This is to inform you that on Sunday, 16th October 2005, at around 8:00 pm Ato Daniel Bekele, an Ethiopian citizen and the Policy, Research and Advocacy Manager for ActionAid Ethiopia, was attacked by two armed men. In light of the manner in which this incident took place as well as the statement made by one of the attackers, we have reason to believe that this vicious assault was politically motivated. It is to be recalled that Ato Daniel Bekele was an active member of the Executive Committee of the Network of Ethiopian NGOs and CSOs which monitored the May 15th 2005 election and has expressed his views and opinions in the media during the course of the electoral process.

The United Nations may have to consider withdrawing its monitors from the tense Ethiopia-Eritrea border, Secretary General Kofi Annan has warned. He said the Eritrean government had not been cooperating with the UN and had limited the movement of the UN troops. The UN border mission announced the immediate withdrawal of peacekeepers from 18 of its 40 monitoring posts.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has condemned police harassment of the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists' Association (EFJA), which criticized a government crackdown on the press after the opposition disputed the outcome of this year's elections. Four EFJA leaders reported this week to the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) in the capital, Addis Ababa, where they were questioned about the organization's activities when it was officially banned from late 2003 to the end of 2004. The Federal High Court has since ruled the ban illegal.

The four parties that make up Ethiopia's largest opposition alliance, the Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) have merged to form one party, an official of the coalition said last Thursday. The All Ethiopia Unity Party, the Union of Ethiopia Democracy Party, Rainbow Ethiopia and the Ethiopian Democratic League announced their unification on Saturday. It elected Hailu Shawel to continue as chairperson of the new party and Birtukan Mideksa to serve as vice-chair.

The Government of Ethiopia is to deploy the Development Gateway Foundation's Aid Management Platform (AMP), a Web-based information-sharing tool that aims to help to improve the co-ordination and harmonisation of international development aid to ensure greater results for people in developing countries. AMP is an e-government solution designed to address the administrative challenges faced by developing country governments and their donors in tracking and reporting on international aid flows and programmes. By enabling access to standardized information about aid activities within a country, it is intended to facilitate the improved planning, allocation, disbursement and general management of aid resources.

This paper provides a brief overview of the Ethiopian telecommunications sector performance and findings of a e-usage study that analysed user demands for communication services. Adequate penetration of mobile phones, fixed lines and Internet or reduction in the gender gap cannot be achieved unless communication becomes cheaply and widely available throughout the country. The survey findings demonstrated low level of earnings that do not correspond to the current pricing of communication services, particularly for accessing to the Internet.

The number of reported polio cases in Ethiopia has risen sharply from two to 16 this year, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) reported. The first two cases were children living close to the border with Sudan, where a polio outbreak was reported in December 2000.

Ethiopia's ruling party has retained power after winning a majority of seats in national elections marred by violence and alleged fraud, according to final results released by the election board on Monday. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's ruling coalition, which has held power for 14 years, took 327 seats, winning another five-year term, the National Election Board of Ethiopia said.

Beginning as a task force in 2001 and in 2004 after the launch of the poverty reduction strategy program, PANE decided to focus its energies from a task force into a network which now consists of more than 70 civil society organizations (CSOs), non governmental organizations (NGOs), professional associations and research institutions working on poverty and related issues in the country. PANE has thus far conducted familiarization and awareness raising workshops in five regions based on sustainable development and poverty reduction (SDPRPs), the role of civil society in poverty reduction in general and MDGs in particular and also formed chapters in all these regions. Additionally, they have conducted monitoring and evaluation of MDG performance mechanisms in Ethiopia covering 75 percent of Ethiopia's population. PANE plans to continue similar activities in the rest of Ethiopia. PANE has conducted the Service Delivery Survey using a Citizens Report Card approach. This is a work in progress and only now is the fieldwork and report-writing being finalized. It was conducted by the support from the UNDP and Action Aid Ethiopia. In spite of the obviously great successes of PANE, GCAP has not been officially launched in Ethiopia despite several attempts. This has apparently been due to cancellations of all mass rallies planned by PANE by the Ethiopian government. PANE has thus tentatively set the official launch date for mid-August and this time they hope they will not be hindered. Contact Eshetu Bekele: [email protected] (Sourced from the GCAP newsletter No 10, 29 July 2005).

