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REPORTING BEYOND YOUR EYES
Editorial: A new Ethiopia must have no business keeping old, repressive institutions!
Muhe Abdo Aman Nura Negere
Feyisa Eshetu Eletu Mulegta Mosisa
Neamat Issa Ibsa Gutema Gezahegn
Kasahun Demessie Kebede Yohannes
Hundie Marta Kumsa Demessie Daba
Amezene Zewedie Ahmed Hussien
Tewoflos Wakeweya Gadissa Demessie
Gadissa Demessie Daba Gebregiorgis
Abdi Ahmed Jemal Abafogi
Worke Bia Abajebel Alemayehu
Tarekegn Hailu Darge Gemeda
Abera Tolla Geda Ababyia

Fekadu Ejeta Feyissa Abyiu Geleta
Zegeye Asfaw Ababyia Abajobir
Assefa Balacha Aweke Geberselassie
Mohammed Teyib Ejeta Feyissa
Mae kelawi!
Vol 6 Issue No 61
May 2016
www.addisstandard.com
Lemma Worke Bekele Merarra Ajeta Tamrat Araya

Lemma Worke Genemo Jara Bekele Merarra Ajeta Batu Debele
Negash Kumessa Fekadu Ebba Gabissa Lemessa Gezahegn Delassa Tilahun Herpahsa Shiferaw Balecha Feyissa Dibaba Tsehaye
Tolosa Demekech Bekele
Addisalem Geneti Kebebew
Worku Dejene Demessie Genete
Deressa Assefa Berehe
Tolossa Ibssa Yosef Ayele Yegezu
Wake Fisseha Tesfu Fisseha
Tesfu Gelana Negera Fisseha Tesfu
Fisseha Tesfu Kebede Demessie
Deressa Kitessa Mekonnen Gelan
Techan Germaye Mekonnen
Gelan Omot Agwa Ashine
Austin Jemal Omor Tsegaye Nemera
Shoro Gemechu Getachew Beyasa
Ibrhaim Jebo Merarra Ajeta
Abdi Ahmed Muketar Mecha
Adem Bedasso Abdurhaman
Negasso Omer Idao Dagne Bayissa
Getachew Mergiya GebereEyesus
Tuki Ferew Ebissa Techan
Germaye Nikodimos Woldegiorgis
Shimeles Woldesemayait Getachew
Hayele Mekonnen Yehedego
Tsehaye Mehari Araya Bezuayneh
Haileselassie Aberha Azeb
Abay Tafesu Abay Hagos Tekue
Girma Derebe Mulegta
Alemesged Tsehay Mehari
Fisseha Geberemedhin Fitsum
Woreta Girmay Aberha Atsebaha
Beharu Geberehiwot Kahasay
Fikru Yosef Solomon
Abel Wabela Kelemwork
Mammo Aregay GebereEgzihaber
Atakelti Belay Hayele Halefom
Kahasay Geberemedhin Meberhatu
Kidane Tadesse Abay Bekele
Berhane Yohannes Woldelibanos
Tekabo Geberekiristos
Kidane
Asegahegn Berhane Woldearegaye
Haregot Aberha Hailemariam
Fisseha Tesfu Alem Woldearegay
Geberehiwot Geberemedhin
Kidane Asegahe Woldu Neguse
Nikodimos Mulu Berehe Almaz
Araya Sara Haileselassie Eleni
Haileselassie Geberetensai Nayezgi
Adissu Bulala Gurmesa Ayana
Haregot Aberha Dejene Tafa
Abedeta Naggasa Gelana Negera Chemsa Abdisa Getu Girma Feraol Tola Getachew Dereje Beyene Rudo Ceherkos Demowz
Woldu Neguse Desta Berehe Yeberah Nega Kassa Tadesse Fisseha Tesfu Abdurhaman Negasso Haregot
Desta Berehe Yehedego Zebelo Alemesged Yegizaw Azeb Gebereegizhaber Fisseha Geberehiwot Yemaneberhan Berhane
Woldegebriel Lemma Woldu Neguse Woldehawariat Mirtus Bekele Gerba Tsehaye Retta Mulugeta Hagos
Tamrat Araya Yohannes Assegahegn Gebertensay Tesfaye Tekelehaimanot Kebede Atakelti Hayele Desta Berehe Yohannes
Asegeagehn Fisseha Geberekiristos Alemyaheu Tadele Tesfay Gebermariam Guesh Ambaye Atsebaha Geberu Haregot Aberha
Fisseha Geberekirstos Yemane Teshome Hailemaraim Mesfin Getachew Belay Desta Kidanemariam Tamart Guangul
Mulugeta Mesfin Assefa Aberha Chekol Kidane Sebaht Hailemariam Hiwot Hesh Ayele Yeshitela Negus Gebremichael
Kasahun Mekonnen Kebede Geberemichael Abreha Atsebaha Kahlid Mohammed Assefa Hiluf Aberha Abadi Kahasay
Kidanu Fitsum Woreta Tarekegn Abay Alemseged Kahasay Berhane Geberegzhiaber Aergawi Abay Belete Tafere Hailu Kebede Belete
Why
is Ethiopia
still running
this
Torture Chamber ?
Who is in control
in Ethiopia?
By Lencho Leta
#OromoProtests: The
Oromo wstreet and Africas
counter-protest state
Mr. Holmes
The fallibility of a genius
1
REPORTING BEYOND YOUR EYES
Editorial: A new Ethiopia must have no business keeping old, repressive institutions!
EXCLUSIVE
Muhe Abdo Aman Nura Negere

Feyisa Eshetu Eletu Mulegta Mosisa
Neamat Issa Ibsa Gutema
Gezahegn Kasahun Demessie

Kebede Yohannes Hundie Marta
Kumsa Demessie Daba Amezene
Zewedie
Ahmed
Hussien
Tewoflos
Wakeweya
Gadissa
Demessie
Gadissa
Demessie
Daba
Gebregiorgis
Abdi Ahmed Jemal Abafogi
Worke Bia Abajebel Alemayehu
Tarekegn Hailu Darge Gemeda
Abera
Tolla
Mae kelawi!
Addis Standard is a monthly English private

magazine published and distributed by
JAKENN Publishing P.L.C. It is registered with the
Ministry of Trade and Industry of the
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia
under license number 1552/2003.
Vol 6 Issue No 61
Assefa
Balacha
Lemma Worke Bekele Merarra

Worke Genemo Jara Bekele
Negash Kumessa Fekadu Ebba
Delassa Tilahun Herpahsa Shiferaw
Tsehaye Tolosa Demekech Bekele
Worku Dejene Demessie Genete
Tolossa Ibssa Yosef Ayele Yegezu
Tesfu Gelana Negera Fisseha Tesfu
Deressa
Kitessa
Germaye
Mekonnen Gelan
Ashine
Austin
Jemal
Shoro Gemechu Getachew Beyasa
Abdi
Ahmed
Muketar
Abdurhaman
Negasso
Getachew
Mergiya
Ebissa Techan Germaye

Shimeles Woldesemayait Getachew
Tsehaye Mehari Araya Bezuayneh
Abay Tafesu Abay Hagos Tekue
Alemesged Tsehay Mehari
Woreta Girmay Aberha Atsebaha
Fikru Yosef
MAY
Aweke
Geberselassie
Why
Geda
Ababyia
Fekadu Ejeta Feyissa Abyiu Geleta
Zegeye Asfaw Ababyia Abajobir
Mohammed
is Ethiopia
still running
this
Torture Chamber ?
Teyib
Ejeta
Feyissa
Ajeta Tamrat Araya

Lemma
Merarra Ajeta Batu Debele
Gabissa Lemessa Gezahegn
Balecha
Feyissa Dibaba
Addisalem Geneti Kebebew
Deressa Assefa Berehe
Wake Fisseha Tesfu Fisseha
Fisseha Tesfu Kebede Demessie
Mekonnen Gelan
Techan
Omot
Agwa
Omor
Tsegaye
Nemera
Ibrhaim Jebo Merarra Ajeta
Mecha
Adem
Bedasso
Omer Idao Dagne Bayissa
GebereEyesus Tuki Ferew
Nikodimos
Woldegiorgis
Hayele Mekonnen Yehedego
Haileselassie Aberha Azeb
Girma Derebe Mulegta
Fisseha Geberemedhin Fitsum
Beharu Geberehiwot Kahasay
Solomon
Abel Wabela Kelemwork
Mammo Aregay GebereEgzihaber
Atakelti Belay Hayele Halefom
Kahasay
Geberemedhin
Meberhatu Kidane Tadesse Abay Bekele Berhane Yohannes Woldelibanos Tekabo Geberekiristos
Kidane Asegahegn
Berhane Woldearegaye Haregot Aberha Hailemariam Fisseha Tesfu Alem Woldearegay Geberehiwot Geberemedhin
Kidane Asegahe Nikodimos Mulu Berehe Almaz Araya Sara Haileselassie Eleni Haileselassie Geberetensai Nayezgi
Adissu
Bulala
Gurmesa
Ayana
Haregot
Aberha
Dejene
Tafa
Abedeta Naggasa Gelana Negera Chemsa Abdisa Getu Girma Feraol Tola Getachew Dereje Beyene Rudo Ceherkos Demowz Yeberah
Nega Kassa Tadesse Yehedego Zebelo Alemesged Yegizaw Azeb Gebereegizhaber Fisseha Geberehiwot Yemaneberhan Berhane
Woldegebriel Lemma Woldu Neguse Woldehawariat Mirtus Bekele Gerba Tsehaye Retta Mulugeta Hagos
Tamrat Araya Yohannes Assegahegn Gebertensay Tesfaye Tekelehaimanot Kebede Atakelti Hayele Desta Berehe Yohannes
Asegeagehn Fisseha Geberekiristos Alemyaheu Tadele Tesfay Gebermariam Guesh Ambaye Atsebaha Geberu Haregot Aberha Fisseha
Geberekirstos Yemane Teshome Hailemaraim Mesfin Getachew Belay Desta Kidanemariam Tamart Guangul
Who is in control
in Ethiopia?
EDITORIAL
COVER STORY
By Lencho Leta
#OromoProtests: The
Oromo street and Africas
counter-protest state
Mr. Holmes
Tsedale Lemma
Editor-in-Chief - Addis Ababa
Bole sub city K. 14/15, House No.New
Tel: +251 (0) 118 951 323
E-mail: asmeditor@gmail.com
tsedalelemma@addisstandard.com
kalkidan Yibeltal
Deputy-Editor-in-Chief
Mahlet Fasil
Senior Reporter
Kiya Tsegaye
Legal Affairs Researcher
COLUMNISTS
Tsegaye R. Ararssa, Special to Addis
Standard
Audace Ndayizeye
African Great Lakes Region Analyst &
Columnist - Burundi
Ran HaCohen (PhD)

Middle East Analyst &
Columnist - Tel Aviv
Tomas Mega
Thats America Columnist
Mark N. Katz
Special contributor
Nolawi Melakedingel
Contributor
Andrew DeCort
Maekelawi!
Why is Ethiopia still running a
Torture Chamber from the past?
10
For many of the detainees Tawla Bet is

a place of heartache, guilt and moral
dilemma; many of them are brought
into a point of mental breakdown to
testify against fellow detainees under
sever duress
#OromoProtests
The Oromo street and
Africas counter-protest state
20
These institutions have also marshalled

people for forced labour, imposed
heavy fines for any absences (or even
imprisoned people), called for protracted
political meetings, monitored speeches,
and restricted peoples freedom of
movement
Part I
Movie Review Columnist

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A D D I S S T A N D A R D J U LY 2 0 1 5
An Oromo dilemma:
The national question and

democratic transition
24
it sounds conceptually dissonant to

defend the Oromo Protests of 201416 as constitutional while cavalierly
dismissing the very basis of their
constitutionality
Content
6 14
EDITORIAL
A new Ethiopia must have no business
keeping old, repressive institutions!
The existence of too many political
prisoners in a given country points
a finger at the function of a
dysfunctional political system. And
politics becomes dysfunctional when it
is not governed by the rules prescribed
for it in a given constitution
REMEMBERING
Tells from Chambers of torture

The office had something strange. The tools
hanging from the wall made it look like a
car garage and there was Joseph Stalins
picture hanging on one side of the wall
15
LIVING

Living the present
16
The cell was very cold, Abel says. Inside

there were seven other detainees.
All he could see are plastic bags and
buckets
THATS AMERICA
30
The other woman

[T] he United States
should focus less on
making our allies happy
and more on making
them actually behave
like allies
OPINION
Welcome to the Ethiopian Wide Web
28
18
OPINION
AFRICA BRIEF
Replacing Dlamini Zuma
wont be business as usual
Who is in control in Ethiopia?

The mismatch between the
words of the Prime Minister and
the deeds of his subordinates
has a potentially devastating
implication for the society they
are ruling
For the Ethiopian public that

is largely disconnected and
grappling with one of the
lowest rates of Internet access
in the world at 3%, any ability
to participate in online and in
on-the-ground activism has
far-reaching implications
there is still bitterness among

some member states about
the way the 2012 elections
were fought by SADC and by
South Africa
27
ZOOM
Why is Turkeys Davutolu getting
skewered by his own party for the EU
migrant deal?
Erdoan summoned him - apparently disregarding

constitutional requirements that as president he
remain uninvolved with political parties - and simply
asked him to call for an extraordinary congress of
the AKP, effectively sacking him
AS
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EDITORIAL
A new Ethiopia must have no business

keeping old, repressive institutions!
The existence
of too many
political
prisoners in a
given country
points a
finger at the
function of a
dysfunctional
political
system.
And politics
becomes
dysfunctional
when it is
not governed
by the rules
prescribed for
it in a given
constitution
As you walk by the area, nothing looks out of ordinary. It is a bustling part of Piassa overcrowded
with - as many parts of Piassa are - bars, shops,
hotels and restaurants. Pedestrians go back and
forth past it oblivious of its presence (or perhaps
terrified of it.)
of (and charged with) crimes against the state, the

people and the constitution. It will give you an idea
or two on why successive states chose to keep that
institution intact even as it continued depriving,
in most instances, due legal process to the people
under its custody.
The Ethiopian Federal Police Force Central Bureau

of Criminal Investigation, known in Amharic by its
bone chilling name, Maekelawi, is a time defying
institution which has been around for more than
half a century, and has been used (and abused)
for the same purpose: to detain people alleged
to have committed grave crimes against the state,
the people and the constitution without due legal
process.
It is no hush-hush that the overwhelming prisoners in Maekelawi are political prisoners brought
from all over the country. That leads to the question of why is that so.
But describing Maekelawi simply as a place of detention is a gross parody of its fundamental purpose for existence. It isnt just a place of detention;
it is, by any definition, a state-run Torture Chamber built by an extinct repressive government but
preserved and run by a government which proclaims itself democratic.
Why is it still around?

This is a question that directly points at the essential explanation for the very existence of Maekelawi as a tool of repression: lack of political will by
the incumbent to render the brutal practices inside
Maekelawi irrelevant as per the values, principles,
and rules of the current constitution and that of
international covenants Ethiopia is a signatory to.
Owing to that Maekelawi remains to be the only
constant throughout the eras of monarchy, socialist totalitarianism, and federalist devolution, which
indicates that the nature of the Ethiopian State is,
at its core, unchanged; that it is the same; that it
is a state which drives its authority (and therefore
legitimacy) from force.
This is not a conclusion this magazine is asserting
based on allegations. Dissect the often too conspicuous correlation between political dissent and
the people overpopulating Maekelawi suspected
The existence of too many political prisoners in

a given country points a finger at the function of
a dysfunctional political system. And politics becomes dysfunctional when it is not governed by
the rules prescribed for it in a given constitution.
In other words when the politics is extra-constitutional (not to say unconstitutional) the only way
a state presiding over such politics deals with dissent is force. In present day Ethiopia Maekelawi
has that force, perhaps in abundance.
Part of the reasons for that is because Maekelawi
is a legal black hole that was never made subject to
public scrutiny; it remains beyond and above any
form of accountability. The fact that the state kept
it running until today with no reform to its function
is symptomatic of the ailments of Ethiopias politics. But above all, its a symbol of a regime that
acts contrary to the values, principles, and rules of
the constitution it championed.
Beyond political will

Beyond the states explicit political will to keep
Maekelawi running (or lack of the political will to
dismantle it) however, a host of other factors contribute to the inhuman functions inside the center.
First, most of the officials in charge of Maekelawi
lack an understanding of the basic constitutionalism that the state they devotedly serve has put in
place more than two decades ago. Detainees basic rights such as access to lawyers, family visits,
ADDIS STANDARD NOVEMBER 2015
and their rights not to be tortured, among others,

are all protected by the constitution. But at Maekelawi they are violated on everyday basis.
Second, there is a chronic lack of skilled personnel
in criminal investigation. Investigation officers inside
this fortress are not only unqualified in criminal investigation skills but, perhaps because of that, hold
the constitution itself with contempt, making detainees vulnerable to their ignorance. From accounts of
survivors, past and present, the story is that a detainee who dares asking his/her constitutional rights
is the one who is often subjected to torture. And evidences are not produced based on skilled criminal
investigation techniques, but by confessions under
duress.
Third, there is a visible logistical problem. Maekelawi lacks equipment such as forensic materials, machines with which to identify forgery, professional
cameras, translation equipment (to help detainees
who come from several parts of the countryside
and who dont speak Amharic to communicate with
their investigators), and proper room set-ups where
non-abusive investigations could take place.
The result is that, in the absence of constitutional
discipline among the bureaucrats who run the institution, or of skills and technical equipment, brute
force reigns supreme. And this force makes Maekelawi what it is.
Dismantling Maekelawi is long overdue

Apart from the symbolic demonstration of repression and of contempt to constitutionalism, there are
two compelling reasons why this magazine would
like to see the functions inside Maekelawi dismantled.
First, more often than not, the institutions conduct
(that it holds detainees brought all over the country
without in most cases the knowledge of their respective regional states) runs against the fundamental federal system the country has put in place 25
years ago today. (Please see cover story.)
This leads to questions on the division of police powers between the Federal police and the State police.
Questions such as which police arrests, and investigates the case of which offender? When is the State
Police expected to hand over a detainee/suspect to
the Federal Police? When is a State investigating police officer handing over a suspect to a federal investigating officer? And what is the modality of transferring a detainee from state detention facility to a
federal detention facility?
These questions in tern require the rethinking of the
rights of regional states to have their own power
over some crimes which they should investigate on
their own initiatives, in their own criminal investigation bureaux, under their own State constitutions.
Indeed, this approach necessities the de-codification
of the federal criminal code and a (re-)codification
of its State equivalents at the State level, and a corresponding division of investigative powers accordingly. But that will bring in relief to those detainees
who should not suffer to prove their innocence to an
investigator who doesnt speak their language and
is unable to gather proper evidence against them
due to distance. It will also stop the federal polices
intrusion against state sovereignties, its practice of
snatching individuals without even the knowledge
of the later, and detaining them inside Maekelawi
isolated from the outside world, a common practice
in todays Ethiopia.
Second, due to its history of the past Maekelawi
should be a place to remember the past and not to
live the present. Countries that have, through costly
struggles, overcome a repressive system and have
instilled a democratic one in place (just like what
todays Ethiopia claims to have done 25 years ago)
often start their transformation by dismantling the
functions of repressive institutions and turning
them into among others museums and monuments where the past can only be remembered and
not lived. Thats what Kenya did with Nyayo Torture
Chambers; South Africa with Robin Island; Senegal with Gore Island; and Poland with Auschwitz,
among the few examples.
The result is
that, in the
absence of
constitutional
discipline
among the
bureaucrats
who run the
institution,
or of skills
and technical
equipment,
brute force
reigns
supreme.
And this
force makes
Maekelawi
what it is.
That is what Ethiopia should do with Maekelawi

too, because a new Ethiopia must have no business
keeping old, repressive institutions.
EXCLUSIVE
COVER ANALYSIS
Maekelawi!
Why is Ethiopia still running a
Torture Chamber
from the past?
Kalkidan Yibeltal and Tesfalem Waldyes
n Piassa, an area many consider to be the heart of Addis Abeba, rests the Ethiopian Federal Police Force Central Bureau
of Criminal Investigation, otherwise known by its Amharic name, Maekelawi (Amharic for central). Notorious for the
sever torture detainees are subjected to inside its enclosures, Maekelawi is a time defying institution which has been in
use for more than half a century in Ethiopia, sadly for the same purpose.
During the dark days of the Marxist Derg regime between 1974 and 1991, Maekelawi served as a place where thousands of dissenters were exposed to cruelties including disquieting torture and arbitrary killings. More than three decades
down the line many of those who survived Maekelawi live a life overshadowed by what happened when they were incarcerated, struggling to fully overcome the experience as they carry the burden of the darkest chapters in their lives.
Today nowhere is that history of horror visibly displayed than at the Red Terror Martyrs Museum around Mesqel Square
in central Addis Abeba. The Museums motto, Never Ever Again, speaks volumes about the atrocities committed inside
Maekelawi throughout the 17 years in power of the Derg regime.
The Red Terror Martyrs Museum was built by the current regime in Ethiopia in honor of the people who perished during
its predecessors infamous Red Terror campaign of 1977-1978. An estimated number of more than half a million Ethiopians were killed during that brutal campaign; and many of the victims have gone through the terrible experience of life at
Maekelawi.
For the survivors of the campaign, the Red Terror Martyrs Museum is a place where solace and comfort can be sought.
Some survivors who were approached by this magazine found talking about the horrendous experience they had gone
through inside the fortress of Maekelawi too much to bear, rendering our attempts to get their stories futile.
Fast forward, decades later and a completely different government that has democratic written all over it, and that waged
a civil war against a regime which partially depended on what happened inside Maekelawi to extend its grip on power, the
story of Maekelawi remained intact.
Chambers of horror
Other than its frightening name, a great
number of present-day Ethiopians know
little about either the physical structure
or the torture techniques applied inside
Maekelawi. But a 2013 Human Rights
Watch (HRW) report titled: They Want a
Confession: Torture and Ill treatment in Ethiopias Maekelawi Police Station, revealed
a chilling account. It documented in detail
the scale of human rights abuses, unlawful
investigation tactics, and detention conditions practiced between the years of 2010
and 2013. It accuses investigators of using
coercive methods including several ways of
torture to extract confessions, statements,
and other information from detainees.
Depending on their compliances with the
demands of investigators, the report said,
detainees are punished or rewarded with
denial or access to water, food, light, and
other basic needs.They are also subjected
to sever physical tortures involving beatings
and punishments by stressful positions such
as hanging them with their wrists tied to
ceilings, or being made to stand with their
hands tied above their heads for several
hours.
The US State Departments annual Human Right Report on Ethiopia, which was
released in April this year, also admits that
there were credible reports police investigators used physical and psychological
abuse to extract confessions in Maekelawi.
Interrogators reportedly administered beatings and electric shocks to extract information and confessions from detainees.
Both reports have been corroborated by
several detainees (past and present) who
were interviewed by Addis Standard for this
story. (See selected stories on p. 14 & 15).
Many of them refer to Maekelawi as
chambers of horror.
Inside the Chambers of horror
Maekelawi has three different blocks with
conditions significantly differing amongst
them. Based on the locations and the facilities inside; the three blocks are known as
Siberia, Tawla Bet & Sheraton.
Siberia
The worst of the three blocks is called Siberia for none other than the cells freezing
temperature. Siberia alone has between
10
seven and 10 cells at a time, all ranging

from 16 to 25 square meters in size. (The
number of the cells can go up and down
depending on the number of detainees
received at a time. And when detainees
overwhelm the block, the management
converts rooms that serve as storage places
or communal rooms into detention centers).
One of the cells in Siberia, cell number 8, is
partitioned into four separate cells and is
used to keep detainees in solitary confinement. The rooms are just big enough to
accommodate a mattress to sleep and a
bucket to urinate on. They have no window
and no light inside, which is why they are
called Chelema Bet (Amharic for Dark
House).
The rest of the Siberia block hosts communal cells, which are lined up along a long
corridor facing one another. They do share
similar features with Chelema Bet: the
rooms are naturally dark except for a dim
fluorescent light hanging on a barred, small
window near each ceiling. The metal doors
have small peepholes, often covered on
cardboard, and are kept locked for 24 hours.
Detainees inside these communal cells are
allowed to have just 10 minutes of access
to daylight per day. The only other stuffs in
each communal cell are mattresses, a bucket and a few food bowls. Up to 20 detainees
(sometimes more) are forced to share each
of the communal cells, which are not more
than 4X5 square meters in size.
At one end of the corridor there are five

filthy toilets and a shower located adjacent
the toilets, all for communal use. While
showering is allowed once a week, accessing the toilet is restricted to 15 minutes
at a time, twice a day; and as if that is not
enough discomfort the toilets dont have
doors to give detainees the privacy they
need.
Tawla Bet
Tawla Bet (Amharic for wooden house),
is where those who are coerced to testify
against fellow detainees are kept as prosecutors key witnesses. For many of the
detainees Tawla Bet is a place of heartache,
guilt and moral dilemma; many of them are
brought into a point of mental breakdown
to testify against fellow detainees under
sever duress.
Tawla Bet is also where female detainees
are kept. Although most of the regulations
are similar with Siberia, the doors in Tawla
Bet cells can stay open during daytime, allowing detainees to sit at their doorstep and
sometimes move from one cell to the other,
a precious asset inside the two blocks.
Sheraton
Named after Ethiopias luxurious hotel,
Sheraton is a block in which detainees are
indulged with a movement as well as access
to lawyers and relatives. They can also
watch television - mainly broadcast of the
state TV programs - at daytime. Detainees
who went through interrogations in Siberia

and Tawla Bet and are waiting to be officially charged are the primary occupants of the
Sheraton block.
law, the facilities at Maekelawi automatically become home to the majority of detainees in preparation for their trials, according
to the report.
The political element
As of late the facility is overcrowded, Amha

says. I heard that they are transferring
some of the detainees to Addis Abeba
Police Commission nearby, he says. This
shows that they are overwhelmed with cases. It might be criminal cases or something
else. It might be something the government
wants to suppress. It can be politically motivated, Amha opines, but Tsegaye Ararssa, a
Melbourne-based legal scholar, is unambiguous in his assertion: the fact that the
larger proportion of detainees are political
prisoners and prisoners of conscience indicates that something is wrong with the way
the politics is run in that country, he told
this magazine in a written interview.
Amha Mekonen, a prominent defense

attorney who has represented some of the
high profile defendants in recent years including the much publicized case of Zone9
bloggers - is no stranger to the stories of
Maekelawi detailed in the HRW report.
Defendants who are detained at Maekelawi often complain that they are subjected
to inhuman treatments, he tells this magazine. Some of the defendants even manage
to convince courts that they indeed have
been abused and assaulted.
One key problem Amha sees with Maekelawi is that the division initiates investigation
without actually having any real ground to
suspect that there is a crime that warrants
an investigation. Many say this happens
when the case is politically motivated. I am
not sure whether that is true or not. What I
am sure is the fact that there are instances
when the division begins investigation without having sufficient evidence, he says.
But for the HRWs report the political
element in Maekelawis conduct is not
easy to miss. The facility is the first stop for
the majority of the countrys opposition politicians, journalists, protest organizers, and
alleged supporters of ethnic insurgencies
once all are taken into police custody, the
report says.
Article 6/1 of the Ethiopian Federal Police
Commission Establishment Proclamation
720/2011 gives the Federal Police the duty
to prevent and investigate any threat and
acts of crime against the Constitution and
the constitutional order, security of the
government and the state and human rights
offenses. As a result the majority detainees
in Maekelawi are suspected of committing
Federal offenses.
Furthermore, Ethiopias introduction
in 2009 of the infamous Anti-Terrorism
Proclamation (ATP) has made Maekelawi
an important site for the detention and
investigation of most of the politically sensitive cases, according to the HRW report.
The provisions included in Ethiopias ATP
seriously undermine basic legal safeguards
against prolonged pre-charge detentions.
Thus, once accused of offenses under this
What is more astonishing

is the level of details and
[organized narratives]
we find on those
confessions. It is as if
they were [composed] by
someone with a literary
background. No one in his
right mind incriminates
himself in that manner
One of the factors that made living conditions inside Maekelawi hellish has always
been the disproportionately big numbers
of people forced to stay in a single room.
We hear that around 12 sometimes up to
15 people are detained in a cell which is no
wider than 4 meter square, says Amha.
Recently, Bekele Gerba, first secretary
general of the opposition Oromo Federalist
Congress (OFC) and who is going through
life at Maekelawi for the second time
- made a passionate plea at a federal court
that he and 21 other detainees were forced
to stay at a 4x5 meter cell that included a
toilet.
The Constitution: Maekelawis

first victim
The operations inside Maekelawi are not
only against basic human rights but are at
odds with the Supreme Law of the land,
the constitution, as well as other laws the
country governs itself by, according to

Amha. For Tsegaye the essential purpose of
Maekelawi is regime security not human
security and as such it has become an
institution that flouts the rights and security
of citizens that are otherwise guaranteed in
the countrys constitution.
Article 19 (2/5) of the Ethiopian Constitution, for example, asserts that people under
police custody should not be forced to make
confessions or make admissions which
could be used in evidence against them. It
nullifies any evidence obtained under coercion as inadmissible in the court of law. And
article 24 of Proclamation No. 720/2011
prohibits the police from committing, any
inhuman or degrading treatment or act.
In addition, regulation on the Treatment of
Federal Prisoners 138/2007 (art. 3/1) clearly
states that no discrimination on grounds of
gender, language, religion, political opinion
nation/nationality, social status or citizen,
while art. 3/2 of the same Regulation guarantees respect to [the detainees] human
dignity unless restricted by the penalties
imposed on them.
Nonetheless detainees at Maekelawi are
not only refused access to lawyers and
relatives, but are subjected to tortures.
[Similar] tortures we have been hearing
in the Derg period such as hanging a bottle
of water on male genitals, electric shock,
beating, being forced to stand for a long
time, and other forms of prolonged interrogations, are committed against detainees,
says Amha, adding that defendants also
experience self-incrimination and coercion
to testify against co-defendants. What is
more astonishing is the level of details and
[organized narratives] we find on those
confessions. It is as if they were [composed]
by someone with a literary background. No
one in his right mind incriminates himself in
that manner, Amha says.
Tsegaye reinforces Amhas point. In Ethiopian detention centers fact is not found, or
discovered, as such; they are made. They
are created in the course of the investigation.
Many detainees are brought from remote
areas all over the country. For them the pain
is twice as much. They are separated from
their social background and support system.
There might even be a language barrier.
I am not sure if Maekelawi is equipped
with proper translation mechanism during
11
interrogations, says Amha. And what is

worse is after having gone through painful
and life-altering months or even years at
Maekelawi, they might be acquitted and
walk free, he adds.
According to Tsegaye, the fact that detainees come from afar disconnects them from
their family and their support system thereof. But more importantly such distance from
ones place of residence becomes a barrier
to access to justice. Physical distance,
cultural distance, and linguistic distance
are the three major barriers to access to
justice, Tsegaye said, adding that when a
detainee is far removed from his/her own
place of residence it makes it more difficult
to gather evidence even for the investigator. But because the main focus is on infliction of pain on the suspect rather than
finding facts, often this fact is neglected.
To ease this problem, if not to solve it,
Amha suggests that other criminal investigation facilities should be established
in regional states. Further explaining on
this, Tsegaye says that in principle regional states can - and perhaps should - have
their own system of criminal investigation.
But their power would be confined to the
crimes over which they have jurisdiction.
(The States have legislative competence
over criminal matters that are not covered
by the federal criminal code.)
As per Proclamation No. 25/1996 (and its
amendments since), the State Supreme
Courts have jurisdiction over cases that
were meant to appear in the Federal High
Court, according to Tsegaye. State High
Courts would adjudge cases that are normally under the jurisdiction of the Federal
First Instance Court. This practice suggests
that, to this extent, the Ethiopian federal
system is merely an executive/administrative federal system. (That is to say, it is a
federal system where the federal government has a legislative power whereas the
States have an executive/administrative
power. The State institutions enforce or
execute federal laws), Tsegaye explains.
Back to a lingering past

On February 26, 1977 44 prisoners were
picked from Maekelawi and were taken to
the outskirts of the city where they were
executed and buried in a mass grave, Babile
Tola, a survivor of Maekelawi, recounts
in his book, To Kill a Generation: the Red
Terror in Ethiopia. The youngest of the 44
12
PRISONERS ITEMS
Plastic Bag
Prisoners use them to place their clothes

and food containers
was only 17 while many of them were aged

between 17 and 26. The story of the secret
mass execution was brought to light thanks
to two prisoners who managed to jump and
escape out of the police van on their way to
their execution. One of them was the young
Hilawi Yosef, who subsequently joined the
armed struggle against the Derg regime.
After putting the stories during the armed
struggle behind him Hilawi Yosef served in
several senior positions in the incumbents
government. Asked by this magazine to relate his story of the Maekelawi Hilawi, who
is currently serving as Ethiopias Ambassador to Israel, declined to return our email,
but his story was narrated in Babile Tolas
historical book, as well as Girmaye Abrahas
Yemiyanebu Egroch (Amharic for The
feet that weep), an apparent reference
to the tortures that leave detainees feet
bleeding.
Buckets
Prisoners use them as urinal
In addition to Ambassador Hilawi Yosef,

several other officials in the current government have been, at one point or another,
detained at Maekelawi during the Derg
regime. It is a fact that leaves Maekelawis
current victims mystified and in endless
search for answers on the logic of keeping
and running an institution that many died
fighting against.
So why is Maekelawi still running?
Jerrycans
Prisoners use them as water container
For Tsegaye, the core reason for its existence as the prime source of state terror is
the fundamental insecurity of the Ethiopian state. There lacks to be a political
will to demolish this prime example of the
apparatus of state repression, he says.
The US state department report revealed
that majority of mistreatments happen in
Maekelawi and police stations rather than
federal prisons.
Amha carefully points at the existence of
other facilities as a viable alternative to (at
least) replace the deteriorating physical infrastructure of Maekelawi, but agrees with
Tsegaye that lack of political will is what is
holding the change back. You can find the
evidence to that within a walking distance.
The newly built Addis Abeba Police Commission has a much better criminal investigation block and facility. If there was a political
will, the same improvements could have
been done to Maekelawi.
However, Amha says he doesnt have any
problem with the existence of a Federal

Criminal Investigation facility. My problem
is with how it is being operated. [Also] for
symbolic reasons, I would prefer it if it is
somewhere else because of the horrible
memories associated with that place.
Tsegaye argues that the structure and even
the name of Maekelawi should have been
altered to reflect the changed politico-administrative structure of the country. Taking
account of the federal set up, the name
tributes to the brutal handling of detainees

under police custody, Tsegaye adds. Criminal investigation is a science, a profession in
its own right. Detection requires a distinct
set of skills that have to be put to use in the
investigation of a particular crime. From
his stint as a lecturer at the Police College,
Tsegaye remembers being told that no one
was trained in criminal investigation.
Tsegaye is under no illusion that judging
from its ultimate purpose as a tool of
repression, its ideal location in the heart

of Piassa (comforted by a general silence),
and the total information blackout on
the purpose and everyday conduct of the
injustice inside its fortress, the current
government is, unfortunately, poised to
continue running Maekelawi, despite it
being a monument of state barbarity and
a primary institution that serves as the
true face of the repressive regimes - past
and present.
the legal foundation

of that institution, its
competence (such as the
matters it has jurisdiction
over), its jurisdiction,
and its responsibility
framework has never
been publicly accounted
for
could have changed into Federal Bureau
of Criminal Investigation. That it hasnt
changed even in name already betrays the
virtually non-federal political culture and
the political practice of the country to date.
Tsegaye is of the view that if there was a
serious thinking into it, such a change - the
change from a unitary system to a federal
one - would have offered an opportunity
to move away from the dastardly, imperial,
and barbaric practices that [Maekelawi]
represents and is a symbol of.
One obstacle that hindered this change, according to Tsegaye, is the fact that Maekelawi has never been put to the light of political and legal accountability. It has never
been publicly criticized (for its misdeeds) in
representative political institutions (such as
Parliamentary Oversight Committees); its
power, finance, and personnel have never
been put to a transparent audit system;
the legal foundation of that institution, its
competence (such as the matters it has
jurisdiction over), its jurisdiction, and its
responsibility framework has never been
publicly accounted for.
Aside from the visible lack of political will
(see editorial on p.6), lack of skill in crime
investigation is yet another factor that conADDIS STANDARD NOVEMBER 2015
13
REMEMBERING
Remembering the past

Abera Tolla
t was January 1978, the height of Dergs

Red Terror campaign. At 21, I was a last
year student at the business department
of the Addis Abeba University (AAU).
Dergs campaign of terror was targeting
university students. Its brutal crackdown
against the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary
Party (EPRP) and the All Ethiopian Socialist
Movement (MEISON) forced students to give
up on peaceful struggles and take arms. The
majority of students from Tigray and Eretria
in the north have already left the campus en
mass and the remaining, especially Oromo
students and students from other parts of
the country, were participating in urban student movements, which made universities
the prime targets of Dergs brutality.
The season was a term exam season but at
night the arrests intensified; that was when
I was taken by the police while walking to
campus to spend the night. About 50 Oromo
students were also arrested the same night.
The police first took us to the Headquarters
of the Derg where we were joined by hundreds of other Oromo students; many of us
were suspected of having links with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).
14
There and then at the Dergs

headquarters the torturer began.
The office had something
strange. The tools hanging
from the wall made it look like
a car garage and there was Joseph Stalins picture hanging
on one side of the wall. There
were metal knobs hanging all
over the wall, and metal rods
were littered at every corner;
rubber ropes and water pipes
were also hanging on thick
wooden frames. Then it occurred to me that the place
was no garage, but a torture
chamber. The tools were no
spare parts but torture tools.
That was the office where

my torture ordeal began.
The first night was the hardest. They removed my shoes
and hanged me upside down.
They used every tool available to torture me through
the night. The painful one
was the beating with the rubber ropes on the soles of my
feet. When I woke up the next morning, I
found myself lying in front of an elderly colonel [name withheld] who I thought would
have a father like figure. He looked at me
and without uttering a word he called for
his deputy and ordered him to bring a kit. It
looked like a medical kit and I was relieved
because I thought they were going to treat
my bleeding feet. I was mistaken. After an
exchange of a brief eye contact between the
two men the deputy pulled a big scissor out
of the box and started piercing my feet, he
pulled my toe nails and finally poured concentrated iodine on my feet. At this point, I
passed out..I have no recollection of what
happened after that. I woke up the next day
and saw that my feet were bandaged. I felt
better but when they called me again and
started torturing me while my feet were still
bandaged I realized that I havent experienced the half of the pain to come - when
they unwrapped the bandage, it took away
the flesh from my sole.
After months of endless torture at the Dergs
headquarters, I was sent to Maekelawi. My
feet were rotten and the rest of my body was
in a very bad shape. I was convinced that I
was sent to Maekelawi to die. Instead I was

welcomed by a group of other detainees
who have gone through similar experiences
and have beaten the odds. There were prisoners from all over the country and most of
them were, like me, university students.
In Maekelawi I joined prisoners at block
number seven. It was a block where notorious prisoners (in other words political dissenters) were kept. I was warmly welcomed
by fellow inmates. They took care of me:
gave me milk, and washed my wounded
feet with feathers and salt water to prevent
further infection (there were prisoners who
died after developing gangrene as a result of
infections.)
The room was 4x4 square meters so there
wasnt much of a space where I can comfortably lay to nurse my battered body, but my
cellmates fixed a special space so I can nurse
myself with as little space as possible. One of
my cellmates was Yibreha Nega, the brother
of TPLF veteran Sibehat Nega. Yibreha was
a loving man; I remember he was the first
one to invite me for a cigarette; he said it
would help me cop with life inside Maekelawi. Sadly, Yibreha, who was a teacher, never
made it out of there. He was one of the hundreds who were called at night to be killed.
I lost six of my close friends in the first two
years alone. They were taken out of our cells
and killed either by hanging or firing squads.
Aside from the torture, which never stops,
to be incarcerated in Maekelawi was like to
die every day. Every night our friends names
would be called for interrogations. Some
would come back broken both mentally and
physically, and some never made it back.
There was a high turnover of prisoners and
I didnt know whether I would be the next
or not; all I knew was that the next day I was
still alive. But I refused to let that fear take
the best of me, so shortly after my feet started healing I began cleaning our block; we
created good friendship to help one another get through the bad times. In my group I
was selected to be in charge of hygiene and
finance. The feeling of fraternity was what
kept us going; Maekelawi changed us all and
we changed it too.
Out of the 10 years I spent in jail, I spent the
first five in Maekelawi. After that I was transferred to Kerchele, another notorious prison where the African Union (AU) headquarters is located at and where I went through
another life changing experience
LIVING
Living the present

Abel Wabela
the cold coming from the

cement floors. His cellmates (some of whom had
been there for quite a long
time) explained to him that
the mats used to be even
thinner. They also told him
that twice a day, in the early morning and late afternoon, theyd have bathroom
breaks; and they would go
outside for sunlight for fifteen minutes. Besides that,
the rooms were locked all
the time.
He didnt see his lawyer or
family for three weeks. And
after they allowed me to
contact them, once a week
that is, on Fridays, it went
on very irregularly. There
were days when I didnt get
to see them, he confides to
this magazine.
Sleep deprivation was commonplace as he was often
called in the middle of the
night for interrogation.
n April 25 2014, the day Abel

Wabela was taken to his cell at
Maekelawi, he was overcome by
a feeling of confusion and physical exhaustion. Once inside the center, they
took my belt, my shoe; they opened the
door of the cell and [pushed] me inside, he
remembers. The room was pitch-dark; he
couldnt make head or tail out of it. Other
inmates who had already been inside gave
him blankets and I fell asleep right away.
It was only the next morning when he woke
up that Abel was able to fully grasp his new
reality.
Abel was no stranger to tales about Maekelawi. Since he started following Ethiopian
politics, he had been aware of the horrible
stories coming out of the shady institution
and he had read some of the human rights
reports with strong allegations. But now he
had to come face to face and get a taste of
it himself.
The cell was very cold, Abel says. Inside there
were seven other detainees. All he could see
are plastic bags and buckets. The mattresses
to sleep on were not thick enough to resist
The interrogation predominantly focused on the origin, direction and purpose of Zone9, a blogging collective of which Abel was a founding
member. I told them we were just a bunch
of young people concerned about our country and people, he says, and our aim was
to make a platform for public discourse in
which ideas can run free. They were not
happy with that. They kept on asking what
will happen after ideas ran free.
The interrogation went sour after Abel
dared to confront one of his interrogators.
I asked him boldly why [the ruling] EPRDF
was afraid of ideas. He went totally mad. He
started kicking me like a crazy person, he
says struggling to control his emotions. Before I was jailed I already have a problem in
my left ear. So when he started kicking me I
asked him not to hit me on my left ear. But
he did exactly that. After being made to return to his cell, Abel cried all night long. My
ear was echoing all night. The next morning
he explained his situation to the person in
charge and asked for a physician. But he
said it was not a big deal.
It was not the first time that Abel was tortured. Nor was it the last until he was set
free a year and half later.

I was first hit by the interrogators after they
asked me about my ethnicity and I told them
I prefer to be identified simply as Ethiopian,
he says. He brought this incident at the court
when his case was being seen. The judge
didnt do anything. In fact when I returned
back to Maekelawi my interrogators told me
that there was nothing Id bring by reporting
them to the court.
The most horrible torture came later though,
when I refused to sign a statement of confession they brought. I told them that that
was not my word and if they wanted me
to sign it they had to make some amendments. But they resorted to force instead.
They stroke the soles on my feet with a stick
and computer power cable. When I still refused to sign they took me, still handcuffed,
to a dark room and tortured me more. They
even let me lay down and stumped on me,
including my face, he says. Eventually he
signed the paper but only after they made
the amendments he demanded.
Its been six months now since Abel left prison. But the 84 days he spent at Maekelawi
before he was transferred to Qilinto, a prison in the outskirt south of the city, do still
have a profound impact on him. I used to
be more conservative and used to want to
control everything in my life. Now I am not
like that. I tried to live smoothly but all of a
sudden some unexpected details trigger a
memory, he says. He particularly cites an
incident in which he was attending a court
case and saw his abusive interrogator standing by casually. He was there like nothing
happened, like nothing happens. He was just
another man like everybody else. But he was
allowed to abuse me.
Before being jailed, Abel worked as a tools
engineer at Ethiopian Airlines. But they terminated my contract even though I have papers from the court declaring my innocence,
he says. He is now in two court cases with his
former employer; he has sued Ethiopian for
their unconstitutional and illegal act and
they on the other hand have sued him for
breach of contract. When I was hired, I took
a training and singed a contract to commit
for seven years. Otherwise I had to pay seventy thousand ETB. Now after terminating
my job they want their money back, he says
with a tinge of ironic smile of a man whose
life is hanging in the balance after his experience at Maekelawi.
15
THATS AMERICA!
How America enables its

allies bad behavior
Jeremy Shapiro & Richard Sokolsky
It is satisfying and certainly trendy to complain about Americas allies. President Barack Obama unloaded on them recently
in an interview with the Atlantics Jeffrey
Goldberg, calling them free riders who
rely on the Unites States for security but
refuse to pay back. The commentariat has
piled on, with a special focus on deteriorating relations with such perennial malcontents as Saudi Arbia, Egypt, and Turkey.
The truth is that our allies behave the way
they do because we let them. We provide
billions of dollars in military and other aid
to countries in order to protect and advance U.S. interests, yet we fail to use this
leverage to induce the recipients of this aid
to behave in a way that actually advances
U.S. interests.
Thats because the United States has become so focused on maintaining its relationships with its allies above all else that
its forgotten what the relationships were
for in the first place: securing U.S. interests.
In part, this is a holdover from the days of
the Cold War, when what mattered was
who was on our side and who was on the
their side in the great ideological struggle with the Soviet Union. In other words,
it was the alliance relationship itself that
mattered more than anything. What our
friends did on their own time in their own
countries and regions didnt really matter,
as long as they stayed our friends.
But thats not the world we live in today. In
todays complex world, where most nations
pursue cooperative and conflicting policies
across different issues, [T] he United States
should focus less on making our allies happy and more on making them actually behave like allies.
Allies behaving badly

President Obama is hardly the first president to complain about U.S. allies. Indeed,
there is a long history of U.S. allies and cli-
16
ent states accepting billions

of dollars in American military and economic largesse
only to pursue policies
against US interests or carp
about American unreliability. In 1996, then-President
Bill Clinton had his first
meeting with Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. After the meeting, in
which the leader of one of
Americas most pampered
allies had lectured Clinton
at length, Clinton reportedly
fumed Who the fuck does he think he is?
Whos the fucking superpower here?
Pakistan is perhaps the most egregious
example of an ally behaving badly. As Lawrence Wright had documented, despite
(and arguably because of) the billions of
dollars the United States has invested in
its relationship with Pakistan since 1954,
its government (or, more precisely, its military) has diverted U.S. military assistance
to build nuclear weapons; harbored Islamic
militant groups that kill American soldiers
in Afghanistan; sheltered the Taliban and
al-Qaida sympathizers (and probably Osama bin Laden); and gave succor to the AQ
Khan network, which became a WMD Walmart for countries like North Korea, Libya,
and Iran that were shopping around for
equipment and expertise on how to build
nuclear weapons.
Egypt is another case: The United States
has given Egypt billions of dollars in military
assistance since 1979, avowedly for the
purposes of maintaining Israeli-Egyptian
peace, which Egypt manifestly has no interest or intention in breaking. But beyond
that, the theory is that by maintaining links
with the Egyptian military elite, the United
States would be in a position to create in
the Egyptian officer corps a pro-Western
force for democratization.
Alas, 35 years into that experiment, in July

2013, the Egyptian officer corps overthrew
the democratically elected Egyptian government and has since brutally suppressed
all opposition to their rule. A U.S.-trained
former Army General is now Egypts dictator, but he shows little special inclination
toward democracy or Western interests.
Saudi Arabia is yet another example. The
Saudi regime is totally dependent on US
military, logistics, training, and intelligence
support. The Kingdom has no strategic alternative to U.S. protection, and its leaders
know it. Yet Saudi frequently acts against
US interests in the region: trying to stop the
Iran nuclear deal, funding Islamic extremist
causes across the region, and undermining
U.S. efforts to negotiate an end to the war
in Syria.
So why do successive administrations
continue to provide massive handouts to
Americas clients when we often get little and sometimes worse - in return?
Domestic lobbies and the influence of powerful constituents like the U.S. defense industry no doubt play a role in inhibiting the
United States from holding allies and clients to account for behavior that is inimical
to U.S. interests. This is especially the case
with countries like Saudi Arabia and Egypt
that procure billions of dollars worth of sophisticated U.S. weapons.

But these defense industrial interests dont
explain why even American allies like Turkey that dont buy much weaponry get
away with these behaviors. And they dont
explain why even those U.S. agencies like
the State Department that have little to do
with the defense industry consistently advocate for allied interests.
Cold War legacy: either with

us or against us
The better answer is that the Cold War created pathologies that have become deeply
embedded in Americas foreign policymak-
[T] he United States

should focus less on
making our allies happy
and more on making them
actually behave like allies
ing machinery, and particularly the priority
it places on alliance management.
During the Cold War, the United States
conveniently divided the world into those
countries who were with us or against
us in the global contest for ideological,
military, and geopolitical supremacy between the US and the Soviet Union. The
United States had a diplomatic playbook for
dealing with countries in both categories:
reward and buy off your allies and clients
in return for their solidarity and support in
the fight against communism; contain, punish, isolate, and pressure your enemies for
supporting the Soviet Union.
When it came to relations with our allies,
what really mattered was that they stood
with us in the broader conflict - everything
else was easily forgiven or not even noticed
in the name of maintaining the alliance.
Overall, this philosophy helped maintain an
effective anti-Soviet front, even when U.S.
allies committed all manner of sins. As was
often said about U.S. support for brutal dictators during the Cold War, he may be a
son of a bitch, but hes our son of a bitch.
Today, most countries in the world are
neither enemies nor vassals of the United
States. The United States works with Saudi
Arabia to maintain stability in the oil market, for example, but winces at its role as
the chief ideological sponsor of Islamist

culture. Egypt supports US efforts to broker a peace deal between Israel and Palestine, but prosecutes U.S-funded NGO workers, including the son of the U.S. secretary
of transportation, for trying to promote democracy in Egypt. Qatar hosts an American
air base that is critical in the fight against
ISIS, but actively undermines U.S. policy in
Libya and Syria, contributing to the chaos
in those countries that allow ISIS to thrive.
These relationships are rife with both cooperation and conflict for the simple reason
that some U.S. and partner interests are
compatible while others clash. Without the
Cold War to provide discipline and context
for allied deviations, such clashes come to
define the relationship. Many of Americas
most important foreign relationships fall
into this category, but Washington still behaves as if the alliance relationship itself is
the most important factor.
How this enables bad behavior

by our allies
Reverse Leverage: Many U.S. allies are
highly dependent on U.S. support - military,
economic, diplomatic, and intelligence and they should be bending over backward
to maintain that support. Yet it is more
often Washington that performs the awkward gymnastics, bending over backward
to keep relations smooth and assistance
flowing.
Qatar, for example, is a tiny country full of
natural resources surrounded by neighbors
that loathe its government. It is fully dependent on the United States for its protection. Yet U.S. officials are afraid to call out
Qatar for its actions in Syria and Libya lest
the United States lose its military base.
So, rather than leveraging Qatars dependence on the US for its entire survival to
induce Qatar to stop acting against US interests in Syria and Libya, the United States
allows Qatar to leverage the United States
need for a military base in the region to induce the United States to shut up and let it
do whatever it wants.
Moral Hazard: In the diplomatic version of
helicopter parenting, the United States protects its client states from suffering the full
consequences of their behavior by bailing
them out of trouble, incurring the costs and
adverse consequences rather than making
their putative ally bear the consequences
of their actions.
The result is a classic case of moral hazard. For example, when Saudi Arabia intervened militarily in Yemen against US
advice, the U.S. response was nonetheless
to support the intervention, specifically to
ensure that Saudi Arabia would not feel the
full consequences of failure. Naturally, the
lesson that the Saudis learned is that the
United States will back them back no matter what they do.
And in Yemen, this unconditional support
has adversely affected important U.S. interests: The increased violence and chaos
caused by Saudi military intervention has
empowered al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which is based in Yemen and still considered by the US to be a dangerous threat
to the US homeland. It has diverted Saudi
assets from the campaign against ISIS, and
it has escalated the conflict between the
Saudis and Iran, which is having a destabilizing effect throughout the region.
Endless Reassurance: President Obama
complained in the Atlantic that Saudi Arabias competition with Iran is helping to
feed proxy wars and chaos in the Middle
East, yet he made a personal trip to Saudi
Arabia recently to reassure the Saudis of
the US commitment to Saudi Arabias security.
But why should the United States care if
Saudi Arabia feels like were abandoning it?
Rather than trying to reassure the Saudis,
the United States should be leveraging Saudi fears of abandonment - along with the
billions of dollars in arms the United States
sells Saudi Arabia - to compel it to curb its
actions in the region that are feeding proxy
wars and chaos.
Its not you, its me

As one U.S. administration official noted,
Our allies all give us headaches, except
for Australia. You can always count on Australia. Thats great about Australia, but the
overall pattern suggests its time to start
looking closer to home for the source of
these problems. If you have one bad ally,
you can blame the ally; if you have all bad
allies (except Australia), maybe its you.
EDs Note: Jeremy Shapiro is a nonresident senior
fellow in the Project on International Order and
Strategy and the Center on the United States and
Europe at Brookings Institute.
Richard Sokolsky is Senior Associate, Carnegie
Endowment for International Peace
17
OPINION
Who is in control in Ethiopia?

Leenco Lata
Who is presently in control in Ethiopia?

This is a strange question coming from
a person who never minces his words
when criticizing the EPRDF for installing
an authoritarian order in Ethiopia, in
which the top official is unquestionably
in control. It is also strange to pose the
question about a country where who is
in control has never really been an issue
at all. Emperor Haile Selassie, Colonel
Mengistu Hailemariam and Meles Zenawi were fully in control in their day and in
their distinct ways. Who is in control was
never in doubt during the time of these
previous rulers.
It is only after Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn became Ethiopias highest
executive official that such a question
started surfacing. In fact, questioning if
he is really in control or not was aired
from the outset of his tenure and has
dogged his administration ever since.
And I am one of those who dismissed the
notion that PM Hailemariam is not really
in control because according to the Constitution he is Ethiopias highest executive official who would ultimately be held
accountable for any official wrongdoing
as long as he remains in that position.
I am now increasingly inclined to question this earlier stand due to particularly a recent development. The Prime
Minister appeared before Parliament on
10 March 2016 and apologized for the
deaths and destructions that had occurred during the preceding months in
Oromia Regional State. He deserves to
be commended for having the courage
and humility to offer a public apology on
behalf of his government. Such an action
is truly unprecedented in Ethiopias history and should be wholeheartedly welcomed.
Those of us who welcomed this public
expression of apology held our breaths
and waited for what should automatically follow: the withdrawal of special security forces from the areas where protests
were taking place; the release of those
illegally detained peaceful protesters;
and compensating the relatives of those
18
killed for peacefully demanding their

constitutional rights.
When none of these followed the Prime
Ministers public expression of apology,
we were left puzzled, disappointed and
increasingly forced to question if he is
really in control. The pronouncements of
particularly the highest government official should carry some weight. Such public proclamations serve as the keynote influencing the behaviors and actions of all
subordinate bodies and personnel. Subordinates are duty-bound to fall in line
with the signal of their highest official.
Unfortunately, subsequent to Prime Minister Hailemariams apology, the direct
opposite of what was expected happened. Instead of releasing the peaceful
protesters already in detention, even
more were arrested. The special security forces remained spread out through
towns and villages and continued to intimidate, humiliate and persecute members of society. The words of Ethiopias
highest executive official and the deeds
of his subordinates stood at loggerheads
The mismatch between

the words of the Prime
Minister and the deeds
of his subordinates has a
potentially devastating
implication for the society
they are ruling
as the result.
There are those who conclude from this
that the Prime Minister was merely being
glib when he offered his apology. But the
apology was aired during a solemn parliamentary session thus militating against
this stand. There are others who contend
that he was simply hoodwinking society
by his apology. This is also implausible
because of the widely well-known religious nature of the Prime Minister, which
renders it unlikely for him to behave in a
duplicitous manner.
No matter what positions observers

take, one thing is indisputable. The mismatch between the words of the Prime
Minister and the deeds of his subordinates has a potentially devastating implication for the society they are ruling.
Members of society are likely to be utterly confused by the contradictory signals reaching them from various levels of
the government. They can correctly conclude that they have been exonerated of
any wrongdoing by the Prime Ministers
apology. On the other hand, the actions
of the security forces are meant to force
members of society to draw the direct
opposite conclusion. The upshot is the
societys inability to distinguish what is
expected of it and what is not.
Furthermore, there are indications that
PM Hailemariam Desalegns government
itself is confused. The meeting he held
with his erstwhile colleague academics,
on 15 March, is one of them. It appears
that encouraging academics to participate in politics was one of the objectives of this encounter. However, there
are already University Professors and
lecturers, such as Prof. Beyene Petros
and Dr. Marara Gudina, leading opposition political party members. And most
conscious Ethiopians are aware how the
activities of those scholar-politicians are
severely hamstrung by the governments
heavy-handedness. What else is needed
to encourage more scholars to join the
fray than stopping the policy of frustrating those already participating in politics?
The Prime Ministers next meeting was
with elected Gada leaders from the
southern tip of the Oromia regional
state. Much can be said about the implication of this meeting. Focusing on
the contrast between two electoral systems and the kinds of legitimacy resulting from them is very informative. The
traditional Oromo leaders were elected
through a highly competitive electoral
process marked with intensive and protracted societal vetting such that only
the best and the brightest get elected.
That these traditional leaders lack political power, however, is obvious since they
command no police force, nor do they
have other trappings of state power at
their disposal. Their influence, prestige
and legitimacy rest strictly on their moral authority and the confidence of their
electors. If granting them audience was
meant to recognize and tap into their
influence, legitimacy and societal confidence, the Prime Minister deserves our
applause for doing so.
Another set of Oromo leaders were elected on the basis of the official electoral
system and are currently exercising uncontested political power in Oromia. I am
of course referring to OPDO parliamentarians occupying every single seat both
at the Regional legislature (the Caffee)
and the Federal Parliament. Unlike those
elected through the traditional electoral
system, however, these ones lack moral
authority, legitimacy and societal confidence. The peaceful protests that have
been rocking Oromia for five continuous
months now evidence that the Oromo
society has no confidence whatsoever in
these supposedly elected OPDO officials.
The contrast between the stature of
these two sets of elected Oromo leaders
leads to a very simple lesson. Only an
electoral system that leads to the election of only the best and the brightest
can do away with the deficiency of legitimacy presently dogging OPDO officials.
And this does not appear promising unless the playing field is leveled thus enabling fair and free electoral competition.
This has been the demand of the opposition parties ever since the EPRDF ascended to power.
The Prime Minister made a striking remark during his discussion with the academics. He identified the absence of
democracy within the countrys political
organizations as the critical obstacle to
democratic practices in Ethiopia. That
he did not exempt even the EPRDF from
this shortcoming is quite refreshing. He
deserves to be commended for his frankness and honesty. I hope we, members
of the opposition parties, would follow
his precedent and critically assess if we
are also practicing democracy within our
respective organizations or not. I could
not agree more with the Prime Ministers

observation. An internally undemocratic
political organization cannot practice democracy in the external sphere.
However, democracy within the EPRDF
deserves a special focus because of its
dominance and the leading role it has
been playing for now close to a quarter of a century. There could be various
causes for the lack of democracy within
the EPRDF: for example the history of its
formation during the insurgency; and its
cultural and ideological underpinnings.
These are obstacles that cannot be summarily and easily resolved. But there
is one step that the EPRDF leaders can
plausibly take with immediacy having
far-reaching implications for internal democracy. And that concerns representation.
It is well-known that the EPRDF is composed of Tigray Peoples Liberation Front
(TPLF), the Amhara National Democratic
Movement (ANDM), the Oromo Peoples
Democratic Organization (OPDO), and
members of any
organization who do not
recognize and struggle
against their own unjust
treatment cannot be
expected to defend the
rights of their constituency
the Southern Ethiopian Peoples Democratic Movement (SEPDM). They have
all been very busy recruiting members
from their respective constituencies for
close to 25 years now. As the result, it is
plausible to expect the number of their
members becoming steadily proportional to the respective populations of these
constituencies.
Nevertheless, these four organizations
continue to send an equal number of delegates to the Executive Committee of the
EPRDF. This has one significance and undeniable implication: According to a very
rough calculation, the vote of one TPLF
member carries the same weight as that
of 3 members of SEPDM, that of 4 members of ANDM and that of 6 members of
the OPDO. This form of representation
has one indisputable implication. It violates the fundamental democratic principle of one person, one vote.
Let me state one fact as clearly as possible: My intension is not to advocate the
rights of OPDO members or of the other
EPRDF member organizations. I have a
couple of aims for bringing up this issue.
First, members of any organization who
do not recognize and struggle against
their own unjust treatment cannot be
expected to defend the rights of their
constituency. If OPDO members, for reasons I fail to fathom, are satisfied that 6
of them carry the same weight as a single TPLF member that is their business.
Second, it is evident that OPDO members have a dilemma. Their organization
was originally formed in order to capture
Oromo backing for the EPRDF. At the
same time, it is also expected to serve as
the instrument for limiting Oromo role in
Ethiopias political and economic life. It is
this contradictory mission of the OPDO
that is wreaking havoc in Oromia and
nothing else.
Let me conclude by paying tribute to
two individuals for their courageous and
public warning to EPRDF leaders to uphold democracy. The historian, Dr Gebru
Tareke, during an interview with an Australian radio station, forthrightly stated
that unless the EPRDF leaders change
their approach to democracy, they are
likely to undo all their positive contributions. The former Commander of the
Ethiopian Air force also offered a similar
warning to EPRDF leaders in an article
published by a local newspaper. I lift my
hat to both of them because authoritarianism and federation make a highly combustible mixture.
There are many societies that have successfully practiced democracy without
federation. But all those who attempted to institute a federal system without
democracy ended in disaster. Mentioning the experiences of the former USSR
and Yugoslavia suffices. Unless a democratic reform is implemented, and soon,
that the same fate awaits Ethiopia as
well appears self-evident to me. If I am
being overly alarmist, it is because I am
convinced that it is better to sound the
clarion call now before the country crosses the point of no return.
19
COMMENTARY
#OromoProtests (Part I)
The Oromo street and Africas counter-protest state

Etana Habte, Special to Addis Standard
Throughout Africa, increasing numbers

of people are fundamentally altering the
power structure of urban centers, transforming the very nexus of these centers
as government sites of socio-political stability, economic development and investment, into sites of demonstrations and
demands for justice and socio-political
change.
African streets are not new to African protesters demanding socio-political changes. All the same, Africa is in an epoch of
the counter-protest state. In the first part
of this series of reflections - Post 2005
Ethiopia: EPRDFs architecture of repression I explore in historic perspectives
(particularly with developments in Oromia regional state) the Ethiopian governments road to becoming a counter-protest state, and proceed to discuss the
systematic ways in which the regime further bolstered its role as a counter-protest
state that now threatens to destabilize the
country, and perhaps the Horn of Africa.
Out in the streets

Yesterdays Afro-pessimism and todays
Afro-optimism equally misrepresent the
actual political transformations unfolding across the continent, wrote Adam
Branch and Rachariah Mapilly, in their Africa Uprising: Popular protest and Political
Change. The authors argue that either
perspective enforces a spurious binary:
overemphasising elites to marginalize majorities of African populations.
In the past decade, increasing numbers
of peoples have altered the power structure of urban centers throughout Africa by
making these centers the sites of demonstrations and demands for social change,
taking to the so-called streets to seek
fundamental transformations in the political systems of their respective countries.
Two waves of protests swept across the
continent: those of the late colonial era
(1950s and 60s), and those of the de- or
20
post-colonial era (1980s and 1990s) when

formal and informal economies (and combinations of the two, for example, in Nigeria) became rooted in national panoramas.
Broadly, accordingly to Branch and Mapilly, the first waves seemed to bring an end
to colonialism, and the second attempted
to destroy the dominant architecture of
one-party political systems, opening doors
for multi-party systems in some countries.
In countries where the idea of a central
government is experienced and perceived
with less primacy to daily life than in urban seats of power, the important questions are: what is the street and where is
it, and what is its role in popular protests?
There appears to be an indelible link between the expansion of the security state
in Africa - in this case evolving into a counter-protest state - and a rise of new modes
of popular protests that are now sweeping
both urban and rural (the later previously
imagined as being isolated) communities.
Issues of race, identity, and rising school
fees are factors contributing to the continuous student protests in South Africa.
In North Africa, between December 2010
and March 2011 waves of protests swept
from Tunisia to Egypt and Libya, the later
effectively turning the protests into a protracted armed conflict that is still ravaging
the country
The 2012 Occupy Nigeria movement
was a series of socio-political protests that
began as a public response to the removal
of fuel subsidies by the Federal Government. Protest sites nationally included
the city of Kano in the North and Ojota
(part of metropolitan Lagos in the South),
Abuja, and internationally, at the Nigerian
High Commission in London, UK. The November 2008 protests in Jos State, Nigeria,
over local election results ended after two
days with the deployment of the Nigerian
Army. Here in Ethiopia, urban based popular protests in 2005 that followed a disputed national election results was brutally
brought down.
Post 2005 Ethiopia: EPRDFs

architecture of repression
The post 2005 era in Ethiopia marked a
period when the incumbent began to undergo the most significant reorientation of
its power since 1991. As was discussed in
detail in Aalen and Tronvolls, The 2008
Ethiopian Local Elections: The Return of
Electoral Authoritarianism, after the end
of popular upheavals following the 2005
elections the regime developed a deliberate plan in order to prevent any future
large-scale protest opposing its grip on
power.
The EPRDF constructed a counter-protest state that combined a single ideological project developmentalism - with an
intensive effort at social control through
a greatly expanded party, Branch and
Mapilly also wrote.
Subsequently, the regime in Ethiopia started to pursue two methods to build Ethiopia as a counter-protest-state. The first
was to manipulate the legal system. Here
the judiciary was effectively constricted
into being a mere extension of the executive branch of the regime. The introduction of a series of highly restrictive laws
targeted the media, civil society organizations, NGOs and opposition political parties. It also restricted financial sources and
participation in human rights issues for
civil society and NGOs. The latters work,
in particular in investigating and reporting
human rights abuses was criminalized by
the proclamation. In addition the draconian Anti Terrorism Proclamation effectively
severed any form of dissent against the incumbent. After 2005, political opposition
party members, sympathisers and leaders
came under direct criticism by the regime
as anti-peace, anti-development, terrorists and faced charges of terrorism
or treason. The result was that between
2005 and 2015, Ethiopia has become a
model of electoral authoritarianism in
which manipulated multi-party elections
are a means to sustain power, according

to Branch and Mapilly.
Given Ethiopias entry into a remarkable
period in 2006 of launching an era of developmentalism, but more appropriately
an era of vigorously building a counter-protest state, very few seem to have
thought that protests would become a rare
phenomena over the next decade. The
regime developed one of the most censorious regulatory systems for the media
in Africa. The two previously mentioned
proclamations, one ostensibly designed to
fight terrorism, and the other to mask the
scope and reach of charitable projects are
in reality used to stifle dissenting voices.
Between 2006 and 2015 countless opposition politicians and their supporters, journalists, bloggers, and activists were arrested and charged with crimes ranging from
terrorism to treason.
That said, a lot has been said on how,
nationally, the EPRDF-led regime has put
in place several mechanisms that helped
it silence any form of dissent. But little
is mentioned on how the EPRDF built a
brutal architecture of repression and bolstered its counter protest state over the
last decade in Oromia, the scene of the
last formidable opposition to the partys
grip in power.
EPRDFs counter-protest state in

Oromia
In the regimes parlance it is decentralization of power down the hierarchical
administrative structures of the state. But
for anyone with a critical look into Ethiopias politics, EPRDF began its journey into
a counter-protest state with methodical,
calculated rounds of federal restructuring
initially under the Transitional Government of Ethiopia (TGE), 1991-1994. That
journey was completed with the creation
of nine federal states. But thanks to subsequent (and unrelenting) manipulations
that arrangement of decentralization of
power eventually became a mere pattern
of expanding the central governments
tools of control over the masses within the
federated states. In 2001, the regime set
in motion a second series of rounds when
it launched the District Level Decentralization Program (DLDP) in the name of increasing the administrative autonomy and
capacity of district or Wereda administrations. But a close look into the conduct
of DLDP reveals that it was a precursor of
These institutions have

also marshalled people for
forced labour, imposed
heavy fines for any absences
(or even imprisoned people), called for protracted
political meetings, monitored speeches, and restricted peoples freedom of
movement
the mechanism that eventually enabled
the central government to exert unlimited
control over the regional structures.
The regimes expansion of its arms of control reached a new high when, in 2006,
it began constructing its socio-political
framework by declaring itself a developmental state. The program necessitated
the implementation of various forms of
administrative and political restructuring
at Kebele the smaller unites of local government - levels. As was discussed in Rony
Emmeneger et al, Decentralization to the
Household: expansion and limits of state
power in rural Oromia, in rural parts of
Ethiopia, Kebele and its organs have been
the most conspicuous incarnation of the
state.
Three reforms of the kebele stand out
in particular in the last decade. First
legislative councils up to 300 members
tasked with appointing and overseeing the kebele executive cabinet were
elected for the first time in the April
2008 elections. Second, kebele administrative capabilities were enhanced with
the appointment of more qualified civil
servants as well as a kebele manager.
Third, a sub-kebele structure that effectively fuses party and state personnel
and interests was established in many
rural areas of Tigray, Amhara, Oromia
and SNNPR. the remaking of kebele is
clearly driven by an expansion of bureaucratic structures of control, which are a
reminder of the Dergs project of encadrement.
Despite the regimes parlance of devolving power to local governments through
decentralization, a comparative study
(such as Alula Pankhursts, Enhancing understanding of local accountability mechanisms in Ethiopia: protecting basic services project. PBS II Preparation Studies)
and other studies carried out in different

regional states determine that local governments service delivery remained one
of the most centralized, top-down style,
strictly government controlled and party-dictated affair.
The best example of boundaries that the
regime blurred between the state and party structures can be seen in the creation of
a door of intrusion into the daily lives of
people. This can be seen from the introduction of the office of Kebele manager,
an office responsible for supervision of all
development activities, which is answerable to Wereda - a de facto placement of
counter power to Kebele chairmen. It is
widely understood as a structure of vertical accountability.
In truth therefore the official state narrative of decentralization aimed at achieving participatory and accountable local
administrations turned out to be a guise
for the regimes highly centralized party
structures; a mechanism to mobilize large
numbers of human resources to increase
the ruling partys ability to go deep into
household levels; and spy on (and coerce)
people into party membership - ultimately consolidating its mechanisms of control
within each household.
Looking into the case in Oromia alone,
between 2006 and 2015 EPRDF has constructed sub-Kebele institutions which
are by far stronger than Kebele administrations, creating a convoluted and tension-ridden social environment where the
state registered and harangued members
of households into party cells bearing
names related to development.
It was through the creation of these
sub-Kebele institutions known as Gooxii (hamlet) and Garee (team or group)
that the regional government enhanced
the state-party controlled administrative
system. Accordingly, the Kebele was divided territorially into groups of households; the Gooxii was comprised of 60-90
households, (each Gooxii consists three
Garee). Each Garee brings together 20 to
30 households. The Garee was constituted
by family heads, Abbaa-warraa, who reside within the Garee territory. They have
been supervised and led by a committee
of five whom they elected themselves.
At the higher level, a Gooxii committee
of five controls its three Garee and binds
them with Kebele, creating a channel of
accountability among Garee committee,
21
Gooxii committee and Kebele officials.

Although the Oromia regional state officially dismissed the committees of Gooxii
in 2008 and put Garee committees under
direct control of Kebele administration it
continued to exist as a geographical principle of organizing the Garee, according to
Alula Pankhursts paper. Having achieved
Kebele administration reform by establishing sub-Kebele institutions and placing
them all under strict, authoritarian and
highly centralized party structure, the regime quickly chained them to the older,
a four-tier institutional set up (regional
states, zones, wereda/district, kebele).
Such is how the ruling EPRDF built a new
architecture of repression and control in
Oromia in the name of development and
decentralizing local administrations for
participatory and accountable systems
whose praxis was mobilizing for development.
As soon as they were created Gooxii and
Garee became highly politicized tools of
control and repression. A number of reports by rights groups described them as
strong mechanisms of suppression against
political dissent.
These institutions have also marshalled
people for forced labour, imposed heavy
fines for any absences (or even imprisoned people), called for protracted political meetings, monitored speeches, and
restricted peoples freedom of movement.
Findings from Human Rights Watch informed by empirical data drawn from
months of field research in various parts
of Oromia state that:
Awakening the giant?

In the course of creating highly accelerated invasive mechanisms into the everyday lives of the Oromo people and their
households, between 2006 and 2015 the
regime has (unknowingly) helped the creation of at least two trends across the Oromia regional state.
First, it fomented rising political consciousness among the Oromo people. By
indoctrinating coercion into their daily
lives and, through systems of control, not
only did the regime expose to the people
what it fears the most, but it helped them
understand why. Boring, repetitive, and
lengthy political meetings, close scrutiny
22
of dissenting voices, demands for written reports from every household when
guests arrive have awakened even the
semi-educated Oromo youth and taught
them at least two things: that there is
some potential force of which the regime
has been so fearful and therefore watchful, and above all the fact that support
from rural communities is necessary for
its legitimacy.
Although the Oromo Liberation Front
(OLF) since it was systematically ousted
from the TGE in 1992 (and was eventually
designated by Ethiopias parliament as a
terrorist organization), has had no physical
presence in Oromia in any organizational
form, both the regime and the OLF itself
equally insisted - for their own political
gains - that the OLF has been functioning
through underground political cells. (The
former because OLF has been an easy,
By indoctrinating coercion
into their daily lives and,
through systems of control,
not only did the regime
expose to the people what
it fears the most, but it
helped them understand
why
but useful tool to stifle and criminalize
any Oromo dissenting voice). But despite
such sinister machinations by the regime,
it did not seem to have taken long before
the Oromo people came to understand
that they constituted the strongest force
of which the regime has been so fearful.
This fear was not related to opposition
parties either; these parties had been
denied access to the public, had most of
their members imprisoned or exiled, and
their offices forced to close. The regimes
fear was directly related to the rising, ever-growing, and coherently progressing
Oromo nationalism centred in the strong
identity of the Oromo nation: Oromumaa
(Oromoness).
Second, through its intrusive mecha-
nisms of repression, and unwillingness to

give even small breathing space for the
politically conscious nationalists, (even
when their voices were seemingly subdued), EPRDF took public grievances to
highest level, converting the conditions
under which the youth in rural Oromia

became ready to look for alternative political forces. Oromo peasants and urban
dwellers that were fatigued with EPRDF
rule began to seek alternative ways of
political mobilization, especially during
election campaigns. This latter case is evidenced in the run up to the 2015 national election. The only home-based Oromo
opposition political party, the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), was able to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people despite the fact that it was denied access to
people and almost all of its offices in the
region had been closed in the preceding
years. The regimes intent to rule through
climate of fear ushered in an Oromo political awareness capable of striking at the
regimes lack of legitimacy.
In Oromia region, access to state services,
employment, promotion in civil service,
opportunities of further education, prospects of graduate and postgraduate studies, chances to secure urban land and
any form of business licenses have long
become highly dependent on party membership. Non-OPDO/EPRDF members in
rural towns and urban centers have scant
chance of benefitting from any advantages related to these opportunities. At the
same time, opposition members and sympathizers, and even highly critical individuals who had been denied access to lots
of opportunities were invited into membership. The rank and file membership
of OPDO dramatically swelled in the post
2005 period.
This is one example of a central governments attempt to apply a national
framework to a street that has neither
experienced nor perceived a credible socio-political framework save for repression and abuses. But in recent months the
same street became the Oromo Street,
derailing Africas biggest counter-protest
state.
Taking the recent #OromoProtests as a
point of departure, the second part of
this series explores a more recent surge
of popular protests, the socio-political architecture in which #OromoProtests took
form, and how a modern Oromo street is
dismantling Ethiopias socio-political complex of repression through protests.
______End of Part I _________
NEWS BRIEF
State-of-the-art American
Center for Ethiopians
Illicit financial flows hurting

Africas efforts to reduce
inequalities
tured in a jungle at the southern tip of the

country and were conspiring to launch a
terrorist attack.
According to the task force, they were captured in a surprise military operation carried
out by security forces on 6 May 2016.
According to the officials security forces
captured most of the terrorists with their
armaments. However the officials have refused to disclose the number of the armed
mercenaries captured.
U.S. Ambassador Patricia M. Haslach, and

Minister of Culture and Tourism Engineer
Aisha Mohammed officially inaugurated the
new state-of-the-art Col. John C. Robinson
American Center at the National Archives
and Library Agency (NALA).
The Center was named after African-American Col. John C. Robinson, who was a
pioneer flight engineer and the father of
Ethiopian modern aviation, a statement
from the US embassy in Addis Abeba said.
The American Center is equipped with
state-of-the-art resources and serves as innovation center for budding entrepreneurs,
students and young professionals and offers
multi-media resources and technology.
Visitors and members of the American
Center at NALA will have free access to
electronic resources which provide information about the United States; programs
on English language learning; over 190,000
eBooks, 1.5 million graduate dissertations,
academic databases and other high-quality
content by registering with eLibraryUSA; internet access, including wi-fi; massive open
online courses (MOOCs); sessions on how to
study in the United States; and a vast array
of cultural activities.
The U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia invested
almost half a million dollars (ETB 10.75
million) in renovations, computers, internet
infrastructure, iPads, Maker Space technology, and other digital resources. At the grand
opening, Ambassador Haslach emphasized
that the American Center is a place for all
Ethiopians to catalyze and empower the
most dynamic and innovative parts of Ethiopian culture and spirit, with a particular
focus on the youth.
The Col. John C. Robinson American Center
is a central part of the American Spaces
Ethiopia platform. Currently, there are over
700 American Spaces in the world, over 100
of which are in Africa. In Ethiopia, there
are four other American Spaces located in
Bahir Dar, Dire Dawa, Jimma, and at the U.S.
Embassy compound.
Inequality remains a critical issue that

should be addressed with urgency if costly
consequences are to be avoided, Executive
Secretary Carlos Lopes of the Economic
Commission for Africa said On May 10th.
In a keynote address to a symposium jointly
hosted by Oxfam and Oxford University to
examine, among other issues, the causes
and consequences of uneven economic
growth and rising inequality between and
within nations, Mr. Lopes said inequality
should never be accepted as a way of life.
Inequalities in Africa could be greatly
reduced if illicit financial outflows, which
are costing the continent an estimated $60
billion annually, were stemmed, Lopes said.
Imagine the impact these illicit resources
in reducing inequality through social transfers and investments in productive and job
creating initiatives, he told the symposium.
Unspecified number of the armed group

who tried to escape were also killed.
The terrorists whose travel documents
shows to have been prepared by the Eritrean regime traversed Ethiopian borders from
Moyale in neighboring Kenya. The terrorists first travelled to Uganda, and they made
their way to Kenya before they arrived at
their final destination, South Ethiopia
The captured militants were allegedly
trained and armed by the regime in Asmara.
Ethiopia repeatedly accuses the Red Sea
nation of deploying terrorists to destabilize
nation, an allegation Eritrea denies. (Sudan
Tribune)
Flash floods, landslide kill more

than 50 people in Ethiopia
Addressing illicit financial flows, Lopes

said, requires the collective efforts of both
national governments and the international
community.
Western countries cannot turn a blind eye
to tax avoidance and transfer pricing activities of their trans-national corporations
while at the same time lecturing African
countries about good governance, according to Lopes. The Panama papers leaked
recently to the media vindicated the ECA
which for some time now has been calling
for action against illicit financial outflows
from Africa.
The symposium also assessed possible
policy solutions to use in charting a way
forward for equity, democracy and social
stability in the global south.
Ethiopia says foiled Eritreabacked terror attack

Ethiopias National Intelligence and Security
Service and Federal counter-terrorism taskforce claimed the armed Eritreas mercenaries were caught by Ethiopian security forces
in the countrys southern regional state.
The heavy armed mercenaries were cap-
More than 50 people have been killed in

flooding and landslide caused by heavy
rains in Ethiopia.
Some 41 people died in Wolayita Zone,
Kindo Diday district in southern Ethiopia on
Monday May 9th due to landslide, according to Alemayehu Mamo, a regional police
official.
Previously about ten people were killed in
the Bale region in southeastern Ethiopia following the flooding. Over 1,000 cattle were
also reportedly drowned in the area.
Tens of thousands of people have been affected by heavy the rains in several parts of
the country, particularly in Eastern Ethiopia
where a dozen people were also reported
dead. Several roads in the south have also
been washed away and bridges destroyed.
Ethiopia is already struggling with its worst
drought in decades that left more than 10
million people dependent on food aid.
23
TOPIC OF THE MONTH
An Oromo dilemma:
The national question and democratic transition

Ezekiel Gebissa, Special to Addis Standard
In his ground breaking study, An American

Dilemma: The Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, the Swedish Nobel-laureate economist Gunnar Myrdal described
Americas race problem as a vicious cycle
in which whites oppressed blacks and then
blamed their alleged poor performance as
the reason for their oppression. The way
to break this cycle, Myrdal suggested, was
to disprove whites preconceived notions
by extending to blacks the promise of the
Others, such as Tsegaye Ararssa of the

