Appell Demonstrasjon ved Justisdepartementet i Oslo

Appell Demonstrasjon ved Justisdepartementet i Nydalen, Oslo i regi av Den Etiopiske Forening i Norge og Forening for Etiopiske Asylsøkere i Norge, 24. mars 2012.

EPRDF er et Dekknavn for TPLF

Av Samson Seifu: 30. desember 2012

Sannheten om den så kalte EPRDF (Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front) i dagens Etiopia er som følger:

TPLF (Tigray People’s Liberation Front) bedre kjent som Woyyane i samarbeid med EPLF (Eritrean People’s Liberation Front) bedre kjent som Shabia kontrollerte Etiopia etter å ha fjernet med vold militærjuntaen bedre kjent som Derg i 1991. De to frigjøringsbevegelser dannet to forskjellige land, Etiopia og Eritrea, med de facto Tigray-Tigrigne samarbeid.

Woyyanne-TPLF og Shabia-EPLF klarte å danne en ekte samarbeidsvillig koalisjon som bare varte i åtte år frem til 1998 og endte med to års voldelig krig (første verdenskrig stil) mellom de to. Krigen kostet omlag 100 000 menneskeliv og store økonomiske tap som ellers kunne ha blitt brukt til å bekjempe fattigdom og gjenoppbygge landet. De to ledet krigen under påskudd av en tvist over grenseoppgjør.

Hvis man ser bort fra den korte overgangsregjering med OLF (Oromo Liberation Front) tiden som bare varte mindre enn ett år, har Wayyane-TPLF regjert Etiopia ubrutt siden 1991 (dvs. over 21 år) med jernhånd. Den avdøde diktatoren Meles Zenawi var så smart at han så for seg vanskelighetsgraden og enorme utfordringen til å styre resten av Etiopia, som er igjen etter Eritreas atskillelse fra Etiopia, med TPLF som partinavn eller frigjøringsbevegelsenavn. Derfor utviklet diktatoren det som kalles som en del av systematisk undertrykkelse en falsk koalisjon kalt EPRDF (Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front) å lure omverdenen (særlig vestlige bistandsgivere) at det er en ekte politisk koalisjon av de fire politiske organisasjoner som representerer flere etniske grupper i Etiopia: Amhara, Tigray , Oromo og alle etniske grupper i Sør Etiopia. Men det er ikke en ekte koalisjon. Det er bare Woyyane-TPLF som har den reelle makten hvor sikkerhetsapparatet, rettsapparatet og militære er alle 100 % kontrollert av folk fra Tigray etnisk gruppe.

Det etiopiske folket hadde aldri hatt og vil aldri ha mulighet til å velge fritt sine representanter til det såkalte føderale parlamentet så lenge Woyyane-TPLF kontroller landet.

EPRDF is a cover name for TPLF

By Samson Seifu: 30 December 2012

The truth about the so-called EPRDF (Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front) in today's Ethiopia is as follows:

TPLF (Tigray People's Liberation Front) better known as Woyyane in collaboration with EPLF (Eritrean People's Liberation Front) better known as Shabia controlled Ethiopia after having removed by force the military junta known as Derg in 1991. The two liberation movements formed two different countries, Ethiopia and Eritrea, with a de facto Tigray-Tigrigne cooperation.

Woyyanne-TPLF and Shabia-EPLF managed to form a genuine cooperative coalition which only lasted for eight years until 1998 and ended after two years of extremely destructive and costly war (WWI style) between the two. The war claimed about 100,000 lives and huge economic loss that could have otherwise been used to fight poverty and rebuild the country. The two led the war under the pretext of a dispute over a boundary settlement.

If one, for all practical purposes, ignores the short transitional coalition government with OLF (Oromo Liberation Front) moment which only lasted less than a year, Wayyane-TPLF has ruled Ethiopia uninterrupted since 1991 (i.e. over 21 years) with an iron fist. The late dictator Meles Zenawi was so smart that he saw the difficulty and enormous challenge to control the rest of Ethiopia, which is left after Eritrea's separation from Ethiopia, by TPLF as party name or as liberation movement name. Thus the dictator developed as part of the systematic oppression a fictitious coalition called EPRDF (Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front) to deceive the world (foreign donors) that there is a real political coalition of four political organizations representing several ethnic groups in Ethiopia: Amhara, Tigray , Oromo and all ethnic groups in southern Ethiopia. But in reality, it is not a true coalition. It's just Woyyane-TPLF who has the real power where the security apparatus, the judiciary and the military are all 100% controlled by people from the Tigray ethnic group.

