by Jeffrey Sachs, Project Syndicate
December 23, 2007
Many of today's war zones - including Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and Sudan - share basic problems that lie at the root of their conflicts. They are all poor, buffeted by natural disasters - especially floods, droughts, and earthquakes - and have rapidly growing populations that are pressing on the capacity of the land to feed them. And the proportion of youth is very high, with a bulging population of young men of military age (15-24 years).
All of these problems can be solved only through long- term sustainable economic development. Yet the United States persists in responding to symptoms rather than to underlying conditions by trying to address every conflict by military means. It backs the Ethiopian army in Somalia. It occupies Iraq and Afghanistan. It threatens to bomb Iran. It supports the military dictatorship in Pakistan.
None of these military actions addresses the problems that led to conflict in the first place. On the contrary, American policies typically inflame the situation rather than solve it.
Time and again, this military approach comes back to haunt the US. The US embraced the Shah of Iran by sending massive armaments, which fell into the hands of Iran's Revolutionary Government after 1979. The US then backed Saddam Hussein in his attack on Iran, until the US ended up attacking Saddam himself. The US backed Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan against the Soviets, until the US ended up fighting bin Laden. Since 2001 the US has supported Pervez Musharraf in Pakistan with more than $10 billion in aid, and now faces an unstable regime that just barely survives.
US foreign policy is so ineffective because it has been taken over by the military. Even postwar reconstruction in Iraq under the US-led occupation was run by the Pentagon rather than by civilian agencies. The US military budget dominates everything about foreign policy. Adding up the budgets of the Pentagon, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the Department of Homeland Security, nuclear weapons programs, and the State Department's military assistance operations, the US will spend around $800 billion this year on security, compared with less than $20 billion for economic development.
In a stunning article on aid to Pakistan during the Bush administration, Craig Cohen and Derek Chollet demonstrated the disastrous nature of this militarized approach - even before the tottering Musharraf regime's latest crackdown. They show that even though Pakistan faces huge problems of poverty, population, and environment, 75% of the $10 billion in US aid has gone to the Pakistani military, ostensibly to reimburse Pakistan for its contribution to the 'war on terror,' and to help it buy F-16s and other weapons systems.
Another 16% went straight to the Pakistani budget, no questions asked. That left less than 10% for development and humanitarian assistance. Annual US aid for education in Pakistan has amounted to just $64 million, or $1.16 per school-aged child.
The authors note that 'the strategic direction for Pakistan was set early by a narrow circle at the top of the Bush administration and has been largely focused on the war effort rather than on Pakistan's internal situation.' They also emphasize that 'US engagement with Pakistan is highly militarized and centralized, with very little reaching the vast majority of Pakistanis.' They quote George Bush as saying, 'When [Musharraf] looks me in the eye and says...there won't be a Taliban and won't be al-Qaeda, I believe him, you know?'
This militarized approach is leading the world into a downward spiral of violence and conflict. Each new US weapons system 'sold' or given to the region increases the chances of expanded war and further military coups, and to the chance that the arms will be turned on the US itself. None of it helps to address the underlying problems of poverty, child mortality, water scarcity, and lack of livelihoods in places like Pakistan's Northwest Frontier Province, Sudan's Darfur region, or Somalia. These places are bulging with people facing a tightening squeeze of insufficient rainfall and degraded pasturelands. Naturally, many join radical causes.
The Bush administration fails to recognize these fundamental demographic and environmental challenges, that $800 billion of security spending won't bring irrigation to Afghanistan, Pakistan, Sudan, and Somalia, and therefore won't bring peace. Instead of seeing real people in crisis, they see caricatures, a terrorist around every corner.
A more peaceful world will be possible only when Americans and others begin to see things through the eyes of their supposed enemies, and realize that today's conflicts, having resulted from desperation and despair, can be solved through economic development rather than war. We will have peace when we heed the words of President John F. Kennedy, who said, a few months before his death, 'For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children's future. And we are all mortal.' ______
[Jeffrey Sachs is Professor of Economics and Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University.]
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2007.
(An Association ofNewspaers Around the World)
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Friday, November 30, 2007
Somalia: an epic theater of cruelty that the whole world ignores
Somalia: an epic theater of cruelty that the whole world ignores
By Sally Healy
THE GUARDIAN, LONDON
Friday, Nov 30, 2007, Page 9
As tens of thousands more frightened and exhausted people fled the terrors of Mogadishu last week, a Somali community leader condemned the international community "for watching the cruelty in Somalia like a film and not bothering to help."
He was mistaken. The international community has barely been watching Somalia at all.
Life in Mogadishu has become even more intolerable since Ethiopia intervened last Christmas to install the transitional government of Somalian President Abdullahi Yusuf. Ethiopia had been alarmed by the aggressive rhetoric of the Islamic Courts government that had taken over the Somali capital. It had seen off the warlords and brought unprecedented order to Mogadishu. But threats of jihad against its powerful neighbor provoked a muscular response. The US stood by its regional ally, declaring that Somalia must not become a terrorist haven, and mounting a missile attack on the Islamist forces for good measure.
The Ethiopians calculated a lesser risk in having Yusuf in charge. Having installed him, they promised to withdraw quickly, agreeing to remain only while an African peacekeeping force was mounted.
Lord Triesman, the UK's minister for Africa, praised Ethiopia for creating conditions for peace and stability. British ministers were pleased to describe the new state of affairs as a window of opportunity for Somalia.
The optimism rested on highly dubious assumptions. It presupposed that the transitional government possessed legitimacy, and had the capacity to govern. It also assumed too easily that an African peacekeeping force would materialize and Ethiopian forces would leave. None of this has come to pass.
The core problem was that Somalis everywhere were appalled to see Ethiopian troops on the streets of their capital. What kind of government, they asked, needed the protection of a foreign force against its own citizens? Opposition to the Ethiopian military presence soon manifested itself and an insurgency was born.
Ethiopian forces launched massive military attacks on various quarters of the city in March and April, designed to root out extremists. Their complete disregard, and that of the insurgents, for the population's safety has been condemned by human rights organizations. But the international community took all too little notice of events in a city that was just too dangerous to visit or report on. Humanitarian organizations quietly started to provide for the 300,000 people who fled Mogadishu and established makeshift settlements under the trees. They are still there.
There were other consequences of Ethiopia's rampage through the city. It hardened the insurgents' resolve, and made new enemies among the clans targeted; it deepened opposition to the transitional government, in whose name the operations were conducted; it prompted the flight of the business people so vital for any normalization; and it alarmed African nations who might have considered joining the small Ugandan contingent to provide security and enable the Ethiopian forces to leave.
The insurgency has deepened and spread. The tactics are those of Iraq, but with more roadside bombs than suicide bombs, and a growing tally of assassinations -- most directed against office holders of the transitional government, but journalists, humanitarian workers and civil society leaders are at risk.
A government-sponsored reconciliation conference came and went, without result. A prime minister has resigned. The transitional government seems not only powerless but irrelevant, and wholly dependent on Ethiopia.
A renewed crackdown in Mogadishu has caused hundreds more deaths and pushed another 200,000 people into destitution on the roadsides.
Somalia is now the worst humanitarian situation in the world. The number of internally displaced has reached a million. Insecurity and extortion are putting untold strain on the efforts to provide humanitarian assistance.
We cannot say we were not warned. Six months ago the UN's head of humanitarian affairs highlighted the deplorable conditions of the displaced. He observed that more people had been displaced from Mogadishu in the previous two months than anywhere else in the world, and that a political solution was the only way to resolve the crisis.
"Otherwise I fear the worst," he said.
The worst has now come. What are we waiting for?
Sally Healy is an associate fellow of the Africa Program at Chatham House, the London-based foreign affairs think tank
By Sally Healy
THE GUARDIAN, LONDON
Friday, Nov 30, 2007, Page 9
As tens of thousands more frightened and exhausted people fled the terrors of Mogadishu last week, a Somali community leader condemned the international community "for watching the cruelty in Somalia like a film and not bothering to help."
He was mistaken. The international community has barely been watching Somalia at all.
Life in Mogadishu has become even more intolerable since Ethiopia intervened last Christmas to install the transitional government of Somalian President Abdullahi Yusuf. Ethiopia had been alarmed by the aggressive rhetoric of the Islamic Courts government that had taken over the Somali capital. It had seen off the warlords and brought unprecedented order to Mogadishu. But threats of jihad against its powerful neighbor provoked a muscular response. The US stood by its regional ally, declaring that Somalia must not become a terrorist haven, and mounting a missile attack on the Islamist forces for good measure.
The Ethiopians calculated a lesser risk in having Yusuf in charge. Having installed him, they promised to withdraw quickly, agreeing to remain only while an African peacekeeping force was mounted.
Lord Triesman, the UK's minister for Africa, praised Ethiopia for creating conditions for peace and stability. British ministers were pleased to describe the new state of affairs as a window of opportunity for Somalia.
The optimism rested on highly dubious assumptions. It presupposed that the transitional government possessed legitimacy, and had the capacity to govern. It also assumed too easily that an African peacekeeping force would materialize and Ethiopian forces would leave. None of this has come to pass.
The core problem was that Somalis everywhere were appalled to see Ethiopian troops on the streets of their capital. What kind of government, they asked, needed the protection of a foreign force against its own citizens? Opposition to the Ethiopian military presence soon manifested itself and an insurgency was born.
Ethiopian forces launched massive military attacks on various quarters of the city in March and April, designed to root out extremists. Their complete disregard, and that of the insurgents, for the population's safety has been condemned by human rights organizations. But the international community took all too little notice of events in a city that was just too dangerous to visit or report on. Humanitarian organizations quietly started to provide for the 300,000 people who fled Mogadishu and established makeshift settlements under the trees. They are still there.
There were other consequences of Ethiopia's rampage through the city. It hardened the insurgents' resolve, and made new enemies among the clans targeted; it deepened opposition to the transitional government, in whose name the operations were conducted; it prompted the flight of the business people so vital for any normalization; and it alarmed African nations who might have considered joining the small Ugandan contingent to provide security and enable the Ethiopian forces to leave.
The insurgency has deepened and spread. The tactics are those of Iraq, but with more roadside bombs than suicide bombs, and a growing tally of assassinations -- most directed against office holders of the transitional government, but journalists, humanitarian workers and civil society leaders are at risk.
A government-sponsored reconciliation conference came and went, without result. A prime minister has resigned. The transitional government seems not only powerless but irrelevant, and wholly dependent on Ethiopia.
A renewed crackdown in Mogadishu has caused hundreds more deaths and pushed another 200,000 people into destitution on the roadsides.
Somalia is now the worst humanitarian situation in the world. The number of internally displaced has reached a million. Insecurity and extortion are putting untold strain on the efforts to provide humanitarian assistance.
We cannot say we were not warned. Six months ago the UN's head of humanitarian affairs highlighted the deplorable conditions of the displaced. He observed that more people had been displaced from Mogadishu in the previous two months than anywhere else in the world, and that a political solution was the only way to resolve the crisis.
"Otherwise I fear the worst," he said.
The worst has now come. What are we waiting for?
Sally Healy is an associate fellow of the Africa Program at Chatham House, the London-based foreign affairs think tank
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Soldiers continue human rights abuses in Ethiopia's beleaguered southeast, say residents
Soldiers continue human rights abuses in Ethiopia's beleaguered southeast, say residents.
Associated Press
KEBRIDEHAR, Ethiopia: Ethiopian soldiers have abused civilians, committing arson and rape, in a southeastern area where they are fighting rebels, but there have been some improvements in aid delivery, residents said.
Ethiopia's prime minister, however, denies there is a humanitarian crisis in the Ogaden and his government has denied its soldiers have committed abuses. A top United Nations relief official who visited the region Tuesday said much more remains to be done.
A thin, pensive 30-year-old man, who asked not to be identified out of fear, told The Associated Press about two incidents on Friday in which the army burned two villages, Lebiga and Korelitsa, to the ground, killing one man.
The army, the man said, was killing his neighbors "like goats."
Officials in the area said they had heard similar reports. They also asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The man also described rapes — some of them gang rapes — and public hangings in the region and said that villagers had been told not to speak to international observers. Officials in the area also said villagers had been told not to speak to outsiders, and that also was mentioned in a September report by a U.N. fact-finding mission.
Another man, 26, who also asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, accused the government of withholding food in order to punish fighters and supporters of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a separatist movement that in April attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration field in the region, killing 74 people. In May, the Ethiopian military began counterinsurgency operations, which has stymied trade and some food aid.
On Tuesday, the region appeared calm. Government soldiers dotted the flat, arid landscape and towns of Jijiga and Kebridehar, though there was no evidence of any significant military operations. Women — some wearing scarves of hot pink — fluttered through the streets. Men in Jijiga walked along the main promenade.
But when questioned, residents were reticent. One man in Kebridehar said he believed the streets were full of military intelligence officers.
In the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi dismissed a question in parliament about a pending crisis in the Ogaden.
"Whatever some international media and some organizations said about the Ogaden, it's absolutely a lie that there's a humanitarian crisis in the Ogaden," Meles told parliament on Tuesday. "Some people from the U.N. actually wanted to see for themselves what was going on in the Ogaden and I told them to go see from themselves what was actually there."
John Holmes, the U.N.'s humanitarian chief, on Wednesday described the humanitarian situation in the Ogaden as "potentially serious."
"I didn't get the impression that we are in a catastrophic situation now," Holmes told journalists, adding, however, "there's an awful lot of challenges still to address."
Those challenges included opening up transport and trade, expanding food distribution and addressing human rights concerns, he said.
Holmes said he discussed these issues Wednesday with top Ethiopian officials, including Meles.
About human rights, he said Meles, "responded seriously. He takes the issue seriously."
Holmes said he heard many secondhand reports of human rights abuses and said that "they come from numerous and sufficiently varied sources to be taken seriously." He did not give details.
In recent months, Ethiopia has expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Dutch branch of Medecins Sans Frontieres from Ogaden. But in recent weeks the government has allowed 19 non-governmental organizations to return to work in the Ogaden.
The U.N. fact-finding mission said in September that the situation in the Ogaden had deteriorated rapidly and called for an independent investigation into the humanitarian issues there.
The mission also said that recent fighting in the region had led to a worsening humanitarian situation and a doubling of the price of food. It also called for a substantial increase in emergency food aid to the impoverished region where rebels have been fighting for increased autonomy for more than a decade.
Simon Mechale, director of the Ethiopian government's Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Agency, said on Tuesday that his talks with people in the region provided a more optimistic picture.
