Ghimbi, Ethiopia — First, the police threw Tesfaye into a dark cell. Then, each day for 17 days, it was the same routine: Electric shocks on his legs and back, followed by beatings with rubber truncheons. Four or five officers would then surround and kick him. At last, a large bottle of water would be tied around his testicles. He’d pass out.
Tesfaye’s crime? Maybe it’s that he refused to join the ruling party of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. He was accused of organizing street protests in late 2005. Police suspect he’s a member of a rebel group called the Oromo Liberation Front. Tesfaye doesn’t know for sure because no court ever charged him with a crime.
“They took us turn by turn to a dark place, and they would shock us and say, ‘What do you think now? You won’t change your ways now? Do you want to be a member of our party now?’ ” Tesfaye recalled of his time in prison early last year. He refused to give his last name for fear of being rearrested.
Accounts like this are common in today’s Ethiopia. Interviews with dozens of people across the country, coupled with testimony given to diplomats and human rights groups, paint a picture of a nation that jails its citizens without reason or trial, and tortures many of them — despite government claims to the contrary.
Such cases are especially troubling because the U.S. government, a key Ethiopian ally, has acknowledged interrogating terrorism suspects in Ethiopian prisons, where some detainees were sent after being arrested in connection with Ethiopia’s invasion of Somalia in December. There have been no reports that those jailed have been tortured. The invasion ousted an Islamic movement accused of having ties to al Qaeda that threatened to topple an interim Somali government struggling to control the country.
The Bush administration maintains that Meles’ government, a leading partner in its war on terror in East Africa, is committed to democratic and human rights reform. The government was severely criticized for a 2005 crackdown that saw tens of thousands of opposition members jailed and nearly 200 people killed following elections in which the opposition made major gains.
People across Ethiopia recounted stories of a government backsliding on human rights issues. They told of confinement for days in tiny, dark cells with their hands bound 24 hours a day; electric shocks; beatings with rubber clubs; police who held guns to prisoners’ heads; mutilation or pain inflicted on the genitals.
“If you think differently, that is enough to put you on the side of the opposition,” said 34-year-old Teferi, who recently was released from prison after two months without being charged with a crime. “If you say, ‘This is not right, this is right, it’s good to rule peacefully,’ if you talk something fair, it’s over for you because there is no fairness from them.”
Teferi said a police source told him that he was arrested because he played too much pingpong — and that police suspected he was recruiting people to a rebel group while he played. He said he was imprisoned at a police training camp called Sankele outside the city of Ambo, which the International Committee of the Red Cross has been barred from visiting.
Ethiopian officials dismiss stories of torture as lies, and have taken the further step of expelling everyone from foreign journalists to representatives of human rights groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. Ethiopian reporters for the U.S.-financed Voice of America must work in secret for fear of harassment.
Bereket Simon, a top adviser to Meles [and a psychopathic liar], said it’s in the interests of rights groups to lie about the situation, and he rejected the idea that torture occurs in Ethiopia.
“No way. No way. No way. I think you know, these are prohibited by laws, by Ethiopian laws — torture, any human treatments,” Bereket said. “In fact, we have been improving on our prison standards. We’ve been working hard to train the police forces, the interrogators.”
U.S. officials say Washington’s close alliance with the government in Addis Ababa allows it to raise concerns about Ethiopia’s record privately. The State Department is requesting more than $500 million for Ethiopian aid in fiscal 2008, almost all of it for HIV/AIDS relief. The United States trains Ethiopian troops, and the two governments have shared intelligence about Somalia.
U.S. Ambassador Donald Yamamoto said he wants to investigate claims of abuse, but warned against making allegations about Ethiopia’s actions without proof.
“There’s a lot of misinformation about Ethiopia — I mean, it’s amazing,” Yamamoto said. “The problem comes in trying to divide or separate what is fact and what’s fiction, and trying to keep an open mind on every issue. … There are problems, and we’re free to admit that, and the Ethiopians are open to admitting that as well.”
Ethiopia’s critics are skeptical of the government’s promises to improve its human rights record.
“Over the years, the more I see, the more I become convinced that not only does the government tolerate it, but I think they direct this kind of behavior,” said Ethiopian-born Theodros Dagne, a senior aide to Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., a leading critic of Ethiopian practices on human rights.
