Washington Update
March 17, 2008
1.
Senate Foreign Relations Africa Subcommittee March 11 hearing on Horn
of Africa. The hearing focused principally on Somalia. There was,
however, some excellent written testimony about Ethiopia. Lynn
Fredriksson, representing Amnesty International, highlighted human
rights abuses and suppression of democracy by the Meles regime. She
also described atrocities committed in the Ogaden region and by
Ethiopian troops in Somalia. Describing food security issues, Katherine
Almquist, a USAID official, reported that there are an estimated 8
million chronically food insecure
people in various regions of Ethiopia and approximately 1.3 million people require emergency food assistance.
As expected, Jendayi Frazer, Assistant Secretary of State for African
Affairs, said nothing about human rights issues and skipped quickly
over democracy. In contrast the Bush administration’s rhetoric about
promoting democracy, she excused the Meles regime’s repression by
noting that “it is frequently forgotten that Ethiopia is a country
emerging from almost two millennia of autocracy.” While it isn’t clear
how frequently this point is forgotten, it is obvious that it should
not be used to give the Meles regime a free pass to imprison members of
the opposition, censor the news media, and deny people their basic
human rights. The Bush administration would never accept this line of
reasoning as an excuse for abuses by authoritarian regimes in other
parts of the world and it is shameful that it does in Ethiopia.
Overall, while the hearing was a step forward in the effort to achieve
congressional enactment of H.R. 2003, it was a small one. Progress in
the Senate will require a great deal more work, not only from the
Ethiopian community, but also from members of the House of
Representatives who sponsored and supported H.R. 2003. The bill first
needs a Senate champion, and then broad based support. This is far more
likely to emerge if the members of the House -- from both parties --
who took the time and put in the effort to get H.R. 2003 passed
communicate its importance to their colleagues in the Senate.
The written statements, and a webcast of the hearing, are available at http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2008/hrg080311a.html
2. Engineer Hailu Shawel last week overcame the decision of the
Canadian government to deny him and Dr. Taye Woldesemiat Wzro. Nigist
visas by addressing an enthusiastic audience in Toronto through an
Internet videoconference. In response to questions about groups that
were suspended from the CUD participating in the upcoming elections,
Hailu Shawel described the prerequisites for the opposition to take
part in upcoming elections, stating that he is not willing to risk the
lives and safety of candidates and their supporters
unless some minimum conditions are met. The eight points the CUD
presented to the Meles regime include access to the media,
independent oversight over the electoral board, and independence
of the judiciary.
Mesfin Mekonen, Kinijit International Council Foreign Relations |
