Addis Ababa looks like a construction site

By Jenny Vaughan, AFP

Addis Ababa (AFP) - Above Addis Ababa's concrete skyline, cranes tower high amid blasts from nearby drills and diggers. At the feet of buildings shrouded in bamboo scaffolding, excavators dig up dirt tracks, to be replaced by paved roads and a modern railway.

It is a scene common to most neighbourhoods in the Ethiopian capital, which has turned into a giant building zone and a city in transformation.
"It looks like a construction site when we compare from the previous time," said Berhanu Kassa, manager of B.B. Construction in the Ethiopian capital.
"Especially in the past five years, it's a really big change," he added, speaking at the site of his latest project, a mixed-use commercial building on one of the city's main thoroughfares where workers offload concrete slabs from a delivery truck.
Addis Ababa's construction boom -- funded both from private and public coffers -- is being driven by the country's recent rapid economic growth.
But the government hopes it will attract further investment and help industrialise the economy in order to reach middle income status by 2025.
The public works projects, worth billions of dollars, include new roads, railways and massive power generation schemes across the country.
Meanwhile the majority of new buildings are owned by private investors, who by law must be Ethiopian citizens.
The development promises to boost Ethiopia's economic growth, officially 9.7 percent last year, though the International Monetary Fund (IMF) pegs it at closer to seven percent.
"The basic engine blocks of economic transformation are the infrastructure," said Zemedeneh Negatu, managing partner and Ernst & Young in Ethiopia.
"The Achilles heel of Africa is power, lack of power, lack of road networks, lack of the basic needs that you need to transform your economy."

- Few other opportunities -

But analysts point out that the boom in construction is also a symptom of the weakness of the financial system, which leaves the business community with few investment opportunities outside of the sector.
"This is the most attractive investment opportunity in the country for the time being since we do not have a financial market that is working properly," said the head of the IMF mission in Ethiopia, Jan Mikkelsen.
"There's no financial markets, no stock exchange, so real estate investments seem to be the most attractive from that point of view," he added.
The majority of the new buildings are hotels, apartments and offices.
Most are being built by Ethiopian-owned construction firms, though foreign-owned contractors from China or Turkey are cashing in too.
The government said the big push in the sector -- which is bolstered by state-led incentives such as tax breaks and ready access to land -- is driven by the need to create jobs for Ethiopia’s 91 million people, about one in four of whom are unemployed.
"We are struggling to eradicate poverty and create jobs," said Desalegne Ambaw, state minister for urban development and construction.
Officials say four million jobs have been created in the last three years, including an increase in construction sector employment.
But Mikkelsen warns that resources should not be pooled too heavily into infrastructure projects, no matter how crucial for development.
"There is a need for construction, but of course there's a limit to how much you can get out of that and these are potential resources that could have been used for other means and maybe more export-oriented businesses as well given that there is an urgent need for more foreign exchange," he said.
Imports outweigh exports by a factor of four, according to IMF data, which starves the country of foreign exchange.

- A city transformed -

The ambitious state-funded infrastructure projects also threaten to strain public finances in Ethiopia.
IMF forecasts see the public deficit possibly swelling to 44 percent of gross domestic product within several years, nearly double the current level that means the country is borrowing a fifth of what it spends.
As it is, the financing shortfall for public works projects is already ten percent of GDP.
But for now, Berhanu said he is grateful for the government's focus on the construction sector, since his business is booming.
"From a business perspective we are busy, sometimes it is even beyond our capacity," he said, adding that his company has grown from three people to over three hundred over the last 20 years.
Berhanu said Ethiopia's economic growth is fuelling the expansion of his business by creating a demand for new infrastructure, and he in turn was contributing to this by creating employment and supporting local industries.
"I hire a lot of workers here, I use a lot of local materials, I use a lot of subcontractors and because of that all we grow together and the country benefits," he said.
Zemedeneh is confident it will continue to attract investors from abroad who witness the country's growth for themselves and said he only expects the city’s transformation to continue.
"The bottom line is you will not recognise Addis if you come 10 years from now, it will be a completely, completely different city," he said.

Do massive dams ever make sense?

By Lauren Everitt, BBC

A new report from researchers at Oxford University argues that large dams are a risky investment - soaring past projected budgets, drowning emerging economies in debt and failing to deliver promised benefits . Do they ever really make sense?

A peek over the edge of the Hoover Dam's 60-storey wall is enough to send shivers down anyone's spine. Constructed from enough concrete to pave a motorway from New York to San Francisco - this colossal barrier is touted as a symbol of man's mastery over nature and a marvel of 20th Century engineering.
The dam was credited with helping jump-start America's economy after the Great Depression, reining in the flood-prone Colorado River and generating cheap hydroelectric power for arid south-western states. Even more miraculously, the Hoover Dam was completed two years ahead of schedule and roughly $15m (£9m) under budget.
But for megadam critics, the Hoover Dam is an anomaly. The Oxford researchers reviewed 245 large dams - those with a wall height over 15m (49ft) - built between 1934 and 2007. They found that the dams ran 96% over their approved budgets on average - Brazil's Itaipu dam suffered a 240% overrun - and took an average of 8.2 years to build.
In the vast majority of cases, they say, megadams are not economically viable.
But after a two-decade lull, large dams are once again being trumpeted as a ticket to prosperity. Countries from China to Brazil, via Pakistan and Ethiopia, are rushing to erect them.
With world electricity consumption expected to grow by more than 56% between 2010 and 2040, according to the 2013 International Energy Outlook report, hydropower is a tempting option.
More than 90% of the world's renewable electricity comes from dams, according to the International Commission on Large Dams.

Andy Hughes of the British Dam Society points to Laos and Vietnam as shining examples of dam-building countries that have harnessed hydropower. "They're building dams, they're generating hydropower, and then they export that power to other countries, so it's a big cash crop for them," he says.
Belo Monte

• Country: Brazil
• Height of wall: 90m (295ft)
• Cost: $14.4bn (£8.6bn), predicted to rise to $27.4bn (£16.4bn)
• Problem: Judge suspended construction in 2011, on environmental grounds

Three Gorges

• Country: China
• Height of wall: 181m (594ft)
• Cost: $23bn (£13.8bn)
• Problem: Displaced 1.4m people, may have caused landslides

Diamer-Bhasha

• Country: Pakistan
• Height of wall: 272m (892ft)
• Cost (2008): $12.7bn (£7.6bn)
• Experts predict the construction costs may not be recovered

Gigel Gibe III

• Country: Ethiopia
• Height of wall: 243m (797ft)
• Cost: $2.1bn (£1.3bn)
• Expected to disrupt fisheries and the livelihoods of 500,000 inhabitants of the Lower Omo Valley

But Bent Flyvbjerg, principal investigator for the Oxford University dam study, says dams "are not carbon neutral, and they're not greenhouse neutral". The vast quantities of concrete required to construct leave an enormous carbon footprint, he says.

