ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT: HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT IS "FULL

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ADDIS ABABA 001136 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/06/2019 TAGS: PGOV PHUM KDEM PREL ET SUBJECT: ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT: HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT IS "FULL OF LIES" REF: ADDIS 797 Classified By: Ambassador Donald Yamamoto. Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d). SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) From May 3 to 7, the Ethiopian Government (GoE) aired a three-part television series entitled "U.S. State Department Human Rights Report (HRR): Patronizing and Full of Lies" (loose translation). The Foreign Ministry-initiated investigation was conducted by the Ethiopian News Agency (ENA - part of the Government Communication Affairs Office) and televised on state-run Ethiopian Television (ETV),to refute the human rights abuses documented in the HRR. The Foreign Ministry's Director General for Europe and the Americas Tesfaye Yilma told Pol/Econ Chief on May 11 that in late-2008 the GoE made the policy decision to conduct its own investigation of all major human rights reports about Ethiopia with this ETV series representing the second such investigation after the March 2009 investigation of abuses in the Ogaden. Were such investigations conducted by credible and neutral third parties, they would represent a positive shift in the GoE's engagement on human rights. Instead, the GoE conducted "investigations" -- led by ruling party insiders who flank abuse allegers with video cameras and security personnel -- are not credible but have already begun to have a chilling effect of intimidation on those who report abuses by the GoE. The tone and substance of this latest move further reflects a shift in GoE policy toward the United States. End Summary. AN INVESTIGATION WITH AN AGENDA... -------------- ¶2. (C) From May 3 to May 7, ETV broadcast a three-part documentary refuting cases of human rights abuses documented in the State Department's 2008 Human Rights Report. In it, various people -- including some victims named in the report, their family members, neighbors, acquaintances, and local government officials -- were interviewed by ENA reporters. Although several appeared visibly anxious or frightened, all insisted that the human rights abuse allegations reported in the HRR were false. Only rarely did investigators directly contact victims named in the report. Instead, camera-clad interviewers flanked by police questioned victims' neighbors or close relations. For example, in one instance ENA reported that it was unable to find federal parliamentarian Gutu Mulisa, who the HRR reported was beaten while campaigning in his district. Instead, his distant relative residing in the countryside was interviewed. Gutu later informed us that ENA had made no effort to contact him despite living in a GoE-provided house, his regular appearance in parliament, and the fact that upon his beating, he went to ETV to report the incident and show the scars. ¶3. (C) The tone of the documentary is very harsh towards the U.S. calling the State Department "chauvinistic" and claiming that the Human Rights Report is based on "unbalanced information." The documentary also specifically named certain organizations -- the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO),Ethiopian Women's Lawyers Association (EWLA),Oromo People's Congress (OPC - opposition party),and Oromo Federal Democratic Movement (OFDM - opposition party) -- labeling them as "snitches" and "informers" and claiming that they provided false information to the State Department in order to tarnish Ethiopia's reputation. The documentary narrator accused OPC and OFDM of having elements from the banned insurgent movement Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) within their parties. EHRCO and EWLA, both non-governmental organizations (NGOs) who advocate for human rights, were accused of masquerading as NGOs to advance their political agenda. ...AND A CHILLING EFFECT -------------- ¶4. (C) Almost immediately following the documentary, several individuals contacted the Embassy -- including EWLA and opposition member of parliament Tesfaye Fufa -- expressing concerns for their safety as a result of the GoE's focus on their statements to us in preparing the HRR. One group, the Evangelical Church Fellowship of Ethiopia sent a letter to the Ambassador complaining that the HRR referred to complaints made by the Fellowship and arguing that the ADDIS ABAB 00001136 002 OF 002 Fellowship was never contacted by, or shared information with, the Embassy. The Fellowship's General Secretary Rev. Alemu Shetta later called the Embassy to clarify that the letter, which was copied to the Prime Minister, Justice Minister, Foreign Minister, and Government Communications Affairs Office, was issued as a cover in the interest of protecting the Fellowship from persecution by the GoE for speaking to the Embassy about its complaints. COMMENT -------------- ¶5. (C) The GoE's response to the 2008 Human Rights Report reflects a stark policy shift in its position toward the United States. Whereas previous years' reports were met with pro forma responses of denial, this year's English-language press release denying the report was quickly followed by an Amharic-language press release directing offensive and belittling language toward the United States. This new step of a GoE-led, on-camera investigation, however, reflects the GoE's effort to intimidate past or future victims of human rights abuses from going public to foreign Embassies or human rights organizations. Several contacts reported that it was only through the ETV "investigation" that they learned that the United States prepares an annual human rights report -- thus drawing greater Ethiopian attention to the HRR. Still, the clear intimidation of the "investigation" will likely have a negative effect on our contacts' willingness to disclose human rights abuses to us. It may also have consequences for the organizations who were accused of providing false information to the State Department. ¶6. (C) Prime Minister Meles Zenawi raised the issue of baseless human rights abuse allegations with the Ambassador in April (reftel),saying that it "hurts relations" and requested that the report be vetted with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) to ensure accuracy before it is published. In response to Tesfaye Yilma's inquiry on the Embassy's views of the ETV series, Pol/Econ Chief acknowledged that the GoE's willingness to allow investigations into abuses represented a positive step . Pol/Econ Chief immediately clarified, however, that investigations conducted by the alleged abuser, i.e. the GoE, fundamentally lacked credibility -- especially those conducted by ruling party insiders such as the Prime Minister's former chief of staff Lisan Yohannes who led the Ogaden investigation. Pol/Econ Chief stressed the Embassy's desire to report only credible allegations and suggested that a credible, neutral third party such as the Red Cross or UN High Commission for Human Rights may be best suited to conduct future investigations. Tesfaye was adamant that no international third party would ever be allowed to investigate in Ethiopia, saying "you can get that idea out of your head right now." At this point, the GoE's position is clear: it will go through the motions to refute reports of abuse and it will aggressively intimidate and retaliate against those reporting abuses, but it has no intention to pursue abuse claims credibly or hold officials accountable for them. Still, we will continue to explore with the Foreign Ministry methodologies for conducting future human rights investigations in Ethiopia. End Comment. YAMAMOTO