"Ethiopia is on a deteriorating human rights trajectory" Hurman Rights Watch Report 2010

20th annual World Report summarizes human rights conditions in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide. It reflects extensive investigative work undertaken in 2009 by Human Rights Watch staff, usually in close partnership with human rights activists in the country in question.
Every government is at times tempted to violate human rights, but the global human rights movement has made sure that abuse carries a price. Still, some governments cannot resist trying to minimize that price by attacking human rights defenders, organizations, and institutions. The aim is to silence the messenger, to deflect pressure, to lessen the cost of committing human rights violations.

These efforts have yet to succeed, but the campaign is dangerous. Human Rights Watch calls on governmental supporters of human rights to help defend the defenders by identifying and countering these reactionary efforts. A strong defense of human rights depends on the vitality of the human rights movement now under assault.

Ethiopia

Ethiopia is on a deteriorating human rights trajectory as parliamentary elections approach in 2010. These will be the first national elections since 2005, when post-election protests resulted in the deaths of at least 200 protesters, many of them victims of excessive use of force by the police. Broad patterns of government repression have prevented the emergence of organized opposition in most of the country. In December 2008 the government re-imprisoned opposition leader Birtukan Midekssa for life after she made remarks that allegedly violated the terms of an earlier pardon.

In 2009 the government passed two pieces of legislation that codify some of the worst aspects of the slide towards deeper repression and political intolerance. A civil society law passed in January is one of the most restrictive of its kind, and its provisions will make most independent human rights work impossible. A new counterterrorism law passed in July permits the government and security forces to prosecute political protesters and non-violent expressions of dissent as acts of terrorism.

Political Repression and the 2010 Elections

As Ethiopia heads toward nationwide elections, the government continues to clamp down on the already limited space for dissent or independent political activity. Ordinary citizens who criticize government policies or officials frequently face arrest on trumped-up accusations of belonging to illegal "anti-peace" groups, including armed opposition movements. Officials sometimes bring criminal cases in a manner that appears to selectively target government critics, as when in June 2009 prominent human rights activist Abebe Worke was charged with illegal importation of radio equipment and ultimately fled the country. In the countryside government-supplied (and donor-funded) agricultural assistance and other resources are often used as leverage to punish and prevent dissent, or to compel individuals into joining the ruling party.

The opposition is in disarray, but the government has shown little willingness to tolerate potential challengers. In December 2008 the security forces re-arrested Birtukan Midekssa, leader of the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party, which had begun to build a grassroots following in the capital. The government announced that Birtukan would be jailed for life because she had made public remarks that violated the terms of an earlier pardon for alleged acts of treason surrounding the 2005 elections. The authorities stated that there was no need for a trial as the move was a mere legal technicality.

In July the Ethiopian government passed a new anti-terrorism law. The law provides broad powers to the police, and harsh criminal penalties can be applied to political protesters and others who engage in acts of nonviolent political dissent. Some of its provisions appear tailored less toward addressing terrorism and more toward allowing for a heavy-handed response to mass public unrest, like that which followed Ethiopia's 2005 elections.

Civil Society Activism and Media Freedom

The space for independent civil society activity in Ethiopia, already extremely narrow, shrank dramatically in 2009. In January the government passed a new civil society law whose provisions are among the most restrictive of any comparable law anywhere in the world. The law makes any work that touches on human rights or governance issues illegal if carried out by foreign non-governmental organizations, and labels any Ethiopian organization that receives more than 10 percent of its funding from sources outside of Ethiopia as "foreign." The law makes most independent human rights work virtually impossible, and human rights work deemed illegal under the law is punishable as a criminal offense.

Ethiopia passed a new media law in 2008 that improved upon several repressive aspects of the previous legal regime. The space for independent media activity in Ethiopia remains severely constrained, however. In August two journalists were jailed on charges derived partly from Ethiopia's old, and now defunct, press proclamation. Ethiopia's new anti-terror law contains provisions that will impact the media by making journalists and editors potential accomplices in acts of terrorism if they publish statements seen as encouraging or supporting terrorist acts, or even, simply, political protest.

Pretrial Detention and Torture

The Ethiopian government continues its longstanding practice of using lengthy periods of pretrial and pre-charge detention to punish critics and opposition activists, even where no criminal charges are ultimately pursued. Numerous prominent ethnic Oromo Ethiopians have been detained in recent years on charges of providing support to the outlawed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF); in almost none of these cases have charges been pursued, but the accused, including opposition activists, have remained in detention for long periods. Canadian national Bashir Makhtal was convicted on charges of supporting the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) in July, after a trial that was widely criticized as unfair; he was in detention for two-and-a-half years before his sentence was handed down, and he was unable to access legal counsel and consular representatives for much of that period.

Not only are periods of pretrial detention punitively long, but detainees and convicted prisoners alike face torture and other ill-treatment. Human Rights Watch and other organizations have documented consistent patterns of torture in police and military custody for many years. The Ethiopian government regularly responds that these abuses do not exist, but even the government's own Human Rights Commission acknowledged in its 2009 annual report that torture and other abuses had taken place in several detention facilities, including in Ambo and Nekemte.

Impunity for Military Abuses

The Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) has committed serious abuses, in some cases amounting to war crimes or crimes against humanity, in several different conflicts in recent years. Human Rights Watch is not aware of any meaningful efforts to hold the officers or government officials most responsible for those abuses to account. The only government response to crimes against humanity and other serious abuses committed by the military during a brutal counterinsurgency campaign in Gambella in late 2003 and 2004 was an inquiry that prosecuted a handful of junior personnel for deliberate and widespread patterns of abuse. No one has been investigated or held to account for war crimes and other widespread violations of the laws of war during Ethiopia's bloody military intervention in neighboring Somalia from 2006 to 2008.

