By Mathza
First and foremost I welcome the release of the Kaliti prisoners and congratulate their families and relatives. Ethiopians owe a great deal to the members of the Ethiopian National Coalition of Elders who made this possible. We appreciate very much their tireless efforts lasting 18 months and having the best interest of Ethiopians and Ethiopia at heart. The people and country owe them a lot. We applaud their commitment to see to it that the remaining CUD prisoners are set free. We appeal to them to extend their mediation plans and activities to bringing peace and unity between the separatists and the government. Under the current circumstances, they are the best intermediary for this purpose. Having achieved what foreigners failed to do there is no doubt that the elders will be in a better position to repeat their success in this regard. Their initiative bodes well for the development of political and cultural tolerance in Ethiopia.
The CUD plea letter to the Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says “…regret, the attempts we made to rid of the constitutionally established government functions through the use of unconstitutional means ...” It is sad to hear the reckless Engineer Hailu Shawul, in his first public utterances — before the ink on his pardon plea paper dried — break CUD, a member of AFD, promises by saying “I signed the letter of plea under duress.” Like those brave men who refused to sign but defend themselves he had the option to do likewise. He could not do this because he is aware of his guilt. The question, in any case, is who forced him to sign? The flimsy excuse of children of other prisoners — similar to the one he used with his own children during the Derg regime— does not hold water. Besides, this excuse shows he was willing and ready to sacrifice 10,000 to 15,000 nameless youths while protecting the children of his colleagues, what a farce! His denial statement implies that the Elders lied. By saying such nonsense he has, to all intents and purposes, shown his cowardice and returned to his habitual flip-flopping, thereby leading his followers to continue with their lies, exaggerations, denials, etc.
Many anti- EPRDF elements, including members and supporters of CUD, have denied, doubted and derided the authenticated pardon plea made by the prisoners. This coupled with the above Hailu’s claim does not augur well for the hoped for change of heart on the part of CUD, i.e. the CUD converting itself into a genuine opposition. Persistent rumors have it that Hailu, with his egocentric and extreme conviction, extreme ambition, ethnic hatred and reckless and dictatorial actions, is responsible for the predicament of the CUD which, under normal circumstances, would have been a real force to reckon with. His ambition of becoming the leader of the country immediately in 2005 was his top priority. Because of his advancing age it was in 2005 or never — hence all the blunders he committed to fulfill his ambition to the detriment of his party. Are these characterizations of Hailu the reasons why Ato Temesgen of CUD seems to cast doubt as to whether the former will continue involving himself in politics, even as member?
It should be recalled that unrealistic ambitions, objectives (dismantling the ethnic-based federal system, etc.), and obsession for power coupled with ethnic hatred against Tigrayans were among the reasons that drove CUD to attempt to usurp power. This was planned to be achieved by any means, legally through election and, this failing, illegally through insurrection. Let us be frank, why is a party/government that has done so much a target of hate. This hate campaign started immediately the EPRDF came to power. Let me narrate what a trusted friend of mine told me. There were a number of Ethiopians serving as United Nations experts, including my friend, in a certain country. One of them was a former minister of the Derg regime. During the first year in power of EPRDF this man visited Ethiopia a number of times to monitor the progress of his house under construction. Every time he returned from a visit he told his colleagues how bad things were and how dangerous it would be for them to go back to Ethiopia. Mind you a former Amhara minister of the Derg regime capable of entering and leaving Ethiopia without a hitch making such hate propaganda, as my friend told me, definitely directed against the TPLF and Tigrayans. Let us face it: whatever the CUD and its supporters and sympathizers say and do revolves around hate and revenge for the dreadful (for them) change brought about by the TPLF/EPRDF.
Furthermore, many observers, both Ethiopians and non-Ethiopians, critical of the government continually failed to admit or even mention or comment on what the oppositions repeatedly said on the eve of election: they were going to win; they were going to dislodge the incumbent government whether they win or not. In other words, they were determined to usurp power no matter what the cost, including 10,000 to 15,000 sacrificial lambs, according to Hailu. Thanks to decisive and timely action by the government, the uprising which could have put the country in turmoil and possibly hundreds of thousands of deaths was contained. His prediction was limited to about 200 casualties, meaning 9,800 to 14,800 lives were spared. Timely government intervention prevented the country from regressing to a situation worse than the Derg era and beyond with all conceivable consequences: civil war in multiple fronts, disintegration of the country, interruption of the acclaimed development process, worsening living conditions, etc.
The so-called human rights advocates, such as Human Rights International, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch are partly to blame for oppositions in Ethiopia becoming skewed. They seem to lack objectivity and are always ready to jump to criticize and accuse the government after every incident, ignoring the applicability of ‘for every action there is a reaction.’ Information they use emanating from sources with vested interest cannot be and are not all reliable. For example, based on CUD propaganda, they claimed that the CUD prisoners were being tortured. When the prisoners themselves denied this, as usual, they never admitted they were wrong whereas they insist the government should be transparent. They never, ever note or mention instigations by the oppositions which led to what they call human rights abuses. By so doing they were and are condoning actions against the government and blaming it for carrying out its responsibility of keeping peace and order. They, in fact, embolden oppositions to carry out reckless actions.
