<
http://www.ethiopianreview.net/index/?p=51772> Susan Rice and Africa’s
Unholy Trinity
Matriarch of the Unholy Trinity
Alemayehu G. Mariam
December 9th, 2012
<
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/43004/s-rice>
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/2011/S-Rice.jpgSusan Rice, the current U.S.
Ambassador to the U.N., has been waltzing (or should I say do-se-do-ing)
with Africa’s slyest, slickest and meanest dictators for nearly two decades.
More cynical commentators have said she has been in bed with them, as it
were. No doubt, international politics does make for strange bedfellows.
Rice’s favorite dictators in Africa are the “Unholy Trinity” — Paul Kagame
of Rwanda, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and the late Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia —
all former rebel leaders who seized power through the barrel of the gun and
were later baptized to become the “new breed of African leaders” (a phrase
of endearment coined by Bill Clinton to celebrate the “Three African Amigos”
and memorialize their professed commitment to democracy and economic
development). She has been best friend for life and the acknowledged
Guardian Angel, champion, apologist, promoter, advocate, grand dame and
matriarch of the trio. She has shielded the “Fearsome, Threesome” from legal
and political accountability, deflected from them much deserved criticism
and thwarted national and international scrutiny and sanctions against the.
Rice, Rwanda and the Genocide That Was Not
In April 1994, when the Clinton Administration pretended to be ignorant of
the unspeakable terror and massacres in Rwanda, Susan Rice — who by her own
description “was a young Director on the National Security Council staff at
the White House, accompanying the then-National Security Advisor, Anthony
Lake” — and currently the putative heir apparent to Secretary of State
Hilary Clinton, was unconcerned about taking immediate action to stop the
killings. Rather, she was fretting about the political consequences of
calling the Rwandan tragedy a “genocide”. In a monument to utter moral
depravity and conscience-bending callous indifference, Rice casually
inquired of her colleagues, “If we use the word ‘genocide’ and are seen as
doing nothing, what will be the effect on the November [congressional]
election?” Rice later shed crocodile tears for having made her senseless
statement while simultaneously claiming she does not quite remember making
it, but regretted “if I said it.” Lt. Colonel Tony Marley, the U.S.
military liaison to the Arusha peace process (the Arusha Peace Accords which
resulted in the 1993 agreement for power sharing between Hutus and Tutsis in
Rwanda) was so baffled by Rice’s statement, he observed, “We could believe
that people would wonder that, but not that they would actually voice it.”
In less than 100 days, 800 thousand Rwandans by U.N. estimate had been
killed in the genocidal madness. For weeks, Rice, her boss Lake and other
top U.S. officials labored and agonized not to call the monstrous Rwandan
genocide, a genocide. They continued to play their sinister semantic
bureaucratic games to make sure there were no official references to
“genocide”, “ethnic cleansing”, “extermination” and the like in connection
with the Rwandan tragedy. But far from regretting her role in underrating
the Rwandan genocide and the massive and gross violations of human rights,
over the past decade and half Rice has turned a blind eye, deaf ears and
muted lips to extrajudicial killings, suppression of the press, decimation
of opposition parties and imprisonment of large numbers of dissidents in
Africa and aided and abetted Africa’s dictatorial trio. She has coddled,
pampered, nurtured, protected and sang praises for these ruthless dictators.
U.S. policy in the 1994 Rwandan genocide will remain a testament to shame,
diplomatic duplicity, bureaucratic sophistry and plain old fashioned callous
deceitfulness. On April 6, 1994, the plane transporting Rwandan President
Juvenal Habyarimana, Burindian President Cyprien Ntaryamira and other
officials was shot down as it returned from Tanzania. The prime suspects in
the assassination are believed to be elements of the Rwandan Armed Forces
(RAF) who had rejected a power sharing agreement Habyarimana had reached
with the rebel Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) a year earlier. Immediately
following Habyarimana’s assassination, RAF members aided by extremist
militia elements known as the Interahamwe (which in Kinyarwanda means “those
who stand/work/fight/attack together”) went on a rampage indiscriminately
killing government officials, ordinary Tutsis and other moderate Hutus.
