ETHIOPIA & PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR
0349 HONORARY DOCTORATE
[This is the justification for an honorary doctorate which ultimately provoked such controversy, but it is also a sound description of Meles Zenawi’s work in Ethiopia]
JUSTIFICATION OF THE AWARD OF AN HONORARY DOCTORATE
TO MELES ZENAWI - PRESIDENT OF ETHIOPIA
1. SUMMARY
The members of the School of Management are proposing that Meles Zenawi is awarded an honorary doctorate not because of his eminence - he is president of the second largest (60 million population) Sub-Saharan African country - but because of the achievements listed in the third section of this document. He has brought peace to Ethiopia after more than three decades war. He has brought a genuine, Western style, democracy to Ethiopia, for the first time ever. He has brought a workable social democracy to Ethiopia, including running the most successful structural adjustment programme the IMF has seen. He also has rapidly become a statesman on the world scene, leading peace-making efforts in Somalia and Sudan. Slightly less notably, to the outside world, he is the top student on the OBS MBA programme, scheduled to receive an MBA - with an unsurpassable four distinctions - this year.
He is undoubtedly the OU's most eminent student, and is emerging as one of the world's truly great leaders.
e) Becoming the top student in the OBS - this is a minor achievement in comparison with those on the world stage - but one very firmly building the strongest links with the OU. He is not merely the most eminent student in OBS but also its highest achiever academically.
2. ETHIOPIAN BACKGROUND
a) THE WAR FOR FREEDOM
In 1974 Meles Zenawi was, along with a number of other students who are now members of the government of Ethiopia, studying for his first degree at the University of Addis Abeba. In that year, the leader, Mengistu, of the then military (Marxist) government, the Derg which had seized power by a military coup, shut down the university (the only one in Ethiopia) and sent the students out to work in the country. Meles returned to his home province of Tigray, where he became involved in the struggle for freedom - and did not return to Addis for nearly two decades.
The party he eventually led, the TPLF (Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front), fought alongside their neighbours in Eritrea (the EPLF, the Eritrean Peoples' Liberation Front, who had already been fighting the Addis government for a decade) initially in a guerrilla war. Subsequently this escalated into a full scale war, with hundreds of thousands of troops (and thousands of armoured vehicles) taking part in some of the most important (but unreported) battles of the last quarter of a century.
The military campaigns were based on some of the most brilliant strategies to emerge since the last war. They resulted in the TPLF (backed by the resources of only ten per cent of the country) beating the sitting government (which was heavily supported by Moscow), despite the fact that only the Italians had previously won a military victory over a country which is characterised by abysses (hence its previous name of Abyssinia) in mountainous terrain most of which is over 9,000 ft high.
The justification is not, however, based on their military prowess; though one anecdote will indicate that even this was based on more humane principles than have previously applied.
The Prisoner of War's Choice - soldiers captured by the TPLF were given three choices:
I) To fight with the TPLF - which many did (and died for the cause).
II) To go abroad - in practice this was usually to Khartoum.
III) TO GO HOME - after three months of gentle indoctrination, they were sent home; where the Derg immediately conscripted them once more into the army!
The genius of this approach, which characterised much of the TPLF's thinking, was that not merely did they do the 'right thing' but, when these troops next went into battle for the Derg, they persuaded their fellow soldiers to surrender - so that they could all go home again!
On March 29 1991, after 17 years of war, the TPLF (led by Meles) entered Addis Abeba and set up the new government.
b) THE TRANSITIONAL GOVERNMENT OF ETHIOPIA (TGE)
Despite looking like a typical military junta (dominated by a very strong president, Meles), the TPLF (strongly influenced by Meles) set peace and democracy as their two highest priorities. As a result, they saw themselves as a transitional government (and deliberately adopted that title), whose role was to put in place the processes for democratic elections to take place - so that they could then hand power over to that elected government. At the same time, and following the same principles, they expanded their party to become the EPRDF (the Ethiopian Peoples' Revolutionary Democratic Front) which no longer was dominated by Tigrayans but incorporated representatives from all the regions (and all the ethnic groups) of Ethiopia. They also took into the (coalition) government all the other parties, with the exception of the Derg (though, before its members fled the country before the end of the war, they too had been invited to join), and shared power with them.
c) PEACE
They then set about establishing peace throughout the country. This was mainly achieved by diplomacy, where most of the subsistence farmers who make up 95% of the population were only too pleased to have peace, though limited military operations (with very few casualties) had to be undertaken in some areas (such as those close to Somalia, where control of the Chat - drug - trade was the main obstacle to peace).
The only major threat to peace came in 1992 when the main opposition party, the Orrumo Liberation Front (OLF), pulled out of the coalition government and brought its 20,000+ troops out of their camps to start a civil war; when it realised that it would not win power by democratic means. This was a very real threat, since the country has an ethnic/regional mix which is as potentially explosive as that in the former Yugoslavia. In addition the number of troops involved, perhaps as many as 100,000 in total, dwarfed the numbers in the other conflicts currently under way round the world.
