Corruption keeps Ethiopia mired in poverty

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - "Bankers, miners and developers presenting projects to investment committees in countries that fare badly in corruption rankings frequently struggle to get investment. Corruption raises red flags because it makes local markets uncompetitive, unpredictable and therefore largely hostile to these long-term players," Ed Hobey, the East Africa analyst at the political risk firm Africa Risk Consulting says.

In the biggest crackdown on corruption in Ethiopia in the last 10 years, authorities arrested more than 50 high profile people including government officials, businessmen and a minister last month.

Ethiopia arrests reporter for covering land evictions

Ethiopian journalist Muluken Tesfahun of the privately owned weekly newspaper Ethio-Mehedar was arrested while reporting on the return of thousands of farmers who had been forced from their land near the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. The government has admitted the March evictions were illegal, but so far no charges have been brought against the reporter. DW spoke to Mohammed Keita, Advocacy coordinator for sub-Saharan Africa at the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York.

DW: What is known about journalist Muluken Tesfahun and the circumstances that led to his arrest?

Mohammed Keita: Muluken Tesfahun had been sent by his newspaper to interview residents who had been forcefully evicted from their homes in mid-April. They were some allegations of violence and even unconfirmed reports of deaths. For months, the Ethiopian government maintained silence over the evictions until the Prime Minister in parliament finally condemned the evictions and invited the victims to return. Muluken had been sent to speak to people and collect their testimonies and also investigate their conditions, whether their return had been peaceful or not. In the midst of talking and interviewing people, he was arrested by police. He has been under police custody without charges and has not been taken to court which is a violation of his constitutional right. The Ethiopian constitution has set a limit of 48 hours for detention before being taken to a court.
Do you know where he has been detained?
He is currently being detained in Asosa, capital of the Benishangul-Gumuz region. He has been moved a couple of times, because he was actually arrested in a rural village while he was still speaking to farmers. These farmers had been forcefully displaced. To this day, local authorities have not given an explanation as to why these evictions were taking place.
He is not the first journalist to be detained while working on this story is he?
He is the first one that we have documented, there might have been others. Sometimes journalists do not report such things for fear of government reprisal.
Why are the Ethiopian authorities so anxious to keep this story under wraps?
This falls into a long standing pattern of the Ethiopian government suppressing any news that counters the official narrative and propaganda that is projected to the world. The Ethiopian government does not tolerate any criticism of any kind. It has been vindictive against journalists who have raised questions about its policies and sensitive topics like dam construction or human rights issues, political dissent or the conflict in the Ogaden. Many of these issues unfortunately are suppressed and we do not have enough information about these issues because reporters can not even carry out basic reporting on the ground. They are under surveillance, they are arrested as soon as they speak to people. Most people as well are afraid of speaking to reporters because they are harassed and persecuted for speaking truthfully to media. It's a very closed environment where independent voices are stifled and civil society has been guided by laws similar to those in Russia. The government dominates the media and the political space at such a level that it has a free range to project its narrative unchallenged. This newspaper (Muluken Tesfahun's) is one of the rare newspapers left. Over the last two decades, under the Ethiopian ruling party, at least 72 newspapers have been forced to shut under political pressure from the government.
Is there any chance that things might improve anytime soon?
Things are looking rather gloomy for press freedom in Ethiopia. The government has been on a repressive bent, especially since the contested elections in 2005. It has become increasingly authoritarian, it has been deepening ties with China's communist party CCP, it has been leading Africa in censoring the internet, and prisons are filled with journalists and dissidents. Ethiopia only trails Eritrea among leading jailers of journalists. But still the government is a donor darling and western partner in counter-terrorism. Western powers have basically continued to look the other way.
Mohammed Keita is the Advocacy coordinator for sub-Saharan Africa at the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York.

Ethiopia delays appeal of jailed blogger, opposition figure

Ethiopia delays appeal of jailed blogger, opposition figure

Source: AFP
An Ethiopian court on Wednesday delayed again the appeal of blogger Eskinder Nega and opposition leader Andualem Arage, who were jailed last year for terror-related offences.

Eskinder and Andualem were among 24 people jailed in July 2012 on terror-related charges.

Both men are accused of having links to the outlawed opposition group Ginbot 7.

Andualem's lawyer Debribew Temesgen said the judges said they needed more time to examine the evidence, and had set a new date for a ruling of April 8.

Eskinder was jailed for 18 years, while Andualem was sentenced to life.

Neither appeared in court on Wednesday.

Rights groups have called Ethiopia's anti-terrorism legislation vague and accuse the government of using the law to stifle peaceful dissent.

Too undemocratic to split By Tesfay Atsbeha

It is being disseminated that a certain group of the TPLF and Bereket are trying to purge some veteran members of the TPLF. Purges are not new in the TPLF, but it is a break from the tradition of the TPLF, if a group has really disclosed its intention before taking an irrevocable measure.

One aspect of the tradition of the TPLF, which is devoid of any transparency and accountability was that the perpetrators prepare their intrigues to harm their victims without informing the targeted victims and the rank-and-file-members of the TPLF and purge (as they did to Aregawi and Ghidey in 1985, to Seeye, Gebru Tewelde etc in 2001) or liquidate their victims (Abera Manka, Hagos Haileselassie etc0in 1977/78 and Teklu Hawaz in 1985). In all the cases mentioned, the victims did not get a fair chance to express their opinions and this practice of injustice applies to many others.

