Biden tells Ethiopia what is necessary to restore USA relations

If Ethiopia wants restoration of previous relation with the United States it must meet certain conditions

The discussion today between US President Joe Biden and Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Amed has not resulted in any immediate appreciable change but clearly points to some inescapable realities.

Abiy Ahmed and his Prosperity Party now understand moving totally away from Western democracies is not the best path for developing Ethiopia. At the same time the United States has consistently stated that the pre-conflict borders of Tigray had to be respected, air strikes to civilians must stop, detentions must stop, and negotiations for peace must honestly begin in cooperation with the African Union. The only way to restore previous trade and assistance status is through this route.

After more then one year of war, nothing has been accomplished by the Ethiopian government except thousands of deaths, millions displaced, destruction of billions in domestic and foreign businesses, and the return of Ethiopia to the title of poorest country in the world.

 

Prominent Amhara website Borkena publishes harsh criticism of Abiy Ahmed leadership

An opinion piece in Borkena says Abiy Ahmed is “out of his mind“

While last week Abiy Ahmed supporters were celebrating “victory” over Tigray this week is seeing a new fast growing dissension in the Amhara ranks. Recent actions by the Prime Minister are fueling protest.  Instead of Ethiopian unity so vividly propagandized we now are reminded of Biblical Gospel in Mark 3:25 ” A house divided against itself cannot stand”.

Dissatisfaction and outright anger at Abiy Ahmed from Amhara who were previously enthusiasts seems to be growing. Shiferaw Abebe, who may be a faculty member at Bahir Dar University, in heartland of the FANO Amhara militia group and home to many Amhara elites supporting Amharic dominance, published a very critical long statement critical of Abiy Ahmed in the prominent pro-Amharic website  Borkena.

The words written are harshly disparaging the Ethiopian Prime Minister’s actions beginning with the title, “Amnesty for the criminals, cold heart for the victims”. This is followed by the subtitle, “He is out of his mind”.  Abebe and many other Amharas were deeply aggravated about the release of a few older TPLF prisoners. At the same time Abebe is complaining that Abiy Ahmed cares little to nothing about the civilian casualties suffered in the Amhara invasion but instead was only concerned with his own safety.

He further says that Ethiopians should protest the management of the whole war, the Defense Minister Prof. Berhanu Nega and Dr. Belete Molla should resign. Abebe questions if there has been a real victory. As regards Ethiopia’s debt he is calling for Abiy Ahmed to reveal to the Ethiopian people the severity of the war costs and level of debt.

Could Tigray have a “special case” independence like Somaliland?

Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland, is a thriving peaceful city. Could Mekelle become the same?

Could Tigray in the near future begin to function as a “special case” independent case like nearby Somaliland? If the Tegaru, Irob, and Kunami of Tigray decide they do want independence will they have to wait for international approval or could they at least initially follow the Somaliland model? Whether Tigray will eventually remain a part of Ethiopia or function as an independent state is yet to be answered? The leaders of Tigray have argued that the Ethiopian constitution allows separation from Ethiopia.

An eastern neighbor of Ethiopia is the self governed state called Somaliland. In 1960 the northern part of the colonized Somalia was freed from Italy and the Southern part, what now makes up Somaliland, was freed from Britain. Initially the plan was for the two to join into one Somalia but the Isaaq clan of Somaliland and their allies never got along with the northern clans.

Today Somaliland is considered a “special case“. Not officially recognized as a state but carrying on business, having currency, and a national identification system. There are international flights from some countries.

While Somalia to the north has had ongoing violence and terrorism disrupting its development Somaliland has been at peace since 2008. Yet there are factions in Africa and beyond that have been remiss to offer clear independence status to Somaliland for fear that it will only encourage more separatist movements in Africa.

Many of the borders of African states were carved out by colonial powers artificially combining different ethnicities and cultures together creating tensions.  To some extent many argue that Ethiopia was always an empire of nations rather than a single state. The Amharic monarchy who took over the former Abyssinia in the 18th and 19th century then began to acquire the modern state of Ethiopia colonizing Afar, Somali, and the Southern peoples as well dominating the former kingdoms of the Oromo and Tigray region into a single empire.

Has Ethiopia reached the stage where yearning for peace overwhelms?

Air strike victim at Shire hospital in Tigray this week

A day after Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas could there be developments pointing to a possible negotiation for peace in Ethiopia?

