Today, Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a second warrant of arrest against the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, considering that there are reasonable grounds to believe him responsible for three counts of genocide committed against the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups, that include: genocide by killing, genocide by causing serious bodily or mental harm and genocide by deliberately inflicting on each target group conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s physical destruction.

This second arrest warrant does not replace or revoke in any respect the first warrant of arrest issued against Mr Al Bashir on 4 March, 2009, which shall thus remain in effect. In the previous arrest warrant, the Chamber considered that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Al Bashir is criminally responsible for five counts of crimes against humanity (murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture and rape) and two counts for war crimes (intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities, and pillaging).

On 4 March, 2009, Pre-Trial Chamber I had rejected the Prosecutor’s application in respect of the crime of genocide. On 6 July, 2009, the Prosecutor filed an appeal against this decision. On 3 February, 2010, the Appeals Chamber rendered its judgment on the Prosecutor’s appeal, reversing, by unanimous decision, Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision of 4 March, 2009, to the extent that Pre-Trial Chamber I decided “not to issue a warrant of arrest in respect of the charge of genocide in view of an erroneous standard of proof”. The Appeals Chamber directed the Pre-Trial Chamber to decide anew whether or not the arrest warrant should be extended to cover the charge of genocide. Applying the standard of proof as identified by the Appeals Chamber, Pre-Trial Chamber I concluded today that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Al Bashir acted with specific intent to destroy in part the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups.

Pre-Trial Chamber I requests the Registrar of the Court to prepare a supplementary request for co-operation seeking the arrest and surrender of Mr Al Bashir for the counts contained in both the first and the second warrant of arrest, and transmit such a request to the competent Sudanese authorities, to all States Parties to the Rome Statute, and to all the United Nations Security Council members that are not States Parties to the Statute. The Registrar is also directed to transmit additional requests for the arrest and surrender of Omar Al Bashir to the Court to any other State as may be necessary.

The situation in Darfur was referred to the International Criminal Court by the United Nations Security Council’s resolution 1593, on 31 March, 2005. In this situation, four cases are being heard: The Prosecutor v. Ahmad Muhammad Harun (“Ahmad Harun”) and Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman (“Ali Kushayb”); The Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir; The Prosecutor v. Bahar Idriss Abu Garda and The Prosecutor v. Abdallah Banda Abakaer Nourain and Saleh Mohammed Jerbo Jamus.

The International Criminal Court is the only permanent international court established with the mission to help put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole, namely the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, and thus to contribute to the prevention of such crimes.

Decision on the Prosecution’s Application for a Warrant of Arrest against Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir

Second Decision on the Prosecution’s Application for a Warrant of Arrest

Judgment on the appeal of the Prosecutor against the “Decision on the Prosecution’s Application for a Warrant of Arrest against Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir”

Warrant of Arrest for Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir

Second warrant of arrest for Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir

Case information sheet “The Prosecutor v. Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir”

Washington, D.C. – infoZine – Scripps Howard Foundation Wire – One of the world’s most volatile region, the Horn of Africa, has come under greater scrutiny, as the political and humanitarian situation in Ethiopia worsens after fraudulent elections.

Regarded as the most important ally to the United States in calming the region, Ethiopia is in a critical moment as it shifts away from democracy and toward a more repressive and brutal regime.

“The 2010 elections clearly show Ethiopia moving toward a one-party rule,” Ted Dagne, specialist in African affairs for the Congressional Research Service, told the Foreign Affairs’ Africa and Global Health subcommittee at a hearing Thursday.

The ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, captured 99 percent of the vote in the May elections, largely because of the restrictions it placed on opposition parties and intimidation against its citizens.

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., the senior Republican on the subcommittee, said the Obama administration should condemn the actions of the Ethiopian government. He also said a fundamental reorientation of U.S. policy toward the region is needed.

The insurgency continues over the independence of the Ethiopia’s Ogaden region, which borders Somalia. The region remains largely closed off or severely restricted for humanitarian workers, nongovernmental organizations and journalists.

In a recent report, Human Rights Watch said it has found patterns of arbitrary detention, torture and killings of civilians amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity on the side of the government.

But Leslie Lefkow, senior researcher and team leader on the Horn of Africa for Human Rights Watch, said in an interview that political implications will prevent any cases from reaching the international courts on human rights at this time.

Human Rights watch also said the insurgents, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, are guilty of war crimes for attacking a Chinese oil exploration site in 2007, killing two Chinese civilians. This prompted an intensified Ethiopian military retaliation in the region.

Literally wed to Ethiopia’s Washington-area Diaspora, Flaherty is part of a wider campaign that has emerged in recent years to urge the United States to promote democracy in Ethiopia. The next Ethiopian election is scheduled for May 23. Many Ethiopians in the D.C. area are concerned that the Obama administration overlooks democratization of Ethiopia in favor of strategic security interests; some actively lobby the U.S. government.

”There is considerable pressure from the Ethiopian Diaspora, which is almost completely anti-the current Ethiopian government,” said the State Department’s Ethiopia desk officer, who agreed to speak to The Root anonymously.

Last month, an estimated 500 Diaspora activists attended a pro-democracy conference at the Doubletree Hotel in Arlington, Va. At the podium, Flaherty announced his hunger-strike plans. The day before starting the strike, Flaherty issued an open letter to Obama, urging him to make a statement calling for Mideksa’s release. Flaherty recently released a film on Ethiopia’s political struggles, which includes an interview with Mideksa while she was on a visit to Washington. The documentary aired last Friday on the Africa Channel, an English-language cable network focused on Africa.

A group called Ethiopian American Civic Advocacy published a statement last year addressed to the U.S. Congress and the administration, ”to convey to you our growing concerns over ongoing human rights violations, war crimes, government-sponsored brutality, ethnic cleansing, suppression of independent media, torture and illegitimate detentions of those who criticize the government.”

Some in Congress have been responsive to the lobbying. In March, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) issued a statement on the ”Fragile State of Democracy in Africa.” Regarding Ethiopia he noted, ”Several key opposition leaders remain imprisoned, most notably Mideksa, the head of the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party. There is no way that elections can be fair, let alone credible, with opposition leaders in jail or unable to campaign freely.”

But the Obama administration has resisted openly criticizing America’s most valued partner in the Horn of Africa. The relatively stable Ethiopian government is America’s trusted ally in the war on terrorism, and receives half a billion dollars annually in aid and millions more in military assistance.

Pro-democracy activism has been on the rise since 2005, since Ethiopia’s last general election. The ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, did the unprecedented by providing access to state-owned media for opposition candidates. Most believe there was pressure to appear democratic to Western donors, which provide substantial financial aid to Ethiopia. The opposition took advantage of the opportunity and debated the state of the country, criticizing the ruling party. The government didn’t anticipate the momentum that the opposition would gain among the people, explains Abebe Belew, host of a political weekly radio show on Washington-based Addis Dimts Radio.

”The government was being openly criticized on television, radio and newspapers. People really believed that there would be a democratic change, that their votes would count,” said Belew. ”I reported on the radio, ‘The sun is coming.”’

In 2005, millions took to the streets in support of opposition parties, and the government began to jail opposition leaders and political organizers. The election, with a reported 80-90 percent turnout, was considered flawed by almost all international observer delegations. Zenawi, the prime minister, declared victory in the election, which most Washington-area Ethiopians label as ”stolen.” Protests erupted on the streets of Addis Ababa, sparking a violent military crackdown.

Realizing that his hopeful reports had been premature, Belew had to retract his optimism. ”I was tricked,” Belew said. ”I thought history was being made. Independent-minded media has been eliminated, journalists arrested, and the opposition jailed in advance.” This time, with an upcoming election, the government has learned its lesson, he said.

Several new laws make the clampdown appear legitimate. A law on Ethiopian charities and societies prevents non-governmental organizations, which often deal with issues of democracy, accountability and human rights, from operating if more than 10 percent of their funds come from foreign donors. Another law bears down on the press. Last summer, the parliament passed new anti-terrorism legislation, which the Human Rights Watch warns ”could provide the Ethiopian government with a potent instrument to crack down on political dissent.” The possible penalties include death.

The ruling party recently accused dozens of political activists of plotting a coup against the government and jailed popular political leaders, including Mideksa, the dissident for whom Flaherty is protesting.

Still, the war on terrorism trumps concerns about the state of Ethiopia’s democracy, and new intelligence about terrorist activity in Africa is making Ethiopia more important to the United States than ever before. U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Jacob Lew announced last summer that the United States plans to expand financial assistance to Ethiopia.

