When I was a student in Ethiopia, some years back, I had a History teacher whom I respect to this date. He had just graduated and it was his first year as a teacher. Yet, unlike many others who has PHD’s and decades of experience; he was a master of the subject. Besides being alluring and friendly, he was sharp, bold and imaginative. That’s why he always used to have a pack of students in his class room. From this kind of teachers, you always take something, not only for the purpose of the class but for far beyond that, even for life. I remember, in almost each class, he used to say ‘It is Hard to Deal with the IF’s of History’.
Among those who like to debate, there have been intensive and extensive debates on the importance of History for the modern/post-modern society. Politicians almost always want to spin history and use it in a way they think would benefit them. The ‘100 years 3000 years and beyond history of Ethiopia’ debate is a case in point. Some politicians, like Isayas Afeworki, would prefer to totally deny the importance of history by saying “History is a High School Boy Non-Senseâ€Â.
But history does matter. If you are able to control your past, you are more likely to be able to control your future much better than those who are utterly confused. Simply put, understanding the past allows persons to learn from their mistakes. Without knowledge of the past, we would be forced to constantly relearn scientific discoveries, warfare tactics, etc. in a continuing recycle. David Crabtree from the institute of Gutenberg on his Essay: The Importance of History said; “History is a combination of thesis, antithesis and synthesis in constant motion connecting the past, present and future. It can also be understood as a widespread, intricate web that is interlocked through cause and effect as well as accident. …Society itself is constantly changing in a manner similar to Hegel’s thesis, antithesis and synthesis. History, the thesis, is combined with the modern day antithesis and produces the future, synthesisâ€Â.
Ethiopia, historically, was at the apex of the development pyramid at the era of the Empire of Axum in the 5th century BC. Thereof, for a combination of reasons, the Business Cycle of the country’s development has been fluctuating but constantly declining.
Politically, we have been struggling, may be not successfully, to bring about peace and stability, democracy and the rule of law, and respect for humanity in Ethiopia. More recently, The Emperor introduced the First Constitution and amended it in his political life time. For whatever its worse, it was an attempt.
Would the country be in a different course now, had the King actually practiced what was written in the constitution? Would the country be in a different course now, hadn’t Italy decided / for the second time/ to invade and colonize Ethiopia? Would the country be in a different course now, hadn’t the emperor decided to flee and seek the assistance of the British Empire? Would the country be in a different course now, had there not been a quo attempt, by the Neway Brothers, on his government? Would the country be in a different course now, had the quo of the Neway Brothers been successful? Would the country be in a different course now, had there been no Popular Revolution in the early 70’s? Would the country be in a different course now, hadn’t the Military Junta taken power? Would the country be in a different course now, hadn’t the Dergue chosen to side with the Eastern Block? Would the country be in a different course now, hadn’t there been the White, Red or Terror of any color? Would the country be in a different course now, hadn’t the handful of peeved friends decided to engage in a guerilla fight against the Dergue? Would the country be in a different course now, had Mengistu not been at odds with his own generals? Would the country be in a different course now, hadn’t the quo attempted by the generals failed? Would the country be in a different course now, hadn’t the Dergue lost for Shabia and Woyane? Throw in any historical event that you deem to be important.
Would we have been talking differently now, IF Woyane/Meles didn’t allow the May 2005 election to be a bit free and fair compared to all the other ‘elections’ the country ever held; for whatever reasons he thought would help him but obviously miscalculated? Would we have been talking differently now, IF the four parties didn’t form the Coalition /CUDP/? Would we have been talking differently now, IF the oppositions had decided not to take part in the election? Would we have been talking differently now, IF the opposition had firmly demanded to have an independent Election Board as a minimum pre-condition to be part of the election? Would we have been talking differently now, IF there were enough election observers to cover not just the urban areas but also the rural areas? Would we have been talking differently now, IF Meles hadn’t taken the infamous pronouncement of putting Addis Ababa under military siege and the military under his command on the same night he learnt /surprising/ that he /his party/ lost? Would we have been talking differently now, IF Woyane/Meles hadn’t rigged the election? Would we have been talking differently now, IF the opposition /the majority of them/ have decided to join the Parliament? Would we have been talking differently now, IF there had not been any civic disobedience by the public at large? Would we have been talking differently now, IF the Agazi hadn’t been put in to action? Would we have been talking differently now, IF Meles hadn’t decided to incarcerate the leaders of Kinijit /many of whom were elected by the people to be Law Makers/, journalists and members of the free press, and human right activists? Again throw in any other important IFs.
Here is yet another Big IF. Would Ethiopian politicking, both in and out of Ethiopia, be different now, IF the second and other layers of leadership which the ranks and files of Kinijit were talking about before they were kept under lock was put in order, up and running?
Like my History teacher used to say repeatedly, it is hard to deal with the IFs of History. The country has experienced many IFs. Depending on who you talk to, some were opportunities and some missed opportunities.
Currently, we are in a time where history is in the making. Since all the back door peaceful negotiations failed, Meles/Woyane and the opposition have, once again come out face to face in public and every eyes and ears are on the ruling of the court come February 19. Meles has the military / from which he is loosing ground slowly as the support is fading and high ranking officials and foot soldiers are defecting/, the government machinery / from which a growing number of judges, diplomats and government officials are defecting/, the whole budget of the country, some foreign countries including the US and Britain / for all the wrong reasons/ and the support of some opportunists here and there, on his side. The opposition have only / but the most important one/ the support of the people of Ethiopia. The turn out will depend on how well both sides play their cards. So far, I dare say, Meles is playing it ‘smarter’ and the opposition has yet to organize, re-organize, stand united and be able to rally the public behind their cause at least to the level it was before the leaders of kinijit were arrested and put out of active action.
My yearning is for the country to come out of this as a winner. My desire is to see all the political and non-political concerned bodies, including Woyane, to come back to there senses, put the interest of the people before and after their own, and come to the round table of discussion. My wish is to see a united country irrespective of ethnic, religious, identity, ideology or any other kind of differences. My prayer is to see a prosperous and developed Ethiopia which has her rightful place in the socio-economic and political happenings of, mostly, Africa and the Middle East but even the world.
February 19, like all the other mile stone dates in the History of Ethiopia will come and go. It may happen that Meles/Woyane decide to postpone the ruling, for any silly reason as one of the judges felt ‘sick’ on that day. That will set another important date to wait for. It also may happen that the court rules for the incarcerated to defend themselves. That also sets another date to wait for. Another possibility is that, some of them, if not all could be set free.
In conclusion, will February 19, or any other date set for us by Meles/Woyane pass as one of the IFs in history? Will it be possible, this time around, for Ethiopia to emerge as a winner? Every people will have a government it deserves.
God Bless Ethiopia!!!
The pre-emptive doctrine, the notion that militarily powerful countries can topple regimes they do not like using their superior armies and then expect to be received by the citizens in the occupied territories as heroic liberators, is the height of folly. Yet, as has been observed before, if there is anything we learn from history, it is that we do not learn from history. The recent invasion of Ethiopia has created an atmosphere of hatred and civil war that has been halted by the Islamic Courts in the last six months. Consequently, the Western world, African countries and Arab League, including experts of Horn Africa and UN unanimously agree that Somalia badly needs a constructive dialogue between the TFG and all parties involved in Somalia’s conflict; in other words, the weak regime of warlord, Abdullah Yusuf who is flip-flopping should be pressed to form an inclusive government.