European diplomats and employees of Western aid groups, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they keep quiet about abuses because they fear the government will freeze them out of aid work. About 2.8 million of Ethiopia’s 75 million people depend on foreign food aid.
Washington’s steadfast support has led some Ethiopian opposition leaders to assert that Meles’ government has only been emboldened.
“We fully believe that the international community is not going to democratize this place — it’s going to be the tough task of the Ethiopians,” said Beyene Petros, a lawmaker and leader of the United Ethiopian Democratic Forces, a coalition of opposition groups. “Simply, the U.S. State Department’s or the U.S. government’s position on Ethiopia is that it’s a friendly government, and how can you go and quarrel with your friend because somebody told on him?”
Zoe Alsop contributed to this story, which was reported with a grant from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Ethiopia remains at the bottom (119th out of 122 countries) when it comes to the effective use of information and communication technology (ICT), according to a new report from the World Economic Forum. The WEF’s Global Information Technology Report (GITR) has been published annually since 2002 and uses a Networked Readiness Index (NRI) to measure the degree to which countries are able to take competitive advantage of their ICT resources. The NRI attempts to quantify each country’s ICT capabilities across three dimensions: the readiness of governments, businesses, and individuals to effectively utilize ICT; the general ICT regulatory, business, and infrastructure environment; and usage of available technology by the above stakeholders. Read the full report here.
The State Department’s 2006 human rights report for Ethiopia cited “numerous credible reports that security officials often beat or mistreated detainees.” It included more than 30 pages of detailed accounts of violations, ranging from the beating of teenagers to arbitrary arrests to the banning of theater performances that send the wrong political message.
Among the most notorious recent cases was a raid on a high school in the western town of Dembi Dollo. Students had protested the killing by police of a local teenager, and began throwing stones. What followed was a raid by about 30 riot police, who crashed into the school compound and chased after students, beating them with nightsticks. Several were hospitalized. Sixteen of those left standing were taken to jail.
Many of the most seriously injured were girls because the boys were strong enough to scale the school compound walls and flee, according to a teacher who was in the school during the raid. He spoke anonymously for fear of arrest.
“First, the majority of students were harmed. Some of them, their hands were broken. Some had teeth falling out,” said the teacher. “And the majority of them were female students because the male students already escaped. The girls just were attacked at that time.”
In a recent interview with Al-Jazeera television network, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi acknowledged that his country’s human rights record was a work in progress. Still, he said the State Department annual reports “tend to get things wrong.” He has yet to respond to letters from human rights groups demanding an explanation for the police beatings in Dembi Dollo.
Concerns about Ethiopia’s rights abuses may arise in the coming weeks in Congress, where Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J., is redrafting legislation that would limit U.S. assistance to Ethiopia if it does not improve its human rights record. Last year, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives quashed a similar bill after Meles’ government lobbied hard against it.
Source: UN Integrated Regional Information Networks
Somali community leaders in Sana’a said on Saturday that 130 Ethiopian and Somali migrants died at sea when their boat capsized off the Yemeni coast after coast guards opened fire on them.
Three boats carrying 460 Somalis and Ethiopians left the Somali port of Bossaso on 9 April and arrived in Yemeni regional waters late on 12 April.
“As the smuggling boats entered the Yemeni waters, coast guards began firing on them, causing one boat to capsize,” Sadat Mohammed, head of refugee affairs in the Somali community in Sana’a, told IRIN.
“The boat was carrying African migrants, most of whom were women from Ethiopia. The shooting forced the terrified passengers to move and they couldn’t maintain their balance. Their boat capsized as a result,” Mohammed added.
The Somali leader said the other two boats fled and escaped being fired on.
“One of these boats headed for Hosn Bel-Eid, in Abyan province. Smugglers forced the passengers off [before reaching] the coast. Thirty-five died, and some others were missing,” he said.
As the smuggling boats entered the Yemeni waters, coast guards began firing on them, causing one boat to capsize.
The third boat took another route towards the southern province of Hadhramout, Mohammed said. About 35 passengers survived, but the rest are missing.
Mohammed expected the strong sea waves to bring the dead bodies ashore. “Some have been buried, but there are still dead bodies scattered out there. We call on local authorities to help bury them,” he said.
This is the second incident of its kind this month. A week ago, the United Nations Refugees Agency (UNHCR) said three boats arrived at the Yemeni coast with 365 people, of whom 34 drowned in deep waters after being forced overboard by smugglers.
