Mr. Obang O. Metho, Director of International Advocacy, for the Anuak Justice Council (AJC),

Speech at Martin Luther King, Jr. 4th Annual Human Rights Symposium, sponsored by Martin Luther King, Africa-African American Renaissance March Committee, at the Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta, Georgia, January 11, 2007

Good afternoon brothers and sisters. Thank you for inviting me to this historic event. First of all, I would
like to thank the Martin Luther King Africa-African American Renaissance March Committee, for
inviting me to the 2007 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Holiday 4th Annual Human Rights Symposium,
specifically on the subject, “Moving Forward Human Rights and Democracy in Africa, Peace on Trial in
Ethiopia.”

I would not have time to thank everyone, but would like to thank a few key people: the Reverend James
Orange, from Martin Luther King African American Renaissance March Committee, Ms Helen Butler,
the Coordinator for the Peoples’ Agenda, Mr. Charles Steele, the President of the SCLC (Southern
Christian Leadership Conference), the Reverend Charles White, the Field Coordinator for the NAACP
(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People), Ms. Juanita Jones Abernathy, Civil
Rights Activist, State Representative Mr. Tyrone Brooks, from the Georgia Association of Black Elected
Officials, Ms. Janice Mathis, the Coordinator of the Rainbow Coalition, Assim Kassim, from Ogaden
Human Rights Committee and many, many more who helped organize this symposium and
commemoration of Martin Luther King, Jr.

I would tell you it is an honor to be with you in this room. In fact, no words can express how I feel
standing on this stage before you—the reason being, I am standing with you today, not only to speak of
human rights, but also to honor one of the greatest heroes of human rights—Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I
am overjoyed to walk on the same streets of Atlanta that he walked on and to enter the same door he has
entered to this holy room—to take the same steps he has taken to this stage and to also speak to people
about love, peace, faith and respect. Standing here before you in this same sacred place he stood when he
was alive is something I never would have imagined or thought possible, but now I can say it was made
possible not by me or by anyone, but only by God. For this, I would like to thank our Almighty God who
gave me the life to be part of this world and reminds me that I have a purpose and that my purpose is to
help serve others, protect and care for those who are around me and for those I do not know. It is God
who showed me the way to come to this Country, city, church and to this platform. It will also be He who
I will trust to give me the words I will tell you today.

As the moderator Mr. Guled Kassim, who introduced me said, my name is Obang Metho and I represent a
small organization called the Anuak Justice Council. The Anuak, the ethnic group I came from, are a tiny
minority group found in Ethiopia and Sudan. They are ignored by the country in which they live. Most
have not had the opportunity to get an education and have been neglected in most every other area as
well. With that, I would like to say that even though governments or systems deny people access to
opportunities, God has room for everybody, from the minority to the majority. It is because of God’s
power, that even though I have been denied many opportunities, yet it is He that has made it possible for
me to here.

It is He that took me from that place of isolation and marginalization to come to this place where I would
never have envisioned; neither would those who denied me basic opportunities. God can overcome any
obstacles man has created. Instead, I am here to talk about the human rights crisis in Ethiopia. I will
include the crisis of all in Ethiopia because I cannot talk regarding the death of the Anuak and not
mention the deaths of the other Ethiopians of other ethnic groups. If I fail to mention them, I will be doing
injustice to the families of those who were killed in other places. This is especially true as I am speaking
on this stage where Dr. King spoke regarding injustice.

When he was alive and spoke about injustice, he did not preach about one tribe, one ethnic group, one
race or one color, but he spoke for the whole human race. He did not belong to one tribe and if he had a
tribe, it would be the tribe of human kind! That is what he died for and that is what he would have wanted
those to do who have come after him. Again, I appreciate everybody in this room and when I look at
everybody here, I see all of us are equal human beings who are seeking justice and peace for all, not only
in Ethiopia and Africa, but also in the United States and around the world.

I first got involved in human rights because of the atrocities that were committed by Ethiopian National
Defense forces against the Anuak. This happened three years ago and since then, I have been advocating
not for the rights of the dead, but for the rights of the living. I cannot do anything to bring back the lives
of those who died, but I can do something to protect those who are still living or who are still to be born,
from being killed and this is the reason why we are in this sacred place today. As you can see us today,
we all look different because we are from different ethnic groups, but we are the same people and are here
representing different organizations and political groups, but what joins us is our desire and commitment
to finding a solution to the crisis in Ethiopia that will bring the peace and freedom for which we long.
To my African American brothers and sisters, it means a lot to be invited to this symposium. It tells us
you are willing to work with us to find a solution to injustice, not only in Ethiopia, but also around the
continent. Your invitation is more than welcome. The African has been waiting for such an opportunity
for a long time. Thank you for making this happen, but I would also want to tell you that you are coming
to this struggle late as you all know.

