Ethiopia: Crackdown on Dissent Intensifies

Human Rights Situation Dire Ahead of May 2015 Elections

(Nairobi) – The Ethiopian government during 2014 intensified its campaign of arrests, prosecutions, and unlawful force to silence criticism, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2015. The government responded to peaceful protests with harassment, threats, and arbitrary detention, and used draconian laws to further repress journalists, opposition activists, and critics.

“The Ethiopian government fell back on tried and true measures to muzzle any perceived dissent in 2014,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director. “Journalists and dissenters suffered most, snuffing out any hope that the government would widen political space ahead of the May 2015 elections.”

In the 656-page world report, its 25th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in more than 90 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Kenneth Roth urges governments to recognize that human rights offer an effective moral guide in turbulent times, and that violating rights can spark or aggravate serious security challenges. The short-term gains of undermining core values of freedom and non-discrimination are rarely worth the long-term price.

Ethiopia’s dismal rights record faced little criticism from donor countries in 2014. Throughout the year, state security forces harassed and detained leaders and supporters of Ethiopian opposition parties. Security personnel responded to protests in Oromia in April and May with excessive force, resulting in the deaths of at least several dozen people, and the arrests of hundreds more. The authorities regularly blocked the Semawayi (Blue) Party’s attempts to hold protests.

Media remain under a government stranglehold, with many journalists having to choose between self-censorship, harassment and arrest, and exile. In 2014, dozens of journalists fled the country following threats. In July, the government charged seven bloggers known as Zone 9 and three journalists under the abusive Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. In August, the owners of six private publications were charged under the criminal code following threats against their publications. The government blocks websites and blogs and regularly monitors and records telephone calls.

The authorities have been displacing indigenous populations without appropriate consultation or compensation in the lower Omo Valley to make way for the development of sugar plantations. Villagers and activists who have questioned the development plans face arrest and harassment.

The government showed no willingness to amend the Anti-Terrorism Law or the Charities and Societies Proclamation, despite increasing condemnation of these laws for violating basic rights. Authorities more rigorously enforced the Charities and Societies Proclamation, which bars organizations from working on human rights, good governance, conflict resolution, and advocacy on the rights of women, children, and people with disabilities if the organizations receive more than 10 percent of their funds from foreign sources.
“The government’s crackdown on free expression in 2014 is a bad sign for elections in 2015,” Lefkow said.

=>hrw

Leaked Report Says World Bank Violated Its Own Rules In Ethiopia

                    ICIJ  |  By Sasha Chavkin

 This article was reported by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a Washington DC-based global network of 185 reporters in 65 countries who collaborate on transnational investigations.

Internal watchdog finds link between World Bank financing and Ethiopian government's mass resettlement of indigenous group

The World Bank repeatedly violated its own rules while funding a development initiative in Ethiopia that has been dogged by complaints that it sponsored forced evictions of thousands of indigenous people, according to a leaked report by a watchdog panel at the bank.

The report, which was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, examines a health and education initiative that was buoyed by nearly $2 billion in World Bank funding over the last decade. Members of the indigenous Anuak people in Ethiopia’s Gambella province charged that Ethiopian authorities used some of the bank’s money to support a massive forced relocation program and that soldiers beat, raped and killed Anuak who refused to abandon their homes. The bank continued funding the health and education initiative for years after the allegations emerged.

The report by the World Bank’s internal Inspection Panel found that there was an “operational link” between the World Bank-funded program and the Ethiopian government’s relocation push, which was known as “villagization.” By failing to acknowledge this link and take action to protect affected communities, the bank violated its own policies on project appraisal, risk assessment, financial analysis and protection of indigenous peoples, the panel’s report concludes.

“The bank has enabled the forcible transfer of tens of thousands of indigenous people from their ancestral lands,” said David Pred, director of Inclusive Development International, a nonprofit that filed the complaint on behalf of 26 Anuak refugees.
Anuak children in Gorom Refugee Camp in South Sudan. Many Anuak fled Ethiopia during a government relocation campaign called "villagization". Photo credit: Andreea Campeanu/ICIJ.

The bank declined to answer ICIJ’s questions about the report.
“As is standard procedure, World Bank staff cannot comment on the results of the Inspection Panel’s investigation until the Executive Board of the World Bank Group has had the opportunity to review the Panel’s report over the coming weeks,” Phil Hay, the bank’s spokesman for Africa, said in a written response.

In previous responses to the complaint, bank management said there was no evidence of widespread abuses or evictions and that the Anuak “have not been, nor will they be, directly and adversely affected by a failure of the Bank to implement its policies and procedures.”

Because the panel’s report has not yet been published, some of the language may be revised before a final version is released, but its basic conclusions are not expected to change.

The report stops short of finding the bank responsible for the most serious abuses. The panel did not attempt to verify the widely reported allegations of forced evictions and human rights violations, finding that the question was beyond the scope of its investigation. The bank did not violate its policy on forced resettlement, the report says, because the relocations were conducted by the Ethiopian government and were not a “necessary” part of the health and education program.

Since 2006, the World Bank and other foreign donors have bankrolled the Promoting Basic Services program, which provides grants to local and regional governments for services such as health, education and clean water. The PBS program was designed to avoid funneling aid dollars directly to Ethiopia’s federal government, which had violently cracked down on its opposition after disputed 2005 elections.

By 2010, federal and provincial authorities had embarked on an effort to relocate nearly 2 million poor people in four provinces from isolated rural homes to village sites selected by the government. In these new villages, authorities promised to provide the relocated communities with health care, education and other basic services they had lacked.

The government relocated 37,883 households in Gambella, roughly 60 percent of all households in the province, according to Ethiopian government statistics cited by the Inspection Panel. The Ethiopian government has said that all resettlements were voluntary.

Many members of the Anuak, a mostly Christian indigenous group in Gambella, have said they didn’t want to move. Anuak and their advocates say that they were pushed off their fertile lands by soldiers and policemen, and that much of the abandoned land was then leased by the government to investors. The evictions were “accompanied by widespread human rights violations, including forced displacement, arbitrary arrest and detention, beatings, rape, and other sexual violence,” according to a 2012 report by Human Rights Watch.

The Human Rights Watch report and Anuak refugees’ complaint to the Inspection Panel contended that the bank’s money was being used by local and regional authorities to support forced relocations. For example, they say, money from the PBS initiative was used to pay the salaries of government officials who helped carry out the evictions.

The bank continued to fund the PBS program throughout the villagization campaign. The bank approved new funding for PBS in 2011 and 2012, and its support for the program continues today. Since the nationwide health and education initiative launched, Ethiopia has reported strides in reducing child mortality and increasing primary school enrollment.

The villagization campaign ended in 2013, and is believed to have resettled substantially fewer than the nearly 2 million people anticipated by the government.

The Ethiopia case is one of several recent World Bank-financed projects that have drawn fire from activist groups for allegedly funding human rights violations. These projects include a loan to a palm oil producer in Honduras whose security guards have been accused by human rights advocates of killing dozens of peasants involved in a land rights dispute with the company, and a conservation program by the Kenyan government that members of the Sengwer people say was used as tool for pushing them out of their ancestral forests.

In the Ethiopia case, the Inspection Panel decided that the most severe allegations of forced evictions and violence were beyond its mandate, in part because bank rules limited its investigation to only the most recent funding installment of the PBS program.

During its investigation, the Inspection Panel asked Eisei Kurimoto, a professor at Osaka University in Japan and an expert on the Anuak people, to travel to Gambella and help review the Anuak’s complaint.

