BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA — Next time I travel to Ethiopia, I may be arrested as a terrorist. Why? Because I have published articles about Ethiopian politics.
I wrote a policy report on Ethiopia’s difficulties with federalism. I gave a talk in which I questioned Ethiopia’s May 2010 elections, in which the ruling EPRDF party (Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front) won 545 out of 547 seats in the Parliament. As part of my ongoing research on mass violence in the Somali territories, I interviewed members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a separatist rebel group in eastern Ethiopia that the government has designated as a terrorist organization.
In the eyes of the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, my work is tantamount to subversion. Not only do his officials have zero tolerance for criticism, they consider people who either talk to or write about the opposition as abetting terrorists.
In recent years the government has effectively silenced opposition parties, human rights organizations, journalists and researchers. On June 27 a federal court convicted the journalist Eskinder Nega and 23 opposition politicians for “participation in a terrorist organization.” More than 10 other journalists have been charged under an anti-terrorism law introduced in 2009. Among them are two Swedes, Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson, who are serving an 11-year prison sentence in Ethiopia. Hundreds of opposition supporters languish in prisons for exercising the very democratic rights that the Ethiopian Constitution nominally protects.
Most people outside Ethiopia associate the country with famine and poverty. They know little about the country’s history and politics — for example that Ethiopia was never colonized, or that it has Africa’s second biggest population. Nor are they aware that Ethiopia is a darling of the donor community, receiving more aid than any other African country. Over the past year alone, the U.S. Agency for International Development has given Ethiopia $675 million in aid. The United States closely collaborates with Ethiopia in covert missions against radical Islamists in neighboring Somalia.
Much of this support comes from the portrayal of Ethiopia as a strong and stable government in a region riddled with political upheaval. The problem, however, is that Ethiopia is plagued by too much state control.
When EPRDF came to power in 1991, it promised to democratize the country. Two decades later the party has a tight grip on all public institutions, from the capital to remote villages. Formally a federal democracy, Ethiopia is a highly centralized one-party state. No independent media, judiciary, opposition parties or civil society to speak of exist in today’s Ethiopia. Many of the country’s businesses are affiliated with the ruling party. Most Ethiopians do not dare to discuss politics for fear of harassment by local officials.
As I found out in dozens of interviews with Ethiopian Somalis, security forces indiscriminately kill, imprison and torture civilians whom they suspect of aiding Ogaden rebels.
How have donors who fund about one third of Ethiopia’s budget and many humanitarian programs reacted to this? They haven’t. They not only continue to support the Ethiopian government but in recent years have increased their aid. The West, most prominently the United States and the European Union, have concluded a strange pact with Meles Zenawi: So long as his government produces statistics that evince economic growth, they are willing to fund his regime — whatever its human rights abuses.
This policy is wrong, shortsighted and counterproductive. It is wrong because billions in Western tax money are spent to support an authoritarian regime. It is shortsighted because it ignores the fact that the absence of basic rights and freedoms is one of the reasons Ethiopians are so poor. It is counterproductive because many Ethiopians resent the unconditional aid and recognition given to their rulers. In Ethiopia — and also in Rwanda and Uganda — the West is once again making the mistake of rewarding stability and growth while closing its eyes to repression.
({www:Tobias Hagmann specializes in East African politics. He is a visiting scholar at the Department of Political Science at the University of California at Berkeley}.)
Makeda it seems is one of the tiny majorities of Habeshas who actually embraces and lives out the meaning of her first name::
by Teddy Fikre dated: Wednesday, July 11th, 2012
In times of war, it is vital to understand that all on the other side are not evil and some are taking part and doing part with unethical people because they believe in an ideal beyond what the leaders of the other side espouse. In times of war, it is vital to separate the pigs from the lamb and to treat the redeemable as friends while banishing the useless ones to the periphery of extinction. War is a savage business, those who have God’s light in their cornea seek war not as a grand conquest or a final solution but as a means to bring about a Addis day and a lasting peace for the people.
It is with that statement that I will “expose” Makeda Debebe as the one person in AESA One who is worthy of being treated with graceful words instead of being buried with my fire pen. Makeda is the one person in AESA One who had ethics and who embarked to market and promote AESA One because she believed in the possibility that AESA One offered. She is the one person out of hundreds who did not take blood money to fill her wallet and instead worked with AESA One to help her brother. This is why Makeda is the only ONE in AESA One; while the rest of the blood thirsty mercenaries were paid over $20,000 a piece stained with the blood of raped and tortured 13 year old Ethiopian girls, Makeda broke her back in a million tiny pieces to give AESA One wings while not fully grasping the wings she was providing to this tyrant federation gave flight to Lucifer and his forty Banda bandits.
Let me tell you a bit about Makeda, or as I call her Makiyeyeye (this is copy written by the way), Makeda is a refuge attorney. She has made it her life mission to help those who are in need and she travels the world all over to give aid and comfort to those who have little and live for even less. She helps victims of rape and exploitation; she travels to Africa continuously to assist refugees and walks endlessly in refugee camps to give Hebret to those who are left shivering in dark lit corners. Makeda is the personification of her first name. You see, in Ethiopia most have some poetic names that have meanings so deep that even Pluto and Aristotle get confounded trying to figure out the essence of our names.
