OSG Report Imposes UN Intervention in Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia), End of Racist Amhara – Tigray State
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
March 11, 2010
UN intervention is imposed in the light of the evidence made available in the OSG Report, particularly because the cases of Saddam Hussein´s Iraq and Taliban´s Afghanistan pale in comparison with the barbaric, worse-than-Nazi rule of the Amhara and Tigray beasts who form Meles Zenawi´s "government". I therefore intend to publish the OSG Report integrally in a series of articles the first of which is the present.
Oromia Support Group Report 45 - March 2010
Political detention and killings in Ethiopia 2008 - 2010
http://www.oromoliberationfront.org/news/2010/Report_45[1].pdf
Contents
2010: Opposition threatened, detained and branded illegal
Recent wave of arrests in Oromia Region: shootings
Tigray Arena party arrests and threats
Political persecution and killings in 2008
Crackdown on Oromo, October/November: accusations of terrorism
Refoulement from Kenya: terrorist label
More killings and arrests: new ´silent torture´
Political persecution and killings in 2009
January: Killing, arrests, terrorism charges
February: Torture, rape, harassment, arrests, death by torture
March: Attempted assassination, killing, arrests
April: Terrorism charges and convictions, Birtukan Mideksa
Ginbot 7 arrests
May: Detention, killings, death from torture, CUD sentences
June: Beatings, Ginbot 7 charges, torture, tax evasion, terrorism
July: Anti-Terrorism Law
Human Rights League: Oromo political prisoners´ appeal
Torture methods
Prison conditions
Dozens of Oromo arrested: student tortured
August: Convictions, arrests, torture, harassment
September: Pre-trial detention, Medrek and other arrests, torture
October: UDJ members arrested, beaten, raped
Surveillance and intimidation in Dembi Dollo
November: Denial of food aid and food-for-work programme
Intense surveillance: Toronto Globe and Mail
December: Ginbot 7 death sentences
No level playing field for the 2010 election - Dr. Negasso Gidada
Appendices
Preamble:
We also would like to bring to everyone´s attentions that all these extrajudicial punishments and human rights violations are being inflicted on Oromo sons and daughters, not because they committed any crime, but simply because they attempted to exercise their fundamental human rights that are universally recognized.
Finally, we call up on all regional and international human rights and political organizations to interfere, for the sake of human dignity, in the never-ending, but not well-noticed, Ethiopian political problem that is threatening not only local but also regional political stability.
Oromo political prisoners´ appeal, published by the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa, 25 July 2009 (p. 15).
2010: Opposition threatened, detained and branded illegal
Detention of political opposition figures has been continuing since the last national election in 2005 and has accelerated in early 2010. Legal Ethiopian opposition parties are complaining of harassment, intimidation and the detention and killing of their members and supporters: this persecution is now officially sanctioned by the government party and is backed by legislation.
Reuters reported on a press conference held by the main opposition coalition, Medrek – the Forum for Democratic Dialogue, on 17 February. Former Ethiopian President, Negasso Gidada, exhibited a government party newsletter which called for the party faithful to ´track opposition members,´ to follow, photograph and document their movements, and to collect their literature so it could ´be used against opposition leaders to accuse them and bring them to court´.
The Anti-Terrorist Law which was passed in July 2009 (see p. 14) allows the prosecution of government critics and their imprisonment for up to 20 years or life.
Recent wave of arrests in Oromia Region: shootings
In its first Press Release for 2010, the Toronto-based Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) reported in January that several hundred civilians in Oromia Region had been arrested mid-month. The Hannover-based Oromo Human Rights and Relief Organisation (Oromo Menschenrechts-und Hilfsorganisation, OMHRO, 20 January) corroborated this report of widespread arrests and estimated that more than 500 had been detained on 14 and 15 January in Hararge zone alone – about 350 in Haromaya and the others in Kombolcha, Deder, Karro, Dhangago and Qarsaa.
A 7th Grade school student, Caalaa, was shot dead by security forces in Qarsaa, and two others, Tofiq and Abdujabbar Aliyi, were shot and wounded before being taken away by security forces, according to the OMRHO report.
Arrests beginning on 14 January were also reported from Sigimo and Gatira in Illubabor, from Horo Guduru in Wallega, Yabello and Liban in Borana, Dugdaa and Bishoftu in E. Showa, Ambo in W. Showa and from Arsi and Bale zones.