Rice and other top U.S. officials knew or should have known a genocide was
underway or in the making once RAF and interahamwe militia began killing
people in the streets and neighborhoods on April 6. They were receiving
reports from the U.N. mission in Rwanda; and their own intelligence pointed
to unspeakable massacres taking place in Kigali and elsewhere in the
country. In a Memorandum dated April 6, 1994, the day of the Habyiarimana
assassination,
<
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB53/rw040694.pdf> Deputy
Assistant Secretary Prudence Bushnell, the State Department’s number two
official for Africa matters, predicted:
If, as it appears, both Presidents have been killed, there is a strong
likelihood that widespread violence could breakout in either or both
countries, particularly if it is confirmed that the plane was shot down. Our
strategy is to appeal for calm in both countries, both through public
statements and in other ways…
On April 11, 1994, in a
<
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB53/rw041194.pdf> Talking Points
Memorandum prepared for the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, the Deputy
Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East Africa concluded:
Unless both sides can be convinced to return to the peace process, a massive
(hundreds of thousands of deaths) bloodbath will ensue that would likely
spill over into Burundi. In addition, millions of refugees will flee into
neighboring Uganda, Tanzania and Zaire…Since neither the French nor the
Belgians have the trust of both sides…, there will be a role to play for the
U.S. as the “honest broker.”
But Rice and company intentionally chose to minimize the extreme nature of
the violence and kept on issuing empty declarations, pleas for a cease fire
and calls to the parties to come to the negotiating table.
Two weeks into the genocide on April 22, presidential National Security
Advisor Anthony Lake, Rice’s boss, issued a statement “
<
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB53/rw042294.pdf> expressing
deep concern over the violence that continues to rage in Rwanda following
the tragic deaths of Rwandan President Habyarimana and Burindian President
Ntaryamira two weeks ago.” Lake called on “all responsible officials and
military officers” to bring the “offending troops under control” and
implement a “cease fire and return to negotiations.” By late April, the U.S.
was still playing a “see no genocide, hear no genocide and speak no
genocide” public relations game. On April 28,
<
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB53/rw042994.pdf> Bushnell
“telephoned Rwandan Ministry of Defense Cabinet Director Col. Bagasora to
urge an end to the killings.” Bushnell told Bagasora that in the “eyes of
the world, the Rwanda military engaged in criminal acts, aiding and abetting
civilians massacres” and demanded that the Rwandan “Government make every
effort to implement the peace accords.” Three weeks into the genocide,
Bushnell was still talking about “massacres” as others “expressed deep
concern over the violence.
On May 1, the central issue facing the Defense Department intra-agency group
established to generate proposals on what to do in Rwanda was how to
characterize the mindboggling genocidal carnage (excuse me, “massacre”).
<
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB53/rw050194.pdf> According to
the “Discussion Paper” of this group, participants were warned not to use
the “G” word because using that label could result in U.S. taking preventing
action, exactly the same kind of concern explicitly raised by Rice:
1. Genocide Investigation: Language that calls for an international
investigation of human rights abuses and possible violations of the genocide
convention. Be careful. Legal at State was worried about this yesterday–
Genocide finding could commit USG to actually “do something”.
By May 5, the U.S. had considered jamming Rwandan radio stations such as
Radio Mille Collines which was coordinating attacks and broadcasting highly
inflammatory ethnic propaganda against Tutsis, moderate Hutus, Belgians, and
the United Nations mission in Rwanda resulting in thousands of deaths.
<
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB53/rw050594.pdf> That idea was
discarded as “ineffective” and “expensive costing approximately $8,500 per
flight hour”.
A little over one month into the genocide, a Defense Intelligence Report
dated May 9, 1994, concluded:
… In addition to the random massacre of Tutsis by Hutu militias and
individuals, there is an organized, parallel effort of genocide being
implemented by the army to destroy the leadership of the Tutsi community.
The original intent was to kill only the political elite supporting
reconciliation; however, the government lost control of the militias, and
the massacre spread like wildfire. It continues to rage out of control.
By May 21, six weeks into the genocide, incredibly, U.S. officials were
still debating whether they should call the carnage a “genocide” despite the
open and notorious fact that tens of thousands of Rwandans were being
slaughtered. <
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB53/rw052194.pdf>
In a May 21 “Action Memorandum” sent to Secretary of State Warren
Christopher the question presented was “Has Genocide Occurred in Rwanda?”
under the heading “Issue for Decision”, the Memorandum formulated the policy
question as follows:
Whether (1) to authorize Department officials to state publicly that “acts
of genocide have occurred” in Rwanda and (2) to authorize U.S. delegations
to international meetings to agree to resolutions and other instruments that
refer to “acts of genocide” in Rwanda, state that “genocide had occurred.
