Why it is Morally Acceptable to Support Ethiopia
Mulugeta Alemu
July 25, 2007
Washington Post’s July 21 editorial titled Problematic Ally: The Moral Hazards of Dealing with Ethiopia’s Meles Zanawi leaves its readers with listless queries. I had mine especially when ironically the paper chose to take the official moment of pardoning of Ethiopia’s opposition leaders an opportune occasion to throw a triad against the Government of Ethiopia. By all accounts Ethiopian Government’s action should have been applauded and welcomed by the international community and its development partners.
Since recently we have seen series of highly critical and quite provocative pieces on Ethiopia appearing in high profile media outlets in the US. Given that the democratic bloc in America’s politics is out in full force to get President Bush wrong in every thing he has laid his hands on, the often young and inexperienced reporters of America’s left leaning newspapers assigned in Africa have focused on what they considered to be America’s actions or omissions in Africa. This has put Ethiopia’s conduct both domestically and at the international level under an unpleasant scrutiny. This effectively proves wrong those who say, based on flawed premises, that Ethiopia is getting away with its wrong doings. This incorrectly presupposes that Ethiopia’s is an American stooge. But are these alleged wrongdoings factual? Is support to Ethiopia’s domestic and foreign causes a morally daunting task as the Washington Post wishes us to believe? Are these unwarranted criticisms against Ethiopia symptomatic of a much darker side of American media, i.e. its partisan zeal in America’s domestic politics and its simplistic view how the US is connected to issues in foreign countries?
The Ethiopian government runs a foreign policy establishment often faced with some of the most intricate geopolitical challenges many old-hands in diplomacy have only read in classical texts books. Ethiopia is a country with immense possibilities and potentials. But it finds itself in a rough neighbourhood whose problem is compounded by statelessness, terrorism, poverty etc. Governments such as Eritrea’s whose only semblance of existence is their inimical role in the neighbourhood have not helped much. Such an enviable state of affair is further compounded by the fact that Ethiopia is often misunderstood. Nothing stands to show this with the sharpest clarity than Ethiopia’s genuine fight against terrorism which goes a way back prior to September 2001. Ethiopia had faced the attacks of terrorists who wanted to assassinate one of Africa’s senior presidents in the streets of its capital city in the 1990s. Ethiopia’s senior officials including ministers were shot by groups who prided using terrorist techniques. Its entertainment outlets and hotels were targets of bombings which resulted in unfortunate death and mutilations of its citizens. Despite the government’s serious series attempt to take constitutional measures to entrench religious freedom, the new God’s Warriors of the international jihad hasten to project Ethiopia as zealous Christian island and America’s loyal servant.
Detractors of the Ethiopian government also conveniently overlook its quite remarkable achievements domestically. Prime Minster Meles Zenawi is atop a government which is turning around the fate of not only his country but that is of the entire Horn. Ethiopia’s economy is now one of the fastest growing economies in Africa. His government has a solid reputation of making full advantage of economic assistance by Western states and multilateral financial intuitions such as the IMF and the World Bank. There is a massive expansion of social services and infrastructure. Now more than 90 percent of Ethiopia’s school aged children attend primary schools. In July 2007, the UN Economic and Social Council selected Ethiopia as a success stories in meeting development goals agreed in 2000.
In the political front, the 2005 election, which the above mentioned newspapers found hugely wanting, produced a legislature whose opposition members is ten times more than what it used to be in the tenure of the previous parliament. All of the regional states have legislative chambers under the Ethiopian federal structure where they exercise autonomy that one finds harder to find even in more stable and solid democracies. The Ethiopian Constitution provides for the right to self-determination including session to all regional states. It is laughable when New York Times (June 18, 2007) recently labelled the criminal ONLF a ‘rebel group with a cause’ simply because one of its representatives from abroad mentioned article 39 of the Constitution which the current ruling party paid huge prices to entrench in Ethiopian political landscape.
The youthful journalists of New York Times and Washington Post are publishing vindictive and innovative stories from the land they embellished as Ogadenia. Their jab against Ethiopia of course does not mention the fact that the Somali regional state is a self-governing autonomous entity ruled by Somalis themselves. Neither do they mention the fact that the rebel group whose representatives are comfortably sheltered in Washington and London has wilfully slaughtered innocent Ethiopian civilians and foreigners. Where is the morality of their journalism? They accused the Government of wilfully starving its own citizens. When their position is contradicted by UN bodies themselves, they gave the government the unbelievable level of capacity to harass and coerce the UN.
Ethiopia’s foreign policy is based on a peaceful coexistence with its neighbours. Unlike what these newspapers wish to portray, Prime Minster’s Government declared war only once and only against one country. That was on Eritrea. The 1998-2000 war was forced on Ethiopia. The series of decisions by the Eritrea Ethiopia Claims Commission locked the doubt regarding who initiated the violence. Eritrea did. Ethiopia is now benefiting from one of the longest peaceful diplomatic relationships in its history with the Sudan. This was unthinkable both during the government of Emperor Haile Selassie or that of the military junta. Its current relationship with Kenya and Djibouti can only be called excellent.
The government of Ethiopia has supported the reconstitution of government and order in Somalia. In a bizarre manner, some uninformed pundits and journalists portrayed Ethiopia’s intervention in Somalia as Ethiopia’s jump to US’s orders. There is no mention of the lists of decisions by IGAD, the African Union and the United Nations that have validated the actions of the government. The Ethiopian government is invariably committed to the safety of its citizens and the country’s national interest. Its allegiance, often undertaken against all odds and at much cost, was also to the people and government of Somalia. Ethiopia’s effort to the reconstitution of semblance of law and order in Somalia goes long before the war on terror entered into the list of ordinary language in diplomacy. Ethiopia’s long journey in Somalis was an itinerary trodden often alone with Somalia people and forces who sought peace and peaceful co-existence. The international community, including the US are yet to give the support required for the consolidation of the gains achieved through a price, according to Ethiopian Foreign Minster, courageous Ethiopia’s young servicemen paid with their lives.
The Ethiopian government does not export terror or violence to neighbouring countries. The central tenet of its foreign policy is economic. It wants to use foreign policy to garner investment and technical assistance. The results of its reform program in this regard have been encouraging. The foreign policy establishment, which is far removed from the business of preserving cult-like stature of political leaders and their doctrines, is supporting the vision of the Government to help more Ethiopian have access to social services and live a better life.
Such is the moral dimension of Ethiopia’s domestic and foreign policy. The editorial of Washington Post has rightly showed the increasing and strategic importance of Ethiopia both at the regional and international level. Unfortunately and wrongly it has depicted Ethiopia’s role as a liability than an asset.