Detainees were accused of involvement with the OLF and most were held incommunicado in unknown locations. The Oromo People´s Congress (OPC), a Medrek coalition partner, reported that at least 157 of its members were among those arrested, including regional representatives and central committee members Fikadu Tefera (Wallega), Demelash Taddesse (Arsi) and Tolesa Bacho Jilcha (Showa). Twenty five of the 157 members and supporters, mainly students and teachers, are named in Appendix 1. Two other central committee members, Niguse Mekonnen Gammada and Abduljabbar Bashir, were appointed to replace Demalesh Taddesse at the Arsi office but they too were arrested and imprisoned.
The January OMRHO report, HRLHA (Urgent Action No. 8, January) and Advocacy for Ethiopia (13 January) recorded the detention of three university students in Awassa, (Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region - SNNPR) on 5 and 6 January. Nagga Gezaw (2nd year civil engineering), Ms Jatani Wario (2nd year co-operative) and Dhaba Girre (3rd year management) were taken from the campus by security forces to an unknown destination and were later reported to be held in Maikelawi Central Investigation Department (CID) in Addis Ababa. They had been involved in protests about the contamination of local rivers and streams by gold mining activity at Lega Denbi, Gujji/Borana zone of Oromia Region. HRLHA reported that other students had probably been detained in addition to the three named.
In January, a representative of the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM, a Medrek coalition partner) in Nekemte, Wallega, was fined and sentenced to three months detention, thus preventing his registering as an election candidate. Qinati Abdisa was accused of illegally possessing a gun, which according to his family was placed in his home by security forces (Fitih newspaper, 8 January).
OFDM leader, Bulcha Demeksa, said that seven other OFDM members had been recently detained along with 297 Shakiso residents who were protesting against Midroc gold mining company activities in their area.
Amharic weekly Sendek, 24 February, reported complaints from Medrek chairman and Oromo People´s Congress leader Merera Gudina that his party was unable to field candidates in five woredas of Oromia Region because of government actions. Masked men attacked and damaged a party vehicle, stole documents and beat representatives travelling to E. Wallega to register candidates. Local government officials and security forces were involved in the attacks. EDP chairman, Lidetu Ayelew also complained to Sendek that registration of candidates was obstructed and that government cadres intimidated, arrested and beat his party´s candidates.
Tigray Arena party arrests and threats
According to information circulated by the Office of Analysis for Africa in the US State Department on 14 February, the leader of the Arena opposition party in Tigray Region, Gebru Asrat, accused security forces of detaining seven Tigrean farmers a few weeks previously for travelling to Addis Ababa to complain to human rights organisations of their being denied food aid for political reasons. They were returned to Tigray Region after five days and threatened with long prison terms for speaking to foreigners and ´betraying their country´. An American journalist who travelled to Tigray to investigate the issue of denial of food aid to political opponents was detained for two days and threatened with deportation.
Political persecution and killings in 2008
Oromia Support Group (OSG) Report 44, August 2008, included information on the release and pardon of many Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) party members in 2007 and human rights lawyers Netsanet Demessie and Daniel Bekele in 2008. They were arrested after the success of the CUD and other opposition parties in the 2005 national election. The report also documented abuses associated with the 2008 local elections and by-elections, the arrests of several hundred oppositon supporters and widespread intimidation, which resulted in the loss of opposition gains made in 2005.
Since that report was written, information on the deaths in detention of two CUD members was received. Gedlu Ayele died in Kaliti prison on 16 July 2008 and Ergata Gobena died one month earlier (Addis Neger newspaper, 19 July). Former fellow detainees reported that the men who died had been beaten in detention.
Founding member of the Unity for Democracy and Justice party (UDJ, a Medrek coalition partner and one of the offshoots of the CUD), Dr Yacob Haile-Mariam, was detained briefly and questioned on 16 June 2008 (Awramba Times 17 June). Fitih newspaper reported that Ture Dio, a supporter of the All Ethiopia Unity Organisation (AEUO), Hailu Shawel´s faction of the former CUD, was shot dead by security forces in Dila Woreda, SNNPR, on 12 July 2008 and at least 40 others were detained in Walaita, Gamo and Kambata areas of SNNPR on 19 July.
Goggle reported on 31 October 2008 that AEUO leaders were again intimidated and detained in Walaita, SNNPR. Security forces broke into a local organiser´s hotel and confiscated his National Election Board authorisation to move freely and his registration certificate. Two UDJ party organisers were arrested in Metu, Illubabor, on 30 October, according to the Goggle report.