"From what I have seen so far, I did not see any amazing or disturbing thing," he said.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front is fighting to overthrow the government for what it says are human rights abuses and to establish greater autonomy in the region being heavily explored for oil and gas. The government accuses the rebels of being terrorists funded by its archenemy Eritrea.
Associated Press
KEBRIDEHAR, Ethiopia: Ethiopian soldiers have abused civilians, committing arson and rape, in a southeastern area where they are fighting rebels, but there have been some improvements in aid delivery, residents said.
Ethiopia's prime minister, however, denies there is a humanitarian crisis in the Ogaden and his government has denied its soldiers have committed abuses. A top United Nations relief official who visited the region Tuesday said much more remains to be done.
A thin, pensive 30-year-old man, who asked not to be identified out of fear, told The Associated Press about two incidents on Friday in which the army burned two villages, Lebiga and Korelitsa, to the ground, killing one man.
The army, the man said, was killing his neighbors "like goats."
Officials in the area said they had heard similar reports. They also asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.
The man also described rapes — some of them gang rapes — and public hangings in the region and said that villagers had been told not to speak to international observers. Officials in the area also said villagers had been told not to speak to outsiders, and that also was mentioned in a September report by a U.N. fact-finding mission.
Another man, 26, who also asked not to be identified for fear of reprisals, accused the government of withholding food in order to punish fighters and supporters of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a separatist movement that in April attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration field in the region, killing 74 people. In May, the Ethiopian military began counterinsurgency operations, which has stymied trade and some food aid.
On Tuesday, the region appeared calm. Government soldiers dotted the flat, arid landscape and towns of Jijiga and Kebridehar, though there was no evidence of any significant military operations. Women — some wearing scarves of hot pink — fluttered through the streets. Men in Jijiga walked along the main promenade.
But when questioned, residents were reticent. One man in Kebridehar said he believed the streets were full of military intelligence officers.
In the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi dismissed a question in parliament about a pending crisis in the Ogaden.
"Whatever some international media and some organizations said about the Ogaden, it's absolutely a lie that there's a humanitarian crisis in the Ogaden," Meles told parliament on Tuesday. "Some people from the U.N. actually wanted to see for themselves what was going on in the Ogaden and I told them to go see from themselves what was actually there."
John Holmes, the U.N.'s humanitarian chief, on Wednesday described the humanitarian situation in the Ogaden as "potentially serious."
"I didn't get the impression that we are in a catastrophic situation now," Holmes told journalists, adding, however, "there's an awful lot of challenges still to address."
Those challenges included opening up transport and trade, expanding food distribution and addressing human rights concerns, he said.
Holmes said he discussed these issues Wednesday with top Ethiopian officials, including Meles.
About human rights, he said Meles, "responded seriously. He takes the issue seriously."
Holmes said he heard many secondhand reports of human rights abuses and said that "they come from numerous and sufficiently varied sources to be taken seriously." He did not give details.
In recent months, Ethiopia has expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Dutch branch of Medecins Sans Frontieres from Ogaden. But in recent weeks the government has allowed 19 non-governmental organizations to return to work in the Ogaden.
The U.N. fact-finding mission said in September that the situation in the Ogaden had deteriorated rapidly and called for an independent investigation into the humanitarian issues there.
The mission also said that recent fighting in the region had led to a worsening humanitarian situation and a doubling of the price of food. It also called for a substantial increase in emergency food aid to the impoverished region where rebels have been fighting for increased autonomy for more than a decade.
Simon Mechale, director of the Ethiopian government's Disaster Preparedness and Prevention Agency, said on Tuesday that his talks with people in the region provided a more optimistic picture.
"From what I have seen so far, I did not see any amazing or disturbing thing," he said.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front is fighting to overthrow the government for what it says are human rights abuses and to establish greater autonomy in the region being heavily explored for oil and gas. The government accuses the rebels of being terrorists funded by its archenemy Eritrea.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Appeal of Oromia Support Group in Australia regarding the safety
Appeal of Oromia Support Group in Australia regarding the safety of Oromo Refugees in Sudan.
November 22, 2007
H. E. Ambassador
Embassy of the Republic of Sudan
3 Cleveland Row, St James
London SW1A 1DD
Telephone : 44(0) 20 7839 8080
Facsimile : 44 (0) 20 7839 7560
Dear Ambassador:
Foremost, we wish to express our appreciation to the people of the Republic of Sudan for their generosity and kindness towards thousands of Oromo refugees who have escaped severe government persecutions in Ethiopia and now living in Sudan. From under successive Ethiopian regimes –Haile Sellassie, Dergue and now TPLF - thousands of our compatriots have run away from arbitrary detentions, degrading tortures, violent killings in Ethiopia to seek refuge in relative peace of Sudan.
Oromia Support Group in Australia and, in fact, Oromos everywhere are alarmed by the report we received on the handing over of 15 Ethiopian refugees, the majority if not all of them were Oromo by the Sudanese authorities against their will to the Ethiopian regime. Most of these refugees were refugees who were legal resident in Sudan for a number of years and some carried UNCHR IDs. In July this year several Oromo refugees living in Khartoum and El Damazin were arrest and detained in Kobor prison in Khartoum. When Kobor prison became over crowded they were transferred to unknown destination to friends, most probably to the prison around Shendi. Around September 25, 2007, they were taken from their prison cells and transported to the border town of Metama and handed over in shackles to Ethiopian security and military forces on September 26, 2007. These facts have been documents by UNCHR in document in which they condemned the Sudanese authorities’ action.
The Sudanese authorities deported the Oromo refugees without going through the due process of law. The refugees were never taken to a court of law. Thus, the authorities have failed to respect their own constitution on this matter. The dreadful action of deportation taken by the Sudanese government constitutes violation of basic human rights and the fundamental principles of the 1951 UN’s Convention on refugees. Under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, refoulement - or forcibly returning individuals to their country of origin where they could face persecution - is prohibited. Also, the Sudanese authorities broke Sudan’s longstanding tradition of providing protection to those who flee persecution and victimization.
Your Excellency,
The Oromia Support Group in Australia and Oromo living other parts of the Australia are disheartened by the Sudanese government action. By this action the lives of outstanding young men were put in a considerable danger. These individuals will face certain torture and death in the hands of the Ethiopian regime. We appeal to the Sudanese government and all human rights organizations to demand the Ethiopian government to safe the lives of these Oromo brothers and to set them free. We also appeal to the Sudanese authorities to assure Oromo refugees in Sudan, who are obviously frightened, that such action will not be repeated in the future.
Respectfully,
M. Qufi
Public Relation Officer
Oromia Support Group in Australia
Cc:
• UNHCR- Geneva and local Offices
• Amnesty International – London
• Human Rights Watch – New York
• Sudan Commission for Refugees
• Refugee Council of Australia
• UNHCR – Khartoum, Sudan Branch
• Oromo Community in Sudan
• Unrepresented Nations and People Organizations
• Sudan Commission for Refugees (SCOR)
Office of the Commissioner for Refugees,
PO Box 1929, Khartoum 780201, Sudan
November 22, 2007
H. E. Ambassador
Embassy of the Republic of Sudan
3 Cleveland Row, St James
London SW1A 1DD
Telephone : 44(0) 20 7839 8080
Facsimile : 44 (0) 20 7839 7560
Dear Ambassador:
Foremost, we wish to express our appreciation to the people of the Republic of Sudan for their generosity and kindness towards thousands of Oromo refugees who have escaped severe government persecutions in Ethiopia and now living in Sudan. From under successive Ethiopian regimes –Haile Sellassie, Dergue and now TPLF - thousands of our compatriots have run away from arbitrary detentions, degrading tortures, violent killings in Ethiopia to seek refuge in relative peace of Sudan.
Oromia Support Group in Australia and, in fact, Oromos everywhere are alarmed by the report we received on the handing over of 15 Ethiopian refugees, the majority if not all of them were Oromo by the Sudanese authorities against their will to the Ethiopian regime. Most of these refugees were refugees who were legal resident in Sudan for a number of years and some carried UNCHR IDs. In July this year several Oromo refugees living in Khartoum and El Damazin were arrest and detained in Kobor prison in Khartoum. When Kobor prison became over crowded they were transferred to unknown destination to friends, most probably to the prison around Shendi. Around September 25, 2007, they were taken from their prison cells and transported to the border town of Metama and handed over in shackles to Ethiopian security and military forces on September 26, 2007. These facts have been documents by UNCHR in document in which they condemned the Sudanese authorities’ action.
The Sudanese authorities deported the Oromo refugees without going through the due process of law. The refugees were never taken to a court of law. Thus, the authorities have failed to respect their own constitution on this matter. The dreadful action of deportation taken by the Sudanese government constitutes violation of basic human rights and the fundamental principles of the 1951 UN’s Convention on refugees. Under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, refoulement - or forcibly returning individuals to their country of origin where they could face persecution - is prohibited. Also, the Sudanese authorities broke Sudan’s longstanding tradition of providing protection to those who flee persecution and victimization.
Your Excellency,
The Oromia Support Group in Australia and Oromo living other parts of the Australia are disheartened by the Sudanese government action. By this action the lives of outstanding young men were put in a considerable danger. These individuals will face certain torture and death in the hands of the Ethiopian regime. We appeal to the Sudanese government and all human rights organizations to demand the Ethiopian government to safe the lives of these Oromo brothers and to set them free. We also appeal to the Sudanese authorities to assure Oromo refugees in Sudan, who are obviously frightened, that such action will not be repeated in the future.
Respectfully,
M. Qufi
Public Relation Officer
Oromia Support Group in Australia
Cc:
• UNHCR- Geneva and local Offices
• Amnesty International – London
• Human Rights Watch – New York
• Sudan Commission for Refugees
• Refugee Council of Australia
• UNHCR – Khartoum, Sudan Branch
• Oromo Community in Sudan
• Unrepresented Nations and People Organizations
• Sudan Commission for Refugees (SCOR)
Office of the Commissioner for Refugees,
PO Box 1929, Khartoum 780201, Sudan
Monday, November 5, 2007
Ethiopia and Eritrea may go to war "in weeks"
Mon Nov 5, 2007 6:29am GMT
By Andrew Cawthorne
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Horn of Africa enemies Ethiopia and Eritrea may
return to war over their disputed border in a matter of weeks if there
is no major international push to halt them, an influential think-tank
warned on Monday.
A 1998-2000 war on the boundary killed 70,000 people and brought untold
hardship to two of the world's poorest nations.
Now analysts are warning of a repeat as troops build up ahead of an
end-November deadline by an independent boundary commission for Ethiopia
and Eritrea to mark out their border.
"The risk that Ethiopia and Eritrea will resume their war in the next
several weeks is very real," wrote the International Crisis Group (ICG)
in a report on the growing crisis.
"A military build-up along the common border over the past few months
has reached alarming proportions. There will be no easy military
solution if hostilities restart -- more likely is a protracted conflict
on Eritrean soil, progressive destabilisation of Ethiopia and a dramatic
humanitarian crisis."
The ICG urged the United States and the United Nations to flex their
muscles "to give both sides the clearest possible message that no
destabilising unilateral action will be tolerated."
Washington sees Ethiopia as its best ally in the region, but ties with
Eritrea have deteriorated so much it may put Asmara on its list of
terrorism sponsors for backing Somali Islamists.
The United Nations has a peacekeeping force of 1,700 people charged with
monitoring a security buffer zone on Eritrea's side of the 1,000-km
(620-mile) frontier. "International indifference of mistaken confidence
could cost the people of the Horn of Africa dearly," the ICG added.
The think-tank report came after Eritrea accused Ethiopia for the third
time in a week of planning an invasion, an allegation Addis Ababa has
termed an "absurd" fabrication.
"EXPLOSIVE SITUATION"
The ICG cited U.S. estimates that Eritrea had 4,000 soldiers, supported
by artillery and armour, in the "supposedly demilitarised TSZ" as well
as 120,000 troops nearby.
Despite an offensive against insurgents in its east, and a foreign
mission in Somalia where it is helping the government fight Islamist
rebels, Ethiopia also maintains 100,000 troops on its border with
Eritrea, the ICG added, quoting U.S. estimates.
"The situation could hardly be more explosive," it said.
The neighbours have been in dispute since the independent boundary body
awarded Eritrea the Badme town in a 2002 ruling.
Although it now says it accepts the ruling, Ethiopia is still insisting
on dialogue over implementation.
"Eritrea has right on its side on this point but has played its cards
very badly," the ICG said, referring to Eritrea's disputes with the
United Nations and expulsion of foreign staff.
"Ethiopia has played its hand skilfully. It has used its position as the
major power in the region to win U.S. toleration of its intransigence,"
it added.
"It would not be surprising if Addis Ababa believes an effort in the
near future to stage a coup in Asmara and use force against an Eritrean
government that has few friends would also be tolerated in Washington."
Both run by former rebel leaders, Ethiopia's 81 million population
dwarfs Eritrea's 5 million.
The ICG forecasts that if war breaks out, Ethiopia would seek to take
Asmara and Assab port to topple Eritrea's government.
Frustrated by lack of progress, the boundary commission says the nations
have until the end of this month to mark the border physically, or it
will fix the border on maps and let it stand.
Diplomats worry that date could prove a trigger.
The ICG took a swipe at both nation's authoritarian governments, calling
Eritrea "one of the most repressive regimes in Africa" and saying
Ethiopia has "no intention to genuinely democratise."
By Andrew Cawthorne
NAIROBI (Reuters) - Horn of Africa enemies Ethiopia and Eritrea may
return to war over their disputed border in a matter of weeks if there
is no major international push to halt them, an influential think-tank
warned on Monday.
A 1998-2000 war on the boundary killed 70,000 people and brought untold
hardship to two of the world's poorest nations.
Now analysts are warning of a repeat as troops build up ahead of an
end-November deadline by an independent boundary commission for Ethiopia
and Eritrea to mark out their border.
"The risk that Ethiopia and Eritrea will resume their war in the next
several weeks is very real," wrote the International Crisis Group (ICG)
in a report on the growing crisis.
"A military build-up along the common border over the past few months
has reached alarming proportions. There will be no easy military
solution if hostilities restart -- more likely is a protracted conflict
on Eritrean soil, progressive destabilisation of Ethiopia and a dramatic
humanitarian crisis."
The ICG urged the United States and the United Nations to flex their
muscles "to give both sides the clearest possible message that no
destabilising unilateral action will be tolerated."
Washington sees Ethiopia as its best ally in the region, but ties with
Eritrea have deteriorated so much it may put Asmara on its list of
terrorism sponsors for backing Somali Islamists.
