To mention just a few:

• we know that the same blood that gave the prophet Mohammed and his followers a place of refuge in his hour of need flows through our veins
• we are the great grand children of the warriors whose victory in Adwa reverberated a sense of dignity throughout the black continent and the world over
• we are the sons and daughters of the visionaries who sought to unite an entire continent by the way of the Organization of African Unity.
• today our children claim the US, Israel, England, Sweden, South Africa, Japan, and many other countries of the world as their own; an indication that we are becoming global citizens
• we are a people who can claim that in every family, though scattered throughout, there is a doctor, an engineer, a lawyer, a psychologist, an entrepreneur, a scientist, a political scientist, an artist, a writer, a film maker, and much much more.

We are all this and a whole lot more; we are indeed a mighty people!!!  

This being said, however, one has to also acknowledge that as a people we have yet tremendous challenges to tackle and complex problems to resolve; that is if we are to restore our rightful place in the world.

In the eve of the new millennium:

• Ethiopia lacks proper political stability and an open system that adequately accommodates diversity of perspectives
• and Ethiopia continues to bleed as her sons and daughters flee because they are denied the right to experiment their visions
• and this country we call our home depends on foreign aid to feed her children
• we have leaders at each others throats and have failed to build a trusting relationship
• as a result, for several decades, Ethiopia in the eve of her new millennium has been reduced to a miserable image whose realities comprise nothing more than starvation and civil strife
  

This is outrageous!!!

Who is to be blamed for this? Who might we hold responsible in this hour of anguish?

Ladies and gentlemen, let me be counted as one of those who declares; Shame on us! Although there is enough blame to go around, each and every one of us must take responsibility!