Ethiopia: DFID Fail to Act on Human Rights Violations

The Ethiopian government may be guilty of atrocities against indigenous peoples as it completes construction of the Gibe III dam. UK aid-agency DFID has failed to exert its influence and protect the rights of these minorities.

How much longer will Mursi children survive in the Omo Valley? Photo by Survival International.

May 12, 2013 (Think Africa Press) –Ethiopia may until recently have been a byword for famine, but in one part of the country at least, there are people who have lived largely without outside help for hundreds of years. With the connivance of the British government, this is about to change forever.

The tribes of the Lower OmoValley in south west Ethiopia – chief among them the Mursi, the Nyangatom, the Bodi and the Daasanach – depend on a combination of flood retreat cultivation on the banks of the Omo River, rain fed cultivation further back from the river, and cattle on the grass plains.

They move between these resources seasonally so as to exploit them to their best advantage. A self-sufficient existence outside mainstream society has meant that few speak Amharic, and that fewer still can read or write. Like most of us they are strongly attached to their way of life and their traditions, and believe passionately in their right to decide for themselves whether and how to change them.

But flood retreat cultivation will become impossible when the Ethiopian government completes the Gibe III dam on the upper Omo, as it is expected to do shortly. Large-scale irrigation will follow, allowing government sugar plantations to gobble up huge swathes of their ancestral land. At least ninety thousand people will be forced to relocate to permanent ‘villages’, compelled to give up their herds and become sedentary cultivators. If experience elsewhere in Ethiopia is anything to go by, many will end up dependent on government handouts or starvation wages on the plantations. A pastoralist way of life which has survived for centuries will disappear forever.

An unwelcome jibe

With no political clout, and no chance of redress through the courts, the Lower Omo tribes lack any means to protect themselves. But as the country’s second largest donor, the British Government is not without influence in Ethiopia and could, if it chose, do much to ensure respect for their basic rights. Unfortunately for the Mursi, the Daasanach and the other tribes of the Lower Omo, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) has proved reluctant to act.

The UK knows there is a problem. With masterly understatement, it has acknowledged that ‘past experience in other countries has shown that where people are resettled against their will this can impact negatively on their well-being and livelihoods’. ‘Impact negatively’ might well be interchanged with ‘utterly destroy’.

In an attempt to avoid the worst excesses of forced resettlement, DFID and the other twenty-five aid agencies that make up the Development Assistance Group (DAG) have even produced a set of Guidelines for the Ethiopian government.

These stipulate that resettlements should be ‘voluntary’; that they should take place only after a feasibility study has been discussed with the community; that the community itself should participate in the planning and implementation of the resettlement programme; that prompt and effective compensation should be paid for losses suffered; and that there should be an independent mechanism to resolve grievances and disputes.

But in the Lower Omo Valley these safeguards have been totally ignored. The gulf between what is written and what happens in practice has never been wider. No feasibility studies were carried out before work started on the plantations. Thousands have already been removed from their land and herded into ‘villages’ against their will. More forced resettlements are on the way. No compensation has been paid, and no system has been put in place to handle complaints. When an American observer suggested to a DFID representative in Addis Ababa that few of the Guidelines had been followed, she replied that ‘none of them have been followed’.

Atrocities provoke apathy

The scale of oppression in the Lower Omo will probably never be known, but is at least partly described in a report published in January 2013 by International Rivers. The systematic violation of tribal rights in the Lower Omo is also charted in a petition that Survival International has now lodged with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.

But none of this is news to the British authorities. As long ago as July 2009, Survival International met with DFID to express its concerns about the threat that Gibe III poses for the Lower Omo tribes. In September 2011, Human Rights Watch told the Department that security forces relied on beatings, harassment and arbitrary arrests to crush tribal opposition to the plantations.

