State creates new intelligence unit after reports that $26 billion left country in 10 years
By Tesfa Mogessie
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia
Alarmed by increasing illicit financial outflows, Ethiopia says it is taking new counter measures including installing advanced CCTV cameras at airports and establishing a special intelligence unit.
A report released by Global Financial Intelligence last January revealed that $26 billion left the country unlawfully in many forms over between 2004 and 2013 with Ethiopia continuing to bleed an average of $2 billion every year.
However, according to the report, a staggering $19.7 billion of the total money loss left through misinvoicing, mainly by importers who reported undervalued sums while exporters overvalue their transactions.
“The problem [illicit outflow] is there, and it is a huge challenge,” Ethiopian Customs and Revenue Authority Deputy Director General Alebachew Niguisse told Anadolu Agency.
But Niguisse refuses to accept the report and is skeptical about its accuracy.
He admitted that there would be a sum of money leaving out of sight but said there is a “limitation of information, a lack of experience and skill in parts of custom employees to understand the magnitude of the problem and the exact amount of money being taken out of the country”.
He said a major cause of capital flight — trade misinvoicing by importers and exporters dealing with their foreign partners — has been investigated by a newly developed Ethiopian Custom Valuation System (ECVS), a system which calculates the local price for goods based on international market price.
“When we know the international price tag of certain goods, we go down to the market and check the price against the actual price set by the importer or wholesaler and take corrective measures,” he said.
“Intelligence officers investigate transactions to track down on culprits of misinvoicing,” he added. “Thanks to improvised use of detecting technologies, close to $4 million outbound illicit money was intercepted at airport and customs checkpoints over the past six months.”
He also said the government is further reinforcing a 2009 national bank proclamation that stipulates that an individual cannot leave or enter the country with more than $3,000 or equivalent value of other currency in his or her possession.
-‘Black market’
Abebe Shiferraw, a lecturer in commerce at Addis Ababa University said that illegal currency exchange corners in the capital are contributing to increasing illicit financial outflows and business people are always on the demand side.
If they got the currency so easily, ways for them to take it out would not be that difficult, he opined.
Nearly four decades ago the value of foreign currency against Ethiopian birr was fixed and set by national bank, he said, adding that these days the black market exchange rate is considerably higher than the rate of banks.
One of the reasons why businesspeople are opting for the black market may be restricted access to foreign currency at the National Bank of Ethiopia, according to Shiferraw.
To avert this problem, he said that the government should take tightened measures on culprits be they importers, exporters or individuals. He added that the intent of importers to evade tax by under-invoicing caused greater capital flight.
Currently revenue from tax contributes 13 percent to the country’s GDP.
-Africa bleeding $50 billion annually
CEO of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) Dr. Carlos Lopes told Anadolu Agency last July that illicit outflow was the major detrimental factor that brought a funding gap to Africa’s 15-year Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
According to him, the funding gap forces the continent to look for $52 billion in aid.
A report launched in Ethiopia in Jan. 2015 by an African Union Commission’s High-Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows from Africa — chaired by former South African president Thabo Mbeki — shows Africa lost $50 billion annually between the years 2000 and 2008.
This was in the form of illicit flow which exceeded African development assistance of $46.1 billion earned in the year 2012.
It was announced on Friday by the UNECA that Mbeki is set to visit the United States after African leaders requested the panel make the problem an international concern.
Mbeki will meet U.S. officials, members of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, plus diplomats.
It is troubling to see a pure unitary position, unwilling even to recognize the existence of Ethiopians whose demand for democracy includes a right to preserve and promote local languages and cultures. The group still feels strongly about the need to avoid any form of ethnic federal system. However, considering the ethnic sentiment built in the last quarter of a century and the situation that lead to the change in 1991, it would be unwise to be so disdainful of the demand for ethnic based administration, allowing the simultaneous enrichment of the diverse languages and cultures in Ethiopia. We don’t seem to recognize the kind of chaos and instability that will ensue should a significant member of the population feels disenfranchised or when ethnic relationship in Ethiopia is not handled in a way that is fair and equitable to all. Why I am writing this article is not because I am in love with ethnic federalism, rather it is because I strongly believe in the need to find common ground as the answer may not lie in the extremes. This article attempts to show the possibility of implementing ethnic Federalism without the malice of ethnic politics. Interestingly, though, there is a tendency to use ethnic politics and ethnic federalism as if the two were one and the same. As a result we are obstructed from seeing the possibility that ethnic federalism can be implemented without ethnic politics, which as we all know is divisive and discriminatory. The lack of distinction between the two terms becomes a hindrance in creating a possible compromise among proponents of unitary system and ethnic federalism. Grasping the nuances of ‘ethnic politics’ and ‘ethnic federalism’, would help us recognize that as long as there are no ethnic political organizations or similar proxy identity politics which by definition are divisive and discriminatory, ethnic federal system could lead to a true Ethiopianism, recognizing unity in diversity.
However, the confusion gets worse when we jump to the concept of ‘geographical based federalism’, as an alternative to ethnic federalism in Ethiopia. What is geographical federalism? Are geographers going to partition the country in to administrative zones considering human activity, the contour, temperature, climate, rivers and lakes? Or are we going to continue fantasizing that the thirteen provinces that existed at the time of Emperor Haile Selassie were merely geography based that did not give recognition to ethnic realities? The cornerstone of the thirteen provinces, Eritrea excluded, seems to be ethnicity and sub ethnicity. Arsi-Oromo, Bale-Oromo, Ilubabor-Oromo, Welega-Oromo, Sidamo –Sidama, Tigray – Tigre, Hararghe – (Harari), Kaffa, Gamu Gofa, Begemder -Amhara, Gojjam-Amhara, Wollo – Amhara, and Shoa – comparable to the present Southern Region. Or it is true that if the classification was geography based, it had unintended result that the settlement groups created became ethnic and subethnic categories. Further observation indicates that there was a deliberate attempt to promote unity and nationalism instead of division and regionalism. The cause of Ethiopia will be better served if we honestly admit that deliberate or otherwise, the provincial system that existed in the pre-1974 era did not repudiate the need to give some level of recognition to ethnic realities in our country. Just some level!
The educational, political, and technological reality that existed about seventy years ago was completely different from what we have at present, and it would be meaningless to judge that period with the criteria of today. The political decisions made seventy or so years ago were based on the realities of the then and not of the 21st century. The governing question of the time was building strong, undivided, and efficient system of administration that could withstand any aggression be it by Europeans or by hostile neighbors. The mindset right after the Second World War was a dichotomy between them (the Italians/Europeans) and us (Ethiopians/Africans). What we see at that time was an intent to build undivided and strong Ethiopian nationalism. Also it is senseless to expect that there was sufficient awareness on ethnic questions the way the concept is understood today. At that time there was a significant shortage or even total absence of educated or skilled manpower and alluding that they deliberately put a system in place to oppress ethnicities in Ethiopia is simply ridiculous. In fact, that system gave some level of recognition to ethnic diversity and again names of provinces and the people included in respective administration units of the time speak for themselves.
One might question as to why that system had four predominantly Oromo provinces instead of just one. The answer should be simple and straight forward. A country is divided in to small manageable units so that it may be more convenient to address the uniqueness of a particular region with some level of local administration. That being the objective, creating large provinces negates the very justification for having provinces in the first place, which is the creation of small manageable administration units. It should be noted that if they were completely insensitive to ethnic issues, nothing could have stopped them from using numbers or unrelated pronouns with no single reference to any ethnic or subethnic group in Ethiopia. It is also evident that they could not imagine Oromia, a concept created by Oromo secessionists as an alternate/parallel universe that would exist side by side with Ethiopia. Ethiopians of the 1940s and 1950s were at least aware of Italia’s intent to divide and rule through its Italian East Africa map. And evidently they had no reason to follow suit using ethnic nationalism as a means to exercise domination through division .The concept of independence to the people of that time was conceived only vis-à-vis independence of Ethiopians from dangers of European colonialism and simply they could not even conceptualize an idea like, independence of Oromo from Ethiopia. Please note the Emperor himself was, ethnically speaking, Oromo.
However, as Ethiopians get exposure to western education and then communist ideologies, they begun to challenge the status quo on the basis of alien concepts ,among others ,ethnic oppression and self-administration up to secession. That is what transpired OLF, TPLF and hence the present ethnic based political system in Ethiopia. As people get enlightened and as new ideas and possibilities are available to them, it is normal to expect that they would come up with new needs. The right thing is to monitor such changes and be in a position to provide timely answers by making adjustments to the system. The thirteen provinces did give some recognition to the existence of different ethnicities in Ethiopia and it was not a geography based configuration of longitude and latitude lines. The challenge is how to learn whether or not that system or the present one has, somehow failed to improvise with the changing reality, and identify the improvements that could be introduced today without losing the soul of Ethiopia that helped our forefathers defy European colonialism, Ethiopianism.
What would have been the consequence if Emperor Haile Selassie introduced the use of local languages in the then provincial administration units like Oromigna in Bale or Sidama in Sidamo? Would such introduction turn the system in to a federal one? We need to keep in mind that Federation is not only about language, and it is about the general degree of political autonomy exercised at local government level. Mere addition of local language in governance may not change a unitary system in to a federal structure. Federalism is a system that bestows the administrative units with some level of autonomy in managing their affairs without or with minimum interference of the Federal government in things like raising tax, spending, managing natural resources, electing their own leaders, enacting local laws etc. The second question is if the introduction of local languages by the Emperor as a medium of provincial administration would have resulted in a political system that would be divisive, undermining Ethiopian unity and/or leading the nation to balkanization. Again, the answer to this question is not in the affirmative. Ethiopians had had been using their languages for centuries and enhancing the stature of a local language to that of official level should only be gratifying to the speakers of that language. It should then be a positive force bolstering confidence of ethnicities and promoting positive ethnic relationships leading to pride in Ethiopian nationalism. We can have a unitary system that operates with local languages at local level. When it is coupled with some level of autonomy then it could be considered as Ethnic Federalism. The key here is if the autonomy outlaws ethnic parties and similar discriminations through related proxy identity politics, ethnic politics becomes extinct paving the way for true unity in diversity, Ethiopian nationalism. It is as simple as that! Ethnic federalism does not necessarily imply the malice of ethnic politics.
Diversity in administration language of provinces or regions is not a problem by itself. The problem is when politicians use it as a means to divide and rule or use ethno nationalism, to an open or hidden secessionist agenda, while in the meantime awarding some special benefits to members of particular ethnic group at the detriment of other ethnicities. Ethnic diversity becomes a problem when inclusions and exclusions in a political party or supports/oppositions to political agenda are based on senseless blood lines rather than commonality of belief in policies that promote democracy and development of the nation in general. Once the constitution clearly establishes the administrative units, the right of the units to preserve and develop local languages, the agreed level of autonomy and democracy with in the umbrella of Ethiopia, there is no reason for allowing ethnic political organizations which by their very nature are divisive, unfair and discriminatory. Also why would we have such large regions like Amhara or Oromiya instead of smaller provinces that are better suited for better addressing the demand of locals effectively without creating a suspicion, as such regions are seen by most, as antitheses to Ethiopia? The smaller administrative units enable us to preserve and develop even the cultural sub diversity within major ethnic categories as in Bale vs Wollega or Gojam vs Wollo. Doing away with such large regions does not in any way infringe up on the right of ethnicities to preserve and develop their languages and cultures. Such alteration to the present administrative units or regions is, however, to those who support ethnic nationalism as a road to secession, seen as a death sentence. In the interest of permanent peace, stability and democracy, these extremists need to be educated and corrected by the majority who I believe are moderate.
Be it in religion or science a citizen’s correct perspective in Ethiopia should be to see himself/herself as a human being first, then African (black or white), Ethiopian, the Ethnicity, and the individual. When this is the correct order going from broader domain to narrow species in science, or Adam and Eve and varieties in religion, ethno centrists propagate that they are who they are in the reverse order. With this deranged outlook, they put their ethnicity above and beyond the nation, Ethiopia. Ethiopia to them becomes dispensable! This is the essence of ethnic politicians, seeing Ethiopia as a mere conglomeration of the member ethno states, which if needed and when needed are handy to be a country on their own right. Ethnic political parties contend that the party and the administration unit that the party claims to represent are inalienable and inalterable. The ethno centrists consider the ethnic group as some kind of ‘ethnic chicken that lay the region as an egg’, and hence it does not in any way recognize sense of ownership to people of other ethnicities. There is no recognition for the price the other ethnicities paid in blood, defending the land for generations. Nor there is any recognition to the historical interethnic ties due to migration, marriages, beliefs, psychology, history and economy. Even the status of the men in uniform, soldiers, is sublimely reduced to that of a mercenary level. According to the “up to secession concept” an Oromo soldier has no business fighting in a hypothetical war with Djibouti in Afar border or a Somali soldier defending the country in a hypothetical border war with South Sudan. Equally there is no reason for an Ethnic Gurage soldier to fight in a hypothetical war with Northern Sudan as he has no say in the destiny of Amhara region when that region decides to secede from Ethiopia. Also it will be idiotic to expect an equal treatment when residing in a state other than the state of origin, when regions are run by ethnic parties that are by their very nature discriminatory forcing other ethnicities in that state feel alien in their own country. These are some of the dangerous fallacies we find in ethnic politics of Ethiopia that recognizes an ‘up to secession right’ to self-determination.
A politician is to a country as a physician is to a biological being. The role of politicians among other things is to prescribe a winning policy and implement the same once accepted through a democratic process making its constituents better off. However, as we cannot afford to have a physician who prescribes a treatment for an ailment in the ‘heart’ while ending the ‘life’ of the person, it will be senseless to have politicians who are overly consumed with narrow ethnic political agenda and whose goal is to blindly benefit a particular administrative unit causing irreparable damage to other regions or the country, Ethiopia. If secession of a state from Ethiopia is acceptable in ethnic politics, taking a political stance without a single consideration to the decision’s impact on other regional state(s) should also be the norm. And it is like having a treatment to Gambella even if that treatment means a death to Southern Region. This can be avoided when politicians and political parties recognize that there is a greater good to be served, Ethiopia and Ethiopians. The face of ethnic politics is favoritism, exclusion, discrimination, corruption, division, ethnic hostility and instability. If one wishes then to have a political system that addresses the needs of all through a mechanism that allocates resources based on fairness and consideration to others, ethnic political organizations and discrimination through including proxy identity politics should be eliminated or outlawed.
In summary, considering the growth of ethnic sentiment in the last quarter of a century and the prior situation that culminated to the power shift in 1991, we need to consider ethnic federalism that is built on a non-dispensable Ethiopia, with no room for Ethnic politics or proxy identity politics. It is Ethnic political parties that work against national unity, openly promote nepotism/discrimination of a grand scale, and subscribe to division ultimately killing the soul of Ethiopia. Political organizations should not be venues for openly promoting nepotism, favoritism, and discrimination among citizens based on their belonging or lack thereof to a particular ethnic group. Ethnic politics which is synonymous with ethnic favoritism and discrimination should be seen as the highest offence of the land punishable likewise. Ethnic federalism on the other hand is the creation of federal administration units with autonomy that include the right to promote local language and culture. Such impartial system would provide opportunities to all by availing language education so that an individual is not excluded because of language proficiency. It is quite different from Ethnic politics which could even be manifested in a unitary system enabling people to organize in proxy organizations so as to blindly favor one ethnic group or race at the detriment of another(s). It is not uncommon to hear about some western political parties in Europe or America as secretly promoting the interest of this or that race. We should not assume that whenever there is ethnic federalism there will be ethnic politics where people organize and operate around blood lines, instead of the prime directive/ the greater good, Ethiopianism founded on democratic unity in diversity.
