‘Oduu’ Archive
Author: admin Published: March 19th, 2012
URJII, March 19, 2012
Fear of Torture and Deportation
HRLHA Appeal and Urgent Action
His Excellency Lieutenant General Omar Hasan Al-Bashir president of the Republic Sudan,
President’s Palace, PO Box 281, Khartoum, Sudan
Fax: (00 249) 11 771651, (00 249) 11 787676, (00 249) 11 783223
SUDAN
Dear Honorable President,
First of all, Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) would like to express its appreciation to the people of the Republic of Sudan and to its government for their hospitality and kindness over so many years towards thousands of refugees who have fled their homes to escape government persecutions in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and other neighboring countries at different times and now living in Sudan.
However, what has been happening to refugee seekers in Sudan over the past two Months is contrary to the good tradition of the Government of the Republic of Sudan towards the asylum seekers for many decades. According to information obtained by HRLHA through its informants in Khartoum, Sudan, the refugee seekers in the country, most of who are from Ethiopia have been subjected to different kinds of harassments, intimidations and detention.
According the report HRLHA received from its informants a number of Oromo national from Ethiopia have been (and are being) indiscriminately hunted and arbitrary arrested in the capital, Khartoum, in ma’imura detention center on Feb 15, 2012 in violation of Universal Declaration of Human Rights Article 14 (1) “Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution” which guarantee the asylum seekers to enjoy freedom and protection in the country they are looking for an asylum.
The HRLHA informants managed to get the following fifteen among many asylum seekers believed arrested by the Sudan Security forces at different places and time from their temporary shelter on Feb 15, 2012..
Kadir Martu, an Oromo artist who was severely beaten and tortured in Ethiopia prison for his songs in which he criticizes the TPLF/EPRDF Government for its discrimination against Oromo, Jaba Morkata, Amin Ahmed, Amin Haji, Muzayan Sidiqo, Seyifu Hussen, Sa’ada Shube (female), Rukiya (female), Rabiya Aman (female), Muhamed Galato, Muhamed Hassen, Seifadin Hassen, Shukriya Hussen (female), Hussen Majid and Abdusalam Kassa Erbu.
Artist Kadir Ka Mertu
The HRLHA is highly suspicious that there might be a plan to deport those refugees to Ethiopia; In case those Ethiopian refugees would be deported, the Ethiopian Government has a well-documented record of gross and flagrant violations of human rights, including the torturing of its own citizens who were involuntarily returned to the country. The government of Ethiopia routinely imprisons such persons.
There have been credible reports of physical and psychological abuses committed against individuals in Ethiopian prisons and other secret places of detention. Under Article 33 (1) of the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (189 U.N.T.S. 150), to which Sudan is a party, “[n]o contracting state shall expel or forcibly return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his . . . political opinion.” This obligation, which is also a principle of customary international law, applies to both asylum seekers and refugees, as affirmed by UNHCR’s Executive Committee and the United Nations General Assembly by deporting the detailed asylum seekers and others, the Sudanese government will be breaching its obligations under international treaties as well as customary law.
1. Under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1465 U.N.T.S. 185) to which Sudan acceded in 2002, Sudan has an obligation not to return a person to a place where they face torture or ill-treatment. Article 3 of the Convention against Torture provides:
No state party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another state where there are substantial grounds to believe that they would be in danger of being subjected to torture.
2. For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the state concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights. We strongly urge the Government of Sudan to respect the international treaties and obligations it has signed..
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals to the Republic of Sudan Government officials as swiftly as possible, in English, Arabic, or your own language using the above contact addresses
Urging the Republic of Sudan Government set free the detainees without any pre condition ,
Your Concerns at the apprehension and fear of Torture if they return to their home country
Urging the authorities of Republic of Sudan to ensure that these asylum seekers and refugees are protected depending on the 1951 refugee convention.
This appeal and Urgent action is copied to:
• UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland Fax: + 41 22 917 9022
(particularly for urgent matters) E-mail: tb-petitions@ohchr.org This e-mail address is
being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it,
UN High Commissioner for Refugees
Case Postale 2500
CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt
Suisse.
+41 22 739 8111 (automatic switchboard).
• International Committee of the Red Cross
19 Avenue de la paix CH 1202 Geneva
Tel: +41 22 734 60 01
Fax: +41 22 733 20 57
E-mail webmaster@icrc.org>
• African Commission on Human and Peoples‘ Rights (ACHPR)
48 Kairaba Avenue, P.O.Box 673, Banjul, The Gambia.
Tel: (220) 4392 962 , 4372070, 4377721 – 23 Fax: (220) 4390 764
E-mail: achpr@achpr.org
• U.S. Department of State
Tom Fcansky – Foreign Affairs Officer
Email;-TOfcansky@aol.com>Washington, D.C. 20037
Tel: +1-202-261-8009
Fax: +1-202-261-8197
• Amnesty International – London
Tom Gibson
Telephone: +44-20-74135500
Fax number: +44-20-79561157
Email;- TGibson@amnesty.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots.
You need JavaScript enabled to view it
• Human Rights Watch – New York,
Leslie Lefkow
lefkowl@hrw.org;
Category News, Oduu |
Author: admin Published: December 20th, 2011
Urjii 20 Dec 2011
Freedom of the press has deteriorated considerably in Ethiopia this year, with a dozen journalists arrested in the past few weeks and the fate of two Swedish journalists on trial in Addis Ababa on terrorism charges expected to be known tomorrow.
