ምክር ቤቱ የመከላከያ ሰራዊት አዋጅ 28 አንቀጾችን ሊያሻሽል ነው

አዲስ አበባ ህዳር 18/2011 የህዝብ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት የመከላከያ ሰራዊት አዋጅ 28 አንቀፆችን ሊያሻሽል ነው።

ምክር ቤቱ ዛሬ ባካሄደው 8ኛ መደበኛ ስብሰባው አዋጅ ቁጥር 809/2006 ላይ ያሉ 28 አንቀጾች እንዲሻሻሉ የመከረው በአገሪቷ የተፈጠረውን ለውጥ ተከትሎ ሰራዊቱ አገራዊ ግዴታውን በተሻለ ብቃት እንዲወጣ ለማስቻል መሆኑም ተገልጿል።

የአገራዊ ደህንነት ስጋቶችና የጦርነት አይነቶች፣ ባህሪያትና ውስብስብነትንም ከግምት ውስጥ በማስገባት የሕግ ማዕቀፍ ማዘጋጀት ደግሞ የሪፎርሙ አንድ አካል ነው።

በዚህ መሰረት ከተሻሻሉት አንቀጾች ውስጥ የሰራዊቱ አደረጃጀት ቀደም ሲል ከነበረው በተጨማሪ በባህር ሃይል፣ በስፔስና በሳይበር ሃይሎችም እንደሚደራጅ በረቂቅ አዋጁ ተጠቅሷል።

የሰራዊቱ ምልመላ፣ ቅጥር፣ ወታደራዊ ስልጠና፣ የአባላት ግዴታ፣ ማበረታቻ፣ የውትድርና አገልግሎት የሚቋረጥበት ሁኔታ፣ የአገልግሎት ካሳና ጡረታም በአዋጁ ከሚሻሻሉ አንቀፆች ወስጥ ይጠቀሳሉ።

የምክር ቤቱ አባላትም በሚሻሻሉ አንቀፆች ላይ ያላቸውን አስተያየት ከሰጡ በኋላ አዋጁ በዝርዝር እንዲታይ ለውጭ ግንኙነትና ሰላም ጉዳዮች ቋሚ ኮሚቴ መርቷል።

በተያያዘ ዜና ምክር ቤቱ በዛሬ ስብሰባው የህዝብና ቤት ቆጠራ አባላትን ለመመደብ የቀረበውን የውሳኔ ሀሳብ መርምሮ በሙሉ ድምጽ አጽድቋል።

አዲስ የተመረጡት የህዝብና ቤት ቆጠራ ኮሚሽን 20 አባላት በፌዴራል ጠቅላይ ፍርድ ቤት ፕሬዚዳንት ወይዘሮ መዓዛ አሸናፊ አማካኝነት ቃለ መሃላ ፈጽመዋል።

በሌላ በኩል ምክር ቤቱ በመንግስትና በአለም አቀፍ የልማት ማህበር መካከል ለልማት ፖሊሲ ፋይናንስ ማስፈጸሚያ  የተደረገውን የብድር ስምምነት ለማፅደቅ የቀረበውን ረቂቅ አዋጅንም መርምሮ ለገቢዎች፣ በጀትና ፋይናንስ ጉዳዮች ቋሚ ኮሚቴ ለዝርዝር እይታ መርቷል።

Final Press Release: The Founding of Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD)

Delegates of Benishangul People’s Liberation Movement (BPLM), Gambella People’s Liberation Movement (GPLM), Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Sidama National Liberation Front (SNLF) met in Oslo, Norway from 22 October to 23 October 2015 to lay the foundation of political alliance between the peoples in Ethiopia and have formed the Peoples Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD).

The PAFD will create an opportunity for all peoples in Ethiopia to co-create a transitional political order that is based on the consent of all peoples, where the outmoded hegemonic culture of a single group dominating the rest is dismantled and a new just political order is established, where the respect of the right to self-determination is genuinely granted to all.
ONLF 1
PAFD will conduct diplomatic, advocacy, information and other campaigns to change the current undemocratic political culture and oppressive system in Ethiopia.


PAFD will have a Governing Council (GC) composed of representatives of the political leadership of the founding organisations and members representing the civil societies of the respective communities.

The Governing Council will elect an Executive Committee (EC), a chairperson and two vice-chairpersons that rotate yearly among the organization members. The Executive Committee will be the standing committee and will have the bureaus of diplomacy, organization, finance, information and others.
ONLF and OLF
PAFD call upon all peoples in Ethiopia to join the alliance and support it in order to end the suffering and dehumanization of all peoples in Ethiopia by the current government. PAFD call upon the regional and international communities, to play a positive role in diffusing this looming danger by supporting the peoples in Ethiopia rather than the illegitimate government before it is too late.


Finally, PAFD call upon the current government in Ethiopia to refrain from all acts of violence, respect human rights, obey the rule of law, and commit to peaceful and democratic resolution of political conflicts.

Issued by PAFD

Oslo, Norway
October 23, 2015

Contacts

PAFD22102015@gmail.com

ONLF +447940624477;
OLF +4797357264;
GPLM +12042185988;
SNLF +44 7984480752;
BPLM +2917296477

Declaration of the establishment of the Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD)

Considering the grave injustices and oppression perpetrated by the current regime in Ethiopia

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  by Taboola
Concerned by the massive propaganda campaign undertaken by the Ethiopian government intended to deceive the peoples in Ethiopia and the international community in order to legitimise and continue its dictatorial and repressive rule;

Cognizant of the need for a united effort among the oppressed peoples in Ethiopia to put an end to the unremitting cruel repression perpetrated by successive and current regimes of the empire;

Taking into account the current lack of political vision by some opposition groups in Ethiopia to embrace the political and social changes that Ethiopia has undergone over the last fifty years, as the result of the heavy prices paid by the nations in Ethiopia for the right of self-determination and rejecting their archaic adherence to political precepts no longer tenable in the 21 century such as negating the rights of nations in Ethiopia to self-determination;

Categorically stating that our people, who fought and still continue fighting with their blood against successive oppressive regimes in Ethiopia, will never give up on the fruits of their struggle and allow reversal of their historic gains for the right of self-determination;

Have formed the Peoples Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD), which will foster the favorable conditions that will bring an opportunity for all the peoples in Ethiopia to co-create a political order that will practically allow all to exercise genuine democratic rights including the right to self-determination;

Therefore the Peoples’ Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD) will:

OLF
Strive through the peoples’ power to dismantle the outmoded hegemonic culture of a single group dominating the rest and will establish and a new, just political order.
Establish a Political Order that derive its legal authority through effective, democratically elected organs and legal processes that are based on a pluralist consensus and genuine universal suffrage where relationships are established through impartial and authentic exercise of self-determination where both individual and people’s rights are fully respected.

