US envoy in Ethiopia urged to press for political prisoners release
– Ambassador Donald Y. Yamamoto
– Ambassador of the United States of America to Ethiopia
– P. O. Box 1014
– Addis Ababa
– Ethiopia
– Fax: +251 11 517-40-01
– Email: [email protected]
Date: 28 March 2007
Dear Ambassador,
Your appointment as an Ambassador of the US Government to Ethiopia could not have come at a more important time to us, Ethiopians. After decades of oppression, and violent and brutal denial of our rights, we have made history coming out in millions to demonstrate that we are ready for a peaceful transition to democracy, and for electing those whom we trust will lead us to liberty and prosperity, although this peaceful transition seems to have been temporarily reversed by the TPLF regime. In this peaceful struggle for freedom, we expect our friends to stand by us and to encourage us so that it is possible to enjoy the same freedoms they have been enjoying for generations. This responsibility for promoting democracy and freedom in Ethiopia now rests on none other than your capable shoulders.
Talking about friends, Ethiopians have always held USA up there in a league of its own – a country which has distinguished itself time and again by speaking for the voiceless and by standing shoulder to shoulder with oppressed people around the world. President Bush has also reinforced this ideal in his various speeches throughout his Presidency.
The last two years, however, have been a very testing time for Ethiopians, and the apparent lack of a steady and principled position from the US Government makes many of us wonder whether our belief in America as a “friend of the people” has been misplaced. We did not expect America to do the job of establishing democracy in Ethiopia for us but neither did we expect the kind of indifference, actions and words that embolden a dictator that we are observing now.
When the political space was opened up a little during the months before the May 2005 election, I, like many others, hoped that all of us were going to be winners irrespective of the political party that won the majority votes. I hoped that we were going to elect our leaders for the first time in our history and I hoped that those who did not get enough votes to govern the country for a five-year period would be magnanimous in defeat. What transpired after the election is well known to you, Ambassador, and I am not going to waste your time by detailing the events in this letter.
I have no doubt that the US Government knows exactly what has been happening in Ethiopia since May 2005. However, the US Government’s publicly stated objective of facilitating the spread of democracy around the world and standing by those who are oppressed by their own governments seem to be only at the rhetorical level as we have not seen tangible evidence of putting that into practice in Ethiopia. I would like to believe that you have the ability and the moral obligation to put that right.
Ambassador,
It is interesting you highlighted the traumatic massacre of Tiananmen Square in China as one of the most interesting periods in history and as a historic moment in one of your recent interviews with John Grap of The Enquirer. I believe that a lot of similarities exist with the massacre in Ethiopia in June and November 2005 and hidden from the eyes of reporters and diplomats almost daily before and after May 2005. The massacres in Ethiopia are undisputable facts that are confirmed in an independent Enquiry Commission’s report and by judges, diplomats, elected parliamentarians and high-ranking military officials who have been defecting in recent months. It is disheartening that, for example, the US Government has not protested against the forced “doctoring” of the conclusions of the Enquiry Commission that put the responsibility for the massacres of June and November 2005 on the TPLF government.
I am sure with your wealth of experience you can recognise the difference between a government which is truly committed to promoting democracy but which is struggling to make good progress due to capacity and other limitations, and a government that is doing everything possible to hang on to power under the guise of “doing everything possible to promote democracy but it takes time”. When America is honest about spreading democracy, it holds those who obstruct progress accountable by their deeds; it does not just listen to and accept at face value a combination of sugar-coated words, naked lies and trickery, especially when there is a documented pattern to it!
Another interesting comparison is the deteriorating human rights situation in Zimbabwe. The recent actions of President Robert Mugabe and his government against the opposition leaders and supporters are deplorable and he must be held accountable for continued serious human rights violations. America is rightly at the forefront of denouncing the brutal actions of President Mugabe and protesting about the situation in the strongest possible terms. However, do not the actions of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his government dwarf whatever is happening in Zimbabwe? Why is the US Government showing such blatant double standards that rightly exposes and puts pressure on one dictator while wrongfully emboldening another? Most Zimbabweans I have had the privilege to interact and work with wish to see the back of President Mugabe while at the same time giving him due credit for leading the struggle for independence. Most Ethiopians have little positive to say about Prime Minister Meles. A typical dictator like President Mugabe flies in the face of the international community and does what he says he will do in public. He is not afraid of confronting those who do not agree with him. However, the new variant dictator Prime Minister Meles speaks with a honeyed tongue of democracy in public but never intends to walk the talk. The US and other democratic countries need to learn how to handle such a new variant dictator.
Ambassador,
You have the ability and the capacity to influence positive change in Ethiopia. You can demand the release of the elected leaders and other political prisoners and you can facilitate dialogue and reconciliation to put back on track the glimmer of hope for democracy that we witnessed before the historic elections. You have the opportunity to write your name in the history of Ethiopia as a diplomat and a friend who stood for liberty and for respecting human rights. You said in the same interview mentioned above that diplomacy is a not a job but a profession. I would like to urge you to prove your words by the results you achieve. Every night you go to bed, please ask yourself whether your actions during the day helped to bring about honest and positive change in Ethiopia or whether it was just another day in the office of a three-year assignment. For the effort that I hope you will make, I wish you great success!
Yours respectfully,
Samuel Habtu Belay,
[email protected]