D.C.-area Ethiopians say Obama trip will send wrong signal to repressive regime in homeland
Near the White House on Friday, Serkalem Selassie and her 9-year-old son, Nafkot, protested President Obama’s upcoming trip to Ethiopia. As a journalist in her homeland, she was jailed, and Nafkot was born while she was in prison. She has political asylum now. (Evelyn Hockstein/For The Washington Post)
By Pamela Constable July 3
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When Barack Obama entered the White House, many Ethiopian immigrants in the Washington area cheered. When he gave a speech in Ghana in 2009, vowing to promote democracy and human rights across Africa, they were thrilled. But now that Obama will soon visit Ethiopia, many members of the region’s largest African emigre group are up in arms.
Their concern is that his trip later this month — the first by a sitting American president — will send the wrong message and bolster a regime that has intimidated opponents, manipulated elections and sent dozens of journalists to prison.
“Mr. Obama is supporting a dictatorship and giving legitimacy to tyranny,” declared Serkalem Selassie, 39, a refugee in Arlington. “Day by day, things are getting worse. There is no freedom to speak, to meet. Anyone who writes can be jailed for associating with terrorism.”
For Selassie, a former newspaper publisher who fled her homeland two years ago and now works at a parking garage, the anger is deeply personal.
Her husband, journalist Eskinder Nega, is in prison serving an 18-year sentence for treason. Selassie was also sent to jail in 2005, and her son Nafkot, 9, was born while she was in custody. She has not been permitted to communicate with her husband in two years.
“No photos, no letters — nothing is allowed,” said Selassie, stylish but haggard-looking. Her son still suffers from his experiences as a young child. “He saw them take his father away in handcuffs and call him a terrorist,” she said. “He kept asking what that meant.”
Obama’s trip will underscore the delicate balancing act of U.S. relations with the Addis Ababa government, a crucial ally in a volatile region that also regularly flouts democratic norms. The ruling party has maintained power for 24 years since the violent overthrow of a Marxist dictator.
U.S. officials have long praised the government in Addis Ababa for its success in economic development and food security, its reliability as an ally in the war on terror and its generous supplying of troops for U.N. peacekeeping missions. In turn, the United States sends substantial amounts of aid.
የአርበኞች ግንቦት7 ሊቀመንበር የሆኑት ዶ/ር ብርሃኑ ነጋ “ለነጻነት፣ ለፍትህና ለዲሞክራሲ የሚደረገውን ትግል መሬት ላይ ወርዶ መምራት ይገባል” በሚል እምነት በከፍተኛ ውጣ ውረድ ከአሜሪካ ኤርትራ መግባታቸው እንደተሰማ በአርበኞች ግንቦት7 ሰራዊት ውስጥ ከፍተኛ መነቃቃት መፈጠሩን ፣ አስመራ በሚገኘው የድርጅቱ ጽህፈት ቤት አቀባበል ያደረጉላቸው ሻለቃ አክሊሉ መዘነ ተናግረዋል።በዋና ጽህፈት ቤቱ የሚሰሩ የፖለቲካ እና የውጭ ግንኙነት ክፍል አባላት ለፕሮፌሰሩ በጋራ አቀባበል እንዳደረጉላቸው የገለጸው ሻለቃ አክሊሉ፣ ከአባላት ጋር ውይይት ማድረጋቸውን ገልጸዋል።