The recent American adventure in Somalia displays President George W Bush administration’s utter disregard for the precepts of international law and its bull-headed contention that the war on terror can be prosecuted as an entirely military affair. Any observer in Somalia will point out that the country has an extremely complex social and political structure, and solutions to the plight of its long suffering people demand equally complex solutions. It is worth noting that the latest impasse in the country derives directly from American actions and the dictator regime of Ethiopia that is governed by Meles Zenawi who is exporting his political crisis to another country. Meles has recently called the Cayeer Somali clan and aim at pitting Somali against each other so that Somali will never see the light of a strong government where he will be comfortable to rule Somali Region administered under his dictatorial regime.
Their ill-advised support for a group of warlords in an “anti-terror” initiative outraged ordinary Somalis and enabled the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) to galvanize support as it routed the warlords and claimed power. The American support for the warlords was an act of staggering shortsightedness. It neglected the complex issues in the country and, above all, signaled support for warlords who have harassed ordinary Somalis with extortion and corruption for too long. Somalis people have the right to live peacefully as in any citizen of this planet. Both US and Ethiopia have violated basic international law by inflicting its own hegemonic style of policing the world. Horn of Africa is in the process of transforming to another Iraq.
Yet, after the ICU toppled the warlords and grew from strength to strength, the Americans turned to the Ethiopian military to sort out the mess they had created. Predictably, the Ethiopian military campaign and the American air bombing have compounded rather than helped improve the situation. Ethiopia, which has twice fought with Somalia, is almost reviled by ordinary Somali citizens, not just for its aggressive military posture in the region, but also for its longstanding Christian identity.
The level of distrust of America is well documented and the manner in which US forces were chased out of Mogadishu in 1993 marked a watershed in recent American military history. Now, Somalia is occupied by a reviled neighbor backed by a superpower distrusted by the populace.
And, perhaps worst of all, this combined duet is in Somalia to back a Transitional Federal Government, which has almost no credibility with the population. The behavior of the TFG has left little doubt that its members have no ounce of statesmanship or common sense. Their utter refusal to reach out to various actors on the Somali scene is baffling. On the one hand, it is the TFG’s position that they do not need to talk to the Islamists because they have been vanquished. On the other, the TFG demands that a peacekeeping force be deployed to Somalia.
This is the supreme irony of a government, which claims it has no rivals, but still asks the international community to send peacekeepers to its capital! Most Somalis practice a moderate strand of Islam. It is obvious that the latest interventions have turned the moderate into a target for those seeking to recruit people to radical causes.
Rather than seek a consultative solution, including establishing a Government of National Unity and providing funds for reconstruction, the US and its allies have opted for the path of the gun. The results of this approach, as Iraq has shown, are not too hard to divine.
It is not too hard to see the situation in Somalia degenerating to the same level as that in Iraq. Therefore, there is significant knowledge about restoration of state in post-conflict in Africa and around the world, which are very successful and stable countries today like Uganda, Cambodia, Sirloin and Mozambique and also fail in some countries once and twice be happen Somalia.
Most of the blame in Somalia has to do with foreign countries direct involvements, excluding the participation of intellectual, civil organizations, religion organizations, business people, human right activist, various women organization, and mainly concentration of power in the hand s of warlords and hand pick individuals selected by warlords who can advance their interest.
The TFG is the outcome of two years of conference in Nairobi and its leaders elected with influence of forge money, but not by the choice of Somali people. The charter of TFG is premised with Ethiopian style of federal system which does not have an ounce of Somalis people input and Abdilllahi Yusf, who is well know for his criminal background, is forcefully elected.
In conclusion, first the USA and EU have to think strategically not to lose the important location of Somalia which might really fall in the hand of AL-QADIA. Secondly, the transitional government (TFG) has to accept sharing government with moderate Islamic until a genuine election will be held in the country. Thirdly, Somalia needs help in the reconstructions of the country and institutional building. Lastly, the international community should work to stop that Somali will not be a field of proxies war for the Horn of Africa dictators such as Meles Zenawi and Ethiopia has to remove its forces immediately.
On July 10, 1999 at 8:10 I composed this statement in response to a misreporting of a key note speech I made in Chicago at the ENC annual meeting. An American friend sent it to me last night. I think it is useful to put it out on the eve of a political decision on the prisoners of conscience whose positive or negative outcome has historic dimensions and consequences to the Ethiopian nation, democracy and history.
The debate in constituting with historicity the political framework around the idea of Ethiopia as the foundation for the expression of civil, political, economic, cultural, group self-determination and citizenship rights, opportunities and obligations is also relevant to the current political development in Ethiopia.
PART I
I would like to clarify the gist of my message to the meeting in Chicago.
I. Some Points First:
1. It is the EPLF and not the TPLF which has been reported to have considered a proposal to adopt the Latin script for all Eritrean languages, including Tigrigna and Tigre which use the Geez script. The source for this is Tekle M. Woldemichael, “The Cultural Construction of Eritrean Language About Ethnicity”, in Crawford Young(ed.), The Rising Tide of Cultural Pluralism: The Nation-State at Bay?, Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press, pp.179-99
What made the Tigrean’s reaction which you justly pointed out of his rudeness is how he threw a tantrum because the EPLF was criticised even when he is a supporter of the TPLF now. This was what baffled many observers.
2. There is a great need for an opposition political organisation and the unity of organisations on the basis of the unity of ideas. I suggested that ENC can contribute to such unity by building clarity on the Ethiopiawinet philosophy around which a political movement can strengthen. A unity of organisations without a unity of purpose or ideas, even if this was to solve a single issue results in performative ineffectiveness if not complete paralysis.
II. Here is the gist of what I tried to communicate at the ENC meeting
What I said in Chicago was ENC will do well to organise itself as an Ethiopiawinet political movement. It will help the fusion of CEOPO and others if it undertakes a political commitment based on the clarity of composing Ethiopiawinet from the politically ethnically fractured present. I was trying to say “charity begins at home.” It is wiser to spend energy by building ENC as an uncompromising Ethiopiwinet movement. It will influence others if it can grow stronger. What is missing is a political movement upholding the wider Ethiopwinet philosophy. We have a lot of politically drunk agitators running amuck by cashing in on their ethnic-vernacular group identity.
Woyanne has lots of them and those who oppose Woyanne like OLF and others have theirs. If any fractionalised group replaces Woyanne, it will have to do something like Woyanne did to inherit the Ethiopian nation and state.
If not, it will remain no more than an irritant to the power holding fractionalised power. Or else the dreadful third option: Ethiopia disperses like a family of fourteen young children whose parents become deceased suddenly with no immediate carer in sight!
There is an alternative for all of us who say we are Ethiopians: to work painstakingly to maintain Ethiopia from break-up by democratising and renewing it by building from its experiences of civilisation and history of proven resistance.
