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A Week in the Horn 27/02/2009 |
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The most important issue remains security. Hudur, a base of TFG forces in Bakool region, was taken by Al-Shabaab on Wednesday, and Al-Shabaab fighters are now said to be advancing towards El-Barde near the border with Ethiopia. The new Asmara-based grouping of extremist forces, Hisbul Islam, appears to be behind the sudden expansion of fighting. In Mogadishu over the last week more than 50 people died and 100 were injured. Among them were 11 Burundian AMISOM peacekeepers. Al-Shabaab has made no secret of its intent to go on fighting and to try to unseat the new government. There were reports last week that two boat loads of arms and ammunition from Eritrea had arrived in Kismayo and Merca. There was also a report yesterday that an aircraft apparently from Eritrea landed at Baidoa to air-lift wounded jihadist fighters to Asmara. It appears Al-Shabaab and its Eritrean backers are intensifying their activities to undermine the new government of Somalia and testing the resolve of the international community. An Eritrean Foreign Ministry statement earlier this week made Eritrea’s position very clear: “any government established unilaterally [in Somalia] at this juncture cannot at all have the legality to represent the entire Somali people. Any government formed on behalf of the Somali people under different names, be it on the part of regional and international organizations or goodwill parties, can never constitute legal representation of the people of Somalia. …It is imperative to get rid of any force deployed in Somalia under the pretext of ‘peacekeeping mission’”. Ironically, in light of Eritrea’s activities, the statement added that “putting an end to external interference” was a precondition for the reconstitution of the Somali nation. ********** Meanwhile, in Brussels, the International Contact Group on Somalia (ICG) began a two day meeting yesterday. The meeting was opened by Mr. Luis Michel, EU Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid who called on the international community to support the peace process and the new unity government in Somalia. He noted that the international community could not bring about changes in Somalia by remote control or direct intervention, but rather through support of Somali efforts. He condemned the attacks on AMISOM forces and emphasized the need for greater inclusiveness in the peace process. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General, Mr. Ould-Abdallah, underlined the need for a coordinated position from the international community. This must not undermine what the new government wants to do in terms of institutionalizing reconciliation and building up the capacity for governance. He warned against parallel initiatives which could encourage extremists to continue their efforts to undermine peace efforts. Mr. Ould- Abdallah also called on the international community to address the role of ‘spoilers’ now posing a serious threat to Somalia, the region and to the international community at large. The former co-chairs of the ICG, Norway and the US also spoke, as did the new Somali foreign minister who called on the international community to move forward in a balanced partnership with his government. The meeting emphasized the need to identify areas where quick support should be given to the new government and a sequence and format of support worked out as soon as possible. The need to support AMISOM financially and logistically was identified as crucial, and the meeting considered the need for stabilization through rapid and visible improvements through key interventions for public works, employment generations and other moves. It also considered the way forward, including preparation for the proposed international conference on Somalia in May, and related funding mechanisms. This evening the ICG issued a communiqué welcoming the progress made since its last meeting in December, including the relocation of the Government to Mogadishu and the commitment to the Djibouti peace process. It underlined the urgent need to provide tangible and coordinated support, not least to protect the political and financial investment already made by the international community. It recognized the need for immediate support for the security sector in line with the Security Sector Framework and noted further funding will be required. It emphasized the need to establish mechanisms to address past atrocities by Somalis against Somalis, noting that consultations on justice, reconciliation and ending impunity were already underway. The communiqué supported the link between political, security and recovery programs as key mutually reinforcing pillars of the necessary strategy. It welcomed commitments to urgently support quick recovery initiatives. The communiqué which detailed its appreciation of AMISOM’s activity, condemned in the strongest terms the recent attack on AMISOM and called on all partners, and all Somali parties, to work together to support it. As the Eritrean foreign ministry statement made clear earlier this week, on one side of the equation there are now the spoilers, Eritrea, Al-Shabaab and the extremists; on the other side there is the international community and the Government of Somalia. It really should be time for the international community to take a firm stand. **********
