What now for Ethiopia's "Aung San Suu Kyi"?

The first time I interviewed Birtukan Mideksa I was struck by how careful she was not to say the wrong thing. It was 2007 and we were standing in the garden of a community centre in the part of Addis Ababa where she was raised. She had just been released from prison and the locals — many of whom struggle to feed themselves — had each given about a dollar to throw her the party-cum-political rally we had just attended and to buy her an old Toyota Corolla car to help her back on her feet again.

Such was her care when talking to me that, after less than five minutes, I discreetly switched
off my recorder knowing the interview would never make a story, and continued the conversation only out of politeness and professional interest in Ethiopian politics.

It seems her caution was well-placed. The 36-year-old opposition leader and mother of one is back behind bars, accused by the government of speaking out of turn. It has been almost exactly one year since a group of policemen snatched her as she walked to her car with political ally Mesfin Woldemariam. Mesfin — a large, grey-haired man in his 70s — was bitten by a police officer in a scuffle when he tried to intervene.

Now her supporters in the Horn of Africa country are calling her “Ethiopia’s Aung San Suu Kyi” in what analysts see as a move aimed at attracting international attention to her detention. Government officials often smirk when when what they see as an overblown comparison is made.

Party colleagues say she was jailed because the government feared her heading an opposition coalition in national elections set for May and rights group Amnesty International calls her a “prisoner of conscience”.

To her champions, Birtukan is the great hope for reconciliation in Ethiopia’s often bitter political landscape. To her detractors, she has been made a romantic figure by her jailing and doesn’t have the intellectual muscle or strategic nous to lead the huge country.

Some Ethiopians see sinister shading in the lack of international attention, claiming western powers are happy to see Prime Minister Meles Zenawi — in power for almost 20 years — stay on as long as he liberalises the country’s potentially huge economy and remains a loyal U.S. ally in a volatile neighbourhood that includes shambolic Somalia.

Others say, with some resignation, that yet another jailed politician in Africa just doesn’t make news anymore.

Opposition politicians have even started arguing amongst themselves over her jailing. A split in Birtukan’s Unity for Democracy and Justice party is being blamed by some on accusations that certain UDJ officials had policy disagreements with their leader and so are now not working hard enough for her release.

Birtukan was jailed for the first time after Ethiopia’s last elections in 2005. A coalition of parties, of which she was a leader, claimed a fix when the government declared victory. Police and soldiers then killed about 200 opposition protesters in running street battles when Meles said they were marching on state buildings to overthrow him.

She was released in 2007, along with other opposition leaders, after the government said they had accepted responsibility for orchestrating the violence and asked for a pardon. But Birtukan, a former judge, then made a speech in which she said she never asked for any such pardon.

Her defiant words riled many and ruling party members said she was trying to destablise Ethiopian politics, risking a rerun of 2005’s trouble. Meles himself — who had to fight hardliners in his party to push through the 2007 pardon deal — seemed angry and backroom negotiations aimed at forcing her to withdraw her remarks began. She refused.

Now, a year into her detention, Meles seems reluctant even to speak her name, preferring to call her “the lady” or “that woman”.

When he finally did say the word Birtukan last week at a news conference, he couldn’t have been clearer about her future.

“There will never be an agreement with anybody to release Birtukan,” he said. “Ever. Full stop. That’s a dead issue.”

The words will have chilled her family, friends and political allies.

So what next for Birtukan? Does Meles mean what he says? Or will she be pardoned again after the elections? Is she a future Prime Minister for Ethiopia? Or has she simply become a romanticised figure? Why isn’t the international community pushing harder for her release?

Does the World need another Martyr? The Case of Birtukan Mideksa

On December 28 2008, Birtukan Mideksa was arrested again and imprisoned to serve a life sentence after the pardon granted to her in 2007 was revoked. Medeksa was among more than 100 people jailed for offences after allegations of fraud took hold of the Ethiopian election in 2005. The Ethiopian government claimed that her pardon was conditional on "an apology for her crimes." Today, the 36yr old court judge and mother appears to be gradually elevating to martyrdom status alone in her prison cell -- much the same way Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma has.

In May of 2005 the Ethiopian government shot and killed 193 unarmed protesters after a much contested national election. In addition, thousands around the country were rounded up and sent to prison. The press was virtually shut down and many journalists were forced to go into hiding or risk the possibility of suffering horrific consequences at the hands of government security forces. The effect on the population has been devastating. Since the government crackdown Ethiopians have been living in fear of a regime that has demonstrated it will stop at nothing to maintain power, including murdering its own citizens.

The next Ethiopian national election is rapidly approaching and will be held next May. As a filmmaker and a strong supporter of human rights and democracy, I tried my best to reveal the circumstances Ethiopians face in my current film, Migration of Beauty. The film documents in detail the election in 2005 and draws parallels between the present reality inside the country and how it affects the lives of Ethiopians in the Diaspora. I cannot help but be discouraged with all the latest developments coming out of Ethiopia. A recent Reuter’s article indicates that hundreds of opposition party members have been rounded up and sent to prison in preparation for the upcoming election. Indeed, the ruling party’s most viable opponent, Birtukan Mideksa has been in prison since December of 2008. Before her arrest she was hailed as the best possibility to beat Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front or, EPRDF. Now, Birtukan Mideksa appears to be gradually elevating to martyrdom status much the same way Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma has.

As the election gets nearer, grim news coming out of Ethiopia increases with tremendous frequency. A recent report by the Committee to Protect Journalists or CPJ reveals that Ethiopia is the second most abusive country towards journalists in the entire continent of Africa. Organizations like, Reporters Without Borders and the International Press Institute have been sounding the alarm for some time.

At a recent screening of my film in New York City, Tala Dowlatshahi, the senior adviser for the U.S. branch of Reporters Without Borders and anchor of RUTV illustrated quite clearly the horrific situation of two particular Ethiopian journalists. Serkalem Fasil and Eskinder Nega were initially jailed after the 2005 Ethiopian election. They were eventually released under a pardon agreement but now with the 2010 election approaching, the government is attempting to legally revoke the pardon and put them back in prison. Dowlatshahi further pointed out the Ethiopian governments attempt to use an anti-terrorism law to charge journalists both as individuals and the companies they work for. The law was passed earlier this year and is having the ominous effect of forcing journalists to permanently close newspapers and flee the country as charges are being drafted against them.

Recently Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi went to Copenhagen to represent Africa in the United Nations Climate Change Conference. I was personally dismayed how such an oppressive figure could be accepted to represent an entire continent. Even more astounding is the insensitivity of “the powers that be” towards the suffering of the Ethiopian people. As former New York Times reporter Doug McGill put it, “he’s being recognized and welcomed with open arms.” McGill also compared him to North Koreas Kim Jong Ill and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabee.

Journalists and filmmakers who work with REPORTERS UNCENSORED still have much work to do to inform the general public about oppressive regimes like the EPRDF and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. They will always be what they are but those who insist on lending them the credit to continue their filthy practices are the ones we need to call out.

Ethiopian family struggles to escape a lethal legacy

A Canadian siblings is in jail, and the rest say they are on the run from persecution for the sins of their forefather

