Famous Oromo female singer Hawi Tezera feared to be under another torture, activists

Famous Oromo female singer Hawi Tezera feared to be under another torture, activists say

Report shows Hawi Tezera’s bruised and swollen body from last week’s torture; activists fear she could be tortured again.

Report shows Hawi Tezera’s bruised and swollen body from last week’s torture; activists fear she could be tortured again.

According to a media report, the famous Oromo female singer Hawi Tezera was detained and tortured last week by the Ethiopian Federal police for releasing an Afan Oromo single music that’s critical of the Ethiopian government’s affairs, i.e. the Master Plan and the killings following the protests against the Master Plan, in the Federal State of Oromia. The single, which was released on December 15, 2015, was produced using the traditional Oromo protest genre called Geerarsa. Photos of the singer’s tortured body, showing the bruised and swollen areas, are shown here.

Upon the intervention of the Oromian State police, the report adds, Hawi was released from her ordeal only to be imprisoned again over the last few days. Activists fear that she could be tortured again; the Ethiopian government has a record of detaining and torturing dissidents (prisoners of conscience) who oppose its policies using peaceful and Constitutional means.

In addition to Hawi, thousands of Oromos, including a journalist, have been imprisoned across Oromia and Ethiopia over the last week – accused of expressing protests against the Addis Ababa Master Plan. According to the protesters, who are using peaceful (nonviolent) means to demonstrate their opposition, millions of Oromo farmers will be evicted from their homesteads, and thousands have already been evicted and have become homeless, through the government’s large-scale land-grab project called the Addis Ababa Master Plan. During the recent wave of arrests, the government has especially targeted Oromo singers and their families/relatives for imprisonment and harassment. It is to be remembered that Oromo male singers Jireenyaa Shifarraa and Bilisummaa Dinquu were reportedly abducted last week by the government forces – after being accused of releasing music that’s critical of the government’s policy in Oromia; photos of Jireenyaa Shifarraa in handcuffs were circulating on social media last week(attached below).

Oromo artist Jireenyaa Shifarraa detained by the Ethiopian government

Hawi’s protest music that’s critical of the government’s affairs in Oromia:

Source:http://finfinnetribune.com/Gadaa/2015/12/famous-oromo-female-singer-hawi-tezera-feared-to-be-under-another-torture-activists-say/

Ethiopia: Making Sense Of 100 Percent Election Victory – OpEd

By Messay Kebede

According to the National Election Board of Ethiopia, the result of last week’s national election is that the EPRDF (Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front) has achieved a complete victory by grabbing all the parliamentary seats. The same board and the Ethiopian government qualified the result as a triumph of democracy, which leads one to assume that in today’s Ethiopia the progress of democracy is measured by the size of exclusion of opposition parties from parliamentary participation. In 1995, the process resulted in 75 seats to various opposition parties; then it evolved to one representative in 2010; until it has reached the present stage of advanced democracy with zero representative from the opposition. Bravo to the EPRDF! Be it noted that this novel interpretation of democracy seems to be endorsed by the American government through the authoritative voice of Wendy Sherman, the Under Secretary for Political Affairs (go to http://www.diretube.com/ethiopia/under-secretary-of-state-wendy-sherman-talking-about-ethiopia-video_851c48f3b.html) The only step remaining to achieve the apex of democracy is the banning of opposition parties, obvious as it is that they have become obsolete.

On a serious note, last week’s election appears very enigmatic to many observers. For one thing, in view of the creeping discontent in the country, which is even expressed outwardly here and there, in view also of the paranoia of the regime showing an unprecedented level of mobilization of its repressive forces to intimidate voters and stifle dissenting voices, a complete parliamentary victory strikes by its utter impossibility. There is only one possible conclusion: not only the election was not free and fair, but it was also subjected to fraudulent practices, such as stealing or eliminating votes supporting the opposition.

