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”.