The Ethiopian people had never had and will never have the opportunity to choose freely their representatives to the so-called federal parliament so long as Woyyane-TPLF controls the country.

Espionage against Ethiopians in Norway by the TPLF-regime in Ethiopia

By Samson Seifu: 2 November 2012

Arrest of a Sudanese Refugee Spy: a defining historic moment

The Police Security Service (PSS) locally known as PST has arrested a Sudanese man accusing him of refugee espionage in Norway. PST said the man, on several occasions, secretly collected information about Sudanese in Norway, and sent the information to the authorities in Sudan. Among his own countrymen, he has been considered to be a refugee, but PST believes he has always spied on them.

A number of Ethiopians in Trondheim, Norway have also claimed to have been approached and spied by the accused spy according to adressavisen.no.

According to PST this is the first arrest for refugee espionage in Norway since the 1970s. and the man is charged under Norwegian Penal Code 91a.

 PST’s definition of refugee espionage in Norway

PST’s definition of refugee espionage is a foreign intelligence activities directed against foreigners in Norway. The aim of this type of activity is to undermine, neutralize or eliminate political opposition through monitoring, controlling, and threatening dissidents in exile in different ways. Several countries are spying on their own citizens who traveled to Norway, and among others Eritrea and Ethiopia are in the police spotlight.

The Ethiopian Refugee Espionage in Norway: Both systematic and comprehensive

Rune Berglund Steen is a communications officer at the Anti-Racist Center in Norway and author of the book ‘’ The Black Book of Norwegian Asylum Policy’’. Rune Berglund Steen has also worked on the Ethiopian spying in Norway issue for many years.

According to Rune Steen, representatives of the Ethiopian dictatorship run a systematic monitoring of Ethiopian refugees in Norway. At least 50 Ethiopians in Norway have experienced direct threats from the so-called refugee spies since 2005, according to Steen.

Based on the information he has collected since 2004/2005, it appears that the Ethiopian refugee espionage is both systematic and comprehensive. It is simply shameless and extensive, says Berglund Steen to Nrk.no (Norwegian National Media). He says the spies must be punished, this has been going fairly overtly long and that regime loyal Ethiopians allow themselves this because it has not been linked with consequences for them here in Norway. This must change, says Steen. Activities such as this must simply get consequences. It must be shown that one can’t with impunity behave like a dictator’s thugs on Norwegian soil. It should be a basis for several criminal cases against them here in Norway, says Berglund Steen.

It is also understood that some who have been granted stay permit based on false information, are regime loyal who have cheated to be opposition, and that when they get stay permit continue their works for the regime. If this is the case, it is an obvious ground for withdrawing their stay permits, he adds.

To what threats are Ethiopian refugees and dissidents in Norway exposed to?

Threats can be about what will happen when they return to Ethiopia, or it may be directed toward family members in Ethiopia, including death threats, says Steen. The spies, according to Steen, are active with taking pictures of peoples taking part in demonstrations and threatening of oppositions on the street, via e-mail and anonymous phones. There are also attempts at infiltration of opposition groups and parties. Dissidents have told Rune Steen that they suspect hacking. In several cases, it has also lead to street fighting, for example, when the opposition was trying to stop taking of photographs of demonstrations.

Former guerrilla soldiers

According to Berglund Steen, the Ethiopian dictatorship maintains power through systematic persecution of dissidents in Ethiopia and this systematic persecution is also set in the system beyond Ethiopia’s borders. Several documents which have been leaked from Ethiopian embassies show this, says Steen.

Several of those who have central position in monitoring in Norway have background as guerrilla soldiers at the time the current Ethiopian regime was still a guerrilla movement.

This is all about ensuring that the ethnic group that controls the country to retain power. Since this group – Tigreans constitute only about 6 percent of the population, and this is only possible through systematic oppression. Control in Ethiopia is extensive, where the regime has generally very good control. The regime seems concerned, therefore, is what kind of resistance that may emerge, he concludes.

Woyanne -TPLF informants in Norway cry foul: my conclusive perspective

TPLF’s cyber propaganda Medias like ‘’aigaforum.com’’, ‘’abesha.no’’ and ‘’Geza tegaru paltalk rom’’ were crying foul attempting to divert the current important and promising issue which the Norwegian Police Security Service (PST) is taking seriously.

