PRESS RELEASE
November 8, 2007
The Honorable Senator James Inhofe,
453 Russel Senate Office Bldg
Washington, D.C. 20510
Fax (202)-228-0380
Dear Senator Inhofe,
We thank you very much for standing on the side of the Ethiopian people and oppose the “Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007” (HR 2003). However, we feel that the statements you made on the floor of the Senate on October 17, 2007, gave the wrong impression even though we are firmly convinced that was not your real intention.
As you know, Ethiopian parents love their children as much as American parents do. For instance, during the famine, you saw mothers sacrificing their own lives in order to save their children. Therefore, the situation you described was dealing mainly with teenage pregnancy in which teenagers abandon their babies since they don’t know what to do. Similarly, American teenagers have abandoned their babies at different times and places as you are very well aware.
We also understand that you were trying to create awareness about the fact that abandoned children in Ethiopia and elsewhere need to be adopted. Despite such a noble idea, we believe that it would be appropriate if you apologize for giving the wrong impression, and provide some clarification about what you really wanted to say. Taking such steps on your part would help us to focus on our main issue i.e. HR 2003. Otherwise, people like Dr. Alemayehu Gebre Mariam can exploit an honest mistake for political purposes.
Secondly, we believe that you have no racial prejudice towards Africans contrary to Dr. Alemayehu’s claims. If you had prejudice against Africans, you would have not adopted an Ethiopian girl as your grand-daughter. Moreover, you would have not opposed HR 2003. Instead, you would have supported HR 2003 in order to deny Ethiopia economic and military assistance as some isolationists would have done. By that, we are not implying that those who voted for HR 2003 have had racial prejudice against Ethiopians. In fact, we believe that the U.S. House of Representatives were misled and deceived by the sponsors of HR 2003, CUD members and supporters. The other possibility is, as some people suggested, that the House of Representatives did not give a serious attention to HR 2003 because Ethiopia is a poor country in Africa. The unanimous vote given to HR 2003 with practically no serious debate shows that the House did not take HR 2003 seriously. Therefore, Dr. Almayehu is playing a race card in order to mislead African-Americans as he misled his own party members, Dr. Berhanu Nega and Bertukan Mideksa who testified in support of HR 2003. As a result, Dr. Alemayhu, Dr. Berhanu and Bertukan might have violated article 259 of the Ethiopian Penal Code of 1957 (as amended). Pursuant to Article 259, whoever commits an act intended to “…(a) jeopardize or destroy the independence of [Ethiopia]; or (b) provoke intervention in or interference with [Ethiopia’s] affairs, calculated to endanger its independence; or (c) initiate hostile acts from outside the state directed against [Ethiopia] or to involve it in a foreign war, hostilities, a blockade or occupation, is punishable with rigorous imprisonment from five years to life, or, in case of exceptional gravity, with death.” Therefore, if HR 2003 becomes law, CUD members (i.e. opposition) may be the first victims even though the Ethiopian people would be the main victims of HR 2003.
Before we discuss the details of HR 2003, let us make one quick point. Ethiopians don’t have last names in the same sense as the Europeans and Americans do. Ethiopian “last name” is actually the first name of the father or grand-father. Therefore, it would be inappropriate to address an Ethiopian with his or her last name since that would amount to addressing the father or grand-father. Thus, that is why we will address Dr. Alemayehu Gebre Mariam as Dr. Alemayehu. We hope that Dr. Alemayehu will respect the Ethiopian culture and addresses Ethiopians accordingly.
With regards to the details of HR 2003, section 4 (b)(2)(A) states as follows:
Nonessential United States assistance shall not be made available to the Government of Ethiopia if the Government of Ethiopia acts to obstruct United States technical assistance to advance human rights, democracy, independence of the judiciary, freedom of the press, economic development and economic freedom in Ethiopia.
In section 4(b)(2)(B), Nonessential United States assistance is defined as follows:
Nonessential United States assistance means assistance authorized under any provision of law, other than, humanitarian assistance, food aid programs, assistance to combat HIV/AIDS and other health care assistance, peacekeeping assistance, and counter-terrorism assistance.
Therefore, it is very clear that “Nonessential” United States assistance includes economic assistance and military assistance excluding peacekeeping assistance and counter-terrorism assistance. That means Ethiopia will be denied economic and military assistance if Ethiopia refuses to compromise its sovereignty and refuses to accept technical assistance from the United States. As shown in section 4(b)(2)(A) the United States will force Ethiopia to do whatever the United States wants with regards to human rights, democracy, independence of judiciary, freedom of the press, economic development and economic freedom in Ethiopia. In addition, pursuant to section 5(a)(3)(A), the United States will determine who the “political prisoners” and “prisoners of conscience” are, and the United States will give orders to the Ethiopian Government to release those prisoners. Pursuant to section 5(a)(3)(C) the United States will be in charge of determining whether the Ethiopian judiciary is able to function independently or not. Then, if Ethiopia refuses to take orders from the United States with regards to any of the above issues, the United States will deny Ethiopia economic and military assistance as indicated above. In other words, according to HR 2003, the United States will be above the Ethiopian Government, the Ethiopian courts and the Ethiopian constitution. Therefore, there is no doubt that the United States will be violating the sovereignty of Ethiopia and interfering in the internal affairs of Ethiopia if HR 2003 becomes law.
