An Indian flower grower is demanding millions in compensation from Ethiopia for loses incurred due to the government’s ‘unilateral and illegal’ cancellation of its investment and trade license in the country.
Karuturi Global Ltd., an Indian flower grower, demanded compensation from the Ethiopian government for a series of failed land deals as it prepares to exit the Horn of Africa nation.
The company wrote a letter to Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn accusing the state of nationalizing its farming investments and said it should be given “adequate and appropriate” redress. The Sept. 20 letter was emailed to Bloomberg by Karuturi Managing Director Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi.
“We stand tired and defeated and wish to exit Ethiopia,” Karuturi said in the letter, citing a government decision to “unilaterally and illegally cancel our investment and trade license.” The company also asked Hailemariam to allow the company to re-export all its equipment.
Karuturi, based in Bengaluru, India, was one of the first foreign investors to lease land in Ethiopia after the government offered incentives and identified 3.3 million hectares (8.2 million acres) as suitable for commercial farming. The government canceled the lease two years ago after saying the company failed to adequately develop its plot.
The Agriculture Ministry’s land investment agency notified Karuturi in December 2015 that the lease was canceled because development occurred on only 1,200 hectares. Karuturi disputed the state’s findings.
Karuturi has also written to Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia Anurag Srivastava informing him of the company’s decision to leave the country, according to email correspondence Karuturi forwarded to Bloomberg.
Ethiopian Information Minister Negeri Lencho referred requests for comment to the Ethiopian Investment Commission, whose director, Fitsum Arega, said he would comment later.
Treasonous Act. By handing ONLF officer Abdikarim Sheikh Muse (Qalbi-Dhagax) to Ethiopia, the government of President Farmaajo has unleashed a collective public fury the likes of which Somalia had never seen. (Photo: Garowe Online)
All betrayals are not made equal. In recent weeks, a political disaster of epic proportions has befallen upon Somalia. The Somali government has committed what many – including some of its staunchest supporters – consider a treasonousact.
Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) has extradited a Somali citizen, a highly decorated military officer, a war hero who was wounded in the 1977 war against Ethiopia and an officer of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) to Ethiopia without any due process.
Initially, the government denied and dismissed all information related to the illegal rendition as “vicious rumours intended to undermine government’s credibility”; claiming their objective is “Qaran dumis” or to destroy the nation.
Once the truth hit the streets that Abdikarim Sheikh Muse (Qalbi-Dhagax) was handed over by his brethren to a brutal regime with a long record of human rights violations, it unleashed a collective public fury the likes of which Somalia had never seen.
The public space became saturated with songs, poems, and skits expressing extreme disillusionment on a popular president – Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo – who only a few months earlier was celebrated as the long-awaited saviour of the nation.
Making Matters Worse
Desperate to shake off this scandal, Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire convened a Council of Ministers emergency meeting. To the utter dismay of many who were still hopeful that their government will do what is right, the Council of Ministers made the problem even worse. They accused Qalbi-Dhagax of being a terrorist who “committed serious crimes in Somalia” and who “was in cahoots with al-Shabab to further sabotage the nation”.
Somali Government must classify ONLF and OLF as terrorist orgs. President Farmajo and PM Khaire must act!
Furthermore, they declared ONLF, which is an internationally recognised liberation movement that has offices throughout the West, Middle East and Africa, a terrorist organisation.
While irredentism or Somalia’s historical struggle to reclaim all five parts of its nation as partitioned by the “colonial masters” is, for all intents and purposes, dead; the loyalty, the commitment to advocate for the rights of all Somalis in the region to live freely and off the chains of oppression is alive and well. It is in that spirit of solidarity that Somalis of all walks of life support the ONLF cause and the group’s right to work towards liberating their homeland.
Let us hypothetically assume that all allegations against Qalbi-Dhagax were true and that he was a ruthless “terrorist” who carried out clandestine operations to sabotage Somalia and has killed and committed rape as the cabinet (no judge or jury) has declared, how do such allegations justify his rendition to Ethiopia? Why would the government not prosecute him in Somalia?
If he is guilty of these serious crimes, why he was living in Mogadishu for years as an ONLF officer without ever being arrested? Qalbi-Dhagax was not an anonymous figure. He was not in hiding. Clearly, the cabinet’s decision to hand him over to Ethiopia is not a well-thought-out one.
If the cabinet does not withdraw the politically motivated charges directed at Qalbi-Dhagax and implant them into the law instead, anyone who supports him or the ONLF either verbally, in writing, by marching or even by simply rejecting the charges government directed at them could get charged with “aiding and abetting” terrorism and subsequently could be renditioned to Ethiopia.
Lies and Deception
To understand the foreign-dominated, self-refuelling system that propels the Somali political process one should think of an aircraft carrier with a massive flight deck where the Somali president is granted the discretion to walk, march or even run to any direction he wishes as that will neither alter the carrier’s course nor its destination.
For over a decade, the same strategy has been used to lure each Somali president into a glorified failure. I call it the “3F seduction”: False security, false esteem, and false authority. That is to say, while he, the president, in on the deck of the aforementioned aircraft carrier, he can dress for the part and quixotically claim to be in charge. Meanwhile, the system continues its course.
The Qalbi-Dhagax case is not only good for Ethiopia, it is good for all other failed institutions: UNSOM, AMISOM, other clandestine operatives and economic predators who perpetuate the status quo in Somalia -the overtly most-aggressive beneficiaries being the UAE and Erik Prince of Blackwater port management partnership.
Can Farmajo be Rescued?
Most of those who knew the new president (this author included) were confident that he would prove himself the right catalyst for a genuine Somali-led reconciliation process and revitalise Somalia’s decaying sense of nationhood. Unlike his predecessors, President Farmajo came in with a certain level of experience and a significant political capital and public trust.
He knew any substantive reform would have to be instituted and implemented within the first year. He was not to waste time or to squander opportunities. The expectation was to reclaim Somalia by pushing for the establishment of an Independent Reconciliation Commission, made of credible citizens of good character with no political affiliation or ambition; by pressuring the Parliament to establish a constitutional court; by establishing an Anti-Corruption Commission composed of trustworthy patriotic citizens; by creating a Somali military counterintelligence branch that keeps track of all foreign militaries, paramilitaries and mercenaries in the country and their activities; and by reaching out to Somaliland.
Back in February, I described the newly Parliament-elected president as “a champion of enlightened patriotism that is optimistic and relies on itself to restore the corroded dignity of a self-destructive nation”. Two weeks later, after he appointed a man who was an employee and part-owner of Soma Oil and Gas as prime minister, I saw the writing on the wall but opted to give one last chance to the new president.
Seven months of dazzle have only proven that President Farmajo and his team have mastered how to seduce public sentiments – mainly overenthusiastic youth – with glittering generalities such as justice, peace, and accountability, without any specifics.
It is common to hear President Farmajo make assertions such as: “Ours is a government of the people. We are accountable to the people.” But, when the masses were outraged by the government’s decision and demanded answers, the ‘president of the people’ sought refuge in silence. He is yet to make a single statement regarding the Qalbi-Dhagax fiasco. Farmajo seems to have plunged into that old too familiar cesspool of presidential betrayals. He has succumbed to a system that was designed to perpetuate failure and keep Somalia where it is or worse. And in doing so, he has written his legacy in the pages of infamy by becoming the first ever president to commit betrayal of such magnitude against the Somali people.
At this point, aside from divine intervention, the only remaining conceivable game-changer is the Somali Parliament. The speaker of the parliament has appointed a committee to review this grave matter. The Somali people are now waiting to see whether its representatives are going to do the right thing.
Abukar Arman is a Somali political analyst, writer and former diplomat.
Fertilizer heavyweight Israel Chemicals (ICL) files a $198 million compensation lawsuit against the Ethiopian government for losses it incurred due to the latter’s ‘failure to provide the necessary infrastructures and regulatory framework’.
The Israeli fertilizer giant, Israel Chemicals (ICL), which was involved in potash mine development project in Ethiopia, filed a lawsuit against the Ethiopian government at The Hague International Arbitration Court.
The fertilizer producer, ICL, abandonedthe potash mine development project in the Afar Regional State in the Dallol Depression and pulled out of Ethiopia due to a controversial tax claim in October 2016.
Reliable sources said ICL accused the Ethiopia of impairing its investment project and demanded USD 198 million in compensation payment.
In a statement sent to The Reporter, ICL said it has filed an Investment Treaty Claim against the Ethiopian government in relation to State “violations” of the Agreement on Encouragement and Reciprocal Protection of Investments between Ethiopia and the Netherlands.
ICL Europe, subsidiary company based in the Netherlands, filed the law suit. “The violations relate to, inter alia, the state’s imposition of an illegal tax assessment against, and its failure to provide infrastructure support to Allana Potash Afar Plc., an indirect subsidiary of ICL Europe,” ICL said.
ICL Europe filed the claim under the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law and requested that the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague administer the arbitration proceedings. The company said it has booked a full tax provision in respect of the tax claim.
After buying Allana Potash in May 2015, ICL was working on a potash mine development project in the Afar Regional State in the Dallol depression through its subsidiary company Allana Potash Afar. ICL was trying to transfer the large scale mining license of Allan when the Ethiopian Revenue and Customs Authority (ERCA) claimed 50 million in tax payment from Allana Potash Afar, a subsidiary of ICL.
Last April, the Ethiopian government took over the potash mine concession where ICL was working on.
The Minister of Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Motuma Mekassa, confirmed to The Reporter that ICL filed a lawsuit at the International Arbitration Court.
Motuma said the case is being over seen at the International Court. “We shall decide what we are going to do with the potash mine once the court litigation is completed.”
Allana Potash, a Canadian company listed in the Toronto Stock Exchange, was the rightful owner of the Dallol potash concession. In 2013, the then Ministry of Mines granted Allana a large scale mining license that enables it to develop the vast potash deposit estimated at 3.2 billion tons. Due to the commodity market crash occurred in 2013, Allana was unable to raise the required investment capital-700 million dollars-to develop the mine.
