Ethiopian Ruling Coalition Wins Majority of Parliament Seats - See more at: http://www.zehabesha.com/ethiopian-ruling-coalition-wins-majority-of-parliament-seats/#sthash.T9pdOx3F.dpuf

This article pretty much marks 5 years I’ve been reporting from Ethiopia for Bloomberg, which is a long time. Thanks to all who’ve helped out and suffered along the way. As ever, if you want to be removed from this mailing list, just shoot me a mail. Will)

Bloomberg News
William Davison, May 27

TPLF_FlagEthiopia’s ruling coalition won a majority in national elections, extending its 20-year rule over Africa’s second-most populous country, the electoral board said.
The Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front, or EPRDF, and allied parties won all 442 of the seats counted so far in the 547-member federal parliament, Chairman Merga Bekana told reporters Wednesday in the capital, Addis Ababa. In the last election in 2010, the ruling coalition won all but one seat in the assembly.

“The election was successfully completed as scheduled with high participation of our citizens who really committed themselves to the development of democracy,” Merga said. More than 90 percent of the country’s 37 million registered voters cast their ballots in the May 24 vote, he said.


The EPRDF campaigned on its record of building infrastructure and reducing poverty rates. The economy, one of Africa’s fastest-growing, is expected to expand about 8.5 percent this year and next, according to the International Monetary Fund. Merera Gudina, a leader of the opposition Medrek party, said May 24 there had been violations across Ethiopia’s most populous region, Oromia, with security forces intimidating opposition observers.

The vote was “peaceful, calm and credible,” according to the African Union mission that monitored the election. The 29 observer teams visited 356 polling stations in all federal regions other than Afar, mission head Hifikepunye Pohamba told reporters Tuesday.

‘Enormous Success’

The European Union said it was “encouraged” the election was “largely orderly and peaceful,” while noting factors that had a “negative impact” on the electoral environment.

“Arrests of journalists and opposition politicians, closure of a number of media outlets and obstacles faced by the opposition in conducting its campaign have limited the space for open debate,” EU spokeswoman Catherine Ray said in an e-mailed statement.

The ruling coalition of four regional parties is an “enormously successful and powerful authoritarian” movement, said Terrence Lyons, an associate professor at the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia.

“Since 2005 the ruling party has vastly increased its presence throughout the countryside, while reducing political space for opposition and placing strict limits on independent media,” he said in an e-mailed response to questions.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who was competing in his first election since former premier Meles Zenawi died in 2012, leads the EPRDF. The board will release final results on June 22

ሳይጀመር የተጠናቀቀው

 

_ሳይጀመር የተጠናቀቀው፡ ድምጽ ከመሰጠቱ በፊት ውጤቱ የታወቀው፡ ቀኑ ሳይደርስ አሸናፊው የተረጋገጠለት፡ መራጩ፡ አስመራጩ፡ ተመራጩ፡ ዓለም ዓቀፉ ማህብረሰብም ሁሉም ቀድመው ውጤቱን ያወቁለት ምርጫ 2007። ትላንት የተካሄደው ምርጫ የህዝብ ስሜት የተቀዛቀዘበት፡ በሊግ፡ በፎረም፡ በጥቃቅንና አነስተኛ ማህበራት፡ በኮብል ስቶን ስራ የተደራጁ፡ ወጣቶች፡ እናቶች፡ ምርጫ ጣቢያዎችን ሞልተው የዋሉበት ዕለት ሆኖ አልፏል።
- የትላንቱ ምርጫ በአብዛኛው በወከባ ተጀምሮ በወከባ የተጠናቀቀ፡ ኮሮጆዎች ሌሊቱን ሲሞሉ ያደሩበት፡ የተቃዋሚ ታዛቢዎች የተገፉበት፡ በሰራዊት የተጥለቀለቀ፡ እንደነበር ከየአቅጣጫው የሚደርሱን ሪፖርቶች ያመለክታሉ::
_የህዝባዊ ወያኔ ሀርነት ትግራይ ደጋፊ መገናኛ ብዙሃን የአንዳንድ አከባቢዎችን ውጤቶች እየገለጹ ናቸው። በአዲስ አበባና በጎንደር ገዢው ስርዓት ሙሉ በሙሉ አሸንፏል እያሉ ናቸው። ዶክተር መረራ ጉዲናና ፕሮፌሰር በየነ ጴጥሮስን በተወዳደሩባቸው ቦታዎች አሸነፍኳቸው ብሏል ህወሀት።
_በተለያዩ የጎንደር አከባቢዎች መጠነ ሰፊ አፈናና አፈሳ እየተካሄደ ነው። በቀበሌ 18 ባህረ ሰላም ሆቴል ውስጥ ትላንት 4 ወጣቶች የመከላከያ ሰራዊት ትጥቅ በለበሱ ሰዎች ታፍነው ተወስደዋል። በደምቢያም 20 ኢትዮጵያውያን በፌደራል ፖሊስ ወዳልታወቀ ስፍራ ተወስደዋል። ከመሃላቸው በ4ቱ ላይ በተፈጸመ ከፍተኛ ድብደባ ለህይወታቸው አስጊ በሆነ አደጋ ውስጥ እንደሚገኙ ታውቋል።
_በምርጫው ግርግር ይፈጠራል በሚል የህዝባዊ ወያኔ ሀርነት ትግራይ መንግስት ባለስልጣናት ቤተሰቦቻቸውን ወደ ውጭ ሀገራት እየላኩ መሆናቸውን ለኢሳት የደረሰው መረጃ አመለከተ። በቦሌ በኩል እየተሸኙ ያሉት የባለስልጣናት ቤተሰቦች ወደ አሜሪካና አውሮፓ የሚያመሩ እንደሆነም ተገልጿል። ባለስልጣናቱ ግን እንዳይወጡ በህወሀት ቁንጮ መሪዎች እንደታገዱም ከምንጮች መረጃ ለማወቅ ተችሏል።
ሌሎችም(http://ethsat.com/esat-radio-special-election-2007-report-…/)