That brings me to the concept of Ethiopiwinet: For me and I noted Messay Kebede has written the book which contains essentially the views I hold on Ethiopiawinet, the latter is composed from the core experiience of:
a) Long history-perhaps as long as Persia’s and China’s,
b) An internally generated civilisation (written, art, architecture, music, religion and so on),
c) A history of resisting and scoring victories against economically and politico- militarily superior forces,
d) A unique psychological make up where the notion of the divine and the sacred graces every activity that the people engage in:
The individual, the state and the nation use for their lives divine presence whether they are Christians, Muslims, Judaic and even Pagans. The state had its own ethos and had its own ‘Fetah Negist’ and ‘Kibre Negist.’ In war we note how the idea of the divine is invoked to give courage to the troops when they charge(e.g. Giorgis’s participation in Adwa!) and in victory the people show humility by referring that all their power is due to the Gods.(NB. this is different from being moral or not!)
Whether we like it or not religion is a way of life to the peasant population. And the change we want, the modernisation we seek is to make life better for the majority of the rural areas. We do not go and preach Jeffersonian democracy or Marxism to them. If we are serious we go and learn from them and build on their beliefs and make modernisation sensible by translating it into the language and way of life they are used to. This is how Japan, Korea and others did it.
Even China with its Marxism did not reject Menicusian, Confucian, Taoist and Buddhist values which the population had. They tried to Sinnify their modernist weapon Marxism so that the people can embrace it. Like everything else which came into contact with China, Marxism became absorbed rather than the other way round!
There is an Ethiopian value system which is built from the experiences I described above. What makes the person from the South to those in the North connect mysteriously is this shared experience which was passed on from the wider Ethiopian culture confluence and communication.
Our generation rejected this by mounting two major myths: a) the Dergue employing Jacobin-Stalinist terror tried to force its hackneyed “Marxism” down the throat of the bewildered population, b) the various ethnic based fractional movements echoing rhetorics from China, Albania, Vietnam and so on tried to create ideologies of Tigreanism, Eritreanism, Oromoism and recently Amharism and anything and everything but Ethiopianism. It reminds me of Witgestein’s prescient remark of trying to look by climbing through the chimney and the window, when all along the door was wide open.
What is wrong with holding on and inheriting our Ethiopia and add modernisation, renewal and democratisation without breaking the framework and subtracting the nation and parcelling the state? Do we need to regress by relying on the politicisation of culture, language and blood to blackmail our way into power with Ethiopia as it is or by breaking it up altogether?
I believe the best and most possible cultural rights and expression for all the ethnic communities without subjecting them to ethnic cleansing and other violence is feasible with a healthy Ethiopiawinet. I do not see why we should not organise by affirming Ethiopawinet and maintain active local engagement wherever we come from. The key is to democratise the state, individual and the nation by affirming and not being condescending to the past.
The theory of the nation which decomposes Ethiopia by weaving the myths of Tigreanism, Eritreanism, Oromoism and so on goes counter to the core experience of the people, their long history, tradition, character and above all their historically evolved nationhood and state formation.
The Lenin-Stalin notion of the nation which the fractionalisers have imported their divisive politics from to Ethiopia is too scholastic, mechanistic, and deterministic. Itemising factors of language, territory, psychological make up and unleashing every petty nationalist bigot to search how his ethnic group might fulfil one or the other factor in full or in part is one of the most unattractive ventures which corrupts science and social practice at the same time.
Neither the ethnicism of Tigreans, Oromos and so on and nor Stalin’s shopping list definition of a nation are relevant to the Ethiopian situation. They cannot be a higher reality to the experience of our people. An experience where there was injustice along with civilisation, a history of epic resistance and a unique psychological make up involving the concept of the sacred in the every day living of all Ethiopians. The attack on this divinely graced Ethiopianet ” wukabi gefafi new” (is de-spiritualising/demeaning!)!
This was my message in the Chicago meeting.
Sincerely,
Mammo
Part II
Some Further Thoughts on Ethiopiawnet(16.02.2007)
It has been said that the longer we look back in the history of a nation, the further we can look forward or forge ahead in building a collective future. It has also been claimed that history is to a nation as a memory is to an individual. For an individual to lose memory is to lose a grip of reality. It has been a maxim held by African sages: ’They lost their history, so they lost everything.’ A nation, if it wishes to remain a nation must not be denied its right and indeed privilege to make a conception of history that yields direction and a future and insulates it from falling into a directionless and chaotic path like present day Somalia.
Arguably, contemporary challenges and demands must be taken into account into a nation’s history-making processes, but they must also be confronted to avoid the mindless rejection of Ethiopia’s historical achievements and the intelligent learning from the innumerable failures that is necessary to do individually and collectively as a people. Anything made at the expense of making a nation lose its historical identity, which is not, incidentally constituted from more than the sum of the arithmetic additions of a sum of languages, religions, territory, number of people in an ethnic group, and other variables is to undermine the ontological foundation of Ethiopia as an idea, a dream, project and nation.
Those who wish to opt out make not only themselves suffer, but also those who wish to remain with a positive and constructive rather than destructive and negative appreciation of Ethiopia’s long history.
We have seen what came of Eritrea after leaving Ethiopia? We were told Eritrea would be the South East Asian tiger, but is it that now? Is that what has become of Eritrea by the EPLF’s and TPLF’s gratuitous saying good bye to Eritrea’s core history which is tied with an umbilical chord with Ethiopia’s long social-economic history. History provides self-knowledge to a nation and that self-understanding is a necessary condition to undertake any meaningful development. Lack of consciousness of a nation’s history is not simply an intellectual failure. It can be a moral failure as it can expose unnecessarily a nation to unpredictable danger and suffering. We owe it to our ancestors who bequeathed a nation with history to avoid extremism, negotiate out of our conflicts, and find mechanisms to make social peace amongst individuals, communities and personalities.
Part III
Let us all Make a historic motion for the release of the prisoners of Conscience!!
February 19 is a critical moment in history. Will the prisoners of conscience be released or not? All those who understand history and wish the nation to go on with a democratising developmental trajectory will argue for the unconditional release of all the prisoners of conscience. Those now in jail are people with the moral stature that have answered to the call of the best in Ethiopian citizenship. These citizens should be honoured, not put in jail. Those who forced them into jail must be the first to move a motion to get their immediate release and compensate them for getting them into this unacceptable situation in the first place.
The alleged crimes they have been accused of makes absolutely no sense. All they did is engage in what they believed to be a democratic process. Those who invited the Ethiopian people to vote should have known that they too would be also voted out. The powers that are, however, were not prepared to accept the peoples’ verdict. Why did they engineer the election that they knew the outcome was not something they were not prepared to accept? Any power that respects the people would not play such games with history. The people manifested a will to govern. Those in power were unwilling to accept it. Those in jail argued fiercely for the respect of voice and votes.
We from outside, though far away from the scene, joined the criticism. Even we were not spared. We too got accused of crimes for doing nothing but exercise criticism with arguments that stung the power-holders that appeared open to a democratic transition only to discourage it with brute violence and deception.
There is absolutely no justification whatsoever to put the prisoners of conscience in jail for making a stinging criticism of a flawed election arrangement. That is their democratic right, the peoples’ democratic right.
If this nation is to leap into a new contemporary history, it must close the historical chapter by transcending tyranny and dictatorship for good. The effort to bring about a sustainable democratic transition by circulating the elites with the peaceful votes of peaceful citizens remains a top priority. It would have been a historic achievement were these to have come before the Ethiopian millennium on September 11, 2007.
