Keep your eyes on the prize By yilma bekele
Psychologist Ellen McGrath calls it ‘the rumination rut’…. a style of thinking in which, like a hamster in a cage, you run in tight circles on a treadmill in your brain. It means obsessing about a problem, about a loss, about any kind of setback or ambiguity without moving past thought into the realm of action.’ This in turn makes us loose our focus. While our problem stays constant our focus wonders aimlessly. It is like trying to hit a moving target.
‘Land to the tiller’ was a cry in 1968. ‘Land to the tiller’ is still the cry of the vast majority of our people today. ‘Democracy, the Rule of Law and respect for basic Human Rights’ was the issue raised by Kinijit and other opposition parties during the May 2005 general election. ‘Democracy, Rule of Law and respect for Human Right’ are still the main demands today.
The last few years have shown the ‘Diaspora’ to be an agent of positive change in the affairs of our homeland. So much has been accomplished in such a short time. On the other hand those who will loose from positive change have not been idle either. Innumerable hurdles were thrown to derail the march for true Democracy.
Those within the ‘organization’ were used to disrupt the organization. It is a scientific method Biologists use to fight insects and other pests that threaten both humans and animals. They utilize what is known as ‘Sterile insect technique’. This method of biological control works by releasing millions of sterile or genetically modified insects in the general population thus disrupting the normal reproduction cycle.
When it comes to ‘human organization’ the same method is applied by inserting agents camouflaged as committed members. Properly handled they could even rise up to leadership position. Ato Ledetu is a perfect example of the ‘sterile insect technique’. Intentional or not it was executed perfectly. The opposition was in disarray. The population was subdued. The movement lost focus. There was too much up on the screen.
It was not long ago that the regime utilized its supposedly big gun to confuse and demoralize us. Upon the release of ‘Kinijit’ leaders from Woyane jail TPLF unleashed Hailu Shawel, Bedru Adem and other minions on us. ‘Sterile insect technique’ was unleashed in a spectacular manner. It was dramatic. The ultimate betrayal! The giant turned out to be a dwarf. It was meant to demoralize us, break our back, and send us to a hellhole of depression. Bullies underestimate their victims. Never again was the Diasporas reply. They forgot we have risen beyond personalities. Hailu and company were discarded and went back home with their tail between their legs. As the Ethiopian people have persevered under the constant onslaught of Woyane terror, feudal impersonators did not fool the Diaspora.
They are at it again. All you have to do is look at what has been going on the last few weeks. The TPLF machine has been busy. It is a relentless machine. It works 24/7. The main goal is to confuse and cause disarray. It manufactures news. It is constantly trying to define the news for us. The TPLF is a moving target. When we are worried about land give away to Sudan they reinvade Somalia, when we are stressing about political prisoners they release Teddy Afro and we forget the others, when we are concerned about the famine they give us Hailu Shawel and an empty code of conduct. The TPLF is one evil machine designed to kill hope.
It is de ja vu time. Hailu Shawel the crown prince of betrayal is in the process of being unveiled as the right hand man of the petty tyrant. Since Ledetu has been completely disgraced in front of our people Woyane was forced to bring out this senile old man to saw mistrust. They say during high noon in Ethiopia standing in the middle of the town square Ledetu doesn’t even cast a shadow. It is that much that he has been rendered useless. It is Hailu’s turn now. All that free money offered by the Banks, all that business empire built by Shawel engineering is coming home to roost. It is pay back time baby. Park your pride outside, discard your principles, betray your country and friends and bend over comrade Hailu. We will leave the rest to the fertile mind of Meles and friends.
The news yesterday is about the millions of our people dying of hunger. The news today is about famine and the wrong and cruel policy designed by Ato Meles and company. The news tomorrow is about pinning responsibility on those who are causing such anguish and terror on our people. No amount of ‘code of election’ is going to fix that. Without fundamental change taking place our old country cannot survive the rape and pillage by the TPLF minority mafia. As far as we are concerned the so-called election is a dead issue. With Ato Meles in charge of the nation, the security under TPLF, the judiciary under TPLF, election board under Meles, the media muzzled and under TPLF, the foreign Ambassadors echoing Ato Meles’s lies, how in the world can you have a fair and open election? Let TPLF rant about elections. Our job is to work harder to isolate the minority regime from its international supporters. Our job as the Diaspora is stop feeding dollars to the TPLF mafia. Our job is to have the nerve to be upset and do what is right to save our motherland.
The movement should stay in focus. Focus, purpose and simplicity work together to create success. Our message should be both direct and simple. Our demand should be clear and consistent. We should never react to the agenda set by others. We should set our own agenda.
We should learn to stay in focus. We should not be sidetracked. We have defined our goal and purpose and no amount of background noise should take our attention from the prize. No matter how long it takes we should learn to stay the course and win. Keeping quiet is not an option. Staying neutral is not an option. Losing is not an option. We will not be distracted by our worries and fears, but rather take strength from the lofty goal we have set for our country and people, ‘Freedom and Democracy’ and Ethiopia will rise up again.
Our focus is the struggle to bring ‘Democracy, Justice and the Rule of Law’ to our motherland. Nothing more. Nothing less. We will not be distracted by shameless ‘leaders’, nor by negative propagandists. The possibility of losing does not compare to the certainty of wining. The ultimate prize is a glorious Ethiopia leading the Horn of Africa in science, technology and human value. As they say in US Navy Seals ‘the more you sweat in peace time the less you bleed in war’. We will focus and work hard today, so tomorrow our sons and daughters will benefit from our effort.
