In attempting to minimize the risks attendant to human rights work in an authoritarian setting, Ethiopian NGOs have been hesitant to support young activists who face government persecution.
Why does the Ethiopian government regularly organise elections and invite observers, only to reject their findings? Why do international actors such as the EU Observer Mission continue to participate in these processes despite jeopardizing their credibility?
It may be that, in Ethiopia, history is so powerful that the past permeates the present, and it repeats itself. In this case, what we see today is simply another interregnum between two powerful men.
We are full well aware that we should not kid ourselves about the likely short- and long- term costs of severing all bilateral ties. What we are proposing of course is limited in scope and time.
In October Kenya introduced legislation capping foreign funding to NGOs and requiring that money be channeled through a government body. Though narrowly defeated, the law looked to be a death-knell for a vibrant civil society sector. But Kenya – and the region – is not out of the woods yet. A cont
Our columnist warns western commentators quick to advocate caution to Egyptians, that if they are honest noone knows what is taking place in Egypt in these extraordinary days which we are invited to observe - from above. Down below, there is a small problem with driving, and not just in Ethiopia.
While the Kality inmates were supposed to be broken through incarceration and character assassination, they have manifested their hope through their colourful marriages.
Recent demands have been the most vocal and the most sustained in the history of Ethiopian Muslims. But if they have gone the least bit beyond the scope of religion, then, ironically, they have been overtly secularist.
In a country where NGO’s have been severely crippled, press freedom is dying out, religious institutions are tightly controlled, and professional associations effectively co-opted - in short, where civil society is in grave danger of extinction - there has been one arena of visible democracy, that
The lies that creep out of the state’s mouth are justified as the protection of order, even when they are against the law, but a citizen’s lawful attempt to counter their lies is terrorism.
The trade-off offered by authoritarianism to its client-constituents is security and high growth rates. After Meles challenges may force change, or build the case domestically for a new strong man.