Endeavour to achieve a peaceful and orderly transfer of power to the peoples in Ethiopia by engaging representatives of all the different nations, nationalities and other stakeholders committed to genuine democracy in Ethiopia.

Guarantee that all changes, arrangements and configurations that are intended to end the recurrent conflicts in Ethiopia must be based on the will and consent of each and every nation and nationality in the Ethiopian empire state;

Finally, the PAFD calls on all concerned parties, including the current government of Ethiopia, the representatives of all nations and nationalities in Ethiopia with the facilitation of the international community to seize this opportunity and hold a comprehensive conference to create a broader roadmap to thereby resolve the enormous problems confronting the Ethiopian Empire state.

PAFD also calls the international community to respect the wishes, desires and rights of all the nations and nationalities in Ethiopia in their engagments and understand that all status quo is untenable, and a recipe for a simmering disaster that will end in castarophe unless remedied in opportune time.

Peoples Alliance for Freedom and Democracy

Oslo, Norway

October 23, 2015

Contacts

PAFD email: PAFD22102015@gmail.com

Members Telephones

ONLF +447940624477
OLF +4797357264
GPLM +12042185988
SNLF +44 7984480752
BPLM +2917296477

- See more at: http://www.zehabesha.com/final-press-release-the-founding-of-peoples-alliance-for-freedom-and-democracy-pafd/#sthash.ZdkayPTF.dpuf

Africans Live On A Continent Owned by Europeans!

By: Mawuna Remarque KOUTONIN

Wednesday, September 18th, 2013 at 1:10 pm.

The Dream of Europeans is to transform the whole continent into South Africa or Kenya, where a white minority owns and controls the local economy, while Africans are just good like consumers or their servants.

The subject is uncomfortable but we need to talk about it, otherwise we will wake up with moreRobert Mugabe who is doing a great job redressing centuries of white minority domination and exploitation of Zimbabwean people.

Let’s take a look at South Africa, a country where the white minority makes less than 10% of the population but owns more than 80% South African lands and economy. They didn’t buy those lands.

In South Africa 64% of top senior management positions are filled by whites. 90% of the board of the Central Bank is made of the white minority. 90% of media is in the hands of Whites, who control content, project whiteness (local South African adverts have a 85% White representation) and marginalize and exploit Africans, with the exception of Africans being 86% represented in alcohol adverts. 97% of mainstream South African films are owned, produced and directed by non-Africans.

Africa without Africans is the dream of the local predatory, supremacist white minority.

A recent report  came to challenge the well spread idea that the West is pouring money into Africa through aid without receiving much in return. All in contrary, the report proved that Africa has lost up to $1.4 trillion in illicit financial flows to the West from 1980 to 2009.This amount is 233 times the 60 billions foreign “aid” Africa  supposedly receives every year from the West.

The illicit financial flows involve the transfer of money earned through corruption, bribes, tax evasion, criminal activities and transactions involving contraband goods. In the end, the report concluded  that those illicit financial flow are fast growing and are far exceeding money coming into the continent, therefore seriously undermining the continent’s development.

Now let’s be clear, those illicit  financial flow are organized by the very same foreign people who claim they come to help build Africa, the same people you and me see and meet everyday in Africa. They might be your employers, your friends or neighbors but that doesn’t change the nature of who they are and what they are doing.

Of course the local rich subalterns helping those folks got their big houses and cars, but Africa as a whole has no sustainable future with that model of development.

This is not different from colonial times! but it’s nicely called “Africa is Rising”.

“Multinational Corporations are  the New Colonisers in Africa”

wrote Lord Aikins Adusei

60 years after the fictitious independence declarations, Africa is still controlled by European expatriates, oil companies, military forces, Banks, etc. Some Africans think that is good for Africa. They are the rich subalterns. Some others think Africans must free themselves from that European colonialism, and fight for more local ownership.

Now, comes a country like Kenya, which was not under any apartheid system like South Africa, but most corporations in Kenya have whole foreign boards. Most the country economical assets are in the hand of a tiny white minority helped but a horde of local subalterns.

A Kenyan friend shared with me the background tale: “One only needs to read about the origins and activities of the London Rhodesia Group (Lonrho) formerly run by Tiny Rowland to really appreciate the gravity of the situation in Africa. Lonrho perfected the art of acquiring valuable productive assets across the continent by targeting corrupt leaders with gifts and naive locals with confusing agreements and subterfuge.

One of the greatest beneficiaries of this approach was former president Moi of Kenya who pretty much gave up much of the country’s agricultural and hospitality sector crown jewels in exchange for accounts in the Caymans and gifts for his entourage of sycophants. Think about the major economic activities in Africa – Mining, Oil, Agriculture, Banking,Telecoms – Then think of the companies carrying out these activities – DeBeers, Anglo Ashanti, Shell, BP, Exxon, Barclays, Stanchart, Vodacom, Del Monte…. Get the picture?

Huge tracts of land in sub-saharan africa are owned by foreign agricultural companies paying low wages and repatriating the profits back to the western world in the form of dividends and management fees. The one country that is doing things a little different is Nigeria. A good number of Nigerian companies are bidding for oil services work in newly discovered oil fields in East and Central Africa and I am sure we all know about Aliko Dangote and his conglomerate of companies anchored by his cement production behemoth.” Concluded my friend.

Another Kenya friend commented “I am not sure why. Part of it might be a little bit of the colonial mentality–thinking foreigners are better than Kenyans. Part of it might be the foreigners represent the interests of multinationals that have invested in these companies (certainly the case with subsidiaries of multinationals like Safaricom, Barclays, Standard Chartered et al).”

A third Kenya came in “Look at modern Kenya today, sons of colonial chiefs and collaborators are now rulers and billionaires maintaining the status quo is genetically coded in them. Their children go to the best schools either in Kenya or abroad all run by the white, how can we redeem ourselves!”

Another friend brought to our attention what is called White Code in Africa. He said

“White people stand with the white code. They only praise Black people or go near Blacks who serve their interest.” The latter are in  their medias, at their conferences, receive their Nobel prize and awards. This is how you know those who are working against the continent interest.

Those who refuse to work for them fall under the rule “You are with us or against us”

Angered by what is going on, another one rushed his anger out: “These white people who employed Blacks to do their filthy jobs are more racist than the kkk. They’re in Africa. They know exactly what they’re doing and how the system of racism operates.”

Every time, this subject get on our table of discussion, people points out to me many white people who are good people and are really working to help Africa. And, that’s true.

During a recent discussion, I’ve to write the following message to an Italian friend who don’t believe all white are “Devil with blue eyes!”

