From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Wed Dec 23 2009 - 11:45:52 EST
Why Zenawi Betrayed Africa’s Trust at Copenhagen?
Written on Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009 at 3:49 am
http://ethioforum.org/wp/archives/1625
_____
Selam Beyene, Ph.D.- African diplomats, most of whom had brashly stood by
Zenawi when he violently crushed a pro-democracy movement in 2005, naively
expressed shock and incredulity at his betrayal of their trust at the recent
Copenhagen Climate Conference 1,2.
As heralded by this 3 and numerous other authors see, e.g., 4,5 before the
ill-fated conference, Zenawi had a sinister agenda when he successfully
lobbied corrupt African diplomats in Addis to get the nomination as a
spokesperson for Africa
The dictator has been in serious desperation to get the attention of the
West after he lost the cover of “War on Terror” that he had successfully
exploited to enjoy the full support of the Bush Administration and other
Western powers. Despite his atrocious records of crimes against humanity,
corruption and suppression of basic human rights, these powers looked the
other way when the dictator massacred peaceful demonstrators in the
aftermath of his humiliating defeat in the elections of 2005, and propped up
his tyrannical rule with billions of dollars in aid that he plundered with
no accountability and squandered on expensive lobbying campaigns to thwart
congressional measures intended to promote democracy and good governance in
Ethiopia 6.
To the furtively resourceful tyrant, a visible position at the Climate
Conference was hence the only hope of getting the attention the West, and
especially that of the Obama administration, whose rhetoric of democracy and
social justice had sent terrifying signals to the despot.
With the specter of the 2005 massacre still haunting him, Zenawi saw the
position endowed upon him by African diplomats as a valuable tool to earn
legitimacy among Western powers and to ensure their tacit assent as he
prepares to violently thwart again the aspirations of the Ethiopian people
for democracy in the upcoming May 2010 elections.
In view of the mounting evidence pointing at his atrocities 7, he has also
been frantically seeking means of garnering the sympathy of the West in the
likely eventuality of charges for his crimes against humanity. Betrayal of
members of the African Union, an institution that has proven a loyal
subservient to him, was therefore an effective measure toward that end
without any adverse consequence.
With the dwindling financial aid, thanks in part to the irrelevance of his
ploy as an ally in the War on Terror, and, more generally, to the impact of
the global economic downturn on the capacity of donor nations to squander
money on the dictator, a quick source of hard-currency, however meager, was
also a matter of great urgency for the dictator. The lofty goals of the
nations of Africa, in whose names he earned visibility, were therefore
expendable in the eyes of a dictator, whose track records as a leader are
characterized by myopic self-interest, ethnocentrism, poor governance,
corruption and environmental degradation.
It was thus a foregone conclusion that Zenawi would forgo any viable
long-term international accord for a short-term gain, and that he would
easily agree, as he has reprehensibly and egoistically done so, to the
reduction of the billions of dollars from what African leaders had agreed or
to the 2°C commitment that many campaigners claim would threaten the lives
of hundreds of millions of people in Africa 8.
If the Obama administration engages in the discredited Bush-era diplomacy,
sacrificing its hallmarks of social justice and democracy for short-term
diplomatic expediency, then it has not learned the bitter lessons of its
predecessors. To the chagrin of many Ethiopian supporters, the White House
confirmed, as reported in the Los Angeles Times 9:
“… He [President Obama] expressed his appreciation for the leadership role
the Prime Minister Zenawi was playing in work with African countries on
climate change, and urged him to help reach agreement at the Leaders summit
later this week in Copenhagen. For his part, Prime Minister Meles stressed
the importance of success in Copenhagen, and the need to find ways to make
suitable progress on the mitigation, adaptation, and the provision of
finance for the developing countries.”
The people of Africa in general, and of Ethiopia in particular, hailed
President Obama, when he declared 10:
“America will not seek to impose any system of government on any other
nation - the essential truth of democracy is that each nation determines its
own destiny. What we will do is increase assistance for responsible
individuals and institutions, with a focus on supporting good governance -
on parliaments, which check abuses of power and ensure that opposition
voices are heard; on the rule of law, which ensures the equal administration
of justice; on civic participation, so that young people get involved; and
on concrete solutions to corruption like forensic accounting, automating
services, strengthening hotlines, and protecting whistle-blowers to advance
transparency and accountability.”