Reporters Without Borders has written to Ben Emmerson, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, asking him to visit Ethiopia to meet the government and persuade it to stop using the war on terrorism to penalise free speech.
Here is the letter:
Ben Emmerson
Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Geneva, Switzerland.
Paris, 20 December 2011
Dear Sir,
Reporters Without Borders, an international organization that campaigns for freedom of the press, wishes to draw your attention to the worsening climate for journalists in Ethiopia since the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi began using anti-terrorism legislation against them.
Since the law was passed in July 2009, Reporters Without Borders has written to the Ethiopian authorities to point out its shortcomings and how it can be misused against the press. The organization feared the law might be used to curb freedom of the press and crack down on journalists. In 2011, our fears were confirmed.
In June, Woubeshet Taye, the deputy editor of the Amharic-language weekly Awramba Times, andReyot Alemu, a columnist for the Amharic-language weekly Fitih, were arrested. Both were accused of complicity with a group regarded as a terrorist organization.
On 1 July, two Swedish journalists of the Kontinent news agency, reporter Martin Schibbye and photojournalist Johan Persson, were arrested for entering Ogaden illegally to report on human rights abuses in the region, which is closed to the press. They are accused of entering Ethiopia illegally – which they have already admitted in court – and also of supporting a terrorist group.
Finally, in November the authorities charged six Ethiopian journalists, some of whom are in exile, with terrorism offences.
Serious though this is for those who have been arrested and prosecuted, Sir, it is also damaging for Ethiopia’s privately-owned media as a whole. It fosters self-censorship and nurtures fear.
This climate has forced at least three journalists who feared arrest to flee the country in November. These were Abebe Tola, known as “Abe Tokichaw”, a well-known columnist for the weeklies Fitih and Awramba Times, Tesfaye Degu of the newspaper Netsanet, and Dawit Kebede, managing editor of the Awramba Times.
The 2009 law has become a real threat for the news industry. In the name of the fight against terrorism, the government muzzles dissident and critical voices, thus abusing human rights and fundamental freedoms.
For this reason, we urge you to visit Ethiopia. In your capacity as Special Rapporteur in this field, it is incumbent on you to meet the Ethiopian government and persuade it to stop using the fight against terrorism to penalise freedom of expression.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you require further details of the journalists who have been arrested and penalised.
Thank you for your consideration in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
Jean-François Julliard,
Secretary-General
CC: Frank La Rue, U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression
Reporters Without Borders has also joined three other organizations and the “Free Johan Persson and Martin Schibbye” campaign in asking the European Union to take more decisive action to protect press freedom in Ethiopia.
Finally, as the Swedish journalists’ court hearing nears, the Swedish chapter of Reporters Without Borders has published the following press release:
Countdown for Swedish journalists facing terrorism charges in Ethiopia
On 21 December, a court in Addis Ababa will pronounce its verdict in the trial of Swedish journalist Martin Schibbye and photographer Johan Persson on charges of terrorism and entering Ethiopia illegally.
The trial has turned into a fight for press freedom. International war correspondents Adrian Blomfield and Phillip Ittner travelled to Ethiopia to appear as defence witnesses. Swedish photographer Magnus Laupa and Mattias Göransson, editor of the Swedish magazine Filter, also testified on behalf of the detained journalists.
Court documents contain inconsistencies, false information and mistakes. Schibbye and Persson have responded to these documents indirectly through family members. Their comments and the latest developments in the case can be seen at martinandjohan.org, with their court statements, contact details, stories and reports from the Ogaden region.
Photo : Mr. Ben Emmerson
Category News, Oduu |
Author: admin Published: November 13th, 2011
URJII 12 Noveber 2011,
HRLHA Appeal and Urgent Action
Your Excellency Mr. Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud,
President of the Republic of Somaliland.
Dear Honorable President,
First of all, Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) would like to express its appreciation to the people of the Republic of Somaliland and to its government for their hospitality and kindness towards thousands of refugees who have fled their homes to escaped government persecutions in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and other neighboring countries and now living in Somaliland.
However, what has been happening to refugees in Somaliland over the past two and three weeks is contrary to the expectations of the HRLHA and those of international communities.
According to information obtained by HRLHA through its correspondents in Hargeisa, Somaliland, the refugees in the country, most of whom are from Ethiopia have been subjected to different kinds of harassments and intimidations in a very unsafe situation. According those reports, the refugees have been (and are being) indiscriminately evicted from their rented temporary shelters; and, as a result, more than 700 refugees have been forced to live on the streets. They are temporarily gathered at a place know as Social welfare Centre near the UNHCR office in Hargeisa. At this place, only those who could afford to buy are using tents; while those who couldn’t are living in open air. Confiscations of properties, documents in particular, take place along with the kidnapping happens at their temporary shelter on street.
The refugees uniformly claim that their tenants told them that the evictions were on the order of the government of the Somaliland. Making their situations worse, those refugees have been denied any kind of accommodation and help from the local UNHCR office. The refugees add that they were told by the local UNHCR office that they will not get any help or support from the office unless and until they go back to their shelters (rented place), which is where they have been evicted from, and have been told they were not welcome back. The refugees also say that the local UNHCR office is aware of this situation. However, it has been difficult for the HRLHA to confirm this complaint with the local UNHCR office.
A very young child has died as a result of this unfriendly situation in which the refugees are; and, according to those refugees, more lives might have been lost especially due to lack of basic needs such food and water, had it not been for the some kinds of humanitarian gestures from local people.
