ESAT News (May 9, 2017)
Ethiopians residing in various countries in Europe will hold a protest rally at the U.N. headquarters in Geneva against the candidacy of Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus for the top post of the World Health Organization, according to the organizers.
Organizers expect a huge turnout during the World Health Assembly, to be held May 22-31, which comes on the hill of a media campaign by concerned Ethiopians against the former Ethiopian minister of health, who was part of a ruthless regime that maims and kills its citizens. “Dr. Tedros belongs to the defendant box at the International Criminal Court at The Hague, not at the WHO,” said the organizers.
His opponents say Dr. Tedros, as a member of the ruling oligarchy in Ethiopia, oversaw mass incarceration, torture and extra judicial killings of opponents, members of the civic society and even journalists that the country saw over the last quarter century. They believe Dr. Tedros would tarnish the reputation of the global health institute.
“A person who literally let his fellow citizens to be buried under a pile of trash is far from being qualified for the top post of the global health institution,” the organizers said referring to a landfill landslide in March in Ethiopia’s capital that killed dozens of squatters, who live off the garbage.
Dr. Tedros is one of the three finalists for the post of the director general of the world health agency, with Pakistan’s Dr. Sania Nishtar and Britain’s Dr. David Nabarro.
A social media campaign with the hashtag #NoTedros4WHO is gaining traction among the Ethiopians. “A corrupt mass murderer who definitely belongs at The Hague NOT in Geneva!” says one tweet.
“Tedros Adhanom is one of the top officials of TPLF who orders the killing of Ethiopians in peaceful protests,” another tweet reads.
Below are some of the posts that activists are sharing on Twitter.