Marathoner Feyisa Lilesa arrives in U.S. with hope despite exile

BY CHRIS CHAVEZ

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sport Illustrated) – Feyisa Lilesa finally cracked and broke down in tears as he watched his fellow Oromo people give thanks in a series of video messages for his stance of solidarity with them. A 14-year-old Oromo boy from Houston said “Thank you” and “Good job.” A member of the U.S. National Guard with Oromo roots gave him a salute while in full uniform. Lilesa held the phone close to his face and let out a smile.

“Hello, Feyisa, my Oromo lion,” Mako Felema, an Oromo woman from Minnesota said. “You made all Oromo people proud. You showed what Oromo people is to the world. We love you. You showed us a snapshot of what the freedom looks like. We are very proud to have a hero like you and a young and brave person like you. You are the one who would give our country the freedom we been wanting for decades. I know you won’t stop here. I know you will continue with this fight and do whatever it takes to give us a freedom with a god help. We love and we stand behind you.”

When Lilesa extended his arms with his fists clenched and his forearms crossed in an X-shape as he ran down the finishing straight to take the silver medal in the men’s marathon at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, it was a sign of power and restraint in a defensive posture symbolizing peaceful resistance. The demonstration was aimed at raising awareness to the killing of the Oromo people in Ethiopia—the country’s largest ethnic group who are being oppressed in response to their peaceful protests in favor of political reforms. In the post-race press conference in Rio, he said that he feared for his life and believed he would be killed or held captive if he returned home.

The same thing that drove him to protest at the Olympics is what made him cry less than 10 minutes before he walked out to address the media in his first U.S. press conference on Tuesday afternoon.

Speaking to a room of about 25 reporters and a few Ethiopian admirers, Lilesa reiterated that his upbringing on a farm and the values instilled by his family reminded him of the people who are being driven out of their homes and killed in the Oromia region. With his legs churning away but his mind focused on the killings at home, he aimed to make the podium in Rio in order to have the opportunity speak out for those people.

In Oromo culture, young men are taught to respect, listen to and follow their elders. Seeing Felema, a woman old enough to be his own mother, dressed in a traditional shari and saying that he is a hero was enough to overcome Lilesa with emotion.

“This video confirms how much people are suffering and the pain that they feel along with how much they’re yearning to be heard, seen and desired,” Lilesa told SI through an interpreter, something he didn’t have in Rio de Janeiro as Ethiopian staffers feared for their own lives if they helped Lilesa.

• Feyisa Lilesa’s powerful statement on danger in Ethiopia

Oromo farmers started being displaced when the government contemplated plans to expand the capital into the Oromo territory. While the plans have reportedly been put on hold, security forces continue to arrest and even gun down peaceful protesters. Lilesa stood outside of the press conference area in Rio whispering this message to reporters. A video of his plea was recorded and uploaded to LetsRun.com and that was the last reporters were able to get a hold of the new silver medalist-turned-activist.
Lilesa says that he returned to the athletes’ village and packed his things before heading to the closing ceremonies at the Maracana, where it was expected that he would raise his arms again as he received his silver medal. On the ride over to the stadium, Ethiopian handlers from the track and field federation told him that they feared he would be fined and potentially lose his medal, if he chose to protest. International Olympic Committee officials also informed him about the rules against political demonstrations at the Games under Rule 50 of the Olympic charter. The act was not necessary a second time, as his arms remained at his side and IOC President Thomas Bach whispered congratulations into his ear and then told Lilesa that he was safe.

Lilesa then collected his belongings from the athletes’ village before heading to a hotel that had been paid for by Oromo supporters in the United States and around the world who had learned of Lilesa’s demonstration through social media. His cellphone had international service, which allowed him to see that his social media accounts and messaging apps had been buzzing non-stop. Lilesa waited to contact his family in Ethiopia, which includes his wife and a five-year-old daughter and three-year-old son in Addis Abba. His wife was shocked by his decision to protest and repeatedly made calls to check on his safety.

“I do miss my country but I know that I can’t go back,” he adds. “I really can’t do anything about that right now because I’ve made my decision. I miss my family and think about them all the time because they’re still in Ethiopia. I’m safe and I’m free here.”

With the Olympics wrapped up, Ethiopian government officials said that he would be welcomed back home like a hero and that he had no reason to fear for his life. This is the same government that has killed more than 500 Oromo people since November 2015 and arrested thousands of others. Lilesa chose to remain in Brazil before deciding his next move.