ሰበር ዜና - ዶ/ር ብርሃኑ ነጋ ''የአርበኞች-ግንቦት 7'' ሊቀ መንበር ሕዝቡ ዳግም እንዳይታለል የምርጫ ካርዱን ቀዶ በመጣል ለለውጥ ያለውን ቁርጠኘነት እንዲያሳይ የሚገልፅ መልዕክት አስተላለፉ።(የጉዳያችን ጡመራ መንደርደርያ ሃሳብ እና የፅሁፉ ሙሉ ቃል ተያይዟል)

ዶ/ር ብርሃኑ ነጋ የአርበኞች ግንቦት 7 የአንድነት እና የዲሞክራሲ ንቅናቄ ሊቀመንበር 

የጉዳያችን ጡመራ መንደርደርያ 

የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ለዲሞክራሲ አሰራር፣ሕግን እና ስርዓትን ለማክበር ብቃት እና ዝግጁነት ያለው መሆኑን በተደጋጋሚ ቢያሳይም በጠበንጃ ኃይል ስልጣን ላይ የተፈናጠጠው ወያኔ/ኢህአዴግ ዛሬም ሕዝቡን ማሸበሩን ቀጥሏል።የሚቀናቀኗቸውን ተቃዋሚዎች በሙሉ በአሸባሪነት በይፋ ሲኮንን ከመክረሙም በላይ ትናንት ሐሙስ የታየው ክስተት ደግሞ ከምርጫው በኃላ ምን እንደሚደረግ በይበልጥ ግልፅ ሆኗል።ሐሙስ ግንቦት 13/2007 ዓም ስርዓቱ በአዲስ አበባ የሰበሰባቸው የጥቃቅን እና የኮብል ስቶን ሰራተኞች እንዲሁም የስርዓቱ የጥቅም ተጋሪዎችን ሰብስቦ ያሳየው ትዕይንት የጦርነት ትዕይንት ሲሆን ወጣቶች ክላሽ ይዘው ሲገሉ እና ሲሮጡ የሚያሳይ ትዕይንት በአዲስ አበባ ስታድዮም መሃል ሜዳ ላይ ሲተወን ሕዝብ ተመልክቶ አዝኗል።

ይህ የሚያሳየው ምርጫ በዘመነ ወያኔ ፈፅሞ የሰላማዊ የስልጣን መሸጋገርያ እንደማይሆን ነው።ይህንኑ ጉዳይ በዕለቱ ባለ 99.6% የይስሙላ ምክር ቤት ቀርበው የተናገሩት አቶ ኃይለ ማርያም ከምርጫ በኃላ ስለሚሰሩት የቂም ተግባር በግልፅ አስቀምጠዋል።ለእዚህም ማስረጃው ሌላው ቀርቶ ባለፈው ሳምንት ከውጭ ጉዳይ ሚኒስትሩ ጋር የተከራከሩትን የመድረኩ ዶ/ር መራራን ''ስርዓቱ በአድልዎ የማይሰራ ቢሆን የጤና ባለሙያው ዶ/ር ቴዎድሮስ ውጭ ጉዳይ ሚኒስቴር ውስጥ ምን ይሰራል?'' የሚለውን የክርክር ሃሳብ ላይ ሳይቀር ስርዓቱ ቂም የያዘ እና ለበቀል እየተዘጋጀ መሆኑን በሚገልፅ መልኩ አቶ ኃይለማርያም ''አንዳንድ ተቃዋሚዎች በምርጫ ክርክሩ ወቅት ባለስልጣናትን መስደብ በመቻላቸው እንዳይኩራሩ'' የሚል  መልዕክት ማስተላለፋቸው ክርክሩን በእራሱ ''በስድብነት'' መመዝገባቸው እና ለበቀል እየተዘጋጁ መሆናቸውን ለኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ በግልፅ አስታውቀዋል። 

