Few people outside Ethiopia have ever heard of Birtukan Mideksa. And that’s just how the government wants it. Since December, Birtukan has been kept in solitary confinement, one of hundreds of political prisoners there. Her apparent crime? Organizing a democratic challenge to the increasingly iron-fisted rule of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
In the past year alone, Meles’s ruling party has rigged elections, effectively banned independent human-rights groups, passed a draconian press law and shrugged off calls for an investigation into alleged atrocities in the restive Ogaden region. Yet in the same period, his country has become one of the largest recipients of U.S. aid in sub-Saharan Africa, getting a cool $1 billion in 2008. The Bush administration claimed that Ethiopia was the linch-pin of its regional counterterrorism strategy and a vital beacon of stability. But the evidence increasingly suggests Washington isn’t getting what it pays for, and is supporting a brutal dictator in the process. Candidate Obama pledged to strengthen democracy in Africa; if he’s serious, this is a good place to start.
America’s warm relations with Ethiopia date to the days after 9/11, when the country’s Christian-dominated government came to be seen as a natural U.S. ally in a region targeted by Islamic extremists. After disputed elections in 2005, however, Meles—once hailed by President Bill Clinton as part of a promising “new generation” of African leaders—began clamping down on dissent.
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Yet Washington tolerated his lapses because it needed his help fighting Qaeda-linked Islamists in next-door Somalia. In December 2006, Ethiopia’s U.S.-trained Army duly invaded its neighbor, ousting the radical Islamic Courts Union government there. But the adventure hasn’t worked out as planned. No sooner had the ICU been toppled than an even more radical group, Al-Shabab, sprang up to fight the invaders. And although Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopia’s foreign minister, recently told NEWSWEEK that the Islamists have been militarily “shattered,” they now control much of the country’s south and have tightened links with Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, the Ethiopian troops have pulled out, and the country they left behind has been thoroughly devastated. Two years of fighting forced about 3.4 million Somalis, some 40 percent of the population, from their homes. Yet only a few high-ranking terrorists were eliminated, and Russell Howard, a retired general and senior fellow at the Pentagon’s Joint Special Operations University, says the occupation only “empowered” the radicals.
Such failures—and Ethiopia’s growing repression—suggest Washington should rethink the relationship. Just what Ethiopia offers the United States today is unclear. Addis Ababa has contributed troops to U.N. peacekeeping forces in Darfur and Burundi and plays a large role in shaping the policies of the African Union. But this shouldn’t earn it unquestioning U.S. support.
To reset ties, the United States should push Ethiopia to democratize. And it must urge it to reconcile with its archnemesis, Eritrea. Resolving the conflict between the two states is key to addressing a whole range of threats to U.S. interests. Tiny Eritrea won independence from Addis Ababa in 1993, but the two countries fought a 1998–2000 border war and relations have remained hostile ever since, in part because Ethiopia, with tacit U.S. support, has ignored an international ruling that redrew their border. Too weak to challenge Ethiopia directly, Eritrea has funneled support to its enemy’s enemies—including Al-Shabab and its America-hating foreign fighters. Eritrea also recently instigated a border conflict with Djibouti, home to an important U.S. military base.
Washington should thus push Ethiopia and Eritrea to make amends; better relations would mean an end to their proxy war in Somalia, which has helped turn that state into a Qaeda haven. Should it choose to use it, the United States has plenty of leverage. Most U.S. spending on Ethiopia goes for health and food aid, which aren’t easy to cut. But the Obama administration could make military aid and weapons sales contingent on Meles’s improving his behavior. The House of Representatives passed a bill in 2007 to do just that, but the measure died in the Senate without White House support.
Much will now depend on the man Obama has nominated for the State Department’s top Africa job, Johnnie Carson. Carson’s record is promising: while ambassador to Kenya from 1999 to 2003, he helped persuade longtime President Daniel Arap Moi to step down, clearing the way for multiparty elections. Should he bring similar pressure to bear on Washington’s new African ally, Birtukan, Ethiopia’s other political prisoners, Africans throughout the Horn and America itself would all benefit.
“Why, O my friends, did ye so often puff me up, telling me that I was fortunate? For he that is fallen low did never firmly stand. – Boethius, The Consolation of Philosophy
When the prison guard shouts: Dead man walking! You step aside. The guard is warning people that the inmate walking by is on death row and he has nothing to lose by killing you. You just step out of the way and let the dead man keep his date with destiny.