The other frustrating situation is that there have been two very recent cases of kidnappings and disappearances by who were described as armed agents of the Ethiopian Government. HRLHA has confirmed that, in the first case of kidnapping which took place during the first week of this month (November 3 – 4, 2011), four refugees (all of whom were Oromo nationals from Ethiopia), have been kidnapped and taken away to currently unknown destination; but believed to be taken back to Ethiopia. They were Shek Abdurrahman Qabatoo, Mr. Riyaad Kamal, Mr. Ali Dabbal, and another refugee who was with Shek Abdurrahman at the moment. In the second case of kidnapping and disappearance, which happened on the 10th of November, 2011, two other refugees, namely, Mr. Abdushukuur Mahammad (RF/06/055), and Mr. Hassan-nuur Mahammad Suleeyman (REC /361/08) have become victims of this illegal action; while a refugee named Mohammed Bushura Gurrachaa escaped the kidnapping by running away from site. The hunting and attempts of kidnapping the refugees has continued even while this urgent action is being compiled. Originally, the refugees were targeted at their rented places of stay; and now (after evictions) at the Social welfare Centre near the UNHCR office in Hargeisa.
According to eye witnesses, the armed team/group that is engaged in hunting and kidnapping the refugees drives around in a truck, approaches specific individuals it has targeted, or picks randomly, forces them onto the track, and drive away without any interference from the local government, or any other party. The fact that the vehicles were supplied by the local government makes the whole operation look like a joint work of the governments of Ethiopian and the Somaliland. It is important, here, to remind each other that such incidents and experiences of refugees are happening repeatedly; and that, in most cases, (as hinted at above through the UNHCR reference numbers provided) the victims of such illegal actions are refugees who are already under the UNHCR mandate.
Mr. President, even if those refugees are not protected by the UN mandate, what is happening to them is blatantly in breach of the 1951 International Refugee Convention. In this (1951) document, it is stated that:
“No Contracting State shall expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers where his/her life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”
The overall situations taken into consideration, the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) is highly concerned about the safety and wellbeing of hundreds of those refugees who are now in a socially, economically, and politically unfriendly environment in Somaliland.
So, the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) requests the government of the Somaliland to make efforts to honour its both local and international obligations, and ensure the safety of people within its jurisdiction. We specifically request that the Somaliland Government prevent such illegal actions as kidnapping from happening to innocent and defenseless people, and refrain from sending refugees back to a country that they fled because their lives were at risk.
Also, the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) calls upon regional and international humanitarian and diplomatic communities to join us in making and sending these requests to the government of Somaliland.
The HRLHA is a non-political organization which attempts to challenge abuses of human rights of the people of various nations and nationalities in the Horn of Africa. It works on defending fundamental human rights including freedoms of thought, expression, movement and association. It also works on raising the awareness of individuals about their own basic human rights and that of others. It encourages the observances as well as due processes of law. It promotes the growth and development of free and vigorous civil societies
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Please send appeals to the Somaliland Government officials as swiftly as possible, in English, Somali, or your own language:
v Urging the Somaliland Government reverse its decision of expelling refugee from Somaliland
v Your Concerns at the apprehension and fear of Torture if they return to their home country
v Urging the authorities of Somaliland to ensure that these refugees are protected depending on the 1951 refugee convention.
- His Excellency Ahmed Mohamed Mohamoud
President of the Republic of Somaliland
TEL/FAX: 252-225-3871
president@somaligovernment.org
- UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland Fax: + 41 22 917 9022
(particularly for urgent matters) E-mail: tb-petitions@ohchr.org This e-mail address is
being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
- International Committee of the Red Cross
19 Avenue de la paix CH 1202 Geneva
Tel: +41 22 734 60 01
Fax: +41 22 733 20 57
E-mail webmaster@icrc.org>
- African Commission on Human and Peoples‘ Rights (ACHPR)
48 Kairaba Avenue, P.O.Box 673, Banjul, The Gambia.
Tel: (220) 4392 962 , 4372070, 4377721 – 23 Fax: (220) 4390 764
E-mail: achpr@achpr.org
Tom Fcansky – Foreign Affairs Officer
Email;-TOfcansky@aol.com>Washington, D.C. 20037
Tel: +1-202-261-8009
Fax: +1-202-261-8197
- Amnesty International – London
Tom Gibson
Telephone: +44-20-74135500
Fax number: +44-20-79561157
Email;- TGibson@amnesty.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots.
You need JavaScript enabled to view it
- Human Rights Watch – New York,
Leslie Lefkow
lefkowl@hrw.org;
Category News, Oduu |
Author: admin Published: November 5th, 2011
URJII o5 November 2911
By Aaron Maasho
Ethiopia did it five years ago, the Americans a while back. Now Kenya has rolled tanks and troops across its arid frontier into lawless Somalia, in another campaign to stamp out a rag-tag militia of Islamist rebels that has stoked terror throughout the region with threats of strikes.
The catalyst for Nairobi’s incursion was a series of kidnappings by Somali gunmen on its soil. A Frenchwoman was bundled off to Somalia from northern Kenya, while a British woman and two female aid workers from Spain, abducted from a refugee camp inside Kenya, are also being held across the border.
The incidents caused concern over their impact on the country’s vital tourism industry, with Kenya’s forecast 100 billion shillings or revenue this year expected to falter. The likes of Britain and the United States have already issued warnings against travel to some parts of the country.
Kenyans have so far responded with bravado towards their government’s operation against the al Qaeda-linked al Shabaab group. Local channels regularly show high approval ratings for the campaign, some as high as 98 percent.
