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.
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.
One of the big African stories of the last eight days or so has been the holding of key parliamentary elections in one of the continent’s most populous countries. Ethiopia has been such a major player in not just regional politics, but, equally world affairs, not least since it openly chose to back the United States and other Western governments in their global against terror.
So, when, only last weekend, 32 million Ethiopian flocked polling-stations across the country, several interested parties around the world waited anxiously to see how the exercise was going to pan out. Was it going to be better than the parliamentary elections of five years ago, after which all hell went loose? Would it be fair, free and transparent? Was their any chance that the ruling EPRDF would be voted out of office, after running the country for nearly two decades? And what was the Ethiopian opposition, as well as the international community, going to make of the outcome of this vote?
Well, since the outcome of some 500-plus contested parliamentary seats became public earlier in the week, criticism of the election process has only grown. People find it astonishing that a mere three parliamentary sets went to the opposition combined.
Merdrek and the All Ethiopia’s Unity Party are Ethiopia’s two largest political parties. They received a crushing defeat in last weekend’s national polls. They are saying, however, that the contest is not over yet, and have called for new elections. They accuse the ruling party of intimidation, fraud, harassment and violence. Early results showed the ruling party of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi leading in every single corner of the country, including the capital, Addis Ababa, where opposition to the ruling E.P.R.D.F. has traditionally been fierce.
The opposition also say they do not expect the courts to grant their request for the holding of a fresh vote. Even Ethiopia’s conventional courts, along side the elections board, are not known to be independent of the ruling party.
The victorious party in these elections has also been hitting back at its critics, and none other than Prime Minster Meles himself has been leading he way. Reacting to opposition demands for himself has been leading the way. Reacting to opposition demands for a new vote, Meles told journalists, last week, that the law in Ethiopia allows for parties to demand a new vote; but, as he said, the petitioners must first be able to prove in court that the ballot, whose legitimacy they were disputing, was fraudulent.
The Prime Minister’s take on the disputed vote was that it had panned out successfully, because, as he saw it, voters were able to choose candidates without intimidation or coercion. To claims by the twenty seven-member European Union that the exercise was marred by lack of level-playing field, Meles described those as “pure opinion base on rumors.
The EU represent a big-time provider of aid to Ethiopia, and their views on the vote certainly cannot be taken lightly. Apart from the EU, as well as the Ethiopians opposition, who say the poll was less than fair, US-based Human Rights watch also has been speaking out. As the human rights body put it, the May 23 elections were “an orderly facade”.
Ethiopia happens to be the staunchest ally of the United States in the entire region of East Africa. Despite that, Washington has felt compelled to take a swipe at the current EPRDE government in Addis Ababa. Condemning the manner the vote was conducted, a U.S. government spokesman accused the Ethiopian authorities of repression, fraud and intimidation. He attacked the election process — saying it didn’t create an environment of free and fair elections. The official, P.J. Crowley, who is the leading spokesman in he U.S. State Department complained that while the U.S. has commended the Ethiopians for the co-operation on security and other issues, the Obama Administration was “disappointed with the conduct of the election”. He warned that bilateral ties between their two countries will be affected by whether or not the government in Addis addresses elections concerns.
According to Mr. Crowley, the freedom of choice for Ethiopian voters was constrained throughout the electoral process by actions of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government, the National Elections Board and the ruling party and its supporters. He said election laws and procedures enacted after Ethiopia’s last polls back in 2005 created a “clear and decisive advantage” to the ruling EPRDF alliance.
“It is important that steps be taken to level the playing field, and to allow all factions to take part in the process,” Crowley said. “Whether that occurs, he went on, “will influence the future direction of U.S.-Ethiopia relations.”
If Ethiopia valued its relationship with Africa, Crowley said, then, it could not ignore “this strong message “. Again, he said: “We value the co-operation we have with he Ethiopian government on a range of issues, including regional security, climate change, for example. So, we will continue to engage this government. But, we will make clear that there are steps they need to take to improve their democratic institutions.”
Clearly, the Americans were incensed by the refusal of the Ethiopian authorities to allow an American embassy official, who wanted to observe the voting, to travel outside Addis Ababa to visit polling places.
Did the vote fall short of international standards? “Most definitely,” has been the answer from both the U.S. government and E.U.
But, in an equally combative manner, Meles has been responding to the criticism, as well as the veiled threats. On Wednesday, the embattled Meles told reporters in Addis that U.S. criticism “is politically motivated.” He said, “…if the outcome of our elections are such that they cannot continue our partnership, then, permit me to say we’ve been very grateful for the assistance they have rendered so far.”
Meles said, in effect, that his government will not allow itself to be “bossed around” just because it receives aid. The U.S. is the single largest donor to Ethiopia, a country that is no stranger to famine, drought, mass starvation and civil conflict. Every year, the U.S. delivers roughly a billion dollars in financial assistance the country.
Following the last election in 2005, opposition protesters, who were alleging fraud, took to the streets. The resultant crackdown by the government killed over 200 people. Another 100 or so leaders of the opposition, journalist and protesters were arrested. Most of them were pardoned and released within two years. However, many opposition leaders now live in exile or are still holed up in jail.
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) — Girma Seifu was at home hosting a dinner party to celebrate what looked like a sure parliamentary seat win when he got the phone call that would force him into the spotlight.
Ethiopia’s opposition coalition, the eight-party Medrek, had won only one seat in the 547-seat parliament — his.
