Cracking on Dissent by Cadre Network Making Ethiopia an open Air Prison

By Abenezer A

Before we get into that, first let’s see the political history of Ethiopia is

Political history

The current government, led by the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), came to power in arm struggle  1991 after many years fight in an atmosphere of great hope, ending a decade of civil war and overthrowing dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam. A coalition of armed groups, including the Tigrean People's Liberation Front (TPLF) and Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF), both ideologically driven Marxist organizations, allied  together to overthrow Mengistu's "Derg" (an Amharic word meaning committee), which had been in power since 1974. The Derg was responsible for human rights violations on an very high  scale including the torture, murder, and "disappearance" of tens of thousands of Ethiopians during the 1976-1978 period dubbed the Red Terror. The Derg continued to commit widespread violations of human rights until its defeat in 1991. Prior to the Derg, Emperor Haile Selassie ruled the country for more than forty years. His imperial rule was also characterized by widespread human rights abuses, autocratic control of the legislature and judiciary, and maintenance of an essentially feudal system in the countryside.

After the derg was toppled down, a transitional government was formed in 1991 that lasted until 1995. The constitution was adopted in 1995, drawing lines between regions based on ethnicity, Eprdf masquerade as coalition  party  formed by oromo people democratic organization(opdo), Amahra National Democratic Movement, Southern people’s democratic Movement (Spdm). However The TPLF dominated central government claims that its guiding principles are democracy, development, and minority rights, but maintains a tight grip over diverse segments of society and all potential political opponents. The ruling part Eprdf has enshrined ostensibly democratic institutions at local, regional, and national levels, but, in reality, party cadres remain in control. International advisors say that, for example, political decentralization, seemingly meant to ensure democratic decision-making at local levels, has in fact been carefully crafted by the central government to ensure effective federal (and ruling party) control of regional and local government institutions. International observers have cited widespread interference and manipulation, including some political killings, in recent national and local elections. Some opposition parties boycotted the elections to protest a perceived uneven playing field.

Governance in Ethiopia 

Ethiopia is  right now one party state, where check and balance are nonexistent.  Recently in may 2015, Ethiopia has conducted the 5th round election.  The Ethiopian people’s Revolutionary democratic front  came to power in 1991 with hope creating a democratic system. That hope shattered the moment Eprdf start revealing its true colors, for two decades Eprdf has been engaged in a gross human right violations instead of conducting a democratic reform. It has conducted 5 round elections, all the elections weren’t free and fair. The 3^rd round election which was held in 2005 security forces fatally shot,beat or strangle 193 people protesting election fraud  and on the fourth round election, Eprdf claim to have won 99.6 % parliamentary seats. The party faced a strong  criticism from different civil society organizations. In May  (Eprdf) took all the parliament seats winning, this equates the regime with North Korea, Iraq of Sadam Hussain.

In Ethiopia people live with fear of being arrested the next minute they utter their discontent bet in social media or in social gatherings.  Following the 2005 Election Clash, the government has scaled up its repression closing many private newspapers by drafting controversial laws

No Freedom or space  to practice journalism

Because of high risks of operating inside the country, many Ethiopian journalists work in exile reporting through personal blogs and websites. CPJ says Ethiopia drove 30 journalists into exile in 2014, a sharp increase over both 2012 and 2013. Authorities use sophisticated  high-tech jamming equipment to filter and block news websites seen as pro-opposition or which the regime called promoter of Anti-peace Elements Agendas. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW), since 2010 the Ethiopian government has developed a robust and sophisticated internet and mobile framework to monitor journalists and opposition groups, block access to unwanted websites or critical television and radio programs, and collect evidence for prosecutions in politically motivated trials. The regime spends millions to purchase surveillance  programs

Crack on dissents and independent medias has intensified

As its been previously stated, after 2005 the crack on independent medias and civil society has intensified.  The government saw that civil society organizations are a big threat to its existence.  Following that government adopted three proclamations, in 2008 Freedom of mass media and access to information law and in 2009, the infamous anti-terrorism  law and the charity and society law. After the adoption of the laws  countless people has been jailed  with fabricated charges, some of the charges include trying to incite violence by photoshoping onself with osama bin laden picture and posting on facebook, there also individuals  charged for being a bachelor.  Here are some of the people who has been charged with terrisom after the adoption of the law. There are also  group of bloggers who were charged for applying for an internet security training, which one of the defendants confessed recently to have been forced to drink his urine. According to committee to protect journalists, since 2010,  60 Ethiopian journalists have fled into exile, including 30 in 2014 alone. The adoption of the proclamation not only affected those in the media sector, civil servants and university students

The one to five organizing method        

 Right now Eprdf has more than 7 million members which was 400000  ten years ago, one in  five Ethiopians aged between 20 and 65 is a member of the ruling party Eprdf now.  It was created with the aim of creating “development army”, the government come up with a one to five system, each model famer which clearly is a cadre, should bring five peasant neighbors in his wake. In reality though, the so called army has become a multi-tentacle tool to enlist and control the whole population.

The presence of the Eprdf at all levels of society—directly and, increasingly, electronically—inhibits free private discussion. Many people are afraid of speaking against the government. Eprdf maintains a network of paid informants, and opposition politicians have accused the government of tapping their phones.

