VZCZCXRO0908
OO RUEHROV
DE RUEHDS #3100 3190903
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 140903Z NOV 08
FM AMEMBASSY ADDIS ABABA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2731
INFO RUCNIAD/IGAD COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATE
RUEWMFD/HQ USAFRICOM STUTTGART GE IMMEDIATE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEPADJ/CJTF HOA IMMEDIATE
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE

UNCLAS ADDIS ABABA 003100 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KDEM PGOV EAID PHUM ET
SUBJECT: WITH CSO LAW, GOE TELLS DONORS TO BACK OFF 
 
REF: A. ADDIS 2846 (AND PREVIOUS) 
     ¶B. GONZALES-AF/E E-MAIL NOV. 10 
     ¶C. ADDIS 2482 
 
¶1. (U) After months of U.S. and donor engagement (Ref. A) 
with the Ethiopian Government (GoE) to mitigate the impact of 
a draft Charities and Societies Proclamation (CSO law), the 
GoE released on November 7 what is expected to be the final 
draft of the law before it is submitted to Parliament.  This 
fourth draft (Ref. B) does not incorporate any of the changes 
requested or address any of the concerns raised by successive 
waves of donor ambassadors and principals from capitals.  In 
fact, the only substantive change made actually reverses the 
reduced criminal penalties inserted into the third draft, 
raising fine and imprisonment penalties higher than ever 
previously proposed.  All other major provisions of concern 
to the USG, Ethiopian civil society, and other donors remain 
unchanged, including the 10 percent funding threshold over 
which CSOs will be considered "foreign," the prohibition on 
administrative expenses exceeding 30 percent, the prohibition 
on "foreign" CSOs from engaging in human rights, democratic 
rights, gender equality, conflict resolution, promoting the 
efficiency of law enforcement, or children's or disabled 
rights. 
 
¶2. (U) While this latest version has not yet been formally 
submitted to Parliament, we expect the Council of Ministers 
to endorse the new text at its standing meeting on November 
14 or 21 before submitting it to Parliament.  Once submitted 
to Parliament, the House will deliberate on the draft law 
(commonly known as the first reading) and will send it to the 
appropriate committee(s) for further debate.  At this point, 
the committee will conduct stakeholder hearings, according to 
Speaker Teshome Toga.  Following any amendments by the 
committee, the draft will be re-presented to the House for 
further deliberation (the second reading).  In the rare event 
that the House believes that further deliberation is 
necessary, it may pass the draft back to the committee. 
Otherwise it will present the draft for a vote. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Donor representatives throughout Addis Ababa view 
the GoE's rejection of all donor requested amendments and the 
toughened penalties in the third draft as a direct affront to 
the international community.  The UK, French, and U.S. 
ambassadors are extremely disappointed with the latest draft 
which ignores the specific points of concerned raised by the 
ambassadors over a series of meetings with the Prime 
Minister.  Much like was done with the Press Law, in this 
case too the GoE made minor cosmetic amendments to the early 
draft text, but when faced with sustained international 
engagement to mitigate the remaining negative elements, the 
Ethiopian executive again revised the text, stripping out 
some earlier improvements and toughening the ultimate text. 
We, like our donor partners in Ethiopia, clearly view the 
GoE's latest draft as a clear message that the GoE has 
decided its course of action and donors should back off. 
While there remains a possibility that Parliament could 
positively amend the draft before making the CSO proclamation 
into law, recent history with similarly contentious laws has 
shown that such is unlikely.  Embassy Addis Ababa will 
continue to engage senior GoE and Parliamentary officials 
about our concerns regarding the implications of this bill 
and will continue to leverage visits by USG principals to do 
the same.  At the same time, we again encourage Washington to 
consider releasing a statement in coordination with major 
European partners, including the UK and France, on the CSO 
law along the lines of that proposed in Ref. C. 
YAMAMOTO