A rebel disguised as "federal police officer" carried out Bahir Dar attack

Ethiomedia Update
May 14, 2013
Government says suspect is a Federal Police member

Government says suspect is not known by name

Government says suspect drowned in river

Government says couldn't find his body

BAHIR DAR (May 14) - The government said a 'disgruntled' federal police officer was responsible for the deaths of at least 12 civilians in this resort town on Sunday night but rebels said on Monday it was one of them who was disguised as a policeman and gunned down 12 regional ruling party officials.
No other independent source has verified the news report.Ethiopian Unity and Freedom Force (EUFF) said four women and a child were also killed during a crossfire opened to keep the retreating insurgent safe.Radio Fana, a ruling party property, said the alleged killer was a disgruntled Federal Police officer believed to have died after jumping off the Blue Nile Bridge. Searches couldn't find the body, the radio added.Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn condemned the killings, and vowed to launch investigations.But counter to his words, state radio reported that seven of the civilians were buried about half a day later on Monday, and without disclosing their identity to the public.The curious mind may ask, "Why the haste?"EUFF has promised to release the list of those killed officials.

EUFF Claims Responsibility for Attack

BAHIR DAR, Northwestern Ethiopia (May 13) -- Twelve ruling party officials were killed and two wounded here in this resort city on the shores of Lake Tana on Sunday when rebels stormed a wedding and opened fire, a rebel spokesperson told Ethiomedia by phone on Monday.The Ethiopian Unity and Freedom Force (EUFF), a rebel group that has been targetting the ruling EPRDF party officials and their businesses, claimed responsibility for the deadly attack. EUFF said the names of the officials killed and wounded would be released soon.The news has not been verified by any other independent source.All those killed were members of Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), one of the four parties that make up the ruling EPRDF, in power since 1991.The government has never acknowledged the existence of EUFF, despite suffering mortal blows.Bahir Dar city, which is located about 580 km northwest of Addis Ababa, is known for its palm-lined avenues and is the leading tourist attraction in Ethiopia. Ethiopian Airlines maintains a daily flight to Bahir Dar, which boasts of the magnificent Blue Nile Falls and treasure-trove monasteries on the islands of Lake Tana.

Previous Stories

• Ethiopian rebels claim victory over three-day battle with government soldiers
• Rebels blow up bus carrying ruling party officials
•EUFF kills 17 guards at Markos Prison
• Over 14 killed in bomb attack on Adigrat Prison
• Ethiopian rebels destroy ruling party stores in Gonder
• Rebels burn down TPLF-owned business units in Metema town

2 የወያኔ ኢህአዲግ ሥርዓት የሃገር ውስጥ አልበቃ ብሎት በስደት ሃገር የተቋቋሙትን የኢትዮጵያ ኦርተዶክስ አብያተ ክርስቲያናትን በጎሳ አፓርታይድ ሥርዓት ሥር ለማዋል የሚያደርገው ጥረት።

የወያኔ ኢህአዲግ ሥርዓት የሃገር ውስጥ አልበቃ ብሎት በስደት ሃገር የተቋቋሙትን የኢትዮጵያ ኦርተዶክስ አብያተ ክርስቲያናትን በጎሳ አፓርታይድ ሥርዓት ሥር ለማዋል የሚያደርገው ጥረት።

በአውሮፓ ውስጥ አንጋፋ የምትባለውና ከፍተኛ እድገት በማሳየት የምትታወቀው ርዕሰ አድባራት ለንደን ደብረ ጽዮን ቅድስት ማርያም ቤተ ክርስቲያን ከቅርብ ጊዜ ጀምሮ በከፍተኛ ሁከትና ረብሻ ውስጥ እንደምትገኝ በተለያዩ ድህረገጾች ላይ ከሚወጡ መረጃዎች ለመረዳት ችለናል።

