Ben Rawlence, author of a new Human Rights Watch report, “How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia,” accuses the World Bank of feeding repressing in Ethiopia in his latest piece posted today on HuffingtonPost.com. He writes:
Publicly, the World Bank insists that development programs are helping large numbers of people and that there are mechanisms to monitor political {www:manipulation} of donor-supported programs. But privately they openly acknowledge that they have no way of knowing if their aid is distributed manipulatively and in fact they know there is discrimination and repression but are powerless to stop it.
Read the full text below.
World Bank Feeding Repression in Ethiopia
By Ben Rawlence
The child in the man’s arms is painfully thin. The father is hungry too. He lives in southern Ethiopia, where food shortages are an annual occurrence. There are food distributions in his village but the man, let’s call him Joseph, is a member of the wrong political party.
Joseph is a well-known critic of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and openly campaigned for the opposition in his ward in controversial 2005 elections and this year’s general elections in May.
His family has paid for his political views. His wife left him, taking the youngest children because, he says, she was tired of being hungry. Their eldest child, too old for the emergency feeding programs, remains with Joseph. The boy is 8, but looks like an undernourished 5 year old.
No one will hire Joseph because of his opposition ties. The land he’s allowed to farm has been reduced by the village chairman, a ruling party representative. And when Joseph sought to participate in a food-for-work program, he was denied. The day before he spoke to me, the chairman of his village told him: “You are suffering so many problems, why don’t you write a letter of regret and join the ruling party?”
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has made a global name for himself as a reformer committed to eradicating poverty and making strong progress toward the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. In support of this progress — though there is some dispute about the accuracy of Ethiopia’s statistics — Western donors including the World Bank, the United States, United Kingdom and European Commission give more than $3 billion to Ethiopia every year. The money goes straight to the treasuries of the federal and regional governments for spending on public services in villages and safety net food for work programs.
These programs are run by the World Bank and jointly monitored by Ethiopian and donor officials. But the programs are so huge, the sums so vast, and the access granted by the Ethiopians to independent monitors so limited, that the bank and other donors mostly trust the Ethiopian officials to spend the money as agreed.
Ethiopia’s government is one of the most highly organized on the continent. It is also one of the most repressive, with the government and the ruling party increasingly fused during the party’s 19 years in power.
When the party faced protests following the 2005 elections, the government showed its sinister side, killing over 200 protesters, detaining around 30,000 opposition supporters and bringing treason charges against leading members of the opposition and the media.
The World Bank and its donors suspended direct budget support to the government, fearing that their aid money might be misused to support only ruling party members and divide society, what they termed “political capture” of development assistance. The suspension was temporary, though. Overall, between 2004 and 2008, annual aid spending doubled, to $3.3 billion.
But what the World Bank feared in 2005 has come to pass. It is notoriously difficult to speak openly in Ethiopia. In the villages where 85 percent of the population live, every five households are organized into a cell, whose leaders report on households to the village leaders. Visitors, conversations and political affiliation are all noted and evaluated when decisions are made about allocating seeds, fertilizers, micro-credit loans or participation in the food-for-work safety net program. Village officials also provide references for students and references for jobs and promotions for teachers and civil servants.
The bottom line is that if you step out of line, you risk not just social exclusion, but total deprivation, as Joseph did.
In 2009 Human Rights Watch interviewed over 200 people from over 50 villages in three regions of the country, many with stories like Joseph’s.
Publicly, the World Bank insists that development programs are helping large numbers of people and that there are mechanisms to monitor political manipulation of donor-supported programs. But privately they openly acknowledge that they have no way of knowing if their aid is distributed manipulatively and in fact they know there is discrimination and repression but are powerless to stop it.
The ruling party, which won over 99 percent of the seats in elections in 2008 and May 2010, locks up dissidents, intimidates journalists into leaving the country and has passed repressive laws that eviscerate civil society.
