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In two articles (Criminal ´Ethiopia´, Charged With Crimes Against the Mankind, Cannot Be Left to Exist / http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/64846 -Human Rights Watch Report on Ogaden demands UN Intervention in ´Ethiopia´ / http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/64958), I re-published the editorial article published in the Human Rights Watch website along with the HRW Report on Ogaden (under title ´Ethiopia: ´Army Commits Executions, Torture, and Rape in Ogaden´ and subtitle ´Donors Should Act to Stop Crimes Against Humanity´) and the Report Summary. In four other articles, under the title ´HRW Report on Ogaden, Contents, Methodology, and Terminology´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/65437), ´HRW Report on Ogaden, Part 1: the Background, and the Early US Reaction´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/65593), ´HRW Report on Ogaden Reveals the Evilness of the ´Ethiopian´ Tyranny´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/65785) and ´HRW Report on Ogaden reconfirms the Abyssinian State´s Criminal and Barbaric Nature´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/65831), I re-published preliminary sections, and the Report´s Part 1, the Background, while I also referred to the arrogant and unacceptable early US reaction. On the other hand, in an independent article, under the title ´Comments on the HRW Report on Ogaden, Ancient History of Somalia, Abyssinia, Sudan and Yemen´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/65828), I criticized several points pertaining to the historical background of the Report´s topic.
In this article, I re-publish a first section from the Report´s Part 2, which focuses on the ´Violations by the Ethiopian Government". In forthcoming articles, I will proceed through further republication of sections of the Report´s Part 2.
Part 2: Violations by the Ethiopian Government
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/ethiopia0608/10.htm#_Toc200167138
The government's counter-insurgency response involves a multi-pronged approach aimed at cutting off economic resources, weakening the ONLF's civilian support base, and confining its geographic area of operation. To achieve these aims the Ethiopian armed forces have committed numerous violations of human rights, violations of the laws of war that amount to war crimes, and crimes against humanity against the civilian population. These have included widespread forced relocations of civilians, destruction of their villages, willful killings, and summary executions, and torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence.
Some of the current government's counter-insurgency strategies—such as attempting to constrict rural civilian movement and assets and using brutal force to terrorize civilian populations—have a long history of use by previous governments. However, the EPRDF government has also introduced new methods, such as forced recruitment of local militia and the manipulation of clan dynamics.
The pattern of abuses by government forces in 2007, although intensified, is unfortunately not new. In the course of conducting the research for this report, eyewitnesses to atrocities frequently told Human Rights Watch researchers about previous incidents of village burnings, summary executions, rape, and torture at the hands of security forces, some dating back a decade.
Forced Displacement and Destruction of Villages
In an attempt to cut off civilian support to the ONLF and concentrate its rural support base in designated larger villages and towns, Ethiopia's scaled up counterinsurgency campaign against the ONLF has involved widespread forced displacement, particularly between June and August 2007. The government has ordered civilians to relocate from small villages and pastoralist settlements to designated towns throughout the conflict-affected zones, typically ordering the villagers and nomads to move within two to seven days. To secure compliance with the evacuation orders, the Ethiopian army repeatedly implemented a phased system of terror involving the confiscation and killing of livestock, public executions, and the destruction of villages by burning.
Villagers and pastoralists who refuse to evacuate have been killed, and many villages and nomadic settlements have been burned by the army, while water sources and wells have been destroyed. Evacuated villages and settlements become no-go areas: civilians who remain behind risk being shot on sight, tortured, or raped if spotted by soldiers. Human Rights Watch received reports of 87 villages and nomadic settlements that were partially or totally burned and/or forcefully evacuated during government military operations between June 2006 and August 2007, but the actual number of such burned or evacuated villages is likely to be much higher, even within that time period.
International humanitarian law prohibits the forced transfer of the civilian population during a conflict unless specifically for the security of the civilian population or because it is required for imperative military reasons.74 Relocating civilians to prevent them from assisting insurgent forces or to punish them for doing so is prohibited. The destruction of civilian property is also unlawful.75 The Ethiopian government's forced relocation of thousands of civilians in conflict-affected areas of Somali Region amounts to the unlawful transfer of the population and collective punishment of Ogaadeeni communities perceived to be supporting the ONLF. Individuals who ordered or carried out such acts intentionally or recklessly are responsible for war crimes.
Notes
74 Protocol II, art. 17.
75 See, e.g., ICC Statute, art. 8(2)(b)(v).
Cases of Forced Evacuation, Killings, and Village Burnings
The cases documented below are in general based on multiple eyewitness interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch, and offer detailed accounts of incidents in particular villages. These case studies reflect a pattern of Ethiopian army abuses that have taken place across the conflict-affected region, but this is by no means a comprehensive list. The scale of village burnings, killings, and other abuses is believed to be significantly larger than the number of cases described below.
The patterns of such attacks are strikingly similar: the Ethiopian military first issues orders to the villagers to evacuate the villages within two to seven days. When the villagers refuse to evacuate, the army returns to carry out killings and other atrocities, and burns the village. Should soldiers see villagers or pastoralists in the area after the evacuation and burning of the village, they are often beaten and detained, summarily executed or, if women or girls, raped.
For example, in late May and early June 2007, the Ethiopian armed forces and regional authorities removed much of the rural population of Wardheer wereda, in Wardheer zone, and some villages in neighboring weredas in Korahe zone towards Wardheer town and other sites including Walwal, Danood, and Qoriley. They evacuated more than a dozen villages in an approximately 60-kilometer radius of Wardheer town alone during this operation, including Daratoole, Lahelow, Neef-Kuceliye, Qamuuda, Dhurwaa-Hararaf, Ubatale, Wa'do, Aado (Caado), Arowela, Yu'ub (Yucub), and Laanjalelo. The majority of these villages were burned after their forced evacuation. Similar operations of forced relocation and occasional burnings of villages have taken place around other major towns, such as Garbo, Sagag, Dhagahbur, and Shilabo.
