From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Nov 23 2009 - 15:03:18 EST
US Congressman Criticizes Puntland For Abusive Behavior
The government of the semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland has been
sharply criticized by a U.S. lawmaker, who says Puntland authorities are
routinely arresting, handing over men from neighboring Ogaden region to
Ethiopian security
Alisha Ryu | Nairobi 23 November 2009
US Congressman Donald Payne
Photo: AP
US Congressman Donald Payne (D-New Jersey)
The government of the semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland has been
sharply criticized by a U.S. lawmaker, who says Puntland authorities are
routinely arresting, harassing, torturing, and handing over men from the
neighboring Ogaden region to Ethiopian security.
Congressman Donald Payne, who chairs the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa
and Global Health, issued a statement in which he denounces what he calls
"abusive and dictatorial behavior" by authorities in Puntland.
The lawmaker says late last month, the Puntland government arrested five
men, who had traveled to Puntland using Somali travel documents provided by
Somali authorities in Yemen. Payne says the men were interrogated by both
Puntland and Ethiopian security personnel on the assumption that they were
members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front. The ONLF is a separatist
rebel group that has been fighting the Ethiopian government for decades.
The congressman says he called Puntland President Abdirahman Mohamed Farole
to urge him to release the prisoners without delay. But he said one of the
men had been handed over to Ethiopian security and that another had died in
custody. In a meeting with President Farole and Puntland's interior
minister a week ago in the Kenyan capital Nairobi, Payne says he was assured
that the semi-autonomous Somali region would pardon the remaining prisoners.
But the lawmaker says the men are still being detained.
In the statement, Congressman Payne called for their immediate release of
the three men. He urged President Farole to hold accountable those
responsible for the death of the prisoner and senior officials who
authorized the detention and rendition of ONLF suspects. He warned that
failure to act quickly would have unspecified consequences.
The Puntland government has not issued an official comment. But in early
October, Puntland's Security Minister Abdullahi Said Samatar complained to
BBC's Somali Service that Ethiopia was carrying out covert raids inside
Puntland. He said Ethiopian forces had killed one man and abducted another
in the Puntland-administered part of Galkayo in central Somalia. The
security minister's claim could not been independently verified.
A Horn of Africa analyst for the International Crisis Group, Rashid Abdi,
says if Congressman Payne's charges against the Puntland government are
true, it can only be benefit al-Shabab, a militant home-grown Islamic group
with ties to al-Qaida. In recent months, a string of assassinations and
bombings in Puntland, blamed on al-Shabab, has cast doubts on the
government's ability to provide security in the region.
"This conduct is a propaganda coup for the Islamist opposition, which may
actually be behind the current wave of violence in the region," Abdi said.
"A state of emergency has been declared in Garowe, Galkayo, and Bosasso is
increasingly heading in the same direction. The Islamists would love for
this conduct to continue because this undermines the credibility of the
government and [it] plays right into their hands."
The charges against Puntland come amid recent government efforts to secure
financial aid packages from Washington and Europe to fight piracy and
terrorism. The Ethiopian government has long been an important
counterterrorism ally for the West in the Horn of Africa and is a major
recipient of American military and food aid. But it, too, has come under
increasing criticism and scrutiny for allegedly committing gross human
rights abuses in the Ogaden and cracking down on political opponents.
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