Ethiopia: Government's Acts of Genocide BY IMRU ZELLEKE 14 AUGUST 2013
DOCUMENT
An open letter to the US Secretary of State
Ethiopia is a major US ally in the Horn of Africa, yet America does not seem to be concerned about the blatant violations of human rights, lawless governance and unmitigated corruption by the regime in Addis Ababa (read more)
Ethiopia Bans More NGOs Over 'Illegal Acts' By Sudan Tribune 20 February 2013
Addis Ababa — Ethiopian authorities have banned three civic organisations, accusing the NGOs of engaging in activities that break 2009's Charities and Societies Proclamation law.
The Ethiopian government alleged that the three NGOs were banned as a result of conducting "illegal religious activities" contrary to the law.
The groups who had their licences revoked were One Euro, the Islamic Cultural and Research Centre and the Gohe Child, Youth and Women Development organisation. (read more)
Ethiopians receive humanitarian aid, Photo: Jason McLure/IRIN
Suri boys at the entrance of the Koka Malaysian plantation, Omo valley. Photograph: Alamy
Ethiopia dam project is devastating the lives of remote indigenous groups By John Vidal, The Guardian 7 February 2013
Human rights abuses in Ethiopia's Lower Omo valley are said to be rampant, with tribal leaders imprisoned, dozens of people killed and troops cracking down on dissent ahead of the building of a massive dam, which is forcing the relocation of some of the most remote tribes in Africa.
The valley, a Unesco world heritage site renowned for its isolated cultures and ethnic groups, is home to 200,000 pastoralist farmers including the Kwegu, Bodi, Mutsi and Nyangatom tribes. These groups all depend on the Omo river, which flows through their traditional land on its way to Lake Turkana in Kenya. (read more)
FBI foils TPLF assassination plot against Ethiopian journalist in Boston
Wednesday, January 9, 2013
Addis Voice—The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has foiled a plot to shoot and kill Ethiopian journalist Abebe Gellaw in Boston, Massachusetts.
The plot was allegedly orchestrated by a man named Guesh Abera, a Boston resident and parking lot attendant in hismid-thirties. Guesh and his three accomplices, who are suspected of being spies and fanatic members of the tyrannical regime in Ethiopia, were determined to “eliminate” the journalist and press freedom activist, sources say. (read more)
Ethiopia: Government continues to target peaceful Muslim protest movement Amnesty International 2 November 2012
The Ethiopian authorities are committing human rights violations in response to the ongoing Muslim protest movement in the country. Large numbers of protestors have been arrested, many of whom remain in detention. There are also numerous reports of police using excessive force against peaceful demonstrators. Key figures within the movement have been charged with terrorism offences. Most of those arrested and charged appear to have been targeted solely because of their participation in a peaceful protest movement.
Tens of thousands of Muslims have participated in regular peaceful protests throughout 2012, opposing alleged government interference in Islamic affairs. Protestors accuse the government of attempting to impose the teachings of the Al Ahbash sect of Islam on the Muslim community and of interference in elections for the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs. (read more)
Ethiopia charges 29 Muslims under anti-terror law AFP 29 October 2012
ADDIS ABABA — Twenty-nine Ethiopian Muslims were charged Monday with plotting acts of "terrorism", the majority arrested after protests accusing the government of interference in religious affairs.
According to court documents, the group is accused of "intending to advance a political, religious or ideological cause" by force and the "planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt of terrorist acts."
The 29 accused -- including nine prominent Muslim leaders -- were jailed following protests in July staged by Muslims against the government. (read more)
South Sudan plans mediation between Ethiopia and Eritrea Aaron Maasho Reuters October 24, 2012
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Newly independent South Sudan plans to help resolve the long-running border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea, a senior official said on Wednesday.
South Sudan's minister for cabinet affairs, Deng Alor, said Addis Ababa and Asmara had given the green light for mediation talks on the border, which could start as early as November.
"We have close ties with both countries so we are planning to mediate and solve the problems that they have between them," Deng Alor, South Sudan's minister for cabinet affairs, told Reuters. (read more)
Ethiopia surprises itself with peaceful transition after Meles MinnPost 18 October 2012
When Ethiopia's leader of 21 years Meles Zenawi died in August, citizens were on edge with memories of violent transfers of power.
"A lot of people expected conflict after his death was announced," says a top young civil servant about Prime Minister Meles's secrecy-shrouded death. His mother asked him to remain at home to stay safe as "the head of government had died, and this was Africa– and particularly Ethiopia, which has no history of peaceful transitions."
