Addunyaaችን

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

ISO certifications for Widam Food

Meat provider Widam Food was recently recognised with ISO (International Organisation for Standardisation) certification for meat processing and livestock trading.

Velosi Quality Management International delivered both the certificates - ISO 22000:2005 for Food Safety Management System and ISO 9001:2008 for Quality Management System.

The ISO certificates underline Widam Food’s quality and safety best practices as well as the company’s capacity to develop, lead and manage world-class food systems such as slaughterhouses, abattoirs and manufacturing units.

Sheikh Nayef bin Eid al-Thani, chairman, Widam Food, said: “This is undoubtedly Widam Food’s most illustrious milestone since 2009. The certificates we have just received culminate three years of steadfast commitment, hard work and effort to see a first-class slaughterhouse in the country, which abides by the strictest quality and food safety measures.”

Over the past three years, Widam Food built and strengthened key partnerships with internally recognised industry players especially from Australia, importing the finest livestock and meat products to Qatar. Animal welfare and care ranked high on the company’s agenda, putting Qatar on a par with the world’s leading countries on this front, such as Australia, New Zealand, Denmark and Holland.

Widam Food is gearing up to launch its refurbished slaughterhouse in Abu Hamour, a task that normally takes years to accomplish but which the company’s team has managed to complete in record time.

The facility includes equipment and systems that are patented to some of Widam Food’s management personnel, underlining the company’s role and innovations in quality technology.

ISO 9001:2008 sets out the criteria for total quality management. It is implemented by more than 1mn companies and organisations in over 170 countries. The standard is based on a number of quality management principles, including a strong customer focus, the motivation and implication of top management, the process approach and continual improvement.

ISO 22000:2005 specifies requirements for a food safety management system where an organisation in the food chain needs to demonstrate its ability to control food safety hazards in order to ensure that food is safe at the time of
human consumption.

The certificate specifies requirements to enable an organisation to plan, implement, operate, maintain and update a food safety management system aimed at providing products that are safe for the consumer.

Tenders, bidding committee formed

The Cabinet has issued decision No. 18 for 2013 concerning the creation of a tenders and bidding committee at the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning.

The decision is based on the recommendations of HE the Minister of Municipality and Urban Planning. The committee shall undertake the tasks of both the committees for central and local tenders stipulated by the law, regarding the tenders and bidding concerned with the ministry.

The committee shall comprise four representatives of the ministry, including the chairman and vice-chairman, a representative of the Ministry of Justice, a representative from the Central Tenders Committee, and a non-voting representative of the Audit Bureau as observer.

Each entity shall select its representative at the committee. The chairman and vice-chairman shall be appointed through a decision of the Minister of Municipality. The committee shall also have a secretary, assisted by one or more employees of the ministry, assigned by the minister as well.

The duration of membership at the committee will be three years renewable for a similar period. The committee shall meet upon an invitation from its chairman whenever there is a need. The meetings shall be convened on other than official working hours. However, some meetings could be held during official working hours when necessary.

The committee’s decisions will not be deemed proper without the attendance of the majority of its members and chairman or the vice-chairman and representatives of the entities forming it.

Emir issues documents

HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani has issued the following documents:

1. A document approving the endorsement of an agreement between governments of Qatar and Ethiopia regulating the employment of Ethiopian workers in Qatar, signed in Doha on 4.12.2012.

2. A document approving the endorsement of a draft agreement on air services between governments of Qatar and Ecuador signed in Quito on 16.2. 2013.

3. A document approving the endorsement of a draft agreement on the avoidance of dual taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to income tax between governments of Qatar and Guernsey, signed in London on 22.2.2013.

Emiri decisions

HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani has endorsed the following Cabinet decisions:

1. No 17 of 2013 on the real estate expropriation for public interest.

2. No 19 of 2013 setting up a tenders and biddings committee at the Ministry of Municipality and Urban Planning. The two decisions are to go into effect from the date of issue. Page 12

Natural history group meeting

There will be a meeting of the Qatar Natural History Group on Wednesday, 17 April at 7pm at the Doha English Speaking School.

Award-winning photographer Dileep Kumar will show some of his wonderful images of birds, all taken in Qatar.

He will also discuss cameras and equipment, composition, use of natural light and advise on the best locations for wildlife photography. New members are welcome.

Further details and a map of the venue can be found in the Monthly Talks section on www.qnhg.org

Pearl Awards selection process starting today

The selection process of films, artistes/technicians for Matrix Media Doha’s Pearl Awards 2013, to be given away in Doha on May 3, will be held for the three days starting from today.

