White House spokesman Jay Carney announced last week that President Obama has invited the presidents of Ghana, Tanzania, Benin and Meles Zenawi to attend the G8 Summit (the forum for the governments of eight of the world’s largest economies) for a discussion of food security on May 19 at Camp David (Presidential retreat) in Maryland. The U.S. has been handing out food aid to the African continent for decades. Now President Obama says there is another looming “food crises” in Africa. Oxfam says, “All signs point to a drought becoming a catastrophe if nothing is done soon.” The U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has issued appeals for an extra $70 million to aid some 800,000 households in the drought-hit Sahel region in West Africa. Ethiopia and Somalia are expected to be ground zero for the anticipated famine. According to the April 25, 2012 report of the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), southern Ethiopia will most likely experience famine: “The anticipated below-average rains will have significant negative impact on crop production, pasture regeneration, and the replenishment of water resources throughout the region, with the most severe and immediate impactin belg-dependent areas of southern Ethiopia.” Over the past couple or so years, I have written over one-half dozen commentaries on famine and food shortages in Ethiopia. (See links below.)
The Hunger Word Games in Ethiopia
Ethiopian governments over the past four decades have blamed food shortages and famines on everything except their own indifference, incompetence and negligence. Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974 pretended there was no famine until “The Hidden Famine” by Jonathan Dimbleby was aired to a shocked and angry Ethiopian public. Former socialist junta leader Mengistu was arrogantly dismissive of the 1984-85 famine in which an estimated one million people perished. Mengistu would contemptuously respond to reporters by challenging them, “What famine?”
Zenawi is more clever than his predecessors. He plays public relations and semantic games with famine in the country. He will use any word, except the “F” word, to describe the chronic and massive food shortages in the country. For Zenawi there is “no famine in Ethiopia”, only “spot shortages,” “severe malnutrition”, “food insecurity”, “food crisis”, “serious drought” and so on. “Food shortages” are not the result of poor agricultural planning and practices, official incompetence, massive corruption, criminal negligence, etc., but are caused by “drought conditions,” “erratic rains” “damaged or delayed crops”, “deforestation”, “soil erosion,” “overgrazing” and other ecological factors. In January 2012, Zenawi once again denied famine in Ethiopia in a CNN interview: “Ethiopia is facing a major famine. How can you justify spending on a military operation in another country when your own people are starving?” Zenawi responded, “There is no famine in Ethiopia as all humanitarian organizations will tell you. There is a serious drought, but we are able to keep our people fed….”
The international poverty mongers/pimps (PMPs) have invented a “scientific” classification system for “food shortages” behind which Zenawi has been able to hide the true magnitude and severity of the problem in the country. The euphemisms of the PMPs avoid the “F” word altogether regardless of the extremity of the food shortage. For the PMPs the conditions fall into one of the following categories: “Acute Food Insecurity, Stressed, Crisis, Emergency and Catastrophe.” It is “scientifically” impossible to have famine in Africa! So the conspiracy of silence goes on to keep famine in Ethiopia hidden by clever use of masking euphemisms.
Zenawi and his top lieutenants have been promising to end “food shortages caused by drought” in a very short time. In 2009, Simon Mechale, head of the country’s “Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency”, proudly declared: “Ethiopia will soon fully ensure its food security.” For several years now, Zenawi has been advertising his “Productive Safety Net Programme” as the mechanism to end the “cycle of dependence on food aid” by bridging “production deficits and protecting household and community assets”. In October 2011 Zenawi told his party faithful: “We have devised a plan which will enable us to produce surplus and be able to feed ourselves by 2015 without the need for food aid.” Zenawi’s “plan to produce surplus” is by “leasing” out millions of hectares of the country’s prime agricultural land to so-called international investors (land grabbers) whose only aim is to raise crops for export. Ethiopia will produce food to feed other nations while Ethiopians starve. Zenawi has adamantly opposed private ownership of land, which by all expert accounts is the single most important factor in ensuring food security in any nation. Yet last year, food inflation in Ethiopia remained at 47.4 percent.
