By HERB JACKSON, newjersey.com
WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
A Central Jersey congressman defended himself from sometimes harsh questioning at the National Press Club on Monday about his bill to hold the government of Ethiopia Woyanne accountable for a brutal crackdown on people protesting election fraud in 2005.
“There are other means of crowd control that don’t include shooting people in the head,” Rep. Chris Smith, R-Robbinsville, told one questioner who said demonstrators had killed nine police officers. An independent review by the Ethiopian Parliament last year said security forces had fatally beaten, strangled and shot 193 protesters.
“You can’t have people languishing in prison whose only crime was winning an election,” Smith told another questioner who said Ethiopia was a democracy that needed to be supported instead of criticized.
Statements like those have earned Smith a huge following in Ethiopia, said Mesfin Mekonen, a press club restaurant manager and member of the [defunct] international council of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy in Ethiopia (Keysi).
Mekonen had lobbied the club’s newsmakers committee to invite Smith and nervously read a statement of welcome that concluded: “I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s better known in Ethiopia than in America.”
That’s not uncommon for Smith, the dean of New Jersey’s delegation who has spent nearly 27 years in Congress fighting, often with members of his own Republican Party, to keep the rights of victims of oppressive regimes in the spotlight.
“Human rights is not a burning question in Washington these days, and I believe it ought to be,” Smith said. “For the majority of members of Congress, there’s a learning curve about what’s happening in Ethiopia.”
Smith said he wrote a draft of the Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Advancement Act on a plane after meeting in Ethiopia with Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in 2005. He was outraged that Meles declared he had files showing all the protesters killed were guilty of treason and there was no need for an investigation.
“No trial, not even a kangaroo trial,” Smith said.
The bill would condition United States military and economic assistance — but not humanitarian relief, such as food and medicine — on Ethiopia’s meeting what Smith describes as very modest human rights benchmarks. The bill also gives the president broad leeway to disregard the bill’s requirements if it is in the national interest, Smith said.
Smith was able last year to get the bill through the House International Relations Committee, where he chaired the Africa subcommittee. But the bill went no further, and Smith suspects the reason why was that former House Majority Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, had been hired as a lobbyist for the Ethiopian government.
After Democrats took control of Congress in January, the subcommittee chairmanship was taken over by a fellow New Jerseyan, Rep. Donald Payne, D-Newark. Though the Ethiopian government had added former House Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., to their lobbying team, Smith and Payne had better luck and the bill was approved by a unanimous voice vote earlier this month.
But that may be as far as it goes, Smith said. Individual senators have the power to place “holds” on legislation that are rarely overturned, and Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., has criticized the bill because it “focuses only on shortcomings and blatantly ignores the unprecedented progress the country has made.”
Critics have urged Congress not to criticize the Ethiopian government because it is one of the few nations in the region where Islamic terrorism is not growing, but Smith said the United States should be able to put conditions on the aid it gives other countries.
“No regime that terrorizes its citizens can be a reliable ally in the war on terror,” Smith said. “Ethiopia’s a great country. It deserves better, frankly, than the government they have.”
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Herb Jackson can be reached at [email protected]
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi has accused the official opposition of collaborating with armed insurgents.
His comments came after an opposition leader complained in parliament about harassment in the Oromia region.
Mr Meles also mocked foreign press coverage of events in the south-east Ogaden region where rebels claim to have battled the army over the weekend.
Some groups have taken up arms in the Oromia and Somali-speaking Ogaden regions in pursuit of greater autonomy.
Arrests threat
In the parliamentary session, broadcast live on Ethiopian television, the prime minister said the opposition were acting as a Trojan horse for armed insurgent movements.
The accusations came after opposition leader Bulcha Demeksa complained about widespread arrests and harassment in the Oromia region in the southern central part of the country.
Mr Meles said the government was aware that some senior leaders of opposition organisations were members of the rebel Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).
He said once the government had enough evidence the culprits would be arrested and put on trial.
Another opposition leader accused the government of ignoring issues in the Ogaden region despite allegations of human rights abuses in the international media.