Furthermore flooded vegetation under the reservoirs produces methane, a greenhouse gas roughly 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide, he says.
But also, his argument is not with dams as such, but with megadams.
"We don't accept that it's a discussion of hydropower from large dams versus fossil fuels. We would like the discussion to be about hydropower from large dams versus hydropower from smaller hydropower projects," he says.
Others, such as Peter Bosshard of environmental campaign group International Rivers, say climate change threatens to alter weather patterns in unpredictable ways.
"So if you put all your energy eggs in one big dam, you're taking a big risk because you don't know what future rainfall patterns will be over time," he says.
The cost of these behemoths is the main focus of the Oxford study.
Flyvbjerg says he expects the $14.4bn (£8.7bn) price tag for Brazil's Belo Monte dam to surge to $27.4bn (£16.5bn), outweighing any benefits, and saddling the country with a mountain of debt.
At least Brazil's economy is robust. For many emerging economies, massive dams spell disaster, Flyvbjerg says. Some countries take out large loans - often in foreign currency, making them vulnerable to exchange rate fluctuations - and when dams don't deliver the promised benefits, these nations take a huge hit.
"It's like a bull in a china store - these projects are way too big and way too risky to be taken on by the most fragile economies in the world," he says.
Even when a dam project is overrunning and costs are soaring, governments are reluctant to scrap them he points out.
"A dam is really a useless asset if it's not completely finished. Even if it's 99% finished, you can't use it - it's either on or it's not," Flyvbjerg says.
But Andy Hughes says dams have many upsides. Critics should ask themselves a number of questions, he says: "How else would one generate power, how else would one give people clean water to drink, how else would one irrigate farms, how else would one treat sewage?"
And dams create employment. The Belo Monte hydroelectric dam project is projected to create work for an estimated 20,000 people
He says they can play an important role in mitigating climate change. During drought conditions, the reservoirs provide drinking water and irrigation. During wetter periods they're key for flood protection. In fact, Hughes predicts an upswing in dam building after severe flooding across the UK in the winter just gone by.
Julia Jones, an Oregon State University hydrologist, says this chimes with her study of dams in the Columbia River basin in the Pacific Northwest.
"There's been a net increase in the availably of water during scarce times and the protection of places during flooding times, which is exactly what the dams were intended to create," she explains. "That suggests that there is resilience and that there may be capacity large enough to deal with future climate change." But it all depends on how big the impact of climate change is, she notes.
The real benefit of dams may simply boil down to perspective, according to Jones.
"It all depends on who's at the table," she says. "There has been a lot of controversy for half a century or more about the larger context in which these projects are constructed - that is, who loses their livelihoods, who gains from the construction of the dam and the environmental benefits and costs."
For Hughes, it's more of a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don't trap.

"My view is that dams can never win. If we build a dam, we get criticised, but once the dam is built people say, 'Well, what was all the fuss about? Isn't this a beautiful setting for walking around the lake and picnics?' But try and demolish a dam, and you get criticized for damaging that beautiful environment. So it's a no-win exercise, I'm afraid.

Ethiopia: Spying on the Diaspora

By Joshua Kopstein, New Yorker 

Before Edward Snowden sparked a global debate about government surveillance, it was a fact of life for Tadesse Kersmo. During Ethiopia’s national elections, in 2005, he and his wife campaigned for the country’s pro-democracy party, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, which achieved a sweeping victory in the capital of Addis Ababa. But, when the results were overturned and protests broke out amid allegations of fraud, the ruling party quickly began cracking down on the opposition. Observers from the European Union reported extensive human-rights violations in the months that followed, including nearly two hundred demonstrators killed by security forces and tens of thousands more imprisoned.Kersmo evaded arrest and moved to the countryside, but his ties to the opposition subjected him to continued threats, harassment, and intense monitoring long after the election. “It is common wisdom that the phones are tapped,” he told me, in a tired baritone, over Skype. “People would call me and tell me, ‘We are following you, we know what you’re doing, we know where you are.’ ” On three separate occasions between 2005 and 2007, Kersmo was detained and beaten. At one point, he was told that his family would find his dead body in the streets, because the prisons were filled to capacity. When that seemed imminent, in 2009, Kersmo and his wife fled to the U.K., where they were granted asylum. There he continued his work as a university lecturer and a senior member of Ginbot 7, an exiled pro-democracy party that the Ethiopian government labelled a terrorist group in 2011, under a vague and widely condemned proclamation.

