Ethiopian News, Current Affairs and Opinion Forum
temari
Member
Posts: 3743
Joined: 28 Dec 2014, 21:18

Sorry, it is the Govt that blocked the EU from observing. I understand the Govt but I don't blame the EU on this one

Post by temari » 04 May 2021, 03:56

The facts:
1. As far as I know it was the election board that invited the EU and not the government.
2. The EU observer team gave specific reason for their cancellation: they said the government refused to allow their communication system to be imported in the country so they have no other option but to cancel it.

We have to still wait the official reaction from the government and most importantly from the election board. So far the government supporters are making it as if the EU didn't want to observe and blaming the EU for the cancellation and thereby pushing the emotional patriotic rhetoric. Honestly, I'm not buying it. The government needs to come out and tell us why it refused the imports of the communication systems that are crucial for the observation team. You can't practically block the team from interning into your country and at the same time blame them for cancellation too. Until the government comes up with a convincing reason why it blocked the EU, I blame the government not the EU for the cancellation.

With the government supporters and the EU blaming each other, I am all ears to hear what the Ethiopian election board has to say about the issue. Who will the board blame, the EU or the government? Let's wait and see.

Having said that, I understand the government and I think it is not a bad idea this time that it was canceled because the government currently has to deal with so many pressure from in and outside and another pressure from the EU observation team may only make things worse. EU observation mission normally holds too many press conferences thereby generating too much international media attention and forcing the government to react to every of their complaints. I think sitting out this one is not a bad idea. But the blame for the cancellation still goes to the government not to the EU (based on the facts so far).
The EU regrets the refusal of the fulfilment of standard requirements for the deployment of any Electoral Observation Mission, namely the independence of the Mission and the import of mission communication systems, something that is key for the security of EU observers, in particular in the context of a challenging security environment.
Ethiopia: Statement by the High Representative Josep Borrell on the cancellation of the Election Observation Mission