Ethiopia's Meles Zenawi: Legacies, memories, histories

Distorted rhetoric and commemorative acts seek to obfuscate the true dictatorial legacy of Ethiopia's late leader.

Awol K Allo Awol K. Allo is a Fellow in Human Rights at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Ethiopia's long-term Prime Minister Meles Zenawi died on August 20, 2012 [EPA] August 20 marked the second anniversary of the death of Ethiopia's long-time leader, Meles Zenawi. Two years on, the Zenawi phenomenon is still as divisive as it is unsettling. For his supporters, Zenawi is a statesman and a visionary leader that represents not only the hopes and aspirations of "the new Ethiopia" but also "the African renaissance". For those who were excluded and marginalised under his rule, Zenawi is the symbolic personification of a tyrannical system that violently quashed their desire for freedom and justice. Still for others, he is a complex figure that condenses within himself the qualities of a political genius and a seasoned dictator. In the words of The Economist: "the man who tried to make dictatorship acceptable." Two years on, the spectre of Zenawi hangs over the Ethiopian state. His name, his policies, and his visions still provide the cement that keeps together the ideological edifices of the Ethiopian state. His successors elevate him to a pure symbol, take pride in and identify with his legacies. The constant invocation of Zenawi by regime officials gives the impression that the entire social and political order of the state is predicated on the image and imagery of a single man. The "Meles Legacy" has become a grand memory work - an archive that condenses within it a great many different things for a great many different people. Legacy and the politics of archives Zenawi now belongs to the archives. But archives are pivotal - "great historical watchtowers" or "observation posts" from which we can access and observe the past. In archives, we see the random elements and the minute details of our identity. Archives are not just about remembering and understanding the past. In fact, at stake in every recounting of the past is not the past as such; it is the future. In his seminal essay, "Archive Fever", French philosopher Jacques Derrida observes , the question of the archive is "a question of the future, the question of the future itself, the question of a response, of a promise and of a responsibility for tomorrow. The archive: if we want to know what that will have meant, we will only know in times to come." To speak about Zenawi's archives, then, is not to speak about the past: It is about the future. But archives are contested spaces: They not only conserve but also produce and reproduce. Far from being neutral voids in which facts and events are placed, archives are active agents that participate in the production and reproduction of meaning. For every archive, there are counter-archives. For every narrative, there are counter-narratives. It is precisely for this reason that Zenawi's legacy has become such an important site of political struggle in Ethiopia today. Zenawi's archives As a man who played the single most important role in Ethiopia's history of the last two decades, Zenawi is a giant in that archive. When asked by Al Jazeera's Andrew Simmons about the legacy he leaves behind, Zenawi said, "I would like to be remembered as someone who got Ethiopia off to a good track, democratic one, […] where Ethiopia's proverbial poverty begins to be tackled in an effective way; I would like to be remembered as someone who has started the process." During his funeral ceremony two years ago, his successor, Hailemariam Desalegn called him a "visionary", an "intellectual", and a "technocrat" who has been " working for the renaissance Ethiopia and Africa".  Jacob Zuma of South Africa called him " one of the greatest sons of the continent" while Paul Kagame of Rwanda recognised his unreserved support in the fight to end the Rwandan genocide and praised his "humble", "simple" but "meaningful life " . The most notable eulogy was delivered by then US Ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, who depicted a rather erudite and progressive image of Zenawi. Rice spoke of "his world-class mind" : " he wasn't just brilliant. He wasn't just a relentless negotiator and a formidable debater. He wasn't just a thirsty consumer of knowledge. He was uncommonly wise." In many ways, he has built international reputation for himself as "the voice of Africa", and the West's key ally on "the war on terror". Whatever the truth of these eulogies, Zenawi's domestic credentials are absolutely dismal . For the last two decades, Ethiopia consistently ranked as one of the most repressive states in the world. Susan Rice's ownState Department chronicled a consistent pattern of grave violations of human rights including torture, arbitrary killings, restrictions on freedom of the press and expression, denial of religious freedoms, and the politicised use of its notorious anti-terrorism legislation. Contradicting her own government's documented practices of torture and other grave human rights violations, Rice's eulogies slips into an agonising denial that flies in the face of the facts . Rice exploits the grandeur of US power and its enunciating force to rework the history of repression and torture. This reworking, as the Philosopher Michel Foucault says , functions to "ensure that the greatness of the events or men of the past could guarantee the value of the present". However, history cannot remain reworked. As Walter Benjamin's messianic but sublime insight reveals: " The past carries with it a temporal index by which it is referred to redemption. There is a secret agreement between past generations and the present one. Our coming was expected on earth." Zenawi's counter-archives Zenawi was a paradoxical figure who embodied the traits of a brutal dictator and a politico-economic genius, both unified in one. Just before the 2010 election in which Zenawi won 99.6 percent of the seats, Andrew Simmons sought an explanation for these two faces: "There are  . . . those who say that you have two faces, you have a face for Davos, charming, a progressive and you have another face, which is totalitarian and repressive; how do you respond to that?" Zenawi's answer was misleadingly simple: "As far as I am concerned, what you see is what you get. No two faces, just one." Those who are deprived of the means of narrative production by Zenawi see him as a man who used his omnipotent power and his knowledge of the politico-military complex toeliminate the very conditions under which alternative ideas and competent political operators could emerge. It is not simply that he built a system around himself, but deliberately established himself as the only leader able to supply the cement necessary to hold together the nation's internal ruptures. He might have helped Ethiopia achieve rocketing economic progress but this progress came at a cost of two decades of terror and repression. The relentless memorialisation of Zenawi's legacy conceals, misrecognises, misrepresents, de-historicises, and ultimately erases the fundamental relationships of domination and inequality instituted by the order minted by Zenawi. Theses obsessive commemorative practices , i.e. events, parks, monuments, and institutions built up to remember and commemorate Zenawi have the purpose and effect of transforming everything about Zenawi into "a dazzling action" that can be appropriated by the order he founded and the sovereignty he left behind. It has the goal of transcribing his deeds into a discourse that ensures the sedimentation of these utterances into common-sense knowledge, into that which remains when everything is forgotten. This, then, is what is at stake in the struggle over the legacy of Meles Zenawi. No doubt the darling of the West who outmanoeuvred his adversaries, Zenawi's domestic reputation is radically at odds with his international stature. In the eyes of his people, Zenawi was irredeemably authoritarian. Awol Kassim Allo is Fellow in Human Rights at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Follow him on Twitter:  @ awol_allo =>aljazeera