In August 2008 the Ethiopian government did purport to launch an inquiry into allegations of serious crimes in Somali Regional State, where the armed forces have been fighting a campaign against the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front for many years. The inquiry was sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, lacked independence, and concluded that no serious abuses took place. To date the government continues to restrict access of independent investigators into the area.

Relations in the Horn of Africa

In August the Eritrea-Ethiopia Claims Commission issued its final rulings on monetary damages stemming from the bloody 1998-2000 border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea. Nonetheless the two countries remain locked in an intractable dispute about the demarcation of the heavily militarized frontier. Eritrea continues to play a destabilizing role throughout the Horn of Africa through its efforts to undermine and attack the government of Ethiopia wherever possible. The government of President Isayas Afewerki hosts and materially supports fighters from Ethiopian rebel movements, including the Oromo Liberation Front. Eritrea has also pursued a policy of supporting armed opposition groups in Somalia as a way of undermining Ethiopia's support for the country's weak Transitional Federal Government.

Key International Actors

Ethiopia is one of the most aid-dependant countries in the world and received more than US$2 billion in 2009, but its major donors have been unwilling to confront the government over its worsening human rights record. Even as the country slides deeper into repression, the Ethiopian government uses development aid funding as leverage against the donors who provide it-many donors fear that the government would discontinue or scale back their aid programs should they speak out on human rights concerns. This trend is perhaps best exemplified by the United Kingdom, whose government has consistently chosen to remain silent in order to protect its annual £130 million worth of bilateral aid and development programs.

Donors are also fearful of jeopardizing access for humanitarian organizations to respond to the drought and worsening food crisis. Millions of Ethiopians depend on food aid, and the government has sought to minimize the scale of the crisis and restrict access for independent surveys and response.

While Ethiopia's government puts in place measures to control the elections in 2010, many donors have ignored the larger trends and focused instead on negotiating with the government to allow them to send election observers.

A significant shift in donor policy toward Ethiopia would likely have to be led by the US government, Ethiopia's largest donor and most important political ally on the world stage. But President Barack Obama's administration has yet to depart from the policies of the Bush administration, which consistently refused to speak out against abuses in Ethiopia. While the reasons may be different-the current government is not as narrowly focused on security cooperation with Ethiopia as was the Bush administration- thus far the practical results have been the same. The events described above attracted little public protest from the US government in 2009.

Kidnappings and Disappearances of Students in Southern Ethiopia | HRLHA

An urgent appeal letter from the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) – Urgent Action

In a recently launched wave of kidnappings and arrests against students in southern Ethiopia, three Oromo students of the Awassa University have so far disappeared; and the extra-judicial action against students is said to have continued.

According to HRLHA informants in the area,
1. Nagga Gezaw, second year Civil Engineering student, and
2. Dhaba Girre, third year Management student were kidnapped and taken away from the university campus by members of the security and police forces of the Federal Government of Ethiopia on the 5th of January 2010 while Jatani Wario, second year Co-operative student, was taken away from the campus in the same manner by the same kind of forces on the 6th of January 2010. The whereabouts of the three Oromo students were not known ever since they were kidnapped by the government security and police forces. HRLHA informants have learnt, though it has been difficult to trace and document, that there are more students that have faced the same fate and might be in the same situations as a result of these most recent extra-judicial actions.

According to some insiders, the kidnapping and disappearance of the three Oromo students of the Awassa University is related to the students’ movement taking place in Gujii/Borena Zone of Oromia Regional State – which was triggered by the alleged poisoning and contamination of local rivers and stream waters by uncontrolled and/or unregulated waste products from the activities of gold mining industry at Lega Dembi.

During the UN’s Universal Periodic Review of Ethiopia on December 9, 2009, the Ethiopian delegation testified in front of the member states that there were no human rights abuses in Ethiopia; and guaranteed that any form of human rights abuses would never be committed. However, within a one month time, the bad human rights record of the Ethiopian government has surfaced once again.

The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) expresses its deep concern over the safety and well-being of the three Oromo students and others. Given the very bad record of the Ethiopian prison officials and the worst situations of prisons in Ethiopia, as confirmed and reported on by many regional and international human rights agencies as well as diplomatic bodies, the case of the three Oromo students becomes very worrisome.

HRLHA calls upon governments of the West, all local, regional and international human rights agencies to join hands and demand the immediate halt of such kinds of extra-judicial kidnappings, mass arrest and imprisonment of innocent students and other civilians by the Ethiopian government.

The HRLHA is a non-political and non-profit organization that is engaged in challenging abuses of human rights of the people of various nations and nationalities in the Horn of Africa. It works on defending fundamental human rights including freedoms of thought, expression, movement and association. It also works on raising the awareness of individuals about their own fundamental human rights and that of others. It encourages the observances as well as due processes of law. It promotes the growth and development of free and vigorous civil societies.

Garoma Wakessa – Executive DirectorHuman Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA)

To
Crime Minister Meles Zenawi PO Box 1031 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Tel. 251 11 1552044 251 11 1552044 or 251 11 1113241 251 11 1113241 Fax: +251 11 1552030

Cc:
Ministry of Federal Affairs
Siraj FegisaP.o.Box 5718, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Tel 251 11 1512766 251 11 1512766 or 5159330
Ministry of Justice
Brihan Hailu
PO Box 1370, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Fax: +251 11 1517755
+251 11 1515099 or 15157950
Email: ministry-justice@telecom.net.et
Federal Commissioner of Police
Mr Workneh Gebeyehu, Federal Police Commission, Ministry of Federal Affairs
PO Box 5068, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Simone Joseph – Foreign Affairs Officer
U.S. Department of State
Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights & Labor
Washington, D.C. 20037
Tel: +1-202-261-8009 +1-202-261-8009
Fax: +1-202-261-8197
Joseph, Simone O (DRL) [mailto: JosephSO@state.gov ]

European Commission Delegation to EthiopiaPaola Cerea – Human Rights Project officerPaola.cerea@ec.europa.eu