Kurimoto told ICIJ that Anuak he spoke with told him Ethiopian authorities used the threat of violence to force them to move.

Ethiopian officials who carried out the villagization program “always went with armed policemen and soldiers,” Kurimoto said. “It is very clear that the regional government thought that people would not move happily or willingly. So they had to show their power and the possibility of using force.”

Inclusive Development International’s Pred said it is now up to World Bank president Jim Yong Kim to decide whether “justice will be served” for the Anuak. “Justice starts with the acceptance of responsibility for one’s faults – which the Inspection Panel found in abundance – and ends with the provision of meaningful redress,” he said.                                   

=>huffingtonpost

ETHIOPIA: “ETHIOPIAN EXODUS” FLOODS YEMEN

Photo: Ethiopian refugees of the Tigray ethnic group crossing into Eritrea

Sam B.

The Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat (RMMS) is again reporting a dramatic increase in Ethiopians fleeing their country from hunger, poverty and deplorable human rights abuses to Yemen. The RMMS core Steering Committee and founding agencies are UNHCR, IOM, DRC, Intersos and the Yemen Mixed Migration Task Force.

The Economist (the magazine) writes:

“Several thousand Ethiopians sleep rough in Bossaso’s dirt, like animals. They are sustained by Muslim alms: a free meal each day, paid for by Bossaso traders. Some of the Ethiopians arrive in town feral with hunger. They have to be beaten back with cudgels when the meal is served. The hope of all of them is to be illegally trafficked across the sea to Yemen. They slip out of town in the moonlight, cramming into metal skiffs that are death traps. Many drown in the crossing: the boat sinks or they are tossed overboard by traffickers when Yemeni patrols approach. Some of the men interviewed in Bossaso for this story have since drowned in this way. Refugee agencies say only a few of those who survive will find jobs in Saudi Arabia. The rest will drift, disappear or die young.”

RMMS calls this phenomenon the “Ethiopian Exodus”. Between September and November 2014 alone RMMS says over 26,000 Ethiopians have crossed the Red Sea to Yemen alone, on their way to Saudi Arabia. Many drowning in the attempt.

In November RMMS reported:

“An estimated 9,420 Ethiopians made their way to Yemen in November 2014, 19% higher than arrivals in October 2014, and 366% higher than the number of Ethiopians that arrived in November 2013.”

And in September it stated:

“An estimated 9,443 Ethiopians made their way to Yemen in September 2014, 15% higher than arrivals in August 2014, and 149% more than the number of Ethiopians that arrived in September 2013.”

RMMS estimated “82,680 migrants/refugees arrived in Yemen between January and November” 2014 and that “approximately 85% of the migrants” were those of “Ethiopian origin, while the rest were Somali”. RMMS further underscored that Ethiopian and Somalis are “maintaining the approximate arrival ratio between the two groups that has existed for the last 3 years.”

In fact starting in 2008 Ethiopian migrants arrivals to Yemen have overtaken Somalis, by large margin. The following graphic is compiled by UNHCR shows the breakdown between Somali and Ethiopian migrants in Yemen.

=>madote

URGENT: Statement released by Western Australian Oromo Community

(Oromedia, 21 January 2015)The Western Australian Oromo Community says any individual or/and group of individuals who may take part in  meeting with the Ethiopian government do not represent the Oromo Community in Western Australia.

This is in reference to telephone conversation and written request made by Ethiopian Embassy in Canberra, Australia to meet with Oromo diaspora by high level of delegate from Oromia Regional State led by Vice President. Thank you for your invitation.

As Oromo Community in Western Australia, we held a series of meeting and discussion about your request and made the following official statement to your request. We would like to inform you that we are not only unable to participate in any formal or informal discussion or dialog with the current Ethiopian Government body or it’s representative, but also we strongly and firmly oppose such gathering in its any form.

We the Oromo community in Western Australia demands that the current Ethiopian regime immediate cessation of hostility against Oromo people. We demand that Government stops its lip service campaign in the election year; release all political prisoners without any precondition, respect the basic human right of freedom of speech, peaceful assembly, and expression.

We also demand that the Government stop displacing Oromo people from its ancestral lands. We speak loud and clear that the Government cease the power immediately and allow opposition political parties to operate in the country freely. We also demand that the Government respect its article 39 constitution and allow the nation and nationalities in the empire of self-determination including cessation or union at will. Then only we believe that the door of dialog and discussion with this Government be open.

According to the press release “the current Ethiopia Government is the regime that dehumanized the Oromo public: marginalized the Oromo people politically, economically, and socially.”
Here is the press release from Oromo Community of Western Australia. Official Statemen_OCWA
The email letter sent to the Oromo community from Ethiopian Embassy Canberra indicated that “high level delegation of the Oromia Regional State led by the Vice President will visit Perth after January 23, 2015 (the specific date will be notified later) to meet with Oromo Diaspora in your city and the surroundings.”

The purposes of the meeting are:

1. To brief on the objective situation (political, economy and social development) of the region,
2. To brief on the Diaspora Housing Development Program and
3. To brief on the upcoming Oromia International Diaspora Day

The venue will be in one of the big hotels in Perth, the cost of which will be covered by us. Therefore, as Chairman of your association, we seek your assistance to inform the leadership and members to attend the forthcoming meeting in Perth. The Diaspora Minister Counselor will call you on Saturday, 17 January 2015, for detailed discussion.
Here is a letter sent from Ethiopian Embassy Canberra: Ambassador’s Letter

1. Ethiopian Embassy letter to Dr. Nuru Said, Chairman of Oromia Community

2. Response to the letter by Oromo Community in W. Astralia

=>ayyaantuu

Widespread Repression State Terrorism in Ogaden, Ethiopia

by GRAHAM PEEBLES

Ethiopia is being hailed as a shining example of African economic growth. Principle donors and devotees of the International Monetary Fund/World Bank development model (an imposed ideological vision which measures all things in terms of a nations GDP) see the country as an island of potential prosperity and stability within a region of failed states and violent conflict. “Economic performance in recent years has been strong, with economic growth averaging in double-digits since 2004,”states the IMF country report. The economic model (a hybrid of western capitalism and Chinese control) adopted by the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government is a centralised system that denies democracy – consultation and participation in “development plans” is unheard of – ignores and violates human rights.

A willing ally in the “war on terror,” Ethiopia is a strategically convenient base from which the US launches it’s deadly Reaper Drones over Yemen and Somalia, carrying out “targeted assassinations” against perceived threats to “national security” and the ‘American way of life’. In exchange perhaps, irresponsible benefactors – Britain, America and the European Union – turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to the human rights abuses being perpetrated throughout the country by the highly repressive dictatorship enthroned in Addis Ababa.

Widespread repression

Whilst there are state-fuelled fires burning in various parts of the country: Oromo, Amhara, Gambella, and the Lower Omo Valley for example. Regions where Genocide Watch (GW) consider “Ethiopia to have already reached Stage 7 (of 8), genocide massacres,” arguably the worst atrocities are taking place within the Ogaden, where GW say the Ethiopian government has “initiated a genocidal campaign against the Ogaden Somali population.”

A harsh region subject to drought and famine where, according to human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, as well as first hand accounts, innocent men, women and children are being murdered, raped, imprisoned and brutally tortured by government forces.

The region borders Somalia and is populated largely by ethnic Somalis, many of whom do not regard themselves as Ethiopian at all and see the Ethiopian military operating within the region as an occupying force. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) has been engaged in a struggle for independence for the last 22 years. They were elected to power in the 1992 regional elections; however, after they had the democratic gall to propose a referendum on self-determination, the central government under the leadership of the previous Prime-Minister – Meles Zenawi, sent in the military: leading members of the newly elected regional authority and their supporters were executed and arrested and the army installed to control the region. The ONLF, branded terrorists by a government that labels all dissenting individuals and groups with the “T” word, were driven into the bush from where they have been waging armed and diplomatic resistance ever since.