He remains in constant contact with his family, although reaching his parents is sometimes difficult due to internet and telephone availability in the countryside. Lilesa also follows the latest news on the Oromo protests through social media, where he also discovered that a GoFundMe page for him was started less than 24 hours after his marathon finish. The site collected more than $50,000 in the first day and has now raised more than $162,000 in less than a month. Lilesa earns most of his money from his sponsorships, race appearances and winnings and says that, while he is grateful for the money that has been collected, he has not accessed it yet.

• Olympics were not perfect, but Rio tried its best

Oromo people donated. They changed their profile pictures on Twitter and Facebook to the image of Lilesa crossing the finish line. They wrote songs about him. After he addressed fellow members of the Oromo community and members of the U.S. Senate, people rushed to get their photos with him, posing with their arms crossed in solidarity. While his 2:04:52 personal best makes him the 10th-fastest Ethiopian of all-time in the marathon, it is the simple act after the Olympic race that has made him an icon to his country.

“I knew it would be big but I didn’t expect it to be this big,” Lilesa says. “The day after, I saw my social media accounts blowing up and the media carrying several stories pertaining to my protest. That’s when it dawned on me that this was much bigger than I expected.”

Lilesa set an example that would be replicated when his compatriot Ebisa Ejigu also crossed his arms when he won the Quebec City Marathon on August 28 and most recently when Tamiru Demise took silver in the men’s 1,500 meters at the Paralympic Games over the weekend.

A marathon can take a toll on any runner’s legs, and Lilesa took a 10-day break following the closing ceremony in Rio. Fearing that he was being watched, he kept to himself for that time. Brazilian Oromo sympathizers assisted him for a few days as members of the U.S. foreign ministry arrived to help. Lilesa has since been granted a U.S. visa that allows him to train and compete in the States through January 2017. He is exploring the possibility of moving to Arizona or New Mexico to train at altitude with other Ethiopians before resuming competition. He has repeatedly told reporters that he is not seeking asylum or U.S. citizenship at the moment. If he was granted an opportunity to run competitively for the United States, he may decline.

“What I’m asking is for is freedom and my people want freedom,” Lilesa says. “I look forward to going back to my country. Once there is freedom and change, I will run for my country so I don’t think I would accept [a U.S.] invitation.”

“I do have a concern for my family, but what I’m thinking right now today is not so much that I want to bring my family here but that change will come to Ethiopia so that I can go home to my family.”

The relationship beween Ethiopian terrorist regime and Al Shabab

The US and the Europeans must condemn the Ethiopian government for gross human rights violations and mass killings of innocent Ethiopian people for exercising their constitutional rights.

The US government has been muzzled naively considering the Ethiopian government dominated by one minority ethnic Tigre as an ally on war on terror. Truly, the Ethiopian government went into Somalia to suppress the OLF and ONLF, not to fight Al-Shabaab as the Western powers believed. The there are rumors that underground dealings between Al-Shabaab and the Ethiopian government is that Al-Shabaab received arms and cash from the Ethiopian government in return to fight OLF and ONLF both in Somalia and crossing into the Ethiopian border to kill ONLF and OLF fighters in Ethiopia.

This theory is not far-fetched considering the fact that Al-Shabaab has never attacked Ethiopia while it attacked Kenya many times.

The majority of the Ethiopian people don’t consider the government as a legitimate. In fact, many people consider the government a state terrorist and 21st century Nazi Germany. Many Ethiopians have never seen and experienced the government that is so cruel to the extent of executing pregnant women, children, elders, setting fire to prisons and shooting prisoners who you had already tortured. None of the TPLF rulers have moral conscience and their cruelty is beyond reasoning of the normal mind.

The US and the Europeans are on the wrong side of humanity and history. They funded the government to its nose and the weapons and the aid money has been used to terrorize the Ethiopian people. The aid money that the Western powers donated to Ethiopia never benefited majority of the poor Ethiopians. Massive amounts of money has been stolen by the elite ruling party members and their friends deposited in the Western financial institutions.

The US and the Europeans must condemn the Ethiopian government for gross human rights violations and STOP funding and enabling state terrorism being inflicted on the innocent Ethiopian people.