The Total Domination of the Ethiopian Army by Ethnic Tigrean Officers

 

Ginbot 7 Report
Originally Posted May 30th, 2009
Since day one of its active political life, Ginbot 7 has repeatedly informed the international community that the ethnocentric political and economic policies of the TPLF regime are the primary sources of violence and instability in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa at large Despite the different masks that this crafty regime wears to dupe donor nations and other stakeholders, Ginbot 7 has delved deep into the inner workings of the TPLF regime and exposed the toxic ethnic policies that consumed the life of many Ethiopians, and forced many others to seek refuge in neighboring countries.
Unlike any other time in the nation’s history, a minority ethnic group that comprises no more than 6% of the total population (80 Million) controls the political, economic, and social life of 94% of the Ethiopian people. In the last month, the military intelligence wing of Ginbot 7 has uncovered vital information that substantiates its past claims that all high level military positions in the Ethiopian army are asymmetrically dominated by a minority ethnic group lead by the TPLF elite.)
Article 88, Sub Article 2 of the Ethiopian constitution states: “The State shall have the duty to respect the identity of the nations, nationalities and peoples and on the basis of this promote equality, unity and fraternity among them”. However, despite what the Constitution says, in the last 18 years, the political, social, and economic affairs of Ethiopia has been disproportionately controlled by a handful of Tigrean elites. For example, 93.5% of all key military positions in the Ethiopian National Defense Forces are occupied by ethnic Tigreans, far in excess of their 6% representation among the Ethiopian population.
Historically, the ethnic composition of the Ethiopian army was evenly distributed between the different ethnic groups. Besides, a military tradition of the Ethiopian Armed Forces which spans back through the nation’s long history was the ultimate example of a system based on meritocracy. However, under the TPLF regime, since the Ethiopian army is organized to defend the ruling party from the people, incompetent officers who are loyal and ethnically related to the ruling party elites occupy almost all key positions in the army.
In 1991, when the TPLF regime controlled Addis Ababa, economic development, political inclusion, and ethnic equality were its three very important promises that convinced the Ethiopian people to change their heart and give the incoming new regime the benefit of the doubt, despite all signs that TPLF was a party of one ethnic group. In fact, it wasn’t just the Ethiopian people that temporarily trusted the TPLF party; the entire free world that stood with the Ethiopian people during the dark days of communism trusted the minority TPLF regime as a vector of peace, equality, and democracy in Ethiopia.
Today, after 18 long years, the Ethiopian people and many in the free world realize that the guerrilla movement that took power preaching liberal democracy and free market economy is neither democratic nor capitalist.
In the past three weeks, Ginbot 7 has issued a plethora of press releases and public statements exposing the entrenched corruption of the TPLF regime, which includes political exclusiveness, nepotism, and absolute control of power. As it was clearly indicated in many of the public statements, ethnic favoritism and nepotism are rampant in every aspect of public life in Ethiopia, leading to deep disaffection and ethnic polarization in a nation packed with a large number of ethnic groups.
Ginbot 7 fully understands that when channeling multi million dollar aid packages to Ethiopia, the intention of donor nations is to finance economic development in Ethiopia and to feed its growing population. However, a good deal of the aid package is used by the regime for political purposes that neither benefits the poor nor stimulates economic development. The grave concern of Ginbot 7 and other Ethiopian progressive forces is not that the world is helping Ethiopia, but that these donor nations and international organizations do not hold the secretive TPLF regime accountable for the amount of aid it receives every year.
For the most part, donor nations do not have proper monitoring mechanisms that assess how aid funds are spent and who benefits from the expenditure. Obviously, donor nations and tax payers in donor countries do not want to see their funds used by dictators who deny freedom and justice to the very people to whom the aid is intended. Likewise, no democratic citizen of the world wants its hard earned money to go to a Third World country and be used to prop up a dictatorial regime that muffles free press and kills democratic movements. The message of Ginbot 7 to donor nations has always been to hold the TPLF regime accountable for its political and economic actions, and judge this authoritarian regime by applying the same moral standard used in the Ukraine, the former Yugoslavia, Kenya, and Zimbabwe.