David Macdougall Garissa, Kenya — From Friday's Globe and Mail Published on Thursday, Nov. 19, 2009 10:41PM EST Last updated on Friday, Nov. 20, 2009 11:42AM EST
During the first month of her imprisonment in Ethiopia, Rukiya Ahmed Makhtal was blindfolded and beaten. “You are Makhtal's family,” she recalled her persecutor saying. “If you are Makhtal's family, that means you are one of the problems.”
Ms. Makhtal, 53, is the older sister of Ethiopian-born Bashir Ahmed Makhtal, the Canadian citizen and former Toronto information technologist who has spent the past three years in Ethiopian prisons. Convicted of terrorism-related charges, he was sentenced in August to life in prison, but is scheduled to appear before an appeal court today. His family, who maintain his innocence, say they have been persecuted because of the actions of his grandfather.
After spending 14 months in various Ethiopian prisons where she says she was bound, blindfolded and badly beaten, thrown in isolation, raped and told she would be executed, Ms. Makhtal was at last transferred to a crowded low-security prison where family scrounged for 1,000 birr (roughly $80) and paid the guards to look the other way while she walked through the prison gates and, like so many of her kin, away from Ethiopia for good.
For two days, she trudged across the Ethiopian desert, struggling from poor health and the wounds on her body, trying to blend in with a train of nomads and fearful she might be spotted before reaching the border.
During the past year, others in Bashir Makhtal's family have trickled into Hagadera, a notoriously squalid and overcrowded refugee camp at Dadaab in Kenya's North Eastern Province.
Ms. Makhtal, who is asking for resettlement in Canada as a refugee and whose case is being followed by Amnesty International, is now among 16 people sleeping in the sand under scant shelter, all of whom say they are related to Bashir Makhtal and the victims of persecution in Ethiopia.
Bashir Makhtal and his sister, Rukiya, are the grandchildren of a founding member of the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a separatist movement in the ethnic Somali region of eastern Ethiopia, though both deny having been involved in the group.
“He was my grandfather,” Ms. Makhtal says. “We didn't even know him.”
After an April, 2007, ONLF attack on a Chinese oil field at Abole in eastern Ethiopia that left 70 Chinese and Ethiopian workers dead, Ethiopia drastically stepped up a brutal counterinsurgency campaign in the region.
A 2008 Human Rights Watch report accuses Ethiopian soldiers of burning down entire villages, mass detentions and even demonstration killings, “with Ethiopian soldiers singling out relatives of suspected ONLF members,” and of conducting widespread “military attacks on civilians and villages that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity.”
Abdi Mohamed Ahmed, 29, who says Ms. Makhtal is his aunt and who denies ever being involved with the ONLF, remembers the night in late 2007 the Ethiopian National Defence Forces came for his family, circling his house before dragging out his entire family, beating them and hauling them off to different jails.
“They used to tie our eyes, torturing and beating. They used to tie our hands and legs together and they hang us up from the ceiling. And everybody was alone.”
This was when Bashir Makhtal's sister, his older brother Hassan Ahmed, and several of their children were also arrested.
Last Thursday, Hassan Ahmed Makhtal, who had been imprisoned for 22 months and was serving a life sentence, died in the Ethiopian capital after being released early to receive medical attention. A press release issued by the Ogaden Human Rights Commission claims he “died from wounds sustained during his detention,” though the cause of his death could not be independently verified.
According to several family members, two of Hassan Makhtal's children – a 27-year-old son and a 25-year-old daughter – were beaten to death in military prisons less than a month after their arrest in 2008.
“They are not targeting ONLF. Our army is very strong now,” said Abdirahman Mahdi, a central committee member of the separatist group, who spoke during a recent interview in Toronto. “What they do is they target the weak spot, the civilians, the women and children.”
“This isn't just something personal with respect to Bashir Makhtal, although he clearly is one of the figures at the centre of this drama,” said Alex Neve, secretary-general of Amnesty International Canada, which has monitored Mr. Makhtal's case since his arrest. “It's family-based persecution, and I think that also underscores the nature and the severity of the repression the Ogadeni population is experiencing in Ethiopia.”
Mr. Makhtal was arrested by Kenyan authorities in December, 2006, as he attempted to flee the suddenly rising violence in neighbouring Somalia, where friends and family say he had travelled for business.
He was among 90 prisoners, including American, British and Kenyan nationals, who were forcibly deported, in violation of both Kenyan and international law, first to Mogadishu and then to Ethiopia. While every other Western country managed to secure the release of its citizens, Mr. Makhtal, the only Canadian arrested, alone remains in Ethiopian custody.
Said Makhtal, Mr. Makhtal's cousin in Hamilton, Ont., says he's optimistic about tomorrow's outcome, but added: “I don't know how much more I can count on the Ethiopian court system.”
In the meantime, many of Mr. Makhtal's family are left to wait in the refugee camp while Amnesty International Canada puts forward their case to the Canadian High Commission in Nairobi.
“The life of Hagadera is too difficult,” Mr. Ahmed said. “There is no life, there is no health. There is not even enough water, the air of that place is not even good.”
“And still this moment we live under fear because there may be Ethiopian security,” he added, pointing out that Kenya already delivered his uncle, Mr. Makhtal, to Ethiopian authorities.
“Obviously, Canada continues to face difficulties in ensuring the safety of Mr. Makhtal himself,” Mr. Neve said. “At least we do have the opportunity to try and ensure safety for these other family members.”
Special to The Globe and Mail

Geoffrey york Addis Ababa — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail Published on Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2009 8:51PM EST Last updated on Wednesday, Nov. 18, 2009 4:29AM EST

Six months before a crucial election, one of Ethiopia's small band of opposition MPs has a simple question: How can he campaign for votes when he cannot even hold a public meeting or meet voters freely?

Negaso Gidada, a former president of Ethiopia and now an independent MP, tried to visit his constituents in southern Ethiopia recently. It was an arduous journey.

He was not permitted to hold any meetings in public places. He was kept under surveillance, and his hosts were interrogated. Those who met him were questioned by police. He was given no coverage in the media.

“People are so intimidated that they are afraid even to speak to me on the phone,” he says. “Campaigning is totally impossible. How can it be a fair election?”

Four years ago, foreign election observers concluded that the last Ethiopian election had been rigged. Opposition supporters took to the streets, and an estimated 30,000 people were arrested in a crackdown on dissent. Nearly 200 people were killed when Ethiopia's police opened fire on the protesters. Dozens of opposition leaders and activists were jailed.

This time, with an election scheduled for May, the ruling party is taking no chances. Ethiopia is sliding deeper into authoritarian controls. Police agents and informers are keeping a close eye on the population, with harsh restrictions imposed on opposition leaders and civil society groups.

The election matters because Ethiopia is strategically important. It is the second most populous country in sub-Saharan African, and a key U.S. ally in the Horn of Africa, where Ethiopian troops have repeatedly intervened in Somalia. And it is one of the biggest recipients of Canadian foreign aid, with $90-million donated by Canada in 2007 alone.

Mr. Negaso, who was president of Ethiopia from 1995 to 2001 but later split from the ruling party of autocratic Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, has managed to hold only a few public meetings as he travelled around the country in the past year.

One meeting in August was broken up by dozens of thugs, including some whom he recognized from the ranks of the ruling party. They shouted, whistled, grabbed the microphone and prevented people from speaking. “We were chased out,” Mr. Negaso said.

In another district, he said, the police told opposition leaders that they needed a special permit if they wanted to use a megaphone.

Even his e-mail messages and phone calls are monitored, he said. But he refuses to be intimidated. “If you are afraid,” he says, “you can't do anything.”

Another opposition leader, Seeye Abraha, is a former close ally of Mr. Meles from the early 1970s when they were both young revolutionaries fighting the military junta known as the Derg, which they finally overthrew in 1991. He became the defence minister but was jailed for six years on corruption allegations after a falling out with Mr. Meles. Now he says he is under constant surveillance, his phones and e-mails monitored, his movements constantly followed by security agents.

Seeye Abraha, an opposition leader in Ethiopia, is a former defence minister and was once a close ally of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. He says he is under constant surveillance by government agents who follow him and his children.

“In restaurants, spies sit close to me, and you can't ask them to leave,” he says. “There is no private life, no private property. And there is nowhere you can complain. You can go to the police, but they will do nothing.”

In a desperate effort to communicate with voters, the opposition sometimes tries to distribute cellphones to its supporters. If it sends campaign letters to voters, the letters must be kept hidden from security agents. “Families are afraid to pass the letters from one to another,” said Bulcha Demeksa, an MP who heads an opposition party.

Earlier this year, eight of Ethiopia's opposition parties formed a coalition with Mr. Negaso and Mr. Seeye in a bid to defeat the ruling party, but the move has been little help. “If tomorrow I go to my constituency and speak to people under a tree, the police will disrupt it,” Mr. Bulcha said.

The International Crisis Group, an independent think tank based in Brussels, says the Ethiopian government is controlling its population with neighbourhood committees, informers, media controls and high-tech surveillance.

“Thanks to Chinese electronic monitoring-and-control software, the government is able to block most opposition electronic communications when it desires,” the group said in a recent report.

“Few journalists, academics, human-rights advocates and intellectuals dare to publicly criticize the government. While self-censorship existed before the 2005 elections, it has now become widespread.”

