Dejazmach Woldesemayat Gebrewold will be 95 in July of this year. He has served his country under the imperial government of Ethiopia in different capacities.
In the short interview below, he traces how things fall apart in Ethiopia. He located it well within the 1960 attempted coup d’etat. The killings of Ethiopia’s notable government officials, including Aklilu Habtewold, following the 1974 Ethiopian Revolution is the apex of it, as he puts it, and rightly. Now Ethiopia is empty, and there is no one for her, he laments.
Dejazmach Woldesemayat Gebrewold has many more insights to share in the video below. The good news is that he has published a book from which Ethiopians ( including politicians who claim to care about Ethiopia) could learn from.
Video : Embedded from Andafta Youtube channel Cover photo : screenshot from the video
In part II of the interview, Dejazmach Woldesemayat Gebrewold says Ethiopia can not get out of problem (political and security) as long as the current ethnic based political and administrative arrangement is in place. Watch the interview below
Video : embedded from Andafta Media YouTube channel Cover photo : screenshot from the video
As the panic over COVID 19 seems to be reigning, it seems like all other aspects of life are paused.
Despite the magnitude of the challenge, we can not stop being optimistic and see the world after COVID 19 the conquest of the pandemic.
If you have not already watched the interview with Freeablem Shebabaw, the two parts interview below ( in Amharic) is a must watch. It is about children rights to food. But is has a profound implication in others aspects of our society. Politicians and those who are leading the country at different level could learn a great deal from it. Please consider sharing it in your circles.
Prosperity Party recently appointed Nebiyu Sihul Mikael as head of Tigray region office.
He recently had an interview with Addis Zemen, oldest state owned newspaper in Ethiopia. He says he is sure that Prosperity Party will win in Tigray. Take a listen to Andafta Media audio file below
Video : embedded from Andafta Media YouTube channel Cover photo : screenshot from the video
Seyoum Mesfin, one of the founders of Tigray People’s Liberation Front and Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister for two decades, had an interview with EthioForum – a media that some politicized Ethiopians refer to as a Pro-TPLF media.
In the interview, Seyoum talked about Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam, involvement of the World Bank and the United States, the assassination of Simegnew Bekele ( he seems to point finger at Abiy Ahmed), and Eritrea.
All three parts interview are featured below.
Video : embedded from Ethioforum YouTube channel Cover photo : screenshot from the video
On March 9, 2020, it was reported that two containers of firearms that originated from Turkey was seized in Ethiopia.
State-owned media, Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation (EBC) has produced a documentary regarding the intelligence operation that led to the seizure of the firearm. Watch it below.
Video : embedded from EBC Youtube channel Cover photo : screenshot from the video
Daniel Kibret says he is not a member of Prosperity Party but he is serving in Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s government as an adviser on social affairs.
He was recently criticized for an alleged religious bias. In an interview with Dereje Haile, Daniel Kibret explains why he is controversial and how he feels about it, among other issues. Watch the interview below.
In an interview with Awramba Times in late February, former top TPLF man Sebhat Nega says that those who are advocating for Tigray secession are “banda” ( a meaning close to “collaborators” or even mercenary)
He seems to be a military challenge for the idea and argues that the struggle should focus on giving life to the “constitution” which legalizes the secession.
General Bacha Debele,who served as one of the top military generals during EPRDF regime, and General Assefa Aferom who served in the army since the time of the Imperial government of Ethiopia and Derg government, sat for interview with Nahoo TV to discuss Coronavirus situation in the country and the stalemate with Egypt.
With regard to Egypt’s intention to entirely control the Nile river at the expense of Ethiopia and other riparian countries, General Bacha spoke about Ethiopia’s military posture without leaking any details. He says Egypt will not succeed if it swings to military action. Watch part 3 and part 4 of the interviews from the videos below. Links to the first two interview is provided after the videos.
Samuel Tafesse, owner of Sunshine Construction, is arguably one of Ethiopia’s richest man, a billionaire who employees several thousands of people. He is said to be the second richest man in the country next to Saudi born billionaire, Mohammed al Amoudi.
Sunshine Construction, one of his major business, is said to have an annual revenue of over $100 million, and employees over 2000 people.
