Rep. Chris Smith
ESAT News (February 16, 2017)
Joined by victims of torture at the hands of the Ethiopian government, Representative Chris Smith and Representative Mike Coffman came together on Wednesday to bring to light the actions of the oppressive Ethiopian regime.
Smith, Chairman of the House Panel on Africa said “For too long the government of Ethiopia has used violence, including the shooting of peaceful protestors, to snuff out any opposition.”
“Simple conversations with the Ethiopian Government have proven to not be enough—the actions of the government have intensified rather than moderated.”
Smith credited Feyisa Lilesa Ethiopian Olympic silver medalist, who showed a symbol of solidarity with the Oromo people in the 2016 Olympics, for “helping to bring the issue to the international stage last year, but we must not let these violations fade from the public eye,”
Smith was speaking at a press conference that coincided with the introduction of the bipartisan H. Res. 128, which offers an outline to bring Ethiopia back onto the path towards Democracy. This resolution is designed to promote democracy and good governance in Ethiopia and, among other key provisions, condemns the actions of the Government of Ethiopia and calls on the Secretary of State to improve the oversight and accountability of U.S. assistance in Ethiopia, according to a release from the congressman’s office.
“This week, my colleagues and I introduced a bipartisan House Resolution calling on the Government of Ethiopia to take clear and decisive steps to respect the human rights for all Ethiopians. The United States has closely observed a pattern of abuse by the Ethiopian government’s security forces while denying too many of its citizens the basic freedoms guaranteed under the Ethiopian constitution,” Coffman said on his part.
Alongside Smith and Coffman was Seenaa Jimjimo, Tewodros Tirfe and Guya Abaguya Deki, who have all seen the abuses of the Ethiopian Government first-hand.
“The Government of Ethiopia has been an active participant in the war on terror,” said Smith. “However their brutal repression has been shown to create the environment where international terrorists thrive and recruit. To truly stop violence abroad, Ethiopia must stop violence at home.”
Smith has chaired three hearings on Ethiopia, the most recent of which looked into the deterioration of the human rights situation in Ethiopia and was titled “Ethiopia After Meles: The Future of Democracy and Human Rights.”