Few people outside Ethiopia have ever heard of Birtukan Mideksa. And that's just how the government wants it. Since December, Birtukan has been kept in solitary confinement, one of hundreds of political prisoners there. Her apparent crime? Organizing a democratic challenge to the increasingly iron-fisted rule of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
In the past year alone, Meles's ruling party has rigged elections, effectively banned independent human-rights groups, passed a draconian press law and shrugged off calls for an investigation into alleged atrocities in the restive Ogaden region. Yet in the same period, his country has become one of the largest recipients of U.S. aid in sub-Saharan Africa, getting a cool $1 billion in 2008. The Bush administration claimed that Ethiopia was the linch-pin of its regional counterterrorism strategy and a vital beacon of stability. But the evidence increasingly suggests Washington isn't getting what it pays for, and is supporting a brutal dictator in the process. Candidate Obama pledged to strengthen democracy in Africa; if he's serious, this is a good place to start.
America's warm relations with Ethiopia date to the days after 9/11, when the country's Christian-dominated government came to be seen as a natural U.S. ally in a region targeted by Islamic extremists. After disputed elections in 2005, however, Meles"”once hailed by President Bill Clinton as part of a promising "new generation" of African leaders"”began clamping down on dissent.
Yet Washington tolerated his lapses because it needed his help fighting Qaeda-linked Islamists in next-door Somalia. In December 2006, Ethiopia's U.S.-trained Army duly invaded its neighbor, ousting the radical Islamic Courts Union government there. But the adventure hasn't worked out as planned. No sooner had the ICU been toppled than an even more radical group, Al-Shabab, sprang up to fight the invaders. And although Seyoum Mesfin, Ethiopia's foreign minister, recently told NEWSWEEK that the Islamists have been militarily "shattered," they now control much of the country's south and have tightened links with Al Qaeda. Meanwhile, the Ethiopian troops have pulled out, and the country they left behind has been thoroughly devastated. Two years of fighting forced about 3.4 million Somalis, some 40 percent of the population, from their homes. Yet only a few high-ranking terrorists were eliminated, and Russell Howard, a retired general and senior fellow at the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations University, says the occupation only "empowered" the radicals.
Such failures"”and Ethiopia's growing repression"”suggest Washington should rethink the relationship. Just what Ethiopia offers the United States today is unclear. Addis Ababa has contributed troops to U.N. peacekeeping forces in Darfur and Burundi and plays a large role in shaping the policies of the African Union. But this shouldn't earn it unquestioning U.S. support.
To reset ties, the United States should push Ethiopia to democratize. And it must urge it to reconcile with its archnemesis, Eritrea. Resolving the conflict between the two states is key to addressing a whole range of threats to U.S. interests. Tiny Eritrea won independence from Addis Ababa in 1993, but the two countries fought a 1998"“2000 border war and relations have remained hostile ever since, in part because Ethiopia, with tacit U.S. support, has ignored an international ruling that redrew their border. Too weak to challenge Ethiopia directly, Eritrea has funneled support to its enemy's enemies"”including Al-Shabab and its America-hating foreign fighters. Eritrea also recently instigated a border conflict with Djibouti, home to an important U.S. military base.
Washington should thus push Ethiopia and Eritrea to make amends; better relations would mean an end to their proxy war in Somalia, which has helped turn that state into a Qaeda haven. Should it choose to use it, the United States has plenty of leverage. Most U.S. spending on Ethiopia goes for health and food aid, which aren't easy to cut. But the Obama administration could make military aid and weapons sales contingent on Meles's improving his behavior. The House of Representatives passed a bill in 2007 to do just that, but the measure died in the Senate without White House support.
Much will now depend on the man Obama has nominated for the State Department's top Africa job, Johnnie Carson. Carson's record is promising: while ambassador to Kenya from 1999 to 2003, he helped persuade longtime President Daniel Arap Moi to step down, clearing the way for multiparty elections. Should he bring similar pressure to bear on Washington's new African ally, Birtukan, Ethiopia's other political prisoners, Africans throughout the Horn and America itself would all benefit.
With Jason Mclure in Addis Ababa
© 2009
Newsweek nailed it. Dawn and truth reveal themselves in time. Meles is trying hard to hide the truth. Now Meles has become a liability for the EPRDF. He represents the iron fist and the blood spilled over the past 20 years of EPRDF's power. He shall resign to save the EPRDF and give it another lease on life. Meles is the bad image of EPRDF and if he continues to cling to power, the whole EPRDF would collapse with him. If he cares about the EPRDF, she shall exit right now.IF the EPRDF cannot ravamp iotself by pushing Meles aside, all of them would rot and melt down with him. An organization like EPRDF shall not decay and die for the sake of one man, whom the world knows as the cause of its decline. EPRDF people shall scarifice Meles in order to ressurect the organization.This idea is shared by many innocent EPRDFits who believe that it is not that late to save the EPRDF. Lets find a way of pushing Meles and show the world that we can reform and clean our mistakes and come back as a strong organization.
Meles pushed and left the Islamists in Somalia around the area where the pirates are operating. This is meant to internationalize the problem. Meles favors the pirates because he wants to call the attention of the international community and to make himself an indispensable ally.He would abuse his power to REMAIN IN POWER. He is playing with the minds of westerners by appearing like he is against terror, whereas he kills 200 people in two days on the streets.thanks you NEWSEEK.Most of the "comments" are being written by internet spies of Meles Zenawi. That is how they conduct their business. anyone criticizes them you are KKK or racist, or Amhara, or Eritrean or Oromo or Guirage or .... Meles and his spies think in terms of race. They could not get their minds out of it even after 34 years of struggle to liberate their race Tigray. Who is the real racist here?Newsweek, we all know the truth. It good that the EPRDF is stuck in its racist accusations, because it shows us that they have no other ideas since their narrow minds are locked up.The bold article is receiving good attention in the US. Meles is the thing of the past. He is in one set with Isayas, Mugabe, Al Bashir.Thanks Newsweek.
An Eritrean Habtom wrote, as follows:-Posted By: Habtom @ 04/12/2009 3:12:44 PM???Meles pushed and left the Islamists in Somalia around the area where the pirates are operating. This is meant to internationalize the problem. Meles favors the pirates because he wants to call the attention of the international community and to make himself an indispensable ally.He would abuse his power to REMAIN IN POWER. He is playing with the minds of westerners by appearing like he is against terror, whereas he kills 200 people in two days on the streets.thanks you NEWSEEK.Most of the "comments" are being written by internet spies of Meles Zenawi. That is how they conduct their business. anyone criticizes them you are KKK or racist, or Amhara, or Eritrean or Oromo or Guirage or .... Meles and his spies think in terms of race. They could not get their minds out of it even after 34 years of struggle to liberate their race Tigray. Who is the real racist here?Newsweek, we all know the truth. It good that the EPRDF is stuck in its racist accusations, because it shows us that they have no other ideas since their narrow minds are locked up.The bold article is receiving good attention in the US. Meles is the thing of the past. He is in one set with Isayas, Mugabe, Al Bashir.???This is a typical of the Eritrean bloody dictator supporters of Essayas Afeworki, every time they get a chance for an article who criticize Ethiopia or the prime minister his Excellency Melees Sinai, Eritrean (Shabia) try to get on the band wagon of the writer, to strengthen the criticism. Mr. Habtom, please do us a favor, clean up your own home before you tell others, how to clean theirs.
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