The dam that divides Ethiopians

By Peter Greste
BBC News, Ethiopia

Deep in the gorge country that falls off the Ethiopian plateau, workers in boots and hard hats are hammering, drilling, blasting and digging their way into the mountainside for the foundations of the vast wall that will, when finished, create the second largest hydroelectricity dam in sub-Saharan Africa.

Teams of workers are blasting out the "keyhole" - the slot in the side of the valley that will hold the dam wall in place.

Others are finishing the concrete lining to the last of three 1,000m long tunnels that have already begun diverting the Omo River waters around the main construction site.

According to the engineers, they are now about a third of the way through the project, and on schedule to finish the Gilgel Gibe III hydroelectricity project sometime in 2012.

By then, the wall will soar 240 metres high - the tallest of its type anywhere in the world; holding back a reservoir 150 kilometres long.

The dam will provide 1,800 megawatts of electricity. That will more than double the country's current generating capacity in one hit, and according to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, solve a national energy crisis.

"We cannot afford not to have Gilgel Gibe III," he said.

"We need that type of mega-project given the increased domestic demand and the requirements of export.

"And secondly, it enables us to store water and regulate the flooding [downstream in the Omo River]."

He rejects fears that some 500,000 people could see their livelihoods destroyed by the dam.

Tall order

The dam will also produce far more electricity than the country is capable of consuming. The vast bulk of it has been earmarked for export to neighbours like Sudan and Kenya.

"That would provide us with valuable foreign currency that will help with our balance of payments," said the prime minister.

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So urgent was the need to get the dam built quickly that the government short-circuited the usual internationally accepted procedures for these kinds of massive infrastructure projects.

Usually, a government will first conduct a feasibility study followed by an environmental and social impact assessment to decide whether it really is wise to go ahead with the plan.

Then, it will raise the finance, call for competitive tenders and award the construction contract.

Instead, the government first negotiated the contract directly with Italian civil engineering giant Salini Costruttori.

It then went looking for the finance - a procedure that has left the government with a massive hole in its budget.

The two financial institutions that the government had hoped would back the project - the World Bank and the European Investment Bank - have both refused to get involved because the government broke international and domestic transparency rules by dealing directly with Salini.

"I think quite rightly, we have an obligation not only to do the right thing but to demonstrate very clearly that we are doing the right thing," said Greg Toulmin, the World Bank's country director for Ethiopia.

"In order to do that, we have to go through all these very meticulous processes to check all the aspects of any operation that we provide loan or guarantee to. That's something that takes time."

Standing firm

It's a luxury that Mihert Debeba, head of the Electricity Corporation, said Ethiopia simply can't afford.

He said: "Africa is in the dark. If we have to use very luxurious preconditions we wouldn't develop any hydro-power.

"Give us a choice. Should we stay in darkness? Should we avoid all this development?"

The corporation also short-circuited the environmental and social impact assessment (EIA) process. Instead the study - which gave the project a clean bill of health - was published two years after construction began.

One of the project's staunchest critics, Kenyan ecologist Richard Leakey, suspects the study was produced with one aim in mind.

He said: "The scientists that I've shown [the EIA] to - some of whom have worked in Ethiopia for years and may have even advised the Ethiopian government at some point - suggest it is fatally flawed in terms of its logic, in terms of its thoroughness, in terms of its conclusions.

"And it looks like an inside job that has come up with the results that they were looking for to get the initial funding for this dam."

Before any large project can go ahead, Ethiopia's Environmental Protection Agency first has to give its approval.

Twolde Berhan Gebre heads the agency, and he dismisses critics like Mr Leakey as misguided.

"Leakey's a big name but I don't know what he's based his arguments on. I don't think he's right," he said.

"My experts have also examined it. They have studied the environmental impact statements. They have visited the site and I know them.

"I don't know you. I trust them and I don't care for what you say."

Science disputed

Still, Mr Leakey's criticism echoes that of another collection of European, American and East African academics calling themselves the "African Resources Working Group", headed by University of Montana Geography Professor Jeff Gritzner.

The group has released a commentary on the environmental research, which asserts: "The document rests on a series of faulty premises and it is further compromised by pervasive omissions, distortions and obfuscation.

"The downstream EIA is laced with tables and figures with multiple types of 'quantitative data', creating the illusion of a scientific work.

"While this practice is well known to increase the likelihood of approval by development, finance and oversight agencies, it is fully unacceptable.

"The quantitative [and qualitative] data included in virtually all major sections of the report were clearly selected for their consistence with the predetermined objective of validating the completion of the Gibe III hydro-dam."

The commentary goes on to insist that rather than being beneficial to the river valley as the government insists, the dam will "produce a broad range of negative effects, some of which would be catastrophic" to both the environment and the indigenous communities living downstream.

The science is still very much in dispute - a factor that Mr Leakey believes is reason enough to invoke the precautionary principle and stop the project before it is too late.

For if the Ethiopian government is wrong, those communities living along the lower Omo River Valley all the way down into neighbouring Kenya will pay a heavy price.

Sudan's Bashir heads to Ethiopia, defying ICC

KHARTOUM (Reuters) – Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir departed Sudan on Thursday for Ethiopia in a show of defiance to an arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court on charges of Darfur war crimes.

A Sudanese presidential palace source and a foreign ministry official said Bashir, who risks arrest any time he travels abroad, was on his way to the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa but gave no further details.

Experts say at least 200,000 people have been killed and more than 2.7 million driven from their homes in almost six years of ethnic and political fighting in Darfur in western Sudan. Khartoum says 10,000 people have died.

The trip is Bashir's third abroad since the ICC decision on March 4. He also visited neighbors Egypt and Eritrea this week following invitations from those countries for talks on the ICC move.
The Sudanese government said shortly after the ICC decision that Bashir would defy the warrant by traveling further afield to an Arab summit in Qatar next week.

But Sudanese officials have released statements raising questions over the wisdom of the trip, prompting speculation Sudan may send another representative.

Qatar's prime minister has said the Gulf state was coming under pressure not to receive Bashir, though he did not say from whom.

Meles Zenawi: the accredited international beggar with no qualm

By Seifu Tsegaye Demmissie
The participation of Meles Zenawi at the G-20 Summit on April 2nd does not have any significance other than validating his status as an accredited international beggar. Zenawi is the name most familiar on the doorsteps and in the corridors of western donors and their financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. Hence, the designation international beggar is quite befitting to describe his role in his warm relationship with the West.

Various sources indicate that the West has spent between 36 and 40 billion dollars on the regime of Meles Zenawi via budget and other support mechanisms [since he grabbed power in 1991]. This is a big sum which could have had a significant positive impact on the country if a legal Ethiopian government had been in place to use it. In fact, given his dismal human rights records, he deserves no Western assistance.

Commandeering a bloated, expensive but an inefficient bureaucracy whose primary function is to serve as a pillar of his reign of repression and terror, Meles Zenawi is in constant need of foreign aid and financing. Besides, he owns and operates an extensive and permeating network of a repressive security apparatus which requires a substantial amount of resources. Thus, it is not difficult to see where the lion`s share of the budget support he receives from the west ends up. He has to constantly refine and sharpen his begging skills and tools.

Click on 'Read More.' The group of 20 or G-20 includes the so-called industrial democracies and emerging new economies and was formed after the financial crises of the '90s. The crisis had mainly hit the emerging Asian and Latin American economies which applied the economic prescriptions of the western financial institutions like the World Bank. However, the current crisis is global in nature and is not restricted to certain geographic areas of the world. Foreign aid dependent regimes can not be immune to the crisis.

The invitation of Meles Zenawi to the summit of the so called group of 20 or G-20 demonstrates his increasing reliance on foreign aid and vanguard role as an International beggar. Thus, the participation of Meles Zenawi in the preliminary and the annual summit of the group of 20 does not raise his status as a statesman as his cadres and beneficiaries would like us to believe. This is not something to brag about but Meles Zenawi and his zombies are devoid of any feeling of qualm and shame and count it as one of their greatest achievements. Rejected by the vast majority of Ethiopians but loved by the west, Meles Zenawi has no legal or moral ground to represent Ethiopia neither at national nor International level.

Considering the criteria for eligibility for western aid, development aid can best be described as a political partnership between western politicians and their client dictators or lackeys in the so called third world. It is well known that developing countries which would like to take their destinies into their own hands and exercise their universally accepted rights of independence and sovereignty, do not qualify for western aid and favours. In general, it is through this partnership (development aid) that the western powers get clout and trample upon the recipient countries. Thus one can not fail to grasp the big influence donors have on the decision making in the recipient countries. The other characteristic feature of this unholy partnership is that it is riddled with corruption and graft which account for the siphoning off and wastage of considerable resources. Though claiming to combat poverty, the partnership is perpetuating dictatorship and preventing the population from taking part in the vital decision making organs and processes. A conducive system built on a broad and free public participation ensuring accountability and transparency, is the prerequisite for combating poverty and attaining economic growth.

