Ethiopian Review
July 22, 2005
The Ethiopian pilots who sought political asylum in Belarus informed Ethiopian Review today that the Belarus Ministry of Interior informed them that their political asylum requested has been denied.
The Ministry of Interior officials told the pilots that the reason for denying them asylum is that there is a stable political situation in Ethiopia.
The officials returned to the pilots their passports and withdrew security protection. As of today, the pilots have no security.
They have also been given one month to appeal to the court.
The Meles regime buys from Belarus millions of dollars worth of weapons every year, the money that has been donated by Western countries for “humanitarian purposes.”
By Rob Crilly Special for, USA TODAY
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Regulars at the Crocodile, a coffeehouse in the Ethiopian capital, pored over copies of an independent newspaper called Nestanet, which means “freedom” in the local Amharic language.
“Everyone is waiting for the result of the election,” said Kebede Lema, as he sipped bitter coffee. “The feeling is not good.”
A tense calm has fallen over the city since police shot dead 36 political protesters on June 8. The fatalities came after demonstrations to protest what opposition parties say was vote rigging in parliamentary elections May 15.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s governing party claims it won the poll. Two months after the vote, the final tally hasn’t been published. Results released July 8 for more than half the seats showed the ruling party and opposition in a virtual tie. The National Electoral Board said Tuesday that it would announce the full results Friday.
For now, the coffee drinkers wonder whether there is democracy here or if the government has erected a facade intended to divert international attention from the leadership’s hold on power.
Some expect more violence when the results are released. “The opposition parties may not accept the result, if they believe the appeals process has been unfair or unjust,” said Asrad Michael, who sat on a plastic chair outside the coffee shop. “People here are beginning to ask questions, and they will demonstrate again if they want to.”
International support
It is 14 years since Meles and his rebel army ended the 17-year reign of Mengistu Haile Mariam’s Soviet-backed junta. Afterward, the international community — including the United States — was quick to offer aid and liken Meles to African leaders such as Paul Kagame in Rwanda and Yoweri Museveni in Uganda. Both emphasized democratic change and good governance.
Ethiopia held its first multiparty elections in 1995. Progress was rewarded by warmer relations with the United States, says David Shinn, U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia from 1996 to 1999.
Last year, British Prime Minister Tony Blair appointed Meles to his Commission for Africa, a panel tasked with drafting a blueprint to lift the entire continent out of poverty. Also on the panel: campaigners on behalf of Africa such as Bob Geldof, orchestrator of the Live Aid and Live 8 benefit concerts.
Ethiopia’s elections in May, at first, seemed to enhance the country’s image as a flourishing democracy. The Carter Center and the European Union hailed the progress made there.
Provisional results gave the opposition parties, which shared a platform that promoted economic liberalization, sweeping gains. They claimed almost 200 out of the 524 contested seats. They won 12 seats in 2000.
Beyene Petros, first vice chairman of the opposition United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, says despite these gains, the election was not fair. He claims there was vote rigging at rural polling stations, beyond the gaze of international observers.
“The ruling party prevented our poll watchers from sitting in the polling stations. It meant they could use force on opposition supporters, arrest them and so on,” he says.
He says members of his party reported that ballot boxes were destroyed, pre-marked papers were distributed and counts were changed by officials of Meles’ Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front.
Carter Center monitors visited 36 disputed constituencies. A center statement confirmed some allegations of voter intimidation and improper transport of ballot boxes. The center was waiting for Ethiopia to conclude its investigation before releasing its report.
Opposition parties lodged complaints in 299 of the 524 contested constituencies. The Electoral Board investigated 139 of those complaints.
Violent protests
On June 6, students protested, hurling stones at police. Hundreds were arrested. The clashes brought more people onto the streets of Addis Ababa. Two days later, more than 30 people were killed when police fired on demonstrators. The shootings, Beyene says, showed the government didn’t have a real commitment to democracy. He says Western leaders have been taken in by a slick public relations campaign to secure aid and cement Ethiopia’s position as a key regional ally in the war on terror. “They want to present a picture of democracy, but at the same time, they don’t want to give anything away,” he says.
The government claims the protesters who were killed planned to storm government buildings. Lethal force was needed to prevent the country sliding into anarchy, Information Minister Bereket Simon says. He says 3,000 people were arrested. “This unfortunate incident took place, which we all regret. But I don’t think this must be the yardstick by which our move to democracy is measured,” he says. “We have come a long way in 14 years and created an irreversible process of democratization.”
After the protests, the two main opposition groups signed a deal with the government to resolve election disputes peacefully. Tuesday, opposition leaders complained that the government impeded a fair review of their complaints. “The investigation process was a complete failure,” Behanu Nega of the main opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy told reporters.
“The investigations have been following proper procedures, and we are not biased in favor of any political group,” Electoral Board spokesman Getahun Amogne said.
Shinn, an adjunct professor at George Washington University in Washington, says it’s unclear whether Meles is truly a progressive African leader. “This is the key question, and the answer is not yet in,” he says. He says optimism in the first days after the election has been undermined by the heavy-handed policing of protests. The violence was “a very significant setback to the whole democratic process.”
