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WikiLeaks: US embassy cable from Ethiopia – 02 Feb. 2010

Posted on , Updated on by EthiopianReview.com

CONFIDENTIAL SECTION 01 OF 03 ADDIS ABABA 000163
SIPDIS
EO 12958 DECL: 02/01/2020
TAGS PREL, PGOV, KDEM, MOPS, ECON, KE, ET
SUBJECT: UNDER SECRETARY OTERO’S MEETING WITH ETHIOPIAN
PRIME MINISTER MELES ZENAWI – JANUARY 31, 2010
Classified By: Under Secretary Maria Otero for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D).

1. (SBU) January 31, 2010; 4:15 p.m.; Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

2. (SBU) Participants:

U.S. Under Secretary Otero Assistant Secretary Carson NSC Senior Director for African Affairs Michelle Gavin PolOff Skye Justice (notetaker)

Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles Zenawi Special Assistant Gebretensae Gebremichael

Summary

——-

3. (C) Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs Maria Otero his government placed no restrictions on its citizens’ democratic and civil rights, only the right of foreign entities to fund them. Foreign funding of civil society organizations (CSOs) is antithetical to democratization, he said, as it makes civil society leaders accountable to foreign entities rather than their own members, turning the concept of democratic accountability on its head. Democracy in Ethiopia must develop organically, and Ethiopians must organize and fund themselves and defend their own rights. Meles assured U/S Otero that Ethiopia’s upcoming elections will be free, fair, transparent, and peaceful, and elaborated steps his government has taken to ensure this. While opposition groups may resort to violence in an attempt to discredit the election, the GoE will enforce the recently enacted Electoral Code of Conduct and its existing election laws without regard to party affiliation. Meles said he has warned opposition leaders that the international community will not be able to save them should they violate Ethiopian law, but rather if they do so they will face the same fate as opposition leader Birtukan Midekssa, who will “vegetate in jail forever.” The U.S. delegation noted that Ethiopia’s forthcoming elections would be closely watched in the U.S., and urged Meles to exercise wise judgment and leadership, give the opposition more political space, and consider the release of Birtukan Midekssa.

4. (C) Meles said the GoE is not enthusiastic about Kenya’s Jubaland initiative, but is sharing intelligence with Kenya and hoping for success. In the event the initiative is not successful, the GoE has plans in place to limit the destabilizing impacts on Ethiopia. On climate change, Meles said the GoE fully supports the Copenhagen accord, but is disappointed with signs the U.S. may not support his proposed panel to monitor international financial contributions under the accord. Meles made no substantive comment on inquiries regarding the liberalization of banking and telecommunications in Ethiopia. End summary.

Foreign Funding of CSOs Antithetical to Democratization

——————————————— ———-

5. (C) Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told U/S Otero the development of a strong democracy and civil society is the only way Ethiopia can ensure peace and unity among an ethnically and religiously divided population. He noted that the Government of Ethiopia’s (GoE) commitment to democracy is directly related to stability, adding that for Ethiopia, “democratization is a matter of survival.” Responding to U/S Otero’s concern that Ethiopia’s recently-enacted CSO law threatened the role of civil society, Meles said while the GoE welcomes foreign funding of charities, those Ethiopians who want to engage in political activity should organize and fund themselves. The leaders of CSOs that receive foreign funding are not accountable to their organizations, he said, but rather to the sources of their funding, turning the concept of democratic accountability on its head. Meles asserted that Ethiopians were not too poor to organize themselves and establish their own democratic traditions, recalling that within his lifetime illiterate peasants and poor students had overthrown an ancient imperial dynasty.

6. (C) Meles said his country’s inability to develop a strong democracy was not due to insufficient understanding of democratic principles, but rather because Ethiopians had not internalized those principles. Ethiopia should follow the example of the U.S. and European countries, he said, where democracy developed organically and citizens had a stake in its establishment. When people are committed to democracy and forced to make sacrifices for it, Meles said, “they won’t let any leader take it away from them.” But “when they are spoon-fed democracy, they will give it up when their source of funding and encouragement is removed.” Referencing his own struggle against the Derg regime, Meles said he and his compatriots received no foreign funding, but were willing to sacrifice and die for their cause, and Ethiopians today must take ownership of their democratic development, be willing to sacrifice for it, and defend their own rights.