Essence of the Scottish Referendum in the Eyes of an Oromo Nationalist

By Boruu Barraaqaa | September 9, 2014

Scotland will vote next week on a referendum to become an independent country. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/Guardian

It is obvious that both supporters and opponents of Oromian independence in Ethiopia are watching carefully what is going on in the UK. Both political entities have their own reasons for their respective wishes. Some Abyssinian elites could ridiculously try to resemble their cause to that of English elites, who were in the forefront of building the great nation, UK. However, there is no factual resemblance between the savage invaders from Abyssinia and the most civilized, prosperous and the leading democratic nation in the world. In spite of the fact that the British were once the brutal colonialist rulers in the world history, I don’t judge them by their history of yesterday in this context, but by who they are and what they are contributing for the betterment of our world today.
Therefore, our comparison should not be based on the past history, but on what is going on today. I am happy to see a historical test that is happening in a leading democratic nation, UK, but I will not have a cause to rejoice if I see the Scottish independence or to be sad by their possible defeat simply because of I am from a fellow suppressed nation in Africa. The encouraging event for the colonized peoples like the Oromo is just to witness such kind of referendums around the world and grabbing some experiences for their own future. Feelings that could spark from any result of the referendum should be left for the stakeholders.    

የማንነት፡ ምስቅልቅል፡ ሲጋለጥ፣ … የአቶ፡ ኤርምያስ፡ ለገሰን፡ መፅሓፍ፡ የተመለከተ፡ አጭር፡ ትችት

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Ethiopia: A Generation at Risk, Plight of Oromo Students

HRLHA Urgent Action

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                

September 06, 2014

The human rights abuses against Oromo Students in different universities have continued unabated over the past six months- more than a hundred Oromo students were extra-judicially wounded or killed, while thousands were jailed by a special squad: the “Agazi” force

This harsh crackdown against the Oromo students, which resulted in deaths, arrests, detentions and disappearances, happened following a peaceful protest by the Oromo students and the Oromo people  in April -  May  2014 against  the so-called  “Integrated Master Plan of Addis Ababa”. This plan was targeted at the annexation of many small towns of Oromia to the capital Addis Ababa. It would have meant the eviction of around six million Oromos from their lands and long-time livelihoods without being consulted or giving consent. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) has repeatedly expressed its deep concern about such human rights violations against the Oromo nation by the EPRDF government[1]

