Obama Should Stay Away from Ethiopia

July 8, 2015

by Jeffrey Smith, Mohammed Ademo | Foreign Policy

Washington wants a stable partner in the Horn of Africa. But cozying up to the repressive regime in Addis Ababa isn’t the way to go about finding one.

Thousands of Ethiopian opposition activists demonstrate in Addis Ababa on June 2, 2013. The demonstrations were organised by the newly-formed Blue Party opposition group. STRINGER/AFP/GettyIMAGES)

Later this month, President Barack Obama will become the first sitting United States president to ever visit Ethiopia, Africa’s second most populous country, and a nation viewed by many as a bastion of stability in a region otherwise beset with civil strife. The trip — which will also include a stopover in Kenya — is being billed as part of the Obama administration’s regional efforts “to accelerate economic growth, strengthen democratic institutions, and improveSECURITY.”

These are indeed laudable goals and should beACTIVELY pursued by the U.S. government. But the timing and tenor of the visit to Addis Ababa sends a worrying signal that Washington’s priorities — not only in Ethiopia, but on the entire continent — are actually at odds with the president’s oft-repeated rhetoric about advancing human rights and strengthening African democracy and institutions.

Let’s be clear: Ethiopia is not a model of democracy that should be rewarded with a presidential visit. The long-ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), now in power for 25 years, claimed a landslide victory in legislative polls held in May, winning all 547 parliamentary seats, which places it among the ranks of North Korea and Saddam Hussein’s Baathist Iraq in terms of the sheer efficiency of its electoral sweep. The results should not have come as a surprise: the EPRDF swept the last four elections, including in 2010, in which it took a whopping 99.6 percent of the vote. This time around, Washington and the European Union did not even botherSENDING election observers, knowing full well that an EPRDF victory was a foregone conclusion.

The lead up to the May 24 vote saw a widespread crackdown on journalists, human rights activists, and opposition supporters. What’s worse, Obama’s trip was announced on June 19, the same week it was revealed that three opposition party members were murdered in the country, all under highly suspicious circumstances.

So why is President Obama visiting a country where democracy is in such a sorry state and where human rights violations remain systemic and widespread? Because, despite the obvious lack of political rights and civil liberties in Ethiopia, and itsSTATUS as one of the top jailers of journalists in the world, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is palatable to Washington and other Western donors precisely because of who he is not: a retrograde dictator in the mold of his regional counterparts, Isaias Afwerki of Eritrea or Omar al-Bashir of Sudan. The brutal and oft heavy-handed oppression exhibited by the latter two regimes is brazen, whereas Desalegn and the EPRDF work within the (regime-controlled) judicial system, giving their repression a veneer of legality.

A former academic, Desalegn’s elevation to the highest office in Ethiopia came courtesy of the sudden death in 2012 of Ethiopia’s strongman, Meles Zenawi, who had ruled the country for two decades. Zenawi was a favorite in Washington: Though he brutally crushed political opponents and implemented a series of draconian laws meant to muzzle the press and stifle dissent, he also managed to establish an image of Ethiopia as a stable and growing economy in the troubled Horn of Africa. Zenawi’s Western allies, particularly the United States, applauded the country’s modest economic growth and the regime’s willingness to endorse the so-called “War on Terror.” As a result, leaders in Washington routinely turned a blind eye to the EPRDF’s rampantHUMAN rights abuses and its ongoing suppression of civil society, the media, and political opposition.

Several key Obama advisers were close associates and personal friends of the late prime minister. Susan Rice, Obama’s nationalSECURITY advisor and former top diplomat at the United Nations, for instance, made no secret of her esteem for and friendship with Zenawi, whom she eulogized as “a servant leader.” Another top Obama aide, Gayle Smith — the current nominee to lead the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which provided Ethiopia nearly $500 million in 2013 — was also never shy about her admiration for Zenawi.

Desalegn, largely seen as a compromise candidate for the shaky, ethnicity-based EPRDF coalition, hasCONTINUED to rule in the same mode — and Washington’s perverse need to embrace a dictator in technocrat’s clothing has continued. This March, two months before Ethiopia’s sham elections, U.S. Undersecretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman publicly praised Ethiopia’s “democracy” during a visit to the country, which a state department spokesperson further bolstered by saying “her statements fully reflect the U.S. Government’s positions.” Even a cursory glance at Ethiopia’s abysmal human rights record would turn this bogus claim on its head.

On June 25, the State Department released its annual human rights report on Ethiopia, citing widespread “restrictions on freedom of expression,” “politically motivated trials,” “harassment and intimidation of opposition members and journalists,” “alleged arbitrary killings and torture,” “limits on citizens’ ability to change their government,” and restrictions on freedom of assembly, association, and movement. Yet Ethiopia’s donors, including the United States, which provides nearly half of Ethiopia’s national budget, have continued to ignore these signs of trouble. The facade of economic growth and the West’s eagerness for a “developmentSUCCESS STORY” to tout on the international stage has seemingly precluded genuine diplomatic pressure to reform.

