ethiobserver

On March 11, 2008 , the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Sub-Committee on African Affairs held a hearing on the Horn of Africa. The topic was Evaluating U.S. Policy Objectives and Options on the Horn of Africa. The Committee heard testimonies from the following: Jendayi Frazer (Assistance Secretary for African Affairs), Katherine Almquist (Assistant Administrator for Africa, USAID), Lynn Fredriksson (Advocacy for Africa, Amnesty International), Thomas Dempsey (Professor, Security Sector Reform), Theresa Whelan (Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense) and David Shinn (Adjunct Professor).

Senator Russ Feingold, Chairman of the Sub-Committee, chaired the hearing. It now appears that the presentation he made to the Senate on March 3, 2008 “On the Political Crisis in Ethiopia” was a precursor for this hearing, undoubtedly to be followed by another hearing on HR-2003 with probable intention of conducting voice vote without debate as was done by the House of Representatives. In general, most of the content of his statement was a reflection of statements that are repeated ad infinitum made by the oppositions. This is an indication of the intense lobbying that he was exposed to by the vocal minority in the Ethiopian Diaspora.

The panelists appear to be unanimous in considering the continuing radical Islamic insurgency in Somalia as priority number one in the Horn. They agreed that enough has not been done to ameliorate and solve the problems plaguing Somalia for the last 17 years. They advocated that decisive measures should be taken and adequate resources allocated. It should be recalled that the international community abandoned the Somali people to the harsh, brutal and exploitative treatment by the warlords in 1995 when the UN peacekeeping operation pulled out of the country. Had aggressive and persistent measures been pursued then, the 17-year long suffering of the Somali people would have stopped a long time ago. Look at what is happening in Somalia now. Here again the indecision of the international community has worsened the suffering of the people. It gave time to and emboldened the extreme elements of the Council of Islamic Courts (CIC), al-Shabaab in particular, and their al Qaeda affiliates to organize and strengthen themselves to cause havoc. The fact that the extreme Islamic elements turned guerrillas have the audacity to order their fighters to attack AU troops in Mogadishu and to reject the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia’s (TFG) offer for talks in any location “even if the Ethiopian troops left the country” shows the worsening situation in Somalia . This would, evidently, not have happened if the Transitional Government of Somalia had been provided with all the necessary assistance in timely manner.

It is heartening to learn that the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s has proposed to the Security Council to deploy a new 8,000-strong multinational force, to be followed by a peacekeeping force of up to 27,000 soldiers and 1,500 police. Although belated, this is a welcome initiative. Because of the urgency of the situation and the militancy of al-Shabaab, however, his qualification of “even before a formal cease-fire” should be replaced by “before a formal cease-fire.” Delaying the deployment further is prolonging the sufferance of the innocent ordinary Somali people. With all the measures that the UN can take exhausted this is the right time for the international community to deploy military intervention force instead of peacekeeping operation. Taking such action is justified by the repeated requests by the legitimate Somali government, the African Union and many African countries. It is worrisome that the international community has not learned lessons from countries, such as Rwanda and the Congo where millions of people were killed and maimed because of failure of the international community to act. It is also worrisome that success of the radical Islamists is a threat to peace and security in Ethiopia , the Horn, Africa and the world.

In general, the overall assessment of the situation in the Horn is a mixed bag with negative and positive aspects/features. Some of the unfair, exaggerated and false statements made in reference to Ethiopia , would not have been made or, at worst, toned down had some of the presenters been knowledgeable about the history and complexity of Ethiopian society. During the last couple of centuries the country suffered from devastations as a result of conflicts among competing warlords. This continues to be encouraged and abated by foreign perennial enemies (Egypt, Libya, Saudi Arabia and other Islamic countries) whose intentions, among others, are to ensure the status quo on their use of Ethiopian rivers and to facilitate and accelerate the spread of Islam as Christianity in Ethiopia is considered an obstacle to Islamizing the Horn and the rest of Africa. Despite the fact that Ethiopia is a model of religious tolerance, these same countries and their extreme elements and radical versions of Islam (Saudi Arabia’s Wahabism) had hand in Moslems killing Christians this and last year in Ethiopia. In addition to such indirect involvement the same and other countries, namely, Ottoman Egypt, Sudan (Mahdists), Italy , Somalia and Eritrea committed aggressions on Ethiopia . These are among the primary reasons for the pervasive poverty and backwardness of the country.