Yet the appointment of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn by parliament last month was conducted without arms, marking a democratic milestone and relative stability for a key partner of the West in the volatile Horn of Africa. (read more)
(ADDIS ABABA) - Ethiopia has released a total of 75 Eritrean prisoners of war who were captured by the Ethiopian army during cross border attacks it carried out in March 2011.
However Ethiopia said that the move does not necessarily imply a restoration of relation between the two rival neighbours whose relation remain at odds following the 1998-2000 border conflict which left an estimated 70,000 dead.
Ethiopian military attacked an army base inside Eritrea, where Addis Ababa said rebels were training; an allegation Asmara rejects.
In mid-January, gunmen alleged to be members of the Eritrea-based Ethiopian Afar separatists group (ARDUF) attacked a group of western tourists in Ethiopia’s remote Afar region near the Eritrean border and killed five people from German, Hungary and Austria. ARDUF also denied Eritrea’s involvement in the attacks. (read more)
ETHIOPIA: A wave of atrocities against villages in Ogaden Johan Ripås Somaliland Press September 26, 2012
Refugee women and children in Somaliland who fled their homes in Ethiopia as a result of a "Liyu police" operation, April 2012.
ADDIS ABABA – “No proper evidence has reached the world until now” The task force that arrested and wounded the Swedish journalists Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson in Ethiopia are now accused of widespread abuses in the Ogaden province.
Swedish Television’s Africa correspondent Johan Ripås has become privy to further documentation, smuggled out of Ethiopia. The video evidence shows that whole villages have been emptied of inhabitants through executions and mass flight from terror. (read more)
Ethiopia to swear in new prime minister, a hand-picked successor to Meles Zenawi, on Friday
The Washington Post, Associated Press 18 September, 2012
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Ethiopia’s new prime minister is to be sworn into office on Friday.
Hailemariam Desalegn is the hand-picked successor of former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who died Aug. 20 after ruling Ethiopia for more than two decades. Hailemariam is a former deputy prime minister and foreign affairs minister under Meles.
Hailemariam’s ascension to prime minister has been delayed for at least a month after an emergency meeting of parliament was canceled last month.
Shimeles Kemal, communications state minister, said Tuesday that Hailemariam will take the oath Friday morning.
The extraordinary parliament session follows a meeting by the leadership of the ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front, which on Saturday named Hailemariam its leader. The party controls 545 of the country’s 547 parliament seats, ensuring Hailemariam will be approved Friday.
Copyright The Washington Post, The Associated Press, 2012
ESAT Insight Interview: Dr Gregory Stanton on the legacies of Meles Zenawi for Ethiopia
ESAT News: Meles Zenawi humiliated in G8 meeting, May 18 2012 (Ethiopia)
Ethiopia: Meles, Speechless! The Man Who Cried “Freedom!”
Alemayehu G Mariam2 8 May, 2012
On May 18, 2012, dictator Meles Zenawi learned a lesson he will not easily forget. In the land of free speech, he was rendered speechless. Abebe Gellaw, a young Washington-based Ethiopian journalist, stood up in the gallery at the Food Security 2012 G8 Summit in Washington, D.C. and slammed Zenawi:
Meles Zenawi is a dictator! Meles Zenawi is a dictator! Free Eskinder Nega! Free Political Prisoners! You are a dictator. You are committing crimes against humanity. Food is nothing without freedom! Meles has committed crimes against humanity! We Need Freedom! Freedom! Freedom! (read more)
Ethiopia: A tale of David and Goliath
Martha Solomon 17 May, 2012
The epic encounter between heroic Ethiopian journalist Abebe Gellaw (David) and Meles Zenawi (Goliath) will surely go down in Ethiopian history as one of the most shinning stories of our time. The story is neither a fairy tale nor a fictional movie script. It is a true story whose impact is still felt with the fall of Ethiopia’s Goliath.
