by Alemayehu G. Mariam
The sights and sounds of an African police state
When Erin Burnett of CNN visited Ethiopia in July 2012, she came face-to-face with the ugly face of an African police state:
We saw what an African police state looked like when I was in Ethiopia last month… At the airport, it took an hour
to clear customs – not because of lines, but because of checks and
questioning. Officials tried multiple times to take us to government
cars so they’d know where we went. They only relented after forcing us
to leave hundreds of thousands of dollars of TV gear in the airport…
Last week, reporter Solomon Kifle of the Voice of America (VOA-Amharic) heard the terrifying voice of an African police state from thousands of miles away. The
veteran reporter was investigating widespread allegations of targeted
night time warrantless searches of homes belonging to Ethiopian Muslims
in the capital Addis Ababa. Solomon interviewed victims who effectively
alleged home invasion robberies by “federal police” who illegally
searched their homes and took away cash, gold jewelry, cell phones,
laptops, religious books and other items of personal property.
One of the police officials Solomon interviewed to get reaction and clarification was police chief Zemedkun of Bole (an area close to the international airport in the capital).
VOA: Are you in the area of Bole. The reason I called…
Police Chief Zemedkun: Yes. You are correct.
VOA: There are allegation that homes
belonging to Muslim Ethiopians have been targeted for illegal search and
seizure. I am calling to get clarification.
Police Chief Zemedkun: Yes (continue).
VOA: Is it true that you are conducting such a search?
Police Chief Zemedkun: No, sir. I don’t know about this. Who told you that?
VOA: Individuals who say they are victims of such searches; Muslims who live in the area.
Police Chief Zemedkun: If they said that, you should ask them.
VOA: I can tell you what they said.
Police Chief Zemedkun: What did they say?
VOA: They said “the search is conducted
by police officers; they [the police] threaten us without a court order;
they take our property, particularly they focus on taking our Holy
Qurans and mobile phones. Such are the allegations and I am calling to
get clarification.
Police Chief Zemedkun: Wouldn’t it be better to talk to the people who told you that? I don’t know anything about that.
VOA: I just told you about the allegations the people are making.
Police Chief Zemedkun: Enough! There is nothing I know about this.
VOA: I will mention (to our listeners) what you said Chief Zemedkun. Are you the police chief of the sub-district ( of Bole)?
Police Chief Zemedkun: Yes. I am something like that.
VOA: Chief Zemedkun, may I have your last name?
Police Chief Zemedkun: Excuse me!! I
don’t want to talk to anyone on this type of [issue] phone call. I am
going to hang up. If you call again, I will come and get you from your
address. I want you to know that!! From now on, you should not call this
number again. If you do, I will come to wherever you are and arrest
you. I mean right now!!
VOA: But I am in Washington (D.C)?
Police Chief Zemedkun: I don’t care
if you live in Washington or in Heaven. I don’t give a damn! But I will
arrest you and take you. You should know that!!
VOA: Are you going to come and arrest me?
End of interview.
Meles’ legacy: mini Me-leses, Meles wannabes and a police state
Flying off the handle, exploding in anger and igniting into
spontaneous self-combustion is the hallmark of the leaders of the
dictatorial regime in Ethiopia. The late Meles Zenawi was the icon of
spontaneous self- combustion. Anytime Meles was challenged on facts or
policy, he would explode in anger and have a complete meltdown.
Just before Meles jailed virtually the entire opposition leadership,
civil society leaders and human rights advocates following the 2005
elections for nearly two years, he did exactly what police chief
Zemedkun threatened to do to VOA reporter Solomon.
Finally, when I asked the Prime Minister
to work with the opposition and show respect and tolerance for those
with differing views on the challenges facing Ethiopia he said, ‘I have a
file on all of them; they are all guilty of treason.’ I was struck by
his all-knowing tone. Guilty! They’re all guilty simply because Meles
says so? No trial? Not even a Kangaroo court? I urged Prime Minister
Meles not to take that route.
In 2010, Meles erupted at a press conference by comparing the Voice
of America (Amharic) radio broadcasts to Ethiopia with broadcasts of
Radio Mille Collines which directed some of the genocide in Rwanda in
1994. Pointing an accusatory finger at the VOA, Meles charged: “We have
been convinced for many years that in many respects, the VOA Amharic
Service has copied the worst practices of radio stations such as Radio
Mille Collines of Rwanda in its wanton disregard of minimum ethics of
journalism and engaging in destabilizing propaganda.” (It seems one of
Meles’ surviving police chiefs is ready to make good on Meles’ threat by
travelling to Washington, D.C. and arresting a VOA reporter.)
