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Wonchif newspaper, Addis Ababa, reported on 12 November that, on 5
November, in Fentale district, E. Showa, government soldiers who had been
harassing famine victims in the area, shot dead eleven Oromo women, of the Itu
tribe. Quoting from Sagalee Bilsummaa Oromoo [Radio Free Oromia]
the paper reported that government soldiers were also to blame for the recent
deaths of 32 women who were returning from market in the Afar Region,
north-eastern Ethiopia.
The Union of Oromo Students in Europe (UOSE), Germany Branch, reported, on 3
December, three deaths and one survivor from a paralytic illness which struck
its victims shortly after their release from detention. UOSE suggests the
illness and deaths were due to injections received by each of the men, just
before their release. The injections were said to be for malaria prophylaxis.
The four were all from Jeldu district, W. Showa.
Shawul Doyo, 30, Shumi Ijo, 30, Tulu Bultuma Peasant Association, and
Kebede Dida, 35, Tulu Bultuma Peasant Association, were each arrested in April
1999 and detained at Didhesa Military Camp/Detention Centre, where they were
held for seven months and underwent torture and cruel, unsanitary conditions.
Each was injected with an unknown drug prior to release and each developed
paralysis of arms and legs shortly afterwards. Shawul Doyo survived but remains
paralysed. Shumi Ijo and Kebede Dida died.
Qabato Doyo, 40, the older brother of Shawul Doyo, above, was detained in Qaliti
for 5 months following his arrest in February 1998. He is reported to have been
severely tortured and injected with an unknown drug prior to his being dropped
at night from a government security vehicle outside his house in the Ayer Tena
area of Addis Ababa. His death from a paralytic disease shortly afterwards was
thought to be from natural causes or torture injuries, until the illness of his
brother and the deaths of two his fellow detainees one year later.
Abubaker Dekamo
was one of several hundred suspected OLF supporters who were detained in
Zeway prison, S. Showa, for several years prior to 2002. Seife Nebelbal
newspaper, Addis Ababa, stated on 8 March that the families of 101
detainees at Zeway had reported that their relatives had disappeared from
the prison.
Abubaker’s brother, Kumsa Dekamo, reported personally to OSG in
Frankfurt on 12 July, that Abubaker had not been seen since he was last
visited by his family in January 2002. Abubaker remains disappeared, at the
time of writing.
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 Amanti
Abdisa Jigi was born in 1970, in Mana Sibu, Wallega. He is a geography
graduate from Addis Ababa university and was head of the development department
of the Oromo Relief Association (ORA) before its offices were closed and its
assets seized in 1996. He was abroad, obtaining a M.Sc. in Environmental
Sciences at the university of East Anglia, UK, when this happened, and on his
return, he was employed by EENGO, the Ethiopian environmental organisation in
Addis Ababa.
On 20 August 2000, he had boarded a plane in Addis Ababa and was bound for a
conference in Nairobi, when he was escorted from the plane by Ethiopian Airport
Security men.
His brother, who accompanied him to the airport, now lives in
Canada. He and Addisu Beyene, former Executive Director of ORA, have reported to
ICRC and to the Oromia Support Group that extensive searches of prisons and
camps in Showa and of some prisons in Hararge have failed to reveal his
whereabouts, since his abduction in August 2000. Amanti’s disappearance was
originally reported by OSG in December 2001 (Press Release 35, p. 2). The date
of his abduction was then mistakenly reported to have been August 1999. Amanti’s
continued disappearance was confirmed by his brother on 1 September 2002. His brother,
who accompanied him to the airport, now lives in Canada. He and Addisu Beyene,
former Executive Director of ORA, have reported to ICRC and to the Oromia
Support Group that extensive searches of prisons and camps in Showa and of some
prisons in Hararge have failed to reveal his whereabouts, since his abduction in
August 2000. Amanti’s disappearance was originally reported by OSG in December
2001 (Press Release 35, p. 2). The date of his abduction was then mistakenly
reported to have been August 1999. Amanti’s continued disappearance was
confirmed by his brother on 1 September 2002. |
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Following the student demonstrations across Oromia Region from March to May,
Ethiopian government radio and TV have broadcast non-stop allegations of OLF
‘terrorism’ and hundreds of Oromo civilians, especially successful business
people, teachers and members of the Oromo self-help organisation, the
Macha-Tulama Association, have been detained, interrogated and tortured.
In addition to those detentions reported in Press Release 37, Amnesty
International reported the detention, and later release, in June, of Professor
Ephraim Mammo, retired President of Alemayehu University, in Dembi Dollo,
Wallega.
According to a report via an OSG contact in Norway, received on 6 November, a
teacher at Adama Technical College, Mosissa Assefa Dosha, was detained in Ambo
from 1 May until 15 June. He was suspected of supporting the OLF and was ‘beaten
by soldiers’ and ‘badly tortured’. He continues to be harassed by security
forces and is denied employment.
Local informants, reporting via an OSG contact in the USA on 7 July, claimed
that 1000 had been detained, mainly from Tukur Inccinnii and Guder town, in a
‘wave of arrests heading towards Ambo city’, in the preceding three days. Those
found to have Oromo literature and artefacts in house-to-house searches were all
detained. The Haile Selassie palace in Ambo was specially adapted in order to
accommodate detainees because local prisons were overflowing, he wrote.
