U.S. Senator Russ Feingold, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on African Affairs, and a bipartisan group of his senate colleagues, sent this letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice regarding human rights abuses committed by the Meles regime’s military in the Ethiopia’s Ogaden region.
Dr. Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
Department of State
2201 C St. NW
Washington, DC 20520
July 31, 2007
Dear Madam Secretary:
We are deeply concerned by reports of systematic human rights abuses being committed by the Ethiopian military in Ethiopia’s Ogaden region. We believe it is the moral and legal duty of the United States to promptly and vigorously investigate these allegations and send clear, consistent messages that there will be serious consequences if these violations of national and international law are proven to be true.
As you know, last month the Ethiopian government announced a crackdown on Ogaden National Liberation Front rebels operating in Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region after the rebels attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration field in April. While the threat posed by the rebels is real and increased security measures in the area are warranted, the military’s operations appear to go far beyond what can be justified by national security concerns.
A New York Times article published on June 18, 2007, described “a widespread and longstanding reign of terror, with Ethiopian soldiers gang-raping women, burning down huts and killing civilians at will.” Although aggressively denied by Ethiopian authorities, reports of murder, torture, rape and village burnings have been corroborated by independent observers and aid groups struggling to respond to the growing humanitarian crisis in the region.
On July 4, 2007, Human Rights Watch released a statement accusing the Ethiopian military of forcibly displacing thousands of civilians from rural areas to large towns to deny support for the rebels. The Ethiopian government has also imposed a commercial blockade on parts of the region, preventing both normal commercial exchange and the delivery of food aid and other essential humanitarian assistance. The blockade has already provoked serious food shortages and large sectors of the population may face a severe emergency if commercial and humanitarian access is not immediately restored and preserved as the coming rainy season brings the threat of renewed flooding.
For years, the State Department’s own Human Rights Country Reports have cited unlawful killings and arbitrary detentions by Ethiopian security forces and police, most of which have never been investigated or resolved. In the meantime, the United States Government has been providing increased non-humanitarian assistance to Ethiopia, with a request to nearly double that support next year.
We understand that the United States has a valuable strategic relationship with the government of Ethiopia. However, we believe it is of fundamental importance to ensure that in our relationships with all governments on the African continent and around the world, the United States demonstrate a steadfast commitment to human rights, good governance, and justice.
We urge you to intensify pressure on the Ethiopian government to respect fundamental human rights norms even as it pursues critical security objectives. We expect that you will keep us appraised of new information regarding the Ethiopian military’s operations and conduct in the Ogaden and how the United States is responding.
Thank you for your attention and timely action on this important issue.
Sincerely,
Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI)
Senator Norm Coleman (R-MN)
Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)
Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME)
Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Senator Joe Biden (D-VT)
Senator Ben Cardin (D-MD)
Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA)
Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
CC: Assistant Secretary Jendayi Frazer
CC: Ambassador Don Yamamoto
New York, August 2, 2007—Ethiopia’s High Court handed down heavy prison sentences to four journalists jailed in connection with their coverage of deadly post-election unrest in 2005, after the journalists waived their defense and pleaded guilty in anticipation of a pardon, according to local sources. All of them worked for now-defunct Amharic-language weeklies.
Editors Dawit Kebede of Hadar and Wosonseged Gebrekidan of Addis Zena were sentenced Monday to four years in prison each on charges of “inciting and conspiring to commit outrages to the constitutional order,” their former lawyer, Weneawake Ayele, told CPJ.
Monday’s ruling followed the Friday convictions of editor Goshu Moges of Lisane Hezeb and freelance columnist Tadios Tantu, jailed in February 2006 on similar charges, after accusations of “belonging to an illegal political organization,” according to Ayele. Moges, who had issued public statements critical of the government crackdown on the press and government opponents, was sentenced to 10 years and Tantu to 15 years.
“We condemn the harsh criminal penalties falsely linking the activities of four more members of Ethiopia’s beleaguered press corps to deadly violence in 2005,” said CPJ Executive Director Joel Simon. “We call on the government to drop all prosecutions of journalists in connection with their coverage of the 2005 unrest, in line with its assertion that it is not seeking revenge.”
All four journalists were expected to regain their freedom in the coming days on conditional pardon, joining four others pardoned last month, local journalists told CPJ.
At least six journalists remain in Ethiopian prisons, making the country the second leading jailer of journalists in Africa after neighboring Eritrea, according to CPJ research.
Addis Ababa (Reuters) – About 50 000 Somalis have crossed into neighbouring Ethiopia in the past six months of instability in their homeland, and most are living without humanitarian aid, the United Nations said on Wednesday.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said a majority of the would-be refugees were women and children fleeing fighting in Somalia where an Islamist movement took control of most of the south in June but fell over the New Year.
“Most of these people are being taken care of by family and clan members in Ethiopia, with no assistance from humanitarian agencies thus far,” the UNHCR statement said.
“UNHCR will need to conduct a screening and registration to be able to extend the necessary protection to identified refugees,” it added, without saying when that could take place.
UNHCR said the 50 000 new arrivals were on top of 17 000 Somali refugees already at the Kebribeyah camp near Jijiga in the northeast.
At the peak of the Somali influx into Ethiopia in 1997, there were 628 000 Somali refugees in the country, but most were repatriated back to Somalia, according to UNHCR.
