OSASSO, 4 December 2007 (IRIN) – Genet Mengesha left her home in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, to undertake the uncertain, often treacherous, journey to Yemen shortly after the 2005 elections.
“I was tired of the violence; my brother was one of those students who were killed,” the 24-year-old Genet told IRIN on 2 December in Bosasso, capital of Somalia’s self-declared autonomous region of Puntland.
Genet and her husband had planned to make their way to the port city where they would pay a smuggler to get them into Yemen.
“We met a broker in Addis who charged us US$100 to get to Nazareth and then another broker to Harar [both in Ethiopia],” she said. “In Burao [Somaliland], the broker kept us in a compound for 15 days, robbed us and threatened to kill anyone who tried to escape.”
Three members of her group were killed when they tried to escape. “He killed a woman and two men, because they were so hungry they tried to see if they could find food,” she explained. “He is well known and feared.”
The group was put on a bus to Bosasso, but they were dumped before their destination. “We had no idea where we were, so we kept walking,” Genet said. “It took us four days to get to Bosasso.”
Despite the hardships, the group was happy to reach Bosasso – a trip Genet said cost her $300 – because it was the last stop to Yemen. “We had to spend time here to make some money to go to Yemen,” she said.
Because of her pregnancy and the difficulties in raising money, Genet and her husband agreed he should go ahead. But like many migrants, he drowned when the boat capsized near the Yemeni coastline – which she only found out weeks later when one of the survivors called.
Now the mother of a nine-month-old baby, the former university student lives in a shack with other would-be migrants in Bosasso.
Abdulkadir Nur, 30, arrived in Bosasso 15 days previously from Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital. Sitting on the dusty floor of a tea kiosk, the former bus driver and father of six weighed his options.
“I have heard of the dangers, but it is a risk I am willing to take,” he said. “Staying in Mogadishu was a guaranteed death sentence. If we were not killed by the shells and bullets, we would have died of hunger.”
He added: “There was no work because of the security; it got to the point where we could not get out of our house; [here] I have a 50-50 chance of survival and making it to Saudi Arabia.”
Constant influx
According to local authorities in Bosasso, the influx began in 2000 with Somalis who were escaping insecurity in the south. It expanded in 2004-2005 when Ethiopians joined in, becoming a fully-fledged business.
Over the years, scores of migrants have died. On 29 November, for example, more than 80 people, including women and children, died off the Yemeni coast, according to Somalia’s consul-general in Aden, Hussein Haji Ahmed.
According to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), at least 20,000 African migrants have crossed the Gulf of Aden this year in boats operated by traffickers from Somali ports; 439 people have died and another 489 are missing and feared dead.
Would-be migrants told IRIN there was a well-established route run by brokers, who are connected to boat owners, from Addis through Harar and Jigiga in Ethiopia; Togwajale, Hargeisa and Burao in Somaliland, and on to Bosasso.
Bosasso officials said there were thousands of would-be migrants in the port city, many living in difficult conditions with inadequate food, shelter and sanitation.
Photo: UNHCR Bodies of migrants collected on a beach in Yemen
“The sanitation problems in Bosasso caused by the migrants are obvious,” an aid worker told IRIN. “They sleep and use every available space as a toilet. We have been lucky so far as we have had no major outbreaks of any disease.”
Yusuf Nur Bide, the acting mayor of Bosasso, told IRIN: “Our estimate at present is that there are about 10,000 migrants in Bosasso; they are everywhere and are sleeping in the open with all the health risk this entails.”
There are “those who want to leave no matter what, economic migrants who want to find work and stay, and those who straddle the first two categories”, he added.
On average, he said, five trucks brought about 200 migrants each into Bosasso daily. Some of the migrants, particularly the Somalis, join the already established displaced community in the town while others set up makeshift shelters, he added.
Taskforce
Catherine Weibel, an information officer with UNHCR in Somalia, said an inter-agency taskforce had been set up to undertake an advocacy campaign targeting migrants seeking to reach Yemen.