The President of Sudan General Bashir is a dead man walking. He has a date with the International Criminal Court (ICC). A year ago ICC warned the General that his actions in Darfur were a cause for concern. Human Right watch put him on notice. Amnesty international said Al bashir was abusing his authority.
General Bashir was intoxicated with power. The General with the brain of a foot solder was not in any mood to listen to reason. He told his army full speed ahead. Scorched-earth policy of raping, killing and destroying villages was in effect. Why would he listen to a bunch of ‘liars’ bent in tarnishing his image?
He has friends. He is famous. He is the president of Sudan. He doesn’t have to listen to anybody. He has always said the western colonialists are out to get him. So what if they complain? General bashir is smart. Now that he has oil, he is rich too. They want his oil and those greedy westerners will not lift a finger against him. Especially since his newfound friends the Chinese are not concerned with such trivia as Darfur or human right he is safe. That is right he will play his Chinese hand no one will touch him. Not to mention that he is also surrounded with good honorable friends. No one can ask for better criminal neighbors than Eritrea, Ethiopia, Egypt and Libya.
So ICC in its slow and deliberative process went ahead gathering information, interviewing victims and buttressing the case. There was no hysteria here. ICC knew this process couldn’t be hurried. Accusing someone of genocide, torture, and human rights abuse is a grave matter. Warning shots were fired for those who can hear. Close friends of the tyrant were briefed. The media was kept in the loop. Al Bashir due to his unsurpassed ability to bully the Sudanese people was not to be bothered by some prosecutor in far away Europe.
The African Union and fellow tyrants were recruited to warn the ICC of the dire consequences if an indictment was returned. Delegates were sent to European capitals to explain how democracy works in Africa. The Ethiopian Foreign Minster appealed to Turkey to stop this process. It was said that Africans have their own solution and it cannot be hurried. In the mean time Al Bashir kept busy by denying the scope of his crimes, accusing the court of lack of jurisdiction and insulting the prosecutor as unrepentant colonialist hell bent on interfering in the internal affairs of Sudan.
Thus, on march 4th. 2009 ICC issued an arrest warrant for Al Bashir. The charges against the tyrant include:
1. five counts of crimes against humanity: murder; extermination, forcible transfer, torture, and rape;
2. two counts of war crimes: intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities, and pillaging.
So where do things stand today? Al Bashir is squirming like a cornered rat. He has showed his defiance by visiting fellow tyrants in the neighborhood. He has expelled NGO’s and aid workers from Sudan. The indictment still stands. The ICC has threatened to add new charges regarding his expulsion of aid workers. Al Bashir is vainly trying to show the support he has in Sudan by ordering, bribing, threatening the people to come out and march in his support. Too little too late.
In an interview with the BBC this is what fellow tyrant Meles Zenawi has to say:
Question: Why are African Union leaders turning a blind eye to the suffering going on in Darfur?
Zenawi: Well clearly there is in justice in Darfur and the AU recognizes that. But there are different methods of addressing injustice. There is the type that we saw in South Africa and everybody aggress that the apartheid system in South Africa committed crimes against humanity. Nobody I know of had opposed the African method of restorative justice and I do not see any reason why similar approach cannot be followed in Darfur. The thing is the crisis in Darfur is primarily a political crisis it is not a humanitarian crisis.
Question: You talk about the reconciliation process of what happened in South Africa but Darfur is a war crime and the war crimes trial suggested by the Sudanese government is a bit late in the day isn’t it?
Zenawi: Well the African Union is suggesting the indictment be differed for a year so that an already complicated peace process does not get more complicated….
You see what I mean. This is a perfect example of mixing apples and oranges to cloud the issue. The reconciliation process in South Africa took place after the Apartheid regime gave up power and authority. The De Klerk regime saw the writing on the wall and moved aside. The reconciliation process was put in place by the newly democratically elected government. Thus, to suggest such a process in Sudan while Al Bashir is in power with his army and security intact is bizarre and self-serving. Even in the South African process there were those that mentioned the weakness by pointing out that justice should have been a prerequisite for reconciliation rather than the alternative to it. Ato Melese’s so called ‘African method of restorative justice’ is another version of ‘revolutionary democracy’. It sounds cute but it is hollow inside.
