EDITOR’S NOTE: This is business as usual. Woyanne conducts unfair elections, arrests and murders opposition members, jams radio programs, blocks access to web sites… and as a reward it gets $100 million from the poverty-monger organization.
ADDIS ABABA (APA) The Ethiopian government Woyanne and the World Bank on Thursday signed in Addis Ababa a $100 million loan agreement to support road construction projects in the country to continue oppressing and tormenting the people of Ethiopia.
According to the agreement, the money will be utilized for the government’s 10-year road construction development projects. Ethiopia is currently undertaking a multi-billion dollar road construction throughout the country since the past five years.
Thursday’s loan agreement is expected to help Ethiopia to finalize all ongoing road projects in the country, according to Ahmed Shidena, the Ethiopian Minister of State for Finance and Economic Development.
He said that the government was undertaking various road construction projects to expand the country’s road network, which said was in a poor state in the past few years.
ADDIS ABABA (The Economist) — THERE are two colours I associate with Ethiopia. Grey for the dust, the bare hills, stony soil and donkeys. Grey for the Soviet-era buildings in the towns and the fumes of ancient Lada cars. Then there is gold, in the fields at harvest time, in the sunshine at that lung-busting altitude, and the heavy jewellery worn by women. Gold especially for the churches, the icons, the luminous curls in the crosses and staves, and in the golden plumage of archangels who many Ethiopians believe overlook the inner workings of their lives.
Religion is central to life in Ethiopia, as it is in the rest of Africa. But it is of a very different type. Neighbouring Kenya became Christian just over a century ago. Its Christianity still has a stripped-down missionary flavour. The Amhara and Tigray regions of Ethiopia, by contrast, were Christian long before St Augustine of Canterbury landed in England. The Band Aid anthem to raise money for Ethiopian famine victims in 1984 was in some ways ill-judged: of course they knew it was Christmastime.
Yet Ethiopia is also a country of revolutionary zeal. It is ruled by an inner circle of former Marxist guerrillas who are not evidently religious. That sets up a tension in the country. After this week’s election victory by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), I ask Ethiopians what they would like to ask their long-serving prime minister, Meles Zenawi. Most often they say they would like to quiz him about God. “I want to know if he is a believer,” says my driver in Addis Ababa. Teddy—his name changed to protect his identity—is critical of the government. They have done many good things. But they like to control us.” Even in heavy traffic Teddy takes his hands off the steering wheel and crosses himself when passing one of the many churches. He gently recounts his own story of last week’s elections. The organisers of the taxi fleet he drives for are card-carrying members of the EPRDF. “We are not talking about many people. Maybe 20 out of a couple of hundred cabs. But they decide on a lot of things, including the renewal of licences. They told the rest of us we had to attend government rallies in a procession during the election campaign. Most of us refused. After the election they will come for us.” What will he do then? Teddy shrugs. He is close to retirement, but has two small children. “A man cannot live on his knees.”
The fear among Ethiopians like Teddy is similar to that of citizens in the Soviet bloc in the 1970s. Those who prove themselves to the party will be awarded promotions and sinecures, however modest. Those who refuse to join in risk losing the privileges they have. And for the few who openly challenge the way in which the EPRDF muddles its own interest with the national interest there is the prospect of censorship, harassment and prison.
Ethiopia is an authoritarian state, not a totalitarian one. The choice is difficult, but it remains a choice. The situation is in some ways harder than in the Soviet Union though. There is no barbed wire holding the Ethiopians in, rather an overwhelming indifference in the rest of the world. Nor is there much of an alternative to the EPRDF. Whatever criticism is made of Mr Zenawi, he is more cogent and measured than the opposition. Its heroes include Birtukan Mideksa, a single mother who is serving a life sentence in solitary confinement for standing up to the government. But her heroics are undercut by the failure of the opposition to unite around a sensible manifesto for the future of Ethiopia.
Over the next five years critics of the EPRDF can expect to be further marginalised. Western donors are largely happy with this state of affairs. They hope for something like an African version of Yugoslavia under Tito. Stability is indeed a precious prize, if your goal is to eradicate extreme poverty. The danger though is that progress at the bottom will mean suffocation of a an independent-minded middle class. Lackeys seldom make the creative leaps a country like Ethiopia needs as its population swells to perhaps as much 30m in the coming decades (up from 40m in the days of Band Aid). At present a tenth of the country would perish without foreign food aid. The EPRDF is unwilling to give up control of farmland, telecoms, and the internet. Ethiopia’s banks, stocks, and insurance markets are far behind other big African countries. None of that bodes well. Ethiopians have historically always attacked the centre from the periphery. If the country cannot run ahead of its poverty, the risk of a Yugoslav-style denouement grows. Religion plays into the fatalism. Many Ethiopians believe that the opposition is incidental. Only God can change their government.
