Ethiopia's prime minister: The man who tried to make dictatorship acceptable

Who exactly was he? As leader of the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, an ethnic militia from the country’s north, he presented himself to his countrymen as a severe, ruthless revolutionary; yet Westerners who spoke to him in his mountain hideouts found a clever, understated man who laid out, in precise English, plans to reform a feudal state. In 1991, after the fall of the last Derg leader, Mengistu Haile Mariam, the 36-year-old Mr Meles (pictured above) took power, becoming Africa’s youngest leader. He had moral authority as a survivor of various famines. Western governments and publics, who became aware of Ethiopian hunger through the Band Aid and Live Aid charity concerts, gave freely. Mr Meles was often able to dictate terms under which donors could operate in Ethiopia .

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The unfulfilled promise of Meles Zenawi

By Editorial Board, Published: August 22

THE PARADOX OF Meles Zenawi, the prime minister of Ethiopia who died Monday at 57, was that he might have been so much more. A friend who knew him for two decades recalled that he was sharp, articulate, well-read and a patient listener. When President Bill Clinton visited Africa in 1998, he singled out Mr. Meles as an example of the African renaissance, a new generation of leaders. Beyond a doubt, Mr. Meles, who ruled Ethiopia for 21 years, managed to elevate the nation of 75 million people into a regional economic and political power. Although most of the population is still desperately poor, Ethiopia has attracted foreign investment and built a middle class with an authoritarian, state-driven capitalism based loosely on China’s model. Mr. Meles, who quit medical school to join the guerrilla force that toppled the dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991, put Ethiopia on the front lines of the war on terrorism, dispatching troops to Somalia against the radical Islamic Courts movement linked to al-Qaeda. He also played a key role in attempting to bridge the gap between warring Sudan and South Sudan, and under his leadership, Ethi­o­pia has been an important U.S. ally, receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in aid. But Mr. Meles’s promise as a leader was marred by contempt for the rights of his people. When internal discontent boiled up during the 2005 general election, international observers witnessed extensive vote-rigging. Demonstrations turned violent. The government cracked down on the protests, and at least 193 people were killed, thousands arrested and dozens of opposition activists and journalists arrested and charged with treason. When a friend asked Mr. Meles after these events how he could oversee the shooting of innocent people in the streets, the prime minister shook his head and replied, “There was a serious threat. The system needed to be protected.” Mr. Meles’s desire to protect his political “system” grew more and more repressive. Under the guise of national security, the parliament passed legislation between 2007 and 2009 to stifile dissent. According to Amnesty International, an anti-terrorism law “effectively criminalizes freedom of expression.” The State Department’s 2011 human rights report notes that the government arrested more than 100 people between March and September, including opposition political figures, activists, journalists, and bloggers. For decades, the United States has struggled with valuable allies who were intolerant dictators at home. The Cold War often provided a reason to look the other way. So did the need for oil imports. Over the last decade, the war on terrorism offered a similar pretext. The world is full of trade-offs and tough choices. But the passing of Mr. Meles ought to underscore once again that, no matter what the imperative for embracing a tyrant, it is essential and healthy to declare: Democracy and human rights are universal values, not to be forgotten with the next aid check.

Ethiopian police detain VOA reporter, interpreter

Ethiopian police detain VOA reporter, interpreter Source: CPJ Nairobi, May 25, 2012--Police in Ethiopia today detained Peter Heinlein, a correspondent for the U.S. government-funded broadcaster Voice of America, along with Simegnish Yekoye, a freelance reporter and Heinlein's interpreter, according to Jennifer Janin, the Africa coverage editor for VOA, and local journalists. Heinlein and Simegnish were detained while covering a demonstration of Muslims protesting alleged government interference in religious affairs, Janin said. They were being held late today at Maekelawi federal detention center in the capital, Addis Ababa, local journalists said. In recent weeks, members of Ethiopia's estimated 30 million Muslims have been staging protests on Fridays in Addis Ababa to oppose government policies they say interfere with religious affairs, according to news reports. The protests are a highly sensitive issue for the government, which fears a hardline Islamist influence within the country, according to wire reports. Shimeles Kemal, a spokesman for the Ethiopian government, said that Heinlein was being held because he was allegedly using a diplomatic car and refused to show his press identification, local journalists told CPJ. No official charges have been filed, the journalists said.