Ethiopia: A Renewed Open Plea for Bertukan’s Release

October 19, 2009
By Rev. Tegga Lendado,
What bothers me most is the apathetic silence of the religious leaders more than the adamant insensitivity of Berukan’s captors. Once again, I am making this plea as, neither a political nor a humanitarian activist but a concerned servant of Christ advocating for truth, justice, peace and reconciliation. It is yet another plea to the government of Ethiopia to release Ms. Bertukan whose pardon was revoked subjecting her to re-imprisonment and solitary confinement for simply telling the naked truth in a foreign land. It might have not been ‘politically correct’ at its best, but unnerving truth to the core. My approach is not only from a Christian social ethics and practical SHIMGILINA role but also from purely apolitical compassion.
Apparently, Bertukan’s issue has been legally moot, politically undemocratic, logically absurd and morally disturbing. I do not think any democratic government claiming to be engaged in a transformational development should waste its precious time and energy in a trivial or minute matter unless it has a different motive.
Many of her friends including her former fellow defendants and prison-mates believe that Miss Burtukan was simply telling the truth, being true to her conscience. Others say neither her former arrest nor the current one is legal. Without further delving into the case, I should say the way the pardon was served and administered was unethical and fishy.
The shimaglena process should have included dialogue and reconciliation as the final objective, not simply leaving the matter in the hands of the government. The pardon only opened the door for further dialogue, rapprochement and reconciliation. It was simply a potion of the package of the shimgelena deal. That not being done, it leaves the door open for any misrepresentations such victimizing the victim. Besides, traditional shimagelena should not be construed as political, judicial and administrative mechanism per se. It is a conflict resolution involving many aspects, scenarios and parameters. Whatever the shimagelaes did to secure the so-called “pardon” was indeed commendable. The elders effectively mediated the deal off-records of the court or administrative systems. That the legal system should re-indict, reconvict, re-sentence and re-imprison her is rather disgraceful to the shimaglaes as well as the government. The fact that she asked for forgiveness should not be seen any different from that of the others. I have heard or at least understood some former co-prisoners/defendants saying almost the same thing but they are not sent back to jail. Could the young woman be the weakest link of the gang to fall prey? Why Bertukan only and now as we are fast approaching the election season. To say the least, Burtukan has become almost like the sacrificial Lamb of God (read Isaiah 53, St. John.3: 15-16) for all the culprits of 2005 massacre..
Was the ‘pardon’ meant for the alleged massacre or for her "illegal" political activities? Did she kill any one or give order to kill any one? Was she a government authority, executive, like an army member or police force to act in that capacity? If she had committed such a heinous crime and lied about it, would she return to Ethiopia after her European tour? Is she trying to win the heart of the people by suffering in the hands of her "enemies"? What is the point? Is anyone trying to make her a hero? Does a government have jurisdiction over a crime committed beyond its borders, like in Sweden, be it “deception” or otherwise? How can a government be so potent and play omni-present or omniscient, all-knowing like the Almighty God to pursue an individual's motive, intent, state and affair, not even in a good sense? If her crime is just lying, should she then not be prosecuted for that alone? Is the government using the incident for its political consumption? Is this abuse of power or service of justice for the greater good?
I also think the pardon document is misleading and so the PM, the Parliament and the President of the country need to revisit the court’s decision in the interest of primarily all concerned parties and the Ethiopian populace. Certainly, the government has a mandate to safeguard and implement the law and maintain peace. But, at times, cut-and-dry implementation of the law may not be helpful, especially when it come to making peace. In essence, for the sake of peace and democratic progress, the incumbent government should release Bertukan and other prisoners of conscience dropping all the untenable charges.
Bertukan should be freed on humanitarian consideration as she has an aging mother and a child to support at this bad economic time. Keeping her in prison serves no other purpose than escalating political upheavals and popularizing her cause. The Prime Minister’s remark that Bertukan might not be released before the end of the election seems to suggest that there is a political motive behind the imprisonment.
Novice and inexperienced Bertukan should also learn that political ‘science’, unlike law or engineering, is unfortunately, a tricky venture. Justice and political or legal dogmas seem to collide at times. That is why the PM or the President had opted for ‘pardon’ as a way forward.
For the sake of peace and in the spirit of God’s forgiveness granted to humanity and in light of this upcoming Holy Season, Christmas, it is my plea that the Ethiopian government authorities re-forgive (70x7 as per Mt.18: 21-22) Bertukan Mideksa. The Ethiopian president or prime minister should be magnanimous and fatherly enough to forgive a young, may be, the first emerging female politician for the greater good of the country. After all she is not a street criminal but a good citizen standing for justice.
Let me conclude my plea by quoting a young athelete, Bryan Steinhauer, 22, recovering from coma after suffering his friends’ beating on his head he said, “ I am not full of hate; hatred kills progress” (CNN News, April 23, 2009). Let us remember the Savior and Martyr Steven’s utterances, “Forgive them, for they know not what they are doing”. Let us be free from the shackles of our generational revenge; for, revenge begets more revenge. The fear of God and love for humanity should govern our moral conscience, not contempt or hatred. As such, I am praying to God and pleading with concerned authorities for Bertukan’s immediate and unconditional release.

God bless us all! May He bless Ethiopia! Nkosi sekelele Afrika!

Rev. Tegga Lendado, PhD.
African Community Network
Atlanta, GA, USA

Amnesty International launchs campaign for Birtukan

The Dutch chapter of Amnesty International has launched a campaign for the release of Birtukan Mideksa. Members of Amnesty Netherlands are campaigning to get as many petitions as possible before the dead line (1 December 2009). Birtukan Mideksa, the charismatic leader of UDJ, is being held in solitary confinement serving a life sentence. Please sign a petition to Mr. Louis Michel European Union Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid to use all diplomatic means for the freedom of Birtukan Mideksa. His email is Louis.Michel@ec.europa.eu, download a sample letter

Ethiopians protest for jailed leader

By Mark Roth

About noon today, a group of protestors against the current Ethiopian government gathered at the corner of Liberty and Fifth avenues Downtown, seeking fair elections in that country and release of an imprisoned opposition leader, Birtukan Mideksa, a 35-year-old former judge and mother of a 4-year-old child who has been sentenced to life in prison by the government of prime minister Meles Zenawi.

Mekdese Kassa, the spokesman for the group, who manages a cancer center in Baltimore, said that even though Mr. Zenawi was elected in 2000, many Ethiopians feel the results were manipulated, and even though new elections are scheduled next year, many opposition party leaders have refused to participate, believing the outcome will be rigged. They also said that Ms. Mideksa, after being pardoned by the government in 2007, was rearrested last year, allegedly for refusing to apologize for her crimes.

Another rallying cry for the group was a 2003 incident in which hundreds of Anuak tribes people were killed, allegedly with the help of government forces, during ethnic fighting. Referring to American aid to Ethiopia, Mr. Kassa said, “we are saying that U.S. money is being used to kill women and children as a form of genocide, and we want the G-20 to listen. We are focusing on human rights. Human rights violations in Ethiopia are worse than any country, you name it.”
The group of about 30 people moved up Fifth Avenue toward the Convention Center area, intending to hook up- with other similar groups protesting the Zenawi regime.

Ethiopia: Ethnic Federalism and Its Discontents

Nairobi/Brussels, 4 September 2009: Ethiopia’s governing coalition must improve democratic practices or risk pre-election violence that could destabilise the region.
Ethiopia: Ethnic Federalism and Its Discontents,* the latest background report from the International Crisis Group, examines the potential for a violent eruption of conflict in Ethiopia ahead of the June 2010 elections amidst rising ethnic tensions and dissent. The international community must stop ignoring and downplaying these problems, and instead encourage more meaningful democratic governance in the country.
The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, transformed the previously centralised state into the Federal Democratic Republic in the 1990s, redefining citizenship, politics and identity on ethnic grounds. The stated intent was to create a more prosperous, just and representative state for all citizens.

“Ethnic federalism has not dampened conflict, but rather increased competition among groups fighting for land, natural resources, administrative boundaries and government budgets”, says François Grignon, Crisis Group’s Africa Program Director. “This concept has powerfully promoted ethnic self-awareness among all groups and failed to accommodate grievances”.

As numerous opposition parties gear up to challenge the EPRDF in the June 2010 elections, many fear a violent crackdown by the government, similar to the intimidation, harassment and violence experienced by opposition parties during the 2005 election.

“Continuous polarization of national politics has sharpened tensions between and within political parties and ethnic groups since the mid-1990s”, says Daniela Kroslak, Crisis Group’s Deputy Africa Program Director. “Donors must convince Ethiopia to improve current standards of governance and promote democratic reform or risk future waves of violence and new destabilization in the Horn of Africa”.

Ethiopian Canadians living in Toronto held a successful dinner gala dedicated to Birtukan Midekssa and all prisoners of conscience

Canadian Government is Concerned by Reports of worsening human rights abuse in Ethiopia.

The promotion and protection of Human Rights, and Democracy and the rule of law is an integral part of Canadian foreign policy guiding the conduct of our bilateral relations and positions we adopt in multilateral settings. The Government of Canada is concerned by reports of a worsening human rights situations and by increasing restrictions being placed on political space. Canada is committed to the development of a strong democracy in Ethiopia and encourages the government of Ethiopia to ensure equal opportunities for all political parties taking part in elections, particularly the up cumming federal elections in 2010. With respect to Ms. Birtukan's rearrest and imprisonment, Canada has officially expressed concerns to the government of Ethiopia on several occasions, in both Ottawa and Addis Ababa, and has urged the Government of Ethiopia to seek a resolution That will enable Ms. Birtukan to resume her political duties as the leader of political party.
To read the full letter press the link above.

Open Letter to Prime Minster Stephen Harper

Dear Prime Minister Stephen Harper:

I am contacting you to urge your government to take swift and urgent action regarding the recent sentencing of Bashir Ahmed Makhtal, a Canadian citizen, to life imprisonment by the Ethiopian government.