The showdown happened in one fateful morning of May 18th, 2012, at the Ronald Reagan Building, coincidentally located at Freedom Plaza in Washington DC. Thanks to ESAT, Ethiopians across the world also witnessed the golden moment when the voice of tyranny was disrupted and interrupted while Ethiopia’s demand for freedom thunderously filled the air, chocked and humiliated Meles Zenawi in front of world leaders. The more I watch the video, the more I realize the historic nature and significance of our own story of David and Goliath. (read more)
Ethiopia After Meles
Policy Briefing By International Crisis Group
Africa Briefing N°89
Nairobi/Brussels, 22 August 2012
I. OVERVIEW
The death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, who had not
been seen in public for several months, was announced on
20 August 2012 by Ethiopian state television. The passing
of the man who has been Ethiopia’s epicentre for 21 years
will have profound national and regional consequences. (Read More)
Ethiopian Dictator Meles Zenawi Dies
20 August 2012
Meles Zenawi Asres (Ge'ez: Mäläs Zenawi Äsräs; 8 May 1955 – 20 August 2012) was the Prime Minister of Ethiopia from 1995 until his death on 20 August 2012. Since 1985, he was the chairman of the Tigrayan Peoples' Liberation Front (TPLF), and the head of the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). He was President of Ethiopia from 1991 to 1995 and became the Prime Minister of Ethiopia in 1995 following the general elections that year. While his government was credited with reforms such as those that lead a multi-party political system in Ethiopia, introduction of private press in Ethiopia and decreased child mortality rates, his government was also accused of political repression and brutal human rights abuses. Known as one of Africa's strongmen, he was a key ally of the United States in the war on terror. (Read More)
The Ethiopian Satellite Television (ESAT) interviews with Dr. Gregory Stanton, the president of Genocide Watch
Dr. Gregory Stanton tells ESAT how Genocide Watch was established and how important genocide prevention is.
Click here to see Dr. Gregory Stanton speak on November 9, 2010 about Ethiopia. (Brought to you by Ethiopian Review)
Ethiopia’s Country Profile:
Ethiopia is the oldest independent country in Africa, with a population of over 80 million; it is the second most populous country in Sub-Saharan Africa. More than eighty five percent of the country’s population lives in rural areas. It is one of the world’s poorest countries with a per capita income of only $1,000 (2010 est.) per year. Ethiopia has a turbulent history of famine, drought, civil conflict and war. Despite its volatile history, Ethiopia has long been a symbol of independence in Africa. Geographically, Ethiopia is located in a strategic geopolitical region. It plays an important role as a key U.S. ally in the so-called “war on terrorism.” It has sent troops to Somalia to combat the Al Queda connected Al Shabaab Islamist organization that controls large swaths of Somalia north of Mogadishu. It was a founder member of the United Nations and is home to many international organizations such as the African Union.
Although Ethiopia appears to be a stable country, it is actually plagued by decades of oppression, corruption, human rights violations and sustained repression of opposition to its governments. Today, executive power resides with Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, and his Tigrayan ethnic compatriots, who have held power since 1995. While Ethiopia claims to be an electoral democracy, in practice, Ethiopia is an authoritarian state. All land has been owned by the State since the communist Mengistu regime of the 1970’s. The Meles Zenawi regime has displaced hundreds of thousands of people and leased their land to Chinese, Indian, Saudi, and Malaysian agricultural corporations. Authoritarian government and the exploitative economic system negate the principles of a democracy.
Politics in Ethiopia is often defined by a power struggle between the Amharic and Tigrayan ethnic groups. The two largest ethnic groups are the Oromo and the Amhara. The largest group, the Oromo have never held power in modern times. There are more than 60 legally recognized political parties in Ethiopia. However, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is led by Tigrayans, completely dominates politics. Political repression is rampant and currently the government is using development aid as a means to suppress political opposition and to oppress neglected minorities.
In 2008 the government passed new laws to restrict the use of media and civil societies. Of the many laws that were passed in 2008, two of the most significant laws were the Charities and Societies Proclamation and the Anti-terrorism proclamation. The Charities and Societies Proclamation restricts Ethiopian nongovernmental organizations from doing any work that involves human rights, if they receive more than 10 percent of their funding from foreign sources. The Anti-Terrorism proclamations, have been used to prosecute human rights activists and journalists. The law is vague and has a broad definition of terrorism.
During the period leading up to the 2010 parliamentary elections the government used a policy of intimidation to suppress political dissidents. The government arbitrarily arrested individuals opposing the EPRDF, conducted house to houses searches, and forced individuals to vote for the EPRDF. Often voters were pressured to join or support the ruling party through systematic harassment. The government also used discriminatory penalties for those supporting opposing parties; these penalties included the denial of access to public sector jobs, denial of loans, educational opportunities and food assistance. The EPRDF overwhelming won the 2010 parliamentary elections because opposition candidates were ruled off the ballot.
