Ethiopia: Why Did Meles Zenawi Massacre 40 Innocent Ethiopians in June 2005?
By: Sophia Tesfamariam
July 14, 2005

The cold blooded massacre of 40 innocent Ethiopians in Addis Ababa on June 2005 and the detention of thousands across Ethiopia and the detention of thousands more across Ethiopia by the defiant Tigrayan Prime Minister, has been the subject of news reports, interviews, letters to the European Union and US State Department, and remains the main subject in the worldwide demonstrations that are continuing to be conducted by Ethiopians in the Diaspora. The world is asking why? Why did Meles Zenawi order the massacre and the detention of defenseless Ethiopians?

If I were to be sarcastic, I would say it was to get more funding from the donors for his "ill-equipped" forces. The last time he did this, he was given money for training his police and security forces in the art of "crowd control", and for the purchase of "non lethal weapons". Sarcasm aside, the real reason Meles Zenawi murdered the 40 innocent defenseless Ethiopians and detained thousands, is because he got away with all previous violations of human rights, massacres, murders, genocides and defiance of international law and arbitration. His violations are many, but allow me to list some his most notorious and obvious defiant behaviors:

• Meles Zenawi's security and military apparatus massacred 44 University students in cold blood in Addis Ababa in 2001.  The international community blamed it on "inadequate training" and funneled millions into Meles Zenawi's coffers in the name of "capacity building and training" and he got away with it. In fact the international community tried to justify, and make excuses for, Meles' criminal behavior.
• On May 2002, Meles Zenawi's forces massacred over 100 people in Awassa, his forces committed illegal acts against innocent citizens who were demonstrating against a change in the administrative status of Awassa.  Security agents used machine guns mounted on armored vehicles to fire into a group of unarmed peasants, workers, women and children. Twelve of those killed were children. An investigation was supposed to have been conducted but still, Meles Zenawi got away with it
• Meles Zenawi's crimes of  genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Anuak people in the Gambela region, southwest of the country has been widely reported by Ethiopian human rights groups as well as Genocide Watch and Survivors International. Thousands of Anuak were forced to flee from their homes into neighboring Sudan and hundreds were killed when their homes were burnt to the ground by Meles Zenawi's forces. The international community responded with deafening silence and once again, Meles Zenawi got away with it.
• In what was described then as "Africa's Kosovo", the shameless bigoted leader of the Tigrayan minority regime in Ethiopia, in 1998 and 1999 deported over 80,000 innocent Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean origin and confiscated over a billion dollars worth of their hard earned belongings right under the watchful eye of the African Union, UN and EU Ambassadors. Manifesting his ignorance of Japanese-American history, he had the audacity to say, "The Ethiopian government has the unrestricted right to expel any foreigner from the country for any reason whatsoever. Any foreigner, whether Eritrean, Japanese, etc., lives in Ethiopia because of the goodwill of the government. If the Ethiopian government says 'Go, because we don't like the colour of your eyes,' they have to leave." Nevertheless, he got away with it.
• Shortly after the Eritrea Ethiopia Border Commission (EEBC) delivered its final and binding decision on 13 April 2004 re-affirming Eritrea's sovereignty over Badme, a group of journalist visited the Badme. The leader of the Tigrayan clique in Ethiopia immediately demanded the removal of Jean Victor Nkolo, the first UNMEE spokesperson. Once again the defiant Meles Zenawi was appeased and got what he wanted. Nkolo was replaced even though there was nothing that he did that warranted such drastic actions.
• Constantly testing the waters and getting away with all its defiant and arrogant demands, Meles Zenawi requested the removal of Major General Patrick Cammaert, the first UNMEE Force Commander. The flip-flopping, street smart, poster child of the donors, Meles Zenawi, got what he wanted. Again Kofi Annan obliged, and the Force Commander was immediately replaced.
• In Algiers the Eritrean and Ethiopian governments agreed to allow UN direct flights between Asmara and Addis Ababa. However, defying the internationally accepted and UN Security Council endorsed agreement, Meles Zenawi refused to allow the use of the direct route between the two capitals. He insisted on a diversion and got away with it. Instead of urging and pressuring Meles to abide by his signed agreements, UN officials started to "urge the two parties" to allow direct flights. Today, this soft handed approach, in favor of Meles, is costing the UN millions of dollars.
• While it is clearly stated in the Algiers Agreement that the delimitation and demarcation of the Eritrea Ethiopia border is the sole mandate and responsibility of the Eritrea Ethiopia Border Commission (EEBC), insulting and questioning the competency and capacity of the internationally recognized members of the Commission as a body that is "in terminal crisis", the spoilt child of the West, Meles Zenawi, wrote a letter to Secretary General Kofi Annan requesting "alternative mechanism and dialogue with Eritrea". Again Meles got away with his defiance of UN Security Council resolutions and decisions. Succumbing to Meles's defiant request of "alternative mechanism and dialogue with Eritrea", UNSG Kofi Annan appointed Lloyd Axworthy to serve as his special envoy to Eritrea and Ethiopia.
• Meles Zenawi has rejected the UN Security Council endorsed final and binding decision of the Eritrea Ethiopia Border Commission (EEBC) and has refused to allow the demarcation of the Eritrea Ethiopia border in accordance with the EEBC's decision, demarcation directives, orders and procedures. Numerous pre-conditions, as well as requests for amendments and revisions were forwarded by Meles. Again he is being handled with kids gloves. Because the international community has refused to take appropriate punitive actions against this belligerent leader, the demarcation process which was supposed to take only 3-6 months has been suspended for the last three years, costing the UN $250 million per year to maintain the UN peacekeeping force (UNMEE) funds which could have been used for other UN missions or for the eradication of poverty in Eritrea and Ethiopia.
• In defiance of the EEBC's delineation decision and demarcation instructions and UN Security Council resolutions, Meles Zenawi violated sovereign Eritrean territory by establishing new Tigryan settlements in Badme and other Eritrean territories.  The EEBC had ordered the dismantling of the new settlements. He refused to do so.  Because there are no consequences to his aggressive and expansionist activities, he is still militarily occupying Eritrean territories.
• Provoking Eritrea into another war, 4 months ago, Meles Zenawi deployed more than 60,000 Ethiopian troops to the Southern boundary of the Temporary Security Zone (TSZ). The UN Security Council has called on Meles "to redeploy his troops away from the vicinity of the Southern boundary of the Temporary Security Zone". Meles has so far refused to do so, and is getting away with it.

