By Richard Dowden
Meles Zenawi is the cleverest and most engaging Prime Minister in Africa – at least when he talks to visiting outsiders. When he speaks to his fellow Ethiopians, he is severe and dogmatic. But he entertains western visitors with humour and irony, deploying a diffident, self-deprecating style which cleverly conceals an absolute determination to control his country and its destiny, free of outside interference.
He was one of four African presidents to be invited to the Camp David G8 meeting last weekend. The aid donors love Meles. He is well-informed, highly numerate and focused. And he delivers. Ethiopia will get closer to the Millennium Development Goals than most African countries. The Ethiopian state has existed for centuries and it has a bureaucracy to run it. So the aid flows like a river, nearly $4 billion a year. And Meles is the United States’ policeman in the region with troops in Somalia and Sudan. He also enjoys a simmering enmity with his former ally, now the bad boy of the region, President Isias Afwerke of Eritrea. “It’s Mubarak syndrome,” a worried US diplomat told me. “We only talked to Mubarak about Egypt’s role in the region, never about what was happening inside Egypt. It’s the same with Ethiopia.”
In the 2005 election when the opposition won the capital, Addis Ababa, and claimed to have won nationally, the government arrested its leaders and tried them for treason. Some were imprisoned, others fled into exile. Now with 99.6% of the vote, the ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has created a virtual one party state. In an interview last week Meles told me he did not know of a single village in the whole country that voted for the opposition.
This is subtle totalitarianism, dubbed ‘Authoritarian Developmentalism’ by some. If you do what the government says, you get assistance – land, water, services. If you don’t, you get nothing. The basic principles of political freedom enshrined in the constitution are frequently undermined by subtle edicts from government departments. Press freedom is clearly spelt out and recently a minor ruling stated that printers must take responsibility for everything they publish and can refuse to print anything the government might consider illegal. Hardly a devastating blow to press freedom you might think until you discover that the only presses in Ethiopia capable of printing newspapers are government-owned.
Meles’ remarkable achievement since he took power in 1991 has been to attract foreign companies to Ethiopia through a policy of low taxes and a free hand. Growth has been between 8 and 11 percent over the past eight years thanks to the private sector (both western and eastern.) The economy has doubled over the last five years. Meles is rushing to develop the country as fast as he can. Using the Chinese model he has attracted foreign investors to develop agriculture and manufacturing. As he told me: “The criticism we had in the past was that we were crazy Marxists. Now we are accused of selling the family spoons to foreigners. It’s a balance.”
Meles has leased more than 4 million hectares of land to foreign or domestic companies to grow food or flowers. And to provide them with water and power he has built dams which he says are environmentally much better than power stations since they are built in gorges with little water loss through evaporation. But it is not a completely free market solution. There are government monopolies in banking and telecoms. Nor will the government give people title deeds. All land is state owned. Meles has made it clear he will keep it that way.
“Have we created a perfect democratic system? No it’s a work in progress. Are we running as fast as our legs will carry us? Yes. And it’s not just Addis but also the most remote areas. Unlike previous governments we have really created a stable country in a very turbulent neighbourhood. Our writ runs in every village. That never happened in the history of Ethiopia. The state was distant, irrelevant.”
He fiercely defends his policies, in the face of Western NGO criticism, that this development is environmentally unsound and indigenous people have been removed forcibly from their land. He insists that in every case they were consulted, dismissing a report by the Oakland Institute in the US which said people had been forcibly removed as “bullshit”. When I suggest that pastoralists should be allowed to continue their nomadic way of life, he says I am a romantic westerner. But he adds that it is their right to continue their way of life.
It is the same with the politics. Having taken power by force in 1991 and coming from a minority, Meles created a safety valve by writing into the constitution the right of every “nation” in Ethiopia to declare independence. Whenever there are local political problem he re-asserts that right to leave but it is unlikely the clause will ever be put to the test through a referendum.
The current trouble spot is the southern region of Gambela where land has been given to agricultural businesses. Meles is defensive about reports of recent forced removals. “We are making sure that the Gambela people are settled and have land and that young people can go to farms not as guards but as farmers,” he said, assuring me that the people who have been moved were consulted. Only when all those in the region who want to work have jobs will other workers be recruited from other parts of Ethiopia.
Is the Meles plan for rapid, state directed capitalism working? At the recent World Economic Forum meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa earlier this month, criticism came, not from western NGOs , but from China, Ethiopia’s closest ally. Gao Xiqing of the China Investment Forum, warned Meles: “Do not necessarily do what we did”. Policies of “sheer economic growth” should be avoided, he said. “We now suffer pollution and an unequal distribution of wealth and opportunities… You have a clean sheet of paper here. Try to write something beautiful.”
Has any Chinese official ever publically criticised an African leader in such terms before?
And some foreign investors are not happy either. They have driven Ethiopia’s growth but now the government and Ethiopian firms are desperate for a greater slice of the profits. Flower and horticultural companies have been suddenly ordered by the government to only use Ethiopian companies for packing their produce, transporting it to Addis Ababa airport from where only the state-owned Ethiopian Airlines must be hired to fly it to Europe. As the distraught owner of one of the biggest flower farms told me last week: “Ethiopia does not have such companies yet”. But if they refuse, their licences will be withdrawn. It appears that having lured foreign businesses into Ethiopia, the government is now tying them down and taking their profits.
Meles is caught in a bind, under pressure on several fronts with problems that economic growth may not solve. Inflation is coming down but has been running at almost 50 percent. Everyone I spoke with in Ethiopia said that the cost of living was the highest they had ever known. There is real hardship among the poor as the staple grain in Ethiopia, teff, has quadrupled in price recently. The universities are pouring out graduates but there are few jobs. One recent graduate I spoke with said she was one of about 10 out of more than 100 in her class who had a job. The government’s hope is that it can grow the economy even faster. It is promising mining as the next bonanza and Meles hinted last week that oil has been discovered.
But this is the scenario he may soon be facing: a mass of urban poor hurt by the price rise of the staple food and large numbers of educated but unemployed urban youth. Sounds familiar? The Arab Spring was watched closely by Ethiopians. And, it appears Meles senses it is coming. He told the World Economic Forum meeting: “The going is going to get tough so Ethiopia needs a tough leader, a leader prepared to say no. You can’t please everyone.”
Richard Dowden is Director of the Royal African Society and author of Africa; altered states, ordinary mircles.