The question that comes to mind is the following: if neither the people and opposition parties give an iota of credibility to the official result, nor for that matter the officials and the cadres of the ruling party themselves––since they used all repressive and fraudulent means to eliminate the opposition––in a word, if nobody lends any credibility to the official outcome, why is the ruling party going through such a costly, time-consuming, and utterly useless exercise? What is the expected gain?

Can we say that the election serves the purpose of renewing legitimacy? But how can a government renew legitimacy by claiming an unbelievable victory? Who falls for a score of 100 percent? What about the international community? Perhaps, but again provided that you come up with something believable, and 100 percent is not believable. Accordingly, such a score defeats its purpose, if it is legitimacy.

This is what is most perplexing: a lesser score (say, for example, of 80 percent) would have gained some credibility without, however, endangering the hegemony of the ruling party. Indeed, why not leave some seats to the opposition? So long as the ruling party retains an overwhelming majority, the opposition does not present any risk. What is more, the presence of the opposition, however negligible, would give some sense to the voting process in the parliament.

There is more: in turning the election into a process of elimination of the opposition by all means necessary, the government and the ruling party are loudly telling the Ethiopian people that any hope of change through peaceful means is just an illusion. This is none other than forcing the people to seek other means, namely, violent forms of struggle, such as uprisings and armed struggle. It is hard to understand why a government would push its own people to violent methods.

If, instead of renewing legitimacy, a score of 100 percent only succeeds in cornering people to violent means, why on earth would a government adopt such a detrimental policy? We only saw negative sides. Where is the gain? The huge enigma here is that, unlike most dictatorial states, the regime in Ethiopia has recognized multiple opposition parties, even if it has restricted their activities to what it deems tolerable. While the general rule for dictatorial regimes is to ban opposition parties altogether, the Ethiopian regime recognizes them except that it does not want them in parliament. Since in both cases the result is the same, the behavior of the Ethiopian regime may become intelligible if we get hold of the reason why even dictatorial regimes that ban opposition parties organize elections.

Where no opposition parties exist, the purpose of election cannot be the achievement of victory. As there is no contest, the claim of victory would be simply surreal. By contrast, single-party regimes are concerned with the number of people who come out to vote, the issue being to get out the maximum number of voters by all means necessary. Clearly, the objective is not to gain the majority of votes; rather, it is to demonstrate force. Elections are meant to show the extent of the control of the government and the ruling party over the people. The less the people like the regime, the higher is its need to show the maximum electoral score, thereby displaying its invincibility. The message is then clear enough: even if you do not like the regime, there is nothing you can do about it. As such, it is a celebration of defiance, a parade, a showoff of political force.

It seems to me that the dominant party in the governmental coalition, the TPLF (Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front), has perfected the meaning of election under dictatorial rule: unlike one-party dictatorships, it recognizes opposition parties, allows them some freedom of maneuver, only to deprive them of even one seat in the parliament as a manifestation of its absolute hegemony. This is none other than an extreme form of political bullying, as in the case when a child donates his toy to another child and takes it back after some time as a way of showing his dominance by aggravating the frustration of the other child.

The ultimate goal of this political bullying is, of course, the inculcation of submission through the sense of hopelessness. While in democratic countries, elections establish the legitimacy of states through the exercise of popular sovereignty, in dictatorial regimes, like that of the TPLF, they are periodical rituals displaying the submission of the people. To the extent that these elections raise and then dash hopes for change, they renew the sense of hopelessness of the people, and so deepen their resignation.

* Messay Kebede is professor of philosophy at the University of Dayton, Ohio (USA). He previously taught philosophy at Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia). He is the author of five books: Meaning and Development (1994), Survival and Modernization—Ethiopia’s Enigmatic Present (1999), Africa’s Quest for a Philosophy of Decolonization (2004), Radicalism and Cultural Dislocation in Ethiopia, 1960-1974 (2008), and Ideology and Elite Conflicts: Autopsy of the Ethiopian Revolution (2011). He has also published numerous articles in professional and nonprofessional journals.

