Ethiopia: Torture in the heart of Addis, even as leaders gather in gleaming AU building

Author(s):   Laetitia Bader

Published in: 

 The East African

Many journalists and diplomats who attend events in Addis Ababa’s gleaming new African Union building are probably unaware that it rests on the site of one of Ethiopia’s most notorious prisons. While that prison was torn down in 2007, its legacy of torture and abuse continues today at the heart of the capital.

Over the past year, I have spoken to dozens of people who were held in a detention centre called Maekelawi in central Addis. They described dire conditions and a range of abusive interrogation methods to extract information and confessions.

Since 2011, scores of high-profile individuals have been detained in Maekelawi under Ethiopia’s draconian anti-terrorism law, including journalists and opposition politicians, and held for months under the law’s lengthy pre-charge detention period as their “cases” are prepared for trial.

“Getachew,” a 22-year-old ethnic Oromo, was snatched from his university dorm, driven hundreds of kilometres to Addis Ababa, and locked up for eight months in Maekelawi. His parents were never informed of his whereabouts; he was never charged or given access to a lawyer; and never appeared before court. He was ultimately released on condition that he would work for the government.

Like Getachew, many of the people detained in Maekelawi over the past decade are political prisoners — arrested because of their ethnicity, their real or perceived political opinions and actions, or journalism work. Voicing peaceful dissent or criticism of government policy is increasingly risky.

In a new report, ‘They Want a Confession’: Torture and Ill-Treatment in Ethiopia’s Maekelawi Police Station, Human Rights Watch documents how the police who run Maekelawi have tortured and ill-treated detainees during investigations. Former detainees held in the facility since 2010 described how investigators slapped, kicked, and beat them with batons and gun butts. Some were held in painful stress positions for hours upon end.

Some are held in solitary confinement for days or months. Getachew said he was held alone and shackled for five months: “When I wanted to stand up it was hard,” he told me. “I had to use my head, legs, and the walls to stand up.”

Those held in Maekelawi’s two worst detention blocks, nicknamed by residents Chalama Bet [dark house] and Tawla Bet [wooden house], described particularly dire conditions.

To make matters worse, investigators use access to basic facilities and needs to punish or reward detainees. Even access to the toilet can depend on the whim of the police, as Getachew explained: “I was only allowed to use the toilet once a day, although after two or three months, I was allowed twice… They want to get something, and either they get some evidence or they don’t.”

Access to daylight is also restricted; one person said that he was taken outside for just a few minutes three times in 42 days in the dark cells. Several former Chalama Bet detainees complained of lasting vision problems.

Detainees have also been denied access to their families and legal counsel, particularly those detained on politically motivated charges.

Former detainees described being forced, often while being verbally abused and beaten, to sign statements and confessions for crimes they did not commit. Sometimes the confessions are presented in court as evidence or used to put pressure on those released to support the government and ruling party, as in Getachew’s case.

Most recently, the prosecution submitted statements gathered in Maekelawi from prominent members of the country’s Muslim community who were charged under the anti-terrorism law in 2012 for organising peaceful protests. There is credible information that several of the defendants were mistreated in Maekelawi, making their statements questionable.

The fate of those passing through Maekelawi’s gates is largely unknown to the outside world. Tackling the regular abuses of the rights of political prisoners’ right in the heart of the capital requires first acknowledging the violations and then making a commitment to address the culture of impunity among security forces.

Ethiopia’s leaders should publicly state that torture and other ill treatment is prohibited, and should take concrete steps to hold to account those found responsible for these abuses.

Most important, the Ethiopian government should ensure that no one is ever arrested for exercising their basic rights, including by peacefully expressing their political opinions.

That means urgently overhauling Ethiopia’s draconian civil society and counter-terrorism laws. But change is unlikely to happen unless key regional actors such as the African Union, the African Commission on Human Rights Peoples’ Rights, and Ethiopia’s foreign donors make their concerns known.

Turning a blind eye to the abuses in the centre of Addis Ababa should no longer be an option.

Laetitia Bader is an Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch

A Suicide bomber in Central Somalia Killed more than 20 People

    

A Suicide bomber in Central Somalia Killed more than 20 People, including 13 Ethopian troops
October 19, 2013
A suicide bomber in central Somalia has detonated explosives in a crowded restaurant, killing at least 15 people. Militant group al-Shabab claimed responsibility for the attack in the town of Beledweyne Saturday that left dozens wounded. In a statement, the group said the main target for the bombing was troops from Ethiopia and Djibouti. The small restaurant is popular with foreign troops who are in Somalia to fight al-Shabab. Al-Shabab said the blast killed more than 20 people, including 13 Ethopian troops.
The al-Qaida-linked militant group has launched a series of attacks that it says are retaliation for the presence of foreign troops in Somalia. The group claimed responsibility for a September siege at a mall in Kenya that killed at least 67 people. The African-Union-led peacekeeping force AMISOM has pushed al-Shabab out of Somalia’s major cities, although the group still controls parts of the countryside.
In an interview with VOA’s Somali Service, Beledweyne deputy chairman Bashir Hussein Dhoor said Somali troops and at least seven civilians were among those killed in Saturday’s attack. A VOA reporter in the city said at least seven of the wounded were in serious condition. Somalia’s Prime Minister Abdi Farah Shirdon Saacid condemned the attack. He said the goal was to “scare Somali people” who were ready to decide their future. He said Somali’s would “not go back.”

