OSG
Press Release |
Human Rights Abuses in Ethiopia The Oromia Support Group is a non-political
organisation which attempts to raise awareness of human
rights abuses in Ethiopia. OSG lobbies western governments to withdraw support from the
Ethiopian government until it abides by its constitution which guarantees human rights and
self-determination for all peoples of Ethiopia. OSG has now reported 2,491extra-judicial
killings and 789 disappearances of civilians suspected of supporting groups opposing the
government. Most of these have been Oromo people. Scores of thousands of civilians have
been imprisoned. Torture and rape of prisoners is commonplace, especially in secret
detention centres, whose existence is denied by the government. |
CONTENTS Addis Ababa and Central Oromia
Region Eastern Oromia Region Western Oromia Region Southern Oromia Region Somali Region Kenya Djibouti refoulement, detention and torture Europe repatriation and death of asylum seekers - Repatriation and Death of Asylum Seekers in Germany, Austria and Belgium |
| |
Reports
were received from Ethiopia in August, September and early October that Oromo elders were
being rounded up, detained and their houses searched, throughout the regional state of
Oromia, including Addis Ababa.
ˇ Mulugeta
Terfessa Tufa,
Dr
Tassew Begashaw
(see Central region, Imprisonment etc., below) and Obbo
Hinsarmu
(see Central region, Disappearances, below) were abducted in Addis Ababa, as part of this
campaign.
ˇ Haile
Yesus Kenani,
after 8 years of harassment by the current regime, was among those detained in Nekemte,
Wollega. He and Fekadu
Nagari
were detained for fifteen days and released. Also in Nekemte, Ethiopian Red Cross chairman
and Personnel Director of the Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, an insulin-dependent
diabetic, Mossisa
Duressa,
is reported to have disappeared on 1 August, by Amnesty International. His family have
been denied knowledge of his location and permission to supply his insulin.
ˇ Also
in Nekemte, Mulugeta
Asfaw,
also a Mekane Yesus official who had been detained and tortured previously, Sirika
Gamachu
(ex-civil servant, hotel employee) and Abraham
Likaasaa,
have disappeared. At least in Nekemte, elders were detained after teenage children of
suspected OLF sympathisers were gathered, detained and individually interrogated. Some
report being threatened with pistols inserted into their mouths. They were told they would
be kept in detention until they named contacts of their relatives or confirmed names of
suspects from a list which was provided. All of Haile Yesus Kenanis sons were
threatened like this.
ˇ Obbo Daka
and his family, were taken from their home in Ambo (W. Showa) and detained with many
others. He and his family have been persecuted since the killing of Darara Kafani in
September 1994.
ˇ Arrests
have also occurred in Fiiche (N. Showa), Adama (Nazareth, E. Showa), Shashemane (S.
Showa), Jimma and Agaro (Illubabor), Gimbi and Dembi Dollo (Wollega), Assela (Arsi) and
Hagare Mariam, Moyale, Mega and Yabello (Borana).
Alemante Melisew, was among the
mourners of Professor Asrat Woldeyes at his burial ceremony in Addis Ababa on 26 May, when
he was shot dead by a plain-clothed security officer. The officer, according to the
Addis-based Ethiopian Human Rights Council 26th Special Report, was taken for
interrogation to the central investigation department.
Soorsaa Gammoo, a farmer from Genale, Bale, died from torture wounds in
Karchale prison, Addis Ababa, on 5 August, according to two independent sources in the
capital. He was originally detained in Zeway, S. Showa, in 1995 and tortured. He was
transferred to Karchale for medical treatment, but received none. Two of his sons are
reported to have disappeared.
Nura Badhaso, a farmer from Ittaya, Arsi, retaliated when security men
shot his dog and was himself shot dead, on 11 August, according to information passed via
the USA. His horse, 9 cows and 19 goats were killed and 25 cattle confiscated.
ˇ Obbo
Hinsarmu ,
a member of the Macha-Tulama Oromo self-help and cultural organisation, has been reliably
reported to have been abducted from his house in Ayar Tena, Addis Ababa, on 14 August,
since when he has disappeared. Others who were abducted in the same week have been
reported to have been taken to Maikelawi (see below).
Two
reliable sources in Addis Ababa have reported in July and August that 28 Oromo students at
Mekele Business College in Tigray (earlier reports were of 15 see Press Releases 27
and 28) were held and tortured in Mekele police headquarters and have now been taken to
Karchale central prison in Addis.
Seven
of the students, including Taddela
(Tadale) Dabalaa,
from Yabello, Borana, Ramadaan,
from Chalanko, E. Hararge, and Dhugaasaa
Akkayu,
said to be from Wollega or from Ambo, Showa, were said by the government to have been
released at the end of June. They have been transferred to Maikelawi Special Investigation
Centre.
The
students are accused of organising an OLF cell in Mekele. The relatives who disappeared on
arriving in Mekele to find their offspring, remain unaccounted for.
| Journalist,
writer and political analyst, Moti Biyya was transferred from Asella prison, Arsi
province, to the town hospital in early July. The 42 year old father of three, whose real
name is Gamachu Malka Fufa, was detained in Addis Ababa in September 1997, a month before
the first of two waves of arrests of Oromo intelligentsia in late 1997 and early 1998. The
65 include prisoners of conscience, according to Amnesty International. |
|
At the end of 1998, or
in January 1999, he was transferred from Maikelawi Special Investigation Centre in Addis
Ababa to Asella, ostensibly to face charges relating to alleged activities in the Derg
era. According to independent and separate reports from Ethiopia, he became ill at some
time after March and the illness is life-threatening.
His books about the nature of oppression of
the Oromo and other peoples by the Ethiopian empire state antagonised members of the
previous and present ruling élites and it is believed by some that his illness may be due
to poisoning by agents of either or both regimes.
International
PEN has expressed grave concerns about his health and is campaigning for adequate medical
care and for his transfer back to Addis, where he can be seen by his family.
Among
the 15 transferred from Karchale central prison to underground cells at Maikelawi Special
Investigation Centre before May 1999 (see Press Release 28) are Gadissa
Abarra,
Ashenafi
Biru,
Ashenafi
Duressa,
Fatana
Bayissa,
Kadir
Ismael,
Nasir
Ibrahim
and Mohamed
Abdurahman.
They are reported to be handcuffed 24 hours per day, according to two independent reliable
sources in Addis Ababa.
Three
of the 65 Oromo intelligentsia charged with conspiracy were ordered to be freed on bond by
the Federal Court in April/May. Dr Gizaw
Erana and Sister
Zewditu Dheressa were
released but the defence lawyer complained to the court that the other defendant, Sahilu
Hassan,
has been made to disappear.
His
family came from Hararge to greet him on release but cannot trace him. He is rumoured to
have been deliberately killed.
GHA.,
wrote on 19 July from Kenya of his persecution since supporting the OLF in 1992 and
joining the electoral commission in Debre Birhan, N. Showa. As soon as the OLF left the
transitional government, he was detained in Daraa military camp for over six months, where
he was kept, often bound by all limbs in solitary confinement, and repeatedly beaten. He
was detained for two months in 1993 in Asasa, Arsi province, and again detained in August
1995 in Duroo, Arsi. He was tied up, beaten, whipped, and threatened with shooting.
In
August 1998, he was taken to Awash Arbaa military camp, where he was held until January
1999. He wrote they
put shackles on my arms and legs. For the first three months they used to come at night
and tie my hands and legs together and then pass an iron bar between them and hang me . .
. they used to whip the sole of my feet with sticks and squeeze my testicles. . . . I
became unable to control my urine and they deliberately used to leave me in the mess. They
also left me in a single small cell without anything to wear or sleep on for months. . . .
During this period . . . the TPLF did not spare my relatives. They killed my father, my sister
and brother. They
repeatedly detained my wife who . . . was to deliver in detention.
Witness
AX233
wrote on 6 September of being hunted during and after the graduation ceremony at Addis
Ababa University on 9 July, because he had edited the Oromo Graduates Bulletin. He had
been detained in Teltelle, in Borana, for a month in 1996, for teaching the Oromo
language. He wrote During my
stay in the university, the OPDO officials asked some of us to be their member and we
refused. . . . they repeatedly harassed us and gave us warning. A freshman student should
accept their request, otherwise he/she would not be given summer job and get employed
after graduation.
