From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri May 21 2010 - 10:06:47 EDT
ETHIOPIA: Elections or not, Meles Zenawi´s regime remains illegitimate
Sophia Tesfamariam
May 21, 2010
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23 May 2010 is the day set for the Ethiopian elections. There is no doubt
that the minority regime in Ethiopia led by Meles Zenawi, Washington´s
mercenary in the Horn, will win by a landslide. To prevent them from
challenging its rule, members of the various Ethiopian opposition and their
supporters have been harassed, intimidated, detained and some have been
killed in cold blood. The US-led international community will no doubt bless
and accept the results of the stolen elections as they did with the flawed
elections of 2005, 2000, 1995, and 1992.
The Voice of America in its 19 May 2010 report "Experts say US Government
Walks Fine Line With Ethiopia", explains why successive US Administrations
continue to look the other way as the increasingly repressive and genocidal
minority regime commits gross violations of human rights against its own
people, flouts international law, invades and occupies sovereign territories
of its neighbors with impunity and threatens to destabilize the entire
region with its belligerent policies. VoA presented Thomas Hull, a recent US
Embassy deputy chief of Mission in Ethiopia who said:
"…Ethiopia is in a very key geo-political situation plus it is the host of
the headquarters of the African Union so all those factors make it very
difficult for the United States to exert more than a moral force on Ethiopia
to try to improve its practices…"
Tom Ryan, Kansas City Star Reader Advisory Panel, seems just as resigned to
accept the outcomes of the Ethiopian elections. He writes in the 19 May 2010
piece "Ethiopia elections, May 23:
"….Despite a few opposition leaders, like Birtukan Mideksa, sequestered in
jails, the nation of Ethiopia will hold parliamentary elections this Sunday.
Despite my note to our Congressman Cleaver, it appears the distant country
and Birtukan will remain a distant foreign policy back-burner item. Enjoy
your Ethiopian coffee as the host country sinks into failed-state status
soon…"
Similarly, in her 19 May 2010 interview with RFI, a French news outlet, Ms.
Anna Gomez a European Parliament member who headed the European team that
monitored the 2005 Ethiopian elections, said that she didn´t expect the
upcoming Ethiopian elections to be democratic. She said:
"…I have tried to discourage the European Commission and Council from
sending a mission to Ethiopia because the conditions are not there for a
genuine election, knowing what happened in 2005 and since then in terms of
the repression of the regime…"
RFI reported that Ms. Anna Gomez said that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and
European Union institutions tried to pressure her into writing a favorable
report five years ago. She said that France, Britain and Germany had major
interests in the products they sell to the regime and added that the
"industry of aid" was not any better. Ms. Anna Gomez divulged that:
"…Some member states have been responsible for giving some international
respectability to the regime of Meles Zenawi, which doesn´t deserve it
because of the oppression. It´s a totalitarian regime….It [the staged
Ethiopian elections] gives no benefit to the people of Ethiopia because it´s
run by a regime that absolutely doesn´t provide development…"
The minority regime in Ethiopia knows full well that the international
community, especially the United States and the European countries will
support it diplomatically, financially, militarily and politically as long
as it serves their interests in Ethiopia and the region. But no matter what
Meles Zenawi and his handlers do and say, the minority regime in Ethiopia
will remain as illegitimate as it was on the first day that it usurped power
in Ethiopia. The acceptance of a government by its citizens may be based on
very different reasons and no matter what criteria one uses, he or she will
be hard pressed to find any legitimacy in the minority regime in Ethiopia,
led by Meles Zenawi, staunch "US ally" or not.
In Jean-Marc Coicaud and Veijo Heiskanen 2001 book "Legitimacy of
international organizations", G. C. A. Junne lists 5 sources of legitimacy.
Meles Zenawi´s minority regime in Ethiopia, elections or not, will be
considered an illegitimate minority regime in the eyes of Ethiopians, as it
is only the Ethiopian people that can confer legitimacy on the regime. G. C.
A. Junne´s sources of legitimacy are: Justice, Correct Procedure,
Representation, Effectiveness and Charisma. Let us take a look at how the
minority regime in Ethiopia scores using the 5 above listed sources of
legitimacy.
1. JUSTICE
"…a government can be regarded as legitimate because its policy is based on
the right norms and values, and the government is regarded as acting in a
just and honest way…"
The rule of law does not exist in Melees Sinai´s Ethiopia as the minority
regime is not bound by the law and its ethnic based policies have resulted
in the unequal treatment of Ethiopians under the law. The human dignity of
Ethiopians is not protected by law and Ethiopians do not have equal access
to justice. Today, the people of Ethiopia are victims of the regime´s
lawless behavior and hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians languish in its
many godforsaken jails and detention centers, without trial or charge.