The enduring damage this partnership is inflicting on the causes and forces of democracy, freedom and social justice, is visible in Ethiopian at the moment. The regime is escalating its widespread human rights violations and economic deprivations. We have a living memory of the scandalous role of some western diplomats or envoys in bailing out the brutal regime of Meles Zenawi from the strong storm caused by his rigging and daylight robbery of public votes in the aftermath of the May 2005 elections. It is also regrettable to witness that the storm lost its sweeping force in part due to the indecisive and vacillating opposition who failed to seize the moment and go ahead. The cost of removing Meles Zenawi from power is much lower than letting him to stay in power even for few months. After having survived the potentially destructive storm, Meles Zenawi has simply accelerated his paces of killings, imprisonments and secret dealings to give away our legal land to neighbours. Despite the survival of the regime of Meles Zenawi, an increasing number of Ethiopians are convinced of the fact that the era of ballots is over. Emboldened by the unconditional support he gets from the west and lack of domestic resistance, he is determined more than ever before to consolidate and perpetuate his dictatorial rule in the country.

Despite the repeated denials and dismissals, the regime of Meles Zenawi is encountering a chronic shortage of hard currency which is forcing the few foreign material dependent domestic manufacturing factories to halt production. The reality on the ground in Ethiopia shows that the acclaimed economic boom of Zenawi is actually a simple flattery of his cadres and beneficiaries. It is a bust which is causing a drastic fall in the standard of living of the vast majority of the population of the country. As one author has rightly noted, development aid has become Africa`s debilitating drug trapping the continent in its vicious cycle of corruption and poverty. Thus, the aid addicted Economy of the regime of Meles Zenawi is very vulnerable to the current global financial crisis and can collapse in a short span of time in the absence of the badly needed financial injections by his donors.

Ethiopia's famine: deny and delay

By René Lefort(renelefort@wanadoo.fr )

Millions of Ethiopians once again face misery and famine. Addis Ababa's desire to project an image of a new dynamic country has led to callous denial of the reality

In 2008 famine struck Ethiopia. Now, at the start of 2009 it is looming again. According to the “Humanitarian Requirements” released on 30 January 2009 by the government in Addis Ababa and their “Humanitarian Partners”, 13 million Ethiopians - one-sixth of the population - are in need of aid. For over 10 million of them the need is urgent. But food allocations have already been “tentatively cancelled” or reduced. Relief is inadequate, as it has continued to be since the food crisis began in early 2008. The effects of its initial denial and then its consistent underestimation, which turned local production shortages into humanitarian catastrophes, are still being felt.


But, exactly a year ago, there was an atmosphere of euphoria. Almost all international experts and the Ethiopian authorities were announcing that the autumn harvest (95% of the annual harvest) was 7% to 10% above the previous year’s. In 2008, it would therefore be possible, simultaneously, “to cover all the cereal requirements at the aggregate level,” increase Ethiopians’ average food ration by 20%, double food reserves, including the Emergency Food Security Reserve, and even export 800,000 tonnes. Simon Mechale, head of the Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Agency (DPPA), confirmed that the regime’s main promise was still on track. “Ethiopia will soon fully ensure its food security,” he said.

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To meet their promise, on top of the agricultural ‘boom’, the government and international donor organizations were convinced they also had a key weapon: the Productive Safety Net Programme (PSNP) - “the biggest social protection instrument in Africa”, which would break the “cycle of dependence on food aid”. Food aid offered temporary, one-off relief: providing its beneficiaries with the minimum to survive a shock, such as a poor harvest, but not enough to protect them from the next shock. Instead, the Safety Net targets the medium term development of eight million Ethiopians, the most chronically food insecure. By guaranteeing them a given amount of money or food for five years, in exchange for public works, they were supposed to build up enough productive assets in order to be able to overcome the shocks themselves.

But this arrangement was to collapse like a house of cards. On 9 April 2008, the Ethiopian government finally launched an appeal for emergency food assistance for 3.2 million Ethiopians. In less than three months, the number of those in need rose to over 12 million, swelled by the poor ‘lesser’ harvest, following the failure of the ‘little’ Spring rains of 2008. Officially.

The government endlessly repeated that it was facing a “minor problem” that would “be soon brought under control.” In reality it was completely overwhelmed, and its donors too. The Emergency Food Security Reserve, which was supposed to contain 400,000 tonnes, was almost empty. Three quarters of the beneficiaries of the Safety Net required emergency relief because they could not survive with their regular welfare assistance. There was a rush to raise funds and import food, but it would take at least three months to arrive. Reserves in the warehouses fell to a quarter of what was needed. In July 2008, the food ration was reduced by a third, then by half, for October and November. Despite a quadrupling in the value of humanitarian aid in 2008 compared to 2007, the emergency importation of 1.3 million tonnes of food in the first ten months of 2008, and the multiplication by seven of the number of Therapeutic Feeding Centers between the start of the crisis and September 2008, to service the world’s largest ever medical operation to save children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, the relief came too late and was too little to offset the largest human catastrophe since the famine of 1984/5, with its hundreds of thousands of deaths.

This failure was a result, first of all, of weaknesses in the early warning systems. For example, given Ethiopia’s rain-fed agriculture, failed rains forecast a poor harvest. But disruptions to the “main” summer rains of 2007 in the Highlands were not detected, notably along the Rift Valley, south-west of Addis Ababa, which would become the epicentre of the crisis. The same was true for the total absence of “lesser” rains at the end of 2007, specific to this area, with even more dramatic consequences. But, worse than neglecting these warning signs, which were visible since the end of the Summer of 2007, was the subsequent denial of increasingly serious signs of hunger.

“Famines do not occur in functioning democracies”, argues the Indian Nobel laureate in economics, Amartya Sen. The Ethiopian regime is diabolically good at cultivating appearances, while draining away any substance they may have had. The single party, which controls the State, is in the hands of the Tigrean minority, who make up 6% of the population. This ‘ethnicism’ undermines the regime’s legitimacy and obstructs any opening towards democracy, which might end this monopoly, as shown by the repression of the opposition after its breakthrough in the 2005 elections. This is one of the factors that rendered it incapable of playing its role as an opposing force, by sounding the alarm on a crisis that it saw coming, but was never able to quantify exactly. Since the international, and especially the national press, and even the ‘free press’, operate under strict surveillance, it cannot risk covering ‘sensitive’ subjects. The first reports of the drought in the Highlands only appeared in April 2008. No investigation has ever been published on the government’s reaction to the situation.

The regime’s authoritarianism also stems from a dual inheritance. The heritage of the ancestral Abyssinian identity, which is founded on a sense of respect for hierarchical authority. And also ‘democratic centralism’, which has remained the Party-State’s mode of organisation, a continuation of the Marxist-Maoist ideology that was the current leadership's religion until it took power in 1991.

Any hope of popular political support for the regime is therefore dead in the water. And the regime knows it. Its survival strategy can be summed up as attempting to compensate for its rejection by dazzling economic success, the famous “double digit growth” that it parades at every opportunity. This growth is supposed to validate the “Renaissance” of Ethiopia, which the regime celebrated with great pomp and ceremony as it entered the first year of the third millennium of its calendar, from September 2007 to September 2008. Destined to “become a middle income country in about 20 years”, Ethiopia would “never stretch our hands to beg for what we need, ever again.” To recognise the drought would therefore mean asking for aid, and to admit, with donors, that the Safety Net was failing, would be to admit that the economy was not performing quite as well as the regime was telling everyone. This was out of the question. Addissu Legesse, Deputy Prime Minister and in charge of rural development, said as much himself. When the international media and humanitarian organisations began to sound the alarm at the deepening crisis, he reproached them less for trying “to get huge assistance” than for being “intent on belittling the economic growth of the country.”

By culture as much as because of the system, in order to avoid being sanctioned for incompetence, every civil servant must therefore demonstrate that he is translating this dogma of growth into deeds, at his level, even if this means dressing up, or even denying reality.

This subservience of the civil service has effectively barred it from being among the first to sound the alarm at local level, even though it has outposts in every tiny hamlet in each of the 17,000 communes. When they realised that their harvest was bad, delegations of farmers called on the authorities for aid, as is customary. With one voice, local officials replied, “we don’t want to know. Sort it out yourselves!”

This same local government provides figures on food production, which are then “processed” and compiled by those higher up the hierarchy, forming the basis for most estimates of the size of the harvest and therefore of the humanitarian needs. The better-known estimates are put together at the end of every year by several Ethiopian departments and, among others, the FAO, WFP, European Union, and USAID. But, as underlined by a FAO/WFP report, “the agricultural officers are rewarded for (reported) increases in production.” This initial bias is then further exacerbated by two others - the political imperatives of those at the top of the Ethiopian political ladder and those of the donor organisations. Dressed up in a technical format that is supposed to make them look ‘scientific’, these assessments are more a translation of these forms of distortion, bitterly negotiated between the various imperatives, than they are a reflection of reality.

Proof of this was the announcement, in December 2007, of this “bumper harvest”, just as the country stood on the brink of famine. This led to an estimate of ‘only’ 2.4 million Ethiopians who would need emergency food relief, and became the figure that donor agencies agreed on, even though they knew it was an underestimate. But, for the first time, their final negotiations with the DPPA foundered: it refused to accept this figure. According to the negotiators, it put forward a single argument, a pure imposition of authority: “there cannot be so many people in need,” implying that it was not politically acceptable. As a result, the “Humanitarian Appeal”, traditionally launched a few weeks later by the government and donor organisations to set the humanitarian machine in motion, stayed on the desk. It continued to be blocked for the next four months. The main alarm signal had been stifled.

The DPPA stuck to its position. At the end of February 2008, slyly and alone, it published a document stating that 1.7 million people were in need of emergency aid, a figure barely above that of early 2007, and so politically acceptable. Above all, the DDPA was implying that Ethiopia could deal with the situation on its own, without international help.