By Alemayehu Fentaw
Ethiopia has been swept by Islamic protests in opposition to what the Muslim community calls government-sponsored propagational activities of the little-known Islamic sect known as Al-Ahbash throughout the country and the suspension of the Addis Ababa-based Awaliya Islamic Institute on alleged grounds of promoting Salafism or Wahhabism. A large number of protesters have been detained and some have been met with deadly force by security forces. The Security forces have reportedly killed four and injured ten Muslims during a confrontation after Friday prayers in Assassa town.[1]
The protesters also accuse the Government of Ethiopia of hijacking the Islamic Affairs Supreme Council, or the Majlis. For the protesters, the Majlis has been a puppet of the government with striking parallels to the Holy Synod and Patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, which proved to be totally subservient. They are demanding to replace the current members of the Majlis by their true representatives through free and fair elections. They are also demanding that the elections should be held in the city’s mosques rather than in the Kebeles, the lower level local government structure, as suggested by the Government.[2]
Islam in Ethiopia
The historical trajectory of Islam in Ethiopia is interesting. For one thing, Islam has a remarkably long history and as such has co-existed with Christianity for much of the country’s history. For another, people converted and reconverted to Islam with much ease in much of Ethiopia for as long as Islam’s history. Islam came to Ethiopia in the year 615 in virtue of the first Hijra with the arrival of the Suhaba, who were at risk of persecution by the Quraysh, on Ethiopian soil following the advice of Prophet Muhammed who instructed them to seek asylum in the Kingdom of Aksum, where a “righteous king would give them protection.”[3] The co-existence and intermingling has remarkably contributed to the culture of inter-faith tolerance among Muslims, Christians, and Jews, which is absent in other parts of the world.
As one of the oldest recipients of Islam, Ethiopia has a significant Muslim community. Although there is a general culture of inter-faith tolerance, the relation between State and Islam had been tenuous. Historically, the Muslim community was disfranchised, particularly in the Christian highlands, as it was excluded from the traditional land-holding system. The Solomonoid emperors considering themselves as lord-protectors of the monophysite faith, i.e., Orthodox Christianity, ignominiously marginalized the Muslim community, thereby relegating them to second-class citizenship.
Despite for a few instances of the rise of Islamic militancy in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries led by Ahmad Badlay, Sabradin, and Ahmed Gran, there has been a long tradition of Islam/Christian tolerance and mutual co-existence for much of the country’s history. In connection with the Yifat under Sabradin, Harold G. Marcus writes, “By the late 1320s, exploiting a decade of royal neglect, Sabradin of Yifat confidently organized a united Muslim front composed of peoples dissatisfied with Christian domination and tired of paying heavy taxes. In 1332, Sabradin declared a holy war against the Solomonic state, invaded its territory, destroyed churches, and forced conversions to Islam.”[4]
The response organized by Amda Siyon to the jihad declared by Sabradin of Yifat was an all-out war. In the words of Marcus:
Calling up troops from all over his empire, Amda Siyon led a bloody campaign against Yifat and its allies. He even took the battle to the lowlands, where imperial armies rarely went, and he lost many soldiers to desertion, disease, and thirst. Still, the king went on, determined once and for all to end the Muslim threat and to replace local governments with imperial officials. He led his forces brilliantly, feinting here, probing there, attacking the weakest units in the Muslim federation, and never permitting his enemy to counter in a mass attack. Pushing his army to the limits of its strength, he even outmaneuvered an enemy that contained units of highly mobile, if fractious, nomads. It was a magisterial effort by a charismatic and resourceful man who also had mastered and united an empire around him. His great victory carried the frontier of Christian power into the Awash valley and beyond.[5]
The next serious Islamic threat to the Christian Kingdom was posed by Ahmad Badlay of Adal. According to Harold Marcus, “The Adal became particularly worrisome in the late 1430s under Ahmad Badlay, an ambitious and ardent leader who exemplified the increasingly militant nature of Ethiopian Islam. Between 1443 and 1445, he directed harsh, if intermittent, campaigns in Ethiopia’s largely Muslim-inhabited provinces before falling in battle in Dawaro.” [6]
Yet the most serious Islamic threat was not to come until the rise of Ahmad Gran in respect of whom Marcus writes, “Adal’s savior was to be Ahmad ibn Ibrihim al-Ghazi (1506-1543), known to the Ethiopians as Ahmad “Gran” (the “left-handed”). He soldiered for Sultan Jared Abun of Adal (r. ca. 1522-1525), who during his few years of power sought to impose Islamic puritanism on his fractious people. The righteous road appealed to the pious Ahmad, who was raised by his devout kin in Jeldesa, one of the major oases along the trading route to Zeila. Although his Islam was the most rigorous and doctrinaire, deeply influenced by the discipline of the desert, it was tempered by an understanding of commerce.”[7]
In addition, it is important to note that forced conversion was brought to bear upon the Muslim community. The post Zemene-Mesafint (Era of Princes) period saw the same tendency, as the empire -building process started off by Emperor Tewodros. Boru Meda Council is a case in point for which Emperor Yohannes IV had been hailed as a ‘saint-hero’. According to Donald Levine, “The spread of Christianity and Islam established other kinds of ties. Although conversions were sometimes secured by force, notably in the reigns of Zera Ya’iqob in the 1450s and Yohannes IV in the 1870s and during the jihad of the 1530s, more typically they came about peacefully, through channels opened up by traders and by the need for diplomatic alliances.”[8] Commenting on the Christian/Islam relations, Levine writes, “Relations between the two groups of religionists have often been antagonistic, particularly since the sixteenth century, but there have been numerous kinds of accommodation between them. Since both Islam and Christianity in Ethiopia have been highly syncretistic, moreover their followers have not found it impossible to join in common religious observances.”[9] The empire-building process called not just for the reconciliation of the prevalent doctrinal differences within the established Orthodox Christian church, but also for the unification of faith by stamping Islam out of the face of the Christian empire.[10] Nevertheless, while Emperor Menelik II, following his campaign to Harar, called upon both Muslims and Christians to coexist peacefully, Emperor Haile Selassie recognized Sharia courts.
