Frm. US Amb.: accusing Ethiopia of genocide ‘is unmitigated nonsense’

In an interview hosted  by Kojo Nnamdi Show, last Tuesday, Former US Ambassador to Ethiopia David Shinn praised the Ethiopian army for its record as a peacekeeping force.

Shinn said:

Ethiopia has a tradition of sending peacekeepers around the region when called upon and they’re very good peacekeepers. They have a lot of experience, more than most African countries.

David Shinn’s remark was seconded by EJ Hogendoorn, Project Director, Horn of Africa, International Crisis Group(ICG), who was also present on the show. Hogendoorn said:

Part of the problem with what happened in Abyei[Sudan] was because some of the peacekeepers, these in case coming from Zambia, actually didn’t do the peacekeeping that they were supposed to do.

Obviously, that will be rectified by the Ethiopians who have a much better track record as Ambassador Shinn mentioned

In response to a comment made by a viewer named ‘Tesfa’ who accused the Ethiopian army of genocide in Somalia, David Shinn said:

Because I’m on the record as having been opposed to the movement of Ethiopian troops and — to Somalia in 2007. And I rather strongly oppose that. And I believe to this day that was a mistake. Having said that, to suggest what they did in Somalia as genocide is unmitigated nonsense. And Tesfa needs to get his facts straight before he makes those kinds of allegations.

The host of the show, Mr. Kojo Nnamdi, bashed ‘Tesfa’ saying  ‘there are a lot of Ethiopians living in the Washington area, many of them strongly opposed to the government of Ethiopia.’, while the two other guests on the show, Mr. EJ Hogendoorn(from ICG) and  Ms. Rebecca Hamilton simply ignored it. Ms. Rebecca Hamilton is a special correspondent on Sudan for the Washington Post, a fellow with the New America Foundation, and author of the book “Fighting for Darfur: Public Action and the Struggle to Stop Genocide.”

The were also a few more remarks, that may interest you, concerning Ethiopia’s weight in international diplomacy and the prudence of sending Ethiopian troops to Abiye, Sudan.

[Note that it is only the portions relevant to Ethiopia that are presented here.]

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NNAMDI

David Shinn, Ethiopia has long been the critical Washington ally in the Horn of Africa. The government of President Meles Zenawi has been criticized for its human rights record and its treatment of dissidents.

But it’s been a relatively stable partner in a region of instability and now increasingly the United States seems to be relying on Addis Ababa to address regional issues and conflict areas. In many ways, it appears that Ethiopia is a country that’s, well, punching above its weight in terms of international diplomacy.

SHINN

Well, it is an important country in its own right. It’s the second most populous country on the African continent after Nigeria so — and it has a long-historical connection with the United States that precedes the Meles Zenawi government. But you’re quite right, since Meles Zenawi took power in 1991, the relationship has been particularly close and largely because the United States and Ethiopia have collaborated on regional issues ranging from Somalia to Sudan to even further afield where you’ve had Ethiopian peacekeepers. And now they’re going to go into Abyei, two battalions worth in order to try to maintain the peace between North and South Sudan.

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NNAMDI

David Shinn, the surprise announcement that came out of the AU meetings yesterday was that Ethiopia is prepared to send troops to a contested area along the Sudanese north/south border. Is that significant?

SHINN

Well, it is. This is in reference to the Abyei, the border region that is highly contested by the North and the South. Ethiopia has a tradition of sending peacekeepers around the region when called upon and they’re very good peacekeepers. They have a lot of experience, more than most African countries. The only downside perhaps is that it is fairly close to the Ethiopian border. Ideally, you want your peacekeepers to be a little further away from your own country, although there is land between Abyei and the Ethiopian border that they will not be operating in.

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NNAMDI

African Union peacekeeping missions are relatively a new phenomenon. What has their track record been like E.J.?

EJ Hogendoorn [Project Director, Horn of Africa, International Crisis Group]

Well, it’s been mixed, I think, to some degree. Certainly, they’ve been very helpful in terms of providing troops to these missions, but oftentimes they’ve had some inter-operability challenges that often require some more assistance and help from — intervention from the United Nations. Some of the troops are also of variable quality. Part of the problem with what happened in Abyei was because some of the peacekeepers, these in case coming from Zambia, actually didn’t do the peacekeeping that they were supposed to do.

Obviously, that will be rectified by the Ethiopians who have a much better track record as Ambassador Shinn mentioned and I think this is a learning curve for the African Union also. As you’ve already suggested, the AU is taking on an increasingly important role in peacekeeping on the continent. They’ve got a peacekeeping operation or at least a joint peacekeeping operation in Darfur. They’ve got one in Somalia and what may happen is that the Ethiopian contingent working in Abyei will also be under some kind of an AU/UN umbrella.

NNAMDI

Which brings me back to a point that you made, Ambassador Shinn, that I’d like to ask you to expand on a little bit and that is you don’t necessarily want your peacekeepers keeping the peace that close to home and Abyei is pretty close to Ethiopia.