On February 19, history offers a rare opportunity for the nation to unite when justice is served to the unjustly jailed and a grand spirit of harmony flows to create the necessary environment for national reconciliation. The priority of priorities is to release the prisoners of conscience by taking their situation as part of the writing of the long lived historical quest to make this old nation endure in the flowing river of time. Let Ethiopia be is integrally and intimately linked to making the unjustly incarcerated free. I appeal and call on those in power to heed to the call of history and join those in jail to create the grandest possible national reconciliation by creating a system to negotiate out any conflict this nation confronts in a strange and unpredictable world, and even worse living in the midst of a very difficult region the nation finds itself.
Concluding Remark
It is with this larger purpose and depth of thinking, commitment and dedication that we should cherish both the long memory and current meaning to us of being Ethiopian. There is intrinsic merit to preserve this ancient nation, and not give in to the degrading mantra of ethnic enclosures that has degraded civic Ethiopian citizenship to a particularly virulent and limiting concept of the ethnically defined and vernacularly fenced off citizen. This primordially and biologically condemned citizen must be fully liberated to emerge as the Ethiopian citizen par excellence. There can be no compromise on the Ethiopian and African framework for citizen expression and engagement. Everything is negotiable once the framework is accepted. There can be no negotiation with those who arrogantly and impudently call Ethiopia a fiction and an invention. Without the idea of Ethiopia, there is no idea of a future. Let us not forget that Ethiopia was the first non-European country that defeated a European power. The Japanese sent delegations to learn how Ethiopians organised to defeat a European imperial power. Many Africans in the Diaspora from America to the West Indies were inspired to continue the struggle for liberation owing to this historic achievement. Ethiopia can achieve even more by doing away with tyranny and poverty for good provided it overcomes the pettiness of its politics and reach out to the grand vision of historical presence.
I ask all in the nation to join me and say:
The World fears time
Time fears history
History fears Ethiopia
Let the Prisoners Free!!!
And Forever ,
Unite the people of Ethiopia!
Mammo Muchie, Ph.D., is Director of DIR Research Centre on Development & IR
Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark
Fax.no. 00 45-98153298
http://www.ihis.aau.dk/development/
http://www.ihis.aau.dk/ccis/
I want to remind us what I’m after and what I’m up to in what I’m trying to share in these three short articles. I’ve never intended these short articles to solve any major problem or contribute anything significant to the multiple societal problems, our illnesses, as I’ve been referring to them. My intention has been modest, and hopefully realistic, as an attempt to understand the possible root causes for the problems we seem to have kept inheriting from generation to generation. Unless we pause to reflect, long and hard and deep, on the root causes for our ailments, I do not think we’d ever come up with a lasting solution or remedy for our illnesses.
Once again I want to underscore the approach I’m taking here at getting to the root causes for our societal ills, even individually and collectively. It’s diagnostic. It first aims at understanding before proposing a solution. It goes on proposing a solution based on the reality, the truth, about the root causes of the problems we all commonly share. We as a society have been around for quite some time, for far too long to fail to realize that our today’s problems have their roots in the past. Therefore, our past that has been giving birth to multiple problems that plague us today must be examined in order for us not to keep sinking into the abyss of hopelessness as we grope in darkness that never seems to be going away.
* * * * * *
Socrates, the philosopher, centuries ago, said “An unexamined life is not worth livingâ€Â. That motto seems equally true today, or even more so, for not all, or even the majority of us, would pause to examine our lives individually and collectively as a community and a society in search of lasting solutions for the problems that define us and which have also become our global identities. Who am I? Who are we, who are the Ethiopians? Why am I the way I am today? Why are we as a society the way we are today? We need to answer these ever timely questions turning to all the resources that we’ve at our disposal. We need to know the truth about us for truth to set us free, to free us from at least some of the most prominent yet multiple problems that plague us, gradually but permanently.
A point worth keeping in mind: these questions that I want us to wrestle with are not primarily questions of our political identity nor are they meant to receive solutions from political leaders even if we’ve the best political leaders in the history of the world. Political leaders can accomplish significant things only if there are values and principles that organize the society they lead and govern. If some of us still want to cling to the “hope†thinking and believing that political leaders have all the permanent solutions for our societal ills, the questions become: Is it reasonable for us to believe that it’s the job of political leaders to transform, for example, the moral lives and the moral characters of the people they are leaders of? Is it reasonable for us to expect from our political leaders to make us good, virtuous, truthful, honest, transparent people who are respectful to one another, hard working, loving, faithful, and on and on?
I hope that the answer to above rhetorical questions is clear. What kind of government in this world does possess all, or even most of, these virtues, intrinsically desirable values? The answer is, unsurprisingly, none. We also know why the answer is none: remember that political leaders are largely the products of the values of the larger society that they come from? Even if they can overcome all the ills they inherit from their larger society they cannot change the lives of the people they’re leaders of in any way that their political leadership allows them to do. One cannot make another human being a virtuous or a good person by force; that seems to be a contradiction in terms. Such changes of character begin, unsurprisingly, once again, with the life of an individual.
We, as a society, will not make much progress in any desirable direction if we fail to search for fundamental answers to the fundamental question, “Who am I?†first, before we search for answers to the question, “Who are we as a society?†for a society is a collection of individuals. The classic question which comes first, the chicken or the egg, applied to the questions we’re wrestling with becomes, which comes first, an individual or a society. I do not need to settle this question here since our question is not about the origin of human beings in the first place. Our purpose is rather to seek some answers to the question as to the logical starting point for desirable directions for societal change for there is no society without individuals that constitute it. Hence my focus on the importance of wrestling with fundamental questions about who we are as individuals first and as a society secondarily.
* * * * * *
Now my hope is that you, my readers, see where I’m heading to. If you recall from my previous articles I’ve made the point that all of us as human beings hold values, good or bad, and most of our decisions and actions in our individual and collective lives are reflections of those values.
Once we realize that the root causes for the larger societal illness could be traced back to that of an individual person’s life, and hence to one’s community that that individual belongs to and eventually to the larger society that community belongs to, a reasonable proposal for a solution for the larger societal ills seems to begin with a proposal to address the root causes for the life of an individual. The proposal that I suggest here for the life of an individual as well as that of a community and that of the society is spiritual and moral. I propose that the multiple problems that plague Ethiopia as a nation have their roots in the spiritual crises that the society has been undergoing for far, far too long.
Recall what I was hinting at in Part I in my article? I said there, “We [Ethiopians] claim to be a very religious society with profoundly religious and moral values that could have shaped Ethiopian history in a much desirable direction for centuries but then we’ve been what we claimed to be who we are largely in name, i.e., nominally. We, as a society, are paying a heavy price today because we’ve failed to live up to what we claim to be what defines us as a society and as a nation.†Now so, so many of us have believed and said out loud that Ethiopia is a Christian nation, one of the oldest Christian nations in the world, etc, etc. Still most of us preach this as a solid historical fact. No problem about that claim, my fellow Ethiopians. That is undisputable. But then do not forget that there is a huge difference between saying or claiming something and being what one says or claims to be. I can say or claim that I’m a Christian without even a vague idea of what it means to be a Christian. I do not want to name names for every single person who reads this piece, and who claims that that person is an Ethiopian and a Christian, hopefully, sees what I’m trying to communicate here.
