An Open Letter to the G8

By the Network of Ethiopian Scholars (NES) - Scandinavian Chapter
July 5, 2005

We welcome the intentions to translate into practical action the vision of
the Global Call to Action Against Poverty to make it history. Though the
systems the G8 leaders are steering are way more complex and not so easily
amenable to any good intention to make them deliver to the poor, we hope
that any set of serious effort that you collectively undertake makes a
difference.

Africa has suffered for too long. Until today the record of the political
economy of international aid has been largely unproductive. Africa was
trapped in a double bind: if the G8 and others refuse their assistance,
Africa loses; if it accepts their assistance, Africa loses also. We hope now
for the first time, the G8 are prepared to provide aid by engaging with the
political economy of aid, investment and trade without forcing Africa to
lose and blaming Africa for it. It is time to provide the kind of assistance
that will make Africa a winner and would not put all the blame to it, if
things go wrong.

The G8's New Deal
North-South Partnership has been proposed as the new deal or strategy to see
Africa out of poverty. Africa is expected to deliver on good governance and
the construction of transparent and accountable institutions to its citizen;
and the G8 and others from the North are to provide economic assistance,
better terms of trade and debt relief. This deal enjoins the African side to
demonstrate a transparent and accountable government to its citizens.
Failure to demonstrate good governance would mean that the G8 side would
balk from providing the resources to assist. The assumption is that with
democratic governance, the assistance from the G8 would reach to those who
need it most and will not be pocketed by unaccountable officials and their
clientele and loyal networks that undo the effort to create accountable and
open institutions capable of propelling development forward.

Is It Good or Bad Governance Under Meles Zenawi in Ethiopia?
Ethiopia has had no record of effecting a peaceful transition in its
history. For the first time in this country's history, the people of
Ethiopia freely came forward after hearing the debates in the election to
vote for the party of their choice on May 15, 2005. We consider this to
prove a historical landmark in the country's long history. Unfortunately the
pre-election freedom could not be sustained during the election and the
aftermaths of the election. Once again, the country is at the crossroads.

Meles Zenawi's regime had the historical opportunity, and indeed the most
sacred responsibility to make sure democracy and free election succeed. Why
enter the game of democracy voluntarily and try to play foul when the going
goes against Meles Zenawi's expectations? Unfortunately the subsequent
killings, election riggings and emergency rule declarations show that Mr.
Zenawi and his group are not prepared to concede to the democratic will of
the people. They resorted to the usual trick of talking profusely about
democracy whilst preparing to continue to act with dictatorship and
repression. They have been in power for nearly fifteen years and have thus
built up a dense network of clientele and loyal acolytes that will do
anything but deliver good governance that can be up to the task to make
poverty history in Ethiopia.

Meles Zenawi came to power with violence and failed to show that he can
retain power through democracy. We wonder what criteria has been used by the
G8 to invite Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia- a person who just oversaw a rigged
election on May 15,2005, that has been difficult to clear and declare the
outcome after nearly two months. When Meles found out that literally most of
his ministers were voted out, and his party was losing the election, he
rushed to declare a state of emergency and used that to create a context for
the murder of 36 students and the arrest of thousands. Meles continues to
use all sorts of justifications why he thinks it is right to take officially
sanctioned violent action. He remains unrepentant and defiant and could not
see the wrongness of his actions.

Having probed all the arguments, we find conclusively that all his reasons,
in whatever form he expresses them, would not provide justification for
killing unarmed, civilian students or as he likes to describe them
'unemployed youth.' There was no justification to send troops to the
dormitories of university students, rough them up, pull them out of their
beds with guns to their heads, beat them and kill them. There is no reason
to declare a state of emergency and continue to intimidate by warning the
people that Meles is prepared to repeat and take this and similar action.
There was no reason to intimidate and harass opposition members throughout
the country. There is no reason to jail and hide the where about of the
writer Mr.Andargachew Tsige, and the human right activists such as Mr. Nega
Birhanu, Mr. Yahred Hailemariam, and Mr. Taddesse Chernet. There is no
reason for all these violent actions, for the simple reason that neither the
opposition nor the citizens used any other means other than to play within
the rules of the democracy that the regime claimed to honour. How can the
regime kill by claiming an opposition figure in exile has written a book
advocating rose or orange peaceful democratic expression in the event loser
does not concede to winner? How can the regime justify killing by imagining
and self-validating a false scenario in Ethiopia of Rwanda type genocide? It
has absolutely no-good reason to kill, justify, and more over, continue to
threaten similar action by maintaining military emergency rule! What the
regime fears from the opposition is not violence, but the peaceful
mobilisation and commitment to peaceful methods of struggle to expose the
vacuity of regime claims to popular support in the urban and rural areas of
Ethiopia