Again the EPRDF won the battle very convincingly (in under three weeks) using deliberately humane tactics designed to minimise casualties. Their troops were only allowed to use hand weapons, and the prime thrust was diplomatic; and most of the OLF troops were either captured by, or handed themselves over to, the local farmers rather than EPRDF troops. As a result less than 300 casualties were reported - certainly a record low figure for a civil war on this scale.
The country is now peaceful in all areas; despite being surrounded by countries with very blood civil wars under way.
d) DEMOCRACY
The government immediately introduced free speech without any limits (freer, say, than the UK). It also encouraged other political parties; taking most of these into government to share power. It has only banned two parties, one of which is the OLF, which will not renounce violence - and are committed to renewing the civil war; though the deliberately misleading propaganda put out by the very effective PR machine of the OLF - based in New York - claims otherwise.
At a seminar on civil rights in Ethiopia, run in 1992 at the OU by members of the Technology Faculty, Africa Watch actually praised the EPRDF government for its record on civil rights (and, conversely, criticised the OLF for the massacres it had already been involved in, even before it tried to start another civil war!). Civil rights are genuinely respected. Even the few hundred identified (Derg) war criminals, who committed atrocities during the earlier civil war, are held (typically under house arrest) awaiting trial by a Western appointed panel of judges. Nobody has been executed for these crimes.
Unusually for an African government, it has campaigned very actively against corruption (including having no police force for the best part of a year, so that it could ensure that its members had no taint of corruption); and the evidence is - again unusually for Africa (and most Third World countries)- that no (senior) member of it has abused power in any significant manner.
In 1992 the government ran elections for the regional assemblies - where the emerging constitution devolves most power to the regions. These were run democratically on Western lines, overseen by the Western ambassadors. Despite being the first elections ever held in Ethiopia, and the difficulties posed by much of the country being nearly two days walk from the nearest road, they were the subject of very little criticism from the West; and even that was concerned with the efficiency of the operation (and was, in any case, opposed by the local ambassadors who believed it was, under the circumstances, a very democratic process).
National elections were due to be held in November 1993, but the UNDP (backed by the Western ambassadors) who are advising the government on the elections, asked that the government postpone them by a year so that the full infra-structure was in place. The government has reluctantly accepted this delay, and a referendum on the proposed (Again Western style, democratic) constitution will now be run in June this year, to be followed by the national elections in November (where the rainy season between these two dates rules out any earlier date).
It should be noted that we are recommending that the award of the honorary doctorate is not formally approved until the national elections have been held (in November), and have been declared fair by the UNDP and the Western ambassadors supervising them. We believe that there will be no problems - but clearly this is a potentially sensitive issue.
e) SECESSION OF ERITREA
Despite much controversy in the rest of Ethiopia, in 1992, following a local referendum, the government formally agreed to Eritrea seceding; to become a country in its own right. This was the first ever example of such a secession being allowed in Africa - and one of the first ever anywhere.
d) MARXISM TO FREE-MARKET CAPITALISM
The government entered office as Marxists; though not as clients of Moscow (that role had been, rather confusingly, taken by their opponents, the Derg). Their commitment was, however, very much to a form of popular communism. Tigray, which they had ruled for three years before achieving their final victory over the rest of the country, was (and still is) mainly run by a collection of local village groups organised on democratic (and not party) lines. Even so, on entering office they committed themselves to become social democrats. Though it seems as if everyone around the world now claims to be a social democrat, they do seem to genuinely fulfil the role (and certainly believe in it). They have not abandoned the key socialist elements of their philosophy, but they have accepted almost all (possibly all) the requirements for a free market economy. They have removed all bars to private business and are privatising almost all the nationalised industries.
They are a pragmatic government who genuinely believe they are in power to represent the people. Indeed, at least in some respects, they could be offered as a model for future developments in Western government. They are one of the few governments around the world which actually does offer 'government of the people, for the people, by the people'.
e) THIRD WORLD DEVELOPMENT
Ethiopia is reportedly the second poorest country in the world, with a per capita annual income of only $100. It has endured a drought in the northern part of the country (mainly in Tigray) for eight years (and is still dependent there on half a million tons of food aid each year), and this year it has spread to large parts of the rest of the country - so that now up to 8 million are at risk (and the extra aid needed is slow in arriving).
Most (90%+) of the population depends on subsistence agriculture, and this is the focus of the government's activities. It is extending the lessons it learned in Tigray - where (in order to best conserve the water and topsoil) a mountainous province the size of Scotland was terraced by hand from the tops of the (16,000 foot high) mountains to the bottoms of the valleys in less than two years - to other parts of Ethiopia; and the indications are that in may other areas these lessons are being taken up much more enthusiastically than expected. All farmers have been given security of tenure.