On graduation day, as soon as he left the graduation hall the
policemen began searching for the editors of Oromo Graduates Bulletin and I was one of
them. I was told to escape soon and I started hiding, taking off my gown and left through
the back yard gate. It was only for the reason that our bulletin contains articles on the
need for liberation for the Oromo people.
Witness
AX234
wrote on 6 September of detention from 20.6.96 to 13.3.99 in Adama (Nazareth), E. Showa.
In April and May, during a conscription drive for the war with Eritrea, all previous
detainees suspected of supporting the OLF were asked to report to the security office in
Adama. Most of those who reported to the security office were detained. He went into
exile.
Witness
AX236
businessman and 29 year old father of four, wrote of his familys persecution. His
father was detained shortly after the withdrawal of the OLF from government in 1992 and
subsequently disappeared.
He and his brother were taken to Shashemane barracks in S. Showa on 15 September 1996.
They were tortured and held separately for several days. He was taken to
nearby killing fields and there saw his uncle
shot dead
by government troops. He was released the following January, after signing the usual
documents.
On
15 December 1998, security men came to his home to abduct him. He was not there. As an
example of hostage abduction, reported many times in this Press Release, his
wife was taken in his stead. She was severely beaten and raped,
in their home, in front of their children. The property was looted before she and their
children were detained.
Hayilu
Meskele,
42 year old father of five, sacked from employment with the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia in
Addis, and Tegenu
Lamma,
32 year old farmer and father of two, were among 30 from Sululta, in the north-west
outskirts of Addis Ababa, who were detained in May 1998 following the alleged attempted
bombing of the satellite station there. They have not appeared before a court, but were
paraded on television after arrest.
Both
are reliably reported to have been tortured to such an extent in Maikelawi Special
Investigation Centre in the capital, that their lives are at risk. Hayilu Meskele is
unable to stand because of torture wounds to his feet. Tegenu Lamma has severe back wounds
from whipping. The message received by OSG on 24 September expressed grave concern for
their lives.
Solomon
Demisse,
a member of the former police force, was among mourners for Professor Asrat Woldeyes,
founder and leader of the All Amhara Peoples Organisation (AAPO), in Addis Ababa on 25
May. He and about 25 others were taken by uniformed police from the procession as it
passed the Sports Commission building, according to the 26th Special Report of
the Ethiopian Human Rights Council, based in Addis Ababa.
They
were taken to the former Federal Police Headquarters near Mexico Square, where those who
admitted membership of the AAPO were released. The others, including Solomon, were kept
overnight at the 4th Police Station. Three were taken to Kolfe training camp
the following day. They were forced to wear police trainee uniforms, to avoid discovery,
and were systematically tortured. Solomon was held for eight days, beaten until he bled
into his urine and forced to run and crawl on sharp stones. He was accused of supporting
the OLF, because he spoke the Oromo language, and warned on release to avoid political
activity or suffer further measures.
At
the time of Solomons abduction, several in the crowd were beaten by police, one to
unconsciousness. On 26 May, when Alimante Melisew was killed (see above), another of the
gathered mourners, 17 year old Habtewold Alemenga, was shot in the throat by palace
security officers.
Dr Taye
Wolde Semayat,
leader of the Ethiopian Teachers Association, was sentenced to 15 years hard labour on 10
June. Four co-defendants for the alleged terrorist offences were given 8-13 years. Assefa
Maru, who acted as head of the ETA in Dr Tayes absence, was cornered and shot dead
by police when walking, unarmed, in Addis Ababa on 8 May 1997.
Dr
Tassew Begashaw (named
Xaasoo Gonfaa by one source), father of two, from Kebele 01, Woreda 25, Addis Ababa, was
abducted from his work at Tarikuwa Clinic in Woreda 6 on 15 August. His house was then
searched without warrant. Dr Tassew was initially said to have disappeared, but it was
later reported that he was being held in Maikelawi Special Investigation Centre.
Mulugeta
Terfessa Tufa,
a broker for the Awash Insurance Co., living in Kebele 05, Woreda 13, was abducted from a
street in the Mercato district of the capital on 19 August, according to two reliable
sources in Addis Ababa. He had been detained in Adama, for three months in 1995, and had
his leg broken when injured by government soldiers in 1992. Initially said to have
disappeared, he is reported to be being held in Maikelawi. A man named Tadesse
is said to be detained with him.
Dr
Feleka Bojiaa,
head of pathobiology at the Pasteur Institute in Addis Ababa and brother of a founder
member of the Macha-Tulama Association, was reported by Seife
Nebelbal
newspaper in Addis Ababa to have been shot at least three times by a TPLF soldier at 8.00
am, on 24 August, in front of his office. Colleagues came to his rescue and took him to the Black Lion hospital. His assailant was taken to Woreda 8 police station. Dr Feleka is a well known professional man, with no political leanings. |
|
A.M.B.,
a health assistant, wrote of the ordeal of his family and himself in
Dire Dawa, E. Hararge, in mid-1996. He had been released from his third detention in
different military camps in December 1995. When working in Dire Dawa, he was told by
telephone that two of his friends had been killed by government soldiers and that he was
being looked for. He decided not to attend his young sisters wedding celebration. He
wrote that government security men found
there at my home the people who had gathered for the wedding ceremony of my younger
sister. They searched the whole house and found nothing. Then they collected my
sisters fiancé, his friend and sister . . .
. . . [The
fiancés] mother
followed them . . . On the way they started questioning them of my whereabouts and what
relation they have with me. They told them the reason why they were there. The security
men started beating them . . . When my brother-in-law tried to protect himself, the
security men shot him on his shoulder. He started running . . . they shot the second boy
in the legs and ran after him firing . . . They followed the first boy [writers
brother-in-law] to a
room, and still his mother was after him, begging them not to kill him . . . The security
men shot the boy with a second bullet while in the house and the boy lay down on the
floor. His mother fell on him and begged them not to kill her son . . . While the mother
was begging them, the security men shot her with four repeated bullets on her chest and killed the boy with the last bullet.
The
mother survived after being taken to hospital. The writers property, including a
clinic, and his parents shops, farm and cash crops were seized. His father and
brother were abducted and detained.
Elias
Abdulwase,
father, store-holder and transport businessman in Qobo town, E. Hararge, was detained and
tortured in 1992 (3 months) and from April 1995 to March 1996. After giving a lift to two
men, who were later arrested, he was abducted in early August 1998. He was executed in
public and his body displayed as a warning
to would be OLF supporters.
Adem
Feto,
from Odaa Negelle village, Agarfa, Bale province, was reported by a friend who escaped the
village that night, to have been shot dead by government security men on 24 October 1998.
Mohammed
K.D.,
45 year old father of 12, a farmer from Agarfa, Bale, was first detained in 1992, for four
months in Agarfa military camp. I was
tortured cruelly
he wrote I also
witnessed the killing of
fellow detainees.
On 5 February 1997, a day after fighting between government troops and the OLF near his
village, The EPRDF
security personnel came to my home at night, at 3.00 am, broke the door and beat all my
family including me.
He was taken to Goba military camp. I was
detained in a separate and dark room for one year and three months . . . [and]
once
more brutally interrogated. . . . They put a muzzle of gun into my mouth and pointed a gun
at my forehead. The EPRDF security personnel tied one litre of water on my sexual organ
repeatedly for several days.
He
was transferred to Genale police station in Goba and released two months later after
signing that he would be targeted for reprisal for any OLF activity. When men came to
arrest him again in October, he fled.
A
41-year-old housewife and businesswoman
wrote about her distressing experiences in West Hararge. Her name and details have been
omitted at her request. She and her family were subject to repeated interrogation and
arrest after the withdrawal of the OLF from government in 1992. She spent three periods in
detention, the last, in 1998, with her daughter, a student. Her husband was taken
elsewhere, tortured severely and has disappeared.
During her last detention in an army camp, both she and her daughter were repeatedly raped
by their TPLF captors. She is partially deaf because of beatings and she is
psychologically disturbed. She and her daughter were forced to sign a document on their
release that measures
of killing will be taken on us if anything happens in that area by the OLF.
M.O.A.,
a 26-year-old driver from Dire Dawa, E. Hararge, wrote on 31 May of his three periods of
detention. In 1993, he was detained with his father and three brothers and tortured in
Dire Dawa Air Force military base, where he remained for one year. His
father and one brother died under torture.
