GUBA LAFTO, ETHIOPIA — Berzeghin Hailu answers questions about her life as patiently and thoroughly as a dutiful witness might describe a crime, but she grows silent as neighbours gather to eavesdrop on the conversation. She does not want to unsettle a tacit agreement with other residents of her village that preserves her dignity.
Each day Ms. Berzeghin visits the home of a different neighbour under the pretence of a social call. While they chat in the cool dampness of a mud hut, Ms. Berzeghin patiently waits for a politely offered meal or a care package for her two youngest sons. Increasingly, though, she returns empty-handed.
“I am used to sleeping on an empty stomach, but my youngest boy still cries at night from the hunger,” she says, faintly smiling as her eyes begin to tear.
For years, Ms. Berzeghin has relied on the generosity of others – on the thinly veiled charity of her neighbours and on emergency aid from foreign countries – to narrowly avoid starvation. During the biblically proportioned famine of the 1980s, international aid rescued her from hunger, and though she does not know it, foreign relief this year will again provide what her neighbours cannot. In response to the failure of the spring harvest and the rising price of food globally, the international community will bankroll at least $500-million in emergency relief to Ethiopia, the largest aid effort here in five years.
Fantahun Abate irrigates a field of green peppers in northern Ethiopia. Behind him, sugar cane and banana trees thrive on a collective farm he formed with his neighbours after receiving training and seeds from the Ethiopian government, part of program that receives no foreign assistance.
Like the 10 million other Ethiopians who will benefit from foreign donations this year, her dependency underscores a failing of international aid: Resources are available for emergencies but not for rural development. Now Ethiopia’s recurrent plight and the global food crisis are raising questions about whether donors such as the United States and Canada have had their priorities straight.
“I think we may see a string of humanitarian crises of which Ethiopia is the first,” said David Beckmann, president of Washington-based Bread for the World. “It’s bad in itself, but it’s also illustrative of a period we’re entering into; we’re in for a really rough ride.”
The World Bank has said that part of the solution to the global food crisis must come from greater foreign contributions to agriculture in poor countries such as Ethiopia, where farmers are still dependent on rainfall, still working the same tiny plots of emaciated soil, still sewing the same low-output seeds. Indeed, countries such as Ethiopia must not only feed themselves but produce a surplus in order to meet the 50-per-cent rise in global demand in food expected by 2030.
So far, Canada has responded to the food crisis by offering an additional $50-million in food aid for next year and by removing the last remaining restrictions on how its aid can be used to provide relief, meaning more efficient spending in humanitarian operations. The Canadian International Development Agency, however, has not followed its counterparts in the United States, Britain and France in boosting its assistance for agriculture, which has fallen to about 6 per cent of the aid budget from 20 per cent before 1990, according to a September, 2007, report by the Canadian Food Security Policy Group.
“In light of this seemingly diminishing place for agriculture in CIDA’s current priorities, the FSPG is concerned that CIDA’s agriculture and rural development strategy is being abandoned, ignoring the essential contributions that Canada should be making to reducing rural poverty in achieving the Millennium Development Goals,” the report said.
CIDA spokespeople and Minister of International Co-operation Beverley Oda did not respond to requests for comment.
When Susan Whelan was minister of international co-operation in 2003, she unveiled a policy that would have increased CIDA’s spending on agricultural development to $500-million by 2008. When she was replaced the following year, the policy was dropped.
Ms. Whelan’s inspiration for the policy came partly from a visit to Ethiopia.
“What struck me most about Ethiopia and my visit was that we had not done much to change the way they were producing and dealing with agriculture,” she said.
Becoming a net exporter of food may seem an unattainable goal for a country such as Ethiopia, repeatedly beset by drought, but Ms. Berzeghin and her family testify to how little help they actually require.
Ms. Berzeghin’s daughter, Engocha Asheberow, who lives two hours away by foot, does not ask her mother to perform any charade for help; she gives her mother a few dollars each month, even if that means feeding her own family just once a day.