The contact in Guder described over 3000 civilians being held in one place at
gunpoint, overnight in the cold and rain. He reported a thousand children
wandering around, looking for shelter, food and water.
In an urgent action appeal (AFR 25/020/2002), Amnesty International reported,
on 8 July, the arrest of the following staff of Basha Aboye secondary school in
Guder, 137 km west of Addis Ababa, in W. Showa, on 5 July:
Kebede Mammo, school director, and teachers-
Abebe Chimde, 46
Mosissa Futasa, 50
Kebede Humnasa, 33
Dinsa Serbessa, 53 and
Tesfaye Taressa.
Local sources, reporting via an OSG contact in the USA, reported that the
Mayor of Guder, Legesse Toyi, was among hundreds detained on 5 July. He also
named Negussie Moreta, Aberra (father’s name not known) and father of eight and
businessman, Oli Mitiku, among the detainees.
According to Sileshi Tolessa, who was interviewed in Oslo, 10 August, his
brother, Dejene Tolessa, 23 yrs, and his mother, Tsehay Beka, were detained at
the same time as the above. Dejene was held with the teachers in Ambo Palace
prison. His mother, Tsehay, was held in Ambo police station. They were detained
after old newspapers (URJII, the Oromo newspaper, closed down in 1997) and an
Oromo student bulletin were found in their home. Dejene had been hospitalised in
Addis Ababa for four weeks, after having his shoulder broken, when demonstrating
with other students in Guder, in March. All were held incommunicado. They were
due to appear in court on 9 August, but the police initially refused to allow
this. However, they were released on bail on 21 August.
On 21 June, informants reported via a source in
Nairobi that eight teachers from Gabraguracha Secondary school were detained in
Fiche. Their names are:
Tesfaye Kebebow
Taye Sime
Mekonnen Wake
Mekonnen Gebremariam
Amanuel Mirdessa
Kebede Chamada
Tesfaye Wakgari and
Abraham Habtamu
On 2 August, Seife Nebelbal, an independent
newspaper in Addis Ababa, reported that Daqaba Wariyo, had been imprisoned for
the fifth time this year in Shashemane, S. Showa. Three others had been abducted
from the area of the Adventist Church in Kuyera and were being held
incommunicado at an unknown place. Their names are:
Waaqo Abdiro
Gulumma Dido and
Abraham Amsa
The newspaper also reported that in Gedo, W. Showa, three men who were
detained in March were transferred to Ambo prison in June. They had not appeared
in court by 2 August. They are named:
Kebede Geroo
Berhanu Negere and
Kebede Adunya
More civilian arrests followed the bombing of the Tigray Hotel, on 11
September. ‘Confessions’ were extracted from a goldsmith, Mesfin Etana, a truck
driver, Mesfin Mosissa, a preacher, Miteku Tesfa and two others, Cherinet Yemane
and Daniel Ayana.
Dinkinesh Deressa Kitila, the 46 yr old head of production control, for the
Total petroleum company in Addis Ababa (see Press Release 37), remains in
detention. One of her four children reported on 20 September that she was being
held in Karchale central prison against a judge’s orders for her release,
because of lack of evidence. Her son reports that she is medically unfit for
detention.
Negassa Negussa, aged about 30, a messenger for the OAU and guard for ‘SOS’, to
finance his studies at Africa Beza College, is reported by Dinkinesh’s family to
have been detained for the same period as their mother.
According to defecting MP, Aberra Adugna Badhane (interviewed in Canada, 21
November), hundreds of peasant farmers from Wonji, near Adama (Nazaret), E.
Showa, were still being held in detention in September, when he met with a large
gathering of constituents. They complained that only those who had been able to
pay bribes had been released. Hundreds of their relatives and friends, too poor
to pay for release, had remained in detention in Adama since being rounded up in
June or July, on suspicion of supporting the OLF. When Aberra pleaded their
case, he was warned by the TPLF-appointed security chief in Adama ‘This is none
of your business. Your job is to present government decisions to the people’. He
was threatened with detention, despite being immune as a Member of Parliament,
for ‘inflaming conflict between people and government’.
The Union of Oromo Students in Europe (UOSE), Switzerland Branch, reported on
2 November the detention and possible disappearance of four students and one of
their fathers, in Adama (Nazaret), E.Showa. They were arrested on 25 and 26
October and initially held in Kebele 18 ‘Special’ police station, in Adama. Up
until at least 2 November, their whereabouts are unknown and they had not
appeared in court. Their names are:
Anwar Haji Kedir, student
Abdul Menan Haji Ahmed, student
Amin Hussein, student
Jawar Abdela, student
Haji Ahmed Kelil, (father of Abdul Menan Haji Ahmed)
UOSE reports that they were arrested for publishing a book, Kitaaba Baru
Booranaaf Baarentuu, [ a reader on the Borana Barentu, one of the largest
Oromo moieties], written by the Gumii club.