Office of the High Commissioner for Human RightsUnited Nations Office at Geneva1211 Geneva 10, SwitzerlandFax: + 41 22 917 9022(particularly for urgent matters)E-mail: tb-petitions@ohchr.org

African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR)
48 Kairaba Avenue, P.O.Box 673, Banjul,
The Gambia.
Tel: (220) 4392 962 , 4372070, 4377721 – 23
Fax: (220) 4390 764
E-mail: achpr@achpr.org

Amnesty International – London
Telephone: +44-20-74135500 +44-20-74135500
Fax number: +44-20-79561157

Human Rights Watch – New York, Tel: +1-212-290-4700 +1-212-290-4700
Fax: +1-212-736-1300
Email: hrwnyc@hrw.org
Souce: HumanRightsLeague.com

Oromos Say No to Elections Announced by Ethio-Fascist Amhara and Tigray Butchers of Fake ´Ethiopia´

By Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis January 09, 2010

In two previous articles titled ´Amhara, Tigray Tyrants Guilty of Racist Discrimination Against Oromos in Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia)´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/1354520) and

End the Oromo Genocide in Ethiopia! Stop the Amhara - Tigray Agenda of Kushitic Mass Extermination!´ (http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/135858), I republished parts of an overwhelming Memorandum submitted by the Oromo Parliamentarians Council to many international organizations, governmental bodies, diplomatic representations, political parties, cultural associations, and NGOs.

Under the original title ´Complaint Statement on Racial Discrimination of Political, Social and Cultural Rights of Oromos in Ethiopia´, the text makes state of an appalling situation that people allover the world simply cannot accept without being at the same time deprived of their own humanity.

In the first article, I republished the following parts of the devastating Memorandum: ´Introduction´, ´Background´, ´Ethiopia: Land of Silence and Human Rights Violations´, and ´Ethiopia: one ethnic minority manipulating majority´. In the second article, I republished the following parts ´Ethiopia: Land of Silence and Starvation´ and ´Political Rights´.

With the present article, I complete the republication of the Memorandum that makes clear to all that tolerance of, or indifference toward, the racist and criminal Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic (Tewahedo) Abyssinian elites is not an option for the civilized world.

The Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic (Tewahedo) Abyssinian gangsters represent less than 18% of the country´s population, and after having subjugated many Eastern African Kushitic and Nilo-Saharan nations (Oromos, Ogadenis, Afars, Sidamas. Kambaatas, Shekachos, Kaffas, Gedeos, Wolayitas, Hadiyas, Anuak, Nuer and Gumuz) and occupied their lands, they carried out an unprecedented, systematic, covered but multifaceted, cultural and physical, genocide against all of the aforementioned nations.

The unrepresentative, ethnic-based, pseudo-diplomats of Abyssinia, when supposedly representing Abyssinia (fallaciously renamed ´Ethiopia´), promote the Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic (Tewahedo) tribal agenda of East African mass extermination and facilitate the methodic genocidal plans that have long been undertaken by the Amhara ? Tigray (Semitic Abyssinian) tyrants against all of the aforementioned Kushitic and Nilo-Saharan nations.

This inhuman situation, which is the daily reality lived by more than 65 million people in the colonial state of Abyssinia, strikingly contradicts speeches full of democratic promises and lectures full of economic pledges hypocritically made by the administrations of Western capitals to either Europeans or Africans.

It is therefore imperative that European and North American administrations remove their support offered to the said racist and criminal tribes and setup a UN-sponsored investigation committee that would lead to cruel gangster Meles Zenawi´s impeachment and to Ethiopia´s ultimate and most demanded demolition and dismemberment.

In forthcoming articles, I will extensively analyze the possible options of the Oromo struggle for national liberation, independence and secession from the terminating colonial relic of Abyssinia, I will interview Oromo political leaders, and I will republish other enlightening Reports that make clear what sort of farcical elections the racist and criminal Amhara ? Tigray rulers intend to organize in few months.

Persecution

Oromo Journalists still in Detention since 2004

hiferaw Insermu (M) were both journalists working for the state owned TV on Afaan Oromo program. Both of them were arrested on April 30. 2004. Their residences were searched without warrant and their personal belonging including video cassettes and cameras, worth of thousands of Dollars were confiscated. They were severely tortured in Maikelawi detention centre they were transferred to Kerchele. Though the court released both of them on bail on August 6.2004 both of them remained in custody .This is one example of the violations of human rights and the right of free expression of ideas that is stated in the Ethiopian Constitution. The following are the pictures of the Oromo journalists suffer in Prison.

In Ethiopia the judiciary system is not free from politics. The government harasses judges who are not working for the ruling political party. They are under threat of losing their Job or torture if not complying with the state interest.The government discharged over 250 experienced Judges in 1997 under a cover of corruption.

Some Photos of Oromo Killed since November 2005

Names of Addis Ababa University Oromo Students Executed in Kerchelle Prison

Alamaayyoo Garbaa (M) ( AAU-Psychology)

Gaaddisaa Hirphasaa (M) (AAU-Civil Eng.)

Morkata Idosa (AAU Student)

Names of School Children Executed at Ambo High School of Western Showa Zone

Jaagamaa Badhaanee (M)

Kabada Badhasa (M)

Names of School Children Executed at Inango town of Western Wollega Zone

Melaku Fayisa (Inango high school)

Dabala Olika (Inango high school)

Photos of MTA, leaders and University Students Illegally Imprisoned

Leaders of Matcha and Tulama Association (MTA) still kept in detention after the court granted them to be released on bail.

Mangistu Dasta (General Secretary)

Tsaggaayee W/Yohaannis (Board member)

Photos of Addis Ababa University Oromo students still in detention

Bilisummaa Dabaree (Architecture)

Taayyee Danda´aa (Law ykn Seera)

Once again the TPLF/ EPRDF regime has deliberately organized and instigated armed attack on the Oromo. This time, the regime organized, trained, armed and unleashed militia from Gumuz, a nation in a region neighboring Oromia from the West, on wanton killings of the Oromos of East Wallaggaa, Western Oromia. This is a Crime against Humanity.

