On Ethiopian Embassies

by Teklu Abate

The website of the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs maintains that Ethiopia has 39 missions (embassies and consular offices) in Europe, North America, Asia, and Africa. These missions officially represent Ethiopia and poise to serve the Ethiopian Diaspora and Ethiopian-origin nationals. They also intend to encourage and facilitate the transfer of capital, technology, and science to Ethiopia. Since recent times, missions seem to aggressively work on 1) winning the hearts and minds of foreign investors particularly from the Arab world, India, and China, and 2) collecting funds for the construction of the “Grand Renaissance Dam”.

Ethiopian Embassy Washington DC

To what extent Ethiopian missions accomplish their missions? This is not for sure easy to answer mainly because information about the operations of the missions is not made readily available. But from media reports and mission-organized events, one could identify several areas where missions seem to perform inadequately.
In this paper, I highlight some of the weaknesses and limitations of Ethiopian missions, with a goal of inviting further discussions and then possible improvements in the way they do their jobs. Although missions might be somehow different in terms of their organizational capacity and readiness to change, it is argued that they do have several common traits as outlined below.

On Modern Slavery

Due to a whole set of socio-economic and political complications at home, Ethiopians are leaving their country in droves and for slavery. Thousands cross the Red Sea and the Sahara illegally and under life-threatening conditions. Several failed to make it to their destinies- they perished along the way. Several are stolen of their internal organs; several are raped, tortured, and indefinitely detained. Those who luckily reached their destinations are equally vulnerable to mistreatments of all sorts. They are forced to work under inhuman and hard-to-believe conditions. In a way, one could argue that Ethiopia is a witness to the revival of medieval period slave trade.
Several Ethiopian activists and some international organizations have started exposing such

The Grandiose Foundation for the Grandiose Legacy

  T.Goshu

April 2013

The mystification on “the great minded-ness and leadership” of the late Ato Meles Zenawi had been a campaign of indoctrinationthroughout his presidency, and later on his premiership. This had been ridiculously taken out of proportion right after the official pronouncement of his death that was followed by the declaration of mourning his death and paying “unprecedented” tribute. Now, the final and the highest stage of making him “an angel –like leader” of Ethiopia, “the leading politician for Pan- Africanism” and an “international political figure” are being launched. We have learnt this from the news and reports on the inaugural meeting held April 6, 2013. The people of Ethiopia have been showered with congratulatory news and messages about the coming into being of a historic foundation in honor of “a grandiose legacy of a great leader.”
Ato Amare Aregawi, the old guard of TPLF and who hopelessly continues struggling for the survival of the system of which he is extremely worried about after the death of his “great leader”, Ato Meles Zenawi has come up with a very ridiculous report titled, “the inaugural meeting of Ato Meles Zenawi’s Foundation has been Held with Mixed Feelings” (Amharic Version of April 10, 2013)
Amare Aregawi’s “smart” attempt of selecting very “impressive” topic for his report is the continuation of the mystification of the political personality of the late Ato Meles Zenawi in a very absurd and cynical manner. He has tried hard to imprint the very hypocritical legacy of the late Ato Meles Zenawi in the minds of the people of Ethiopia, and to deceive the international community. He has tried to convince (better to say to fool in vain ) the innocent people of Ethiopia and the people of the world (if the world gives any attention) that “the great and the most be-loved leader” once again made not only the people of Ethiopia but also “ the great leaders of Africa” shed their tears. It is not difficult to understand the very message of Amare Aregawi if we try to look at how he tried hard to paint his report with highly mystified and deceiving way of presentation. What he wanted once again to tell us is how the people of Ethiopia who lost “their great leader” and “the great leaders of Africa” and other “foreign dignitaries” who lost their “great friend” are still grief-stricken on the one hand, and filled with a lot of joy witnessing the establishment of the “historic foundation for his great legacy” on the other hand. That is what exactly the message Amare Aregawi has tried to send when he says “…mixed feelings.” Well, those who attended the meeting including the commissioner of of the AU, and leaders of African countries might have been inundated both with “grief and joy.” Their excitement about the political personality of the late Ato Meles Zenawi and being joyful about the establishment of the foundation on the one hand , and being gripped with life-time grief on the other hand is only and only up to them . But, one thing should surely and loudly be clear. And that is they have neither political nor moral capabilities to tell the innocent people of Ethiopia who have been incredibly dehumanized both politically as well as socio –economically that they should be grateful and proud of the legacy of the late Ato Mels Zenawi. That is an insult to the very intelligence of the Ethiopian people. It goes without saying that the innocent people of Ethiopia deserve to make unequivocally clear to those “great witnesses of their late great friend” who most of them are waiting for the days of judgments for what they have done to their own people and for their dirty political game they continue to play in the region need to stop muddling in the internal political affairs of Ethiopia.