Of course, there was no question genocide was taking place in Rwanda. The
<
http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB53/rw051694.pdf> Legal
Analysis drafted on May 16, five days preceding the “Action Memorandum”,
left no doubt about the occurrence of genocide. After citing the 1948
Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, to
which the U.S. is a party, the Legal Analysis concluded:
The Existence of Genocide in Rwanda
There can be little question that the specific listed acts have taken place
in Rwanda. There have been numerous acts of killing and causing serious
bodily or mental harm to persons. As INR [Bureau of Intelligence and
Research] notes, international humanitarian organizations estimate the
killings since April 6 have claimed from 200,000 to 500,000 lives. (INR also
notes that this upper figure maybe exaggerated, but that is not critical to
the analysis.).
[The UN estimated the number killed in Rwanda in less than 100 beginning on
April 6, 1994 as 800,000; the Rwandan Government estimated 1,071,000 were
killed in the genocide.]
Despite public protestations of ignorance of the Rwandan genocide, rivers of
crocodile tears of not having done something to prevent it and moral
expiations about Clinton’s “worst mistake of my presidency”, Rice, Lake,
Christopher and others high in the Clinton Administration knew beyond a
shadow of doubt that genocide was in the planning or underway from the day
Habarymana was assassinated.
Rice, Kagame, Museveni, M23 and “Looking the Other Way”
<
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/content/43004/p-kagame>
http://www.ethiopianreview.com/2011/P-Kagame.jpg
<
http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Countries/ZR/DRC_MAPPING_REPORT_FINAL_EN.pdf
> In 1996, two years after the end of the genocide, on the pretext of
pursuing Hutu insurgents and militia who were responsible for the Rwandan
genocide and to prevent their incursions into Rwanda from bases in the Congo
(at the time Zaire), Kagame began arming ethnic Tutsis in the eastern part
of that country. He also sent Rwandan troops to support them. The so-called
Congo Wars were underway and continue to rage to the present day resulting
in millions of lost lives.
The First Congo War lasted from November 1996 to May 1997. Congolese rebel
leader Laurent-Désiré Kabila overthrew long ruling dictator Mobutu Sésé
Seko. The Rwandan-created destabilization in eastern Congo was the decisive
factor in the fall of Mobutu’s regime. Kabila seized power in May 1997 and
was assassinated by one of his bodyguards in January 2001.
<
http://www.jambonews.net/en/news/20120402-rwanda-kagame-assassinated-kabila
-rudasingwa/> In March 2012, former Kagame right hand man and secretary
general of the RPF, Theogene Rudasingwa made the shocking revelation that
“it’s Paul Kagame who assassinated the Congolese President, Laurent Desire
Kabila; Kagame is the murderer of the Congolese President Kabila.” The
Second Congo War began shortly after Kabila took power and continued until
2003. Eight African countries and dozens of armed groups were involved in
the conflict.
<
http://ethiopia.ecadf.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/Democratic-
Republic-of-the-Congo.jpg?9d7bd4> The government of the Democratic Republic
of the CongoIn March 2009, the government of the Democratic Republic of the
Congo (DRC) signed a peace accord with National Congress for the Defence of
the People (CNDP) (an armed militia established by Laurent Nkunda in the
eastern Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in December
2006) making the CNDP a political party. In April 2012, several hundred
ethnic Tutsi members of the CNDP turned against the DRC government over
alleged lack of implementation of the March 2009 Accords and formed the M23
Movement [a/k/a Mouvement du 23-Mars] under the leadership of the notorious
war criminal General Bosco Ntaganda, (a/k/a “The Terminator”). Ntaganda was
initially indicted by the International Criminal Court on August 22, 2006
for recruiting child soldiers and committing atrocities.
<
http://www.hrw.org/news/2012/05/15/dr-congo-bosco-ntaganda-recruits-childre
n-force> He was indicted by the ICC for the second time on July 13, 2012 on
three counts of crimes against humanity and four counts of war crimes
including murder, rape, attacks on civilians and slavery. Thomas Lubanga
Dyilo, Ntaganda’s boss and co-defendant, was the first person ever
convicted by the International Criminal Court in July 2012. Last month,
Ntaganda’s M23 rebels took control of Goma, a provincial capital with a
population of one million people causing some 140,000 people to flee their
homes. They were “persuaded” to leave mineral-rich Goma in early December
under international pressure although they presumably rejected similar calls
by Kagame and Museveni.