“I will keep helping her until I have no more to give,” she said while breastfeeding her youngest.
Ms. Asheberow’s small plot has not produced food in months, but she is still able to help her mother because her husband is one of 12 men hired locally by a co-operative of other small farmers who have become more successful since irrigating their land. The 10 hectares are a verdant oasis in the desiccated highlands, with lush banana trees and plump green pepper seedlings sprouting from the dark, muddy soil.
The group of farmers received only training and a few sugar cane plants from the Ministry of Agriculture two years ago. The Ethiopian government spends about $200-million on the program, or 6 per cent of its own revenue, with no assistance from international donors.
When asked what they hope for, most farmers in the northern highlands of Ethiopia will simply answer “rain.”
Ms. Asheberow and her family, however, have seen the possibility of a life less vulnerable to the vagaries of the weather. When asked the same question, she answers, “That there be work, even when there is no rain.”
Thousands of Ethiopians have descended on Washington DC for an annual Ethiopian Soccer Tournament organized by ESFNA. The entire week greater Washington has been buzzing with scores of events and activities organized by various groups for social, political and cultural purposes. On Wednesday the 2nd of July, 2008 around 8:30 pm, a unique occasion was unfolding in a more dignified and magnificent way.
The occasion was aimed at honoring an extraordinary Ethiopian war hero of the modern era. Several hundred Ethiopians have over packed the hall of Trinity Church located at 6000 Georgia Ave, NW Washington DC. They were anxiously waiting for the arrival of General Legesse Teferra, the honoree of the special event, one of the most outstanding war heroes of Ethiopia and recipient of the highest order of Medal for heroism, (Ye Hibretsebawit Ethiopia Woder Yelelew Jegna).
Inside the hall, at the top of the stage hangs a ten feet banner. It reads: Ye Jegnoch Mishit, (An Evening of Ethiopian Heroes). Poster-size photos of the hero, General Legesse, are placed on both sides of the banner. At the entrance, a very large poster is also placed on a tripod. The writing is in Gold on a black background: a tribute to and representative list of Ethiopian heroes who gave the ablest leadership to the former armed forces, those who died while heroically fighting, and all those heroes who fell in line of duty for Ethiopia and their honor in the eastern, southern, and northern fronts in the 70s and 80s. Among those listed, there are names of those members of the armed forces who are still alive. These are representative names from the Army, Air force, Navy, and the Police forces.
Also at the front entrance area, members of the former armed forces and members of the organizing committee dressed in jet black suits, white shirts and a tie were greeting and sitting Ethiopians coming to attend the event. Ato Samson Kebede, Capt. Fikru Debebe and other members of the committee were displaying on a table all kinds of items prepared for the occasion. A special issue magazine prepared by members of the AMFEA that has Gen. Legesse’s colorful picture on its front cover and a book about Gen Legesse Teferra, entitled The Tiger of the Sky (Ye Ayer layie Nebir) were few of the publications and items for display and sale at the back of the hall near the entrance.
At the front raw tables, the invited guest of honors of evening: Honorable Ambassador Imiru Zeleke, Honorable Ambassador Ayalew Mandefro, Col Brehanu Wubneh of the Airforce have taken their seat. While another one, Col. Tsegaye Yimer, a person who gave a distinguished service to the Ethiopian Ground Forces for several decades, was unable to make it due to illness. Other invited and distinguished guests who have taken their seats include: Brig. General Ashenafi Gebre Tsadik, an Air force pilot and another war hero on his own right; Brig. General Tsegaye Habtie Yimer, a prominent Air force officer who served in various high positions including as a commander of its Flight Training Academy; Ato Gebreyes Begna, a prominent businessman; Dr. Aklilu Habte, the former president of Addis Ababa University; Ato Mulugeta Lule, the prominent veteran journalist; Ato Solomon Kifle, distinguished veteran journalist now working for the VOA, Dr. Gebreye Wolde Rufael, a prominent physician known also for his contributions for democracy and Unity, Ato Abraha Belai, Editor-in-Chief of Ethiomedia, and many other distinguished guests have taken their seats.
