http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/02/28/ethiopian-persecution-threats-and-kidnapping/
Weekend Edition Feb 28-Mar 02, 2014
The Violence in the Ogaden Rages On
Ethiopian Persecution, Threats and Kidnapping
by GRAHAM PEEBLES
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. 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 gas; 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 freedom fighters, 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" [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." [David Shinn former US ambassador to Ethiopia]
The ONLF claim that, "a source inside Ethiopia [has] informed the ONLF 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." [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.
*Nationwide Violations*
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. 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 -
police, military and secret service men - 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 jobs, 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 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" [The Economist].
Why, I was repeatedly asked by refugees from the Ogaden, "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 change
ensues, 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.
*Graham Peebles is director of the Create Trust
<
http://www.thecreatetrust.org/>. He can be reached
at: graham_at_thecreatetrust.org <graham_at_thecreatetrust.org>*
Received on Fri Feb 28 2014 - 07:38:58 EST