This week the world press has been flooded with images and stories of children starving or victimized by drone strikes. Abiy Ahmed has released a few Tigray and Oromo leaders held in jail. A “nomore” rally in Addis Ababa originally planned for today has been cancelled. The Tigray Defense Force has gone into mostly defensive mode with the exception of moving into Western Tigray. Ethiopia’s debts will top $60 billion this year. Starvation continues to climb in Tigray. For now it appears Tigray will not take over Ethiopia nor will Ethiopia capture Tigray.

Walt Whitman, famous American poet who also served as a journalist and volunteer nurse in war casualty hospitals,  in his writings of the American Civil war documented the stages of public attitude toward war as it progresses. At first there are parades and patriotic talk, then as more die and increasing resources are used up a call to find strength for sacrifice, and finally comes a time when the mounting suffering causes all parties to seek an end. 

From his book, Drum Taps
Title: Over the carnage rose a prophetic voice
Over the carnage rose prophetic a voice,
Be not dishearten’d, affection shall solve the problems of freedom
yet,
Those who love each other shall become invincible,
They shall yet make Columbia victorious.
Sons of the Mother of All, you shall yet be victorious,
You shall yet laugh to scorn the attacks of all the remainder of the
earth.

Has Ethiopia reached the state yet when the yearning for peace becomes overwhelming?

 

Christmas message love thy neighbor ባልንጀራህን ውደድ is lost in Ethiopia

The world saw an infant named Surafel dying of starvation in a Tigray hospital blocked from helping by the Ethiopian government during Christmas week

The birth of Jesus Christ celebrated by the Ethiopia Orthodox Church this week recognizes the son of God who was sent to teach human beings as creations of God how to live and relate to each other. Man’s justification by grace was a free gift however his salvation from sin had to be earned by following God’s rule over his creation through a transformation of the self. Quite definitively this stated that all men were created in God’s image. Each man has the potential for sin because God gave him absolute free will in the hope that he will voluntarily find happiness and fulfillment in life by following God’s instruction. However, each man has the potential for salvation as well. Although the voluminous Bible tells the story of man’s discovery of God the essence of Jesus teaching can be simplified into two statements. Love God above all else and love your neighbor as yourself.

Today in Ethiopia the leadership is celebrating a homecoming. Even though on their calendar it is the day to celebrate Jesus birth this fact on this day is at best a side show. This week the world has seen an infant, Surafel, dying of starvation in a Tigray hospital blocked from helping him by the Ethiopian government, the drone attack on an Eritrean refugee camp killing children, and copiously spewed statements of hate from numerous Ethiopians promoting genocide in defiance of Jesus message of love. It seems the love of God in Ethiopia once admired by the rest of the world has been replaced by idolatry to a deranged sense of Ethiopian nationalism which is really a façade for ethnic hatred.

The lure of power with its intoxicating effect on morality predicted in the Old Testament when the ancient Israelis requested a king once again seems to have come true in Ethiopia with Abiy Ahmed and his supporters. They have built a golden calf making an idol of Amharic nationalism to replace God.  Consumed with his own essence he ignores God’s command to love thine enemy and extend charity to him.

The ancient laws forbidding starvation, protecting innocents, and harboring a sense of forgiveness have apparently left the souls of leadership of Ethiopia in favor of greed, revenge, and bloodlust. They want a high place in the United Nations but defy the humanitarian goals which created its foundation in the aftermath of world war. Rather than seeking to be servants of God to better the life of others they harbor an insatiable hunger to acquire more power to wreck greater havoc on their brother.

Prof. Yilma, former Derg promoter of genocide by Abiy Ahmed rebuked by UC Davis

University of California at Davis has condemned the statements of former Ethiopian faculty member Tilahun Yilma

Comments by former Derg supporter and now Abiy Ahmed supporter who promotes Tigray genocide was disavowed strongly by his former institution. This week many in the academic world were shocked when well known virologist Tilahun Yilma made genocidal statements about Tigray. Dr. Yilma who was a Derg Regime supporter who eventually immigrated to the United States proclaimed that he maintained a present position at UC Davis as well that they had no problem with his genocidal statement because of his academic achievement.

Quite to the contrary, Dr. Yilma was promptly removed from the UC Davis website as evidence he longer has any affiliation with the university. Dr. Renatta Tull issued a swift condemnation of Dr. Yilma’s statements on twitter saying that such statements do not reflect the University’s values reflected in the University’s Principles of Community. The University said he has no longer any relationship with the University.

