NES- Statement on the Worsening Developments in Ethiopia

As independent academics working in higher education in Scandinavia, deeply
concerned about the fate of our people, democratic transition and nation,
we would like to express our deep sorrow, shock and anger by the quick turn
of events in Ethiopia from expectations and hope that a new historical
chapter would be open in the ancient nation to the setback and step back to
the ugly and deeply offensive practice of the politics of cold-blooded
murder against innocent and unarmed students. We protested when fellow
academics were jailed and students were murdered in 2001. Sadly once more
we are forced to repeat and register to the world yet another protest. We
saw pictures of soldiers directing and shooting at students within the
columns of the closed gates of the University. How can soldiers be
unleashed to invade the university at will and even choose to peep gun
butts through the holes in the columns of the gates to shoot to kill? Meles
& Co. had been students at the same university. Once upon a time they too
protested against such barbarity, now they sanction it, and even perhaps as
the opposition have reported, instigated it to manufacture an artificial
chaos in order to retain the authoritarian route to the democratisation of
power.

How we wish to see the day when the blood of the innocent young people
will stop from being spilt. We are unfortunately far away from the scene
where the bad news, and the pictures of horrifically injured youngsters,
mothers and fathers so humble and unassuming, hurting with their noble gaze
bewildered by the fate that befell them, fiercely continues to pierce our
heart, sapping our spirit, depleting our energy and suffocating our
conscience. Their agony beckons us to act. The world must know in this
21st century that values of human rights, democracy and governance are
shared and they are every ones concern now. These values cannot be
interpreted in a self-serving fashion to be left only to those who wish to
bend them at will by those who find it so easy to switch from showing a
façade of democracy only to resort and rely on violence to prolong their
rule. As educators who get sheer pleasure in seeing young people learn and
mature through nurturing them with higher learning, the ghastly sight of
students being cruelly attacked by soldiers becomes hugely unbearable. We
call the world to join us to protest against injustice. Let not Ethiopia be
forced once again to suffer the agony of arrogant terror deployed so easily
and shamelessly by the ruling elite that seems to have lost backing from
the people during the current election ironically controlled by itself.

What is it about Ethiopia that makes it prone to take the wrong historical
turn every time it appears to make the correct turn? Given Ethiopia is a
country that has suffered for so long from red and white terror, war and
famine, unending humiliation and prolonged dictatorship, what would it take
to make it change from using violence to make political transition to using
democracy? How can the people be so close to make the historic transition
through democracy and be denied from it and become cheated from
celebration? How cruel can it be of the regime to dangle the democratic
carrot and invade their peace with the armed stick? For how long must our
old nation endure such crude behaviour from those who prefer to rely on
army, police and armed violence to retain and ascend to power rather the
free expression of free people? Why attempt to dam the historical
opportunity to open a new and peaceful transition from one set of parties
to another. Naively perhaps we all thought that members of the ruling party
might have recognised that after reaching nearly the same number of years
that the previous regime stayed in the palaces of Ethiopia, they too might
wish to think of history and not their belly and their fat bank accounts.
We thought they want to leave a legacy and not a tragedy. We thought they
have seen that having stayed for as long as the time it took the Mengistu
regime, they too have recognised at last that they have failed to solve any
of the key problems of Ethiopia: Ethiopia’s relation with Eritrea is
still unsettled, there is no respect for the sovereign will of the people,
hunger and/or starvation stalks the land, poverty is increasing rather than
decreasing, corruption is still rife and the elite is cynical, rude and
crude to the people. It speculates and tries to auction ethic identity in
the invented market place of political commerce rather than building the
civic identity, civic expression and civic engagement of the population.
And when the citizens express their choice, the rulers resort to fraud and
deception. We are back to square one. The current ruling elites are no
visionaries. They cannot see how significant it is to seize the historical
opportunity of effectuating a political transition based on democratic
choice rather than through the usual military methods. Of all the dangers
facing our nation, it is this threat of disrupting the historic opportunity
for a peaceful transition that is most unwelcome. This danger poses the
gravest of all tasks for all of us everywhere to resist any premature
abortion to peaceful and democratic transition.

Election frauds and delays over 200 seats simply give a lie over the
ruling group’s claims it has won the election. It is fair and just that
the opposition has not conceded defeat and is willing and ever ready to
defy at any cost to defend the values of democracy whatever the
intimidation and the level of terror that Meles and his crony Bereket are
hatching behind the backs of people and history. These fellows are
prisoners of their ethnic political commercial history.
A leopard never changes its spot, though Meles & Co are past masters at
putting wool over the eyes of Western politicians and academics eager to be
persuaded of their beguiling goodness and supposed conversion to liberal
democracy. Such deceptive stance earned Meles to join the Blair Commission.
Their deceptive tricks are infinitely boundless inversely proportional to
their moral limitations.

Who Is Responsible for Killing Student Demonstrators?