The award ceremony, which will be attended by many film personalities from South Indian film industry is being held in association with the Kerala Film Producers Association. The event will be held at the newly-built West End Park on the outskirts of the Industrial Area.

The selections for awards will be made by a jury headed by director Siby Malayil.

Of the 127 films released last year, 40 films have been shortlisted. Of which 30 will be chosen for honours in different sections, said director of media operations Manu Chandrasekhar.

There will be awards ranging from Rs25,000 to Rs200,000, according to the organisers. Tickets are priced at QR75, QR150, QR750 (for two entries), QR 500, and QR1,000 respectively.

The event’s main attraction is a gala show commemorating 100 years of the Indian cinema, which will be directed by Malayalam director T K Rajiv Kumar.

The organisers said the event would be the first of its kind, featuring so many south Indian film artistes to be held anywhere in the Gulf region. Gulf Times is the official media of the event.

Diabetes programme for elderly

The Qatar Diabetes Association today organises a programme for the elderly under the title: “Be kind, be healthy” in collaboration with the Qatar Foundation for Elderly People Care.

The programme aims to teach the elderly as well as educate care-providers and nursing staff.

“One of its goals is to reach out to the hearts and minds of the elderly through the participation of some children with diabetes who will be sharing their experience living with the disease during the programme,” an official said.

Yemen, Ethiopia discuss illegal immigration impacts on region's stability

SANA'A, April 13 (Saba) - Yemen and Ethiopia discussed here on Saturday the mutual security coordination, particularly in the illegal immigration and its negative impacts on the region's stability.

This came in a meeting brought together Interior Minister Abdul-Qader Qahtan and Chargé d'affaires of the Ethiopian Embassy in Sana'a, who also reviewed the possible means to deport the illegal Ethiopian immigrants from Yemen.

Qahtan expressed the ministry's readiness to cooperate to deport the undocumented Ethiopian immigrants to their home through the available ways as soon as possible.

The Minister said that the illegal immigration from the Horn of Africa causes Yemen huge burdens, pointing to the measures made by the interior ministry to counter the illegal immigration.

The Ethiopian diplomat voiced the immediate readiness of the embassy to quickly deport Ethiopian illegal immigrants, accenting his country's keenness to tackle this phenomenon with Yemen.

He valued the interior ministry's efforts in this regard and its permanent cooperation with the embassy of Ethiopia in order to enhance the joint security cooperation.

AF
Saba

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news305752.htm

On ESAT’s "media war" against Oromo struggle

Created on Saturday, 13 April 2013 20:46

by Leta T. Bayissa*

The birth of Oromo Democratic Front (ODF), a new Oromo political party,last month has stirred so much controversy among Oromo and Ethiopian blogosphere.

While the announcement received mixed reviews from Oromo nationalists, the reception from Ethiopianist groups has largely been positive. But there were also those who jumped on the opportunity to attack and delegitimize the Oromo struggle.

One of those is the Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT). Established in 2010, ESATmarkets itself as the first “nonpartisan and independent media outlet” committed to “accurate and balanced news and information” in promotion of “free press, democracy, respect for human rights and the rule of law in Ethiopia.”

However, ESAT’s slanted and divisive coverage of Oromo affairs so far tells a different story, one lacking any shred of journalistic and professional ethics.

The re-articulation of Oromo narrative, often in protest of a forcibly imposed Ethiopia unity, has followed an eccentric path. Historians and writers, of all persuasions, have tried to tell the Oromo story at different times. There are two common threads to all of them: lack of understanding of Oromo people’s history (by foreign writers), and deceitful and blatant racism (of most Ethiopian writers).

ESAT’s misrepresentation of Oromo political affairs, often with contempt, is but a contemporary example of a long held practice of premeditated “media” bias against Oromo. The recent hyperbolic and anti-Oromo coverage intensifies this pronged assault against our national struggle for freedom and equality that is part of the quest to redress similar historical injustices, social discrimination, and economic exploitation.

The April 7, 2013 segment of ESAT’s Ye Ehud Weg, a terrible attempt at analyzing the evolution of ODF, thereby the Oromo struggle, epitomizes irresponsible and fabricated journalism, and corroborates ESAT’s previous stances on Oromo affairs beyond its lofty pronouncements.

Throughout the circular episode, the anchor Dereje Desta tried to lie and distort the facts about Oromo struggle in Ethiopia and events that led to the formation of ODF, even after repeated fact checking from his colleagues Sisay Agena. Instead of accepting the corrections offered on the air, Desta resorted to fabricating the usual mythical storyline advanced by pro-unity scaremongerers. Their tactics, as repeatedly deployed by ESAT, includes posing as vanguards of Ethiopian unity to ridicule Oromo leaders, suggest that “nationalists” are chameleons who cannot be trusted, and that the Oromo struggle has become irrelevant.

In this regard, ESAT displays unlimited media animosity towards the Oromo people. Every opportunity the outlet gets to cover Oromo events; they have done so in a negative light. For instance, few weeks back following an election OPDO central committee members, the outlet offered a slanted coverage claiming that the party was divided along tribal lines – and assigning borderline offensive names to some Oromo tribes. When it comes to Amhara and its official party line affairs though, I have long noted this revealing paradox.

There are several explanations why ESAT does such deranged journalism. The most obvious among those is ESAT journalists’ and their ardent supporters belief in the bygone Ethiopia, a false sense of unity, feeling of entitlement to truth, and resentment against those presumed to be outside of those preconceived narratives. But the contempt in the recent episode seemed bizarrely personal for Desta, the politico who was posing as independent journalist, displaying a mutually reinforcing vindictiveness and groupthink, and an unrelenting and virulent hostility toward Oromo, which has become a commonplace across the network.

Then there is the ideological cause for right wing pro-unity crowd. Nothing delights ESAT and its core supporters more than the dismantlement and wipeout of the Oromo movement while pretending that it is their brave stance in defense of all peoples’ rights. That mindset essentially gives so many of these self-proclaimed journalists the right to assault Oromo and its sovereign rights. ESAT’s programs attest to the networks unreserved allegiance to and unfailing faith in the old feudal institutions of power.

Dereje Desta's recent insinuations include the Oromo struggle is outdated and illegitimate as time has very much changed since the inception of OLF, and that the geopolitical situation of Oromo people in Ethiopian empire has improved. He further asserted that the language of Ethiopian federal system adopted by ODF was nothing new. The ODF program is nothing more than an internal change of heart for the leaders, and a late one at that since the Ethiopian people have long rejected ethnic politics.

It is worth noting here that the current constitution of Ethiopia came about during the transitional charter in which OLF was a junior partner with TPLF. It is ESAT’s and its like’s viewpoint that OLF’s participation in the transitional charter is nothing but to passively accept Ethiopian unity, and some ministerial positions. ESAT willfully denies that colonial domination still exists in Ethiopian governance system.

In closing, the enduring conflict and crisis in Ethiopia has its roots in the colonization of the Oromo and other people in the empire. A purposeful misrepresentation of Oromo cause is ESAT’s desire to rebrand the Habasha hegemony, this time under the banner of independent media. The network has no other intention than using the platform to sustain and perpetuate their inherent bias toward Oromo movement. Regardless of whether one agrees with ODF manifesto or not, in my view, it is problematic to passively accept their narrative and old biases repackaged as a piece of journalism. It is even more problematic to welcome such flagrant misrepresentation of Oromo people’s just struggle in our opposition to ODF.

Related: Geresu Tufa on ESAT and Ethiopia's politics of denial

*Leta T. Bayissa is a graduate student at the University of Neuchâtel in Switzerland. He can be reached at lbayissa@yahoo.com. The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect OPride.com's editorial policy.

Cry wolf on an Ethiopian adventure

"Behind you, behind you!" In the distance a figure waved and shouted in earnest from atop the highest lava pinnacle in a field of humbling rocky erections. By his clothes I recognised our guide, Allu Hussein, though his message was lost to the wind. "Behind you! There's a wolf!" As I turned away from Allu's exaggerated pantomime of pointing and jumping, my gaze was indeed returned by the forward-facing binocular vision of one of the world's rarest hunters, about 100m away. An Ethiopian wolf, head hanging low, straining forward, scenting the air speculatively.

Rising from lowland plains, the remote plateau of Ethiopia's Bale Mountains is a high redoubt for an estimated 220 Ethiopian wolves. An earlier meeting with Chris Goodman of Oxford University-supported Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme (EWCP) had set the scene. "In all Ethiopia there are probably 420 to 430 wolves. The Bale Mountains have the highest concentration – a genetically viable population – but at the moment the park borders are not even gazetted. Ethiopia's human population is rising and, as the climate changes, crops are being grown at higher and higher altitudes. Right now, almost 20,000 people, many with their cattle, live inside the boundaries."

At Rafu, amid an otherworldly lava landscape, our lone wolf paused, perhaps trying to interpret the antics of a lanky Ethiopian jumping up and down. Then, catching wind of three Europeans, unwashed after several days' hiking and camping, he adjusted his course,perhaps seeking the more fragrant company of giant mole rats. We watched as he disappeared, a little-known Ethiopian endemic: Africa's species of only wolf.

As we retraced our steps through rocky crevices and canyons, some hiding pools of dark water overhung by green and delicate ferns, we chose our footing with care, being beyond the assistance of mobile phones or VHF radio.

Hard pressed by smooth basalt monoliths, buffeted by the wind and clinging to the tumbledown remains of a cattle herder's camp, our tents had only a tenuous grip on the landscape. However, as light faded, in a sheltered niche a campfire soon burned bright. Rudimentary tack was checked and fraying saddle blankets re-stitched before the handlers gave each horse a pile of barley and hobbled it for the night. Then, complaining bitterly of the cold, our horse whisperers retreated within the crumbling, windowless thatched hut, hacking and spitting as campfire smoke billowed through the doorway.

Venus grew brightly in the night sky as the fire drew us closer, its spirit-enhancing warmth fed by eucalyptus wood. A bottle of Jura malt, though a comforting presence, saw little service; the cocktail of fatigue, altitude and Diamox had dulled any appetite for alcohol. Instead, Licklesh and Asefa, our innovative, ever-smiling cook crew, saw to it that an enhanced thirst for steaming tea was sated, a prelude to chicken soup and the finest goulash in all Ethiopia.

After fitful sleep, the new day was heralded by an altitude-derived headache. Even stowing gear and tying bootlaces led quickly to a breathless hiatus. Beyond our fumbled tent-zippers, frost-encrusted giant lobelias, the silent sentinels of the plateau, rose up to meet the morning's cloudless blue sky, while from the escarpment overlooking our camp rock hyraxes screeched. Licklesh's freshly brewed Ethiopian coffee brought the day into focus; her porridge, liberally doped with honey, steadied our legs for the trek ahead.

"Shall we go then, guys?" called Allu. From Rafu to our proposed evening camp would be a trek of 30km. "This wind, it's a little bit cheeky. Wrap a scarf across your face. It will help," he suggested. Away from camp the plain opened out and the unrelenting wind maintained a harrying head-on pressure. Underfoot, firm rock had become sandy soil riddled with the tunnels of scurrying rodents. I remembered Chris's advice: "Don't try to keep up with Allu. He'll walk you into the ground." Time for a distraction.

"Allu, since you've been working with EWCP what changes have you noticed in the park?" I enquired, breathlessly. Without breaking his stride Allu considered, then replied. "In my lifetime the climate has changed. There used to be large areas of spongy ground: no longer. Also, the people once must wear thick clothes at all times. Now in the day they can wear T-shirts. Where we've come from, in the Web Valley, there were once just two or three people. Now there are many. Where we walked yesterday, people had to take care for leopards. When people came, they killed them. They were afraid and the leopards attacked their stock. These people have other places in the lowlands with houses and grazing. They're just greedy. This place, the Bale Mountains, is so important for Ethiopia. Not only for conservation but to provide water." As if on cue our footsteps crackled, breaking a thin crust of sparkling ice covering a mossy depression. "There are 14 springs here. Cattle and people all contaminate the water supply."

Ahead, on the ground, bleached white by the sun, a skull lay at the end of a trail of vertebrae still joined by connective tissue. "Here it is: a wolf. See the teeth? It was an adult." Allu took out his GPS and noted the co-ordinates. "What did it die of?" I asked. "Difficult to know. Disease is a big problem," replied Allu, considering the skull in Yorick-like pose.

Chris Goodman had described the problem. "Disease, specifically rabies and canine distemper, carried by domesticated animals, even more than habitat destruction and human encroachment, is the main cause of wolf mortality. We've seen whole packs wiped out by rabies."

Vaccination of dogs was addressed by EWCP, with almost 5,000 being immunised annually. But a more economic and effective solution is envisaged. To that end, after nine years of lobbying, a limited oral vaccine trial on wolves using baits laced with canine distemper vaccine was allowed in 2011; the results await analysis.

Grateful for the halt, our group slumped in the scrub, allowing the horses carrying lunch to catch up. "OK, guys. Shall we walk a bit?" Obviously versed in chivvying lowland Europeans, Allu chose a point on the horizon and described a shady glade and a gently trickling stream where our picnic would be enjoyed. We walked on. Never has cold pasta been so welcomed. At the foot of a rocky outcrop there was indeed a stream; also, as promised, the wind had abated. As our feet luxuriated in bootless freedom, each of us wrapped our heads in scarves or sought out meagre shade, silently digesting our food.

A steady climb to over 4,200m lay ahead, before the sudden surprise view of Kidney Lake. Honking blue-winged geese took flight as we dropped down to disturb their brackish dabbling. An elastic confusion of stark's hares rebounded here and there, similarly concerned. In golden light we followed Allu along the shore, before quickly gaining height. "Here, there may be young wolves. Let's keep quiet," he instructed. Keeping below the skyline we skirted the next summit, waiting for Allu's gaze to pick out our quarry. Rounding a hillock, he motioned for us to crouch. Remarkably, across a shallow valley three wolf cubs gambolled in low brush, darting this way and that, climbing upon each other. We watched as a fourth cub appeared, separated from its siblings. Then, higher on the hillside, having spied our presence a mother called her careless offspring. She watched us as a tumbling ball of three cubs made an erratic progress to greet her, then continue out of sight, waiting for the fourth straggler before herself jogging beyond view. Smiling, at each of us in turn, Allu consulted his notebook. "Just over two months old, all four cubs. But that's it, guys; that's all we can do. They're gone for the night.'

As we descended once more, the diminutive green-roofed EWCP hut at Sanetti Camp hove into view; its chimney promised a warm evening. Over four days in the Bale Mountains we'd hiked about 70km over terrain between 3,300m and 4,200m high, observing plant and animal species seen nowhere else on Earth. We'd observed more than 40 Ethiopian wolves, from cubs and juveniles to adults, a figure worthy of some self-congratulation. Until it dawned that this was almost 10 per cent of the entire population.

Travel Essentials

Getting there

Nick Redmayne travelled with Steppes Discovery (01285 643333;steppesdiscovery.co.uk) which is running a 13-day small group trip to Ethiopia, from 9 November, led by Bradt author Philip Briggs, for £2,495pp (flights extra), including a donation to the Ethiopian Wolf Conservation Programme. Ethiopian Airlines (0800 635 0644;flyethiopian.com) offers direct links between Heathrow and the capital Addis Ababa, with prices starting at £625 return.

Red tape

British travellers require a visa to visit Ethiopia, available from the embassy in London (020-7838 3898; www.ethioembassy.org.uk), by post or on arrival at Addis Ababa's Bole International Airport. A single-entry permit costs £14.

Monday, April 15, 2013

Ethiopia: Liberating a “Prison Nation”

Ethiopia today is a “prison of nations and nationalities with the Oromo being one of the prisoners”, proclaimed the recently issued Declaration of the Congress of the Oromo Democratic Front (ODF). This open-air prison is administered through a system of “bogus federalism” in which “communities exercise neither self-rule nor shared-rule but have been enduring the TPLF/EPRDF’s tyrannical rule for more than two decades.” The jail keepers or the “ruling party directly and centrally micro-manage all communities by pre-selecting its surrogates that the people are then coerced to ‘elect’ at elections that are neither free nor fair”. Ethiopians can escape from “prison nation” and get on the “path to democracy, stability, peace, justice, and sustainable development” when they are able to establish a democratic process in which “all communities elect their representatives in fair and free elections.”

The ODF is a “new movement” launched by “pioneers of the Oromo nationalist struggle” who “have mapped out a new path that embraces the struggle of all oppressed Ethiopians for social justice and democracy.” Central to the collective struggle to bust the walls and crash the gates of “prison nation” Ethiopia is a commitment to constitutional democracy based on principles of “shared and separate political institutions as the more promising and enduring uniting factor” and robust protections for civil liberties and civil rights. Shared governance and the rule of law provide the glue “that will bind the diverse nations into a united political community” and return to the people their government which has been privatized and corporatized by the ruling regime “to advance and serve their partisan and sectarian interests.”

The Declaration finds traditional notions of unity inadequate. “Invoking a common history, culture or language has not guaranteed unity. We similarly reject the present ruling party’s presumption that it serves as the sole embodiment and defender of the so-called ‘revolutionary democratic unity.’” It also rejects “the ruling party’s illusory expectation that the promotion of economic development would serve as an alternative source of unity in the absence of democratic participation.” The Declaration incorporates principles of constitutional accountability, separation of powers and check balances and enumerates “bundles” of participatory, social and cultural rights secured in international human rights conventions. It proposes “overhauling” the civil service system and restructuring of the military and intelligence institutions to serve the society instead of functioning as the private protective services of the ruling party and elites. The Declaration broadly commits to economic and social justice and condemns the mistreatment and “eviction from ancestral lands of indigenous populations, and environmental degradation.”

Significance of the Declaration

The world is constantly changing and we must change with it. Henry David Thoreau correctly observed, “Things do not change; we change.” We change by discarding old and tired ideas and by embracing new and energetic ones. The old ideas which demonize other ethnic groups as mortal enemies are no longer tenable and are simply counterproductive. In a poor country like Ethiopia, the vast majority of the people of all ethnic groups get the shaft while the political and economic elites create ethnic tensions and conflict to cling to power and line their pockets. We change by casting away self-deception and facing the truth. The truth is that “united we stand, divided we fall”. When the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, Benjamin Franklin said, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” For the past 21 years, we have been falling like a pack of dominoes. They have been hanging us separately on the hooks of “ethnic federalism”.

We must be prepared to change our minds as objective conditions change. As George Bernard Shaw said, “Those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” We must change our ideas, beliefs, attitudes and perspectives to keep up with the times. The alternative is becoming irrelevant. No organization can achieve unanimity in making change because change makes some in the organization uncomfortable, uneasy and uncertain. However, change is necessary and unavoidable. In line with George Ayittey’s metaphor, we can change and remain viable and relevant like the Cheetahs or suffer the fate of the hopeless Hippos.

It is refreshing and inspiring to see a transformative and forward-looking declaration forged by some of the important founding members and leaders of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) emphatically affirming the common destiny of all Ethiopians and underscoring the urgency for consolidating a common cause in waging a struggle for freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia. These leaders show great courage and conviction of conscience in changing their minds with the changing political realities. The reality today is that the “economic and security interests of the Oromo people are intertwined with that of other peoples in Ethiopia. In addition, their geographic location, demography, democratic heritage and bond forged with all peoples over the years make it incumbent upon the Oromo to play a uniting and democratizing role.” It must have taken a staggering amount of effort to overcome internal discord and issue such a bold and positively affirmative Declaration signaling a fundamental change in position. These leaders deserve commendation for an extraordinary achievement.

I believe the Declaration is immensely important not only for the principles it upholds and articulates but most importantly for the fact that it represents a genuine paradigmatic shift in political strategy and tactics by the founders of the OLF. The Declaration signals a tectonic shift in long held views, ideology and political strategy. It represents a profound change in the perception and understanding of politics, change and society not only in Ethiopia but also in the continent and globally. By emphasizing inclusiveness and common struggle, the Declaration rejects the destructive politics of ethnicity and identity (the bane of Africa) for politics based on issues of social, political and economic justice. By embracing a common struggle for freedom, democracy and human rights, the Declaration rejects ethnocentrism (the arrogant philosophy of narrow-minded African dictators) and fully accepts federalism as a basis for political power and shared governance.

What are we to make of the Declaration? Is it merely an aspirational statement, an invitation to dialogue, a call to action or all of the above? It appears the Declaration is not merely a statement of principles but also an invitation to dialogue and a call to action. It affirms the universal truth that “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” and acknowledges that “struggling for justice for oneself alone without advocating justice for all could ultimately prove futile”. It urges Oromo groups to stop “trivial political wrangling” and “join hands with us in strengthening our camp to intensify our legitimate struggle and put an end to sufferings of our people.” It counsels the “ruling regime to reconsider its ultimately counterproductive policy of aspiring to indefinitely stay in power by fanning inter communal and interreligious suspicion and tension.” It proposes a “country-wide movement sharing” a common “vision, principles and policies” to “propel Ethiopia forward and ending the current political paralysis.” It pleads with the “international community to stand with us in implementing our vision and proposal of transforming the Ethiopian state to bring peace and sustainable stability in Ethiopia and Horn of Africa.”

Dialoguing over “Federalism” or the futility of putting lipstick on “bogus federalism”

It is the privilege of the human rights advocate and defender to speak his/her mind on all matters of human rights. I should like to exercise that privilege by raising an important issue in the Declaration and respectfully taking exception to it. The Declaration states:

We aspire to build on the positive aspects of Ethiopia’s current federal set-up. However, to make the simultaneous exercise of self-rule and shared-rule possible it is necessary to remove the procedural and substantive shortcomings that stand in the way of democracy and federalism… [which] can be accomplished by [allowing] subject nations, in due course, freely elect delegates to their respective state and central constitutional assemblies. When this process is completed, the present “holding together” type of bogus federalism will be transformed into a genuine ‘coming together’ variety.

I consider myself a hardcore federalist who believes in a clear division of power between a national and sub-national (local, state) governments. In fact, I consider the “Federalist Papers” written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay promoting the ratification of the United States Constitution as unsurpassed works of political genius on the theory and practice of federalism. Having said that, I do not believe there is an alchemy that can transmute “bogus federalism” into “genuine federalism”. Just as there is no such thing as being a “little bit pregnant”, there is also no such thing as building upon “bogus federalism”. Either it is genuine federalism or it is bogus federalism.

As I argued in my May 2010 commentary “Putting Lipstick on a Pig, Ethiopian Style”, discussing the elections, “You can put lipstick on a pig but it's still a pig. You can jazz up a bogus election in a one-man, one-party dictatorship with a ‘Code of Conduct’, but to all the world it is still a bogus election under a one-man, one-party dictatorship… They want us to believe that a pig with lipstick is actually a swan floating on a placid lake, or a butterfly fluttering in the rose garden or even a lamb frolicking in the meadows. They think lipstick will make everything look pretty.” You can put lipstick on “ethnic federalism” and call it “federalism”, but it is still bogus federalism.

As I have often argued, the late Meles Zenawi, the chief architect of “ethnic federalism” in Ethiopia was driven by a “vision of ethnic division. His warped idea of ‘ethnic federalism’ is merely a kinder and gentler reincarnation of Apartheid in Ethiopia. For nearly two decades, Meles toiled ceaselessly to shred the very fabric of Ethiopian society, and sculpt a landscape balkanized into tribal, ethnic, linguistic and regional enclaves.” He crafted a constitution based entirely on ethnicity and tribal affiliation as the basis for political organization. He wrote in Article 46 (2) of the Constitution: “States shall be structured on the basis of settlement patterns, language, identity and consent of the people.” In other words, “states”, (and the people who live in them) shall be corralled like cattle in tribal homelands in much the same way as the 10 Bantustans (black homelands) of Apartheid South Africa. Ethiopia’s tribal homelands are officially called “kilils” (enclaves or distinct enclosed and effectively isolated geographic areas within a seemingly integrated national territory). Like the Bantustans, Ethiopia’s 9 killilistans ultimately aim to create homogeneous and autonomous ethnic states in Ethiopia, effectively scrubbing out any meaningful notion of Ethiopian national citizenship. You can put lipstick on bantustans and call them “ethnic federalism” but at the end of the day a Killilistan with lipstick is a Bantustan without lipstick.

Before committing to “build up on the positive aspects of Ethiopia’s current federal set-up”, I urge the ODF and all others interested in institutionalizing genuine federalism in Ethiopia to carefully study and consider the long line of Apartheid laws creating and maintaining bantustans in South Africa. I commend a couple of illustrative examples of such laws to those interested. The Bantu Authorities Act, 1951(“Black Authorities Act, 1951”) created the legal basis for the deportation of blacks into designated homeland reserve areas and established tribal, regional and territorial authorities. This Act was subsequently augmented by the Bantu Homelands Citizenship Act, 1970 (“Black States Citizenship Act & National States Citizenship Act, 1970) which sought to change the legal status of the inhabitants of the bantustans by effectively denaturalizing them from enjoying citizenship rights as South Africans. These laws imposed draconian restrictions on the freedom of movement of black South Africans. These laws further sought to ensure that white South Africans would represent the majority of the de jure population of South Africa with the right to vote and monopolize control of the state machinery. The Group Areas Act of 1950 (as re-enacted in the Group Areas Act of 1966), divided South Africa into separate areas for whites and blacks and gave the government the power to forcibly remove people from areas not designated for their particular tribal and racial group. Under this Act, anyone living in the “wrong” area was deported to his/her tribal group homeland. The law also denied Africans the right to own land anywhere in South Africa and stripped them of all political rights. The lives of over 3.5 million people were destroyed by this law as they were forcibly deported and corralled like cattle in their tribal group bantustans.

Recently, Prof. Yacob Hailemariam, a prominent Ethiopian opposition leader and a former senior Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda commented that the forceful eviction of members of the Amhara ethnic group from Benishangul-Gumuz (one of the nine kililistans) was a de facto ethnic cleansing. “The forceful deportation of people because they speak a certain language could destabilize a region, and if reported with tangible evidence, the UN Security Council could order the International Criminal Court to begin to examine the crimes.” A year ago to the month Meles Zenawi justified the forced expulsion of tens of thousands of Amharas from Southern Ethiopia stating, “… By coincidence of history, over the past ten years numerous people -- some 30,000 sefaris (squatters) from North Gojam – have settled in Benji Maji (BM) zone [in Southern Ethiopia]. In Gura Ferda, there are some 24,000 sefaris.” Meles approved the de facto ethnic cleansing of Amharas from the “wrong” areas and repatriation back to their kililistan Amhara homelands. Through “villagization” programs, indigenous populations have been forced of their ancestral lands in Gambella, Benishangul and the Oromo River Valley and their land auctioned off to voracious multinational agribusinesses. The undeniable fact of the matter is that over the past two decades the Meles regime has implemented a kinder and gentler version of Bantustanism in Ethiopia.

