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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Fri Jan 28 2011 - 10:59:31 EST
Aid Should Not Sustain Repression in Ethiopia
Aid Should Not Sustain Repression in
Ethiopiahttp://www.indepthnews.net/grafik/pfeil_l.gifSerkalem Fasil and
Eskinder Nega
By Karina Boeckmann
IDN-InDepth NewsInterview
28/01/2011
BERLIN/ADDIS ABABA (IDN) - Western nations and multilateral agencies
disburse aid mechanically rather than intelligently; no one cares what
happens to the money; and the level of cynicism in aid bureaucracies is
simply atrocious, says a distinguished Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega
who along with his wife Serkalem Fasil, also a journalist, has suffered
behind bars.
"There is an international standard of good governance -- multi-party
democracy and fair elections -- to which all countries should be held
accountable. This is not a call for rich nations to meddle in the internal
affairs of poor countries," he says, adding: "Strict adherence to democratic
standards in the disbursing of aid-money will inevitably trigger the
internal dynamics to meet those standards."
Eskinder Nega was jailed seven times and tortured because he reported fraud
in parliamentary elections in Ethiopia in 2005. Serkalem Fasil gave birth to
a child while in captivity, which she was allowed to see only sometimes. She
was charged with treason in 2007 but acquitted in response to international
pressure. The 'International Women's Media Foundation' (IWMF) conferred on
her an award the same year for her courage as a journalist
Karina Boeckmann interviewed the journalist couple by E-Mail against the
backdrop of a public debate on development cooperation with Ethiopia,
unleashed by a Human Rights Watch (HRW) report 'Development without Freedom
- How Aid Underwrites Repression in Ethiopia' released in October 2010.
The importance of the report is underscored by the fact that between 2004
and 2008, international development aid to Ethiopia doubled to more than
US$3.3 billion annually, making this landlocked country in the Horn of
Africa one of Africa's largest recipients of funds from the rich Western
nations and multilateral agencies.
Ethiopia is in fact one of the most aid-dependant countries in the world and
received more than US$2 billion in 2009, but its major donors have been
unwilling to confront the government over its worsening human rights record.
Two months after the HRW report was released, executive director Kenneth
Roth admonished the Addis Ababa based Development Assistance Group (DAG) --
comprising 26 bilateral and multilateral development agencies -- for its
failure to "initiate a credible and independent inquiry" into "serious
allegations about the misuse of donor-supported programs for repressive
purposes by the government of Ethiopia".
Also the European Union team, monitoring the May 2010 polls, criticized in
its November report the ruling party's misuse of state resources during the
election campaign. Ethiopia's ruling party won more than 99.6 percent of
parliamentary seats in an election that, according to European observers,
"fell short of international standards".
Following are extracts from the interview:
Question: How would you describe the current human rights situation in
Ethiopia?
Serkalem Fasil and Eskinder Nega: In one word: horrible. Ethiopia has been
Africa's star backslider since 2005, when, as had happened in Burma, an
opposition victory in the nation's first real multi-elections was reversed
by brute force. The absence of a strong civil society and free press -- both
suppressed in 2005 has hastened the descent. The civil society and the free
press had both by and large served as checks on the traditionally
unrestrained power of the Ethiopian state. Low-level insurgencies in the
Oromo and Somali regions have entailed disproportionate responses by the
military; in one instance, charges of scorched-earth retaliation in the
Somali region has been corroborated by HRW satellite images. Ethiopia is now
consistently rated as one of the worst offenders of human rights in the
world by all international rights groups.
Q: How many dissidents and journalists are in prison right now?
Eskinder Nega: No precise figures on the exact numbers have ever been
tallied. But that they have always run into thousands -- mostly into tens of
thousands -- for the entire span of the two decades that the EPRDF
(Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front) has been in power is an
established fact. A disturbingly high number of these have either been
sentenced -- mostly without a fair trail -- either to death or life
imprisonment. Ethiopia has sentenced more political prisoners to death than
the entire sub-Saharan African countries (minus Rwanda and Sudan) combined
(which is also true of life sentences.)
Q: Though many of your colleagues have left the country, you continue to
hold on. Why? What are your motives/expectations/hopes for your country in
the coming years?
Serkalem Fasil and Eskinder Nega: Hope has kept us in the country. Optimism
about the future was stirred by the success of multi- party democracy
elsewhere in Africa -- Botswana, Ghana, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia,
Senegal etc. We have come to believe not only in the possibility of
democracy but also in its irremediable destiny for us as a people and a
nation. The ups and downs we go through, both as individuals and as a
nation, to get there are not only unavoidable, as every precedent throughout
the world amply demonstrates, but in the grand perspective of things, they
are exactly the ingredients that give the ultimate prize - democracy -- real
value. We are highly privileged to be part of this history. We cannot
envision ourselves giving it up for anything else.
Q: In the last elections the ruling party led by Prime Minister (PM) Meles
Zenawi bagged 99.6 per cent of the seats. A result too good to be true . .
.?
