Analysis

Devil Incarnate: TPLF and its historic venom against Christian & Muslim Ethiopians

Posted on August 4, 2013, Updated on August 4, 2013 by Negash

TPLF: Who were they then? Who are they now?

August 4, 2013

Gebremedhin Araya, a former top leader of the Tigrai People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), details the violence this rogue group directed in its early days against Ethiopia’s two prominent religions, Christianity and Islam. Ignorance, greed and the lust for power sprinkled with shallow Albanian Marxism, were behind the TPLF’s assault on Ethiopia’s spiritual and cultural heritage.

The combination of ignorance and arrogance continues to this day. The legitimate Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahdo Church has been exiled. The TPLF is now threatening to tear down Waldeba Monastery, one of the most revered places in Ethiopian Christendom. The regime is also waging a relentless war of propaganda, imprisonment and murder against Ethiopian Muslims. Their only fault is demanding the government to stay out of religious affairs.

Please click on link below to read the English translation of Ato Gebremdhin Araya’s expose.

TPLF CRIMES AGAINST RELIGION

Ethiopia: Lives for Land in Gambella

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Negash

Donor duplicity and complicity in Ethiopian government crimes

By Graham Peebles | Counterpunch.org

August 2, 2013

“Three quarters of worldwide land acquisitions have taken place in Sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty ridden and economically vulnerable countries (many run by governments with poor human rights records) are ‘encouraged’ to attract foreign investment by donor partners and their international guides. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and donor partners, powerful institutions that by “supporting the creation of investment-friendly climates and land markets in developing countries” have been a driving force behind the global rush for agricultural land, the Oakland Institute (OI) report.”

Paradise-like land in Gambella is sold to foreigners as indigenous people are forced out

To many people land is much more than a resource or corporate commodity to be bought, developed and sold for a profit. Identity, cultural history and livelihood are all connected to ‘place’. The erosion of traditional values and morality (which include the observation of human rights and environmental responsibility) are some of the many negative effects of the global neo-liberal economic model, with its focus on short-term gain and material benefit. The commercialisation of everything and everybody has become the destructive goal of multi-nationals, and their corporate governments manically driven by the desire for perpetual growth as the elixir to life’s problems.

Land for Profit

Since the food crisis in 2008 agricultural land in developing countries has been in high demand. Seen as a sound financial investment by foreign brokers and agrochemical firms, and as a way to create food security for their home market by corporations from Asia and the Middle East in particular.

Three quarters of worldwide land acquisitions have taken place in Sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty ridden and economically vulnerable countries (many run by governments with poor human rights records) are ‘encouraged’ to attract foreign investment by donor partners and their international guides. The World Bank, International Monetary Fund (IMF) and donor partners, powerful institutions that by “supporting the creation of investment-friendly climates and land markets in developing countries” have been a driving force behind the global rush for agricultural land, the Oakland Institute (OI) report in Unheard Voices (UV).

Poor countries make easy pickings for multi-nationals negotiating deals for prime land at giveaway prices and with all manner of government sweeteners. Contracts sealed without consultation with local people, which lack transparency and accountability, have virtually no benefit for the ‘host’ country (certainly none for indigenous groups), and as Oxfam make clear “have resulted in dispossession, deception, violation of human rights and destruction of livelihoods.”

Ethiopia is a prime target for investors looking to acquire agricultural land. Since 2008 The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government has leased almost 4 million hectares, for commercial farm ventures. Land is cheap – they are virtually giving it away, tax is non-existent and profits (like the food grown) are smoothly repatriated. Local people are swept aside by a government unconcerned with human rights and the observation of federal, or international, law. A perfect environment then, where shady deals can be done and large corporate profits made. In their desperation to be seen as one of the ‘growth gang’ and “to make way for agricultural land investments”, the Ethiopian government has “committed egregious human rights abuses, in direct violation of international law,” OI state.

Forced From Home

Bordering South Sudan the fertile Gambella region (where 42% of land is available), with its lush vegetation and flowing rivers, is where the majority of land sales in the country have taken place. Deals in the region are made possible by the EPRDF’s ‘villagisation programme’. This is forcibly clearing indigenous people off ancestral land and herding them into State created villages. The plan has been intensely criticised by human rights groups, and rightly so – 1.5 million people nationwide are destined to be re-settled, 225,000 (over three years) from Gambella.

More concerned to be seen as corporate buddy than guardian of the people, the Ethiopian government guarantees investors that it will clear land leased of everything and everyone. It has an obligation, OI says, to “deliver and hand over the vacant possession of leased land free of impediments”, swept clear of people, villages, forests and wildlife, and fully plumbed into local water supplies. Bulldozers are destroying the “farms, and grazing lands that have sustained Anuak, Mezenger, Nuer, Opo, and Komo peoples for centuries”, Cultural Survival (CS records: and dissent, should it occur, is brutally dealt with by the government, that promises to “provide free security against any riot, disturbance or any turbulent time.” (OI) ‘Since you do not accept what government says, we jail you.’” The elder told from Batpul village told Human Rights Watch (HRW). He was jailed without charge in Abobo, and held for more than two weeks, during which time “they turned me upside down, tied my legs to a pole, and beat me every day for 17 days until I was released.”

Hundreds of thousands of villagers, including pastoralists and indigenous people are being forcibly moved by the regime, HRW reports, they are “relocating them through violence and intimidation, and often without essential services”, such as education (denying children ‘the right to education’), water, and health care facilities – public services promised to the people and championed to donor countries by the government in their programme rhetoric.

Murder, rape, false imprisonment and torture are (reportedly) being committed by the Ethiopian military as they implement the federal governments policy of land clearance and re-settlement in accordance with its ‘villagisation programme’. ”My village was forced by the government to move to the new location against our will. I refused and was beaten and lost my two upper teeth”. This Anuak man told the NGO Inclusive Development International (IDI), His brother “was beaten to death by the soldiers for refusing to go to the new village. My second brother was detained and I don’t know where he was taken by the soldiers”.

To the Anuak People, who are the majority tribal group in the affected areas, their land is who they are. It’s where the material to build their homes is found it’s their source of traditional medicines and food. It’s where their ancestors are buried and where their history rests. By driving these people off their land and into large settlements or camps, the government is not only destroying their homes, in which they have lived for generations, it is stealing their identity. Indigenous people tell of violent intimidation, beatings, arbitrary arrest and detention, torture in military custody, rape and extra-judicial killing. State criminality breaching a range of international and indeed federal laws, that Genocide Watch (GW) consider “to have already reached Stage 7 (of 8), genocide massacres”, against the Anuak, as well as the people of Oromia, Omo and the Ogaden region.

The Ethiopian government is legally bound to obtain the ‘free, informed and prior consent’ of the indigenous people it plans to move. Far from obtaining consent, Niykaw Ochalla in Unheard Voices, states that, “when [the government] comes to take their land, it is without their knowledge, and in fact [the government] says that they no longer belonged to this land, [even though] the Anuak have owned it for generations”. Consultation, consent and compensation the ‘three c’s required by federal and international law. Constitutional duties and legal requirements, which like a raft of other human rights obligations the regime dutifully ignores. Nyikaw Ochalla confirms that “there is “no consultation at all”, sometimes people are warned they have to move, but just as often OI found the military “instruct people to get up and move the same day”. And individuals receive no compensation “for their loss of livelihood and land.“ In extensive research The Oakland Institute “did not find any instances of government compensation being paid to indigenous populations evicted from their lands”, this despite binding legal requirements to do so.