Some in my audience will undoubtedly and perhaps reasonably protest saying that “you’re committing a fallacy of hasty generalization†by saying all Ethiopians have failed to live up to what they claim to be Christians! I’ve an answer to this reasonable charge and it’s this: if what I say does not reflect any degree of truth about you, my dear reader, then I’m not addressing you, but then upon careful self-examinations if you discover some ways of failing to live up to what the Christian faith requires you to live, then it’s a good thing to know the truth about yourself and do something about it for your neighbors, and above all your community needs some such exemplary Christians like you who live their lives consistently, as much as possible, as their ultimate identity as Christianity calls them to live out their lives on their own, individually, and in the midst of their community and the larger society. Those of us who’ve failed in any way to live up to the resources our Christian faith offers us need you. Live your life in such a way that others emulate your exemplary life. I’m not judging any person for that is not my job, nor is it my responsibility. Far from it. I’m only trying to draw out implications by way of diagnosis of our root causes for our society starting with the life of an individual. Who am I? Who are we? We need transforming answers to these fundamental questions.
* * * * * *
If what we claim to be who we are as individuals and as a community and a society is not largely in name, if we’re not largely nominally Christian as a society, I want any one in the audience to show me how some of the following Christian values bring about the kind of paralysis that we’ve witnessed far, far too long in Ethiopia as a nation. Let’s take some of the resources from what we claim we’ve as our birth right as one of the oldest Christian nations:
Christian faith teaches, among other so many things, some of these: love as the most fundamental virtue, one consequence of embodying this virtue is loving our neighbors as ourselves; our neighbors include even our enemies these days more than any other time! Jesus whom we claim to follow loved those who killed him even while they were in the process of killing him.
And truth and truthfulness is another inherently good thing. How consistently do we, those who claim to be Christians, tell truth and resist lying all the time?
What about humility? How many of us, those who claim to be Christians, are humble enough to admit our weaknesses and think that others are better than us? How often have we learned from our mistakes in such a way that learning from our mistakes has changed our lives for better? I’m asking fellow Ethiopians as an Ethiopian myself, mind you, I’m not a foreigner to the way our deep rooted habits manifest themselves; can we, many of us, it could be even most of us, say honestly, truthfully and humbly, that we’re a society where one can observe more often than not, our humility, considering others to be better than others, in light of what we claim ourselves to be, a Christian nation?
Peace and being peaceful with oneself and with others is another Christian virtue. I do not need to comment on this for it’s too obvious how much peace we’ve lacked in our nation’s long history.
Virtues such as goodness and kindness and self-control are Christian virtues and we can see how these virtues define us as a society too. I leave the answer to my readers.
* * * * * *
Now I do not want some among my readers to conclude from the above brief outline of Christian virtues that are meant to define Christian character in a way that those who claim that they are Christians that I’m under an illusion to believe or to suggest that everyone in Ethiopia is a Christian or wants to be a Christian or has anything to do with Christianity. Nothing could be farther from the truth. I’m only trying to show that if those who claim to be Christians in Ethiopia, in the past or at the present, live their lives, starting with an individual and as a community, the following vices that have been destroying the society would not be a result of the virtues outlined above.
Where, then, do the following vices come from such as hatred, discord, jealousy, selfish ambitions, envy, factions, etc, etc? Can we honestly and sincerely be oblivious to the fact that such vices, among so many others, define us as a people, as a community, or as a society? Can we honestly and truthfully say that such characters, such vices, are the exact outworking of our history as Christians then? To just cite from the Christian Scriptures, from the source book for our Christian faith, if need be, the following text seems to sum up what I want to communicate about us as a society and as individuals: “You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each otherâ€Â. Galatians 5: 13-15. Have we not been fulfilling what the Apostle Paul has warned us against as we continued to bite and devour each other? Mind you, my dear readers, I’m only showing the implications of our persistent, endless claims about who we’re as a nation for a long time, a Christian nation, a Christian island, Ethiopia, as its history, or its story goes. I’m not making up anything. The logical outworking of such claims is clear for anyone who wants to pause to reflect on what it means to be a Christian as an individual and as a nation.
* * * * * *
Now multiple objections could be raised against such naïve sounding talk about a possible diagnosis of our multiple problems and how they could be taken as some pieces of evidence for our failure to live out what we claim to be our birth right, our Christian identity, which we claim to define us as a society. I’d only mention a few objections and show how to respond to them, just briefly.
Are you saying that everyone in Ethiopia should be a Christian in order to exercise some or all of the virtues you’ve listed above? Who can believe such a proposal in the first place whoever proposes that? I said these virtues are inherently desirable, good things in and of themselves. Even an atheist who believes that there is no God cannot deny, sincerely and consistently, that love is a virtue, love of truth and truthfulness are good things and so forth for other virtues. But Christians, as many call themselves to be so in Ethiopia, who claim that their Christian faith commits them to the pursuit of such virtues fail to live up to their Christian faith when they do not practice what they claim to believe if they care honestly and consistently about what they claim to be.
Almost half or more than half of the Ethiopian population consists of our Muslim brothers and sisters and why are you leaving them out? I leave the answer to our Muslim brothers and sisters if what their faith commits them to contradicts all or some of the virtues that we’ve observed above. Having said that, I suggest that even when an atheist would not, honestly and consistently, deny such virtues since they are intrinsically good and desirable, I cannot see how Islam would commit our Muslim brothers and sisters to a denial of such values an atheist would hold without believing in any supernatural being.
What about other Ethiopians who are neither Muslims nor Christians who believe in whatever or nothing; are you saying that they are inherently vicious people or cannot be virtuous people if they are not Christians? What I said does not automatically commit me to saying that because I’ve already argued that those Christian values described above and others like them are values that are inherently or intrinsically good and desirable and any person who embodies and lives them out reflects shared values that Christians are committed to living by, if they do live by them, as their Christian faith requires them to.
Now one more objection, among many others, could be: you kept saying that these Christian values are inherently or intrinsically good and desirable values but show us that they are what you portray them to be. My short answer to this challenge to anyone who is doubtful or skeptical of such values as love, truthfulness, honesty, humility, goodness, kindness, being peaceful, etc as being intrinsically good and desirable is for my objector to argue and show the rest of us that it’s possible to be loving, truthful, humble, kind, good, peaceful in any other way that does not require the resources of the Christian faith. Even if such a task is possible that does not make those values intrinsically bad or evil, it will only show that there are independent arguments to arrive at them without being committed to Christianity. But then, once again, that does not show that such values are not inherent to the Christian faith either.
* * * * * *
When I finished Part II of my article I said, “In Part III of this series I’ll address the people of Ethiopia, including myself, as to what we should do to bring about a desirable change for ourselves as a society. Political leaders can accomplish only so much. If the value of the society is conducive or fertile for the leadership of those in various leadership responsibilities, that way, we, all of us in leadership positions and otherwise, can usher in a better future for a future generation of Ethiopians. A forward looking generation now can give birth to a generation that will flourish in the good things, the good legacy that it receives from its previous generations, that is us. I do hope that we can become a forward looking generation while focusing on the present for without the present there will not be a future.†Who am I; who are we, once again? I do hope that knowing the truths about us will begin to set us free from all the vices that have become our defining identities, for some of us individually, and also collectively.
