From uwvax!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!sol.ctr.columbia.edu!destroyer!cs.ubc.ca!pacific.cs.ubc.ca!not-for-mail Tue Jun 1 09:16:42 CDT 1993
From uwvax!uwm.edu!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!usenet.ucs.indiana.edu!silver.ucs.indiana.edu!kautaj Tue Jun 1 09:17:08 CDT 1993
HEADLINE: Ethiopia's rebels take revenge on alma mater
THE SACKING of 42 teachers at the University of Addis Ababa looks like an
excessively repressive move by a government that talks a lot about freedom of
expression, human rights and democracy. The university simply wrote to the
teachers saying their contracts would not be renewed. There were no warnings
and no appeals.
One university professor said: ''Such a thing never happened in the whole of
Mengistu's time.'' Mengistu Haile Mariam's regime, which was overthrown in
1991, controlled all dissent and maintained a formidable East German-trained
secret police, but never purged the university.
Western donors, who are giving President Meles Zenawi both moral and
financial support, have not made a fuss about the sackings. One diplomat said
that many of the sacked teachers were more interested in politics than in
teaching. Another suggested they had been appointed by Mengistu. Neither
allegation is true. Only a few of those sacked have become politicians and
many of their appointments predated the Mengistu era. One was imprisoned by
Mengistu but most kept their mouths shut in those days, though to be fair so
did everyone else in the capital.
One clue is that 39 of the 42 sacked teachers are believed to be Amharas.
The university has a reputation for being a bastion of old-fashioned Ethiopian
nationalism, which is strong among the Amharic speakers of the capital.
During a visit by Boutros Boutros-Ghali, the UN Secretary-General, this year
to finalise the plans for a referendum on Eritrean independence, university
students demonstrated against the break-up of Ethiopia. The demonstration was
met by gunfire from troops and an unknown number of students were killed or
wounded.
The demonstrators opposed the new government's proposal to allow
Ethiopia's ''nations'' to choose their own destiny, inside or outside
Ethiopia. They adhere to the myth of a 3,000-year-old sacred Ethiopian state.
The Emperor Haile Selassie and Mengistu, both Amharas, epitomised this belief.
During their reigns, the Amharas formed the ruling class, providing most of
the civil servants - and the university teachers.
Two years ago this week, these sober and suited middle classes of Addis
Ababa were appalled to see their capital invaded by wild-looking young men and
women with unkempt hair, wearing shorts and plastic sandals and a lot of guns.
This was the disciplined, makeshift rebel band that defeated the biggest and
best-equipped army in Africa. It was as if the Scots had made it to London in
the '45. These woyane (bandits) as they were called, were mostly from Tigray
and Eritrea, the northern provinces. They did not speak Amharic, the language
of the capital.
But their leaders were in a sense coming home; 20 years ago they were all
students at Addis Ababa University. They were Marxist-orientated, and
organised the student revolts of the early 1970s that led to the overthrow of
the Emperor.
When the revolution was hijacked by Mengistu, Ethiopia's Stalin, they took the
Maoist route to the countryside and began a Long March. In a recent interview,
President Meles said: ''Our ideas from the student movement were all confirmed
by practice in the bush, in the struggle. But in the early days we tried to
lecture the peasants - that was a costly mistake. Then we learned to talk to
them . . . instead of trying to teach them.''
Their Long March took 20 years, but in May 1991 the class of 1970 returned
as the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front. Their Marxism faded
as they got closer to power, but despite their new-found belief in free-market
economics and Western-style democracy, they retain a rigorous political
analysis and a certain asceticism. Mr Meles still looks awkward in the grand
corridors and reception rooms of the imperial palace. When he came to power he tried to open up politics to the whole country - without losing power. The
Front set up a national conference that elected representatives to a
parliament and encouraged a free press and the formation of political parties
and tolerated dissent.
They returned without vengeance except in one area: they found the
university unchanged, the same professors teaching the same things. The
seedbed of their revolution had been untouched by it, and had become a
bastion of the old Ethiopia. This they resented deeply. ''In our day,'' one
of the forty-something leaders said, ''We were universalist and revolutionary
in our thinking. These students and teachers are so inward-looking, so
conservative.''
Replacements for the sacked teachers have yet to be named.
From uwvax!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!gatech!destroyer!cs.ubc.ca!uw-beaver!netnews.nwnet.net!serval!owl.csrv.uidaho.edu!crow.csrv.uidaho.edu!achan921 Tue Jun 1 09:24:47 CDT 1993
Organization: NETCOM On-line Communication Services (408 241-9760 guest)
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 28 May 1993 05:38:24 GMT
Lines: 49
The following is an excerpt from a document intended to be published elsewhere.
ETHIOPIA: Facts and Disinformation
Imagine for a moment that President William Jefferson Clinton is from the state
of Rhode Island. Say he was born, raised, and spent all his life there, till
he became the president after the Rhode Island Naional Army ousted Mr. George
Bush by military force. Say key cabinet offices in his administration, like
the State and Defence Departments, are held by Rhode Islanders. Imagine that
the remaining cabinet offices are given to individuals from other states who
are barred from making any policy decisions, within the jurisdiction of their
offices, and that these offices are essentially run by the number two person in
the respective departments who is in all cases is a Rhode Islander.
