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UP TO THIS POINT, the US Government appears to be determined to continue its assistance of $600 million a year to the current Ethiopian regime which has rigged elections, maimed and killed several unarmed citizens, denied all democratic rights like peaceful demonstrations, sent thousands to unhealthy, dangerous and filthy torture camps in remote corners of Ethiopia, thereby denying friends, relatives, husbands, wives, sons and daughters any chance of visiting their loved ones again, and also ensuring that it will not be watched by the international press.
In addition, leaders of the largest peaceful opposition, journalists of almost the entire free press and leaders of independent CSOs are also thrown behind bars for condemning the fraudulent elections and for demanding that the Ruling Party sit down with the opposition and CSOs to work out conditions that lead to (i) an independent National Election Board, (ii) an independent judiciary, (iii) a free press, (iv) neutral public mass media, (v) electronic mass media that are independent of the Government/Ruling Party, (vi) neutral police and National Defense Forces, (vii) unconditional release of all those thrown into jail after the elections, (viii) an independent commission to investigate all crimes committed in June and November 2005, and (ix) an independent Commission to oversee the smooth implementation of democratization. Why is calling for democratization a crime and why is such a regime aid-financed?
Prime Minister Meles is so vehemently opposed to such democratic demands and democratization that his response has been shooting unarmed citizens, the mass-jailing of the opposition last November, closing down the opposition and vandalizing its offices and shutting down the free press completely while public mass media continue to generate lies after lies. Europe and America know all these facts, and Europe has come out openly in support of democratization, but the USA appears to have decided to stand with a brutal regime since the American Embassy has recently announced that it will continue to give its aid amounting to a yearly $600 million, and the Spokesman of the US Department of State has also announced that the murderous regime .will continue to be America’s partner in the Horn of Africa.
This is all incomprehensible for many of us trained in Europe and America and aware of the rich traditions and democratic principles of America which, strangely enough, appears to prefer partnership with dictatorship instead of upholding freedom and democracy. It cannot be that those Ethiopian soldiers that died beside American soldiers in the Korean War died in vain since their children and grand children appear to be told today that America prefers to partner with a brutal dictator.
Indeed, USAID/Ethiopia had flatly stated in 2000 (See p. 94, Integrated Strategic Plan: FY 2001-2006, November 2000 ) that it had chosen areas of assistance for its 5-year aid program by making sure that the areas were “… in accord with the priorities and wishes of the GFDRE ( Ethiopian Government) ….” Accordingly, the plan states that “USAID has determined that further sustained assistance to development of Ethiopia’s electoral system is not a high priority. This is in keeping with the preferences of the National Election Board….” which has been hand-picked and controlled by the Ruling Party to facilitate its re-elections ever since its creation in 1995. This is also well-known!
Hence, as far back as 2000, after the rigged elections of 1995, as also testified by US Ambassador Hicks in the report of the Ambassadors’ Donors Election Unit, and after similarly rigged elections in 2000, USAID/Ethiopia has seen no need to build democratic institutions like an independent National Election Board, an independent judiciary, an independent free press or independent electronic mass media that are independent of the Ruling Party. It is a pity that USAID/Ethiopia has chosen to do that in spite of repeated requests by the opposition for assistance to improve the electoral system. What good is US aid if it is given in a manner that completely compromises all the rich democratic principles and traditions of the US Government and people under the pretext of respecting the wishes of regimes?
Surely, USAID/Ethiopia must know that democracy can be built only with democratic institutions, and when they are so glaringly absent, as in Ethiopia, it is strange that USAID/Ethiopia has so publicly decided that it will respect the wishes of the Government and deny a high priority to the improvement of the electoral system. One wonders why USAID/Ethiopia ever bothers to spend US tax money when it is clear that its assistance has been squandered for years by a regime which is neither transparent nor accountable to the people. It is time to review all its past aid and its effect on democratization !
Indeed, there is absolutely no logic in the continued support of 600,000,000 Dollars to a brutal regime just because it promises to help in the war against terrorism when it so savagely kills its own unarmed citizens and sends thousands to jail under the eyes of the America diplomatic mission in Ethiopia. Did it not promise to use America’s Humves on the Ethiopia-Somali border, but had no qualms to use them to kill unarmed citizens in Addis Ababa under the eyes of the American Diplomatic Mission in Ethiopia ? Should America continue to trust such a regime ? Is it not more reasonable to take democratic Ethiopia as a more credible partner in the Horn Africa instead of continuing with a regime that is so undemocratic and brutal, determined to jail even journalist of VOA just because they have done their duty.
The Prime Minister’s long and abusive letter against the Honorable Ana Gomes of EU-EOM is another proof of a regime that is so brutal against all those that do not dance along with its wicked tune. That is why innocent leaders and members of the opposition, members of the free press and members of CSOs are in prison today under charges that have been cooked up out of sheer hatred for those that oppose its dictatorship. What is tragic is that the courts are also as bad and partisan, and yet, America has made repeated calls for justice and fair play and these are, at best, meaningless and misplaced, or otherwise another indication of ill-advised solidarity with EPRDF dictatorship.
