Political developments in Ethiopia since 1991 up to the end of the 20th century are carefully recorded. Perhaps, initially, the author had allotted a bit an overly credit to the apparent early initiatives of the current Tribal Regime of Ethiopia, but soon afterwards he detected and revealed the strange and glaringly undemocratic designs, misdeeds, and nature of THE EPRDF Party, specially since June 1993, fortifying his damaging accusations, by, inter alia, revealing hidden but official documents, some of which WILL be highlighted below!

First, he touched upon the fact that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) was a communist organization of the Albanian tinge, that sought to hide its nature behind a mantle concocted as Revolutionary Democracy, which semantically has no proper reference order. But it was used to conceal the actual continued employment of the practices of Democratic Centralism, which had been the very negation of genuine democracy! By now, this is widely noted and forcefully highlighted internally and externally specially by the Ethiopian Opposition Groups and other scholars.What are of significant and of crucial importance, here, are the secret documents of EPRDF, that were opened up to public gaze, in a manner that could not be denied, because they are inductively verified. The most important of these appears on page 72 of this book, as Document of the Strategy of EPRDF, Section:

Political strategies ensuring permanent hegemony

The book calmly invited attention to the fact that EPRDF had planned from the outset, to win the first elections under the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE) , which it was controlling, and perpetuate itself in power. This was documented in Amharic in June 1993, translated into English in 1996.

Their actual statement is very clear:

We can attain our objectives and goals only if Revolutionary Democracy becomes the governing outlook in our society and only by winning the elections successively and holding power without letup can we securely establish the hegemony of Revolutionary Democracy. If we lose in the elections even once, we will encounter a great danger. (Italics supplied by me).

In full accordance with the plan I just mentioned above, all genuinely democratic avenues have been denied to the opposition, to ensure the continuation of the hegemony of the tribal farce. All these were done under the false claim of democratic virtues, mainly to deceive donor countries and naive international financial institutions, which so far are appearing to be tolerant, perhaps until they will find it ridiculous to consider EPRDF a democratic party any longer. At page 65, the book under review pointed out that the regime had decided in June 1993 to prevent the opposition from functioning properly, because they will have to be punished! The leaders of the Tribal Regime, in this manner of thinking, apparently find it irritating to hear complaints against their performance of purportedly noble duties in accordance with their strange rules for jailing, torturing, even killing innocent members of the opposition who are handicapping their performance of their written tasks in their documents, which permits them to punish the opposition.See Page 66!

The book rightly notes, as the former President Clinton had done, that by ethnic groups the Regime had meant tribes. See page 95. The distinguished author expresses surprise and criticizes, in the light of the glaring human rights abuses, why the EPRDF Regime has been getting moral and financial support by great and democratic powers and international institutions. See page 137.

Further, facts are highlighted to demonstrate that terror, in practice and theory is the linchpin of the Tribal Regime. See page 123. Moreover, the author invites attention to the practice of the Regime of issuing apparently innocent looking sighed Codes of Conduct for NGOs, to hide its evil intentions, as it did in 1998, thereafter to restrict their activities. See page 157.

At page 179, the book quoted from a reliable diplomatic source that the Regime was allocating 85% of all international aid to Ethiopia that had gone in 1998, to Tigray only! That meant, that others shared the remainder.

It is noted in page 186, that EPRDF routinely hides even its own internal debates, behind closed doors. Now that some of its former members, who had participated in earlier debates have been recently released from false detentions, could they safely confirm some of these facts? At least, those already out of Ethiopia may do.

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In my view, for the Tribal Regime, to gain public and international trust, it would be a respectable act to muster the necessary courage that it had planned to rule in perpetuity, and now solemnly promise that it shall henceforth rescind its failed strategy. That possibly may give some credence to the scheduled national elections next year and yonder. Thereby, it may prove its critics wrong, and please, inter alia, President Barack Obama.In every democratic country running such risk IS normal.

But proper elections do not necessarily guarantee better or worse regimes. But the result will be accepted as genuinely democratic. That is GREAT. The only way the eprdf can demonstrate its bona fides is by admitting its malfeasance in the past and opening processes to legitimate political opponents.