The 1 to 5 organizing method is a network that makes Ethiopians feel like they are in open air prison,  right now in Ethiopia, people are in fear of expressing themselves in front of their relatives let alone co-workers. The 5 to 1 organizing method give the government the ability to spy on 5 people using one individual.  At this moment, job and  promotion is reserved only member of the ruling party Eprdf.  As previously stated, Eprdf spends millions of dollars to buy surveillance software to spy on opposition leaders and journalists which are living in exile, this is happening in  a nation where 15 millions are going to be starved in 2016. The government don’t know how to prioritize, even recently they have unveiled  a plan to build house for  retired senior EPRDF remembers  with a cost of 25 million birr.

One To 5 network in Universities

Academic freedom is often restricted in Ethiopia. The government has accused universities of being a supporter of opposition parties  and restricts  political activities on campuses. There are reports of students being pressured into joining the Eprdf in order to secure employment or places at universities; professors are similarly pressured in order to ensure favorable positions or promotions. The Ministry of Education closely monitors and regulates official curricula, and the research, speech, and assembly of both professors and students are frequently restricted. In 2014, the Scholars at Risk network catalogued three incidents in academia, including the jailing or firing of professors who expressed antigovernment opinions.

The government wants to control every sector of the government, in university campuses students are supposed to take government propaganda training  to get registered. Those who refused to attend get dismissed.  Students cant air out their discontent, since the regime on power had make sure that there is 1 spy for every  5 person in University campuses.  Great critics of the government who teach at the campuses get dismissed for their political belief.   University campus has turned from a place where students are supposed to maximize their potential to serve the nation to the ruling party’s ideology teaching center.  The  person who spies on the 5 individuals get a daily payment for his or her spying work.  From the political history of the nation, Ethiopian universities were the starting points of public uprising. The 1973 student movement, started with a question of securing the land for the farmers holding the motto of land to the tiller. Currently Students are passive in campus involve in political activities due the cadre network that spy on them. However last year in 2014  and 2015 Oromo students have goes against the odds  and  did a wide scale protest against the New Integrated Addis Master plan, according to eyewitness 47  students have  lost their life and  many has been arrested, the protest has sparked again in 2015  starting from November 25, its continuing now, sofar 44 people have lost their life.  Unless the government get rid off  its militant mentality and start to give space and listen its people, It will get worse than it already is right now.

WEALTH AND FREEDOM IN ETHIOPIA (THE WALL STREET JOURNAL)

(The Wall Street Journal) As Ethiopia opens its economy to western investors, its political system is becoming more closed, human rights organizations say.

Ethiopian Government Uses Cyber-Attacks to Restrict Media Houses

Thehill.com reported during second week of March 2015 stating that the Ethiopian government is using cyber attacks to try to stop news from reaching to its citizens.

Researchers of the University of Toronto discovered attempts by the Ethiopian government to hack the computers of journalists based at US who are working with Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT).

Ethiopian journalists who left their home country after being subjected to criminal charges and government threats are running an independent news outlet.

During November and December of 2014, researchers say that digital attackers tried to place spyware on the computers of two employees of ESAT in Washington, D.C. The software would have allowed the hackers to steal files and passwords and also capture all calls in Skype and instant messages.

The cyberattackers tried to penetrate the computers with a fake email with an enclosed Microsoft Word Document containing the malicious spyware.

Citizen Lab analysed the attacks thoroughly and suggested that attacks were conducted with a spyware known as Remote Control System (RCS) sold by an Italian Hacking Team which sells hacking and surveillance technology.

This spyware was supposedly used in December 2013 in trying to infect systems of ESAT employees. If the spyware is installed successfully on the computer of the target, it would allow the government to control the software access to activity on the PC or phone including files, email, typed passwords on the device, contact lists, audio and video from the gadget's microphone and camera.

Citizen Lab also discovered that the spyware which was used in attacking ESAT seems to have been updated recently in December 2014.

The Ethiopian government did not directly answer questions about usage of products of Hacking Team for the purpose of spying.

Washingtonpost.com published news during second week of March 2015 quoting a statement of Tesfaye Wolde Ambassador of Ethiopia in Washington as "Ethiopia acts according to its own laws and with the laws of nations."

Washingtonpost.com published news during second week of March 2015 quoting Eric Rabe, Spokesperson of the company, as saying "Hacking Team investigates the allegations of the abuse. If we find that an agency is misusing our technology, we can take many actions and even withdraw our support from the system."

» SPAMfighter News - 01-04-2015

Source: www.spamfighter.com

The prominent oromo poltician bekele gerba has been released finishing his term (Esat reporting)

The man that inspired many is now released, the regime loyalist would surely boast about how the justice system works. However, this man lost 4 years from his life for something that he doesnt know about, his incarcerators are indebted for the years wasted. I would say justice served when his they are behind bars. For now, I am happy that his is with family

Donor Dollars aiding political repression in Ethiopia

By Graham Peebles

An ideological poison is polluting all life within Ethiopia, flowing into every area of civil society. Local governance, urban and rural neighbourhoods, farming, education and the judiciary all are washed in Revolutionary Democracy’, the doctrine of the ruling party. Human Rights Watch (HRW) in their detailed report ‘Development without Freedom’ (DWF) quote Ethiopia’s Prime Minister for the last twenty years Meles Zenawi explaining that “when Revolutionary Democracy permeates the entire society, individuals will start to think alike and all persons will cease having their own independent outlook. In this order, individual thinking becomes simply part of collective thinking because the individual will not be in a position to reflect on concepts that have not been prescribed by Revolutionary Democracy.” A society of automatons is the EPRDF vision, The Borg Collective in the Horn of Africa, men women and children of the seventy or so tribal groups of Ethiopia all dancing to one repressive tune sung by the ruling EPRDF.