A few word on the situation in Oromia. I am saddened at the recent violence and killings in Oromia. I believe the natural growth of Addis Abeba should be nurtured. The small farmers around Addis Abeba should be beneficiaries and not victims of Addis expansion. When eminent domain is exercised, small farmers or others should be paid at the market rate at which the land is to be sold. The role of government should be protecting the rights of small farmers that they are paid at the market rate of the land they are giving away less government’s share of taxes. That way, the small farmers in and around Addis or elsewhere would be turned to millionaires. They can use the money to buy machinery and land in another location, securing their future as successful farmers. Every farmer would then be praying to get that opportunity instead of standing against expansion of Addis or other city. Snatching the land from farmers with minimal payment is against the principle that justified government ownership of land. If the principle is to protect interest of farmers, the practice should not have the unwanted outcome of hurting farmers. When a practice of a principle works against the very assumption that it was put in place, it is high time that we revise the principle to ‘private landownership’. No matter what, interest of land owners should be respected!
Division and fear are the age-old tools of tyrants; unity and peaceful coordinated action the most powerful weapons against them.
Frightened and downtrodden for so long, there are positive signs that the Ethiopian people are beginning to come together, – peacefully uniting in their anger at the ruling party: – the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF); a paranoid brutal regime, that suppresses the people, is guilty of wide-ranging human rights violations, and has systematically encouraged ethnic divisions and rivalries.
Anti-government protests have been growing over the last few years, and in recent months large-scale demonstrations have taken place throughout Oromia; also in Gondar, where university students have been demonstrating, demanding, academic rights, freedom, democracy and justice.
Tribal groups, particularly the peoples of Amhara and Oromia (the largest ethnic group – accounting for 35% of the population) have come together: thousands have been marching, running, sitting, shouting and screaming.
Government slays Peaceful Protestors
The EPRDF’s response to the demonstrator’s democratic gall has been crudely predictable: brand protestors ‘anti-peace forces’ and terrorists, then shoot, arrest and imprison them.
Whilst Human Rights Watch (HRW) state that security forces have killed at least 140 people, independent broadcaster ESAT news estimate the number to be over 200. The government, which human rights groups state, authorised the police and military to use “excessive force, including…live ammunition against protesters, among them children as young as 12”, has so far admitted 22 fatalities.
ESAT report at least 1,500 have been injured and to date over 5,000 arrested (in Oromia alone), including Bekele Gerba, deputy chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), Oromia’s largest legally registered political party and his son. Senior members of the OFC, as well as members of other opposition parties and their families, have also been imprisoned; scores more people are harassed, their homes searched. Acting on behalf of an unaccountable government, security forces are “on a mission of wanton destruction of human lives and properties”.
State plan cancelled by protest
The under-reported protests in Gondar (in the Amhara region) were triggered by two separate, but related issues: government cession of an expanse of fertile land – up to 1,600 square km, to Sudan under new demarcation proposals; and the widespread belief that state forces are responsible for a mass killing that took place in November 2015 against the people of Qimant. Leaders of The Gondar Union Association told ESAT news they believed the murders were “committed by TPLF [government] cadres, who then blamed it on the Amhara people to incite violence among the two groups.”
In Oromia, where protests began in April 2014 throughout the region, it was the government’s plan to expand the capital, Addis Ababa, onto agricultural land: hundreds of smallholders would have been displaced, villages destroyed, livelihoods shattered. Following months of demonstrations the government has announced that the plan is to be scrapped. The official statement virtually dismissed the protestor’s opposition, claiming it was “based on a simple misunderstanding” created by a “lack of transparency”.
Activists reacted with derision to the government’s condescension, and vowed to continue protesting unless their longstanding grievances of political exclusion are addressed. Sit-ins and peaceful demonstrations have continued in various locations across Oromo, evoking more violence from the ruling party’s henchmen.
Oromo Rage
The Oromo people see the government’s violence as part of a systematic attempt to oppress and marginalise them. As Amnesty International (AI) states in its report ‘Because I am Oromo’: “thousands of Oromo people have been subjected to unlawful killings, torture and enforced disappearance.” People without any political affiliation are arrested on suspicion that they do not support the government – “between 2011 and 2014, at least 5,000 Oromos have been arrested”. Amnesty asserts that recent regime violence was “the latest and bloodiest in a long pattern of suppression”. This description of government intimidation and brutality will sound familiar to most Ethiopians.
Whilst it was the ‘master-plan’ for Addis Ababa that brought thousands onto the streets, anger and discontent has been fermenting throughout the country for years. Feelings fuelled by restrictions on fundamental freedoms, and human rights violations, many of which can only be described as State Terrorism.
Power Hungry
The EPRDF have been in power for 25 long, and for many people, painful years. The ruling party was formed from the four armed groups that seized power in May 1991, including the now dominant Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF).
Despite the theatre of national “elections” being staged every five years since 1995, the EPRDF has never been elected. Last year’s sham saw them take all 547 parliamentary seats. In order to convince a suspicious, if largely indifferent watching world (the EU refused to send a team of observers to legitimise proceedings) one might have expected a token seat or two for an opposition party, but the government decided they could steal every one and get away with it; their arrogance confirming their guilt.
The Tigrean ethnic group makes up a mere 6% of the countries 95 million population, but the TPLF (or Weyane as they are commonly called) and their cohorts dominate the government, the senior military, the judiciary, and, according to Genocide Watch, intend “to internally colonize the country”. A claim that the ethnic Somalis living in the Ogaden region, as well as the people of Amhara and Oromia, all of whom are subjected to appalling levels of persecution, would agree with.
Undemocratic, repressive regime
The Government claims to adhere to democracy, but says the introduction of democratic principles will take time. ‘Outsiders’ (critics such as HRW, Amnesty International and the EU) ‘don’t understand’ the country: thus Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn pretends: Ethiopia “is a fledgling democracy – a house in the making”.
Well it is not a house being built on any recognizable democratic foundations: human rights, civil society, justice and freedom for example. Indeed there is no evidence of democracy actual or potential on the government’s part in Ethiopia. On the contrary, despite a liberally-worded constitution, the ruling party tramples on human rights, uses violence and fear to suppress the people and governs in a highly centralised manner: Opposition parties are ignored, their leaders often imprisoned or forced to live abroad; the government, Amnesty International (AI) states, routinely uses “arbitrary arrest and detention, often without charge, to suppress suggestions of dissent in many parts of the country.”
The judiciary is a puppet, as is the “investigative branch of the police”, Amnesty records, making it impossible “to receive a fair hearing in politically motivated trials”, or any other case for that matter. Federal and regional security services operate with “near total impunity” and are “responsible for violations throughout the country, including…the use of excessive force, torture and extrajudicial executions.”
There is no media freedom; virtually all press, television and radio outlets are state-owned, as is the sole telecommunications company – allowing unfettered surveillance of the Internet. The only independent broadcaster is internationally based ESAT; the Government routinely blocks its satellite signal, and employee family members who live in Ethiopia are persecuted, imprisoned, their homes ransacked.
Journalists who challenge the government are intimidated, arrested or forced abroad. Ethiopia is the fourth most censored country in the world (after Eritrea, North Korea and Saudi Arabia) according to The Committee to Protect Journalists, and “the third worst jailer of journalists on the African continent”. The widely criticized, conveniently vague “2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation” – used to silence journalists – and “The Charities and Societies Proclamation”, make up the government’s principle legislative weapons of suppression, which are wielded without restraint.
The 99%
The vast majority of Ethiopian people – domestic and expatriate – are desperate for change, freedom, justice and adherence to human rights; liberties that the EPRDF have total contempt for: their primary concern is manifestly holding onto power, generating wealth for themselves, and their cohorts, and ensuring no space for political debate, dissent or democratic development.
Without a functioning electoral system or independent media, and given government hostility to open dialogue with opposition parties and community activists, there are only two options available for the discontented majority. An armed uprising against the EPRDF – and there are many loud voices advocating this – or the more positive alternative: peaceful, consistent, well-organized activism, building on the huge demonstrations in Oromia and Gondar, uniting the people and driving an unstoppable momentum for change.
Ethiopia is a richly diverse country, composed of dozens of tribal groups speaking a variety of languages and dialects. Traditions and cultures may vary, but the needs and aspirations of the people are the same, as are their grievances and fears. Tolerance and understanding of differences, cooperation and shared objectives could build a powerful coalition, establishing a platform for true democracy to take root in a country that has never known it.
People can only be trapped under a cloak of suppression for so long, eventually they must and will rise up. Throughout the world there is a movement for change: for freedom, justice and participatory democracy, in which the 99% have a voice. The recent demonstrations in Ethiopia show that the people are at last beginning to unite, and are part of this collective cry.
Ethnic cleansing is defined as the systematic forced removal of ethnic or religious groups from a given territory by a more powerful ethnic group, with the intent of making it ethnically homogeneous.
The forces applied may be various forms of forced migration (deportation, population transfer), intimidation as well as mass murder and rape. Ethnic cleansing is usually accompanied with the efforts to remove physical and cultural evidence of the targeted group in the territory through the destruction of homes, social centers, farms, and infrastructure, and by the desecration of monuments, cemeteries, and places of worship.
This is precisely what happened and is happening now as we speak in northern Gondar regions of Humera, Welkaite Tegede and Telemet for the last two and half decades. We have heard repeatedly (VOA and through other medias) from the people of these regions of Gondar that Tigray liberation front forces them to sign a plain letter and declare they are Tigre and if they are not doing that they are told to leave the place and go where Amhara people live else face severe consequences, they are told the place now is only for Tigre people. They force them not to use their own language Amharic in any form and for any purpose, they prohibit them not to come to towns for otherwise they will be harassed, taken to police courts and being interrogated as criminals and coerced to accept being Tigre or leave the place. They settle millions of people from Tigray on the regions and over populate the Amharas and broadcast through their television, the settled population of Tigray as native residents of the regions.
Those elders who know the history of the region and others who boldly reject the forced annexation of their territories in to Tigray and talk and campaign against it in public were imprisoned, disappeared and killed. This is what ethnic cleansing in the proper sense of the word is.
Consider the decision the Tigray liberation front mercenaries make and said to these people, if they are not willing to change in to Tigre, then they have to leave the place and go to where Amharas live, although, all these places of northern Gondar are their cultural and natural places where they lived for centuries. If this is the mode of argument and socio-political philosophy of TPLF, then all those Tigre people who live in every corner of Ethiopia, stashing illegal wealth and political power in places where they are not from should leave those places and go to Tigray. With their analogy, the one that follows none of the forms of correct thought process which I have given their intuitive definitions below, the Tigre people from Addis Ababa, Bahir Dar, Gondar, Harar, Awassa, Jima, Diredawa, Gambella, Southern Ethiopia, Eastern Ethiopia Western Ethiopia, in cities and towns across Ethiopia, owning huge businesses occupying government offices with huge majorities through corruption and nepotism should leave all these places and go back to Tigray, the region where only Tigre people live. If what they do to the people of Northern Gondar is just, then this is more than a just action from the people of Ethiopia.
Aristotle outlined fundamental principles where thought process can take place in modern humans. These principles are sometimes called fundamental principles of logic in modern thinking.
[1] Law of contradiction – dictates that nothing cannot be both true and false at the same time. It is therefore a fallacy for something to be what it is and to be what it is not at the same time.
[2] Law of excluded middle – dictates that something which has a logical value is either true or false but not both. There is no middle truth between these two possibilities. In terms of existence, something either exists or does not exist and there is no middle possibility between existence and non-existence
[3] Principle of Identity – dictates that a thing is always the thing itself
Besides these principles of thought, there are what are called principles of inferences – logical argument forms that are used to validate truth to make a reasonable and just decision. Our lives are results of decisions we make on a daily basis.
These laws and principles are vital for modern societies to think properly, and make reasonable and rational decisions in order to make a civilized and modern human living. The ritual and destiny of any society which is devoid of such skills of thought process is chaos and social tornado of unpredictable nature, unable to come out of such social paralysis and senseless existence.
There is no a single principle of valid thought processes stated above that is valid and followed by the arsonist TPLF, instead it violates all forms in every dimension of social, political and economic problems Ethiopians confronted today, as problems require real solutions which are obtained from individuals who follow fundamental laws of thought and make valid arguments to validate truth and make just decisions which TPLF and its hollow members intrinsically cannot.
The questions I pause therefore are: where is the world and the international human rights watch? Where are the voices of conscience and truth when TPLF commits clear crimes of ethnic cleansing on the people of Northern Gondar? TPLF should know better the people of Gondar and the Amharas in particular and the Ethiopian society in general what they are capable off, not only defending their homes and places where they live but dying for their country for centuries along with their fellow Ethiopians alike.
As tensions escalate between Turkey and Russia, NATO has warned Ankara that it will not take part in a war provoked by the Turkish government.
Last November, Turkey shot down a Russian jet flying through Syrian airspace. While many feared that the incident would plunge both countries into war, conflict was avoided, though relations between Moscow and Ankara have remained chilly.
As Turkey pushes to deploy ground forces across its border to remove the legitimate government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Turkish government is, again, threatening the world with war.
“The armed forces of the two states are both active in fierce fighting on the Turkish-Syrian border, in some cases just a few kilometers from each other,” one NATO official told Der Spiegel.
Ankara’s aggression seems partially based on the assumption that, should conflict erupt, Turkey will be supported by its NATO allies. According to Article 5 of the NATO treaty, the collective defense clause would be invoked if any member state is attacked.
But European leaders have made it abundantly clear that they have no interest in participating in a war of Turkey’s making.
“NATO cannot allow itself to be pulled into a military escalation with Russia as a result of the recent tensions between Russia and Turkey,” Luxembourg Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told Der Spiegel.
Of Article 5, Asselborn stressed that “the guarantee is only valid when a member state is clearly attacked.”
Germany appears to agree.
“We are not going to pay the price for a war started by the Turks,” said a German diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
NATO leadership made similar warnings soon after Turkey’s downing of the Russian bomber last year.
“We have to avoid that situations, incidents, accidents spiral out of control,” NATO General Secretary Jens Stoltenberg said at the time. “I think I’ve expressed very clearly that we are calling for calm and de-escalation. This is a serious situation.”
On Friday, French President Francois Hollande stressed the need to prevent conflict between Moscow and Ankara.
“There is a risk of war between Turkey and Russia,” he said in an interview with France Inter radio.
As Turkey calls to escalate the violence in Syria, Russia has called for a meeting of the United Nations Security Council to address its concerns over the rising tensions.
“The situation is becoming more tense due to increased tensions on the Syrian-Turkish border and Turkey’s stated plans to send troops to northern Syria,” reads a statement from the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has won a fifth term as president, extending his 30 years in office.
The 71-year-old won 60.75% of the vote while his nearest rival Kizza Besigye took 35%, the election commission said.
Mr Museveni’s supporters said his opponents had failed to offer any chance of progress.
But Mr Besigye, who is under house arrest, said the results were a “sham”, calling on the international community to reject them.
