German chancellor Angela Merkel is received with military honours in front of the presidential palace next to Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 11 October 2016. Source: PA
Key Points
The proposals seek to offer a more representative electoral system and military institutions and will be spearheaded by the prime minister, but will face resistance from hardliners in the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition.
Amhara and Oromo opposition protests will therefore continue over the next year, with military deployments in protest-affected regions a likely trigger for further protests. The military, however, will also act as a stabilising force on the governing coalition, preventing a significant change in government.
The EPRDF is also likely to introduce stricter environmental compliance and labour laws, although opposition demands for reform of how land is owned and administered are unlikely to materialise and probably would not retroactively affect foreign investors.
EVENT
Ethiopian prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn announced on 11 October that the government would reform electoral laws following anti-government protests in Oromo and Amhara regions since late 2015.
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn’s concession of limited reform of Ethiopia’s electoral law follows an increase in violent protests and arson attacks since late 2015, including against foreign-owned commercial assets. This month, protesters conducted arson attacks against a Turkish-owned textile factory, a Nigerian-owned mine and cargo trucks, and a tourist lodge on Lake Langano. These attacks resulted in a six-month-long state of emergency being declared on 9 October. Such foreign investments are perceived to be associated by Amhara and Oromo activists with government-facilitated land grabs – one of the main grievances of protests against the Tigrayan-dominated government – and as such are regarded as legitimate targets.
The electoral reform proposal is likely to consider replacing the current first-past-the-post (FTPT) system with a mixed member proportional representation system that would seek to increase representation of non-Tigrayan parties at the next election in 2020. However, this reform would not immediately alter the perception of opposition groups that Tigrayans dominate political decision-making within the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition.
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It is true that, as the editorial board put it, “the United States has long relied on Ethiopia as a partner in the fight against al-Shabab’s terrorism in Somalia and sends the country tens of millions of dollars in development assistance.” But this characterization, which substantially underestimates the amount of aid we devote to propping up this tyranny, implies that we’re at least getting something in return for turning a blind eye to its crimes against humanity.
In fact, when one considers that the regime’s leaders are faking their claims of economic success, covering up the extent of the biggest famine in the country’s history, secretly trading with al-Shabab, embezzling $2 billion every year, enforcing policies that have killed millions of their citizens through neglect and malfeasance, and have perpetrated outright genocide, it becomes clear that we’ve gained nothing that could justify our shameful complicity in this holocaust. Our policy is a strategic failure and a moral stain that history will judge harshly.
David Steinman, New York
The writer is an adviser to
Ethiopia’s democracy movement.
It has been hailed as an oasis of political stability and a model of growth in Africa but for the past year, Ethiopia has been in the news not because of its economic successes, but because of insecurity on its streets.
Ethiopians – mostly from the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups – are angry about what they describe as decades of marginalisation.
They are also upset about government plans to build factories on land they consider their own. The protests have frequently grown violent, and police are accused of responding with unnecessary force.
Activists say at least 450 people have been killed. For the first time in 25 years, ruling party leaders have declared a six-month state of emergency.
It gives the government power to ban protests – and troops can be deployed to maintain calm.
The country’s deadly protests stem from ethnic division, endemic corruption and high youth unemployment. The world must support calls for a new government
‘A further factor fuelling the protests in Ethiopia is youth unemployment and the sense of hopelessness it has engendered.’ Photograph: Tiksa Negeri/Reuters
The deadly protests that have rocked Ethiopia over the past several months, resulting in the declaration of a six-month state of emergency, stem from many regional and national grievances, most of which reflect a sense of economic and political marginalisation by wide sections of the country.
The unrest in the south dates back to November 2015, when demonstratorsopposed a government plan to expand the boundaries of Addis Ababa into the Oromo regional state. Farmers were particularly upset, worrying that they would lose their farms in the government’s notorious “land grab” policy. Those protests have claimed the lives of hundreds of people and still counting.
In July, another wave of protests began in the Amhara region when the government arrested members of the Welkait Committee, who were demanding the reversal of a 1991 decision by the ruling party to annex three districts of the Amhara region into the Tigray regional state. The inhabitants of these districts identify as ethnic Amhara and want to be reintegrated into the Amhara regional state, of which they have been a part for centuries.
In a word, the TPLF owns the government. Although the federal constitution was designed to empower the major ethnic groups of the country to form their own states as the main framework for their governance, none of the member states (with the sole exception of Tigray) have any real powers to take care of its internal affairs.
As a consequence, the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups – who together constitute close to 70% of the population – are deeply resentful about playing second fiddle. Naturally, this has been a deep source of political disaffection for vast numbers of the members of these communities.
‘Freedom of assembly and association are guaranteed by the constitution but they remain a dead letter in practice.’ Photograph: Karel Prinsloo/AP
At the same time, the ethnically based federal system has left minorities trapped in their respective regions. They are treated as second-class citizens, lacking access to education, civil service employment, business licenses, bank loans and land leases on a nondiscriminatory basis. Even worse, they are liable to be expelled from regions in which they are considered “outsiders”.