Dollars and nonsense

Ethiopia receives around $3 billion dollars in long-term development aid each year (second only to Indonesia); this is more than a third of the country’s total annual budget. Funds and resources donated to support the needy, in the hands of the Zenawi regime are being employed as a means of manipulating the Ethiopian people along partisan ideological lines. HRW states in DWF, “the Ethiopian government is using development aid as a tool of political repression by conditioning access to essential government services on support for the ruling party.”

The EPRDF has complete control of funds donated to Ethiopia by the Development Assistance Group (DAG), a consortium of the main donors, including the World Bank, USA, the European Commission and Britain. The government holds the purse strings of every dollar and cent allocated for the four major areas of development work: Protection of Basic Services (PBS), the Productive Safety Net Programme, Public Sector Capacity Building and the General Education Quality Improvement.

The largest single donor is the USA, which in 2011 according to US state department figures “provided $847 million in assistance, including more than $323 million in food aid.” The European Commission gives 400 million and Britain, via the Department Foreign Investment and Development (DFID) has committed £331million ($516million) per year until 2015. The British taxpayers’ pounds according to DFID “will meet the needs of the very poorest and support proven results-driven programmes that will bring healthcare, education and water to millions of people.” Well intentioned perhaps, however in attempting to ‘meet the needs of the very poorest’, as DFID claim, HRW research found that all international development aid, “flows through, and directly supports, a virtual one-party state with a deplorable human rights record, [whose] practices include jailing and silencing critics and media, enacting laws to undermine human rights activity, and hobbling the political opposition.” Facts well known to donors, who are content it seems to allow, indeed support the politicization of aid, a catalogue of human rights violations and the widespread suppression of the people,forced to live in an ideological straight jacket fastened tight by agents of the Zenawi government, at national, regional and community level.

Conditional support

The EPRDF government controls all areas of government and civil society in Ethiopia, from the judiciary to the classroom, the media to the farm, telecommunication and the banks.

The EPRDF controls all areas of government and civil society in Ethiopia, from the judiciary to the classroom, the media to the farm, telecommunication and the banks. Its reach into urban neighborhoods and rural communities was greatly increased before the 2008 elections, when the number of seats in the woreda and kebele were expanded from 15 to 300. Only the EPRDF was able to field candidates in all councils and with opposition parties largely boycotting the unfair elections, the EPRDF ‘won’ over 99.9% of the seats, meaning as HRW state “the ruling party had total control of the rural majority of the Ethiopian population.”

Through the regional offices of the woreda and kebele the government exercises its ability to control ordinary rural and urban Ethiopians; it is here that the administration of daily life takes place. Local offices approve or reject, applications from farmers for seeds and fertilizer, decide on micro credit support, distribute food to the needy (10 – 20 million rely on food aid), allocate education and employment opportunities, issue business permits and ID cards. The result, as HRW state is “state/party officials have significant influence over the livelihoods of citizens.” An understatement, in fact they govern all aspects of life, within the city or the village, for the teacher or the judge, the women seeking to start a small business, or the Mother desperate to feed her family. All are at the mercy of government officials.

Emergency food relief is given as part of the PBS program, a highly expensive complex development scheme, which assigns around $1 billion a year reports HRW, in a “block grant to the federal government,” they disperse the funds through their kebele’s and woreda offices. Distribution is based not on need, but on political association, support the opposition groups in Ethiopia and find your name scratched from the food aid list and go hungry, HRW found “the partisan allocation of food aid, [is] a problem that has been anecdotally reported in many areas and over many years in Ethiopia, especially in recent years in Somali region.” Such political discrimination of food aid distribution is not only immoral; it is in violation of international law. Farmers who Express dissent towards the government have the agricultural seeds and fertilizer needed to grow crops for their family and community withheld, voice concern over local governance as a teacher and find your career destroyed and your job taken away. HRW found “the EPRDF controls every woreda in the country, and can discriminate against any household or kebele within these administrative areas.” Given such repressive illegal actions it is inexplicable that the DFID in its Plan For Ethiopia (PFE) state the government shows “a strong commitment to fight corruption.” What the EPRDF shows is a strong commitment to suppress dissent, silence all critical voices and control the people utterly.

Big Ethiopian brother

Ethiopia is a one party state, with no freedom of speech, or assembly nor freedom of the media and where opposition forces critical of the government are silenced in the most brutal fashion. It is puzzling then, that the DFID (PFE) states, “Ethiopia has also made some progress toward establishing a functioning democracy,” It is certainly not an image of democracy recognizable to anyone who holds human rights and freedom of expression central to such an ideal and is contradicted by USAID’s statement in its Strategy Plan for Ethiopia where they acknowledge the“$13 million+ that USAID/Ethiopia invested between 2006 and 2010 specifically to promote democratic transition produced little in the way of tangible results, and specific programs have been the subject of stalling and even outright hostility.” The DFID however, go on to compound the misrepresentation asserting, “Ethiopia has achieved a strong degree of political stability through decentralized regional government.” If by ‘stability’ the DFID mean lack of popular resistance to imposed governance, through the fearful subjugation of the people, then yes this the EPRDF has succeeded in doing.