Food has been used as a political weapon in Ethiopia. Hunger has been the new weapon of choice to generate support for Zenawi’s regime and to decimate his political rivals. Zenawi has been pretty successful in crushing the hearts, minds and spirits of the people by keeping their stomachs empty. Those who oppose Zenawi’s regime are not only denied humanitarian food and relief aid, they are also victimized through a system of evictions, denial of land or reduction in plot size as well as denial of access to loans, fertilizers, seeds, etc. In the case of the people of Gambella in western Ethiopia, entire communities have been forced off the land to make way for Indian “investors” in violation of international conventions that protect the rights of indigenous peoples. Human Rights Watch, among other organizations, has raised serious concerns over the misuse of humanitarian food aid: “The Ethiopian government is routinely using access to aid as a weapon to control people and crush dissent. If you don’t play the ruling party’s game, you get shut out. Without effective, independent monitoring, international aid will continue to be abused to consolidate a repressive single-party state.” In 2009, U.S. State Department promised to investigate allegations that “$850 million in food and anti-poverty aid from the U.S. is being distributed on the basis of political favoritism by the current prime minister’s party.” No report has been issued.
In 2011, U.S. Census Bureau made the frightening prediction that Ethiopia’s population by 2050 will more than triple to 278 million. Ethiopia’s chronic “food insecurity” is expected to get increasingly worse culminating in a “Malthusian catastrophe” (where disease, starvation, war, etc. will reduce the population to the level of food production) in the foreseeable future. Zenawi’s regime has failed to implement a national family planning program which will avert such a catastrophe.
Famine in Ethiopia is Ninety Percent Man-Made
In 2011, Wolfgang Fengler, a lead economist for the World Bank, in a refreshingly honest moment for an international banker said, “The famine in the Horn of Africa is a result of artificially high prices for food and civil conflict than natural and environmental causes. This crisis is manmade. Droughts have occurred over and again, but you need bad policymaking for that to lead to a famine.” In other words, it is bad and poor governance that is at the core of the famine problem in Ethiopia, not drought or other environmental causes. Penny Lawrence, Oxfam’s international director, after visiting Ethiopia observed: “Drought does not need to mean hunger and destitution. If communities have irrigation for crops, grain stores, and wells to harvest rains then they can survive despite what the elements throw at them.” Martin Plaut, BBC World Service News Africa editor explains that the “current [Ethiopian food] crisis is in part the result of policies designed to keep farmers on the land, which belongs to the state and cannot be sold.” So the obvious questions are: Why does a regime that has rejected socialism and is presumably committed to a free market economy insist on complete state ownership of land? Why is there not an adequate system of irrigation for crops, grain storages and wells to harvest rains throughout the country? Does Zenawi really have a food security policy for the country?
The Hunger Games at Camp David
After four decades at the humanitarian food aid trough, it is unlikely that Ethiopia will achieve food security even in the distant future. President Obama is rightly concerned over the “food shortages” in the Horn and the Sahel in the coming year. Last month, the United States pledged to provide nearly $200 million in additional humanitarian aid to the Horn in anticipation of “poor rains and drought”. In 2011, the U.S. provided over $1.1 billion in humanitarian aid to Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia.
On May 19, President Obama and the G8 leaders will have to face some tough questions: What is the moral hazard of endlessly supplying food relief to the Horn countries? Why should the world continue to help a country that leases millions of hectares of the most fertile land in the country and become the breadbasket for India and the Middle East while its people are starving? Why should the world provide food aid to a country when the ruling regime weaponizes the aid to decimate opposition, crush the democratic aspirations of the people and flagrantly violate human rights? Does aiding dictators who use food aid for political purposes end famine and food shortages in Africa?
The G8 leaders can talk about “food shortages” until the cows come home, but the answer to famine in Ethiopia and in the Horn is not never ending handouts to starving populations and free lunches to panhandling dictators. Handouts create a moral hazard of negative dependency by recipients which incapacitates them from fending for themselves. Zenawi and the other African dictators have no incentive to address the “food shortage” issue because they are absolutely and positively sure that the U.S. and other G8 countries will ALWAYS deliver humanitarian food aid to their starving populations year after year. As a world leader, the U.S. has a moral obligation to provide humanitarian food aid to famine victims; but it also has the moral responsibility of leveraging the billions in handouts (development aid, loans from the multilateral institutions and budget support payments) to dictators to promote democracy, human rights and rule of law in Africa.
