Ethiopia Meles on ICG report, obama administration and Medrek

September 17th, 2009 | EthioPolitics.com |

VOA/Reuters

In a two-and-a-half-hour meeting with reporters, prime minister Meles Zenawi had harsh words for the authors of a new report that warns of the potential for ethnic violence ahead of next year’s national elections. The report by the International Crisis Group describes Ethiopia as a de facto one-party state where the lack of political space “incites opposition groups to consider armed struggle as their only remaining option”.

Mr. Meles called the report “contemptible”.

“I do feel that the analysis in the paper was not worth the price of the cost of writing it up,” he said.

Mr. Meles served notice his government would not tolerate outside interference, as the election nears. He pointed to recent “Color Revolution” in countries such as Ukraine and Georgia, describing them as coups backed by powerful foreign forces.

“Those who feel it is their God-given right how to tell others how to run their affairs are free to think so, but they should limit their practice of that idea to their own country,” said Mr. Meles. “This type of financing of activities of so called Color Revolutions that are in substance nothing more than exalted coups, these we do not agree with, and we do not believe this is within the purview of partnerships between developed and developing countries.”

On a positive note, Mr. Meles says he is satisfied with Ethiopia’s relationship with the United States, even though the Obama administration has not appointed an ambassador to Addis Ababa and Ethiopia recently called home its ambassador to Washington.

“We have more old friends in the current administration than we had in the previous one,” he said. “So, in terms of interpersonal dialogue, it’s much smoother than it has been in many years. In terms of the fundamentals of that relationship, it’s also solid.”

Ethiopian diplomatic sources say Prime Minister Meles rejected the Obama administration’s first choice as ambassador. A retired diplomat, Ambassador Roger Meece is currently serving as the interim Charge d’Affaires. An embassy official said there is no word on when a new envoy might be named.

CRITICISES OPPOSITION

Rights groups regularly accuse Ethiopia’s government of cracking down on political opponents. One party leader has been jailed and several former and serving military officers have been charged in recent months with plotting a coup.

Meles defended the country’s system of “ethnic federalism”, under which major ethnic groups control the regions where they are the majority. He said it had saved the giant nation from splitting apart.

“The country was on the brink of total disintegration,” the prime minister said. “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.”

Meles has started talks with the opposition about a code of conduct for the next poll. But the main coalition of opposition parties said last week it had walked out of the discussions and that its potential candidates were being jailed and harassed.

“Those parties that apparently are concerned about harassment are not concerned enough to participate in the devising of a code of conduct that is designed to put an end to it, if it exists, or to prevent it if it doesn’t,” Meles said.

“The intent of these individuals is to discredit the election process from day one, not to participate in it.”