Opposition to the government is not tolerated nor is there decentralized governance, as Thomas Staal, USAID Mission Director to Ethiopia recently stated, and “the [Ethiopian] government wants to be able to control political space very carefully The kebele, woreda and sub kebele’s are extensions of central government, carrying out the divisive partisan policies of the EPRDF, the sole expression of democratic principles in Ethiopia are those found within constitutional articles, that sit neatly filed upon ministerial shelves, collecting dust, as HRW make clear “democracy [is] a hollow concept in a country steered by a powerful party-driven government in which the distinction between party and state is almost impossible to define.” And In their report “One Hundred Ways of Putting Pressure Violations of Freedom of Expression and Association in Ethiopia“ HRW echo USAID’s comment, observing that “despite the lip service given to democracy and human rights, respect for core civil and political rights such as freedom of expression and association in Ethiopia is deteriorating.” DFID officials it seems have been duped by a plethora of conformist federal laws and signatures to multiple international treatises, into accepting the word of a government that terrifies its people and tramples on international human rights law.

Partisan monitoring

Not only are all key development programs implemented by the EPRDF, but also monitoring is also undertaken in partnership with government agencies. Objective accurate monitoring is essential in determining the effectiveness of development programs; it is difficult to see how unbiased data can be collected under such highly restrictive circumstances.  HRW makes the point that “donors should recognize that Ethiopia’s own accountability systems are moribund, and that the principal barrier to detecting distortion is the Ethiopian government.” Their view that independent monitoring “is needed (without the participation of the Ethiopian Government)” is clearly correct and the bare minimum donors should insist on.

In its wisdom however, the DFID – a key donor, whilst recognizing the importance of monitoring appears happy to rely on the Ethiopian government, in which they naively invest such trust. They plan to “continue to monitor progress using national data drawn from administrative and survey sources,” i.e. the Ethiopian government. This demonstration of neglect by the DFID is an abdication of duty not only to British taxpayers, but also to the people of Ethiopia, who the EPRDF, with the help of international donors, continue to suppress and intimidate. They cannot and should not be trusted, HRW Deputy Director Jan England’s Open Letter to DFID Secretary of State Andrew Mitchell makes this plain, “the Ethiopian government is extremely resistant to scrutiny the British government and other donors to Ethiopia should not allow the Ethiopian government to dictate the terms on which British public money is monitored, and every effort should be made to prevent British development aid from strengthening authoritarian rule and repression.”

Ideological imposition

At the core of the EPRDF’s suppression and disregard for human rights is an ideological obsession. Revolutionary Democracy. Evangelical party political indoctrination takes place in within schools, teacher training institutions, the civil service and the judiciary. All contrary to international law, the Ethiopian constitution and federal laws, composed to conform to universal legal standards, conveniently cited by politician and diplomats, ignored and unenforced they mean nothing to the people.

School children above grade 10 (aged 15/16 years) are required to attend training sessions in the party ideology, policies on economic development, land sales and education. Admission to university, although not legally the case is implicitly dependent upon membership of the party, HRW found “students were under the impression that they needed party membership cards to gain admission to university.” The EPRDF stamp is also required to secure government jobs after graduation. All teachers, civil servants and judges are under pressure to tow the party line, to join the EPRDF and follow its doctrine, failure to do so impacts on employment and career prospects. Ethiopia’s largest donor, the USA, in the State Department human rights country report for 2011 notes, “Students in schools and universities were indoctrinated in the core precepts of the ruling EPDRF party’s concept of “revolutionary democracy…. the ruling party “stacks” student enrolment at Addis Ababa University… Authorities did not permit teachers at any level to deviate from official lesson plans and actively prohibited partisan political activity and association of any kind.”

Educational brainwashing of course contravenes the Ethiopian constitution, which clearly states in Article 90/2 “Education shall be provided in a manner that is free from any religious influence, political partisanship or cultural prejudice.” Words, righteous and legally binding are of no concern to Zenawi, his ministers, foreign diplomats and the cadres or spies who patrol the city neighbourhoods, university campus and civil service offices, infiltrate villages and towns of rural Ethiopia intimidating and blackmailing the people. International donors however, should be deeply concerned and take urgent actions to stop such violations of national and international law and the politicisation of aid distribution including emergency food relief.

Mixed Motives distorted action

Western governments reasons for providing development aid to Ethiopia are both humanitarian and strategic, USAID in its country plan, calls Ethiopia “the most strategically important partner in the region,” and the DFID states, “Ethiopia matters to the UK for a range of development, foreign policy and security reasons.”

Regional stability and the ‘fight against terrorism’ is cited as justification for continuing to support the EPRDF, in spite of extensive human rights abuses, the partisan distribution of aid and state terrorism. In fact, far from bringing stability to the area, the Zenawi regime is a cause of instability, this Anna Gomez makes plain “the Al-Shabab militia [Islamist group in Somalia] have only grown stronger [emphasis mine] and survival has been made more difficult since Ethiopian troops invaded in 2006, at the behest of George W. Bush.”

With conflicting interests, some might say corrupt and corrupting, donor countries find themselves funding a deeply repressive violent regime, enabling a coordinated policy of ideological indoctrination to take place, as HRW found “the government has used donor-supported programs, salaries, and training opportunities as political weapons to control the population, punish dissent, and undermine political opponents” Western donors silence and complicity in the face of such violations of international law is as Anna Gomez rightly says in the Bureau of Investigative Journalism 4^th August 2011 “letting down all those who fight for justice and democracy and increasing the potential for conflict in Ethiopia and in Africa.”