In addition to information from eyewitnesses, Human Rights Watch received numerous accounts from people who were not present at the time of the alleged burnings but saw the villages afterwards while traveling through the region. Sometimes their accounts could not be corroborated by other witness testimony. However, satellite imagery obtained by Human Rights Watch has confirmed that some of the villages mentioned by these individuals did show signs of significant destruction and removal of structures and indications of burning.
For example, in October 2007 a 35-year-old refugee in Kenya told Human Rights Watch researchers that when he was fleeing the attacks around Wardheer in July 2007, he observed that Dameerey village, located between Wardheer and Aware towns, was burned. Human Rights Watch was unable to corroborate this claim with other eyewitness accounts, but "before" and "after" satellite images acquired in December 2006 and March 2008 confirm a significant removal of structures and signs of burning in Dameerey village.
In another example, several refugees from Shilabo wereda claimed that Lasoole village (near Shilabo town, in Korahe zone) was burned in June or July 2007, but were not eyewitnesses to the events. Satellite imagery later confirmed their allegations.
Ela-Obo, February 2007
In February 2007, government forces came to the nomadic settlement of Ela-Obo, a watering point in the Fiiq wereda of Fiiq zone, and ordered the civilian population to relocate to nearby Galalshe village. According to an eyewitness, an army commander gathered the population and told them, "The government has decided to move people into one bigger place. You are ordered to leave here and move to Galalshe. If you don't move to Galalshe, we'll remove you ourselves."76
When some of the villagers tried to argue with the officer, saying they didn't want to leave their homes, the commander ordered the arrest of six camel herders, and the rounding up of the camels. In front of the gathered villagers, the commander then ordered the six men executed, and the camels shot. Five men were shot dead: Deq Yusuf Lacag, Hassan Abdurrahman Muhumed Omar, Haji Abdi Ibraahim, Khadar Keenadiid, and Waajir Sheikh Osman, while a sixth survived. Some 20 camels were also killed. After the soldiers left, the survivor was taken away by his relatives and brought to a neighboring village.
Four days later soldiers returned to Ela-Obo after receiving information that there had been a survivor of the execution. They detained and summarily executed two female and two male relatives of the survivor: Ardo Muhumed Mohamoud, 18, Hodan Muhumed Mohamoud, 20, Abdullahi Hussein Abdi, and Muhumed Hassan.77 Following the second deadly incident, most villagers fled.
In late February, a few weeks after the initial killings, soldiers followed suspected ONLF tracks into Ela-Obo. After the remaining villagers again refused to leave the area, the soldiers summarily executed another nine herders: Ahmed Nur Hussein Mataan, Abdi Aden Ahmed, Nasir Osman Aden, Mohamed Abdi Saahid, Nur Ayaanle Sheikh Mohamed Ali, Mohamed-gurey Ali Taraar, Mohamed Beddel Gaas, and two brothers from the Bashir Mukhtar family. All nine were buried in the nearby settlement of Malqaqa. Seven other men detained that day remain missing and are feared dead.78
Wardheer and Shilabo weredas, May/June 2007
In late May and early June 2007, the armed forces and Ethiopian regional authorities began to forcibly displace the rural population from villages in Wardheer and neighboring weredas towards Wardheer town and other designated locations. Many villages in a 60-kilometer radius of Wardheer were affected including Daratoole, Lahelow, Neef-Kuceliye, Qamuuda, Dhurwaa-Hararaf, Ubatale, Wa'di, Aado (Caado), Arowela, Yu'ub (Yucub), and Laanjalelo.
Villagers were ordered to evacuate their villages and were warned that failure to obey the orders would lead to the burning of their villages. An elder in Wa'di (Wacdi), a village north of Wardheer town, told Human Rights Watch that on June 15, 2007, Ethiopian officials came to Wa'di and ordered the civilians to leave the village, warning that if they refused the order, their village would be burned.
Over the next weeks, many of the villages in the vicinity of Wardheer town were partially or totally burned: Daratoole was burned in mid-June; Qamuuda (in neighboring Shilabo wereda, Korahe zone) was burned on June 21; Neef-Kuceliye on June 23; Wa'di, Laanjalelo, Aado, and Jinnoole were burned in mid-July.79
Many additional villages and nomadic settlements in the Wardheer wereda were emptied of their population, either on orders of the government or because the residents feared attacks.
Some of the burnings may have been in reprisal for ONLF activity in the area. A person present in Qamuuda when it was burned by the army described the attack to Human Rights Watch, and explained that ONLF fighters had passed through the village just the evening before:
When Qamuuda was burned, I was there. It is about 30 houses. It was alleged ONLF visited the village. They entered on that morning and burned around 8 a.m. and left around 3 p.m. They used fuel they found in the village to burn by setting fire. I saw ONLF in Qamuuda several times. They were carrying guns, came out of the bush. When Qamuuda was burned, the ONLF came there just before the burning.80
Satellite images confirmed the destruction of Qamuuda.
