By Fekade Shewakena
Watching Barrack Obama’s election from the beginning of the campaign to the victory celebrations was like watching an epic Shakespearian movie. The death of his grandmother two days before the victory celebration appears like a plot that only Shakespeare can come up with. Whether you were aware of it or not, you have been sitting at the front row watching history live as it was being made. If you have not shed some tears of joy or have never felt the overwhelming weight of history when watching America elect its first black president, and seeing the tearful celebrations unfold on television, it is possible that some piece of your humanity has lost you or you have no idea what this means in history.
I admit that I did drop some tears of joy. I couldn’t help but cry as I watched people who were crying in joy and seeing some people sobbing with subdued and somber feeling of the breadth of history they seem to have difficulty putting their arms around. It was a long distance from Jim Crow to this beautiful new day. I was flipping between channels to see a glimpse of how people reacted on election night. I saw many, black, brown and white Americans shading tears of joy and a sea of humanity of multiethnic Americans jumping up and down in frenzy at Grant Park in Chicago and all over America. I saw the spontaneous celebrations on the streets of Washington DC where people of hundreds of different ethnicity sang and danced to the blaring multiethnic music, where complete strangers were hugging and kissing and high-fiving each other and others singing and shouting around the White House. That awesome scene contrasted in my mind with the May 15, 2005 of Ethiopia, where Meles Zenawi declared emergency and sent out his army to stop the celebration of the first ever genuinely contested sweeping victory of his opposition and subsequently crushed it by force before it meant anything – a flashback you hate to have at that moment.
It was one of those moments we say of “only in America”. I am not sure the often sanctimonious Europeans are anywhere near electing a none-white leader. Once again, America has shown that it is more than a piece of real estate on the planet and that it is a place defined more by its ideals than anything else. You can say anything of America’s shortcomings, and I know there are many to list, but it will be hard to watch this moment in history and deny that it is a wonderful country. It is this ideal that those of us who live under dictatorships and human misery, particularly those of us in Africa, always want to spill over to us more than the financial aid which often ends up helping our dictators buy the bullets they spray us with. It is a wonderful exhibition of the fact that people who live in freedom and democracy have the capacity to do things that seem unthinkable. I sometimes wonder why we are even surprised that they were able to send a human being to the moon. Freedom and democracy do wonders.
Congratulations to the many Ethiopian Americans who, in small and big ways, have worked your butts off to help Barrack Obama elected. You were sitting at the driver’s seat of history and should be proud of that. You have also earned the right to have your people’s voices heard a little louder in the White house. But don’t fold your tents yet. There is a lot more work to do.
Now that the celebration is over, and reality begins to sink in, the question is what do we in Africa expect from the first American president who has origins in the continent of Africa? First, we have to understand that President Obama is burdened with huge expectations of solving huge problems both in the US and globally. In fact, I see one of the first things he may be forced to do is manage these big expectations.
So we must understand that there is a practical and non-practical thing to expect as regards Africa. It will be naïve to expect that Africa’s problems will be his priority simply because he is African American. We can be sure that he is completely predisposed to do good to Africa. But the truth is there a limit to what he can and cannot do, which means that he needs help. It is important to understand that the amount of change he can bring to Africa is strongly dependent on the amount of help he can get from progressive Africans who want change in Africa. Those of us who are in the United States have a huge role in this. We also have to be convinced that the help we will be seeking would be meaningful if it comes in the form of a hand rather than a handout. Africa needs a significant policy shift more than money from the United States. But Africans who need change should ask a little more of ourselves than we even ask of Obama. We have to work harder and in a more organized manner. After all, Africa’s problems can only be solved by the people of Africa themselves.
The point of departure to develop a prudent Africa policy for president Obama is to realize that Africa’s problems are predominantly man made. It is not difficult to see that Africa’s monstrous leaders have dug deep hellholes of their countries and many are still digging. Those who follow Africa also know that some of this hellhole digging has been made while the West was looking the other way or, in many cases, with the West’s direct help in the digging.
I believe Obama understands that Africa is the most perilous of all parts of the planet that he often says is in peril. Poverty, war, hunger, famine, cruel dictatorships, and environmental degradation plague Africa more than any other part of the globe. Some of the misery is perhaps more visible in some parts of Africa where we hear a louder bang as in Darfur, Somalia, Ethiopia, Congo, Zimbabwe, but many are suffering silently. There may be bright spots in Africa among the very few who have chosen democracy. But they are the exception. Where we apparently see relative tranquility in many parts of Africa, it is where people are forced into total despair and have learnt to live with their pains.
The right place to begin to help Africa is to do a complete review of the failed, and in many cases, reckless African policies of past administrations. This change is long overdue and I don’t think it is big or revolutionary to expect of an Obama White House. There is a serious need for a bottom-up approach to the Africa Policy of the United States, rather than the top-down that we are accustomed to live with to date. I don’t think this is too much to ask and ask as early as possible. It is not too much to ask that Africans be viewed and afforded the same human dignity that civilized humanity takes for granted. President Obama will be making a huge mistake if he thinks throwing more funds at this problem will make any dent on Africa’s problems.