The United Nations has a peacekeeping force of 1,700 people charged with
monitoring a security buffer zone on Eritrea's side of the 1,000-km
(620-mile) frontier. "International indifference of mistaken confidence
could cost the people of the Horn of Africa dearly," the ICG added.
The think-tank report came after Eritrea accused Ethiopia for the third
time in a week of planning an invasion, an allegation Addis Ababa has
termed an "absurd" fabrication.
"EXPLOSIVE SITUATION"
The ICG cited U.S. estimates that Eritrea had 4,000 soldiers, supported
by artillery and armour, in the "supposedly demilitarised TSZ" as well
as 120,000 troops nearby.
Despite an offensive against insurgents in its east, and a foreign
mission in Somalia where it is helping the government fight Islamist
rebels, Ethiopia also maintains 100,000 troops on its border with
Eritrea, the ICG added, quoting U.S. estimates.
"The situation could hardly be more explosive," it said.
The neighbours have been in dispute since the independent boundary body
awarded Eritrea the Badme town in a 2002 ruling.
Although it now says it accepts the ruling, Ethiopia is still insisting
on dialogue over implementation.
"Eritrea has right on its side on this point but has played its cards
very badly," the ICG said, referring to Eritrea's disputes with the
United Nations and expulsion of foreign staff.
"Ethiopia has played its hand skilfully. It has used its position as the
major power in the region to win U.S. toleration of its intransigence,"
it added.
"It would not be surprising if Addis Ababa believes an effort in the
near future to stage a coup in Asmara and use force against an Eritrean
government that has few friends would also be tolerated in Washington."
Both run by former rebel leaders, Ethiopia's 81 million population
dwarfs Eritrea's 5 million.
The ICG forecasts that if war breaks out, Ethiopia would seek to take
Asmara and Assab port to topple Eritrea's government.
Frustrated by lack of progress, the boundary commission says the nations
have until the end of this month to mark the border physically, or it
will fix the border on maps and let it stand.
Diplomats worry that date could prove a trigger.
The ICG took a swipe at both nation's authoritarian governments, calling
Eritrea "one of the most repressive regimes in Africa" and saying
Ethiopia has "no intention to genuinely democratise."
Thursday, October 11, 2007
Suicide bomber strikes near Somali PM
Wed Oct 10, 2007 2:55pm ET
By Mohamed Ahmed
BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber blew up a car in an Ethiopian military base near a hotel where Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi was staying, killing two soldiers, witnesses said on Wednesday.
"We could hear the loud explosion when the car rammed into the base," Gedi spokesman Muse Kulow said.
"The prime minister is safe but two soldiers were killed, along with the bomber, and three Ethiopians were injured."
Gedi and President Abdullahi Yusuf have traveled to Baidoa this week to attend parliamentary sessions. Their government is facing an insurgency led by Islamists whom they ejected from Mogadishu, with Ethiopian military help, at the end of 2006.
Gedi has survived a string of attempts on his life.
Yusuf and Gedi were meeting supporters in Baidoa where there are rumors among legislators that the president wants to push a no confidence vote in his prime minister through parliament.
A growing rift between the pair has provided yet another headache for the Somali government, which has failed to stem the insurgency and is also overwhelmed by humanitarian problems among its 9 million population.
In an Iraq-style campaign, the government and its Ethiopian allies have been attacked near-daily since early 2007 by mainly Islamist fighters who call them an illegitimate administration propped up by foreign "invaders".
Most of the attacks have been in the capital Mogadishu, but there have also been several previous suicide blasts in Baidoa.
On Tuesday in Mogadishu, insurgents carried out one of their heaviest assaults on a police station near Bakara market, police spokesman Abdiwahid Mohamed Hussein said.
"Around seven in the evening, insurgents assailed Hawlwadag police station, firing rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns," he told Reuters by telephone.
"The police fought them and killed two of the insurgents while seriously wounding one. He was rushed to Medina hospital, but he died before reaching the hospital."
On Wednesday morning, unknown gunmen shot three men in the south Mogadishu neighborhood of Bulo Hubey.
"Early this morning two men armed with pistols shot three men in civilian dress around Bulo Hubey. Two of them were dead and the third one was in serious condition. The victims were government employees," said a witness who asked not be named.
Madina hospital sources confirmed one person who was gravely wounded in the head was admitted to the hospital.
In the southern port city of Kismayu, two civilians died and nine were wounded after a landmine explosion targeted a security agent on Wednesday.
"Unknown gunmen remotely detonated a landmine when my car was passing at Alanley neighborhood. My bodyguards, driver and I survived, but the gunmen opened fire at us after the blast and my bodyguards defended me," the security agent told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Witnesses said the blast killed two. "They were cut to pieces," local inhabitant Fadumo Abdulahi Hirse said.
(Additional reporting by Sahra Ahmed in Kismayu, Aweys Yusuf and Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu)
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
By Mohamed Ahmed
BAIDOA, Somalia (Reuters) - A suspected suicide bomber blew up a car in an Ethiopian military base near a hotel where Somali Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi was staying, killing two soldiers, witnesses said on Wednesday.
"We could hear the loud explosion when the car rammed into the base," Gedi spokesman Muse Kulow said.
"The prime minister is safe but two soldiers were killed, along with the bomber, and three Ethiopians were injured."
Gedi and President Abdullahi Yusuf have traveled to Baidoa this week to attend parliamentary sessions. Their government is facing an insurgency led by Islamists whom they ejected from Mogadishu, with Ethiopian military help, at the end of 2006.
Gedi has survived a string of attempts on his life.
Yusuf and Gedi were meeting supporters in Baidoa where there are rumors among legislators that the president wants to push a no confidence vote in his prime minister through parliament.
A growing rift between the pair has provided yet another headache for the Somali government, which has failed to stem the insurgency and is also overwhelmed by humanitarian problems among its 9 million population.
In an Iraq-style campaign, the government and its Ethiopian allies have been attacked near-daily since early 2007 by mainly Islamist fighters who call them an illegitimate administration propped up by foreign "invaders".
Most of the attacks have been in the capital Mogadishu, but there have also been several previous suicide blasts in Baidoa.
On Tuesday in Mogadishu, insurgents carried out one of their heaviest assaults on a police station near Bakara market, police spokesman Abdiwahid Mohamed Hussein said.
"Around seven in the evening, insurgents assailed Hawlwadag police station, firing rocket-propelled grenades and machine-guns," he told Reuters by telephone.
"The police fought them and killed two of the insurgents while seriously wounding one. He was rushed to Medina hospital, but he died before reaching the hospital."
On Wednesday morning, unknown gunmen shot three men in the south Mogadishu neighborhood of Bulo Hubey.
"Early this morning two men armed with pistols shot three men in civilian dress around Bulo Hubey. Two of them were dead and the third one was in serious condition. The victims were government employees," said a witness who asked not be named.
Madina hospital sources confirmed one person who was gravely wounded in the head was admitted to the hospital.
In the southern port city of Kismayu, two civilians died and nine were wounded after a landmine explosion targeted a security agent on Wednesday.
"Unknown gunmen remotely detonated a landmine when my car was passing at Alanley neighborhood. My bodyguards, driver and I survived, but the gunmen opened fire at us after the blast and my bodyguards defended me," the security agent told Reuters on condition of anonymity.
Witnesses said the blast killed two. "They were cut to pieces," local inhabitant Fadumo Abdulahi Hirse said.
(Additional reporting by Sahra Ahmed in Kismayu, Aweys Yusuf and Abdi Sheikh in Mogadishu)
© Reuters 2007. All Rights Reserved.
Sunday, October 7, 2007
Somali Army General Dies in Ambush
Published: October 7, 2007
MOGADISHU, Somalia, Oct. 6 - Suspected Islamist insurgents killed a
Somali Army general in an ambush here in the capital, witnesses said
Saturday.
Five men armed with pistols killed Gen. Ahmed Jilaow Adow, his bodyguard
and his driver late on Friday after he left his office in north
Mogadishu.
"His car was blocked by a van, and then a car parked next to his," said
the general's nephew, Abdihakin Omar Jimale. "Five men armed with
pistols came out, shooting my uncle, his driver and his bodyguard dead."
"He was a peace advocate and a member of Interpol," Mr. Jimale said. "He
was internationally and locally known."
Mogadishu has been rocked by violence since Somali government forces,
backed by Ethiopian troops, early this year ousted the Islamists who
ruled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for six months in 2006.
A police spokesman, Abdiwahid Hussein, said Somali troops would begin a
20-day campaign on Sunday to collect arms from residents in the
gun-infested city.
MOGADISHU, Somalia, Oct. 6 - Suspected Islamist insurgents killed a
Somali Army general in an ambush here in the capital, witnesses said
Saturday.
Five men armed with pistols killed Gen. Ahmed Jilaow Adow, his bodyguard
and his driver late on Friday after he left his office in north
Mogadishu.
"His car was blocked by a van, and then a car parked next to his," said
the general's nephew, Abdihakin Omar Jimale. "Five men armed with
pistols came out, shooting my uncle, his driver and his bodyguard dead."
"He was a peace advocate and a member of Interpol," Mr. Jimale said. "He
was internationally and locally known."
Mogadishu has been rocked by violence since Somali government forces,
backed by Ethiopian troops, early this year ousted the Islamists who
ruled Mogadishu and much of southern Somalia for six months in 2006.
A police spokesman, Abdiwahid Hussein, said Somali troops would begin a
20-day campaign on Sunday to collect arms from residents in the
gun-infested city.
The Tigrayan Officers Clear the Tables
Indian Ocean Newsletter N° 1223 06/10/2007
The recent promotion of a number of officers to top ranks went largely to Tigrayans.
Four of the six generals promoted to the rank of major general and ten of the seventeen colonels promoted to brigadier general at the end of September are Tigrayans, members of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF, hard core of the governing coalition). Their promotion strengthens still further the control Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the TPLF have on the armed forces. All the more so since on the same occasion, 400 officers in the Northern Command, overwhelmingly Tigrayans, were also promoted during a ceremony at Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray Regional State. The Ethiopian Army Chief of Staff, Samora Yunis, also a Tigrayan, was promoted to the rank of general even though he has not even had a modern military training.
One notable exception is Abebaw Tadesse Asres, an Amhara, who was raised to the rank of lieutenant general, no doubt to please the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM, a component in the ruling coalition). Meanwhile, just two Oromo officers, General Birhanu Julla Gellelcha and Colonel Getachew Shiferaw Feyissa and one officer from the south of the country, Colonel Negussie Lemma Dibaro, benefitted from this wave of promotions.
These measures will aggravate tension between Tigrayan non-commissioned officers and their Oromo and Amhara colleagues. Such tension already put in an appearance in an officers' meeting of the 4th infantry division last week. Particularly as the Ethiopian army is still bogged down in Somalia where operations are led by the Tigrayan General Seyoum Hagos (one of those just promoted) and a resumption of fighting in Eritrea is still a possibility.
The recent promotion of a number of officers to top ranks went largely to Tigrayans.
Four of the six generals promoted to the rank of major general and ten of the seventeen colonels promoted to brigadier general at the end of September are Tigrayans, members of the Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF, hard core of the governing coalition). Their promotion strengthens still further the control Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the TPLF have on the armed forces. All the more so since on the same occasion, 400 officers in the Northern Command, overwhelmingly Tigrayans, were also promoted during a ceremony at Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray Regional State. The Ethiopian Army Chief of Staff, Samora Yunis, also a Tigrayan, was promoted to the rank of general even though he has not even had a modern military training.
One notable exception is Abebaw Tadesse Asres, an Amhara, who was raised to the rank of lieutenant general, no doubt to please the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM, a component in the ruling coalition). Meanwhile, just two Oromo officers, General Birhanu Julla Gellelcha and Colonel Getachew Shiferaw Feyissa and one officer from the south of the country, Colonel Negussie Lemma Dibaro, benefitted from this wave of promotions.
These measures will aggravate tension between Tigrayan non-commissioned officers and their Oromo and Amhara colleagues. Such tension already put in an appearance in an officers' meeting of the 4th infantry division last week. Particularly as the Ethiopian army is still bogged down in Somalia where operations are led by the Tigrayan General Seyoum Hagos (one of those just promoted) and a resumption of fighting in Eritrea is still a possibility.
Wednesday, October 3, 2007
The GWOT Effect of Arms for Dictators
October 3, 2007
The GWOT Effect of Arms for Dictators
"The GWOT Effect of Arms for Dictators" was first published by Foreign Policy in Focus on Oct. 3, 2007; the original is available by clicking here, and the text is reproduced below.
"The GWOT Effect of Arms for Dictators"
by Rachel Stohl
In July 2007 the General Accountability Office (GAO) found that nearly 200,000 U.S. weapons were unaccounted for in Iraq. The GAO blames poor accounting and distribution records for the missing weapons, and other reports have revealed that U.S. weapons have turned up in the hands of Iraqi insurgents and criminals. A month later, U.S. General David Petraeus urged the United States to increase U.S. weapons sales as soon as possible. For the Bush administration, this illogical policy makes sense as a piece of its larger strategy for the Global War on Terror (GWOT). Since Sept. 11, 2001, the administration has supplied billions of dollars worth of weapons and military assistance to countries it is calling its allies in the “war on terror.”
U.S. arms export policy, which is codified in the Arms Export Control Act and Foreign Assistance Act, is supposed to prohibit U.S. weapons exports and military assistance that would undermine long-term security and stability, weaken democratic movements, support military coups, escalate arms races, exacerbate ongoing conflicts, cause arms build-ups in unstable regions, or be used to commit human rights abuses. Yet since Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush administration has eagerly pushed those restrictions aside. It has provided billions of dollars of weapons and military training to countries the U.S. State Department repeatedly assesses as having weak and undemocratic governments, appalling human rights records, and in some cases having supported terrorism.
Using U.S. government data alone, I have analyzed military assistance data to 25 countries1 that have been identified by the United States as having a strategic role in the “war on terror.” Seventeen of the countries are also part of the 28 “front-line” states identified by the Bush administration as “countries that cooperate with the United States in the war on terrorism or face terrorist threats themselves”; others reflect new priorities for counter-terrorism operations around the world or are strategically located near Afghanistan and Iraq.
