cartoon by John Tenniel in Punch (10 August 1867), showing Britannia threatening King Tewodros - Courtesy: Wikipedia

To cut a long story short, Queen Victoria announced the decision of sending a military expedition to free the European hostages. Lieutenanet-General Sir Robert Napier was chosen to command the expeditionary force who found it easy to defeat Emperor Tewodros whose power base had already been weakened by rebellion and defection. However, the expedition which became synonymous with the commander’s name failed to fulfill one of its objectives; and that’s capturing the King alive. After releasing the prisoners in the final act of magnanimity, Tewodros denied Napier the chance by committing suicide thereby turning Magdala, his last fortress, into a symbol of defiance.

Sir Robert Napier - Wikipedia

The fortress of Magdala burning after the British expeditionary force defeated Tewodros of Ethiopia.

That’s ancient history played out at a time where no veneer of civilization were put in place to resolve disputes. Unfortunately,even after the adoption of international norms where all states are supposedly bound by it, we’re still witnessing hostage taking under various pretexts. While the culprits are mostly tin-pot dictators who rule over failed states, the responses to their hostage taking by the so-called international community is also varied depending upon other interests ranging from “economy” to “strategy.” If the dictator is one who has already got in the way of Western interest, his hostage taking of the citizens of the Western world would be additional cause for condemnation which sometimes may entail military action. That’s why the “international community” that passed sanction on Isaias Afeworki, who incidentally jailed an Eritrean-born Swedish journalist called Dawit Isaak, treats Meles Zenawi with a kid’s glove despite slapping via his kangaroo court two Swedish journalists named Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye to 11 years of imprisonment.

Apart from Sweden’s pacifist tradition that’s anathema to drastic measures such as the Napier Expedition, Zenawi “scored” his latest victory in Somalia which would endear him more as an “ally on the war on terror.” This along with his successful pandering to the Western interest by doling out all the arable lands to so-called investors would even prevent the poor Swedish officials from describing him as a “village tyrant” like Idi Amin Dada, a former dictator of Uganda. What’s more, in 1995, a Swedish Ambassador with 17 other Western ambassadors in Ethiopia expressed his government’s unconditional support to the Ethiopian regime in a joint letter despite the regime’s unpopularity and lack of mandate to rule Ethiopians. Worse, latest reports implicated Swedish officials involvement with business interest in Ethiopia that apparently gagged them from expressing a strong stance against the Ethiopian regime over its jailing of their compatriots. According to the Swedish media, the Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt was a board member of Lundin Petroleum, a company that’s engaged in the oil exploration business in the Somali Region of Ethiopia (Ogaden), Southeast of Ethiopia where the Ethiopian regime has been accused of committing crimes against humanity and from where the Swedish journalists got picked. The Ethiopian regime has made Ogaden a no-go area by denying access to all independent journalists and human rights workers.

PM Meles Zenawi

Mohammed Al Amoudi

Yet, the situation is not that gloomy, so long as the Swedish officials had the will to see their citizens freed. Employing their “quiet diplomacy” they can quietly resort to seeking the intercession of a Saudi or Ethiopian tycoon; Sheikh Mohammed Al Amoudi. In addition to his immense wealth that enabled him to own Zenawi & Co. in his pocket, reports indicate that he is also one of the largest investor in Sweden. Since unbridled greed is the prime motivator in our “global”village, I am certain that Al Amoudi would intercede on behalf of them provided the Swedes are smart enough to part company with a few million dollars for Zenawi’s latest siphoning scheme called “the renaissance dam.” After all, their counterparts in the United States applied a similar method in order to free their citizens who found themselves in a bad fix after wandering in places such as North Korea, Iran etc. Meanwhile,any foreign news outlet desirous of venturing in Ethiopia by sending a correspondent or by recruiting a local one must bear in mind that he or she can only report on soft issues such as the spread of Khat (a narcotic leaf) chewing in Addis without touching upon the fact that Zenawi himself is reportedly addicted to the stuff, not to mention his wife’s profiteering from the proceeds of the sale. Of course, that’s no journalism.

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Mr. Hussain is an Ethiopian Human Rights Defender exiled in Uganda. He can be reached at
E-Mail: kiflukam@yahoo.com

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