This has particularly been the fate of the Amhara, who have faced mass killing at various times since the current government came to power. Yet the central authorities have shown no willingness to take protective measures or to provide any legal redress for these minorities.
Compounding the problems thrown up by ethnic division is endemic corruption. Ethiopia ranks 103 out of 168 countries on Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index, a global civil society coalition that encourages accountability. It has also lost about $25bn since 2000 to illicit financial outflows, according to Global Financial Integrity.
Government officials and party loyalists receive preferential access to credit, land leases and jobs. Areas vulnerable to corruption are land administration, tax and revenue, the justice system, telecommunications, land procurement, licensing areas, and the finance sector.
Particularly egregious is the government’s practice of leasing large tracts of landto foreign governments and local investors in opaque deals that have displaced thousands of people. Also disconcerting is the fact that 50% of the modern economy is controlled by conglomerates affiliated with the ruling party.
A further factor fuelling the protests in Ethiopia is youth unemployment and the sense of hopelessness it has engendered. In recent years, the country has been producing thousands of college and university graduates each year but only a limited number are able to obtain productive employment. A sizable number often risk their lives to brave the Sahara desert and Mediterranean Sea in a desperate search for better opportunities. Others remain unemployed for long periods or are engaged in cutting cobblestones for streets.
Freedom of assembly and association are guaranteed by the constitution but they remain a dead letter in practice. The government often resorts to its anti-terrorism law to stifle political dissent and to terrorise its political opponents. The judiciary is officially independent but in practice it rarely deviates from government policy. As of 2014, Ethiopia holds the second highest number of journalists behind bars.
The TPLF-government has to be held to account. The donor communities, particularly the UK, the US and the EU, should stand with the Ethiopian people by ceasing all military, financial and diplomatic support to the tyrannical government, supporting instead the opposition’s call for an all-inclusive transitional process to replace the current government.
U.S. Representatives push for legislation targeting Ethiopia after Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch document human rights abuses.
A bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives has proposed legislation targeted at the government of Ethiopia, after Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented hundreds of cases of alleged human rights abuses. House Resolution 861, titled “Supporting respect for human rights and encouraging inclusive governance in Ethiopia,” was introduced by Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Al Green (D-TX), Mike Coffman (R-CO), and Eliot Engel (D-NY).
“It is an abomination when any country tortures its own citizens,” said Rep. Smith, at a September 13th press conference on Capitol Hill. The human rights abuses, waged primarily against the Oromo and Amhara populations, have come to light despite Ethiopian authorities efforts preventing independent screeners from conducting transparent investigations.
The Resolution condemns the killing of peaceful protesters, the arrest and detention of students, journalists, and political leaders, and the stifling of political dissent under the guise of “counterterrorism.”
Ethiopia is a strategic ally of the United States. The country headquarters the 54 nation African Union, and, critical to U.S. interests, assists in counterterrorism efforts against al-Shabab, an Al-Qaeda aligned jihadi terrorist group based in Somalia. Ethiopia is also host to a staggering 750,000 refugeesfrom the war torn region.
In a press statement Rep. Ellison said, “While Ethiopia is an important ally for the United States, continuing to let the Ethiopian government oppress its own people will only further destabilize the region. We must do all we can to ensure that the human rights of all Ethiopians are respected.” Rep. Smith added, “A valuable contributor to global peacekeeping missions, growing unrest in Ethiopia in reaction to human rights violations by the government threaten to destabilize a nation counted on to continue its role on the international scene”.
Resolutions, like the one proposed, tend to be more of an opinion that often do little in themselves because they lack the political leverage to prompt much action. They often fail to hold allied nations to a standard of conduct, as countries and international organizations are hesitant to regulate how other nations behave within their own borders.
Noteworthy, is that the bill also seeks to apply financial and other pressure towards the government, by calling for the Secretary of State to “conduct a review of security assistance to Ethiopia” and “improve transparency” with respect to such assistance, and to “improve oversight and accountability of United States assistance to Ethiopia”.
OROMO AND AMHARA PROTESTERS CALL FOR EQUITABLE RIGHTS, AUGUST 6, 2016. REUTERS/TIKSA NEGERI
Despite the good intention of the bill, critics highlight that it doesn’t go far enough. Henok Gabisa, a visiting Academic Fellow and faculty member at Washington and Lee University School of Law, stated in a personal interview:
“H.RES.861 is generally a good gesture from the United States Congress. It is very specific in a sense that it points out the consistent and constant patterns of corrosion of civil and economic liberties in the country. It also seems to give scrupulous attention to the marginalized groups who remain on the receiving end of the pain. That is really great. Nonetheless, owing to the mammoth financial aid transported to Ethiopian government by the U.S. under their bilateral security partnership, H. RES. 861 failed to deploy the political leverage of the [United States Government], and as a result it is nowhere nearer to fulfilling the goal it promises. In fact, Resolutions by merit are just declaratory statements or positions of a government. They may not be considered law in a positivist school of law. Yet again, H.RES.861 has no teeth to bite those who fail to comply the soft obligations it enumerated under the last sections 3-6.”
