___________________________________________  

To the respected Opposition Leaders : Berhanu Nega,  Mesfin WoldeMariam,  Admasu Gebeyehu,  Goshu Wolde,  Hailu Shawel,  Merera Gudina,  Beyene Petros,  Fassika Belete,  EFJA 's Kifle Mulat and others. This is the fourth follow-up.

Gentlemen, it is no wonder there is nobody to slap some sense into what we are doing, as there are no Sisters amongst you! What a loss? Please understand the emotional baggage I am carrying, if I am not diplomatic or that refined in my approaches.

The much desired and the sometimes thought provoking mirth and amusing nature of our struggle locally and abroad, can be demonstrated in a way we are all too familiar with. While attempting to do so, I am sorry if I mar the dog and pony show currently being smartly played by the leading actors of the regime and the mediocre supporting roles of the opposition aspirants. To me, it has become a depiction of a "Comedic Villany Drama". If the real lives of so many millions of our citizens and the future of a nation was not at stake, I would have laughed and even appreciated the arts and skills of the actors. As if we don't have the professional wrestlers and a plethora of others to entertain us with matches where the outcomes are predetermined, we have been also blessed with this staged play known as  "Comic-Opera Politics", which is very similar to that of the fixed game indicated. What makes it disgusting and intolerable to some of us, the passive spectators, is the lack of addressing and tackling the needs of our people as a priority item while engaged in this futile game that the outcome is not that difficult to predict.

The current major players of Ethiopian politics on the stage have reduced the political activism of many either to a camp of silent and confused observers or have slowly but surely cultivated and grown a one-way communication channel between them and their loyalists. To be fair to the respected chiefs, we, the Indians, have been more concerned about their moods and feelings than being governed by facts and principles. As such, those that must serve the people based on their needs, wills and desires have been conversely imposing their personal wishes and dreams. As a result, the Peoples' demand for true and effective UNITY has not only been ignored, but trampled upon. Even more saddening and upsetting is the UTTER AND INSUFFICIENT NEGLECT SHOWN TO THE PLIGHT OF OVER FOURTEEN (14) MILLION DYING ETHIOPIANS. I wonder if this 'criminal' and indefensible act of those responsible is any different from that of the 'blood hounds' accused of making innocent citizens as cannon fodders?

Today, more than a third of our blood relatives are perishing while pressing forward, foot-fall after foot-fall, falling and hardly picking themselves up to shelters in search of food and medication. Most are helpless and lifeless children, on the backs of their drained, tired, and sometimes expired mothers. Many die before reaching their destinations and have become the choice of vultures and wild animals to feast upon.

I am not sure if it is human nature and a sort of defense mechanism from being mentally tortured to turn away from a gruesome reality such as this one and shield ourselves by forgetting the immense problems that we feel are very much overwhelming and insurmountable. We do not want to even revisit the issue, let alone find remedies for it. This, despite the practical efforts and demonstrations of humanitarian foreigners and few selfless Ethiopians that it is still possible to save many lives.

The opposition camp has been, sadly, engaged only in the manuvering or attempt to enjoy the little power that will be thrown at them and in dishing out a cascade of accusations of the regime. Oddly enough, it is even extended to the international community for not doing enough. Meantime, we are not lifting even a finger to lend a hand to make a difference. It really is sickening when we are witnessing our leaders being so much occupied in the wheelings and dealings to obtain few seats in parliament that will never make any difference in the lives of the forgotten multitude, while not paying their least attention to the least of us. The scramble for personal power, fame and fortune would have been okay, if there were no other pressing needs such as the famine and diseases ravaging our people that required immediate response and action. People are not iron clad that wait standing while they practically starve to death and suffer from killer diseases. They cannot survive, by will alone, until we are done with our monkey business, unless we are not local (from our Galaxy) and are cosmic, in our usual oblivious thinking. OUR PEOPLE are perishing at an alarming rate. This ostentious claim of ours that we are doing something good for them would have been acceptable only if we were saving their lives first or, at least, concurrently.

I, therefore, once again, ask the OPPOSITION LEADERSHIP to DEMAND and/or NEGOTIATE with the regime FOR ALL OF OUR HUMAN AND NATURAL RESOURCES, THE WHOLE " KIT and CABOODLE" - as they say, THAT WE CAN SPARE TO BE MOBILIZED TO FIGHT THE PREVAILING HUNGER & DISEASES, AS A NATION.  We do not have to hear the rims and mountains, any of the old or newly cooked up or juiced excuses as justifications. I hope we will ACT before we are JUDGED BY OUR PEERS and/or HISTORY.

THOSE OF YOU MENTIONED BY NAME AND YOUR COLLEAGUES IN SIMILAR POSITIONS MAY HAVE TO SHOULDER THE BULK OF THE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS NO MORE LOOMING, BUT FAST CONSUMING TRAGEDY. Please lead us to realize the self-help and self-reliance that you have been preaching to us. Let us teach the generation next to us by example! Let us allow them to do their part by providing the means and mechanisms to participate in this national endeavor. As we all have witnessed, WITHOUT COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION, WHICH IS ORGANIC, and INTERNATIONAL ACTION- THAT IS ONLY ADDITIVE-CAN ONLY RESULT IN TEMPORARY RELIEF AND WILL NEVER BRING ETERNAL SOLUTION. The Opposition Camp which claims to be a major stakeholder in the welfare and well-being of the overwhelming majority must take a significant role to organize, mobilize and effectively coordinate the local and foreign efforts in this area.

If it is not condescending, as you all plentifully would not deign to answer the plight and demands of 'commoners' in the past, would you please ask yourselves WHY THE PEOPLE SHOULD ELECt YOU and not keep THE STATUS -QUO? Most of us, I believe, have more than one answer, but will keep them to ourselves, as they seem to be ugly and very offensive to the sensibilities! It is the intention/scheme and not the answers to be blamed, STUPID!

Respectfully,

Wondem WoldeEmanuel