The renowned Ethiopian refugee cases expert Mr. Rune Berglund Steen has excellently elaborated the issue. On the contrary the Woyanne-TPLF informants called the commentaries by Mr. Steen ‘’a recipe for genocide’’ in their discussion forum as well as in their articles posted on aigaforum.com and abesha.no websites. In fact, Mr. Steen’s mention of the ‘’Tigrean People’’ in his commentaries is to make clear to the Norwegian public and authorities that the Tigrean people which the liberation movement TPLF claims to have liberated and assumed power constitute only 6% of the Ethiopian people.

One may not be surprised given their background as the informants of the TPLF regime if they try to turn and twist the genuine claim by hundreds of Ethiopian refugees in Norway by trying to link it as they claim with ‘’genocide incitement’’. They know very well that the issue at hand actually refers to them and that is why they cry foul.

The Ethio-Norway forced repatriation in prospect

By Samson Seifu: Monday, February 27, 2012

In my previous article entitled ‘’The Ethio-Norway Forced Repatriation Agreement in Retrospect’’ published on 13 February 2012 on different websites, I presented the background and the events which led to the signed Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). In this article the events after the announcement and the prospects afterwards with focus on the plights of the stakeholders (the rejected asylum seekers from Ethiopia who have been living in Norway for many years, from 3-20 years) are presented as follows:

The Norwegian Immigration Directorate (UDI) and The Norwegian Ministry of Justice issued a press statement on their respective homepage on 26 January 2012 about the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Royal Government of Norway and the ‘’Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia’’. The MoU was signed with immediate effect in Addis Ababa on the same date, i.e. 26 January 2012.

The next day on 27 January 2012 the two above mentioned government offices jointly called for an information meeting to be held on 27 January 2012 at 15:00 hrs. at the immigration directorate’s head office in Oslo via e-mail messages intended to reach the Ethiopian diaspora in Oslo.  As a deputy chairman of the Ethiopian Community in Norway, I happened to receive the e-mail that apologizes if UDI has sent the message outside the target group and requested to forward it to other acquaintances who may be interested in it.

The Ethiopian opposition camp having partly attended in bewilderment the information meeting, unanimously decided to walk out of the meeting hall in protest of the signed forced repatriation agreement with one of the world’s worst dictatorial regime. During the brief moment of the information meeting, I had also the chance to express my view about the repatriation agreement. After having introduced myself as the deputy chairman of the Ethiopian Community in Norway and an active member of the Ethiopian Common Forum in Norway, I went on to share the audience my concern about the plight of the rejected asylum seekers from Ethiopia who have been politically active for years with the opposition and the fact that they have been under surveillance by pro-regime operatives in Norway would automatically put their lives in danger. I delivered two CDs to the representatives from the justice department.The CDs contain the activities of the pro-government operatives in Norway in a meeting they held in Oslo in connection with the dictator’s visit for the energy conference held in Oslo in October 2011.

Though the envisaged information meeting failed to attract the good will of the Ethiopian diaspora in Oslo, the government anyway continued with the implementation of the first phase of the MoU by distributing an information letter to all asylum seekers from Ethiopia in their respective localities urging them to contact the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to proceed with the offered package for voluntary return.

It is a very well-known fact that the Norwegian government has been longing for two decades to achieve the possibility of returning by force rejected Ethiopian asylum seekers to Ethiopia. In what the Norwegian authorities call ‘’assisted voluntary return’’, they have offered a window of opportunity that lasts up to March 15, 2012. The mind boggling question is what then after the set deadline?

What is special and unique about this group of people is that they have been living in Norway for many years, many of them established families and worked legally paying taxes until last year (January 2011) where the government shutdown the mechanisms for working possibilities. Many of these rejected asylum seekers have been politically active both at the leadership and grass roots level thanks to the conducive environment in Norway and the presence of actively functioning diaspora political organizations in Norway.

The objective reality in the present day Ethiopia; however, is an atmosphere of fear and hopelessness for peoples of differing political views than the ruling minority government of the TPLF. What await these people if returned by force are all forms of inhuman treatment including arbitrary detention, torture and in the worst case scenario murder as there are well-documented evidences compiled by the regime’s informants who are active in Norway. The information the informants collect are processed and stored for life by the regime’s National Security and Intelligence Services (NISS) labeling them as enemies of the regime. Such information are particularly very useful at times of crisis as is witnessed after the 2005 national election result controversies where tens of thousands of opposition activists and supporters were picked from their homes and received all sorts of punishments.

