Source: feingold.senate.gov
Congressional Record Statement of Senator Russ Feingold
March 3, 2008
Mr. President, I rise today to discuss the political situation in Ethiopia. The US-Ethiopian partnership is an incredibly important one – perhaps one of the more significant on the continent given not only our longstanding history but also the increasingly strategic nature of our cooperation in recent years. Ethiopia sits on the Horn of Africa – perhaps one of the roughest neighborhoods in the world, with Somalia a failed state and likely safe haven for terrorists, Eritrea an inaccessible authoritarian regime that exacerbates conflicts throughout the region, Sudan a genocidal regime, and now Kenya descending into crisis. By contrast, Ethiopia seems relatively stable with its growing economy and robust poverty reduction programs.
Indeed, one look at the deteriorating situation on the Horn of Africa and it is clear just how essential our relationship with Ethiopia really is. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration’s approach to strengthening and building bilateral ties with Ethiopia has been short-sighted and narrow. As in other parts of the world, the Administration’s counter-terrorism agenda dominates the relationship, while poor governance and human rights concerns get a pass.
Mr. President, genuine democratic progress in Ethiopia is essential if we are to have a healthy and positive bilateral relationship. We can not allow a myopic focus on one element of security to obscure our understanding of what is really occurring in Ethiopia. Rather than place our support in one man, we must invest in Ethiopia’s institutions and its people to create a stable, sustainable political system. As we are seeing right now in Kenya, political repression breeds deep-seated resentment, which can have destructive and far-reaching consequences. The United States and the international community can not support one policy objective at the expense of all others. To do so not only hurts the credibility of America and the viability of our democratic message, but it severely jeopardizes our national security.
Mr. President, I am seriously concerned about the direction Ethiopia is headed – because according to many credible accounts, the political crisis that has been quietly growing and deepening over the past few years may be coming to a head. For years, faced with calls for political or economic reforms, the Ethiopian government has displayed a troubling tendency to react with alarmingly oppressive and disproportionate tactics.
For example, Mr. President, in 2003, we received reports of massacres of civilians in the Gambella region of Ethiopia, which touched off a wave of violence and destruction that has yet to truly loosen its grip on the region. At that time, hundreds of lives were lost, tens of thousands were displaced, and many homes, schools, and businesses throughout the area were destroyed. Credible observers agree that Ethiopian security forces were heavily involved in some of the most serious abuses and more than 5 years later no one has been held accountable and there have been no reparations.
The national elections held in May 2005 were a severe step back for Ethiopia’s democratic progress. In advance of the elections, the Ethiopian Government expelled representatives of the three democracy-promotion organizations supported by USAID to assist the Ethiopian election commission, facilitate dialogue among political parties and election authorities, train pollwatchers, and assist civil society in the creation of a code of conduct. This expulsion was the first time in 20 years that a government has rejected such assistance, and the organizations have still not returned to Ethiopia because they do not feel an environment exists where they can truly undertake their objectives.
Despite massive controversy surrounding the polls, it is notable that opposition parties still won an unprecedented number of parliamentary seats. Their pursuit of transparency and democracy was again thwarted, however, when they tried to register their concerns about the election process. In one incident, peaceful demonstrations by opposition members and their supporters in Ethiopia’s capital of Addis Ababa were met with disproportionate and lethal force that killed more than 30 people and injured over 100. In another incident, the Ethiopian government arrested thousands of peacefully protesting citizens who took to the streets in support of the opposition.
The systemic nature of this crackdown was revealed in credible reports coming from the Oromia and Amhara regions that federal police were unacceptably threatening, beating and detaining opposition supporters. Indeed, international human rights groups documented that regional authorities were exaggerating their concerns about armed insurgency and “terrorism” to try to justify the torture, imprisonment and sustained harassment of critics and even ordinary citizens.
This tendency to portray political dissent as extremist uprisings has been repeated more recently with regards to what is being characterized by some as a brutal counterinsurgency operation led by Ethiopia’s military in the Ogaden, a long-neglected region that borders Somalia. Certainly I recognize the serious security concerns in this region, made worse by the porous borders of the failed state just a stone’s throw away.
But it is precisely because Ethiopia is our partner in the fight against al Qaeda, its affiliates and allies, Mr. President, that I am so concerned about what I understand to be a massive military crackdown that does not differentiate between rebel groups and civilians. While I am sure there are few clean hands when it comes to fighting in the Ogaden region, the reports I have received about the Ethiopian government’s illicit military tactics and human rights violations are of great concern.
I have been hearing similar reports of egregious human rights abuses being committed in Somalia, about which I am gravely concerned. When I visited Ethiopia just over a year, I urged the Prime Minister not to send his troops into Somalia because I thought it might make instability there worse, not better. Tragically, more than a year later, it seems my worst fears have been realized as tens of thousands of people have fled their homes, humanitarian access is at an all time low, and there are numerous reports of increasing brutality towards civilians caught in the crossfire. In the interest of its own domestic security, Ethiopia is contributing to increased regional instability.