The politicization and manipulation of aid distribution by the EPRDF violates international law and all standards of moral decency. Those providing aid must take urgent action to ensure this illegal practice comes to an end. Donors are well aware of the human rights abuses taking place, but have turned a blind eye to the repression of civil and political rights and a deaf ear to the cries of the many for justice and freedom. Western governments silence amounts to collusion; it is a gross misuse of taxpayer’s money and a betrayal, of international human rights laws and the Ethiopian people. 

Graham is Director of The Create Trust, a UK registered charity, supporting fundamental social change and the human rights of individuals in acute need.

Source: mwcnews.net

ማርች 8’ትን ስናስታውስ – በላይ ገሠሠ

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በሕብረተሰባዊ የዕድገት ታሪክ ውስጥ ሴቶች ለነፃነት፣ እኩልነት፣ ለሰብኣዊ መብትና ፍትሕ መረጋገጥ የከፈሉትን መስዋእትነት ትልቅ ስፍራ ይዞ ይገኛል:: ይህ በመሆኑም ዘንድሮም እንደ ተለመደው በዓለም አቀፍ ደረጃም ሆነ በሀገራችን መከበሩ የሚያሳየን የማርች 8 በዓል ታላቅነት ነው:: በሀገራችን የትግል ታሪክም በተመሳሳይ መልኩ ሴቶች ያልተሳተፉበት የነፃነት ትግል አልነበረም ቢባል የተጋነነ አይደለም:: የባዕዳን ሐይሎች ሀገራችንን በወረሩበት ጊዜም እቴጌ ጣይቱን ጨምሮ ቁጥራቸው ቀላል ያልሆኑ ሴቶች ዘማችና አዝማች በመሆንና ከወንዶች እኩል በመሰለፍ ለኢትዮያችን ህልውና ኩቡር መስዋእትነትን ከፈለው አልፏል:: በዘመናችንም የስርዓት ለውጥ ለማምጣት የተካሄደው ሁለ ገብ መራራ ትግልም የሴቶች ተሳትፎ ወሳኝ ሚና ተጫውቷል:: በዚሁ መራራ ትግልም እነ ማርታን ጨምሮ በሽዎች የሚቆጠሩ ጀግኖች ሴቶች አኩሪ መስዋእትነትን ከፍለው አልፏል:: —[ሙሉውን መግለጫ ለማንበብ እዚህ ይጫኑ]—

source: zehabesha.com

Is violent change inevitable in Ethiopia?

By Graham Peebles

As the Ethiopian government intensifies its violent suppression of the populace in the lead up to the illusion of national elections in May, there are many within the country and in the diaspora who believe a popular armed uprising is the only way to bring about change in the country.

The people’s frustration and anger towards the government is understandable as is their bewilderment at the neglect and complicity of Ethiopia’s major donors. America, the European Union and Britain collectively give almost half of Ethiopia’s federal budget in various aid packages and are well aware of the regime’s brutal form of governance but shamefully do and say nothing.

Old habits

The ruling regime, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), came to power in 1992 when they overthrew the People’s Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (PDRE). The ideologically-driven group of freedom fighters led by Meles Zenawi ousted the military dictatorship and drew up a new liberal constitution based on democratic principles of freedom and human rights. Once enthroned in Addis Ababa, however, they swiftly followed in their predecessor’s repressive footsteps and all democratic ideals where neatly filed away, to be forgotten about.

The government has imprisoned almost all major opposition leaders, as well as large numbers of troublesome journalists. An array of repressive laws has been passed to suffocate dissent and virtually criminalise freedom of expression and assembly – all contrary to their own constitution and in violation of a plethora of international conventions which they have dutifully signed up to.

With the major opposition party leaders behind bars and the regime maintaining total control of the electoral process, the result of the forthcoming May election is a forgone conclusion. It is a hollow piece of democratic theatre, which the EU has refused to legitimise with a team of observers, a mistake in my view, but understandable given the distorted result of the past two elections which the EU observed but did not validate.

Unite and act

Given the repressive picture in the country and the regime’s total intransigence, the frustration of huge numbers of people inside and outside the country is unsurprising.

But is an armed uprising the way forward? Would it be successful in ousting the ruling regime, or would there be a tightening of repressive legislation: the “rebel group” branded as terrorists, large numbers of deaths and arrests, and perhaps a long-drawn-out civil war igniting conflicts between one ethnic group and another? Is violence and hate ever the way to counter violence and hate? Not according to Martin Luther King, who presided over a largely peaceful civil rights movement in America, against an extremely violent, not to say ignorant, adversary. “Darkness,” he said, “cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”

That other giant of non-violence, Mohandas Gandhi’s civil disobedience movement, undermined the British, united the population and was crucial in bringing about independence in India. As the United Nations secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon,  has said, his His legacy is vital “in today’s world where the rights of too many people are still violated”. So is his means of achieving his goal.

As with all repressive regimes, the EPRDF follows a systematic methodology of divide and rule, so the answer to such crude means of control is unity.

We are living in unprecedented times, times of tremendous opportunity and potential change. The days are numbered for regimes like the EPRDF – it is a question of when they collapse, not if.