If good governance, transparency and accountability are the guiding
principles of American foreign aid under Obama, then it is hard to envisage
that the President has not digressed from the path of justice when he
initiated a dialogue with a dictator who has some of the worst records of
any leader in each of the stated parameters.
We do agree with the President’s affirmation 11: “We have the power to make
the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new
beginning,….” Accordingly, it is high time for the Obama administration to
live up to its professed ideals and to make a new beginning in dealing with
dictators. We trust the Obama administration would have the courage and
wisdom to depart from the discredited policies of yesteryear when long-term
stability took backseat to short-term diplomatic pragmatism.
As widely reported, no sooner had Zeanwi received the nod of the West, at
the expense of the trust of Africa, than he ordered his kangaroo court to
sentence to death potential opponents on trumped up charges 12. He has
intensified his attacks on the free press, as evidenced by the recent
flights of respected journalists out of the country see, e.g.,13,14, and has
effectively silenced all political dissent. He has kept credible political
opponents, like Birtukan Mideksa, in prison 15, and is using mafia-like
tactics to intimidate and frustrate opposition groups 16. To avoid another
humiliating defeat in the capital and other cities and towns in the May 2010
elections, every eligible voter employed by the government or runs a major
private enterprise is under duress to sign up as a card-holding member of
Zenawi’s party. In the rural areas, where farmers are at the absolute mercy
of the dictator to till the land or get access to fertilizers, opposition
groups are completely shut out to rule out any credible threats to the
despot.
Ethiopians in the Diaspora have a historic responsibility to ensure that
Zenawi does not use his newly-earned notoriety to garner Western support and
tacit acquiescence as he embarks on his vicious campaign to violently thwart
once again the aspiration of the Ethiopian people for democracy in the
upcoming elections. They should continue to mobilize their resources and
influence the Obama administration and other Western powers from becoming
accomplices in the evil gambits of the tyrant.
Opposition leaders should come to the realization that there is no more
pressing matter, or nobler cause, or greater party agenda than the need to
stand in unison and salvage Ethiopia from the cancerous tyranny of Meles
Zenawi and his repressive machinery. The deliverance of the people can
become a reality only when the leaders are prepared to forfeit egotism,
party loyalty and petty bickering, and are determined to fight to the end,
paying the ultimate consequences, with an enemy that may project vacuous
invincibility and power, but has in essence no longevity or resilience.
—
1
<http://itsgettinghotinhere.org/2009/12/15/corruption-sarkozy-obama-pressure
-ethiopias-zenawi-to-betray-africas-future/> http://itsgettinghotinhere.org\
2 <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SanrX-0pq5w&feature=player_embedded>
http://www.youtube.com\
3 <http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/11401>
http://www.ethiopianreview.com..
4 <http://www.ethiomedia.com/course/4591.html> http://www.ethiomedia.com/\
5 <http://www.mcgillreport.org/zenawi> http://www.mcgillreport.org/zenawi
6 <http://harpers.org/archive/2007/07/hbc-90000631> http://harpers.org/\
7 <http://www.ethiomedia.com/course/the_anuak_massacre.pdf>
http://www.ethiomedia.com/\
8
<http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/climate-change/copenhagen-ac
cord-4.30pm.pdf> http://media.washingtonpost.com/\.
9
<http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/greenspace/2009/12/obama-dials-for-copenhag
en-deal.html> http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/\
10
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/11/obama-ghana-speech-full-t_n_230009
.html> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/\
11
<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/04/obama-speech-in-cairo-vid_n_211215
.html> http://www.huffingtonpost.com/\
12 <http://www.ethiomedia.com/course/us_on_ethiopia.pdf>
http://www.ethiomedia.com/\
13 <http://www.ethiomedia.com/course/4605.html>
http://www.ethiomedia.com/\/a>
14 <http://addisvoice.com/article/ethiopian_paper_quits_under_gove.htm>
http://addisvoice.com/\
15 <http://www.ethioguardian.com/news.php?extend.3318>
http://www.ethioguardian.com/n\
16 <http://addisvoice.com/article/government_fails.htm>
http://addisvoice.com/\
The writer Selam Beyene, Ph.D. can be reached at:
<mailto:Beyene50@gmail.com> Beyene50@gmail.com