Al Mariam’s Commentaries
Author’s Note: This is the first installment in a three-part series on prospects “mediation”, “reconciliation” and “negotiation” with the ruling Thugtatorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (T-TPLF). In part I, I discuss why the current discussion on “mediation”, “reconciliation” and “negotiation” with the T-TPLF is of the utmost importance to me personally, why it…
Author’s Note: In a recent interview on Voice of America- Amharic Service (for audio of original English interview click here) former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs and U.S. ambassador, Herman Jay (Hank) Cohen, called for U.S. mediation and reconciliation among stakeholders in Ethiopia to prevent the “collapse of law and order” in Ethiopia….
TPLF: Does the LF stand for Lie Factory? Is it Meles or Melies? The “LF” in TPLF stands for Lie Factory. Melies Zenawi was the chief executive officer of the TP Lie Factory. With last week’s announcement of the so-called “release of political prisoners” by the T-TPLF, I am absolutely convinced the TPLF is a factory…
BY ALEMAYEHU G. MARIAM, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 01/05/18 09:20 AM EST 24 THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL Originally Posted on The Hill on 01/05/2018 http://thehill.com/opinion/international/367446-trump-administration-deserves-credit-for-the-announced-release-of On Jan. 3, 2018, Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn made an equivocal announcement that political prisoners in his country will be released at some…
Author’s Note: I have a tradition of reviewing the year in my last commentary of the year. It gives me an opportunity for a momentary reflection on some things that have happened and did not happen during the year. If I were to describe 2017 in a short sentence, it would be “The Year of…
Author’s Note: In this commentary, I offer a personal review of the Trump administration’s human rights record in Africa in 2017. On December 21, 2017, with little fanfare, President Donald Trump issued Executive Order 13818 of December 20, 2017 for targeted sanctions “declaring a national emergency with respect to the unusual and extraordinary threat to the national…
As long as people believed in ‘a bright future,’ they fought side by side irrespective of nationality – common questions first and foremost! But when doubt crept into people’s hearts, they began to depart, each to his own national tent – let every man count only upon himself! The ‘national question’ first and foremost! –…
Vindication of the rule of law In his closing argument defending a cabinet minister of a fictional African country called “Naranga”, John Mortimer’s equally fictional character Rumpole of the Bailey argued to the learned African judge: … When London is nothing more than a memory, and the Old Bailey has sunk back in the primeval mud, my…
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable…In the past, those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.” — John F. Kennedy The quiet riot of civil disobedience in Ethiopia over the past two years is slowly morphing into a creeping and enveloping civil war….
Introduction to the series I am developing this multipart series of what I call “Deconstructing Ethnic Federalism in Ethiopia” (along with many other topical series to come) for several reasons. The Thugtatorship of Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (T-TPLF) has used its phony ideology of “ethnic federalism” to hoodwink and bamboozle Ethiopians into believing its system…