The Oromo and Gumuz peoples have lived together as good neighbors for hundreds of years. It is these neighboring peoples that the TPLF regime maliciously turned against each other causing days of violence that claimed the lives of more than 400 people, as a result of a campaign that went on from May 17, 2008 to May 19, 2008. The Gumuz militia attack on the unarmed civilian Oromos caused the death of hundreds and many more injuries and displacement of hundreds to people, and destruction of large amount of properties. The TPLF regime trained and armed Gumuz militia with AK-47 and heavy machine-guns and ordered them to commit indiscriminate killings of unarmed Oromo civilians of East Wallagaa. As a matter of the TPLF government's policy, the Oromos were disarmed and are not allowed to bear arms. The Gumuz militia attacked the unaware and unarmed civilians. Hundreds of Oromos were subjected to horrific and barbaric killings. The militia is said to be so heavily armed that the local police themselves had to flee along with the civilians. The relevant government body and armed forces were bystanders watching the massacre of the unarmed and defenseless Oromos.

Annex

Last, but not least, we call upon the international community and governments to exert all necessary pressures on the TPLF regime to desist from its inhuman and destructive policies of deliberately setting the people it purports to govern against each other. We also call on all concerned governments and international organizations to pay close attention to the crime against humanity the minority tyrannical TPLF regime is perpetrating in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa in general and take remedial actions before it is too late. We call European Union And USA government to stop all economic and material support for dictatorial regime.

Related with election 2005 and Uprising in Oromia: More than 400 Casulaties

In general, Oromo students are discriminately killed in Mana Sibu, Kilitu Kara, Inangoo, Bojii Dirmaji, Gimbi, Xiquri Inxini, Chalia, Ambo, Abay Choman, Horoo Guduru, Jaldu and in all Oromia districts: more than 400 people have been executed on cold-blooded murder.

Louis Michel with Meles Zenawi

June 14, 2008 (EMF) ? The European Commissioner for development and humanitarian aid, Louis MICHEL will provide 674 million Euro to Zenawi´s regime through its 10th Development Fund, day after HRW condemns the EU to accomplice Meles Zenawi´s crime against Humanity. The news is a shock to the EU parliament and members states, source close to EMF said. According to our sources, Louis MICHEL will be under fire as it is contrary to the parliament´s resolution. "We don´t allow tax payers money to be used for atrocities," an MPE said.
All Ethiopians are urged to write a protest letter to Louis Michel (Louis.Michel@ec.europa.eu), denouncing this irresponsible act.

Discrimination

1. Livelihood

There were credible reports that teachers and other government workers had their employment terminated if they belonged to opposition political parties. According to opposition groups OFDM and ONC, the Oromia regional government continued to dismiss their members--particularly teachers--from their jobs. The FDRE Constitution Article 38(2) grants the right of everyone to be a member of his own will in political organization, labour union, trade organization, or employers or professional association shall be respected if he or she meets special and general requirements stipulated by such organization.

2. Labour Rights

During the year the National Workers Federation for Crops, Fishery and Agro Industry reported that union leaders in the Oromia Region were harassed, intimidated, and imprisoned by regional police in collaboration with employers. The federation also reported that Kebele militia or local police killed activists working in a sugar cane project in the Afar Regional government, in Sabure Woreda, Awara Melka. The federation has submitted a formal letter requesting the government to investigate, but no investigation had been conducted by year's end. FDRE constitution Article 42(1) protects the right to form trade unions, associations, organisation or what ever collectively. But to get any job the government forced to be a ruling party member. Because of that thousands of Oromo intellectuals are lost their jobs.

3. Public Health

The statistical information of comparison Government´s home Tigray and Oromia showed the government´s discriminatory social care. That is, infant mortality rate (death /1000 births) is 116 in Oromia, while 104 in Tigray, under the age of five (mortality rate /1000 births) is 195 in Oromia, while 170 in Tigray; % of children fully vaccinated in the year 2000 shows that Oromia is only 10 %, while Tigray is 42%. Tigray has more than four times the vaccination rate for Oromia. The result is that far more children in Oromia are likely to die of preventable childhood diseases than in all other regions in Ethiopia.

Percentage of house holds possessing bed nets in Oromia is only 0.3%, while Tigray is 3.1%, even though Oromia is more susceptible to Malaria. Population to physician´s ratio Oromia is 1:60,835, while Tigray is 1: 28,614.

People and power aired on 21 February 2009 that heavily polluted water from Koka Lake at the heart of Oromia glows a toxic green algae. Most of the fish are dead and the thousands of people who have no choice but to drink the lake's water each day are left to deal with a range of problems from babies born with birth defects to chronic diarrhea. According Article 41(4) of FDRE constitution, the state has the obligation to allocate ever-increasing resources to provide to the public health, education and other social services.

4. Education

According to the above-mentioned statistics, the enrolment ratio of children for primary education (Grade 1-8), Oromia is 62.8%, while Tigray is 77.6%. Secondary education enrolment (grade 9-12) of the same year, 2002, Oromia is 11.6%, while in Tigray is 24.8%.

5. Budget allocation and infrastructure

TPLF ethnic based government of Ethiopia from the beginning still now use unfair and un proportional government subside for Regional states and infrastructural and capacity building, In 2006/2007 Federal budgets subside for Oromia, 3,000,000,000 birr or per Person 50 birri, for Tigray 824,000,000 birr or per person 500 birr, In 2008/2009 Federal subside for Oromia 5,774,760,000 or per person 45 birr, for Tigray 1,175,590,000 per person 700 biir. With in 17 years the TPLF government in small territory of Tigray constructed 5 international Air Ports but for biggest regional state of Oromia is not constructed any Air port. Universities, Road, Pure water constriction, Telecommunications and electric power distributions also unfair and totally constructed in Tigray.