The Gumii club’s membership is among the pupils of Adama Senior
Secondary School and ‘Number 4’ Junior Secondary School. The book was published
in Addis Ababa and on general sale. UOSE reported that the book was banned and
was being collected from stores. According to UOSE, 36 school students who are
members of the Gumii club are actively sought by security forces, including:
Ahmed Haji Bariso
Adugna Balcha
Bedria Faajjii
Frii Kebede
Alfiya Beshir
Ahmed Mohammed
Jemal Dalu
Mohammed Hussein
Gemechu Amishuu
Ziyaad Hussein
Mohammed Hussein Haji
Bilisummaa Gemeda
Temam Abdela
Alemu Dhaabii
Remila Kedir
Zaaraa Qurquraa
Mohammed Qaasiim
Berhanu Beza
Abdela Fogelo
Sulxaan Hussein Aliy
Aman Hussein
Hussein Aliy
Getu Hailu
Rukiyaa Haji
UOSE wrote in their appeal ‘There is an intensification of human rights
violations committed against the Oromos by the Ethiopian government security
forces. The UOSE Swiss branch is extremely concerned about the safety of the
arrested and subsequent disappearance’.
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Eviction of Oromo
farmers around capital
According to a July government publication, Addis Lisan, over the next five
years, the Addis Ababa city council will annex Tajii and Hawwas (Awash) ‘Balloo
of Bacho’, in the Awash river area, south-west of Addis Ababa, forcibly evicting
Oromo peasant farmers.
In Selalee province, N. Showa, the ‘Commando’ garrison area, which has been used
by local farmers for 27 years, since the Rural Land Proclamation of 1975, is to
be taken over by the 17th Central Brigade of the army. Farmers have been given a
month to leave the large fertile area.
Right to employment
MSc Chemistry graduate, Caala Ragassa, head of the curriculum office in the
Oromia Region Bureau of Education and author of numerous maths and science text
books, was dismissed, according to local reports on 21 August. He was given the
sack immediately after refusing to go to take up the post of chemistry professor
at Tigray state university, the report states. He had received a letter from the
Federal Ministry of Education stating that he was being relocated as
departmental head of chemistry, in Tigray.
He had been assistant professor of chemistry in Addis Ababa university prior to
taking up the post in the Oromia Bureau of Education. Caala had received the Dr
Getachew Bolodia Foundation award for further education in science and, in 2001,
was given a place on the Harvard University graduate program. This served as a
pretext for his dismissal – attempting to leave the country without permission.
He is restricted in his movements and denied employment.
According to the independent newspaper, Seife Nebelbal, Addis Ababa, 4
October, graduate students from Adama (Nazaret) Teacher Training Institute, were
denied placement and, hence, employment, despite the shortage of teachers in
Oromia Region. The reason given was that they had failed to attend a government
political party meeting. Their names are Dano Endale, Dereje Haji, Miheso Dube,
Seifu Dube, Bulti Olana, Deressa Ayalu, Diriba, Bilisumma Alemayehu, Denebo
Qabeto, Jiregna Gari, Merga Enqubay, Tsehay Dereje, Adugna Olana, Mohammed Awad,
Teklu and Siraj Aliyi.
Shigdo Dullo Dafi wrote from exile in Kenya on 3 November of his
graduation in Political Science and International Relations from Addis Ababa
University in July 2000. He was then denied employment for two years, because he
had been an active member of the Oromo student movement, and was thus forced to
leave the country. |
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Ziad Hussein Abarusky, a former football player for the Ethiopian
national team and their assistant coach for the 2001 World Cup, now coach for
Babur team in Dire Dawa, E. Hararge, was arrested in Dire Dawa with four
other Oromo in June. They were held incommunicado, according to an Amnesty
International Worldwide Appeal for November 2002.
Amnesty International wrote:
‘Ziad Hussein Abarusky has reportedly been severely tortured which has left him
unable to walk. He has been refused medical attention.
Ziad Hussein Abarusky’s family have not been allowed to visit him but were
allowed to take food to the prison. On 9 September, they were told not to bring
him food any more as he was no longer there. The prison authorities refused to
say where he was and to date the family still do not know.’
All five of the detainees are employees of the Ethiopia-Djibouti Railway at Dire
Dawa and were arrested after a bomb attack at the railway office building by the
OLF. There were no casualties.
Kasim Sheko Lole wrote from exile in Kenya on 14 December, describing
his periods of detention in Ethiopia. In 1991 he was a successful Bale
businessman and gave financial and material support to the OLF.
He was detained at Dodola military camp, Bale, for three weeks from 10 February
1993; at Malka Wakana military camp (where detainees are tortured and
intimidated at the hydro-electric power station), for three months from 3
January 1996; at Goba military camp for seven months from 16 May 1997, and; at
Agarfa military camp from 1 May to 28 September 1999.
He was ‘accused of passing information, hiding firearms, organising financial
support for the OLF and inciting conflict’.
During detention, he was:
‘Beaten by stick and electric cables very vigorously’ – he still bears scars
‘Interrogated at gunpoint and threatened to be killed’
‘Forced to be immersed in a barrel of cold water’
‘Shown dead bodies of people and killed some in front of me to scare me’
‘Forced to hold heavy stones or bottles hanged on my testicles’, and
‘Injected with unspecialised needle already used for other prisoners’.
He describes living in fear in Kenya.
