nation-builders.

Free Eskinder Nega, Debebe Eshetu, Andualem Aragie, Woubshet Taye, Zemenu Molla, Nathnael Makonnen, Asaminaw Birhanu, Johan Persson, Martin Schibbye and thousands of other unknown and unnamed Ethiopian political prisoners.