Last year’s congressional budget allocated almost half a billion dollars of annual aid to Ethiopia, which doesn’t include military and weapons assistance. The budget stated that a major objective of U.S. assistance in Ethiopia, is to ”help the government of Ethiopia to proceed with the difficult transition from a de facto one-party state to a representative multi-party democracy.”

After meeting with Ethiopia’s prime minister last year, Lew said he touched upon points of concern, including the controversial laws. Regarding the issue of Mideksa, he was quoted in media reports, saying, ”I reinforced our concern that the matter be resolved quickly and finally.”

Activists don’t think the expression of concern goes far enough. ”The U.S. government can withhold aid and give funding to opposition groups,” Belew said, suggesting how the United States can affect Ethiopia’s actions. In 2007, Rep. Donald Payne (D-N.J.) introduced H.R. 2003, the Ethiopia Democracy and Accountability Act, which would directly tie aid money to democratization activities. But the bill never became law.

”I think it is fair to say that we have become more vocal in our criticism of the Ethiopian government’s shortcomings in terms of human rights and good governance,” said the Ethiopia desk officer. ”This administration’s emphasis on democratic reforms means that the relationship between our two countries now has more tension that in the previous administration. I think this is a better way to characterize the changed relationship, rather than to say that the alliance is weakening.”

The upcoming election and the political crackdown is a growing concern within the Ethiopian Diaspora. The Ethiopian Women for Peace and Development was created in 1991 to focus on humanitarian efforts, like fighting famine and poverty. Recently, the group has become more political. Last week, dozens of women marched from the State Department building in Washington, D.C. to the U.S. Capitol. They stopped by the White House where Flaherty was stationed on the fifth day of his hunger strike. They, too, were demanding that the U.S. government call for Mideksa’s release.

Flaherty is realistic about his expectations. ”I am not asking you to move mountains,” he wrote in the letter to Obama. ”I have studied the issue extensively, and I conclude that such an effort on your part will not dilute anything from U.S. foreign policy. It will simply send a powerful message to the world that the U.S. still believes and supports the idea of democracy and freedom everywhere.”

Kira Zalan is a freelance writer based in Washington, D.C.

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Sudan’s President Should Be in The Hague Facing Charges Against Him

(New York) – Political repression and human rights abuses across Sudan – in addition to widespread logistical failures and technical irregularities – marred Sudan’s first multi-party elections in more than 20 years, Human Rights Watch said today. Sudanese authorities should urgently investigate the human rights violations and bring those responsible to justice, Human Rights Watch said.  

The re-election of President Omar al-Bashir, announced April 26, 2010, has no legal effect on the International Criminal Court charges pending against him, Human Rights Watch said. In March 2009, the court issued an arrest warrant for al-Bashir on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his role in crimes committed in Darfur. 

“Our concerns with these elections go beyond technical irregularities,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “Political oppression and human rights violations undermined the freedom and fairness of the vote all over Sudan.”  

During the national elections, from April 11 through 15, international and domestic election observers reported widespread logistical and administrative problems, irregularities, and allegations of fraud, including multiple-voting and ballot-stuffing. The process was especially chaotic in the south, with serious irregularities reported in most states.  

In northern states, Human Rights Watch found that the National Congress Party-dominated government continued to foster a restrictive environment during the voting period through harassment, intimidation, and arrests of activists, opposition members, and election observers.  

Human Rights Watch documented fewer cases of restrictions of political rights than in preceding months, but police and security officers continued to commit rights violations. Repressive laws also remained in place, contrary to requirements under the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended the civil war and brought the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement, former southern rebels, into a national unity government.  

In one example in Khartoum, undercover police and security officers arrested an 18-year old female activist on March 31, detained her overnight, and interrogated her for handing out fliers urging people to vote against the ruling National Congress Party.  

“They put me in a dark room for many hours,” she told Human Rights Watch. “They kept asking me who was supporting me and how much money I was getting.”  

Human Rights Watch also documented intimidation during the voting. In one example from South Darfur, soldiers expelled observers from a polling place, assaulting one of them, saying, “We will kill anyone who stands against Bashir.”  

In southern Sudan, Human Rights Watch found that the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement-dominated regional government committed repeated rights abuses and created an atmosphere of oppression as people were casting their votes.  

Although violence was minimal during the voting period, Human Rights Watch documented numerous incidents of arbitrary arrests and intimidation of voters, opposition members, political party election observers, and domestic election observers by security forces in several southern states, including Western Equatoria, Central Equatoria, Western Bahr el Ghazal, Unity, and Jonglei.  

For example, on April 14, security officers arrested 14 domestic observers from the civil society organization SuNDE (Sudanese Network for Democratic Elections) at three polling places in Juba, the southern capital.  

“It was sometime in the afternoon when a man in plain clothes pulled me aside after noticing I was from SuNDE,” a female observer told Human Rights Watch. “He accused me of being paid by agents to destroy the elections. He tried to pull me into a car and when I resisted he slapped me twice. “  

Security officers later took the woman and other observers to a local police station, where they were detained for about an hour, then released without charge.  

Human Rights Watch urged Sudanese authorities to immediately investigate human rights abuses and bring those responsible to justice. Human Rights Watch also urged international agencies and elections observers to monitor the post-elections environment closely, as tensions could rise over objections to local results, and to condemn human rights violations, intimidation, and violence. On April 23, clashes over results in Unity State reportedly killed two civilians.  

Human Rights Watch also called on the Sudanese government to cooperate with the ICC, as required under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1593.  

“Regardless of the outcome, al-Bashir belongs in The Hague responding to the serious charges against him, for which victims have still seen no accountability,” Gagnon said.  

Background
The April elections were a milestone in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement’s six-year interim period. The national elections were intended to be a step toward the country’s transition to democracy and were meant to pave the way for the referendum on southern self-determination planned for early 2011.  

However, the process has been politically contentious at every step – from the conduct of the fifth national census in 2008 to the formation of the National Elections Commission (NEC) and subsidiary bodies, demarcation of voter constituencies, voter registration, campaigning, polling, and counting.  

In the pre-election period, international organizations including Human Rights Watch repeatedly warned that conditions in Sudan were not conducive to a free and fair vote because of flaws in the legal system, restrictions on political freedoms, continuing violence in Darfur, and the failure of the election commission to ensure a fair playing field.  

In the first week of April, the southern Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the Juba Alliance, an umbrella of opposition parties, announced that they would boycott the elections, citing ongoing violence in Darfur, an unresolved census dispute, the failure to reform the security laws, the uneven playing field, and bias in the election commission.  

After intense negotiations, and amid visits by the United States Special Envoy and other international actors to promote the elections, two major parties, Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) and Popular Congress Party (PCP), re-entered the race. The international support for the elections under the circumstances was sharply criticized by opposition parties and civil society groups.  

International elections observers included the Carter Center, European Union, African Union, the eastern African Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), the Arab League, and diplomatic missions from many individual countries and donors to Sudan. The Carter Center and European Union issued preliminary statements on April 17 describing flaws in the process.  

Sudanese civil society groups deployed thousands of domestic election observers during the voting and issued statements throughout the week. Following the elections, civil society groups and opposition political parties announced they would not recognize the results of the elections because they were marred by irregularities and fraud by the ruling National Congress Party (NCP).  

Repression and Arrests of Activists and Opposition Members in Northern States
While there were fewer instances of restrictions on assembly and expression in weeks ahead of the election than in prior months, authorities continued to target activists from girifna (“we are fed up”), a group that urged the public not to vote for the ruling party.  

The arrest of an 18-year-old activist on March 31 was one example. Plainclothes policemen in the Haj Youssef area of Khartoum, the capital, arrested and detained her after she handed them a “girifna” flier. She told Human Rights Watch that the undercover police and security agents subjected her to hours of questioning and threatened to subject her to a medical examination to check her virginity if she did not tell the truth.  

In several cases documented by Human Rights Watch, authorities targeted people who supported the opposition boycott. For example, on April 8 security officials arrested and detained the head of the Communist Party and a member of the Umma Reform and Renewal Party in Nyala, South Darfur, for publishing fliers urging voters to boycott the elections.  

“They made us sign a paper promising to report daily to their office and not to work ‘against Sudan’ before releasing us,” recalled Nur el Sadiq, the Communist Party member.  

On April 8, the attorney general’s office brought a case on behalf of national security authorities against the editor of Ajras al Huriya, an opposition newspaper, and a columnist, Alhaj Warrag, for an April 4 article in support of the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement’s presidential candidate, Yasser Arman, and the party’s decision to boycott elections.  