In May 2010, Zenawi’s party won 99.6 percent of the seats in parliament. Despite two decades of one-party domination, Zenawi has not been able to do much to address the structural problem of food insecurity in the country. But he has been blowing his horn about bogus stratospheric economic growth. Ethiopians suffer from chronic food shortages and famine because they lack a political framework that can deal effectively with the problem. The Indian economics Nobel laureate Amartya Sen argued that the best way to avert famines is by institutionalizing democracy and strengthening human rights: “No famine has ever taken place in the history of the world in a functioning democracy” because democratic governments “have to win elections and face public criticism, and have strong incentive to undertake measures to avert famines and other catastrophes.” Famines are kept hidden from public view by jailing opposition leaders, journalists and civic society advocates who could sound the alarm over an impending famine.
What Should the U.S. Do for Ethiopia?
All the U.S. needs to do for Ethiopia is practice what it preaches. In 2009 in Accra, Ghana President Obama preached:
Development depends on good governance. History offers a clear verdict: Governments that respect the will of their own people, that govern by consent and not coercion, are more prosperous, they are more stable, and more successful than governments that do not. No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny. And now is the time for that style of governance to end…. In the 21st century, capable, reliable, and transparent institutions are the key to success — strong parliaments; honest police forces; independent judges; an independent press; a vibrant private sector; a civil society. Those are the things that give life to democracy, because that is what matters in people’s everyday lives…. History is on the side of these brave Africans, not with those who use coups or change constitutions to stay in power. Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions. With better governance, I have no doubt that Africa holds the promise of a broader base of prosperity….
Listening to Zenawi plead for more aid before the G8 to deal with the looming “food crises” (but “no famine”) is like listening to the man who killed his parents and asked for leniency from the court because he is an orphan. Now that’s chutzpah!
Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:
In a historic and unprecedented move, His Grace Abune Melke Tsadik of the Ethiopian Orthodix Tewahdo Church (EOTC) called on Christians to support the uprising of Muslims against the Ethiopian regime.
Abune Melke Tsadik made the announcement at a press conference held today, May 12, 2012 in Washington, D.C.
“Our Muslim brothers are being harassed and abused,” said His Grace. He continued that the Church speaks out because “Our Muslim brothers are also Ethiopians… they are facing the same fate as us (Christians)”
The Church leaders’ stance will likely be a blow to the minority regime of Meles Zenawi that has successfully divided and misruled Ethiopia for the last 21 years.
The historic stand of Ethiopian Christian leaders is a tipping point. It is bound to frustrate efforts by Prime Minister Zenawi and his supporters to disingenuously link legitimate Muslim protests to international terrorism.
Editor’s Note — The Obama administration has cynically betrayed the people of Ethiopia by inviting Meles Zenawi to Camp David. Zenawi has arrested, tortured and brutalized thousands, including journalists and political opponents; he has stolen many elections; he has gunned down 193 innocents protesting electoral fraud; he has massacred civilians in Gambella, Ogaden, Afar and Oromia. He is a war criminal that should be hauled before the International Criminal Court in the Hague.
The Obama administration is lending respectability to a criminal because Zenawi is a staunch ally in the war against terrorism. No matter Zenawi has terrorized 85 million Ethiopians for the last 20 years. Zenawi has zero legitimacy among his own people. The legitimacy of this international beggar comes from hypocritical donors who show little sympathy for the suffering of the Ethiopian people.
We call on all Ethiopians and friends of Ethiopia to come out in droves on May 19 to say no to hypocrisy and to lending respectability to a ruthless, manipulative tyrant.
Mass Protest planned against Meles Zenawi in Camp David
All Ethiopians joining hands to demand Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s dictator, to be disinvited from the G8 Summit for crimes he committed against humanity.
Various Political Parties, Civic Societies, Religious groups, and many activists worked together to call these protests and campaigns jointly. You are invited to be part of these historic campaigns.
