By Graham Peebles, Redress Online | News Analysis
To many people land is much more than a resource or corporate commodity to be bought, developed and sold for a profit. Identity, cultural history and livelihood are all connected to “place”. The erosion of traditional values and morality (including respect for human rights and environmental responsibility) are some of the many negative effects of the global neo-liberal economic model, with its focus on short-term gain and material benefit. The commercialization of everything and everybody has become the destructive goal of multinationals and corporate-driven governments.
Land for profit
Since the food shortages of 2008 agricultural land in developing countries has been in high demand, seen by corporations from Asia and the Middle East in particular as a sound financial investment and as a way to create food security for their home markets.
Three quarters of the world’s land acquisitions have taken place in sub-Saharan Africa, where impoverished and economically vulnerable countries (many run by governments with poor human rights records) are “encouraged” by donor partners and international financial institutions to attract foreign investment.
Poor countries make easy pickings for multinationals negotiating deals for prime land at giveaway prices and with all manner of government sweeteners. Contracts sealed without consultation, transparency or accountability have virtually no benefit for the host country and result in dispossession, deception, violation of human rights and destruction of livelihoods.
Ethiopia is a prime target for investors looking to acquire agricultural land. Since 2008 the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) government has leased almost four million hectares for commercial farm ventures. Land is cheap – it is virtually give away – tax is non-existent and profits (like the food grown) are mostly repatriated. Local people are swept aside by a government unconcerned with human rights, domestic or international law. A perfect environment then, where shady deals can be done and large corporate profits made. In its desperation to be seen as one of the growth gang and to make way for agricultural land investments, the Ethiopian government has “committed egregious human rights abuses, in direct violation of international law”, according to the Oakland Institute.
Forced from home
Bordering on South Sudan, the Gambella region (where 42 per cent of land is available), with its lush vegetation and flowing rivers, is where the majority of land sales in the country have taken place. Deals in the region are made possible by the EPRDF’s “villagization programme”, which is forcibly clearing indigenous people off ancestral land and herding them into state-created villages. Some 1.5 million people nationwide are destined to be resettled in this way, 225,000 of whom are from Gambella.
More concerned to be seen as corporate buddy than guardian of the people, the Ethiopian government guarantees investors that it will clear land leased of everything and everyone. It has an obligation, Oakland Institute says, to “deliver and hand over the vacant possession of leased land free of impediments” and to “provide free security against any riot, disturbance or any turbulen[ce]”. Bulldozers are destroying the “farms, and grazing lands that have sustained Anuak, Mezenger, Nuer, Opo, and Komo peoples for centuries”, Cultural Survival records. Dissent is dealt with harshly. Human Rights Watch relates the case of one elder who was jailed without charge in Abobo and held for more than two weeks, during which, he says, “they turned me upside down, tied my legs to a pole, and beat me every day for 17 days until I was released”.
Hundreds of thousands of villagers are being forcibly moved by the regime, often to areas without essential services such as education, water and health care facilities.
Murder, rape, false imprisonment and torture are reportedly committed by the Ethiopian military as they implement the government’s policy of land clearance and resettlement. “My village was forced by the government to move to the new location against our will. I refused and was beaten and lost my two upper teeth,” one Anuak man told the non-governmental organization Inclusive Development International. His brother “was beaten to death by the soldiers for refusing to go to the new village. My second brother was detained and I don’t know where he was taken by the soldiers,” he added.
To the Anuak people, who are the majority tribal group in the affected areas, their land defines who they are. It is where the material to build their homes is found. It is their source of traditional medicines and food. It is where their ancestors are buried and where their history rests. By driving these people off their land and into large settlements or camps, the government is not only destroying their homes, in which they have lived for generations, but it is also stealing their identity.
The Ethiopian government is legally bound to obtain the free, informed and prior consent of the indigenous people it plans to move. Far from obtaining consent, Niykaw Ochalla of the Anywaa Survival Organization states that “when [the government] comes to take their land, it is without their knowledge, and in fact [the government] says that they no longer belonged to this land, [even though] the Anuak have owned it for generations”. Consultation, consent and compensation are required by domestic and international law. Those forcibly moved receive no compensation for their loss of livelihood and land. After extensively researching the issue, the Oakland Institute “did not find any instances of government compensation being paid to indigenous populations evicted from their lands”, despite binding legal requirements to do so.
