Kirkos

NOTE: Picture shows Gobena-Menelik era Ethiopia when global world powers of the time made visits to Addis Ababa, with Shewan Oromo elites seen in their traditional garment.

Ethiopia: Former OLF leader exposes OLF and TPLF propaganda

By Kirkos

In an interview, another former OLF leader shocked and destroyed the biggest propaganda schemes of the OLF and the TPLF separatist organizations.

Mr. Ababiya Abajobir was the former OLF External Relations director, the face of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) to the world for many years, before he finally gave up the tough job of misinforming the world and chose to expose the historical lies the OLF has been shoving down the ears and hearts of our Oromo people.

Groups like OLF and TPLF have been throwing the propaganda that Ethiopia colonized southern people and other groups which these separatists threatened to divide (secede) from Ethiopia. For many years, our Oromo people have been insulted by OLF supporters as “Neftenya” just because they challenged the propaganda of OLF. Oromos have been insulted by OLF just because we talked about Oromo heroes like Ras Gobena and Dejazmach Balcha, who united our country and made Ethiopia stronger while defending it from foreign aggression.

But today is the big day for all Oromos around the world who have been persecuted by OLF supporters because the former OLF leader himself has admitted what we have been saying for many years. Mr. Ababiya Abajobir admitted that Ras Gobena and Dejazmach Balcha were the Oromo-Ethiopian heroes who created modern Ethiopia. After many years of denial, this OLF leader admitted what our heroes like Emperor Haile Selassie told us for decades. Mr. Ababiya Abajobir admitted and said in an interview:

“Oromo nationality is a pillar of the country. So, we have to ask ourselves not only how a pillar can secede but also who created or cemented the unity? During the time of Menilik II, people like Dejazmatch Balcha and Ras Gobena Dachew expanded the territory through military actions and created the unity. Oromo people like others paid sacrifices in the battles of Adwa and Maichew.”

This is the second time a person from the highest level of OLF leadership has admitted historical realities which the OLF has been rejecting for almost 40 years. A few weeks ago, one of the OLF’s founders, Mr. Lencho Lata, shocked many OLF circles in the Diaspora by talking in favor of the Ethiopian state that the OLF propagandists hated deeply.

In addition to admitting the fact that the modern Ethiopian State was developed, created, expanded and united by brave Oromo-Ethiopians like Ras Gobena, the former OLF leader Mr. Ababiya Abajobir also said that some ancient Oromo communities like the Gibe Kingdom of Jimma shared the dreams of Ras Gobena and Menelik, which they showed by willingly uniting. He admitted in the same interview by saying:

“In my birthplace, Gibe area, Aba Jifar consented to the idea of unity willingly and peacefully.”

At the end of the day, whether OLF leaders, founders or former leaders admit history does not make history truer because history can not be changed, added, subtracted or ignored. But the former OLF leaders and founders, Mr. Lencho Leta and Mr. Ababiya Abajobir, finally exposing the OLF 40 years old ideological propaganda is a symbolic victory to the millions of Oromos and other Ethiopians.

Sadly, these OLF leaders admitted history very late because thousands of Oromos around the world are already brainwashed to hate their mother country Ethiopia. Especially thousands of Oromos in the Diaspora, like in Europe and America, like in Minnesota, have been brainwashed to think that so-called “Abyssinians” colonized Oromos. Thousands of Oromos in the Diaspora are brainwashed to think in simplicity, in Black and White. But OLF leaders like Lencho Leta and Ababiya Abajobir are finally telling the truth and accepting historical facts, which will eventually bring victory to the truth and bring victory to the millions of Oromos who love their country Ethiopia.

The facts are, there was no single united entity “Abyssinia” that colonized Oromos because ancient Oromo leaders like Ras Gobena united Oromos and created modern Ethiopia, alongside other heroes like Menelik I. In those days when Oromo communities were divided as Gibe Kingdoms for instance ended up in civil wars and as some Oromo communities raided into Sidama communities; semetic speaking peoples were also divided between regions like Gondar, Gojjam, Wollo, Tigray, Shewa etc. In fact, there were various conflicts between these people, including the Gojjam King Teklehaimanot with his Oromo ally Ras Derasu whose armies fought against another Oromo leader Ras Gobena Dache and his Shewan Amhara allies. But the Shewans Ras Gobena and Negus Menelik easily defeated the Gojjam army and continued to unite the rest of Ethiopia. This battle between the Teklehaimanot-Deresu alliance against the Gobena-Menelik alliance was one of the biggest examples in Ethiopian history of a multi-ethnic alliance which exposes OLF’s propaganda of Oromo vs Amhara simplifications. Similarly, there were examples of infighting between Oromo speaking communities, one historic instance being the Oromo Kingdom of Limmu-Ennarea, which not only fought against other Oromo communities, but also created suffering for Oromo people due to the bloody internal power struggles. In fact, according to the historian Donald Levine, many ancient Oromo communities supported their Oromo hero Ras Gobena who united Ethiopians in every region and ended the “intertribal fighting” which was causing destruction and bloodshed as Oromos were fighting other Oromos. While Emperor Menelik (who spoke both Afaan Oromo and Amharic languages) was busy uniting northern Ethiopians, Ras Gobena (who was gaining more and more fame inside his Oromo communities) was uniting southern Ethiopians. Some historians even confirm that the Oromo Ras Gobena’s success was not limited inside his Oromo communities because Gobena also helped the southern people of Sidama and Gurage after he defeated rebellion forces of the Muslim Gurage warlord Hassen Injamo and united all southern Ethiopians.

