This same shameless diplomat did not utter a word of condemnation when her friend Meles Zenawi unleashd his death squads on unarmed civilians following the May 2005 elections.
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(BBC) – The top US diplomat for Africa, Jendayi Frazer, has said the UN Security Council should consider sanctions on Zimbabwe over the post-election crisis.
She told the BBC that if the situation did not change “we should contemplate multilateral sanctions through the UN”.
Ms Frazer, who is touring the region, urged African leaders to speak “very loudly” against post-poll violence.
Opposition and human rights groups allege a government campaign of abuses in the wake of last month’s vote.
Four weeks after the elections, results from the presidential race remain unreleased.
The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), which overturned President Mugabe’s parliamentary majority for the first time in 28 years, says its candidate Morgan Tsvangirai won the presidency outright.
Independent monitors have also said he got the most votes, but may not have gained the absolute majority necessary to avoid a run-off poll.
‘Youth militia’
Ms Frazer said the US Embassy in Zimbabwe had received documented evidence of more than 450 people who had been beaten since the vote, one death and about 1,000 people who had been displaced.
The MDC says 15 of its supporters have been killed.
The US envoy has been touring southern Africa, seeking to push regional leaders towards more open criticism of Mr Mugabe.
“The region needs to speak very, very loudly and very clearly to President Mugabe and his government to say that the violence must come to an end immediately,” she said.
“It’s unacceptable to beat people just because they’ve decided to go out and vote.”
HAVE YOUR SAY The UN should impose sanctions on Zimbabwe but a military intervention would be more helpful Tafara Shoko, Johannesburg, South Africa
South Africa’s President Thabo Mbeki has been mediating between the two sides, but correspondents say the long-time Mugabe ally’s policy of “quiet diplomacy” has been widely derided.
Ms Frazer’s comments came a day after a partial recount of votes in the presidential election failed to reverse Mr Mugabe’s lost parliamentary majority.
“We believe the whole recount exercise is just an exercise in delay… in allowing Robert Mugabe to intimidate the population, to create the machinery so that he can rig [a potential run-off] vote if necessary,” she told the BBC.
‘Pattern of violence’
Zimbabwe’s Electoral Commission has said that the recounts in 23 constituencies should be completed by Monday, after which party representatives will be invited to a “verification” process, leading to the release of the long-awaited presidential results.
Sunday saw fresh condemnations over mounting evidence of a government-sponsored campaign of intimidation against opposition supporters.
The Archbishop of York, leading a day of prayer for Zimbabwe, urged members of the army and police not to “terrorise the ordinary citizens” and warned them “not to prop up a government” that “lacks legitimacy”.
And UN Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, said she was “particularly concerned about reports of threats, intimidation, abuse and violence directed against NGOs, election monitors, human rights defenders and other representatives of civil society”.
She said reports suggested “an emerging pattern of political violence inflicted mainly, but not exclusively, on rural supporters of the opposition MDC party” although there were “some reports of MDC supporters resorting to violence and intimidation”.
In Harare, lawyers continued to seek access to about 200 opposition supporters arrested during a police raid on MDC offices on Friday.
The government says they are suspected of involvement in political violence, although the MDC say many of them were taking shelter after fleeing intimidation in rural areas.
All these far flung concept, country, system and a celebrity have one thing in common. The current Ethiopian regime is the unifying factor here. It is a well-planned and calculated move by the princess of darkness from Arat Kilo. They are a ploy to put too much up on the screen, too many things all at once and it is very difficult to focus. We are inundated with too much information. It is difficult to hit a moving object.
When there is too much noise from the regime, you know something is up. You have to be alert to separate the chaff from the grain. They just throw everything at you. This time their main aim was to deflect attention from the sham ‘election’ they were orchestrating. It was considered to be a non-event by everybody except the regime.
All the reports by major media and internationally respected organizations concluded that the government was running UN opposed. It was systematically preventing any opposition participating in a meaningful way. The so-called election was an utter failure with everybody ‘ including the ‘loyal opposition’ dropping out the last minute.
It is good enough for begging, borrowing, ‘close your eyes and let me fool you’ purpose, but nothing else. Only Woyane thinks it was a good idea. They hope in time the world will forget and it will be fait acompli. In the eyes of the world players Ethiopia will be considered another ‘failed state’. In the international arena, legitimacy is a powerful calling card. Ethiopia lost that in the aftermath of the 2005 elections. Now it is sinking deeper into the realm of Jean Bidel Bokassa and Mobutu Sese Seko.