Imagine that congressional offices are held by executive appointments and not
by popular vote. Imagine that the Democratic Party is entirely composed of
people from Rhode Island and that they constitute seventy percent of the US
congress. Imagine that the Democrats recruited a few people from other states,
gave them an identical copy of the Democratic Party Program, and told them from
now on you are the Republican Party and give them the remaining 30 percent of
the congressional seats.
Think, for instant, that the United States military - the army, the airforce,
and the navy - is entirely made up of men and women from Rhode Island as well,
and that its function is to enforce law and order through out the country.
Imagine peace and order in both rural and urban America are maintained by these
Rhode Islanders who armed with heavy artillery and drive armoured vehicles and
tanks.
Imagine that the Federal government targets all its investments to the state of
Rhode Island. Imagine, too, that the CEOs of all American corporations are
from Rhode Island. Imagine that all job opportunities throughout the United
States are reserved for those who trace their origins to this tiny state. Say
in this time of recession all job losses are incurred by those from other
states and non by the Rhode Islanders.
Imagine that Rhode Islanders differ from all others in the United States in
most aspects of human characteristics - language, culture, physical features
and the like. In addition imagine that President Clinton and his adminstration
feel that Rhode Islanders had been mistreated by the previous admistrations and
that it is their duty to make up for those injustices.
Now if you replace Mr. Clinton by Meles Zenawi, Mr. Bush by Mengistu
Haile-Mariam and the state of Rhode Island by the Province of Tigray you will
get a good picture of what today's Ethiopia is.
To be continued.
Booran
From uwvax!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!portal.austin.ibm.com!awdprime.austin.ibm.com!jama Tue Jun 1 09:27:25 CDT 1993
Subject: The world is ingoring 1,000 casualty / day war
Originator: jama@inetnode.austin.ibm.com
Sender: news@austin.ibm.com (News id)
Message-ID: <C7qwM8.1A4F@austin.ibm.com>
Date: Fri, 28 May 1993 16:32:31 GMT
Reply-To: jama@inetnode.austin.ibm.com
Organization: IBM Advanced Workstation Systems Division
Lines: 48
U.N. SAYS WORLD IGNORES ANGOLA WHERE WAR KILLS 1,000 PEOPLE A DAY
UNITED NATIONS (MAY 27) UPI -
A U.N. official said Thursday that the international community is ignoring
the war in Angola, which has killed 1,000 people every day.
"It's pretty discouraging and it appears like we are in an impasse,"
said Margaret Anstee, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative
on Angola, who has been conducting inconclusive peace talks to end the
conflict in the western African country.
"It's not only desperate for the Angolan people, but it is also extremely
serious that the world at large seems to ignore the strategic importance of
Angola," she said.
Anstee called off the talks held in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, earlier
this month after six weeks of fruitless negotiations. It was the fourth
attempt by the United Nations to restore peace since October 1992, when
U.N.-led presidential elections were held.
she wrote dos Santos and Savimbi Wednesday calling on them to agree
to declare an emergency situation for one month so humanitarian relief
supplies could be sent to the population. She urged the warring leaders
to agree to open land and air She said she wrote dos Santos and Savimbi
Wednesday calling on them to agree to declare an emergency situation
for one month so humanitarian relief supplies could be sent to the population.
She urged the warring leaders to agree to open land and air She said she
wrote dos Santos and Savimbi Wednesday calling on them to agree to
declare an emergency situation for one month so humanitarian relief
supplies could be sent to the population. She urged the warring leaders
to agree to She said she wrote dos Santos and Savimbi Wednesday calling
on them to agree to declare an emergency situation for one month so
humanitarian relief supplies could be sent to the population. She
urged the warring leaders to agree to open land and air Shorridors
on a certain day of the week so the supplies can go through.
Anstee said the United Nations will hold next week in Geneva a pledging
conference to try to collect $227 million for Angolans.
Anstee is in New York for meetings with Secretary-General Boutros
Boutros-Ghali and the U.N. Security Council on whether to extend the
mandate for at least two months for the international monitoring force
in Angola.
Because of the war and lack of a peace agreement, the force would
be reduced by 25 percent. The force was present at 68 locations throughout
Angola during the 1992 elections, but was forced to give them up
and now occupies only five, including the one in the capital of Luanda.
Savimbi's UNITA rebels, once supported by the United States, have
captured 75 percent of Angolan territory while dos Santos' governmental
troops retreated to the big cities.
The Clinton administration last week officially recognized the government
in Luanda, but it was not immediately known what effect that would have on
the peace negotiations.
From uwvax!uwm.edu!ux1.cso.uiuc.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!math.ohio-state.edu!cs.utexas.edu!geraldo.cc.utexas.edu!portal.austin.ibm.com!awdprime.austin.ibm.com!jama Tue Jun 1 09:27:33 CDT 1993
