Ethiopian government’s response to election is brutal,
repressive
The Columbus Dispatch - the leading newspaper
in Ohio, USA
December 8, 2005
Ethiopia, under Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, has been held up
as an example of how African nations can adopt democratic rule
successfully. But democracy in Ethiopia has run off the rails,
and it appears Meles is no different from that long list of
African leaders who believe they are more important than their
countries.
Meles, who seized power in 1991 and was then elected and re-elected,
has been well-liked in the West. He’s been seen by President
Bush as a friend in the war on terrorism, so much so that U.S.
troops often travel to Ethiopia to train with its troops. Meles
was a member of a commission appointed by British Prime Minister
Tony Blair to draft a report on reducing poverty and promoting
democracy in Africa.
Perhaps Meles neglected to read the report.
It urges African nations to be accountable to their people by
"broadening the participation of ordinary people in government
processes, in part by strengthening institutions such as parliaments,
local authorities, trade unions, the justice system and the
media."
Meles seems bent on doing the opposite. Immediately
after legislative elections in May, Meles banned protests, declared
a state of emergency and replaced police in the capital with
his own troops.
The prime minister is chosen by the party in
power after legislative elections. Although Meles’ party
was defeated in the capital of Addis Ababa, it claimed victory
based on rural returns.
Opposition parties have charged voting fraud,
and independent observers lend credence to that claim. Observers
from the European Union and the Carter Center saw incidents
of voter intimidation and took reports of ballot boxes being
improperly moved or not properly secured. Unfortunately, not
enough independent observers were available to watch all the
rural polling places.
Some opposition-party observers say they were
banned from watching the votes being tallied.
Meles’ government announced that his party
held onto its majority. In the aftermath of the election, Parliament
changed its rules to prevent any party without a majority from
bringing up issues for discussion.
When election protests erupted in June, government
troops fired live ammunition into the crowd, killing 40 people.
Earlier this month, protests again broke out, and troops once
again fired on them. This time, 46 people died. Thousands have
been detained, although many later were released after Ethiopia
came under intense international pressure.
But dozens of opposition leaders and journalists
remain jailed, and many face the death penalty on charges of
treason.
This does not sound like a country building
democracy.
The United States and the European Union have
called for the release of the detainees and are reconsidering
whether to continue sending aid to Ethiopia. The State Department
has called Meles to express concern over the bloodshed. Britain
is withholding the money it was to give Ethiopia this year and
is aiming to give the rest to nongovernmental organizations,
rather than Meles’ organization.
The United States gives Ethiopia $800 million
a year. Congress and the president should use that money and
any other leverage it has to push Meles back onto the democratic
path.
(The above report appeared in The Columbus Dispatch
on December 5, 2005)