Another brother had a paralysed hand following the arm-tying torture, and the third
remains mentally ill. The writer was again detained in 1995 and kept for two years at
Errar central military camp, where he was again tortured. He was at liberty in January
1997 but again detained in July 1998, at Kotten military camp. Here he was kept in an
underground room and received many of the torture techniques practised in Eastern Oromia
(arm tying, suspension, gagging, sole beating, immersion, burns and suspension of a water
container from his genitalia). He escaped during transfer to Zeway, nine months later.
B.A.A.,
a 32-year-old housewife and businesswoman from a small town near Harar, E. Hararge, and
her husband were detained in Qobo military camp in July 1992, as soon as the OLF left the
government. During her one month detention They
threw me in a small dark crowded room,
she wrote. She was beaten
with sticks, gun butts, kicked, slapped and
sexually assaulted by undressing me naked amid their soldiers and gang-raped to
force me to reveal to them the whereabouts of many people who had disappeared from the
town.
Following
the appearance of OLF fighters in the area, she and her husband were taken to Dadar camp
after being seized by TPLF soldiers at 10 pm, 16 April 1995, and having their house
ransacked. Again she was tortured and gang-raped,
all the time being asked to confess to supporting the OLF and supplying them with arms.
Among the standard tortures, she was made to run and stand for long periods, carrying
heavy materials and stones, a method reported less frequently than most. She was released
in June 1995, signing documents binding her to report to a security office every week,
etc. During her detention, her
father and two of her brothers were abducted and disappeared.
One
evening shortly after 2 August 1998, the
TPLF soldiers surrounded my house and ordered me to open. Though I obliged, they set on my
children and me the moment their boots were in my house. Knocking me to the ground and
tying my arms behind and terrorising the children, they searched every inch of the house
for hours. They beat me mercilessly to force me to tell them where the guns they claimed
we had bought were kept.
They took all valuables from the house and detained her in Darru military camp, where she
was beaten, immersed in foul water, taken to a hillside killing field and terrorised with
gunshots, suspended from a cliff and for
more than three times they gang-raped me with more than
six people till I
fainted.
She
was left at a roadside, seriously ill, on 20 December 1998. I found
that the house was occupied by some Tigrean soldiers families. Neighbours and
friends told me that all our properties were looted by the soldiers as it was seen to be
the property of the OLF. My children were scattered as there was no-one to take care of
them.
Her
husband and his brother were killed
during her detention and recuperation.
H.B.H.,
a 20 year old from Qobo, nearby, had a similar experience. She wrote of her fathers
disappearance, her brothers murder
and her own detention, rape and torture. Her father was a prominent local businessman. He
was detained and tortured and she was detained, tortured and raped
in unofficial detention centres, including the premises belonging to Seyfu Mume. He is now
detained and his premises used only for the detention and torture of suspected OLF
supporters, she says. Her
father disappeared
after his last abduction, during the night of 10 June 1998.
Four
days later, her brother
was detained
in Seyfe Mumes home and
killed
in detention. His body was thrown in the bush and the family were denied permission to
find and bury the body. The day after he was detained, the family home and business
premises were confiscated. Harassment continued for the rest of the family and the writer
was detained on 1 August. She was beaten, including her genitalia, and tortured by tying,
suspension and immersion. While
in prison,
she wrote, one
night, five EPRDF security men came and picked me [from
among 16 cell mates] . . . and
went with me to a private room away from the rest of the prisoners and in turn raped me, one
after the other until I fainted. . . . Until that night I had been a virgin.
She escaped prison when it was attacked by the OLF in late November 1998.
A.K.,
a father of 12 from Dire Dawa, wrote of his persecution because he ran a shop which sold
Oromo video and audio tapes and newspapers. He was detained for nine months and tortured,
shortly after the OLF left the transitional government. He wrote Again
in 1995, due to my distributing one of Oromo singers . . . named Nuhu Gobana which has on
all albums OLF flag and initiates Oromos. I was arrested after a car full of TPLF
surrounded my video shop. I was taken to Kotten detention centre where I was electrically
wired . . . immersed in cold water and flogged on rough ground. . . . I was taken to . . .
the bush where I was forced to dig a deep ditch of mass graves. They bought someone
begging them in Oromo language not to kill him and shot him dead, then dumped his body in
the ditch.
Many
former detainees in this area refer to these killing fields. He was released after three
months, on conditions which again are familiar. I was
released signing on my life that I would not
tell about what I had faced in detention and not to move out of the town. I was ordered to
report at the military force office on a weekly basis.
When I
was released, all my properties were confiscated, my shop was closed and I needed medical
care,
again familiar reading.
In
July 1999, he was again sought by security forces. Pro-OLF leaflets had been distributed
in the town. When security forces failed to find him at home, they abducted his wife. She
was released after signing
on life to be killed if not bring me within four days.
M.A.A.Q.,
a 20 year old student from Gasera, Bale province, was detained in Goba military camp from
1996 to May 1999. He was secretary to the Oromo students organisation and was abducted on
his way to a meeting. He was interrogated about his father (a suspected OLF supporter) and
about the activities of the organisation. He was accused of fund raising for the OLF.
During his detention he received a gunshot wound. His father has been detained since 1994.
All his fathers property has been confiscated and his brothers dispersed. He wrote
from Kenya, where he lives in fear, camping on a veranda.
A.A.I.,
a 27 year old businessman from Kombolcha, E. Hararge, wrote from Kenya. His
father was killed because
of supporting the OLF. He and his two brothers were detained in November 1995, because his
wedding had been in traditional Oromo dress. They were tortured in a military camp near to
Kombolcha, with standard methods, and taken to nearby killing fields where they witnessed
a detainee being murdered. He was released with the usual signing procedure on 23 March
1996, understanding that harsh measures would be taken against him if he
supported the OLF.
He
was abducted again in June 1997, by plain clothed security men. They killed
four Oromo civilians
in the neighbourhood that night and he believes that only the noisy crowd support aroused
by his abduction saved him from being killed too. He was tortured with electric shocks
until unconscious. The intensity of this increased after one of his brothers escaped in
October 1997. He was released in March 1998, signing that his life would be forfeit if he
did not produce his escaped brother or if there was local activity by the OLF.
Late
in 1998, his wife was arrested when was not at home. She was eight months pregnant. She was
raped
in captivity. He presented himself at the police station, to exchange places with his wife
on 2 January. She delivered a still born child at the hospital.
After
exposure to the killing fields, he was transferred to another centre. He and fellow
detainees believed they were going to be killed when security men came for them at night
after they had been threatened for helping another, wounded, detainee to have a drink.
Diversion with a gunfight enabled him to escape.
Witness
AN322.,
from Bedessa, E. Hararge, wrote of similar torture experiences during his detentions; in
Sebhale military camp from August 1996 to December 1997 and from May 1998 until his escape
in November, again from a vehicle taking him for execution, during a gunfight. Despite all
this, he has been denied refugee status in Kenya.
Witness AX073.,
an elderly man from Dodola, Western Bale, wrote of repeated detention and torture,
especially at Malka Wakana military camp, notorious among previous detainees for torture
and execution. He signed to agree that he would not meet with two or more people after his
final release in 1998. His property was confiscated, his house destroyed and his children
dispersed.
Witness AX076., a 28 year old father of four from Baroda in Western Oromia, wrote about his familys refugee life in Somalia in the 1980s and of his detention in 1992 in Qobo, from where he was transferred after two weeks to Dadar, E. Hararge. He was tortured, including gagging with foul material, immersion in cold water and beating and whipping of the soles of his feet. He was released two years later but abducted again in April 1995 and tortured in Obbi military camp, where among standard torture techniques, he had his toe nails removed with pliers. Over two years later, in July 1997, he was released. There was fighting near his house in December 1998 and government forces took him and his wife to Haddas military camp, where she was raped in front of him. He was subject to suspension of a weight from his genitalia and threats at killing fields among other standard procedures. He escaped when taken to his home, where his captors were to search for weapons. As he ran off, a grenade was thrown, which killed one of his children. He was later told that his family had all disappeared or been detained because of his escape.