“Today in Ethiopia freedom is still a pie in the sky” Statement delivered at African Commission

Statement delivered at the 53rd ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights in Banjul, Gambia
Madame chair, ladies and gentlemen
Today, Ethiopia lives through the sword of the Damocles drawn against it. The scourge of the old days of the Red Terror grips the population. 90 million Ethiopians, a total population of a few countries in Africa put together, live in absolute fear. A simple test for the prevalence of unfreedom and absolute violation of freedom of expression is whether or not the population of a given country is gripped with fear when it comes to freedom of expression. That is the reality in Ethiopia today and no amount of claims on the contrary can change this fact.
Madame chair,
What distinguishes humans from animals is not the capacity to think but the capacity of humans to express what they think in speech and writing. If that capability is deprived, humans are reduced to the level of animals. Today, the Ethiopian people are reduced to this deplorable level. Ethiopia, the seat of the African Union and the Economic Commission for Africa and considered as the symbol of African independence, has relinquished this prestige by muzzling its own people from expressing what they think. In as much as the population is subjected to live in fear, the government has also displayed its utter fear of the freedom of expression of the population particularly after the 2005 elections.
The government seems to have concluded that the 2005 elections gave it one major lesson: muzzling even the narrow space of expression that had existed. Muzzling the freedom of expression assumes another dimension: depriving the populace of alternative sources of information. This strategy necessitated closing down practically all private newspapers, jamming broadcasts from abroad and blocking websites that report on Ethiopia. The next step is to launch exaggerated claims on its work depicted as ‘achievements’. As a consequence: journalists who reported without fear were thrown to long term imprisonment. Eskindir Nega, an international award winning blogger, who defied the prevailing fear and wrote freely about freedom and democracy was sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment. A number of journalists who also won international wards are on trial. In appearance, it seems it is these journalists who are on trial. In actual fact however, it is freedom of expression and justice in general that is on trial in the Ethiopian courts today.
To jam radio and TV broadcasts from abroad, the government devotes a large chunk of the tax payers’ money. It is a paradox of immense proportion when a country that needs capital investment very badly devoting a huge sum of money for the purpose of depriving the population from acquiring information from alternative sources. A glance at the level of teledensity in Ethiopia and the fact that there is only one government internet server in the country of 90 million simply display the level of the restriction not only access to information but also in communication in general. When a government claims to hold the ultimate truth and resorts to muzzle others; that is tantamount to depriving people to think differently.
To reinforce the deprivation of freedom of expression and right to information, a new weapon introduced is the Anti-terrorism Law that was proclaimed following the defeat of the ruling party in the 2005 elections. In the 2005, the ruling party lost miserably that it resorted to massive rigging and stealing of votes. In order to consolidate this state of affairs made fait accomplit to the world, a series of new law were proclaimed. In addition to the Anti-terrorism law, extremely restrictive and prohibitive NGO and press laws were proclaimed. Once the government closed all avenues of popular expression, it went out to make wild claims such as on economic growth and winning the 2010 elections by 99.6%.
The government in Addis Ababa is not only at war with its own people on freedom of expression but also with international human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other organizations concerned with the continuous violations of human rights. The government’s image internationally has been tarnished for some time now. It is for no reason that the US based Parade magazine named the late prime minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, as the “15th worst dictator in the world”.
Madame Chair,
It is a paradox of immense proportion that Ethiopia, as the seat of the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, instead of becoming a pace-setter and example for freedom and democracy, has become a symbol of unfreedom.
Despite the wild claims by the government, today in Ethiopia freedom is still a pie in the sky.
Thank you.

Ethiopia arrests minister, 11 others over corruption

 

(Reuters) – Ethiopian police have arrested a minister and 11 other people on corruption charges, an official and state media said on Saturday, in the country’s most high-profile swoop against graft for more than a decade.

Melaku Fenta, a senior ruling party member in Ethiopia.