Finally, in mid-March 2008, the Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, consecrated this denial, when he reported to Parliament on the economic situation. He only mentioned the drought in passing, saying that “rumours” about it were “false” and that it was “not a serious threat”. It only affected the Lowland pastures in the South, without causing any humans or cattle to die, even though local officials had just declared the opposite. There was nothing on the Highlands and, in particular, the Rift Valley. But officials knew full well that the rate of ‘severe acute malnutrition’ of children, a stage where the risk of mortality is very high without immediate medical intervention, was five times higher than the rate that triggers an emergency food relief operation, according to international standards. “When figures like this are reached,” say nutrition experts, “the harm has already been done, and children have long been dying of hunger.”

What exactly did Meles know then? Because of the regime’s lack of transparency, observers disagree. For some, he knew all about the crisis. Others are more circumspect: Meles was late in learning about the real scale of the famine because officials had been more or less hiding the facts. But, these observers emphasise, Meles was ultimately to blame, because he had been solely in charge for the past 17 years. However, his reading of one of the main effects of the drought - the highest rate of inflation in Africa after Zimbabwe - can only be deliberately false.

This, he said, only affected “low income urban dwellers”. Those living in rural areas, “85% of the population... [are] not affected by the price rise”. Yet everyone knows that half of the farmers have to buy food, because their own production does not cover all their needs, and a fifth of these have to purchase more than half of their food. From March 2007 to March 2008, the price of basic foodstuffs increased by about 50%, only to double in the following four months. In particular, at least four million beneficiaries of the Safety Net are paid in cash, but their daily payment was, in the end, only enough to provide a third of their family’s daily needs. Meles, with his administration behind him, left tens of millions of Ethiopians to fend for themselves, no longer able to afford the most common foods.

“Three or four months have been lost,” humanitarians and diplomats now say, in good faith and always off the record. But why was nothing said about it? “The situation was becoming serious,” some of them were to say later, “even if we didn’t size it up exactly. But there reigned a conspiracy of silence, whether tacit or deliberate”. Sometimes, even connivance. Visiting Addis Ababa a few days before the release of the first Humanitarian Requirements of 9 April 2008, Josette Sheeran, Executive Director of the WFP, whose local office knows the attitude of the Ethiopian authorities only too well, declared that “the government move in addressing the current food shortage… serves as a model.” It was necessary to wait for needs to be assessed, to decide “if it is appropriate or inappropriate to issue an (humanitarian) appeal,” even though these needs had been known for four months and had not stopped growing.

The Ethiopian government wielded an iron hand over humanitarian organisations and donor agencies, ensuring that they only acted within the official or tacit limits imposed upon them, following the whims of the current political agenda, even if this meant restricting, even distorting their activities, to the point of breaking with their own ethical principles; if not they could risk expulsion. Hence, among other things, an extreme form of self-censorship in order to remain always publicly in step with the official Ethiopian line, no matter how far from reality it may be, and, even more so, to refrain from any form of advocacy. Hence, also, the absolute refusal to go on the record. The International Red Cross was thrown out of one part of the Somali region in July 2007, accused, without evidence, of having waged a “smear campaign against the regional government” by feeding, off the record, English-language media with information on the government’s demands.

With one exception, all the aid organisations, governmental or not, decided to stay on, whatever the price to be paid. Following an institutional logic, they felt they had to be present in one of the principal fields of humanitarian action on the planet. Out of responsibility for the people they were helping, and only too aware that the Ethiopian government would know how to make them appear responsible for “abandoning them”, if they were to leave. And for some major UK and American NGOs and most of the United Nations agencies, to align themselves with the diplomats. “If they are going hand in hand with the regime,” said members of these agencies, “it is above all to fit in with a political agenda.” The major powers, led by the USA, refrained from any substantial criticism and, above all, any tangible sanctions against a regime that they credit with ensuring the country’s stability - an exception in a highly tormented Horn of Africa. Mainly, in a mainly Islamic region, traversed by currents of extremism, Ethiopia, where nearly half of the population are Christians, is their “strategic ally” in the “war on terror”. Finally, in early 2008, these leading countries felt themselves all the more indebted to this regime, given that they were not providing the support it had counted on for its intervention in Somalia, even when that turned into a disaster. So, the expected relationship between donors and recipients is inverted, and the former become obliged to the latter.

Only Douglas Alexander, the British Minister for International Development, dared publicly to condemn the attitude of the Ethiopian regime vis-à-vis the food crisis, by calling it one of “deny and delay”. But it drew absolutely no response outside or inside the country. For example, five months later, Gordon Brown has invited Meles Zenawi to participate in the G20 London meeting next month, albeit in his capacity as Chairman of NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa’s Development). Inside the country, if an Ethiopian elite knew about this condemnation, it lacked any precise supporting information. If investigations into the mortality rate were carried out, they were never published. We have no idea of the number of victims claimed by this famine. Tens of thousands?

Rightly or wrongly, Emperor Haile Selassie personifies the disdain of his regime for the famine of 1973/4, which claimed 200,000 deaths. He was overthrown a few months later. By deliberately ignoring the famine of 1984/5, in case it took away the sheen of the tenth anniversary of the socialist Derg junta’s accession to power and the concomitant creation of the Worker’s Party of Ethiopia, Mengistu Haile Mariam signed the beginning of its end. But there is no sign that the famine of 2008 will trigger a similar movement.

Whatever the arguments, the number of victims is out of all proportion to the previous two famines. Those responsible are harder to identify because its origins are more systemic and more diffuse. The silence of international organisations and diplomats, if not their connivance, are also contributing factors. But, by exposing the flaws of economic development, and by plunging millions of Ethiopians into famine, this crisis is further discrediting the regime in the eyes of the people. And above all, the international community, which finally recognises that, day by day, the facts refute the regime’s claim that Ethiopia is an “emerging democracy”, is also beginning to doubt what it considered the country’s major achievement: the economic success the regime is endlessly boasting of.

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René Lefort has been writing about sub-saharan Africa since the 1970s and has reported on the region for Le Monde, Le Monde diplomatique, Libération, Le Nouvel Observateur. He is the author of "Ethiopia. An heretical revolution?" (1982, Zed books).

Yes, "information is power"

By Adugnaw Worku, Prof.

Have you ever wondered why dictators spend sleepless nights scheming and conniving on how to keep their people in the dark and go all out to censor magazines and newspapers, block websites, and jam radio broadcasts?

The short answer is that they do so because they know the power of information and they fear their people to have such power. Dictators do two things simultaneously; they block out alternative sources of information and then engage in misinformation and disseminate pure propaganda. They exercise zero tolerance for diverse viewpoints and inconvenient truths and persecute those who bear such truths. The Bible says, “You shall know the truth and the truth will make you free”. When people are well informed and have knowledge at their disposal, they become difficult to control. And it is not by accident that dictatorial regimes target their educated citizens and harass and persecute them mercilessly until they submit, or kill them outright if they continue to resist.
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I was once watching a whale and dolphin show and I heard the trainer say, “the more intelligent the animal the harder it is to train." Animal training relies on control and behavior modification and some animals are too intelligent to submit to mindless and repetitive orders. So, the trainer resorts to tricks, bribes, and brain washing. Eventually, the animal submits and follows its trainer’s orders. Dictators use exactly the same tactics to control their citizens and add considerable coercive power to their arsenal to force compliance and submission. When tricks, bribery, and brain washing don’t work, dictators resort to blackmail, harassment, intimidation, and relentless persecution to break the individual’s God-given free will. Sadly, they often succeed and herd human beings like sheep with an iron fist.

The free flow of information and the dissemination of knowledge pose imminent danger to the power of dictators. Hence, they exercise strict monopoly of the mass media and ensure that their subjects hear and read only the officially pre-filtered propaganda. This practice is an old trick in politics and it is as if all dictators attend the same school to learn it. The technology of censorship has evolved through the years but its philosophy and practice have remained remarkably constant.

According to Ralph Waldo Emerson, Napoleon Bonaparte feared the power of the pen much more than the power of the gun. Napoleon is reported to have said, “If I were to give the liberty of the press, my power could not last three days." Matthew Lesro said, “Those who control information are the most powerful people on the planet”. Yes indeed! People who monitor, manage, and censor the contents of information have the most potent power in their hands.

My interest in this subject was triggered by a recent report in Ethiopian Review, Ethiomedia, and Ethioforum regarding the unblocking of previously blocked websites in Ethiopia. The report was too good to be true and in fact it was. Websites considered critical of the Ethiopian government were apparently blocked once again within a few days of the original report. And the information blackout continues unabated. But if there is a will, there is a way. There is at least one technology dictators in Third World countries have not been able to control yet. And that technology is television broadcasting via satellite downlink. It is estimated that there are millions of satellite dishes in Ethiopia today. And these satellite dishes are found not only in Addis Ababa but also in other cities around the country.

Apparently, our people in Ethiopia are able to watch BBC, CNN, and even Eritrean Television in the privacy of their homes. If the Ethiopian government had the capability to block satellite downlinks, they most definitely would have blocked Eritrean Television. But the simple fact is that the Ethiopian government can’t block such systems. And this brings me to the most important point of this article.

