Putting Lipstick on a Pig, Ethiopian Style

Last week, there was a great deal of teeth-gnashing, knuckle-cracking and gut-wrenching by Ethiopia’s dictators over Human Rights Watch’s (HRW) 2010 report. The dictators belched out much sound and fury that signified nothing. Their fury had to do with HRW’s conclusion that “Ethiopia is on a deteriorating human rights trajectory as parliamentary elections approach in 2010.” In blunt and unequivocal language, HRW whipsawed the dictators with the facts:

Broad patterns of government repression have prevented the emergence of organized opposition in most of the country. In December 2008 the government reimprisoned opposition leader Birtukan Midekssa for life after she made remarks that allegedly violated the terms of an earlier pardon. In 2009 the government passed two pieces of legislation that codify some of the worst aspects of the slide towards deeper repression and political intolerance. A civil society law passed in January is one of the most restrictive of its kind, and its provisions will make most independent human rights work impossible. A new counterterrorism law passed in July permits the government and security forces to prosecute political protesters and non-violent expressions of dissent as acts of terrorism. Ordinary citizens who criticize government policies or officials frequently face arrest on trumped-up accusations of belonging to illegal “anti-peace” groups, including armed opposition movements. Officials sometimes bring criminal cases in a manner that appears to selectively target government critics…

The dictators bellyached about HRW’s “unfairness” and bitterly complained about its malicious and willful blindness to the great strides and democratic achievements they have made over the past several years. “How could HRW overlook our prized Code of Conduct for Political Parties negotiated by 65 political parties?” they lamented. How could they disregard a “Code” that is so “impressive, transparent, free, fair, peaceful, democratic, legitimate and acceptable to the voters”? To add insult to injury, they even overlooked the appointment “by parliamentary acclamation” of a new human rights commissioner. No matter. All HRW cares about is carping about the “civil society and anti-terrorist laws” and fabricating stories about human rights abuses in the Somali Regional State. Those cynical and contemptible rascals have “no interest in, and no time for, any promising developments.” After all, they are just stooges and mouthpieces of the evil Ethiopian “dissident” Diaspora whose sole aim is to discredit the “democratic achievements” of the dictatorship.

When candidate Barack Obama ran for the U.S. presidency, he used a folksy idiom to describe John McCain’s pretensions as a new force of change in Washington. “That’s not change [McCain is talking about]. That’s just calling the same thing something different. But you know, you can put lipstick on a pig; it’s still a pig. You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper and call it change; it’s still going to stink.”

Well, you can jazz up a bogus election in a one-man, one-party dictatorship with a “Code of Conduct”, but to all the world it is still a bogus election under a one-man, one-party dictatorship. You can appoint lackeys to issue a whitewash human rights report on “allegations” of abuse in the Ogaden and call it an objective inquiry commission report, but it is still a whitewash. You can appoint a fox to guard the chicken coop and call it safeguarding human rights, but the sly fox will not spare the chickens. You can put lipstick on dictatorship to make it look like a pretty democracy, but at the end of the day, it is still an ugly dictatorship!

Ethiopia’s dictators think we are all damned fools. They want us to believe that a pig with lipstick is actually a swan floating on a placid lake, or a butterfly fluttering in the rose garden or even a lamb frolicking in the meadows. They think lipstick will make everything look pretty. Put some lipstick on hyperinflation and you have one of the “fastest developing economies in the world”. Put lipstick on power outages, and the grids come alive with megawattage. Slap a little lipstick on famine, and voila! Ethiopians are suffering from a slight case of “severe malnutrition”. Adorn your atrocious human rights record by appointing a “human rights” chief, and lo and behold, grievous government wrongs are transformed magically into robust human rights protections. Slam your opposition in jail, smother the independent press and criminalize civil society while applying dainty lipstick to a mannequin of democracy. The point is, “You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper and call it ‘democracy’ but after 20 years it stinks to high heaven!”