The President pointed out, surprisingly that Eritrea’s foreign policy and strategy, as always, was aimed at “fostering partnership and regional co-operation.” He noted that Eritrea’s own aspirations and desires had not yet been fully realized. This was because of the prevailing internal problems of neighboring countries and “unholy external acts of interference” now complicating matters. It seems President Issayas is again confirming that Eritrea is not interested in peace unless every one else agrees to his own preconditions and whims. The entire region has to submit to Eritrea’s illegal and unreasonable wishes for it to consider these acceptable. Indeed, its classification of mediation and peaceful settlement as a ‘wicked ploy’ is hardly a normal approach to foreign affairs. The truth is that the world cannot continue to ignore such dangerous belligerency indefinitely or consider Eritrea’s ‘misadventures’ as the pains of immaturity. They will have to be stopped. The test, of course, is now on the implementation of the Security Council’s resolutions on Djibouti and Eritrea. The contempt with which Eritrea responds to its neighbors and continues to threaten them should not simply be dismissed as acts of desperation. Eritrea’s actions continue to threaten the peace and security of the region. Eritrea continues to champion the causes of terrorist groups, providing them with arms, training and financing. It supports and echoes the aims and propaganda of terrorism in Somalia as underlined by the Foreign Ministry statement quoted above. And there are no indications that Eritrea will change, reform or return to normalcy as a result of the kid-glove treatment it has received from the international community in recent years. It must surely be time for more serious measures. **********
Opening the meeting Ato Minelik Alemu, Director General for International Law and Consular Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, emphasized the Government’s desire to encourage Ethiopians to choose to work and progress in their own country; development policies and strategies were aimed at lifting the country from poverty and underdevelopment. Equally, it wanted to be certain that Ethiopians abroad were safe. He noted that the Government had been working closely with the relevant international organizations such as UNDP, IOM, ILO and UNHCR. The Cooperation Platform would provide added opportunity for dialogue and cooperation on migration and development to help both sides prioritize areas for further cooperation and identify projects and funding sources. Ato Minelik said Ethiopia’s expectations were that the Cooperation Platform would assist in capacity building on border management; in building a training centre for labor migrants to strengthen and upgrade skills; provide support for Ethiopia’s effort to reintegrate and resettle returnees; look into the portability of social welfare benefits from host country to country of origin; exchange of information and experiences; enhance the work of the national effort to fight human trafficking; support awareness programs, and researches on migration and development and institutional support; and enhance regular migration to the EU. UK Ambassador Norman Ling for the EU said that the Cooperation Platform aimed to discuss migration and development issues of common interest and to co-ordinate implementation of ongoing or forthcoming actions. The agenda was agreed jointly by the EU and the partner country. The format of each Platform should be agreed locally according to the specific needs of the country. It should be practically focused on clear priorities agreed to by all parties and seek to deliver real tangible results. It will build on current work in Ethiopia funded by the EU and take account of bilateral activity between individual EU Member States. Ambassador Ling pointed out the agreement demonstrated the depth of EU - Ethiopia cooperation. He hoped the Platform would strengthen and deepen co-operation so Ethiopia could build up its migration and development capacity. The Platform would give the best results if all parties are committed to it and willing to dedicate the necessary resources. **********
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Throughout the better part of its modern history, Ethiopia has been characterized by most of the western world, and western media and scholarship in particular, as a poster child of unparalleled misery and hopelessness. What with the catastrophic consequences of civil strife and successive droughts and famine that destroyed millions of people, Ethiopia has for decades on end epitomized the Western World’s text book example of what goes abysmally wrong in economics or politics. Mainly as a result of the disastrous consequences of ill-advised policies of successive regimes, the country had for a long time wallowed in the quagmire of poverty that has taken its toll on its image. In what can be considered the beginning of its renaissance, however, Ethiopia has since recently begun to make significant progress in its endeavor to extricate its peoples out of abject poverty. Indeed, following the promulgation of the current Federal Constitution, the government has introduced much progressive legislation that has paved the way for the formulation and strict implementation of pro-growth development policies that have not only succeeded in putting Ethiopia in the right direction, but have already started to pay off in terms of real dividends to its peoples. With an average growth rate of 10 per cent per annum, Ethiopia’s economy is set to continue growing in the years to come. Both the World Bank and the IMF, among others, have expressed their optimism regarding the prospects for Ethiopia’s economy. All told, there is every reason to believe that the country is on the right track to ensuring sustainable development and is indeed poised to make good on its promise to reach the Millennium Development Goals of halving poverty by the year 2015. This is no ordinary achievement given the decades—if not centuries—of bad governance and catastrophic policies rendered even worse by the hunger and suffering visited upon its peoples as a result of cyclical natural calamities. As a quick perusal of news coverage on Ethiopia would suggest, however, Ethiopia’s success stories, even if modest, receive little or no mention by the Western media. Ironically, the same media outlets fall over each other to highlight developments in Ethiopia that concentrate on the grim aspects. Quarter-century old footage of emaciated children and dying mothers are flashed on TV screens at the slightest mention of crop failure in some remote part of the country. In what has now become a pattern, most Western media outlets will take any grim story about Ethiopia for a hard and fast axiom, without so much as a second thought, while positive developments, no matter how significant, are either left unmentioned, or