On April 9, national security officers arrested and briefly detained a group of five Communist Party members for distributing similar pamphlets in the Port Sudan market. Another eight party members were detained that day in Kosti for the same reason. On the night of April 11, the first day of voting, security agents in Managil, Jazeera, arrested another member of the Communist Party and detained him for four hours, also for distributing pamphlets in support of the boycott. 

On April 11, police and security agents arrested groups of people who were protesting in two Khartoum suburbs. Witnesses told Human Rights Watch that around midday police arrived in Haj Youssef in seven vans and shot tear gas into a crowd of people who had gathered in the market. Members of United Popular Front, a Darfur student group aligned with the rebel leader Abdel Wahid, had reportedly called the gathering and distributed fliers urging people not to vote. Police arrested and detained 10 people including two students, releasing them the next day.  

Intimidation of Election Observers in Northern States
In the weeks ahead of the election, President al Bashir made highly inflammatory remarks in public speeches in Sennar and Jazirah states threatening to “cut off the noses” of international observers who proposed a delay in elections. These threats – which violated the Elections Act – followed demands by opposition parties in March to delay elections until November, and a March 17 report by the Carter Center suggesting that a delay might be needed to address administrative challenges facing the election commission.  

In mid-March, government authorities ordered an international staff member of the Carter Center to leave the country, reportedly because of anti-government remarks he made during a training course. On March 28, two security officers detained and questioned Abdelmajeed Salih, a staff member of the Carter Center and a known human rights activist, accusing him of mobilizing Darfur students and working with foreigners.  

“I tried to explain that I am just responsible for training but they were quoting parts of the report back to me,” he said. “They showed a whole file on me, and said they are following me daily, and I am not allowed to travel, and that I should not talk to the media.”  

Police and security officials intimidated observers during voting week through threats, assaults, and arrests. In Khartoum, police expelled observers in one center on April 11 because they objected to elections staff helping voters fill out ballots. In a village near Hassahissa, in Jazirah state, on April 11, police briefly arrested two female candidates who are also Popular Congress Party (PCP) observers, because the polling authorities did not recognize their right to work as observers.  

In a polling place in Kerenik, West Darfur, on April 12, police expelled a political party observer from the Democratic Unionist Party after he objected to staff allowing people who were not registered to cast ballots. In the April 14 episode in South Darfur in which soldiers said, “We will kill anyone who stands against Bashir,” the soldiers expelled observers from a polling place in Adila and assaulted one PCP observer with a stick. An observer at a center in Tulus reported that security officials arrested him on April 12 and detained him for several hours after he objected to double-voting by ruling party supporters.  

Violence in Darfur
Voting was limited in Darfur because of security problems and the large numbers of displaced persons who boycotted the process. Human Rights Watch found that violence and the threat of violence by security officials or other armed persons either prevented or interrupted some election activities.

In eastern Jebel Mara, where government clashes with rebel soldiers and attacks on civilians in February killed scores of civilians and destroyed villages, causing mass displacement, voting did not take place.

 n South Darfur, armed clashes between ethnic groups in and around Kass in March and April limited access to polling places, and forced them to close early. Human Rights Watch received reports of numerous incidents of intimidation of observers in Nyala by security forces, military, and unidentified armed elements.  

In West Darfur, civilians in Sirba told Human Rights Watch that Justice and Equality movement rebels, who opposed elections, threatened them, ordering them not to vote.  

Beatings, Arbitrary Arrests, and Intimidation of Opposition Candidates and Party Members and Election Observers in Southern Sudan
During the voting period, security forces arbitrarily arrested numerous opposition election observers. Many of the arrests documented by Human Rights Watch were arbitrary as they were not in accordance with the law, and seemed to be an attempt to prevent the party representatives from observing the elections. Most were held a short time, then released.  

Human Rights Watch documented several cases of arbitrary arrests of opposition members and party election observers in Western Equatoria and Central Equatoria. Human Rights Watch researchers also received similar reports from Western Bahr el Ghazal, Northern Bahr el Ghazal, Unity, Lakes, and Jonglei states.  

In Terekeka County, Central Equatoria, security forces arrested several opposition party observers from NCP, the northern ruling party, the Southern Sudan Democratic Forum (SSDF), and the United Democratic Front (UDF) during the voting period. One candidate from the SSDF told Human Rights Watch:  

At around 1 p.m. I was told that one of my polling agents had been arrested and that he was taken to a place called Kuda. They refused to release him and wouldn’t tell me why they had arrested him. I decided to go to other polling stations to check on my agents and saw the security forces taking agents from the NCP and UDF and others from independent candidates and throwing them into cars. 

Human Rights Watch received similar reports about arrests and intimidation in Terekeka County from the NCP and independent candidates as well as domestic election observers. For example, on April 12, security officers arrested five election observers for an independent candidate, Alfred Gore, a candidate for governor in Central Equatoria. The five were released on the following day without charge.  

On April 13, security forces arrested nine opposition party election observers from a polling place in Juba. Five of the agents worked for Gore and the other four included agents from the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement – Democratic Change (SPLM-DC) and the NCP. An SPLM-DC agent who was arrested on the same day told Human Rights Watch that the security officers entered polling places and demanded to see observers’ accreditation. The security forces arrested all those who worked for an opposition party or an independent candidate.  

In Yambio, Western Equatoria, soldiers from the southern military, the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA), engaged in numerous acts of intimidation, beatings, and harassment of opposition party members and their election observers. For example, on April 14, several soldiers beat an observer for an independent candidate for governor, Joseph Bakosoro. Two days earlier, soldiers beat and detained two other observers for the same candidate.  

On April 11, SPLA soldiers beat and detained an SPLM-DC observer, Dr. Dominic Funda, and two others in Tore, Western Equatoria. The men were detained for two days in a military barrack called Rasolo.  

“They took us to a small hut at the barracks and ordered us to enter one by one,” Funda told Human Rights Watch. “As we stooped they started beating us with lashes. They were two guys, one lashing us on the back and one on the behind. They were telling us they would kill us.”  

Two of the SPLM-DC members showed Human Rights Watch researchers wounds and marks that appeared to be from lashings on their backs.  

In Jonglei state, soldiers beat and detained an SSDF candidate on April 12, when she attempted to take pictures of soldiers confiscating registration slips from voters.  

“I was imprisoned for a day and the soldiers confiscated my phone,” she told Human Rights Watch. “They tied me up and threw me into a pick-up. While I was in the pick-up they were kicking me all over my body. I fell unconscious and when they saw that they rushed me to an MSF clinic.”  

Beatings, Intimidation, and Arbitrary Arrests of Domestic Observers in Southern States
Human Rights Watch documented a number of cases of arrests and intimidation of observer groups by security forces in Central Equatoria and Western Equatoria. Observers also reported arrests of domestic observers in Western Bahr el Ghazal, Northern Bahr el Ghazal and Unity States.  

Almost 2,000 observers from the civil society organization SuNDE and 772 from another civil society organization SuDEMOP (Sudan Domestic Election Monitoring and Observation Programme) were deployed around the country to observe the elections. Observers from both groups reported cases of arrest and intimidation. The observer groups reported incidents in which security forces ordered them out of polling places and in some cases confiscated their accreditation cards.  

For example, on April 14, security officers forcibly removed 14 SuNDE observers from three polling places in Kator South Constituency in Central Equatoria. The observers were briefly questioned and detained at a nearby police station.  

On April 16, security officers arrested and detained a SuNDE observer in Wau, Western Bahr el Ghazal. The security officers beat the observer, and warned him not to report on what he had observed in Wau, before releasing him on the following day. SuNDE observers reported similar cases of harassment, intimidation, and arbitrary arrests in Maridi County, Western Equatoria, Terekeka, and Juba counties in Central Equatoria and Leer County in Unity State.  

Widespread Irregularities and Allegations of Fraud during Voting
Domestic and international election observers throughout the country reported widespread logistical and administrative problems, such as lack of voting materials, faulty ballots, incorrect voter lists, late supply of voting materials, ballot papers being taken to the wrong locations, and inconsistent identification requirements at polling stations. Some of these problems led to suspension of voting or closing of polling places, and prompted the election commission to extend the voting by two days. The commission has announced that it intends to repeat the voting in 33 constituencies.  

In northern states, observers also made allegations of fraud through multiple voting, voting by unregistered people, paying and busing voters into centers where they were not registered, including Khartoum’s Kober prison, and mishandling ballots and ballot boxes. A widely-circulated internet video footage, allegedly of election commission staff filling ballot boxes at night in eastern Sudan, strongly suggests ballot-stuffing. The commission dismissed the video as fabricated.  