About a week after the burning of Qamuuda, government soldiers entered the nearby village of Jaleelo, also in Shilabo wereda, apparently following the tracks of suspected ONLF fighters operating in the area. A witness told Human Rights Watch that the soldiers stayed in the village for two days, slaughtering and eating some of the goats of the villagers. During their time in the village, the soldiers shot dead two unidentified young men who approached the village and then tried to run away when they saw the soldiers. After two days, the soldiers told the villagers to leave Jaleelo, and burned the homes in the village before departing.81
Labiga and Faafan Valley, June 2007
Among the worst killings of civilians by the Ethiopian army were those that occurred during an army operation in the Faafan Valley in June 2007. Soldiers allegedly willfully shot and killed at least 25 civilians, including men, women, and children. The Faafan Valley and the Gohdi basin are located southwest of Dhagahbur town in Dhagahbur zone, and are an ONLF stronghold.82
In mid-June 2007, pro-government militias known as tadaaqi came to the Gohdi basin surrounding Labiga town, and began ordering nomads and residents of the smaller settlements to move immediately to Labiga town. When the villagers refused to move, the tadaaqi began rounding up and confiscating the villagers' camels.
According to an eyewitness: Initially, the [tadaaqi] told the villagers from the area to move to Labiga. The villagers refused. Labiga is located in a long valley know as Gohdi, and there are 14 small villages in this valley. All the people from these villages were ordered to relocate to Labiga, which lies on the main road. When the villagers refused, the [tadaaqi] came and confiscated their camels. The [tadaaqi] was holding the camels in an enclosure near Koracelis. They gathered hundreds of camels confiscated from the villages along the valley over several days.83
Following the confiscation of the camels, the camel owners sent a delegation of elders to meet with the tadaaqi to try and get the camels released, but the tadaaqi refused the request. The camels were kept in eight traditional xero enclosures (each xero can hold up to 200 camels) in Koracelis town. After failing to negotiate the release of the camels, the camel owners decided to attack the tadaaqi camp and get their camels released by force, according to two eyewitnesses interviewed separately by Human Rights Watch: "The owners of the camels organized themselves, took their weapons, and attacked the [tadaaqi] camp to release the camels."84
During the attack on the tadaaqi camp to free the camels, at least four armed camel owners (Wayel Abdi Iman, Asad Yusuf Iley, Mohammed Abdi Yare, and Miyir), two local residents, and an unknown number of tadaaqi militia members were killed.85
Following the attack by the armed camel owners on the tadaaqi camp and the freeing of their camels, the Ethiopian army deployed a large force to the area, burning down the villages and willfully killing at least 20 civilians. A woman living in Diyaar village at the time it was attacked told Human Rights Watch that the soldiers shot dead her husband, Mohammed Abade Hassan, 30, and her father-in-law, Abade Hassan Omar, 70, during the attack:
The soldiers arrived from all corners. They went into every village and set it on fire, and they were shooting as they burned them. They started burning Diyaar, Hunjurri, Koracelis, Labiga, and Gohdi. It was early in the morning.
There are lots of farms around the area. We owned a farm. My husband was killed that morning, around 5:30 a.m. He was hit by the bullet in front of the house. We were new to the area, I was only there for 13 days when the attack happened. My children were staying with their grandmother who lived in the same area and they fled with them. My husband's father was also killed in that morning after he was shot. I also saw the bodies of others.86
A second eyewitness from Diyaar, a 28-year-old man, was himself shot in the shoulder by the soldiers as he stood in the doorway of his home. Soldiers shot and killed his wife Fadumo Ibrahim, 28, and two young children, Abdinasir Mohammed Farah, 1, and Halima Mohammed Abdi, 2. He told Human Rights Watch:
When the fighting happened around Labiga, I was in Diyaar. [The army] launched a [military] operation around 2:30 a.m. The people in the villages confronted them. The soldiers shot me in front of my house. My wife and two children died ten meters away from me. She died in the shooting along with my two children. The bullet hit me in the shoulder and they left me for dead.87
At least six other civilians were shot dead during the army attacks on Diyaar and Koracelis, including Sharaf Moallim Abdi Dagaal, 35, and her two children aged 2 and 3; Mohammed Abdi Qara-yar, 63, and Hassan Mataan Moallim Abdi, 25.88
Satellite images of Labiga confirm accounts of burning and destruction.
Another 12 civilians were killed around Labiga and Hunjurri villages, according to other eyewitnesses. During the first army raid, soldiers reportedly shot nine civilians in Labiga and Hunjurri, most of them in their farms, their homes, or while trying to run away from the army: Muhumed Yusuf Omar, 23, his brother Muhuyadin Yusuf Omar, 21, and their brother-in-law Ahmed Abdullahi Adan, 41; Abdullahi Muhumed Mataan, 61; Sheikh Mohammed Hassan Wahar, 65; Farhan Ali Shide, 13; Abdullahi Ahmed Af-da'un, 14; Qorgab Ali Abshir, 19; and Moallim Ahmed Mohammed Hashi, 30, a Koranic school teacher. Three days later, soldiers returned to Labiga and killed another three civilians as they attempted to return to their homes: Sheikh Ahmed; and Yusuf Abdi "Adhi-fool" and his young daughter.89
Lahelow, June 2007
In June 2007, the military commander of Wardheer came to Lahelow, a nomadic settlement of some 1,000 families located southwest of Wardheer town, near the boundary between Wardheer and Korahe zones, and ordered the population to gather for a meeting. He informed the population that the government ordered them to leave the area within seven days and relocate to Wardheer town. Since most of the population of Lahelow consisted of pastoralists who needed grazing land for their livestock, many residents refused to relocate.