“Waiting here for death”
The picture of state intimidation in Gambella is a familiar one. Refugees in Dadaab, Kenya, from the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, recount stories of the same type of abuse, as do people from Oromia and the Lower Omo valley. “The first mission for all the military and the Liyuu [police] is to make the people of the Ogaden region afraid of us,” a former commander of the Liyuu told me. And to achieve this crushing end, they are told “to rape and kill, to loot, to burn their homes, and capture their animals”. It is clear from a wealth of information collated by Human Rights Watch and the Oakland Institute that the Ethiopian military in Gambella is following the same criminal script as their compatriots in the Ogaden region.
The new settlements that make up the villagization programme are built on land that is “typically dry and arid”, completely unsuitable for farming and miles from water supplies, which are reserved for the industrial farms being constructed on fertile ancestral land. The result is increased food insecurity leading in some cases to starvation. Human Rights Watch documented cases of people being forced off their land during the “harvest season, preventing them from harvesting their crops”. With such levels of cruelty and inhumanity, the people feel desperate. As one displaced individual told Human Rights Watch, “The government is killing our people through starvation and hunger… we are just waiting here for death.”
If families try to leave the new settlement and return to their village homes, the government destroys them totally, burning houses and bulldozing the land. “The government brought the Anuak people here to die. They brought us no food, they gave away our land to the foreigners so we can’t even move back,” Human Rights Watch quotes a villager as saying.
Faced with such government atrocities, the people feel powerless. But some are awakening and demanding justice and respect for fundamental human rights. “We don’t have any means of retrieving our land,” Mr “O” from the village of Pinykew in Gambella told the Guardian newspaper. “Villagers have been butchered, falsely arrested and tortured, the women subjected to mass rape,” he added.
Enraged by such atrocities, Mr “O” is bringing what could be a landmark legal case against Britain’s Department for International Development (DfiD). Leigh Day & Co, solicitors based in London, have taken the case, “arguing that money from DfiD is funding the villagization programme”, which “breaches the department’s own human rights policies”. DfiD administers the GBP324 million given by the British government to Ethiopia, making it the biggest recipient of aid from the country. It denies supporting forced relocation, but its own documents reveal British funds are paying the salaries “of officials implementing the programme and for infrastructure in new villages”, the Daily Mail reports. These allegations are reinforced by Human Rights Watch, which says that “British aid is having an enormous, negative side effect – and that is the forcible ending of these indigenous people’s way of life”.
In an account that rings with familiarity, Mr.O, now in Dadaab refugee camp, says he was forced from his village at gunpoint by the military. At first he refused to leave, so “soldiers from the Ethiopian National Defence Force beat me with guns.” He was arrested, imprisoned in military barracks and tortured for three days, after which time he was taken to the new village, which “did not have water, food or productive fields”, where he was forced to build his house.
Government duplicity, donor complicity
The Ethiopian government unsurprisingly denies all allegations of widespread human rights abuse connected with land deals and the villagization programme specifically. It continues to espouse the “promised public service and infrastructure benefits” of the scheme which, the Oakland Institute says, “by and large have failed to materialize”. The regime is content to ignore documentation provided by human rights groups and non-governmental organizations and, until recently, had refused to cooperate with an investigation by the World Bank into allegations of abuse raised by indigenous Anuak people. The World Bank, incidentally, gives Ethiopia more financial aid than any other developing country – 920 million US dollars last year alone. A former provincial president, Omod Obang Olum, oversaw the plan in Gambella and assures us resettlement is “voluntary” and “the programme successful”.
An independent non-profit group working to advance human rights in development, the Inclusive Development Institute has helped the Anuak people from Gambella “submit a complaint to the World Bank Inspection Panel implicating the bank in grave human rights abuses perpetrated by the Ethiopian government“. The complaint alleges “that the Anuak people have been severely harmed by the World Bank-financed and administered Providing Basic Services Project (PBS)”. The institute says that “villagization is the principal vehicle through which PBS is being implemented in Gambella”, and claims “there is “credible evidence” of “gross human rights violations” being committed in the region by the Ethiopian military. Human Rights Watch found that donors are “paying for the construction of schools, health clinics, roads and water facilities in the new [resettlement] villages. They are also funding agricultural programmes directed towards resettled populations and the salaries of the local government officials who are implementing the policy.”
