Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2014 16:54:59 +0100
Ethiopian Persecution, Threats And Kidnapping: Violence In Ogaden Rages On -
OpEd
By <http://www.eurasiareview.com/author/graham-peebles/> Graham Peebles
<http://www.eurasiareview.com/28022014-ethiopian-persecution-threats-kidnapp
ing-violence-ogaden-rages-oped/> February 28, 2014
12.03.2014
Hidden and isolated from the world the armed conflict raging in the Ogaden
region of Ethiopia goes unnoticed. The killing and raping of innocent
civilians at the hands of the military and their paramilitary partners in
crime the Liyu police, the false arrests, torture and imprisonment remain
largely hidden and unreported.
The international media, human rights groups and most aid organisations
(including the International Red Cross) have been banned from the region by
the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) since
2007.
Testimonies of extreme abuse and mistreatment reported by Human Rights
Watch, Amnesty International and diaspora agencies have come mainly from
refugees who have found their way to the United Nations High Commission for
Refugees (UNHCR) administered Dadaab Refugee Camp in Kenya, where hundreds
of men, women and children have sought safety. "I was arrested without
charge in 2010 and imprisoned for two years in a military barracks, when in
prison I was repeatedly beaten," relayed Noor Sayat, a 40-year old former
local government worker.
Omar Abdi told me how his wife and son together with his brother had been
murdered in cold blood by the military, and how he "was imprisoned for one
year and two months." During which time he "was tortured every night.late at
night we were taken to the river, a rope tied around our necks and held
under the water. They pulled me out and then beat me with wooden sticks and
their rifles. Sometimes they would vary the method and put a sack over my
head, tie it around my throat with rope and then submerge me in the river,
then beat me."
Women tell of being subjected to gang rapes in prison: "I was raped by
groups of soldiers," 27-year old Raho told me. "It used to happen around
midnight. I can only remember the first three men who raped me. They would
take me out and leave the baby in the room with the other women, and bring
me back in the early morning.. the soldiers would come every night about
midnight to take some of the women out for raping." Raho was imprisoned for
two years, the first eight months of which she was pregnant. She was raped
throughout with the exception of the "40 days when I gave birth and had my
new born baby." She was released after complaining of abdominal pains
caused, she believes, by the relentless sexual abuse.
For many community leaders the persecution continues inside Dadaab, with
life-threatening telephone calls and text messages made by members of
Ethiopia's secret service, military and Liyu police.
<http://ogaden.com/hornnews/ogaden/1691-ethiopias-new-plan-to-hunt-kill-or-m
aim-ogaden-citizenry-in-the-diaspora.html> Ogaden Online relays that "the
names, family history and even the pictures of Ogaden leaders [now living
in] the Kenyan refugee camps," have been collected by Ethiopian
intelligence. The plan is "to hunt, kill, maim, or intimidate" members of
the Ogaden diaspora, "especially in the Kenyan refugee camps and those
present in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi." The men who make up such so-called
security services, in Ethiopia and elsewhere, live in a dark and ugly world;
Ethiopia is besieged by social and economic problems and yet the government,
shrouded in paranoia and hatred, spends its time and scant resources
persecuting those seeking sanctuary.
The many claims of rape, false arrest, torture and execution of civilians by
military personnel and Liyu police officers were confirmed by the statement
of a former Liyu commander I spoke to in Dadaab. He told shocking stories of
mutilation, murder, burying people alive, rape and systematic destruction of
property. The Ethiopian government, he said, "wants to colonise the people
and get rid of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF); the main target
is the oil." The Ogaden is reported to be rich in oil and natural
<http://www.eurasiareview.com/28022014-ethiopian-persecution-threats-kidnapp
ing-violence-ogaden-rages-oped/>
gashttp://cdncache1-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png; the promise
of buried treasures may explain the West's acceptance of wide-ranging human
rights abuses being committed by the Ethiopian government -- not just in the
Ogaden, but throughout the country.
