Eliminate the Terrorist State Abyssinia (Fake Ethiopia) from the Map to Save Human Respectability

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

In an earlier article published yesterday under the title ??After South Sudan, Referendum for Secession Needed in Ogaden and Oromia (Abyssinia, Fake Ethiopia)?? (amongst others: https://www.examiner.com/web-news/wfp?index=4 and http://www.savethechildren.org.au/), I stated that over the next few years, Eastern Africa will undergo a great change, following the recent referendum for independence and secession which was held in South Sudan.

I also specified that Abyssinia (fallaciously re-baptized as Ethiopia) is Africa?s worst tyranny whereby an ethno-religious minority of ca. 17%, namely the Amhara and Tigray Tewahedo (Monophysitic) Abyssinians, rule tyrannically over 15 subjugated nations that all passionately struggle for national liberation, independence and secession from the immense fascist jail that is Abyssinia.

I then reproduced the recently published devastating Report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (abridged version), which under the title ??Ethiopia - Monitoring of conflict, human rights violations and resulting displacement still problematic?? can be found, amongst others, here: http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/ethiopia-monitoring-of-conflict-human-rights-violations-and-resulting-displacement-still-problematicIn and by itself, the comprehensive Report bears witness to the urgent need for an imminent international intervention and elimination of the racist Amhara - Tigray pestilence.

With the present article, I start the republication of the integral edition of the Report, and I will make it publicly known in a series of articles. Before republishing the Report?s first unit, I make available the complete Table of Contents, and I will do so in every part of the series.

Ethiopia - Internal Displacement Profile

http://www.internal-displacement.org/8025708F004CE90B/(httpCountries)/2CC10DD018E56104802570A7004B304F?OpenDocument&count=10000&expandview#expand

I. Causes and Background

Background (Special Report 2007)

Background (Special Report 2007)

Conflict-displacement in the context of displacement due to natural disasters, resettlement and economic migration (Special Report 2007)

II. Background

Study shows Conflict prevalent in all regions of Ethiopia (November 2008)

Continued border tensions between Ethiopia and Eritrea (2007)

Background to the 1998 border dispute

Both Ethiopia and Eritrea used mass deportations as a weapon of war, 1998-2002

Regular human rights violations, particularly after the May 2005 parliamentary elections (January 2006)

Border standoff in November 2005 threatening border stability (March 2006)

Easy availability of small arms contributes to conflicts (2005)

III. Causes of displacement

Conflict between Garre (Somali) and Borena (Oromiya) over disputed land (February 2009)

Conflict causes displacement of tens of thousands in 2008 (February 2009)

Somali region (Special Report 2007)

Somali region: Root causes of, and background to displacement (August 2003)

Somali region: clashes between Ethiopian armed forces and ONLF (June 2008)

Drought-induced displacements fuel conflicts in east and south, 2002-2005 (February 2005)

Somali-Oromo border referendum of December 2004

Oromiya region (Special Report 2007)

Gambella: Causes for displacement (2004)

Gambella: Displacement in December 2003 and in 2004

Gambella: Displacement from 2005 to 2007 (Special Report 2007)

Tigray and Afar regions (Special Report 2007)

Tigray and Afar: Chronology of the military confrontations in border areas between Eritrea and Ethiopia, May 1998 - June 2000

Tigray and Afar: Armed conflict between Eritrea and Ethiopia displaced civilians living along the border, 1998-2000

Southern Nation, Nationalities and Peoples region (Special Report 2007)

Afar: tensions between the Afar and the Issa (2007)

Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region (SNNPR): Thousands displaced due to ethnic clashes in the southern region, 2002-2003

IDPs around Addis Ababa (August 2003)

IV. Peace efforts

Federal government asked to help contain regional conflicts (August 2009)

Border impasse between Eritrea and Ethiopia poses serious challenges for peace (July 2008)

Organization of African Unity mediation efforts resulted in 2000 cease-fire

The Boundary Commission, 2000-2005

The United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) and the Temporary Security Zone, 2000-2005

The Temporary Security Zone, 2000-2005

Stability along the border shaky as both Ethiopia and Eritrea sharpen their rhetoric (2007)