The HRLHA reporter in Addis Ababa confirmed that in connection with the April-May, 2014 peaceful protests among the many students picked from different universities and other places in the regional State of Oromia and  detained in Maikelawi /”the Ethiopian Guantanamo bay Detention camp” ,the following nine students and another four, Abdi Kamal, TofiK Kamal and Abdusamad   business men from Eastern Hararge Dirre Dawa town and Chaltu Duguma (F) an employee of Wallaga Universty    are in critical condition due to the continuous severe torture inflicted upon them in the past five months.

No	Name	Gender	Occupation
1	Lenjisa Alamayo	M	Student	Jimma University
2	Tamire Bekele	M	Student	Jima University
3	Gemechu Bekele	M	Student	Jima University
4	Nimona Chali	M	Student	Haromaya University
5	Magarsa Bekele	M	Student	Haromaya university
6	Abebe Urgessa	M	Student	Haromaya University
7	Bilisuma Gonfa	M	Student	Haromaya University
8	Adugna Kesso	M	Student	Adama University
9	Bilisuma Damana	M	Student	Adama University

The current ongoing arrests and detention of Oromo students started when the students were forced to attend a “political training” said to be a government plan to indoctrinate the students with the political agenda of EPRDF for two weeks before the regular classes started in mid- September 2014. Before the training started, students demanded that the government release the students who were imprisoned during the peaceful protests of April-May 2014.  Instead of giving a positive answer to the students’ legitimate questions, the federal government deployed its military forces to Ambo and Wallaga University campuses to silence their voices; many students were severely beaten and hundreds were taken to prison from August 20-29, 2014. Through the brutality of the federal government’s military “Agazi”, students from Ambo University,  Hinaafu Lammaa, Kuma Fayisa, Tarreessaa  Waaqummaa Mulugeta, Sukkaaraa Cimidi, Leensa Hailu Bedhane (F) and Elizabeth Legesse (lost her two tooth) were among those harshly beaten in their dormitories and then thrown outside naked in the open air.

The HRLHA reporter documented the following names among hundreds of students taken to different detention centers from both Ambo and Wallaga Universities on August 28 &29, 2014.

No	Name	Gender	Occupation
1	Hunde Firisa Warku	M	Student	Wallaga University
2	Mitiku Anbese	M	student	Wallega Univrsity
3	Gemechu Bely mekonen	M	Student	Wallega University
4	Anbessa Ayele	M	Student	Adama University
5	Zerun Yewalun wandimu	M	student	Dilla University
6	Nagara Fiqadu	M	Student	AA University
7	Gurmessa Wondimu Iticha	M	Student	Mada Walabu University
8	Temesgen Shiferaw	M	Student	Wallaga University
9	Gaddisa Damana	M	Student	Adama University
l10	Endale Irranaa	M	Student	Wallaga University
11	Alamayyo Sori	M	Student	Samara University
12	Fikiru Rafisa	M	Student	Mekele University
13	Firaol Bekele	M	Student	Mekele University
14	Birhanu Niguse	M	Student	Adigrat University
15	Chali Anugna	M	Student
16	Firaol Kelbessa	M	Student
17	Habtamu Wirtu	M	Student
18	Gizacho Marga	M	Student
19	Abdi Tesfaye	M	Student

Among many Wallaga University students, those who were severely beaten on 28/08/2014- Markos Taye, Ganati Desta and Mosisa fufa- were first taken to Nekemte Hospital and later transferred to Tikur Anbasa, a hospital in the capital city more than 300km away for further treatment. They remain there  in critical condition.

The most recent report (Sept 03,2014) received by HRLHA from Ambo town indicates that more than 250 students released from Senkele detention center have been taken back to their villages so that their parents of guardians can sign documents stating that their children are responsible for the conflict created between the students and the federal military. The parents of the students rejected the attempt of the government to make their children guilty by supporting, instead, the demands of the students “Free our friends, bring the killers of the students to court”

By killing, torturing and detaining non-violent protesters, the government of Ethiopia is breaching:

1. The 1995 constitution of the Ethiopia, articles 29 and 30, which grant basic democratic rights to all Ethiopian citizens^[2].
2.  All international and regional human rights instruments that Ethiopia signed and the UN Human Rights council 19^th[3] and 25^th[4] sessions resolutions that call upon states, with regard to peaceful protests, to  promote and protect all human rights and  to prevent all human rights violations during peaceful protests.