Unfortunately, most Habeshas spit on the meaning of their names and act in ways that are polar opposite of their names. Some are called Desta but they are the perfection of misery, some are called Dawit but don’t act as Dawit in the bible, some are called Fiker but live in hate, while others are named Emnet but have no faith at all. Makeda it seems is one of the tiny majorities of Habeshas who actually embraces and lives out the meaning of her first name. Her parents made no mistake calling this lovely lady Makeda—they can be proud that their daughter has grown up to be the Queen Makeda of Ethiopia after all. Right now, at this very moment, Habeshas with names like Henok Assefa are asking teenage boys proof of their ethnicity on job applications before they ask them about their qualifications. I told you, genocide in Ethiopia is being born and I am standing with my army of youth revolutionaries to stop it the only way we know how—to fight fight fight until the freedom is won.
The thing that galls me the most is that Makeda was the only Jegna who stood up and stood tall for AESA One. Every “man” in AESA One revealed themselves to be nothing more than Habesha Kemis wearing qamalams as they refused to come out publicly and defend the very “non-profit” that was paying them thousands of dollars in order to feed their blood lusting bellies. However, Makeda—the only one that did not get paid—stood like a soldier in Adwa and faced all incoming heat in order to defend the organization that she believed in. She even took forty scud missiles aimed at Makeda’s big foreheadiye (I say that with love) from Teddisho and refused to let me intimidate her. Imagine that, AESA One, a federation of forty bitches and one true nigist.
It is for that reason, because Makeda is a nigist of the highest order, that I write this article praising her heart. Now, don’t get it wrong, Makeda is still wrong for being part and taking part in an organization that is creating the very turmoil and pestilence that she is trying to erase as a profession. AESA One drinks from the cini of blood red buna as they continue to… (CONTINUED)
This is your chance to be with Woyane bandas or be with the people of Ethiopia. This Adwa Spring will be of the people by the people, Tigray, Oromo, Guragaye, Amhara, all 88 tribes of Ethiopia who believe in a FREE ETHIOPIA are welcome to join this movement. Those those are not a part of the movement and decide to stick with Meles and his TPLF Junta. Those who stay with Meles will disappear into the trash bin of history. Soon, not another child of Ethiopia or Africa will die from hopelessness and hunger::
HEBRET Circle
Ethiopian Heritage Society
[click to visit Ethiopian Heritage Society]
If you want to know what our heritage and society is all about, please visit the Ethiopian Heritage Society and make sure you support them when they come to DC on July 27th – July 29th. Leave the “Ethiopian Diaspora Business Forum”, a Woyane infested death panel, and support the Ethiopian Heritage Society instead. The Ethiopian Heritage Society supported ESFNA while the “Ethiopian Diaspora Business Forum threw their lot in with Meles and AESA One. The choice is simple, choose wisely and choose Ethiopian Heritage Society. Enamesegenalen::
The health and whereabouts of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi have become a subject of much speculation. The situation appears to border on panic, especially among regime loyalists. Addis Fortune, an otherwise compliant pro-government business publication chimes in with its own concerns.
Addis Fortune, July 8, 2012
Not surprisingly, and for obvious reasons, the health and well-being of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi have been the subject of intense discussion among members of the public. This came following photos released recently while he was in Mexico, where he was attending a summit by leaders of the group of 20 major economies (G20), and subsequent TV footage showing him receiving Sharif Sheikh Ahmed of Somalia’s transitional government.
In both images that the public was exposed to, it was clear that the Prime Minister had lost weight and visibly. With speculations wide and persistent, the source of his weight loss was thought by many to be due to failing health.
Such a public perception was only fed by his absence from the public’s view over the past two weeks and was intensified because Parliament has still not gone on recess for the summer, even although the country’s official fiscal year came to an end on Saturday, July 8, 2012. What Parliament was, rather, scheduled to discuss on this day was issues such as approving the minutes from its 43rd session, ratifying a bill on national IDs, and giving recognition to a team of surgeons who successfully conducted an unusual surgery on a child.
MPs have yet to accomplish two of the most important tasks in the year. Listening to the Prime Minister’s address to Parliament on the state of the federation during the just-concluded fiscal year and voting on his report as well as ratifying the federal budget’s bill for the fiscal year that just began, which was approved by the Council of Ministers four weeks ago. Gossip sees that neither of these can take place in the absence of the Prime Minister, indeed, unless, of course, there is a situation that dictates otherwise.
At the heart of all of this lies the issue of whether there is a health challenge that Meles is facing that prohibits him from conducting his official duties. The administration, through its spokesperson, Shimelis Kemal, state minister for the Government Communications Affairs Office, vehemently denied rumours that the Prime Minister has been ill. Some close to the Prime Minister have similar views and attribute his recent loss of weight to a diet that he might have started lately.
