The EPRDF, Civil Society organizations and human rights in Ethiopia

By Paulos Milkias (Ph.D.)

May 8, 2007

       Among civil society organizations, NGO’s  are of paramount importance
because they are known for reaching the most disadvantaged peasants in the
remotest parts of the country.[1]
However,  very few of  them have so far involved themselves in
policy advocacy for fear that it might get them into trouble with apprehensive
government officials that constantly keep them under guard.[2]

       Of the few local advocacy groups in Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Human Rights
Council (EHRCO) is the most significant. But because it has become a nuisance by
reporting the regime’s  human rights transgressions, in 1998, the state
controlled Commercial  Bank of 
Ethiopia
refused to release its assets thus forcing it to survive on donations from the
public.[3]
Its founding director, prof. Mesfin Wolde Mariam who is an
excellent candidate for the Nobel Prize for Peace has also been accused and
jailed on  dubious charges of “crimes against humanity” and “attempted genocide”
both of which carry the death penalty; and ironically, both of which he tried to
stamp out through his organization.

       Another major advocacy organization in Ethiopia is the Ethiopian Women
Lawyers Association (EWLA) which was established in 1995. ELWA has the stated
objectives, of sensitizing  the general public to  the plights of Ethiopian
women who have been constantly subjected to blatant organized and unorganized
abuse. It had done a great deal to protect them not only against administrative,
legal and social intolerance and  discriminatory laws   but also against
bigotry, domestic violence,  abduction, rape,  assault, battery and female
genital mutilation. So far, it has given free legal aid  to  30,000 women,
through it’s  national office in Addis Ababa and  a dozen branch offices
located  in remote parts of the country. Most, who have benefited from this
generous service  are poor and downtrodden urban as well as  peasant women folk.k.[4]

The organization has also made unremitting struggle  to oblige the government to
create a human rights tribunal and the office of an ombudsman. ELWA has kept
itself out of trouble with the government by steering away from sensitive human
rights issues.  But that did not stop it from agitating to have an increase in 
the political participation of women as voters as well as elected officials. 
The members are currently putting pressure on the government to follow the
example of South Africa, Uganda  and Mozambique to set quotas for women
candidates who are interested in running for elections. 

       Trade Unions are the oldest NGO’s to emerge during the feudal period. But
the EPRDF regime has not  been any less hostile to it  than it has been to other
independent civil society organizations. Its known tactic is to plant undercover
agents in the organization with the purpose of creating splinter groups in the
ranks and then supporting factions favourable to its policies and cracking  down
on groups opposed to it. Many labour leaders have thus been thrown out of their
jobs, jailed, or exiled. For example, quite recently,  the chair of the
Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions, Dawi Ibrahim, had been forced to flee
to the Netherlands where he has asked for a political asylum to escape
unremitting government surveillance on his private life and open ended
persecution and hostile measures directed against him by  the state security
police.e.

       The Ethiopian Teachers’ Association is the oldest and most powerful
professional association in Ethiopia. As soon as it came to power, the Meles
regime targeted it for fear that it might incite teachers and students against
it and lead to its overthrow as it did to the feudal regime of Haile Selassie in
1974. On  May 29 1996,  as part of its intimidation mechanism, the EPRDF
government arrested Dr Taye Woldesemayat, President of the Ethiopian Teachers’
Association, at Addis Ababa international airport upon  his return from a
general meeting in
Europe.
He was accused of armed conspiracy so that if convicted, he would face the death
penalty. But Taye, well-known internationally to have opposed violence, has
eschewed even political party affiliation. He was released following intense
international pressure. To destroy the ETA  as an organization, the government
of  Mr. Meles Zenawi has resorted to the freezing of ETA bank account as well as
its pension funds. It has also closed down its regional offices, conducted
several illegal searches, fired ETA members from their professional jobs and
jailed many peaceful activists. As if that is not enough, the EPRDF government
has disfranchised the original ETA and  has established  in its place, a rival
pro-government organisation that carries the same name. The General Secretary of
the ETA, Gemoraw Kassa, fearing for his life, has recently taken  asylum in the
UK. In May 1997, ETA executive committee officer Assefa Maru, who was also a
member of  the Ethiopian Human Rights Council executive committee, was shot and
killed in broad daylight.