My analysis shows that in negotiating arms deals, the administration has elevated efforts to eradicate international terrorist networks and cooperation with operations in Iraq and Afghanistan above traditional arms export criteria. Military assistance to these countries is increasing despite the recipients’ documented human rights abuses and undemocratic governance. During the first five years after Sept. 11, 2001 the United States sold nearly five times more weapons (through Foreign Military Sales and Direct Commercial Sales ) to these 25 countries than during the five years before 9-11. Sales increased from $1,771,753,000 to $8,741,686,000. Total Direct Commercial Sales (DCS are sales directly between U.S. companies and recipients, including foreign governments) for the 25 countries since Sept. 11, 2001 have reached new highs, rising from $72 million between FY 97 and FY 01 to more than $3 billion between FY 02 and FY 06.
The remarkable increases in U.S. arms sales have come mainly from two factors. First, sanctions on sales to India, Pakistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan were lifted immediately after Sept. 11. And second, these sanctions were removed from sales to Uzbekistan, Indonesia, and Thailand in the intervening years. In other words, multi-billion arms sales agreements have been reached with countries previously ineligible to receive any US military equipment. In addition to a $5 billion deal to Pakistan for F-16 fighter jets in 2006, the United States has also profited from major sales to other countries. In April 2006, the United States conducted a $246 million FMS sale to Thailand, which included 6 MH-60S helicopters. In 2005, the United States also sold Thailand two UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters and additional training and equipment in an FMS sale worth $46 million. At the time, Thailand was a newly declared Major Non-NATO U.S. ally. It is now only one year removed from a military coup and is experiencing significant political instability.
Military assistance programs – that is, training and grants rather than sales – have also been significantly expanded since Sept. 11. The 25 countries of my study received 19 times more U.S. military assistance (Foreign Military Financing and International Military Education and Training) after Sept. 11 than they had in the five years before, increasing from $103,122,000 to $1,983,714,000. These countries are also receiving an even greater percentage of total U.S. funding allocated for all U.S. military training. In 2001, they received 15 percent of total International Military Education and Training (IMET) funds. By 2006, IMET funds for these 25 countries had jumped to nearly 25 percent. Perhaps even more shocking, 18 of the 25 countries in this series received more military assistance and 16 conducted more arms sales with the United States during the five years after Sept. 11 than they had in over a decade following the end of the Cold War (FY 90-01).
U.S. arms sales and military assistance were increasing even as the U.S. State Department was revealing in its annual human rights reports that “serious,” “grave,” or “significant” abuses were committed by the government or state security forces in more than half of the 25 countries in 2006. In many cases, U.S. military assistance to these countries has been ratcheted up at the same time as human rights conditions have worsened. For example, Ethiopia’s government took part in a full-scale ground invasion of Somalia in late 2006 and early 2007, which caused the deaths of numerous Somali civilians. Chad, whose national army employs child soldiers in its ranks, is at least tacitly involved in the on going conflicts in the Central Africa Republic and Darfur, two of the most calamitous human rights situations in the world.
Political turmoil and instability have also plagued many of the countries profiled. During the last year, Nepal, Thailand, and Chad suffered from widespread political upheaval: in Nepal police and soldiers fired on civilians engaging in peaceful strikes and anti-government demonstrations; in Thailand the government was overthrown by a “peaceful” military coup; and Chad’s government survived an attempted coup and continues to participated in armed border skirmishes with Sudanese soldiers, militia groups, and rebels.
The United States is not only using existing programs to increase aid to human rights abusers and unstable regimes. It is also creating new programs within the Defense Department to provide training and weapons for counter-terrorism operations that is largely shielded from scrutiny and oversight. Unlike traditional arms and training programs that are funded out of the Foreign Operations budget, these new programs are funded by the Pentagon. Thus, the programs are not bound by the restrictions that govern traditional military sales and assistance under the State Department’s oversight.
For example, the Regional Defense Counterterrorism Fellowship Program (CTFP) was originally created in FY 02 to provide non-lethal anti-terrorism training to U.S. allies, a mandate similar to State Department’s International Military Education and Training (IMET) program. CTFP began offering lethal training in FY 04, a program now run without the prohibitions on training of human rights abusers as contained in the State Department programs. Similarly, the “train and equip” authority in Section 1206 of the defense authorization bill – which originated in FY 06 and gives congressional authorization to DOD to use $200 million of its Operation and Maintenance funds to equip and train foreign militaries for counterterrorism operations – serves to bypass existing restrictions on training or arming human rights abusers that apply to all State Department run programs. All but four of the countries examined have benefited from one or both of these two new programs, as well as enjoying thousands or millions of through the five traditional major military assistance programs. For example, Yemen received over $4 million in 1206 funding in FY 06 and an additional $200,000 in CTFP in FY 05, in addition to $19,591,000 of assistance in the five major categories in FY 06 and $14,617,000 in FY 05.
These trends in U.S. arms trade policy threaten to exacerbate instability and conflict around the world. The United States continues to send significant amounts of military assistance to countries that are weak or failing or that have despicable human rights records, in clear violation of long-standing U.S. commitments to peace and democracy. These transfers pose risks to our long-term security. It is hard to see how sending arms to unstable governments is consistent with the stated U.S. goal of spreading peace and democracy throughout the world. Once these weapons and specialized training leaves the United States, we relinquish control of how, by whom, or for what they are used. These countries’ pledges of support are limited to our war on terror. But the past actions and instability of many of them draws their future allegiance and stability into question.
The United States may again face our own weapons down the road as weak alliances crumble. Such a scenario is one that can be avoided. As the United States fights wars to spread democracy and encourages good governance, arms sales should not be the reward for cooperation.
Notes
1These countries were chosen for analysis based on U.S. policy statements and their strategic locations after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and are: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Mauritainia, Nepal, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.
Rachel Stohl is senior analyst at the Center for Defense Information at the World Security Institute in Washington, DC
The GWOT Effect of Arms for Dictators
"The GWOT Effect of Arms for Dictators" was first published by Foreign Policy in Focus on Oct. 3, 2007; the original is available by clicking here, and the text is reproduced below.
"The GWOT Effect of Arms for Dictators"
by Rachel Stohl
In July 2007 the General Accountability Office (GAO) found that nearly 200,000 U.S. weapons were unaccounted for in Iraq. The GAO blames poor accounting and distribution records for the missing weapons, and other reports have revealed that U.S. weapons have turned up in the hands of Iraqi insurgents and criminals. A month later, U.S. General David Petraeus urged the United States to increase U.S. weapons sales as soon as possible. For the Bush administration, this illogical policy makes sense as a piece of its larger strategy for the Global War on Terror (GWOT). Since Sept. 11, 2001, the administration has supplied billions of dollars worth of weapons and military assistance to countries it is calling its allies in the “war on terror.”
U.S. arms export policy, which is codified in the Arms Export Control Act and Foreign Assistance Act, is supposed to prohibit U.S. weapons exports and military assistance that would undermine long-term security and stability, weaken democratic movements, support military coups, escalate arms races, exacerbate ongoing conflicts, cause arms build-ups in unstable regions, or be used to commit human rights abuses. Yet since Sept. 11, 2001, the Bush administration has eagerly pushed those restrictions aside. It has provided billions of dollars of weapons and military training to countries the U.S. State Department repeatedly assesses as having weak and undemocratic governments, appalling human rights records, and in some cases having supported terrorism.
Using U.S. government data alone, I have analyzed military assistance data to 25 countries1 that have been identified by the United States as having a strategic role in the “war on terror.” Seventeen of the countries are also part of the 28 “front-line” states identified by the Bush administration as “countries that cooperate with the United States in the war on terrorism or face terrorist threats themselves”; others reflect new priorities for counter-terrorism operations around the world or are strategically located near Afghanistan and Iraq.
My analysis shows that in negotiating arms deals, the administration has elevated efforts to eradicate international terrorist networks and cooperation with operations in Iraq and Afghanistan above traditional arms export criteria. Military assistance to these countries is increasing despite the recipients’ documented human rights abuses and undemocratic governance. During the first five years after Sept. 11, 2001 the United States sold nearly five times more weapons (through Foreign Military Sales and Direct Commercial Sales ) to these 25 countries than during the five years before 9-11. Sales increased from $1,771,753,000 to $8,741,686,000. Total Direct Commercial Sales (DCS are sales directly between U.S. companies and recipients, including foreign governments) for the 25 countries since Sept. 11, 2001 have reached new highs, rising from $72 million between FY 97 and FY 01 to more than $3 billion between FY 02 and FY 06.
The remarkable increases in U.S. arms sales have come mainly from two factors. First, sanctions on sales to India, Pakistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Tajikistan were lifted immediately after Sept. 11. And second, these sanctions were removed from sales to Uzbekistan, Indonesia, and Thailand in the intervening years. In other words, multi-billion arms sales agreements have been reached with countries previously ineligible to receive any US military equipment. In addition to a $5 billion deal to Pakistan for F-16 fighter jets in 2006, the United States has also profited from major sales to other countries. In April 2006, the United States conducted a $246 million FMS sale to Thailand, which included 6 MH-60S helicopters. In 2005, the United States also sold Thailand two UH-60L Black Hawk helicopters and additional training and equipment in an FMS sale worth $46 million. At the time, Thailand was a newly declared Major Non-NATO U.S. ally. It is now only one year removed from a military coup and is experiencing significant political instability.
Military assistance programs – that is, training and grants rather than sales – have also been significantly expanded since Sept. 11. The 25 countries of my study received 19 times more U.S. military assistance (Foreign Military Financing and International Military Education and Training) after Sept. 11 than they had in the five years before, increasing from $103,122,000 to $1,983,714,000. These countries are also receiving an even greater percentage of total U.S. funding allocated for all U.S. military training. In 2001, they received 15 percent of total International Military Education and Training (IMET) funds. By 2006, IMET funds for these 25 countries had jumped to nearly 25 percent. Perhaps even more shocking, 18 of the 25 countries in this series received more military assistance and 16 conducted more arms sales with the United States during the five years after Sept. 11 than they had in over a decade following the end of the Cold War (FY 90-01).
U.S. arms sales and military assistance were increasing even as the U.S. State Department was revealing in its annual human rights reports that “serious,” “grave,” or “significant” abuses were committed by the government or state security forces in more than half of the 25 countries in 2006. In many cases, U.S. military assistance to these countries has been ratcheted up at the same time as human rights conditions have worsened. For example, Ethiopia’s government took part in a full-scale ground invasion of Somalia in late 2006 and early 2007, which caused the deaths of numerous Somali civilians. Chad, whose national army employs child soldiers in its ranks, is at least tacitly involved in the on going conflicts in the Central Africa Republic and Darfur, two of the most calamitous human rights situations in the world.
Political turmoil and instability have also plagued many of the countries profiled. During the last year, Nepal, Thailand, and Chad suffered from widespread political upheaval: in Nepal police and soldiers fired on civilians engaging in peaceful strikes and anti-government demonstrations; in Thailand the government was overthrown by a “peaceful” military coup; and Chad’s government survived an attempted coup and continues to participated in armed border skirmishes with Sudanese soldiers, militia groups, and rebels.
The United States is not only using existing programs to increase aid to human rights abusers and unstable regimes. It is also creating new programs within the Defense Department to provide training and weapons for counter-terrorism operations that is largely shielded from scrutiny and oversight. Unlike traditional arms and training programs that are funded out of the Foreign Operations budget, these new programs are funded by the Pentagon. Thus, the programs are not bound by the restrictions that govern traditional military sales and assistance under the State Department’s oversight.
For example, the Regional Defense Counterterrorism Fellowship Program (CTFP) was originally created in FY 02 to provide non-lethal anti-terrorism training to U.S. allies, a mandate similar to State Department’s International Military Education and Training (IMET) program. CTFP began offering lethal training in FY 04, a program now run without the prohibitions on training of human rights abusers as contained in the State Department programs. Similarly, the “train and equip” authority in Section 1206 of the defense authorization bill – which originated in FY 06 and gives congressional authorization to DOD to use $200 million of its Operation and Maintenance funds to equip and train foreign militaries for counterterrorism operations – serves to bypass existing restrictions on training or arming human rights abusers that apply to all State Department run programs. All but four of the countries examined have benefited from one or both of these two new programs, as well as enjoying thousands or millions of through the five traditional major military assistance programs. For example, Yemen received over $4 million in 1206 funding in FY 06 and an additional $200,000 in CTFP in FY 05, in addition to $19,591,000 of assistance in the five major categories in FY 06 and $14,617,000 in FY 05.
These trends in U.S. arms trade policy threaten to exacerbate instability and conflict around the world. The United States continues to send significant amounts of military assistance to countries that are weak or failing or that have despicable human rights records, in clear violation of long-standing U.S. commitments to peace and democracy. These transfers pose risks to our long-term security. It is hard to see how sending arms to unstable governments is consistent with the stated U.S. goal of spreading peace and democracy throughout the world. Once these weapons and specialized training leaves the United States, we relinquish control of how, by whom, or for what they are used. These countries’ pledges of support are limited to our war on terror. But the past actions and instability of many of them draws their future allegiance and stability into question.
The United States may again face our own weapons down the road as weak alliances crumble. Such a scenario is one that can be avoided. As the United States fights wars to spread democracy and encourages good governance, arms sales should not be the reward for cooperation.
Notes
1These countries were chosen for analysis based on U.S. policy statements and their strategic locations after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 and are: Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Chad, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mali, Mauritainia, Nepal, Niger, Oman, Pakistan, Philippines, Tajikistan, Thailand, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Yemen.
Rachel Stohl is senior analyst at the Center for Defense Information at the World Security Institute in Washington, DC
US legislators tell Ethiopia to reform or lose aid
US legislators tell Ethiopia to reform or lose aid
Wed 3 Oct 2007
NAIROBI, Oct 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would force Ethiopia, one of Washington's strongest military partners in Africa, to make democratic reforms or else lose security aid.
The bill, passed on Tuesday, would also deny U.S. entry visas to Ethiopian government officials involved in what it calls human rights violations, unless the president authorises a waiver, according to a copy obtained from a congressional Web site.
But the bill exempts counter-terrorism and peacekeeping operations from any funding restrictions, both roles that Ethiopia is playing in the aftermath of a war to install a U.S.-backed government in neighbouring Somalia.
The vote came nearly two years after two violent protests over May 2005 election results left nearly 200 dead when protesters claiming vote-rigging clashed with security forces.
That, and a subsequent trial of opposition members including those who won seats in parliament and other positions, led to criticism from rights groups and the withholding of certain aid by the European Union and Britain.
The bill would withhold aid unless Ethiopia accepts outside human rights monitoring, fosters an independent judiciary and media, and permits U.S.-funded assistance to those ends.
The bill passed on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., still needs U.S. Senate approval and a presidential signature before it becomes a law.
