Fekade shewakena biography of michaels

“Esir betu Oromigna Yinageral”

By Fekade Shewakena

The phrase I used for the title of this article would pass for simple ethnic politicking if it was not spoken by a founder and former political bureau member of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and a former Defense Minister of the regime now ruling Ethiopia with an iron fist.

The phrase is a direct quote of Mr. Seye Abraha who recently got out of prison after serving six years at the Qaliti dungeon on trumped up charges that his accuser Mr. Meles Zenawi could not produce any credible evidence for proof.

For human rights groups and many among Ethiopians who follow the human rights condition in Ethiopia, the savagery being committed against the Oromo people by Meles Zenawi’s regime is more than a little dirty secret. I was amazed to see a shockwave and a jolting moment in the packed hall in Virginia on January 5, 2008 when Seye spoke the four word phrase “esir betu Oromogna yinageral”.

To the stunned audi