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By Seble Teweldebirhan
Addis Ababa is overwhelmed with conference tourism. From all international events hosted in Addis Ababa last year, the ongoing 19th AU leaders’ ordinary session might hold a special place for several reasons. With a theme of “Boosting Inter African Trade”, the summit is continuing from last July 9. It concludes on the 16th.
Thanks for Malawi’s refusal to entertain Sudanese President Omer Hassan Al-Bashir, who is wanted for genocide and crimes against humanity by the International Criminal Court (ICC), Ethiopia gets to host the AU summit twice in a raw. Since Bashir is a good friend of the country (sometimes the ruling party and the country are interchangeable), he couldn’t find a place safer than Addis Ababa.
Many might think since Ethiopia is not a signatory state for Rome Statute, which is a constituency document for the ICC, it does not have an obligation to hand over Bashir or any other suspect for that matter. However, for the country, Bashir is a family and Ethiopia wouldn’t hesitate to risk its good name as well as credibility to entertain him. Besides, it wouldn’t be fair to blame Ethiopia, since it was the AU itself that was offended by all ICC charges on Africa and refused to recognize and cooperate for any of them. In fact, AU was quick to lobby against the arrest warrant claiming that ICC entirely targeted African countries and the arrest of Al Bashir will worsen the situation in Darfur.
The Union also had a resolution defending Bashir with a statement like ‘AU member states shall not cooperate with the ICC in the arrest and surrender of President al-Bashir of the Sudan’. Malawi was accused of violating this resolution by prioritizing its obligation to ICC than its continental commitment. In fact, Malawi did not hide the reason for its refusal to host Bashir, which is a threat by western donors to cut back some serous cash if the country refuses to hand over Bashir. AU immediately decided to move the venue from Lilongwe to Addis Ababa.
If any one claims African countries lack solidarity (unless there is charity in the picture), this should persuade them to reconsider their thought. African heads of states might hate each other’s guts, fight for minor causes every now and then, support each other’s enemies and stab their neighbors in the back. But when it comes to exposing each other’s crimes, they stick together like no other. That is what real family is all about, right?
Regardless, there is another superpower that might benefit from the venue shift of the AU summit. This provided another golden chance for the continents current beloved friend China to glamor again. Since the shiny 200 million dollars Chinese built AU head quarter still has a lot to show and African leaders didn’t get enough of thanking the Chinese government, this is an opportunity to admire the generosity and architectural faculty of China.
For Ethiopians, this Summit has a lot to do with their internal politics. This was our chance to stop the rumor about PM Meles Zenawi illness. Since Ethiopians are not entitled for many of the information that directly affects their future, finding the truth requires relating facts and coming to some sort of conclusion.
For the last several weeks, the health of the PM has been an issue for the public. The rumor by the social Media that the PM is in a critical condition reached the public and created a serious uncertainty and suspicion. During the opening of the summit today, all eyes were on the leaders hoping to find the friendly Meles greeting other African leaders. To the disappointment of many, that did not happen. Instead, Deputy prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Haile Mariam Deslgne showed up alone. If this proves that Meles Zenawi is as ill as the social Media are trying to put it, then Ethiopians might have some serious issues to think over.
Whether likely or unlikely true, Ethiopian officials have released several informal statements saying the PM is simply exhausted and taking rest. Still, the old saying goes there is no smoke without fire. The rumors and PM’s absence in several recent events in the past weeks and now in AU summit hosted by his nation, might tell a different story than what officials are trying to establish.
For ordinary citizens of Addis Ababa, who might not have any interest or benefit from the summit, the case is quite different. Whenever such a major event is hosted in Addis Ababa, for many it means no transportation, long hours of traffic and most annoyingly mistreatment from the federal police. The events will make Addis like a war zone. The federal police wearing military uniform and holding long lashes will show residents the most unwelcome face possible. Most federal police officers in Ethiopia seem to have a military order not to smile at any Ethiopian. The funny part is that they are extremely nice to the foreigners or cars with a VIP budge. The rest is nothing but a distraction for them. Their attitude is never asking cooperation from the residents. It is more like get out of our faces, don’t make anyone see you and you should stay at home
For the residents who mostly are on the run of finding a daily bread, these attitudes are as disturbing as it gets. But confrontation is never an option. Rule number one in Ethiopia is ‘don’t mess up with the federal police’. The safest road will be doing what they say and telling them they are right. These niceties might get residents wherever they want to be peacefully.
All in all, the summit will conclude tomorrow. For the leaders of Africa and the delegates who will be back to their countries, things will get normal a lot faster. For Ethiopians though, until they see their PM on the public sphere again, going back to normal might take time. At the minimum, they are set to waste several office and coffee hours gossiping about what and if regarding the health and whereabouts of PM Meles Zenawi.
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Seble Teweldebirhan is Addis Ababa based Reporter for Ezega.com. She can be reached by sending email through this form.
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