Consequently, Allana was sold out to ICL for 150 million dollars and de-listed from the stock exchange. The deal includes the acquisition of Allana Potash Afar, a subsidiary of Allana Potash, and the rightful owner of the potash concession in Ethiopia. ICL through the subsidiary company was planning to develop the potash mine and build three fertilizer blending plants at a cost of more than one billion dollars.
ICL applied to the then Ministry of Mines to transfer the mining license and the ministry was processing the request when ERCA claimed 50 million dollars tax payment from Allana Potash Afar. When ICL bought Allana Potash it assumed 10 million dollars VAT and Withholding tax arrears. ERCA also requested some 40 million dollars capital gain tax for the property acquisition. Allana Afar Potash refused to pay the tax claiming that it was made based on an “illegal tax assessment” and terminated the potash mine development project. According to ICL, the net value of the investment in the project as of June 30, 2016 was approximately USD 170 million.
Officials of the Ministry of Mines, Petroleum and Natural Gas told The Reporter that ICL rushed to the international court while it was possible to amicably settle the issue through negotiations. “They could have appealed to the tax authority. We were also ready to negotiate but unfortunately they opted to take the case to court,” the officials said.The officials told The Reporter that the Ethiopian government was committed to develop all the required infrastructure in the remote concession area known for its harsh climate.
ICL is the 6th largest potash fertilizer producer in the world and the 2nd in west Europe. ICL is a publicly traded company listed in the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) with a capital of 12 billion dollars.
Headquartered in Tel Aviv, the company earns an annual turnover of over six billion dollars. The company was established by the State of Israel in 1968 and was privatized in the 1990s.
GERD as a casus belli . Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam is the white elephant in the room that is ticking to unleash the greatest instability the region has even seen. (Photo: Ethiopian Herald)
BY THOMAS C MOUNTAIN
Ethiopia’s new “Grand Renaissance Dam”, scheduled to be completed next year, will take close to half (40%) of the Nile River’s water every year for the next 5 years as it fills up. How is Egyptian President Al Sisi going to survive for the next 5 years without almost half the Nile’s water when the country is presently suffering serious water and hydroelectric shortages, never mind crippling inflation, growing hunger and a terrorist insurgency?
So far, the world thinks that somehow, some way, Egypt, almost 100 million people and growing, already on shaky ground economically, will find a way to survive something that the country has not faced in over two thousand years, almost a half less water from the river Nile for 5 years straight.
And what if a drought hits the Ethiopian highlands, the source of the Nile River, with chances are this happening at least once in the next 5 years with the accelerating global warming trend, and Egypt loses over half of its water?
If international opinion turns out to be wrong, and that cutting Egypt’s water by nearly half for 5 years is not survivable, then an enormous explosion is brewing in Egypt, the Arab world’s biggest country, this huge explosion being brought about by the construction of Ethiopia’s massive dam generating 6,000 MW of electricity, something that Ethiopia doesn’t even have the infrastructure to use.
If Ethiopia can’t even distribute this new source of electricity for its people to use due to an almost complete absence of any national power grid, let alone local level infrastructure, then why has the country gone so deeply into debt to build a dam that will do so much damage to its northern neighbor, Egypt?
Those in the know are asking this question, for a potential catastrophe could be in the making in Egypt with a hunger driven popular explosion of rage against the rule of President Al Sisi and fundamentally threaten the Egyptian military’s ability to hold the country together.
As in Syria and Iraq, ISIS is sure to take advantage of the resulting chaos to spread its insurgency across the country and all of this could lead to an Egyptian failed state situation.
Such a scenario has directed attention towards the likelihood of the Egyptian military attacking Ethiopia’s new dam if the situation starts to deteriorate domestically. Cutting the Niles water will be a devastating blow to Egypts ability to feed itself and cutting off its ability to produce food for export causing the loss of desperately needed foreign currency.
Will the Egyptian people be able to endure such a dramatic increase in their hunger and hardships for 5 years without an inevitable explosion? Will Al Sisi be able to hold the Egyptian military together and prevent the government from collapsing as a result of such a major water shortage and inevitable mass hunger?
The origins of the very idea of Ethiopia daming the Nile are found at the World Bank, majority owned by the USA. The World Bank, whose policy for many disastrous decades was to push dam construction in some of the most vulnerable areas of the planet was the first to raise the “grand dam” idea, to harness the waters of biblical proportions for a “Greater Ethiopia”.
The problem, again, is that 70% of Ethiopians don’t have access to government electricity, almost 70 million people. The Ethiopian government has gone so deeply into debt building this new 6,000 MW dam there is nothing left over to build the electrical distribution network the country so desperately needs. So all that new electric power will not go towards uplifting the lives of Ethiopians, “for a Greater Ethiopia”, but be sold on the East African market to pay the onerous debt incurred in building the damn thing.
The needs of Ethiopia for many years in the future could have been met by building a series of smaller, much less expensive dams that would not cause such a drastic interference in the Nile River’s flow.
Yet thanks to the World Banks persistence, Ethiopia went ahead with its “grand dam” and the result could be an explosion of popular anger in Egypt that could threaten much of the worlds economy, being that Egypt controls the Suez Canal, through which the largest trading partners in the world, Asia and Europe, do 90% of their business.
It is Egyptian troops, whose salaries are paid for by the USA, that control the Suez Canal and if the Egyptian military loses control of the country in a popular uprising similar to which brought down Mubarak, then the continued reliability of the army to control the Suez Canal comes into question. Of course, there is always the Israeli Army waiting in the wings, ever ready to step in and occupy the first Great Canal in Suez.
Could it be that having Egypt and Ethiopia, two out of three of Africa’s largest countries, at each others throats is in the national interests of the USA, that wants at all costs to prevent African unity, neither economic or political?
Again we find the USA’s policy of “crisis management” behind the scenes in this brewing conflict, as in create a crisis and then manage it to divide and conquer, the better to loot and plunder African resources with as little resistance as possible.
The writer is an independent journalist. He can be followed him on Facebook as thomascmountain or via email at thomascmountain at g mail dot com
Can the stalemate between Eritrea and Ethiopia be ended? Yes but only if there is courageous political will and determination to implement the Border rulings, with out-ifs and -buts.
The stalemate along the Ethiopian-Eritrean border benefits almost no-one. Two armies stare at each other across the 1,000 kilometre border – as they have done since June 2000, when the fighting ended. Every so often there is a flare-up. An Eritrean border guard will fire at [human smugglers] a refugee attempting to cross the frontier illegally; if the shots are witnessed by an Ethiopian patrol they will return fire and both sides will retaliate with rifle fire and sometimes an artillery barrage.
As ever, there are deaths, to add to the thousands who lost their lives so tragically in the senseless border war. Nothing moves on; nothing is achieved. The no-war, no-peace that has prevailed for seventeen long years continues. Lives and scarce resources are wasted in an utterly pointless confrontation that no-one can resolve.
In their hearts both governments know this, but neither believes they can back down. Eritrea – rightly – demands that the Boundary Commission ruling be implemented, and they have legality on their side.
Ethiopia, fearing to lose face, refuses – demanding that there are further talks. Addis Ababa argues that implementing the border without such talks will divide villages and disrupt lives. [READ: Lord Avebury’s Letter Response to Ethiopia]
But that is precisely what both sides agreed to when they signed the Algiers Agreement which demanded that the border be drawn without regard to common sense. As Article 4/2 put it: “The Commission shall not have the power to make decisions ex aequo et bono.”
This is Latin for “according to the right and good” or “from equity and conscience”. In other words, the Commissioners were bound by a strict interpretation of the law, and could take nothing else into account. No point in Ethiopia objecting after the Treaty was signed: it got what it asked for. [READ : Analysis: The Algiers Peace Agreement]
So much for the past; yet it is the past separating the two ruling parties that is really at the heart of this wasteful confrontation. The divisions that separated the EPLF and the TPLF back in the 1970’s and 1980’s still hang like ghosts between the two movements. They cast a terrible spell over relations between the two governments and inflict a terrible cost on their divided peoples. The endless accusations of bad faith run deep indeed: did the EPLF throw TPLF fighters lives away during the Red Star offensive? Did the EPLF inflict thousands of deaths on Tigrayans by closing their territory to relief supplies during the 1984 – 85 famine? Did the TPLF play fast and loose with the EPLF by forming alliances with other movements and considering their relationship only a matter of expediency? The list goes on and on.
In the meantime the border is sealed. The ports of Assab and Massawa remain closed to Ethiopia, which has to rely on the less satisfactory transit links via Djibouti. People on both sides of the border remain separated from family members a few kilometres away. Trade which should have continued (as it has done for centuries) between the two countries remains blocked. Who gains? Almost no-one. Only the old men who run the ruling parties remain satisfied – entrenched in their views: determined not to budge, fearing that any move forward will be seen as a mark of weakness.
International mediators come and go, but little appears to be achieved. Perhaps some miraculous deal is being hatched as I write, but I am unaware of it.
Can the stalemate be ended?
The answer to this question is obviously yes. One day it will end. Nothing lasts for ever. […]
Empires crumble; regimes fall; kingdoms turn to dust. But peoples endure. And – in my view – there is little that separates the peoples of Ethiopia and Eritrea. In fact, far more unites them. They have a rare intelligence and a depth of understanding; a wonderful shared heritage and culture. They also share negative traits: stubbornness, inflexibility and a secretiveness which makes progress so very hard to achieve.
But let us (just for a moment) assume that we had a blank sheet of paper and could put the fears and deep-seated bitterness to one side. What could be then achieved?
In my view one would have to start with the enduring institutions of the two countries: the elders and the religious leaders. Both groups have enormous wisdom and patience to draw on. Given time and goodwill they could be brought together to work out a solution that has – quite evidently – eluded the ruling parties of both countries. And the place I suggest that they should meet? The town of Badme, of course.
