The Meles Mystery: Has Anyone Seen Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Zenawi
By: <
http://www.eurasiareview.com/author/graham-peebles/> Graham Peebles
August 15, 2012
To many Ethiopians the sudden disappearance of Prime Minister Zenawi is a
source of joy and excited expectation, for his die-hard supporters
apprehension no doubt and concern for their leader. Is he dead they ask, or
perhaps critically ill, has he run away, finally overwhelmed by guilt and
shame at the way he and his ministerial cronies have treated the people of
Ethiopia, since they took power from the communist Derg twenty one years
ago. Or is he recovering from illness peacefully on some isolated retreat.
The Prime Minister has not been seen since his last outing at the G20
summit, in Mexico on 19th June, where he looked a wee shadow of his usual
Italian suited self. Such prolonged absence is unusual for a man who revels
in performing his supporting part upon the international stage of political
propaganda. He has failed to appear at a series of high-profile events since
June, including the opening of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa in
July.
So where is the revolutionary democrat? It has been repeatedly reported that
Meles has received treatment in the Saint-Luc hospital in Brussels for a
stomach complaint, a suitably vague description as to mean nothing. The
Washington Post (8/8/2012)i affirms “Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the
rebel-turned-technocrat who has led Ethiopia since 1991, is sick.” The
Guardian (8/8/2012)ii relays “the Egyptian state information service
reporting that Meles underwent surgery in Germany.” They continue “It is a
mystery what has happened to Meles and not even his own ministers know his
fate,” an exiled Ethiopian source said.” According to a ‘government source’,
(no name or status is given) speaking to the Guardian, Meles is on holiday,
well it is the summer after all, and is recovering from an illness. There is
no mention of where he is holidaying or why he has not personally issued a
statement, reassured his followers, who are no doubt worried, and silenced
the internal tussling within the EPRDF, that is undoubtedly taking place.
Secrecy smoke and mirrors
Ethiopians are notoriously secretive and distrustful, the great Polish
journalist Rysard Kapuscinski in his classic work ‘The Emperor’, regarding
the reign of the last Ethiopian Emperor, Haile Selasie and his inner circle,
states “the Ethiopians are deeply distrustful and found it hard to believe
in the sincerity of my intentions,” elsewhere he goes further claiming that
Ethiopians are the most “secretive people on Earth.” Having lived in Addis
Ababa and worked with Ethiopians for a number of years, my experience
certainly bears out Kapuscinski’s comments reinforced by René Lefort, author
of ‘Ethiopia. An heretical revolution?’ when he states “given the history of
Ethiopia, where secrecy is a cardinal virtue”
The Sellasie years were ones shrouded in deceit and extreme secrecy, all
discussions and decisions between the Emperor and his ministers took place
verbally. There are no documents with Sellasie’s signature, making it
possible for him to deny involvement in any policy, to adopt a number of
positions on any issue and to change his mind based on political expediency
at any point in time. Kapuscinski relates, “Though he ruled for half a
century, not even those closest to him knew what his signature looked like.”
At meetings the Monty Python sounding ‘Minister of The Pen’, recorded the
Emperors orders and instructions, whose words were often muffled and
ambiguous, allowing for non-commitment on issues and the creation of fear
amongst his ‘court’.
Image and social status is of great importance within Ethiopian society. In
1973, whilst hundreds of thousands starved, Halie Selasie and his government
denied that a famine was taking place in the northeast of Ethiopia, known as
the ‘Unknown Famine’ and lied to ITV journalist David Dimbleby, who reported
the situation in Wollo that Sellasie and his cronies had attempted to cover
up. Food was in fact available in the Wollo region, but was transported to
the capital Addis Ababa, where it could command higher prices at market, all
under the direction of the Sellasie regime. The revelation to the World of
the famine hastened his downfall and he was deposed in 1974 by a military
junta, led by Mengistu Haile Mariam, who had him suffocated to death a year
later.
Another example of the secretive/duplicitous tendency of the Ethiopian
people, creating a false or misleading image was the way Emperor Menelik II
death in December 1913 was kept quiet. He died and was buried without any
public announcements after suffering a stroke and being unable to govern for
several years. And this for and of a man regarded by many as the last true
Emperor.
The Meles way
There is no freedom of the press in Ethiopia; in fact there is little or no
freedom in any area of social or political life. Express dissent at
governments policies and face certain imprisonment, write articles critical
of Zenawi and his regime and expect to be charged with treason or some such
fictitious crime and sentenced as many have been, often in absentia, to life
imprisonment. The Economist (7/8/2012)iii reports “Dissident or
investigative journalists have been jailed or driven into exile. In July a
prominent online journalist, Eskinder Nega, was sentenced to 18 years in
prison.” Political opposition is all but banned under the Zenawi
administration.
All media is state owned, so too the sole telecommunication company. As well
as the major printing press Barhanena Selam, who recently told the weekly
newspaper Feteh, who planned to publish a story quoting BBC and others
discussing the where about and health of Meles, that the government had
ordered that week’s edition (22/7/2012) of the paper, about 30,000 copies,
to be blocked on grounds of inciting national insecurity and endangering the
government and the public. Such is the degree of media control.