It is important to remember that Ras Gobena and other Ethiopian heroes were very revolutionary and smart leaders who understood that Africans needed to unite for many reasons, including for solving their internal issues, to be able to defeat European aggressors and to be a powerful player globally. So it was not surprising that many smart Oromo leaders united with Amhara leaders and other Ethiopians to create a powerful Ethiopian state that defeated the better equipped European invaders like the Italians. In this sense, Menelik, Gobena and other Ethiopian heroes were foresighted African leaders who – in an era when the motto of the white race was that the black race was a “backward race” that is “less than human” with “no civilization, language or achievement” – stepped up to stop bloody inter-clan, intertribal fightings in order to create a multi-ethnic powerful black nation that we call Ethiopia. This reminds us that Gobena and other Oromo heroes and their allies like Menelik were revolutionaries who were ahead of their time and created a “united states” of African people while the western Europeans were developing their “united states” of America (albeit the incorporation of blacks across the Atlantic Ocean under slavery). So It is no wonder that historian Donald Levine confirmed the support Oromo heroes like Ras Gobena received when he concluded that the Gobena-Menelik mission of expanding, uniting Ethiopians and strengthening the country was “welcomed as a way to put an end” to the bloody Oromo vs Oromo wars of the century.

Even though Ras Gobena is one of the biggest Oromo heroes in Ethiopian history, there are many other Oromo heroes and famous Oromo leaders, including Fitawrari Geresu Duki, Dejazmach Balcha Safo, Dejazmach Jagama Kelo, Iyasu V, Fitawrari Abba Gomol, King Ali AbaJiffar and the famous head of Ethiopia’s Ministry of Defense Fitawrari Habte Giorgis (Dinagde) who ruled Ethiopia together with Emperor Menelik. Meanwhile, various Oromo entities like the Yejju Oromo Dynasty, ruled Ethiopia in different stages, while many other Ethiopian leaders were of mixed descent with ethnically mixed Oromo-Amhara or other ancestry – including the various Fitawraris and Emperors. Another historian Paul Henze also exposed the TPLF’s propaganda of pure ethnic identities by saying that

“pure Amhara can be found today only in isolated northern regions, such as Manz and Tegulet. All other Shoan Amhara have a sizable Oromo strain in their ancestry.” http://www.rand.org/pubs/reports/2006/R3347.pdf

This is the reason why today, millions of brave Ethiopians from Shewa and other Ethiopian regions have rejected Woyane’s ethnocentric census and refuse to simplify their complex historical identities by saying “Amhara” and “Oromo.” These failed TPLF classifications have ridiculed the ethnic politics agenda of separatists like TPLF and OLF, for these classifications indicate mere linguistic identities with no historical, cultural, religious, ancestral homogeny since a Wellega Oromo has very small non-linguistic similarity with a Shewan Oromo; nor does the multi-ethnic Shewans have a magical capability to claim they are pure one “ethnic” group. Therefore, Meles Zenawi’s current population statistics have been based on imposed tribalism, where an Ethiopian is forced to randomly choose one "ethnicity" that seems to be his/her most likely categorization and where the Ethiopian must blank out his/her memory and delete his/her unique, proud and complex history that led to the making of this multi-ethnic beautiful nation we call Ethiopia.

But simplification and propaganda is used not only by Meles Zenawi's TPLF dictatorship in Ethiopia today because the OLF is also equally experienced at this evil tactic. In fact, simplification and propaganda have become an accepted norm of the OLF organization that even one of the head ideological OLF “scholars” Mr. Asafa Jalata recently advised the OLF to increase the amount of its “propaganda” that is needed to “mobilize” the Oromo people who are suffering from “low level of the political consciousness,” according to this shameful OLF “scholar.” This is why our Oromo Diaspora communities need to confront OLF “scholars” like these who put down and demean the intelligence of our Oromo people who are beginning to think independently instead of having to parrot the OLF.

The last couple of decades, our Oromo people and fellow mixed Oromos have been attacked by OLF propagandists and labeled “Neftenya” for holding high the flag of Oromo heroes like Ras Gobena. The OLF used all its tools to make Oromos look at the world as “black & white,” in its simplest (though emotive) form, which brainwashed some innocent Oromo children to accept that these and these people are your enemies, and the OLF is your friend or your only “hope and shield” that will free you from “colonization” by non-Oromos. As the result, some Oromos have been forced to remain silent while the OLF propagandists claimed that Oromos were simply colonized by some type of Empire that was led by non-Oromos. But, the current admission by top former OLF figures like Lencho Leta and Ababiya Abajobir is the breakthrough Oromo people worldwide have been waiting for, to end the persecution of Oromos by the OLF mobs. The TPLF and the OLFs preying on innocent Oromos is coming to an end and the ideologically bankrupt Oromo separatists can not impose their will and propaganda on us anymore.

Lencho Leta, one of the leading founders of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), revealed that the Eritrean government was the most powerful force that opposed a coalition Ethiopian government in 1991 that would have created democracy for the first time. Mr. Lencho Leta was one of the OLF leaders who participated in the transitional developments in Ethiopia after Mengistu was overthrown. According to the OLF founder, the Eritrean government rejected the proposal by OLF and other groups in 1991 to transform the EPRDF partisan army into a coalition Ethiopian army, which would have set up the transition to a democracy for the first time in Ethiopian history. (Audio and translation). In an interview, Mr. Lencho Leta also described Eritrean leader Isayas Afewerki’s fear of allowing a united Ethiopia under democracy and how much influence Isayas had on Meles Zenawi & foreign diplomats in 1991.

It is important that all Ethiopians understand what Mr. Lencho Leta and other OLF leaders are saying. As long is the army is partisan and under the order of Meles Zenawi's party only, there will never be democracy in Ethiopia. Demilitarization of warring political forces in one country is one of the most important factors to build democracy in a country, which also helps speed up development. Today, 17 years after Meles Zenawi and Isayas Afewerki overthrew the one-party Mengistu leadership, they have replaced our country with more one-party dictatorship, which has closed political and economic freedoms and starved more millions of people. Ethiopia under Meles has over 6 million people in malnutrition and suffering in drought, according to the UN. Meanwhile, according to the Global Hunger Index, Eritrea under Isayas Afewerki has the highest proportion of undernourished and starving people in the whole world at 75%. All of this agony of our people imposed by the two dictatorship “governments” will not end until our people are free and democracy is established.