ባለፉት 24 ዓመታት ውስጥ ለምንም ነገር መታመን ያልቻለው በጎጥ ላይ የተመሰረተው ስርዓት ያለፈ የቆሸሸ ታሪኩን ተመልክተን የዶ/ር ብርሃኑ ነጋ መግለጫ ስናነብ ምን ያህል ትክክለኛ እና ኢትዮጵያውያን ካለ ምንም ቅድመ ሁኔታ ነፃነታቸውን ለመቀዳጀት መቁረጣቸውን የሚያሳዩበት ታሪካዊ አጋጣሚ በውሸት ምርጫ ላይ ባለመሳተፍ የመጀመርያ እርምጃ መሆን እንዳለበት ህሊናውን የማይደልል ሰው ሁሉ የሚረዳው እውነት ነው። የመልዕክቱን ሙሉ ቃል ከእዚህ በታች ይመልከቱ።ፅሁፉን ከዶ/ር ታደሰ ብሩ ገፅ ላይ የተወሰደ ነው።

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ዶ/ር ብርሃኑ ነጋ የአርበኞች ግንቦት 7 ሊቀመንበር በድርጅታቸው እና በእራሳቸው ስም ለኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ያስተላለፉት መልዕክት 

የተከበራችሁ እናቶቼና አባቶቼ፤ እህቶቼና ወንድሞቼ እንዲሁም ልጆቼ የምትሆኑ ወጣቶች!!

አገራችን የምትገኝበትን አስጨናቂ ሁኔታ ሁላችንም እንረዳለን። የህወሓት/ኢሕአዴግ ፋሽስቶች ቡድን እየገረፈ፣ እያሰረና እየገደለ በካርዳችሁ መርጣችሁ የምርጫ ድግሴን ካላሞቃችሁልኝ እያለ ነው። እንኳንስ ዛሬ ታዛቢ በሌለበት፤ ታዛቢ እያለም እንኳን ወያኔ የሕዝብን ድምጽ በትክክል ቆጥሮ አያውቅም። ወያኔ ለሕዝብ ድምጽ ምንም ደንታ የሌለው የኋላቀር ወሮበሎች ቡድን ነው::

ለስንት አስርት ዓመታት ለወያኔ ባርነት እንገብራለን？ ለሀያ አስምስት ዓመታት ተገዛን፣ ተገደልን፣ ተቀጠቀጥን፣ ታሰርን፣ ተሰቃየን፣ ልጆቻችን በአገራቸው ተስፋ ቆርጠው ሲሰደዱ በበረሀ ንዳድ አለቁ፤ በባህር ሰጥመው ቀሩ፤ በባዕዳን አረመኔዎች እንደከብት ታረዱ፤ ቤንዚን ተርከፍክፎባቸው ተቃጠሉ። ሀይማኖታችን ተዋረደ፤ ባህላችን ረከሰ፤ ታሪካችን ተናቀ። በልማት ስም ወልደን ከከበድንበት ተፈናቀልን፤ አገራችን አደገች እያለ ሕዝብ በኑሮ ውድነት ተሰቃየ። በልቶ ማደር ብርቅ ነው። እንደሙጫ የሚያጣብቀንን ማኅበረሰባዊ ትስስር በስልጣን ለመቆየትና ኅብረተሰቡን ለመዝረፍ ሲል ሆን ብሎ እያፈራረሰው ነው:: ይኽ ሁሉ አይበቃንምን？ ይኸ ሁሉ አይመረንምን？ 

ወላጆቼ፣ እህት ወንድሞቼ！ውርደት ይብቃን። የተረገጥንና የተገደልን አንሶን ፍጹም ማንንም ሊያሞኝ በማይችል የለበጣ ምርጫ ወደን የተረገጥን፤ ፈልገን የተገዛን ለማስመሰል ወያኔ የሚያደርገውን ሩጫ እናክሽፈው:: ከፊታችን ያለውን ምርጫ ባለመሳተፍ ምሬታችንን እንግለጽ። 

ዛሬ በግሌ እና በአርበኞች ግንቦት 7፡ የአንድነትና የዲሞክራሲ ንቅናቄ ስም ጥሪዬን አቀርባለሁ። በዚህ ምርጫ አትሳተፉ። የምርጫ ካርዳችሁን ቀዳችሁ ጣሉት። እናምርር። ካላመረርን ለውጥ ሊመጣ አይችልም። ይልቅስ ለማይቀረው የመጨረሻው ትግል ራሳችንን እናዘጋጅ::