“Witnesses and survivors said two of the boats had begun dropping their passengers offshore when they reportedly came under fire from Yemeni authorities and moved back out to sea,” UNHCR said in a statement.
Additionally, on 22 March, 35 migrants died and 113 others went missing after making the perilous sea voyage from Somalia to Yemen.
The Somali community in Sana’a expressed concern over the deaths among new arrivals fleeing the civil war in their country.
“Incidents of deaths among new arrivals are always repeated, especially as war continues and people flee homes. Not only do migrants die in Yemeni waters, but sometimes boats capsize in deep sea far away from Yemen,” Mohammed said, adding that the journey by boat to Yemen costs US $100, twice what it cost a few months ago.
Early this month, UNHCR said nearly 100,000 Somalis are believed to have fled the Somali capital, Mogadishu, since the beginning of February.
In 2006, about 26,000 people made the Somalia-Yemen trip and at least 330 died, according to UNHCR. Another 300 who were reported missing are now thought to be dead.
A signatory to the 1951 UN Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol,
Yemen is home to more than 100,000 refugees, mostly Somalis.
The scenes coming out of Mogadishu are so horrible that they are unbearable to watch. Civilians are lying dead in their homes and on the streets; there is no water; no electricity; hospitals have been shelled and one hospital has been partly destroyed and then taken over by Meles’ forces–a direct attack on the Geneva Conventions. Phalanxes of Meles’ tanks are firing shells on civilian targets; field artillery is being directed at whole neighborhoods. More than 100,000 have fled their homes in Mogadishu and are exposed to the elements in the countryside. These are all war crimes and crimes against humanity.
One would expect an outcry from the world; instead there is an awful silence. What has happened? Has the world become desensitized to the death of Somalis? How else can one explain this immoral silence coming from the rest of the world? For sure, the media is partly to blame because instead of exploring what the real issues are, they have fallen for the mantra of post-911—fighting ‘fundamentalist remnants’. Therefore, the thousands of victims in Mogadishu are supposedly ‘fundamentalist remnants’, or ‘remnants of the Islamic courts’, or ‘Islamist rebels’; so, the West and the AU have chosen to close their eyes while the ‘Islamist rebels’ are being taken care of by Meles’ Tigrean officered hordes (of course, the majority of Ethiopians do not agree with Meles on this and are sick and tired of the man’s endless wars while poor Ethiopians are dying of famine and diseases). That is the line of justification presented to the world by the media. But the truth is what we have now in Mogadishu is a popular resistance; calling it the remnants of the Islamic courts is nonsense; there may be Islamists in the ranks of the resistors but who said that Islamists have no right to life in their own country. The undeniable truth is that the city of Mogadishu is just full of the people of Mogadishu, whatever political convictions they may hold, and what should be clear to all by now is that they just do not want Meles’ forces and their collaborators–the TFG and its reptilian leader, Col. Abdullahi Yusuf.
The TFG is not a government to the people of Mogadishu nor to the vast majority of Somalis- To all intents and purposes, there is no government worthy of the name in Mogadishu or anyone’s support. The TFG, from the start, was farce foisted on the Somalis by Igad, led by Ethiopia and Kenya, while the funders, the EU and other interested foreign entities, chose to put on blinkers, while the farce was being prepared. However, it remained only a laughter inspiring farce until Meles of Ethiopia found an excuse to invade Somalia and install it in Mogadishu—delivering a modern day Vichy government for Somalia. Created in that despicable fashion, there is no chance that the TFG and its Meles picked leadership would initiate reconciliation and peace inside Somalia. If anything, the top leadership of the TFG, including the murderous colonel, are now party to the crimes being committed in Mogadishu, and should stand trail.
The question of the moment is who will bring justice to the people of Mogadishu? Will the US, party to the Meles’ intervention through funding, intelligence gathering and other actions, accept a resolution authorizing a war crimes probe in Mogadishu? It seems unlikely under the Bush regime, especially since US warplanes killed a lot of innocent nomad Somalis in the Kismayo area, the under the guise of the so-called ‘war on terror.’ Who else is out there? The Kenyans have imprisoned poor Somali refugees fleeing turmoil and handed them over to Meles’ forces, who made them disappear-what else can you expect from the man who has been tenaciously sitting at the helm in Ethiopia for the last 15 years and who resolutely clings to power at any prize, including massacring the students at Addis Ababa University in their dormitories. As for the African Union, it is supporting Meles’ actions in Mogadishu. The UN has also acquiesced to the presence of Meles’ forces and their Somali quislings. The Arab League is just too occupied with affairs closer to its center. Who remains then? Will the EU take the lead and call for an investigation?
In the end, it seems that one will help the poor Somalis to bring justice to those who have committed war crimes against them. So what else can be done? I urge all Somalis to start putting this issue forward, to gather all evidence, such as the time and place of crimes, who were the Ethiopian (Meles’) commanders and their Somali collaborators. We also should start collecting narratives from civilians. Additionally, diaspora Somalis should start putting pressure on their home governments.
We should, for a while at least, put away all our political differences and focus on this matter. I call upon Col. Yusuf’s supporters to join us in this effort-there can be no excuses for not condemning the massacres being committed in Mogadishu. At any rate, any sane person would figure out by now that Col. Abdullahi is well beyond the point of no return; so no one should entertain dreams of seeing him happily ensconced in Villa Somalia and profiting from being related to him or having supported him. Somali History shows that when one segment of the population is being massacred and the other segment stays silent, in the end, the fires will consume both segments. That is exactly what happened in Hargeisa (and all over Somaliland) in 1988. There were many side liners and many unspoken ‘kill them’ statements, from Barre’s supporters, back then. In the end, the fires ignited by Barre’s savagery consumed all Somalis. This time it is the people of Mogadishu who are being victimized by Meles and his henchman, col. Yusuf. To be silent is tantamount to being an accessory to the crimes.
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Dr. Mohamed Diriye Abdullahi resides in Dubai, UAE, and can be reached at [email protected]
Ethiopia has denied allegations its soldiers in Somalia attacked and killed innocent civilians during heavy fighting against insurgents in the Somali capital earlier this month, calling the charges false and unfair. VOA Correspondent Alisha Ryu reports from our East Africa Bureau in Nairobi.
Allegations that Ethiopian soldiers in Mogadishu committed war crimes surfaced last week in an e-mail message to Eric van der Linden, the chief of the European Commission’s delegation to Kenya.
The e-mail, written by a security advisor to the commission, said that there were strong reasons to believe that Ethiopian troops, along with soldiers of Somalia’s interim government, intentionally attacked civilian areas during an Ethiopian-led military operation to root out suspected insurgents in the Somali capital.
The assault from March 29 to April 1 triggered some of the worst violence in Mogadishu in more than 15 years, leaving more than 1,000 people dead. In some insurgent strongholds, Ethiopian rockets, tanks, and artillery reportedly demolished entire neighborhoods.
In the e-mail, the security advisor also suggested that more than 1,000 Ugandan peacekeepers, who arrived in Mogadishu last month as the vanguard of an African Union peacekeeping force, were complicit in the war crimes because they did nothing to stop or prevent the deaths of civilians.
The governments of Ethiopia and Somalia say the insurgency, which began soon after Ethiopian and Somali troops drove the Islamic Courts Union out of power in Mogadishu last December, is being fueled mainly by extremists inside the courts and their supporters.
Ethiopia Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Solomon Abebe says while civilian deaths during the military offensive were regrettable, Ethiopian and Somali government troops did nothing wrong.
“In fact, the [war] crimes were committed by extremists, who are defying resolutions of the Security Council and the wishes of the international community,” she said. “These extremists have been killing innocent people of Mogadishu daily. They were attacking, using mortars and missiles. They were killing and shelling civilians, starting from the beginning.”
The European Commission’s delegation to Kenya says a team has been appointed to look into the war crime allegations against the Ethiopian and Somali forces.
It is treating the matter seriously because the European Union, along with the United States, provides critical financial and technical assistance to Somalia’s struggling transitional government and the African Union peacekeeping mission.
The European Commission has no authority to prosecute war crimes, but it can refer findings to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
On Saturday, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer said that she believed all sides in the conflict used excessive force, but blamed insurgents for starting the fighting by firing mortars from populated areas.
Meanwhile, a fragile, week-old ceasefire between the Ethiopian military and Mogadishu’s dominant Hawiye clan was shattered early Wednesday. Witnesses say Ethiopian troops and insurgents engaged in heavy fighting around the city’s main stadium.
The United Nations estimates about 124,000 people, or about a tenth of Mogadishu’s population, have fled since early February because of the relentless violence.
