Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Assefa Abrha's emotional statement sends court attendants to tears
Assefa Abreha, the former general manager of Privatization Agency presented an eloquent but emotional closing argument on Friday in the farcical corruption trial which includes his brother, former defense minister Siye Abrha. Assefa passionately argued how the prosecution was politically motivated sending some of the court attendants to tears. Like the jailed CUD leaders, Siye Abrha's visitation hours on weekends are limited to an hour a day. He is not allowed to meet other political prisoners.
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28 comments:
How come the Tigrayan tegaru who consider him a hero are no where to be found while he is languishing
in Meles'jail? Tigrayans can't even come to the aid of one of their own.
"A criminal is a criminal! If a criminal gets killed by another criminal, then its one less criminal to worry about! Its like a dangerous drug dealer killing another dangerous drug dealer. We must not whether over such self-inflicted killings. Ethiopians have died by thousands everyday since this criminal regime came to power, we must not be deviated from that fact. Especially, when the case is A SINGLE POLITICAL INFIGHT BETWEEN TWO CRIMINALS."
Ownership concentration
The increased role of the private sector in the Ethiopian economy outside the agriculture sector is largely due to two groups of actors, the MIDROC-group, owned by the Ethio-Saudi businessman Sheik Mohammad Hussein Al-Amoudi, and the TPLF-owned Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray, the EFFORT-group.
Sheik Al-Amoudi's business activities include agricultural, Even though Sheik Mohammad Hussein Al-Amoudi's MIDROCgroup's business activities are widespread and increasing, this group has not created a debate and a criticism that can compete with the debate about and the criticism of the other non-government business group, the EFFORTgroup.
As is clear from its name, this group has both its objective and its activities largely directed towards the Tigray region. Like the MIDROCgroup, the EFFORT-group operates in more or less all business sectors.
The EFFORT-group has organised itself along the following businesssector lines:
– Agriculture and agro-processing
– Construction and engineering
– Manufacturing
– Mining
– Services, including banking (Wegagan) and transports (TESCO)
As noted above, the EFFORT-group has its basis in the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) even though it is formally an independent share company. From the point of view of efficient competition, as indicated by the experience from the transport sector and revealed in the surveys about the business climate mentioned above, the close relation between TPLF and the present Ethiopian government easily creates doubts about the equal treatment of EFFORT-companies and other non-party-related private companies. As there is no efficient and working commercial legislation, these doubts, well founded or not, easily create problems concerning the government's legitimacy and the credibility of its private sector policies
Source: http://www.sida.se/shared/jsp/download.jsp?f=SIDA4306en_CER2004-4_Ethiopia+web.pdf&a=2866
I really don't care about Siye Abraha's case. He is another criminal who fought with Melles Zenawi on some tribal matters. He got imprisoned because he is the most influencial from the other splinter group from the Tplf. The other members of the splinter group like Gebru Asrat are good for nothing and Melles didn't really have to lock them in jail. We really shouldn't bother about the power struggle in Tplf. When it comes to Kinijit and Pan-Ethiopianism they are all the same. We have confirmed that after the May election last year.
Tazabi,
Your sense of what justice is needs some revision. Justice as you put it is no different from what Meles does. What I hope for Ethiopia is not substituting personalities and continuing business as usual...but an overhaul, where even Meles himself can come to the court and bring a case against whomever and expect fair treatment. Otherwise, everything, all the struggle will be in vain. I have been seeing your name on different comments, though I have no doubt of your good intentions, I am seriously doubtful that you have given much thought to a future Ethiopia except that you want to see Meles go.
Take care...
That is true!Well Siye fought for about 17 years to bring the current government in power. Now, that government is a huge problem for all Ethiopians. And understandably it is a problem for Siye as well, but hey, Siye brought it on himself. His old friends are the one who run the show. I hope the other TPLF supporters would managed to see the true nature of TPLF through Siye's trial.
I think Seye and his families are all gready blood suckers. They were bleeding dry our country for long time. They became millioners in less than 8years. Because they are imprisend by Meles doesn't make them innocent. They all are the same bastards/ Mmele or seyye the same shitt
Siye Abraha and his family are as corrupt as the other Tplf leaders. They sucked the blood of poor Ethiopians and became millioners in less than a decade. Assefa Abraha used to sell goverment owned Companies to people from his ethnic group who had nothing before Tplf came to power. There are a lot of people from the same ethnic group who became millioners overnight. Infact it is a power struggle within the Tplf that put them in prison. No Symphaty at all.
sameo, sameo! Leba kifefelu lai new eko dorom yemetalaw!
Judge Bertukan, however, tried to give him his day in court. I sure hope he was man enough to pass her a thank you note in Qaliti.
Inquiring minds still want to know how come the tegarus never came to his rescue when the eritrean bastard locked him up?
most of you anonymous posters, what makes you any different from Meles then?
terenblue
Thank you for the post. That is exactly what Ethiopia needs.