Yes it is understandable that all foreign policies of the United States are basically made with the national interest of the United States in mind. Obviously it is the primary concern of any US president including a president Obama. But it is possible to have an Africa policy that is beneficial to both the Unites States and the countries of Africa at the same time. There are many cases in Africa where the current US policies have served neither the interests of the United States nor that of the countries of Africa.
In my view there is no better place to begin a practical New Africa policy than the Horn of Arica. The Horn of Africa is burning as we speak because of a classic case of misguided policy and reckless handling. It is a typical case of a US involvement that has not helped the security interests of neither the United States nor the people in the region. Meles Zenawi is terrorizing his own people while latching himself to the United States for help. That he is terrorizing an entire nation of 80 million people is the biggest open secret but he is dubbed an ally of the US in the fight against terrorism. It is a sad farce and misnomer. As many credible human rights organizations have already said what Meles Zenawi has done to his people in the Ogaden region and to the poor people of Somalia may be a war crime of epic proportions.
After the war and mayhem in Somalia, we have now ended up with more, younger and fiercer extremists rising up in arms in Somalia. I am talking about the Al Shabhab and the pirates that have invaded the Indian Ocean. Millions of people in Somalia are living under trees and in crowded filthy makeshift camps fleeing the mayhem and suffering in a way that humanity should be ashamed of to watch. Nearly half the population of the country is now living on dust.
If only some cool heads have prevailed and some in Washington were willing to think on their feet and care for the consequences of a war on the poor people, this could have ended up differently. In my view the Islamic Courts, that were full of moderates, would have been negotiated into an agreement that even included handing over whatever terrorists may have been in their midst and Somalia, which has a history of secularism, would have been saved of the religious extremism that has engulfed it now. Even the useful moderates are now pushed to the extreme. Now that Meles Zenawi is on the verge of putting his tails between his legs and fleeing from Mogadishu, God knows what will follow. Thanks to the misguided policies, we now have to grapple with a more complicated problem. In Africa riding the anti-terrorism industry was a latch that helped these dictators and warlords as they terrorize their own people and the region. The first order of business in a Sane US Africa policy is therefore to wrench these dictators off of this latch that attached them to the United States.
Another important and no so difficult change for the US to make is to remove the second rate diplomats who have little knowledge of the regions they deal with. There is no lack of Americans who have studied the region and know the culture and politics of Africa and with compassion for human life. This will go a long way to dignify Afro American relations and benefit both. If I see another Jendayi Frazer or what was the name of that lady Ambassador in Addis Ababa, dealing with Africa anymore, I will see indications of another failed Africa policy.
So let’s begin with practical expectations and help Barrack Obama champion the cause of Africa and in the process help reclaim our pride and dignity.
As I already said this is not going to happen if we, the children of Africa, sit with folded hands and expect Barrack Obama deliver a miracle. It only means we need hard and organized work.
I see a flicker of hope shining on the horizons of Africa. Let’s work to make it shine all over.
(The writer can be reached at [email protected])
U.S. government and Land O’Lakes Corporation support dairy development
Man on left stands in front of two abodes. (Photo by Michael Tewelde)
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By Phillip Kurata | America.gov
Asallah, Ethiopia — Until two years ago, Ato Abebe scratched out a meager subsistence raising wheat and other cereals on a hectare of land in central Ethiopia, where he and his family went to bed with hunger pangs several months a year.
Today, Abebe, who lives near Asallah, 180 kilometers south of Addis Ababa, consistently makes nearly $100 per month, lives in a new house and plans to expand his dairy business while teaching his neighbors about it.
Abebe’s turn of fortune came about in 2006, when he signed on as an apprentice dairy farmer under the tutelage of Land O’Lakes International Development, a division of the U.S. dairy company Land O’Lakes Inc. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) funds the program with a $5 million grant that expires in 2010.
“Before, from June to August, we did not have food to eat or seeds to plant for the next season,” Abebe told America.gov.
The farmer stands outside his new one-room house with a rainproof metal roof, where he lives with his wife and three children. His former thatch-roof house now is inhabited by the source of his new wealth, a cow and a heifer. “Having a milk-producing cow is like having a steady salary,” he said.
Abebe plans to acquire four more cows, through direct purchase or artificial insemination with foreign bull semen brought to Ethiopia by Land O’Lakes and another development group, World Wide Science.
The dairy business holds glowing prospects for this family. In the two years that the Asallah dairy project has been under way, milk prices have risen from roughly 20 cents to 50 cents per liter. The best cows in the area produce as much as 13 liters a day, and overall output is rising as crossbreeding with highly productive foreign dairy cattle takes effect.
Two people unloading large containers from vehicle (Photo by Michael Tewelde)
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In exchange for Land O’Lakes’ tutoring, Abebe teaches other farmers in the area who want to emulate his success.