“We have just witnessed what must be the most fraudulent electoral process in Uganda,” he said in a statement.
EU observers have also criticised the poll, saying the governing party had created an “intimidating atmosphere” and that the opposition alleged vote rigging.
While praising the “remarkable determination” of Ugandans to vote, EU Chief Observer Eduard Kukan said the governing National Resistance Movement’s “domination of the political landscape distorted the fairness of the campaign”.
The election has been marred by sporadic violence and opposition allegations of electoral fraud, with social media sites and messaging apps blocked.
Image copyrightEPAImage captionThe main opposition challenger Kizza Besigye (L) was arrested on FridayImage copyrightAFPImage captionPolice were surrounding his home on Saturday
Mr Besigye was put under house arrest on Friday on the suspicion he would announce the results himself, breaking electoral laws, police said.
It is the fourth time Mr Besigye, candidate for the opposition Forum for Democratic Change, has taken on President Museveni.
The two men were once allies, with Mr Besigye serving as Mr Museveni as his personal doctor when they were guerrilla fighters.
Mr Museveni seized power in 1986 and is credited with restoring stability to Uganda. However, critics say he has become increasingly authoritarian.
The next closest challenger to Mr Museveni, former Prime Minister Amama Mbabazi, is also reportedly under house arrest.
Main candidates
Kizza Besigye, 59, a veteran opposition leader. He has lost the last three elections
Amama Mbabazi, 67, former ally of President Museveni and once prime minister – also served as defence, security and justice ministers
Yoweri Museveni, 71, in power since winning a five-year guerrilla war in 1986 – one of Africa’s longest-serving leaders. His final term was meant to end in 2006, but in 2005 he won a campaign to lift the constitutional term limits
The Rationale for the System of Ethnic Decentralization in Ethiopia
Decentralization and federation are institutional arrangements referring to the devolution and sharing of power among autonomous units. In Ethiopia they point to the continuation and maturity of the peoples’ struggle for democracy and development ever since the outbreak of the 1974 revolution. Among the outstanding achievements of the 1974 revolution were the establishment of civil society organizations such as the kebele (neighbourhood self-administration) and mass organizations (youth, women, workers, and farmers associations) both in the urban and rural areas. These institutions are still working in Ethiopia and they will continue to work for many years to come. Similarly, the institutional arrangements of decentralization and federation will remain as an achievement of the peoples’ struggle and an integral part of their democratic culture and ways of governance. If the kebele and the various mass organizations represent the institutional reforms that stretched between the state and the family, federation and decentralization represent the reform occurring at the helm of power, namely the state. Federation and decentralization are the logical ends of the 1974 popular revolution aimed at abolishing any form of autocratic rule in Ethiopia. The decline of the credibility of the central state in Ethiopia could be attributed to the economic underdevelopment, to the emergence of violent opposition movements in the form of urban and rural guerrilla war, and to the increasing demand for democratization by the civil society. Federation and decentralization are therefore a continuum of the peoples’ struggle and their achievements.
The system of decentralization in Ethiopia is anchored on the very idea and principle of self-determination of the group. Regional states are viewed as the expression of the self-governance of the ethnic groups and as such they have to be entrusted with all elements of power, responsibilities and functions.
In the developed European countries the system of decentralization is advocated on the ground of efficiency in the use of scarce economic resources and for a better revenue mobilization. In these countries decentralization is the result of a technically inspired decision by national governments on the basis of decades of experience and economic theory in the reallocation of revenues and responsibilities to sub-national levels. In USA decentralization is the result of the tradition of libertarian and participatory values. A locality right to self-government is considered as an expression of the sovereignty of the individuals. In some developing countries decentralization can be motivated politically as an essential part of the democratization process. In Latin American countries the basic motives of decentralization are a political pressure, namely a democratization process, increasing participation and emerging regional movements. The ills of corruption, clientelism and political alienation are often regarded as the natural by-products of a bureaucracy that is distanced in space and is rendered insensitive, inefficient, and inflexible by its size. Reformers thus advocated fiscal and administrative decentralization as a cure for these ills.
Unlike the countries of Latin America, the system of decentralization in Ethiopia was total and encompassed various complex aspects. It was not devolution of one or two aspects of decentralization, for example administrative and/or fiscal decentralization. Had ethnicity in Ethiopia been interested only in cultural domination, it would have limited itself to cultural demands such as the use and celebration of the ethnic language and culture. But ethnicity views the process of power and resource centralization and cultural domination as two sides of a coin. That means ethnicity strives not only for cultural liberation of the ethnic group, but also for its political and economic autonomy. The type of devolution of power in Ethiopia was thus total and encompassed various complex aspects.
If one looks at functional arrangement, ethnic federation appears not to be different from other types of federation such as regional federation. A clear difference becomes apparent when one considers the purpose of the system of federation. The fundamental purpose of ethnic federation is to achieve unity and understanding among the constituent groups. Ethnic federation is used specifically in the context and strategy of resolving an ethnic conflict on a permanent basis. In addition to the common “federal functions” mentioned above, the problems of solving ethnic conflicts require additional structural elements and functions peculiar to the system of ethnic federation.
Problems to consider when applying model of ethnic federalism
2.1. Identifying the Identity of the Ethnic Groups
One of the major peculiar problems at the federal level is the one that arises in identifying the identity the ethnic groups. Who are the independent subjects of the federation? Or, who are the ultimate bearers of the rights of sovereignty? How are they identified? What are the criteria for determining their status? What are the building blocks of identity?
Identification of an ethnic group is done in two ways that should at least much in the degree of assessment. The group and/or the individual in the group can define itself. Since ethnicity does not exist in isolation, “others” must also define the group. There must be a mutual acceptance and correspondence between these two definitions if one wants to arrive to a sound understanding of the problem and create a will for settlement. Ethnic group is usually defined as having the same language, religion, custom, institutions, shared history, myth, common decent, kinship and other distinctive traits. This type of definition is loaded with concepts that are a short hand term of reference for researchers. It contains properties that belong to distinctive stages of ethnicity; those that are objective attributes such as language and religion and those that are constructed attributes such as myth and shared history.
In spite of this problem one can still try to identify the ethnic group identity using common traits such as language, religion and other shared attributes (folklore, architecture, dress, food, music and the arts) as criteria. But what one calls the essential qualities of the ethnic group may connote little more than labels. Maybe they are hollow categories, conceptual divisions within a set of people. People can label others without communication or agreement about the terms they use. In order to call a characteristic an identity, it is necessary that the individuals/group accept that the term is a meaningful description of them. Ethnic identities exist if the people labelled by others identify with the objective categories given to them and interact consistently with each other on that basis. It is often possible that an ethnic group might not embrace or reluctantly accept the identification given to it on the basis of observable categories. Contrary to outsider identification, the ethnic group or the individuals in the ethnic groups may identify themselves by a regional identity. This identity may be the result of historical forces of migration and settlement in the region. It may be also the result of the particular type of production system compatible with the eco-climatic zone of the area, the traditional pattern of land ownership, the system of taxation payment, the organization of local power and the traditional means of conflict resolution belonging to the community. A contrasting difference in identification of a group by others and the identity to which the ethnic group gives to itself is problematic. So what is the constitutional principle used to identify the identity of an ethnic group? This is one of the fundamental problems, which the federal government has to solve.
2.2. Identifying the Territorial Location of Ethnic Groups
Another problem is how to designate the territorial location of an ethnic group. How can one designate a territory as belonging to this or that ethnic group? What are the criteria for designating an ethnic territory? Given the history of internal migration and settlement, how can one demarcate the territory belonging to each ethnic group without experiencing the multitude of claims and counter claims that will definitely arise from such an attempt? How can one claim that a specific area belongs to one or another specific group? Does one know the ethno-geographical realities on the grounds, in the farmsteads, the hamlets, the villages, the hunting grounds, the fishing grounds, the pastures, the marshlands, the markets, and the towns and cities of a country? Where does one mark the territorial boundary between the ethnic groups? Where does one set the limits of the territory between ethnic groups that relate one to another? Where does one set the historical baseline, with regards to the demarcation of the boundaries in order to sort out amicably the conflicting territorial claims? Can one take the present ethnic-geographic situation as given and work on that, or does one go back to an earlier period? Which year or century should be the historical baseline?
There are many people who speak about the impossibility of demarcating the boundary between most of the ethnic groups of contemporary Ethiopia and their neighbours. These nationalities intermesh into one another at the level of language, culture, identity and territory. Any attempt to carve out the territories of ethnic groups, to create ethnically based federating units, will lead to violent conflicts and sustained border wars because there is no basis for these boundaries at the ethnic level, given the mosaic nature of the ethnic and cultural geography of Ethiopia.
Theoretically, the territorial claim/demand of an ethnic group should be related to the absolute size of the group and to the pattern of territorial distribution of the group itself. This statement refers to two inseparable aspects. First, it refers to the size/proportion of the ethnic group in the designated territory. The ethnic group should be the majority in the designated territory (i.e., they must dominate the designated territory). In the designated area there may live populations of other ethnic groups. In other words, the designated territory may consist of non-members of the group. In that case, one should describe the proportion of the group in the designated area. Second, it refers to the territorial distribution/concentration of the group: A majority of the total members of the ethnic group should reside in the designated area. This means that the territorial claim is weak if the majority of members of the ethnic group live dispersed outside the designated territory. If the ethnic group is locally weak, then it may be that the people live dispersed in other territories. In that case what percent of the total population of the ethnic group live in the designated area? Thus, territorial solutions imply two things: territorial concentration of the group making the demand and ethnic homogeneity of the territory on behalf of which the demand or claim is being made. To the extent that these conditions fail to be satisfied, any concession of a demand for a territorial settlement is likely to run into opposition from members of other ethnic groups.
2.3. Ethnic Cleansing and Minority Rights
There are practical problems in the application of principles of identifying the identity and designating the territorial location of each ethnic group. According to these principles the process of boundary delimitation is not guided by historical accidents (internal migrations as a result of wars, demographic pressure, and the like) that have been given a particular legitimacy by the passage of time. The spirit of the principles is that internal boundaries have to evolve on the basis of the ethnic criteria (i.e., the identity of the group, the absolute size of the group and the pattern of its territorial distribution). These types of solutions call for the alteration of the spatial distribution of members of an ethnic group.
The application of this ethnic principle for the political and administrative organisation of the country will stop at the boundaries of the new ethnic regional units. It is possible that some powerful members of the ethnic group will forcefully demand its application right down to the local government, district and village levels. In that case members of a particular ethnic group may be expelled from that particular territory. This will cause much disruption, devastation and dislocation of lives. Moreover it may disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of people who have made other parts of the country their homes, and who will clearly become non-citizens in the ethnically defined regional states. There is thus a question of how to stop ethnic cleansing carried out to change the ethno-geographical situation before the ethnic regional units have their boundaries demarcated. There is also a question of empowering the ethnic minorities. It is possible that the minorities may not be geographically concentrated and there may be a need for mandatory representation at the regional state level.
Protecting and safeguarding ethnic members and groups living as minorities in other regional states is the task of the federal government. The federal government must find certain mechanisms that protect members of an ethnic group from political and economic discrimination. As minorities living in other regions, they should not be prohibited from practicing their religion or using their language, nor should they be restricted in their freedom of expression and economic activities.
2.4. Asymmetric Power Relationship
In an ethnic federation, there is a problem of treating unequal ethnic groups equally. In principle, ethnic groups are the independent subjects of the federation and they enjoy equal status. As Table 1.1 shows taking the case of Ethiopia, in reality the ethnic groups are different in terms of their territorial size, population and economic potential. Who is to occupy offices in the legislative and executive branch of the federal government? Is the federal government offices dominated by ethnic groups that are big in size of territory and population? Is the allocation of federal government offices based on the principle of proportional representation?
Table 1.1. Population, Area, Number of Zones and Districts of Regional States
The federal government is comprised of three branches; the legislative, the executive and the judicial branch. Each branch has a distinct responsibility that is separate and apart from the others. The legislative branch of the government is responsible for making law. Its members are directly elected by the people periodically and may represent a broader range of interests/characteristics/places. The executive branch of the government is responsible for organizing the laws enacted by the legislative branch of the government and implementing and enforcing those laws. The executive branch is divided into different ministries and it performs its governmental duties partly as an independent force and partly in conjunction with other governmental bodies both at the national and sub-national levels – the former including parliament and the head of state; the latter, regional governments. The overwhelming majority of laws, the parliamentary agenda, and decisions by the head of state are all prepared or proposed by the executive body of the federal government. At the same time, it is also responsible for the implementation of these decisions. The government carries out its directional activities independently and within constitutional limits and can take actions on any matter that falls within the sphere of public administration. It is entitled to directly supervise any branch of public administration and also to set up separate bodies, which handle special assignments. The government can establish offices, committees, consultative and advisory bodies, appoint government commissioners, and transfer parts of authority to these and other arms of the government.
The judicial branch of the government is an independent organ that has the responsibility of resolving disputes that citizens of the community have with one another. They are, of course, charged with the responsibility of resolving those disputes in a fair, just, impartial and expeditious fashion. In many instances they must resolve disputes in accordance with rules and regulations enacted by the legislative branch or enforced by the executive branch of the government.
The question is now how is power to be shared by the ethnic groups in the three branches of government. Should power and offices be distributed proportionally according to the size and economic potential of the ethnic groups? Asymmetrical distribution of power, i.e., treating different ethnic groups differently, may raise a fundamental political problem. The option of giving more federal government offices to big ethnic groups requires the consent of minority ethnic groups to receive less offices in the federal government. If it is difficult to get their consent, is it fair to treat all ethnic groups similarly, in the face of the reality that there are very wide and relevant differences among them? The federal government has to find solutions to such kinds of problems.
2.5. Unsynchronized Decentralization
Unsynchronization refers to the speed, timing and weight of decentralization. In an ethnic federation, decentralization (devolution of power) is in principle coming at one moment and including all ingredients (political, fiscal, economic, administrative, etc.). In such type of wholesale decentralization, there is no flexibility in preparing the amount of ingredients in the right way and presenting them at the right moment. In other words, there is no plan to synchronise the decentralization element in the right way to achieve success. Ethnic groups do not have the same kind of previous experience and the necessary capacity to shoulder and carry out all responsibilities. In the face of such diversities, the only one approach with respect to decentralization, namely “one size fits all”, may not lead to the desired success, for it does not get the mix right. Transferring of all power at one and the same moment may fit those ethnic groups that are enormous in size, economy and administrative experience. For some ethnic groups it may create corruption and inefficiency. Depending on the ethnic group’s objective situation and considering feasibility of functions, it is possible to design decentralization arrangements to achieve the potential benefit it offers. Accordingly, some ethnic groups may be given political and administrative responsibilities, while others may be given fiscal and economic responsibilities.
But synchronization is difficult not only because of the many fiscal, political and administrative issues which require careful consideration, but also because each service and even each function within a service will differ with regard to the appropriate form of decentralization. Depending on the nature of the service, the political landscape and possibly the administrative capacity, the amount of autonomy (or “decision space”) given to a local government will differ. Whatever policy of synchronization of decentralization is presumed, it will create a political problem among ethnic groups that are constitutionally regarded as equals.
