Ethiopian intellectuals submit a petition to the U.N. Secretary General

Press Release 
November 1, 2016
 
His Excellency Ban Ki-moon
United Nations Secretary-General
United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
Dear Mr. Secretary-General:
We concerned academics and scholars of Ethiopian origin,
APPALLED and TERRIFIED by the violent crackdown of dissent and the ongoing massacre of peaceful demonstrators by the security forces of the regime in Ethiopia, controlled by the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF), which hails from and claims to represent the Tigray region whose inhabitants account for not more than 6% of Ethiopia’s population;
HAVING witnessed the gross human and democratic rights violations committed by the regime since it came to power in 1991, proving itself to be increasingly totalitarian and brutally repressive against its own people;
HAVING read the damning periodic reports of Freedom House, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the United States Department of State Human Rights Report on Ethiopia, the European Parliament (Joint) Motion for a Resolution of the Situation in Ethiopia, among others, concerning the atrocities committed by the regime;

WITNESSING the politically motivated displacement of rural and urban communities in the various administrative regions of the country, which are created by the regime with blatant disregard for historical, cultural, socioeconomic, or political realities of Ethiopia, intended to pit one linguistic group against the other and advance its policy of divide and rule;
OBSERVING that the political power in Ethiopia effectively resides with the TPLF and that the top brass of the military, intelligence, and security forces are overwhelmingly, if not fully, members of this ruling clique, which deploys its loyalist force known as Agaazi wherever peaceful protest occurs or is expected to occur, sidelining the local police and administrative organs whom the regime deems sympathetic to the plight of the people;
WELL AWARE that the ruling clique has complete control of the judiciary, rendering the court an instrument to its brutal repression of dissent; that the free press is virtually decimated in Ethiopia, which is ranked among the top in the continent in the number of independent journalists in jail and in exile; and that the telecommunication system is owned and operated by the regime and its functionaries, leaving customers’ access to telephone, internet, and social media services at the pleasure of the regime;
AWARE that the mainstay of the regime’s annual budget and survival is foreign aid and donor legitimacy, garnered through regular elections, which international elections observers find wanting even by the minimum standards of fledgling democracies; and that in the eyes of the Ethiopian people the regime has completely lost its legitimacy to govern, despite its flagrant assertions to the contrary;
UNDERSCORING that the people of Ethiopia have suffered immensely from injustice, the denial of their human and democratic rights, the right to live a dignified life, and the right to live in peace and harmony; and that citizens who peacefully fought for these rights have paid a heavy price;
BELIEVING that “injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere”; “freedom deferred, is freedom denied”; the killing of any one child, one peaceful demonstrator, is one too many; and that human rights are inalienable rights of people;
KNOWING that the massacre of unarmed peaceful demonstrators would shock the human conscience as it violates basic human decency and stands in sharp contrast against international law and the fundamental principles enshrined in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
SUPPORTING the call by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for an independent and transparent investigation of the gross human rights violations and extrajudicial killings of peaceful protestors in the Amhara and Oromia regions;
NOTING that the situation, since the call by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights for an independent investigation, has become extremely desperate that it might lead to civil war, wreaking havoc in the lives of the oppressed people in Ethiopia, and destabilizing the entire Horn of African region and beyond;
 STANDING IN SOLIDARITY with our Ethiopian compatriots in their struggle against the repressive regime in Ethiopia;
We respectfully ask your good office to take the high moral ground and to remain true to the founding principle of the United Nations: To never again expose “succeeding generations from the scourge of war” and to reaffirm its faith through action on the fundamentality “of human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women,” and children.
We recognize the concerns of the United Nations that the regime in Ethiopia is a strategic ally in the war against the spread of international terrorism. We contend that a regime that lacks legitimacy among its own people, terrorizes and kills with impunity its own peace-loving citizens whose only “crime” is demanding justice, democracy, basic human rights and the rule of law, enshrined in the constitution crafted by the regime itself, is morally repulsive and cannot be a reliable ally in the long run. There cannot be peace and stability in the midst of state violence committed against decent and patriotic people who have been unimaginably patient, now demonstrably at the end of their tether.
We are also cognizant of the reportedly double digit economic growth record of Ethiopia. However, the fruits of this ballyhooed growth have been disproportionately appropriated by the ruling elites through unbounded corruption, naked nepotism and widespread discrimination, undergirded by a massive transfer of productive assets and wealth in favor of the enterprises owned by, and individuals associated with and loyal to, the ruling party. In contrast, the vast majority of the population is economically marginalized, with millions starving or on the brink of starvation. The precipitously shrinking political space and dwindling economic opportunity coupled with the glaringly and rapidly widening income inequality are bound to engender political instability, the manifestations of which we are presently witnessing.
We respectfully appeal to Your Excellency to be on the right side of history by taking a decisive action that will help stop the bloodshed, persecution, detention, imprisonment, torture, and the disappearance of critics of the regime in Ethiopia. We ask of your good office to take effective action without delay to avert the looming civil war and possible genocide, which are not unthinkable given the nature, history, behavior and current actions of the regime in Ethiopia.
We hope that you share our profound concerns about the future of Ethiopia and use your leverage to help create conditions conducive to the establishment of a truly representative government, inclusive of all Ethiopian stake holders inside and outside the country, that paves the way for fulfilling the aspirations of the people to live in just peace and harmony in a united, democratic and prosperous Ethiopia.
Respectfully submitted,
Concerned academics and scholars of Ethiopian origin
Petition Coordinating Committee