In 2005, CUD/Kinijit became the most democratic and the most popular political party in Ethiopian history during the national election. The main reason why it was popular was its democratic principles including the separation of the military from the Meles ruling party. Kinijit party and its leader Birtukan Mideksa asked dictator Meles Zenawi to accept her 8 points proposal and principles. These 8 points Judge Birtukan Mideksa asked were diverse in nature, including freedom of press, independence of judiciary and independence of the military. But the most important out of these 8 points were the separation of military from Meles Zenawi’s grip. Separation of the military from the ruling party leads to a coalition administration where the military is governed by the constitution and is responsible to the constitution. This in effect, creates the foundation toward peaceful and democratic governance where independent institutions are established.

Even though our people still have a chance to bring democracy to Ethiopia with the leadership of Birtukan Mideksa, it is important that all Ethiopians understand WHO are our friends and WHO are our enemies. It is important that all Ethiopians understand WHO supports democracy and who supports and practices dictatorship. Meles Zenawi and Isayas Afewerki have already showed us their dictatorial rules. But some confused Ethiopians are insulting Kinijit/UDJ and insulting Judge Birtukan Mideksa because she chose a patient and peaceful way to achieve democracy. These CONFUSED Ethiopians think we should work with the one-party dictatorship of Eritrea to bring a multi-party democracy to Ethiopia. These severely confused Ethiopians are telling our people in Ethiopia that we will regain and take back Assab port in Eritrea with the help the Eritrean government itself. These confused Ethiopians are not only out-of-touch from reality, but they are also ignoring history. The OLF founder himself has revealed to the world for the first time what happened during the 1991 transition period. The OLF founder Lencho Leta and other Oromo leaders who support him have risked their reputation many times when they supported peace and Ethiopian unity thru diversity and democracy because they believed in the potential greatness of a democratic & prosperous Ethiopia. Even though we know Dictator Meles Zenawi is a major obstacle to democracy in Ethiopia, Mr. Lencho Leta has told us ONCE AND FOR ALL that the Eritrean government was the first to block our historical opportunity to demilitarize politics and achieve democracy in Ethiopia. These historical anti-Ethiopia actions by president Isayas Afewerki around 17 years ago has made the road to democracy that much longer, that much harder for us. And this… we will never forget!

But now, it is time to stand MORE united behind Birtukan Mideksa and her Kinijit/Andenet opposition party. Let us not miss another historic opportunity to remove tyranny and establish democracy in Ethiopia.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily represent the views of nazret.com. The views are solely that of the author.
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Marking the end of Ethiopian Year, it is time to look back and give ranking to the 25 best Ethiopian news media sources in the world with focus on Ethiopia. nazret.com is the most popular Ethiopian website according to Alexa, and it is not included in this ranking.

The ranking will be based on 10 important measurements. The grading system gives a score of 10 points if the media is excellent and a score of 0 (Zero) points if it is poor. Many Ethiopians from all political, religious, ethnic and other backgrounds are surveyed to get these comprehensively and thoroughly graded scores. And since the grading system uses 10 qualities or measurements, the maximum score possible is 100 points.

These top 25 news websites and newspapers are:

1) Addis Neger 79.5 points
2) Addis Fortune 74 points
3) Addis Admass 70.5 points
4) Reporter 70 points
5) Ethiopia Zare 69.5 points
6) Ethiopian Review 69 points
7) Abbi Weekly 68.5 points
8) Jimma Times 68 points
9) Capital 66 points
10) Informer 65.5 points
11) Abugida Info 65 points
12) Ethioforum 64.5 points
13) Daily Monitor 64 points
14) Tadias 63.5 points
15) Oromoindex 63 points
16) Ethiopia First 62.5 points
17) Ethiomedia 61 points
18) Abbay Media 59.5 points
19) Mahder 58 points
20) Addis Voice (tie) 57 points
21) Ethio-lion (tie) 57 points
22) Ethio-politics 56.5 points
23) Gadaa 56 points
24) Aigaforum 54.5 points
25) Cyberethiopia 53.5 points

Addis Neger

Influential: 10 points
Independence: 9 points
Design: 6.5 points
Originality: 9.5 points
News Content diversity: 9 points
Language diversity: 7 points
Multimedia variety: 7 points
Creativity: 6 points
Popularity: 9.5 points
Regularity: 6 points
TOTAL=79.5 points
Comments: Very High degree of independence. Known for its very courageous journalists. Its newspaper version is arguably the #1 most popular newspaper inside Ethiopia. Its Amharic prints have the highest circulation, distributed to almost every region of Ethiopia. www.edaoo.com/ANN/news.do

Addis Fortune

Influential: 8 points
Independence: Score 7 points
Design: 8.5 points
Originality: 9.5 points
News Content diversity: 8 points
Language diversity: 4 points
Multimedia variety: 8.5 points
Creativity: 8.5 points
Popularity: 7 points
Regularity: 5 points
TOTAL= 74 points
Comments: Great design, the largest English language private newspaper in Ethiopia.

Addis Admass

Influential: 8.5 points
Independence: 7 points
Design: 6 points
Originality: 9.5 points
News Content diversity: 7 points
Language diversity: 6.5 points
Multimedia variety: 6 points
Creativity: 7 points
Popularity: 8 points
Regularity: 5 points
Total=70.5 points
Comments: Excellent contents, the biggest Amharic language private paper for many years. Very original and researched articles www.addisadmass.com

Reporter

Influential: 7.5 points
Independence: 6.5 points
Design: 7.5 points
Originality: 8.5 points
News Content diversity: 6.5 points
Language diversity: 7.5 points
Multimedia variety: 7 points
Creativity: 6 points
Popularity: 7.5 points
Regularity: 5.5 points
Total= 70 points
Comments: Two-language newspaper in Ethiopia known for its classified ads for employment seekers. Some Editorials written from the ideological perspective of the ruling party of Ethiopia. www.ethiopianreporter.com

