OSG PRESS RELEASE SUMMARY October -
November 1998
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Political killings, disappearances, arbitrary detention, rape and torture continue in Ethiopia. The current Press Release, available from the Oromia Support Group (OSG), documents 6 extra-judicial executions, some due to torture, 11 disappearances and over 50 cases of arbitrary detention, many of which involved torture. Since the waves of arrests of Oromo in the capital and elsewhere over the last twelve months, there has been a marked reduction in the number of reports received by OSG. Nevertheless, 2,412 killings and 669 disappearances have been recorded by OSG since the present government took power in 1991. The following case of detention, torture and reported killing was sent to OSG, just before going to press. Teshome Kaba, from Dembi Dollo in Wallega province, was detained and tortured for ten days in August 1998 because of his fight in court to reclaim 25,000 Birr (US $4,000) which was taken by government troops from his home in 1996. He was detained in the military camp in Dembi Dollo. He wrote the following statement: I was beaten by more than five people at once at the beginning. All the EPRDF fighters were armed with Kalashnikovs, grenades, sticks and pistols. Some held their pistols at me, some hit me all over my body. After some time, I fell to the ground. They continued to beat me on the floor and I became unconscious. They took me to the army camp, where I found myself in a dark room. I was there for two days and three nights. I had no food or water and no clothing to sleep in or on. I stayed there on the ground, urinating on myself. I found I could not control my urine. On the third day, I was taken out of that room and taken to the office of Mr Bahiru W/Aregayi. They made me sit up and he asked me some questions which I did not answer. They took me to another room, where they tied my hands together with my legs (this is known as ‘number 8’ torture) and put some old cloth in my mouth. They pulled all my clothes off and started beating me, with sticks and electric rods, and whipping me with insulated electric wire until my legs and back were bleeding over the floor mat. They took the old cloth out of my mouth and told me to sign that the money [the looted 25,000 Birr – see introductory paragraph] was the property of the OLF. But I have a witness paper that I have taken the money as a loan from the bank. They left me bleeding in the room. They returned that night and told me it was a mistake to take my case to court and accuse the EPRDF army of taking the money. They beat me again. I stayed in that room for a few nights. Then they changed me to another dark room, where my family brought me clothes, a mat and something to eat. The beating continued many times. After ten days I was again beaten with sticks, electric rods and wires, while my hands were tied. When I became unconscious, they took me in a car and drove me about 250 km to Gimbi. When I found myself [regained consciousness] in Gimbi, I had been thrown from the car in the dark. I spent the rest of the night under the roof of a nearby house. In the morning, I asked the local police to take me to the regional administrator that day, 21 August. The man saw me and promised to investigate the matter. He gave me a group of police to take me back home to investigate the case. When the police went to Dembi Dollo and asked the army and the man who did all this to me, he laughed at them and said that he did not even know me. I lost my 25,000 Birr. I was beaten to hell and my eyes could not see well. I could not control my urine. I could not sleep at night. I kept forgetting everything. The man, Mr Bahiru, has been doing the same to many people in the past. He blinded a man named Abraham by beating him. He beat Mr Gizaw Ayana to death. He has beaten women, children and old people, taking their money. He doesn’t accept any order coming from offices in central Oromia. He acts as a state himself. Everybody fears him. In July 1998 he arrested over 100 people in the locality, up to three from the same family. Some are old. He gave the names of 13 of the detainees. PRESS The International Press Institute and the International Federation of Journalists visited Ethiopia in October. After research conducted with the Ethiopian Free Press Journalists’ Association, they reported that 16 journalists are currently in prison, 26 are living in exile and 31 have pending criminal cases. Imprisoned journalists Samson Seyoum of Tequami - 2 years Sisay Negusie of Agere - 2 years Garoma Bekele of Urjii - 1 year Solomon Namara of Urji - 1 year Tesfaye Deressa of Urjii - 1 year Waqshum Bacha of Urjii - 1 year Alemu Tolossa of Urjii - 1 year Tamrat Gemeda of Seyfe Nebelbal - 1 year Tesfa Tegegn of Beza - 9 months Feseha Alemu of Tarik - 8 months Alemayehu Sharew of Tarik - 6 months Wondwosen Asfaw of Atkurot - 7 months Tamrat Serbesa of Wonchif - 18 months Admasu Tesfaye of Wonchif - 18 months Atikelt Assefa of Chekolet - 1 year Samson Seyoum of Goh - 1 week. Solomon Namarra, according to OSG sources, is being held with arms and legs bound behind his back 24 hours per day and is unable to feed himself. Refoulement from Germany Oromo refugees, in camps in the federal district of Bavaria (Bayern), have spoken and written to OSG repeatedly during 1998, complaining about the conditions of detention and of forced repatriations to Ethiopia (see OSG Press Release 24, August/September 1998, p. 10). Refugees in Bavaria have been sent back to face grave risk of detention without trial, torture, and possible disappearance or extra-judicial