allAfrica.com: Ethiopia: We're Making Progress on Democracy and Aids, Says Ethiopia's Meles (Page 1 of 3)

Dialogue with Eritrea Essential for Peace

Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who leads the nation with the oldest recorded history and the second-largest population in Africa, is both assuming a larger role on the world stage and, simultaneously, campaigning for reelection at home. Last year, he was tapped to join the 17-member Commission on Africa, established by British Prime Minister Tony Blair, which is expected to issue an action plan “for a strong and prosperous Africa” late next month. Meles also continues as a co-chair of the Global Coalition for Africa (GCA), which holds annual policy forums for African leaders and policy experts that are designed to generate support for African development.

At home, Meles and his ruling EPRDF (Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front) are resisting electoral challenges from a range of opposition parties while also searching for solutions to such serious problems as recurring famine throughout the country and a border dispute with neighboring Eritrea that erupted into full-scale war in 1998, claiming some 100,000 lives. In an interview with AllAfrica’s Reed Kramer during this year’s GCA forum last week in Addis Ababa, Meles defended his government’s policy and outlined his approach to a number of domestic and foreign policy challenges.

Being here in Addis, it is obvious that the country is in the midst of an election campaign. There was no democracy under Emperor Haile Selassie or the military regime that ousted him in 1974 and ruled until the EPRDF took power in 1991. How would you evaluate the status of democracy in Ethiopia today?

I think it is evolving and evolving in the right direction. Obviously, democracy in Ethiopia, as on the rest of the continent, is a work in progress. But we have a very recognizably democratic system. We have over sixty opposition parties and most of them have so far indicated that they want to participate. Over the past two to three months we've had intensive debates through the public media on issues of concern to the Ethiopian electorate. My expectation is that we will continue these debates right up to election day. We intend to make sure that this election is flawless. We will work together with the opposition parties and the international community to have a flawless election.

Your opponents have said they don’t have the access to the media that they need to campaign. Do they have a case?

I think this is nonsense. First, there are over 80 magazines and newspapers in Ethiopia. Most of them espouse the ideals of the opposition parties. In any case, we don’t control access to this media. As far as public media is concerned, every Sunday for several hours, we have had debates about the issues that the electorate is concerned about. Third, for the election process, the ministry of information has allocated access - air time - to the parties. The ruling party has well over 85 percent of the seats in parliament and has been given 46 percent of air time. The opposition have less than 12 seats in parliament and have been given over 50 percent of air time. If anybody has the right to complain, it would be the ruling party.

Your government started distribution of anti-retroviral drugs this week. How do you evaluate the progress of the campaign against HIV/Aids in Ethiopia?

The infection rates have stabilized, but that’s not good enough because they have stabilized at a high level. Therefore, we are encouraged by the fact that the rate has stabilized, but we recognize that we need to be more aggressive. We unveiled a more aggressive, more comprehensive strategy of tackling HIV/Aids, which includes provision of anti-retrovirals, provision of voluntary testing and counseling in combination with preventive work. On the whole, I’m encouraged, but I also recognize that we face a very serious challenge and we have to preempt it.

And you’re working in concert with international agencies on this?

Yes. The Global Fund [to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria] has been most helpful. The United States has also been very helpful, and many of our other development partners have chipped in too.

You said recently that donors should quadruple aid to Ethiopia. Why is that justified and can Ethiopia really make effective use of that level of assistance?

Ethiopia is getting, in per capita terms, half of the average aid [received by] sub-Saharan African countries. Secondly, the World Bank carried out a study of countries that can effectively use additional development assistance, and it came up with a list of ten countries. Ethiopia is one of them. And so an independent study by a respected international body has identified Ethiopia as being able to use additional resources effectively. The fact that we get half as much as the average African countries seems to indicate that we need to get more.

What are your priorities for that aid if it came?

It would be infrastructure and rural development.

You've also said fair trade is key to fighting poverty in Ethiopia. Why?

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