አርበኞች ግንቦት 7፣ ከትግራይ፣ ከኦሮሞ፣ ከአፋር፣ ከኦጋዴን፣ ከጋምቤላ፣ ከቤሻንጉል ድርጅቶች ጋር ትብብር በመፍጠር የአገር አድን ኃይል በመገንባት ላይ ነው። እኛ ልጆችህ በብሔርም ሆነ በሀይማኖት አንከፋፈልም። ከትግራይ እስከ ኦጋዴን፤ ከአፋር እስከ ጋምቤላ ሁሉንም የኢትዮጵያ ማኅበረሰብ ያካተተ ስብስብ ፈጥረን በኅብረት አገዛዙን እየታገልን ነው። ይህ ትግል ግን የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ሁሉ ትግል ነው። የትግሉም ባለቤት የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ በሙሉ ነው። ክርስቲያን ሙስሊም፤ ወንድ ሴት፤ ወጣት አረጋዊ ሳንል፤ በብሔርም ሆና በቋንቋ ሳንከፋፈል ሁላችንም ይህን አስከፊ ሥርዓት በቃህ እንበለው። 

የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ሆይ！ ይህንን የውሸት ምርጫ ባለመሳተፍ ለለውጥ ያለህን ዝግጁነት አሳይ！ ደግሜ እለዋለሁ - የምርጫ ካርድህን ቅደድ！！！

የጦርና የፓሊስ ሠራዊት አባላት ሆይ！

እናንተ የሕዝብ አካላት ናችሁ። በወገኖቻችሁ ላይ አትተኩሱ። ይልቁንስ አፈሙዛችሁን አገራችንን ለውርደት በዳረገውና በሙስና በተጨማለቀው ዘራፊው የህወሓት አገዛዝ ላይ አዙሩት። ታሪካችሁን ከምታበላሹ፤ ታሪክ ሥሩ። ለራሳችሁ፣ ለቤተሰቦቻችሁ፣ ለልጆቻችሁ እና ለሕዝብ የሚጠቅም አገርና መንግሥት እንዲኖረን የእናንተ የግልም ሆነ የጋራ ተነሳሽነት ወሳኝ ነው። ወያኔ ህዝቡን የሚዘርፈው በእናንተ ትከሻ ላይ ቆሞ እንደሆነ ላንዳፍታም አትርሱት:: እንደመላው ህብረተሰብ እናንተም በነጻነትና በኩራት የምትኖሩበት ሀገር እንደምትሹ አልጠራጠርም:: ስለዚህም ይህን የህወሓት የውሸት ምርጫ ተቃወሙ። ዛሬውኑ ነፃነትና ፍትህ ከጠማው ወገናችሁ ጎን ቁሙ። 

የኢትዮጵያ ወጣቶች፤ ትግላችን እስከ ነፃነት ድረስ ይቀጥላል። ነፃነታችንን በእርግጠኝነት በትግላችን እንቀዳጃለን። የምትወዷት፣ የምትኮሩባት አገር - ኢትዮጵያ - ትኖረናለች። ለዚህ ግን ዛሬ ተደራጅተን፣ ፀንተን መታገል የሁላችንም ኃላፊነት ነው። ዛሬ ሁላችንም በፍላጎትና በመንፈስ የተገናኘን ነንና ሁሉም በያለበት ትግሉን ያጧጡፍ። ውጤቱ ቀድሞ በታወቀው በዚህ ምርጫ አለመሳተፍ ለትግሉ ያለንን ቁርጠኝነት ማሳያ ነውና ለውሸት ምርጫ ያለን የመረረ ተቃውሞ በምርጫው ባለመሳተፍ እናሳይ። 

ነፃ እንወጣለን！
የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ የነፃነቱ ባለቤት ይሆናል！
ድል ለኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ！
ብርሃኑ ነጋ
የአርበኞች ግንቦት 7：የአንድነትና ዲሞክራሲ ንቅናቄ ሊቀመንበር

Amid Ethiopia Elections 2015, Obama’s USAID Nominee Gayle Smith Slammed For Supporting Africa’s Repressive Regimes

Gayle Smith, special assistant to President Barack Obama and senior director at the National Security Council, speaks during the Society for International Development (SID) World Congress in Washington, DC, on July 29, 2011. Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images

By Morgan Winsor@MorganWinsorIBT on May 20 2015

Gayle Smith, President Barack Obama’s nominee to run the U.S. Agency for International Development, boasts a glowing list of credentials after spending two decades in Africa as an aid worker and award-winning journalist. But to critics, she is a sympathizer of repressive regimes in Africa who has done little to improve living conditions for people in impoverished war zones.

Since Obama’s April 30 announcement, a growing number of critics have come forward against Smith’s appointment, which could further stall her pending Senate confirmation. Her nomination comes amid another oppressive election season in Ethiopia, where Smith has been accused of indulging an autocratic government with millions of U.S. aid dollars. Meanwhile, her failure to intervene on regional inter-state rivalries has led to deadly conflicts, which critics said should be called into question before she’s approved to lead USAID and manage the agency’s billion-dollar budget.

“She has as good of a claim to the job as a lot of other people,” said Herman Cohen, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for African affairs. “But there were major Africa policy blunders under the Clinton and Obama administrations that she should be asked about.”