Kersmo and his wife thought that their new life in the U.K. would take them out of the government’s sights. But, in April of last year, Kersmo read a report from the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, a nonprofit research group that scans the Internet to expose government-sponsored spyware and cyberattacks, showing evidence of a malware campaign targeting Ethiopian dissidents. The report describes a malicious file that, when opened, silently installs monitoring software on the victim’s computer. When Kersmo noticed that the malware “baited” its victims using photos of Ginbot 7 members, including those of himself, he decided to have his machine examined by Citizen Lab.
The group found traces of FinSpy, part of an “intrusion” software suite known as FinFisher, which first made headlines in 2011, after a sales contract was discovered inside the headquarters of the Egyptian secret police, following the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. The spyware was capable of stealthily transmitting Kersmo’s chats, Web searches, files, e-mails, and Skype calls to a server somewhere in Ethiopia. “The feeling was shock—that they are still following us, even here,” Kersmo told me. “It goes beyond my personal security. All Ethiopians living in the U.K., United States, and elsewhere are unsafe now.”
The other week, Privacy International, a U.K.-based human-rights organization, filed a criminal complaint on Kersmo’s behalf, making him the first U.K. resident to challenge the use of hacking tools by a foreign power. “This case would be important to all refugees who end up in countries where they think they are safe,” Alinda Vermeer, a lawyer with Privacy International, who filed Kersmo’s complaint, told me in a phone interview. That sense of safety is illusory, she said, because countries armed with tools like FinSpy insure that refugees “can be spied on in an equally intrusive way as they were back at home.” Worse, the surveillance also reveals with whom the victims have been communicating, potentially endangering the lives of contacts and relatives still residing in their home country.
Kersmo’s dilemma is becoming more common, particularly among journalists and activists seeking political freedoms beyond their country’s borders. The Electronic Frontier Foundation recently filed a suit similar to Kersmo’s against the Ethiopian government, on behalf of a U.S. citizen living near Washington, D.C., where most of the country’s Ethiopian-American population lives. (Fearing government reprisal, the plaintiff asked to use a common Ethiopian name, “Kidane,” as a pseudonym during the proceedings.) In a different report, released last month, Citizen Lab revealed evidence of an attack on Ethiopian Satellite Television, a news service with offices in the U.S. that serves as an alternative to state-controlled media in Ethiopia. A mysterious source had made three attempts to send malicious files to employees, claiming that they were news articles; the files contained a small program that exploits a security flaw in Microsoft’s Windows operating system, allowing it to silently install Remote Control System, a spyware tool similar to FinSpy.
The growing surveillance-technology industry—including the companies Gamma International and Hacking Team, the European developers of FinSpy and Remote Control System—has been valued at five billion dollars. Proponents defend such commercial spyware by noting that it helps authorities catch terrorists and other serious criminals. But Gamma will not disclose which countries it sells its products to, nor is it particularly eager to take responsibility for how they are used. In 2012, Martin J. Muench, the company’s founder, told Bloomberg News that his company has “no control; once it’s out there it’s basically with the country” to use the tools ethically. (Gamma did not respond to a request for comment.)
The Milan-based Hacking Team claims that it monitors its software, and has the ability to disable functionality if it believes that clients “have used Hacking Team technology to facilitate gross human rights abuses.” According to its customer policy, the company’s sales are reviewed by “an outside panel of technical experts and legal advisors,” which looks for “red flags,” including “credible government or non-government reports reflecting that a potential customer could use surveillance technologies to facilitate human rights abuses.” Like Gamma, Hacking Team also refuses to name which countries use its products, but it denied allegations in a recent report by Citizen Lab that claimed Remote Control System was used in twenty-one countries, including Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan. A spokesperson, Eric Rabe, told Mashable that the Citizen Lab report is “not an accurate list of nations where Hacking Team clients are located,” but refused to elaborate on the company’s vetting process.
Regardless, the increased scrutiny of commercial spyware has led some countries to tighten regulations regarding its sale, particularly across national borders. In 2012, the U.K. government informed Gamma, which has offices in Andover, England, that it needs to obtain licenses to sell FinSpy outside the country, citing laws that control the export of cryptography. Alinda Vermeer, of Privacy International, explained that, while export controls under the Wassenaar Arrangement—which regulates weapons and technologies with potential military applications within forty-one nations—were recently updated to restrict spyware, the new terms haven’t yet been adopted by all participating countries. This means that, while future deals will be regulated in some countries, past purchases and current efforts from spyware companies around the world have relatively few rules to follow—and more people like Kersmo are bound to get caught in the crosshairs. “There is a social obligation for corporations,” Kersmo said. “Selling this kind of software to irresponsible governments is irresponsible.”
Joshua Kopstein is a cyberculture journalist from New York City.
Photograph: Raphael Satter/AP

Eritreans in S. Sudan threatened as locals accuse Asmara of backing rebels

By Sudan Tribune
Shops allegedly torched by rebels are pictured in Bor, capial of Jonglei state, on January 19, 2014 (Photo AFP /Waakhe Simon Wudu)
On Monday an Ethiopian trader, who has been operating in Jonglei state since 2011, told Sudan Tribune said that 300,000 South Sudanese pounds (around $103,000) was stolen from his shop on 30 December 2013, just two weeks after fighting begin in the capital Juba.
Daniel Merhawi Debesay, who is Eritrean by birth but holds an Ethiopian passport, says he also lost produce, including beer and soft drinks worth, around 668,000 SSP ($229,370)

The drinks seller said that he had felt at home in South Sudan but now fears that his shop may have been targeted because of his nationality. Many South Sudanese in Bor believe rumours that Eritrea may be backing the rebel movement led by South Sudan’s former Vice President Riek Machar.

When fighting began between members of the South Sudanese armed forced on 15 December last year, the government accused Machar and many others who had become increasingly opposed to President Salva Kiir of attempting to stage a coup.

Machar denies this but has assumed control of a loose coalition of defected soldiers and armed civilians who have control of much of Jonglei and Upper Nile as well as parts of Unity state.
Debesay ran to the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) compound in Bor with his wife and brother when the war reached its peak in Bor, leaving behind everything in his shop.
The state capital has changed hands four times since the conflict, which has killed an estimated 10,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands, began.
"They came running, shooting people. I saw a lot of people killed here, I ran to UNMISS. It was on that day that they looted my shop, took all the crates I had in stock. They took the money also, 300,000 [South Sudanese] pounds", Debesay told Sudan Tribune.
It was the saddest moment in his life, he said, and had a serious psychological affect on his brother, who sheltered in the UN compound with him until the town was retaken by the South Sudanese army (SPLA).
"He became sick, complaining of headache and after few days, he became like a mad man. He is now under treatment in Uganda, Kampala", he said.
Friends had helped him by paying for his medication in Uganda.
Debesay has now received a loan of 15,000 pounds from the Ethiopian and Eritrean business community in South Sudan’s capital Juba to restart his drinks business.
The trader, who spent two months in the UN compound said he saw many of the items looted from Bor market being exchanged between displaced people in the camp, including mattresses, phones, soft drinks and water.
THREATENED IN BOR
Debesay, who is an Eritrean by origin says that he and his wife have been threatened over the last week by local people in Bor who claim Eritrea is aiding Machar’s rebels by providing them with arms and ammunition.
Claudio Gramizzi, an independent researcher with extensive knowledge of arms trafficking in the region said he was not aware of any evidence that Eritrea was providing weapons to the SPLM/A in Opposition, despite the rumours that have circulated over the past two weeks.
The lack of evidence has not stopped people taking their anger out on expatriates like Debesay.
"I came to Bor again because other places are not good for business because of congestion and the distance factors. But now the people who knew me as an Eritrean threatened me. I will inform the police about so that I can get help immediately", Debesay said.
Throughout much the civil war against Khartoum that lasted for over two decades the SPLA - then a rebel group rather than a national army for independent South Sudan - had quite good connections with Asmara.
Gramizzi, told Sudan Tribune in an email: "This goes back into history, but some networks survive in time even when the major political frameworks evolve. Eritreans are in Juba (they own a couple of hotels and some businessmen operating in South Sudan are quite well connected with the regime in their home country), but I never heard about them being involved in supporting armed actors."
Over the last five years Khartoum and Asmara have improved their relationship and stopped backing rebels in the others territory. This is a marked changed since before the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, when the Eritrean capital was home to several armed groups operating in Sudan, including Darfuri rebels.
From a geopolitical perspective Eritrea arming the South Sudanese rebels would not make much sense, Gramizzi said, but added that it was not impossible.
"If there is some support – it is small volume and channelled through personal connections and they don’t really reflect a governmental position."
The Eritrean government do not have many reasons to put the Sudanese government in Khartoum in a difficult position by supporting Machar, according to Gramizzi, adding they also have no real reasons to oppose Salva Kiir’s government.
"Sometimes, however, [the Eritrean government’s] geopolitical stand simply emerge[s] from their willingness to annoy Ethiopia" Gramizzi notes.
So far the conflict has, publicly at least, brought Khartoum and Juba closer together as they both need to keep South Sudan’s oil exports flowing through the north to fuel their ailing economies.
However, the presence of Ugandan troops, deployed by Kampala initially to help secure Juba and the evacuation of their nationals but now openly fighting the rebels alongside the SPLA, has angered Sudan and their continued presence could raise tensions especially considering their proximity to the oil fields in Unity and Upper Nile.
(ST)