Therefore, the HRLHA calls upon the Ethiopian Government to refrain from systematically eliminating the young generation of Oromo nationals and respect all international human rights standards, and all civil and political rights of citizens it has signed off in particular.

HRLHA also calls upon governments of the West, all local, regional and international human rights agencies to join hands and demand an immediate halt to such kinds of extra-judicial actions against one’s own citizens. Detainees should be released without any preconditions and the murderers should brought to justice. .

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to the Ethiopian Government and its appropriate government ministries and/or officials as swiftly as possible, both in English and Ahmaric, or in your own language:

• Expressing concerns regarding the apprehension and possible torture of citizens who are being held in different detention centers including the infamous Ma’ikelawi Central Investigation Office, and calling for their immediate and unconditional release;
• Request that the government refrain from detaining, harassing, discriminating against Oromo Nationals
• Urging the Ethiopian authorities to ensure that detainees are treated in accordance with the regional and international standards regarding the treatment of prisoners
• Also send your concerns to diplomatic representatives in Ethiopia who are accredited to your country.

Mailed To:

• Office of Prime Minister of Ethiopia 
P.O.Box – 1031 , Addis Ababa
Telephone – +251 155 20 44; +251 111 32 41
Fax – +251 155 20 30 , +251 1552020

• Office of Oromiya National Regional State President Office  
Telephone –   0115510455

• Office of the Ministry  of Justice of Ethiopia
PO Box 1370,
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Fax: +251 11 5517775;
+251 11 5520874
Email: ministry-justice@telecom.net.et

• UNESCO Headquarters Paris.
7, place de Fontenoy 75352 Paris 07 SP France
1, rue Miollis 75732 Paris Cedex 15 France
General phone: +33 (0)1 45 68 10 00
www.unesco.org

• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)- Africa Department
7 place Fontenoy 75352
Paris 07 SP
France
General phone: +33 (0)1 45 68 10 00
Website: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/africa-department/

• UNESCO AFRICA RIGIONAL OFFICE
MR.JOSEPH NGU
Director

• UNESCO Office in Abuja
Mail: j.ngu(at)unesco.org
Tel: +251 11 5445284
Fax: +251 11 5514936

• Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Fax: + 41 22 917 9022 (particularly for
Urgent matters) E-mail: tb-petitions@ohchr.org this e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

• Office of the UNHCR
Telephone: 41 22 739 8111
Fax: 41 22 739 7377
Po Box: 2500
Geneva, Switzerland

• African Commission on Human and Peoples‘ Rights (ACHPR)
48 Kairaba Avenue, P.O.Box 673, Banjul, the Gambia.
Tel: (220) 4392 962 , 4372070, 4377721 – 23
Fax: (220) 4390 764
E-mail: achpr@achpr.org

• Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights
• Council of Europe
F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex, FRANCE
+ 33 (0)3 88 41 34 21
+ 33 (0)3 90 21 50 53
Contact us by email

• U.S. Department of State 
Laura Hruby
Ethiopia Desk Officer
U.S. State Department
HrubyLP@state.gov
Tel: (202) 647-6473

• Amnesty International – London
Claire Beston
“Claire Beston” <Claire.Beston@amnesty.org>

• Human Rights Watch
Felix Hor
“Felix Horne” <hornef@hrw.org>,

[1] http://humanrightsleague.com/2014/05/ethiopia-ambo-under-siege-daily-activities-paralyzed-hrlha-urgent-action/
[2]  Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia 1995,http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=193667
[3] http://blog.unwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/Protection-of-Human-Rights-in-the-context-of-Peaceful-Protests1.pdf
[4] http://blog.unwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/Peaceful-Protest-Resolution-2014.pdf

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ETHIOPIA: Relentless government violence on Oromo students and nationals continues, says human rights organization

August 27, 2014
While fresh arrests and detentions, kidnappings and disappearances of Oromo nationals have continued in different parts of the regional state of Oromia following the April-May crackdown of peaceful demonstrators, court rulings over the cases of some of the earlier detainees by courts of the regional state are being rejected by political agents of the governing TPLF/EPRDF Party. The renewed violence by government forces against Oromo nationals started particularly following what was termed as “Lenjii Siyaasaa” (literally meaning “political training”) that has targeted Oromo Students of higher educational institutions and has been going on in the past two weeks in different parts of Oromia.