The people of Ethiopia, and those who make up the diaspora in Europe, America and elsewhere, need to come together, and overcome their apathy and fear, organise themselves and take responsibility for their own destiny, be creative, be heartened and learn from movements in Tunisia, Hong Kong, Egypt, Turkey, Brazil and elsewhere. They need to be inspired by the strategicactions successfully employed in the non-violent struggle led by Gandhi, and find the courage to act peacefully, to unite against what is a brutal group of men who are despised by the people and have no legitimacy to govern Ethiopia, and act with love not hate, to bring lasting change to their country.

source: mwcnews.net

A case study from the 2014 Human Rights and Democracy Report.

We were concerned about continuing restrictions on press freedoms and freedom of expression in Ethiopia in 2014, including through use of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation (ATP). Those detained under the ATP include members of opposition groups, journalists, peaceful protesters, and others seeking to exercise freedom of assembly or expression.

In July, seven bloggers from the “Zone 9” group and three journalists were charged under the ATP. The case is ongoing. In October, the prominent journalist and editor, Temesgen Dessalegn, was sentenced to three years in prison. He is appealing his conviction whilst in detention. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), 17 journalists were held in detention in 2014 – up from seven in 2013, and the fourth highest number in the world. CPJ also believes that more than 30 journalists fled Ethiopia in 2014. The Ethiopian government stated that the journalists may return, and that it has no intention of charging them.

In June, up to twenty journalists from the Oromia Radio and Television Organisation were dismissed, allegedly in relation to their critical views on student protests in the region. In August, five magazines and one newspaper ceased publication following the government’s decision to charge them under the Criminal Code in August. Studies by the Open Net Initiative and Freedom House have shown that access to electronic media is restricted. Dozens of websites, including international news sites, which feature critical content or cover sensitive political issues, have been either intermittently or permanently blocked. Other factors that work against a free media environment include challenges for private sector publishers to access affordable and reliable printing presses, and a lack of professional training for journalists. We have raised concerns about restrictions on media freedoms at the highest levels of the Ethiopian government. In September, at the UN HRC’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) we recommended that Ethiopia take concrete steps to ensure that the 2015 elections are more representative and participative than those in 2010, including by encouraging open debate among political parties. Ethiopia accepted this recommendation and we are waiting to see what action they will take.

The UK also raised these issues regularly at the most senior levels of the Ethiopian government. We continue to attend trials which have implications for press freedom, in order to assess whether they meet international fair trial standards. In May and July, the EU issued joint statements reiterating the importance of political space and freedom of expression. The EU called for due process and respect for human rights regarding the detention of the “Zone 9” bloggers, journalists, and opposition figures.

Freedom of expression is a core characteristic of any democracy. The UK believes that a more open environment, in which press freedoms are protected, will strengthen democratic accountability and contribute to Ethiopia’s long-term stability.

Source: www.gov.uk

The plight of Ethiopian migrants in Somalia

Hamza Mohamed |Aljzeera

Bossaso, Somalia - Ankles deep in brown canal water, freshly plucked green weeds in both muddy hands, Abdi Muse Kalon cannot stop grinning. He says life here has given him a second chance – a better chance.

Risking his life, Kalon walked for more than four months from Ethiopia to get to Bossaso, a port city nestled next to the Red Sea in Somalia’s northeast.

Kalon is one of at least 10,000 Ethiopian migrants who have crossed over from neighbouring Ethiopia and settled on the southern coast of the Gulf of Aden in the past five years, according to local authorities.

“It was not easy to get here, not everyone makes it. People die of starvation and thirst on the way here. And even wild animals can kill you. I’m very lucky,” Kalon told Al Jazeera.

He first tried his luck to come to Bossaso in 2009. With wages low and jobs hard to come by back home, Kalon saved enough money and boarded a boat in search of greener pastures. Oman was his final destination, but soon he was picked up by authorities in the Arab sultanate and sent back.

Unhappy with what life in Ethiopia offered him and his family, he decided Somalia was his next destination.

A cold welcome

Kalon and thousands of his countrymen are leaving one of the fastest growing economies on the African continent for a country that until recently was considered a “failed state”. This part of the Horn of Africa country has been spared the worst of the two decades-long civil war, and has had relative peace for the last 10 years.

But with seven out of 10 of Somali youth unemployed, the presence of these mainly economic migrants has caused tension. Residents want them out, by force if necessary.

The local government is leading the efforts to send the Ethiopians back. New strict laws have been put in place to curb the influx of migrants.

Any driver caught bringing in foreigners risks a fine of $300 and, or, a jail term.

Every vehicle coming into this city of more than half-a-million residents is thoroughly checked by armed soldiers. Anyone caught without valid paperwork is hauled off to an overcrowded prison before being deported back to their country of origin.

Landlords have been given firm orders not to rent their homes to the unwelcome guests, forcing Ethiopians into the harsh camps for internally displaced people on the city’s outskirts.

At these camps, they are at the mercy of raids by security forces and forceful deportations.

“We cannot cope with these numbers of undocumented migrants,” the town’s mayor, Hassan Abdalle Hassan, told Al Jazeera.

“Many times before we sent them back, but they don’t want to go back to Ethiopia. Now they come by foot because we told drivers not to bring them here.”

The mayor estimated that hundreds of new arrivals reach Bossaso every week. Some board rickety boats and later head to Gulf countries, but most remain in Bossaso.