Meles routinely called his opponents “dirty”, “mud dwellers”,
“pompous egotists” and good-for-nothing “chaff” and “husk.” He took
sadistic pleasure in humiliating and demeaning parliamentarians who
challenged him with probing questions or merely disagreed with him. His
put-downs were so humiliating, few parliamentarians dared to stand up to
his bullying.
When the European Union Election Observer Group confronted Meles with
the truth about his theft of the May 2010 election by 99.6 percent,
Meles had another public meltdown. He condemned the EU Group for
preparing a “trash report that deserves to be thrown in the garbage.”
When Ken Ohashi, the former country director for the World Bank
debunked Meles’ voodoo economics in July 2011, Meles went ballistic:
“The individual [Ohashi) is used to giving directions along his
neo-liberal views. The individual was on his way to retirement. He has
no accountability in distorting the institutions positions and in
settling his accounts. The Ethiopian government has its own view that is
different from the individual.” (Meles talking about accountability is
like the devil quoting Scripture.)
In a meeting with high level U.S. officials in advance of the May
2010 election, Meles went apoplectic telling the diplomats that “If
opposition groups resort to violence in an attempt to discredit the
election, we will crush them with our full force; they will all vegetate like Birtukan (Midekssa) in jail forever.”
Meles’ hatred for Birtukan Midekssa (a former judge and the first
woman political party leader in Ethiopian history), a woman of
extraordinary intelligence and unrivalled courage, was as
incomprehensible as it was bottomless. After throwing Birtukan in prison
in 2008 without trial or any form of judicial proceeding, Meles added
insult to injury by publicly calling her a “chicken”.
When asked how
Birtukan was doing in prison, Meles, with sarcastic derision replied,
“Birtukan Midiksa is fine but she may have gained weight due to lack of
exercise.” (When Meles made the statement, Birtukan was actually in
solitary confinement in Kality prison on the ridiculous charge that she
“had denied receiving a pardon” when she was released in July 2007.)
When asked if he might consider releasing her, Meles said emphatically
and sadistically, “there will never be an agreement with anybody to
release Birtukan. Ever. Full stop. That's a dead issue.”
Internationally acclaimed journalists Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu,
Woubshet Taye are all victims of arbitrary arrests and detentions. So
are opposition party leaders and dissidents Andualem Arage, Nathnael
Mekonnen, Mitiku Damte, Yeshiwas Yehunalem, Kinfemichael Debebe,
Andualem Ayalew, Nathnael Mekonnen, Yohannes Terefe, Zerihun
Gebre-Egziabher and many others.
Police chief Zemedkun is a mini-Me-les, a Meles wannabe. He is a mini
tin pot tyrant. Like Meles, Zemedkun not only lost his cool but also
all commonsense, rationality and proportionality. Like Meles, Zemedkun
is filled with hubris (extreme arrogance which causes the person to lose
contact with reality and feel invincible, unaccountable and above and
beyond the law). Zemedkun, like Meles, is so full of himself that no one
dare ask him a question:
“I am the omnipotent police chief Zemedkun,
the Absolute Master of Bole; the demigod with the power of arrest and
detention. I am Police Chief Zemedkun created in the divine likeness of
Meles Zenawi!”
What a crock of …!
When Meles massacred 193 unarmed protesters and wounded 763 others
following the elections in 2005, he set the standard for official
accountability, which happens to be lower than a snake’s knee. For over
two decades, Meles created and nurtured a pervasive and ubiquitous
culture of official impunity, criminality, untouchability,
unaccountablity, brutality, incivility, illegality and immorality in
Ethiopia.
The frightening fact of the matter is that today there are tens of
thousands of mini-Me-leses and Meles wannabes in Ethiopia. What police
chief Zemedkun did during the VOA interview is a simple case of monkey
see, monkey do. Zemedkun could confidently threaten VOA reporter Solomon
because he has seen Meles and his disciples do the same thing for over
two decades with impunity. Zemedkun is not alone in trashing the human
rights of Ethiopian citizens. He is not some rogue or witless policeman
doing his thing on the fringe. Zemedkun is merely one clone of his
Master.
There are more wicked and depraved versions of Zemedkun
masquerading as ministers of state. There are thousands of faceless and
nameless “Zemedkunesque” bureaucrats, generals, judges and prosecutors
abusing their powers with impunity. There are even soulless and
heartless Zemedkuns pretending to be “holy men” of faith. But they are
all petty tyrants who believe that they are not only above the law, but
also that they are the personification of the law.