It is Badme – symbol of the divisions between Eritrea and Ethiopia – that could be used to unite them. I am sure that the international community, which has attempted for years to overcome the obstacles that separate the two countries, would be only too delighted to construct a centre at which meetings of faith leader and elders could take place. Personally I think this would be a mistake. Neither country is short of money when they want to go to war: let Asmara and Addis Ababa pay for this project, if they really long for peace. It would be a token of their commitment.
Bringing leaders together is – of course – only a beginning. They should be assisted in finding common ground and here international mediators might well play a role. There should be no timetable and no schedule. The very presence of religious and community leaders talking together would be a symbol of what can be achieved.
Some further suggestions: why not re-open the border (even for a limited period) so that families could be re-united? Why not re-open the ports, even if it is only to allow American grain so badly needed in Ethiopia to be transported from Eritrea? These symbolic acts would increase confidence and allow for a relaxation of tensions along the border.
Finally, would it not be an idea to establish a Commission to jointly investigate what went wrong between 1991 and 1998? Again, international experts could contribute to the discussions, with neither side having a right to enforce an interpretation of any event. A joint history could be written, with passages of disagreement clearly marked, where common ground cannot be found. At least there would be agreement on what was not agreed upon!
None of this would be impossible. None of these ideas are impractical. All they require is political will: a determination to end the stalemate and put the past behind the two nations. Everyone knows that neither can succeed in this confrontation. Let it therefore end, and end now, before further suffering is inflicted on either people.
EDITOR’S NOTE:
Martin Plaut is an avowed advocate and proponent of regime-change in Eritrea. He wrote volumes, organized petitions and public seminars against Eritrea and its leadership. Nothing has worked so far for this paper tiger. The TPLF, his last and only hope to bring about a regime change in Eritrea, is in its late-stage of regime decay. If this piece by Plaut is any indication, the TPLF ship of State in Ethiopia is sinking, and sinking fast.
Currently, Martin Plaut is a Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Commonwealth Studies at the University of London. He worked for the British Labour Party as Secretary on Africa and the Middle East in 1979. In 1984 he joined the BBC, working primarily on Africa. He became Africa editor, BBC World Service News in 2003 and retired from the BBC in October 2013. He reported from many parts of the continent but specialised in the Horn of Africa and Southern Africa. His publications include, among others: Understanding Eritrea: Inside Africa’s Most Repressive State (Hurst 2016) and Ethiopia and Eritrea: Allergic to Persuasion (Royal Institute of International Affairs 2007) [with Sally Healy].
“When we opened the abattoir, nobody told us not to do it”
A controversial Chinese donkey abattoir in Ethiopia, Shandong Dong Group, is awaiting a response from the Office of the Prime Minister for unfair closure of their donkey slaughterhouse. It is also considering to take the case to international court.
The controversial Shandong Dong Group, a Chinese donkey abattoir, based in Bishoftu (DebreZeit) of Oromia Regional State, is awaiting a response to the compliant it lodged with the Office of the Prime Minister a couple of months ago with regard to what they claimed to be unfair closure of their donkey slaughterhouse.
It has been five months since the company stopped slaughtering donkeys following an order of business termination from the then mayor of the town, Dadi Wodajo.
After the closure of its slaughterhouse, however, the company has managed to export 75 tons of donkey meat to China. The export was of meat that had been slaughtered prior to the ban, which came on the heels of a social media campaign against the abattoir and its operations.
In a letter to the PM Office, the investors pleaded for re-opening of the slaughterhouse.
“When we opened the abattoir, nobody told us not to do it,” according to the letter.
“I hope you could help us re-open our donkey abattoir, and make for a good investment environment,” adds the letter.
This slaughterhouse by Chinese investors was said to be offensive to the sensibilities of people who live near the facility, eventually leading to its closure.
The company is said to have invested close to USD eight million in three years.
Shandong obtained its investment license in 2014 from the then Ethiopian Investment Agency with a registered capital of 62.6 million birr.
The slaughterhouse rested on a 15, 000 sq.m. of land. It had a capacity to slaughter 200 donkeys per day. It has also created job opportunities for 100 local villagers.
The company used to source inputs from Adama, Modjo, Meqi, Dukem, Ziway as well as Addis Ababa.
Mesfin Temesgen and his friends are one of the suppliers of the company.
“We have now around 100 donkeys waiting to be supplied to the company,” he said. However, because of the ban, we could not sell them, he added.
We are disturbed by the troubling reports of ethnic violence and the large-scale displacement of people living along the border between the Oromia and Somali regions, particularly in Hararge, although the details of what is occurring remain unclear.
We urge the Ethiopian government to conduct a transparent investigation into all allegations of violence and to hold those responsible accountable. At the same time, on the local level, communities must be encouraged and given space to seek peaceful resolutions to the underlying conflicts.
We believe Ethiopia’s future as a strong, prosperous, and democratic nation depends on open and inclusive political dialogue for all Ethiopians, greater government transparency, and strengthening the institutions of democracy and justice.
These recent events underscore the need to make more rapid and concrete progress on reform in these areas.
Ethiopia Must Step up Political Reforms, U.S. ‘Disturbed’ Over Ethnic Clashes
The United States says Ethiopia must open up its political space if its is to cement its place in the future as a “strong, prosperous and democratic nation.”
This was contained in a press statement released by the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa. The September 19, 2017 statement was referring to reports of escalated ethnic violence in Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali regions.
“We are disturbed by the troubling reports of ethnic violence and the large-scale displacement of people living along the border between the Oromia and Somali regions, particularly in Hararge, although the details of what is occurring remain unclear.
“We urge the Ethiopian government to conduct a transparent investigation into all allegations of violence and to hold those responsible accountable. At the same time, on the local level, communities must be encouraged and given space to seek peaceful resolutions to the underlying conflicts,” the statement read in part.
The government has admitted that clashes along the border of Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali regions have displaced around 50,000 people, deaths of another 50 people have been reported according to a senior regional official.
The clashes which have been put down to competition for resources between people in both states has prompted the government to send the military in. The Somalis are predominantly pastoralists whiles the Oromias are largely farmers – the fight for common resources like water and land is part of the official reason advanced.
Another reason is that a referendum meant to clearly define the border regions of the respective states has yet to be fully implemented.
Amidst all of that, Oromo activists hold that the chaos is championed by a federal police unit known as the “Liyu Police”. Activists aver that the unit is stoking the violence with the aim of giving the Oromia region – one of the biggest and most populous in the country – a bad name.
“We believe Ethiopia’s future as a strong, prosperous, and democratic nation depends on open and inclusive political dialogue for all Ethiopians, greater government transparency, and strengthening the institutions of democracy and justice. These recent events underscore the need to make more rapid and concrete progress on reform in these areas.” the release concluded.
UNGA has to bear its deliberative role by bringing the unjust sanction, the illegitimate occupation of Eritrean sovereign territory and the insubordination of Ethiopia to the implementation of the 2002 “final and binding” court verdict.
BY SIMON WELDEMICHAEL
The 72nd regular session of the UN General Assembly started at UN Headquarters on Tuesday, 12 September 2017. It has been announced that the General debate will be open on Tuesday, 19 September 2017, with a focus on the theme, “focusing on People: Striving for peace and a decent life for all on a sustainable planet”.
The President of the 72nd session of the UNGA, Slovakian diplomat Miroslav Lajcak, identified some six overarching priorities for his tenure following his election. Out of the six priorities set out by the president “prevention and mediation for sustaining peace” attracts the attention of many Eritreans who are observing and noticing the on going UNGA session.
The United Nations stated through its Charter that it was founded “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” Despite these bright prospects, a fatal fissure quickly opened at the heart of the international organization. The UN had not performed the function that it had been created for. Throughout international organization headquarters in Geneva, New York, Paris, Vienna, The Hague and others around the world, world leaders (actual and symbolic leaders) convened to discuss on international matters to no avail. They continually whispered something that did never really think of it.
Frantz Fanon in his informative book “the wretched of the earth” has described accurately the constant sterile move of African and Asian leaders: “these leaders of empty countries who talk too loud are exasperating… The leaders and students of the underdeveloped countries are a gold mine for the airlines. Asian and African official can attend a seminar on socialist planning in Moscow one week and then another on free trade in London or at Columbia University the next” (Fanon 41-42).
Countless but fruitless international conferences and sessions were convened in western capitals and were attended by leaders and scholars simply to give hands for the deliverance of interest groups. Africa lacked clear sighted national leadership that visibly represent on its home and international forum. To date, African countries form the largest regional grouping at the UN, with over a quarter of all UN member states. On the contrary, speaking with one voice at the UN and synchronizing their position has become an ongoing challenge for African states.
UN General Assembly is one of the organs of UN formed to bring together representatives of the world’s countries. It creates a platform through which countries can share their problems with the rest of the world, so that a common solution can be found to these problems.
The case of Eritrea was appeared before UNGA right after the establishment of the institution. Nevertheless the Eritrean case has never been received proper attention and investigation of UNGA.
In 1950s despite the repeated calls of Eritreans for independence and self determination, UNGA passed a shame federal resolution that paved way for the inhumane Ethiopian colonization. And now despite the illegal occupation of Eritrean territory in the hands of Ethiopia, UNGA passed repetitive sanction resolutions against Eritrea. This act of reprimanding the upright is a clear sign of decadence of the institution and give weight to the recurrent calls of revitalization. Eritrea among the many afflicted countries repeatedly called for the revitalization of UN and its bodies.
UNGA has to enhance its capacity to fulfill the role envisaged for it under the United Nation charter and increase its effectiveness in the interest of international community. General Assembly is the only organ in which each member state of the United Nations has equal opportunity to participate in the decision making process. Eritrea becomes member of the UN immediately after independence. Eritrea was and still is a country that fully respects and strives for the implementation of the UN charter and subsequent resolutions including various international treaties and conventions.
Eritrea’s advanced principle based on supremacy of law and order was however, didn’t get appropriate response when the country appealed for justice and truce. The patience of Eritrea was admired by many for its continuity in face of repeated denial and ironic approval. The long tradition of law and order in Eritrean society that amazed European travellers and Italian colonizers of Eritrea was probably responsible for the current strict adherence of law on face of the anarchic nature of international system.