Ethiopia Zare

Influential: 7.5 points
Independence: 7.5 points
Design: 7 points
Originality: 8 points
News Content diversity: 6 points
Language diversity: 6 points
Multimedia variety: 6.5 points
Creativity: 6.5 points
Popularity: 8 points
Regularity: 6.5 points
Total= 69.5 points
Comments: One of the two best Amharic language news websites. www.ethiopiazare.com

Ethiopian Review

Influential: 8 points
Independence: 6 points
Design: 7 points
Originality: 6 points
News Content diversity: 6.5 points
Language diversity: 4 points
Multimedia variety: 8 points
Creativity: 6.5 points
Popularity: 8.5 points
Regularity: 8.5 points
Total= 69 points
Comments: Highly read. It has political commentaries – from the political perspective of Ethiopian opposition forces and Eritrea's government – which educate, entertain and influence people. www.ethiopianreview.com

Abbi Weekly

Influential: 6.5 points
Independence: 7 points
Design: 6 points
Originality: 9 points
News Content diversity: 7.5 points
Language diversity: 6.5 points
Multimedia variety: 7.5 points
Creativity: 7 points
Popularity: 6.5 points
Regularity: 5 points
Total= 68.5 points
Comments: Very informative media from Ethiopia. Publishes original news articles and commentaries in Amharic. www.abbimedia.com.et/abbiweekly/index.php

Jimma Times

Influential: 6.5 points
Independence: 9 points
Design: 6.5 points
Originality: 7 points
News Content diversity: 7 points
Language diversity: 7 points
Multimedia variety: 6 points
Creativity: 6 points
Popularity: 6.5 points
Regularity: 6.5 points
Total=68 points
Comments: Very independent and multi-language. The first private newspaper inside Ethiopia using Afan Oromo alphabet. www.jimmatimes.com

Capital

Influential: 8 points
Independence: 7 points
Design: 6.5 points
Originality: 9.5 points
News Content diversity: 7.5 points
Language diversity: 4 points
Multimedia variety: 6.5 points
Creativity: 5.5 points
Popularity: 6.5 points
Regularity: 5 points

Total=66 points
Comments: Focused on business news, very informative. www.capitalethiopia.com

Informer

Influential: 7 points
Independence: 8 points
Design: 7 points
Originality: 8.5 points
News Content diversity: 7.5
Language diversity: 4 points
Multimedia variety: 6.5 points
Creativity: 6 points
Popularity: 6.5 points
Regularity: 4.5 points
Total= 65.5 points
Comments: Newspaper covers many African countries around Ethiopia. www.ssinformer.com

Abugida Info

Influential: 7.5 points
Independence: 6 points
Design: 7.5 points
Originality: 5.5 points
News Content diversity: 6
Language diversity: 4
Multimedia variety: 8.5 points
Creativity: 6.5 points
Popularity: 7.5 points
Regularity: 6 points
Total= 65 points
Comments: Provides news in a variety of ways. www.abugidainfo.com

Ethioforum

Influential: 8 points
Independence: 6 points
Design: 6 points
Originality: 7 points
News Content diversity: 6 points
Language diversity: 5 points
Multimedia variety: 5 points
Creativity: 6 points
Popularity: 8.5 points
Regularity: 7 points
Total=64.5 points
Comments: Provides very high originality for a Diaspora based media. Very Influential. www.ethioforum.org

Daily Monitor (TIE)

Influential: 7 points
Independence: 7.5 points
Design: 6.5 points
Originality: 8 points
News Content diversity: 6 points
Language diversity: 4 points
Multimedia variety: 6.5 points
Creativity: 5.5 points
Popularity: 6 points
Regularity: 7 points
Total= 64 points
Comments: Decent quality newspaper from Ethiopia. www.theafricamonitor.com

Tadias

Influential: 6 points
Independence: 8 points
Design: 7 points
Originality: 7 points
News Content diversity: 7 points
Language diversity: 4 points
Multimedia variety: 6.5 points
Creativity: 6 points
Popularity: 6 points
Regularity: 6 points
Total= 63.5 points
Comments: Great magazine with professional staff. Focused on Diaspora news and slowly growing in popularity. www.tadias.com

Oromoindex

Influential: 5.5 points
Independence: 7.5 points
Design: 7 points
Originality: 5 points
News Content diversity: 6 points
Language diversity: 6 points
Multimedia variety: 7 points
Creativity: 6.5 points
Popularity: 6.5 points
Regularity: 6 points
Total=63 points
Comments: Provides a variety of mediums. Oromo-centered media but entertains diverse news articles and commentaries. www.oromoindex.com

Ethiopia First

Influential: 7 points
Independence: 7.5 points
Design: 5 points
Originality: 6.5 points
News Content diversity: 7 points
Language diversity: 5 points
Multimedia variety: 5.5 points
Creativity: 5.5 points
Popularity: 7 points
Regularity: 6.5 points
Total= 62.5 points
Comments: Entertains diverse views from external sources. www.ethiopiafirst.com

Ethiomedia

Influential: 8 points
Independence: 6.5 points
Design: 5 points
Originality: 5 points
News Content diversity: 6 points
Language diversity: 4 points
Multimedia variety: 5 points
Creativity: 5 points
Popularity: 9 points
Regularity: 7.5 points
Total= 61 points
Comments: Very influential. Its political commentaries educate many people and attract many Ethiopians around the world. www.ethiomedia.com

Abbay Media

Influential: 5 points
Independence: 6 points
Design: 7.5 points
Originality: 5 points
News Content diversity: 5.5 points
Language diversity: 4 points
Multimedia variety: 6.5 points
Creativity: 7 points
Popularity: 6.5 points
Regularity: 6.5 points
Total= 59.5 points
Comments: Very well custom designed website with external news feeds and with articles & documents on current events. www.abbaymedia.com

Mahder

Influential: 4.5 points
Independence: 6 points
Design: 7.5 points
Originality: 5.5 points
News Content diversity: 5.5 points
Language diversity: 7 points
Multimedia variety: 6.5 points
Creativity: 7 points
Popularity: 3.5 points
Regularity: 5 points
Total= 58 points
Comments: Provides a variety of articles, including in Amharic. www.mahder.com