Businesses in the region regularly complain of corruption as an obstacle to their work. Transparency International ranked Ethiopia 113 out of 176 nations worldwide in its 2012 perception of corruption index, where No. 1 is considered least corrupt.
That ranking puts Ethiopia above most nations in the Horn of Africa and east Africa regions, although Rwanda is ranked 50.
Melaku Fenta, a senior ruling party member and director general of the revenue and customs authority with the rank of minister, was arrested on Friday alongside two other officials from the authority, government spokesman Shimeles Kemal said.
“They were under investigation on suspicion of corrupt practices,” Shimeles told Reuters, without giving details.
The spokesman said there were further arrests as well but did not give a total. The state news agency reported 12 arrests overall. Independently, newspapers said the arrests included a prominent businessman and customs employees outside the capital.
Global Financial Integrity last year said Addis Ababa lost $11.7 billion in outflows of illegal funds in the past decade.
Melaku is the most high profile suspect to be arrested on corruption charges since Siye Abraha, a former defense minister who was released in 2007 after six years behind bars. However, he was already out of government when arrested

Ethiopia’s minority junta warned to stop ethnic cleansing in South Africa

 

Ethiopia’s minority junta warned to stop ethnic cleansing and systematic genocide at a massive anti TPLF demonstration in South Africa.

by Getahune Bekele – South Africa
Always fearful of the mighty Ethiopians, the TPLF embassy did everything it could to stop this demonstration from taking place in Pretoria and issued a press release three days ago claiming victory over Ethiopian opposition groups in South Africa that it succeeded in denying them the right to protest even in exile, much to the delight of TPLF cadres and supporters.
However, after a tireless work of Ethiopian community association president, the epic patriot Tamiru Abebe and co, finally, a vibrant and colorful crowed descended on Pretoria on 10 May 2013 shouting slogans and singing patriotic songs warning the ruling minority Tigre junta that Ethiopians are running out of patience with it after 22 years of brutal oppression and exploitation.
The demonstration was described as unique and the first of its kind in 22 years as it embraced various political party supporters and ethnic groups who eventually realized that standing as one people against an ethnocentric regime is the way to go.
The OLF, the Southern Ethiopia nations organization in South Africa, the Ethiopian community association in South Africa, The Ethiopian Orthdox Church under the Holy synod in exile, the Ethiopian Muslim community in South Africa and most surprisingly, the Ogaden National Liberation Front supporters in South Africa were all one in their condemnation of the ongoing ethnic cleansing and systematic genocide in Ethiopia.
At the rally, Political prisoners such as Bekele Gerba, Andualem Arage, Albana Lelisa, Zerihun Gebreigziabher and Natinael Mekonnen were honored for their selfless contribution to the struggle to free Ethiopia from the jaws of the brutal junta.
The mentioning of jailed journalists Eskinder Nega and Woubishet Taye was also met with bursts of spontaneous applause.
In union buildings, a five page memorandum was warmly accepted by President Jacob Zuma’s Representative Meuruc Beki while Ms Mariane de Langer of the UN promised to forward the memorandum to the general secretary Ban Ki- moon as soon as possible remarking that her institution is well aware of the human rights violations committed by the government of Ethiopia.

We are one!
“This is the most endearing and unforgettable experience for me. Seeing deeply divided Ethiopians coming together as one people is fantastic. Today is the birth of a new nation called Ethiopia.” Yohannes Sahelu, 34, told the Horn Times on the lawns of the massive presidential complex.
“We never advocate ceding from Ethiopia. But we want to cede from the minority junta which killed and maimed thousands of Ogadeni Ethiopians. We want justice. We want a Nuremberg type court to try TPLF warlords such as Gen Samora Younice, Gen Tsadkan Gebretinsay and the man currently ruling the nation, Debretsion Gebremicael; all members of the same clan that has been governing us for 22 bloody years.” A female supporter of the OGNLF told reporters waving Ethiopian flag and shouting Allah Waa Akbar, God is great, while “let our voice be heard!” the word made famous by Ethiopian Muslims reverberates in the background.
“Death to Ethnic apartheid, warlordism and tyranny!” Another protester screamed at the top of his voice.
“Ethiopia is a failed police state where Apartheid is openly practiced by the ruling Tigre elite. We need the help of African nations and the international community to end this criminal tyranny. Help us attain freedom. We are virtual slaves in our own country. We implore you to help us eliminate this genocidal minority regime from our land.” Fikadu Bekele, 43, who arrived in South Africa in 1998,