His Imperial Majesty's's Government was overthrown on account of famine which involved some 200,000 of our countrymen. H.E. Ato Abebe Retta, a good Ethiopian by all accounts, was murdered because he was accused of having allowed that famine to take away the lives of so many in Wollo. In that bestial act, the so-called progressive elite and the Derg were principal actors.

Today, over 15 million of our countrymen are victims of famine and many more are dying of starvation than at any time in Ethiopian history; in fact, even the famine of 1973-4 would look like a joke compared to the disaster that we have today. In addition, there are AIDS, malaria and TB, and the Minister of Health is still safely running around when he has so shockingly failed to protect the Ethiopian people.

Only over the last few days, Ethiopian Television reported that large parts of Amhara Kilil were going through a malaria epidemic, and it reported that "only 148 died " so far, and 10 weredas in Kaffa have a full-blown malaria epidemic.

There is an expression of the level irresponsibility of the current regime which feels so comfortable with the avoidable deaths of thousands of poor farmers who have died of malaria alone over the past few weeks.

If we were back in 1974, the Minister of Health and the Minister of Agriculture and the entire Council of Ministers would be behind bars, getting ready for prompt dispatch - a horrible thing to imagine. However, they keep going as usual with their new government cars, their government villas, fat incomes, and they continue to go to their never ending conferences, not in the least bit disturbed by this and other national calamities since they have no brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers or cousins dying among the peasantry and the other poor. This malaria epidemic is now raging throughout Ethiopia. When are we going to bring these criminals to book ?

These criminals can be made accountable only if the Diaspora and the national elite come to realize that malaria, poverty, AIDS, TB, famine and associated evils have no ethnicity, and that unity and fair play are the very first requirements for all of us to save all our people from such humiliating circumstances.

The second united action from all of us is to agree to remove the current regime from power through the ballot box in May 2005 by creating a united front which will facilitate the removal of the confusion and cheap show of the last two farcical elections in 1995 and 2000-2001.

Such a united front exists in UEDF, but it needs to recognize fast that it is a front of independent political parties and it has to set its priorities right. This Front cannot compete for political power directly, and its leaders should not try to play TPLF-style tricks to come to power which is not their direct mission objective. So far, it is an appeal for us to agree and unite, and the next action is to take concrete and measured steps to win the elections in May 2005.

My proposal to achieve election victory in 2005 is as follows: Put all possible pressure on Meles (1) to radically revise Electoral Proclamation 111/1995 within the next few months with the full collaboration of all independent political parties, (2) to form a National Committee, which includes all independent political parties, to ensure equitable services from all public mass media during the next election campaign, and (3) to form another National Committee to ensure the security of all competing political parties and all Ethiopians during the period starting with the election campaign right up to the date of announcement of election results. These three are necessary if we are all genuinely committed to a renewal of Ethiopia after May 2005.

No amount of group or individual crying, or scholarly analysis of national problems or wishful thinking of any perspective will ever do Ethiopia any good if we cannot come together and make adequate preparations for the elections in May 2005 today by ensuring the existence an impartial election framework and practice which can ensure a free and fair election management system in 2005.

The question of Eritrea will be peacefully settled if democratic forces win the election in May 2005.

Please do not allow any further digression from May 2005! Then and only then can all Ethiopians come back home to revive our Motherland with their compatriots at home !