“It’s indeed an uncomfortable subject to talk about for all parties involved. The fact is that after 5 centuries, if Europe really wanted to help Africa, Africa should be in better shape.

As a general statement, Europe is only interested in exploitation of Africa. (again this is a general statement, because there are lot of people who are Europeans but really interested to build sane relation with Africans). The problem is that these people don’t matter, which means they neither have the power or access to resource to make any structural or substantial change. They are only individuals with good faith and goodwill, while the western power elite and apparatus is against any real Africa emancipation.

They prefer Africa laying down. It’s easier for them to suck it.

The same nations you are calling for help are in no way interested in Africa recovery or renaissance. The longer Africa is laying down, they better they can suck the blood out the continent and its people.

Our point is the following: What would you think if all decision levels in Switzerland will be hell by Chinese, and all major assets of the country in the hand of Russians. That’s is the case in majority of African countries. This why I wrote Africans live on a continent owned by Europeans. It’s not dependence, but colonization, because it’s a situations where European use brutal military force to maintain corrupted leaders who only will help them exploit the continent.

Africans are now only guest on their own continent.  In fact, there is more to this debate that an email could carry. In conclusion, Africans like any other people need friends, but trust will be hard to earn back after 5 centuries of European machiavelism.”

You have no friend. Naivete is your curse. Only the Paranoid survive!

Beware, not all people who want to help you are your friends.


A Facebook commentator wrote “All the drums beats are now about Africa rising, Growth, Growth, Growth! Africa is the future. African governments want to attract investors. And they would do anything for that”

However a friend replied:

“Growth isn’t that important. After all, the economy of the American South “grew”, but were black slaves better treated as a result?

Viability of African nations wont depend on impressive growth figures (I’m talking to the Harvard MBA crowd), but on fairness and inclusion. The moral case for nationhood is more important than the economic case for nationhood. Don’t be deceived by “Africa Rising” narrative. So the point isn’t about how many articles @HarvardBiz does on “Africa Rising”, but whether Africans will want to LIVE in Africa in future. Our society is in terminal decline, and a new society wont emerge from advocacy, but learning past lessons. By refusing to educate the next generation, we are handing over Nigeria to foreigners & children of the elite – they will pick up AK 47s.” – wrote  Okwu Nwachinaemelu

Another connection continued: “There is nothing wrong in doing business with Europeans or foreigners but I think we need do more partnerships and less monopolyships/oligarchyships.”

Yes the subject is very sensitive and emotional, but emotions are necessary to trigger actions. My goal is to make my fellow Africans understand that currently they are only guests on their own continent. All levels of economical power are held by Europeans.

Wake up: Don’t paint the chains into Gold. Remove them instead.

Because it’s difficult to take off the chains, you might prefer to paint them in gold. The pain will not go away with the new color.

Steve Bantu Biko, wrote

“Black man, you are on your own.”

“In the old Benin empire, the Portuguese used to trade Boxes of sugar, White wine, and salt for hundreds of slaves, and it continues to the present, where multi-national oil cooperations would come in and dig in their drilling rigs and pay the federal government large sums of money to keep mute and turn a blind eye, while the local communities suffer the environmental pollutions caused by the oil spillage.” pointed a Nigerian contributor.

As Kwame Nkrumah has warned us:

“Capitalism is but the gentlemen’s method of slavery.”

Launching an Effective Resistance against TPLF Tyranny – a tyranny which is the Real Driver of Instability and Civil Strife in Ethiopia

United Movement for the Salvation of Ethiopia through Democracy

Launching an Effective Resistance against TPLF Tyranny – a tyranny which is the Real Driver of Instability and Civil Strife in Ethiopia, (pdf)

Ethiopia is one of the oldest nation-states in the world. Both written and oral history and recent archeological discoveries, despite regional rivalries, suggest the historical continuity of the nation. It was a Monarchy until 1974. From 1974 to 1991 the country was declared to be ‘Peoples Democratic Republic’ by the military junta, Derg, and went through a traumatic experience. Tigrai Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), a guerrilla force from a minority ethnic group that led the rebellion against the military junta and captured the institutions of the State, has been in power for the past 24 years. The country is ruled as a one-party state under a façade of multi-party system since 1991.

The state is characterized by an intensifying political repression, rampant economic corruption, denial of basic human and political rights and repeated sham elections. The top brass of the army and security organs of the state, including key diplomatic positions, are effectively mono-ethnic despite the claim of the regime to stand for the equality of all ethnic groups. The people have completely lost confidence in the government after the regime shamelessly declared itself to have won 100% of the parliamentary seats in the 2015 election. Ethiopians, with no other choice available to them for democratic transition, have now risen up in arms. And this is a credible threat of force to the regime. History has time and again proven that no government that denies freedom, justice and democracy to its people will not survive their wrath.

Against this background, Ethiopian democratic forces, reflecting the broad diversity of the Ethiopian society, have recently formed the United Movement for the Salvation of Ethiopia through Democracy (UMSED) as an umbrella organization. UMSED is committed to coordinate the people’s struggle for effective resistance against TPLF’s tyranny and to ensure the transition to true democracy and stable political order in Ethiopia. No one relishes the idea of armed conflict; but, there are times when armed self-defense becomes the only choice to resist the unbearable violence by minority against majorities and to bring about an enduring peace and stability in a society.

Ethiopians have given up on elections as they have become meaningless rituals:There have been five national elections under the TPLF. The first election in 1995 resulted in 3 opposition members being elected to the parliament that has a total of 548 MPs. In the second election of 2000, the number for the opposition members rose to 27. In the 2005 general election, which was monitored by the Carter Center, European Union and other observers, Ethiopians turned out in record numbers and voted for the opposition, mainly CUD and UEDF. The results were rigged; and the election was blatantly stolen. Furthermore, many unarmed and defenseless peaceful protesters demanding the respect for the vote of the people were indiscriminately gunned down in a broad daylight. Leaders of opposition political parties, civic societies, journalists and dignified and well-meaning Ethiopian citizens were jailed for two years. Members of the fact finding commission appointed by the government itself published the evidence that the government has cold-bloodedly massacred 197 Ethiopians on this day of infamy. Today, these fact finders are themselves in exile fleeing for their lives. Only one opposition member was able to win a seat in the parliament during the 2010 fourth national election. In the most recent election of May 2015, in which the regime claimed 100% landslide victory of all parliamentary seats, no credible outside/international observers, excepting those from the corrupt African Union, were allowed to monitor the election.