The two links below offer a brief account of the infamous Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) by Ethiopia expert, German national Mr. Gunther Shroder which was presented on April 5, 2011 in Oslo conference.

1)   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ur-4hm0MnGE&feature=player_embedded

2)     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIqFRa_BeTo&feature=related

 

The dictatorial regime of Meles Zenawi is well known for its gross human rights violations and repressions of citizens. Independent international institutions such as Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the United States Department of State have documented and confirmed the gross human rights violations the regime commits against citizens in Ethiopia

 The Norwegian Organization for Asylum Seekers (NOAS) is one of the first who strongly reacted and denounced the signed forced repatriation agreement on a press release posted on its own homepage. Also NOAS’s general secretary, Mrs. Ann-Magritt Austenå, in her commentary on one of the biggest newspapers in Norway (Dagsavisen) notwithstanding generally the very essence of returning rejected asylum seekers to their country of origin, warned against the dangers and consequences of experimenting with authoritarian regimes like the one in Ethiopia.

NOAS together with other Norwegian organizations are trying one last desperate attempt doing all they can to the best of their capacity to help reorganize the asylum seekers’ supportive documents for review of their cases by the aliens appeal board (UNE).

On the other hand, as the 15th of March 2012 deadline approaches, the Task Force against Forced Repatriation and the Association of Ethiopian Asylum Seekers in Norway are intensifying their all rounded and multi-faceted campaigns with the objective of bringing their concerns and anxiety to the attention of the Norwegian public and government in particular and the world community in general.

This is really a trying moment for the rejected asylum seekers who have been critical opponents of the Meles regime for years and who have no other option than facing what is going to happen after the 15th of Mach 2012.

This is a moment which the Ethiopian Diaspora all over the world needs to give a special attention and due response.

The Ethio-Norway Forced Repatriation Agreement in Retrospect

By Samson Seifu:  12 February 2012

 

Prelude

On January 26, 2012 the state secretary in the Norwegian Ministry of Justice, Pål K. Lønseth appearing on TV channels announced with great sigh of relief the coming to an end of 20 years of negotiations ordeal with the dictatorial regime of Meles Zenawi to repatriate the rejected Ethiopian asylum seekers. According to the official press release of both the Ministry of Justice and the Directorate of Immigration (UDI), the signed agreement carries with it the threat of forced repatriation of about 400 rejected asylum seekers to the regime in Ethiopia. 

The news of the signing of the agreement; however, has shocked and saddened in disbelief the Ethiopian Community in Norway in general and the stakeholders in particular (the rejected asylum seekers who have been leading a life full of uncertainty and hopelessness for many years). Most of these rejected asylum seekers were working legally for many years paying taxes to the Norwegian Government, established families, well integrated themselves with the Norwegian society and most important of all, they have been politically active in the matters of their country of origin, Ethiopia, with the Ethiopian opposition organizations in Norway.

 The repatriation agreement in retrospect

The talk about forced repatriation agreement was surfaced for the first time on media some seven years ago in 2005 by the then Communal and Regional Minister, Mrs. Erna Solberg and the minister (Mrs. Erna Solberg) announced that the government of Norway has finalized repatriation agreement with the dictatorial regime of Meles Zenawi.

Given Norway’s track record as a leading democratic state among the western nations that promotes the realization and respect of basic human right principles and rules of law throughout the world including Ethiopia, no one anticipated that Norway would be serious about negotiating and reaching agreements with the world’s worst repressive regime of Meles Zenawi.

Meles Zenawi was the leader of the Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF) during the cold war era of the 1970’s and 1980’s and took power by force and controlled Ethiopia with iron fist without interruption since 1991 with the approval and blessings of the victors of the cold war era United States and United Kingdom in a negotiation meeting held in London in 1991 which was presided over by US Ambassador Mr. Herman Cohen.  

With the above mentioned background of the Meles regime which is also well known to the authorities and government of Norway, the government went ahead with the experimenting of deportation of some rejected asylum seekers and the attempted experiment was met with strong reactions from the Ethiopian Community and Ethiopian political support organizations operating in Norway reversing the implementation of the forced deportation.

Given the seriousness of the situation signaled by the futile attempt to deport Ethiopian Asylum seekers, the Ethiopian Community in Norway called for a meeting to all Ethiopians in Norway and established in 2005 the Ethiopian Asylum Seekers Association to engage a lawyer which would assist the association in bringing the matter before the Norwegian courts. The process of engagement was slowed down due to confirmations from the Communal and regional department to the association dated 22 December 2005 that Norwegian authorities have not made a repatriation agreement with Ethiopian authorities.