For those who may not know, there is an Ethiopian television service called Ethiopian Television Network, ETN for short. This television service is poised to play a critical role in broadcasting its programs directly to Ethiopia via satellite downlink and will do so free of charge to those in Ethiopia. It also has the capability to broadcast to a worldwide Ethiopian audience using streaming technology. And anyone living anywhere can access ETN’s current and archived programs 24 hours and seven days a week using high speed Internet. This ambitious television network has multiple channels covering business news, current affairs, religious programs, documentaries, entertainment, diet and health, children’s programs, society and culture, sport, and much more. For those in the Diaspora, it is a home away from home. And for those in Ethiopia, it will be source of reliable information at no cost.

Visitors form Ethiopia and elderly parents and relatives who stay at home all alone and all day will love watching Ethiopian Television Network. They can choose the channel they want to watch and listen to the programs in their own language as well as enjoy the company of their people on TV. You have no idea what this means to them. When my aunt came to the United States, I turned ETN on for her and she was absolutely delighted. She watched the religious channels more than any other, but she also enjoyed watching drama, comedy, documentary, and music. For just US$10 a month, this is the best gift you can give to those Ethiopians in the Diaspora who stay at home alone.

As far as broadcasting to Ethiopia is concerned, here is the deal and the punch line. In order to broadcast to Ethiopia, ETN needs a minimum of 5,000 subscribers. It costs only US$10 a month to subscribe and anyone from anywhere in the world can subscribe if they have high speed Internet access. It is that simple. The technology is ready to go and the program is already in place. For further information, you may go to ouretn.com and check it out for yourself. You may also ask all the questions you have and they will be answered to your satisfaction. And the best way to do that is to contact ETN directly.

Ethiopian Television Network is an independent entity with no affiliation to any other organization, political or otherwise. Its mission is to serve Ethiopians at home and abroad by providing fair, truthful, and balanced programs. And its guiding principles are Ethiopia’s unity and the wellbeing of all her citizens. ETN is committed to promoting equality, justice, the rule of law, freedom, human rights, development, education, and much more. It will be a voice for the voiceless and a vanguard for truth against misinformation and censorship.

Finally, I would like to end with a personal note. I have subscribed to Ethiopian Television Network and I am enjoying its programs. I also contribute programs for broadcast every week and find great satisfaction in doing what I can to further the cause of our proud history, our rich culture, and enduring values. In addition, I have agreed to serve on ETN’s governing board. Before I agreed to serve on this board, I made sure that it is free from hidden agendas and divisive tactics. And to the best of my knowledge, I am glad to say that ETN is independent and transparent and has no strings attached to a third party behind the scene. I joined the board determined to contribute to the fulfillment of its lofty and worthy goals.

I would like to invite you to subscribe and make it a robust television service for us and for our children. This television network relies primarily on subscriptions and advertisements and the Diaspora Ethiopian community can play a pivotal role to make it successful and accessible to our people in Ethiopia. I and other board members are willing to answer any questions from anyone and answer them truthfully and completely. The bottom line is this: There is no hidden agenda or mysterious motive other than the desire to provide badly needed service whose time has come. Television is a powerful tool and we have it now. No human organization is perfect and ETN is no exception. But it is an organization that is willing to learn and grow. And together, we can make it strong and vibrant to make a difference.

Let us empower our people with free, fair, and reliable information and stand with them in their fight for freedom and justice. Two hundred years ago, the founders of the United States of America encapsulated what every human being feels and believes deep in his/her heart by saying, “We take these truths to be self-evident. That all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” May God grasp Ethiopia’s outstretched hand and grant her better days ahead so that all her children will be able to enjoy life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

Ethiopia needs no more puppets

By Abebe Gellaw

The latest drama in Meles Zenawi’s parliament has brought sharper focus on the arrogance of the boss once again. A member of the rubber stamp parliament asked the despot about the human cost of invading neighbouring Somalia. Meles was clearly annoyed and told the “parliament” that the gentlemen and ladies assembled in the big hall need not know the figures. He chided them like children that he is not obliged to disclose such information. In other words, he told them that they are just his puppets and he is not answerable to any of them. None of them!
As a matter of fact, Meles knows full well that the constitution, which apears to have been written on paper to impress Western donors, clearly stipulates that “the House of People’s Representatives is the highest authority of the federal government. [Art. 50 (3)] Article 54 (4) even declares that members of the house are representatives of the Ethiopian people. “They are governed by the constitution, the will of the people and their conscience.”

Because this is one of the biggest lies contained in the so-called constitution, Meles did not have to respect any of the provisions. So he practically said, "You are not here to ask me any inconvenient questions. Period!” It is fair to say that the tyrant was right. This is not a real parliament, so why does he have to bother about answering a question that any member of the public is normally entitled to know. It is an extraordinary time, under an extraordinary ruler.

Click on 'Read More.' As far as Meles is concerned, parliament, cabinet, ethnic parties and organizations which have been created or controlled by himself and his cronies are all full of talking Muppets, teddy bears and all kinds of dolls that have no serious roles other than repeating whatever he utters and serving his sick fetish of power and repressive ego. His puppets, despite being given different titles like Minister, Ambassador, Commissioner or Speaker of Parliament can’t tell the truth, raise any serious questions or lodge complaints about anything. The deal is simple. Take it or leave it! Their job is not telling the truth but contradicting it.

A couple of weeks ago, Shitaye Minale, the Deputy Speaker of the nominal parliament was out and about in connection with March 8, the International Women’s day, to give talks about women rights. According to Walta, Shitaye said that the role of women in leadership and decision making was improving through time and cited the rise in the number of women parliamentarians from only 12 to 117 as a success. It is an open secret though that neither Teshome Toga nor Madam deputy speaker have real power except enforcing the will of the tyrant, who is the one who really makes and unmakes any laws. But Shitaye called on women to actively engage in the “democratization process.” As a puppet legislator without legislative right, Shitaye and her likes have no inkling about democracy or the rule of law. The puppets are not actually bothered about democracy, liberty or rule of law as they are only employed by the despot to pull the wool over our eyes. Surely, selling out ones dignity and rights to serve tyranny is far from a democratic system where lawmakers have a power to remove rulers like Meles who abuse their power, oppress and brutalize the masses.

During the Mengistu era, public officials could hardly make a speech in public without quoting the “Great Revolutionary Leader.” Every little speech used to be spiced up with the tyrant’s quotes and in extreme cases anecdotes of Comrade Mengistu. A junior official was once said to have sneezed while chairing a meeting where Mengistu was in attendance. “Bless you!” said someone in the crowd. Filled with anger and passion, the official retorted, “That is anti-revolution! No one but our Great Revolutionary Leader is gracious and merciful.” Everyone in the whole was wondering how to react as there was no correlation between his sneezing and what he said about the great leader. Suddenly, the dictator smiled nodding his head in approval. Then the rest of the crowd sprung up out of their seats and gave the speaker a standing ovation. The next day the opportunist official was appointed a cabinet minister. This may be a joke but it isn’t surely far-fetched in Ethiopian politics as there are still so many sycophants who are behaving in the same way.

Ambrose Bierce, author of the Devil’s Dictionary, defines a sycophant as “one who approaches greatness on his belly so that he may not be commanded to turn and be kicked.” How many competent ministers, ambassadors, mayors and commissioners, who are consciously serving no one but their country and the people, can we count? Among the most famous Zenawi’s celebrity puppets, the Ethiopian people are forced to watch on TV, who are real officials with real power? Who were the real officials who have earned their positions as a result of their hard work and competence? Could it be President Girma, who should have retired long ago; “Deputy Prime Minister” Addisu Legese, “Mayor” Kuman Demeksa, Teshome Toga, Shitaye Minale, Abadulla Gemeda, Girma Biru, Birhan Hailu, Tefera Walwa…Genet Zewdie, Dawit Yohannes , Samuel Assefa?....

In spite of the fact that we have counted over seventeen years since the demise of the Derg, autocratic rule is still in place. Every government official repeats whatever tyrant Zenawi says without making any efforts to reconcile his empty rhetoric with the reality. On many occasions he claimed that women were being empowered and cited the increasing number of women in ‘parliament’ as a success story. Not only that he has been telling the nation every now and then that ethnic diversity in his cabinet symbolizes equality of “nation and nationalities.” He also likes reminding us that the creation of nine “ethnic states” epitomizes the decentralization of power, a transition from a unitary state to a bona fide federalism.

“A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves,” said Edward Morrow [1908-1965], an American broadcaster. That seems exactly our problem. Ethiopia is surely a nation of sheep. The meek people live in abject poverty thanking God for creating them in a “blessed country.” On the contrary, the succeeding governments have always been filled with wolves who have no regard and worries about the suffering of the masses who die in millions due to starvation and all kinds of diseases.

There are two kinds of political prisoners in Ethiopia. There are those who have willingly sold out their conscience, freedom and dignity in a bid to “approach greatness on their belly.” But there are those who have ended up in jails and dungeons because the have stood up against injustice and brutality. Birtukan Mideksa had a better chance than most willing prisoners of conscience to become the tyrant’s nominal minister, ambassador, commissioner or supreme court judge. But she never wanted to be a puppet, submissive to tyranny and injustice.