AX156., a 43 year old from western Bale, was first detained and tortured, in
Agarfa military camp, for 20 days after his abduction at night from his home on 13
December 1996. He was then transferred to Genale prison, Goba, where he remained until his
transfer to Karchale central prison in Addis Ababa on 1 April 1997. He was released on
condition of not returning to his home area and appearing for questioning three times per
week, on 6 August 1997. House, possessions and farm plots were confiscated. Since fleeing
the country he has been informed that his wife has died in detention following torture.
Tayib
U.N.,
a 28 year old trader and driver between Dimtu and Jimma, Illubabor province, wrote of his
being detained with his father for over two months in Jimma in 1992/3. When on the road in
1995, delivering grain, he and his brother, Jundi
Hussein,
were abducted by government soldiers and detained for three months. They were released
with a warning after paying 10,000 Birr. In 1998, Jundi was abducted from the
family home by government soldiers, while Tayib was away on business. Jundi was taken to
Gathira, where he
was killed.
Daniel
Dandana Gurmu,
from Gudar, Wollega, has been in detention without trial since 1994, according to a
relative in Europe. His father, Dandana Gurmu, a 70 year old diabetic, was detained in
1995 (see Ethiopia:
Accountability past and present,
Amnesty International, London, 1995).
A.K.S.,
a former OLF cadre in Suphee and Soode districts in Illubabor, wrote of his torture during
detention in Netu, in the Derg political department office from 1992 to 1993.
With four other Oromo he was tortured during detention again, from December 1995 to March
1996. He was released after paying 1000 Birr and had to report to security men every day.
Two of his cell mates escaped to Sudan. The other was killed.
Mohamed
J.A.,
a 34 year old from Jimma, worked as a driver for the OLF before it left the transitional
government in 1992. He was first detained in Dembi Dollo, Wollega, in August 1992, where
he was beaten unconscious during 12 days of torture, including tying and suspension,
removal of toe nails, burning with hot irons and being forced to walk on his knees on
sharp stones. He was transferred to Dhidhessa detention camp until May 1994. TPLF soldiers
abducted him again in Bambis town, near Asosa, on 12 August 1995. He was again suspected
of transferring goods for OLF fighters in the truck he was driving. After nearly a year of
torture, when he sustained a fractured skull and left arm, They
released me by forcing me to sign conditions. The failure to observe any one of them would
result in death penalty.
He
went to Addis Ababa and lived in and out of hiding until 1998, when he got another driving
job. When working in the Mana Sibu area of Wollega in April 1998, he was abducted to Qiltu
Karra military camp where he was interrogated, beaten and detained for one month. In
November 1998, he was detained in the 4th Police Station in Addis Ababa and
again interrogated during which electric shocks were applied to his head. After
five months of beating and torture he was dumped, in a weakened state, at a garbage
disposal site.
The
firm for which he drove, Alemayehu Ketema General Contractors, was closed down and all its
employees detained. In June 1999, security men came to abduct him from where he was
staying. Not finding him there, they detained two of his friends. This hostage
abduction is commonly reported (see Eastern Oromia, Imprisonment etc., above).
A.H.G., from Dalo Mana, a student at Negele
Senior Secondary school in Borana, wrote of the detention in 1995 of officials of the
school Oromo Culture and Language Development Association, Ahmed Adem Dire, Guyo Liban,
Elema Huka, Barite Godana and Gamada Oddo. There whereabouts are unknown. Two ordinary
members of the association, Liban Debesa and Tahir Hassan Sora, are reported to have been
killed in Zeway prison.
In June, three replacement officials in the
association, which by then was working secretly, including the writer, Dawit Oddo and Boru
Dhera, were detained in Airmarafia military camp, 15 km from Negele. They were tortured
with gagging with foul material, suspension of weights from their genitalia and severe
beating and kicking, every three days for two months. He was hospitalised and released,
after signing a document with the usual conditions:
ˇ Not to be found where people are gathered
weddings, funerals, hotels
ˇ Not to attend meetings with students
ˇ Not to leave Negele
ˇ To forfeit his life if there is any OLF
activity nearby
In May 1999, Dawit Oddo
and Boru Dhera were again abducted and security men came to the writers home, but he
was not there. His father and mother were detained in his absence another example
of hostage abduction.
J.G., a 33 year old businessman from Abomsa,
Arsi, wrote of his detention in Jaju military camp for 17 months from 1992, and his daily
torture. They murdered my father while I was
in detention, he wrote, they
nationalised his house and properties.
He went to Moyale to stay with his aunt. In
1995, he was again detained but obtained release with her help. In February 1999, he was
abducted in Addis Ababa, where he was attending a meeting of the Macha-Tulama (Oromo
self-help and cultural) Association, and taken back to Abomsa. He remained in the district
police station for 45 days until escaping. His aunt was then detained in Moyale. They want information from her of my whereabouts.
Within the last three
months, an OSG correspondent interviewed victims of the abuses recorded in the following
four paragraphs:
Bule Kulu, a businessman from Moyale, Borana,
spent a total of 27 months in detention, in four periods from 1992 to 1997, since when he
escaped to the bush and has not been in touch with his family. Early this year, after
local military activity of the OLF, family members were detained. His mother, Diko Kulu
(aged 75), brothers Abagaro, Saraphicha and Godana Kulu and his 18 year old son, Dida Bule
Kulu, were beaten and interrogated about Bule Kulus whereabouts, of which they knew
nothing. Elderly relatives (50-70 years old) were also detained, including Molu Todhicha
Duba, Abdulahi Wago Jaldesa, Guyo Jillo Jirma and Amicha Wariyo Roba.
B.T., was detained for 15 days in June 1994
and three weeks in September 1995, during which he was kept in the jungle for four days
without food or water and threatened with a machine gun. On 21 September 1998, his
property was confiscated and money stolen. Following OLF activity near Hidi Lola, he was
again detained on 9 June 1999.
A.N., applied to college in Borana after
obtaining her school leaving certificate but was told she would not be accepted or get a
job afterwards because she was Oromo and therefore an OLF supporter. She was detained and
spent 7 months in prison, during which time she was raped by the prison director. Her
brothers have spent two years in detention. She escaped in April 1999.
B.W.D., a 24 year old businessman and father
of one from Hidi Lola, Borana, told the correspondent of his being abducted at 9 pm, one
evening in June 1996 and beaten by four government soldiers overnight. He was transferred
to Mega police station after four days, tortured and held there for another 45 days before
being released. In June 1998 he was detained initially in 147 military camp
(on the Kenyan border near Moyale, a notorious torture centre) where he was beaten to
unconsciousness, threatened at killing fields and made to witness three executions (the
first report of this from Borana province), suspended upside down for long periods and
tortured with heavy weights suspended from his genitals. He signed the usual warnings on
release one month later, from Mega police station.
B.D.G., also from Hidi Lola, wrote his own
account of harassment and torture. He was a civil servant working in a state development
project. When the OLF left the transitional government, many of his colleagues were
detained, demoted, sacked or killed. He was not detained until June 1996, when he was
tortured (since when he has been incontinent of urine) for ten days in Yabello police
station. He wrote, all night they took
prisoners one by one and disappeared them. We were anxious, waiting for our turn.
He was released after 45 days.
I
had verbal threats several times from TPLF political cadres, security agents planted
inside our office and from people in high positions to change my political ideas and
co-operate with the government. . . . finally they terminated me from my job in 1997. In
August 1997 I was arrested in Mega, to my utter disbelief. I never knowingly committed any
crime, except my reservation to join the TPLF-led government and contribute something to
the suffering of my people. In Mega police station, I was beaten, tortured and harassed
for two months. He was finally released with the usual warnings.
F.H.A., is a 22 year old who had built up a
business and owned a car since moving to Negele, Borana in 1993 at the age of 16. He had
moved from Ginir, Bale, as he was suspected of supporting the OLF there. During the night
of 26 February 1996, he was taken from his home to 43 Military Camp, where he was tortured
with heavy weights on his genitalia. Because he had no information to give, his torturers
went back to my home and started beating my
wife . . . they looted all my belongings and car.
After being tortured with shooting over his
head in nearby killing fields, and electric shocks, on 10 December 1996, he was
transferred with 76 others to Goba military camp, Bale. The torture continued until the
camp was visited by International Committee of Red Cross officials in February 1997. He
was released in October 1998. He was told by his family that they had suffered because of
him. His father was abducted in January 1997 and had disappeared.
