I had the privilege of meeting yesterday Professor Merera Gudina, associate professor of Political Sciences at Addis-Ababa University, chairman of the ONC - Oromo National Congress - and a parliament member. To tell you the truth, I had his mobile phone number for a few weeks but just did not dare calling though many had told me he was an approachable person. He is more than that. I was truly impressed by his deep intelligence and his incredible kindness. He received me in his office, at the Political Sciences department, a small room which tables are charged with thousands of books and documents, a desk actually messier than mine, that is a scoop.
Dr Merera Gudina is a teacher and an excellent one, his statements are clear, he kindly brings you back to the point you missed and stresses the essential. His door is opened to his students and to strangers like me... I learned a lot. Here is the transcription summarized, sometimes rewritten but faithful - the recorded sound is not always good, students can be VERY noisy - of our conversation.
AF: Professor Merera, I know who you are of course, that you come from Ambo region and that you have been in politics for a long time now, right?
MG: That goes back to my student's days during the time of the emperor.
AF: How old were you?
MG: Around 20 and I went on during Mengistu's time. I was jailed 7 years.
: Can you give me the precise years?MG: From 1977 to 1984
AF: Quite a long time... and Ethiopian jails are...
MG: They are horrible. It is the only thing that has actually improved in this country.
AF (puzzled): You mean it was worse before? I met many Ethiopian dissidents and...
MG: Oh ! They do not know what it used to be. Now your families can visit you at least. During Mengistu's time you could disappear or be killed and your family not knowing anything of your whereabouts for years. That was definitely the darkest time of our history.
AF: How can one survive seven years in jail?
MG: Survival.. You know... You learn survival. You have to occupy yourself reading books...
AF: You were allowed books?
MG: Well, we were smuggling books and sharing them with other detainees, one for a hundred prisoners. Human beings have incredible skills for survival, you know.
AF (impressed): I guess some are more skilled than others...
MG: No, we all are, we learn.
AF: Why were you jailed?
MG: At that time, I was a member of the All Ethiopia Socialist Movement. Most of them were killed but Dr Negede Gobezie still lives in exile in Brussels.
AF: You were freed in 1984 and...
MG: I went back to my studies, finished my BA, MBA and PhD.
AF (more and more impressed): A PhD is a great achievement in Ethiopia (I should have added a PhD is a great achievement anywhere). May I ask you about your social background? It is rich, modest, middle-class?
MG: I am the son of a reach peasant who died when I was very young, six or seven years old... so I would say, a difficult background.
AF: You were not rich...
MG: Not rich, not supported...
AF (admiring now): You are a survivor... more gifted for survival that most of us.
MG (smiling): Yes, I am a survivor...
AF: What happened next?
MG: Well I finished my education, a temporarily withdrawal. I was forced back into politics ten years after around 1995-1996.
AF: What was your main reason?
MG: Well, the crisis in Oromo politics, its direction. They are a lot of Oromo political forces, some fighting for independence, I am of the opinion that a solution to the Oromo problem should be sought in a united Ethiopia.
AF: You know I have been living in Oromia for a few years and when I talk to Oromo, they often tell me they feel neglected by the regime, that they do no get any good roads or new bridges... that Oromia's development is not a priority for the current government.
MG: Yes that is true. OPDO is obviously the ruling-party's puppet and does not represent the Oromo people.
AF: When was ONC created?
MG: In 1996
AF: You were among the founders?
MG: Yes.
AF: I know about repression in Oromia. I mean, I read the Human Rights' watch reports. Check suppressing dissent - May 2005 and the information by country.
MG: You know, before, during and after the elections, thousands of our supporters were arrested and around 23 were killed. One was an elected MP.
AF: Yes, Ato Tesfaye Adane Jera, from Arsi Negele. I remember...
(...)AF: I know too about rigged elections, well, everybody knows. Do you think the opposition actually won them?
MG: We have serious reservations about the National Election Board and the fairness of those elections. It is obvious that the government rules this country by the power of bullets... not ballots...
AF: Then, there was the big issue of joining or non-joining parliament. We have to talk about it.
MG: OK
AF: You know, I talk to people, at least I try to, and it seemed to me that the majority of Ethiopian people strongly opposed the idea of joining.
MG: The political landscape in Addis-Ababa and in the north - the Amhara region - and the political landscape in Oromia are different. The idea of abandoning the legal platform is not popular in Oromia. Thousands were killed, detained. The sacrifices paid by the people in the last 14 years was so high that they fear abandoning the legal platform without any alternative can only lead to more repression and oppression.
AF: Yes, I can understand your position now. You mean the majority of your electorate actually wanted their representatives to join parliament.
MG: Yes, and you know we got the totality of our votes from Oromia.
AF: What about the illegal ONC?
MG: Well, it is not really illegal.
AF: But they are two.
MG: No, they are no two. Well, the ruling-party actually bought two people.
AF: Can you remind me their names though I can find them on Internet?
MG: Tolosa Tesfaye and Bonna Tadesse. They came with armed security men, ransacked and took control of our offices. It is illegal, a government's created ONC
AF: But they are the legal ONC now, according to the ruling-party.
MG: Not really, it is the government's problem, you know, not ours. The day we walked out of the parliament, 37 ONC members followed, only the two of them remained. They have no support at all. It was just a government's tentative to create pressure.
AF: Do you think they are doing the same thing now with Lidetu Ayalew inside CUD?
MG: Well at that time, you can guess or smell the government's hands anywhere... anywhere.
At that point, I feel the urge to assure to Dr Merera that though joining parliament is a very unpopular choice in Addis, though I am convinced that Lidetu Ayelew and his friends have definitely lost the respect of the people, I know he conserves theirs and has mine.
AF: What about the UEDF executive committee who recently dismissed you and Dr Beyene of your responsibilities?
MG: Ah... UEDF is an umbrella, you know for 13 parties. Among them, 5 are operating inside the country and 8 are abroad. So, those whose are operating from abroad do not care.
AF: You mean they are not in touch with Ethiopian realities.
MG: They obviously think bold leaders have now enough popular support to remove Meles from office.
AF: You don't think so?
MG: They are still problems. We definitely have popular support but it is not organized, according to my experience...
AF: You fear Meles could use his guns and...
MG: He could... and popular upraising could lead to no real gains. There are high risks of bloodshed. Your know the army here is not really a national army, like in Georgia or others places where the army actually supported the people and would have refused to shoot. Army here is more a private army, the EPRDF's army. We cannot be sure.
AF: What about the peaceful struggle CUD hardliners seem up to?
MG: Yeah, well, we must still agree but yes, we are part of it.
AF (delighted): You know.... we are all waiting in Addis...
MG (smiling): Well... I'll try... we might try to do something.
AF: You cannot imagine how happy I am with that interview! My last question concerns the university. It is still closed, right?
MG: Well, it is semi-closed; I am teaching the Masters. University is closed for the undergraduates.
AF: Why do you think it is closed ?
MG: I guess the ruling-party fears a student's upraising.
AF: They are right to fear it, no?
MG: Well... yeah... yeah.
Interview was over. I took a few "cliche's" Dr Merera said I was free to choose the best one among them. Hope he'll like this one... and the post. His last words were: "Feel free to come anytime, for a coffee... and knock my door."
I will and as a humble blogger, I will be deeply honored to do so.
Amesigenalew *, Professor.
Addis Ferenj