Kinijit for Unity and Democracy

Washington update 

September 26, 2007 

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs Wednesday “marked up” H.R. 2003,

the Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act of 2007. It approved a

revised version of the bill in a unanimous vote. The next step in the

process will be a vote by the full House of Representatives. 

Committee Chairman Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) modified the bill prior to the

markup. The major difference between the bill that was approved by the

committee and the original version is the elimination of the 9-page

“findings” section. This section summarized the human rights abuses and

stifling of democracy in Ethiopia but had no legal effect. Another

change to the bill is the addition of demands to allow the U.S. and the

international community to provide humanitarian assistance to the

residents of the Ethiopian Ogaden region. Language adding

“counter-terrorism assistance” to the definition of “essential”

assistance that would continue to flow from the U.S. to Ethiopia

regardless of its progress in meeting human rights and democracy

objectives described in the bill. There is language, however, attempting

to ensure that counter-terrorism assistance “shall not be used for any

other security-related purpose or to provide training to security

personnel or units accused of human rights violations.” The new version

of H.R. 2003 will be available online within a few days. 

Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) attempted to have provisions added to

the bill requiring the Ethiopian regime to return the property of

American citizens that was confiscated by the DERG regime. The

Rohrabacher amendment provoked a spirited debate and was defeated in a

party line vote. 
 
Today’s action was a major victory for Ethiopia. It is, however, just

one step along the way. It is essential that all Ethiopians contact

members of the House, especially the offices of House Majority Leader

Steny Hoyer and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to press for a rapid vote on

this bill. Lobbyists for the Ethiopian regime will definitely attempt to

block or defer the vote.