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United Nations Rights Advocates Criticise Ethiopian Use of Anti-Terror Law

The United Nations criticized the Ethiopian government’s use of an anti-terrorism law to curb freedom of expression by jailing opposition politicians and reporters critical of the state.

In December, two Swedish journalists were sentenced to 11 years each by an Ethiopian court for supporting terrorism after being captured with a banned rebel group. An exiled journalist, two writers, a politician and one other individual, all from Ethiopia, were given terms ranging from 14 years to life last week for plotting terror acts.

Journalists “should not face criminal proceedings for carrying out their legitimate work, let alone be severely punished,” Frank La Rue, UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression, said in a statement posted on the website of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Ethiopia holds journalists accountable when they commit crimes, Communications Minister Bereket Simon said.

“Ethiopia clearly differentiates between freedom of expression and terrorism,” he said in a phone interview from the capital, Addis Ababa, today. “This is simply a very wrong defense of foreign journalists who have been caught red-handed when assisting terrorists.”

Ethiopia was the third-largest recipient of humanitarian aid in the world in 2009, receiving $3.8 billion, according to Global Humanitarian Assistance, the Wells, England-based research group. There are 26 UN agencies operating in Ethiopia, according to the Addis Ababa-based Development Assistance Group, which represents Ethiopia’s donors.

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Ethiopia Charges Opposition Figures, Reporter With Terrorism

Ethiopia has formally charged 24 people, including senior opposition politicians and an outspoken Internet journalist, with plotting terrorist acts to create public chaos. Eight of the defendants appeared in court to hear the charges, while the others are to be tried in absentia.

Two leaders of Ethiopia's Unity for Democracy and Justice Party, Andualem Arage and Natnael Mekonnen, stood alongside columnist Eskinder Nega in federal court Thursday to hear the charges against them. Most of the six charges involve alleged violations of an anti-terrorism law that has come in for harsh criticism from human rights and press freedom groups.

The trio were among the opposition figures arrested in police sweeps in September. They have since been held without bail. Former Ethiopian president Negaso Gidada, who attended the proceedings, told VOA by telephone that Natnael told the court he had been abused repeatedly in custody.

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Government Critics Detained In Ethiopian Anti-Terror Sweep

Two fierce critics of Ethiopia’s ruling party have joined a growing list of government opponents detained in recent days under a new anti-terrorism law. The latest to be arrested are a journalist and a rising star in opposition politics.

Ethiopian federal police detained five people Wednesday in an ongoing roundup of terrorism suspects. Among them were Andualem Aragie, the youngest executive committee member of the main opposition bloc Medrek, and independent internet journalist Eskinder Nega.

Both men have been outspoken critics of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Party, which has ruled the country since seizing power in a bloodless coup in 1991. Both were among 130 journalists and political activists convicted of treason and sentenced to life in prison following the disputed 2005 elections. All were later pardoned.
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4 Journalists Face Terrorism Charges in Ethiopia

Ethiopia has filed terrorism charges against two Swedish journalists arrested in July in the company of rebel fighters in the restive Ogaden region. Two Ethiopian journalists are also facing terrorism charges in a separate case.

Ethiopian officials say the two Swedish journalists, Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye, were taken before a judge in Addis Ababa this week and charged under a newly-enacted anti-terrorism law. They were ordered held until a further court appearance October 17.

The pair was captured July 1 after a gun battle between Ethiopian forces and rebels of the Ogaden National Liberation Force. News reports at the time said at least 15 ONLF fighters were killed in the fight and one of the journalists was wounded.

The ONLF has been fighting since the mid-1980s for self-determination of the Ogaden, or Somali region in eastern Ethiopia, bordering Somalia.