Former Derg general calls for extermination and military command of Tigray

The latest Abiy Ahmed supporter to call for Tigray extermination is a former notorious Derg Regime general who calls for all Tigray leaders to be exterminated and the Tigray state to be put under strict military command.

Kassaye Chemeda, former general under the infamous dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam who ran Ethiopia from 1977 to 1991 killed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians leaving their bodies on the street for days then demanding their families pay for the bullet used to execute them in order to bury victims. Estimates of the total killed in the time referred to as the Red Terror estimate that more then 1.2 million civilians were killed. The killing occurred in multiple waves. Well known Ethiopian historian, René Lefort describes “that just knowing how to read” was enough to justify execution by the Derg Regime as an enemy to the state.

General Chemeda has been honored by many Ethiopia immigrants who were former sympathizers of the Derg Regime who left Ethiopia to come to the United States following their defeat by the Tigray Liberation Front and allies. Immigration from Ethiopia to the United States occurred mostly from 1975 to 1995. Many of the initial refugees where supporters of the monarchy which was overthrown and many of the later where often supporters of the Derg Regime who left Ethiopia because of fear of reprisal or imprisonment from Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Front which assumed power following the Derg defeat. As such it is not surprising that many Ethiopian immigrants to the USA support Abiy Ahmed who many see as reviving the Derg plan.

At a celebration of Derg war “heroes” held in the United States by former Derg supporter immigrants in 2009 General Chemeda and other veterans were celebrated to have attempted to defend Ethiopian integrity or unity. No remorse about the killing and terror was expressed. At the meeting the former General recounted happily how he had crushed Somalis.

What has Abiy Ahmed done for Ethiopians but put them on path to ruin?

Abiy Ahmed is the first Nobel Peace Prize winner to suffer international sanctions

Whereas Abiy Ahmed claims he was “elected” with a mandate giving him carte blanche to accomplish his goals by any means. This did not work for Germany who democratically elected Adolf Hitler leading them to ruin which is unfortunately a path Ethiopia seems destined to follow.

Whereas Abiy Ahmed claims he is on a path of anti-colonization and pan-Africanism his actions have worsened tensions with many African neighbors and made him an obligatory subservient to Eritrea, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, China, and Russia then ever before in history.

Whereas Ethiopia had been at peace for more then two decades it now finds itself in a prolonged conflict placing the country in unrecoverable debt while at the same time causing  thousands of civilian deaths from drone attacks, severe famine, deprivation, and violation of human rights of historical proportions.

Whereas Ethiopia averaged a 10% annual economic growth rate in the previous decade under Abiy Ahmed less than 2 % growth rate has occurred, the debt to foreign governments has doubled, and the birr has lost more than 50% of its value against the dollar.

Whereas Ethiopia had recorded a decade of increasing per capita income now there is loss of economic stability, economic sanctions, and the tarnished image of the country will cost millions of Ethiopians to lose employment.

Whereas Ethiopia was once seen as the center of African diplomacy, now many African countries are now exploring moving African Union and United Nations to Kenya and/or Uganda.

Whereas Ethiopia had reduced the number of political prisoners and press censorship now it ranks as one of the leading countries in press censorship and has climbing numbers of political detainees perhaps more than 100,000.

Whereas Ethiopian government airline was leading in Africa and growing now has suffered millions of dollars in losses, violated international civilian air travel bans against military use, and agitated other African countries to form a competitive Pan-African airline to take its place without Ethiopian participation.

Whereas millions of dollar equivalents has been spent to build parks and beautify Addis Ababa, the capital, which holds less than 4% of Ethiopia’s population meanwhile in the countryside budgets for healthcare, education, infrastructure, and water projects have been drastically cut.

Whereas it was once seen as the hope for democracy now it has refuted ties with Western democracies in favor of close alliances with countries whose human rights records are despotic.

Mekelle physician reports diabetic patients dire situation without treatment in Tigray

Reports by MSF(Doctors Without Borders) and the UN have consistently shown attacks on healthcare facilities in Tigray as well as the complete blockade of medical supplies which has been called the assault on health care.

Correspondence from Dr. Merhawit Atsbha, internist and faculty member, of Ayder Hospital documents how the lack of medication and services available to treat diabetic patients in Tigray has lead to horrific suffering and loss of life.