Meles has admited that he is half Eritrean, and he is imprisoning all kinds of tegres. He also killed and imprisoned many Eritreans before he sent them home naked. If a man who is half Eritrean haf Tegre is harming his people what makes you think he is going to be good for Ethiopians? Let us all examine meles very closely. Meles may be killing seye and asefa abreha, but we shouldn't care about them. The two brothers were out of control when they were part of tplf. I am not saying they deserve to die but if they die in jail waiting for their day in court it is not like meles killed them they died of natural causes. We will avange their death when we capture meles, we are not going to do it sor them but we are going to do it for ourselves, he killed many of our people and he is organizing all kinds of money collecting groups to kill Ethiopia.
We have many more people to care about(they are in jail) so we should only remember that Justice will prevail in a country where there is Democracy and freedom.
Our enemies are the Neftegnas. We Tigreans will stand together. Seye will be freed soon. We are at a crtitical time in our fight against the terriorist and secessionist oromos and Neftegna Amharas.
Every peace loving Ethiopian, mainly Tigreans, should ignore differences and concentrate in demolishing the Neftegna ego and thereby introduce a new social order and structure where we will have a strong say in every domian of Ethiopian affairs.
Deaf to the Neftegnad and terriorist's bravado, we should concentrate on actions and coordinated efforts. In 2000 E.C we will have associations that touces every specture of life and each of should ready ourselves for the development of motherland Tigray.
Let us assume to scenarios that are unlikely but consider likely to happen. Under these scenarios what do you think Seye and his brother will do?
Scenario # one: Assume Seye and his brother are acquitted and set free to become simple citizens. Do you think that these two people will stand for justices, respect for human rights, democracy, rule of law and fight for democracy with other Ethiopian people. Or will they side their ragtag Tigrian Camp on grounds of blood is thicker than water mentality. One gets baffled by the mentality of some Tigrians who side their ethnic group even if they know that their group is wrong. They salvage principle, logic and ethiopiawinet for their narrow ethenicism. Under this background my prepositions for this is that they will side their TPLF gang against the rest of the Ethiopian people. I stand for correction. Speak out your views on this please.
Scenario # two. If Meles reinstates them to power what do you think they will do differently from what they used to do when they were in the Tigraye Jungles. Do you think they learned lessons about Ethiopiawinet in their five more years in Kaliti.
I don't care whether for Siye or his brother Assefa who have been in Jail for more than five years. They are under the justice system they established when they were in power with the exisiting TPLF leaders. At that time a lot of ethiopians were lingering in jail with out any charges for many years. They were saying that Ethiopia had been a democratic country with good judicial system.We know how much they were abusing thier power. Thier families and freinds became millioners over a night by illegal means out of poor Ethiopian resources.Why are they(Siye and Assefa) complianing when it comes to them selves?. We should worry about other Ethiopians who were put in jail becouse of only they were peacefully pushing the TPLF/EPRDF government to be under the rule of the law. We all Ethiopians should back and strugle real democracy and justice to prevail.
What Assefa has got is what he did.At one time he was the key TPLF leaders who was abusing his power. We all know what he had been doing when he was the board chairman of Commercial Bank of Ethiopia. He was approving loan for his faimlies and freinds with any security/pledge considering the bank's money as his personal pocket. Becouse of this the bank has a lot of loan default.
He and his brother were also part of the tyrant regim of Meles. So, why should we care about this corrupt and blood sucker people?.
The case of Assefa and Siye is good lesson for those in power. If they cann't learn from this, their end will not be good.
We Ethiopians whether they are in power or oridinary citizens should care about true democracy.
I remember Siye abusing his newly won power in the early 1990s. He was once quoted as saying, he would close Ethiopian Airlines if he wished. He was then the Board Chairman. He, like Meles, was above the law. Poor Siye, be seferut kuna mesefer aykerim.
Death to all TPLFs whether they are in jail or in power they are importing another war with our Ethiopian brothers and sisters, the somalians. There are 25+ million Somalians and most them identify themselves as Ethiopians by creating war with the Somalians we are asking the Ethiopian Somalains feel guilty of killing their very own brothers and sisters. It is wrong to go to war for money. Money corrupted Seye and Assefa and moeny is taking us into another war with neigbors, so I say don't feel for a corrupt offical who is in jail. The rest of them including their leader Meles are going to be in jail its a matter of time.
Anon who wrote this
"each of should ready ourselves for the development of motherland Tigray"
You can't consume what you don't produce. If you mean you plan to steal for the rest of your miserable anbetta belita life, snap out of it.
The only thing Melse did right is arresting the greedy corrupt family of seye Aberah. I still remember Seye's interview on ethio TV in 92. Seye was arrogant, Tgabegna weyane. He was so arrogant and threatens everyone who opposes him. Jail is the right place for the mafia family. He should remain in jail till Melse joins him. No body should let seye unpunished. He was mahayim dictator.
Seye was a muderer who massacred thousands of Oromiyaans in mass. He would be punished for the herrondous crime he commit on Oromo people.
