Nineteen years and counting. Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his ruling EPRDF party are cruising to an easy "victory" in yesterday's elections. Taking power in 1991, Meles is as entrenched as they get.
Meles' win did take some work. After the 2005 election, in which the opposition did too well for his liking, the hammer fell. Since, political opponents and local journalists have been jailed. Foreign journalists denied visas. The internet jammed. Newspapers closed. There are credible reports of food aid being used as a political weapon. The government jams our Voice of America broadcasts, despite the nearly billion dollars of aid we give it each year. The State Department reports that Ethiopian security services commit politically motivated killings. The Meles government has the repression thing down pretty good. Only brutal Eritrea next door makes Ethiopia look good.
Meles has buddies. Throughout the continent, several leaders are into their second, third and nearly fourth decades in power. No democrats here. The State Department tends to put them on pedestals, especially Rwanda's Kagame and Uganda's Museveni. Along with Meles, the Clinton Administration lauded these "new African leaders."
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I ran into the Ethiopian Ambassador last week. On democracy, he pleaded for time. African democracy is young, for sure. But that absolves sins of omission, poor infrastructure that frustrates voting, for example. Political hits and other violence against democrats are inexcusable. The Ambassador didn't mention that his government is committed to "revolutionary democracy," a collectivism that tolerates no dissent. The New York Times quotes a prominent Ethiopian dissident saying, "They still have this leftist ideology that the vanguard party is right for the people." Trust me, they always will.
Last week, with seven other members of Congress, I wrote the State Department charging that in recent years it "has rarely spoken out about the Meles government's human rights violations." Diplomats, never wanting to offend, always short democracy. They go especially easy on Ethiopia because it checks jihadists in neighboring Somalia. I doubt the Ethiopian government hits them as hard as its political opponents.
Getting excited about democracy risks driving the Meles government into Chinese hands, some argue. Beijing is pouring billions into Ethiopia. This possible dance with Beijing says a lot about the Meles government's true colors. Clearly, our real allies are the brave Ethiopian men and women fighting the rot of years of Meles' unchecked reign. Aid them. Sadly, power has gotten to the point of absolutely corrupting Meles' 19-year rule.
Ed Royce, a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives from California, is a member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and a former chairman of the Subcommittee on Africa.
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Senator Royce,
You have read Ethiopia like no other Americal law maker. Ethiopia under the current regime is heading toward one party policy and China is better compared to Ethiopia. In Ethiopia its not only one party policy, that party is also controlled by one small ethnic group. Out of 60 major military comanders 58 of them belong to this ethnic group, and out of the many senior politicians in the country, including all the key ministries belong to the same ethnic. Every millionaire belong to the same ethnic, thay are all Tigryans.
There is no such thing in China, they follow true equality and would not tolerate corruption those Chinese. The Ethiopian case is all together different. There is one Tigryan spy assigned to every five Ethiopian family to follow them to everywhere and report ther activities. This has preceded everything you know about national security in hard times. All this is possible because the US taxpayers pay for it, and every senator agrees they should be financed to do all these and more. As far as jihadists in Somalia, they are all Muslim and jihadists will always exist as long as the religion Islam exists. The problem is that people like you makes the religion Islam look bad and prefer Meles' regime over humanity and decency.
why do we expect justice from US, EU, UN or..., they are always stand for their countries benefit.