Traditional reconciliation mechansism: Peace efforts in Gambella (2007)

V. Population Figures and Profile

Global figures

Difficulties in identifying and counting IDPs (Special Report 2007)

Geographical Distribution

Inter-ethnic conflict in southern Ethiopia displaces thousands of people (February 2009)

Somali/Oromiya regions: Displacement due to 2004 Somali/Oromiya border referendum continues to be of concern (February 2006)

Oromiya region: Ethnic conflict between Gabra, Guji and Borena displace over 40,000 since April 2005 (June 2006)

Gambella: Internal displacement (February 2006)

Tigray: 62,000 still displaced since the Ethio-Eritrean war (January 2006)

Three main areas of displacement along the Eritrea/Ethiopia border (April 2003)

Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Region: ethnic conflict base for internal displacement (March 2003)

VI. Patterns of Displacement

General

Historic and general overview of causes of displacement (2003)

Reports on displacement due to repression by government in rural areas (January 2006)

Resettlement Programmes and economic migration (Special Report 2007)

VII. Physical Security & Freedom of Movement

Physical security

Somali Region: Serious human rights violations against population in Ogaden, and economic restrictions (August 2009)

Displacement-specific humanitarian and protection challenges (Special Report 2007)

Physical security of IDP women and children are a protection concern (2007)

Somali region: Serious human rights violations against population in Ogaden, and economic restrictions (2007)

VIII. Subsistence Needs

General

Ethiopian State accused of hidding famine, depriving needy of food aid (September 2008)

Drought causes enormous strain on Ethiopia's south-east (April 2006)

IDP needs in Doba Woreda in Oromiya region (February 2005)

IDPs needs in Miesso in Oromiya region (December 2004)

Tigray IDPs live on meagre resources, government response to include them in PSNP (February 2006)

Conflict induced newly displaced people in acute humanitarian situation in Somali and Oromiya regions (March 2006)

Conflict induced IDPs in Bordode/Mieso areas (Somali) in need of planned humanitarian assistance (April 2004)

Food

High malnutrition in IDP producing areas (July 2009)

Over 6 million Ethiopians need food aid (October 2008)

Health

Therapeutic Feeding Centres in vulnerable regions (July 2009)

Drought posing health risks to children (January 2006)

Health risks in relation to the 2006 drought (April 2006)

HIV/AIDS prevalence exacerbated by frequent population movements (March 2003)

Water and Sanitation

Somali Region facing food and water crisis (August 2009)

People in need of emergency water assistance increased from 2.6 to 4.2 million during 2003 (June 2003)

Education

Children in pastoralist and conflict areas face poor access to education (October 2008)

IX. Issues of Self-Reliance and Public Participation

Self-reliance

IDPs likely to be disadvantaged in local allocation system (January 2004)

IDPs self reliance particularly disrupted by loss of assets and access to farmland (May 2002)

X. Documentation Needs and Citizenship

General

Access to land, identity cards and public services goes through local kebele officials (January 2004)

XI. Issues of Family Unity, Identity and Culture

General

Traditional Ethiopian social structure is hierarchical (January 2004)

XII. Property Issues

Law and Policy

Federal and Regional Land proclamations introduce a system of land registration and certification (Jan 2008)

Compensation for land inadequate and possibly putting at risk those without land certificates (January 2008)

Land Proclamations an attempt for enhanced gender equality (January 2008)

XIII. Patterns of Return and Resettlement

Return

Return movements difficult to monitor (2005)

Gambella: return movements in 2007

Thousands of drought-IDPs assisted to return in Somali region (2007)

Obstacles to return

Tigray: Return constrained by presence of landmines Tigray (2007)

Resettlement programmes

Government resettlement plans for 2006 in Amhara (February 2006)

Government?s resettlement programme gives mixed results (December 2004)

Badly planned resettlements in severely drought-affected Oromiya (June 2003)

Resettlement of drought affected people in Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples' Region (July 2003)

75,000 people including war-displaced to be resettled in Humera in Tigray (April 2003)

XIV. Humanitarian Access

General

Humanitarian access limited by conflict, government restrictions (October 2008)