In response, Mr Meles poked fun at media coverage of recent Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) claims that the rebels had besieged his political adviser.
As he had been with the adviser at the time, Mr Meles inquired why he had not been surrounded too.
However, he said nothing about rebel claims of heavy fighting in the past few days.
The ONLF says up to 250 government troops died in a battle on Sunday.
On Monday, a government spokesman said any skirmishes may have involved local, pro-government militias, not the army.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi has accused the official opposition of collaborating with armed insurgents.
His comments came after an opposition leader complained in parliament about harassment in the Oromia region.
Mr Meles also mocked foreign press coverage of events in the south-east Ogaden region where rebels claim to have battled the army over the weekend.
Some groups have taken up arms in the Oromia and Somali-speaking Ogaden regions in pursuit of greater autonomy.
Arrests threat
In the parliamentary session, broadcast live on Ethiopian television, the prime minister said the opposition were acting as a Trojan horse for armed insurgent movements.
The accusations came after opposition leader Bulcha Demeksa complained about widespread arrests and harassment in the Oromia region in the southern central part of the country.
Mr Meles said the government was aware that some senior leaders of opposition organisations were members of the rebel Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).
He said once the government had enough evidence the culprits would be arrested and put on trial.
Another opposition leader accused the government of ignoring issues in the Ogaden region despite allegations of human rights abuses in the international media.
In response, Mr Meles poked fun at media coverage of recent Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) claims that the rebels had besieged his political adviser.
As he had been with the adviser at the time, Mr Meles inquired why he had not been surrounded too.
However, he said nothing about rebel claims of heavy fighting in the past few days.
The ONLF says up to 250 government troops died in a battle on Sunday.
On Monday, a government spokesman said any skirmishes may have involved local, pro-government militias, not the army.
Letter to the estranged chairman of Kinijit, Ato Hailu Shawel, by the former Kinijit International Leadership member Ato Dawit Kebede. Click here to read [Amharic, pdf]
The Oct. 14 public meeting in Washington DC has left the Hailu Shawel gang naked. Let’s explain why:
1) By restricting media access and harassing members of the media at the public meeting, Hailu Shawel and friends proved themselves to be as dictatorial as Derg and Woyanne. They committed this outrageous abuse of press freedom in the center of the free press capital of the world — Washington DC. This alone makes Hailu Shawel the wrong person to lead a democratic organization such as Kinijit. What was done to the media on Oct. 14 by Hailu Shawel is against the spirit and letter of Kinijit’s manifesto. It is also against what H.R. 2003 is intended to accomplish in Ethiopia.
2) At the Oct. 14 public meeting, Dr Taye Woldeseytanat (Hailu Shawel’s chiqa shum in North America), reported that $120,000 was raised (and two cars were pledged for Wzt. Nigist Gebrehiwot, a poor woman who is being exploited by him and Ato Hailu). While the Oct. 14 meeting went on at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington DC, Ato Hailu’s confidants in Addis Ababa had invited several hundred people to the AEUP office to listen the meeting live. These poor people were standing, clapping and cheering as Dr Taye and Ato Solomon Bekele took turns to announce the fake $5k and $10k pledges and gifts that were coming from paltalk rooms. Now it turned out that only $26,000 was raised — over half of it from members of the Shaleqa-Taye gang. But the Reverend Mirchaw [he owns a church] still believes the $120,000 figure and has been pestering Dr Taye to pay for his radio program in Washington DC. Ato Bedru Adem wants his share, too — $10,000. The frustrated Taye reportedly told both to suck their thumbs instead. Unable to pay, the Reverend Mirchaw’s radio program in DC was cut to 1 hour from 3 hours this week. The scoundrels are now at each other’s throat. Hailu Shawel has been in hiding since the Oct. 14 fiasco. The plan by Shaleqa and Taye to organize several meetings in the U.S. for Ato Hailu, Ato Bedru and Wzt. Nigist has been canceled (the schedule has been removed from their web site).
