September 13, 2021

Eliza Mackintosh in a September 8, 2021 article on CNN writes “In 2018, Kidanemariam was serving as Ethiopia’s consul general in Los Angeles and said he helped organize Abiy’s visit” . Frankly, as  residents of Los Angeles, we in the Hager Wodad in Los Angeles group know,  Kidanemariam had planned to suppress the number Ethiopian communities in attendance for the event. The  exception was the informed  Tigerans  in western United States who  were recipients of the entrance tickets for the event. He effectively held information on PM Abiy’s visit and followed his   sabotaging  scheme  by holding event tickets  and the location of the venue.  This is  well known  by the Ethiopian community in Los Angeles.

No wonder he got “heckled” when he got up to introduce PM Abiy not to a “crowd”  as he says but a packed Ethiopian and Eritrean audience in the Galen Center at the University of Southern California (USC) which holds over ten thousand people.

When Kidanemariam approached the podium he was booed and hissed but our group present in the audience that day did not hear “Get out of the podium Tigrayan” , and “other ethnic slurs”.

He was heckled because, if Kidanemariam’s plan in June 2018 greeting of PM Abiy in Los Angeles had worked, the turn out at the Galen center (USC) would have been attended by members of the Tigrean community only, leaving the majority non-Tigreans Ethiopians in the region from attending the event.

Kindanemariam sent tickets for the event early to all the Tigrean communities in California, Oregan, Colorado Arizona and some western US cities. Tigreans had booked hotels and arranged with family and friends for their stay in Los Angeles well before other Ethiopians.

The remaining non-Tigrean Ethiopians got the word of PM Abiy’s LA arrival very late. The entrance tickets, had it not been by the efforts of opposition activists (Ginbot 7), faith communities, and business that organized to counter this sabotaging move by Kidanemariam, his plan to suppress the audience numbers (i.e the “crowd” ) and deny PM Abiy the attendance of Ethiopians in the region  would have succeeded.

Kidanemariam is in no position to anticipate/expect PM Abiy to “chide the crowd” or “correct” the audience. According to Mackintosh, Kidanemariam claimed he approched PM Abiy and asked why he did not “chide the crowd” and Mckintosh reported that Abiy told Kidanemariam “There was nothing to correct.” 

“One of the ironies of a prime minister who came to office promising unity is that he has deliberately exacerbated hatred between different groups,” quotes Mckintosh from an open letter written by  counsel general Kidanemariam on his resignation from his post.

Aside from Kidanemariam’s phony indignation, Mackintosh is telling us it is PM Abiy and not the TPLF and its high paid cadres who cleverly used the venue of the embassies to foment discord in the wider global Ethiopian diaspora and also in the western US region for decades. We suggest that Mackintosh interview representatives of faith based community leaders, activists and others residing in Los Angeles and gather information to present a balanced report.

“In less than two years, Abiy has gone from darling of the international community to pariah”, well that maybe for Mackintosh and the US and EU who continue to use the likes of Mckintosh, DeClan of the New York times and a few others harping on the same tune that is played on CNN, BBC, Reuters and other corporate media giants to devalue the most popular and liked leader in Ethiopia’s recent history.

PM Abiy certainly has his current challenges that forced his hand in defense of the Ethiopian nation and the latest being  the TPLF’s war on the Federal government. The Ethiopian National Defense Forces(ENDF) northern command were attacked by the TPLF on November 4 , 2020 and PM Abiy responded declaring a “law and order campaign” to bring the terrorist organization in check.

Mackintosh’s slanderous statement of PM Abiy’s “facilitation ……. bears the hallmarks of genocide and has the potential to destabilize the wider Horn of Africa region”  has made her one more addition to the hostile and sustained voices campaigning against the PM of Ethiopia with unsubstantiated, accusatory statements. Ethiopia is waiting on a joint UN and Ethiopian Human Right Commisson investigation report which will become public reportedly on November 1, 2021.

Despite critics and the current challenges of the conflict/war in the Ethiopian north, Ethiopia’s PM Abiy continues to lead a reform movement and the June Ethiopian elections gave his party a mandate for five more years to lead the nation.

CNN’s Mackintosh reported also on a Skype call to Tsedale Lemma of Addis Standard who said “Soon after Abiy was “crowned” with that Nobel Peace Prize, he lost an appetite in pursuing domestic reform,” and “ he considered it a blanket pass to do as he wishes.” CNN and Tsedale are wrong because the ruling coalition EPRDF was still intact and the Ethiopian parliament still functional “soon after PM Abiy” was elected. Tsedale’s reported comment that the PM “alienated critical regional players” is not factual because the response to his olive branch to these “critical regional players” was war against him.