Addis Voice (tie)

Influential: 6.5 points
Independence: 6.5 points
Design: 5 points
Originality: 5 points
News Content diversity: 5.5 points
Language diversity: 4.5 points
Multimedia variety: 6 points
Creativity: 5.5 points
Popularity: 7 points
Regularity: 5.5 points
Total= 57 points
Comments: Good source of selected news articles from various outside sources, with some commentaries from the political perspective of opposition groups. www.addisvoice.com

Ethio-lion (tie)

Influential: 6.5 points
Independence: 6.5 points
Design: 5.5 points
Originality: 5 points
News Content diversity: 4 points
Language diversity: 6.5 points
Multimedia variety: 5.5 points
Creativity: 5 points
Popularity: 6.5 points
Regularity: 6 points
Total= 57 points
Comments: Collects news from outside sources. It also publishes Amharic articles and other commentaries from various external sources. www.ethiolion.com

Ethio-politics

Influential: 5 points
Independence: 6.5 points
Design: 5.5 points
Originality: 5 points
News Content diversity: 5.5 points
Language diversity: 4.5 points
Multimedia variety: 6 points
Creativity: 6 points
Popularity: 6.5 points
Regularity: 6 points
Total= 56.5 points
Comments: New website with a professional format. Gathers outside News articles and some opinion articles with opposition viewpoints. www.ethiopolitics.com

Gadaa

Influential: 6 points
Independence: 7 points
Design: 5.5 points
Originality: 4.5 points
News Content diversity: 5.5 points
Language diversity: 5.5 points
Multimedia variety: 6 points
Creativity: 3 points
Popularity: 7 points
Regularity: 6 points
Total= 56 points
Comments: Links to outside news articles from diverse sources. It also contains some original articles and short commentaries from an ethno-political point of view. www.gadaa.com

Aigaforum

Influential: 7.5 points
Independence: 5 points
Design: 5 points
Originality: 5 points
News Content diversity: 5.5 points
Language diversity: 4.5 points
Multimedia variety: 4.5 points
Creativity: 3 points
Popularity: 7.5 points
Regularity: 7 points
Total= 54.5 points
Comments: Famous for providing inside information and comments from the perspective of the Ethiopian government. www.aigaforum.com

Cyberethiopia

Influential: 4.5 points
Independence: 6 points
Design: 5.5 points
Originality: 1 point
News Content diversity: 6.5 points
Language diversity: 6.5 points
Multimedia variety: 4 points
Creativity: 4 points
Popularity: 6 points
Regularity: 9.5 points
Total= 53.5 points
Comments: Up to the minute news feed, indexed with keywords from various selected media sources. www.cyberethiopia.com

Here are the 10 techniques of measurement

Independence: This measurement ranks how independent and balanced the media reports are. It checks if the media is independent politically, ideologically etc. If the media/website has original articles, this measures how independent the articles are. But if the media does not have original articles, this measurement assesses how independent the external articles chosen by the media are or evaluates general neutrality.

Design: this measures the general attractiveness, elegance and sophistication of the media. It also measures ease of use that helps readers navigate faster and assesses professional appearance.

News Content diversity: This measurement shows how diverse the news content is or the ethnic and regional topics covered in the website and/or newspaper.

Language diversity: this measurement assesses the amount and number of languages the media uses. It also assesses how extensively one than one languages are used.

Originality: this measures how much of the media’s content is its own original work and also the quality of the original publications.

Multimedia variety: this measurement checks how many different forms of media are used (example, use of website, newspaper, radio etc) and the technique and number of ways it operates (example, use of videos, text, photos etc)

Influential: this measurement assesses how powerful the media is among Ethiopian society in particular, East Africa and the world in general.

Creativity: this measurement checks how artistic the media is (for example, unique ways to attract readers; imagery; ingenuity; new techniques that allow readers to comment or get involve; use of creative cartoons, etc)

Popularity: this measurement checks how many people know the website inside and outside Ethiopia. The traffic ranking of the website inside and outside Ethiopia (alexa.com ) If the media has newspaper version, this measurement also checks how many people buy the newspaper.

Regularity: this measurement checks how frequent the media publishes and how timely the media works.

These 25 websites and newspapers are the BEST OF THE BEST Ethiopian media outlets in the world. But all of them have space to improve their qualities. One way to compel the media to improve is by creating competition. Unfortunately, the undeniable truth is Ethiopian people have one of the most anti-media governments in the world, which makes it dangerous to even work inside the media industry. Thus, while we condemn the government, let us congratulate all of the courageous Ethiopians who work in the media, especially these top 25.

The top 25 listing will be published again next year in September so make sure you visit NAZRET.COM, the #1 visited Ethiopian website.

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Ed's Note
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Via the most democratic inner-party election in Ethiopian history, the 34 years old Bertukan Mideksa is officially elected the new chairperson of Kinijit/UDJ opposition party by the General Assembly. Over 300 delegates from every part of Ethiopia traveled many miles to come together to hold this conference, despite constant harassment by the tyrannical regime of Meles Zenawi.

Bertukan has won the heart of Ethiopians in Ethiopia as well as around the world. Among the young Ethiopians outside Ethiopia or in the Diaspora, her party has become the only light shinning among the darkness of endless wars and famines. Some people among the young Ethiopian Diaspora (so-called hip-hop generation) have renamed Bertukan as Queen B. While the older Ethiopians in the Diaspora know Bertukan Mideksa by her nickname Lady Liberty. For all Ethiopians, she is sharing the slogan of "Yenga Anbessa" given to Ethiopian Olympic Champion Kenenisa. Thats why people call her "Bertukan Mideska, ye Ethiopia Anbessa." She has certainly become "ye Democracy Anbessa" for millions of Ethiopia.

A graduate of Addis Ababa University Law School, Bertukan left her job as a Judge after realizing how much influence the Meles regime has inside the courts. Despite harassment by the government, she promised the people of Ethiopia that she would free the Judiciary system and help to bring a country where the rule of law is respected. Just like Barack Obama, she said change is coming to Ethiopia and installed hope inside all of us.