Remember during the Kenyan election fiasco, they always mentioned the stolen Ethiopian election and the aftermath. When they are discussing Zimbabwe they always bring out the 2005 election. It has become a landmark for stealing and killing to stay in power. The Ethiopian government does not have legitimacy to utter a word regarding these major incidents in our continent. Instead of being a respected and neutral go between the warring parties we are shamed into sitting in the background and keeping quiet. It is because the power of those in charge does not emanate from the people rather it comes ‘out of the barrel of the gun’ directed against the people. We are being held as a good example of ‘poverty stricken and botched elections’ with the government accused of killing hundreds of civilians in cold blood. Another ‘banana republic’.
Nothing like diversion to change the subject.
Qatar was thrown into the mix to involve the foreign media. Instead of reporting about the failed elections, the inflation, and the famine they gave the ferenjis something they could report. They reported it dutifully. ‘Ethiopia severs ties with Qatar’ was everywhere. It was a non-news but Woyane made it news. Qatar does not give a damn regarding the so-called ‘diplomatic relations’ with Ethiopia. Ethiopia needs Qatar not the other way around. Thus trying to give a finger to a 700-pound gorilla is not a good idea. It is fortunate the gorilla found it amusing and shrugged it off. If they were hot headed like Woyane over twelve thousand needy Ethiopians will be sent home. Hey they are indifferent to seventy million Ethiopians, a few thousand in Qatar is nothing to loose your sleep about.
Next was the story of the famous ‘Ethiopian Commodity Exchange’ (ECX). Only TPLF will come up with something like this. Who needs comedians with Woyane around? You can trust them to pretend the most absurd is the most rational. Let us see, the concept of a ‘Commodity Exchange’ in Ethiopia will be as out of place as a ‘water park’ in the Sahara, a ‘monastery’ in Las Vegas or a ‘Hitler’ museum in Tel Aviv. It just doesn’t flow.
Commodity exchange is one of those purely capitalist enterprises, which has basic requirement of its own to succeed. The first is ‘Democracy’ where ideas and wealth is exchanged openly. Then we need open and transparent system where the information presented should have credibility with the consumer. Independent institutions not beholden to any government or outside forces are a must. Faith in the fairness of the system is the most critical aspect of the capitalist system.
Today’s Ethiopia doesn’t even come close to any of the above. The economy is controlled by the government or its subsidiaries, the Central Bank does not know the difference between Gold and Lead and the communication system is still rooted in the last century. Most of all there is no such thing as ‘private confidential’ information in Ethiopia. The Police State knows everything. The much-ballyhooed opening of the so-called ECX is nothing but another scam on the ferengis and a smoke screen to divert our attention from the election fiasco. The girls of Mitmita blog have a hilarious take on this unique institution.
At last the minority regime was forced to use what is has been holding in reserve for the last year and a half. Throw our beloved Teddy Afro into Kaliti. TPLF planned this a long time back. Teddy has been a thorn on their side for too long. The young man has the nerve to come up with lyrics and songs that stirred our inner soul and increased our pride on being Ethiopian. What the Woyane was destroying, Teddy was building. What the Woyane was insulting Teddy was praising. One Teddy was greater than the sum of all Woyane.
Teddy’s imprisonment was a two-pronged attack. The first is to divert attention till they finished seating their minions as the new sheriff in all of Ethiopia. The second was intended to show that Woyane is in charge. Nothing like a high premium prisoner to show who the boss is. Another attempt to emasculate us and break our will to challenge them. Not to worry, all their loud statements end up biting them back. Woyane is the same old confused, disoriented ‘keystone cops’ that can’t shoot straight even if their life depended on it.
As their imprisonment of Kinijit leaders ended up galvanizing the country against them, as their unprovoked invasion of Somalia is uniting the Somali against them, so will the imprisonment of our favorite son make us angry and end up making us see the real nature of Woyane. We have three thousand years of built up ‘Ethiopianess’ DNA interwoven in our very essence. Believe me Woyane is a shooting star here now gone in a second phenomena. We will still be here. Just keep your eyes on the prize. Melkam Fasika my beautiful brothers and sisters. May the Ethiopian God give Teddy the strength in this time of hardship!