Chinese firm steps up investment in Ethiopia with 'shoe city'

Shoemaker Huajian says new $2bn manufacturing zone will transfer skills to locals so they can become the future managers

• Elissa Jobson in Addis Ababa
• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 30 April 2013 09.30 BST

Ethiopian workers at Huajian's shoe factory near Addis Ababa mark out leather for shoes. Photograph: Elissa Jobson/guardian.co.uk

Helen Hai, vice-president of Chinese footwear manufacturer the Huajian Group, has a bold ambition. Within a decade, she wants Ethiopia to be a global hub for the shoe industry, supplying the African, European and American markets.
"We are not coming all the way here just to reduce our costs by 10 to 20%," Hai says. "Our aim is in 10 years' time to have a new cluster of shoe making here. We want to build a whole supply chain … I want everything to be produced here."
Huajian has a factory near Addis Ababa employing 600 people, which opened in January 2012, and has committed to jointly invest $2bn (£1.3bn) over the next decade to create a light manufacturing special economic zone in Ethiopia, creating employment for around 100,000 Ethiopians. The company, which employs 25,000 workers in China, expects to be able to provide around 30,000 jobs in Addis Ababa by 2022.
Huajian's partner in this project is the China-Africa Development Fund (CADFund), a private equity facility promoting Chinese investment in the continent. Born out of the 2006 Forum on China-Africa Co-operation, the fund was launched in June 2007 with $1bn provided by the China Development Bank. A further injection of $2bn was made early last year.

Ethiopians Rally in New York: Demanding UN investigate Ethnic Cleansing

 

It reminded us how it is uncomfortable just to stay few hours out in a rain knowing that it will be over and each one of us will go to our home in D.C., Maryland, Buffalo, Philadelphia, NJ and to all boroughs of New York City. We stood tall to be the voice of poor farmers and monks and challenge UN to condemn the Ethnic Cleansing underway in Ethiopia. We stared at the UN building where Tewodros Adhanom lectured just last week about TPLF/Woyane’s role on Somalia “security”. We call it “Kiraye Sebsaba Politica” or blackmailing politics. Read more…

Protest in City Heights of Controversial Ethiopian Consulate Meeting

San Diego Free Press

Local Ethiopian Community Invited to Attend Meeting, Allege They Were Kicked Out for Protesting Ethiopian Government’s Human Rights Abuses
by Anna Daniels

Lines of taxicabs were parked along Fairmount Avenue in City Heights yesterday afternoon–Sunday April 28. Police cars were parked in front of the Golden Hall East African Community and Cultural Center where approximately sixty people were holding a protest that spilled into the adjacent parking lot. Signs with “Stop Human Rights Abuses” were visible among the group waving Ethiopian and American flags.
According to protesters, the Ethiopian Consulate from Los Angeles was barricaded inside the cultural center with an undetermined number of members of the San Diego and Los Angeles Ethiopian Community. The Consulate was attending a widely publicized meeting to promote the purchase of bonds to build a controversial dam in Ethiopia that threatens the livelihood of thousands of indigenous peoples.
Protesters maintained that flyers advertising the meeting had been left in City Heights Ethiopian markets and restaurants. One woman told me that when the protesting group entered the cultural center they were met with invectives, hostility and intimidation before being dispersed from the meeting which had been publicized as open to the public.
Protesters were anxious to describe the current conditions in Ethiopia under a government led by the minority Tigray tribe. Someone handed me the 2012 US State Department Human Rights Watch which detailed the Ethiopian government suppression of journalists and bloggers and the alarming incidences of imprisonment and torture. There is no independent press in Ethiopia and dissenting political views are often treated as “terrorism.”
The enormous dam under construction in Ethiopia, undertaken by the current government/Tigray minority, has become a flash point for inter-tribal tensions. The protesters represented non-Tigray ethnic and tribal groups who described being left out of the dam planning process, despite the profound impacts it would have upon their villages.