The Norwegian and the dictatorial regime of Meles Zenawi’s diplomatic relationship faced a serious setback after the dictator’s visit in Oslo in September, 2005 to receive a prize from a private fertilizer producing company called Yara. The then government of Norway led by Mr. Kjell Magne Bondevik courageously distanced itself from officially receiving the dictator and oppressor as a head of state due to the fact that Ethiopian in Norway had staged a huge campaign against the Yara prize award and also staged a grand protest demonstration accusing the dictator for bloodshed committed in his command and watch against innocent election fraud protesters following the 2005 parliamentary election. In June and November, 2005 around 200 innocent civilian protesters were massacred in Addis Ababa on a broad day light by the TPLF’s Special Forces called the Agazis.

Following the humiliation, the Meles regime forged a hostile move against the government of Norway culminating it in 2007 with a diplomatic break down between the two. The Meles regime accused Norway of helping terrorism in East Africa. As a consequence of this false allegation and Norway’s maltreatment by the Meles regime, the crisis got a huge media attention in Norway and lead a public resentment blaming for the failure of the first (2005-2009) Stoltenberg’s coalition government in handling with caution the delicate and often shrewd government of the TPLF regime of Meles Zenawi.  

Since then the first (2005-2009) and second (2009 – to date) Jens Stoltenberg coalition government took a serious of conciliatory measures to win the trust of the dictator and thereby stop the latter’s hostile propaganda against the good reputation of Norway as a peace negotiator (as in Israeli-Palestinian and the Tamils-Sri Lanka’s government conflict cases) and peace prize rewarding state (via its Nobel Peace Prize Institution).

The following are among the series of reconciliatory moves made by Norway:

1.   Prime Minster Jens Stoltenberg’s interest to work with the foe dictator Meles Zenawi (the African delegate for the negotiations on climate change). Meles Zenawis’ participation at the climate-change conference in Copenhagen in December, 2009 was met with a fierce protest from demonstrators from all over Europe including the Ethiopian oppositions from Norway.   

 

2.  The so called open seminar and discussion under the title ‘’Election and development in Ethiopia’’ arranged in Oslo in May 2010 by the Norwegian Development Fund. In this seminar one of the speakers from the director of the department for east and central Africa at the Norwegian Foreign Ministry Mr. Hans Jacob Frydenlund actually highlighted the fictitious double digit economic growth claimed by the Meles regime and tried to defend Norway’s continued development aid which the Ethiopian oppositions in Norway always insist and demand to link this aid with the respect of basic human rights and rule of law in Ethiopia. This meeting was also attended and witnessed by the regime’s operative in Oslo.  

 

3.  The so called open seminar and discussion under the title ‘’Politics and development in Ethiopia’’ arranged in Oslo in November 2011 by the Norwegian Development Fund. This time the Government representative was Mrs. Ingrid Fiskaa, the state secretary in the Foreign Department. For questions I raised to her as to why the Norwegian government gives a deaf ear to the repeated outcries and concerns of the Ethiopian oppositions in Norway who always knock the doors of your government’s ministries and; on the contrary, you continue to support the oppressive regime making it difficult to forces who work hard day and night to get rid of the regime? Her answer was simply ’’ it is not our job to get rid of the regime’’ but she had no answer to another related question from the audience i.e. ‘’Why then Norway bombed Libya and Gadafi?’’.  

 

4.  The invitation to the dictator Meles Zenawi by the coalition government of the second Jens Stoltenberg government. The arrival in Oslo of the dictator to participate in the conference entitled ‘’Energy for all financing access for the poor’’ held in in Oslo, in October 10 and 11, 2011 was marked by three successful anti-Meles protest demonstrations staged by the Ethiopian oppositions functioning in Norway. At this moment of his visit, the dictator was once again so humiliated that he had to leave Norway without attending the luncheon party arranged by the Norwegian Government to the participants of the conference.

It was after this historic resolute of the opposition in Norway in exposing the true face and nature of the oppressor and the dictator, Meles Zenawi to the Norwegian public and the international community that sparked the signing of the repatriation agreement to revenge the Ethiopian Asylum Seekers who both at the leadership and grass roots level were instrumental for the successful accomplishment of the October 9 &10, 2011 anti-Meles protest demonstrations.