‘Waiting here for death’

The picture of state intimidation in Gambella is a familiar one. Refugees in Dadaab, Kenya, from the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, recount stories of the same type of abuse, indeed as do people from Oromia and the Lower Omo valley. Tried and tested Government methodology used to enforce repressive measures and create fear amongst the people. “The first mission for all the military and the Liyuu is to make the people of the Ogaden region afraid of us”, a former commander of the Liyuu police told me. And to achieve this crushing end, they are told “to rape and kill, to loot, to burn their homes, and capture their animals”. From a wealth of information collated by HRW and the OI, it is clear that the Ethiopian military in Gambella is following the same criminal script as their compatriots in the Ogaden region.

We were at home on our farm, a 17-year-old girl from Abobo in Gambella (whose story echoes many), told HRW “when soldiers came up to us: ‘Do you accept to be relocated or not?’ ‘No.’ So they grabbed some of us. ‘Do you want to go now?’ ‘No.’ Then they shot my father and killed him”, a villager from Gooshini, now in exile in South Sudan, described how those in his settlement “that resisted…. were forced by soldiers to roll around in the mud in a stagnant water pool then beaten”.

The new settlements that make up the villagisation programme, are built on land that is “typically dry and arid”, completely unsuitable for farming and miles from water supplies, which are reserved for the industrial farms being constructed on fertile ancestral land. The result is increased food insecurity leading in some cases to starvation. HRW documented cases of people being forced off their land during the “harvest season, preventing them from harvesting their crops”. With such levels of cruelty and inhumanity the people feel desperate, “as one displaced individual told Human Rights Watch, “The government is killing our people through starvation and hunger . . . we are just waiting here for death”.

And should families try to leave the new settlement (something they are discouraged from doing), and return to their village homes, the government destroys them totally, burning houses and bulldozing the land. “The government brought the Anuak people here to die. They brought us no food, they gave away our land to the foreigners so we can’t even move back,” HRW record in ‘Waiting Here for Death’. People forced into the new villages are fearful of government assault, parents “are afraid to send their children to school because of the increased army presence. Parents worry that their children will be assaulted”. (UV)

In the face of such government atrocities the people feel powerless; but like many suffering injustice throughout the world, they are awakening demanding justice and the observation of fundamental human rights. “We don’t have any means of retrieving our land” Mr.O from the village of Pinykew in Gambella, told The Guardian (22/01/2013). “Villagers have been butchered, falsely arrested and tortured, the women subjected to mass rape”. Enraged by such atrocities, he is bringing what could be a landmark legal case against Britain’s Department for International Development (DfiD). Leigh Day & Co, solicitors based in London, have taken the case, “arguing that money from DfiD is funding the villagisation programme”, that “breaches the department’s own human rights policies.” DfiD administer the £324 million given by the British government to Ethiopia, making it the biggest recipient of aid from the country. They deny supporting forced re-location, but their own documents reveal British funds are paying the salaries “of officials implementing the programme and for infrastructure in new villages”, The Daily Mail 25/05/2013 reports. Allegations reinforced by HRW, who state that “British aid is having an enormous, negative side effect – and that is the forcible ending of these indigenous people’s way of life”. (Ibid)

In an account that rings with familiarity, Mr.O, now in Dadaab refugee camp, says he was forced from his village at gunpoint by the military. At first he refused to leave, so “soldiers from the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) beat me with guns.” He was arrested, imprisoned in military barracks and tortured for three days, after which time he was taken to the new village, which “did not have water, food or productive fields”, where he was forced to build his house.

Government Duplicity, Donor Complicity

The government unsurprisingly denies all allegations of widespread human rights abuse connected with land deals and the ‘villagisation programme’ specifically. They continue to espouse the ‘promised public service and infrastructure benefits’ of the scheme that “by and large” OI assert, “have failed to materialise”. The regime is content to ignore documentation provided by human rights groups and NGOs and until recently had refused to cooperate with an investigation by the World Bank into allegations of abuse raised by indigenous Anuak people. The Bank incidentally that gives Ethiopia more financial aid than any other developing country, $920 million last year alone. Former regional president Omod Obang Olum oversaw the plan in Gambella and assures us resettlement is “voluntary” and “the programme successful”. Predictable duplicitous comments that IDI said “are laughable”.

An independent non-profit group working to advance human rights in development, IDI, has helped the Anuak people from Gambella “submit a complaint to the World Bank Inspection Panel implicating the Bank in grave human rights abuses perpetrated by the Ethiopian Government“. The complaint alleges, “that the Anuak people have been severely harmed by the World Bank-financed and administered Providing Basic Services Project (PBS)”. A major development porgramme, which is described as “expanding access and improving the quality of basic services in education, health, agriculture, water supply and sanitation”, OI report. However IDI make clear that “villagisation is the principle vehicle through which PBS is being implemented in Gambella”, and claim “there is “credible evidence” of “gross human rights violations” being committed in the region by the Ethiopian military. Human Rights Watch (HRW) found that donors are “paying for the construction of schools, health clinics, roads, and water facilities in the new [resettlement] villages. They are also funding agricultural programs directed towards resettled populations and the salaries of the local government officials who are implementing the policy”. (Ibid)

IDI’s serious allegations further support those made by many people from the region and Mr.O in his legal action against the DfID. The Banks inspection panel have said the “two programmes (PBS and villagisation) depend one each other, and may mutually influence the results of the other.” The panel found “there is a plausible link between the two programmes but needs to engage in further fact-finding”. It is imperative the bank’s Inspection Panel have unrestricted access to Gambella and people feel safe to speak openly about the governments brutality.

All groups involved in land sales have both a moral duty – a civil responsibility and – a legal obligation to the people whose land is being leased. The Ethiopian government, the foreign corporations leasing the land and the donors – the World Bank and DfID, who, through PBS are funding the villagisation programme.

The Ethiopian government is in violation of a long list of international treatise that, in- keeping with their democratic pretentions, they are happy to sign up to, but less enthusiastic to observe. From the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and all points legal in between. Investors if not legally obliged, are certainly morally bound by the United Nations (UN) “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework, which, amongst other things, makes clear their duty to respect and work within human rights. Donor’s responsibility first and last is, to the people of Ethiopia, to ensure any so-called ‘development’ programmes (that commonly focus on economic targets), support their needs, ensures their wellbeing and observes their fundamental human rights.

To continue to turn a blind eye to widespread government abuse, and to support schemes, whether directly or indirectly, that violate human rights and cause suffering to the people is to be complicit to State criminality that is shattering the lives of hundreds of thousands of indigenous people, in Gambella and indeed elsewhere in the country.

Graham Peebles is director of the Create Trust. He can be reached at: [email protected]

Power Africa? Empower Africans!