2.6. Intergovernmental Fiscal Relation
The assignment of most revenue yielding taxes to the federal government and the devolution of important expenditure responsibilities to the regional governments can create a high degree of vertical fiscal imbalance. In Ethiopia the federal government is assigned buoyant taxes such as foreign trade taxes, whereas direct taxes, whose economic base is limited, is under the jurisdiction of the regional governments. Foreign trade taxes have the capacity to expand with the growth of commerce, while direct taxes can mainly be increased by tax-technical measures. Productive taxes are thus under the exclusive domain of the federal government. Besides this, the sharing of revenue from taxes jointly levied and collected by the federal and regional governments is not yet defined. Presently, access to domestic borrowing for the regions is allowed only under conditions and with the approval of the federal government.
There is no clear allocation criterion that determines the shares of the federal and the regional governments in total national revenues. The total resources are divided between the federal and the regional governments on the basis of negotiated assessments of existing expenditure assignments.
Intergovernmental transfer is another mechanism for dealing with vertical imbalance. From the regions’ overall expenditure ceiling, allocations to individuals regions are made using a general formula. In the case of Ethiopia, the formula used for allocating federal grants to the regions has been modified many times since the beginning of preparing a regular budget for the regions. For the transfer of the 1995/96 budget, the formula included three variables: population, the regional revenue budget and the I-distance indicators. An equal weight of 33.3% was assigned to each. A variety of problems can be associated with such a formula: a) the lack of adequate and up-to-date information; b) the shortcomings of the I-distance indicator; c) the built-in disincentives for enhancing tax efforts; d) the reconciliation of multiple objectives; e) the need for interregional equity; f) the need for encouraging the implementation of minimum standards; g) correcting for spill-overs.
Since transfers are the main source of revenue for the regional states, the design of transfers is of critical importance to the success of decentralization. Transfers should be determined as objectively and openly as possible, by some well-established formula. They should not be subject to hidden political negotiation. A quasi-independent expert body (e.g. a grant commission) should study the transfer system, not by a certain department at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Development as was practised. This type of body can examine various options for reforming the grant system and make recommendations to the Federal Council as envisaged under the constitution.
2.7. Equitable Development and Inter Regional Co-operation
Bringing about an equitable development among the regions is another problem of the federal government. As a result of past administrations’ misguided policies, some ethnically defined regional states have had an historical experience of isolation and marginalization. For instance, the four lowland regional states, namely the Afar State, the Somali State, the Gambela State and the Benishangul State, had low levels of political, economic and administrative development during the centralized states of Haile Selassie and the military Derg. The federal government, therefore, have a greater responsibility in building up the self-government and economy of these low land regions, since they could not by themselves be capable of fulfilling such goals. The federal government must provide technical personnel, political advisors and assistance in the development of infrastructure and services. It must also devise a private investment policy biased toward the less developed regions and this is to be done through the provision of incentives.
Another problem that exacerbates regional equitable development is the practical outcome of an ethnically defined economic regionalism that hinders the free flow of labour and capital. People belonging to other ethnic groups might feel insecure in migrating into and working in other regions. This insecurity hinders the maximization of income by moving to places of opportunity. Securing fixed capital investment is the other problem. People may have too little confidence to invest in places of their own choice, as they might anticipate harassment or confiscation of properties. Instead, they may prefer to invest in cities, which have their own administrative autonomy. This brings about not only a lopsided development, but also, speaking in economics language, leads to a sub-optimal solution in terms of GDP. Scarce resources that could have been better invested in agriculture, for example, would go to the ever-enlarging service sector of the urban areas, mainly, to hotels and coffee houses. This is an example of misallocation of resources and a great loss to a given country where the main priority is the eradication of poverty.
2.8. Self-determination and Secessionism
According to the constitution ethnic groups enjoy equal rights. They are granted the status of a nation. They are given self-determination up to secession. One of the essentials of federation is that the union should be constitutionally immune to dissolution by secession. The grant of a constitutional right to self-determination is in contradiction with the very idea of a federalist constitution. A central government, which accepts secession by an ethnic group, simultaneously accepts the extinction of any reciprocal duty between itself and its own citizenry in the affected territory. This is something not compatible with federal constitutional arrangements whose purpose is to secure union –whether highly centralised or decentralised– on an enduring basis. However, some who interpret federation as essentially contractual (treaty or agreement) consisting of sovereign entities, advocate the inclusion of the provision of secession in the constitution. The logic is that any contractual party remains as free to withdraw from the association in circumstances where the other party or parties violate the terms agreed upon, or if the arrangement in other respects proves unfair or inadequate. But secessionism presupposes the collapse of the federal structure. By virtue of its exercise of distinct national functions (such as defence, policy, etc.), the function of the federal government affects the system as a whole. Secessionism thus requires the extinction of such national functions and partial authority of the federal government over all citizens of the federation.
Secession means the consolidation of local authority over the boundaries of the ethnic group by excluding the federal government, and the unilateral elimination of the dual allegiance of its citizenry, replacing it with an integral duty to a single local authority. This, in effect, means the disintegration of the federal state. If a federation’s component territorial parts are implicitly entitled to secede in any effective sense, then the federal centre can only adopt and implement policies with the express or tacit concurrence of each member unit. The component parts may support or veto/block the initiative depending on their interest. In a federal structure, the interests are structurally incorporated into a single and coherent frame (e.g., identification of the territorial location and culture of the group, the minority question, etc), such that it becomes difficult to negate that structure. Federations are so structured as to preclude any effective right to secession, except formally.
“Self-determination presupposes the prior determination of the unit—the national self—that is to enjoy the right of self-determination. But the identification and boundaries of this self cannot themselves be self-determined: They must be determined by others.” The principle of self-determination begs answers to two interrelated questions: a) who are the people? b) what is the relevant territorial unit in which they should exercise self-determination? These issues are complex as described in the sections above.
2.9. Conflict Resolving Mechanisms and Institutions
The federal problems, disputes and conflicts discussed above are mainly referred to the House of Federation which is believed to be the best place to protect and ensure the rights of all nations and nationalities. In the context of the federal constitution of Ethiopia, it has the following constitutional power and functions:
Article 62 (3-11) of the Constitution gives the House of Federation responsibility for: Interpreting the Constitution;
Organising the Council of Constitutional Inquiry;
Deciding on claims based upon the rights of nations, nationalities, and peoples to self-determination, including their right to secession;
Promoting the equality of the peoples of Ethiopia enshrined in the constitution and promoting their unity based on their mutual consent;
Exercising the powers and the functions concurrently entrusted to it and the Council of Peoples’ Representatives;
Striving to find solutions to disputes or misunderstandings that may arise between States;
Determining the division of revenues derived from joint Federal and State tax sources and the subsidies that the Federal Government may provide to the States;
Identifying civil cases that require legislation by the House of Peoples’ Representatives
Ordering Federal intervention if any State, in violation of this Constitution, endangers the constitutional order,
The House of Federation, which represents the ethnic groups of the country, has the role of supreme interpretation of the constitution and resolving key questions of the nationalities/ethnic groups. The House of Federation is not an “upper” house but has unique duties and responsibilities to interpret the Constitution and protect the rights of the nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia. In many countries, matters of constitutional interpretation are decided by the Constitutional Court or by the Supreme Court. In the case of Ethiopia it is the House of Federation which is entrusted with the power of interpreting the constitution. This makes ethnic federation different from other types of federation which treat constitutional disputes through either separately established constitutional courts or delegate this power to the highest regular federal court. The rationale behind the preference to resolve constitutional disputes through the House stemmed from the conviction that constitutional disputes are very likely to have something to do with ethnic matters. From the outset, solving ethnic conflict is considered the ultimate objective of the federal constitution.
However, there are practical problems in solving the conflicts on a permanent basis. One can fix temporary solutions to the problems by devising mechanisms that may contain or arrest negative developments that threaten the unity of the groups. One way is the monopolization of power both at the federal and regional level through the formation of a coalition of parties or a front. Using the centralised structure of the party command, it might be possible to mitigate the conflicts between the actors. But this type of political solution is fragile and it may collapse if and when the coalition splits or as some members of it withdraw from it feeling marginalized. Another method can be the search for or use of a unifying ideological formula such as the Marxist-Leninist ideology which underlines the invariable significance of class struggle rather than cultural demands of ethnic groups. By definition, a worker or a peasant from one ethnic group cannot have a different interest from the other. However, this ideology has no future as it basically sweeps the ethnic issue under the carpet, for which purpose the regions were set up in the first instance. One may as well try to maintain internal unity of the regional states by emphasising some kind of an overarching assimilationist or integrationist supra nationalist identity named, for instance, after the name of the country. But this type of identity is only acceptable to those people particularly coming from mixed marriages, but not to proponents of the ethnic movements. Ethnic federation is apparently dependent on democratic rules and it requires democracy for its successful accomplishment.
This article is extracted from the book
Tsegaye Tegenu, (2006), Evaluation of the Operation and Performance of Ethnic Decentralization System in Ethiopia. The Case of the Gurage People, 1992-2000. Addis Ababa University Press.
Ahmed Mansour Karni convicted in absentia by Egyptian military court
Was part of 115 defendants for crimes committed in 2014 near Cairo
His name was added to list by mistake but court rejected birth certificate
Presiding judge did not review the case, boy’s lawyers claim
By GIANLUCA MEZZOFIORE
20 February 2016
An Egyptian court has sentenced a four-year-old boy to life in prison for committing four ‘murders’ when he was only one and a half years old.
Ahmed Mansour Karni was convicted in absentia of four counts of murder, eight of attempted murder, vandalising property, disturbance of peace and threatening police officers.
The boy was part of a list of 115 defendants who were all given life sentences at a military court in Cairo for crimes committed on 3 January 2014 in the province of Fayoum, 70km south of Cairo.
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Ahmed Mansour Karni was convicted in absentia of four counts of murder, eight of attempted murder, vandalising property, disturbance of peace and threatening police officers
The boy’s lawyers presented Ahmed’s birth certificate to the court – but the judge did not review the case
Ahmed’s name was added to the list by mistake but the court refused to accept documents proving his age, according to the boy’s lawyers.
One of them, Faisal al-Sayd, said that he presented Ahmed’s birth certificate to the court, which allegedly failed to transfer it to the judge.
‘The child Ahmed Mansour Karni’s birth certificate was presented after state security forces added his name to the list of accused, but then the case was transferred to the military court and the child was sentenced in absentia in an ensuing court hearing,’ he told the Jerusalem Post.
The series of demonstrations by students in opposition of the implementation of the secretly prepared master plan by TPLF regime still going on in different locations. The regime acted violently and his loyal troops behaving savagely, killing several unarmed peaceful demonstrates and jailing several thousand protestors. All are held without charges. They also arrested opposition leaders on suspicion of helping anti-regime movement. The regime is locked in a bitter resistance by demonstrators. The regime decided even to bend the rules, playing myriad games to slow down the demonstrators anger, but the problem persisted.Ethiopia has population of almost 100 million. There are several ethnic groups, speaking more than 82 different languages and dialects. The past 25 years TPLF has attempted to legitimize its dictatorial rule, they organized few times fake parliamentary elections. It was not surprising that the result of the election is known before the voting took place. Hence, the elections have not made any difference, as regime continues to rule with iron fist. Democratic principles are nonexistence. The TPLF regime control over the citizen’s life reached unthinkable stage. It has brought human suffering to Ethiopia people. Although the chief architect of the ethnic rule is dead couples years back, his surrogates continue to act in predatory manner. In fact, they are working very hard to establish his personality cult day and night. It appears that there is unwritten decree that every establishment in the country to have a portrait of the “Great leader”. Of course, we should not forget statute, as they say.
The ethnic centric regime policy that insures Ethiopia to remain weak and divide along ethnic line seems to be on verge of falling apart. The best known ethnic card techniques used to be played by EPDRF become diminishing and outdated. The artificial boundaries created among the nine regions by TPLF’S constitution followed by installing their coalition partners known as EPDRF and supporters throughout the administrative structures is not working as effective as planned either. Most of the coalition members are preoccupied building financial empire by gaining control over money generating institutions. The secretly prepared master plan has been the result of continuing greedy behavior. TPLF is making enemies everywhere and appeared destined to plague Ethiopia with misery. The political future of the country is now more uncertain than any time.
TPLF governing with a heavy hand must end. Ethiopia needs a leading political figure that believes in national unity discourse in good ideals which can minimize the difference among political factions. The country needs conciliatory leaders desperately. It appears the opposition groups have polarized over variety issues. We witness that some of the leader’s attitudes emanate from narrow interest of the group, engaged in fierce hair- splitting arguments, holding adversity on a personal level or wrong conception of others. They need to pull themselves from this habit and to realize that we have a major tasking awaiting us; namely TPLF dictatorial regime. It is high time the opposition political leaders to take initiatives to have the reconciliation process to start. Present concrete condition of Ethiopia calls for this. The reconciliation could be achieve if the opposition leaders of the groups asses the past and present of their own experience to draw a useful conclusion to benefit their own group as well as others. The opposition political groups must overcome factional polarization over petty issues. We the silent majority has no issue among us. The question is when these opposition groups are going to show sign of hope toward reconciliation and agree on a plan of action to replace TPLF’s regime. It was pointed in many ways by many writers their solidarity is critical for struggle. Many are puzzled with the slow process in creating needed solidarity. As many people knew that until they leave behind all “Dysfunctional behavior among Habesha” as outlined by Salaam Yitbarek article, http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1127&context=africancenter_icad_archive
they remain weak and unable to drive the final nail to TPLF ethnic rule. Opposition groups must found a means to end this zero sum game. Let’s stop the endless squabbles and focus to common goals. If opposition groups foster national feeling, and keeping in mind the people interest come first, they can be pioneers of change for Ethiopia freedom.
This is my second special message to Ethiopia’s “Cheetah Generation”, Ethiopia’s young people, in three years.
In January 2013, I wrote a new year’s message in which I dedicated that year to Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation.
I described Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation comprising of not only graduates and professionals — the “best and the brightest” — but also the huddled masses of youth yearning to breathe free.
I called for dialogue that is inclusive of the millions of youth victimized by T-TPLF (Thugtagtorship of the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front) nepotism, cronyism, corruption and human rights violations.
I called for the release of the moral leaders of Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation and T-TPLF political prisoners including Eskinder Nega, Andualem Aragie, Woubshet Alemu, Reeyot Alemu, Bekele Gerba, Olbana Lelisa and so many others like them.
In my 2013 message, I declared Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation is the only generation that could rescue Ethiopia from the steel claws of T-TPLF tyranny and dictatorship. It is the only generation that can deliver Ethiopia from the venomous fangs of a benighted dictatorship and sweep away a decaying and decomposing garrison state built on a foundation of lies and corruption into the dustbin of history.
In my message I also called upon Ethiopia’s Cheetahs to begin an informal dialogue among themselves and to define their own terms of national reconciliation.
I urged them to empower themselves and create their own political space and to talk one-on-one across ethnic, religious, linguistic, gender, regional and class lines.
Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino.
I underscored the importance of closing the gender gap and maximizing the participation of young women in the national reconciliation conversations. I tried to make the point supported by social scientific evidence that women do a far superior job than men when it comes to conciliation, reconciliation and mediation. I further counselled that dialogue involves not only talking to each other but also listening to one another. I urged Ethiopia’s Cheetahs to use their diversity as a strength and must never allow their diversity to be used to divide and conquer them.
What has happened in the past three years?