To be sure, deeply afflicted countries surround Ethiopia. Despite recent progress, SomaliaFACES credible and ongoing threats from the al-Qaeda affiliated militant group, al-Shabab. South Sudan has devolved into an intractable civil war with no end in sight. Kenya has yet to fully overcome the ramifications of post-election violence in 2007–2008, not to mention its inability to ward off al-Shabab’s cross border attacks. Eritrea, dubbed by some as the North Korea of Africa, remains a highly repressive police state from which hundreds of thousandsCONTINUE to flee. Further afield, Yemen is in a state of bloody lawlessness. By contrast, Ethiopia has remained largely stable.

Despite this outward veneer of stability and progress, Ethiopia’s current system is unsustainable. A one-time vocal opposition has been systematically weakened. Ethnic discontent is rife. Religious revival has been met with brutal state repression. Economic prosperity is not widely shared and inequalityCONTINUES to rise. Nepotism and corruption plague an already bloated bureaucracy. Youth unemployment is a persistent and serious challenge. Independent media, the human rights community, and civil society writ large have been decimated. And countless citizens are being displaced from their ancestral lands under the guise of development. These factors, taken together, may ultimately sow the seeds of a tangled conflict that could reverberate across an already troubled and tense region.

In this context, Obama’s upcoming visit to EthiopiaSENDS the wrong message on Washington’s stated commitment to strengthening democratic institutions — not strongmen — in Africa. What is more, turning a blind eye to widespread human rights abuses for the sake of counterterrorism cooperation and so-called “regional stability” may prove to be a self-defeating strategy that is bad in the long term for the United States, as well as for citizens throughout the Horn of Africa.

If the United States wanted to help strengthen democratic institutions and stand in solidarity with Africans, who are now more than ever demanding democracy, then Nigeria would have been a much betterALTERNATIVE model. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation and its largest economy, held landmark elections this March, in which an opposition candidate ousted an incumbent who then graciously accepted defeat. In Ethiopia, this scenario remains a pipe dream for its 96 million citizens. The EPRDF is now set to lord over the country at least until 2020, allowing the party to further entrench its repressive machinery and to extend its dominance long beyond its current mandate.

It is unlikely that Obama and his handlers will change the itinerary of his upcoming trip. However, it is not too late for the president, and for the United States government, to speak honestly to the people of Ethiopia, making it clear that the historic visit is not intended to validate or otherwise endorse the EPRDF’s autocratic dominance. Rather, Obama should be clear with EPRDF leadership, both in private and most importantly, in public that the United States appreciates the complex challenges facing the country and that repression is not an acceptable means ofADDRESSING them.

Obama and his staff should also meetOPENLY with Ethiopia’s political opposition and civic leaders, including those based in the country and abroad in Kenya, where many have been forced to relocate due to increasing oppression at home. Obama should additionally raise the issue of the recently murdered opposition members, as well as the many cases of journalists, activists, and political prisoners who have been wrongly jailed and arbitrarily detained under a raft of draconian laws that have criminalized dissent.

In the long-term, the U.S. government should redouble its commitment to Ethiopia’s beleaguered civil society. Obama’s 2016 budget request includes more than $400 million in assistance to the country, of which less than 1 percent is allocated for democracy and human rightsPROGRAMMING — an actual improvement from last year, when zero was devoted to this vital sector, much of the spending going towards health and humanitarian aid. A robust, reenergized, and empowered Ethiopian civil society, in which human rights groups are free to operate, is central to deepening democratic principles, not only in Ethiopia, but also throughout the East and Horn of Africa.

Overall, Obama must firmly reiterate that stability andSECURITY, and respect for basic human rights and the legitimacy of civil society, are not mutually exclusive objectives in Ethiopia, or elsewhere. Rather, he should be unequivocal — in both rhetoric and in practice — that, together, these issues help form an unshakable and long-term pillar for U.S. engagement on the African continent.