7. (C) Meles drew a clear distinction between Ethiopians’ democratic and civil rights on the one hand, and the right of foreign entities to fund those rights on the other. There is no restriction on Ethiopians’ rights, he asserted, merely on foreign funding, adding that the U.S. has similar laws. U/S Otero countered that while the U.S. does not allow foreign funding of political campaigns, there is no restriction on foreign funding of NGOs. Ms. Gavin noted the examples of foreign support for the abolitionist movement in the U.S. and for the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa as positive examples of foreign engagement of civil society, and expressed that aside from the issue of foreign funding, the ability of local organizations to legally register, operate, and contribute to democratic discourse was of tantamount importance.

GoE Will Hold Free and Fair Elections, Despite Opposition

——————————————— ————

8. (C) Meles assured U/S Otero that Ethiopia’s upcoming electoral process will be free, fair, transparent, and peaceful. The GoE has learned from the violence that followed the 2005 elections, he said, and taken action to ensure that violence is not repeated. Meles said the recently signed Electoral Code of Conduct (CoC) was not done for the benefit of political parties, but for the Ethiopian people. The people will ultimately judge political actors, he said, and they must have parameters agreed to by the parties by which they will judge those actors. After the CoC was passed, Meles noted, the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) gathered over 1,300 of its senior leaders to discuss party strategy and train all leaders on the CoC. The EPRDF knows violations of the CoC by its members will hurt the party and provide a rallying cry for the opposition. This message will flow down to all EPRDF members, he said, so that they know what is expected of them, and know both the courts and the party will hold them accountable to the CoC.

9. (C) Meles told U/S Otero he feared a repeat of the 2005 violence, and that many opposition members were not interested in peaceful elections, but would rather discredit the electoral process. As such, the EPRDF cannot give them any excuse to resort to violence. Meles noted that in addition to opposition political parties, the GoE had intelligence that the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), and Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki were all directly or indirectly involved in plots to discredit the elections. The EPRDF, he said, would “let them be” to show the population that even though their opponents’ goal is not peace, the EPRDF will abide by the law.

10. (C) Meles recalled that in 2005, he had told opposition leaders in the presence of the diplomatic corps that they should not believe foreign allies would protect them if they violated the laws of Ethiopia. Opposition leaders were right to believe the diplomatic corps would try to protect them, he said, as evidenced by the statement they issued demanding the release of opposition politicians upon their arrest in 2005. Today, Meles said, foreign embassies are inadvertently conveying the same message, that they will protest the jailing of opposition leaders and potentially take action against Ethiopia to secure their release. However, the GoE has made clear to both opposition and EPRDF leaders that nothing can protect them except the laws and constitution of Ethiopia, and the GoE will clamp down on anyone who violates those laws. “We will crush them with our full force,” Meles said, and “they will vegetate like Birtukan (Midekssa) in jail forever.”

11. (C) In an extended discussion in response to Meles’ comments, U/S Otero, A/S Carson, and Ms. Gavin noted that Ethiopia’s forthcoming elections would be closely watched in the U.S. and that the GoE’s treatment of the opposition would be subject to public criticism by the Ethiopian diaspora and U.S. political figures. The U.S. delegation urged Meles to exercise wise judgment and leadership, give the opposition more political space, and consider the release of Birtukan Midekssa. A/S Carson stressed the importance of putting Ethiopia’s democracy on an upward and positive trajectory, and not letting it atrophy or slide backward, using the suffrage and civil rights movements in the U.S. as an illustration of challenges the U.S. has faced as it improved its own democratic system. (Note: Three quarters of the nearly two-hour meeting focused on democracy. End note.)

Ethiopia Not Enthusiastic About Jubaland Initiative

——————————————— ——

12. (C) Meles said he had been briefed extensively regarding Kenya’s Jubaland initiative. Because Ethiopia had previously intervened in Somalia without seeking Kenyan approval, he said, the GoE would not presume to analyze the Kenyans’ chances for success in their own intervention. The GoE is sharing intelligence with Kenya, but Meles expressed a lack of confidence in Kenya’s capacity to pull off a tactical success, which he feared could have negative regional impacts. The GoE is therefore working to minimize the likelihood of a spillover effect in Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State. Noting that Ethiopia might have underestimated Kenya, Meles said, “We are not enthusiastic, but we are hoping for success.”