Mr. President, what troubles me most is that the reports of Ethiopia’s military coming out of the Ogaden and Mogadishu join a long list of increasingly repressive actions taken by the Ethiopian government. The Bush Administration must not turn a blind eye to the aggressive – and recurring – tactics being utilized by one of our key allies to stifle dissent.
I certainly welcome the role the Bush Administration has played in helping to secure the release of many — although not all — of the individuals thrown in jail in the aftermath of the 2005 elections. I welcome the Embassy’s engagement with opposition members and their efforts to encourage Ethiopian officials to create more political space for alternative views, independent media, and civil society. These are all important steps Mr. President, but they do not go far enough.
The Administration’s efforts at backroom diplomacy, Mr. President, are not working. I understand and respect the value of quiet diplomacy, but sometimes we reach the point where such a strategy is rendered ineffective – when private rhetorical commitments are repeatedly broken by unacceptable public actions. For example, recent reports that the Ethiopian government is jamming our Voice of America radio broadcasts should be condemned in no uncertain terms, not shrugged off.
The Bush administration must live up to its own rhetoric in promoting democracy and human rights by making it clear that we do not – and will not — tolerant the Ethiopian government’s abuses and illegal behavior. It must demonstrate that there are consequences for the repressive and often brutal tactics employed by the Ethiopian government, which are moving Ethiopia farther away from – not closer to – the goal of becoming a legitimate democracy and are increasingly a source of regional instability.
Mr. President, I’m afraid that the failure of this Administration to acknowledge the internal crisis in Ethiopia is emblematic of its narrow-minded agenda, which will have repercussions for years to come if not addressed immediately. Worse yet, without a balanced US policy that addresses both short- and long-term challenges to stability in Ethiopia, we run the risk of contributing to the groundswell of proxy wars rippling across the Horn – whether in Somalia, eastern Sudan, or even the Ogaden region. And those wars, in turn, by contributing to greater insecurity on the Horn and providing opportunities for forces that oppose U.S. interests, pose a direct threat to our own national security as well.
I yield the floor.
6 thoughts on “Senator Feingold discusses the political crisis in Ethiopia”
Ethiopians believe that the damages which the bush admnistration has done in ethiopia will not repair by bush adminstration.The bush adminstration is narrow minded, short sigthed and un diplomatice . We , ethiopians believe , A stable and democractic ethiopia can be Agood ally for USA toprotect it’s national intertst at the horn of africa, more over USA can fight and win terrorism only with the full involvement of an entire ethiopia’s people. we hope the coming USA’s president will re-build the bridge between ethiopia and USA. bUT NOW SADDLY ENOUGH the bush adminstration is lack of fairness, openness, full of arrogancy,selfish and short sigthed.
The Honourable Senator’s concern for the protection of human rights and the prevalance of democracy in Ethiopia is appreciable.However,it seems that it is a belated exercise.If he made this vocal pronouncement at the time when the opposition leaders were in prison it cold have served its purpose.Simply it is lip service. My belief is that Ethiopians should depend on themselves not on American administrations.
If oppostion party stand together soon or leter the us goverment canot deny the basic human right of the ethiopian peopel.Where is our unity ?where are they now our party leaders they are fighting for their names and powers with out ball.please let is stand together to fight the basic human right .unity unity…
Plese advice the good senator the death toll was more than 150 and tens of thousand were throwen in preson, according to the former enquiry commision of the geverment.
I used to believe USA was the leading father and champion of Democracy in the world.My support to USA was 100% in case of war between USA and Russia or the Arabs. Not only me more than 90% of other fellow Ethiopians. But nowdays almost all Ethiopians sims satand against America/ Bush administration since USA stood firmly behind brutal Ethiopian blood – sucker -Woyanes after the Election. I am sure Ethiopians would prefer the relationship with other forces like Russians or Chinese in case of war unless the clear open wound that occured during Bush Administration is healed before it is too late. Let us not forget that Yoyanes and woyane’s supporters are less than 3% of the whole Ethiopian population.
The Democratic Senator, Russ Feingold from Wisconsin, has fairly examined and discussed with his congressional colleagues the dire political situations in Ethiopia and has warned the Bush administration not to depend on one man – Meles Zenawi – only. However, this has been the problems of the United States’ entire political history – helping dictators instead of the common people under the cruel dictators such as Meles Seitanawi. To realize his reports are believable, the Senator himself has visited Ethiopia, and during his short visit, has warned Meles never to send the Woyanne’s troops into Somalia; if he does, he will destabilize the regional governments. Nevertheless, the hard-headed Meles, ignoring the Senator’s advice and perhaps the advices (mikre) of the Ethiopian shimagle (elders), dispatched in a hurry his mechanized army to Somalia, invaded the country, destabilized the region, created a mass exodus of the Somalia people into the neighboring country, Kenya, and brought terrorism to Ethiopia by allying himself with President George W. Bush and adapting Bush’s failed policy: “On whose side are you?”
