War in the Horn of Africa appears imminent. If large-scale violence breaks out, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and the Bush administration will bear major responsibility for the ensuing chaos and human suffering.
Zenawi, who already has at least 8,000 troops in Somalia, just declared his readiness to widen the war.
There is a marriage of convenience between Ethiopia’s Prime Minister and the Bush Administration. Zenawi is desperate to divert attention from his internal troubles and human rights abuses. An over-extended Bush administration finds it cost-effective and expedient to outsource the Somali war to an eager, yet repugnant local tyrant.
Zenawi is a polished Tigrian warlord in an Armani suit. He is an Albanian-style Marxist turned Christian crusader, a ruthless megalomaniac perfectly willing to burn down the neighborhood to stay in power.
Ethiopia’s ruling Tigrai Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) has devised a grand internal and external strategy to stay in power. Creating Christian-Moslem conflict is the weapon to be used on the domestic front. This is designed to create a wedge between regime opponents who have united without regard to religion or ethnicity.
The recent religious violence that took the lives of some 19 people in the South West of the country appears to be the work of regime agents.
There is an active domestic propaganda campaign about the danger of jihadists and Islamic extremists. The campaign aims to confuse the issues, to hoodwink the country’s Christian population and to garner its support. Such a situation will create a Christian-Moslem rift, virtually assuring the continuing rule of the ruling minority group. Sadly, such poison is being introduced to a population that has had unprecedented religious tolerance.
The bond between Christians and Moslems goes back to the beginnings of Islam. The prophet Mohammed sent his followers to Ethiopia when they fled persecution in Arabia. Ethiopia’s Christian king received Mohammed’s followers as honored guests and treated them with civility.
Although there were periods of contention, the early history of tolerance created a precedent for mutual respect and coexistence. It will therefore be an unforgivable crime to introduce religious conflict to an otherwise harmonious society.
Zenawi’s external survival strategy depends on currying favor with the United States. Towards that end, he continues to fabricate intelligence reports about the danger Somali Islamists pose to Ethiopia and the United States.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister says the Somali Islamic Courts Union (ICU) is a terrorist organization that has to be stopped in its tracks. He provides no proof beyond accusations and name calling.
“I think the U.S. government panicked. They saw Islamic group; they said, ‘Taliban is coming,” said Herman Cohen, former Under Secretary of State for African Affairs, in a recent interview with Margaret Warner of PBS.
Cohen continued, “also, there are friends in the region, like the Ethiopians, who probably are feeding false intelligence about terrorists being hidden and that sort of thing…. So they want to keep the Islamists out of power, and they will bring the U.S. into it, if they can.”
Ironically, this same grandstanding Zenawi and his organization were classified as terrorists by the United States not long ago. (See, for example, US Homeland Security’s database of terrorist organizations. See also.)
Somalia’s Islamic Courts Union poses a “clear and present danger,” Ethiopia’s strong man said during a recent, carefully-orchestrated speech to his rubber-stamp parliament. Again, he provided no proof.
Many Ethiopians would beg to disagree. What poses a “clear and present danger” is a homegrown rogue minority regime that refuses to respect election results, shoots opponents at will, throws tens of thousands in jail without respect for due process of law. The “clear and present danger” comes from the ruling Tigray People’s Liberation Front that runs away from solving domestic post-election problems, pimps the country for political gain, and starts an unprovoked war with a neighboring country.
No matter how much one disagrees with the religious bent of the Islamic Courts Union, they have brought a modicum of stability to Mogadishu and other areas they control.
This is in contrast to the incompetence of the so-called Transitional Government of Somalia which has failed to show any popular support. President Abdullahi Yusuf has little credibility with his own people, spending most of his time in Ethiopia. It is reported that he has been in the service of Ethiopian security forces going at least as far back as a decade. Even his kidney operation a few years ago was paid for by Ethiopia.
A Bush administration preoccupied with Iraq appears to have decided to let Ethiopians do the fighting. US policy in Ethiopia and Somalia has been relegated to low-level, inexperienced officials.
It’s the same folks who lent American support to unsavory Somali warlords, leading to an embarrassing foreign policy debacle in June. The public face of this rookie team is Jendayi Frazer, US Assistant Secretary for African Affairs. Frazer is reportedly close to the Zenawi regime and relies heavily on the EPRDF’s self-serving intelligence feed.
Incidentally, some of the pro-US warlords may be among those responsible for the killing of US rangers during the “Blackhawk” incident.
According to a Washington Post dispatch of May 17, 2006, some of the warlords “reportedly fought against the United States in 1993 during street battles that culminated in an attack that downed two U.S. Black Hawk helicopters and left 18 Army Rangers dead.”
These warlords continue to spend a great deal of time in Addis Ababa, chewing the narcotic Khat, driving expensive cars, guzzling top-shelf whiskey and frequenting whorehouses — all courtesy of the American tax-payer.
Zenawi is eager to keep the focus away from his domestic troubles at all costs. In the past, he had no qualms sacrificing at least 50,000 Ethiopian troops during the Ethio-Ertrean war of 1998 -2000. The war was allegedly fought over a barren border area called Badme. Incomprehensibly, he was quick to give up Badme–land over which so much blood was shed. When ceding territory became domestically unpopular, he began backtracking and flip flopping, making border demarcation a permanent thorny issue that continues to this day.