The Ethiopian government owns all land in the country, including most residential and commercial real estate in towns and cities like all other communist totalitarian regimes in the world. The industrial and service sector of the economy is also heavily controlled by Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray (EFFORT), an endowed conglomerate parastatal serving as a front for the ruling TPLF party. Until recently it was managed by the wife of the late Prime Minister. Both were members of the TPLF/EPRDF politbureau and the legislative assembly, making their work similar to the work of the late Romanian dictators, Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena Ceaușescu. The total grip on land and the economy is a source of much power to the regime and the accompanying oppression of the people in a country where eighty five percent of the population is engaged in farming and most city dwellers rely on the government for employment and housing. All land in the country was declared government property by the old communist military regime and the current regime has continued the practice. The monopolization of land by the TPLF and its surrogate administrators has been the source of wealth for some, but continued to stifle the production of food as in the communist era. Thanks to this land policy, today lives particularly that of children and cattle in the Afar, Amara, Gambella, Somali and Southern regions of the country are perishing due to a single season rainfall failure.

Ethiopians are tired of their voices being totally muffled: Independent media is not tolerated. The International Federation of Journalists has declared the regime to be one of the worst offenders of press freedom. Television, Internet, and major print media is owned and operated by the government. The state is the only Internet Service Provider and uses Chinese, Italian and British Internet hacking and intercepting technology vendors to spy, trap and intimidate its critics and opponents. The regime also spends precious resources on signal jamming technology to stop the free flow of information from the outside. Foreign based and independently operated radio and TV broadcasts by the Ethiopian Diaspora are jammed on regular basis as are broadcasts in Ethiopian languages by Voice of America and Deutsche Welle Radio.

Ethiopians can no longer tolerate an entrenched ethnic minority rule: The TPLF, the dominant party in the coalition known as Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), controls all aspects of life in the country, similar to apartheid South Africa, by installing its ethnic rulers as heads of major institutions across the entire state apparatus. Ethiopians and international observers including those who bend backwards to “apologize” for the regime know very well that ethnic Tigrayans control the army, security services, telecoms , foreign affairs, and other nerve centers of the Ethiopian state machinery. The TPLF party pits different ethnic and religious groups against one another simply to perpetuate its minority rule and monopoly on resources. The regime has no respect for religious freedom. It has created chaos in both the Ethiopia Orthodox Tewahido Church and the Muslim mosques by interfering in the administration of their purely religious institutions through its political cadres. It has similar surrogates in Pentecostal Churches. Religious leaders who resist this interference are exiled (as the Orthodox Christian leaders) and imprisoned (as the Muslim community leaders). Ethnic minority domination has become a source of stress on the harmony of the people that is essential for peaceful coexistence in a diverse mutli-ethnic and multi-religious country like Ethiopia.

Ethiopians have said enough to the regime’s oppression with impunity: In the last twenty four years, the people have been appealing to the regime to respect the fundamental political and civil liberties of the citizenry. Peaceful protests are disallowed. Countless petitions and protest demonstrations that were held in the major capitals of the world have ended in deaf ears. The response by the government has been more repression and more violence. Today there is no independent media in the country due to the wide spread practice of jailing and forcing publishers and reporters in to exile. Today there are no functioning independent political parties due to the practice of systematic disruption of their normal day-to-day activities, jailing of opposition leaders or forcing them out of their country. Currently, prisons are filled with thousands of well-known political, civic organization and religious leaders as well as journalists under trumped-up “terrorism” charges. Certain ethnic groups are targeted. These prisoners are tortured to confess and to corroborate the charges against themselves and their colleagues. In spite of this massive oppression, victims of the regime have no recourse to justice since the judiciary is made subservient to the political manipulation of the ruling party.

As presented above, Ethiopians are once again faced with a regime that is led by a group of people who oppress them in multiple ways; deny them basic human rights and are hell-bent on blocking the democratic process for self-rule. We are also aware that though the regime comes from Tigrai, a thousands of Ethiopians that come from this ethnic group are victimized and have already started armed insurrection well over one decade ago. The predicament the Ethiopian people find themselves in currently is not unique. Under similar conditions, the founding fathers of one of the earliest democracies in the world have said it best in the Declaration of Independence by the Colonies from the Great Britain: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness’ A similar spirited paragraph is found in the preamble of African National Congress’s Freedom Charter. These words ring true today for the people of Ethiopia.

At this critical juncture, to facilitate the Ethiopian people’s struggle with able leadership, the democratic forces in the country are coalescing under the newly formed UMSED as a “broad church”.. It is not lost on the part of these democratic forces that one of the potential obstacles on the road to the Ethiopian people’s struggle for freedom and democracy is the international community’s multifaceted collaboration with the TPLF dominated government with seeming indifference to the prevailing repressive political conditions in the country.

Following their new goal of making inroads into Africa, some countries have become major financiers of the TPLF repressive regime. This may be an expected behavior from these governments, given the nature of their systems. However, the West’s support for the rogue dictatorial regime is inconsistent with the values of freedom, justice, and democracy the West practices at home and espouses for the stable world order. The West led by the US has correctly and understandably declared terrorism as the number one menace to global peace while in a typical short-term calculus have also decided to consider dictatorial regimes like that of Ethiopia to be “allies” in its anti-terrorism effort and the disorder in the Greater Horn of Africa region. As a result, the West has made the Ethiopian regime a beneficiary of its substantial financial, political, diplomatic and even military support indirectly emboldening it to continue with impunity in its human rights abuse and repression of its own people. This policy on the part of the Western countries is not only short sighted and immoral but is more than likely to lead to greater instability especially when minority regimes collapse.

It is obvious that the repressive nature of the regime and its extensive human rights abuses are among the main causes of instability in the region. For all those who are willing to see the writing on the wall, the regime is internally in continuous conflict with its citizens; it uses scorch-earth military expeditions in the Ogaden region to the east and makes occasional incursions into Kenyan territory pursuing armed resisters. The regime is also locked in constant conflict with Eritrea in the north. This is the reason why the regime has one of the biggest standing army in Sub-Saharan Africa thus spending large portion of the poor country’s budget on the military while the danger of famine and lack of resources for basic needs of its population is always lurking around.

While this is the true reason for the TPLF regime to build an army that is beyond the country’s legitimate external security threat need, it cynically uses a fraction of this army in international peace keeping missions in order to get acquiescence from the West for its nefarious repression at home as well as use these missions as a source of hard currency income for its corrupt highest military brass. Recently, the Ethiopian government is even seen scheming to leverage its security cooperation with the West, hopefully in vain, for extending its repressive hand abroad by invoking the legitimate rebellion and resistance of Ethiopians as a terrorist act. The truth is that the Ethiopian people’s resistance is a very disciplined and well organized struggle that is focused only on a political goal of making Ethiopia a democratic country either by forcing the minority regime to come to table or removing it if it continues to persist on blocking Ethiopians’ right for self-government. The people’s resistance movement is also very much aware of its responsibilities for the Ethiopian people, the people of the region and the international community. It is a resistance movement which is informed from the rich tradition of Ethiopian history. It is not a group of bandits and terrorists. It includes several members of the opposition who contested the ill-fated 2005 election. In deed it is a democratic force and represents a cross section of Ethiopians.

