Ethiopia's elections Forget about democracy- The Economist

[Kamaavi]

Ethiopia's elections Forget about democracy

 

The chances of a fair vote in the coming election are fast receding

 

Mar 25th 2010 | NAIROBI | From The Economist.

 

 

Meles holds his nose, gets the cash-THE United States, the richest and most powerful nation on earth, is also the most generous donor to one of the poorest, Ethiopia. America says it gives $1 billion in aid every year to Africa’s second-most-populous country, which also happens to host the African Union’s headquarters.

 

Yet Barack Obama’s administration has barely stirred itself to protest against recent attempts by Ethiopia to jam programmes in Amharic, the country’s main language, beamed by the Voice of America, a respected state-funded broadcaster. Ethiopia’s prime minister, Meles Zenawi, brazenly says he will continue to jam the signal for as long as it incites what he calls hatred. He has compared the Amharic service to the hate speech spewing from Radio Mille Collines, which helped provoke Rwanda’s genocide in 1994. The State Department called the comment inflammatory but seems loth to make Mr Zenawi suffer for it.

 

One reason is that the Pentagon needs Ethiopia and its bare-knuckle intelligence service to help keep al-Qaeda fighters in neighbouring Somalia at bay. Many of Washington’s aid people argue that, though Mr Zenawi is no saint, he still offers the best chance of keeping Ethiopia together; even now, as one of the world’s least developed countries, it cannot feed itself.

 

Human-rights campaigners think the limpness of America and European Union countries, especially Britain, in the face of Mr Zenawi gives him a free rein to abuse his own people. This week’s report by Human Rights Watch, a New York-based lobby, claims that, after 20 years in power, Mr Zenawi’s ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front has “total control of local and district administrations to monitor and intimidate individuals at a household level.” With a general election due on May 23rd, opposition supporters, says the report, are often castigated as subversives by the government, denied the right to assembly, and harassed. The press has been “stifled”. Newspapers avoid writing about opposition parties or people the government says have terrorist links.

 

Furthermore, says Ben Rawlence, who wrote the report, “Meles is using aid to build a single-party state.” Foreign governments, he says, have colluded in eroding civil liberties and democracy by letting their aid be manipulated by Mr Zenawi. Because of his party’s stranglehold at village level, its members can decide on entitlements such as places for children in school and the distribution of food handouts. Peasants who back the opposition get less. Farmers complain they are denied fertiliser for the same reason.

 

The Ethiopian government has denounced the report as outrageous and ridiculous. Mr Zenawi says that groups such as Human Rights Watch interpret human rights too narrowly. The only way to guarantee Ethiopia a free future, he argues, is to keep it stable while it continues to develop. His political calculations are straightforward. He reckons, for instance, that reporting by the Voice of America does more harm inside the country than outside criticism of his censorship.

 

In any case, Mr Zenawi has signed up for a code of electoral conduct and invited foreign election observers in. He still has time to win over critics before the election, for instance by freeing an imprisoned opposition leader, Birtukan Mideksa, as a goodwill gesture.

 

Aid-giving governments, for their part, are unlikely to change their minds. Even after hundreds of protesters were shot dead by the police after the last elections in 2004, aid to Ethiopia was only repackaged in different forms, not suspended. Besides, foreign politicians have promised their own voters that they will dish out large amounts of aid and argue that at least Ethiopia is less corrupt than many other African countries. Mr Zenawi understands this well—and exploits it.

[Kamaavi]

Ethiopia limiting freedoms ahead of May polls

 

 

The regime has arrested and detained several opposition members and threatened and harassed opponents, Human Rights Watch said.

 

NAIROBI, March 24, 2010 (AFP) - Ethiopia's government has tightened media control, stifled opposition and civil society in recent years, and ramped up restrictions ahead of May elections, a rights group said Wednesaday.

 

Since the violent aftermath of the 2005 elections, the regime has arrested and detained several opposition members and threatened and harassed opponents, Human Rights Watch said in a report.

 

"Ethiopia's citizens are unable to speak freely, organise political activities and challenge their government's policies... without fear of reprisals," said the report.

 

The New York-based watchdog said the measures had been undertaken to avoid a repeat of the 2005 post-poll violence sparked by opposition claims of irregularities, in which some 200 people were killed.

 

"Expressing dissent is very dangerous in Ethiopia," said Georgette Gagnon said, the HRW Africa director.