Jeylan Teba Kamiso was also an OLF
supporter in Bale from 1991. He wrote on 2 November from Kenya, describing his
detention at Malka Wakana for five months from 10 May 1993, following which he
was transferred to Agarfa military camp, and thence to the large detention camp
at Hurso, near Dire Dawa, E. Hararge. He spent from 12 January to 5 May 1994 at
Hurso, before being released on the usual conditions of not attending public
gatherings, wedding parties etc and reporting to the security office at Malka
Wakana twice per week.
He was detained in Malka Wakana for a second time, from 10 September 1997 until
22 October 1998, after OLF activity in the vicinity. On arresting him, security
forces ‘confiscated’ 10,000 Birr and other property. He described:
"Heavy objects suspended on my genitals .. I was taken out in the night to
the bush where bodies of dead Oromos similarly situated were gathered and told
not to withhold any vital information ... I was immersed in cold water and
tortured to my turning unconscious".
His flight to Kenya in January 2001 was precipitated by the detention of his
father.
Asfaw Gemechu, 39, wrote from Kenya on 20 September (see
also below),
describing his two episodes of detention; in Goba, Bale, from 19 February 1997
to 13 October 1998, and in Assela prison, Arsi, from 23 April to 13 May 1999.
Kasim Kiri was a student at Dodola High School in Bale at the time of the
widespread fires in 2000, which were started deliberately by government forces
(see Press Release 31, July 2000). According to his older brother, who was
interviewed in Canada on 23 November, Kasim helped to organise other students to
fight the fires. Harassment and detention of such students was reported in Press
Release 31. Like many students in 2000 and many who demonstrated in 2001 and
2002, Kasim has been forced to flee to Kenya because of
intimidation and harassment.
On 9 August, Seife Nebelbal independent newspaper, Addis Ababa, reported that
ten graduating students in Bale town had been denied their qualifying
certificates because they had held a discussion on Article 39 of the Ethiopian
Constitution, which deals with the right to self-determination. Their names
include Tesfaye Negeri, Tahir Burqa, Feqadu Tsega, Gobena Kebede, Fatuma Qasim,
Zeyida Hussein, Desitu Baru, Zebiba Hiyi, and Nasir Hasen.
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An appeal was sent by fax from Wallega in mid-October, reporting the
continued disappearance of Mekonnen Tilahun, a 32 year-old from Wallega, who
disappeared in 1999. He had been tortured during previous episodes of detention.
Seife Nebelbal independent newspaper, Addis Ababa, reported on 2 August that a
student, Abdeta Dheressa had been arrested at Nejo police station, since when
his parents had been unable to locate him.
Local sources, reporting via a contact in the USA on 17 July, wrote of the
detention of Ms Dureti Fixe, the proprietor of a small inn at Dabbaso, near
Gimbi, Wallega, on 19 June. A TPLF publication, Effoyita, claimed in its June
issue that she was an OLF spy who had poisoned a TPLF soldier. Her family have
been unable to locate her despite rumours that she has been moved to Addis
Ababa.
The following excerpts are from a message sent via reliable contacts of OSG
from detainees in Nekemte, on 14 August.
‘We, the Oromo prisoners, children of peasants, teachers, health professionals,
merchants, and students, are accused of being a sympathizers of OLF. In view of
the fact that we, like our Oromo ancestors, have been imprisoned in Wayyaane’s
[TPLF’s] Naqamte prison, we appeal to concerned Oromo compatriots residing in
and outside the country to listen to our tribulations, voice our problems to the
world, and reach us with all means of help.
We Oromos in this prison number 1666, and all of us . . . are
accused of being supporters of OLF. It is known that when this prison was
earlier filled, they took away 1500 of our brothers and to date we
do not know their whereabouts. Now due to communicable diseases 10 of our
brothers have died and 155 of us are in a critical condition.
The government and their agents refused to do anything about our situation; in
fact for a long time they refused to grant a repeated request by area Oromo
doctors and other health professionals in Naqamtee to come and
treat those affected by the diseases. Now . . . they were allowed to establish a
clinic inside the prison compound. With limited resources, these healthcare
workers are trying to help us but they couldn’t stop the communicable diseases
that are hounding us.
In addition, a number of us are called every day and harassed and tortured
in search of OLF secrets that we have no knowledge about. Many Oromos in
this prison are becoming crippled or losing some parts of their body due to
the severity of daily torture. Many of us are suffering from daily insult
and degradation. Daily suffering, injury and harassment are taking a toll on
us. . . .
Among the messengers of Wayyaane [TPLF] who has a hatred of Oromo people, and is
determined to create problems for us, is a Nefxanya [armed settler] named
Silashii Gode. To show his trustworthiness to Wayyaane, he is sending police to
force our elders to his office. He frequently insults, degrades and does
anything he wants to them. He imprisons and releases whomever he wants, and
sends whomever he wants to unknown places. Silashi Godee was a militia member
under the previous Derg government and worked for Qabale 01 in the town of
Shaambu. After the fall of Derg he was a teacher for a Junior and High school.
When the Wayyaanes came by way of Gojjam he jumped into the first opportunity
and joined the OPDO. Without any background of administration, he came through
Gojjam and became a representative and a public relations officer of OPDO in
Eastern Wallaga, where he became a decision maker in all kinds of
unlawful acts to Oromos. Therefore, we are notifying and/or informing you
that this kind of Wayyaanne cohorts are helping Oromos to be attacked.’
