By Abdi Galgalo
Realizing that “…Iraq’s neighbors greatly affect its stability”, the Iraq Study Group puts forth a recommendation to the Bush administration to ?[s]top destabilizing interventions and actions by Iraq’s neighbors.? The report vividly shows that countries can willingly destabilize their neighbors at will for regional hegemony, and other selfish interests. Unless the Bush administration is waiting for Somalia or Horn of Africa Study Group?s recommendation, the destabilization role of Meles Zenawi regime in Somali must immediately be stopped now.
The only foreign force openly destabilizing Somalia at present is the Ethiopia Defense Force [currently under the control of the ruling Tigrean People’s Liberation Front – TPLF] and its security forces. Ethiopia?s military presence in Somalia is the main cause for the stalled peace talk between the Union of Islamic Court and Transitional Federal Government. The Zenawi force that has been menacing citizens on the streets of Oromia including the capital Finfinne (Addis Ababa), Gambella, Ogadenia, and Sidama has already been exported to the streets of Somalia. The International Crisis Group reported last year that ?in the rubble-strewn street of the ruined capital of [Somalia]?Ethiopian security services?are engaged in intimidation, abduction and assassination.? Moreover, a leaked U.N. report confirms the presence of up to 8,000 Ethiopian troops in Somalia in a clear violation of Somalia?s sovereignty.
The despotic regime justifies its intervention by supplying the international community with unsubstantiated claims of Islamists terrorism threat in Somalia. Contrary to Zenawi?s claim, the U.S Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs, Jendayi Frazer, said last June that it was ?unclear whether the Islamic militia or elements within it were linked to, or gave shelter to al-Qaeda operatives?. No report has yet been released from the U.S. administration rescinding Jendayi Frazer?s statement. However, this official statement of the U.S does not correlate with the behind-the-scene actions of the U.S. ? which is, the (tacit or secretly expressed) support of Ethiopia?s military intervention in Somalia with the pretext of containing terrorism threat. In fact, the U.S. was the prime architect of the recent U.N. resolution that adopted the deployment of foreign troops at a time when Somalia is returning to relative normalcy. The resolution echoed Ethiopia?s claim to justify the deployment of foreign troops against the will of the majority of the Somali people and against the advice of many states and international agencies.
It is bewildering that the despotic Ethiopian regime is still being regarded as a ?staunch ally in the war against terrorism? while its track record show acts of domestic and cross-border terrorism. This U.S. stance on Ethiopia is contradictory to what Dr. Condoleezza Rice claimed to have learned from the failed U.S. policy in the Middle East. Dr. Rice said that “for 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy ?, and we achieved neither. Now, we are taking a different course. We are supporting the democratic aspirations of all the people”.
Ethiopia?s meddling in Somalia is a clear manifestation of the lack of a genuine multiparty system, the rule of the law, and democracy in Ethiopia. If the ruling party that has monopolized the state power contuses to hamper democratic transition, neither stability nor democracy will be achieved in the horn of Africa. Democracy and stability in Ethiopia and the horn at large can be achieved only when the aspiration of all the peoples of Ethiopia is achieved, which will effectively curb the Ethiopia?s ruling party aggression on neighboring countries.
The political, economic, and human right problems in Ethiopia are not unknown to the United States. Ambassador David Shinn, who was U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia in the mid-to-late 1990’s, recently told a Harvard University conference that ?..Ethiopia has?a serious lack of true power sharing and weak governing institutions ?. [A]s long as there continues to be alienated groups in Ethiopia that believe, rightly or wrongly, they can not achieve their goals through the political process, these? [conflicts]? will continue and may worsen”. Shinn further warned against ?further alienation of the Oromo and Somali [Ogadenis]?.
The Tigrian ethnocratic regime in Ethiopia has employed a policy of suppressing targeted ethnonational groups, particularly the Oromos and the Ogaden Somalis. The alienation of the largest ethnonational group in the horn of Africa-the Oromo-has enabled the minority government to maintain state power in the hands of few loyal Tigrians. As a result, most Oromo political organizations, notably the Oromo Liberation Front, have been forced to go underground to struggle for the right of Oromos for national self-determination and for the establishment of a free, just, and democratic society in Ethiopia.
As a result of OLF?s departure, the Oromos are not fairly and genuinely represented in all affairs of the country. The relatively younger Oromo political parties, which were hoped to fill the ?representation vacuum?, have found it difficult to endure the brute nature of the Tigrian regime. Killing and intimidating Oromo MPs have become frequent occurrences in the country. As a result, some Oromo MPs have been forced to flee the country. The inhuman treatment of the Oromos has also caused the defection of many senior officials-judges, diplomats, military commanders, politicians and even athletes. Currently, over 30,000 Oromo political prisoners, including numerous political and civic leaders, are languishing in different prisons throughout Oromia. In an interview with the Guardian in London last month, the recently defected Oromia Supreme Court president has disclosed that there is an estimated 15,000-20,000 extra-judiciary killing committed by the state security apparatus in Oromia alone in the past 15 years.
While the vision of ?spreading democracy? to the Middle East ?required? the Bush administration to use military force, it is ironic that the peoples of Ethiopia are struggling against the U.S-backed undemocratic regime to achieve the same vision. The horn of Africa, particularly Ethiopia, is a region where democracy and the rule of law are chronically lacking. Perhaps, the Bush administration may not have realized that Africans, just like the rest of the people all over the World, yearn for freedom and democracy. In fact, the readiness of the Ethiopian populace to embrace democratic values of the West, as was amply demonstrated during the aborted May 2005 election, makes the Bush administration?s vision of ?spreading democracy? amenable for implementation in Ethiopia.
There is no justification to keep the Ethiopia?s dictator as an ally while the Oromos, who represent a good half of Ethiopia?s population, are being alienated, killed, and jailed for just being Oromos? How can a regime that steals elections and commits genocide against its own citizens be an ally of the greatest nation, the U.S.? The oppressed peoples of Ethiopia hope that the West, particularly the U.S., supports their aspirations rather than supporting a tyrant that is bent on destabilizing the Horn region. The continued support of the U.S. to the criminal regime in Ethiopia will be regarded not only as a betrayal of peoples? aspiration for freedom and democracy but also a betrayal of the very ideals of America-the fulfillment of people?s aspiration for freedom, equality, self-determination, justice, and human dignity.
Abdi Galgalo can be reached for comments at [email protected]