Zenawi also had no problem giving orders for the shooting of civilians protesting the stealing of the 2005 elections. Over 193 civilians were murdered in broad daylight and upwards of 30,000 jailed in a post-election reign of terror, according to a commission established by the regime. Among those arrested are almost all elected leaders of the opposition party, including the mayor of Addis Ababa, human rights advocates, journalists and civic society leaders.
There is no rule of law or an independent judiciary to dispense justice. Prisoners are guilty until proven innocent. Even when the court releases prisoners the security forces rearrest them. Long imprisonment without any evidence–sometime lasting as long as 10 or 15 years-–is common.
Beyond imprisonment, the autocrat’s 15-year rule has been marred by a systemic pattern of human rights abuses and extra-judicial killings.
A few additional examples of the regime’s violent rule include the following:
At least 30 helpless prisoners in Kaliti were shot dead last year;
424 ethnic Anuaks war massacred by the Ethiopian army in 2003 to make way for oil exploration by a Malaysian company;
66 protesters were gunned down in Awassa and Addis Ababa in 2002;
40 students were murdered in 2001;
and another group of 19 students were killed in Addis Ababa in 1993.
Widespread killings and mass arrests have been common in regions inhabitted by the majority Oromos. Some 15,000 to 20,000 people have been killed in the Oromia region alone, according to a former judge who recently defected to the West. This disturbing information was revealed in a recent interview the judge, Teshale Abera, gave to the Mail and Guardian newspaper. According to the judge, Ethiopia’s current regime is as bad as the Mengistu regime it replaced.
Ethiopia is also gripped by an economic crisis, contrary to the government’s Orwellian propaganda. Regime cadres are increasingly squeezing peasants. Urban unemployment is still upwards of 50 percent. The cost of living has skyrocketed, making life unbearable for the ordinary person.
Upwards of four million Ethiopians need ongoing international food handouts. Over three million are infected with HIV/AIDS. (The only sector doing well is party-owned businesses and the few parasites that benefit from ethnic patronage.) Add to that mass arrests and the continuing intimidation of all opponents. A state of fear pervades the country. All is not well behind the façade of a few high rises that have cropped up on Bole Road.
The Bush administration has made a Faustian bargain with the Zenawi regime. It has downplayed widespread killings and egregious human rights violations in exchange for Zenawi’s services in the war against terror.
The same administration that has refused to speak up against the massacre of Ethiopians wants Ethiopia to sacrifice its sons and daughters fighting Somalis in pursuit of a big power’s muddled, questionable strategic goal.
U.S. troops stationed in Djibout and Camp Hurso in Ethiopia appear to be directly involved in the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia. The US has also been actively spreading disinformation that demonizes the Islamic Council while creating sympathy for the Ethiopian invasion. For example, the dubious document recently leaked to the media and purportedly prepared by UN experts has all the markings of a US disinformation campaign to justify a war against the Islamic Courts.
Ethiopia and Somalia are among the poorest countries in the world. Both people have experienced tremendous suffering in the last thirty years.
Where’s the morality in pitting one poor African country against another? Where is justice? Where is the morality in coddling a tyrant once labeled terrorist by the United States? Why is it acceptable for the United States to ally with a murderous regime that has massacred at least 193 civilians and arrested over 30,000 in secret concentration camps? Why is such immorality being perpetrated in the name of the war against terror?
Congressman Donald Payne said the following during a recent briefing on the situation in Ethiopia: “…During the Cold War, United States supported dictators like Mobutu and never really condemned South Africa’s apartheid government because they were anti-communists, and we were fighting the communists in the U.S. And so we’re not going to repeat those mistakes,” Payne said.
Thousands will die, tens of thousands will be maimed and millions will be made refugees. Just as in Iraq, when the mess gets to be too much to handle, the US will walk away under one pretext or another, leaving the local people holding the bag. There will be so much suffering that no amount of international handout will make a dent.
The ICU has invited the US to come to Mogadishu to engage in dialogue and observe first hand the situation on the ground. This is a good gesture that the United States and Ethiopia should take advantage of. The parties need to resolve all issues through dialogue. The misery and mayhem a new war brings, nor matter what the pretext, is not worth the cost to the people on the receiving end.
As always I fail to understand the type of language that sinks into the mind of diplomats. Against this suspicion please allow me to be straight forward. Writing course language has not been my inner self. However, appeasing the European Union (EU) is being hypocritical, hence my deliberate choice to write this harsh note. Nevertheless bound by the curtsey of civilization, I apologize in advance.
Fifty years ago and following the Auschwitz massacre, your community made a collective promise to defend democracy, human right and the rule of law in our planet. It is this community that decided to protect humanity from tyranny. It is this community that formulated international conventions and bill of rights. It is this community that colonized Africans, exploited Africa’s resources and tried to introduce western democracy. Cognizant that the community would be bound by its faith and principles, Africans believed that the EU will stand behind their quest for freedom. As good disciples many worked tirelessly to advance the cause of freedom and solicited the community’s multifaceted support. In the process thousand sacrificed their lives and millions were exposed to torture and abuse by antidemocratic forces. Even sinister African Dictators echoed the political jargons of EU and other western powers to make incalculable misery to their people through torture, genocide and ethnic and religious conflicts. In the end neither democracy nor development was achieved. Africa’s effort to bring democracy, the rule of law and respect for human rights has been an abysmal failure.