My advice to our AEUP friends that were cruelly used by Shawel and friends is please don’t go limp on us again. Do not try to manufacture your phantom evidence to show Hailu as a freedom fighter. Do not mistake country with tribe. Do not stand with Woyane and pretend you are equal while in fact you are by the feet leaking that dirty boot. As far as the Ethiopian people are concerned Hailu is dead. Good riddance of bad rubbish.
So as you lay in your hospital bed, with no one by your side
I hope you keep on asking, what’s the reason why.
When your casket lowers, no one will shed a tear..
So good bye dear Hailu, your life is near the end
You will die a lonely death, with not one friend
So when its finally over, and you take your last breathe
Ethiopia will start life again..start fresh.
While U.S. attention is fixed on Afghanistan’s contested elections and the need to insure a democratic process, in another part of the world, democracy has been under siege at the ballot box with terrible consequences.
African elections have devolved into rituals of absurdity. In the last five years we have witnessed attacks on democracy in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Zimbabwe.
In Ethiopia in 2005, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopian People’s Democratic Revolutionary Party was thumped in parliamentary elections by the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy. Zenawi hijacked that election and bushwhacked the opposition by simultaneously declaring victory and a state of emergency. In the following months, his security forces killed nearly 200 protesters and imprisoned over 30,000 others.
In Kenya in 2007, the opposition Orange Democratic Movement swept the political landscape, cleaning out the incumbent President Mwai Kibaki’s cabinet, including his vice president, foreign and defense ministers, and a host of plutocratic parliamentarians. Yet Kibaki held on to power, leading to riots that killed 1,500 people and displaced more than 250,000 Kenyans.
In Nigeria, after nine months of legal wrangling, a presidential election tribunal in 2008 upheld Umaru Yar’Adua’s declared victory, despite evidence of widespread rigging and fraud. In the same year Robert Mugabe’s ZANU-PF suffered massive defeat in Zimbabwe’s national elections. After intimidating supporters of his opponent, Morgan Tsvangirai, with violence, Mugabe, at 84, “won” an uncontested runoff election.
Warnings from the West have had no effect. For example, in response to Zenawi’s crackdown on the opposition, European governments temporarily withheld aid, and multilateral institutions suspended loans to the regime. The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill (H.R. 2003) to hold Zenawi’s regime accountable, but it failed to clear the Senate. And in Kenya and Zimbabwe, though the West pressed Kibaki and Mugabe to form coalition governments, the country remains more divided than ever.
Spanish philosopher George Santayana once said, “Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it.” Because of Africa’s failure to implement reforms, we are ready to restart that cycle, as parliamentary elections are scheduled to take place in Ethiopia in May 2010.
This time Zenawi seems even more determined to circumvent Ethiopia’s democracy. In April, his regime announced that in local elections, the opposition won a paltry three out of 3.6 million “contested” seats.
Elections in Ethiopia under Zenawi’s dictatorship, now spanning two decades, have manifested two recurrent patterns. First, Zenawi has spared no effort to eliminate his opposition. He has used intimidation, threats, arbitrary arrests and detentions, bogus prosecutions, extreme violence, fraud and trickery to wipe out his opposition. Recently, Zenawi invited the opposition for 2010 election talks, but promptly demanded that they sign a “code of conduct” before discussions could be held. Leaders of an alliance of opposition parties under an umbrella organization known as Forum for Democratic Dialogue in Ethiopia walked out of the talks, plainly sensing a trap. Zenawi retaliated by initiating a campaign of harassment and intimidation that sent nearly 500 opposition members to detention.
Zenawi has succeeded in distracting the opposition from making the election about issues or a referendum on his regime to inconsequential issues about personalities and individual grievances. There is little discussion by the regime or the opposition about the formidable and apocalyptic issues facing the country.
Famine threatens to wipe out one-fifth of the Ethiopian population. There are thousands of political prisoners held in regular and secret prisons without trial. Gross abusers of human rights walk the streets free. Ecological catastrophes, including deforestation, soil erosion, over-grazing, over-population and chemical pollution of its rivers and lakes, threaten the very survival of the people. Galloping inflation has made life unbearable for most Ethiopians. Rampant corruption and plunder of the public treasury has left the country with only a few weeks of foreign currency reserves. And there has been no accountability for the reckless intervention in the Somali civil war, the squandered resources and wasted young lives, among many other issues.
Can Ethiopian democracy be salvaged by the 2010 elections? Many of us think it can be saved, but only if we restore the pre-2005 opposition. Back then, there were real opposition parties that were allowed to campaign vigorously. There were free and open debates throughout the society. A free private press challenged those in power and scrutinized the opposition. Civil society leaders worked tirelessly to inform and educate the voters and citizenry about democracy and elections. Voters openly and fearlessly showed their dissatisfaction with the regime in public meetings. On May 15, 2005, voters did something unprecedented in Ethiopian history: They used the ballot box to pass their verdict. That’s how the 2010 election can be saved – by letting the people pass their sovereign verdict.