Article 12 and constitutional accountability
Article 12 of the Ethiopian Constitution requires accountability of all public officials: “The activities of government shall be undertaken in a manner which is open and transparent to the public… Any public official or elected representative shall be made accountable for breach of his official duties.”
Meles when he was alive, and his surviving disciples, police chiefs,
generals and bureaucrats today are in a state of willful denial of the
fact of constitutional accountability. (Meles believed accountability
applied only to Ken Ohashi, the former World Bank country director.) The
doltish police chief Zemedkun is clueless not only about constitutional
standards of accountability for police search and seizure in private
homes but also his affirmative constitutional obligation to perform his
duties with transparency. This ignoramus-cum-police chief believes he is
the Constitution, the law of the land, at least of Bole’s. He has the
gall to verbally terrorize the VOA reporter, “I don’t care if you live
in Washington or in Heaven. I don’t give a damn! But I will arrest you
and take you. You should know that!!”
Freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, unbeknown to police
chief Zemedkun, is guaranteed by Article 17 (Liberty) of the Ethiopian
Constitution: “No one shall be deprived of his liberty except in accordance with such procedures as are laid down by law. No one shall be arrested or detained without being charged or
convicted of a crime except in accordance with such procedures as are
laid down by law.” Article 19 (Rights of Persons under Arrest) provides,
“Anyone arrested on criminal charges shall have the right to be informed promptly and in detail…
the nature and cause of the charge against him... Everyone shall have
the right to be… specifically informed that there is sufficient cause
for his arrest as soon as he appears in court. Zemedkun is ready to arrest the VOA reporter simply because the reporter asked him for his last name. What arrogance! What chutzpah!
It is a mystery to police chief Zemedkun that arbitrary deprivation
of liberty is also a crime against humanity. Article 9 of the 1948
Universal Declaration of Human Rights decrees that “no one shall be
subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.” Article 9 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights similarly provides:
“no one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile.”
The deprivation of physical liberty (arbitrary arrest) constitutes a
crime against humanity under Art. 7 (e) and (g) of the Rome Statute if
there is evidence to show that the deprivation occurred as a result of
systematic attack on a civilian population and in violation of
international fair trial guarantees. The statements of the victims
interviewed by VOA reporter Solomon appear to provide prima facie
evidence sufficient to trigger an Article 7 investigation since there
appears to be an official policy of systematic targeting of Muslims for
arbitrary arrest and detention as part of a widespread campaign of
religious persecution. The new prosecutor for the International Criminal
Court, Fatou B. Bensouda, should launch such an investigation in proprio motu (on her own motion).
Meles has left an Orwellian legacy in Ethiopia. Police chief Zemedkun
is only one policeman in a vast police state. He reaffirms the daily
fact of life for the vast majority of Ethiopians that anyone who
opposes, criticizes or disagrees with members of the post-Meles
officialdom, however low or petty, will be picked up and jailed, and
even tortured and killed. In “Mel-welliana” (the Orwellian police state
legacy of Meles) Ethiopia, asking the name of a public official is a
crime subject to immediate arrest and detention! In “Mel-welliana”,
thinking is a crime. Dissent is a crime. Speaking the truth is a crime.
Having a conscience is a crime. Peaceful protest is a crime. Refusing to
sell out one’s soul is a crime. Standing up for democracy and human
rights is a crime. Defending the rule of law is a crime. Peaceful
resistance of state terrorism is a crime.
A police chief, a police thug and a police thug state
It seems police chief Zemedkun is more of a police thug than a police
chief. But listening to Zemedkun go into full meltdown mode, one cannot
help but imagine him to be a cartoonish thug. As comical as it may
sound, police chief Zemedkun reminded me of Yosemite Sam, that Looney
Tunes cartoon character known for his grouchiness, hair-trigger temper
and readiness to “blast anyone to smithereens”. The not-so-comical part
of this farce is that police chief Zemedkun manifests no
professionalism, civility or ethical awareness. He is obviously
clueless about media decorum. Listening to him, it is apparent that
Zemedkun has the personality of a porcupine, the temper of a Tasmanian
Devil, the charm of an African badger, the intelligence of an Afghan
Hound and the social graces of a dung beetle. But the rest of the high
and mighty flouting the Constitution and abusing their powers like
Zemedkun are no different.
The singular hallmark -- the trademark -- of a police thug state is
the pervasiveness and ubiquity of arbitrary arrests, searches and
detentions of citizens. If any person can be arrested on the whim of a
state official, however high or petty, that is a police state. If the
rights of citizens can be taken or disregarded without due process of
law, that is a dreadful police state. Where the rule of law is
substituted by the rule of a police chief, that is a police thug state.