Coincidentally, it was at a time of such uncertainty that senior officials at the Ministry of Finance & Economic Development (MoFED) instructed, last week, a recall of letters copied to various federal offices in relation to settling medical bills paid on behalf of the Prime Minister, gossip claims. Meles was in London last year for an official visit, where he had a routine check-up, claims gossip.
The way that such bills get settled through the bureaucratic paper trail is for the Prime Minister’s Office to write a letter of request to the MoFED, upon which the latter transfers the funds to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), which actually undertakes the payment, according to gossip. Such was what the Prime Minister’s Office did to see that the medical bills for the London check-up were settled almost a year after, gossip claims. Accordingly, the guys at the MoFED have already transferred the money to the foreign office, disclosed gossip.
Nonetheless, for reasons not explained, the paper trails circulating within the various federal agencies in order to process the request have been recalled, claims gossip. A couple of days last week were spent on such an effort, fueling a new cycle of speculations on the well-being of the Prime Minister, according to gossip.
It looks like there is a lot more that the administration’s spin-doctors need to do on the public relations front to reassure an otherwise alarmed bureaucracy and public, before the grapevine spins things out of control, those at the gossip corridors agree.
No doubt that he has been outside of the country much of last week; whether that was for recovery due to exhaustion – and for skipping a couple of checkups last year – or something else, gossip disclosed. Nonetheless, some at the diplomatic corridor claim that he is now in a very good health, expected to have been back to Addis Abeba on Saturday night.
If, indeed, the Prime Minister was sick and is now recovering, there should be no reason to keep the public in the dark about the health of their leader, many at the gossip corridor agree.
Former TPLF regime official Abdellah Adem Teki provides an in-depth analysis on why dictator Meles Zenawi has launched an anti-Muslim campaign in Ethiopia. [Read here: Amharic – PDF]
You can sleep with the pharaoh or you can stand for the people—I will not let you do both!
by Teddy (revolutionary) Fikre dated: Monday, July 9th, 2012
It is done! A war I started a week ago has been complete and I am now standing on top of a smoldering ash that is AESA One. I warned all promoters and DJs who took blood money, who chose their wallets instead of their conscience, to walk away and to part ways with AESA One. They chose greed and wonton lust of dem genzeb, for that they are forever branded as the bandas of the highest order. They made their temporary loot but they will never be the same—they have been transformed overnight as a pariah and a virus to avoid. This is what happens when you spit on Ethiopia, when people choose greed over the people, they will forever be left alone while they do Eskista in the 8th circle of hell.
Now I have prayed seven times today to let me write this article without venom and using cuss words. I will try my best to do just that and live by the spirit of God and forgiveness. I will try but I know at least one or two times I will utterly fail in this attempt the same way that AESA One utterly failed to divide our community. So I write this article as a eulogy and a warning, anyone that does business with AESA One going forward will be branded as a banda for life and a sekaram askari who puts their belly before the belly of starving children back home. It is with that I will explain to you fully what blood money accomplished last week and show you in the end that people who sleep with blood money will be suffocated by blood….money.
You see, I know what the whole AESA One event was all about. It was a systematic effort to eliminate the voice of the Ethiopian diaspora in America. Meles Zenawi—enabled by his whore Al Amoudi—grew concerned that Ethiopians in America were using ESFNA to organize politically and unite under the auspices of Ethiopiawinet. Understand this about African pygmy DICKtators, they only hold on to power by dividing the people along ethnic and tribal lines. This is why Meles Zenawi implemented the “Federation” plan for Ethiopia. He sold federalism as self-governance and self-rule. But wise up my people, this is nothing more than Apartheid by another name. Meles’s plan is to consolidate power by making every tribe in Ethiopia a victim.
He peddles false claims that Amharas are out to get Tigrays. He blatantly spreads false propaganda that Oromos are victimized by Amarahs. He has made Amarah people the personification of evil as he paints us Amharas the “elite tribe” and in the process depicts us the essence of malevolence. What an ingenious yet nefarious plot, as he divides the people, he is at this exact moment undertaking Saytan’s work by initiating an ethnic cleansing agenda as he kicks Gondere people out of Gonder and supplants Gonder with Woyane moles. The land of my father and the birthplace of my grandfather six generations removed—Atse Teodrose—is now being pillaged and raped as TPLF goons are savaging Gonder and stealing the desta of my people.
I want Ethiopians worldwide to know one thing, I am Ethiopian first and last, I am African always. Sure I am proud to be from Gonder, but I am equally proud of the Tigray blood that flows in my veins that I inherited from my grandmother’s side. The thing of ethnic complex, it is stupid as shit—here I failed at my attempt to not use curse words—not one Ethiopian is pure blood. We are all intermixed and intertwined; there is no blue blood amongst us. Tigrays have Amhara blood in them, Oromos have Wollo blood in them, not one Ethiopian can stand and say that their blood is purely from one tribe. We are united by a common hope and a common history. Only banda Ethiopians go around espousing their tribe above their Ethiopian heritage.