Seife Nebelbal newspaper, Addis Ababa, reported on 15 November that large
numbers of government troops had sealed off the town of Gimbi, W. Wallega, and
were holding the town ‘under siege’. One person had been killed and all his
brothers detained. Another had been shot and admitted to Nekemte hospital. Large
numbers are said to have been detained on suspicion of supporting the OLF.
In a statement on 2 December, the OLF corroborated reports from local sources
received by OSG that heavy artillery and tanks were included in the movement of
‘tens of thousands’ of troops, in the search and destroy operation against the
OLF.
It was reported in Seife Nebelbal newspaper, Addis Ababa, on 9 August, that
students in Jimma, Illubabor, clashed with security forces when they
demonstrated. They were protesting against a decision made by Ms Genet Zewde,
Ethiopian Minister for Education, and Solomon Abebe, Oromia Region Minister for
Capacity Building, at a meeting in Jimma, to imprison graduating students who
were suspected of supporting the OLF and deny them their degrees. |
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Reporting via contacts in the USA, on 9 October, local informants have
written that the eight children of Kasim Mohammed, from Negele, Borana, have
fled to Kenya, seeking protection from UNHCR, following the killing of their
father in front of the mosque in Moyale, on the Kenyan border. He was hit by
five bullets and died instantly on 28 September. He and his family were fleeing
persecution by the Ethiopian government. Haji Hassan, Imam of that mosque, was
killed in the same fashion in 1998. |
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According to Mohammed Osman Hassen, Canada’s representative for the Ogaden Human
Rights Committee, speaking at Carleton University, Ottawa, on 24 November, the
whole town of Dhanaan, Somali Region, has been under strict government army
control since two soldiers were killed at the beginning of October. All of the
town’s 700 families and their livestock have been detained. 250 men have been
taken into unknown detention.
Mohammed also reported that a large proportion of the army had been sent to
Somali Region after the ceasefire with Eritrea and that they were not paid but
expected to live off the people.
The offices of the Ogaden Welfare Society (OWS) were closed and their equipment
confiscated in May, along with a smaller NGO, based in Gedo, the ‘Guardian’.
According to IRIN, 8 November, the society’s work was finally brought to a halt
in August. One month later, the director of OWS, Mahmud Abdi Ahmad, was arrested
and is still being held in Jijiga prison.
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Sheko and Mezhenger protestors clashed with local officials and police on 11
March, in Tepi, 700 Km. Southwest of Addis Ababa, in the Yeki district. They
claimed that their party, the Sheko-Mezhenger People’s Democratic Union, had won
the December 2001 elections for the local assembly, but were barred from power,
despite repeated appeals to the Federal Government. According to Ethiopian
government sources and the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO), the
protestors were armed with spears, machetes and rifles and attempted to take
over the administration by force. Two of OSG’s sources claimed that the 300
Sheko and Mezhenger peasant farmers were unarmed. Five police and one official
were among the 24 killed in the initial clash, according to EHRCO (Addis
Ababa, Special Report 51, 4 June 2002).
According to a statement taken on 23 November from defecting MP, Aberra Adugna,
the Mezhenger MP, Guldu Wolde Tsadiq, was killed in the incident, possibly by
government forces. Aberra Adugna believed the protestors were unarmed.
Troops (one battalion, according to one local source) and special police forces
were imported from neighbouring Gambella Region and began a month-long scorched
earth campaign in retaliation against peasant farmers. The UN news agency, IRIN,
reported that visitors to the area were told of a mass grave, containing
hundreds of bodies. (IRIN, Nairobi, 17.7.02).
A team of EU investigators called for a public enquiry when they reported in
July that the scorched earth campaign left at least 128 dead, as counted
by the local head of police. Local informants told opposition investigators that
between 500 and 1000 had died. One source told IRIN ‘One village we visited was
effectively razed to the ground. Scorch marks were on the trees where their
houses had been burned. The villages we visited were empty’. EHRCO investigators
estimated 1,177 houses were burned down in the first few days of the campaign.
The BBC reported on 16 July that between 400 and 1000 were arrested and that 269
remained in detention during the EU team’s visit. The BBC also reported that the
EU team were informed of a mass grave, but did not visit it.