In terms of industry, it is trying to avoid the problems experienced by other African countries, by setting as its objective 'agriculture led industry'. The multinationals have been kept at arms length, apart from a limited number chosen specifically for their 'ethical' reputation (such as RTZ, where OU staff have been helping establish contact).
f) MACRO-ECONOMIC POLICY
Ethiopia is now the IMF's favourite example of a success story; and, accordingly, the World Bank has now granted it a $1 billion package of industrial development loans outside of those necessary for survival and structural adjustment. Based in part on OU advice, it has followed the IMF plan to the letter, including a halving of the exchange rate, and yet has held inflation in single figures.
g) OU INVOLVEMENT
In 1990, we were asked by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, who had been approached via their ambassador (James Glaze) in Ethiopia, by the Ethiopian government itself, to institute a training programme for senior members of that government. In consultation with the Director of the British Council in Addis Abeba (then Bruce Nightingale and later Michael Sargent) we established that the OU MBA programme was the most suitable for their requirements. Funded by the ODA, and supported by 20+ seeks a year of face-to-face teaching by senior OBS academics, this programme has been running since the beginning of 1991; and the first MBAs will graduate at the end of this year (with the degree ceremony planned for 18 April 1995).
In total more than 30 members of government have been taught during the programme, and it is expected that at least 13 of these will receive MBAs (with up to 9 completing this year). The students have included a wide range of people, from the army though various ministries to the heads of the aid agencies. In particular, however, they have included - as part of the core of students who will graduate this year - the President himself (Meles Zenawi), the Prime Minister (Tamrat Layne) and the Mister of Defence (Seeye Abraha). These three are the most powerful members of the government; and their participation as normal (OU) university students must be unique for any country in the world - and clearly demonstrates their desire to learn (to find the best solution to their country's problems).
The programme has reportedly been very influential; one of the earlier reports from their side simply described it as 'having a significant impact on the future of society in Ethiopia'; and these core students have certainly pursued the course material with much greater application (and intelligence) than their UK counterparts - who are, in their own right, amongst the best students in the UK.
In particular, Meles Zenawi himself is undoubtedly the top student in the OBS. Despite being offered no special treatment in his assessments (indeed, with more rigorous TMA marking than normal and blind marking of exam scripts -double checked by the course teams) he has so far achieved four distinctions on the four MBA options he has taken; thus setting a record which cannot be surpassed. He has done this in his third language, in his spare time while running a country!
3 SPECIFIC JUSTIFICATION
The specific reasons why he is worthy of the award of an honorary doctorate are:
a) Bringing peace to Ethiopia - he has clearly fulfilled his first objective of bringing peace to the whole country. This was no mean achievement, since it has to be realised that Ethiopia had been continuously involved in large-scale, debilitating wars (both internal and external) for more than three decades (longer than almost any other country, including Vietnam). In addition, the country had, over this time, seemed to become ungovernable (and was potentially a time-bomb of inter-tribal conflict).
b) Bringing democracy to Ethiopia - he has clearly - by any standards - fulfilled his aim of bringing genuine, Western style, democracy to the country - for the first time ever (and, once more, almost uniquely for Africa and most of the Third World).
c) Bringing a workable social democracy to Ethiopia - he has also succeeded in building a sound combination of what is best in the Western market system with that which is best in socialism. Without many of the advantages of Eastern Europe, he has steered Ethiopia through the most successful structural adjustment programme the IMF has seen. He has led the country into a free market system, and has initiated a successful privatisation of almost all of the nationalised industries. In comparison with Eastern Europe, Ethiopia's (and his) transformation from Marxism to Western Capitalism has been nothing short of miraculous.
d) Becoming a statesman on the world scene - in a very short time he has also taken on himself (leading other presidents in the area) to resolve - with some limited success (and certainly greater success than the UN!) - the intractable problems of the countries around Ethiopia; most notably Somalia and Sudan.
e) Becoming the top student in the OBS - this is a minor achievement in comparison with those on the world stage - but one very firmly building the strongest links with the OU. He is not merely the most eminent student in OBS but also its highest achiever academically.
Note: the information contained in this document has been obtained from first hand contact with the senior members of the government of Ethiopia, backed up by regular consultation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Over the past three years, members of the eight person OBS tutorial team involved (David Asch, David McKevitt, Tony Stapleton, Graeme Salaman, Peter Stratfold, Jane Henry, Richard Wheatcroft and David Mercer) have had literally hundreds of hours face-to-face (often one-on-one) contact with the three most senior members of government there; far greater access than was available to almost anyone else, even those in the rest of that government (and many times higher than for any diplomat). During this time, in particular, David Mercer (the project director), from time to time (especially during crises), also acted as an informal conduit between the Western ambassadors and the Ethiopian government. The result is that we believe we are better informed about the subject of the proposed award than about almost any other previous candidate!
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