But “Wedi” Meles—I refuse to call him by his last name—does not believe in Ethiopianism mish. He believes in tribal superiority, he is the next incarnation of Hitler and Woyane is next iteration of the Nazi party. What he and his TPLF goons are intent on accomplishing is a Tigray “homeland” and raising Tigray above all tribes—they are in essence trying to create a Tigray super race. Now you understand that Meles is out to accomplish the African version of Aryans. Now you understand why the bullshit yellow star on our flag is the next of kin of the Nazi swastika.
It is for this reason that I will fight until my last breath to stop this oncoming genocide of Ethiopia. Over my dead body will I see in my lifetime a “Tigray homeland”. Tigrays are just as Ethiopian as me and any other Ethiopian be they Oromo, Wollo, Anuk or any of our 88 beautiful tribes. However, I will not abide the notion that Tigray people are special and superior. Any person that believes in this notion will be buried alive by my pen and I will make it my life goal to expose anyone that believes in this bigoted agenda one by one. No one is safe who hold tight to this netela of a racist principle. If you believe that Tigray people are superior to the other 88 tribes, I will hunt you down one by one and destroy your life like I destroyed Desta Keremela (Google that name). I will rob any asshole who believes in ethic expectionalism and leave you only with a tizita of happier days.
Now you have a context of the birth of AESA One. This was nothing more than a sinister plot worthy of Pol Pot to take away our collective gebena and leave us sipping buna from dried out sewers the same way that Ethiopian children drink from dried out sewers at the Addis Sheraton. Take a step back and you will realize that Al Amoudi and his pimp Meles Zenawi are implementing a systematic plan to eviscerate the Ethiopian Diaspora. Did you know that before 1991, the overwhelming majority of Ethiopians who migrated to America were Amharas? After 1991, the overwhelming majority of Ethiopians who immigrate to America using the DV lottery are Tigray. What a sick and twisted plot, the TPLF cadre are systematically devising a nefarious system that will forever bury non-Tigrays as third-class citizens. Not even Jim Crow could have come up with a more wicked idea, even the Klu Klux Klan are shaking their heads in disbelief and telling Woyanes that they have gone too far.
You see, Meles and Al Amoudi rightly recognized that the ESFNA was a voice for the voiceless. Once a year, Ethiopians of all stripes congregate to various cities to take part in soccer and reunite with other Ethiopians who they have not seen in years. Once a year, ESFNA gives people a chance to disconnect from Facebook and Twitter and actually make real friends instead of making friends through social networks. For 29 years, ESFNA has been the one entity that gave Ethiopians like me who have been away from Ethiopia for decades a chance to reconnect to our roots. ESFNA was and is Ethiopia for all of us.
But Meles and Al Amoudi saw in ESFNA a clear and present danger to their continued existence. While some used ESFNA to reconnect to friends and estranged family members, the political opposition saw in ESFNA a platform to unite and come together under the umbrella of ANDINET. Meles recognized that ESFNA was becoming a powerful political weapon for those who chose to organize once a year. Clearly ESFNA is apolitical, but that did not prevent intelligent Ethiopians from traveling to ESFNA events to connect with likeminded Ethiopians. Thus ESFNA became a convention for soccer lovers and revolutionaries alike. ESFNA became Adwa, for those that chose to be enlightened; ESFNA became our version of Tahrir Square.
Meles and Al Amoudi saw this train coming and when ESFNA decided to invite Burtikan in 2010, they saw an implicit threat turn into an explicit danger. Thus, under the guise of Burtikan’s invitation, Al Amoudi pulled his funding from ESFNA and enticed half of the ESFNA board to jump ship by offering these banda assholes—I just failed not to curse aydel—blood money to become traitors of Ethiopia. And these jackasses from Abinet Gebremeskel on down wagged their tails like the bitches they are and promptly formed ESFNA One. These duplicitous trolls had the nerve to use ESFNA in their names until a judge laughed them out of the court room and banned them from using ESFNA in their newly formed Lucifer’s federation.
Thus ESFNA One became AESA One, these Addis whores promptly began to prostitute Washington DC with their blood money. I could not turn around without seeing a bus or a metro station splashed with blood money posters. The thing that drove me to the brink of war was that these whores used the clean Ethiopian flag to promote AESA One in Washington DC while their pimp back home Al Amoudi uses the Ethiopian flag with the Saytan’s yellow star on at his Addis Sheraton. For months two brothers who I once considered friends befriended me and set upon a psychological war to convince me to drop my war on AESA One. These two mercenaries were paid $20,000 by AESA One to get me to.. CONTINUED..