“We want him to transfer our knowledge,” said Asfaw Tolessa, Land O’Lakes dairy extension manager for Ethiopia. Abebe is one of 130 farmers in Ethiopia who have been selected by Land O’Lakes for the program. He, in turn, teaches another 50 farmers, 10 of whom are implementing new methods, according to Tolessa, who expects the number of dairy farmers to surge as local living standards rise.
The program is more complex than encouraging farmers to buy a dairy cow, then extract and sell the milk. To enable the industry to thrive in drought-stricken, exhausted land, Land O’Lakes has taught Abebe and others to plant napier grass, also known as elephant grass. Napier contains high protein and resists drought with its deep roots.
“Getting dairy farmers to use napier grass is one of Land O’Lakes’ biggest successes,” said Tolessa. “It can be harvested every three weeks, stored in airtight plastic bags and kept for years as animal fodder.”
The Land O’Lakes manager is interested in extending the dairy production program to include farmers’ wives. “[Ethiopian] women tend to be more attentive to caring for animals than men,” Tolessa said. “They also tend to have better social skills than men and are more effective as members of dairy co-ops. They are less likely to engage in private deals that benefit some co-op members more than others.” He said that Land O’Lakes needs to proceed cautiously on this front because of rural traditions that define women’s roles narrowly.
Encouraging dairy farming would have no lasting effect without consistent markets for milk. In fact, a Swedish development group tried supporting Ethiopian dairy farmers in the 1970s, but milk prices crashed after several years. Farmers got rid of their cows and went back to cereal production, which in turn was devastated by drought.
The USAID–Land O’Lakes program has created a network of commercial sales outlets. In addition to milk, the co-op produces cream, butter and cottage cheese, which are processed to have longer shelf lives than milk. The co-op aspires to build a modern dairy-processing plant. USAID is working with Ethiopian banks to encourage them to finance it.
The Asallah Dairy Co-op, up the road from Abebe’s farm, has seen its membership rise from 37 at its founding in 2006 to 90 today. At the outset, the daily milk collection of the co-op averaged almost 70 liters per day. Now the figure is tenfold greater — 700 liters a day. The price of milk has more than doubled, while the cost of animal feed has fallen by half. Tolessa said given the government’s work to build a market economy and improve nutrition, the Ethiopian dairy industry has a bright future.
“We are making a lot of milk and a lot of money. We are very happy and grateful for what Land O’Lakes and USAID are doing for us,” said co-op member Almaz GebreSelassie.
DENVER, COLORADO – Yohannes Gebregeorgis grew up in a dusty Ethiopian village, the son of an illiterate cattle trader. As a barefoot boy, he couldn’t know his fate in life, but it was already sealed. He would spend his life growing into his passion, which is giving impoverished young Ethiopian children a chance to read and learn.
Gebregeorgis, which means servant of St. George, spoke to families and children at Boulder Public Library on Thursday. He explained his program “Ethiopia Reads,” which has sent more than 100,000 children’s books back to his poverty-stricken homeland.
His program has had such an impact on his country that he was named one of CNN’s Top Ten Heroes of the Year.
And the 60-year-old is just getting started. He has built 17 libraries in a country where more than half the population can’t read.
He opened his first library in 2003 in one of Addis Ababa’s poorest neighborhoods, and he was deluged as more than 60,000 children used it the first year. Some had never seen a book before, he said.
Since then, he has put showers and laundries into the buildings and wants to include health clinics in the libraries and schools he is building.
“We’re teaching the kids not just reading but anything they want to learn, like theater, English lessons, papier-mâche,” he said. “They’re hungry for so much.”
Gebregeorgis has enlisted the aid of several Denverites, including Janet Lee, a librarian at Regis University who served in the Peace Corps in Ethiopia. She was there the day that Emperor Haile Selassie was overthrown. It was Lee who nominated Gebregeorgis to CNN’s list of heroes.
Restaurateur Noel Cunningham, owner of Strings, also has sponsored and helped fund several of the libraries.
“We raised $10,000 through high school students here and got a library built,” said Cunningham, who leaves Wednesday with 20 others to open another library.
“My dream is to get schools, why not East High School, to raise the funds and sponsor another library. It might have the effect of getting kids here to take books out of the library and read.”
The Kansas Reading Association last year filled a 40-foot shipping container with 25,000 donated books, then paid the freight to Ethiopia.
With programs like that, Gebregeorgis said, the biggest obstacle now is finding money for shipping and operating expenses, to the tune of about $100,000.
Gebregeorgis, who didn’t read a book for fun until he was 19, fled his war-torn country to the Sudan and scrapped his way through schools, eventually earning a master’s degree in librarian studies. He hoped to work in an American university, but the only job he could find was as a children’s librarian.
It must have been his fate, and the rest is history.
How to donate and more information can be found at ethiopiareads.org.
By Mike McPhee | The Denver Post
(Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or [email protected])
By Yeroo Newspaper
Ana Gomes, Member of the European Parliament and Head of the European Electoral Observation Mission to Ethiopia. She gave the following interview to a Yeroo, an Oromiffa publication which has ceased publication due to repressions.