To put it in military terminologies, the protagonists behaved as if they had to ambush their victims. They launched surprise attacks against their victims whenever the latter list expected the attacks. Another aspect of the tradition pertains to the fact that the perpetrators used to go over to a pre-emptive attack, whenever they felt insecure and feared being held accountable for crimes or feared losing power. Accusing Kinnjit was for instance a pre-emptive attack. Those who ordered the massacre and those who executed the order after the election should have been accused, but the killer framed the accusation to pre-empt his exposition and the mobilization of the people against him. This also shows that conflict resolutions in the TPLF have always been zero-sum-games. On the surface, the perpetrators seem to achieve their aims with dishonest accusations. In reality, it is the use and threat of physical force (the control of the army) which enables them to implement deceptive measures which they try to sell as sophistication and smartness.

During the armed struggle, they (the perpetrators) used to inform others after the fait accompli to justify their measures and silence any potential expression of any grievances in the case of purges. They kept liquidations secrete with the exception of that of Teklu. With the murders they committed in 1977/78, the perpetrators succeeded in making the none-CC members of the TPLF as apolitical as the weapons the latter carry by destroying mutual trust and instilling a feeling of suspicion and fear amongst the fighters of the TPLF. The evaluations (Gmgemas) are mainly meant to maintain the atmosphere of insecurity by forcing everybody control everybody else reciprocally.

A few individuals in the TPLF have been exploiting the lack of a democratic culture and consciousness amongst the members to maintain their repressive rule. Such individuals are perpetuating the undemocratic culture. In this connection, most members of the TPLF are victims, objects of experiment for tyranny and tools of the oppressors at the same time. The few who are in charge of the TPLF have the key (an organized and armed force) to control Ethiopia. They are controlling almost all key positions in Ethiopia that their dominance is too unjust to be tolerable and sustainable. As this lopsided ethnic relationship is the objective reality, exposing and opposing it should be the duty of any democrat. Objectively exposing the repressive and corrupt practices of the Tigrayan elite is not an attack on the people of Tigray.

But there are also people who generalize. On both sides, some generalize deliberately, others innocently or due to their inability to differentiate. Now, coming back to the alleged split, Sebhat Nega, in an interview with Dawit Solomon of Fnote Democracy (posted on 31 January 2013 in zehabesha) has said part of the truth, in saying that the TPLF has never experienced a split. The whole truth is that there were splits in the leadership, but no splits of the whole organization, because the none-CC-members have neither the right to make decisions nor the right to get information on the issues prior to the decisions. Generally, armed undemocratic organisations (like fascists, Stalinists and religious fanatics), do not split, because the leaders do not inform their members about their differences of opinion and let the members freely discuss as well as take sides on the issues. What the perpetrators do always is take measures on the dissidents and spread lies about them. And this was what the leadership of the TPLF has been doing so far. Sebhat is trying to hide the fact that the TPLF is too undemocratic even to split. The clique which controls the TPLF cannot tolerate any differences of opinion even within itself and that is why it subordinated itself to a single tyrant. Of course, a split would certainly have entailed war, since no independent groups would have tolerated each other. If the Sebhat clique were sincere and had confidence in the correctness of the decisions it arrived at, it would allowed the members of the Front to participate in the process of decision making. Since the clique is used to depriving its own members of their rights, it is depriving all Ethiopians of an alternative and harassing the opposition.

Ethiopia Opposition Parties Demand Fair Elections

Unified Ethiopian Opposition Demands Fair Elections

By Martha van der Wolf

VOA News

ADDIS ABABA — Thirty-four Ethiopian opposition parties have signed a petition to demand the elections next April - on the district, regional and city levels - be free and fair.
Opposition parties were invited by the Election Board last week to discuss the schedule of the polls. When the parties asked to discuss irregularities that occurred during previous elections, the meeting was adjourned.

Alessa Mengesha, chairman of the Gedeo People’s Democratic Organization opposition party, says several issues need to be discussed in depth.

“We have seen elections in Ethiopia in the past couple of years and decades, and those elections have always been marked by irregularities. And those irregularities include irregularities during voting registration, irregularities during election campaigns, irregularities during vote-counting and even post-election irregularities," he said. "We have witnessed all those.”
Thirty-four of Ethiopia's 75 opposition parties have signed a petition demanding the next vote be free and fair.
The petition lays out 18 points of how the Election Board can ensure a better process. Among other things, the parties say they want to be involved in the election administration, and request equal access to government media.

Asrat Tassie, secretary-general of the Unity for Democracy and Justice party, the only opposition party that holds a seat in parliament, says it is very important that the opposition can freely name and put in place their own election observers.
“A candidate has its own observers. So what happens is they ask the names of those observers 10 days before the election. So as soon as the election board receives the names of those observers, the government harasses them," he said. "Some will be arrested; some will be chased out of the town and so on. So we don’t want to give them the names of our observers.”
European Union observers said the previous election in 2010 fell short of international standards. They said resources of the state were used to support the campaign of ruling party EPRDF, Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front. The ruling party and its allies won all but one seat in the 546-member parliament.

The elections of 2005 resulted in mass demonstrations against the government. Nearly 200 people were killed in election-related violence, and dozens of people, including prominent opposition leaders, are still imprisoned.

The Election Board said it has received the opposition parties' petition but needs more time to respond to the demands

Swedish journalists tell of time in Ethiopia jail

Swedish journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye have been speaking to the BBC about their time in prison in Ethiopia. They were recently freed after serving more than 400 days of an 11-year sentence. The pair were found guilty of entering the country illegally and supporting a rebel group, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). Their lengthy jail terms put the treatment of journalists in Ethiopia under the international spotlight. Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson were captured along with ONLF rebels in June 2011. They maintained that they were only doing their jobs, and human rights group Amnesty International said the journalists had been prosecuted for doing "legitimate work". But Ethiopian government spokesman Bereket Simon previously defended the decision to jail the pair, saying the journalists were caught "red handed" co-operating with "terrorist organisations". Former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi reportedly pardoned the journalists before his death in August, leading to their release.

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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