In their long history of existence, Ethiopians have shown no affinity for internalizing any sort of extremist ideology let alone to terrorist practice despite the persistent attempt to impose communism during the military regime and ethno-centric politics by the current regime on them. The history of Ethiopia is replete with building good relationship with its neighbors, peaceful coexistence and social stability. Ethiopian history also shows the courage and willingness of the people to lay their lives and honor to resist and prevail over colonialism and minority rule.. Witness the Ethiopian people’s glorious victory in the battle of Adwa and their resistance against fascist Italy even when the world turned its face and gave them its cold shoulders.

To stay true to our forefathers’ tradition saying no to oppression and its own commitment for democracy, UMSED pledges to work hard and to pay the necessary sacrifice to put an end to the tyranny of TPLF dominated regime and to assure that the TPLF regime becomes the last dictatorship in Ethiopian history. The UMSED appeals to the peace loving people of the world and the international community to stand in solidarity with the Ethiopian people; for it is only by democratizing Ethiopia that a lasting stability can be achieved and the specter of terrorism can be dealt with effectively in one of the most volatile regions of the world. Anything else will further destabilize Ethiopia and turns the Horn of Africa into a hot bed of terrorism.

From the Foreign Relations Office of United Movement for the Salvation of Ethiopia through Democracy (UMSED)

ከአዲስ አበባ ማስተር ፕላን ጀርባ – አርበኞች ግንቦት 7

ከሁለት አመት በፊት በቂ ህዝባዊ ምክርና ውይይት ያልተካሄደበት የአዲስ አበባ ማስተር ፕላን ተግባር ላይ ለማዋል የተደረገው ሙከራ በበርካታ የኦሮሞ ተማሪዎች ተቃውሞ እንደገጠመውና በየኮሌጁ በተነሱ ተቃውሞዎች ሳቢያ በርካታ ወጣቶች በወያኔ እንደተገደሉ ብዙዎች በእስር እየማቀቁ እንዳሉ ይታወቃል። ግጭቱ የፈጠረው ቀስል ገና ባላገመ ማግስት በአሁኑ ወቅት የህወሃቱ አባይ ጻሀይ በውድም በግድም ፕላኑ “ይተገበራል” ብሎ በዛተው መሰረት ተግባር ላይ ለማዋል ሰሞኑን ሽር ጉድ ተይዟል።

ከዚህ ማስተር ፕላን በስተጀርባ የተደበቀው የህወሃትና ጀሌዎቹ አላማ በአግባቡ አለመተንተኑ የፕላኑ ተቃዋሚዎች ኦሮሞዎች ብቻ በመሆናቸው ጥያቄው የግዛት ስፋትና ጥበት ወይም ባለቤትነት ጉዳይ መስሎ ይታይ እንጂ ነገሩ ሁሉንም ኢትዮጵያዊ የሚያስቆጪና ተቃውሞ ሊያስነሳ የሚገባው ደባ ነው። ከህወሃት/ ወያኔ ማስተር ፕላኑ ጀርባ የመሬት ዝርፊያ እቅድ እንዳለው አርበኞች ግንቦት 7 ከእስከ አሁኑ ተመክሮና ባህሪያቸው በግልጽ ማየት ይቻላል ብሎ ያምናል።

እስከዛሬ ባለን ተመክሮ ከተማውን በማስፋፋት ስምና መሬት የመንግስት ነው የሚለውን ሰበብ በመጠቀም ድሃ ገበሬዎችን በማፈናቀል የተዘረፈውን መሬት ልብ ማለትና ማስታዎስን ያሻል።

በሀገራችን ቅጽበታዊ ሚሊየነር የሆኑት የወያኔ ሹማምንት፣ ዘመዶቻቸውና ባለሟሎቻቸው ዋናው የሃብታቸው ምንጪ ድሆችን በማፈናቀል በገፍ እየዘረፉ የሸጡትና የተቆራመጡት መሬት ነው። የአዲስ አበባ መሬት የወያኔ የወርቅ ማእድን ጉድጓድ ከሆነ ቆይቶል። በየከተማው ዙሪያ ያሉ ምስኪን ገበሬዎች የረባ ካሳ እንኮን ስላላገኙ ከግብርና ወጥተው ወደኩሊነትና የቀን ሰራተኝነት ተበታትነው ቤታቸው ፈርሶ ይገኛል።

የወያኔ መንግስት ይህን ማስተር ፕላን ስራ ላይ ለማዋል የሚስገበገብበት ዋናው ምክንያት የሀገርና ከተማ ልማት ጉዳይ አይደለም። የከተማው መሬት ተዘርፎ በማለቁ ሌላ በገፍ የሚዘረፍ መሬት ለማመቻችት ብቻ ነው። ችግሩ ለምን ፕላን ኖረ፣ አዲስ አበባ በአግባቡ ማደግና መልማት የለባትም የሚል አይደለም። ቁምነገሩ በብዙ ሺዎች የሚቆጠሩ ወገኖቻችን በቅጽበት እያፈናቀለና እየደኸዩና ቤተሰብ እየፈረሰ፤ በጥቂት ህገ ወጥ ባለስልጣናት የሚደረገው ሀፍረት የለሽ ዝርፊያ ነው ችግሩ። በመሆኑም ይህን የዝርፊያ ተግባር ብሄረሰብ ሳንለይ ሁላችንም ልንቃወም ይገባል። ይህ ማስተር ፕላን የህግ የበላይነትና ተጠያቂነት በሌለበት ሁኔታ ስራ ላይ በአግባቡ ስራ ላይ መዋል አይችልም። በፕላኑ የተጠቃለለውን ህዝብና አካባቢ ሊጠቅም የማይችል ፕላን ሊሆን የሚችለው የዝርፊያ ፕላን ብቻ ነው።

የወያኔ መንግስት በሰፈራ ሁኔታ ባካሄደው የከተማ ቦታ ዝርፊያ ነው ዛሬ በየመሸታ ቤቱና በየከተማው ዋና ዋና መዝናኛ ቦታዎች ብር እንዳሻቸው የሚነዙ የወያኔ ቱባ ባለሟሎች የተፈጠሩት። ወያኔ ሌላው ቀርቶ በአዲስ አበባ ከተማ ውስጥ ዘረኝነት በማካሄድ ላይ እንደሚገኝ እናውቃለን።

መላው የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ይህን በማር የተላወሰ መርዛማ ፕሮጀክት አጥብቆ እንዲታገል አርበኞች ግንቦት 7 ጥሪውን ያቀርባል።

በሀገራችን ጥቂቶች እያረፉ የሚከብሩበት ድሃ ወገኖቻችን ይበልጥ እየደኸዩ የሚሄዱበት ዘመንና ስርአት አለንዴና ለመጨረሻ ጊዜ እንዲወገድ ወጣቱ አርበኞች ግንቦት 7ን ባለበት ይቀላቀል። ትግላችን እስከመጨረሻው ድል ይቀጥላል።

ድል ለኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ!!!
አርበኞች ግንቦት 7

Did Reagan Get it Right on Immigration and Refugee Policy?

by Alemayehu G. Mariam

Lately, I have been talking about “Republunatics” and “Republooney Toons”.

