SUMMARY PRESS RELEASE
July 2000, No. 31
In this summary...

Abbreviations:
OLF – Oromo Liberation Front, ONLF – Ogaden National liberation Front, OSG – Oromia Support Group, TPLF – Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front (dominant government party), UNHCR – UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Human rights violations in Ethiopia.

This summary includes information on large scale civil unrest and government oppression in Oromia Region. The government role in vast fires, which precipitated the first demonstrations, is reported. Kenyan and Ethiopian government attacks on Oromo in Kenya, the refoulement  of Oromo refugees from Djibouti and Somaliland and a small but representative fraction of reports of other human rights violations within Ethiopia are also included. The dismissal of all judges of the Oromia Supreme Court, widespread abuses in Ogaden and the fate of Oromo prisoners of conscience and jailed journalists in Addis Ababa are reported in the full version Press Release which may be obtained, without charge, from the address above.

OSG has now recorded 2,560 extra-judicial killings, 824 disappearances and thousands of instances of detention, rape, torture and looting by forces of the present government of Ethiopia.

 

Demonstrators killed, beaten and detained


Getu Diriba, beaten to death by police in Ambo, 9 March.

 Students, accusing the government of starting devastating fires (see below), demonstrated throughout Oromia. The first demonstration, in Ambo, W. Showa, on 9 March, despite deaths of demonstrators, was quickly followed by demonstrations in nearby major towns and cities including Guder, Ginchii and Gedo. Within five weeks there were demonstrations in Nekemte, Gimbi, Dembi Dollo, Nejo, Arjo, Horro Guduru, Ayra, Gori, Qiltu Kara, Mendi, Begi and Jimma. Demonstrators also complained of killings, disappearances and detention of other demonstrators, forced conscription and the arming of pro-government settler militia groups, the Galla Gadaayi (Oromo Killers). There have been reliable and corroborated reports of at least seven students being killed during demonstrations. Hundreds have been detained and many have disappeared. Students and their families have been harassed. All schools in Western Showa and Wallega ‘between Addis Ababa and Asosa’ have been closed.
In Ambo, W. Showa, students and their families were beaten and fired upon on 9 March. Four student deaths have been reported by most sources. Up to 300 were detained, including police who allowed the demonstration.

In Jimma, Illubabor, security men occupied the city ‘corner to corner’ during the week beginning 18 March, to pre-empt a demonstration. They ran over and killed accountancy student, Alemu Disassa. His body was taken by security men and later found in the River Awetu, in Jimma, on 24 March. A ‘suicide note’ was attached to the body. Teacher, Abba Duraa, was abducted and is rumoured to have been taken to Addis Ababa. More than 183 (250 according to one report) teachers and students have been detained for supporting ‘opposition organisations’.

Dirribee Jaafar, shot dead by government troops in Dembi Dollo, 2 April.

In Dembi Dollo, two students were killed and five wounded when police opened fire on demonstrators on 2 April. Over 5,000 demonstrated at the funeral of Dirribee Jifaar (a young female student killed by four bullets on 4 April) loudly condemning the government for her death and the killing of other students. ‘Large numbers’ were detained and three students disappeared, Kumala Dinsa, Beyene Tasgara and Kibinesh Negatu (see Press Release for details).

In Nekemte, students demonstrated on 11 April. Soldiers arrived in lorry loads and opened fire, wounding several, four seriously. Takilu Mulatu Ragassa, ‘riddled with bullets’ and with head injuries from a pistol whipping, was abducted from his hospital bed and has disappeared. Over 130 are reported to have been detained and many more are sought after.

Names of students being held in Jato (Central) Prison in Nekemte, the police station and the former IGAMA office are listed in the Press Release.

Among those detained following demonstrations in Gimbi, Nejo, Mandi and Arjo, Wallega, Amnesty International has named five teachers and two students. Eight other teachers are named among more than 300 detainees by other sources.