Observers reported widespread fraudulent activities by government officials and security forces in a number of southern states. In Western Bahr el Ghazal, observers reported that soldiers from the SPLA engaged in widespread intimidation of voters and polling officials. In other states, soldiers forced their way into polling places and ordered domestic and party observers to leave. Observers also reported witnessing a number of incidents in which soldiers and other security officials forced voters to vote for the “star” – the symbol of the ruling southern party.  

In some states, observers reported that county commissioners and security officers entered polling places, threatened voters and election commission officials, and took over the counting process. For example, in one county in Central Equatoria, on April 17, the commissioner and security officers entered a polling place and forcibly removed all observers. In another county, in the same state, a domestic observer was detained when he questioned the presence of security forces and other government officials in the polling place during counting.  

In Western Equatoria, observers reported that the southern governing party and security officers took control of six polling places and expelled all domestic and other political party observers from the station. For example, in Maridi County, Western Equatoria, SPLA soldiers prevented political party observers from entering polling places and controlled the entire voting process. Observers reported that the commissioner of the county entered the polling places and told people how to vote. Observers also reported cases of opposition party observers intimidating and telling people how to vote in a number of states.

The international community should not have permitted a man wanted for war crimes to retain power via a rigged poll

Omar al-Bashir has been re-elected in the first “multiparty” elections in Sudan for over 20 years. Many had hoped these elections would hail the beginning of a process finally bringing peace and justice to Sudan. Instead, they have proved to be nothing more than a way for Bashir to entrench his control and to become the first head of state to be elected while facing charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity from the international criminal court (ICC).

To those of us who have worked in Sudan, Bashir’s conduct is entirely unsurprising. As a master of manipulation, rigging elections presents no great challenge. But what is endlessly frustrating is the role that the international community plays in legitimising this behaviour, once again choosing to believe that Bashir will “come right” despite all the evidence to the contrary.

The fact that Bashir agreed to stage elections at all was perceived to be great progress by the international community, marking the first step on the road to peace and justice as laid out by the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement. This agreement ultimately culminates in a referendum on the secession of the south of Sudan, scheduled for January next year.

For months, it has been clear for all to see that these elections would be deeply flawed. Bashir is a skilled diplomat and was never going to accept a real challenge to his authority. Having firstly undertaken a fraudulent census, which severely under-represented the population of southern Sudan and Darfur and limited access to voter registration, Bashir’s National Congress Party escalated their efforts further during the election period, preventing opposition candidates from campaigning, rigging the polls and cracking down on civil and political rights.

With filmed evidence of polling officials stuffing ballot boxes and widespread reports of intimidation of voters, it would have taken a miracle for the NCP not to win. The international community had numerous occasions to speak out, from the manipulated census to the arresting of election observers. But instead, they turned a blind eye, stating that the elections were merely blighted by technical irregularities, yet accepting the results nonetheless.

According to many observers, including Simon Tisdall, the international community’s position is right. Rather than expecting the elections to be free and fair, we should see them as step in the right direction: a “staging post on a much longer journey”. Therefore, rather than ruffling Bashir’s feathers now, we should congratulate him for how far he has come, in the hope that this will make him more conciliatory when it comes to agreeing border demarcations or oil-sharing revenue with south Sudan.

In theory this argument has its merits, but sadly it lacks any basis in reality. Crucially, this approach fails to take into account the character and track record of the Sudanese president. This is a man who, since taking power in 1989 in a military coup, has launched militias against his own people and orchestrated civil war and genocide. More than four million Sudanese civilians have been killed under his presidency. He has consistently promised the international community his regime will adhere to a plethora of peace agreements, only to put them aside at the first opportunity. It is difficult therefore to understand why anyone believes a man of this intent and nature would be willing to allow the oil-rich south to secede from his power, whatever the wishes of the southern Sudanese people.

It is also obvious that by permitting Bashir to openly commit electoral fraud without repercussions, the international community is damaging its own credibility, setting a very concerning precedent for democratic transitions across the world and legitimising the use of violence and intimidation. Far from strengthening its negotiating position, this electoral process has exposed the United Nations, the US and the European Union, and it has demonstrated how far they are willing to look the other way to keep Bashir on side. Neither the arrest warrant from the ICC, nor the Sudanese government launching one of the largest offensives on Darfuri civilians in Jebel Marra since the Darfur conflict began in 2003, have prevented the world from congratulating Bashir for his commitment to democracy in the past week.

Tragically the ultimate victims of this farcical process will of course be the Sudanese people. Speaking to the Sudanese community ahead of the elections it was clear that despite evidence to the contrary, there was still hope that these elections might have provided them with a democratic choice – a right to vote out a man who has systematically murdered their family and friends and destroyed their lives.

But once again the rhetoric of “democratic change” has been meaningless. While the international community now solely focuses on the 2011 referendum, the Sudanese people are left to wonder once again what it might take for the international community to stand up to Bashir and to protect them.

Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy
Tel +44 208 133 5670
Tel +44 203 286 9661
pr@ginbot7.org
www.ginbot7.org

On November 19, 2009 the kangaroo court of the ethnocentric regime in Ethiopia passed a “guilty verdict” against General Tefera Mamo and another 40 defendants. Five days later, on November 24, the “federal prosecutor” who also is Zenawi’s henchman in the court, asked the kangaroo court to pass the death penalty against 38 of the defendants. Yesterday, December 22nd, as instructed by Meles Zenawi, Ethiopia’s politically charged kangaroo court sentenced five of the defendants to death and 33 others to life imprisonment. As he repeatedly said during his trial, trying to save Ethiopia from the looming dangers of the bantustan type ethnic rule of the TPLF regime was the only “crime” of General Tefera and his co-defendants.

This mock trial and sham verdict is yet another evidence that Ethiopia under Zenawi is a place where people who fight for freedom and equality are condemned by those who snatch them. Yesterday’s death sentence is an absolute farce; and what makes it utterly senseless is that the show trial and the “Do it as I told you” sentencing are both orchestrated by a brutal dictator who mercilessly killed 193 innocent civilians, and who himself stands accused of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Though many Ethiopians are infuriated by yesterday’s kangaroo court decision, what concerned them the most is not “judge” Adem Ibrahim’s final decision [the sentence], or the process he followed to make those decisions. The miscarriage of justice, the courtroom drama of coached witnesses, and the politically motivated arrests and trials are daily phenomena that Ethiopians have lived with for over 18 years.

What is profoundly troublesome to most Ethiopians is the complete reversal of the justice process where patriotic and decorated war generals and civilian heroes who fought for their freedom are sentenced to death by those who murdered their sons and daughters in broad day light.

The tragic drama that took place in Ethiopia’s kangaroo court yesterday is a wake-up call to all peace loving people of the world that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. We believe nothing agitates the onlooker as when a hero is condemned by a villain, and nothing is troublesome for a human mind as when a criminal is allowed to convict innocent people.

Ginbot 7 strongly believes that freedom is not free and the blood of those who die today is a seed for the freedom that grows tomorrow. Unlike what the fake judge Ibrahim said during the sentencing procedure; the death sentence does not intimidate the Ethiopian people, and it will not make them compromise on their freedom; it will rather become a driving force that energizes people to never give-an-inch until the true spirit of freedom reigns all across Ethiopia.

Ginbot 7 strongly condemns yesterday’s senseless death sentence by an illegitimate and pariah regime that willfully murders its real and perceived political enemies, commits genocide, and uses the legal system to criminalize political dissent. We believe this is a very sad time for the Ethiopian people, and Ginbot 7 wishes to use this opportunity to call on all peace loving people of the world to come together and stand with the Ethiopian people at this dark time in their history.

When the West Allows Criminal Thugs to Become Judges & Environmentalists

The Tigrai tribal bandits fake court on Thursday convicted 26 Ethiopians who were accused of taking part in an alleged coup plot earlier this year and acquitted five others.

Adem Ibrahim (one of the many parrots from Harrei (Jegol)) who is commiting mass crimes on the name of  justice said most of the defendants in the case reported they were tortured by police into submitting false testimonies which was not convincing to his bandit masters from Tigrai.

In April, the Tigrai Bandits who are starving over 14 million people in Ethiopia said the suspects were found with weapons, plans and information that linked them to a prominent opposition group, Ginbot 7, started after the country’s disputed 2005 elections. The bandits leader, Meles Zenawi , has acknowledged on BBC that he ordered the killings of over 197 civilians protesting alleged election fraud that year.