The perils and untenability of Meles’ “bogus federalism” have been documented in the International Crises Group’s report “Ethiopia: Ethnic Federalism and Its Discontents”. That report points out the glaring deficiencies and problems engendered by “ethnic federalism” in “redefine[ing] citizenship, politics and identity on ethnic grounds.” The study argues that “ethnic federalism” has resulted in “an asymmetrical federation that combines populous regional states like Oromiya and Amhara in the central highlands with sparsely populated and underdeveloped ones like Gambella and Somali.” Moreover, “ethnic federalism” has created “weak regional states”, “empowered some groups” and failed to resolve the “national question”. Aggravating the underlying situation has been the Meles dictatorship’s failure to promote “dialogue and reconciliation” among groups in Ethiopian society, further fueling “growing discontent with the EPRDF’s ethnically defined state and rigid grip on power and fears of continued inter-ethnic conflict.”

“Ethnic federalism” is indefensible in theory or practice. While intrinsically nonsensical as public policy, “ethnic federalism” in the hands of the Meles regime has become a dangerous weapon of divide and rule, divide and control and divide and destroy. Those in power entertain themselves watching the pitiful drama of kililistans compete and fight with each other for crumbs and preoccupying themselves with historical grievances. The ICG report makes it clear that in the long term “ethnic federalism” could trigger an implosion and disintegration of the Ethiopian nation.

Meles used to boast that his “ethnic federalism” policy had saved the “country [which] was on the brink of total disintegration.” He argued that “Every analyst worth his salt was suggesting that Ethiopia will go the way of Yugoslavia or the Soviet Union. What we have now is a going-concern.”

The truth of the matter is that ethnic balkanization, fragmentation, segregation and polarization are the tools of trade used by the Meles regime to cling to power while lining their pockets. In a genuine federalism, the national government is the creature of the subnational governments. In Ethiopia, the “kilil” (regional) “governments” are creatures and handmaidens of the national “government”. In a genuine federalism, the national government is entrusted with limited and enumerated powers for the purpose effectuating the common purposes of the subnational "governments". In Ethiopia, the powers of the national “government” are vast and unlimited; and there are no barriers to its usurpatory powers which it exercises at will. There are no safeguards against encroachment on the rights and liberties of the people by the national or subnational “governments”. Simply stated, “ethnic federalism” as practiced in Ethiopia today is not only a recipe for tyranny by the national “government” but also the creed for secessionists in the name of self-determination. “Ethnic federalism” is an idea whose time has passed and should be consigned to the dustbin of history along with its author. “Well, back to the old drawing board!”

The Curse of Meles

According to those in the know, the late Meles Zenawi used to say “Diaspora Ethiopians can start things but never manage to finish them.” Regardless of the veracity of the attribution, there is a ring of truth to the proposition. Since 2005, we have read lofty declarations and heard announcements on the establishment of political and advocacy groups and organizations. We have welcomed them with fanfare but they have come and gone like the seasons.

I do not believe those who drafted the Declaration of the Congress of the Oromo Democratic Front will be visited by the Curse of Meles. The Declaration seems to be the product of an enormous amount of organizational soul-searching, discussion, debate, introspection and contemplation. The ODF has come up with an honest, practical, bold and hopeful declaration. I have some questions as do others; but the fact that questions are being raised is proof that the Declaration has considerable appeal, credibility and traction. I ask questions to engage in dialogue and discussion, not to undermine or cause doubt about the worth or value of the Declaration. To be sure, I raise questions about the Declaration in the spirit of Dr. Martin Luther King’s counsel: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’” My questions originate from the question: “What does the Declaration do for all of our people? With sustained effort and the good will and cooperation of all stakeholders, there is no reason why new alliances cannot be created and old ones reinvigorated to move forward the struggle for freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia. I am inspired by the Declaration’s commitment to wage a united struggle: “We will exert all efforts in order to pull together as many advocates and promoters of the interests of diverse social sectors as possible in order to popularize and refine the principles and processes that would transform Ethiopia into a genuinely democratic multinational federation.”

I understand “to pull together” means to stop pushing, shoving, ripping, picking and tearing each other apart. That is why I have an unshakeable faith in the proposition that "Ethiopians united -- pulling together -- can never be defeated by the bloody hands of tyrants!”

Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer. http://open.salon.com/blog/almariam/2013/04/14/ethiopia_liberating_a_prison_nation