In many ways EU has contributed to the failure and to the shameful state in which Africa is in now. The causes of the failure, among others, emanates from the double standard policies pursued by EU and its member states. For example this community remained a sleeping giant while genocide, miscarriage of justice, abuse of power and torture took place at the doorsteps of its embassies. It is EU in tandem with the like minded leaders from North America that nourished tyrants with the means to ascend and cling to power. Aid and loan money has been channeled to dictators through bogus financial institutions of the IMF, WB, and UN. EU monies ‘be it budgetary or humanitarian support’ is used to buy guns and not butters to suppress democracy and abuse human rights.
What is even surprising is that EU in Brussels watched the madness of dictators with utter indifference and diplomatic jargons of restrain and containment. It is this community that shakes hands and toss diplomatic champagne with African dictators on the virtue of containment. It is this community that permitted African dictators to sit shoulder to shoulder with its diplomats and parliamentarians at EU sponsored conferences to discuss issues of human rights, sustainable development, terrorism, peace and stability. EU diplomacy seemed devoid of a moral benchmark when attending receptions and tossed friendship champagnes with tyrants. Is it not this type of negligence and double standard policy that emboldened the minds of dictators? Yes, it is this community that gave dictators a moral and physical comfort to continue the act of tyranny. For innocent Africans it is inconceivable to see a progressive institution ‘EU’ contributing to the proliferation of new breeds of dictators like Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia, Mouseveni of Uganda and Issayas of Eritrea. It is also difficult to see how EU support the creation of banana states that are breeding grounds of terrorism.
No doubt this double standard policy of the international community has given dictators a free ride to castrate democracy, and abuse human rights. Now the ghost of dictators does not only haunt the children of Africa but also has become a scarecrow for your children in Europe. So long as this community follows a diplomacy that appeases dictators, its enemies will continue to proliferate in numbers. A new addition to this is the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Somalia.
Against this background no wonder if millions of Ethiopians continue being baffled by the hypocrisy of this august community. It is no surprise if many find it difficult to count the EU as guardians of democracy and human rights. Ethiopians continue to wonder how and when EU member states who expose the atrocities and human rights abuses of dictators through their annual human rights reports would take concrete steps to standup against tyranny. After the May 2005 election many Ethiopians believed that the leaders of the EU would listen to Anna Gomez. On the contrary the EU shocked millions of Ethiopians by inviting Meles Zenawi to Brussels to lecture this grandiose community on good governance on November 17, 2006. The invitation is testimony to EU’s deliberate negligence to human rights and democracy in Ethiopia. This is an insult to the millions of democracy loving Ethiopians that aught to be condemned and not condoned. There should be no diplomatic and moral generosity of complacence to dictators.
Amidst all these Ethiopian’s hope for change is kept alive by the principled stand of EU parliamentarians including Anna Gomes et el. No doubt this gives the enthusiasm to struggle against tyranny. Sooner or later freedom will come and Anna Gomes will celebrate the triumph of democracy with Ethiopians. Those who joked on democracy with double standard diplomacy will be humiliated like a disgraced dictator. Therefore, it is incumbent on the EU to act in accordance with its charter which is based on the universality and indivisibility of human rights and the responsibility for their protection and promotion, together with the promotion of pluralistic democracy and effective guarantees for the rule of law. It is time to listen to Anna Gomez’s recommendations to do some serious business of disaster prevention in Ethiopia.
In a final note we owe congratulations to the EU for receiving the best lecture of good governance from those who do not govern but rule by the rule of the gun. Ethiopians and the rest of Africans are sure that Meles and other African leaders have succeeded in convincing you with their new paradigm that “Democracy cannot be imposed from the outsideâ€Â. This statement is a copycat slogan from the recently concluded Sino-African summit in Beijing. China has reassured African leaders that she will dance with any African leader as long as they do business with Asia’s rising tiger. Through their lectures, African dictators have made it clear that EU’s unprincipled rhetoric of democracy, human rights and rule of law has no place in Africa. It is also an indication that those dictators whom you tried to appease for over 50 years are having a super power that will help them in their own terms. Africa is gradually slipping out of the influence of your community. They believe that the international power and diplomatic alliance long held with Europe is starting to tilt to the Red East. Before this take root it is time to revisit your policy towards Ethiopia in particular and Africa in general. The time is now to choose either to be on the side of the people or be against the people of Ethiopia and the people of Africa in general.
Finally it is believed that Meles and other African leaders have given the community ‘wonderful’ lectures on governance. EU conference participants must have received baptism of the highest order from the holy water of dictatorship. Nevertheless, Ethiopians pray that your community frees itself from condescending behaviors, hypocrisy and double standard diplomatic whitewash. For God’s sake show your guardianship of democracy, human rights and rule of law today. Tomorrow is too late to everyone.