The Ethiopian defendants had faced charges of attempting to dismantle the Tigrai tribalists constitutional order and assassinate the Tigrai bandits who are responsible for genocide and war crimes. The fake court attempt to act as if a justice system exists in Ethiopia by releasing 5 of the 26 Ethiopians for absence of sufficient evidence.

In August, the gangsters and war criminals controlled sham court found a Pennsylvania economics professor guilty in absentia for the alleged Coup Plot against the Tigrai bandits blood sucking Ethiopia.

There are over hundred thousands of political prisoners in various concentration camps in Ethiopia.

March 4 Freedom announced its plan to conduct a protest to denounce the invitation of War Criminal and Tyrant Meles Zneawi just a week before the G 20 summit once information was leaked to the group about the Tyrants trip to the US from sources close to the regime.

Soon thereafter, March 4 Freedom contacted Ethiopian media websites, radio programs and various organizations and number of activists to join hands and March in Pittsburgh.  Ethiopians from various part of the US and Canada drove to Pittsburgh, dressed in the green, yellow and red colors of the Ethiopian flag,  they called on G 20 countries and the U.S. taxpayers to halt financial backing to Ethiopia for war crimes and suppression of democracy.

The protest was given coverage by a number of media channels, including New York Times, Pittsburgh Tribune, NPR, CNN, BBC, Radio Free Europe, Radio Check Republic, Radio France, VOA English, VOA Amharic and various local and international newspapers and websites.

The organizers thank all Ethiopian American marchers and especially those who drove far away from places such as Nebraska, Chicago, Ohio and DC area.

Click here to view the embedded video.

This September 24-25 Pittsburgh will host the next summit of the G20, a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from the world’s largest economies who meet twice yearly to discuss and coordinate the international financial system. Around 1,500 delegates, including gangster and War Criminal Melese Zenawi , are expected to  be in Pittsburgh along with more than 2,000 members of the media.

This summit, and the predecessor meetings this past April in London, occurs on the heels of the worldwide financial meltdown that has been severely impacting hundreds of millions in particular in countries such as Ethiopia. Since its inception, the G20 has been a tool used to promote a world vision based on the ability of capital to move as it pleases, at the expense of labor, human rights, war crimes, genocide and the environment.  Read more »

In a demonstration where almost the entire Ethiopian people were represented  , thousands of Ethiopian Americans demanded  the US government to do more to end the dictatorship, war crimes  and genocide in Ethiopia and denounced the ruling tribal dictators who have held power now for more than 17 years who continue to be responsible for ethnic conflicts that claimed countless lives, brutal suppression, mass killings, disappearances, detentions, political persecutions of opposition, civic society and the free press.

The Marchers also demanded, the actions of Ethiopia’s tribal rulers are threatening the economic progress and stability in the region and thereby affecting the interests of United States and Ethiopia. Therefore the US government must

• make human rights central to U.S. relations and must restrict that the use of tax payer’s money from being spent in ways that help support authoritarian regimes, such as in Ethiopia.

• ask for the immediate and unconditional release all prisoners of conscience detained in Ethiopia, including Mrs Birtukan Mideksa (Chairwomen of the Unity and Democracy J), human rights defenders and independent journalists.

• demand that Ethiopian rulers recognize and respect the rights to freedom of speech, assembly, association and press freedom and respect the international and regional human rights treaties to which Ethiopia is party and demand to remove the Draconian laws against press freedom, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and terrorism that are turning Ethiopia into a police state.

Over 3200 petition signatures calling to stop Genocide and War Crimes in Ethiopia and to shape the US foreign policy towards Africa were collected.

March 4 Freedom,

Details to follow!

Al Bashir also charge people for crimes against humanity in Dafur!

War Criminals :Omar Hassan al-Bashir (L) and Minister Meles Zenawi

According to the report by Reuters  -Melese Zenawi staged a kangaroo court  and  sentenced six members of the Benishangule-Gumuz community to death and another 97 to prison terms for the massacre of Oromo villagers last year.

The Kangaroo court  intention is to undermine Melese Zenawi’s regime role as complicit in crimes against humanity, including “war crimes, murder, extermination, forcible transfer, torture, and rape” that have been  committed in many parts of Ethiopia including Gambella and Ogaden.

The sham court’s purpose is straight forward and clear says,  a former Tigrai Liberation Front Member , Girmai who now lives in Denver:

“The  drama is intended  to  impede the growing  international movement  that attempts to bring   Melese Zenawis and his cronies to ICC/ justice for the   grave war crimes, genocide  and human rights violations they have committed  in Ethiopia and Somalia“

Girmai also added,  Melese Zenawi’s regime often produces and fabricate falsified evidence and documents to deceive the world in particular the so called “Westerners”. The kangaroo court’s drama is the part of the process to deceive the Western diplomats that Ethiopia is taking some steps to handle the human right abuse and genocide that had been committed in Gambella.

By the way, do you know that Al Bashirs charges people for crimes against humanity in Dafur.  Then, why not Melese Zenawi?

Any ways,  for many  Ethiopians……..it is another joke!

Semhal, why do I feel that my life worth no longer living?

Mother – you are intelligent, you have passed all your exams with distinction!

Semhal – yes I’ll soon be a lawyer and had aimed to be a good one.

Mother – you see that is what I mean, we are rich and you’ve got every thing you need for life.

Semhal – but mom, I have learnt lots of subjects on human rights and the rules of law.

Mother – yes my dear daughter you are brave like your father (I mean my husband), you’ll make it!

Semhal – my father could be brave and intelligent, but what is the use when he is accused of human rights violations, perpetrating genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, orruption etc ?

You see mom I truly love both of you like parents, but?

Mother – sweetie, please don’t follow the propaganda of the “Neftegnas”

Semhal– I don’t take your “neftegna” definition. That division of people by tribes and race has brought us all these problems! You see mom, I can’t freely walk out of my campus like the others, I can’t introduce my self to any one I think worth to know ; I am just a daughter of a brutal dictator! My father’s monstrous like pictures

are full in the internet to the ream? A leader who is considered as a curse to millions, who has brought misery and human sufferings! You mother, are also presented as a swindler and most corrupt lady on the continent?

Mother – stop it, you seem to talk like our enemies?

Semhal– but mom I am now 23 years old and am a law student, I don’t mean to hurt you or my dad. You are my parents I adore best in this world. The question is we have to discuss things openly to try to get some solutions. You see, it is a fact that the people of Ethiopia have been accusing you of looting the entire wealth and even the land! We as family are immersed in a big trouble and we have to try to resolve things somehow?

Semhal – I told you stop, I think you have been brain washed while you have been living in Britain?

Was it by the opposition parties or whatever? Are you following our enemies’ useless speeches?

My husband had hard time in London recently, that place is not good to you eather!

Semhal– No mom, I am looking for a good solution for all of us. It is true before 1991 during your “struggle”,

you have passed through sufferings and misery and even you didn’t have some proper clothing and enough food. You yourself have shown me your picture shots and told me how you lead a very difficult time in the war.

This proof tells me that it is impossible for us to became multimillionaires in just a matter of 18 years.

The wealth doesn’t rightfully belong to us. Millions in the country believe EFFORT’S financial power and wealth has been the result of oppressing the poor. It was snatched from the dying children’s mouths. Some call it “Blood Money” and still my Mom is the head of such hated and criminal organization! Why don’t you just give up and we try to live in peace? The fact that 13 millions Ethiopians are starving to death today, while hundreds of thousands have been murdered worsens the situation. It is not fair; it is a gross violation of human rights, it is sever crime by definition of the science of law.

Mom ,that is what lawyers to come have been taught.

We have to be fair and defend the law, stand for the voiceless and the weak! They taught us that, no one is above the law. I am sorry to have such a mom and dad! I can’t be proud of you both, on the contrary am ashamed of you two! Even if I love you so much, I prefer not to be seen along with you in public.

I myself with my brothers and near ones can’t be easily mixed with the public? What a pity and shame?

Mother – “Eway? Ata ezi-a kole-a tetselila dia? “Gualey hamima diya?”, so what are you proposing my dear?

Let not your father hear what you said! He would have killed you for that!

Semhal- Mom, I told you, I deeply love both of you and I never wanted to see your sufferings!

But to tell you the truth, you remember what silly things I deed last time in Ethiopia?

I mean the fun I regret I have had with some friends, the unfortunate joke with “Kalashnikov”.

I really want and try to reward the people of Ethiopia for your sins and sever wrong doings

What I propose is: just give back all the unlawfully collected wealth, release all prisoners and let you free the country by giving the power to those who are capable to truly lead the country.

