The Ethiopian government has demonstrated its capacity for tireless lies. In this it has found willing accomplices in the west like no other African ruling regime. What we find surprising is that even the death, torture, detention and brutal treatment of civilians does not warrant a change of heart in western annals of power. EPRDF’s abuse and wanton neglect of the rule of law goes unquestioned and is in fact supported by otherwise neutral seeming western institutions such as the media, government officials and the international civil society.
The past decade has shown that initiatives taken by Meles will always be supported by some British and US personalities who hold positions of power. The imprisonment of opposition leaders and members of Ethiopia’s civil society on charges of genocide would be laughable had the consequences not been so dire. At this point it appears that Meles and his cohorts come up with reasons for their actions in the midst of drunken parties and email them to their western stooges for global distribution and sponsorship. None of the players attempt to convince Ethiopians and the world why the action is justifiably warranted and the rational underlying it.
In the midst of such an arrogant and ignorant policy making environment we are not eagerly awaiting the court ruling of February 19th to be just and objective. To expect anything other than a politically driven and unjust ruling, that will in some way or other attempt to lengthen the rule of the EPRDF regime is naïve. If there is going to be a ruling, to expect the west to react to it in any objective way is even more naïve. The response of the ‘international community’ to the upcoming court decision will most likely be to distract from the issue by urging African leaders to contribute troops to Somalia so that EPRDF’s soldiers can be freed up [to crush dissent within Ethiopia].
Ethiopians who live in the west , and particularly in the US, Canada and Great Britain, can change this balance by informing lawmakers and officials in the executive branches that western policy on Ethiopia has been taken off track by the swindling leaders of EPRDF and their western patrons who are quickly gaining the ire of Ethiopians. A peaceful campaign of correcting the skewed information that is being pumped out of media and other institutions will save the lives of many Ethiopians and may even pressure Meles and his patrons to step back and contemplate the limits of their deceit and murderous policies.
It is a sad but true fact that a very small number of officials in the west can achieve incredible amounts of power in Africa because they are delegates of powerful economic and military establishments. The only way to neutralize them when they start making such blatant errors is to work hard at informing those who put them in power that peace, democracy and economic development in the horn is in the best interest of all players. The time for control obsessed policies based on the support of dictators should have ended when Mobutu of the old Zaire died. This is not the cold war. The west can afford to allow civility in our region this time.
The past decade has shown that initiatives taken by Meles will always be supported by some British and US personalities who hold positions of power. The imprisonment of opposition leaders and members of Ethiopia’s civil society on charges of genocide would be laughable had the consequences not been so dire. At this point it appears that Meles and his cohorts come up with reasons for their actions in the midst of drunken parties and email them to their western stooges for global distribution and sponsorship. None of the players attempt to convince Ethiopians and the world why the action is justifiably warranted and the rational underlying it.
In the midst of such an arrogant and ignorant policy making environment we are not eagerly awaiting the court ruling of February 19th to be just and objective. To expect anything other than a politically driven and unjust ruling, that will in some way or other attempt to lengthen the rule of the EPRDF regime is naïve. If there is going to be a ruling, to expect the west to react to it in any objective way is even more naïve. The response of the ‘international community’ to the upcoming court decision will most likely be to distract from the issue by urging African leaders to contribute troops to Somalia so that EPRDF’s soldiers can be freed up [to crush dissent within Ethiopia].
Ethiopians who live in the west , and particularly in the US, Canada and Great Britain, can change this balance by informing lawmakers and officials in the executive branches that western policy on Ethiopia has been taken off track by the swindling leaders of EPRDF and their western patrons who are quickly gaining the ire of Ethiopians. A peaceful campaign of correcting the skewed information that is being pumped out of media and other institutions will save the lives of many Ethiopians and may even pressure Meles and his patrons to step back and contemplate the limits of their deceit and murderous policies.
It is a sad but true fact that a very small number of officials in the west can achieve incredible amounts of power in Africa because they are delegates of powerful economic and military establishments. The only way to neutralize them when they start making such blatant errors is to work hard at informing those who put them in power that peace, democracy and economic development in the horn is in the best interest of all players. The time for control obsessed policies based on the support of dictators should have ended when Mobutu of the old Zaire died. This is not the cold war. The west can afford to allow civility in our region this time.
1 comments:
It is hopeless. No one in the West is going to oppose Meles after his performance in Somalia.
Only an insurrection will work.
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