XV. National and International Responses

General

UN and Regional Health bureaus deal with health problems (August 2009)

UN provides $6 million to alleviate suffering (July 2009)

Government agency helps in food distribution (August 2009)

National response (Special Report 2007)

National response is inconsistent and ad hoc (February 2006)

International response (Special report 2007)

International response

Coordination mechanisms

Reference to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement

African Countries set to adopt Convention to provide rights to IDPs (June 2009)

Known references to the Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement (as of July 2004)

Recommendations

Recommendations of Human Rights Watch on Somali Region of Ethiopia (June 2008)

Recommendations of IGAD expert meeting, Khartoum, September 2003

Section I: Causes and Background

Sub-section: Background (Special Report 2007)

Background (Special Report 2007)

http://www.internal-displacement.org/idmc/website/countries.nsf/(httpEnvelopes)/0219F9C9B83E4CAAC125732B00442636?OpenDocument

Special Report: A heritage of autocracy and natural disasters

Ethiopia is one of the world?s poorest countries. Throughout its history, it has suffered from recurring droughts and floods and related famines. It is also characterised by a long history of centralised state power, culminating in military rule under the Marxist Dergue government led by Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam from 1974 to 1991. The 1985 famine brought international attention to Ethiopia, and triggered a huge response to support millions of starving Ethiopians.

The famine brought to the fore the ruthless demographic engineering of the Dergue government. While at times restricting aid agencies? access to the worst-affected northern regions of Tigray and Wollo, the government initiated a large-scale resettlement programme, moving some 600,000 people from the famine-stricken northern highlands to the more fertile south-western lowlands of Gambella and Oromiya regions. Following a shortage of volunteers for the programme, the regime forcibly assembled and transported highland peasant farmers. Tens of thousands of them died either in transit or on arrival, as they were unable to make a living in the different climate, and were susceptible to malaria. The government also implemented a "villagisation" policy, which was intended to eventually cluster some ten million peasants in socialist rural centres. The living and working conditions of these centres were later described as resembling those of forced labour camps.

Both resettlement and villagisation had a terrible impact on the social fabric of the affected populations. Both were presented internationally as development programmes and supported by donor governments. Both programmes, however, also had political objectives, in particular to curb popular support to rebel movements in Tigray, Eritrea and Oromiya regions. Many resettled people were in fact subsequently recruited into the government armed forces, as this offered the only way out of their miserable situation.


Natural disasters such as floods and drought have caused recurring displacement. The most recent waves of drought-related displacement occurred in 2000 and 2003, mainly in eastern regions. Massive flood-induced displacement occurred in November 2006. Ethiopia was also affected by the August 2007 floods.

Besides natural disasters and internal inter-ethnic or separatist conflicts, international conflicts have also long affected the Ethiopian population. Somalia?s invasion of the Ogaden (today?s Somali region) in 1977, and the 1998-2000 border war with Eritrea triggered significant internal displacement, the latter conflict alone forcing around 300,000 people to flee their homes.

The EPRDF and ethnic federalism

During the 1980s, and not least as a consequence of the poor official response to the drought, regional opposition movements gained momentum while socialist-bloc support for the Dergue dried up. In 1991, a number of those opposition groups, led by the Tigray People?s Liberation Front (TPLF), toppled the government. The new ruling coalition of parties joined as the Ethiopian People?s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), under the central control of the TPLF, which maintains alliances with the ruling regional parties.

In an attempt to decentralise the rigid system it had inherited from the Dergue period, and in order to avoid secessionist movements, notably in the regions of Somali and Oromiya, the EPRDF engaged in a major reform process from 1991. Nine kilil or administrative regions were created and divided into zones, which were often named after the majority ethnic group. Each zone was further sub-divided into woredas (district councils) composed of a number of kebele (local councils) in urban neighbourhoods, or of peasant associations in rural areas. While many of those entities had already existed under the Dergue, the EPRDF?s devolution processes vested them with some degree of political and administrative autonomy.

