U.S. Wrong to Endorse Ethiopia's Elections

Washington

April 16, 2015

In response to today’s comments by Under Secretary for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman, in which she referred to Ethiopia as a democracy and the country’s upcoming elections free, fair, and credible, Freedom House issued the following statement:

“Under Secretary Sherman’s comments today were woefully ignorant and counter-productive,” said Daniel Calingaert, executive vice president of Freedom House. “Ethiopia remains one of the most undemocratic countries in Africa. By calling these elections credible, Sherman has tacitly endorsed the Ethiopian government’s complete disregard for the democratic rights of its citizens. This will only bolster the government’s confidence to continue its crackdown on dissenting voices.”
 
Background: 
Since coming into power in the early 1990s, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has dominated politics through a combination of political cooptation and harassment. The country experienced a degree of democratization through the early 2000’s, culminating in the most competitive elections in the county’s history in 2005. Since these elections, the EPRDF has restricted political pluralism and used draconian legislation to crack down on the political opposition, civil society organizations, and independent media. In the 2010 elections, EPRDF and its allies won 546 out of 547 parliamentary seats.     

Ethiopia is rated Not Free in Freedom in the World 2015, Not Free in Freedom of the Press 2014, and Not Free in Freedom on the Net 2014. 

Freedom House is an independent watchdog organization that supports democratic change, monitors the status of freedom around the world, and advocates for democracy and human rights.

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ISSUES: 

Democratic Governance, Elections, U.S. Foreign Policy

REGIONS: 

Sub-Saharan Africa

REPORTS: 

COUNTRIES: 

Ethiopia, United States

=>freedomhouse

Tedros Adhanon vs Ethiopian refugees in Yemen

DjibTalk Nouvelles internationales
(Djoubti Talk) — On March 30, over 45 Ethiopian refugees were killed in a Saudi-led airstrike on Mazraq camp in Hajjah province of Yemen. The refugees were living in a camp run by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said Grum Teklehaimanot, an Ethiopian journalist in Yemen. Reuters news agency also confirmed the deaths of ‘dozens of displaced people’ in a camp now in the hands of the Yemeni Shiite rebels known as Hauthis.

The Ethiopian government never said a word about the tragedy. Instead, Tedros Adhanom, the foreign minister, said on April 3 that the embassy in Sana’a had come under attack earlier in the day. He said no one was injured. Tedros Adhanom’s story was a surprise for many Ethiopian residents in the Yemeni capital, according to Nebiyu Sirak, a respected Ethiopian journalist resident in Saudi Arabia.

As if posing for a picture with a 14-year-old girl winner of a false $20 million prize was not enough, why did Tedros lie again about an embassy or a consular office that was never attacked? His cover-up invites many questions. Was it a cover to divert public attention from the tragedy that befell the refugees that perished at Mazraq Camp? Or it is to justify to the rest of the people that even the embassy was unable to defend itself let alone to save the thousands of Ethiopians stranded in Yemen?
As Yemen continued to sink into civil war, foreign nationals were making frantic appeals to be saved from the violence. A frigate from the Chinese navy rescued some 220 foreign nationals and took them to Djibouti. Of those, about 30 were Ethiopians. Though Tedros Adhanom’s government had secretly appealed for the Chinese help, he didn’t mention that in public. Why?

Once Ethiopia’s Red Sea Port of Assab, now under Eritrean sovereignty, is only a stone’s throw away from the southern Yemeni city of Eden. Ethiopia had its own naval force before Meles Zenawi, an ultra Eritrean mercenary nationalist who died in 2012, and his retarded TPLF chieftains, turned Ethiopia into a landlocked nation in 1991. When the TPLF cadre Tedros Adhanom evaded the truth that TPLF had asked the far-away Chinese for a rescue operation in Ethiopia’s neighborhood, was he scared to stoke the fires still burning within the hearts of many Ethiopians?

“Dr Tedros also expressed his gratitude to the Ethiopian diplomatic staff in Yemen for their bold courage and commitment to support the speedy registration and safe evacuation of Ethiopian citizens residing in Yemen,” according to the Foreign Ministry’s website.