Oxfam, an international NGO, has launched a massive petition drive demanding Starbucks to allow the government of Ethiopia trademark its famous coffee bean names–Sidamo, Harar and Yirgacheffe. Starbucks then has to pay a huge amount of money in royalty fees to the government of Ethiopia for branding these names.
Oxfam argues that royalty fees from the trademark, estimated to be over $80 million per year, would go to the coffee bean growers–the poor farmers.
This is far from the truth. Most of the money would be going to close family members of Meles Zenawi and Sheik Al Amoudi who control much of the country’s agricultural, mining, transportation and other industries. The rest would go to the Federal Police and the Agazi, Meles Zenawi’s private militia.
Oxfam cannot claim to be ignorant of the fact that the Ethiopian dictatorship of Meles Zenawi is one of the most corrupt governments in the world. Just recently, when the auditor general of Ethiopia reported the misappropriation and disappearance of billions of dollars from the government’s treasury, Meles fired him, even though only the parliament has the authority to hire or fire the federal auditor.
Ethiopian farmers are poor and will stay poor as long as the parasitic dictatorship continues to deny their democratic and civil rights, brutalize them when they protest, and divide them along ethnic and religious lines, instigating communal conflicts, and spend most of the country’s resources on military, and not on education and other social services.
Oxfam’s stated goal is “to find lasting solutions to poverty, suffering and injustice.” We would like to remind Oxfam that the main source of poverty, suffering and injustice in Ethiopia is not Starbucks. It is the brutal dictatorship of Meles Zenawi. Oxfam has yet to say any thing about the brutal treatment of poor farmers, and the people of Ethiopia, in general, by the ruling Marxist junta.
Starbucks deserves credit for giving Ethiopia’s coffee the prominence it deserves in the world market. Ethiopians around the world are proud to see the names Sidamo, Harar, and Yirgacheffe in Starbucks coffee shops around the world.
Oxfam, and others who are campaigning against Starbucks, need to explain what if the coffee giant removes these names from its shops, instead of paying the $80 million, which goes to Meles Zenawi’s pocket? How would the poor farmers benefit from that?
Ethiopian Review encourages Oxfam to stand up for the poor farmers in Ethiopia who are forced to buy environmentally unsafe fertilizers from companies that are owned by families and friends of Meles Zenawi; poor farmers who have been denied their voting rights; poor farmers who are denied access to education, health, and other services.
Text of Presentation by Judge Wolde-Michael Meshesha, Vice-Chairman of the Inquiry Commission on Post-Electoral Violence
Mr. Chairman, I would have liked to come and make my presentation in person. I regret that I could not have made it.
Mr. Chairman, thank you for giving me the opportunity to share with you the work of the Inquiry Commission, which was set up to investigate the 2005 post-electoral violence in Ethiopia. I am particularly grateful for Congressman Donald Payne who initiated this briefing which I believe would help Members of Congress and friends of Ethiopian to understand the process which the Inquiry Commission followed to reach to its conclusions. It is also important what happened once the Commission completed its work. The Government of Ethiopia first attempted to suppress and then to revise the conclusions of the Commission.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, I want to tell you about my background so that you understand that members of the Commission came from different profession. I am a judge and Vice President of the Federal First Instant Court. The political crisis, which Ethiopia faced after the May 2005 parliamentary and regional elections, was marred by violence. There were protests, which resulted in violence in Addis Ababa and other parts of the country in June and November 2005.
As a result of the post-electoral crisis, many lives were lost, property was damaged and thousands of people were rounded up and detained in several remote places (military camps) without proper legal procedures. The manner in which the government handled the post election crisis was criticized. There was indeed intense international pressure on the government to set up an independent inquiry commission to look into the reaction of the security forces and the police. In response to internal and external pressures, the government enacted a law (Proclamation 478/2005), which established an independent inquiry commission. According to the proclamation, the Inquiry Commission was mandated to identify:
Whether the force used by the security forces was excessive or not;
Whether human rights in matters related to the problem was conducted in accordance with the constitution and the rule of law; and
Damage caused to life and property.
Moreover, in accordance with the proclamation, eleven members, including the Chairman and the Deputy Chairman, were appointed by Parliament as members of the commission. I joined initially the Commission as an ordinary member but after the resignation of the Deputy Chairman, I was appointed as Deputy Chairman of the Commission.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, The Commission, which was given this important task, faced serious problems before it even started its functions. Four out of the eleven members of the Commission tendered their resignation on the ground of health problems. This indeed shows the tense condition in which the Commission started its function. The remaining seven members of the Commission began their investigation at the end of January 2006. As the Commission found it difficult to pursue its task, it requested parliament to appoint new individuals in order to replace those who resigned. The newly appointed five members joined the Commission in March 2006.
The Commission, which earnestly began its activities after overcoming these hurdles, adopted code of conduct for members of the commission; voting procedure and a work plan. These were meant to help the Commission execute its tasks in an effective, transparent, and an impartial manner. The Commission also hired its own six investigators and twenty support staff, despite the suggestion of the Speaker of the House to use investigators who will be assigned to the Commission by the executive.