The only difference between the Ethiopian government led by minority Tigre elite and ISIS is that Ethiopian government is legitimate state terrorist and ISIS is an outlawed terrorist. Both commit crimes against humanity. The US and the Europeans inadvertently funding the state terrorist aka the Ethiopian government.

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The Secret Relationship between Ethiopia and Alshabaab

  The Kenyan troops’ attack last month on the Alshabaab controlled Juba Region in Southern Somalia has unveiled many hitherto sold ‘misimpressions’ and concealed dirty secrets of the Ethiopian regime in Southern Somalia.

The Ethiopia regime which had almost convinced the international community that they’re fighting in Somalia ‘International Terrorists’ that support the Alshabaab group was expected to back and wholeheartedly support the Kenyan army’s invasion of Juba Region.

The stated aims of the Kenyan invasion of the Alshabaab controlled territory in Juba region was spelled out clearly by the Internal Security Minister of Kenya, Mr. George Saitoti, who said: “Our territorial integrity is threatened…It means we are now going to pursue the enemy, who are the Al-Shabab, to wherever they will be.”

The Kenyan invasion comes after a spike of kidnappings of tourists believed to be orchestrated across the border on the Somalia side, which the Alshabaab militants who controlled the area threatened Kenya many times in the past.

Whatever the aims and objectives of the Kenyan invasion, under no circumstances was the Ethiopian regimes expected to foil the Kenyan attack – through the President of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia (TFG) Mr. Sheekh Shariif (who seems now to have reckoned) and other members of his government, since Alshabaab as Ethiopia claimed before was their enemy.

The Ethiopian strategy and game-plan was frustrated when the Kenyan government understood and shoved them aside the designs of Ethiopian regime through the pronouncement made by the delivery boys of the plan, some members of the TFG cabinet. Most of the international community had also supported the step taken by Kenya which severely disadvantaged Ethiopia.

Mr. Shariif’s last minute turnaround argument was that he was not ‘consulted’ with the Kenyan invasion and therefore he did not give the go ahead to it as was his duty as president of Somalia. This is, of course, not true as we know that thousands of Somali troops were trained in Kenya and were ready to act against the Shabbab control of Jubba Land.

After the Ethiopian game-plan through the Shariif government was unmasked, Ethiopia resorted to other measures just to frustrate the Kenyan invasion, such as accusing other entities of involvement in the conflict.

To the surprise of everyone, we heard unexpectedly news of three plane-loads carrying arms to Alshabaab which had landed in Baidoa, Somalia. This announcement was first made to the media by a member of the Somali Parliament, Mahamud Abdulla, who claimed that he personally “witnessed over 10 vehicles from Baidoa airstrip enter a building in the area over the weekend”. Mr. Abdulla later said: “We request from the international community to take action against Eritrea for the support it provides to terrorist group Alshabaab.”

This was followed by the unexpected statements denouncing the Kenyan invasion made by the Somali president Shariif Ahmed on October 24 when he said: “We have asked Kenya to assist the Somalia government in training and supporting the Somali army but not to intervene in Somalia,” and asked the Kenyan troops to withdraw from Somalia.

President Shariif’s claim that Kenya was ‘invading’ Somalia and violating the territorial integrity of Somalia while he was himself ‘protected’ in his presidential compound by foreign forces is preposterous, knowing to everyone that Shariif government controls few blocks in Mogadishu.

However Kenya, having quickly understood the noise coming from Mr. Shariif Ahmed was originating from Ethiopia, and dispatched immediately a delegation to Addis Abbaba.

Few days later, the Ethiopian backed pseudo-religious group Ahlu-suna- wal-jameeca that controls most of the middle regions of Somalia’s Galgadud province claimed that they have fought with ONLF army that landed on their territory from the Indian Ocean and handed them over to Ethiopia.

On air and sea a ready-made ‘misimpression’ of Eritrea was created by Ethiopia to try to fool those who were not familiar with their plots.

Ethiopia’s plan was to link to Eritrea the war in the Juba region of Somalia between the Kenya troops and Alshabaab and to drag Kenya into quagmire with Eritrea in order to frustrate the whole operation. Ethiopia resorted to this tactic when they couldn’t to stop the Kenyan attack on Alshabaab by other means.