Monday May 14th, 9AM – Protest at White House
Monday May 14th, 12PM – Protest at Indian Embassy (Stop Land Grab) (2107 Massachusetts Avenue Northwest, Washington, DC)
Saturday May 19th – Camp David, MD
Transportation will be provided from Washington Metro Area. To register Call or text (571) 278-5346 or (571) 239-7001
Traditional campaign
Writing Letter, Email, phone, and fax campaign to White House, State Department,
Congress, and Senate (your elected officials)
Arrested, jailed and beaten, tortured and imprisoned, this is the recipe for justice that the Ethiopian government serves up to dissenting voices. Men and women peacefully exercising their democratic right, demanding their human rights, crying out for their moral rights. The victimised are not only those living within Ethiopia who attempt to offer an alternative to the current dictatorship, who form and organise political opposition to the Meles regime, but journalists inside Ethiopia and abroad, who dare to speak out in criticism of the governments criminality, human rights violations and policies of indifference.
Amnesty International in its damning report of the Ethiopian government, Dismantling Dissent in Ethiopia (DDE);1 state that from March to November 2011 “at least 108 opposition party members and six journalists have been arrested for alleged involvement with various proscribed terrorist groups.” By November they were all charged with crimes under the internationally criticised Anti Terrorist Proclamation. In addition, Amnesty continues, “six journalists two opposition party members and one human rights defender, all living in exile, were charged in absentia.”
The ‘T’ word as former Secretary General of the UN Kofi Annan, called terrorism, is the umbrella term used by the Ethiopian government (amongst others) to justify the unjust, the dishonest and the criminal. If there is a terrorist organisation flourishing in Ethiopia, committing crimes against humanity and violating the human rights of the people it is State terrorism delivered by the EPRDF government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, as this UN definition of terrorism makes clear. “Criminal acts intended or calculated to provoke a state of terror in the general public, a group of persons or particular persons for political purposes are in any circumstance unjustifiable.”2 Fear of the government, fear of reprisal, of violence and [false] imprisonment casts a deep shadow across the people of Ethiopia, whose human rights are being ignored by the Meles regime, that seized power twenty years ago and has brutalised and systematically restricted the peoples freedom and human rights ever since.
Lawless lawmakers
In 2009 the Ethiopian government passed legislation on the highly controversial Anti Terrorism Proclamation. Human Rights Watch (HRW)3 that year looked closely at what was then the proposed law and amongst other recommendations held high within their fury and despair, said, “if implemented this law could provide the Ethiopian government with a potent instrument to crack down on political dissent, including peaceful political demonstrations and public criticisms of government policy” and “It would permit long-term imprisonment and even the death penalty for “crimes” that bear no resemblance, under any credible definition, to terrorism. It would in certain cases deprive defendants of the right to be presumed innocent, and of protections against use of evidence obtained through torture.” Needles to say, the law was passed almost entirely as drafted, duly implemented and has since been used solely to silence dissent. Amnesty in its report found “the prolonged series of arrests and prosecutions indicates a systematic use of the law and the pretext of counter-terrorism by the Ethiopian government to silence people who criticise or question their actions and policies, especially opposition politicians and the independent media.”
It is the utilisation and enforcement of this unlawful law that is enabling the Ethiopian government to quash opposition and free speech within the country and intimidate those voices for fairness, justice and common sense abroad. The legislation allows the government to ban free association and to arrest and imprison anyone who has the courage to speak out against the government and their many human rights violations. The police, who were already commonly acting outside of the law, with little or no knowledge of human rights, were given new and unlawful powers. HRW in its analysis states, “The draft Proclamation grants the police the power to make arrests without a warrant, so long as the officer “reasonably suspects” that the person is committing or has committed a terrorist act. The Ethiopian constitution requires that a person taken into custody must be brought before a court within 48 hours and informed of the reasons for their arrest-a protection that is already systematically violated.” This constitutional requirement as with many articles of decency and good intention is dutifully ignored. Arrested under the Anti Terrorist Proclamation individuals are held in confinement for weeks, sometimes months without charge and denied legal support. Even before this draconian legislation was enforced HRW states “Ethiopian police routinely detain people without charge for months, and sometimes ignore judicial orders for release.”