“Bertu, tenesu, tesebsebu, be Hebret ashenefu” ~ An Ethiopian Jegna
HAPPENIN Cirlce
Adwa Spring 2012
[click to join Adwa Spring 2012]
This is your chance to be with Woyane bandas or be with the people of Ethiopia. This Adwa Spring will be of the people by the people, Tigray, Oromo, Wollo, Amhara, all 88 tribes of Ethiopia who believe in a FREE ETHIOPIA are welcome to join this movement. Those those are not a part of the movement and decide to stick with Meles and his TPLF Junta. Those who stay with Meles will disappear into the trash bin of history. Soon, not another child of Ethiopia or Africa will die from hopelessness and hunger::
HEBRET Circle
Ethiopian Heritage Society
[click to visit Ethiopian Heritage Society]
If you want to know what our heritage and society is all about, please visit the Ethiopian Heritage Society and make sure you support them when they come to DC on July 27th – July 29th. Leave the “Ethiopian Diaspora Business Forum”, a Woyane infested death panel, and support the Ethiopian Heritage Society instead. The Ethiopian Heritage Society supported ESFNA while the “Ethiopian Diaspora Business Forum threw their lot in with Meles and AESA One. The choice is simple, choose wisely and choose Ethiopian Heritage Society. Enamesegenalen::
“Bondage” is the state of being bound by or subjected to some external power or control. When people are bound by debt, they are in “debt bondage”. When they are held in involuntary servitude, they are in “bondage slavery”. Before much of Africa became “independent” in the 1960s, Africans were held under the yoke of “colonial bondage”. “International aid” addiction has transformed Africa’s colonial bondage into neo-colonial bondaid. Could it be reasonably argued that Africans are sinking deeper and deeper into a quicksand of “bondaid” (to coin a new word) in the second decade of 21st Century?
In 1989, Graham Hancock wrote the “Lords of Poverty” scrutinizing the international aid “industry” including U.N. agencies, USAID, the World Bank and the IMF. His withering criticism infuriated many in the “international aid bureaucracies”. But his incisive analysis could not be easily dismissed. His basic argument is that international aid “has financed the creation of monstrous projects that, at vast expense, have devastated the environment and ruined lives; it has supported and legitimised brutal tyrannies; it has facilitated the emergence of fantastical and Byzantine bureaucracies staffed by legions of self-serving hypocrites…” It is a “a waste of time and money” and harmful to poor recipient countries ($60 billion in 1989). “Aid is not bad because it is sometimes misused, corrupt, or crass; rather, it is inherently bad, bad to the bone, and utterly beyond reform…. It is possibly the most formidable obstacle to the productive endeavors of the poor. It is also a denial of their potential, and a patronising insult to their unique, unrecognised abilities.”
Hancock views “international aid” as an elaborate “game” in which “public money levied in taxes from the poor of the rich countries is transferred in the form of ‘foreign aid’ to the rich in the poor countries; the rich in the poor countries then hand it back for safe-keeping to the rich in the rich countries.” He debunks the myth that “international aid works” and “must not be stopped because the poor could not survive without it.” He argues that “if the statement that ‘aid works’ is true, then presumably the poor should be in a much better shape than they were before they first began to receive it half a century ago. If so, then aid’s job should by now be nearly over and it ought to be possible to begin a gradual withdrawal without hurting anyone.”
The message of Hancok’s analysis is that the lords of poverty make up an invisible army of faceless, nameless, heartless, thoughtless, merciless, gutless, clueless, conscienceless and feckless “international civil servants, development experts, consultants and assorted freeloaders” unleashed on Africa to perpetuate and sustain a culture of poverty and beggary. Hancock points out
… the ugly reality is that most poor people in most poor countries most of the time never receive or even make contact with aid in any tangible shape or form: whether is it present or absent, increased or decreased, are thus issues that are simply irrelevant to the ways in which they conduct their daily lives. After the multi-billion-dollar ‘financial flows’ involved have been shaken through the sieve of over-priced and irrelevant goods that must be bought in the donor countries, filtered again in the deep pockets of hundreds of thousands of foreign experts and aid agency staff, skimmed off by dishonest commission agents, and stolen by corrupt Ministers and Presidents, there is really very little left to go around. This little, furthermore, is then used thoughtlessly, or maliciously, or irresponsibly by those in power — who have no mandate from the poor, who do not consult with them and who are utterly indifferent to their fate. Small wonder, then, that the effects of aid are so often vicious and destructive for the most vulnerable members of human society.
A decade later in 2009, Dambissa Moyo, echoed similar views: “Aid is an unmitigated political, economic and humanitarian disaster…. Over the past 60 years at least $1 trillion of development-related aid has been transferred from rich countries to Africa. Yet real per-capita income today is lower than it was in the 1970s, and more than 50% of the population — over 350 million people — live on less than a dollar a day, a figure that has nearly doubled in two decades…”
Hancock indicts the international aid industry as unaccountable, smug, detached, self-aggrandizing and paternalistic:
… At every level in the structure of almost all our most important aid-giving organisations, we have installed a tribe of highly paid men and women who are irredeemably out of touch with the day-to-day realities of the … underdevelopment which they are supposed to be working to alleviate. The over-compensated aid bureaucrats demand — and get — a standard of living often far better than that which they could aspire to if they were working, for example, in industry or commerce in the home countries. At the same time, however, their achievements and performance are in no way subjected to the same exacting and competitive processes of evaluation that are considered normal in business. Precisely because their professional field is ‘humanitarianism’ rather than, say, ‘sales’, or ‘production’ or ‘engineering’, they are rarely required to demonstrate and validate their worth in quantitative, measurable ways. Surrounding themselves with the mystifying jargon of their trade, these lords of poverty are the druids of the modern era wielding enormous power that is accountable to no one…
BondAid: “Legitimizing Brutal Tyranny in Ethiopia”?