The international community was confused by the agenda behind Ethiopia’s reasoning in its attempt to obfuscate the Kenyan attack on Alshabaab. Alshaab as we know use the Juba region in general and the revenues they raise from the port city of Kismayo in particular as a cash cow to finance their wars. The Shariif administration was therefore expected to support the Kenyan invasion. But unfortunately, such are the ordering of things in Somalia these days, that every step the Somali government takes must first be ‘consulted with Ethiopia’. And Ethiopia was always against the expulsion of Alshabaab from the Juba Region of Somalia.

We know now for fact, according to revelation made by Wikileaks recently, that Ethiopia put heavy pressure on Kenya and tried them to stop training the Somali forces in their territory which were destined to capture the Juba region from Alshabaab. Ethiopia had used Shariif Ahmed for this plan. The Shariif had in the past tried all his powers of persuasion to stop the forces which were trained in Kenya for Prof. Mohamed Abdi Gandhi’s Azania regional administration from entering Somalia and taking control of the Juba region.

Qilinto prison fire reignited one long suppressed in me: My message to inmates’ families

On the morning of Sept. 3, eyewitnesses in Addis Ababa reported a flurry of gun shots at Qilinto prison, a remand center on the outskirts of Ethiopia’s capital. That was followed by the expansive compound catching fire, which has reportedly destroyed a large part of the maximum security jail often used as a holding place for political prisoners awaiting trial.

Authorities confirmed 23 deaths but activists say the casualty figure could be as high as 60. The Qilito prison houses up to 3,000 inmates, including prominent Oromo opposition leaders Bekele Gerba, the deputy chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) and his colleagues.  

The loss of life in such a gruesome way is heartbreaking. And the Ethiopian government’s handling of the tragedy is simply revolting–to say the least. Nearly a week after the incident, the whereabouts and status of the detainees remains unknown. After shuttling between several federal prisons hoping to locate their loved ones, on Wednesday distraught mothers staged an  impromptu protest demanding to either be given the body of their dead relatives or be given access to them. To add insult to their injury, some were themselves detained.
Most of the prisoners at Qilinto were locked up on trumped up charges in connection with the 10-month old Oromo protests. I have no doubt that they longed to be free and be reunited with their families. They dreamed and hoped to see injustice lifted from their people. Yet, at least for dozens of those detainees, both their hopes and lives were destroyed by a suspicious fire in a dark jail cell where they’re physically powerless to escape or defend themselves.

I sat thousands of miles away from Qilinto, absorbing the news and trying to imagine what it’s like for the families to be kept in the dark about the fate of their loved ones. Bontu Bekele Gerba is a brave and courageous young woman. In her media appearances, she speaks with so much composure exuding an unnatural strength. I used to envy Bontu that she gets to at least visit the prisons and see and speak to her father. Hers is no enviable position at all but I somehow found myself relating with her situation this week.

My father Bekele Dawano, a fierce advocate of Oromo rights, among the legion of Oromo freedom fighters, disappeared 25 years ago when I was a mere child. I grew up my entire life not knowing whether my beloved father is dead or alive. The blackout of the news of Qilinto and the government’s refusal to inform the families left me paralyzed and filled me with agony. It brought back years of pent up anger and pain.

For years, I thought blessed and lucky were those that knew where their loved ones were–for they could at least go and visit them in prison. Even those whose relatives or family members were killed, could mourn, have some kind of closure and move on with life, as they say. But not having any closure about my father, whose fate and whereabouts remain a mystery a quarter a century later, is akin to living with an unrelenting and insidious pain.  

If I had known my father is in Qilinto, like everyone of the families of the prisoners held there whose fate remains unknown, I would have ran wild  to the site to seek information about his status. I would have been arrested demanding to see my father’s corpse or a proof that he’s alive. But I’m not lucky enough.

I share the agony of awaiting for dreadful bad news that Bontu and the families of the rest of the prisoners might be living through. Not knowing the fate and wellbeing of someone you love kills–piece by piece. Over the years, I found the psychological torment harder than anything else, there are plenty, I had to cope with. Distance does not shield me from feeling their pain as I grew up nursing it having been robbed my father when I needed him the most.  