Only a transition to a constitutional democracy can end the kind of dictatorship that robbed Ethiopians of a chance to advance. As President Barack Obama said, “Africa needs strong institution, not strong men.” Ethiopia’s history is full of strong men on horses, in tanks and boardrooms. As a result, Ethiopia has weak legislative, judicial and electoral institutions.
Clues to saving Ethiopia and other African countries from strongmen may be found in Ghana’s nascent democracy. Since Ghana’s military dictatorship ended in 1992 when it adopted a new constitution, Ghanaians have shown the essential prerequisites for a successful multiparty democracy in Africa. They institutionalized the rule of law and conformed their laws to meet international human rights standards. They created a strong judiciary with extraordinary constitutional powers that made failure to obey a Supreme Court order a “high crime.” They included strong protections for civil liberties, allowing Ghanaians to freely express themselves without fear of government retaliation.
Ghana established an independent electoral commission responsible for voter registration, demarcation of electoral boundaries, conduct and oversight of all public elections, referenda and electoral education. Above all, Ghana’s uncompromising constitutional language made it illegal to have tribal or ethnic-based political parties, the root of most conflicts in Africa.
The glimmer of hope shimmering in the Ghanaian experiment proves that multiparty democracy can be successfully instituted in Ethiopia and elsewhere in Africa, without bloodshed. Failure to do so may once again force Africans to prudently heed Victor Hugo’s admonition: “When dictatorship is fact, revolution becomes a right.” If it gets to that point, it’s going to be a quagmire too difficult to get out of this time.
(Alemayehu G. Mariam, is a professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino, and an attorney based in Los Angeles. For comments, he can be reached at [email protected].)
In 1984 Brian Stewart of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) reported Ethiopia’s worst famine of the 20th century putting the blame squarely on the communist regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam. Canadian taxpayers took his report at face value. On the contrary he praised the Tigrian People Liberation Front (TPLF) guerrillas of Meles Zenawi for distributing food aid to famine victims. Unfortunately, he never reported to us that TPLF was a Marxist-Leninist group identical to Enver Hoxha of Albania. Then one wonders about Brian’s motive of hiding the true faces of the TPLF. For those who are familiar with Ethiopian politics, then and now, two reasons remain outstanding. First is to discredit the military cum communist government of Ethiopia. Secondly is to help TPLF assume power in Addis Ababa.
In 1991, seven years after the famine, the communist military regime came to its demise. Another communist group called TPLF assumed state power. For Brian mission is accomplished. Soon he became the most favored journalist of Meles Zenawi, Prime Minister of Ethiopia. His reports are often skewed to appeasing a dictatorial regime in Africa. The journalist’s regular mantras are that Ethiopia’s social, economic and political situation improved under Meles. Since his retirement in early 2009, many Ethiopians assumed that they are free from his claptrap cyber information about their country. Unfortunately, he comes out from his retirement cell in Toronto and feeds the Canadian public and the international community with news about Ethiopia’s rulers and on the famine looming over Ethiopia.
Instead of It is time to stop gibberish reports on famine, we would request Brian tell Canadians on the state of human rights, democracy, and governance in Ethiopia. If he can’t, we have the temerity to tell this reporter about the true nature of the Government of Ethiopia (GoE), and the underlying causes of famine in Ethiopia as follows.
Frequency of famine and its causes:
Under the TPLF rule of Meles, famine occurs every 3 years (in 1993, 1997, 2007, and 2009) against that of once every ten years during the military regime.
The causes of famine are both natural and man made. Ethiopia’s fully rain fed subsistence agriculture is dependent on the vagaries of nature for which even tyrants have no control. But with the right agriculture policy, this could be offset through the introduction of irrigation. If Ethiopia has gained economic and social transformation (as Brian prophecies), the GoE would have contained famine by transforming Ethiopia’s rain-fed agriculture to irrigated agriculture.
Disjointed priorities:
Monthly the GoE pays US$50,000 (US$ 600,000/year) to DLP Piper a US lobbying firm since the 2005 popular election that revealed the emptiness of the communist rule of TPLF. Over the past 5 years the regime has paid DLP US$3 million Dollars. At Birr 3500/Mt4, this money would buy 12,857 MTs of wheat from local markets.
In Ethiopia Agriculture is a crucial activity that contributes to more than 60% of exports, 46.3% of GDP, 80% of foreign exchange revenues, and a massive 80% of employment5. It is a sector dominated by the poor and who are extremely vulnerable to natural disasters and famine. Unfortunately the GoE’s priorities are different from people’s immediate needs. TPLF uses donor money to buy guns instead of making butter. Meles invaded Somalia to spend $1 million a day to sustain the invasion all in the name of terrorism.
International Aid:
The Honourable Hugh Segal reported to The Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Trade that bags of Canadian wheat are stored in a warehouse in the city of Mekele, Tigray province to serve TPLF HQs when food aid is needed to starving children in the southern regions of the country. This journalist must remain honest to his profession and the organization he works with and tell us the truth about the GoE.
Population doubled yes it has doubled. Brian need to understand that international (including Canadian) aid to Ethiopia has also doubled. The G8 countries including Russia and China right off Ethiopia’s debt almost one hundred percent. This should have given GoE the momentum to contain famine and invest on food self sufficiency programs.