Addis Ababa University students, after returning from the fires were refused permission to demonstrate and warned by security men to stop their activities. ‘Beware that if you go one inch outside of this campus, we will harvest you, by shooting you one by one’, the students have reported being told. Terefe Ejere, believed to have given information about the fires to foreign media in March, was taken from his dormitory by two plain clothed security men on 2 May and ‘disappeared’. As many as 146 arrests have been claimed.

Resistance to conscription has resulted in four deaths in Salale, Addis Ababa, on 12 May, the death of a boy in Anano Mite, Hararge, and the detention of elders in Wollo, where three are reported to have died in detention (also in May).

On 3 June,  Habtamu Tanna Zamadkun was shot dead by a TPLF policeman on the Jimma road, Waliso, the fifth person in Waliso to be murdered in cold blood in two weeks.  Over 6,000 attended Habtamu’s funeral on 5 June, in silent demonstration. Local police were reinforced with soldiers from Ambo and Sabbata. There was ‘gunfire all day’ as they tried to disperse the crowd. Many demonstrators were wounded and over 100 were detained, including elders and youngsters.

The OLF reported on 5 June that 150-200 civilians of Malka Jabdu, a village about 10 km west of Dire Dawa, Hararge, were rounded up and detained shortly after a freight train carrying military material was blown up on 27 May by the OLF, nearby. They report mass arrests and civil unrest in nearby towns of Kombolcha and Haromaya.

Wonji High School students were fired upon when demonstrating against forced conscription at the beginning of June. One of the injured was hospitalised in Adama (Nazareth).

OSG was informed just before going to press that major public uprisings were occurring in Ambo, Guder and Gindaberet. They began on 11 June and were continuing the following day. A police station and army barracks had been ‘dismantled’.

Fires burn vast areas: government blamed
Thirteen correspondents from Oromia have informed OSG about government complicity in the fires which burned for ten weeks through February, March and April. Many other informants have made contact through third parties. They report the destruction of homes, farms, wild and domestic coffee plantations and 100,000 hectares of forest. One sixth of Oromia’s forest has been burnt. Correspondents and demonstrators claim that the fires were started deliberately throughout Oromia Region, in Ogaden (Somali Region) and in Sidama Zone (Southern Peoples Region).

Sites of fires

Note: Some reported localities, including those in Sidama Zone, are not included in this summary.
Borana – Shakiso (Adola), Laga Dambi and surrounding areas, Yabelo, Guji, Tuqa and Gombisa localities. Bale – Bale Mountains National Park (very little of the primary forest on Dinsho mountain remains), Sheik Hussein, Mada Walabu (El Meda), Rayitu, Bidre, Bele, Goro, Nensabo, around Dodola, Adaba and other places in the woredas of Goba, Mena, Angetu and Berbere, plus heavily wooded, steep valleys all along the Wabi Shabelle river, running along the border with Hararge. Showa – Wondo Genet, wooded valleys beyond Ambo in between Mugar and Salale, and the Wabee river valley between Mount Gurage and Welkite, in the Gurage area. More fires were started in Shashemane and Arsi/Negele (on the border with Arsi) on 6 April. Jimma, Illubabor and Kafa – Saka, Sigimo-Gatira , Tepi, Guraferda,(just over border into Kafa), Sokoru (near Asendabo), the length of the Gibe river from north-east Jimma to Limu, on the border with Showa. Wallega – Didhesa, Gida Kiramu (in Horo Guduru), Wama Hagalo (on border with Jimma), Dimtu, Dilla, Chalia, Dembi Dollo, Arjo, Dabus. Gidda was set alight in early April. Benishangul Region – Asosa (300 houses burned, 2000 displaced), Banbesi, Shirqolee, Gizan, Kurmuk & surrounding areas. Sidama, Southern Peoples Region – Malagawondo, Meme Gamo Gofa, SPR – Konso, Bishan Sagan, Nechsar Nat. Park. Walaita, SPR – Damoti and surrounds. Ogaden, Somali Region – Artishek and surrounds, Qoreleh, Shilabo and other areas south of Qabredahar.