Ethiopian bloggers on trial in case seen as crackdown on free expression

Yikanu Yelma, Soliyana Shimeles' mother, describes the search of her house by security forces following the arrests of the Zone9 bloggers. Her daughter Soliyana, who has been charged in absentia, was out of country during the arrest, and is one of three Zone9 members who now live abroad. (Simona Foltyn/Washington Post)

By Simona Foltyn April 20 at 3:30 AM

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — They met online in 2010 while raising money for a charity case: nine young, university-educated Ethio­pian professionals. Eventually, they decided to launch a blog about social and civic issues in Africa’s second-most-populous nation.
“Initially, it was not about political activism or about criticizing the government. It was to connect with like-minded people,” said Soliyana Shimeles, 28, one of the founders of the blog Zone 9.
Today, six of the bloggers are in jail facing terrorism charges in what human rights and press-freedom advocates call an example of an alarming crackdown on government critics.
The Zone 9 bloggers are accused of “creating serious risk to the safety or health of the public” under the country’s controversial anti-terrorism law passed in 2009. The charges further allege the bloggers were linked to Ginbot 7, an opposition movement based abroad that the government labeled a terrorist group in 2011. The bloggers have pleaded innocent.
Their attorney, Ameha Mekonnen, has complained that the charges offer few particulars. The trial began at the end of March but was adjourned until after the national elections in May. If convicted, the defendants could receive death sentences.

 Soliyana Shimeles' graduation picture, taken in 2007. She studied law at Addis Ababa University, with a focus on human rights. She has been working with the U.N. and international organizations on human rights issues in Ethiopia. (Simona Foltyn/Washington Post)

Members of Ethiopia’s online community say the case has had a chilling effect on freedom of expression. The U.S. State Department criticized the Ethio­pian high court’s decision in January to proceed with the trial, saying that it “undermines a free and open media environment.”
Ethi­o­pia has been an important American ally in the fight against al-Shabab, the militant Islamist group based in Somalia. But while Ethi­o­pia is a multi-party democracy on paper, its ruling party controls all but one seat in parliament.
The “Zone9ers” hail from a relatively privileged urban educated class in one of the world’s poorest countries. Only 2 percent of Ethiopian households have access to the Internet in this Horn of Africa nation, whose outdated, state-run, telecommunication infrastructure ranks among the continent’s least developed.
The nine bloggers — three journalists, a human rights lawyer and professionals working in business, government and academia —met online while raising money for the family of an Ethiopian maid who died while working in Lebanon. They called their blog Zone 9, a term said to be used by political prisoners in the capital’s Kaliti jail to refer to an outside world they viewed as equally shackled by the lack of civil liberties.
The bloggers, part of a generation that came of age after a Marxist dictatorship was toppled in 1991, said they wanted to raise awareness about political and social issues in a society disengaged from civic matters. Their blog posts called on young Ethiopians to demand rights set forth in the constitution and to put into practice the democracy the government had promised.
“I used to think our discussions could transform our audiences into the kind of society we want. I was very naïve,” said a close friend of the bloggers, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Over the past decade, the Ethiopian government, which controls the country’s main media outlets, has displayed varying degrees of appetite for free political discourse. National elections in 2005 were preceded by a relatively open climate, allowing the opposition to win a third of the seats in the 547-member parliament. But after the vote, there were mass arrests of opposition politicians and student protesters. In the years that followed, several newspapers and magazines were shut down.

“The ruling party has become wary of media they cannot directly control,” said Daniel Berhane, an Ethiopian blogger and editor of the current-affairs Web site “Horn Affairs,” referring to the Zone 9 case.
Yet many Ethiopians believe that the group’s blog posts, which had an average of 18,000 readers in a country of 94 million, were not what landed them behind bars.
The “Zone9ers” attended events organized by international human rights organizations. The Ethio­pian government has frequently been critical of such groups, accusing them of being politicized.
The bloggers also attended training sessions held abroad and in Ethi­o­pia on Internet security, which may have upset a government that has been accused of surveillance of its critics’ online activity.
The bloggers regularly visited jailed dissidents, including prominent journalist Eskinder Nega and opposition member Andualem Aragie, to express their support.
Shimeles’s mother, Yikanu Yelma, said the young blogger drew inspiration from her father, who had been jailed in 1977 for opposing the communist regime in power. “She used to say: my Dad contributed something during his time. I need to contribute something during my time,” Yelma recalled in an interview in Addis Ababa.
The Zone 9 bloggers chose to use their real names online “to be accountable for what we say,” Shimeles, who has been charged in absentia, explained in a Skype interview from Washington, where she has applied for political asylum.
On April 25 last year, six of the nine bloggers were arrested. Shimeles and another member of the group happened to be abroad, while a third participant managed to flee the country. Three independent journalists are facing charges alongside the Zone 9 bloggers.
The trial has been adjourned repeatedly. The bloggers’ attorney said none of the evidence presented thus far implicate his clients in crimes.
The Ethiopian government has rejected criticism of its handling of the case by Western governments and human rights groups. It asserts the bloggers are on trial for attempting to sabotage the state. “None of them were arrested for what they wrote,” said Ganenu Asefa, an adviser at the Government Office for Communication Affairs.
Ethiopia’s government has achieved double-digit growth in the past five years, driven largely by state intervention in the economy and massive public investments. But the independence of its judicial system was rated 2.9 out of a best possible score of 7 in a recent report by the World Economic Forum. The ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front dismisses criticism about the political system.
“We want our democratic values to grow from within. We don’t want anyone to export them to us,” said Dina Mufti, spokesperson at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Family and friends of the bloggers say that their arrests, ironically, may have drawn attention to a group that previously had little influence.
“My sister often says that they have done more for their cause while in prison,” says Fisseha Fantahun, the brother of one jailed blogger, 30-year-old Mahilet Fantahun, who had worked as a data analyst at the Ministry of Health.
But other Ethiopians say the trial has been effective in sending a chilling message.
Many members of the online community have started using aliases or have abandoned blogging altogether. A close friend who regularly visits the jailed bloggers said they have voiced disappointment at the void left by their arrests.