            The plight of Ethiopian journalists is not any better. In 1991, the
government of Mr. Meles  adopted a national charter and informed the journalist 
that except in matters concerning state security, they were free  to enjoy full
rights to disseminate information without state interference. But it did not
take long for it to renege.[5]
The  Ministry of Information started cancelling  licenses of
publications that it deemed “have not been able to respect their journalistic
code of ethics as well as failing to discharge their responsibilities.” As a
result, many have lost their businesses. The  well-known international human
rights organization, the Committee to Protect Journalists [CPJ],  has recently
reported that no less than 300 reporters have been jailed in Ethiopia since
1992. Between 1992 and the end of year 2005, at least 16 Ethiopian journalists
lost their lives in the hands of armed death squads. The chairperson of the
Ethiopian Free Press Journalists Association, Mr. Kifle Mulat, announced in
2000, many of these journalists lost their lives under dubious circumstances,
including suicides.

            During  the disputed election of May, 2005, editors and reporters of
independent and privately-owned newspapers were detained and charged with
“treason,” “outrages against the Constitution” and “incitement to armed
conspiracy”.[6]
The accusations  are reportedly based on published articles. They are also
related  to the charges against the KINIJIT  leaders who were accused of trying
to overthrow a legitimate government by inciting a revolution. None of the
journalists were however  members of that political party, though they had
conducted interviews with its leaders and  had made critical remarks about  the
EPRDF government regarding the conduct of the  election. Six publishing
companies  owned by some of the accused journalists were charged with offences
as corporate entities. Five Amharic language Voice of America reporters in
Washington D.C. and two U.S – based Ethiopian website editors (Elias Kifle of
Ethiopian Review and Abraha Belai of Ethiomedia) were arraigned  in
absentia for “attempted genocide” and “crimes against humanity.” Whereas the
indictments  against the VOA personnel was “temporarily” dropped following
intense U.S. government pressure,  the latter still face these ominous capital
punishment charges.

       In the wake of this crackdown,  meaningful consultation with major
opposition parties was virtually banished  and  the government cadres,
intimidated, jailed and shot all those who failed to fall in line, manipulated
elections in the rural areas and made an announcement that Mr. Meles party had
won 2/3 of the seats. Public demonstrations were legally banned for a period of
one month after the election day. A vicious media campaign was run accusing the
opposition of disloyalty. Defeated government officials who were members of the
EPRDF central committee were miraculously reinstated into their parliamentary
seats after the so-called recounting of votes were conducted under the watchful
eyes of a partisan national election board. Kuma Damaksa, former president of
Oromia, General Abdalla Gamada, Minister of Defence,  Bereket Simion, Government
spokesperson and Minister  of Information as well as Juneddin Saddo, Chair of
OPDO, all of whom are highest level EPRDF Central Committee members who lost
ballots in the thousands were declared winners by the puppet National Election
Board upon recounting.   Following this, tensions run high and there were public
protests against the electoral abuse which the European observer group had
witnessed and reported. Subsequently the government’s security squad massacred
at least 193 unarmed peaceful demonstrators, arrested about 40,000 supporters of
the opposition and herded them into jail. Amharic speaking Ethiopians living in
non-Amhara Kilils [zones] were expelled by local EPRDF cadres on charges of
supporting the opposition which is wrongly equated with an Amhara movement
though it is clearly pan-Ethiopian. On the orders of the Prime Minister, the
leaders of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy [Kinijit] party who refused to
sit in what they considered a “rigged parliament,” were arrested and charged
with “crimes against humanity” and “attempted genocide” – charges that carry the
death penalty. When some parties such as the Oromo National Congress took their
seats, the government planted agent provocateurs  in their ranks, splintered the
party, and gave recognition to factions “in good behaviour” with the EPRDF.