Donors are in a bind. They fear that if they push Ethiopia too hard, it may turn toward China’s no-strings money. But continuing to write checks in the face of Ethiopia’s increasing authoritarianism runs counter to donors’ own policies, which state that human rights are central to sustainable development.
Bank officials in Addis Ababa were eager in interviews to discuss the Chinese model and whether it is possible to have development without freedom. But the real question for donors, and for Western taxpayers, parliamentarians and governments, is whether development reserved only for those who support one political party is the kind of development they are happy to support.
A collection of international aid agencies in Ethiopia that has named itself Development Assistance Group (DAG) has issued a statement rejecting a recent report by Human Rights Watch that points out how foreign aid is being used by the ruling junta to suppress people. DAG said:
We do not concur with the conclusions of the recent HRW report regarding widespread, systematic abuse of development aid in Ethiopia. Our study did not generate any evidence of systematic or widespread distortion…
DAG is not willing to accept all the evidences that have been compiled by international human rights groups because it is in its self interest for Ethiopia to stay poor and underdeveloped. The aid agencies in Ethiopia are perpetuating poverty by helping prolong the brutal dictatorship’s grip on power. Most of the $3 billion that is being funneled to the Meles dictatorship every year through DAG is not reaching the poor.
Let’s crunch the numbers:
DAG gives Ethiopia’s regime $3 billion per year, according to HRW, which is roughly 50 billion birr. This amount of money is enough to give 5 million children 10,000 birr each per year, which is enough to provide food, cloth, shelter and education for each child for a year.
However, the fact on the ground right now is that even in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, tens of thousands of children eat trash to survive, while DAG Ethiopia representatives dine, wine and party with officials of the Meles regime every night of the week in Addis Ababa’s most expensive restaurants and night clubs.
All the aid agencies (poverty pimps) would do the people of Ethiopia a big favor if they pack up and leave.
The following is a list of DAG members:
African Development Bank
Mr.Lamin Barrow
Resident Representative
Tel :0115-533244
Fax :0115-546355
Email : [email protected]
http://www.afdb.org/en/countries/east-africa/ethiopia/
Austria Development Cooperation
Mr. Heinz Habertheur
Head of Development Cooperation
Tel : + 251 11 553 38 28
Fax : + 251 11 553 38 31 Email: [email protected]
http://www.entwicklung.at/uploads/media/Ethiopia_Country_Strategy_2008-2012_02.pdf
AECID
Ms.Cruz Ciria
Head of Development Cooperation
Tel : 0116-185365
Fax : 0116-185357
Email : [email protected]
CIDA
Mr. Edmound Wega
Country Dirctor and Head of Development Cooperation
Tel : 0113-713022
Fax : 0113-713033
Email : [email protected]
DFID Mr. Howard Taylor Head
Tel: +251 116-180601
Fax:+251 116-610588 [email protected]
European Commission
Mr. Denis Thieulin
Head of Development Cooperation
Tel :+251 116-612511
Fax : +251116-612877
Email : [email protected]
Embassy of Belgium
Mr. Wouter Detavernier
First sec. and Head of Dev.Cooperation
Tel : +251 11 661 16 43
Fax : +251 11 661 36 46
Email : [email protected]
Embassy of Finland
Ms. Virpi Kankare
Deputy Head of Mission
Tel : +251 11 320 59 20
Fax : +251 11 320 59 23
Email : [email protected]
Embassy of France
Mr. Patrick Cohen
Head of Development Cooperation
Tel : +251 11 140 0000
Fax : +251 11 140 0050
Email : [email protected]
German Embassy-German Development Cooperation
Mr. Bernhard Trautner (Phd.)
