August 4th, 2011 | by Angus Stickler and Caelainn Barr | Published in All Stories, Ethiopia Aid Exposed | 14 Comments
Britain and the international community stand accused of turning a blind eye to widespread human rights abuses in Ethiopia, by providing billions of dollars of aid despite evidence that it is used as a tool of political oppression.
An undercover investigation by the Bureau and BBC Newsnight reveals that as areas of Ethiopia fall victim to drought and famine, whole communities are being denied basic food, seed and fertilizer for failing to support Prime Minister Meles Zenawi.
The investigation has also gathered evidence of ongoing ethnic cleansing, mass detentions, the widespread use of torture and extra-judicial killings by Ethiopian government forces.
And we can reveal that senior officials in both the EU parliament and the UK failed repeatedly to act on similar reports of horrific human rights abuses.
In one instance the EU Commission allegedly tried to water down an official report, which detailed major concerns about the actions of the Ethiopian government.
Meles Zenawi October 2005 – Flickr/aheavens
Generous donations of aid
Ethiopia receives $3bn in development aid every year, with Britain the second largest donor after the US.
This year the UK will hand out £290m, not including the £48m in emergency aid announced last month, a massive 24-fold increase over the past decade. The EU provided £152m last year.
Yet since 2005, when Zenawi was accused of ‘stealing the election’ after the opposition won a landslide in the capital, evidence of horrific human rights violations have poured into the international community.
Basic human rights abuses are being committed by the Government on a daily basis – the EU must respond firmly and resolutely.
Timothy Clarke
Portuguese MEP Ana Gomes, who was the chief election observer for the European Union during the 2005 Ethiopian election, is outspoken about the ongoing human rights abuses in Ethiopia. She has spoken to the Bureau and accused the international community of a deliberate agenda of ‘hear no evil, see no evil’.
Analysis: How Europe’s taxpayers fund abuses of human rights and democracy
She said: ‘There is this industry of aid not only in the European Commission but in the different member countries, namely those who are the biggest aid donors to Ethiopia, like Britain, like Germany who want the business to continue as usual because they have their own interests at stake.’
Gomes even suggested that EU commission officials attempted to water down reports she produced in 2005 documenting problems with that year’s election. The reports are seen and edited by several people.
‘What really stunned me was the feedback I got from Brussels… the department for development of the commission was completely rewriting my own report and was actually toning down, watering down, all the most difficult passages which were detailing the situation and the repression of the opposition… I was really shocked.’
Reign of terror in Maikelawi detention centre
Turning a blind eye
The problem is that Ethiopia commands a strategically important geographic position.
‘Western leaders resist speaking up against Zenawi’s repressive regime by invoking stability interests. Besides attempting to depict Ethiopia as a success story of development assistance, EU and the US like to portray their ‘aid darling’ as a partner in the fight against terrorism and a crucial actor for stability in the Horn of Africa,’ said Gomes.
The Bureau has been passed confidential daily reports by the former EU Ambassador for Ethiopia, which show abuses were routinely reported to senior officials at the European Commission as far back as 2005.
There is this industry of aid not only in the European Commission but in the different member countries, namely those who are the biggest aid donors to Ethiopia, like Britain, like Germany who want the business to continue as usual because they have their own interests at stake.
Ana Gomez
Violent crackdowns on opposition supporters by Zenawi troops are detailed in 61 emails sent by Ambassador Timothy Clarke to 27 top officials in the highest offices of the European Union.
The emails were sent over three months in the days after the 2005 ballot. They expressed increasing concern about reports of murders and arrests of thousands of civilians by government forces.
Members of the Council of Europe and the Commission’s offices for external relations, development and aid were all contacted.
Related article: Aid as a weapon of political oppression in the Southern Region
On one occasion, on June 12, Clarke became so concerned he demanded immediate action: ‘Basic human rights abuses are being committed by the Government on a daily basis – the EU must respond firmly and resolutely.’
Yet the next day the EU presidency commended the joint Ethiopian declaration on the elections.
Then on July 6 2005 Zenawi, at the invitation of Tony Blair, attended the G8 summit at Gleneagles where they discussed poverty in Africa.
Following the 2005 election, the EU gave €134m to Ethiopia, increasing this to €244m in 2007.
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