The Inclusive Development Institute’s allegations further support those made by many people from the region and Mr “O” in his legal action against the DfID. The World Bank’s inspection panel has said the “two programmes (PBS and villagization) depend one each other, and may mutually influence the results of the other”. The panel found “there is a plausible link between the two programmes but needs to engage in further fact-finding”. It is imperative that the bank’s inspection panel is given unrestricted access to Gambella and that people feel safe to speak openly about the government’s brutality.
Monday, August 12, 2013
Hailemariam Desalegne in a panic mode
by Tedla Asfaw
Hailemariam Desalegne accused “Andenet” and “Semayawi” party for standing with the Ethiopian Muslims on his short interview with “Yelemat” journalist in Addis Ababa. Woyane will most likely ban all peaceful protests that it allowed recently. The question is if those parties will ignore the regime and come out in force like they did in Addis, Wello, Bahir Dar and Arba Mintch for the near future. If they do not then they will be irrelevant.
Woyane can not shut Mesgids and the protest of Ethiopian Muslims will continue. Their demand is for Woyane to get out of their religious affairs using its cadres from Al Habash.
It is crucial to join rallies called by political parties in large numbers regardless of who called the rallies. However, staging a unified rally is a must to bring our people for a common struggle. The Ethiopian Muslims have shown us how to do that.
Both Semayawi and Andent have succeeded in mobilizing their supporters. We need to build on that and bring out millions of Addis Ababeans soon to change the political calculus. No time to waste !!!!
Hailemariam and “Ye Woyane Limate” journalist are worried about the solidarity between Ethiopian Muslims and the opposition parties at home. Saudi Arabia is bedding with Woyane not with Ethiopian Muslims. UK and USA wanted Woyane to do their security job. What foreigners is Haiemariam talking about ?
Most likely for Hailemariam “foreigners” are Ginbot 7, OLF etc. These forces have little or no impact on the peaceful struggle home, Their “Hulegeb Tigel” has not yet bear any fruit at all. Their names are just used to terrorize the brave people of Ethiopia with little success.
The peaceful struggle that started by Ethiopian Muslims for freedom of their religion is not a political struggle as Hailemariam alleges. It is however should be clear for all that Ethiopian Muslims have every right to participate in a political struggle for freedom and justice like all citizens of Ethiopia. Peaceful parties in home have also obligation to stand with all who are abused by the tyranny in Ethiopia.
Hailemariam Desalegne accused “Andenet” and “Semayawi” party for standing with the Ethiopian Muslims on his short interview with “Yelemat” journalist in Addis Ababa. Woyane will most likely ban all peaceful protests that it allowed recently. The question is if those parties will ignore the regime and come out in force like they did in Addis, Wello, Bahir Dar and Arba Mintch for the near future. If they do not then they will be irrelevant.
Woyane can not shut Mesgids and the protest of Ethiopian Muslims will continue. Their demand is for Woyane to get out of their religious affairs using its cadres from Al Habash.
It is crucial to join rallies called by political parties in large numbers regardless of who called the rallies. However, staging a unified rally is a must to bring our people for a common struggle. The Ethiopian Muslims have shown us how to do that.
Both Semayawi and Andent have succeeded in mobilizing their supporters. We need to build on that and bring out millions of Addis Ababeans soon to change the political calculus. No time to waste !!!!
Hailemariam and “Ye Woyane Limate” journalist are worried about the solidarity between Ethiopian Muslims and the opposition parties at home. Saudi Arabia is bedding with Woyane not with Ethiopian Muslims. UK and USA wanted Woyane to do their security job. What foreigners is Haiemariam talking about ?
Most likely for Hailemariam “foreigners” are Ginbot 7, OLF etc. These forces have little or no impact on the peaceful struggle home, Their “Hulegeb Tigel” has not yet bear any fruit at all. Their names are just used to terrorize the brave people of Ethiopia with little success.