It comprises representatives of several agencies including the International Organization for Migration (IOM), UNHCR, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
Bide said the local administration had cracked down on the problem “by arresting some smugglers, repatriating migrants and confiscating properties used to [house] smuggle people. We even passed a law to discourage people from helping them, hoping that they will go back if no-one helps them; but it did not stop them.”
Appealing for assistance, he said it was beyond Puntland’s capacity to stop the problem. “We need major help if we are going to stop this. The international community needs to accept that this is an international problem.”
Locals in the port city, however said, people-smuggling was a highly organised business with “wakiilo” (representatives) in all major towns of Somalia and Ethiopia.
The wakiil, one source said, work with “Mukhalas” (brokers) and boat owners. “Everybody knows who they are and where they operate,” he added. “If the government was serious about ending this, they could do it in an hour.”
Blaming the Puntland authorities for reluctance to address the problem “for financial and political reasons”, one boat owner said many of his colleagues were “politically connected” and “it would be politically difficult for the government to shut them down”.
Some local aid workers agreed that the authorities were not doing enough. “They could do a lot more if there was the political will,” one aid worker said.
However, Ali Abdi Aware, the minister for local government, told IRIN: “We have done more than anyone else to address this problem.” The administration, he added, had confiscated boats and trucks used to ferry migrants, arrested and prosecuted smugglers.
”The US with all its power could not stop Mexicans; the EU could not stop African migrants. How on Earth do you expect Puntland with its very limited resources to tackle the problem by itself?”
“The US with all its power could not stop Mexicans; the EU could not stop African migrants. How on Earth do you expect Puntland with its very limited resources to tackle the problem by itself? We have asked for help many times but none came forward. It is not a question of political will, but of resources.”
Apart from the inter-agency “mixed-migration” taskforce, there is no aid agency specifically tasked to help the would-be migrants in Bosasso. “They have no legal status, so there is not much one can do for them,” one aid worker said.
Another source said the aid agencies faced a dilemma. “You want them to have access to help but you don’t want to make it so attractive that more will come,” he said.
Aware said his administration would carry out campaigns to warn would-be migrants of the dangers involved. “Right now, that and pressure on boat owners is all we can do.
“We don’t have the means to patrol our coast as effectively as we would like; when we close one port they go to another,” he added. “Instead of criticising us for doing little, the international community should start doing a little bit.”
December 4, 2007
The Hon. Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20520
Via Facsimile: 202 647-2283
Dear Secretary Rice:
In advance of your meeting with Ethiopian officials in Addis Ababa, the Committee to Protect Journalists would like to draw your attention to our concerns regarding press freedom conditions there.
You may know that 15 Ethiopian journalists were recently released from prison, but this development belies the country’s sustained record of contempt for independent media, which manifests itself in a variety of legal and administrative restraints. The 15 jailed journalists were sentenced on trumped-up charges such as genocide in connection with the media’s coverage of Ethopia’s 2005 post-election unrest.
On November 26, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission confirmed that the Amharic and Oromo language broadcasts of Voice of America and Deutche Welle to Ethiopia have been jammed for the past two weeks. Information Minister Berhane Hailu told CPJ that outside reports of the jamming were not credible.
CPJ is also concerned about the whereabouts, legal status, and health of Eritrean journalists Tesfalidet Kidane Tesfazghi and Saleh Idris Gama of Eritrean state broadcaster Eri-TV. Official statements and videotape indicate that the Ethiopian government has been holding them incommunicado since their arrest by Kenyan authorities as they attempted to enter Somalia late last year. In September, CPJ wrote a letter to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi inquiring about these journalists’ status, but did not receive a response. Foreign Ministry spokesman Wahid Belay told CPJ in July that he could not provide any information regarding this matter.
In addition, out of the 15 journalists released this year, at least seven felt compelled to flee the country following harassment and surveillance by government security forces. Three others have yet to receive publishing licenses to resume their work despite fulfilling all legal requirements necessary for publication. Journalists Sisay Agena, Serkalem Fassil, and Eskinder Nega applied for licenses to launch Lualawi and Habsheba newspaper since September but have yet to be approved.
