Who knows about Ethiopia’s perfekt elektion in May 2015? It is the middle of February 2015 as I write this commentary. But I always remember in November. I see some of my Ethiopian friends carrying long forlorn melancholy faces. A few lines from Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” flash in my mind: Why,…
Alemayehu G. Mariam Note: In my last commentary[1] on the theme, “Where do we go from here?” I suggested that the ruling dictatorship in Ethiopia following its 99.6 percent “victory” in the May 2010 parliamentary “election” will continue to do business as usual in much the same way as it has over the last two…
Alemayehu G. Mariam Note: Over the past week, I have received numerous requests from those who read my last commentary “Ethiopia at the Crossroads of History[1], to share my views on the on the question, “Where do we go from here?” in the aftermath of the so-called May 2010 elections. I am pleased to oblige…
Alemayehu G. Mariam Note: Except for elements inserted in the nature of narrative license, syntax and independently established facts, this “interview” is based on English or Amharic translations of public statements, hearing testimony, speeches and other declarations[ 1] of Birtukan Midekssa, the first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history and that country’s most famous…
Alemayehu G. Mariam Last week, in a piece reporting on the eerie silence of Western diplomats in Addis Abeba on Birtukan Midekssa, the first woman political party leader in Ethiopian history and Ethiopia’s # 1 political prisoner, Xan Rice, a reporter for the Guardian wrote: That foreign embassies, including Britain’s, which have been refused permission…