“The issue of our security is non-negotiable,” one commentator told a TV station in the wake of the announcement. Another chipped in with: ”We’ve been casual to the extent of endangering our national sovereignty. Kenya has what it takes to get rid of this dangerous threat once and for all.”
Isn’t that what the Ethiopians said in late 2006?
After repeated threats of jihad against the predominantly Christian nation, Addis Ababa wasted little time in deploying thousands of highly-trained and battle-ready troops to Somalia against the Islamic Courts Union, the precursor to today’s al Shabaab.
It routed them quickly and the group’s leaders retreated to exile, giving way to the much more militant and aggressive al Shabaab. Addis Ababa then found itself bogged down in near-daily bouts of urban warfare and finally withdrew two years later citing mounting costs and a lack of regional will to sort out the situation.
Al Shabaab have since controlled large swathes of southern Somalia against the internationally-backed government’s control of the capital.
Ethiopia’s ill-fated mission followed a U.S. foray in late 1993. In a bid to capture clan leaders who were trampling on the humanitarian relief following the downfall of dictator Siad Barre in 1991, Washington sent soldiers to enforce a U.N.mission.
The operation ended in disaster. Two Black Hawk choppers were shot down and 18 servicemen killed. The bodies of several soldiers were dragged through the streets of Mogadishu and a hasty withdrawal followed.
Though Kenyan troops have already encroached inside Somalia on a number of occasions and are well-trained and supplied, questions remain over how they will cope with a potential guerrilla war against fighters hardened on years of skirmishes in the remote region.
With Kenya keeping a tight lid on details of the operation, the media is asking what the desired end game is. Initially, there was speculation that Kenya wanted to secure a buffer zone along its long, porous frontier with Somalia.
Government spokesman Alfred Mutua said on Thursday the aim was only to dismantle al Shabaab’s network and leave, not spending an hour longer than necessary in Somalia.
Kenyan soldiers may well find themselves in a different scenario to that of Ethiopia.
Ethiopian troops were at the vanguard of the fight against Somalia’s Islamist militants. In this case, an African Union force of 9,000 has more or less secured Mogadishu, Western allies are providing Kenya with technical support and Somali government troops and allied militias are fighting alongside the east African country.
Will Kenya ultimately prove its doubters wrong and secure gains that have eluded its peers? Or will this be another ill-fated operation that will end up in an embarrassing withdrawal?
Category News, Oduu |
Author: admin Published: September 5th, 2011
URJII 5 September , 2011
Human Rights Violation in Ethiopia,
As part of the most recent violence against citizens in general and the Oromo people in particular, which has already resulted in the incarceration of hundreds of Oromo nationals, dozens of other Oromos have been extra-judicially arrested and sent to prison in the past month August by the Ethiopian Government security forces..
Although this act of violence by the EPRDF-led Ethiopian government against its own people is persistent and the number of victims is always growing, HRLHA has managed to obtain the names and some identities of the following individuals through its correspondents:
- Mr. Caala Hailu, a professor/teacher at AdamaUniversity, arrested in Adama on the 29th of August, 2011,
- Mr. Daadhi Galaan, an artist and singer, arrested on August 27, 2011
in Adama,
- Mr. Laggasaa Detti, arrested on the 28th of August, 2011 at a place called Ginchii on his way toAddis Ababa from Gindabarat, a town inWestern Showa,
- Mr. Mulugeta Riqutuu, a teacher, a Member of Mecha and Tulama welfare Association executive Director, arrested along with Mr. Daadhi Galaan on the same date at the same time and place,
- Darajje Daballi, student atAdamaUniversity, arrested inNajjoTown, western Oromia, just as he arrived at his parents’ home in the town for his summer vacation,
- Zemachu Mekonnin, student of Adama University, arrested and taken away on the 27 of August, 2011, as he arrived at his parent’s home in Dambi Dollo similarly for his vacation,
- Gammachis Yoseef, another student fromAdamaUniversity, arrested around the beginning of August,
- Sisay Sarbessa, third year student of Information Technology at Addis Ababa University, Member of Mecha and Tulama welfare Association,
- Garbaabaa Gaaddisa, an employee of Oromia Bureau of Water Develoopment, arrested at his place of work,
- Artist Dadhi Galan arrested in Bishoftu,
- Gachana Aseffa fromWest Shewazone,
- Abdisa Sori arrested in Ada’a Barga District,
- Sirnessa Abera arrested in Ada’a Berga District
- ,Mesay Girma, driver with others whose names is not identified yet.
Mr. Chala Hailu Mr. Mesay Girma
Although all of these Oromo nationals were arrested at the beginning by security agents ofOromiaRegionalState, HRLHA has learnt that they have later been handed over to the federal agents for reasons that are not clear to families of the victims and/or other interested groups. Besides, other than the unconfirmed reports that these Oromo nationals are being held at Ma’ikelawi Central Office of Investigation, none of the families or friends of those victims have been able to communicate with any of them. There are also reported cases of tortures among those Oromos, particularly against Student Zemachu Mekonnin.
As a result, HRLHA is highly concerned about the safety and well being of those victims of government’s extra-judicial actions.
Therefore, the HRLHA calls on the Ethiopian EPRDF Government to allow the due process of law to take place, if those individuals are really suspected of committing any kind of crime; and, if not to release them unconditionally.
HRLHA also calls up on local, regional, and international diplomatic and human rights agencies to continue exerting pressures on the Ethiopian government to stop harassing and intimidating its own citizens especially for attempting to exercise their fundamental political rights which are believed to have been granted by the country’s constitution.