Of course, all the sound and fury is a calculated effort at misdirection. Instead of talking about the factual allegations in the HRW report, the dictators want to make Human Rights Watch the ISSUE. But HRW is one human rights organization that needs no lipstick to do its work, or to cover it up. HRW’s investigators do not work on a commission. They don’t get paid a dime for digging up mass graves in distant lands and conduct complex forensic studies. They make no money walking the scorching deserts for days and thumping the under brush in the tropical forests to interview remotely located civilian victims of war crimes and human rights abuse. HRW does not work for profit. They do their exceedingly difficult and dangerous work to prevent human rights abuse and to hold states, armed groups and others accountable for human rights violations. They receive their financial support largely from individual donations and gifts. HRW never takes sides in any conflict. To do their work, they do not make their own rules but use established international human rights conventions, treaties, domestic laws and resolutions of world bodies.

Vile accusations against HRW are not new. All governments and groups stung by HRW’s factual reports squeal like a stuck pig. They try to discredit HRW’s reports as methodologically flawed, unsubstantiated, speculative, slanted, unfair, biased and so on. They try to distract and misdirect public attention from the evidence of their criminality in the reports by attacking HRW as an antagonistic and politically vindictive organization. In the past few years, HRW has been vilified by those on opposite ends of the same conflict. Egypt and Saudi Arabia have called HRW a “Zionist” organization. The Israeli government has accused HRW of being “obsessed with Israel” and dubbed them “supporters of terrorism.” But HRW is an organization with the highest level of integrity. They will not back down from holding any government accountable, including the U.S. In its latest report, HRW praised President Obama for abolishing secret CIA prisons and banning all use of torture, but they clobbered him ferociously for “adopting many of the Bush administration’s most misguided policies” including the policy of “indefinite detention without charge” of “enemy combatants”.

There is no secret to HRW’s investigative work. They conduct extensive interviews of alleged victims of human rights abuse. They work with confidential informants in victims’ communities and gather evidence from others sources within a given country. They talk to officials and top political leaders and analyze government reports and any other relevant documentation and data. They conduct field investigations and their experts conduct forensic studies, perform ballistics tests and examine medical and autopsy reports. They always seek official permission to conduct their investigations, but most governments generally refuse or ignore the requests to enter their countries for such purposes. HRW has a rigorous system of checking and cross-checking facts. Before publication, HRW always presents its findings to the relevant governments for comment and feedback, and to incorporate changes and make corrections where appropriate. Often, regimes and governments remain silent and provide no feedback on the reports before publication. Once the reports are made public, governments sensitive to criticism unleash their spin-doctors to moan and groan about HRW in an attempt to capture media attention and deflect public scrutiny from the evidence in the reports that incriminate them.

“No one loves the messenger who brings bad news.” But attacking the messenger does not make a lie out of the message, just as putting lipstick on a pig does not make the pig a swan (perhaps a vulture).

-Huffington Post

Ethiopian Airlines 'black box' found

Searchers located the black box from an Ethiopian Airlines.

plane that crashed into the Mediterranean shortly after takeoff from Beirut, Lebanon, officials said.

The flight data recorder, critical to the accident investigation, was located about 4,300 feet under water and would soon be retrieved, CNN quoted the Lebanese army as saying Thursday.

Twenty-six bodies were recovered as of Thursday, the army said. It identified five of the dead as Ethiopians.

The Boeing 737-800, carrying 82 passengers and eight crew members, crashed into the sea Monday shortly after it took off in stormy weather from Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport..

The pilot made a “fast and strange turn” minutes after takeoff and flew in the opposite direction from the path recommended by the control tower, Lebanese Transportation Minister Ghazi Aridi said Tuesday.

Lebanese President Michel Suleiman ruled out terrorism as the cause of the crash.

The plane — bound for the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa — went down about 2 miles off the coastal village of Naameh, 9 miles south of Beirut, Aridi said.

Fifty-one passengers were Lebanese and 23 were Ethiopian, the airline said. Two others were British nationals, and the remaining six were Turkish, French, Russian, Canadian, Syrian and Iraqi citizens, the airline said.

The eight crew members were Ethiopian.