When the seven-day deadline expired, a military force of some 200 soldiers returned and detained five civilians: Mohammed Abdi Wayd, 23; two sons of Sheikh Hussein Abdi Gaye, 8 and 19; Bashir Jama Abdullahi, 16; and a girl who used to work in a local vegetable shop. The first night they killed Mohmmed Abdi Wayd by strangling him, and threw his body outside their base. The next day, the villagers found the bodies of the other four detainees, shot to death. Following the summary executions, most of the population of Lahelow fled the area, and soldiers burned some of the homes.90 The army brought 10 commandeered civilian trucks to move the remaining civilian population of Lahelow to Wafdug town.91
The army continued to summarily execute civilians who were found in the "closed" zone of Lahelow. A few weeks after the killing of the five civilians, soldiers shot dead a local official from Lahelow, Sulub Mohammed Elmi, when he tried to return home to the village.92 In mid-September 2007, soldiers allegedly shot dead a group of five young camel herders near Lahelow, including Abdulrahman Hassan, 19, and confiscated their camels.93
Malqaqa, June 2007
In June 2007 soldiers came to Malqaqa, a settlement of 40 farms in the Fiiq wereda of Fiiq zone, and ordered the villagers to relocate to the neighboring, larger village of Galalshe, where there was an army base. After removing the residents, the soldiers burned all of the farms in the village and destroyed the crops. Soldiers dug up the khat plants, which were the mainstay of the farms, to ensure that villagers would not return to their homes. An eyewitness from Malqaqa told Human Rights Watch that many of the young men from Malqaqa were detained by the army at their base in Galalshe, where they suffered beatings and abuse.94
Warandhaab, June 2007
According to a witness, in late June 2007, soon after ONLF fighters ambushed an army convoy near the village of Warandhaab, located on the main road between Kabridahar and Sheygoosh, in Korahe zone, soldiers burned the village:
Usually, the soldiers leave their camps [in the main towns] to carry out [counterinsurgency] operations. If the soldiers are ambushed [by the ONLF], then the villages near the ambush are burned. This is what happened in Warandhaab. The soldiers came into the village and told all the villagers to leave and move to Galadiid village. Then, Warandhaab was burned down. Warandhaab had about 40 houses.95
Wardheer town, July 2007
Residents of urban centers have not been spared forced resettlement during 2007. After residents of small rural settlements in Wardheer wereda were ordered to move to Wardheer town and had their villages burned down (see above), the Ethiopian army began ordering residents living on the outskirts of Wardheer town to move towards the center of town. Soldiers then began to burn some kebele (neighborhoods) in the town itself. According to two separate eyewitnesses, the army burned parts of kebeles 1 and 4, and Qoddobaha kebele in July.96 One of the residents removed from kebele 4 told Human Rights Watch:
I had an iron sheet house and an adjoining hut in neighborhood 4 of Wardheer town. The soldiers came one morning in July, and said, "[name removed], get out of here." They were removing residents from three [kebeles], 1, 4, and Qoddobaha, and telling people to move deeper into town.97
A second eyewitness confirmed that the three neighborhoods had been partially burned and destroyed, adding that "all of the suburban neighborhoods of Wardheer had their residents moved deeper into town."98
Notes
76 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Nairobi, September 22, 2007.
77 Human Rights Watch interview, Nairobi, September 22, 2007.
78 Human Rights Watch interviews in Nairobi and Dadaab refugee camp, September 22 and October 5, 2007, respectively.
79 Confidential information on file with Human Rights Watch.
80 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Dadaab refugee camps (Kenya), October 6, 2007.
81 Human Rights Watch interview with 40-year-old refugee woman, Dadaab refugee camp (Kenya), October 6, 2007.
82 The area may have been specifically targeted after ENDF officials viewed video and other materials confiscated from journalists who visited the area. In May 2007, a New York Times team visited the Faafan Valley, accompanied by ONLF fighters, and noted the strong support enjoyed by the ONLF in the area. On May 16, 2007, Ethiopian authorities detained the New York Times reporters in Dhagahbur, and their videotapes were confiscated, including scenes of villagers showing support for the ONLF. See "Ethiopia Releases Detained Times Journalists," New York Times, May 23, 2007.
83 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Dadaab refugee camps (Kenya), October 5, 2007.
84 Human Rights Watch interview, Dadaab (Kenya), October 5, 2007. A second witness told Human Rights Watch: "Two days before the fighting started, the army took away camels from the villages, lots of camels. The camel herders fought to defend their camels. They succeeded to get their camels back." Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Hargeysa (Somaliland), September 25, 2007.
85 Human Rights Watch telephone interviews, October – November 2007.
86 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Hargeysa (Somaliland), September 25, 2007.
87 Human Rights Watch interview with refugee, Nairobi, September 24, 2007.
88 Human Rights Watch telephone interviews, October – November 2007.
89 Human Rights Watch telephone interviews (names and locations withheld), October – November, 2007.
90 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Nairobi, September 23, 2007, and follow-up interview by telephone, October 30, 2007.
91 Confidential information on file with Human Rights Watch.
92 Human Rights Watch interview, Nairobi, September 23, 2007.
93 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Garissa (Kenya), September 20, 2007.
94 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Dadaab (Kenya), October 5, 2007.
95 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Garissa (Kenya), September 20, 2007. A second eyewitness confirmed the burning of Warandhaab to Human Rights Watch, but did not know the circumstances of the burning. Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Garissa (Kenya), September 21, 2007.
96 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Dadaab refugee camps (Kenya), October 6, 2007; Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Dadaab refugee camps (Kenya), October 6, 2007.
97 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Dadaab refugee camps (Kenya), October 6, 2007.
98 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Dadaab refugee camps (Kenya), October 6, 2007.