Ethiopia Genocide Emergency Update: The Gambella Massacres
Genocide Watch first declared a Genocide Emergency in 2003 after massacres of Anuak people in Ethiopia’s far southwestern region of Gambella. EPRDF forces and Highlander militias initiated a systematic genocidal campaign targeting the indigenous Anuak people of Gambella province. Genocide Watch and Survivors Rights International (SRI) sent a fact-finding mission to Gambella, interviewed eyewitnesses, and thoroughly documented the massacres in a joint report released in January 2004 titled ‘Today is the Day of Killing Anuaks’. It was followed a year later by a report by Human Rights Watch.
Dr. Gregory Stanton, founder and director of Genocide Watch, sent a letter to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi urging him to prevent the massacres from becoming a full-scale genocide. Rather than taking the necessary measures to protect the people of Gambella, the government instead continued the killings and Genocide Watch sent another fact-finding team to Gambella that produced documents proving that the Gambella massacres were planned at the highest levels of the Ethiopian government, and even given the code name “Operation Sunny Mountain,” the title of Genocide Watch’s resulting 1994 report.
Since 2004, Ethiopia has repeatedly targeted the Anuak community and has even sent EPRDF troops into Sudan to force refugees to return to Gambella, an action prevented by the US Ambassador to Ethiopia after rapid response by Genocide Watch. Genocide Watch sent an open letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights asking her to investigate genocide and crimes against humanity in Gambella, the Ogaden, and other provinces of Ethiopia.
The Anuak are the predominant landowners in the Gambella region. Dark –skinned African tribes such as the Anuak are shunned as racially inferior by Highlanders and the central government. In 1991 the Ethiopian government implemented a system known as “ethnic federalism”. This system enabled the government to implement discriminatory practices that fostered tribalism and racial division.
The Gambella region has rich resources and fertile land. Nevertheless, the province lacks roads, electricity, and other basic economic infrastructure. The Gambella region also suffers from long-term political, social, and economic marginalization.
Gambella’s oil reserves are now being tapped by Chinese oil companies. The Ethiopian government’s appetite for large-scale agricultural development is causing catastrophic damage to the social structure and land of the people of Gambella. The people have been forcibly driven off their land, and the land is being leased to Chinese, Saudi, and Indian multi-national agro-corporations at rock-bottom prices. None of the money for the leased land is being used to benefit the people of Gambella. Over the past decade, the Anuak have pressed the government for income from their resources. In response, the government has initiated a genocidal campaign aimed at deporting, persecuting and killing the Anuak people.
•Genocide Watch considers Ethiopia to have already reached Stage 7, genocidal massacres, against many of its peoples, including the Anuak, Ogadeni, Oromo, and Omo tribes.
•Genocide Watch recommends that the United States government immediately cease all military assistance to the Ethiopian Peoples Defense Forces. We recommend strong diplomatic protests to the Meles Zenawi regime against massive violations of human rights in Ethiopia.
•Ethiopia is currently fighting a proxy war with US support in Somalia. We strongly advise diverting all US aid for Ethiopia in that war to the African Union Forces in Somalia.
•Genocide Watch calls upon the government of Ethiopia to cease attacks on the Anuak and Ogadeni.
•Genocide Watch demands the immediate release of Anuak and Ogadeni prisoners.
•Genocide Watch calls on the international community to provide humanitarian assistance to the Gambella and Ogaden provinces, and other areas in Ethiopia threatened by famine.
•Genocide Watch urges the Ethiopian government to adhere to its own constitution and allow its provinces the legal autonomy they are guaranteed.
•Genocide Watch calls upon the government to hold free and fair elections that allow the opposition to participate fully in the electoral process.
Genocide Watch calls upon the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Ethiopia to the International Criminal Court for prosecution of Ethiopia’s crimes against humanity.
Genocide Emergency: Ethiopia - The Ogaden Massacres
The Ogaden region is predominantly inhabited by an ethnic Somali, Muslim agro-pastoralist clan, the Ogadeni. The Ogaden is endowed with rich oil and gas resources, but its population lives in extreme poverty while Chinese oil companies pump the oil and gas from under their land. Without the knowledge and consent of the Ogadeni, the Ethiopian government signed contracts and gave concessions to foreign oil companies to explore and extract oil and natural gas from the Ogaden.
Immediately after oil and gas was discovered in the Ogaden, Ethiopian government forces evicted large numbers of Ogadenis from their ancestral grazing lands, and herded them into Internally Displaced Persons camps, causing a humanitarian disaster. Thousands of once self-sufficient Ogadenis have starved to death.