-(UPI)

British Council opens Ethiopian headquarters

The British Council’s new £1.18 million Ethiopian headquarters , developed in partnership with local practice RAAS Architects, has opened in the country’s capital, Addis Ababa.

Built on part of a site owned by the British Embassy and designed by the council’s in-house architecture team, the 500sq m structure faces on to one of the city’s recently rebuilt main roads.

The back section of the building is devoted to staff offices, while the front section features a large double-height events space with movable partitions that allow the room to be divided into two or opened up to connect to other areas of the building.

A mezzanine level has been included to “future proof” the building, providing the necessary structural integrity to add extra seminar rooms and a second level to the building if necessary.

The front facade of the reinforced concrete structure has been clad in timber planks, using trees cleared from the site to make way for the new building.

The scheme is among the last projects overseen by Emma Vergette, the British Council’s head of architecture and design, who is leaving the council after 10 years to establish a new architectural development company.

Maaza Mengiste who wrote the critically acclaimed novel "Beneath the Lion's Gaze" is part of a new wave of African women writers.

Author Maaza Mengiste left Ethiopia for the U.S. when she was four years old. It was 1974, two years after the revolution which toppled Emperor Haile Selassie from his throne.

But the experience was so traumatic she has very clear memories of what happened.

“I remembered so vividly my life in Ethiopia, and I remember very specific moments and those stayed with me here,” she said. “And as I grew older I started wanting to put them into context, to try to find a historical and political explanation for what I remembered.”

So she wrote “Beneath the Lion’s Gaze,” a critically-acclaimed novel about a family living through the Ethiopian revolution. The story also tells of the last days of Hailie Selassie before his death in prison.

Maaza Mengiste, who now lives in New York, told Euan Kerr even though many people wanted the Emperor gone, his removal was traumatic.

-Minnesota Public Radio

Ethiopian priest dies suddenly

Ethiopian priest Fr Daniel Manmektot Eshete, who was serving as assistant priest at Narooma, has died suddenly on a visit to his homeland.

Fr Eshete died in hospital on Monday while being treated for diabetes. He was visiting relatives and friends in Ethiopia following the sudden death by heart attack of his brother just before Christmas.

The funeral Mass was held yesterday at Holy Saviour parish, Archbishop of Addis Ababa Abune Berhaneyesus D Souraphiel said.

Archbishop Mark Coleridge will preside at 12.15pm Mass in memory of Fr Eshete on Tuesday, 2 February, in St Christopher’s Cathedral.

-http://www.cg.catholic.org.au/index.cfm

Ethiopian families in agonizing wait for news

ADDIS ABABA: The relatives of the 23 Ethiopian nationals who were on board the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed Monday shortly after leaving Beirut were awaiting news of their loved ones at home.

Ethiopian security forces quickly barred press from accessing the arrivals terminal.

China invests in Ethiopia but at what cost?

China’s minister for commerce says trade with Ethiopia will reach $3 billion by 2015.

ASK AN Addis Ababa taxi driver to take you to Ethio-China Friendship Road and he might just scratch his head.

The renaming of Wollo Sefer, one of the Ethiopian capital’s main thoroughfares, in tribute to the country’s burgeoning ties with Beijing might be obvious from the new street signs but it has yet to filter down to everyday use.

The road is not the only marker of China’s growing engagement with Ethiopia.

Addis Ababa’s ultramodern airport was built by the Chinese, as was the city’s ring road and flyover.

An extensive renovation of the African Union headquarters in downtown Addis is being financed by the Chinese to the tune of more than $100 million (€71 million).

Across the city, a Chinese government-built school, designed to cater for up to 3,000 students, offers Mandarin classes as part of its curriculum.

Scores of Ethiopians have been given scholarships to study subjects including engineering and architecture in China.

The Chinese restaurants and clinics advertising acupuncture and traditional herbal remedies that have become part of the landscape in almost every African city in recent years are here too. According to local media, some 1,000 Chinese companies operate in Ethiopia.

Besuited Chinese businessmen can be seen discussing deals in Addis hotel lobbies, while engineers and others fresh from working on road and telecommunications projects or building power stations and water supply systems haggle for souvenirs in the city’s sprawling Merkato before flying home to Beijing.