Rally in New York: Ban Ki-moon UN Secretary-General is Aware of the Crimes Against Humanity in Ethiopia

by Tedla Asfaw



(NEW YORK) – The Monday April 29, 2013 cloudy sky with drizzle seems to remind the largest Ethiopian crowd in recent memory here in NYC the darkest time of our people under the minority regime of TPLF/Woyane. The cry of Amharas in Beni Shanguel Gumuz, Gura Ferda, Waldiba who were ethnically cleansed and dumped as landless and homeless by cruel and inhuman TPLF/Woyane thugs carrying the ID of “Nations and Nationalities” is indeed the turning point in our struggle.

It reminded us how it is uncomfortable just to stay few hours out in a rain knowing that it will be over and each one of us will go to our home in D.C., Maryland, Buffalo, Philadelphia, NJ and to all boroughs of New York City. We stood tall to be the voice of poor farmers and monks and challenge UN to condemn the Ethnic Cleansing underway in Ethiopia. We stared at the UN building where Tewodros Adhanom lectured just last week about TPLF/Woyane’s role on Somalia “security”. We call it “Kiraye Sebsaba Politica” or blackmailing politics.

Shame on him and his regime who snatched the “security” of thousands of Amharas from their home they built from scratch. Shame on him who Kicked out children from their school without warning. Shame on him who forced pregnant women to give birth in forests with no medical care.

The condemnation of the Woyane fascist and barbaric regime that started at 11am by fifty brave Ethiopians who came from NY Tri State area some driving seven hours from upstate New York started with a good news from NY organizers. By 10:30am the copy of the letter prepared for H.E. Ban Ki-Moon UN Secretary General was delivered to USA Ambassador to United Nations, Ambassador Susan Rice. We know pretty well that the content of this letter will soon reach to President Obama via John Carry, Secretary of State.

John Carry who is travelling to Addis Ababa on the 50th anniversary of OAU next month will be challenged to condemn Ethnic Cleansing and all human rights violations in Ethiopia in public. The USA Ambassadors to Ethiopia past and present were and are acting as “member” of TPLF. The State Department findings about Ethiopia is nothing more than empty gesture. We believe this time is different if they take note of the anger building in the diaspora community this month alone. We demand the Obama Administration to follow the recommendation of its own department without any excuse whatsoever.

The campaign to be heard by UN Secretary-General went on for a week by email and fax from the Ethiopian Diaspora all over the world. The fax and email flooded his office. When our five delegates went to deliver the letter asking UN to condemn Ethnic Cleansing and send an independent investigation team the positive reply we received was not surprising to most of us.

“The Secretary Genera was aware of what was going in Ethiopia ” especially the Ethnic Cleansing even before he received our letter. The Prime Worshipper/Minster Hailemariam was forced to admit in his own parliament about Ethnic Cleansing after his European tour of begging. He blamed the “locals” for carrying out the crime. Yes crime is committed locally but order was given from TPLF/Woyane who some were heard saying on VOA and ESAT Radio that they needed to clear the land for investment.

The Ethnic Cleansing of Amharas was to secure land for Woyane landlords. The list of the people who are directly connected to the crime against humanity was out to the public and UN . Omad Obang, Gambella, Shiferaw Shigute, Gura Ferda and South Omo Valley, Ahmed Nasir, Beni Shanguel Gumuz, Abdi Mohamud Omar, Ogaden, Abdi Maxamud Cumar, Ogaden, Abay Tsehai and Sibaht Nega , Waldiba was a short list for crimes against humanity present and past for which we demanded UN investigation.