HRLHA would also like to take this opportunity to bring to the attention of local, regional, and international communities the previous similar cases of extra-judicial arrests and imprisonments, as a result of which hundreds of Oromos and nationals of other ethnic groups are languishing behind bars.
HRLHA is a non-political organization which attempts to challenge abuses of human rights of the peoples of various nations and nationalities in the Horn of Africa. HRLHA is aimed at defending fundamental human rights including freedoms of thought, expression, movement and organization. It is also aimed at raising the awareness of individuals about their own basic human rights and that of others. It has intended to work on the observances as well as due processes of law. It promotes the growth and development of free and vigorous civil societies.
Category News, Oduu |
Author: admin Published: August 8th, 2011
Ethiopia – HRLHA Urgent Action and Appeal
Public – August 8, 2011,
It has been a nightmare for families that the whereabouts of their children is not known since the end of the school year of 2011. Among Oromo students left their campuses up on the closure of the Universities at the end of the school year in June 2011 some were not returned to their home of birth place according the information the HRLHA reporter received from the families and friends of the victims. Some of the family members even traveled more than 800 Kms to seek information about their missing children from the Universities where they were used to attend. However, none of them obtained a credible information about of their children until this report is compiled.
The HRLH reporter managed to get the following nineteen names among many Oromo students believed kidnapped by the Ethiopian Security force at different places and time on their way to their home in June 2011.
|
No
|
Name |
Gender
|
University
|
|
1
|
Gamachis Yosef |
M
|
Adama University |
|
2
|
Abdisa Mengesha |
M
|
Adama University |
|
3
|
Obse Bekele |
F
|
Adama University |
|
4
|
Selemon Indalu |
M
|
Adama University |
|
5
|
Kumessa |
M
|
Ambo University |
|
6
|
Mo’I Oljirra |
M
|
Ambo University |
|
7
|
Tariku Murmur |
M
|
Haromaya University |
|
8
|
Kumsa |
M
|
Haromaya University |
|
9
|
Ibsa Gamachu |
M
|
Haromaya University |
|
10
|
Getu Rabirra |
M
|
Hawassa University |
|
11
|
Lalise Joba |
F
|
Hawassa University |
|
12
|
Lami Tasisa |
M
|
Tepi Mizan University |
|
13
|
Ahimed Mohamed |
M
|
Jima University |
|
14
|
Anwar Jundi |
M
|
Jima University |
|
15
|
Lami Garoma |
M
|
Jima University |
|
16
|
Akalu Kebede |
M
|
Jima University |
|
17
|
Damara Kajela |
M
|
Wallaga University |
|
18
|
Shitaye |
F
|
Wallaga University |
|
19
|
Malka |
M
|
Arba Minch University |
Background Information;- HRLHA has been repeatedly reported hundreds of Oromo Students have been abducted, kidnapped, detained, and many of them tortured and killed, in this year/2011 with unfounded allegation on suspicion of links with the OLF.
HRLHA calls up on the Ethiopian Government to immediately halt racial and discriminatory human rights abuses against Oromo young generation and disclose where they are detained and also urges unconditionally release of these students. HRLHA also calls up on regional and international diplomatic, democratic, and human rights agencies to make a pressure on Ethiopian TPLF/EPRDF regime to stop its persistent brutal, dictatorial, and suppressive actions against innocent Oromo students who attempt to exercise their democratic rights granted in the Ethiopian constitution (1995), article 29, .
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to the Ethiopian Government and its
concerned officials as swiftly as possible, in English, Ahmaric, or your own language expressing:
- Urging the Ethiopian Government to disclose the whereabouts of the kidnapped Oromo Students
- Your Concerns at the apprehension and fear of Torture
- Urging the authorities of Ethiopia to ensure that these detainees are treated in accordance with regional and international standards on the treatment of prisoners,
and
- Your concerns to diplomatic representatives of Ethiopia accredited to your country.
v His Excellency: Mr. Meles Zenawi – Prime Minister of Ethiopia
P.O.Box – 1031,Addis Ababa
Telephone – +251 155 20 44; +251 111 32 41
Fax – +251 155 20 30 , +251 1552020
v His Excellency Birhan Hailu –Min. of Justice
PO Box 1370, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Fax: +251 11 5517775; +251 11 5520874 Email:
ministry-justice@telecom.net.et
v Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland Fax: + 41 22 917 9022
(particularly for urgent matters) E-mail: tb-petitions@ohchr.org This e-mail address is
being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
v ICRC
International Committee of the Red Cross
Address:
19 Avenue de la paix CH 1202 Geneva
Tel: +41 22 734 60 01
Fax: +41 22 733 20 57
E-mail webmaster@icrc.org>
v African Commission on Human and Peoples‘ Rights (ACHPR)
48 Kairaba Avenue, P.O.Box 673, Banjul, The Gambia.
Tel: (220) 4392 962 , 4372070, 4377721 – 23 Fax: (220) 4390 764
E-mail: achpr@achpr.org
v U.S. Department of State
Tom Fcansky – Foreign Affairs Officer
Email;-TOfcansky@aol.com>Washington, D.C. 20037
Tel: +1-202-261-8009
Fax: +1-202-261-8197
v Amnesty International – London
Tom Gibson
Telephone: +44-20-74135500
Fax number: +44-20-79561157
Email;- TGibson@amnesty.orgThis e-mail address is being protected from spambots.
You need JavaScript enabled to view it
v Human Rights Watch – New York,
Leslie Lefkow
lefkowl@hrw.org; rawlenb@hrw.org
Category News, Oduu |
Author: admin Published: August 5th, 2011
An artist’s impression of Maikelawi detention centre
Voices of the tortured
Maikelawi is a police detention facility in the centre of the Ethiopian capital. It is mentioned time and again in any conversation about human rights abuses.
