I have been out of circulation for over five years. However, I have continued to follow Ethiopian politics and even more so after the nomination of Dr. Ahmed for Prime Minister a few months ago.
As you well know, at one point, I was an advocate of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and have worked very closely with my Woyane friends. From the outset, my objective was to oppose armed struggle like that advocated by Dr. Berhanu Nega. I respected, but opposed his line of struggle, because I chose and still do believe in peaceful struggle under the Ethiopian Constitution. I argued for that position in print, on TV, Radio, Paltalk, and other communication outlets. I have argued about my peaceful struggle approach with high level government officials and other friends. At one session with such official, I outlined my belief that Eritreans will come back to join in the development of the two countries as one people. He did not believe me at the time, but the current reality is a clear proof of my forecast. My position at the time has gained me many nicknames and negative connotations.
The nomination of Dr. Abiy and his accomplishments in such a short time has changed the political dynamics in Ethiopia and particularly in the Diaspora.
His upcoming visit to the United States will solidify our United struggle, and I emphasize United, to help Ethiopia in the coming years. One thing certain. The way forward is as One Ethiopia and One Ethiopians. The ethnic-based organizations and their missions require them to unite under one umbrella of ETHIOPIAWINET!!
The Ethiopian Embassy in Washington, DC has been delegated to organize the meeting with the Prime Minister at the DC Convention Center, on July 28,2018. Although varies organizing committees have been established, the real people running the show are doing it in a non-transparent, non-accountable and undemocratic fashion. The various committees have been working on this project for over eight weeks. Because of many opposition in the way the committees were working, a new delegation was sent from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to deal with this problem. As a result, new members were added from the Diaspora community, including activists and other community leaders. However, the first organizing group highjacked the agenda and proceeded to do business as usual. This has resulted in chaos and lack of trust in the embassy officials. The new members added to the various committees were there only in body and were not given any opportunity to voice their opinions.
Among the controversial issues are:
The free first-come-first served approach to people entering the meeting at the DC Convention Center. A great fund-raising and data collection opportunity was lost because of this decision.
Invites to the Town Hall meeting with the Prime Minister. This dinner included meeting is going to be attended by secretly selected individuals a few of whom will be given specific questions to ask the Prime Minister. This undemocratic selection process and free invitation is abominable and old fashioned. The embassy will hear none of these criticisms.
Involvement of the Eritrean Embassy and the Diaspora Eritrean community. Our efforts to invite representatives from that community to attend the Town Hall Meeting has fallen on deaf ears. We have, however, agitated the Eritrean community to attend the general meeting in mass. The response has been very positive so far. We call on all Eritreans in the US to attend the meetings in their area, Los Angel s and Seattle, in addition to DC.
Who is/are to be the Master of ceremonies? The embassy has already decided on who that person or persons will be. The push to include area activists like Tamagn Beyene and Alemtsehai is going on at the embassy, even as we speak. We ask that these individuals be true Diaspora representatives and some to have the ability to speak the English language fluently. We hope the PM will address the gathering, even briefly, in the English language. We also hope there will be a translator for the hearing impaired.
Going foreword, the biggest challenge we face is to make the PM’s dream to raise money, One Dollar per Person per Year for at least two years. This will be done through a legally established Diaspora Trust Fund, run by a board of qualified individuals in association with the embassy. There is a tremendous amount of preliminary work going on among various experts. The work will start as soon as the PM completes his visit to the US. We will include our Eritrean friends in this noble cause and make our PM proud when we deliver his call.
I will conclude, for now, by calling on all Ethiopians and Eritreans to combine their efforts under one united umbrella, instead of the divisive ethnic-based approach that has lead to a political demise and mistrust among us all. Let us unite under on mission as one people.
