Ethiopian Politics: A campaign of intimidation

After the last election, 30,000 people were arrested in a

crackdown on dissent. This time, the governing party

is taking no chances

 

Addis Ababa (Geoffrey york) — From Wednesday's Globe and Mail

Six months before a crucial election, one of Ethiopia's small band of

opposition MPs has a simple question: How can he campaign for votes when
he cannot even hold a public meeting or meet voters freely?






Negaso Gidada, a former president of Ethiopia and now an independent MP,

tried to visit his constituents in southern Ethiopia recently. It was an

arduous journey.


He was not permitted to hold any meetings in public places. He was kept

under surveillance, and his hosts were interrogated. Those who met him were

questioned by police. He was given no coverage in the media.

“People are so intimidated that they are afraid even to speak to me on the

phone,” he says. “Campaigning is totally impossible. How can it be a fair

election?”


Four years ago, foreign election observers concluded that the last Ethiopian

election had been rigged. Opposition supporters took to the streets, and an

estimated 30,000 people were arrested in a crackdown on dissent. Nearly 200

people were killed when Ethiopia's police opened fire on the protesters.

Dozens of opposition leaders and activists were jailed.

This time, with an election scheduled for May, the ruling party is taking no

chances. Ethiopia is sliding deeper into authoritarian controls. Police

agents and informers are keeping a close eye on the population, with harsh

restrictions imposed on opposition leaders and civil society groups.


The election matters because Ethiopia is strategically important. It is the

second most populous country in sub-Saharan African, and a key U.S. ally in

the Horn of Africa, where Ethiopian troops have repeatedly intervened in

Somalia. And it is one of the biggest recipients of Canadian foreign aid,

with $90-million donated by Canada in 2007 alone.


Mr. Negaso, who was president of Ethiopia from 1995 to 2001 but later split

from the ruling party of autocratic Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, has managed

to hold only a few public meetings as he travelled around the country in the

past year.

One meeting in August was broken up by dozens of thugs, including some whom

he recognized from the ranks of the ruling party. They shouted, whistled,

grabbed the microphone and prevented people from speaking. “We were chased

out,” Mr. Negaso said.

In another district, he said, the police told opposition leaders that they

needed a special permit if they wanted to use a megaphone.

Even his e-mail messages and phone calls are monitored, he said. But he

refuses to be intimidated. “If you are afraid,” he says, “you can't do

anything.”


Another opposition leader, Seeye Abraha, is a former close ally of Mr. Meles

from the early 1970s when they were both young revolutionaries fighting the

military junta known as the Derg, which they finally overthrew in 1991. He

became the defence minister but was jailed for six years on corruption

allegations after a falling out with Mr. Meles. Now he says he is under

constant surveillance, his phones and e-mails monitored, his movements

constantly followed by security agents.