Robele Ababya
The ongoing Libyan uprising
The ongoing popular uprising in Libya and the brutal onslaught of the Gaddafi regime on pro-democracy opposition forces pounding them with heavy ground military weapons and fighter jet airplanes has no doubt put the relevance of the African Union (AU) on the spotlight in that it (AU) has miserably failed to play an active role to stop that madman who had gone rampant in killing Libyan citizens and causing exodus of epic proportion.
Gaddafi is a classic example of despotic leaders that many others in Africa are being seen to emulate and even solicit for his support to stay in power. He is the Godfather of a kleptocratic family that has ruled Libya for the last 42 years guided by the precepts enshrined in his Green Book.
The African Union provided the Libyan Dictator with a forum in his pursuit to realize his phantom dream of becoming the King of Kings of a united states of Africa and to that end inviting all cultural kings in Africa to Addis Ababa to conduct a parallel meeting with that of heads of state and government. Gaddafi and his sons earmarked as heirs to his throne are now fighting for the continuity of their kleptocratic hold on power at any cost including killing civilians with heavy military weapons in his massive arsenal and covert sniper shooters from balconies. Credible information is that Gaddafi pre-planned murder of civilians, which makes him accountable to face trial in the International Criminal Court. This reminds us of the sad grisly act of premeditated murder of close to 200 unarmed protestors, against vote robbery, carried out by the brutal security forces under the direct command of Meles Zenawi in Addis Ababa in the aftermath of election 2005 on the watch of the AU.
Election 2005 stolen on the watch of AU
On that historic day of 07 May 2005 a truly mammoth crowd estimated at 2.5 – 3 million inundated the streets and squares of Addis Ababa to demonstrate support the now defunct Kinijit Party (Coalition for Unity and Democracy). That sea of humanity was acclaimed internationally for its magnificent display of decorum and discipline; the demonstration ended peacefully without a single incident of violence.
The unprecedented massive support for Kinijit was followed by an unprecedented turn out of massive voters for the election of 15 May 2005 in which the ruling party suffered a convincing defeat failing to win a single vote in Addis Ababa where the AU Headquarters is located. Tyrant Meles declared a state of emergency and swiftly implemented his plan B that included killing close to 200 peaceful protesters by trained snipers; throwing the victors to filthy prison; incarcerating tens of thousands of opposition supports, mostly young where their heads were shaven with unsterilized blades without regard to widespread STDs of that time.
Deeply hurt by the role played by AU’s support of the evil deeds of Zenawi, I wrote a letter dated 22/08/05 to Ambassador Patrick Mazimhaka, Deputy Chairman of the AU Commission, part of which is quoted below:
“You have overstepped basic diplomatic norms in exacerbating the political deadlock in Ethiopia by unequivocally supporting the ruling party while accusing the innocent Oppositions for all what went wrong in the aftermath of the historic election of 15 May 2005. It is bizarre indeed that you did so in the face of condemnation of the state-sponsored atrocities by esteemed international institutions such as the Congress of the United States and prominent leaders in the United Kingdom including Prime Minister Tony Blair. Your inordinate bias in favor of the ruling clique, even before the start of an independent investigation promised by Meles to the international community, is confounding and disappointing. It was bad news to those of us in Diaspora who want to return home to escape being victims of xenophobia and to the Ethiopian people who are fervently praying to avert the prospect of enduring another five years under the wicked rule of the TPLF despotic regime.” Continued
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