SHINN

It is close. There is, of course, some land that separates Abyei from the Ethiopian border so it probably will be okay. But in the ideal world, you want your peacekeepers to go one country removed from your borders and my guess is…

NNAMDI

Because you don’t want the conflict spilling back into your own borders?

SHINN

Well, there are too many ethnic groups that overlap borders and there’s always the possibility they can get engaged or be involved in some way. And ideally, you just want to avoid that situation, but there aren’t that many countries that can put forth some really good, experienced peacekeeping battalions and the Ethiopians can so that’s why they’re often selected.

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NNAMDI

Here is Tesfa in Washington, D.C. Tesfa, you’re on the air. Go ahead, please.

TESFA [Caller]

Peacekeeping, while it’s important, the Ethiopian soldiers who went into Somalia created more problems and almost genocide in Somalia. And Sudan is our neighbor. We don’t need more genocide or other trouble with Sudan. We already have enough. Sudan has taken lots of land from Ethiopia which Meles Zenawi provided. Now, in the name of peacekeeping, he’s going to create more trouble with Sudan for Ethiopia. This guy is a genocider and you thank him for creating genocide in Somalia. And is this what you want? The United States, it makes me wonder.

Ethiopia is being hurt. Ethiopia has a…

NNAMDI

Tesfa, Tesfa, allow me to get — Tesfa, allow me to get a response to your question. As you know, there are a lot of Ethiopians living in the Washington area, many of them strongly opposed to the government of Ethiopia. So Tesfa used the g-word. We’ll be discussing that word later in the broadcast, genocide. But in terms of peacekeepers, they can play a vital role in protecting civilians in the midst of conflict, but they don’t necessarily push a situation towards peace. In fact, by stopping fighting in a specific local area — and this question is for you first, Bec Hamilton, they might lock in military outcomes that could turn out to be counterproductive over the long run, can’t they?

HAMILTON [Washington Post]

That’s a possibility but I think the more realistic concern here is the that we’re putting peacekeepers into a situation, assuming that they can take on a different role than what they actually have the capacity to do. A traditional peacekeeping mission is there to, sort of, state the obvious, keep the peace. There has to actually be the political will on both sides for peace to be sustained.

And a peacekeeping operation is actually not the best to put in if you’re trying to stop the fighting between two sides. And we’ve seen this repeatedly in Sudan and particular in Darfur where peacekeeping missions have been sent in without the capacity to really protect civilians if there has been serious belligerency on each side. I would also caution us against assuming that it’s a foregone conclusion that the Ethiopian peacekeepers are actually going to get in there.

While there has been in principle agreement, the challenge is often and actually getting those agreements implemented. So I don’t think we should be, sort of, putting the cup before the horse here.

HOGENDOORN

Well, I certainly would agree with what Becca is saying, at least in terms of cautionary note. At the same time, I do think that if this happens, it could be a step forward. Just a step, of course, because I totally agree with her that ultimately what’s needed is a political agreement between the north and the south, as to how to deal with Abyei. But part of the problem is that both these populations in the region are heavily armed.

They’re militarized and, unfortunately, what has happened is that they’ve used those guns to incite violence and to create more tensions. And having a neutral party try to, at least, increase stability and increase security for both populations would probably be a good thing.

David Shinn, the U.S. is leaning on Ethiopia to provide boots on the ground. Ethiopia has sent troops to Somalia, to aid the provisional government, now is talking about sending troops to Sudan. But what is Ethiopia getting out of this?

SHINN

Well, let me also go back to Tesfa’s comment.

NNAMDI

That’s where I was going.

SHINN

Because I’m on the record as having been opposed to the movement of Ethiopian troops and — to Somalia in 2007. And I rather strongly oppose that. And I believe to this day that was a mistake. Having said that, to suggest what they did in Somalia as genocide is unmitigated nonsense. And Tesfa needs to get his facts straight before he makes those kinds of allegations. And also, they did not go in under African Union auspices or UN auspices. It was not a peacekeeping operation.

It was a bilateral arrangement with the transitional federal government of Somalia. And, as I say, I think it was a mistake. But I think you have to make a distinction between that kind of activity and what the Ethiopians have done in peacekeeping operations, run either by the AU or the UN. And in those contexts, I think they’ve made a very positive contribution.

NNAMDI

How popular are these interventions within Ethiopia, as far as you know?

SHINN

In the case of Somalia, there — I wouldn’t say that they were popular, but there wasn’t a great deal of opposition to them either. I was in Ethiopia on several occasions when these troops were in Somalia and I was surprised at, sort of, the lack of discussion about it, the lack of interest in their being there. I think, eventually, the opposition parties were speaking out against the sending of these troops to Somalia.

As far as their operations in UN or AU peacekeeping operations, I think, there’s more support for that.

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David Shinn is Co-Editor of “The Historical Dictionary of Ethiopia”; and Adjunct Professor at Elliot School of International Affairs, George Washington University.

The interview was hosted at Kojo Nnamdi Show, on June 14, 2011, in a segment titled ‘Instability in Sudan and the Horn of Africa’(link).

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