Just Out Of Jail, Ethiopian Leader Brings A Sharp Message To Obama
Just a few months ago, Bekele Gerba was languishing in a high security Ethiopian jail, hearing the cries of fellow prisoners being beaten and tortured. Now, the 54-year-old foreign language professor is in Washington, D.C., for meetings at the State Department. His message: The Obama administration should pay more attention to the heavy-handed way its ally, Ethiopia, treats political opponents — and should help Ethiopians who are losing their ability to earn a living.
Gerba is a leader of the Oromo Federalist Congress, a political party that represents one of the country's largest ethnic groups. With estimated numbers of about 30 million, the Oromo make up about a third of Ethiopia's population.
In 2011, Gerba was arrested after meeting with Amnesty International researchers and sent to prison on what he calls trumped-up terrorism charges, often used in Ethiopia against political dissidents. In court he made remarks that have been widely circulated in Ethiopia and beyond: "I am honored to learn that my non-violent struggles and humble sacrifices for the democratic and human rights of the Oromo people, to whom I was born without a wish on my part but due to the will of the Almighty, have been considered a crime and to be unjustly convicted."
Gerba was released from jail this spring in advance of President Obama's July visit to Ethiopia. A soft-spoken man, who seemed exhausted by his prison ordeal and his numerous appearances at U.S. universities and think tanks, Gerba tells NPR that Obama's trip sent all the wrong messages.
"He [Obama] shouldn't have shown any solidarity with that kind of government, which is repressive, very much authoritarian and very much disliked by its own people," Gerba says.
Since Ethiopia's ruling party and its allies control all of parliament, his party doesn't have a voice, he says. What's more, he says, his people are being pushed off their land by international investors.
"The greatest land grabbers are now the Indians and Chinese ... there are Saudi Arabians as well," he says, adding that many families are being evicted and losing their livelihoods.
Gerba says those who do get jobs are paid a dollar a day, which he describes as a form of slavery. He is urging the U.S. to use its aid to Ethiopia as leverage to push the government to give workers more rights and allow people to form labor unions.
Gerba's case has been featured in the State Department's annual human rights reports. He describes himself as a Christian who believes in nonviolence and says he spent his four years in prison pouring over the sermons and speeches of Martin Luther King and translating them into the Oromo language for a book that he hopes to see published. The title: "I Had A Dream."
Bekele Gerba is not sure what he will face when he returns home from the U.S. When he was jailed, his wife, a high school teacher, lost her job. His family has struggled financially and psychologically.
"Nobody is actually sure in Ethiopia what will happen to him anytime," he says. "Anytime, people can be arrested, harassed or killed or disappeared."
Still, he plans to return home next week. He's expected to return to his job at the Foreign Languages Department at Addis Ababa University.
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Transcript
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Now we're going to hear about a man who was in an Ethiopian prison just a few months ago. Today, he's here in Washington meeting with government officials and drawing large crowds at academic conferences. The former professor is urging the U.S. to pay more attention to human rights abuses in a country that President Obama visited earlier this summer. NPR's Michele Kelemen brings us his story.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Bekele Gerba was released from jail just a few months before President Obama visited Ethiopia, a trip, he says, sent all the wrong messages.
BEKELE GERBA: He shouldn't have shown any solidarity with that kind of government that is repressive and very much authoritarian and very much disliked by its own people.
KELEMEN: The 54-year-old is a leader of a political party that represents the Oromo, one of the country's largest ethnic groups. Size, however, is no guarantee of a political voice. He lost his bid for parliament, and he says the Oromo are politically marginalized and are being pushed off their land as the government makes deals with international investors.
GERBA: The greatest land grabbers are now the Indians and the Chinese. In fact, there are Saudi Arabians as well. So many people are being evicted. Especially, the Oromos are being evicted as a result of this. So many people have become jobless and families destroyed.
KELEMEN: And those who do get jobs, he says, are paid a dollar a day, wages he calls a form of slavery. He's urging the U.S. to use its aid to Ethiopia as leverage to push the government there to give workers the right to organize.
GERBA: What Americans consumers can do is not to buy products which these hungry Ethiopians are producing. It is immoral to buy these things and these goods and to encourage the producers to continue in the future.
KELEMEN: Gerba didn't name any specific products, and most of them are exported to China, India and Saudi Arabia. He acknowledges that the U.S. doesn't have influence over those business dealings. The State Department wouldn't comment on his boycott call. Gerba's case has been featured in the department's annual human rights reports. A former foreign language professor, he was arrested in 2011 after meeting with Amnesty International researchers and sent to prison on terrorism charges.
The U.S. has criticized Ethiopia for using laws aimed at terrorists to crack down on political opponents. Gerba says he's a Christian and believes in nonviolence. And in his four years in prison, as he heard the cries of other of Oromo being beaten and tortured, Gerba spent a lot of time poring over the collected writings of Martin Luther King.
GERBA: I translated this book into my own language - the Oromo language - and it is now ready for publication.
KELEMEN: Bekele Gerba is not sure what he will face when he returns home from the U.S.
GERBA: Nobody's actually sure in Ethiopia what will happen to him anytime. Anytime, people can be arrested, anytime, can be harassed, can be beaten or killed or disappear. I don't know what will happen to me, but I'm determined to go back again.
KELEMEN: Gerba plans to return home next week and expects to start teaching again at Addis Ababa University. Michele Kelemen, NPR News, the State Department. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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