Here is his letter to the world:

 

As to diabetes management we have-not received any medication after June 2021. We have so far been using the stock we had before that and starting from September we have started using expired po anti diabetic drugs. And our treatment has recently focused on preventing acute complications like DKA and HHS. We have stopped being concerned about good glycemic control and preventing chronic complications. We also mostly do not discuss about diet with patients as they have to eat what is available.

From the report we got from our pharmacy head we have learned that we are left with 150 vials of NPH and few strips of glibenclamide. Metformin has been out of stock for two weeks. The sad part is we even have run out of the expired drugs. With the limited amount of drugs that we have we will be able to serve for only 2 to 3 days.

To make things worse we have run out of IV fluids so we are treating even moderate and severe DKA with free water.
Thinking about the more than 10,000 patients in Tigray and more than 2500 patients in Ayder we are very sure that we will be flooded with acutely sick patients in the coming weeks but we will not be able to help them.

Therefore, we beg you all to be the voices of the voiceless patients and physicians here. And find a means to help our patients before it is too late.
Thank you for the efforts made so far.

The Tigray Regional Health Bureau system and Mekelle University Ayder Hospital had for many years made tremendous progress in the care of Tigrayans with diabetes mellitus. Providing medications, treating complications, providing community health education on self-care and prevention were all important factors in improving life expectancy and quality of life.

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus in Ethiopia is estimated to be somewhere between 14% to 18%. With medication, diet control, and education teaching the patient self-care most diabetic patients can lead productive and near normal lives but without treatment complications like diabetic coma, peripheral vascular disease, and heart disease cause severe disability and early death.

In February 2021, Ethiopian Minister of Health Lia Tadesse lied to Reuters news agency when she said supplies were being sent to Tigray for the care of diabetics in response to news reports that people with diabetes were dying at home. Under the Ethiopian occupation no significant supplies were ever received. It is suspected that many shipments were taken instead to Eritrea.

 

 

A Statement and Plea from the Doctors at Tigray’s Ayder Hospital

The following statement and plea is from the medical staff and other health care professionals from Mekelle University Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital in Tigray. Normally this is a tertiary hospital serving over 10 million population of Tigray, Afar, northern Amhara, and refugees from Eritrea. The complete blockade of supplies, power, internet, telephone, and travel has rendered the hospital essentially inoperative.
 

Hoping Against Hope!

Jan. 4/ 2022: Position Statement of Doctors and other health professionals of Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital – College of Health Sciences, Mekelle University
 
We, the Doctors and other health professionals of Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital – College of Health Sciences, at Mekelle University, hear and experience firsthand the daily suffering our patients are enduring. As we had solemnly sworn an oath to protect and save our patients from suffering, the least we could do on difficult days like these ones is to become their voice and ventilate their sufferings for the world to hear.
The statement below, therefore, is the collective voice of all of us working in the hospital and the college to echoing our patients’ plea that we hear every day for the last six months.
 
We have no doubt that anyone listening or reading this position statement will be cognizant of the fact that meeting the health needs of a community in low-resource settings such as ours is a very daunting endeavor, even in times of peace and stability.
 
To substantiate this, we wish to put some historical milestones of our college into perspective:
 