After 9/11 terrorists’ attack on the United States soil, Meles never thought twice when Bush asked the whole world: “On whose side are you?” But the smart leaders of France and Germany took their times and never supported Bush’s foreign policy against terrorism, yet the unwise leaders such as Meles and others accepted Bush’s failed policy, and they are now paying the heavy prices. Meles, to help the United States, his dependable ally, against terrorists, is now stacked in Somalia’s soil for few dollars from the United States.
The question now facing Meles is what is he going to do when Bush leaves office? My advice to him, although I have never given any advice to my enemies, is to leave as soon as possible as his boss George W. Bush leaves; I think his political fate is connected to President Bush’s fate – to leave and disappear from the public’s eyes after all these economic mess, political mess, and human rights disasters all over the world, especially in Ethiopia that he has made to indulge in all these miseries.
Also the Senator has not excluded in his presentation the horrifying reports he has been getting from the most depressed persecuted, exiled, imprisoned, tortured and dehumanized Oromo and the Amhara people and the slaughter of the Gambella people in 2003. The Senator may be deeply disturbed when he receives such shocking and unpleasant reports from his sources. Of course, to please or to advice the dictator Meles, the Senator has said something good about Ethiopia: he has mentioned that Ethiopia has been a strong and dependable ally of the United States, and that Washington’s assistance to Ethiopia is crucial because, the Senator says, Ethiopia, a friend of the United States, is surrounded by unfriendly countries either to Ethiopia or to the United States, countries such as Somalia, a terrorist region, Eritrea, enemy of Ethiopia, Sudan, a “genocidal state,” and Kenya, whose political fate has not yet determined after the election. He also states that Ethiopia has a stable government, a healthy economy, and a “poverty reduction program.” Here, I can say, the Senator has been getting a false information, perhaps, from Woyanne’s political advisors, because Ethiopia has never been stable since the fall of Emperor Haile Selassie, and its economy has been in a shamble and the label of poverty in Ethiopia has been increasing since Melees took office, and that is why Meles exports the Ethiopian babes, the poor Ethiopian girls, the poor Ethiopian peasants’ camels, the Ethiopian Orthodox sacred objects, and all the gold King Haile Selassie and his royal family left in the palace.
The Senator should not forget that Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in Africa and needs not only a financial help but also a political assistance from the United States if America wants to win the hearts of all the Ethiopian people instead of the heart of one dictator. The Senator is very clear about this that if America wants to have a strong ally in the Horn of Africa, the United States must have a balanced policy in Ethiopia. The United States should not ignore the atrocities the Woyanne regime has been committing on its people in the name of helping the United States against terrorism: the Woyanne regime has already created instability in Somalia and in Ogaden by indiscriminately killing the Somali and the Ogaden people.
On the other hand, the Senator seems sympathetic with the Woyanne’s army when he says: “While I am sure there are few clean hands when it comes to fighting in Ogaden region….” I doubt the Woyanne’s army’s hands have ever been clean from shedding the bloods of the Ogaden people indiscriminately by terrorizing, shooting, burning, and killing the people or by burying alive those who are caught. The Woyanne army does not discriminate the old from the young, the children from the adults, and the civilians from the rebel. Their mission is to shoot, to burn, to kill, and to destroy any thing that moves. These are their mandates from their superior, Meles the dictator, Meles the criminal, Meles the looter, and Meles the killer. If Meles does not do what he is supposed to do – to kill people – he will not stay in power for a long time, so he has to annihilate his political adversaries where ever they might be: in Ethiopia, in Europe, in China or in Washington.
The Senator, however, is quick to remind the Bush administration the atrocities the Meles army has been committing in Somalia, in Ogaden, in Gambella, in Oromia, in the Amhara region, and in some other parts of the country by telling George Bush that he “must not turn a blind eye” to what is happening in Ethiopia and in Somalia. By presenting such a detailed report to the other Senators, the distinguished Senator Russ Feingold has done a great service to the Ethiopian people, and I hope he will continue to gather information from trustworthy people about the injustices being committed in Ethiopia by one man – Meles Seitanawi – to his fellow Senators.
Thus, before the Senator yielded the floor, I could have encouraged him to go back to Ethiopia, this time with some other democratic Senators, including Speaker of the United States House of Representative, that gorgeous and likable lady, Nancy Pelosi, stay there for few months, have dinner with Meles Zenawi, get all the information about the country from him, and then visit the Oromia region, the Amhara region, the Mekelle region, and some prison cells. After three or more months in Ethiopia, the Senator and his colleagues will have a clear picture of the Ethiopian people and they will decide what to do with the Woyanne regime.