3) After promising that there will be an audit report, the Shawel gang presented the public with the following financial statement [watch the video here] through Shaleqa Yoseph’s hand picked “auditor” Wzr Yenealem Kebede:
a) Wzt. Yenealem said that her report concerns financial activities starting August 11, 2006. From Aug. 2006 until Oct. 14, 2007, the total amount deposited was $308,000, according to Yenealem. Of that amount only $72,000 was sent to the families of the jailed Kinijit leaders and members in Ethiopia. But even that amount did not reach the families of Kinijit members and leaders. For example, Wzr. Nigist Gebrehiwot — one of the jailed Kinijit CC members who was sitting next to Ato Hailu on Oct. 14 — disputes that claim. Her family had not received a penny while she was in jail. When she got out of jail, Ato Hailu gave her some money out of his own pocket as a personal favor, according to Wzt. Nigist who is much grateful. Ethiopian Review has spoken with other jailed leaders, too, and none of them has received any money. So who took the $72,000 that was sent to Ethiopia, as reported by the Shaleqa’s own auditor?
b) Shaleqa’s ‘auditor’ Wzt. Yenealem reported that $76,000 (out of the $308,000) was paid in salary for Shaleqa and friends. More money went into Shaleqa’s pocket than what was sent to Ethiopia, by his own auditor’s admission.
c) Yenealem Kebede reported that $62,000 was paid for a radio program (named ‘Andinet’) that was launched to attack Ato Andargachew Tsige and other Kinijit officials. Is that why Ethiopians in the Diaspora donated their hard earned money?
d) Wzr. Yenealem did not want to report about the over $1.2 million dollars that were collected by Kinijit North America in the past two years claiming that she was denied access to documents by Ato Berhanu Mewa and others. Invited by EMF, Ethiopian Review and other media to explain this further, Wzt. Yenealem refused. The invitation still stands.
Former Kinijit North America auditor Ato Tesfaye Asmamaw alleges that close to or over $1 million that was not reported by Yenealem Kebede have been diverted to bank accounts controlled by Ato Hailu Shawel’s friends, Shaleqa Yoseph Yazew and Ato Mogus Brook. Ethiopian Review has received information from at least two credible sources that some of this money was used by Shaleqa Yoseph and Ato Mogus to pay for Hailu Shawel’s mortgage for his huge house in Rochester, Minnesota. Since Ato Hailu made himself unavailable to answer such questions, it is difficult to get to the bottom of this credible allegation. But this could also explain the reason why Hailu Shawel has been trying to obstruct the Kinijit delegation’s tour in the U.S. A serious investigation must be conducted by an independent accounting firm into Ato Hailu’s involvement in the diverting of hundreds of thousands of dollars that were collected in the name of Kinijit.
The hoax being played on the people of Ethiopia by Hailu Shawel and friends does not stop with finance. Just before rushing to the U.S. to protect his friends from investigation, Ato Hailu held meetings with central committee members of his former party, the AEUP. Out of the central committee’s 110 members, only 16 showed up. And out of the 9 executive committee members, only 3 showed up. Four executive committee members — Ato Gizachew Shiferaw, Ato Aschalew Ketema, Ato Brook Kebede and Ato Akalu Girgire — who called the meeting illegal and did not show up were summarily fired by Hailu Shawel and replaced with Dr. Tadios Bogale, Wzr. Mesobework Kitaw, Ato Zeleke Alemu, and Shaleqa Argaw Kabtamu. The fifth member, Ato Mulat Tasew, had left the AEUP executive committee before the Kinijit merger. Hailu Shawel also formed a four-member finance committee including himself and Wzr Mesebework Kitaw, Dr Tadios Bogale, and Shaleqa Getachew Mengiste. Additionally, Ato Hailu formed an AEUP task force of seven individuals that will reorganize the party through out the country. All these decisions were being made with the presence of only 3 out of the 9 AEUP executive committee members and 16 out of the 110 AEUP council members.
After telling the people of Ethiopia and Kinijit supporters around the world that all the four parties that created Kinijit no longer exist, Ato Hailu Shawel has been busy reorganizing his own party behind the scene and paying mortage for his house in Minnesota with the money collected in the name of Kinijit.