Nearly all of the fires, separated by hundreds of kilometres, began on the same day, 30 January, and only in areas of armed opposition. The government claimed the fires were started by farmers clearing land or by honey collectors smoking out bees. However, it is not standard practice to clear land by fire in late January or early February, especially after the failure of short December rains. Honey collectors are not active until October/November.

All informants claimed that the fires were allowed to burn for four weeks until media exposure forced the government to ask for international assistance. A government spokesman announced that the fires would have to continue until the rainy season. Fires in remote mountain valleys were eventually put out by rain ten weeks later, on 11 April.

Over 800 students of Addis Ababa University asked for permission to fight the fires. Only 350 were allowed to do so. They were given no assistance except from local people and were billeted in military camps, where they were watched, hindered, intimidated and forbidden from singing Oromo songs. Students from other universities and colleges were denied permission to help.

Media have reported the arrest of 180 farmers in Bale and Borana Zones ‘accused of starting the fires’. The detainees include ‘67 farmers, businessmen, students and elders from Hidi Lola’ who have been ‘badly beaten’ and are suspected to be OLF supporters, according to OSG’s informants. At least 146 from Bale and Borana were sent to the notorious Maikelawi Special Investigation Centre in Addis Ababa. In April, four OLF sympathisers were sentenced to up to 8 years imprisonment in Daro Labu, W. Hararge, ostensibly because of starting a fire.
Attacks on Oromo in Kenya

Huge demonstrations by Borana Oromo in Isiolo, Moyale, Marsabit and other towns in northern Kenya were reported by BBC’s Focus on Africa. On 6 May, residents demonstrated against the Kenyan government bombing and shooting Oromo civilians, in response to conflicts said to have arisen between Borana and Somali groups. The BBC reported a huge deployment of Kenyan troops and the killing of at least 50, especially young Borana Oromo men, in the area between Isiolo and the border, on 2 May.

Co-operation between Ethiopia and Kenya has increased since meetings in Addis Ababa between President arap Moi and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, during a ‘peace mission’ on 9 February. They agreed to co-operate in flushing the OLF and ONLF out of Kenya. At least 500 Ethiopian troops, based in Moyale, crossed into Kenya before mid-February. Restriction of movement of Borana Oromo in Kenya immediately followed the troop movement.

Residents of Moyale, Isiolo and Marsabit districts appealed on 23 April for protection against the Ethiopian government, according to Kenya’s Nation newspaper. Abdullahi Galgalo, Ford-Kenya’s youth secretary, said ‘We invite human rights organisations . . . to see how the Ethiopian and Kenyan governments are killing us’. Four of a 15 member delegation to the District Commissioner and the Security Committee, on 28 March, had been killed or disappeared. Others had their homes bombed. The large military action by Kenya against Borana Oromo began barely one week after the newspaper report.

On 13 May, six were killed in the Sabare area of North Horr and 100 cattle stolen, by ‘raiders’ from Ethiopia. On 8 June, around 60 heavily armed TPLF soldiers attacked Wajir town, killing Abdi I. Kasim, 50, and herdsmen, Mohammed Adan Mata, 30, and Abdikadir Ibrahim Hinni, 20. They wounded others and stole over 5,300 cattle and 950 camels. The Kenyan daily newspaper, the Nation, reported the incident on 15 June and stated that the animals were to be returned from 15 km over the Ethiopian border, because the animals were ‘taken inadvertently, based on wrong information’. The TPLF had attacked, believing the local civilians were OLF supporters, the paper said. Wajir townspeople demonstrated for two days about the attack.

Refoulement from Djibouti and Somaliland

According to two separate reliable sources in the country, Djibouti authorities handed over twelve Oromo refugees to Ethiopian security men on 15 April. They were put aboard an aircraft and returned to an unknown destination in Ethiopia.

