CUD Leaders Released, July 20, 2007
Reactions from the Diaspora on the good news
LEADERS OF THE POPULAR DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT IN ETHIOPIA OUT OF JAIL!""This is great news. Finally commonsense prevailed over the hubris of power. What a great relief. Let us hope the terms of their release do not interfere at all with what they choose to do in public life with full freedom. Since the death penalty threat I was emotionally drained by the ugly prospect that they would be harmed. I did not believe the suggestions I heard from CUD circles that they would be released indeed. Now they are free. We must look forward and not look
back at all. I hope their freedom creates a great wave of unity and
cooperation to bring about orderly democratic transition in our country
for the first time in its very long and long history. I say
congratulations to the freed prisoners of concience, to the mediators
and the familes, friends and above all to the democratic aspirations of
the Ethiopian people and nation" "Greetings to all Ethiopians; I am very happy to hear
the good news. Congratulations. Hopefully the government has come to its
senses and will not try to arrest them again in the future." "I think the May 2005 elections have opened a whole new
era of hope, peace, democracy and justice in Ethiopia. Kinijit has
undoubtedly been in the forefront to keep that door wide open for coming
generations. Gun-totting TPLF will never succeed and slam shut that
door: It has either to accept the rule of law and hand over the power to
the people, or use the gun by which it will be haunted to the end until
the rule of law is anchored in Ethiopia." "I am very delighted to hear that the 38 leaders and members of the pro-democracy movement in Ethiopia are free at last. It is a great relief for them, their families and, indeed, the nation. However, the celebration will remain partial until all prisoners of conscience including civic activists Daniel Bekele, Netsanet Demisse, Kifle Tigneh and others are released and political parties and civil society is allowed to function freely. The senseless and cruel courtroom drama must end. Most of all, a genuine reconciliation can only begin when the wrongdoers, NOT THE VICTIMS, admit their responsibility and ask for forgiveness, those responsible for the most serious offences are brought to justice, and the rights of victims to full and effective remedy is satisfied in accordance with international law and the Ethiopian Constitution. As a process, reconciliation also demands the
construction and/or reconstruction of institutions to which potentially
dysfunctional political differences can be channelled, deliberated upon
and resolved. These institutions include, among others, such basic
features of any democratic society as free media, a genuinely
participatory parliament and a truly independent judiciary." "Thank God! Congratulations for all prisoners and their
families! Thank you all Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia who
restlessly fought for this noble cause. We are glad to see those
blameless prisoners walk out of kality jail. The release of prisoners of
conscious is, of course, not an end of our struggle. We have yet another
hard work ahead of us to put the movement back on track unless the door
for national reconciliation is opened. Opening the door for
reconciliations will certainly heal our nation. It will also save the
incumbent regime from jeopardy, which is at odd with the people. Let us
put our hands together and renew our commitments for this end." "Congratulations to our leaders on their release. We
thank God for getting you through those difficult times in jail. To my
fellow Ethiopians, remember we’ve just won the battle but not the war.
This is just the beginning. Until the rights of all citizens are
respected in Ethiopia, we should not rest. A country should be built
with love and not hate; let’s eliminate hate politics from our country.
Diaspora activists, journalists and website editors, this victory is
yours too! God bless Ethiopia." "The CUD-Kinijit leaders are free at last and I am
ecstatic for them and their family whose lives have been turned upside
down for the last 18 months. This day will be remembered as an important
milestone in the annals of Ethiopian history--- peaceful struggle works
and democracy will prevail in Ethiopia. The spirit of Kinijit will be
rekindled throughout our ancient land today and on to the next millenium
From the personal aspect of it, it is also the triumph of the human
spirit over the evils of tyranny. In the end, good always prevails over
evil. " "We must not rest until all the people of Ethiopia are
liberated from the Woyanne tyranny." "Congratulations Ethiopians all over the globe as we
celebrate the release of Kinijit leaders, civic group and journalists.
