|
EPRDF�s plot to undermine
our resolve to build democracy in our country shall
be foiled by the peaceful struggle of our people
A
press statement from MEDREK
One of the
defining characteristics of the EPRDF regime, as observed in the last 20
years, is that it is highly erratic
in its positions and as the result of the unpredictable nature of its
system, we find it difficult to trust it and to plan anything in any
meaningful way either individually or in group. Despite
this reality, EPRDF prides itself in being led by plan and continues to
boast that it is bringing us �rapid growth.� Without explaining
adequately what happened to the promises it had made to us five years ago,
the EPRDF is currently engaged in a propaganda campaign telling us that it
will enable us to be self-sufficient in food within the next five years,
that the economic transformation will be fully realized and that it will
be time for the economy to be led not by Agriculture but by Industry. This
EPRDF habit of lining up an array of false promises in the economic sphere
is becoming prevalent in the political field as well.
It is known that ever
since EPRDF seized power, it has always sworn that it would establish
democracy in this country and it has even gone to the extent of having
this noble promise enshrined in the country�s Constitution. The
Ethiopian people, because of the ardent desire they have to extricate
themselves from an oppressive rule, gave EPRDF ample opportunity to go
steady and have respite so that it could fulfill its promise of
establishing democracy. Starting from the Transitional Government
organized by EPRDF up to the present one, other political forces in the
country have cooperated and are cooperating and contributing their
unreserved share to assist the process of democratization, in the belief
that the realization of their legitimate demands lies in a democratic
system. Donor countries and international financial institutions have
continued to give unreserved aid to the ruling party in the belief that a
torch of peace and democracy has been lit in Ethiopia, a country
surrounded by the Horn region that has never ceased to be afflicted by
conflict.
Emboldened by the
unreserved foreign assistance it receives, the EPRDF leadership is bent on
eroding the democratic values enshrined in its own documents,
criminalizing all activities carried out to express democratic rights,
imprisoning and harassing, on lame pretexts, members
of its own leadership who happened to raise question of democracy and
sovereignty and fomenting quarrels and conflicts among the people. To
exacerbate these conditions further and in an intrigue orchestrated in the
name of election, it has gone to the extent of ousting, from federal and
regional councils, veteran political organizations that have been strong
actors in the political arena of our country and presenting alternative
positions as duly elected voices of their constituents.
The arrogant and
irresponsible behavior of EPRDF was not confined to its dealings with the
organized Ethiopian democratic forces and the Ethiopian people in general.
The donor international community also has had a good taste of it. EPRDF
has engaged in a reckless game of confusion, threats and bluffs, telling
donor countries to pack up and go home, and take their aid with them. This
act of brinkmanship that has shaken the spirit of the Western donor
countries seems to have succeeded immensely for EPRDF is continuing to
receive not only all the aid it has requested but also, more importantly,
a license to perpetrate, with impunity, atrocities on efforts to push
forward the democratization process, so much so that it has now come to a
point of declaring the end of multi-party democracy.
Even though the oppressive
character of EPRDF was apparent as early as when it first seized power,
its false cloak of democracy was ripped off and its true nature
unmistakably revealed following the 2005 election.
The post-2005 election Parliament that was under EPRDF�s absolute
control, as a result of rigging and use of force, has been engaged in
issuing laws that were designed to stifle dissent and to debilitate
opposition parties by denying them the means of soliciting support from
the people. It has schemed successfully to weaken the competing capacity
of opposition parties by depriving them of the assistance that they would
have received from donor countries on the alleged reason that the
government would allocate funds for them. It
has also equally succeeded in incapacitating the once free and vibrant
civil society organizations by issuing a debilitating law.
The Western World in
general, and the United States in particular, is engaged in a world-wide
war against terrorism. EPRDF has not only offered itself to be a loyal
agent in this war but it has also gone to the extent of promulgating a law
purportedly against terrorism but in reality designed to categorize
opposition parties as terrorists and to pave the way for their
incrimination. This vicious measure taken by EPRDF has laid a heavy burden
on the freedom and activities of the opposition. Electoral laws are
becoming more and restrictive. The state media is fully monopolized by
EPRDF. The private media is engulfed in a state of fear with the Sword of
Damocles constantly hanging above its head.