Another proposal floated by the AU is to ‘differ’ the indictment for one year. I guess this is what you call not ‘unclear on the concept’. You just do not indict and un-indict at will. The indictment took place because there were irrefutable facts that showed a pattern of criminal behavior by the individual. You cannot put the genie back in the bottle. People have died, some have been maimed for life, villages have been burned and lives have been disrupted. You cannot undo the damage. What the Africans are saying is the tyrant has killed half a million so let us not upset him further so he does not kill more. It does not work like that.
This sort of suggestion arises due to the practice of using the courts for political ends in most of Africa. If memory serves us right that is the game the Ethiopian regime plays. Kinijit leaders were indicted for attempted genocide, attempt to forcefully overthrow of the regime and other charges. There was no proof, no witnesses and no case but it did not stop the regime to carry out the judicial theatre for two years while the opposition leaders were kept in jail. The two years gave the regime time to disrupt the party, exile it opponents and murder elected leaders. Ato Meles is asking a ‘deferral’ for a year so Al Bashir can do some more house cleaning.
Genocide Watch is calling on UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate Meles Zenawi regarding atrocities committed in Gambella, Awassa and Ogaden. The massacre that took place after the 2005 election is still waiting for resolution. As was the case with Al Bashir the ball has started rolling.
The recent confiscation of coffee in collusion with the so-called ECX is further crime against our people. I see dark clouds hovering over the TPLF Empire. The danger of indictment, the inflation, the economic meltdown, lack of foreign currency reserves and general lawlessness in the country is a clear indication of a crumbling system on its last legs. The criminals are watching each other closely. There are those prone to panic and abandon ship. There are those who are unwilling to take the rap for crimes of the politburo. There are those ‘teletafe’ organizations nervous that they will be the first ones to be thrown to the hyenas at the first indication of trouble. That is the problem with criminal enterprises. It is each to his own. We are familiar with the actions of TPLF. No one is indispensable. As sure as the sun will rise up from the East tomorrow morning, Ato Meles will join Al Bashir in The Hague soon. I believe he is a dead man walking.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA (The Daily Monitor) — The recently made growth forecast for the year’s economic growth of the country by the International Money Fund (IMF) was more realistic than the forecast made by the Ethiopian government, the World Bank said on Tuesday.
“The World Bank team here believes that the IMF’s is more realistic than the government’s forecast for the reason that investment in the country seems to be slowing” the Bank’s Country Director for Ethiopia Kenichi Ohashi told journalists at a round table discussion attended by visiting World Bank Director for International Affairs, Grace Ssempala.
He said it would be difficult for the country to sustain the economy growth it has been recording through the years because of the challenges in government spending. The Ethiopian government claims that over the past five years the country has registered an average economic growth of 11.8 percent. Just last week, it said it will be 11.2 percent this fiscal year, despite the challenges in inflation and crunches in balance of payment.
Nevertheless, forecasts by the IMF for the year indicated that the growth may decline by almost a half, to 6.5 percent as the world slowdown is likely to hit the country’s coffee export, tourism and transportation.
Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi recently said that the world economic downturn was not to be considered significant compared to the economic achievements the country is registering, “in the face of global financial crisis.” “It is projected that the global crisis will continue to prevail for the next two or three years, on our side there is a hope that our economy will continue to grow at the same pace,” he said.
But the IMF has said that the country is one of the vulnerable countries to the unfolding crisis.
Rebels fighting for independence in Ethiopia’s Ogaden region say they are stronger than ever, a day after the government said the insurgency is in tatters.
A statement e-mailed to news organizations Wednesday says the operational capacity of the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front is higher than at any point since its anti-Ethiopia insurgency began.
The e-mail, apparently sent from ONLF offices in Europe, says rebels in the arid stretch of eastern Ethiopia along the Somalia border have defeated every major Ethiopian military campaign in the past two years.
The statement was in response to comments from Ethiopia’s Communications Minister Bereket Simon, who told reporters that government troops are on the verge of crushing the rebels.
“The situation in Ogaden has developed in such a way that when the ONLF has lost too much ground. And at this point we can say the ONLF is very weakened and in a state of crisis,” he said.
Bereket said government political and counterinsurgency operations have undermined the ONLF’s popular support.
“The situation in Ogaden is improving by the day,” he said. “People are interested in developmental activities and taking matters into their own hands. The government assessment is that the ONLF will find itself in a very difficult situation.”
