Dear Honorable:
 
The United States Congress made history in its support for democracy in Ethiopia when on June 27, 2006 a bipartisan House International Relations Committee unanimously recommended the passage of H.R.5680 (Ethiopia Freedom, Democracy and Human Rights Advancement Act of 2006) to the Full House.  I am writing to kindly request your enthusiastic blessing of the recommendation when it comes to the Full House for your vote.

 

Ethiopia was expected to enter a new era when the United States facilitated the leftist guerilla group to takeover the old Marxist government at the London Peace Conference in May 1991.  Mr. Herman Cohen, the Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs at the time, after stating democracy as a US foreign policy objective, had warned the new rulers with his famous words “No Democracy, No Aid” and encouraged them to hold free and fair elections. 

 

Today, after 15 years, the Ethiopian people are still suffering under the yoke of one of most brutal regimes in the world.  Last year, Parade Magazine named the Ethiopian prime minister as one of the ten worst dictators on the planet on account of the political repression and persecution of the opposition parties. 

 

For the people of Ethiopia, the May 15, 2005 elections were a form of a referendum on Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s 15 years of misrule.  Since the so-called elections, over 88 peaceful demonstrators were killed by government troops; scores wounded; over 5000 opposition supporters, journalists, human rights activists, and leaders of the opposition parties rounded up and detained.  Thousands went into exile. 

 

Ethiopia and Africa will remain basket cases as long as governments are corrupt and are not held accountable for their misbehavior either by their own people or by the international community.  In spite of the absence of democracy, Ethiopia received over $21 billion in international aid over 15 years, yet political repression intensified, per capita income declined, and the number of starving Ethiopians increased. If Ethiopia is to dig herself out of the current quagmire, there is no substitute for democracy and good governance.  Furthermore, the West will have a stronger and more reliable ally with a leadership in Ethiopia whose legitimacy derives from the ballot rather than the bullet.

 

Meles Zenawi’s regime that took over power with the help of the State Department in 1991 is now being sustained with the support of the Department of Defense under the pretext of an alliance on counter-terrorism, with complete disregard to the election results of May 15, 2005 where the opposition was the clear winner.  Would the Congress of the United States see to it that justice is done this time around?

 

As a staunch advocate of democracy, I call upon you to help usher in democracy in Ethiopia by supporting H.R.5680 when it come for your vote.  The Ethiopian people have for a long time been struggling to bring about democratic governance to their country, but the struggle has been frustrated by a brutal and oppressive regime.  This is why I appeal to you and to the US Congress to give the people of Ethiopia a moral support by endorsing H.R.5680.  May God bless you and the United States.

 

Respectfully yours,