       That brings us again to civil society organizations. What did they do
when all this was expiring? Nothing? One cannot deny that NGO’s that came to
Ethiopia  in the name of emergency relief aid have contributed to the rural
masses of Ethiopia by donating emergency food aid, by providing  sanitary
services, water and health care systems. In general, they  have increased the
chances for food security through their “Food for Work” programmes and through
their commendable work of  rehabilitation and long range development schemes.[7]
When it comes to enhancing democracy however, these foreign NGO’s
have contributed little. Democracy in this sense means  the advancement  of
social well-being through the enjoyment of political freedoms and civil
liberties; it means being governed by the rule of law, being able to engage in
open discussion regarding  issues that affect one’s life; it means choosing
policies and priorities through the active participation either directly or
indirectly in decision making process and resolving matters through  pragmatic
consent and open discussion; and last but not least, it means empowering and
raising the lot of vulnerable citizens in one’s area of competency.[8]

        Repeated studies have shown that the activities of most  NGO’s in
Ethiopia are supply driven.  They aim to satisfy the source of their funding to
carry out their prescribed projects. The  funding almost entirely comes  either
from donor countries abroad or from the government of Ethiopia itself which
supplies basic infrastructure and tax relief for goods imported in connection
with relief  programmes. Civil society organizations  also need to renew their
registration permits annually, so, they are totally at the mercy of the EPRDF.[9]
Due to this dual dependence, the NGO’s go out of their way to please foreign
donors as well as the government of Ethiopia.[10]
One thing that they would never do in order to keep this delicate
balance is therefore not to advocate anything that may displease the government.[11] 
Hence their total silence on  the advocacy of democratic empowerment and the
protection of human rights. That the state through its party machine creates and
runs parallel organizations to stifle the function of genuine civil society
organizations  has now made the whole exercise almost a farce.

            Civil society is clearly a necessary condition for sustainable
development both economically and socially.  It is a sign of liberty, democracy
and an exercise of free will. But one needs to create a set of practices and
institutional frameworks that link the voluntary associations in Ethiopia to
human rights activities  that each and every one of us can help with. We should
bear in mind that the NGO’s in the country are exceedingly fearful of the Meles
regime and lack confidence in their role as public advocacy groups. They are
unsure of their mission outside providing relief and development aid.  Hence,
there is a need to steer them towards peaceful activism where they can employ
their enormous monetary power to bear upon the regime to respond to the people
of Ethiopia’s yearning for democracy and good governance. We have to goad the
NGO’s whether international or local,  to shift their focus. We have to see to
it that they develop approaches and strategies that facilitate conditions for
democratic transformation.

     Indeed, without the active engagement of educated Ethiopians in the
Diaspora or at home, it is difficult to expect the Civil Societies in the
country to desist from their present practice of avoiding issues that deal with
democratic governance and human rights violations. We have to demand from all of
them that relief aid is not enough, that they ought to do everything in their
power to educate the Ethiopian people to practice democracy and to steer away
from the autocratic and divisive venue the Meles regime has chosen. Only if we
do that can we reasonably handle the enormous problems our people are facing and
fulfil their needs with decency and civility. We have to create more forums to
discuss issues related to human rights and democratization.  We need a civil
discourse. We should also realize that a civil discourse is more than a plea to
seek a just and rational outcome by replicable, traceable formal instrumental
procedures adopted by civil societies.  Rather it is to undertake and
participate in an active covenant that as Ethiopians, we cannot avoid our civic
duties. We have to incite debate on civil society and human rights, for to avoid
doing so is to ignore some of the fundamental elements of democracy that we wish
our country should have, a democracy which is a bedrock of freedom and human
dignity.