It seems to me that Meles Zenawi’s stooges should never take offense if anyone calls them a puppets and muppets. They need to liberate themselves first before preaching about democracy and rule of law. Only in the past few weeks, Teshome Toga and Weizero Shitaye helped the tyrant impose laws that forbid NGOs from receiving over 10 per cent their budget from foreign sources. Any local NGOs that receive over 10 percent of their budget are regarded as foreign NGOs. Under the new law, no NGO will be allowed to talk about democracy and human rights. They have also passed a law further curtailing the right to free speech.

Nonetheless, the Meles regime survives on beggary. It is a regime that receives a significant portion of its operating budget, per diem and hotel expenses from donors. If we apply the logic they used to cripple NGOs that have made a great deal of difference, the Meles regime is a foreign government ruling unfortunate Ethiopia. So when will this hypocritical foreign government that has ignored the realities facing Ethiopia will pack and go?

That ancient fossil called Lucy has done the nation a great favour than any of the tyrant’s puppets. She is currently touring the US promoting Ethiopia as a cradle of mankind. By any standard, Lucy the fossil has benefited Ethiopia much better than Meles Zenawi’s talking Muppets and puppets. While Lucy doesn’t claim a penny for the wonderful job she has been doing, it costs the poor Ethiopian taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars a year to feed, clothe, entertain and send the puppets around the world to represent the tyrant at every little workshop around the world.

Who owns the rubber stamp parliament or cabinet? To be fair to tyrant, the answer is simple; Meles Zenawi. But we need to have sympathy to a few MPs who were elected but never wished to be in that house when they realize the depressing state of pseudo-democracy.

The only way to end the reign of succeeding dictators and servile puppets is to pave the way for the emergence of a responsible democratic government that is accountable to the people. As Abraham Lincoln once said: “Government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.” That is the only solution.

We need public servants who will fight for Ethiopians at large, promote our national interests and work hard to pull the nation out of abject poverty and the cycle of hopelessness. We are tired of puppet shows. We need no more puppets, please!

A case from my childhood memory

By Maru Gubena, PhD-info@pada.nl

Ethiopian Socio-Cultural Rules Require Fundamental Change: A Case from my Bag of Childhood Memories

It is in fact not difficult to provide multiple examples of Ethiopian socio-cultural rules that contain negative connotations, and which have been partly or fully responsible for molding the unaccommodating and unproductive attitudes of the members of Ethiopian society. These socio-cultural rules are also obviously responsible for our dysfunctional behaviours, which continue to be a permanent impediment to the process of democratization and to a free flow of ideas and views among individuals. It is therefore my sincere hope that we, concerned Ethiopians, will be willing to do everything that is in our capacity to selectively and collectively fight against the bad side of our socio-cultural values and norms, to realize the required structural transformation.


Here, for the purpose of clarity, I have chosen to address just a single aspect among the many cultural patterns of Ethiopian’s socio-cultural norms: the negative use of the adjective “woregna.” I consider this to be an enemy for a great part of Ethiopian society – an impediment to the development of free mindsets. With the intention of producing a readable text, this true story drawn from the bag of my childhood memories will be employed to illustrate the central, complex issues – issues that have lacked the required attention. As is known, there are also enormous differences in the meaning of the term of “woregna.” The larger Ethiopian society tends to employ this word to describe individuals in a negative way: people who make trouble by stepping outside the social norms. The usage within a family household is quite different. When parents use the term “woregna,” it is intended to protect children and other family members from the judgments of outsiders by discouraging acting too talkative or curious; the usage may feed into the social norms, but it is not at all negative. It can even be an expression of joy and the love of a mother for her laughing, happy child who constantly calls to her, asking so many exciting and even tiring questions. The subsequent pages reflect real and affectionate mother-child relations.

Click on 'Read More.' As can possibly be agreed the way a particular society interprets behaviours described by terms like “curiosity” and “fascination” – and whether these are seen as positive or negative attributes for individuals to possess – depends largely on the socio-cultural values, norms and attitudes that have been framed, molded, shaped and reshaped within the members of that particular society. Being curious, or having a fervent desire to enthusiastically and creatively engage in observation and discussion, in an attempt to uncover and understand the world – and in this case the socio-cultural, and economic relations among people – is seen as an extraordinary talent in modern societies, especially those that are technologically developed; such societies may give people with this talent a special socio-economic status. The same applies to the enormous curiosity and enthusiasm shown by individuals who make vigorous efforts to clearly perceive and understand the processes and course of events in a given society, the socio-cultural influences on behaviors and interactions, the presence or absence of talents and capacities among individuals, and the huge gaps due to inequalities among the members of society.

Regrettably, Ethiopia is an example of a culture in which the most dynamic individuals – those who make every possible effort, as energetically and tirelessly as possible, and who employ every available tool in an effort to uncover are not seen in a positive light, even today. Individuals who are open minded and able to uncover, observe and understand the socio-economic relations, relative positions and interactions among individuals in our society are not only perceived negatively, but are actively discouraged from asking sensible, far-reaching questions: they are characterized as, even accused of, being “woregna,” as presented in the subsequent pages, “The True Story of the Rich Lady and the Mules of Fogera: Sharing my Childhood Memories.”


The True Story of the Rich Lady and the Mules of Fogera: Sharing my Childhood Memories

Although not in the same sense as in today’s modern politics, even as child in Fogera, where I was born, and since, I think, age six, I have always been fascinated by politics, human interactions, human behaviours and socio-economic inequalities among the people within Ethiopian society. In my recollection, even at an early age I was sometimes invited by elderly people to tell them “wores” – stories that are exciting, deep and meaningful. Other times, however, I was described as being a good “woregna,” a storyteller. Although my mother, Mazash Bykedagn – the mother of four girls and three boys, who was always happy and looking young and beautiful, with an elegant, sexy appearance and body structure despite being the mother of seven children – never liked it when I was called woregna by others, she herself used to say or even to shout at me “I have told you time and again not to be so woregna, and certainly not to talk everywhere and to everyone, even with people we don’t know, who are not related to us.” My father was hardly at home. He was always busy with his court cases and court sessions, mostly in Addis Zemen. It was probably due to the beauty of my mother that my paternal grandmother was never happy and comfortable whenever my mother spoke of or got ready to go alone to Woreta, or even to the nearest markets. In the early years of the 1960s, Woreta was a very small town where my mother and other people in our region did their business, especially on Saturday. My mother was not only beautiful, but she was also wise and most conciliatory with both family members and friends. She therefore made every possible effort to avoid anything that would hurt my grandmother, whose house was almost attached to ours. So as a compromise with my grandmother, and also because I was the last and favorite child of my parents, my mother almost always took me with her wherever she went, which was mostly to Woreta.

During these many and most memorable journeys, much to the irritation of my mother, I was always staring at the various people who were walking or riding on mules along with us on the road to Woreta. I mostly watched their behaviour and listened to their talk. In my recollection, the great majority of Fogeries – about 90 to 95 percent – made their journeys to Woreta on foot. Others traveled on mules or donkeys – a good number of them carrying guns. My mother and I used to go to Woreta on foot, with no sticks or guns. It was not unusual for me in the middle of our journey to ask my mother as lovingly as possible to stop walking and listen to me – to my questions. “My Tati, I want you to stop for me. I want to ask you something!” As my relationship with my mother had always been very close and affectionate, her responses to my sometimes sensible but often nonsensical, childish and bothersome questions, was always carefully, wisely and lovingly crafted. While looking closely at me and smiling affectionately, as always, she would ask: “what is it Hode? What do you want to tell me, Hodeye? Okay, tell me. I am listing to you, Yeni Fiker – my love.” “Why do some people travel on mules or donkeys, and others on foot? And why are some men carrying guns?” My mother looked at me with surprise and irritation as well, and, holding my hand firmly, said: “is this the reason you asked me to stop my walk and listen to you, my woregna? Is this what you want to ask me, Hode? What is interesting about this, and why is it your concern? I really don’t want to hear any more of your nonsense questions” my mother would say, harshly, decisively and in the most uncompromising terms, holding my left hand in her right and dragging me forcefully to continue our journey.

During those memorable days and long, tiring journeys, there were even more remarkable events to be observed – events that I used to find enormously fascinating. Consequently, I quite often stood still, remaining far behind my mother, while looking at those men and women who rode on mules – to the point that my mother would get so mad at me that she would give me a smack, quite often on my buttocks and sometimes even my face. It was not just the men and women on the mules who were so fascinating to me, but rather, the two, three or sometime four poor guys – I am not sure whether they were a kind of slave, or servants or permanently employed bodyguards – of the individuals riding on mules. Each of them carried a gun and ran on foot to the left or right of the mules and at the same speed. Since I had no one to ask – asking my mother would certainly bring me another, even harsher smack – I was most often left alone to wonder, asking myself “how on earth can those poor guys go on foot, running for hours at the same speed as the mules, carrying guns all the while, until they reach their final destination?” In particular there was one lady, said to be a descendant of a warrior family in our region. She was extremely rich, with extensive lands in many parts of Fogera. This rich lady was also said to own an enormous number of cattle, five or more modern houses in Woreta, and to have many servants and bodyguards. Everyone was able to see this lady riding on her mule along our way to Woreta, guarded by her five servants or bodyguards, all of them carrying guns; but I was, I think, the only one who stared at her with particular interest and fascination. Since the entire body of the rich lady, except her face and feet, was usually entirely covered by her Ethiopian traditional clothes, no one could recognize her. Those who felt compelled by the traditional social code of laws, norms and values of Fogera to salute the rich lady could only have identified her by recognizing her mule and her five servants or bodyguards.