Italian Carlo Conti Rossini after meticulous observation of Eritrean customary laws, he described them as “police with out army”. The United Nations General Assembly is usually defined as the “chief deliberative, policymaking and representative organ of the United Nations”. It is deliberative, because it is free to discuss and make recommendations on any questions or matters within the scope of the UN Charter.
Therefore, UNGA has to bear its deliberative role by bringing the baseless and unjust sanction imposed on Eritrea, the illegitimate occupation of Eritrean sovereign territory by Ethiopia and the insubordination of Ethiopia to the implementation of the “final and binding” court verdict given on April 2002.
Ensuring the implementation of the court verdict given by Ethiopia – Eritrea Boundary Commission (EEBC) was primarily the responsibility of UN and its bodies. Despite the illegal occupation of our sovereign territory and the violations of border decision and the contravention of international law by Ethiopia, much has been done including the unjust sanction to Eritrea.
This is perhaps done to divert our attention and prevent from articulating our prime grievances. President Isaias Afwerki in one of his interviews uncovered the reason behind the rambling of UNSC, instead of focusing to the point of respecting international law and the decision of EEBC:
“The line of reasoning behind the distorting maneuvers dictates that the issue of border demarcation will be forgotten with the passage of time. According to that argument, other agendas [sanction and human rights among others] would be tabled to distort the main issue and continuously place us in a defensive position, thus rendering the border ruling and its implementation null and void. However, these ploys will not succeed” (interview 2011).
If this was done to silence our protest, we will never ceased calling for the implementation of the ruling and UNGA has to deal the matter seriously.
Leaving aside the torrent of unproductive and speculative words, UN and its General Assembly have observed a number of catastrophic failures, resulting in lawlessness and subsequent disappearance of peace and stability. Terrorism, riotous nuclear proliferation, aggression, intra and inter state conflicts plagued the globe. Many cases remain unresolved and many decisions suspended due to lack of enforcement.
The final and binding decision of EEBC was classic example of unreasonable suspension of decision due to mollycoddle treatment of Ethiopia in return for her service role played in the region. This breach of law and act of aggression although harmed Eritrea in its first place, have a far reaching consequence for global peace and sustainability of UN. Forcing Ethiopia to accept the decision of boundary commission and facilitate its implementation on ground will contribute a lot to the credibility of UN and to restore regional and international peace and security.
Eritrea wishes to see the UN General Assembly adorned by international, impartial and independent jewelry.
Presidential advisor and head of PFDJ political affairs Yemane Ghebreab at the interactive dialogue, UNGA Third Committee has stated clearly the aspiration and expectation of Eritrea:
“Yet, Eritrea does not seek favored treatment. It seeks fairness. It asks for a level playing field. More importantly, it encourages mutual solidarity and support.”
Eritrea never wants preferred or extra favoured treatment. We called to UN to critically and fairly collect, consolidate and analyze evidence of violations of UN charter, international law and conventions in order to facilitate and expedite fair and independent judgment.
UN and its General Assembly should rule the world by justice. The Holly scripture tells us that “By justice a king builds up the land, but he who exacts gifts tears it down” (Pro 29:4). Until now UN along its bodies have made the earth to tremble and torn it open, we therefore as Eritreans and members of international community remind you that our souls thirst for justice like a thirsty land.
We are calling to UNGA to bear its responsibility not begging for preferential treatment. Under any circumstances, we will never barter our principles for nasty support. National pride of Eritrea is the underlying basis for the proper execution of our political and diplomatic line. The long tradition of Eritrean people and the revolutionary culture of EPLF didn’t allow us to singing to the tone of any outer power to appeal to their generous sides and secure support.
As for the people of Eritrea living in their own reality and dreams, there exist no alternative but readiness to any “ifs”. Our hearts as always begin to beat the national rhythm and we loudly sing unending hymns to the glory of our gallant fighters and development workers. While we primarily put faith and hope on ourselves and the justness of our cause, Eritreans awaits the resuscitation of the UN and its General Assembly to discuss the Eritrean case fairly. We wish to remind to every conscientious being, Eritrea is a nation born in the struggle for human rights. We will not be contained by the deafening silence and detrimental inaction of concerned bodies.
Patriot Bahta Hagos who lead the popular uprising against Italians in 1894 had explained the motives for his resistance with the rhetorical question; “what do we do with the Italians who have come to take our lands away” (Negash 1987, 124).
EPLF’s popular saying “much less a span of land we’ll never give up a hand of soil” and the widely spread Tigrigna proverb “nrsti ywagaAla ansti” altogether have an inherent message that keeping Eritrean land costs much.
The answer as to “what do we do with the Ethiopians who have occupied our land” is known for every Eritrean and one day the world will awake from its lethargy by the reverberation of that answer. The failure to actively pursue justice is not without consequences.
Surveillance capabilities. “The U.S. may obviously establish eavesdropping stations on basis of geopolitical calculus; but not at expense of Eritrea.” – Yemane G. Meskel, Eritrea Gov’t Spokesman
BY THOMAS C MOUNTAIN
Edward Snowden’s politburo for secret documents has finally begun to release NSA files on the highly classified (and not so highly classified) activities of the USA in Ethiopia. In an article in The Intercept by veteran Horn of Africa journalist Nick Turse, we find the latest chapter of another long awaited expose of the role of Pax Americana in Ethiopia.
The NSA documents released show the US military was secretly running an anti-terrorist intelligence gathering operation for many years in Ethiopia. The lands surveilled include Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. Conspicuously absent from the documents is any mention of Eritrea, Ethiopia’s neighbor and arch enemy.
When you read between the lines, you find that Eritrea is under UN Security Council Sanctions for allegedly supporting terrorism in Somalia in the form of Al-Shabab. But no mention is made of Eritrea in the top secret cables of the US Army’s Intelligence Division when it comes to anything to do with terrorism in the Horn of Africa. If the US Army is not concerned about any link between Eritrea and terrorism then shouldn’t this be a word to the wise on the matter?
This should be the final nail in the coffin of the decade old tall tale of Eritrea as a supporter of terrorism (as Cuba was so slandered for decades).
Snowden’s EthiopiaLeaks follows in the footsteps of Wikileaks Ethiopia File where we find now Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Donald Yamamoto way back in 2007 saying that Eritrea’s involvement in Somalia was “insignificant”. (READ: “Wikileaks Exposes UN Eritrean Sanction Lies”).
Later Wikileaks exposed how the UN Security Council Sanctions against Eritrea passed on Christmas Eve, 2009 were crafted by, amongst others, the US State Department’s Economic Sabotage office aimed as preventing international funding for Eritrea’s mining industry start up gold mine in Bisha and had nothing to do with any alleged support for terrorism as in Al Shabab in Somalia.
Now we have Snowden’s EthiopiaLeaks showing that no matter the lies told in public by the US State Department and their allies at HRW and Amnesty International, the US military wasn’t buying any of it and didn’t waste any time in wild goose chases concerning Eritrea and support for terrorism, i.e. Al Shabab.
End of Story? No … In Nick Turse’s article, he interviews Felix Horne, Horn of Africa specialist for HRW who along with Amnesty continues to insist that once upon a time Eritrea was supporting the Al Queda branch Al Shabab in Somalia. Never mind Wikileaks, never mind Snowden Leaks, once a lie is told never admit what you have claimed is not real.
This is so true of those who once surrounded Barack Obama and Hillary the Terrible and of course, their minions in their incestous relationship with Human Rights Watch. We are talking about Tom Malinowski and his “special relationship” with Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC) and her Mafia, when he wasn’t serving as Horn of Africa specialist et al at HRW.
HRW to HRC to HRW to HRC, who could tell who he was working for. The guy who was so blatantly pro-Pax Americana while switch hitting for HRW that he caused numerous Nobel Peace Laureates to publicly protest in an Open Letter to HRW?
One thing Nick Turse’s article didn’t mention is the not so secret AFRICOM Drone Assassination and Surveillance Program long based in Ethiopia. Hopefully Snowden’s EthiopiaLeaks files will have something on this for as recently as February 2015 an AFRICOM drone fired a cruise missile from Ethiopian airspace that struck an arms depot in the Eritrean town of Decamhare. Apparently wreckage from the drone was found identifying it as a cruise missile of the type used mainly by Predator drones in their assassination campaigns.
We find the hand of AFRICOM again in June of 2016 when Ethiopia sent a couple of their army divisions across the border into Eritrea at Tsorona front where a major battle took place. AFRICOM’s role was so blatant that the Eritrean government issued an all to rare public statement condemning such.
So here’s to more juicy tidbits from Snowden’s Ethiopia File, maybe something that exposes a major crime or two will surface, we have given up finding any senior criminals being named and shamed a la Phil Agee. It has taken a while for EthiopiaLeaks to see the light of day and hopefully there is much more to come.
The writer is an independent journalist who is reporting from Eritrea since 2006. Follow him at thomascmountain on Facebook or best reach him via email at thomascmountain at gmail dot com
An Indian flower grower is demanding millions in compensation from Ethiopia for loses incurred due to the government’s ‘unilateral and illegal’ cancellation of its investment and trade license in the country.
Karuturi Global Ltd., an Indian flower grower, demanded compensation from the Ethiopian government for a series of failed land deals as it prepares to exit the Horn of Africa nation.
The company wrote a letter to Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn accusing the state of nationalizing its farming investments and said it should be given “adequate and appropriate” redress. The Sept. 20 letter was emailed to Bloomberg by Karuturi Managing Director Sai Ramakrishna Karuturi.
“We stand tired and defeated and wish to exit Ethiopia,” Karuturi said in the letter, citing a government decision to “unilaterally and illegally cancel our investment and trade license.” The company also asked Hailemariam to allow the company to re-export all its equipment.
Karuturi, based in Bengaluru, India, was one of the first foreign investors to lease land in Ethiopia after the government offered incentives and identified 3.3 million hectares (8.2 million acres) as suitable for commercial farming. The government canceled the lease two years ago after saying the company failed to adequately develop its plot.