First Counsellor/Head of Development Cooperation
Tel : +251 11 123 5139
Fax : +251 11 123 5132
Email : [email protected]
German Embassy www.addis-abeba.diplo.de
Embassy of Japan
Mr. Yoshinori Kitamura
First Secretary/ Head of Development Cooperation
Tel : +251 11 551 10 88
Fax : +251 11 551 13 50
Email : [email protected]
Embassy of Norway /NORAD
Mr. Havard Hoksnes
Head, Development Cooperation
Tel : +251 11 371 07 99
Fax : +251 11 371 12 55
Email : [email protected]
International Monetary Fund
Mr. Sukhwinder Singh
Resident Representative
Tel :+251 116-627800
Fax : +251 116-627803
Email : [email protected]
Indian Embassy
H.E. Bhagwant Bishnoi
Ambassador
Tel : +251 11 1235544/38
Fax : +251 11 1235547/48
Email : [email protected]
Irish Aid
Ms.Colleen Wainwright
Head of Development
Tel : +251 11 4 665005
Fax : +251 11 4 665020
Email : [email protected]
http://www.embassyofireland.org.et/home/index.aspx?id=71961
Italian Cooperation
Mr. Giorgio Sparaci
Head of Development Cooperation
Tel : +251 11 123 96 00/01/02
Fax : +251 11 123 96 03
Email : [email protected]
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Mr. Ota.Koji
Resident Representative
Tel : +251 11 550 47 55
Fax : +251 11 550 44 65
Email : [email protected]
Netherlands Embassy
Mr. Geert Geut
Head Development Cooperation
Tel : +251 11 371 11 00
Fax : +251 11 371 15 77
Email : [email protected]
SIDA
Mr. Abdi Foum
Head of Development Cooperation
Tel :+251 115-180018
Fax : +251 116-626752
Email : [email protected]
http://www.sida.se/English/Countries-and-regions/Africa/Ethiopia/Our-work-in-Ethiopia/
Turkish International Cooperation Agency (TICA)
Mr. Abdullah Sari
Programme Coordinator
Tel : +251 116-627850/51
Fax : +251 115-185357
Email : [email protected]
UN Development Programme (UNDP)
Mr. Eugene Owusu
Resident Representative
Tel : +251 11 551 10 25
Fax : +251 11 551 51 47/ +251 11 551 49 77
Email : [email protected]
USAID
Mr. Thomas H. Staal
Mission Director
Tel : +251 11 551 08 51
Fax : +251 11 551 00 43
Email : [email protected]
http://www.usaid.gov/policy/budget/cbj2010/
World Bank
Mr. Kenichi Ohashi
Country Director
Tel : +251 11 662 77 00
Fax : +251 11 662 77 17
Email : [email protected]
http://siteresources.worldbank.org/INTETHIOPIA/Resources/ETHIOPIA_CAS_FY08.doc
Brave Ethiopians in Seattle have dispersed a meeting called by Woyanne cadres Friday afternoon.
Woyanne Minister of Youth and Sports Aster Mamo and two other ruling party officials were scheduled to speak at public meeting.
After chasing away the Woyannes, the Ethiopian activists held a meeting to discuss plans for the upcoming 5th anniversary of Ethiopian election massacre remembrance events.
The activists have also formed a Seattle anti-Woyanne coalition that is composed of all Ethiopian groups, including Ginbot 7, UDJ, OLF, and civic groups.
October is “Breast Cancer Awareness Month” in the United States. I am writing this “letter” in hopes of raising greater awareness about the disease among Ethiopian women and encouraging them to fight the disease effectively with early detection and treatment. With the types of treatments available today, breast cancer is a disease that can be treated effectively if caught early.
The word “cancer” is enough to scare anybody, but it is a woman’s worst nightmare to be told that she has breast cancer. I went through an emotional roller coaster — shock, denial, anger, and “why me” self-pity — when my doctor told me I had breast cancer. Thank God the cancer was caught in its earliest phase known as “stage 0”. If I had skipped my annual checkup and mammogram, the result could have been much different.
One of the things I have observed over the years is that many of us Ethiopian women in the U.S. tend to be lax about doing our annual checkups or having our regular mammograms. For some of us, it is a simple problem of not being able to afford any health care. Without insurance, getting health care in the U.S. could be very difficult. But I have also found out that many Ethiopian women who have the means to get regular checkups and mammograms often do not get it.