“Their ideas were not taken forward by anyone. It’s very sad,” he said. He himself has retreated from the online community.

Ethiopia: Amnesty International Report 2014/15

February 25, 2015

Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
Head of state: Mulatu Teshome Wirtu
Head of government: Hailemariam Desalegn

Freedom of expression  Continued  to Be subject to serious restrictions. The government was hostile to suggestions ofdissent, and often made pre-emptive arrests to prevent dissent from manifesting. Independent media publications were subject to further attack. Peaceful protesters, journalists, and members of opposition political parties were arbitrarily arrested. The Charities and Societies Proclamation Continued  to obstruct the work of human rights organizations. Arbitrary detention and torture and other ill-treatment were widespread, often used as part of a system for silencing actual or suspected dissent.

Background

Economic growth continued apace, along with significant foreign Investment including in the agriculture, construction and manufacturing sectors, large-scale development projects such as hydroelectric dam building and plantations, and widespread land-leasing, often to foreign companies.

The government used multiple channels and methods to enforce political control on the population, including politicizing access to job and education opportunities   and development assistance, and high levels of physical and technological surveillance.

The politicization of the investigative branch of the police and of the judiciary meant that it was not possible to receive a fair hearing in politically motivated trials.

Federal and regional security's  services were responsible for violations throughout the country, including arbitrary arrests, the use of excessive force, torture  and extrajudicial executions. They operated with near-total impunity.

Armed opposition groups remained in several parts of the country or in neighbouring countries, although in most cases with small numbers of fighters and low levels of Activity    

Access to some parts of the Somali region Continued to be severely restricted. There were Continuing reports of serious violations of human rights, including arbitrary arrests and extrajudicial executions. There were also multiple allegations of the rape of women and girls by members of the security services.

Excessive use of force ‒ extrajudicial executions

In April and May, protests took place across Oromia region against a proposed “Integrated Master Plan” to expand the capital Addis Ababa into Oromia regional territory. The government said the plan would bring services to remote areas, but many Oromo people feared it would damage the interests of Oromo farmers and lead to large-scale displacement.

Security services, comprising federal police and military special forces, responded with excessive force, firing live ammunition at protesters in Ambo and Guder towns and Wallega and Madawalabu universities, resulting in the deaths of at least 30 people, including children. Hundreds of people were beaten by security service agents during and after the protests, including protesters, bystanders, and parents of protesters for failing to “control” their children, resulting in scores of injuries.

Thousands of people were arbitrarily arrested. Large numbers were detained without charge for several months, and some were held incommunicado. Hundreds were held in unofficial places of detention, including Senkele police training camp. Some detainees were transferred to Maikelawi federal police detention centre in Addis Ababa. Over 100 people continued to be detained in Kelem Wallega, Jimma and Ambo by security service agents after courts ordered their release on bail or unconditionally.

Many of those arrested were released after varying detention periods, between May and October, but others were denied bail, or remained in detention without charge. Others, including students   and members of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) opposition political party, were prosecuted and convicted in rapid trials on various charges relating to the protests.

Freedom of expression, arbitrary arrests and detentions

2014 saw another onslaught on freedom of expression and suggestions of dissent, including further targeting of the independent media and arrests of opposition political party members and peaceful protesters. Several attempts by opposition political parties to stage demonstrations were obstructed by the authorities. The Anti-Terrorism Proclamation continued to be used to silence dissidents. Opposition party members were increasingly targeted ahead of the 2015 general election.

In late April, six bloggers of the Zone 9 collective and three independent journalists associated with the group were arrested in Addis Ababa, two days after the group announced the resumption of activities, which had been suspended due to significant harassment. For nearly three months, all nine were held in the underground section of Maikelawi, denied access to family members and other visitors, and with severely restricted access to lawyers.

In July, they were charged with terrorism offences, along with another Zone 9 member charged in their absence. The charge sheet cited among their alleged crimes the use of “Security in a Box” – a selection of open-source software and materials created to assist human rights defenders, particularly those working in repressive environments.

Six of the group said they were forced to sign confessions. Three complained in remand hearings that they had been tortured, but the court did not investigate their complaints. The trial continued at the end of 2014.