The following is a statement from the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)
A claim made by Ethiopian Prime Minister, Melez Zenawi at his most recent press conference that his regime will “soon sign an agreement” with the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) has no basis in reality and is intended to mislead the international community in general and foreign oil firms in particular. The ONLF wishes to make clear that we have not been, and currently are not, in discussions with this regime. The ONLF has maintained a principled position that any negotiations with this regime can only take place under the auspices of the international community in a neutral venue with a third neutral party mediator. This regime has consistently refused neutral third party mediation under the auspices of the international community. Melez Zenawi clearly seeks to create the impression that he is on the verge of reaching a political settlement to the Ogaden conflict in a bid to convince oil companies that Ogaden is no longer a war zone and divert attention from Ethiopia’s recent so-called “‘election” results confirming that dissent will not be tolerated by this regime, even if it is through the ballot box.
The ONLF wishes to affirm that the resolve of our people and armed forces has only strengthened as a result this regimes continued acts of collective punishment and war crimes in Ogaden. Continued extrajudicial killings, arbitrary arrests, forced displacement of civilians, rape, torture and use of international humanitarian aid for political purposes in Ogaden by this regime can not be concealed by misleading statements and a media blockade preventing international journalists from entering Ogaden to witness for themselves this regimes atrocities and military losses at the hands of our forces.
Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)
By Jason McLure | Bloomberg.com
Ethiopia’s government ruling junta has detained about 1,000 opposition activists in the country’s Oromia region since May 22, the day before national elections, a leader of the Medrek opposition alliance said.
While most of those held have been released, supporter intimidation hasn’t stopped, Merara Gudina, a leader of the ethnic Oromo wing of Medrek, said in a phone interview today.
“Beatings have continued, people are still being arrested and receiving instant sentences of five or six months,” said Merara. “Including the eve of election day, about 1,000 of our party poll watchers have been detained.”
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front and its allies won 545 of 547 parliamentary seats in the May 23 poll, according to provisional results posted to the website of the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia. A European Union observer mission declared the campaign failed to meet certain “international commitments.”
Ethiopia’s government denied the opposition claims. “This is an outrageous allegation,” said Shimeles Kemal, a government spokesman, in a phone interview today. “The government doesn’twish to pursue the perpetrators of any infringements or irregularities.”
Medrek filed a complaint with the country’s electoral board yesterday, calling for the elections to be re-run. Both Medrek and the smaller All Ethiopia Unity Party have accused the ruling party of a widespread campaign of rigging and voter intimidation, including withholding food aid from opposition supporters.
Negasso Gidada, a leader of Medrek, says that four people were arrested in western Ethiopia in the days following the election after they reported finding ballots marked for Medrek stuffed in a latrine. He also said a Medrek activist had been “disappeared” near the eastern city of Harar. “The relatives don’t know where he is, whether he lives or not,” Negasso said in a phone interview from Addis Ababa. Shimeles said he was unaware of the incidents and would look into the allegations.
BY CYNTHIA HAVEN
On May 23, Ethiopia’s incumbent Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was reelected in a landslide. Despite claims of fraud and coercion, Zenawi said: “We have no regrets and we offer no apologies.”
Ethiopian journalist and democracy activist Abebe Gellaw has worked for the Ethiopian Herald, the only English daily in the country, and is a founding editor of Addis Voice, an online journal in English and Amharic that focuses on Ethiopia. The visiting scholar at Stanford is currently working on a book, Ethiopia Under Meles: Why the Transition from Military Rule to Democracy Failed.
He has an op-ed piece, “Ethiopia’s Embarrassing Elections,” in Monday’s Wall Street Journal.
He spoke to the Stanford News Service about the election.
What are the implications of Meles Zenawi’s win for human rights in Ethiopia?
It is a serious setback. The reason why this 99.6 percent election victory is outrageously ludicrous is due to the fact that it can simply be interpreted as if Ethiopians have unanimously endorsed their suffering and abuse under the Meles regime. This can’t happen anywhere.
Supporters of Ethiopia’s opposition coalition have been beaten, harassed and jailed, and one of the country’s last independent newspapers closed in December after its senior staff fled the country for fear of arrest. One opposition parliamentary candidate was stabbed to death, although the government denied involvement. A candidate was arrested while campaigning and sentenced to six months in prison on a contempt charge. Despite government claims, isn’t that evidence of fraud?
The whole situation is even worse than that. There is no question that the elections have been fraudulent. No repressive regime that kills, muffles, harasses and jails innocent citizens can win free and fair elections.
Yet the United States doesn’t seem prepared to put pressure on a stable government in an otherwise war-torn region. Why?
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is considered a key U.S. ally in the war on terror despite his appalling human rights record and making matters worse in Somalia. It appears that the chaos in Somalia, the turbulence in the Sudan and the anti-American stance of Eritrea has bought U.S. silence in exchange for security and military cooperation.
Many Ethiopians see the reactions from Washington as a lip service, a kind of “rest in peace” for democracy.