A prominent newspaper distributor was released on bail Tuesday after four days in police detention in the capital, Addis Ababa. Fikre Gudu was arrested in connection with an interview he gave to the private Amharic-language weekly Asqual about his one-month imprisonment in June, according to local sources who spoke to him after his release. In the interview, which ran after his release on July 7, Gudu talked about his arrest and subsequent imprisonment in a detention center outside the capital. According to local sources, he described poor prison conditions and criticized the government for jailing him, saying his arrest was part of a crackdown on Ethiopian independent media.

Ethiopia, one of Africa's poorest countries, is spending one-tenth of its GDP every year on IT. Over the next five years the government plans to invest more than $100m in public-sector computers. It aims to equip hundreds of government offices and schools with broadband internet connections. And by 2007, according to the plan, none of Ethiopia's 74 million people will live more than a few kilometres from a broadband access point.

Ethiopia's political leaders have held their first ever face-to-face talks aimed at ending the deepening crisis over disputed legislative polls, an official said on Friday. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi met the opposition leaders to try and end the deadlock over who won the 15 May election, in which 25 million people turned out to vote.

Ethiopia is to repeat elections in at least 20 of the 524 constituencies contested in the disputed 15 May polls, the chairman of the National Election Board (NEB) said on Monday. Kemal Bedri said the fresh vote would take place in mid-August. Investigators, he added, had found evidence of abuses in more than 100 polling stations in these constituencies.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and 14 of his top officials have stashed away at least $238 million dollars out of which Meles, the mayor of Addis and a top confident of the premier have a combined deposit of $100 million in overseas banks, a radio reported on Wednesday. The radio said it has the evidence which verifies the loot of the Ethiopian treasury by the top-notch of the regime which is trying to contain public protests through killings, detentions and prolonging a state of emergency.

The Ethiopian Government arrested four journalists on 28 June. The arrested journalists were Befekadu Moreda, Editor in-Chief of Tomar news paper; Zelalem Gebre, Menilik news paper; Dawit Fassil, Asqual news paper; and Tamrat Serbesa, Satenaw news paper.

Ethiopia's main opposition coalition has reacted angrily to the dropping of more than half of the investigations into alleged election fraud. The Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) says that most of its complaints have been dropped, while those of the ruling party have been retained. Final results from May's poll have not been released while the allegations are being investigated.

The international community should put pressure on Ethiopia to respect a legally binding ruling over its disputed border with Eritrea, Eritrean President Isaias Afwerki said on Monday. Diplomats have warned that Ethiopia and Eritrea, which went to war from 1998-2000 over the border, run the risk of starting a new conflict unless there is a breakthrough.

On 9 May 2005 the new Ethiopian Penal Code finally came into effect, which removed the marital exemption for abduction and rape. Both abduction and rape are criminal offences under Ethiopian law, but Articles 558 and 599 of the 1957 Ethiopian Penal Code had provided that in the event of subsequent marriage to his victim, the perpetrator was exempt from criminal responsibility for these crimes. Equality Now launched its campaign in March 2002, calling on the Ethiopian Government to comply with the sex equality provisions of its own Constitution and international law by abolishing this legal exemption. The campaign highlighted the case of Woineshet Zebene Negash, who at the age of 13 was abducted and raped by Aberew Jemma Negussie in the village where she lived with her mother and grandparents in the south-eastern part of Ethiopia. Two days later she was rescued, and Aberew Jemma Negussie was arrested. After he was released on bail, Aberew Jemma Negussie abducted Woineshet again and held her for more than a month until she managed to escape, but only after he had forced her to sign a marriage certificate.