TWO-HEAD ENEMY OF ETHIOPIA

Today, it is not only the Meles Zenawi dictatorship that is fighting against Lady Liberty and her UDJ party anymore. There is a two-headed enemy against Ethiopia that is attacking Bertukan from both the government side and from the opposition side. Just like those who attacked Obama because he believes in HOPE, there are some opposition elements who are attacking Bertukan because she believes in Hope. They are saying, it can’t happen. They are saying we should stay in America or Europe and hope that proxy violence and simple wishing from 10,000 miles away will bring change. Despite a history of change thru armed struggle replacing dictatorships with more and more dictatorships in Ethiopia, the anti-bertukan opposition are saying peaceful struggle does not work. They are saying Ethiopia is hopeless.

But Bertukan and Kinijit/UDJ is not wishing from 10,000 miles away. Despite government persecution, Bertukan and Kinijit/UDJ leaders are today sitting inches next to our oppressed people, holding hands and saying in front of the people that we are here and here to stay! No amount of government harassment will make us scared. Hope, peace, love, and patience are what Bertukan and UDJ have installed in the hearts & minds of 80+ million Ethiopians.

American Presidential nominee Barack Obama in his Iowa speech many weeks ago said many people are attacking him because he believes in HOPE. So, he said

“Hope is that something inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it.”

Just like Obama and Bertukan, Martin Luther King Jr (MLK) was also attacked from both sides. While the American government imprisoned and harassed MLK, the black militant opposition accused MLK of working inside American system. Because the American government kept the Black population in poverty, discrimination, segregation and assassinated many Black leaders in America at that time, the militant Black opposition leaders told MLK that peaceful struggle is hopeless and useless. The same way, we should expect that Bertukan will be accused in TWO ways. Bertukan will be accused for having “HOPE” just like Obama, and she will be accused for believing in peaceful struggle just like MLK. But these accusations has become the reason why Bertukan is the most famous leader in Ethiopia today and arguably the most famous leader already in Ethiopian history.

Thus, all Ethiopians, even some the government's previous supporters, have joined the freedom train with Lady Liberty. According to people who were present at the various meetings, even some government's previous supporters have become in love with UDJ as well as some supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). For many decades, top Ethiopian presidents and powerful leaders have been from mixture of Amhara and Oromo ethnicities, including Emperor Haile Selassie who was half-Oromo and half-Amhara. But today, Bertukan Mideksa, the most famous leader in Ethiopia, is a full Oromo Ethiopian. Realizing how a full Oromo Ethiopian will soon become the Prime Minister of Ethiopia (if free and fair elections are held) one supporter of the OLF said

“the official selection of Bertukan to lead the most liked party in Ethiopia is the turning point of modern Ethiopian history.”

According to the source, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has gotten the respect of many more Oromos in Ethiopia the last 2 years because it is not making Oromia a bloody battleground just like the TPLF dictatorship and the ONLF terrorists have made sections of Ogaden region a blood splattered battlefield. But he said, the growing respect for OLF is being overshadowed by the rise of OFDM, OPC and other Oromo opposition groups functioning on the ground and Bertukan Mideksa's UDJ is becoming the biggest addition to this list of respected groups fighting for democracy in Oromia.

Today, OLF is split between pro-Ethiopia and anti-Ethiopia. But according to inside sources in UDJ meetings, even anti-Ethiopia OLF supporters are today in favor of Bertukan Mideksa because, according to a UDJ source who described in detail,

“establishing democratic institutions in Ethiopia peacefully is the only method to create a propaganda-free and bitterness-free referendum where even anti-Ethiopia Oromos can listen to all sides of the ideas, all sides of history in order to vote for democracy, tolerance, co-existence, unity and peace in the region.”

But UDJ is not just Oromo Ethiopian, simply put, it is Ethiopian - some calling it the "spirit" of every Ethiopian, the symbol of love and unity. The top 4 elected leaders of the UDJ opposition party come from the top 4 ethnicities in Ethiopia today.

1. Judge. Bertukan Mideksa (Chairperson) - Oromo

2. Eng. Gizachew Shiferaw (Vice Chairman & Organizational Affairs) - Amhara

3. Dr. Hailu Araya (Vice Chairman- Public Relations) - Tigray

4. Prof. Yacob Hailemarriam (Vice Chairman, Head of Foreign Relations) - Gurage

The UDJP General assembly elected many other executive members and party leaders from other ethnicities like Sidama, Somali, Welayta, Kambata, Hadiya, Afar, Nuer, Anuak, etc. But unlike the tribalist Meles government, the UDJP believes in unity in diversity and uses merit as measurement: NOT by ethnicity, religion, sex, clan etc. In his famous speech, Obama talked about himself in perspective to the American society by saying,

“a father from Kenya and a mother from Kansas, a story that can only happen in the United States of America.”

Bertukan, who is believed to be an evangelical Christian, has made history to become the leader of the biggest party in Ethiopia, despite the country being dominated by Orthodox Christians and Sunni Mulsims. In a country that has a modern history where either mixed Oromos and non-Oromos held top powers, Bertukan has also made history by holding the most powerful top position inside the most famous party in Ethiopia as a full Oromo. Last but not least, in a continent like Africa that rejects power for Women and even worse, threats women as less human than a man, Bertukan has made history leading the most famous party in Ethiopia. That is why all of us Ethiopians around the world can cheer at what Bertukan has accomplished and will accomplish, and use Obama’s phrases in describing Bertukan as a first woman leader from a minority persecuted religion and with an ancestry from exploited people of Oromia, a story that can only happen in the great African nation of Ethiopia!!

Since gaining leadership positions inside the UDJ opposition party, Bertukan has led this people’s movement, despite the endless persecution from the Meles regime that is financed by the corrupt Bush administration. Just like she promised, Bertukan and her allied opposition parties boycotted the fake recent Meles election. Bertukan has been resilient to support her 8 point proposal to democratize the judiciary, election board, military and other institutions if Meles Zenawi wants UDJ party to join the elections and make the election legitimate. Meanwhile, her party continues to gain more supporters in all sections of the country.