• We, the Doctors and other Health Professionals of Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital – College of Health Sciences, remember our humble beginnings 14 years ago. We remember that, back then, our 500 – bed hospital had stood empty and idle for nearly a decade because of the severe shortage of health professionals, medical instruments, and financial resources.
• We also remember how this once empty hospital had grown fast through the hard work and perseverance of all of us, the unwavering support of our university, national and international partners.
A hospital that was barely better than a countryside health post in the early days of its establishment, grew to be a specialized referral center a decade later serving a catchment area of 9 million people from Tigray, neighboring districts of the Afar and Amhara regions.
It won’t be forgotten that our hospital had been also serving Eritrean refugees staying in the camps in Northern Ethiopia for quite a while. It is also to be well remembered that patients from Eritrea were well taken care of in our hospital during the brief period of border normalization between our two countries in 2018.
Our hospital’s annual patient visit had risen to nearly 300,000 and thousands of major surgeries, deliveries, and a wide variety of interventions and treatments used to be given.
We all took those positive developments for granted and it was customary for us to focus on future progress rather than dwell on past achievements.
However, while mentally unprepared, we have found ourselves, in such a short period of time, in a situation that we would never ever have considered possible in our wildest imaginations. How could we ever have expected to cancel surgeries for lack of intravenous fluids, anesthesia drugs, or tell patients or their relatives to find intravenous fluids somewhere in the city while the patient needed quick support?
But, we have been forced to work in a hospital without intravenous fluids, gloves, even the most commonly used antibiotics, anti-pain medications, drugs vital for women undergoing labor and delivery, drugs for various kinds of mental illnesses, basic laboratory tests, and a lot more other essential drugs.
• The availability of essential drugs, which was 79.3% a couple of years ago and 82% a year ago has now gone down to 17.5%.
• The availability of laboratory tests which was 93.7%, a couple of years ago and 84.2% a year ago, has now gone down to 42.1%.
The numbers are going down rapidly every week. The oxygen supply to our hospital has become very unreliable and resulted in the death of patients because of the frequent breaking down of the machines that could have been easily repaired if we got spare parts from the manufacturer through Addis Ababa to Mekelle which is now completely impossible.
To make matters worse, electricity blackouts have become more common and prolonged for days at times. There is no means of communication within the hospital and beyond. Thus, we have to walk and find the person we need, even to do something trivial.
We, the staff of the hospital and the college haven’t lost hope despite the huge psychological burden that we have to deal with as a result of witnessing what is happening to our patients on a daily basis.
As you might all be aware of:
• We haven’t been paid our well-deserved salaries for the last seven months, our extra–time payments for nearly 13 months,
• We are unable to withdraw whatever amount of money we have had in governmental and private banks because of the complete shutdown of banking service
• We have nothing to feed our families and ourselves
Against all odds, however, we have continued to serve our patients with whatever supplies are at our disposal!
We have:
• tried to produce fluids locally to clean infected wounds,
• beg business people or residents in the city to give us detergents, soap, bed sheets, and other linen for free or on credit to be able to keep the hospital running.
We have used and are still using expired drugs when that is the only option left. We have tried to give care to those in the most urgent need and ask others to wait to know that those who are waiting are also getting closer to hapless conditions.
Our neurosurgery team has decided to operate on patients with problems in the brain just based on clinical examinations, without having the support of CT scan and/or MRI images which have both been not functional for many months because spare parts could not reach our city due to the complete blockage.
Supplies that we used to get for free from donors and partners, as well as business counterparts, have not reached our hospital for the last six months.
As a result, children who needed shunt surgeries are left to die, those with treatable cancers are denied their rights and those with fractures are forced to wait while being immobilized.
Those who could easily have been saved with hemodialysis are dying. Patients who have had dialysis for years at our hospital are forced to die just because the supplies that could have been brought are not allowed to reach us.
The world is tested with COVID19. Add a large-scale, full-fledged War on it. Then add a siege on it. Imagine this three combined in a poor region that struggles for survival even in times of peace and stability.
We earnestly believe that there are very good people out there in Ethiopia, the horn of Arica, Africa, and the rest of the world who could be the advocates of our patients, our health professionals, and our people. We wonder how the world lets this man-made crisis continue unabated while it has all the capacity and the means it needs to stop it.
We, therefore, humbly and respectfully request all health professionals in Ethiopia, Africa, and the world to be the voice of our patients and stand with us in our effort to end the crisis. We also request the Ministry of Health of Ethiopia, different UN and other international organizations, all the other local partners, NGOs as well as international partners to intervene and bring the misery of several months to an end.
Whatever the cause of the war is, it cannot be right or ethical to deny patients lifesaving health care. Neither can it be justified to completely withhold a hospital budget for several months as if it is never the responsibility of the government of Ethiopia to let a hospital carry on its activities and deliver health to innocent civilians in urgent need of care.
We, people in the world, live on a tiny planet and our destinies are intertwined. It would be very heartbreaking to see those with the power and capacity do nothing except viciously say that they are “concerned”, “very concerned”, and “gravely concerned.”
It is already very late but those national, continental, and global authorities in health, as well as governments and organizations responsible for solving such problems, can still avert a catastrophe.
We have seen the world do that before and we, your fellow brothers and sisters, believe and hope against hope that you will do the same this time around as well.
Truly yours,
Doctors and other Health Professionals of Ayder Comprehensive Specialized Hospital – College of Health Sciences, at Mekelle University
January 4, 2022