Early in 2014, a “study” conducted by the national Press Agency and Ethiopian News Agency and published in the government-run Addis Zemen newspaper targeted seven independent publications, alleging that they had printed several articles which “promoted terrorism”, denied economic growth, belittled the legacy of former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, and committed other “transgressions”. In August, the government announced that it was bringing charges against several of the publications, causing over 20 journalists to flee the country. In October, the owners of three of the publications were sentenced in their absence to over three years’ imprisonment each for allegedly inciting the public to overthrow the government and publishing unfounded rumours.

The OFC opposition party reported that between 350 and 500 of its members were arrested between May and July, including party leadership. The arrests started in the context of the “Master Plan” protests, but continued for several months. Many of those arrested were detained arbitrarily and incommunicado. OFC members were among over 200 people arrested in Oromia in mid-September, and further party members were arrested in October.

On 8 July, Habtamu Ayalew and Daniel Shebeshi, of the Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) Party, and Yeshewas Asefa of the Semayawi Party were arrested in Addis Ababa. Abraha Desta of the Arena Tigray Party, and a lecturer at Mekele University, was arrested in Tigray, and was transferred to Addis Ababa. They were detained in Maikelawi and initially denied access to lawyers and family. In late October, they were charged under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. Yeshewas Asefa complained in court that he had been tortured in detention.

The Semayawi Party reported numerous arrests of its members, including seven women arrested in March during a run to mark International Women’s Day in Addis Ababa, along with three men, also members of the party. They had been chanting slogans including “We need freedom! Free political prisoners!” They were released without charge after 10 days. In late April, 20 members of the party were arrested while promoting a demonstration in Addis Ababa. They were released after 11 days.

In early September, Befekadu Abebe and Getahun Beyene, party officials in Arba Minch city, were arrested along with three party members. Befekadu Abebe and Getahun Beyene were transferred to Maikelawi detention centre in Addis Ababa. In the initial stages of detention, they were reportedly denied access to lawyers and family members. In late October, party member Agbaw Setegn, was arrested in Gondar, and was also transferred to Maikelawi, and held incommunicado without access to lawyers or family.

On 27 October, editor Temesgen Desalegn was sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for “defamation” and “inciting the public through false rumours”, in the now-defunct publication Feteh, after a trial that had lasted more than two years. The publisher of Fetehwas also convicted in their absence.

People were detained arbitrarily without charge for long periods in the initial stages, or throughout the duration, of their detention including numerous people arrested for peaceful opposition to the government or their imputed political opinion. Arbitrary detention took place in official and unofficial detention centres, including Maikelawi. Many detainees were held incommunicado, and many were denied access to lawyers and family members.

Numerous prisoners of conscience, imprisoned in previous years based solely on their peaceful exercise of their freedom of expression and opinion, including journalists and opposition political party members, remained in detention. These included some convicted in unfair trials, some whose trials continued, and some who continued to be detained without charge.

Access to detention centres for monitoring and documenting the treatment of detainees continued to be severely restricted.

Torture and other ill-treatment

Torture took place in local police stations, Maikelawi federal police station, federal and regional prisons and military camps.

Torture methods reported included: beating with sticks, rubber batons, gun butts and other objects; burning; tying in stress positions; electric shocks; and forced prolonged physical exercise. Some detention conditions amounted to torture, including detaining people underground without light, shackled and in prolonged solitary confinement.

Torture typically took place in the early stages of detention, in conjunction with the interrogation of the detainee. Torture was used to force detainees to confess, to sign incriminating evidence and to incriminate others. Those subjected to torture included prisoners of conscience, who were arrested for their perceived or actual expression of dissent.

Defendants in several trials complained in court that they were tortured or otherwise ill-treated in detention. The courts failed to order investigations into the complaints.

In several cases, prisoners of conscience were denied access to adequate medical care.

Oromia region

Ethnic Oromos continued to suffer many violations of human rights in efforts to suppress potential dissent in the region.

Large numbers of Oromo people continued to be arrested or remained in detention after arrests in previous years, based on their peaceful expression of dissent, or in numerous cases, based only on their suspected opposition to the government. Arrests were arbitrary, often made pre-emptively and without evidence of a crime. Many were detained without charge or trial, and large numbers were detained in unofficial places of detention, particularly in military camps throughout the region. There was no accountability for enforced disappearances or extrajudicial executions during 2014 or in previous years.

In the aftermath of the “Master Plan” protests, increased levels of arrests of actual or suspected dissenters continued. Large numbers of arrests were reported, including several hundred in early October in Hurumu and Yayu Woredas districts in Illubabor province, of high-school students, farmers and other residents.

There were further reports of arrests of students asking about the fate of their classmates arrested during the “Master Plan” protests, demanding their release and justice for those killed, including 27 reported to have been arrested in Wallega University in late November.