As supporters of Bertukan’s Kinijit/UDJ party (also known as Andinet), millions of Ethiopians in the Diaspora need to be active to expose the Meles regime and finance, give emotional, material and other support to UDJ. At the same time, they need to be careful about the wolves in sheep cloth who try to use UDJ name to get fame and money. Bertukan is the most humble leader in Ethiopian history, who already showed us the meaning of love a few months ago by begging her friend Hailu Shawel in front of thousands of us and asking him to abandon his stubborn position and rejoin Kinijit. Meanwhile, we need to be aware of the two-headed enemy against Bertukan, coming both from the government and the opposition, as described above. Today, we have UDJ leaders headed by Bertukan Mideksa (who need our financial & other support and prayers) who are willing to sacrifice their lives everyday to stand up with the people of Ethiopia for justice, equality, freedom and democracy. To the endless list of the prides of Ethiopia, today, Mama Ethiopia can finally add our great leader Bertukan Mideksa.

Kinijit/Andenet New Websites

- ProKinijit/andenet D.C. support group www.andenetdc.org

- ProKinijit/andenet Discussion forum www.hirmata.com

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Ethiopian politicians form new opposition party to prepare for elections (AP)


Yes, UDJ's birth is significant!


Hailu Shawel Opened Kinijit General Assembly Meeting (Mesfin Mekonen)

Alone they can't make it; with us they can (Girma Kassa)

The last two years, the Meles Zenawi government in Addis Ababa has been throwing its 11% GDP growth propaganda on our dying people who are only asking him for just a cup of water or a piece of bread to eat. Once again, almost 5 million Ethiopians are suffering in drought and many of them will die in a few months if they don’t get anything to eat or drink. (ref 1)

Ethiopians around the world are asking how a country with some of the biggest rivers in the world can face these kinds of droughts. How can a country that has a potential to be the second biggest hydropower producer in Africa become the lowest beneficiary of this resource? Why is Meles Zenawi not building our infrastructure using a profit we would get from our massive water resources, from irrigation or hydroelectric, a resource Ethiopians usually referred to as our “White Oil”??

All of these failures by Meles Zenawi can only remind us of his servitude to the Egyptian government; which is a government that has already threatened war on Ethiopia if we rightfully and legally use OUR OWN WATERS. Instead of Ethiopia building its infrastructure and storing supply for the bad times, Meles Zenawi’s government is begging for food aid once again. Thousands out of these 5 million famine affected Ethiopians will likely die in the next few months. According to UN humanitarian sources, dozens Ethiopian children are dropping and perishing from the face of this earth as you read this article, at this minute.

But, Eighty six percent (86%) of the Nile’s water comes from Ethiopia, while Egypt uses 87% of Ethiopia’s water.

Even though Ethiopia is the most affected by this injustice, other East African nations like Tanzania are also upset by Egyptian domination of the Nile. In fact, branches of the river flows southward to Uganda, Tanzania and other nations. But the difference is Tanzania is not babysitting the Egyptian government like the puppet Meles government is. According to a report in 2004, Tanzania launched many millions in dollars worth project to

"draw water from Lake Victoria to supplly Kahama in Shinyanga region in contravention of two treaties colonial Britain signed with Egypt and Sudan controlling the use of water from the Lake." (2)

According to the report, this move by Tanzania ignores the illegal Nile treaty that Egypt has been flaunting to stop Ethiopian plans to use its OWN water. Also, Congo is planning to build the largest hydroelectric Dam in the world that will cost 80 Billion dollars, according to BBC. (3)

Meanwhile, in another insult to their puppet Meles Zenawi, the Egyptians continue to finance anti-Ethiopia groups like the ICU because Egypt is afraid that a stronger, free and democratic Ethiopia will one day use its own resources. According to a United Nations monitoring group’s report, before Ethiopia sent its troops to Somalia,

“senior Egytian military officers [were] taking part in providing training for some 3,800 ICU fighters in the Hileweyne military camp located north of Mogadishu.” (4)

This Egyptian support for the ICU extremists in Somalia against the TFG and Ethiopia matches Egypt’s old anti-peace policy in Somalia. According to a BBC July 2000 report, unless Egypt feels it has cards to play inside Somalia, it has always opposed any peace or reconciliation process that will stabilize Somalia. According to BBC,

"Egypt has come under mounting attack over its role in Somalia's peace and reconciliation talks, being held in neighbouring Djibouti.
There've been more demonstrations in Somalia against the Egyptian ambasador there Salah Abdurizak Halim, who's been accused of urging several faction leaders, including Hussein Mohamed Aidid, not to attend the talks."(5)

In fact, for many years Egypt has invested in Somalia, hoping that expansionism wishes in Mogadishu will help destabilize Ethiopia, which will keep Egyptian domination of the Nile alive. So it is no wonder that Egypt was helping the ICU, which has showed its interest to capture Ogaden in Eastern Ethiopia, to establish Greater Somalia. According to a Henderson State University scholar,

"Egypt has a long established involvement in the affairs of Somalia. The official Egyptian line is that its role has been solely to promote cultural and educational exchanges and to work for peace. But a closer analysis suggests a very different motivation. If as advanced previously, Egypt's policy was designed to prevent the use of the waters of the Blue Nile, Cairo's intervention on the side of Somalia and subsidization of Somalia's attempts to annex a good portion of eastern Ethiopia, was certainly not inconsistent with such a policy objective. Thus, in the series of armed conflicts that raged between Ethiopia and Somalia in 1960, 1964, and from 1977 to 1979, Egypt was involved in support of Somalia. Since Somalia also laid claim to Kenya's territory as part of what it called "Greater Somalia," Kenya announced that it would fight "side by side" with the Ethiopians to beat back what it described as Somali "aggression." In May 1978, Egyptian planes carrying weapons for the Somali army warring against Ethiopia were forcefully landed at Nairobi international airport by the Kenyan air force.