The October launch of Ethiopia’s first private commercial radio station, Sherger Radio, and private weekly, Addis Neger—the first independent political publication since 2005—were encouraging signs that Ethiopia is concerned about strengthening its press freedom environment. In light of the strong ties America shares with Ethiopia, we urge you to engage the Ethiopian government on this issue in your upcoming visit. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Joel Simon
Executive Director
The Committee to Protect Journalists
CC:
H.E. Sobusa Martin Gula-Ndebele, Ambassador of Ethiopia to the United Nations
H.E. Raphael Tuju, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kenya
H.E. Donald Yamamoto, U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia
H.E. Dr. Samuel Assefa, Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Ethiopia to the United States
Faith Pansy Tlakula, African Commission Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression
Reine Alapini-Gansou, African Commission on Human Rights Special Rapporteur on
Human Rights Defenders
U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Chairman, Committee on Foreign Relations
U.S. Senator Richard G. Lugar, Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Foreign Relations, and Co-Chair, Congressional Caucus for Freedom of the Press
U.S. Senator Russell D. Feingold, Chairman, Subcommittee on African Affairs, Committee on Foreign Relations
U.S. Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Member, Committee on Foreign Relations, and Co-Chair, Congressional Caucus for Freedom of the Press
U.S. Senator John E. Sununu, Member, Committee on Foreign Relations
U.S. Representative Tom Lantos, Chairman, Committee on Foreign Affairs
U.S. Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Foreign Affairs
U.S. Representative Donald M. Payne, Chairman, Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, Committee on Foreign Affairs
U.S. Representative Chris Smith, Ranking Minority Member, Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health, Committee on Foreign Affairs
U.S. Representative Adam Schiff, Founder and Co-Chair, Congressional Caucus for Freedom of the Press
U.S. Representative Mike Pence, Co-Chair, Congressional Caucus for Freedom of the Press
U.S. Representative Donald M. Payne,
Ethiopian Human Rights Council
American Society of Newspaper Editors
Amnesty International
Article 19 (United Kingdom)
Artikel 19 (The Netherlands)
Canadian Journalists for Free Expression
Freedom House
Human Rights Watch
Index on Censorship
International Center for Journalists
International Federation of Journalists
International PEN
International Press Institute
Michael G. Kozak, United States Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor
The Newspaper Guild
The North American Broadcasters Association
Overseas Press Club
The Society of Professional Journalists
World Association of Newspapers
World Press Freedom Committee
The Islamic Courts fighters have grown more powerful in recent months, regaining control of at least one-third of Somalia thanks to sophisticated attacks and unified ranks in the face of a weak government, Somali experts said on Monday, December 3.
“The Islamic Courts fighters are controlling some 30 percent of Somalia” Mohammad Al-Amin Al-Sheikh, a Somali expert in strategic affairs, told IslamOnline.net Monday, December 3.
“They have now tightened their grip on the southern provinces,” he added, referring to the strategic provinces of Shabele Dhexe, Juba Dhexe, Juba Hoose, Hiraan and Galguduud.
Al-Sheikh said anti-government tribal groups are virtually controlling 40 percent of the Horn of Africa country, while 25 percent enjoy de facto independence like Somaliland.
“This leaves the government in control of a meager 5 percent of Somalia, chiefly the main cities,” he noted.
Backed by the United States, the Ethiopian Woyanne army intervened in December of last year in the Somali conflict to help the weak interim government oust the Islamic Courts, which managed to briefly restore unprecedented order and stability on most of the Somali territories after more than 15 years of unrest.
The Courts ruled for six months after routing an alliance of warlords, who were also supported by Washington.
Since their ouster, the Ethiopian Woyanne and government forces have been coming under almost daily resistance attacks.
Why Powerful?
The Islamist fighters are more sophisticated and unified than the weak government troops, according to experts.
