Friday 28 April 2006 23:07.

By Magn Nyang*

April 27, 2006 — There was no country called Ethiopia before Minelik’s rule. In fact, the word “Ethiopia” came from Greek, meaning “burned faces.” “Ethio” means burned and “pia” means faces.

Passing through the North, the Arab part of Africa, Europeans saw people with burned faces, meaning dark face people, living below Sahara desert. There fore, they referred to every one that was living below Sahara desert as “Ethiopian.” Today’s Ethiopia inhabitants were among the “burned face” people they referred to. In this land, so called Ethiopia today, there were ethnic groups who lived independently from each other. While the Oromo people lived in the East, the central, and the West, the Anuak and the Amahara people lived in the West and the North respectively. However, when Minelik came to power, he invaded Oromo’s, Anuak’s, Gurage’s and every other non-Amhara land. After the invasion, Minelik combined what was called Abyssinia with the new territories and named them “Ethiopia.” The irony part was that a man, who had claimed to have been a descendent of king Solomon of Israel, would take upon him a name that was meant for all” dark faced people” living below Sahara desert. Any how, Minelik consolidated his power over those territories and ruled for years before passing the throne to his cousin Haile Selessie.

Emperor Haile Selessie followed his cousin’s foot steps by only collecting taxes from the new territories, not wanting to have anything to do with the inhabitants of those territories. Both Minelik and Haile Selessie were more interested in the new territories’ wealth than the people in those territories. Then, came their distant cousin by the name of Mangistu Haile Mariam. Mangistu was a nationalist, who loved his country so much that he lost focus on how to lead. He was more of a country lover than a leader or a politician.

Out of his love for his country; Mangistu even went out of his way to educate the forgotten tribes. He built roads, schools, and hospitals for those who where forgotten or ignored by his predecessors. Mangistu failed to recognize the fact that so called “Ethiopia” was artificially manufactured by Minelik and Haile Selessie (in the Eritrea case). He led with an iron fist, trying to hold together a country that was not meant to stay united. Mengistu learned his lesson the hard way in May 1991. He fled the country and a year later, Eritrea became an independent country.

Back in Addis, the new guys in town were led by a college dropout named Legasse/Meles Zenawi. Up on its arrival in Addis, the EPDRF, led by Meles announced that it came to liberate the oppressed. As the chairman of the EPDRF, Meles promised the oppressed two years of transition governance. However, Meles still is the president of Ethiopia fourteen years after the promise. In the last fourteen years, we came to see Meles’ true color. Meles used imprisonment and mass murder to intimidate his opponents and to stay in power.

Let me now discuss Meles’ regime differences from his predecessors.

While Minelik and Haile Selassie were feudalists, Mengistu was a socialist. The former two led a very centralized governments that benefited only their own families and their own tribesmen by large. There is not much to say about these two, for they did not leave any historical significance as far as I am concerned. On the other hand, Mengistu reached out to the ignored and the forgotten people. Being the nationalist that he was, Mengistu was determined to keep the country unified with one strong central government. He forced the majority and the minority, the privileged and the under privileged, and the rulers and the ruled to stay united. This mistake (forcing an artificial unification on different ethnic groups without first ensuring their equality) led to his demise. Having said all of these, Mengistu deserved some credits for expending hospitals (clinic) services and education opportunities to the forgotten people.

Unlike his predecessors, Meles is a very intelligent politician. He knows how to manipulate things to his advantage. His major difference from his three predecessors is his introduction of article 39. According to this article every nation, nationality and people in Ethiopia has an unconditional right to self-determination, including the right to secession. In doing so, Meles became the first leader in Ethiopia’s history to introduce such an article in the constitution and he deserves some credit to his name.

However, as we all witness in the last fourteen years, article 39 turnout to be just a symbol on the constitution papers. It was not put to practice. Meles does not only stop the regions from running their own affairs, he also hand picks the leaders. For example, in the last three elections, Gambellian voted and elected independent candidates. However, Meles rejected all three and handpicked his own stooges to become regional governors. According to him, only candidates that are connected to EPDRF are fit to lead.

There are few positive things worth mentioning about Meles’ regime when it comes to minorities. Even though, Meles handpicks regional governors (in Gambella case), his picks are all from local ethnic groups. His predecessors did not bother to pick from local ethnic groups. They considered non-Northern to be inferiors and therefore, incapable of leading themselves. They always sent one of their own from the North to lead non-Northern.