I had seen the face of the rich lady more than twice before; she was in fact beautiful, even though not as beautiful and elegant as my mother. Much to my embarrassment, once she saw me staring at her and said, with a lovely smile, something like “did you manage to discover what is interesting in me, my Konjo woregna – my lovely curious boy?” Of course, as anyone can imagine, I was embarrassed that she could see that I was constantly looking at her and that I was, in her eyes too, a good woregna.

One early afternoon, when my mother and I were in Woreta and my mother was busy shopping or buying some Lamba, coffee, salt and so on, I immediately saw the rich lady on her mule, just arriving in the market with her five servants or bodyguards. Among her five poor guys I saw two lifting the rich lady from the back of the mule down to the ground. I ran to her at high speed – to the rich lady. The rich lady of Fogera looked at me and asked, “are you here again today, my Konjo boy? “Yes, but why are those guys always carrying guns and running along with your mule on foot while you are sitting very comfortably on the mule? Why don’t they too have mules, like you?” I confronted the rich lady. And while the rich lady was still staring at me and at her bodyguards, I went on to ask her bodyguards as well. “Why do you guys run without stopping over such a long distance, carrying guns and with the same speed as the mule?” The servants or bodyguards, who did not know how to answer my questions, remained silent, just looking at their boss – the rich lady.

While I was spellbound, awaiting the response of the rich lady to my questions, but when the rich lady just began to open her mouth, saying something like “well….”, my mother who had been searching everywhere for me, saw me standing there, having a heated conversation with the rich lady and her bodyguards. As usual, and as could have been expected, my mother became furious with me. To make the situation worse, the rich lady told my mother that I was asking some “silly” questions; she felt that I was accusing her of doing something bad to her bodyguards. She also told my mother she had the feeling that I was too woregna. As one can imagine, due to my temporary disappearance from my mother’s side as well as for having hurt the feelings of the rich lady, I got two or three of the biggest smacks on my face that I had ever had from my Tati – my mother. While I cried, my mother held my hand firmly and pulled me closer and closer to her, as she apologized to the rich lady and asked for her forgiveness.

The above account is an obvious illustration of some patterns of Ethiopian socio-cultural values and norms that have, knowingly or unknowingly, been constructed to constantly discourage children from asking sensible, far-reaching questions. These repressive socio-cultural rules place excessive limits on our capacity for communication as adults – our ability to freely express ourselves. Yes, we are taught not to be open minded; instead we must be exceptionally quiet, calm and secretive, to the point that most of us are unable to make the effort needed to distinguish between what precisely should be regarded as a secret and what should not. For example, we have been brought up not to disclose household or family matters to outsiders or even to close and helpful friends and colleagues – even the fact that a family member or a partner is traveling to London or Atlanta to attend a social or political gathering is seen as a secret, although in most Western cultures and circumstances this would be seen as something that could be disclosed. Unfortunately, however, the majority of Ethiopians still believe such matters should not be disclosed except to immediate family members, probably due to fear of information getting to the wrong people or other unknown consequences, or to avoid being accused of “woregna.” It is clear that a disproportionate portion of Ethiopian society prefers shyness, closeness and secretiveness above openness and healthy, constructive communications. In addition, it is undeniably true that, in accord with our socio-cultural values and norms, talking or writing openly about vital issues related to our sexual behaviours and interactions are strictly forbidden. Not only are many of Ethiopia’s socio-cultural values and norms contrary to the modern socio-cultural and democratic values and norms that we badly wish to see implemented in our country, but also they harm us ourselves, the general population of Ethiopia, most of all. This unfortunate influence will continue to shape the attitudes of future generations, unless urgent actions and measures are undertaken by all concerned Ethiopians in an effort to modify or transform the current situation and arrive at more accommodative socio-cultural values and norms.



• The above short text was written in mid summer 2007, when both the actual climate in the western world and the political temperature within the Ethiopian Diaspora community were too hot, either to engage in the much desired work or to interact positively and freely with our politically active Diaspora compatriots. Consequently, even though the issues discussed in this article are not just educational (and remain current), but also most enjoyable to read and quite fascinating, it was not widely published when it was originally written and did not receive the attention the story deserves. Now, as more opportunities seem to have been created, I feel fortunate to be able to once again present this text to my readers.

Ethno-racism endangering national unity

By Abebe Gelaw
In the majority of modern nation-states, even in today’s South Africa, where Apartheid had once caused so much damage and pain, discrimination is illegal. But in present-day Ethiopia, which has become one of the most anomalous nations in the world, ethno-racism is rampant and highly institutionalized. Under the leadership of Meles Zenawi, which came to power promising equality and freedom, Ethiopians are not encouraged to preserve their common values, history and bonds that unite them as citizens of one nation. Unfortunately, the ethno-fascist regime ruling Ethiopia has deliberately created a fertile ground for ethnic discrimination and hostilities to thrive in a bid to implement its myopic divide and rule policies. Discrimination based on ethnic origin and political views is commonplace in workplaces, schools, the army, public services, businesses and even in embassies abroad.

In the last seventeen years, the TPLF has systematically broken apart the fabrics of our nation. It has been summarily firing competent civil servants including judges and university professors using various pretexts and replaces them with incompetent and incoherent cadres that loudly claim to be ethnic liberators. It jails, maims, kills and drives dissidents into exile.

Click on 'Read More.' Even amongst the so-called “ethnic liberators” there are those in the first class, the real chosen ones with real power and there are those who have been wilfully reduced to servile puppets organised under fake ethnic liberation fronts such as the Oromo People’s Democratic Organisation [OPDO], Amhara National Democratic Movement [ANDM] and South Ethiopian Peoples’ Democratic Front [SEPDF]. The puppet liberation fronts such as OPDO and ANDM have been created and co-opted to give the ethno-fascist “Tigrian front”, the rising monopolistic capitalist, a semblance of a national liberation movement.

The truth of the matter is that Meles Zenawi and his cronies are masterminds of a highly discriminatory system. Right at the top of the political apparatus, you find someone who calls himself “Prime Minister of Ethiopia.” And yet, the Prime Minister and his closest cronies, who were supposed to serve all Ethiopians equally regardless of their ethnic, cultural, social or linguistic backgrounds, are still leaders of the TPLF, an ethno-fascist group they claim to be a vanguard party of Tigray. Within the TPLF, the selected few, members of the central committee and polite bureau handpicked by the tyrant, are the people who are the shakers and movers carving out the Ethiopian tragedy, for the present and future generations.

It is with a great deal of pride that Meles and his cronies convene their exclusive ethnic conferences, create puppet ethnic liberation fronts for other linguistic and cultural groups, organise parties and telethons while professing to be advocates of equality. Even worse, the TPLF has been running illegal business empires that have preferential treatment, endowment status, import and export commodities tax free, win government contracts and bids with almost no contest, pay no penny in tax and do not even repay the loans they take out from the nation’s banks. This is true and well documented but nobody has a power to investigate such illegal and discriminatory operations. Though they declare that ethnic groups are now equal and aim to undo historical injustices of the past, what the TPLF is doing is far worse than the crimes of Mengistu’s brutal military junta and the ancient imperial regime.

Discrimination hurts

The recent confrontation between fanatic operatives of the TPLF in London and other Ethiopians is a clear testimony to the fact that the ruling elite has been determined to export its discriminatory policies to wherever Ethiopians go. In London, the paid TPLF operatives are well-organised and even run a host of businesses, unregistered hawala services and own a string of properties to fund their illegal operations while the majority of them live rent free on state benefits weeping in pretence that they are political dissidents tortured by the very regime they are serving with utmost loyalty. They intimidate, harass, bug and attack anyone who has been voicing their concerns over the gross human rights violations being perpetrated by the regime. I personally have witnessed their rogue behaviour as I had a couple of encounters with the TPLF thugs in London who threatened and harassed me, but to no avail, for being a critic of the Meles regime.

At the heart of the dispute in the evening of March 19, 2009, was a discriminatory meeting called at the Ethiopian embassy, which was supposed to serve all Ethiopian citizens without any forms of discrimination. The speaker was Minister of Information [renamed Communication Affairs Minister] Bereket Simon, Meles Zenawi’s gift to the people of Amhara. Interestingly enough, Bereket, who is known much better for his anti-Amhara rhetoric than being an Amhara liberator, is a long time leader of the Amhara National Democratic Movement. But the man is an Amhara-hater who neither enjoys communicating in Amharic nor claims to be an Amhara, as it is an open secret that he is of Eritrean parentage. His ethnic background would not have mattered if the man had had a little respect for Ethiopia, its history and most importantly the people he loves to hate. Thanks to the video and photographic evidence posted on the Internet via Abbay Media, it was amazing to watch a handful of TPLF operatives blocking and preventing other ordinary Ethiopian citizens from entering their embassy. The incident was not the fist of its kind. It happened on so many occasions in the past. What makes this one a bit different was the shameul discrimination was captured on video and well substantiated with multimedia evidence. So many legitimate questions can arise from the incident? The first and the most fundamental one is, whose embassy is it anyway? Is it owned by TPLF operatives or the poor taxpayers of Ethiopia? That leads to many related questions. Why does the embassy and the expert liar and reality-denier, Berhanu Kebede, organise discriminatory meetings in the first place? Who gave the authority and the mandate to the TPLF operatives, the majority of them were supposed to be avowed dissidents of the regime as they are likely to have filed in their bogus asylum claims, to illegally block, harass, manhandle and intimidate fellow citizens at the entrance of the embassy? Can the embassy justify the reasons why ordinary citizens were barred from attending a public meeting where a “Minister” was speaking about economic and political situations in their country of birth? Why do the TPLF operatives and spies assemble in embassy premises at the expense of the poor people of Ethiopia? Do those who have been discriminating against fellow citizens realize the fact that they have been breaking anti-discrimination and human rights laws in the UK? Are the embassy and the TPLF gangs aware of the fact that those Ethiopians and British citizens who have been harassed and discriminated against have substantial evidence to take legal actions?