ለንደን ደብረ ጽዮን ቅድስት ማርያም ቤተ ክርስቲያንን

ጉዳዩን ቀረብ ብለን እንደተረዳነው በቤተ ክርስቲያኗ ውስጥ የተፈጠረው ችግር ቢቻል በሰላምና እርቅ፤ ካልሆነም ደግሞ የቤተ ክርስቲያኗ ሕጋዊ ባለቤት የሆኑት አባላቷ በነፃነት ተወያይተው በሚያስተላልፉት ውሳኔ እልባት ሊያገኝ በቻለ ነበር። ይህ ሁሉ ተሞክሮ ካልተሳካ ደግሞ የቤተ ክርስቲያንን ሕግና ቤተ ክርስቲያኗ የምትገኝበትን ሃገር ሕግ ተከትሎ ችግሩ እልባት ማግኘት ሲገባው የዚህ ሁሉ ችግር ምንጭ የሆኑትና ስልጣንን የሙጥኝ ብለው አለቅም ያሉት የቤተ ክርስቲያኑ አስተዳዳሪ ቆሞስ አባ ግርማ ከበደና ደጋፊዎቻቸው የሆኑ ጥቂት ካህናትና የሰንበት ት/ቤት ወጣቶች አብላጫውን የቤተ ክርስቲያኗን አባላት በማግለል ሌሎች ከቤተ ክርስቲያኗ ጋር በአቋም የተለዩ ሆነው በለንደን የሚገኙና በወያኔ አህአዲግ ቀጥተኛ አመራር ሥር ከሚገኙ ከገብረኤልና ከስላሴ አብያተ ክርስቲያናት የተወሰኑ አባላት ጋር በማበር በተለይም አባ ጳውሎስ በትግራይ ተወላጅነት መርጠው የሾማቸው አቡነ እንጦስና ሌላው የትግራይ ተወላጅ የሆኑት መጋቢ ተወልደ ወልደማርያም ጋር እየተመሳጠሩ ብዙ ተንኮልና ሴራ ሲሸርቡ ከቆዩ በኋላ ኢትዮጵያ ካለው ከቤተ መንበረ ፓትርያርክ ጋር በመነጋገር አባላትን ሳያማክሩና ሳያስፈቅዱ ከኢትዮጵያ ጳጳስ በማስመጣት ቤተ ክርስቲያኗ በወያኔ ኢህአዲግ ሹመኞች ቁጥጥር ሥር እንድትውል በመጣር ላይ ይገኛሉ።
በዚህ የተንኮል ሴራ መሠረትም በአሁኑ ወቅት በወያኔ ኢህአዲግ የተወከሉ አቡነ ገብረኤልና አቡነ ቀውስጦስ የሚባሉ ጳጳሳት ከአዲስ አበባ ወደ ለንደን መላካቸው የታወቀ ሲሆን ዓላማቸውም ቤተ ክርስቲያኗ የኢትዮጵያ ኦርቶዶክስ ተዋህዶ ቤተ ክርስቲያን አካል ነች የሚል ሕጋዊ የሚሉትን ጥያቄ በማንሳት የቤተ ክርስቲያኗ አስተዳደርም ሆነ ንብረቷ በቀጥታ በወያኔ ኢህአዲግ ሥርዓት ምርጫና ሹመት ለንደን ላይ በተቋቋመውና በአቡነ እንጦስና በመጋቢ ተወልደ ወልደማርያም የበላይ ኃላፊነት በሚመራው የሰሜን አውሮፓ ሃገረ ስብከት ሥር እንዲውል ለማድረግ ነው።
ይህ የሰሜን ምእራብ አውሮፓ ሃገረ ስብከት (ETHIOPIAN ORTHODOX TEWAHEDO CHURCH DIOCESE OF NORTH WEST EUROPE) በሚል በወያኔ ኢህአዲግ ሹመኞች አማካኝነት ከ2011 ጀምሮ በUK Charity commission ተመዝግቦ የተመሠረተው ተቋም ሲሆን ወያኔ ኢህአዲግ በአውሮፓ ውስጥ ያለው ስደተኛ ኢትዮጵያዊ በጥረቱና በድካሙ ያቋቋማቸውን የኦርቶዶክስ ቤተ ክርስቲያናት በቀጥታ ትዕዛዝ ሥር ለማዋልና ሃብትና ንብረታቸውን ለመቆጣጠር እንዲያስችለው ታስቦ የተቋቋመና የተደራጀ የሥርዓቱ ቅርንጫፍ ነው።
(እዚህ በመጫን የመረጃውን ትክክለኛነት ያረጋግጡ)
ሃገር ስብከት በማለት ወያኔ ኢህአዲግ ለንደን ላይ ያቋቋመውን የቻሪቲ ድርጅት በበላይነት የሚመሩት ኃላፊዎች (Trustees) በቁጥር 9 ሲሆኑ ከነዚህ ውስጥ 6ቱ በትክክል የተረጋገጠ የትግራይ ጎሳ አባላት ናቸው።
ከዚህ በተጨማሪ እንደ ኢትዮጵያ አቆጣጠር በ1997 ዓ/ም ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ከ200 በላይ ህፃን፤ ወጣት፤ አሮጊትና ሽማግሌ በወያኔ አግአዚ ወታደር በግፍ ሲገደሉና ከ30.000 በላይ ወጣቶች በየ እስር ቤቱ ታጉረው፤ ሲገረፉና ሲሰቃዩ፤ ከዚህም በተጨማሪ ሃምሳና 60 ሰው በአንድ ምላጭ ስላጩ፤ የርዕሰ አድባራት ለንደን ደብረ ጽዮን ቅድስት ማርያም ቤተ ክርስቲያን አባላት በወገናቸው