Hon. Ana Gomes, member of the Socialist Group in the European Parliament and the Head of the EU Observation Mission at the Ethiopian Elections in May 2005, has been praised by many activists and opposition supporters in Ethiopia, but denounced by Ethiopia’s ruling party. She spoke with about the state of democracy in Ethiopia, OLF, stability in the region and about Ginbot 7 organization established by her close friend Berhanu Nega living in exile.
Yeroo: European Parliamentarians called for “targeted sanctions” against the Ethiopian government almost three years ago after 193 protesters were killed during the post election period. Why has the European Commission ignored this call so far?
Ana Gomes: Well, I think, initially, the commission did not ignore it. And they really shifted the way the European aid is given to Ethiopia . But it is true that overtime, it has been, ironically, business as usual, with Europe actually, recently, increasing aid to the Ethiopian regime which we know has breached the Ethiopian people in need, because this state is being absolutely controlled by the ruling party. And this is because in the European commission, in the European government, there is a lot of hypocrisy about Ethiopia, a lot of inconsistency about what are European values and objectives in promoting democracy and human rights, mainly in Africa . This is not in favor of the people of Ethiopia. This is not in favor of the credibility of Europe in the eyes of the Ethiopian people and Africa in general and I very much regret it
Yeroo: Doesn’t this [European hypocrisy] you mentioned exist through out the world; in example, there are many African leaders talking about basic human rights violations in Saudi Arabia and other countries the WEST is very close with. Meanwhile, we have known about the problem in Zimbabwe where Mugabe is being targeted [by the West] more than other more oppressive African governments where there are no elections or elections are stolen or where more people are killed. So, isn’t this more widespread?
Ana Gomes: Yes it is. And I must say that human rights is a very serious casualty of the Bush administration, the weakness of European governments and institutions and this is diverting from international law in the protection of Human Rights. And that is why you see more and more serious contradictions like the ones you mentioned and the ones we see happening towards Ethiopia. It couldn’t be more glaring than the last meeting of the G8 in Hokkaido [ Japan ] where you had the world leaders, including several European leaders, calling for sanctions against Zimbabwe because of the regime of Mugabe – sanctions by the way very much deserved and necessary to bring about change and to bring an end to the dictatorship of Mugabe. But at the same time they were doing that, they were hosting – as if he was a respected world leaders or African leader – Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. He might be still the Prime Minister of Ethiopia but he has no credibility among the people of Ethiopia , as I watched in the elections of 2005. And he should not be rewarded by world leaders when he is indeed a dictator, illegitimate and actually invaded a foreign country, like the case of Somalia. So there is indeed this glaring contradiction, a glaring inconsistency in the world.
Yeroo: In general, has the state of – or perhaps the transition to – democracy in Ethiopia improved or worsened during the last 3 years?
Ana Gomes: Well, in the world in general you have different situations but in Ethiopia, definitely, it has not improved. On one hand, the Ethiopian people want democracy and they are reaching for change, they participated peacefully in the election of 2005. But then their hopes were dashed by the regime of Meles Zenawi, by the oppression. And the situation has not improved at all in Ethiopia. And the world powers are very much responsible for that because they are helping a regime like that of Meles Zenawi. But this is no reason for those who are fighting for democracy to give up. On the contrary, it is a reason to re-double our effort, and, because we will also finally see an end to the Bush administration and we will see a new era in the United States, hopefully under President Obama, who has African roots. And we will definitely see change in the United States in respect to democracy and human rights.
Yeroo: Before the start of Bush’s administration, his officials declared that they will not put stability over human rights and democracy. But many observers and human rights groups are saying it [the Bush administration] has done the reverse. So, are you really expecting change with Obama and how much change are you expecting?
Ana Gomes: Well, I think whichever candidate is going to win the election; we are going to see an end to the Bush administration which has brought so much sorrow to the world. Of course, I think this change will be more clear if it will be Obama who wins the election, for all he has said during the campaign, for all what he stands for and the democratic party as well. I believe in the case of Obama, his personality and his roots in Africa and in other parts of the world, Indonesia, makes him understand better that the US needs to dramatically change its policies in the leadership and that this will put the basic values of democracy, human rights and justice, before stability. In this world, we don’t want stability if that stability means more dictatorship, more oppression and more undemocratic ways. More important than stability is, indeed, democracy and human rights.
Yeroo: In many forums, you have been telling the opposition to unite against the ruling party, but that doesn’t seem to happen. The UEDF, OFDM and EUDP opposition parties are in parliament while executive members of the CUD, who have boycotted parliament, have recently changed their name to Andenet – Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ). Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has remained outside the elections. Yet factions of the old CUD are reportedly divided in more places, including two more CUD factions led by Engineer Hailu Shawel and Ayele Chamiso. Some opposition groups are meanwhile working with the government of Eritrea , including the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) that is currently in a state of war with the Ethiopian government. What are you now doing to unite the opposition?