My reference to Hancock’s book above is not merely academic. I have been following reports on therecently announced $1.54 billion USAID assistance program in Ethiopia and studying other USAID reports on Ethiopia in light of Hancock’s arguments or hypotheses on the role of “international aid” in “legitimizing brutal tyrannies in Africa”. Is there an unhealthy bonding between dictators and donors?
Thomas Staal, the USAID Mission Director in Ethiopia, said the $1.5 billion assistance program “will transform our relationship with Ethiopia from one of assistance to one of economic and social cooperation, trade and investment.” In 2011-2012, “USAID assistance grants to Ethiopia will total USD 675 million” and support four specific priority objectives, including “education, health, agriculture and good governance”.
The fourth objective of “strengthen[ing] good governance practices for improved social accountability and conflict mitigation in programs in every sector” is the focal issue here. Could the $1.54 billion in USAID assistance serve to legitimize the brutal tyranny of Meles Zenawi and undermine the establishment of “good governance” in Ethiopia?
In an interview Stall gave before his reassignment to Bagdad, Iraq last week, he made the stunning admission that “with respect to political participation, we have not done a good job. Specifically, with respect to the election that took place two years ago, we have not done much to promote democracy. Customarily, USAID in various countries engages in election education with non-governmental organizations. It works to empower all political parties without preference. We support the local media to analyze elections and give information to the voters. But all these things are prohibited in [Ethiopia]. This is a hard situation that causes us to despair. We will try to talk to the government authorities…” (Frankly, one could get the “government authorities” to listen good and hard by practicing the old saying, “money talks and… walks.”)
In March 2012, USAID Ethiopia published a 72-page Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) (2011-2015) report entitled“Accelerating the Transformation Toward Prosperity”. The following excerpts from the CDCS report are offered below to the reader to undertake a preliminary evaluation of Hancock’s hypothesis on the relationship between “international aid” and the legitimization of tyranny, particularly in Ethiopia.
… After the shock of the relatively free elections in 2005, in which the EPRDF drastically overestimated its popularity, much democratic ground has been lost. Subsequently, the opposition groups were divided and crushed, and the size and control of the ruling party was increased immensely. Legislation was introduced to limit and control the space for civil society and media, and wide powers of arrest were included in the “anti-terrorist” legislation. In 2010 the ruling party “won” 99.6% of the Parliamentary seats… (p. 8.) Limited political space, crushed opposition, 99.6 per cent win of parliamentary seats in 2010, wide powers of arrest and still pouring in $1.5 billion in aid? $3.8 billion in total development assistance in 2009?
… In the areas of democracy, governance, and conflict resolution, USAID is already working well with the Ministry of Federal Affairs (MoFA) on conflict management, mitigation and reconciliation issues,… Now that the May 2010 elections are over, there is an apparent relaxation of political harassment, and a major opposition detainee has been released… (pp. 11-12.) Apparent relaxation of political harassment? A major opposition detainee released? Forgot the thousands of political prisoners, hundreds of journalists, dissidents and opposition leaders rotting in Zenawi’s dungeons? …
The strong donor consultation and coordination on the critical issues of democracy and governance has not always resulted in a willingness to take a strong, united stance against clear abuses of constitutional commitments, legislation, or democratic processes. The DAG [Development Assistance Group] includes the World Bank, UNDP, DFID, CIDA, UNICEF, EU, SIDA, Ireland and Germany among others… (p. 13.) No willingness to take strong, united stance against clear abuses of constitutional commitments because…?? Say what!?!
(In October 2010, I wrote a weekly commentary entitled, “Feed Them and Bleed Them” and observed, “Huddled together in DAG-istan, the poverty pimps have collectively resolved to continue to do their usual aid business in Ethiopia because “broad economic progress outweighs individual political freedoms”.)
… Largely as a result of USAID support, first state and local governments and finally national level institutions (particularly the Ministry of Federal Affairs) are abandoning inclinations to respond to local conflict primarily through security forces, and are increasingly developing and applying capacities to assist conflicted communities with local government support to negotiate and consolidate local peace agreements and ensure that their own administrative actions at a minimum “do no harm.” …On the practical side, the GOE is making progress through the gradual rolling out of its “good governance” trainings around the country…” (p. 55.) Excuse me, but is “good governance training” for brutish dictators the same as obedience training for vicious dogs?
