Elias Kifle and Hailu"trail of betrayal"

http://www.ethiopianreview.com/articles/1322
Hailu Shawel's trail of betrayal
Oct 13, 2007

This is one in a series of articles Ethiopian Review will publish in the coming few days to expose the betrayals and gross corruption surrounding Ato Hailu Shawel and his close friends. Up to now, many believed and hoped that Ato Hailu is an innocent victim of the Shaleqa gang. But Shaleqa Yoseph himself said recently that he did not do any thing without being ordered by his boss Hailu Shawel. The most recent actions by Ato Hailu proves the Shaleqa's argument. To get a glimpse of the wrong path Ato Hailu chose to take, read this article (click here - Amharic)

Ato Hailu Shawel has betrayed those of us who had trusted him, and placed our hopes on him to provide an honest, principled, corruption free leadership. We were led to believe that he is a trust worthy, fair minded individual, a consistent, strong, unwavering leader. Little did we know that we were hoping against hope when all the signs were there — his crude betrayal of Prof. Asrat and all the other AAPO leaders. We were indeed fooling ourselves. The way things are unfolding now, it may turn out that he is the father of all corruptions, nepotism and bigotry.

Ato Hailu Shawel’s current betrayal of his supporters and colleagues bring memories of his betrayal of Professor Asrat Woldeyes several years ago. After quitting the All Amhara People’s Organization (AAPO) over a minor disagreement, when Professor Asrat was languishing in jail for six years, Ato Hailu did not visit him even once in jail, and had never participated in any type of activity to help release the professor. He did not even attend Prof. Asrat's funeral service. For six years when Prof. Asrat languished in jail, Ato Hailu was making money and becoming a millionaire, without spending one minute of his time in Ethiopian politics. After Prof. Asrat died, Ato Hailu maneuvered his way back to the AAPO using his money. Once he became chairman of the AAPO, he had systematically pushed out many of the independent thinking leaders of the AAPO, including Ato Wondayehu Kassa, Ato Ali Indris, Col. Getahun Ejigu, and Ato Girma EnquSelassie using the power of his money against these individuals who were left pennyless due to several years of incarceration by Woyanne. Many of these individuals had languished in Woyanne jails along with Prof. Asrat.

As we look deeper into Ato Hailu’s past in trying to understand his current behavior, what we are finding is that his trail of betrayal, as well as his dictatorial behavior, goes way back. We will leave that for the history books. But what is now obvious is that when Ato Hailu told BBC’s Hard Talk two years ago that Ethiopians are double faced, we are now discovering that he was talking about himself.
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