Think of it this way. After a humiliating defeat in the 2005 elections the ruling party publicly vowed that no opposition will be allowed in the country henceforth. It quickly run through parliament an “anti-terrorism” law de-registering civil societies it did not approve of and began a campaign of shutting down private press and jailing or exiling journalists. This is all part of a yearly State Department report. The ruling party is also mired in untold corruption and a greatly expanded jail system [more than in the days of the fascist Derg regime]. The interesting thing is that it cleverly exploited US/UK fears of regional issues to remain in power and receive properly unaccounted for billions of taxpayers’ dollars [American public of course has no clue this is going on].

Donors look for quantifiable reports of some progress. Ethiopian rulers are not idiots. They went on a construction binge in the capital thus satisfying donor visual demands [whereas no one has thought of asking who really owns those buildings or if the public is benefiting from them].

Here is my challenge to Ethiopian rulers. If indeed there has been “fastest growth” and stability in the country then why not allow a group of independent journalists to travel to different regions of the country, take pictures and report to donor publics. That is only fair and a good public relations scoop! Of course those same journalists could travel to the Middle East [where there are over a million young Ethiopians, mostly women], South Africa, etc and ask why these left their own country at great risk to their lives.

Obama Administration few weeks ago praised “democracy” in Ethiopia predicting it is going to be fair [of course it is a lie]. The interesting thing is that this cycle of elections began in December 2014. Party cadres were already registering the elderly and informing the public to remain at home because “there could be disturbances” on election day. Good foreign reporters like yourself would be limited by language, culture, budget and importance to the papers you work for to fully cover and follow-up on issues in places such as Ethiopia.

The worrying development is that Ethiopians are now talking openly that the ruling party has not left them space for a peaceful struggle. Just this week a conference was held to consider taking up arms. It is unfortunate that US political leaders failed to adequately represent American ideals of freedom, rule of law, and constitutional democracy. Remember the same mistakes in the Middle East are costing lives and resources, remaining a constant threat to our liberty.

Ethiopian rulers have always responded in three ways to charges of corruption, human rights abuses and fictitious “growth” figures. Deny, lie, and use force. The end result is that people suffer and live in constant fear. Shall we say that’s ok?