Posted on July 28, 2013 by Alemayehu G. Mariam

youth power Power, power, power…

When President Obama recently visited Africa, he announced a “Power Africa” initiative. In his Cape Town University speech, he proclaimed, “I am proud to announce a new initiative. We’ve been dealing with agriculture. We’ve been dealing with health. Now we’re going to talk about power: Power Africa, a new initiative that will double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa. Double it. We’re going to start by investing $7 billion in U.S. government resources. We’re going to partner with the private sector, who themselves have committed more than $9 billion in investment.”

In the speech, President Obama used the word “power” 21 times in a variety of contexts. He philosophized about “power that comes from acting on our ideals” and the “power of human beings to affect change”. He urged Africans to act “through the power of your example”. He encouraged support for programs “that empower women”. He mildly chided “those in power who make arguments to distract people from their own abuses.”

He puzzled over “what it will take to empower individual Africans” and enable Africans to have the “power to feed themselves.” He pleaded for “unleashing the power of entrepreneurship and market” and the creation of “partnership that empowers Africans.” He spoke about “the power to prevent illness and care for the sick” and “the power to connect their people to the promise of the 21st century.”

He lamented “Africa’s lack of access to power” and the need “to have power.” He “talked about power — Power Africa” and “doubling access to power in sub-Saharan Africa.” He pitied those Africans who “live currently off the power grid.”

He wistfully spoke about Nelson Mandela “leaving power” which “was as profound as his ability to claim power”. He spoke of Mugabe’s “corruption of power” and Zimbabwe’s economic collapse.

To power Africa or to empower Africans, that is the question

Africa has a power problem. There is no question about that. Africa needs protection from thugs-cum-leaders who abuse power, misuse power, confuse power and excuse and justify their abuse and misuse of power. President Obama is already powering Africa. Every year, he hands out billions of dollars to Africa’s worst dictators (excuse me, he calls them “partners”) who abuse power in countries like Ethiopia. Africa needs people power not thugs in power.

On second thought, Africa does not have a power problem. Africa has a problem of powerlessness. The people are powerless against thugtators who use power to abuse their human rights. Africans are powerless against the powerful forces of corruption – officials and their cronies who “illicitly transfer” (steal and stash) tens of billions of dollars in foreign banks. For instance, “Ethiopia lost $11.7 billion to outflows of ill-gotten gains between 2000 and 2009” and “in 2009, illicit money leaving the country totaled $3.26 billion.” Africans are powerless and disempowered against powerful election thieves who claim electoral victory by 99.6 percent. Africans are powerless against powerful warlords who seek to divide them along ethnic, religious, linguistic and regional lines. Yes, Africa’s powerless have a big problem with Africa’s powerful thugtators.

President Obama does not seem to get it. The question is not whether to power Africa but how to protect powerless Africans from those dictators America has powered and empowered by doling out billions of dollars in aid, loans and technical assistance every year. If he wants to power Africa, he should begin by empowering ordinary Africans against those who abuse and misuse their power. He should power up the youth grid that remains unused, abused and disused by those who manage the political power grid. He should use the billions of dollars of annual aid to disempower the few powerful African thugtators and empower the hundreds of millions of African youth.

Last week, in his New York Times opinion piece, Eskinder Nega, the symbol of press freedom in Ethiopia and Africa, made a simple but effective recommendation to President Obama: “I propose that the United States impose economic sanctions on Ethiopia (while continuing to extend humanitarian aid without precondition) and impose travel bans on Ethiopian officials implicated in human rights violations.” This proposal is in line with established U.S. policy. Beginning in 2001, the U.S. has imposed “targeted sanctions on the Government of Zimbabwe, including restrictions on U.S. support for multilateral financing, financial sanctions against selected individuals and entities, travel sanctions against selected individuals, a ban on transfers of defense items and services, and a suspension of non-humanitarian government-to-government assistance.” The official reason for these sanctions is the “Zimbawean Government’s increasing assault on human rights and the rule of law.” The human rights record of the regime in Ethiopia is far worse than the regime in Zimbabwe. That is a fact that can be demonstrated. President Obama should understand that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.

If Obama wants to power Africa, let him empower African youth

President Obama has been talking about empowering African youth for years. In August 2010, he talked about launching “the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI) as a signature initiative that supports young African leaders as they work to spur growth and prosperity, strengthen democratic governance, and enhance peace and security across the continent.” In June 2012, some “60 young African leaders” participated in “the Innovation Summit and Mentoring Partnership with Young African Leaders” for a “three-week professional development program”. To support the “empowerment of young African leaders” and provide them “significant and ongoing professional training, access to mentorship, and networking opportunities in Africa”, USAID “awarded two grants totaling $1.3 million to support the core principles of Young African Leaders Initiative.” In his Cape Town speech, President Obama told Africa’s young people: “You get to decide where the future lies. Think about it — over 60 percent of Africans are under 35 years old. So demographics means young people are going to be determining the fate of this continent and this country. You’ve got time and numbers on your side, and you’ll be making decisions long after politicians like me have left the scene.” But Africa’s young people do not have the numbers on their side. They got $1.3 million from America while Africa’s dictators get billions every year.

In June 2013, President Obama talked about “launching a new program” called the “Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders” which is “going to give thousands of promising young Africans the opportunity to come to the United States and develop skills at some of our best colleges and universities.” A lot of nice talk and promises for African young people; but promises and talk are more convincing when one puts money where one’s mouth is. Since YALI, there has been more talk than action.

But there is another side to the African youth story. President Obama in Cape Town said, “And I’ve traveled to Africa on this trip because my bet is on the young people who are the heartbeat of Africa’s story. I’m betting on all of you.” Which segment of the African youth is he betting on? The Washington Fellowship for Young African Leaders promises to “give thousands of promising young Africans” the “opportunity to come to the United States and develop their skills.”

What about the millions of not-so-promising African youths who waste away in the urban areas without educational and employment opportunities? What about those African youths mired in rural poverty unable to get even the most basic educational services? Those young Africans who have acquired college education but are unable to find employment because they are not connected to the ruling parties in Africa? Those young Africans who are leaving the continent for menial employment in the Middle East and elsewhere and are subjected to the most inhumane conditions and treatment. Recently, BBC reported the discovery of a grave in the desert of Yemen containing some 400 bodies of young Ethiopian immigrants escaping the oppressive conditions in Ethiopia. Do the not-so-promising youth matter to President Obama?

Along the same lines, what does President Obama offer Africa’s young freedom fighters? In 2009, in Accra, Ghana, he warned, “Now, make no mistake: 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.”

Does President Obama know of brave young Africans in prison named Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu, Woubshet Taye, Andualem Aragie, Olbana Lelisa, Bekele Gerba, Abubekar Ahmed, Ahmedin Jebel and so many thousands of Ethiopian political prisoners? President Obama needs to live up to the standards he set for Africans and answer one question: Is he, like history, on the side of brave Africans or is he on the side of Africa’s strongmen. President Obama must choose between making brave young Africans strong or African strongmen stronger.

Would $7 billion make a difference?

