OPEN LETTER TO ENGINEER HAILU SHAWEL, THE "REAL" DIASPORA PRIME MINISTER.

It was quite a roller coaster ride. You missed out on the first wave of euphoric Diaspora supporters who overwhelmed Dulles airport with their enthusiastic welcome to the delegation lead by w/t Berukan Mideksa. Although they messed it up when this team did not recognize your leadership and failed to show up to welcome you at the same airport, you nevertheless received a hero's welcome by many of those same supporters that showed up the first day. To see you in such a fragile state after such a long trip was very sad indeed! It seemed that you needed to take care of your immediate health needs before making a long overdue speech to the Diaspora supporters. For this reason alone, I support your decision to decline the invitation to show up in front of the roaring crowd in Washington, DC. Even if your health had allowed it, the famous/notorious speech by Dr Berhanu Nega would have stolen the spot light from any remarks you may have had in mind.

What followed your arrival and subsequent to the initial anticipation of unity among the delegation was indeed a tragedy, if it were not laughable. You declined the invitation to appear in the DC meeting, but you did not show leadership when one was called for. You, as the leader of the delegation, were expected to put out a call to each and every one of the delegation member and decide on a revised itinerary of your stay in North America. You disappointed the Diaspora supporters when you went one way and allowed the other team members to go another way. When unity was needed most, you failed to unite and lead the team.

When private and public efforts were made to put out a call for your leadership, you continued to send mixed messages. The emotion-filled cry for help by w/t Birtukan Mideksa at the Boston meeting unequivocally showed that you were not in control of the situation. May be you needed to get your medical treatment first before meeting with the team and before facing the many questions that the Diaspora supporters would like to ask you.

The least that you can do for the Diaspora supporters is to call an immediate meeting of the delegation, resolve your differences immediately and join them in as many occasions as your health will allow, to meet with your supporters throughout North America. Where you cannot appear in person, make sure you have delegated the appropriate team member to represent you and the team, in successfully completing your stated mission to the Diaspora.

Any political problems between you and the other team members that cannot be resolved at this time should be taken back to Ethiopia and resolved there in the best democratic process possible. By so doing, you will be able to re-unite the fast dispersing Diaspora populace. Such an immediate uniting approach will have significant long term repercussions on the much needed Diaspora support. It may also reverberate back to Ethiopia and rejuvenate or damage the young and budding democratic movement. Your leadership decisions are needed much more so now than ever before.

As you travel throughout these United States, where you can speak your mind freely and fairly, we expect you to outline your intentions regarding resolving your differences with the EPRDF government. We want to hear you articulate, in no uncertain terms, whether you are willing and ready to accept the leadership of the Ethiopian government as the legitimate rulers of the country; to accept the existing constitution and abide by the rule of law and finally to participate in free and fair elections and join parliament to continue the peaceful struggle for freedom and democracy for our people.

As you indicated on many occasions during your campaign speeches back in 2005, you reiterated your belief in the ability of the individual to elect his/her own leaders or put them out of office if they find them incompetent. I have no reason to doubt that your beliefs have changed since. If you disagree with the above avenue for the struggle, then let us know what the alternatives are.

Finally, as you come to the twilight years of your life, you would want to leave a legacy of unity, respectability and uniformity behind you. You would want to live a message of hope to the younger generation and reassure them of the continuity of the struggle for freedom and democracy. You want to leave a younger, confident and dedicated group of leaders to follow your footsteps.

May your health return to you in good measure and allow you to spend enough time to sit through the many hours of debates and discussions that may be needed to come to a resolution and closure of this sad chapter in the Ethiopian Diaspora politics.

God bless.