The Ethiopian Federal
Democratic Unity Forum (MEDREK) has been seriously engaged in activities
designed to break the unconstitutional all-round siege placed upon the
activities of the opposition by EPRDF. One of these activities, it will be
recalled, is the effort made to negotiate with EPRDF on how to broaden the
ever shrinking political space. It is known that MEDREK had made
considerable efforts to mobilize the diplomatic community in support of
the effort. Unfortunately, EPRDF was determined to discredit the MEDREK
objective, namely the broadening of the political space, and to focus
solely on the Code of Conduct. Not only did EPRDF manage to mobilize a
number of parties, including from the opposition, in support of its
mistaken position but it also succeeded in misleading the diplomatic
community. Although EPRDF managed to mislead others by declaring that if
all of us agreed on a Code of Conduct of international standard, all
problems related to election activities would be solved, MEDREK did not
become a victim of this ploy. As a result, it did not take part in the so
called negations. Instead, it has stayed on its course and is determined
to continue to focus on activities that would contribute to the widening
of the political field.
Despite the fact that
EPRDF had severely narrowed the political field through oppressive
proclamations and created a condition not conducive for elections, MEDREK
opted on taking part in the 2010 election convinced that victory could be
achieved not by abandoning the election field to EPRDF and its cohorts
but by being engaged in the process, by learning from past mistakes
and improving on future activities, by mobilizing the people and exerting
an uncompromising pressure on EPRDF to bring about improvements. Although,
guided by a sense of responsibility, MEDREK followed this course of
action, it was clear, as it was observed during the course of the 2010
election campaign, that EPRDF had completed
preparations long before and was determined to prevent MEDREK from winning
a single parliamentary seat and to employ any means, constitutional or
unconstitutional, legal or illegal, ethical or unethical, to achieve its
goal. A sample of its preparation included labeling MEDREK
as �anti-peace� and as �a force of destruction� and disseminating
this sinister characterization through its organizational election manuals
so that it would be open for targeting and attacking.
An unprecedented method
used by EPRDF in the 2010 election is the infamous, so called
�tirnefa� or �bonding� where one EPRDF cadre took five people,
bonded them into one group and made them committed to voting for EPRDF by
any means under the disposal of his party. The �bonded five� are taken
to the polling station as a group and made to vote for EPRDF as a group
thus violating the principle of secrecy in voting. The National Electoral
Board has contributed its share to the success of this coercive and
illegal practice by arranging, in the polling stations, voting booths that
made it possible for the EPRDF to carry out such illegal acts.
What is even more amazing
in the series of crimes committed by EPRDF during the 2010 election is the
dissemination, in the name of MEDREK and at the eleventh hour of the
election period, of a malicious document full of lies and purporting that
MEDREK had declared itself out of the election process. When all of its
shameful activities designed to force MEKDREK out of the election process
had failed, EPRDF resorted to such degenerate practices. Although MEDREK
has not received justice, it has gathered all the available evidence and
presented it to the National Electoral Board and then, by appeal, to the
Federal Supreme Court and finally to the Court of Cassation, to expose the
acts of banditry perpetrated in the name of election.
The stationing of armed
forces in the proximity of election centers makes it evident that EPRDF
was worried that there would be protests and public unrest as a result of
the widespread ballot rigging and other irregularities it knew would be
perpetrated. Although it was amply clear that EPRDF was eagerly poised to
use any pretext of protest or public unrest to falsely accurse MEDREK
leaders, MEDREK, being a party of peace and legal struggle, peacefully
opposed the result of the election, demanded publicly that the election
should be rerun and then took its case along the legal course. By so
doing, it deprived EPRDF of its long sought pretext for victimizing MEDREK
and its leaders.
Although the people are
fully aware of the crimes committed during the election, they have
appreciated the patient manner with which MEDREK has handled the situation
and taken the moral high ground. Having withstood their anger and
frustration, the people have, once again, demonstrated their legendary
patience and their greatness. The European Union Observer Group, in its
preliminary report, described the election process as one that did not
meet international standards and that it was conducted in a political
field that was not even for all. The fact that this assessment was echoed
by many Western Governments, including that of the United States, shows
that the view of the international community regarding the nature of the
2010 election was not far from that of the Ethiopian people. It is in the
face of this reality that EPRDF is claiming that the people have chosen it
by giving it 99.6% of their votes, that this has enabled it to become a
dominant party in the country. Convinced that the people have given it a
mandate to become the lone dominant party in the country, it is working
hard to free itself from the crime it has committed against the principle
of constitutional multi-party democracy and to gain credibility. The
objective of this approach is clear: it is to promote its one party�s
absolute dictatorship for another 20 years and beyond.
As if it had not conducted
a vicious campaign determined to deprive opposition parties, particularly
MEDREK, from getting a single vote during the election, EPRDF is now
pretending to be ready to work with opposition parties even though they
have no seats in the Parliament. This is a ploy to appear magnanimous in
the eyes of the Ethiopian people and in the international community. That
EPRDF is anything but magnanimous and that it is a stranger to the
principle of give and take has been amply demonstrated in previous efforts
to negotiate and to come to reason with it. On the one hand it is saying
that it is ready to work with us while on the other hand it is unleashing
a campaign of dismantling our organizations through its security
institutions. Numerous members of our party are being dismissed from their
government jobs and many more others are unable to find jobs on account of
their party affiliation, thus being denied the right to earn a living in
their own country.
MEDREK is confident that
the Ethiopian people can counter and defeat EPRDF�s campaign to reverse
the trend of history and to destroy constitutional multi-party democracy.
On the other hand MEDREK realizes that, if the people�s struggle is to
be successful, it has to be ready to provide capable and determined
leadership. To achieve that readiness, MEDREK is at present completing
preparations to transform its present form of a coalition to a higher form
of a front.
While MEDREK is engaged in
constant upgrading of its leadership capabilities, it wishes to express
its readiness to enter into
negotiations with EPRDF on fundamental issues that would contribute to the
strengthening of the fledgling democracy in our country. The core of the
negotiations would have to be �the guaranteeing of legal and
institutional protection to the multi-party system that is the foundation
of all the constitutional decrees.� Included in this core matter are the
following five issues.
1. Creating a legal and institutional condition to guarantee a
multi-party system in our country:
1.1 Ceasing the categorization of duly registered political parties competing
for power according to the
Constitution as �forces of destruction� and as enemy allies of Sh�abia,
Al-Shabaab and other groups engaged in armed struggle and making
them targets of attack and surveillance by security institutions.
1.2 Accepting the fact that, demand for a referendum included,
promoting a position advocating the amending of the Constitution through
constitutional procedures is constitutional; as much as it is
within EPRDF�s right to say that �the Constitution is ideal,� it is within MEDREK�s right to say
that �the Constitution requires
amendments�; the authority and the decision to amend or not to amend
the Constitution resides in the people and not in EPRDF-appointed
government institutions such as the Defense, Security, the Judiciary, etc.
1.3 The reality in our country at present is that party structure
and government structure are merged; there is no border between them. This
must change. The ruling party must stand and function as a party on its
own, separate from the government.
1.4 The use of government property by the EPRDF as if it were its
own must cease. The government of the ruling party should provide
financial support to parties and EPRDF should be a beneficiary of this
support just like any of the other parties.
2. Removing legal and institutional conditions that have been obstacles
to democratic, free and fair election
in our country:
2.1 Revising laws that have been obstacles to free, fair and
democratic elections.
2.2 Establishing a leadership for the National Electoral Board that
is acceptable to all parties and that is capable of settling the issue of
the neutrality of the Board that has been a bone of contention for the
last fifteen years; revising rules and regulations relevant to the said
issue.
2.3 Drafting, by common agreement, rules and regulations that
govern the establishment, the operation and the neutrality of the election
executive structure below the Electoral Board.
2.4 Improving laws and operations that have been detrimental to the
flourishing of non-partisan civic organizations in our country so that
there would be neutral election observers in abundance.
2.5 Creating a condition in our country so that international
observers that have gained international respect for their neutrality and
professionalism could come in numbers and perform their tasks freely and
efficiently; making available a commonly accepted, world-standard Code of
Conduct for election observers.