I have heard many reasons for this potentially dangerous situation not just from strangers but also friends and family members. I believe one of the major reasons for this situation has to do with not being well-informed about breast cancer. Many of us are so scared of the disease that we don’t want to think about it, let alone actively learn information that could save our lives. I have heard so many Ethiopian women say they will not go to see the doctor unless they are “very sick”. With breast cancer, waiting until one is “very sick” means one is just too late to get help to save one’s life.
This attitude is understandable, even though very risky, given the fact that many immigrant Ethiopian women are overburdened with family and work responsibilities and find it almost impossible to pay attention to their basic health care needs. Being in the health care field, I have talked to some Ethiopian women who have told me of their belief that if they go to see the doctor, they may find out they have a “bad disease such as cancer”. Strange as it may seem to them, that is exactly what they need to find out with breast cancer, and as early as possible.
Breast cancer is one disease that no woman can hide from or afford to ignore. Ignoring breast cancer is like ignoring a small brushfire in the forest. Left alone, the brush fire will eventually destroy the forest. Breast cancer, if not detected early or ignored after one catches its tell-tale signs, could spread to various organs in the body and kill its victim. It is not uncommon for some women to feel lumps in their breasts, ignore it and not have it checked out because it “does not hurt.” That is a big mistake. Any kind of lump or hard tissue in the breast should be taken very seriously and checked out by a doctor.
There are also myths that many Ethiopian women believe about breast cancer tests and treatments. For example, some women avoid getting their annual mammograms because they believe they can get cancer from it. Mammogram does not cause breast cancer. It is a simple and painless procedure just like taking X-rays. There is very little risk of getting cancer from doing a mammogram.
Some Ethiopian women believe cancer is something to be ashamed of. They don’t want their friends and relatives to know they have it and keep it a secret to themselves until it is too late or they are in the hospital. There is nothing shameful about breast cancer. It is a terrible disease that does not discriminate between women who are poor or rich, black or white or in whatever part of the world a woman may live in.
What I want to stress here more than anything else is the fact that Ethiopian women need to do regular medical checkups and get mammograms to catch any symptoms or signs of breast cancer. Breast cancer is not like the flu, it does not go away with a few days of bed rest. If left untreated, it gets worse by the day until it reaches a point where nothing can be done medically. Early detection of breast cancer is the key to survival.
The really sad part of breast cancer is the needless deaths that are caused because Ethiopian women simply avoid doing the basic things that could help catch the disease at its early stage. Perhaps like many who may read this “letter”, over the years I have lost friends, acquaintances, co-workers and family members to this terrible disease. I have to say many lost their lives because they did not have timely breast cancer screening and diagnosis, or ignored their symptoms until after it was too late.
I know for many Ethiopian women in the U.S. there are cultural, language and financial issues that make it difficult to get regular checkups and screenings for breast cancer. I believe Ethiopian women helping each other could help greatly in dealing with these issues. That is why I ask all of my Ethiopian sisters to openly talk about breast cancer with each other at home, in places of worship and social events and gatherings and share information about early breast cancer detection and treatment. As we freely talk about our high blood pressure or diabetes, we should do the same with breast cancer so that we can get help in a timely fashion.
I believe Ethiopian health professionals can play a key role in educating and getting early diagnosis and treatment for women at risk for breast cancer. Ethiopian women doctors especially, and men too, could play an important role in educating women about the disease, doing screenings and suggesting possibilities for those who may not be able to afford health care. There are many local clinics and hospitals in the U.S. that offer free breast cancer screenings for women who cannot afford it.
It would be great if Ethiopian women could start breast cancer patient support groups in their local communities throughout the U.S. that can provide information and one-to-one support for those diagnosed with breast cancer or going through treatment. Those in the religious community can play an important role by inviting knowledgeable health professionals in breast cancer to their community halls to educate Ethiopian women on how to access free or low cost health care to get checkups and mammograms. In many major cities, there are radio stations serving the Ethiopian community. They could help save many lives if they devoted some air time to breast cancer awareness and treatment. The same can be said of the various Ethiopian websites. I am hopeful that by next year this time, we will be able to have our first annual “Ethiopian Women Breast Cancer Awareness Month” to coincide with the national program.