Our mother continent of Africa remains the poorest continent in the world in terms of education, health
care, income level and overall well-being, despite being one of the richest continents in terms of natural
resources. In the age we are in, all we know of today’s Africa is misery, pain, suffering, death, killing,
rape and of many, many more critical problems. Many people do not want to hear about it or are even
ashamed of being from Africa after seeing what is going on there.

One has to ask why this is all happening and when it will end, if ever! To me, it will not end without all
Africans joining together and finding a meaningful ways to discover who we are. We are now in an age
where Africans are killing other Africans. Why is this happening more than it did a hundred years ago?
We are in an age where people go from home to home, pulling out fellow human beings, killing them
without any remorse. We are in an age where women have been raped in front of their children and
husband. We have lost touch with a sense of our humanity. Many will suggest various reasons for this,
but I believe it is because we have lost our spiritual connection with God and in losing that connection,
we have lost our morality with it.

People have become mechanical. They have lost the fear that there is someone bigger than themselves
that will hold them accountable for their actions. They think they can do anything and get away with it.
They may have forgotten that God will find them accountable even if they can circumvent the laws of
men. This attitude prevails with the elite leaders at the top positions in Africa, but it also reaches to many
of the people at the bottom. It has become part of our society. This is why you now hear of a soldier
raping a child and not feeling guilty—or of the leader of a country or a commander of the army, ordering
someone to be shot dead. Neither the person who pulled the trigger nor the person who gave the order
shows any remorse.

We think we can be fulfilled by short-lived pleasures such as money, luxuries, cars, bank accounts or
power. Outsiders from multi-corporations or countries, many with strong self-interests, can easily create
partnerships with such leaders. Because neither they nor the leaders fear God, they will exploit their own
citizens and to maintain their power and profit, they will divide the people or the tribe to weaken any
possibility of united resistance.

In Africa today, lots of wars and human rights abuses cause many people to die while at the same time,
someone is making money from it. To change such injustice, it will require a spiritual and moral
transformation. The people of Africa must take back responsibility, yet Africans cannot do it alone. The
African American has to join. The peace-loving human beings of any race or ethnic group must join—like
Caucasians, Asians, Arabs, Hispanics and all human kind who value fellow human beings. We have to
recover our humanity. We must recover our morality, regardless of what our religion is. We must recover
or discover the God who created us.

I urge you, my fellow African Americans, to join with us as we struggle to find a way to transform Africa.
The Africans need you. They need you right now. If Dr. Martin Luther King Jr would come here today,
he would ask so many questions. He would ask not only the African Americans, but also all human kind,
what is going on? He would ask—where were you when the genocide was taking place in Rwanda, in
Darfur and in many, many places? He would ask the African American—what have you done for the poor
black people in America, for the people in the Sudan and so on. He would urge you to help and to become
part of the struggle he started and died for.

So my appeal to you, my African American brothers and sisters, is to come and join the Africans who are
trying to ease the pain for other Africans who are suffering and who cannot speak up for themselves.
To conclude my points, we were called here to talk about the human rights issues of Ethiopia and how we
can resolve it. The problem of Ethiopia, to give some background, is a problem created by the ruling
government. The government of Ethiopia has stayed in power by the power of guns for 17 years. Within
these 17 years, they have not brought what they had promised—freedom, democracy and development.
What they have brought to their people instead is disaster, misery and death.

My own people, the Anuak, were victims of such deaths at the hands of the government of Ethiopia. On
December 13, 2003, 424 innocent civilians were killed by the government’s own security forces,
accompanied by some civilian militia groups that they had incited. At the time, many Anuak fled to
Sudan for safety.

Over 4000 Anuak remain in Sudan as refugees even now. One thousand more were imprisoned and
remain so today. The condition of the people has not improved, yet, to make matters worse, no one has
been found accountable for these killings.

The year of 2005 was a historic year for the Ethiopian people. It was the year of a national election where
an actual alternative to the ruling party was running in opposition, giving the people a choice. Many were
excited as international observers came to observe the election to ensure its legitimacy. The leaders of the
Opposition Party were educated Ethiopians who had lived in America and had gone back to Ethiopia to
run for election by first establishing a new political party, seriously challenging the ruling party for the
first time.