Seife Nebelbal, an Addis Ababa newspaper, reported, on
21 June, personal details of 39 who were killed when armed police, using machine
guns mounted on armoured vehicles, fired on 7,000 peaceful demonstrators in the
Looq quarter of Awassa (Hawassa) on 24 May. The Ethiopian Human Rights Council
(EHRCO) reported 23 names on the same list:
Satto Sakicha Maticha, 35, businessman/farmer, Awassa/Agoba
Atote Aleto Waliso, 45, farmer, Tula, Awassa
Belay Guta, 13, student, Alamura, Awassa
Labalo Dukamo, 25, student, Alamura/Fanchawa, Awassa
Nausha Rabsa Gachano, 42, businessman/farmer, Alamura, Awassa
Tadesse Kia, 45, policeman, shot dead by another policeman, Bansa Bansa
Seyed Tungamo Tura, 16, 10th grade student, Alamura, died at Yirga Alem hospital
Sgt/Cpl Yosef Isayas, 40, policeman, shot dead by other policeman, Awassa
Markos Mangasha,16, businessman/farmer, Chefa Sine, Awassa
Daniel Ibasa Kanasa, 15, student/farmer, Alamura, Awassa
Hamisa Kiyesa, 16, student, Shabadino/Korke Mekesele, Awassa
Buna Buleno, 22, businessman/student, Shabadino/Abila Lida, Awassa
Irjato Gidessa Shabe, 20, student, Marancha, Shabadino/Gonawa Guya, Awassa
Kadir Abdulqadir, 25, student/farmer, Marancha, Shabadino/Abila Lida, Awassa
Tolemo Tomato, 16, student/farmer, Alwarka, Shabadino, Awassa
Bunara Gunama, 15, student/farmer, Alwarka, Shabadino/Abila Lida, Awassa
Rekisa Boshala, 30, farmer, Alwarka, Shabadino/Abila Lida, Awassa
Tafase Yeba, 16, student/farmer, Alwarka, Shabadino/Boneya Mirde, Awassa
Kefyalew Doyamo, 15, student/farmer, Alwarka, Shabadino/Chefa Sine, Awassa
Yosef Didamo Sufa, 16, 8th grade Tabor Junior Secondary School student, Nuro
Dulcha, Shabadino, Awassa
Buzuneh Lankamo Dume, businessman/farmer, Nuro Dulcha, Awassa
(M)Anisa Kiyesa Barasa, 15, 7th grade Tabor Junior Secondary School student,
Nuro Dulcha, Shabadino, Awassa
Sileshi Chakamo, 15, 8th grade Tula Elementary School student, Tula/Nuro Dulcha,
Awassa
Seife Nebelbal published the following details of victims not recorded by EHRCO:
Yosef Seyoum, Alamura, Awassa
Misiru Beyene, Alamura, Awassa
Matiyos Ergamo, farmer, Alamura, Awassa
Haniso Bekele, farmer, Alamura, Awassa
Shame Debana, Awassa
Elias Tekame, farmer, Tula 01, Awassa
Marafu Mengasha, farmer, Tula 01, Awassa
Sgt. Surafel Matiyos, policeman, Alamura, Awassa
Abraham Bekele, farmer, Bushulo, Awassa
Yonas Arjamo, student, Finchawa, Awassa
Lubola Dukamo, farmer, Alwarka, Shabadino
Machal Wayessa Rekiba, student, Nuro Dulcha, Shabadino, Awassa
Mato Mekuria Sasufa, farmer, Alwarka Borcha
Bekele Harso Kawis, farmer, Alwarka Borcha
Belay Paulos Diyamo, farmer, Alwarka Borcha
Abraham Kiyesa, student, Alamura, Awassa
EHRCO reported one death, not covered by Seife Nebelbal, that of:
Ayele Chekamo, 16, student, Awassa
In total, 40 victims are named. Seife Nebelbal noted that five others
had been partly eaten by hyenas.
Local informants, via Sidama Concern, reported at least 100 fatalities.
EHRCO reported that 12 of the dead were children. They named 24 victims of gun
shot wounds who were admitted to hospital and 36 among the immediate detainees.
They also reported that special armed forces continued after the massacre ‘to
persecute local civilians’, arresting, intimidating and mistreating them. Two
were killed and many were beaten in the month following the killings.
Hundreds were arrested initially. A second wave of detentions in late July was
reported by Amnesty International. Local sources claim 1,300 were imprisoned.
IRIN reported on 21 August that at least 90 government officials in Sheko
zone of the SNNPR had been detained, including the zonal police leadership.
However, these detentions have concentrated on political rivals, according to
opposition leader, Beyene Petros (see end of article).
Sidama Peoples Democratic Organisation (SPDO) officials and staff of the Sidama
Development Corporation (SDC) were detained initially and in the second wave of
detentions. In July, Fotella Wotole, a senior SPDO official was assassinated.
Walassa Kumo, head of the SDC, had been replaced before the massacre, for
complaining about lack of human rights and development for Sidama people. Kumo
then fled the country.
His replacement, Mengistu Gonsamo, the Sidama Zone SPDO chairman and SPDO
president, Girma Culuqe, and Zonal health office doctor, Million Tumato, were
among the hundreds reported to be held incommunicado and at risk of torture by
Amnesty International on 15 August (AFR 25/022/2002). Culuqe and Gonsamo were
reported by local informants, via Sidama Concern, to be on hunger strike and
being held in a toilet.
Culuqe is known to have opposed the control by central government of Awassa and
surrounding land, which sparked the May protest, and he openly condemned the
killings. Yet, according to the BBC on 21 August, involvement with the killings
was the reason given for his detention and that of four other SPDO officials on
17/18 August.
Sidama Concern reported on 18 August that 8 SPDO officials, all being senior
figures in the Zonal administration, had been detained. ‘The real culprits, i.e.
government officials and supporters, are acting with impunity’ Sidama Concern
reported, while those arrested had complained about ‘TPLF policies which
negatively affect the Sidama people’.
Another three government officials were arrested, ostensibly in connection with
the Tepi massacre, and two in connection with violence in Burji and Amaro, last
year, according to the BBC.
