http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/ottawa-urged-to-advocate-for-human-rights-in-ethiopia/article31698781/
Ottawa urged to advocate for human rights in Ethiopia
Geoffrey York
JOHANNESBURG — The Globe and Mail
Published Friday, Sep. 02, 2016 5:33PM EDT
Last updated Friday, Sep. 02, 2016 5:38PM EDT
When Ethiopian security forces killed dozens of peaceful protesters in
a hail of gunfire last month, the Canadian government responded with a
brief tweet to say it was “disturbed” by the deaths.
But Canada’s Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan did not cancel his
scheduled visit to Ethiopia.
Three days after the killings, he arrived in its capital and held a
friendly meeting with Ethiopia’s defence minister and prime minister,
making no public comment about the government’s actions.
Canada’s muted response to the lethal crackdown on the biggest
protests in Ethiopia’s recent history is a sign of its continuing
close relationship with the East African country.
Ethiopia is often among the first stops for Canadian cabinet ministers
when they visit Africa, and it remains one of the biggest
beneficiaries of Canadian foreign aid, receiving $108-million from
Ottawa last year.
The Liberal government, which has promised a “re-engagement” with
Africa, must decide how to engage with Africa’s human-rights abusers,
of which Ethiopia is among the worst.
The government in Addis Ababa has a long record of jailing and killing
its critics, manipulating elections and using Western food aid to
reward its supporters and punish its opponents.
The question many are asking now is whether the Liberals will turn a
blind eye to these abuses as it tries to revive Canada’s
often-neglected relations with Africa.
The growing wave of protests against the Ethiopian government over the
past 10 months, especially in the Oromiya and Amhara regions, has been
the most significant in this authoritarian nation for more than a
decade.
And they have spread to the Ethiopian diaspora around the world,
symbolized by Ethiopian marathon runners who made protest gestures as
they crossed the finish line at the Rio Olympics and elsewhere.
The protests reached Canada last Sunday, at the Quebec City Marathon,
when the winning runner, Ebisa Ejigu, a Canadian resident of Ethiopian
origin, clenched his fists and crossed his arms in an “X” sign above
his head as he crossed the finish line.
The gesture is a sign of solidarity with the Oromo people, the largest
ethnicity in Ethiopia, who have been demonstrating against government
plans to expand the capital, Addis Ababa, into traditional Oromo
farmland.
A week earlier, Ethiopian runner Feyisa Lilesa made the same protest
gesture as he crossed the finish line at the Olympics.
He won the silver medal – and then refused to return home to Ethiopia,
telling journalists that he is afraid of being imprisoned or killed
for his protest actions.
“The Ethiopian government is killing my people,” he told journalists.
“My relatives are in prison, and if they talk about democratic rights
they are killed.”
Ethiopian security forces killed more than 400 protesters in the
Oromiya region – and arrested tens of thousands more – from last
November until June, according to a Human Rights Watch report.
This was followed by the killing of a further 100 protesters last
month, reports say.
Canada and other Western countries have long regarded Ethiopia as a
useful ally in the fight against Islamist extremism in Somalia and
elsewhere in East Africa.
Canada has been one of the biggest donors to Ethiopia in recent years,
providing several hundred million dollars in development and
humanitarian assistance.
The Liberal government could use this leverage to put pressure on
Ethiopia to halt its killing of protesters, according to human-rights
groups and Ethiopian-Canadian activists.
“We’ve been very concerned that the Ethiopian government has had a bit
of a free ride from Canada and the international community,” said Alex
Neve, secretary general of the Canadian branch of Amnesty
International.
He said it is “utterly unacceptable” that Canadian officials and
cabinet ministers don’t apply strong pressure on the Ethiopian
government to halt the killing of protesters.
“It is absolutely time for Canada to make clear that this has to stop.”
Aside from the short tweet of disapproval from the Global Affairs
department, there is no record of public statements by the Liberal
government about the killings last month.
But a Global Affairs spokeswoman said Canada is “deeply concerned”
about the reported deaths of the protesters.
“Canada has raised these concerns directly with the government of
Ethiopia, and will continue to do so,” spokeswoman Jocelyn Sweet said
in response to questions from The Globe and Mail.
“We continue to monitor the situation closely.”
Renée Filiatrault, deputy chief of staff to Mr. Sajjan, said the issue
of the killing of protesters was “raised in private bilateral
conversations” during the defence minister’s visit to Ethiopia.
“While I can’t go any further, I can say that the protection and
promotion of human rights and fundamental freedoms is key to our
foreign policy and was a topic of discussion in every meeting that we
had,” she said.
Some activists are urging the Liberal government to halt the flow of
Canadian aid to Ethiopia and find ways to penalize the regime for its
crackdown on protesters.
“Canada’s aid to Ethiopia has been a failed experiment in turning
brutal dictators into democrats,” said Yohannes Berhe, an
Ethiopian-Canadian human-rights activist.
“Spending taxpayers’ money without any measure of accountability and
without demanding true political reform is, at the very least, a
wasteful endeavour, and at worst, tantamount to encouraging one of the
most repressive regimes in Africa.”
Received on Sat Sep 03 2016 - 15:40:52 EDT