At the start of its work, the Commission gave a press conference and called upon the members of the general public, civil society institutions, the press and other institutions to provide any information relating to the violence. More importantly, the Commission called upon victims and families who lost their loved ones to come forward and give their testimonies. The Commission also approached different local communal institutions, which organize funeral services for urban dwellers to testify what they know about the post election violence. Moreover, the Commission interviewed those government officials who had direct and indirect connection with the incidents. Moreover, Commission members visited different prisons/military camps, which were used as detention centers during the crisis, and government hospitals. After a laborious effort, the Commission successfully concluded its investigation in June 2006.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen, The next important task of the Commission was compiling and categorizing the data, which it collected as provided in the proclamation. At this stage of the work of the Commission there were some signs of uneasiness of some government officials. There was pressure on members of the Commission who were government employees. In order to minimize government intervention and pressure, the Commission decided to hold its final deliberations and decisions out of Addis Ababa. The Commission was thus moved to Awassa, which is the capital of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples Region (SNNPR). In Awassa, the Commission used the office premises of the Supreme Court of the SNNRP. This was facilitated through the Chairman of the Commission, Frehiwot Samuel, who was also then the President of the SNNPR Supreme Court. In Awassa the Commission prepared the list of people who lost their lives (196) and those who were injured (763). It also confirmed from the data gathered the violation of the human rights of thousands of people who were rounded up from different regions.
After establishing the facts, i.e. death and injuries; and damages to property, the next task of the Commission was to decide on the crucial question of whether the government used excessive force. On the basis of the procedure of voting which we adopted initially when the commission started functioning, abstention was precluded. Before voting on the issue of excessive force every member of the Commission was required to comment on the findings of the Commission. Finally a vote was taken on the question of excessive force. The members of the Commission decide d eight to two (8-2) that the government used excessive force to control the protests. Because of the national and international significance of the investigation and also the demonstrated uneasiness of government officials about the findings of the Commission, members of the Commission agreed to document their findings on video and audio. Retrospectively speaking, putting on record the deliberations of the Commission and the voting was one of the wise decisions of the Commission. The video record clearly shows the decision of each member on the question of excessive force. In my humble opinion, this is a clear testimony of every thing that went wrong with the promises of rule of law; independence of the judiciary, and democracy in
Ethiopia. One can imagine the pressure in which members of the Commission were subjected to so that they would suppress the true findings of the Commission and present an illegal report to the Ethiopian people at the end of October 2006.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
After the Commission gave its final verdict on the question of excessive force on Monday July 3, 2006, the Commission proceeded to transcribe its deliberation on paper and write its final report. The Commission had in fact decided to present its findings to the last session of parliament on July 7, 2006 before the beginning of summer recess. This was communicated to the Speaker of the House and the presentation of the findings of the Commission was tabled as an agenda item for the last session of the Parliament.
The next day, July 4, 2006 , members of the Commission began to write the final report on a computer on the premises of the SNNPR Supreme Court. The writing of the report, however, only proceeded till midday. After a lunch break the same day, electricity was shut off in the entire town of Awassa so that we would not continue to process the report on a computer and the compound of the SNNPR Supreme Court was swarmed by plain clothed security personnel. The effort of the Chairman of the Commission to use the standby generator in the compound of the court was not successful obviously because of the intervention of the security personnel. While we were stranded on the premises of the court, the Chairman of the Commission, Ato Frehiwot Samuel was summoned to the office of the President of the Southern Region to meet some ministers who were sent from the office of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. The rest of us had to go to our hotel. Upon our return to the hotel in which we stayed for few days we learnt that it was also swarmed by plain clothed security personnel like the premises of the Supreme Court of the Southern Region.
The next day members of the Commission were told by the Chairman of the Commission that he was told by the representatives of the Prime Minister that we should not publish the report and if we proceed to publicize our findings we would face serious consequences. He also informed us that we were told to see Prime Minister Meles Zenawi at his office in Addis Ababa on July 06, 2006. Members of the Commission aware of the danger they were in, returned to Addis Ababa on July 05, 2006. On July 6, 2006 members of the Commission met the Prime Minister in his office. Mr. Zenawi who was obviously enraged by the conclusion of the Commission report sternly instructed members of the Commission to reverse their decision. He lectured us about our failure to consider the context in which force was used and ˜advised us to use the report of the Gambella Inquiry Commission as a template.
The Prime Minister also told us that if the Commission publishes its findings without revision, it would have serious implications for the country. As we were going to the meeting with the Prime Minister, we learned that the Speaker of the House, Mr. Teshome Toga had adjourned Parliament before the official date for the beginning of parliamentary recess, i.e. July 7, 2006 though the agenda for the presentation of the findings of the commission had already been published. The closing of the Parliament without receiving any report from the Commission was a deliberate contravention of the law as all the deadlines, which were given to the Commission by the Parliament, would have expired after July 2006. The action of the Prime Minister who ordered the members of the Commission to revise their report and the Speaker of the Parliament who prevented the submission of the report to Parliament not only violated the sanctity and legality of the Commission but also show the mismatch between the practices and the promises of Mr. Zenawi’s government about rule of law, transparency, and accountability.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The mandate of the Commission, which ended at the beginning of July 2006, could only be renewed by another parliamentary decision. The members of the Commission who were faced with these great difficulties contacted the Speaker of Parliament about their mandate. The Speaker told us to continue our work, revise the original decision on the basis of the instruction of the Prime Minister.