Ethiopia remains tense after security forces opened fire on post-election demonstrators, killing up to 40 people. Makeda Tsegaye paints a picture of a brutal regime - whose Prime Minister served on UK Prime Minister's Commission on Africa - that will stop at nothing to retain its grip on power and asks how many more millions of people have to starve in Ethiopia before the world realizes that the root causes of the problem is not lack of rains but failed economic policies that are making people more vulnerable?

After what happened in Ethiopia last week, I would be surprised if anyone had difficulty in understanding the true nature of the ruling party and its leadership.

Is it surprising that the security forces of the Ethiopian Prime Minister, who was appointed to the Commission for Africa by the UK, and is viewed by the US as a key ally in combating terrorism and a stabilizing force in the strategic Horn of Africa, killed over 40 innocent civilians, arrested thousands, instigated violence and hatred in the country? Is it surprising that in spite of these acts, the ruling party perceives itself as not guilty? Is it surprising that the Prime Minister extended the ban on peaceful demonstrations by another month despite protests that this edict was entirely unconstitutional and illegal? Is it surprising that his security forces killed opposition party members outside the capital two days after signing the European Union-brokered peace pact on June 10 to peacefully resolve election-related disputes?

None of these is surprising to Ethiopians who endured 14 long years of similar persecutions, economic hardships and man-made disasters under a deceptive, incompetent and clearly authoritarian leadership.

This was not the first time that the ruling party killed peaceful demonstrators. For instance, in 1992 and 2001, security forces opened fire on Addis Ababa University students who peacefully demonstrated against the ruling party's failed policies, killing more than 35, wounding over 400, and arresting and torturing hundreds of students, while 22 university professors were sacked.

In 2002, security forces shot protestors in Southern Ethiopia, killing over 35 people. While these are examples from urban areas only, it should not be difficult to imagine the situation of dissidents in remote areas where little is known due to lack of communication and the absence of human rights activists.

In spite of all these, the ruling party never admitted its mistakes apart from giving shamefully lame excuses for its irresponsible and barbaric acts. For example, in 1992 its excuse was that its riot police did not have the right equipment to disperse peaceful demonstrators. However shocking such an irresponsible statement seemed to many families who lost their loved ones, the ruling party could simply get away with it without any form of accountability. Just last week, another round of killings claimed the lives of over 40 civilians. Appallingly, the ruling party labeled these civilian victims as 'unemployed hooligans', as if to imply that their lives were worth nothing.

Despite the rhetoric that Ethiopia is 'democratic', persistent abuses of civil and political rights, and lack of an inclusive and responsive political system characterizes the current regime. In fact, the regime is typified by what Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way (2002, pp. 51-65)[1] describe as 'Competitive Authoritarianism', which is a hybrid regime where formal democratic institutions are widely viewed as the principal means of obtaining and exercising political authority. However, the incumbents violate those rules so often and to such an extent that the regime fails to meet conventional minimum standards for democracy.

Although the Ethiopian regime may have appeared to be an economic and political reformer in the past, a closer review of its policies reveals otherwise. Notwithstanding its rhetoric about liberal economic policies and privatization, the ruling party and its benefactors control key economic sectors. In fact, strategic control of the economy is one of the tactics that the ruling party employed to manipulate the political process in the country.

For instance, state-owned land was viewed as a key instrument to control the political opinions of eighty-five percent of rural Ethiopians who are entirely dependent on agriculture for their livelihoods. There were reports from many rural constituencies that prior to the recent elections, cadres of the ruling party were threatening to deny those who voted for the opposition parties access to land. The ruling party's false confidence in winning the elections in most rural areas was thus prompted by this unlawful act. Nevertheless, none of these threats made sense to millions of desperate farmers who hardly benefit from their 'less-than-a-hectare' land and whose lives are largely sustained by relief rosters year in and year out. On the contrary, most people viewed the election as an opportunity for ensuring a productive life whereby responsible citizens could earn a living and lead a dignified life. The ruling party was blind to this reality owing to its gross underestimation of the intellect and pride of the rural people.