Since 2007, all international media and prying meddlesome humanitarian aid groups have been banned from the area, making it extremely difficult to collect up-to-date information on the situation. The main source of data comes from courageous refugees and defected military men who have found their way to Kenya or Yemen. Most fleeing the region end up in one of the five sites that comprise the sprawling UNHCR-run Dadaab refugee camp in North Eastern Kenya. Established in 1992 to accommodate 100,000 people for 10 years, it is often described as the largest refugee camp in the world and is now home to round 500,000, although manipulated Kenyan government figures are much lower.

Maryama’s story

Maryama arrived in Dadaab with her son and daughter in May 2014 after fleeing her homeland in Ethiopia. She had been the victim of terrible physical and sexual abuse at the hands of the Ethiopian military. Her shocking story echoes the experience of thousands of innocent women – many of whom are no more than children – throughout the affected parts of the Ogaden. I met Maryama in the UNHCR field office of the Dagahaley site in October 2014. She spoke to me of her life in the Ogaden and the violence she had suffered. We sat on the ground in the shade of a UN office building. She spoke with clarity and passion for over an hour, her two-year old son on her lap.

Like many people in the Ogaden, Maryama lived a simple life as a pastoralist. Tending her goats and camels, she moved from place to place with her family. She had never attended school, cannot read or write and knows little or nothing of her country’s politics. Some time in 2012, she was arrested when a large group of armed soldiers from the Ethiopian military descended on her family’s settlement in Dagahmadow in the district of Dagahbuur. “They came to us one day while we were tending to our affairs in our village and they accused us of being supporters of the ONLF as well as having relatives in the ONLF.” The soldiers “called all the village people together and started carrying out acts of persecution. They took anything of value, including property and livestock, by force and burnt down homes in the process. I had just given birth seven days earlier when they came into my home and they asked me why I am inside the house [a small semi-circular wooden structure made from branches and mud] by myself [she was bathing her son at the time]. They saw footsteps near my home, which they followed and concluded that it must have been left by the ONLF” [the prints were in fact made by the military]. “All of us were taken out of our homes and questioned about the ONLF, we all denied any involvement. Our homes were then burnt.”

The solders moved from house-to-house questioning people about the footprints. A young mother, who had given birth the day before and was holding her child, was interrogated, she knew nothing and said so. An elderly woman went to her aid; she was caught by the throat and questioned about the footprints – she knew nothing. They shot her dead. Two men from the village arrived and were immediately questioned. One of the men answered, denying any connection with the ONLF; two soldiers tied his hands together, threw a rope around his neck and pulled on each end until he choked to death. Maryama was ordered to hold the strangled man upright and not allow him to fall to the side. When, exhausted after two hours, she let go of the body she was “arrested with six other girls (including my sister), one of the girls had given birth that day.” On the first night in captivity [in an abandoned village] “she was forced to her feet by two soldiers, one of them kicked her in the stomach – she fell on the floor, keeled over and died on the spot. They also shot my sister in front of us. I watched as she bled to death next to the other girl who had died from the beating.”

Maryama told how after witnessing these atrocities, soldiers put a plastic bag over her head and tied a rope around her throat until she lost consciousness. When she came to, she found herself outside in a deep pit; she was naked and in great pain; she found it difficult to move. Her son was nowhere to be seen. Eight other people were with her, five were dead – one was a cousin, two were neighbours. These people had gone missing 10 days previously; it was assumed they were in prison. She cried hysterically.

After 28 days in the pit, her son was brought to her and they were both taken to prison. She was held captive in Jail Ogaden, in the regional capital Jigjiga, for approximately two and a half years, during which time she was subjected to torture and extreme sexual abuse. There were, she told me, over 1,000 women in the prison. At this point it is perhaps worth stating the obvious: this woman had broken no law, had not been charged with any offence or been granted any of her constitutional or human rights.

Maryama, along with other female prisoners, was routinely tortured by military personnel; stripped naked, they were forced to crawl on their hands and knees across a ground of sharp stones. Their knees would collapse and bleed; if they stopped, they were verbally insulted and beaten with wooden sticks or the butt of a rifle. Another favoured method of torture was to strip the women and take them to the latrines where toilet waste was thrown over them. At the same time they were beaten with sticks, belts and hit with the butt of a rifle. They were not allowed to wash and were forced to sleep covered in this waste.

Maryama, who was around 18 years of age when she was first arrested, was repeatedly raped by groups of soldiers while in prison. They like the women to be young – 15 to 20 – and semi-conscious when raped so the girls cannot resist and the perpetrator cannot be identified; part strangulation with a rope or a blow to the head using the butt of a rifle renders the innocent victim unconscious. Soldiers are told to use the penis as a weapon and are “trained,” defected military men told me, to rape women and how to “break a virgin”; violent demonstrations on teenage girls are given by training officers. They are told to eat hot chillies before going out on patrol, so their semen will burn the women rape victims. A defected divisional commander in the Liyu Police, Dahir, related how during his five years in the force he had witnessed between 1200 and 1500 rapes in the Ogaden.

The creation of a climate of fear amongst the population is the aim of the government and the military; they employ a carefully planned, if crude, methodology to achieve their vile objective. False arrest and detention of men and women, arbitrary assassinations and torture, rape and the destruction of property and livestock make up the arsenal of control and intimidation employed by the EPRDF government.

Unbelievable

The Ethiopian regime maintains that nothing untoward is taking place within the Ogaden region. The military and Liyu police (a renegade paramilitary group), they tell us, are safeguarding civilians against the terrorist organization operating there, namely the ONLF. Soldiers in training are brainwashed to see the population of the region, men, women and children, as enemies of the State. Accounts like Maryama’s are pure fiction, government spokesmen say, and, sorry chaps, the region is unsafe for members of the international media or human rights groups and you cannot enter. And if you do, you will be arrested.

There is indeed terrorism raging throughout large parts of the Ogaden and elsewhere in the country; it is State Terrorism perpetrated by a brutal regime that is guilty of widespread criminality, much of which constitutes crimes against humanity.

Graham Peebles is director of the Create Trust. He can be reached at: graham@thecreatetrust.org



=>counterpunch

Habasha myth and peoples’ liberation

In olden times it is customary for rulers to claim mystic origins different from their people.  Such origins have some divine trait to justify limitless power for the man at the head, the king. That was how the Solomonic dynast of Abyssinia was told to have been created by a book composed in Egypt, called “Kibira Nagast”.  It claims for Habasha kings an origin that traces to King Solomon of Israel.  A son was born from out of wedlock romance between the king and the Queen of Sheba when she came to visit him from somewhere in the South as told. Queen of Sheba is known only through religious books of the Middle East and there is no history book that mentions her or her exact country. That is why she is claimed by Arabs and African alike.  Even then her committing adultery with King Solomon and having a son was not mentioned in the religious books.  That is why many believe that Minilik I was a creation of the Coptic Church to have permanent influence on Habashaa Kings and never existed as presented. His name started to appear in the said document, Kibra Nagast, for the first time. Thus everything surrounding him and his mother is myth told over and over by generations of Habashaa clerics known as daftaraa.