It has been about 30 years since the country was liberated from the oppressive feudal rule which held together the currently over 80 million people comprising over 80 nations and nationalities against their will, by sheer force. This was, unfortunately, followed by almost two decades of the Derg communist regime rule, which proved to be even more oppressive. The number of national liberation fronts during the fall of the Derg, determined to liberate their ethnic groups from historical injustices and oppression threatened the existence of Ethiopia . The condition of the country would have been worse than that of Somalia , a country with the same people, language and religion if EPRDF had not instituted the federal system with the major nations and nationalities administering their respective areas, using their languages, etc.—thereby equalizing all Ethiopian ethnic groups through unity in diversity. It should be recalled here that repeated predictions have been made that Ethiopia would be balkanized like the former Yugoslavia . The Ethiopian people have regained their dignity and unlike in the past they are proud to call themselves Ethiopians by choice and not by force. Outside interference in the internal affairs of the country could undo the successful political, social and economic development achieved and expose the country to instability and inter-ethnic conflicts, possibly leading to ethnic cleansing and genocide that would pale in comparison to what happened in Rwanda , the Congo and lately in Kenya .

The scathing criticism with respect with human rights came from Lynn Fredriksson and Senator Russ Feingold. It is practically all negative. However the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia , Donald Yamamoto, who is on the ground to know what goes on in the country, disagrees. In a recent interview he gave he said “Ethiopian government’s effort geared toward safeguarding the human rights of its citizens is quite encouraging. The government is also committed to ensure democratic system in the country.”

Yes, there are and there will be human rights problems for some time to come in the country as anywhere in the world, including the U.S. —more so in Ethiopia , partly because of the poor quality of the civil service and poor understanding of human rights at the lower and grass root levels—characteristic of backwardness. This situation is exacerbated and complicated by the huge number of ethnic groups in the country some of whom are manipulated by groups and individuals for selfish ends. Traditional conflicts arise within and between ethnic groups because of boundary, land disputes, access to resources, such as water, enmity and feuds between families, clans, etc. Yet, the so-called human rights advocates and oppositions attribute deaths and destruction resulting from such hostilities to the government.

Some of the human rights problems are intentionally perpetrated by the so-called liberation fronts (OLF, ONLF, etc.) and their likes indirectly through their support groups and individual supporters. Their history is replete with bombing hotels, buildings and transport infrastructures, assassinating government officials and supporters, harassing and killing innocent people, etc. Unlike the liberation fronts comprising the EPRDF, the ONLF insurgents kill people who do not accede to their demands for money and food. Like in Somalia , people suffer and get killed in clan confrontations as well. These atrocities are again attributed to the Ethiopian government.

The Eritrean government on its part has been and is engaging in a proxy war with Ethiopia . It plans, organizes, trains, arms and forces the Ethiopian oppositions and fronts as well as the Alliance for Reliberation of Somalia headquartered in Eritrea and the extreme Islamists (al-Shabaab) in Somalia—which the U.S. government recently designated as foreign terrorist organization—to terrorize Ethiopia. The video evidence recently aired on Ethiopian Television featuring Abeba Yoseph, a former Eritrean Television journalist (Editor and News Castor for Oromigna Service)* confirms in no uncertain terms what Ethiopia, most of the panelists and the international community have been observing and saying all along. Among the revelations the journalist made was how news about Ethiopian oppositions’ attacks on Ethiopians were manufactured and televised in Asmara . Another is a multi-pronged proxy war plan in which she was to witness and report from the Oromia region. The plan was for the liberation fronts to attack Ethiopia from the north, west, south and east of the country simultaneously. It was aborted when the Council of Islamic Courts (CIC) in Somalia was defeated. After 19 days of waiting in Assab the journalist who was on her way to Oromia Region returned to Asmara. There was, apparently, no plan B. Eritrea, evidently, thinks that it can—by repeatedly violating agreements related to the Ethio-Eritrean war of 1998-2000—force Ethiopia to abide by the “final and binding” 2002 ruling of the Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) on the demarcation of the boundary. Contrary to the media parroting Eritrea ’s endless accusation, Ethiopia accepted the decision long ago but wants to work out the details through dialogue which is supported by the international community. Under the circumstances, it is difficult to understand why Dr. David Shinn denies Ethiopia ’s acceptance of the ruling and puts on equal footing the support given to groups to destabilize the other’s country. Eritrea does not want to end the confrontation as this will deprive the government the excuse to continue to keep the status quo, thereby avoiding any dissent and uprising.