Ana Gomes: I can support and I do support Ethiopians and their effort to restore democracy, but I am a foreigner. And nobody from abroad is going to bring the change Ethiopia needs. This is the job for Ethiopians themselves. So people from abroad can support by their action, by calling for the responsibility of powers such as European Union government, the commission. But it is a limited responsibility because, mainly, this responsibility lies with the Ethiopian people. And that is why, because of my solidarity with those who are fighting for democracy in Ethiopia , I have been calling for a union. I believe one of the reasons why you are oppressed by such a despicable regime that does not represent anyone, not even the majority of the population in Tigray, is because Ethiopian people are divided with all sorts of reasons. Ethnic groups, ideological point of views and other sets of agenda. And that is a pity, it is a pity. Only if Ethiopians can unite despite all their difference – ideological, political, ethnic – if they can unite, exactly on fighting for an Ethiopia which is democratic, they can achieve success and get rid of the Meles regime and install democracy. If they go on with a different agenda, with some people preaching Amhara supremacy or other people feeding on the fear of the Oromos, who are the biggest ethnic group; if they don’t bind together in a common agenda for a democratic Ethiopia, of course, then, this is the best way to allow the dictatorship to continue. So this is the reason why I have been calling for all Ethiopians to unite and to unite around an agenda for bringing democracy, good governance, justice, respect for human rights and economic development in Ethiopia. So I can not, in any way, replace the work that Ethiopians themselves need to do.
Yeroo: Before the 2005 elections in early May of that year, you gave an interview for UN’s Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN). And you said that you “hope that all parties will work to actually calm the expectations and emotions of their supporters so that everyone will accept the result as genuine.” Did the opposition parties and the ruling party succeed in achieving what you hoped for then?
Ana Gomes: Well before the elections, I had hopes, and they were confirmed, that the people of Ethiopia would come and vote and use this opportunity to show their willingness, their preparedness, their faith in democracy. And the people were wonderful and they did it clearly. At that time, I must say, I said that [sentence] because I was worried that some groups, namely on the part of the opposition, were already trying to call into question the voting. And I think this had to do with the suspicions that were there from the beginning – in some respects, they were right. They had fears from the beginning; they had told me that the regime would manipulate the process. After the results were known, the landslide in Addis Ababa was known and that is when they started manipulating the results elsewhere. But it is clear that it is government manipulation and I think it was important that the people had the chance to express their wish, to go and vote. Despite the fact that the results were later on manipulated by the government and the hope for democracy as the result of this election were shattered, I think that was bad for the regime that the regime had to actually manipulate the results to overturn what were the will of the people. The will of the people was massively expressed that day and there was a result the government could not conceal and that was the result of Addis Ababa , which is, indeed, quite reflective of the results through out the country, with, of course, some variations from area to area. So in my opinion, that is the reason why I made this appeal so that the opposition would not send a message to the people that would discourage the people to come to vote. In the end, the people came to vote. I think this was very important. Meles can not claim that the people are not ready for democracy. The people of Ethiopia are ready for democracy and want democracy, and showed it by coming to the election massively.
Yeroo: Many critics say that Ethiopians were voting for the “better of two evils” in the last election in 2005 and even if free elections and fair counting was done, there won’t be real change in the country unless OLF participates. Is there any attempt by the European Parliament to bring Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) into future elections and also improve the conditions necessary for this to happen?
Ana Gomes: I don’t believe… if the counting was fair, that would have of course meant a big change in Ethiopia, a different government, even with the participation of the EPRDF, possibly as a result of an agreement, but a different parliament and a different government. And I hope that this new government would extend its hands to all the organizations that have been out of the political process, who have been ousted from the political process, such as the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) as the result of the current ruling party’s policy. I think this, indeed, would have changed the situation. But the issue is that an election was manipulated and you don’t have democracy in Ethiopia. You have a regime which has stolen the elections, which is oppressing the people of Ethiopia. So I think the OLF, all organizations need to get together with all those who are fighting for a democracy in Ethiopia, who are fighting by different means, some outside the country, some inside the country. In any case they must have something in common; they must strive for the same objective, which is to create a united, democratic Ethiopia. This is something people in Europe, here in the European parliament, support but we can not replace the Ethiopian people and organizations, those who are fighting for democracy.
Yeroo: Some observers say that the private media in Ethiopia faces big challenges, more recently from financial hurdles put by the government. After the sudden rise of publishing costs a couple of years ago, some of free press that is not financed by ruling party members started falling down. In addition to the widely reported 2005 government crackdown on journalists, a new media law passed this year allows the state to randomly seize publishing materials prior to distribution, which critics say is a new method of government repression. Do you think the EU has specific plans to assist private media in Ethiopia?