Nine of the twelve had been detained in Gabot prison since May 1999, when Ethiopia’s Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi, was attending the inauguration of President Guelleh. The nine include Jafar (Mohammed) Sharifa, Ali Mohammed Sagir, Abdi Mohammed Shirbo, Heydrus (Idris Abdella or Yassin) Abdullahi, Ali (Absalam Sheik) Mussa, Elias Mohammed Ahmed, Mohammed Oumer (Nur) Osman, Hassen Ahmed Yassin and Ali Mohammed Umar. Their detention was reported in Press Release 28, May-July 1999.

In addition to the detainees, Sheik Hussein, Mohammed Amin and Shambee were abducted in Djibouti on 14/15 April. Four of the twelve are in particularly poor condition following torture. All twelve were handed over by Djibouti police to TPLF immigration officials at Dawale. On 21 April, State Ethiopian Radio announced the capture of eight ‘OLF commanders’ in Djibouti. The other four remain unaccounted for.

At least eight refugees were subjected to refoulement in January 1998, twenty in December 1999 (see press Release 30, February 2000) and according to accounts from victims, at times before then. UNHCR has been powerless to help these deportees, despite the majority being mandate refugees.

On 15 March, over 300 Oromo refugees in Hargeisa and surrounding areas in Somaliland were arrested by government forces and handed over to Ethiopian security men, according to an OLF Press Release. They were taken and detained in Jijiga. The OLF report that over 750 Oromo refugees have been deported to Ethiopia from Somaliland over the last two years. Once in Ethiopia, they have been detained and tortured. A number are reported to have been executed.

Death in Karchale

Tesfaye Mangaqa, a teacher in his early forties from Aira Gulisso, Wallega, died in Karchale Central Prison in Addis Ababa in mid-April. He was not among the ‘65’ prisoners of conscience.

He was among the 105 Oromo taken to Adama (Nazareth), 100 km south of Addis, on 5 February 1998 (see Press Release 23, June-July 1998, p. 2). The 105 were accused of supporting the OLF and held in Adama for 30 days, undergoing 4-6 hours indoctrination daily.  They were warned not to participate in Macha-Tulama Association meetings or partake in Oromo cultural events. Most were released after signing documents obtained from Maikelawi Special Investigation Centre, stating that they were aware of the consequences of future support for the Oromo nationalist movement.

Fifteen remained in unofficial detention in Adama, including Tesfaye Mangaqa. The date of his transfer to Karchale is not known, nor is the fate of the other fourteen.

Oromo students in Tigray are held in Karchale; one death

Information about the 28 detained Oromo students from Mekele Business College in Tigray was received from reliable sources in Addis Ababa on 2 June. Their transfer to Karchale Central Prison in Addis Ababa was reported in the last Press Release.

The students were abducted from their dormitories in September 1999 and kept in dark underground cells in Mekele for two and a half months. They were then taken to Oromia Regional Police Headquarters in Addis Ababa for questioning. They have been moved often and are dispersed between cells in Maikelawi Special Investigation Centre, Karchale Central Prison and the Police HQ. They have been severely beaten and tortured. Specific mention of the use of electric torture equipment was made. They are all held because of suspected support for the OLF. One, Mekonnen Zewde, from Ada’aa, has been ‘killed deliberately by medicine’.

Disappearances

Immiruu Ittafaa, an Oromo residing in the USA, disappeared in April, in Addis Ababa after visiting relatives in Gidami, Wallega. An acquaintance of the family informed OSG on 9 May. Relatives have gone to the capital but have failed to locate him. They have been told that he was abducted by three men waiting outside the house, where he was staying in the capital. The US embassy claimed he had left Oromia for the USA. His luggage remains with relatives in Addis Ababa. 

Dr. Asafa Makataa was abducted from his home in Kasa Inchis, Addis Ababa, at 11 pm on 2 June 2000, after plain clothed TPLF security men broke in, according to OSG contacts in Addis Ababa. Dr Asafa was a department head in the Ethiopian Ministry of Agriculture for over 20 years. He was non-political but was interviewed on television because he was the only Ph.D. graduate among those completing a course in Qubee, the latin alphabet used for the Oromo language, at Menelik Comprehensive School.

Four brothers from S. Showa disappeared in mid-March 2000, according to their sister living in the USA.