6. Religion

Authorities continued to ban Waka-Feta, a traditional animist Oromo religious group, because unsubstantiated suspected that it has links to the Oromo Liberation Front. Article 27(1) of FDRE constitution grants freedom of religion.

7. National Defense

FDRE constitution of Article 87(1) indicates that the composition of the national armed forces shall reflect the equitable representation of the nations, nationalities and peoples of Ethiopia. However, the only source of temporary stability of the current government rests on the regime's total control over the military and security forces and its readiness to use it without hesitation consequently the military remained an ethnically Tigrayans dominated the senior officer corps through preferential promotions. In 2007 more than 20,000 ethnic Oromo were totally removed form the army form Generals up to army.

Conclusion

The Office of the Ombudsman has the authority to receive and investigate complaints with respect to misadministration by executive branch offices. The office received hundreds of complaints this year, mainly focused on delays or denials in services, improper institutional decisions, promotions or demotions, and pension issues. It is not known which complaints were investigated or acted upon.

Ethiopia ratified the international convention on the Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination in 1976, and the Ethiopian constitution also prevents racial discrimination. However, the TPLF-led Ethiopian government has not yet put fully into place mechanisms for effective enforcement of these protections. Oromo Parliamentarian Council pleads the Human Right´s Watch Group to do all pressure on the Ethiopian government so that it respects its own constitution, international treaties and covenants it has signed and ratified.

Dr. Getachew Jigi

Chairman of Oromo Parliamentarians Council

Note

You can contact the Oromo Parliamentarians Council here:
Gumii Paarlaamaa Oromoo (GPO),
Oromo Parliamentarians Council (OPC)
Sint-Jobstraat 43, 2060 Antwerpen, Belgium
Tel. 00 32 488 47 93 60 00 32 488 47 93 60
Email: infogpo@yahoo.com

Website: www.oromoparliamentarians.org

End the Oromo Genocide in Ethiopia! Stop the Amhara - Tigray Agenda of Kushitic Mass Extermination!

By Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

In a previous article titled ´Amhara, Tigray Tyrants Guilty of Racist Discrimination Against Oromos in Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia).

(http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/1354520), I republished part of an overwhelming Memorandum submitted by the Oromo Parliamentarians Council to many international organizations, governmental bodies, diplomatic representations, political parties, cultural associations, and NGOs.

Under the original title ´Complaint Statement on Racial Discrimination of Political, Social and Cultural Rights of Oromos in Ethiopia´, the text makes state of an appalling situation that people allover the world simply cannot accept without being at the same time deprived of their own humanity.

In the first article, I republished the following parts of the devastating Memorandum: ´Introduction´, ´Background´, ´Ethiopia: Land of Silence and Human Rights Violations´, and ´Ethiopia: one ethnic minority manipulating majority´.

In the present article, I will republish further parts of the Memorandum that makes clear that tolerance of, or indifference toward, the racist and criminal Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic (Tewahedo) Abyssinian elites is not an option for the civilized world.

The Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic (Tewahedo) Abyssinian gangsters represent less than 18% of the country´s population, and after having subjugated many Eastern African Kushitic and Nilo-Saharan nations (Oromos, Ogadenis, Afars, Sidamas. Kambaatas, Shekachos, Kaffas, Gedeos, Wolayitas, Hadiyas, Anuak, Nuer and Gumuz) and occupied their lands, they carried out an unprecedented, systematic, covered but multifaceted, cultural and physical, genocide against all of the aforementioned nations.

The unrepresentative, ethnic-based, pseudo-diplomats of Abyssinia, when supposedly representing Abyssinia (fallaciously renamed ´Ethiopia´), promote the Amhara and Tigray Monophysitic (Tewahedo) tribal agenda of East African mass extermination and facilitate the methodic genocidal plans that have long been undertaken by the Amhara – Tigray (Semitic Abyssinian) tyrants against all of the aforementioned Kushitic and Nilo-Saharan nations.

This inhuman situation, which is the daily reality lived by more than 65 million people in the colonial state of Abyssinia, strikingly contradicts speeches full of democratic promises and lectures full of economic pledges hypocritically made by the administrations of Western capitals to either Europeans or Africans.

It is therefore imperative that European and North American administrations remove their support offered to the said racist and criminal tribes and setup a UN-sponsored investigation committee that would lead to cruel gangster Meles Zenawi´s impeachment and to Ethiopia´s ultimate and most demanded demolition and dismemberment.

In forthcoming articles, I will complete the republication of the extraordinary Memorandum.

E t h i o p i a: L a n d o f S i l e n c e a n d S t a r v a t i o n

Malas Zenawi uses famine as bullet to killed poor people.

A famine is growing across Ethiopia, but the government is clamping down on information - even ejecting aid agencies that could help bring aid for fear of provoking unrest and losing their grip on power; Finally, after months of mystifying delays, the government announced in late October that 6.2 million people needed emergency aid; but the realty is nowadays 12 to 18 million people needs aid.

Meles Zenawi is responsible for unlawful war against Eritrea and Somalia which the country lost 120 thousands life and scours economy which bring greet inflation in Ethiopia for first time.

Meles Zenawi state terrorist still not ready to accept the international borders committee dissection for peace with Eritrea. Meles straggle sanctions on Eritrea through his USA friends. Any sanctions on Eritrea automatically can bring destabilization and collapses of the Horn African states

P o l i t i c a l R i g h t s

The FDRE constitution of Article 38 grants the right to Vote and to be elected. It provides citizens the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercised this right in practice through generally free and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage; however, violence and intimidation of voters and elected parliamentarian were observed.

In practice, the EPRDF ruling party dominated the government.