The U.S. State Department expressed “concern” and urged Meles’ administration to strengthen its democratic institutions and offer a “level playing field” to electoral candidates free from intimidation and favoritism in order to ensure “more inclusive results.” Is that going to mean anything?
Not really. This call should have come five years ago. The process of killing any hope for democracy started in earnest in the aftermath the 2005 disputed elections.
When the Meles regime realized the danger of allowing relatively contested elections, it launched a series of measures that derailed any democratic gains in the last years.
Over 13 popular newspapers were closed down, critical websites were blocked, civic society organizations were crippled as they were forbidden from raising funding from foreign sources. The Voice of America was jammed, peaceful assembly was almost totally banned, freedom of expression was criminalized and serious dissidents like “Ethiopia’s Aung San Suu Kyi,” Birtukan Mideksa, were locked up. Where was the U.S. during that time? Almost nowhere.
The Bush administration even blocked the passage of HR2003, the Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007, which was aimed at consolidating respect for human rights, democracy and economic freedom in Ethiopia. After the bill passed the House of Representatives, it died in the Senate. The Ethiopian government had hired DLA Piper, which received $50,000 per month to lobby against the bill, and was threatening that the Ethio-U.S. alliance would be over.
What can and should the U.S. government do?
The Meles regime has received tens of billions of dollars from the United States since it came to power in 1991. The financial, military and diplomatic support of the United States has undoubtedly consolidated the regime. Meles continues to pretend that his regime can survive without America’s support, but he knows full well that he still needs a lot of propping up. Over 30 percent of the national budget comes from foreign aid.
The future of Ethiopia is now more uncertain and it can potentially join Somalia if serous conflicts break out. What makes Ethiopia a ticking time bomb is that the regime has fragmented the country along ethnic lines in pursuit of its divide-and-rule tactics.
Advocates of armed struggle as the only viable option to bring about change are likely to get serious listeners.
The warlords in Somalia and the regimes in Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea are part of the problem, as their tyrannies and irresponsible style of governance will continue to make the sub-region more unstable and violent.
The U.S. can actually send stronger messages to Zenawi, who has been convinced that he is indispensable and irreplaceable. It should not turn a blind eye to the atrocities being committed against the people of Ethiopia. President Obama should also live up to his promise of standing by the bitter struggles of oppressed people to end tyranny. There must be no exceptions.
A few months ago, you said expressing your views can be “extremely dangerous” in Ethiopia.
The majority of Ethiopian journalists who dared to do their jobs honestly suffered immensely. The reason why hundreds of journalists live in exile is due to the fact that the regime jails, tortures and harasses journalists. In Ethiopia, the regime has been engaged in the business of closing down so many serious newspapers and attacking journalists without any consequences for the last 15 years.
As an example let me mention the difficulties even the Voice of America is facing in Ethiopia. In 2005, four VOA broadcasters and reporters as well as one manager, all naturalized U.S. citizens and permanent residents, were accused of fictitious treason and genocide charges – charges later dropped under international pressure.
Since earlier this year, the Voice of America has been jammed. When reporters asked Zenawi why his government was jamming VOA, he said the station “copied the worst practices of radio stations such as Radio Mille Collines of Rwanda” and he accused it of instigating genocide.
An Ethiopian journalist, who declined to give his name for fear of retribution, told the Wall Street Journal that many Ethiopians expected the United States to do more than send food. “People are starving for freedom, not just for food.” Would you agree?
Food aid is starving Ethiopia. Food aid has made the regime think that feeding the starving millions is the responsibility of the West. Earlier this month, I had a chance to raise a question to Meles Zenawi at the World Economic Forum on Africa, which was held in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
He was a panelist on vision for African agriculture. I plucked up my courage and asked him why millions of Ethiopians are still starving under his leadership while the country has huge water resources and unutilized virgin land. I asked him why he is giving away hundreds of thousands of hectares of land to Saudi Arabia and China to grow food for their own people. I also wanted to know why he is not privatizing land instead of using it as a means of control for the ruling party.
He was visibly unhappy about the questions. According to him, distributing food aid was an achievement. It is very unfortunate that Ethiopia is being led by people who lack creative thinking and courage to take responsibility.
The hunger for freedom is something that cannot be addressed with food aid from America and Canada. Credible research indicates that democracies and free countries never suffer from extreme food insecurity and famine. The Nobel Prize winner economist Amartya Sen, for instance, theorized that in countries where there is relative freedom and democratic governance famine can hardly occur. Unfortunately, food aid has now been institutionalized in Ethiopia. That is a disaster for Ethiopia, which is a very proud nation.
(Cynthia Haven writes for Stanford University News.)
Asmara — President Isaias Afwerki is attending the Franco-African Summit that is being held in the City of Nice, France, this week.
More than 50 Heads of State and Government, as well as representatives of a number of international and regional organizations and associations are taking part in the Summit.
In the course of the Summit that would continue until tomorrow, various agenda items are under discussion, including international peace and stability, climate and development, as well as global governance, among others.
(Source: Shabait.com)