I do hope that the resources that we’ve at our disposal that we claim to be our birth rights, the religious and moral values, that I’ve attempted to briefly outline above, will go a long way in transforming us individually and collectively for a generation that cries out to see such a transformation in us. Am I being a utopian, proposing an impossible ideal for a society? Absolutely not! For those who entertain a nagging doubt about this whole idealistic, dogmatically religious sounding talk, I hope to address some of your important doubts in a future book project where I’ll undertake an in-depth examination of values and ideals that shape or influence our lives as individuals and also as a society. This is just a small beginning to trigger some probing questions as I hope we set out to discover fundamentally transforming answers to our fundamental questions, who I am and who we are as individuals and as a nation, as Ethiopians.
By Dr. Yacob Haile-Mariam
Kaliti Prison, Addis Ababa
Under the Case File “Engineer Hailu Shawel and Others,†we have been charged with serious and heinous crimes by the prosecutor of the Ethiopian government. We could have used our own legal expertise and experiences, or could have appointed the best lawyers available in the country. But we chose instead not to defend ourselves against the fabricated and baseless allegations. On the first day when the allegations were presented to the court, Professor Mesfin Wolde-Mariam, speaking on behalf of all the accused, had explained that the positions taken by the government and by the accused were political, and needed to be resolved through dialogue and mutual understanding, and not through court litigation. Similarly, national and international human rights advocates and many democratic governments had expressed the view that the case was a political matter, which should be resolved through negotiations. They had also appealed, and continue to appeal, for the unconditional release of the prisoners. Many prominent Ethiopians and civic organizations have also tried to convince the government to settle the matter amicably in the spirit of reconciliation. The response of the EPRDF government to all these appeals from Ethiopians and the international community has been a complete disregard.
Cognizant of the political nature of the situation and convinced about the absence of any legal basis for the allegations, we have decided not to defend ourselves in order to avoid any opening for our accusers to mislead the people of Ethiopia about the truth and our fundamental rights. I am writing this open letter, just a few weeks before the court is expected to give its verdict, not because I want to give credence to the so-called arguments presented by the government prosecutor. Nor is it to plead with the court or with anybody else. The court is fully aware that in any criminal case, the closing arguments of the accused are not limited to final legal statements, analyses of legal articles and materials presented by the prosecutor. They go far beyond, and can cover a much wider territory.
In our country, cases were established at different times against many patriots who wanted to change the prevailing system; and sad verdicts were given. The arbitrary accusations and judgments against Belay Zeleke, Mengistu Neway, Tadesse Biru and Alemu Kitessa can illustrate this point. The forthcoming verdict against us will be different and of a much bigger magnitude than all past political trials. It can have an unprecedented positive or negative impact on the judicial system, the economy, peace, development and democracy in the country. Hence, I have no doubt that the people of Ethiopia and the whole world will be watching attentively the verdict that will be given by the court in Ethiopia in a few weeks.
Dear fellow Ethiopians:
Who are the accused under the Case File “Engineer Hailu Shawel and Others?†Is it really a case against Engineer Hailu Shawel? Or the renowned human rights advocate Professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam? Or Dr. Berhanu Nega? Or Judge Birtukan Mideksa? Or the rest of us? No, it is justice itself which is on trial under this File. It is democracy itself which is on trial. If the court passes a guilty verdict on us, and we are sentenced to prison or sent to death row, then it will be the peace and the faith that the people of Ethiopia have in the justice system that will be the real casualties. The court is in a serious dilemma, as it is on trial itself. Through its verdict either justice will prevail or tyranny can continue unabated. Hate or love will reign. Reconciliation and peace will be established or endless conflicts will continue.
The people of Ethiopia know very well our vision and commitments. Our aspiration has been to do our share in helping bring a genuine democratic system, lasting peace, and freedom from crushing poverty and underdevelopment to the well-deserving but hitherto deprived people of Ethiopia. We have no other purpose. If standing for justice, peace and democracy is considered a crime, we are prepared to accept the court’s verdict whether it is imprisonment or death penalty. Our resolve to bring justice, peace, unity and democracy to our country will have no bounds. We will be guilty only when we betray our fellow citizens and give priority to our selfish interests against the interests of the country, or when we break our oath of commitment to the people of Ethiopia about justice, peace, democracy and development. We, the accused members of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP), particularly those of us who are older, did not join the Party to seek power and to acquire personal wealth as it is the case in some places. Most of us are accomplished professionals and have sufficient income for our livelihood. The younger members of the Party including the civic leaders who are imprisoned with us are also fully committed individuals ready to sacrifice the privileges of youth and pay a heavy price for the wellbeing and development of their country. The young journalists also imprisoned with us are the real democracy heroes who have advanced the people’s fundamental rights to free speech.
Here it is worthwhile to recall a statement made by General Mengistu Neway, (who attempted to overthrow the Haile Selassie government) during his court trial 46 years ago. When the General was asked to explain the reasons for his attempted coup d’êtat he replied: “If I wanted, I could have changed cars on a daily basis. I could drink selected French Champagne everyday. When thousands of people would queue-up to enter the grounds of the Imperial Palace I had unfettered access to the Emperor. I chose to forfeit these privileges and opportunities and decided to free my people and country from darkness, poverty and underdevelopment. I had no other ambition.†Today we the imprisoned members of Kinijit (CUDP) are proud to echo the General’s words in the courtroom. However, there is a fundamental difference between the General and us. He wanted to change the government by force. We want to bring change legally through the ballot box, in a free, fair, transparent and peaceful democratic process. Those of us who are falsely accused of genocide and treason, envisioned to liberate our country from its grinding underdevelopment and pave the way for lasting peace, security, democracy and prosperity, by working hand-in-hand with the people of Ethiopia, including our jailers.
Life is always short, and is even shorter for those of us who are older. It is our burning desire to contribute to saving our peace-thirsty country from the man-made and natural disasters, and pave the way to peace, justice and democracy. We want to leave behind a peaceful, just, democratic and harmonious Ethiopia so that our children and the future generations can lead a better and more peaceful life. This is our commitment and only ambition.
Dear fellow Ethiopians and Honorable Judges:
We recall vividly the bloody political history of our country and the sacrifices paid by thousands of Ethiopians in the past. We know also that leaders like Emperor Yohannes, Emperor Tewodros, Lij Eyassu, Emperor Haile Selassie, Princess Zeweditu, Prime Minister Aklilu Habtewold, Prime Minister Endalkachew Mekonnen, Generals Aman Andom, and Teferi Benti, were not lucky enough to die a natural death. Their loved ones were denied the right to even grieve and honor them with proper burial. Emperor Menelik’s death still remains a mystery. Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam’s fate is yet unknown. We are aware of the volatile and dangerous nature of Ethiopian politics. Nevertheless, we chose not to remain bystanders when the country was descending rapidly towards unprecedented and multifaceted dangers. Our objectives are straightforward and clear. They include the following:
• To reinforce the culture of respect for the authority of the people, and work towards national reconciliation and inclusiveness through popular participation.
• To break the vicious cycle of transfer of power through brute force, and to institute genuine culture of democracy and good governance.
• To change the ugly image of Ethiopia painted worldwide as a beggar nation; and to advance the country forward as a self-reliant and vibrant society by capitalizing on its rich potential.
• To create educational and employment opportunities for young Ethiopians so that they will not be victims of the prevailing sufferings and humiliations as migrant workers, in foreign countries, in intolerable conditions. In this regard, an African observer once wrote that Ethiopia has become Africa’s shame. We want to change this disgraceful situation, and make Ethiopia, once again, the pride of Africa and the world.