The struggle for self-determination for the region has been waged by the
ONLF since its formation in 1984. The
<http://www.eurasiareview.com/28022014-ethiopian-persecution-threats-kidnapp
ing-violence-ogaden-rages-oped/> freedom
fightershttp://cdncache1-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png, or
'dangerous terrorists' if one accepts the government's rhetoric, where voted
into office in 1992 in regional elections. They "won 60% of seats. and
formed the new [regional] government" [
<http://www.eurasiareview.com/28022014-ethiopian-persecution-threats-kidnapp
ing-violence-ogaden-rages-oped/#sthash.Mqko0e49.dpuf> Human Rights Watch
(HRW)] reported. Two years later they called for a referendum on
self-determination. The EPRDF government's reaction was to kill 81 unarmed
civilians in the town of Wardheer; disband the regional parliament; arrest
and imprison the vice-president and several other members of the parliament;
instigate mass arrests and carry out indiscriminate killings. These brutal
acts ignited the current struggle and drove the ONLF into the shadows.
ONLF peace negotiators abducted
In January this year, peace talks planned to take place in Nairobi were
sabotaged when two key ONLF negotiators were kidnapped. "Press reports from
Kenya indicate that two members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front
(ONLF) were abducted on 27 January 2014 outside a restaurant in Nairobi.
ONLF officials stated the two persons were ONLF central committee members
invited by Kenyan officials to participate in peace negotiations with
Ethiopian government officials. ONLF officials further alleged that
security agencies from Ethiopia and Kenya were involved in the abduction of
the two ONLF negotiators." [
<http://ogadentoday.com/new/ambassador-david-shinn-this-abduction-does-not-a
uger-well-for-successful-peace-talks-between-the-onlf-and-ethiopia-2/> David
Shinn former US ambassador to Ethiopia] The
<https://www.ogadennet.com/?p=29104> ONLF claim that, "a source inside
Ethiopia [has] informed the Ogaden National Liberation Front that the two
abducted ONLF officers were seen in a military hospital undergoing treatment
for extensive wounds caused by torture." They go on to relay how Sulub Abdi
Ahmed and Ali Ahmed Hussein - "senior negotiators for the ONLF in the talks
being brokered by the Kenyan government - resisted torture and the
accompanying pressure to sign (under duress) a "fictitious peace agreement".
The men had participated in the second round of talks between the Ethiopian
Government and ONLF last year and were in Nairobi for the planned third
round of talks.
It's hard to see how peace talks worthy of the name can be entered into
whilst one of the parties is committing abductions and assassinations, and
wide-ranging atrocities in the disputed region. A reasonable and I would say
essential condition of any talks is the cessation of violence by both the
Ethiopian military/paramilitary and the armed wing of the ONLF.
The Kenyan police force is notoriously corrupt, two of its officers were
arrested for their involvement in the kidnapping, both,"have pleaded not
guilty to kidnapping two Ethiopian rebels in the capital, Nairobi. Painito
Bera Ng'ang'ai and James Ngaparini are alleged to have driven to the
Ethiopian border and handed them [ONLF negotiators] over to Ethiopian
officials." [ <http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-26065804> BBC The
kidnapping is the latest in a long line of similar incidents; the ONLF
report that in "1998, the Ethiopian Army killed three members of an ONLF
delegation team and abducted two members participating in bilateral
negotiations with the Ethiopian government inside the Ogaden." They go on to
state that, "two years ago, the Ethiopia government assassins killed another
senior leader in Nairobi." Talks 'stalled' in September 2012 when the
Ethiopian team (contrary to the unconditional basis agreed for the talks by
both sides that, "no preconditions shall be made to negate the inherent
character and purpose of the peace negotiations") demanded that the ONLF
representatives acknowledged the Ethiopian constitution, a broadly liberal
document written by the EPRDF in 1992 and largely ignored by them ever
since. In its articles the Somali (or Ogaden) region is classified as a
State of Ethiopia, a contentious statement implying sovereignty over the
area, which the ONLF where not prepared to endorse. In a statement they made
clear their position, stating that the constitution, "must reflect the will
of the people and that the Somali people never exercised a referendum on the
constitution." They went on to say that, "the solution to the conflict in
the Ogaden can only be achieved by accepting the principles of the
[people's] right to exercise their self-determination without any
preconditions or restrictions."