The peaceful struggle that started by Ethiopian Muslims for freedom of their religion is not a political struggle as Hailemariam alleges. It is however should be clear for all that Ethiopian Muslims have every right to participate in a political struggle for freedom and justice like all citizens of Ethiopia. Peaceful parties in home have also obligation to stand with all who are abused by the tyranny in Ethiopia.
Ethiopian government in action, to reduce the Amhara population
Documentary video in Amharic reviled Ethiopian government given birth control shots for young Amhara women without there knowledge, according to the documentary in the Amhara village which the women took government provided vaccination none of them are given birth for years. One of the women says “we missed to see kids in the village.
The protest ETV want to hide
The Ethiopian Muslims protest ETV (Ethiopian Television) tried to exclude during its live transmission at Eid al-Fitr celebrations in Addis Ababa stadium.
South Africa: Thousands of Ethiopians flock to Durban for a meeting with Dr Berhanu Nega
The Horn Times Newsletter 11 August 2013
According to the organizing Bête-Ethiopia committee spokesperson, the iconic dissident artist/activist Tamagne Beyene and respected spiritual leader Sheik imam Khalid Omar will also speak to the participants via Skype from the US.
However, with their country in turmoil and with the ruling minority junta quickly transforming itself into a killing machine, most refugees the Horn times spoke to appeared very keen to hear what the patriotic academic will have to say on critical issues the nation of 80 million is facing.
“Dr (Berhanu) is an intelligent and street-smart individual with great savoir-faire to be the leader of a proud nation like Ethiopia. For the past decade, my soul searched for a patriotic leader to follow and found one in him. Personally, he is my commander- in- chief. He is fearless, hawkish, and pragmatic; above all, he is an incomparable patriot. The hope of the nation rests on his shoulders. Dear Dr Berhanu, please know that we love you.” Alemeshet Bekele, 24, a refugee in South Africa for 6 years told the Horn Times in Durban.
“Am a proud member of Ginbot-7 political party. Only Ginbot-7 represents the dreams and aspirations of the people of Ethiopia. I urge all Ethiopians to join this unique party to avoid fragmenting the opposition. The ruling junta fears Ginbot-7 because of its popularity and its firm stance on human rights and human dignity.” The philosophical young man added while his boisterous friends clad in the national flag shouted “viva Berhanu Nega!”, “viva Ginbot-7!”, “viva Ethiopian Muslims!”
“I have a bona fide offer for puppet Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.” Another young man, Samuel Alemu cuts in. “quit and flee.” He said to the loud cheer of his friends.
“We are less than four hours before the meeting starts. Look at the popularity of this larger- than- life character Dr Berhanu Nega. His undimmed pulling power has not fade a bit since 2005 when he made that famous clean sweep of votes in the national elections. We are very eager to hear his plan for the future. The direction his party would take to end the bondage of slavery in Ethiopia will be very crucial for us. Am a bit tense.” Said a 47-year-old chartered accountant who requested anonymity.
The meeting is scheduled to start at August 11, 5:30 pm.
infohorntimes@gmail.com
@infohorntimes
“Tesmamto Yalebet Eslam Christiyanu
Tezenegash ende Ethiopia mehonu…..”
The song the colorful Ethiopian crowd is currently singing aloud, as thousands of refugees from all occupations, Muslims and Christians begin flocking to the South African port city of Durban for tonight’s extraordinary meeting with their heroic opposition party leader, his Excellency Dr Berhanu Nega via video link at the magnificent Sun Coast Casino conference hall.According to the organizing Bête-Ethiopia committee spokesperson, the iconic dissident artist/activist Tamagne Beyene and respected spiritual leader Sheik imam Khalid Omar will also speak to the participants via Skype from the US.
However, with their country in turmoil and with the ruling minority junta quickly transforming itself into a killing machine, most refugees the Horn times spoke to appeared very keen to hear what the patriotic academic will have to say on critical issues the nation of 80 million is facing.