For the Ethiopians’ it is the ‘African Guantanamo Bay’.
Arbitrary detention and torture
According to opposition members it is mostly political opponents who are taken to the police’s Central Investigation Centre in Maikelawi.
When our case was being heard in court, prosecutors produced witnesses from amongst the prisoners. They were paid. The government had no other witnesses.
‘Daniel’
We met ‘Daniel’ who was previously a captain in the Ethiopian army and recently detained at Maikelawi. He told us:
‘The interrogation was always at night. They started by beating; they would tie your hands and feet with iron and hang you upside down. They immerse you in water, they would use electric shocks and they stuffed your mouth with cloth so no-one could hear you scream.
‘Each person [detained] suffered horrific injuries as a result of the torture. Some had lost the use of their hands, some had lost their nails. There was a man who was hanged by his hand for over 19 hours.’
‘Daniel’s claims, along with others’, are consistent with reports that have been published by credible human rights organisations.
In 2010 Human Rights Watch stated:
[prisoners] described similar, consistently horrific experiences at Maikelawi. They included lengthy nights of physical mistreatment, including: being made to lie on the ground, handcuffed, blindfolded, and in some cases naked, while interrogators wearing military boots stood on their chests; being whipped with wire and beaten on the head and the insides of their feet; being gagged, hung upside down, and beaten with electrical cords; being threatened with injection of HIV-infected blood; and being subjected to ethnic slurs.
Systematic abuse at the highest level
Ethiopia acceded to the UN Convention against Torture in 1994 and incorporated similar provisions in its constitution, yet testimonial obtained by the Bureau would suggest that it is in flagrant violation of these laws.
The Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has been tasked with ensuring human rights abuses in detention centres are reported to the Ethiopian government. The organisation has been assigned US$6m by international donors under the UN’s development programme for good governance.
To date the EHRC has not reported any human rights abuses in Maikelawi.
Human rights organisations are adamant that rather than being carried out by rogue individuals, the abuse is systematic, permeating every level of the security and even the judicial forces.
The Bureau has been unable to independently identify each of the testimonies.
Amerar Bayabel said that after 14 consecutive days of torture: ‘I was asked to be a witness against others. When I refused to do so, they accused me of a crime.’
‘We appeal to the international community, especially diplomats, please challenge the Ethiopia government on what is happening- it is not a normal prison. But they say that would be interfering with the government- it is apologetic, they are not pressing hard to get access to what is going on.‘
Merera Gudina, opposition leader
Second Sergeant Yibeltal Birhanu recounted that in May 2009: ‘I was as usual taken blindfolded and handcuffed, to the interrogation room. They told me they wanted me to be a witness. I asked who they wanted me to be a witness against.
‘They told me they wanted me to tell the court that [the defendents] had promised to give me money if I killed government officials. I told the interrogator I did not know these people and would never be a witness against them. Then they started beating me.’
Related links:
Source- The Bureau of Investigative Journalism
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Category News, Oduu |
Author: admin Published: May 26th, 2011
URJII, June 10, 2011
The following is a press release by the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) concerning the attacks by the TPLF Government against the Oromo youth:
The TPLF led regime of Ethiopia has never been friend of the Oromo and the other peoples in Ethiopia; it is the enemy of all. The tyrannical regime controlled the Ethiopian State by military force in 1991. Contrary to its declarations and pseudo periodical elections, the regime is perpetuating its tyrannical rule, exploitation and terrorization of the people by brute military and security forces. In its twenty years of repression and exploitation, the TPLF regime is also pursuing a discriminatory policy towards the Oromo. The regime particularly targeted the educated and wealthy section of the Oromo society for elimination. Its harassment, arbitrary arrests and longtime imprisonment without charge or trials, extrajudicial killings and involuntary disappearances of the educated and the wealthy section of the Oromo society in general and the Oromo students of higher education in particular are unabated. It is to be recalled that the regime had capriciously dismissed hundreds of Oromo students from the Finfinnee (Addis Aaba) University. During the last twenty years, hundreds of Oromo universitystudents were denied graduation; many have disappeared near their graduation and also many of them were sent to unknown prisons. The tyrannical regime’s purpose of targeting the Oromo educated and wealthy section of the society is clear; it is to deprive the Oromo nation an independent and capable leadership and thereby prolong its colonial and autocratic rule. These days, apprehensive of an inevitable peoples’ revolution, similar to the North African and MiddleEastern countries that toppled and/or toppling Meles Zenawi type tyrants, and in a vain hope of preempting it, the regime is discriminatorily arresting the Oromo University students; the best and brightest sons and daughters of the Oromo nation, en mass. The regime is also resorting to very alarming and inhuman acts against the Oromo University students. Last week, the regime’s security forces deliberately poisoned the food prepared for University students attending the Adama University. The timing and the site of poisoning the Oromo students are not coincidental. It is a deliberate and desperate act to terrorize the Oromo people in general and the youth in particular. This act proves that TPLF regime has a proclivity of committing genocide against the Oromo and the other peoples of Ethiopia in order to perpetuate its minority and unjust rule. The OLFwould like to reiterate to the TPLF leaders that regardless of its wicked and terrorist acts against the Oromo people, its demise is inevitable and the Oromo people and their just struggle for liberation, justice and human dignity shall prevail. We also strongly condemn the wicked regime’s inhuman and terrorist actions against the Oromo people in general and the Oromo youth in particular. We forewarn the United Nations and the UN member Governments that genocide is in the making in Ethiopia, particularly in Oromia. We again call on the Governments of the United States and the Western Democracies to reconsider their support to the tyrannical and genocidal regime led by Meles Zenawi andsupport the struggles of the Oromo and the other peoples in Ethiopia for liberation, democracy and ر رLakk.: 004/stm-abo/2011 No.: ـ اوروـP.O.Box 6973 Asmara, Eritrea Tel 2911 110236 Email: abamilki@gemel.com.er, www.oromoliberationfront.orgjustice. It is long overdue to publicly recognize that Meles Zenawi is a tyrant worse than Mubarka or Ben Ali and he must go. We call on the Oromo people to stand in unison, defend its youth and fight until an ultimate victory over the unjust minority rule of the TPLF; you have a just cause, history is on your side and you will prevail. We also call on all the peoples in Ethiopia to condemn the discrimination and atrocities the TPLF regime is committing on the Oromo people. We call upon the Oromo and all the peoples in Ethiopia to overcome the mistrust the evil TPLF rulers have nurtured among you for the sole purpose of dividing, conquering and exploiting you, and stand and fight in unison and win the freedom, dignity and peace you have been forcefully denied for so long.
