July 13, 2015
Your Excellency Particia M. Haslach
U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia
Addis Ababa
Dear Ambassador,
Any reasonably informed person would understand that Ethiopia is not a model of democracy and good governance that should be rewarded with an historic U.S. presidential visit. In particular, as the visit takes place after EPRDF’s absolute negation of a democratic process in Ethiopia, through the May 24, 2015 election drama, the timing and tenor of the visit sends a worrying signal. That is because USA’s priorities would appear to be at odds with President Obama’s often repeated position about advancing human rights and strengthening African democracy and institutions. This apparent anomaly causes Medrek to ask why a U.S President would visit a country where democracy has been blatantly sacrificed for dictatorship and where human rights violations remain systematic and widespread? Evidence for this can be drawn from the most recent U.S Annual Human Rights Report on Ethiopia, which cited “restrictions on freedom of expression; politically motivated trials; harassment and intimidation of opposition members and journalists; limits on citizens’ ability to change their government; alleged arbitrary killings …torture and restrictions on freedom of assembly, association and movement”.
Having been in the center stage of engaging U.S. diplomacy on Ethiopia, over the past 24 years, Medrek’s leadership believes that in the recent years, the U.S government does not appear to be adequately and properly informed about the dire political and socio-economic conditions prevailing in the country. The currently scheduled President Obama’s visit to Ethiopia notwithstanding, the U.S Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman, who visited the country last April, had publicly praised Ethiopia’s “democracy”, which, as vindicated by the 100% EPRDF “win” in the May 2015 election, is in contradiction with the reality on the ground. Furthermore, Sherman’s statement was bolstered by an ill-informed State Department Spokeswoman, Marie Harf, who stated that “…Sherman’s statements fully reflect the U.S government’s positions”, which is hard to believe.
Medrek strongly believes that such misplaced praises and off-the-mark statements can only be made by ill-informed persons who make the grave mistake of listening to only one side; in this instance, only to EPRDF officials, to the exclusion of the opposition, civic organizations, etc. This disregard for the Ethiopian opposition, to be listened to, as critical stakeholders in the process of leading the country into a sustainable democratic system, appears to be blinded by the outward veneer of stability in Ethiopia. Such decisions are guided by poor analysis of the complex situation, and appear to be driven by the expediency of the current regional security concerns, and unfortunately forget that the current political system in Ethiopia is seriously unsustainable.
Therefore, to avoid the kind of grave mistakes committed by officials of the State Department who visited Ethiopia, but failed to listen to the genuine opposition (Medrek and few others) in the recent past, Medrek requests that President Obama and his staff meet the opposition to be adequately informed about the political and socio-economic conditions that are matters of serious concern to Ethiopians. We believe that it is only after being adequately informed about the fundamental outstanding issues in Ethiopia, from all sides, that the President can speak in a trustworthy manner to the Ethiopian people. It is the hope and prayers of all, the miserable peasants as well as the well-informed elite population of the land, that President Obama’s historic visit is not intended to validate or otherwise endorse the EPRDF’s single party dictatorship, and that the president would forthrightly assert that repression of alternative opposition positions, expressed peacefully, is not an acceptable means of addressing the complex challenges the country is faced with.
Finally, Medrek particularly urges president Obama to raise the issues of recent election-related murders of opposition members and supporters, the post-election acts of reprisal against the opposition as well as the many cases of journalists, and political prisoners that have been detained as a consequence of draconian laws that have criminalized dissent. We also hope that the President would firmly address the question of opening up the political space for a competitive multi-party democratic discourse in Ethiopia.
Medrek wants to express the assurances of its highest regard to President Obama and the U.S. government.
Best regards,
Beyene Petros (Prof.)
Chairperson, the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity Forum (Medrek)