Unsurprisingly the Ethiopian government have denied any abduction took
place: "the two abductees came willingly, and are kept somewhere inside
Ethiopia while negotiating with the Ethiopian government, and will soon
speak on Ethiopian TV." This absurd statement was followed by another, this
time from Shimelis Kemal the Minister of Government Communications Affairs
Office, who claimed to have "no information about the alleged kidnapping of
Ogaden officials in Nairobi". Followed fictitiously by Dina Mufti (Foreign
Ministry), who told VOA Amharic "that his government was not aware of the
whereabouts of those men or any abduction." The two men remain detained in
an undisclosed location inside Ethiopia. Let us hope they are safe and that
they are swiftly released.<
The human rights violations, many of which constitute crimes against
humanity, taking place inside the Ogaden region are but the most acute
examples of widespread government violence, abuse and suppression being
meted out throughout the country.
<http://www.genocidewatch.org/ethiopia.html> Genocide Watch "considers
Ethiopia to have already reached Stage 7 [of 8], genocidal massacres,
against many of its peoples, including the Anuak, Ogadeni, Oromo, and Omo
tribes.
Ethiopia rarely attracts the attention of the international media and their
western donors are content, it seems, to turn a blind eye and a deaf ear to
the cries of the people, happy that their ally in what is one of the most
volatile regions of the world is on the face of it stable. It is a stability
however brought about through fear, security forces personnel instilling
fear of imprisonment, torture and death, amongst the people.
Political dissent is not tolerated, freedom of assembly all but
criminalised, and intimidation to garner support for the ruling party is
government policy. Membership of the EPRDF brings with it work permits, a
range of essential aid from food to fertiliser, a home, university places,
government
<http://www.eurasiareview.com/28022014-ethiopian-persecution-threats-kidnapp
ing-violence-ogaden-rages-oped/>
jobshttp://cdncache1-a.akamaihd.net/items/it/img/arrow-10x10.png, business
opportunities such as opening a shop, a hairdressing salon or driving a taxi
- only possible if you are an EPRDF card carrying devotee, one prepared to
hang a photograph of their cherished leader, former Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi, in your Lada. Economic growth is said to be racing along at 8% per
annum; however, the beneficiaries of any aid fuelled development dividend
are those within the cosy government clique, and given that deceit and
duplicity are government policy, there is considerable doubt as to the
reliability of the growth claims. "It is not clear how factual Ethiopia's
economic data are. Life is intolerably expensive for Ethiopians in Addis
Ababa, the capital, and its outlying towns. Some think Ethiopia's inflation
figures are fiddled" [
<http://www.economist.com/blogs/baobab/2012/03/ethiopian-economics> The
Economist].
I was repeatedly asked by refugees from the Ogaden, "why does Britain
support the EPRDF regime", why is the Department for International
Development (DFID) funding the Liyu police, why do they not act for us -
good question! The people of the Ogaden are suffering wide-ranging
atrocities and throughout the country human rights are violated, the people
are suppressed and fearful, all of which donor nations such as Britain and
America are well aware. All pressure should be applied to the EPRDF regime
to observe human rights, dismantle draconian laws like the internationally
condemned Anti-Terrorist Proclamation and Charities and Societies
Proclamation; desist from military action and withdraw troops from the
Ogaden, open up the region to the international media and human rights
groups and enter into substantive peace talks with the ONLF.
As witnessed in many parts of the world when the people unite, governments
fall. The people of Ethiopia, in the Ogaden, Oromo, Amhara, Gambella and
elsewhere, need to stand together and peacefully demand their right to
freedom, to justice and to peace.
<http://i2.wp.com/www.eurasiareview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Noor.jpg>
Noor Sayat
Noor Sayat
<http://i0.wp.com/www.eurasiareview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/omar-jpg.
jpg> Omar Abdi
Omar Abdi
<http://i1.wp.com/www.eurasiareview.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Raho.jpg>
Raho
Raho
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