Kagame and Museveni of Uganda have been the prime supporters of M23. Various
U.N. and other international human rights organization have documented
Rwanda’s and Uganda’s ongoing support for M23. According to a recent
<
http://www.jambonews.net/en/files/2012/11/DRC-GOE-Final-Report-12-October-1
2-1-1-1.pdf> U.N. Report of the Group of Experts on the Democratic Republic
of the Congo (October 2012),
Rwanda officials coordinated the creation of the [M23] rebel movement as
well as its major military operations… Senior Government of Uganda officials
(GoU) have also provided support to M23 in the form of direct troop
reinforcements in DRC territory, weapons deliveries, technical assistance,
joint planning, political advice and facilitation of external relations.
Units of the Ugandan People’s Defense Forces (UPDF) and the Rwandan Defesse
Forces (RDF) jointly supported M23 in a series of attacks in July 2012 to
take over the major towns of Rutshuru territory, and the forces armees de la
RDC (FARDC) base of Rumangabo. Both governments have also cooperated to
support the creation and expansion of M23’s political branch and have
consistently advocated on behalf of the rebels. The M23 and its allies
includes six sanctioned individuals, some of whom reside in or regularly
travel to Uganda and Rwanda.
<
http://ethiopia.ecadf.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/yoweri-muse
veni.jpg?9d7bd4> Museveni secretly met with NtagandaThis past August,
Museveni secretly met with Ntaganda and M23 rebels. Prof. Howard French of
Columbia University, in his NY Times article “
<
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2009/sep/24/kagames-hidden-war-in-
the-congo/?pagination=false> Kagame’s Secret War in the Congo” described
the conflict in the Great Lakes Region (the seven great lakes in the Rift
Valley region) since 1996 in which six million people have died in the from
armed conflict, starvation and disease as an epochal event of the Twentieth
Century. He argued:
Few realize that a main force driving this conflict has been the largely
Tutsi army of neighboring Rwanda, along with several Congolese groups
supported by Rwanda…. Until now, the US and other Western powers have
generally supported Kagame diplomatically. Observers note that
Rwandan-backed forces have themselves been responsible for much of the
violence in eastern Congo over the years… The Rwandan Patriotic Front was
directly operating mining businesses in Congo, according to UN
investigators; more recently, Rwanda has attempted to maintain control of
regions of eastern Congo through various proxy armies.
Rice has been shielding Kagame and Museveni from scrutiny and sanctions in
their role in the DRC. She has made every effort to suppress U.N.
investigative reports showing Kagame’s role in supplying and financing M23.
<
http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/susan-rice-benghazi-may-be-
least-of-her-problems-20121116> According to the National Journal, Rice “has
even wrangled with Johnnie Carson, the assistant secretary of State for the
Bureau of African Affairs, and others in the department, who all have been
more critical of the Rwandans.” The Journal reported that Rice was
dismissive of the French ambassador to the U.N. who advised her of the need
for the U.N. to do more to intervene in the Democratic Republic of the
Congo. She reportedly told the French Ambassador, “It’s the eastern DRC. If
it’s not M23, it’s going to be some other group.” The Journal quoting Prof.
Gerard Prunier of the University of Paris reported:
When Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Susan Rice came back
from her first trip to the Great Lakes region [of East Africa], a member of
her staff said, “Museveni [of Uganda] and Kagame agree that the basic
problem in the Great Lakes is the danger of a resurgence of genocide and
they know how to deal with that. The only thing we [i.e., the US] have to do
is look the other way.”
Such is the true nature of Rice’s crocodile contrition for the Rwanda
genocide. Simply stated, Rice’s attitude towards Africa’s Unholy Trinity can
be summed up as “see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil” of genocidal
dictators.
Susan Rice and the Adoration of Meles Zenawi
<
http://ethiopia.ecadf.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/meles-zenaw
i-europe.jpg?9d7bd4> Susan Rice and the Adoration of Meles ZenawiOn
September 2, 2012, Rice sent three tweets to her followers in Twitter-dom as
she prepared to deliver her funeral (ad)oration for Meles Zenawi:
“Palpable sorrow felt here in Addis Ababa. We extend our condolences & best
wishes to the Ethiopian people.” “Meles leaves an indelible legacy for the
people of #Ethiopia, from opposition to extremism to support for the poor.”