“The secretary general of the party called,” says the newly elected MP, in his Addis Ababa office. “He said, ‘you could be the only one’. I didn’t expect that.”
The almost complete wipeout of opposition in the Horn of Africa country’s parliament was a shock. Analysts had expected the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) to win but not by that margin.
Aside from Girma and one independent parliamentarian, every winning MP is either a member of the EPRDF or from one of several closely allied parties.
The European Union and the United States have said the poll did not meet international standards. The country’s main opposition parties are calling for a rerun, citing pre-poll intimidation and even the stuffing of ballot boxes.
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says his government won on its development record and he has offered an olive branch to the defeated opposition with the possible setting up of inter-party forums outside parliament to discuss major legislation.
Girma may also be given extra time to speak in the house.
“I think they are going to give me more time because otherwise they could have the parliamentary discussions at the EPRDF headquarters,” he said.
Girma won his seat in Addis Ababa’s Mercato district, seen as Africa’s biggest open-air market and one of the city’s poorer areas.
“PENALTY SHOOT-OUT”
“I won because a lot of my voters were merchants who are economically independent,” he said. “They weren’t civil servants or unemployed and subject to the same forms of intimidation as a lot of other people. I was lucky.”
Girma’s victory was slim, however, and he only beat his ruling party opponent by a margin of 114 votes in a constituency where both he and his father were born.
“If it was a game of football, you could say I won in a penalty shoot-out,” he says.
The father of two has been involved in politics since the last elections in 2005 but this will be his first time in parliament, where he will be without a leader.
The 2005 elections ended with the then opposition disputing the government’s victory. Riots broke out in Addis Ababa in which 193 protestors and seven policemen were killed. The top opposition leaders were jailed until 2007.
The leader of Girma’s party, the Unity for Democracy and Justice, which is part of Medrek, was sent back to jail, however, for violating the terms of her pardon.
For Girma, the reason Birtukan Mideksa is in jail is clear.
“It’s part of the game the government plays,” he says. “She was jailed because she’s a strong lady. If she had been free, the result might have been different.”
Despite the fact the opposition is set to challenge the result in court, Girma doesn’t hold out much hope for a rerun and is resolved to going it alone.
And the novice politician is putting on a brave face ahead of the challenge.
Meles is famously sharp and well known for his sometimes humiliating putdowns.
But Girma says he will not let that worry him.
“If I have a question, I have to ask,” he says. “I know he is a strong opponent. But I won’t be intimidated because of that. I will simply put my issues forward.” (Editing by Richard Lough and Diana Abdallah)
Ethiopia’s ruling party has already staged a victory rally in Addis Ababa to mark their satisfaction with the elections held last Sunday. The official results will not be announced until 21 June. But it is already clear that Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopian People’s Democratic Revolutionary Party (EPRDF) has seen off the opposition parties in no uncertain terms.
The shock of 2005
Is this a surprise? Not really. The big surprise occurred five years ago when the Ethiopian electorate threw caution to the wind and voted in their millions for a change of government. But they did not secure victory and the bold democratic experiment ended in violent protests and bloodshed. Opposition supporters were harassed and intimidated. Amongst opposition politicians there were bitter recriminations. Many endured imprisonment. Some chose exile. Judging from the results of the latest contest, it was not an experience that many wanted to repeat.
The 2005 election is chiefly remembered for the violence that came in its aftermath, as well as for a rather unseemly public row between Prime Minister Meles and Ana Gomez, who headed the EU Election Observation mission. In the confusion of a disputed poll and legal challenges, it has been largely forgotten how impressively the opposition actually performed.
Opposition annihilated
In 2005 the opposition took all 23 seats in the Addis Ababa region. In this month’s election the EPRDF has gained 22 seats in the Addis Ababa region and the opposition just one.
In the vast regional state of Oromia (some 10 million voters) where the opposition took 68 seats in 2005, the EPRDF has claimed all 178 seats.
In Amhara region (around 8 million voters) the turnaround is equally dramatic: the EPRDF has won 137 out of 138 seats, 50 of which were taken by the opposition in 2005.
The third most populous Southern Region (over 5 million voters) is a similar story. Where the opposition held 30 seats before, the EPRDF has won all of the 123 seats. With all but one seat out of 547 still to declare, the opposition forum, Medrek, has just one seat to its name.
Practically speaking, the opposition has been annihilated.
Just desserts?
This result has not been achieved without serious and sustained effort on the part of the EPRDF, including a mass recruitment drive for party membership which now exceeds 5 million (1 in 6 of the electorate).
Representative bodies at the grass roots level have been expanded to afford the government closer control of the populace.
At the same time legislation was passed to prevent non government organizations engaging in any form of political advocacy or democratization activities. In short, the government closed down political space and has got the result it wanted.
Not surprisingly, Medrek is calling for a re-run. But such results are rarely produced through technical shortcomings in the election process.
It is the political environment as a whole that needs to be addressed.
Does it matter? For Ethiopia’s external relations, probably not. It is likely to stay the UK’s number one aid target in Africa. But it does matter for the prospects for democracy in Ethiopia. Over six million people voted for change in 2005. It stretches credulity that such a number – 32% of the electorate – could have become convinced in the space of just five years that the EPRDF is, after all, the best choice for government.
It seems more likely that the lesson taken from 2005 was that, in Ethiopia, the chance to choose a government through a fair democratic contest was not in the end a serious one.
(Sally Healy is an associate fellow of the Africa Programme of Chatham House.)
