Somaliland: A striking contrast with the South

It’s important not to omit formal mention of self-declared independent Somaliland. While overall human rights and humanitarian conditions continue to worsen in southern and central Somalia, and more recently Puntland, a stable Somaliland has devoted attention to democratization, institutional capacity and development in its decade and a half long pursuit of international recognition for independence. The contrast between Hargeisa and Mogadishu is striking, and the international community should consider what the government of Somaliland needs to maintain peace and stability, including bilateral assistance to ensure it has the capacity to institutionalize human rights protections. Somaliland is not without its own set of human rights concerns. Its border with Puntland is contested, with unfortunate outbreaks of fighting in late 2007, and it has not established a monopoly on power in its boundary regions of Sool and Sanaag. In 2007 it held a journalist and unrecognized fourth party opposition leaders in prison for several months after unfair trials. And the government of Somaliland issued an expulsion order for twenty-four young southern Somali journalists seeking refuge in Hargeisa in late 2007. To its credit that order was never carried out, and the government of Somaliland has also allowed itself to become the de facto refuge for thousands or more southern Somali displaced persons fleeing armed conflict in Mogadishu, despite a near-total lack of international assistance to meet their basic needs.

Human Rights in Ethiopia: political rights, the Somali region, and the Eritrean border In early 2005, leading up to the May 15 elections, Ethiopia appeared to be turning a corner with respect to international human rights. The Government of Ethiopia was allowing some—albeit limited—international press access and space for political opposition rallies in Addis Ababa. Yet since the disputed 2005 elections, plagued by accusations of electoral fraud and mass protest demonstrations, political repression greatly increased. As reported by Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the U.S. Department of State, these violations have included mass
arbitrary arrests and detentions, torture, extrajudicial killings, repression of ethnic minorities, intimidation of students and teachers, suppression of press freedom, and the less reported practice of targeting peaceful political opposition in the countryside. In several days of demonstrations in June and November 2005, government security forces shot and killed 187 people and wounded 765, including 99 women and several children. Six police officers were also killed in clashes with demonstrators.

In its most recent Country Report for Ethiopia, the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor reported human rights abuses including: unlawful killings, and beating, abuse, and mistreatment of detainees and opposition supporters by security forces; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention; restrictions on freedom of the press; restrictions on freedom of assembly and association; and discrimination against religious and ethnic minorities.

Prisoners of Conscience and Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) Trials While allowed very limited access to observe the trials in Addis Ababa, Amnesty International has nevertheless closely monitored their progress as a means to gauge overall human rights conditions for journalists, Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) opposition leaders, and human rights defenders in Ethiopia.

Defendants have been held in different sections of Kaliti prison on the outskirts of Addis Ababa. Conditions in the worst sections have been harsh, with severe overcrowding, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene.

Correspondence has often been prohibited, and private consultation with lawyers not allowed. Amnesty International has consistently called for the immediate and unconditional release of those defendants whom it classified as prisoners of conscience, because they did not use or advocate violence but were peacefully exercising their right to freedom of expression, association and assembly, as guaranteed by the Ethiopian Constitution and international human rights treaties which Ethiopia has ratified. Several trials of CUD leaders, journalists and human rights defenders began in spring 2006, with the prosecution resting its case in April 2007. More than 30 defendants were acquitted. In June 38 others, including human rights leader Mesfin Woldemariam and parliamentarian Kifle Tigneh, were convicted and sentenced to life, but they were pardoned and released in July, after a presidential pardon was negotiated by Ethiopian elders and other parties.

Two civil society activists and human rights lawyers, Daniel Bekele, policy manager of the Ethiopian office of ActionAid, and Netsanet Demissie, founder and director of the Organization for Social Justice, who refused to sign documents requesting pardon, were convicted in a trial which failed to meet international standards of justice, and sentenced to two years and eight months. Their convictions were based on evidence that did not prove beyond reasonable doubt that they committed a crime under Ethiopian law. While their release, after time served, was expected in early January they are still in prison. Yalemzawde Bekele, a human rights lawyer
working for the European Commission, was charged in July 2007 with conspiring to commit outrage against the constitution, but granted bail pending trial in late March 2008. Over 17,000 prisoners, mostly convicted criminals, were released in September 2007, by presidential amnesty upon the occasion of the Ethiopian millennium new year, while hundreds more CUD members detained in 2005 are still being held without trial.