The two freelance journalists had reportedly been travelling with ONLF fighters for a story on the drought and malnutrition crisis in parts of eastern Ethiopia where the rebels are active.
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CPJ concerned about detained Ethiopian journalists

New York, September 1, 2011--The Committee to Protect Journalists holds Ethiopia responsible for the well-being of two journalists detained without charge or legal access since June under the country's far-reaching anti-terrorism law.

Woubshet Taye (Awramba Times)
Police arrested Woubshet Taye, deputy editor of the weekly Awramba Times, and Reeyot Alemu, columnist for the weekly Feteh, on June 19 and 21, respectively, on vague accusations of terrorism. The journalists have been held for more than 65 days with no official charges placed against them and no access to legal counsel, local journalists told CPJ.

In a court hearing last month, Taye said state officials repeatedly tortured him while he was being interrogated in Maekelawi Prison in the capital, Addis Ababa, local journalists said. Ethiopia's constitution dictates that a suspect cannot be compelled to make a confession and that any evidence obtained under coercion is admissible. Taye is due back in court on September 13.

Reeyot Alemu (Feteh)
Alemu's overall health rapidly deteriorated during her detention at Maekelawi Prison, according to local journalists who visited her in prison. Her relatives were allowed to visit her and brought her medicine for chronic gastritis, which improved her condition somewhat. She is expected back in court on September 14, local journalists told CPJ.

"We are very disturbed by Woubshet Taye's allegations of torture and call on authorities to immediately investigate and bring to justice the perpetrators of this crime," said CPJ East Africa Consultant Tom Rhodes. "Authorities must also provide adequate medical treatment for Reeyot Alemu."

Ethiopia's July 2009 anti-terrorism law criminalizes any reporting considered supportive to groups that the government has labeled "terrorists." In June, the government formally classified five groups as terrorist entities, including the banned political party Ginbot 7.

Ethiopia 'using aid as weapon of oppression'

A joint undercover investigation by BBC Newsnight and the Bureau of Investigative Journalism has uncovered evidence that the Ethiopian government is using billions of dollars of development aid as a tool for political oppression.
Posing as tourists the team of journalists travelled to the southern region of Ethiopia.

We are just waiting on the crop, if we have one meal a day we will survive until the harvest, beyond that there is no hope for us
Villager in southern Ethiopia
There they found villages where whole communities are starving, having allegedly been denied basic food, seed and fertiliser for failing to support Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
The investigation has also gathered evidence of mass detentions, the widespread use of torture and extra-judicial killings by Ethiopian government forces.
Yet Western donors including Britain - which is the third largest donor to Ethiopia - stand accused of turning a blind eye by continuing to provide aid money despite being warned about the abuses.
The aid in question is long-term development aid, not the emergency aid provided in response to the current drought in Ethiopia and its neighbours in the Horn of Africa.
Government response
Ambassador Abdirashid Dulane, the Deputy Head of Ethiopia's UK Mission, has rejected the allegations saying that the Newsnight/Bureau report "lacked objectivity, even-handedness".

The team found villagers eating leaves in order to survive
"The sole source of the story was opponents of Ethiopia who have been rejected by the electorate, and time and again it has been shown that their allegations are unfounded".
Our reporters visited one village in southern Ethiopia with a population of about 1,700 adults.

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Ethiopia : Meles Zenawi issued a blunt warning to opposition groups

By Peter Heinlein | Addis Ababa

VOA News

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Meles Zenawi issued a blunt warning to opposition groups he says are trying to organize a people’s revolution. Mr. Meles on Tuesday accused the largest opposition coalition of serving as a cover for an outlawed rebel group.

In a nationally televised session of parliament, Mr. Meles had harsh words for the domestic opposition and for external forces he said are trying to destabilize Ethiopia. He served notice that his government would not tolerate anyone plotting demonstrations or terrorist attacks.

The legislative session had been called to hear the government’s six-month progress report. But when the only opposition lawmaker in the 547-seat legislature asked why supporters of the Medrek coalition are being arrested in the Oromia region, Mr. Meles responded that those in custody are suspected of being members of the outlawed Oromo Liberation Front.