… The donor community is torn between the competing objectives of engaging with and assisting Ethiopia as a high profile example of poverty and vulnerability to famine, and addressing the major challenges and constraints to democratic space, human rights abuses, and severe restrictions on civil society and constitutionally guaranteed freedoms of speech, association and access to information. The GOE does not make this any easier, waveringbetween seductive and sophisticated rhetoric on development and economic topics on the one hand, and political repression, state dominance over the economy, and outright downplaying of humanitarian emergencies on the other hand. Added to this double-edged sword is the GOE‟s extreme sensitivity to any direct or even implied criticism, and its willingness to actively punish the criticizer, including members of the international community… (p. 53.) Ah! Beware the seductive and sophisticated rhetoric of the silver- tongued devil with an angelic voice, as Shakespeare might have cautioned.
… In the absence of competitive elections and other democratic processes, governance that is responsive to the aspirations and needs of its citizens and the knowledge and perspectives of stakeholders provides an important alternative release mechanism for political frustrations that have no other constructive outlet… Ethiopia’s new five year GTP [Growth and Transformation Plan] contains explicit commitments and targets to improve governance. However, traditions, capacities and resources to conceptualize and implement bottom-up accountability are lacking in a country where good governance was not a high priority during the imperial and communist periods and is only becoming a priority but constrained within the ideology of Revolutionary Democracy… (p. 58.) After 21 years of Zenawi’s iron-fisted rule, still blaming H.I.M. Haile Selassie and the Derg for the withering of democracy in Ethiopia? Give me a break!
…Understanding that faith in the efficiency and impartiality of the justice system is a key factor in the risk calculations that govern investment decisions by the private sector, individuals and donors,… Another concern is that politically favored businesses or sectors are able to leapfrog over methodical and inclusive planning processes and legally required contracting procedures. Expectations are more modest here, recognizing that the system itself is thoroughly under the control of the ruling party. The Mission will develop programs that promote the rule of law for sustainable development practices… (p. 59.) Modest expectations for justice and democracy because the system itself is thoroughly under the control of the ruling party! Heard that!
… USAID/Ethiopia recognizes that there is no policy space to conduct programs focused on competitive elections. Instead, the Mission will focus primarily on tackling the deeper issues of governance by aligning its focus with the achievement of the OE’s GTP sustainable development goals and commitments to improve accountable governance and conflict reduction… (p. 61.) So reward dictatorship with more money, mo’ money and mo’ money?
…With the increasing ‘land giveaways’ to private, foreign agricultural investors, policy efforts will be undertaken… to support land use planning and natural resource management thatavoids displacement of existing communities and helps ensure balanced development… (p. 19.) Increasing ‘land giveaways’ to private, foreign agricultural investors! Heard that!
Back to 2004: The Good Old Days of Telling It Like It Is!
… Ethiopia does not stand at this precipice of food insecurity and instability alone. And, it did not get there by itself. Ethiopia, its neighbors and its development partners have collectively failed to break the downward spiral of hunger, poverty and recurring food crises, which is a critical first step in improving the health and economic conditions of present and future generations of Ethiopians…. [S]uccessfully addressing this challenge will require Ethiopian leadership, commitment and the will to change.Evidence on Ethiopia’s performance is compelling and clear. The country has performed badly over the years, even relative to most other African countries, and to East Africa specifically. Gross per capita incomes are a fifth of the African average, declining about 40% between 1990 and 2000 ($160–$100), relative to a smaller decline of 13% for sub Saharan Africa. The poor performance of the economy is not due to drought, but results from the weak economic policies of the country over a sustained period—characterized by low rates of investment in economic growth and agriculture by both government and the commercial private sector, low levels of capacity, and low rates of agricultural and nonagricultural growth. In turn poor economic performance has led to worsening social standards, and created an increasingly fragile state that lacks the resiliency to manage through shocks (environmental, economic, political) that induce crises… (p. 5.)
In May 2012, Rajiv Shah, the current USAID Administrator moderated the G8 Food Security Summit in Washington, D.C. In his ingratiating introductory remarks to Zenawi, (grandiosely stroking Zenawi’s ego) and using the usual “mystifying jargon” of the international aid industry, Shah inquired:
… So many people have associated a mental image of hunger with Ethiopia and at the same time because of actions in the public sector maintaining strong public investment in agriculture you were able to protect millions of Ethiopians during the recent drought from needing food aid and food assistance. Could you speak to, even as we are launching a new food alliance, to engage the private sector, could you speak to some of the comments you have shared with us privately how important it is we live to our commitments to invest in public investment, in public institutions?
Ethiopia has been the recipient of all kinds of aid from the U.S. over the decades. She has received “economic aid”, “development aid”, “military aid”, “technical aid”, “emergency aid”, “relief aid”, “humanitarian aid” and aid against AIDS. She has also received “BandAid” and “LiveAid” from others. Today, Ethiopians are afraid. They ask, “Is Ethiopia permanently trapped in “bondaid!?!” They pray for deliverance from the twin Lords of Tyranny and Poverty!