Siye got the right place and, i am sure the end of other TPLF leaders will be the same,if they face good fortune. Otherwise it will be death. It is a matter of time. He, his families and his mafia group are killers, arogant, corrupt and criminals.Please forget these stupid guys. We don't have the time and the lexury to bother about them.Please let us loudly cry for our leaders, civil activists, journalist and other ethiopians who are lingering in jail with the nonsense charges of genocide and treason. They were put in jail only becouse, crying for democracy, justice, rule of the law, bringing love politics,and uncovered the false democracy mask of Meles/TPLF. Please let us get stand up and strugle.
What the hell the CUD leaders were doing while they saw Siye and co. langushed in prison. If meles is mercy less for siye, how come those guys felt secured to argue about vote with meles and co. In a second asking, I guss Beyene and Lidetu knows TPLF more that any other politician in prison.
I was a little annoyed when I heard Dr. Taye W/Semayat on radio say he hugged Siye in jail and cried with him. I said to myself 'when are we going to learn?'. A few months later I read that none of the 'ousted' TPLF ex-leaders wanted to talk where or if the EPRP leaders who were seen alive in a jail in BahirDar before TPLF reached Addis Ababa imprisoned in a hole in a ground somewhere in Tigray province or if they they were killed.
I watched a documenatry film made in the 1970s or may be 1980s in German school in Addis Ababa. In that film there was a retarded Nazi grave digger narrating what he did during WWII crying like a baby when he remembered the last grave he dug was his own.
I think we are learning albeit slowly. I can't cry for Siye now because of the reasons others mentioned above.
Thank you Zagol.
melese is doing a very good job for Abrah, siye and other blind followers of dictatorial sytem. Both of you have laughed when Prof. Asarat, Dr. Taye and other ethiopians killed and sent to prison without the rule of law. you have installed in ethiopia such kind of dictatorial ethnical System. Sorry borthers, I am really happy you guys test it now in jail and it may be a lesseon for blind dictatorial Sytem followers. i know it seem idot to think so but this is the you guys(Abhara, siye...) learn about the importance of rule of law.
i am really happy to see siye and his families in jail because Siye wasn't a politican he was mafia. such kind of persons diserve jail that is thier place.
Hey people,
it seems that we still are playing kind of kiddy things that remains a luxury for Ethiopians at present. It is really a pity that we are lingering out of the context. The fact that Assefa's speech made many burst into tears as commented by 'Zagol' shouldn't have triggered such dirty politics of race and ethnicity. We must come to our senses and think of Ethiopians as Ethiopians; Assefa Abreha as a human person, not as a Tigrian-which is a particular social group to which he is a member, and nothing more. It is only when we are able to establish this level of rationality that we may give comments that are dectated by feelings of fairness, justice and accuracy.
Otherwise, no one of us will be any different from those whom we are accusing unanimously. why on earth are Ethiopians denied of optimism and openess in heart, is my life-time wonder, which I always pray for not dying with it before I get an answer to.
I just pray to see in my life that people can differ between Weyane and Tigray people. And between Meles and other Wayne members. As many of you agree, Meles doesn't belong to Ethiopia or Tigray and have no any love of Ethiopia, Ethiopians, Tigray, Tigrians, Wayne or any body or any group. He is just inhuman mafia, who makes his living by the cost of human misrey and no one can figure out for what he stand for because of his inconsistancy and lies. When Siye was in the struggle with Drug, he was one of the brave commanders of the army and he is loved and respected by the army. Asefa Abraha was in jail for above a decade because of him and his other family members were murdered and jailed by Durg. At least Siye sacrified his own famlily to what he believe in, he stand against Meles, he loves Tigray/Ethiopia to death and he earned the respect and love from Tigray people. In 1998-2000 war with Eritrea, by leading the Ethiopian army he destroyed Isayas ego and showed him what he deserves. When, Meles goes to Algers and signed willingly Badme and other places to Eritrea, he challenged him and demanded, why the blood of Ethiopians sheded if Meles's plan was to willingly give Badme.
Siye deserves creidt for all the above reasons. Unlike Meles, Tigray people love and respect him and many named their children after him. I do not know him personally but I heard a lot of people of say he is polite and patience. Even if he is arrogant, he doesn't deserve to be in jail for indefinate time for opposing Meles. He is a human being, he has being in the field for 17 years, at least he deserve his freedom.
Judge Birtukan, who saw the detail case set him free because he didn't do what he accused for and Meles put him back in jail. I do not think Judge Birtukan will set a criminal free. Why are you guys judging him because he is Wayne member. Since Wayne got to Addis, we were hearing he is opposing Meles in a lot of cases he is going to jail sooner or later. How do you know he was always agreeing with all polices. A lot of people in Durg regime were not agreeing in what the regime was doing and the the same with Meles rigime. I am not Wayne and I am glad I am not but I know a lot Wayne members, who have been in struggle sacrifing their lives believing that they will bring democracy for people. If we punish people because of their believe we will be Meles. Let's not judge people by their ethinic or polictical affilation but by their actions.
Thank you for reading.
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