My name is Obang Metho. I am the Executive Director of the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia(SMNE) a grassroots, non-violent and non-political social justice movement of diverse Ethiopians, many ofwhom are also citizens of Canada, who are seeking justice, the protection of life and liberty, reconciliation and
peace in Ethiopia as well as in the Horn of Africa because “no one is free until all are free!” I have been working with the Ogaden Human Rights Committee as well as with other human rights groups throughout Ethiopia and am well acquainted with the issues. It is outrageous that Mr. Makhtal has just received three charges related to membership in the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) despite the lack of
credible witnesses, as noted by human rights organizations following the trial. Mr. Makhtal’s main offense was “guilt by relationship,” a common offense in a country under authoritarian rule where there are thousands of political prisoners and where a perverted system of justice prevails—giving pervasive impunity to real perpetrators and harsh punishments to the innocent. It matters not a whit to this regime if the person they use is innocent if it suits their purposes. In this case,
Makhtal was a “treasure of opportunity” for them. Why? It not because of his guilt, but is because Mahtal is related to the founder of the ONLF—his grandfather! This carries a lot of weight in creating fear in the hearts of Ogadenis in Ethiopia who could capriciously be killed for only “looking” like someone who might be from
the ONLF or charged for being a family member of an ONLF member that cannot be found.
The truth is that within the Ogadeni community in Canada and abroad, it is well known that Makhtal has not been involved in politics. Instead, he was a businessman, buying and selling second-hand clothes; however, to this regime, he was a “prized tool” to use against the ONLF.

Another such person is Birtukan Mideksa, the opposition leader of the peaceful UDJ opposition party who was given a life sentence on a trumped up charge. Musician Teddy Afro was imprisoned under what most believe were false charges so as to silence the message in his music about freedom, unity and justice in Ethiopia.
As an advocate for human rights in Ethiopia, I am not alone in knowing the duplicitous nature of the Meles regime. The same Ethiopian military that brutally massacred 424 leaders from my own ethnic group in the Gambella region of southwestern Ethiopia in 2003, imprisoning many more on drummed up charges, while
denying their complicity, is unfortunately continuing to be carried out in large scale in the Ogaden.

Meles Zenawi has cleverly dubbed his own military’s well-documented (by Human Rights Watch and others)crimes against humanity, war crimes, massive atrocities, destruction of livelihood and possible genocide in the Ogaden area of Ethiopia, as “countering the insurgency.” A representative from UNHCR has in the past called it “a silent Darfur;” however, while Meles claims to be a partner with the West in the War on Terror,Ethiopians know him very well to be the most radical, “al Qaeda-like” terrorist to his own people. No wonder that so many have formed opposition groups against this government. As long as Meles calls those opposing him “terrorists,” the world seems to ignore the travesty they are carrying out. But when we Canadian Ethiopians speak of the innocent civilians who were killed, raped, tortured or imprisoned, we are not talking about numbers, we are talking about people and situations we know. One of those is Makhtal. He is not a terrorist. He is a productive Canadian citizen with a family. He has lived in Canada since he was only 11 years old. He has attended Canadian schools and has voted. Canadians should play a primary role in confronting this double-talk and demanding good governance, the respect of human rights, a free press, freedom of speech, a strong parliament, an independent judiciary, the release of the countless political prisoners and the opening up of the politicaL space. What has been hidden about the true nature of this regime is now impossible to hide. Canadians should expect far more in Ethiopia. Even the “baby steps” of past progress towards democracy have disappeared. We call on Canada to stop supporting this regime! We have all had enough of dictatorship in Ethiopia. Until our Ogadeni brothers and sisters are free, none of us is free! No longer will region, ethnicity, religion, language or culture divide us for we will “put humanity before ethnicity!”Canadian Ethiopians know best what is happening on the ground because we still have many connections there, including families. Canada should not be siding with a dictator, but should be on the side of people who are simply seeking the same rights they value in Canada. Ethiopians are not asking Canada to do the hard work, but instead they are asking you to remove those supports that continue to prop up this government. That support was intended to support genuine democracy, but democratic freedom is nowhere to be found in Ethiopia. Let Canadian taxpayer’s dollars be part of the solution, not a means to prolong a despot!

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has been in power in Ethiopia for 18 years and will not give up power easily. He led an armed struggle prior to assuming power, during which he and his cronies were accused of committing many violent acts of terrorism; including kidnapping foreign humanitarian workers. Yet,because he was replacing a communist leader, he was able to win support from democratic countries because
he cleverly adopted the “democratic language” of the West, while covering up a pattern of “Stalin-like”systematic abuse against any who challenged him and the ruling party or any who would deny him access to natural resources.

During the last 18 years, he has fomented many ethnic conflicts within Ethiopia and has also become embroiled in multiple violent conflicts with neighboring countries, at times, allegedly aiding and abetting
violence between ethnic groups in other countries like Sudan, with the cooperation of Sudanese president,omar al-Bashir. His contribution to the destabilization and impoverishment of the Horn of Africa, a strategic area of geo-political importance, cannot be denied or ignored without grave consequences. Meles was one of the first to publicly defend al-Bashir and to speak out in condemnation of the warrant
issued by the ICC. He also stood with others in the African Union in joint defiance of the ICC’s indictment. Why? Most believe it is because he and his own government have also been implicated in a pattern of widespread perpetration of serious human rights atrocities throughout Ethiopia and into Somalia. On July 23, 2009, Genocide Watch requested the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights to initiate an investigation regarding the widespread incidence of gross human rights abuses in Ethiopia, including in the Ogaden as well as the massacre of the Anuak, which he said met the stringent definition of genocide.These violations must be stopped; not given the green light through financial aid from free countries like Canada.

Should not Canada defend its own citizens from known terrorist governments?
Why is the US working with the Swiss to release the three Americans in Iran; why has former President Bill Clinton worked to gain successful release of the journalists jailed in North Korea and why were the Swedes,Americans and Kenyans arrested in 2006 at the same time as Makhtal, released to their respective governments, when Makhtal is and was not?
Could Canada have not done more to gain the release of one of their own citizens? We are disappointed by this lack of action, but it is not too late to move ahead and to take a much stronger negotiating position with this corrupt government, using the multiple leverages available to exert pressure on this regime to release Makhtal
to Canadian custody.As a citizen of Canada and as the executive director of the Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia, I strongly urge you to re-examine Canadian support of this government. The Meles regime should be treated in the same way as Robert Mugabe’s regime in Zimbabwe and Omar al-Bashir of the Sudan, not catering to
terroristic governments and dictators. Can we count on you to help us?
We ask you to initiate negotiations immediately for Makhtal’s release. Additionally, we request that you and our parliamentary members call for a hearing on Ethiopia so those re-examining Canadian policies towards Ethiopia can hear from the voices of Ethiopians rather than listen to the propaganda promulgated by this regime. We Ethiopians know what is going on. I and many others would be more than happy to assist in any way possible.More specifically, we hope that these actions lead to pressing the Ethiopian government:to release Mr.Bashir Makhtal, opposition leader, Ms. Birtukan Mideska and all other prisoners of conscience within Ethiopia,to bring to a halt the perpetration of human rights violations in the Ogaden and anywhere else such abuses are being committed in Ethiopia and the Horn,
 to open up the society to basic freedom and civil rights,
 to open up political space in anticipation of the coming 2010 election,
 to hold all perpetrators of human rights crimes accountable, and
 to support national and regional reconciliation among Ethiopians and other willing parties in the Horn that could lead to genuine, sustainable and inclusive peace for “until we all are free, no one will be free.”
Thank you so very much for your hard work, dedication and commitment to the peopl of Canada.
I look forward to your response.

Sincerely yours,

Obang Metho;
Executive Director,
Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia

#4-804 Duffuren Ave, Saskatoon, SK, S7H 4Z9
Phone: (306) 933 4346 Email:obang@solidaritymovement.org. If you would be interested in further
information regarding the (SMNE) you may visit our website: www.solidarity movement.org

This letter has been cc or sent to Michael Ignatieff, Leader of the Official Opposition, Gilles Duceppe, Leader
of the Bloc Québécois, Jack Layton, Leader of the New Democratic Party, asking them to do more to gain the
release of one of their own citizen.

Statement by Minister Cannon on Bashir Makhtal Sentencing in Ethiopia

The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today made the following statement following the sentencing of Bashir Makhtal in Ethiopia:
“The Government of Canada is extremely disappointed by the maximum jail sentence to which Bashir Makhtal has been sentenced by the court in Ethiopia.
“Canadian officials in Ethiopia were present at Bashir Makhtal’s court appearance today, during which he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Bashir Makhtal’s lawyer has stated that his client will exercise his right under Ethiopian law to appeal the conviction and the sentence.
“The Government of Canada will continue to explore all options for supporting Bashir Makhtal.
“The Government of Canada will continue to follow the case closely and to seek regular consular access to Bashir Makhtal.”

