People face five years in jail for posting on Facebook as 'state of emergency' rules set in Ethiopia

stop banning social media !!!

Ethiopians who post statuses on Facebook about the country’s growing political unrest could face up to five years in jail, as part of a series of measures under a “state of emergency” that grow more stringent by the day.

The government has imposed the longest blanket ban on mobile internet services in the capital Addis Ababa since protests began a year ago, and access to messaging platforms like WhatsApp has been heavily restricted.

The measures are designed to stifle people’s ability to organise protests, amid calls for greater political freedoms and recognition from the ethnic Oromo and Amharic groups.

Access to foreign-based media has also been restricted, including Deutsche Welle and Voice of America, which both have popular Amharic stations. Two TV stations run from the US for the Ethiopian diaspora, ESAT and the Oromia Media Network, have been banned.

And the new rules even seek to ban people from carrying out certain gestures “without permission”. They include crossing arms above the head to form an “X”, a political symbol that has become synonymous with the Oromo struggle and featured at the Rio Olympics and Paralympics.

UK rights charities are particularly concerns that under the emergency rules, which are expected to be in place for the next six months, foreign diplomats will have their movements heavily restricted.

The government says diplomats are not allowed to travel more than 40km (25 miles) from the capital, Addis Ababa, without permission, and say it is for their own safety.

But the rights group Reprieve told The Independent there are serious concerns this could limit the access Britons have to consular services. They raised the case of one UK citizen, father-of-three Andy Tsege, who is on Ethiopia’s death row and held at a jail some way outside the capital.

"Andy’s family in London, who cannot contact him, are sick with worry," said Maya Foa, a director at Reprieve. "Amid this crisis, it’s shocking that the UK continues to rely on Ethiopia’s vague, broken promises of regular consular access and a lawyer for Andy. Boris Johnson must urgently call for Andy to be returned home to his partner and kids in Britain."

Ethiopia is a key strategic ally for the US and European countries in the fight against Somalia’s Islamist insurgency, al-Shabaab, and Addis Ababa is the home of the African Union.

The global importance of the country’s stability has meant Western governments turning a blind eye to its authoritarian leadership. In June, the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front cut off nationwide access to social media - on the grounds of preventing exam result leaks.

The new ban on internet services has already made a noticeable impact on the flow of reports of unrest coming out of the country via on-the-ground activists.

Ethiopian state media reported that 1,000 protesters had been arrested in the central Oromia town of Sebeta since the state of emergency was declared on 8 October, and ahead of an investment conference in the town which began on Monday.

The emergency rules include a ban on using social media to contact “outside forces”, and Ethiopians risk jail if they communicate with any “anti-peace groups designated as terrorist”.

Seven things banned under Ethiopia's Six month state of emergency

We want regime change!!!

Ethiopia's government has declared a six-month state of emergency in the face of an unprecedented wave of violent protests.
Activists in the country's Oromia region has been holding demonstrations since last November, and protesters from the Amhara region have also joined in.
The deaths of at least 55 people at an Oromo religious festival on 2 October triggered fresh unrest, including the targeting of some foreign-owned businesses.
Rights groups say that at least 500 people have died during the protests overall and last week Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said that could be an accurate estimate.
The emergency was announced earlier this month but the government has now made clear what this means in practical terms.
Here are some of the things that are restricted:
1. Social media
You cannot use social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, to contact what are called "outside forces". In fact, any attempt to communicate with "terrorist organisations and anti-peace groups designated as terrorist" is banned.
Protesters have been posting messages and mobile phone footage to social media and websites run by Ethiopian dissidents living abroad.
2. Broadcast Media
You cannot watch the TV channels Esat and OMN, which are both based outside the country. The government has described them as "belonging to terrorist organisations".
These broadcasters have become some of the major sources for people wanting to know more about the protests.

Stop denying people freedom of Expression!!!

