Significance of President Obama for Ethiopia & the World
Significance of President Obama for Ethiopia & the World
By Gemeda Humnasa
Congratulations to the new President of the United States of America,
Barack Obama!! And Congratulations to all of our people from Ethiopia
who have worked day and night to help Barack Obama get elected!!
It is not just because Obama is an African American that i am happy to
see him victorious. It is not because of Obama's paternal heritage and
my Oromo descent, just like many Oromos in northern Kenya and southern
Ethiopia. And It is not simply because Bush has been replaced by a new
president. But it is because of the hope in the principles of what
Obama stands for. It is because of his stated values of democracy and
peace. It is about his stance against wars, bloodshed and aggression
around the world. Against pessimism and stubborn leadership. Against
double standards and division. It is FOR equality and peace. All of
these values and principles President Obama has supported and preached
during his campaign is the reason why all of us Africans should be
pleased to see him become the new US President and these should be the
main reasons why all Africans should congratulate President Obama. As
much as we should celebrate this first black US president, we should
also ALL stand in appreciation, in hope and anticipation of his
championing of the ideals we all hold high!
This is trully a chance for a new beginning in America as well as in Africa and the world.
We have to keep hope high that the American economy will rebound so
that the global economy will have the stable leadership it needs. Under
Obama leadership, we have to keep hope that economic equality and
social services will be felt meaningful in all corners of America. We
have to keep hope that Obama will cross over and break barriers to
reach out to America's enemies so that they become American FRIENDS,
because we have recently been watching the world get divided in groups,
just like 20 years ago when the West and the Eastern Soviet global
powers played chess games. As we witnessed in front of our eyes during
the Mengistu-Barre wars. We have to hope in Obama's values of dialogue
implemented in Africa, since we all need it as we have seen the
importance of this principle championed by the Ethiopian government in
its deadlock with Eritrea. We have to hope that agression will not be
neglected in this world, as we have seen the brutal Eritrean invasion
of Yemen Islands, invasion of northern Ethiopia and multiple invasion
of northern Djibouti in just a matter of the last 15 years. We have to
hope that the rule of law will prevail over the rule of the jungle,
instead of rogue regimes like Eritrea being unpunished by UN for
violation of international law during its invasion of Ethiopia in 1998,
during Eritrea's massacre of students in Ayder school and Eritrea's
violations during recent UN peacekeeping mission. We have to hope that
peace and compassion will win over hate, bitterness and stubborness. We
have to hope that Western, Arab and Eastern powers will not continue to
make Africa their blood diamond market, as we have seen the resource
wars in Congo that claimed the lives of many millions, as well as in
Darfur of Sudan. We have to hope this era will be the end of double
standards where America manufactured a case for Kosovo independence,
while the UN condemns Russia in South Ossetia (Georgia) for doing the
same thing America did in Kosovo. We have to hope similar double
standards in the Palestine territories and other places are fixed so
that the world once again trusts in international organizations like
the UN and believes in collective security once again. We also have to
hope that Obama fixes Western-only privileges that allows America to
label terrorist threats to its security as "international terrorism",
while the West belittles terrorism against African countries like
Ethiopia, as exemplified by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)
terrorist attacks that massacred dozens of innocent civilians in
Eastern Ethiopia. At the same time, we have to hope that the secular
WEST and Islamic religious clashes will be diffused from the hot spots
like Afghanistan and Somalia; and wish that an Obama leadership brings
a new face to America, toward humbleness and cultural sensitivity so
that globalization does not translate to exploitation, secular
imposition and ignorance. Certainly, Mr. Obama has a lot of difficult
task in front of him to change this world for the better. But if there
is anyone we can believe to do this hard job, it would be him and his
team.
In Ethiopia and generally in Africa, we need a lot of changes. What
Obama can bring to the table will be his support for democracy and his
opposition to aggression. In the horn of Africa, the Eritrean surprise
invasion of Ethiopia around 10 years ago brought a lot of misery,
destruction and left a lot of memory for those who lost loved ones. And
for too long the UN ignored the Eritrean Dictator Isayas Afewerki
aggression on Djibouti, Yemen and Ethiopia, just for the sake of
appeasing a tyrant. Such western policies emboldened the dictator to
sponsor rebels in Ogaden, Anuak/Gambella and other regions while
supporting extremists in southern Somalia that have been labeled
terrorists by the US State Department. But President Obama's
anti-aggression principles are not the only relief Ethiopia has been
waiting for. As a country that is dedicated to move towards democracy,
Ethiopia will need the help of strong leaders like Obama to achieve big
democratic milestones. While the Eritrean tyrannical government has
been the only African country without a private media, without national
elections, without a constitution, without multi-party parliament and
without religious freedom, Ethiopia has increasingly been a shinning
star of the region, with all of the above 5 important reforms. Though
Ethiopia is not a perfect democracy, by creating the foundation for
these big 5 universal values, this African country has been doing the
best it can under the hard circumstances of being at the center of the
unstable Horn of Africa.