Ana Gomes: This is indeed a crucial question. We don’t have much private media operating in Ethiopia because of the regime who obviously cracks down on them. And I could see it happening in several stages in Ethiopia , mainly right after the election; the government does not allow free press. And to my knowledge, they are more than ever cracking down by other more sophisticated means, even preventing people in Ethiopia to get information, namely through the internet. And they are getting support from several governments, namely the Chinese I was told, to actually use the most sophisticated ways to jam communications because they are afraid that the citizens will be informed. So it is indeed a major question, a major question for democracy. And I believe that in Europe, funds for assisting democracy in Ethiopia should indeed target supporting the media – independent free media – in Ethiopia, either inside Ethiopia but most likely outside, and of course broadcasting into Ethiopia . This is very important. And I would say radio is probably the most important, most likely to reach through out Ethiopia. Radio could be broadcast from anywhere, in Amharic and in other Ethiopian languages, to reach the people of Ethiopia and to break this wall of silence and misinformation that the ruling party is trying to create. This is something that should be a priority of the European Union, and the European parliament to support and promote this effort. If you want to really promote democracy in Ethiopia, we need to support the free information flow in Ethiopia and not the censorship of the government to remain unchallenged.
Yeroo: On Somalia , the international media reported in 2006 about the advancement of the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) against the Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and about ICU’s irredentism plans to annex Ethiopian territory, like the Ogaden. The UN then blamed Eritrea for supporting the ICU and accused ICU leadership of having links with Al Qaeda but some observers blamed the Ethiopian government for playing a destructive role in Somalia and Human Rights Watch (HRW) now accuses the Ethiopian army of war crimes. Did the Ethiopian government make a big mistake by intervening in Somalia?
Ana Gomes: Yes and it is a big mistake the people of Somalia and the people of Ethiopia are paying for very dearly. First of all…[it has been] bloodshed, outrageous killing and death, both of Somalis and Ethiopians. And that can actually fuel resentment between Ethiopia and Somalia in the future. Mr. Meles Zenawi needed a war to divert attention and of course he made himself dear to the Bush administration, pretending they were going to Somalia to fight terrorism and fundamentalism. I think as many it will backfire. And here we see, this operation has made these people, fundamentalists, more strong and they have not eliminated them in the country. And in the meantime, the bloodshed for the Somalia people is unimaginable. The UN, which of course is now very weak as well as the result of the outrageous behavior of many of its members, starting with the United States under the Bush administration, has not been able even to send to Somalia the force that were supposed to be there, to allow the Ethiopian army to withdraw. So the Ethiopian army is bogged down there and is going to commit even more war crimes like those that have been documented by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Amnesty international (AI). I am very, very sorry for what is happening and for the way most of the world is neglecting the situation, including the European Union who is a secondary actor totally allowing the US strategy to continue. I believe we have not seen the end of the terrible crisis in Somalia and much more suffering is to come to the Somalis, to the Ethiopians and to other people in the region.
Yeroo: Do you believe the ICU and Al Shabaab would have stopped advancing to pro-TFG regions and stopped being a threat to Ethiopia if Ethiopia did not intervene?
Ana Gomes: Well, the TFG is a fiction and all I know is that the Islamic Courts are stronger than ever. And of course I believe the solution for Somalia depends on all the Somali parties to getting together, working out their differences and they can be helped by an outside observer. The UN and a future US administration under Obama and Europe can play that role in the future. I don’t see this happening now. And I don’t see that Ethiopia , at this moment, under the ruling of Meles Zenawi, is a player in a positive sense in Somalia . And after these war crimes and after this invasion, Ethiopia is going to be in a much worse situation regarding Somalia . I generally hope that a future Ethiopian democratic government will be able to heal the wounds, tremendous ones, that have now been created.
Yeroo: ICU declared that it wanted to take Ethiopia ’s Ogaden part. Perhaps TFG might not have a lot of base; however [ICU] that threat is an old threat where Ethiopia and Somalia went to war about before. Was Ethiopia’s intervention a mistake in that respect ?
Ana Gomes: Yes I think it was a mistake and I think that, indeed, not just because of this action, this invasion and the war in Somalia . But also because of the tremendous oppression that the current Ethiopian regime is launching in Ogaden, is actually making the situation worse and increasing the demand of the Ogaden people for independence from Ethiopia . While this is not a matter for me to…I think Ethiopians have to agree to work for a united Ethiopia and a democratic Ethiopia . That should be the priority now. Then, how they workout their differences, their different status, the way each region of Ethiopia moves itself, or if they will actually go away, in the case of the Ogaden, it is something for a later stage. Its something that should be achieved by peaceful means, if indeed the regime in Ethiopia is democratic. The way I see the situation now, I don’t think anyone is really advancing. I know there is fighting in the Ogaden but it is true that fighting has not much [moved] outside the area and aside from the military situation in the Ogaden, there is a political fight to consider.
Yeroo: The Ethio-Eritrea stalemate has continued. What do you think is the solution?