Ironically, it is also this grave miscalculation of the ruling party that provided the platform for the participation of opposition parties in the recent elections. However, the fact that opposition parties were able to mobilize millions of supporters within a short period of election campaigning, despite massive harassment and intimidation, sent an important warning signal to the ruling party. Hence, it immediately got busy retracting its seemingly democratic gestures. It did not stop there. Terrified by the stiff resistance from the people who are determined to decide their future, its true nature became self-evident. In effect, it was forced to reveal its real identity to the world that it only managed to appear democratic aided by a situation in which it could control the playing field by selecting its own team, the referees and even the spectators. In the absence of any or all of these, it had to resort to the original tactics of any dictatorship, which is typified by mass killing, arrests, torture and so on. In fact, the ruling party was panic-stricken that it started to take any measure that appeared to support its desire to salvage its greed for power. It was interesting to see how in the course of last week, it even targeted every possible means of effective communication including disrupting cellular phone services. Toward the end of the week, the state-controlled telecom agency announced that due to technical problems it was no longer able to provide SMS (text messaging) services. It is to be noted that, in the absence of other media, Ethiopians were exchanging information of a political nature through text messaging.

It is apparent that the current situation in Ethiopia is extremely tense. Given its repeated records of violent confrontation, the ruling party will not refrain from engaging in more brutal and barbaric acts to suppress dissenting voices and the people's struggle for political and economic freedom. The question remains, how many more killings will it take to make a ruler a dictator? How many more millions of people have to starve in Ethiopia before the world realizes that the root causes of the problem is not lack of rains but failed economic policies that are making people more vulnerable?

Last week we heard that the US is set to pledge US$674 famine funds as part of a joint US/UK initiative to 'get Africa back on its feet', of which a large amount is destined for Ethiopia. During the same period, Ethiopians were raising their voices to tell the world that it is the presence of responsible leadership in the country, and not relief assistance, that could fully mitigate the effects of disaster and poverty. While Ethiopians are immensely grateful for the relief support that the US has provided to the innumerable victims of poor governance and resource mismanagement, it has become apparent that charity will not lead to prosperity. If this were the case, Ethiopia would have been Africa's most prosperous nation in the last 14 years. What is needed in Ethiopia is responsible, competent and committed leadership that can create an enabling environment for citizens to work hard and create a prosperous and peaceful Ethiopia.

Ethiopians have long recognized this need and their recent admirable participation in the legislative elections indicates more than ever their determination to change the image of their country and lead a dignified life, wherein the rule of law, accountability, and transparency provide the platform for development and lasting peace. Simultaneously, people are anxious to harness their ethnic and geographic diversity in order to create a better Ethiopia for all citizens. However, it is shameful that a divisive leadership that is not even capable of fully grasping the values of and strengths in national unity is attempting to suppress these noble objectives.

On Monday June 13, 2005, the Prime Minister was quoted as saying in his televised address to the nation that, "there was no reason for riots in Addis Ababa [where] EPRDF has conceded its defeat". This remark clearly indicates the PM's divisive strategy that has threatened to erode the concept of nationalism from the minds of Ethiopians for the last 14 years. Fortunately, his self-centered and anti-development psychology has long been rejected by Ethiopians who embrace unity not only among themselves but also among their fellow African brothers and sisters. It is important that all peace and freedom-loving Africans individually and collectively stand up with their Ethiopian brothers and sisters who are struggling to end the suffering of their fellow citizens and create a bright future for the coming generation.

Notes:

[1] Levitsky, Steven and Way, Lucan A. "The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism." Journal of Democracy. (2002) 11:2: 51-65

* Makeda Tsegaye is an Ethiopian woman with a Masters degree in International Peace Studies (with specialization in Economic Development and Peace) currently working for an international development agency in Nairobi, Kenya.

* Please send comments to [email protected]

In the wake of last week's election- related protests, the Ethiopian government's crackdown on potential sources of unrest has spread throughout the country, Human Rights Watch says. While international attention has focused on events in Addis Ababa, opposition members and students in other cities are increasingly at risk of arbitrary arrest and torture. The current wave of arrests followed a chaotic week in Addis Ababa that saw security forces put down a series of election-related protests with excessive force.