Governance, democracy and good government:
Lack of good governance and lack of democracy hinder development and food self sufficiency. In today’s Ethiopia a one party dictatorship has been the norm for nearly two decades. Three federal elections were held and won by the incumbent regime with 99.9% vote since 1991. In the 2005 election, the TPLF gunned down at close range 193 peaceful and innocent demonstrators, jailed leaders of the opposition and sent 70,000 to concentration camps to the south of the country. The seasoned journalist did not utter a word to the Canadian public when such gross human tragedy takes place at the door steps of the Canadian Embassy in Addis Ababa. Yet still, Canada spends millions of Tax payers’ money for human rights, governance, democratization and rule of law. Is it not that ‘Good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development7.’ In our view good governance is also one of the important factors of eliminating famine and hunger in Ethiopia and elsewhere for that matter.
The 4th federal election is scheduled for June 2010. Unlike the past, this election is won before people cast their votes. If Brain asks why, we have the audacity of telling him that public media is 100% controlled by TPLF. Private and independent media is paralyzed by draconian press law. Opposition leaders and supporters are harassed and imprisoned. For example Birtukan Midekas, a female opposition leader is imprisoned for life. Human rights are of abysmal failure. We advise Brian to refer to Amnesty International8 and State Department reports.
Let it be known that 4% of the 80 million people are ruling Ethiopia with a tyranny and impunity unparalleled in Ethiopia’s history. Ethiopians die of famine in thousands, but the most lethal one that kills the poor is bad government.
In developmental economic theory democracy, good governance, rule of law and respect of human rights are the fundamental pre-requisites of development, eradicating famine and poverty. These are also important ingredients of political, social and economic stability. Rightly so Pranab concludes that “if we take a suitably broad concept of development to incorporate general well-being of the population at large, including some basic civil and political freedoms, a democracy which ensures these freedoms is, almost by definition, more conducive to development on these counts than a non-democratic regime.”
Social Image:
True Ethiopians hate their nation’s image as perpetual victim of disasters. They are protective of their image and decency. There is high level cultural and traditional sensitivity to be called beggars. During the 1984 famine, mothers carrying their dieing toddlers waited for their cue to receive food ration with at most discipline. In many parts of the world such a situation would end in a stampede or riot. Ethiopians prefer to die of hunger than telling lies and get food rations. It is shocking to see those who are not hungry and wealthy enough to feed themselves continue feeding their audience with false information.
Since Brian and CBC are blinded by their self aggrandizement, Ethiopia appeared to them as a difficult problem for the world to fix. Fixing Meles and his Marxists tyrants is harder than fixing Ethiopia’s famine and underdevelopment. With the right leadership and governance in place, Ethiopia’s famine and poverty can be fixed without fanfare. For the moment the time to fix Ethiopia takes longer than necessary, because some media outlets like CBC are not telling their taxpayers the true causes of famine and underdevelopment in Ethiopia. So long as the truth and the only truth about the causes of famine are not told, Ethiopia’s problems continue to be hard to fix and Ethio-Canadians remain worried about Brian’s reports. In the midst of this worrisome reporting it is important for CBC to remember that of all the ills that kill the poor, none is as lethal as bad government.
Last April, we commented that the whole business of elections in Ethiopia is “much ado about nothing”. We offered a catalogue of reasons why the whole election rigmarole and ritual under the current dictatorship was an exercise in futility and absurdity:
The insufferably meaningless [2008] election ritual is now almost over. But for a few more days, we’ll have to put up with the regime’s self-congratulatory blabber and vacuous sloganeering about Ethiopia’s unstoppable march on the road to democracy. Mercifully, in another week or so, no one will even remember there was an ‘election’ in Ethiopia in 2008.
Perhaps we spoke too soon. Here we go again with another election charade!
We are once again being finessed into talking about “the 2010 election” as though it is a real election. It is as real as Mickey Mouse, Pinocchio, Bugs Bunny and Mr. Magoo. It is just crazy: How is it possible that we fall for the same old trick over and over and over…? How can one conceive of contesting an “election” in 2010 that has already been won in 2009? How does any reasonable person believe that the same crooks that rigged the 2005 election will sit in their rocking chairs on the front porch watching a real election being held? Didn’t the same gang of election thieves tell us last April that opposition party members won ONLY 3 seats out of 3.5 million elected seats won by their party? What they call an “election” is the three ring circus where they will be formally announcing their landslide victory in May 2010.
But the charade goes on. It was reported that Ethiopia’s arch dictator “has set up talks with the opposition about drawing up a code of conduct for [elections] next year.” As usual, he tried to pull a fast one by trying to get opposition party leaders to sign it. Ato Seeye Abraha, a former defense minister who is now in the Forum for Democratic Dialogue in Ethiopia [FDDE] (a coalition of eight opposition parties) said, “The code of conduct assumes a context where there will be independent administration of elections, freedom of movement, freedom of expression, no intervention by security forces.” FDDE members pulled out of the talks. It was a simple case of “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
Jamais Vu: What in the World is Going on in Ethiopia?