Former judge, Ms Birtukan Mideksa, now 36, was elected chair of the UDJ and the party attracted most of the former, successfully-elected CUD members who had been detained in 2005. Birtukan was released in 2007 with most of the CUD detainees. However, after refusing to retract her clarification of the pardoning process which she gave at a conference in Sweden, Birtukan was again detained on 29 December and began her renewed life sentence in solitary confinement. She remains a prisoner of conscience and a focus of an Amnesty International campaign.
Crackdown on Oromo, October/November 2008: accusations of terrorism
Politicians, university lecturers, businessmen, lawyers, other professional people and students were arrested in October and November 2008 under the pretext of supporting the Oromo Liberation Front. Detainees included student and political activists and teachers of Oromo culture and language. Oromo who were successful in any sphere of activity and who refused to join the government Oromo party, the OPDO, were targeted, as in similar waves of detention of Oromo in 1997/8, 2002 and 2004.
OSG was informed about the detention of Wabe Haji Jarso, a lawyer working for the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia, on 31 October. His story was typical. A relative in the USA wrote:
Ten Ethiopian federal security police went to Commercial Bank, where Wabe was a lawyer, and forced him to accompany them to his home in Saris. At least one other employee was also arrested from Commercial Bank. They spent 4 hours searching Wabes´s house, without permission from the court. They confiscated all his photographs, several personal documents, a computer, DVDs, and a scanner. After they searched his house, the police took Wabe to Maikelawi Prison in Addis Ababa.
His photograph was broadcast on the government run Ethiopian Television along with several other detainees on November 6. . . . All of those shown on Ethiopian Television were accused of being leaders of OLF who they say are organizing terrorist activities against the present government of Ethiopia. Wabe has no history of illegal activities in Ethiopia. However, he refused to join the OPDO.
Medrek coalition partners, the OFDM and OPC, reported that at least 94, probably more than 200, were detained in the two weeks following 30 October. Reports from HRLHA, OMHRO, the Oromo Parliamentarians Council (based in Belgium and formed by exiled Oromo members of Federal and Oromia Region parliaments), local press and individuals reporting the detention of colleagues and family members enabled OSG to compile the following list of 75 of the detainees:
Abdi Amade, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Abdi Botu, imprisoned in Miliqayeti, Daro Labu, W. Hararge
Abdi Mumade, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Abdi Wallo, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Abdul Aziz, Qilee village, W. Hararge, taken to an unknown location on 11th
November
Abdurahman Mohammed, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Mr Abdusalam, Baroda town, Goro Gutu, W. Hararge, taken to an unknown location on 11th November
Mrs Aberash Yadeta
Ahmed Mohammed Aliyi, detained in Ginir, Bale
Aliyi Faxira, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Mrs Asada Imana
Asafa Tefera Dibaba, poet, writer and lecturer in Oromo language studies, Addis Ababa University
Banti Bula
Bayisa Hussein (Hinsene), High School student, Ambo
Bayisa Lata, 28, Addis Ababa University student
Bekele Jirata, 66, General Secretary of the OFDM, an agricultural expert with a
Master´s degree employed by Oromia Water Resources, was one of the first to be arrested, on his way to his office on Thursday 30th October. Chairman of the OFDM, Bulcha Demeksa, told Sudan Tribune on 5th November that Bekele had been held for six days without charge and without being allowed to see his family or a lawyer. Bulcha said at least 15 OFDM supporters were detained.
Bekele Negeri, businessman in Addis Ababa, held in Maikelawi CID
Belay Korme, pharmacist, Nekemte Hospital, Wallega
Biratu Kabada, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Ms Bizunesh, student, detained in Nekemte, Wallega
Bulti Jalata, OFDM member, Mana Sibu/Qiltu Kara, Wallega, also detained and tortured in 2005, disabled from torture; property confiscated.
Chalsissa Abdissa
Mrs Chaaltu, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Mrs Chaltu Takala
Dastayo Dheressa Kaba, (Zegeye´s brother, see below), 26, law graduate working in Ambo W. Showa, was reportedly taken earlier, on 15th September, and held in Maikelawi CID.
