Thursday, February 13, 2025

Washington Update: Constitutional Reform and the Path to Democracy and Peace in Ethiopia

On October 23, members of the Ethiopian-American community met in the US Senate’s Kennedy Caucus Room to discuss constitutional reform and brief congressional staff about the path to democracy, peace, and prosperity in Ethiopia.

A summary of the meetings follows: the constitutional conference and the congressional briefing. In addition to the comments described below, Amanda Thorpe, Senator Peter Welch’s national security advisor, addressed the group, welcoming them and wishing them success. Two congressional candidates, Dr. Myrtle Alexander, who is seeking election as a non-voting delegate from Washington, DC, and Jerry Torres, who is seeking election from Northern Virginia District 8, also addressed the meeting. The meeting was covered by news media, including two Ethiopian television broadcasters, Anchor Media and Menalesh Merti Media, and the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle. 

Introduction from Mesfin Mekonen

Mesfin Mekonen, Author of Washington Update, a bulletin about Ethiopia’s struggle for freedom and prosperity, and founder of MM Management, opened the meeting, welcoming the participants and thanking Senator Peter Welch and his national security adviser Amanda Thorpe for their support, their continuing interest in Ethiopia, and for making the meeting possible. He also thanked Dr. Abrera Meshesa and Ato Meonnen Dyamo for their tireless efforts to craft a draft constitution. In the end, of course, the work they have undertaken and that was discussed at the conference is the start of a process that can only be completed with the approval of the Ethiopian people.

At the outset, it was essential to mention the ongoing and very recent attacks the Ethiopian government has launched on the Amhara people, including murderous attacks with drones. The US government must act to restrain the Ethiopian government to protect the lives of innocents.

It was the group’s second meeting in the Kennedy Caucus room. The effort to craft a constitution has been underway for over a year. It isn’t easy, and we are still at the start of the journey.

Our work must start with an understanding of the reasons for constitutional reform. In short, a new arrangement is needed because the root cause of Ethiopia’s misery is the current constitution, which was created and imposed by the former Ethiopian dictator Melese. He and his cronies sought to impose divide-and-rule ethnic federalism.

The constitution they created in 1994 includes Article 39, granting any ethnic group the right to secede and form a nation. Thus, groups such as the Tigrayans and the Amhara currently have the constitutional right to secede, which, of course, sparks a protracted civil war. The ability of the central government to govern is undermined when every ethnic group has the right to secede. Peace is impossible in a country where ethnic groups compete for access to resources. Prosperity and justice are unattainable in a country where political connections and corruption, not the rule of law, determine who prevails in the courts.

This approach, which remains in place, allows a small minority to control the country. It is fueling ethnic conflicts that threaten to tear Ethiopia apart. As one example, the Abiy regime is using drones to attack the Amhara people. Even the regime’s own Human Rights Commission acknowledges that the central government is involved in extrajudicial killings, indiscriminate attacks against civilians, attacks targeting civilians, and abductions. The US State Department has documented similar abuses.

A new constitution is needed to address the root causes of Ethiopia’s most serious problems. To secure democracy, human rights, and economic prosperity, Ethiopia needs a new constitution that places power in the hands of its people, and that turns the page on ethnic division, corruption, and abuse of human rights.

A fundamental change in the government’s structure is essential to prevent Ethiopia from sinking deeper into the abyss. By failing to observe even the most basic human rights of its own people, including the right to life itself, the Abiy regime could turn Ethiopia into a failed state. The result would be unbearable hardship for Ethiopians, destabilization of the entire Horn of Africa, and the creation of safe havens for terrorists.

Ethiopians realize that the fate of their country rests in the hands of the Ethiopian people, but they also believe that the United States of America can help a great deal and can serve as an inspiration in Ethiopia’s quest for human rights, democracy, and prosperity.

The US government should undertake a three-part strategy focused on cessation of hostilities, sanctions, and constitutional reform – the topic of our discussions today. 

African Union, Council of Ethiopian-American organizations.

African Union Ambassador to the U.S., Hilda Suka-Mafudze, could not attend the conference. Andrew Kreig represented her at the meeting and conveyed her message. She expressed hope that the conference would be a step toward peace in Ethiopia. 

Bart Fisher, counselor for ten Ethiopian-American civic organizations, discussed the situation in Ethiopia. The Ethiopian people, Fisher said, are experiencing continued repression from the government of Abiy Ahmed, attacks on churches, encouragement of ethnic cleansing, extrajudicial killings, and suppression of independent media. The current victims of the atrocities now taking place in Ethiopia are the Amhara people, a large ethnic group that is being ethnically cleansed. He called for a cessation of hostilities and for targeted sanctions from the US to punish individuals responsible for violence against innocent civilians. 

Ato Yilkael Getnet 

Ato Yilkael Getnet provided a brief description of recent events in Ethiopia. He said, “The situation has significantly intensified dramatically as the regime mobilized and deployed hundreds of thousands of federal security forces from the National Defense Forces and other federal security institutions. When the government’s ground and mechanized forces were incapable of countering the Fano forces and suppressing the popular movement, the regime resumed indiscriminate drone attacks and aerial bombardments. Additionally, government forces have renewed their disturbing practice of confiscating traditional weapons from farmers and engaging in looting during searches without legal warrants. These demonic acts have further exacerbated tensions and caused widespread distress. 