Source: http://www.eurasiareview.com/04062015-ethiopia-making-sense-of-100-percent-election-victory-oped/

Most hated, most voted!

Habtamu seyoum

According to late may 24 news of the shoddy, government affiliated website, Aiga forum, the Ethiopian people revolutionary democratic front had won 100% of the votes. It looks like Election 2015 is not different from its predecessors; the most hated party in the whole nation proclaimed as it is the sole winner of the popular Election. Delirium seems the intimate pal of the ruling party, madness looks like the chronic disease of EPRDF, Insanity found to be the intrinsic element of this gang.

At this moment, many may think ‘do we still need peaceful way of dealing with those larrikins?’

They know we hated them. Personally I will tell my children, ‘the dark ages were midwifed in Dedbit(the birth place of EPRDF).But still I do not like to advocate the use of  barrel. For them, the smell of barrel is as aromatic as scented shrubs. They were rebels who had been befriended with bloody wars. War needs not the bright minded but the dark-hearted. we need to give them what they hate. They hate mind war without a single bullet. And that is solidarity against their seasonal joke.

If you really want to scare them do not pick a gun (at least we need to wait for sometime), act in oneness, let your unity be your mopping weapon. Show them you are not small groups with a gun; show them you are the mass of great intelligence with no return and you need power back to the people.

  I used to see election time as Jesus in every five years; it made the unthinkable possible. I witnessed when the pharos get terrified like slaves, I watched the people at power get up from their hammock and worry once again. And this year I found out that it is just the continued Episode of ‘be disappointed’.  

What I looked in the pre-election week is the extended version of the last theatre ‘when the dictators get panicked’.

 An election is one of the powerful points of solidarity. An Election is capable of creating meeting of minds regardless of your religion, ethnic group; color etc. environs of the election are filled with same songs of change, unity, and oneness. This is a scary -to -death experience for the government. In previous days, it may be is easy to break every single thought of change, but now the solidified sense of togetherness is unthinkable to touch.

 That is why the ruling party had wage a silent cracking war in the pre-election days. The ruling party knows it is the most hated. To them, the only way to sweep the ballot box is showing the ultimate aggressiveness.

 The past weeks are filled with flustering moments. The police force, (that always acts as the personal guard of the authorities) was busy of jailing young politicians. The social media was swarmed by photos of stoned political party members and raided offices. Almost every political party that decides to stand the ruling party had confronted the bully side of the people at power. 

 Members of blue party in Debre Markos, members of Arena party from Mekele, members of Mederk in Oromiya and some parts of southern nations and nationalities, are some of the victims. It is amusing to see a maddened ruling party which happens to brag ‘we have enough supporters, winning the election might not be a difficult tusk’.

And there came Redwan Hussein, a man of neither intelligence nor shame. On national TV he warned the people that if there will be a problem during the election week (by problem he meant any protest after the result of the election is announced), the army is ready to do ‘’what is necessary. ‘’

Before even nothing happened all they think is the flood of protesters that seems inevitable after the results. It is obvious the ruling party will not respect any outcome. So to Redwan, it is not untimely to announce a state of emergency like statement before a single emergency matter pops. It is an implicit remark of fear within the ruling party.

The foreign journalists who came to Ethiopia to cover the election were not let free. Under the communication office of the government they are told to notify the place they need to cover and wait some kind of green light.  And latter, we read on the social media tanks and heavily armed squad is heading towards Addis Abeba. Wow! Isn’t it like s ‘whatever you vote you owe your life to us’. Mass arrest and intimidation once again engulfed the capital.

What happened on the “election day” is the climax of the batty week. From early morning up to the early evening what we read on the social media was a pure violation of the election code of conduct.

Voters, on their face book wall posted, how the members of the electoral board force them to vote for the ruling party, how they are prevented from voting the opposition groups, how observers and opposition party delegates are harassed etc.

