Kinijit for Unity and Democracy

August 15th 2007

Washington Update

This is a summary update of our activities since 2001
The famine situation in Ethiopia in 2001 was the beginning of our efforts to bring the reality of the Ethiopian situation to the attention of the United States Congress.

By these efforts the House of Representatives International Relations Committee, then chaired by Congressman Henry Hyde of Illinois and assisted by the Sub-Committee on Africa's chairman Ed Royce of California, gave us a formal hearing on famine in Ethiopia in March of 2002.

We submitted some written testimony which was entered into the Congressional Record. It was entitled "Long Term Solution to Combat Famine in Ethiopia". After the hearing in 2002 at the urging of Congressman Hyde USAID began to provide food aid to the stricken areas of Ethiopia.

In 2003 I had the privilege to introduce the Ethiopian opposition leaders Engineer Hailu Shawel, Doctor Beyne Petros, Mera Gudina, and several EDP members and other leaders to Africa Subcommittee on International Relations. With Ethiopian National Congress set up a symposium in Washington, DC with 20 Ethiopian scholars to discuss the Asab situation. With the help of the Ethiopian National Congress we gathered about 150,000 signatures supporting our concern and sent these to the UN and to President Bush.
we cooperated with a broad coalition of political groups to create a united opposition to the Meles regime. We met in Rockville and Gaithersburg Maryland for three days to come to this agreement. A Press Conference to discuss the political and economic situation was held at the prestigious National Press Club with Professor Mesfin Woldmariam.

In 2004 we created the Ethiopian-America Council dedicated to the Ethiopian-American people many of whom have American citizenship. It is based here in Washington, DC and also in San Jose, CA. We held a public press conference to announce this again at the National Press Club. We then we started in on the work on Ethiopia to try gain free and fair elections in May of 2005. Congressman Mike Honda of California assisted us. It was difficult to explain everything to Congress in such a short time.

When the new Congress convened in 2005 Congressman Chris Smith of New Jersey was the new chairman of the Africa Subcommittee. We encouraged him to include Ethiopia on his upcoming official visit to Aftica. In Ethiopia he met with religious leaders, civic groups, and political leaders and then met with Meles. He asked Meles to assign someone neutral to investigate who was responsible for the many deaths in Addis in May 2005 after the elections.

Congressman Smith started in immediately to draft HR 4425 calling for American involvement in helping to guarantee Ethiopians' human rights, democratization, and development. Congressman Smith, with our help, gathered together the information needed for the bill. We especially recommended aid for the Blue Nile and Awash rivers areas for hydroelectric power and irrigation for agricultural development.

HR 4425 cleared from the Subcommittee and then full International Relations Committee (as HR5680). We, the Ethiopian-Americans, pushed for this bill but were frustrated by the activities of the Regime who hired for $50,000.00 per month a politically connected lobbying firm (Dell, Piper, Resnick) to derail this progress. Their key individual is a former House Majority Leader Dick Armey of Texas who was close to the former Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert of Illinois. We alerted the Ethiopian-American community, the rest of Congress, and the American media, (and everyone in general) to this development.

Our top priority at this time through 2006 was to get the political prisoners released from prisons. Many times we met with Senators Obama, Hagel, Luger, Biden, Feingold, and Leahy as well as Congressmen Smith, Hoyer, Royce, Honda, Payne, Lantos, and Rangel. We also contacted and met many times with Deputy Secretary of State for African Affairs Donald Yamamoto. He is presently the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia.

After the 2006 elections Congress passed under Democratic control and Congressman Donald Payne of New Jersey became the new chairman of the Africa Subcommitee.

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee had a hearing on July 17 on “Democratic Developments in Sub-Saharan Africa: Moving Forwards or Backwards?” Barry F. Lowenkron, Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, harshly criticized the Meles regime. The hearing is good news because it sets the stage for Senate consideration of HR 2003 after it is passed by the House.

In 2007 we are continuing to meet with all those Senators and Congressmen and continued to organize Ethiopians in America. Through our efforts the death sentences were overturned and the CUD political prisoners, Civic group and Journalists were released.
In early 2007 Mesfin Mekonen and Dr. Seyoum Solomon coordinated logistic with the US Embassy in Addis Ababa for Engineer Hailu Shawel eye treatment and was successful.
In July of 2007 the Kinijit International Council led by its chairman Dr. Taye Woldesmaite, Mesfin Mekonen, Foreign Relations, and Doctor Bezabeh Demesse and Major Admasu both parlamentary members was invited by Kinijit chapters in the USA to speak to them in San Diego, CA; Seattle, Las Vegas, NV; Los Angeles, CA; and Washington, DC. All this effort is designed to energize the support for Ethiopians and the pending passage of HR 2003 (the current draft of the Ethiopian bill).

You all know the members of Congress need to hear from you. Please visit this Web site and get the contact information that you need. It is essential that all Ethiopians contact members of Congress to express their support for this legislation – ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO HAVEN’T CO-SPONSORED HR 2003 -- and to ask that members of Congress co-sponsor and vote for it. Even if you have already contacted Congress, do it again. It is especially important to contact members of the U.S House of Representatives on International Relations.You can find the contact information to Call and e-mail the Washington offices of your Senators and Representative. To contact your Representative, use: http:///www.house.gov/writerep/ To contact your Senator, use: http://senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Human Rights are a key objective for us. Human Rights groups like Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Center for Press Journalists, and others are our natural allies in our work

In conclusion we must help inform all areas of Ethiopian opinion about the purposes of this legislation. A few individuals have taken the position that this bill will not be helpful to Ethiopians because Ethiopians should take care of Ethiopia themselves. But the world is not a good place for Isolationism; Ethiopia is greatly affected by its relations with other countries so we here in America can best help Ethiopia by helping to provide a voice for the voiceless in Ethiopia.