Ethiopia, under Meles Zenawi is one of a handful of mercenary regimes that
is engaged in the illegal "extraordinary rendition program" in which
individuals are snatched and sent to CIA run detention centers around the
world for interrogation and torture.
Meles Zenawi´s regime continues to violate international law, the African
Union and United Nation´s charters, numerous Security Council resolutions
and decisions on the Eritrea Ethiopia border issue, has violated the Algiers
Agreements that it willingly and consciously signed, and has refused to
abide by the Final and Binding decisions of the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary
Commission´s delimitation and demarcation decisions and is militarily
occupying sovereign Eritrean territories, including Badme. Its aggressive
wars of invasion and occupation in Eritrea in 1998-2000 and Somalia in
2006-present make its behavior contrary to internationally accepted norms
and behaviors. It´s deceptive and manipulative gimmicks and tactics designed
to evade its legal and moral obligations prove that it is not capable of
"acting in a just and honest way" at home or in the international arena.
The genocides committed in the Gambela, Ogaden and Oromia regions of
Ethiopia are a result of the regime´s violations of the human rights of the
Ethiopian people. The international crimes committed in Somalia where the
regime´s marauding army raped and tortured innocent Somalis is another
example of the regimes total disregard for the rules of war. The regime,
like the many terrorist groups it harbors, finances and supports, uses
violence and force to effectuate its domestic and international policies.
2. CORRECT PROCEDURE
"…legitimacy can be bestowed upon a government through the process by which
it has been formed. If this process has been carried out according to the
law, a government is accepted as legitimate…"
The Tigray People's Liberation Front (TPLF) which dominates the coalition of
ethno-nationalist parties that make up the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF) came to power in 1991. From the very beginning, the
TPLF regime used deceptive tactics and political gimmicks to establish its
reign over the Ethiopian people and crush all potential opposition.
§ For the July 1991 Conference, while major groups that contributed to the
downfall of the Derg military junta were left out and were not invited to
participate, unknown groups with no known constituencies were invited to
develop the Charter and establish the Transitional Government of Ethiopia
(TGE).
§ The minority regime wrongly believed that by conducting and subsequently
rigging "elections" it would gain national and international legitimacy. It
hasn´t and it will not.
o The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which was considered a major contending
party, was forced to withdraw from the election process at the 11th hour.
Other legally registered parties like IFLO, AAPO, and the Southern Ethiopian
groups boycotted the elections. Older parties such as the EPRP and MEISON
were also excluded. The TPLF dominated regime won by a landslide (96.6%).
The 1992 elections according to a post election report produced by the
National Democratic Institute for International Affairs (NDIA) were said to
be premature, ill-conceived, dubious counterproductive and that they
exacerbated tensions, marginalized fledgling parties and were mired in doubt
and suspicion.
o The opposition boycotted the 1995 elections and the ruling party ran
unchallenged, the elections did nothing more than legitimize the TPLF´s
regime for another 5 years.
o The Department of State, in its most recent country reports on human
rights practices, determined that `the 2000 national elections and the 2001
regional elections [in Ethiopia] were generally free and fair in most areas
but were marred by serious irregularities, including killings,
disappearances, voter intimidation and harassment, and unlawful detentions
of opposition party supporters, particularly in the southern region.
o The May 2005 elections were mired in even more violence. 200 innocent
Ethiopians were massacred in cold blood during the country wide protests
against the minority regime for stealing the peoples´ votes. Over 40,000
Ethiopians were detained across the country for voting the regime out of
office. All leaders of the opposition were rounded up on trumped up charges.
Today Ms. BirtuKan Medeksa, a former judge and one of the opposition leaders
languishes in jail while others, like Berhanu Nega have been sentenced to
death in absentia
The paranoid minority regime, once in power, instituted its racist ethnic
policies that have fueled and exacerbated ethnic and religious conflicts
that rage throughout Ethiopia.