The staff are determined to help about 2000 Ethiopians evacuate Yemen? Really, Tedros? The staff known to have no courage to help Ethiopian nationals in peace time are ‘determined’ to help in war time? Forget about Ethiopian nationals, how are you to save your own staff? Or your response is the usual EPRDF staff, “Who cares if the staff perish in the inferno of the Yemeni war!”


Whatever the reason, Ethiopians duly know that they have fallen on bad times. They duly know they are under an enemy rule. An enemy that treats an Ethiopian journalist, a staunch peace activist, as a terrorist, and condemns him to 18 grueling years in prison. Google the name Eskinder Nega, and the facts are all over the wall for all to see. Ethiopians in the first place become stateless refugees as they run away from their number one enemy – the TPLF/EPRDF – a cruel enemy that creates and uses hunger to weaken and subdue the Ethiopian people to eternal slavery.


=>ayyaantuu

Is Ethiopia's building boom masking poverty?

By Lerato MbeleBBC Africa Business Report, Addis Ababa

Whenever we set up our camera and flapped open our sun reflectors in Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, passers-by became curious and eager to help.

But getting them to talk on camera was another matter as in general residents of the city are reticent and keep their views to themselves.

We were filming in Addis Ababa for a programme charting the changes in the country, yet it was only on the flight back to South Africa that I met an Ethiopian willing to be candid.

I found myself seated next to an inquisitive elderly Ethiopian woman, who was chatty despite the early morning departure.

However, she was not so open as to be willing for me to mention her name here.

She wore a green twin-set, leggings and woollen socks with her loafers. After the rigorous security checks, she took the socks off, saying she only wears them to keep her feet clean at the end of the security protocols.

She reminded me a bit of my mother, both caring and bossy all in one person.

During the flight, she cut me a portion of her fruit and insisted that I eat every morsel; her stern gaze suggested that I had no choice.

'Foregone conclusion'

We talked about a lot of things, including my impressions of Nigeria, especially following the ground-breaking presidential election there when the incumbent lost.

She was proud of the manner in which Nigerians had used their vote to make a strong statement about their government.

I replied that perhaps if Ethiopians have strong views about the ruling party - the EPRDF, in power since 1991 - then they could also do the same when elections are held in May.

The EPRDF under the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi won a massive majority in 2010

My neighbour dispelled that notion very quickly and whispered that she believes the result is a foregone conclusion.

I argued that surely Ethiopia's democracy is deeper than that, and that many support the government as they are grateful for the development in recent years.

She smirked and told me to open my eyes wider during my next visit.

Beggars

I was urged to investigate the economic statistics.

They show an economy growing in near double-digits, but about 40% live below the poverty line.

This photo is from 2007, but homeless people are still seen on the streets of Addis Ababa

She reminded me of the beggars who are on the streets of Addis Ababa.

Then I recalled our filming around the city.

There is a clear image of frantic construction taking place, with a monorail, new roads and apartment blocks all being built.

But I also noticed that many of the buildings are empty.

I asked my new friend why she thought this was.

Building work dominates the skyline in Ethiopia

A new monorail is one of the big building projects

But many of the new office and apartment blocks are empty

She reckons the Ethiopian middle-class cannot afford the rents, and that professionals, such as doctors and lawyers, have resorted to using parts of their home as consulting rooms, because they cannot pay for office space.

'Prestige'

I wondered why the government was intent on driving capital into these construction projects.

She answers simply that it is about the prestige.

Ethiopia is proud to host the African Union headquarters

She thinks that as a political and diplomatic leader on the continent, Ethiopia needs to show the economic signs of that position.

And Ethiopia needs to bear the hallmarks of this new-found economic prowess.

These are the thoughts of one individual, but someone who has seen a lot. She lived through the aftermath of the country's Italian occupation, the Marxist Derg regime and now the move towards a free market system and the introduction of democracy.

Her hope is that eventually Ethiopians will speak up and challenge their leaders to ensure that their economic dreams will lead to tangible change.

=>bbc