“The war in Tigray is not the first time he’s used that pass”, she said, adding that “since Abiy came to power on the platform of unifying Ethiopia’s people and its state, he has ruthlessly consolidated control and alienated critical regional players”.It is the TPLF’s political war and indirect regional conflicts using cadres within the EPRDF that began right after PM Abiy assumed power. The TPLF was not “sidelined” , they simply lost the election held by the EPRDF coalition that installed PM Abiy after the resignation of PM Hailemariam Desalegn.

TPLF’s self isolation from the EPRDF was by choice, and all previous attempts by PM Abiy’s government to resolve issues peacefully  were  rejected by the TPLF. Frankly, as most Ethiopians know,in Mekele the TPLF was plotting on a comeback to power and it is obvious today it wants to do this  by force of arms and  the overthrow of an elected government.

“Abiy’s appointment had been intended to quell tensions” writes Mackintosh and that is true and that is why his reform movement invited all opposition parties in exile to enter the country and to participate in the change process peacefully. Instead, the TPLF and OLF began armed conflict, trying to destabilize the regional and federal governments.

The TPLF defied the National Election Board (NEB) and the courts decision by holding a vote in its Killil.  All Ethiopians know the elections were  postponed twice due to Covid-19 pandemic and finally held in June 2021 by the permission of the Ethiopian health ministry. The current ongoing conflict which began in November 2020 has nothing to do with regional elections and started as a result of the betrayal of TPLf forces who attacked the ENDF northern command.

Mackintosh writes “Still, many Ethiopians are reluctant to lay the blame for the country’s unravelling at Abiy’s feet. Ahead of the election in June, residents in Addis Ababa told CNN they felt Abiy had inherited a mess from the previous regime and had always faced an uphill battle pushing reforms forward — an assessment shared by some regional experts”. Well, Well…

Quoting William Davison of the International Crisis Group (ICG), Mackintosh writes “Lots of people were hopeful that the liberalizing changes, after those years of anti-government protests and all of the state violence in response, […] marked a moment where Ethiopia would start to conduct its politics more peacefully.” This is true , but the TPLF, once out of power has been sabotaging all peaceful reform efforts.Today, the TPLF has declared war on PM Abiy’s government and is currently ongoing..

The reform movement was to bring about separation of powers within the Ethiopian government and not to resolve all ‘the major problems and contradictions in Ethiopia,,,,,clashing nationalisms, opposing visions, and bitter political rivalries” as analyst  William Davison is quoted in Mckintosh’s report. Davison  criticizing PM Abiy and expecting the resolution of all the “contradictions” is unreasonable and unauthentic and cheap propaganda he  is known for.

Yes, Ethiopia’s foreign ministery stated “the US of meddling in the country’s internal affairs and misunderstanding the significant challenges on the ground”. This is also validated by big powers in the United Nations Security Council(UNSC) who opposed sanctions on grounds of meddling in internal affairs of the  Ethiopian government. Furthermore, this meddling statement  contradicts  CNN’s  report that  “the tide of international opinion has turned against PM Abiy”.

But the most glaring truth is the US and EU are disappointed by the new friendship and alliance with the Eritrean government and the peaceful resolution of problems between the two nations, which won PM Abiy the Nobel Prize..

Macintosh’s quotes Professor Mehari Taddele Maru, of European University Institute who believes the “Nobel Committee’s endorsement of Abiy has contributed to the current conflict.” That is a stretch and Mehari Tadele Maru, a staunch supporter of the TPLF was on the wrong side of history when he began down playing the popular movement that toppled the TPLF, declared the EPRDF  and not the the TPLF dead, opposed the EPRDF’s election of PM Abiy and is now blaming the Nobel Prize Committee for Ethiopia’s war and not the TPLF for  the current crisis. He has been wrong on every turn of events over the last three years.

Kidanemariam wrote  “Instead of fulfilling his initial promise, he has led Ethiopia down a dark path toward destruction and disintegration.” This is false, and PM Abiy has the potential to lead Ethiopia to a bright future and Kidanemariam should not despair because  PM Abiy successfully will guide the completion of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam  and increase the productivity of the nation.