3. Protests
You cannot organise a demonstration at your school or university, neither can you be involved in a political campaign that is "likely to cause disturbances, violence, hatred and distrust among the people".
University campuses were among the first places to be hit by the wave of anti-government protests.
4. Gestures
You cannot make a political gesture, such as crossing your arms above your head, or communicate a political message to the public "without permission".
The crossing-arms gesture has been seen widely at the protests in Oromia, and even made it to the Olympics when marathon runner Feyisa Lilesa used it as he crossed the line in second place in Rio in August.
5. Curfew
You cannot visit a factory, farm or governmental institution between 6pm and 6am the next day. If you violate the curfew than "law enforcement bodies have been authorised to take the necessary action"
6. Diplomats
If you are a diplomat you are not allowed to travel more than 40km (25 miles) from the capital, Addis Ababa, without permission. The government says that this is for your own safety.
In general, the diplomatic reaction to the protests and the state of emergency has been muted. The US has said that it is "troubled" by any restrictions on the freedom of expression in the state of emergency, but, like other western powers has called for peaceful dialogue to solve the country's problems.
Ethiopia is a close ally of the US against Islamist militancy in neighbouring Somalia.
7. Guns
If you have a gun, you cannot take it within 25km of the country's main roads out of Addis Ababa, and within 50km

OLF is the immune system of the Oromo nations

Oromo Revolution

OLF is an organization established in 1973 by Oromonationalists to culminate the uncoordinated resistance by brave sons and daughters of Oromo people against colonialist hegemony as well as oppression and suppression of the Oromo people and their culture and to promote self-determination for the Oromo people against “Abyssinian colonial rule”.  The birth of the OLF was a turning point in the history of Oromo people’s struggle for freedom. Now, nationally and internationally the Oromo people are intensifying the struggle for its rights more than any time in the history of the Liberation struggle.  Our struggle is now transforming from limited sector of the nation to the popular revolution.  The OLF articulated the Oromo national question and skillfully set the target for the Oromo national struggle. As an organization the OLF deserves all the credit for almost all political gains achieved by the Oromo people.

Why the OLF is the immune system of the Oromo people?  Firstly, what is immune system?

The immune system is made up of a network of special cells, proteins, tissues, and organs, defends people against germs and microorganisms every day in order to keep people healthy and preventing infections. The immune system is the body’s defense against infectious organisms and other invaders, through a series of steps called the immune response, the immune system attacks organisms and substances that invade body systems and cause disease.

The century long colonial power in Ethiopian empire have committed and still committing all inhuman atrocities, against Oromo people and other oppressed nations. These act of colonial rule create many challenges to form unity-in-diversity.  Namely:

• Challenge of our history: The Oromo peoples believes that we have to confess our past history to build a better future. There are times in our lives when we have to realize our past is precisely what it is, and we cannot change it. But we can change the story we tell ourselves about it, and by doing that, we can change the future.
• Challenge of Socio-economic inequalities
• Absence of appropriate constitutional settlement
• Absence of institutions for democracy and development

In order to solve those critical issues the Oromo peoples are promoting:

• Nations are able to manage their political and social disputes peacefully, without lapsing into conflict, or sustain economic growth without creating huge inequalities, critically depend on the quality of the relevant national institutions.
• Support the principles of democracy such as the forming of government based on the will of the majority, respect for the rule of law, and respect for basic freedoms.

Oromo peoples believes that there is no common agreement will be achieved while the nations are living such parallel lives:

• Colonizers are living as the killers while the oppressed nations are dying
• Colonizers are refusing to accept and respect the right for self-determinations while oppressed nations are crying for their right
• Colonizers are working to divide and rule while the oppressed nations are fighting for unity.
• Colonizers are looting and enriching their close families while oppressed nations are suffering from natural and man made disasters
• Colonizers are cheating while oppressed nations are believing

Most of us (The Oromo peoples, Oppressed nations, former colonizers) now agree that we do not want military rule, our visions and practice of democracy are not uniform, showing a fundamental lack of consensus on this important question as well.  That is why OLF is insisting on the basic demand of the Oromo people and other oppressed nations that is, full freedom to have a legal right on self –determination.  In order to achieve this goal OLF is fulfilling his tasks as immune system:

• Detecting the enemy plan and tactic in order to expose to the public and preparing action plan.
• Attacking the enemy plan and distracting their goal in order to empower our peoples struggle and oppressed nations for freedom.
• Leading our goal forward on the ground in multiple ways, Planning next step and promoting international diplomacy