In a country of over 86 million, Oromos and Amharas constitute the two largest ethnic groups, combining for over 61% of the population. Yet, they are the most politically marginalized andeconomically disenfranchised. In 2015 Ethiopia’s ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, won every seat in parliament despite little ethnic diversity. The EPRDF has remained in power since the overthrow of Ethiopia’s military government in 1991.
The Associated Press JUBA, SOUTH SUDAN-The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations says her country has raised “grave concerns” about what it calls excessive use of force against protesters in Ethiopia. Ambassador Samantha Power spoke to reporters late Sunday as Read More ...
Press Releases Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) today introduced a resolution with 11 other senators condemning the lethal violence used by the government of Ethiopia against protestors, journalists and others in civil society Read More ...
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — A rights group is accusing Ethiopia’s security forces of carrying out serious rights abuses during recent protests in the country’s Oromia region. The Ethiopia-based Human Rights Council said Monday that it found Read More ...
By Graham Peebles A shadow of fear and panic is creeping through villages in North Eastern, central and Southern Ethiopia, where once again famine stalks the land. The seasonal rains that usually fall between June and September did not arrive, Read More ...
Attempted land grab by Ethiopian government has led to violence against ethnic group By Michael Day Independent People from the Oromia region, close to Addis Ababa, have been discriminated against by Ethiopia’s ruling ethnic groups Reuters The violence-torn Horn of Africa is seeing a fresh wave of repression as Ethiopian authorities crack down on protests
German chancellor Angela Merkel is received with military honours in front of the presidential palace next to Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on 11 October 2016. Source: PA
The deadly protests that have rocked Ethiopia over the past several months, resulting in the declaration of a six-month state of emergency, stem from many regional and national grievances, most of which reflect a sense of economic and political marginalisation by wide sections of the country.
The unrest in the south dates back to November 2015, when demonstratorsopposed a government plan to expand the boundaries of Addis Ababa into the Oromo regional state. Farmers were particularly upset, worrying that they would lose their farms in the government’s notorious “land grab” policy. Those protests have claimed the lives of hundreds of people and still counting.
In July, another wave of protests began in the Amhara region when the government arrested members of the Welkait Committee, who were demanding the reversal of a 1991 decision by the ruling party to annex three districts of the Amhara region into the Tigray regional state. The inhabitants of these districts identify as ethnic Amhara and want to be reintegrated into the Amhara regional state, of which they have been a part for centuries.
In a word, the TPLF owns the government. Although the federal constitution was designed to empower the major ethnic groups of the country to form their own states as the main framework for their governance, none of the member states (with the sole exception of Tigray) have any real powers to take care of its internal affairs.
As a consequence, the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups – who together constitute close to 70% of the population – are deeply resentful about playing second fiddle. Naturally, this has been a deep source of political disaffection for vast numbers of the members of these communities.
At the same time, the ethnically based federal system has left minorities trapped in their respective regions. They are treated as second-class citizens, lacking access to education, civil service employment, business licenses, bank loans and land leases on a nondiscriminatory basis. Even worse, they are liable to be expelled from regions in which they are considered “outsiders”.
This has particularly been the fate of the Amhara, who have faced mass killing at various times since the current government came to power. Yet the central authorities have shown no willingness to take protective measures or to provide any legal redress for these minorities.
Compounding the problems thrown up by ethnic division is endemic corruption. Ethiopia ranks 103 out of 168 countries on Transparency International’s corruption perceptions index, a global civil society coalition that encourages accountability. It has also lost about $25bn since 2000 to illicit financial outflows, according to Global Financial Integrity.
Government officials and party loyalists receive preferential access to credit, land leases and jobs. Areas vulnerable to corruption are land administration, tax and revenue, the justice system, telecommunications, land procurement, licensing areas, and the finance sector.
Particularly egregious is the government’s practice of leasing large tracts of landto foreign governments and local investors in opaque deals that have displaced thousands of people. Also disconcerting is the fact that 50% of the modern economy is controlled by conglomerates affiliated with the ruling party.
A further factor fuelling the protests in Ethiopia is youth unemployment and the sense of hopelessness it has engendered. In recent years, the country has been producing thousands of college and university graduates each year but only a limited number are able to obtain productive employment. A sizable number often risk their lives to brave the Sahara desert and Mediterranean Sea in a desperate search for better opportunities. Others remain unemployed for long periods or are engaged in cutting cobblestones for streets.
Freedom of assembly and association are guaranteed by the constitution but they remain a dead letter in practice. The government often resorts to its anti-terrorism law to stifle political dissent and to terrorise its political opponents. The judiciary is officially independent but in practice it rarely deviates from government policy. As of 2014, Ethiopia holds the second highest number of journalists behind bars.
The TPLF-government has to be held to account. The donor communities, particularly the UK, the US and the EU, should stand with the Ethiopian people by ceasing all military, financial and diplomatic support to the tyrannical government, supporting instead the opposition’s call for an all-inclusive transitional process to replace the current government.