Ethiopia: Birtukan's Release Just a First Step
    6 October, 2010 (Human Rights
    Watch) - The Ethiopian
    government’s release on October
    6, 2010, of detained opposition
    leader Birtukan Midekssa should
    pave the way for freeing dozens of
    other political prisoners in
the country, Human Rights Watch said today.....More
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Human Rights
The Birtukan  Saga
21) On December 13, 2003
TPLF forces conducted a
bloody three day rampage in
Gambella in which as many
as 424 people were killed,
almost all of them anuak.
They burned over four
hundred houses to the ground
and ransacked and looted
many of those left standing.
Who Pardons
Who?
The Path Birtukan
refused to follow:
24) On November 1, 2005
TPLF forces opened fire on
peaceful demonstrators in
Addis Ababa and massacred
197 civilians. They also   
"detained more than 40,000
Ethiopians and transported
them to all corners of the
country. We became familiar
with places such as Zewai,
Dedessa, Bir Sheloko, Shoa
Robit, Kolfe and Sendafa."

22) On March 18, 2004
TPLF forces shot the
elementary school students in
Dire village near Bushoftu,
45km east of Addis Ababa;
killed a 5th grade student,
Lemma Ambesse and
wounded a female student
Birtukan Dhuguma. Two days
later the local people who
attended the funeral ceremony
of Lemma were dispersed
forcefully and several of them
injured.
Harsh on Ethiopians

9) " The size of the military at the time of the
collapse of Haile Selassie's rule in 1974 was
estimated to be about 40 000, while the military
budget was estimated to be $50 million in 1973.
Dramatic shifts occurred in the nature and size, and
consequent cost, of the Ethiopian military from the
1970s onwards,...."
Budgeting for the military Sector in Africa
By Wuyi Omitoogun,
Eboe Hutcful, Stockholm
Page 52

8) " The geo-strategic rationale for the US foreign
aid during the cold war was precisely in order to
ensure clients loyalty, and to enable them to override
domestic political pressures and when necessary
crush internal opposition by force."
Famine Crimes
By Alexander De waal, page 136

7) " Where there is protracted war, relief assistance
rapidly becomes integrated into the dynamic of
violence. The diversion of taxation of relief supplies
becomes a major way for belligerents to provision
themselves, and, in time, the very command
structures and military strategies themselves will
come to reflect the availability of external aid and the
means whereby it is delivered."
The above book page 146

6) Meles, elected chairman of the TPLF and EPRDF
in 1989, convened mass organizations to explain the
front's goals and praxis to the people and to obtain
popular support. At the many meetings held through
early 1990, culminating in a month-long conference
in Mekele, Meles and his colleagues argued that
unless the government were completely destroyed,
Tigray would be bombed continuosly;.........and
when Meles did not demur to Eritrea's claims of
independence, U.S. officials scrapped the
long-standing policy of supporting the inviolability of
Ethiopia's frontiers. When they were able to assure
Isayas about Eritrea's separate future - he also had
made a trip to Washington - the end was in sight for
Mengistu's government."
A History of Ethiopia
By Harold G. Marcus

5) " This suspicion was reinforced when the Dergue
impounded an Australian ship, the Golden Venture,
at Assab port in January 1985. The vessel, which
was bound for Port Sudan, in the Republic of Sudan,
and had mistakenly berthed at Assab, in Ethiopia,
contained relief cargo clearly marked for delivery to
the EPLF and TPLF."
The Specter of Genocide
By Robert Gellately,
Ben Kiernan
2003, page 321  

4) " The election board was supposed to encourage
discussions in preparation for the organisational
congress of 1979. Some members of the election
board opposed the campaign, as a result of which
Abadi (Goliad) lost his life and Teshome Tsegay,
Gudo, (now living in the USA) managed to escape..."
By Kahsay Berhe
and Tesfay Atsbeha
More

3) In 1976 the TPLF released the 'Manifesto of the
TPLF 'which argued that 'the first task of this
national struggle will be the establishment of an
independent democratic republic of Tigray'.

2) " ..the TPLF went a step further and began
harassing the peasant militia and supporters of
EPRA.Some of the peasants were flogged. Then the
TPLF began killing peasants who supported the
EPRA. Among the first to be killed was Kahsai, a
peasant of the Adi Irob area in the Agame district..".
More