Consequently, as the facts above clearly show, the reason that Meles cold bloodedly massacred and murdered 40 innocent defenseless Ethiopians in June 2005, is because nothing has happened to him for the crimes he has committed in the past. In fact, he was appeased and most of the time he was rewarded. Some may say the above facts are being tackled and handled. That is not true. As a matter of fact, they have been deliberately avoided and neglected by the international community.

As a result of the international community's negligence and appeasement policy towards this belligerent genocidal individual, as recent as 15 May 2005, exactly three weeks before he unleashed his murderous Tigrayan dominated "Agazi" special forces on the innocent and defenseless residents of Addis Ababa, suppressing the legitimate right of the Ethiopian people to hold peaceful demonstration and protest, he declared a 'State of Emergency' by saying, "As of tomorrow (16 May 2005), for the next one month no demonstrations of any sort will be allowed within the city and its environs... the government has decided to bring all the security forces, the police and the local militias, under one command accountable to the prime minister (to me)", and he got way with it.

Embarrassing and exposing his backers and advisors, and their tacit approval of his belligerent behavior, because the international community did not condemn him for the 15 May 2005 suppressive decree, and because some even advised him and applauded him, in a 4 July 2005 interview with the BBC Meles boastfully said:

"...we banned demonstrations for a month and that, for your information, none of our development partners complained about that..."

What a stupid revelation! No wonder to this day, none of Meles' international backers has called on him to lift the dictatorial decree so that the people of Ethiopia can peacefully and freely demonstrate or protest. They are also not urging Meles to create an independent body to conduct an investigation into the massacres of 8 June 2005. So much for those who preach about democracy and human rights, while applauding murder and suppressive decrees!

Therefore, unless and until the international community collectively takes appropriate punitive measures against Meles and his Tigrayan clique (Foreign Minister, Chief of Police, Chief of Staff, Chief of Security, Mayor of Addis Ababa, Minister of Federal Affairs and his Deputy, and the Patriarch of the Orthodox Church etc. etc. who are also from Tigray) by suspending foreign aid given to them in the name of budgetary support, development assistance, and debt cancellation, Meles will continue to slaughter unarmed Ethiopians, and will continue to obstruct the speedy and unconditional demarcation of the Eritrea and Ethiopia border, thus plunging the region into further chaos and destruction.

As a Prime Minister of a country which is fully dependent on foreign aid, and as a person who lacks legitimacy to rule Ethiopia, if it is not for the diplomatic, political and economic support he receives from his "development partners",  Meles neither has the resources nor the capacity to create chaos and commotion in the region.

The rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle.