Madam, – The Ethiopian Ambassador Zerihun Retta (July 8th)takes issue with Jody Clarke and the UDJ Ethiopian opposition party Hailu Araaya. He accuses the UDJ of “fabrications and outright lies”.
The ambassador states, the “authenticity of the election result. . . . have not been doubted even by the EU and AU observer missions”.
The EU Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) to Ethiopia, in which I served as a long-term observer, issued a preliminary statement on May 25th, 2010, that was quite critical of the elections. These criticisms include: “The electoral process fell short of certain international commitments, notably regarding the transparency of the process and the lack of a level playing field for all contesting parties . . . The lack of a national voters’ list does not allow for the purging of multiple registrations . . . The sheer volume and consistency of complaints (of campaign violations, harassment and intimidation) is a matter of concern.”
The Ethiopian election board announced on June 20th that the ruling EPRDF party and its allies won 545 seats in the 547-member parliament. In some of the federal states the results were even more lopsided. In the Afar state, the reported turnout of 92 per cent was incredibly high by international standards given that all of the indigenous Afar opposition parties boycotted the election. The governing party in Afar state was recorded as getting 99.68 per cent of the votes, with no opposition party members being elected to the Afar regional parliament. These election statistics do not represent parliamentary democracy but point to the reality of one-party-rule.
Ethiopia is a unique country by African standards. It was the only African country to successfully resist European colonisation. It is also a country with tremendous human, agricultural and mineral resources. However, the devastating famine in 1984 tends to give many Europeans a view that Ethiopia is an impoverished country. Much of the blame for this famine was due to mismanagement by the repressive Derg government at that time, similar to what occurred in the Irish Famine in 1845. The lack of real democracy which still affects Ethiopia could lead to further crises in the future.
The Irish Government and Irish people have been justifiably supportive of the people of Ethiopia, not least because of similar historical experiences.
However, we should be watchful and critical when abuses of democracy and human rights occur. There were serious human rights abuses after the 2005 elections in Ethiopia, and some abuses and intimidation during the election in 2010. EU observers in the Afar state received complaints from opposition parties concerning arrests of opposition supporters, including candidates in the weeks before the elections.
Ethiopia’s geographical location in the Horn of Africa has given it a strategic importance in the past. During the Cold War especially the people of Ethiopia suffered greatly because of super-power rivalry. Ethiopia has once again become strategically important due to Middle Eastern conflicts and its natural resources. It is vital that the people of Ethiopia do not suffer again the type of avoidable devastation they have experienced in the past.
Good multi-party democratic governance, of the people of Ethiopia, by the people of Ethiopia, on behalf of the people of Ethiopia, is the only way to achieve the level of peace and development that Ethiopian people need. – Yours, etc,