The woreda is the focus of administrative and political action in the federal system. It is crucial to control a woreda to exercise political influence and to have a say in the centrally-steered taxation and distribution of funds and resources, including land, food aid, employment and documentation.

District and local authorities are generally either directly affiliated with, or allied to, the EPRDF, although the situation changed somewhat following the elections of May and November 2005, when opposition parties increased their representation in the national parliament from 12 seats to 172 and also in local government. The elections were marked by violent suppression of widespread protests against alleged vote-rigging by the EPRDF, and possibly led to the displacement of thousands of people.

The government?s reaction to the protests led several donors to divert financial support away from direct budgetary support to the central government, instead directly funding NGOs or local government bodies through the "Protection of Basic Services" mechanism. While donor governments have stopped aid transfer on several occasions in the past, such disruptions have never been sustained, consistent or coordinated.

The system of ethnic federalism, dividing Ethiopia into ethnically defined regions and zones, and channelling access to power and resources according to ethnic criteria, is quite unique in the world; it lends the strong central government a federalist face in a country which is home to approximately 80 different ethnicities. However, none of the administrative regions is ethnically homogenous, and the increasing migration of people within Ethiopia in recent years due to famine, economic hardship, resettlement and urbanisation has made the principle of ethnically-distinct zones increasingly difficult to realise and to sustain.

Competition for access to local and regional power structures appears to be increasing. Underlying this competition is a general scarcity of resources, including land, water, food and work opportunities. In a number of regions, older and more recent localised resource-based conflicts have taken on a more ethnic character, further encouraging the activities of armed secessionist movements such as the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). Other groups, like the Somali Sheikash clan, strive for access to political representation.

Sources

Cultural Survival Quarterly, 31 December 1987, Steingraber: Resettlement and Villagization - Tools of Militarization in SW Ethiopia

Ethiopian National Congress, 24 July 2005, Repression in rural Ethiopia

Human Rights Watch (HRW), 13 January 2006, Hidden crackdown in rural areas

Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), 14 November 2005, Ethiopia: Donors concerned over political unrest

U.S. Department of State (U.S. DOS), 6 March 2007, Ethiopia Country Report on Human Rights Practices for 2006

Conflict-displacement in the context of displacement due to natural disasters, resettlement and economic migration (Special Report 2007)

http://www.internal-displacement.org/idmc/website/countries.nsf/(httpEnvelopes)/54EBFEE1668DB174C1257371002B02B2?OpenDocument

Special Report: Natural disasters as a cause of displacement

While this report mainly focuses on conflict-induced displacement, the dimension of displacement due to natural disasters cannot be seen as a completely separate issue. As a result of these natural hazards, the culture of sharing scarce resources is often being tested to its limits and resource-triggered conflicts are on the rise. Oxfam, February 2005; UN OCHA, Pastoralist Communication Initiative, 2007. Furthermore, the distinction between economic migration and displacement due to natural disasters is often hazy. Where people need to leave their homes in search of food and work, there clearly is an element of involuntariness involved. Large-scale resettlement programmes intending to manage food scarcity must also be seen in this context of very complex interactions of different population movements.

People directly displaced by natural disasters are often assisted better than conflict IDPs. Their main problems, such as successful reintegration and reconstruction of livelihoods, are to a large extent due to a gap between humanitarian and development assistance.

Ethiopia?s south and east, particularly Somali and South Oromiya regions, and increasingly Afar region, are chronically food-insecure and regularly affected by drought and floods. As of mid-2007, parts of Ethiopia (particularly in Oromiya region) had received below-average rainfall and were facing shortages of water and pasture land. Then, during August and September, Amhara, Afar, Gambella, SNNPR, Somali, Tigray and Oromiya regions were hit by floods, affecting over 220,000 people and leading, according to UN OCHA, to the displacement to temporary shelters of over 70,000 people.

These floods hit the country less than a year after the devastating floods of 2006, which had temporarily displaced some 600,000 people. DPPA Flood Impact Assessment, 2007, expected to be published on the DPPA website: www.dppc.gov.et. Most of them returned home within weeks, with the notable exception of some 4,000 flood-displaced people in Dire Dawa, whose original dwellings were too close to the river bed, and who were awaiting government-built housing in a camp set up for them. The living conditions of the Dire Dawa IDPs, visited in February 2007, were good, and social services well organised and accessible to all. Less than half of them were able to move to their new homes in the course of 2007, while the others continued to wait for new housing.