Speaking in Amharic, Mr. Meles suggested that his government is aware of attempts to incite a people’s revolution. He blamed Medrek and its main component, the Unity and Justice for Democracy Party.

He said, "I would like to pass a message to Medrek, and particularly members of [the] Unity [for Justice and Democracy Party].

The Ethiopian leader said his government is not blind and deaf, and warned that anyone who takes part in what he called "the plot being hatched to incite protests and terror" would "pay a price."

Mr. Meles gave no details about what the plot might entails. But a campaign on the social networking website Facebook is calling for massive protests next month on the 20th anniversary of the day Mr. Meles’s Tigrayan People’s Revolutionary Front came to power.

Former Ethiopian President Negasso Gidada, who is chairman of the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party, denied any opposition involvement in planning the demonstration. In a telephone interview, he accused Mr. Meles of trying to suppress public protests by intimidating and demonizing the opposition as well as Ethiopia’s neighbors.

"We have not been involved in any kind of plot or in any kind of inciting protests and terror at any time, whether it is last week or this week or in the future - particularly not to incite terror. What he is saying does not apply to us, and it is only for us a threat to have it as a reason to prepare himself and his government to take illegal action against opposition party members," he said.

In his remarks to lawmakers, Mr. Meles accused two other countries in the region of trying to foment instability. He charged neighboring Eritrea with backing the Oromo Liberation Front, and he vowed to reciprocate by supporting rebels trying to overthrow Eritrean President Isaias Afewerki.

The Ethiopian leader also said he is not concerned about Egypt’s attempt to block funding for a massive dam to be built on the Nile River. Mr. Meles vowed last week that the $4.8-billion hydropower project would go ahead as planned, even though no international donor has agreed to provide financing.

It Ain't Just Mubarak -- 7 of the Worst Dictators the U.S. Is Backing to the Hilt

Embattled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, whose regime has received billions in U.S. aid, has been in the global media spotlight of late. He's long been “our bastard,” but he's not alone

It Ain't Just Mubarak -- 7 of the Worst Dictators the U.S. Is Backing to the Hilt
From Saudi Arabia to Uzbekistan to Chad, the U.S. keeps some very bad autocrats in power.

6. Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia
Zenawi has ruled Ethiopia for 20 years. Just last year, after what Human Rights Watch called “months of intimidation of opposition party supporters,” Zenawi's party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, won 99.6 percent of the vote. Legitimacy!

Ethiopia is a key strategic partner in the “war on terror,” and contributes significantly to African peace-keeping operations. According to the U.S. Agency for International Development, the United States is the largest donor to Ethiopia. Congress passed a law, over the objections of the Bush administration, that restricts military aid to the country until it has a free press and the Zenawi regime improves its human rights record, but – and this is a big but – it exempts aid for “counter-terrorism.” So despite the fact that, according to Amnesty International, Ethiopian opposition groups are illegal, NGOs have been banned and Ethiopians often disappear without trial, the U.S. continues to train Ethiopian troops.


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Rights group alleges misuse of Ethiopia aid

By PAUL CULLEN, Political Staff

Source: Irish Times

IRISH OVERSEAS aid to Ethiopia is being used to shore up the power of the regime and marginalise its opponents, an Oireachtas committee has been told.

Money from Ireland and other donors flows through government structures in Ethiopia and is used by a highly partisan, politicised and authoritarian ruling party to jail and torture people who disagree with it, according to Ben Rawlence of Human Rights Watch.

Mr Rawlence told the Oireachtas committee on foreign affairs that international donors, including Ireland, were aware this was happening but found it hard to get independent information.

Ethiopia has been a priority country for Irish Aid since 1974 and received more than €35 million last year. None of this goes directly to the central government. Overall, according to Mr Rawlence, it is the world’s biggest recipient of aid, amounting to over €2 billion a year.

Human Rights Watch last year published a report written by Mr Rawlence which alleges that aid underwrites repression.

