By:
Dilwenberu Nega
14th February 2009.
A good nutritionist would, no doubt, warn you to be
wary of extremes: a green and overripe Birtukan cause the worst pain. On the other hand, our politically verdant
Birtukan – whose surrealistic mind-set has allowed her to equate herself with
Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Sun Kyi, has been causing pain after pain to
her supporters by her wayward, not to say puerile actions. Her mostly vitriolic diaspora supporters –
chagrined by the current breathtaking achievements Ethiopia keeps on scoring –
are busy making anti-EPDRF accusations to all and sundry. Their accusations, like all their
accusations in the past, are nothing more than an omelette of rumour,
speculation and downright lies.
Those of us who have over the years familiarized
ourselves with what jumpstarts the twilight world of the smear obsessed section
of the Ethiopian Diaspora in the US and Europe, are, therefore, not surprised
by the current co-ordinated trans-continental campaign of politicising Birtukan
Mideksa’s case. Already the rules of
engagement have been issued by motley of anti- EPDRF political bedfellows
consisting of Shabia-in-Ethiopian-opposition-party-clothing, Ethiopia’s notorious
Liberation-Leader-in-name-only, Berhanu Nega, a number of human rights
organizations and NGOs as well as a handful from the blogosphere.
Will all this co-ordinated campaign yield the release
of Birtukan Mideksa is entirely dependent upon the choice EPDRF is ready and
willing to make: between giving in to international pressure, or uphold the
rule of law come hell or high-water because chipping away the rule of law
willy-nilly is a sure-fire way to becoming a failed state.
The current Free Birtukan Mideksa campaign is intent
on portraying her as a prisoner of conscience. Adopting Birtukan, who has been found guilty by a free and fair
court of law – whose proceedings where open to local and foreign observers – is
not only a misnomer but also clashes head-on with Amnesty International’s
guideline itself. For how on earth,
can someone who has used violence, in which lives have been made to perish,
could possibly be adopted a prisoner of conscience? Take the case of Birtukan’s former accomplice, profligate Dr.
Berhanu Nega, for example. He, like
Birukan, benefited from Amnesty International’s knee-jerk reaction of being
adopted a prisoner of conscience following the fatal demonstration which he and
the now dispersed leaders of CUD aided and abetted close on the heels of
General Election 2005. Amnesty
International, then, had no qualms in adopting him a prisoner of conscience
because the bastion of human rights was right in its belief that Behanu had no
aim and goal of seizing power in a violent manner. Now, smart Alec Behanu, has fulminated his war cry from the
United States, one is anxious to find out if Behanu has been expurgated from
Amnesty’s Roll of Prisoners of Conscience.
Nothing best describes Amnesty International’s hypocrisy than its pursuance
of a double standard when it comes to Ethiopia. This has to stop, and stop it will.