Lighting the dark continent is a daunting task. Enlightening the benighted “leaders” of the dark continent is an even more daunting fact. Over 130 years after the invention of the light bulb, the vast majority of Africans remain in total darkness. It is a historical enigma that as technology enlightens the world, Africa is enveloped in darkness. For instance, Ethiopia got a functioning telephone system in 1894 and over the past decade “invested some USD$14 billion in infrastructure development” including communications. Yet today Ethiopia has the worst telecommunications system in Africa and quite possibly the world.

Power outages and blackouts are common in every part of Africa. In June 2012, as U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton began her speech at the African Union, she experienced firsthand what Africans face every day. She had to stop her speech because of power outage.

Africa’s electrical power problem is not merely low access and insufficient capacity; it also involves poor reliability and extremely high costs. The regime in Ethiopia windbags day and night about a pie-in-the-sky dam on the Nile. They say it will be the largest dam in Africa and cost USD$6-7 billion. This fantasy dam is supposed to resolve the power supply problems of not only Ethiopia but also the region and beyond. The fact of the matter is that the regime aims to export much of the power produced from the dam and not use it for domestic power self-sufficiency. It is also ironic that the regime seeks to convince the population and the world that it can run the “largest dam” in Africa when it cannot even manage efficiently the few dams that are currently in existence. Yet the regime in Ethiopia keeps on windbagging the Nile dam canard to create the grand illusion of development, hoodwink the population and panhandle China and the international banks for more and more handouts.

The World Bank says Africa needs USD$43 billion annually to improve its power infrastructure. Would dropping USD$7 billion in American tax dollars plus $9 billion from the private sector over five years to “double” the power capacity make a difference in lighting Africa or enlightening Africans? Throwing USD$3 billion a year to help “Power Africa” for 5 years sounds like chicken feed. According to IMANI, the Ghanaian Center for Policy and Education, “If all the electricity generated in Africa was shared equally, each household would have enough to power a normal light-bulb for about 3.5 hours a day per person. With President Obama’s new initiative, this can increase by roughly 18 more minutes if implementation was perfect.”

President Obama cannot power Africa by empowering Africa’s strongmen. To power Africa, he must first help empower Africa’s youth. He cannot empower Africa’s youth with promises and silky words. He cannot power Africa by empowering a few of Africa’s “best and brightest” by providing them leadership training or skills. It is said that more than 600 million of Africa’s one billion population is below the age of 25. The vast majority of these youth are poor, undereducated and with little prospect for lifetime economic viability. Vast numbers of these youths are forced to work in whatever capacity to help their families survive while losing educational opportunities that could free them from poverty. He must come up with a different plan for Africa’s not-so-promising youth. They are the majority of Africa!

The real answer to Africa’s problems lies in creating a power grid among its youth. Any program that is narrowly targeted to Africa’s talented youth will merely perpetuate existing inequalities and keep the sons and daughters of the rich and privileged at the top. The masses of youths at the bottom will not accept this condition. Sooner or later, they will rise, power up and disempower the strongmen who abuse their power. That’s how Africa will be powered and empowered, President Obama!

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/

www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/

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

Deconstructing Construction Corruption in Ethiopia

Posted on July 21, 2013 by Alemayehu G. Mariam

corruption ahead In my fifth commentary on corruption in Ethiopia this year, I focus on the construction sector. The other commentaries are available at my blogsite.

The cancer of corruption in the construction sector the World Bank (WB) documented in its “Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia” is just as malignant and metastatic as in the land, education and telecommunications sectors. According to the WB report:

In the construction sector, Ethiopia exhibits most of the classic warning signs of corruption risk, including instances of poor-quality construction, inflated unit output costs, and delays in implementation. In turn, these factors appear in some cases to be driven by unequal or unclear contractual relationships, poor enforcement of professional standards, high multipliers between public sector and private sector salaries, wide-ranging discretionary powers exercised by government, a lack of transparency, and a widespread perception of hidden barriers to market entry.

Ethiopia’s “construction sector” falls into four categories: roads, water supply and irrigation, power, and other public works including construction of universities, schools, hospitals and markets. Annual spending on roads alone is estimated to be US$1.2 billion. The “government” totally dominates the construction sector. “Ethiopia is unusual compared with most other African countries, which have already fully privatized the design and construction of public works.”

There are multiple and “interrelated drivers of corruption in Ethiopia’s construction sector.” These drivers are “related to deficiencies in accountability (transparency based on clear performance criteria), capacity (availability of sufficient material and human resources and proper procedures), and trust (confidence in the market that allows businesses to invest in increasing their own capacity). In Ethiopia, “A lack of capacity makes corruption possible, a lack of accountability makes corruption happen, and a lack of trust allows corruption to take root.”

The WB report highlights corruption in Ethiopia’s construction sector along six dimensions. The policymaking and regulatory processes are at high-risk area of corruption. Such corruption “has a major effect on sector governance.” Policies and regulations could “encourage, or help hide, corrupt practices” and unless corrected perpetuate corruption by groups or individuals. The Ethiopian “government” “controls the price of construction materials, access to finance, and access to equipment. It controls professional and company registrations. It maintains high-level, bilateral infrastructure deals with China and lacks independent performance audits.” According to the WB report, “Many stakeholders are concerned about the possibility of a connection between the dominant role of Chinese contractors in the road sector and high-level links between the Ethiopian and Chinese governments” and the “lack of effective competition, with Chinese contractors dominating the international market and a limited set of domestic contractors dominating the national market.” These problems are compounded by other factors such as poor quality control, weak enforcement of professional standards and overall lack of transparency. Professionals in the construction sector are reluctant to complain “for fear of being victimized” and believing there is no truly independent body to which they can appeal.” Since the “government is a major client”, “there is a reluctance to express dissent.”

The planning and budgeting (P&B) process is the second area of high corruption in Ethiopia’s construction sector. When planning and budgeting “deviates from the use of a rational, objective basis for prioritizing the allocation of limited resources on the basis of need, anticipated rates of return, or other objective criteria,” it opens the floodgates of corruption. In Ethiopia, the P&B process is characterized by “lack of separation between policy making, budget allocation, and implementation functions” and “top-down planning by decree.” There are instances in which “projects that are not responding to a prioritized need and (when combined with weak procurement regulations) can sometimes be negotiated directly between a corrupt official and a specific construction company.” Corruption also occurs in the form of “adoption of inappropriately high construction standards to enhance contract values, construction of new infrastructure while neglecting to maintain existing facilities, conflicts of interest for officials with a stake in the construction sector” and aiding “construction companies with party political allegiances.”

The third area of corruption is found in management and performance monitoring . According to the WB report, management weaknesses can lead to corruption in three main ways: “(a) Without basic good management controls, individuals (whether working for the client, the consultant, or the contractor) can find themselves free to take shortcuts that may cross the line into corruption. (b) Without good data management and reporting systems, the management information needed to identify and address corruption does not exist. (c) If the management is so incompetent that it gives rise to administrative or technical obstacles that are otherwise impossible to address, corrupt activities may be seen as the only realistic way for otherwise professionally minded individuals to deliver results.” In Ethiopia such corruption occurs for a number of reasons including “low remuneration of some managers and procurement staff”, “shortlisting of poorly performing companies and companies without capacity for new work”, “difficulty of obtaining public information about contracts,” and “lack of independent professional bodies and weak enforcement of professional standards”, among others.

