Berhanu Nega

Berhanu Nega (born 1958) was nominated to be the mayor of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia in the Ethiopian general elections, 2005. He is a founding chairman of the Rainbow Ethiopia: Movement for Democracy and Social Justice and a Deputy Chairman of Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD), for whom he served as chief election campaign strategist. He is also the co-founder of Ginbot 7, an anti-government rebel group.^[1]

Early life

Born in Bishoftu, Berhanu attended Addis Ababa University where he participated in the student movement against the ruling Derg government in his freshman year.^[2] When the government acted against political dissidents in 1977, Berhanu with other radical student activists fled to Mount Asimba in northern Ethiopia. After a division within the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Party (EPRP), he was detained for openly criticizing killings within the EPRP. After a few months, he was released by his captors and crossed into the Sudan where he lived for two years until he was granted political asylum in the United States.

He did his undergraduate degree in economics at the State University of New York at New Paltz^[3] and got his PhD in economics from the New School for Social Research, in New York City. During that time, he became one of the organizers of an annual conference on the "Horn of Africa" that debated and analyzed the political, social and economic conditions in the sub-region. For over five years, it served as a forum for intellectual dialogue among political leaders, policy analysts and researchers interested in developments in that part of Africa.^[2]

Having completed his PhD studies, he joined the faculty of economics at Bucknell University, where he became a lecturer in economics for three years. Later he founded Imbilta, a bi-monthly magazine focusing on economic, political, social and current affairs in Ethiopia and he was the founding chairman of Ethiopian Economic Association. In 1989, Berhanu married to Ethiopian born American optometrist Dr. Nardos Minasse.^[2]

Return to Ethiopia

Berhanu, with his wife and his two children, Noah and Iyassu, returned to Ethiopia in 1994. Berhanu became an entrepreneur and founded the Ethiopian Agro-Maize, a fertilizer producing company, and Addis Village Family Home Builders. Berhanu has also served as a lecturer at the Addis Ababa University, Department of Economics. From 1996 to 2000, he served as the president of the Ethiopian Economic Association. He has also served as the head of the Ethiopian Economic Policy Research Institute, a non-profit organization that he helped to establish. He also did consulting work for the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.^[2]

On 8 April 2001 Berhanu and Professor Mesfin Woldemariam they held a day-long panel discussion at the hall of the National Lottery on academic freedom which was followed by student riot in the main campus of Addis Ababa University. They were arrested on the allegations that this panel incited a student protest at Addis Ababa University the next day, but released on bail 5 June and neither were ever tried.^[4]

The 2005 general election

During the 2005 elections, Berhanu debated Meles Zenawi.^[5] Despite the post-election political impasse, CUD met on 20 August and elected Berhanu mayor of Addis Ababa. Dr. Admasu Gebeyehu and Assefa Habtewold were elected Deputy Mayor and Speaker of the city assembly respectively at the same meeting.

However, the October riots led to Berhanu's imprisonment, along with CUD chairman Hailu Shawul, Professor Mesfin Woldemariam, and Former Senior UN Prosecutor Dr. Yacob Haile-Mariam and other leaders of the CUD, as well as a number of civil rights activists and independent journalists. They were charged with genocide and treason. Amnesty International and the European Union recognized the prisoners as political prisoners and requested immediate and unconditional release.^[6]

While in Kaliti Prison, Berhanu wrote and published a book Yenetsanet Goh Siked ("The Dawn of Freedom"), which was published in Kampala, Uganda by MM Publishers in May 2006. The book, over 600 pages long, was highly popular and was sold out in its first weekend, selling out over 10,000 copies and garnering a black market with price 5 times its retail - so much so that the government started harassing people found with the book, stopping traffic and searching cars, while the public was selling copies of the book in black market. More copies were brought in from outside as local publishers were afraid of publishing the book. ^[7]

After imprisonment

Berhanu's CUD party won 137 seats of the 138 seats in the Addis Ababa city council. The elected council members of the party held an election for mayor and elected Berhanu to be the mayor. Then, the ruling party refused to hand in the city and eventually imprisoned all the leaders of the party including Berhanu. After 21 months in prison along with all opposition leader, Berhanu left the county in 2007 and returned to teach at the economics department of Bucknell at Bucknell University.^[8] While in the U.S, Berhanu announced the founding of a new political group, Ginbot 7, as the old one was dismantled by the government. Ginbot 7, established to pursue civil resistance through an all inclusive means attracted thousands of people in Ethiopia and abroad. Ginbot 7 now is one of the prominent opposition organizations fighting for liberty and democracy in Ethiopia. ^[9]

The ruling government claimed on 24 April 2009 that it had foiled a coup attempt led by members of Ginbot 7 to overthrow the government, arresting 35 people they claimed were part of the plot.^[10] Those arrested included General Tefera Mamo, Berhanu's cousin Getu Worku, and Tsige Habte-Mariam, the 80-year-old father of another well-known opposition figure at the time in exile, Andargachew Tsige.^[11] Ginbot 7 has denied this allegation as part of the governments overall suppression of dissent by accusing its opponents of illegal activities and sentencing them in a kangaroo court. This common practice of using the court system as an instrument of oppression including political parties and journalists has been documented repeatedly by international human rights organizations everywhere and details can be found in the annual reports of Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and the state department of the United States.

As the continuation of this practice, in late 2009 an Ethiopian court sentenced Berhanu to death, in absentia, along with four others (who were also sentenced in absentia), while 33 were sentenced to life in prison.^[12] Berhanu became a full professor at Bucknell University on spring of 2015.

In July 2015, Berhanu went to Eritrea, to join the "freedom fighters" that have been receiving help from the government of Isayas Afewerki, a long time leader of the Red Sea state.

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