So Abiy Ahmed's Troops Can Catch Eskinder Nega but Not Jal Mero?

Abiy Ahmed's troops are bragging about the capture of Eskinder Nega, a renowned journalist-turned-political activist. But Jal Mero leader of the far-right Oromo militia OLA Shene who ethnically cleansed over a million people from Oromoya region roams free. What happened to Ethiopia? 

* Update: Eskinder Nega has been released per reports on Sunday Feb 26.

Eskinder Nega returned to Ethiopia from US in the early 90s following the fall of the communist Dergue regime and the rise of private newspapers in Ethiopia. The new TPLF dictatorship was worse. Eskinder had to spend the following two decades in prison. The Dergue was at least frank. They didn't allow private media, and no one had to play with fire. 

When the turn of TPLF's demise came in 2018, Eskinder was freed with so many other pollical activists and journalists. It didn't take too long for those who replaced TPLF as the new fascist regime in Addis Ababa to go after Eskinder. The new prime minister Abiy Ahmed & his shadow Oromo fascist regime continuously harassed Eskinder using underground youth groups also known as Qerros. 

Well, the Qerros were openly under the command of Jawar Mohammed, but they always had the backing of Abiy Ahmed's security apparatus. The Qerro did not do all those crimes before November 2020 without state support led by Abiy Ahmed's PP. 

Finally, Abiy Ahmed's patience was over, and he put Eskinder back to jail in 2019. Under TPLF, Eskinder's crime was his newspapers and the harsh criticism they published about the late dictator Meles Zenawi. Under Abiy Ahmed, Eskinder formed a movement to save the capital Addis Ababa from far-right Oromo fascist militias who massacred thousands of Gamo tribe members in the outskirts of the city in the 2018 Burayu massacre. 

It's obvious Eskinder made political blunders that destroyed his own movement called Balderas and divided the pro-democracy electorate in the capital Addis Ababa which eventually led to the horrific 100% election victory of Abiy Ahmed's PP. 

Eskinder Nega knew he made mistakes and quit the leadership of the movement to lead a private life. But Abiy Ahmed could not leave him alone. Assassins were spread throughout Addis Ababa to hunt and kill him and blame others the same way Oromo singer Hachalu Hundessa was assassinated. Realizing this fact, Eskinder fled the capital Addis Ababa to rural Gojjam province. It's been almost a year since he vanished from the public. Now, Abiy Ahmed's troops claim they captured him in the rural town of Bure west Gojjam. It's expected they will fake terrorism charges and sentence him to life in prison.

On the contrary, you have Jal Mero leader of the far-right Oromo militia called OLA-Shene. His troops killed tens of thousands of ethnic minorities from Wollega and other provinces. Over a million have been ethnically cleansed from the Oromo region. If Abiy wanted to capture Jal Mero, he could have done it. But no! Abiy Ahmed's ruling party in the Oromoya region sees Jal Mero as an asset as possible fallback in case something happens in Addis Ababa and they lose power. The TPLF did the same. They were commanders of the Ethiopian army, but they still didn't trust the army, so they had backup ethnic armies in Tigray, and we saw what happened in November 2020. 

Abiy Ahmed and his Oromo far-right groups are running faster than TPLF to the gates of hell. It took TPLF 30 years to do whatever they did, with Abiy and PP, in just four years over a million have been killed and decades' worth of economy gone and the nation back to the dark ages of anxiety and fear. 

We know for sure another major bloodbath is in the making. The only thing we don't know is how soon. Concerned Ethiopians and the international community should push for an all-inclusive dialogue, transitional administration and fresh elections. Then the journey of stability, reconciliation and economic progress can start. 

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