Ethiopians Who Fall Prey to Human Traffickers on Rise

As Europe struggles to respond to the growing number of African migrants, root causes should not be ignored. In the case of Ethiopia, one of the largest refugee-sending countries in Africa, what are the conditions that compel Ethiopians to take such life-threatening risks? Are there humane and sustainable solutions for receiving countries beyond simply coping? Is it time to examine how one’s own policies may either deter or contribute to root problems?

Thank you for inviting me to speak on this important but difficult topic. I will be giving an overview of the current conditions in Ethiopia; particularly in light of the overwhelming influx of refugees into Europe. African migration to Europe has become an overwhelming challenge on the continent as efforts to democratize Africa continue to fail in most places. Ethiopia is an example. There are no easy answers, but understanding is always the foundation for the best solutions. 
Many of us feel especially touched by this topic after the recent tragic shipwreck off the coast of the Italian island of Lampedusa, where 500 people, mostly African migrants, were crowded onto an unsafe boat, which eventually lost power, caught on fire and sunk. Only 155 people were saved. The display of their coffins has left heart-wrenching images in our minds. Only four days prior to this, 13 other African migrants drowned off the coast of Sicily. These are only the ones we know about. Most of the victims were reported to be Eritreans and Somalis—two countries of immense suffering; however, Ethiopians were also among the dead and were also possibly underreported due to the practice of Ethiopians taking on Eritrean nationality as a short-cut to being accepted for asylum. 
To outsiders, these people are undocumented African migrants, but to us, they are our family members and neighbors. To their families, each has a name, an age and a story behind them. The pain we are feeling as fellow humans when seeing these coffins, especially the small white ones holding young children, is heart-rending; imagine how difficult it will be to the deceased’s loved ones?
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres surely felt it as he praised the rescue of those who survived the incident at Lampedusa, but decried the “rising global phenomenon of migrants and people fleeing conflict or persecution and perishing at sea.”[i] Some 15,000 migrants enter Italy every year, but this year some put that count much higher.
Italy, as a common country of entry, has pressed the European Union for more help[ii] in dealing with the huge influx of mostly African migrants, saying it’s a crisis that concerns the entire 28-nation bloc. However, refugees from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia are fleeing not only to Europe but also to other parts of Africa, the Middle East[iii], North America, Asia and beyond.
Many of those fleeing their countries use the services of human traffickers. These traffickers can make exorbitant profits while disregarding the lives and well being of those in their care. Human trafficking has become a global problem. In Europe, the reality of the dangers involved in the journeys of these refugees is hard to conceive. In the troubled region of East Africa, the numbers and movements of people are overwhelming.[iv]
A recent news account tells us of an Ethiopian political dissident who paid a human trafficker over $3000 (USD) to take him and others to South Africa.  He reports that most of them were crammed in the back of a truck where they were hidden under wood, sixteen died. Others died when left for five days in the bush with no food or water. While in the bush, he learned of other Ethiopians using another trafficker who loaded them on a boat to cross Lake Malawi. It capsized and 47 of them died. He heard of another truck where Ethiopians also were packed in the back of a truck; 42 of them suffocated to death. The driver dumped the dead bodies on the side of the road along with 85 survivors and drove off. [v]
The UN refugee agency announced on October 6 that some 107,500 African refugees and migrants made the perilous sea journey from the Horn of Africa to Yemen in 2012, arriving in smuggler’s boats.  It was the largest such influx since UNHCR began compiling these statistics in 2006. Some 84,000, or more than 80 per cent, of the arrivals were Ethiopian nationals, some en route to states in the Persian Gulf.[vi]
In Saudi Arabia, refugees and Ethiopians, desperate for work, have become a casualty of the great hardship many of them have faced there. Regular reports tell us of suicides, beatings, sexual abuse, working as slave laborers and of murder, both of Ethiopians and by some. One report indicates that 90% of those hospitalized for mental illness in Saudi Arabia are Ethiopian women.[vii]
The question I will attempt to answer today is: what accounts for this stream of such great numbers of people? What makes people take such perilous journeys where so many die along the way? Are they simply economic refugees seeking a better life or do they have legitimate claims for asylum? What is the Ethiopia of today like that Ethiopia has become a major sending country of its people to destinations all over the world?
One of the US policy makers recently told me that we must do something about Ethiopia because it is the number one exporter of human beings. The Ethiopian government’s claims of double-digit growth seem to have little effect on reducing the numbers of people undertaking great risks to leave their homes and families behind. Many die on the way or languish in countries hostile to them or where they are not welcome.[viii]  Why? 
For European countries like Switzerland, how can you respond to these people in a way that maintains your integrity, compassion and view on the dignity of all human beings? As the home of the United Nations, you are a pivotal country in influencing a humane response, yet, as a small country, the needs of these refugees, multiplied by their increasing numbers, calls for a more comprehensive solution that goes beyond your own borders to other countries affected by the same.
Simply said, the problem of the Ethiopian refugee started in Ethiopia and will not change, but only get worse, unless we focus on solutions to its root causes and to those factors which are either obstacles or facilitators to change. The fact that many European countries are trying to cope with the same problem, calls for a more coordinated and comprehensive European-based approach, which could actually positively impact this situation.
I will attempt to summarize a very complex issue in the short time we have today, hoping it will contribute towards the search for ways to not only deal with the refugees in our midst but also to the alleviation of the suffering of Ethiopians living under a repressive government. This is central to the mission of the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE) of which I am the executive director. We are a social justice movement of diverse Ethiopians seeking to advance truth, freedom, justice, equality, respect for human rights and prosperity in Ethiopia.
We strongly contend that the future well being of our global society rests in the hands of those among us who can put “humanity before ethnicity,” religion or any other distinctions that divide and dehumanize other human beings from ourselves; inspiring us to care about these “others”; not only because of the intrinsic God-given value of each life, but also because “none of us is free until all are free.” We are having this meeting here in Switzerland today because Ethiopia is not free.                      Current State of Political rights and Civil Liberties in Ethiopia:
In Freedom House’s 2013 Index of Freedom, Ethiopia’s rating is “NOT FREE,” the same rating it has earned in the last three years.[ix] Another part of that study was Freedom of the Net. Out of the sixty countries in the study that earned a lower score in terms of Freedom on the Net than Ethiopia were Syria, China (PRC), Cuba and Iran. This should speak for itself. A quick comparison of political and civil rights between Switzerland and Ethiopia reveals vast differences, with the higher scores being desirable:

Political rights:                                                      Switzerland          Ethiopia                     

1. 1.       Electoral process                                                                        12                           1                                                             
2. 2.       Political pluralism and participation                                    16                           2
3. 3.       Functioning of government                                                      11                           4

Civil liberties:

1. 4.       Freedom of expression and belief                                            16                           3
2. 5.       Associational and organizational rights                                               12                           0
3. 6.       Rule of law                                                                                   14                           3
4. 7.       Personal Autonomy and individual rights                             15                           5

In terms of their study on Freedom of the Press, Ethiopia, again considered “not free,” was near to the bottom at position 44[x] out of a total of 49 Sub-Saharan African countries and 175 out of 197 countries worldwide[xi]. The Committee to Protect Journalists reports that 79 journalists have been exiled, more than any other nation. Most notable are Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu, and others who have been targeted through the use of draconian laws meant to silence the most courageous voices of freedom.  Two of these laws bear mentioning:

1. Anti-terrorism Proclamation (2009): In 2012, Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu—both nominated for the Sakharov prize in the European Parliament—as well as numbers of others were sentences to years in prison, being accused of terrorism; anyone who speaks out against the government can be charged with this crime and sentenced to years in prison.

 

1. Charities and Societies Proclamation: This law restricts civil society by making it illegal for organizations receiving more than 10% of its funding from foreign sources to advocate for human rights, child’s rights, rights for the disabled, women’s rights, conflict resolution between religious groups or ethnicities and other legitimate roles carried out by such non-governmental organizations and institutions. The law has closed down the work of more than 2,600 civic organizations and in their place have risen pro-government look-alike organizations.

Ethiopia’s Current Governance Post-Meles

Despite the death of the former prime minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, whose death was officially announced in August 2012, little has changed for the people of Ethiopia. His successor, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, now has taken Meles’ place but was never part of the ethnic-based Tigrayan Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF) that has ruled the country for over twenty years under the guise of the multi-party, Ethiopian Peoples’ Democratic Front (EPRDF). He appears to have little control over the party and what happens in Ethiopia; instead, the power remains in the hands of some in the central committee.
The entire system of dictatorship was set into place by Meles before he died and has not been dismantled at his death. He fathered an increasingly authoritarian government following the more open election of 2005 when the opposition nearly succeeded in challenging the status quo. Two million Ethiopians came out in protest of a flawed election, protestors were shot and killed, opposition leaders were jailed and in the years preceding the 2010 national election, the regime heavily cracked down on dissent, the media, journalists, political groups, and civic institutions. Reports from Human Rights Watch give evidence of the misuse of aid money to gain support for the government during the election. The TPLF/EPRDF won by 99.6% of the votes—or so they claimed.
Since the new prime minister was appointed, many were hoping for some reforms or at least hints of change; however, most people now agree that he has no power to enact such changes even if he wanted to do so. The goal of the central committee is clearly to continue to hold power by any means.
PM Hailemariam and the TPLF/EPRDF will face elections in 2015, but few expect there to be an opening up of political space, as the ruling party has demonstrated that it seeks self-survival above all else. However, new pressures may test them.

Ethiopia’s Land Grabs: Stories from the Displaced

By Nyikaw Ochalla

Ethiopia’s remote Gambela region and Lower Omo valley are being rapidly converted to commercial agricultural investment centres. To encourage widespread industrialized agriculture in these areas, the Ethiopian government is depriving small-scale farmers, pastoralists and indigenous people of arable farmland, access to water points, grazing land, fishing and hunting grounds. It has also has been moving people off the land into government villages to allow investors to take over the land. Wealthy nations and multinational corporations are taking over lands that are home to hundreds of thousands of ethnically, linguistically, geographically and culturally distinct pastoralists and indigenous communities.