 

"The ruling party and the state are becoming one and the government is using the full weight of its power to eliminate opposition and intimidate people into silence."

 

Several activists and journalists have fled the country in recent months due to government repression, HRW said.

 

The country's most prominent newspaer was closed in December and last week Prime Minister meles Zenawi said he was ready to censure the Voice of America's Amharic language service for its "destabilising propaganda."

 

Other than limiting political and media freedoms, the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) embarked on a strategy in rural Ethiopia to prevent dissent.

 

Access to fertiliser, food assistance, health care and schools are conditional on membership of the ruling party, said the report entitled "One Hundred Ways of Putting Pressure: Violations of Freedom of Expression and Association in Ethiopia."

 

Local administration leaders wielding huge powers determine eligibility for the services in rural areas, home to 85 percent of Ethiopia's 80 million people.

 

"These broad powers have been consistently used to punish and ostracise those perceived to support political opposition," said the watchdog.

 

Between 2005 and 2008 EPRDF's membership has quadrupled from 760,000 to more than four million in the rural areas.

 

"People are told that if they don't vote EPRDF, then no fertilisers, no clinics," Bulcha Demeksa, a leading opposition figure, told the rights group.

 

However, the HRW said Zenawi's government denied the restrictions.

 

Opposition groups have accused the ruling party of repeated harassment in the run-up to the May 23 polls.

 

Gagnon also criticised Ethiopia's donors for inaction on the alleged abuses.

 

"Ethiopia’s foreign backers should break their silence and condemn the climate of fear in Ethiopia," she said.

 

"Donors should use their considerable financial leverage to press for an end to the harassment of the opposition and to oppressive laws on activists and the media."

 

Around a third of Ethiopia's government budget is foreign funded

[N.O.R.F]

Ah, The Economist.

 

Time for the west to pretend they only just found out and to appear concerned. After the elections it will all be forgotten then back to the usual agendas.

[Abtigiis]

Fully agree with Norf. Lip service.

[Kamaavi]

Mar 26th 2010 | Dallaad.

 

Melez oo shir jaraa’id kayidhi maraykanka iyo Europe ba waligoodbay haweenka iyo caruurtaba xasuuqi jireen ee may xuquuqul insaanku kahadlaan arinkaas.

 

Wararka naga soo gaadhayo magaalada addis ababa ayaa waxay sheegayaan in shir uu usocday labadan maalmood kaligii taliye Melez Zenawi iyo baarlamaankiisa.

 

Shirkan oo lagu qabtay caasimada dalka Ethiopia ayaa keenay kadib markii uu musuq maasuq badan soo kala dhex galay gabi ahaanba xukumada kaligii taliye Zenawi, taas oo ooga timid dibada iyo dalka gudihiisaba.

 

Shirkan ayaa keenay kadib markii Meles Zenawi uu kudhawaaqay in laxiro Voa da kuhadasho Af washeensiga (Axmaariga), kadibna uu kadiiday af hayeen udhashay dalka maraykanka, isaga oo taas kutilmaamay inay xanibaad kutahay waxa afka qalaad lagu yidhaahdo Freedom Of Speech.

 

Af hayeenka maraykanka ayaa hadalkiisa isaga oo sii wato kudaray inay horayba ooga shakisnaayeen Zenawi kadib markii cadaymo badan lasoo hordhigay oo kadhan xaga xuquuqul insaanka ama bini aadanimo darada uu kuhayo umada reer ******ia.

 

Meles Zenawi ayaa shirkan waxuu carabka ku celceliyay in Maraykanka iyo Europe ba xasuuq ba’an kawadaan wadamo badan oo ay carrabtu dagto, taas oo ay haween iyo caruurba kulaayeen. Siiba isaga oo yidhi dagaalkii lagu qaaday Iraq inuu maraykanka u adeegsaday hub in La adeegsado kamamnuuc ahaa, iyada oo dadka hada kadhasho wadanka Iraq ay ubadanyihiin dad si kale u sirwacan kuwan oo aan sidaan horay loogu aqoon, sida ilmo laba madax leh ama afar lugood leh.

 

Kaligii taliye Zenawi ayaad moodaa inaynan hada isku fiicnayn saaxiibadiisii reer galbeed kadib markii looga fara dhuub dhuubnaaday.

 

 

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