Support for Democracy and Human Rights in Ethiopia Act of 2008

On September 9th, 2008, Sen. Russ Feingold (D-WI), Chairman of the Subcommittee on African Affairs, introduced a bill entitled Support for Democracy and Human Rights in Ethiopia Act of 2008 to the Senate, which then referred it to the Committee on Foreign Relations. The bill is co-sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT).

The bill asserts that Ethiopia is one of the poorest and most famine-prone countries in the world, with more than half of the population of 78,000,000 living on less than $1 per day, and that credible human rights groups have documented the government's security forces unjustifiably brutal tactics against their own citizens in many regions of the country, including Ogaden, Oromiya, Amhara, and Gambella.

Among other purposes, the bill is meant to seek the unconditional release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience [about 85% of whom belong to the Oromo ethnic nation], to stop US support to any unit of Ethiopia's security forces if the human rights violations are supported by credible evidence, and to urge the Ethiopian government to comply with the EEBC decisions regarding the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Read the full text of S.3457 Bill here.