By Mike Peter
Open letter to Dr. Charles Tannock MEP, Member of European Parliament for London
Email: [email protected] , [email protected]
Dear Dr. Charles Tannock:
I am writing to express my disappointment and dejection vis-à-vis your article titled “It’s time to give Ethiopia the diplomatic tools that it requires.” By any measure, your article is untimely, inappropriate, and unethical. Are you advising the current regime to hang on to power? Is it not undemocratic and high-handed for any elected official, to endorse the ruling clique before even the votes were cast and ballots have been tallied? Do you really have up-to-date information how our people in Ethiopia are dealing presently with the régime?
When in 1999 you were elected for European Parliament, I had a great appreciation for your decision to give up your highly-regarded psychiatry practice to take office in Brussels. I honestly believed at that time that you as a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists would be one of the elected officials, who will forever have a great respect for human rights of any society in our planet, including that of Ethiopians.
It is a candid statement that past policies of western governments were geared up around the idea that “strongmen” bring stability. Due to their misguided geopolitics, western countries have contributed in the past to instabilities around the world. But we are noticing at present the downside of such unwise and precarious strategy. This is due to the fact that the rulers, which were supported in the past by western governments, have become recurrently oppressive and totalitarian. It is also our recent memory that removing dictators from such countries has required quiet significant human lives and enormous material resources. Despite some progress, several regions of the world are still volatile and above all instability is a looming threat in Western-allied dictatorships that are currently embraced as bulwarks of stability.
In case of Ethiopia, it is no more hush-hush that there are widespread violations of human-rights and annihilation of self-esteem of citizens by the régime. At this instant, Ethiopians are dying from hunger and starvation; this incessant suffering of our fellow Ethiopians is breaking our heart; and absolutely unbearable for any human being. The people of Ethiopia opposite to that you may believe, being in western democracy, are living daily in trepidation and under terror from the régime. There is confrontation between the ruling party and the downhearted people in every corner of Ethiopia. Moreover, due to the discontent and harassment from the régime, there are skirmishes between the régime and several armed groups all over the country. Our unity and existence as a country is in jeopardy. I want to assure you that as noble, proud, and very tranquil people, we Ethiopians wish for ourselves a united, secured, democratic, and wealthy nation; as others do.
Don’t you believe that the innocent British geologist, who was lately shot dead in an ambush, had incorrect information about the security in Ethiopia? Is he got killed by bandits as the Ethiopian regime claims? Is Ethiopia a stable country as you may think, to send your skilled countrymen (http://www.fco.gov.uk /en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/sub-saharan-africa/ethiopia)? Aren’t you accountable as a British diplomat for not informing your citizens about security issues in any part of the world? Besides, isn’t it appropriate and valuable for you and your colleagues to help Ethiopians to build a democratic and secured nation in the currently unstable Horn of Africa?
I indisputably believe that for a stability of any country it is crucial to have a leader that is intelligent, strong, caring, and devoted to his people. Ethiopians were assiduously looking-for such a leader for several decades. Nevertheless, we were unfortunate and our effort couldn’t bear fruit. That is why; it is deplorable for us at this time to tolerate a ruler, who drove us to more misery and insecurity for more than two decades.
Other issue that I want to bring to your attention is that the régime in power, to extend its survival, is seeding detestation and driving wedges among various ethnic groups in Ethiopia; which is by far the most precarious and dangerous action that is expected only from irresponsible and immature government. As you know that, the circumstance that happened in Rwanda due to the administration in power at that time is not a distant memory. Therefore, I want you and your colleagues in the European Parliament to be aware of the state of affairs in Ethiopia. We do not need any apology in the future, either from you or your colleagues, similar to that of western diplomats’ for their silence in the face of the Rwanda genocide. We call for your support now!
Finally, I want to let you know that freedom is non-negotiable and a question of survival for Ethiopians. I have wished for myself and preferred that your article read “It’s time for western countries to help Ethiopians to build a stable, democratic, and prosperous society.” I hope you as a member of the Europe for freedom and democracy Group will agree with me that Ethiopia as a nation deserves liberty.
(Dr. Mike Peter, PE, can be reached at [email protected])