While the aid provided by western governments is passed on to regional and village administrations in Ethiopia, the human rights group says it has found evidence of systematic discrimination in its administration. Government supporters were favoured in the distribution of seeds and the allocation of land, and trade union members were discriminated against in schools, which were also used for the indoctrination of children with the ruling party ideology.

The group also found widespread problems with the administration of a food-for-work scheme funded by Ireland and other donors. Mr Rawlence said that in every area he visited, the programme was being used to target opponents of the regime.

He said villages were grouped into cells of five families and the leader of each cell was a member of the ruling party. People had to have a party card and pay dues to get food aid.

“All the donor agencies know this is going on. We have reams of off-the-record testimony from donor officials,” said Mr Rawlence, who was arrested and deported towards the end of his visit to Ethiopia. However, donors didn’t have monitoring mechanisms in place to capture what was happening.

Minister of State for Overseas Development Peter Power said Irish Aid’s assessment did not support Human Rights Watch’s allegation of widespread, systematic abuse of aid. However, Irish Aid was concerned about any allegation of abuse of aid at local level and had raised the claims in the report with Ethiopian ministers.

Fine Gael TD Seán Barrett called for a thorough investigation of Human Rights Watch’s allegations by the EU. Ireland couldn’t do such an investigation alone.

Ethiopian PM says EU election report is "trash"

Nov 2010 15:29:41 GMT
Source: Reuters

* Meles rejects "view of Western neo-liberals"
* Europe's observers said poll was marred
By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has dismissed as "trash that deserves to be thrown in the garbage" a European Union (EU) report that criticised his overwhelming May election victory.

Meles' ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and allied parties won 545 seats in the 547-member parliament in a vote that was also criticised by the United States.

"The report is not about our election. It is just the view of some Western neo-liberals who are unhappy about the strength of the ruling party," Meles told state television as he returned from the G20 summit late on Sunday. "Anybody who has paper and ink can scribble whatever they want."

Ethiopia is a key U.S. and European ally in the volatile Horn of Africa, where its secular government is seen as a bulwark against Islamic extremism. The country's biggest opposition coalition, the eight-party Medrek, won just a single parliamentary seat. Medrek and the smaller All Ethiopia Unity Party (AEUP) demanded a rerun, alleging pre-poll intimidation and some vote rigging. The calls were rejected by the country's electoral board and Supreme Court.

OPPOSITION DISADVANTAGE
The EU observer mission's report said the poll was marred by the EPRDF's use of state resources, putting the opposition at a disadvantage, and that freedom of expression and movement was not "consistently respected".

"The electoral process fell short of international commitments for elections, notably regarding the transparency of the process and the lack of a level playing field for all contesting parties," the 87-page report said.

Europe's chief observer for the election, Thijs Berman, says he was refused a visa to present the report in Ethiopia. The government denies that.

Ethiopia's last elections in 2005 damaged its reputation and hampered investment when the opposition disputed the result and street riots erupted in capital Addis Ababa, killing 193 protestors and seven policemen.

At the time, the government accused Europe's then chief observer of being biased in favour of the opposition and of helping to incite the trouble. (Editing by Noah Barkin)

Rights Report on Ethiopia Sparks Fierce Debate

A U.S.-based human rights group has raised an uproar with a report arguing that development assistance to Ethiopia may be doing more harm than good by strengthening a repressive government. The report has sparked condemnation in some quarters, praise in others.

The Human Rights Watch report issued last month accuses Ethiopia's government of using development aid to suppress political dissent. The 105-page document alleges that much of the $3 billion a year contributed by foreign donors is used to consolidate the power of the ruling Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front.

Ethiopian government spokesmen did not answer repeated phone calls seeking comment on the report. The government, however, launched a scathing counterattack online. Statements posted on the foreign ministry website accuse Human Rights Watch of "unbridled arrogance" and "warped neo-colonialism."

One statement calls the allegations a "make believe" story that is part of a "vendetta" against the Ethiopian people. Another accuses the rights group of trying to bully the international aid community into halting cooperation with Addis Ababa.

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Ethiopian journalist jailed without charge since September

New York, October 29, 2010--The Committee to Protect Journalists calls upon authorities in Ethiopia's northeastern region of Afar to release a journalist who has been held without charge since September 11.

