Is the Arrest of Andargachew Tsige the Final Straw for the People of Ethiopia?

Faced with a brutal repressive regime, the people of Ethiopia inside the country and within the worldwide diaspora –frustrated, angry and desperate – are considering alloptions to elicit fundamental change in the country.

The EPRDF, who seized power from the communist Derg in 1991, rule the country through fear and intimidation. Development aid, including food and other essentials, is distributed in a partisan manner, so too employment opportunities.

The Government’s human rights record is appalling and an arsenal of ambiguous, universally condemned legislation is used to control and suppress the populace. According to Human Rights Watch (HRW) the “deeply flawed” Anti Terrorism Act, being the bluntest judicial weapon, is repeatedly employed to silence critical voices and imprison those who dare to speak out against the government. Since its adoption in 2009 “the independent media have been decimated by politically motivated prosecutions under the law…Blogs and Internet pages critical of the government are regularly blocked,”  and an all-pervasive atmosphere of fear is created by the paranoid dictatorship that spies on opposition members and journalists using surveillance practices that “violate the rights to freedom of expression, association, and access to information.”

Although enshrined in the Ethiopian constitution (a liberally acceptable, consistently ignored document written by the EPRDF) as basic rights, as well as in various African and international conventions, including the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which Ethiopia has ratified, freedom of the media, of assembly and association, together with all forms of political dissent are essentially outlawed. The opposition parties have up until now been marginalized and largely ineffective.

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