“Depending on the time of the year we see between 200 and 300 migrants every week. That is way too many for us to accommodate,” Hassan said.

Working hard and thriving

But the government’s loud threats are falling on deaf ears. The migrants have taken over a whole neighbourhood of the city that until recently used to be exclusively inhabited by Somalis.

Restaurants, laundry shops and taxi services run by the new arrivals have not only opened but are thriving.

Every evening the streets of this part of Bossaso are filled with mainly young men from Ethiopia – Africa’s second most populous country – gathering around tea stalls. The evening ocean breeze blowing in from the sea is filled with the aroma of spicy Ethiopian food and music.

Less than a kilometre from the farm where Kalon works, a dirt road snakes through a large refugee camp.

Ahmed Abdi Muse sits in the passenger seat of a beaten-up car. He has been living in Bossaso for more than a decade and is fluent in Somali. He speaks the local dialect, making everyone second-guess his nationality. For the past five years, he has been working as a driving instructor.

“There are not that many choices for us but to stay here and do our best to provide for those close to us. Ethiopia is not an option for me, and going to Arab countries is very risky. We come here and work hard. We don’t harm anyone. We are here only to support our families,” Muse said.

The migrants are trying their best to be part of the wider community and have formed community organisations.

Mohamed Abadir is the chairman of the Ethiopian community in the Puntland region of Somalia – a semi-autonomous state in the northeast part of the country.

A resident of Bossaso for the past 20 years, he now owns a farm outside the city and employs 10 Ethiopians.

“Relations between the Somali people and our people are good, but not perfect. We live side by side in peace,” Abadir told Al Jazeera.

But life here as migrants comes with its own challenges.

“Because no one wants to rent houses to us, every Ethiopian family here is housing three other families. Housing is an issue. Apart from that we have a good understanding with our hosts,” Abadir said.

Despite the migrants best attempts to be a part of the local community, locals can’t wait to see them leave – for good.

“We are not happy with their presence,” said Abdi Noor Galayr, a vocal anti-migrant campaigner in the city.

“They have brought many problems in terms of health. We don’t know what health issues they may have. They brought criminals to this town like people smugglers. They are also putting pressure on the job market.”

Galayr and those like-minded might not want the Ethiopians in their city, but Kalon said he is going nowhere.

“Somalia is not home, but for now it is home. I hope to bring my wife and children when I have saved enough money. Life is better here,” Kalon said.

Source: aljazeera.com

Threats and censorship against critical journalists Facts: Ethiopia and press freedom

Threats and censorship against critical journalists Facts: Ethiopia and press freedom
World to criticize the government or report on abuses in Ethiopia is highly dangerous, and the situation is getting worse. Tsedale Lemma is one of the few who openly dares to talk about the stifling of freedom of expression.








- For every leader we write we never know who is going to get angry, says Tsedale Lemma, editor of the English-language magazine Addis Standard.

According to Lemma is the law that controls the media in Ethiopia completely open to interpretation. This leads to extensive journalistic self-censorship.

- And when we do not concern ourselves with self-censorship, we lack access to information or statistics, she says.

She takes police brutality as an example. It is possible to describe in general terms, but it is impossible to review cases of killing protesters.

- That we in the newspaper even take up police brutality see people who courageously. But it also means that they have expectations of us.

The newspaper constantly get emails from people who got into trouble. It's about absurd court cases, mysterious disappearances or persons imprisoned for several years for unclear reasons.

- I want to be their voice. But I do not know what the consequences will be for me or my staff.

The human rights organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) recently released two reports that indicate risks for journalists, and even human rights activists.

Tsedale Lemma highlights the nine bloggers and journalists detained in April last year and accused of terrorism and the risk of life imprisonment.

In late January the United States in a statement Ethiopia to give the nine legally secure trial.

- How can you expect a fair trial when they are charged with terrorism? When everyone knows that the court is controlled by a call from the government? she asks rhetorically.

She has been threatened and left journalism for several years, but in 2011 she founded Addis Standard. Last year she reacted at a conference where the Deputy Prime Minister said that there are no problems for journalists in Ethiopia.

- I told him that it's his word against the rest of the world. It is a strange coincidence that the journalists who are detained are the ones who are most critical of the government.

TT

Press freedom in Ethiopia
Ethiopia is in place 142 of 180 in Reporters Without Borders' press Index for 2015. In the bottom there Eritrea and North Korea. Sweden is fifth.

According to a report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) blocks all government websites and blogs which express any criticism of the country's governance.

Ethiopia is the country in the world after Iran who has the most journalists in exile.

Since 2009, the anti-terrorist law used against journalists and political opponents, reports HRW.

The Swedish journalists Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye was sentenced in 2011 to eleven years in prison in Ethiopia for the promotion of terrorism. They were pardoned in 2012.

TT

The page has been translated by Google translate

Source: hd.se

World Bank: Address Ethiopia Findings

(Washington, DC) – The World Bank should fully address serious human rights issues raised by the bank’s internal investigation into a project in Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the bank’s vice president for Africa. The bank’s response to the investigation findings attempts to distance the bank from the many problems confirmed by the investigation and should be revised. The World Bank board of directors is to consider the investigation report and management’s response, which includes an Action Plan, on February 26, 2015.