The Agriculture Ministry’s land investment agency notified Karuturi in December 2015 that the lease was canceled because development occurred on only 1,200 hectares. Karuturi disputed the state’s findings.
Karuturi has also written to Indian Ambassador to Ethiopia Anurag Srivastava informing him of the company’s decision to leave the country, according to email correspondence Karuturi forwarded to Bloomberg.
Ethiopian Information Minister Negeri Lencho referred requests for comment to the Ethiopian Investment Commission, whose director, Fitsum Arega, said he would comment later.
Treasonous Act. By handing ONLF officer Abdikarim Sheikh Muse (Qalbi-Dhagax) to Ethiopia, the government of President Farmaajo has unleashed a collective public fury the likes of which Somalia had never seen. (Photo: Garowe Online)
All betrayals are not made equal. In recent weeks, a political disaster of epic proportions has befallen upon Somalia. The Somali government has committed what many – including some of its staunchest supporters – consider a treasonousact.
Somalia’s National Intelligence and Security Agency (NISA) has extradited a Somali citizen, a highly decorated military officer, a war hero who was wounded in the 1977 war against Ethiopia and an officer of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) to Ethiopia without any due process.
Initially, the government denied and dismissed all information related to the illegal rendition as “vicious rumours intended to undermine government’s credibility”; claiming their objective is “Qaran dumis” or to destroy the nation.
Once the truth hit the streets that Abdikarim Sheikh Muse (Qalbi-Dhagax) was handed over by his brethren to a brutal regime with a long record of human rights violations, it unleashed a collective public fury the likes of which Somalia had never seen.
The public space became saturated with songs, poems, and skits expressing extreme disillusionment on a popular president – Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo – who only a few months earlier was celebrated as the long-awaited saviour of the nation.
Making Matters Worse
Desperate to shake off this scandal, Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khaire convened a Council of Ministers emergency meeting. To the utter dismay of many who were still hopeful that their government will do what is right, the Council of Ministers made the problem even worse. They accused Qalbi-Dhagax of being a terrorist who “committed serious crimes in Somalia” and who “was in cahoots with al-Shabab to further sabotage the nation”.
Somali Government must classify ONLF and OLF as terrorist orgs. President Farmajo and PM Khaire must act!
Furthermore, they declared ONLF, which is an internationally recognised liberation movement that has offices throughout the West, Middle East and Africa, a terrorist organisation.
While irredentism or Somalia’s historical struggle to reclaim all five parts of its nation as partitioned by the “colonial masters” is, for all intents and purposes, dead; the loyalty, the commitment to advocate for the rights of all Somalis in the region to live freely and off the chains of oppression is alive and well. It is in that spirit of solidarity that Somalis of all walks of life support the ONLF cause and the group’s right to work towards liberating their homeland.
Let us hypothetically assume that all allegations against Qalbi-Dhagax were true and that he was a ruthless “terrorist” who carried out clandestine operations to sabotage Somalia and has killed and committed rape as the cabinet (no judge or jury) has declared, how do such allegations justify his rendition to Ethiopia? Why would the government not prosecute him in Somalia?
If he is guilty of these serious crimes, why he was living in Mogadishu for years as an ONLF officer without ever being arrested? Qalbi-Dhagax was not an anonymous figure. He was not in hiding. Clearly, the cabinet’s decision to hand him over to Ethiopia is not a well-thought-out one.
If the cabinet does not withdraw the politically motivated charges directed at Qalbi-Dhagax and implant them into the law instead, anyone who supports him or the ONLF either verbally, in writing, by marching or even by simply rejecting the charges government directed at them could get charged with “aiding and abetting” terrorism and subsequently could be renditioned to Ethiopia.
Lies and Deception
To understand the foreign-dominated, self-refuelling system that propels the Somali political process one should think of an aircraft carrier with a massive flight deck where the Somali president is granted the discretion to walk, march or even run to any direction he wishes as that will neither alter the carrier’s course nor its destination.
For over a decade, the same strategy has been used to lure each Somali president into a glorified failure. I call it the “3F seduction”: False security, false esteem, and false authority. That is to say, while he, the president, in on the deck of the aforementioned aircraft carrier, he can dress for the part and quixotically claim to be in charge. Meanwhile, the system continues its course.
The Qalbi-Dhagax case is not only good for Ethiopia, it is good for all other failed institutions: UNSOM, AMISOM, other clandestine operatives and economic predators who perpetuate the status quo in Somalia -the overtly most-aggressive beneficiaries being the UAE and Erik Prince of Blackwater port management partnership.
Can Farmajo be Rescued?
Most of those who knew the new president (this author included) were confident that he would prove himself the right catalyst for a genuine Somali-led reconciliation process and revitalise Somalia’s decaying sense of nationhood. Unlike his predecessors, President Farmajo came in with a certain level of experience and a significant political capital and public trust.
He knew any substantive reform would have to be instituted and implemented within the first year. He was not to waste time or to squander opportunities. The expectation was to reclaim Somalia by pushing for the establishment of an Independent Reconciliation Commission, made of credible citizens of good character with no political affiliation or ambition; by pressuring the Parliament to establish a constitutional court; by establishing an Anti-Corruption Commission composed of trustworthy patriotic citizens; by creating a Somali military counterintelligence branch that keeps track of all foreign militaries, paramilitaries and mercenaries in the country and their activities; and by reaching out to Somaliland.
Back in February, I described the newly Parliament-elected president as “a champion of enlightened patriotism that is optimistic and relies on itself to restore the corroded dignity of a self-destructive nation”. Two weeks later, after he appointed a man who was an employee and part-owner of Soma Oil and Gas as prime minister, I saw the writing on the wall but opted to give one last chance to the new president.
Seven months of dazzle have only proven that President Farmajo and his team have mastered how to seduce public sentiments – mainly overenthusiastic youth – with glittering generalities such as justice, peace, and accountability, without any specifics.
It is common to hear President Farmajo make assertions such as: “Ours is a government of the people. We are accountable to the people.” But, when the masses were outraged by the government’s decision and demanded answers, the ‘president of the people’ sought refuge in silence. He is yet to make a single statement regarding the Qalbi-Dhagax fiasco. Farmajo seems to have plunged into that old too familiar cesspool of presidential betrayals. He has succumbed to a system that was designed to perpetuate failure and keep Somalia where it is or worse. And in doing so, he has written his legacy in the pages of infamy by becoming the first ever president to commit betrayal of such magnitude against the Somali people.
At this point, aside from divine intervention, the only remaining conceivable game-changer is the Somali Parliament. The speaker of the parliament has appointed a committee to review this grave matter. The Somali people are now waiting to see whether its representatives are going to do the right thing.
Abukar Arman is a Somali political analyst, writer and former diplomat.
Ethiopia has long been a thorn in the side of Somalia, a troublesome neighbour, and an obstacle to regional peace. In an ideal world, the two countries would be brotherly nations but in reality the opposite is the case. The energy and resources spent by these erstwhile adversaries in undermining each other — could have made both nations prosperous.
To Somalis and many outside observers, Ethiopia is the aggressor in the relationship. Ethiopia, a land-locked state, has long harboured ambitions to annex Somalia in part of its quest for a Greater Ethiopia.
Currently, thousands of Ethiopian forces are in Somalia to contribute ostensibly to the UN “peacekeeping” mission there. But in the minds of many Somalis, Ethiopia has a hidden agenda and is using this as a cover.
Ethiopia has long meddled in Somali affairs. While negotiating with the British in 1897 over who should control Somalia, Emperor Menelik of Ethiopia claimed: “Somalis had been from time immemorial, until the Moslem [sic] invasion, the cattle-keepers of the Ethiopians, who could not themselves live in the low countries.”
That flawed quest to subjugate Somalis is the driving force behind Ethiopia’s policy towards Somalia. The British were against the idea and warned of long-term consequences but eventually ceded the Ogaden, a Somali-inhabited region, to Ethiopia. This territory — 95 percent ethnic Somali — is part of historic Somalia.
Following their liberation, the two countries fought disastrous wars in the 1960s and 1970s. Somalia longed to regain its lost territory, and for many people there was a longing to unite with their extended families across a border they viewed as divisive and arbitrary.
However, Ethiopia was not satisfied in ruling over the Ogaden region, rather there is an almost messianic desire to conquer or rule by proxy, swathes of the remainder of Somalia.
As the Ethiopian historian Belete Belachew Yihuna noted:
“After 1977, even when engaged in peace talks and attempts at reconciliation, Mengistu’s Ethiopia saw safety only in the total disintegration of Somalia.”
With the disunity, corruption, tribalism and external interference that has enveloped Somalia, Ethiopia’s former communist era President Mengistu and his successors have managed to incapacitate Somali state.
There are several factors that have contributed to this.
The main one is that although a third of the population is Muslim, Ethiopia is a Christian-led country. Its leaders manipulate international politics by playing the victim card “as a Christian nation threatened by Muslim neighbours.”
Therefore, it receives unparalleled political, military and financial support from the US and Europe. With the support of the most powerful nations in the world, Ethiopia has been given carte blanche to drive its agenda.
It’s also good at distracting critics and taking calculated risks. When the country’s late leader, Males Zenawi, came under pressure following the killing of protestors in 2005, he sent his army to unilaterally invade Somalia. It was a message to remind the West that Ethiopia remains a valuable partner in the “War on Terror.”
That message was understood loud and clear in many foreign policy circles in London, Washington and Paris. So, rather than condemning his government’s actions, Western nations rallied around it.
The leaders in Addis Ababa have convinced Western nations that it’s only Ethiopia that can deal with Somali “troublemakers.”
This gives them power to meddle in Somali politics even at the village level. It has created an atmosphere of fear. In most of Somalia, it is safer to publicly criticise your own leaders than to oppose Ethiopia’s policy towards Somalia.
The recent case of Abdikarim Muse aka Qalbidhagah, which caused public uproar, is a good example.