The Ethiopian Muslim community belongs to Sunni Islam mixed with Sufi tradition, following one of the three Islamic Schools of Jurisprudence (Madh’habs). To wit: (1) the Shafi, (2) Hanafi; and (3) Maliki.[11] Little is known about the 4th Sunni Islamic School of Jurisprudence, namely the Hanbali, in Ethiopia to date. The long de facto existence of Shaira courts in Ethiopia has been accorded legal recognition in 1942 with promulgation of the Proclamation for the Establishment of Kadis’ Courts. This proclamation legitimized the competence of Islamic courts in matters relating to marriage, divorce, gifts, succession and will. It provides that “any question regarding marriage, divorce, maintenance, guardianship of minors and family relationship provided that the marriage to which the question relates was concluded in accordance with Mohammedan law or when the parties are all Mohammedans shall fall under the jurisdiction of the Shari’a courts.” It further stipulates that the government will appoint the judges including the chief Kadi who was invested with a number of prerogatives ranging from working-out procedures and rendering final decisions in his appellate jurisdiction to attachment and execution. In 1944, the Kadis and Naiba Councils Proclamation No. 62/1944 was promulgated, repealing the earlier proclamation. Under the new proclamation, Shari’a courts were re-established and a new set of courts were introduced. Pursuant to this proclamation, there are three sets of Islamic courts: (1) the Naiba Council; (2) Courts of the Kadis’ Council, and (3) the Courts of Shariat.[12]
However, in 1960 a Western-based Civil code was enacted which purports to repeal Islamic law.[13] Despite the sweeping thrust of the repeal provision, Shari’a courts remain intact and kept on functioning and applying their law independent of the regular state court structure. “The Code” Abdulmalik writes, “remained a purely theoretical work devoid of real value in respect to those matters governed by the Sharia rules despite the fact that those matters were supposed to be ruled by the civil code which automatically would have brought the abrogation of the Sharia’a rules by virute of Art. 3347 (1)” [14]
Nevertheless, since 1995, the new Ethiopian Constitution has extended recognition to the independent validity of Islamic law and the competence of Islamic courts to adjudicate cases concerning personal and family law. In order to execute this constitutional provision the House of Peoples’ Representatives has enacted proclamation No. 188/1999.
Are the Islamists Coming?
So what are the root-causes of the current Islamic upheavals in Ethiopia? What accounts for this phenomenon? Are the Islamists coming? If we are going to fully account for this phenomenon, I believe we need to have a full grasp of both the internal and international factors at play, but that cannot be done within the scope of such a brief paper as this. Given the limitations, what I can do is offer an all-too-sketchy outline of the possible explanations from the viewpoint of domestic as well as international politics.
In domestic politics, the introduction of ethnic federalism has resulted in what I might call, to borrow an expression from Milan Kundera, ‘the unbearable lightness of being’ Ethiopian. Therefore, the inevitable undesired consequence of the constitutional enshrinement of Identity Politics, which extended recognition to ethnic and religious identities in that country rooted in historical interpretations about the marginalisation of non-Amharas and non-Christians (esp. Muslims) by the state, gave rise to the radicalization of particularistic identities such as being Oromo and Muslim to the detriment of universalistic identities like being Ethiopian. In Economics there’s an apt term for this, i.e., spillover effect. The Islamic revivalism of the past two decades is nothing but the logical outcome of the rise of identity politics in the political landscape, but the radicalization is the spillover effect. According to Jon Abbink, “The ‘quest for identity’ is an expression that can be applied to the efforts of Ethiopian Muslims to be recognized, to organize, and to raise their position in the country towards parity with the Christians.” [15]
In international affairs, the US war on terror, and esp. Ethiopia’s position as a key partner in the war on terror, coupled with its legitimate national security concerns vis-a-vis Al-Shabab in Somalia, has placed Ethiopia not only in the unenviable position of desiring to keep extremist elements at bay abroad (across its international frontiers), but also of countering the growing influence of Wahabism at home. Most recently, fear that the Islamists are coming has spread widely due to the rise of Islamist groups in the wake of the Arab Spring, thereby creating a further opportunity for regional leaders such as Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia to play their role in keeping Islamic fundamentalism in check. However, what complicates such efforts at analyses is that given Meles Zenawi’s squalid human rights track record, it is hard to rule out the possibility that he might be capitalizing on his international role and thereby engaging in diversionary tactics from domestic politics, and hence garner American support that he could not otherwise achieve.
Having said that, it has to be noted that different governmental actors have been engaged in misguided efforts to counter the growing Wahabi influence in Ethiopia. The first actor is the Government of Ethiopia (GoE). GoE through, more particularly, its Ministry of Federal Affairs, in joint cooperation with the Islamic Affairs Supreme Council or Majlis, has launched, since July 2011, nation-wide trainings and workshops on peace and religious tolerance targeting the Muslim community. The first training was delivered on the campus of Haramaya University. The Ministry of the Federal Affairs is said to have allocated more than 11,000,000 Ethiopian Birr or 800, 000 USD) for the program. The trainers came from the HQs of the Al-Ahbash in Beirut. Worst of all, the Ministry of Federal Affairs’ continued public engagement in promoting Al-Ahbash at the expense of the traditional sects of the Sunni Islam prevalent in Ethiopia such as Hannafi and Maliki, in clear contravention of the constitutional principle of secularism, which turned out to be unacceptable to the Muslim community, will be seen as an encroachment.
The involvement of the Ministry of Federal Affairs as well as the Regional State Governments has done harm. Both USG and GoE have failed to comply with the ‘Do No Harm’ principle of conflict prevention and resolution. As a result, the harm has already been done. The principle of ‘Do No Harm’ imposes minimum obligations on all actors, including donors, not to do harm during intervention in situations of fragility and conflicts. Donors must ensure that they “do no harm” and consider both the intended and unintended consequences of their interventions. Therefore, it would be the responsibility of the governments of both the US and Ethiopia to undo the harm already done.
Another source of interference is the Government of the United States (USG) if the diplomatic cables that came out of the US embassy in Addis Ababa ending up in wikileaks are credible enough to deserve our attention. Recent wikileaked cables have made the security concerns crystal-clear and confirmed ongoing public diplomacy as well as cultural programming efforts sponsored by Embassy Addis Ababa. Three wikileaked diplomatic cables, created on 2009-07-15, and released, on 2011-08-30, originating from Embassy Addis Ababa, entitled, Growing Wahabi Influence in Ethiopia – Amhara Region and the “Jama Negus Mosque”, Wahabism in Ethiopia as “Cultural Imperialism” and Countering Wahabi Influence in Ethiopia Through Cultural Programming discuss Wahabism at length.
