by Zerihun Zelalem
On 5th July 2017, we read in the British Press that Dr.
Taddesse Kersmo, a British national of Ethiopian dissident who was detained at
Heathrow Airport on 4thJanuary 2017, upon his return to the UK from a trip to
Eritrea, was charged with terrorism under Section 58 of the Terrorism Act 2000
at Westminster Magistrate and later released on bail as he pleaded not-guilty
to all charges. The Magistrate judge referred the case, which is the first in
relation to an Ethiopian opposition member outside of the country, to be heard
in a High Court at a later date.
This charge is different from your traditional terrorist
charge which usually has an Islamic connection. The accused is Christian and is
well known to the authorities in Britain for leading a secular organisation
fighting for basic rights of citizens and respect for rule of law. The charges
are brought under Article 58 of the contentious Terrorism Act of 2000 which is
criticised by Liberty groups and has the power to make Nelson Mandela a
terrorist.
Dr. Kersmo, a Christian, a scholar, researcher and
passionate defender of human rights and a dedicated advocate for social
justice, who genuinely believes only a democratic system, will bring peace and
stability in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa. Dr Kersmo is a senior leader of
Patriotic Ginbot 7 – Movement for Unity and Democracy in Ethiopia, a secular
and liberal organisation set up to fight excessive political repression and
injustice inflicted on Ethiopians by the ethnic and brutal regime in Ethiopia.
Dr. Kersmo, due to his well-known activism for the reign of
human rights and democracy has made him a prime target of the Ethiopia
regime.In 2014, Dr. Kersmo was the victim of a high-profile cyber-attack by the
Ethiopian regime against Ethiopian exile community in the UK and in the US. The
attack confirmed by Privacy International in collaboration with Citizen’s Lab
was facilitated by the use of software developed and produced by the
British-German company Gamma International British Government has ignored this
blatant contravention of international law by a regime of different
jurisdiction on a British national residing within the UK.
Britain, a country built on the values of freedom, justice
and rule of law is not only home to many refugees fleeing political
persecutions from brutal regimes around the world but known to support freedom
movements in the past and at present. The open support provided to oppositions
to the Syrian and Iranian regimes are the most obvious examples today. There
are hundreds of Ethiopians who have been granted political asylum in the United
Kingdom for being politically persecuted by the regime in Ethiopia and
affiliated members of Ginbot 7 which in 2015 became Patriotic Ginbot 7
following a coalition with another opposition group with a support base in
northern part of Ethiopia. However, for a country with a declared foreign
policy to promote respect for human rights, freedom and democracy, it is rather
puzzling that the Crown Prosecution Services (CPS) has decided to bring to
court a case which is questionable from evidential or public interest tests
point of view.
As a direct consequence of the political repression and
marginalisation perused by the rulers of Ethiopia there are today a number of
Ethiopian rebel organisations based in Eritrea with their senior leaders
residing in the west, who are engaged in all forms or resistance against the regime
in Ethiopia years before Ginbot 7 came in to the seen. However, It is rather
curious why the CPS, and then the British Government decided to go after a
senior leader of Patriotic Ginbot 7 and by implication against the
organisation.
The glaring inconsistency between the declared foreign
policy of the British Government and its disturbing collusion with the
authoritarian regime of Ethiopia suggests that this is a politically motivated
charge brought at of the behest the Ethiopian government bent on taking out
those who oppose the regime and have the power to bring change not just at home
but also living abroad. In doing so it appears that the British Government
wilfully ignore that excessive political repression and complete erosion of
constitutional rights and dignity of citizens are the primary reasons of
opposition to the authoritarian regime in Ethiopia. This unprecedented
cooperation of the British Government and its security apparatus with the
Ethiopian authorities which has now been escalated to the level of using the
legal system is also strengthening the suspicion about its role in the
abduction and rendition of Andy Tsegie from Sanaa Airport while on route from
Dubai to Eritrea on 23rdJune 2014.
Human rights organisations accuse the British government for
writing an open cheque to the Ethiopian regime and underwriting repression.The
UK Government is condemned for using taxpayers’ money to bolster the Ethiopian
security forces responsible for the kidnap and imprisonment of opposition
leaders outside the borders of Ethiopia.
Human rights group has been calling for greater scrutiny by
Britain and other donors to ensure their money does not support
state-sanctioned killings and brutality, as there are growing evidence that
thousands have faced repeated torture while unlawful state killings have been
carried out in a ‘relentless crackdown on real or imagined dissent’.
The Ethiopian government on Friday 4 August 2017 lifted the
10 month state of emergency imposed in October 2016 after over a thousand innocent
and unarmed citizens were killed in anti-government protests demanding wider
political reform and end to political and economic marginalisation. The state
of emergency is said to have further enshrined the repression that has
contributed to the crisis in the first place.
The regime in
Ethiopian
In the last 25 years Ethiopia has made significant gains in
economic growth, infra-structure development, and achieved some of its
millennium development goals. However,
the flip side of the so called success story is a country which is NOT at peace
with itself like never before and has rapidly descended to a one party
authoritarian state is at significant risk of political disintegration. The absolute disregard and contempt of the
ethno-centric regime in Ethiopia for human rights and human dignity has outraged
the conscious of mankind.