Reykjavik Plans to Start $2 Billion Ethiopian Power Project By William Davison, Bloomberg

Reykjavik Geothermal, the Icelandic power-plant builder, plans to begin drilling in Ethiopia by July as part of a $2 billion project to develop the renewable energy source, Chief Operating Officer Gunnar Orn Gunnarsson said.
Ethiopia’s government signed a deal with the Reykjavik-based company in October to build a power plant on an imploded volcano in the Rift Valley that will generate 500 megawatts of electricity by 2020. The licensing of a large-scale private power-generation project marks a shift from the country’s previous reliance on domestic investment and Chinese loans to finance infrastructure development.
“We think we have a project that can have a return on equity that is acceptable by the investors,” Gunnarsson said in an interview on March 7 from Iceland. The company plans to begin closing financing deals this month worth as much as $80 million and expects to eventually raise $500 million from equity partners, he said.
Ethiopia’s government has operated a state-dominated market economy since rebels overthrew a socialist military regime in 1991. While private investment has been encouraged in areas including agriculture and manufacturing, government enterprises control or monopolize financial services, transportation, energy and telecommunications.
Opening Up The deal between the government and Reykjavik Geothermal “signals a more open policy toward foreign direct investment in key economic sectors currently dominated by public enterprises,” International Monetary Fund country representative Jan Mikkelsen. It should be replicated in other state-controlled industries to alleviate “infrastructure bottlenecks,” he said.
Ethiopia’s economy is projected to expand 8 percent in the fiscal year to July 7, the end of the year in the Ethiopian calendar, after increasing at an annual average rate of 9.3 percent for the past four years, according to the IMF. That growth rate is convincing companies to invest in producing electricity from ample resources of wind, geothermal, water and sun, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said Feb. 10. General Electric Co. (GE) is considering investing in the power industry in the country, the government said in January.
Ethiopia is expanding infrastructure as it seeks to become a regional electricity exporter and manufacturing center, and is using its low-cost labor and cheap power from Africa’s second-largest hydropower resources to attract investment. Reykjavik Geothermal will sell power to the national grid, once it begins producing, Gunnarsson said.
Power Demand
“All the industries here are screaming for power,” he said. “It’s dragging their development of everything to have no power.”
The Ethiopian Electric Power Corp., a government utility, is building the 6,000-megawatt Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile River. The 80-billion birr ($4.1 billion) hydropower project will be paid for by domestic bond sales and government funds and is scheduled for completion in 2018.
The Export-Import Bank of China is primarily funding a $1-billion transmission line from what will be Africa’s largest power plant. Chinese banks are also financing new railways and roads on Ethiopia’s main trade route to the Port of Djibouti.
Reykjavik Geothermal expects to conclude deals with three or four investors this month worth $40 million to $80 million, which will help cover the cost of drilling as many as five wells to produce an initial 20 megawatts of power, Gunnarsson said. While other partners may also buy into the project, “all these equity providers aim to continue and follow through to the whole 500 megawatts,” he said.
Collapsed Caldera
On top of the collapsed volcano, or caldera, steam seeps from cracks between rocks in an undulating, dusty patch of Ethiopia’s Rift Valley about 20 kilometers (12 miles) west of the town of Shashemene. Residents have propped up meshes of branches to trap the condensing steam. A few kilometers away, hundreds of head-scarfed women, children and donkeys gather with yellow jerry cans to collect water from a rare well.
The caldera, which formed tens of thousands of years ago, is suitable for using steam to turn electricity turbines as tests shows that a “huge resource” of water vapor at temperatures of well over 250 degrees Celsius (482 Fahrenheit) lies near the earth’s surface, Gunnarsson said.
Similar sites in Iceland produced significant amounts of energy, “so we are very, very confident that we will be successful,” he said. The addition of 500 megawatts of power would increase current generating capacity by 25 percent. The company is also working on projects in Mexico and the Caribbean and considering Kenya and Tanzania, Gunnarsson said.
U.S. Support
The U.S. government is supporting the project, which is known as Corbetti, as part of the six-nation Power Africa initiative, a $7 billion commitment by U.S. President Barack Obama to increase access to electricity on the continent.
The Corbetti site may generate as much as 1,000 megawatts, Gunnarsson said, and there are other potential geothermal locations in the Rift Valley.
Experts from the U.S. Agency for International Development have held workshops for Ethiopian officials on Power Purchase Agreements and the agency is paying for a “transactions adviser” to help the government negotiate with Reykjavik, Earl Gast, USAID’s assistant administrator for Africa, said in a Feb. 2 interview.
“The government sees this as a critical project because they want to demonstrate that Ethiopia is open for business,” he said in Awassa.
To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa at wdavison3@bloomberg.net





To contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net; Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net Karl Maier

አባ መላ እና መላ ያጣው ንግግራቸው

በዳጉ ኢትዮጵያ

አቶ ብርሃኑ ዳምጤ (አባ መላ) በቅርቡ ስላደረጉት የአቋም ለውጥ ለቢንያም ከበደ (ቤን) የሰጡትን ቃለ መጠይቅ አነበብኩት፡፡ ላልተጠበቀው የ180 ዲግሪ የአቋም ለውጥ በመንስኤነት ከጥቅመኛ ፖለቲከኝነት እስከ የጠበቁትን አለማግኘት በርካታ ምክንያቶች እየተጠቀሱ በብዙዎች ትንታኔ እየተሰጠበት ይገኛል፡፡ እኔ በዚህ ረገድ ምንም ለማለት አልፈልግም፡፡ ይልቁንስ በቃለ ምልልሳቸው ኢሳትን በተመለከተ በሰነዘሯቸው አንዳንድ የተሳሳቱ ነጥቦች ላይ ጥቂት ብል እመርጣለሁ፡፡ የትኩረት ነጥቦቼን በተናጠል ተራ በተራ እዘረዝራለሁ፡፡

“ምንም አይነት የዜና ምንጭ የሌላቸው”

