Negligence and Denial of Human Rights – the Case of the Afar Refugees in the Horn of Africa
The Afars, the people who inhabit parts of Ethiopia, Djibouti and Eritrea, are the least known outside the Horn of Africa. The Afar Human Rights Organisation (AHRO) would like to bring to the World attention the concern of Afar refugees in the Horn of Africa.
The first known wave of the Afar refugees occurred during the colonial time. The French and the Italians waged war to establish colonial sphere of influence by occupying parts of the Afar region displacing thousands of local people to the hinterland. The clans attached to anti-colonial struggles were banned from entering into occupied colonial territory. Therewith, the displaced were denied access to markets and other socioeconomic privileges.
Afars have also been victims at post colonial era but mainly due to the emergence of new states with communistic and ethnocentric approaches, which in turn caused intra-state and inter-state armed conflicts. Major displacements of Afar communities took place in (1977-1978) due to Ethio-Somali war, the civil war in Djibouti (1991-1994), Ethio-Eritrean war (1998-2000). In addition to recurrent drought and outbreak of different epidemics, the Afar civilians were caught between the cross-fires of the states and many liberation fronts.
Despite immense human right abuses and sufferings related to aforementioned crisis no reports are obtainable and the attempt to alleviate the condition has been almost non-existent. Consequently, thousands of refugees are living more than twenty years in a gruelling circumstance in Yemen (mostly refugees from Eritrea and Ethiopia), in Ethiopia (mostly refugees from Djibouti and Eritrea) and Djibouti (refugees from Ethiopia and Eritrea). In the above mentioned countries the refugees lack access to basic legal protection, health care and education supports.
AFAR HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION calls up on UNHCR and other humanitarian organisation to revisit the case of neglected Afar refugees in the Horn of Africa!
We call up on Horn of African states to facilitate the returning process to those displaced!
AFAR HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION
Contact us: [email protected]
5 thoughts on “The suffering of Afar refugees in the Horn of Africa”
Interresting!
Why are they NOT returning to their “Home base”? I am not aware of any Afars that are being kept away from Eritrea(if Eritrean Afar) and from Ethiopia (if Ethiopian) and Djobouti for the same reason. If anything, I believe both Eritrea and Ethiopia would probably “host” the citizens of the other for political reasons. So, unless one is escaping some legal issues and are there for economic reasons, who is keeping them from returning to their country unless of course they don’t believe, those countries were their “Country”.
what apity!!!! Afars are really true ethiopians. they were the only ppl who have been defending ethiopia’s history when weyane said ethiopia has only 100 years old . All concerned ethiopians should stand together and give high alert to all international communities to give high attention for the forgotten true ethiopians-[ afars]. they have un limited right to live where they belongs
Your attention, please!
The world gives more attention to the people of Iraq and Afghanistan because of the devastating wars, to the people of Palestine because of the endless conflict between the Jews and the Palestinian people, to the Iranians because of the construction of the nuclear facilities there, to the people of Pakistan because of the Al Kida movement in Pakistan, to Prince William of Wales, because he is returning safely from the battle field in Afghanistan, to the American musicians who recently performed music in North Korea because there has been a big misunderstanding between the West and the North Korean people over fifty years, to the United States Presidential campaigns because for the first time a half-African American and a half-Caucasian and a white woman were running to be the first president of the United States, to the people of Russia because Vladimir Putin is leaving his office graciously, to the people of Cuba because Fidel Castro has voluntarily submitted his power to his brother Raul Castro, to the economy of the world because the price of oil has reached over $100 a barrel of oil, to the American dollar because its value has been going down, and finally to the American housing market because millions of homes are for closures – yet the world gives less attention to the Afar people who have been suffering for a long time from natural disasters such as heat, flood, famine diseases, and from man-made disaster such as war, theft, ethnicity, clan, religion, and politics.
They are few in numbers – just over three million Muslims – victims of four nations: Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and Djibouti; they are torn apart into four pieces among theses relentless four countries. Ethiopia uses them on its side to fight against Eritrea and Somalia; Eritrea uses them on its side to fight against Ethiopia; Somalia uses them on its side to fight against Ethiopia; and Djibouti uses them on its side to fight against Ethiopia and perhaps against Somalia.
In the mean time, the Afar people want to form their own independence and their own identities and are fighting against their four neighbors. They have heard recently that the three million people of Kosovan Muslims have declared their independence from Serbia; they have learned that few years ago, Eritrea was part of Ethiopia, and Djibouti was under the control of France, but they are now sovereign countries.
Inspired and galvanized by the spirits of these independent nations, the Afar people continue to fight courageously for their precious freedom. Some people may think why the Afar people simply join either Ethiopia or Eritrea or Somalia or Djibouti according to their own choice and live in peace. They continue to criticize by pointing out that the Afar people do not have a recorded history; they do not have a capital city. They are wanderers – they move from place to place in search of water and grassy land. Their economy is based on five resources: camel, goat, sheep, salt, and mineral water. They do not have modern transportation systems to sell their products to the world market, so they must live under the rules of the four nations by their own choice.
However, the Afar people don’t buy what other people say about the destiny of these charming Muslim tribes who live in tents and thatched huts like their ancestors, drinking milk and eating meat from their camels and goats. They believe that it is only the Afar people who determine their own destiny, no body else. To reach their goal – freedom from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, and Djibouti – the Afar people need a little help from the United Nation, from the European Union, and from the United States of America before they become completely swallowed up by these five power hungry nations. The United Nation, the European Union, and The United States have the power to liberate the Afar people if they want to and follow the advice of the wise man, King Solomon: “Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act” (Proverbs 3:27). So, after they have suffered for so many years, the Afar people deserve something good from the world; they need the attention of the world, especially the attentions of the United States and the European Union.
Correction: It was Prince Harry who went to Afghanistan and returned safely, not his brother Prince William of Wales.
Assta B.Gettu,
Didn’t you misinterpreted the aspiration of the Afar people? This kind of reasoning has been used by the Horn regimes to isolate and inihilate the afars.
Please don’t lable the Afars as separatists rather as those exposed to social injustice wherever they live.
Thanks