The members of the Commission who initially believed that the government was committed to the investigation process were left with two difficult choices, i.e. to revise the findings of the commission or flee the country and bring the genuine findings of the Commission, which the government was seeking to suppress to the world. Moreover, any activity of the Commission after July 7, 2006 was illegal as the Commission’s mandate has expired.
At this stage, I had known that I had to make a difficult choice. At the personal level the choice was between betraying my own conscience and fleeing out of the country with the genuine report by endangering my family and myself. After several nights of soul searching, I decided not to betray my own conscience and also the trust of several hundreds of people (victims and families of victims) who despite intense scepticism in the general public about the independence of the Commission gave their testimonies and shared their agonies sometimes by endangering themselves. That is why, despite all the risks it involved, I decided to flee, leaving my family behind in order to bring the findings of the Commission to the Ethiopian people and the international community.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Commission has overwhelmingly decided in its July 3, 2006 meeting that the security forces of the government used excessive force. The so-called report, which was released at the end of October, 2006 accused the victims for their own suffering is not only illegal but also shows the true nature of the regime in Addis Ababa. I am a judge by profession. There is one good legal principle which applies to the report which was officially released in Addis Ababa any evidence which solicited by force is inadmissible as evidence in a court of law and as such the report produced in Addis Ababa cannot be taken seriously, as the members of the Commission even those who voted on the July 3, 2006 deliberations were forced to sign on the report and appear before Parliament. The official report is indeed a clear testimony about the problem of rule of law and independence of the judiciary in my country.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Before the formation of the Commission, I was working as Vice-President of the Federal First Instant Court in Addis Ababa. I worked as a judge for 14 years believing that things would improve and the supremacy of the rule of law would gradually take root in my country whose people have suffered for many decades from lack of rule of law and state violence. But my experience as a member of the Commission starkly showed me not only the brutality in which the security forces of the government deal with any opposition but also utter lack of respect to the rule of law by officials of the government beginning from the very apex of the system.
Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,
For Ethiopia to move forward from the present standoff and to pave the way for rule of law and respect for human rights, those who were responsible for the unnecessary death of more than 196 people and the wounding of 763 people, should be held accountable. The members of the Commission, despite all the difficulties and believing that the work of the commission make important contribution to national reconciliation among the many political actors in Ethiopia. I also hope that the commission’s findings could lead to a serious reconsideration by the government about its methods of dealing with protestors and its political opponents. I still do hope that friends of Ethiopia who would like to see stability, peace, and reconciliation, and democratization would put the necessary pressure on the government in Addis Ababa for the official publication of the suppressed report and also seek ways in which those who were responsible for the death, injury and detention of innocent civilians would be held responsible.
When Mr. Hastert bottled H.R. 5680 in the International Relations Committee just before the midterm recess, most supporters of the bill were deeply disappointed, and angry. We had labored long and hard to get the bill to the floor, and done a marvelous job of generating unanimous bipartisan support for it in committee. In the eleventh hour, we found out that we had been double-crossed by Speaker Hastert.
Hastert’s action in blocking the legislation from floor action was not entirely unanticipated, but we considered his intervention so remote that we failed to develop effective counter-strategies. After all, Hastert showed no signs of opposition to the bill at any prior time, nor did he manifest the slightest interest in it until late September. Hastert gave us a September surprise.
We felt Hastert had bushwacked us, mugged us in broad daylight. But we could not figure out why he would block the bill. H.R. 5680 was ready for floor action. He could have worked with the International Relations Committee and addressed any concerns he may have had about the bill. Supporters felt betrayed. For the first time in Diaspora history, Ethiopian Americans were poised to use the American legislative process to advance the cause of human rights and democracy in their homeland; and as we hurtled to the end zone for a touchdown, we ran into a stonewall.
But we did not take it lying down. We went directly to Hastert’s constituents and made our case. They listened to us, and in less than a week we were able to enlist the support of local evangelical, civic and media leaders. The heat was on! Hundreds of telephone calls poured into Hastert’s Hill office from the 14th Congressional district. His staffers were amazed, but not amused, by the ferocity of our grassroots efforts.
As Congress recessed for the midterm elections, we had made extensive plans to undertake grassroots work in Hastert’s backyard with support from key individuals in the local media, academic institutions, churches and synagogues and civic institutions. We were ready to take on the Speaker; but we did not have to: Divine intervention was to deliver Hastert an October surprise. Within days of sabotaging H.R. 5680, “Stonewall†Hastert, principal linebacker for Zenawi’s regime, was himself backed into a corner with the Mark Foley scandal. He had apparently been coddling a pedophile who preyed on Congressional pages (high school students who serve as messengers for members).
Early in the Hastert controversy, I had a chance encounter with an elderly lady who tried to cheer me up after listening to my tales of woe over the recent turn of events in Hastert’s office. Her words proved prophetic: “ayozoh lije, gid yelem, yeEtiopia amlak yikeflewal.†(It’s alright my son, the God of Ethiopia will hold him accountable.â€Â) What a difference a few weeks can make! And how the God of Ethiopia has worked in mysterious ways!