Ana Gomes: Despite the pain this means for many in Ethiopia , they should respect to accept the arbitration about Badme. And [they] should try to workout a different relationship with Eritrea. It mostly depends on Ethiopia but it also depends on Eritrea. I know that the regime in Eritrea is a very oppressive regime as well. Its keeping, perpetuating this war with Ethiopia, perpetuating a state of war, and by interfering in many other problems in the region. But I believe it is outrageous that Ethiopia did not live up to the commitment to accept the arbitration and it is outrageous that the international community, with the US government at the forefront, actually in a way, encourages Ethiopia to procrastinate, not putting any pressure, really, on Ethiopia to live up to the commitment. That’s one of the reasons, the main reason, why you have now a situation of a state of war..
Yeroo: The Eritrean government says the UN’s sudden shift of focus toward the problem between Djibouti and Eritrea is an attempt by the UN to vilify Eritrea and to cover-up UN’s failures to end Ethiopian “occupation” of Badme. Do you agree with these accusations by Eritrea or is Djibouti another war front of Eritrea ?
Ana Gomes: Really, what I can say is that the first step is for Ethiopia to accept the arbitration. I don’t excuse the Eritrea government of its tremendous responsibilities in many problems in the Horn of Africa. First of all, the Eritrea regime is as despicable as the Meles regime in oppressing the people who want democracy in Eritrea . And he uses the excuse of the war with Ethiopia to perpetuate the suppression. The Eritrean government is a government which interferes in a very destabilizing way in many other countries. We see this interference in Sudan , we see this interference in Somalia , we see in this interference in many other areas. So, I am not in a position to concur with the Eritrean government at this accusation against the UN. The Eritrean government has also to account for many, many human rights violations at home and abroad.
Yeroo: Going back to democracy in Ethiopia, according to Ethiopian media reports, you said that your country Portugal also once fought against dictatorship from both the “inside and outside” fronts. In those statements, were you promoting peaceful activism and diplomatic pressures from the outside OR were you encouraging the armed Ethiopian opposition groups to continue while the peaceful opposition works from the inside?
Ana Gomes: First of all, I don’t encourage opposition groups. This is not a question for me…its for Ethiopians to decide [which way] they need to bring about democracy. And in many situations, you need a combination of methods. But I don’t encourage armed opposition activity although I can understand why many Ethiopian groups resort to it. But that said, the sentence I said was actually not about armed or non-armed opposition. I said that sentence because I was being questioned by a firm…this firm, DLA Piper, was questioning Dr. Berhanu Nega and other opposition leaders, Human rights organizations why they were working outside the country and not inside Ethiopia . While he [Berhanu] gave his answer, then I gave my complimentary comments, that when my country Portugal was under dictatorship, we had many people fighting inside by all possible means, legal and clandestine. But we had also many people who could not be inside the country, they were in the Diaspora, in exile, were also working outside. It was a combination of all these forces, inside the country and outside, working for democracy, really had succeeded in overthrowing dictatorship and establishing democracy. So I made that point to react to… [DLA Piper statement] that those who were outside Ethiopia , namely the Diaspora in exile, forced to leave Ethiopia were not as legitimate as any other Ethiopian to fight for democracy. I think there is indeed a very important role that the Ethiopian Diaspora and the Ethiopian leaders in exile can play to unite, indeed, to campaign diplomatically, in other means, to peacefully organize. To organize, namely media, to broadcast into Ethiopia , to join forces, to indeed, overthrow the dictatorship.
Yeroo: Should CUD, which recently renamed itself Andenet – UDJ, boycott the next election in 2010?
Ana Gomes: Until the Meles regime will be in power, I will never believe in an election in Ethiopia. I think the experience in 2005 shows that despite all the commitment, despite all the rhetoric, clearly Mr. Meles Zenawi did not hesitate to manipulate the election and to steal the election, to perpetuate the party in power. I don’t believe that the elections that took place were minimally democratic and fair. So I don’t believe the current regime will be able to organize free and fair elections. I believe that you have to see a transitional government in Ethiopia to be able to organize free and fair elections.
Yeroo: Unless there is an armed change of power, the peaceful transition to democracy might have to come through the current regime. Considering your statements on the state of democracy today and considering the assessment of the current government that you have said, are you, in a sense, saying that democracy in Ethiopia is hopeless?
Ana Gomes: No, on the contrary. This current regime is not going to stay in power forever. No dictatorship stays there forever. In my country, It took 48 years but [eventually…] we were able to join forces and overthrow the dictatorship. I am sure this will happen much sooner with the dictatorship of Meles in Ethiopia . It depends on Ethiopians to unite and fight by all means, political, culturally, by all means, to indeed get free of this regime. There are many ways this regime can fall. Not necessarily through armed fighting. It is one way but it is not the only way. It can fall because of economic hardship, status of the people on the streets and so on. There are many many ways, in any case, whenever this regime will fall, obviously Ethiopians will need to have some kind of transitional regime to help prepare free and fair elections. Because, of course, its with only free and fair elections that you can have a legitimate, democratically elected and representative government. This is what will happen not just in Ethiopia ; this is what I hope to see happen in Zimbabwe . It is clear that the Zimbabwe government is not going to stay long. Either through a negotiation or through a violent ousting, it is clear that this [ Zimbabwe ] regime is near its end. And before there will be new elections, there will have to be some kind of transitional government to prepare this election. And then, indeed, democracy can be established. I am a firm believer that democracy is possible in Ethiopia . It is probably going to come sooner than many people expect. That depends on the Ethiopian forces and citizens to unite on an agenda which places democracy and of course the unity of Ethiopia at the heart of its objective. And in this expect, I must say that I am quite heartened that this movement GINBOT 7 is established and I am quite heartened with the agenda that Dr. Berhanu Nega explained here in the European parliament. I feel, if they can indeed succeed in uniting all Ethiopians for democracy and justice in the country, Ethiopians will see it happen much earlier than many people expect. This has happened in other parts of the world. This has happened in my country. It has happened in South Africa , where it was much more difficult. It has happened throughout Eastern Europe . And it will surely happen in Ethiopia . And I am pretty sure that I will be then back to Addis Ababa to celebrate with everybody this democracy.