He went back to Negele, asked for his
property to be returned and fled when warned that security men were once more asking for
him at his house.
In Press Release 28 (p. 9), the potential
disappearance of ten detainees in Moyale military camp was reported after they had been
taken out of the camp within the last four months. A reliable source has named eight of
those ten men:
Jilo Qoncaro
Ware Hasano
Bonaya Boru
Ahimad Abdala
Hussein Haji Hajole (not named in P.R. 28)
Aman Ahimed Daadi
Jamil Aliyi Dida (not named in P.R. 28)
Aba Garo Alako (not named in P.R. 28)
One of the sources naming detainees in Borana province in Press Releases 27 and 28, has sent the following supplementary information. Detained in Dire district, Mega, 1998/9:
Chaltu (Qaliti) Malicha (at
Bokkuluboma military camp)
Qure (Guto)
Malicha (at Bokkuluboma military camp)
Dida Jaldessa Adi (at Bokkuluboma military
camp)
Molu Arero Huqo
Gufu Kacha
Bonaya Ali Boka
Qalicha Boru
Mio Jillo Dima
Molu Guyo
Gedo Adi
Gufu Dhike
Dima Roba
Dima Banti
Dala Wariyo Galgalo
Abbagaro Waria Galgalo
Ajoftu Wariyo Galgalo
Dida Arero Liban (5.6 23.10.98)
Gedo Jarso (5.6 23.10.98)
Kanu Birhanu Mamo (5.6 23.10.98)
Gurracha Qalicha
Bidu Galgalo Waqo (hotel shut down)
Galma Jarso (property confiscated)
Waqo Rob
The same report includes names of 39 victims of fines, lootings,
dismissals from posts and denial of education in Yabello district, in 1997/8. Thirteen
were fined a total of 42,500 Birr, four had their properties and/or animals confiscated,
five students were denied access to school and local judge, Danbala Galgalo, was sacked as
well as having his property taken. Two senior teachers paid the heaviest fines.
Of more than 75 detained in Mega district in
1995/6, the report names 38 (OSG had names of 7 previously). Thirteen were fined a total
of 52,500 Birr, one policeman was sacked, three had all their property taken and three
lost cattle or goats. In addition to the death of Doyene Tadessa from torture injuries,
Molu Gufu is reported also to have died because of injuries under torture.
In Yabello, 1992-5, the shooting dead of
Galma Dida and Boru Chala and the serious wounding of Dida Waqo Borora by government
soldiers have not been recorded previously by OSG. The detention of over 450 in the area
has been reported before.
The number detained in Dire district, Mega,
in 1992-4, is now known to be over 170 (99 previously reported). Not recorded previously
are the deaths from torture injuries of Tarka Nagara and Jarso Wariyo Chana or the
shooting to death of Abduba Naqata, by TPLF soldiers at Dubuluqi Qabale.
This years report, Ogaden: a graveyard of rights, by OHRC, based in
Godey, Ogadenia (Somali region), was released by the organisations international
co-ordinator in Porrentruy, Switzerland, on 23 August. As stated in the detailed report
[f]or the last four years, the Ogaden Human
Rights Committee has carried out extensive investigation of the human rights situation
throughout the Ogaden and has documented gross violations including illegal imprisonments,
mass arrests without charge or trial, enforced disappearances, torture, rape, child
molestation, extra-judicial killings, abduction, forced labour, hostage-taking, systematic
religious and racial persecution, dispossession and widespread looting by Ethiopian
government army and security forces.
The abuses, which have been verified by OHRC
since their last report, are summarised below. Abuses documented in the
organisations three previous yearly reports are recorded in OSG Press Releases of
Oct/Nov 1996, March/April 1997 and March/May 1998 (No. 22).
The style and pattern of killings, torture,
rape, abduction, confiscation and detention in the Ogaden are very similar to those in
Oromia and elsewhere in Ethiopia. Ethiopian
authorities held thousands of Somali Ogadenis in overcrowded and filthy military detention
camps . . . including women, elderly people and minors, accused of membership of the ONLF
. . . for years or many months without charge or trial the report states,
detainees are . . . tortured and beaten
routinely . . . to extract confessions and information about the ONLF.
Referring to the forced conscription for the
war with Eritrea, Ogadeni teenagers are
being used as cannon fodder and minesweepers . . .[having] neither military training nor adequate arms to defend
themselves.
Sixteen
defenceless nomads were shot in a revenge attack after Ethiopian soldiers
had engaged ONLF fighters, in December 1998, in the Nogob region. The victims, including 5
children and 6 women (7 victims from one family), were shot with automatic weapons at
close range.
Mukhtar
Ali, from Dhagaxbuur, was executed to avenge the death of two EPRDF officers killed by
the ONLF, in 1997. He was crippled by torture before the public execution and
denied burial for two days. The execution was justified by the commanding officer because
Mukhtar had a beard, like the killers of the EPRDF officers.
A
young nomad, watering his camels in the Bulaale area, was killed on 4 August 1997. His
throat was cut and his body displayed after nearby fighting between government forces and
the ONLF.
Halimo
Hassan and her brother, Abdi Hassan, were
also killed in 1997. He was an ONLF fighter who had been wounded and captured. He was
transferred to Qabridaharre and executed in public, in front of his sister. When she
displayed her grief, she was shot dead on the spot.
Mohamed
Abdi, a civilian, was arrested in February 1998, in Bulaale. He was tortured and
finally strangled to death with a rope.
Yusuf
Hirsi Olow was arrested in Djibouti in September 1996 and handed over to Ethiopia. He
was tortured daily and denied medical treatment. He died from torture injuries in April
1998.
Five
bodies were found in a pit in Kebele 03, Jigjiga, in September 1998, by workers
digging latrines. Three officials for the Kebele were briefly questioned after the remains
were transferred to Addis Ababa, but no action has been taken. The bodies are thought to
be those of victims of disappearance.
Mohamed
Ahmed, from Higlaley, Dhagaxbuur region, was taken away by government soldiers at
gunpoint on 20 November 1998. Two days later his beheaded and tortured body was publicly
displayed to spread terror among the civilian population.
Ali
Dahir Ibrahim, a civilian from Bukudhabo, Awaare district, was abducted from his house
by soldiers on 26 November 1998. He had been detained several times before. One week
later, his body was found in a pit by a military camp.
Deeq
Abdi Rasin and Timojilic, ONLF delegates
attending secret peace talks which foundered on 28 December 1998, were on their way home
when ambushed by government troops. Both were killed. Sheikh Bashir Abdi Ibrahim was
captured and later disappeared (see below).
Saharla
Ali, an elderly lady from Dhagaxbuur, is reported to have been raped and killed by
EPRDF soldiers in March 1999.
Abdi
Ibrahim Abdisamad and Ibrahim Awil, two
nomads from the Bulaale area, were abducted to military barracks on 12 April 1999,
tortured and executed by firing squad.
Ruqiya
Mahdi, from Fooljeex, and Sureer S. Mohamed,
from Qabridaharre, were also listed in the report as being killed after extensive torture.
Detention
is commonly used to coerce family members to give themselves up, as in Oromia Region.
Also, detainees are often released after paying fines, as in Oromia Region.
The
three high-ranking ONLF officials, Ahmed Mohamed, Abdullahi Qaji and Abdullahi Haliye, who
have been detained since July 1996, were transferred to a military camp in Harar in 1997,
after Dire Dawa High Court had ordered their release because of lack of evidence. They
were acquitted by Addis Ababa High Court in January 1998. Despite the court ordering their
release they were transferred to Dire Dawa prison, where they remain. Similarly, officers
of the Ogaden Welfare Society (including chairman Dr Mohamed Abdi-Gani and treasurer
Mubarak Aidid Odawa), and three ex-governors in the region (including Bashir Sheikh Abdi
who is elderly and infirm) are still in detention. Previously unreported by OSG is the
detention in October 1997 of 14 members of the Regional Parliament, including MPs for the
districts of Fiiq (Mahdi Ayub Guled, former vice-president of Regional Assembly), Shiniile
(Mohamed Adan Bile, assembly secretary), Dhagaxbuur (Abdirahman Abdi), Afdheer (Mohamed
Abdi) and Liiban (Abdi Omar).