In some Ethiopian towns and villages, it is not uncommon for foreigners to find themselves being greeted by children yelling “China, China”.

Earlier this month Chen Deming, China’s minister for commerce, was in town predicting that trade volume between the two countries will reach $3 billion by 2015. Chinese investment in Ethiopia amounted to just under $1 billion last year, and there is much talk of future investment in agricultural projects.

“China and Ethiopia have been mutually supportive on the political front and closely co-operating on the economic front,” Chen said, going on to use the stock expression Chinese officials trot out when discussing relations with African states: “It is fair to regard the Sino-Ethiopian friendship as an all-weather one.”

China’s new engagement with Africa has played out very differently across the continent, helping revitalise moribund economies in some countries, while breeding resentment elsewhere due to support for unsavoury regimes, poor work practices and threatened local industries.

There have been a few cautionary tales for the Chinese along the way. In 2007, for example, nine Chinese oil workers were killed and seven briefly kidnapped in the restive Ogaden area of eastern Ethiopia.

Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi says African states must be prudent in setting the parameters of the relationship.

“The Chinese interest in Ethiopia has been nothing short of a godsend,” he tells The Irish Times.

“We have benefited massively from it, but like everything else it is capable of becoming a nightmare . . . It is up to the host countries as to how they use the available resources from the Chinese in the best possible manner. Those who do will benefit, those who don’t may not benefit as perhaps they ought to.”

China’s assistance in building infrastructure and its investment in manufacturing has been invaluable for Ethiopia, Meles says.

“We need investment from any quarter we can get it. The Chinese have been more aggressive in investing in Ethiopia than many others and our hope is that Chinese investment will entice not only additional Chinese investment but also investment from other countries.”

But, as in every African country wooing Beijing, there is debate over who stands to gain. A 2008 study by an economist at Addis Ababa University noted that while Ethiopian consumers will benefit from cheap Chinese imports, small local firms, particularly in the clothing and footwear sectors, will lose out.

Opposition figures, like many of their counterparts elsewhere in Africa, mutter darkly about deals agreed behind closed doors, and speculate on the motives of both the government and Beijing.

One told me he suspects that the Meles regime sees China’s overtures as an opportunity to shore up support where it matters on the world stage.

Whatever way the debate shifts, however, the one thing everyone seems to agree on is that the Chinese are here to stay.

-IrishTimes.com

Foreign Affairs Correspondent Mary Fitzgerald talks to Ethiopia’s prime minister in the first of a series of articles from the African country

IT IS almost two decades since Meles Zenawi came to power in Ethiopia after the rebels he led toppled the brutal dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam.

Since then, the former Marxist guerrilla has presided over sweeping political and economic change: introducing a multiparty system, boosting health and education, and adopting pro-market policies to help transform a limping, largely agricultural economy into one predicted to be among the five fastest-growing in the world in 2010.

“We have succeeded in proving that Ethiopia can grow at Asian growth rates,” says Meles, sitting in his cavernous offices in the capital Addis Ababa. “This has rekindled hope in the possibility that Ethiopia will not for long be the poster child for poverty in the world.”

Ethiopia remains heavily dependent on foreign aid – Ireland contributed €27.8 million in bilateral aid in 2009 – and almost 12 million Ethiopians will rely on food aid in the first half of this year. It comes as a surprise, therefore, to hear Meles argue that “technically . . . if push comes to shove, we can survive on our own”.

If food aid was cut tomorrow, he continues: “We would have to shelve some of our development projects and use the money to buy wheat from abroad but no one would starve.”

While Meles’ fans once hailed him as one of sub-Saharan Africa’s shrewdest and most visionary leaders – in 1998, Bill Clinton described him as the leader of a continental renaissance – his record has been blotted by sharp criticism over human rights and the violent crackdown on anti-government protests which followed a disputed general election in 2005. At least 193 people were killed by police and thousands arrested.