Akram Ezedin is jailed in Asaita, the regional capital of Afar. He is 17 years old. His father is Ezedin Mohamed, the editor of Al-Quds, a privately owned Islamic weekly newspaper based in capital city of Addis Ababa.


Last year, Mohamed began serving a one-year prison sentence for a 2008 column criticizing statements made by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Mohamed told CPJ. His son, Ezedin, was left to run the paper.


On September 11, police released Mohamed from prison and arrested his son. Ezedin's imprisonment stems from articles that criticized the performance of Afar's local Islamic Council or Mejilis, which Al-Quds published in July, according to local sources.


"Jailing Akram Ezedin without charge is against the laws of Ethiopia, where the pre-trial detention of journalists is illegal under the Mass Media and Freedom of Information Proclamation. Furthermore, any case against Al-Quds, a national newspaper, belongs in federal court, not state court," said Tom Rhodes, CPJ's East Africa consultant. "We call upon authorities in Afar to adhere to national laws and release Ezedin immediately."


Ezedin has appeared in Afar's court four times but has yet to be charged, according to local sources.


With five journalists behind bars, Ethiopia is currently Africa's second-leading jailer of journalists, only trailing neighboring Eritrea, according to CPJ research.

Ethiopia using Canadian aid as a political weapon, rights group says

The Canadian government says it is “deeply concerned” by a report that its foreign aid to Ethiopia is being used as a weapon to crush political dissent and bolster the power of the ruling party.

The federal government, which provided more than $150-million to Ethiopia in 2008, is calling for a full investigation into the allegations that Ethiopia’s ruling party is routinely using aid money to reward supporters and punish those who fail to support it.

“Canada, together with other donor countries, continues to encourage the authorities in Ethiopia to investigate these allegations thoroughly and to take corrective action if required,” Scott Cantin, a spokesman for Canada’s aid agency, the Canadian International Development Agency, said in a statement.

Ethiopia is one of the world’s largest recipients of foreign aid, benefiting to the tune of more than $3-billion in 2008 alone. The country is considered a strategic ally for the United States, providing stability in the troubled Horn of Africa where the war in Somalia has spilled across borders and fuelled terrorist attacks.

Canada was the fourth-biggest donor to Ethiopia in 2008, providing about $153-million (U.S.) in aid, nearly three times the amount it gave in 2004.

Human Rights Watch, an independent monitoring group, reported on Tuesday that the Ethiopian government has withheld aid from those who desperately need it, even starving families, if they refuse to support the ruling party.

The report, based on a six-month investigation in 53 villages, concluded that Ethiopia is abusing its foreign-aid funds to consolidate the rule of a repressive one-party state. Farmers who fail to support the ruling party are denied access to the fertilizers, seeds, loans and other agricultural aid that is funded by foreign donors, the report says.

In some districts, farmers cannot get assistance unless they provide receipts to prove that they paid membership dues to the ruling party, the report states. In other cases, aid goes to supporters of the ruling party who are not poor and should not qualify for it.

“The Ethiopian government is routinely using access to aid as a weapon to control people and crush dissent,” said Rona Peligal, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “If you don’t play the ruling party’s game, you get shut out. Yet foreign donors are rewarding this behaviour with ever-larger sums of development aid.”

Canada is one of the biggest donors supporting a $398-million “capacity-building” program for Ethiopian public servants. But the government is using this program, and similar foreign-funded programs, to intimidate teachers, purge the civil service of anyone with an independent political view and indoctrinate school children in the ideology of the ruling party, Human Rights Watch says.

Responding to questions on Tuesday, Mr. Cantin said Canada’s aid to Ethiopia can be suspended if the authorities fail to meet the conditions that are attached to the aid, including a pledge that the aid must reach the targeted beneficiaries.

Surveys by CIDA suggest that its aid is reaching those who need help, he said. “CIDA takes allegations of aid politicization seriously,” he said, “and together with the international community, will participate in efforts to strengthen safeguards where necessary.”