PRESS RELEASE

July 29, 2009

"Injustice in Ethiopia is Injustice everywhere"

It has been reported that Mr. BASHIR AHMED MAKHTAL, a Canadian citizen is convicted of guilty verdict on charges of terrorist act. His sentencing is due shortly. It appears that the authorities in Addis Ababa are trying to justify due process of law is being followed up to convince critics who allege the whole system is a sham. Indeed, Mr. Bashir is a victim of a vindictive regime whose rebellious past and Stalinist background targets opposition leaders, academics, human rights and civic leaders, journalists and artists. We have witnessed thousands of those victims who suffered under similar trumpeted charges and gone through highly orchestrated court proceedings which determine fate in advance, even before the officials decide whom to jail next. The doctrine of “presumption of innocence” is not in the legal dictionary of the ruling party as every move is politically motivated.
Mr. Bashir Makhtal has long been condemned guilty soon after he was kidnapped at a gun point, as officials of present day Ethiopia, associate guilt to ones ethnic background or next of kin or your blood relationship. As an Ethiopian from the Ogden region and related to one former leader, Bashir’s fate was determined well before even we knew his whereabouts. Has it not been for media coverage given and appeals by different groups, officials would not even have revealed his identity. They would have murdered him somewhere in Somalia and continue to deny that he has been captured. This is not unprecedented since they came to power 18 years ago. The deaths of several civic and military leaders whom officials are denying , but whereabouts and fates unknown to date are not secrets any longer.
The conviction is not that unexpected from a judicial system which has never been independent. One cannot expect a fair trial from a government which itself is terrorizing its citizens. The Ethiopian government's record of human rights abuse, extra judicial killings and mass arrests has been well documented by different rights groups such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, European parliament, CPJ and the United States government State Departments annual country reports.
The current Ethiopian government has been in power for 18 yeas now. It is notoriously known for legislating draconian laws, such as the Press law, NGO and the recent Anti Terrorism law. The judicial system is controlled by cadres of the ruling party who are loyal to implement any orders on how to handle any case brought before the court. The police, security system and the courts are operating in tandem to ensure the leaders ultimate authority over the 80 million populations. Fabrication of charges, planting evidences, selecting and coaching potential witnesses are coordinated tasks of the judicial and security apparatus created by those leaders who are determined to continue their dictatorial authority for an indefinite time.
Currently, Ethiopia is reported being a jail house for far more political prisoners than any sub Saharan country in Africa. It is also reported that the ruling party is still running secret prisons in remote and inaccessible corners of the country which is housing former rebel commanders and opposition figures. The harsh treatment of prisoners and brutal investigative techniques has caused deaths, physical disabilities and mental anguish to several people opposed to their rule.
Unity for Human Rights and Democracy, strongly condems the guilty verdict the officials in Addis Ababa have let the courts pass on Mr. Bashir Makhtal and, we appeal to the Canadian government to immediately intervene and exert pressure on the officials in Ethiopia, for an end to this theatrical process. As the Canadian government has spent millions of tax payer’s money in an attempt to modernize the Ethiopian judicial system, it is in the interest of every Canadian that rule of law and human rights are respected in Ethiopia. We understand Canadian government' is not expecting Mr. Bashir Makhtal is guaranteed due process or freedom from court of law in Ethiopia. Rather, we urge them to review their bilateral aid policy with Ethiopia and exert diplomatic pressures on officials to secure the release of this Canadian citizen who has suffered unbearable ordeals all along since his kidnap over two years ago.
Finally, we call upon all Ethiopian Canadians to join hands together and urge Prime Minister Harper and other government officials to consider this matter as extremely urgent and save Mr. Bashir Makhtal life and ensure his freedom.

Canadian found guilty on Ethiopia terror charges

(AFP) – ADDIS ABABA — An Ethiopian-born Canadian citizen was found guilty in a court in Ethiopia Monday of terror-related charges that could see him sentenced to death.

Bashir Makhtal was convicted on three charges mainly of inciting rebellion by aiding and abetting armed opposition groups in Ethiopia and being a senior member of a rebel group.

The 40-year-old man, who has denied the charges, is also accused of supporting Somalia's Islamist movement ousted by Ethiopian forces in early 2007 when they intervened in the neighbouring country to prop up its embattled transition government.

Ethiopia's high court is scheduled to hand down his sentence on August 3.

"We will definitely launch an appeal after the sentencing on Monday. We will work on it," his lawyer Gebreamlak Gebregiorgis told AFP in an interview.

Makhtal was among some 150 people detained by Kenyan forces in 2006 on the border with Somalia as they fled the Ethiopian onslaught on the Islamist insurgents.

The trial had been postponed several times this year due to prosecutors' failure to provide witnesses.

EDITORS NOTE:
Few things the Canadian government should do regarding this case:
First, The prime minister of Ethiopia Mr. Meles zenawi by himself was a rebel leader for 17 years who participated in a lot of atrocities, including bank robbery and kidnapping of foreign citizens.
TPLF the ruling party in Ethiopia, is still on the list of CIA terrorist lists.
This verdict is a joke cumming from a terrorist organization that never had an amnesty in a real court of law.
In this case the Canadian government should
1. request the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. makthal in a specific time frame.
2.Suspend all diplomatic ties with the current ruling party in Ethiopia, including suspending all visa to the officials of the current government.
3.Work with other donor countries to pressure the TPLF to be diplomatically and financially isolated, until all political prisoners are freed in Ethiopia.

Free Birtukan Mideksa

Abebe Gellaw
Posted July 16, 2009 World leaders, including President Barack Obama, have called for the immediate release of Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But how many of them have even heard of Ethiopia’s pro-democracy leader Birtukan Mideksa, the 36-year-old politician and mother who is being held in solitary confinement, condemned to life in prison without due process? Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has been brutally efficient in eliminating his political rivals by killing, jailing or forcing them into exile. But because Ethiopia is seen as a “strategic ally” by the U.S., Mr. Obama failed to publicly speak out against human-rights violation by the Zenawi regime on his recent trip to Africa or even mention Ms. Mideksa’s name.
Unlike the Burmese military junta, the Zenawi regime is an ally of the U.S. and its European partners. The Bush administration used to refer to the Zenawi regime as a “linchpin” in the war on terror in the Horn of Africa. While the U.S. imposed economic sanctions against Burma in 1997, Mr. Zenawi has been enjoying a stream of financial and military aid from the U.S. and Europe since he came to power in May 1991 after a bloody power struggle with the dictator Mengistu Hailemariam. Since 2005, Mr. Zenawi has even attended all the G-8 summits and this year’s G-20 meeting in London, despite protests by Ethiopians in the diaspora and human-rights activists.
There’s a good reason why her countrymen call Ms. Mideksa the Aung San Suu Kyi of Ethiopa. In the run up to the 2005 national elections, the first contested election in the history of Ethiopia, Ms. Mideksa joined the Coalition for Unity and Democracy party (CUD). Within a few months she was elected the party’s first vice president. Her party won a landslide victory in most of the places where there were foreign election observers. In the capital, Addis Ababa, the CUD had a clean sweep. Zenawi’s party could only win one single municipal seat. All the 23 contested parliamentary seats went to Ms. Mideksa’s party.
Before the count was completed throughout the country, Mr. Zenawi ordered a state of emergency and froze the count in the remaining districts. Local election observers in remote villages were chased away despite protests by foreign observers, most notably Ana Gomes, chief of the European Election Observation Mission to Ethiopia.
Supporters of the CUD who felt that the election was stolen started protesting. In June and November 2005, the ruling party killed 193 civilians including minors and wounded over 780 others. In a space of one week in November 2005, over 40,000 civilians were rounded up and were detained in harsh military camps.
Over 100 opposition leaders, including Ms. Mideksa, were arrested that same month and charged with “genocide” and treason. They were released after 20 months in jail in July 2007 after a mediation effort by local elders.
While touring Sweden in November last year, Ms. Mideksa refuted government propaganda that its high-profile prisoners were pardoned despite their guilt. She said legally speaking the so-called pardon was null and void as none of the prisoners committed the alleged crimes and the correct procedures were not followed.
As soon as she arrived home, the government launched a vicious propaganda campaign using state-controlled media against her. She was re-arrested in December 2008. Prime Minister Zenawi declared that the pardon granted to Ms. Mideksa was revoked and accused her of banking on support from “powerful friends in powerful positions” in the West. He then announced her life sentence.
President Obama, being of African descent, is in a unique position to influence the Zenawi regime and push for the release of Ms. Mideksa. Until leaders of the Free World take a firm stand against tyranny, regardless of strategic alliances, those who demand freedom will continue to suffer. Most Ethiopians believe Mr. Obama will one day speak out and support their struggle for freedom and dignity. In the meantime, Ms. Mideksa will continue to languish behind bars.
Mr. Gellaw is a Knight / Yahoo! international journalism fellow at Stanford University.