Smith, 59, has served under the Obama administration as special assistant to the president and senior director for development and democracy on the National Security Council staff since 2009. She also served under the Clinton administration as special assistant to the president and senior director for African affairs at the National Security Council from 1998 to 2001, as well as chief of staff and administrator of the USAID from 1994 to 1998. In 2007, Smith co-founded the Enough Project, a nonprofit organization to end genocide and crimes against humanity. She previously lived and worked in Africa for 20 years as an aid worker and a journalist.

If confirmed by the Senate, Smith will succeed USAID administrator Rajiv Shah in leading the U.S. government’s humanitarian response. The USAID has had its share of controversies under Shah, who has run the agency since 2009. Last year, the Associated Press reported a USAID-operated Twitter account was aimed at encouraging young Cubans to revolt against Cuba’s communist government. The agency was also accused of placing hundreds of millions of U.S. tax dollars at risk of fraud, waste and abuse due to a lack of oversight and monitoring. Shah announced in December he would step down from his post by mid-February.

“The great challenge for anyone who takes this job is how to make U.S. assistance more efficient, less bureaucratic and more relevant to the recipient,” Vicki Huddleston, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for Africa, said in an email. “Gayle has the president’s ear, so perhaps she can begin the process of streamlining both the assistance process and the way in which U.S. assistance is carried out by NGOs and private firms.”

As the administrator of USAID, Smith would be charged with directing the agency’s $20 billion budget to tackle humanitarian disasters around the world. But some critics raised concerns that Smith will use these funds to coddle friendly dictators in strategic locations, like Ethiopia, rather than enforce democratization and encourage real development in Africa.

“No African country has developed hooked to the life-supported system of U.S. aid,” Alemayehu Mariam, a constitutional lawyer and a professor of political science at California State University, San Bernardino, wrote in a blog post for the Hill. “Smith will oversee the administration of billions of dollars in U.S. aid to Africa if confirmed. Her long and chummy relationship with Africa’s strongmen will make her a weak advocate of human rights, the rule of law and good governance on the continent.”

‘A Disasterbacle In Africa Policy’

While serving under former President Bill Clinton, Smith, along with her colleague Susan Rice, assistant secretary of state for African affairs at the time and now the White House national security adviser, were mediators in an ultimately failed attempt to reduce tensions between rivals Eritrea and Ethiopia. Shortly after Eritrea gained its independence from Ethiopia, the two countries returned to war in 1998.

“They totally failed in the mediation and during the process they won the hatred of the president of Eritrea [Isaias Afwerki] because he accused them of plagiarizing the Ethiopian side,” Cohen said in a telephone interview.

The two-year war led to massive causalities and internal displacement in both countries. Ethiopia deported tens of thousands of Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean descent from the country, which compounded Eritrea’s refugee crisis. The two countries remain bitter foes, and U.S.-Eritrean relations have since soured. The State Department has accused the Eritrean government of detaining dissidents, shutting down the independent press, stifling civil liberties and being controlled entirely by Afwerki, who has been president since 1991 and heads Eritrea’s sole political party. Under both the Clinton and Obama administration, Smith and Rice have ordered tough sanctions against Eritrea for allegedly aiding Somali-based terror group al Shabaab – a claim which experts said was never proven.

“As of now, everyone agreed there was nothing going on between Eritrea and al Shabaab. But the U.S. didn’t want to lift sanctions,” said Cohen, a former U.S. ambassador to Gambia and Senegal. “I contend that this was just because of Gayle’s personal animosity [with Eritrea].”

Meanwhile, the United States has maintained cozy relations with Ethiopia — a country that has also been accused of human rights abuses, silencing political opposition and cracking down on independent journalism. Ethiopia has jailed 19 journalists, more than any other African country, and ranked fourth on the 2015 list of the top 10 most censored nations in the world by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Eritrea ranked first.

Smith’s friendly rapport with the Ethiopian government and other authoritarian regimes in Africa, including Rwanda and Uganda, has struck controversy among experts. Howard French, an author and longtime journalist who reported from Africa for many years, posted on Twitter last month that Smith was “a disasterbacle in Africa policy” whose “long [and] cozy relationship [with] Ethiopia’s highly repressive regime should be cause for concern.”

‘Close Ties With Many World Leaders’

Ethiopia’s ruling party has been in power for the past 23 years and has won each of the last five elections. The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democracy Front (EPRDF) has used harsh laws to smother any resistance to the incumbent party ahead of the upcoming national elections scheduled for Sunday. Last week, Ethiopian opposition groups accused the ruling party of harassing and illegally detaining their rival candidates as well as journalists. The EPRDF won 99.6 percent of parliamentary seats in the last national elections in 2010 – an outcome largely expected in the next round of polls scheduled for May 24.

“The Ethiopian government’s systematic repression of independent media has created a bleak landscape for free expression ahead of the May 2015 general elections,” Human Rights Watch said in a January report. “At least 60 journalists have fled their country since 2010, while at least another 19 languish in prison. The government has shut down dozens of publications and controls most television and most radio outlets.”