In his recent book [See Bob Woodward. Bush at War. New York, Simon & Schuster. p.338], Woodward has presented an interview with President Bush on August 20, 2002, and it has also involved North Korea about which the President has had this to say:
President Bush does not apparently know that in remote, malaria-infested, filthy and unhealthy Dedessa torture camp, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has well over 40,000 innocent youths, sons, daughters, fathers and mothers that have been transported from Addis Ababa in aid-funded trucks just because they are either found walking on the streets, or they are young and poor, or just because they are suspected to be supporters of the opposition; all of those are regarded as criminals, according to EPRDF. Many have been beaten to death or disabled, or starved to death in the Camps, and many have been eaten up by wild animals, and all of these victims have been simply thrown into mass graves in Dedessa. Isn’t that torture or breaking up families ?
What is different with Meles is that he is in Africa! Dedessa is one of several such torture camps; Meles Zenawi is no better, but America appears to prefer him over a free and democratic Ethiopia by continuing to give out 600 million dollars that will surely frustrate and weaken the democratization designs of the Nation’s democratic forces.
Indeed, borrowing Bob Woodward’s words above, I wonder how America could fund and coddle the Ethiopian Prime Minister as he starves his people, as he has done continuously over the last 14 years when, even at the rate of growth of 5 % per year, our per capita income would have doubled instead of remaining below the level of 1991. Why does Ethiopia have millions of famine victims every year ?
Doesn’t America see anything wrong with a continuously starving, non-developing and undemocratic Ethiopia? Is it not proper to ask why Ethiopia is so undemocratic after so much generous aid under Point Four, and latter under USAID? Is it not reasonable to ask why all that American Assistance of the 1950s and 1960s to Ethiopia failed to deter the Ethiopian military from being the backbone of a destructive communist dictatorship from 1974-1991, and why the same trend continues today after the end of the Cold War? Why is it that Ethiopia has failed to feed itself all these years in spite of its very hard working citizens, so much fertile land, so many rivers and so much generous external assistance ?
If American and other assistance has failed so badly over the last 60 years in having a significant positive impact on the economic, social and political development of Ethiopia, does it make sense to continue providing similar economic, security and military assistance “… in accord with the priorities and wishes of the GFDRE …” as in previous ears ? Surely, there is something that is very wrong with such external aid and business as usual; it coddles brutal regimes. In the past, Ethiopians have not come forward so forcefully to demand their democratic rights, but the situation since 2005 is different: Ethiopians are prepared to pay any price to regain their democratic rights and civil liberties, and they expect all democratic friends of Ethiopians to assist in their speedy and peaceful realization.
Our requests are simple: Keep all your development financial loans and assistance since it has been ineffective for decades. There has been no way to ensure continuity after regime change, but we will continue to be grateful for your assistance for famine relief. Indeed, practically all that was built by the Emperor was destroyed by the communist Derg, and EPRDF also destroyed practically all that was built by Derg so that continuity was impossible under such irresponsible regimes; funneling your assistance through UN agencies is just as bad as giving it to the Dictator since UN agencies are largely corrupt, submissive and unreliable. Surely, the US knows that very well !
Help us to obtain the release of all prisoners of conscience, and to bring justice to all victims of brutality through an independent international commission. Help us to build democratic institutions today by putting all necessary pressure on Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to accept a negotiated settlement of all election-related issues. Help us to realize freedom and democracy today, and we can assure the world that Ethiopia will then be a more credible and enduring partner in the war against terror.
Many friends of Ethiopia think that the majority of Ethiopians will suffer if foreign aid is stopped. The truth is that foreign aid is used to pamper only the regime and its cohorts, and very little of that aid trickles down meaningfully and effectively to our poor countrymen in rural or urban Ethiopia; statistics on number of clinics and schools make no sense since they are mostly useless and put up only for show. Over the last 60 years, urban and rural Ethiopians have become poorer and they are treated more as objects that are there to serve Government officials rather than as citizens with sovereign rights. Indeed, stopping aid will not seriously affect the poor since they have gained very little so far ! We want foreign aid to build genuinely democratic institutions that will ensure respect for all political rights and civil liberties for all Ethiopians, and not to support partisan institutions like the current military, police, security, the judiciary, the public mass media or the National Election Board. The faster the evolution towards democracy, the shorter the pain, if any ! South Africa did that overnight in April 1994, and Ethiopia can do it just as fast if EPRDF is not financed and supported to avoid rule of law.
Ethiopians are grateful to Europe for its firm support for freedom and democracy. We still hope that America will also do the same soon to assist us first to obtain the unconditional release of all opposition leaders, journalists and members of CSOs, and then to help in building genuine democratic institutions and processes that will help to ensure that Ethiopia will be free from brutal regimes. Failure to support democratization today will definitely feed several dissident groups in all corners of Ethiopia and invite increasingly more chaos and turmoil in the Horn of Africa in the very near future
Amoraw Ferrede can be reached for comments at [email protected]
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