In a speech I gave at the University of California, Los Angeles on September 16, 2006, the premier of Obang Metho’s documentary “Betrayal of Democracy,†I urged supporters of H.R. 5680 to shout a great shout around the U.S. Congress, like Joshua’s army fighting the Battle of Jericho, and bring down the walls of DLA Piper lobbyists. And we made a great shout on the Hill, and thank God, our mighty adversaries — those on the Hill and their lackeys peddling influence on the Hill– have fallen down like the walls of Jericho.
Mr. Hastert is now history, repudiated by the American people. Mr. Armey and the whole lot of parasitical lobbyists of his ilk that thrive on the misery and suffering of poor countries like Ethiopia will now be forced to seek a more humane line of work.
But we are the survivors. We are still here, strong and determined than ever, to make history.
Lessons to be learned…
There are many lessons to be learned from the 2006 midterm elections. What the American people did on November 7 is not unlike what the Ethiopian people did on May 15, 2005. They did major house cleaning (no pun intended). After 12 years in power, the Republicans had grown arrogant, disdainful and imperious. Corruption was rampant among some of their members, and a number of their senior lawmakers were selling influence, taking bribes, engaged in sexual debauchery and all sorts of other unethical and immoral conduct. In the end, the Republican House was sending a steady supply of its convicted members to the jail house, or the Big House.
Lesson #1: When the Republicans launched their revolution in 1994, the Democrats had held control of Congress for nearly four decades, and in the end they had fallen from grace. In their “Contract With America,†Republicans promised greater fiscal responsibility, middle class tax relief, legal reform, enhanced national security and many other things. But after only 12 years of controlling the legislative branch of government, the Republicans had abused their power and the trust of the American people. The American people said: “It is time to throw out the rascals!†And a boatload of Republicans was thrown out, and President Bush magnanimously admitted: “We got thumped, it’s time, let’s go.â€Â
In May 2005, Ethiopians voted for fundamental change in their system of governance. They wanted to sweep out 14 years of EPDRF mismanagement. 14 years of misrule. 14 years of misgovernment. 14 years of malfeasance. And 14 years of corruption. And when they voted with a 90 per cent turn out, they thought they had thrown out the EPDRF rascals, given them a good “thumping.†But the rascals would not accept the verdict of the people. Instead, they jailed the opposition leaders for having won the election fair and square. The lesson for Zenawi and company is that when you are repudiated by the people, you graciously accept your fate and work to create an atmosphere of bipartisanship for the good of the country. Even die-hard communist and socialists have figured this one out. Just this week Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, leader of the Sandanista socialist revolution in the 1980s, won the presidential election after 16 years of conservative rule. Zenawi and his party have a great opportunity to do the right thing. Acknowledge the people’s verdict of May 2005. Be magnanimous. Step aside, become part of the loyal opposition, and give the opposition a run for their money in the next election.
Lesson #2: Abe Lincoln was right: You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time. After 12 years of Republican control of national government, the American people were tired of being fooled. They had enough of the lies and deceptions, and the diversionary tactics and campaign tricks of Karl Rove. In the end, the Republicans could not fool anybody, except themselves. The jig was up! The outcome is no different for Mr. Zenawi: The jig was up for him in May, 2005.
As country folks like to say: “You can’t fool nobody, no more, no how.†Sure, you can arrest your opponents, jail them, torture them, exile them, whatever. You can terrorize and make the lives of ordinary Ethiopians hell. But despite your army, your money and you influence, there is one thing you can’t and will never be able to do: Fool the Ethiopian people anymore. They know who you are!
Lesson #3: The imperative of democracy is that you must accept the judgment of the people. When the American people voted for the Republicans in 1994 and elected President Bush in a tightly contested race in 2000, they made a decision. Americans who did not support President Bush accepted the verdict of the razor thin majority that elected President Bush along with the electoral college system that made it possible for the candidate with the fewer number of popular votes to win over the candidate who had the most popular votes.
Strange things happen in the polling booths. Things like people getting disgusted with the way their leaders exercise political power and authority. Americans struck back and withdrew their consent on November 7. But Republicans did not see it coming, or were blinded by their own arrogance. They got zapped by the people, and they will have many years to pay the price of their arrogance.
Well, strange things also happened to Zenawi and company in May, 2005. Ethiopian voters went to the polls and said: “We don’t want you. We want the opposition.†Very simple and clear message.
The lesson for Zenawi and company is that when you play by democratic rules, you always take a chance. If you have not been doing a good enough job while in power, you get “thumped.†Zenawi and his EPDRF party should understand that a thumped party is a dumped party. Their best option is to accept the fact that they have been rejected by the people, and organize to win the next election. That is what the Republicans will do, and that’s the price you pay in a democratic system when you lose an election.
Lesson #4: Democracy is a funny thing: When you thumb your nose at the people, exploit and oppress them, mistreat and terrorize them and violate the very rights guaranteed them in the Ethiopian Constitution, they grow weary and impatient. Americans learned the lesson of tyrannical abuse of power in their struggle for independence. Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence:
* But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security… The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world….â€Â
Ethiopians can do better, and bring about a just and fair society through democratic and peaceful means. They are ready, willing and able to do so. In May 2005, they demonstrated their ability and readiness to engage in democratic selfgovernance beyond a shadow of a doubt. Ninety percent of the eligible voters turned out and said: “Meles, EPDRF and the whole lot of you, you gotta go!†Let the people’s decision stand, and Zenawi and his party stand down.