Shimeles Gessesse (August 06, 1954 – July 23, 2007)
KEIZER, OREGON – Shimeles Gessesse (Shimmy) was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on August 6, 1954. He came to the United States in 1975 to attend Oregon College of Education (now WOU) in Monmouth, Oregon. He married his wife of 27 years, Juli Hinkley, on August 30, 1980, and they graduated from OCE in 1981. Shimmy played soccer of OCE and later coached the men’s soccer team, as well as helped to start a women’s soccer team.
While Shimmy worked for the Department of Corrections in Salem for 21 years, he also actively supported the growth of the Ethiopian/African community in Portland. He helped many refugees successfully rebuild their lives in America. He also established the Abyssinia Soccer Club, which he built to be an outstanding team that participates in a local Portland soccer league. He was also a founding member of the Ethiopian Sports Federation in North American (esfna.org), whose annual soccer tournament is a highlight of Abyssinia Soccer Club season.
Shimmy was greatly loved by countless people, whose lives were touched by his enduring kindness and generosity. Shimmy’s heart held an endless amount of compassion for friends and strangers, alike. He will be dearly missed by those of us he has left behind, as he takes his place with God in Heaven.
Shimmy was preceded in death by his father, Gessesse Shebeshi.
He is survived by his mother, Weynitu Yohannes; his wife, Juli; daughter, Abyssinia; son, Noah; and son, HaileGabriel. He is also survived by his brothers, Tedla, Adamassu, Tameru, Ayele, Ambacho, and Tewedros; and sisters, Kokebe and Mulumebet.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, August 3 at the Maranatha Church, 4222 NE 12th Ave., Portland.
The burial will follow at 1:30 p.m. at the Rose City Cemetery, 5625 NE Fremont, Portland.
Shimeles Gessesse (August 06, 1954 – July 23, 2007)
KEIZER, OREGON – Shimeles Gessesse (Shimmy) was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on August 6, 1954. He came to the United States in 1975 to attend Oregon College of Education (now WOU) in Monmouth, Oregon. He married his wife of 27 years, Juli Hinkley, on August 30, 1980, and they graduated from OCE in 1981. Shimmy played soccer of OCE and later coached the men’s soccer team, as well as helped to start a women’s soccer team.
While Shimmy worked for the Department of Corrections in Salem for 21 years, he also actively supported the growth of the Ethiopian/African community in Portland. He helped many refugees successfully rebuild their lives in America. He also established the Abyssinia Soccer Club, which he built to be an outstanding team that participates in a local Portland soccer league. He was also a founding member of the Ethiopian Sports Federation in North American (esfna.org), whose annual soccer tournament is a highlight of Abyssinia Soccer Club season.
Shimmy was greatly loved by countless people, whose lives were touched by his enduring kindness and generosity. Shimmy’s heart held an endless amount of compassion for friends and strangers, alike. He will be dearly missed by those of us he has left behind, as he takes his place with God in Heaven.
Shimmy was preceded in death by his father, Gessesse Shebeshi.
He is survived by his mother, Weynitu Yohannes; his wife, Juli; daughter, Abyssinia; son, Noah; and son, HaileGabriel. He is also survived by his brothers, Tedla, Adamassu, Tameru, Ayele, Ambacho, and Tewedros; and sisters, Kokebe and Mulumebet.
Services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, August 3 at the Maranatha Church, 4222 NE 12th Ave., Portland.
The burial will follow at 1:30 p.m. at the Rose City Cemetery, 5625 NE Fremont, Portland.
GENEVA (Reuters) – The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has pulled out from Ethiopia’s restive Ogaden region following a government order, but still hopes to return, a spokeswoman said on Thursday.
Authorities in Ethiopia last week gave the Swiss-based humanitarian agency seven days’ notice to leave, accusing it of consorting with rebels, an accusation it has rejected.
“We have left the Somali region, our two offices there are closed,” ICRC spokeswoman Anna Schaaf said in Geneva.
Its 10 expatriate staff arrived in the capital Addis Ababa on Monday by road and remain on standby, she said.
“We are determined to have a good dialogue with authorities to see if we can return. We don’t know what will become of the people we were assisting, there will be a hole,” Schaaf said.
The expulsion shocked other humanitarian groups working in the desolate Ogaden area bordering Somalia, where a guerrilla group has accused the Ethiopian authorities of blockading food relief, choking commercial trade and risking “man-made famine”.
The ICRC, which has said it performed its aid work “impartially and on strictly humanitarian grounds”, carried out a variety of relief projects during its 12 years there.
Until the eviction, it provided medical supplies to hospitals and health care centres, trained livestock owners, carried out water and sanitation projects, and visited detention centres to evaluate conditions and treatment of prisoners.
On Wednesday, an Ethiopian rebel group, the separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front accused government troops of having killed two local aid workers in Ogaden on July 29.
The dry region, populated largely by nomadic camel herders, is effectively off-limits to most human rights workers and journalists.
KEIZER, OREGON – Shimeles Gessesse (Shimmy) was born in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on August 6, 1954. He came to the United States in 1975 to attend Oregon College of Education (now WOU) in Monmouth, Oregon. He married his wife of 27 years, Juli Hinkley, on August 30, 1980, and they graduated from OCE in 1981. Shimmy played soccer of OCE and later coached the men’s soccer team, as well as helped to start a women’s soccer team.