What constitutes discrimination?

I believe the majority of Ethiopian refugees living in the UK are aware of the fact that the British justice system, unlike the no-justice system in Zenawi’s Ethiopia, takes any substantiated allegations seriously.

According to the Race Relations Act 1976, direct discrimination occurs when “a person treats and discriminates against another person less favorably on the grounds of colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin.” [See 1(1) a and 3(1)] If the qualification for attending a public meeting, not a secret meeting in the Bahamas as some have mistakenly reported, at the Ethiopian embassy that concerns all Ethiopians is ethnic origin, that falls under direct discrimination. If the Ethiopian embassy in London has come up with a criterion of allowing in only those whose height is above 1.6 meter, it would be indirect discrimination disfavoring shorter citizens. But in this case, what happened was a leader of the TPLF-engineered “Amhara National Democratic Movement” was speaking in the Ethiopian embassy to the selected ones, excluding other Ethiopians including Amharas that the minister was supposed to “liberate.” This is outright racism that benefits neither the ‘privileged’ TPLF operatives nor those who were hurt and disappointed for being excluded and discriminated against.

It seems that TPLF members are confused and disillusioned. Encouraged by the ethno-fascist TPLF, many members of this cancerous and racist group think that they must control everything including embassies. But what must be made clear to them, the kinds of discriminatory policies that their ethnic front has adopted in Ethiopia is only a recipe to future disasters and tragedies.

Rejecting ethnic discrimination

Tragedies of biblical proportion such as the Nazi-orchestrated genocides, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur pogroms have left shameful scars on the face of humanity. They never happened overnight. They were results of simmering ethnic and racial discrimination and the resultant hostilities that erupted like volcanoes. Equality should be real, freedom must be unfettered.

The tyrants must stop their evil project of dividing Ethiopians and fanning hatred and hostilities among the poor people of Ethiopia which can have far-reaching consequences than the short term gain of divide and conquer or divide and rule tactics. Everywhere, at home and in exile, Ethiopians have been ethnically divided and the level of ethnic hostilities in increasing day by day. But we cannot afford another devastating cycle of ethnic hostilities and conflicts that can engulf the entire nation.

We cannot simply afford the consequences of discrimination and hostilities! Let us treat each other as Ethiopian citizens. Supporters of the ethno-fascist regime have no reason to feel superior and treat the fellow countrymen as second and third class citizens.

Let us all reject the Meles regime whose modus operandi is discrimination on grounds of ethnicity and political views. It is widely known that TPLF is an ethno-fascist group, committing genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and gross human rights violations. The fanatic TPLF operatives should think twice about tomorrow than sharing Whisky and Vodka with those like Meles and Bereket, who will eventually be held to account for all the crimes they have been committing with arrogance and impunity.

As far as the good-for-nothing but expensive Ethiopian embassies are concerned, they should not be left to remain TPLF foreign branch offices at the expense of the poor taxpayer and donors. Nor should opportunist ambassadors and diplomats, whose main jobs are mainly denying the realities in Ethiopia and spying on fellow Ethiopians in exile, be allowed to undermine our unity and pit one ethnic group against another, misusing public resources at their disposal in a bid to implement TPLF’s evil and divisive policies. It is high time Ethiopians challenged them in a more concerted and co-ordinated manner from London to Washington DC, from Nairobi to Brussels, wherever they are.

The Economist cancels conference with gov’t

BY HAYAL ALEMAYEHU, The Reporter- The Economist canceled Friday what would have been its first business conference with the government of Ethiopia scheduled to run under the theme “Realizing potential in one of sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest market” on March 23 and 24, it was learnt.

The cancellation of the conference came suddenly amidst high expectations and hopes that the event will serve as a ‘best and ideal’ platform to sell Ethiopia to foreign investors and high profile business executives, according to knowledgeable sources.

The Economist Conference canceled the event after it failed to reach an agreement concerning an article which was supposed to be included in the conference material, according to the event organizers.

“The government of Ethiopia has decided that it will no longer participate in the business roundtable,” the Economist Conference emailed to The Reporter. “The decision was made today [Friday] by the Ethiopian government after they had reviewed the Economist article we planned to include in the conference material. We have therefore decided to cancel the round table.”

The conference, about which much was talked amongst scholars and business executives both here in the country and outside, was meant to exchange ideas on Ethiopia’s investment climate and issues that matter to doing business in Ethiopia, according to the event organizers.

The major topics scheduled to be raised and discussed at the conference include whether Ethiopia could position itself as a regional hub for foreign investment, the effect of the global economic crisis on the country, the economic and business outlook for 2009 and 2010, whether domestic challenges, including infrastructure, low skills levels and corruption can be overcome to support investment and the prospects for tourism.

The key speakers were Prime Minster Meles Zenawi and five of his ministers, Eyesus Work Zafu, the Chairman of the Addis Ababa Chamber of Commerce and Sectoral Associations, Abi Wolde Meskal, the director general of the Ethiopian Investment Authority, Zemedeneh Negatu, the managing partner of Ernst & Young, Ethiopia, among others.

Economist Conferences is a division of the Economist Intelligence Unit and a leading provider of international forums for senior executives seeking new insights into strategic issues, according to information posted at the its website.

These meetings include industry conferences, management events and government roundtables held around the world. And here is the rest of it.

Cry Me a Lake: Crime Against Nature

By Prof Alemayehu G. Mariam

Amina was crying her eyes out. You could see the tear tracks on her tormented face. She is a victim of unimaginable tragedy. Her entire family has nearly been wiped out. She is heartbroken. Sobbing uncontrollably, she covers her downcast eyes with her calloused fingers. She tells Al Jazeera TV’s People & Power program1 her story:

I gave birth to nine children. Six of them died. Makida. Hadiri. Tahiri. Sultan. Kasim. Kalil. Three survived. My husband also died. I have lost seven members of my family. They were all vomiting and having diarrhea with blood in it. We visited a health center but we were told the problem is associated with water. I feel sad about my dead children and I awake at night thinking of them, and I now worry if my remaining children will survive. I don’t even know if I will survive. Except for God we have no hope.

How did Amina’s children and husband die? They drank the water from Lake Koka, once a pristine lake located some 50 miles south of Addis Ababa. A bearded middle-aged man explains in disgust and frustration:

It is better to die thirsty than to drink this water. We are drinking a disease. We told the local authorities our cattle and goats died due to this water, but nobody helped. We are tired of complaining.”

Another local resident scoops a palmful of the algae-matted green lake water and describes with total resignation the devastation wreaked upon the communities surrounding the Lake Koka:

The main problem here is the water. People are getting sick. Everyone around here uses this water. There is no other water. Almost 17,000 people this water. They come from 10 kilometers away and use this water. The water smells even if you boil it; it does not change the color. It is hard to drink it. The people here have great potential and we are losing them, especially the children. I am upset but I don’t have the ability to do anything. I would if I could, but I can’t do anything.

A district health worker offers clinical diagnosis and morbidity analysis of the polluted water of Lake Koka:

The people in Ammudde [Lake Koka area] are more sick than the other people who are not using that water. It will be about two-thirds more… Most of them have stomach disease and diarreah is common. They are drinking the water that is contaminated from the [leather] factory, so they get sick from that chemical. So my colleagues [and] everybody from this area believe this. We know this is real…

The CEO of the Ethiopia Tannery Share Company, Reg Hankey, denies the tannery is discharging toxic waste into the lake. “It is clearly not from our operation”, says Hankey. He suggests that there may be multiple sources of pollution. One must “look at where the river comes into the lake. We are aware of just as many reports [of pollution] about the river before it gets anywhere near the lake.” An anonymous employee of the Ethiopian Environmental Protection Agency explains, “There are some government institutions that focus on the investment part… on the economic part than the environment part. As a professional, you have to be angry. It makes me angry now.” A young and passionate Ethiopian environmentalist forcefully declares “investment at the cost of environment is nothing.” A world renowned scientist from the University of Durham, U.K., after analyzing water sample from Lake Koka, determined the sample had high concentrations of the microcystis bacteria, which he said forms “one of the most notorious algae” and are among “some of the most toxic molecules known to man.” After viewing the Al Jazeera video, the scientist comments Lake Koka was “one of the worst he had seen anywhere in the world.” It’s all in the two-part Al Jazeera report.
Here is the beginning of my post.

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Plague of the Green Death

There are some 21 tanneries in Ethiopia. The Ethiopia Tannery Share Company located in Koka is said to be the largest factory in Ethiopia with 800 employees. According to published statistics, Ethiopia produces 2.7 million hides, 8.1 million sheepskins and 7.5 million goatskins. In 2008, leather exports (second major export constituting 15 per cent of total foreign earnings) generated revenues of US $39.9 million. In December, 2006, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) held a meeting to boost the export of hides, skins and leather in Ethiopia by 74% over the next three years.