Elected parliamentarians and members of other political parties were subjected to executions or other acts of inhumanity. For instance, Mr. Adane was an elected member of the Ethiopian parliament representing the Oromo Peoples Congress Party (OPC). A week after the election of may 2005 a police shot and killed Mr. Adane in Arsi Negele town.

The Oromo people have used their constitutional rights to elect the person or party they wanted. However, the ruling party EPRDF is being dominated by the Tigrean Peoples Liberation (TPLF) did not want to see the strong opposition in the government. That is why they killed Mr. Adane who represented the people who elected him.

Police began harassing the parliamentarians after a February 2006 regional council meeting. There were no developments in the 2006 beatings of one regional parliamentarian of the Oromo Federal Democratic Movement (OFDM) and five of the Oromo National Congress.

We MPE faced all types of torches, imprisonment, confiscations of property and so much more due to our commitment to the rule of law in the country. As we were not allowed to speak in the parliament, except sitting and listening to the ruling party agenda and observing the so-called majority vote approval of the laws we tried to demonstrated out biggest pain by tying our mouth with cloth before the delegates of all countries, which did nothing but enhanced our persecution.
In due time, many were imprisoned without due process of the law, in history of Ethiopia 11 MPs of Oromo national origin left the country, after they faced all unbelievable persecution in their life including their families and friends .

1. MP. Dr. Getachew Jigi
2. MP Mr. Abiyot Kebede
3. MP. Mr. Teshome Bedasa
4. MP. Mr. Akasa Kisy
5. MP. Mr. Chala Bekele
6. MP. Mr. Siraji Husen
7. MP. Mr. Tafara Lagasa
8. MP. Mr. Girma Chala
9. MP. Mr. Lebeta Fufa
10. RMP. Ms Sara Mamo
11. Mr. Gezehny Bekel

On September 13, 2007, police beat regional parliamentarian Wegayehu Dejene of Me´ea District, Oromia Region, and his family members. Wegayehu filed several complaints with local authorities, but no action had been taken till now

Ms. Biraanee Dhufeeraa, Ms. Isqeel Gamada and Mr. Asfaw Banti were students supporters of Oromo Federalist Movement (OFDM) and were killed at Kiltu Karra district of Western Wollega Zone of Oromia region on 21 December 2005 by the security forces.

The Oromo Parliamentarian Council is informed that militias´ head of the district, named Waagari Jigi, ordered the killing of the OFDM supporters and wounded many others students like Damaye Olana, Abdi Umataa, Ifee Mardasa in Kiltu Karra district.

Oromo students are discriminately killed in Inangoo 2, Bojii Dirmaji 2, Gimbi 5, Xiquri Inxini 2, Chalia 3, Ambo 1; and in Jaldu district 3 students were killed in cold-blooded murder.

There was no investigation into the 2006 killing by federal police of 15 demonstrators in the East Wallega zone, Guduru District.

Until now the Oromo students in all universities are targeted for disappearing and killing.

During the year some political leaders, including federal and regional MPs, were discouraged from traveling to their constituencies to meet with supporters, although others visited constituents without incident.

For example, OFDM chairman Bulcha Demeksa was persuaded not to visit his constituency in Wellega district, Oromiya Region, because the government told him his security could not be guaranteed. Some local officials blocked some opposition MPs´ access to their constituencies, arguing that as federal MPs, they had no reason to visit.

In February 2008, before the local elections, ruling party cadres detained an opposition member and candidate for seven times during the 15 days following his registration as a district candidate in Western Oromia. They alternately threatened to fire him from his teaching job, relocate him to a rural site, and kill him and his children.

On March 2, 2008, the opposition Oromo People´s Congress party reported that Degaga Gebissa, a party member from Meta-Robi District, Oromia Region, was taken from his house by police, shot and killed. Police allegedly refused to allow an autopsy or to provide any information to OPC party officials.

On March 9, 2008 police and local officials beat federal parliamentarian Gutu Mulisa while he campaigned for the OPC in Elfeta District, Oromia Region. Gutu filed a complaint with Elfeta District Police. At year's end, the case was still pending.

In January 2007, the Ethiopian government militias collected many Oromos from different parts of Oromia, arrested them, and transferred them in an illegal prison camp known as China camp, in Meso, in Hararge zone. The people arrested were suspected of being members or supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). OPC learned that many of these political prisoners were killed on the hill called Gara Sufi, close to Meso town, in east Oromia.

About 20 Oromos were killed on the Gara Sufi, and were thrown for hyenas to be eaten. The Voice America Radio Afaan Oromo Program made an interview with families of the victims. (Audio clips from VOA can be supplied).

Ayisha Ali, Kadijjaa Usuman is the wife of the late Obbo Ahmed Mohhamed Kuree from Mi´essoo. She and her late husband have nine children - eight girls and one boy whom she just stopped breastfeeding.

The TPLF government is also active in refuge murder in the wider Horn of Africa area. The Ethiopian security forces, with the support of Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Djibouti governments, deport Oromo political refugees also harassing them in the abroad. In 2008 Somalia´s Puntland (Bossasso) 65 Oromos were killed, 100 wounded, and 250 homes were burned down by Ethiopia army.

The Meles Zenawi Government to change the people´s image uses all methods of conflicts, civil or international, regular or irregular. With the TPLF, regime-instigated conflict between Guji Oromos and Konsos took place, and 40 people lost their lifes, dozens were wounded, and properties were destroyed.

In the historic place of Madda Walabu, many Oromos have lost their historical territories and hundreds lost their lives. In Messo and many other places, a scheme was prepared by the government to involve Oromos and Somalis in conflict, and in the process many civilian Oromos were murdered by the well armed groups.

In Wondo Genet more than 40 Oromos were killed by raids.

Between May 17 and 19, 2008, the Gumuz militias of the regional state of Benshangul/Gumuz, backed by TPLF regime, mercilessly and with no pretext attacked numerous unarmed Oromo civilians, burnt down their houses, indiscriminately killed and amputated elders and children, thus forcing thousands to flee their homes.