አቶ ብርሃኑ ስለኢሳት ከተናገሯቸው ነጥቦች የመጀመሪያው “ኢሳት ምንም አይነት የዜና ምንጭ የለውም” የሚል ነው፡፡ እውነት ለመናገር ራሳቸው አቶ ብርሃኑም በዚህ ንግግራቸው የሚያምኑበት ከሆነ አስቂኝ ነው፡፡ እንዴ አቶ ብርሐኑ፡- መቼም የጠቅላይ ሚኒስትርዎትን ሞት ቀድመው የሰሙት ከኢቲቪ አልያም ከፋና አይደለም፡፡ የብአዴን ጽሕፈት ቤት ኃላፊ አቶ አለምነውን አስፀያፊ ንግግር ከዝግ የካድሬዎች ስብሰባ ላይ ቀድቶ አየር ላይ ያዋለው የሰሞኑን ወዳጅዎ (መቼም እርስዎ በዚህ ተለዋዋጭ አቋምዎ ዘላቂ ወዳጅ አይኖርዎትም ብዬ ነው) አቶ ቢንያም አይመስለኝም፡፡ ኸረ ስንቱ ስንቱ… ከጉራ ፋርዳ የአማራ ተወላጆች መፈናቀል እስከ የኦህዴድ ውስጣዊ ህንፍሽፍሽ… ኢሳት ይህን ሁሉ ከህዝብ ተደብቆ የነበረ መረጃ አደባባይ ያወጣው ያለአንዳች የመረጃ ምንጭ ነው ካሉን በአመክኒዮ ሳይሆን በስሜት እንደሚነዱ በራስዎ ላይ እየመሰከሩ ነው፡፡

“የዜና ምንጫቸው በአብዛኛው የኢትዮጵያ ቴሌቪዥን ነው”

ይህ ነጥብ ደግሞ አስቂኝነቱ ያመዝናል፡፡ ኢሳት የኢቲቪን ዜና “ትዊስት እያደረገ የመጀመሪያውን መጨረሻ የመጨረሻውን መጀመሪያ” አድርጎ የሚያቀርብ ከሆነ አራተኛው የኢቲቪ ቻናል ሆነ ማለት ነው፡፡ የኢቲቪን ዜና ዳግም የሚያሰራጭ (Rebroadcast) ጣቢያ ከሆነ ደግሞ እኔን ጨምሮ በሚሊዮን የምንቆጠር ኢትዮጵያውያን አማራጭ የመረጃ ምንጭ ባላደረግነው ነበር፡፡ ለምን ቢሉ ኢቲቪን ዲሽ መትከል ሳያስፈልገን፤ አንዱ የስርጭት ሞገድ ሲዘጋ በመቶዎችና በሺዎች የሚቆጠር ብር ከእለት ጉርሳችን ነጥቀን ለዲሽ አስተካካዮች ሳንከፍል መከታተል እንችላለን፡፡ እውነቱን ለመናገር የኢሳት የተሰሚነት ሚስጥር እርስዎ ከተናገሩት ተቃራኒው ነው፡፡ ከአሰልቺውና ከእውነት ከተጣላው የኢትዮጵያ ቴሌቪዥን ፕሮፖጋንዳ የሚያስጥል አማራጭ አድርጎ ኢሳት ራሱን ማቅረቡ ነው የተሰሚነቱ ምክንያት፡፡ እስኪ ለዛሬ ለእውነት ታማኝ ለመሆን ይሞክሩና የኢቲቪንና የኢሳትን የዜና ፕሮግራሞች ይከታተሉ፡፡ ኢቲቪ የሐረር የውኃ ችግር እንደተቃለለ “አንዳንድ ነዋሪዎችን” እማኝ አድርጎ ሲዘግብልዎት ኢሳት ግን በህዝቡ አዕምሮ ውስጥ የሚብሰለሰለውን የሐረር የግንብ መደዳ ሱቆች ቃጠሎ ክስተት ተጎጂዎቹን እያነጋገረ ያስደምጥዎታል፡፡ እርስዎ በሐረር ከተማ ቢኖሩ አሊያም በከተማው ውስጥ የሚኖር አንዳች የቅርብ ዘመድ ካለዎት  የኢቲቪን “ሐረር ሠላም ነው ምንም አልተፈጠረም” የዘወርዋራ ፕሮፖጋንዳ ለመስማት የሚያስችልዎት አንዳች ፍላጎት ይኖርዎ ይሆን?

“ተአማኝነት የሌለው”

በቅርቡ የብአዴን ጽሕፈት ቤት ኃላፊ የአቶ አለምነውን ስድብ-አዘል ንግግርና የፓርቲያቸውን የዝምታ ስምምነት በመቃወም በባህር ዳር ከተማ በአስር ሺዎች የሚቆጠሩ ሰዎች የተሳተፉበት ደማቅ የተቃውሞ ሰላማዊ ሰልፍ ተካሒዶ ነበር፡፡ ሠልፈኞቹ ለተቃውሞ የወጡበትን የአቶ አለምነውን ንግግር የሰሙት በሌላ በማንም ሚዲያ ሳይሆን በኢሳት ነው፡፡ ከአዲስ አበባ በ500 ኪ.ሜ ርቀት የሚኖሩ በአስር ሺዎች የሚቆጠሩ ኢትዮጵያውያን በኢሳት የሰሙትን መረጃ አምነው ለተቃውሞ የባህር ዳር ከተማን ጎዳናዎች አጥለቅልቀዋል፡፡ ተአማኝነት ማለት እንግዲህ ከዚህ በላይ ምን ማለት ይሆን?

“ኢሳት ከግንቦት ሰባት ውጪ ያሉ የፖለቲካ ድርጅቶችን አያስተናግድም”

አቶ ብርሐኑና እኔ የምንሰማው ሁለት የተለያዩ ኢሳቶችን ካልሆነ በቀር በየእለቱ የኢሳት ፕሮግራሞች የአንድነት፣ የሠማያዊ፣ የአረና ወዘተ እንቅስቃሴዎችና መግለጫዎች ሰፊ ሽፋን የሚያገኙት በኢሳት ነው፡፡ ቀደም ሲል የጠቀስኩት የባህር ዳር የአንድነት ፓርቲና የመኢአድ የተቃውሞ ሠልፍ የቀጥታ ስርጭት ሽፋን ያገኘው በኢሳት ነበር፡፡ ኢቲቪማ በሠልፉ ተደናግጦ ስለሰልፉ አንዳች ቃል ሳይተነፍስ ይልቁንስ “መድረክ አንድነትን ከአባልነት ማገዱን” እያጋነነ ሲዘግብልን ነበር፡፡ “ተቃዋሚዎች ተከፋፈሉ” ነው መልዕክቱ፡፡ ሁለት ዋነኛ ተቃዋሚ ፓርቲዎች (አንድነት ፓርቲና መኢአድ) በትብብር መሬት-አርዕድ የተቃውሞ ሠልፍ ማድረጋቸው ሳይሆን አንድ ፓርቲ ለጊዜው ከመድረክ መታገዱ ለገዢው ፓርቲ የሚጠቅም ዜና ስለሆነ ሽፋን ያገኛል- በኢቲቪ መስፈርት፡፡