What are the practical action of this fact:

• Strengthen our freedom fighters in all corners of our country
• Organizing the Oromo people from rural area to the heart of Oromia
• Strengthen our partners by empowering the oppressed nations. To give you an example, forming Peoples Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (PAFD).
• Promoting Oromo nations demand on the international arena. To give you an example of this fact and motivation of point number 3: let me give you one remark of the recent European union response on the roundtable discussion:

Rroundtable discussion of Oppressed Peoples of Ethiopia at the European Parliament

PAFD – a pan-Ethiopian alliance founded in October 2015 – to European policy-makers and other interested parties. To that end, representatives of PAFD presented the alliance’s goals and guiding principles and provided updates on the deteriorating human rights situation in Ethiopia.

Mr Abdirahman Mahdi, the PAFD International Relations Bureau, drew attention to the opportunities that PAFD can offer and elaborated on why it is only through the concerted effort of all of Ethiopia’s suppressed groups that democratic change and freedom for all Ethiopians can be brought about.

Dr Baro Keno Deressa, in turn, gave a chilling account of how the Ethiopian government continues to harass, forcefully disappear, torture and kill ordinary Oromo People, Ogaden people, Sidama people, Gambella and Benishangul peoples and other oppressed nations in Ethiopian Empire with impunity, stressing that urgent action and strong alliances are needed to put an end to the immense suffering of Oromo’s and other Oppressed nations in Ethiopia Empire.

Member of European parliament and various delegations:

• highlighted the importance of giving a voice to the voiceless and reiterated their commitment to support the Oppressed peoples.
• confirms the significance of alliances such as PAFD in order to overcome further crisis.
• Other influential delegate underlined urgency of the situation in Ethiopia.

Conclusions:

Nobody has right to tell us about peace because we Oromo people are nation of peace, nation of democratic rule, nation of justice and equality. We are always against all injustices and we are ready to defend all kinds of violations.

Nobody has right to tell us about generosity, because we are nation of love. We have helped and supporting innocent nations of Amhara’s, tiger’s when they come to our country to collect coffee or to work in the agriculture sector, we have treating them when they were sick, we have respected them as equal human being despite their social status, we are loving them us our families not as strangers.

Nobody has right to tell us about patriotism because we have nation of heroes, for century long there is no Ethiopian colonial rule survive without the patriotic act of Oromo sons and daughters.  But our price was humiliation and death  “when it comes to power and money Oromo’s are the last to touch the desk and when it comes to thehuman-right and equality Oromo’s are the first to be victim of the system”.  Now, when we say it is enough and it is time to build my country Oromia and regain my right as human being, individuals or groups with colonial system and mind have to setback and respect the demand of oppressed nations.  Refusing this fact and try to create all kinds of analysis, tactics and strategies will leads the Ethiopian Empire, horn of Africa and world in general to the hell of 21st century.   

US warns Ethiopia against emergency crackdown

US warns TPLF led regime against
emergency crackdown 

The United States warned its African ally Ethiopia on Tuesday not to abuse the state of emergency it declared this week to suppress dissent and welcomed talk of political reform.

Ethiopia declared an emergency on Sunday after six months of anti-government protests, but on Tuesday Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn promised that opposition voices would be heard.

US State Department spokesman John Kirby welcomed this offer from the government "to address some of the grievances raised by protesters such as land rights and electoral reform."

But he urged President Mulatu Teshome's administration to "clarify" how it intends to implement a state of emergency which authorized "detention without a warrant, limitations on free speech, prohibitions on public gatherings and the imposition of curfews."

"Even if these measures are intended to restore order, silencing independent voices and interfering with the rights of Ethiopians is a self-defeating tactic that exacerbates rather than address those grievances," he argued.

Ethiopia is facing its biggest anti-government unrest in a decade, with unrest among the majority Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups which feel marginalized by a minority-led government.

Tensions have been rising since an Oromo religious festival last week ended in tragedy when police fired tear gas on protesters, triggering a stampede that left more than 50 dead.

The declaration of a six-month state of emergency is unprecedented in the 25 years the current Ethiopian government has been in charge.

Declaring a state of emergency cannot reverse Oromo peoples’ struggle for freedom and democracy

OLF Press Release

Oromo Revolution!!!