Refugees and asylum-seekers

Forcible returns

Ethiopian government agents were active in many countries, some of which cooperated with the Ethiopian authorities in forcibly returning people wanted by the government.

In January, two representatives of the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front were abducted and forcibly returned to Ethiopia from Nairobi, Kenya. They were in Nairobi to participate in further peace talks between the group and the government.

On 23 June, UK national Andargachew Tsige, Secretary General of the outlawed Ginbot 7 movement, was rendered from Yemen to Ethiopia. On 8 July, a broadcast was aired on state-run ETV showing Tsige looking haggard and exhausted. By the end of the year, he was still detained incommunicado at an undisclosed location, with no access to lawyers or family. The UK government continued to be denied consular access, except for two meetings with the Ambassador, to one of which Andargachew Tsige was brought hooded, and they were not permitted to talk privately.

In March, former Gambella regional governor Okello Akway, who has Norwegian citizenship, was forcibly returned to Ethiopia from South Sudan. In June, he was charged with terrorism offences along with several other people, in connection with Gambella opposition movements in exile.

World Bank: Address Ethiopia Findings (Human Rights Watch)

February 23, 2015

Response to Inquiry Dismissive of Abuses

(Washington, DC) – The World Bank should fully address serious human rights issues raised by the bank’s internal investigation into a project in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the bank’s vice president for Africa. The bank’s response to the investigation findings attempts to distance the bank from the many problems confirmed by the investigation and should be revised. The World Bank board of directors is to consider the investigation report and management’s response, which includes an Action Plan, on February 26, 2015.

The Inspection Panel, the World Bank’s independent accountability mechanism, found that the bank violated its own policies in Ethiopia. The investigation was prompted by a formal complaint brought by refugees from Ethiopia’s Gambella region concerning the Promoting Basic Services (PBS) projects funded by the World Bank, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), the African Development Bank, and several other donors.

“The Inspection Panel’s report shows that the World Bank has largely ignored human rights risks evident in its projects in Ethiopia,” said Jessica Evans, senior international financial institutions researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The bank has the opportunity and responsibility to adjust course on its Ethiopia programming and provide redress to those who were harmed. But management’s Action Plan achieves neither of these goals.”

The report, leaked to the media in January, determined that “there is an operational link” between the World Bank projects in Ethiopia and a government relocation program known as “villagization.” It concluded that the bank had violated its policy that is intended to protect indigenous peoples’ rights. It also found that the bank “did not carry out the required full risk analysis, nor were its mitigation measures adequate to manage the concurrent rollout of the villagisation programme.” These findings should prompt the World Bank and other donors to take all necessary measures to prevent and address links between its programs and abusive government initiatives, Human Rights Watch said.

Rather than taking on these important findings and applying lessons learned, World Bank management has drafted an Action Plan that merely reinforces its problematic current course, Human Rights Watch said. The Action Plan emphasizes the role of programs designed to mobilize communities to engage in local government’s decisions without addressing the significant risks people take in speaking critically.

The Inspection Panel also found that the bank did not take the necessary steps to mitigate the risk presented by Ethiopia’s 2009 law on civil society organizations. The law prohibits human rights organizations in Ethiopia from receiving more than 10 percent of their funding from foreign sources. As a result of the law, most independent Ethiopian civil society organizations working on human rights issues have had to discontinue their work.

The plan also pledges to enhance the capacity of local government staff to comply with the bank’s policies and to provide complaint resolution mechanisms without addressing the role of the local government in human rights abuses. This continues an approach of seeing the officials implicated in human rights abuses as a source of potential resolution, Human Rights Watch said. Management has also concluded, contrary to the Inspection Panel, that the World Bank is adequately complying with the bank’s policy to protect the rights of indigenous peoples.

Human Rights Watch research into the first year of the villagization program in the western Gambella region found that people were forced to move into the government’s new villages. Human Rights Watch found that the relocation was accompanied by serious abuses, including intimidation, assaults, and arbitrary arrests by security officials, and contributed to the loss of livelihoods for the people forced to move. While the Ethiopian government has officially finished its villagization program in Gambella, it is forcibly evicting communities in other regions, including indigenous people, ostensibly for development projects such as large-scale agriculture projects.

Donors to the Ethiopia Promoting Basic Services Program, including the World Bank and the UK, have repeatedly denied any link between their programs and problematic government programs like villagization.

Human Rights Watch has long raised concerns over inadequate monitoring and the risks of misuse of development assistance in Ethiopia. In 2010 Human Rights Watch documentedthe government’s use of donor-supported resources and aid to consolidate the power of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Government officials discriminated on the basis of real and perceived political opinion in distributing resources, including access to donor-supported programs, salaries, and training opportunities. Donors have never systematically investigated these risks to their programming, much less addressed them.