Abdikarim was abducted from Somalia and handed over to Ethiopia. He was reportedly a member of the Somali National Army before the collapse of the central government in 1991. He later joined the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a movement fighting for self-determination. What has shocked ordinary citizens is that the Somali government, which is supposed to protect its people, “facilitated” Abdikarim’s rendition to Ethiopia.
This was a big test for Somalia’s leaders of how far they are willing to compromise the nation’s sovereignty. It is moves like these that embolden Ethiopian leaders to continue to push the boundaries of a government struggling to assert itself in the face of systemic threats.
However, Somalis still have a chance to save their nation. And it may come from an unexpected and unlikely source: Ethiopia itself.
The foreign policy ambitions of the Addis Ababa government have come at the expense of neglecting its own citizens. For the past two years, the two largest ethnic groups in Ethiopia, the Oromo and Amhara, have been demonstrating against the government.
The initial peaceful protests have turned into an armed struggle. With the authorities struggling to contain the violence, this has had serious implications on its ability to wield power effectively. The still largely tribal nation faces tensions that until recently had been masked by the economic and political largesse bestowed by Western governments.
The current regime’s ability to hold onto power has been called into question. As state institutions falter and several ongoing insurgencies with dozens of ethnic groups vieing for power, Ethiopia’s unity is in jeopardy.
The net result of this unfortunate outcome for the average Ethiopian citizen may well mean that Somalia could pull itself out of the mire in which it finds itself to build a stronger and more prosperous nation.
Regardless of what happens in Ethiopia, Somalis have to take control of their own destiny. First, they must accept that Ethiopia would not have achieved anything without the assistance of Somalis. This is of our own making. Somalis can not expect states that have their own interests, ambitions and machinations to build a state for them.
The current nation-state order demands that states work towards their own primary interests first and foremost, and yes, even at the expense of other states. That’s what Ethiopia did — outmanoeuvring Somali leaders.
The solution is for Somalis to look from within their nation not as individuals but as a collective, as a society. They must not remain divided through clan lines; often loyalty to clan comes before the interests of the nation.
It is about understanding that inward-looking clans cannot form a modern cohesive nation. The Somali people share several favourable characteristics that make for a strong nation in todays world: one religion, colour and language.
Somalis must understand that the benefits of uniting as a nation outweigh everything else.
Jamal Osman is a multi-award winning Somali journalist and filmmaker. He is the founder and editor of @DalsoorNews
An Ethiopian religious festival transformed on Sunday into a rare moment of open defiance to the government one year after a stampede started by police killed dozens at the gathering.
The Irreecha festival is held annually by the Oromos, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, which in late 2015 began months of anti-government protests over claims of marginalisation and unfair land seizures.
Parliament declared a nationwide state of emergency aimed at quelling the unrest shortly after the bloodshed at last October’s Irreecha, but the protests at this year’s gathering show that dissatisfaction still runs deep.
“The government is trying to control us and deny our rights, lives and security,” said Sabana Bone, who was among the tens of thousands clad in traditional white clothing who gathered by a lake in a resort town of Bishoftu, about 60 kilometres (37 miles) southeast of the capital Addis Ababa.
“We are remembering what happened last year and it makes us angry. We need freedom,” Bone said.
The Oromo protests were triggered by a government plan to expand Addis Ababa’s boundaries, which community leaders denounced as an attempt to steal their land which surrounds the capital.
They later spread to other ethnic groups like the Amharas who have long felt marginalised by Ethiopia’s ruling party, which controls every seat in parliament and wields virtually unchecked power.
The months of protest resulted in 22,000 arrests and at least 940 deaths, according to the government-linked human rights commission.
Also known as thanksgiving and meant to mark the end of the months-long rainy season and start of the harvest, last October’s Irreecha became a turning point in the unrest when police shot tear gas at people chanting protest slogans, sparking a panic that left at least 50 people dead, although activists claim a much higher toll.
The state of emergency, which was repealed in August, succeeded in stopping the demonstrations by criminalising gatherings and allowing police to hold people without trial, provisions that scared off most protesters.
That changed at this year’s Irreecha, as hundreds of people climbed onto a stage, crossed their arms over their head in a gesture of protest and chanted “Down, down, Woyane,” a derogatory term for Ethiopia’s government.
Police were nowhere to be seen at the festival grounds, while the elders who traditionally preside over the ceremony stayed away.
The anti-government sentiment at the festival was further amplified by bouts of ethnic fighting in September between Oromo and Somali communities in southern and eastern Ethiopia.
“There is Somali expansionism against the Oromo people, and the government is supporting the Somalis,” said Doyo Wako, from the Borana area where fierce fighting occurred.
After hours of chanting, the crowd dispersed to board buses back home.
Some attendees ran through the streets of Bishoftu yelling protest slogans, as armed police stood by, watching.
High time for the US administration and Congress to reckon with the human rights abuses of the Ethiopian government, and how the sharing of national security technologies is enabling the regime.
Corporations—human rights—surveillance: The sharing of national security technologies could make U.S. complicit in the war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by its security partner – the Ethiopian regime. (Photo: azatvaleev/Getty Images)
Recent stories from Edward Snowden’s disclosures show how the US government’s involvement with Ethiopia presents a case study in enabling repressive regimes to carry out surveillance on their own citizens.
In the case of Ethiopia, such surveillance powers can play a significant role in a government’s criminalization of dissent and politically motivated detentions. The United States is not alone in its assistance. Ethiopia has also used hacking technologies obtained from abroad to spy on diaspora living in the United States.
It is high time for the US administration and Congress to reckon with the human rights abuses of the Ethiopian government, and how the sharing of national security technologies is enabling the regime.
The National Security Agency (NSA) documents provided by Snowden reveal that the US set up several listening posts in Ethiopia in 2002 to intercept communications from Somalia, Sudan, and Yemen, as part of its regional counter-terrorism efforts.
In 2006, the documentsindicate, the NSA agreed to provide Ethiopia with additional domestic surveillance technology in the Somali Regional State, commonly called the Ogaden. As part of these partnerships, the US trained Ethiopia’s army and security agency in surveillance techniques in exchange for local language capabilities and well-placed intelligence operations centers.
In other words, this wasn’t just US intelligence analysts sitting in Ethiopia – which would have been problematic enough given the US history of abusive renditions at that time. It was the NSA actually training and transferring this technology to the Ethiopian army and government.
As the documentsstate: “The benefit of this relationship is that the Ethiopians provide the location and linguists and we [United States] provide the technology and training.”
This news raises many questions because we know the Ethiopian army, not long after, proceeded to commit war crimes and possible crimes against humanity in the Ogaden region in 2007-2008 during a brutal counterinsurgency campaign against the Ogaden National Liberation Front. Various Ethiopian forces have continued to commit serious abuses in Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State ever since.
Ethiopia, a major ally of the United States, has worked over many years to ruthlessly and methodically crush political dissent. Its security forces terrorize the population with impunity, tens of thousands of people are detained for political reasons, and it misuses the counter-terrorism narrative to crack down on peaceful dissent.
While Western nations have largely turned a blind eye to Ethiopia’s human rights record, there has been limited evidence to link the Ethiopian government’s most serious abuses, including war crimes and crimes against humanity, to its Western allies. Until now.
The NSA can’t feign ignorance. In addition to a 130-page Human Rights Watch reportpublished in 2008 that documents extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and mass arrests by the NSA’s partner in the Ogaden, the US State Department itself routinely reports on serious abuses by the army, including in 2005, the year before the US and Ethiopia reportedly expanded their deal.
United Nations human rights bodies and experts, in which the United States is an active participant, have also drawn attentionto Ethiopia’s abusive security forces.
Military abuses are not limited to the Ogaden. Ethiopian government forces have long committed abuses throughout the country– including possible crimes against humanity in the Gambella region in 2003. In the last two years, government security forces have killed over 1,000 people during a year of protests against the government and security force aggression.
Human Rights Watch’s researchhas documented how one of the Ethiopian government’s security agencies, the Information Network Security Agency (INSA), plays an increasingly key role in facilitating surveillance of Ethiopians’ private communications for security and police forces. The law enforcement and security agencies in turn use the information to arrest people for lawful opposition activities under the pretext of counter-terrorism. And many of those arrested are arbitrarily detained without trial.
In 2014, Human Rights Watch documented how authorities used transcripts, recordings, and phone call metadata during violent interrogations and in politically motivated trials. Such information is usually obtained without judicial warrants and Ethiopia lacks meaningful protections for privacy and fair trial rights.
The US is not alone in having provided surveillance capabilities to Ethiopia. The government’s Chinese-developed telecom system allows officials to monitor every phone call in the country. The government also used spyware made by Italian firm Hacking Team and German/British firm Gamma International to hack into electronic devices and spy on members of the Ethiopia diaspora, including those in the United States.
Evidence exists that spyware of various types continues to be used to target dissidents in the diaspora.
While the Snowden documents show the US-Ethiopia surveillance partnership lasted up until at least 2010, it is highly likely that this relationship has continued given the strong cooperation between the two governments in other areas and the US government’s insatiable appetite for intelligence. This could make the US complicit in the very serious crimes being committed by its security partner.
As a general matter, international law forbidsa government’s assisting another government in the commission of international law violations. Those international rules are even more restrictive when the recipient’s violations are well-known and repetitive.
The US Congress has recently and rightly expressed concern over human rights abuses committed by Ethiopia’s government, including by recommending that the Secretary of State should “conduct a review of security assistance to Ethiopia in light of recent developments and to improve transparency with respect to the purposes of such assistance…”
In this vein, Congress should ask both the NSA and its parent agency, the Defense Department, for clarity on the status of its surveillance partnership with Ethiopia and what protections are in place to ensure the US is not in any way facilitating the serious abuses being committed by the Ethiopian army and other government agencies — abuses that ultimately undermine US interests in the region.
The speaker of Ethiopia’s lower house of parliament submitted his resignation on Sunday, one of the highest-ranking officials to do so since the ruling EPRDF coalition came to power in 1991.