In
December 1998, detainees at Jigjiga prison staged a five day peaceful protest against
being held after sentences were expired, being held without charge, lack of medical care
and no regular family visits. The protestors were beaten, especially the alleged leaders,
and their injuries remain unattended.
The
report names 17 from Qoriile, detained in a military camp since October 1998 (all had
property looted), 5 from Wardheer (November 1998, all tortured), 6 from Dhanaan (December
1998, 24 sheep and 20 camels looted), 4 from Yucub (December 1998, tortured), 4 from
Gunagado (tortured), 6 from Yoocaale (in a military camp, property looted), 2 from Barguun
(tortured, looted), 2 from Qabridaharre (tortured), a businessman from Dire Dawa (vehicle,
cash and bank account taken), 3 from Dhagaxbuur (tortured) and a thirteen year old, Mohamed
Hirsi,
sentenced to 17 months in Jigjiga for sympathising with the ONLF.
Torture
is used routinely on detainees for gathering information about the ONLF. The methods vary
little from those used in Oromia Region. The report specifically mentions beatings on the
soles of the feet and testicles, suspension upside down, death threats with guns pointed
at the head, and the usual beating with heavy instruments. Methods not commonly reported
from Oromia Region include forced exposure to the sun with arms and legs tied behind the
back, burying alive and being forced to drink salty water and urine.
Twenty
nine victims of torture since October 1998 were named in the report. A further 54 in need
of treatment for torture injuries received during detention were named.
Rape
of detainees is commonplace and many of the 36 women detainees named in the report,
including 24 active members of the Ogaden Womens Democratic Association, are known
to have been raped in detention. The report also states that women are being kept against
their will in army barracks as sex slaves. The following specific cases of rape are
reported.
W.M. Ali,
a young girl from Gasaangas village, Fiiq district, was gang-raped by government soldiers
on 23 September 1996, who beat her unconscious when she resisted. She had severe scarring
from injuries to her face, arms and legs, when interviewed two and a half years later.
The wife of
Addani,
from Toonceeley, aborted her 7 month pregnancy after being gang-raped in front of her
husband in May 1997.
Two
young girls, Ebla Ali
and Udbi
Barkhadle,
from Malayko, were collecting firewood when beaten and raped by government soldiers on 20
July 1997.
Seven
girls
from Qoriile were detained in 1997, under the pretext of sympathising with the ONLF and
are reported to have been tortured as well as raped.
Fadumo
Yusuf,
from Caado, was abducted and raped by a TPLF officer in November 1997. After she escaped
from his barracks, her 60 year old mother was detained in her stead.
Many
instances of confiscation of farms, numerous cattle and other animals, cars and other
private property are reported. Particularly destructive during the last years of drought,
government soldiers have been commandeering wells and denying their use by animal herders,
including the owners. Impoverished farmers cannot afford the taxes levied for the war.
Four men in Yucub were detained for not contributing money or livestock for the war
effort, in December 1998.
The
report is very critical of youngsters being used as cannon fodder and
minesweepers in the war with Eritrea. Teenagers are being told that they have been
awarded scholarships abroad, before being sent unprepared to the battle front.
Hundreds have been rounded up while tending animals, working on farms or going to the few
schools.
All
jobs in health care, education or the civil service have been taken from Ogadenis, however
well qualified, and given to Tigreans or government supporters. Students staged a peaceful
demonstration in Jigjiga, in August, against discriminatory scholarship awards to
university. Over 20 arrests took place, many were beaten and injured, and troops fired
over the crowd. Injured detainees were denied medical attention.
In
June, Roman Catholic Bishop Ravasi, of Marsabit, informed the BBC office in Nairobi of
atrocities in North Horr District, committed by Kenyan armed forces. Father Antony Mahl,
from the Catholic Mission in North Horr, had sent a report of the atrocities to Bishop
Ravasi on 29 May.
Father
Mahl gave a detailed account of the beating and torture of Oromo residents in Balessa by
Kenyan soldiers on 22 May, and an attack by the same soldiers on non-combatant OLF
fighters camped at El Hadi on the following day (see Sagalee
Haaraa 29,
p.1, for details).
About
75 Kenyan army and police arrived at Balessa in the morning of 22 May and, without asking
to speak to the chief or councillor, they closed the road and forced about 70 residents
together, leaving their animals unattended. They immediately began beating people, asking
where OLF weapons were hidden and where the fighters were. Houses were ransacked and three
men, Godana Guyo Machala, Barako Adi Adano and Shamo (Bati) Umuro Lugama, were arrested
for possession of guns and ammunition without permit, and taken away.
Diba
Dida Godano Adano received head injuries resulting in deafness and a dislocated jaw. Sora
Adhi Guro was severely beaten and sustained injuries by stones to his testicles, back,
thigh and leg injuries, a thorn driven under the nail on his right fourth finger and
dislocation of his left hand.
Guyo
Adhi Adano, Dokata Mamo Elema, Garse Elema Mamo and Adano Bodicha Mocho also received
wounds in beatings with sticks. 22 others received treatment at the dispensary and a total
of 38 were treated by a Ministry of Health doctor sent later to the village.
Clothes
and money were stolen and at least two cattle killed when unattended and at least 15 went
missing.
In August, Kenyan police
uncovered a detailed plot by the Ethiopian embassy in Nairobi to assassinate high profile
Oromo refugees and professionals in the city and to harass, assault and abduct others. It
is alleged that documentary evidence of the scheme, produced by the embassy, was seized.
Professionals who are not supporters of the OLF were among the assassination targets.
Infiltrators have been installed in refugee
communities, non-governmental organisations and the Kenyan security and police system over
the last two years. The Hagere Fikir group, the
rejuvenated Ethiopian nationalist organisation of the Haile Selassie and Dergue eras, is
funded by cultural events organised by the embassy and attended by Ethiopian community
members.
At least five Hagere Fikir agents are posing as Oromo refugees,
under assumed Oromo names, in Nairobi. All have UNHCR mandate status. Some are with their
families and living within tight refugee communities. They are Negassi Germa Markos (Case
No. 6133), Tasen Keneni Jima (6585), Lemlem Tsegai Haile (7296), Abdu Rahmato (7092) and
Jamal Rahmato Kerta (7080).
A Community Social Worker at UNHCR, Tsehaye
Jakob, a Tigrean, is believed by refugees in Nairobi to be a spy from the embassy. He has
access to the files of all Oromo refugees in Kenya. In letters to OSG, torture victims
have named him as being responsible for their being ordered to Kakuma camp, before being
treated adequately. B.A.A., a 32 year old widow from Baroda, who was repeatedly gang-raped
and tortured (see East, Imprisonment etc., p. 7) was strongly recommended for
psychological treatment in Nairobi, but ordered by Jakob to Kakuma at the end of June.
Increasingly large numbers of Oromo refugees
are arriving in Nairobi. The majority who write to OSG give credible histories of
detention and torture by the Ethiopian government (see Refugees facing insecurity in
Nairobi, below). Often, they are deeply psychologically scarred and physically damaged.
OSG was about to include the disappearance of K.J.S., a 28 year old from Haromaya, E.
Hararge, when informed of his discovery in Nairobi on bad health condition and mentally abnormal due to
mistreatment and torment by EPRDF in detention. Up to 200 refugees are reported
to be arriving daily, according to the Ethiopian press. Tobia newspaper claims 57,000 Oromo refugees are in
Nairobi.
The refugees live in misery
and fear. The atrocities which are summarised in the insert Atrocities and abuses against Oromo in Kenya are
recorded in more detail and referenced in OSG Press Releases: Aug/Sept 1996, p. 12;
Jan/Feb 1997, p. 13; March/April 1997, p. 9; May/June 1997, p. 14; July/August 1997, p.
18; Sept/Oct 1997, p. 13; Nov/Dec 1997, p. 17; Feb/April 1999 (No. 27), p. 13; May/July
1999 (No. 28), p. 13; and below.
The abuses are not restricted to beatings,
abduction and attempted murder. An Oromo working in Nairobi, A.K., was attacked by three
Ethiopian men in November 1998. When he reported the incident to Kenyan police, all they
did was to interrogate him about OLF sympathies. After harassing him to contribute a
months salary to the war with Eritrea, the Hagere
Fikir group sent death threats unless he quit his job in the media.