The Inspection Panel, the World Bank’s independent accountability mechanism, found that the bank violated its own policies in Ethiopia. The investigation was prompted by a formal complaint brought by refugees from Ethiopia’s Gambella region concerning the Promoting Basic Services (PBS) projects funded by the World Bank, the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), the African Development Bank, and several other donors.

“The Inspection Panel’s report shows that the World Bank has largely ignored human rights risks evident in its projects in Ethiopia,” said Jessica Evans, senior international financial institutions researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The bank has the opportunity and responsibility to adjust course on its Ethiopia programming and provide redress to those who were harmed. But management’s Action Plan achieves neither of these goals.”

The report, leaked to the media in January, determinedthat “there is an operational link” between the World Bank projects in Ethiopia and a government relocation program known as “villagization.” It concluded that the bank had violated its policy that is intended to protect indigenous peoples’ rights. It also found that the bank “did not carry out the required full risk analysis, nor were its mitigation measures adequate to manage the concurrent rollout of the villagisation programme.” These findings should prompt the World Bank and other donors to take all necessary measures to prevent and address links between its programs and abusive government initiatives, Human Rights Watch said.

Rather than taking on these important findings and applying lessons learned, World Bank management has drafted an Action Plan that merely reinforces its problematic current course, Human Rights Watch said. The Action Plan emphasizes the role of programs designed to mobilize communities to engage in local government’s decisions without addressing the significant risks people take in speaking critically.

The Inspection Panel also found that the bank did not take the necessary steps to mitigate the risk presented by Ethiopia’s 2009 law on civil society organizations. The law prohibits human rights organizations in Ethiopia from receiving more than 10 percent of their funding from foreign sources. As a result of the law, most independent Ethiopian civil society organizations working on human rights issues have had to discontinue their work.

The plan also pledges to enhance the capacity of local government staff to comply with the bank’s policies and to provide complaint resolution mechanisms without addressing the role of the local government in human rights abuses. This continues an approach of seeing the officials implicated in human rights abuses as a source of potential resolution, Human Rights Watch said. Management has also concluded, contrary to the Inspection Panel, that the World Bank is adequately complying with the bank’s policy to protect the rights of indigenous peoples.

Human Rights Watch research into the first year of the villagization program in the western Gambella region found that people were forced to move into the government’s new villages. Human Rights Watch found that the relocation was accompanied by serious abuses, including intimidation, assaults, and arbitrary arrests by security officials, and contributed to the loss of livelihoods for the people forced to move. While the Ethiopian government has officially finished its villagization program in Gambella, it is forcibly evicting communities in other regions, including indigenous people, ostensibly for development projects such as large-scale agriculture projects.

Donors to the Ethiopia Promoting Basic Services Program, including the World Bank and the UK, have repeatedly denied any link between their programs and problematic government programs like villagization.

Human Rights Watch has long raised concerns over inadequate monitoring and the risks of misuse of development assistance in Ethiopia. In 2010 Human Rights Watch documented the government’s use of donor-supported resources and aid to consolidate the power of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Government officials discriminated on the basis of real and perceived political opinion in distributing resources, including access to donor-supported programs, salaries, and training opportunities. Donors have never systematically investigated these risks to their programming, much less addressed them.

The Inspection Panel report is the first donor mechanism that has investigated the donor’s approach to risk assessment in Ethiopia. Although the Inspection Panel adopted a narrow view of its mandate and decided explicitly to exclude human rights violations, its findings underscore the need for donors to considerably enhance and broaden their risk assessment processes in Ethiopia. These processes are crucial for ensuring that their programs advance the social and economic rights of the people they are intended to benefit, without violating their human rights. Management’s response misrepresents the panel’s view of its mandate, erroneously concurring “with the panel’s conclusion that the harm alleged in the Request cannot be attributed to the Project” – the Inspection Panel report makes no such sweeping conclusion.

“The bank directors should send management’s response and Action Plan back and insist on a plan that addresses the Inspection Panel’s findings and the concerns of the people who sought the inquiry,” Evans said. “A meaningful Action Plan should address the program in question, bank-lending in Ethiopia more broadly, and how to apply lessons from these mistakes to all bank programing in high-risk, repressive environments around the world.”

The Action Plan should include provisions for high-level dialogue between the bank and the Ethiopian government to address key human rights issues that are obstacles to effective development, Human Rights Watch said. These issues include forced evictions and development-related displacement, restrictions on civil society, including attacks on independent groups and journalists, discriminatory practices, and violations ofindigenous peoples’ rights.

The plan should include provisions for identifying and mitigating all human rights risks and adverse impacts at the project level, and for independent monitoring to make sure these concerns are fully addressed. The plan should also include provisions for people affected by projects to be involved in projects from their conception and remedies for people negatively affected by bank projects.

Given the climate of fear and repression in Ethiopia, Gambella residents who brought the complaint to the bank and have taken refuge in South Sudan and Kenya are unlikely to feel safe returning home. In light of this, the Action Plan should address their most urgent needs abroad, including education and livelihood opportunities, Human Rights Watch said.

The Inspection Panel’s findings also have wider implications for donor programming in Ethiopia. Donors’ current appraisal methods do not consider human rights and other risks from their programs. The panel highlighted particular problems with budget support or block grants that cannot be tracked at the local level.

“The Inspection Panel report illustrates the perils of unaccountable budget support in Ethiopia,” Evans said. “Donors should implement programs that ensure that Ethiopia's neediest participate in and have access to the benefits of donor aid.” 

Source: hrw