Tourism is
Dangerous in Ethiopia Thanks to Meles Zenawi
Amanuel Biedemariam
Late Monday on January 16, 2012,
Ethiopia reported two Germans, two Hungarians and an Austrian were killed in a
deadly attack in Ethiopia’s North-Eastern Afar region. During the attacks, a
Hungarian and Italian were wounded while two Germans had been kidnapped. The
unsuspecting tourists were attacked, wounded, captured and killed inside
Ethiopia. This incident was unfortunate for those who lost their lives, those
that suffered through it and, for their families. This incident was also
devastating for the tourism industry of Ethiopia and those who depend on it for
their livelihood.
Regardless of how the genocidal
regime of Meles Zenawi tries to characterize the incident or who it claims has
perpetrated the killings, there remains one fact it cannot deny. The incident
took place inside the borders of Ethiopia. And it happened while under the
protection of Ethiopian authorities.
On
the 19th of January, The Voice of America (VOA) aired an
interview with Information Minister of Ethiopia Bereket Simon, and in it, the
Minister openly admitted that Ethiopia does not and cannot control its borders.
Ethiopia is a country under fire in every direction due to the reckless
adventures of the minority regime inside Ethiopia and the region. In Ethiopia,
rebellion is flourishing throughout the entire country. There exists the Oromo
Liberation Front, The Oganden liberation Front in Eastern Ethiopia, AEDUF in the
Afar region, there is the EPPF in the central region, the Benishangul in the West
and the Tigray movement TPDM etc…operate inside Ethiopia for different reasons.
Some are fighting for self-determination and the others for greater freedoms
from the oppressive minority regime.
This is how The Christian
Science Monitor characterized Ethiopia’s claims. “This week, even before
Ethiopian officials knew how many people had died, or even when the fatal
shooting of five European tourists in its remote northeastern region of Afar
had taken place, they were sure of one crucial detail: It was Eritrea's
fault.”
It is convenient for Ethiopian
authorities to claim Eritrea did it for many reasons. It is easier. It deflects
attention away from Ethiopia’s ever-exploding internal civil struggles. It is
within the strategic objective of trying to label Eritrea, as a country that
sponsors all the anti-regime activities as terrorist activity and within that
context, all the rebellion in Ethiopia is considered terrorism and, the rebels’
terrorists.
But here is the problem with that
assumption and claim. If Eritrea is capable to develop all that activity inside
Ethiopia, what that means is Meles’s regime has effectively lost control of
Ethiopia. The authorities in Ethiopia have lost control of the entire
country.
The various movements in Ethiopia
have been there for decades fighting for their rights. The OLF was there before
the regime came to power; the Ogaden has been mired in conflicts for decades,
and so have the Afars. These groups are fighting for denied rights by Ethiopia.
They are not terrorist organizations. In fact, in contradiction to Meles’ claim
that these groups are terrorist the US never labeled the OLF or others as terrorists.
In fact, they have offices in the US. Meles and his cronies know this
fact.
In this case, the blanket claim by
the regime that Eritrea is at fault in order to cover up its internal problems
backfired in many major ways. First off, the regime looked defeated by playing
a victim. Secondly, it lost any credibility that it may have had internally and
globally because, the truth came-out swiftly and contradicted their fabrications
making them look pettier. Thirdly, it gave AEDUF, the rebel group,
international exposure they never had and, advertised Ethiopia’s internal
conflicts to the world. Fourthly, and most importantly, the minority clique
gave the world unadulterated evidence that the regime has lost its legitimacy.
The genocidal regime, in order to score a political point against Eritrea threw
all discovery mechanisms-out and actually got in the way of the evidence-discovery
process thus denied the world access to truth. As The Christian Science
Monitor reported, “They were sure of one crucial detail: It was Eritrea's
fault” before any meaningful information was extracted.
This is clear evidence that the
regime is not about finding-out truth to protect the Ethiopian people and the
tourists. The regime was not concerned about the tourism industry of Ethiopia.
This is a major PR disaster for the tourism industry of Ethiopia. By infusing
Eritrea in the killing, the illegitimate regime magnified the level of negative
attention into all tourism related activities of Ethiopia. This was in effect
advertising that announced; come and tour Ethiopia and you might earn the
chance to be killed, wounded and captured. Just imagine, can anyone dare take
the volcanic tour in the Afar region after this? The answer is NO. That
means the people in the Afar region will suffer because an industry or a means
of income was taken away from them. This is not a sign of a caring
government.
The rebels quickly gave their
condolences to the families, facilitated the release of those captured and,
claimed those that died were killed by Ethiopian authorities. This put the
minority regime in a spot and forced it into a defensive position.
Here is the reality, prior to his fall,
the Mengistu regime was losing large swath of territories, to then rebels, the
current regime, in the same manner the minority regime is losing now. This
incident provided a great opportunity for the world to see that Ethiopia is
burning from within with fire that is ready to consume the entire nation fast.
Through the hasty announcements, the regime inadvertently advertised to the
world that it doesn’t control the Afar region. This is also true throughout the
entire country.
Every action the government takes
now is strictly designed to elongate its life. In the West, the regime uprooted
over 70,000 Gambellans from their villages destroying their way of life. The
illegitimate genocidal regime has done this in every territory in Ethiopia. The
genocides in Gambella and Ogaden are recorded in detail with evidences by major
humanitarian organizations.
Ethiopia has seen consistent growth
in its tourism industry for decades. This will definitely damage it. The
minority regime has managed to stay in power by oppressing the various nationalities
that it wants to label terrorist now. All these people are doing is demand
their rights. However, instead of resolving the internal issues
peacefully the regime resorted to force. In time, the rebellion has gathered
enough momentum and it is ready to engulf the nation. The minority regime,
fully aware it can no longer contain it, is trying desperate approaches such as
labeling the entire nation terrorist. Individuals that oppose the regime are
labeled terrorist and tried. The Diaspora is not spared because the regime
makes it a point to sentence them in absentia.
This is a regime on the brink.
Certainly, tourism needs peace to flourish and in Ethiopia, peace is
dissipating like water in the desert sand. The regime’s acceptance by Ethiopians
and people in the region is almost nonexistent. People are anticipating when
and how the big shoe will drop. In this climate it is very difficult to commit
to any investment in Ethiopia and certainly those that have money are sending
their hard currency abroad because they are not certain of the future. This is
the reason why it is easy to predict the fall of the minority regime eminent.
That is why the former Ambassador Herman Cohen said that the hegemonic minority rule of the Tigray
People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is difficult to sustain, as Ethiopians are
demanding freedom and democracy.
Conclusion
It is
ironic a terrorist regime is trying to label Eritreans, the Somalis and the
entire Ethiopian population terrorists with fabricated trumped charges. By doing
so the regime is asking the international community for a mandate to rule with
iron fist as a king maker of the region. This is also clear evidence that this
futile ambition has put the regime at odds with all the people in the region.
One thing the regime has done clearly is that it is challenging the publics of
the region with blood in every turn. Hence, it is crucial for the people of
Ethiopia, Somalia and Eritrea to come together and rid of the vermin finally.
And I am certain this will happen soon because the people of the region are
saying enough to the genocidal, illegitimate regime of Meles Zenawi. In order
to hasten his demise and to help end the little Batustans he created, it is
everyone’s responsibility to stop cooperating with this criminal and end his
reign before more harm could be done.
Awetnayu_at_hotmail.com
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Received on Fri Jan 27 2012 - 11:15:25 EST