Although the agendum for the “Political Training” was said to be “the unity of the country,” it instead has become an opportunity of carrying out further screenings and arrests of students, as around 100 more students have so far been arrested from Ambo University campuses alone and sent to a remote, isolated military camp called Sanqalle, leaving families and friends in fear in regards to the safety and well-being of the students in particular, not to mention the disruption of their studies. The arrests were made following the students’ protest of their confinement into the campuses during this so call “Political Trianing,” and the demand that the killers of their fellow students be brought to justice prior to discussing “unity.” Also, five students of Wallaga University, from among those who were gathered for the same purpose of “Political Training,” were kidnapped on the 22^nd of August 2014, and taken away in a vehicle with plate number 4866 ET; and their whereabouts are not known since then. HRLHA correspondents have also traced another fresh arrests and detentions of around 100 Oromo nationals in a small town called Elemo, Doranni District in the Illu Abba Borra Zone. It took place on the 14^th of August 2014; and Waqtole Garbe, Sisay Amana, Tiiqii Supha, Ittana Daggafa, Badiru Basha, Kamal Zaalii, Rashiid Abdu, Zetuna Waaqoo, Daggafa Tolee, Adam Ligdii, Indush Mangistu, Dibbeessa Libaan, and Ofete Jifar were a few among those detainees in Elemo Prison.

More worrisome and frustrating is agents of the federal government’s interference with regional and local judicial systems. More than one hundred students and other Oromo nationals, from among the thousands who were detained following the April-May nationwide protest, have been granted bails in local courts of the regional government of Oromia. These include 64 detainees in Dembi Dollo/Qellem, 10 in Ambo, 40 in Sibu-Sire and Digga District. But, all the court decisions were overruled by political officials representing the federal government. The Dembi Dollo/Qellem detainees in particular were granted bails four times, only to be turned down by political officials all the four rounds. On the other hand, there have been some cases in which prison terms ranging from six months to a year-and-half were imposed on the Oromo detainees, not in courts, but by those representatives of the federal government. Also, some independent lawyers complain that they were threatened by officials from the ruling party; and, as a result, refraining from representing the Oromo detainees. Usual as it has been in the past fifteen or so years, this case of interfering with and disobeying court rulings indicates that the case of these most recent Oromo detainees is purely political.
The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) calls upon the Ethiopian Government to refrain from harassing and intimidating students through such extra-judicial means as killings, arrests and detentions, and denials of justice after detention; and instead, facilitate conducive teaching-learning environments. HRLHA also calls upon the Ethiopian Government to unconditionally release the detained Oromo students and other nationals; and, as requested by their fellow students, bring to justice the killers of innocent and peaceful protestors during the April-May crackdown.

BACKGROUNDS:

The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) has reported (May 1^st and 13^th, 2014, urgent actions, HumanRightsLeague.com) on the heavy-handed crackdown of the Ethiopian Federal Government’s Agazi Special Squad and the resultant extra-judicial killings of 34 (thirty-four) Oromo nationals; and the arrests and detentions of hundreds of others.

Although the brutalities of the armed squad and the resultant fatalities happened to be very high in Ambo Town, the peaceful protests by Oromo students of different universities and faculties have been taking place in April and May in various towns and cities of Oromia, including Diredawa and Adama in eastern Oromia, as well as Jimma, Mettu, Naqamte, Gimbi, and Dambidollo in western Oromia.

The Oromo students of universities and colleges in different parts of the regional state of Oromia took to the streets for peaceful demonstrations in protest to the decision passed by the Federal EPRDF/TPLF-led Government to expand the city of Finfinnee/Addis Ababa by uprooting and displacing hundreds of thousands of Oromos from all sorts of livelihoods, and annexing about 36 surrounding towns of Oromia, the ultimate goal of which is claimed to be redrawing the map of the Oromia Region. The federal annexation plan, which was termed as “The Integrated Development Master Plan,” is said to be covering the towns of Dukem, Gelan, Legetafo, Sendafa, Sululta, Burayu, Holeta, Sebeta, and others, stretching the boundary of Finfinne/Addis Ababa to about 1.1-million hectares – an area of 20 times its current size.



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