The Meles Zenawi minority regime has closed almost every direction that can be used by the Ethiopian democratic opposition. Because of that, the Ethiopian people continue to suffer under Zenawi’s dictatorship with no relief in sight, as the dictator continues to stage rigged election after rigged election after rigged election. In Kenya, Meles Zenawi already made a deal with the Nairobi government to eradicate the Ethiopian opposition forces like the OLF and others. In Sudan, the Meles Zenawi regime is handing out territories of western Ethiopia ( Gondar) to get favors from the Sudanese government. In the southeast, Meles Zenawi has invaded Somalia and also made alliance with the Somali region of Puntland to block the Ethiopian opposition forces. In the east, Meles Zenawi is controlling Djibouti and Somaliland economically using their Ports and forcing them to accept his orders, including Somaliland blocking ONLF rebel movement. In the north, Meles Zenawi does not have any relationship with Eritrea but he uses his 150,000 soldiers near Eritrea, so he does not care.

So the big question is: what options do Ethiopian democratic forces have to change the Meles Zenawi tyrannical regime? Certainly, the most respectable and democratic force in Ethiopia is Birtukan Mideksa’s Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party and co. But without a pro-UDJ armed group in the horn of Africa, there will never be real progress toward democracy in Ethiopia. Without real pressure on Meles Zenawi, he will never open up space and allow free and fair elections or any transition to democracy. Birtukan’s group needs the support of an armed pro-Ethiopia independent organization. OLF and ONLF separatists are separatists and they don’t share the pro-Ethiopia and democratic principles of Birtukan Mideksa. EPPF is also a useless tool of the Eritrean undemocratic government. Today, Ms. Birtukan Mideksa needs help from a pro-Ethiopia and democratic organization that provides an armed force to support her. SinceBerhanu Nega’s new organization is considering an armed organization to challenge the Meles Zenawi tyranny, Ethiopians needs to guarantee that the struggle for democracy does not lead to anti-Ethiopia decisions by the opposition.

What Ethiopian democratic forces need to do is never repeat the same mistakes of the past. In the past Ethiopian opposition movements sacrifice Ethiopia’s national interests and territorial integrity. In the 1980s, the Ethiopian democratic forces made reckless decisions and big mistakes by allowing their anti-Mengistu movement to get hijacked by Meles Zenawi’s TPLF and by Isayas Afewerki’s EPLF rebels who introduced more dictatorship just like Mengistu the last 15 years. In addition to a new era of dictatorship, Ethiopians in Eritrea were brainwashed by Meles Zenawi’s former friend, Isayas Afewerki, and this led to the illegal separation of Eritrea after the rigged referendum engineered by the rig-masters Zenawi and Afeworki. After Meles Zenawi and Isayas Afewerki destroyed Ethiopia’s northern territory, Isayas Afewerki laughed at all Ethiopians by saying he gave “100 years of homework” by ethnically dividing and destroying Ethiopia. Since that time, Isayas Afewerki preaches ethnic liberation for Oromos and Ogadenis while his Eritrean government practices tyranny against ethnic Afars and Kunamas inside Eritrea. Today, all of this is why the anti-Ethiopia Isayas Afewerki pays millions of dollars for his Eritrean propaganda television program ( EriTV), for his EastAfro propaganda website and other propaganda media outlets to support tribalism & separatists/ONLF to destroy Ethiopia. Isayas pays at least 2 million dollars yearly for his EriTV and EASTAFRO video and website propaganda outlets and other sources to confuse the pro-unity Ethiopian opposition while supporting the tribalist anti-Ethiopia groups like ONLF. But it is not just separatists and Eritrea. Just like anti-Mengistu Ethiopians made big mistakes by working with TPLF and EPLF, Ethiopian democratic forces also made mistakes by using support from the anti-Ethiopia 1980s governments in Somalia and Sudan. So we need to wake up and bring change in the method we use to bring democracy in Ethiopia!

Ethiopian democratic forces need to learn from past mistakes, make corrections and a new ERA of the struggle for democracy should make 2 important requirements for our alliance with foreign governments and forces. The foreign governments or forces MUST:

1. be pro-Ethiopia unity and/or MUST respect Ethiopia’s territorial integrity

2. share our values or Must share our principles of democracy, justice and equality.

So when Birtukan Mideksa’s UDJ or when Berhanu Nega’s new organizations select their outside alliances, it is important to remember the above 2 important requirements. If they don’t learn from their mistakes, they will make the same mistakes again and again by working together with anti-Ethiopia, separatist and undemocratic forces to bring democratic change in Ethiopia. It does NOT make sense to try to bring unity in Ethiopia by working together with anti-Ethiopia, anti-unity and separatist forces like ONLF. It does not make sense to try to bring democracy in Ethiopia by working together with the Sudanese undemocratic and genocidal regimes who have been trying to destroy Ethiopia the last 80 years. The same way, it does not make sense to try to bring democracy in Ethiopia by working together with the undemocratic and anti-Ethiopia Isayas government. In the horn of Africa, there are many separatist anti-Ethiopia groups, many undemocratic forces and anti-Ethiopia governments, except Kenya and Somaliland. So getting assistance from Kenya and Somaliland is the only credible way to bring democracy in Ethiopia. But at this time, there is no favor the Ethiopian democratic opposition forces can give to Kenya. In contrast, there are many favors Ethiopians can give to the democratic government of Somaliland. The most important favor Ethiopians can give to Somaliland is to help UN's recognition of Somaliland independence. Today, the Meles Zenawi dictatorship government has made alliance with anti-Somaliland groups and with the failed organization of TFG in Mogadishu. Analysts say that the TFG has opposed Somaliland’s independence and even hired General Mohamed Omar Hirsi Morgan, the famous 1980s “Butcher of Somaliland” who killed thousands of Somalilanders, while the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) in Mogadishu has also opposed Somaliland’s independence and threatened Somalilanders just like the genocidal Siyad Barre Mogadishu leader who massacred thousands of Somalilanders. So the Ethiopian opposition forces must know all of this and persuade Somaliland to put its relationship with the pro-TFG Zenawi regime conditional. The Ethiopian democratic forces should ask Somaliland to create leverage on Meles Zenawi by allowing Ethiopia’s democratic forces to use Somaliland as a base. After Kenya, Somaliland is the only pro-Ethiopia unity and the only democratic government in the horn of Africa. It makes sense to use a pro-Ethiopia unity force like Somaliland to establish a pro-Ethiopia government in Addis Ababa. And it makes sense to use a democratic neighbor like Somaliland to help us establish democracy in Addis Ababa. In exchange of this favor, Birtukan Mideksa’s and Berhanu Nega’s democratic organizations can use diplomacy at the AU headquarters in Addis Ababa to help the recognition of Somaliland’s independence. This approach is the only credible way to put pressure on the tyrannical Meles Zenawi regime and to bring democracy in Ethiopia by removing the anti-Ethiopia undemocratic TPLF force out of Addis Ababa.