Let us briefly show the chronicle of events from the pre-election period to
the present.
This is how the turn of events took. Meles and Bereket did not expect that
the opposition would do so well and even threaten their rule with the
danger of a potential opposition majority in parliament. They were deluding
themselves that the people are behind them. The chair of NES, spent five
weeks in the rural areas of northern Ethiopia and did not meet even one
person who had anything good to say about the regime. The vice-chair also
spent 18 months in different parts of Ethiopia and was surprised to find
that hardly anyone he came across showed any trust, respect or support to
the ruling party and its current leaders. People were tired of their lies
and their relentless bullying. Farmers were demoralised. Business people
were complaining of higher and unfair taxation. People show their protest
through various outlets. It was clear that given a free and fair election,
the opposition would win with a landslide. The regime did not get this
message. Meles & Co. panicked. They seem to have resorted to classic
Orwellian deceit. They instigate and accuse the opposition of their own
vice. They lie and accuse the opposition for lying. They went for cheap
politics and quickly lost the entire plot. When they ordered shoot to kill,
they became hopelessly compromised losing any credibility of claims to any
higher purpose they like to embellish themselves. The king has finally has
no clothes.

Even before the election date, judging the public mood they declared a
state of emergency. They banned peaceful protest and thus took
anti-democratic measures. The message of danger grew even more to their
rule, when city after city began to fall to the opposition. But as soon as
they saw the election was going wrong for their side, they accelerated the
tense environment by spreading rumours of violence, ethnic cleansing and
the like. More ominously, they began to spread rumours of a Rwandan type of
genocide. They kept saying that the election is showing ‘anti-Tigryan’
sentiments. They began to harangue the opposition and blaming them for all
their own invented ghosts and metaphysical worries.

What was remarkable was that the opposition continued to remain largely
unprovoked and strategic in the measures it took. It behaved impeccably and
with wisdom, responsibility and with utmost discipline and kept the faith
that the country’s historic achievement, i.e., – the choice of a peaceful
and not violent political transition has finally arrived! Meanwhile in many
rural areas the ballot counting control mechanism has been very weak, the
Election Board has been accused of partisanship, so ballot rigging became
rife, and inspectors started giving contradictory signals including former
US president Jimmy Carter.

When the state of emergency lapsed students took to peaceful protest. Meles
declared another restrictive military control of the situation, rather than
allowing peaceful dialogue, freedom of association, and democratic
expression of peaceful protest.
The state of emergency created tension; the military style of governing
created even more problems by blocking the avenues of debate, public
participation and democratic celebration. The persistent and further rumour
of ethnic tension created unease. This got even worse especially when
anonymously circulated leaflets alleging incitation of inter communal
disturbances appeared. Finally when the students, tired and frustrated of
waiting by the endless delay of announcing the results starting the
protest, which is in accordance with their irreducible democratic rights,
the regime accused the opposition of instigating it. It has begun arresting
leading opposition figures like Ato Lidetu, and Ato. Andargatchew Tsige. It
has been reported that Dr. Berhanu, Engineer Shaul, and Dr. Yakob have been
under house arrest.

This measure has escalated the tension by gravely heightening the
situation. The full responsibility for all the troubles lies entirely with
Meles & Co.

We demand that:
– Meles and Co. immediately release the opposition leaders
– They immediately release the 500 students
– No Ethiopian deserves to die at this moment because they exercised the
right of peaceful democratic rights
– The contested seats be recounted expeditiously
– If the opposition is found winning, the regime hands power peacefully
to the opposition and the vice versa
– Call the army to return to the barracks.
– Those that ordered and killed the reported 26 students be brought to
justice.

Once the expression of democratic will of the people is respected, we call
on opposition and Government to think of creating an atmosphere for a
national consensus on the major issues confronting our nation at this point
in its long history.

The light of democracy has encouraged us, and we like not to be discouraged
by dimming it with the current killing. We want Ethiopia to experience what
it never had in its long history- a peaceful and lawful transition from one
set of parties to another. Democratic institutions alone can fix the
destiny of the Ethiopian nation. They alone can put behind us our
numberless humiliations. How can we not defeat not feeding ourselves? This
is tied from not being able to embed a democratic governance system, norms,
institutions, traditions and cultures in our country. Let the people be
allowed to find their way. Meles & Co. through their selfish fraudulent
desires will try to undo the democratic aspiration of the people.

We call upon all the people of the world, friends of Ethiopia, friends of
democracy, friends of those who suffered long and hard humiliations and
Governments, the UN and others to put maximum pressure on Meles & Co. in
order for Ethiopians to embark on a new democratic future and destiny.

Professor Mammo Muchie, Chair of NES-Scandinavian Chapter
Berhanu G. Balcha, Vice- Chair of NES-Scandinavian Chapter

– Contact address:
– Fibigerstraede 2
– 9220- Aalborg East
– Denmark
– Tel. + 45 96 359 813 Or +45 96 358 331
– Fax + 45 98 153 298
– Cell:+45 3112 5507
– Email: [email protected] or [email protected]