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Signs of a crumbling KingdomWhen a corrupt, bereft of ideas on how to govern properly, kingdom is about to crumble there are many telltale signs that foretell when and the manner in which the supposed kingdom is about to fall. The current regime in Addis Ababa seems to fit this pattern, as its deception appears to have been understood by many especially those in the military, which is to say a lot. The editorial page had written (DECEPTION AND DESERTION: Ethiopia’s current state of Military Affairs) in the past an article detailing the problems faced by the military and their perceived solution in escaping the hell put into them by the regime whose only interest in their welfare appears to turn one military man against the other. Meles Zenawi, the self-styled ruler of Ethiopia, and his cronies seem to have learned and implemented to perfection the first lesson in a dictator’s rulebook i.e. to divide and conquer especially those trusted with a killing machine in other words the military bras. We mentioned how, many Ethiopian soldiers including even those from Meles tribe i.e. Tigrays, are escaping of all places to Somalia in order to find a conduit and a gateway to the rest of Africa especially toYemen and Kenya or even to Europe for those whose relatives are abroad and willing to help. Our reporters in Bosaso have undertaken to find more about the reasons why these soldiers were escaping from the Addis Ababa regime. The main reason mentioned almost by all those interviewed for this writing and whose pictures are shown here is that they are escaping because of lack of pay, many have not been paid in almost a year, and mismanagement within the military. They talked about the fact that most of the military equipment has been transported to Mekelle in order to defend Meles’s kingdom in the event it is removed from Addis Ababa. Furthermore they have informed our reporters the fact that those military men and women from Melez’s tribe have a monopoly on how the military is run. In every department and in almost every army base all over the country the commander is from Meles’s tribe regardless of whether or not he/she has the military credentials to lead an army. This they said has had a demoralizing effect on almost all members of the military. When asked how they could even think of escaping to Somalia especially to a territory where Ethiopian secret service and even military personnel have a presence, they responded that anywhere is better than being inside Ethiopia especially in Ogadenia as they said they could no longer face the daily grindings of war with ONLF and with their Tigrayan rulers. These soldiers have said that they were amazed at how welcoming and accommodating ONLF has been during their journey to escape which is contrary to what they thought or have been taught by the military about ONLF and its stated objectives. Their message to their comrades still in the army is: anywhere is better than being in the Ethiopian military. A special note to the readers, our reporters have agreed with these escapees that they will not print their plight and pictures until they manage to leave Bosaso and its environs for their own safety. Since most of them have now left Bosaso we decided that it is now safe to share the soldier’s plight and pictures with the rest of the world in order to know what is going on within the Ethiopian military. Ogaden Online News
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