Hiring the army as a threatening squad, spreading members of the electoral board as collaborators of the sin, holding the good for nothing African union observers to hush , we heard the bark of the Aigaians  ‘’the ruling party won 100% of the vote”.

What a success i, it is like we are going to see no opposition member in the parliament.wel come to the biggest motel of Ethiopia, where more than five hundred MPs snore to death. Muzzling the people wasn’t enough for them; they want to play with the life of the mass.

 Who knows if they are trying to show the world a new era of governance? Like the marionette prime minister lectured the Aljazeera journalist, democracy may not be only an election. Who knows in Ethiopia election is about voting who you hate most?

 I am not sure about many things. But I am sure a party that silenced the freedom of speech, the party that fill the prisons with the opposition leaders, the party that sowed tribalism, the party that force thousands to live their home and perished in the Mediterranean, the party that made being educated means nothing but a stone grinder ….is not definitely the one that is entitled to win 100%, unless otherwise there is a new law, ‘most hated most voted’.

Like St Athanasius of Alexandra even The world may be stand against me, in that case I will respond ‘’Then I am against the world.’’

My words will remain the same ‘we are neither the people that like to coronate our killers nor to see ourselves dead hand folded.’

Welcome to the new era of struggle!!!

Source: mircha.org

The Chutzpah of the TPLF Foreign Minister and his criticism of Israeli ‘police brutality’

May 11, 2015

by Alem Mamo

The headline on Jewish Business News reads “Ethiopian Foreign Ministry expresses concern over ‘police brutality’ in Israel and ‘years of discrimination of Ethiopian Israelis’.”  When I saw the headline initially I thought it was some kind of joke written as a satirical column. However, as I read through the article, I realized that in fact it is actually a serious piece by Ynet Columnist Itamar Eichner.

The Israeli government often gets a whole host of criticism and condemnation, and rightly so, for its policy vis-à-vis the rights, safety and security of the Palestinian people, or for the lack of social and economic mobility of Ethiopian-Israeli Jews who came to Israel through the Aliyah. These criticisms, most of the time, originate from those who abide by and respect the basic tenants of freedom, justice and appreciation for the sanctity and dignity of human life. What I found startling and what forced me to gasp at this story is that the criticism and the demand for an explanation came from the ruthless and authoritarian regime managed and operated by TPLF. It is beyond audacity for a regime to speak of ‘brutality’ and ‘discrimination’ by Israeli police while subjecting the people of Ethiopia to terror and brutality for more than two decades. This kind of audacity doesn’t even register on the Chutzpah chart. Inbits blatancy and irony, it defies even the fundamentals of public relations stunt.

First and foremost, the TPLF regime has stripped Ethiopian citizenship rights of those who acquire another citizenship. Effectively denying people of Ethiopian origin (including Israelis of Ethiopian origin) from participating in the political discourse of their country of birth. The obvious reason for this, as is well known, is that vast majority of members of Ethiopian diaspora does not support or ally itself with the TPLF regime. Thus, blocking the political participation of the members of Ethiopian diaspora by denying them citizenship is a political strategy to minimize the potential electoral power of opposition groups.

In the 2003 Proclamation on Ethiopian Nationality, No. 378 of 2003 that offers detail to the Ethiopian Constitution Article 6 on Citizenship, the regime explicitly stipulated, “Ethiopian citizenship is only allowed to be retained or
acquired if the individual does not possess or acquire the citizenship of another country.”2 Given this fact the TPLF regime does not have the legal mandate or right under international law to speak on behalf of those it calls ‘foreign’.

In fact, the TPLF seems comfortable meddling in the internal affairs of a sovereign state in this case the state of Israel. This is perhaps an indication of the utter ignorance of the elites of TPLF and their unfamiliarity with the law they have promulgated, let alone the international law surrounding citizenship and the responsibility of the state. There was a ‘story’ I was told long ago, and it goes like this: When TPLF entered Addis Ababa the leadership and the foot soldiers realized that Mengistu Hailemariam had fled to Zimbabwe prior to their entry. Their immediate response was “why don’t we continue our military operation on to Zimbabwe until we capture or kill him.” They had to be reminded that, first, Harare is 4311 Kms from Addis Ababa, and second, they have to enter the sovereign territories of three African countries before they get to Harare.