However, the Ethiopian people will not allow that to happen. Prime Minister Meles has stated the following on July 20, 2007 when the opposition members were pardoned after admitting guilt. “…the pardon proved that the Ethiopian Government isn’t willing and is unable to be run like a banana republic from Capitol Hill.” That statement is also a true reflection of the sentiment of the Ethiopian people. In that regard, the heroic people of Ethiopia have proved several times that Ethiopia will not compromise its sovereignty. The brave fighters of Ethiopia defended their country from colonial powers and aggressors and defeated Italy in 1896 and 1941, defeated Somalia in the 1960s and in 1977, and Eritrea in 1998-2000. As a result, Ethiopia is the first country in Africa and in the world who defeated a colonial power. Ethiopia is also the only country in Africa that has never been colonized and one of the few in the world. Therefore, Ethiopia will not compromise its sovereignty and will not accept HR 2003. Consequently, even if HR 2003 becomes law, Ethiopia will ignore HR 2003, as well as the United States, and look for economic assistance elsewhere.
The United States did not violate the sovereignty of the largest recipient of U.S. economic assistance i.e. Egypt. According to USAID, Egypt received 28 billion dollars between 1975 and 2005. On the other hand, Ethiopia received only 931 million dollars of loans and grants (i.e. economic assistance) between 1952 and 2006 i.e. in 54 years. Egypt got more than 30 times that of Ethiopia in just 30 years. Egypt and Ethiopia are more or less equal in size since the population figure is 80.3 million and 81.1 million respectively according to the 2007 estimates. Above all, Ethiopia is the only ally in the Horn of Africa against terrorism. Therefore, there is no justification to treat Ethiopia differently and violate its sovereignty.
Above all, HR 2003 will not advance democracy in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Government will simply transfer local funds from development projects and other items in the national budget to the national defense in order to fill the gap created by HR 2003. By the way, one of us worked as an economist in Ethiopia in the departments that deal with external loans and grants and the national budget, and the above facts are based on personal knowledge. That is precisely how Mengistu remained in power for 14 years despite the significant reduction in economic and military assistance from the United States i.e. excluding humanitarian assistance during the famine, etc. Then, even in the extreme case, economic sanctions with trade embargo did not bring down Fidel Castro. Instead, it made Castro stronger and helped him to stay in power for 48 years. Moreover, economic sanctions did not bring down Sadaam Hussein. Instead, economic sanctions did hurt the people of Cuba and the people of Iraq. Similarly, reducing economic assistance as in the case of HR 2003 will only hurt the Ethiopian people. In fact, there isn’t a single instance where economic sanctions even in its extreme form brought a change in government or advanced democracy leave alone a reduction in economic assistance as in the case of HR 2003. However, HR 2003 will hurt the Ethiopian people as it slows down the economic development and exacerbates poverty because of the reduction in economic assistance, unless of course Ethiopia gets more economic assistance from other sources such as China, etc. in order to cover the gap created by HR 2003. The Ethiopian Government and the budget for the national defense will not be affected since the government will make the necessary adjustments by changing priorities in the national budget as shown above and the Ethiopian Government will be as strong as ever. Therefore, HR 2003 will not achieve its goals of “advancing democracy.” If anything, HR 2003 will be an obstacle to the ongoing advancement of democracy in Ethiopia since United States will not be able to advise or mediate between the Opposition and the Ethiopian Government because the United States will be violating Ethiopia’s sovereignty if HR 2003 becomes law and Ethiopia will not accept HR 2003 or the United States’ role as a mediator or an advisor.
The “Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007” (HR 2003), is supported by the enemies of the Ethiopian people i.e. the Eritrean Government who is supporting the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) who in turn has close ties with Al-Qaeda. HR 2003 is also supported by ONLF and OLF who have been involved in terrorist activities and who are determined to break up and destroy Ethiopia. The Opposition has created some form of alliance with the Eritrean Government, ONLF and OLF. Therefore, the U.S. Senate should take into account the full ramifications of such an alliance in the light of the interest of the United States and that of the Ethiopian people, before the U.S. Senate votes on HR 2003.