Lesson #5: There comes a time in all human events when enough is enough. That time came for the Republicans on November 7, 2006. They lost their way after 12 years of controlling Congress, and now they must find their way back to the political wilderness.
For Zenawi and the EPDRF, enough was enough on May 15, 2005. Zenawi and the EPDRF have lost their vision, if they ever had one. Ethiopia remains at the bottom of the list on indicators of human rights, democracy and economic development. Famine, HIV and other plagues menace the country year after year. Our youth wander aimlessly and hopelessly. The rich get richer and the poor are reduced to subhuman levels of existence. Government officials and their cronies line their pockets and accumulate wealth while young people are executed in the streets like wild animals. Dissidents and ethnic minorities are massacred and
persecuted. Mr. Zenawi: ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!
On November 7, 2006, the American people spoke. And Mr. Hastert got the message: “It’s time to pack it up and go.†So, “Farewell, Mr. Hastert, Good Bye, Mr. Armey!†And Mr. Zenawi: If you are listening to the voice of your people which still echoes from May 15, 2005: The jig is up! “You got thumped, it’s time, let’s go.†So long!
NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct. 18, 2006 — (AP) Ethiopian security forces massacred 193 people _triple the official death toll _ during anti-government protests following elections last year, a senior judge appointed to investigate the violence said Wednesday.
Unarmed protesters were shot, beaten and strangled to death, said Wolde-Michael Meshesha, who was vice chairman of a government-backed inquiry but said he has fled the country after receiving threats. He said he believed the Ethiopian government was trying to cover up the findings.
Ethiopian officials refused to comment on the claims.
“This was a massacre,” Wolde-Michael said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “These demonstrators were unarmed yet the majority died from shots to the head.”
“There is no doubt that excessive force was used,” said Wolde-Michael, who left the country last month after receiving anonymous death threats, leaving his wife and five daughters behind. He is now claiming asylum in Europe and would not disclose his exact whereabouts out of fear for his safety.
Last year’s elections were followed by a government crackdown on its opposition and increasing questions about its commitment to democracy.
A draft of the inquiry team’s report, which was to have been presented to the Ethiopian parliament in early July and has since been obtained by the AP, says among those killed were 40 teenagers, including a boy and a girl, both 14. The two were fatally shot.
Six policemen were also killed in the June and November 2005 riots, bringing the overall death toll to 199. Some 763 people were injured, the report adds. Wolde-Michael says the figures could be higher because many people were too afraid to speak out.
The government claimed at the time that 35 civilians and seven police were killed in November and that in June, 26 people were killed.
Ana Gomes, who was the European Union’s chief observer during the May 2005 elections, told the AP the report “exposes the lie” that the Ethiopian government is moving toward democracy.
“It is time the EU and U.S. realize that the current regime in Ethiopia is repressing the people because it lacks democratic legitimacy and is actually weak,” she said by e-mail after reading the report. “It is driving Ethiopia to more poverty, conflict and war.”
Wolde-Michael and the other commissioners spent six months interviewing more than 600 people, including Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, police officers, witnesses, and other government officials.
According to Wolde-Michael, Meles said he did not authorize police to use live bullets.
The inquiry’s mandate was to determine whether excessive force was used. In early July, shortly before completing its report, the team held a vote and ruled eight to two that excessive force was used.
The vote and comments of the commission members were recorded on video, a copy of which has also been obtained by the AP.
“Many people were killed arbitrarily,” said inquiry chairman and supreme court judge Frehiwot Samuel, who is also believed to have fled Ethiopia, was heard saying on the video. “Old men were killed while in their homes and children were also victims of the attack while playing in the garden.”
An Ethiopian Orthodox priest, Estatiose Gebrekristos, was recorded as saying, “Based on my eyes, ears and knowledge the actions taken were 100 percent wrong.”
But two of the commission members said the government responded appropriately.
“I consider the motives of the protesters was to overthrow the government,” Elias Redman, vice president of the Ethiopian Islamic Affairs Council, said on the video. “I therefore fully support the action taken by the police.”
The prime minister said at the time that demonstrators were trying to overthrow his government in an Ukraine-style revolution. Prior to the unrest he had banned all demonstrations and announced on state television he had put security forces under his direct control.
Wolde-Michael, who was appointed a judge by the current government in 1994, said the inquiry team came under intense pressure once the ruling party learned of its findings.
Electricity to their offices was cut and at one point their office was surrounded by security forces, he said. The team was also summoned by the prime minister, two days before the report was to be released, and told to reverse its findings, Wolde-Michael added.
Wolde-Michael said police records he saw showed 20,000 people were rounded up during the anti-government protests.
Of them more than 100 opposition leaders, journalists and aid workers are on trial for treason and attempted genocide.
Meles was once thought to be one of Africa’s more progressive leaders. However his reputation suffered in the aftermath of the elections. The EU and U.S. Carter Center expressed serious concerns over the vote.
In January of this year, Britain withheld $87 million in aid because of concerns about the government’s handling of the unrest.
Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, and more than half of its 77 million people live on less than $1 a day.
