By: Dilwenberu Nega, 03/17/09
In the feral world of backbiting malice, veiled threats, liars and blackmailers of the Ethiopian vociferous Diaspora, endless attempts have been made to bury Meles Zenawi under an avalanche of invectives and spurious criticisms. And anyone who had the guts to challenge the wayward behaviour of the vocal Diaspora’s high-command was ‘stripped’ of their Ethiopian nationality and demonised as a traitor and a glutton. But the ferocious attack of the deluding diaspora neither prevented Teflon Meles from ploughing ahead with his developmental plans for Ethiopia, nor did it make his supporters bury their head in shame.
Vocal opponents of Meles Zenawi got up on Monday, March 16th 2009 with a bout of nausea as they heard of the presence in London of Premier Meles Zenawi. The immediate cause of the bout of the nausea was two-fold. First was the timing. Meles jetted in to London close on the heels of a much trumpeted but poorly attended anti- Meles demonstration outside the American Embassy in early March. You might be tempted to raise a legitimate question: why did the anti-Meles demonstrators chose the American Embassy as opposed to 10 Downing Street which is home to incumbent British prime ministers. The truth of the matter has to be told so that Ethiopians in the Homeland and Abroad are fed not an omelette of rumour, but a pancake of truth. Tough-talking officials at the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office – sick and tired of the endless fabrications of the confused and confounded Ethiopian Diaspora in the United Kingdom – had made the position of Her Majesty’s Government crystal clear. “Don’t come to us with your pack of lies about an Ethiopia on fire.” This slap on the face by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office turned the vocal diaspora ballistic so much so that it made attention-seeker Andargatchew Tsiege fulminate: “Downing Street is Woyane Street!”
The second reason for the early morning nausea that struck the deluding opponents of Meles, was the fact that Meles’ visit came at a time when a small band of feral Ethiopian diaspora was frantically trying to father the idea of pulling resources from the ‘gullible’ diaspora for yet another attempt to derail the democratic process in Ethiopia. As usual the blogosphere, too, was inundated with manuals on how best to overthrow a legitimate government. Its focal point provided guidelines on how best to come up with a mosaic of lies which in due course will force the International Criminal Court to issue a warrant for the arrest of Meles Zenawi. The problem here, you see, stems from the fact that the wishful thinking of a self-deluding diaspora not only defies rationale, but also international boundaries. But the irony of it all is the fact that such a nonsensical plan is churned out from the very people who have made blood-stained former cadres of the Derg their political bedfellows.
Much to the delight of the silent majority of admirers of pragmatist Meles, and much to the chagrin of the movers and shakers of the politics of hate, Meles is basking in the limelight as the wise and the great of the world economy queue up to tap his great mind. Sober-minded Ethiopians both in the Homeland and Abroad view Meles’ gradual rise to pole position in the international arena, as proof of his tried and tested leadership. Meles is proving to be an asset not only to Ethiopia, but also to Africa. EPDRF would be naive if it were not to realise that Meles Zenawi’s “use by date” is a galaxy away.
