By Bruno Waterfield
BRUSSELS (The Telegraph) — An investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and BBC Newsnight has found that as Ethiopia is hit by drought and famine, communities are being denied basic food, seed and fertiliser for failing to support Meles Zenawi, the country’s authoritarian leader.
Senior Brussels officials ignored 61 email warnings from its EU ambassador in Ethiopia about human rights abuses, evidence that European governments, including Britain, were prepared to turn a blind eye to repression in order to woo a key African ally.
The Bureau of Investigative Journalism investigation has also gathered evidence of continuing ethnic cleansing, mass detentions, the widespread use of torture and extra-judicial killings by Ethiopian government forces.
The Daily Telegraph understands that last summer the EU failed to condemn crack downs on opposition politicians and journalists in return for Ethiopian support in critical climate change negotiations in December 2009.
Ethiopia receives £1.8 billion in development aid every year, with Britain the second largest donor after the US.
This year the UK will hand out £290 million, not including the £48m in emergency aid announced last month, a 24-fold increase over the past decade. The EU provided a further £152m last year.
Leaked emails reveal that both the EU and Britain failed to act on confidential daily diplomatic telegrams from Timothy Clarke, the EU’s former ambassador in Ethiopia.
The emails were sent over three months in the days after elections in 2005 and express increasing concern about reports of murders and arrests of thousands of civilians by government forces.
“Basic human rights abuses are being committed by the government on a daily basis – the EU must respond firmly and resolutely,” he wrote on June 12 2005.
Despite the warnings, Brussels commended Ethiopian conduct of the elections a pattern that was mirrored in 2010 when the EU welcomed as “an important moment in the democratic process” a result that saw Zenawi’s regime won 99.6 per cent of the vote amid reports of widespread human rights abuses.
Ana Gomes, a Portuguese MEP who was the chief election observer for the EU during the 2005 Ethiopian elections, has accused European officials of “watering down all the most difficult passages” which detailed repression.
“There is this industry of aid not only in the European Commission but in the different member countries, namely those who are the biggest aid donors to Ethiopia, like Britain, like Germany who want the business to continue as usual because they have their own interests at stake,” she said.
A spokesman for the EU diplomatic service said: “Protection of human rights is a priority for the EU and it features prominently in our dialogue with all external partners. This also applies to the EU dialogue with Ethiopia, where we raise human rights issues regularly.”
4 thoughts on “U.K. and EU ignore human rights warnings in Ethiopia”
The West have been a staunch supporters of Ben Ali and Mubarak who were despised and abhorred by their own people. Particularly, Ben Ali was not only a autocrat, he was a despicable thief, who stash millions of Dollars, Euros and Golds in a vault under the basement of the palace (this was the most appaling part for Tunisians – being led by such a simpleton). His Western backers know this very well but they didn’t care. The good thing is now the people of the third world, who are suffering under the oppression of dictatorial regimes have realized everything, whom to trust and to rely on – their own will and power.
Every ethiopian should understand that “human rights” means human rights for whites. Period! The suffering of ethiopians can only be alliviated by ethiopians and no one else.
It is sad to see the Western countries like the US, UK and Germany compromised thier democratic value and colloaborate with Ethiopian authoritarian and totalitarian dictator Meles regiem. In the 1930s where the second world war looming in Europe the British and French sell us to Italy. The history now repeat itself. We Ethiopian know from our history the Western always sell us to enemy wherever they get higher bidder for thier interest. The Western betryal of the Ethiopians pro-democratic oppostions and siding with dictator Meles called it a realpoltik. This is really a betryal of thier christian values and shows thier corrupt moral.
But we Ethiopians should know how to fight alone. We have done it this in the war aganist the Italian colonialist in Adwa and during the Italian occupation in the 1930s. So let us unite ourselves and focused on our enemy, that is the Woyane regiem. The Western later on will join us when we started winning the Woyane regiem. The western have done this with Mubark in Egypt and they will do it with Meles if we start winning the war. So let us rise up as one person and fight the Woyane with every possible way. God bless Ethiopia and protect it from enemy.
They know that WOYANE is abussive, murderer, raper and liar. Regardless that they are givin him AID and HAND-OUTS again and again to rape our sisters and mothers, just they don’t stand as they claimed, they support democracy.
We heard a lot from human right watch report to EU report and this and that reports. The more they expose him, the more they support him.
To end this suffer, we need to support each other and get rid of this warm, Westerners they don’t care about people, they just care about their interests. Let UNITE all Etiopians, and work ourselves for our country and people!!!