Ethiocross Blog

AddisFortune When marching to Addis Abeba in 1991, alongside his comrade-in-battle, Tamrat Layne, prime minister during the transitional government in the early 1990s, did not need to have his own home, as he did not have one when he left to join the armed struggle against the Derg in the late 1970s. The new government furnished his residence where he lived until he was jailed over a decade ago.

In a bizarre twist of fate, he did not have his own home to go to on Friday morning, December 19, 2008, after he was released having served 12 years and two months of the 18-year sentence he received.

Seated on a couch inside his sister's house, Hilina Tilahun, located in an area a.k.a Soset Kutir Mazoria, behind Minaye Building, Tamrat Layne told Fortune, "I've to go to my sister's house." A bit jittery and uncertain, displaying a person struggling to adopt to his new environment, Tamrat has become deeply religious, mumbling praise and words of God every few seconds. A close friend described him as a "man at peace with himself and harmony with others".

"I am a man of God," Tamrat, who has become a protestant Christian since 2001, told Fortune. "I've no desire to engage in personal or party politics. I would like to preach faith, peace and love."

It is a long walk from revolutionary years of youth; Tamrat Layne, admired for his poetic talent and military leadership, was one of the 36 founding members of the Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Movement (EPDM), and splinter group of EPRP, a flagship party of the student movement, in 1980, in a remote area in Timben-Tekerareawa, in Tigray Regional State. The organization, now a senior partner in alliance with the ruling party EPRDF, however, launched its armed struggle in an area known as Misg Michael Church, 25Km north of Seqota town, 719Km from Addis Abeba, in the Amhara Regional State.

The people of Wag and Himra were subjected to brutal attacks by the forces of the Derg in the following ten years; the town was bombed 11 times up until 1991. During the organization's guerrilla years in the area, Tamrat won the respect, admiration and appreciation of people there.

The Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations in Seqota town presented a two-page appeal to Ayalew Gobeze, chief of the Amhara Regional State, and Misrak Mekonnen (Veterinarian), speaker of the regional Council, on August 23, 2007. Ayalew told Fortune at the time that he would submit the request to the federal government.

Tamrat believe as the government considered the request made by Seqota's residents.

Nevertheless, its residents were celebrating late last week.

People were congratulating each other on Tamrat's release; some posted his pictures on walls, Metiku Beyene, administrator of the Wag-Himra Zone, where Seqota is located, told Fortune. On the morrow, residents contributed money and organized a dinner programme to celebrate his, according to Metiku.

"I would have been delighted if I had been at the dinner programme," Tamrat told Fortune.

Tamrat Layne was chairman of the ANDM and deputy chairman of the ruling party up until his arrest in 1996; he was convicted of involvement in grand corruption the following year. He was charged with three counts of abuse of power and office, including his decision to borrow 16 million dollars from Sheikh Mohammed Ali Al-Amoudi on the government's behalf and helping his associates benefit from illegitimate transactions of coffee made to repay the loans.

"I am glad to meet all my family in good health; no one missing," Tamrat told Fortune the same day he was released. "Prison has been a blessing to me."

His wife and children reside in the United States; he talked to them on the phone early on Friday. He said they hardly believed his release.

Source:- AddisFortune