These developments have not come by accident or happen
overnight but are outcomes of conscious decisions of Ethiopia’s political
rulers of the day over two and half decades.
Today, little remains of democracy in Ethiopia, especially since the
enforcement of laws that, tighten control of civil society, suppress
independent media, repress political opposition, and apply a deeply flawed
anti-terrorism law designed to silence dissent.
The Foreign Office acknowledges that media freedom remains
severely restricted in the country and that some journalists are among the
political prisoners held by the state in gruelling conditions. Freedom House
reports that Ethiopia is not free and is in a down ward trajectory where the
recent state of emergency gave sweeping powers to the state and its security
forces to crack down on freedoms of expression and association.
Highlighting gross violation of human rights committed by
the Ethiopian Government on its people over the years, citizens the United
States House of representatives Foreign Affairs Committee on 28th July 2017
voted to advance resolution HR128 offering a blueprint to create a government
better designed to serve the interests of the Ethiopian people.
Despite this deplorable record the west, particularly the UK
continue to provide financial, political and diplomatic support to the regime
in Ethiopia and is accused of underwriting repression. In a landmark case, the
UK Government was challenged in the High Court for financing a project which
resulted in the displacement of indigenous communities from their ancestral
land. I wonder why the UK is content to short change its fundamental values of
liberty and democracy to protect a presumed short term political interest and
partnership with an authoritarian regime delivering nothing but boat load of
political refugees to British and Western taxpayers.
A possible
implication of the case
Ethiopia in the eyes of western governments may be seen as
an economic power house showing strong economic growth rate and a stable
country in a turbulent region. However, this narrative is in fact running out
of steam and Ethiopia is sleep walking to utter instability and possible
disintegration as the economic growth under fire is tailing-off and ethnic division
is overtaking the supposed federalism.
Contrary to the view held among western governments that Ethiopia is a
reliable partner to tackle security and stability problems of the region, a
deeper analysis of the political role of the regime in Ethiopia in the region
reveals that the regime has been partly responsible to the security and
migration crisis that has engulfed the region.
A myopic view of the west and particularly Britain to
support a brutal and dying regime standing on the wrong side of history for
short term objectives leaves a sour test in the relation between the people of
the two countries and reminiscent of the role Britain played in installing a
minority regime in Ethiopia not to mention the influence of its colonial mess
impacting on the peace of Ethiopian today. Considering the political and
economic support the British Government has accorded apartheid South Africa and
authoritarian regimes around the world, it is hardly surprising that they may
see Ethiopia as their dictator as the former American Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger called the Shah of Iran our dictator in the 1970s.
While it is worrying to learn that the Crown Prosecution
Service, basically the Government of the United Kingdom – a country with proud
history championing freedom and liberty, decided to bring such a case which
tests the defensibility of a blanket application of the Act, the strength of
the charge and the evidence, and the political motive behind the case; I have
every confidence that the British justice system will defend liberty to the end
and demonstrate that the state cannot dictate the outcome of a trial as in
Ethiopia.
Moreover, this case could be an opportunity to lay bare in
front of the Court and for the public to see the deplorable duplicity in the foreign
policy of the UK and its inconsistent application of protection to different
set of asylum seekers escaping political persecution from different parts of
the world and its collusion with the brutal regime in Ethiopia.
On 7 August 2017 Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson called Mr Nicholas Mudros – President of Venezuela “behaving like the
dictator of an evil regime” following the death of 120 people during months of
anti-government protest in Caracas.
While, it is totally unacceptable to see a single loss of life from a
direct action of a government meant to protect and serve its people, the
tragedy in Venezuela makes the massacre of over a thousand Ethiopians during
the last 9 months alone by security forces, some of which have been trained by
British aid and personnel, and the detention of tens of thousands in prisons
also called death valleys for asking for their basic and constitutional rights;
look like a child play.
On the other hand it was rather sad to observe Foreign
Secretary Boris Johnson give a press interview at the Conservative Conference 2016 unashamingly
confirming that the Ethiopian Government formed by a ruling party led by the
Tigrean People Liberation Front (TPLF) listed on the Global Terrorism Database since 1980s, which
claimed 100% of the parliamentary seats in two false national elections in a
row (believe you me this is not North Korea or China but a strong partner of
the UK) is a democratic Government. This
is a slap in the face of thousands of Ethiopians who has been lost their lives
in the hand of this ethnic apartheid rule over the last 26 years, and the tens
of thousands who have let their home in perilous circumstances in search of
freedom. Human Rights and freedom of individuals are matters of principles and
have no colour.
We fear that the current Foreign policy and position of the
British Government towards Ethiopia, its desire to wilfully ignore atrocities
committed by the brutal regime in Ethiopia, ready to be duped by a corrupt
repressive regime, and instead go after for those who advocate for the freedom
of a community shackled by excessive political repression; is expected to
worsen the current global crisis of stability and migration. A foreign policy which rejects the repression
and marginalisation of nearly 100 million people and support respect for basic
human and constitutional rights of citizens is the best guarantee of stability
of Ethiopia and the region.
The writer can be contacted on Zerihun.Zelalem@gmail.com