Around 9: 15 P.M, Gen. Legesse accompanied by his wife, two daughters, and other members of his family arrived. When General Legesse entered the Hall, three members of the former military in Army, Navy, and Air force uniform greeted the General with formal military salute with military marsh music at the background. Hundreds of those who were present stood up while members of the former military formed a straight line both at the right and left side of the hall way to give proper honor for the arriving hero. Gen Legesse Teffera, walking in front along his close friend Capt. Bezu and his family members were followed by the uniformed men before he took his sit at the special table reserved for him and members of his family.
Artist Tamagne Beyene, the lead person of the stage for the event, formally announced the arrival of Gen. Legesse and Artist Shambel Belayneh took over to play a patriotic tune while the attendees sang, with ululation, rounds and rounds of applause to welcome the hero. Soon after dinner was served, Artist Tamagne Beyene invited Ato Hailu Balcha, a member of the organizing committee, who spoke briefly about purpose of the special event of the evening and gave background information how the committee was organized. The committee that consists of representatives from Association of the former Ethiopian Air force, The Harar Military Academy Alumni Association, The Ethiopian Ground Force Veterans Association, patriotic Ethiopians, and Artists, members of Gen. Legesse’s family managed to execute a special and colorful event to honor Gen. Legesse Teffera due to a team work that took more than four months of hard work, he told the audience. Ato Hailu expressed his appreciation to all members of the committee who worked very hard and the able leadership provided by Ato Brehanu Wolde Selassie, the chairman of the Association of the former Ethiopian Air force (AMFEA) and the chairman of the organizing committee of the special event, Ye Jegnoch Mishit. Then Ato Neamin Zeleke, a member of the organizing committee and program coordinator for the event, read brief biographies of the guests of honor for the evening and invited Birg Gen. Tsegaye Habtieh Yimer to the stage.
Brig General Tsegaye is among those who served the former Ethiopian Former Ethiopain Airfoce in various capacities, including as commander of the Air Force Academy. He attended the Harar Military Academy seventh course for cadets with Gen Legesse Teffera and others. As a friend and colleague of Gen Legesse for more than four decades, Gen Tsegaye spoke at length his memories, far and near, about Gen Legesse, his contributions, the General’s heroic deeds, and his professional achievements .
After Gen Tsegaye concluded his speech, Artist Tamagne Beyene announced the special gift presentation ceremony. Ato Yohannes Demissie and Ato Ayalneh Ejigou, members of the organizing committee carried the special gift and handed it to Col Berhanu Wubineh, one of the guests of honor and one of the ablest and distinguished members among pilots and members of the Air force. He was one of those who educated Birg General Legesse while he was a cadet. During the Ethio-Somali War of the ’70s, Col Brehanu also contributed much as a pilot and commander of the F-5 E Interceptor squadron, a squadron that made tremendous contribution and sacrifice in defeating the Air force of the invading Somali forces.
When Col Brehanu, accompanied by other the guests of honor and members of the organizing committee, presented the special gift to Gen Legesse , there was a another round of heavy applause, ululation, and emotional singing heard from among the large crowd of attendees. The special gift was a model F-5 E Fighter jet with the same serial number that was flown by Gen. Legesse to execute many of his heroic deeds during the war against the invading Somali forces and the very one shot down before he was taken as a prisoner of war (POW) in Somalia for eleven years.