Despite being the majority in Ethiopia, the Oromo people have been marginalized by the successive Ethiopian governments. Unimaginable atrocities have been committed against the Oromo during the campaign to create the Ethiopian empire and afterwards to upkeep it. In the process, the Oromo were reduced to third class citizenship status on their own land. Our people have been expressing their grievances at different times but the response from the ruling Ethiopian authorities have always been to violently suppress their demand.

When the current TPLF/EPDRF government came into power, the OLF participated in the transitional government hoping that it will end the cycles of oppressions and subjugations for all peoples in Ethiopia. Within a short period of time, however, it became apparent that the objective of the TPLF was not to create a democratic and all-inclusive system of government but to camouflage itself with a façade of democracy and create a government that serves a minority.

Hoping against all odds that the TPLF will listen to their grievances, the Oromo people continued raising their concerns peacefully at different times over the last 25 years. In the process, tens of thousands of Oromo students, farmers, professionals, and business owners have been killed, jailed, tortured, and disappeared. In the name of economic development, hundreds of thousands of Oromo families have been forcefully displaced from their ancestral lands with no, or very little, compensation. These unconstitutional displacements did not only make the families poor and destitute but negatively impacted their culture, language, identity, and general wellbeing.

Despite continued protests by Oromo students, farmers, and the general public against displacements of Oromo families, the TPLF/EPRDF government came up with the Addis Ababa Master Plan without any consultation with the stakeholders. The plan expands Addis Ababa’s border to 50-times of its current size, potentially displacing millions of Oromo people from their farmland. Historical marginalization coupled with TPLF’s illegal policy of displacements intensified the November 2015 Oromo popular protest. Instead of listening to the people and addressing their demands, the TPLF resorted to its violent rhetoric by killing over 800 people most documented by several human rights organizations.

These killings, however, did not deter the heroic Oromo people from continuing their struggle for their just cause. The protest expanded to all regions of Oromia and other regional states throughout Ethiopia, including the Amhara region. Frustrated by the unity of the oppressed peoples of Ethiopia, TPLF resorted to more killing in all regions. Over a thousand people have been killed in Oromia, Amhara, Gambella, and Southern regional states since July 2016. TPLF’s heinous crimes against the Oromo escalated to the highest level on October 2, 2016 when their army, accompanied by helicopters gunship, massacred over 678 people who came out to celebrate the Irrechaa, an Oromo thanksgiving festival. Angered by such atrocities, the Oromo people from every corners of Oromia and other regions of Ethiopia continued their peaceful demonstrations and took some actions against the TPLF in self-defense. The TPLF government has done everything in its power, including the creation of conflicts between different ethnic and religious groups within Ethiopia, to quell these protests. When its divide and-rule policy failed, the TPLF regime declared a state of emergency on October 9, 2016. It is to be remembered that Oromia is already under martial law since December 2016 and the state of emergency is not going to change the dynamics on the ground. This declaration is nothing but a license for the military to continue killing more people and reestablish the superiority of the minority Tigrean elites.

It is a mockery that the declaration states “the state of emergency will not breach basic human rights enshrined under the Ethiopian constitution” while in fact the TPLF has been violating the basic human rights of the Ethiopian peoples for the last 25 years. The Ethiopian peoples in general, and the Oromo people in particular, know well that the TPLF/EPRDF regime does not respect human rights and have demanded a fundamental change. The system is rotten and reshuffling political leadership within TPLF/EPRDF does not address the deep rooted causes of the problem. Instead of invoking articles that suites its cause from the constitution, TPLF needs to respect the constitution and abide by its rules.

Contrary to TPLF’s assertion that these protests are supported by external governments or groups, Oromo people’s struggle for freedom and justice is self-reliant for the last decades. It is TPLF’s character to use a neighboring state or group as a scapegoat every time people ask legitimate questions and it is not different this time. Unfortunately for the TPLF, the Ethiopian peoples have known their lies for the last quarter of a century and will never give them the legitimacy that they are seeking by pointing fingers to foreign elements.