The myth had served the Habashaa ruling clique to rule over their people with fear of the heavenly and iron fist. The people are never citizens with full rights over their individual life and national affairs. They were subjects that pay tributes and serve the rulers without question. The clerics play great role in cramming down the myth and the possible supernatural retribution if doubted into the minds of the masses making them believe that it would be sin to disobey the rulers, in particular the king. In the last four centuries Habashaa power was never transferred peacefully. Kings were overthrown by individuals that declare themselves kings. Except for those daredevils there were rare mass movements to overthrow the kings for they are under the fear of divine retribution.  Even movement like that in Goojjam in 1960s targeted the Governor General Tsahayuu Inqusillaasee’s harsh rule not the Emperor.

The kings were presented as demigod throughout their history until the over throw of Emperor Haile Sillaasee. With the last emperor a saturation point was reached where people started doubting the sinfulness of rebellion against injustice. In earlier times the chief priest from Alexandria can condemn the rebellion or untie the people from allegiance to the king. That was what the church did to Iyyaasuu; it untied the people from allegiance to him. To over throw the last emperor no priest interference was required because the chief priest was also under threat for it was not individual rebellion but mass revolution that came to change the setup of the monarchical rule. That be as it may the reverence for those holding power still persists among the Habashaa masses. It is a bone deep ethos that does not easily get erased.

Through the years prior to that many changes have taken place. Many independent nations were annexed to Habashaa kingdom by force. Except for the land holding system, all autocratic vices of governance were transplanted to the colonies. The world’s technology and needs have started to grow in leaps and bounds. Africa was divided among alien colonizers. The world had carried out two world wars. These have prompted the demand for liberation and freedom by oppressed and colonized peoples of the world. But still they are the sly elites that dominate the political fields in Habashaa land. Power is yet far off from the people. It would have been advantageous for all oppressed peoples of the empire had the Habasha people asserted their right to be governed by those they truly elect. However waiting until they do that or fighting for them to achieve democratic rule cannot be a precondition for others to be free. To negotiate with a democratic state about freedom would have been easier than dealing with bunches of undemocratic dictators. For development, regional understanding and proper governance of the Horn of Africa the existence of democratic states can be the only warranty.

Unable to cop up with the new situation the emperor has to give way. Though the major role for the change was played by the colonies, power did not go to them for they were not organized. The occupation army took over and filled offices with new class. Some members of the old ruling class took individual actions opposing the change. But they were easily crushed because the oppressed sided with the junta. The remaining landed gentry were easily cajoled to get in line and pledge allegiance to the new order.  The new rulers asserted that the source of power is not Devine but the people. But “One Ethiopia or Death” slogan was adopted assuring Darg’s loyalty to the empire state reassuring the Habasha people. Thus at least formally the Solomonic legend was mostly demystified.  The new regime and its left leaning cohorts echoed after Mao Zedong that “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun” making their heritage more clear. They are going to impose their rule with power of the gun alone unlike the ancient Nafxanyaa that used the gun plus the Cross. The same principle is adhered to down to the present day.

The Darg was forced out of power in the same way it came, by the power of the gun. For those that replaced them just like their predecessors, negotiation for the dissolution and sanctity of the empire was off the table.  For the colonies nothing short of its destruction could answer their question. But a make believe policy that recognize peoples’ rights was put into a charter. The traditional power sharing practice between the two major Habashaa groups, Amaaraa and Tigrawayi was not respected. Tigray went alone to exploit the colonies for benefit of individual rulers and fringe benefit of their region. The causes that led to over throw of the different Habashaa regimes are not yet addressed.  Material deprivation of the masses in the mother country is still continuing except for the especial advantage Tigray got at the expense of others. Amaaraa elites have turned blind eye to their people’s plight while focusing on how to snatch away Oromiyaa from their cousins.

As for the colonies their resources are busy building infrastructure of Tigray. Roads, electric power, health facilities, defense force etc are mushrooming. Education facilities that produce future leaders for the empire with exclusive curriculum are said to be flourishing in Tigray alone. For the colonies nothing significant was done. Even plans for infrastructure development started by the emperor are not completed.  The previous regimes, including the Italians built roads to the colonies so that as much resources and services as possible are sifted out. From that Oromiyaa had some trickled benefits though incomparable to what colonial masters gained from it. The present ones added nothing to it to deny the indigenous smooth access to information and market. As long as they have power over the market they can force low prices on products and higher communication and transport cost locally. That gives them monopoly over movement of wealth of the colonies. The policy that allowed for land grabbing has brought in voracious groups that may side with Wayyaanee in defense of their investment, there by prolonging the subjugation of Oromiyaa and its neighbors with possible fast extinction of some minorities already on the verge.

Habashaa rulers have managed their own people with unending terror. The conquest of new land might have relieved the age old internal tension.  Able bodied men were given the opportunity to share in the colonial spoils. They were infatuated by their new gains, power, land, hunting grounds, vegetation, water, gold and other natural resources and above all free labor. The rulers and their followers were guided by intuition not knowledge. They took for granted the new land and never went back to alleviate the agony of those who are still suffering under brutal rule of petty chiefs they left behind. They feed the people only with false hopes and grandeur and fame they brought for them internationally. Those are the Nafxanyaa parasites that had been reaping without sawing for over a century.  It never clicks their minds that a time will come that they will be demanded to hand over to the owners all their loots. When that time arrives they know they have nowhere to go and no one to turn to. Whatever they had looted will return to the legitimate owners from wherever they were stashed. This they know and it is its nightmare that is driving them crazy terrorists in order to live a day more.

Despite the myth’s falling apart conspirators are trying to patch them together.  They mix up history of ancient Kush (Nuubiyaa) cited by Greek historians and the religious books of the Middle East, with that of recent Abyssinia to confuse world public opinion. Still Ethiopia’s colonial nature is being suppressed by dishonest writers, politicians and diplomats. They tell of Ethiopia maintaining her independence untouched by “The Scramble for Africa”. But they do not tell of which Ethiopia they are talking. If they are talking of Abyssinia, that may be true.  Abyssinia had participated in the Scramble for Africa. It is only racist mind that denies this. Free countries like Afar, Ogaadeeniyaa, Wala’ita, Sidaamaa, Kaficho, Oromiyaa and all the counties south of Habashaa land were colonized then with support of other colonizer buddies. Now is the time to write the true history of the region of which Habashaa is one among the many. This truth must be a part of freedom fighters manual.  One has to know the driving force behind the enemy that makes it selflessly greedy and brutal.  Now Ethiopian empire has become good only for history books for it cannot keep one people subservient to another anymore.

Descendants of the first “Nafxanyaa” in Oromiyaa were the most privileged members of the society distinctly different from the indigenous people around them.  They were owners of land and most of the wealth it produced. That land based economic wealth came to an end with land proclamation of 1975. But their umbilical cord with the empire state was not totally severed. Most were still trusted more than the oppressed for which the revolution claimed to come. But still they were hard hit by the revolution in general terms. That be as it may, the colonial state cannot escape the responsibility by changing its name and ideology, not descendents of the first Nafxanyaa. It is the one that has to apologize and redressed all harms done. As for the descendants no one can deny them being an Oromiyaan if they desire so. But if they are still the bragging types by the broken bones and spilt blood of their forebears in the process of colonization it could be considered “rubbing salt on a wound”.  But for those that stand for justice and equality there is nothing to fear from independent free Oromiyaa. Because they were born in Oromiyaa for most of them there is no other country to claim or better relations they could depend on.  To support free Oromiyaa or continuation of the empire is their individual choice.