Dejene Dhaba, trader
Dereje Borena, brother of Kebede Borena (below)
Desalegne Qana´ii, lawyer representing political detainees (reported by HRLHA in December to have been released)
Desta Kitil, businessman, brother of Eshetu Kitil (see below)
Mrs Diribe (Bontu) Ittana
Diribsa Legesse
Duri Mohammed Galchu, imprisoned in Miliqayeti, Daro Labu, W. Hararge
Eshetu Kitil, 54, businessman and owner of the Hawi Hotel, Addis Ababa, held in Maikelawi
Fatiya Ahmed, wife of Harun Kabir Ibro below, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Fikadu Jalqaba, university/college student
Fikadu Nagari, teacher, detained in Nekemte, Wallega
Mr Getachew, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Getahun Dhuguma, University student (a professor, according to www.afro-o.org ), detained in Nekemte, Wallega
Gudata Dabale, 48, High School Teacher and Director of Finance of the Macha- Tulama Association (Oromo welfare and self-help organisation whose members have been persecuted since its inception in the 1960s – including during the 1997/8, 2002 and 2004 arrests).
Hailu Dalassa Mirkana, 27, from Ambo, W. Showa, 3rd year law student at Haromaya University, taken from campus 20 November to Kaliti prison and then Maikelawi.
Harun Kabir Ibro, husband of Fatiya Ahmed, above, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November, property confiscated.
Hussein Bultum, disappeared after being taken by security forces from his home in Metahara, E. Showa, on 30th or 31st 0ctober
Imiru Gurmessa, 70, businessman
Jara Ebissa, high School student, Ambo
Mr Jaafari, Baroda town, Goro Gutu, W. Hararge, taken to an unknown location
on 11th November
Mr Johar, Fero village, Babile, W. Hararge, taken to an unknown location on 11th
November
Kebebew Feyee
Kebede Borena, an accountant and manager of Hilton Hotel, Addis Ababa
Kebede Bulti, businessman
Ms Lalisee Dhiphisaa, 33, a staff member for the recently closed Oromo program on Ethiopian Television
Mrs Lelise Wodajo, Ethiopian TV journalist, mother of three and wife of exiled TV journalist Dhabasa Wakjira, who was himself detained from 2004 to 2007.
Mohammed Abdella Ahmad, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Mohammed Ali, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Mohammed Amma, Ordee village, Cinaqsan, W. Hararge, taken to an unknown
location on 11 November
Mohammed Haji, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Mohammed Hawash, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Mohammed Sheeka, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Mohammed Tamam, student, detained in Nekemte, Wallega
Namomsa Warqineh, school teacher, Bakejama, detained in Nekemte, Wallega
Najash Awaday, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Nagari Fayissa, detained in Nekemte, Wallega
Negusie Dhaba
Obsa Waqe, detained in Nekemte, Wallega
Qajela Abdata, OFDM member, Mendi, Wallega, also imprisoned 1997-2003 and in 2005
Qanate Barata, detained in Nekemte, Wallega
Roba Gadafa, 27, statistician and employee of Hibret Insurance Company
Sabit Abdurahman Ame, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Shiferaw Nagasso, detained in Nekemte, Wallega
Shumi Dandana, High School student, Ambo
Take Gamachu, student, detained in Nekemte, Wallega
Taye Itana, detained in Nekemte, Wallega
Mr Tofik, Dire Dawa, Hararge, detained on 11th November
Tokkon Mardasaa, OFDM member, Mana Sibu/Qiltu Kara, Wallega, also detained and tortured in 2005, disabled from torture; property confiscated.
Mrs Urge Ababa, her husband Girma, their three year old child and her brother, Dargu.
Wabe Haji Jarso, lawyer with Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (see above). Wabe had previously been detained for a short period.
Warqina Dhinsa, school teacher, Dembi Dollo, detained in Nekemte, Wallega
Zegeye Dheressa Kaba, 24, from Matakal, W. Oromia Region, 3rd year law student at Bahar Dar University, taken on 7 November and reportedly held at Maikelawi CID
Zerihun Wadajo, father of four, famous Oromo singer, detained under the Derg and detained, harassed and intimidated frequently since 1992. He was arrested on 14th November and held in Maikelawi CID.
Other staff members and students of Addis Ababa University were detained according to HRHLA but their reporter was unable to ascertain their identities due to tight security on the AAU campus. Staff of the Finca´a Sugar Factory and three human rights reporters for the Ethiopian Human Rights Council in Nekemte (EHRCO), Wallega, were also among those detained.
Amnesty International (AFR 25/01/2008, 14 November) reported that detentions had occurred across Oromia Region and that most detainees were held incommunicado at Maikelawi Central Investigation Department, ´known for torture and other ill-treatment of political prisoners in the past´.
Oromia Support Group can be contacted here:
60 Westminster Rd, Malvern
Worcs, WR14 4ES, UK
Tel: 01684 573722
Email oromiasg@waitrose.com
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