For instance, in Gambella, the local people formed the Gambella People’s Democratic Congress party in opposition to the ruling EPRDF, primarily to challenge consistent violations of the human rights of Anuaks. In year 2000 national election, the Gambella People’s Democratic Congress party ran against the TPLF-imposed party candidates in Gambella. In the Ogaden, the Ogaden Liberation Front ran against the Woyane endorsed party in your region. When the results came out in Gambella, nearly 90% did not vote for the Woyane, but for the Democratic Congress party, their own indigenous party. The Democratic Congress party won a majority of seats in the government of Gambella State. The arrests of Anuak men became increasingly prevalent and in October 2002 the President of Gambella region and 44 Anuak leaders were arrested and sent to jail in Addis Ababa and they were held without trial until the end of 2006 and more than 400 Anuak men are still held in Gambella jails since December 2003.

In the Ogaden, 85% voted for the Ogaden Liberation Front, instead of the TPLF-backed party. Regardless of the people’s choices, the TPLF central government claimed they were winners in Gambella and arrested those candidates who had actually won the popular vote. The same manipulation of the election occurred in the Ogaden where the winners were also arrested. At that time, the TPLF took further action and started killing the leaders in both areas, arresting any challengers.

Does this remind you of what recently occurred in the Ethiopian National election of 2005? What happened in 2005 should not have come as a surprise to us as this was not a new tactic, but one the EPRDF had been able to get away with in the past, especially in the rural areas like in Gambella and in the Ogaden where there was little transparency. This was when the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) finally declared they had no other choice but to fight to defend themselves. In the case of Gambella, it was not until the 2000 election that the Gambella Liberation Front was formed after the same thing happened a second time. Again, it was to defend themselves, just like was the case in the Ogaden.

To make the situation even worse, while the federal government of Ethiopia exerted increasingly greater control over both our regions, the development of the areas was totally neglected leading to significant marginalization—among the worst in the country. Even when I formed the Gambella Development Agency in 2001 and as an NGO, was required to first register at the Office of the Minister of Justice in Addis Ababa in order to work in Ethiopia, I faced resistance to working in Gambella. The man that processed my information was me why I wanted to go to the Gambella are and told me that there was greater need in the northern part of Ethiopia in the Tigray region. It probably was no coincidence that he was Tigrayan.

I explained to him that I had never been to the northern part of Ethiopia and there may be need there, but that I wanted to work in Gambella. He then asked me why I wanted to go to Gambella so much. Let me first say, the interview was conducted in English and it became apparent that he did suspect I was an Ethiopian, but that I was from some other country in Africa like Kenya.

I then told him I was an Anuak from Gambella. His reply was, “Oh, I’m sorry. I guess you can go to Gambella.” My white Canadian colleague who was there with me at the time expressed his shock at how such gatekeepers to development in the country can so easily control the distribution of services, humanitarian aid and development from those coming from the outside! I am certain the same has happened in the Ogaden.

I have heard about your lack of schools, health clinics, clean water and any infrastructure in the Ogaden. You do not even have a road leading from the Ogaden to Addis Ababa, the capital city! I heard about the countless numbers of Ogadeni political prisoners, the extreme oppression of the people and the infiltration of Meles supporters into most every key position in your government, preventing the people of the Ogaden from having any real voice in your own regional affairs. Unfortunately, following Ethiopia’s invasion into Somalia and the killing of the Chinese in the Ogaden by the ONLF, your situation has dramatically worsened.

For those remaining in the Ogaden, life has become intolerable—a daily struggle simply to survive—due to the massive human rights abuses going on right now in the region being perpetrated on civilians by Woyane National Defense Forces. Yet, surprisingly, for the Anuak of Gambella, some semblance of normal life is returning. The Anuak women can go unescorted to gather firewood or to obtain water without the previous very real prospect of being raped, harassed or even killed.

Anuak men can travel on the roads without fear of the military spotting them and shooting them for simply “looking suspicious.” Some children are returning to school, as they are less fearful of the trip back and forth, as are the teachers. This is not to say that the schools, health clinics, homes and most of the infrastructure of the area was not seriously damaged or destroyed by Meles’ military, but at least, the security issues that turned the daily tasks of life into possible encounters with death from the ENDF, have mostly disappeared. What accounts for this improvement in Gambella and for the worsening crisis in the Ogaden?