The Ogaden region has been a battlefield between Ethiopia and Somalia. In 1960 when Somalia gained independence, it sought to unite all ethnic Somalis. Somalia invaded the Ogaden under Siad Barre, but were repulsed when the Soviet Union switched sides and backed the Mengistu communist government of Ethiopia and sent Cuban troops to drive Somalia out of the Ogaden.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), founded in 1984, has been fighting a long-running insurgency against the Ethiopian government, seeking more autonomy for the underdeveloped, ethnically Somali region. In 2007, the Ethiopian army launched a counterinsurgency campaign in the Ogaden region, after the ONLF rebels launched an attack on a Chinese oil field.
The Ethiopian government has initiated a genocidal campaign against the Ogadeni civilian population. The Ethiopian Peoples Defense Forces are using a systematic policy of intimidation, rape, assault and detention and deportation against Ogadeni civilians. Ten of thousands of people have fled to refugee camps in Kenya and Somalia.
The Ethiopian Army’s counter –insurgency campaign in Ogaden has included numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Ethiopian government’s policy in Ogaden is to suppress all demands for autonomy from Ogadenis. It has included gradual starvation of the population in IDP camps – a policy Genocide Watch calls Genocide By Attrition.
It has cut off the IDP camps from humanitarian aid, and barred and arrested all journalists who could report on its crimes. Two Swedish journalists are still serving eleven-year sentences in Ethiopian prisons for reporting on the Ogaden massacres. Ethiopia even arrested the renowned New York Times reporter Jeffrey Gettleman and held him for a week in an Ogaden jail, until the US government demanded his release.
The army has imposed an economic blockade on many towns and villages in the Ogaden. The government has restricted access to water, food and other necessities. Food is being used as a weapon of war. Massacres, torture, rape and disappearances are prevalent in the Ogaden region. Women and children are the most vulnerable groups to suffer abuse and violence. They are accused of being relatives of ONLF members. Thousands of people have been arrested without any charges and held in desolate desert prisons.
Ethiopian security forces are given blanket impunity to kill whomever they want under the pretext of suspected support and sympathy for the ONLF. In mid-2007, aid agencies were expelled from the Ogaden, despite a humanitarian crisis there. Only a small number of aid agencies are now allowed to operate in Ogaden, and their activities are restricted by the army. The army also continues to impose severe restrictions on the media.
According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) whole Ogadeni communities have been forcibly relocated to areas controlled by the army. Villagers and nomads were given a few days’ notice to vacate their land. The Ethiopian Peoples Defense forces adopted a “scorched earth campaign,” destroying their property, confiscating livestock and burning their harvests. The Ogaden has been transformed into a vast military occupied area, with thousands of Ogadenis in IDP camps.
The Ethiopian government has ratified many international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. Genocide Watch calls upon the Ethiopian government to abide by these treaties.
Genocide Watch urges the Ethiopian government to allow all humanitarian and relief organizations and journalists to operate freely in the Ogaden, and everywhere in Ethiopia.
Genocide Watch demands that the Ethiopian government close all Internally Displaced Persons camps in Ethiopia, to allow Ogadenis and Anuak to return to their homes in safety with humanitarian assistance.
Genocide Watch is alarmed by the massive number of rape victims. Ogadeni women are being held in the Ethiopian military barracks as sex slaves.
Genocide Watch condemns these crimes, and has publicly written to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights to investigate.
The situation in Ethiopia should be referred by the UN Security Council to the International Criminal Court for prosecution of these crimes against humanity.
Genocide Warning
In the remote western region of Gambella, tens of thousands of people have been forcibly relocated from their land. In 2010, the Ethiopian government initiated a villagisation program. The program intended to group scattered farming communities into small villages, with the aim of changing their lifestyles, and providing better access to food, education and health. However, the government’s plans are far from reaching these goals; the Ethiopian government has forcibly relocated approximately 70,000 people from their land with the intention to lease the land for foreign and domestic investment. There have been numerous reports of human rights violations. Many of the new villages where people are being relocated have inadequate food and lack healthcare and educational facilities. The Ethiopian government’s villagisation program has been extremely detrimental to the livelihoods of the people of Gambella. The government's failure to provide food assistance has caused endemic hunger and cases of starvation. In addition, those who have resisted relocating are repeatedly assaulted and arbitrarily arrested. Through this program, the Ethiopian government is planning on relocating 1.5 million people by 2013 from the following regions: Gambella, Afar, Somali, and Benishangul Ghumuz
“My father was beaten for refusing to go along with some other elders,” one former villager told HRW. “He said, ‘I was born here – my children were born here – I am too old to move so I will stay.’ He was beaten by the army with sticks and the butt of a gun. He had to be taken to hospital. He died because of the beating – he just became weaker and weaker.”