Note
Picture: Qamuuda erased by the Amhara and Tigray thuggish gangsters, the relatives and friends of butcher Meles Zenawi. This picture is Document 5 of the HRW Report on Ogaden. In a forthcoming article about the HRW Report, I will republish Document 6. Comparing both, you will count how many buildings seen on Doc 5 cannot be found on Doc 6. In the HRW Report, following text accompanied the two photographical documents:
DOC 5 Qamuuda— December 23, 2006 (Lat: 6.543; Long: 44.903) ©2008 DigitalGlobe.
DOC 6 Qamuuda— March 24, 2008: About 85 structures were likely removed or damaged when compared with the previous image. © 2008 DigitalGlobe.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/ethiopia0608/11.htm#_Toc200167140
In this article, I re-publish a first section from the Report´s Part 2, which focuses on the ´Violations by the Ethiopian Government". In forthcoming articles, I will proceed through further republication of sections of the Report´s Part 2.
Part 2: Violations by the Ethiopian Government
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/ethiopia0608/10.htm#_Toc200167138
The government's counter-insurgency response involves a multi-pronged approach aimed at cutting off economic resources, weakening the ONLF's civilian support base, and confining its geographic area of operation. To achieve these aims the Ethiopian armed forces have committed numerous violations of human rights, violations of the laws of war that amount to war crimes, and crimes against humanity against the civilian population. These have included widespread forced relocations of civilians, destruction of their villages, willful killings, and summary executions, and torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence.
Some of the current government's counter-insurgency strategies—such as attempting to constrict rural civilian movement and assets and using brutal force to terrorize civilian populations—have a long history of use by previous governments. However, the EPRDF government has also introduced new methods, such as forced recruitment of local militia and the manipulation of clan dynamics.
The pattern of abuses by government forces in 2007, although intensified, is unfortunately not new. In the course of conducting the research for this report, eyewitnesses to atrocities frequently told Human Rights Watch researchers about previous incidents of village burnings, summary executions, rape, and torture at the hands of security forces, some dating back a decade.
Forced Displacement and Destruction of Villages
In an attempt to cut off civilian support to the ONLF and concentrate its rural support base in designated larger villages and towns, Ethiopia's scaled up counterinsurgency campaign against the ONLF has involved widespread forced displacement, particularly between June and August 2007. The government has ordered civilians to relocate from small villages and pastoralist settlements to designated towns throughout the conflict-affected zones, typically ordering the villagers and nomads to move within two to seven days. To secure compliance with the evacuation orders, the Ethiopian army repeatedly implemented a phased system of terror involving the confiscation and killing of livestock, public executions, and the destruction of villages by burning.
Villagers and pastoralists who refuse to evacuate have been killed, and many villages and nomadic settlements have been burned by the army, while water sources and wells have been destroyed. Evacuated villages and settlements become no-go areas: civilians who remain behind risk being shot on sight, tortured, or raped if spotted by soldiers. Human Rights Watch received reports of 87 villages and nomadic settlements that were partially or totally burned and/or forcefully evacuated during government military operations between June 2006 and August 2007, but the actual number of such burned or evacuated villages is likely to be much higher, even within that time period.
International humanitarian law prohibits the forced transfer of the civilian population during a conflict unless specifically for the security of the civilian population or because it is required for imperative military reasons.74 Relocating civilians to prevent them from assisting insurgent forces or to punish them for doing so is prohibited. The destruction of civilian property is also unlawful.75 The Ethiopian government's forced relocation of thousands of civilians in conflict-affected areas of Somali Region amounts to the unlawful transfer of the population and collective punishment of Ogaadeeni communities perceived to be supporting the ONLF. Individuals who ordered or carried out such acts intentionally or recklessly are responsible for war crimes.
Notes
74 Protocol II, art. 17.
75 See, e.g., ICC Statute, art. 8(2)(b)(v).
Cases of Forced Evacuation, Killings, and Village Burnings
The cases documented below are in general based on multiple eyewitness interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch, and offer detailed accounts of incidents in particular villages. These case studies reflect a pattern of Ethiopian army abuses that have taken place across the conflict-affected region, but this is by no means a comprehensive list. The scale of village burnings, killings, and other abuses is believed to be significantly larger than the number of cases described below.
The patterns of such attacks are strikingly similar: the Ethiopian military first issues orders to the villagers to evacuate the villages within two to seven days. When the villagers refuse to evacuate, the army returns to carry out killings and other atrocities, and burns the village. Should soldiers see villagers or pastoralists in the area after the evacuation and burning of the village, they are often beaten and detained, summarily executed or, if women or girls, raped.
For example, in late May and early June 2007, the Ethiopian armed forces and regional authorities removed much of the rural population of Wardheer wereda, in Wardheer zone, and some villages in neighboring weredas in Korahe zone towards Wardheer town and other sites including Walwal, Danood, and Qoriley. They evacuated more than a dozen villages in an approximately 60-kilometer radius of Wardheer town alone during this operation, including Daratoole, Lahelow, Neef-Kuceliye, Qamuuda, Dhurwaa-Hararaf, Ubatale, Wa'do, Aado (Caado), Arowela, Yu'ub (Yucub), and Laanjalelo. The majority of these villages were burned after their forced evacuation. Similar operations of forced relocation and occasional burnings of villages have taken place around other major towns, such as Garbo, Sagag, Dhagahbur, and Shilabo.
In addition to information from eyewitnesses, Human Rights Watch received numerous accounts from people who were not present at the time of the alleged burnings but saw the villages afterwards while traveling through the region. Sometimes their accounts could not be corroborated by other witness testimony. However, satellite imagery obtained by Human Rights Watch has confirmed that some of the villages mentioned by these individuals did show signs of significant destruction and removal of structures and indications of burning.