Abadula Gemeda did not disclose reasons behind his decision, but said he would disclose the factors once his move was approved by parliament.
Analysts in the Horn of Africa country said Abadula, an ethnic Oromo, may have decided to step down owing to disapproval of the government’s response to unrest that roiled Ethiopia’s Oromiya region in 2015 and 2016.
The violence there forced the government to impose a nine-month state of emergency that was only lifted in August.
“Given the existence of circumstances that do not enable me to continue in this position, I have submitted my resignation to my political party and the House of People’s Representatives,” he said in a short speech on national television.
“I will disclose the reasons behind my decision once my request is reviewed by the House of People’s Representatives,” the former defense minister added.
The unrest was provoked by a development scheme for the capital Addis Ababa that dissidents said amounted to land grabs and turned into broader anti-government demonstrations over politics and human rights abuses.
It included attacks on businesses, many of them foreign-owned, including farms growing flowers for export.
In April, a government-sanctioned investigation said 669 people had been killed during one period in the violence and more than 29,000 people arrested.
Abba Dula said he decided to resign because there are things that made it impossible for him to continue on his job.
Pending resignation, House Speaker Abadula Gemeda still presides over parliament
More questions than answers. Seen as a rubber stamp speaker by many, Abadula Gemeda is considered as a force to be reckoned by his Oromo supporters. However, it’s not yet clear if the renewed protests in the Oromia region has anything to do with his resignation.
Speaker of the Ethiopian parliament, Abadula Gemeda, who submitted his resignation last week has presided on Thursday over a regular session of the House of People’s Representatives.
Gemeda’s announcement of resignation last week sparked speculations and debate whether the one-time defense minister and president of the Oromia region has real power to shake the Tigrayan dominated regime.
Some analysts say his resignation was a sign that there is a crisis within the ruling EPRDF coalition whose member ethnic parties, at least the OPDO, would no more wish to continue under the complete domination and influence by the TPLF.
A leading member of the executive of the Oromo People’s Democratic Organizations (OPDO), one of the members of the ruling coalition, Abadula Gemeda, in his position as president of the Oromia region, was said to have aggressively been organizing the Oromos and had created huge followers.
This, some analysts say, has been frowned upon by the TPLF higher ups. Many believe he was made speaker of the House by the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi overnight to undermine his power in the Oromo region, as the speaker of parliament has no real power in Ethiopia’s case.
The otherwise smiley and bubbly Gemada had a stern and disappointed look on Sunday as he announced his resignation on the national television.
Seen as a rubber stamp speaker by many, but a force to be reckoned with by his supporters, the former defense minister said he had reasons not to continue as speaker of the House of Peoples Representatives any more. He also said he lost interest in the job.
Gemeda promised to tell his reasons for resignation in details once his request to resign has been approved by the government. But some analysts believe he was disappointed by the actions of army generals of the ruling TPLF, who are being accused of instigating recent ethnic clashes between the Oromos and Somalis that saw the displacement of at least 150,000 Oromos.
There has also been confusion as to where the House Speaker submitted his resignation. Gemeda said he filed his resignation to his party, the OPDO and the Parliament. However, government spokesperson Negeri Lencho said on Monday that the request for resignation has been submitted to the Prime Minister’s office and that it was under review, while The Reporter, a pro-government newspaper published in Addis Ababa said Gemeda submitted his resignation to the EPRDF and it has been accepted by the Front.
As fresh protests reignited in the Oromia region on Wednesday, the resignation of a top Oromo government figure continues to occupy the headlines and has stirred passionate conversations on the Ethiopian social media.
It was not clear if the unrest that began yesterday and still continuing today in the Oromo region was triggered by, or has anything to do with the Speaker’s resignation.
The Honorable Paul Ryan Speaker of the House H-232 The Capitol Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Speaker Ryan,
We are writing to underscore the importance of House Resolution (H.Res.) 128 and the need to bring it to a vote as soon as possible.
The resolution, which calls for respect for human rights and encourages inclusive governance in Ethiopia, has strong bipartisan support with 71 co-sponsors. It passed the Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously on July 27, 2017 and was scheduled for a vote on October 2nd. However, on Thursday, September 28, the measure was removed from the calendar without explanation.
Last week, a Member of Congress publicly stated that H.Res.128 had been pulled due to threats by the Ethiopian government that if the House proceeded with a vote, Ethiopia would withdraw as a partner on regional counterterrorism efforts.
Ethiopia has long been an important security ally of the United States and continues to receive financial, intelligence and military assistance. However, its worsening human rights record, which includes a brutal crackdown on dissent since 2015 and near elimination of democratic space in the country, has introduced profound instability in the region. The US has long seen a stable and prosperous Ethiopia as crucial to the effectiveness of its counterterrorism efforts.
We believe H.Res.128 represents an important and long overdue response to Ethiopia’s heavy-handed tactics against largely peaceful protests that began in Oromia in 2015 and later spread to the Amhara region in 2016. Together these regions represent around 70 percent of the population of Ethiopia. They indicate a widespread grassroots desire for reform in the country.
A strong, unambiguous signal from the US demanding concrete reforms is required to avert crisis and to create a path toward sustainable regional stability. The passage of H.Res.128 represents an important first step in that direction and should not be derailed by last-minute bullying tactics. This would not be the first time the government of Ethiopia has made threats of this nature and it is worth noting they have never been carried through.
The resolution raises a number of important recommendations that could benefit both Ethiopia and the United States in their counterterrorism partnership while encouraging the government of Ethiopia to take steps to open up civic space, ensure accountability for human rights abuses, and promote inclusive governance.
We believe the resolution should be placed back on the House agenda and voted on as soon as possible in order to show support for the people of Ethiopia in their desire to have a stable, prosperous and democratic country.
Sincerely,
Amhara Association of America
Amnesty International USA
Center for Justice and Accountability
Ethiopia Human Rights Project
Freedom House
Human Rights Watch
Oromo Advocacy Alliance
Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia
Cc:
The Honorable Ed Royce
The Honorable Mac Thornberry
The Honorable Chris Smith
The Honorable Karen Bass
The Honorable Mike Coffman
The Honorable Robin Kelly
The Honorable Marc Veasey
The Honorable Keith Ellison
Ethiopia has halted a human rights resolution in the House by threatening to withdraw security cooperation with the United States. But counterterrorism partnership should not give the regime a pass to continue killing and jailing political opponents with absolute impunity.
The U.S. should send a strong and unequivocal signal to the Ethiopian government demanding accountability and meaningful reforms. Members of Congress should call the bluff, place the resolution back on the House agenda, and approve it.
When Congressman Mike Coffman (R-CO) addressed a gathering of mostly Ethiopian-origin constituents in late September, he told them that according to the Ethiopian ambassador in Washington, Ethiopia would stop counterterrorism cooperation with the United States if Congress went ahead with a planned vote on a resolution calling for human rights protections and inclusive governance in the country (H. Res. 128).
The threat appears to have worked: The floor vote on the resolution has been indefinitely postponed.
This may be viewed as just another instance of an authoritarian government playing the counterterrorism card to avoid international criticism for a bad human rights record. But in the case of Ethiopia, it is more than that.
H.Res. 128 has strong bipartisan support, with 71 cosponsors. The resolution passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously on July 27 and was scheduled for a vote by the full House on October 2.
As the author of the measure, Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), said during the committee mark-up, the resolution is like a mirror held up to the government of Ethiopia, and it is intended to encourage them to recognize how others see them and move forward with reforms.
While the resolution contains provisions that call for sanctions—under the Global Magnitsky Act—against Ethiopian officials responsible for committing gross human rights violations, the more important reason why the government took the severe step of threatening the U.S. Congress is the damage that this resolution could do to the country’s image.
Defending a lucrative myth
Over the past decade, the government of Ethiopia has carefully crafted its reputation as a development success story, a champion of peace, and a bastion of stability in the troubled Horn of Africa region.
In response, international donors have poured in billions of dollars in aid, amounting to roughly 50 to 60 percent of the national budget. The United States maintains a significant geostrategic interest in Ethiopia and considers it a key partner for counterterrorism and international peacekeeping. The country is consequently one of the largest recipients of U.S. aid in sub-Saharan Africa.
In addition, Ethiopia is a current member of the UN Security Council and the UN Human Rights Council. For the government in Addis Ababa, all this international recognition is not only about looking good and important in the eyes of the international community. It is also a powerful propaganda tool that has been diligently exploited to boost the regime’s increasingly shaky legitimacy at home.
The Ethiopian government vigorously fought all previous attempts to hold it accountable for abuses of human rights and democratic norms, and it has opposed the current measure from its inception.
In January 2017, it hired a Washington-based lobbying firm in an effort to kill H.Res.128 and its companion resolution in the Senate. Senior government officials traveled to the United States and held a series of meetings with American lawmakers and other members of the U.S. government. In April, the minister of foreign affairs proudly told his own parliament that the government’s lobbying campaign had brought an end to two resolutions concocted by “a few scheming members of Congress.”
However, both resolutions were revived over the summer, and H.Res.128 passed the House Foreign Affairs Committee with no opposition in July. Ethiopia’s threat to suspend security cooperation represents a last-ditch effort to prevent this resolution from advancing any further.
An increasingly unstable bastion of stability
Ethiopia’s latest bout of unrest and state repression began when a government development plan for the capital region triggered protests in the surrounding Oromia region, whose residents faced displacement under the plan. The demonstrations continued even after the scheme was rescinded, driven by deep frustration with decades of ethnic exclusion under the authoritarian regime.
The ruling party’s formal diversity masks the ethnic Tigrayan elite’s de facto dominance of all aspects of public life, and the protests have drawn much of their support from the sidelined Oromo and Amhara populations—which together form a majority in the country.
Over 1,000 people have died at the hands of security forces since the antigovernment protests erupted in Oromia in November 2015. Some 25,000 people were detained in makeshift prisons and military camps under a state of emergency that was declared in October 2016 to stifle the protests.
When the government lifted the state of emergency in August, there were still over 7,000 people in custody and facing criminal charges.