Still, the United States has continued to funnel millions of aid dollars to Ethiopia. In 2012, Ethiopia received $580 million in American foreign aid. Critics said Smith, who is charged with global development, democracy and humanitarian assistance issues, has supported Ethiopia’s autocratic leaders because the country is considered a key U.S. strategic ally in the Horn of Africa. The Ethiopian government has allowed the United States to deploy drones into Somalia from southern Ethiopia to target al Shabaab militants, the Washington Post said.

“Gayle maintains close ties with many world leaders, including several in Africa, where she has deep expertise and firsthand experience,” Edward Price, spokesman for the National Security Council, said in an email statement last week, adding that Smith was unable to grant an interview request while awaiting Senate confirmation. “U.S. government officials routinely raise human rights concerns with their counterparts, and Gayle has taken advantage of every opportunity to advocate for more open political space, including in the Ethiopian context.”

While under the Clinton administration, Smith and Rice were also criticized for not condemning Rwanda and Uganda for invading the Congo a second time — first in 1996 and then in 1998. By 2008, the invasion and its aftermath had caused 5.4 million deaths, making the Second Congo War the deadliest conflict in modern African history and the bloodiest worldwide since World War II. The ruling political parties in Rwanda and Uganda have governed for decades, stamping out any opposition.

“A lot of people believe that by not discouraging this, they actually encouraged it,” Cohen said. “The U.S. did very little to try to stop this war. [The Senate] should ask Gayle Smith, why didn’t you tell them not to do it? Why didn’t you condemn Rwanda and Uganda for this aggression?”

‘She Has Africa In Her Heart’

Some experts disagreed with Smith’s critics, saying her vast experience and knowledge in African affairs warrants her strong positions and decision-making. As special assistant to Obama, Smith helped coordinate the administration’s response to the deadly Ebola outbreak in West Africa last year, including the decision to send 3,000 American troops to Liberia.

“Undoubtedly there will be some who disagree [with Smith]. We’ve had our disagreements,” said J. Peter Pham, director of the Africa Center at the Atlantic Council in Washington, who has known Smith for many years. “But I’d be the first to say she’s got every right to her opinions because they’re grounded on a rich experience on the ground and in government.”

Smith’s nomination process could take some time and it’s unknown whether the Senate will at all question her slip-ups or relationships with repressive regimes. Smith, who lived and worked in Ethiopia, Sudan and Kenya, has received praise from both Republicans and Democrats for her dedication and no-nonsense approach to Africa policy.

“The African constituency is fairly small. Even though we come at it from different parts of the political spectrum, we all in our hearts want to see Africa make it and move forward,” said Tibor Nagy, former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia and Guinea who also served as an Africa policy adivser on presidential campaigns for Obama and Mitt Romney. “I have known Gayle for a long, long time. Gayle knows Africa. She has Africa in her heart.”

Source: IBtim

Activist’s Suicide Shows Opposition Plight Before Ethiopia Vote

by William Davison

May 21, 2015

A month before Ethiopia’s elections, opposition activist Getahun Abraham walked into a compound of government offices in the southern town of Gimbichu, doused his body in gasoline and set himself alight. It took more than 10 minutes for bystanders to extinguish the flames.

“We were in a meeting when we heard a scream,” local police chief Moges Bafe recalled of the day the 25-year-old physics teacher committed suicide. “When we ran out, he was burning and we also screamed. The fire looked like a big house was being burned.”

Getahun had become desperate after the authorities rebuffed his requests to transfer him from his home village to Gimbichu and believed the refusals were politically motivated, according to his friend, Teshome Demissie, a hospital cashier.

Unlike Mohamed Bouazizi, the unemployed Tunisian whose self-immolation helped trigger the Arab Spring in December 2010, Getahun’s suicide hasn’t sparked protests in Ethiopia. Africa’s second-most populous nation after Nigeria with the continent’s fastest-growing economy over the past decade remains under the firm grip of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front, which won all but one of the 547 parliamentary seats in elections five years ago.

Little is expected to change on May 24 when Ethiopians vote for federal and regional lawmakers.

‘Big’ Victory

The ruling party “will win big time” because of its development record and better organization, Dereje Feyissa Dori, Africa research director at the International Law and Policy Institute in Norway, said in an e-mailed response to questions. While the opposition is divided and unable to articulate alternative policies, they might gain “at least some protest votes,” he said.

When Getahun joined Medrek, a four-party bloc that forms the main opposition to the ruling EPRDF, his brother Wondimu Abraham warned him he was risking trouble.

“I told him don’t be part of Medrek, don’t get involved, as after a time you will face a problem,” Wondimu, a 30-year-old member of the EPRDF who works at the main court in Gimbichu, about 211 kilometers (131 miles) southwest of the capital, Addis Ababa, said in an interview.
Getahun grew depressed by the authorities’ denial of his repeated requests to be transferred from the school in his family’s village of Humaro, to Gimbichu, 7 kilometers away, Wondimu said.

