Mereja.Forum

[Naga Tuma]

R.I.P.

Differences in political views take the back seat when someone who struggled for a long time for what one believed in passes away.

I and a couple of friends had a chance to briefly meet with him and his team back in 1991 after they arrived in Addis Ababa. We were among a group of students who had decided to fight against the TPLF if it didn't bring about peace in the country after it marched to the Capital. We planned to go to the west but transportation to there became a problem on the day of the planned departure. Later, I got word from a relative of mine that a group from the east was in town, which led to the brief meeting. To the few of us, going to the west or east didn't matter. I wouldn't have personally gone back to school if the transitional Charter wasn't signed.

I haven’t had another chance to see him again. I have respected his principled political view even though I disagreed with it. One principled view of his that stood out was when he asked why the ODF didn’t join the OFC after it split from the OLF if it stood for democratizing Ethiopia.

I did not know that he was of late elected to Ethiopia’s parliament. If I am not mistaken, I had heard the late Assefa Chabo (?) say that Obbo Galasa was formerly a member of Echat(?.) If this is true, it means that Obbo Galasa started his political struggle saying Ethiopia and passed away saying Ethiopia.

In other words, it seems that he passed away after having reshaped his political views to align with his earliest one, or so it seems. Be that as it may, again R.I.P.

[Naga Tuma]

After posting this yesterday, I heard an accusation directly implicating him about Bedeno. To this day, it is not clear to me whether that gruesome tragedy involved directions from the top leadership or arbitrarily directed by local cadres.

I also fail to understand what happened in Asosa, which predates Bedeno. If I am not mistaken, the western side was at that time under the command of Obbo Lencho Leta. Unless Obbo Lencho Leta was getting directions from Obbo Galasa Dilbo then, should the latter be implicated for it?

National dialogue demands balanced views and analysis based on concrete evidences.

[Naga Tuma]

I wonder if there is some reference to the organization called Echat(?.) If I am not mistaken, it has the name Ethiopia in it, which is the more interesting part to me at this time when national dialogue has become more important than sectarian activism.

[DefendTheTruth]

I wonder if there is some reference to the organization called Echat(?.) If I am not mistaken, it has the name Ethiopia in it, which is the more interesting part to me at this time when national dialogue has become more important than sectarian activism.

I don't know much about this party (organisation), except to have heard somewhere that its acronym refers to የኢትዮጵያ ጭቁን ሕዝቦች አብዮታዊ ትግል(?)።
But in the era of google I just searched the word Echat and came to the following wikipedia entry, which itself references other sources and much larger documentation about the organisation and other issues surrounding the Ethiopian politics of those days.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echat

https://dbpedia.org/page/Union_of_Ethio ... anizations

[Naga Tuma]

That is amusing. Thank you again for the links. I am still in the mindset of asking more than googling.

I also did not know that the late Baro Tumsa also belonged to Echat in his earlier political activism. So, it looks now that the national went sectarian before it tries to become national.