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called Meles to express her concern over the violence. The British government has withheld a $36 million aid package to protest the unrest.
“It is time that Westerners revised their point of view,” says Arafat Abdulaziz, a student at Addis Ababa University. “This government has two faces: one for people here and one for people internationally.”
Contributing: Wire reports
DPA, Addis Ababa – 20 July 2005 – Poor rains and high crop prices have left more than 18-million people with serious food shortages in 10 African countries, a food-security monitoring group said.
Diminishing water supplies and dry pastures also are fuelling conflict among rival tribes, and child malnutrition is reportedly rising in parts the Greater Horn of Africa region, the United States-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network said in a report released late on Tuesday.
The food shortages are concentrated in Ethiopia, where more than half of the 18-million affected people live, the report said.
At least half of neighbouring Eritrea’s population of 4,5-million is in peril, as well as 2,69-million in Uganda, the report said.
Other countries affected are Sudan, Djibouti, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Burundi and Somalia, it said.
“In agricultural areas, rainfall performance and crop prospects are mixed,” the report said. “Crop production in eastern and coastal areas of the [region] will be below average, due to insufficient and poorly distributed rainfall.”
Members of cattle-herding communities “continue to be the most food-insecure and vulnerable group”, according to the report. — Sapa-AP
July 20, 2005
EthiopianReview.com
Ato Andargachew Tsige, a member of the Kestedemena Party who had been arrested and tortured by the Meles regime last month, arrived in London today.
Kestedemena is one of the four parties that make up the Coalition for Unity & Democracy (CUD).
Ato Andargachew’s family told Tensae Radio and Ethiopian Review today that Ato Andargachew was able to elude the security personnel who were following him day and night long enough to escape.
Ato Andargachew is the first major opposition figure who found it necessary to go into exile since the May 15 elections.
While in Addis Ababa, Ato Andargachew was being followed day and night by security personnel.
He also had been arrested and severely tortured by the Meles regime after he and thousands of other opposition supporters and students were rounded up and sent to Ziway prison camp last month.
When the EPRDF came to power in 1991, Ato Andargachew was the first mayor of Addis Ababa for a brief period of time. He resigned over policy disagreements with the TPLF leaders, the main party in the EPRDF coalition. He was a member of Tamrat Layne’s Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (EPDM), which later changed its name to Amhara People Democratic Movement (APDM), to go along with Meles Zenawi’s ethnic apartheid agenda.
Ethiopian Review
July 19, 2005
Representatives of the Coalition for Unity & Democracy (CUD), United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF), and the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) held a meeting with the American, British, Finland and EU ambassadors last night in Addis Ababa.
At the meeting, which was held at the British Embassy, the opposition representatives informed the Western ambassadors that the Meles regime has made it impossible to conduct the vote probing process by continuing to harass, arrest and torture opposition party members and supporters.
The opposition parties expressed their disappointment that the US and EU, who are financing 40% of the Meles regime’s budget, are not using all their leverages in order to avert bloody confrontations between the government and the people.
The representatives explained to the ambassadors that the opposition parties are going against the wish of the people to try to facilitate a peaceful outcome. But it seems that this only emboldened the EPRDF to intensify its harassments, torture and killings of civilians who are suspected of supporting opposition parties.
Finally, the opposition representatives pleaded with the ambassadors that unless they use all their leverages on Meles Zenawi to convince him to respect the agreement he signed, things will be out of their control soon.
The opposition leaders expressed their deep disappointment and sadness that the US and EU are not willing to apply on the Meles regime the same kind of pressure they applied on the former Ukraine, Yugoslavia, Georgia, and other governments that tried to steal the people’s vote.
Ethiopian Review
July 18, 2005
Several Ethiopians held a demonstration at the Djibouti Embassy in Washington DC today to demand that Djibouti government respect the rights of the Ethiopian pilots who defected in Djibouti last month.
The protestors asked the Djibouti government to hand over the pilots to the UNHCR.
During the demonstration, a representative of the protestors delivered a letter to the Djibouti Embassy counselor, Mr Issa Bouraleh.
UNHCR fears that the pilots may have already been turned over to the Meles government. But the Djibouti government is not saying any thing.
The Djibouti government’s violation of the longstanding international law that protects the rights of asylum seekers should not be tolerated. If no serious action is taken against President Guelleh’s government, the Ethiopian pilots who defected in Belarus will face the same fate.
Ethiopian Review proposes a special committee to be formed to undertake the necessary legal actions to save the heroic Ethiopian pilots who refused to turn their guns against their own people. Any one who’s interested to discuss this matter further, please write to the Publisher.
It’s regrettable that the thousands of former Ethiopian officers who now reside in Europe and the US are not coming to the help of their fellow offices in their time of need. They should have taken a lead role in organizing the effort to have the safety and rights of the pilots protected.
On the other hand, the tireless effort by Meto-Aleqa Ayalsew Dessie and a few other officers on behalf of the pilots is highly commendable.