GoE Prepared to Move Forward from Copenhagen

——————————————–

13. (C) U/S Otero urged Meles to sign the Copenhagen accord on climate change and explained that it is a point of departure for further discussion and movement forward on the topic. She noted that while the agreement has its limitations, it has the international community moving in the right direction. Meles responded that the GoE supported the accord in Copenhagen and would support it at the AU Summit. However, he expressed his disappointment that despite President Obama’s personal assurance to him that finances committed in Copenhagen would be made available, he had received word from contacts at the UN that the U.S. was not supportive of Ethiopia’s proposal for a panel to monitor financial pledges regarding climate change. Ms. Gavin assured the Prime Minister that she would look into his concerns.

No Promises on Liberalizing Telecoms, Banking

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14. (C) U/S Otero and A/S Carson encouraged Meles to hasten steps to liberalize the telecommunications and banking industries in Ethiopia, and highlighted both the micro- and macroeconomic benefits of liberalization. Meles offered no substantive response to A/S Carson’s query whether any progress had been made toward liberalizing or otherwise improving telecommunications, joking that Americans’ concept of time was much faster than Ethiopians’. In response to U/S Otero’s recognition of the important role of private banks in microfinance projects that directly benefit the poor, and assurance that private and state-owned banks could thrive side-by-side, Meles said he would be happy to discuss the issue in the future. YATES

22 thoughts on “WikiLeaks: US embassy cable from Ethiopia – 02 Feb. 2010”

  1. “Ethiopians must organize and fund themselves and defend their own rights”
    I like this.
    Nobody will give you democracy or freedom, you have to fight and get it.

  5. December 4, 2010
    Sudan’s South Rejects Bid For Delay Of January 9 Vote
    By REUTERS Filed at 2:23 p.m. ET JUBA, Sudan (Reuters) –

    South Sudan’s ruling party (SPLM) said on Saturday southerners were determined to vote on January 9 on secession despite a request by the referendum’s organizing commission for a three-week delay. Southerners won the right to choose whether to separate from the north and form a new east African nation in a 2005 peace deal that ended a civil war that killed at least 2 million people. Most analysts expect a majority to vote to secede. As January 9 approaches tension continues to escalate with accusations of voter intimidation, disputed bombings along the border and a wave of aggressive rhetoric stoking uncertainty on both sides of the still contested north-south border. This week Mohamed Ibrahim Khalil, head of the organizing commission (SSRC), told fellow board members he would write to Sudan’s president and the leader of the south asking for a delay, fearing it was impossible to finish the job by January 9. Khalil also requested the United Nations to reopen a bid to print the ballot papers to include Sudanese firms, which would cause a delay of more than two weeks. The SPLM reacted furiously on Saturday, saying the northern ruling party (NCP) had pursued delaying tactics throughout the referendum process. But it said the south had since received assurances the vote will still go ahead on January 9. OIL WEALTH AT STAKE Leaders in the south, whose people are mainly Christian or animist in faith, accused the mainly Muslim north of trying to stall the emotional vote to preserve control of the south’s oil. About three-quarters of Sudan’s 500,000 barrels per day of crude comes from wells in the south. The wealth was shared under the 2005 deal but if the south secedes, the north risks losing lose most of its major source of foreign currency revenue. “This delay which has been requested by the chairman of the SSRC may be either in his own interest or he is trying to carry out the interest of NCP,” said senior SPLM official Anne Itto. “We have been given assurances by the (United Nations) … that it will be possible to print and distribute the polling materials to all centers in Sudan and the diaspora ahead of January 9,” she said. “This is what they have promised.” Itto warned that any delay to the January 9 date – which has taken on huge symbolic significance in the south – would not be accepted by southerners. “The south Sudanese people are not willing to delay voting even by a single day,” she said. The referendum organizing commission has nine members — five southerners and the others northerners, including Khalil. More than three million people have so far registered to vote in the south, Itto said. Registration ends on December 8. Southerners marched in the capital Juba this week, protesting against any possible delay. Some NCP officials warn that south Sudan is not ready for independence and could descend into internal conflict if it became independent next year with political and tribal rivalries running deep between southerners. In 2009 more than 2,500 people died in internal southern clashes. In a reconciliation effort, South Sudan President Salva Kiir declared an amnesty for all southern rebel groups this year which most have accepted, creating a much-needed lull in south-on-south violence ahead of the January 9 vote. But on Saturday George Athor, a former senior southern army (SPLA) general who turned rogue and clashed with the SPLA after disputed April elections, said the army had kidnapped one of his men despite the truce. “The SPLA has violated the ceasefire…yesterday evening they … have taken one of our men hostage,” Athor told Reuters by telephone, adding it seemed Kiir could not control his army. An SPLA spokesman denied the attack, saying Kiir was sending a delegation to hold talks with Athor.

