Kinijit for Unity and Democracy

Letter to U.S. Department of Homeland Security

March 20, 2008

F. Gerard Heinauer, Director
U.S. Department of Homeland Security
P.O. Box 82521
Lincoln, NE 68501-2521

Dear Mr. Heinauer:

I acknowledge receipt of your letter to one of our Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) members. I am disappointed, saddened, and dismayed about its contents. The CUD is a peace-loving party. We were never informed by any government officials about your accusation. We have been meeting with State Department officials, Senators, and Representatives for a long time, and we always have been on good terms with members of the legislative and executive branches of government here in the United States. CUD is based on a peaceful struggle for democracy, human rights, and economic development in Ethiopia. Indeed, the CUD constitution specifies that CUD must operate only by peaceful means.

In your letter you say, "The Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AFD) is an Ethiopian political party formed May 22, 2006 from the Ormo Liberation Front (OLF); the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP); the Ethiopian Peoples' Patriotic Front (EPPF), also known as Arbegnoch Ginbar or Patriotic Front); the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF); and the Sidama Liberation Front (SLF). The Alliance was formed for the purpose of coordinating efforts to topple the current government of Ethiopia with the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF)."

We in the CUD emphatically deny this allegation because the CUD leaders were in jail when a few individuals here in the United States met with the so-called AFD for photo sessions. Those individuals had no authority to affiliate with the AFD nor did they have any clearance from the CUD leadership in Ethiopia to affiliate with the AFD.

It is also unfair for members and supporters of CUDP to deny permanent residence visa based on unsubstantiated allegation.

Therefore, we respectfully request that you expunge the CUD name from your files. For your information, the CUDP won the elections in Ethiopia by a landslide in May 2005. Ethiopian people from all tribes and provinces strongly support the CUDP. Please refer to the U.S State Department’s 2007 Annual Report on Ethiopia. When CUDP President Engineer Hailu Shawel  addressed an audience of more than 800 people at the Washington, DC Convention Center recently, his speech described ongoing efforts to organize future elections in Ethiopia, the importance of new economic policies, and the need to unite the country. When he was asked about the Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AFD), Hailu Shawel expressed a willingness to work only with groups that seek peaceful, democratic change. Again, the CUD's constitution commits its members to seek change through peaceful means. “Any groups that drop their guns are welcome to join our peaceful struggle,” he said.

I hope the foregoing addresses your concerns adequately.

Respectfully,

Mesfin Mekonen,
CUD International Council Foreign Relations

CC Condoleeza Rice, Secretary of State
      Michael Chertoff, Secretary of Homeland Security
      Joe Biden, chairman of Senate Foreign Relations
      Russel Feingold, Senate African-sub Committee
      Donald Payne, chairman of House African-sub Committee
      Chris Smith, House of Representative