Some disappeared, others were given lengthy prison sentences. One thing
all thirty men arrested in 2012 in Ethiopia had in common was that they
had criticised the state and the policies of the former Premier, Meles
Zenawi.
And yet last week Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a group of
Japanese business leaders met with the current Prime Minister of
Ethiopia, Hailemariam Desalegn to discuss further support for Ethiopia
at "government and private sector level."
The former Meles Zenawi was a staunch supporter of American
counter-terrorism policy while at the same time overseeing a country
with a violent human rights record. In the eyes of the USA, Ethiopia is
strategically situated. Located in the Horn of Africa, next to Somalia,
northern Kenya and Sudan, it acts as a buffer zone between the growing
Islamic extremism of Somalia and the West. As a result, the human rights
violations of Zenawi were ignored.
As one of the first signatories of the UN in 1948, Ethiopia is a Western
ally: 11 per cent of its entire GDP comes from Foreign Aid. The US is
one of Ethiopia's largest donors: it is estimated that it gave $3.3bn in
2008 alone. The two countries benefited from their close relation:
there have been rumours that America hosted "black sites" in Ethiopia;
bases where the CIA interrogated undeclared prisoners during the "War on
Terror."
But Meles Zenawi died in 2012. The opportunity for a more liberal
government was not seized: Zenawi was replaced by Hailemariam Desalegn,
described by critics as an "identikit Zenawi" running the country on
"auto-pilot". Desalegn is following the same political manifesto as
Meles - he hasn't changed one member of parliament.
The arena for debate and discussion is narrowing. Critics argue that
Ethiopia is fast becoming a "one party democracy" where there are many
parties but the same one wins again and again. Meles spoke to foreign
press in 2005 and defended his 97 per cent electoral victory: "In
democracies the party with the best track record remains in power." The
years since 2005 have seen growing unrest among the Ethiopian population
and serious repression against critics of the regime. Human Rights
Watch reported that Ethiopia "continues to severely restrict freedom of
movement and expression". It adds that "30 journalists and opposition
members have been convicted under...vague anti-terrorism laws".
The day before World Press Freedom Day on May 2 2013, the Ethiopian
government ruled to uphold the imprisonment of one of its most
well-known prisoners of conscience, Eskinder Nega. He was jailed for
being a journalist who criticised the government, and yet, by standing
up for his beliefs and expressing his basic human right for Freedom of
Speech, he earned an 18 year jail sentence.
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has denied his release. America and
Britain have done little to challenge their ally, so worried are they
about creating another enemy in the Horn of Africa. Britain and America
have consistently failed to challenge their ally about its abhorrent
Human Rights record. Ethiopia flaunts its apathy towards the UN
convention of Human Rights, denying opposition members a right to fair
trial and repressing people for trying to voice their opinions
peacefully.
Ethiopian political repression is worsening. There have been repeated
crackdowns against the country's Muslim minority. This has included
arbitrary arrests as Muslims make peaceful demands for freedom of
worship. Again, critics have voiced concern with the regime. Mehari
Taddele Maru, head of the African Conflict Prevention Program at the
Institute for Security Studies expressed concern that "if legitimate
grievances are not met then there is a risk that extremist violent
elements will exploit those grievances to further their own."
The world is waking up to Ethiopia's increasingly poor human rights
track record and yet the United States hasn't stopped aid flowing to
Ethiopia or threatened the country with sanctions. Japan still tries to
conduct business with Ethiopia when instead they should be holding
Ethiopia to account.
As a founding member of the UN and an "ally" of the West, Ethiopia must
be held accountable for her crimes. If the West does not challenge
Ethiopia and demand that it releases its prisoners who have been locked
up without fair trial, then notions of democracy and human rights
accountability as embedded in the Human Rights Charter look ever more
vulnerable-Human Rights globally will be laughed out of the door.
Source:- http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/eleanor-ross/ethiopia-human-rights_b_4649953.html
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