When the familiar seems new or bizarre, psychologists call it “jamais vu”. Something strange is going on in the relationship between the pro-democracy opposition parties and the one-man, one-party dictatorship in Ethiopia. They seem to have finally come to a complete agreement on political strategy. They have all become Ghandians. Ethiopia’s arch dictator has threatened to use the collective numerical power of African countries and walk out of the climate change negotiations in Copenhagen in December if the “rapists” of Africa do not pay up $67 billion a year as “blood money” for their centuries-long abuse of the continent:
If need be we are prepared to walk out of any negotiations that threatens to be another rape of the continent… While we reason with everyone to achieve our objective we are not prepared to rubber stamp any agreement by the powers… We will use our numbers to delegitimise any agreement that is not consistent with our minimal position… Africa will field a single negotiating team empowered to negotiate on behalf of all member states of the African Union…
The FDDE “using its numbers” wants to negotiate with the ruling “Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front” to contest the “2010 elections”. But they walked out of the negotiations when the dictatorship began a campaign of arrest and intimidation against their members. Ato Bulcha Demeksa, leader of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement bitterly complained, “The ruling party cadres throughout the country are jailing our potential candidates on false charges… We want to negotiate with the government and ask them to stop arresting and jailing our potential candidates.” The capo dictator in his polished Orwellian gobbledygook was sarcastically dismissive: “Those parties that apparently are concerned about harassment are not concerned enough to participate in the devising of a code of conduct that is designed to put an end to it, if it exists, or to prevent it if it doesn’t… The intent of these individuals is to discredit the election process from day one, not to participate in it.” The dictator’s reptilian consigliere, Bereket Simon, with his signature condescension, contempt and mockery of the opposition quipped, “Nobody is being jailed for being a politician… To walk away from [the talks] is disastrous and is to walk away from democracy.”
Ghandi Rules!
We are now witnessing an epic Ghandian confrontation over how to use “numbers”. To use or not to use one’s numbers, that is question in Ethiopia and Africa today: Whether African countries or opposition political parties in Ethiopia should “use their numbers” in negotiations for a fair outcome in climate change or election negotiations? Whether a group of countries or political parties should “use” their “numbers” to delegitimize a concocted climate change deal agreement or a bogus code of conduct to facilitate rigged elections? Whether “numbers” should be used to resist and fend off Africa’s and Ethiopia’s “rapists”? Whether African countries should rubberstamp a lopsided climate deal agreement with the West or opposition political parties a one-sided code of conduct with a dictatorship?
In a Ghandian confrontation, there are no losers, only winners. Africans will certainly win if they use their “numbers” in the climate change negotiations. So will Ethiopian opposition political parties if they use their “numbers” to insist on holding an open and free election.
Climate Change and Regime Change
Climate change and regime change are actually two faces of the same coin. Think about it. Climate change affects the ecological well-being and survival of the entire planet; regime change is about the political ecology and welfare of human beings in a small corner of the planet. The mechanism for positively transforming both is the same: Attain moral clarity and act decisively and courageously on sound and unassailable moral grounds. If walking out of negotiations is a good and prudent moral act to save Africa from the “Western rapists”, it is also good and prudent enough to rescue Ethiopia from her rapists. If it is moral and prudent for “Africa to field a single negotiating team empowered to negotiate on behalf of all member states of the African Union,” it is moral and prudent for the FDDE to do the same in Ethiopia. If it is a moral act to “delegitimise any agreement that is not consistent with minimal positions on climate change” using one’s “numbers”, why would it not be an equally compelling moral act to delegitimize any “code of conduct,” “election” or “regime” that does not meet “minimal positions” of universally accepted standards of human rights and democratic practices? Those who point an index finger at the Western predators and “rapists” of Africa for hypocrisy, chicanery and underhandedness should look at their own clenched fists and see that three fingers are pointing directly at them. Regime change before action on climate change!
Just in passing…
What is the “2010 election” about anyway?
Is it about famine that is now voraciously consuming one-fifth of the Ethiopian population? The confinement of hundreds of thousands of political prisoners in prisons and secret detention facilities without trial? Prosecution of torturers, murderers and other human rights abusers? The ecological catastrophes facing Ethiopia? The galloping inflation? The rampant corruption and plunder of the public treasury? The complete lack of legal accountability of Ethiopia’s dictators? The millions of dollars worth of gold bars that walked straight out of the bank in 2007? The lack of access to clean safe water (only 24% of the total Ethiopian population has access to “clean and safe water”)? The reckless intervention in the Somali civil war, the squandered resources and wasted young lives? The massive human rights violations and absence of the rule of law? The establishment of an independent judiciary, freely functioning of civil society organizations and press? Improving one of the worst educational systems in the world (only 33% of boys and less then 20% girls are enrolled in school in Ethiopia)? Improving one of the worst health care systems in the world (only about 20% of Ethiopians have any access to some form of primary care, one physician for every 40,000 people, one nurse for every 14, 000 people)?
Or is it about “None of the Above”?
Remember 2005?
Real elections took place in 2005. Back then there were real opposition parties who campaigned vigorously. There were free and open debates. The private free press challenged the dictators and scrutinized the opposition. Civil society leaders worked tirelessly to inform and educate the voters and citizenry about democracy and elections. Voters openly and fearlessly showed their dissatisfaction with the regime in public meetings. On May 15, 2005, the voters did something that had never been done in recorded Ethiopian history. They used the ballot box to clean house. That was a lesson in real elections!
It is time for all Ethiopian pro-democracy forces to wake up and refuse to be pawns in the dictatorship’s silly little game of “elections”. The dictators want the opposition to participate in their “election” so that they could use the “participation” as a stage prop when they go panhandling Western donors for aid. The key to Ethiopia’s future is based on building coalitions and organizations that strive to create strong bonds and linkages across ethnic, linguistic, political, regional and ideological lines. FDDE holds great promise in this regard. Until pro-democracy forces inside and outside Ethiopia develop a consensus and a plan of action for democratic change, the dictatorship will continue to put up election circuses and make puppets of us all in its freak show.