Similarly, many Ethiopians believe the experience of the Bush
adminstration has humbled America because the Unites States has ignored
fundamental rights and broken many international laws during its
wartime period under the Bush Adminstration. In fact, the RSF ranked
extra-territorial America worse than rogue Venezuela in its Freedom of
Press Annual rankings for this year. In addition, a few years ago, the
world was also shocked by the Bush adminstration's violation of
international laws and human rights via its various foreign-based
torture cells and secret survelliance on American citizens. So the last
few years have given the United States a taste of how hard it is to
respect some fundamental human rights in a time of war. It is very
tough for any country to have perfect record on human rights and
democracy inside an environment of war and conflict, as all Americans
have witnessed for themselves during the Bush era. Thus, in this lense,
we can see how great Ethiopia has progressed in the big 5 values
despite being located in the unstable and warzone Horn of Africa.
Even as the Eritrean dictatorship continues to worsen and as Eritrea
continues its aggression path, all Ethiopians believe they can do more
to improve their democracy. But the only way for Ethiopia and the Horn
of Africa to progress faster forward is if the environment of war is
replaced by environment of peace in the horn of Africa. But such
changes need more than continental reform, such changes need universal
leadership, which is why President Obama's pro-democracy and
anti-aggression values will be the biggest prize for the people of
Ethiopia the next 4 years. This means, just like they preached,
President Obama and his foreign policy team need to put peace and
democracy as their number priority in Africa. This means, Obama's
foreign policy team need to implement the principles of Obama by
condemning the weapon and financial support for rebels and Somali
insurgents by the Eritrean government and other entities documented by
the UN Security Council. Such condemnation should be reflected all
around Africa because the UN has been documenting many African
countries who are arming rebels againist each other for many decades.
America needs to take bold steps under Obama leadership for the first
time. Also, Obama's African affairs team needs to condemn the
enemy-of-my-enemy-is-my-friend ideology practiced by many African
Dictators. It also means no more double standards from Western
politicians. Congressmen like Donald Payne should not turn a blind eye
for the one-party dictatorship, anti-constitution, anti-religious
freedom and anti-election government of Eritrea. The double standards
need to be tackled by the Obama-Biden adminstration. For example, in
one case this year, the controversial Congressman Donald Payne
condemned Ethiopia for its counter insurgency in the Ogaden to arrest
and kill ONLF terrorists who are armed by the dictatorial Eritrean
government. A few days later, this same Congressman was chatting and
taking pictures with exiled ONLF rebel supporters while at the same
time praising the Eritrean government. Then a few days later, this same
Congressman was claiming he stands for human rights, democracy and
peace in Africa. Such deeply contradictory and deeply confusing signals
from the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Subcommitte led by Donald Payne
have kept the dangerous regions like the Horn of Africa more and more
dangerous. For this reason, many observers blame the Eritrea-Ethiopia
stalemate on Donald Payne. Such big mistakes and glitches inside an
American leadership and foreign policy sends the wrong messages to
Africa. With an Obama adminstration, Ethiopians are in anticipation
that such double standards and errors will be fixed so that peace and
democracy can develop in the Horn of Africa. Support for democracy,
peace and dialogue should be the cornerstones of America's foreign
policy in Africa. Ethiopians are in anticipation that America will once
again be the shinning star for democracy, the rule of law and peace
around the world. Ethiopians are in anticipation that the Presidential
change in America will bring better support for Ethiopia's multi-party
parliament and Africa's progress; when Obama's African foreign policy
makers take initiatives to
- assist the various peaceful opposition parties in Ethiopia
- give aid to poor Africans who need it
- support the Ethiopian economy so it can keep growing in double digits
- support Ethiopian private media to grow
- condemn anti-government militants like ONLF who kill people
- help Ethiopian democracy to advance to the next level
- help African countries fight poverty and disease.
Such American initiatives are what Africans have been looking for and
an Obama adminstration will need to start to deliver starting from
Africa's capital in Addis Ababa. Many of us have given our tireless
effort for the Obama-Biden ticket because of the hope and values Obama
held high. Many thousands of Ethiopian-Americans who have mobilized
many to get Barack Obama elected hope that it will not be too long
before the first black US President takes bold steps to implement his
principles and ideals.
Congratulations to Barack Obama
SOURCE: nazret.com, Thursday, November 06, 2008
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