“Dr (Berhanu) is an intelligent and street-smart individual with great savoir-faire to be the leader of a proud nation like Ethiopia. For the past decade, my soul searched for a patriotic leader to follow and found one in him. Personally, he is my commander- in- chief. He is fearless, hawkish, and pragmatic; above all, he is an incomparable patriot. The hope of the nation rests on his shoulders. Dear Dr Berhanu, please know that we love you.” Alemeshet Bekele, 24, a refugee in South Africa for 6 years told the Horn Times in Durban.
“Am a proud member of Ginbot-7 political party. Only Ginbot-7 represents the dreams and aspirations of the people of Ethiopia. I urge all Ethiopians to join this unique party to avoid fragmenting the opposition. The ruling junta fears Ginbot-7 because of its popularity and its firm stance on human rights and human dignity.” The philosophical young man added while his boisterous friends clad in the national flag shouted “viva Berhanu Nega!”, “viva Ginbot-7!”, “viva Ethiopian Muslims!”
“I have a bona fide offer for puppet Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn.” Another young man, Samuel Alemu cuts in. “quit and flee.” He said to the loud cheer of his friends.
“We are less than four hours before the meeting starts. Look at the popularity of this larger- than- life character Dr Berhanu Nega. His undimmed pulling power has not fade a bit since 2005 when he made that famous clean sweep of votes in the national elections. We are very eager to hear his plan for the future. The direction his party would take to end the bondage of slavery in Ethiopia will be very crucial for us. Am a bit tense.” Said a 47-year-old chartered accountant who requested anonymity.
The meeting is scheduled to start at August 11, 5:30 pm.
infohorntimes@gmail.com
@infohorntimes
Seminar on “The Citizens Charter: Ethiopiawinnet and Citizen Rights
ኢትዮጵያዊነት :- የዜጎች መብት ማስከበሪያ ጉባኤ
Ethiopiawinnet: Council for the Defense of Citizen Rights*
Cordially invites Ethiopians and Friends of Ethiopia
in the Dallas Metro to attend a public seminar entitled:
“The Citizens Charter: Ethiopiawinnet and Citizen Rights
as the Foundations of Ethiopian Democracy”
MODERATOR:
Ato Betru Gebregziabher, Chairman of the Board of Ethiopiawinnet
SPEAKER:
Ato Abate Kassa, a veteran Ethiopian social activist, an aspirational and inspirational speaker, holds degrees in economics and political science. He served for several decades as a practitioner, consultant, and educator in business management. He is President of his own consulting and management training business, established in New York City in 1973.
DATE & TIME:
Saturday, August 31 and Sunday, September 1, 2013, 2:00-5:00 P.M.
Please be on time!
Please be on time!
PLACE:
The Plano Center, 2000 E. Spring Creek Parkway, Plano, TX 75074
Our motto for active civic engagement:
Free citizenship is both a right and a duty.
ለመብቱ ተባብሮ ያልቆመ ዲሞክራሲ አያገኝም፤ ቢያገኝም ጠብቆ አያቆየውም።
Our motto for active civic engagement:
Free citizenship is both a right and a duty.
ለመብቱ ተባብሮ ያልቆመ ዲሞክራሲ አያገኝም፤ ቢያገኝም ጠብቆ አያቆየውም።
(*) Ethiopiawinnet is a non-partisan, international human rights organization incorporated in the State of Illinois. Visit us
Dishonor Among African Elections Thieves
by Alemayehu G. Mariam
Unfree and Unfair Elections in Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe had its presidential elections last week. Elections as in rigged. Robert Mugabe, the senile octogenarian and the only president since Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, “won” for the seventh time by 61 percent of the vote. His Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) clinched a supermajority in parliament that will allow it to change the constitution. This past May, Mugabe signed a new constitution which sets a term limit of two five-year terms for president (not retroactively applicable to Mugabe) and eliminated the post of prime minister. In 2009, following a violent election aftermath, a coalition government of national unity was formed designating opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister.
General Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria, who led the African Union Election Observer team (69 observers) in Zimbabwe certified the election as valid declaring, “I have never seen an election that is perfect. The point has always been and will always be, how much the infractions, imperfections have affected the reflection of the will of the people and up to the point of the close of the polls our observation was that there were incidents that could have been avoided. In fact, up to the close of the polls we do not believe that those incidents will amount to the result not to reflect the will of the people.” Bernard Membe of Tanzania who led the Southern African Development Community (SADC) election observer mission (442 observers) chimed in declaring that the election was “free and peaceful”. The observer mission from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) likewise gave its approval and urged all parties to accept the election result. None of the observer missions used the phrase “free and fair” to describe the elections outcomes.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) (7,000 certified domestic monitors) declared the elections were “seriously compromised” and pointed out a number of serious irregularities. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai called the election “a huge farce” and a “sham that does not reflect the will of the people.”