    (Editing by Opheera McDoom and Mark Heinrich)

  6. Listen to the democratic leader Meles talking.
    “We will crush them with our full force,” Meles said, and “they will vegetate like Birtukan (Midekssa) in jail forever.”
    Unfortunately for him, the Ethiopian people forced him to release Birtukan in less than a year since he said the above words. Forever? That is what he wants to rule for. That too will not happen. If he can’t keep Birtuአkan ‘vegetate forever’ how can he think that he or his party will stay in power for the foreseeable future?
    የዎያኔ ደጋፊዎች ከዚህ ትምህርት ቀስመው አሰላለፋቸውን ቢያስተካክሉ ይጠቅማቸዋል።

  8. Wow! – I Know many of you may not agree with me but, I am of the opinion that the above mentioned leak shows how smart Meles is. What ever we or Americans say – he stands by the decision he made and not ready to be dectated when it comes how to lead the country. Notably if he was not pressured by Americans, he was not ready to sign the shameful so called climate change agreement. I am sorry to say this but this leak is indeed should be more shameful for Americans and Ethiopian Opposition than dictator Meles. He is just becoming another Mugabe – except that he would not have such a long and healthy life like Mugabe.
    Let God bless Ethiopia
    Kewle

  9. The so called democratic elections in Africa are organized, financed and run by western powers who make sure to “elect” their puppets. I hope by now Ethiopians understand that western financed, organized and run elections are designed to put in power their willing puppets not what the people want in a given African country.

    Ethiopians should unite and take charge of their destiny before it is too late. Looking up to western nations to run your elections is an exercise in futility, in Ethiopia’s case the dangerous games played by Woyanne to stay in power will end up fragmenting and destroying the nation in the near future. Time to unite and organize the Ethiopian people under one umbrella and to take charge of your destiny before it is too late.

  10. We will crush them…..and drink their blood.. What can we except from a college dropout who walked in to nation’s capital with his bare feet. He reminds of idi Amin the butcher of Uganda

  11. Meles,
    Please stop lying! There is a huge difference between a hero and being a ruthless dictator. You didn’t topple Mengestu by yourself, and you know it. Without the help of United State and the countless number of young Ethiopians from Gondar, Gojam and Wollo who scarified their lives in the name of freedom, you still would have been living in the forest somewhere in Sudan or die from complication of Malaria and hypertension.

  12. I highly appreciate the serious efforts made by the two senior American diplomats.They repeatedly told him the importance of Democracy,the funding of civil societies organizations,giving more freedom to opposition parties.

    The dictator,however,was stubborn to accept their sound ideas.This is not without reason.If he allows democracy to bloom in the country he will definitely loose power something that he likes most.

  15. I, as an Ethiopian, living in this country did not see anything wrong in the above document and also could not understand why this narration (a meeting minute) is called “Confidential”. We, Ethiopians, have clearly heard the same and surprisingly a copy of this on Ethiopian television not one time not two times but several times.
    Why not the American government stay away from our internal politics? Who made them the world police? It is up to the United Nations or mandated bodies to follow about democracy in member countries, if at all.
    I thought Wikileaks will release some thing that we did not hear.
    One day, when we receive no more grains from the west, our democracy will not be dictated by them. We will be the author of our own democracy.
    Let them keep their version of democracy: sodomy, Illuminati type underground secrecy, hunger for power (Oil)and killing innocents in the name of democracy in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
    Africans must determine their own fate. Enough is enough!!
    Stand by your own, no more raw materials will flow to your factories at a price of a penny a ton.
    Rational thinking lacks in the minds of the suppressors, who once thought that blacks are subhuman until reality could not allow them to say so, any more.
    Have a Merry Christmas.