Human rights organizations should take into account that governing in developing countries is exponentially complex and difficult than in developed countries. They either do not understand or chose to ignore the complexities and intricacies of Ethiopian cultures and politics. They do not take into consideration key mitigating factors, such as the process of transition from traditional autocratic governance, the low level of education and lack of awareness of good governance of civil servants, particularly outside the capital and major towns. They do not know of sabotages and corruption in government offices by remnants of the Derg, EPRP, etc. and feudal elements. They do not appreciate what the government is doing to mitigate these issues (Ethiopia is the least corrupt among ten sub-African countries, according to a recent poll conducted by the New York Times and the Pew Global Attitudes Project *). Apparently, their understanding of all these complexities is superficial. They do not seem to appreciate or comprehend the implications of their utterances and actions in a multi-ethnic country comprising over 80 nationalities speaking as many languages. They should be supportive of the unity in diversity that the EPRDF government has brought about in a country that was surely going to disintegrate after the fall of the Derg regime.
Lies, disinformation, false accusations and conspiracies propagated by some of those who claim to be defenders of democracy, human rights, press freedom (The Committee to Protect Journalists), etc. constitute the greater of two evils: creating instability and mayhem against government failure here and there, the lesser evil. A recent example of a lie comes from Jeffrey Gettleman of The New York Times. He claims that based on Western diplomats and humanitarian officials the Ethiopian government was blockading emergency food aid in the Somali State. The United Nations World Food Program confirmed that this was not true and indeed food was being distributed. Furthermore, the allegation that UN assistance related to polio eradication was diverted was, apparently, false. Another example is a claim by Stephanie McCrumen of the Washington Post who reported — and this was echoed in the major Western news media outlets — that Prime Minister Meles admitted making mistake of invading Somalia. What Meles said was a mistake was made in relying on the promises of Somali clan elders after the defeat of the UIC. In a way we should not be that surprised in regard to what emanates in the foreign media. The foreign media is bombarded with negative and fabricated news and lies by the Diaspora, including targeting and influencing individual media people and government officials — an easy source of information, sorry misinformation. The dying HR 2003 - the Ethiopian Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007 bill is the result of such misinformation. This bill, among other things, requires outsiders to intervene at the micro level of government administration, and therefore at the base of the sovereignty of the country, a non starter.
As we all know the beginning of the unfortunate situation during the last two years is the 2005 election when both the EPRDF and the CUD claimed winning the election. Election observers and human rights advocates failed to note that there was no way that the oppositions would have won in the rural area where 85% of the voters live. CUD did relatively well in some urban areas, particularly in Addis Ababa, where the remnants of the Derg, EPRP, feudalists and those who lost power, land and houses are concentrated. Failure of the EPRDF, partly arising from its giving priority to the rural area, was another factor that helped CUD. The CUD, with nil representation in parliament before the election, wrongly and unabashedly projected such successes to apply to the whole country. They could not have won simply because they did not have adequate time to get organized, had no presence in all constituencies and, most importantly, their objective was against the newly gained autonomy cherished by all ethnic groups. Who would, among the ethnic groups, vote for CUD except a minority of disgruntled elements who had enjoyed living under the former regimes.
Unfortunately, it seems that some observers, particularly Mrs. Ana Gomez had contributed to this state of affairs. She and her likes encouraged and misled the opposition. CUD interpreted concerns expressed by some governments and international institutions as support for them to take over the government. It is because of such conviction that the oppositions became bold and dangerously reckless. They foolishly dared to topple the government by illegal means: planning, organizing and executing violent demonstrations and insurgencies, resulting in deaths and destructions. It is amazing that the leadership whom followers and sympathizers revere and capitalize on as the cream of the crop could not see the futility of their childish talks and actions.
In answering positively to the CUD leadership’s request for pardon the EPRDF government has shown magnanimity. Despite the Diaspora’s continuing denial of the guiltiness of the CUD leadership, the government is likely and hopefully to do the same with regard to other prisoners, including Tamirat Lyne. No doubt, lessons have been learned and a new chapter has been opened in Ethiopian politics. It is up to the oppositions to optimize this opportunity by declaring bygones be bygones and undergo a renewal geared to a realistic step by step accelerated political, social and economic development of the country with the aim of achieving the MDG — commensurate to the realistic conditions prevailing therein. The poll referred to above shows that Ethiopians are generally satisfied with the current economic situation.*
Ethiopia badly needs peace and stability to advance through the democratization process and accelerate the on-going improvement of living conditions of the majority of its wretchedly poor people. Access to basic needs, particularly life sustainable food and water, is the mother of all human rights. In other words, development which the government has rightly given the highest priority should be supported by every Ethiopian no matter his/her allegiance to any party, ethnic group or religion. It would be a crime to impede the development process and miss this opportunity for reconciliation, a win-win situation for the country, the people, the EPRDF and the oppositions.
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* A Portrait of Sub-Saharan Africa (The New York Times, July 24, 2007): According to a poll conducted in the Spring of 2007 by The New York Times and the Pew Global Attitudes Project surveyed public opinion in ten sub-Saharan African countries (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Mali):
- “How big is the problem of corrupt political leaders? Result: With 49% describing the problem as ‘very big’ Ethiopians have the best favorable opinion about their government.
- “How do you describe the current economic situation?” Result: only 28% of the Ethiopians described it as ‘very bad’.
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