From: Tsegai Emmanuel (emmanuelt40@gmail.com)
Date: Sun Mar 28 2010 - 12:33:14 EST
Political conditions in Ethiopia worrisome, say American lawmakers
By Jim Fisher-Thompson | March 28, 2010
Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Johnnie Carson (US Embassy)
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WASHINGTON — Key U.S. lawmakers, both Democratic and Republican, have
expressed concern for political conditions in Ethiopia, citing authoritarian
tendencies by its government as well as human rights abuses such as the
continued detention of a prominent opposition leader.
Leading off a March 24 hearing on U.S. policy toward Africa, Representative
Donald Payne (Democrat, New Jersey), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs
Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, said of the ruling party, “I am
deeply concerned and troubled about the deteriorating [political] conditions
in Ethiopia. The EPRDF [Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front]
is becoming increasingly totalitarian.”
The panel’s highest-ranking Republican, Representative Chris Smith (New
Jersey), added, “Unfortunately, Prime Minister Meles [Zenawi] shows
deteriorating signs of human rights practices.”
Payne expressed special concern for Birtukan Mideksa, a former Ethiopian
judge and opposition leader convicted in 2005 of attempting to overthrow the
constitutional order and sentenced to life in prison. She was pardoned in
2007, but rearrested and her sentence reinstated in December 2008.
The report added, “There were credible reports that Birtukan’s mental health
deteriorated significantly during the year.” While critical of the Ethiopian
government’s treatment of dissidents and the conditions of their
imprisonment, the State Department report acknowledged that “the government
continued efforts to train police and army recruits in human rights.”
Asked to comment by Payne, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs
Johnnie Carson said: “Ethiopia’s human rights record could be far better
than it is right now. There are a number of allegations made that have been
documented in the State Department’s Human Rights Report that indicate
shortcomings in the government’s treatment of individuals that come under
arrest. We encourage the government to treat everyone in a humane fashion.”
On Birtukan, Carson told the panel, “We have asked the Ethiopian authorities
why she was rearrested after having been paroled and whether, in fact, we
can expect her release anytime soon.”
During an official visit to Ethiopia three weeks ago, Carson said, he met
with Prime Minister Meles and raised the case of Birtukan as well as a
number of other individuals who are being held by the Ethiopian authorities.
“I encouraged the government to act in a responsible fashion in dealing with
these cases and noted very clearly that the continued imprisonment of people
like Ms. Birtukan undermined the credibility and image of the Ethiopian
government.”
Carson said he also spent more than an hour going over a range of issues
related to democracy and good governance and “the need to have free and fair
elections” during his discussion with the prime minister.
“We are watching with great interest … and encouraging the government of
Ethiopia, as well as the opposition parties, to act responsibly during the
election campaign and during the [May] election itself,” Carson said. “We
think it is incumbent on the [Ethiopian] government to do everything it
possibly can to ensure that the playing field is level in the run-up to the
election, that there are opportunities for the opposition parties to
participate prior to the elections in their campaigns and that they be
allowed to vote freely and fairly on election day.
“We do not want to see a repetition of the violence that followed the flawed
election of 2005,” Carson told the lawmakers.
Earl Gast, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) senior deputy
assistant administrator for Africa, also cited the importance of elections
to the democratic process in Africa, telling the House panel, “We believe
that leaders who manipulate elections are living on borrowed time.”
“As African societies and political systems continue to develop, the
expectations of people toward their governments will continue to rise,” he
said. Political processes that don’t meet these expectations can trigger
instability and even violent conflict, which can set a country’s development
progress back a generation.”
And with more than 20 elections scheduled for Africa in 2010, the official
said USAID in 2008–2009 devoted about $89 million for political competition
and consensus building in Africa — a third of the development agency’s
budget for democracy and governance on the continent. “Our goal is to
support the creation of fair and credible election systems, not to determine
electoral winners,” he said.
The chairman said he was particularly bothered by the Ethiopian government’s
recent jamming of Voice of America (VOA) broadcasts after the government
unjustly compared the official U.S. broadcasting agency to the Rwandan hate
radio station Milles Collines. Payne said the Rwandan station was “used by
those who committed the Rwandan genocide” in 1994.According to the recently
released State Department 2009 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices,
Birtukan, who led the opposition UDJ (Unity for Democracy and Justice)
party, was “held in solitary confinement until June, despite a court ruling
that indicated it was a violation of her constitutional rights. She was also
denied access to visitors except for a few close family members, despite a
court order granting visitor access without restrictions.”Meles Zenawi says
he will authorize jamming VOA By Peter Heinlein, VOA
March 19, 2010
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..
ADDIS ABABA - Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi says he is prepared to
order jamming of VOA broadcasts in Amharic, the country's main official
language. Mr. Meles compared VOA Amharic to the hate media that incited the
Rwanda genocide.
The Ethiopian leader denies having authorized the interference VOA Amharic
listeners have been experiencing since February 22. But speaking to
reporters Thursday, he acknowledged ordering preparations for jamming, and
said as soon as the equipment is working properly, he would give the go
ahead.
"We have to know before we make the decision to jam, whether we have the
capacity to do it," said Meles Zenawi. "But I assure you if they assure me
at some future date that they have the capacity to jam it, I will give them
the clear guideline to jam it. But so far there has not been that formal
decision to jam."
Mr. Meles said what listeners may have been experiencing for the past four
weeks is testing of the jamming equipment.
The prime minister compared VOA's Amharic Service to Radio Mille Collines,
which broadcast hate messages blamed for inciting the 1994 genocide in
Rwanda.
"We have been convinced for many years that in many respects, the VOA
Amharic Service has copied the worst practices of radio stations such as
Radio Mille Collines of Rwanda in its wanton disregard of minimum ethics of
journalism and engaging in destabilizing propaganda," he said.
Voice of America Director Danforth Austin issued a statement Thursday
saying, "any comparison of VOA programming to the genocidal broadcasts of
Rwanda's Radio Mille Collines is incorrect and unfortunate."
He added, "the VOA deplores jamming as a form of media censorship wherever
it may occur."
The statement said VOA's Amharic Service is required by law to provide
accurate, objective and comprehensive news and information and abide by the
highest journalistic standards.
Austin also noted that "while VOA is always ready to address responsible
complaints about programming, the Government of Ethiopia has not initiated
any official communication in more than two years."
VOA language service broadcasts to Ethiopia have been jammed in the past
around election times. The next election for parliament is just over two
months away. But in past instances, the government denied being responsible
for the jamming.
Monitors say the recent jamming has only been aimed at Amharic broadcasts,
but has not affected Afan Oromo and Tigrinya language service transmissions
to Ethiopia. They are heard on the same frequencies before and after the
Amharic broadcast.
The Voice of America is a multi-media international broadcasting service
funded by the U.S. Government. VOA broadcasts more than 1500 hours of news
and other programming every week in 45 languages to an audience of more than
125 million people.
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