TORONTO - About 400 Ethiopians living in the Canadian city of Toronto on Sunday formed an Emergency Famine Relief Taskforce in compliance with resolutions which call, among others, for the removal of the "failed regime" of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
A week earlier the Ethiopian Embassy in Canada organized a public meeting on drought and famine but was ignored by the larger members of the Ethiopian community.
"Repressive regimes have played a destructive role in wrecking havoc on the lives of our people and country, and the current ruling clique is no exception and must be removed to the save the nation," various speakers reiterated at the Sunday meeting.
Presided over by speaker Worku Habte-Mariam, and attended by representatives and members of academic, religious and civic organizations, the meeting adopted resolutions* some of which are:
a) The Emergency Relief Aid Taskforce would raise funds from various sources, and send the contribution to a credible non-governmental relief aid organization in Ethiopia.
b) Without underestimating the impact of the failure of seasonal rains as a factor for the recurrence of drought and famine, we firmly believe it is the failed regime of Meles Zenawi that has created conditions conducive to the recurrence of famine in our country. We call for the removal of the prime minister and his failed regime.
c) We call on all fellow Ethiopians worldwide to establish unity without discriminating on grounds of ethnicity, religion and language.
d) We call on all Ethiopians worldwide to help establish an international network that would help overcome future problems that may hinder us from carrying out our said resolutions.
The hall packed to capacity was engulfed by a spirit of Ethiopian love and unity witnessed four years ago when Eritrea launched its surprise attack on our country.
(*The resolutions cited in the above news report are not the official ones. They were picked up during the public meeting for the media, and are subject to change when the official statement is released by the organizers. - Ed.)