Victory to the Oromo People!
Oromo Liberation Front
May 24, 2011
Category News, Oduu |
Author: admin Published: May 22nd, 2011
Urjii 21 May 2011
By – Zelalem Temesgen Terfasa
The Honorable Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minster
The Royal Kingdom of Norway
Akersgata 42,
PO box 8001 Dep 0030 Oslo, Norway
You might wonder about my identity when you first see this letter from strange email address. My name is Zelalem Temesgen from Ethiopia, particularly from Oromo (the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and in east Africa) ethnic group and who is currently living in Norway.
I am writing this letter to bring your attention towards due consideration of the problems that Oromos and other ethnic groups are currently facing in Ethiopia while your government has intensified its areas of cooperation with TPLF (Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front) regime. The rapidly growing bilateral relationship between the Norwegian Government and Ethiopia’s brutal dictatorial regime, depicted by recent high level visits including your Excellency, Norway’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Minister of Environment and Development, Minister of Defense and the State secretary for Foreign Affairs has reached a worrying point to Oromo communities in particular and Ethiopians in general. The foreign policy of your administration in the Horn of Africa, driven by an overriding policy of fighting terrorism, in my view needs to be revised. As a free, civilized and democratic society, I believe your policy should be driven by universal ideals of promoting freedom of speech and building democracy which should also include bilateral cooperation to fight terrorism in the fragile Horn of Africa region. Being an Oromo and suffered from the brutal nature of the TPLF regime, I would like to use this opportunity to briefly highlight you the existing Human Right situation of Oromos and other Ethiopians under the Zenawi’s regime.
Since TPLF regime came to power by overthrowing the Derge military regime in 1991, it has been systematically building its hegemony on Oromo people for the last 20 years. In TPLF’s iron fist rule over the past two decades, it has been promoting the domination of Tigrean minority ethnic elite in all spheres of life — economy, military, intelligence, foreign affairs and security services. The fact that 95% of the top brass of the military emanate from the Tigrian ethnic group, representing about 6% of the population, depicts how TPLF has systematically built an ethnocentric apartheid system within the military in clear contradiction to its defining and deceiving propaganda of equality among nations and nationalities of Ethiopians.
Human rights violations are widespread and have become daily practice of the TPLF regime in an attempt to silence the quest for basic human right. In its latest 2011 report, Amnesty international has highlighted this case. Besides there is no rule of law as the key institutions for democracy and its checks and balances for it has been systematically paralyzed by TPLF – which can be depicted by researches in the area that reviled Ethiopia’s rule of law stands at 16.4/100. The 2010 national election result and the act of the dire regime has moved the nation from hybrid democratic index to the category of totalitarian regime as it claimed to won 99.6% of national parliamentary sits. The government has used state resources and its full weight to manipulate the outcome of the election. It used it’s so called “revolutionary democracy policy”, the government ownership of land and ownership of major public developmental institutions, together with politicizing of aid money from the west to systematically eliminate significant opposition. In addition to this, according to Transparency International, corruption in the nation is very high with corruption perception index of 2.7/10.
In today’s Ethiopia, misery has become part of daily life for Oromos in particular and Ethiopians in general. After two decades of Zenawi’s authoritarian regime administration, the country is one of the poorest nations in the world – with Human Development Index rating stands at 158 out of 169 surveyed countries. This further aggravated by an irresponsible economic policy of the regime – which rise inflation to 30%, according to government’s source. Its interference in the market, via TPLF’s so called “EFFORT” sister companies, has enabled it to accumulate huge financial resources while ordinary Oromos and other ethnic groups in Ethiopia are going hungry on a daily basis.
Above all, under the rule of the current dictatorial regime, the Oromo people have been subjected to incessant mass arrest, detention, torture and brutal killings merely because they stood to demand their fundamental and universally accepted human values. Few justifications to these facts are the regular reports from Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the US State Department annual reports which registered serious and widespread human right violations by TPLF forces on Oromo people. Many reports also highlighted that no less than 10,000 Oromo students and teachers have been detained since 2004, several hundred students suspended or expelled from their university studies in the country and many students have been extra-judicially executed. Even over the last three months, while your officials visit Ethiopia for bilateral cooperation, hundreds of Oromo government officials and estimated thousands of students from Universities and high schools all over the country were detained and are currently suffering in secret prisons including the so called notorious “Maekelawi” prison in Addis Ababa – in the current TPLFs policy of containment to stop the middle east style of civil disobedience and peaceful demonstration. At this point of time, there are more than 25,000 Oromo political prisoners in both officially registered federal and regional prisons (including Addis Ababa, Kaliti, Ziway, Awasa, Arba Minch, Adama, Dippo, Dire Dawa and Harar); and numerous secrete detention centers.