In light of the recent report issued by Human Rights Watch, Genocide Watch is deeply concerned with the rising number of human rights violations in Ethiopia; as a result Genocide Watch is classifying the situation as a Genocide Alert.
The early signs which indicate, the occurrence of genocide in the near future are the following:
Forcibly relocating approximately 70,000 people from the western region of Gambella
The use of force and coercion
The deprivation of resources & the denial of rights
The targeting & exclusion of indigenous groups
The restriction on NGOs such as the Human Rights Council (HRCO )& the Ethiopian Women’s Lawyer Association
The absence of free media and lack of tolerance on dissents
Genocide Watch calls upon the international community to take action to prevent Genocide from happening. Please help us sign this petition:
Dr. Gregory H. Stanton President of Genocide Watch
Repatriating Anuak refugees in Alari refugee Camp -SOUTH SUDAN
Dear Sir,
Our office has been informed that Ethiopia government offcials left for Alari refugee camp in Pochala County; South Sudan to repatriate Anuak refugees by force (against their will) on 24 March, 2012. These refugees fled Gambella Regional State due to Genocide committed against Anuak community in 2003, and the Ethiopian government’s current land grabbing and forced Villagisation program.
The decision to repatriate Anuak refugees was made last week in a cross border meeting held in Gambella Regional State-Pinyudo town between Mr. Omot Obang Olum governor of Gambela Regional State of Ethiopia and Mr. Joseph Okello governor of Pochala County of South Sudan. In addition an agreement has been reached to hand over 12 Anuak refugees to Gambella Regional State.
The 1951 Convention on Refugees has clearly defined who is a refugee, their rights and the legal obligation of States-Parties to the Convention, which includes Ethiopia. The 1967 Protocol removed geographical and temporal restrictions from the Convention. One of the main obligations of States-Parties is called “non-refoulement” – no forced repatriation.
In view of the increasing recognition of the fundamental significance of the Convention and Protocol, the agreement reached between Gambella Regional State and Pochala County to repatriate Anuak refugees will endanger the lives of refugees and it contradicts the Convention of Refugees, article 33 which states that: “No Contracting State shall expel or return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territory where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.”
Moreover this action is violation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which declares in article 14 that everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. The Anuak refugees in Sudan have a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reason of race and political opinion by the Ethiopian Government.
Therefore, on behalf of the Anuak refugees and Anuak-Australian community; I request your kindly intervention to urge international organizations and governments to stop South Sudan and the Ethiopian government from repatriating Anuak refugees against their will in violation of the the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 and the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol.
We appreciate your cooperation and look forward to hearing from you.
Yours Sincerely,
Ojulu C Odola
Chairperson
Anuak-Australian Community
Copy:
The Secretary-General of the United Nations
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
Genocide Watch, Inc.
Human Rights Watch
Amnesty International
Genocide Warning
In September 2008, Genocide Watch declared a Genocide Warning regarding the war that was being waged against small ethnic minority called Burji in a town of Hagre Mariam by an ethnic Oromo group called Guji. Since then the Guji Oromo have continued to wage protracted war against Burji in various localities, especially in towns and villages surrounding the city of Soyama, which is 60 Km west of the city of Hagremariam. Over the course of the last several months there have been heavy loss of lives and damage to Guji properties including destruction of crops and farm equipment.
In January 2009, there were reports of heavy fighting on three different fronts, namely Nadale/ Chuluse front and Gara and Tisho vicinities. News from Hagremariam stated that Guji Oromo warriers were advancing towards Soyama in great numbers. According to Genocide Watch sources, Guji/Oromo attacks on Buji began on January 22, 2009. The situation is and continues to be dire, and urgent action must be taken to avert further attacks.
21 February 2010 "The Anuak are being pushed off their land," by Obang Metho, Founder, The Anuak Justice Council; Executive Director, Solidarity Movement for a New Ethiopia (SMNE)
Genocide Watch is the Coordinator of the International Alliance to End Genocide P.O. Box 809, Washington, D.C. 20044 USA. Phone: 1-202-643-1405 E-mail:communications@genocidewatch.org
