This week in the Ethiopian Blogosphere · Global Voices
Sokari Ekine

The Ethiopian blogosphere continues to hit  hard at the repressive dictatorial government  of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.    Meskel Square and Nazret.com both point to a Channel 4 special report entitled “Ethiopia's Agony” which can now be viewed online.
Meskel Square writes
EPRDF supporters will not like its angle, summed up by a report by the same reporter Inigo Gilmore in The Observer – “Democratic dawn fades in Ethiopia” as abuses come to light.
Nazret highlight the  key points of the Channel 4 programme:
“43,000 Ethiopians in Dedesa Concentration camp, over 30 died; Mass Burial and attrocities perpetrated on citizens;  free press and text messages banned; International Community Patience running out”
Redeem Ethiopia, critically examines an article from the November 10th edition of The Economist, entitled “Ethiopia, a darling of the West turns nasty.”
In its conclusion the article shocks Ethiopians and anyone who follows events in Ethiopia. It states:
“Many, perhaps most, Ethiopians and many foreign observers argue that, despite the government's recent bloody brutality, Mr. Zenawi is still the best man to keep Ethiopia on a path to development.”
Using this simple sentence in its conclusion the Economist tries to absolve Meles by telling the reader that despite all the brutality, most Ethiopians still hold him in high regard. This statement can only leave the unsuspecting reader wondering what miracles this man must have performed to have such grand sins absolved by the very people he is brutalizing. It convinces the reader that he too must accept (at least not oppose) Meles Zenawi in the interest of the greater good that Ethiopians and others expect from him. The reader is asked to hop on to the bandwagon of support; albeit one that only exists in the writer’s mind.
ET Blog Diaries calls on the international community to pay attention before it is too late to the “Atrocities in Concentration Camps in Dedessa” committed by Meles’ government.
Finally the EU representative in EThiopia admits that “We have not witnessed anything like this in Ethiopia before” refering to the Dedesa concentration camp where the Fascist Meles regime is holding thousands of Ethiopian youth. The crimes of Bosnia and Rwanda are being repeated in Ethiopia. We cry out to the world to be truthful and condemn this man and withold the money.
Ethiopian Politics points to an article in the New York Times by Meron Agonafer, which asks “What the U.S. can do to restore a genuine government in Ethiopia?” Meron Agonafer calls for British Prime Minister, Tony Blair to evict Meles from the Commission for Africa.
“ndeed, it is an open secret that Tony Blair has been promoting Meles Zenawi, the notorious autocrat, as the “new leader” of Africa. Of course, if the word “new” is meant to indicate an introduction of ethnic division, abject poverty, intense repression, mass killing, yes, Tony Blair is right on the mark. His poster boy has a master plan to keep Ethiopia in perpetual conflict and misery which will eventually destabilize the Horn of Africa. And the last thing the world needs is lawlessness in that region.
Ethiopundit examines the ruling party of Ethiopia which he describes as “familiar massive and ruthless corporate / totalitarian empire“.
From owning every square centimenter of land in a nation of 70 million onto control of billions in aid annually and total dominance of the commanding heights of a whole national economy, the Politburo's holdings represent the greatest concentration of wealth under unitary control from Cairo to the Cape.
Weichegud!ET Politics – brilliant as usual this time takes a look at the possible contents  of Prime Minister Meles’ “Diary”  written in “solitary confinement solitary confinement in four-by-four meter cells make for some good reading once Prime Minister Meles settles in in the mansion next to Mengistu in the sprawling suburbs of Zimbabwe?”(where he lives as an “official guest of President Robert Mugabe)
Dear Diary,
As I have been telling you for the past three weeks, like all great leaders I am misunderstood and unappreciated during my time. In 20 years, when I head the World Bank’s “Office of What do we do with former despots”, people will finally realize the wisdom with which I led Ethiopia………………..By the way, it is vexing that other African countries are mimicking my tactics without giving me proper credit. Thieves, all of them. Museveni finally came to his senses and arrested that anti-peace opposition traitor Kizza Besigye and charged him with treason and terrorism.