No doubt, from 1964 to 1978, Somalia received extensive military aid from the Soviet Union. But Egypt also provided military training and weapons in order to help Cairo maintain leverage over Ethiopia, and to prevent Ethiopia from achieving stability. For example, in 1978 Egypt gave Somalia millions of dollars worth of Russian equipment. Sadat was also quoted as saying that in addition to sending arms, Egypt might send troops to help Somalia. According to Ethiopian Government sources, 100,000 fully equipped Somali soldiers armed with very sophisticated modern weapons attacked Ethiopia from 1977 to 1979. As a result, Ethiopia argued that thousands of defenseless people were killed; and thousands were uprooted and made destitute, and development projects in eastern and southern parts of the country worth millions of dollars were destroyed. Schools, hospitals, bridges, farms, power plants, water supply systems, industrial plants, and even UN financed settlement projects for nomads were not spared. Whole villages and towns were razed to the ground." (6)

Even though the UN only talked about Egyptian military advisers helping anti-Ethiopia groups in Somalia, the Egyptians have also used propaganda of humanitarian assistance to Somalis (sometimes unilaterally, other times via Sudanese agents or the Arab League) to have more influence in Somalia, including establishing religious and “cultural centers,” shelters like the Arafat hospital in Mogadishu as well as by giving “scholarships” to Somalis, often to brainwash with radical islamist ideologies that the Egyptian government would not even prefer for its own people.

(PICTURE: Egyptian “advisers” and “physicians” arriving to Mogadishu during the rise of the ICU)

In addition to Somalia, Egypt has invested in many anti-Ethiopia government armed groups for decades. Many rebels and successive Somali governments always think Egypt helps them because of common policies. However, Egypt doesn’t really care for them, it doesn’t matter what happens, whether the rebels succeed or not, whether Greater Somalia succeeds or not, Egypt will continue to destabilize whatever is left here in the horn of Africa, forever. Any form of stability in the region means the end of Egyptian parasitical use of the Nile River because NATURALLY free people and human beings living under stability want to use their OWN resources, their own land and waters.

Despite all of these signs of aggression from its masters in Cairo, what the Meles Zenawi puppet has done is more crime on millions of Ethiopians by legitimizing illegal ancient Nile River treaties created by Egypt and by begging & babysitting Egypt by co-founding an organization called the Nile Basin Initiative.

Visit its website at www.nilebasin.org

This organization claims to seek dialogue for equal use of the Nile and to gain Egypt’s nicer stance to sharing the Nile. But it does not explain why Ethiopia, a country that over 80 of Nile water soil comes from, needs to make bargains with and baby-sit Egypt in order to use its own natural resources. So far only tiny dams have been built in Ethiopia and Egypt is also using these organizations and agents even to hold control over Ethiopia’s own tiny hydroelectric Dams. According to STRATFOR, the world’s leading publisher of geopolitical intelligence,

"Egypt’s willingness to cooperate (under Nile Basin Initiative ) would seem to contradict its historical domination of the Nile. The contradiction, however, is only semantic. As the river’s most experienced user, Egypt can employ its considerable experience to participate in dam development and water resource management as well as other projects in Ethiopia and the Sudan, thereby continuing Egyptian rule over one of the world’s most famous rivers." (7)

So EVEN the tiny water dams in Ethiopia are under Egyptian control. And after all these years, this organization has failed and the Meles Zenawi government admitted last year that Ethiopia uses less than 2% of its water resources for power and irrigation. (8)

Looking at the reasoning for this Nile Basin Initiative organization in the first place, one must ask these questions. When was the last time Saudi Arabia asked permission from Ethiopia to export its Saudi Oil? Would Saudi Arabia beg Ethiopia before it uses its own natural resources? Would America (the leading industrial power in the world) ask Iran’s permission to continue its industries? Truly, the policy of the Meles Zenawi government has been the most inexplicable anti-state policy in Ethiopian history. Compounding the strange behavior of his government is the fact that Egypt is stabbing its puppet in the back by financing anti-Meles rebels, but Meles Zenawi blindly continues the policy of appeasing Egypt, ignoring our greatest resource and begging for food aid every year, as thousands of Ethiopians continue to perish.

Some apologists for the Egyptian government say that 95% of Egypt depends on these rivers that flow from Ethiopia just survive. So they say, we must let Egypt to use most of our water resources forever. Well, some nature of that excuse could have been somewhat tolerated perhaps if another 5 MILLION ETHIOPIANS WERE NOT facing death because our puppet government in Addis Ababa has no interest to use our biggest resource to develop our country. This unfair usage of Ethiopia’s natural resource by Egypt has been arguably the longest standing crime against humanity in world history. Millions of Ethiopians, our relatives, friends and neighbors have perished because of poverty, under development and famine. Blocking Ethiopia not to use her water resources is like blocking Djibouti from using its ports or blocking Saudi Arabia from exporting its Oil. Since 1950s when Egypt felt it has a right to steal Ethiopia’s water resources and block Ethiopian usage via its geopolitical domination, 3 big famines and over 10 small famines and droughts have occurred inside Ethiopia. These have caused the death of over 8 million Ethiopians, including around 1 million Ethiopians during the big 1984 famine.

Many Ethiopians have been patient for Meles Zenawi to change his failed policies and his servitute to Egypt. With another famine on the way this month and 5 million more Ethiopians in danger of dying, Meles and his TPLF have already lost our patience and they are responsible for every innocent Ethiopian soul breathing his/her last breathe.

References used

1- http://africa.reuters.com/top/news/usnBAN354514.html

2- http://www.rivernet.org/prs04_01.htm#090204b

3- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7358542.stm
4- http://hornofafrica.ssrc.org/Milas/index2.html

5- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/846642.stm

6-http://muse.jhu.edu/demo/northeast_african_studies/v006/6.1kendie.html

7- http://www.globalpolicy.org/security/natres/nile.htm

8- http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-08/30/content_6628403.htm