The problem in which descendant of the first Nafxanyaa find themselves in, needs to be addressed by liberation activists.  Given from what they were told at bed side story or as indoctrination at schools, any change in the status quo can be freighting for they were not told about Oromo accommodativeness at the same time. Throughout their lives they had been seeing Oromo the dehumanized and timid not the real one. The real one is not vengeful but brave and passionate; to make peace is the arena of the brave and true offspring of the Gadaa fathers.

It must be understood that the sacrifices the oppressed made are not to oppress others in turn. It is to bring peace, freedom and happiness for all Oromiyaans irrespective of ethnicity or past records. Descendants of the first Nafxanyaa are being hammered from left and right by false history and gruesome consequences if the colonies were freed.  That is daily reinforced by continuous propaganda of those that are not personally affected but have something to gain from chaos that may ensue.  The struggle for liberation is not based on ethnicity. It is the demand for, liberation from alien domination, justice, freedom and equality. The Nafxanyaa descendant may be answerable for their own folly like all Oromiyaans not for their forefathers. As for ethnicity of the Nafxanyaa for many of them it is all a myth that their forefathers were made to accept of being Amaaraa, whether they were recruited from Abyssinia or Oromiyaa. Purposely they have made Amaaraa synonymous with Orthodox Christianity to which most gun wielders are proselytized, to keep Oromo Nafxanyaa apart from the Waaqeffataa and Muslim indigenous.  It is up to them to verify if racism has anything to do with the Oromo question and even if they were real Habashaa before they are thrown to fright by made up ethnic cleansing scarecrow.  

Otherwise, to join a group that denies Oromoo having land in Africa would be, denying one’s own identity or self-hatred.  It will also be denying Minilik’s claim that is on record of his being “Emperor of Abyssinia and the Oromo countries”. The first Nafxanyaa had destroyed more than half the population, their sovereignty, culture, language, national identity and tradition mercilessly. That is all remembered for its historic value not to affect generations that are not responsible. But anyone that continues with that animosity and contempt for the colonial peoples even under the present situation cannot escape being responsible for condoning criminal actions.

There cannot be peace, stability and development in the region without the rule of law, democracy and freedom. The colonizer has nothing to gain from peace and stability of the region. Rule of law, democracy and freedom for all does not give it exclusive access to resources. Therefore it will not accept the right of nations to national self-determination that includes independence of the colonies which is a democratic right. In addition losing authority for those that abused human rights while in power makes them vulnerable to the wrath of justice. For these reasons it is highly unlikely for it to give up power willingly. Therefore for activists to waver at every turn is no solution, only firm stand could lead to victory. Peoples’ right is not something that one gives to another but is a birth right recognized by Assembly of nations. Today political forces of Oromiyaa are not well organized to enforce their nation’s rights but spontaneous people’s movements for liberation are fast rolling. Whether liberal Oromo or fundamentalist Habasha like it or not, the struggle for independence will never stop. OLF can stand only for independence as its program dictates and for nothing short of that as long as it remains OLF.

The following is UN resolution 3070 of 30, November 1973 for everyone to know:

The General Assembly ∙∙∙

1. Reaffirms the inalienable right of all people under colonial and foreign domination and alien subjugation to self-determination, freedom and independence in accordance with General Assembly resolutions 1514 (XV) of 14 December 1960, 2649 (XXV) of 30 November 1970 and 2787 (XXVI) of 6 December 1971;

2. Also reaffirms the legitimacy of the peoples' struggle for liberation from colonial and foreign domination and alien subjugation by all available means, including armed struggle;

3. Calls upon all States, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations and with relevant resolutions of the United Nations, to recognize the right of all peoples to self-determination and independence and to offer moral, material and any other assistance to all peoples struggling for the full exercise of their inalienable right to self-determination and independence;

Frightening the masses with the divine power of kings has already eclipsed. Then all the dirty policies of the kings were covered up under the saying “Kings make no mistake” and they were presented as fountains of justice with no flaws. Now with that myth broken leaders of the empire stand naked and their naked force exposed. They cannot distance themselves from implementation of their oppressive inhuman policies. Rule of law had never been a concern of Habasha rulers though there were traditional redress mechanisms in the ancient ones. The present ones have full control over all mechanism and it is only them that are judges for their actions. Therefore to save the Habasha from abuse of power, peoples of the colonies from dehumanization and extermination they have to go. To be ruled by rude gangsters is sin. Wayyaanee is on its way out soon forced by its own mistakes and corruption. But the question Oromo liberators have to answer is what next?

The cry of “terrorism” for Wayyaanee is one of the methods to get aid and attention from western countries in particular USA. But how long should the tax payer’s money prop a corrupt unsustainable dying system? The truth is there is no terrorism in Ethiopia except for the incumbent government itself. It is to hide its true terrorist nature and win appreciation when it kills and imprisons so many people for being terrorists. Actually they were not terrorists but Oromo; it is terrorizing them not to dare ask for justice. Under the pretext of fighting terrorism they fulfill their objective of keeping the Oromo nation under subjugation with the material and moral support they get. The vanguard political organization Oromo have, the OLF is branded terrorist to smear any dissenting Oromo voice as members of OLF and therefore “terrorist”!

Reports of human right organization had exposed the Ethiopian government of abusing its people in particular the Oromo. Oromo are law abiding peace loving people with democratic tradition.  To which ever religion they might belong so far no extremism is observed among the Oromo. All believers understand their place and role within the Oromo national political setting. There Gadaa background seems never forgotten when it comes to maintain peace and conciliation (Nagaa and Araaraa).  They were good fighters and good peace makers prior to all indoctrinations.  Still they have the stamina to fight and to make peace but for freedom and independence of their country, Oromiyaa, not for “clash of civilization”.  Unlike the Habashaa their civilization was known for accommodativeness. No religion or religious sect had ever been considered as second class citizen in Oromiyaa while religious segregation is obvious in Abyssinia from time immemorial as opposed to what they lecture to the world.

That has to be understood as not to be swayed by Wayyaanee smear campaign. The Oromo are victims of Wayyaanee terror not vis-versa. Oromiyaa is the country of the brave. The brave believe in fair play at any time. No violence should be used against the unarmed and there is no terrorizing the not aware innocent civilian. That is the skill Wayyaanee is trained for. That is what it is carrying out on the Oromo and crying of Oromo being “terrorists”. Oromo can be called terrorist only if resisting alien subjugation can be termed so. Be that what it may the Oromo will continue fighting with the occupation army of aliens until their right for national self-determination up to and including independence is realized.  

Honor and glory for the fallen heroines and heroes; liberty equality and freedom for the living and nagaa and araaraa for the Ayyaanaa of our fore parents!

Ibsaa Guutama

=>gubirmans

The Rape Victim Who Fought Back and Shamed a Nation

Aberash Bekele in a scene from Schoolgirl Killer in 1998. SCHOOLGIRL KILLER DOCUMENTARY

January 9, 2015 (Newsweek) — The woman who greets me at Addis Ababa airport is very different from the traumatised girl I last saw in 1998. When I hugged Aberash Bekele goodbye 16 years ago, I had just finished filming a BBC documentary about her called Schoolgirl Killer. At 14, Bekele was kidnapped by a gang of horsemen, raped and then put on trial for killing her abductor. Her story forced Ethiopia to confront its brutal customs and change its laws. Today she’s the mother of a 10-year-old son;  she’s plumper, her hair is hennaed and styled, her shoes sparkly, her nails varnished gold. Her story has now been made into a feature film called Difret. Executive produced by Angelina Jolie, Difret has already won awards at the Sundance, Berlin, Montreal and Amsterdam film festivals and Bekele is once again the talk of the nation.