Meles also allowed regional schools to teach local languages to their children. Today, unlike me, all my younger brothers and sisters can read and write in Anuak. For somebody like me, who grew up during Mengistu’s regime, reading and writing in Anuak was just a day dream. In pre-Meles Ethiopia, Amharic language and culture was imposed on all Ethiopians. In fact, to be considered pure Ethiopian, one must not only speak Amharic, but also has to change his/her name to an Amhara name (some of my Oromo friends will testify to this). I remember riding a taxi or a bus in Addis Ababa during Mengistu and not even a day have I heard Oromenya been spoken in taxis or buses. How ever, as soon as Meles’ forces took over Addis Ababa, Oromenya resurfaced and I started hearing Oromenya in taxis or buses. That was due to what I would like to call “freedom of languages” implemented by Meles’ regime early on.

Regardless of the things I said above, I am not anti-one national language. After all, every successful country has one national language. I only said what I said to just emphasized how pre-Meles regimes repressed other languages in favor of Amharic. Other countries such as Kenya did not repress other languages in favor of the national language. Every tribe was allowed to speak its own language freely and yet Kenyans have one national language.

My recommendations for the survival of Ethiopia.

As we all read in the compression part of this article, both Mengistu and Meles have done few good things for Ethiopians as a whole, not for just the privileged. There fore, it is only natural for the next leader to do better than these two. Bellow, are my recommendations:

  In the next Ethiopia, ultimate governing authority must be divided between the national government and regional governments. In other word, article 39 must be put to practice.

  The regions must be protected constitutionally from unwarranted interference in their local affairs. The national government needs to only take responsibility for establishing a strong defense and promote a sound economy, while the regions retain all other governing functions, including oversight of public morals (social services), and safety.

  Tyranny of the majority (the potential of a majority to monopolize power for its own gain and to the detriment of minority rights and interests) must cease and last, but not the least,

  The next Ethiopian government must make peace with Eritrea. Any future leader of Ethiopia must come to realization that the wellbeing of Ethiopia depends on peace with its neighbors, including Eritrea. There are political parties, including the CUD, that are already beating the drums of war with Eritrea to reclaim Aseb’s port by force. My advice to any political party that wants to go to war with Eritrea over a port is that, you pick a fight; you fight it alone. We the Gambellians, and I am also sure, the Oromo people, will no longer be deceived to take part in any fighting with Eritrea. Any attempt to regain the use of Aseb’s port by next Ethiopian government must be carried out only by brotherly negotiations with our Eritrean brothers. Let us not forget that before 1998 war between the two countries, Ethiopia had full access to Aseb’s port with the blessing of Eritrean government. There fore, I don’t see any reason that will prevent the two countries from going back to pre-1998 relationship once we get rid of Meles’ regime.

In conclusion, I would like to say that any thing less than the above recommendations will be a recipe for a disaster. If the next Ethiopian regime is going to be like the previous ones, with a centralized power in Addis Ababa, groups (GPLM/A, OLF) that are waging armed struggle now to get rid of Meles’ regime are not going to be part of it. These groups are fighting against centralization and for self-determination. There fore, for the sake of keeping Ethiopia intact (keeping it from being split into pieces), the next regime should have a decentralized government. Otherwise, this country called Ethiopia, will be split into small countries and some one, I don’t know who yet, will take the blame.

Back to no country named Ethiopia after Meles’ regime

Sunday 7 May 2006.

This is a response to all the responses I got on my article: “There may not be a country named Ethiopia after Meles’ regime.”

By Magn Nyang *

May 7, 2006 — I received lots of negatives as well as positive responses from concerned Ethiopians on my article. This is positive. It shows that there are some Ethiopians out there who are very much concerned about keeping Ethiopia intact. In another word, it is nice to see that there are Ethiopians out there who do not want to see this country disintegrated.

Keeping Ethiopia from disintegration was my main reason for writing the article. I made my recommendations to alert my fellow citizens about an impending possible disintegration if the next Ethiopian leaders act like the previous ones. Some fellow citizens misinterpreted my main idea and accused me of advocating disintegration. I do not wish disintegration for Ethiopia. However, I do believe that one monopoly party with centralized governance like Mengistu’s or Meles’ regime will cause Ethiopia to disintegrate. Let it be known, this is just my own opinion. It may not turnout this way. I am just making a prediction.

