Yankee Queen ማን ናት ጌታቸው ረዳ ETHIO SEMAY

 

Yankee Queen ማን ናት

ጌታቸው ረዳ ETHIO SEMAY

ለታሪክ ተመራማሪዎች ካጠራቀምኳቸው ማሕደሮች በሚል ርዕስ ወርሃዊ አምድ በማዘጋጀት ባለፉት አመታት ለኢትዮ ሰማይ አንባቢዎቼ ሳስነብባቸው ነበር: አሁን ከውጥረቱ ብዛት የተነሳ የረሳሁት መሰለኝ። ፋይሌን ድንገት ስዳስስ ባለፈው ሳምንታት “እነ ያማሞቶ እና ቪኪ ሃደልስቶን” ከወያኔው ብርሃነ ገብረክርስቶስና ፕሮፌሰር ኤፍሬም ይስሐቅ ስለ  አገራችን ሲዶሉቱ በዩቱብ ተሰራጭቶ ክንብንባቸው ተገልጦ ደንገት እንደተደረሰባቸው ይታወሳል። ባለፈው ወር  “ስለ አምባሳደር ቪኪ” ላቀርብ አስቤ ያጣሁትን ማሕደርዋን ዛሬ ድንገት አገኘሁትና ላካፍላችሁ ብየ ስለ “ሰይጣንዋ  ቪኪን” ላስነብባችሁ መጣሁ። ኢትዮጵያ በወያኔ በኩል ቀጥተኛ የሆነ 27 አመት የቅኝ ግዛት ጣልቃ ገብነት አስተዳደር ገብታ መኖርዋን እዚህ ማሕደር በማስነብባችሁ ሰነድ፤ አሜሪካ  በአምባሳደሮቿ በኩል አዲስ አባባ ውስጥ በምርጫው ወቅት ምን ይደረግ እንደነበር አዳዲስ ለሆናችሁ ወጣት ፖለቲካ ተሳታፊዎች እንድትማሩበት እነሆ ላስነብባችሁ።  

Vicki J. Huddleston Ethiopian Kingmaker

(Sudan Tribune)

By Fisseha Tecle

4/25/2006

Posted at ETHIPIAN SEMA

“Even her dog, a prize winning Afghan, was getting more headlines,” wrote the Dallas Morning Herald back in 2002, referring to the obscure diplomat Vicki Huddleston 

(http://peacecorpsonline.org/.../messages/2629/1007882.html)

Huddleston eventually managed to get some attention by exaggerating the significance of Castro’s opponents during her stay in Havana. According to some reports, Huddleston’s dissidents were “manufactured - and paid by the US.” 

(http://peacecorpsonline.org/.../messages/2629/1007882.html)

April 26, 2006 — she is a big fish in a small sea — the Yankee Queen turned kingmaker in one of the most troubled and impoverished countries in Africa. She is the American point woman in Addis Ababa, wielding a big stick, throwing around the power and money of the US to keep a friendly tyrant in power at all costs.

The US Department of State was caught flat-footed when Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his party were trounced at the May 2005 Ethiopian elections. It’s perhaps one of the greatest American intelligence failures in the last few years.

The sensible thing would have been to correct a mistake and support the aspirations of the Ethiopian people for democracy. Instead what we got was a superficial, knee jerk reaction. Surprised US bureaucrats quickly huddled and decided to keep the Zenawi regime in power no matter how repulsive it may be.

Since early June 2005, the US Embassy in Addis Ababa has taken on a partisan and very unpopular role in Ethiopia’s domestic dispute. The embassy has been engaged in overt and covert operations to discredit and dismantle the opposition.

The public face of this campaign has been none other than U.S. Charge D’Affaires Vicki Huddleston. Kingmaker Vicki is now busy coercing elected city council members of Addis Ababa to abandon their leaders in jail and join a pseudo organization created by the Prime Minister’s secret services.

At least 100 people who protested electoral fraud have been gunned down by Zenawi’s security forces since June 2005. Some 40,000 have been in jail, including the top leadership of the main opposition party, journalists and civil society leaders. Instead of putting a stop to the carnage and reign of terror, the likes of Huddleston are shamelessly blaming the victims.

The situation in Ethiopia and the role of American and British diplomats has some eerie resemblance to what happened in Uzbekistan. The United States and the United Kingdom sanctioned torture and murder by the government of Prime Minister Karimov, according to former Brtish Ambassador to Uzbekistan. It was done in the name of fighting terrorism. According to Ambassador Murray, “Karimov is one of the most vicious dictators in the world, a man who is responsible for the death of thousands of people. Prisoners are boiled to death in Uzbek jails.”

Murray had the moral courage to speak up against such egregious violations of human rights violations and to resign from his post. Unfortunately, there are not too many Craig Murrays, especially not in Addis Ababa. (The whole story on Craig Murray and Uzbekistan is available at the following website. 

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/01/19/1452237)

Ambassador Huddleston came to Ethiopia having spent her entire career treading such illustrious diplomatic backwaters as Bamako; Tananarive, Havana and Port au Prince. You see, Africa does not get the best and the brightest, even when it comes to diplomats.

The bane of poor nations such as Ethiopia is being at the mercy of the Yamamotos and Huddlestons of this world - third rate diplomats with shallow or little knowledge of the areas they cover. Years of internal conflict and bad leadership have made Ethiopia desperate and vulnerable, giving disproportionate power to mediocre emissaries, to the alms givers and their local cohorts.

Posted at ETHIO SEMAY 2006