Stop Funding Tyranny

To whom it may concern at USAID,

There are human rights violations taking place in Ethiopia with the arrest of peaceful protestors and journalists including the famous Zone 9 bloggers group. Countries such as the United States and Great Britain are funding and arming the Ethiopian government and I urge you to stop them. Although aid is meant to tackle extreme poverty, increase agricultural growth, ignite education opportunities, and more, it ultimately legitimizes a repressive regime. Already over 170 million dollars have been given to Ethiopia in 2014 by your organization. This money is only a fraction of the total being received and abused. 

Local officials are documented restricting aid only to those that join the ruling party, even offering “forgiveness” to opposition in exchange for resources. Peaceful student protests have kick started in Addis Ababa and were met with brutal force and arrests. The students are protesting the displacement of land in the countryside and how the government is expanding the borders of Addis Ababa, essentially leaving thousands of agricultural communities threatened. These protests are not well documented because Ethiopia has one of the most repressive media environments in the world. 

Independent media outlets are threatened. Journalists are arrested under the vaguely written Antiterrorist Proclamation Act which states anyone suspected of planning a terrorist plot will be arrested without warrant. On the 25th and 26th of April 2014, six bloggers and three journalists were arrested. They are held in Maekelawi Police Station which is reported for serious human rights abuses, including torture, ill-treatment, unlawful interrogation tactics, and poor detention conditions. This issue affects innocent civilians and a government committing crimes against human rights needs to be spoken up against. I urge you to recognize the crimes of this government and attract global media attention. This would bring an uprising and western nations would feel pressure to intervene or stop aiding corrupt governments. 

Support from western nations started with the overthrow of Mengistu Hailemariam and his communist regime. The United States wanted to apply containment to Ethiopia by arming and backing the rebel forces known as the TPLF. The members of TPLF are now government leaders and are still highly backed by the United States. Ethiopia is a key strategic location for monitoring of terrorist organizations such as Al-Shabaab based in Somalia. So the USA has military bases in Ethiopia in exchange for billions of dollars in Aid, and human’s rights get swept under the rug. This may feel like a losing battle but raising awareness makes all the difference. Once people know what is really happening in the world, they will feel compelled to make a difference.