While I was praised by those who understood my main point in my article, I was also called names such as “sellout” and “baria” by those who missed my point. It is a shame that there are still fellow Ethiopians with primitive mindset in the 21st century. This is a time for civilized debates, not for name calling. Calling me names won’t make me less Ethiopian and won’t solve Ethiopia’s problems either. Name calling such as “baria” will only satisfy ones primitive impulses (emotion and anger). It won’t do any thing to elevate Ethiopia’s problems. We will only solve Ethiopia’s problems if we start to debate our disagreements in a civilized manner. How can we make progress as a nation if the only thing we do is resort to pre-civilization name calling such as “baria” when we disagree with each others opinions?

What surprised me the most was that, the same individuals who claimed that all Ethiopians should stick together and keep the country intact, were the ones who used derogatory words against me. How can we make one Ethiopia if some citizens are considered “baria?” Am I not one of the Ethiopians they want to stick together with to keep Ethiopia from breaking up? The following is a quote from one of the respondents: “Magn Nyang, you are uneducated baria and you deserve to die, you do not know any thing about Ethiopia history, Ethiopia was there before Meles and is going to be there after Meles, and we, the Amhara people and the rest of Ethiopians are going to have democracy.” To me this response sounds stupid. How can this man talk about democracy in Ethiopia if he wants me dead already for voicing my own opinion on the future of Ethiopia? Isn’t democracy about free speech?

If we, the civilized Ethiopians, allow the likes of the man I quoted above to take over Ethiopia, we will regret it. This is a barbaric man who will kill those who have different opinions from his. We do not need to have this man or his likes to get involve in the future of Ethiopians politics. That is if we want one Ethiopia. The future Ethiopia must be free of dictators. A man with this kind of mindset is not only dangerous for Ethiopia, but also dangerous for the whole continent of Africa.

For those who accused me of hatred toward Amhara tribe, I would love to assure them that I do not hate Amhara people (those who know me personally will testify to this). In fact, some of my best friends are from Amhara. My comment about Amhara rulers was not meant as an attack on Amhara people as a whole. However, I won’t miss this opportunity to lend my advice to my fellow Ethiopians, the Amhara. I single out this particular tribe because if not all, most of the name callings I received on my article came from Amhara respondents. I like to say that some Amhara individuals need to catch-up with the changing world. It is bad enough that Amhara has already lost its political position in Ethiopia and you don’t want to make it even worse by antagonizing the minorities, such as the Anuaks (Gambelians). How can you sing one Ethiopia song day and night and at the same time trying to push away the minorities by looking down upon them? In today’s diplomacy world, you need others to be on your side to achieve your dream of one great Ethiopia. You will not achieve your dream of one Ethiopia if you don’t let go your primitive ego.

At this point and time, it is in Amhara’s best interest to work hard to convince minorities about the benefits of one Ethiopia and yet, there are some Amhara out there still holding to their primitive superiority mind. Let me be the first to tell you, if you didn’t realized yet, you are not superior to any one, be it minorities or dark skinned people like the Anuaks. In fact, according to the White men, you are not even white as you foolishly believe; you are just another “nigger” just like me. Do not foolishly deceive yourselves into believing that you are some thing that you are not. Wake up and join the rest of the world where “people are judged by the content of their deeds, not by the color of their skins” as you foolishly believe. Your ancestors might have believed that they were superior to other Ethiopians and it was ok for them to believe that way because they were primitive. However, a 21st century modern Amhara should know better not to follow his/her ancestor’s primitive ideology. Modern Amhara has traveled and seen the world and how it works, whereas, pre-modern Amhara ancestors were limited only to their small villages. They did not travel to see that former secretary of state Collin Powel is a black man. On the contrary, you, the modern Amhara, has traveled or has witnessed through modern media that Collin Powel is indeed a black man. Therefore, there is no need for the modern Amhara, who has seen the world and greatly benefited from today’s technology to still think that he is superior to others. Unless of course, he/she is deceiving him/herself.

In conclusion, I would like to say that Ethiopia belongs to its all 87 tribes. Not just to the few. All 87 tribes have an equal right to voice their opinions on the future of Ethiopia without being chastised by those who claim to own Ethiopia. All future decisions on Ethiopia are going to be made by all Ethiopians through debates and negotiations. Therefore, it is only appropriate that we start to debate our difference in a civilized manner in anticipation of Meles’ departure. We can’t afford being caught unprepared when Meles leaves. Finally, I want to say thanks to those concerned Ethiopians who understood my main point in my article and I promise you will hear a lot from me in our struggle for better Ethiopia for all.

* The writer can be contacted by writing to magnnyang@yahoo.com