On a recent visit to Ethiopia, Wendy Sherman, Undersecretary of State
for Political Affairs, publicly made the following bold declaration:
“Ethiopia is a democracy that is moving forward in an election that we
expect to be free, fair, credible and open and inclusive. In ways that
(sic) Ethiopia has moved forward in strengthening its democracy. Every
time there is an election, it gets better and better.”
Ethiopians and Freedom House, among others, are flabbergasted by this
blatant hypocrisy about the ideals of U.S. foreign policy and the
implicit contempt for the Ethiopian people. Ms. Sherman must surely have
read at the very least her own State Department’s annual reports on the
human rights situation in Ethiopia, including the frank account of the
rigged 2005 elections, the draconian methods used to cede just one seat
in parliament are controlled by the ruling party in 2010, and the
ongoing witch hunt against the opposition just weeks before the May 2015
parliamentary elections which will surely produce an electoral outcome
that would shame any “elected” dictatorship.
This has compelled us to release a letter we sent in October 2014
regretting the convenient omission of human rights abuses in Ethiopia in
Mr. Obama’s effusive praise of the Ethiopian regime for its record on
economic growth and the fight against terrorism. Accompanying our letter
is the generic recent response of empty rhetoric we received from the
White House.
We remain unimpressed and deeply disappointed. The Ethiopian Diaspora
must redouble its efforts to press the cause of the desperate Ethiopian
youth at home and in the treacherous journeys of exile.
ETHIOPIAWINNET: COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENSE OF CITIZEN RIGHTS
www.ethiopiawin.net
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