He was a poor family in the capital Addis Ababa. Now in his early sixties, how did he manage to be a billionaire? What is his lifestyle like? He revealed it in an interview with JTV Ethiopia. Watch videos below.
COVID 19 has clearly become a public health emergency in Ethiopia. So far 55 persons have tested positive for the virus and two have died from it.
On Wednesday, the Federal government issued state of emergency. Social distancing and staying at home have proved to be challenging prevention measures to implement in the country.
How is quarantine understood and practiced in Ethiopia? Dereje Haile had interview with relevant authorities. Watch.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed had a meeting in his office, on Thursday, with the opposition concerning the next steps to be taken as the scheduled election is cancelled due to the Coronavirus situation.
In his speech, he called upon opposition parties to forge union among themselves or join Prosperity Party (his new party)
And then he addressed questions from opposition parties. His response to the leader of Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Dawud Ibsa, and TPLF’s representative during the meeting, Addis Alem Balema, was a stern one. He warned that some political parties are plotting with enemy against Ethiopia and he called them “banda.”
If you have not already watched the interview with professor Mitiku Belachew and if you prefer real life experiences over “motivational speeches,” it is a must watch interview.
From a humble beginning and challenging times childhood in Ethiopia to a prominent obesity surgeon in Belgium.
He is said to be a “pioneer surgeons for laparoscopic surgery,” and has developed “Laparoscopic Adjustable Gastric Banding (LAGB) technique for the treatment of morbid obesity”
Apart from stellar achievements as obesity surgeon, his philosophy of life for as austere and modest living and helping out others is truly fascinating.
Lidetu Ayalew has once again become a target of staunch criticism after he appeared last week on ethnic Oromo nationalist television, OMN, along with one of the founders and owner of the station, Jawar Mohamed whose political stance and activism is believed to have caused agony and massacre in Ethiopia.
Lidetu does not seem to see his appearance on the OMN television ; he rather tend to see it as a constructive engagement.
In an interview with Andafta Media, days after his appearance on OMN, Lidetu explains why he continues to be a target. “It is because I have idea,” he said.
Dawud Ibsa. Photo credit : Screenshot from the video
borkena May 10, 2020
Dawud Ibsa is the chairman of the ethnic Oromo nationalist party – Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). In the first part of a two parts interview with Dereje Haile, he talked about himself and his political organization.
Before he espoused Oromo liberation Front political ideals, he said he was part of the student movement at Addis Ababa University (based on the interview.) And the key political questions at the time were, “land for the tiller,” “an end to ethnic oppression” and the formation of popular government.
He then talked about the evolution of the party he is leading now – Oromo Liberation Front. Dereje posed a question as to why there are several Oromo Liberation Front Organization, and the relation between OLF and OLF Shane.
Dawud Ibsa said, “there is only one Oromo Liberation Front.” Yet, he did not shy away from explaining why there are other Oromo Liberation Organizations. “It is the dynamics of the struggle,” is his answer but he did not elaborate it further except pointing that “others” use the party’s name.
Regarding the question of a possible link with what most people understood as the military wing of his organization, OLF Shane – an armed group that is fighting against the Ethiopian government in Wollega region of Ethiopia -, he said that relation is officially renounced in the presence of Aba Gedas. There has been a confrontation between the government and Dawud Ibsa led Oromo Liberation concerning disarming OLF’s combatants.
On the question of the organization’s political goals, he denied that secession has never been the goal of his organization but “self-determination.
Dawud also talked about the assassination attempt on his life during Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam’s administration.
In part two of interview with Derje Haile, Dawud Ibsa (chairman of Oromo Liberation Front) says that the government of Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed has failed in terms of managing what he calls the “transitional government.”
Speaking agasint the backdrop of Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) agitation, Gebru Asrat says secession of Tigray from the rest of Ethiopia is risky
borkena May 20, 2020
Gebru Asrat, one of former top TPLF leadership and president of Tigray regional state, warns the people of Tigray that Secession is risky
He seems to say so not on grounds of its possible repercussions ( economic and other) but on grounds role to Tigreans in the formation of the Tigrean identity. He sees Ethiopia as an integral part of Tigrean identity-which is an ethnic identity if it stands on its own.
