November 30, 2012
OPEN LETTER TO THE NORWEGIAN GOVERNMENT
STOP ASSISTING THE ADDIS ABEBA REGIME IN ITS DRIVE TO DIVIDE THE OPPOSITION
The EPRP has come to know that the Norwegian government has invited the notorious Ephrem Yishak and a delegation led by him to Oslo to organize a so called reconciliation of certain political groups with the tyrannical regime in Ethiopia. We remember other similar and ill fated attempts made by Norway in the past.
The regime in Addis Abeba has not changed an iota. The TPLF hardliners are still in power. They have rejected all reconciliation talks and calls for a broad based transitional conference. The regime has attempted talks only to divide the opposition and to project an image of peace seeker to its foreign donors. Norway should know by now the old Ephrem Yishak is not an Ethiopian elder deserving respect. For the last 21 years he has served Meles Zenawi and hurt the opposition. Few people in Ethiopia support his role and pretensions. Ephrem talks of political prisoners released while more than 35,000 of them are suffering in hell holes all over Ethiopia. Of the disappeared he never raises a pip. The regime supports his trips and activities and it is obvious that his efforts are all geared to serving the interest of the regime and its foreign patrons. Who are these groups that Norway wants to reconcile with the regime in Addis Abeba? Why has Norway not found it proper to call for an all encompassing transitional conference in Addis Abeba? Why is Norway an accomplice of the regime’s drive to divide the opposition by talking to some and isolating others? Why indeed.
The Ephrem Yishak trip and the present Norwegian initiative are bound to fail. Those groups who agree to sell themselves to the regime in Addis Abeba will also achieve little or nothing other than the people’s wrath and contempt. If Norway wants to work for peace and democracy in Ethiopia it should support he struggle of the Ethiopian people for democratic rule, call for the release of all political prisoners, call for an end to the repression and systematic torture, to the ethnic chauvinist rule, to the sale of Ethiopian land to foreigners and the uprooting of thousands from their land and homes. Norway must stop using Ethiopia as a dumping ground for its fertilizers too. The regime is gripped by a crisis that Ephrem Yishak or Norway or anybody else can extricate it from. It is good and healthy to be on the side of the suffering people and all those struggling for democracy.
30,November 2012
EPRP.
OPEN LETTER TO THE NORWEGIAN GOVERNMENT
STOP ASSISTING THE ADDIS ABEBA REGIME IN ITS DRIVE TO DIVIDE THE OPPOSITION
The EPRP has come to know that the Norwegian government has invited the notorious Ephrem Yishak and a delegation led by him to Oslo to organize a so called reconciliation of certain political groups with the tyrannical regime in Ethiopia. We remember other similar and ill fated attempts made by Norway in the past.
The regime in Addis Abeba has not changed an iota. The TPLF hardliners are still in power. They have rejected all reconciliation talks and calls for a broad based transitional conference. The regime has attempted talks only to divide the opposition and to project an image of peace seeker to its foreign donors. Norway should know by now the old Ephrem Yishak is not an Ethiopian elder deserving respect. For the last 21 years he has served Meles Zenawi and hurt the opposition. Few people in Ethiopia support his role and pretensions. Ephrem talks of political prisoners released while more than 35,000 of them are suffering in hell holes all over Ethiopia. Of the disappeared he never raises a pip. The regime supports his trips and activities and it is obvious that his efforts are all geared to serving the interest of the regime and its foreign patrons. Who are these groups that Norway wants to reconcile with the regime in Addis Abeba? Why has Norway not found it proper to call for an all encompassing transitional conference in Addis Abeba? Why is Norway an accomplice of the regime’s drive to divide the opposition by talking to some and isolating others? Why indeed.
The Ephrem Yishak trip and the present Norwegian initiative are bound to fail. Those groups who agree to sell themselves to the regime in Addis Abeba will also achieve little or nothing other than the people’s wrath and contempt. If Norway wants to work for peace and democracy in Ethiopia it should support he struggle of the Ethiopian people for democratic rule, call for the release of all political prisoners, call for an end to the repression and systematic torture, to the ethnic chauvinist rule, to the sale of Ethiopian land to foreigners and the uprooting of thousands from their land and homes. Norway must stop using Ethiopia as a dumping ground for its fertilizers too. The regime is gripped by a crisis that Ephrem Yishak or Norway or anybody else can extricate it from. It is good and healthy to be on the side of the suffering people and all those struggling for democracy.
30,November 2012
EPRP.
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