Reuters
Wed 3 Oct 2007
NAIROBI, Oct 3 (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill that would force Ethiopia, one of Washington's strongest military partners in Africa, to make democratic reforms or else lose security aid.
The bill, passed on Tuesday, would also deny U.S. entry visas to Ethiopian government officials involved in what it calls human rights violations, unless the president authorises a waiver, according to a copy obtained from a congressional Web site.
But the bill exempts counter-terrorism and peacekeeping operations from any funding restrictions, both roles that Ethiopia is playing in the aftermath of a war to install a U.S.-backed government in neighbouring Somalia.
The vote came nearly two years after two violent protests over May 2005 election results left nearly 200 dead when protesters claiming vote-rigging clashed with security forces.
That, and a subsequent trial of opposition members including those who won seats in parliament and other positions, led to criticism from rights groups and the withholding of certain aid by the European Union and Britain.
The bill would withhold aid unless Ethiopia accepts outside human rights monitoring, fosters an independent judiciary and media, and permits U.S.-funded assistance to those ends.
The bill passed on Tuesday in Washington, D.C., still needs U.S. Senate approval and a presidential signature before it becomes a law.
Reuters
Sunday, September 30, 2007
Somali Fighting Intensifies; Hundreds Are Arrested, Police Say
Somali Fighting Intensifies; Hundreds Are Arrested, Police Say
By Ahmed Barre Ibrahem
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Fighting between government forces and Islamic insurgents intensified overnight in the Somali capital Mogadishu with attacks on police stations and Ethiopian army bases, a police spokesman said.
At least 100 insurgents were slain and 45 Somali soldiers killed or injured after insurgents attacked three police stations and two Ethiopian army bases, deputy police spokesman Abdullahi Nur Omar said in an interview today in the city. About 700 people suspected of assisting the insurgents have been arrested, he said.
Violence in the capital of the Horn of Africa nation has escalated since Ethiopian troops helped the United Nations- backed Transitional Federal Government, or TFG, oust the Islamic Courts militia from southern and central Somalia in January. Somalia has been without a central government since Mohammed Siad Barre's administration collapsed in 1991.
By yesterday, at least 2,000 Somali families had fled their homes in the northern parts of Mogadishu following the skirmishes, Nur Omar said yesterday. More families are leaving the capital today.
About 11,000 people have fled the fighting in Mogadishu this month alone, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, said today. Since February, 40,000 people have moved to Afgooye, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of the capital.
An opposition alliance of more than 400 Somali clan leaders, Islamists, and other political figures met in Eritrea this month and called for the overthrow of the interim government. The alliance has vowed to drive Ethiopian troops and 1,600 Ugandan peacekeepers, who were sent by the African Union, from Mogadishu.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ahmed Barre Ibrahem in Mogadishu via Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net
By Ahmed Barre Ibrahem
Sept. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Fighting between government forces and Islamic insurgents intensified overnight in the Somali capital Mogadishu with attacks on police stations and Ethiopian army bases, a police spokesman said.
At least 100 insurgents were slain and 45 Somali soldiers killed or injured after insurgents attacked three police stations and two Ethiopian army bases, deputy police spokesman Abdullahi Nur Omar said in an interview today in the city. About 700 people suspected of assisting the insurgents have been arrested, he said.
Violence in the capital of the Horn of Africa nation has escalated since Ethiopian troops helped the United Nations- backed Transitional Federal Government, or TFG, oust the Islamic Courts militia from southern and central Somalia in January. Somalia has been without a central government since Mohammed Siad Barre's administration collapsed in 1991.
By yesterday, at least 2,000 Somali families had fled their homes in the northern parts of Mogadishu following the skirmishes, Nur Omar said yesterday. More families are leaving the capital today.
About 11,000 people have fled the fighting in Mogadishu this month alone, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, or UNHCR, said today. Since February, 40,000 people have moved to Afgooye, about 30 kilometers (18 miles) west of the capital.
An opposition alliance of more than 400 Somali clan leaders, Islamists, and other political figures met in Eritrea this month and called for the overthrow of the interim government. The alliance has vowed to drive Ethiopian troops and 1,600 Ugandan peacekeepers, who were sent by the African Union, from Mogadishu.
To contact the reporter on this story: Ahmed Barre Ibrahem in Mogadishu via Johannesburg at asguazzin@bloomberg.net
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Eessa irraa garam?
Qabsoo ummata Oromoo Adda Bilisummaa Oromoon gaggeeffamu jireenya Saba Oromoo keessatti injiffannoo guddaa galmeessee jira. Qaanqeen warraaqsaa gootota Oromoon bar kudhan sadi dura qabsiifamtee golee Oromiyaa hedduu keessa faca'uun ara'a ummatni keenya akka mirga isaaf itti himiinsa malee falmatu taasiftee jirti. Ummatni keenya Bara 1992 booda fincilla didddaa gabrummaa guututti dhaabaan osoo hin dhuunfatamin bakka addaa addaatti gaggeessa turee fi jiru; qabsoon kabajaa mulqamnee fi bilisummaa sarbamne deebifachuuf godhaa jirru kan murnoota maqaa Oromoon ijaaraman qofa irratti dhiifamu osoo hin taane dhimma isaa akka tahe tolchee hubachuu agarsiisa. Haa tahu malee sochiin ummataa hundi galii akeekatte gahuuf bifa ijaarsatiin qindeeffamuu fi gaggeeffamuu barbaachifti. Milkii sochii ummata tokkoof dammaqiinsi ummata sanaa akkuma murteessaa tahe, jaarmaya isa hoogganu qara, baranee fi kan haala ummataa isaa, naannoo fi addunyaa hubatee tooftaa fi tarsiimoo qabsoo qiyaasu isa feesisa. Addi bilisummaa Oromoo akka jaarmayaa fi murna isaa hoogganuttis warreegama guddaa kan baasee fi qabsoo ummata Oromoo bakka jalqabe irraa tarkaanfii tokko fuula dura kan fudhachiiise tahus yeroo ar,aa kana hoogganni jiru haala qabsoo keenyaa, haala naannoo fi addunyaa waliin tarkaanfachiisuu, irratt tarkaanfachuun hafnaan daaddee dadhabee waan gangalataa ykn konkolaataa jiru fakkaata. Sababni isaas;
1. Bara 1998 irraa kaasee baratootni Oromoo bifaa hoo'aa taheen qabsoo irraa qooda fudhachuun gaaffii sabaa fi miidhaa isa irraa gahu ifa baasuu fi ummatni keenya qabsoo isaa akka finiinsu kakasuuf warraagama guddaa baasuu fi qaamaanis qabsoo hidhaannootti dabalamanii diina irratti duuluuf bakka hundaan bobba'uun ni yaadanna. Hedduun isaanii dhaabatti dabalamuuf biyya keessatti naannoo WBOn jirutti bobbaa'uu fi kan carraa kana hin argatin yookan daandiin hin qajeeliniif biyya ollaatti bahuu dhaan dhaaba qunnamanis dhadhabii hoogganni kun agarsiiseen humni, dandeettiin fi lubbuun isaan qabsoon saba Oromoo ittiin gabbisuuf warreegamaaf qopheessan, qabsoof ooluu dadhabdee, ijoolleen Oromoo qabsoo dhaaf biyyaa maatii, hojii fi barnoota dhiisanii bahan biyyoota ollaa keessatti beelaa fi dhukkubaan dararamaa turan, jiran. Kanneen danda'ameefii dirree leenjisaa dhaqan dhaabni ykn hoogganni ABO qabsoo saba keenyaa gara humnaatti jijjiiruuf ilaalcha guddaa laachuu hanqachuu irraa bu'aa buusuu hanqatan, hedduun isaanii ammoo hojii ofirraa baasuu ykn hojii bilchinaa fi qaraannoo gahaa malee hogganni kun raawwatuun gammoojii biyyoota ollaa keessatti humna diinaatiin akaayaman.
2. Bifa fakkaataan kanneen barootaaf diina waliin dalagaa turan waggoota jahan dabran keessa dhaaba keenyaatti harka laachuu fi ummata isaanii badii irratti dalaganiif hojjachuuf qaphii tahanii dhihaatanis, muuxannoo diinaa keessatti isaan qabanitti gargaaramuun hojii raawwatamuu male raawwatuun hin danda'amne.
3. Beekomsa ykn odeessa an qabu irraa addi bilisummaa Oromoo takkayyuu ogeessota waraanaa sadarkaa ammaa qabuu argatee hin beeku, seenaa waggaa 30 olii keessatti. Humni waraanaa jeneraalotaan durfamu mooraa diina oneessee dhaaba kanatti gale maal irra akka jiru namni beekaa? Waan irra jiran hunda beekuu hin qabnu, garuu dhimma Oromoo wanni ilaalu gaariin raawwatame xinnatu kanneen halkaniif fi guyyaa gurra baasanii sochii qabsoo hordofan jalaa dhokata jedhee hin yaadu. Sodaan ture akkuma kanneen asiin dura dhaaba kannatti dabalamanii ukkaamsamuu dha. Akka natti mul'atutti sodaan kun dhugaa tahuu irraa fagaata hin jedhu. Seenaa dhaaba kanaa keessatti hoogganni turee fi amma jirus ofii dandeetti qabuun hooggana hojii waraanaas tahe siyaasaa akkasumas diplomasii raawwatan leenjise hin qabu. Yoo tolchinee ilaalle ganna 40 booda sammuu fi nammootni qabsoo kana hoogganan hin jijjiiramne, bakkuma 1974 sana jirra. Akkuma namni dhalate guddatee, jaaree dabru yoo kan biraa bakka hin buune sanyiin isaa dhabamu, murni kamuu kan of jijiiruu hin dandeenye ni dhabame. Beekkomsaa fi dandeettiin akka qabeenya lakkaawamuu kaayanii guyyaa du'an wal hin dhaalchisan, osoo jiran wal barsiisanii nama biraa bakka buusan. Gabaabamatti akka adeemsa irraa agarrutti haalli amma jiru dhaaba kana mataa irraa gadi haala ajjeesaa deemuu dha.
4. Qabxiin biroo, kan bira dabruu hin dandeenye, dhalootni itti aanu akka dhibdee kana keessaa bahee jaarmaya kana muuxachiisee as hin baane rakkoon guddaan furamuuf ulfaatu, beekkan, ykn ir'ina hunbannootatiin uumamaa. Ir'ina dandeettii dhaabni kun qabu amanuu diddaa rakkoo amma jirtu faallaatti akka hubatamu godhamaa jira. akka jaarmayaatti ir'ina jiru furuu ykn sabani Oromoo akka furatu haala aanjessuu irra, dhiibdee jiru namootatti haqatuu, caasaa gandummaa gubbaa irraa hanga gadiitii diririisuun humnaa fi yeroo waan bu'aa hin qabne irratti hooggannii ofii isaatiif dabarsuu irra dabree akka miseensotni dhaabaas yeroo isaan qisaanan gochaa jiru. Kun ammoo akka fuula duras furmaata hin arganne ilmaan Oromoo giddutti shakkii ummuu irra dabree jibbaa hin barbaachifne akka uumu godha. Kaleessa akka Galaasaa Dilboo wal dorgomii aangoo fi dadhabii isaa haguuguuf qabsaawota dhaalootaan naannoo bahaa gama kaaniin ammoo giddu galeessa bahaa fi kibbaa bahaatti dhalatan walitti naqee ofii manguddoo araaraa tahee gidduu taa'aa turee fi yoo inni bakka sana hin jiraanne qabsoon Oromoo akka killee lafa dooftee kan caccapxu fakkeessaa turee, fi dadhaabbii dhugaa irratti akka hin haasayamne godhaa turetti, ar,as sabboontatni Oromoo haala jiru bifaa dhugaatiin akka hubatuu hanqatan godhamaa jira.
5. Gidduu kana "congressinal hearing" dhimma Itoophiyaa irratti godhamuuf deemu keessa Addi Bilisummaa Oromoo bahee, kanneen ganna sadi maqaan isaanii hin dhagahamne kan akka ONLF, CUD, fi nammotni dhuumfaan afeeraman dhaabni keenya nama miliyoona 40 bakka bahu, madaala kaasuu hanqatee keessa hambifame waan jedhu yoo dhageenyu maaltuu nutti dhagahama? Diplomacy wanni jedhu nuuf hin barbaachifne moo lakki hojjatuu dadhabne, yookn ammoo ONLF irra jibbamne?
Akkuma armaa olitti tuqe haalli qabsoon keenya keessa jirtu heeduu gaaga'aa dha. Kana keessaa bahuuf tokkummaa feesisa. Dhaabni nuti jaalanu, wareegama bifa hedduu itti baafnee fi lammiin keenya itti cilee tahe yoo dhibdee ykn summii shakkii gubbaa irraa gadi facaatu kana faccisuu hin dandeenya maqaa qofatti hafuuf deema.
Lammiin Oromoo baroota dheeraaf qabsoo isaa dhimma murna tokkoo godhee irratti ilaaluu, badduu fi toltu isaanuma dhageeffatuu aadaa godhatee jira. Akka gubbaa irratti tuqeetti biyya keessatti jijjiiramni hedduun jiraatus, hedduun keenya hanga ar'aatti "yoo dhaabni keenya akkas jedhe jechuu malee" dhimmi qabsoo Oromoo akkuma murna dhaaba kana gaggeessuu kan nu ilaalu tahuu hubachaa hin jirru. Yoo dhaabni ijaa ykn qarayyoo saba keenyaa tahe osoo ijaan ilaalu dadhabbii hooggana kanaa ykn itti gaafatamu Oromummaa akka lammiitti fuchachuu dhabuu keenyaa rasasuma keenyaan madaa'ee haala du'aa fi jireenyaa keessatti argamu harka marannee ilaaluun yakka guddaadha.