“በኢሳት ከግንቦት ሰባት ውጪ ያሉ የፖለቲካ ድርጅቶች ሽፋን አያገኙም” ለሚለው የአቶ ብርሐኑ አስተያየት ራሱ ገዢው ፓርቲ ከሳምንታት በፊት በሐገር ውስጥ በህጋዊነት ተመዝግበው የሚንቀሳቀሱ ፓርቲዎች መሪዎች በኢሳት መግለጨ መስጠታቸው ህገወጥ ነው ሲል መክሰሱና አንድነትና ሠማያዊ ፓርቲም “ይህን ማድረግ መብታችን ነው”ሲሉ በጽኑ መቃወማቸው ጉልህ ማስተባበያ ነው፡፡ ሌላው ቢቀር ግንቦት ሰባት “ከኤርትራ በማገኘው ድጋፍም ጭምር ተጠቅሜ የአገዛዝ ስርዓቱን አወርዳለሁ” ሲል በሰጠው መግለጫ ላይ ጊዚያዊ የሽግግር ምክር ቤቱ ተቃውሞ ማሰማቱን ከዋና ፀሐፊው አንደበት የሰማነው በዚሁ በኢሳት እንደነበት አቶ ብርሐኑ አይዘነጉትም ብዬ አምናለሁ፡፡

በአጠቃላይ የያዙትን የፖለቲካ አቋም በማናቸውም ምክንያት ትቶ የአቋም ለውጥ ማድረግ ሊከበርለት የሚገባ የማንም ሰው መብት ነው፡፡ ነገር ግን አዲስ የተቀላቀሉት ካምፕን ደስ ለማሰኝትና ድርጎ ቢጤም ለማግኘት በማሰብ የባሰ ትዝብት ላይ የሚጥል ንግግር መናገሩ ፋይዳው ብዙም አይታየኝም፡፡ አገዛዙ እንደሆነ ደጋፊህ ነኝ ብሎ ለሚመጣለት (በተለይም ከተቃዋሚው ጎራ) ከህዝብ አንጡራ ሐብት ላይ ዘግኖ ላለመስጠት የሚያስችል አንጀት እንደሌለው የታወቀ ነውና አቶ ብርሐኑም ያሰቡትን ለማግኘት ብዙ መቀባጠር የሚኖርብዎት አይመስለኝም፡፡ አበቃሁ!

የብርሃኑ ዳምጤ (አባመላ) ቅልቅል

ክንፉ አሰፋ

ብርሃኑ ዳምጤ እንደገና ሲገለበጥ የአስር አመት ልጅ ሳለሁ ያጋጠመኝን አንድ ክስተት አስታወሰኝ። በሰፈራችን ውስጥ ልጆችን ሁሉ የሚጠሉ አንድ ሰውየ ነበሩ። አንድ ቀን በድንገት ተነሱና የሰፈሩን ሰው ሁሉ መሰናበት ጀመሩ። በእጃቸው 3 ሜትር የሚያህል ርዝመት ያለው ገመድ ይዘዋል። “የሰፈሩ ልጆች ስላስቸገሩኝ ራሴን ልስቅል ነው። ደህና ሁኑ…” እያሉ ሁሉንም ተሰናብተው ሲያበቁ ለመሰቀል መንገዳቸውን ጀመሩ።  የእኝህ ሰው ውሳኔ ለመንደሩ ሰው ሁሉ ደንታ አልሰጠውም።

የሰፈር ልጆች ግን ተከተልናቸው። ብዙ ነበርን። ሰውየው ተራራ ሲወጡ አብረን ወጣን።  ቁልቁል ሲወርዱም አብረን ወረድን። ጉዞው አሰልቺ ነበር። ግን ተስፋ ሳንቆርጥ ጉዱን ለማየት ስንል ተከተልናቸው።  በመጨረሻ አንድ ዛፍ አገኙና የሚሰቀሉበትን ገመድ እዛፉ ላይ ማሰር ጀመሩ።

ሰው ሲሞት አይተን ስለማናውቅ ሁኔታውን እንደ ልብ አንጠልጣይ ፊልም ነበር በጉጉት የምንከታተለው። ሰውዬው በዚህ ሁኔታ ለመሞት መወሰናቸው ብዙም አላስደነገጠንም። ይልቁንም  ከኛ እየቀሙ በግቢያቸው ያጠራቅሙዋቸው ኳሶቻችን ነጻ ሊወጡልን ነው ብለን ተደስተናል።

ገመዱን አስረው ራሳቸውን ለመሰቀል ካመቻቹ በኋላ ዘውር ብለው እኛን ተመለከቱን። «እባኮን ይተው!» የሚላቸው አንድ እንኳን ሰው አልነበረም።  ለደቂቃዎች በአትኩሮት ከተመለከቱን በኋላ እንዲህ አሉ።  «እንዲያውም ደስ አይበላችሁ። ሃሳቤን ቀይሬአለሁ። አልሰቀልም!»

ዛፉ ላይ ያሰሩትን ገመድ ፈቱትና ወደ ሰፈር አቀኑ። ካልተሳከው የጎልጎታ መሰውያ ሲመለሱ እመንገድ ላይ ያገኛቸው አንድ ሰው ሲመክራቸው ሰማን።  «ሌላ ግዜ መሰቀል ከፈለጉ ለሰው አይናገሩ። ድምጽ አጥፍተው ለብቻዎ ያርጉት። የዚህ ሰፈር ልጆች አብዝተውታል።  ሰው በሰላም እንኳን እንዳይሞት እያደረጉ ነው።»

ሰውየው ለመካሪያቸው ምንም ምልስ አልሰጡም- ግን ወደኛ እየተገላመጡ  «እርሱት። አታገኙዋትም!» የማለት አይነት በአይናቸው እየዛቱብን እቤታቸው ገቡ።

ከልጅ ጋር የሚጫወቱት እንቁልልጬ መሆኑ ነው። ለዚያማ ማን አክሎን። የባሰ እልህ ውስጥ አስገቡን። … በመጨረሻ ብቻቸውን መንገድ ላይ እያወሩ መሄድ ሲጀምሩ ተውናቸው። …