Five from many
In January five more innocent people were convicted in the Ethiopian Federal High Court, of conspiracy to commit terrorist acts, and money laundering. Evidence against the three journalists an opposition leader and a woman, Hirut Kifle Woldeyesus, was made up primarily of online criticism of the government and plans to stage peaceful political protest. None of which constitute acts of terrorism. This is common as Amnesty found in the 114 cases they investigated in their detailed report, “much of the evidence against those charged involves items that do not appear to amount to terrorism or criminal wrongdoing. Rather many items of evidence cited appear to be illustrations of individuals exercising their right to freedom of expression, acting peacefully and legitimately.”
Two of the journalists tried in January were sentenced to 14 years imprisonment while Elias Kifle (tried in absentia), editor of the web-based journal Ethiopian Review, received his second life sentence [emphasis mine]. These cases are simply the most recent in a long line of miscarriages of ‘justice’, where the outlaw government has exercised an abuse of power and in the name of justice imprisoned the innocent. A further 24 journalists and opposition party members are awaiting trial, many of whom could face the death penalty, for trumped up charges which amount to nothing more than journalists exercising their constitutional and moral right to freedom of speech. The UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders, Margaret Sekaggya stated in a meeting of UN human rights investigators in February “journalists, bloggers and others advocating for increased respect for human rights should not be subject to pressure for the mere fact that their views are not in alignment with those of the Government.”4 Indeed. Journalists must be free to speak out against the government, to criticise policies of persecution, to highlight the suffering of the people and to draw attention to the multiple human rights abuses taking place within Ethiopia. UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, Frank La Rue, “Journalists play a crucial role in promoting accountability of public officials by investigating and informing the public about human rights violations, they should not face criminal proceedings for carrying out their legitimate work, let alone be severely punished.” However all those speaking out in anguish and rage at the EPRDF’s criminality and repression are subject not simply to ‘pressure’, or ‘criminal proceedings’, but violent arrest, torture and false imprisonment, or indeed death.
Free the innocent
These five innocent men and women, who were mistreated in custody, falsely imprisoned and like others, including the celebrated writer Eskinder Nega (imprisoned for life in September for writing an on-line blog), denied their liberty, must be released immediately and an independent enquiry instigated to investigate their cases, their treatment whilst in jail and their hollow convictions. During their three-month imprisonment at the Maikelawi detention center before the trial and in violation of Ethiopian and international law, the defendants were denied access to legal counsel and family members, and claim they were beaten and tortured. This is the experience of a great many whilst held in Maikelawi, Amnesty reveals in its report, “many of the [114] detainees were forced to sign confessions and to acknowledge ownership or association by signing items of seemingly incriminating evidence.” The Ethiopian courts have not investigated any of these claims, they are it seems nothing more than servants of the Government, and are as HRW states “complicit in this political witch hunt.” This collusion of the courts contravenes the Ethiopian constitution that states in Article 78/1. “An independent judiciary is established by this Constitution. Article 79/1. “Judicial Powers, both at Federal and State levels, are vested in the courts,” furthermore, 3. “Judges shall exercise their functions in full independence and shall be directed solely by the law.” The UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Gabriela Knaul “deplored the reported failure to ensure the defendants’ right to a fair trial.” Reports the UN News Centre.
The Ethiopian government cannot be believed or trusted; the international bodies supporting the country should impose independent observers of the judicial system. Amnesty International in its report calls “on the representatives of the international community in Addis Ababa to take up the role of monitoring trials.” This would be an important initial act in placing the EPRDF under international scrutiny and accountability. It is time the international community acting through the UN undertook its responsibility and role as advocate for justice, self-determination, “the suppression of acts of aggression” (article 1) and freedom for the people of the world, in accordance with its charter.