Yeroo: Thank you very much for participating in this interview.
Ana Gomes: You are welcome
Ethiopia’s Jews caught between waiting for imagined heaven and living in daily hell of racism in Israel.
GONDER, Ethiopia – In a makeshift synagogue painted in the colours of Israel’s national flag, thousands of Ethiopian Jews listen as a sermon is relayed live by mobile phone speaker from the Israeli city of Haifa.
“You are all sons and daughters of Israel. God will give you what you deserve,” says rabbi Menachem Waldman in Hebrew as a young interpreter translates into Amharic, Ethiopia’s de facto official language.
“We haven’t stopped our long struggle to bring all of you home,” he adds to passionate nods of approval.
His words offer hope to the 12,000 members of Falashmura — Ethiopian Jews forced to convert to Christianity in the 19th century but who remain closely attached to the Jewish tradition — in Gonder, 600 kilometres (370 miles) northwest of Addis Ababa.
Israel brought home 35,000 Ethiopian Jews under Operation Moses in 1984 and Operation Solomon in 1991. Today the total number of people relocated stands at 100,000.
Two years ago, Israel promised that a final group would be relocated before the end of 2007. That deadline expired, leaving many in areas like Gonder and also around the Israeli embassy complex in Addis Ababa.
The Falashmura say previous relocations split families, leaving one half living in Ethiopia and the other in the fabled Promised Land.
“We have been registered for three years but we are still here separated from our father,” says 22-year-old Abere Yimenu, who along with younger brother Andebet, are students in a rural Gonder hamlet.
“I was shocked when they only allowed our elderly father to leave back then while we, who can contribute more to the country, were left behind.”
Rabbi Waldman supports Aliyah — the Israeli law of return — but his view is not shared by others in Israel where some quarters are accused of racial discrimination against the Falashmura.
“They even allowed Russian Jews to bring their cats and dogs,” says Getu Zemene, a local representative of the US-based advocacy group the North American Conference of Ethiopian Jewry (NACOEJ).
“Jews here are black so it is a completely different matter,” he adds.
The trigger for the earlier exodus was the 1974 coup that toppled Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie and brought in Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam. The latter’s Marxist-Leninist dictatorship fanned anti-Semitism in a country with a proud Christian Orthodox tradition and where Jews had long been a target of missionaries.
According to reports from the time, an estimated 2,500 Jews were killed and some 7,000 made homeless in the first weeks of the coup, the start of a bloody reign in which tens of thousands of Ethiopians who were slaughtered or disappeared.
After taking office in 1977, former Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin asked Mengistu to allow 200 Ethiopian Jews to leave for Israel aboard an Israeli military jet that had emptied its military cargo in Addis Ababa.
Mengistu agreed and that may have been the precursor of the mass exodus.
But times have changed. Despite a favorable government in power in Addis Ababa since 1991, fierce debates among political and religious leaders in Israel over the Falashmura’s Jewishness have delayed, if not hindered relocation.
The debate is nothing new however, Ethiopia’s Jews were only allowed to enter the country in 1975 after the Jewish state’s rabbinate recognised them as members of the lost tribe of Dan.
Until February 2007, 200 people a month were arriving in Israel, according to the Israeli embassy here. But that now seems to have stopped.
But even for those who made it, life has not been easy with many Ethiopians complaining of discrimination and racial abuse.
“We are fighting against discriminations such as school segregation and covert racism in jobs that hinder assimilation of our group into the mainstream Israeli society,” says Getnet Awoke, a 38 year-old preacher who recently returned to Ethiopia to help prepare his fellow Jews for aliyah.
“We’ve had several cases of suicide in the community in Israel. Some have thrown themselves off buildings and some have hanged themselves,” he says.
“Even conscripts serving in the army have shot themselves after being unable to cope with the racial abuse,” he adds.
“They face a world of difference once they arrive in Israel. The younger ones take less time to assimilate but those from the remote areas and the older ones face a massive culture shock,” says Getnet.
But in impoverished Gonder, there is still hope.
“It’s only a matter of time. We will all make it some day to the Promised Land,” says Getu.
– Middle East Online