“The Islamist fighters outnumber the government troops, which are less experienced,” said Abu Bakr Al-Badri, a Somali journalist and political analyst.
There are some 6,400 Islamic Courts fighters including 4,000 in the capital Mogadishu, 1,500 in the south and 900 in the two provinces of Hiraan and Galguduud, according to Al-Sheikh.
“The government has 4,000 soldiers, but they are unable to match the powerful Islamic Courts because they lack a clear fighting strategy and many of them believe it is haram (unlawful in Islam) to take up arms against fighters resisting the Ethiopian occupation,” said Al-Sheikh.
After ousting the Islamic Courts, Ethiopia deployed some 40,000 troops in Mogadishu, Baidoa and Beledweyne.
The Islamist strength also lies in their flexibility and decentralization, and despite their different ideologies, they act in unison when necessary.
“They have proved pragmatic when they joined forces with nationalists and (liberal) intellectuals, forming the ‘Alliance for the Liberation of Somalia,’ in September under Sharif Sheikh Ahmed,” the former head of the Executive Council of the Islamic Courts, said Al-Sheikh.
The impressive performance of this alliance has made it a party to be reckoned with, encouraging regional and European heavyweights like Egypt and Italy to invite its leaders for talks, according to the Somali expert.
Realizing its growing influence, newly-appointed Somali Prime Minister Nour Hassan Hussein invited Sunday, December 2, Islamist opposition leaders for a dialogue to put an end to a deadly cycle of violence that has been raging since January claiming the lives of up to 6,000 people and pushing tens of thousands into a panicky flight.
“We are ready to speak with the Asmara group as long as they are ready to discuss with us. We are not naming anyone from the opposition leaders but we are ready for a positive advice and criticism,” Hussein told a Kenyan TV station, referring to the Eritrea-based Islamist-led opposition alliance.
Somali President Abdullah Yousef Ahmed had admitted that the Islamists were the de facto rulers of Somalia.
“Who is running trade, education, communication and health in Somalia?” Yousef asked in recent statements cited by local media and the Voice of America.
“It is the Al-Islah group (Muslim Brotherhood), Islamic Union Group (Salafists) and other (Islamist) groups”, he answered.
———————— EDITOR’S NOTE
This is a great news. The defeat of the fascist Woyanne forces in Somalia is a victory for the brave people of Somalia, and a source of hope and inspiration to the repressed people of Ethiopia.
The rate of Ethiopian Israelis joining the Israel Defense Forces is higher than that of the general population, the Knesset Committee for Immigration, Absorption and Diaspora Affairs was told Monday.
The committee was holding an emergency hearing to discuss the publication of recent data showing that a disproportionately high number of Ethiopian soldiers also wind up in army prison.
According to IDF statistics presented to the committee, which is chaired by MK Prof. Michael Nudelman (Kadima), 90 percent of Ethiopian males join the army, with 30% becoming part of fighter units. This at a time when the participation of the general population in the army has been plummeting. According to figures released in August, 25% of 18 year-old males avoided the draft.
However, the committee was also told that 20% of the Ethiopian soldiers end up deserting the army at some point in order to assist their families, many of whom are faced with severe economic difficulties.
“This committee calls on the IDF Spokesman to publish immediately the full statistics showing the high motivation of Ethiopian immigrants in joining the army,” said MK Colette Avital (Labor), who had urged the committee to discuss this issue.
The committee concluded that it was imperative to show the positive statistics as well as the negative in order to dispel the many stigmas surrounding the Ethiopian immigrant population and increase their chances for integration into mainstream Israeli society.
Lt.-Col. Moshik Aviv, head of the IDF’s Aliya and Integration Unit, presented the data and also pointed out that one out of six Ethiopian soldiers winds up in army prison, compared to only one out of 23 non-Ethiopian soldiers.
However, he said that the army has grown sensitive to the needs of the immigrant soldiers and he outlined to the committee some of the steps the army has taken in recent years to address the problem of desertion due to social issues.
Aviv highlighted two programs that the army initiated to cope with this issue.