“I am honored to represent the United States at the funeral of late PM Meles
Zenawi of #Ethiopia.”
Rice may have believed she “represented the United States” in her
appearance, <
http://usun.state.gov/briefing/statements/197275.htm> but her
funeral oration for Meles Zenawi was personal and bordered on beatification.
She described Meles as “an uncommon leader, a rare visionary, and a true
friend to me and many.” She said he “was disarmingly regular, unpretentious,
and direct. He was selfless, tireless and totally dedicated to his work and
family.” Rice reminisced about her close familial ties and deep friendship
with Meles:
Whenever we met, no matter how beset he was, he would always begin by asking
me about my children. His inquiries were never superficial. He wanted
detailed reports on their development. Then satisfied, he would eagerly
update me on his own children. Meles was a proud father and a devoted
husband. As he laughed about his children’s exploits and bragged about their
achievements, a face sometimes creased by worry, would glow with simple joy.
In his children and all children, Meles saw the promise of renewal and the
power of hope.
She said Meles “retained that twinkle in his eye, his ready smile, his
roiling laugh and his wicked sense of humor.” In an incredibly insensitive
and callous manner, she related how Meles “was tough, unsentimental and
sometimes unyielding.” She announced that Meles “of course had little
patience for fools, or idiots, as he liked to call them.” (These “fools” and
“idiots” are, of course, Ethiopian opposition leaders, dissidents,
independent journalists, human rights advocates and regime critics.)
But Rice’s adoration of Meles would put the Three Magi who followed the star
to Bethlehem to shame:
For, among Prime Minister Meles’ many admirable qualities, above all was his
world-class mind. A life-long student, he taught himself and many others so
much. But he wasn’t just brilliant. He wasn’t just a relentless negotiator
and a formidable debater. He wasn’t just a thirsty consumer of knowledge. He
was uncommonly wise – able to see the big picture and the long game, even
when others would allow immediate pressures to overwhelm sound judgment.
Those rare traits were the foundation of his greatest contributions.
Still, there was no shortage of occasions when, as governments and friends,
we simply, sometimes profoundly, disagreed. But even as we argued – whether
about economics, democracy, human rights, regional security or our
respective foreign policies – I was always struck by two things: Meles was
consistently reasoned in his judgments and thoughtful in his decisions; and,
he was driven not by ideology but by his vision of a better future for this
land he loved. I will deeply miss the challenge and the insights I gained
from our discussions and debates.
In her “Adoration”, Rice was completely blinded to Meles’ atrocious human
rights record. She was willfully ignorant of the findings of her own State
Department U.S. Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Ethiopia issued
in May 2012, which stated:
The most significant human rights problems [in Ethiopia] included the
government’s arrest of more than 100 opposition political figures,
activists, journalists, and bloggers… The government restricted freedom of
the press, and fear of harassment and arrest led journalists to practice
self-censorship. The Charities and Societies Proclamation (CSO law)
continued to impose severe restrictions on civil society and nongovernmental
organization (NGO) activities… Other human rights problems included torture,
beating, abuse, and mistreatment of detainees by security forces; harsh and
at times life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention;
detention without charge and lengthy pretrial detention; infringement on
citizens’ privacy rights, including illegal searches; allegations of abuses
in connection with the continued low-level conflict in parts of the Somali
region; restrictions on freedom of assembly, association, and movement;
police, administrative, and judicial corruption; violence and societal
discrimination against women and abuse of children; female genital
mutilation (FGM); exploitation of children for economic and sexual purposes;
trafficking in persons; societal discrimination against persons with
disabilities; clashes between ethnic minorities; discrimination against
persons based on their sexual orientation and against persons with HIV/AIDS;
limits on worker rights; forced labor; and child labor, including forced
child labor.