The Inspection Panel report is the first donor mechanism that has investigated the donor’s approach to risk assessment in Ethiopia. Although the Inspection Panel adopted a narrow view of its mandate and decided explicitly to exclude human rights violations, its findings underscore the need for donors to considerably enhance and broaden their risk assessment processes in Ethiopia. These processes are crucial for ensuring that their programs advance the social and economic rights of the people they are intended to benefit, without violating their human rights. Management’s response misrepresents the panel’s view of its mandate, erroneously concurring “with the panel’s conclusion that the harm alleged in the Request cannot be attributed to the Project” – the Inspection Panel report makes no such sweeping conclusion.

“The bank directors should send management’s response and Action Plan back and insist on a plan that addresses the Inspection Panel’s findings and the concerns of the people who sought the inquiry,” Evans said. “A meaningful Action Plan should address the program in question, bank-lending in Ethiopia more broadly, and how to apply lessons from these mistakes to all bank programing in high-risk, repressive environments around the world.”

The Action Plan should include provisions for high-level dialogue between the bank and the Ethiopian government to address key human rights issues that are obstacles to effective development, Human Rights Watch said. These issues include forced evictions and development-related displacement, restrictions on civil society, including attacks on independent groups and journalists, discriminatory practices, and violations of indigenous peoples’ rights.

The plan should include provisions for identifying and mitigating all human rights risks and adverse impacts at the project level, and for independent monitoring to make sure these concerns are fully addressed. The plan should also include provisions for people affected by projects to be involved in projects from their conception and remedies for people negatively affected by bank projects.

Given the climate of fear and repression in Ethiopia, Gambella residents who brought the complaint to the bank and have taken refuge in South Sudan and Kenya are unlikely to feel safe returning home. In light of this, the Action Plan should address their most urgent needs abroad, including education and livelihood opportunities, Human Rights Watch said.

The Inspection Panel’s findings also have wider implications for donor programming in Ethiopia. Donors’ current appraisal methods do not consider human rights and other risks from their programs. The panel highlighted particular problems with budget support or block grants that cannot be tracked at the local level.

“The Inspection Panel report illustrates the perils of unaccountable budget support in Ethiopia,” Evans said. “Donors should implement programs that ensure that Ethiopia’s neediest participate in and have access to the benefits of donor aid.”

Ethiopia's jailed Zone 9 bloggers are on trial this week

Ethiopia's jailed Zone 9 bloggers are on trial this week for terrorism and treason, charges facing more than two dozen journalists, bloggers and publishers. To avoid arrest, 30 journalists fled the country in the past year. The government says they’re criminals, destabilising Ethiopia's fragile democracy in the name 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3dvfB5_tVI

Ethiopia: Politics, Artists, and Fear

February 2, 2015

One question at the ruling party’s 40th anniversary celebration underpins the state of collective fear in Ethiopia’s artistic community.

by Chalachew Tadesse (SAMPSONIA WAY)

A few weeks ago, the Tigray Peoples’ Liberation Front (TPLF), the core party of the ruling coalition Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), celebrated its 40th anniversary. Interestingly, the celebration took place in Dedebit, a barren and remote area in northern Ethiopia. In 1975, Dedebit was the location of the TPLF’s first military base, when it was a rebel guerrilla group waging war against the Marxist-Leninist dictatorship of Colonel Mengistu Hailemariam. A tour of Dedebit, organized for artists- singers, actors, poets, writers, filmmakers- and some loyal journalists dominated the celebration. Most of the old TPLF/EPRDF guards were in attendance. One key figure, however, was conspicuously absent: the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, TPLF’s former Marxist-Leninist ideologue and longtime chairman.

For a few days, the state media put the fanfare in Dedebit in the limelight. We heard much about the artists

Aster Bedane dropped a bombshell question on aEthiopian military leader.

romanticizing and eulogizing TPLF’s long and arduous armed struggle for the democratic cause. Ironically, TPLF itself was originally a Marxist-Leninist organization. At the celebration, old guards lectured artists with narratives that combined fact and fiction. Applause followed and at such a volume that it echoed across Dedebit’s plateaus and gorges. Notwithstanding Ethiopia’s tragic civil war, artists swore publicly to convey TPLF’s success story from the battlefield to the world. This was what the old guards sought to achieve from the tour, after all.

All was going as planned until a certain Aster Bedane, an actress and film producer, expressed her ambivalence to the status quo candidly but cautiously. A video showed her posing a question to one of the regime’s old guards: “Will you really transfer power through elections?” Surely, this question resonates with Ethiopians and non-Ethiopians alike.

