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Former Ethiopia PM: Labeling me ‘dictator’ is wrong

  • October 23, 2019

The former Ethiopian prime minister told DW he could apologize to victims of human rights abuses in the country.

“If there is a need [to], I will,” said Hailemariam Desalegn, suggesting this could follow the conclusions of a recently established reconciliation commission, of which he is a member.

Hundreds of protestors were killed in widespread demonstrations beginning in November 2015 and many who were arrested reported being tortured. Opposition politicians were also charged under counterterrorism laws and the government declared a state of emergency in October 2016 that lasted 10 months.

Human Rights Watch warned in October 2016 that Ethiopia’s state of emergency contained “overly broad and vague provisions” and risked “a human rights crisis”

Hailemariam told DW’s top political interview show Conflict Zone that he had begun the reforms now taken up by his successor and resigned in February 2018 to make way for “deep renewal” in the country.

“I have done my share to bring this change,” he said.

When asked about the attorney general’s discovery of corruption and abuse, including alleged torture by security services at secret prisons, the former prime minister said he had initiated the investigations that had resulted in 63 arrests nine months after he left office.

“I am ashamed that this happened but I didn’t know those things and if I knew those things I would have corrected them,” he said.

‘You don’t utter a word’

Hailemariam said it was his government that admitted there had been human rights abuses and refuted Conflict Zone host Tim Sebastian’s contention that he had ignored what was really going on in the country.

The former prime minister said there were “historical issues” that had to be understood: “When there is a communist mentality and there is a Marxist mentality, there is centralism where you don’t utter a word after your party decides on issues, even though you have differences.”

  • Ethiopia’s neglected crisis

    Starting over again

    Authorities have started returning home some of the hundreds of thousands of ethnic Gedeos who fled attacks in Ethiopia’s southern Oromia region, which is mainly populated by ethnic Oromos. But humanitarian organizations accuse the government of forcing Gedeos back to villages where they have lost everything – and still don’t feel safe.

  • Ethiopia’s neglected crisis

    Critical shortages of land

    About two months ago, the streets of Hinche – nestled in the green hills of West Guji zone – were empty. Now, almost all of the ethnic Gedeos who used to live here have come back after fleeing ethnic violence last year. West Guji is part of the Oromia region, and home to a majority of ethnic Oromos. The long-simmering conflict is primarily about land ownership.

  • Ethiopia’s neglected crisis

    Accusations of forced returns

    The residents of Hinche, as well as other ethnic Gedeos, were left with little choice but to return to their village after the government razed the refugee camps and limited humanitarian aid in the Gedeo zone. Observers accuse authorities of organizing ‘forced returns’, which they say will aggravate an already tense situation.

  • Ethiopia’s neglected crisis

    Dwellings looted and razed

    Zele is happy to be back home with his wife and six children. However, life here in Hinche is very difficult, especially as the rainy season starts settling in. Zele’s house was destroyed and his belongings stolen in the violence, so he built this shelter. The family lives off monthly food aid of around 40kg of grain and 2 liters of oil.

  • Ethiopia’s neglected crisis

    Fear of futher attacks

    Most of the returnees are farmers but haven’t been able to cultivate their land since they have returned. Dingete is now working as a daily laborer to feed her four children. “Our farm is far from here, and I am afraid to go there because some people said they saw the Oromo armed groups in the area,” she says.

  • Ethiopia’s neglected crisis

    Reconciliation efforts

    Local authorities claim security isn’t a problem. They say elders have settled the issues and militias and communities are working together to identify wrongdoers. “Gedeos and [Oromos] believe we are brothers, and we live together. They have the same values, the same market, they marry each other,” says Aberra Buno, the chief administrator of the West Guji zone.

  • Ethiopia’s neglected crisis

    Lack of justice

    Many Gedeos are frustrated about what they perceive as a lack of justice. In Cherqo, more than 1,000 people fled, and almost all of the houses were destroyed. “Those who committed these things have not been arrested or faced justice – not a single person has been captured so far,” says Abebe, Cherqo’s administrator. The Guji police say they have arrested more than 200 people over the violence.

  • Ethiopia’s neglected crisis

    Forgotten about

    Authorities say they have returned almost 100% those displaced in the Gedeo-Guji violence. However, thousands of people originally from the East Guji zone still live in camps in the Gedeo zone, seemingly forgotten. Food aid was stopped more than two months ago. Hundreds of children live in alarming conditions and don’t go to school.

  • Ethiopia’s neglected crisis

    Disease and malnutrition

    “We are starving, people suffer from diarrhea, our children have to go to the streets and collect food in the garbage and bring it to their families,” say Almaz, who has been living in this camp in Dilla in the Gedeo zone for more than a year.

  • Ethiopia’s neglected crisis

    Food aid stopped

    Authorities in the Gedeo zone say they have requested food from the federal government, and then they can return the families to East Guji. But many Gedeo people don’t feel safe going back. There were more reports of killings of ethnic Gedeos in East Guji at the end of May.

  • Ethiopia’s neglected crisis

    Incomplete statistics

    Humanitarian organizations say thousands of Gedeos who fled their homes in the West Guji zone are living in informal settlements or renting houses. They are difficult to keep track of and thus don’t appear in official statistics. Nor do they receive any aid.

    Author: Maria Gerth-Niculescu


When asked if this was simply an excuse, Hailemariam said this was incorrect.

“The whole thing is that we believed, in our party and the government, that we need to reform our system, we need to bring about changes and we need to democratize our country.”

He denied that his successor was now fixing a broken system that he had left behind and highlighted that the current prime minister was also “there with us.”

“Prime Minister Abiy has not come from a blue moon,” he said.

Abiy Ahmed, a former science minister who took over from Hailemariam in April 2018, was recently awarded a Nobel Peace Prize for his “decisive initiative” over the country’s border conflict with Eritrea, though he has not been immune from criticism for authoritarian behaviour.

Ethiopians have experienced internet blackouts and messaging services have been blocked, including following an alleged coup attempt in June. Abiy warned at a press conference he would impose such measures “to save lives.” The internet was “neither water nor air,” he said.

Award-winning premiership?

Hailemariam was awarded Ethiopia’s highest medal of honor at his farewell function in 2018 by the new prime minister. Tim Sebastian asked him whether, in light of the human rights abuses he has discovered since leaving office, he should give it back.

“Why should I? Because I have a number of positive things I have done for my country.”

‘This is rude’

Returning to human rights, Sebastian confronted Hailemariam over alleged abuses under his regime. Had he created a conducive environment for torture and disappearances?

“I made room for this prime minister [Abiy] to act. I struggled very hard to bring him to power,” Desalegn told Conflict Zone

“I didn’t create this conducive environment for them. It is a deep system, which I was not able to look into because of my background and because […] I am outsider coming into the deep system, so I couldn’t see that.”

Asked how Africans could protect themselves from dictators like him, Hailemariam rejected Sebastian’s description.

“Labeling me ‘dictator’ is wrong. This is yours. It’s not my people’s,” he said. “This is rude from your side.”

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/former-ethiopia-pm-labeling-me-dictator-is-wrong/a-50955396?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

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