Serkalem Fasil: Yes, to say the least. In the ultimate height of absurdity,
the PM has adamantly insisted that the one seat for the opposition in the
547 seat Parliament -- a consequence of his party's 99.6 "victory" --
actually means more democracy than ever. Mind you, he did not blink when he
uttered those words. I am fascinated that he has the strength to look at
himself in the mirror every morning after saying that. I know I wouldn't.
Q: Being former political prisoners and critics of the government of Meles
Zenawi, what are the problems you are facing day in and day out both as
private persons and as professional journalists?
Eskinder Nega: I have been imprisoned seven times for my work as a
journalist. During the imprisonments, I had my shoulder dislocated; was
tortured; beaten; and roughed up. My wife, Serkalem Fasil, gave birth to our
son in prison under appalling circumstances. Our son, premature and
underweight at birth, was denied an incubator. Each incident has had exactly
the opposite of the intended effect -- that is, it made us more not less
determined. Such is the power of the truth on average people, whom we embody
by sentiment, disposition and upbringing. The lesson: the truth is more
powerful than the might of the state.
Q: Are you being harassed?
Serkalem Fasil and Eskinder Nega: Let's just say that the police-state
version of the paparazzi have high interest in us. Fortunately, our
name-recognition and international exposure affords us some level of
protection -- our only protection. Many others could not say the same. They
are by far worse off than we are. It wouldn't be fair to speak of our plight
when many others are suffering more.
Q: You published three independent newspapers that were closed down in
November 2005 because of critical reports about the election process at that
time. Is there any chance for you in the near future to work as journalists
again?
Serkalem Fasil: We hope so. But if not, we will not be dissuaded. The
struggle will continue --broadened and intensified peacefully and legally --
until we are able to do so. Time is on our side. The truth is on our side.
We will win in the end.
Q: Ethiopia is something like the donors' 'darling'. A boon or a bane?
Eskinder Nega: There is an international standard of good governance --
multi-party democracy and fair elections -- to which all countries should be
held accountable. This is not a call for rich nations to meddle in the
internal affairs of poor countries. Strict adherence to democratic standards
in the disbursing of aid-money will inevitably trigger the internal dynamics
to meet those standards. There shouldn't be country specific standards;
which would invite the loathed prying. Rather, the standard for good
governance should be the same for all countries; which would make it
impartial. No country has beaten poverty with aid-money. Ethiopia will not
be the first to shatter this record. . . . In the meantime, as HRW has
eloquently expressed it, tyranny is being subsidized by donor countries.
Q: International media see Prime Minister Zenawi as a man with a Janus head:
on the one hand supporting development and on the other violating basic
rights. Do you agree?
Serkalem Fasil: Even after a twenty years reign by PM Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia
has yet to feed her hungry millions. The country is still food-aid dependent
-- 37 years after receiving the first shipment. There is no precedent for
this -- past or present -- in world history. PM Meles has led Ethiopia for
more consecutive hunger stricken-years -- --twenty years -- than any other
leader in history. What kind of a "development record" is this? Certainly,
not the kind any sane person would be proud of. How the Kenyans -- who have
half the population but export twice as much -- must be amused at our
"development"! The international media has missed the real story.
Q: German federal development minister Dirk Niebel (during his visit to
Ethiopia January 11-14) has promised more aid to support Ethiopia's
development efforts. How do you evaluate the visit of minister Niebel
referring to human rights in Ethiopia?
Eskinder Sega: The policy imperative in the West is to mechanically disburse
aid-money; not distribute it intelligently. Though aid had started with
lofty and estimable goals, profound disappointments has led to its
degeneration to little more than the soothing of the guilt-ridden conscience
of the rich in a wretchedly wanting world. No one really cares what happens
to the money -- it hasn't changed the world, and it's not expected to. The
level of cynicism in aid bureaucracies is simply atrocious -- apathy reigns
undisputed. And I fear that Dirk Niebel has been overwhelmed by the cynics.
Paradoxically, the world needs more not less aid money. It is capable of
doing good. It just needs to be separated from inertia and cynicism.
Q: Niebel invited Zenawi to the upcoming Munich Security Conference
(February 4-6), which is an important international forum of discussion on
defence and security issues. The invitation to the authoritarian Belarus
president Alexander Lukashenko, who after fraudulent elections in December
2010 declared himself the winner with 79.7 percent of the vote -- was
withdrawn. Would you like to comment?
Eskinder Nega: Belarus is in Europe and Ethiopia is in Africa. There lies
the answer to the enigma. Who really cares about what happens in Africa as
long as a raging war is not in the headlines? Avoid an active war and you
are dubbed a success. The standard for success is held ridiculously low -- a
function of the inertia and cynicism that has come to define the
relationship between Ethiopia and the West now for two decades. And what
this has bred is not only dependency but an intractable sense of entitlement
to aid on the part of the Ethiopian government. This is not good for
Ethiopia. And it certainly is not what the West really intended or wants.
*Karina Boeckmann is editor-in-charge at IPS-Inter Press Service Germany, a
member of the media network of Global Cooperation Council and Globalom
Media, for which she conducted this E-Mail interview.
(IDN-InDepthNews/27.01.2011)
Copyright C 2011 IDN-InDepthNews | Analysis That Matters
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