�Don�t Throw the Baby out with the Bath Water� 
By Gelaye, Onlooker from Jijiga,

I read �Light is Light and Dark is Dark�� article with great interest. Then, I wondered how the Observer (author of the above article) sees dusk and the crack of dawn in light of his rigid �Light is Light and Dark is Dark� dichotomy. To me, in �light-darkness� continuum there are other �grey areas� (If I may say.) such as daybreak and twilight where the distinction border tends to move depending on various factors including but not limited to the intensity of the sun.

Nevertheless, a credit should go where it is due. Observer has made a great point. Observer noted, �It is no secrete what role Negede and co and other remnants of the past regime had played in the Ethiopian politics.� As a victim of the Derg regime myself, I understand where the Observer is coming from. We need to bring criminals to justice. For that to happen we need to have a democratic government. Individuals like Negede can not disappear from the screen of the broad masses of the Ethiopian people. Every one us has the responsibility to keep an eye on them until they ask for pardon, like the former Tigray Administrator, Gebru, in destroying the country. I admire Gebru for doing the right thing at the right time; I expect the same from Negede.

Like Negede there were criminals who worked with modern time murderer Meles Chenawi. Take Siye and Tecola, for instance. Siye, who arrogantly brags about his ability to make wars was working hand and glove with Meles Chenawi. He corrected his past mistakes and now suffering in Addis prison for doing the right thing. I was against Siye the day I heard his TV interview until I heard his position on the Ethio-Eritrea war. Now, for me, Siye is a hero, even though he had made a fatal error for collaborating with Meles. If Siye contests for PM, I will vote for him because he sacrificed himself for his country.

Take Tecola, who was working with Meles, and now vehemently writing against Meles. With all his life experience and rich academic knowledge he should have been able to foresee the evil deeds of Meles, well before many of us who were young and na�ve, when Meles took power. Later is better than never, Tecola came to his senses and started to convincingly denounce the government of Meles Chenawi that he was openly supporting before. Tecola deserves credit for that.

However, I do not give the benefit of the doubt to Tecola for his blanket unconcerned comments about the opposition and certain individuals who had had negative role in the Ethiopian politics. I believe Tecola is deliberately trying to throw the baby out with the bath water. Denouncing an infantile opposition along with people like Negede is destructive for the ongoing struggle to make Ethiopia a democratic country and a home for all Ethiopians of different linguistic, cultural, religious and ethnic backgrounds. 

I am not a member of the opposition nor do I have the desire to be one. I am not also saying that the opposition should have a free ride. At this time of the ongoing struggle where many sacrificed their lives in the country to unseat the rogue government, it is right to condemn certain individuals with dark past but wrong to intentionally discredit the whole opposition who pay their time, money, energy and lives for the betterment of our country.

Editors Note: Negede Gobeze as one of the leaders of Meison was a member of POMOA which was organized by the Derg to eliminate the EPRP and other politically active Ethiopians. Meison leaders were appointed into Ministerial positions. Negede was directly involved in 1977 with the Derg in the hunting down of EPRP leaders specially in the Teklehaimanot area where several EPRP Members and a couple of leaders including a CC member were murdered or captured. Tecola was out of the country by 1976, at any rate his sympathy was with EPRP. Moreover, at this juncture Tecola is not running for any office and he is not actively manipulating any opposition group or party. Nevertheless, Tecola also supports some of the members of the Opposition. The analogy to �a baby� and �bath water� is a poor analogy too. There are other thinkers also who believe the 2005 Election should be thrown out in order to hold later a far more free election under the observation and supervision of international observers. TH