• To ensure that the atrocities committed in the past will never happen again in our country. We have seen too many state-sponsored crimes and arbitrary imprisonments and humiliations in the past. For example, during the “Red Terror†in the district of Cheha, Gurage Zone of Ethiopia, a desperate mother saw a crowd of helpless people stampeding on her son’s headless body under the watch of government militias. We owe it to all Ethiopian mothers that their sons and daughters will never again become victims of tyranny and state crimes.
• To build a strong and peaceful Ethiopia that is capable of defending its sovereignty, national interests and territorial integrity while at the same time contributing significantly to regional and world peace, security and development.
Dear fellow Ethiopians and Honorable Judges:
In Third World countries, particularly in Africa, it is common practice for ruling parties to accuse opposition party leaders of treason on fabricated charges just to stay in power without any regard to justice and human rights. The pitiful and trumped up charges against us are no exception. What shocks and saddens me most is the totally baseless genocide charge labeled against us. I have no word to describe my anger and sorrow about this cruel and shameful charge. In my professional life, especially as prosecutor at the United Nations International Tribunal in Rwanda, I have witnessed what genocide really signifies. My recollections from that trial are too gruesome to narrate. I will simply mention a few of the evidences to illustrate the gravity of the genocide charges against us by the government prosecutor:
• In a certain locality in Rwanda, Tutsi mothers were asked to bring their children to a public gathering and ordered to dig graves. Then they were forced to throw their children into the graves one by one and burry them alive. As the mothers were covering the live bodies, the children were screaming frantically and asking their mothers to rescue them. But the mothers continued to fill the graves with soil until there was dead silence. It was at this time that many of the mothers fainted. The poor mothers obeyed the orders of the criminals in the hope of saving the lives of their remaining children.
• Over twenty-five thousand Tutsis were told that they were Ethiopians and needed to go back to their country of origin. To start the “journey†they were thrown with their hands tied down into a river flowing northwards. Ironically, for some time the river was called Ethiopian Airlines. As a prosecutor, I had to present the video of the testimonies about this most horrible act to the Tribunal. In a locality called Murabi over three thousand Tutsi men, women and children were massacred with machetes. Their bodies were kept in a school as documentary evidence of history.
• In a matter of 90 days close to one million Tutsi elders and children were exterminated with machetes. A few lucky ones were able to pay the murderers to kill them with bullets, possibly with less pain.
• In Asia two million Cambodians were exterminated for their ethnic identity and political affiliation.
• Hitler exterminated six million Jews because of their ethnic identity and religious belief.
• Similarly the Turks are reported to have exterminated no less than one million Armenians.
The above are a few examples which illustrate the gravity of genocide charges. We, the accused in Ethiopia are charged of committing genocide as defined by the prosecutor of the Ethiopian government – a charge that has absolutely nothing to do with genocide. When Ethiopians demonstrated to demand respect for their democratic rights and against vote rigging, incidents may have occurred including the partial burning of a resident’s house. To my understanding this happened not because of the person’s ethnic identity. Throughout their long history, Ethiopians have lived harmoniously together without any regard to ethnic, racial and religious differences.
We, the accused decided not to defend ourselves at the court hearings because we knew that we did not commit the fabricated and baseless crimes labeled against us by the government. Yet, the prosecutor pressed with the charges of treason and genocide. When we requested to be released on bail, he warned us to know that committing treason was the highest crime – worse than genocide. For us the motive was clear.
Genocide is the worst crime that can be committed anywhere and anytime. When six million Jews were exterminated there was no vocabulary to describe Hitler’s crime. The then Prime Minster of England, Winston Churchill, called it the Nameless Crime. It was at this time that a researcher named Lumpkin, a Jew who emigrated from Austria to USA, coined the Greek term ‘Geno’ which means race/ethnicity, and the Latin term ‘Cide’ which means mass killing. By combining the two words he created the word “Genocide.†In Amharic (Ethiopian language), it means “Zer Matifat.â€Â
Since the meaning of genocide was not well understood at the time, even the Nazis were not accused of this crime. To date only three accusations of genocide have been established globally, two of which are in Ethiopia. The first one is on Mengistu Haile Mariam’s regime; the second is on us under the Case File “Hailu Shawel and Others.†The third is in Rwanda. Even Saddam Hussein who killed thousands of his citizens was not accused of genocide. A genocide crime is, by its very nature, a crime against humanity because when a group of people are exterminated on account of their ethnic identity or religious belief, their demise is a loss to humanity. As such, the criminals of such a heinous crime can be legally prosecuted in any country.
Dear fellow Ethiopians:
Yes, the democratic process we started with you has been obstructed and delayed. It is also true that the illegal imprisonment imposed on us troubles us immensely. What is most disturbing and painful, however, is the engraving of our names by the government in a genocide file. The government prosecutor has attempted to portray us as enemies of our beloved people who are from the northern part of Ethiopia. How can Ms Serkalem Fasil who was six months pregnant at the time of her arrest (and later delivered her baby while in prison), or the shy Ms Seble Tadesse, or Dawit Kebede (a Tigrian) would dare to exterminate his own Tigrian brothers and sisters? Did the prosecutor really see any merit in the case or was he ordered to file the charges? It is impossible to imagine the incalculable damage inflicted by the government prosecutor upon the
name and long history of Ethiopia.
Those of us who are in the legal profession have the ethical obligation to uphold justice and to stand for the fundamental rights of Ethiopians and humanity at large. We have a professional responsibility to stand for the rights of our people. Maintaining the highest ethical standards for the legal profession cannot and must not be compromised. Legal professionals who are ethical would never sell their conscience to the highest bidder for money or power. Trying to establish a genocide case against “Hailu Shawel and Others†is a mockery of the massacres of the millions of Jews, Tutsis, Cambodians, and Armenians.
Throughout the court proceedings, the prosecutor has not been able to present an iota of tangible evidence against us, the accused. Although we are innocent until proven guilty, from day one we were labeled criminals by our accusers not only in the court but also in the media. The prosecutor tried to use the same so-called material evidence presented against one defendant, and wanted it to apply equally to the rest of the accused. It seems that this strategy is based on the Nuremberg Charter which decreed that an accusation made against a Nazi Party member de facto made all party members criminals by association. During World War II the Nazi Party and other Nazi organizations were made illegal and criminal organizations. Members of these organizations were declared illegal just because of their membership. This nullifies the established legal doctrine which asserts that crime is individual and that no crime works retroactively. Precisely for these reasons the Nuremberg Charter has been totally rejected by international legal experts. Referring to our case, if Yacob Haile Mariam, a member of CUDP is criminal, then the evidence presented against him can be used to implicate other CUD members and supporters. As the majority of voting-age Ethiopians are members or supporters of CUD, the prosecutor may be accusing millions of Ethiopians of treason and genocide, by association. From the legal and common sense perspective this is totally incomprehensible.
The honorable judges are faced with an enormous responsibility. When a private army officer makes a mistake he is accountable to his commanding officer; and a civil servant is answerable to his supervisor. To whom is a judge accountable? First, he/she is accountable to his/her conscience and must accept full responsibility for the actions. Then, he or she is answerable to his/her own conscience, children, the people of Ethiopia, the civilized world, and to history.