Many of the alleged human rights abuses are fabrications, exaggerations and innuendos. The sources of some of the information repeated over and over by the media and organizations are individual supporters of the fronts and oppositions as well as individuals under threat with no grievances at all. They are instructed to complain of atrocities allegedly committed by the government. All these and other human rights abuses are attributed to the government. What is amazing is that the atrocities committed by the fronts and their likes, the perpetrators, are, for all intents and purposes, not subject of criticism. Let us not forget that the fronts and even some oppositions side with and serve the interest of other countries which want to destabilize Ethiopia for their own ends. The government has the responsibility to protect its citizens, the country and the constitution. It has to take action when fronts and their likes terrorize and kill innocent people as happened in the Somali State last year. Sometimes it may be difficult for the government during counter terrorism operations to avoid collateral damage, especially when the terrorists use the people as shields or force them to join them in killing and destruction.

One of the reasons why Ethiopia is poor and backward is because such countries make sure that the country is always immersed in fighting for its very existence and therefore has no peace and resources to develop. Obviously, the critics have no idea as to what it takes to prevent abuses from taking place and/or do not want to admit or understand the complex and difficult nature of the situation on the ground.

Changes, especially those that have wide ramifications in a society, are not expected to be welcomed by each and every individual or group—depending on perceived consequences. As would be anticipated there are those compatriots who are unhappy with the federal system of government. They include remnants of the feudal and Derg regimes that exploited the people and benefited from the systems. The former migrated to the United States and other countries during the Derg regime and the latter when the EPRDF took over the government. They constitute the vociferous elements in the Diaspora. They say and do anything against the incumbent government, including creating inflation (sharp rise in the cost of living) through their bodies in Ethiopia (salt price per kg increased overnight from 2 Birr to 10-28 Birr). They lie, exaggerate, deny, beg, etc. to see their dream come true, taking over the government.

The agenda of some of the oppositions and their Diaspora manipulators is to return to a centralized government system that would enable them to exploit the people as their fathers and mothers did. This is hallucination. The liberated people will not allow it. The people have witnessed how power hungry remnants of the feudal and Derg regimes are. They have seen the fight between Dr. Berhanu (rumored not likely to return to Ethiopia ) and Engineer Hailu (denied Canadian entry visa) for power. They have observed they do not practice democracy and therefore cannot bring democracy. The former CUD is fragmented into three irreconcilable units. In brief, these are the Diaspora vocal elements that have been and continue to hoodwink the U.S. Administration and Congress. It is a pity that the House of Representatives fell pray to the machinations of the Diaspora and passed HR-2003 by voice vote without debate. What is surprising is the so-called unanimous vote did not take into account of changes and events, such as the release of political prisoners, the new structure of the Ethiopian Election Board and the new working procedure of the Parliament, that have been passed by parliament prior to the vote. These examples were among the outdated issues and yet figure in HR-2003.

Good governance is an essential precondition for respect for human rights. Good governance requires civil service that is capable of providing adequate and timely services to the people. Developing countries lack qualified, dedicated and well remunerated civil servants as in developed countries. It will, obviously, take time for them to improve their governance and therefore their respect for human rights. This being the case, one wonders why governments and critics in developed countries insist on and impose copy cut adoption (not adaptation) of their standards in developing countries, it being well knowing that it is impractical to do so in such a short time and under such dire economic conditions. Have they forgotten that it took them centuries to attain good governance they now enjoy in their respective countries? In Ethiopia , despite the constraints touched upon above, governance is improving by the day and so is respect for human rights. A genuine person will not fail to notice that such is the case, particularly after the 2005 elections.

I close by posing some questions. Despite the fact that Ethiopia faces all kinds of internal and external problems and that democratic institutions are in the process of formation, what makes Ethiopia the target? Why make aid to Ethiopia conditional to good governance, human rights and democracy when the country is making progress in all fronts? Why are countries, such as Egypt , Saudi Arabia and Pakistan not targeted? Why is the rogue state of Eritrea , the architect of instability in the Horn of Africa, exempted from such treatment? Given the human rights abuses perpetrated in the U.S. , on what moral ground do the critics come with such human rights accusations? Why these double standards? What will the loss of Ethiopia , a staunch ally, mean to U.S. ’s fighting terrorism in Africa and the Middle East ? What country in the Horn of Africa, other than Ethiopia , could contribute to and bring peace and stability to Eastern Africa , Africa and the world? Why defeat the win-win cooperation between the US and Ethiopia ? Who will gain from the passing of HR-2003 as Ethiopia is not likely to accept it?