The West acts to punish Meles

By A. Bezabih

December 30, 2005

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Some observers think that the Melese government has been excessively pampered and comforted by the West for the last fourteen years. This time around he pushed his luck too far that the evidence of his lawlessness has been mounting to ignore. Knowing that the Melese government is rejected by the Ethiopian people, it has become harder and harder for many of his closest allies such as, Prime Minister Tony Blair of England and other government heads, to look the other way. The EU and US are the major contributors of the multi-billion-dollar funding allotted to Ethiopia through IMF, World Bank and African Development Bank (ADB).

These donors know well that the Melese government is hated by the majority of Ethiopian citizens. At the same time they are cogent of the fact that Zenawi’s government wouldn’t last if they don’t provide him with the funds. They also clearly understand that their money pays his military, and buys the arms he uses to kill his own people. Without their aid money, they know that he wouldn’t have the foreign currency to buy oil even for a few months. They also understand that he funnels the aid money to his party-owned financial institutions to fatten his corrupt officials.

Prior to the election, Zenawi had promised the whole world and swore to the Ethiopian people that Ethiopia would have a free and fair election. Contrary to his commitment, his party and his government, helped and abated by an election board hand-picked by him, had stuffed ballot boxes and stole the entire election. The regime has been in power for so long and has gotten away with multiple violations of the rights of its citizens. It was business as usual, when the government was caught red-handed with an election fraud.

Melese Zenawi’s administration was given ample opportunity to respect the voices of the people, but did all the wrong moves to irritate the EU and the US. Zenawi missed plenty of opportunities to correct the rigged election. Many nations including the EU, US and the UN pleaded with him to work out differences with the major opposition groups through dialog. He was asked to conduct an honest investigation of vote fraud. Sadly all he had to do was to show an ultimate disrespect to the good intentions of the international community and the Ethiopian people. To add insult to the Ethiopian voters, he stole more of the people’s voice, and brought back through sham “re-elections” senior government officials already voted out by the people. Notable among those who bounced back to parliament because of the killings and nationwide terror Meles launched against the Ethiopian people is former Information Minister, the disgraced Bereket Simon.

When the international community and the Ethiopian people demanded for independent investigation of election irregularities, more of the losers in the election were declared as winners. To rub salt into the wound of the people, Meles went an extra mile to curtail the rights of MPs by altering the rules in the new parliament. When the opposition demanded a negotiation be held over the gross violation, the tyrant came up with bags of dirty tricks such as: changing the rule in parliament, overtaking the duties of Addis Ababa administration, and charging the leadership of the opposition with treason and genocide.

What would the international community and responsible governments do in this situation? They can’t sit idle and watch this brutal government continue in its murderous act day in and day out. The least they can do is to stop helping and abating him to subjugate the people. They recognized that they are morally obliged to send a strong signal by calling the spade a spade.

The US, more than any other country, has more influence on the regime. The Ethiopian people see the US as having the political and financial clout, the moral authority and obligation to influence this regime. The US cannot afford the implication of supporting a rejected dictator at the expense of offending over 70 million Ethiopians. The US does not want to see the Ethiopia turn into a fertile ground for extremist zealots. It would rather side with the people of Ethiopia and fight for democracy and work towards building a stable democratic government. Supporting brutal dictators such as Meles has proved counter productive to the long term interest of fighting radicalism. The US would stand with the people of Ethiopia and provide support to their democratic aspiration. With all his dismal human rights records – including the ongoing terror against the entire citizens of the country – the US has had helped the ruthless tyrant for some time. It should call it quits; and the time is now. It is time to cut the losses, and start over to help the Ethiopian people put their house in order.