But since my father’s Crime is so immense, as a lawyer to come I tell you he can’t escape from the International Criminal Court in Hague! I tell you mom it will be better to let me defend my dearest father at Hague than witness his corpses drugged in the capital city of Ethiopia or Somalia!

Tears following down from both ladies eyes!

(From Anonymous Ethiopian who prays for the salvation of mother Ethiopia! 22/07/2009)

Meles Zenawi admits that he has suspended the operations of 42 non-governmental organizations allegedly involved in activities that are “out of their mandate” in the Southern region of the country despite over 14 million Ethiopians are in need of food aid.

The tyrant suspended the operations of 42 non-governmental organizations in the Southern region of the country accusing the NGOs for reporting the human right abuses and war crimes which he has been accused for .
The international humanitarian organization Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) and two local gender rights organisations are among the suspended NGOs.

The shameless tyrant and the pathological lier from Tigrai publicly accused some NGOs of supplying “inaccurate” information to the United States’ State Department, which was published in March 2009. Meanwhile, United Nations humanitarian office in Ethiopia has warned that the number of people who need immediate food aid in Ethiopia will increase to over 6.2 million unless more food aid can be secured.
The country under the tribal looters needs additional 390,000 metric tones of emergency food aid for the coming three months.

End Tyranny Now!

“No person wants to live in a society where the rule of law gives way to the rule of brutality and bribery. That is not democracy, that is tyranny, and now is the time for it to end.” Thus spoke President Barack Obama last week to Africa’s tin-pot dictators using the Ghanaian parliament as a sounding board.

During the presidential campaign and over the past seven months, many Ethiopians had expressed uncertainty and apprehension about the future direction of U.S. foreign policy in Ethiopia. Some thought President Obama would continue the knee-jerk terror-centric policies of George Bush; other believed it would be the dawn of a new day in U.S. policy. We offered analyses which foretold the orientation of U.S. foreign policy in Ethiopia and Africa under an Obama administration.[1]

The President’s speech in Accra was both a diagnosis of what ails Africa, particularly Ethiopia, and a set of remedial prescriptions. President Obama spoke disapprovingly of the divisive and outdated politics of tribalism and ethnicity which continues to poison the African body politics. He urged Africans to reconcile around their common humanity and Africanity. He spoke of the corrosive effects of corruption on the soul of Africa and urged good governance to restore hope in the spirit of the African people. He declared Africa’s future is up to Africans, but challenged Africa’s youth to mold and shape it.

The Poison of Tribalism and Ethnic Politics

President Obama blasted identity politics as a canker in the African body politics:

We all have many identities – of tribe and ethnicity; of religion and nationality. But defining oneself in opposition to someone who belongs to a different tribe, or who worships a different prophet, has no place in the 21st century…. In my father’s life, it was partly tribalism and patronage in an independent Kenya that for a long stretch derailed his career, and we know that this kind of corruption is a daily fact of life for far too many….

Few countries in Africa today are more afflicted and conflicted by the artificially engineered ethno-tribal virus than Ethiopia. Using a completely phony theory of “ethnic (tribal) federalism”, the dictators in Ethiopia have created what amounts to apartheid-style Bantustans or tribal homelands. They have segregated the Ethiopian people by ethno-tribal classification in grotesque regional political units called “kilils”. This sinister perversion of the concept of federalism has enabled a few cunning dictators to oppress, divide and rule some 80 million people for nearly two decades.

We have called them out on their divide-and-rule politics.[2] We have repeatedly called upon them to tear down of the walls of tribalism and ethnicity. Our humanity, we asserted, is more important than our ethnicity, nationality, sovereignty or Africanity! We are not prisoners to be kept behind tribal walls, but free men and women who are captains of our future in one unwalled Ethiopia that belongs to all of us equally. We echo President Obama, and President Reagan from another era, when we call upon those who built the tribal walls to tear them down once again: “Zenawi, tear down the kilil tribal walls behind which you have kept our people locked up! Let them go before you go!”

The Fundamental Truth: Development Depends on Good Governance

President Obama said,

We must first recognize a fundamental truth that you have given life to in Ghana: development depends upon good governance. That is the ingredient which has been missing in far too many places, for far too long…

The dictators in Ethiopiahave proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are clueless about good governance; and their idea of development is ripping off the people to enrich their relatives and friends. “Concentrat[ion] of  wealth in the hands of the few [that] leaves people too vulnerable to downturns” is not development.

Good governance is based on a set of objective measures. We subscribe to the 8 benchmark parameters of good governance set by the U.N.: Participation (men and women participate equally in political and civil society institutions); rule of law (an independent judiciary and impartial law enforcement agencies administer the justice system with strict adherence to the law of the land); transparency (public decisions are made and implemented according to established rules and regulations); responsiveness (public needs are met in a timely manner); consensus-building (the different interests of groups in society are harmonized in formulating policy); equity and inclusiveness (individuals and groups feel they have a stake in society and do not feel excluded);  effectiveness and efficiency (scarce resources are used for maximum public benefit and service);  accountability (leaders and institutions are accountable to the public and under law). In sum, good governance is to development as water is to a bountiful harvest. No water, no harvest!

Good Governance is Sustained by Respect for Human Rights

Just as development is based good governance, we believe respect for human rights is the sustaining force for good governance. Human rights principles provide a set of values to anchor and guide leaders, institutions and processes in serving the common good. Political action and reforms guided by principles enumerated in international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and conventions dealing with the rights of the child, elimination of discrimination based on gender and religion, and protection of economic, social and cultural rights and others, are central to the development of a fair and just society in Ethiopia.

The New Pillar of American Foreign Policy in Africa

President Obama announced that his administration’s policy in Africa will be guided by a simple principle: The U.S will provide support for the establishment of strong democratic governments, enhanced protections for human rights and assistance to victims of human rights violations, and efforts aimed at rooting out corruption in Africa. He said the U.S. will “sanction and stop those who” violate human rights:

First, we must support strong and sustainable democratic governments. Governments that respect the will of their own people are more prosperous, more stable and more successful than governments that do not. No country is going to create wealth if its leaders exploit the economy to enrich themselves… In the 21st century, capable, reliable and transparent institutions are the key to success – strong parliaments and honest police forces; independent judges and journalists; a vibrant private sector and civil society. Those are the things that give life to democracy, because that is what matters in peoples’ lives….

In Moscow, I spoke of the need for an international system where the universal rights of human beings are respected, and violations of those rights are opposed. That must include a commitment to support those who resolve conflicts peacefully, to sanction and stop those who don’t, and to help those who have suffered.

The President made it clear that democracy is about outcomes such as “strong parliaments and honest police forces; independent judges and journalists; a vibrant private sector and civil society.” He disagrees with those who claim that “democracy is about process, it’s not about outcome… If the process is clean and you get zero, tough luck.”

“Brutality and bribery” are the engines of tyranny, the President asserted. Economic chaos packaged as a litany of “ten percent annual  growth” is not development; and American taxpayers will not provide aid to support such “development”. In short, American support to African regimes will be contingent on the implementation of “concrete solutions to corruption like forensic accounting, automating services, strengthening hot lines and protecting whistle-blowers to advance transparency and accountability, peaceful transfers of power, ending brutal repression, growth of civil society institutions, expansion of political space for civic participation and youth involvement.”

Africa’s Salvation Will Come Through Its Youth

President Obama knows that talking to African tin pot dictators is like pouring water on a slab of granite. There will be no penetration. The dictators will probably sit around in their echo chambers and lament the fact that the President is naïve about African politics and its complexities. The fact is that he is not only well informed on Africa, he is also fully prepared to deal with African dictators.  After all, he cut his teeth on Chicago politics. In his eloquent and artful way, the President told the African dictators that they are not only decidedly on the wrong side of history, but also that they are inconsequential in the grand scheme of things:

Make no mistake: history is on the side of these brave Africans and not with those who use coups or change Constitutions to stay in power. Africa doesn’t need strongmen, it needs strong institutions….

We have learned that it will not be giants like Nkrumah and Kenyatta who will determine Africa’s future. Instead, it will be you – the men and women in Ghana’s Parliament, and the people you represent. Above all, it will be the young people – brimming with talent and energy and hope…

And I am particularly speaking to the young people. In places like Ghana, you make up over half of the population. Here is what you must know: the world will be what you make of it. You have the power to hold your leaders accountable and to build institutions that serve the people. You can serve in your communities and harness your energy and education to create new wealth and build new connections to the world. You can conquer disease, end conflicts and make change from the bottom up. You can do that. Yes you can.”