The head of the Ethiopia Tannery Share Company denies responsibility because he believes the rivers feeding Lake Koka are polluted by multiple sources of pollution upriver. According to the Ethiopian Environmental Protection Agency, “A number of pollution related studies have confirmed that about 90% of industries in Addis Ababa are simply discharging their effluent into nearby water bodies, streams and open land without any form of treatment. In the 1992 to 1994 wastewater facility Master Plan project the country study reported that out of 70 factories 56 (or 80%) were dumping their untreated effluents into nearby watercourses and urban streams.”2 But the evidence of pollution in Lake Koka is entirely consistent with tannery-generated pollution in rivers and lakes in Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, the Phillipines and Mexico. Chemical analysis of Lake Koka water sample showed the same high concentrations of dissolved and suspended solids, chloride, ammonia and other heavy metals routinely used in tanning leather in the countries mentioned. Chromium, a well known cancer agent, was found abundantly in the Koka water sample. The morbidity patterns are also similar to the countries mentioned above: A very high percentage of tannery workers and individuals in communities drawing water from Lake Koka suffer from gastrointestinal, liver and other dermatological diseases specifically associated with tannery chemicals.

Human Rights and Environmental Safety

The right to a safe environment is protected by “constitutional” and international human rights laws. Article 44 (1) of the constitution of the ruling regime in Ethiopia provides: “Everyone has the right to a clean and healthy environment.” Article 92 provides “1. The State shall have the responsibility to strive to ensure a clean and healthy environment for all Ethiopians. 2. Any economic development activity shall not in any way be disruptive to the ecological balance. 3. The people concerned shall be made to give their opinions in the preparation and implementation of policies and programs concerning environmental protection. 4. The State and citizens shall have the duty to protect the environment.” Article 16 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Banjul Charter) requires state parties “to take the necessary measures to protect the health of their people and to ensure that they receive medical attention when they are sick.” Article 24 further declares that “All peoples shall have the right to a general satisfactory environment favorable to their development.” Article 18 of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa provides that “women shall have the right to live in a healthy and sustainable environment”, and requires states to “regulate the management, processing, storage and disposal of domestic waste” to advance this purpose. In 1995, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Communications 25/89, 47/90, 56/91 and 100/93, Joined) determined that the failure of the Government of Zaire to provide basic services such as safe drinking water constituted a violation of Article 16 of the African Charter.

Article 24 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child provides that state parties to take special care of children “through the provision of adequate nutritious foods and clean drinking water, taking into consideration the dangers and risks of environmental pollution.” The 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment declares that “man’s environment, the natural and the man-made, are essential to his well-being and to the enjoyment of basic human rights–even the right to life itself.” Principle 1 of the Stockholm Declaration which establishes the linkage between human rights and environmental protection declares that “man has a fundamental right to freedom, equality and adequate conditions of life, in an environment of a quality that permits a life of dignity and well-being.” In 1990, the U.N. in Resolution 45/94 recalled the language of the Stockholm Declaration in asserting that all individuals are “entitled to live in an environment adequate for their health and well-being.”

Amina and her six dead children and husband — Makida, Hadiri, Tahiri, Sultan, Kasim, Kalil — had rights specifically protected by international and “constitutional” law. So do the sick, suffering and dying people of Ammudde in the vicinity of Lake Koka. But for those in power it is a simple case of mind over matter. They don’t mind, and Amina, her family and the people of Ammudde don’t matter!

Who Killed Lake Koka? Who Killed Amina’s Children and Husband?

Who is responsible for the death of Lake Koka? And Amina’s husband and children? Did Chromium, Cadmium, Arsenic, Microsystsis Aeruginosa kill them? No. Official neglect and indifference killed them. Those who claimed to have the public trust, but turned a deaf ear, blind eye and muted tongue, are responsible. Those who slammed the official door in the face of the Ammudde resident who complained about “drinking a disease” are responsible.

There is an Ethiopian Environmental Protection Authority with 24 separate “powers and duties” to protect and preserve the environment. There is even an Environment Council chaired by the “Prime Minister”. The ruling regime is expert at sounding out hollow words and phrases: “polluter pays”, “criminal liability for polluters,” “intergenerational equity not to compromise the needs of future generations”, and so on.3 Perhaps most revealing of the regime’s depraved indifference to environmental issues is its legal defense of the first public interest environmental case ever litigated in Ethiopia. In 2006, Action Professionals’ Association for the People, a civic society organization which uses litigation, education and advocacy to promote a wide range of social causes, filed action alleging violation of the Environmental Pollution Control Proclamation (No.300/2002) and other international conventions and sought to hold the “government” accountable for failing to mitigate the discharge of untreated solid and liquid wastes into the Akaki and Mojo rivers. In its defense, the “federal government” wimped out and dodged all responsibility arguing that jurisdiction for such environmental matters lay with the regional environmental bureaus. They claimed the “federal government” did not have authority to interfere with regional autonomy! But in February, 2008 the “House of People’s Representatives” imposed export taxes up to 150% on raw and semi-processed hides and skins.

Clean Affordable Technologies Are Available for Safe Tanning

There are affordable clean technologies that can be used to permanently and significantly reduce the health and environmental risks associated with waste discharge of hazardous substances used in the tanning process. They are in effect in many places where tannery-generated toxic substance abatement and neutralization has been required. For instance, in 1996, in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the Indian Supreme Court ordered the closure of more than 500 tanneries for environmental non-compliance. They were able to reopen many of them using affordable clean technologies such as low-salt systems and indefinite recycling of the chemical “liquors” used in pickling leather. Last August, the All India Skin & Hides Tanners and Merchants Association led a delegation to establish a strategic partnership with the leather industry in Ethiopia. Clean technology transfer from India could be made within the framework of such a relationship. Other clean technology efforts have shown success in León city in north central Mexico, and in Bangladesh and Pakistan. The available technologies are cost-effective with significant mitigation effects and include, among others, installation of sedimentation tanks, end-of-pipe abatement devices, pretreatment of wastewater to met set standards, high exhaustion methods to ensure more of the chrome in the tanning bath actually affixes to the hide, substitution of biodegradable enzymes for lime and sodium sulfide, vegetable tanning instead of chrome, recycling of dehairing bath and chrome with a significant reduction in discharges in lakes and rivers.

Ethiopia is Facing an Ecological Disaster!

The Lake Koka environmental disaster is only the tip of the iceberg. Ethiopia is facing an ecological catastrophe: deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, overgrazing and population explosion. Hundreds of square miles of forest land and farmland are lost every year. The Ethiopian Agricultural Research Institute says Ethiopia loses up to 200,000 hectares of forest every year. Between 1990 and 2005, Ethiopia lost 14.0% of its forest cover (2,114,000 hectares) and 3.6% of its forest and woodland habitat. If the trend continues, it is expected that Ethiopia could lose all of its forest resources in 11 years, by the year 2020.4 The wild animal population is declining due to deforestation, and hundreds of plant and animal species are facing extinction.5

Cry Me a River, Cry Me a Lake, Cry My Beloved Country!

Ethiopia is becoming dystopia – a society in which the conditions of life are characterized by misery, poverty, oppression, violence, disease, famine and pollution with a brutal regime at the top. Amina and her children are the symbolic faces of an impending environmental disaster in Ethiopia. The outlook is grim. Dr Gedion Getahun, Research Scientist at the Environmental Radioanalytical Chemistry in Mainz, Germany writes, “In Ethiopia, the biodiversity is treated in very awful manner. The destruction of natural habitat as well as a threat to the flora and fauna and other biological resources diminish the economy of the country. This affects the country’s wealth and with it, the existence and the well being of the nation.” 6

Our duty to protect the environment is not only to Amina, her three surviving children and the people of Ammudde. Our duty extends to Amina’s grandchildren and the generations yet to be born in Ammudde and elsewhere in Ethiopia. As the young environmentalist told Al Jazeera, development and “investment at the cost of the environment is nothing”. It is a sad irony of our times that we are able to transform the barren deserts into fields of plenty in the name of development and investment yet turn our life-giving lakes and rivers into troughs of poison. It is a mistake, a colossal folly, to measure our progress in the fistful of dollars gained from leather and flower exports. The true measure of progress is our ability to institute the rule of law and guarantee each Ethiopian the right to life (a land free of lakes and rivers that are poisoned), liberty (a land where the government fears the people) and the pursuit of happiness (a land where each Ethiopian has the opportunity to reach for the stars). For Amina and her children — Makida, Hadiri, Tahiri, Sultan, Kasim, Kalil — I will cry me a river. For the people of Ammudde, I will cry me a lake. For our beloved Ethiopia, I will cry me an ocean!

Water, water everywhere, and not a drop to drink!

References;
1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUqgUR4qI98 (part 1)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTUEjL8OhII (part 2)
2 http://www.epa.gov.et/epa/departments/pollution_control/pollution_control.asp?dep_Id=3⊂_depId=11
3 http://www.dundee.ac.uk/cepmlp/journal/html/vol9/article9-12.pdf
4 http://www.geocities.com/akababi/ethiopia_loses_200.htm
5 http://rainforests.mongabay.com/deforestation/2000/Ethiopia.htm
6 http://www.geocities.com/akababi/gedion.htm