Ethiopia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) replied to these accusations in statement: it is “of particular concern,” it said, “ that it [the report] should be publicized in the run up to the national elections in May,” and claimed that it’s a campaign conducted by “those that believe democracy in Ethiopia can only be brought about through external efforts, and the cultivation of domestic ‘trojan horses’ ” for that endeavor (US Report on Human Rights: a cut and paste job, repeating last year’s errors, March 13, 2010). In other words the US wants some sort of regime change in Ethiopia and the domestic opposition parties are not legitimate entities but fronts –‘ Trojan horses’ – for the grand American scheme. The human rights report is just smokescreen.

Few days later, on March 21, 2010, Ethiopian Prime Minister Mr. Meles Zenawi accused the US funded VOA Amharic Service of ‘engaging in destabilizing propaganda’, comparing it to Rwanda’s Radio Mille Collines which used to broadcast genocidal messages during that country’s civil war and threatened to block the services from broadcasting in Ethiopia by jamming it – a move that is seen by many as a crackdown on independent media before the vote.  "We have been convinced for many years, that in many respects, the VOA Amharic Service has copied the worst practices of radio stations such as Radio Mille Collines of Rwanda in engaging in destabilizing propaganda," Meles said.

US State Department spokesman Gordon Duguid rebuffed these accusations against the broadcaster as “baseless and inflammatory,” reminding Meles that his threat to block VOA Amharic Radio Service “contradict[s] the Government of Ethiopia's frequent public commitments to freedom of the press”.

Clearly the Ethiopian regime is in frenzied mode. Its actions are not of those of a confident and responsible democracy undertaking smooth transfer of power. It also shows how Ethiopia’s erstwhile ‘friendly relations’ with Washington is stretched to the limit by the thuggish conduct of the regime in Addis. The rigged 2005 election and the mayhem and bloodshed that followed still in mind - and with no significant improvement from that sad episode this time round - Washington seems to have lost faith in the credibility of the general election scheduled to take place in May this year. But the US administration does not seem to have a coherent plan to deal with this repeated circus of election and the Ethiopian regime’s nonchalant attitude. It seems the Obama administration has adopted a retroactive strategy, that is, to see and weigh the reaction to the results and its fallout rather than engage in the process by correcting its many defects ahead of the vote, proactively. Their strategy can be summarized as this: If there is mayhem and violence after the vote, the US may voice its dissatisfaction; if not, and all is smoothly and silently handled, exactly as Meles plans, then the US may acquiesce to the results and accept the status quo – a wait and see game.

But the Zenawi regime is pulling all stops in order to ensure its desired outcome. “The ruling party and the state are becoming one, and the government is using the full weight of its power to eliminate opposition and intimidate people into silence,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch, in a report published in March 24, 2010, titled “Ethiopia: Repression Rising Ahead of May Elections.”  Put differently, Meles gets to stage the game, be the referee, and pronounce the final results. The audience, to be precise, the spectators – the outside world – is expected to give this farce of elections a clean bill of health. The result of the election is a foregone conclusion, a ‘known known’, to use the popular rendition of Donald Rumsfeld, before it even takes place. In the words of US Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, “an election in name only is an affront to [Ethiopia’s] democratic aspirations.”   

All of these bring to my mind the tale of the old British Army joke. “Gentlemen,” says the army corporal, “I’ve some good news and some bad news. The good news is that you’ll have new socks. The bad news is that you’re going to exchange them between your selves.” Meles Zenawi and his associates will be exchanging their dirty socks in May and telling the world that the new socks they’re wearing this time round is clean and doesn’t stink. 

How much of this charade becomes acceptable to the US, Ethiopia’s chief patron, and the European Union, only time will tell. And If History is to be on the side of the brave Africans who want peace, democracy, good governance, development and accountability in their countries, as Barack Obama said in his Accra speech, then he must not side “with those who use coups or change constitutions to stay in power”. Ethiopia is the perfect place to start that noble mission by disassociating America from the sham election that Meles is staging next month. The human rights rhetoric, though helpful, will not force the Ethiopian government into behaving better. It about time the US cuts off the financial and military aid it gives to this Rogue regime. Otherwise it doesn’t make sense to give them plenty of military and financial aid, as well as diplomatic cover, and accuse them later of not killing their victims humanely.

Nuradin Jilani
E-mail: Nuradinjilani@gmail.com

Related Stories:

* The Politics of Scaremongering: The Disorder Factor
* The 2010 Election and the Formidable Cartel in the Somali Region

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