Ethio-Sudan Border Committee reports that last week the Sudanese army entered Ethiopian territory and has burned at least 24 farming communities. The Sudanese have also rounded up and taken away several Ethiopians from the villages. The Woyanne army in the area took the side of the Sudanese and has accused the villagers of attacking Sudanese troops… Read more in Amharic >>
(The Baltimore Chronicle) — Earlier this week, we noted reports that Ethiopian Woyanne invaders in Somalia had killed several clerics and other unarmed people in a mosque north of Mogadishu during the recent bloody reprisals against civilian areas launched by the Bush-backed invaders and their Somali allies. At the time, sketchy reports from the BBC indicated that at least 10 people had been killed in the mosque.
Now Amnesty International has charged Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers with killing 21 people in the mosque — and slitting the throats of seven of their victims, the Herald-Sun reports. Amnesty said the invaders are also holding dozens of children they captured during the raid:
Amnesty said those killed at the mosque included imam Sheikh Saiid Yaha and several scholars of the moderate Tabligh group that operated there.
“Eye-witnesses report that those killed inside the mosque were unarmed civilians taking no active part in hostilities,” Amnesty said. “Seven of the 21 were reported to have died after their throats were cut – a form of extra-judicial execution practiced by Ethiopian forces in Somalia.”
Amnesty urged the Ethiopian Woyanne military to release all 41 children it said were held after the mosque raid. “Witnesses have told Amnesty International that Ethiopian Woyanne forces would only release the children from their military base in north Mogadishu ‘once they had been investigated’ and ‘if they were not terrorists’,” it said.
Some of the children — who were aged as young as nine — were reported to have been freed, though the majority were still in custody, Amnesty said.
Witnesses said they had seen beheaded bodies lying outside the mosque after the fighting.
Let us stress the plain fact once again: These atrocities are the direct result of a “regime change” operation launched with the funding, arming, training — and direct military intervention — of the United States government.
Bush has gladly embraced the Ethiopian dictator Meles Zenawi whose soldiers are entering mosques and beheading unarmed clerics and kidnapping children. Bush has even sent in American troops to support the efforts of his Ethiopian proxies. All of this is being done, ostensibly, as part of the effort to “combat terrorism.” In reality, of course, the Bush-Zenawi “regime change” operation is itself a massive and ongoing act of state terrorism, one that dwarfs any of the outrages perpetrated by Islamic extremists. And of course, such atrocities only beget more extremism.
They are also hindering efforts to bring the carnage in Ethiopia to an end, as the story by the Herald-Sun’s Andrew Cawthorne makes clear: Some moderate Islamist leaders have reacted to the mosque incident, and a recent upsurge of fighting in Mogadishu, by postponing plans to join UN-sponsored peace talks.
But no doubt this suits Bush, Zenawi, and the CIA-paid Somali allies very well. As in the other “regime changes” of the Terror War, Bush and his clients do not want “peace” — unless it is the peace of the grave that comes from the annihilation.
What did the American “papers of record” have to say about this American-backed atrocity? Both The New York Times and the Washington Post ran the same small Reuters story trumpeting Ethiopia’s Woyanne’s denial of the killings. Except for a two-sentence summary of Amnesty’s charges, the entire top half of the story dealt with statements from minions of the Ethiopian dictator, denouncing Amnesty’s “lies.” The story also describes the Ethiopian Woyanne soldiers as being “stationed” in Somalia, in order “to bolster the interim government.”
Ethiopia Woyanne is occupying Somalia by force of arms and engaging in murderous reprisals — yet all the Times and Post can bring themselves to say is that Bush’s brutal allies are merely “stationed” in Somalia. No doubt the Völkischer Beobachter used to speak of Nazi troops “stationed” in France, Poland and Russia, just as Pravda spoke of Soviet troops “stationed” in Hungary and Czechoslovakia.
This is the precise moral level of the Terror War. The American Establishment — and the two “progressive” Democratic presidential candidates — accept it. The American press abets it. The deluge of innocent blood will go on.
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Chris Floyd has been a writer and editor for more than 25 years, working in the United States, Great Britain and Russia for various newspapers, magazines, the U.S. government and Oxford University. Floyd co-founded the blog Empire Burlesque, and is also chief editor of Atlantic Free Press. He can be reached at [email protected].