Artist Tamagne also announced that Dr. Assefa Negash who came from Holland has prepared a special gift to present it to Gen Legesse. Dr. Assefa gave a copy of O Minilik in frame, a newspaper named after Emperor Minilik and printed in Brazil by Black Brazilians who were struggling against racism and servitude to gain their freedom in Brazil several decades ago and the Sons of Sheba’s Race, a book by Prof Scot. He then made a brief remark how the African Diaspora or the black world in general back then looked up to Ethiopia for inspiration, and in this day and age where Ethiopia and Ethiopaiwinet have been under assault and negation from various forces, it is yet another testimony what and how much Ethiopia meant for the African people around the world, Dr. Assefa reminded those present. Ato Kebede Hale Mariam who came from Vancouver, Canada disturbed chest pins of the Ethiopian Flag to Gen Legesse, the guests of honor, and to the hundreds of Ethiopians present for the occasion.
After receiving these gifts, Gen. Legesse made a brief speech tanking all Ethiopians who were present for giving recognition for his contribution as citizen of Ethiopia and discharging his duties as professional officer and pilot during the most trying times for Ethiopia and her people in the late 1970s. Moving poems conjuring the danger that was faced by Ethiopia back then and dedicated to Gen Legesse and other heroes were read by Maj. Kifle Abocher, the famous man of letters of the former ground force, and the renowned Artist Alemtsehay Wodajo. It was indeed a very sober and emotional moment for many who were present.
Then Ambassador Ayalew Mandefro, one of the guests of honor, also spoke about the political and historical context of the Ethio-Somalia war of the seventies and shared his intimate knowledge of the events and incidents during that time in his former capacities as Ethiopia’s Ambassador to Somali and a former Minister of Defense. He said that During the Ethio-Somali war of 1977, the performance of the Ethiopian Air force pilots from their F5E cockpit against the more advanced Mig 21 & 23’s flown by the Somalis was just brilliant even if measured by the highest standard of an air to air battle. Indeed the heroic flight maneuvering skills displayed by pilots such as Brig. General Legesse Tefera and his colleagues epitomize succinctly the military adage – “what counts most in warfare is the human element behind the weapon and not the caliber of the weapon itself.” A second shinning and crucial performance the EAF recorded during the war was their execution in breaking the logistic line of the advancing enemy which saved the fall of Dire Dawa and perhaps beyond, Ambassador Ayalew reminded the audience.
Dressed in Air Force flight uniform, Artist Tamagne Beyene took the stage again, announcing to an applauding and amused audience the following program of the event: a presentation of a special documentary produced for this special occasion. Tamagne pulled an amazing feat by taking many historical videos and a well researched narration to produce a documentary that lasted 30 minutes. The documentary film depicted the Somalia invasion of Ethiopia in the seventies and the heroic role played by the Ethiopian Air force. Among those mentioned in the film are General Legesse Teffera and other air force pilots, including Brig. General Ashenafi Gebere Tsadik, Col Brehanu, both were present at the occasion. Gen Ashenafi , another war hero present at the occasion, flew fighter jets side by side with Gen Legesse and many others, contributing much to reverse the grave danger posed to Ethiopia’s’ sovereignty and unity by the Somali invading force. When the jet fighter flown by Ethiopian pilots wee seen blowing the Somalia Mig jets to pieces, there were heavy applause from the over exited and emotional audience. There were moments were people were heard crying. This was yet one of the most emotional and memorable parts of the eventful evening.
Upon the film’s conclusion, a deafening applause and cheer filled the hall, an expression of approval for work well done as a yet another tribute to Gen Legesse and other Ethiopian heroes by Artist Tamagne. Shambel Belayneh and other artists continued to stir the aroused patriotic feeling of the attendees by singing patriotic songs, shileela and fukera of the traditional war songs.
At last, it was time to read short stories of representative and outstanding leaders of the former Ethiopian military and that of prominent heroes who fell heroically in line of duty in eastern and northern fronts as well as those among those who lost their lives during the failed coup attempt of 1989.