Some may feel I have been ragging too much on the Republicans and the Republican Party.

Not to worry. I have much so more in store for the Democ-rats.

But looking at the current crop of 17 (?) republican presidential candidates licking their chops for the White House, including Donald Trump and Ben Carson, I am tempted to recommend that all of them be “5150’d”. (That’s the section of the California Welfare and Institutions Code which authorizes the involuntarily commitment of a person with mental issues for psychiatric observation if that person is a danger to self or others.)

Only one problem: How does one “5150” an internationally-celebrated neurosurgeon?

Isn’t hilarious that Trump (I did not say chump) became the unexpected trump card of the Republican Party?

Truthfully, is Trump a trumped-up Republican?

Trump talked to Big Bill C. before he announced his White House run? (Or is he in the Chicken Run?)

When asked, Big Bill C. said, “I did not have political relations with that man.”

Is Trump the great Republican hope (I did not say dope) to save Republicans from certain thumping by Hilary C.? Or is it Bernie S.?

I prefer Uncle Joe. Straight talkin’ Joe.

During the signing of the “Obama Care” bill, Joe whispered to Obama, “This is a big f______ deal.”

It is a HUGE deal. Thumbs up to O! (Oh! Yeah! I got HUGE problems with O, but I’ll give him full credit for the Affordable Health Care Act.)

Anyhoo…

I am not here to talk about looney toons. Already done that last week.

Or O. I have been talking about him for years.

Hilary C.? You ain’t heard nothing yet!

Like I was saying…

I remember a time when Republicans made sense, in a manner of speaking, that is.

In June 1988, at the U.S.S.R.-U.S.A. Summit in Moscow, Ronald Reagan expounded on his approach to global politics: “Here is my strategy on the Cold War: we win, they lose.”

By 1991, Reagan was chest-beating, “We won! We won!”

He was living in Bel Air, CA then.

Mikhail Grobachev’s response: “The soviet people want full-blooded and unconditional democracy. The world will not accept dictatorship or domination.”

My Man!

Go, Gorby, go!

Was Gorbachev a republican in Marxist clothing? A trumped-up republican, as it were?

Just curious.

I am not interested in talking about Reagan’s victory in the Cold War.

It is Reagan’s immigration and refugee policy that I want to talk about.

Did Reagan get it right (no pun intended) on immigration and refugee policy back in 1981?

(I am not asking if Barack Obama is getting it right today.)

Well, I certainly got it wrong on refugees and immigration.

I believed the 21^st century would be the epoch of global peace, understanding and harmony.

After all of the countless wars and umpteen millions of refugees in the 20^thcentury, surely things will make a complete turnaround in the 21^st, I consoled myself.

How wrong-minded I have been.

Then again, what do I know?

A utopian Ethiopian!

What I know now is that the first two decades of the 21^st century have been the “Age of the Refugee”, the age of the exiled, the displaced, the castaway, the alien, the boat person, the outcast, the stateless and the migrant worker.

Every day hundreds, if not thousands of Africans, risks their lives at sea seeking  refuge in the Middle East and Europe.

That breaks my heart and crushes my spirit!

Tens of thousands of Africans have chosen to risk drowning at sea than live under the rule of bloodthirsty thugs who call themselves “African leaders.”

What a sham!

What a shame!

In April 2015, 30 young innocent Ethiopian refugees in Libya were beheadedby the barbaric ISIL.

In November 2013, nearly 150 thousand Ethiopian migrant workers were hunted down like wild animals in Saudi Arabia by police, security officials, mobs and vigilantes.

Many were beaten and tortured and some murdered. Nearly all of them run out of the country.

I don’t hear anyone talking about them much anymore.

I guess that’s why I talk so much about them to myself.

The T-TPLF foreign minister did not lash out at the Saudi government mistreating Ethiopians in Saudi Arabia. He actually apologized to the Saudi government.  (The T-TPLF is the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front, lording over Ethiopia today.)

What the hell!!! (Excuse me!)

The fact is al-Assad’s forces and ISIL/ISIS have massacred hundreds of thousands of Syrians and Iraqis since 2011.

There are now some 7 million plus ordinary Syrians and Iraqis displaced from their homes because of government and terrorist violence in the two countries.

In the past few weeks, I have been speaking to civic society groups about Syrian refugees and how and why the United States should help out.

I know Syrians are not Ethiopians.

For me, it is not about nationality. It’s all about humanity.

I make no distinction whatsoever between the suffering of the Syrian people under the rule of Bashar al-Assad and terror of Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/ ISIS) and the suffering of the people of Ethiopia under the T-TPLF.

They are all terrorist groups/regimes victimizing innocent civilians. Click here to see the proof.

Is there anyone who is not aware of the tragic situation of Syrian refuges?

That tragedy has affected all sectors of Syrian society.

The majority of Syrians are Muslims, but a little over 10 percent are Christians.

But the Syrian civil war has been a disaster for all Syrians.

The Syrian civil war is not simply a Syrian problem or a Middle Eastern problem.

It is not just a geopolitical problem for the superpowers who meddle in everybody’s business.

The war in Syria is now an international problem because of the unprecedented nature and scope of the humanitarian crises.

The Syrian refugee problem is undoubtedly the largest forced migration since World War II.

The question is whether the U.S. has a moral obligation to help out the suffering Syrian refugees financially, and more importantly, in terms of asylum and resettlement .

If the U.S. has such obligations, how should it go about discharging it?

The Syrian civil war began in the spring of 2011 during the Arab Spring protests.

Nationwide protests against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government spread quickly throughout the country.

The Assad father and son team had been in power in Syria for over 40 years, the last 15 under son Bashir.