For example, in October 2007 a 35-year-old refugee in Kenya told Human Rights Watch researchers that when he was fleeing the attacks around Wardheer in July 2007, he observed that Dameerey village, located between Wardheer and Aware towns, was burned. Human Rights Watch was unable to corroborate this claim with other eyewitness accounts, but "before" and "after" satellite images acquired in December 2006 and March 2008 confirm a significant removal of structures and signs of burning in Dameerey village.
In another example, several refugees from Shilabo wereda claimed that Lasoole village (near Shilabo town, in Korahe zone) was burned in June or July 2007, but were not eyewitnesses to the events. Satellite imagery later confirmed their allegations.
Ela-Obo, February 2007
In February 2007, government forces came to the nomadic settlement of Ela-Obo, a watering point in the Fiiq wereda of Fiiq zone, and ordered the civilian population to relocate to nearby Galalshe village. According to an eyewitness, an army commander gathered the population and told them, "The government has decided to move people into one bigger place. You are ordered to leave here and move to Galalshe. If you don't move to Galalshe, we'll remove you ourselves."76
When some of the villagers tried to argue with the officer, saying they didn't want to leave their homes, the commander ordered the arrest of six camel herders, and the rounding up of the camels. In front of the gathered villagers, the commander then ordered the six men executed, and the camels shot. Five men were shot dead: Deq Yusuf Lacag, Hassan Abdurrahman Muhumed Omar, Haji Abdi Ibraahim, Khadar Keenadiid, and Waajir Sheikh Osman, while a sixth survived. Some 20 camels were also killed. After the soldiers left, the survivor was taken away by his relatives and brought to a neighboring village.
Four days later soldiers returned to Ela-Obo after receiving information that there had been a survivor of the execution. They detained and summarily executed two female and two male relatives of the survivor: Ardo Muhumed Mohamoud, 18, Hodan Muhumed Mohamoud, 20, Abdullahi Hussein Abdi, and Muhumed Hassan.77 Following the second deadly incident, most villagers fled.
In late February, a few weeks after the initial killings, soldiers followed suspected ONLF tracks into Ela-Obo. After the remaining villagers again refused to leave the area, the soldiers summarily executed another nine herders: Ahmed Nur Hussein Mataan, Abdi Aden Ahmed, Nasir Osman Aden, Mohamed Abdi Saahid, Nur Ayaanle Sheikh Mohamed Ali, Mohamed-gurey Ali Taraar, Mohamed Beddel Gaas, and two brothers from the Bashir Mukhtar family. All nine were buried in the nearby settlement of Malqaqa. Seven other men detained that day remain missing and are feared dead.78
Wardheer and Shilabo weredas, May/June 2007
In late May and early June 2007, the armed forces and Ethiopian regional authorities began to forcibly displace the rural population from villages in Wardheer and neighboring weredas towards Wardheer town and other designated locations. Many villages in a 60-kilometer radius of Wardheer were affected including Daratoole, Lahelow, Neef-Kuceliye, Qamuuda, Dhurwaa-Hararaf, Ubatale, Wa'di, Aado (Caado), Arowela, Yu'ub (Yucub), and Laanjalelo.
Villagers were ordered to evacuate their villages and were warned that failure to obey the orders would lead to the burning of their villages. An elder in Wa'di (Wacdi), a village north of Wardheer town, told Human Rights Watch that on June 15, 2007, Ethiopian officials came to Wa'di and ordered the civilians to leave the village, warning that if they refused the order, their village would be burned.
Over the next weeks, many of the villages in the vicinity of Wardheer town were partially or totally burned: Daratoole was burned in mid-June; Qamuuda (in neighboring Shilabo wereda, Korahe zone) was burned on June 21; Neef-Kuceliye on June 23; Wa'di, Laanjalelo, Aado, and Jinnoole were burned in mid-July.79
Many additional villages and nomadic settlements in the Wardheer wereda were emptied of their population, either on orders of the government or because the residents feared attacks.
Some of the burnings may have been in reprisal for ONLF activity in the area. A person present in Qamuuda when it was burned by the army described the attack to Human Rights Watch, and explained that ONLF fighters had passed through the village just the evening before:
When Qamuuda was burned, I was there. It is about 30 houses. It was alleged ONLF visited the village. They entered on that morning and burned around 8 a.m. and left around 3 p.m. They used fuel they found in the village to burn by setting fire. I saw ONLF in Qamuuda several times. They were carrying guns, came out of the bush. When Qamuuda was burned, the ONLF came there just before the burning.80
Satellite images confirmed the destruction of Qamuuda.
About a week after the burning of Qamuuda, government soldiers entered the nearby village of Jaleelo, also in Shilabo wereda, apparently following the tracks of suspected ONLF fighters operating in the area. A witness told Human Rights Watch that the soldiers stayed in the village for two days, slaughtering and eating some of the goats of the villagers. During their time in the village, the soldiers shot dead two unidentified young men who approached the village and then tried to run away when they saw the soldiers. After two days, the soldiers told the villagers to leave Jaleelo, and burned the homes in the village before departing.81
Labiga and Faafan Valley, June 2007
Among the worst killings of civilians by the Ethiopian army were those that occurred during an army operation in the Faafan Valley in June 2007. Soldiers allegedly willfully shot and killed at least 25 civilians, including men, women, and children. The Faafan Valley and the Gohdi basin are located southwest of Dhagahbur town in Dhagahbur zone, and are an ONLF stronghold.82
In mid-June 2007, pro-government militias known as tadaaqi came to the Gohdi basin surrounding Labiga town, and began ordering nomads and residents of the smaller settlements to move immediately to Labiga town. When the villagers refused to move, the tadaaqi began rounding up and confiscating the villagers' camels.