According to information received, about 400 people have been killed in the process; 65 people were killed in Haroo Waataa village of Saasiggaa alone. No less than 115 dead bodies were found and buried in just four mass graves. The remaining bodies are either burned by the perpetrators or eaten by wild dogs and hyenas. Over 12000 people have left their homes and camped in Naqamtee town and at the surroundings of a primary school, in the Saasiggaa district.

As of 30/10/2008, the TPLF-led Ethiopian government has put under unlawful detention more than 100 Oromos in different cities of Oromiya, including the capital city, under the notorious pretext of supporting the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).

It is the high time for all international and governmental bodies worldwide to interfere in the unprecedented Human Rights violations perpetrated against the Oromo Nation, and thus secure their constitutional freedom.

(To be continued)

Note

You can contact the Oromo Parliamentarians Council here:

Gumii Paarlaamaa Oromoo (GPO),
Oromo Parliamentarians Council (OPC)
Sint-Jobstraat 43, 2060 Antwerpen,
Belgium Tel. 00 32 488 47 93 60 00 32 488 47 93 60
Email: infogpo@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.oromoparliamentarians.org/

Note

Picture: the administrative provinces of the colonial state of Abyssinia do not represent the real borders of the subjugated Afar, Oromo, Ogadenis and Southern nations; they only represent the villainous and criminal desire of the ruling racist Amharas to create a fake Amhara region enlarged in order to incorporate lands that do not belong to them. The real Amhara state that will be left after the secession of Ogaden, Afar, Oromos and the Southern peoples will have less than half the size of the fake province. Following the dissolution of Abyssinia, the Tigray region will be incorporated in Eritrea

4th London International Oromo WorkshoP On 3 July 2010

At City University London

Call for papers

The scramble for land, ‘investment’ and environmental degradation in Oromia: consequences for the future.As the world population is growing food security is becoming one of the most challenging issues facing the world leading to a global scramble for lucrative farmlands. Subsequently, some governments and private investors are buying up farmland in Africa and Asia to grow not only food but other commercial products. This high-stakes game of real-life monopoly of farmland is leading to ‘neo-colonialism’.

Oromia is an oasis on the frontline of the ever expanding Sahara desert. Its ecosystem is very fragile and requires delicate balancing act in terms of the environment and its sustainability. Notwithstanding this, the Ethiopian regime has already leased millions of hectares of fertile Oromo farmland to foreign investors by displacing Oromo farmers from their lands. For example, Saudi Arabia is one of the biggest and most aggressive buyers of land. This spring, the king of Saudi Arabia attended a ceremony where he took delivery of the first export rice harvest, produced exclusively for the Kingdom in hunger-stricken Ethiopia. The lowlands of Oromia, where higher rainfall assists the cultivation of grains, flower plantations and bio-fuel crops, are particularly vulnerable.

Land in Oromia is not only being sold to capitalists for the purpose of industrial-scale farming but also being invaded from many directions, including by the so-called investors, mining companies, extensive re-settlement as well as urbanisation programmes without due respect for protection of the environment.

What is more, it is not known if these companies carry out environmental impact assessments or do anything to protection the ecosystem. The environmental impact of such unregulated large-scale farming is alarming. Evidence is emerging that underground water and rivers are being severely polluted from unregulated pesticides use by commercial flower plantations as a result of which a number of people are dying.

On the other hand, there are some who argue that the activities of the investors may help poor nations to achieve the development and modernization of their ailing agricultural sectors, and that the foreign investors will be able to produce enough food for the overpopulated planet. However, its negative environmental and societal impacts on the indigenous people deserve a serious attention. The issue of land property rights in territories such as Oromia is complex and driving farmers from their ancestral land can lead to a serious societal breakdown.

This one-day multidisciplinary workshop will examine the scale of the problem and the environmental degradation, economic, social and health problems facing the Oromo people as the result of the farmland wholesale to foreign investors and will aim to formulate a consensus on how to mitigate its burden on the Oromo people.

The London International Oromo Workshop 2010 Organizing Committee invites proposals for this one-day workshop addressing research areas related to the conference theme.

Researchers can submit workshop proposals to partake as panellist at the Workshop via email: oromo.international@yahoo.co.uk by 15th March 2010.

WORKSHOP ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

Dhaamsa Waggaa Haaraa Hayyu Duree ABO Irraa

ADDA BILISUMMAA OROMOO
OROMO LIBERATION FRONT
Guyyaa: 31 Mudde 2009 Lakk:0280/ABO/09

Dhaamsa Waggaa Haaraa Hayyu Duree ABO Irraa

Jaallan, sabboontonni, deggertoonni qabsoo fi lammiin Oromoo martinu,
Dursee maqaa dhaaba keenya Adda Bilisummaa Oromoo (ABO) fi hooggana dhaaba keenyaan baga nagaan waggaa haaraa geessanin isiniin jedha.

Barri tokko xumuramee gara isaa haaraatti yeroo qaxxaamuru akka abbatokkeettis ta’e akka dhaabaatti xiqqoo dhabbannee haala keessa jirru xiinxaluun bara dhufaa jiruuf of qopheessuutu nu irraa eegama.

Waggaa xumuraa jirru kana keessa qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo dagaagsuuf qabsaawoti bilisummaa Oromoo wareegama ulfaataa kafalaniin bifa adda addaan milkiilee hedduun kan keessatti galmaa’an ture. Haa ta’u malee rakkooleen turanii fi gufuuleen haaraan qabsoo keenya qormaata hamaa keessa galchan nu hin qunnamne jechu miti.