A blind eye to torture
In addition to the suppression of free speech, the use of the death penalty and withdrawing the legal right of presumption of innocence, torture is allowed under the Anti Terrorism Proclamation and information gathered whilst under such duress is admissible in court. HRW again, “The draft Proclamation deems confessions admissible without a restriction on the use of statements made under torture”. This is illegal under international law, The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment does not allow the use of any statements made in a court of law, that where elicited under torture. The use of such information is also prohibited under the Ethiopian Constitution. Article 19 states, “Persons arrested shall not be compelled to make confessions or admissions which could be used in evidence against them. Any evidence obtained under coercion shall not be admissible.” The much-trumpeted constitution in colours green red and yellow, no doubt framed and hung neatly upon a wall of indifference and conceit, unenforced; it means little or nothing to the people and even less to the EPRDF who ignore its charter.
Known unknowables
It is an acknowledged fact within the corridors of the UN and Ethiopia’s donor countries that human rights abuses are occurring daily within the country under the increasingly paranoid gaze of Prime Minister Meles and his ministerial menagerie. How do we as a world community, responsible and alert to the needs of our brothers and sisters, respond to such men, to such injustice and tyranny? Fight fire with fire many would advocate and in the face of such cruelty many of us would perhaps gladly fuel a furnace, however as Mahatma Ghandi said “I cannot teach you violence, as I do not myself believe in it. I can teach you not to bow your heads before anyone even at the cost of your life.” To be silent in the sight of injustice and persecution is to allow tyrants like Meles to maintain their stranglehold over the innocent. It is time intense political pressure from those providing and delivering the much-needed financial and developmental aid, was applied to put an end to the current regimes human rights violations and abuse of the people, including freezing of personal assets and targeted sanctions. The British government give £315 million a year to Ethiopia, a spokesperson from The Department for International Development (DFID) told the Guardian (3/02/2012) “The prime minister, the foreign secretary and the secretary of state for international development have all raised concerns with Prime Minister Meles over the recent arrests of opposition leaders and journalists.”5 ‘Concern’ is all well and good, but all too easy for the arrogant to shrug off, outrage and horror a more apt response from Westminster and more in keeping with the offences being committed. Criticism alone however will not bring change within the abysmal regime and justice to the long-suffering people.
Repeal and release
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi presides over a brutal manipulative dictatorship that restricts all freedom of expression, freedom of association and freedom of the media in Ethiopia. Peaceful dissent is met with violence and false imprisonment. Intimidation and fear are the key tools in such repression, this must end and we the international community must ensure it is so. The Anti terrorist Proclamation is an unjust piece of legislation designed and implemented by a corrupt and violent regime who are in breech of international law and there own constitution. It must be repealed immediately, the many innocent good men and women falsely imprisoned released and those supporting Ethiopia through development aid should insist on the implementation of these legitimate and morally right demands. Sit not in silent appeasement, but raise your bowed heads and act.
Notes:
1. http://www.amnestyusa.org/research/reports/ethiopia-dismantling-dissent-intensified-crackdown-on-free-speech-in-ethiopia
2. 1994 United Nations Declaration on Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism annex to UN General Assembly resolution 49/60 ,”Measures to Eliminate International Terrorism”, of December 9, 1994, UN Doc. A/Res/60/49
3. Human Rights Watch Analysis of Ethiopias Draft Anti-Terrorist Law. http://www.hrw.org/news/2009/06/30/analysis-ethiopia-s-draft-anti-terrorism-law
4. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41112&Cr=journalist&Cr1
5. http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2012/feb/03/ethiopia-human-rights-questions?INTCMP=SRCH
(About the author: Graham Peebles is Director of The Create Trust, a UK registered charity, supporting fundamental social change and the human rights of individuals in acute need. He may be reached at [email protected])
Following the protests and arrest of students of Debre Markos University, northern Ethiopia, in the past two days, the students of Bahir Dar University and Gonder University have began large scale protests today.
It has been confirmed that both Poly and Peda Campuses of Bahir Dar University (BDU) and Tewodors and Maraki Campuses of Gonder University (GU) have spent the whole day today (09 May 2012) protesting. “The student’s protest is spreading like a wildfire” said a student from Maraki Campus, GU. Regional police force and Federal police are approaching the campuses.