This being the case, why does Dr. Alemayehu support HR 2003? There are two possible reasons. In the first place, Dr. Alemayehu came to the United States when he was very young and did not work in Ethiopia especially in the departments that deal with foreign aid and the national budget not to mention that Dr. Alemayehu is not an economist. Therefore, Dr. Alemayehu does not understand the limitations of economic sanctions leave alone that of a reduction in economic assistance. That maybe why Dr. Alemayehu naively thinks that HR 2003 will bring down the Ethiopian Government or at least will advance democracy in Ethiopia. The second and the most likely reason as many people have already suggested, Dr. Alemayehu is trying to revive his legal career and benefit financially directly or indirectly from the passage of HR 2003.
Even if we assume that HR 2003 can advance democracy in Ethiopia, that will not materialize unless the Ethiopian Government accepts the terms and conditions of HR 2003 and take orders from the United States. However, that will never happen since the Ethiopian people as well as the Ethiopian Government will not accept HR 2003 because of the issue of sovereignty as indicated above.
Above all, the Ethiopian Government has made significant progress since the fall of Mengistu as has been indicated in section 3, of HR 2003 itself when the bill was introduced to the House. Moreover, the 2005 election was more or less free and fair as has been witnessed by international observers including former President Carter. But, the only dispute was whether the vote was counted accurately or not. In that regard, we had similar problems in Florida during the 2000 election even though the two situations are somewhat different. Therefore, if those problems occur in the United States after 200 years of democracy, Ethiopia should not be expected to be free of those problems only after a few years of developing democracy. The solution to those problems will come naturally when democracy developes and matures. The United States as a friend and ally can advise and sometimes mediate between the Ethiopian Government and the Opposition and try to solve those problems diplomatically.
Dr. Alemayehu has accused Senator Inhofe of making false statements as shown in his letter dated 10/22/07 to Senator Inhofe and states as follows:
False Statement # 1: HR 2003 undermines and threatens U.S. counter-terrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa…
Your statement is patently false and contradicted by section 5 of HR 2003, which makes a major exception on counter-terrorism efforts in the Horn.
As shown above, Dr. Alemayehu is unable to analyze the full ramifications of HR 2003 or more likely he “refuses to understand” the obvious, in order to advance his own self interest. The Ethiopian government will not accept the terms and conditions of HR 2003 because of the issue of sovereignty as we have shown above. The Ethiopian Government will simply ignore HR 2003 if it becomes law. Therefore, section 5 and HR 2003 will become irrelevant. The Ethiopian Government will also ignore the United States and will pull out of Somalia and will not cooperate with the United States in fighting terrorism. As a result, Somalia will become another Afghanistan (as it was before 2001) and a Taliban-like Government will take power. Then, Al-Qaeda will have a permanent, safe haven in Somalia and will threaten to topple the governments of oil rich countries, expand terrorism in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, and the United States. As a result, the United States and the West will be the biggest losers. Therefore, there is no doubt that HR 2003 undermines and threatens the U.S. counter-terrorism efforts in the Horn of Africa. This being the case, what part of the above analysis that Dr. Alemayehu does not understand and why did he resort to accuse Senator Inhofe of making false statements? Once again, Dr. Alemayehu willfully and maliciously accuses and claims that Senator Inhofe made false statements.
False Statement # 2: HR 2003 is misguided and takes the wrong approach by placing demands on a friend and ally…
False Statement # 3: These punitive actions [in HR 2003] could damage the bilateral relationship between the United States and the government of Ethiopia, as well as derail progress Ethiopia has made in furtherance of democracy and human rights.
The above statements of Senator Inhofe are consistent with our analysis as shown above. Therefore, just because Dr. Alemayehu lacks depth and he can not analyze the full impacts of HR 2003, he does not have the right to willfully and maliciously accuse Senator Inhofe of making false statements. The quality of a written work is not measured by how well one uses thesaurus or by how many words one lists to describe the same thing. Instead, the quality is measured by its content i.e. how well the arguments are supported by evidence, the relevance of the argument and the consistency of the argument etc. If Dr. Alemayehu understands that, he would have not raised the issue listed as false statement # 4 “A lot of people [lawmakers in Congress] couldn’t find Ethiopia on a map.” That could be a false statement. But, what is the relevance of that to HR 2003? That is why Dr. Alemayehu not only lacks depth he is also disingenuous and does not deal in good faith and most likely he is more interested in advancing his career than helping to advance democracy in Ethiopia.