Meles admits mistakes were made: “With better training and equipment of our police force, the number of people who lost lives could have been drastically reduced . . . there were very glaring shortcomings but those shortcomings have now been overcome.”

Most of Ethiopia’s political players have signed up to a new code of conduct ahead of parliamentary elections due to take place in May.

“That is a major plus to what we had in 2005 because the majority of participants have now agreed on the rules of the game,” Meles says.

“In spite of all this, I cannot tell you the risk of instability is zero. I can say that we are aware of this risk and we are determined to ensure that it doesn’t materialise.”

Asked about opposition claims that aid is being used as a political tool in the run-up to the poll, he replies: “Given the fact that there are several hundred thousand people involved in the distribution of food aid, I cannot say that not a single one of them has unfairly discriminated . . . People are trying to make political capital out of this.”

Still, Ethiopia has faced increasing criticism for its human rights record.

“The overwhelming majority of the criticism is invalid,” Meles claims. “At the same time, I say this is a work in progress . . . and we do not expect to have a situation where there is no violation of human rights of any person anywhere in Ethiopia.”

He refers to a Human Rights Watch report which alleged Ethiopian troops committed war crimes while battling rebels in the country’s Ogaden area, and a US state department report: “We found that the overwhelming majority of those accusations are allegations by people who have an axe to grind being transformed into facts after a series of reportings.”

A review by the UN Human Rights Council in December raised several concerns about Ethiopia’s record. It recommended that the government reassess controversial legislation passed last year which outlawed any civil society group that promotes human rights, democracy, or conflict resolution and receives more than 10 per cent of its funding from abroad.

“It is perfectly democratic legislation,” Meles argues. “I believe that if we were to follow the advice of some of our friends and allow foreign money dictate political terms in Ethiopia, we would simply pretend to be in the process of democratisation without democratising.” But doesn’t the law narrow Ethiopia’s democratic space? “No, it is possible to organise in Ethiopia without foreign money. I know because I have done it both as a student and a guerrilla fighter,” he counters.

Some international human rights groups and Ethiopian opposition figures accuse donor states of holding back from properly challenging the government on human rights because it is a crucial ally in an unstable region. During the Bush era, US officials frequently described Meles as Washington’s most important African partner in its so-called war on terror.

Meles rejects claims that some donors have soft-pedalled on human rights. “Many of our friends have not minced words in criticising us . . . They tried to convince us to stop the [civil society] legislation. But I think our friends know that . . . we make our own decisions.” He is scathing about Birtukan Mideksa, an imprisoned opposition leader whose case has been highlighted by Amnesty International. Birtukan, who was given a life sentence following the 2005 elections and then released under a pardon agreement, was sent back to prison after the government accused her of violating the terms of her pardon.

“She will be in prison until she serves her full term and nothing anybody says is going to change that,” Meles bristles. “It is a perfectly legal process and that is the end of the story . . . This is again a glaring example of how the human rights issue is abused by people who want to influence political processes in Ethiopia.”

Meles has now been in power for longer than the man his rebel army overthrew in 1991. After consultations with his party, he says his intended retirement date of 2010 has been put back to 2015: “I will be participating in these elections as a candidate but for sure this will be my last term . . . It will be my last term because the party says it will be my last term.”

-IrishTimes.com

Ethiopian runners set new course records at Sunday’s Chevron Houston marathon in both the men’s and women’s division, as the unheralded Teshome Gelana broke away from his better-known teammates to finish in 2 hours, 7 minutes and 37 seconds.

Defending women’s champion Teyba Erkesso broke the record she set last year to win in 2:27:33.

Gelana, who was not even seeded in the top 10 contenders before the race, spent the first 22 miles as part of a tight pack of runners that included David Njagi, Tekaste Naketibeb, Zembab Yigeze and Hussan Adelo. Gelana pulled away in Memorial Park with his fastest mile of the day, and while the others weren’t able to match his speed, the five runners in his wake also smashed the previous course record.

“The race went very well for me,” Gelana said through an interpreter. “I wanted to run a good race, but I don’t think this will be my best ever. I think I could run 2:05.”