Accurate, uncensored information about anything is therefore impossible to
find within the Ethiopian news sources, who are to nobody’s surprise towing
the EPRDF party line on the missing premier – ‘Meles is on holiday,
recovering from illness.’ ESAT the independent satellite television station
based in Holland, have reported various accounts of Meles death (30/7/2012),
misquoting it appears the Belgium based International Crisis Group, who
denied giving any such information. It is it seems a maze of invisibility
cloaks, secrets and deceit, a drama that would one feels not surprise
Kapuscinski in the least.
The EPRDF under Meles Zenawi has been in power since 1991, he has been Prime
Minister since 1995, after taking the mantle of President the previous four
years. Two stolen corrupt elections in 2005 and 2010, in which European
observers declared the election unfair. The regime is a dictatorship,
trampling on human rights and restricting all freedoms, selling off vast
tracks of prime Ethiopian farmland to international corporations for a few
dollars, displacing hundreds of thousands of indigenous people in the
process, who are corralled into villagization developments. Land sold is
cultivated to grow staples not for the needy people of Ethiopia where some
13 million are food insecure, but for the industrial farmers home ‘market’.
Western complacency
The west believes, as it did with Egypt’s President Mubarak, that it has an
ally in Prime Minister Zenawi. He allows American drones to be stationed on
Ethiopian soil, and acts when ordered to by the imperial master. In 2006
Ethiopian troops invaded Somalia, at the behest of George W. Bush, who
sought to subdue the activities of the Al Shabab militia (Islamist group).
The deal is clear and predictable: Meles allows Ethiopia to be an outpost of
the American military, in exchange for the west turning a blind eye to
extensive human rights abuses in the country. As the Financial Times states
“western donors and allies have been willing to overlook human rights abuses
and a lack of political freedom at home.” Human rights abuses that destroy
lives too many to count, but trouble not ‘western donors’, concerned only to
extend their reach into all corners of the world
Around $3 billion a year is given to Ethiopia in development aid by the US,
Europe, Britain and The World bank, all of which incidentally is paid to or
through government agencies. The EPRDF misuse and politicize the funds,
allocating donations based on political affiliation and not need, including
emergency humanitarian aid.
For western donor countries the heavy hand of a tyrant, that inhibits and
controls, offers stability, or so those fearful of freedom will say, as the
Financial Times (9/08/2012)iv comments, “Strongmen in power can be useful
allies. They make decisions fast and can impose their wills.” Not
withstanding the impact on the people of their hasty ideologically driven
decisions and shortsighted actions.
Time for change
If Zenawi is unable to continue in office, and according to Rene Lefort in
Open Democracy (8/8/2012)v “the widespread conviction shared by most
diplomats and experts is that, whether Meles is dead or alive, he is no
longer in charge and never will be again, so the candidacy for his
succession is open.” should the constitution be respected, parliament would
pick a successor. Would his passing make any difference, ushering in change
in the way the EPRDF rules Ethiopia, for in the absence of any credible,
well-organized, coherent opposition they are sure to continue in power. Will
freedom social justice and democracy flow into the country unrestricted,
gently healing the deep wounds of the past 20 years, or will another in the
mould of the repressive, brutal Zenawi step forward to continue his legacy
of suppression and human rights abuse. One suspects the latter would take
place, sadly Ethiopia has lacked good governance for generations.
The ERDF and its leader Meles Zenawi, whilst publically espousing democratic
values and signing all manner of human rights laws into their constitution
and federal code – to be summarily ignored, are idealists, adhering firmly
to a version of ‘Revolutionary Democracy’. At the core of which is a
centralized controlling dogma, that believes in social uniformity and the
abolition of independent thought. Human Rights Watch (HRW) in their report
on Ethiopia ‘Development without Freedom,’vi quote Meles describing his
version of the ideology, “individuals will start to think alike and all
persons will cease having their own independent outlook. In this order,
individual thinking becomes simply part of collective thinking because the
individual will not be in a position to reflect on concepts that have not
been prescribed by Revolutionary Democracy.”
Time for freedom and justice
Perhaps Meles Zenawi is dead or and one feels this more likely, recuperating
on holiday. Alive or not, his passing is long overdue, should a man who
holds such divisive inhibiting ideals, disregards human rights laws and
indeed Ethiopian domestic laws, and seems to care little for the people of
Ethiopia hold political office at all. It is time for change within
Ethiopia. The current regime locked as they are into a repressive narrow
ideology show no signs of relaxing the controls exerted upon the people, in
fact since 2009 State repression has intensified.
It is Prime Minister Meles Zenawi that leads the EPRDF government and
dictates policy. Governance is highly centralized, The Economist
(7/7/2012)vii states “power has still rested with a clutch of Mr. Meles’s
comrades from his home area of Tigray in northern Ethiopia,” and according
to a former American ambassador to Ethiopia, David Shinn cited in The
Economist, “this hard core, including the army’s chief of staff, General
Samora Younis, retains a “paranoid and secretive leadership style.” Echoes
of Sellasie perhaps and further support for Kapuscinski’s view.
The people’s time
One doubts a man like Meles Zenawi would be a great lose, either to the
African continent or to the people of Ethiopia. On the contrary the majority
of Ethiopians would rejoice, for under his leadership they are controlled
and suffer, have no voice and cry out to be heard, are entrapped and yearn
to be free: free to express themselves, to gather and speak openly, free to
build a just and open society. Free to be.
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Received on Wed Aug 15 2012 - 16:17:01 EDT