የሳይበሩ አንበሳ የመታጠፉ ፍጥነት ሳይገርመን የድጋሚ ቅልቅሉን በከአዲስ ዜማ አከለበት።  ”እንደውም ደስ አይበላችሁ። ወያኔን ተቀላቅያለሁ!” የሚል ዜማ።  የልጅነት እንቁልልጬ ጨዋታ ይመስላል።  ለመዞርማ ምድርም ብርሃንና ጨለማን ለማፈራረቅ በራስዋ ዛቢያ ላይ ትዞራለች።  የኋላውን ለማየት ሲል አንገትም ይዞራል። ብረትም ይዞራል – በእሳት ሲፈተን። … ቆርቆሮ ግን እንዲሁ ይጠመዘዛል።

«..እኔ እንኳን ትንሽ መቆየት ፈልጌ ነበር።» አለ ኦቦ ዳምጤ፤ ለሁለተኛው ዙር ከወያኔ ጋር ያደረገውን ቅልቅል ሲያበስር። ይህችን አነጋገር የተጠቀመባት ያለ ምክንያት አልነበረም። ወደዚህኛው ጎራ የገባው የጥምር ሰላይ (double agent) ስራ ለመስራት እንደሆነ ለማስመሰል መሞከሩ ነበር።  ፈረንጆቹ (match fixing) ማች ፊክሲንግ የሚሉት በእግር ኳስ አለም ውስጥ ለተቃራኒው ተገዝቶ የመስራት ውስልትና አይነት መሆኑ ነው። እንዲህ የተራቀቀ ቢሆንማ ኖሮ እናደንቀው ነበር። ግና በዚያው ቃለ-ምልልስ ላጠፋው ጥፋት ይቅርታ ጠይቆ ጨዋታውን አበላሸው። ድንጋይ በትከሻው ባይሸከምም ህሊናውን ዝቅ አድርጎ ከአክራሪ ዲያስፖራ ጋር በመዋሉ በጣም ተሰምቶታት።  ወያኔዎች ይቅርታ የሚላቸውን ለምን እንደሚወዱ አይገባኝም።  ይቅርታ የሚጠይቋቸውን ሰዎች በጣም ሲወድዱ እንጂ ምህረት ሲያደርጉላቸው ግን አይተን አናውቅም።  ታምራት ላይኔን በፓርላማ ካዋረዱት በኋላ ቀፈደዱት። ሰለሞን ተካልኝም ከይቅርታ አልፎ ከዲያስፖራው ርኩስነት ለመጽዳት ሲል አባን ጸበል እርጩኝ ብሎ ነበር – በዘፈን። መቀሌ ድረስ ሄዶ በኢህአዴግ ጸበል ቢጠመቅም፣  እነሱ ግን ቂማቸውን አልረሱም። ሁሉንም ማኖ እያስነኩ በአየር ላይ ያንሳፍፏቸዋል።

አባመላ ከነሱ ጋር ተጣልቶ ወደ ተቃውሞ ጎራ በሄደ ጊዜ ወያኔዎች አንድም ነገር አልተነፈሱም ነበር። ምክንያቱም ጸቡ የመርህ እንዳልነበር ያውቁታል። ጉዳዩ የግል ጥቅም ነው። መፍትሄውም ቀላል። በፈለጉት ግዜ እንደ ቆላ በሬ አሞሌ ጨው አልሰው እንደሚመልሱት አስቀድመው ያውቁታል።

በቃለ-ምልልሱ አባ መላ በካፒቴን ሀይለመድህን አበራ ዙርያ የተነሳውን ክርክር ሊቋቋመው እንዳልቻለ አልካደም።  በክርክር ሲሸነፍ እንደመፍትሄ የወሰደው የወያኔን ጎራ መቀላቀል መሆኑም አዲስ ነገር አይደለም። ያኛው ጎራ በሃሳብ የተሸነፉ መሃይማን መሰብሰብያ ጎራ ከሆነ ሰንበትበት ብሏል።

ንግግር መቻል አንድ ነገር ነው። እየቀለዱ ሰውን ማሳቅም ቀላል ሊሆን ይችላል። በመናገር ሰዎችን ማሳመን መቻል ግን ሌላ ጉዳይ ነው። ይህ ጥበብን፣ ብስለትን እና አስተዋይነትን ይጠይቃል። በንግግር ሰዎችን ማሳመን መቻል ደግሞ ሮኬት ሳይንስ መሆንን አይጠይቅም። አንዳንዶች በትምህርት ያገኙታል። ሌሎች በማንበብ ይለወጣሉ። የህይወት ተመክሮም በራሱ ብዙ ነገር ያስተምራል። ከስህተታቸው እየተማሩ የሚበስሉ ሰዎችም ብልሆች ናቸው።

«አቶ መለስ ዜናዊ እድሜ ልካቸውን የአማራን ህዝብ ሲሳደቡ ሰንብተው፤ አንድ አማራ ሲሰድባቸው ግን ደግም ላይመለሱ አሸለቡ።» የሚል ቀልድ ሰምቼ በጣም ነበር የሳቅኩት። ነገሩ ልክ ነው። በሌላው ላይ የሚቀልዱ ሰዎች በራሳቸው ላይ ሲደርስ በቶሎ ይሰበራሉ ይባላል።

እናም በሃይለመድህን ጉዳይ «ከጽንፈኞች» ሳይስማማ በመቅረቱ የጠፋው በግ ወደ ቤቴ ተመለስኩ ነው እያለን ያለው። ይህ ሰው ግን ስንት ጊዜ ነው ከቤቱ የሚጠፋው?

ደግሞ ፍጥነቱ። የብርሃን ጉዞም እንደብርሃኑ ዳምጤ አይፈጥነም። ወደዚያኛው ጎራ ሲቀየስ የለበሰውን የዲያስፖራ ማልያ እንኳ ለመለወጥ ግዜ አልወሰደም።  የቡናን ማልያ ለብሶ ለደደቢት የሚጫወት አይነት ሰው ነው የሆነው።

እንደዚህ አይነት ሰዎች ስብእናቸውን የሚሸከም አንገት ስለሌላቸው ወደግራም ሆነ ወደቀኝ፣ ወደፊትም ሆነ ወደኋላ ለመተጣጠፍ ችግር የለባቸውም።  ይህ ሰው ወደ ቀኝ ታጥፎ በነበረበት ግዜ ከአንዴም ሶስቴ ደውሎ በስልክ አናግሮኝ ነበር። አቀራረቡ፣ አነጋገሩና ጨዋታው ያራዳ ልጅ ይመስላል። ተግባሩ ግን የአራዳ ልጅ አይደለም። ያራዳ ልጅ ባልንጀራውን ይረዳዋል እንጂ በቁሙ ሊያርደው አይዳዳም።