when they are, merely given space as a footnote. As far as reporting about today’s Ethiopia goes, the country’s past is pretty much alive, and all too often, unfairly so. It is as if in the unwritten rules that govern the life cycle of the media’s memory, the negative in the past is far more durable than the positive today. Official statistics by the likes of the World Bank and the IMF, the doyens among international financial institutions with the last word in economic science, may indicate that Ethiopia has made progress here or there. But very often, such a statement doesn’t make it into the news. More interestingly, when it does, whichever media outlet carries it will make sure there’s enough spin on the story to render it unreliable. If the Economist Intelligence Unit comes up with a forecast that Ethiopia is one few fast growing economies in Africa, then one can be sure the Economist magazine will invariably have a totally different, often diametrically opposed, story to tell. This is indeed a trend that has played havoc with the difficult task of improving one’s image. Of course, Ethiopia is better placed to recognize this trend for what it is than most other countries as it has so often found itself at the receiving end of such lopsided representation and for far too long. Cases of such nature are legion; indeed, an attempt at an exhaustive list would only be an exercise in futility. But the pattern is unmistakable: a story that paints the situation in Ethiopia, economic or political, in a positive light hardly gets significant coverage: such a story does not fit well into the grand narrative of Western media discourse. When there is coverage at all, it is often paltry and whatever worth it may have can easily be cancelled out by another sad story coming on its heel. A recent such incident can help illustrate this point more clearly. On 17 th of February this year two news items focusing on Ethiopia drew the attention of two major international media outlets, namely Reuters and AFP. The Reuters story, which was based on the survey published by Business Consultancy African Rainbow, disclosed that Ethiopia, in a new index of African potential investor destinations, ranked second after Nigeria. This was indeed good news for a country that feverishly wants to improve its image so it can attract desperately needed foreign investment. AFP for its part reported that 12 million (15%) of the Ethiopian population were in need of emergency food aid. The actual figure of emergency relief-seeking beneficiaries, according to the document released by the Government of Ethiopia and its Humanitarian Partners, was 4.9 million. AFP’s story was based on a press statement issued in Geneva by a spokesperson of the United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian affairs (UNOCHA). The figure was, in fact, very seriously exaggerated and it was corrected in a subsequent press statement from UNOCHA’s New York Office three days later, to put the record straight. While appreciating the UNOCHA’s correction, it was nonetheless too little too late. The harm to the slowly recuperating image of the country was already done. That said, we cannot fail to see the cruel irony of it all: good news that could perhaps have counted for just a step in Ethiopia’s uphill struggle to improve its image was quickly drowned out by heedless reporting that readily clogged the airwaves of the major media outlets. There is no way of knowing where the exaggerated figures came from. Obviously, the spokesperson in Geneva never cleared her words with her bosses in New York. But no attempt was made by AFP to hear Ethiopia’s official version about the story they ran either. Apparently, AFP thought the better of it because, when it comes to Ethiopia, the figure was perhaps somehow believable. AFP is not alone. Even Ben of EthiopiaFirst.Com, a website empathetic to the cause of the Ethiopian Government, quickly swallowed AFP’s story and expressed somewhat off the wall criticisms against the government. Negative stories such as this one are very insidious indeed. The success or otherwise of a nation to achieve a modicum of progress, and to attract highly needed Foreign Direct Investment, largely depends on the extent to which it has managed to build a better image that the rest of the world will feel comfortable with. In the desperate effort to attract investment, image is everything. The coverage by the media of issues such as conflicts, stability, and poverty has a tremendous impact on the flow of investment or on other areas vital to ensuring economic growth such as tourism. In today’s world, the international media wields a near monopoly of the means to manufacture realities even where they don’t exist. Even more troubling is the fact that the media’s characterization of Ethiopia has a basis of self-fulfilling prophesy written all over it. Indeed, journalistic misrepresentation and misreporting on Ethiopia has often found its way all too easily into decision-making equations of donors and investors. It makes life all the more difficult for Ethiopia. The question that needs to be asked is this: why is the international media so extremely casual about its facts when it comes to reporting about countries such as Ethiopia? Why is the focus so consistently on the negative over the positive? Is this about benign indifference or something more malignant? We raise this issue not because we expect these media outlets to give up their time-honored traditions of sensationalism overnight. Ethiopia has never been a chronic believer in the fairness of the world. Nor do we want this discussion just to descend into unproductive hand-wringing and blanket condemnation of the media. But we should be remiss not to point to one area in which the international media can work on without having to take too much effort: to do a little bit of research, difficult as that may be. Empathy we don’t expect, but objectivity, and journalism that we might count on even if it does call for some unwonted effort.
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Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs |
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