Swedish Journalists Will Be Freed, Ethiopian Journalists Will Be Tortured In Jail

Sweden and the European Union demand two Swedish journalists in Ethiopian custody be released IMMEDIATELY. Meles will relent. He just wants to appear he is in charge. Well, he is not. Swedes, the EU and US will sweeten the deal and he will give in. He is in a losing battle and he knows this is the case; it is his big ego getting in the way. He sold the Swedes a poisonous pill he termed a "prime ministerial pardon." Meles started out by declaring the "rule of law" should play out its course. Waiting for us at the end of the course was, in fact, none other than the Prime Minister [who we might add is above the law]. Sorry, but that is the reality in Ethiopia. Soon you will be hearing the genocide in Gambella will be blamed on one unlucky fellow for whom damning evidence will be collected and witnesses recruited for pay and promotion. 

Meles was simply extending his enjoyment of two humiliated foreigners and to score points with the government of Sweden because the latter had spoken against the unjust imprisonment of Birtukan Mideksa. The Swedes' lawyers were smart for not appealing the case and instead taking the pardon route. One thing they did not understand is that the pardon Meles talked about is NOT Ethiopian at all. It is his proven method of causing permanent damage to his victims. Once pardoned none could get back to participate in national issues. They are to keep silent and/or encouraged to leave their country - and shut their lips tight in the country of their exile! We are not exaggerating this at all. Meles’s right hand man Information Minister Bereket in 2011 had approached both the VOA and Deutsche Welle stations to not broadcast opposition voices because his government identified these as terrorists!

The problem with the Swedish journalists is that Meles will not be able to enforce his other agenda, that is, muzzle them for life! He must be regretting he offered the pardon in the first place. The two Swedes did take a chance to report on the plight of the Ogadenis and Oromo insurgents. Meles has called the insurgents terrorists. Ethiopians who challenge him are also terrorists. The fact that Meles says so does not make it true, however. Mengistu labeled Meles and his insurgency a "handful of terrorists"; they did blow-up bridges, burn down schools, rob banks, kill by the hundreds innocent civilians who would not go along [have you been listening to interviews of Gebremedhin or Mekonnen, etc? If you are a Swede or European you need to get a translation to understand what is going on]. 

In an earlier post we made reference to journalists from Canada, Sweden, Britain, etc. that had embedded with Meles’s group. Of course, they were never caught and they managed to broadcast their findings. In the post we also wondered aloud if the journalists and their audience suspected the contents were fabricated. Ethiopian TV is currently showing government-produced documentary about the 2 Swedes to rouse and redirect public anger on to foreigners attempting to undermine the nation’s sovereignty. Unfortunately, state-run TV is loathed by the public. Meles also wants to portray the issue as colonialism all over again. Again, the problem is that the present generation of Ethiopians have no interest, memory or experience in that kind of talk. Invasion by Italy happened three-quarters of a century ago; nearly, 85% of the population is 45 years of age and under.  School curricula today have a heavy dose of how each “nationality” was oppressed by the Imperial and Socialist regimes and how Meles waged a war of liberation. In reality, some among Ethiopian "nations and nationalities" perceive Meles's ruling minority to be the new colonialist!

Meles will use the occasion to do his satanic bidding and spineless Europeans will look the other way – asking no questions. There are Ethiopian journalists jailed on trumped-up charges of terrorism. There is no evidence they committed any crime other than to write about corruption and in Eskinder’s case also suggest the Prime Minister should step down on the reasonable grounds that 25 years is just too long for one person to rule a nation.

Once the Swedes have their citizens released they will not bother about human rights abuses in Ethiopia. That is unfortunate and, in a way, a victory for Meles. Our hope now is that the 2 journalists once free will write and publicize what is going on in Ethiopia under Meles and perhaps succeed to wake hypocritical Europe from its lethargy to revise its [aid] policy, among others!

Release Eskinder, Reeyot Alemu, Woubshet and all prisoners of conscience!