Hubachiisa
Kanneen qabsoo saba isaaniif waggaa soddomaa ol jireenya isaanii wareegan hafnaan ilma Oromoo guyyaa tokkoof mirga saba isaatiif jireenya guyyaa tokkoo wareegeefuu kabajaa guddaan qaba. Kanneen ar'a dhaaba kana hoogganan wareegama daangaa hin qabne akka baasan nan beeka. Yoo gama dhimma sana keenyaatti deebinee garuu jireenyaa fi wareegama namoota irra kan sabaa fi biyyaa waan caaluuf, wareegamni isaan baasan ija keenya haguugee dhugaa awwaaluu waan hin qabneef kana yaada kiyya akka ibsashe, kanneen akka tasaa barruu kana dubbiftan akka naaf hubatan gaafadha
HGW
1. Bara 1998 irraa kaasee baratootni Oromoo bifaa hoo'aa taheen qabsoo irraa qooda fudhachuun gaaffii sabaa fi miidhaa isa irraa gahu ifa baasuu fi ummatni keenya qabsoo isaa akka finiinsu kakasuuf warraagama guddaa baasuu fi qaamaanis qabsoo hidhaannootti dabalamanii diina irratti duuluuf bakka hundaan bobba'uun ni yaadanna. Hedduun isaanii dhaabatti dabalamuuf biyya keessatti naannoo WBOn jirutti bobbaa'uu fi kan carraa kana hin argatin yookan daandiin hin qajeeliniif biyya ollaatti bahuu dhaan dhaaba qunnamanis dhadhabii hoogganni kun agarsiiseen humni, dandeettiin fi lubbuun isaan qabsoon saba Oromoo ittiin gabbisuuf warreegamaaf qopheessan, qabsoof ooluu dadhabdee, ijoolleen Oromoo qabsoo dhaaf biyyaa maatii, hojii fi barnoota dhiisanii bahan biyyoota ollaa keessatti beelaa fi dhukkubaan dararamaa turan, jiran. Kanneen danda'ameefii dirree leenjisaa dhaqan dhaabni ykn hoogganni ABO qabsoo saba keenyaa gara humnaatti jijjiiruuf ilaalcha guddaa laachuu hanqachuu irraa bu'aa buusuu hanqatan, hedduun isaanii ammoo hojii ofirraa baasuu ykn hojii bilchinaa fi qaraannoo gahaa malee hogganni kun raawwatuun gammoojii biyyoota ollaa keessatti humna diinaatiin akaayaman.
2. Bifa fakkaataan kanneen barootaaf diina waliin dalagaa turan waggoota jahan dabran keessa dhaaba keenyaatti harka laachuu fi ummata isaanii badii irratti dalaganiif hojjachuuf qaphii tahanii dhihaatanis, muuxannoo diinaa keessatti isaan qabanitti gargaaramuun hojii raawwatamuu male raawwatuun hin danda'amne.
3. Beekomsa ykn odeessa an qabu irraa addi bilisummaa Oromoo takkayyuu ogeessota waraanaa sadarkaa ammaa qabuu argatee hin beeku, seenaa waggaa 30 olii keessatti. Humni waraanaa jeneraalotaan durfamu mooraa diina oneessee dhaaba kanatti gale maal irra akka jiru namni beekaa? Waan irra jiran hunda beekuu hin qabnu, garuu dhimma Oromoo wanni ilaalu gaariin raawwatame xinnatu kanneen halkaniif fi guyyaa gurra baasanii sochii qabsoo hordofan jalaa dhokata jedhee hin yaadu. Sodaan ture akkuma kanneen asiin dura dhaaba kannatti dabalamanii ukkaamsamuu dha. Akka natti mul'atutti sodaan kun dhugaa tahuu irraa fagaata hin jedhu. Seenaa dhaaba kanaa keessatti hoogganni turee fi amma jirus ofii dandeetti qabuun hooggana hojii waraanaas tahe siyaasaa akkasumas diplomasii raawwatan leenjise hin qabu. Yoo tolchinee ilaalle ganna 40 booda sammuu fi nammootni qabsoo kana hoogganan hin jijjiiramne, bakkuma 1974 sana jirra. Akkuma namni dhalate guddatee, jaaree dabru yoo kan biraa bakka hin buune sanyiin isaa dhabamu, murni kamuu kan of jijiiruu hin dandeenye ni dhabame. Beekkomsaa fi dandeettiin akka qabeenya lakkaawamuu kaayanii guyyaa du'an wal hin dhaalchisan, osoo jiran wal barsiisanii nama biraa bakka buusan. Gabaabamatti akka adeemsa irraa agarrutti haalli amma jiru dhaaba kana mataa irraa gadi haala ajjeesaa deemuu dha.
4. Qabxiin biroo, kan bira dabruu hin dandeenye, dhalootni itti aanu akka dhibdee kana keessaa bahee jaarmaya kana muuxachiisee as hin baane rakkoon guddaan furamuuf ulfaatu, beekkan, ykn ir'ina hunbannootatiin uumamaa. Ir'ina dandeettii dhaabni kun qabu amanuu diddaa rakkoo amma jirtu faallaatti akka hubatamu godhamaa jira. akka jaarmayaatti ir'ina jiru furuu ykn sabani Oromoo akka furatu haala aanjessuu irra, dhiibdee jiru namootatti haqatuu, caasaa gandummaa gubbaa irraa hanga gadiitii diririisuun humnaa fi yeroo waan bu'aa hin qabne irratti hooggannii ofii isaatiif dabarsuu irra dabree akka miseensotni dhaabaas yeroo isaan qisaanan gochaa jiru. Kun ammoo akka fuula duras furmaata hin arganne ilmaan Oromoo giddutti shakkii ummuu irra dabree jibbaa hin barbaachifne akka uumu godha. Kaleessa akka Galaasaa Dilboo wal dorgomii aangoo fi dadhabii isaa haguuguuf qabsaawota dhaalootaan naannoo bahaa gama kaaniin ammoo giddu galeessa bahaa fi kibbaa bahaatti dhalatan walitti naqee ofii manguddoo araaraa tahee gidduu taa'aa turee fi yoo inni bakka sana hin jiraanne qabsoon Oromoo akka killee lafa dooftee kan caccapxu fakkeessaa turee, fi dadhaabbii dhugaa irratti akka hin haasayamne godhaa turetti, ar,as sabboontatni Oromoo haala jiru bifaa dhugaatiin akka hubatuu hanqatan godhamaa jira.
5. Gidduu kana "congressinal hearing" dhimma Itoophiyaa irratti godhamuuf deemu keessa Addi Bilisummaa Oromoo bahee, kanneen ganna sadi maqaan isaanii hin dhagahamne kan akka ONLF, CUD, fi nammotni dhuumfaan afeeraman dhaabni keenya nama miliyoona 40 bakka bahu, madaala kaasuu hanqatee keessa hambifame waan jedhu yoo dhageenyu maaltuu nutti dhagahama? Diplomacy wanni jedhu nuuf hin barbaachifne moo lakki hojjatuu dadhabne, yookn ammoo ONLF irra jibbamne?
Akkuma armaa olitti tuqe haalli qabsoon keenya keessa jirtu heeduu gaaga'aa dha. Kana keessaa bahuuf tokkummaa feesisa. Dhaabni nuti jaalanu, wareegama bifa hedduu itti baafnee fi lammiin keenya itti cilee tahe yoo dhibdee ykn summii shakkii gubbaa irraa gadi facaatu kana faccisuu hin dandeenya maqaa qofatti hafuuf deema.
Lammiin Oromoo baroota dheeraaf qabsoo isaa dhimma murna tokkoo godhee irratti ilaaluu, badduu fi toltu isaanuma dhageeffatuu aadaa godhatee jira. Akka gubbaa irratti tuqeetti biyya keessatti jijjiiramni hedduun jiraatus, hedduun keenya hanga ar'aatti "yoo dhaabni keenya akkas jedhe jechuu malee" dhimmi qabsoo Oromoo akkuma murna dhaaba kana gaggeessuu kan nu ilaalu tahuu hubachaa hin jirru. Yoo dhaabni ijaa ykn qarayyoo saba keenyaa tahe osoo ijaan ilaalu dadhabbii hooggana kanaa ykn itti gaafatamu Oromummaa akka lammiitti fuchachuu dhabuu keenyaa rasasuma keenyaan madaa'ee haala du'aa fi jireenyaa keessatti argamu harka marannee ilaaluun yakka guddaadha.
Hubachiisa
Kanneen qabsoo saba isaaniif waggaa soddomaa ol jireenya isaanii wareegan hafnaan ilma Oromoo guyyaa tokkoof mirga saba isaatiif jireenya guyyaa tokkoo wareegeefuu kabajaa guddaan qaba. Kanneen ar'a dhaaba kana hoogganan wareegama daangaa hin qabne akka baasan nan beeka. Yoo gama dhimma sana keenyaatti deebinee garuu jireenyaa fi wareegama namoota irra kan sabaa fi biyyaa waan caaluuf, wareegamni isaan baasan ija keenya haguugee dhugaa awwaaluu waan hin qabneef kana yaada kiyya akka ibsashe, kanneen akka tasaa barruu kana dubbiftan akka naaf hubatan gaafadha
HGW
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Domestic and Regional Turmoil Color Ethiopia's Millennium Celebration
Lauren Gelfand Bio 20 Sep 2007 LONDON -- Pomp, pagentry and the hip-hop group Black Eyed Peas accompanied Ethiopia's celebration of its entry into the third millennium, seven years after the rest of the world but in line with the Coptic calendar of the Horn of Africa nation.But with the exchange of fiery rhetoric threatening to upset a fragile peace with neighbor Eritrea, new broadsides in the internal conflict raging in the Ogaden region on the country's border with Somalia, and dissatisfaction with progress toward improved social welfare, Ethiopia has entered the 21st century much the way it wrapped up the 20th: divided and poor.In honor of the Sept. 11 and 12 celebrations, the capital, Addis Ababa, was lit up with fireworks that cast long shadows on the expensive civic projects funded by the increasingly unpopular government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.The elite -- few and far between in the country of 70 million people that is ranked 170 of 179 on the U.N. Human Development Index -- attended lavish celebrations at five-star hotels, including the Sheraton, considered one of Africa's most luxurious.Many among them are members of the Ethiopian diaspora, some of the more than 35,000 people who flew home from around the world, from Washington, D.C. to London.For those diasporans who remained in their adopted cities, there were parties galore: London's Trafalgar square hosted a concert attracting some 10,000 people, and Ethiopian restaurants around the United States advertised banquets, music and dance parties."People think of starving children and famine and poverty when they think of Ethiopia, when really we are a country where civilization took root and created sophisticated arts and music and education," said one Addis native in London, an artist who refused to give her name, hunched over a plate of spicy chicken in sauce at a south London Ethiopian restaurant."This millennium party is a chance for us to change the way our country is perceived. Politics should not enter into the equation, it should be about partying and celebrating!"'There is Nothing'For the average Ethiopian, however, unable to shell out the equivalent of two months' salary for the extravagant parties, there seemed to be little on offer to preserve a festive mood.Many of the planned festivities, including the annual racing of the Great Ethiopian Run, a "Taste of Ethiopia" celebration of national cuisine and a free concert hosted by the Rastafarian community, were all cancelled by the government amid "security concerns."Many residents of the capital spent the evening in church, following marathon prayers with meals of roasted goat and the spongy sourdough flatbread known as injera.But even their festive meals were bare of the berberi spices essential to the traditional "wat" sauce that flavors many dishes. Price hikes put hot peppers out of reach for most of the population, leading many to decry the 21st century as the "pepperless millennium."So glum were residents of the capital that a wry joke was making the rounds, both of Addis Ababa and the international media: What's Amharic for Millennium? The answer: minnum yellum, which literally translates to "there is nothing."Ogaden Humanitarian CrisisFurther east, in the Ogaden region on the border with Somalia, the atmosphere was anything but festive.An untold number of refugees have flooded into makeshift camps, escaping rape, looting and murderous rampages perpetrated by Ethiopian troops and civilians on the mostly-Muslim population living in the triangle that juts into Somalia.The Coptic Christian regime has launched a major crackdown on the mostly ethnic Somali and Muslim population of Ogaden, fueled, according to the Meles government, by its opposition to the independence-seeking rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF).For nearly two decades, the ONLF has fought both with force and through diplomatic efforts to end what it considers the region's systematic marginalization by Addis Ababa.In ramping up efforts to crack down on the ONLF, however, humanitarian organizations including Médecins Sans Frontières have warned that civilians are facing collective punishment and being deprived of humanitarian aid -- a public pronouncement that has resulted in the organization's ouster from the region.Three of the worst-affected areas have been decreed off limits to both MSF and the International Committee of the Red Cross, leaving an estimated 400,000 people in a very precarious state, with limited access to food, clean water and medical care.Next Page: 'There is a humanitarian crisis' . . ."There is a humanitarian crisis," said William Robertson, the MSF head of mission, from Nairobi on Sept. 4."Our teams have treated people who were forced to flee their homes and who are now battling for their survival with next-to-no assistance. They are living in fear, the targets of armed groups or in the crossfire."So preoccupying is the evolving humanitarian crisis in Ogaden that the United States, a staunch ally of the Meles government and major contributor of foreign aid, has sent a senior diplomat to help resolve the issue.Jendayi Frazer, the assistant secretary of state for African affairs, called the situation in Ogaden a "humanitarian crisis" on a Sept. 8 visit to the region, putting Washington squarely at odds with a country it relies upon to bring a measure of stability to the restive Horn of Africa.Border Tension With EritreaWashington is also looking warily at the resumption of combustible rhetorical exchanges between Ethiopia and perennial rival Eritrea, seven years after they signed an agreement to end two years of bloody war. Noting recently that Ethiopian troops were just "meters" away from their Eritrean counterparts, Ethiopian Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin breathed new life into the intractable stalemate, a tacit warning that Addis would continue to obstruct the implementation of a ruling that awarded the disputed town of Badme to Eritrea.Despite the presence of U.N. troops in the border region these last six years, the two sides have continued their dispute over Badme, a dry and dusty town that has limited strategic value beyond its symbolic worth to Addis and Asmara."At this time there is little separation of troops from the two neighbors. . . . The armies of the two countries are only 70 or 80 meters apart," Mesfin said during a Sept. 10 news conference.Mesfin also chided a U.N. border commission's work to reinforce the 2002 border decision ahead of its dissolution in November, criticism that was backed up on Tuesday by Meles himself, who reiterated Ethiopia's resistance to giving Badme to Eritrea.Analysts contend that Meles is maintaining his bluster on the border dispute in order to boost his sagging popularity and to obfuscate the ongoing domestic travails faced by his impoverished population. But there is real concern that the stalemate could edge into violence again, as neither Addis nor Asmara shows any signs of backing down.More than one in 10 Ethiopians is "food vulnerable," according to development agencies, which means they have no financial security that will allow them to regularly purchase what they need to feed their families."It is absolutely the case that Ethiopia faces some very serious political and security challenges, both at home domestically and in the Horn of Africa," said Tom Porteous, the London director of Human Rights Watch, in an exclusive interview with World Politics Review. "Violating human rights law and international humanitarian law is not an effective way of dealing with those challenges, aside from being wrong and causing a lot of civilian suffering."Lauren Gelfand is a freelance journalist and commentator with a special interest in African issues.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
On Ethiopian Millenium celebratiom
On Ethiopian Millennium Celebrations: Reflections of a Southerner By Channito Galitto September 12, 2007
Warning : this writing calls a spade a spade. By not mincing words and avoiding political correctness, it intends to evoke healthy reflections.