The OLF strongly believes that the only choice that is left for the TPLF at this juncture is to relinquish the power and be accountable for crimes they have committed against the Oromo and other peoples in Ethiopia. The OLF has an obligation and responsibility to defend the Oromo people from TPLF’s killing machinery by any means necessary. The OLF would like to use this opportunity to once again call upon the Oromo people not to be distracted by the declared state of emergency and redouble their struggle to remove this terrorist government once and for all. We would also like to call upon the oppressed nations and nationalities in Ethiopia to ignore the divide-and-rule tactics of the TPLF and stand with the Oromo people to free yourselves from the yoke of oppression. We remind again the Ethiopian Peoples that this is not only Oromo People’s problem; it is a serious concern to all and we have to stand together to solve it once and for all by removing this fascist regime.

Internet cut, arrest of bloggers, mass arrests not the solution – UN tells TPLF regime

Stop killing peaceful protesters!

The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights has renewed its request to the Ethiopian government seeking access to the country to conduct an independent assessment of continuing protests.

A statement issued in Geneva on Friday, by the commission’s spokesperson, Rupert Colville, said, ‘‘There is clearly a need for an independent investigation into what exactly transpired last Sunday, and to ensure accountability for this and several other incidents since last November involving protests that have ended violently.’‘

In August this year, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein disclosed that they had requested access to the troubled regions to of Oromia and Amhara enable the Office to provide assistance in line with Ethiopia’s human rights obligations.

‘‘We again appeal to the Government to grant us access,’‘ the latest statement added.

They UN body also touched on the issue of internet cut which was reported to have started on Tuesday and is till in full effect as at Friday. Even though connection for fixed lines have been partially restored.

‘‘Instead of cutting off access to mobile data services in parts of the country, including in Addis Ababa, we urge the Government to take concrete measures to address the increasing tensions,’‘ the statement said.

The UN also expressed concern over the issue of the arrested bloggers, Seyoum Teshoume and Natnael Feleke, the two are said to have been detained for loudly discussing the complicity of the government in the deadly stampede of last Sunday.

‘‘There have also been worrying reports of mass arrests in the Oromia

Oromo protests: Ethiopia unrest resurges after stampede

Bloggers arrested, internet shut down periodically, and foreign firms attacked as anti-government protests continue.

Often violent protests in which rights groups say hundreds of people have been killed by security forces have flared again in Ethiopia, with a US citizen among the latest deaths. 

Protests reignited in the Oromia region - the main focus of a recent wave of demonstrations - after at least 55 people were killed in a stampede at the weekend, which was sparked by police firing tear gas and warning shots at a huge crowd of protesters attending a religious festival.

Fifty-five is the official death toll given by the government, though opposition activists and rights groups say they believe more than 100 people died as they fled security forces, falling into ditches that dotted the area. Ethiopian radio said excavators had to be used to remove some of the bodies.

The anti-government demonstrations started in November among the Oromo, Ethiopia's biggest ethnic group, and later spread to the Amhara, the second most populous group. Though they initially began over land rights they later broadened into calls for more political, economic and cultural rights.

Both groups say that a multi-ethnic ruling coalition and the security forces are dominated by the Tigray ethnic group, which makes up about six percent of the population.

The government, though, blames rebel groups and foreign-based dissidents for stoking the violence.

Staff at the California-based UC Davis university  confirmed the identity of the US citizen as Sharon Gray, a postdoctoral researcher of biology, who had been in the Horn of Africa nation to attend a meeting.

The US embassy said she was killed on Tuesday when stones were hurled at her vehicle on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, where residents said crowds have attacked other vehicles since the stampede.

The embassy did not give further details or a precise location for the incident.

Foreign firms attacked

News of Gray's death came as foreign-owned factories and equipment were damaged in the protests. Demonstrators in Oromia say farmland has been seized to build foreign factories and housing blocks.

On Tuesday, crowds damaged a factory run by Turkish textile firm Saygin Dima and the BMET Energy cable plant, which also has Turkish investors, officials from firms in the area said. Both plants are in the Oromia area.

---

A third of the Saygin Dima plant in Sebeta, 35 km (20 miles) southwest of Addis Ababa, was destroyed by fire, General Manager Fatih Mehmet Yangin said.

"A large crowd attacked the factory," he said, adding three vehicles were also destroyed.