I discovered my breast cancer during a routine annual mammogram screening test. The test showed traces of “micro calcification”, which are cells that could turn fully cancerous if left untreated. My doctor did a biopsy by taking a tiny amount of tissue from the breast area where the cancer cells were seen. I had surgery which removed just the affected tissue area. I did radiation therapy to make sure no cancer cells remained and got medication to prevent any possibility of recurrence. I was back to my regular schedule within a few short weeks.
Today I am cancer free, healthy and able to share my story with everyone, thanks to God. Regular checkups and mammogram tests saved my life. Let us all work together to create breast cancer awareness in our communities and help each other find ways of early detection and treatment.
(The writer works in health care administration in Southern California and is actively involved in efforts to promote early cancer detection and treatment and education. She may be reached at [email protected])
The Ethiopian Sports Federation in North America (ESFNA) is engulfed in a controversy after its Woyanne-infested 9-member executive committee has tried to reverse the 27-member board’s decision to invite Birtukan Mideksa as a guest of honor.
As reported earlier (see here), majority of the ESFNA board voted by a wide margin to invite Birtukan, which was violently opposed by Al Amoudi stooges Sebsebe Assefa, Ayaya Arega, and Endale Turfa. At one point, Sebsebe and Ayaya threatened to physically attack delegates from the Los Angeles Abebe Bikila and the Maryland St. Mikael teams who presented the proposal. When the chair, intimidated by Al Amoudi thugs, hesitated to allow a vote, five of the 27 teams walked out. At which point, the chair gave in and allowed a vote to take place. The result was 12 to 8 in favor of Birtukan. If the five teams who walked out in protest are counted, the total number of teams who are in favor of Birtukan are 17 out of the 27.
The next day after the vote, Al Amoudi servants (ashkeroch) regrouped and forced the executive committee to reverse the board’s decision.
Flush with money looted from Ethiopia by Al Amoudi, the executive committee is preparing to file a law suit against Ethiopian Review and also to launch a public relations campaign to sell its frivolous argument that ESFNA cannot get involved in politics by inviting a politician. What they conveniently forget is that on more than one occasion ESFNA had invited a political figure as a guest of honor. The involvement of Al Amoudi and Woyanne agents in the ESFNA itself is highly political. On top of that, some of the executive committee members, such as Endale Turfa, are Woyanne activists who organize events on behalf of the Meles junta.
Some members of the teams whose delegates voted NO to Birtukan’s invitation told Ethiopian Review today that they are terribly disappointed at the decision of their representatives. Most members of the ESFNA teams are patriotic Ethiopians who oppose the executive committee’s relations with the Woyanne junta and Al Amoudi. The ESFNA Executive Committee is actually a toothless body that is bossed around by Al Amoudi’s top aid Abnet GebreMeskel and his gang of thugs led by Ayaya, Arawit, and Sebsebe.
Here is how the ESFNA teams stand on the Birtukan invitation:
Teams Who Voted for Birtukan
Abay Ethio – New York
Abebe Bikila – Los Angeles
Blue Nile – Chicago
Dashen – Seattle
Ethio SC – Atlanta
Ethio SC – Boston
Las Vegas – NV
Liberty Walya – PA
Nyala – MN
San Jose Anbessa – San Jose
Seattle Barro –
St Mikeal – MD
Tana – Denver
Toronto Ethiostars – Toronto
Unity – DC
Virginia Lions – VA
Walya – San Francisco
Teams Who Voted Against Birtukan
Abyssinia – Portland
Addis – Dallas
DC Ethiopian Stars
Ethio-Maryland
Ethio SA – Dallas
LA Ethio Stars – Los Angeles
St George – Ohio
Tewodros SC – San Diego
Abstained
Dallol – Culver City
Houston Ethiopian SA
6:30 PM — Hundreds of Ethiopians in the Washington DC Area are holding candle light vigil for Ali Mohammed on 9th and U Street. The vigil started at 6 PM. [Read about Ali here]
[Photos by Abebe Belew and Fitsum Girma]
Vigil for Ali outside DC9 at 9th and U Street
Ali’s sister at the vigil
DC Councilman Jim Graham
Tamagn Beyene
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Letter Ronald C. Machen Jr. US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia
Ronald C. Machen Jr.