I believe Ethiopia’s Cheetahs have fully awakened. Some Cheetahs are purring in anger and standing up to the T-TPLF defiantly as we continue to witness today. Others are hissing and growling. Ethiopian Cheetahs are not happy. That’s why they are prowling all over the country confronting hyenas.
My new “challenge message in a bottle” to Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation
I believe Ethiopia’s “Hippo Generation” (of which I am a member, certainly not by choice) has completely failed Ethiopia’s Cheetah generation.
George Ayittey correctly described Africa’s “Hippo Generation” as “intellectually astigmatic and stuck in their muddy colonialist pedagogical patch. They can see with eagle-eyed clarity the injustices perpetrated by whites against blacks, but they are hopelessly blind to the more heinous injustices they perpetrate against their own black people…”
We Ethiopian Hippos have been stuck in our muddy patch mindlessly spinning our wheels in the destructive politics of ethnicity, sectarianism, fear and loathing.
We have been politically comatose for sometime now. We churn out the same old stale and discredited ideas of the past. We shamelessly dance to the T-TPLF limbo in a race to the bottom. Our influence on Ethiopia’s Cheetahs has been regressive, uninspiring, visionless and completely void of creativity.
We Hippos leave the Cheetah Generation a legacy of failure, suspicion, distrust, disunity, discord, discontent, discouragement, disenchantment, disillusionment and self-doubt.
Hold on!
The foregoing may sound like a categorical accusation by a self-righteous Hippo against every member of Ethiopia’s Hippo Generation. Actually, it is a personal confession of just one Hippo. As I point my index finger at the rest, I am painfully aware that three fingers are pointing at me.
Confession in certain traditions is usually followed by an act of penance (a word that has roots in repentance), a redemptive act performed to correct and overcome past mistakes through good works.
It is my self-imposed “penance” henceforth to directly engage and challenge Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation to rise up and meet their future. (I admit I sound sanctimonious, preachy and holier-than-thou in doing my “penance”. But I consider myself a work in progress. I will improve with time.)
In ongoing “messages in a bottle” this year, I aim to challenge Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation to open their minds and to think for themselves, press them to ask the right and hard questions and to let their imaginations run wild about living as free men and women.
In formulating these challenges, I am inspired by Albert Einstein who once observed, “If I had an hour to solve a problem I’d spend 55 minutes thinking about the problem and 5 minutes thinking about solutions.”
I think what Einstein meant was that the more time one spends understanding a problem, the more likely one is to find the most effective solution(s) and resolution(s) to problem(s). It is my observation that most of us (beginning with me) already have the solutions to all of Ethiopia’s problems from removing tyranny to rooting out poverty. I would say most of our “solutions” are the result of half-baked, short-sighted, sterile and ill-conceived questions.
Einstein also observed, “Imagination is more important than knowledge. For knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world, and all there ever will be to know and understand.” More poetically, George Bernard Shaw said, “You see things; and you say, ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were; and I say, ‘Why not?’” That is the kind of imagination I am talking about.
I think what Einstein meant was that human potential and destiny is not determined just by what we know, but also by what we can imagine. It was Einstein who asked the supremely beautiful imaginary question, “What if I can ride a beam of light across the universe?” Just imagine that!!!
I would not urge Ethiopia’s Cheetah generation to ride a beam of light across the universe.
I just want them to fly. I want them to fly away from the enslaving politics of ethnicity. Fly free from tyranny. Free from corruption and human righst violations.
Not long ago, The Economist magazine asked a question that has been on my mind for years. The question hit me like a thunderbolt: “What if Ethiopian were really set free?”
The Economist answered its own question: “If the government let [the Ethiopian] people breathe, they might fly.”
I “spent 55 minutes” thinking about the “breathing” problem of the Ethiopian people. Then I spent “5 minutes thinking about solutions.”
I took a flight of imagination in my commentary, “Fly, Ethiopia, fly… Fly Cheetahs, fly high in the sky…”
If Ethiopians could fly, I said, they would not have to take to the sea to die. Ethiopian women wouldn’t have to fly to the Middle East to become virtual slaves. They would not have to cross the desert and become victims of bloodthirsty terrorists. They would not have to go into exile. If they could fly, they would soar like the African fish eagles, like African seagulls. They would lift their wings high, high into the sky and fly. They would flutter like humming birds.
That is why I aim to engage Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation on a sustained basis this year.
I want them to fly sky high on the wings of critical analysis. I want them to ask all the right and hard questions from as many angles as possible as they think about the seemingly insurmountable problems facing Ethiopia. I want them to take flight in their imagination. I want to challenge them to imagine a new Ethiopia that is their own creation free of ethnic politics, sectarianism and hate. I want them to imagine an Ethiopia at peace with itself and its neighbors; an Ethiopia free of oppression and thugtatorship. I want them to imagine a utopia Ethiopia, an Eutopia.
I want to challenge Every Ethiopian Cheetah to become an “Ethiopian Imagineer” — an architect, a designer, an inventor, a surveyor, a builder and entrepreuer of a free Ethiopian society whose citizens are more concerned about each other’s humanity than their own ethnicity; an Ethiopia of equal opportunity; an Ethiopia free of corruption, oppression and thugtgatorship.
I use the metaphor “message in a bottle” to signify the fact that I stuff my message (commentary) in a bottle and release it in the “ocean” called cyberspace or the internet hoping that Ethiopian Cheetahs the world over will find it randomly, uncork the bottle and read it.
I do not know how many will get to read my message. I am hopeful many will. I am sure some will agree with me and and others disagree. I do not seek agreement or disagreement. The object of my message is to challenge Ethiopia’s young people to dare to ask the right questions, to dare to know the truth (their own truth) and to dare to imagine a new country.
Ethiopian Cheetahs: You were born free but to live free you must liberate your mind from the shackles of “ethnic federalism”
The Question: What is “ethnic federalism”?
The “PREAMBLE” to the T-TPLF constitution provides a ready answer: “We the Nations, Nationalities and People of Ethiopia…” have written the constitution to 1) “secure the right to self-determination” for “people of the nations and nationalities”, 2) ensure the territorial insularity (separateness) of the “people of the nations and nationalities” so that they can “live with our rich and proud cultural legacies” 3) “rectify historically unjust relationships”, and 4) facilitate “liv[ing] as one economic community”. (See also Art. 39.)
I shall argue and supply evidence to support my contention that Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation should reject wholly T-TPLF’s “ethnic federalism”.
The summary of my argument is as follows: “Ethnic federalism” is the “kinder and gentler” name for the new and improved apartheid in the 21st century Africa. The T-TPLF’s “kilil” (Kilil-istan) is a modern version of apartheid’s Bantustan, an ethnic reservation. When the minority white apartheid government created the Bantustans in South Africa, their principal aim was to create a “homeland” for the people of South Africa based on race, language, geography, ethnicity, culture, etc. The ultimate aim was that the Bantustans was that they will one day become their own countries (exercise “self-determination”) and the whites would have their own country as well, unsurprisingly, in full possession of the most productive land in the country.
The Amharic word “kilil” in the context of “ethnic federalism” signifies an area of land designated specifically for the exclusive use and management of members of a group sharing similar language, history, culture, etc. “Kilil” signifies an enclosure, a defined boundary, territory and land mass. The T-TPLF is designed, devised, invented, contrived and blueprinted its “ethnic federalism” for the single purpose of creating perpetual geographic division and disunion among the Ethiopian people by corralling them like cattle into insular “nations and nationalities”. By constitutionally segregating the people of Ethiopia into communal, linguistic, cultural and regional groups, the T-TPLF put a clever that would permanently and irreversibly destroy the social glue and fabric of tolerance, harmony and understanding that has kept the Ethiopian people united as one people for millenia.
Under the so-called Article 39, the ultimate aim of T-TPLF’s ethnic federalism is to ethnically divide Ethiopia and make it the proverbial Humpty Dumpty who “sat on a wall, and had a great fall. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men, couldn’t put Humpty together again.”
When Ethiopia falls from the “kilil” walls the T-TPLF has created, it will not be the king’s horses and men who will put her back together. It will be Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation inspired by God who will!
I believe the most serious existential problem (the mother of all social, political, economic problems in Ethiopia) of Ethiopia today is, without question, “ethnic federalism”.
The T-TPLF understood that five separate fingers on a hand are far less powerful than the clenched fist that is formed when the five fingers come together in the center of the palm. The T-TPLF constitutionalized “ethnic federalism” as permanent strategy to keep the “five fingers” of Ethiopia from ever coming together to make a fist in T-TPLF’s face and to rule perpetually by keeping the fingers separate.
Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation must critically understand, evaluate and decide whether they want to accept T-TPLF’s “ethnic federalism”.
First and foremost, I challenge the Cheetahs to declare whether they agree with the bedrock assumptions of the T-TPLF on “Ethiopia”.
Assumption No. 1. There is no such thing as an Ethiopian nation because Ethiopia is an aggregation of “nations, nationalities and peoples.” There is only a make believe confederation of “nations and nationalities” trapped in a mythical land called “Ethiopia” just waiting, yearning and itching to breakup into tribal chieftaincies and principalities. The whole is not greater than the sum of its parts because the parts could never amount to a whole.
The T-TPLF constitution self-proclaims to be a weapon for “rectifying historical injustices”. It arms the “nations and nationalities” with the nuclear option of “self-determination” for the “rectification” of perceived historical injustices. The “nations and nationalities” are each given the switch box for their own nuclear weapon of mass destruction and literally blow up themselves and the entire country into smithereens.
Assumption No. 2. There is no Ethiopian culture. There are diversity of cultures that are self-contained and mutually exclusive. The whole idea of unity in diversity in T-TPLF’s ethnic federalism is the practice of diversity in exclusivity, animosity and insensitivity.
Assumption No. 3. There is no Ethiopian history. A people without a history is a people without a past and without a future. T-TPLF mastermind the late Meles Zenawi in 1993 told an interviewer, “Ethiopia is only 100 years old. Those who claim otherwise are indulging themselves in fairy tales.” According to T-TPLF’s ethnic federalism, there is only the history of “nations, nationalities and peoples.”
Assumption No. 4. There is no “Ethiopian national identity.” National identity is one’s sense of belonging to one state or to one nation. It is the sense of a nation as a cohesive whole, as represented by distinctive traditions, culture, language and politics. As far as I have been able to determine, Ethiopians are the only people in the world who are officially required by “law” to state their ethnicity in their interactions with regime authorities. Could there be a greater insult, a greater humiliation for a citizen of a country to be required to declare his/her ethnicity every time they seek to get public services?!
Surveys show British citizens “feel British”. The French people “feel French”. The same for Brazilians, Indians, Egyptians and so on.
The American people “feel American” before they feel African American, Polish American, Japanese American and so on.
Under the crushing boots of the T-TPLF, do people living in Ethiopia “feel Ethiopian”? Do they even feel “Oromo Ethiopian”, “Amhara Ethiopian”, “Tigrean Ethiopian” and so on?
Or do they just feel their ethnicity without their nationality, without their humanity?
Assumption No. 5. There is no “Ethiopian flag” as a symbol of national identity, pride and patriotism. Meles Zenawi in response to questions put to him about T-TPLF position on the flag said repeatedly said the “Ethiopian flag is a piece of rag.”
The vast majority of Americans respect and take pride in their flag. They nicknamed their flag “Old Glory”. In most public, sporting and patriotic events, they sing “The Star-Spangled Banner” as they raise Old Glory. In the last three lines of the lyrics, they sing: “And this be our motto – ‘In God is our trust,’/ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave/ O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.” That essentially defines “feeling American” for most Americans regardless of which corner of the world they or their ancestors came from.
Do “Ethiopians” feel the same way about a green, yellow and red flag with a blue pentagram in the middle of it? Why can’t Ethiopia be “land of the free and the home of the brave”? I don’t think the Americans have a monopoly on that.
(Just as an aside: I have never been able to figure out why the T-TPLF used a pentagram (a star encased in a circle) in the middle of their flag. The pentagram is the quintessential global symbol of the followers of the Prince of Darkness. No other country in the world has a flag with a pentagram in it. How odd, indeed!)
Assumption No. 6. There is no “Ethiopian Dream”. There is only a T-TPLF nightmare. The T-TPLF controls the economy, the politics and society. No one can inhale or exhale without the T-TPLF breathing down their backs. One can’t dream in a nightmare!
To understand T-TPLF’s ethnic federalism as modern day apartheid, Ethiopia’s Cheetah Generation must study the history of apartheid laws creating and maintaining Bantustans in South Africa. The T-TPLF devised their “ethnic federalism” straight out of the apartheid playbook. In fact, ethnic federalism is a kinder and gentler version of South Africa’s apartheid state based on separate development of the people of South Africa.
My aim here is not to show discrete similarities and differences between Apartheid laws and T-TPLF “Proclamations”. If need be, I can do that with ease, expedition and pleasure. But I am merely trying to make the simple point that the white minority government in South Africa took calculated legislative measure to dispossess the majority Black African population and completely dominate the economy just like what the T-TPLF is doing in Ethiopia today by completely owning the land in the country.
The 1995 T-TPLF constitution declares, “The right to ownership of rural and urban land, as well as of all natural resources, is exclusively vested in the State and in the peoples of Ethiopia. Land is a common property of the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia and shall not be subject to sale or to other means of exchange.” (Article 40(3).)
If the state has exclusive ownership of rural and urban land in Ethiopia, then the obvious question is: Who has exclusive and complete ownership of the state in Ethiopia today?
Who has exclusively owned and operated the state in Ethiopia for the past 25 years?
In the Bantu Land Act of 1913 (originally The Natives Land Act, 1913 [Act No. 27 of 1913], the white settlers created a system of land tenure that deprived the majority of South Africa’s inhabitants of the right to own land which had major socio-economic repercussions. The Bantu Land Act created a “system of local government and administration, under apartheid, entrenched separate development and the balkanisation of the South African state into different ‘native reserves.’… The Act created a system of land tenure that deprived the majority of South Africans the right to own land.”
The Bantu Authorities Act, 1951(“Black Authorities Act, 1951”) created the legal basis for the deportation of blacks into designated homeland reserve areas and established tribal, regional and territorial authorities. This Act was subsequently augmented by the Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act, 1970 (“Black States Citizenship Act & National States Citizenship Act, 1970) which sought to change the legal status of the inhabitants of the Bantustans by effectively denaturalizing them from enjoying citizenship rights as South Africans. These laws imposed draconian restrictions on the freedom of movement of black South Africans. These laws further sought to ensure that white South Africans would represent the majority of the de jure population of South Africa with the right to vote and monopolize control of the state machinery.
The Group Areas Act of 1950 (as re-enacted in the Group Areas Act of 1966), divided South Africa into separate areas for whites and blacks and gave the government the power to forcibly remove people from areas not designated for their particular tribal and racial group. Under this Act, anyone living in the “wrong” area was deported to his/her tribal group homeland. The law also denied Africans the right to own land anywhere in South Africa and stripped them of all political rights. The lives of over 3.5 million people were destroyed by this law as they were forcibly deported and corralled like cattle in their tribal group Bantustans.
The ideology of “kililism” shares many of the attributes of apartheid’s “Bantustanism”.