The fourth area of corruption is manifest in the tendering and procurement (T&P) process. Among the commonly encountered corruption risks in the T&P process include sale of inside bidding information by corrupt officials to prospective bidders to enhance the prospects for submitting a successful bid. It could also involve “collusion between contractors in the form of price fixing and intimidation of aspiring new entrants, unofficial quota system for the award of contracts on the basis of political affiliation of the companies involved and bribery.” In Ethiopia, the list of corrupt practices in the T&P process is mindboggling. In addition to the “general lack of transparency in procurement processes,” the “government” “shortlists companies known to be poor performers or lacking requisite experience or capability,” excludes “capable companies”, inconsistently applies procurement standards, imposes unfair selective restriction of access to advance information about bidding opportunities and distorts the bidding process to benefit favored bidders, among others.

The fifth area of corruption is manifest in the operations phase. Generally, contractors who have paid bribes to secure contracts “try to recoup his outlay during the construction phase. This is most commonly achieved through various forms of fraud involving client’s staff or the supervising consultant’s staff, including supply of inferior materials, falsification of quantities, inflated claims, and concealment of defects.” In Ethiopia, “contracts are rarely completed on budget”. Significant delays in contract completion are common. There is “often a problem with poor-quality construction” and “some contractors knowingly underbid then recoup costs through variations.” Contractors “conceal construction defects or improperly influence client or consultant to accept substandard materials”. In other cases, a “consultant or contractor submits falsified documentation” and “receives exaggerated payments as result of falsified utilization records.”

The sixth area of corruption in the construction sector involves payment and settlement of certificates. A client “can fabricate a justification for refusing or withholding payment as “a means of punishing companies that have refused to honor understandings.” In the absence of effective complaints adjudication or appeals process, this could result in corruption “related to legal advisers, including in dispute resolution. Such advisers may be implicated in the submission of incorrect claims, concealment of documents, the supply of false witness statements, bribery or blackmail of witnesses, or excess billing, all of which contribute to overall levels of corruption in the project.” In Ethiopia, it is “commonly reported that facilitation payments may be required to speed up settlement of certificates.” Alternatively, “contractors sometimes curtail progress because cash flow problems arise as a result of late payments.”

EthioConstruction Corruption, Inc.

The Ethiopian “government” is not only the single dominant construction client but also the singular policy maker and regulator of the construction sector. The “government” is in effect EthioConstruction Corruption, Inc. Though the WB report is timid in stating the facts as they are and frames the truth in the buttery language of bureaucratese, it is clear that the type of corruption in the Ethiopian construction sector covers the whole gamut including the policy making and budgetary process, project selection, tender specifications, procurement outcomes, contract negotiations and renegotiations and payments. It is manifest from the report that the bidding process is generally rigged and projects are often granted to companies that have more political ties to the ruling regime than qualifications. It is obvious that newcomers and those disfavored by the regime have little chance of securing public works project contracts. It is also manifest from the totality of the evidence in the report that public project money is ingenuously finds its way to the pockets of top regime officials.

The “tofu” road to Kombolcha

In June 2013, the “Ethiopian Roads Authority” signed another agreement with two Chinese companies to upgrade the 133 Km-long Kombolcha-Bati-Mille road to asphalt-concrete level. The Chinese companies will snag a whopping 2.8 billion Br. in the deal. Why aren’t Ethiopian construction companies getting these contracts? In other words, why are Chinese companies eating the lunches of Ethiopian companies? Why is there not an Ethiopia construction consortium organized (with the aid of the “government”) to bid for such construction jobs? Will there ever be Ethiopian construction companies with the capacity for large-scale infrastructure projects? How could the “government” talk about development when the “infrastructure development” is left entirely to foreign contractors? How can the “government” justify use of international bank loans to bankroll foreign companies squeezing out homegrown ones? How is Chinese economic penetration and exploitation of Ethiopia different from the exploitation of the evil neoliberal, imperialist, neocolonial, globalist… exploitation?

There is one question that needs to be answered: Is Ethiopia getting its money’s worth by handing out contracts to Chinese companies? In 2011, the Economist reported, “The Chinese-built road from Lusaka, Zambia’s capital, to Chirundu, 130km (81 miles) to the south-east, was quickly swept away by rains”. Will the 133 Km-long Kombolcha-Bati-Mille road also be “quickly swept away by rains”?

It is common knowledge that many state-owned Chinese construction companies engage in shoddy workmanship not only in Africa but also in China. After Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji saw the shoddy workmanship of flood dykes on the Yangtze River in 1998 which resulted in major loss of life and property, he described the work of these companies as “tofu” construction. There is much documented about corruption and shoddy workmanship in the Chinese construction sector. “All across China, everything from sidewalks to apartment buildings to mega dams are compromised corruption.” Chinese construction companies in Ethiopia and the rest of Africa will underbid any other local or international competitors because they are not interested in short-term profits but sector monopoly. They maintain low profits to increase market share (monopolize) at the expense of local companies while driving out of international competitors. That’s how they do business. The blame for Chinese monopoly of the public works sector in Ethiopia should be placed squarely on the shoulders of the ruling regime in Ethiopia which manifestly lacks the technical capacity and competence and political will to do what needs to be done to ensure a reasonably corruption-free and high quality construction sector.

Reducing corruption through CoST accountability

The Construction Sector Transparency Initiative (CoST) launched by the British Department for International Development (DFID) and taken over by the World Bank in 2012 “seeks to help (9 countries in a pilot program including Ethiopia) participating countries improve the value for money spent on the construction of public infrastructure.” The program aims to create a “multi-stakeholder initiative designed to promote transparency and accountability in publicly financed construction.” At the core of the program “is the belief that the processes involved in the construction of public infrastructure must be made more transparent. The public must be armed with the information they need to hold decision makers to account and to ensure better value for money in the construction sector.” CoST aims to “establish a public disclosure process for the construction sector that is viable and appropriate to country conditions, that is sustainable in the medium and long term as a government system, and that achieves a credible and substantial level of compliance in the relevant sector entities.” Ultimately, CoST seeks to “reduce waste in public budgets, enables fairer competition in the private sector and increased opportunities for investors.”

On November 17, 2012, a CoST consultancy agreement was “signed between Engineers Against Poverty (EAP) and Hagos Abdie (Individual Consultant); the consultant is selected as a preferred candidate among bidders invited through short listing.” The aim of the consultancy agreement is to find ways of maximizing the capacity of government agencies to gather, verify and disclose information into the public realm. (It is unclear why Abdie was “selected as a preferred candidate among bidders invited through short listing” and how much he was paid for his consultancy services.) But the selection of Abdie lends irrefutable proof that only those closely allied to the ruling regime get plum contracts as the World Bank report amply documented in its massive study.

Close examination of Abdie’s 38-page “Assessment of procuring entity capacity to disclose project information in Ethiopia” shows that it is nothing more than a cut-and-paste of bureaucratic documents from a variety of sources. The report stylistically “collates and assembles information” on various projects, a task that could be done efficiently by an adroit college intern. One is hard pressed to show how the “collated and assembled” hodgepodge of information could “arm” the public in “holding decision makers to account and to ensure better value for money in the construction sector.” The recommendations at the end of each section of the “assessment” appear to be unoriginal, cut-and-paste boilerplate recommendations. There is no need to waste time discussing Abdie’s “assessment report”, but one cannot escape the irony of corruption even when corruption is being “assessed”.