The ONLF statement described Bereket’s comments as “wishful thinking,” aimed at instilling a false sense of confidence in oil exploration companies the government is trying to lure back to the Ogaden region.
Ethiopia stepped up counterinsurgency operations in the Ogaden nearly two years ago, after the rebels attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration facility, killing 65 Ethiopians and several Chinese nationals.
Industry analysts say no oil has been discovered in the Ogaden.
The government restricts journalists access to the region, and there is little verifiable information about the strength of the rebels or the level of fighting.
The U.S. group Human Rights Watch last year issued a report accusing government troops of staging public executions and burning villages in their counterinsurgency campaign. The report was based on eyewitness accounts.
Ethiopia responded with its own report charging the Human Rights group with using flawed methods that resulted in unsubstantiated and inflammatory allegations. The government rebuttal noted that Human Rights Watch investigators had not visited the Ogaden, and that some of the people listed as dead in the report had later been found alive.
Independent verification of the ONLF’s strength on the ground is impossible, but the group is known to have strong backing among Ogadenis living overseas, many of whom are refugees. Hundreds of sign-carrying ONLF supporters staged noisy demonstrations outside the G20 summit site in London last week to protest the presence of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – Madagascar’s ousted president Marc Ravalomanna was in Addis Ababa for talks with Ethiopian authorities and African Union officials, an Ethiopian official told AFP Tuesday.
“Mr Ravalomanana arrived on Monday evening in Addis Ababa for talks with Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi and the AU commission president Jean Ping,” a senior foreign ministry official told AFP on condition on anonymity.
“The prime minister has met him. He should be leaving Addis Ababa on Wednesday after the talks,” added the official.
Ravalomanana was forced to resign on March 17 after months of protest by then opposition chief Andry Rajoelina who was backed by the army.
His whereabouts had been unknown after he fled the country to Swaziland.
DAMMAM, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) – A group of private Saudi investors plans to invest 375 million riyals ($100 million) to plant wheat, barley and rice in Ethiopia, one of the investors said.
The three investors met Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi late last month, Mohamed al-Musallam, who chairs Dar Misc Economic and Administrative Consultancy firm, told Reuters.
“They approved to lease us the farm land. They will exempt us from paying taxes and lease fees in the first years of production and they will allow us to export all our production,” Musallam told Reuters.
Food security has topped the policy agenda in the Gulf Arab region following rampant inflation in 2008 that underscored the peninsula’s dependence on imports and forced countries to invest abroad to ensure supplies of staples like rice and wheat.
The three investors are setting up a company that will lead the investment. “We have opted for rice, barley and wheat because they are among the crops covered by the (Saudi) government’s strategic food security programme,” he said.
“We plan to start within one year. We are in the process of assessing best areas and ratios for each crop,” Musallam added.
The other investors involved in the project are Yassine al-Jafri and Khaled Zeiny.
“Some of the financing will come from us and … we can secure some of the financing from private financial institutions or from the Islamic Development Bank,” he added.
Saudi Arabia has urged companies to invest in farm projects abroad after deciding last year to reduce wheat production by 12.5 percent per year, abandoning a 30-year-old programme to grow its own, which achieved self-sufficiency but depleted the desert kingdom’s scarce water supplies.
State-owned Saudi Industrial Development Fund is granting financing facilities to firms exploring agricultural investments abroad.
Saudi investors have launched agricultural projects in Indonesia worth $1.3 billion last year, Mohamed Abdulkader al-Fadel, who chairs Saudi Arabia’s Commerce and Industry Chambers Council, said earlier this month.
The world’s largest oil exporter said in January it had received the first batch of rice to be produced abroad by local investors as part of the King Abdullah Initiative for Saudi Agricultural Investment Abroad.
Few people outside Ethiopia have ever heard of Birtukan Mideksa. And that’s just how the government wants it. Since December, Birtukan has been kept in solitary confinement, one of hundreds of political prisoners there. Her apparent crime? Organizing a democratic challenge to the increasingly iron-fisted rule of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Rebels fighting for independence in Ethiopia’s Ogaden region say they are stronger than ever, a day after the government said the insurgency is in tatters.
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA – Madagascar’s ousted president Marc Ravalomanna was in Addis Ababa for talks with Ethiopian authorities and African Union officials, an Ethiopian official told AFP Tuesday.