Bekele is one of 11 children (now aged between 52 and 19) by the same mother and grew up outside Kersa, a small remote town in Arsii, southern Ethiopia, where her parents are subsistence farmers. She was on her way home from school when horsemen with whips and lassoos surrounded her, grabbed her, threw her over a saddle and took her to a hut where she was locked up and raped. Her rapist then announced he was her husband-to-be. In Arsii it was the custom that if you wanted a wife you went out and kidnapped one and it’s estimated that, in 1998, 30% of marriages were initiated this way, with varying levels of violence.

Bekele escaped, stealing the guard’s gun. When her abductor and his men gave chase, she threatened to fire but they ignored her. So she pulled the trigger. Bekele was nearly murdered by the furious mob that gathered but was rescued by family friends, then arrested and put on trial. She became the first cause célèbre for the Ethiopian Women Lawyers’ Association and was finally released on the grounds of her youth and acting in self-defence. Despite her release, Bekele was exiled by the Kersa elders who didn’t recognise the courts. Unable to return to her family, and in danger from revenge threats by her dead abductor’s family, she fled to Addis.

When Schoolgirl Killer aired on the BBC in 1999, it struck a chord with the British public, who sent in enough money to send Bekele to a safe boarding school to finish her education. I lost touch with her until last year when an Ethiopian cameraman alerted me to Difret. I went to see it at the London Film Festival. Centre stage, as the main character, rather than Bekele, was Meaza Ashenafi, the then head of the Women Lawyers’ Association, whom I had interviewed for Schoolgirl Killer. The producers had changed Bekele’s name, but some scenes in the film were almost identical to Schoolgirl Killer. I found Bekele and flew to Addis.

Bekele now works there for Harmee, an NGO that aims to eliminate violence against women in Arsii. Dr Daniel Keftassa, who founded Harmee in 2006, picked me up from the airport with Bekele and we made the five-hour drive to Kersa, where Harmee has its headquarters, and where Bekele’s family still lives. On the way, she told me about the film. She was never consulted during its making, and when she found out about it and confronted Ashenafi and the producers, they told her the film was not about her.

Rounds of legal negotiation followed but no-one agreed to put Bekele’s name on the film. So, on the night of the film’s première, she obtained a last minute court injunction to stop it being screened. The producers had just screened Jolie’s televised address, in which she said that Difret was based on the “untold story of Aberash Bekele,” when she arrived with the necessary papers. Bekele ultimately signed an agreement, which means she feels unable to complain or take further action. Meanwhile, the film was temporarily released in Ethiopia but blocked again by the children of Bekele’s defence barrister. The film’s producers did not respond to a request for comment nor did Jolie’s personal assistant acknowledge receipt of emails.

Bekele, Keftassa and I arrived in Kersa. Apart from a new mosque, it’s the same shambles of mud and corrugated iron shacks strung along a few dirt roads. We went immediately to see Bekele’s family, who live a walk away from a new dirt road in a thatched hut on their farm. After eating, we sat around a fire under the stars. The grandchildren began dancing as one of the daughters beat out a rhythm on a plastic jerrycan and the family sung traditional Oromo songs. Bekele looked happy as she sat in her father’s embrace, a small nephew on her knee. Her brother told me about the day she was abducted. He was in the same class at school and went home early. As he cradled his infant son, it clearly still haunted him that he was unable to protect his sister.

Aberash Bekele with her father and family members today. ABERASH BEKELE PERSONAL PHOTO

After Bekele’s high profile case, abductions dropped in Arsii; none were reported for five years. Bekele’s older sister Mestawet is now 50. She was also abducted into marriage at 14. When we filmed her for Schoolgirl Killer, she was living in a hovel that also served as a bar, pouring home-brewed Arak to men, bringing up four small children. She had been a contemporary of the athlete Derartu Tulu, the first black African woman to win an Olympic gold at Barcelona in 1992. Mestawet, too, had been picked to run for her country and had been about to depart when she was kidnapped. Though she later left her husband, the elders persuaded her to return. She is now a grandmother and lives in a small new house running Harmee’s compound for Keftassa. Her eldest daughter is at college studying IT, the youngest at school. “I was married against my will so I will never be satisfied or happy but things are much better,” she said. “Kidnapping here has been minimised. Bekele paved the way because men started to be scared of what girls can do but only some have really changed their minds.”

The impact of Bekele’s high-profile case was immediate, but in the last few years abductions are back to seven or eight a year and late last year a 14-year-old was kidnapped. When her abductor tried to rape her, the girl fought so hard that he enlisted his friend to help tie her up. He kept her bound and hidden in the forest for a month, repeatedly raping her. To end the torture, the girl agreed to marry him. At the earliest opportunity, she stole his mobile and called her brother. Her abductor was given 17 years in jail. Bekele applauds the sentence but worries, like her sister, about whether the male mindset has truly changed. “How could that man have thought the girl would want to be his wife after what he did to her? Shame on him!” she said.

Bekele is now determined to change the violent customs that have scarred her life. Her work with Keftassa and Harmee is already yielding results in Arsii, where more girls are being educated and learning to stand up against the traditions that have subdued them for so long. Recently another girl was grabbed, hurled into a horse-drawn cart and driven off, but she screamed so loudly and the local women were so alert to abductions that they gave chase. The kidnappers threw the girl out of the cart. She was severely injured but her abductor was sent to jail for 12 years.

One night in Kersa, Bekele, Keftassa and I sat talking until late, reminiscing about the day she finally obtained the court order that ruined the film’s première. “I counted 11 big Mercedeses dropping off actors that night,” remembers Keftassa. “They swept up the red carpet, so high, so honoured, to meet Meaza and other important people. Meanwhile, far from the celebrations, running around out there seeking justice was Aberash. Aberash! The one who went through all the pain and all the trauma. I despair of people’s greed and ego that they can say it’s not her story.”

The film’s producers have now invited Bekele to Los Angeles in December, but she has been refused a visa. Though the film continues to be blocked in Ethiopia, distribution deals have been secured throughout Europe and Jolie enthused about its forthcoming release in the UK, when she hosted a special screening of the film during the Global Summit to End Sexual Violence in Conflict, which she co-chaired with the British foreign secretary William Hague. She  reportedly said, “I cried for the first 20 minutes and then I smiled for the rest of it thinking I can’t wait for the world to see it because it will make a change.”

Of course, any change that helps end violence towards girls is welcome. While anyone to whom the cause of Ethiopa’s young women is important applauds the makers of the film for their good work, Bekele remains without a credit on the film. Today, she could be bathing in the glow of international admiration for her extraordinary courage and resilience. Instead she is invisible, her story taken.

“I feel doubly abducted,” she said.

=>ayyaantuu

THE IMPLICATIONS OF HIGH LEVEL DEFECTIONS FROM THE ETHIOPIAN AIR FORCE

By Sokore Waqo 

The recent defection of Ethiopian Air Force crew with MI-35 helicopter has sent shockwaves to the corridors of power in Addis Ababa. The ruling elites are increasingly displaying pugnacious behavior. They lashed out at the pilot, labeling him a “traitor”. And they lambasted Ethiopia’s enemies (which the Defense Ministry statement referred to as Shabiya’s agents and mercenaries) for conspiring to destabilize the country and presumably being involved in the defection covertly.  Adding to the setback TPLF had already suffered, unconfirmed reports on another round of defection of four pilots from the Ethiopian Air Force to neighboring Kenya were circulating in the last few days.  It is believed that similar waves of defections are even more rampant in the Army. In fact, these waves of defections are telling signs that TPLF’s reliance on coercive institutions to continue its grip on power is reaching its limits. Professor Messay Kebede, a notable scholar and commentator on Ethiopian politics, had written a compelling prognosis few weeks ago explaining this “slippery ground of TPLF’s power strategy”.  Thus, the essence of Messay’s prognosis is that with increasing reliance on coercion as a power strategy, TPLF only hastens its inevitable fall from power for this could possibly trigger resistance against the regime both from within the government and from the resentful members of the public.