Secondly, the TPLF regime doesn’t have an inch of moral ground to stand on and criticize the human rights record of the Israel government or Israel police force. Human Rights Watch in its 2015 World Report summed up its assessment of TPLF regime – “The Ethiopian government during 2014 intensified its campaign of arrests, prosecutions, and unlawful force to silence criticism, Human Rights Watch said in its Report. The government responded to peaceful protests with harassment, threats, and arbitrary detention, and used draconian laws to further repress journalists, opposition activists, and critics.”

Amnesty International further elaborates in more explicit language outlining the brutality and lawlessness of TPLF security apparatus: “In April and May, protests took place across Oromia region against a proposed “Integrated
Master Plan’ to expand the capital, Addis Ababa, into Oromia regional territory. Security services, comprising federal police and military Special Forces, responded with excessive force, firing live ammunition at protesters in Ambo and Guder towns and Wallega and Madawalabu universities, resulting in the deaths of at least 30 people, including children. Hundreds of people were beaten by security service agents during and after the protests, including protesters, bystanders, and parents of protesters for failing to ‘control’ their children, resulting in scores of injuries.”

There are a slew of reports from global and national human rights organizations detailing the suffering and injustices the people of Ethiopia facing under the rule of TPLF. Almost all Ethiopians inside and outside the country do not see the TPLF as the guardian and protector of their rights and freedoms. In fact the opposite is true; the primary threat to the Ethiopian people is the Gestapo like security apparatus of the regime. It perpetrates almost all of the human rights violations in the country.

The behavior of the government is demonstrated clearly in the recent demonstrations initially called by the regime in response to the ISIS beheadings of Ethiopian migrants in Libya. The demonstration turned into a rallying cry
against the government itself. It must have been apparent to those present why these young men left Ethiopia in the first place, as so many have in the past two decades.

Human rights violators cannot be human rights defenders. The TPLF regime wants to have it both ways. It is also apparent that the Ethiopian people and those who stand on the side of the oppressed and marginalized are not buying it.

The author can be reached at Alem6711@gmail.com.

Source: http://ecadforum.com/2015/05/11/tedros-adhanoms-criticism-of-israeli-police-brutality/

Ethiopia: The Election That Isn’t

by Yoseph Badwaza

Program Officer, Africa

Ethiopia’s upcoming national elections on May 24 are the first to be held since the 2012 death of longtime Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who presided over a highlyrepressive political system that decimated the country’s independent media and civil society. Initially, there was a guarded hope that the ruling party—the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)—might ease restrictions and allow some level of competition, in order to appease growing discontent with its authoritarian rule and maintain stability within its own ranks.

However, this hope has been dashed over the past year, as EPRDF has cracked down on dissent and used its thorough control over state institutions to cripple the opposition and block any threat to its 24 years of entrenched political dominance.

Control of the media and public discussion

The space for public dissent has long been constrained by a host of draconian laws, media censorship, and aggressive prosecutions. But the government signaled its intent to silence any remaining criticism ahead of the 2015 elections in April 2014, when it arrested six members of the Zone 9 blogging collective along with three journalists and charged them with terrorism-related offenses. (Later that year, security forces detained and raided the homes and offices of four prominent young opposition leaders who had just begun holding leadership positions in their parties and gaining popularity on the national stage. They too are facing terrorism charges.) The attack on independent media continued throughout 2014, leading more than 30 journalists to flee the country as several of the publications they worked for were shut down amid criminal prosecutions.