It is foolish to believe the “2010 election” will make any difference in the lives of Ethiopians. It is an election about NOTHING; and we should condemn it as a travesty and caricature of democracy and a shameless mockery of popular sovereignty. We are entertained by Mickey Mouse, Bugs Bunny, Pinocchio and Mr. Magoo, but we do not believe any one of them is real. And so it is with the “2010 elections” circus in Ethiopia….
(The writer, Alemayehu G. Mariam, is a professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino, and an attorney based in Los Angeles. For comments, he can be reached at [email protected])
The Ethiopian Prime Mister has been a very visible figure lately. If there is such thing as frequent flyer marketing by Ethiopian Airlines Ato Meles is sure to have enough to go to the moon and back. Stop wishing it were a one-way ticket ok? The period after the 2005 general election has not been good to Ato Meles.
The sure win situation was spoiled by the upstart and spoiled brat called Kinijit. Kinijit took the wind out of Ato Meles and his ethnic entourage. TPLF (EPDRF) was shown to be a house built on sand. A little strong wind and the whole thirteen years Hollywood style façade were shattered to pieces. Kinijit victory was total. The Ethiopian people knew it. The foreign observers concurred. The only one denying reality was TPLF.
Ato Meles always keeps something in his back pocket for a rainy day. He was able to whip out the predicted ‘Interhawme’ scenario to overcome the defeat. He used the threat of Interhamwe (conspiracy to kill all Tigreans by Kinijit) to declare state of emergency. Of course one evil deed leads to another and in a panic he ordered the murder of unarmed protesters by his security force, imprisoned over forty thousand fellow citizens and jailed the whole opposition including human right advocates and civic leaders. The charge included ‘attempted genocide’.
It was a return to the yesteryears of African strong man scenario. Sham elections, rejection by the population, the use of force to change the natural outcome and finally hiding to sit out the shame associated with such barbaric and ugly deed against fellow human beings. The illegal acts ushered in a long winter of exile and lock down. Ato Meles went into hibernation. Let alone Europe and America he was not welcome in most parts of the country. He settled for Adwa as a vacation spot. Talk about downgrading. His party used the down time to fine-tune the repressive machine. The ‘kind’ image cultivated for the election was jettisoned to be replaced by the ‘mean’ not forgiving TPLF.
New programs were designed to satisfy the donors and the Diaspora was actively cultivated to bring needed dollar and euro. Elections were held with new safeguards to assure victory. There is nothing better than to run unopposed and win resoundingly. The ferenjis were happy and were able to fill the necessary forms to continue business as usual. TPLF was happy that once again victory was snatched from the jaws of defeat. The Ethiopian people were depressed and started their geography lesson to scan for a quick way out of the Africa.
Ato Meles emerged from his cocoon around 2007. The world was flush with money and the ferenjis were throwing it out as if it grew on trees. The job market was such that new immigrants were working two jobs. It was planet wide party time. The fantastic amount of remittance flowing into the country and the surge in commodity prices were making the TPLF regime delirious. No one was willing to challenge the fantasy of 12% economic growth thrown around by the regime.
The fight against terror came at an opportune time too. Ato Meles jumped on the bandwagon and declared Jihad on ‘Islamists’ wherever they are. In a split second he was re incarnated as defender of the faith and slayer of Al Qaeda and whatever dada. Not bad for an old Marxist whose religion was dialectic materialism. Jesus was in Marx was out. Condoleezza Rice and Jendayi Frazier were happy to declare Ato Meles No. 1 Jihad fighter in Africa. The fearless leader promised the Pentagon Somalia on a silver platter. It was supposed to be a weekend excursion, a quick jaunt with enough time to be home for dinner. Well, the drive to Mogadishu was a freeway. In fact our Somali friends waited at roadsides to wave at the invaders and wished them a quick trip to the Indian Ocean resort.
Something went wrong. After the heroic arrival in Mogadishu those tricky Somalis closed all the exits. The African Union solders dug in and refused to budge out of their camp. The West said ‘you broke it, you fix it.’ The UN said not now we got more pressing problems. There goes your name, your reputation and the little savings in the coffer. Life is not fair.
At least something good came out of this debacle. Ato Meles was out and about. The Chinese turned out to be real friends in times of need. They were willing to forward loans and collaborate with TPLF and World Bank to show economic activity. Remember most are not sustainable enterprises but who is to complain. Ato Meles leveraged Ethiopia’s position as the seat of African Union to get involved in environmental and aid issues.
By hiring advisors and lobbyists in the West he was able to rehabilitate his image. He started by visiting fellow African dictators. Then he moved in to the periphery like China, Russia or the Middle East. He was worming his way. He always made sure that it was a locality with no civil liberties where his people are not allowed to confront him. For a time it was a days visit to Europe. It was never announced and was done fast. Then he ventured to America under the guise of attending the UN. The ice was broken.