In my view, there are chiefly three frontiers that explain TPLF’s ability to hold on state power virtually alone since May 1991. These are tight control over coercive state institutions, trading on democracy building and lately claiming to advance economic development under the rubric of a “developmental state”.

Command and control of coercive state institutions as a solid power strategy

The first has always been the major and most effective weapon in TPLF’s power strategy.  It seems to me that TPLF leaders have always been very transparent about their reliance on coercion as a method of statecraft or governance. To be sure, in TPLF’s loose political coalition – so-called EPRDF – political weight is a function of the havoc one had wreaked during the insurgency years with the Dergue regime rather than a function of building constituencies that could win an election.  Consequently, key positions in coercive state institutions and public resources were selectively handed to TPLF core members who are believed to have paid more “sacrifice” in blood and sweat in removing the Dergue dictatorship.  So to speak, all the Rawlsian primary goods – liberties, opportunities and income and wealth – are unfairly distributed to the high ranking officers in the coercive state institutions.  Thus, the military or other security organs of the state are the entry points for those who intend to become career politicians or wealthy business men. Indeed, the military profession as an entry point to politics and business has always been the legacy in historic Ethiopia except that TPLF intensified this practice with an ethnic twist.

The fault lines of reliance on command and control of coercive institutions

The strategy of populating senior positions in coercive state institutions with loyal cadres from the insurgency years might have been effective so far in serving TPLF’s political ambitions. But there are growing signs of its fault lines recently. The supposedly loyal members of the coercive state institutions, specifically the middle and low ranking officers, are increasingly dissatisfied with the soaring cost of living and maladministration in their institutions in particular,  and worsening political and economic conditions in the country in general. For this reason, some of them are electing to defect risking their lives. A case in point is the crew of the MI-35 helicopter who defected to Eritrea last week.  Members of the crew were from different ethnic backgrounds, including from Tigray. To the dismay of TPLF leaders, the crew members put aside their ethnic differences and acted in unison to land the helicopter in Eritrea.  Now loyalty based on primordial relationship is being put under severe test.  This is really what enraged the TPLF leaders than loss of the MI-35 gunship to their arch-rival regime in Asmara because TPLF benefits from fomenting ethnic tensions and creating animosity among the staff in the security institutions. Hereafter, who is going to be a trusted functionary of TPLF to the last minute even from the staff in the security institutions? Now, therefore, TPLF leaders cannot be sure enough if the officers they have assigned in coercive state institutions would stand with them when the political storm of the oppressed Ethiopians surface violently.

A lesson or two for the junior partners of TPLF and the opposition

There is a lesson to be learnt by the junior partners of TPLF’s government in particular and the opposition in general. For the junior partners, they have a clear opportunity presenting itself to them. That TPLF’s last frontier to continue exercising grip on power – the skewed arrangement of balance of power in the coercive state institutions – is on a downward spiral. If the junior partners can seize the momentum, there is likelihood to cut back TPLF’s dominance in the coercive state institutions thereby facilitating the conditions for “equal partnership” in the loose coalition I have passingly mentioned above.

Again, for the junior partners, seizing the momentum is now or never for two reasons. First, if the junior partners fail to sense this opportunity, TPLF core leaders will get time to regroup like wolves and redesign a framework for perpetual subduing of the junior partners. Second, with the increasing use of naked power to silence regime opponents and growing dissatisfaction of Ethiopians due to the prevalent chronic political and economic problems in the country, TPLF may trigger a widespread political storm that could hasten its fall from grace. With the demise of TPLF, undoubtedly the junior partners would also be swept under the rug.

For the garden-variety regime opponents, it is time to stop wholesale assignment of blame on the Tigreans for the ills created by the TPLF regime on the unfounded ground that TPLF’s social/political base is Tigray. TPLF is an organization that plies its trade through coercion; it is reluctant to build constituencies and base its political survival on adequate representation of the interests of its constituents. For this reason alone, it is not fair to assume that TPLF has the political support of all Tigreans. Besides, at a time when the members of the coercive state institutions are defecting in opposition to regime’s rogue actions from all ethnic backgrounds, it doesn’t make any sense at all to single out those from Tigray. When opportunities avail themselves they are equally resistant to TPLF’s authoritarian rule. To be specific, Abreha Desta’s courageous struggle against TPLF tyranny, despite many odds and his suffering at the Maikelawi prison, is a testament to this very assertion. After all, on what moral/political ground can we reproach the Tigreans while the so-called silent majority in the rest of the country has apparently acquiesced to the authoritarian rule of TPLF?

The faltering of democracy building as a legitimation strategy

The second ground of legitimation for TPLF’s government – democracy building – has already faltered. TPLF enacted a constitution in 1995, established a “Federal Democratic Republic”, incorporated all kinds of individual  rights and freedoms as well as collective rights into the constitution,  stipulated that sovereignty lies not in the government but the Ethiopian people hinting that government is based on the consent of the people, etc.

In its practice in the last twenty years, however, TPLF adequately demonstrated that it has no intention to abide by the rules and standards stipulated in its own constitution. The sovereignty of Ethiopian people has been denied as TPLF refused to sanction free and fair elections. The second republic, that was presumed to be federal and based on the self-government of the diverse ethno-cultural communities, did not come close to a true “Federal Democratic Republic”  since  TPLF was determined to exercise totalitarian power over the whole country as a matter of fact. The much-admired individual and collective rights stipulated in the constitution remained hollow promises for they were reluctantly breached rather than being observed for political expediency. Institutions that were established by the constitution, to serve as custodians of these rights and put a limit on governmental overreach, were either structurally flawed from the beginning or starved of revenue and competent personnel. The regular courts (at federal and regions) lack institutional independence from the state and party structure of TPLF, and cannot, therefore, be relied on by citizens as the last bulwark for ensuring their rights. The Ombudsman and the Human Rights Commission are run not by independents but apologists of the TPLF regime. The House of Federation, which is established to protect the fundamental rights of citizens and curb unconstitutional excesses of power by the government through constitutional interpretation, lacks the essential characters of a constitutional court, and therefore, practically unable to carry out its functions. As a result of all these anomalies, democracy building under TPLF has lost any credibility.


Why developmental state is not the answer for TPLF’s legitimacy crisis

The third ground on which TPLF claims to have legitimacy to rule has to do with economic development. TPLF emphatically claims that it has the recipe for Ethiopia’s rapid and sustainable economic development far better than neo-liberal economic policies advanced by the opposition due to suitability and relevance of its “developmental state” policy to Ethiopia’s peculiar economic problems. Accordingly, it has issued reports of progress claiming Ethiopia’s economy has grown by 11% in the last decade as a result of implementing the policies of a “developmental state” where the state plays a pivotal role in the economy. However, there are many reasons not to trust such an extremely exaggerated claim by TPLF and its external allies. First and foremost, the benefits of the said rapid economic growth have not meaningfully trickled down to the majority of the Ethiopian citizens so far. Second, youth unemployment is still rampant. Third, food insecurity is still a permanent feature of the Ethiopian agrarian economy. Fourth, income and wealth inequality, which was reversed by the Dergue regime’s sweeping measures of ‘land to the tiller’ in the rural areas and redistribution of urban land and extra houses, is roaring back as a fundamental feature of Ethiopia’s political economy. Fifth, rampant corruption and embezzlement of public funds due to nonexistence of oversight mechanisms and institutions is facilitating capital flight in billions of dollars from Ethiopia annually.   Finally, TPLF government institutions lack technocratic elites and efficient bureaucracy which are vital for successfully carrying out the mega development projects sponsored by a developmental state.