Ethiopia: Donor Aid Supports Repression

Contributors Should Review Development Programs, Monitor Use of Funds
October 19, 2010

(London) - The Ethiopian government is using development aid to suppress political dissent by conditioning access to essential government programs on support for the ruling party, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. Human Rights Watch urged foreign donors to ensure that their aid is used in an accountable and transparent manner and does not support political repression.

The 105-page report, "Development without Freedom: How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia," documents the ways in which the Ethiopian government uses donor-supported resources and aid as a tool to consolidate the power of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF).

"The Ethiopian government is routinely using access to aid as a weapon to control people and crush dissent," said Rona Peligal, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "If you don't play the ruling party's game, you get shut out. Yet foreign donors are rewarding this behavior with ever-larger sums of development aid."

Ethiopia is one of the world's largest recipients of development aid, more than US$3 billion in 2008 alone. The World Bank and donor nations provide direct support to district governments in Ethiopia for basic services such as health, education, agriculture, and water, and support a "food-for-work" program for some of the country's poorest people. The European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany are the largest bilateral donor

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Ethiopia reshuffle boosts Meles power: opposition

By Barry Malone

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi appointed a new cabinet on Tuesday in a post-election reshuffle that the opposition and analysts said would further cement his position.

Meles, in power since 1991, was sworn in as prime minister by parliament on Monday after a disputed May 23 vote gave his Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and allies 545 seats in the 547-seat parliament.

A European Union observer mission criticised the election and the United States said it failed to meet international standards. Demands by opposition parties for a rerun were rejected by the Horn of Africa nation's electoral board and by its Supreme Court.

The most high-profile cabinet change was the retirement of Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin, who had been in the post for 19 years. He was replaced by former government whip and advisor to the prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, seen as a Meles loyalist. Hailemariam will also serve as Deputy Prime Minister.

"They just changed the old horses and replaced them with the same breed," Beyene Petros, spokesman for the biggest opposition party, Medrek, told Reuters. "People like Hailemariam are the 'yes people' who have not shown any independence or creativity. They just follow the party line."

Other senior ministers stepping down include Minister for Trade and Industry Girma Birru and Deputy Prime Minister Addisu Legesse.

"OMNIPRESENT POWER"

The top jobs in the finance, defence, justice, health, education, agriculture and federal affairs ministries are all unchanged. New appointees to other ministries were mostly drawn from the ranks of state ministers and senior officials.

"It seems that Meles now has more or less omnipresent power, as there seems to be no one in cabinet who has the status and experience to challenge him on policy development," Kjetil Tronvoll, Ethiopia analyst at the International Law and Policy Institute, told Reuters.

The Mines and Energy Ministry has been split in two, with Sinkenesh Ejgu heading up the new Mines Ministry in a country being explored for deposits by foreign oil and gas companies, including Africa Oil Corporation.

Diplomats say the full European Union report on the elections will be published in mid-October.

Ethiopia: Birtukan’s release in perspective

By Yilma Bekele


Chairman Bertukan Mideksa has been released from Kaliti Jail after spending six hundred forty four days, one

Birtukan Mideksa
hundred forty of it in solitary confinement. We are happy she is reunited with her family and loved ones.

She was thrown in to a rat infested jail not because she committed some dastardly crime but for the simple reason of demanding justice and the rule of law in her homeland. Bertukan was what is called a ‘political prisoner.’

The fact that she was the leader of the largest political party and the country was in the process of holding general elections was a factor in her imprisonment. Her determination to participate in the election process and her overwhelming popularity with the public was a cause of concern for those in power.

They solved their dilemma by the only way they know. Bribe, blackmail, jail, exile or kill are the options the TPLF regime brings to the table. They choose jailing in Birtukan’s case.

That it was the wrong choice has been made clear during her two years stay. Her imprisonment became a ‘cause celebre’ for the Ethiopian people. Her incarceration highlighted the absence of rule of law in Ethiopia. Chairman Birtukan became a rallying point. Her plight was discussed in the US Congress, European Parliament, Noble Prize Committee, Sakharov Prize and many other international awards. What the regime did to her became the symbol of what is wrong in Ethiopia.