Postscript
In all of Africa, USAID arguably has the largest aid program in Ethiopia. There are some who are skeptical about USAID’s claims of program effectiveness in Ethiopia. One can fairly judge the efficacy of USAID programs and the credibility of its asserted achievements in Ethiopia when the facts and data are made available for critical analysis and evaluation by intra-institutional authorities and other concerned communities. Unfortunately, facts and data appear to be the Achilles Heel of USAID/Ethiopia. This issue was made clear to USAID mission director Staal in 2010 by the Regional Inspector of the U.S. State Department Office of the Inspector General in his “Audit of USAID/Ethiopia’s Agricultural Sector Productivity Activities (Audit Report No. 4-6663-10-003-P (March 30, 2010)”. In that Report, the regional inspector informed Staal:
…The audit found the program is contributing to the achievement of market-led economic growth and the improved resilience of farmers, pastoralists, and other beneficiaries in Ethiopia. However, it is not possible to determine the extent of that contribution because of weaknesses in the mission’s performance management and reporting system. Specifically, while the mission used performance indicators and targets to track progress in several areas…, the results reported for the majority of those indicators were not comparable with the targets. Moreover, the audit was unable to determine whether the results reported in USAID/Ethiopia’s Performance Plan and Report were valid because mission staff could neither explain how the results were derived nor provide support for those reported results. In fact,when the audit team attempted to validate the reported results, it was unable to do so at either the mission or its implementing partners (pages 6-12)…
While some may rely on intuitive analysis and inferences from anecdotes to draw conclusions about USAID/Ethiopia, I much prefer evidence-based policy analysis. Hopefully, that body of evidence will be made readily available not only to dispel doubts, discredit rumors and enlighten critics of USAID/Ethiopia, but most importantly, to enhance and reinforce “the growing emphasis within USAID on transparency, accountability, and results.”
Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:
In times of war, it is vital to understand that all on the other side are not evil and some are taking part and doing part with unethical people because they believe in an ideal beyond what the leaders of the other side espouse. In times of war, it is vital to separate the pigs from the lamb and to treat the redeemable as friends while banishing the useless ones to the periphery of extinction. War is a savage business, those who have God’s light in their cornea seek war not as a grand conquest or a final solution but as a means to bring about a Addis day and a lasting peace for the people.
essence of our names.
Unfortunately, most Habeshas spit on the meaning of their names and act in ways that are polar opposite of their names. Some are called Desta but they are the perfection of misery, some are called Dawit but don’t act as Dawit in the bible, some are called Fiker but live in hate, while others are named Emnet but have no faith at all. Makeda it seems is one of the tiny majorities of Habeshas who actually embraces and lives out the meaning of her first name. Her parents made no mistake calling this lovely lady Makeda—they can be proud that their daughter has grown up to be the Queen Makeda of Ethiopia after all. Right now, at this very moment, Habeshas with names like Henok Assefa are asking teenage boys proof of their ethnicity on job applications before they ask them about their qualifications. I told you, genocide in Ethiopia is being born and I am standing with my army of youth revolutionaries to stop it the only way we know how—to fight fight fight until the freedom is won.
It is done! A war I started a week ago has been complete and I am now standing on top of a smoldering ash that is AESA One. I warned all promoters and DJs who took blood money, who chose their wallets instead of their conscience, to walk away and to part ways with AESA One. They chose greed and wonton lust of dem genzeb, for that they are forever branded as the bandas of the highest order. They made their temporary loot but they will never be the same—they have been transformed overnight as a pariah and a virus to avoid. This is what happens when you spit on Ethiopia, when people choose greed over the people, they will forever be left alone while they do Eskista in the 8th circle of hell.
But “Wedi” Meles—I refuse to call him by his last name—does not believe in Ethiopianism mish. He believes in tribal superiority, he is the next incarnation of Hitler and Woyane is next iteration of the Nazi party. What he and his TPLF goons are intent on accomplishing is a Tigray “homeland” and raising Tigray above all tribes—they are in essence trying to create a Tigray super race. Now you understand that Meles is out to accomplish the African version of Aryans. Now you understand why the bullshit yellow star on our flag is the next of kin of the Nazi swastika.
But Meles and Al Amoudi saw in ESFNA a clear and present danger to their continued existence. While some used ESFNA to reconnect to friends and estranged family members, the political opposition saw in ESFNA a platform to unite and come together under the umbrella of ANDINET. Meles recognized that ESFNA was becoming a powerful political weapon for those who chose to organize once a year. Clearly ESFNA is apolitical, but that did not prevent intelligent Ethiopians from traveling to ESFNA events to connect with likeminded Ethiopians. Thus ESFNA became a convention for soccer lovers and revolutionaries alike. ESFNA became Adwa, for those that chose to be enlightened; ESFNA became our version of Tahrir Square.
My reference to Hancock’s book above is not merely academic. I have been following reports on the