Because of the Hagere Fikir infiltration of UNHCR, access to
staff who are known to be sympathetic to the Oromo situation is blocked. Some Oromo
refugees have been frightened to approach the organisation for protection, for fear of
exposure to Ethiopian agents. Waiting time for a first appointment has doubled to over
five months, in the last year. Recent correspondents, tortured before they escaped
Ethiopia, tell of their fear of Ethiopian government agents in Nairobi while waiting until
the end of February 2000 for a first appointment with UNHCR. Torture victim and father of
twelve, A.K.I.Y., wrote I am not yet settled and have been shifting from one
place to another with my family, waiting till Kenyan authority deports me, when I will be
arrested and even killed. A.A.I., another victim of repeated torture who escaped
to Nairobi one year ago, has also been moving from place to place and wrote TPLF security men . . . in Kenya, through some agents,
are still looking for an opportunity to assassinate me. K.S.M., a rape and
torture victim, wrote for this reason I am
confined at home with my children and am changing places from time to time. E.M.
came to Nairobi with his sisters and brother after their father died due to torture soon
after OLF withdrawal from the transitional government in 1992. Their mother died on the
journey. Kenyan police want to forcefully
practice sexual harassment on my sisters, he wrote.
Most Oromo asylum seekers achieve mandate
status although some torture victims inexplicably do not (see insert) but
almost without exception they are then ordered to go to Kakuma camp.
J.A., a teacher from Bale, came to Nairobi in
1996 after being hunted and shot at in Ethiopia. With his wife, he ran a shop in Nairobi.
He was attacked by three Ethiopians on 6 December 1998. Members of the public
prevented them abducting him in a vehicle. On 6 and 12 February, the shop security guard
was beaten and threatened at gunpoint by Ethiopians, and on 14 February they came to his
home, which he had vacated. His wife received further threats from four men on 7 April,
one of whom vowed he would finish us both.
On two occasions, he informed Pangani police station, but they did nothing. When Kasarani
Centre police made investigations, local Pangani police denied knowledge of the incidents.
Finally, the police recommended to UNHCR that he and his wife be resettled, but they were
merely told to go to Kakuma.
B.A.A., a rape and torture victim from E.
Hararge who is in need of treatment, has twice been saved by Kenyans from being kidnapped
in Nairobi. She wrote I am running from place
to place to save my life . . . I do not think we have long to stay alive. . . .
A
Protection Officer . . . saw my situation and forwarded me to the person in the Social
Services. This Tigrean by the name of Tsehaye Jacob refused to help me and ordered me to
immediately report to the camp.
C.A.D., aged 25, from Debre Zeit, another
victim of torture during two terms of detention in Showan military camps, at Mekodi and
Biheraw, attended counselling in Nairobi but before
I complete my medical treatment and didnt recover from traumas, I was made to report
to Kakuma refugee camp where my life will be exposed to EPRDF spies and other Oromo
enemies. . . . I am not able to report to the camp and suffering in Nairobi. My life is
also under risk by Ethiopian spies in Kenya. Even though I had appealed to UNHCR . . . [I
was not] heard by officers and I am unable to reach
. . . [named Senior Protection Officer] due to
the blockage.
Kakuma is a hot, unpleasant place in
north-east Kenya, between Lodwar and the Sudan border. It is on a route frequented by
Ethiopian government troops. The Oromo community there complain of frequent attacks by
armed men at night, beatings, assassination attempts and burning of property, instigated
by the Ethiopian government and its Hagere Fikir
group.
M.K.W., detained and tortured at Hurso and
for over a year at Ginir, Bale, lived in Kakuma from December 1996. On 22 December 1997,
he was attacked when walking around the camp, by three men speaking Amharic. I was rescued by community members after I screamed for
help, he wrote. Again, in
September 1998, I was beaten by former SPLA members [Sudan Peoples Liberation Army
forces, because of their relationship with successive Ethiopian regimes, have been
fighting the OLF and doing the bidding of host Ethiopian governments for over two decades]. . . . Still again, in March 1999 I was attacked by
Amharic speaking people whom I suspect to be . . . backed by the Ethiopian embassy in
Nairobi. . . . the Ethiopian refugees are intimidating me to kill me, accusing me that I
have secret connection with the OLF.
M.A.A., (see East, Imprisonments etc, above)
was badly beaten by a soldier of the former Dergue regime in Ethiopia, in Kakuma camp on
10 April 1999. He lost two teeth in the assault and
attended hospital. His assailant was released on bond, after threatening to kill M.A.A.
with a gun he had hidden. M.A.A. fled the camp and appealed to UNHCR with the backing of
the Oromo Community in Kakuma, but was ordered back to the camp.
S.O.A., was detained and tortured, as was her
husband, in Kombolcha, E. Hararge, before being settled in Walda camp, and later Kakuma. On 23 February 1995, their home
was burnt down and a young girl killed. Her husband became mentally ill. Animals bought to
ensure survival of their children were stolen in March 1998. She described frequent
attacks on Kakuma by unknown gunmen.
I.H.A., 24 years old, from Chalanko, E.
Hararge, a victim of torture during two year-long detentions in Hurso and Qobo military
camp, wrote of arriving in Nairobi, to discover that his step-brother, Jemal Hassen,
disappeared from Kakuma. He therefore refused to go there.
S.T.A., a victim of torture by the Ethiopian
government, wrote of repeated threats and attacks at Kakuma, since his transfer there in
early 1997. His hut was attacked on 10 April 1999, by an ex-military Ethiopian group. Following an
attack by an Oromo speaker, EPRDF sympathiser,
who is mobile and not registered at the camp, he left the Ethiopian community at
the camp. Despite recommendations by Kakuma Oromo Community representatives and his report
to the Lutheran World Federation Security Office, he is still ordered to remain in Kakuma.
Three elders wrote from Kakuma on 13 July.
They described two decades of refugee life and hundreds dying in Walda refugee camp before
it was closed more than half were [killed] by TPLF militia . . . [in] cross-border raids, the rest killed by malaria and
other epidemic diseases. . . . Kakuma proved to be worse than any other refugee camp we
were roasted in before. . . . more than 40 degrees centigrade, malaria and . . . disease
swept several of our companions. . . . The endless and sorrowful exile life has eroded
from the hearts of many of us the essence of existence.
A.K.A. wrote in October that he and his
family, after 14 years of refugee life in Somalia and 3 years in Kakuma, chose the
insecurity of Nairobi to that of Kakuma camp.
There are camps in Sudan which are worse than
Kakuma, in terms of physical conditions and lack of medical facilities, but scores of
letters have arrived at OSGs office in the last three months from refugees refusing
to go to Kakuma because of the insecurity there. They prefer to face the insecurity in
Nairobi. Chances of resettlement for the majority are very slim, because UNHCR does not
have the resources or the necessary invitations from foreign countries.
Among
the many refugees living in fear in Nairobi, are the following:
J.A.Y.,
teacher, Bale province. Detained and tortured 1992-4. Friend shot dead. Ordered to Kakuma.
I.H.A.,
38 year old, E. Hararge. Detained and tortured 1997 in Goba, Bale. Ordered to Kakuma or
Dadab (refugee camp on Somali border).
A.J.M.,
17 year old, from Micheta. Both parents
disappeared
in 1998. Initially given treatment for torture, but ordered to Kakuma in August.
M.T.G.,
29 year old, Arsi. Detained and tortured 1992-3. Ordered to Kakuma.
T.M.J.,
Arsi. Ex-OPDO member, escaped assassination in 1993. Ordered to Kakuma.
R.W.O.,
Addis Ababa. Related to famous victim of assassination, detained and tortured 1992-3,
1996-7 and 1998-9. Ordered to Kakuma.
S.M.I.,
young woman, OLF member. Wounded and mentally ill. Refused refugee status by UNHCR.
A.K.M.,
torture victim. First interview with UNHCR in February 2000.
J.A.W.,
Arsi. Detained and tortured four times. Receiving treatment in Nairobi and recommended for
ongoing treatment. Mentally ill, incontinent of urine. Ordered to Kakuma.
J.A.H.,
Ginir, Bale. Detained and tortured in Goba military camp, 1993 and 1996. Husband disappeared.