Her freedom should be seen as a beginning of what is to come. Birtukan is but one of the many Ethiopian citizens languishing in Woyane jail because they were deemed to be a ‘threat’ to the ethnic regime. There are thousands of nameless Ethiopians still in jail. Today, as we celebrate the release of Chairman Birtukan let us not forget those thousands left behind.

We are not thankful to the regime nor do we see it in a different light. The release of one individual does not wash off the crimes against eighty million people. We know she was released because her country people would not stop invoking her name and her cause in every gathering.

If those in power think that her release would stop the struggle for freedom they are sadly mistaken. If they think releasing one of many will change how we look at our jailers they need to go back and study history. We assure them that the quest for freedom cannot be satisfied by some symbolic act or public relations gimmick.

Welcome home Chairman Birtukan; we have a lot of unfinished business awaiting us.

Activists call on China to stop supporting rogue regime in Ethiopia

WASHINGTON, DC - Ethiopian Americans on Tuesday accused China of colluding with the rogue regime in Ethiopia "for the triumph of tyranny over liberty and democracy for the people of Ethiopia, as it is doing in much of Africa."
Representing several civic organizations in the United States, the activists circulated a strongly-worded statement which called on the Chinese government to stop supporting state-sponsored terrorism in Ethiopia.

The press statement came out ahead of a planned protest rally on August 5 in front of the Chinese Embassy in Washington, DC.

In power since 1991, the Meles Zenawi regime stands accused by human rights organizations of serious crimes, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.

Though Ethiopia is the second most populous nation in Africa after Nigeria, the country is deprived of having its own independent radio and TV. Other independent media are also jammed with the help of Chinese technology, the activists say.

Excerpts of the press statement follow:



"By providing military technology, radio and satellite television jamming technologies, the government of China has played a role in the suppression of liberty and basic human rights in Ethiopia. These technologies provided by the Chinese are being used against several independent radio stations, including the Amharic services of the Voice of America and Deutsche Welle. The latest victim of the rogue regime’s airwaves piracy is the newly launched and popular Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT)," the activists said in the statement.
"Instead of defending the Ethiopian people in their call for freedom and democracy, due to growing economic interest in Africa, China is colluding with totalitarian regimes that suppress their citizens’ rights and the quest for liberty and democracy in Africa. Instead of empowering Ethiopians in Ethiopia, China is engaged in an exploitative relationship in numerous of its projects throughout Ethiopia in a bid to quench its voracious appetite for strategic resources and cheaper labor in Africa. China is exploiting Ethiopia’s natural resources and hampering the Ethiopian people’s inalienable rights for liberty, justice, and democracy. Chinese firms have been engaged in bribing and corrupting Ethiopian officials.

"By supporting the Meles Zenawi regime, China is banking on profiting from the triumph of tyranny over liberty and democracy for the people of Ethiopia, as it is doing in much of Africa. China has a terrible human rights record at home and supports human rights violations abroad. It is time for China to stop supporting war criminals like Meles Zenawi, who has been suppressing basic liberties of the Ethiopian people. It is time for China to reassess its dealings with rogue regimes like that of Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia and other African dictators.

"We, Ethiopians and Ethiopians Americans, demand that the Chinese government immediately


1.Cease its support for Meles Zenawi’s ethnocentric regime;
2.Cease arming and supplying Meles Zenawi’s minority ethnic dominated military;
3.Cease its support for tyranny in Ethiopia/Africa
4.Cease its support to Meles Zenawi’s regime in jamming the Voice of America, Deutsche Welle, and Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT);
5.Respect the human rights of the Ethiopian people, Ethiopian workers employed in Chinese owned projects in accordance with accordance labor and environmental standards as well as the Universal Declaration of Human rights.
6.Stop bribing and corrupting Ethiopian officials to get no bid contracts from the government and dumping their low quality and often dangerous products.

A Coalition of Ethiopian American and Ethiopian Political and Civic Organizations and media groups.