Dr. Alemayehu’s writing style is similar to that of some parties in Ethiopia in the 1970s in which if one logically argues and opposes the party line he is either a liar or a traitor. However, Dr. Alemayehu “politely” calls it a false statement. This kind of attitude is rampant among the CUD party members as well as others. CUD does not practice what it preaches i.e. the advancement of democracy. CUD does not tolerate anybody that opposes the party line. Therefore, CUD has to advance democracy within CUD itself. If CUD is undemocratic, it can not advance democracy in Ethiopia. In fact, constructive criticism is necessary for a party to correct its mistakes. For instance, if CUD had listened to some critics, Dr. Berhanu and Bertukan would have not made such a tragic mistake and would have not testified in support of HR 2003. We call it a tragic mistake because Dr. Berhanu and Bertukan may not realize their potential because of this mistake as we shall see in the future. This reminds us the situation in 1977 when Somalia invaded Ethiopia, EPRP at the leadership level assessed the objective conditions in Ethiopia and came up with the conclusion that the principal contradiction at the time was between Mengistu’s regime and the Ethiopian people while all other contradictions were secondary. As a result, EPRP decided that Mengistu and his regime has to be removed first and then the Ethiopian people can easily recapture the land that was taken by Somalia. Here, EPRP made a tragic mistake because knowingly or unknowingly it overlooked the contradiction between the Derg and the enemies of the Ethiopian people including the aggressor i.e. the Somali Government. Then, the Ethiopian people practically abandoned EPRP. Similarly, if HR 2003 passes and becomes law, the Ethiopian people will oppose HR 2003 especially when they realize that HR 2003 violates Ethiopian Sovereignty and will rally behind the current government and abandon CUD (Opposition) unless CUD changes its leaders and condemns HR 2003 and quickly apologizes to the Ethiopian people.
We know that there are many qualified people within CUD who can lead Ethiopia and help the advancement of democracy in Ethiopia. However, we believe that the current CUD leaders are using the Ethiopian people in order to seize power, as indicated recently by Prof. Mesfin Wolde Mariam, a prominent CUD member and one of the founders of CUD. That is why there is a senseless power struggle among Hailu Shawel, Dr. Berhanu and Bertukan. Such a power struggle has led to personal attacks similar to that of tabloid journalism. The said personal attacks might have been carried out by proxies or supporters. At any rate, CUD has to clean up its house and come up with leaders who are dedicated to serve the Ethiopian people. Above all, there are many other burning issues that CUD could have raised. For instance, with regards to “border demarcation,” the Ethiopian Government is begging the Eritrean Government to take a portion of the Ethiopian territory in accordance with the ruling of the International Court. The Ethiopian Government should ignore the ruling of the Court since that ruling was not based on credible evidence. Then, if Issayas Afewerki invades Ethiopia again, Ethiopia should use that golden opportunity to correct the mistakes made by the Ethiopian Government during the 1998-2000 war i.e. bring down Issayas and liberate Eritrea. Ethiopia’s action in that regard, will be just and legal since the ultimate goal is to help the Eritrean people and the people of Afar to liberate themselves by removing the brutal dictator, Issayas, that has terrorized the Eritrean people as well as the whole people in the region by creating an alliance with terrorist organizations. Once the Afar people are liberated, Ethiopia should invite the United Nations to hold a referendum and hopefully the Afar people will vote to join Ethiopia. That way, Afar will join Ethiopia legally and Ethiopia will have seaports once again. As far as the Eritrean people are concerned, The United Nations should hold a referendum and the Eritrean people should decide whether they want to be by themselves or join Ethiopia in some form of confederation depending upon the wishes of the Eritrean and the Ethiopian people.
However, if the Ethiopian Government ignores the wishes of the Ethiopian people and transfers a portion of the Ethiopian territory to Eritrea, then the Ethiopian people should rise up and challenge the current Ethiopian Government. In that regard, CUD has kept quite when foreign minister Seyoum Mesfin repeatedly begged the Eritrean Government to implement the “border demarcation,” because CUD does not want to offend their friend Issayas. That clearly shows that the current CUD leaders are after one thing i.e. power and they don’t care if a portion of the Ethiopian territory is given to Eritrea or not. This and many other issues would have been more important issues than HR 2003. That is why we are totally amazed why CUD members chose to support HR 2003 when they know that one cannot gain the support of the Ethiopian people by compromising Ethiopia’s Sovereignty as has been witnessed in history.
Once again, we thank you for opposing HR 2003. We also request other senators to join Senator Inhofe and vote against the “Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007” (HR 2003), since it is against the interest of the Ethiopian people and that of the United States as shown above.
Sincerely,
Araya Wolde Giorgis, Ph.D, Chairman
Ethiopian-American Forum
E-mail: eaf_az@q.com
www.ethiopianamericanforum.com
CC: The Honorable Senator John McCain
The Honorable Senator Jon Kyl
U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee
U.S. Senate Leadership
House Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health
House Foreign Relations Committee
House of Representatives, Black Caucus
House Leadership
NAACP