The regional government coalition party, the Southern Ethiopian Peoples
Democratic Front (SEPDF) was also purged, in October. Chairman, Kasu Ilala,
stood down and was replaced by Haile Mariam Dessalegn, already president of the
SNNPR. IRIN reported on 15 October that 30 SEPDF members had been expelled for
‘corruption’. Dr Beyene Petros, who leads the, opposition, Council for
Alternative Forces for Peace and Democracy, said the purge was aimed only at
political rivals and had nothing to do with the Tepi and Awassa massacres.
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Reporters sans Frontières (RsF) protested on 12 July against a
two-year prison sentence imposed on Tewodros Kassa, former editor of Ethiop, a
weekly magazine in Addis Ababa. He was given the sentence on 10 July, under the
Press Law, for ‘libel and incitement to political violence’. RsF wrote
that Prime Minister Meles Zenawi was one of the world’s 38 ‘predators’ of the
press and noted the sentencing on 3 April this year of Lubaba Said, former
editor of Tarik newspaper, to a three-year jail term for undermining army
morale by reporting the defection of presidential guards. |
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The Oromo Relief Association reported on 22 August that eight Oromo refugees,
each registered as a refugee with UNHCR, were sent back to Ethiopia on 23 July
2002. Their names are:
Mustafa Abdi
Margaa Yadata Akasa
Tofiq Hassan Ali
Dachasa Galata Chalchisa
Daraje Mosisa
Anwar Abdi Roba
Dawit Terefe
Merid (father’s name not known).
Initial research by an international human rights organisation, indicated
that the eight had been detained but later released, and not subject to
refoulement.
However, two reliable sources in the refugee community in Djibouti were able to
confirm that the detainees were sent back to Ethiopia. Also, a friend of one of
the victims, Anwar Abdi Roba, wrote separately to OSG about his refoulement.
One of the two trusted informants also reported the refoulement of two more
individuals. Badhasa or Tekele was deported in September and
Hassan Sambussa was sent back to Ethiopia in October.
In May 2001, OSG published accounts sent by hand and by fax from two refugee
community committees, of large scale refoulement and killing of Oromo refugees
in Djibouti (Press Release 33, p. 30). IRIN reported that 5000 refugees had been
rounded up in Djibouti and taken to the border on 21/22 December 2000. Community
chairman, Gamada Baroda, sent copies of UNHCR attestation papers of five who
were shot dead when they tried to break out of railway trucks in which they were
suffocating, at Shabelle. In all, the names and attestation numbers were
provided for 28 who were either suffocated or shot dead The names and numbers of
three out of 30 females who were raped by Djibouti security forces were also
given. A total of 127 names and UNHCR numbers, including 99 who survived to be
refouled to Ethiopia, were published by OSG and sent to UNHCR.
On 12 March 2001, Francesco Ardisson wrote to OSG, on behalf of the UNHCR Bureau
for Europe in Geneva, denying that any refoulement had occurred at all, in
keeping with UNHCR denials of previous episodes of refoulement reported by OSG.
Persistent enquiries by Lord Avebury, of the UK Parliamentary Human Rights
Group, were followed up by Brian Wilson and Baroness Amos, successive Ministers
for Africa in the Foreign Office.
According to refugees in Djibouti, a team from UNHCR’s Inspector General’s
office took down information on the insecurity of Oromo in Djibouti and
corruption within Djibouti immigration and UNHCR, in July 2001.
The UK Ambassador to the UN spoke to the Director of UNHCR International
Protection Department in February 2002, who told him that a UNHCR mission
visited Djibouti earlier in the month.
By word of mouth only, UNHCR admitted that refoulement and killings had occurred
in December 2000. Following the February mission, a detailed ‘Djibouti Plan of
Action’ was drawn up to re-register asylum seekers with UNHCR and a new
government body, which is to be strengthened and funded by UNHCR.
Baroness Amos asked for the EU Heads of Mission in Djibouti, to investigate the
December 2000 claims and they reported back to her in October 2002. The
delegation of EU ambassadors interviewed representatives of NGOs and the
governments of the USA and Djibouti. Significantly, they questioned the
administrator of the Djibouti UNHCR office.
They concluded that the refoulement and killings of December 2000 had not
occurred. They concluded that the story ‘seemed groundless’.
Despite private affirmation of the refoulement and killings by a senior UNHCR
official, testimonies given to the Inspector General’s team and the
implementation of the ‘Djibouti Plan of Action’, the UNHCR office in Djibouti
had again denied any violation of their mandate had happened in December 2000.
Melkamu Kelbessa Tucho, who has been an active member of TBOA,
the Union of Oromo Students in Europe, since 1989, has been again refused asylum
in Bayern, Germany. He has been filmed demonstrating outside the Ethiopian
embassy in Germany and is certain to be persecuted if he returns to Ethiopia.
During the raid by police on 30 May, on just two streets in Eastleigh, Oromo
refugees were beaten, raped and robbed by police before over 800 were detained,
when women and girls were again raped (see Sagalee Haaraa 37, July 2002).
A detailed report by twenty refugees, prepared at the request of OSG in July,
listed 182 heads of families, including 60 women, who were robbed of 3 million
KSh, 32 pieces of valuable equipment (phones, cameras, watches) and nearly 1.2
Kg of gold jewellery. They paid over 2 million KSh in bribes to be released from
detention. Over ten, including girls as young as 12 years, were raped during the
round-up, some in front of husbands or parents. Many more were raped in
detention. The raid was timed at the end of the month to ensure moneys received
from abroad had arrived.