Increasing transparency and accountability in Ethiopia’s construction sector

Corruption is dyed in the very fabric of the ruling regime in Ethiopia. It cannot be washed out with the detergent of make-believe anti-corruption programs designed by self-serving, sanctimonious and self-congratulating international poverty pimps. Neither could it be solved by corrupt anti-corruption crusaders. The simplest and most direct approach to dealing with corruption in Ethiopia requires massive involvement of civil society watchdogs and rigorous independent audits. Those countries that have been successful in controlling corruption in the construction sector have implemented have had rigorous compliance audits and made available to the public comprehensive and detailed information on bids, winning bids for government contracts and reports of procurement audits on a timely basis. Most of them disseminate up to date comprehensive public works contract information on line. They also allow civil society representatives to observe the tendering process.

Ethiopia supposedly has a freedom of information law (Proclamation No. 590/2008 – A Proclamation to Provide for Freedom of the Mass Media and Access to Information.) Anyone who has carefully studied this proclamation will be impressed by the lofty platitudes, truisms and boilerplate legal clichés and verbiage cut and pasted from the laws of other nations. Under the proclamation, citizens supposedly have a right of “access, [to] receive and import information held by public bodies, subject to justifiable limits based on overriding public and private interests.” But the “justifiable limits” include non-disclosure of any Cabinet documents or information (Art. 24), any information relating to the “financial welfare of the nation or the ability of the government to manage the economy of the country” (Art. 25), and any information on the “operation of public bodies [including] an opinion, advice, report or recommendation obtained or prepared or an account of a consultation, discussion or deliberation… minutes of a meetings…” (Art. 26). Simply stated, no information may be released on the activities of government ministers and officials, banks or any other official financial institutions and the internal proceedings or external reviews of public institutions. To top it all off, any public body may refuse a request for information if it determines for any reason the “harm to the protected interest which would be caused by disclosure outweighs the public interest in disclosure.” (Art. 28.)

Corruption, like mushrooms, grows best in darkness. The benighted leaders of the ruling regime in Ethiopia have so far provided splendid husbandry to mushrooming corruption in all sectors of the Ethiopian political economy. What the people of Ethiopia need now are “sunshine laws” for their country of 13 months of sunshine!

To track corruption in Ethiopia, follow the money. It leads straight to the top!

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/

www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/

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

Exponential Population Growth and Carrying Capacity of the Ethiopian Economy

Posted on July 17, 2013, Updated on July 17, 2013 by EthiopianReview.com

By Tsegaye Tegenu, PhD

On July 5, 2013 the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia announced that the Ethiopian population has reached 86 million people. Seizing the occasion I would like to warn about the consequences of exponential population growth in Ethiopia. The mathematics and context of exponential population growth in Ethiopia signals alarm about an impending economic and population growth crash. Empirical evidences show that the Ethiopian population is growing exponentially beyond the accommodating capacity of the economy. According to my indicators and calculation, the Ethiopian population overshoots the country’s economic carrying capacity by 25 million people. The resource quantity and productivity level of the economy supports only 65% of the population (calculated on the basis of 2007 census data).

Most political and economic discussion on Ethiopia considers performance improvement, rate of implementation and governance as the most important factors affecting change. My view is that rapid population growth and its economic consequences are the most serious problems faced by the Ethiopian people. The focus on power struggle and market conditions could have been more important if death and fertility are equal, or nullify each other as in the cases of developed countries. But Ethiopia is now at historical stage of demographic transition and in economic planning number, size and speed matter above all else. In this summary essay I will explain the features of the exponential growth, estimate the carrying capacity of the economy, discuss current approaches to development reforms and make suggestions to avert the danger of “major proportion” collapse. … [continue reading here]

Thus spoke Eskinder, the drum major for Ethiopian democracy

Posted on July 15, 2013 by Alemayehu G. Mariam

By Alemayehu Gebremariam

Still drumming for democracy

Eskinder Nega is still drumming for democracy in Ethiopia. From inside the belly of the infamous Meles Zenawi Prison in Kality, just outside the capital Addis Ababa. Until recently, Eskinder was in solitary confinement. He was allowed to see only his wife and son and a couple of other relatives.

Eskinder is condemned to 18 years in prison. His unspeakable crimes include speaking truth to power, writing the naked truth about the late dictator Meles Zenawi, standing defiant against the abuse of power and speaking his mind fearlessly as a free human being.

Shakespeare wrote, “The evil that men do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.” The evil Meles Zenawi did when he lived still lives on in the shattered lives of journalists Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu and Woubshet Taye, opposition leader Andualem Aragie, activists Olbana Lelisa, Bekele Gerba, Abubekar Ahmed, Ahmedin Jebel and the many thousands of Ethiopian political prisoners. It is true evil never dies; it merely changes its form and shape. It takes a new name and puts on a new face.

Eskinder is one free Ethiopian in prison. Since September 2011, we have not heard his drumbeats for democracy. Meles Zenawi Prison is a virtual black hole. It is a place of total darkness. Not even the enlightened ones can escape.

But we need not hear Eskinder’s drumbeats of democracy. We can feel them. Like our heartbeats. Silently. Rhythmically. Rhapsodically. His enforced silence echoes in our minds and we amplify the sounds of his enforced silence to the world. We reverberate his message. Though we lack his supreme courage, fortitude and stamina, we are unrepentant members of his marching band, and he is our drum major. We all aspire to be Eskinder Nega. Eskinder Nega is us! We are Eskinder Nega! I am Eskinder Nega!

Eskinder Nega is my personal hero. I have written “special tributes for him”. It has been my great privilege to stand by Eskinder’s side, though from thousands of miles away; and defend the honor, character and integrity of this great man with my pen (keyboard). It is an understatement for me to say Eskinder is my hero. He is much more than that. He is my inspiration. Eskinder taught me the true meaning of courage— that capacity of to stand up for one’s beliefs and fight with the weapon of truth and ideas.

Eskinder taught me the true meaning of the expression that the limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. Eskinder is a living example of the proposition that there can be no victory in the struggle for democracy, freedom and human rights without sacrifice, dogged tenacity and fortitude — that inner strength of mind and spirit to bear pain and adversity with courage and grace. Eskinder challenged us to answer that difficult question which most of us seek to avoid: Will we define the defining moment in our lives or let the moment define us in that moment?

Eskinder, for me, is the personification of the audacity of faith and hope that Ethiopia’s young people will rise triumphant in the end regardless of the brutality, inhumanity and barbarity of those who oppress them. For they are destined by Providence to be victorious over the inglorious. Ethiopia’s youth shall inherit an Ethiopia that is at peace with itself, with its neighbors and with Providence. Those who have troubled the House of Ethiopia shall be cast out and “scattered like chaff driven by the desert wind.”. They shall inherit the wind!

Eskinder Nega is not a hero to one man. He is a heroes’ hero. He is a hero to world renowned journalists who have themselves suffered at the hands of dictators including Kenneth Best, founder of the Daily Observer (Liberia’s first independent daily); Lydia Cacho, one of Mexico’s most famous journalists and noted author; Sir Harold Evans, editor of The Sunday Times in Britain; Akbar Ganji, Iran’s foremost dissident; Amira Hass, one of the foremost independent journalists in Israel; Arun Shourie, one of India’s most renowned journalists and editor of the English-language daily Indian Express; Faraj Sarkohi, a long time Iranian writer and journalist persecuted by both the Shah of Iran and the Islamic Republic of Iran; Adam Michnik, editor in chief of the first independent (and bestselling) Polish daily foremost dissident and Polish human rights advocate and so many others. Eskinder is a hero to virtually every respected press and human rights organization in the world. In his own country, Eskinder is condemned as a criminal; but Eskinder Nega is an innocent man condemned by a gang of criminals.

Thus Spoke Eskinder Nega from Meles Zenawi Prison

It is heartwarming to read firsthand accounts of Eskinder’s condition in prison. Recent reports of journalists and others who visited him are encouraging and uplifting. No doubt, prison life for Eskinder and the other imprisoned journalists, opposition leaders and political prisoners is unbearably hard. The regime in Ethiopia maintains one of the most inhumane prison systems in the world. Such was the finding of an expert study commissioned by the regime itself. Those who personally visited Eskinder and the young opposition leader Andualem Aragie said both had lost weight but their spirits were flying high as a kite.

Eskinder’s face radiated with serenity, the kind Reinhold Neibur talked about – “the grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, the courage to change the things which should be changed and the wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.” He talked openly and fearlessly about how to help bring about a better and freer Ethiopia. He spoke passionately about the sacrifices and the price that must be paid to establish democracy and the rule of law in Ethiopia. They said Eskinder was at peace with himself and his circumstances in prison. But I am willing to bet my bottom dollar that he will always be at war with injustice, hate, intolerance and unfairness.

Eskinder’s wife, the incomparable Serkalem Fasil and winner of the prestigious “Courage in Journalism Award”, was present during one of the visits and listened to her husband intently as their son Nafkot playfully made his presence known. It was a distressing sight for the journalists to see Nafkot’s life revolve around prison. Nafkot was born in prison in 2005 when mom and dad were imprisoned by Meles Zenawi “only to be acquitted sixteen months later. Serkalem prematurely gave birth in prison. Severely underweight at birth because Serkalem’s physical and psychological privation in one of Africa’s worst prisons, an incubator was deemed life-saving to the new-born child by prison doctors; which was, in an act of incomprehensible vindictiveness, denied by the authorities. The child nevertheless survived miraculously.” Such is the utter inhumanity of those who have persecuted this extraordinary Ethiopian family for years.

Like any human being Eskinder feels the loss of association with his wife and son. No doubt, he misses his friends and supporters throughout the world as much as they miss him. He told one of his visitors: “I am innocent. I will never ask for a government pardon. I won’t even think about it. But when I say this, I don’t mean that I do not miss my wife and son. Not being with them weighs heavily on my heart. Regardless, it is a high price I must pay for my people. That is the sacrifice I have to make.” That was exactly what Nelson Mandela said: “When your life is the struggle, as mine was, there is little room left for family. That has always been my greatest regret and the most painful aspect of the choice I made.”

I am confident Eskinder understands that the destiny of great men is in the hands of history and not tyrants. Mandela kept his appointment with destiny and emerged victorious from Robben Island and lifted the darkness that threatened to envelop South Africa. I have no doubts that Eskinder, Reeyot, Woubshet, Andualem, Olbana, Bekele, Abubekar, Ahmedin and the many thousands of Ethiopian political prisoners and the millions of youth will also emerge from Prison Nation Ethiopia victorious.

It is deeply saddening that Eskinder and the others have been subjected to all forms of humiliation and degradation in Meles Zenawi Prison. They really tried to break him down, and force him to his knees and beg for a pardon. They tried solitary confinement to break his spirit. They subjected him to personal humiliation, abuse and neglect to crush his unconquerable soul. These petty minded ignoramuses would not even allow him to get books, a right specially recognized under Article 40 of the United Nations, Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, 30 August 1955.) Though Eskinder’s head is bloodied, it is also unbowed!

Eskinder told the visiting journalists, “There can be no change without sacrifice. Change comes through peaceful struggle.” He emphasized the need for peaceful struggle. He spoke of Kenya, Ghana and Malawi and how fortunate they were in being able to build democracy without paying too high a price.

He spoke unambiguously of the need for civility and respect for each other. “Every Ethiopian who acts for the good of the country should be respected.” When the journalists told him that he has been dubbed the “Mandela of Ethiopia”, he humbly declined stating that he did not deserve such honor. But he remained defiant as ever: “I am sentenced to 18 years. What more can happen to me? I feel bad separated from my wife and child. The issue is not whether Eskinder is in prison or not, but how we can see a better and democratic Ethiopia.” He kept on repeating “Democracy, democracy, democracy…”

Why is Eskinder and the others still in prison?

There really is no rational explanation for keeping Eskinder and the rest of the journalists, opposition leaders and activists in prison. But there are many irrational ones. The first absurd reason for keeping them in prison is the belief that releasing them will reflect badly on the name and legacy of the late Meles Zenawi. Releasing them so soon after Meles death would show that he had wrongfully imprisoned them.

The fact known to the whole world is that they are all political prisoners. They have committed no crimes. Every major human rights organization and other governmental organizations involved in human rights have come to the same conclusions.

Meles was an angry man, a vindictive man. As I have often described him when he was alive, Meles opted for revenge when he could show mercy; depraved indifference when he could show compassion; intolerance when he could show understanding and impatience when he could show magnanimity. I shall never forget Meles’ sadistic words after he jailed Birtukan Midekssa in January 2008. “There will never be an agreement with anybody to release Birtukan. Ever. Full stop. That’s a dead issue.” Birtukan, like these young prisoners, had done nothing wrong.

It is indeed a dead issue now. That was how Meles missed his rendezvous with greatness. As long as these young people remain in prison, they become Meles’ legacy and his name will be a symbol of shame and infamy. His name will be defiled and profaned, his character dishonored and his achievements depreciated and deprecated. Releasing them now would go a long way in rehabilitating his name and contributions in the eyes of all Ethiopians and court of world opinion. In all sincerity, is it not time to let Meles rest in peace? Is it not time to release these prisoners and let them live in peace?

The second absurd reason for keeping these young people in prison, I believe, comes from a misguided thinking which equates admitting and correcting mistakes or doing the right thing as a sign of profound weakness. There is nothing wrong in admitting mistakes, but there is a lot that is wrong in not correcting them. “To err is human; to forgive, divine.” When mistakes are not corrected, they accumulate and fester like a sore. In the end, those who fail to correcte their mistakes are buried by them. It was an egregious mistake to imprison these young people; it would be a magnanimous act of redressing a wrong by releasing them.