Several students have been injured and arrested following “rights related” protests by Debre Markos University students in the past two days. “Food poison” is also said to be one of the causes.
There are over 40,000 students in both Bahir Dar and Gonder Universities enrolled in the regular program.
Muslim protests engulf Ethiopia; Gov’t expels two Arab ‘jihadists’
By Yuunus Hajji Mul’ataa | Anyuak Media
ADDIS ABABA – Ethiopian Muslim protests spread across the country on May 4 when hundreds of thousands in the Ethiopian capital defied government threats and went on protesting against the “Ahbashism Campaign” instigated by the government and “Majlis”.
Observers agree the brutal killing of innocent people in Assasa town has fueled tension between the government and the Muslim community which has now drawn more towns into the strikes.
Meanwhile, the Ethiopian Government said on Friday night that it has expelled two Arabs who came to call for “Jihad” and incite violence at the grand Anwar Mosque of Addis Ababa. However, the report is dismissed by many Muslims as “a fabricated story”.
Protests and Silencing
Shocked by the mass uprising after the recent killing of seven innocent Muslims in Assasa town (Arsi province), government authorities were busy on defending the massacre and threatening the public through state-owned media. They were also mobilizing Ahbash adherents to deter the protests in the upcoming days. The imams of mosques have been told to take all actions to stop Muslims chanting “takbira (i.e saying “Allahu Akbar!”) and marching for protests after Friday prayer. On the other hand, more than 300 people have been reportedly arrested in Assasa and other towns of Arsi Province over the week.
On May 4 beginning early in the morning, thousands of police and civil security forces were deployed in Addis Ababa and other towns to scare off the people. But at midday, all of the preventive methods applied by the government were proved to be ineffective. And immediately after the completion of Friday prayer, hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Addis Ababa and other towns filled the sky with defeafening chants of: “Stop Ahbashism campaign! The people want to step down Majlis! Allahu Akbar!!”
Sheikh Mohammed Adem, a Muslim religious scholar living in Addis Ababa says, “The people are asking their basic right. We are asking for freedom of worship. We tolerated many repressive measures for more than 17 years. But this time, we say ‘enough’ to oppression. We won’t turn back until we attain our goal”.
The protest at the Anwar Mosque (the grand mosque of Addis Ababa) and over the nearby streets was so intense that Mercato – one of the largest open air markets in Africa – came to a standstill for hours. Witnesses say there have been similar protests in Dessie, Jimma, Assela, Agaro, DireDawa, Alaba, Assasa, Warabe, Jijiga, Robe and Shashemene.
The current tension between government and Muslim Ethiopians started in July 2011 when the government-backed “Majlis” launched a campaign to indoctrinate Muslims in the ideology of a newly arriving controversial sect called “Ahbash”. But Muslims came to direct protest at the beginning of this year when the leaders of “Majlis” sacked 50 teachers of Aweliya Islamic institute and tried to substitute them with “Ahbash” scholars. The government supported the action taken by “Majlis” and said “Aweliya had been a training center of terror ideology. ‘Wahhabis’ were arming the youth with fundamentals of extremism. So the Majlis has taken the appropriate measure”.
In spite of its open support for “Majlis”, the government continues to deny any interference in religious affairs. Through state owned media, it says “We are training Muslim scholars on the constitution and legal framework of the country. Apart from this, the government hasn’t interfered in spiritual affairs of the Muslims”.
Free viewers say “The government is highly terrorized by a continuing wave of protests. This week’s intensive media coverage about the Assasa massacre and the Muslim uprising are indications of government’s fear. In some occasions, some government authorities were expressing their worry about the ongoing condition”. These viewers point to what happened recently on a meeting conducted at Addis Ababa city hall where only selective pro-government imams and “Majlis” leaders have participated. On that meeting, sources say, the head of Addis Ababa Bureau of Justice and Security spoke to the attendants “The mass has turned against us. We couldn’t control the people. You have taken a mission to convince the people. But you did nothing. What were you doing until now? Our government is highly troubled by the Friday protests.” He also ordered the imams to stop any protests in and around mosques. Muslim scholars say “The authorities are disturbing themselves. We are asking for freedom of worship. We are asking them to stop imposing the ideology of ‘Ahbash’ on our people. We are asking them to apply what they have written on the constitution of the country. We didn’t ask them to share us political power.” They also say that the current media campaign can’t silence the people and add “Our faith is the only hope we have. It is the only rope that ties us to our God. They are going to cut out this rope. But that will never happen as long as we are alive”.