1) " ..negotiations which resulted in an agreement in
November 1975 to unite the two organisations and
dissolve the TLF. In spite of this agreement,
however, a number of TLF cadres, including two
Central Committee members, Yohannis Tecle
Haimanot and Tadesse Tilahun, were subsequently
killed by the TPLF. The TPLF claims that these
individuals were arrested after it was found that they
had killed six or seven of their colleagues. They were
subsequently put on trial in the presence of EPLF
and ELF observers, found guilty, and executed."
Peasant Revolution in Ethiopia
By JHON YOUNG
Candlelight Vigil Held for Birtukan in Addis
    30 Dec. 2009 (Peter Heinlein) - "Hundreds
    of opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa's
    supporters jammed her Unity for Democracy
    and Justice Party headquarters Tuesday,
    wearing yellow T-shirts bearing her image,
holding candles and demanding her freedom....More
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Ethiopian opposition barred from seeing Birtukan
27 March, 2010 (Barry Malone) - "Eight opposition politicians
asked for access to Birtukan at the prison. They were met by
prison head Abebe Zemichael and, after a heated argument in the
street outside, were refused permission for not being family....More
Happy Mother's Day Birtukan!
"She achieved greatness in her profound and absolute faith in what she
likes to call "the future country of Ethiopia" and her willingness to pay
for it with her life." Prof. Alemayehu G. Mariam

Ethiopian Women’s Rally on Mother’s Day for a Mother and
Political Leader in Prison Ethio Sun

An Open Letter of Thanks to Mr. Chris Flaherty
"Now, you are bringing attention to Birtukan’s sacrifice through a
sacrifice of your own—a hunger strike—something that we the people
of Ethiopia—who Birtukan went to jail for—are not doing....SMNE

Remembering Birtukan on Mother's Day Free Birtukan
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Spotlight on the Struggle of Birtukan Mideksa:
1 June, 2010 (Zainab Salbi) - "Birtukan's story represents the
struggle women across the world are facing to have a political voice
and to stand up for human rights....More
Run for Birtukan (Aida Hailu)
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Ethiopian Activists in Facebook protest for Birtukan
    8 September. 2010 (Mark Tran) - Activists
    have urged people to change their Facebook
    profile to that of Birtukan Mideksa, 35,
    Ethiopa's most prominent political prisoner, for
    the Ethiopian new year, which starts on 11
    September.

    The opposition party leader is an Amnesty
    International prisoner of conscience,...More
Ethiopian opposition leader Birtukan Mideksa freed
06 October, 2010 (BBC) - "The BBC's Uduak Amimo in Addis
Ababa says hundreds of her supporters have gathered at her home
to welcome her.” ...More
Ethiopian opposition chief freed AFP
Ethiopian officials release opposition leader  AP
Jailed Ethiopian opposition leader freed Reuters
Birtukan a forerunner to win EU's Sakharov prize
22 September, 2010 (Anna Gomez, EU Member of Parliament) -
"By awarding the Sakharov Prize to Birtukan, the EP would bring
hope and world attention to this young mother and one of the few
female party leaders in Africa, whose health condition in....More
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Ethiopian Opposition Leader Birtukan Released ...
6 October, 2010 (Bloomberg) - “I’m very pleased to be back with
my family,” Birtukan, 36, said in an interview at her house in Addis
Ababa, the capital. “I’ve been relieved from a difficult situation. The
first five months in solitary confinement were very difficult.....More
Ethiopian Opposition Leader's Release: For Show?
8 October, 2010 (Nick Wadhams) - "Opposition leaders say her
release on Oct. 5 is part of a well-calculated effort by the
government to frame Ethiopia as a law-abiding and compassionate
country — an image critics say flies in the face of reality....More
Hallelujah, Truth Triumphs!
    14 Oct. 2010 (Rev. Tegga Lendado, PhD)
    - Politicians are expected to possess
    impeccable skill, great capacity and
    unparalleled integrity to lead their
    followers since they often make hard
    decisions regarding other persons. They
    also need to go through their....More
Political Memo: Birtukan’s Upcoming Political
Challenges and Options
19 November, 2010 (by Tamirat Negera) - " If Birtukan spends
enough time to take care of herself and think thoroughly, there are
multiple options that are fit for her profile and taste. So far, her
silence and solitude shows that she is on the right track to crafting
her own way.....More
Sakharov Prize 2010: three finalists
18 Oct. 2010 (IEWY News) - "The Saharov prize should be given to
those who need international visibility and protection. Birtukan
Mideksa needs both. By awarding the Saharov prize to Birtukan
Mideksa, representing all Ethiopian political prisoners, the European
Parliament would bring hope and would call attention to this young
mother, one of the few female party leaders in Africa...More
Aung San Suu Kyi & Birtukan Mideksa’s release brings
smile on faces and hearts of people—but no one falls for the
dupery despots have in mind in so doing
    15 Nov. 2010 (Genet Mersha) -"To the
    credit of the generals, the junta did not
    try to humiliate her either by announcing
    any fabricated apologies or setting terms
    and conditions for her release, as
    Ethiopia did in the case of the respected
opposition UDJ party president Judge Birtukan Mideksa...More