http://www.voanews.com/content/protests-ethiopia-gonder-city-signal-uncertain-future/3445262.html
Protests in Ethiopia’s Gonder City Signal Uncertain Future
James Butty
August 02, 2016 4:45 AM
An Ethiopian professor of political science based in the United States
says Ethiopia finds itself at a crossroads with an uncertain future
unless the government holds free and fair elections.
This, as tens of thousands of people in Gonder, a city in the Amhara
region of northern Ethiopia, protested Sunday calling for a change of
government because of what they say is unfair distribution of wealth
in the country.
Charges of ethnic discrimination
Getachew Metaferia, professor of political science at Morgan State
University, said the root causes of the Gonder protest and the Oromia
protests of last year can be found partly in the Ethiopian
government’s ethnic-based federalism policy.
“The first one is ethnic-based federalism that has created a dichotomy
situation let’s say between Amaras and the Oromos, the Oromos and the
Tigray. The second is the expansion of the territory of the Tigray
people to include an area called Wolgait-Tegede in the Gonder region
where the uprising is taking place right now. The people in
Welkait-Tegede say that they are Amaras and not Tigrays. So, they
should not be incorporated in the Tigray region,” he said.
Lack of democracy in Ethiopia
Metaferia also said another cause of the uprisings in Ethiopia is what
he called the worsening democracy situation in Ethiopia.
“There is no human rights protection, no freedom of speech, freedom of
the press,” he said.
He said another reason for the uprising is the widening gap between
the haves and have nots. “There is poverty, abject poverty. There a
few elite people who are benefiting.
The head of the Amhara Regional State government communications
office, Ngusu Tlahun, spoke to Ethiopian television and said the town
and regional state governments would address the demands made by the
protestors on Sunday concerning development and good governing. 'The
problems would be corrected and solved in time," he said. However,
he said the protestors had carried a flag that he said did not
represent the one recognized by the Ethiopian constitution.
In response to a similar protest last month, the Ethiopian government
blamed individuals who it said have been receiving financial and
weapons assistance from “terrorist and anti-peace forces based in
Eritrea and a third country.”
Use of force by government criticized
Professor Metaferia said another source of the protests could be the
Ethiopian government’s use of force against protesters in the name of
fighting terrorism.
“I can also say that the heavy-handedness of the government, using a
special force called Agazi. A semblance of resistance, a semblance of
opposition leave someone to be killed by the Agazi force. So this is
the government that has created more or less a police state. These are
the root causes of the situation taking place in Gonder,” Metaferia
said.
Metaferia said he sees no peaceful future for Ethiopia unless the
government mends its policy to incorporate all Ethiopians rather than
use the divide and rule technique.
“What do you expect from a government claiming 100 percent seats in
parliament in spite of this popular uprising? Opposition leaders are
in prison. So, with that kind of situation there can be no peace in
the country. Hopefully the government’s foreign friends will strongly
advise the government to open and let there be free and fair
elections,” Metaferia said.
Received on Tue Aug 02 2016 - 09:05:01 EDT