ወያኔ የመሆን መብቱ እንደተጠበቀ ሆኖ ይህንን ለመሆን የሄደበት መንገድ ግን በጣም ይደብራል። ድርጊቱ ሰሞኑን በፈረንሳይ ሃገር ከተፈጸመው አሰቃቂ ግድያ ጋር ተመሳሳይ ነው የሆነብኝ። የክህደት ትንሽ የለውም።  ልዩነቱ አባ መላ ያስጠጉትን ወገኖች በቁም አለመግደሉ ብቻ ነው።

አንዲት የዋህ ወይዘሮ፤ በፓሪስ ከተማ እመንገድ ላይ ወድቆ የሚለምን ኢትዮጵያዊ ወገን አግኝተው እጅግ አዘኑለት። እቤታቸውም ወስደው ማረፍያ ሰጡት። መሰረታዊ የሆነውን ነገር ሁሉ አሟሉለት። አምነው ያሳደሩት ይህ ሰው ግን ውለታቸውን በአሰቃቂ ሁኔታ መለሰላቸው።  አራት ወር እንደቆየ ይህንን የሶስት ልጆች እናት ከትንሽ ልጃቸው ጋር በሴንጢ አርዶ ተሰወረ። አባመላ አብረውት ሲሰሩ የነበሩትን በቢላ ባያርዳቸውም በአነጋገሩ ስጋቸውን እንደበላው ነው የሚቆጠረው።  አምነው አስተጉት  ይህ ሰው እንደጴጥሮስ ጎህ ሳይቀድ ካዳቸው። የክህደት ቁልቁለት ይሏል እንዲህ ነው።  «የተናገሩት ከሚጠፋ የወለዱት ይጥፋ!» ይላሉ አበው።  ቃልን ማጉደል ምን ያህል ከባድ ነው!

ታማኝ በየነ እና አበበ ገላው ከብርሃኑ ዳምጤ ጋር በሳውዲው ቀውስ አብረው መስራት ሲጀምሩ በፍጹም ቅንነት እና በየዋህነት ነበር። ይህንን በማድረጋቸውም በርካታ ትችት ቀርቦባቸዋል። እነሆ አባ መላ ዛሬ ለቅልቅሉ እጅ መንሻ እነሱን በመሳደብ እንደመስዋዕት አቀረባቸው።

የብርሃኑ ዳምጤ አካሄድ ያሳሰባቸው ሁለት ወዳጆቼ በዚያን ሰሞን በዚሁ ጉዳይ ላይ በሰል ያለ አስተያየት ጽፈው ነበር።  በልጅግ ዓሊ (ከፍራንክፈርት) እና እንግዳሸት ታደሰ (ከኦስሎ)።  እነዚህን ጽሁፎች እንደገና እንድታነቧቸው እመክራለሁ።  በልጅግ ዓሊ «ዘመንን ለማሰር» በሚለው ጽሁፉ ይህ ሰው እንደ ጴትሮስ ይክደናል ነበር ያለው።

…ለአንዲት የሰሙኑ የፖለቲካ ጥቅም ሲባል ብርሃኑ ደቡርን እላይ የሰቀላችሁት በኋላ እንደለመደው ሲክዳችሁ ስትንጫጩ መስማታችን አይቀርም። ትንቢት እንዳይመስላችሁ ደቡርን በደንብ አድርገን እናቀውቀዋለን። ቆዳችሁን ገፎ ይሸጠዋል፣ ደቡር ሃገሩን አይደለም እናቱንም ቢሆን ይደልላል። አታውቁት እንደሆን መርካቶ ላይ ሄዳችሁ የተሰራውን ግፍ ጠይቁ። እንኳን የቀይ ሽብሩን ፣ እነ ሽብሬን ረስተን የለም እንዴ !!  ምን ይደንቃል።

ብሎ ነበር። እንግዳሸት ታደሰ ከኖርዌይ የጻፈውም ተመሳሳይ ነገር ነበር። «አባ መላ ልብ ሲበላ! » በሚለው መጣጥፉ «የዲያስፖራ ኃይል በአራዳ ስልትና በወያኔ ቆረጣ ለመሰንጠቅ ፣ የሚደረግም ጨዋታ ሊሆን ይችላል ብሎ መገመትም የዋህነት አይመስለኝም።» ነበር ያለው።  እነዚህን መጣጥፎች ደግሜ ሳነባቸው ትንቢት ነው የመሰሉኝ። በወቅቱ ግን እነዚህን ጽሁፎች በድረገጽ በማውጣቴ የስድብ ናዳ ወርዶብኝ ነበር።  አንዱ የፓልቶክ ታዳሚ እንዲህ ብሎ ነበር የጻፈልኝ። «የማናውቅህ እንዳይመስልህ! አንተ የዳዊት ከበደ ወንድም!»

የትኛው ዳዊት እንደሆነ ግን ግልጽ አላደረገልኝም። የአትላንታው ወይንስ የአውራምባው?

እርግጥ ነው። በፖለቲካ ቋሚ ወዳጅ ወይንም ቋሚ ጠላት የለም -  ጥቅም እንጂ። በመርህ ላይ ሳይሆን ይልቁንም ለግል ጥቅም ሲሉ የሚዋዥቁ ሰዎች ናቸው ሀገርን የሚያጠፉት። በተለምዶ መሃል ሰፋሪዎች ይባላሉ። እንደዚህ አይነቶቹ  ሰዎች በተቃዋሚውም ጎራ ነፍ ናቸው። ደጋፊ ሳይሆን ተደጋፊ ሆነው ለመኖር ሲሉ ብዙ ጥፋት ይሰራሉ። የሃይል ሚዛኑ እስካዘነበለ ድረስ ለአለቆቻቸው እጅግ ታማኝ ይሆናሉ። የሃይል ሚዛኑ ሲዛባ ደግሞ ለመካድ የመጀመርያዎቹ ናቸው።

ይህ የመርካቶ ቁጭበሉ ሼም አያውቅም። ትንሽ ብትጠብቁት እንደገና ይመለሳል። በዚህ አይነት ሰው ላይ እምነት መጣል እና መስጋት ከየዋህነት ያለፈ ነው።  አንድ ጅል ትምህርት ቤት ሲሄድ የሙዝ ልጣጭ አዳልጦት ወደቀ። ከትምህርት ቤት ሲመለስ ያችኑ የሙዝ ልጣጭ አይቶ ቆመ። ከዚያም ማልቀስ ጀመረ።  ለምን እንደሚያለቅስ ሲጠየቅ ወደ ልጣጩ እያመለከተ እንዲህ አለ። «እንደገና ልወድቅ ነው።»