Teyba Erkesso’s victory over the women’s field was less surprising. “It all went according to plan,” she said. Paced by her husband, she pulled away from teammate Alemita Abera in the 10th mile. Abera faded to third place after a seond-half surge by Russian marathoner Margarita Plaksina, who finished second in 2:28:44.

The Aramco Half Marathon also serves as the USA Track and Field half marathon championships, and brought out a field of former and future Olympians. Two-time Olympian Shalane Flanagan also set a new record for the Aramco Half Marathon, finishing in 1:09:41, nearly five minutes faster than the previous best women’s time.

Flanagan, who won a bronze medal in the 10,000 meters at the Beijing Olympics, was making her half marathon debut.

“I didn’t exactly follow my race plan,” she said. “I was supposed to wait until the turnaround to make a significant move, but I have a tendency not to be patient.”

Flanagan made her break early in part to open some space between her and Serena Burla.

“She was literally right on top of me, clipping at my heels,” Flanagan said. “That wasn’t all bad, though — she kept me on edge so I didn’t get too complacent.”

Men’s half marathon winner Antonio Vega shaved six seconds off his 2009 Houston time to finish in 1:01:54. Vega ran the first nine miles of the race as part of a tight pack of five Americans that included Patrick Smyth, Stephan Shay, Brent Vaughn and Joshua Moen.

“My training has been going well, and I knew I was in good shape, so I thought I might as well just go for it,” Vega said. “I separated myself from the guys for good at the turnaround, and I got lucky.”

Nearly 22,000 runners ran in the Chevron Houston Marathon and the Aramco Houston Half Marathon, making it the largest one-day sporting event in Houston.

-The Daily News

Ethiopian Government signs $1.5 billion new railway study pact

(Ethiopia News) – A memorandum of understanding (MoU) has been signed by four foreign companies and the Ethiopian Railway Corporation for the launching of a study on the planned construction of a new railway line up to the border of Djibouti, at a projected cost of 1.5 billion dollars.

The companies, China Communication Construction Company (CCCC), China Railway Group, Overseas Investment Alliance (OIA) from India, and a Russian company, are said to be undertaking their own individual studies on the project to make their decisions, according to Hailemariam Desalegn, government whip at Parliament and director of the board of the corporation, told Fortune.

The company that will get the project will be the one that comes with the financing, Hailemariam said.

The technical and financial efficiency of the winning company will be evaluated by its engineering procurement contract (EPC).

The government intends for the construction to begin before the end of this fiscal year — early July — a high-level government official told Fortune.

The two Chinese companies are sister companies, and CCCC has already concluded a deal with the Ethiopian Roads Authority for the construction of the Addis Abeba-Adama road. This company acquired the $349 million financing for the construction from China Exim Bank.

OIA has a history of supplying machinery to the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation (EEPCo). It is also undertaking the construction of Tendaho Sugar Factory with a $350 million loan provided by the Indian Government.

The Indian company did not seem as keen as the Chinese company to get the project, averred the government official who spoke to Fortune on the condition of anonymity, meaning that the project may eventually go to the Chinese due to the Indian company’s lack of enthusiasm.

The government chose to build a new railroad instead of upgrading the old one, because the old one allowed speeds of only 12.5 miles per hour, while the new one would enable up to 31 miles per hour, Hailemariam said.

“The fate of the old one is not yet known,” Hailemariam said.

There is currently no railway transport between Addis Abeba and Dire Dawa, and only very occasionally between Dire Dawa and Djibouti.

The Ethiopian Railway Corporation was established by the government in 2007 with a capital of $250 million. The corporation’s board members include Hailemariam and Arkebe Oqubay, state minister for Works and Capacity Building. The general manager, Getachew Betru, was not available for comment.

The Addis Abeba-Djibouti railway is part of the government’s plan to lay down 3,100 miles of tracks along seven different routes of economic importance. The next phase will ensue with another track linking Ethiopia to Kenya, according to the same official.

Maintenance of the old of track was initiated at a cost of $50 million, but it was interrupted for quality reasons.

-The Michigan Citizen