Tesfaye Hamda Gojamo, 34, an employee of the Bulbula Area Sodash Co., was taken from Bulbula, Zeway, S. Showa. He had been harassed at work and urged to join the OPDO, government Oromo party.

Gishu Hamda Gojamo, his 17 year old brother, was also abducted from Bulbula.

Aman and Tsehay Hamda Gojamo, 33 and 30, disappeared from Zeway.

Relatives have been unable to locate the men in prisons in the area. None of them are active OLF members. ‘Just being Oromo is enough’, their sister writes.

 Mussa Ismael Ibrahim was abducted on 11 November 1996 in Baroda, near Hubata mountain, Bale. He is known to have been taken up Hubata mountain with two Oromo peasants, with whom he was abducted. The two peasants were killed and their bodies were found on the mountain. Mussa’s body was not found. He was a graduate and practitioner in Islamic Law and had been detained with other family members on several occasions. (Correspondence from close acquaintance in exile, 28 March 2000.)

Shamsi Adem Ahmed		 Dr Fekade Admasu a practising doctor in Harar, was detained there for five months in 1997. He was accused of supplying the OLF with medicines. His family were told that he was transferred to another prison centre, but were not told where. They have been unable to trace him since then. (Acquaintance of victim, interviewed in the USA, March 2000.)

A close acquaintance of Mrs Shamsi Adem Ahmed wrote in February of the disappearance of both her and her husband in Dire Dawa, E. Hararge, after being abducted by government security men on 10 October 1998.

Detention and reappearance

Dachassa Abate Lemma, Mekonnen Tola and Taye Abdissa were reported on 11 April by an acquaintance in the USA to have been detained in Karchale Central Prison in Addis Ababa since August 1999. They were all Oromo businessmen and were taken from their homes by soldiers. Dachassa was wounded in his legs by gunfire at the time of his abduction. None of the three have appeared in court.

Mossisa Duressa, an employee of the Mekane Yesus church in Nekemte, Wallega, disappeared with three others after their abduction in July 1999. When interviewed by OSG in the USA in March, Mossisa Duressa, a diabetic on insulin, explained that he had miraculously survived without the drug for three months in captivity before his release on 15 October. His disappearance and the disappearance of Mulugeta Asfaw, Sirika Gamachu and Abraham Likaasaa was reported by Amnesty International and OSG (Press Release 29, p. 2, Aug-Oct 1999).

They were kept in a house taken from an army general, killed by the Dergue. They were kept incommunicado in pairs, Mossisa with Mulugeta Asfaw, in the house in Kotobe, on the northern outskirts of Addis Ababa. The house has a compound with a high fence. They were not beaten or tortured, but were subject to frequent intimidation and insults. They were allowed access to the toilet twice each day.

After his release, Mossisa returned to Nekemte, where he was warned by friends and neighbours not to go out at night. He said, ‘All the time, people with guns were patrolling round my house at night. I thank Amnesty International and OSG wholeheartedly for reporting my abduction. Thanks to God, I survived without insulin and was released. I did not think I would come out. I thought that they would kill me.’

Diversion of food aid, harassment of aid workers and forced conscription

A former NGO employee from Borana wrote on 27 April to report, among other things, his detention and beating on three occasions since the food emergency began in 1998. The beatings followed his preventing the diversion of food aid to government armed militiamen. All Oromo staff at the international NGO were harassed and intimidated and the correspondent names three who were forced, like him, to leave.

He wrote that in Yabello, Arero, Dire and Tertallee at least, food aid was made conditional on offering youths for the war with Eritrea and participating in the May elections.

Another former aid worker, HSR, wrote from exile on 19 March. While distributing food aid at Arero, Borana, he was abducted by security men on 19 February. He was kept at Arero military camp for a week, interrogated and tortured by beating, whipping with rubber tubes, having his arms tied back with wire, immersion in cold water etc. He spent until 30 August 1999 at Yabello prison and military camp, without charge or trial. His release was on condition of signing weekly at the security office.

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End of Summary Press Release