The last year we have seen him in London, Rome and now Pittsburgh. He is seating with who is who on this planet. He wants to be admitted into the Major league. Play with the big boys. All attending G8, G20 meetings are legitimately elected heads of states. None have served more than two terms. Except for the Russian and the Chinese all are dependent on the good will of their people to maintain their status as a leader. In all major meetings Ato Meles is the only ‘leader’ that has clung to power for more than ten years. The vast majorities are new to the job. The meetings are a venue where they jockey to score good deals for respective countries. Ato Meles can sit and watch.
Ato Meles was happy to sit on the same table. He can have his picture taken, attend dinners and such but he cannot speak or vote. Sitting with the big boys have its price. There is certain behavior that is not tolerated unless of course one is either strong or rich neither of which Meles can claim to be. Yes there are always exceptions. That is real life. On the other hand a complete disregard of basic decency is not tolerated even for the rich. The Chinese leaders were shunned after the Tienamen affair. They are very careful and conscious about their dark side since that incident. Despite the ugly display before the dinner in Pittsburgh, I am sure he is happy with his performance.
In that case let us take him for his word. Let us agree that he has matured enough as a leader that he can be included in such gathering. I believe deeds should follow the rhetoric regarding the rule of law, the need for a free and fair elections and observance of the declaration of human rights that Ethiopia is a signatory of. That is good enough for starters. Democracy is the price to sit on that table unless of course you got a few nuclear warheads in your back yard. Suffice to say Ato Meles couldn’t even whip a disorganized Somali rag tag police force. He can only bully un armed civilians.
I believe we should seize the time and use this opportunity for the Ethiopian people to take advantage of the many liberties and rights promised by the Constitution. Meetings by political party’s, associations and organization should be automatic and free. Political parties should be free to lobby the system by using such methods as marches, sit ins and public gatherings.
We know that Ato Meles is preparing to position himself as a selfless leader to assume some positions in international organization when he retires. It is to be commended. Surely a leader that sits with the Barrack Obamas, Angela Merkels and Gordon Browns will not allow his solders to shoot and kill citizens demanding justice. It will definitely affect the next G20 meeting or next climate conference. You just don’t wash your hands with people’s blood and expect a seat with the big guys. It is highly unlikely such deed will go unnoticed. It is definitely a conundrum. This is what is called between a rock and a hard place. Leadership sometimes calls for tough solutions.
It is a tough choice isn’t it? To do the right thing and live in harmony or commit a transgression that will result in being ostracized once again. The decision to use the iron fist will add a lot of uncertainty in what comes after. The call for the International Criminal Court to act will be loud. Other matters that have been pushed under the rug will start to surface. Do we really want that? There are some forces urging Ato Meles to stay the course, but aren’t they sacrificing him to save their behind?
I hope the real opposition will use this opportunity to call Ato Melese’s bluff regarding democracy and freedom and test how real the promise of Woyane ‘Constitution’ is. I hope Ato Meles realizes his legacy is on line. I hope the nightmare decade will be replaced by a long period of prosperity and real peace. With TPLF in charge there is no such thing as a sure bet. Anything is possible.
Shunned by most of the world for his crimes against humanity, isolated as a despot because of his brutal treatment of peaceful protesters following the May 2005 elections, and reviled as a leader of one of the most corrupt and racist regimes in the world today, Zenawi has incessantly been lobbying unscrupulous African diplomats in Addis and other groups in the West for a sympathy invitation to every summit held by the G8 and G20 economies over the last several years.
Through systematic control of almost all aspects of the economic activities in the land, including the aid intended to alleviate poverty and famine, and brutally suppressing basic freedoms, Zenawi has essentially classed Ethiopia at the bottom of the list of developing countries with respect to every conceivable index of development and human rights.
In total disregard of common morality and decency, he exploits the poverty he inflicted on the people as a justification for an invitation of compassion to G8, G20 and related summits. This is a hypocrisy that in comparison makes sagacious even the proverbial man “who murdered his parents, and then pleaded for mercy on the grounds that he was an orphan.”
As outlined below, a closer examination of how the tyrant and his repressive regime operate, however, reveals sinister motives that transcend sheer obsession to be present among world leaders.
1. Zenawi’s Insatiable Appetite for Aid Money
Since the dictator Mengistu Haile-Mariam handed power to Zenawi in 1991, the TPLF regime has received over 30 billion dollars in aid and billions more in loans from donor nations and financial institutions. According to one estimate, Zenawi has been receiving well over $2 billion in foreign assistance alone every year. Apart from the superficial construction projects in the capital and other selected areas — projects that are mostly awarded to TPLF shadow organizations and intended to impress the naïve visitor — the dictator has nothing tangible to show for all the money received.
With no clear accountability, the money has mainly been used, through dubious endowment rules and regulations, to prop up the repressive regime and to enrich the foreign bank accounts of leaders of the minority government as well as their illegal business conglomerates, like EFFORT.
Ensuring the flow of aid money has thus been a major obsession of the tyrannical regime. One obvious platform for accomplishing this is, of course, by securing a backseat, however unglamorous, at G8/20 summits using the famine and poverty of one of the most populous countries in Africa as a sufficient credential for attendance eligibility.
Regrettably, donor nations have repeatedly failed the people of Ethiopia by feeding the dictator with money that he has looted and blatantly used for repressive purposes. As L. Leicht, the EU director for Human Rights Watch, noted earlier this year:
“On 30 January, European Union policymakers sent a clear signal …. no matter how repressive the government becomes, vast sums of aid will continue to flow. This is emerging as a case study in bad donor policy.”
