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When the oppressive Marxist-Leninst dictatorship of the Derg collapsed in 1991, there was hope that a new era might begin for a democratic Ethiopia. However, backed by the United States, the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Front established a government that would not share power. Instead of a transition to democracy, the EPRF denied opposition parties meaningful participation in elections, violated human rights, and intensified ethnic distrust among the people. According to critics, repressions of the government are on a scale equivalent to those of the world's worst dictatorships. Vestal examines the plight of the Ethiopian people and counters questionable government pronouncements. He concludes with suggestions for a revised U.S. policy toward Ethiopia and for peaceful negotiations between the government and its political opposition to develop a more democratic approach.
Ethiopia, an African nation with close ties to the United States dating from World War II, is a troubled land. When the oppressive Marxist-Leninist dictatorship of the Derg collapsed in 1991, there was hope that a new era might begin for a democratic Ethiopia. However, backed by the U.S., the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front established a government that would not share power. Instead of a transition to democracy, the EPRDF denied opposition parties meaningful participation in elections, violated human rights, and intensified ethnic distrust among the people.
According to critics, repressions of the government are on a scale equivalent to those of the world's worst dictatorships. Vestal examines the plight of the Ethiopian people and counters questionable government pronouncements. He concludes with suggestions for a revised U.S. policy toward Ethiopia and for peaceful negotiations between the government and its political opposition to develop a more democratic approach.
| Preface | ||
| Acronyms | ||
| Pt. I | The Transition Period, 1991-1995 | 1 |
| 1 | The EPRDF Comes to Power | 3 |
| 2 | The Importance of Political Definitions | 13 |
| 3 | Squelching the UDN: Previews of Coming Attractions | 23 |
| 4 | 1992 Elections | 29 |
| 5 | Early Signs of Autocracy in the TGE | 45 |
| 6 | Human Rights Abuses by the TGE | 55 |
| 7 | The Strategy of the EPRDF | 63 |
| 8 | Drafting and Approving a New Constitution | 83 |
| 9 | An Analysis of the Constitution of the FDRE | 91 |
| 10 | Organizing Revolutionary Democracy | 103 |
| 11 | The Kitab of the TGE: Final Reckoning | 111 |
| Pt. II | The Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, 1995-Present | 117 |
| 12 | Government of the FDRE | 119 |
| 13 | Human Rights in the FDRE | 129 |
| 14 | Freedom of Association in the FDRE | 143 |
| 15 | The Mischief of Ethnic Factions in the FDRE | 165 |
| 16 | The Economy of "Revolutionary Democracy" | 173 |
| 17 | The Political Theory of the EPRDF | 183 |
| 18 | Next Steps Towards Democracy | 191 |
| App | Some Business Establishments of the EPRDF/TPLF | 213 |
| Selected Bibliography | 219 | |
| Index | 225 |
Overview
When the oppressive Marxist-Leninst dictatorship of the Derg collapsed in 1991, there was hope that a new era might begin for a democratic Ethiopia. However, backed by the United States, the Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Front established a government that would not share power. Instead of a transition to democracy, the EPRF denied opposition parties meaningful participation in elections, violated human rights, and intensified ethnic distrust among the people. According to critics, repressions of the government...