Our struggle continues for peace, justices, human rights, democracy and
development in Ethiopia." "The release of the 38 prisoners of conscience today marks a very special event in the history of Ethiopia. Today justice prevailed over injustice in Ethiopia. Truth became victorious over falsehood. Democracy overcame tyranny. Light shone over the darkness that had enveloped Ethiopia over the past two years. Todat, men and women of peace defeated the Lord of War on the Battlefield of Democracy! Ethiopia shall never be the same again! I want to express my deepest respect and appreciation to the 38 heroes who suffered untold misery and indignities at the hands of Zenawi so that Ethiopia can join the family of free nations of the world. I thank them for their sacrifices. I honor them for standing up for freedom, democracy and human rights. I admire them for not selling their souls to the Devil for 30 pieces of silver. I pay them my highest tribute for their faith in God. I appreciate them for being good shepards to our people. I also express my deepst thanks to their families who suffered along with them. I honor them for the days they spent in Kangaroo Kourt watching injusctice being practiced against their loved ones. I admire their tenacity in supporting the prisoners in Kality prison. I have no doubut that it is their support and encouragement that sustained the prisoners of conscience through the countless months of imprisonment. Thank you families!! I have two messages for the free prisoners of conscience. I ask them to pardon Zenawi for he knows not what he does. He is a man totally repudiated by his own people, and now he is a man condemned by the entire international community as a merciless tyrant. He can rescue himself from his evil ways only if the prisoners of consceince pardon and forgive him. It is in the tradition of all the great religions and philosophies that the innocent pardon and forgive the sinner and the doer of evil. I beg you to pardon Zenawi for all of the evil he has done to you because you are men and women of peace and good will. I further ask you to join us in the Diaspora as we struggle to help bring freedom and accountability in Ethiopia. We have a bill in the U.S. Congress that will help prevent the injustice that happened to you from ever happening to any other Ethiopian. H.R. 2003, a bill authored by Ethiopia´s greatest friend in the U.S. Congress, Donald Payne, will deny nonessential aid to any Ethiopian government that violates the human rights of its citizens. American taxpayers will never allow their their tax dollars to be used by dictators and tyrants who will grossly abuse the human rights of Ethiopians. Join the thousands of us in the Diaspora and support our July 4th Declaration to Uphold Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights in Ethiopia. Let us not rest until every political prisoner and prisoner of conscience in Ethiopia is rescued from Zenawi´s prisons and dungeons. Let´s grab our flashlights and kuraz, and search every hamlet and neighborhood, town and city throughout Ethiopia, for we are missing thousands of our brothers and sisters! CONGRATULATIONS, GREAT PATRIOTS. WE ARE ALL PROUD OF
YOU. ”Napolen Bonaparte said, "Victory belongs to the most persevering" I would like to express my deepest respect and appreciation to the 38 prisoners of conscience for standing firm in their quest for justice and rule of law. The prisoners in Kaliti have never wavered from upholding the principles they stood for. This has proved that Zenawi only succeeded in only physically jailing them. Zenawi could never put their minds and souls in Kaliti. The struggle to bring freedom, democracy and accountability will continue until every single prisoner of conscience is released. The struggle for democracy and accountability will continue until all those responsible for the massacre of women, children the elderly are held accountable. The struggle against injustice will continue until
Dissent is not criminalized. The struggle will continue until there is
rule of law in Ethiopia and justice prevails The struggle will continue
until all those that have lost their livelihoods and have fled their
beloved country in fear of persecution are able to return to their homes
and their loved ones.” "It is with great joy that I have received the news about the release of our great leaders. I would like to first give praise to the Almighty God for this unexpected miracle. May His Name be blessed from everlasting to everlasting. My deepest respect goes also to the released prisoners for they courage, determination and patriotism. They lived what they preached. Even, living in hardship, confined within small Kaliti cells, they were sending messages of love, dialog, peace and Ethiopiawinet. My appreciation goes also to Dr Ephraim Issac and his friends for their relentless efforts. “Blessed Be the peace makers, for they shall be called Children of God says the Great Book.”