Only Botsawna called for an investigation
Botswana’s observer team did not buy Mugabe’s election victory or the AU/SADC’s affirmation of it. After reviewing the preliminary report of its 80-member election observer team led by former Botswanan vice-president Mompati Merafhe, the government of Botswana issued an official statement advising that “there is a need for an independent audit of the just concluded electoral process in Zimbabwe. Such an audit will shed light on the conduct of the just ended election and indicate any shortcomings and irregularities that could have affected its result, as well as the way forward.”
This is in sharp contrast to the conclusions of the 60-person African Union (AU) observer team led by former Botswana president Ketumile Masire which concluded that the 2010 “election” in which the ruling regime in Ethiopia claimed a 99.6 percent victory was “free and fair”. Masire said his team found no evidence of intimidation and misuse of state resources for ruling party campaigns in Ethiopia and proclaimed, “The [elections] were largely consistent with the African Union regulations and standards and reflect the will of the people … The AU were unable to observe the pre-election period. The participating parties expressed dissatisfaction with the pre-election period. They did not have freedom to campaign. We had no way of verifying the allegations.”
Masire’s report was a travesty of election observation. At the time, I took issue with Masire’s findings and challenged his conclusions:
No honor among African election thieves?
Are elections in Africa a colossal exercise in futility? Is it possible to have a free and fair election in any African country? Is the African Union (as “African Dictators’ Club”) capable of undertaking an independent and fair observation of elections in an African country? Is electoral democracy a quaint game played by African dictators for the amusement of Western donors and loaners? Is dictatorship in Africa by any other name democracy?
I have long argued that many African governments and regimes including those in Zimbabwe and Ethiopia are thugtatorships. In my February 2011 commentary Thugtatorship: The Highest Stage of African Dictatorship, I sought to explain in simple terms the nature of steroidal African dictatorships:
Zimbabwe had its presidential elections last week. Elections as in rigged. Robert Mugabe, the senile octogenarian and the only president since Zimbabwe gained independence in 1980, “won” for the seventh time by 61 percent of the vote. His Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF) clinched a supermajority in parliament that will allow it to change the constitution. This past May, Mugabe signed a new constitution which sets a term limit of two five-year terms for president (not retroactively applicable to Mugabe) and eliminated the post of prime minister. In 2009, following a violent election aftermath, a coalition government of national unity was formed designating opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai as Prime Minister.
General Olusegun Obasanjo, the former president of Nigeria, who led the African Union Election Observer team (69 observers) in Zimbabwe certified the election as valid declaring, “I have never seen an election that is perfect. The point has always been and will always be, how much the infractions, imperfections have affected the reflection of the will of the people and up to the point of the close of the polls our observation was that there were incidents that could have been avoided. In fact, up to the close of the polls we do not believe that those incidents will amount to the result not to reflect the will of the people.” Bernard Membe of Tanzania who led the Southern African Development Community (SADC) election observer mission (442 observers) chimed in declaring that the election was “free and peaceful”. The observer mission from the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) likewise gave its approval and urged all parties to accept the election result. None of the observer missions used the phrase “free and fair” to describe the elections outcomes.
The Zimbabwe Election Support Network (ZESN) (7,000 certified domestic monitors) declared the elections were “seriously compromised” and pointed out a number of serious irregularities. Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai called the election “a huge farce” and a “sham that does not reflect the will of the people.”
Only Botsawna called for an investigation
Botswana’s observer team did not buy Mugabe’s election victory or the AU/SADC’s affirmation of it. After reviewing the preliminary report of its 80-member election observer team led by former Botswanan vice-president Mompati Merafhe, the government of Botswana issued an official statement advising that “there is a need for an independent audit of the just concluded electoral process in Zimbabwe. Such an audit will shed light on the conduct of the just ended election and indicate any shortcomings and irregularities that could have affected its result, as well as the way forward.”