Anywaa Survival Organisation (ASO) recently had an opportunity to interview affected community representatives and leaders who fled these regions because of these government land grabs. A few of these “development refugees” gave in-depth accounts of violent tactics used against them (including rapes, intimidation, murder, harassment) as well as lack of consultation, compensation, legal redress and derogation of national and international laws intended to protect indigenous and pastoralists communities’ rights to own and use resources. These exclusive interviews, which took place in Nairobi, Kenya, offer insights into the human costs of Ethiopia’s development policies.
There is a deep-rooted understanding among the lowland communities that land belongs to the community rather than to the government. During the interviews, the land-grab affected people dismissed the government justification that all land in Ethiopia belongs to the state, and strongly argued that the land grabbing policy was intended to deprive communities of their land-use rights, destroy traditional farming methods and knowledge, and displace them from their ancestral lands and natural environment.
Land grabs are happening in many parts of Africa, and the topic has received much attention and criticism worldwide. In Ethiopia, land grabbing undermines affected communities’ active participation in decisions about their lives, denies them access to key information about land deals, and abrogates their constitutional rights to free prior, informed consent, compensation, and legal redress. Land grab projects benefit newcomers migrating into the land grabs target areas. According to one refugee from the lower Omo valley; “Since land grabs started, no single local person has been employed even at security guard level. But thousands of migrants from other parts of the country have moved in and are benefiting from the project. The project forces local communities into exile where they will remain as refugees.”
Ethiopia, a country notorious for recurrent famine, drought, and high-level malnutrition, is coming under sharp criticism for its land grabs and treatment of people affected by these developments. The government’s widespread abuses of local people and its forceful eviction to implement its policies have gotten the attention of the world media, NGOs, researchers, and activists.  Yet, the authorities continue to ruthlessly implement the government’s controversial involuntary settlement programme as a formidable weapon to free more lands and destroy local community livelihoods and the natural environment.
For those with the first-hand practical experience, describing the land grabbing destruction has serious emotional impacts. Okok Ojulu, a community leader and representative said:

Land in Gambela belongs to the community and it is only the community that makes the decision rather than someone from far away as Tigary to give away the community lands. The action is an institutional plunder and amounts to stealing the land from the people. God hates stealing. The government policy is to annihilate the people from the land. Those people remaining back home are as good as dead as government plan day and night to implement destructive policies.

Another Gambela native, who wished to remain anonymous, summarized the land grabbing in his area:

Vast fertile land along the road toward Pinyudo, small Anywaa (or Anuak) town on the Gilo river bank was given to foreign investors and Ethiopian highlanders with close connection to the ruling political party, and cleared for commercial agricultural investment.

A similar concern was given by a lower Omo valley representative who also wished to remain anonymous:

We believe three-quarters of the people in the lower Omo valley will be displaced. Only a fraction of the local people will be employed in back-breaking daily labourer. Giving such large plots of land to private investors exposes traditional communities to serious food insecurity, conflict, and restricts their free movement with large cattle as they are used to in the past.

A Saudi Arabian tycoon Al-Moudi, with close links to the top-level Ethiopian leadership, has been allotted 10,000 hectares for a rice plantation. His massive project has done considerable damage to the local environment, which includes a national park and wildlife habitat, and local communities that have lived in their homelands for many generations. The investment barely provides economic benefits to local communities. Young schoolchildren do back-breaking labour on the plantation during school breaks. In most cases, the land grabbing project benefits Ethiopian highland communities employed at both skilled and non-skilled levels. It is not difficult to understand why the land grabbing  project in general has been branded as an “exclusive” one that is intended to displace local communities and force them to leave the area.
While the destruction caused by global land dealers differs by region, country and political system, in the Ethiopian context, the policy’s major impacts fall on pastoralists and indigenous communities. It is depriving local communities’ access to fertile arable farmlands along the Omo, Openo (Baro), Gilo, Akobo, and Alowero rivers, according to those who took part in the interview. “The policy is intended to create job opportunities for unemployed citizens from Amhara and Tigray,” asserted one community representative.
The government’s land grab efforts have had major impacts on various communities’ traditional way of life, culture, and natural environment. The continued human rights abuses employed to move people out of the land-grab areas, including arbitrary detention, arrests, forcible eviction, and even murder, have forced many in these communities to go into exile or resort to violence in self-defence.
These areas in the Ethiopian lowlands have a long history of marginalization and neglect, and have suffered various gross human rights abuses, including ethnic cleansing and murder campaigns. In 2003, about 500 indigenous Anywaa (Anuak) were murdered in just three days in Gambela region, an area that is now a hotbed of land grabbing and involuntary resettlement (“villagisation”). The government uses villagisation to reinforce the land grabbing policy implementation to forcefully evict indigenous communities from their ancestral land in order to give away their lands for commercial investment. For instance, 73% of the indigenous population in the Gambela region are destined to be resettled to unproductive lands without an adequate social infrastructure.
The communities in lower Omo valley are known for their traditional land allotments which are respected and known to every community in the area. The government villagisation programme destroys this traditional settlement pattern and inevitably invites unstoppable conflict among the communities, both among the various ethnic groups in the area and with the government forces and newcomers.
A main government claim, perhaps to silence critics internationally, is the ability of the policy to contribute towards solving the nation’s food security problem and spur economic growth. Ethiopia now requires annual international food aid and financial support. In a country of about 85 million, with 85% of the population dependant on the agricultural sector, these controversial developments are having catastrophic impacts on the food security and economic stability of many communities.
The targeted areas have been food self-sufficient in the past and have supplemented their diets with wild foods found in the local environment. As these areas are converted to export farms, the food produced is reducing lands for food crops for local consumption. A Lower Omo community representative explained the consequences:

When a community no longer cultivates on their land, they will leave the area. I think this is the primary motive of the land-grabbing policy.

Other important elements in land grabbing that are buried and overlooked in a short-term financial gain, employment creation and economic growth, are what is lost. The area is being stripped of its rich community cultural customs associated with the natural environment, sustainable small-scale farming methods, environmental management knowledge and techniques. Pastoralist and indigenous communities in the Lower Omo and Gambela region have unique, knowledge-based abilities to protect and preserve soil quality, biodiversity, and their natural habitat. Land grabbing has undermined and destroyed these traditional systems and values. Commercial farming would restrict local communities’ free movement with large cattle herds and cease rotational agricultural farming methods practiced by local communities – the main reason for current high-quality of land and natural environment.
The community leader and representative from lower Omo valley said:

Address Oromo issues to make Ethiopia a true democracy

By Mulata Gudata 

No politics is ever born new as the politics of tomorrow is the projection of what we have on our hands today. It is only that as a society the wisdom we deploy in handling our political moves makes the outcome of the projection to take a desirable course or a catastrophic one.