Samora Yenus, a TPLF veteran and currently Ethiopia’s Chief of Staff, was sitting on the podium. Strangely, Ethiopia’s four-star General didn’t hesitated to respond to Aster’s purely political question. To make matters worse, he lambasted the beleaguered opposition parties, despite the fact that Ethiopia’s constitution mandates the Chief of Staff should be non-partisan. Here is one of Ethiopia’s many absurdities.

Notwithstanding her superb performance, the actress did not receive applause from the audience. However, the General’s reply did. Eulogizing power is always the quintessence of most Ethiopians’ psyches. Later, however, social media, one of the LAST surviving fortresses of dissent in Ethiopia today, plucked Aster from obscurity and made her a heroine.

By the way, all politicians present evaded answering Aster’s question, while sitting virtually dumbfounded with frowned faces. Not even a SINGLE attempt was made to reply, even for the sake of political expediency. Presumably there were only two plausible reasons for their evasion: firstly, the question conflicted with the tour’s celebratory purpose, and secondly the TPLF/EPRDF is not yet ready to transfer power democratically. With no endgame in sight, and by hook or by crook, the ruling party is resolved to stay in power.

I think Aster’s question highlights three fundamental issues: authoritarianism, pervasive fear, and the role of artists in Ethiopian society. Unequivocally, her question was a “bombshell” for the regime. To begin with, as I stated already, the regime gives little clues as to whether it would transfer power democratically if defeated in free and fair elections.

Moreover, Aster’s question was so timely that it had a stinging power, as Ethiopia is set to hold its fifth General Election in May 2015. Of course, like previous elections, this will be nothing more than another farce to be recorded in Africa’s political history. Mind you, the regime has banned all international election observers, including the European Union. Oh, forgive me, the African Union (AU), which declared the 2010 elections free and fair, will observe it! Ironically, Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe – another master of fraudulent elections in Africa – will be the top boss when AU observes Ethiopia’s upcoming election, as the African Heads of State summit held in Addis Ababa LAST week elected him to the post for 2015.

For the LAST few weeks, an orchestrated political plot, including a violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrations, was underway to weaken or possibly exclude the two largest opposition parties – Unity for Democracy and Justice and All Ethiopian Unity Party – from the election, and make the result a one-party landslide. As I am writing this, the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) passed a shameful decision. Based on unconvincing allegations of non-conformity to party bylaws that led to the existence of the so called “rival” leaderships, NEBE revoked the legality of the incumbent leaders of both parties, and accorded legal recognition to the minority dissenting factions, which are most possibly the regime’s puppets.

In the event of strong and competitive opposition parties, this is the ruling party’s usual dirtyGAME. Quintessential retributive measures such as this prove the accusation that NEBE is the ruling party’s right hand. In fact, the fact that the police immediately rounded up the offices of both parties and confiscated documents at gunpoint even before the incumbents appeal to the court is a clear indication that the NEBE’s decision was part of a political conspiracy.

Regrettably, Ethiopia is still immune to the wind of democratic changes blowing across Africa. The fact that the opposition currently has only one seat in the 547-seat parliament is absurd. Believe it or not, over 70 opposition political parties exist in the country, another absurdity in itself.

For over two decades, the regime has institutionalized fear. With many renowned opposition politicians, activists and journalists behind bars, dissenting voices are almost completely subdued. Art and artists are also expected to serve one extrinsic purpose: to romanticize economic growth and advance the regime’s ideology of “revolutionary democracy.”

After the celebration in Dedebit, Aster told a journalist that she had feared what could happen to her if she asked her question. Certainly, no one can lose sight of the regime’s vengeance and vilifying behavior. Nevertheless, she dared to speak truth to those in power, no matter the cost. Whatever she said later, about the over-politicization of her comment by the regime’s critics, doesn’t matter much. What is more worrisome, however, is her testimony about the treatment she received from her fellow artists. “Almost all the artists ostracized me…they feared to stand up for me,” Aster said. For this, the most plausible explanation is that her fellows feared that they would be labelled with her dissenting views. Nothing underpins the state of collective fear engulfing Ethiopian artists more than this. That is why Aster’s question was a piece of sand thrown at a vast ocean of silence.

Undeniably, engaging in politics is a matter of individual choice. This aside, there are strong moral issues for artists. Should they be indifferent to problems associated with transgression of fundamental liberties, authoritarianism, abject poverty, inequality or social injustice? Don’t they have a moral duty to speak truth to power?

I argue that if artists are the embodiment of society’s identity and culture, then Ethiopian artists must assume moral responsibility to awaken Ethiopian society to reality. Under this regime, a quagmire of excessive repression, moral decadence, cultural bankruptcy, loss of national identity and decline of art bedevils our country, which prides herself on her unique alphabets and ancient writing tradition, as well as civilization. Before it is too late, artists must stop their hypocrisy, break the implicit symbiotic pact with the authoritarian regime and help reverse our nation’s downward trajectory.