During the election, 26 million people, or 95% of all eligible voters, went to vote. When the election
finished, the ballots were first counted in the capital city of Addis Ababa and out of 24 seats, 23 of them
went to the Opposition Party. When the ruling party realized they were losing, they declared themselves
winners of the election before all the votes were counted from different regions. The Opposition party
protested and when many young students and others protested in a demonstration, the government’s
security forces shot and killed 193 of them in June and November. The election observers, including the
Carter Center in Atlanta and observers from the European Union, had concluded that the election failed to
meet international standards. The Opposition leaders, actually elected as parliamentarians, were arrested
in November of 2005 and charged with fabricated charges of genocide.

Now, over a year has passed since the elected parliamentarians were imprisoned and the international
community is not doing a lot about it. The country has now deteriorated into a police state. The Ethiopian
public does not support their government, yet the government is staying in power because they have the
guns and the military under their control—at least for now.

What is happening in Ethiopia today is the apartheid of 2007. Most of the US and other western
government policy makers know exactly what is going on in Ethiopia, but most have not taken
meaningful action. This is why we are here to tell you exactly what is going on in Ethiopia.
When Nelson Mandela was in prison, the civil rights groups in the US rallied. Some of you who rallied
then might include some of you who are sitting here today. You rallied for the release of Mandela even
though the US government’s administration at the time was supporting the apartheid government in South
Africa, This is very similar to what is going on now in Ethiopia today.

The current Ethiopian ruling government is supported by the US government because they are partners in
the War on Terror. But the African Americans have not been supporting the human rights activists—the
Mandelas of Ethiopia—who are fighting for the lives and freedom of the people. This is why I am asking
you to take on this case like you did the case of the people of South Africa. There are so many similarities
to it. The Ethiopian public wants their leaders to be released and they would want peace-loving people to
come to their aid to help them.

You need to remember what Dr. King said about this. He inspired many to action when he said, “Injustice
anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” If he were here today, I am convinced he would want all the
peace loving people to be on the side of the Ethiopians wanting peace, freedom and justice.
My message to African American brothers and sisters is this—let us not only celebrate the birthday of
Martin Luther King, Jr., but let us celebrate his message. Furthermore, let us not only celebrate this
message, but let us pass it on. We need to take more action and make fewer speeches. We need to build
more concrete roads and bridges that will take us to villages of love, peace, caring and harmony instead of
using old and failing bridges and highways that would take us to destruction and killing.

We need to build and name a school after Dr. King that teaches peace and love instead of one that teaches
hate and division. He would want us to be in a circle of love that would create a circle of unity. Such unity
should not be for just one group, but it should be spread around the globe. Then, let these circles
symbolize the globe that holds all human beings together in one world.

To the Ethiopian brothers and sisters—we need peace-loving people to work together with us. We need to
stop name-calling and whining. Instead, we need to take action.

To my African Americans sisters and brothers—Africans need you and you need the Africans. A world
without Africa would not be a perfect world.

Let what we do here today be like the flame from a candle that illuminates the dark room. Let these
flames from our actions that illuminate that dark room, spread its brightness over the entirety of the dark
continent of Africa making it glow with the warm light that reaches the dark corners of our universe.
Right now, it is our hope and vision to lift our heavy burdens from us. We have a massive rock put on top
of our continent, weighing us down. Everyone in that continent is feeling the weight of this heavy rock,
but I want to remind you that there is a spot on that rock where each of us can place our individuals
hands, slowly pushing this rock off of us before it crushes us all. Together, as we take hold to remove this
rock, we will find our strength, persistence and ability to do it if we look to God for guidance and help.
With God’s help, we can remove this rock.

Then, from under the rock, we will plant a new seed and see a healthy tree rise up. Soon that tree will
produce many branches and on those branches will come abundant fruit that will be relished by not only
those who have planted it, but by those who see it, pass by or eat from it. All human kind will be part of
that. May you reach out to that rock right now and take a firm hold and not stop until we can enjoy that
fruit of love, peace and justice together as we feast as one family around the table.

Stand up and start walking for freedom, peace, justice and equality! As you do, you will find others in
front of you, behind you and at your side. Do not look back— Keep your eyes ahead! Keep on talking!
Keep on walking! May God bless you as you take this walk! May God bless you all and may the march of
Dr. King live on as long as we live on this globe. May his message of love, peace and caring continue to
illuminate an internal light that never dies.

Thank you