  16. It is sad that the wikileak founder has become fugitive and the selection of cables and exposing is mainly left for the so called free media of the Guardian and NYT. It is obvious that they are playing their own politics in selecting and releasing the information. This is a clear case of their bias, there is more important information about Meles and Ethiopia that this. So far, the overall effect of the wikileak cable is threatening and scaring North Korea and Iran. I am starting to doubt the overall intent of this ‘wikileak’ crisis.

  17. “We will crush them with our full force, and they will vegetate like Birtukan in jail forever”
    This statement alone confirms that Meles is anti Democracy and shows that Meles is definitely a total psychopath dictator and a cold blooded criminal.

  18. The truth is always inconvenient for lying Woyanes who are born estranged from the truth.

    Kewle you tried to tell us he is smart not to be dictated by any outside force,
    my dedebit boy what you did not understand is your boss the bigger dedebit chimp is ready to kill to loot
    to offer the country if some one gives him a a guarantee for his coming out of alive after his 20+ years crime for your tiny brain analysis you have to look back to his records like jailing honourable judge Bertukan,somalia invasion,the killing of a former bank
    director after he refused to work with
    these criminals after their corrupt system reached to the maximum like stealing bank reserve gold to say the minimum which is 00.5 from 1000,so my poor boy dont be surprised if he defend
    his position by being harsh till his end comes that is now around the corner

  19. What in the world is everybody on this forum saying!! If most of you weren’t bigoted, you would read this and appreciate the incredible insight Meles has, and applaud him for that. But no!!! Your generation is too busy being racist, or “zeregna” I should say!! You have to understand that the future of Ethiopia is bright, you shouldn’t blemish it with your perverted old-world view you inherited from your parents!! I’m not saying that the current Ethiopian government is without its flaws. Flaws that are magnified when it comes to day-to-day not-so-important stuff. But when it comes to general, country-wide policies, I for one praise the Ethiopian government for not being like most other African governments, in that its views are not westernized!!

    Your generation epitomizes everything wrong with our country!! Learn to let go of your hate, or stop meddling with my country!! I will not let you, or any of the opposition who fled the country at the first sign of trouble, tarnish the image of the government of the People of Ethiopia!!!

  20. #19, you said…Meles has just some FLAWS! Who are you kidding?
    Your boss’s hands are covered with the blood of hundreds of thousands innocent Ethiopians and the blood of thousands of innocent Somali women and children.
    Besides looting and selling our land, Melese has committed the worst crimes in the world — TORTURE, MURDER, and WAR CRIMES. Meles should be tried in an International Criminal Court System and must pay for his crimes.

  21. For Meles and his clan supporters Democracy is Tribal politics or as sugar-coated Revolutionary Democracy.
    Meles said Democracy Should not be imported rather it must be organically developed as in North America or Europe.

    He also said it must be based on our traditions.Another time he said it is the expression of the sovereign-the people.

    It’s mambo-jumbo-a mixture of confused ideas.Is not Revolutionary democracy an import from China? On the other hand,do we have democratic traditions in our history including the rule of Meles in the last two decades? Not a semblance of Democracy.
    Let alone the past,even now at this juncture,There is no freedom of conscience,assembly,free movement from one Kill to another,freedom of gathering,no free election as has evidently been so in the last two decades.
    In short,there is no democracy in Meles’s Ethiopia.If Meles has the gusto he has to open door to Western Liberal Democracy in his last tenure.
    It is simply a matter of will and determination that is required of him.

    The various scholars existing in some renowned universities can be the architect while scholars in the Diaspora can extend helping hands.Bekagne Amesegnalhu!!!

  22. I must be confused. What democracy are we talking? When we talk about democracy we have to relate to proxy indicators of democracy where you don’t find a single in Ethiopia. Don’t expect democracy from guerilla fighter. The unique threat of Meles is that he is simply layer and talkative…

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