LA flooded by colorful Ethiopians

Special report by Muluneh Yohannes
July 13, 2006

But when it comes to uniqueness, it was the match between the artists (musicians) and journalists. The former won the match during the overtime penalty shoot out. The LA Stars took the first division trophy by beating Dc. 2-to-1 while the Seattle Baro won the first title of the second division as a certificate to be on the top league next year.

Ethiopian business people around the famous “Little Ethiopia” neighborhood served the overcrowded customers 24 hours a day! Ethiopian business booths circling the big Coliseum Stadium were surprise meeting places for friends and relatives.

Departing from that, academic and political discussions were organized. The first ever annual Ethiopian academic panel was organized by Tsehai Publishing. The newly created political body-Alliance for Freedom and Democracy, Coalition for Unity and Democracy, and EUDF held Town Hall meetings. This reporter managed to cover the first two occasions.

Refined Ethiopian scholars and artists presented their reflections on Ethiopian affairs and the Diaspora Ethiopians during the July 5-6/2006 all day long conference organized by Tsehai Publishing. Most of the presenters emphasized the need for the Ethiopian Diaspora to engage in Ethiopian affairs on all fronts and recognized the vast appearance of world wide Ethiopian movements since the May 2005 controversial election. Dr Alemayehu coined the situation as “The Giant Awakening Ethiopian Diaspora”.

The renowned politician Kiflu Tadesse brought in to the attention of the audience about the presence of two ruling governments in today’s Ethiopia. He singled out TPLF to be the defacto political power that rules Ethiopia despite the semblance of EPRDF to cover the political showcase. Dr. Tsehai hammered out the importance of involving civil society for real democratization but accused TPLF/EPRDF for harboring Ethnic Federalism and disfavoring Ethiopian Unity and the engagement of civil society.

Dr Paulos Milkias discredited successive Ethiopian regimes for making their own stay in power a priority than taking the country Ethiopia as their principal d’etre to be in authority. Dr Paulos advised political parties contending for power to take a serious note of this unfortunate political culture in contemporary Ethiopian history.

The newly created political giant, the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AFD), hold audiences in to surprise when the leaders exceeded the expectation of the attended public of which they made inspiring speeches after speech on the July 6 Town Hall meeting. Representatives of OLF (Boru and Ababya), CUD (Maj. Yoseph-Andargachew-Dr. Seyoum and Dr. Gashu), EPPF (Col. Getnet and Maj. Atnafu), and Shewaferahu, an observer of Southern Ethiopia People deliberated speeches and gave responses to reflections from the audience. The event was organized by the Los Angeles CUD support group.

Intermingling with the crowd was "break-time" for our reporter

All of the officials stressed that the Alliance is a result of continued effort through the years. However it was stressed that the May 2005 Election its aftermath was a monumental call for this to happen. The panelists call the Election a VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE by the Ethiopian people against the Meles regime.

The presenters clarified the position of AFD on some critical issues. They explained the irrelevance of bragging about article 39 of the constitution considering the fact that it can be voted against by the Ethiopian people. In a related manner, the panelists took the 2005 election as a proof not only to the abandonment of the Ethiopian people to the dangerous policies of the TPLF/EPRDF, but also a clear message for change of regime.

Asked about the name of the Alliance for not incorporating the name of Ethiopia, the panelists said it should not be taken as a point of concern mentioning the fact that the Alliance is created for nothing but for Ethiopia. Representatives of OLF actually went further and invalidated the comment of some people taking OLF as a front which does not work for all Ethiopians. The officials argued OLF stands for equality among all Ethiopians and if that proved there won’t be a reason for the party to exist. All of the officials pledged the unconditional support of the Ethiopian people for the Alliance in all fronts and called upon other political parties to join the alliance.

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For any comment the reporter can be contacted at muleur@yahoo.com