Yangin said a flower farm nearby was also attacked. The Oromia Regional Administration said vehicles and some machinery at a plant owned by Nigeria's Dangote Cement were vandalised.

Oromia has been a focus for industrial development that has fuelled Ethiopia's economic growth, but locals say they receive little compensation when land is taken by the government. 

The death toll from unrest and clashes between police and demonstrators over the past year or more runs into several hundred, according to opposition and rights group estimates. The US-based Human Rights Watch says at least 500 people have been killed by security forces.

The government says such figures are inflated.

The attacks will cast a shadow over Ethiopia's ambition to draw in more investment to industrialise a nation where most people rely on subsistence farming, and have been struggling with a severe drought in the past two years or so.

The government has been building new infrastructure, including an electrified railway connecting the capital of the landlocked nation with a port in neighbouring Djibouti, which was inaugurated on Wednesday.

At least seven foreign-owned flower farms in Ethiopia's Amhara region, another area where protests have flared, were damaged in political violence at the start of September.

Bloggers arrested

Rights groups and opposition politicians accuse the government of excessive force in dealing with demonstrations, crushing opponents and stifling free speech.

The Committee for the Protection of Journalists (CPJ) called on authorities on Tuesday tofree Seyoum Teshoume , a blogger critical of the government, who writes for the website Ethiothinktank.com. CPJ said he was reported detained on October 1.

Another blogger who has expressed support for the protests, Natnael Feleke, was arrested on Tuesday, according to a blogging collective of which he is a member. Natnael was previously arrested in 2014 and released after more than a year in prison when charges against him were dropped.

There were also reports that the internet had been shutdown periodically over the last two days.

Officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but the government says it only detains people who threaten national security and says it guarantees free speech.

The opposition failed to win a single seat in a 547-seat parliament in a 2015 election and had just one in the previous parliament.

ODF Statement on Bushooftu Irreechaa Massacre

Oromo Democratic Front Statement on Bushooftu Irreechaa Massacre

The Ethiopian security forces fired tear gas and live bullets to disperse millions of Oromo youth peacefully calling for an end to authoritarian rule triggering a melee in which hundreds attending the annual Irreechaa (thanksgiving) died in the most gruesome manner.

The Oromo Democratic Front (ODF) expresses its deeply felt condolences to the Oromo nation that suffered its worst one-day calamity in its long and tortured history. To the families and loved ones of the martyred, we and the entire nation mourns with you. To those sustaining wounds and injuries, both physical and psychological, we pray for your quick recovery.

The Irreecha massacre has been building for close to a year. It is the culmination of the mindless repression and miscarriage of justice by the Ethiopian state and the nation’s determination to break free from the yoke of political oppression, economic exploitation, and cultural marginalization. The Oromo people yearn for freedom and change has reached the point of no return. We are afraid more bloodshed will follow unless the incumbent regime immediately removes its trigger-happy federal combat troops deployed to civilian areas, release all political prisoners, and end the domination of the country’s political, economic, and social life by an undemocratic and power-hungry minority clique ruling contrary to popular will.

The ruling party has clearly reached a point where it can no longer rule the country. Try as it might, the status quo is no longer tenable. However, its promises of reform ring hollow and the regime lacks the political will necessary to steer the country off the cliff. Accordingly, we call on our people in all its diversity to redouble its efforts not only to ensure that the blood of our martyrs, new and old, are not shed in vain but also to guarantee that the people’s will prevails against the forces of tyranny.

Oromia: Deadly stampede at Ethiopia festival

Many people have been killed and injured in Ethiopia's Oromia region after security forces fired on a major protest, witnesses say.

Some died in a panicked stampede after troops opened fire, the reports said.

Thousands had gathered for a religious festival in Bishoftu, 40km (25 miles) from the capital Addis Ababa.

Some reports said troops responded after anti-government protesters threw stones and bottles, while others said demonstrators were entirely peaceful.

An Oromo activist, Jawar Mohamed, is quoted as saying nearly 300 people were killed and many more injured. He said troops and a helicopter gunship had opened fire, driving people off a cliff and into a lake.