Leicht further declared:
“In January Ethiopia’s government passed a law that is an attempt to muzzle local activists and prevent them from scrutinizing the government’s human-rights record. Among other things, the new law ….. makes it illegal for … Ethiopians to scrutinize the government’s record on human rights, policing, conflict resolution and a range of other issues… It also provides the government with bureaucratic tools to shut down groups the government dislikes.”
Despite the reluctance of certain EU nations, a general awareness of the need to change the “bad donor policy” is noticeable in most parts of the world.
In a well-researched report, B. Bruton, an International Affairs Fellow in Residence of the prestigious foreign policy think tank, the Council on Foreign Relations, recently wrote:
“… cooperation with an authoritarian Ethiopia presents looming challenges to U.S. policy objectives. … the Ethiopian government’s attempts to minimize political competition in the run-up to the 2010 elections are likely to fan ethnic tensions in the country. The government’s ruling party, the Ethiopian People Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), is perceived by many Ethiopians to be dominated by a single minority ethnic faction, the Tigre, and its consolidation of political power may be read as an assault on the majority ethnic Amharic and Oromo populations. Public dissatisfaction with the government is high in the wake of the 2005 elections and a violent explosion is not out of the question.”
These are important developments that suggest the West has finally recognized the true nature of the dictator, and that the despot is running out of options. Thanks to the vigilance of the Diaspora and the illuminating reports of investigative journalists and human rights activists, the tyrant is now in no position to continue to swindle the donor community, begging for alms, hat in hand, at major summits.
2. Summits: A Last Resort to Gain Recognition and Legitimacy
Following the 2005 elections, Zenawi has been desperate to gain a semblance of legitimacy, having been deserted even by his once ardent supporters like former British Prime Minister Tony Blair. A group picture at the G 8/20 summits, however awkward and embarrassing, was Zenawi’s only avenue to get the attention of leaders of the developed world and the international media.
Paradoxically, every summit that Zenawi attended since the May 2005 debacle has instead further exposed his atrocities and laid bare the apartheid system of government he has instituted.
A case in point is the humiliation Zenawi experienced following the April 2009 G20 meeting in London, as reported by H. Gombya of The Black Star News:
“Although Meles Zenawi the Ethiopian Prime Minister and also current NEPAD chair was here, he abruptly canceled a press conference he was about to give. His people gave no reasons for this. But insiders in the press center said Zenawi was worried about the kind of questions that were going to be put to him concerning human rights violations within Ethiopia and his dealing with his opponents and Ethiopia’s neighbours.”
As “Prime Minister Zenawi cowered in the shadows,” the report indicated, “[t]he African continent really wasn’t heard.” Affirming the lack of legitimacy of Zenawi’s government, the paper expressed alarm: “…, it was rather absurd that no representative of the African continent was at hand to put their case to the world media at such a major global setting.”
Summits as a Magnet for the Gallant Diaspora
Ironically, as an unintended consequence, Zenawi’s obsession with sympathy invitation to the summits, instead of earning him legitimacy, has provided an effective medium to the ever-vigilant Diaspora to expose his crimes and corruption to world leaders and the international media.
From the summit in Gleneagles, Scotland, in 2005, to the recent gathering in Pittsburgh, Ethiopians in the Diaspora braved the elements and trekked the terrains to further expose the despot through penetrating slogans and placards.
As Carl Prine of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported, organizers of the recent protest in Pittsburgh declared to the world [11]:
“The U.S. taxpayers are paying money to a regime that is used to terrorize its own citizens …. The people in the G-20 … should not deal with an Ethiopian regime that was not legally elected.”
The damage to the dictator caused by the relentless protests of the Diaspora has been quite significant, both in terms of humiliating the despot and raising awareness globally about the egregious crimes he has committed against his people.
A Call to Action
With the growing realization of the moral, ethical, economic and political difficulties of supporting dictators against the will of the people they brutally suppress, world leaders are seeking alternative means of channeling their material and political support away from the despots.
The Obama administration has at least in principle declared its disassociation with dictators. In his speech in Ghana, Obama sent an unmistakable signal to dictators like Zenaw when he said:
“This is about more than holding elections — it’s also about what happens between them. Repression takes many forms, and too many nations are plagued by problems that condemn their people to poverty. No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves,…. No business wants to invest in a place where the government skims 20 percent off the top, or the head of the Port Authority is corrupt. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end.”
Opposition groups and the Diaspora should seize this opportune moment and fight vigorously to deny the despot another fake victory in the 2010 elections. A concerted effort should be made to demand free and fair elections, with systematic and effective measures that include:
i) Mobilization of all resources to stage demonstrations inside and outside the country effective immediately;
ii) Steadfast lobbying of policy-makers in the US and EU to use aid as a leverage for the prompt and unconditional release of all political prisoners;
iii) Persistent campaigns to boycott all Woyanne-controlled business enterprises, including use of the EAL; and
iv) Unswerving support to initiatives that attempt to bring disparate opposition groups under one umbrella.
Having learned a painful lesson from the 2005 elections, Zenawi would undoubtedly take brutal measures to shut out any and all credible opposition. However, history has shown without fail that no force can withstand for long the wrath of a people so viciously impoverished, humiliated, oppressed and looted as the people of Ethiopia have been at the hands of the despot.
