[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 78 (Saturday, June 7, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1148-E1149]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




    FOREIGN RELATIONS AUTHORIZATION ACT, FISCAL YEARS 1998 AND 1999

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 4, 1997

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 1757) to 
     consolidate international affairs agencies, to authorize 
     appropriations for the Department of State and related 
     agencies for fiscal years 1998 and 1999, and for other 
     purposes:


  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentlewoman from Texas for 
taking the lead on the very critical issue of human rights progress in 
Ethiopia.
  Mr. Chairman, I rise today to speak about the deteriorating human 
rights situation in Ethiopia.
  Almost exactly 6 years ago, the brutal Mengistu regime in Ethiopia, 
notorious for having one of the bleakest human rights records on the 
continent, fell.
  The governance of the country was taken over by a coalition of ethnic 
based insurgency groups under the umbrella of the Ethiopian People's 
Revolutionary Democratic Front [EPRDF], thus ending 15 years of terror.
  At the time, there was much hope that the country was finally 
entering a period of democracy and respect for human rights.
  Sadly, the removal of the Communist military dictatorship of Mengistu 
Haile Mariam in May 1991, has not yielded the fruits of a functioning 
democracy.
  The Ethiopian people are not benefiting from the so-called peace 
dividends of the new world order.
  Instead, the country remains locked in a Marxist time warp and 
saddled with a minority-based ethnic dictatorship.
  The Government continues to divide the nation's peoples into ethnic-
based Bantustans, or enclaves, each purposely pitted against the other 
with the goal of facilitating the dictatorial regime.
  This ploy has endangered the Ethiopian people with the inevitable 
consequences of civil war with repercussions far worse than the 
tragedies that transpired in Bosnia and Rwanda.
  These ethnic enclaves may be taken over by Moslem fundamentalist 
groups. There is a danger that Ethiopia, or parts of it could turn into 
an Iran-like regime.
  Until the current government took over, Ethiopia was one of the few 
stable, democratic countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
  Now, all the democratically hostile countries surrounding Ethiopia, 
such as the Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, and Iran are seeking to exploit the 
chaotic situation in the country by exerting their negative influences.
  Chaos is likely to continue to reign as long as the ethnocratic 
government is allowed to continue to monopolize political, economic, 
military and police powers, and to pursue its policies of setting 
Ethiopians against each other.
  Ethiopians are disturbed that Western support is bolstering the 
misrule of Ethiopia by an ethnic minority and against the universally 
accepted principles of human rights, majority rule, and representative 
democracy.
  Troubling accounts of repression and human rights violations by the 
new government have been emerging.
  I would like to share with you just one story by way of illustration.
  Mr. E is a 20-year-old mechanic of Amharic ethnicity. Like so many of 
their fellow citizens, Mr. E's family had suffered greatly under the 
Mengistu government.
  His older brother had been arrested and viciously tortured for 
opposition activities and eventually fled the country.
  Mr. E's father had been arrested on many occasions for questioning. 
The family was relieved when the regime fell and looked forward to 
peace.
  After graduating from high school in 1994, Mr. E joined the All 
Amhara People's Organization, a major opposition group.
  In February 1995, Mr. E was stopped on the street by police for a 
random search. When the police found Mr. E's party identification, they 
arrested him and locked him in a tiny brick cell where he was held with 
two other men incommunicado and without charge for 8 months.
  Though he was only 18 and had just joined the organization, guards 
questioned Mr. E about the long-term plans of the All Amhara People's 
Organization.
  Mr. E was fed only small amounts of bread and water; no sanitary 
provisions were made. Within a short time his health began to 
deteriorate.
  By the end of 8 months, Mr. E was so ill that the guards decided to 
allow his parents to take him home. As he was leaving the prison, Mr. E 
finally received notice of the charges against him and a summons to 
appear in court.
  As Mr. E recuperated at home, his neighbors reported that they were 
being questioned by unknown men in civilian clothes as to Mr. E's 
activities and whether he was receiving any visitors. Fearing that he 
would once again be arrested and held indefinitely, Mr. E fled Ethiopia 
and arrived in the United States in February 1996.
  Like Mr. E, thousands of individuals opposed to the current 
government, particularly journalists, academicians, and opposition 
party officials were being harassed as they attempt to express their 
views on the critical issues facing the country.
  The Ethiopian Government continues to deny political detainees both 
procedural and substantive due process of the law and has made a 
mockery of the administration of justice.
  I would like to call particular attention to the plight of three 
political prisoners--Dr. Asrate Woldeyes, Dr. Taye Semayat, and Mr. 
Abera Yemane Ab.
  At the behest of the Ethiopian-American community here in the United 
States, I have personally urged our State Department to intercede on 
behalf of these prominent political prisoners in Ethiopia.
  I have also communicated my concerns directly to the Ethiopian 
Government. Thus far, I am sorry to report, no progress has been made.
  But, we must not relinquish our struggle against the relentless 
assault on the human rights of the Ethiopian peoples.
  We must urge the Ethiopian Government to cease the ethnic 
discrimination, foster positive relations between the various ethnic 
groups

[[Page E1149]]

and to allow freedom of movement and expression.
  In fiscal year 1996, the United States gave Ethiopia $109 million in 
bilateral economic assistance making Ethiopia the third highest 
recipient of United States aid to the continent.
  More importantly, perhaps, the United States acts as the coordinator 
for all Western aid to Ethiopia.
  I urge my colleagues to continue their support for the inclusion of 
human rights as an integral element of our foreign policy by supporting 
this amendment.