In Article 39 and other proclamations enacted by Meles’ rubberstamp parliament, Meles created “ethnic homelands” just as apartheid South Africa’s “Bantu (Black) Authorities Act of 1951” created “bantustans”. Article 39 provides, “A nation, nationality or people for the purpose of this Constitution, is a group of people who have or share a large measure of a common culture, or similar customs, mutual intelligibility of language, belief in a common or related identities, and who predominantly inhabit an identifiable, contiguous territory.” Both ideologies aim to concentrate members of designated ethnic groups into “homelands” by creating ethno-linguistically homogeneous territories which could ultimately morph into “autonomous” nation states.
In April 2012, in my commentary, “Green Justice or Ethnic Injustice”, I demonstrated beyond a shadow of doubt that the chief architect and mastermind of “ethnic federalism”, the late Meles Zenawi, in his own words proved that he was running a modern apartheid system.
In April 2012, Meles personally ordered the removal and deportation of tens of thousands of “Amhara” from Southern Ethiopia.
In justifying his actions, Meles called Ethiopians living in the southern part of the country, “North Gojam “Amhara” “sefaris”, “criminal squatters” and “marauding land grabbers”.
To call any Ethiopian living in Ethiopia a “criminal squatter” makes me sick to the stomach. (To watch Meles Zenawi’s video Click HERE):
… By coincidence of history, over the past ten years numerous people — some 30,000 sefaris (squatters) from North Gojam – have settled in Benji Maji (BM) zone [in Southern Ethiopia]. In Gura Ferda, there are some 24,000 sefaris. Because the area is forested, not too many people live there. For all intents and purposes, Gura Ferda is little North Gojam complete with squatters’ local administration. That is not a problem: There is land to farm [in BM zone], and there are people who want to farm it. Everybody wins, no one loses. There is only one problem: The squatters did it in a disorganized way. The squatters settled individually and haphazardly and in an environmentally destructive way. The settlement was not based on a sound environmental impact study on the destruction of the forest. The pristine forest in the area must be protected. The squatters want land that can be easily developed and cultivated. They don’t care if it is a forest or not. They cut the forest and used the wood to make charcoal to aid in their settlement. As a result massive environmental destruction has occurred…. Settlers cannot move into the area and destroy the forest for settlement. It is illegal and must stop. Those who try to distort this fact are irresponsible. It is necessary to filter the truth. The rights of all Ethiopians must be protected on equal footing. Those who allege persecution and displacement of Amharas are engaged in irresponsible agitation which is not useful to anyone…
That is exactly what happened to Black South Africans for decades under apartheid. They were labelled “criminal squatters” and evicted and forcibly expelled…
I ask Ethiopia’s Cheetahs to fly with me on a beam of freedom. You are born free. Now live free because that is your divine destiny.
Killings, Detention of Protesters Enter Fourth Month
Human Rights Watch
Nairobi) – Ethiopian security forces are violently suppressing the largely peaceful protests in the Oromia region that began in November 2015. Almost daily accounts of killings and arbitrary arrests have been reported to Human Rights Watch since 2016 began.
Security forces, including military personnel, have fatally shot scores of demonstrators. Thousands of people have been arrested and remain in detention without charge. While the frequency of protests appears to have decreased in the last few weeks, the crackdown continues.
Protesters in Oromia region, Ethiopia, December 2015.
“Flooding Oromia with federal security forces shows the authorities’ broad disregard for peaceful protest by students, farmers and other dissenters,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government needs to rein in the security forces, free anyone being held wrongfully, and hold accountable soldiers and police who used excessive force.”
The Ethiopian government has said that the situation in Oromia is largely under control following the government’s retraction on January 12 of the proposed “Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan.” The controversial proposal to expand the municipal boundaries of the capital, Addis Ababa, into farmland in Oromia sparked the initial demonstrations.
The plan’s cancellation did not halt the protests however, and the crackdown continued throughout Oromia. In late January 2016, Human Rights Watch interviewed approximately 60 protesters and other witnesses from various parts of the Oromia region in December and January who described human rights violations during the protests, some since mid-January. They said that security forces have shot randomly into crowds, summarily killed people during arrests, carried out mass roundups, and tortured detainees.
Women mourn during the funeral ceremony of a primary school teacher who family members said was shot dead by military forces during protests in Oromia, Ethiopia in December 2015. December 17, 2015.
While there have been some reports of violence during the protests, including the destruction of some foreign-owned farms and looting of some government buildings, most of the protests since November have been peaceful. On February 12, federal security forces fired on a bus after a wedding, killing four people, provoking further protests. A February 15 clash between federal security forces and armed men believed to be local police or militias, resulted in the deaths of seven security officers, according to the government.
On January 10, security forces threw a grenade at students at Jimma University in western Oromia, injuring dozens, eyewitnesses reported. Multiple witnesses told Human Rights Watch that security forces stormed dormitories at Jimma University on January 10 and 11, with mass arrests and beatings of Oromo students.
Security forces have arrested students, teachers, government officials, businesspeople, opposition politicians, healthcare workers, and people who provide assistance or shelter to fleeing students. Because primary and secondary school students in Oromia were among the first to protest, many of those arrested have been children, under age 18.
“They walked into the compound and shot three students at point-blank range,” one 17-year-old student said describing security force reaction to students chanting against the master plan. “They were hit in the face and were dead.”
Human Rights Watch spoke to 20 people who had been detained since the protests began on November 12, none of whom had been taken before a judge. Fourteen people said they were beaten in detention, sometimes severely. Several students said they were hung up by their wrists while they were whipped. An 18-year-old student said he was given electric shocks to his feet. All the students interviewed said that the authorities accused them of mobilizing other students to join the protests. Several women who were detained alleged that security officers sexually assaulted and otherwise mistreated them in detention.
The descriptions fit wider patterns of torture and ill-treatment of detainees that Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have documented in Oromia’s many official and secret detention facilities. Numerous witnesses and former detainees said that security forces are using businesses and government buildings in West Shewa and Borana zones as makeshift detention centers.
At time of writing, some schools and universities remain closed throughout Oromia because the authorities have arrested teachers and closed facilities to prevent further protests, or students do not attend as a form of protest or because they fear arrest. Many students said they were released from detention on the condition that they would not appear in public with more than one other individual, and several said they had to sign a document making this commitment as a condition for their release.
Human Rights Watch has not been able to verify the total numbers of people killed and arrested given restrictions on access and independent reporting in Ethiopia. Activists allege that more than 200 people have been killed since November 12, based largely on material collated from social media videos, photos, and web posts. Available information suggests that several thousand people have been arrested, many of whose whereabouts are unknown, which would be a forcible disappearance.
Human Rights Watch has documented 12 additional killings previously unreported. Most of these occurred in Arsi and Borana Zones in southern Oromia, where protests have also been taking place but have received less attention than elsewhere. This suggests that the scale of the protests and abuses across Oromia may be greater than what has been reported, Human Rights Watch said.
The Ethiopian government’s pervasive restrictions on independent civil society groups and media have meant that very little information is coming from affected areas. However, social media contains photos and videos of the protests, particularly from November and December.
The Oromia Media Network (OMN) has played a key role in disseminating information throughout Oromia during the protests. OMN is a diaspora-based television station that relays content, primarily in the Afan Oromo language, via satellite, and recently started broadcasting on shortwave radio. The Ethiopian government has reportedly jammed OMN 15 times since it began operations in 2014, in contravention of international regulations. Two business owners told Human Rights Watch they were arrested for showing OMN in their places of business. Federal police destroyed satellites dishes that were receiving OMN in many locations. Students said they were accused of providing videos for social media and of communicating information to the OMN. Arrests and fear of arrest has resulted in less information on abuses coming out of Oromia over the last month.
The Ethiopian government should end the excessive use of force by the security forces, free everyone detained arbitrarily, and conduct an independent investigation into killings and other security force abuses, Human Rights Watch said. Those responsible for serious rights violations should be appropriately prosecuted and victims of abuses should receive adequate compensation.
On January 21, the European Parliament passed a strong resolution condemning the crackdown. There has been no official statement from the United Kingdom, and the United States has not condemned the violence, instead focusing on the need for public consultation and dialogue in twostatements. Otherwise, few governments have publicly raised concerns about the government’s actions. As two of Ethiopia’s most influential partners, the United Kingdom and the United States should be doing more to halt the violent crackdown and to call for an independent investigation into the abuses, Human Rights Watch said.
“Ethiopia’s donor countries have responded tepidly, if at all, to the killing of scores of protesters in Oromia,” Lefkow said. “They should stop ignoring or downplaying this shocking brutality and call on the government to support an independent investigation into the killings and other abuses.”
For additional information and accounts from eyewitnesses and victims, please see below.
Student protests in Oromia began on November 12, 2015, in Ginchi, a small town 80 kilometers southwest of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, when authorities sought to clear a forest for an investment project. The protests soon spread throughout the Oromia region and broadened to include concerns over the proposed expansion of the Addis Ababa municipal boundary, known as the “Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan.” Farmers and others joined the protest movement as the protests continued into December.
Many protesters allege that the government’s violent response and the rising death toll changed the focus of the protests to the killing and arrest of protesters and decades of historic Oromo grievances came to the forefront. Oromia is home to most of Ethiopia’s estimated 35 million Oromo, the country’s largest ethnic group. Many Oromo feel marginalized and discriminated against by successive Ethiopian governments. Ethnic Oromo who express dissent are often arrested and tortured or otherwise ill-treated in detention, accused of belonging to the Oromo Liberation Front, which has waged a limited armed struggle against the government and which parliament has designated a terrorist organization.
On December 16, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said that the government “will take merciless legitimate action against any force bent on destabilizing the area.” The same day, the government communication affairs office minister, Getachew Reda, said that “an organized and armed terrorist force aiming to create havoc and chaos has begun murdering model farmers, public leaders and other ethnic groups residing in the region.” Since that time, federal security forces, including the army and the federal police, have led the law enforcement response in Oromia.
On January 12, the ruling coalition’s Oromia affiliate, the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO), announced on state television that the “Addis Ababa Master Plan” would be cancelled. While the decision was an unprecedented change of policy, people Human Rights Watch interviewed suggest that there has been confusion over the actual status of the plan and whether government will follow through with the cancellation.
After the Addis Ababa master plan had originally been announced in 2014, protests occurred throughout Oromia, which security forces dispersed using live ammunition, killing at least several dozen people. Hundreds were arrested. Many of the arrested remain in custody without charge. Most of the approximately 25 students that Human Rights Watch interviewed from the 2014 protests who had been detained alleged torture and other ill-treatment. Many formerly detained students have not been permitted to return to their universities. On December 2, 2015, five Oromo students were convicted under the counterterrorism law for their role in the 2014 protests. There has been no government investigation into the use of excessive and lethal force during the 2014 protests.
Summary Killings, Unnecessary Lethal Force
In the early weeks of the 2015 protests, security forces who responded to the demonstrations were largely Oromia regional police, who used teargas against protesters, although with some incidents involving live ammunition. Many of the killings initially reported occurred after dark when security forces went house-to-house searching for protesters. They killed some students who tried to flee and others in scuffles during arrests, while the exact circumstances of many deaths are unknown.
Under international human rights standards, law enforcement officials may only use lethal force in self-defense or to prevent an imminent threat to another’s life.
After a December 16 announcement by the prime minister that the government would “take merciless legitimate action against any force bent on destabilizing the area,” witnesses said federal police and military forces were deployed in more parts of Oromia alongside the regional police. Many protesters alleged that the federal police and soldiers fired into crowds.
Wako – a 17-year-old protester from West Shewa whose name, along with others, has been changed for his protection, described the change:
During the first protest [in mid-November], the Oromia police tried to convince us to go home. We refused so they broke it up with teargas and arrested many. Several days later we had another protest. This time the [federal police] had arrived. They fired many bullets into the air. When people did not disperse they fired teargas, and then in the confusion we heard the sounds of more bullets and students started falling next to me. My friend [name withheld] was killed by a bullet. He wasn’t targeted, they were just shooting randomly into the crowd.
Gudina, a 16-year-old Grade 10 student from Arsi Negelle, described the authorities’ response to a protest in early December:
All the schools got together and took to the streets. As we protested, teargas was thrown, we kept marching and then from behind us we heard bullets, many students were hit and fell screaming. One very young student from my school I saw had been shot in throat and blood was pouring. I have dreams every night of that student.
Protesters from Arsi, West Shewa, Borana, and East Wollega zones all described similar events in which security forces, predominantly federal police, shot into crowds with live ammunition, especially since mid-December. They gave little or no warning about using teargas and live ammunition.
Three high school students from Arsi who were interviewed separately described an incident at their school. Kuma, a 17-year-old student, said:
We heard a Grade 6 student was killed in [neighboring village]. To show our solidarity we decided to protest. When the different classes came together and started marching toward the government office, security forces moved toward us. They threw teargas, and then we heard the sound of gunfire. My friend [name withheld] was shot in the chest, I saw him go down and bleeding. We ran away and I never looked back. His mother told me later he had been killed. He was 17 years old.
Security forces entered a school compound near Shashemene apparently to discourage their participation in a planned protest. Gameda, a 17-year-old Grade 9 student, said:
We had planned to protest. At 8 a.m., Oromia police came into the school compound. They arrested four students [from Grades 9-11], the rest of us were angry and started chanting against the police. Somebody threw a stone at the police and they quickly left and came back an hour later with the federal police. They walked into the compound and shot three students at point-blank range. They were hit in the face and were dead. They took the bodies away. They held us in our classrooms for the rest of the morning, and then at noon they came in and took about 20 of us including me.
Arbitrary Arrests, Detention
Several dozen people told Human Rights Watch about friends and colleagues who had been arrested without a valid basis, including many whose whereabouts remain unknown. Fifteen protesters from various parts of Oromia described their own arrests. Usually in the evening following a daytime protest, security forces would go door-to-door arresting students, including many who had not participated, including an 8-year-old in the Borana zone on January 9. They primarily targeted men and boys, but many women and girls were also arrested. Those arrested were taken to police stations, military barracks, and makeshift detention centers.
Kuma, a Grade 7 student from Borana zone, was arrested in early December, held for five days in an unknown location, and beaten with a wooden stick:
They said to me “Why were you in the demonstration? This means you do not like the government. Why? We do good for you.” Then they kept saying we had relations with the OLF [Oromo Liberation Front, which the government considers to be a terrorist group]. What does demonstrating have to do with the OLF? I was released after signing a paper that I would not go in public with more than one person. Many people in our town were released after signing this paper. Several days later there was another protest, I didn’t go, but knew I would be arrested again. I sat at home hearing gunshots all day long hoping I didn’t know any of those that would be killed.
Gameda, a Grade 7 student, said he was arrested at his school compound on the day of a planned protest:
For 10 days I was held at the police station. For the first three days, they would beat me each night on the back and legs with a wooden stick and ask me about who was behind the protests and whether I was a member of the OLF. I was released and several weeks later the protests started again in our town. They arrested me again. Same beatings, same questions. My family bribed the police and I was released.
The authorities have imposed collective punishment on people deemed to have been helping protesters. Lelisa, a woman who assisted students fleeing the security forces in Arsi in early December, said:
I wasn’t at the protests but I heard gunfire all day long and into the night. Students were running away and hiding themselves. Ten students came to me and asked for help so I hid them from the police. The police were going door-to-door at night arresting students. They came to my house, arrested all the boys and I convinced them that the three girls were my daughters. Then an hour later they came back and arrested my husband. They beat him in front of me, when I begged them not to kill him they kicked me and hit me with the butt of their gun. They took him away. I have heard nothing from him since.