The civil right issues and the quest for social reform that we grapple with today after it has exploded out of control have started during the time of Emperor Haile Silasse. The outcome could have been sweeter and the process smoother had they been wisely dealt with at the time. Unfortunately the ruling class had remained at best insensitive at worst tried to manipulate it contrary to the interest of the majority due to the naïve belief that power was their gift from God and it was theirs to keep.

 Then heavy rain started to beat us when the rule of the monarchy had to come to an end unceremoniously and the whole process hijacked by the military dictatorship with a socialist ideology that presupposes one party rule at a time when Ethiopian politics was bustling with a number of divergent views and different political groupings that could have been better accommodated under a multiparty political system, hence the blood shade.

The Eritrean question has always been there for years before the emperor was deposed and so did the Oromo issues. Had an attempt been made to answer them wisely and timely we would not have been where we stand today. Yet the most unfortunate is even today, almost two decades later which is a little short of my age, we seem to have drawn little lesson from our failures of all these years as our country titters on the verge of disintegration. As our national bag of regret is overflowing for the missed opportunities, I strongly believe it is not too late for us to do the right thing that helps to save our country.

Democracy being a political system that presupposes the rule of the majority by way of a free and fair democratic process, a society that shirks from tackling issues related to the significant majority in its midst can only pretend to be democratic in order to keep in check the unsolved issues. Though the unrelenting efforts  made by our elites in trying to inform and enlighten our people politically is commendable, I have so far seen one paper that has boldly aimed at the heart of the fundamental problem that holds back our country from becoming a real democracy.

It was a paper on Oromo issues which I came across in Ethiomedia web page  at this link http://www.ethiomedia.com/2013report/4616.html  (which to my dismay no other opposition website hosts have cared to post on their site including the Oromo affiliated ones as they would often happily do the most divisive and extreme oriented papers, though I am not sure whether the writer had ignored to give it to them or they decided to ignore it after receiving).

Many people believe that by resolving Oromo issues our country can claim to have settled by far more than half of our socio-political problems; however the challenge has remained on how to go about it. In order for us to become a truly democratic nation with no bones in the closet in the form of jails that are always full to the brim with political detainees, we should not shy away from any avenue that will take us to the most desired place - a truly democratic nation that is at peace with itself.

And that can only happen when, given what has been on the ground over the last two decades, we become ready and willing to accept anything that can help our people to march towards the platform of reconciliation as long as all Ethiopians as citizens of one nation can work and live anywhere in the country irrespective of their tribe or faith group. Whatever is ‘given to or rather recognised for’ a part of our society in the process of social reform is never taken away for it will be there for all of us in which we will become a rainbow nation that recognises and cherishes its diversity. It is with this frame of mind that we should approach issues of social and political reform with generous attitude and bold mentality far from begrudging and mean way of thinking since it would have an unprecedented effect in terms of healing and reconciliation to help our self put the ghost of tribalism to rest for ever.

It is also on this premises that I consider venturing into a territory where the devil dare not step as I am ready and willing to accept the condemnation it inevitably attracts to me from all sides. By refusing to ‘swallow the medicine that cures us,’ in political sense, we often prove to be Ethiopians for it has not been in our political tradition to swallow the bitter pill for our own good.

So here I go, as an individual and a fellow citizen if I were to be asked I would recommend the following as the best or nearly the best starting point when it comes to addressing Oromo issues:          

1 - One could not help sympathizing with the argument that our three colour flag has flown for generations defended by the sacrifices made by our ancestors from all communities making no segment of our society able to lay claim of exclusive ownership to it. This is a true and fair argument which sounds highly convincing, yet with the proliferation of different flags for different communities came the clamour from each group to stick to its own and this very fact seems to have invigorated the necessity of reforming our flag with the view of making it attractive to all citizens equally as a national symbol which each and every citizen will be willing and ready to defend and die for.

