Ethiopia: Presence of Ethiopia Contradicts Goal of G-8 Talks
By Office of Rep. Chris Smith,20 May 2012
Press release
Washington, DC - Friday the G-8 leaders will begin a summit at Camp David,
MD, with discussions focusing on the global economic recovery and food
security in the developing world, with President Obama having invited the
leaders of Benin, Ethiopia, Ghana and Tanzania to discuss food security, but
the presence of Ethiopia's Prime Minister Meles Zenawi is causing growing
concern because of the land grab issue in his country and unaddressed human
rights abuses there.
"Several years ago, I introduced legislation to sanction the Ethiopian
government for the killing of peaceful protesters in 2005 and its broader
violations of human rights," said Congressman Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman
of the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health and Human Rights. "Not
only do human rights violations continue in Ethiopia, but the government has
now added the element of displacing their own people in favor of foreign
interests farming Ethiopian land instead of their own citizens. Having
Ethiopia at the table to discuss food security is counter-productive based
on their land policies.
"The only way the inclusion of Ethiopia at the G-8 summit makes sense is if
this forum provides an occasion to have a serious discussion with Meles
about his unacceptable treatment of Ethiopian citizens, including policies
that have made more of his people's food insecure," Smith said.
According to recent human rights reports, the Ethiopian government is
forcibly relocating 70,000 people from the Gambella region in the
southwestern part of the country to make land available for foreign
investment in agriculture. Those displaced Ethiopians now face a lack of
food, new farmland or available health and education services for their
families. An estimated 5,000 Anuak people has been forced to flee to Kenya
and 8,000 Anuak are now refugees in South Sudan.
Previous State Department human rights reports have consistently cited
Ethiopia for such human rights violations as unlawful killings, torture and
other abuse of detainees, arbitrary arrest and detention, illegal searches
and the use of excessive force by security services in counterinsurgency
operations. The new State Department human rights report will be released
shortly and is not expected to indicate a reduction of human rights
violations in Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian Federal High Court on January 19, 2012, convicted three
Ethiopian journalists, an opposition leader, and a fifth person under an
anti-terrorism law that one human rights organization claims violates free
expression and due process rights. The ruling comes one month after two
Swedish journalists were sentenced to 11 years in prison on charges of
"rendering support to terrorism," based on their having illegally entered
Ethiopia to investigate and report on abuses in the country's Ogaden area.
----[Mailing List for Eritrea Related News ]----
Received on Mon May 21 2012 - 10:20:20 EDT