According to the first cable, “The newly appointed Council [Majlis] is decidedly anti-Wahabi and speaks openly of their concern about Wahabi missionaries and their destabilizing influence in Ethiopia.”[16] The same cable also elucidates on the causes of intra-Muslim conflicts in the following terms, “Conflicts within the Muslim community have also arisen over control of mosques, which imams should be allowed to preach, and over control of Islamic education. The IASC [Majlis] wants to build an Ethiopian Muslim theological school so that young Ethiopian men will not have to go to the Middle East to study in preparation for becoming Imams, as they must now. These young men are increasingly studying in Saudi Arabia due to the generous scholarships and subsidies available there, and when they return to Ethiopia to take up their posts in new Saudi-funded mosques, they continue to receive subsidies from Saudi Arabia or Islamic NGOs. Unfortunately, the Sufi-dominated Muslim community in Ethiopia does not have sufficient funds to start their own theological school, nor can they counter the financial advantage Wahabis have in Ethiopia.”[17] It is also interesting to note that the same cable attempts to answer the question of why the US should care about Wahabism in Ethiopia. Elaborating on this question, it takes cognizance of the prevalence of a culture of inter-faith tolerance among the three Abrahamic religions of the country, namely Islam, Christianity, and Judaism as a result of mutual co-existence and the tradition of tolerance in Sufism. The cable claims, however, that “With the advent of Wahabism in Ethiopia, however, this delicate balance is in danger of being upset.”[18] It goes on to claim that “Conflicts have begun first within the Muslim community, but have also begun to spread out to include Christian groups as Wahabis seek to assert themselves on college campuses and in smaller towns outside the capital. The threat of inter-communal conflict in Ethiopia between Muslims and Christians, as well as between Muslims themselves, can only give a foothold and operating space to Salafist and extremist groups that might seek to exploit the situation.”[19] The cable asserts that “In a shift from past practice, the IASC is now completely purged of Wahabi members. …the Council members acknowledged that the Council is now all Sufi and in their public statements they repeatedly make reference to Ethiopia’s tradition of religious tolerance and co-existence with the Christian communities. As the Ethiopian government appoints the members of the Islamic Council, it is clear that the GoE shares this concern about growing Wahabi influence and is supporting moderate Muslim leaders in trying to counter that influence.”[20]
At the risk of stating the obvious, it has to be emphasized that it is the Ethiopian Government that has the power to appoint members of the Islamic Council or Majlis that expelled those members whom it thinks were Wahabis. And nowhere is US security interests in the Horn of Africa made clearer than in the second cable, in which Embassy Addis Ababa admits, “Ethiopia’s delicate Muslim/Christian balance and historic attitudes between the faith communities regarding tolerance and mutual respect are being challenged, thereby undermining U.S. interests in the region.”[21] Besides, what can be gathered from the forgoing is the concurrence between USG and GFDRE on the growing Wahabi influence in Ethiopia as not only a national and regional security threat, but also with repercussions to Pax Americana and the need to counter it. And the first cable concludes “Post believes there are ways to counter this growing influence through aggressive cultural programming, as will be outlined in the second and third parts of this series.” But, what does this “aggressive cultural programming” consist in?
The third cable describes the said cultural programming as three-pronged, namely: places, objects, and traditions as they relate to indigenous Muslim communities. The strategy centering on conserving Islamic places, objects, and restoring Ethiopia’s unique Islamic traditions is manifested through preserving its shrines, literature, and rituals as well as providing materials written by Muslim authors that support a more orthodox interpretation of Islam in local languages. This strategy of countering Wahabi influence through cultural programming has been done through such grants and programs as the Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation (AFCP) grant to restore the Sheikh Hussein Shrine in Bale, the Jama Negus Mosque in Wello, the Teferi Mekonnen Palace in Harar, and the Muhammad Ali House in Addis Ababa; Public Affairs Section (PAS) grant to establish an ‘Islamic Manuscript Preservation Center’ at the Teferi Mekonnen Palace in Harar, to the Institute of Ethiopian studies (IES) to purchase several Ethiopian Orthodox icons and Islamic manuscripts that were in danger of leaving the country, to the American Friends of the IES to pay for materials that will be used for the storage and preservation of Islamic manuscripts in Addis Ababa and for teaching Ethiopian experts how to process them, to a U.S. Fulbright Scholar to do an assessment of over 1,000 Islamic manuscripts in Harar and develop a work plan for establishing the Center there; and a PAS grant to send a group of three Harari experts to the Foxfire Fund in Mountain View, Georgia, to learn about developing an oral history program for high school students, and finally providing two books written by a Muslim-American scholar (‘The Place of Tolerance in Islam’ and ‘The Great Theft,’ both by Khaled Abou el-Fadl) in the local languages of Amharic, Oromifa, and Somali.[22]
Two earlier wikileaked cables, created on 2008-11-26, and released on 2011-08-26, confirm that the Embassy’s efforts at having Khalid Abou el-Fadl’s books entitled, ‘The Place of Tolerance in Islam’ and ‘The Great Theft’, translated into Amharic and Oromiffa by Ethiopian Islamic scholars fell through, “because no Muslim translator in Ethiopia is willing to do it fearing Wahabi pressure.” Strange enough, however, the Oromiya Bureau of Culture offered the services of his office to translate and distribute both these books.[23]
Recall also that recently wikileaked diplomatic cables expose how Ethiopian security forces planted 3 bombs that went off in Addis Ababa on September 16, 2006 and then blamed Eritrea and the Oromo Liberation Front for the blasts in a case that raises serious questions about the claims made about the abortive terrorist plot targeting the African Union summit to be held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.[24] By extension, it is not as yet clear about the Khawarij killings that took place in Jimma a few years back. Even if conflicts have arisen between the Wahabis and the Sufis, it has only been very much localized. What I find to be worrisome is the government’s tendency to blow the threat out of proportions. Just a few years back, the ‘T’ word was ‘Khawarij’, now it is replaced by ‘Wahabi’ and ‘Salafi’. It is all the more perplexing to me that in a country such as Ethiopia where the Muslim population is roughly equal with Christians and there isn’t any advocacy for forming an Islamic political party, let alone an existing organized Islamic party vying for public office, how demands for autonomy in religious affairs and governmental non-interference can be construed as a political movement. The declared disavowal of the Muslim community of violence and adherence to non-violent means in its protests so far demonstrate that fear of Islamic threats to Ethiopia is only a figment of Meles Zenawi’s imagination.