Three Generations of Prisoners in Ethiopia Today

Part I Contextual Profile On Re-imprisoned Mrs. Birtukan Mideksa of Ethiopia

Ethiopians who are in their 70’s plus today have survived through four political tsunamis the country
has undergone in the last six decades. These include the bestial but short-lived Mussolini/Fascist
invasion of the country (1936-41); the resumption of semi-feudal imperial rule by Emperor Haile
Sellassie (1941-1974); the popular mass revolution subsequently taken over by the military (Derg)
(1974-1991). The fourth regime is the current tandem occupation of the country and the severing of
Eritrea from Ethiopia by Isayass/ EPLF and the crony, the Tigrayan TPLF under Meles (1991-
present). Among other things, the most tragic and defining characteristic in the transitions and
tenures of the regimes--with the qualified exception of periods of the Haile Sellassie era—is the
cyclical rampancy of violence, oppression, death and destruction visited upon the ever enduring
Ethiopian people. There were also famines, environmental degradation as well as internal and
interstate conflicts that further exacerbated the suffering of the people.
What emerges as an explanatory paradigm for analysis of political phenomena in Ethiopia in
general revolves around what I call “the culture of violence and the violence of culture” that has
permeated and defined Ethiopia’s political history, not just for the past seven decades but for
centuries? The current tribalist regime has already used its monopoly of deadly force and absolute
political hegemony to sever Eritrea and wantonly land lock Ethiopia. It continues to use brute force to
massacre Ethiopians and obliterate Ethiopia per se. It is in the context of its words and, more
importantly, its deeds that one can at least attempt to reckon with current events such as the regime’s
capricious incarceration (again) of Mrs. Birtukan Mideksa, Chairperson of the Unity for Democracy
and Justice Party of Ethiopia.
For virtually all of its history, political leadership or right to rule in Ethiopia has not been a
matter of peoples choice or but of divine ordination. Hence, one of the several titles of Emperor Haile
Sellassie was “Elect of God.” Such a political culture does not engender or encourage political
participation by citizens be they males or even less so females—unless elected by God or by the
Gun. Indeed some emperors reached the pinnacle of power by the gun and then coerced the clergy
to confirm them as “elect” of God. Still, there were some female empresses as well by virtue of being
a king’s daughter. Empress Zewditu Menelik at the turn of the twentieth Century was one such
example.
The Modest Beginnings of Mrs. Birtukan Mideksa
Having come of age in a stifling political culture, the young, dynamic and charismatic Mrs. Birtukan
Mideksa emerged into the political spotlight in the early period of the 21st Century. She was born in
1974 in Addis Ababa. On the material side of life, hers were low income parents but she said she was
raised with so much rich love and care. She had a positive and friendly disposition towards all she
encountered. She was superior at school and eventually joined Addis Ababa University. She recalls
that she wanted to do public service and her shortlist was law or medicine. She then heard about a
lady judge who had reached the level of Justice of the High Court of Ethiopia. That inspired young
Birtukan to aspire to serve her people in the realm of law and justice. In 1989, shortly after her
graduation, she was appointed judge and served with competence and equanimity—insofar as the
system would allow--for the next six years, followed by law practice.
The Janus-faced devious regime of autocrat Meles Zenawi in Ethiopia operates with absolute
armed power at home and duplicitous propaganda abroad. It denies what it really is and does in the
country while it projects what it is not to the rest of the world. Under such circumstances a general
“election” was slated for 2005 and a number of patriotic, democratic and dedicated Ethiopians formed
parties and coalitions to peacefully contest in the “election”—even though they had serious doubts
about the regime’s trustworthiness. They were, however, encouraged in this endeavor by European
and American groups and election observers who promised to be rigorous in monitoring the voting
and counting processes and holding the ruling regime and all concerned accountable. It was at this
momentous occasion that Birtukan joined the democratic movement and she was selected to be
Deputy Chair of the Kinijit (Coalition) Democratic Party of Ethiopia.

Free Birtukan Midekssa and all Political Prisoners In Ethiopia. Ottawa, May 26,2009

Most importantly to demand:
1. The Harper Government breaks its silence and speaks out against the human rights abuse in Ethiopia
2. For the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and ensure that the practice of arbitrary arrest and unfair trials shall come to an end in Ethiopia.
3. Canada takes immediate and tangible steps to ensure that the actions of the government in Ethiopia shall comply fully with The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
4. the current government in Ethiopia be held accountable and responsible for violating International Human rights Law, and ensure that any kind of Canadian aid to Ethiopia be granted subject to the recognition, promotion as well as implementation of Democratic Ideals and Civil and Political Rights.
Honorable Peter Julian NDP, MP for Burnaby/Westminster and
Honorable Paul Dewar Paul MP, for Ottawa Center addressed the crowed regarding the deteriorating human rights situation in Ethiopia, and encouraged every one to raise their voice for those who are suffering under the tyrannical regime in Ethiopia. Also, the Honorable Maria Minna Liberal, MP Beaches East York was represented by her assistant Mr. Ryan who also made a brief speech.


More info to come...

SOLIDARITY MESSAGE TO THE MAY 15 INTERNATIONAL MOVEMENT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS AND FREEDOM IN ETHIOPIA

Unity for Human Rights and Democracy Toronto, would like to express its solidarity to the International campaign to free the jailed political leaders and human rights activists in Ethiopia. As part of this international movement, we salute you all who are holding torches of freedom high up glowing city streets. We hear echoes of the bells of democracy you are ringing and songs of peace you are singing. Your march for freedom is unprecedented and the drums you beat are calling for unity of all democratic forces.
All political prisoners incarcerated in the dungeons all over the country are counting on us to remember their plights every single day. They are appealing to us for the realization of their freedom. Their voices have been taken away by the Woyane tugs and remain voiceless. They are demanding for unity amongst all democratic forces for the common good of mother Ethiopia which is endangered with perils of Melles Zenawi’s destructive policies.
The true sons and daughters of Ethiopia are converging at major city streets across the globe to denounce fascism. TPLF’s wave of terror has continued unabated both in width and depth. TPLF is waging an all out war against Ethiopians and we are at a critical historical moment. It is a reality that fascism is digging its grave deeper never to resurrect Victory is in sight around the horizon. Fascism which has reigned for last 18 years is bidding farewell as it is fast losing ground every where. Ethiopians will soon recover their hard earned unity and freedom. They rightfully gain their pride which had been looted by the fascistic leaders our country ever had throughout its history. The time to rejoice our unity has come for real and we will not fail to protect it as our forefathers did against colonialism.
Obviously, TPLF leaders might run away to those cities the looted aid money has been amassed and hoarded. Well, they might think so, but that won’t happen for real. The money they are looting belongs to the starving million children of Ethiopia.
The world is not that big any more, as they might think. Criminals cannot run, let alone hide. Prosecution for genocide is awaiting them and tears mother Ethiopia has been shedding those long years will eventually dry up. We can't wait to see that time we all have long yearned for. Justice will be finally served and we will regain our human rights, freedom, peace and equality irrespective of ones religious, ethnic, political or regional affiliation. Ethnic apartheid system of government will be history and the future generation will remember it as the darkest moment their ancestors have endured through what else we have learned from Mussolini and Graziani's cruelty against our forefathers!!!!!!
Once again, on the occasion of the May 15, international movement, we are renewing our determination to continue working together with all democratic forces. We will strengthen our lobbying tasks with the Canadian government and other opposition officials who have been championing the Ethiopian human rights issue on all forums available. We will join hands with concerned citizens and law enforcement agencies to expose those human rights abusers and looters who have made cities of Canada as their hub for retreat.

Victory to the Ethiopian People
Toronto, May 15, 2009

With a Friend Like This:Ethiopia was supposed to help America in the war on terror. But it's only made matters worse.

Few people outside Ethiopia have ever heard of Birtukan Mideksa. And that's just how the government wants it. Since December, Birtukan has been kept in solitary confinement, one of hundreds of political prisoners there. Her apparent crime? Organizing a democratic challenge to the increasingly iron-fisted rule of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
In the past year alone, Meles's ruling party has rigged elections, effectively banned independent human-rights groups, passed a draconian press law and shrugged off calls for an investigation into alleged atrocities in the restive Ogaden region. Yet in the same period, his country has become one of the largest recipients of U.S. aid in sub-Saharan Africa, getting a cool $1 billion in 2008. The Bush administration claimed that Ethiopia was the linch-pin of its regional counterterrorism strategy and a vital beacon of stability. But the evidence increasingly suggests Washington isn't getting what it pays for, and is supporting a brutal dictator in the process. Candidate Obama pledged to strengthen democracy in Africa; if he's serious, this is a good place to start.