After 25 long years of uncertainty and searching, I still nurture a faint hope that my father could be in any of Ethiopia’s many jails. So, when a prison is torched, as the case these days, my hope shrinks a bit. I feel as if my father and his fellow prisoners of conscience are smoldering there unattended. I feel suffocated seeing the smoke billowing into the sky. I fear and worry that the Ethiopian government, which snatched my father and robbed me of a normal childhood, may have now burned him alive. I try to assess the moral culpability of those in power and try to imagine the sheer inhumanity of the prison guards shooting down inmates attempting to put out a raging fire. Nevertheless, I find myself drowned in deep thoughts and overcome by a feeling of powerlessness.

It’s late at night, alone in my bed, twisting and turning, I try to write and then stop. I fight back tears and ponder over the possibility of my father being at Qilinto. I wouldn’t have known. He could be one of those shot or burned alive while fighting to douse the inferno with his bare hands. I ponder, since he disappeared more than two decades ago, even if he’s incinerated at Qilinto, he could be rendered unrecognizable or be left there to suffer and slowly meet his death. Having processed all this, I sort of wake up from my hallucinatory state of mind and wish that I would be lucky enough to claim his body and end the decades of sorrow and pain. It is this sort of hope against hope that’s been my secret to ease the burden of memory, as well as profound and chronic agony.

I know I am not alone. There are other families who have similarly been kept in the dark for years. I sometimes wonder how they cope with the sorrow.

My hope and reasons

I spent most of my formative years drifting in thought in search of my lost father and trying to understand what life in prison is like. Having used to them and finding them to be largely uninformed, the rumors that keep flooding me don’t any longer offer much of a hope. Some say my father was killed long time ago. Others claim he’s tortured and he died due to illness and lack of medical care. My father is a man of principle and unshakable political conviction. I was once told that his captors admired his courage and bravery as to not kill him. And instead he’s being held at one of the remote hidden prisons along with other prominent prisoners such as Nadhi Gamada, Yosef Bati, Lamessa Boru and many others who disappeared from the public eye in the last two decades and a half. On a good day, this gives me a sliver of hope–however fleeting.

Press Statement of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Human Rights Situation in Ethiopia

The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the Commission) is deeply concerned by the events unfolding in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia.

Protests reportedly began in the Oromia region in November 2015, opposing the Federal Government’s plan to expand the boundaries of Addis Ababa. Reports indicate that despite the termination of the expansion plan, the protests continued due to the detention of activists, the use of excessive force, and killing of protestors by law enforcement officers.

More recently, protests reportedly erupted in the Amhara region of Gondar in July 2016 when armed police arrested members of the Welkait Committee who called for the recognition of the Welkait community, currently within the Tigray region, as part of the neighbouring Amhara region.

Reports further indicate that from 6 – 7 August 2016, thousands of people around the country took to the streets calling for political reform, equality, justice and the rule of law. The Commission is seriously disturbed by reports which aver that law enforcement agents responded with excessive force, including firing live bullets at protestors in Bahir Dar killing at least 30 people, and beating protestors with batons in Addis Ababa. Reports indicate that nearly 100 protestors were killed from 6 – 7 August 2016.

The Commission has also received information that the Government completely blocked internet throughout the country for 48 hours in an attempt to stop the use of social media to organise further protests. It is alleged that most social media applications are still blocked, hampering communication.

Reports allege that following the first protests in November 2015, hundreds of protestors have been killed, and many more have been beaten, arbitrarily arrested and detained.

The Commission is equally concerned about reports that members and human rights monitors of the Human Rights Council of Ethiopia (HRCO) have been arrested and detained in the Amhara and Oromo regions, while allegedly monitoring and documenting the crack-down on protestors in these regions.

Without reaching conclusions on the above allegations, the Commission is concerned that if these allegations are correct they would amount to violations of Articles 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11, 13 and 19 of theAfrican Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (the African Charter), as well as other regional and international human rights instruments to which the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia is a party.

In view of the above, the Commission calls on the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia to:

·         Fully investigate or allow the African Commission and other international/regional human rights mechanisms unimpeded access to the concerned areas in order to carry out prompt and impartial investigations into the allegations, so that these reports can be verified;

·         Ensure due process of law for those arrested and detained;

·         Respect peoples’ right to freedom of assembly, freedom of expression and access to information;

·         Ensure that perpetrators of the alleged violations are held accountable;

·         Ensure that the victims and their families obtain full redress, including restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, satisfaction and guarantees of non-repetition; and

·         Uphold its obligations under the regional and international human rights instruments to which it is a party, in particular the African Charter.