According to an eyewitness: Initially, the [tadaaqi] told the villagers from the area to move to Labiga. The villagers refused. Labiga is located in a long valley know as Gohdi, and there are 14 small villages in this valley. All the people from these villages were ordered to relocate to Labiga, which lies on the main road. When the villagers refused, the [tadaaqi] came and confiscated their camels. The [tadaaqi] was holding the camels in an enclosure near Koracelis. They gathered hundreds of camels confiscated from the villages along the valley over several days.83
Following the confiscation of the camels, the camel owners sent a delegation of elders to meet with the tadaaqi to try and get the camels released, but the tadaaqi refused the request. The camels were kept in eight traditional xero enclosures (each xero can hold up to 200 camels) in Koracelis town. After failing to negotiate the release of the camels, the camel owners decided to attack the tadaaqi camp and get their camels released by force, according to two eyewitnesses interviewed separately by Human Rights Watch: "The owners of the camels organized themselves, took their weapons, and attacked the [tadaaqi] camp to release the camels."84
During the attack on the tadaaqi camp to free the camels, at least four armed camel owners (Wayel Abdi Iman, Asad Yusuf Iley, Mohammed Abdi Yare, and Miyir), two local residents, and an unknown number of tadaaqi militia members were killed.85
Following the attack by the armed camel owners on the tadaaqi camp and the freeing of their camels, the Ethiopian army deployed a large force to the area, burning down the villages and willfully killing at least 20 civilians. A woman living in Diyaar village at the time it was attacked told Human Rights Watch that the soldiers shot dead her husband, Mohammed Abade Hassan, 30, and her father-in-law, Abade Hassan Omar, 70, during the attack:
The soldiers arrived from all corners. They went into every village and set it on fire, and they were shooting as they burned them. They started burning Diyaar, Hunjurri, Koracelis, Labiga, and Gohdi. It was early in the morning.
There are lots of farms around the area. We owned a farm. My husband was killed that morning, around 5:30 a.m. He was hit by the bullet in front of the house. We were new to the area, I was only there for 13 days when the attack happened. My children were staying with their grandmother who lived in the same area and they fled with them. My husband's father was also killed in that morning after he was shot. I also saw the bodies of others.86
A second eyewitness from Diyaar, a 28-year-old man, was himself shot in the shoulder by the soldiers as he stood in the doorway of his home. Soldiers shot and killed his wife Fadumo Ibrahim, 28, and two young children, Abdinasir Mohammed Farah, 1, and Halima Mohammed Abdi, 2. He told Human Rights Watch:
When the fighting happened around Labiga, I was in Diyaar. [The army] launched a [military] operation around 2:30 a.m. The people in the villages confronted them. The soldiers shot me in front of my house. My wife and two children died ten meters away from me. She died in the shooting along with my two children. The bullet hit me in the shoulder and they left me for dead.87
At least six other civilians were shot dead during the army attacks on Diyaar and Koracelis, including Sharaf Moallim Abdi Dagaal, 35, and her two children aged 2 and 3; Mohammed Abdi Qara-yar, 63, and Hassan Mataan Moallim Abdi, 25.88
Satellite images of Labiga confirm accounts of burning and destruction.
Another 12 civilians were killed around Labiga and Hunjurri villages, according to other eyewitnesses. During the first army raid, soldiers reportedly shot nine civilians in Labiga and Hunjurri, most of them in their farms, their homes, or while trying to run away from the army: Muhumed Yusuf Omar, 23, his brother Muhuyadin Yusuf Omar, 21, and their brother-in-law Ahmed Abdullahi Adan, 41; Abdullahi Muhumed Mataan, 61; Sheikh Mohammed Hassan Wahar, 65; Farhan Ali Shide, 13; Abdullahi Ahmed Af-da'un, 14; Qorgab Ali Abshir, 19; and Moallim Ahmed Mohammed Hashi, 30, a Koranic school teacher. Three days later, soldiers returned to Labiga and killed another three civilians as they attempted to return to their homes: Sheikh Ahmed; and Yusuf Abdi "Adhi-fool" and his young daughter.89
Lahelow, June 2007
In June 2007, the military commander of Wardheer came to Lahelow, a nomadic settlement of some 1,000 families located southwest of Wardheer town, near the boundary between Wardheer and Korahe zones, and ordered the population to gather for a meeting. He informed the population that the government ordered them to leave the area within seven days and relocate to Wardheer town. Since most of the population of Lahelow consisted of pastoralists who needed grazing land for their livestock, many residents refused to relocate.