Political Activity

The chief administrator in Gimbichu, Elias Ersado Benchamo, said local officials weren’t aware of Getahun’s political activity and didn’t receive any transfer requests. Getahun killed himself because he was lovesick, isolated from his family or addicted to the stimulant khat, Elias said in an interview on May 8.

Medrek members say they face routine harassment by the authorities. The U.S., which backs the Ethiopian army’s role in battling al-Qaeda-linked militants in neighboring Somalia, has echoed United Nations’ condemnations of the government’s jailing of activists and journalists.
Ethiopian officials say they only prosecute activists and journalists who break the law.

The nation’s authorities have used “multiple channels” to enforce “political control,” London-based Amnesty International said in a February report. Steps include “politicizing access to job and education opportunities.”

Transform Ethiopia

The four-party EPRDF, with more than 7 million members, says it’s seeking to transform Ethiopia into a middle-income nation by 2025. The state controls strategic economic sectors such as telecommunications.

The party’s dominance was clear in Gimbichu, located in the ethnic Hadiya zone of Ethiopia’s southern region. On a muddy high street of small cafes and barbershops most buildings were plastered with the ruling coalition’s worker-bee symbol. A couple of Medrek posters were also displayed.
A color billboard on Gimbichu’s outskirts showed images of some of the EPRDF’s economic achievements: low-cost housing and a hydropower dam. Infrastructure and social-services spending has helped economic growth average 10 percent over the past decade, the UN Development Programme said this month.

While Ethiopia’s poverty rate fell from 39 percent to 26 percent between 2005 and 2013, a quarter of the country’s 100 million people still live below the UN poverty threshold of $1.25 a day, it said.

Talking Politics

Getahun didn’t believe in the ruling party’s success claims and often stopped people in the countryside to talk about politics.
“He thought the EPRDF used democracy as cosmetics,” Teshome said. “Internally they use dictatorship, and their cover is democracy.”

About two weeks after Getahun’s self-immolation, charred scraps of clothing still litter the grass at the government compound. Nearby, he had left cash, a copy of the New Testament, a suicide note and his Medrek membership card, his brother said.

In the five-page letter, Getahun took responsibility for his actions and described his despair over family issues and feelings of persecution.
“Being in politics shouldn’t get you punished this much,” he wrote.

Worrying state of Ethiopian journalists exiled in Kenya

By GEORGE KEGORO (Daily Nation)

I spent time last week with exiled Ethiopian journalists living in Kenya, who had been brought together by Journalists for Justice, a local organisation that champions the interests of practising journalists in the region, which was founded by Kenyan journalist Rosemary Tollo.

There are at least 30 journalists among the 37,000 Ethiopian refugees living in Kenya. Up to 100 others are refugees in other countries around the world.

There are also the six bloggers and three journalists, known as the Zone Nine Bloggers, in custody in Ethiopia for the last one year, awaiting trial on terrorism charges, because of blogging.

The exiled Ethiopian journalists in Kenya are mostly young, in their late 20s and early 30s, and almost all are men.

Most arrived recently, with nothing other than the clothes they were wearing, some leaving young families behind.

While many of them were influential persons in their country, they now live in poverty and under great uncertainty in Kenya, far from the positions of significance they once occupied.

One of them, Million Shurube, 33, died here last year, away from his young son whom he had left behind when he fled Ethiopia.

The crying shame is that such a large number of exiled journalists on our land is hardly noticed and is never discussed. The Ethiopians are among a throng of foreign journalists of other nationalities living in Kenya, the largest number from Somalia. There are also Eritrean, Rwandese and Burundian journalists here.

DIRE CIRCUMSTANCES

The Ethiopian journalists described the dire circumstances that made them leave their country and the difficulties that they have met since coming here.

All of them fell afoul of the authorities in their country because of things they had written or said on air. Some were charged in court and a number have on-going trials at home.

The Ethiopian legal system allows trials in absentia. Fleeing the country is no escape from the country’s judicial system.

A number of those living in Kenya have since been sentenced to imprisonment terms, after trials in absentia. If seized from Kenya, as has happened in the past, they are simply taken straight to prison.

The Ethiopians described their interactions with both the Kenyan authorities including the Department of Refugee Affairs (DRA), the police, and the counter-terrorism authorities and also with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

While the DRA has been reasonably responsive in processing applications for refugee status, their interaction with the police was characterised as problematic.

Because Ethiopians are a visible minority, they are easily profiled by law enforcement. Police easily pick them out in the streets and habitually shake them down for bribes, which are payable irrespective of whether they have papers or not.

In many cases, the police forcefully take whatever they find on them, like phones or cash. The counter-terrorism drive, which the country is engaged in, has increased their vulnerability.

DIFFERENT TREATMENT

They also characterised their interactions with the UNHCR, depicting its handling of refugee applications as unpredictable, and arbitrary.