killing. Such refoulement contravenes German immigration law – no other German federal state has repatriated Oromo asylum seekers. The refoulement also contravenes Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the UN 1984 Convention Against Torture (Article 3), the 1966 UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 7), and the 1951 UN Convention Relating to Status of Refugees (Article 33). Most Oromo are at risk of human rights abuses in Ethiopia because of their roles in the Oromo student movement in Europe, or because of their support to the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in Ethiopia, while the organisation was legally representing the Oromo people in the government from 1991 to 1992, before the OLF was labelled as a ‘terrorist’ organisation. The Union of Oromo Students in Europe, better known as TBOA – Tokkumma Bartoota Oromoo Awurooppaa, is based in Germany. It is a political organisation that is founded and functions according to the political programmes and political ideals of the OLF. According to a recent TBOA statement, two of their members, Dr. Mezgebu Ifa and Guteta Kabeta returned to Ethiopia in 1992, after completing their studies in Russia. Both have remained in detention, as political prisoners, since then. Despite their detention; despite the reports of Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the US State Department; despite the statement by Ethiopian government party that Oromo intellectuals and businessmen should be targeted in order to eliminate Oromo nationalism (Hizbaawi Adera, Vol. 4, No. 7, Dec.96-Feb.97); despite Oromo prisoners of conscience facing charges of conspiracy and the possibility of the death penalty; and despite notification from the German Foreign Ministry itself, that OLF and TBOA supporters are at risk of abuses in Ethiopia; during 1998, Bavarian authorities have forcibly repatriated genuine Oromo asylum seekers, imprisoned Oromo for resisting deportation, and have forced others to flee the country illegally (see OSG Press Release 24, August/September 1998). This year, Germany has also forcibly repatriated Sudanese (see Sudan Democratic Gazette, 99, London, August 1998) and Tamil asylum seekers (the young Tamil immediately ‘disappeared’, according to the International Committee Against Disappearances Bulletin No. 8, London, July - August 1998). The African refugee crisis; the right wing reaction of European and other ‘democracies’ to make asylum application increasingly difficult; and the friendly relationship between Ethiopia, Europe and the USA have caused great difficulties for Oromo refugees everywhere. However, not one Oromo has been forcibly repatriated from the USA or Europe, except from the German state of Bavaria. The following are updated reports. Other cases of refoulement from Germany were reported in Press Release 24. Solomon Abdissa was a mechanical engineer and student in Russia. He was expelled and sought asylum in Nürnberg. He was joined by his Russian wife and their son, but again despite high profile TBOA activity, his asylum application was refused (see Press Release 24). His wife and child were forced back to Russia on 12 August. Her rights as a Russian citizen have been stripped; their infant son is subject to racist attack and she has been threatened to desist in her efforts to persuade the authorities to allow Solomon back to Russia. Solomon was told his appeal against refusal of asylum was unsuccessful on 16 October. His identity card was torn up and he was forced to sign an application form for an Ethiopian passport. He could be deported at any time. Tesfaye Chibsa Ragassa, ex-pilot, was studying in Russia before being expelled. With his Russian wife, he sought but was refused asylum in Bavaria. He was beaten and detained by immigration police after resisting deportation in May (Press Release 24). Reported to have fractured bones in one hand, he was successfully deported in mid-September. His wife is in hospital in Germany. Getachew Tujuba Wayessa, also an ex-pilot, studied international law in Russia and was TBOA chairman there. Despite high profile involvement with TBOA both in Russia and Germany and threats received from the Ethiopian embassy in Russia, his asylum application and subsequent appeals have been refused. He, and his wife, were told they must leave Germany without delay, on 22 September. Tolchaa Wegii Satto is a famous OLF personality. He was detained by the previous, military dictatorship in Ethiopia together with Tigrean rebels who are now in power. He is well known to central committee members of the ruling party, the TPLF, as an Oromo nationalist. He represented the OLF during the transition period in Jeldu district of W. Showa province. His detention and torture, should he return to Ethiopia, would be guaranteed. However, he wrote in August that he has been refused asylum by Nürnberg authorities, after three years in Germany. He wrote, Now, they are ready to deport me to Ethiopia. . . . Without any question, I will be abducted from the airport and become a target for Tigre-led security forces, Today, I can say that the court has unjustly decided on my life. |
Please write to the newly appointed German Foreign Minister, Joschha Fischer, asking him to inform the Bavarian immigration authorities of the dangers faced by Oromo members of TBOA and supporters of the OLF. Please send a copy of your letter to the German ambassador to the country in which you live. If you live in Europe, please send a copy to your Member of the European Parliament.
The address of the German Foreign Minister:
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