In a lackluster speech celebrating the dawning of the new millennium, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi categorized Ethiopia’s past into two --- the first one thousand years in which Ethiopia was a rising superpower and the second one in which it took a nose dive. In the same breath Meles Zenawi declared that, thanks to his “wise leadership”, the downward slide has been arrested and that in the new millennium Ethiopia’s lost glory will be restored.
Listening to the speech two implications come to mind. One is obvious and the other one is a bit subtle. Let me start with the obvious one first. Meles Zenawi wants to be remembered as the great leader who stood firmly at a crucial historical juncture to halt Ethiopia’s downward spiral and launch the country’s ascendance towards a glorious future. This desire to be seen as Mr. Nice Guy and a towering figure is also evident from his recent Time interview.
Ethiopian leaders are known for their lofty, albeit empty, statements of vision. Even more so as they approach their demise. Haile Selassie billed himself as the great modernizer. Mengistu craved to be the great revolutionary hero who single-handedly, not to mention out of scratch, built “the only proud socialist country in Africa”--- “be Afrika bichanyawaa genaanaa sooshalist hager”. Holding a big vision, even if only a slogan is one thing. All kinds of human and material resources are unwisely expended in the service of these grand goals.
To declare a vision is one thing, to see to it that it gets fulfilled is quite another. For example after a good start, Haile Selassie’s autocratic methods stood in the way of his stated goal of modernization. Even worse, by clinging to power while growing virtually senile, he paved the way for the emergence of a brutal dictatorship. At the outset Mengistu aroused the sympathy of the peasantry, especially in the South, mainly due to the land proclamation. His later actions however ended up enslaving the very peasants this proclamation helped liberate. It is his brutality coupled with the misguided policies of forced conscription, collectivization, villagization, and endless campaigns against many real and imagined enemies more than anything else that sealed his doom. Assuming that the rock bottom had been reached, many thought that whoever replaces the Dergue could not be any worse. It did not last long before this false hope begun to give way to utter pessimism. Today TPLF is even more discredited politically than the Dergue was in its decaying stage.
Let me now go to the second, and most important, not to say most worrying, implication. As today’s Egyptians appropriate the pyramids and the Pharoas who built them solely to themselves, for Meles the first millennium, based as it was in Axum, must have been a period of Tigrean dominance. In an often-quoted comment in a 1991 TV debate Meles asked: “What does the Axum monument mean for the Walaita?” He self assuredly answered “Nothing!” to his own rhetorical question. He would not say it openly today, at least not in this speech, but the inference is that the 2nd millennium in which Tigreans lost supremacy to the Amhara represents Ethiopia’s dark age. Since Tigreans are once again in full control, the 3 rd millennium is therefore a time of greatness.
In other words, as the center moved South, Ethiopia’s imminence faded and its civilization degenerated. Stopping the relapse required reversing this trend. This view has many proponents, including Hagai Erlich, the author of a book on Ras Alua, the guy from whom Meles sought advice upon assuming state power.
The Millennium Celebrations have helped to bring to the fore some deep social and political divisions in Ethiopia. The first divide is between the two groups claiming ownership of the official history of Axum --- the Amhara and Tigrean elites. Whereas the Amharas make up close to one-third of the population and Tigreans 7%, the latter wields a virtual and highly resented hegemony.
While the lavish celebration at home was attended predominantly by the new Tigrean elites, the ones in the Diaspora smelled, looked and felt more like an Amhara festival. Although both events were billed as “Ethiopian”, each side could vividly see the ethnic undertones in each other’s work. A comment by Tecola H. Hagos drives this point home when he wrote “What is now billed as the Ethiopian Millennium Celebration at Howard University and later at the DC Armory is not a celebration of Ethiopia at all, but an orgy of self congratulatory aggregation of individuals blinded by hate and moved by narrow ethnicism.” By the way the ethnicity Tecola is referring to be none other than Amhara. Despite the attempts by the likes of Nuguse Mengesha and Mesay Kebede to have the audience see both sides of the debate, diatribes by false prophets like Asefa Negash left many simply disillusioned.
The question as to whom--- the Amhara or Tigreans--- are the proper heir to the legacy of Axum legacy forms the first fissure. For purpose of brevity let us entertain elsewhere the debate as to whether the Kushites or the Semites are legitimate claimants to Axum. However, it is important to note here that the argument as to “who is the most authentic Ethiopian?” is still in contention.
The second divide is the divide between the Northerners (Abyssinians is a better term than Axumites) and the Southerners. The latter---which incidentally forms the majority of the population in Ethiopia--- includes the Oromo, Afar, Sidama, Ogadeni, Walayita, Gedeo, Kaficho, Yem, Janjaro, Anyuak, and the over 70 other ethnic groups that straddle the East, South, West and center of Ethiopia. Although politically a periphery, the South is for all practical purposes the real center and heart of Ethiopia.
Unlike the Northerners who are predominantly Orthodox Christian, the South is truly diverse religiously, culturally and linguistically. As such their views on some political and social issues could be in sharp contrast to their countrymen from the North. For example, a Muslim Ethiopian Somali, Affar, Adare, or Silte might follow the Islamic Calendar and find the designation of yesterday as a universal Ethiopian Millennium at best difficult and at worst an imposition. The same is true for an Oromo who adheres to the cosmic-based Gada Calendar. For many in the South the issue of which Millennium is authentic is not just an academic one but fundamental to whom they are as individuals and people.
However hard they looked, these groups could not see themselves in the history narrated by both elites about the 1st and 2 nd millenniums. To them no grand vision or celebration means a thing unless it entails an end to their continuing marginalization. The millennium discussion did not produce a better recognition of their bitter experiences. It did not address their current grievances. Nor did it lay out a more inclusive alternative narration to make them believe that their marginalization would end anytime soon.
The Millennium was a non-starter for many. For example the large numbers of Oromos, Ogadenis and Anyuaks who live in the Midwest and throughout the US did not hold any celebrations at all. Perhaps with the repression and atrocious crackdown underway at home weighing heavily on them they just could not see a reason to celebrate. It is doubtful if the mood at home is any different.
The audacity by some Amhara elites to narrate a reading of the past as if it is an all-inclusive and balanced history of the whole country is mind bugling. Likewise the Tigrean minority’s wish to forever dominate the country by blaming all evils of the past on the Amahara elites while giving deaf years and blind eyes to their repressive rule of fifteen long years is also puzzling.
This takes me to the third divide, which is the one within the South itself--- my own backyard. After experiencing one brutal military crackdown after another and waging a protracted liberation struggle, the Ogadenis are sure that the old Ethiopia that is being glorified by Amhara and Tigrean elites did and does not embrace them. The Oromo, demographically and culturally the most important constituency for the very survival and future of Ethiopia, also see themselves slighted by some of these openly biased Axum-centric accounts of history.
Politically other Southerners seek self-government but are afraid of going it alone. They sympathize with their Oromo, Ogadeni and Sidama brothers and sisters as far as ending marginalization and the desire to enjoy the rights of self-government are concerned. While agreeing with the adoption of self-determination as a constitutional right, they are mad as hell that this did not translate into genuine self-government and remained an unfulfilled promise. While concurring with those emphasizing the importance of respect for individual rights under a just system, they worry that the relentless assault on “collective rights” may lead to the country’s breakup rather than its unity.
Now enough with the “divides” and back to the commentary on Meles’ speech. There was a muted expectation that he would use this occasion to offer an olive branch to his opponents. Those who knew him maintained he is just like all other Ethiopian leaders of the past who come to power by the gun, cling to it until it is too late and then either die fighting or get killed, a fact abundantly made clear by his behavior in the aftermath of the May 2005 elections.
Despite their deep disappointment a few held on to the tin hope that he would not squander this last chance that comes once in a thousand years. However, true to his form, Meles failed to use the occasion to start a credible process of reconciliation. By so doing Meles lost a golden opportunity to leave the legacy that he so desperately longs to leave behind in his speech. On the contrary by alienating major political forces--- such as OLF, CUD and ONLF--- from the political process, he ensured that the fragile political experiment that he put in place may not last his tenure, let alone the next century or millennium.
The question now is who else would come up with a more uplifting, all-inclusive and unifying message. Obviously and naturally this issue is bigger than any single organization, be it OLF or CUD. Frankly speaking we are fed up with the zero-sum game of either this or that. AFD’s proposal of a win-win formula goes a long way to fill the vacuum. However to become a vehicle for transformation AFD needs to put its acts together as a matter of priority.
Granted the road ahead is an uphill one. Luckily there are things we could do to make this journey less treacherous. The first step is for the elites of all stripes to stop relying on narrow readings of history as a foundation of political discourse. Ethiopian politics needs to be forever divorced from this poisoned chalice of biased history and geared towards creatively addressing current and future challenges. The more we look back, the more we are stuck in the past.
The second step is to end the hypocrisy and arrogance, both implied and explicit, about the role and contribution of the marginalized peoples, who need and deserve to be, accorded more stake in Ethiopia for the latter to progress. This is important for three reasons. One, since democracy is the wave of the future and it means majority rule--- with equality before the law for everyone and equality of all votes--- talking as if these people do not exist or count is simply unacceptable, not to mention untenable. Two, the values of tolerance and accommodation so vital for democracy to blossom are amply found among these peoples. Three, these communities field some formidable organizations and highly mobilized constituencies that can no longer be ignored. To disregard them and their legitimate grievances is to put Ethiopia’s future in great peril.
The writer can be reached at: ChannitoG@yahoo.com
Opinions published on News and Views section of this site are those of the authors and not necessarily that of OLF.
Copyright ©2005 ABO/OLF All Rights Reserved Email Webmaster olfinfodesk@earthlink.net
Warning : this writing calls a spade a spade. By not mincing words and avoiding political correctness, it intends to evoke healthy reflections.
In a lackluster speech celebrating the dawning of the new millennium, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi categorized Ethiopia’s past into two --- the first one thousand years in which Ethiopia was a rising superpower and the second one in which it took a nose dive. In the same breath Meles Zenawi declared that, thanks to his “wise leadership”, the downward slide has been arrested and that in the new millennium Ethiopia’s lost glory will be restored.
Listening to the speech two implications come to mind. One is obvious and the other one is a bit subtle. Let me start with the obvious one first. Meles Zenawi wants to be remembered as the great leader who stood firmly at a crucial historical juncture to halt Ethiopia’s downward spiral and launch the country’s ascendance towards a glorious future. This desire to be seen as Mr. Nice Guy and a towering figure is also evident from his recent Time interview.
Ethiopian leaders are known for their lofty, albeit empty, statements of vision. Even more so as they approach their demise. Haile Selassie billed himself as the great modernizer. Mengistu craved to be the great revolutionary hero who single-handedly, not to mention out of scratch, built “the only proud socialist country in Africa”--- “be Afrika bichanyawaa genaanaa sooshalist hager”. Holding a big vision, even if only a slogan is one thing. All kinds of human and material resources are unwisely expended in the service of these grand goals.
To declare a vision is one thing, to see to it that it gets fulfilled is quite another. For example after a good start, Haile Selassie’s autocratic methods stood in the way of his stated goal of modernization. Even worse, by clinging to power while growing virtually senile, he paved the way for the emergence of a brutal dictatorship. At the outset Mengistu aroused the sympathy of the peasantry, especially in the South, mainly due to the land proclamation. His later actions however ended up enslaving the very peasants this proclamation helped liberate. It is his brutality coupled with the misguided policies of forced conscription, collectivization, villagization, and endless campaigns against many real and imagined enemies more than anything else that sealed his doom. Assuming that the rock bottom had been reached, many thought that whoever replaces the Dergue could not be any worse. It did not last long before this false hope begun to give way to utter pessimism. Today TPLF is even more discredited politically than the Dergue was in its decaying stage.
Let me now go to the second, and most important, not to say most worrying, implication. As today’s Egyptians appropriate the pyramids and the Pharoas who built them solely to themselves, for Meles the first millennium, based as it was in Axum, must have been a period of Tigrean dominance. In an often-quoted comment in a 1991 TV debate Meles asked: “What does the Axum monument mean for the Walaita?” He self assuredly answered “Nothing!” to his own rhetorical question. He would not say it openly today, at least not in this speech, but the inference is that the 2nd millennium in which Tigreans lost supremacy to the Amhara represents Ethiopia’s dark age. Since Tigreans are once again in full control, the 3 rd millennium is therefore a time of greatness.
In other words, as the center moved South, Ethiopia’s imminence faded and its civilization degenerated. Stopping the relapse required reversing this trend. This view has many proponents, including Hagai Erlich, the author of a book on Ras Alua, the guy from whom Meles sought advice upon assuming state power.
The Millennium Celebrations have helped to bring to the fore some deep social and political divisions in Ethiopia. The first divide is between the two groups claiming ownership of the official history of Axum --- the Amhara and Tigrean elites. Whereas the Amharas make up close to one-third of the population and Tigreans 7%, the latter wields a virtual and highly resented hegemony.
While the lavish celebration at home was attended predominantly by the new Tigrean elites, the ones in the Diaspora smelled, looked and felt more like an Amhara festival. Although both events were billed as “Ethiopian”, each side could vividly see the ethnic undertones in each other’s work. A comment by Tecola H. Hagos drives this point home when he wrote “What is now billed as the Ethiopian Millennium Celebration at Howard University and later at the DC Armory is not a celebration of Ethiopia at all, but an orgy of self congratulatory aggregation of individuals blinded by hate and moved by narrow ethnicism.” By the way the ethnicity Tecola is referring to be none other than Amhara. Despite the attempts by the likes of Nuguse Mengesha and Mesay Kebede to have the audience see both sides of the debate, diatribes by false prophets like Asefa Negash left many simply disillusioned.
The question as to whom--- the Amhara or Tigreans--- are the proper heir to the legacy of Axum legacy forms the first fissure. For purpose of brevity let us entertain elsewhere the debate as to whether the Kushites or the Semites are legitimate claimants to Axum. However, it is important to note here that the argument as to “who is the most authentic Ethiopian?” is still in contention.