Syrian forces responded with violent crackdowns and the conflict gradually turned into armed rebellion throughout the country.

Today Syria is in the middle of a devastating and unending civil war.

To complicate a situation already complicated, the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), both jihadist militant groups, joined the civil war and began occupying Syrian territory.

Over the past 4 years, an estimated 5 million Syrian refugees have fled their country to avoid persecution and death at the hands of Syrian government forces or ISIS/ISIL.

More than 3 million Iraqis have fled the onslaught of ISIS/ISIL, which now control significant portions of Iraq and Syria  today.

The statistics on the Syrian refugees is staggering.

In 2013, Syria had an estimated population of 22 million. 5 million or 22% of that population has been transformed into stateless refugees. 57% of Syrian refugees are under the age of 17. Some 2 million Syrian refugees have found safety in Turkey; 1.1m in Lebanon; 700k in Jordan and 150k in Egypt.

Interestingly, the richest Gulf States including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have given about a billion dollars to deal with the crisis but their doors have been nailed shut to keep the Syrian refugees out.

Many European countries have struggled to resettle some of the Syrian refugees: Greece has some 250k of them.

Germany says it could accommodate up to 1.5 million refugees this year?  That is 5 percent of its population!

Why?

It is in the national interest of Germany.

Sweden has taken in 64k;  Bulgaria (15k), The Netherlands (14k), France (7k), The U.K. (7k),  Denmark (11k), and Hungary (19k).

The U.S. has accepted 1,500 Syrian refugees.

The U.S. is also the single largest donor in the Syrian refugee crisis shelling out nearly $600 million this year. That is nearly one third of all aid given by donor countries.

Since 2011, the U.S. has been the largest donor of humanitarian aid in response to the Syrian crisis and has given over $4 billion.

International pressure is now building to get the United States to accept more Syrian refuges.

Recently, President Obama said the U.S. will accept at least 10,000 displaced Syrians over the next year.

The Administration has given assurances that the refugees will be processed by the UN but will go through a very robust security clearance process. They will be screened by the National Counter Terrorism Center, the F.B.I., Homeland Security, and the various intelligence communities in the U.S.

The debate over how many Syrian refugees to admit into the U.S. is just beginning.

There are some who say 10k is a drop in the bucket. We can and must admit many more.

Other say, the U.S.  should first get its house in order on immigration issues before accepting large numbers of refugees.

The debate is starting with finger-pointing and finger-wagging.

Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat and Senate Foreign Relations Committee member, blamed the Bush Administration for destabilizing the region and opening the Syrian Pandora box. “I don’t think you can say that the Syrian war wouldn’t have happened if it wasn’t for the invasion of Iraq, but we certainly contributed to the ongoing mess in that region and inside Syria because of our occupation, our invasion, which after a set of circumstances, led to the development of ISIS. … I think we have a responsibility.” Murphy proposed accepting 50 thousand Syrian refugees.

Republican Congressman Peter King of New York, chairman of the Homeland Security Subcommittee on Counterintelligence and Terrorism, was adamant about admitting any Syrian refugees. King criticized President Obama’s plan to accept at least 10,000 Syrian refugees as “putting American lives at risk.”

King said the President’s “decision is in direct contrast to opinion of leading law enforcement and intelligence officials in this Administration [that] we do not have the capability to vet these individuals nor will we be able to develop it in the next twelve months. The Administration is moving forward full speed ahead without the necessary security backbone in place.” He warned, “bringing more than 10,000 unknown individuals into the Homeland [is inviting] another Boston Marathon Bombing.”

King is trying to stoke public fears of radical Islam and terrorism sneaking into America disguised as Syrian refugees.

What options are available to the U.S. on refugees and immigration in light of domestic political realities and the 2016 presidential election?

The fact of the matter is that it is far more preferable for the Middle Eastern countries to resolve the Syrian crises than to have America or Russia getting involved and mucking it up.

But the complicated problems of the Middle East have defied solutions for millennia.

So I would like to ask if it is possible for the U.S. to come up with a practical policy framework to help alleviate the  Syrian refugee humanitarian crises and formulate a reasonable immigration policy?

Alternatively, is our option to muddle through the crises and hope it will go away in time?

First, the United States has a long history of providing safe haven to those fleeing oppression, persecution and war.

Since 1975, the United States has resettled nearly 1.5 million refugees displaced by the Vietnam War through the  Indochinese Refugee Task Force.

Between 1979-80, the U.S. provided sanctuary for over 320,000 Vietnamese refugees.

Between  April –October 1981, the U.S. admitted  over 125,000 Cubans, during the Mariel boatlift, including more than 80,000 in one month alone.

Tens of thousands of Somali refugees, as many as 150,000,  have been resettled in the U.S. over the past 3 decades.

Hundreds of thousands of refugees from the former Soviet Union have also been resettled in the U.S.  over the past two decades.

The U.S. is not new to accepting large numbers of refugees.

Recently, a group of 18 mayors from across the country, including New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Baltimore, Minneapolis, Pittsburg, Syracuse, Dayton and other cities have joined forces to call on President Obama to welcome additional refugees beyond the number the Obama Administration has agreed to accept.

In 1981, President Ronald Reagan in his “Statement on United States Immigration and Refugee Policy” said,

Our nation is a nation of immigrants. More than any other country, our strength comes from our own immigrant heritage and our capacity to welcome those from other lands. No free and prosperous nation can by itself accommodate all those who seek a better life or flee persecution. We must share this responsibility with other countries.

It is this “Statement” that I would like to propose as a policy framework for the U.S response to the Syrian refugee crisis and as a strategy to fixing our immigration problems.

I suspect some people will have difficulty accepting Ronald Reagan as a source of good policies.

I am no Ronald Reagan fan.

I did not vote for Ronald Reagan nor did I care much for him while he was in office.

I saw Reagan through a  particular ideological lens (I did not say demonological lens) and did not want to have anything to do with his policies.

But as I researched the issue of U.S. immigration and refugee policy, I discovered that I agreed more with Ronald Reagan than anyone else.

Ronald Reagan advocated and pursued an extraordinarily enlightened refugee and immigration policy.

(I hereby issue an open challenge to anyone to produce a more informed, humane and practical immigration and refugee policy than Ronald Reagan’s 1981 policy statement.)

Yes, I do appreciate the irony in my defense of Ronald Reagan’s immigration and refugee policy legacy.

I believe it was George Bernard Shaw who said, “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.”

Might I say progress is impossible without looking back and learning from the past, including learning from those one has despised? Those who cannot look back and learn cannot change anything.

Touche!

The Presidential Statement was made in the context of the Cuban refugee crises in 1981 during the Mariel Boatlift.

