By Meron Agonafer
I am one of the thousands of Ethiopian Americans who toiled to get you elected. For two years, I was a volunteer for your presidential campaign. I made thousands of phone calls, organized precinct walks, recruited volunteers, and contributed funds to send volunteers to Nevada, Colorado and Pennsylvania. I published letters to the editor in my local newspaper in support of your candidacy. I did it all while looking after my then 18 months old son.
I promised my boy that you will be the next President of the United States. I was enthusiastic about my engagement in your campaign because I believed so strongly that your administration would be fundamentally different from your predecessors in dealing with African dictators like Meles Zenawi.
Now you are the President, I am sad to say that your administration is yet to make any meaningful policy changes toward Ethiopia. Of course, Mr. President, you have so much on your plate—two wars, an economic crisis and the ongoing policy debates in Congress.
However, at the expense of sounding alarmist, I want to bring to your attention that if the current dismal political situations in Ethiopia continue unabated, Ethiopia will be a failed-state. Such a real prospect should alarm your administration.
Mr. President, due to its repressive nature, the Zenawi’s regime is widely despised and rejected by the vast majority of Ethiopians. And the United States’ unconditional support to this murderous regime has been greatly resented by Ethiopians. That should be a concern to the United States, because the enormous public opposition to the Zenawi’s regime can make millions of Ethiopians potentially susceptible to recruitment and radicalization by internal and external radical groups.
To avert a colossal failure, Mr. President, now is the time to formulate a new policy toward Ethiopia. Mr. Michael Posner, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, has been surprisingly intimidated to condemn the abhorrent human rights record of the Zenawi’s regime. The U.S. State Department should not have double-standards on human rights in Darfur, Sudan, and Gambella, Gondar and Ogaden, Ethiopia.
You set a high bar for yourself during your presidential campaign to be tough on corrupted dictators and to honor human rights—don’t lower the bar now, Mr. President. Don’t be hoodwinked or deceived by a vicious and notorious dictator like Meles Zenawi. You cannot count on a person like Mr. Zenawi, who has no principles and credibility, to advance U.S. interests in East Africa—it simply cannot be done.
Please advise your State Department to take the issues of human rights violations in Ethiopia seriously, and to set up a Committee to examine political conditions on the ground. A democratic and stable Ethiopia will be a strategic and reliable ally to the United States.
With tremendous respect! Meron Agonafer