The Gahlat (spark) program caters to soldiers rejoining the army following jail time and includes a specially tailored career path enabling them to continue tending to their families’ needs.
The Amir Program – also supported by the Immigrant Absorption Ministry, the American-Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and the Feuerstein Institute – works with Ethiopian soldiers to give them the tools they need to succeed in the military.
Aviv also said that the Education Ministry, together with the IDF, had begun to develop pre-army programs so that Ethiopian soldiers would fare better during their military service.
The placement of four Ethiopian girls in a separate class from their peers at a Petah Tikva grade school has sparked accusations of segregation on Tuesday morning following a report in Yediot Aharonot.
According to ‘Hamerhav’ principal, Rabbi Yeshiyahu Granvich, complete integration of the girls was impossible. The reason being, said municipal workers, was that the students were not observant enough, nor did their families belong to the national-religious movement that the school was founded upon.
Among the differences in the daily school life of the girls, a single teacher was responsible to teach them all of their subjects. Worse yet, the four were allotted separate recess hours and were driven to and from school separately. Such action has been labeled by observers as “apartheid.”
“I don’t understand why they are doing this to us… just because we are black,” one parent, who had noticed a drop in his daughter’s mood and a lack of new friends told Daniel Oria, an active member of the Ethiopian community. Oria told the newspaper that he tried to speak with the school’s principal but was asked to leave.
After Oria’s failed attempt, he filed a request with a municipal education official asking to bring an end to the alleged discrimination. In reply, the official claimed that the institution was an “elitist school which believes that students must first learn how to behave and only then can they be integrated.”
A similar request made to Petah Tikva Deputy Mayor Flatiel Eizenthal, a member of NU/NRP, gave a similar response, saying that he could not understand why the parents were so worried because the school knew better how to treat the children and that it was not worrisome that they were being separated.
Education Minister Yuli Tamir however, was “astonished to hear about the phenomenon,” claiming that the incident “has not been reported to the Education Ministry”.
“This is racism,” said Tamir, promising that if allegations proved accurate, the ministry would “act severely.”
It was already reported that Mekelle University issued a final call for Muslim Students to return back to the campus and start with their studies. At the back of this letter which carried a final ultimatum for students, there has been an intensive discussion underway to find a just way out. This yielded an acceptable deal where students may finally agree to return back to the campus and follow further for final settlement as the issue is no more an isolated case but a national issue.
Under this agreed upon understanding, students may continue offering their prayers in Jama’a as they have been doing so far. With regard to Friday prayer, students may use a plote of land next to the university. Until the crisis students use to perform thier Friday prayers on the football field of the campus. As prayer for Islam is not space bound but time, this deal is welcome by students.
The measure which Mekelle University became first to implement is not an issue of the University as such but an effort to implement a document that was released by the Ministry of Education on the rules and regulations Ethiopian educational institutions must follow.
For such measure that has come down from the top office, the reaction has to be also to that scale – at national level. Congnizant of this fact, students decided to return to their campus and continue for a fair and acceptable regulation.
In the mean time, the PM Meles Zenawi is reported to have commented on the issue at a moment he met academicians from Ethiopian higher institutions on Saturday 01. 12. 2007. Though he presented the case first incorrectly, he felt later the need to let all stock holders (students and the rest of the university community) discuss and enrich the proposed document. According to the information that reached him, students of Mekelle university asked for a plot of land to build Mosque inside the campus and for laud speakers to be installed each and every building, a demand that is impossible to realize. This incorrect presentation of the situation in MU was checked by a staff from Mekelle University who informed the PM that students did not present any new demand but keep the status quo that was accepted by the university so far.
This is a great success for all those who stand for respect for the basic right of Ethiopians to practice their religion and the fundamental principles of freedom and equality of worship. This does not mean however that the issue is solved for good. Both the individual and coordinated effort of students we so far seen need to continue. As the issue has far reaching implication than just what students face inside their campus, the actions of students need to be encouraged and get all the support it needs. Read more >>