Ethiopia Human Rights Abuses Spark U.S. Congressional Action

U.S. Representatives push for legislation targeting Ethiopia after Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch document human rights abuses.

Abipartisan group of U.S. Representatives has proposed legislation targeted at the government of Ethiopia, after Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented hundreds of cases of alleged human rights abuses. House Resolution 861, titled “Supporting respect for human rights and encouraging inclusive governance in Ethiopia,” was introduced by Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Al Green (D-TX), Mike Coffman (R-CO), and Eliot Engel (D-NY).

“It is an abomination when any country tortures its own citizens,” said Rep. Smith, at a September 13th press conference on Capitol Hill. The human rights abuses, waged primarily against the Oromo and Amhara populations, have come to light despite Ethiopian authorities efforts preventing independent screeners from conducting transparent investigations.

The Resolution condemns the killing of peaceful protesters, the arrest and detention of students, journalists, and political leaders, and the stifling of political dissent under the guise of “counterterrorism.”

Ethiopia is a strategic ally of the United States. The country headquarters the 54 nation African Union, and, critical to U.S. interests, assists in counterterrorism efforts against al-Shabab, an Al-Qaeda aligned jihadi terrorist group based in Somalia. Ethiopia is also host to a staggering 750,000 refugeesfrom the war torn region.

In a press statement Rep. Ellison said, “While Ethiopia is an important ally for the United States, continuing to let the Ethiopian government oppress its own people will only further destabilize the region. We must do all we can to ensure that the human rights of all Ethiopians are respected.” Rep. Smith added, “A valuable contributor to global peacekeeping missions, growing unrest in Ethiopia in reaction to human rights violations by the government threaten to destabilize a nation counted on to continue its role on the international scene”.

Resolutions, like the one proposed, tend to be more of an opinion that often do little in themselves because they lack the political leverage to prompt much action. They often fail to hold allied nations to a standard of conduct, as countries and international organizations are hesitant to regulate how other nations behave within their own borders.

The bill expressly calls on the government of Ethiopia to end the use of excessive force by security forces; hold security forces accountable after a full, credible, transparent investigation; release dissidents, activists, and journalists who have been imprisoned for exercising constitutional rights; respect freedom of assembly and freedom of the press; engage with citizens on development; allow the United Nations to conduct independent examinations; repeal certain proclamations limiting inclusive growth; and investigate shootings and a fire on September 3, that killed 23 people at a prison housing high-profile politicians.

Noteworthy, is that the bill also seeks to apply financial and other pressure towards the government, by calling for the Secretary of State to “conduct a review of security assistance to Ethiopia” and “improve transparency” with respect to such assistance, and to “improve oversight and accountability of United States assistance to Ethiopia”.

OROMO  PROTESTERS CALL FOR EQUITABLE RIGHTS, AUGUST 6, 2016. REUTERS

Despite the good intention of the bill, critics highlight that it doesn’t go far enough. Henok Gabisa, a visiting Academic Fellow and faculty member at Washington and Lee University School of Law, stated in a personal interview:

“H.RES.861 is generally a good gesture from the United States Congress. It is very specific in a sense that it points out the consistent and constant patterns of corrosion of civil and economic liberties in the country. It also seems to give scrupulous attention to the marginalized groups who remain on the receiving end of the pain. That is really great. Nonetheless, owing to the mammoth financial aid transported to Ethiopian government by the U.S. under their bilateral security partnership, H. RES. 861 failed to deploy the political leverage of the [United States Government], and as a result it is nowhere nearer to fulfilling the goal it promises. In fact, Resolutions by merit are just declaratory statements or positions of a government. They may not be considered law in a positivist school of law. Yet again, H.RES.861 has no teeth to bite those who fail to comply the soft obligations it enumerated under the last sections 3-6.”

Experts give the bill a 32% chance of getting past the Foreign Affairs Committee and a 29% chance of being agreed to completely. Comparatively, from 2013-2015, 46% of simple resolutions made it past committee.

In a country of over 86 million, Oromos and Amharas constitute the two largest ethnic groups, combining for over 61% of the population. Yet, they are the most politically marginalized andeconomically disenfranchised. In 2015 Ethiopia’s ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, won every seat in parliament despite little ethnic diversity. The EPRDF has remained