Your Excellency, the insane act of TPLF dictatorial regime is not limited to the Oromo people. Rather it has affected many other ethnic groups in Ethiopia. To mention few, the massacre in Ogden at various occasions, in Sidama loqee, the attack on Shaka and Menzengir communities, and an inhumane crackdown in Gambella Nuer and Anuwak tribes are few justifications to it. The brutal crackdown on peaceful demonstrators in the year 2000 and 2005 also exemplifies the true nature of the tyrant regime that your administration is cooperating with.
Mentioning the recent act of TPLF to aggressively pursue their land lease policy for foreign agriculture investors, who officially announced to export their harvest to their country of origin, also reinforces the fact that I am mentioning. Such irresponsible and insane act of land grabbing by displacing hundreds of thousands of farmers from their farm land is the latest finding of TPLF for profit making at the expense of hungry and poor farmers which will lead to serious and non ending resource conflict in the country. Yet this could have been done better if local farmers get organized and assisted by the government to have better factors of production. Most nation and nationalities including Oromos are not only deprived of their right and resources but also threatened for their very existence as this land grabbing policy of the regime is aggressively implemented, which is going to jeopardize and endanger millions of lives in the years to come. The adversary nature of this policy is not only the fact that it dispossesses and uproots settled traditional farming communities from their land but also pollutes and destructs the ecological balance of the natural environment in various ways.
Your Honorable Prime Minister, the TPLF regime has never had legitimacy in Ethiopia. From the very beginning it came to power till the very point – it has been ruling the nation at a point of gun barrel for which Zenawi’s administration will be held accountable for crimes against humanity and genocide on the Oromo people. It is this government that your administration takes for granted as factor of stability in the Horn of Africa. Cooperating and financially assisting of such a brutal regime is not only against your founding and yearning ideals of democracy but also a waste of your tax payer’s money. Moreover it will appear to follow the foot step of the Chinese foreign policy model for Africa. However for Norway being a nation playing pivotal role towards protection of human right and with historical records on various achievements to build a better, peaceful and democratic world, I believe your administration will soon launch sustainable cooperation policy that springs and driven by the true values of democracy to achieve sustainable stability in Ethiopia whilst securing Norway’s interest in the region.
I hereby, as a concerned Oromo, respectfully urge your government to carefully recalculate and revise your foreign policy towards Ethiopia and thank you in advance for understanding the urgency of the matter on behalf of forty million Oromo people.
Democracy is the demand of all humanity regardless of colour, race and ethnicity as it is our God given right!
CC:
- Honorable Jonas Gahr Støre
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
PO box 8114 Dep.
N-0032 Oslo
Norway
- Honorable Grete Faremo
Ministry of Defence
Box 8126 Dep., N-0032 Oslo
Norway
- Honorable Erik Solheim
Minister of the Environment and International Development
The Ministry of the Environment
P.O.Box 8013 Dep
N-0030 Oslo
Norway
- Embassy of Norway to Ethiopia
Buna Board, Mekanissa
Addis Ababa
Email: emb.addisabeba@mfa.no
- Norwegian Agency for Development
Cooperation (NORAD)
Ruseløkkveien 26, 0251 Oslo
Norway
E-mail: postmottak@norad.no
Category News, Oduu |
Author: admin Published: March 22nd, 2011
Several hundreds of opposition supporters have been arrested in the Oromia region of Ethiopia as the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi attempts to prevent a planned nationwide protest.
According to local witnesses, numerous Medrek and Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) supporters in southern Ethiopian have been detained in the last two weeks. Medrek is the largest opposition coalition in the country while OLF is the oldest armed organization in Ethiopia. Other reports claim that most of the Oromos imprisoned recently are supporters of the OPC and OFDM branches of the Medrek party.
The Meles government often denies these charges and blames Eritrea for allegedly destabilizing Ethiopia. Critics say the Meles regime’s media is escalating anti-Eritrea propaganda in order to distract Ethiopians from the domestic economic and political crisis. Siye Abraha, the Former Defense Minister and a current official of the Medrek party, said Meles Zenawi’s blame on Eritrea is “a strategy to deflect public anger” since Meles has no genuine interest to overthrow the Eritrean government. During the border war in 2000, Ethiopian troops led by Siye broke thru Eritrean defenses and marched close to the capital city of Asmara but Meles Zenawi ordered the troops to withdraw, which angered Siye Abraha.
Siye is from the Tigrayan ethnic group of Ethiopia which Meles Zenawi belongs to and where there has been a steady increase of support for the opposition since 2002. Another Tigrayan opposition official, Gebru Asrat said Oromos in western Oromia are being detained and facing torture in prison.
Sources say the OLF has been calling on Oromos around the country to rise up and protest in unison with other Ethiopians. Some of the planned protests include a mass demonstration during the May 28 anniversary of Meles Zenawi’s rise to power in Addis Ababa but it is unknown whether these plans by anonymous organizers will have a sizeable turnout. Meles often uses Chinese-style sophisticated surveillance techniques that crackdown on potential dissidents and prevent protests before they occur by using spies and agents at local level.
Source; Jimma Times
Category News, Oduu |