The government rejected repeated calls from the international community for an independent investigation and accountability, claiming that it has systems in place to investigate and punish any abuses. However, the country’s judiciary enjoys no independence from the executive, and to date there is no evidence that any member of the security forces has been brought to justice. Indeed, the police’s standard response to protesters continues to be indiscriminate firing of live ammunition and mass incarceration.
Diplomacy alone has so far failed to change the behavior of the Ethiopian government and to stop its relentless attacks on human rights and prodemocracy activists. H.Res.128 is important and necessary not just as a response to Ethiopia’s heavy-handed tactics against largely peaceful demonstrators, but also as an incentive for the government to open up civic space and promote inclusive governance.
With antigovernment protests increasingly taking a violent turn in recent months, a strong and unequivocal signal from the United States demanding accountability and concrete reforms is required to avert an all-out crisis and to create a path toward sustainable regional stability.
Counterterrorism partnership should not give Ethiopian authorities a pass to continue killing and jailing political opponents with absolute impunity, and Ethiopia may not be of much value as a security partner going forward if the bond between state and society is allowed to disintegrate in this manner.
Passing H.Res.128 would send a powerful message to Addis Ababa to get serious about undertaking reforms, and the Ethiopian government’s bullying tactics should not derail it. Members of Congress should call the bluff, place the resolution back on the House agenda, and approve it.
Experience shows that Ethiopia would never follow through on the threat to halt security cooperation. The government fully understands who would be the ultimate loser if it did.
According to the horrifying video obtained by the BBC, the protesters were marked to die by the soldiers who were given merciless orders to “finish off” even wounded civilians.
The brutal Ethiopian security forces operate the killings with complete impunity. Would this BBC audio evidence of the heinous killings finally lead to accountability?
On Thursday, Oct. 26, Ethiopian security forces shot and killed at least 11 protesters and wounded 23 others in Ambo town, 120 kilometers west of the capital, Addis Ababa. Ambo is no stranger to violence or expressions of dissent. The popular Oromo protests, by Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, which culminated in the declaration of a nationwide state of emergency last October, started in this town in May 2014.
Security forces killed dozens of protesters on its streets in 2014 and 2016 as the federal army took over the restive town to stamp out the protests.
Since the state of emergency was lifted in August, an eerie calm had prevailed in Ambo ― and in much of the restive Oromia region, the largest of Ethiopia’s nine-linguistic based federal states. But that semblance of calm ended abruptly on Thursday when the federal army returned.
Ambo is currently under siege. The U.S. embassy has expressed concerns and called on security forces to exercise restraint. However, outside of Ethiopia, the unfolding crisis has received scant media coverage.
On Oct. 27, BBC Afaan Oromoreleased a 30-second video from Thursday’s massacre in Ambo. The chilling video, which appears to be a collage of short clips from around Ambo, offers a raw evidence of the federal army’s indiscriminate and brutal slaughter of civilians.
Ten seconds into the video, soldiers are seen marching down an empty street. Suddenly, someone tells a soldier in clearly audible Amharic “BeTisew (በጥሰው)!” which in this context means “fire” or “let it rip.” The order was immediately followed by a gunfire blast. The firing soldier appears to be given orders by a superior or colleague and follows as commanded.
The horrific monologue is as follows:
Speaker (presumably a commanding officer): Fire! (Soldier fires a round.)
Speaker: Belew! (The Amharic word በለው loosely means “hit it!”, a clear order to fire again.) (Soldier fires another round).
Speaker: Belew! (Soldier fires multiple rounds).
Wails of an injured person can be heard at a distance. We hear more rounds being fired. The speaker resumes commands: Digemew! (ድገመው), which means, “shoot (do it) again!” More blasts go off.
The commander, the only person speaking intelligibly in the video, yells the final order: “Finish him off!” (ጨርሰው!).
BBC bleeped out the next statement by the officer. However, OPride has confirmed that the speaker used profanity to insult the mother of the victim. Another round was fired and this one appears to have killed the victim, who can no longer be heard.
Speaking to Deutsche Welle’s Amharic service, the spokesperson for Ambo city administration, Gadissa Dasalegn, said the killers were “members of the Agazi(special) forces.” He maybe right. OPride consulted with several gun experts to determine the type of weapons heard in the aforementioned audio.
Experts believe it is the AK-103 assault rifle, which can hit a target up to half a kilometer away. A favorite of special forces, including the Indian Naval Commando forces and special force units in Iran and Russia, the rifle is not used by regular army units. Ethiopia apparently produces the weapon, which means that the lethal weapon used to kill protesters in Ambo may have been manufactured at the Gafat weapons plant, in Bishoftu, also in Oromia.
The video―verified by BBC Afaan Oromo―is the clearest evidence yet of the security forces use of live ammunition for crowd control. The audio is clear: The protesters were marked to die by the soldiers, who were given merciless orders to “finish off” even wounded civilians.
Tokkuma Kifle, director of the town’s main hospital, told the BBC that many of the dead were shot in the head and that two of the victims were women. A 13-year-old boy was also among those killed on the spot.
It is tragic that Ethiopian authorities deployed sharpshooting marksmen to take out civilians using lethal force in an effort to take back the streets of Ambo. The federal army has now taken control of the town―in a move reminiscent of the martial law-era command post―but tensions remain high although funeral processions were conducted on Friday without incident.
Reckless Escalation
Ethiopia’s security forces operate with complete impunity. No one has been held accountable for the death of more than 1000 protesters from 2015-2016. The latest bout of violence in Ambo is even more revolting when one considers the reasons given for the military operation.
Protests in Nekemt claims the lives of three civilians
Soldiers were deployed after the youth blocked roads in and out of the town. Images of roads covered in boulders and branches were shared on social media on Monday while protesters chanted anti-government slogans.
According to the Addis-based Ethiopian Reporter, Ambo residents blocked the roads to protest sugar scarcity, its skyrocketing prices and stop alleged illegal transfer of hoarded sugar from a nearby factory to other areas.
A standoff with security forces seemed inevitable days before the military arrived in Ambo. But local elders and Oromia police held discussions with the youth as late as Monday to defuse tensions.
Unfortunately, their progress was disrupted by the arrival of federal forces. As soon as they entered Ambo, some on foot because the roads were blocked, soldiers unleashed a hail of bullets on unarmed protesters.
This happened despite ongoing discussions with youth protesters to address grievances and prevent further bloodshed for a town that has already seen so much of it. The escalation by the security forces was, by all accounts, reckless and unnecessary.
A Beloved Army?
Oromia state officials have denounced the violence and warned against further destabilization by rent-seekers trying to hijack their reform agenda. The federal government and the military are yet to comment on the incident.
More than 30 ethnic Amharas have been killed and over 200 houses burned down in a new wave of ethnic clashes that started in the Benishangul region
The state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation attempted to sugar-coat the army’s role, in a less than inconspicuous manner, a few days later. On Friday, the Army Chief of Staff, General Samora Yunis, appeared on the network singing praise for his foot soldiers, claiming that the army “is trusted and beloved by the people due to its work.”
However, the BBC video tells another story. Military officials are yet to release a statement of any kind explaining the conduct of their forces in Ambo last Thursday. Contrary to what General Samora told members of the Ethiopian Defense Forces at the gathering, it is clear that soldiers deployed in Ambo did not work in tandem with the people to prevent the tragic loss of life. They were there to kill. The question now is: Would the audio evidence of the heinous killings finally lead to accountability?
Attempts to illegally smuggle foreign currency out of Ethiopia have increased significantly following the devaluation of the local currency, according to the Deputy Director of airport travel and custom.
The illegal outflow of foreign currency out of Ethiopia has gone up recently. Since the recent drop of the birr (Ethiopian currency) by 15% against the US dollar, the illegal flight of US dollar and the number of people attempting to smuggle US dollar out of the country have increased dramatically.
Mr. Mulugeta Beyene, Deputy Director of airport travel and custom said, after the recent devaluation of the Birr by 15%, the number of people attempting to illegally smuggle out foreign currency and the illegal outflow of foreign currency have increased significantly.
During his recent interview on the government-owned Fana Radio, the Deputy director Mr. Mulugeta indicated, the arrest they made in the last 15 days have led him to conclude, the illegal foreign currency smuggling operation is well organized and is very well executed.
Mr. Mulgeta added foreign currency was not the only item that is illegally smuggled out at the airport. Precious metals are also illicitly trafficked out of the country.
An economist recently interviewed on ESAT (Ethiopian Satellite Television and Radio) indicated the illicit foreign currency leaving Ethiopia is now reaching over US $3 billion dollars. This, the economist added, is a worrisome trend and Ethiopia is now among the top countries in Africa where illicit trafficking of foreign currency is a big problem.
The economist added the level of foreign currency flight from Ethiopia with the aid of officials in the government and their underlings is a sign of the mounting political crisis gripping the country as manifested by the daily protest of its citizens against the government.
The declining local currency and weak purchasing power, the skyrocketing price of consumer goods, raw materials, and manufacturing machines and the billions of dollars illegally leaving the country further exacerbate the already high cost of living that is spiraling out of control.
Back in February, I described the newly Parliament-elected president as “a champion of enlightened patriotism that is optimistic and relies on itself to restore the corroded dignity of a self-destructive nation”. Two weeks later, after he appointed a man who was an employee and part-owner of Soma Oil and Gas as prime minister, I saw the writing on the wall but opted to give one last chance to the new president.
The needs of Ethiopia for many years in the future could have been met by building a series of smaller, much less expensive dams that would not cause such a drastic interference in the Nile River’s flow.
Back in February, I described the newly Parliament-elected president as “a champion of enlightened patriotism that is optimistic and relies on itself to restore the corroded dignity of a self-destructive nation”. Two weeks later, after he appointed a man who was an employee and part-owner of Soma Oil and Gas as prime minister, I saw the writing on the wall but opted to give one last chance to the new president.
That message was understood loud and clear in many foreign policy circles in London, Washington and Paris. So, rather than condemning his government’s actions, Western nations rallied around it.