Most IDPs displaced by the 2000 and 2003 droughts in Somali Region have returned to their areas of origin, with the exception of the Fafen and Hartisheik camp residents. Because not all return movements proved economically sustainable, the reintegration of the returnees remains challenging, despite exceptionally good rains in 2007. The current activities of the Ethiopian army in parts of Somali region further seriously impact on their opportunities for trade and access to food and water.

Resettlement programmes and economic migration

The current situations of conflict-induced internal displacement should be seen in the context of broader population movements, because economic migration and resettlement programmes also influence the composition and cohabitation of populations, as well as the stability of regions.

In early 2003, as part of its National Food Security Programme, the Ethiopian government launched a new resettlement programme, intending to resettle 2.2 million people, or 440,000 households, from the chronically food-insecure highlands to more fertile agricultural lowland areas within three years. The resettlement programme was planned for four regions: Tigray, Oromiya, Amhara and SNNPR, and implemented in three phases of 100,000, 150,000 and 190,000 households each. Potential resettlers were identified during awareness-raising campaigns at both the woreda and kebele levels, and host woredas were identified based on the availability of arable land. In an attempt to mitigate resentment by the host community and to ease the transition, basic infrastructure (such as health services, water supply, primary schools and roads) was to be established, and the people resettled were to receive an eight-month food ration.

The government suggested that the scheme was successful and mostly led to self-sufficiency, and that past failures had been due to uncontrolled self-resettlement. Other reports suggest that resettlement was often experienced as a heavy burden. Critics said the programme did not always respect four core principles: the resettlement was not always voluntary, the land allocated was not always suitable for planting, host communities were not always properly consulted, and the resettlees were not always properly prepared. It was said that in certain cases the resettlement led to severe malnutrition, as the highlanders were not accustomed to the agricultural techniques required in the lowlands. A considerable number of resettled people eventually had to move on, this time unassisted. As mentioned above, past resettlement programmes, particularly the large-scale resettlements under the Dergue government in the 1980s, were fraught with problems and caused widespread suffering.

One interviewee said that the radical changes in demographic equilibrium induced by resettlement programmes and economic migration should be taken into account more in federal planning. For example, Gambella?s neighbour region to the north, Benishangul Gumuz, is confronted with similar demographic issues as Gambella. The region, fertile and sparsely populated, faces a looming crisis: in 1994, only 55 per cent of the inhabitants were indigenous, and since then, large numbers of people moving in from other regions have become a source of growing concern for the regional government. Informal resettlement and economic migration, including urban migration, could also have a destabilising effect. Development-related displacement could do the same, for example in Afar where a big dam for irrigation has reduced the land for the Afar people, or where the creation of national parks as tourist attractions has forced people out of their home area.

Sources

BBC News, 19 January 2005, Talking Point with PM Meles Zenawi

Cultural Survival Quarterly, 31 December 1987, Steingraber: Resettlement and Villagization - Tools of Militarization in SW Ethiopia

Ethiopian Herald, 19 March 2006, State begins resettling 10,000 peasant households

Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) and World Food Programme (WFP), 24 February 2006, FAO crop and food assessment mission to Ethiopia

Forum for Social Studies, 2005, Understanding the dynamics of resettlement in Ethiopia

Government of Ethiopia and Humanitarian Partners, 12 February 2007, 2007 Humanitarian Appeal for Ethiopia

Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN), 28 August 2007, Flood survivors struggle one year on

Oxfam International, 28 February 2005, Livelihoods/Emergency Assessment in Afar Region

The Reporter, 24 December 2005, The case of resettlement program worth 1.9 billion

UN Country Team Ethiopia (UN CTE), February 2006, Focus on Ethiopia, February 2006

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), 24 September 2007, Relief Bulletin

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), 26 March 2007, Humanitarian Bulletin

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA), 15 August 2005, Ethiopia-OCHA: 15-Aug-05