Negasu, an owner of a private school, said he was arrested because students at his school were involved in the protest:
I owned a private school in [location withheld]. The students protested but the police did not break it up violently, they just filmed it and then arrested many people at night. Four of the protesters were from my school. So the police came at night and arrested me and took me to a military camp [name withheld]. For five days I was held in a dark hole by myself. It was freezing and they did not feed me for two days. I was beaten each night and accused of giving money to opposition groups, to the Oromo Federalist Congress and to OLF. They also accused me of posting videos to social media and sending to OMN. They just make things up. They closed my school and froze my bank account. They took my house also. Now I have nothing and the students are either going through what I did in detention or are not able to go to school because it’s been closed.
Students who were perceived to be vocal or had family histories of opposing government were particularly at risk. Lencho, 25, said:
I was known to be vocal and was a leader among the students. My father was known to oppose the government. I did not even participate in the protests because of fear but I was identified as one of the mobilizers. I was arrested, and when I got to the police station I saw local government officials, a local Oromo artist [singer], my teacher, and all of the outspoken students of our high school. They were arresting those that they thought were influential. I don’t even think any of them were in the protests because of fear.
Prominent Oromo intellectuals, including senior members of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), a registered political party, have also been arrested. On December 23, Deputy Chairman Bekele Gerba was arrested at his home and taken to Addis Ababa’s Maekelawi prison, where torture and other ill-treatment have been documented. On January 22, he appeared in court, and prosecutors were granted an additional 28 days for investigation, suggesting he is being investigated under the abusive Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. Bekele has been a moderate voice in Oromia politics and a staunch advocate for non-violence.
In addition to those perceived to be actively involved in the protests, security forces have arrested influential people, including prominent Oromo businessman, teachers, professors, and numerous singers and artists. One teacher said:
The students protested. At night they came and arrested many of them, my students were calling me all night to tell me the police were at their door. Then I heard that most of the teachers had been arrested, too. I was away from town at the time. Then the woreda[district] administrator called and told me I was to be held responsible for my student’s behavior since I did not talk them out of it. I had already been in trouble because I did not attend a workshop at the school on the master plan and how we were to convince students it was good for them.
A well-known Oromo singer, now living in exile, said:
I released a song on Youtube [in December] that spoke about the protests and the need for students to stop the silence and speak out about the abuses our people face. I had been arrested three times previously for my songs. My songs have always focused on Oromo history and culture but I was always careful for the songs not to be seen as political in any way. But they arrest you anyway. After my third detention, I stopped censoring myself and spoke openly through my music. Hours after my song was released, I got word from the local administrator that I was to be arrested so I ran away from my home and haven’t been back.
An Ethiopian intelligence official acknowledged to Human Rights Watch in January 2016 that targeting public figures was a deliberate government policy. “It is important to target respected Oromos,” he said. “Anyone that has the ability to mobilize Oromos will be targeted, from the highest level like Bekele, to teachers, respected students, and Oromo artists.”
Human Rights Watch also interviewed a number of students who had been detained during the 2014 protests, eventually released, and then were arrested again as soon as the protests began in November 2015. Some described horrendous treatment in detention. Waysira, a then-second year university student, said:
[In 2014] I was arrested for two weeks. I was stripped to my underwear and beaten with sticks. They applied electric wires to my back. They wanted me to admit being OLF and to say where my brother was – who they suspect was OLF. Eventually they released me. I wasn’t allowed to go back to school, so I have been sitting around doing nothing ever since. I went back to my family’s village. When the protests started again in Oromia, they came to my house and arrested me again. There hadn’t been protests in that area, but there were on the campus I had been suspended from. They accused me of mobilizing students, and beat me for two days. Then I was released. They wanted to target anyone they thought might be thinking of protesting.
Torture, Ill-Treatment in Detention
All of the students interviewed who had been detained said the authorities interrogated them about who was behind the protests and about their family history. They said interrogators accused them of having connections to opposition groups – typically the legally registered Oromo Federalist Congress and the banned Oromo Liberation Front. Interrogators accused some students of providing information to diaspora or international media and a number of students said their phones, Facebook accounts, and email accounts were searched during detention. These descriptions of interrogation match patterns Human Rights Watch has documented in Oromia over several years.
Tolessa, a first-year university student from Adama University, said:
It was the evening after the protest. We were recovering from the teargas and trying to find out who had been shot during the protest. Then the security forces stormed the dormitories. They blindfolded 17 of us from my floor and drove us two hours into the countryside. We were put into an unfinished building for nine days. Each night they would take us out one by one, beat us with sticks and whips, and ask us about who was behind the protests and whether we were members of the OLF. I told them I don’t even know who the OLF are but treating students this way will drive people toward the OLF. They beat me very badly for that. We would hear screams all night long. When I went to the bathroom, I saw students being hung by their wrists from the ceiling and being whipped. There was over a hundred students I saw. The interrogators were not from our area. We had to speak Amharic [the national language]. If we spoke Oromo they would get angry and beat us more.
Meti, in her 20s, was arrested in late December for selling traditional Oromo clothes the day after a protest in East Wollega:
I was arrested and spent one week at the police station. Each night they pulled me out and beat me with a dry stick and rubber whip. Then I was taken to [location withheld]. I was kept in solitary confinement. On three separate occasions I was forced to take off my clothes and parade in front of the officers while I was questioned about my link with the OLF. They threatened to kill me unless I confessed to being involved with organizing the protests. I was asked why I was selling Oromo clothes and jewelry. They told me my business symbolizes pride in being Oromo and that is why people are coming out [to protest]. At first I was by myself in a dark cell, but then I was with all the other girls that had been arrested during the protest.
A 22-year-old woman told Human Rights Watch she was arrested the night of a protest in late December and taken to what she described as a military camp in the Borana zone. She was held in solitary confinement in total darkness. She said she was raped on three occasions in her cell by unidentified men during her two-week detention. On each occasion, she believed there were two men involved. She was frequently pulled out of her cell and interrogated about her involvement in the protests and the whereabouts of her two brothers, who the interrogators suggested were mobilizing students. She was released on the condition that she would bring her two brothers to security officials for questioning.
Right to Health, Education
The authorities have targeted health workers for arrest during the protests, and as a result some wounded protesters have been unable to get treatment. Demiksa, a student from Eastern Wollega, said that he was refused medical treatment in late December for his injured arm and face after he was pushed to the ground in a panic when Oromia regional police fired teargas at protesters: “[The health workers] said they couldn’t treat me. The day before security forces had arrested two of their colleagues because they were treating protesters. They were accused of providing health care to the opposition.”
Health workers said security forces harassed them and arrested some of their colleagues because they posted photos on social media showing their arms crossed in what has become a symbol of the protest movement. A health worker in East Wollega said he had been forced at gunpoint to treat a police officer’s minor injuries while student protesters with bullet wounds were left unattended. The health worker said at least one of those students died from his injuries that evening.
Many students said the local government closed schools to prevent students from mobilizing, or because teachers had been arrested. Some students said they were afraid to go to class or were refusing to go to school as a form of protest against the government. Four students who had been detained said that security officials told them that they would not be allowed to return to their university. A Grade 6 student who said she had the highest marks in her class the previous year said that the principal told her she would not be allowed to go back to school because she attended the protests. As a result, she decided to flee Ethiopia.
Human Rights Watch previously documented cases of students who were suspended after they participated in the 2014 protests, a pattern that is also emerging in the aftermath of the current protests.
Oslo 20160127. Statssekretær Jøran Kallmyr i innvandrings- og integreringsdepartementet etter et møte onsdag. Foto: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix
800 Ethiopians living in Norway without having legal residence may now be forcibly returned to Ethiopia, according to NRK. Ethiopians may now be forced to return to Ethiopia Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix
Ethiopia has previously refused to accept the returns, but authorities in the country have now changed their minds. Ethiopia entered into a return agreement with Norway in January 2012, but has so far only been willling to accept people who return voluntarily.
Jøran Kallemyr (Photo) was in Ethiopia just before he resigned as Secretary of State in the Ministry of Justice recently. He then got guarantees from the Ethiopian Foreign Minister, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, according to NRK.
– The Foreign Minister, who is also a candidate to become secretary general of the World Health Organization, have said they will follow this through. We have a wide cooperation with Ethiopia on a number of development areas, so we expect them to accept their own citizens, he said.
ETHIOPIAN COUNCIL FOR RECONCILIATIONAND THE RESTORATIVE OF JUSTICE (ECRRJ)
Press Release
February 18, 2016 Washington, DC-
Executive Summary:
On February 14, 2016, the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE) announced the formation of the Ethiopian Council for Reconciliation and the Restorative of Justice (ECRRJ) at a public meeting held at the Sheraton Hotel in Silver Springs, Maryland. The Council’s formation was the outcome of a strategic planning retreat held over the course of three days previous to the meeting. Those attending the retreat were representatives of diverse Ethiopians. The ECRRJ is a people-to-people movement for healing, reconciliation and the restorative of justice in Ethiopia.
Background:
The need for reconciliation and restorative justice has been an integral part of the mission of the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE) from the beginning. The SMNE was birthed as an idea, years prior to its official formation in 2008. In fact, the idea resulted from a deepening awareness of the pain and suffering of Ethiopians throughout the country following the genocide of the Anuak in 2003. In a country stuck in cycles of violence and revenge; it became clear that the only hope for sustainable peace and justice was to disengage from that cycle of revenge and hate; and to instead choose forgiveness, reconciliation and the pursuit of justice as a deliberate choice to forge a new path.
As the idea grew; it became evident that freedom and justice would never come to the Anuak alone, until freedom and justice came to all Ethiopians. In a deeply divided country, this meant we had to step out of our tribal boxes to embrace others; putting humanity before ethnicity or any other differences, in order to create a more harmonious society. Finally, in 2008, the SMNE began as an effort to bring together the diverse people of Ethiopia to work towards the goals of bringing truth, freedom, justice, transparency and accountability. It led to efforts to bring reconciliation among divided and disconnected people as well as a sense of cohesion, empathy and social responsibility towards others.
In the last 23 years, when some of our people were afflicted in one place; others often did not seem to care. When we are flicked ourselves; it often goes without notice. When the Anuak were massacred, only the Anuak cried. This disregard for each others’ well being can be seen in case after case, despite the fact that we live among each other or were born in the same country. The truth is; we do not have a history of talking to each other.
The SMNE has worked towards this foundational goal of unity-building in various ways; including efforts to bring diverse people together in public forums, marches, discussions, reaching out to advocate for others outside our own groups, standing up for the rights of others in harms way and other reconciliation efforts over the past years.
In November 15, 2014, the SMNE hosted a number of public forums in Washington DC and in other cities, emphasizing the need to “talk to each other rather than about each other.” The formation of the Ethiopian Council for Reconciliation and the Restorative of Justice (ECRRJ) is a continuation of this effort.
Current crisis leading to strategic planning retreat:
We believe the crisis in Ethiopia has reached a new level of urgency based on the present escalating violence in Ethiopia. In order to formulate ideas and a plan to address these issues, the SMNE organized a retreat and invited diverse Ethiopians, who are invested in seeking a different future, to come together for a 3-day retreat this past week to explore possibilities and then to share them at a public meeting held on February 14, 2016 in Washington DC.
It is easy to focus on the urgent issues — an oppressive government, corruption, killing of the Oromo student protestors, or the impending famine and food insecurity— and conclude it is all about the TPLF/EPRDF. It leads to the notion that removing the TPLF/EPRDF will solve our problems; however, there are many people who believe that without healing, reconciliation and the restorative of justice among the people, Ethiopians will be unable to find solutions to the crises of conflict, famine and rising instability in Ethiopia. In fact, without a foundation of healing and reconciliation, our future may end up no better, if not worse, than our present condition.
At the retreat, participants heard the grievances, hardships, wounds and cultural perspectives of others as each told their story. It was intense. People wept, reached out, felt pain and connected to each other. There was serious discussion. There was the sharing of food and laughter. There was a campfire with more stories and discussion. At the end, the healing had begun. New relationships were formed. The understanding of another’s experience and pain was enlightening; broadening the perspective of what Ethiopia could become if people listened to each other. At the end, there was renewed hope that Ethiopia could be a home for all its people; that neighbors did not have to fight each other if they more fully understood that each Ethiopian has a name.
Formation of the Ethiopian Council for Reconciliation and the Restorative of Justice (ECRRJ):
The final outcome of the retreat was the unanimous decision to form the Ethiopian Council for Reconciliation and the Restorative of Justice (ECRRJ), believing it is only through healing, reconciliation and the restorative of justice that Ethiopians will find a meaningful and more sustainable solution. A summary of the group’s decision, describing its basic purpose and goals are as follows:
Purpose:
To provide a framework for people to forgive, repent, and have an open dialogue in order to create healing, understanding, atonement, peace, and justice among all Ethiopians, domestic and abroad. We are all equal! We accept, include, and acknowledge the grievances, hopes, fears, and experiences of all Ethiopian people, regardless of political affiliation, religious belief, or ethnicity. We will work on a people to people grassroots level, among all ethnic groups including elites, civil society or stakeholders but not with the TPLF/EPRDF government.
Goals:
We have four immediate goals:
To officially structure the council with a functional structure within six months.
To promote tolerance, trust, equality and justice for all Ethiopians.
To reach out to Ethiopian religious, civic and political organizations to enhance ECRRJ’s mission and ideas. We seek to build partnerships with other people and organizations.
To use the media to create greater awareness on healing, reconciliation and the restorative of justice.
SMNE Public Meeting:
At the beginning of the people to people public forum, the SMNE leaders expressed their cordial thanks to all the participants for their contributions to the retreat and forum. Mr. Dawit Agonafer, Board Member of the SMNE, opened up the public forum; Miss Yerusalem Work, SMNE Director of Operations read an emotional and touching poem entitled: Love of Country; Mr. Tesfa Mekonnen, the Chairman of the SMNE’s DC Metro Chapter welcomed the public; and, Dr. Gregory Stanton, President of Genocide Watch talked about the early warning signs of genocide.
The Ethiopian Council for Reconciliation and the Restorative of Justice (ECRRJ) statement was read in four different languages: Amharic, Oromiffa, Tigrigna and English. The retreat participants shared their diverse experiences as citizens of Ethiopia. Many questions and comments were made, leading to a very lively and at times, intense, discussion. A video of the event will be available to the public in the near future.
Rationale for the Council:
There are many people who believe that reconciliation is key to creating a conducive environment to be able to effectively resolve the problems within our country. As indicated, some of those individuals met the past week to discuss the challenges presented in our very divided country. They came to the conclusion that it will be difficult to find a solution to the crisis of conflict, famine and rising instability in Ethiopia without first resolving the conflicts among ourselves, different ethnic groups and different sectors of society. This calls for a more intense focus on reconciliation, aided by representatives of different groups of our society, to steer such an effort in this direction, preparing for another stage where the restorative of justice and meaningful reforms would be addressed more intensely.