In view of the foregoing and its past practice, it seems to me that most of the allegations made by the Government of Ethiopia don’t hold up to scrutiny. For instance, cable news came out of Addis Ababa regarding the expulsion of two Arabs by the AP correspondent and has appeared in many media outlets including Washington Post. But nobody seemed to question its accuracy and truthfulness. The news goes on like this “Ethiopia’s government has expelled two Arabs who flew in from the Middle East after the pair went to a mosque and tried to incite violence.”[25] Neither the names nor the nationalities of these two Arabs were disclosed in the statement made by the Government. How can a government that has incarcerated two Swedish journalists on trumped up charges of terrorism let two Arabs go free while accusing them of inciting violence or has the criminal law changed in an overnight? Would there be any reason why they would not be arrested and tried in a court of law if the charges were true? No reason has been offered so far. So how do we know whether the said Arabs have not just been ordinary tourists?
This is not to deny the legitimacy of the international and domestic security concerns of the two nations, namely the US and Ethiopia, but to question the legitimacy and efficacy of the means used to achieve a legitimate end. If Washington is implicated in Ethiopia’s incursion into Somalia, it is not without good reason. As Terrence Lyons has rightly observed:
Washington’s support for Ethiopia in the recent past has been justified in part by Addis Ababa’s contributions in the global war on terrorism. While Ethiopia has played a supportive role, its policies and actions toward Islamist movements such as al-Itihaad are driven by its own national interests and are not undertaken on behalf of the United States. If Ethiopia sends its forces into Somalia, it may drag Washington into a conflict that will be framed in many parts of the Muslim world as another U.S.-sponsored attack on Islam. Furthermore, the close association of the United States and Ethiopia complicates relationships between Washington and other regional actors, notably Eritrea and a range of Somali groups.[26]
The same holds true of the current Islamic upheavals in Ethiopia. Washington has to put Addis Ababa’s problems in the proper context of the wider problem of the rise of authoritarianism in domestic politics. Ethiopian Muslims have, for much of their country’s history, been peaceful and hence it’d be only be irresponsible to needlessly engage in activities that disturb the equilibrium of co-existence and tolerance maintained between Muslims and Christians in that country.
The only way to go about the ongoing problem is for Addis Ababa to take its hands off Islamic affairs and leave it to the Muslim community and faith-based non-governmental organizations to reach out to the Muslim community. This again is not to gainsay the right of The Association of Islamic Philanthropic Projects (Jam’iyyat al-Mashari’ al-Khayriyya al-Islamiyya) or Al Ahbash or whatever Islamic sect to operate in Ethiopia provided that it respects the laws of the land. The solution to the problem created by the securitization of Islam and intra-Islamic relations should be nothing but de-securitization of Islam and intra-Islamic relations, not the privileging of one Islamic sect over another and should start out with de-securitization. Except for the few historical instances from the country’s remote past mentioned above, Ethiopia has never been a breeding-ground for Sayyed Qutb- or Al Zawahiri-styled Islamism and there’s little indication that it will ever be, given that the Muslim community continues to enjoy and exercise its freedom of worship without any interference.
Whatever else has been done by Addis Ababa will provide nothing but a recipe for future conflicts. The strategy deployed will most likely backfire, thereby sowing the seeds of political Islam that it seeks to keep at bay. It is imperative to bear in mind that it is the marginalization and suppression of Muslims by the Ethiopian Christian State in the past that bred extremism. The current interference by the secular tyrant in the internal affairs of the Muslim community won’t help if not to exacerbate the situation. As Mustafa Akyol says, even “Islamists will become only more moderate when they are not oppressed, and only more pragmatic as they face the responsibility of governing.”[27]
NOTES:
[1] Aaron Maasho, Ethiopian Muslims protest government ‘interference’, Reuters, May 11, 2012, Addis Ababa
[2] Peter Heinlein, Ethiopian Government, Muslims Clash about Ideology, Voice of America, May 21, 2012
[3] J. Spencer Trimingham, Islam in Ethiopia, Oxford University Press (1952), p. 44.
[4] Harold G. Marcus, A History of Ethiopia. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994. http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft109nb00g/, P .21
[5] Id, P. 22
[6] Id, p. 26
[7] Id, p. 31
[8] Donald N. Levine, Greater Ethiopia: The Evolution a Multiethnic Society (2000), 2nd ed, Chicago and London: the University of Chicago Press, 43-44
[9] Id, 44
[10] Bahru Zewde, A History of Modern Ethiopia: 1855-1974 2nd ed.(Addis Ababa: Addis Ababa University Press,2001), p.7
[11] J. Spencer Trimingham’s pathbreaking survey, Islam in Ethiopia, 1952, Oxford University Press
[12] Abdul Wasie Yusuf, “Sharia Courts in Ethiopia: Their Status, Organization and Functions” (1971) (Unpublished Snr. Thesis on file at Addis Ababa University Law Library), p. 21-29; for a discussion of the operation and competence of Sharia Courts in present-day Ethiopia, see my book, Legal Pluralism in Contemporary Ethiopia: A Critical Introduction, 2010, LAP, Saarbrucken, Germany.
[13] The Civil Code of Ethiopia, Article 3347 (1), 1960.
[14] Abdulmalik Abubeker, “Effects of Divorce in the Civil Code and the Sheria [Sic] Law” (1990) (Unpublished Snr. Thesis on file at Addis Ababa University Law Library), p. 7.
[15] Jon Abbink, An historical-anthropological approach to Islam in Ethiopia: issues of identity and politics, Journal of African Cultural Studies, Volume 11, Number 2, December 1998, pp. 109-124, p. 110
[16] Growing Wahabi Influence in Ethiopia – Amhara Region and the “Jama Negus Mosque”,
[17] Id
[18] Id
[19] Id
[20] Id
[21] Wahabism in Ethiopia as “Cultural Imperialism”
[22] Countering Wahabi Influence in Ethiopia Through Cultural Programming
[23] Growing Wahabi Influence in Ethiopia Tests the Limits of Tolerance; A Sufi and a Wahabi Sit Down to Lunch…
[24] Ethiopia: Recent Bombings Blamed on Oromos Possibly the Work of GOE,
[25] Ethiopia expels 2 Arabs amid tension with Muslim community; gov’t warns group declared jihad, Washington Post, May 5, 2012
[26] Terrence Lyons, Avoiding Conflict in the Horn of Africa: US Policy Toward Ethiopia and Eritrea, The Center for Preventive Action, CSR No. 21, Council on Foreign Relations, December 2006, p. 29
[27] Mustafa Akyol, Can Islamists Be Liberals? The New York Times, Op-Ed, May 14, 2012, A 21
By Yilma Bekele
I doubt there is an Ethiopian in the Diaspora not familiar with what happened last Friday. As they say the video has gone viral. The act has brought deep satisfaction to the psych of the oppressed and left the evildoers in disarray. Abebe took less than one minute to do what has been tried for over twenty years. His heroic act will be remembered in the history books like that other important event in the annals of our glorious past.
Of course I am talking about the daring act of none other Abraha Deboch, Moges Asgedom and Simeyon Adefres on February 19, 1937. The Fascist Italian Viceroy Rodolfo Graziani was set to celebrate the second anniversary of the occupation of our homeland and the birth of an Italian royal baby at Addis Abeba Palace now Addis Abeba University. That did not sit well with our freedom fighters.
Simeyon who has learned to drive befriended a soldier from the household of the patriot leader Dejazmach Fikre Mariam and was able to secure hand grenades. Abraha and Moges hurled their grenades at the Viceroy during the celebration but the balcony saved the Fascist pig. Their job was done. Honor was restored. The attempt on the Viceroy was followed by the massacre of the citizens of Addis from February 19-21. Their heroism was able to fill the hearts of their people with pride and joy and the number of the patriotic forces swelled until victory was achieved.
What my friend and brother Abebe Gelaw did was no less. It was a different time and place but the generous act on behalf of country and people is noted by all patriotic forces that stand against tyranny by a single individual. The setting was perfect and the delivery was laser guided. The event was a very shameful attempt to humiliate Ethiopia and its people. There was no other way of looking at this act of abdication of responsibility by the President of the US other than to bully our people into submission by affirming this unholy alliance that does not have lasting value to both our Nations. We pleaded, we warned and we tried to teach the administration the folly of this enabling act of a tyrant. It fell on deaf ears. We are aware of the fact Mr. Obama will not be seen with Ahmadinejed. He will not invite Assad for dinner. But he felt no qualms sitting with this criminal leader and place him on the same dais as elected heads of State. Our people and country were insulted. This election Ethiopian Americans should pay attention to this fact.
It was wrong. But our brother Abebe was there to set the record straight. Abebe used the art of ‘political heckling’ in its purest form. Citizens heckle out of anger and frustration. Heckling done right subverts the proceedings and knock the powerful and famous from their stride. In less than a minute Abebe accomplished all that and more. The lion roared and the mouse scurried away. There was no hole to hide no place to take shelter. The intense light showed the paper tiger from Arat kilo for what he is, underneath all that TPLF bravado there sits a little scared soul trying to get out. A bully met his match. The Prime Mister preys on the weak. In Washington DC the playing field was leveled in favor of the silenced and oppressed.
Since Friday all the talk has been about the patriotism, unselfish act and bravery of one individual. Yes it is true some people find the inner strength to rise up for the occasion. Somehow they dig deep inside their soul and come up with earth shaking feat that defies the law of nature and gravity. Do you think I am laying it on heavy? I very much doubt that. Can you think of any setting on that fateful Friday where the eyes of the planet were focused on? A meeting with the President of the US, the most powerful person in the world attended by the major News networks definitely counts as the premier event of the week. One individual put everything else aside and decided to be the voice of eighty million silenced souls. OH did he speak!!
Meles Zenawi is a dictator! Meles Zenawi is a dictator! Free Eskinder and all political prisoners! You are a dictator! You are committing crimes against humanity! You do not talk about food without freedom! We need freedom more than food! We need Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!
It was short, precise and to the point. It is all choice words that conveyed our hopes and wishes. The delivery was forceful and the face was that of an angry lion roaring. Where did Abebe get all that energy is a good question? He got it from us! At that moment eighty million souls converged in the body of my friend and he was transformed into human missile of untold force. I was there. You were there. We were all there. Then it came to me. The message was not really directed at President Obama or anyone else. The message was for his people. Abebe was showing us the power of the individual and the enabling act of taking personal responsibility for you fate.
That is why I compared it to Abraha, Moges and Simeyon. Their heroic act was not just about killing Graziani. Mussolini can always send another Viceroy. They were more focused in teaching us what can be accomplished when individuals set their focus and energy in search of freedom. The fact of the matter was it worked. The patriots were inundated by new recruits. The spirit of “Yes I can” became contagious. Apathy was replaced by action. Darkness was gone and the light shone high and bright. That is what I saw the last three days. Ethiopians walking tall. Ethiopians high Fiving each other. Ethiopians understanding the power of the individual to rise up for the occasion.
What was revealing from this incident was the reaction of two individual. The Prime Minster was left speech less. He was left with his mouth wide open and his brain on freeze mode. He entered uncharted territory and he was on a free fall. Abebe’s timing was perfect. The PM was replying about food. That by itself is a very cruel joke being played on our people by the hapless moderator. The question gave the impression the moderator was chosen for his looks and his talking head not his journalistic credentials. He is the kind who would ask the pilot of the Titanic on the procedure of glacier avoidance or Colonel Gadaffi on the art of confronting a hostile mob.
The PM who is celebrating over twenty years in power is the last person to be asked such question. His ill planned policy is the cause of recurring famine and disaster on our ancient land and people. In a sane setting he should be chided for failure of leadership. But in this Disney land environment we were witnessing he was pontificating how the agriculture system should be set to avoid food insecurity. Even the words they choose are not to expose but hide and play cute games at the expense of our people. They call it food insecurity, mal nutrition, calorie deficiency whereas to our people it is pure famine or the absence of food. Nothing more nothing less.
The PM locked side ways with a look of surprise. How could this happen is his first thought. Then he saw the Lion roaring. Relentless, focused, and imbued with the energy of eighty millions and this was one mighty Lion. The dictator looked down. The dictator shrank. The wrath of the oppressed, the spirit of Eskinder, Andualem, Reeyot and all those ghosts he left behind in his dungeon came screaming to haunt him right there on stage. Evil does not pay. The price of bad deeds is mental anguish.
The reaction of his bodyguard is another revealing moment in this high stake drama. He threatened violence against my brother. He responded the only way he knows. ‘We will kill you’ he uttered! What a weak statement. What an empty threat. What a solution to propose for the problem he found himself in. What would have been accomplished by the killing of my brother? They say you cannot teach an old dog a new trick. Killing is the only language the PM and his associates speak. That is the sort of people President Obama invited to his table. We are saddened by this act. We expected better from the son of Africa. We hoped for better things. What the white leaders have done for their brethren in Europe we thought a black president will bring us respite from this agony our continent finds itself in. Not today. We are on our own. Our destiny is in our won hands. It has always been, but the last few years we have shown the tendency to drop the ball. But when you think the future looks bleak the problems pile up and darkness attempts to engulf our soul there rises a beam of bright light like the star of Bethlehem that led the three wise men to where Jesus was born.
That is what we shall do. We shall follow the spirit of our young friend and take matters into our own hands. We will redouble our efforts to free our country and people by any means necessary. One does not make appointment to be free. We start now. We each vow in our homes, our work place wherever we are to start the day of defiance of the evil system starting now. It is the result of our collective effort that can usher the era of peace, democracy and freedom. We do not act due to hate. We do not act to hurt others. But we have God given right to protect ourselves, our family and our country and people from evil.
Live, I wanna live inspired
Die, I wanna die for something
Facing towards the heavens
I fell into pitch a black
I’m moments from landing and I’m shaking like a heart attack
Is there time, can I turn back
I’ve made mistakes in the past
Need a chance, can’t take it back
Wish I could set things right tonight
Live, I wanna live inspired
Die, I wanna die for something higher than myself
Live and die for anyone else
The more I live I see this life’s not about me
All I know spins out of control
Wonder what’s next for the heart and soul
Nothing I earned can save me now
Hear in what may be my final hour
Don’t want to leave this world, knowing I’ve lived in vain
No time for myself, so sorry, so ashamed
Don’t wanna livee this life, knowing I’ve barely tried
Chase down all my dreams that I’ve hid away on the inside
Live I wanna live on fire
Die, I wanna burn out brighter
Brighter than the Northern Lights
Wanna live to feel the daylight
The more I live
I see, this life is not about me
Note: Ethiopian Politics- Richard Pankhurst
(http://www.ethiopolitics.com/articles/Yekatit12.htm)
Lyrics: Anberlin- Burn Out Brighter (Northern Lights) lyrics
Alemayehu G Mariam
At the “World Economic Forum Meeting” in Ethiopia last week, dictator Meles Zenawi lectured:
…. My view is that there is no direct relationship between economic growth and democracy historically or theoretically. But my view is that democracy is a good thing in and of itself irrespective of its impact on economic growth. And my view is that in Africa most of our countries are extremely diverse, that may be the only possibility, the only option of keeping relationships within nations sane. Democracy may be the only viable option for keeping these diverse nations together. Sowe need to democratize but not in order to grow. We need to democratize in order to survive as united sane nations. That’s my view. But I don’t believe in this nighttime, you know, bedtime stories and contrived arguments linking economic growth with democracy. There is no basis for it in history and in my view no basis for it it in economics. And there is no need to have this contrived argument because the case for democracy and can stand and shine on its own…
While visiting Ghana in 2009, President Obama told the following “contrived bedtime story linking economic growth with democracy” to Africans:
Development depends on good governance. History offers a clear verdict: Governments that respect the will of their own people, that govern by consent and not coercion, are more prosperous, they are more stable, and more successful than governments that do not. No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves. No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny. And now is the time for that style of governance to end…. In the 21st century, capable, reliable, and transparent institutions are the key to success — strong parliaments; honest police forces; independent judges; an independent press; a vibrant private sector; a civil society. Those are the things that give life to democracy, because that is what matters in people’s everyday lives…. History is on the side of these brave Africans, not with those who use coups or change constitutions to stay in power. Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions. With better governance, I have no doubt that Africa holds the promise of a broader base of prosperity….
My Favorite Bedtime Stories
I enjoy bedtime stories as much as the next guy. My favorite is “Pinocchio in Africa”. The wooden puppet wanted to become a human boy but could not stop telling lies and tall tales. Whenever Pinocchio lied, his nose grew longer.
I like the story of “Puff the Magic Dragon and the Land of Living Lies”. Puff took a little girl called Sandy, who lies a lot, to the Land of the Living Lies where honesty and truthfulness are prosecuted. She meets the famous fibbers Pinocchio and the boy who cried wolf; and saw the famous purple cow that no one has ever seen and a pink elephant.
I also enjoy the morality tales of Aesop, the ancient Ethiopian storyteller. Once upon a time there was a wolf who schemed to snatch sheep grazing in the pasture, but could not because the shepherd was vigilant. One day the wolf found the shorn skin of a sheep and dressed himself in it and joined the flock. Soon he began dining on the sheep one by one until he was discovered by the shepherd. That was the end of the wolf; he could no longer steal, kill and eat the sheep.
George Orwell’s allegorical stories of doubletalk and doublespeak told in “political language” are rather delightful because they “make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” So, “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.” George could have added, “dictatorship is democracy. Tyranny is liberty. Poverty is wealth. Famine is plenty. Censorship is press freedom. Brutality is civility. Mendacity is veracity. Opacity is clarity. Shadow is reality. Depravity is morality and greed is good.”
Oh, Yes! I like children’s rhymes too:
Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall….
Sane Nations, Insane Dictators and Democrazy
Zenawi said “democracy is the only option of keeping relationships within nations sane”. Here are some true stories of democrazy from the Land of Living Lies:
Freedom House/U.S. State Department (2010)
In April 2008 local elections were held throughout Ethiopia. Freedom House and USDoS report that opposition candidates were subjected to intimidation and arrest by the government prior to the elections making it difficult for them to compete, leading to the opposition boycotting the elections and resulting in a massive victory for government supporters. The ruling party won 99% of the more than three million seats contested.
World Bank (2012)
The May 2010 parliamentary elections resulted in a 99.6 percent victory for the ruling EPRDF and its allies,reducing the opposition from 174 to only two seats in the 547 member lower house… Ethiopia is the second-most populous country in Sub-Saharan… At US$390, Ethiopia’s per capita income is much lower than the Sub-Saharan African average of US$1,165 in FY 2010, ranking it as the sixth poorest country in the world.
Amnesty International (2009)
The Ethiopian parliament has adopted a potentially repressive new law which could criminalise the human rights activities of both foreign and domestic non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The Charities and Societies Proclamation law (2009) is designed to strictly control and monitor civil society in an atmosphere of intolerance of the work of human rights defenders and civil society organisations. The law’s repressive provisions are believed to be an attempt by the Ethiopian government to conceal human rights violations, stifle critics and prevent public protest of its actions ahead of expected elections in 2010.
Human Rights Watch (2010)
Ethiopia’s citizens are unable to speak freely, organize political activities, and challenge their government’s policies—through peaceful protest, voting, or publishing their views—without fear of reprisal. Democracy’s technical framework will remain a deceptive and hollow façade so long as Ethiopia’s institutions lack independence from the ruling party and there is no accountability for abuses by state officials.
Global Financial Integrity/Wall Street Journal (2011)
Ethiopia lost $11.7 billion to outflows of ill-gotten gains between 2000 and 2009. That’s a lot of money to lose to corruption for a country that has a per-capita GDP of just $365. In 2009, illicit money leaving the country totaled $3.26 billion, double the amount in each of the two previous years. The capital flight is also disturbing because the country received $829 million in development aid in 2008. Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries on earth as 38.9% of Ethiopians live in poverty, and life expectancy in 2009 was just 58 years. The people of Ethiopia are being bled dry. No matter how hard they try to fight their way out of absolute destitution and poverty, they will be swimming upstream against the current of illicit capital leakage.
Committee to Protect Journalist (2011)
Ethiopia trails only Eritrea as the foremost jailer of journalists in Africa. Ethiopia’s repression of the independent press has also driven into exile the largest number of journalists in the world. Yet Zenawi told Aftenposten [Norwegian paper] that ‘We have reached a very advanced stage of rule of law and respect for human rights. Fundamentally, this is a country where democratic rights of people are respected.’
Human Rights Watch (2011)
The Ethiopian government is exploiting its vaguely worded anti-terror law to crush peaceful dissent. The anti-terror law itself is a huge problem. The international community, especially the European Union, United States, and United Kingdom, should ask the Ethiopian government hard questions about why it is using this law to crack down on peaceful independent voices.
Committee Statement of Congressman Donald Payne (2007)
H.R. 2003 (Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007, sponsored by Cong. Payne passed the U.S. House of Representatives on October 2, 2007) requires the secretary of state to support human rights by establishing a mechanism to provide funds to local human rights organizations. The bill supports democratization by directing assistance to strengthen democratic processes, prohibits non-humanitarian assistance to Ethiopia if the ruling party obstructs United States efforts to provide human rights, fosters accountability for the actions the Ethiopian Government has taken that undermine rule of law and fundamental political freedoms…. and holds security forces accountable for human rights abuses related to the demonstrations of 2005…
Statement of U.S. Senators Russ Feingold and Patrick Leahy on Senate Bill 3457 (2008)
Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, today I am pleased to introduce the Support for Democracy and Human Rights in Ethiopia Act of 2008. Senator LEAHY joins me as an original cosponsor. The purpose of this bill is to reaffirm policy objectives towards Ethiopia and encourage greater commitment to the underpinnings of a true democracy–an independent judiciary and the rule of law, respect for human and political rights, and an end to restrictions on the media and non-governmental organizations…. As we turn a blind eye to the escalating political tensions, people are being thrown in jail without justification and non-government organizations are being restricted, while civilians are dying unnecessarily in the Ogaden region–just like so many before them in Oromiya, Amhara, and Gambella….
2010 European Union Election Observer Commission Report on May 2010 Election
The separation between the ruling party and the public administration was blurred at the local level in many parts of the country. The EU EOM directly observed cases of misuse of state resources in the ruling party’s campaign activities. The ruling party and its partner parties won 544 of the 547 seats to the House of Peoples Representatives and all but four of the 1,904 seats in the State Councils…. As a result, the electoral process fell short of international commitments for elections, notably regarding the transparency of the process and the lack of a level playing field for all contesting parties.
Zenawi’s response to the 2010 European Union Election Observer Commission Report:
The EU report is trash that deserves to be thrown in the garbage. The report is not about our election. It is just the view of some Western neo-liberals who are unhappy about the strength of the ruling party. Anybody who has paper and ink can scribble whatever they want.
Such are the nightmarish bedtime stories of Meles Zenawi’s Democrazy in Ethiopia!
Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at: http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic
http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24
Previous commentaries by the author are available at: http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/ and www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/
Ethiopian activists protest Zenawi rule in demonstration near Camp David G-8 summit
Washington Post
THURMONT, Md. — Dozens of police officers in riot gear contained more than 200 Ethiopian activists who jammed a small Maryland town’s square Saturday to protest their prime minister’s involvement in a global economic summit at nearby Camp David.
Authorities reported no arrests during the three-hour demonstration that shut down the intersection of two state highways through the center of town. The commotion drew scores of spectators, many using cameras to document their town’s latest role in world affairs.
The flag-waving Ethiopian immigrants, mainly residents of the Baltimore-Washington area, were protesting the rule of Meles Zenawi, who was invited along with the heads of Benin, Ghana and Tanzania to discuss food security with leaders of the Group of Eight leading industrial nations. On Friday, President Barack Obama announced $3 billion in private-sector pledges to help boost agriculture and food production in Africa.
The United States is a major contributor of aid to Ethiopia, whose longtime leader has been accused of restricting freedoms and news media. Some in Ethiopia see him as a dictator.
“Shame on you!” chanted the protesters, many waving their country’s red, green and yellow flag.
Some held a banner reading, “Zenawi: brutal dictator, pathological liar, mass murderer.”
Police restricted demonstrators to Thurmont, a town of 6,200 several miles from the presidential retreat.
Demonstrator Woni Hailesilassi, a 33-year-old cab driver from Falls Church, Va., said he and four companions tried to drive their car to Camp David but were turned away after 25 minutes of police questioning.
“We need for the people to understand who is the president,” he said, referring to Zenawi. “We know him very well. We want to show that to the world.”
Local resident Cheryl Magers watched the demonstration from the front steps of Thurmont Barber & Styling, across the street from barricades.
“This is quite a commotion,” she said. “And it’s going to be a part of history. That’s why we’re here.”
A few doors down, Christina Spain sold $15 t-shirts reading, “I survived G-8 Summit 2012,” from a sidewalk table. She said she and her boyfriend had 84 of the shirts printed overnight to sell as souvenirs.
“This is not going to happen again,” she said.
Police said there were no arrests or other problems with the protesters.
“Everybody got to come and demonstrate peacefully. There were no issues and that’s what we were hoping for,” said Frederick County Sheriff’s Office Cpl. Jason West, a spokesman for a combined local and state police force.
A handful of demonstrators from Occupy movements in Baltimore, Washington and New Haven, Conn., joined in. Occupy Baltimore member Richard Ochs said many others from the group went to Chicago to join demonstrations against a meeting there of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, starting Sunday.