Ato Neamin Zeleke asked the audience to stand up to honor and remember those who have died heroically and salute those who are still alive. Brief stories of those selected for the occasion- Brig General Teshome Tessema, at Massawa, Eritrea; Birg General Legesse Abeje, at Axum , Tigray front, Col. Mamo Temtime, at Nakfa, Eritrea, Col Belay Aschenaki at Masswa, Eritrea, Commodore Belege Belete and Commodore Getachew Siyoum of the Navy at Massawa, Eritera –were read. Also among the ablest military leaders of the modern armed forces that of Maj. General Fanta Belay of Air force, Maj. General Demissie Bultto of the Army, Maj. General Amha Desta of the Former Ethiopian Former Ethiopain Airfoce who died during the failed coup of 1989 were also read.
Families of the armed forces, those who had fallen heroically and those alive were also present on the occasion. Ato Dereje Demissie Bullto the youngest son of the late Maj. General Demissie Bullto, one of the ablest leaders of the former Ethiopian Military, came from Boston for the event; Mimi Legesse, the daughter of Brig General Legesse Abeje, another hero who fell while fighting at Axum , Tigray front was present. The presence of Wro. Elizabeth Abdissa, the daughter of Col. Abdisa Aga, one of the outstanding heroes during the fascist Italian invasion of Ethiopia, made the event even more touching and memorable. Messages of best wishes and congratulations sent from Maj. Dawit Wolde Girogis from West Africa, Prof Getachew Haile in Minnesota, the poet Ato Assefa Gebre Mariam from Las Vegas, and the former Minster of information and later Ambassador, Maj. Girma Yilma, were relayed to General Legesse Teferra
The special event got coverage by Voice of America, German Radio, and Ethiopian Television Network (ETN), Ethiomedia.com (where Ethiomedia Chief Editor Abraha Belai was one of the Guests of Honor), Ato Muluneh Yohannes of Ethiomedia, Ato Aberra Wogi, Ato Abebe Antallew, Ato Tekelemickael Abebe, and reporting for of the Ethiopian Current Affairs Discussion Room, Ato Abebe Belew of Addis Voice , Videographers and photographers from Addis Culture, and other members of the media came to provide coverage for this special and historic event.
(Photos: Courtesy of Photographer Dereje Getachew)
The names of outstanding leaders and heroes, both alive and dead, from the former Army, Navy, Air force, and the police forces, representing unnamed thousands of other heroes from Generals to line officers, from NCOs and privates to militia members of the former armed forces were read.
Capt Dawit Wondifraw, Getachew Degefu, Beyene Debalke, Yesahnew Lemma, and Girma Legesse read the following list:
Maj. General Fanta Belay
Maj. General Merid Negussie
Maj. General Demisse Bultto
Maj. General Amha Desta
Maj. General Abera Abebe
Maj. General Mesfin Gebre Kal
Maj. General Kinfe Michael Dinku
Maj. General Kumlachew Dejene
Maj. General Hailu Gebre Mickael
Brig. General Teshome Tessema
Brig. General Legesse Abeje
Brig. General Yilma Gizaw
Brig. General Temesgen Gemechu
Brig. General Tesfu Desta
Brig. General Tesfaye Terefe
Brig. General Tesfaye Habte Mariam
Brig. General Kassaye Chemeda
Brig. General Behailu Kinde
Commodor Belege Belete
Commodor Getachew Siyoum
Brig. General Araya Zerai
Brig. General Woubetu Tsegaye
Brig. General Merdesa Lelisa
Brig. General Berta Gomoraw
Brig. General Gennanaw Mengistu
Brig. General Desalegn Abebe
Brig. General Taye Balaker
Brig. General Lemesa Bedase
Brig. General Solomon Begashsaw
Brig. General Ashenafi Gebre Tsadiq
Brig. Genreal Kifetew Merine
Brig. General Afework Wolde Michael
Brig. General Negussie Zergaw
Brig. General Kebede Mehari
Brig. Geneal Hailu Kebede
Brig. General Addis Aglachew
Brig. General Hailu Berawork
Brig. General Legese Haile
Brig. General Mesfin Haile
Brig. General Erkyihun Bayyisa
Brig. General Kebede Wolde Tsadiq
Brig. General Yemata Miskir
Brig. General Engda Gebre Amlak
Brig. General Techane Mesfin
Brig. General Tadesse Tesema
The leadership of the Virginia Hamere Noeh Kidane Mehret Ethiopian Orthodox Church has cleansed itself off of of infiltrators who have been trying to hijack the Church on behalf of Woyanne’s fake patriarch. Read this report by a member of the Church >> Click here.