The ECRRJ was formed to act as a diverse, yet consolidated, voice for such a solution. We believe it begins by seeking individual and collective healing for Ethiopians, following years of trauma, suffering, loss and hardship caused by oppression, marginalization, war, corruption, ethnic-based hatred and alienation, discrimination, torture, false imprisonment, human rights abuses and deep-seeded injustice. Such trauma can be experienced as individuals or as members of a collective group. It can be passed on to the next generations, along with the destructive emotions of anger, bitterness, alienation, prejudice and the desire to seek revenge or hold strong prejudices against a collective group of people, even if it is against their descendants.
One of the participants, Mr. Roba Ahmed, an Oromo man, said that anger over injustice had been passed on from his grandfather to his father and from his father to himself and that he refused to pass it on to his children. He said that was the reason he was there. It was time to stop it. He was speaking of the pain, bitterness and resentments of the past that were destroying possibilities for working together as Ethiopians, making cooperation in the present a step of disloyalty towards an ancestor of the past. He wants to end the vicious cycle, enabling the next generation to be freer to live in peace.
Unhealed trauma, wounds and anger have led to a divided, suspicious, abusive and unjust society where there is little trust. One only feels safe within one’s own group, although those groups can also be divided. It is all propelled again and again through cycles of violence and revenge. Under such conditions, genuine unity among the people that would enable Ethiopians to work together towards shared goals, is an illusive dream. The collaboration that everyone is calling for now is to “take down” a mutual “enemy,” but even if it worked, it is short-lived and easily subject to hijack.
Consider how yesterday’s or today’s victims will function if given power, without first experiencing healing and reconciliation. The TPLF is an example. They were thrust into a war in the bush as victims of injustice, now becoming like those who afflicted them in the past. A recycling of aggression, victimization and self-interest, without regard for others, is relived now in a new generation.
How can this pattern of dangerous dysfunction be broken without healing, reconciliation and the restorative of justice? It should be lead by diverse Ethiopians who can propel this vision forward and act as bridges of reconciliation between the people. As people are reconciled, they are humanized in the eyes of the other. They are also newly connected to each other to form relationship. With relationship comes the social and moral imperative to correct wrongs when and where one can do so. These relationships can involve individuals, families, groups, ethnicities, regions, religions, or among aggrieved citizens of a nation. This effort should address issues of wrongdoing, including individual or recurring incidents of injustice as well as systemic injustice when such wrongs are deeply entrenched into the fabric of society.
Restorative justice is a means to transition out of a violent, divided, and unjust society to something better and more responsive to the rights of all its members. For example, a criminels justice approach looks at what laws were broken, who did what and what they deserve. It serves to punish chief offenders as well as petty offenders in some cases, but it does not assure needed structural changes to institutionalized injustice, especially when previous power holders remain entrenched in the system.
The emphasis of restorative justice looks at who was harmed, what are their needs and who is obligated to address them. Correction of wrongs committed over the past years will include some degree of obligation to fix them and if systemic, it will require systemic changes to our institutions on the local, regional and national levels. It will involve listening, public discussion, an openness to change and effective implementation of changes necessary to restore justice. Restorative justice may bring more sustainable peace, justice and equity than either an over-heavy use of the criminal justice approach or a violent overthrow of the current system because restorative justice seeks to repair a deeply broken system, not just replace the people on top.
The ECRRJ’s goal is to bring diverse voices into strategic and empowered positions to focus on bringing healing, reconciliation and the restorative of justice to Ethiopians as the only way to break this self-destructive cycle of violence, injustice and oppression. Even those who consider themselves victims of this regime can fail to see how to break the cycle and can start to over-identify with the role of victim or even move between the two roles in destructive ways affecting self and others.
Our mission is to provide a means to escape from this cycle by promoting the healing of individuals, communities and our nation. This means an intentional strategy to bring diverse and alienated people together to talk to each other rather than about each other. It also includes bringing factions together to listen to each other so as to better understand the “other” and to better deal with the pain and grievances of these others.
The Council’s position is to seek an environment where healing and reconciliation will equip the people to better focus on the future, becoming part of the solution to restoring justice and bringing about meaningful reforms for the common good. This is why the council was formed. Ignoring these problems and the problems of others within our society can have serious consequences. Once we better understand the pain of others; we will be able to join together to confront the current crises we are facing— the starvation, the lack of political space, the land issues, the lack of opportunity and other issues.
We in the ECRRJ are not interested in artificial or shallow cohesion; it will not last, nor will it give us what we want. The main responsibility right now is on the people to put our act together. If we do, we can confront our many crises or even prevent them, like avoiding ethnic conflict. The voice of healed and reconciled people or groups, can assume greater strength and moral authority. This is what we seek to encourage, direct and empower through the ECRRJ.
As the ECRRJ is launched, we are calling on the people to start this dialogue. When violence occurs, it does so to individuals; so we must become agents of reconciliation and justice, talking to each other in the language of love and respect in a humanizing, not dehumanizing way.
This starts from within the hearts of each of us. Seek a quiet place and listen to one’s conscience as we face this present crisis; it may be during this time we are most ready to hear and to receive instruction, joy, conviction and healing. Reach out to reconcile with those closest to us, even within our families, communities, places of worship and work places. We call on members of the religious community, as well as many others, to join this effort. How can justice for all be restored in a country like Ethiopia without embracing the humanity of others? Let us do our part and seek God’s help to do what seems otherwise impossible!
May God protect Ethiopians from choosing the wrong paths that will inflict harm to self and others and may lead to our mutual destruction.
To Members of European Parliament Wiertzstraat 60 B-1047 Brussels, Belgium
From : Moresh Wegenie Amhara Organization (MWAO) 8221 Georgia Avenue Silver Spring, Maryland, MD 20901 USA
RE: A Plea to revise article E of the Resolution of the European Union of January 21, 2016 on the situation in Ethiopia (2016/2520(RSP)) B8-0091/2016. This article states:
“Whereas Ethiopia is highly diverse country in terms of religious beliefs and cultures; whereas some of the largest ethnic communities, particularly the Oromo and the Somali (Ogaden) have been marginalized in the favor of the Amhara and the Tigray with little participation in political participation”.
Your excellencies;
First of all, we pray to the Almighty that He may grant full health to the members of the Parliament, and peace, development and wealth to the world population.
Moresh Wogenie Amara organization (MWAO), which submits this plea to the August Parliament, is an Amhara Organization based in America. It is legally registered in Maryland, USA, as a civic society and has branches all over the world. The Amhara is one of the two major ethnic groups of Ethiopia. MWAO aspires to share the plight of the Amhara with nations who stand for justice in general and to concerned human rights organizations in particular.
The evidence shows that this ethnic group is currently in dire need of rescue from being reduced to insignificance or total elimination by mass killing of its members. It has been the target of criminal ethnic elimination by several brutal means of ethnic cleansing conducted by the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) that has been ruling the country since 1991 under the guise of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Within the three years of its existence, MWAO has issued over eighty documents, in text and video, as evidence of the quiet but systematic elimination of the Amhara by the TPLF.
It inspires hope that the European Union Parliament has finally noticed the crimes the TPLF/EPRDF is committing against the people of Ethiopia, under the pretext of the growth of Addis Ababa by incorporating surrounding farmers’ lands into the city.
Our organization is indebted to the individuals who have made the effort to bring the case to the attention of the Parliament and to the Parliament in passing this historic resolution on the situation in Ethiopia (2016/2520(RSP)) B8-0091/2016). But, we are dismayed by the wording of paragraph E, in which the Amhara is wrongly represented:
“E. whereas Ethiopia is a highly diverse country in terms of religious beliefs and cultures; whereas some of the largest ethnic communities, particularly the Oromo and the Somali (Ogaden), have been marginalized in favor of the Amhara and the Tigray, with little participation in political representation.”
The truth is the Amhara are the marginalized group in favor of Tigray and other ethnic groups, with no participation in the political representation. For example, the ruling front/TPLF has 60 Military Generals out of which 58 (96.7%) of the Generals are from the ruling TPLF and the majority are from the same district either from Adwa, Axum or Mekele. The military chain of commands are all controlled by the TPLF. The top position within the Government is run by Individuals from Tigray and Eritrean Origin. This includes the handpicked Bereket Simon who was assigned to represent the Amhara is an Eritrean (both parents are Eritreans). The foreign minister Tewodros Adhanom is also an Eritrean.
The last twenty-four years of the Tigrean dictatorship has been a period in which Oromo and Somali Liberation Fronts have cooperated with the regime in the ethnic cleansing of the Amharas in the regions where the Oromo and the Somali are in the majority. We, therefore, humbly request that the Parliament make the necessary amendment to reflect the reality on the ground. If the resolution remains as it now stands, it will definitely encourage the evil activities of ethnic cleansing in every region of the country. We will list the necessary pieces of information for the Parliament to undertake the desirable amendment: It is widely known to all, including the European Parliament, we believe, that as of May 28, 1991, the time the TPLF/EPRDF took political and religious power of Ethiopia, the Amhara have been deliberately excluded from any decision making in the economic, political, and social life of the nation. On the contrary, since the TPLF has targeted the Amhara people as its enemy from its inception. During its twenty-five years in power, it has been cleansing the regions of Amhara on a genocidal level. The following steps were taken in preparation for committing the said crimes on the Amhara:
1. When the military junta fell and the TPLF took power, it invited, on May 20, 1991, representatives of ethnic groups to a conference to form a transitional government, but it deliberately excluded the Amharas people (35% of the general population) from participation, whereas the Oromo and the Somali (Ogaden), which the Parliament has described as “have been marginalized,” were full participants.
2. The Charter of the Transitional government adopted by the conference was actually drafted by Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, Tigray People’s Liberation Front, and Oromo Liberation Front long before the conference. Clearly, the Amhara, the second largest group in the nation was marginalized.
3. The driver of Ethiopian power today is the TPLF. When this front was established on February 18, 1975, it issued its first manifesto which stated: “The national struggle of the people of Tigray is against the enemy, which is the Amhara, . . .” (1976, p. 18; see also Welkait.com.
4. Based on this manifesto, untold crimes, that contradict article (E) of the Parliament’s resolution, have been perpetrated on the Amhara:
Ancestral fertile lands of the Amhara; the entire Raya and Azebo from Wello; and Setit Humera, Wolqait, Tegede, Telemt, and Armachiho from North Gonder Administration were taken and made part of Tigray, which is the region of the ruling group. The Amhara residents in these regions, who objected to the land grab and forced change of ethnicity, were executed, imprisoned, and displaced. Those forced into exile number in the thousands.
4.1. From 1991 to 1995 alone, the following crimes have been committed on the Amhara:
(a) 196 killed;
(b) 44 whose whereabouts are unknown;
(c) 9 exiled;
(d) 45 imprisoned from two to eight years;
4.2. List of Amhara brutally hacked to death in Hararge and Arsi since the TPLF took power:
(a) In Arsi, in Dec. 1991-Jan. 1992: The following crimes have been committed on the Amhara who resided in the province of the Hiquach ena Butajera and the Arsi Negelle district:
60 killed;
60 wounded;
6203 domestic animals looted;
64 houses demolished;
7246 stacks of grain destroyed;
247 hectares of harvest destroyed;
1200 domestic animals were put on fire;
12766 pieces of corrugated iron for building houses were looted;
Church property, including holy items, estimated 431120 Birr (US 21,556), have been looted.
702 family heads and 6987 members have been displaced;
754 were killed, 87 of which were slaughtered with the knife;
405 were injured with bullets and swords;
56 girls were sexually assaulted;
76 wives were sexually assaulted before their husbands;
The whereabouts of 248 juveniles remain unknown;
1554 houses were set on fire;
10380 remain without shelter;
7 pregnant women were shot to death;
8 churches were burned down.
(b) Since 1991, heinous crimes have been committed against the Amhara in different districts of the administrative region of Harar.
76 were killed in Gara Mulleta;
300 were killed in Watar;
123 were killed in Beddeno by being hurled down the precipice of Aneftu;
8 were killed in the city of Dire Dawa;
In a search conducted in Gelemso in 1992/3, 16 sacks of Amhara sculls were exhumed from a placed where mass execution was committed. A sack was estimated to contain an average of 100 sculls. That means 1600 Amharas had perished;
20 were killed in Habru;
8 were killed in Mechara;
14 were killed in Wofi;
15 were killed in Ketera;
8 were killed in Dereku;
7 were killed in Mitcheta;
10 were killed in Qersa;
15 women were killed with amputation of their breasts;
4 churches were burnt down.
4.3 In East Wellegga:
754 were killed;
6251 houses were set on fire;
52303 cattle were looted;
222 granaries were burned down;
96 domestic animals were burned.
4.4 In Gurra Ferda, in the Maji zone, between 2011 and 2015:
Different sources show that 78,000 people were displaced. Adolala, a reporter of Sub-Sahara TV, has reported from Gurra Ferda that 22,000 Amharas were displaced.
Over 600 Amharas were killed on September 30, 2015;
250 houses were set on fire on this same day;
On the same day, the houses of over 3364 Amharas were confiscated and their owners were driven out;
Over 860 children were thrown out on the street;
A church was set on fire.
4.5. Since 1992, the following crimes were committed against the Amhara in Beni-Shangul-Gumuz:
Over 10,000 were killed in 1992. In fact, the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) reports that on July 16, 1992, 270 Amharas were killed, 6833 houses were set on fire, and over 60,000 people were displaced.
5200 Amharas were displaced in 2012, in the Metekel Zone;
4500 Amharas were displaced in the Kemash Zone in 2013 (see (EHRCO, Release no.126);
On May 16 and 17, 2015, 160 Amhara were slaughtered with machetes and knives; the flesh of 80 were eaten by those who committed the crime.
4.6. The following crimes were committed on the Amhara in 2015 in the district of Nonno, in eastern Shoa:
1 man was killed;
10 were gravely injured;
124 houses were set on fire (see EHRCO, special report no. 136).
4.7. Between 1991 and 2014, the following crimes were committed against the Amhara, in the Afar Administrative region:
2,000 were killed;
200 were exiled;
94 were drowned in the Red Sea as they fled to Saudi Arabia.
5. In summation, during the 25 years of TPLF’s dictatorship, over five million Amhara are decimated by several means of the regime’s machinations. They were killed in droves, forced into exile, and women were given anti-fertility tablets under the guise of birth control to make an end to Amharas existence as an ethnic group. Additionally, by spreading the HIV virus among the Amhara, they have exposed the ethnic group to death and incurable illness.
Water and vector borne diseases like diarrhea and particularly seasonal malaria outbreaks in areas like Dembia, Gojam and Gonder were left unchecked without any preventive measures. The lack of staff and supply in this areas has caused deaths on an epidemic proportion among many young children, pregnant women and elderly mothers and fathers.
We sincerely can provide the Parliament with additional facts and figures to back up our cases whenever requested.
Respectfully,
This is precisely what happened and is happening now as we speak in northern Gondar regions of Humera, Welkaite Tegede and Telemet for the last two and half decades. We have heard repeatedly (VOA and through other medias) from the people of these regions of Gondar that Tigray liberation front forces them to sign a plain letter and declare they are Tigre and if they are not doing that they are told to leave the place and go where Amhara people live else face severe consequences, they are told the place now is only for Tigre people. They force them not to use their own language Amharic in any form and for any purpose, they prohibit them not to come to towns for otherwise they will be harassed, taken to police courts and being interrogated as criminals and coerced to accept being Tigre or leave the place. They settle millions of people from Tigray on the regions and over populate the Amharas and broadcast through their television, the settled population of Tigray as native residents of the regions.
Human Rights Watch