Why I am naming and shaming African Media Initiative (AMI)

by Kiflu Hussain

I might never have known about the existence of African Media Initiative (AMI), had I not received an invitation from this organization that sounds well intentioned. In 2011, I was pleasantly surprised by an email from AMI that invited me to attend the fourth African Media Leaders Forum (AMLF) in Tunis. It was held from November 9-11, 2011.To this day, I have no idea why or from which hat AMI picked my name to extend invitation to me since I am not formally attached to any media houses except my significant contribution to various media outlets in Africa and elsewhere. Since I wrote several pieces on what’s come to be known as the “Arab Spring, the Jasmine Revolution or The Arab Gdansk” depending on the historical mood of the person commenting on those exciting events, I thought that could be the reason that prompted AMI to invite me.

From left, Charles Onyango and Kiflu Hassain

Whatever, I attended the meeting under the auspices of East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project (EHAHRDP) and the Daily Maverick, a South African online journal to which I contributed articles. As I said in the piece after I got back from Tunis under the title “The Eruption of a Revolution; a Time Bomb Ticking to Explode Anytime,” I felt that “I travelled to a pilgrimage of revolutionary sites.”Coincidences too added to my excitement, albeit with a tremendous sadness. At the last day of the forum, November 11, 2011, a young Ethiopian teacher named Yenesew Gebre immolated himself Mohamed Bouazizi style by way of an ultimate protestation against the dictatorship in Ethiopia, which was in fact what elicited the piece I mentioned above.
While that was in the aftermath of the forum, I went to the meeting with great expectation to hear from the forum about freedom of the press and a way forward on how to deal with those African nations that curb or suppress it totally. The fact that the theme of the forum was “Empowering Citizens through Social Media and Techonolgy”coupled with AMI’s core principles shown on its website, heightened my anticipation of a discussion on specific notorious cases of suppression of the media by some African States. Since that was not the mood of the forum, I attributed it on my late arrival in the afternoon on the day of the opening. I was late because of the tardiness of Egypt Air that transported me to Tunis with a lot of inconvenience. So I thought I might have missed discussions to this effect during the opening session in the morning.
At any rate, on the second day I joined a panel when the forum was divided in different groups to discuss various issues. I followed the panel among which one of the presenters was Charles Onyango Obbo, a renowned Ugandan journalist and prolific columnist as well as Executive Editor in the Nations Media Group. I was rewarded by his humorous presentation and incisive critic towards the heavy-handedness of his own government against the media. He made the panel discussion, at least to me, interesting through a snide comment he threw against his fellow countryman, Mr. Robert Kabushenga, CEO of the government run, The New Vision who also attended the forum.Yet, he nearly disappointed me when he revealed a plan that Nation Media Group chose certain African cities to base permanent branch in a bid to tell “African story by Africans.”Among the cities chosen for this “honor” was Addis Ababa. During discussion time, I raised a question to Charles by reminding him how the Ethiopian regime brooks no space at all for media; how a Nation Media Group correspondent named Argaw Ashine was forced to flee from his own country due to this fact at the time Charles was revealing a plan about Addis; and that Ethiopia is clad with an iron curtain in a way only slightly “better than” Eritrea. And so I sort of asked him on what criteria they chose this city for their project. Acknowledging what I have said, Charles nevertheless said we can’t flee leaving everything to dictators and added the rationalization of NMG or his own that “If Coca Cola can do business with these dictators that it’s also possible for media houses to operate as business