Meanwhile, EPRDF exercises absolute control over state media and numerous party-affiliated outlets, allowing it to dominate public discussion. As voters head to the polls on May 24, they will not be informed by any national debate on competing policy platforms. Instead, the extent and scope of the political discourse has been framed months in advance, presenting EPRDF’s “developmental democracy” model as a panacea for the economic and social woes facing the country.

Marginalization of opposition parties

EPRDF blatantly uses institutions of the state to block and undermine the activities of opposition parties. Its near-total control of the federal and regional legislatures has for years denied opposition parties a prominent role in lawmaking and government oversight that would allow them to build public support. Even local councils have been rendered effectively out of reach for the opposition since 2008, when EPRDF changed electoral rules to increase the size of each kebele (the lowest-level administrative unit) council from 100 to 300 seats. As a result, during the latest local and municipal elections in April 2013, the well-resourced EPRDF fielded more than 3.5 million candidates, winning a similar number of seats throughout the country, while some beleaguered opposition parties managed to field only one candidate.

It is worth emphasizing that such local administrative structures are the primary tools for maintaining EPRDF’s dominance, as they are linked to a network of operatives that reaches down to the household level in both urban and rural settings. Moreover, municipal officials across the country routinely deny permission for opposition rallies, and police forcibly disband and arrest peaceful protesters, playing a crucial part in suppressing dissent.

Given this virtually uniform control of federal, regional, and local government bodies, the stage is set for a repeat of the 2010 elections, in which EPRDF claimed to have won 99.6 percent of legislative seats nationwide.

Manipulation of the electoral system

As part of its preparations for the May 24 elections, EPRDF coordinated a massive voter registration effort with local government operatives, essentially ruling party officials, who went house to house urging citizens to register to vote during the 50-day registration period. Local officials employ a mix of threats and promises to woo largely apathetic voters, particularly in urban centers. Less than three weeks into the registration period, the National Electoral Board of Ethiopia (NEBE) reported a 127 percent rate of voter registration in the Somali region, where an active counterinsurgency operation is being conducted and past elections have been delayed due to security concerns, casting further doubt on the credibility of the entire process.

EPRDF also mobilized its extensive network of state and party operatives to make sure that opposition efforts to reach constituencies met with a multitude of administrative barriers and politically motivated red tape. In February, the NEBE went out of its way to delegitimize popular leaders of the opposition Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) party by exploiting its internal disputes. As a result, prominent UDJ leaders, including a sitting member of parliament, lost their platforms to run as candidates. Instead, the EPRDF-controlled election board promoted a hitherto unknown faction within UDJ and installed them as the new leadership of the party.

With independent civil society crippled as a result of restrictions imposed by the Charities and Societies Proclamation (CSP), voter-education and election-observation activities have also become the exclusive domain of the NEBE and EPRDF-affiliated “mass associations.” Ethiopian “civil society” election observers deployed under the auspices of the NEBE in 2010 quickly declared those elections “free, fair, and democratic,” even as an EU Election Observation Missionconcluded that they were “marred by a narrowing of political space and an uneven playing field” and fell short of international commitments for a free and fair election. In what appears to be an attempt to forestall similar criticism in this election cycle, EPRDF has started downplaying the role of international observers very early, repeating the mantra that the elections need to be credible only to the Ethiopian people.

An orderly formality

The May elections are set to be held against the backdrop of multiple terrorism trials of dissidents who were thrown in jail for expressing their views, a divided and persecuted opposition that must simultaneously campaign and struggle for its very survival, a muted international response to EPRDF’s growing repressive measures, and the absence of credible international election observers.

All technical aspects of the elections, from voter registration through casting ballots on election day, may proceed without any major flaws. But the election environment is nowhere near conducive to a free and democratic expression of the will of the Ethiopian people. Instead of providing Ethiopians with the opportunity to freely engage in political discourse and nurture a genuine multiparty democracy, the elections have been reduced to a mere formality for extending EPRDF’s iron grip on power for another five years.

Analyses and recommendations offered by the authors do not necessarily reflect those of Freedom House.

Source:freedomhouse.org