As part of this, applicants in relatively the same positions are, however, subjected to differing treatment by the UNCHR, and there are frequent and unexplained delays in determining applications for refugee status.

A recent development is that some journalists, and other exiles, are abducted here and sent back to Ethiopia to face prosecution or to serve imprisonment after trials conducted while they were away.

It is unlikely that the Kenyan government is unaware of this. This development reflects the narrowing of the space in East Africa for political dissidents.

Whereas, in the past, enemies of regimes were localised to their own countries, there is a process of regionalising the enemies of regimes, which makes it unsafe for political dissidents who reside anywhere in the region.

The process of regional co-operation, through such bodies as the East African Community and Igad, has only succeeded in bringing presidents closer, without necessarily affecting the distance between the people themselves.

As part of the co-operation between presidents, the enemies of one regime are the enemies of all the regimes. The crisis in Burundi, over which there has been remarkable inertia by East African leaders, which allowed it to balloon into an armed conflict, is the latest demonstration of this point.

With at least 17 journalists in Ethiopian jails, the third largest number in the world after China and Eritrea, and with such a large number in exile, there obviously is something very wrong in Ethiopia.

Paradoxically, however, both within the region and internationally, there is no widely shared recognition of the gravity of the internal condition of Ethiopia — partly, because Ethiopia is playing a leading role in Western-backed counter-terrorism efforts in the region.

The lack of solidarity with the exiled journalists is regrettable. The Kenyan media establishment needs to recognise the presence of foreign journalists in distress living here. After all, it could have been them living abroad. Secondly, journalists are not ordinary refugees.

Journalists have a special status in society as people who witness, record and interpret events. Because of what they know, witnessed or arrive with, they are exposed to a special vulnerability to danger and persecution which the authorities need to be aware of, and take into account, when processing refugee status or deciding on practical living arrangements.

Thirdly, their situation will not last forever, and things will eventually improve. The advantage the political leaders are trying to preserve, which has seen them send their own people into exile, will come to an end one day. Journalists in exile need to record their memories. The opportunity to use the record will materialise one day.

በሳዑዲ አረቢያ የሚገኙ ኢትዮጵያውያን ሮሮ

ሳዑዲ አረቢያ የሚኖሩ ኢትዮጵያውያን ፓስፖርታቸውን ለማሳደስ ወይም በሌላ ለመቀየር ረጅም ጊዜ በመውሰዱ መቸገራቸውን ገለጹ። ነዋሪዎቹ እንደሚሉት ሳዑዲ አረቢያ በተለይም ጂዳ የሚገኘዉ የኢትዮጵያ ቆስላ አሮጌ ፓስፖርታቸዉን ሰብስቦ አዲሱን ግን ለረጅም ጊዜ አልሰጣቸዉም።

በዚሕም ምክንያት የመኖሪያ ፍቃዳቸዉ ጊዜ ማለፉን ወይም ሊያልፍ መቃረቡን ይናገራሉ። እንደሚሉትም ፓስፖርታቸውን እንዲታደስ ወይም እንዲቀየር ሳዑዲ አረቢያ የሚገኘው የኢትዮጵያ ኤምባሲ የጠየቃቸውን ገንዘብ ቢከፍሉም፤ የታደሰዉን ፓስፖርት ለማግኘት ከአምስት ወራት በላይ ጠብቀዋል። እስካሁን አላገኙትም።

የአዲስ አበባ ነዋሪዎችን ያማረረው የኤሌክትሪክ መቋረጥ

ነዋሪዎች እንደሚሉት የኤሌክትሪክ መቋረጥ በዕለት ተዕለት ህይወታቸው፤ በንግድ እንዲሁም በምርት ሂደት ላይ አሉታዊ ጫና አሳድሮባቸዋል ። የኢትዮጵያ ኤሌክትሪክ አገልግሎት በበኩሉ ችግሩ በማሰራጫና በማከፋፈያ አቅም ውስንነት አንዲሁም በብልሽት ምክንያት መፈጠሩን  አስታውቋል ።

የአዲስ አበባ ከተማ ነዋሪዎች በተደጋጋሚና ለረዥም ሰዓታት አንዳንዴም ለቀናት በሚደርሰው የኤሌክትሪክ መቋረጥ መማረራቸውን አስታወቁ ። ነዋሪዎቹ እንደሚሉት የኤሌክትሪክ መቋረጥ በዕለት ተዕለት ህይወታቸው፤ በንግድ እንዲሁም በምርት ሂደት ላይ አሉታዊ ጫና አሳድሮባቸዋል ። የኢትዮጵያ ኤሌክትሪክ አገልግሎት በበኩሉ ችግሩ በማሰራጫና በማከፋፈያ አቅም ውስንነት አንዲሁም በብልሽት ምክንያት መፈጠሩን  አስታውቋል ። በበዙ ወጪም የማስፋፍትና የማሰራጫዎች የማሻሻል ሥራዎች በመከናወን ላይ መሆናቸውን ድርጅቱ ገልጿል ።