The Gathering Storm Against The Ethiopian Government In US Congress

EDITORIAL

How bad is the Ethiopian government faring in US congress? The answer is: very bad. A rough way to gauge how negatively the Ethiopian government is viewed in the US congress is that Ethiopia, the oldest nation in black Africa, was lumped with Equatorial Guinea in a hearing at the US Congress on May 10, 2007. There are three main reasons for Congress’s anger: the first one has to do with the political conditions in Ethiopia itself. Many US legislators are upset about what they perceive as increasing repression and lack of progress in democratization in Ethiopia. Furthermore, many of these congressmen have reached the conclusion that the reason Ethiopia has not instituted democratic reforms is because it figured that, since it is an ally of the United States in the war against terrorism, the US would not take it to task for not letting democracy take root in the country. Many of these congressmen think that the quid pro quo of allowing Ethiopia to trample on human rights in return for Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism services does not serve the long-term interests of the US. Many in Congress are saying, yes, it is true that we depend on Ethiopia for anti-terrorism in the Horn of Africa, but Ethiopia also depends on us for many other things, so we should use our leverage to pressure the Ethiopian government to let the Ethiopian people participate in shaping their destiny.

The second reason behind congress’s fury against Ethiopia is the increasing realization that the Ethiopian invasion of Somalia in which the US was a not so behind-the-scenes accomplice, has turned out to be a failure. Actually, the fact that these congressmen already knew about the situation in Ethiopia and said little about it in the past, makes the deteriorating situation in Somalia as the primary reason they are speaking up now. These congressmen look at the situation in Somalia and see it as yet another example of a foreign policy disaster by the Bush administration.

The third reason why the US congress is riled up against Ethiopia is due to intense lobbying by Ethiopians in the United States.

The convergence of the three factors mentioned above has created a mood in Congress which is very critical of the way the Ethiopian government has taken advantage of its alliance with the United States and used it as a license to abuse its citizens. Furthermore, this new mood in congress is bipartisan. Just to give an idea of how serious the situation is, there is now talk in congress of using sanctions against Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government needs to move fast and address the issues raised by the US congress. It can only ignore the emerging situation at its own peril.

Source: Somaliland Times

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