The two Arabs
On Friday night, The Ethiopian Television reported that two Arabs who came from the Middle East to incite violence in the main mosques was caught red handed and immediately expelled from the country. The government said that the two people were found while they make inflammatory statements and distribute materials calling for “jihad”. The two Arab came to Addis Ababa on Friday morning, says the government. Their name and nationality was not disclosed even though they were shown on TV screen.
The Muslims who attended the Friday prayer at Anwar mosque say “The government’s statement is completely false. It is fabricated to defame our peaceful struggle. No one has distributed inflammatory material at Anwar Mosque. If they caught two Arab “Jihadists”, why didn’t they disclose their name and nationality? How do people caught on such illegal activity expelled without being investigated and tried?”
One scholar rejects government’s statement and asks “How can a person that came to Ethiopia on Friday morning directly goes to Anwar mosque and distribute “Jihadi” papers in the midday? Why did the Ethiopian government authorities contented only in expelling them to their country? Why didn’t they bring the two Arabs to the court? They have to answer these questions”. To paraphrase his statement, this scholar mentions what happened to two Swedish journalists when they were caught in the remote region of Ogaden together with some fighters of Ogaden National Liberation Front.
After the “Assasa Killing”
After the deadly incident happened at Assasa, in the last week, many top leaders of the ruling party were undertaking a “silencing meeting” all over the country. In one of such meetings undertaken at Assasa town on Wednesday, Mr. Abdul-Aziz Ahmed, the Vice President of Oromiya regional state was heard in public media saying “In the name of asking for freedom of worship, some politically motivated groups have planned to overthrow the government. They have caused the death of civilians in this town. They have plotted similar deadly riots in all of the country. They government won’t allow them to continue in this way. We will stop them in all possible ways”.
Sheikh Aman Nure, an elderly scholar living in Adama town (originally from Assela town, Arsi province) rejects the official’s accusation and says “Last week, they said they have arrested a man calling for ‘Jihad’ and they killed his ‘Jihadi’ supporters. Now they say ‘political groups have plotted the massacre’. This has been their behavior for two decades. They can’t repeat what they speak today. Our country is governed by such liars who don’t care about the tradition and ethics of our people”.
The Assasa massacre was highly condemned by many religious scholars of the country. Ethiopian Diaspora communities of Europe, North America and the Middle East have sent strong statements to the government asking to investigate the actual cause of the massacre through an independent commission. Rebel political groups like Ogaden National Liberation Front and the Oromo Liberation Front have condemned the massacre and released statements in support of the peaceful struggle of Ethiopian Muslim Society.
White House spokesman Jay Carney announced last week that President Obama has invited the presidents of Ghana, Tanzania, Benin and Meles Zenawi to attend the G8 Summit (the forum for the governments of eight of the world’s largest economies) for a discussion of food security on May 19 at Camp David (Presidential retreat) in Maryland. The U.S. has been handing out food aid to the African continent for decades. Now President Obama says there is another looming “food crises” in Africa. Oxfam says, “All signs point to a drought becoming a catastrophe if nothing is done soon.” The U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) has issued appeals for an extra $70 million to aid some 800,000 households in the drought-hit Sahel region in West Africa. Ethiopia and Somalia are expected to be ground zero for the anticipated famine. According to the April 25, 2012 report of the USAID-funded Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET), southern Ethiopia will most likely experience famine: “The anticipated below-average rains will have significant negative impact on crop production, pasture regeneration, and the replenishment of water resources throughout the region, with the most severe and immediate impactin belg-dependent areas of southern Ethiopia.” Over the past couple or so years, I have written over one-half dozen commentaries on famine and food shortages in Ethiopia. (See links below.)