As we speak, the regime’s drones and fighter jets are indiscriminately draining bombs on civilians and civilian property. Last week, the drone and aerial attacks were intentionally targeted at children, mothers, schools, hospitals, and residential areas in several areas of the Amhara region. As one person who picked up the body of a seven-month pregnant woman and her child killed by a drone attack attested, the regime is mercilessly targeting everyone on the streets and in their homes. This is accompanied by forcefully taking thousands of civilians from their homes to unknown locations. 

Remarks from Dr. Akloig Berera, chairman of the Ethiopian Dialogue Forum 

My first plea is for a) US Corporate media to give Amhara genocide, including children coverage, and b) the government of the United States to acknowledge the genocide of Amhara and make a call to stop it.

The recurrent ethnicity-based killings, abductions, jailings, and destructions in Ethiopia have not received one-tenth of one percent that similar deaths of innocent civilians have received concerning the tragic wars between Russia and Ukraine, Hamas, and Israel. Should there not be even-handed treatment?

Ethiopia is at war with itself. The Ethiopian army serves as the leading arm of government. It kills, maims, starves, displaces, and ethnically cleanses innocent civilians, mostly Amhara, with unprecedented impunity. It uses drones, helicopter gunships, tanks, and heavy artillery to erase entire villages, killing farm and wild animals and destroying crops. It targets and bombs Churches and mosques identified with Amhara. This is the face of genocide!! 

Wzro Tsigerda Mulugeta speech

Wzro Tsigereda Mulugeta, Diplomatic Committee Chair, Global Amhara Coalition, presented the fundamental challenges facing the county. She said we are all witnessing with great alarm the current Ethiopian government deliberately and recklessly driving the country towards crisis and fragmentation by fueling inter-ethnic tensions based on systemic marginalization and subjugation against the Amhara people and other ethnic groups. Since April 2023, the declaration of an open war by the Ethiopian government against the Amhara people, including the use of drones against civilians, has deepened the ongoing ethnic cleansing and violence. The Fano struggle for the survival of the Amhara people and Ethiopia’s embrace of freedom, justice, and fundamental rights is justified, considering people suffering from unlawful arrests, a broken economy, forced displacements, intra-ethic and religious persecution, and violence. A transformative and systemic fundamental change encompassing the core values of human rights, the rule of law, political freedom, economic prosperity, diversity, national unity, peace, sovereignty, and territorial integrity is needed. A precondition is the dissolution of the ethnic-based political machinery and its broad-based defunct institutions of corrupt ethnocentric government.

Ato Mekonnen Dyamo, chairperson of the Ethiopian Survival and Salvation Association 

Ato Mekonnen Dyamo, one of the drafters of the proposed Ethiopian constitution, discussed the need for constitutional reform and reiterated concerns about the killing of Amhara by the regime in Addis Ababa.

He said the people of Ethiopia are seeking support from the United States of America, the United Nations, the African Union, the European Union, and other organizations to facilitate the realization of a national referendum for a new constitution, similar to what has been achieved in Ghana and Kenya. 

Wzrt Hermela Mesfin speech

Hermela Mesfin, who is remembered on Capitol Hill for advocating for action to halt gun violence in the United States, gave a brief, powerful speech:

Honorable members of Congress, my name is Hermela Mesfin, and I appreciate the opportunity to address this esteemed panel. I stand here today to urgently highlight the genocide facing the Amhara people in Ethiopia, a crisis exacerbated by a constitution that has enabled systemic violence and ethnic division. As we witness mass killings, arbitrary arrests, alarming rates of government-orchestrated drone attacks on innocent civilians, and a deliberate campaign of ethnic cleansing, it is critical to understand that these atrocities are not isolated incidents but rather the direct consequences of an ethnic federalist constitution that legitimizes attacks on the Amhara. Our immediate priority must be to halt the ongoing violence, stop the drone attacks, and protect the Amhara people from further harm. Without swift intervention, we risk witnessing the systematic erasure of an entire ethnic group; we must save the people first before any discussions of reform can take place. 

Mesfin Mekonen’s remarks at the congressional staff briefing: 

Thank you for attending this briefing. You’ve already heard from my colleagues in the Ethiopian-American community and me about the urgent need for constitutional reform in Ethiopia.

I don’t need to remind you that there are many pressing problems around the world competing for your attention and for the attention of Congress and the White House. Resolving many of these problems seems impossible. That is in part because the world waited too long.

There is a real danger that the US will wait too long to act in Ethiopia. After the country has descended into chaos, after there is famine, after terrorists have established safe havens, it will be extremely difficult to create positive change.

Now, today, there are opportunities to prevent these things from happening. And fortunately, there is an interest in Congress to listen. Recently, Ethiopian-Americans met with staff from seven Senators.

Recognizing that Ethiopia’s fate is ultimately in the hands of Ethiopians, we discussed three ways the United States can help. 

First, the United States can and must play a significant role in promoting a settlement of this ever-escalating war against the Amhara and other ethnic groups by the government of Ethiopia. At a minimum, the United States can promote collective efforts of local, regional, and global actors to bring about an immediate cessation of hostilities and attacks by the government of Ethiopia against its own people.  Lasting peace in Ethiopia requires an urgent and inclusive dialogue and reconciliation.

Second, the White House and State Department should condemn the abuses the Abiy government is undertaking and condoning, and take steps to improve the situation. These steps include imposing targeted sanctions on government officials who are responsible for abuses or who fail to protect the lives of innocent civilians.

Third, as we discussed this morning, the US government should promote the drafting of a new constitution, an essential precondition to lasting peace and prosperity. 

Author profile
Mesfin Mekonen

Mesfin Mekonen is the author of Washington Update, a bulletin about Ethiopia’s struggle for freedom and prosperity, and founder of MM Management.

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