In that statement, President Reagan acknowledged the fact that we are a nation of immigrants and our immigrant heritage is our strength.

But he also noted that we cannot accommodate all those who seek a better life or flee persecution.

President Reagan made it clear that we are not a nation that closes its borders to those fleeing persecution or seeking to improve their lots in life.

He also underscored the fact that America cannot accept all who yearn to breathe free and make a better life for themselves.

President Reagan, I believe,  saw the Cuban refugee issue not just as a humanitarian crises, but also as an opportunity and a means to much larger objective, namely, a way of formulating  “more effective immigration policies and the need for legislation to support those policies.”

In 1981, the President engaged the various stakeholders to devise a fair and effective immigration and refugee policy.

He engaged members of Congress as well as local leaders and members of the public in states and localities most impacted by the issue.

Reagan proposed a legislative package, based on eight principles.

Those principles seek to reconcile America’s honored tradition of hospitality to the wretched and huddled masses of the world in an organized and orderly manner:

First Principle:

• We shall continue America’s tradition as a land that welcomes peoples from other countries. We shall also, with other countries, continue to share in the responsibility of welcoming and resettling those who flee oppression.

I believe this principle means that there should be an equitable distribution of responsibility for resettlement and assistance to those fleeing persecution. But it underscores the point that America cannot shoulder  all or the bulk of the responsibility. Other nations must contribute their fair share. With the Syrian refugees, the richest Gulf States including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates must open their doors to the Syrian refugees, not only their pocket books.

Second Principle:

• At the same time, we must ensure adequate legal authority to establish control over immigration: to enable us, when sudden influxes of foreigners occur, to decide to whom we grant the status of refugee or asylee; to improve our border control; to expedite (consistent with fair procedures and our Constitution) return of those coming here illegally; to strengthen enforcement of our fair labor standards and laws; and to penalize those who would knowingly encourage violation of our laws. The steps we take to further these objectives, however, must also be consistent with our values of individual privacy and freedom.

I believe the second principle means the international crises of refugees is not an isolated problem. It is part of the larger issue of effective immigration policy making. There must be an orderly process to determine who is qualified for political asylum. Effective border enforcement must be a high priority. It is also necessary to have effective, fair and humane judicial procedures to deal with those persons who have entered the country illegally.

Third Principle:

• We have a special relationship with our closest neighbors, Canada and Mexico. Our immigration policy should reflect this relationship.

Donald Trump is talking about building walls on the Southern border.

President Reagan was right when he said “we have a special relationship with our closest neighbors.”

We now have NAFTA which has created an economic community with our neighbors.

I am not sure if we can afford to build a “spite wall” between special friends.

But that does not mean good neighbors can talk seriously about common problems and address them jointly. The alternative is feuding between neighbors, which only makes the problem worse.

Fourth Principle:

• We must also recognize that both the United States and Mexico have historically benefited from Mexicans obtaining employment in the United States. A number of our States have special labor needs, and we should take these into account.

I believe President Reagan is absolutely right in recognizing the special labor needs of certain states.

In 1942, Congress enacted the Emergency Labor Program called the Bracero Program  to allow temporary Mexican migrants into the United States to work in agriculture and industry.

California agriculture today depends a great deal on migrant workers.

These issues must be taken into consideration as we deliberate on reforming our immigration policy.

Fifth Principle:

• Illegal immigrants in considerable numbers have become productive members of our society and are a basic part of our work force. Those who have established equities in the United States should be recognized and accorded legal status. At the same time, in so doing, we must not encourage illegal immigration.

I believe President Reagan was clear in his understanding that the millions of illegal immigrants in the U.S. could not be removed easily. It is impossible to deport the estimated 12 million undocumented residents in the U.S.

According to a recent study, “Removing all 11.2 million undocumented immigrants, both forcibly and through ‘self-deportation’ policy, would take about 20 years and cost the government between $400 billion and $600 billion. The impact on the economy would be even larger…”

President Reagan believed the answer is not in mass deportations of millions of illegal immigrants, but in carefully and fairly evaluating those “who have established equities” and according them some legal status over a period of time.

There is no accommodation for those who commit serious felonies and threaten public  safety.

Sixth Principle:

• We shall strive to distribute fairly, among the various localities of this country, the impacts of our national immigration and refugee policy, and we shall improve the capability of those agencies of the Federal Government which deal with these matters.

I believe President Reagan recognized that making national decisions and dumping those decisions on localities that were not part of the conversation on national immigration and refugee policy is not only unfair but results in extreme burdens on local communities and  extreme hardship on refugees and other displaced persons introduced into those communities.

So, it is important to 1) distribute refugee resettlement fairly throughout the country and 2) assist local governments and communities on a long term basis to help absorb the new immigrants into becoming productive members of society.

Seventh Principle:

• We shall seek new ways to integrate refugees into our society without nurturing their dependence on welfare.

I believe President Reagan meant that most refugees do not come to America to seek handouts.

I believe most of them want to achieve the American dream through personal effort and hard work. I believe they want opportunity, not welfare.

But President Reagan is right in warning that we must make every effort to help the refugees stand on their own two feet and not fall into the vortex of public assistance and dependence on government handouts.

Eight Principle:

• Finally, we recognize that immigration and refugee problems require international solutions. We will seek greater international cooperation in the resettlement of refugees and, in the Caribbean Basin, international cooperation to assist accelerated economic development to reduce motivations for illegal immigration.

President Reagan is right in acknowledging that immigration and refugee policy is not the responsibility of one country, regardless of how powerful or rich that country maybe.

It is a problem that requires international solutions.

America, I believe, must lead the international effort to find those solutions not because we have the technology and policy thinkers who can tackle the problem, but because if we do not shoulder that responsibility, no one else will.

Reagan advocated for a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants. “I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though some time back they may have entered illegally,” Reagan said at a presidential debate in 1984.

In 1986, Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act, which gave amnesty to 2.7 million undocumented immigrants.

In 2016, there is no way in hell Ronald Reagan would be the Republican nominee for the U.S. presidency, let alone be elected one.

I hope President Obama and the Democrats and Republicans in Congress will consider using President Reagan’s 1981 policy statement as their first step in the search for a comprehensive solution to the problem of immigration and refugees.

I am no Reaganite, not by a long shot.

But as I listen to the silly rhetoric of 17 republican president wannabes, I recall Reagan’s  farewell speech and his hopes for the country, which he wanted to become a

tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, windswept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity. And if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here. That’s how I saw it, and see it still.

I am not ashamed to say it. That’s how I saw it when I came to America in 1970, and see it still.

My only question is: Can today’s Republicans see Reagan’s “tall, proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans… God-blessed…”?

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Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino.