Year in Review (2006) and Year in Forecast (2007)

By Getachew Mequanent

We have been able to create a dynamic Diaspora debating society that continues to generate a wealth of literature. My concern is whether we are debating amongst ourselves or reach to politicians, bureaucrats, researchers, educators, civil society actors and all others who are working in different sectors of Ethiopian society. I would assume that web site administrators could have some kind of tracking system and I would like to ask them if they know how many people from Ethiopia access their sites.

As part of my contribution to keep our Diaspora debate going, this piece presents brief outlines of my own reflection of some of the main events that took place or major issues that we encountered last year, as well as what I wish to see happen this year. The outlines (19 in all) are presented without any order of importance.

1. Still polarized debate. The extreme polarization of Ethiopian politics is evident from the contents of our web sites. Go to pro-opposition web sites and you will find literature full of anti-EPRDF rhetoric. There is nothing wrong with taking political sides. In the West, for example, there are media entities that preach competing leftist, centrist or conservative ideas. If you go to Republican or Democratic Party web sites, you will also find a lot of rhetoric about whose party’s ideology is superior. Our problem is that some of us write to preach politics that does not promote peace and democracy. I remember reading a “discussion” on the Ethiopian Review online discussion forum which describes a step-by-step guide on how to damage cars in Addis Ababa during “peaceful civil protest” to be organized by the “Tegbar League”. I continued reading to find that others had added similar ideas. Diaspora political groups must exercise responsibility to ensure that political debate contributes to peaceful development in Ethiopia.

Then go to pro-government web sites such as Walta Information Centre and you will find that everything is about development: food security projects are financed; dam construction projects are well underway; investors are investing in the economy; schools are built; health facilities have opened to cater services; exports are increasing; donor officials are pleased with the government’s poverty reduction efforts; the list goes on and on. In the last two weeks alone, the government has announced two mega projects: electrification of the country by 2015 and provision of portable water for every household by 2020. I am not sure if EPRDF leaders will leave power soon, but they are determined to lift this ancient nation out of poverty. And if you have poor relatives like me, you will want to work with them. One way to do this is to follow up with their plans and encourage discussions around challenges and opportunities during their implementation. For example, electrification is not simply about extending electrical grids to rural areas. It requires support systems such as repair technicians, supplies (e.g., light bulbs), cost recovery mechanism, safety measures, etc. It also requires changing how rural dwellings are built. A year or so ago we read on the media that entrepreneurs were developing housing designs that would set a national standard for the building of houses. Does anyone know what happened to this initiative? Having said all this, I would like to see pro-government media carrying stories that address political issues. For example, government officials abuse their power. There is a widespread corruption. Some government policies work, some don’t. Open and frank public discussions on issues like these are measures of the state of democracy in Ethiopia.

2. Apologists. By the way, those including me who advocate engagement with EPRDF are labeled “apologists” (defenders of EPRDF). Thank you very much. We respect your views. However, I would agree with our critics that we have not done enough to scrutinize the work of EPRDF. A large part of this has to do with our inability to get sufficient information, since the Ethiopian government restricts public access to information on plans, performance reports, and so on.

3. Ye ethiopia millennium (Ethiopian millennium). A government that claims to make the Ethiopian millennium an all-African cultural event has failed to find an Amharic translation of “millennium”. This is ridiculous. Could someone in Ethiopia please ask elders to translate “millennium” into Amharic and then pass the translation to our Millennium Secretariat? It is also time that EPRDF takes measures to stop the increasing Anglicization of the Amharic language.

4. Debate on Federalism. I have always argued that, while the current federal system has managed to decentralize power, institutions and resources to regions, its organization around ethnicity continues to generate a controversy. Perhaps it is time to encourage a debate on the Ethiopian federal system. Possibilities for modification of the federation may include giving Ethiopian regions non-ethnic names (e.g., topographic or historic names) or potential marriage between Dergue’s architecture of administrative regions and the current federal system, on case-by-case basis.

5. Debate on Somalia. The debate on Somalia was interesting. More interesting was to see few EPRDF critics endorsing Ethiopia’s intervention in Somalia. I would have liked to see some concerns about the future of the Somalia people. The most progressive elements of society often defend vulnerable people, in this case, Somali women, children and men. And why was the defeat of Union of Islamic Courts militia by one of the most powerful armies in Africa got a lot of international publicity? The explanation is simple: superpowers have been stuck in Iraq and Afghanistan. The swift victory by the Ethiopian army in Somalia would therefore generate much interest among military experts around the world.

6. Debate on Eritrea. There was an interesting discussion on Aiga Forum on “what to do about Eritrea”. There were different opinions. I believe that it is time to start dialogue around peace and reconciliation. Europeans fought for centuries including two major wars (WWI and WWII) in the 20^th century and then they said enough was enough. First they created an economic union and then they crafted a common European citizenship, which is working well. Nothing prevents Ethiopians and Eritreans from seeking the same solution. It is therefore time that Ethiopian and Eritrean intellectuals exercise leadership in starting peace and reconciliation processes.

7. Anti-Tigrean Sentiment. Nowadays there is a lot of sensitivity among Tigreans over the continuing prevalence of anti-Tigrean sentiments. These sentiments come from some urban elites who have their own complex personalities. Otherwise we grew up dancing with Tigrean music, eating Tigrean food, and above all, imitating brave Tigreans like Ras Alula and Emperor Yohaness.

8. Brave the opposition. Recently, I spoke with a Canadian consultant who had once worked with the Ethiopian government. I asked him whether Meles was democratic. He replied “it doesn’t matter. You have a weak society and opposition party. Meles can do whatever he wants”. He was right. The democratization of the Ethiopian political system depends on the strength of opposition parties as much as on the political will of EPRDF. The Ethiopian parliament should pass legislation that allows opposition parties to get government financial assistance. Is there anything that we can do? Definitely. We can send cheques to opposition party offices in Addis Ababa.

9. Fate of Mengistu Haile Marian. The Ethiopian court has sentenced Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam to life in prison. Has justice been served? It depends who is talking. In front of my relatives (10 years ago), I complained that Mengistu had butchered tens of thousands of young people. I did not get the kind of sympathy that I had expected. My relatives were of the view that Mengistu did not kill poor peasants. If he had done it, according to them, it was not intentional. Or, his corrupt and unruly officials killed innocent people and then they put the blame squarely on the head of state. Some of such officials might have ended up here in the Diaspora and probably working as human rights activists and community leaders - we are also supposed to be sensitive to them. Perhaps future generation historians will debate on how Mengistu, born from an ordinary Ethiopian family, rose to power and made history. Or, perhaps, deep inside us, we all appreciate his contribution to Ethiopian society. Let me share a story. It was during a conference, in 1998, at the University of Ottawa, Canada, where, as a fresh PhD graduate, I had gone to present a paper. It was also the day when EPRDF sent an Ethiopian fighter jet to Asmara in retaliation for the bombing by the Eritrean air force of a school in Mekele. That fighter jet was shot down over Asmara and Eritreans were jubilant. I entered a conference room to attend a presentation by a Ghanaian scholar on human rights in Ethiopia, mainly focused on Dergue’s era. A group of jubilant Eritreans marched in and began encouraging this scholar to speak. As he spoke with confidence, he compared Mengistu with Stalin and other brutal dictators. The Eritreans nodded in agreement and he moved on. But the Gondarie (me) did not like it. Just seconds after he finished speaking and as the moderator was about to take the podium, I exploded and said, “do you really want to compare Mengistu with Stalin? How can you reach such a conclusion”. Stunned, the Ghanaian scholar said, “ it is interesting to see this sentiment coming from Mengistu’s generation”. He should have known about the Ethiopian national psychic. In essence, our urban elites and intellectuals are right when they speak of “77 million people”; we all have the same psychic. The problem is that their (nationalist) rhetoric is more about greed and political manipulation. As for Mengistu Haile Mariam, he is now an old man. It is not our tradition to go after elders. The Ethiopian parliament should grant him clemency, so that he can live the remaining of his life with dignity.

10. The “Woyane” label. All those who spoke out against the Diaspora opposition camp were labeled as Woyane agents. And they included people like Elias Kifle, the editor of Ethiopian Review. We can be mad at Elias for his extreme political views, but to say that he is a Woyane is a joke. Andargachew Tsegie et al were also labeled as Woyanes. They are former (EPRP) revolutionaries who still forage on the Ethiopian political terrain to find a suitable niche.

11. Experience Matters. Diaspora UEDF showed us that political experience matters. I am talking about how it emerged triumphant after the AFD fiasco. To be sure, Diaspora UEDF benefited from EPRP’s historical arrogance. EPRP does not agree to anything unless 1) it conceives it and 2) it leads it. In 1970s, TPLF became irritated by this attitude and decided to chase EPRP out of Tigray. So, in Netherlands, Diaspora UEDF refused to enter into AFD coalition arguing that civil society was not consulted; this sounds more like “no body dictates EPRP”. This saved it from a major political embarrassment.

12. HR5680. The failure of this bill was a big blow to the moral of the Diaspora opposition. I also tend to think that American decision-makers have become suspicious of the motives of Diaspora elites after realizing that the Bush Iraq policy was in part influenced by the Iraqi Diaspora. The lesson here is that we can do better by directly engaging ourselves with those who rule our relatives. Moreover, those Diaspora groups cannot wage war from Washington, D.C., in the name of “77 millions people”. Their roots are mainly Addis Ababa, which is different from many Ethiopian regions that have different economic and political agenda. I would also like to say the same thing for those “civil society” groups that put the “Ethiopian” label on their organization logo to lobby on behalf of our relatives. We do not want them to join Diaspora political groups in going around to preach against investment, trade and aid. Our relatives will suffer from all the consequences.

13. Defection, defection, defection. As we get used to defections, we are also becoming indifferent to those who are defecting. But I felt sad about the defection of General Kemal Gelchu. Other than passing military information to the Eritrean intelligence, General Kemal’s defection had no negative impact on the Ethiopian military - there were many officers waiting in line to take his place. I was rather sad that political interest groups might use this decorated General and then thrown him away like used furniture. Would he end up driving a taxi in the West or find a comfortable asylum in Asmara? May God help him!

14. AFD. OLF should be congratulated for facilitating the creation of AFD. Now that AFD smells like a rotten dead wood, OLF must be trying to avoid being infected by it. What surprised us was the entrance of Diaspora CUD into AFD coalition. I never imagined that our Diaspora elites (few of them PhDs) would make such a stupid political mistake.

15. Statesmanship of Meles Zenawi. Nowadays Meles Zenawi gets the attention of the international media more frequently. I remember him standing along the G8 leaders in Scotland in the summer of 2005 wearing dark glasses and trying to avoid the glare of the media. The June 2005 street violence (which resulted in the death of innocent people) had really tarnished his personal reputation. All this is gradually fading away as Ethiopia increasingly becomes a global player in peace and security. Someone called me educated “minion” because, according to him/her, I endorsed the continued rule of Meles. Endorsing him is not my business. I just said that we should be concerned with potential leadership vacuum should he decided to retire from politics.

16. Conviction of CUDP leadership. If you know me for praising EPRDF leaders, you should also know me for easily getting frustrated with their ignorance. They can’t just try to convict their political opponents by presenting audios and video clips from a national election campaign as evidence. We know that emotions run very high during elections and what people say cannot be used against them in court. I am not sure what the consequences will be if the CUDP leader are convicted.

17. Protest in America! A group of protesters tried to disrupt the tour of Addisu Legesse’s delegation in America. They stood at the entrances of meeting halls chanting “hodam (greedy) banda (traitor)”. Where are my democratic rights?

Another group of protesters “confronted” Lidetu Ayalew at the hotel where he was staying. According to a report posted on Kinijit web site, Lidetu had become scared and called security personnel. At the same time, Diaspora CUD was encountering an internal crisis and I remember that everybody was waiting to hear how the leadership would respond to it. Instead, Diaspora CUD leaders decided to take on poor Lidetu. What a political mockery!

Still another group of protesters tried to disrupt the ceremony during the award to W/o Azeb Mesfin of the Martin Luther King Jr.’s Legacy of a Dream Award. But this one turned out to be ok, because the disruption made the First Lady appear more dignified. There is no question that the First Lady has emerged as a hardworking modern woman who also projects the image of our mothers and sisters. Our ladies in the Diaspora should learn from her. You do not develop a country by talking while sipping wine. You do it by working hard.

18. 2010 Election. A few months ago, Walta Information Centre reported that EPRDF was training hundreds of thousands of local party members, perhaps in preparation for the next election. What are the opposition parties doing? Certainly we don’t want them to get into the business of forming coalitions and preparations months before the next election, just as they did during the last election. They should get ready now by developing solid political programs and clear policy agenda.

19. Finally, I do not know what our web site hosts do to earn livelihoods, but we appreciate their hard work. It could not have been possible for us to engage in this continued debate and learn from each other without their hard work and dedication to public duty.

Getachew Mequanent

Ottawa, Canada

February 2007