When the seven-day deadline expired, a military force of some 200 soldiers returned and detained five civilians: Mohammed Abdi Wayd, 23; two sons of Sheikh Hussein Abdi Gaye, 8 and 19; Bashir Jama Abdullahi, 16; and a girl who used to work in a local vegetable shop. The first night they killed Mohmmed Abdi Wayd by strangling him, and threw his body outside their base. The next day, the villagers found the bodies of the other four detainees, shot to death. Following the summary executions, most of the population of Lahelow fled the area, and soldiers burned some of the homes.90 The army brought 10 commandeered civilian trucks to move the remaining civilian population of Lahelow to Wafdug town.91
The army continued to summarily execute civilians who were found in the "closed" zone of Lahelow. A few weeks after the killing of the five civilians, soldiers shot dead a local official from Lahelow, Sulub Mohammed Elmi, when he tried to return home to the village.92 In mid-September 2007, soldiers allegedly shot dead a group of five young camel herders near Lahelow, including Abdulrahman Hassan, 19, and confiscated their camels.93
Malqaqa, June 2007
In June 2007 soldiers came to Malqaqa, a settlement of 40 farms in the Fiiq wereda of Fiiq zone, and ordered the villagers to relocate to the neighboring, larger village of Galalshe, where there was an army base. After removing the residents, the soldiers burned all of the farms in the village and destroyed the crops. Soldiers dug up the khat plants, which were the mainstay of the farms, to ensure that villagers would not return to their homes. An eyewitness from Malqaqa told Human Rights Watch that many of the young men from Malqaqa were detained by the army at their base in Galalshe, where they suffered beatings and abuse.94
Warandhaab, June 2007
According to a witness, in late June 2007, soon after ONLF fighters ambushed an army convoy near the village of Warandhaab, located on the main road between Kabridahar and Sheygoosh, in Korahe zone, soldiers burned the village:
Usually, the soldiers leave their camps [in the main towns] to carry out [counterinsurgency] operations. If the soldiers are ambushed [by the ONLF], then the villages near the ambush are burned. This is what happened in Warandhaab. The soldiers came into the village and told all the villagers to leave and move to Galadiid village. Then, Warandhaab was burned down. Warandhaab had about 40 houses.95
Wardheer town, July 2007
Residents of urban centers have not been spared forced resettlement during 2007. After residents of small rural settlements in Wardheer wereda were ordered to move to Wardheer town and had their villages burned down (see above), the Ethiopian army began ordering residents living on the outskirts of Wardheer town to move towards the center of town. Soldiers then began to burn some kebele (neighborhoods) in the town itself. According to two separate eyewitnesses, the army burned parts of kebeles 1 and 4, and Qoddobaha kebele in July.96 One of the residents removed from kebele 4 told Human Rights Watch:
I had an iron sheet house and an adjoining hut in neighborhood 4 of Wardheer town. The soldiers came one morning in July, and said, "[name removed], get out of here." They were removing residents from three [kebeles], 1, 4, and Qoddobaha, and telling people to move deeper into town.97
A second eyewitness confirmed that the three neighborhoods had been partially burned and destroyed, adding that "all of the suburban neighborhoods of Wardheer had their residents moved deeper into town."98
Notes
76 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Nairobi, September 22, 2007.
77 Human Rights Watch interview, Nairobi, September 22, 2007.
78 Human Rights Watch interviews in Nairobi and Dadaab refugee camp, September 22 and October 5, 2007, respectively.
79 Confidential information on file with Human Rights Watch.
80 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Dadaab refugee camps (Kenya), October 6, 2007.
81 Human Rights Watch interview with 40-year-old refugee woman, Dadaab refugee camp (Kenya), October 6, 2007.
82 The area may have been specifically targeted after ENDF officials viewed video and other materials confiscated from journalists who visited the area. In May 2007, a New York Times team visited the Faafan Valley, accompanied by ONLF fighters, and noted the strong support enjoyed by the ONLF in the area. On May 16, 2007, Ethiopian authorities detained the New York Times reporters in Dhagahbur, and their videotapes were confiscated, including scenes of villagers showing support for the ONLF. See "Ethiopia Releases Detained Times Journalists," New York Times, May 23, 2007.
83 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Dadaab refugee camps (Kenya), October 5, 2007.
84 Human Rights Watch interview, Dadaab (Kenya), October 5, 2007. A second witness told Human Rights Watch: "Two days before the fighting started, the army took away camels from the villages, lots of camels. The camel herders fought to defend their camels. They succeeded to get their camels back." Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Hargeysa (Somaliland), September 25, 2007.
85 Human Rights Watch telephone interviews, October – November 2007.
86 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Hargeysa (Somaliland), September 25, 2007.
87 Human Rights Watch interview with refugee, Nairobi, September 24, 2007.
88 Human Rights Watch telephone interviews, October – November 2007.
89 Human Rights Watch telephone interviews (names and locations withheld), October – November, 2007.
90 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Nairobi, September 23, 2007, and follow-up interview by telephone, October 30, 2007.
91 Confidential information on file with Human Rights Watch.
92 Human Rights Watch interview, Nairobi, September 23, 2007.
93 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Garissa (Kenya), September 20, 2007.
94 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Dadaab (Kenya), October 5, 2007.
95 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Garissa (Kenya), September 20, 2007. A second eyewitness confirmed the burning of Warandhaab to Human Rights Watch, but did not know the circumstances of the burning. Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Garissa (Kenya), September 21, 2007.
96 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Dadaab refugee camps (Kenya), October 6, 2007; Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Dadaab refugee camps (Kenya), October 6, 2007.
97 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Dadaab refugee camps (Kenya), October 6, 2007.
98 Human Rights Watch interview with (name withheld), Dadaab refugee camps (Kenya), October 6, 2007.
Note
Picture: Qamuuda erased by the Amhara and Tigray thuggish gangsters, the relatives and friends of butcher Meles Zenawi. This picture is Document 5 of the HRW Report on Ogaden. In a forthcoming article about the HRW Report, I will republish Document 6. Comparing both, you will count how many buildings seen on Doc 5 cannot be found on Doc 6. In the HRW Report, following text accompanied the two photographical documents:
DOC 5 Qamuuda— December 23, 2006 (Lat: 6.543; Long: 44.903) ©2008 DigitalGlobe.
DOC 6 Qamuuda— March 24, 2008: About 85 structures were likely removed or damaged when compared with the previous image. © 2008 DigitalGlobe.
http://www.hrw.org/reports/2008/ethiopia0608/11.htm#_Toc200167140
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