Ethiopia: Opposition wants EU aid
ION, No.1231, February 2, 2008Using the excuse that it wants to start a short-wave radio station, a group of Ethiopian opponents is seeking to obtain €1.2 million from the European Union.
A group of Ethiopian opponents in exile close to Berhanu Nega and Andargachew Tsige was to file a request last week with the European Union (EU) for a €1.2 million grants as part of the European instrument for Democracy and Human Rights Programme. They plan to use these funds for the lunch and first eighteen months running costs of a new short-wave radio station called Voice of Ethiopia, broadcasting in Ethiopian languages, beginning with Amharic and Oromo. The group already has a website and states it wants to reach not only Ethiopia but also the Horn of Africa.
This group presents itself under the name of Taskforce on promoting Ethiopian Democracy and Human Rights (TEDH). It states it was constituted in mid-December 2007 in the Netherlands, although its president, Abebe Bogale, is resident in Belgium. It consists of a certain Mr Aziz, born in Wollo and who works for Alcatel in Dallas, United States; Bezuneh Tsige, Andargachew Tsige's brother; Agegnehu Meles and his New Zealand-based brother, General Haile Meles. Other members of the TEDH are Mr Zelalem*, an Amhara nationalist living in exile in London who published a book prefaced by Berhanu Nega; Major Mamo, an explosives expert now living in exile in London who had been in the army under president Hile Mariam Mengistu; Mulualem Tarekegn, the wife of former UEDP-Medhin leader Admasu Gebeyehu, plus two other Ethiopians living in the United States.
This group of Ethiopian opponents is counting on the support of the Portuguese Socialist Euro-MP Ana Gomes to further its case, as she is still very angry with the Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. This project is also backed by Kinfu Assefa, who is in charge of the Ethiopian Media Forum (EMF) web site. This Gurage former journalist who moved to Amsterdam to flee from the Ethiopian regime is favourable to the Berhanu Nega line.
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*Note from the Web
Although Zelalem claims to be opponent of the regime in Ethiopia, he was one of the two individuals who took and handed over the money collected by the Woyane Embassy in London during the time of the Ethio-Eritrea war to Meles Zenawi. He had also an interview with a Woyane newspaper expressing his unconditional support and praise to the regime.
Posted on 02 February 2008 @ 20:30
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