Just three months ago security forces cold-bloodily massacred 42 unarmed protesters in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. Their only crime was they dared to protest against an election fraud committed by the regime in power. The killings were ordered by Meles Zenawi, the prime Minister of Ethiopia. Today the 3rd of September2005 this man is a guest of Oslo.

In Oslo Konserthus he will be handed this year’s African Green Revolution Yara Prize. It is the first prize of its kind. He is going to be awarded the prize for what the organizers are bizzarly claiming as “bringing democracy to his country.” That is one of the reasons the prize givers cited for the awarding. They cited another reason for their selection. He took decisive steps to increase agricultural production in his country. The official citation for the award mentions a third reason for Yara’s choice. He reduced poverty in “one of the poorest countries of the developing world”.

The only truth in the whole statement is only the last phrase that reads Ethiopia is “one of the poorest countries in the developing world”. Today Ethiopia still remains one of the poorest countries in the world. Prime Minister Meles ruled the country for the last 14 years. During this period the number of his country- men requiring food assistance increased from 5 million to 14 million. Yara claims that Ethiopia’s agricultural average growth was 3.6% per annum. All other reliable data show that it was only 1.6 % yearly. It is not only the opponents of Meles Zenawi that dispute the claims of Yara.All data collected by independent researchers and agricultural experts question the validity of the data provided by Yara. NORWATCH recently disclosed that the data is taken from Ethiopian government’s statistical figures. In 1990 Ethiopian per capita income was $ 120 .Today after 15 years under the Primership of Yara awarded Prime Minister it is only $ 96. All data show the contrary to Yara’s claims of improvement Ethiopians in general and the rural dwellers that constitute 85 % of the population see no change in their livelihood conditions.

Then why do Yara have to manipulate the facts concerning the democratization process in Ethiopia, the agricultural production, food security and the reduction of poverty in Ethiopia.
The answer is simple. Yara is the biggest fertilizer business partner of Meles Zenawi’s government. Yara by its own advertisement is one of the leading fertilizer producers in the world. It sells fertilizers worth millions to Meles Zenawi’s improvised country. to In Meles Zenawi’s Ethiopia fertilizer sale is 100 % monopolized by ruling party (EPRDF) affiliated fertilizer selling companies .All other companies that were in the fertilizer market were forced out of the market. An Ethiopian farmer who lives from hand to mouth have no much choice but to purchase the fertilizer at the exorbitant price from the sole supplier. To add injury to insult he can be thrown into jail if he cannot pay back the debt.

One cannot believe that Board members of major European corporation are not aware of the Human rights situation in Ethiopia. Meles Zenawi has the worst record of atrocities and gross human rights violations of any current African leader. Recently in AFTENPOST Kjetil Tronvoll a lecturer in Oslo University’s Human Rights Center and a renowned expert and analyst on Horn of Africa called Meles ”The worst in this category of leaders”. He knows what he is talking about. He was an observer to 3 Ethiopian sham elections. There are more than 15 000 political prisoners in Ethiopia today. The European Union Observation Mission has this to say about the Ethiopian elections” it did not live up to the international standards and to the aspirations of Ethiopians for democracy. Had this been said about the elections in MUGABE’S Zimbabwe we would have heard much uproar in a number of European capital cities. This is exactly what European observers said about the last years Ukrainian elections that had to be re-run on the account of fraud.

We hope now you can understand why the Ethiopian community in Diaspora as whole and the Ethio-Norwegians in particular are incensed and infuriated by the awarding this years’ African Green Revolution Yara Prize to their Prime Minister. For them the Award cannot be anything, but a camouflaged bribe to foreign leader and a commercial partner. Meles Zenwai does not deserve the prize on any of the claims cited by Yara foundation. The Ethiopia they know is a country without food security, respect for human rights and good governance. It has no resemblance to Yara’s Ethiopia.

Yara Foundation Board by awarding one of the most notorious human right violators has done great disservice not only to its good name but to Ethiopian people’s aspiration for food security, sustainable development and a democratic system and above all to the reputation of Norway in Ethiopia. The official Norway is distancing its self from the visiting Ethiopian Prime Minister and the awarding ceremony, but we believe that the ordinary Ethiopian citizen will barely recognize this subtle difference. That is why we are concerned.

Etiopiske Anti Yara Award Kommittee