2.6 Reorganizing and restructuring the Kebele Council, which was
designed to serve a one-party rule solely by EPRDF, so that it would be
suitable to serve a multi-party system.
2.7 Abolishing the condition in which the government structure at
the kebele level, the party structure and aid distributing structures are
merged in one and where aid is used to create a one-party rule; creating a
condition where the citizens� right to get aid is respected and where
this right is not linked with their party affiliation.
3. Providing legal and institutional protection to citizens� right to
express their views freely, to organize and to oppose; abolishing restrictions and conditions that engender
fear.
3.1 Revising operations and work rules that clash with human and
democratic rights that are enshrined in the Constitution; issuing laws
that guarantee the implementation of these rights with the spirit that is
instilled in the Constitution; creating conditions that would require
executive institutions to organize and operate in that spirit.
3.2 Extricating the government mass media from being the vanguard
of the ruling party�s propaganda campaign and instruments of waging a
psychological war against opposition parties and devising a system that
would guarantee their neutrality; creating a condition where the right of
the oppositions to be heard is guaranteed and their affairs are given
appropriate coverage.
3.3 Creating a condition where: electronic media is open to
non-governmental organizations and the private sector and, through these,
alternative television and shortwave radio transmissions are made
available, activities aimed at restricting information are halted and
citizens are enabled to be close to information and knowledge.
3.4 Abolishing restrictions, obstacles and indirect censorship
being carried out in the area of the right to gather and distribute
information particularly in printing; revising rules and procedures that
engender fear.
3.5 Issuing transparent and consistent laws designed to correct,
once and for all, difficult procedures confronting the rights to organize,
assemble, oppose and carry out peaceful demonstrations and establishing a
capable institution to implement the laws.
4. Stopping the oppressive and stunting measures being taken against
opposition parties
4.1 Removing obstacles faced by opposition parties whenever they
try to hold public meetings, peaceful demonstrations or carry out other
peaceful political activities.
4.2 Providing houses to all active opposition political parties
that they can use as offices and guaranteeing that this would be done for
all parties with impartiality; stopping the harassment and surveillance by
the security and police forces to prevent opposition parties from opening
offices and carrying out their political activities freely.
4.3 Releasing W/t Bitukan Mideksa and other prisoners of
conscience; stopping the imprisoning of members of the opposition under
lame excuses and the sinister campaign of scaring the people away from the
opposition through a propaganda of hate and fear.
5. Introducing necessary changes and improvements that would enable the
rule of law and the independence of the judiciary to prevail in our
country.
Even though
EPRDF has committed many injustices and we have suffered from
injuries inflicted upon us by the same ruling party during the 2010
election and before, we are not embittered or disheartened. We cannot sit
on the side and sulk when it comes to the task of laying a sound
foundation for the establishment of a multi-party democracy that
determines the future of our country. MEDREK believes strongly that
negotiating genuinely on the critical issues listed above would contribute
to producing solutions to the dangerous conditions that EPRDF has created
surrounding the political space in our country.
Ttherefore:
1. We call upon all other
genuine opposition parties to register results by being part of the
movement and supporting the agenda for negotiations and discussions put
forward by MEDREK.
2. Although it is known
that during the 2010 election the people had their votes stolen and they
had suffered much as a result of the violence to which they have been
subjected, we say that they should, at every opportunity, exert pressure
on EPRDF to persuade it to come to the negotiation and discussion forum
proposed by MEDREK so that unconstitutional and illegal events seen
in the recent past would not be repeated. We urge the people to
play a critical role in the political struggle by working closely with the
leadership of MEDREK. We wish to emphasize to our people that we cannot afford to ignore
the reality that the country
is being led to the rule of one-party absolute dictatorship.
We would like to take this
opportunity to wish all our Muslim compatriots a happy 1430th
Id Al-Fetir.
Finally,
wishing that the New Year would be a year of social and economic growth,
where the democratic struggle to extricate ourselves from poverty and
backwardness would grow to a higher level, we say to all our people:
�Happy New Year!�
The Ethiopian Democratic Unity Forum (MEDREK)
September 9,
2010
Addis Ababa
|