IMF Says Ethiopian Economic Growth May Slow Without Policy Shift

By William Davison, Bloomberg
Ethiopia’s economic expansion may continue through next year before “tapering off” from 2015-16 because of funding gaps for public projects and foreign exchange shortages, the International Monetary Fund said.
Gross domestic product is forecast to rise to 7.5 percent in the 12 months through July 7 and 2014-15, and then ease “slightly in subsequent years under current policies,” the Washington-based lender said in an e-mailed statement today. “Persistent shortfalls in the financing of planned infrastructure investment and a tightening of foreign exchange availability could constrain medium-term growth in the absence of policy adjustments,” according to the statement. Ethiopia’s government follows a state-led development model that emphasizes public investment in social services and infrastructure. The Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a 80-billion Ethiopian birr ($4.2 billion) hydropower facility being built on the Blue Nile river with entirely domestic financing, is projected by authorities to cost 10 percent of GDP this fiscal year, according to the IMF. To keep growth rates high, the government should shift policy and allow private investors a larger stake in the economy, which would help achieve objectives in its five-year Growth and Transformation Plan, or GTP, the IMF said. “The investment requirements of the GTP are large and securing the associated financing remains a challenge,” the IMF said. “Without greater scope for the private sector, the realization of the GTP’s objectives could be elusive.” Cutting Poverty The economy has expanded an annual average of 7 percent since 2001-02, cutting the poverty rate by half to 30.7 percent in 2011 from 60.5 percent in 2005, leading to a higher standards of living for many citizens and reducing the unemployment rate in urban areas, according to the IMF. While spending by the government and public enterprises has been “instrumental in delivering these results,” they’ve relied on local credit and squeezed out private borrowers, the IMF said. Growth, which registered 7 percent in 2012-13, is being driven by farming, construction and service-related industries, according to the IMF. Inflation eased to 7 percent in June from a peak of 40 percent in July 2011, while the current account deficit widened to $3 billion in 2012-13 from $2.8 billion a year earlier, as prices for key exports declined, the IMF said. Ethiopia is Africa’s biggest grower of coffee. Ethiopia’s debt stock will remain sustainable if the government can obtain more financing on concessional terms, the IMF said. It should also consider “phasing out” a rule that forces banks to buy government bonds equivalent to 27 percent of the value of total loans they’ve disbursed, the IMF said.

Who's having "nightmares" in Africa?

By Alemayehu G Mariam  
Recently, African leaders, at least those at the helm of the African Union and their flunkies, have been reporting endlessly recurring ghastly nightmares of Lady Justice “race hunting” them with scales in one hand and a sword in the other. President Uhuru Kenyatta, described by Time Magazine as “Kenya’s richest man”,  last week vividly described  his sleepless nights interrupted by nightmarish naps   to his brethren at the African Union:
I do not need to tell your Excellencies about the nightmare my country in particular, and myself and my Deputy as individuals, have had to endure in making this realisation.
 Western powers are the key drivers of the ICC process. They have used prosecutions as ruses and bait to pressure Kenyan leadership into adopting, or renouncing various positions… The threat of prosecution usually suffices to have pliant countries execute policies favourable to these countries. Through it, regime-changes sleights of hand have been attempted in Africa. A number of them have succeeded. Only a fortnight ago, the Prosecutor proposed undemocratic and unconstitutional adjustments to the Kenyan Presidency. These interventions go beyond interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign State. They constitute a fetid insult to Kenya and Africa. African sovereignty means nothing to the ICC and its patrons.

Life is sometimes a conundrum, a riddle. Kenyatta got his dream job of President of Kenya (his father Jomo  was the first President of Kenya) this past March when he was elected by a razor thin margin of 50.7 percent of the vote. He now lives in a nightmare haunted by ghosts of crimes past and “race hunters” present. Kenyatta said, “People have termed this situation [his ICC  prosecution] ‘race-hunting’. I find great difficulty adjudging them wrong.” Psychologists say the most common nightmare among people with an overwrought imagination is being chased either by a demon, monster, warlock or madman. In Kenyatta’s nightmare, horned and saw-toothed International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutors and judges are chasing him right into a cold sweat.   

Just last month, Kenyatta loudly proclaimed his innocence at a graduation ceremony at Moi University Eldoret: “Who does not know that myself, William Ruto and Joshua Sang are innocent? Almost everyone in Kenya at least knows who like fighting and causing chaos in this country and can bear us witness that indeed we did not plan to kill people during the 2008 PEV [post-election violence] .” Kenyatta has also proudly and repeatedly proclaimed,  “From the beginning of the cases, I have fully cooperated with the Court in the earnest expectation that it afforded the best opportunity for me to clear my name… After my election, we have continued to fully cooperate… For 5 years I have strained to cooperate fully…”

Now Kenyatta says, he will not cooperate. He will have nothing to do with the ICC. As far as he (and his cabal on the AU executive council) is concerned, the ICC can go to….  He has  strongly intimated he will be a no show for his trial in The Hague  scheduled to begin on November 12. What happened?! The man who so tenaciously professes his innocence today and has been bragging about his full cooperation with the ICC for the past five years is trembling in cold sweat and having cold feet unable to stand tall and fight for his name, reputation and dignity against vile accusations! Kenyatta “doth protest too much, methinks”, to paraphrase Shakespeare.

Whose court is the ICC anyway?

Kenyatta, Hailemariam, Bashir and Co., would like us to believe the ICC is some vindictive and racist “white court” which gets “70 percent of its funds from the European Union”. Hailemariam made the bizarre  accusation that the ICC is “race hunting” in Africa because “99%” of those it targeted for prosecution are Africans. (In 2010, Hailemariam’s party in Ethiopia won the parliamentary election by 99.6 per cent.) The facts speak otherwise. 34 of the 122 states (28 percent) that signed the Rome Statute, including Kenya, are Africans. Five of the Court’s 18 judges (28 percent) are African. The Court’s vice president, Sanji Mmasenono Monageng of Botswana, and the  chief ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda of Gambia, are distinguished African women who have achieved recognition for their expertise in international law.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa unreservedly supports the ICC: “I have seen great gains made that protect the weak from the strong and give us all hope. The ICC is one of these beacons of hope.” Former U.N. Secretary General Kofi Anan of Ghana rejects the scurrilous accusations against the ICC:  “I don’t share the view that the ICC is anti-African. The ICC is not putting Africa on trial. The ICC is fighting impunity and individuals who are accused of crimes.” The European Union may provide a large part of the ICC funding, but it is undeniable that a large part of the ICC is “owned” by Africans!

Appearance and reality: Is there sufficient evidence to bring Kenyatta and Co., to trial?