By Najum Mushtaq, Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)
A new media law – six years in the making – has been passed by Ethiopia’s House of People’s Representatives. Its preamble declares that “the proclamation removes all obstacles that were impediments to the operation of the media in Ethiopia.”
But an analysis by Ethiopian journalists finds it actually clears the way for government to continue to harass and persecute the messenger when the message is not in line with the whims of the rulers.
The ‘Mass Media and Freedom of Information Proclamation’, which purports to update and reform the first ever Ethiopian press law of 1992, has been a source of controversy ever since its initiation in 2002.
In countless meetings with the ministry of information — which regulates Ethiopian media — local and international activists have been lobbying in vain for revisions in the draft to make it compatible with international norms and conventions on press freedom. The version adopted by parliament last week seems certain to further restrict freedom of expression and intimidate journalists.
“We have come to understand… that the proclamation is incompatible with the (Ethiopian) constitution and other international human rights laws, conventions and agreements. It is a reversal and desecration of victories achieved by the repealed press law (of 2004),” says a resolution adopted Wednesday at the end of a UN-sponsored workshop of media practitioners in Addis Ababa organised by the Horn of Africa Press Institute (HAPI).
The workshop reviewed the new legislation and called for “a reassessment of all the provisions of the law” as it imposes “substantive restrictions with heavy burden and obligations” on journalists.
One of the most disturbing aspects of the new law is that the government has appropriated the right to prosecute defamation cases against the media even if the ostensibly defamed government officials do not initiate legal proceedings. Article 43 (7) of the proclamation says that defamation and false accusation against “constitutionally mandated legislators, executives and judiciaries will be a matter of the government and prosecutable even if the person against whom they were committed chooses not to press charge.”
This provision overrides the 2004 criminal law which had stated that cases of defamation would go to court only when the victims make complaints. Also, the compensation for moral damage caused by mass media has been raised from 1,000 birr to a crippling 100,000 birr — just over $10,000.
Journalists attending the workshop also pointed out that many restrictive measures had already been incorporated into other laws during the six-year debate on the media bill. For instance, the Criminal Code of the country which came into force in 2005 includes penal provisions for “participation in crimes by the mass media.”
In another example, the role and duties of the Ministry of Information were redefined in 2007 to give the government arbitrary powers to use registration and licensing procedures as a punishment for dissent. It also empowers the government to stop distribution of a newspaper if the attorney general deems a news item to be a criminal act.
And in a country where most of the established newspapers as well as radio and television channels are government-owned, the new law undermines the growth of the independent private sector by placing its fate in the hands of the information ministry.
“We understand that the regulatory authority itself is involved in the media and news making and has no institutional freedom,” the workshop resolution observed.
Banned journalists
The new law fits into a pattern of official persecution of journalists seen over the last three years. Soon after controversial 2005 elections, three newspapers and magazines belonging to the country’s largest private publisher, Serkalem Publishing House, were closed down as part of a widespread crackdown on media that dared to criticise the handling of the poll. Serkalem Fasil and her family were imprisoned for over a year.
Ten other independent publications were also forced to shut down, leaving hundreds of journalists unemployed.
Already this year, the government has forced two more magazines out of circulation using laws against disturbance to public order. One of them, Enku, a fashion magazine, was not only confiscated but its deputy editor, Aleymayehu Mahtemwork and three colleagues spent four days in jail for covering the trial of a popular pop star whose songs angered the government. Though he was released, the case against him remains pending and his magazine is yet to be revived.