America's warm relations with Ethiopia date to the days after 9/11, when the country's Christian-dominated government came to be seen as a natural U.S. ally in a region targeted by Islamic extremists. After disputed elections in 2005, however, Meles—once hailed by President Bill Clinton as part of a promising "new generation" of African leaders—began clamping down on dissent.
Yet Washington tolerated his lapses because it needed his help fighting Al-Qaeda linked Islamists in next-door Somalia. In December 2006, Ethiopia's U.S.-trained Army duly invaded its neighbor, ousting the radical Islamic Courts Union government there. But the adventure hasn't worked out as planned. No sooner had the ICU been toppled than an even more radical group, Al-Shabab, sprang up to fight the invaders. And although Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopia's foreign minister, recently told NEWSWEEK that the Islamists have been militarily "shattered," they now control much of the country's south and have tightened links with Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, the Ethiopian troops have pulled out, and the country they left behind has been thoroughly devastated. Two years of fighting forced about 3.4 million Somalis, some 40 percent of the population, from their homes. Yet only a few high-ranking terrorists were eliminated, and Russell Howard, a retired general and senior fellow at the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations University, says the occupation only "empowered" the radicals.
Such failures—and Ethiopia's growing repression—suggest Washington should rethink the relationship. Just what Ethiopia offers the United States today is unclear. Addis Ababa has contributed troops to U.N. peacekeeping forces in Darfur and Burundi and plays a large role in shaping the policies of the African Union. But this shouldn't earn it unquestioning U.S. support.
To reset ties, the United States should push Ethiopia to democratize. And it must urge it to reconcile with its archnemesis, Eritrea. Resolving the conflict between the two states is key to addressing a whole range of threats to U.S. interests. Tiny Eritrea won independence from Addis Ababa in 1993, but the two countries fought a 1998–2000 border war and relations have remained hostile ever since, in part because Ethiopia, with tacit U.S. support, has ignored an international ruling that redrew their border. Too weak to challenge Ethiopia directly, Eritrea has funneled support to its enemy's enemies—including Al-Shabab and its America-hating foreign fighters. Eritrea also recently instigated a border conflict with Djibouti, home to an important U.S. military base.
Washington should thus push Ethiopia and Eritrea to make amends; better relations would mean an end to their proxy war in Somalia, which has helped turn that state into a Qaeda haven. Should it choose to use it, the United States has plenty of leverage. Most U.S. spending on Ethiopia goes for health and food aid, which aren't easy to cut. But the Obama administration could make military aid and weapons sales contingent on Meles's improving his behavior. The House of Representatives passed a bill in 2007 to do just that, but the measure died in the Senate without White House support.
Much will now depend on the man Obama has nominated for the State Department's top Africa job, Johnnie Carson. Carson's record is promising: while ambassador to Kenya from 1999 to 2003, he helped persuade longtime President Daniel Arap Moi to step down, clearing the way for multiparty elections. Should he bring similar pressure to bear on Washington's new African ally, Birtukan, Ethiopia's other political prisoners, Africans throughout the Horn and America itself would all benefit.
With Jason Mclure in Addis Ababa for News Week

Lawsuit challenges aid to Ethiopia

Imprisoned Canadian's lawyer accuses Ottawa of giving relief to state that doesn't respect rights
Apr 03, 2009 04:30 AM
Michelle Shephard
National Security Reporter
There have been Supreme Court cases, costly federal inquiries, rallies and media pressure that has forced the government into action concerning Canadian citizens detained abroad.
But now comes an inventive court challenge that lawyers for Bashir Makhtal hope will pack a financial punch and lead to the Canadian's release from Ethiopia.
A lawsuit against the Canadian government filed yesterday in federal court argues that Canada is breaking the law by providing financial aid to Ethiopia.
"Official government development aid shall only be provided to countries if the aid `is consistent with international human rights standards,'" the claim alleges, quoting from a new law that came into effect in June.
The Official Development Assistance Accountability Act was passed in order to ensure that development assistance is provided "in a manner that is consistent with Canadian values (and) Canadian foreign policy."
Toronto lawyer Lorne Waldman argues in his suit that Makhtal, who is being held in an Addis Ababa prison, has been denied access to lawyers or consular assistance for two years, and coupled with international criticism about Ethiopia's courts, continued aid would violate Canadian law.
The suit focuses on the portion of Canada's $89 million in foreign aid targeted for improving Ethiopia's legal system.
"We don't have any issue of the government sending aid to people who are starving or building wells or all the other things they may be doing in Ethiopia," Waldman said.
"But giving aid to a government that doesn't respect due process to finance their legal system is in my view inconsistent with our obligations."
Makhtal, an Ethiopian-born Canadian citizen who lived in Toronto for close to a decade before moving to Kenya where he worked and lived with his wife, was arrested in December 2006 at the border of Somalia. He was initially held in Nairobi but then taken secretly to Somalia and driven to Ethiopia.
The Ethiopian government alleges Makhtal is a member of the outlawed Ogaden National Liberation Front, which is fighting for the Somali-speaking population of Ethiopia's disputed, oil-rich Ogaden region.
He has denied the charge.
While the government had not spoken out publicly against Makhtal's case when he was initially detained, Foreign Affairs Parliamentary Secretary Deepak Obhrai went to Addis Ababa twice last year to meet Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
Federal Transport Minister John Baird, whose Ottawa riding has a large Somali population, recently took a personal interest in the case and vowed to visit Ethiopia soon.
"I am very cautious about this step by the lawyers," Baird said yesterday in reaction to the lawsuit.
"I am just not optimistic that an attempt to pressure the Ethiopians in Canadian courts will benefit Bashir. His case is taking place in Ethiopia, and that needs to be where we focus our efforts."
Makhtal appeared in an Ethiopian court yesterday where six witnesses gave "mainly hearsay testimony," his cousin, Said Makhtal, said. He is to appear again April 20.

Why no-one speaks out: Politics and human rights in Ethiopia

Ethiopia has no independent judiciary, no free press, no civil society, and individual liberties have been severely curtailed, so why isn’t Meles Zenawi a persona non grata in the international community, asks human rights activist Mitmita.
Birtukan Mideksa, a former judge who was charged with treason and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2005, is just one of many people jailed for exercising their fundamental rights, in this case the freedom of speech, says Mitmita. Mideksa is in solitary confinement in Kaliti Prison for allegedly violating the terms of a government pardon granted to her in 2007. The accusations are based on her failure to retract statements made in a speech that she was released from prison through a politically negotiated settlement rather than a formal legal pardon. Western failure to condemn abuses by Zenawi’s government for the sake of their own strategic interests, says Mitmita, comes at the expense of the rights of ordinary Ethiopians.
In the barbed wire existence that is Kaliti Prison, past the mocking eucalyptus trees swaying in the cerulean Addis skies, beyond the square outdoor cages reserved for visitors, away from the prison guards whose hands callously sift through the contents of your food basket, in solitary confinement is a thirty-four year old political prisoner. It is her second stay since 2005 within the infamous walls of the prison that lies on the outskirts of the Ethiopian capital.

Ms Birtukan Mideksa’s crime, according to the Ethiopian government, is violation of the terms of her 2007 pardon. She was arrested in 2005, in the post election upheaval during which 200 individuals were killed by government forces and more than 100 opposition political leaders and elected parliamentarians, human rights defenders, journalists, attorneys and civil society members were imprisoned. She was tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. The charge was treason. International outrage followed. Massive campaigns from around the world drew attention to the case. Amnesty International and other NGOs declared the defendants were prisoners of conscience who had been imprisoned solely for the expression of their fundamental rights.

In 2007, Ms Mideksa and her co-defendants were released as part of negotiations between elders and the Ethiopian government, which allegedly resulted in the following: Signed confessions by Ms Mideksa and others, and a pardon granted to them by the government. The terms and parameters of the pardons as well as the confessions remain murky. What is known and evident is that Ms Mideksa’s December 2008 arrest resulted from the exercise of her right to free speech.

Outside of the two square metre prison cell that she now inhabits, the political prisoner is a former judge, a mother to a four-year-old daughter and the head of an opposition political organisation (arguably Africa’s only woman to hold such a position). In juggling these roles, she was working to avoid the minefields that accompany exercising your rights in Ethiopia. How does a woman who presided over high profile cases as part of the judiciary end up in solitary confinement serving a life sentence for a second time in the span of two years? The answer lies in the tortured reality that is life in Ethiopia.

By all accounts, the country has no independent judiciary, no free press, no civil society, and individual liberties such as freedom of speech, association et al have been severely curtailed if not eliminated. Even artists don’t enjoy freedom of thought – their expressions can’t stray from the party lines. For example, Teddy Afro, a popular singer, is serving time for an alleged hit and run, though his lyrics and pro-democracy stance suggest that the accident might have been mere subterfuge.
The prison system, certainly since 2005 but most likely prior to that date, hosted a who’s who of Ethiopia’s intelligentsia, artist community and human rights defenders. That certainly doesn’t make it unique – totalitarian regimes are apt to discredit those who defy them. Those who were not imprisoned were slaughtered in broad daylight. In the Ogaden, the violence committed by government sources was so egregious that human rights groups have labelled them crimes against humanity. This brand of leadership has not only been exported to neighbouring Somalia but the US also allegedly used Ethiopia as a location for one of the CIA’s extraordinary rendition prisons.

Which brings us back to Ms Mideksa. Solitary confinement, according to Amnesty International, puts Ms Mideksa at risk of ill-treatment and torture. Ms Mideksa has been denied access to counsel and to medical treatment. She is at risk – if not already exposed – to abuse at the hands of prison guards. To be a woman political prisoner is something altogether quite different. The potential for suffering is innumerable.

The world, outside of those who concern themselves daily with the goings-on of Africa, has turned a deaf ear to her and to Ethiopia’s suffering. The leadership’s consistent flirting with disaster – whether it is famine, the ill-fated foray into supposed electoral politics in 2005, or the misadventures in Somalia – provides a clear image of a ruling party holding a nation in an extricable iron grip. Yet somehow the fate of a Mugabe or a Bashir of the Sudan doesn’t befall Meles Zenawi. There has been no international condemnation, no arrest warrants and he certainly isn’t a global persona non Grata.