University of Melbourne argue that the
constitution should be treated as a basis
for engaging our opponents on their own
terms just as African-Americans did in
their own struggle against racism.
To be sure, there is a clear justification and
an emotional satisfaction in condemning
a constitution that has thus far been used
by the ruling party as an instrument for
perpetrating crimes against the political
it sounds conceptually dissonant to

defend the Oromo Protests of 2014-16 as
constitutional while cavalierly dismissing
the very basis of their constitutionality
American creed. Once African-Americans started to demand that the principles of liberty, equality, justice and fair
treatment of all citizens inherent in the US
Constitution be extended to them, change
started to occur. Myrdal himself was surprised at the speed with which the rampart of discrimination began to crumble,
beginning with the Supreme Court outlawing of school segregation in 1954.
The Oromo national movement currently
faces a similar dilemma. Is the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of
Ethiopia (EPRDF) an instrument that can
be used for pursuing the right of self-determination or a feeble document that
should belong to the dust bin of history?
Some Oromo leaders assert the Wayane
constitution should not be given any credence of authority as a legal instrument.
24
opposition. However, it sounds conceptually dissonant to defend the Oromo Protests of 2014-16 as constitutional while
cavalierly dismissing the very basis of their
constitutionality. In insisting that constitutional rights and the federal arrangement
be respected, Oromo protesters became
defenders of the constitution against a
government that with impunity violated
the political, economic, and equality rights
that are formally protected in that document.
In this article, following Tsegaye, I argue
that the art of politics for the Oromo at
this point is foregoing the emotional satisfaction of calling for a grand military
victory over the Wayane and accepting
instead specific measures that are likely to
produce tangible and lasting results.
There are compelling reasons for this. At

no other time in Ethiopias political history has a nonviolent transition to democracy been more desirable and achievable.
Additionally, at no other time in the past
have Ethiopians viewed the Oromo as a
force for democratizing the Ethiopian empire-state. The vicious cycle of uprooting
an old system and replacing it with an
ideal system has only produced abstract
benefits and tangible harm for the Oromo
and other Ethiopians. The Oromo Protests
have unambiguously demonstrated that
the nonviolent method is the more effective means for ushering in a democratic
polity. Finally, the central demand of the
Oromo national movement as articulated in the political program of the Oromo
Liberation Front (OLF) was achieved when
the right to self-determination became
part of the 1995 Ethiopian Constitution.
For Oromo nationalists, therefore, the
FDRE Constitution, with all its shortcomings, can and should be deployed as an
instrument that confers legality on the
historic and yet unfulfilled demands of
the Oromo and others. Not to use it would
amount to disavowing ones own victory.
Graduated victories
Since the early twentieth century, the Oromo have been regarded by those who hold
power in Ethiopia as a negative force that
must be politically excluded, marginalized
and sequestered away from that center
of power. This political modus operandus
came into effect in 1916 when a palace
putsch removed Lij Iyasu from the Ethiopian throne. To be sure, the young princes
actions, incorporating the people of the
periphery and introducing reform measures designed to overcome the legacies
of repression, exploitation, and religious

conflicts created by Meneliks conquests,
were quite visionary and progressive for
the time. However, the elite of the political center could not fathom the scion of
a Muslim Oromo from Wallo sitting on the
throne of the Semitic-Christian Empire. By
removing Iyasu, the ruling class instituted
a ruling pattern of exclusion and marginalization of the Oromo and Muslims from
the political center. Incidentally, this time
was when ethnic politics was introduced
to the political arena, not 1991, as is widely perceived.
One of the conspirators, Tafari Mekonnen,
used the opportunity of Iyasus ouster to
inaugurate an era of an absolutist regime
in which ultimate power was concentrated in his hands. Under the imperial regime
(r.1930-74) more Oromo land was confiscated and transferred to private holding,
Afaan Oromo was denigrated and effectively banished from the public sphere,
and the promotion of self-rule was rendered a treasonable crime. The regime
emphasized assimilation of the Oromo
and eliminated the remaining pockets of
local autonomy that even Menelik had tolerated. This modus operadus of marginalization and domination was unleashed full
force against the Oromo under the imperial regime. The repression helped to stimulate the creation of the Matcha Tulama Association, the OLF and the Bale Rebellion.
The 1974 revolution implemented measures that dealt a mortal blow to the
economic base of the infrastructure of
marginalization and domination. The Land
Reform Act of 1975, written by Oromo intellectuals, among others, in effect, liberated Oromo tenants from the oppressive
grip of settler-landlords; and the use of
Afaan Oromoo in the media, in addition
to recognition of Muslim holidays as national, chipped away at the most potent
assimilationist vehicle for Amhara cultural
domination.
After 1978 the policies of the earlier phase
were replaced by measures that directly
aimed at combating Oromo nationalism,
beginning with villagization in Harege, resettlement projects in Western Oromia,
imprisonment and persecution of Oromo
intellectuals and military deployment in
areas where Oromo guerrillas operated.

In a way, the actions of the Derg regime
ended up bolstering the OLFs armed
struggle against it.
The collapse of the Derg regime in 1991
coincided with a maturation of the Oromo
national struggle. The Oromo question,
long disregarded as an inconsequential
and meaningless cause in Ethiopia, entered into the international arena. The
representatives of Oromo organizations
fought for and literally put Oromia on the
map, liberated the Oromo language from
the shackles of the Geez alphabet, and
elevated the issue of the right to self-determination to such prominence that its
rejection as a constitutional provision
was not an option. It is incontrovertible
that Oromo nationalists have influenced
the political process that led to the drafting of the current Ethiopian constitution.
The question at this time is whether this
constitution should be rejected or should
be embraced and deployed as a political
instrument.
An Oromo dilemma
In the current political dispensation, when
politics is organized along ethnic lines,
the Oromo have two dilemmas. The first
is their awkward positioning in the body
The Oromo do not fit this scheme. They

are too large a nation to be co-opted as
are the smaller nationalities. They are also
too large to contend for power with the
larger nations without imposing a specter of utter domination simply because
of their demographic size. For both the
Amhara and Tigrayan elites, keeping the
Oromo out of this space and out of contention for power has been their shared
goal even when only one of them has
achieved supremacy. The smaller nationalities also dread the political center being
turned over to the Oromo out of fear that
the Oromo will overwhelm them politically. Their strategy has been to temporize in
tumultuous times and side with the winner of the political contest. Not fitting into
this scheme, the Oromo always lived in a
subliminal political status within Ethiopia.
The second dilemma concerns the Oromo
positioning vis--vis the political center
and periphery. In the current situation the
Tigrayan elite dont project themselves as
the dominant group. Their political posture is that of a champion of the oppressed nationalities, the agent of change
that actually resolved the nationalities
question through a liberal democratic
constitution and a federal arrangement.
They claim the following: that only the
The Oromo do not fit this scheme. They

are too large a nation to be co-opted as
are the smaller nationalities. They are also
too large to contend for power with the
larger nations without imposing a specter
of utter domination simply because of their
demographic size
politic. Historically, the Amhara and Tigray
elites have taken turns to dominate the
political and economic center. Only these
groups have been presumed to be legitimate contenders and holders of power at
the center. It appears that the international community has accepted this presumption, too. The smaller nationalities of the
physical and political periphery are often
assumed to be co-opted by the winning
side.
Tigrayans can at the same time dominate

the center while acting on behalf of the
periphery; that the Amhara elite cannot
reasonably occupy the political periphery
as oppressed and excluded group; that the
Oromo cannot occupy the center because
their demographic status intimidates all
the other nations and nationalities.
But the Oromo cannot be treated as one
of the smaller nationalities of the political
25
periphery because they are viewed by the

smaller nations as already co-opted into
the center, this by virtue of the fact that
they have occupied the geographic center
historically.
Until they resolve their political positioning in the Ethiopian body politic, the Oromo will therefore continue to be in the
ambiguous limbo of not being either integrated into the center or effectively relegated into the periphery. Meanwhile the
increasing harsh attempts by the center to
keep the Oromo relegated to the periphery are failing and causing a crisis of the
state. From the Oromo perspective, the
solution is now apparent in the discourse
periphery and instead step into and claim

their position as a major actor in the political center. That will mean the Oromo
make common cause with Ethiopian Cushites and act a unifier with all Ethiopians in
their common aspirations for genuine democratization, sustainable development
and sustained peace, and human rights for
all citizens in a new Ethiopia.
I recognize some will say that this proposition is not a new proposal. I agree. It
is a position long held by the OLF, but for
some reason has in time drifted into oblivion. In a testimony of April 8, 1992 before
the US House of Representatives Foreign
Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Taha A.
Until they resolve their political positioning

in the Ethiopian body politic, the Oromo will
therefore continue to be in the ambiguous
limbo of not being either integrated into
the center or effectively relegated into the
periphery
that is already underway among the Oromo. This relates to the discourse that is
based in history and being promoted aggressively to push back on the notion that
the Oromo are newcomers or outsiders
to Ethiopia. This is now a prevalent discourse that the Oromo are Cushites who
have lived in the Horn of Africa region
since time immemorial. This has profound
political implications as it nullifies the insidious narrative of the past that has so
far been used by dominant groups to keep
the Oromo on the political periphery.
The peripheralization of the Oromo has
not been entirely the work of the Abyssinian elite. Oromo nationalists have tended
to claim the political periphery in order
to stress the narrative of their historical
conquest and subsequent subjugation.
Without denying that history, it is also historically accurate and politically sensible
that the Oromo reach back and embrace
their demographic positioning as a nation
surrounded by Cushitic-speaking peoples:
the Afar, Somali, Sidama, Gedeo, Konso,
Hadiya, Kambata, Agaw and many more.
I argue that the Oromo must reject the
political project that relegates them to the
26
Abdi, member of the OLF Central Committee, asserted that the fall of the Derg
created an opportunity to democratize,
transform and create a new Ethiopia in
which the equal enjoyment of civil, economic and political rights of all the people
are assured, where freedom of expression
and religion are guaranteed and above all
in which the supremacy of the rule of law
will be established. There is no alternative to the democratization of Ethiopia.
Leenco Lata, former deputy secretary general of the OLF, has written a whole book
explaining why democratization is the only
viable recourse for both the Oromo and
other peoples of Ethiopia. In The Ethiopian State at the Crossroads: Decolonization
& Democratization or Disintegration he
asserts that, without genuine democratization and federalization, the Ethiopian
state cannot escape another round of
bloodbath and likely disintegration.
This position is not a matter of politicians seeking expediency. In his Ethiopia: Missed Opportunities for Peaceful
Democratic Process, Mohammed Hassen
had stated: As an optimist who believes
in the unity of free people in a free coun-
try, I have an undying dream that one day

the Oromo, the Amhara, and Tigrai, and
other peoples of Ethiopia will be able to
establish a democratic federal system. To
me only a genuine federal arrangement
offers a better prospect for the future of
Ethiopia. Mohammed also states that
only democratization could transform the
Ethiopian state from one dominated by
one ethnic group into a state of all citizens.
In this regard, Oromo politicians and academics are not alone. John Markakis puts
it in starkest terms when he argues that
Ethiopia cannot survive as a state if the
political center refuses to integrate the
peripheries into the Ethiopian political
economy. In Ethiopia: the Last Two Frontiers, he advocates democratization that
reaches across the marginalization and
peripheralization of the Oromo and other
peoples of Ethiopia.
The issue here is that only the Oromo can
cross both the political and physical frontiers to establish a genuine federal structure and thereby democratize Ethiopia.
Failing to do so is to return to the backward-looking vision of the old center. As
Markakis sums it up return to ... a centralized state under center control ... can only
be imposed on the periphery with greater
exertion and force than ever. If this were
to happen, it would condemn yet another
generation of Ethiopians to authoritarian
rule and civil strife ...
The Oromo should take a page from the
experience of African-Americans and insist that the promises of the existing constitution be honored. This will make the
Oromo question less esoteric and more
in line with the internationally recognized
demand for human rights. Some, as always, would state that the Ethiopian system would never allow the Oromo to become leaders. That is of course the point
of this article. The Oromo shouldnt wait
until the Ethiopians will let them into the
corridors of power. They must use constitutional means to claim that access and
gain that leadership.
_____________//_______________
EDs Note:Ezekiel Gebissa is a Professor of History
and African Studies at Kettering University in Flint,
Michigan. He can be reached at egebissa@kettering.
edu
Why is Turkeys Davutolu getting skewered

by his own party for the EU migrant deal?
Kemal Kirici
The migration deal that Turkey and the European Union
reached in March received heavy criticism. It was
slammed for giving unacceptable concessions to Turkeys
strongman, President Recep Tayyip Erdoan, with critics
accusing German Chancellor Angela Merkel - desperate
to stem the tide of Syrian refugees and irregular migration into Europe - of being willing to overlook Erdoans
disregard for democratic values. Some expected to see
Merkels downfall. Instead, however, it is the Turkish
prime minister who is losing his job.
ident he remain uninvolved with political parties - and

simply asked him to call for an extraordinary congress of
the AKP, effectively sacking him.
A columnist who used to be pro-AKP, writing in one of
the few surviving opposition papers in Turkey, noted that
this development signaled a shift from a single-man party to a single-man regime. This reality became starker in
a note circulated by a presidential advisor, while Davutolu was still addressing his party colleagues at the parliament. The note simply read: Turkey=RTE=AK Party.
He noted that whether you read the formula from right
to left or left to right, reality speaks for itself: Erdoan is
the undisputed leader of Turkey and the AKP.
As revealed in the Financial Times, it was not Erdoan

but rather Prime Minister Ahmet Davutolu and his team
who negotiated the migrant deal. Davutolu hoped the
deal would secure Europes assistance in tackling the
So this is where Turkey stands today - a far cry from the
major humanitarian challenge Turkey faces, while also
days when the AKP came to power in 2002 on a ticksetting Turkey on track towards visa liberalization with
et promoting liberal democracy, diversity, rule of law,
Europe. The latter would clearly strengthen Davutolus
and EU accession. It is ironic
hand in an ongoing, but fairly
that all this coincides with
discreet, power struggle with
Erdoan summoned him the European Commission
Erdoan. A document, now
issuing a conditional backknown as the Pelican Brief,
- apparently disregarding ing for visa liberalization for
has made this behind-theconstitutional requirements that Turkish nationals. Many are
scenes struggle public. The
as
president he remain uninvolved already speculating that one
report lays out Erdoans diswith political parties - and of the possible candidates as
pleasure over the fact that the
Davutolus successor could
migration deal was Davutolus
simply asked him to call for an well be Erdoans son-in-law,
brainchild and reveals that
extraordinary congress of the AKP, the current minister of energy.
the president had not been
effectively sacking him Whoever gets appointed - not
adequately consulted.
elected, as there will be only
The revelation coincided with
one candidate - at the party
the Justice and Development Partys (AKP) decision to
congress as party leader (and eventually prime minister),
curtail Davutolus executive powers within the party.
his paramount task will be to ensure that a new constituThese powers had specifically been granted to Erdoan
tion legalizes Erdoans one-man rule and is supported
during his tenure as the prime minister (from 2003 to
through a referendum.
2014) and the leader of the party prior to his election as
Will Merkel find in the new premier a partner commitpresident in August 2014.
ted to seeing the implementation of the EU-Turkey deal
Bruised by this decision, Davutolu went on to address
through? Or will she and her critics actually miss DavuAKP members and announced that he would never sacritolu when hes gone?
fice party interests to political ambitions. This precipitated speculations that he was preparing to resign from his
Eds note: Kemal Kirici is TSAD Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy,
post. Meanwhile, Erdoan summoned him - apparently
Center on the United States and Europe Director, Turkey Project
disregarding constitutional requirements that as pres-
27
AFRICA BRIEF
Replacing Dlamini Zuma

wont be business as usual
Liesl Louw-Vaudran & Yann Bedzigui
ith less than three months to go before the

mid-July summit of the African Union (AU) in Kigali, Rwanda, candidates have started vying for
the position of the chairperson of the AU Commission (AUC). The post has been occupied by South African
politician Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma for the last four years.
In the past, the AUC chairperson was mostly elected through
consensus; the result of a lot of backroom diplomacy and confidential give-and-take among member states. Following the
bruising election of Dlamini Zuma in 2012, when several rounds
of voting took place for her to be elected, the decision-making
for the position this year could once more pit countries and
regions against one another.
Dlamini Zuma didnt put her name in the hat for the prestigious position when the call for candidates closed at the end of
March. Though she has yet to make an official statement about
stepping down, her spokesperson Jacob Eben has confirmed
that she will not be running for another term.
The Institute for Security Studies Peace and Security Council
(PSC) Report has obtained the names of the three candidates
for chairperson, as well as those for the other AUC leadership
28
there is still
bitterness
among some
member states
about the
way the 2012
elections were
fought by SADC
and by South
Africa
positions to be decided upon at the Kigali summit.
The three candidates for the top job are Dr Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, (65), from Botswana, Dr Specioza Naigaga Wandira Kazibwe (60) from Uganda and Agapito Mba Mokuy (51)
from Equatorial Guinea. Apart from Kazibwe, a former Ugandan
vice-president and member of the AUs Panel of the Wise, the candidates arent widely known. As always at the AU, the candidates
countries of origin, the states that support them and the extent to
which their regions are prepared to fight for them can, at times,
be more important than their track records.
It is possible that one or more candidates could withdraw their
bid at the last minute. Dlamini Zumas term could be prolonged if
there is no decision on her successor. She effectively only took up
her position in October 2012.
Venson-Moitoi, Botswanas Minister of Foreign Affairs, is the candidate of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
SADC believes it should have the opportunity to run the AU for another term, given that Dlamini Zuma is not availing herself again.
Currently chaired by Botswana, the regional bloc chose Venson-Moitoi to represent it, despite the fact that Botswana has not
always aligned itself with AU positions.
On the International Criminal Court, for example, Botswana did

not join the chorus of African countries opposing the court. Venson-Moitoi is a former journalist who has held several government positions in Botswana, and received an honorary doctorate
for her work.
ment of the commission and the effectiveness of the AU. These included that the chairperson should exercise full authority within
the commission as the chief executive and accounting officer; and
that the election of the commissioners should be de-linked from
the portfolios that they will occupy.
There is no consensus in Addis Abeba, however, that SADC would