Fasil recalls the recent history of media persecution by the state and observes and explains the apathy of the international community: “Much to the utter amazement of the of the Ethiopian public, the international community shrugged and moved on, perhaps writing off the democratic cause in Ethiopia as superfluous in light of the perceived danger posed by Islamic extremists in the Horn. Every single one of those papers is still closed, and almost all journalists that worked for them are either in exile or remain unemployed to this day.”
She told IPS that a few months after her acquittal she applied for new press licenses as prescribed by the press law and the constitution. “And though we were assured by the Ministry of Information that we had fulfilled all legal requirements and are entitled to the licenses by law, we were advised to pursue the issue at the prime minister’s office, which had extra-judicially interceded to block the applications. Ten months later, we are still patiently waiting for the application of rule of law.”
“The provisions of better laws are desirable,” she says, “but they will hardly matter if they are not binding and could be abrogated at will by government officials, as has been clearly established in our case.”
Signs are that the government intends to widen the scope of its assault on people’s rights. The current session of parliament is also taking up a bill to regulate non-governmental and civil society organisations. The banned journalists, it seems, will soon have more allies to share their adversity and join their struggle.
Ali Abdifatah is a little out of his mind right now, understandably so. He is desperate to discover the fate of his brother, who was abducted by men with guns last Saturday evening. Since then, he hasn’t been seen or heard from and Ali has sat by his telephone and computer at his home in Fridley, calling and emailing, gathering small scraps of information.
But that’s a difficult task because his brother, Sultan Fowsi Mohamed Ali, is a clan elder in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, a half a world away. A renowned peacekeeper in the troubled Horn of Africa, whom Amnesty International has called a “prisoner of conscience,” Sultan Fowsi has been held in the giant Ogaden Jail in the town of Jijiga since last August.
Then on Friday, according to Minnesota Ethiopians who have spoken to eyewitnesses in Ethiopia in cell phone conversations, Ethiopian Woyanne troops barged into the jail and shot several prisoners. They then left, but on Saturday evening they returned, grabbed Sultan Fowsi and one other prisoner and vanished into the night.
Razor’s Edge
As a result, this week in Minnesota hundreds of immigrants from the Ogaden region of Ethiopia are firing up Internet sites and spending hours on their cell phones every day, trying to learn the fate of a beloved leader.
“It’s shocking, it’s bad,” Ali said, thumbing through stacks of human rights reports written over the years, many of them praising his brother as one of the few figures capable of negotiating peace pacts in the Horn of Africa.
Yet as bad as it is, Ali’s story is only one of hundreds of similar tales told these days by Minnesota’s nearly 20,000 Ethiopian immigrants, who come from all across the country and not just the Ogaden region.
What is happening in the Ogaden region is the most immediate, urgent, and largest-scale atrocity occurring in Ethiopia today.
But simmering conflicts that have been brewing for many years are flaring up today all across Ethiopia, and these are keeping Minnesota’s Ethiopian community, composed of many ethnic groups, on a razor’s edge.
U.S. Citizens
“What’s going on in Ethiopia is the government is trying to silence all opposition,” said Robsan Itana, director of the Oromo American Citizens Council, based in St. Paul, which represents immigrants of the Oromo ethnic group, the largest in Ethiopia. “They are killing people.”
When the present Ethiopian regime came to power in 1991 under the banner of “ethnic federalism,” there was widespread hope that Ethiopia’s nine major ethnic groups – and dozens of smaller ones – would for once begin to live in harmony with Ethiopia’s central government. Instead, today, the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi finds itself fighting counter-insurgency campaigns against “liberation fronts” across the breadth of the country.
Fleeing these violent counter-insurgency campaigns, immigrants from virtually all of Ethiopia’s major ethnic groups came to live in Minnesota over the past decade. Many are now U.S. citizens.
But as they still have families and loved ones back in Ethiopia, when violence flares up over there, tempers and temperaments get riled here in Minnesota, and Ethiopian troubles soon become Minnesota’s.