<
http://usun.state.gov/briefing/statements/199861.htm> On October 27, 2012,
Rice attended a “Memorial Service for Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi”
at Abyssinian Baptist Church and gave a second eulogy:
I come again both as a representative of the U.S. government and as a friend
of a man I truly miss… The Meles I knew was profoundly human and down to
earth. He probably often figured he was the smartest person in the room, and
most of the time Meles was right – at least about that. His legacy is one of
Africa’s fastest-growing economies. He laid the foundations for Ethiopia’s
sustainable development. He gave new momentum to Africa’s struggle to
address climate change. He spurred his nation to double its food production
and redouble its commitment to forestall another famine that could snuff out
so many innocent lives. He played mid-wife to the birth of South Sudan and
worked energetically to help South Sudan and Sudan resolve their differences
peacefully. Last month’s accords, though fragile, are a monument to his
unyielding efforts. Meles helped build the African Union. He sent
peacekeepers to the world’s hottest spots and countered terrorists such as
al-Shabab who target the innocent….
May the spirit of Meles Zenawi spur us all to work ever harder, together,
for a better Ethiopia, a better Africa, and a better world.
Rice completely ignored the fact that 200 unarmed protesters were massacred
in the streets and nearly 800 seriously wounded by police and security
forces under the personal command and control of Meles following the 2005
elections. She turned a blind eye to crimes against humanity committed in
Gambella in 2004 and war crimes committed in the Ogaden in 2008 . She had
forgotten the stolen election of 2010 and fact that Meles’ party won 99.6
percent of the seats in parliament. She was completely oblivious of the
thousands of political prisoners, including opposition leaders, dissidents
and journalists, rotting in Ethiopian prisons as she was waxing eloquent in
her emotional eulogy. She could see Meles’ “brilliance” but not his
arrogance. She could see his “world-class mind” but not his black heart. She
said he was “uncommonly wise”, but could not see his common folly. She
“profoundly disagreed with him on democracy and human rights”, but she would
ignore all his crimes against humanity because he was “a true friend” of
hers.
The words of contrition Rice gave when she visited Kigali on November 23,
2011 could have been incorporated in her eulogy in Addis Ababa on September
2:
<
http://usun.state.gov/briefing/statements/2011/177743.htm> Today, I am
here as an American ambassador. But I also will speak for myself, from my
heart. I visited Rwanda for the very first time in December 1994, six months
after the genocide ended. I was a young Director on the National Security
Council staff at the White House, accompanying the then-National Security
Advisor, Anthony Lake. I was responsible then for issues relating to the
United Nations and peacekeeping. And needless to say, we saw first-hand the
spectacular consequences of the poor decisions taken by those countries,
including my own and yours, that were then serving on the United Nations
Security Council.
I will never forget the horror of walking through a church and an adjacent
schoolyard where one of the massacres had occurred. Six months later, the
decomposing bodies of those who had been so cruelly murdered still lay
strewn around what should have been a place of peace. For me, the memory of
stepping around and over those corpses will remain the most searing reminder
imaginable of what humans can do to one another. Those images stay with me
in the work I do today, ensuring that I can never forget how important it is
for all of us to prevent genocide from recurring.
How important is it for all of us, particularly Susan Rice, to prevent
extrajudicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests and detention, detention
without charge and lengthy pretrial detention, infringement on citizens’
privacy rights, illegal searches, restrictions on freedom of assembly,
association, and movement… on the African continent?
Susan Rice and the Ghosts of Ethiopia
On September 2 and October 27, 2012, Rice had no idea, no recollection, no
remembrance of the hundreds of unarmed protesting Ethiopians who were
massacred in the streets, the thousands of political prisoners and hundreds
of dissidents and journalists languishing in jail in Ethiopia today. In
1994, Rice was willfully blind to the genocide in Rwanda. In 2012, she was
willfully blind to the long train of human rights abuses and atrocities in
Ethiopia. America does not need a friend and a buddy to African dictators as
its Secretary of State. America does not need a Secretary of State with a
heart of stone and tears of a crocodile. America does not need a “see no
evil, hear no evil, speak no evil” Secretary of State. America needs a
Secretary of State who can tell the difference between human rights and
government wrongs!
Is it not true that one can judge a (wo)man by his/her friends?
Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State
University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.
Previous commentaries by the author are available at:
* <
http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/>
http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/
* <
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/>
www.huffingtonpost.com/alemayehu-g-mariam/
Amharic translations of recent commentaries by the author may be found at:
*
<
http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic>
http://www.ecadforum.com/Amharic/archives/category/al-mariam-amharic
*
http://ethioforum.org/?cat=24
Received on Mon Dec 10 2012 - 12:28:17 EST