automatically get the position of chairperson. In fact, there is
still bitterness among some member states about the way the
2012 elections were fought by SADC and by South Africa.
The responsibility for assigning portfolios, monitoring and managing the performance of the commissioners should be assumed by
the chairperson in his [or her] capacity as the chief executive officer
of the commission. The last recommendation would mean that regions or members nominate candidates for the commission and it
is then up to the chairperson to allocate him or her to a portfolio.
Ugandas candidate, Dr Kazibwe, from Eastern Africa, is also a

medical doctor like Dlamini Zuma, and has been a United Nations
special representative on HIV/Aids. She certainly has the highest
profile and the most international experience among the candidates, but that is not all that counts. Given the AUs increasing
emphasis on gender balancing, it counts in Kazibwes favor as
well as that of Venson-Moitoi that theyre women.
From the left field, so to speak, comes Equatorial Guinea; a state
heavily criticized for its lack of respect for human rights, and
with a president who has just been elected again after 37 years
in power. Equatorial Guinea believes that its Foreign Minister,
Agapito Mba Mokuy who has been an advisor to President Teodoro Obiang Nguema is the man for the job.
The country argues that it is a major player at the AU; which is
true, in a way, if one considers that Obiang Nguema recently
hosted several AU summits and other continental meetings at its
luxury conference centre in Malabo, built especially for this purpose. He was also AU chairperson for 2011.
The upcoming Kigali summit thus risks having more attention given to diplomatic bargaining about names than the ability of the
future chairperson to steer the organization, which is in dire need
of being transformed into a more effective and efficient institution.
When Dlamini Zuma took over, expectations ran high especially
since she had such success with a notoriously bureaucratic Home
Affairs Department in her home country, South Africa. Any chairpersons efforts, however, are constrained by the fact that the African heads of state are the ultimate decision-makers. The chairpersons success often depends more on circumstances, context
and personal flexibility than anything else.
Whoever gets elected on 17 and 18 July will probably again have
to find a balance when trying to make changes in a very difficult
environment, with civil servants from such a diverse range of regions and languages. The PSC Report notes that an overwhelming
number of the candidates for the rest of the commission, which
includes deputy-chairperson and eight commissioners, are civil
servants.
While it guarantees a Commission with experience and knowledge of public administration, this could have negative consequences for a Commission that strives to be more independent,
efficient and effective rather than bureaucratic. An extensive
awareness of the bureaucratic and hierarchic culture could ultimately constrain initiatives taken by the future commissioners,
the PSC Report notes.
In 2007, a high-level panel chaired by Professor Adebayo Adedeji
proposed a series of recommendations to improve the manageADDIS STANDARD NOVEMBER 2015
Almost a decade later, these recommendations remain pertinent;

and reinforcing the role of the chairperson both politically and legally should be considered by the time heads of states gather in Ki-
The upcoming Kigali summit thus

risks having more attention given
to diplomatic bargaining about
names than the ability of the future
chairperson to steer the organization,
which is in dire need of being
transformed into a more effective and
efficient institution
gali to reshuffle the AUC. Clearly, the next election is not just about
the choice of the next chairperson, but indeed also about the future of the organization.
When the Organization of African Unity was created, its main focus
was to support the struggle against colonialism and foster African
integration. Decades later, security has become one of the main
concerns of the newly founded AU.
Today, the challenges faced by the pan-African organization are
more and more complex. Issues like terrorism, climate change and
migration require a clear strategy that defines the roles of the AU,
regional economic communities, member states and international partners. Chairing the AU in a time of budgetary constraints requires not only bureaucratic knowledge, but also political acumen
and courage.
Last month, the AU headquarters hosted a symposium themed
Why the global power shift to Asia matters to the African Union.
The main speaker at the event, Dr Jochen Prantl, director of the
Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy at the University of Australia,
asked about the future role of the AU internationally. He enumerated a few options: the AU can either be a peace project, a reference point, an incubator, a facilitator or an inspiration. Strikingly,
none of the African stakeholders in the room managed to choose
between these options.
There is clearly no consensus of opinions on the future role of the
AU. The main challenge of next AUC chairperson would be to define
the core role of the AU to assert the relevance and the impact of
the organization in the world today.
Eds Note: Liesl Louw-Vaudran is ISS Consultant and Yann Bedzigui is
Researcher, Conflict Prevention and Risk Analysis Division, ISS Addis Abeba.
This commentary was first published by ISS.
29
OPINION
Welcome to the
Ethiopian Wide Web
Tess Conner
In mid-April, as key meetings and forums on security took ereignty as the frameworks of a balkanized Internet.
place in Ethiopia - The Munich Security Conference and
the Tana High Level Forum on Security in Africa - news
on at least two issues currently gripping Ethiopia were Welcome to the Ethiopian Wide Web
largely absent. The first is Internet filtering - or, the issue A country that deliberately erodes freedoms through
of blocking access to the Internet and media platforms coercion poses a serious challenge for actors collaboratsuch as Facebook, WhatsAPP and Twitter. The second is ing on a unique intercontinental partnership aimed at
the communal critical process - or,
discussing and bringing sustainable
the issue of social movements and
security solutions to the fore. Curpopular activism, for example, the
rently
Ethiopia blocked access to
For the Ethiopian
5-month long protests by the Oroseveral news and opposition webpublic that is largely
mo nation.
sites run both from Ethiopia and
abroad. In the midst of the recent
disconnected and
For the Ethiopian public that is
Oromo protest social media and
largely disconnected and grapgrappling with one of communication platforms such as
pling with one of the lowest rates
Twitter, Facebook and WhatsApp
the lowest rates of
of Internet access in the world at
3%, any ability to participate in onInternet access in the were all blocked in Oromia region.
line and in on-the-ground activism
consequences of these practicworld at 3%, any ability The
has far-reaching implications. And
es in Ethiopia and their implications
those who do have access are subto participate in online should be of concern for security
ject to one of the most censorious
In the hub of the African
and in on-the-ground actors.
media infrastructures in Africa. A
Union, the practices should raise
number of investigations suggest
activism has farserious concern. The Oromo Prothat Ethiopias use of denying netreaching implications tests movement - waves of largely
work access is not new.
peaceful protests that swept across
the region at multiple universities,
Reports from the OpenNet Inition the streets of urban centers,
ative, a collaborative partnership of the Citizen Lab at
the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto; throughout rural areas, (and solidarity rallies in cities
the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard around the world), elicited comments about the abUniversity; and the SecDev Group (Ottawa) that analyze sence of comprehensive dialogues on this movement in
Internet filtering and surveillance practices reveal more online forums in Ethiopia.
than a decade of government-sanctioned activities (by As the hashtag #tanaforum trended on Twitter in mid
the former Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation April, one tweet aptly put the issues at hand as, Im for
and its successor, Ethio Telecom), to exscind information truth, no matter who tells it; Im for justice, no matter
by, about and between Ethiopian and international com- who its for or against. Other tweets pointed to an array
mentators on sports, culture and politics. In 2007, Jon- of access-limiting interventions that the government in
athan Zittrain and John Palfrey of the Berkman Center Ethiopia is employing to disconnect people and commufor Internet & Society, Oxford Internet Institute, cited nities from expressing public opinion.
increases in state-control and repression of public sov-
30
In the context of the Oromo Protests

movement, and security meetings and
forums that took place, actors should
have taken note to define just what security issues mean. In the same country
that these two important security forums took place protesters have been
detained; hundreds have disappeared
without a trace and several accounts
maintain that more than 400 have been
killed by government, military and extra-military forces. To the outcry of many
in the international development community, including the US, federal prosecutors have now brought terrorism
charges against tens of detainees including Bekele Gerba, a prominent member
and first secretary general of the opposition, Oromo Federalist Congress.
It is no accident that the most current
report on Ethiopia by Felix Horne from
Human Rights Watch focuses on a correlation between this movement - the
biggest political crisis to hit the country since the 2005 elections, and that
which it articulates as a Deafening Silence From Ethiopia. The silence Horne
refers to goes beyond a lack of Internet
access, showing direct, practical cases of
the governments aversion towards journalists, and coercive mechanisms that it
exacts to prevent public dialogue that
would place its text of narratives into
question.
Physical and digital battlefields

Not only are the battlefields for human
rights freedoms and security physical
and digital, they are intertwined. In a
country that stifles democratic dissent
and subordinates its citizens rights to
public debate, how can European-African cooperation be at the nexus of any
sustainable solution to eradicate one of
these battlefields without acknowledging the existence of the other?
The Ethiopian governments use of the
ATP to silence dialogue is not new, continues to come under criticism, but has
not halted. Mary Lawlor, executive director of Front Line Defenders, noted in her
January 2016 article for the Irish Times,
We Must stop the killing of those who
stand up for human rights, that Ethiopia is a country which uses the pretext of
terrorism to target human rights defenders. More than a week after Bekeles detention, the United States Department of
State issued an appeal to the Ethiopian

government that asserts a correlation
between the ATP and the silencing of
independent voices.
#OromoProtests & #HumanRights

The ability of Oromo Protests to open up
a global dialogue about the grievances
and desires of Ethiopias largest ethnic
group does not merit Internet combat
or obfuscation, but inclusion and a competent socio-political reflex. Amongst
its root causes are a history of targeted
human rights abuses against the Oromo people, attempts to annihilate their
culture, a Master Plan to confiscate
their land to broaden the borders of Addis Abeba, and a widening drought that
threatens the peoples of the Oromia region.
The recent Oromo Protests are therefore
indelibly linked to national Oromo struggles for self-determination. Struggles cohere around land, language (knowledge,
psyche and wisdom), and self-rule. Government responses to the demands towards these struggles have been piecemeal (land as a plot was answered by the
1974 revolution, but not at the level of
a nation); the criminalization of language
was given some reliefs following the
1991 overthrow of the military Derg; the
creation of Oromia as a regional territorial unit after 1991 was a response to the
struggle for land as country. However, all
of these can be seen as only a symbolic
response to the question of self-rule. In
these respects, socio-political reflexes
that once raised hopes and in tandem
formed sources of legitimacy for the current government were undermined by
the Master Plan which directly threatened to unhinge the very existence of
Oromia as a territorial unit.
Bekele Gerba is not alone

The plethora of terrorism charges
brought by the government against tens
of Oromos who were arrested during
the protests represents another, more
targeted agenda to criminalize people
struggling for human rights. On 14 January the State Department called on the
government in Ethiopia to refrain from
silencing dissent and on 29 April to curb
its reliance on the ATP and to stop
imprisoning people for exercising their
rights. It is difficult to see if these statements bear any result.

Mary Lawlor of Human Rights defenders
suggests that where several countries
are concerned, development partner
countries (citing Ireland and the European Union) rarely take up cases against
human rights abuses for fear of negative
impacts to development projects. But
the important question is: what, exactly,
are partner countries funding?
On the security actors who attended
the Tana Forum, another critical question that needs an answer is: what are
these actors legitimizing in electing to
hold meetings in a country whose human rights record, along with militarized
(and extra-military) responses to human
rights are worsening? These meetings
are often held to bolster African-led
solutions to security challenges. This is
a dubious outlook for a contemporary
Ethiopia whose heavy-handed handling
of domestic dissent will soon or later
become the cause of instability both for
itself and the Horn of Africa. Affairs of
security and peace are not separate but
equal; they are symbiotic.
The Blackout of #EthiopiaRising

A government that once touted narratives about political stability, industrial
growth and investment - utilizing social
media technologies and platforms, and
the hashtag #EthiopiaRising - must now
take seriously the fact that #OromoProtests represented credible responses to
its narratives.
Internet and media blackouts point to an
Ethiopian socio-political project to sow
and grow the very seeds of marginalization that security actors meeting for
these forums sought to resolve on a larger scale.
But there is a global community of onlookers who know that neither national, nor regional security questions can
evolve, let alone become legitimate or
sustainable, without the freedom and
open dialogue by citizens. Similarly, there
is a global community of onlookers begging those who attended security forums
and meetings in Ethiopia to look beyond
their meeting rooms and formal speeches; to look at, for example, Ethiopias use
and abuse of the ATP and its relationship
to silencing human rights defenders.
31
EXCLUSIVE
THE
PULSE
From control to demagoguery

Kalkidan Yibeltal
In Maos China, children were instructed in the Great Leaders
teachings from a very humble age. Not only that pictures of
Mao were on the jackets of each text book, the contents of the
subjects were intended to deepen the students comprehension
of Maos acumens. As Anchee Mee relates to us in FROM MAO
TO AMERICA: A WRITERS REMARKABLE JOURNEY (2004), a
typical question in first grade math would be: During the battle to
break an encirclement in a mid-mountain area, fifty of Maos Red
Army soldiers defeated ten times their number. How many enemy
soldiers were there when the battle started?
The English-Chinese dictionary, which in its preface unashamedly
conceded that its purpose was to serve to win our war with the
Imperialists and that it offered criticism while translating to help
readers identify unacceptable parts that English holds as a language, defined love as: affection, admiration; we
have ardent love for our great leader chairman
Mao.Meanwhile the definition for the word
last reads: the only one thats left; fight
the enemy to the last drop of ones
blood.
The futility
New Years Eve. Old people came with their canes and the
young in their mothers arms.
The program had undoubtedly gone through state censorship.
For all its intent to elucidate the plights of laid-off American
workers who were picketing around Chicago City Hall, it
managed to achieve the opposite, at least in Mees mind. The
workers were not skeletons in rags as they had been portrayed by state propaganda apparatus. And as the camera
panned over the background, images of impressive buildings, fancy shops and people eating in neon-sign-decorated
restaurants glided. She was left awestruck. The Universe that
had engulfed her all along might actually be built on deception. She could already feel the cracks opening threatening
to shatter that Universe. But the ultimate blow came from the
subsequent years. As the government loosened its grip
and smuggled books and music became commonplace, Mee realized that she was at odds with
the official narrative.
Our country, like many others which had to
go through Imperial and military regimes,
is not a stranger to futile attempts to fully
control information, knowledge and
narratives with an iron grip. Regrettably,
the current government, which boasts of
sending the old ways of censorship to
grave, does not seem to have effectively
shaken off the obsessive, compulsive impulse all the previous regimes manifested;
the impulse to control when it comes to
information and knowledge. Still petty state
propaganda is the norm of the day. Still the
education of children is hyper-politicized.
of an
authoritarian clutch
on knowledge is even
more accentuated in
the era of ours in which
information is, so to
say, democratized
Reciting fluently Maos important

writings, essays, poems and his Little
Red Book in its entirety had paid
off as Mee was honorably selected
by her school to be a youth leader
at the age of twelve. She was sent
to Shanghai Garrison to be trained
in combating skills. Upon her return,
she was expected to teach others.
And every day all she could dream
of was tying grenades to my body and
hurling myself into a group of American soldiers. She was reenacting, in her head, a scene
from a propaganda movie she saw at the Garrison. The
hero of the movie lit the explosives, shouting his last words through
his radio headphones to his commander, In my direction fire the
cannons! For Mao good bye Comrades!
32
***
***
The futility of an authoritarian clutch on knowledge is even

more accentuated in the era of ours in which information is,
so to say, democratized. However, sadly, the aftermath of this
democratization is very much characterized by yet another
nemesis of democracy: demagoguery.
However Mees patriotic zeal for Mao and Communist China as

well as her profound hatred for America started evaporating once
she laid her eyes on a television set. A neighbor received the set
as a gift from relatives in Hong Kong in the cold winter of 1979.
Fearing that he might be accused of indulging himself with a TV,
the neighbor offered to share it with everyone in the lane for a
couple of days. The public cafeteria wherein he placed the TV
was instantly crowded creating a party that was grander than the
As the American conservative economist/pundit Walter E.

Williams argues, the greatest tool in the arsenal of the demagogue is ignorance on the part of the audience. The abundance of information doesnt necessarily predicate wisdom.
Thus, quite a number of politicians work vigorously to impair
the rational faculty of their audience by appealing to long buried prejudices. They blind whoever cares to listen to them by
tapping his/her worst fears and/or grandiose ambitions.
iew
v
e
R
e
i
v
o
M
Because She Can

BY BRIDIE CLARKFALL
Reviewed by Bess Newman
BOTTOM
Bridie Clark, the author of Because She

Can, is a former editor with years of publishing experience. She is writing what she
knows in her debut novel, which follows a
young editor working at a controversial publishing house under a tyrannical boss. Because She Can is about getting what
you think you want and realizing it is not all it was cracked up
to be.
LINE
Guide Review
Bridie Clarks debut novel, Because She Can, fits squarely
into the bad-boss subcategory of chick lit.
The Devil Wears Prada is the most famous entrant, and
Because She Can takes a similar approach but translates it
to the world of book publishing.
Pros
Because She Can is breezily written and makes

for a fast, enjoyable read.The mystery keeps
last 100 pages turning.
The characters are well-characterized enough

that you will root for them.
Cons
Reading a story about a horrible boss can itself

be a stressful experience.
Description
Claire leaves her publishing job for one with a

higher salary but a tyrannical boss
Her new boss heaps loads of work on her and

demands that she sacrifice her personal life.
Claire begins dating her dream boyfriend, but

the relationship seems hollow
Ignoring warnings from her colleagues, Claire Truman

leaves a pleasant job in publishing for one that promises
better money and faster advancement. After the first
day on the job, though, Claire realizes that the horror
stories she heard about her new boss were all true. She
is overworked and under-appreciated, and becomes the
victim of her boss legendary temper and manipulative
office politics.
What detracts from the readers experience could be said
of most books about bad bosses it is stressful to read
about someone experiencing work stress, and it is hard
not to wonder why the heroine doesnt quit her job if its
truly so terrible.
Because She Can also sets the profit-driven attitude of
Claires new boss (and, it could be argued, of publishing
in general) against the more purist, literary approach
embodied in Claires late father, a respected poet, and
her mother, who embraces a slower academic life in
Iowa. This approach might betray Clarks own higher
literary ambitions, but its also a nice encapsulation of
the conflict shared by many people who entered book
publishing to work on literature, only to be dismayed by
the commercial reality of huge publishing houses.
33
Ar t &
ent
m
n
i
a
ntert
Struggles of an
aspiring singer
Mahlet Fasil
orn and raised in Erer

Gota, a small town
around Dire Dawa in
eastern Ethiopia known
for its fresh fruits Tezera
Habtemariam bumped
into his destiny inadvertently at
the age of 17. It was Parents Day
celebration at the local school he
attended and he was scheduled to
read a brief poem. But there was no
one to sing [at the service] and I had
to fill in, he says. That was the first
time I sang in public.
The main breadwinner of the
family, his mother, had the familys
livelihood depend on the troubled
Ethio-Djibouti railway. She was one
of those smalltime merchants who
frequently travelled from Dire Dawa
to Addis Abeba. But when the railway
stopped giving service, the familys
means of income was threatened.
Thats when Tezera had to step in and
be a wage earner. So I quit school
and began working as a day laborer
making around 30 Birr per day, he
told this magazine.
Tezeras fans at the club

adore him for his cover
versions of Ali Birras
famous songs partly
because he plays them
beautifully or because Ali
Birras songs are loved by
everybody
34
Serious about his late discovered

passion, Tezera participated in
a televised talent contest, The
Ethiopian Idol. He didnt win the
contest but then I decided to take
music lessons and from what I made
as a laborer I paid 300 Birr per month
for my music school.
In 2005 Tezera came to Addis Abeba
in search of better opportunities for
his career. My mother pushed me
to come here because she thought it

would be better here, he says.
He ended up singing in Club Yaniko, a
spot for many upcoming Oromo artists
where now he gives gigs six days a week
except Mondays.
At the club Tezera sings cover versions
of Afan Oromo legend artist Ali Birra,
reggae icon Bob Marley and Amharic
greats such as Mahmud Ahmed and
Getachew Kassa. But Tezeras fans at the
club adore him for his cover versions of
Ali Birras famous songs partly because
he plays them beautifully or because Ali
Birras songs are loved by everybody.
Ever since I was a little kid, I have been
a huge fan of Ali Birra. His songs are
music school to me, he maintains.
Tezera is currently working on his debut
album but things have not been going
well for him as planned. It is an album
containing Afan Oromo songs mostly
in Reggae style. But due to various
constraints I am forced to put it off, he
says. Part of the challenge is because I
support my family. I support my parents
as well as my two sisters who are still at
school. One is in University.
Although he attempted to find
corporate sponsorship for the album,
which should have come out by now,
his efforts didnt materialize. It is often
difficult for Afan Oromo artist to find
[corporate] sponsorships, he says.
But this doesnt seem to let him give
up. I have a plan to release two singles
with video clips he says and all I think
about is finishing my album.
iew
v
e
R
e
Movi

Reviewed by Andrew DeCort (PhD)
Mr. Holmes is a brilliant film, but the major reviews
(e.g., in the Chicago Tribune and New York Times) have
missed its insight.
Initially, I grew bored as I watched the film, seeing only
an aging, increasingly senile Holmes struggle to stitch
back together fragments of memory about a mystery
that puzzled him: why had he left his work as a famous
detective in London to move to the countryside by himself only to keep his bees? It must have been something terrible, he mutters with incomprehension.
Eventually, through good luck and relentless effort,
Holmes (Ian McKellen) remembers. He had been working on a case in which a husband suspected his wife of
unfaithfulness or even madness after her repeated miscarriages.
What Holmes remembered was revelatory. He had brilliantly cracked the case and pieced together all the details, as always. In a park, he approached the mans wife
and disclosed to her, through the guise of reading her
palm as a stranger, that he had connected the dots: she
had taken money in order to buy grave stones for her
unborn children, and she planned to poison her husband for not understanding her motherly grief.
However, having washed her husbands clothes and
found Mr. Holmes card in his trouser pocket, she knows
who Mr. Holmes is and that his palm reading was a ruse.
She unveils him, and they sit and sift through what has
happened.
This moment matters intensely and gets to the heart of
this film.
Sherlock Holmes, with his razor-sharp logic and reasoning, penetrates to the core of his case and unravels his
suspects intentions. And he catalogues this for her, as
if he knows her better than she knows herself, like he

has gotten inside her. When she obliquely asks Holmes
to take her away to a safe place, Holmes knowingly
looks (down) at her and tells her, Go home. You have
a husband who loves you. She walks away, and Holmes quietly bathes in the glory of his own genius, as if by
figuring out all the details and connecting all the dots,
he has now fixed the womans life and demonstrated
his own rational mastery over the mystery of being
human. But he hasnt.
What he does not know the intention that he could
not see was that this woman was going to walk
down a train track and commit suicide later that day.
Holmes could see everything in the case; but he could
not see her and her pain as he sat right beside her
and looked into her face. The fragility of her despair
after the death of her unborn children entirely eluded him. His mastery of the details had distracted him
from their meaning. And this crushed him, and drove
him to exile himself.
Holmes reason and logic were inadequate, by themselves inhuman and cruel. He saw all of the evidence,
but he couldnt see the person. His self-satisfaction
was really the most terrible kind of ignorance and
a cowardice to look at what was really going on a
woman struggling not to give up on life in the midst of
overwhelming grief who had asked him for help.
Mr. Holmes is a gentle but gripping study in the fallibility of a genius. And it is a subtle confession that
the greatest failure in life is not technical in nature but
human in nature, the failure to discern another person and their despair, to respond to anothers desperation, to extend a hand and embrace the other person
rather than unraveling their case and telling them to
return to their life unchanged and alone.
Brilliance without love is blindness.
35
EXCLUSIVE
Art Prcis
Poetry Corner
Mahlet Fasil
Vulnerability
By Asefa
By singing to you Songs of what Is

or by telling you Stories of the Ought
you thought
I sowed seeds of Wisdom
Addis hosts first Nordic Film Festival
to enrich your languishing Soul--
The Embassies of the Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in collaboration with the Yellow Movement, a student association at the
Addis Abeba University (AAU), and Goethe-Institut have organized the first
Nordic Film Festival between the 9th 13th of May 2016.
I sneaked a message
but I tricked you

--a Trojan Horse-that I dumped on your gate
The Film Festival with the theme Womens empowerment was held at the
Goethe-Institut starting from 6.00 PM local time every night. The Festival
is organized with the aim to highlight the importance of womens independence and empowerment in society, something that is a common value for all
the Nordic countries, a statement from the organizers said.
my weapon of the weak
All of the movies screened during the festival either have a female director
or female lead characters, and will inspire both men and women to realize
the importance of having women in power throughout our society.
as if this is by irony of fate--
A panel discussion on the theme of the festival Womens empowerment

was also held after the movie screening on Thursday, 12th of May. The panel
discussion highlighted womens role in shaping culture, how women are
portrayed publicly, and how that affects societies.
that you pulled in

in the middle of the night
into the fortified citadel of your mind
no escape,
I trick you again--Im a Poet!
April 2016
In addition to movies from the four Nordic states, Yegna Movie, an Ethiopian
movie about four young women who travel to Addis Abeba to compete in a
music contest and follow their dreams was screened on Thursday May 12th.
Pin it to read it!

By Jeffrey Somers
Robert B. Parkers Kickback, by Ace Atkins
New month, new reading list. Try Robert B. Parkers Kickback, by Ace Atkins this
summer! These days we all know that Author Existence Failure is not really a
problem, at least for popular characters like Parkers Spenser. The key to success
is generally to hire top-notch writing talent to carry the torch, and Ace Atkins
has the resume and the chops. What hes also got is an amazing ability to mimic
Parkers style and voice in the Spenser novels, and a knack for timely plots. In
Kickback, he tells the story of a teenage prank that gets classified as terrorism,
with the perpetrator sentenced to a rehabilitation camp for teens thats hiding
some very dark secrets, prompting Spenser to step in and lend a hand. Exciting,
familiar, and well executed, this is a perfect read for anyone looking for a simple,
old-fashioned thriller.
36
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011 155 04 44
St Gabriel G. Hospital
011 661 36 22
St. Paulos Hospital
011 275 01 25
St. Yared
011 155 30 66
Wudassie Diagnostic Center 011 157 43 43
Yekatit 12
011 155 30
66
HOTELS
Addis View Hotel
Adotina Hotel
Africa Hotel
Alexandria Hotel
Atlas Resort
62
Atlas International Hotel
Axum Hotels Plc
Baderas Hotel
Beshale Hotel
81 81
Bole Ambassador Hotel
Capital Hotel & Spa
Classic Hotel
Concord Hotel
Crown Hotel
Dagim Millennium Hotel
Damu Hotel
Desalegne Hotel No.3
Dreamliner Hotel
Extreme Hotel
Finfine Hotel
Ghion Hotel
22
Global Hotel
Harambee Hotel
Harmony Hotel
Hilton Addis Ababa
Holiday Hotel
Hotel Dafrique
Hotel De Leopol Int.
Ibex Hotel
Imperial Hoter
Intercontinental Hotel
Meskel Flower Hotel
Nexus Hotel
Panorama Hotel
Plaza Hotel
011 124 97 66
011 467 41 01
011 551 73 85
0911 1038 57
011 120 76
011 618 74 33
011 661 39 16
011 661 39 16
011 647
011 618 82 84
0116 19 20 00
011 661 35 98
011 465 49 59
011 439 14 44
011 372 03 00
011 550 98 28
011 662 45 24
011 467 40 00
011 155 37 77
011 551 91 00
011 551 32
011 466 4766
011 551 40 00
011 618 31 00
011 517 00 00
011 661 20 81
011 551 73 85
011 550 77 77
011 465 44 00
011 629 33 29
011 550 50 66
011 467 01 26
011 667 00 67
011 661 60 70
011 661 22 00
Queen Of Sheba Hotel

Radisson Blu Hotel
Ras Amba Hotel
Rivera Int. Hotel
55
Saro-Maria Hotel
Semen Hotel
Sidra Int. Hotel
Sheraton Addis
Yordanos Hotel
Wabi Shebelle Hotel
PHARMACIES
Abader Pharmacy
Abbay Pharmacy
Africa Drug Store
Ghion Pharmacy
Gishen Pharmacy
Lion Pharmacy
Pelical Pharmacy
011 661 54 00
011 515 76 00
011 122 80 80
011 419 77
011 667 21 31
011 155 00 67
011 661 77 77
011 517 17 17
011 551 57 11
011 551 71 87
011 662 43 97
011 371 32 98
011 157 18 57
011 551 86 06
011 661 17 17
011 155 18 93
011 552 17 90
TOUR AND TRAVEL

Amazing Ethiopia Tours 011 554 55 35
Forship Travel Agency S.C. 011 155
14 93
Green Line Travel Agency 011 551
62 62
Horizons Safaris
011 554 47 55
Lambadina Tour & Travel 011 662
15 95
One More Tour & Travel
011 275
91 04
World Travel & Tours Plc 011 618
13 57
TRADITIONAL FOOD
Elsa Kolo
011 275 42 28
Hamza Sheriff Shefi
011 654 45 90
Tena Migib Producers Plc 011 439
08 54
TRANSPORT
Agnazio Mesina and Co. 011 550 50 13
Ethiopian shipping Lines S.C.011 551 82 82
Green International
Logistic Services Plc
011 662 36 82
MACCFA Transit plc
011 663 78 12
Maritime & Transit Service
Enterprise
011 551 06 66
Trans Ethiopia plc
011 551 65 80
VETERINARY CLINIC
Bethel Vet Clinic
0911 66 58 30
CASA INCIS Clinic
011 551
94 27
0911 21 02 04
HAPS
011 654 47 56
0911 68 30 20
Mobile Veterinary Clinic 0911 41 00 20
Old Airport Clinic
0911 20 99 93
Shalom Vet Care Clinic
011 629
18 77
WATER+SEWERAGE
AUTHORITY
011 111 63 34
011 155
09 22
OTHER SERVICES
Betel Funeral Arrangements
046
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
Information (Directory
Enquiries)
997
International Calls
998
Mobile Thefts
011 550 60 10
Wake Up Calls
999
LATE NIGHT
Antica Bar & Restaurant
0911399831
Bole Road, near EU
@mosphere
Next to Kaldis on Sheger Building,
Beer Garden Inn Bar
011-618 2595/91
Behind Edna mall
Black Rose
Boston Partners Building
Buffet de la Gare
011 551 7888
Next to the railway station
Club Alize
0116665593
Bole near Moha headquarters at Womsadco Building
Club Platinum
091-120-3240
At Bole Medhanialem In Jambo
Building
Champion
091-378-4149
Olompia next to Delux
Coffee House
011-122-6466
6kilo behind Egypt Embassy
Fahrenheit Lounge
Opposite Bole Medhanialem
Gaslight (Sheraton Addis)
011-517-17-17 Ext.6893
Haris Cigar Bar & Lounge
011 -553- 9995
Wello Sefer Tebaber Berta Buld. 1st
floor
Liquid Lounge
0913 08 04 04
Kazanchis, Nigst Tower (near
intercontinental hotel)
Memo Club
011-551-9887
Off Bole Road , Behind Exhibition
Center
Piano Bar & Restaurant
011-661-4504
Abenus Bulding
Signature Bar (Radisson Blu Hotel)
011-515 76 00 Ext. 3425
The mask Pub
011-663-1120
Bole Road behind Palestinian Embassy

Welcome To The Ethiopian Wide Web - Addis Standard Vol 6 Issue 61 May 2016

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Welcome To The Ethiopian Wide Web - Addis Standard Vol 6 Issue 61 May 2016

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REPORTING BEYOND YOUR EYES

Abera Tolla Geda Ababyia

Lemma Worke Bekele Merarra Ajeta Tamrat Araya

REPORTING BEYOND YOUR EYES

Muhe Abdo Aman Nura Negere

Gezahegn Kasahun Demessie

Addis Standard is a monthly English private

Lemma Worke Bekele Merarra

Ebissa Techan Germaye

Ajeta Tamrat Araya

Ran HaCohen (PhD)

For many of the detainees Tawla Bet is

These institutions have also marshalled

Movie Review Columnist

The national question and

it sounds conceptually dissonant to

Tells from Chambers of torture

Tells from Chambers of torture

The cell was very cold, Abel says. Inside

The other woman

Who is in control in Ethiopia?

For the Ethiopian public that

there is still bitterness among

Erdoan summoned him - apparently disregarding

Kirkose sub city Woreda 03 House No.414

A new Ethiopia must have no business

of (and charged with) crimes against the state, the

The Ethiopian Federal Police Force Central Bureau

Why is it still around?

The existence of too many political prisoners in

Beyond political will

and their rights not to be tortured, among others,

Dismantling Maekelawi is long overdue

That is what Ethiopia should do with Maekelawi

Kalkidan Yibeltal and Tesfalem Waldyes

ADDIS STANDARD NOVEMBER 2015

seven and 10 cells at a time, all ranging

At one end of the corridor there are five

ADDIS STANDARD NOVEMBER 2015

who went through interrogations in Siberia

The political element

As of late the facility is overcrowded, Amha

Amha Mekonen, a prominent defense

What is more astonishing

The Constitution: Maekelawis

ADDIS STANDARD NOVEMBER 2015

country governs itself by, according to

interrogations, says Amha. And what is

Back to a lingering past

Prisoners use them to place their clothes

was only 17 while many of them were aged

Prisoners use them as urinal

In addition to Ambassador Hilawi Yosef,

So why is Maekelawi still running?

problem with the existence of a Federal

tributes to the brutal handling of detainees

repression, its ideal location in the heart

the legal foundation

Tells from Chambers of torture

Remembering the past

t was January 1978, the height of Dergs

There and then at the Dergs

End of Part I ___