African leaders are masters of distraction and lords of deception. They are adept at using  red herrings to deflect criticism and evade legitimate demands for accountability and transparency. They play our emotions like a cheap fiddle. They have little regard for our capacity to think and reason. They appeal to our sense of historical grievances by resurrecting ghosts of colonialists and imperialists past. They pander to our fears of neocolonial and neoliberal conspiracies. They try to sear our consciences with fabricated racial indignities invoking images of the “Great White Race Hunter” prowling in Africa. They exploit our natural sense of pity and compassion by depicting themselves as helpless victims and those they have victimized and the defenders of those they have victimized as wicked villains. They try to convince us that the ICC is coming after every African on the continent. In short, they treat us as though we collectively have the intelligence of an amoeba. 

Emotional appeals may work on those who have not had the opportunity or interest to carefully examine the charges against Kenyatta. The record, however, must be set that the ICC charges against Kenyatta are neither frivolous nor trumped up!   

Kenyatta is charged in an indictment filled with shocking testimonial evidence of criminal wrongdoing. Much of the testimonial evidence is independently corroborated and documented.  The corroborated allegations are quite specific. For instance, the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber (the body that confirms charges upon which the Prosecutor intends to seek trial against the person charged) determined “there are substantial grounds to believe that on 3 January 2008 at the Nairobi Club… Mr. Kenyatta met with Mungiki members [sometimes referred to as the “Kenyan mafia”] and directed them to commit the crimes charged.” The testimonial evidence shows Kenyatta and others “agreed to pursue an organizational policy to keep the PNU [former president Kibaki’s Party of National Unity] in power through every means necessary, including orchestrating a police failure to prevent the commission of crimes”. The evidence shows Kenyatta and Co., “devised a common plan to commit widespread and systematic attacks against perceived ODM supporters by: (i) penalizing them through retaliatory attacks; and (ii) deliberately failing to take action to prevent or stop the retaliatory attacks”.

The evidence shows Kenyatta “taking the role of mediator between the PNU and the Mungiki criminal organization, facilitated a series of meetings from November 2007” in which “senior PNU government officials, politicians, businessmen and Mungiki leaders solicit[ed] the assistance of the Mungiki in supporting the government in the December 2007 elections”. In the post-election period, the evidence shows Kenyatta and others “facilitated the meetings with the Mungiki with a view to organizing retaliatory attacks against perceived ODM [Orange Democratic Movement] supporters in the Rift Valley [and]  strengthen the PNU’s  hold on power after the swearing in of the President". The evidence shows  Kenyatta and others “contributed to the implementation of the common plan, by securing the non-intervention of the Kenya Police and by failing to punish the main perpetrators of the attacks.”  

The Pretrial Chamber II found sufficient evidence to conclude Kenyatta and Co., committed the alleged crimes and should stand trial. One need only read the exhaustive 155-page plus Decision on the Confirmation of Charges Pursuant to Article 61(7) (a) and (b) of the Rome Statute to appreciate the gravity of the allegations against Kenyatta and Co., and the meticulous and scrupulous approach taken by the ICC prosecutor and Pre-Trial Chamber to ensure respect for Kenyatta’s due process rights. We must  not be swayed  by the inflammatory emotional appeals of self-serving African snake oil salesmen.

Sleepless in Africa

It is not only Kenyatta but many other African “leaders” who are going sleepless every night afraid of having nightmares of Lady Justice and her posse in hot pursuit. Sundry African “leaders” are afflicted by “ICC nightmareitus” (a term I have coined to describe the nightmare experiences of African leaders who wake up at night in cold sweat biting their nails, scratching their heads and looking under their mattresses for the ICC prosecutor). Hailemariam Desalegn, the titular prime minister in Ethiopia, for the past year has been telling us that he is following the “vision” of his deceased “visionary leader”. Now we find out that his  “vision” is actually a nightmare of a “Great White Hunter” “race hunting” him. Paul Kagame of Rwanda has nightmares of “imperialists” and “colonialists” returning to Africa disguised as judges and prosecutors to catch African leaders and put them in a chain gang. Omar Bashir of the Sudan is holed up in his palace having nightmares of  prowling ICC boogeymen. Thabo Mbeki of South Africa is calling on African intellectuals to join him in warding off creeping “contemptuous” Western knaves and rascals skulking in the African night. Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, who in 2003 wholeheartedly referred the infamous Joseph Kony for International Criminal Court  (ICC) prosecution, in 2013 is having nightmares about a “shallow” and “arrogant” ICC tracking down his fellow African leaders. Many other African leaders in quiet desperation face their own nightmares of an ICC grim reaper on horseback over the horizon; they are fearful they too may one day be held to account for their wanton crimes against humanity.

After more than 60 years of independence, African leaders should be talking about their dreams for Africa like Nelson Mandela: “I dream of an Africa which is in peace with itself.” It is painful to see them running scared from the nightmares of crimes they committed with impunity. But the real nightmare  -- the living nightmare --  is unleashed on the African people. Beginning in 2003, Bashir in the Sudan relentlessly pursued a policy of genocide in the Darfur region which by U.N. estimate claimed over one-half million lives and displaced over 2.5 million people. In 2005, an official inquiry commission in Ethiopia determined that 193 unarmed protesters were massacred in post-election violence in May of that year and 763 suffered severe gunshot wounds (that was only a partial accounting). The previous year over 400 villagers were massacred in the Gambella region; and in 2008 thousands in the Ogaden region were maimed, killed and displaced by military action and indiscriminate bombings.

