CALGARY – An African human rights group is calling on Ottawa to refuse entry to an Ethiopian politician linked to a 2003 massacre.

Omot Obang Olom, governor of Gambella province in Ethiopia, is scheduled to give a speech in Calgary this weekend, encouraging expatriates from Gambella to return to the east African country.

Some human rights groups accuse him of being involved in the 2003 massacre by government troops of more than 400 people of Anuak ethnicity.

Olom’s visit is sparking a sharp rebuke from a Saskatoon-based organization, which accuses the governor of human rights abuses.

Obang Metho, director of international advocacy with the Anuak Justice Council, said Olom’s speech should be boycotted and argues Canada should refuse the governor entry to this country.

“This is a criminal,” Metho said of Olom.

Olom has denied he ever had a hand in the massacre. He reiterated his innocence in Minnesota last week, where he spoke to members of the Anuak diaspora there, saying he tried to stop the bloodshed.

At the time of the massacre, Olom was in charge of security in Gambella. He later became governor.

While he’s not accused of killing anyone, several human rights groups allege he helped draw up a list of targets.

A Human Rights Watch report says Olom, while head of security, took “an exceptionally hardline approach to stamping out the threat to regional security posed by Anuak (rebels).”

The report accuses Olom of responding to human rights complaints in 2004 with threats of more violence.

Calgarian Gatkuoth Bim is one of the organizers facilitating Olom’s visit to this city.

He believes the allegations against the governor are false rumours spread by those who want power in Ethiopia.

He also points out Olom is an ethnic Anuak, the same group targeted by the military in 2003.

“That killing happened,” Bim said. “But it does not mean (Olom) was the architect of the killing. He did not do anything, he has nothing to do with it.”

Bim said there are a “good number” of people from Gambella living in Calgary, most of whom welcome the governor’s visit.

He said Olom will speak about new economic opportunities in Gambella in an effort to convince people to return and invest in the region.

The governor is scheduled to speak Saturday at Calgary’s First Church of the Nazarene.

Meanwhile, Metho suggested Olom has been granted an entry visa to Canada and is due to fly from Washington D.C., to Ottawa Friday. He’s then scheduled to travel to Calgary.

The fact that Olom may be granted a visa to Canada is “most disturbing,” said Dan McTeague, the federal Liberal critic for Consular Services.

“I would find it of considerable concern for most Canadians to learn that Canada’s prepared to accept somebody who has a checkered past, particularly in violation of human rights, is granted open access to our country,” he said.

McTeague also points to the case of Bashir Maktal, a Canadian citizen originally from Ethiopia. The man has been held without charge in Ethiopia for 18 months.

“It’s to me ironic, and in fact contradictory, that Canada would be granting (Olom) any type of visa, when we can’t get in to see a Canadian citizen who’s been held incommunicado for almost two years,” McTeague said.

A spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada said the department takes public safety seriously.

Karen Shadd said she couldn’t say for privacy reasons if Olom had obtained an entry visa.

Richard Cuthbertson, Canwest News Service