The second divide is the divide between the Northerners (Abyssinians is a better term than Axumites) and the Southerners. The latter---which incidentally forms the majority of the population in Ethiopia--- includes the Oromo, Afar, Sidama, Ogadeni, Walayita, Gedeo, Kaficho, Yem, Janjaro, Anyuak, and the over 70 other ethnic groups that straddle the East, South, West and center of Ethiopia. Although politically a periphery, the South is for all practical purposes the real center and heart of Ethiopia.
Unlike the Northerners who are predominantly Orthodox Christian, the South is truly diverse religiously, culturally and linguistically. As such their views on some political and social issues could be in sharp contrast to their countrymen from the North. For example, a Muslim Ethiopian Somali, Affar, Adare, or Silte might follow the Islamic Calendar and find the designation of yesterday as a universal Ethiopian Millennium at best difficult and at worst an imposition. The same is true for an Oromo who adheres to the cosmic-based Gada Calendar. For many in the South the issue of which Millennium is authentic is not just an academic one but fundamental to whom they are as individuals and people.
However hard they looked, these groups could not see themselves in the history narrated by both elites about the 1st and 2 nd millenniums. To them no grand vision or celebration means a thing unless it entails an end to their continuing marginalization. The millennium discussion did not produce a better recognition of their bitter experiences. It did not address their current grievances. Nor did it lay out a more inclusive alternative narration to make them believe that their marginalization would end anytime soon.
The Millennium was a non-starter for many. For example the large numbers of Oromos, Ogadenis and Anyuaks who live in the Midwest and throughout the US did not hold any celebrations at all. Perhaps with the repression and atrocious crackdown underway at home weighing heavily on them they just could not see a reason to celebrate. It is doubtful if the mood at home is any different.
The audacity by some Amhara elites to narrate a reading of the past as if it is an all-inclusive and balanced history of the whole country is mind bugling. Likewise the Tigrean minority’s wish to forever dominate the country by blaming all evils of the past on the Amahara elites while giving deaf years and blind eyes to their repressive rule of fifteen long years is also puzzling.
This takes me to the third divide, which is the one within the South itself--- my own backyard. After experiencing one brutal military crackdown after another and waging a protracted liberation struggle, the Ogadenis are sure that the old Ethiopia that is being glorified by Amhara and Tigrean elites did and does not embrace them. The Oromo, demographically and culturally the most important constituency for the very survival and future of Ethiopia, also see themselves slighted by some of these openly biased Axum-centric accounts of history.
Politically other Southerners seek self-government but are afraid of going it alone. They sympathize with their Oromo, Ogadeni and Sidama brothers and sisters as far as ending marginalization and the desire to enjoy the rights of self-government are concerned. While agreeing with the adoption of self-determination as a constitutional right, they are mad as hell that this did not translate into genuine self-government and remained an unfulfilled promise. While concurring with those emphasizing the importance of respect for individual rights under a just system, they worry that the relentless assault on “collective rights” may lead to the country’s breakup rather than its unity.
Now enough with the “divides” and back to the commentary on Meles’ speech. There was a muted expectation that he would use this occasion to offer an olive branch to his opponents. Those who knew him maintained he is just like all other Ethiopian leaders of the past who come to power by the gun, cling to it until it is too late and then either die fighting or get killed, a fact abundantly made clear by his behavior in the aftermath of the May 2005 elections.
Despite their deep disappointment a few held on to the tin hope that he would not squander this last chance that comes once in a thousand years. However, true to his form, Meles failed to use the occasion to start a credible process of reconciliation. By so doing Meles lost a golden opportunity to leave the legacy that he so desperately longs to leave behind in his speech. On the contrary by alienating major political forces--- such as OLF, CUD and ONLF--- from the political process, he ensured that the fragile political experiment that he put in place may not last his tenure, let alone the next century or millennium.
The question now is who else would come up with a more uplifting, all-inclusive and unifying message. Obviously and naturally this issue is bigger than any single organization, be it OLF or CUD. Frankly speaking we are fed up with the zero-sum game of either this or that. AFD’s proposal of a win-win formula goes a long way to fill the vacuum. However to become a vehicle for transformation AFD needs to put its acts together as a matter of priority.
Granted the road ahead is an uphill one. Luckily there are things we could do to make this journey less treacherous. The first step is for the elites of all stripes to stop relying on narrow readings of history as a foundation of political discourse. Ethiopian politics needs to be forever divorced from this poisoned chalice of biased history and geared towards creatively addressing current and future challenges. The more we look back, the more we are stuck in the past.
The second step is to end the hypocrisy and arrogance, both implied and explicit, about the role and contribution of the marginalized peoples, who need and deserve to be, accorded more stake in Ethiopia for the latter to progress. This is important for three reasons. One, since democracy is the wave of the future and it means majority rule--- with equality before the law for everyone and equality of all votes--- talking as if these people do not exist or count is simply unacceptable, not to mention untenable. Two, the values of tolerance and accommodation so vital for democracy to blossom are amply found among these peoples. Three, these communities field some formidable organizations and highly mobilized constituencies that can no longer be ignored. To disregard them and their legitimate grievances is to put Ethiopia’s future in great peril.
The writer can be reached at: ChannitoG@yahoo.com
Opinions published on News and Views section of this site are those of the authors and not necessarily that of OLF.
Copyright ©2005 ABO/OLF All Rights Reserved Email Webmaster olfinfodesk@earthlink.net
Monday, September 10, 2007
Jendayi Frazer :Unofficial TPLF Spokeswoman or a Top US Official?
Sept 09m 2007At a time when multiple sources including human rights and Non-Governmental Organizations, NGOs, working in Ogaden have detailed not only the type of atrocities but also the extent of the war crimes committed against the Ogaden citizenry by the TPLF army and its’ associated militias; At a moment when no international journalist is allowed to set foot in Ogaden, it is quiet disappointing, to say the least, to hear the recent outburst from Jendayi Frazer who is a host to the same Ethiopian junta that has not only ordered but carried out the current war crimes reported in Ogaden.When Frazer terms the genocide that has and is taking place in Ogaden as merely allegations that are 'unsubstantiated', which happens to be the same terms used by Zenawi in the recent Time’s interview, we are left to wonder whether Frazer is a top US diplomat for African affairs or an unofficial spokeswoman for the Tigrian People’s Liberation Front, TPLF.What evidence, other than the propaganda fed to her by the TPLF misinformation minions, does Frazer have that can make all the horror stories provided the internationally renowned human rights organizations, Ogaden survivors of the current Ogaden war crimes, and the NGOs who have an innate knowledge of the Ogaden landscape and people, as mere ‘unsubstantiated’ allegations?We, the Ogaden Editorial Board, EOB, believe that Frazer has accepted in face value, the misinformation provided by the TPLF junta headed by Zenawi. EOB also believes that merely accepting TPLF propaganda in face value harms not only the image of the United States of America as a champion of democracy but also US security interests in the horn. Instead of acting as an unofficial TPLF spokeswoman, EOB hopes that Frazer will closely scrutinize the actions of the TPLF junta in Addis Ababa. The US State department should use its clout in order to put the brakes on the war crimes that are taking place in Ogaden.editorial@ogaden.comOgaden Online EditorialSept 09, 2007
U.S. gives stark warning to Eritrea
By Elizabeth Blunt September 10, 2007
The US has issued Eritrea with its strongest warning yet over its alleged support for terrorism.
A senior US official said the presence of an exiled Somali Islamist leader in Asmara this week was further evidence Eritrea gave sanctuary to terrorists.
The gathering of further intelligence could lead to Eritrea being named as a state sponsor of terrorism - followed by sanctions, the official said.
The Eritrean government has accused the US of deliberate distortion.
A full scale war of words is now going on between Eritrea and the United States.
The US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, said the presence of Hassan Dahir Uways at a meeting in Asmara was further evidence that Eritrea provided sanctuary for terrorists.
Rogue state
The Eritrean ministry of information website has just published a 35-point condemnation of US foreign policy accusing Jendayi Frazer herself of deliberate distortion.
Speaking at the end of a visit to neighbouring Ethiopia, Miss Frazer said that Eritrea's nasty words about the US were not a significant concern.
What had got her government's attention was Eritrea's actions to destabilise other countries in the Horn of Africa and, in particular, evidence that they were harbouring terrorists.
Miss Frazer said that this was about more than just simply considering Eritrea as a rogue state in the region.
It was quite specifically Eritrea's relationship with recognised terrorists which could lead to its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
This, in turn, she said would bring a change in the nature of its relationship with the US and in the ability of the US and other countries to provide assistance to Eritrea's government.
The US has issued Eritrea with its strongest warning yet over its alleged support for terrorism.
A senior US official said the presence of an exiled Somali Islamist leader in Asmara this week was further evidence Eritrea gave sanctuary to terrorists.
The gathering of further intelligence could lead to Eritrea being named as a state sponsor of terrorism - followed by sanctions, the official said.
The Eritrean government has accused the US of deliberate distortion.
A full scale war of words is now going on between Eritrea and the United States.
The US Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, said the presence of Hassan Dahir Uways at a meeting in Asmara was further evidence that Eritrea provided sanctuary for terrorists.
Rogue state
The Eritrean ministry of information website has just published a 35-point condemnation of US foreign policy accusing Jendayi Frazer herself of deliberate distortion.
Speaking at the end of a visit to neighbouring Ethiopia, Miss Frazer said that Eritrea's nasty words about the US were not a significant concern.
What had got her government's attention was Eritrea's actions to destabilise other countries in the Horn of Africa and, in particular, evidence that they were harbouring terrorists.
Miss Frazer said that this was about more than just simply considering Eritrea as a rogue state in the region.
It was quite specifically Eritrea's relationship with recognised terrorists which could lead to its designation as a state sponsor of terrorism.
This, in turn, she said would bring a change in the nature of its relationship with the US and in the ability of the US and other countries to provide assistance to Eritrea's government.
Somali opposition groups condemn AMISOM troops
Somali opposition groups condemn AMISOM troops
Somali Governor escapes a grenade bomb attack
The government opposing groups in Asmara condemned the African union for not being neutral. 10,Sept.07
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Ethiopia Detains Oromo Opposition Members
Sep 7, '07 2:01 PMfor everyone
By Peter Heinlein
Heinlein report (mp3) - Download 675k Listen to Heinlein report (mp3)
The Ethiopian government has confirmed the detention of scores of citizens suspected of involvement in a regional insurgent movement. From the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, VOA's Peter Heinlein reports opposition lawmakers and human rights activists are calling the detentions illegal.
A senior Ethiopian government official confirmed to VOA that an unspecified number of persons described as 'operatives of the Oromo Liberation Front' have been detained by authorities in recent weeks.
Bereket Simon, a top adviser to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, said "the government has an obligation to put these people under control."
The official's comments were in response to charges by a prominent Member of Parliament from the Oromia region that at least 107 people, and probably many more, are being held illegally by authorities without charge.
Bulcha Demeksa, a lawmaker from the opposition Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement party, said some of the detainees have been held for weeks.
The Oromo people are Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, about a third of the population, and the Oromia region has been a hotbed of opposition to the government in Addis Ababa. But in a VOA interview, lawmaker Bulcha Demeksa rejected suggestions that those detained were terrorists or were involved in a plot to overthrow the government.
"These are people who live in the countryside, miserably poor people, they eat once a day, they have nothing, they have no guns, they are just some in little urban areas. They are traders," said Bulcha. "Some of them are street people. What can they do? The government knows that Ethiopians are not armed. Ethiopians are not armed, so these cannot be feared. Fear I do not believe at all. There is nothing to fear."
Bulcha says the detentions are an attempt by the government to intimidate potential political opponents in advance of next January's local elections.
"The purpose in my opinion of these mass arrests is to scare people because local election is coming up in January," said Bulcha. "The government is scaring people, saying, 'If you do not support the government, you will go to jail. If you do not vote for the regional government, nobody else can help you, we will put you in jail.' Particulary, people who are potential representatives are being arrested."
The government spokesman, Bereket Simon, rejected Bulcha's charges. He told VOA, "the rights of the citizens are being respected." He described the accusations as "far-fetched stories" designed to grab headlines at a time when domestic and international attention is focusing on Ethiopia's grand celebration of the millennium.
Ethiopia follows the Julian calendar, which is seven years and eight months behind the more commonly observed Gregorian calendar. The Horn of Africa nation will celebrate the arrival of the third millennium on September 12.
VOA News
Sep 7, '07 2:01 PMfor everyone
By Peter Heinlein
Heinlein report (mp3) - Download 675k Listen to Heinlein report (mp3)
The Ethiopian government has confirmed the detention of scores of citizens suspected of involvement in a regional insurgent movement. From the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, VOA's Peter Heinlein reports opposition lawmakers and human rights activists are calling the detentions illegal.
A senior Ethiopian government official confirmed to VOA that an unspecified number of persons described as 'operatives of the Oromo Liberation Front' have been detained by authorities in recent weeks.
Bereket Simon, a top adviser to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, said "the government has an obligation to put these people under control."
The official's comments were in response to charges by a prominent Member of Parliament from the Oromia region that at least 107 people, and probably many more, are being held illegally by authorities without charge.
Bulcha Demeksa, a lawmaker from the opposition Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement party, said some of the detainees have been held for weeks.
The Oromo people are Ethiopia's largest ethnic group, about a third of the population, and the Oromia region has been a hotbed of opposition to the government in Addis Ababa. But in a VOA interview, lawmaker Bulcha Demeksa rejected suggestions that those detained were terrorists or were involved in a plot to overthrow the government.
"These are people who live in the countryside, miserably poor people, they eat once a day, they have nothing, they have no guns, they are just some in little urban areas. They are traders," said Bulcha. "Some of them are street people. What can they do? The government knows that Ethiopians are not armed. Ethiopians are not armed, so these cannot be feared. Fear I do not believe at all. There is nothing to fear."
Bulcha says the detentions are an attempt by the government to intimidate potential political opponents in advance of next January's local elections.
"The purpose in my opinion of these mass arrests is to scare people because local election is coming up in January," said Bulcha. "The government is scaring people, saying, 'If you do not support the government, you will go to jail. If you do not vote for the regional government, nobody else can help you, we will put you in jail.' Particulary, people who are potential representatives are being arrested."
The government spokesman, Bereket Simon, rejected Bulcha's charges. He told VOA, "the rights of the citizens are being respected." He described the accusations as "far-fetched stories" designed to grab headlines at a time when domestic and international attention is focusing on Ethiopia's grand celebration of the millennium.
Ethiopia follows the Julian calendar, which is seven years and eight months behind the more commonly observed Gregorian calendar. The Horn of Africa nation will celebrate the arrival of the third millennium on September 12.
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