Mootummaa garboonftaan Habashaa kan ilmaan Tigreen durfamaa jiru hacucaa ummata keenyaa fi qabeenyaa Oromoo saamuu qofa osoo hin taane jireenyuma saba keenyaa iyyuu dhabamsiisuuf qarree gubbaan ga’ee jira jechuun ni danda’ama. Kessumaa haala kanaan dura argamee hin beekneen warra abbaa qabeenyaa baar-gamaa waliin maamilumaa tolfatee lafa Oromoo gurguraa jiraachuun hedduu kan nu yaaddeesu dha.

Lafti gurguramaa jiru kun kan magaalaa fi lafa albuuda qabu irra taree lafa qonnaa fi bosonaa hunda dabalatee jira. Gochaan kun ummatni Oromoo beela, deega, dhukkuba golfaa fi rorroon saaxilamee yeroo jirutti alagaan lafa keenya irra midhaan qotate biyya isaatti akka fe’atu taasisee jira. Albudaan akka warqee fi kaanis tujaarota qondaalota wayyaaneetti shariika ta’aniin gartuu fi nam-tokkeen saamamaa jira.

Misooma baadiyyaa babal’isuuf qonnaa industreessuu haguuggii jedhuun gurgurtaan lafaa bal’inaan geggeeffamaa jiru Oromoota qe’ee isaani fi mana isaanii irraa godaansisaa jira. Qonna baranee babal’isuun kun Oromoo lafa isaa irraa buqqisuu fi maqaa hojjetaatiin dhufanii badiyyaa Oromiyaa keessatti qubsuma dhaabbataaf kan karaa anjjessu taha. Kunis yoo itti dhiifame sabboonummaa Oromoo kan itti lamsheessanii fi Oromiyaa biyyi jedhamus akka hin jiraanne itti gufachisanii fi qabeenyaa nama hundaa taasisuuf tattaafataa jiran jechuu dha. Bakka mirgi siyaasaa abbaa biyyummaa ummata tokkoo hin mirkaawinitti sochiin akkasii kun dantaa koloneeffataa tiksuu irra dabree ummata kan fayyadu hin ta’u.

Bara dabre duula cunqursa dinagdee irratti dabalee saba Oromoo shororkeessanii bulchuuf dulli deemsisfamu daran hammaate malee hin laaffanne. Ummatni Oromoo xiqqaa fi guddaan, jaarsaa fi ijoolleen, dhiiraa fi dubartiin kumaan lakkaa’aman mana hidhaa Wayyaanee keessatti dararama arganii fi arga jiran lakkoofsi isaanii dabalee jira.

Kanneen hidhaa kana irraa oolanis biyya irraa baqatanii biyyoota ollaa keessatti balaa suukaneessaa garaagaraaf kan saaxilaman xiqqaa miti. Fakkeenyyaaf, lammiiwwan keenya, Bosaasoo Somaliyaa fi Yemenitti mirgi baqattummaa isaanii dhowwatamee dararamni kana hin jedhamne irra gahee fi gahaa jiru gadda guddaan yaadanna.

Saamichi fi cunqursi akkasumas dararamni ummata keenya irra gahaa jiru hanga sirni boojuu Itoophiyaa jirutti kan ittifufu ta’uun beekkamaa dha. Haala kana jijjiruun kan danda’amus qabsaawotni bilisummaa Oromoo tokkummaa galii ummatanii dhaaba ABO gurmuu isaa deebisanii jabeessuun gamtaan qabsoo finiinsuu yoo dandanda’an qofa jenne amanna.

Ummatni Oromoo biyya ambaa jiraatus walitti dhihaatee rakkoolee QBO irraa calaqisan furuuf walmarii bifa adda addaa geggeessuun ni feesisa jennee amana. Tokkummaa fi hawaasummaan Oromoo tokkumaa siyaasaatiin olaanaa ta’uun hubatamee waldhabdee gartuulee siyaasaa garaagaraatiin hawaasummaan Oromoo jeeqamuu hin qabu. Tokkumaan ummata keenyaa gaaffii fardii ta’uun dagatamuunis irra hin jiru. Kanaaf, gartuulee siyaasaa dhageeffachuun garaagarummaa siyaasaa sadarkaa jibba ummatumaatti jijjiruun midhaa hamaa egeree ummatichaa irratti qabaatu hubatamee lootee galtuun alagaan mindaan bitee ummata Oromoo keessa facaasee nagaa keenya jeequuf yaalaa jiru akka hin milkoofne taasisuun hunda keenya irraa eegama.

Gama kaaniin alagaan fira fakaatee kaayyoo QBO kan bilisummaa irra kachisuuf tattaaffii karaa adda addaa godhuun isaa ifatti kan mul’ataa ture ammas mul’atuuf jiru dha. Gartuun kun akkuma yakkii mootummaa Tigree addunyaatti saaxil baha deemuun duula isaanii ol kaasuun waan hin hafne. Duula kana ittisuuf murteessaan kaayyoo ganamaatti cichanii ciminaan qabsaawuu tahu wal yadachisuun barbaachisaa dha. Kayyoon walabummaa biyya keenyaa iggitii sabboonummaa Oromoo, gaachanaa fi ittisa gurmuu sabaa fi biyya Oromiyaa ti. Kaayyoo kana dabarsanii kennuun mirga haaraa dhiifnaan mirga hanga armmaa argame iyyuu balaaf akka saaxilu dagatuun hin feesisu.

Kanaaf, waggaa haaraan 2010 waggaa gurmuun ABO fi kan qabsaawota bilisummaa Oromoof dhaabbatanii itti jabaatu, daba diinnii mooraa qabsoo keenya keessatti raawatu itti fashalu, rorroo diinaaf osoo hin jilbeenfatin injifatnoo itti galmesinu akka ta’u hawwii kiyyan ibsa.

Oromiyaan ni bilisomti!


Dhugasaa Bakakkoo

Hayyu Duree ABO

Source: oromoliberation.info

Baga Waggaa haaraan isin ga'e. Bara Injifannoo argannee Oromian itti walaboomtu nuuf haa ta'u!!