The interview

Allow me to allude to a side issue to explain my last point by taking one recent example – the Interview. I am not talking about the film by Sony Pictures allegedly hacked by North Koreans. I am referring to the interview an Egyptian television station (Nile TV International) recently conducted with the Ethiopian Speaker of the Parliament. It is not my intention to go through all the content of the interview. My intention is to only raise two points that were striking to me and illustrative of the ineptness of TPLF government functionaries. One has to do with Speaker Aba Dula’s choice of words to describe the relationship between Egypt and Ethiopia since ancient times. He said, “the Fer’on pyramid was Aksumite kingdom”.  This assertion is “nonsense upon stilts” to borrow a famous phrase used by Jeremy Bentham (leading British philosopher and jurist of the early 19th century) in his critique of natural rights. If the Speaker meant the Egyptian pyramids were built by the Aksumite kingdom, this is not going to sink well with the Egyptians who are very proud of their ancient civilization. This is not going to be a “public diplomacy” envisaged by TPLF either, but an insult to the intelligence of the Egyptian people.

The second has to do with the apology issued by the Speaker to the Egyptian media for the coincidence of the Egyptian revolution and the initiation of the Grand Renaissance Dam on the Nile. If you claim the case to be a happenstance by coincidence, there is no logic necessitating apology. But if the apology is one for starting the very construction of the dam, then the Speaker is explaining the latest position of the Ethiopian government (as a high ranking official) on the controversy over the construction of the dam. Otherwise, the Ethiopian government must take further measures showing the Speaker’s comments do not represent the position of the government on the matter.  Hence, one of the measures could be impeaching the Speaker for incompetence.

Inept officials are inimical to developmental state policy

Imagine now how inept officials like the Speaker (I suspect the Speaker is not alone in the wilderness of inertness in TPLF’s government) could be antithetical to the creeds of a developmental state – efficiency, effectiveness, technocracy, competitiveness, prudence and decisiveness. Filling the government with such inert people turns the claimed “developmental state” into anti-developmental primitive political entity.  I believe TPLF is deliberately doing this for political reasons (to maintain its supremacy in the EPRDF) although assignment of officials based on loyalty rather than competence could hurt its professed economic policies of a “developmental state”. One may ask whether this is a good trade off.  This being as it may, Aba Dula’s recent interview with an Egyptian media gave us an opportunity to see the contradiction between wanting loyalty in the political sphere and desiring competence in the economic sphere.  Now let’s contrast the leadership qualities of Ras Gobena and Aba Dula vis-à-vis both of whom critique is often hurled for lack of agency, political vision, and by extension, incompetence.

Ras Gobena versus Aba Dula

Without denying the controversial legacy of Ras Gobena, it is fair to say that he relatively excels Speaker Aba Dula in many aspects including courage, diplomatic skills and characters of a competent statesman. Nonetheless, it is not uncommon to hear a charge pressed against Ras Gobena for his decisions and actions during the early expansion and consolidation of the modern Ethiopian state: that he had no wisdom to have his own political ambition – of founding the modern Ethiopian state as a co-equal with Menelik – but a mere vassal of the latter. Despite such criticism marshalled against Gobena by some ethno-liberationists and their disciples, some historical records reveal that Gobena was the most capable war general of his generation. For instance, Gobena was able to subdue the resistance in Gurage region after Menelik lost at a battlefield with Chaha tribe of the Gurage in October 1876 (see Bahru Zewde, The Aymallal Gurage in the Nineteenth Century: A Political History in SOCIETY & STATE IN ETHIOPIAN HISTORY: SELECTED ESSAYS, (2012) p.67). According to Bahru, Menelik “was defeated and a large number of Amhara captives were sold to Wallayta by the victors. Only one-third of Menilek’s men returned safely. Among those killed in the battle was Alaqa Zanab, author of the first chronicle of Emperor Tewodros”

In contrast, Gobena led a successful expedition against Qabena and Walane tribes of the Gurage region in July 1880 and quelled their rebellion. A noteworthy point here is that Menelik was advised by Gobena to pull back his forces after he had crossed the Awash River to confront the said Gurage tribes because Gobena didn’t want his partner to lose another battle in the region and anticipated what another loss would mean for their bigger political project at hand. Again, in the same Gurage region, Gobena defeated Hassan Enjamo, who was able to mobilize Gurages and other Muslims against the Shewan forces, in 1889 killing more than 3,000 of their men while losing his son (Merid) and 29 fighters. It can be safely said that Gobena’s capacity at organizing and leading war campaigns as well as his diplomatic skills in negotiating peaceful settlement with regional powers to bring their territories under the suzerainty of the emerging modern Ethiopian state at the time was unparalleled. Hence, Gobena’s hand in bringing the western territories from Wollega to Jimma and Beni Shangul to Gambella is reminiscent of a competent statesmanship.

However, the new Gobena of TPLF, the honorable Speaker of the Ethiopian Parliament, (if the criticism against Ras Gobena for vassalage holds) has shown no wherewithal of a statesman in his interview with the Egyptian media. He can only function as a statesman under the tutelage of TPLF in TPLF’s political empire. Well, Aba Dula’s pedigree also includes that of a war general like Ras Gobena, but TPLF has not been generous enough so far in publicizing his battlefield achievements. Until the shenanigan empire of TPLF discloses the former general’s military achievements, we are entitled to believe that Gobena excels as a warrior based on available historical records. Surprisingly enough, as one can glean from his online biography, the educational credentials he earned from China, the United States and the United Kingdom were not adequate to lift his veil of ignorance. In my view, the two Gobenas are incomparable: the earlier Gobena – a true statesman who cofounded modern Ethiopia with Menelik; the new Gobena – a remarkably inept messenger of TPLF.  It is my contention that TPLF might have encouraged the Speaker to do the interview in English, a language, they know, he doesn’t have good command of, to expose his ineptness and to send a chilling message to his OPDO colleagues that the top position in Arat Kilo is beyond their reach because one of their own failed to effectively represent the government in external relations when given the opportunity.  Now, we can connect the dots and surmise why Juneidi Saddo, another TPLF protégé, was discharged dishonorably from the government in November 2012. At least, he could have given a decent interview in English to an international media or effectively represent the government on international platforms thereby raising the hopes of rank and file OPDO members to start thinking one of their own could possibly take the chief executive position in the government or wreak havoc till their aspiration in this regard is given a serious consideration.  Thus, it seems to me that TPLF got rid of him to nip in the bud any potent internal power struggle.

Having said all that about the ineptness of TPLF government officials and having discussed the reasons for which reliance on coercion or building a developmental state may no longer be effective power strategies for TPLF, I would like to wind my opinion of part I of this write-up by posing the following questions to be examined in detail in part II.  What should be prioritized in our thoughts in the new year of 2015 to unshackle ourselves from the yoke of TPLF’s tyranny?  Unless we are clear headed about what we want, what our priorities should be, how to bring together various groups with differing political interests to deal with the grave political and economic problems brought upon the Ethiopian people by the authoritarian rule of TPLF, the prospect of bringing real democracy and meaningful economic progress for all Ethiopians would be a daunting and far-fetched project.


=>madote