With the on-going trial for treason and genocide the peace-loving and law-abiding people of Ethiopia are also being tried. Would they be expected to feel unaffected if there is a miscarriage of justice? With the verdict the people will prove whether today there is justice in the country that they can respect and abide by. Throughout their history Ethiopians have attached the highest respect for law and order. They also understand fully the consequences of any miscarriage of justice, and arbitrary verdicts on innocent citizens for crimes they did not commit. In commenting about the Nuremberg Trial, the famous prosecutor, Robert Jackson, was known to have said that the world yields no respect to courts that are merely organized to convict. This would also be the feeling of people in Ethiopia towards the legal system if courts are merely organized to convict.
Dear fellow Ethiopians and Honorable Judges:
As you very well know, our country is facing a myriad of unprecedented political, social and economic problems. The solution to these complex problems lies in our ability to negotiate and resolve our differences through dialogue and mutual understanding. There will be no winner when divisiveness prevails over unity and harmony. Without peaceful and amicable negotiations of existing major differences the biggest loser will be our Ethiopia. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that we all start afresh to work together as brothers and sisters under the protection of the law, and with justice for all. If the differences between us the prisoners and EPRDF are in the ways we stand for the wellbeing and interests of our country, then such differences can be resolved easily. Failing to address our differences wisely and urgently can only intensify and prolong our collective suffering. Make no mistake about it. We, the accused are not worried about the type of sentencing that we will be receiving in the coming weeks. Our deepest concern is about the possible irreparable harm that can be inflicted on the justice system of our country, and the consequences on peace, security, democracy and development in Ethiopia and beyond. We know very well that at least history will absolve us from the fabricated and baseless charges. When the future generations study this pending case against us they will either be proud or ashamed of it. The choice rests with the honorable judges.
As leaders of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party, and as responsible citizens, we have tried our best to reach a negotiated settlement with EPRDF in order to resolve the unprecedented political crisis facing our country. None of us has attempted to take the life of a single person leave alone exterminating an entire ethnic population in Ethiopia. The honorable judges, the prosecutor, EPRDF, the people of Ethiopia and the international community all know our innocence. If the government prosecutor still believes the contrary, then let him present his material evidence to an independent and impartial court of law. No one is above the law, neither the accused nor EPRDF.
Long live Ethiopia with flourishing justice, peace and democracy.
This is an unauthorized translation of the letter which was orginially written in Amharic.
Dr. Yacob Haile-Mariam
Kaliti Prison, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
January 2007
The panel discussion on human rights in Ethiopia co-sponsored by the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Amnesty International and Qaliti Qal Kidan (Qaliti Covenant) was warmly received by a capacity crowd in attendance. Josh Rubenstein, the Northeastern director of the Amnesty International USA, Northeast Region, was the moderator for the event dubbed: ” Ethiopia: Peaceful Resistance and Civil Disobedience as Dissent.”
Dr. Meqdes Mesfin, the first panel speaker, set the parameters of the discussions by discussing the major events that took place after the May 2005 elections. She described the changing patterns in the Ethiopians government’s explanation of what happened during the protest. She said that based on her research she found that the official Ethiopian government’s explanation for the violence kept shifting over time from “It is the opposition, who is responsible”, to “The government had to act swiftly and decisively to halt an armed insurgency”, to” Police panicked when met with such volume of protesters”.
She wrapped up by saying that the crisis in Ethiopia today is not one of political partisanship but a need for accountability for human rights violations. She closed by saying that only with the release and the involvement of the prisoners at Qaliti would a sustainable resolution be found that would be based on accountability for human rights violations to eliminate the possibility of vengeful retribution and ensure the institution of the rule of law.
Judge Frehiywot Samuel presented a discussion of the methodology used by the Inquiry commission in investigating the facts surrounding the violence and killings of protesters in June and November of 2005. Judge Frehiywot said the Commission undertook its investigation by carefully collecting data from health care facilities, police agencies and government officials. He said the Commission visited the various locations where the protests had taken place, as well as prisons and other sites.
As part of its investigation, the Commission also interviewd Prime Minster Meles Zenawi and top police and defense ministry officials. Judge Frehiywot stated that the Commission determined on an 8-2 vote that government security forces used excessive force to quell the protests, and unanimously found that the conduct of the security officers was in violation of the human rights of the protesters and the constitution of Ethiopia. The judge stated that the government had provided the Commission a list of names of 30,000 detainees in the post election period. The judge clarified that the while they have evidence of documented casualties during the protest, he was making no speculations as to how many others may have been killed or injured in incidents on dates other than the ones the commission was authorized to investigate.
Ato Mitiku Teshome described the findings of the Commission in greater detail. Ato Mitiku said he and other members of the Commission were under continuous surveillance by security officials following leaks that the Commission had reached findings unfavorable to the government. There was much pressure to get the commission to rewrite its findings consistent with a prior whitewash in the Anuak massacre matter. He and the others left the country once it became clear that their lives were in imminent danger.
A short but powerful segment of the Inquiry Commission’s deliberations was screened with English subtitles for the benefit of the non-Ethiopians in the audience.
Prof. Al Mariam, the last speaker on the panel stated he was there to speak about “Human rights and government wrongs in Ethiopia.” He itemized the list of human rights guaranteed to Ethiopian citizens under the Universal Declaration of Human rights and other international conventions. He also listed a catalogue of “government wrongs”. He said: “The problem with the so-called ‘crimes against the state’ is that they are absurd as they are untenable. Charging a 76 year old retired university professor, a former UN genocide prosecutor at the Rwanda tribunal and former UN Special Envoy in the Cameroon/Nigeria border dispute, one of the most distinguished women judges in Ethiopia and a whole bunch of academics and newspaper reporters and editors with genocide just does not make sense.” He made a plea to the international human rights community to join the Ethiopian human rights community in advancing freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia by supporting H.R. 5680. A sustained and animated question and answer period followed the presentations.
On February 9, 2007, members of the Greater Boston Ethiopian Community hosted an event at the Williams Middle School complex in Chelsea, Massachusetts. Councilor Mike Mekonnen introduced his fellow City Councilors with whom he had drafted and signed a resolution calling upon the Congress of the United States of America to support the fight for human rights democratization and economic developing in Ethiopia by enacting HR 5680.
They also promised to facilitate communication with other municipalities to support the cause of the release of the prisoners of conscience and the aforementioned legislation. In addition, Councilor Leo Robinson shared with the audience, and presented to Dr. Meqdes Mesfin, a letter he had received from Congressman Mike Capuano, expressing his commitment to working with the City Council and with Amnesty International USA in calling for the immediate and unconditional release of Professor Mesfin Woldemariam and all other prisoners of conscience detained since 2005.
The audience expressed its sincere appreciation for the presence of these men of integrity and thanked them for their commitment and dedication to the truth and the human rights of their fellow citizens in spite of the adversities they knew they would face.
Qaliti Qalkidan is grateful for the support it has received from Enem LeHagere, Democracy for Ethiopia, and many members of the community for organizing both of these events and providing the material, logistical, technical and human resources that was required to make this event a success. Our thanks also goes to the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Josh Rubenstein of Amnesty International, Northeast Region, Councilors Mike Mekonnen, Leo Robinson, and Calvin Brown of Chelsea as well as many others who have worked on promoting the cause of the release of the prisoners of conscience, and the exposure of human rights violations in Ethiopia with a view towards the establishment of the rule of law, and respect for human rights in Ethiopia.