. They are, indeed, blessed and true children of God. I would to like to thank also the EPRDF leaders for finally coming to their senses and doing the right thing. It is my hope and prayer that this “rapprochement” will not be the beginning. Let us all use this opportunity, avoid unnecessary rhetoric against one another and work hard to change the miserable destiny of our country once and for all, together. The most difficult tasks are a head of us. "Free at last, free at last, Oh Almighty God they are free at last and now the real hard work begins. Kinijit as a party needs to be rebuilt, not necessarily from the grounds up since it has been in our hearts and in our minds. Most of us breathed it and dreamt about it. Kinijit helped us focus our hope, our dream and our ever hungry spirits for a free, democratic and prosperous Ethiopia into a single crucible filled with vision of a free, democratic and self-empowered people. Kinijit helped us see, we, who were once proud people with proud history could be that and more once again. so rebuilding it should not take us much time. For the first time in a long time, our country got selfless leaders who are willing to pay the ultimate for the common good. For the first time it downed on us that it is within the bounds of reality we can and should be able to change our leaders with our voice and not our blood. But our real leaders said if there should be blood to guarantee such a transformation of people and country then let it be our blood. These generous men and women empowered us with a vision so powerful we just cannot go back to the days of old. Yes, there is more work now, Kinijit supporters around
the world need to come together under one umbrella. Let it be told, let
the drums roll and let the people shout that a new day has downed in
Ethiopia for the first time in a long time. Let the torch be passed to
those who can lead and not kill, let the helm of leadership be passed to
those with vision of a free Ethiopia and not to those with selfish and
divisive evil ideas. Above all, let us make sure this time we will not
miss this golden opportunity. We deserve it, our children deserve it,
this blessed mother of ours called Ethiopia deserves it." "38 freed today---38,000 more to go." "The release of Ethiopia's most prominent political prisoners marks a new beginning in Ethiopian history. For the first time within the last two testing years, the tyrant has realised that keeping the leaders of millions of Ethiopians in jail has done him a great disfavour by putting himself on trial as the whole world has been witnessing and documenting the countless crimes and catalogues of injustice he has been committing. Sooner or later, Ethiopia will have its leaders in
power. Our leaders will come not from the flock of gun worshippers but
from the underdogs who have been kept in harsh jails accused of the
crimes that the tyrants have committed with arrogance and impunity. This
is a real dawn of freedom!" "Words are so weak to express emotion! I am so happy to see the Elected Leaders of CUD out of prison. Their freedom is secured not at Meles' good will. It is earned. That was not their place and they will shine not only in history books, but also at every moment of our life. We have to know that our struggle requires more dedication and effective strategies. That is the assignment for all of us. I am also proud of the dear Ethiopian Compatriots who
has committed so much time, energy and resource in our struggle to
secure the release of our leaders. Here in the diaspora, It is hard to
list all, but my special thanks goes to Abraha Belai, Prof. Al Mariam,
Obang, Berhane, Prof. Mamo, Andargachew, Mesfin Aman, Tensae Radio,
Abebe Belew, Tamagn Beyene, Shakespear Feyissa, Meron Ahadu, Lulit
Mesfin, and countless community activist through out the world." “In the spirit of new beginnings, it is my hope that the
Ethiopian Government and members of the political opposition take every
necessary step toward true reconciliation.” “Most of the CUDP leaders had a very hectic, busy life;
so these two years in prison have given them time to contemplate on many
things including on how to effectively advance Ethiopia’s journey
towards democracy. Some of them are saying this was like a second
college because they learned many things while in prison. I believe they
are prepared and eager to continue the struggle. Let’s all give them our
full support. ” "The release of the political prisoners is a great piece of news. We congratulate their families and friends as well. The moral strength they have demonstrated during their ordeal after their victory at the polls was snatched from them will be a shining light for the future of democracy in Ethiopia. "There is no doubt that our country will benefit from
their continuing moral strength and struggle to provide the multiplicity
of choice which is the inalienable right of all Ethiopians. As a civil
association, we wish to register our appreciation for their heroic
struggle to provide such leadership. We have confidence that the rule of
law, the legal process and democracy that they have each stood for will
not be in vain." "Congratulations!! You came out with your heads up and
you made us all proud. Thank you. Your resilience has built a fortress
of hope and optimism and we have to pick up where we were left off with
a new outlook and vision. The vision, which will be defined with
forgiveness and reconciliation as its theme. Today has to be a new day
with stars shining from above and to rethink how we bring forward the
Ethiopian people from the current economic and social demise –
TOGETHER." "Congratulations!! Our leaders have shown their willingness to endure imprisonment, torture, even risk death itself for the promised benefits and blessings of liberty. Failure to pay that price would only serve to destroy that liberty. Democracy means fighting everyday for what you deserve, and fighting even harder to keep those weaker groups of our people get what they deserve. Democracy is people of all races, colours, and creeds united by a single dream. Democracy means never having the TPLF secret police show up at your door. Freedom and democracy come with a price tag. Some of the price has been paid on July 20, 2007. To all my 38 friends, thank you for your courage and
your bravery. Thank you for your endurance. Kinijit Ashenefowal" To Our Elected Leaders: |