Centering Human Rights in U.S. Policy on Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea

Subcommittee on African Affairs, Committee on Foreign Relations
United States Senate

Testimony by Lynn Fredriksson, Advocacy Director for Africa, Amnesty International USA

March 11, 2008

I would like to thank Chairman Feingold and distinguished members of the subcommittee for this important opportunity for Amnesty International to share our concerns about violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, and the need for a consistent re-centering of human rights in U.S. foreign policy on the Horn of Africa.

Introduction

Amnesty International is deeply concerned by widespread egregious human rights violations being perpetrated against civilians throughout the Horn of Africa. Ending current violations and preventing future violations in Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea is perhaps one of the greatest challenges of our time, requiring immediate action and long-term planning, attention to domestic conditions within the context of a regional perspective. Each set of country concerns must be considered independently—as with Ethiopian government repression of its domestic opposition, journalists and human rights defenders, and the humanitarian crisis in the Somali region (known as the Ogaden). In Eritrea an authoritarian government maintains a stranglehold on freedom of expression, freedom of religion and press freedom, while detaining thousands of dissidents, many in the harshest conditions. In Somalia a transitional government without popular mandate has not only failed to protect over one million displaced civilians, but has failed to hold its own troops accountable for violations against them. Compounding these challenges is the intervention of Ethiopian forces in Somalia, and recent threats of renewed conflict between Ethiopia and Eritrea along their disputed border. Further compounding these challenges is a flawed U.S. foreign policy which has placed short-sighted counter-terror concerns at the forefront of U.S. involvement in the region, while human rights and humanitarian concerns are routinely pushed aside.

In large part because of capable and resilient civil society throughout the region, despite these conditions, the situation is far from hopeless. But the United States and the International Contact Group, regional donors, and the UN Security Council, the UN Human Rights Council, and other international organizations cannot simply maintain their current priorities and refuse to shift course. Crucial to this course shift is the re-centering of humanitarian and human rights in U.S. foreign policy. On Ethiopia, that means more consistent and more public denunciations of ongoing restrictions on civil society and the private media, demands for the release of remaining prisoners of conscience, and the requirement of a demonstrated opening of commercial and humanitarian access to the Somali region. Eritrea represents a different type of situation which requires a reversal in current policy. The U.S. administration should seriously consider any plans it might have to add Eritrean opposition groups to the U.S. list of foreign terrorist organizations or to add an already isolated regime to the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, but should consider opportunities to provide essential humanitarian aid. The international community must also decide where it stands on the Boundary Commission Ruling, denying Ethiopia the ability to continue to flout its findings, and Eritrea an excuse to interfere with UNMEE. On Somalia, if the U.S. intends to alleviate, not worsen, anti-American sentiment on the Horn, it must first and foremost cease all land and air assaults intended to “take out” presumed al-Qaeda or other terrorist operatives. Since early 2007 four such assaults have been launched in Somalia, leading to civilian casualties, destruction of civilian property and livelihood, and the widespread belief that the U.S. protects the Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) and backs up Ethiopian forces, without genuine concern for civilians. In addition, the U.S. government must exert significantly more pressure on the governments of Ethiopia and Somalia to prevent human rights abuses and ensure accountability for the conduct of their armed forces.