The role of youth in Ethiopia’s future deserves special attention. It is manifest that the dictators today have little interest in developing Ethiopia’s youth to “hold leaders accountable and build institutions that serve the people.” The dictators aim to mobilize, ideologize and “harness the energy of Ethiopian youth” to create armies of androids that will serve them obsequiously. They understand Hitler’s maxim: “He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.” For this reason, it is instructive to watch the video of the recently stage-managed youth conference of the dictators available on ethiotube.net.

While the dictators abuse the youth, the opposition and the older generation has largely ignored them. Truth be told, we have done a poor job of preparing Ethiopian youth for their historic role in rebuilding and reorganizing the new Ethiopian society. We have become less than inspiring role models by our inability to set good examples of tolerance, harmony and collaboration. We have done little to teach the youth of our mistakes so that they will not repeat them. We have offered them little clarity to remove their confusion and uncertainties. We have failed to empower them in defending human rights. The dictators hold “conferences” to steal the souls of Ethiopian youth. What have we done to harness their idealism to serve their country and people? What have we done to inspire their minds, free their spirits and fortify their hearts in the historic task of reconstructing a new Ethiopia unburdened by tribalism, sectarianism, sexism and corruption?

The president is absolutely right. Africa’s, and Ethiopia’s, future will be shaped by its youth. The sooner we, who profess our faith in freedom, democracy and human rights, realize and own up to this irrefutable fact and begin helping them, the sooner will come Africa’s salvation. Young Ethiopians need good role models. Let each one of us strive to be one, for in the end the future belongs to them.

We should not expect quick results from the President’s speech. We must understand that the Obama administration does not have all of its Africa hands on deck; and the President is preoccupied with many domestic issues. Suffice it to say to African dictators that Barack Obama is not George Bush.

[2] http://www.abugidainfo.com/?p=5513

Dear Ato Meles

I have been following your interviews with the foreign media the last few months. I have no idea why you prefer to discuss matters regarding our country with the foreign press. One would think that it would be better to discuss your plans, dreams and musings with the Ethiopian people rather than blabber with foreign journalists who a) are not well informed about the country b) do not give a figs leaf what you a Prime Minister of one of the poorest country have to say and bury the story on page ten beside the obituaries forcing us to dig deep so we the concerned can publish it on page one.

To say I am always baffled after reading or listening to your interviews is putting it mildly. You always seem to have a different take on the situation in the country. The facts on the ground do not seem to support the conclusions you reach. Have you thought of any reason why that is so?

I know it is presumptuous of me to comment on the matter and I humbly ask your Excellency to indulge me in this little exercise to set the record straight. First and foremost I want you to know that I wholly understand that when one is isolated from normal everyday human contact one develops certain ideas and beliefs not grounded in fact or truth. From what I understand you have been residing at your current address since 1991. Shall we just say Arat Kilo is an awe-inspiring location?

I did not have the privilege of visiting the inside but I am sure it is very luxurious. It must have beautiful hardwood floors in the dining rooms, Italian tiles in bath bathrooms, thick Persian or Afghan rugs and carpets in the bed rooms, long Mahogany dining room tables with beautiful chandlers and real crystal lights everywhere, oh let us just say opulent. I hope the previous tenant did not remove some of the expensive items. He left in a little bit of a hurry so may be he did not have time to loot. I know for a fact that you have turned the place into a modern fortress since you moved in. It is highly possible the so-called Green Zone in Iraq was a copy of Arat Kilo.

The move from ‘meda’ to palace must have been most jarring to say the least. Unless handled carefully such a move can cause a lot of anxiety and delusion. Believe me it is normal. Here in the US we witness that all the time. Most athletes from the inner cities are prone to that. The idea of jumping from public housing one bedroom apartment to signing a multi million-dollar contract has been blamed for plenty of meltdowns.

It is fair to say it has been over eighteen years since you have found yourself in the company of ordinary people discussing ordinary issues as an equal. You have managed to get rid of a majority of the people who know you as Legesse. Some have died under peculiar circumstances, you have jailed quite a few, some have been exiled to far away places and some have resigned before you got to them. That leaves the few that have accepted their location on the bottom of the totem pole. Those are the sycophants. The yes men, the flatters. There is no one in the vicinity that is able to correct you when you are wrong, advise you when you err or set you straight when you digress.

I believe that explains the many false statements you seem to utter to the complete disbelief of your country’s people. As I said before this little note is to help you see the other side of the story. It is an attempt to show you a different perspective so you know that there is another reality outside of Arat Kilo.

I will start with your recent interview with the Financial Times of London on June 23. A lot of UN true stuff was said. I will not bother with most of your answers except the one dealing with the free press.

FT: All these events have contributed to an atmosphere where people do not feel free to speak.

MZ: Have you read the local newspapers? Do they mince their words about government …

You see my problem here? What local newspaper are you talking about? Isn’t it true that after the 2005 elections you have managed to destroy the free press? Didn’t your government enact new legislation to strangle the press? For your information you own the single television transmitter, you won the single short wave radio transmitter and you own the telecommunication department. There is no free press in Ethiopia. There are a few that are struggling with a loaded gun held to their temple. Somehow they manage to publish. You really do not think that we consider ‘The Ethiopian Reporter’ as an example of free press do you? We know it is there to give legitimacy to your regime. Nothing more.

In August of 2008 you told your Parliament  “In general, we don’t expect drastic effects on our economy, our financial structure is not as liberalized as those of affected countries and the economy is not intertwined to Western economies to face a crisis” Do you want to revise that assertion? Do you see now that our country is not an island? Why were you unable to see that the single crop Ethiopia has been peddling before you were born is going to be affected by world economy slow down? How come you did not know the double digit economic growth you have been shouting about is the result of misguided and selfish Ethiopians in the Diaspora investing in your real estate ponzi scheme and remittances are going to dry up?

Since the debacle of the 2005 election your National Bank has been printing Bir as if it is going out of style. What made you think this kind of irresponsible economic scheme will not result in inflation? I know you have to increase the money supply to keep up with the ever-increasing demand of the military, Kebele officials, public security personnel and various Kilil dogs you have to appease. Your government is the number one employer in the country. So now we are faced with both devaluation and inflation. Are you aware that you have to devalue the Bir by another 20%? Are we going to do five percent here nine percent there or are we going to swallow the bitter medicine all at once and get it over with? Inflation dipping to single digit…when pigs fly.

You have been titillating us with this talk of quitting why is that? This is what you told Financial Times:

FT: Why is it that Ethiopians don’t really believe you could go?

MZ: Because it has not been done in the past in Ethiopia.

FT: But this is a precedent you would like to set?

MZ: This is a precedent that I would almost kill to set.

Very dramatic indeed. Believe me you can purchase a ticket from your local TPLF kiosk and fly away and no one will care. Killing, beating and maiming is an obsession with you TPLF folks. There is no need to kill anybody, but if you have to kill may we suggest one of your comrades. On the other hand there are a few unsettled businesses between the Ethiopian people in general and you and your TPLF cadres in particular. The massacre in the aftermath of the 2005 elections is in the forefront. I believe Judge Wolde Michael Meshesha would like to interview you about that without the presence of your armed goons. There are also a lot of families that want closure and justice done. There is also the murder of Professor Asrat, Assefa Maru and god knows how many more to be dealt with. You really do not think all will be swept under the rug do you? We don’t care what Ledetu have promised you but it will not work.

When you say your party have to agree what exactly does that mean? Are they asking for blanket forgiveness for all crimes committed the last eighteen years? Are they demanding Parliamentary resolution to that effect? Are they threatening you in anyway, something like we all go together or we stay put? Most of you in the politburo are exposed to criminal charges whereas the rank and file is afraid of economic meltdown. It must be difficult to explain how one becomes a multi millionaire in a mere fifteen years. Is this the discussion inside the TPLF? We know for a fact that those ‘teletafis’ or pretend party’s are unsettled about this talk of you leaving them high and dry to face the music. They never thought the end was coming. Do you stay awake all night thinking about all these unpleasant matters? Do you think you are clever and you will manage to squeeze out of this predicament you find yourself in?

They say hindsight is one hundred percent, do you look back and think may be you should have exited peacefully in 2005? What did all that killing bring you except a few million more and universal condemnation? Are you improvising as you go along or do you really have a plan for what is about to happen tomorrow?

The world has changed a lot since 2005. The hate level of the Ethiopian people against your TPLF cadres has skyrocketed, the economy has tanked and there is no light at the end of the tunnel. Creating ethnic tension has become too obvious, terrorism is so yesterday it has been devalued more than your Bir and your loyal dogs are lined up by the exit door (check out your Communications Minister who is getting ready to spill his guts on Addis Voice, VOA or DW radio) If I were you I will assign loyal cadres to watch Addisu, Dula, Kumsa, Azeb and Kasu Ilala. Betrayal is second nature in your sorry outfit.