Ethiopia’s jailed journalists seek international support

    

WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY: Reeyot Alemu. Photos Courtesy: International Women’s Media Foundation
(thehindu.com)
“You may be really surprised by our nonsensical imprisonment,” Reeyot Alemu wrote in a letter recently smuggled out of a prison in Addis Ababa, “The international community should be aware of the objective reality that we are burdened to live a life which is inexplicable to contemplate, let alone easily engage with.”
In 2011, Ms. Reeyot, a schoolteacher, columnist and political activist, was convicted of conspiring to commit terrorist acts across Ethiopia and sentenced to 14 years in prison; her sentence was subsequently reduced to five years. At present she and at least six other journalists remain imprisoned, while at least 49 journalists have fled the country as a consequence of government intimidation according to the Committee for Protection of Journalists (CPJ).
Ms. Reeyot was awarded the UNESCO-Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize in 2013 and the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Courage in Journalism award last year, Woubshet Taye, sentenced to 14 years, was recently awarded the CNN Free Press Africa award this year, while Eskinder Nega, sentenced to 18 years on terror charges was awarded a PEN America press freedom award in 2012.
The Ethiopian government denies it is stifling free expression, and maintains that the three prisoners have not been targeted for their writings, but rather for associating with terrorists, and have condemned international campaigns demanding their release as an attack on Ethiopia’s sovereignty.
“No one convicted by a sovereign nation as a terrorist could be glorified and awarded with awards. That is an insult to the sovereignty of the nation,” said Communications Minister, Redwan Hussein in an interview, “They have not been accused for their writings…it is because they were guilty of working with terrorists.”
The alleged attacks on Ethiopia’s press, and the government’s denials, are part of a broader struggle between the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), that has ruled the country since 1991 and controls 99 per cent of the current parliament, and besieged opposition groups that have variously allied with the media, international rights groups and the diaspora.
Rights groups have criticized the 2009 anti-terrorism law, under which most journalists have been prosecuted, for its excessively expansive definitions of terrorism and support to terrorists.
Reeyot Alemu was born on June 21, 1980, the eldest of Alemu Gobebo Anjejo’s three children.  “She worked as columnist for Feteh newspaper and was editor of Change magazine,” Mr. Alemu said, “She wrote on gender equality, and wrote against the government and corruption.”
A retired lawyer and opposition politician, Mr. Alemu carries a folder familiar to those with imprisoned loved ones: charge-sheets, a short biography, and a well-thumbed copy of the Constitution with the section on freedom of expression marked by three asterisks.
Ms. Reeyot was targeted, he feels, when she said the government was forcing civil servants to contribute towards the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, a hydropower project that has become a potent symbol of Ethiopia’s resurgent nationalism. The government says the contributions are voluntary.
“There is a line you don’t cross,” said Sileshi Berhe, Reeyot’s fiancée, “You can criticise officials and ministers but you cannot criticise government policies.”
In 2011, Ms. Reeyot was arrested and charged with conspiring, with journalist Woubshet Taye and exiled opposition activist Elias Kifle, to attack critical telecommunication and electrical infrastructure like telephone and electricity cables. Mr. Sileshi said he was held without charge for 3 months in a bid to make him testify against his fiancée.
The prosecution stated that the Eritrean government and variety of proscribed groups like GINBOT 7, headed by exiled former opposition leader Berhanu Nega, had funded Mr. Kifle in his quest to foment instability in Ethiopia.
A bank transfer from Mr. Elias to Ms. Reeyot as payment for articles she wrote for Mr. Kifle’s website, Ethiopian Review, was presented as evidence along with a photograph of anti-government graffiti that she mailed him.
“Reeyot is one of many journalists I know,” Mr. Kifle, who was sentenced in absentia, said in an email, “The reason they threw her in jail is because she was investigating the corruption and lack of transparency surrounding the Nile dam project.”
Media watchers say the regime’s attitude to the press hardened after the contested 2005 elections in which scores of anti-government protestors were killed and thousands arrested after the opposition alleged the vote was rigged. The press contributed to rising inter-ethnic tensions.
“I don’t agree with some of the ways in which the government deals with the press,” said Daniel Berhane, a pro-regime commentator, “But that is a result of legitimate fears and bad experiences.”
Recently, Mr. Daniel’s blog ran a four-part series on Eskinder Nega, a jailed dissident, highlighting instances of such racial fear mongering by a columnist in a paper partly owned by Mr. Eskinder.
Mohamed Keita, advocacy coordinator for CPJ, pointed out that Mr. Eskinder had not authored the pieces, and ascribed Mr. Daniel’s actions to a smear campaign against “a journalist who has become the global face of repressed Ethiopians.”
In a letter published in the New York Times this year, Mr. Eskinder denied that he had conspired to overthrow the government. “All I did was report on the Arab Spring and suggest that something similar might happen in Ethiopia if the authoritarian regime didn’t reform,” he wrote, “The state’s main evidence against me was a YouTube video of me, saying this at a public meeting.”
Mr. Eskinder asked the US to impose economic sanctions on Ethiopia and travel bans on officials accused of human rights violations.
While prominent dissidents have been pardoned in the past, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn bristled at suggestions international pressure could influence his government. “They say there are some who can help them from the international community,” he said, at a recent press conference, “This is a foolish kind of thinking. I tell you no one can rescue them when they trespass the law.”
“What is to be done?” asked Ms. Reeyot in one of her last articles, “stay firm in our convictions, a bright day will not be too far.”