This is in sharp contrast to the conclusions of the 60-person African Union (AU) observer team led by former Botswana president Ketumile Masire which concluded that the 2010 “election” in which the ruling regime in Ethiopia claimed a 99.6 percent victory was “free and fair”. Masire said his team found no evidence of intimidation and misuse of state resources for ruling party campaigns in Ethiopia and proclaimed, “The [elections] were largely consistent with the African Union regulations and standards and reflect the will of the people … The AU were unable to observe the pre-election period. The participating parties expressed dissatisfaction with the pre-election period. They did not have freedom to campaign. We had no way of verifying the allegations.”
Masire’s report was a travesty of election observation. At the time, I took issue with Masire’s findings and challenged his conclusions:
With all due respect to Masire, it seems that he made his declaration clueless of the observation standards he is required to follow in the AU Elections Observation and Monitoring Guidelines. If he had done so, he would have known that there is no logical, factual or documentary basis for him to declare the ‘elections were largely consistent with the African Union regulations and standards’. For instance, pursuant to Section III 9 (e) of the guidelines (‘MANDATES, RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS OF THE OBSERVERS’), Masire’s team had a mandatory duty to ‘observe the political parties and groups as well as the population at large in the exercise of their political rights, and the conditions in which such rights are to be exercised’. Masire by his own admission made no such observation: ‘The AU were unable to observe the pre-election period’. Under Section V (13), the guidelines mandate that ‘AU Observers should ascertain that: … (b) all competing political parties have equal access to both the print and the electronic media (radio, T.V.).’ Masire said his team ‘had no way of verifying’ pre-election complaints, including complaints of unequal access to state-controlled media. Under Section V (B) (d), the AU observers had a mandatory duty to ascertain ‘the campaign process is conducted in conditions of serenity, and that there are no acts of provocation or intimidation capable of compromising’. Masire’s team failed to make such inquiries. Under Section B (24), the guidelines mandate: ‘The atmosphere during the campaign should be carefully observed, and among the factors to consider in this regard include … (iv) persistent or reported cases of human rights violations.’ Masire’s team does not appear to be aware of such a requirement, let alone actually make the observation. It is truly regrettable to say of a former African leader that he showed no evidence of having read or understood the numerous mandatory election observation duties set forth in minute detail in the AU guidelines before shamelessly and pathetically declaring the elections ‘were largely consistent with African Union regulations and standards.’
I am gratified that vice president Mompati Merafhe’s observer team in Zimbabwe made its recommendation for an audit investigation based not only on observed election irregularities but also because the “various incidents and circumstances [that] were revealed call into question whether the entire electoral process, and thus its final result, can be recognised as having been fair, transparent and credible in the context of the SADC Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections within the Community.” I would like to underscore that the Zimbabwe election also fails to meet the AU Elections Observation and Monitoring Guidelines.No honor among African election thieves?
Are elections in Africa a colossal exercise in futility? Is it possible to have a free and fair election in any African country? Is the African Union (as “African Dictators’ Club”) capable of undertaking an independent and fair observation of elections in an African country? Is electoral democracy a quaint game played by African dictators for the amusement of Western donors and loaners? Is dictatorship in Africa by any other name democracy?
I have long argued that many African governments and regimes including those in Zimbabwe and Ethiopia are thugtatorships. In my February 2011 commentary Thugtatorship: The Highest Stage of African Dictatorship, I sought to explain in simple terms the nature of steroidal African dictatorships:
If democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people, a thugocracy (thugtatorship) is a government of thieves, for thieves, by thieves. Simply stated, a thugtatorship is rule by a gang of thieves and robbers (thugs) in designer suits. It is becoming crystal clear that much of Africa today is a thugocracy privately managed and operated for the exclusive benefit of bloodthirsty thugtators. In a thugtatorship, the purpose of seizing and clinging to political power is solely to accumulate personal wealth for the ruling class by stealing public funds and depriving the broader population scarce resources necessary for basic survival.
Mugabe’s Zimbabwe is a classic thugtatorship. In March 2008, Mugabe declared victory in the
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