So you said you want to retire in peace and rest. Well let me tell you what the opposition have in store for the future of our country upon your departure to Kaliti. Here are the top ten:

Truth and reconciliation committee will be set up. Citizens will be encouraged to file grievances.

New Constitution will be written after extensive discussion and debate.

Kilils will be abolished.

Land belongs to the individual not the government will be the law.

All confiscated property will be returned to the lawful owners.

Television, radio, newspaper, Internet and telephone service will be in private hands.

All bank account, property and assets of former officials will be frozen awaiting certification of how it was amassed.

All international agreements and deals made by the TPLF government will be subject to review.

The millions of Ethiopians in the Diaspora will be encouraged to return home and participate in building the motherland. When we say contribute it is not bars or nightclubs but farming, industry and other productive enterprises.

That ugly symbol you affixed will be removed from our flag never ever to be seen again.

I know all the foreign press has been asking you about the increasing repression, your hasty departure from Somalia, the drying up of foreign reserve and now the lack of electricity in 2009. No one seems to have any thing good to say about your regime. Judge Bertukan’s star is shining bright from behind bars. Your feeble attempts to rub shoulders with democratically elected leaders have only brought you further humiliation. Brave leaders face the consequences of their actions head on and either apologize to their people or take the Japanese way out you know what I mean. Which one would it be? Riding peacefully into the sunset is out of the question!

His visit can help African democracy if he curbs a misguided US belief in security by military force

By Salim Lone:

Despite the constraints he faced in fulfilling pledges he made as a candidate, Barack Obama has succeeded in offering avenues for co-operation to Cuba, Iran, the Muslim world in general, and now Russia. This weekend, Obama will be in Ghana, and there is intense speculation about what this son of Africa, who electrified the world by so improbably taking the helm in America, will say about what he expects from, and will offer, the continent.

The president’s personal knowledge of and interest in Africa, his charisma and his grassroots support mean that he could be a major player here. This is particularly true since Africa’s low profile among the American political elite allows US leaders a lot of leeway in formulating policy towards it.

Click here to view the embedded video.

But as Obama devises US approaches to African challenges, he will face difficulties from an unexpected quarter – the US military. George Bush and his war on terror, and his reliance on force as a first resort, gave the military extraordinary power in shaping African policy – symbolised by Bush’s creation of the United States Africa Command (Africom), in the misguided notion that the military approach was the best way to tackle terrorism. Thankfully, African governments overwhelmingly resisted the siting of Africom bases.

But Africom is a reality, so it is vital that Obama move to curtail one of its most dangerous mandates: its involvement in economic development and humanitarian actions. This risks the militarisation of Africa’s political and social life – areas that remain the best hope for a better Africa.

Africom apart, a number of Obama’s political appointments are also hawkish, among them the Africa specialist who is now a member of his cabinet as the US ambassador to the United Nations – Susan Rice. She is inclined to the use of force, as evidenced by the threatening language she used about Sudan and Eritrea before joining the cabinet. It is this influence that would explain Obama’s risky decision two weeks ago to escalate US involvement in Somalia and ship arms to the isolated government – by obtaining a waiver from the longstanding UN embargo. Somalia’s tottering government has no public support, and runs just a few blocks of Mogadishu, despite the support of 4,300 Ugandan troops.

This new intervention is a continuation of the ruinous Bush policy in Somalia, which resulted in the militant al-Shabab Islamists – a previously negligible group – emerging as the country’s dominant force after large numbers of Somalis were radicalised by US air strikes and the 2007 invasion by Ethiopia, Somalia’s arch enemy, to topple the popular and moderate Union of Islamic Courts.

While attention will be heavily focused in Accra this weekend on what Obama says about Africa, what is even more important is for the US president to begin hearing from Africans. He must confer with civil society leaderships that have finally come of age across the continent.

One thing he would consistently hear from our civil society leaders would be that good governance – democracy, inclusion, respect for human rights and the rule of law – is non-negotiable. He would also hear that some of the significant gains made in expanding freedoms in multi-party Africa are being rolled back. This is not surprising, as the strategy of the US war on terror reverted to the cold war model of supporting dictatorial allies, which in east Africa included the Ethiopian and Ugandan leaderships.

Obama would also hear that there can be no compromise on free and fair elections. In too many countries recently – including America’s close allies Ethiopia, Uganda and Kenya, as well as Zimbabwe – elections have been seriously tainted, and have been followed by violence, the loss of liberties and the strengthening of state security organs.

Algeria and Ivory Coast also saw flawed elections take them down the bloody road to national chaos in the 1990s. The US must work with countries to ensure that elections will be honestly conducted. Without that, democracy is meaningless and instability inevitable.

One of President Obama’s most important priorities for Africa must be to work with and encourage the emergence of a progressive group of African leaders who can become indigenous models for democratic, accountable and inclusive governance – which alone will ensure African, as well as global and American, security.

Source: guardian.co.uk

Steve Biko :"The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed." Speech in Cape Town, 1971

By Ali Ahmad:

Ethiopians living under tyranny and under the law of the jungle are not surprised by the most recent drama of Anit Terrorism legislation played by the TPLF bandits. Unlike Ethiopians, the legislation got the attention of the Westerners because it appears to have a  ridiculous and broad definition of terrorism with intention to strangulate democracy.

The major players of ethnic Apartheid in Ethiopia copied their most recent Anit Terrorism legislation from a very similar act called “ The Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 that was a law of the South African Apartheid regime”.

Section 6 of   the Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 in Apartheid South Africa also allowed someone suspected of involvement in terrorism—which was very broadly defined as anything that might “endanger the maintenance of law and order”—to be detained for an indefinite period without trial on the authority of a senior police officer. Since there was no requirement to release information on who was being held, people subject to the Act tended to disappear.

Just like Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 in Apartheid South Africa the the newly passed Anti-Terror Proclamation in Ethiopia is intended to restrict freedom of expression, assembly and stifle dissent. It allows the bandits from Tigrai who have been terrorizing the nation since 18 years an additional opportunity to further arbitrary arrest ordinary citizens when ever they want.

The Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 allowed the detention of an individual by a policeman of rank lieutenant-colonel or greater. Terrorism was very broadly defined in the Act and included most common criminal behaviors. People could be held indefinitely or for unlimited number of time since the act allowed detention until all questions were satisfactorily answered or until no further useful purpose would be achieved by keeping the person in detention. Those held under the act were only permitted to be visited by a magistrate one every two weeks. No one else was allowed access (except the police and security services, of course).

The death of Steve Biko , the known south African Medical Doctor and Human Rights  Activist, in police custody in 1977, while being detained under the Act, was a particular cause célèbre. It is estimated that approximately many people died while being detained under the Act. Stephen Bantu Biko (18 December 1946 – 12 September 1977)  was a noted anti-apartheid activist in South Africa in the 1960s and 1970s. A student leader, he later founded the Black Consciousness Movement which would empower and mobilize much of the urban black population. Since his death in police custody, he has been called a martyr of the anti-apartheid movement.  While living, his writings and activism attempted to empower black people, and he was famous for his slogan “black is beautiful”, which he described as meaning: “man, you are okay as you are, begin to look upon yourself as a human being”.  Despite friction between the ANC and Biko throughout the 1970sthe ANC has included Biko in the pantheon of struggle heroes, going as far as using his image for campaign posters in South Africa’s first non-racial elections in 1994.

Melese Zenawis law that comprises 38 sections lays a foundation for arrests and searches without court warrants in the country just like Just like Terrorism Act No 83 of 1967 in Aparthid South Africa.

ONLF Fighters against the minority Tigrean Rule

Ethnic Somali rebels in Ethiopia’s Ogaden region claimed Monday they killed 90 government troops in recent clashes, but the  gangsters ruling Ethiopia denied any losses, claiming as always victory instead.

In a statement, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) said it had “conducted a coordinated military operation” in Kebridehar, Degahabur and Jijiga, in response “to increased harassment and war crimes being committed by the Weyane Troops”.

The ONLF “conducted coordinated military operations … killing 90 Tigrean bandits  and wounding more than 100 others”, the group said, before adding that six Ural military vehicles were destroyed and dozens of assault rifles captured.

The group did not disclose when the incidents took place, but said “engagements are still going” on in one locality of the vast region. The ruling gangsters mouthpiece  Bereket Simon admitted “incidents”.

The ONLF is fighting for to liberate ethnic Ethiopian Somalis from the minority Tigrian  Rule.