Attacks-by-Proxy
Another example that is having repercussions in this state is a bloody clash that occurred in May between the Oromo and Gumuz ethnic groups in western Ethiopia, that left more than a hundred people killed. The Oromo are the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and also make up a large portion, if not the largest (no statistics are kept), of the Ethiopian population of Minnesota.
On the surface, the inter-tribal nature of the Oromo-Gumuz conflict left little trace of Ethiopian government involvement.
Yet Oromo in Ethiopia and in the Minnesota diaspora have charged – as one or another party nearly always does in such cases – that the Ethiopian government instigated the conflict by various means, such as ceding land belong to one party to another, as a way to foment violence and launch a brutal attack-by-proxy on a targeted ethnic group.
“It’s a nightmare what Oromos are subjected to in Ethiopia,” says Lencho Bati, a professor at Gustavus Adolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota, and an Oromo immigrant. “It’s exactly what blacks in South Africa suffered under apartheid – lack of access to resources, education, power, cultural enrichment and the right to self-determination.”
Locked Out
Like Ali Abdifatah, Lencho Bati also has a brother who was “disappeared” by the Ethiopian military.
“My brother was abducted in 1992 by the then-new regime of Meles Zenawi,” Bati said. “He has been missing since then. My family is living this trauma that has left a big hole in our hearts. It’s a single story but it is also common among so many Oromos in Minnesota.”
Bati spends much of his free time researching conditions in Ethiopia and working on behalf of Oromo rights. He is a member of the Oromo Liberation Front, a political opposition group highly active in the Ethiopian diaspora.
Oromos comprise roughly 32% of the population in Ethiopia, making them the largest ethnic group by size in the country. Yet they are virtually locked out of access to political power or meaningful cultural influence.
The Anuak of Ethiopia are another case in point. A tiny black African tribe of only 100,000 living in Ethiopia’s western Gambella state, roughly 1,000 Anuak today live in Minnesota. They came here after fleeing ethnic cleansing attacks carried out both directly by the Ethiopian Woyanne army, and in proxy conflicts instigated and then left unpoliced by Ethiopian Woyanne troops, often pitting the de-armed Anuak against armed groups of the Nuer tribe.
Fertile Land
“Pushing the Anuak out of the region is part of the Ethiopian government policy,” said Apee Jobi, a Minnesota Anuak who lives in Brooklyn Park. “A government official once called the Anuak ‘scum.’ Gambela is a fertile land and if it was developed it could help feed all of Ethiopia. So the government likes the land, but it doesn’t like its people.”
The Ethiopian Woyanne military has conducted four major attacks on the Anuak tribe since the Meles regime took power in Ethiopia in 1991, Jobi said. The largest one took place on December 13, 2003 when uniformed Ethiopian Woyanne troops killed some 425 Anuak men in a massacre that Human Rights Watch called “crimes against humanity” that targeted the Anuak tribe specifically.
Employed at a local bank, Jobi devotes virtually every weekend to Anuak causes, organizes meetings, helps raise money for Anuak refugees, and edits a web site, Gambela Today, which runs news stories almost daily.
Stark Contrast
In stark contrast to the picture painted by Minnesota’s Ethiopians, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, in interview after interview, portrays Ethiopia as a country that has its problems but is inevitably marching towards peace and democracy.
“A peaceful, strong, viable opposition is part of any vibrant democracy,” he told the Washington Post in 2006. “We wish to have a vibrant democracy and therefore we wish to have a vibrant, strong, peaceful opposition.”
But of the dozen Ethiopian immigrants interviewed for this article, only those quoted in the story above were willing to give their names for publication.
The others said that the Ethiopian government pays spies in Minnesota to report the names of people here who criticize the government, and that family members who still live in Ethiopia would be punished.
A former reporter for The New York Times, and a London and Hong Kong bureau chief of Bloomberg News, Doug McGill now writes from a home base in Rochester, Minnesota. Doug says, “I’m a journalist in Rochester, MN who is trying to practice my craft in a way that helps me and my fellow citizens understand our place in the wider world.”