Oromo refugees who documented the 30 May raid by police wrote that they
needed a separate camp, away from the Ethiopian border, TPLF incursions and
influence, and away from the Hagere Fiqir group and other former Derg
elements.
They complain that UNHCR has never visited Eastleigh, their ‘uninhabitable and
dirty corner of the city’. UNHCR staff are described as hostile, abusive,
unhelpful and lacking in confidentiality. Appointments for three months are
repeatedly postponed so that some have waited for one year. Failure to attend
first interviews results in twelve months delay.
The writers claim that 80% of genuine refugees are refused status by UNHCR at
first interview and that UNHCR never answers complaints.
Prominent Oromo, like the chairman and secretary of the Oromo Community in Kenya
organisation, are targeted by agents of the Ethiopian embassy in Nairobi, who
are still active. Student representative, Geresu Tufa, has received
threatening messages from the Hagere Fiqir group.
Jeylan Kamiso, former torture victim (see
above) wrote on 2 November that he had recognised a TPLF security agent in
Nairobi, in February. Mohammed Abdulahi Genemo wrote of his insecurity after
over two years in secure accommodation, waiting in vain for resettlement.
Asfaw
Gemechu (see above) wrote on 4 October, describing being hunted by security agents
from the Ethiopian embassy.
Kasim Sheko, who wrote of his experience of torture on 14 December (see
above), also described being approached by Ethiopian security agents in
Nairobi in 2000 and later being sought at home by four unidentified men.
Gamachu W. Bariso wrote on 9 November of his frustration with UNHCR and of his
experience of being detained in the May 30 round-up by Kenyan police.
A mother of eight wrote on 26 August from Kakuma camp, to where she had been
sent in 1998, after experiencing severe persecution in Borana zone.
She wrote ‘I am an Oromo woman, a victim of excessive rape by government
security forces’. She and her young daughters are ‘under abuse by those men
looking at us for their sexual interest. Beside this, the Ethiopian security
agents who pretend as businessmen, wishing to harm myself and my children, there
are grounds to believe as Ethiopian security forces extended their operation to
Kakuma since 1998. I have reported my situation to concerned social service and
other offices but no action received . . .’
DWS, whose long-term difficulties in Ethiopia and Kakuma were described in
Press Release 34 (August 2001), wrote again of his
insecurity in Kakuma, on 4 September. He was re-interviewed for resettlement,
after failing previously when colleagues succeeded. He describes the interview
as a three-hour ordeal.
Conditions in both refugee camps are poor but Kakuma is less at risk of pure
banditry, than Dadaab, were violence and rape have been reported by UNHCR. Oromo
refugees at Dadaab complain of being left without status and support.
A student who now lives in the camp wrote on 7 November:
‘UNHCR officials, whenever new refugees come to the camp, run for their own
personal benefits under the umbrella of helping the newcomers. . . . they
receive materials that should be given to refugees . . .
But many individuals are suffering in the refugee camps for UNHCR gave them a
deaf ear. Even in my community, individuals like Abdikadir Habib, Nuradin Ahmed
and Birhanu with his pregnant wife were suffering in the refugee camp without
solution. This pregnant woman gave birth to a child . . . by the help of some
generous Oromo individuals, she is alive . . . from their share of 3 Kg maize
and 3 Kg wheat-flour which is given to one refugee for 15 days.
There are individuals who stayed under this yoke for more than a year. After a
long time suffering, others move to unknown places rather than suffering here.
In addition to this, a man named Mohammed Abdullahi from Hararge, committed
suicide, burning himself on 30 September 2002 . . . after a long time suffering
in Hagadera camp [10 km to SE] . . . for UNHCR gave deaf ear for his claim for
refugee status. He asked them to be interviewed but they refused.
But to hide this reality, the police imprisoned individuals who went there when
they heard of the incident . . . to keep the happening as a secret. Even the
burial ceremony was done by UNHCR and the police.’
Even mandate refugees sent to Dadaab ‘suffer for more than a month without
recognition by the sub-office’. Denied food and shelter, they are told their
documents are lost.
Some Oromo students who were awarded refugee status after fleeing the riots in
April 2001, have had that status withdrawn, he wrote.
‘Some individuals disappeared [from the camp], for example Tesfaye Kafala,
Nuradin Ahmed (see above) and Mohammed Hussein’. He describes difficulties in
Oromo obtaining employment there and intimidation by the majority Somali
population at the camp. In an attack on people fetching water on 25 July, one
man suffered three head wounds.
A woman named Senait and a man named Yosef, with his family, fled the camp
because of such harassment. ‘Misrak, Mengistu and Omar are now in a state of
madness and unable to control themselves’ our correspondent wrote. |
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EHRCO - Ethiopian Human Rights Council
ICRC - International Committee of the Red Cross
IRIN - Integrated Regional Information Network (UN news agency)
OLF - Oromo Liberation Front
OPDO - Oromo Peoples Democratic Organisation (government Oromo Party)
OSG - Oromia Support Group
ORA - Oromo relief Association
SNNPR - Southern Nations and Nationalities Peoples Region
TPLF - Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (dominant government Party)
UNHCR - UN High Commissioner for Refugees
UOSE - Union of Oromo Students in Europe |
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1995-2003 Oromia Support Group |