3. REPRESENTATION
"…a government can be seen as legitimate if it represents different societal
groups in a fair way…"
In the past I have written about Meles Zenawi´s minority regime and have
attempted to show that it was not representative of the "different societal
groups in a fair way". Ethiopians from al walks of life can attest to this
fact and many have written extensively about the minority regime and its
constituency. Professor Mesfin Wolde Mariam, Chairman of the Ethiopian Human
Rights Council (EHRC) wrote that Meles Zenawi´s minority regime was:
" … an ethnic-based federation… dominated by the minority ethnic Tigrayans…
the federal structure in effect divides and rules larger ethnic groups such
as the Oromos and Amharas and bars non-members of the Tigrayan People's
Liberation Front…"
Key and most important government posts are held by Tigrayans. Real power in
Ethiopia is now in the hands of 7 Tigrayans. As a matter of fact, the most
influential, important and key Ministries in Ethiopia are directly and fully
controlled, run, supervised and monitored by these 7 Tigrayans: Meles
Zenawi, Samora Younis, Abay Tsehaye, Mulugeta Alemseged, Newaye-Kiristos
Gebre-Ab, Seyoum Mesfin and last but not least, Bereket Simon, a de facto
Tigrayan.
The Prime Minister is Tigrayan, so is the Foreign Minister, Chief of Police,
Chief of Staff, Chief of Security, Mayor of Addis Abeba (even though he was
voted out of office), Minister of Federal Affairs and his Deputy, even the
Patriarch of the Orthodox Church is Tigrayan. In the diplomatic arena, most
important Ambassadorial posts are held by Tigrayans or are deliberately
staffed by hand picked Tigrayan cadres to act as de facto Ambassadors.
Moreover, Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) members and their families
control the transportation, manufacturing and several other industries in
Ethiopia. Tigray region is also the single highest beneficiary of the
massive aid and loan guarantees that is being given to Ethiopia by the IMF,
World Bank and international donors. Schools, colleges, roads, airports,
factories, and other infrastructure projects are carried out in the Tigray
state while the rest of Ethiopia is ignored, and massive debts are incurred,
in the name of the Ethiopian people. The new form of Apartheid taking hold
in Ethiopia is designed to systematically alienate and deprive the Ethiopian
people equal rights, but most importantly it is designed to divide and rule
the people of Ethiopia and render them hopeless and helpless.
4. EFFECTIVENESS
"…a government is seen as legitimate if it exercises power in most, if not
all, parts of the national territory. Here, the question is not how a
government came to power, but whether it can exercise its authority
effectively to deliver results…"
The corruption riddled minority regime in Ethiopia depends on donors for
over 60% of its nation budget lacks economic and political independence and
relies on donors to feed its population. Ethiopia ranks at the bottom of
almost all human development indices and ranks at 170 out of 177 countries
in the United Nation´s Human Development Report-adding to the humiliation of
an otherwise very proud population. Meles Zenawi´s regime has exacerbated
poverty in Ethiopia-Ethiopians are left destitute and hopeless.
Meles Zenawi´s Ethiopia will not meet any of the 8 the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015 and is a country where between 6 and 13
million people are at risk of starvation each year and depend on food
handouts. 80% of the nearly 77 million Ethiopians live below the poverty
line of $2 a day. In Ethiopia today, over 1.5 million people are internally
displaced because of the regime´s war mongering and it´s reckless "poverty
reduction" schemes, and are forced to live on the mercy of aid workers and
UN agencies.
Ethiopia has become a brutal apartheid state-where major ethnic groups are
marginalized (ex. Somalis in the Ogaden, the Oromos in Oromia, the Anuak and
Nuer of Gambela, etc. etc.) Latent tensions among Ethiopia´s 80 ethnic
groups are further exacerbated by the government´s ethnic policies.
5. CHARISMA
"…charismatic leadership can provide legitimacy to a populist government.
People can identify emotionally with their leaders, even if these leaders
came to power in an unconstitutional way, do not represent the interests of
the majority of citizens, and do not deliver tangible results…"
Charisma…far from it. Repulsive is more like it!
Meles Zenawi and his clique who suffer from a debilitating case of
inferiority complex are despised by the entire Ethiopian population. The
minority regime known for its propensity for exaggerations, lies, and
deceptions, has repeatedly violated the peoples trust and has become a
source of great embarrassment for Ethiopia. The mercenary regime has used
Ethiopia´s sons as cannon fodder and minesweepers in its military
adventures, sold off fertile Ethiopian lands, its children in illegal
adoption schemes and engaged in human trafficking and other illicit
activities that have embarrassed and shamed the Ethiopian people.
When the reckless, deceptive minority regime cannot even provide for the
basic needs of its people, pretending to be the economic power in the
region, is not going to make it one, nor are the IMF/World Bank rankings or
the many fake and rigged elections going to elevate its stature in the
international community, which is "happy riding the Ethiopian horse and
flogging it at the same time". It is a mercenary regime that serves the
interests of its handlers and not that of the Ethiopian people. It is an
illegitimate regime-UN, US, EU recognized or not!
The Rule of law must prevail over the law of the jungle!
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