The third absurd reason for keeping these young people in prison flows from ignorant arrogance. I do not doubt that there are some among those in power who believe might is right. As long as they have the guns, tanks and planes, they can subjugate the entire country and remain on top forever. Such a view is logically and factually flawed. If guns and tanks would have endured eternal power, Mengistu Hailemariam at the peak of his power had $4 billion worth of it. The reason those who are now in power today were able to overthrow Mengistu’s regime was not because of their superior firepower or the refinement of their military strategy. They can deceive themselves into believing that if they want. The real reason they won is because the people of Ethiopia had totally and unreservedly rejected the regime of Mengustu Hailemariam. They had had enough of him, his brutality, his criminality and his ignorant arrogance. Those who seized power from Mengistu arrived at a defining moment in Ethiopia’s history. Ethiopians had to make a choice between a devil they knew and angel lookalikes they did not know. Well now they know!

The fact of the matter is that we live in a different world. It is a world that is coming under the increasing ownership of young people. They are very different from us, the Hippo Generation. They have different dreams, hopes, aspirations and priorities. What is important to us is laughably insignificant to them. When we talk to them about the politics of ethnicity and identity, they look at us as though we are raving lunatics. They could not care less about the ethnicity, region, religion or language of their fellow youth. They care about improving their lives through education and entrepreneurship. They care about the future and do not want to be bogged down in the quicksand of hatred and ethnic rivalry we have created for ourselves. We made our beds in our Ethiopia, and we should lie in them if we must. But we have no right to demand that they lie in the bed of thorns we have made for ourselves. They won’t!

The other irrefutable fact is that there is a tidal wave of youth anger and dissatisfaction on the verge of explosion. In my numerous commentaries in defense of Ethiopia’s youth, I have alluded to the wind of change that has kicked up a sandstorm of youth rebellion and revolt in North Africa someday reaching Ethiopia and the rest of Africa. Ethiopian youth, like Arab youth, are crying out for freedom, democracy, human rights and equal economic opportunity. The vast majority of the uneducated, under-educated and mis-educated Ethiopian youth have no hope for the future. Legions of them with college degrees, advanced professional and technical training waste away the best years of their lives because they have few economic opportunities. They see a void in their futures.

I suspect there are many among those in power who have convinced themselves that the type of volcanic popular uprisings that swept North Africa cannot happen in Ethiopia. They have used every means at their disposal to keep the youth benighted, divided and antagonized. They have tried to prevent Ethiopian youth from accessing the Internet freely to learn new ideas and create cyber civic societies. They have tried to buy the loyalty of the best and the brightest of Ethiopia’s youth with cash, jobs, special educational opportunities and privileges. They have tried to brainwash them into believing that Meles is their demi-god and their savior. They have used a vast security network of informants, spies and thugs to suppress any youth or other uprising before it could gather momentum. They have spread in society so much fear and loathing that it is nearly impossible for individuals or groups to come together, build consensus and articulate a unified demand for change. They can fool (buy and sell) some of the youths all of the time, all of the youths some of the time but it is impossible for them to fool (buy and sell) all of the youths all of the time.

That is exactly what Mubarak did in Egypt, Gadhafi in Libya, Ben Ali in Tunisia and Asad in Syria. The fire that consumed the Middle East was started by the match Bouazizi struck to immolate himself.

Ethiopia’s Cheetahs (youth) represent 70 percent of the population. They have a frightening majority, at least viewed from the perspective of a Hippo. Those in power today would be foolhardy to calculate that they can abuse, degrade, neglect and disrespect this majority and expect to remain in perpetual power. Without the wholehearted support of the youth, the regime is like a tree stuck in a bog which is swept away at the onset of the first flood.

From time to time, I have written about the quiet riot that is taking place in Ethiopia. Those in power today are completely blinded to the quiet riot that is raging in the hearts and minds of Ethiopia’s youth. In their bottomless greed and corruption, they have turned blind, deaf and mute to the despair and hopelessness of the masses of youth who lack of educational, employment and other opportunities for self-improvement and participation in the development of their country. For a time, the quiet riot of despair and hopelessness will fester and simmer. But when hopelessness and despair reaches the boiling point and Ethiopia’s youth overcome their fear of fear, their winter of discontent will be made glorious by an inexorable Ethiopian Spring. When that happens, the tables will turn and the hands that crafted the oppressive laws will be victims of their own hands. Then they will learn the eternal truth: “For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”

The message of a great freedom fighter for Ethiopians and the message of the “great dictator” for humanity

The great Charlie Chaplin in the motion picture the “Great Dictator” gave a stirring oration for the ages when he declined to be the all powerful dictator of Tomania:

Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. To those who can hear me, I say “Do not despair.” The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish.”

We want to live by each other’s happiness, not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way…

Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!

Let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill their promise. They never will!

Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfill that promise! Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness.

Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

Eskinder Nega’s Message to All Ethiopians (translation from Amharic)

Our country Ethiopia is in dire straits. She lies between remaining a united country and disintegration. Additionally, we her citizens continue to suffer under oppression. When those African countries that were created through European colonial machinations and whom we helped birth are today marching to democracy as we continue our backwards march. It is ironic that we were at the head of Africa yesterday but today we are Africa’s tail. This is national shame.

Therefore, in order to root out this problem, it is necessary for us to conduct a peaceful struggle. Related to this, the united movement for democracy and justice and other struggles that are underway by other political parties is very encouraging. If the struggle continues along as it is doing now and there is broad participation, there is no doubt that we will be on the road to freedom. That is why it is necessary for all Ethiopians, regardless of time and location, should engage in a united struggle.

Do not be afraid! Do not be intimidated by the threats of tyrants? Fear is the weapon of tyrants. Reject it! Drive it out of your hearts. To be injured, jailed and abused is a sacrifice we must pay not to be nationless. We must struggle to build a better country. Therefore, step up! Step forward! Participate in peaceful protests.

This is the time for those in the Diaspora to stand up for their country and show their good intentions. To support our cause, All Ethiopians in the Diaspora should participate in protest demonstrations especially the protests that are going on in Addis Ababa.

I am sure if Eskinder’s voice could reach the millions of Ethiopia’s youth he’d say, “Do not despair. The misery that is now upon Ethiopia is but the passing of greed and corruption, the bitterness of men who fear the truth, men consumed by hatred. Those who have watered and cultivated hate in Ethiopia will be consumed by it like a wild fire. Dictators have died. The truth shall live. The power they stole from the people will return to the people. Do away with kilil barriers! Do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! And so long as Ethiopians are imprisoned, tortured and die for their convictions and truth, liberty will never perish.”

So long as there are Ethiopians like Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu, Woubshet Taye, Andualem Aragie, Olbana Lelisa, Bekele Gerba, Abubekar Ahmed, Ahmedin Jebel…, liberty will never perish in Ethiopia. These young people are held in a “place of wrath and tears”, a place called Meles Zenawi Prison. There they face the “menace of the years”, but we “shall find them unafraid”. It does not matter how much physical punishment and psychological pain is inflicted on them, they shall remain defiant. Why? Because all of them are masters of their fate and captains of their souls.” Hail Ethiopia’s Youth. Ethiopia Youth Invictus!

Release all political prisoners in Ethiopia!

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.

Previous commentaries by the author are available at:

http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/
www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/
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