     TIRFAC | Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - 11:59 am
WAXAA XAQIIQ AH SIDA AY U EG TAHAY IN TALISKII WAYAANADU MAALINBA MAALIKA KA DAMBAYEEYA SII GABAABSINAYO
Tuesday, 20 March, 2001, 20:37 GMT
Ethiopian PM's position 'under threat'
Meles Zenawi is trying to shore up his position
Political tensions are running high in Addis Ababa, with reports that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is facing a power struggle within his party.
Sources have told the BBC that senior members of the Central Committee of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF), the main party in the ruling coalition, are opposed to Mr Zenawi's policies and that this is now threatening his position.
The exact details are unclear and speculation is rife. But the focus of the struggle seems to be over ideology.
The dissenting members are believed to oppose the Prime Minister's more progressive reforms and to have accused him of selling out to capitalism and Western powers such as the United States.
Marxist ideology
Meles Zenawi is criticised for turning his back on the ideals of the 1991 revolution
In other words, the prime minister is believed to be moving away from the Marxist ideology that brought his party to power in 1991.
Mr Zenawi's opponents are also thought to be critical of Meles Zenawi's handling of the conflict with Eritrea.
Sources say the dissenting committee members, most of whom have been labelled "hard-liners" feel that the prime minister has been "too soft" on Eritrea.
They complain that Ethiopia should have toppled the Eritrean government and captured Asmara, when they launched their offensive in May last year.
Peace treaty
Ethiopia has now signed a peace treaty with Eritrea.
Meles Zenawi is being criticised over his handling of the war with Eritrea
Matters came to a head last week, when 12 of the 30-member committee left the meeting.
It is still unclear whether they walked out of the meeting voluntarily or if they were suspended by the prime minister, who chairs the Central Committee.
The 12 include the deputy leader of the TPLF, Tewolde Wolde Mariam and the President of the Tigray Region, Gebru Asrat.
There is widespread speculation on the whereabouts of the 12 members.
Many believe they have been placed under house arrest, others say they have fled the country and others say that they are just keeping a low profile.
A meeting took place in Addis Ababa on Tuesday in an attempt to heal the rift and bring the two parties together.
If the split cannot be resolved, Mr Zenawi could be facing the most serious threat to his position since he took office seven years ago.
The schism could provide the opposition with the perfect opportunity to lead a revolt.
ALLAOW JABI GUMAYSTAHA. |
| TIRFAC | Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - 12:03 pm
Meles Zenawi expels top TPLF leaders
Visafric March 20, 2001
Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi expelled several leaders from The Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF), The Indian Ocean News Letter reported today.
The Indian Ocean Newsletter in its report said that the Prime Minister met yesterday in Addis Ababa under tight security, with government ministers and several Ethiopian political leaders to inform them of his decision to expel twelve leaders of the TPLF, which holds the key posts in the coalition government.
Meles Zenawi's move is backed by 18 of the 30 members of the TPLF's central committee, including Seyoum Mesfin, Sebhat Nega, Kinfe Gebre Medhin, Addis Alem Balema, Berhane Gebre Kristos, Abadi Zemo, Mulugeta Alemseged, and Arkebe.
The Prime Minister's close collaborators, Tewolde Wolde Mariam and Alemseged Gebre Amlak have gone over to the dissident group led by Siye Abraha and made up of 12 members of the central committee, including Abay Tsehaye, Aregash Adane, Awalom Weldu, Hassan Shifa, Gebru Asrat, Solomon Tesfaye, Abraha Kahsaye and Bitew Bedlay. Five are members of the TPLF's politburo, Indian Ocean added.
The abovementioned dissident group drafted and distributed a nine-page document in Tigrana, addressed to "all respected comrade members of the TPLF and to all the organizations as a whole" and in which they outline the different stages of the current conflict, which centres on the attitude adopted towards Eritrea and recalls discussions undertaken within TPLF leadership circles before the war with that country. The crisis took a turn for the worse two months ago when Meles Zenawi tried to swap the two scheduled topics for debate by the TPLF's leadership – Eritrea and corruption - for a debate on "the dangers of Bonapartism to Ethiopia", which directly targeted Siye Abraha's backers.
After finding himself in a minority position at politburo level on this particular subject, Meles Zenawi secured the central committee's majority vote (16 to 12) in his favour at a meeting last week, and this largely thanks to the backing of TPLF’s founder, Sebhat Nega.
That vote isolated the Prime Minister's 12 opponents within the TPLF's central committee, from where they launched a call to the party's wider member base to back their cause, Indian Ocean reported. |
| TIRFAC | Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - 12:05 pm
The Indian Ocean Newsletter
March 17, 2001 N. 942
Latest Defection Costly for Regime
The defection of Yonathan Dibissa is proving politically costly for the regime in Addis Ababa (ION 940). Not only was Dibissa one of the leaders of the Oromo Peoples Democratic Organization (OPDO, one of the components in the ruling EPRDF), he was also a long-standing friend of Kuma Demeksa, the president of Oromia Regional State, and his defection follows those of many others of the OPDO (ION 929), including that of former vice-president of the regional state, Hassan Ali, in 1999 (ION 870). Furthermore, Dibissa's defection brings meat to the charges in the opposition that the TPLF, the hard core of the EPRDF, holds an iron fist over all the spheres of power, which Dibissa says is illustrated by the fact that the "real president" of the regional state is a bearded Tigrean by the name of Solomon Tesfaye (whose nickname is Timmo, i.e., the bearded one), a TPLF high cadre who "commands even Kuma Demeksa himself". Confronted by this wave of defections, the authorities have reacted with an iron fist to stop the hemorrhage.
In Western Wolega, four members of Dibissa's extended family - whose wife, Hulu Hagerish, has also disappeared (ION 941) - have been killed by armed militias while others have been rounded up. Similar tragedies have befallen the relatives of Meseret Kebede, a former official with the office of tourism in Oromia Regional State who defected last month. He now stands accused of selling a Pajero vehicle and splitting the fee with officials who helped him leave the country. The EPRDF has decreed that no member of the administration of Oromia Regional State would be allowed to leave the country without the express permission of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's office. Thus the trip abroad planned by Chala Hordofa, the secretary of the council of Oromia Regional State has been cancelled.
The Indian Ocean Newsletter (ION) |
| JABHAD | Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - 07:11 pm
Tirfac
The time is almost here when Addis-ababa regime would fall and all the repressed people will win.
I hope, the next news will say:- TEGRAY ERA HAS ENDED AND ADDIS-ABABA IS OUT OF CONTROL AFTER HEAVY FIGHT LAST NIGHT!!!
Oromo and Ogaden will win and the rest will lOoOse.
every dog has a day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
| Anonymous | Wednesday, March 21, 2001 - 09:34 pm
Throughout history, governments were winning and waning. So what?
What did you do?
Haile and Megistu left. Did you then win?
What difference are expecting now?
Really sorry for you. |
