From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Wed Jun 30 2010 - 09:20:55 EDT
IG Reports U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia Overwhelmed by DOD
30/06/2010
According to a “sensitive but unclassified” report from the U.S. State
Department’s
<http://carllevan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/IG-Report-USG-Embassy-Ethio
pia.pdf> Inspector General on the US Embassy in Ethiopia
(http://carllevan.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/IG-Report-USG-Embassy-Ethio
pia.pdf) just released, the Embassy suffered high staff turnover in the wake
of unpopular decisions pushed through by the Bush Administration. As a
result, it is struggling to cope with important changes, including a pending
facility move and a massive influx of Department of Defense staff.
The report describes the Embassy as “akin to a forward military base” and
raises concerns about civilian staff being overwhelmed by DOD personnel who
need to be more closely controlled by the diplomats. According to the IG,
the Embassy staff is “somewhat underpowered in terms of dealing with other
agencies within the mission, including a dozen or so Department of Defense
elements, some not entirely under chief of mission authority and/or prone to
resist the chargé’s authority almost to the point of insubordination”
(emphasis added).
This elaborates upon a problem documented in a 2006 Minority Staff report
prepared by Senator Richard Lugar’s staff on the Senate Foreign Relations
Committee, Embassies as Command Posts in the Anti-Terror Campaign. It is
also important because DOD emphasized partnerships with civilian authority
in order to sell its Africa Command (AFRICOM) to the American and African
publics. The IG report offers troubling evidence that three years after the
controversies slipped from the public view, lines of authority remained
blurred and the diplomatic ingredient of the “3 D’s” remains overshadowed by
defense. The DOD staff embedded in the Embassy also includes a media
relations team, suggesting involvement in the “phase zero” operations
designed to shape potential conflict environments. As numerous former
diplomats have told me over the last year, U.S. ambassadors have very
limited control over these operations so they often work at odds with U.S.
diplomatic strategies.
Training and Foreign Aid Despite Human Rights Violations?
A December 2009 visit by a senior Department of Defense official (reportedly
the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Africa Vicki Huddleston)
increased the likelihood that Ethiopia will regain its eligibility for
Section 1206 military assistance. Unless strict conditions have been
satisfied, the Leahy Amendment prohibits assistance furnished under the
Foreign Assistance Act or the Arms Export Control Act to any foreign
security forces if the Secretary of State has credible evidence that such
unit has committed gross violations of human rights. Ethiopia was
originally de-qualified for this aid following the 2005 elections. Today,
evidence of such violations is abundant, notwithstanding the relative calm
on Election Day this year. As Human Rights Watch pointed out last week in
<http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/06/21/testimony-leslie-lefkow-us-house-repr
esentatives-ethiopia> Congressional testimony, “voters were intimidated at
almost every stage” of the process. Repression remains widespread, thanks
in no small part to a sweeping Anti-Terrorism Proclamation issued last year.
(For some solid and balanced comparative research on the effects of
exporting American counter-terror legislation, check out the work of
political scientist Beth Whitaker at the University of North Carolina,
Charlotte.)
Thus the likely resumption of military training and financing is surprising,
and in my opinion threatens to bring the U.S. back to the bad old Cold War
days of choosing security over democracy. Remember El Salvador? Apparently
not. Even though the Embassy staff is managing well in a number of areas,
the Inspector General further suggests that an increase in government
repression will not alter the U.S. reliance on Ethiopia to provide stability
for the region.
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