All property, including house, money and truck, confiscated. She and four year old child
ordered to Kakuma.
B.D.T.,
Zewai, S.Showa. Detained and tortured twice. Escaped security surveillance. Ordered to
Kakuma.
G.G.W.,
38 year old, Waranto. Detained and tortured three times. Ordered to Kakuma.
S.K.S.,
24 year old Addis Ababa student. Tortured and detained nine months. Ordered to Kakuma.
J.B.W.
Detained and tortured repeatedly, stabbed and shot. All property taken. Family dispersed.
Ordered to Kakuma.
M.M.S.,
R.A.D.,
M.A.A. and
N.T.M.,
from Arsi, were each detained and tortured. One was raped. Waiting five months for first
interview with UNHCR.
W.A.A.,
22 year old, Dire Dawa, E. Hararge. Tortured, businesses, shops and farm confiscated in
1995. Detained and tortured by Djibouti security for four days from 28 May 1998 and then
subject to refoulement
to Ethiopia, where he was detained for one year. Fears refoulement
from Nairobi and Kakuma.
The
following were reported by a representative of Clandestine Human Rights Group A, which
used to operate out of Addis Ababa, in June.
Subi Waqqo,
aged 36, Jirma
Duubaa,
aged 40, and another
man who is un-named were shot
dead
by Kenyan troops in Marsabit district on 28 May. According to a separate report from
Nairobi, the men were tortured at Forelle Hills, before being killed. The second report
also names ten men held by Kenyan authorities and in danger of repatriation: Malicah
Halake, Dube Shonto, Golicha Dheege, Guyo Galgalo, Galgalo Elema, Miyo Jarso, Qalicha
Wago, Elema Wariyo, Galgalo Xache and Boru Bonaya.
Waqqo Boru,
37, having fled from the Ethiopian to the Kenyan side of Moyale, was abducted by Kenyan
soldiers on 17 May. Since 13 June, his whereabouts
are unknown.
Wounded
OLA fighters handed themselves in to Kenyan authorities on 12 June, at Dukana, Marsabit.
The five men, Jatani Huqqa Galgalo, Abdi Dhenge Roba, Wariyo Hukayo, Galgalo Doyo Huqqa
and Abdurahiman Gamade, were sentenced to a years imprisonment on 18 June and
deportation to Ethiopia afterwards. They are being denied medical treatment for their
injuries.
OSG received
two reports of the murder of a prominent Boran Oromo figure in Marsabit town. Qala Waqo
Bero was shot dead by one or two gunmen in a red saloon, at close range, 400 metres from
his shop, in the evening of either 12 or 14 August. A local MP blamed Ethiopian government
hit-men. The victim had been warned several times by Ethiopian agents to not sympathise
with the OLF. The District Commissioner blamed bandits.
According
to one report, Chief
Liban Waqo
of Dambala Fachana and Rob Dima
of Borr were arrested in April, for allegedly harbouring OLA fighters.
The International Federation of Journalists
(Brussels) reported on 7 July that URJII
journalists, Garoma Bekele, Solomon Namarra and Tesfaye Deressa, were granted bail for
charges under the Press Law but remained in detention to face conspiracy charges.
Wondwosen Asfaw (Atkurot newspaper, detained since October 1997)
was released from detention on 23 June.
Eleven journalists (not including Moti Biya)
are currently in detention, according to the organisation.
Immediately before going to press, OSG was
informed that thousands of Oromo refugees, fleeing food insecurity in Hararge province,
had crossed the border into Djibouti at Dawale.
Reliable sources, in a report that several
Oromo had been held in Gabat prison, Djibouti, for 5 months without charge, also stated
that 300 TPLF soldiers arrived in two helicopters on 28 August.
From 25 August until the
information was sent on 6 September, 3000 refugees, mostly Oromo, were rounded up. 2500
were held at Laggad prison centre.
Refugees were handed over to TPLF soldiers
and interrogated under torture at a police investigation centre. They were
questioned about OLF activity and support in Djibouti. Two men, Mohammed Abdu Idris and
Mohammed Siraji, were taken to hospital in Djibouti after having Coca-Cola bottles forced
into their rectums.
Some refugees have been taken from where they
lay, hungry and thirsty on roadsides and scavenging for food, and presented on Ethiopian
television as captured OLF fighters.
Two refugees, sent back from Djibouti, were
used for anti-OLF propaganda when interviewed for Ethiopian television on 23 August.
Other Oromo refugees have been turned back
from the border at Galile, when taken there by Djibouti forces.
Oromo refugees, especially elders, are being
hunted in Djibouti by the combined security forces of Ethiopia and Djibouti.
Refoulement
of Oromo refugees is said to be organised by security men from the Ethiopian embassy,
including Tasfaye Zewde Tamirat, Haile Selassie and Hingida. They have bought the help of
some Oromo, Jamal Ganda Koree, Sufya Galmoo, Abdul Hakim and Abdulmajid Karee.
Further information has been obtained about
the death, on the 28 May Lufthansa flight from Frankfurt to Khartoum, of Amir Ageeb during
his forced repatriation to Sudan. The thirty year old asylum seeker was handcuffed and
shackled to his seat, and was forced to wear a motorcycle helmet, because he was resisting
deportation. He was placed between two border police. They pushed his head down as
far as it would go to prevent his disturbing other passengers. When they tried to
raise him later, he was dead.
The
African Courier reported in its June/July
edition that Bavarian authorities were intending to defy a ban on forced repatriation
which followed Ageebs death, and repatriate another Sudanese who resisted
deportation last year.
In 1997, over 17,000 asylum seekers were
deported from Germany, most being sent unwillingly. Since January 1998, 15,500
deportations are reported by the Federal Border Police. Force was needed in 113. The Anti-Racist Initiative (Berlin) reports four deaths
and 58 injuries from deportation out of Germany, since 1993. The group claims that many
attempted suicide while awaiting deportation, and 64 have killed themselves. Another four
have done so after being returned to their home country. Another 90 died while trying to
enter Germany, including 9 in police custody.
A growing number of Oromo asylum seekers in
Germany have exhausted legal procedures against deportation. In addition to those known by
OSG to be at risk of imminent forced repatriation, i.e. refoulement (see Press Release No. 27, p. 14), is
Deneke Bero Badhadha. In a sinister development in his case, he has been forced to apply
for an Ethiopian passport.
Four weeks before Amir Ageeb was killed, a
Nigerian, Marcus Omafuma, died of suffocation on board a flight from Austria on 1 May,
after his vocal protests had been silenced with adhesive tape applied across his mouth.
His limbs were bound to prevent him resisting forced repatriation from Austria to Nigeria.
Another Nigerian, Ms Semira Adamu, died when
suffocated with a cushion by Belgian police while she was being deported, in September
1998.
Although two thirds of asylum seekers in
western Europe are from the eastern bloc, all three recent deaths have been Africans.
OSG mistakenly reported
the disappearance of Abdulahi Genamo and Ahmed Abdulahi, from Adaba, Bale, in Press
Release 28, p. 8. Abdulahi Genamo died under the previous regime, and his son, Ahmed
Abdulahi, died under the current administration.
EPRDF
Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front (government party; umbrella group
led by TPLF)
OHRC
Ogaden Human Rights Committee
OLA
Oromo Liberation Army (armed wing of OLF)
OLF
Oromo Liberation Front
ONLF
Ogaden National Liberation Front
OPDO
Oromo Peoples Democratic Organisation (government Oromo party)
OSG
Oromia Support Group
TPLF
Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (dominant party in government)
UNHCR
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
A
health worker known to OSG staff for over ten years, wrote from exile of his experiences
in Dhidessa concentration camp in 1992 and the deaths of mutual acquaintances. The camp
held at least a quarter of the 20-40,000 detained in the months after the OLF left the
transitional government.
It is
always shocking to me when I remember young Oromo mass graves at Dhidesa, where Hunduma,
Habtamu, Solomon and two other fellow members were buried in a single hole.
Before
burial, their bodies were displayed as garbage close to the pathway. . . . Armed OLF
members were very few in number, most were gathered, murdered and tortured because of
their ethnic origin or beliefs.
Especially
from the second [of
three]
detention camp, I knew of more than eighty Oromos who died from physical and psychological
torture. . . . I
have got a big scar in my mind about Dhidessa.