African Union has been constantly
threatening action against Burundi’s Pierre Nkurunziza while turning a blind
eye to Ethiopian regime’s murderous acts in its headquarters, Addis Ababa, and
surroundings.
African
Union (AU) which replaced the Organisation of African Union (OAU) is a
pan-African organization established to safeguard the interest of its 54 member
states and their citizens. The African continent which AU represents is shaped
by colonial legacy and protracted conflicts that are ongoing even in today’s
so-called post-colonial era. Even though one of the objectives of AU is :
to promote and protect human and
peoples’ rights in accordance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples’
Rights and other relevant human rights instruments.
it is commonplace in African
conflicts to see gross violations of the human rights of Africans in these
conflicts.
Two such human rights violations
involving government violence against civilians are taking place in Burundi and
Ethiopia as we speak. However, the response of the AU to these two political
upheavals was surprisingly very different. In fact, there has not been an
official response on one of the conflicts (Ethiopia) while the AU has been
issuing press release after another regarding the stalemate in Burundi.
The divergent approaches followed by
AU in the two countries is surprising because the two countries as well as the
conflicts have huge similarities:
In both countries unarmed civilians
are being killed by government forces, although in the case of Burundi there
are reports that some of the clashes are between government loyalists and
former military staff who defected to the opposition.
In both countries, civilians are
staging peaceful demonstrations against government decisions: in the case of
Burundi people are protesting against re-election of president Pierre
Nkurunziza, while in Ethiopia ethnic Oromo students are against government
plans to incorporate parts of Oromia region into the capital city, Addis Ababa.
Human rights organisations reported
civilian deaths caused by government police brutality in both countries: in
Burundi, the number of reported deaths reached 87 in December, while according
to Human Rights Watch as of 18 December, Ethiopian police and soldiers executed
“at least 75 civilians”. Although most of the killed in Burundi are understood
to be adults, many of the victims in Ethiopia are young people from
intermediate and high schools in Oromia.
Although not directly relevant to
the issue at hand, both Burundi and Ethiopia are believed to have similar
strategic importance to AU in the fight against “terrorism in Africa”, as both
countries are contributing African army deployed in Somalia.
Given all these similarities in the
two countries, the nature of the conflict and the level of casualties, one
would expect at least similar responses by the AU towards the conflicts.
But there are further arguments
supporting AU involvement in the Ethiopian conflict. First of all, as the
saying goes, charity begins at home! Addis Ababa which lies at the heart of the
Ethiopian conflict is the official seat of the AU. The AU should be concerned
not only for the organisation’s image but also for its legitimacy. If it cannot
intervene in or influence the Ethiopian government’s actions that undermine the
sprit and objectives of the AU, then it will be a joke to expect AU to
interfere distant conflicts. Secondly, while every lost life in African
conflicts should be a concern for the AU, this concern should be even stronger
when unarmed civilians protesting peacefully are executed by the military in
Ethiopia, while some of the casualties in Burundi is between armed groups
supporting different political alliances.
Considering possible consequences of
both conflicts, if un-intervened, Ethiopia should be given more weight than
Burundi. For the entire continent and the whole world, instability in Ethiopia
is more dangerous than instability in Burundi given the possible ethnic clashes
that can occur in Ethiopia (there are more than 80 ethnic groups, most of whom
are hostile to each other, thanks to government leadership based on
divide-and-rule principle), the economic consequences (Ethiopian economy is
more than 18 times bigger than that of Burundi), and populations that could be
affected (Ethiopian population is almost 10 times that of Burundi).
Despite all these weights that
should be given to the Oromo-Ethiopian conflict, there has so far been not a
single word on it by the African Union. This is very disappointing given the
level of government violence and unarmed civilian casualties, and despite calls
by international human rights organisations such as the Human Rights Watch that
called for independent investigations by the AU:
The Ethiopian government should
support prompt, independent investigations into the events in Oromia region,
including by UN and African Union (AU) human rights experts on freedom of
expression, peaceful assembly and association.
Even one of Ethiopian government’s
western closest allies, the United States, has via its State Department issued
official statement on the on-going conflict in Oromia.
But, instead of taking a leadership
role by addressing the Oromo-Ethiopia conflict, the Algerian born Ambassador
Smail Chergui, the African Union’s Commissioner for Peace and Security Council,
continues to threaten action against president Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi if
he does not accept 5000 strong African Peace-keeping Mission to be deployed in
Burundi while remaining silent on Ethiopian government’s crackdown and
execution of unarmed students and other ceivilians. The justification, in the
Ambassadors speech is to avoid “genocide”. The question is why not do the same
in Ethiopia? Some may say AU is respecting the sovereignty of Ethiopia, but
then why intervene in Burundi?
Some analysts explain these double
standards by the AU by pointing on Ethiopian government who abuse their
position as host country to the AU. Although the AU should in principle be
outside the sphere of any single country, including Ethiopia, the government is
accused to bribe the AU officials indirectly by giving them huge “gifts” that
are tantamount to bribes, while at the same time putting other tactics towards
those who cannot easily be bribed.
It remains unknown whether the AU’s
Peace and Security Council received bribes from the Ethiopian government; but
it is clear that they have failed their duty to intervene in the Oromo-Ethiopia
conflict.
Source: tekuret
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