Implementing the New G8 Deal for Ethiopia
We call upon the G8 to endorse the growing demand that the next five years
should be a period for the democratic experiment of peaceful transition and
the incubation of good government in Ethiopia. Both are necessary if the G8
are serious to implement the policy where their assistance delivers results
rather than making Ethiopians losers once more. It is no good to blame
Ethiopians and organise another live concert when famine, hunger and bad
government recur after one episodic mobilisation or another. Ethiopia needs
to get the kind of assistance in order to stop seeking assistance for good.
We call upon you to demand that 'your good guy' Meles accepts a broad based
Government involving opposition parties who demonstrated genuine backing by
the people through free and fair elections, his own party and other
independent personages. This is critical to deliver what has eluded the
Ethiopian imagination to this day: to work collectively for the next five
years to create a workable system that will make it impossible for anyone to
use violence to perpetuate authoritarian rule. Let the coming five years
serve to solve this one and only one problem: creating the necessary and
sufficient possibilities for enduring and sustainable change or confirming
power through the unrigged votes of the Ethiopian citizens.

If Meles is indeed a democrat, as he likes to parade himself to you and the
rest of the world, and if indeed he wishes as your partner to see that the
poor get a deal from any of the projected investments you are hoping to
mobilize, he should be happy to endorse this idea. Let the next five years
be used to develop skills and styles of give and take to make the opposition
and the Meles group cultivate a democratic tradition and culture by using
debate and public participation to solve all issues that appear so
intractable in the country.

We are happy to offer ideas on how such a national unity Government may be
composed and sustained. We call upon the G8 leaders to impress the historic
importance of constructing an alternative to forming a Government either by
the incumbent or aspirant alone, given the election has been mishandled
badly and the people who voted for either side would feel cheated if either
side becomes a winner takes all. The notion of Meles re-inviting unelected
ministers back to cabinet would create a situation that is potentially
explosive. The G8 have the opportunity to put the maximum possible pressure
on Meles to contribute to peaceful and democratic change in Ethiopia by
supporting a Government of national concord, paving the way for the release
of all the arrested, the lifting the state of emergency for good, and the
call for all parties to enter into genuine dialogue. If as the G8, you are
serious about the New Deal, we expect you to have invited Meles Zenawi to
put to him that he has got to get governance right in his country so that
your expected assistance for Ethiopia proves worthy and productive. We call
the G8 to put maximum pressure on Meles Zenawi to respect the voice of the
Ethiopian people by being prepared to form a government of national unity
with the opposition, whether he likes them or not. The Government of
national concord should be entrusted to implement the new deal from the G8
to make sure that the assistance reaches the people that need it most fairly
and with a system and accountable and transparent procedure that Ethiopians
negotiate and put in place with the support of those who like to see them
succeed.

Concluding Remark
The substantive achievement of equalising Africa with the rest of the world
has a universal humanising thrust to it. Efforts to stimulate the
improvement of the African condition become equivalent to improving the
human condition. And that is a truly universal achievement for all. Those
who like and choose to engage in improving the lot of the most oppressed
community of the human race should recognise the wider significance of their
intervention to move civilisation forward. In the end it is not just for
Africa, that values of justice, care and freedom matter, but through their
realisation in Africa, they matter to all. It is not your benevolence, but
your enlightened self-interest that demands action to eradicate poverty on
earth. We hope this larger fellowship and vision and not the icy cold
calculation of self-interest drives your engagement with our continent and
our own old country-Ethiopia.

Professor Mammo Muchie, Chair of NES-Scandinavian Chapter
Berhanu G. Balcha, Vice- Chair of NES-Scandinavian Chapter
Tekola Worku, Secretary of NES-Scandinavian Chapter

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