What is the next step of Oromo Protests?

The next step should be a nationwide road blockage. Not only in Oromia but everywhere in the country. To stop the war on our people by the barbaric Ethiopian government blocking roads which can impede transportation of the militaray. 

NEXT STEP – STARTING FROM SEPTEMBER 5, 2016 UNTIL THE DEMANDS MEET BY GOVERMENT 

NOTHING GOES IN TO FINFINNEE (ADDIS ABABA) – NOTHING GOES OUT OF FINFINENE ( ADDIS ABABA) 

Finfinnee ( Addis Ababa ) is a capital city of Ethiopia with a population of more than 3 million. The city survival depends resources that come from outside. It’s farmers who feed the whole city with teff, wheat , onions, tomato, potato, chilli , shiro , coffe, oil seeds. The chat – jimmaa ( Barcaa) comes from Awaday, import billions through our roads and resell to our populations. They export Oromia coffe one Billion dollar per year. IF they think that they can kill and also enjoy Oromo farmers products, they have underestimated and never learned yet our real power. So this is the time to show them. If they pull bullet on us , We will pull out what give them that energy.

The core of Economy is Transportations. So We should focus on good transporting vehicles. The heart of the government is import and export of 500 Billion Ethiopian Birr business which takes place from Djibouti passing through the following Oromia cities, Diredawa, melka jebdu, hurso , mieso, asebot, Awash, Metehera, Welenchiti, Adama, Mojo, Bushoftu, Finfinee route. The other action is to stop all construction cement and construction steel transport in all over the country so that no construction takes place.

The aim is in short to block transport vehicles such as trucks, trailers, izusu and all good transportation vehicles. No vehicle will be allowed to transport imports from djibouti to mojo port or finfinee ports. No Vehicle will be allowed to transport agricultural product from Oromia to Finfinee. A warning will be sent to owners of vehicles and any vehicle found transporting will be confiscated.
In order for this protest to take places, it has three stages of applications.

A warning will be sent to owners of vehicles through press release and any vehicle found transporting will be burnt wherever found. No business man takes a risk of his vehicle burned by protests. After warning any vehicle found will be burnt. No agricultural products and no imports to Finfine for one month.
What is the target of these actions?
1) Paralyzing the government to stop killing of Oromos – No transportation means, no government activities, no business and no supply at all. Transportation is the core and backbone of the governments and this will shake it seriously and make it to lose control.
2) To stop Construction- The rich should stand with his people. They shouldn’t build apartments; villas and live luxury live in This will stop. While our farmers dies, the rich can’t sit and enjoy freedom.3) Dry up Income of Government – No Transportation means no business and no tax. Government will lose billions, foreign investors also start to run away which bring billion of dollar lose within short time.
4) Import Blockage – Every month nearly 50 billions Ethiopian Birr of products imported and transported through oromia to finfine or mojo port- No vehicle means billions of products will wait on Djibouti port and the rent of port will eat away the dollar of the governments.

Our demand from Ethiopia government:
1. To release all Prisoners of conscience which are more than 30,000 within one week including Bekele Gerba , otherwise this action will be taken in every corner of Ethiopia which makes the government to lose at least more than 100 Billion Birr each Month.
2. To stop the mass imprisonments and killings and allow international investigators (Uinted Nation investigators) and pay full compensations to the victims of the killings , rape and tortures and imprisonments.
3. To Establish a transitional Government where all Political groups can participate and make free fair election under supervision international trusted organizations.

Until the above demand meet by the government, the road blockage shall continue. The #Oromoprotests, #AmharaProtests #EthiopiaProtests will target every sector of the government financial resources as below- The source of Income of Ethiopian Government which will targeted next
 TOURISM – 3.2 BILLION DOLLAR PER YEAR
 IMPORT TRADE – 16.4 BILLION DOLLAR PER YEAR
 EXPORT TRADE – 5 BILLION DOLLAR PER YEAR ( COFFE 1 BILLION DOLLAR)
 FOREIGN INVESTMENT – 4 BILLION DOLLAR PER YEAR
 REMITTANCE BY DIASPORA – 4 BILLION DOLLAR PER YEAR
 FOREIGN AID – 3 BILLION DOLLAR PER YEAR

We request the government to meet our demands as soon as possible; otherwise it is the responsibility of the government for all that happens.