US attorney’s office for the District of Columbia
555 4th street NW Washington, DC 20530.
Dear District Attorney Machen Jr.,
We are contacting you on behalf of the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE), an international social justice organization; committed to defending the rights of Ethiopians both in the Diaspora and within Ethiopia. We want to alert you to our serious concerns regarding the recent violent assault and subsequent death of a 27-year-old Ethiopian man, Ali Ahmed Mohammed, in Washington D.C. on October 15, 2010 at the hands of the owner and four employees from the nightclub, DC 9.
We do not defend Mr. Mohammed’s own actions that caused property damage to the DC 9 nightclub, but believe those reportedly involved in his brutal and horrific murder should be held accountable under the law of the United States of America. Instead of calling the police and letting the courts decide on the outcome, reports indicate that the owner and four of his employees from the DC 9 nightclub chased Mr. Mohammed down the street, threw him to the ground and then beat him and brutally stomped on his head and body. He died only 45 minutes later. What began as property damage to a window by Mr. Mohammed, led to a savage five-man gang assault against this one unarmed man.
We in the Ethiopian community are not only saddened by the loss of this man, we are also deeply disturbed by your office’s decision to amend the charges from Second Degree Murder to Aggravated Assault, despite the police reports and eyewitnesses that closely connect this brutal assault to Mr. Mohammed’s death. We would first ask why these charges were reduced; hoping that those original charges will soon be reinstated; however, if they are not, we would ask for an explanation.
We believe that transparency and rigorous adherence to the law can quell any suspicions; including concerns among Ethiopian Americans that somehow, his death will be attributed to other causes. Yet, as one can see from the picture above, the evidence that the attack was violent and vicious has left its bloody trail on the pavement.
There were also multiple eye-witnesses; both Ethiopian and non-Ethiopian, who will be able to testify to the heavy blows on his head and body that would have easily caused his death less than an hour later.
Ethiopians throughout the world, many of whom are very connected to each other through new technologies, are closely watching this case. They are shocked by the amended charges, but still maintain hope in the integrity of the American justice system. In Washington DC alone, we have over 300,000 Ethiopian Americans who are good citizens, hard-working people and law-abiding. Most have come to this great American land after running away from the rampant injustice, lack of political rights and corruption within Ethiopia; a country where political alliances and cronyism regularly pervert justice.
We ask you to show us an irrefutable example of American justice being served; even if it requires independent medical examiners, forensic experts, independent investigators, a change of court venue or other actions that may become necessary to create greater trust in the system and its fair, non-biased outcome.
We in the SMNE, are standing together with other Ethiopians and justice-loving people to make sure that the rule of law is followed because this young man who died was not just an unknown Ethiopian immigrant or a young man with a Muslim name or someone who committed a wrongful property crime, but he is our American family member, one of us and above all, a human being created by God who did not deserve to die this way. We believe in humanity before anything else and that until justice is served to all; the justice of all is threatened.
As an organization representing the Ethiopian people, we in the SMNE have already contacted a major law firm in Washington DC about some of the facts of this case. They have agreed to work with the SMNE, the Ethiopian community and the family as questions, difficulties or issues arise surrounding this case. We are also willing to assist your office as able.
We look forward to hearing from you. For more information on the SMNE, you may view our website at: solidaritymovement.org.
Sincerely yours,
Obang Metho;
Executive Director of the SMNE
PO Box 50561
Arlington, VA 22205
Phone: (202) 725-1616
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.solidaritymovement.org