Unlike other dictators, the head of Ethiopia has had an air of legitimacy conferred upon him – to the point that Westerners need to be reminded of his true colors, demonstrated during the 2005 elections. The Prime Minister’s policy appears to be twofold: Firstly, to convey an indispensable willingness to protect the interests of the West in the Horn of Africa and secondly, to display the accouterments of democracy and free market economics without actually implementing any of the institutions or responsibilities that accompany both.

And it seems his strategy has worked like a charm. Except for a rare rebuke or a slap on the wrist, the West – especially the primary funder's of the Ethiopian regime – generally turn a blind eye to the massive human rights violations besieging the nation. Which is not surprising: Even Ethiopians seem tired of Ethiopia’s same old problems. It is much easier to tune out something that has been going on for far too long. For those in need of a crash course in Ethiopian political history, consider the following:

Ms Mideksa’s imprisonment is but a microcosm of the tragedies experienced by the larger population. Fundamentally, her case illustrates the immense power that the Ethiopian government wields over its citizens. Her purportedly offensive statements that led to her arrest were made during a speech in Sweden. Shockingly, her words merely stated facts: That her prior release was not based on a formal legal pardon, but rather a politically negotiated settlement. It was her refusal to rescind these statements that landed her in jail. Since Ethiopia’s state apparatus extends beyond boundaries and across oceans, imagine the control it must wield over the population within its borders. Big African brother is watching. Following the 2005 elections, the government banned SMS text messaging after pro-democracy activists used the tool to organize voters and peaceful rallies. Various Ethiopian blogs, websites and other Internet resources are routinely blocked in Ethiopia. The besieged population is regularly searched before entering malls and restaurants.

Three months into her reinstated life sentence, we must raise some critical questions about Ms Mideksa’s case and the state of Ethiopia as a whole. Are fundamental rights extinguishable at the will of a government? Why isn’t international funding truly linked to a country’s human rights record? Should Western interests, especially purported ‘terrorism’ concerns, supersede the human rights of Africans? And most importantly, where is the outrage?

* Mitmita is a pseudomyn of an Ethiopian human rights activist.
* Please send comments to editor@pambazuka.org or comment online at http://www.pambazuka.org/.

Ethiopia: Birtukan sues the TPLF government for violation of rights (Capital)

Jailed opposition party Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ) chair, Birtukan Midekssa, has sued the government for violating her rights as a prisoner.
Earlier this month, attorney Tesfaye Derese filed the charge on behalf of Birtukan. Tesfaye himself had on various occasions claimed not to be able to see his client.
In the filed charge, Birtukan asks the court to ensure her prisoner’s rights, which she said have been violated, are respected. The Ethiopian constitution stipulates that persons in custody and convicted prisoners have the right to communicate with and be visited by spouse(s), close relatives and friends, medical attendants, and religious and legal counselors.
Birtukan is not the first one to claim mistreatment in detention centers. During the former Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (CUDP) leaders and members’ trial, then CUDP Secretary, Muluneh Eyuel, also claimed that he was mistreated and was put in a dark cell on his own.
Very recently, the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) secretary Bekele Jirate claimed that he was made to stand for long hours while he was in police custody. Both allegations were rejected by the courts.
Birtukan’s charge was sent back to the registrar by the first presiding judge, who explained that he could not preside over the case, as he knew the plaintiff personally. Another justice, who took over the case, ruled last Wednesday that it is in the court’s jurisdiction and the plaintiff has a case and can indeed sue for the alleged violations.
In orders issued last Wednesday, the court explained that it took on the case after the plaintiff re-stated its case to explain that the alleged violations occurred in the previous fifteen days. This is a requirement if the case is to go through what is called accelerated procedure.
The court has ordered the Federal Correction Facilities Commission to present a response to the charge by April 2.
It was back in December 29 that Birtukan was re-arrested and began serving life after the pardon board revoked her pardon. She was imprisoned and then pardoned after she - along with other members and leaders of the former CUDP - were found guilty of unrest following the 2005 elections.
UDJ and other opposition groups such as OFDM and United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) have condemned Birtukan’s re-arrest. However the government insisted it acted to uphold the rule of law to which it said Birtukan failed to comply when she denied asking for a pardon and then refused to retract her statement.
Some lawyers expressed a concern about the procedures the government took to revoke her pardon. These experts explained that Birtukan was not given the legally permitted 21 days before her pardon was revoked, instead she was re-arrested just 72 hours after the Federal Police Commission asked her to retract the statement.
The justice minister, Berhan Hailu, has said that the 21 day period referred to by the lawyers is only advisory.

Why Does British Foreign Aid Prefer Poor Governments Over Poor People?

By William Easterly and Laura Freschi
European donors are moving towards increasing direct budget support to governments of aid-receiving countries. Leading the charge is the UK, which gives the largest percentage of direct budget support of any bilateral or multilateral donor (although the World Bank, the European Commission, the US and France also give substantial budget support).
Giving cash directly to host country governments for use in the general budget for public spending has a number of advantages. The donors say it gives recipient governments more predictability, and more control over the aid resources being funneled in. Rather than serving a plethora of masters in the international donor community, funds given as budget support can be corralled by the host government and spent coherently according to host government priorities, while building government capacity to do what everyone wants governments to do for themselves in the long run: competently manage their own affairs. The aid jargon for this is “country ownership.”
So how is this working out in practice? In 2007, the UK gave 20 percent of their total bilateral ODA in the form of budget support to 13 countries: Tanzania, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Ghana, Uganda, Mozambique, Vietnam, Malawi, Zambia, India, Sierra Leone, Nepal, and Nicaragua. (Source)
Of this list, only Ghana and India were classified as “free” by the annual Freedom House ratings on democracy (according to either the 2007 or 2008 rating). For the 11 other countries that did get British budget support, how much is there “country ownership” when the government is not democratically accountable to the “country”?
Moreover, Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused some of these governments of serious human rights violations. Ethiopia’s autocratic government, which is inexplicably the largest recipient of UK budget support in Africa, won 99% of the vote in the last “election.” The government army is accused by HRW of war crimes in the Somali region of Ethiopia. Nor is this brand new -- neither army officers nor civilian officials have been “held accountable for crimes against humanity that ENDF (Ethiopian National Defense Force) forces carried out against ethnic Anuak communities during a counterinsurgency campaign in Gambella region in late 2003 and 2004.” HRW also notes that today: “Credible reports indicate that vital food aid to the drought-affected [Somali] region has been diverted and misused as a weapon to starve out rebel-held areas.” Ironically, Ethiopia’s autocratic ruler, Meles Zenawi, was the Africa representative at the recent G-20 meeting campaigning for more aid to Africa during the current crisis, because, among other reasons, Meles said “people who were getting some food would cease to get it and … would die” (from an article in Wednesday's Financial Times.)
As for Vietnam, HRW reports: “In March 2008 police arrested Bui Kim Thanh, an activist who defended victims of land confiscation and involuntarily committed her to a mental hospital for the second time in two years. … In October a Hanoi court sentenced reporters Nguyen Viet Chien of Young People (Thanh Nien) newspaper to two years in prison and Nguyen Van Hai from Youth (Tuoi Tre) to two years’ “re-education” for having exposed a major corruption scandal in 2005…..”
Oh yes, and let’s consider corruption, which may affect whether aid to governments translates into aid to poor people. Another country on the UK budget support list, Malawi, had received $148 million in budget support from its donors from 2000 to 2004. It ended those four years with poorer government capacity and greater fiscal instability than it began them, according to one evaluation. Also during those four years, the Malawian president was accused of awarding fraudulent contracts, and government officials achieved new lows when they sold off all 160,000 tons of the country’s grain reserves for personal profit. In the ensuing famine, provoked by drought and floods but made worse by the loss of the grain reserves, the government had to borrow an additional $28 million to feed its starving people. Yet Malawi continues to receive British budget support today.
Elsewhere on the corruption front, British aid continues to give direct transfers to the Sierra Leonean government even though its own 2006 report found that previous support to the “Anti-Corruption Commission” had “made no progress on the overall goal of reducing corruption, had made no impact on reducing real or perceived levels of corruption, had suffered a fall in institutional capacity since the previous year.” (Quote from a 2008 Transparency International report). Sierra Leone is ranked the 158th worst country in the world on corruption (where the worst ranking is 180th).
Of course, low income countries have lower ratings on democracy, human rights, and corruption than richer countries, so poverty-alleviation aid has to face the tricky tradeoff of directing aid to the poorest countries while trying to avoid the most corrupt and autocratic ones. Unfortunately, a recent article found that the UK was one of the best (least bad) official aid agencies in doing this, so most of the others are apparently even worse.
This study did not consider the issue of direct budget support. There is nothing that says you have to give aid meant for the poorest peoples directly to their governments, if the latter are tyrannical and corrupt. With the examples above, which side are UK aid officials on, on the side of poor people or on the side of the governments that oppress them?
Posted by Laura Freschi on March 20, 2009 12:20 PM