For well over a decade, international human rights organizations and
others have been reporting on large scale arbitrary arrests and
detentions in Ethiopia. The 2011 U.S. State Department Country Reports on Human Rights Practices (issued on May 24, 2012) reported:
Although the constitution and law prohibit arbitrary arrest and detention, the government often ignored these provisions in practice…
The government rarely publicly disclosed the results of investigations
into abuses by local security forces, such as arbitrary detention and
beatings of civilians… Authorities regularly detained persons without warrants and
denied access to counsel and in some cases to family members,
particularly in outlying regions… Other human rights problems included
torture, beating, abuse, and mistreatment of detainees by security
forces; harsh and at times life-threatening prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; detention without charge and lengthy pretrial detention; infringement on citizens’ privacy rights, including illegal searches…
In its 2013 World Report, Human Rights Watch reported:
“Ethiopian authorities continued to severely restrict basic rights of
freedom of expression, association, and assembly in 2012… The security
forces responded to protests by the Muslim community in Oromia and Addis
Ababa, the capital, with arbitrary arrests, detentions, and beatings.”
Rarely does one hear human rights abusers publicly showing their true
faces and confirming their victims' allegations in such breathtakingly
dramatic form. Police chief Zemedkun gave all Ethiopians a glimpse of
the arrogant and lawless officialdom of Post-Meles Ethiopia. It is a
glimpse of a police state in which an ignorant local police chief could
feel so comfortable in his abuse of power that he believes he can travel
to the United States of America and arrest and detain a journalist
working for an independent agency of the United States Government. If
this ill-mannered, ill-bred, cantankerous and boorish policeman could
speak and act with such impunity, is it that difficult to imagine how
the ministers, generals, prosecutors, judges and bureaucrats higher up
the food chain feel about their abuses of power?
But one has to listen to and read the words of those whose heads are
being crushed by the police in a police state. When it comes to crushing
heads, the modus operandi is always the same. Use “robocops”.
In 2005, Meles brought in hundreds of police and security men from
different parts of the country who have limited proficiency in the
country’s official language and used them to massacre 193 unarmed
protesters and wound another 763. These “robocops” are pre-programmed
killing machines, arresting machines and torture machines. They do what
they are told. They ask no questions. They shoot and ask questions
later. Hadid
Shafi Ousman, a victim of illegal search and seizure, who spoke to VOA
reporter Solomon, recounted in chilling detail what it meant to have
one’s home searched by “robocop” thugs and goons who do not speak or
have extremely limited understanding the official language of the
country:
These are federal police. There are also
civilian cadres. Sometimes they come in groups of 5-10. They are dressed
in federal police uniform…. They are armed and carry clubs. They don’t
have court orders. There are instances where they jump over fences and
bust down doors… When they come, people are terrified. They come at
night. You can’t say anything. They take mobile phones, laptops, the
Koran and other things… They cover their faces so they can’t be
identified. We try to explain to them. Isn’t this our country? If you
are here to take anything, go ahead and take it…. They beat you up with
clubs. If you ask questions, they beat you up and call you terrorists… First of all, these policemen do not speak Amharic well. So it is hard to understand them. When
you ask them what we did wrong, they threaten to beat us. I told them I
am a university student, so what is the problem? As a citizen, as a
human being…Even they struggled and paid high sacrifices [fighting in
the bush] to bring about good governance [to the people]. They did not
do it so that some petty official could harass the people. When you say
this to them, they beat you up…
Let there be no mistake. Zemedkun is not some isolated freakish rogue
police chief in the Ethiopian police state. He is the gold standard
for post-Meles governance. There are thousands of Zemedkuns that have
infested the state apparatus and metastasized through the body politics
of that country. For these Meles wannabes, constitutional accountability
means personal impunity; illegal official activity means prosecutorial
immunity; moral depravity means moral probity and crimes against
humanity means legal impunity.
Cry, the beloved country
In 1948, the same year Apartheid became law in South Africa, Alan
Paton wrote in “Cry, the Beloved Country”, his feeling of despair over
the fate of South Africa:
Cry for the broken tribe, for the law and
the custom that is gone. Aye, and cry aloud for the man who is dead,
for the woman and children bereaved. Cry, the beloved country, these
things are not yet at an end. The sun pours down on the earth, on the
lovely land that man cannot enjoy. He knows only the fear of his heart.”
Cry for our beloved Ethiopia!!
Professor Alemayehu G. Mariam teaches political science at California
State University, San Bernardino and is a practicing defense lawyer.
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