Testimony of Saman Zarifi, Human Rights Watch’s Washington Advocate
October 3, 2007
The U.S House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health
“The Human Rights and Humanitarian Situation in the Horn of Africa: The Cases of Somalia and the Ogaden Region of Ethiopia”
Thank you Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, for providing Human Rights Watch this opportunity to voice our concerns about the dire, and deteriorating, human rights and humanitarian situation in the Horn of Africa, and particularly in regard to Somalia and the Somali region of Ethiopia.
We are at a critical moment for the Horn of Africa and its people. Over the past year we have seen an already volatile region become even more violent and unstable, with hundreds of thousands of civilians suffering massive crimes. There has been little or no response from important voices in the international community, including the United States.
These crimes are not only a serious issue from a human rights perspective, they need to be understood as part of a deepening political and security crisis across the Horn of Africa. The situation in the Horn today is complex, but what is clear is that if we are to avert a deepening regional crisis we must see an urgent and radical change of policy by some of the key regional actors—and their international supporters—in order to address the current dynamic of increasing violence, instability, and human suffering.
Human Rights Watch has been closely monitoring events in Somalia and Ethiopia, and recently published an in-depth investigation of crimes committed in Mogadishu, a city where hundreds have died and up to 400,000 people were displaced from the past six months of intense violence. Our research on the Ogaden area of Somali region, some of it as recent as this week, has uncovered a civilian population under siege and nearly driven to starvation by the various parties to the conflict.
Mr. Chairman, there are no clean hands among the hostile parties in these two conflicts. Human Rights Watch has documented serious abuses of civilians in the Ogaden, including summary executions, by the forces of the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front. We have published an in-depth investigation that describes a variety of crimes by insurgent groups in Mogadishu, including indiscriminate attacks and killings of civilians. We have also raised concerns about abuses by the forces of the Somali Transitional Federal Government, including repeated looting and obstruction of humanitarian assistance. We are enormously concerned by the Eritrean government’s extreme and systematic repression of its citizens.
However today Human Rights Watch would like to focus on the conduct of the Ethiopian military, not only because the Ethiopian government’s military forces have systematically committed atrocities and violated the basic laws of war, but because Ethiopia is a key ally and partner of the United States in the Horn of Africa.
The crimes committed by Ethiopian forces in the Ogaden and in Somalia are not unique, on the contrary they add to a mounting toll of abuses that have made Ethiopian security forces among the most abusive on the continent. Human Rights Watch has previously documented crimes against humanity by Ethiopian military forces in Gambella, and serious abuses in Oromia, Addis Ababa and other parts of Ethiopia.
We recognize that Ethiopia has legitimate and serious domestic and regional security concerns, and that all of the warring parties share responsibility for atrocities against civilians. Nevertheless, nothing justifies the severe violations we are witnessing today in the Ogaden, or the conduct of Ethiopian forces and their allies in Mogadishu.
In the Ogaden, we have documented massive crimes by the Ethiopian army, including civilians targeted intentionally; villages burned to the ground as part of a campaign of collective punishment; public executions meant to terrify onlooking villagers; rampant sexual violence used as a tool of warfare; thousands of arbitrary arrests and widespread and sometimes deadly torture and beatings in military custody; a humanitarian and trade blockade on the entire conflict area; and hundreds of thousands of people forced away from their homes and driven to hunger and malnutrition.
The Ogaden is not Darfur. But the situation in Ogaden follows a frighteningly familiar pattern: a brutal counter insurgency operation with ethnic overtones in which government forces deliberately attacks civilians and displace large populations, coupled with severe restrictions on humanitarian assistance.
Unlike in Darfur, however, the state that is perpetrating abuses against its people in Ogaden is a key US ally and recipient of seemingly unquestioning US military, political, and financial support. Furthermore the crisis in Ogaden is linked to a U.S.-supported military intervention by Ethiopia in Somalia that has been justified in terms of counter terrorism. Because the United States has until now supported Ethiopia so closely, there is a widespread and growing sentiment in the region that the United States also shares some of the blame for the Ethiopian military’s abusive conduct. The increasing resentment produced by the silence over these atrocities risks radicalizing parts of the large Muslim population in the region and undermining the United States’ stated goal of combating militant Islamist groups in the region. It is imperative for the United States to use its influence in the region to end these abuses and ensure the well-being of civilians caught in these conflicts.
It is with much trepidation that the people of Ethiopia are awaiting your reported visit to their country, which is ruled by a brutal regime that has lost the people’s vote of confidence in the elections of 15 May 2005 and has been terrorizing the citizens in violation of fundamental human rights principles.
As the Honorable Ana Gomes, the EU observer of the May 2005 elections affirmed, “… the current regime in Ethiopia is repressing the people because it lacks democratic legitimacy.”
Ethiopians are concerned that your visit will give the illegitimate regime undeserved recognition, and will further embolden it to continue to terrorize the people, squander their meager resources, and thwart their fight for freedom, democracy and social justice.
As holder of the European Union Presidency during 2007, you have enormous responsibility and influence on the world stage to ensure that brutal and illegitimate regimes do not oppress their people while projecting a false image of democracy to the outside world.
You have said, “….Africa now has more economic growth, more democratic governments and less conflicts.” Regrettably, the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has mismanaged the country’s economy, suppressed the people’s democratic rights, and has caused instability in the region by attacking a neighboring country.
In an editorial of July 18, 2007, The Wall Street Journal declared, “… [Zenawi’s] democracy is on paper only.” In a recent statement, U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy stated, “…the 2005 election was not the turning point many had hoped for.” 3 On July 23, U.S. Congressman Christopher Smith called Zenawi “a vicious dictator.”
Even by the accounts of the U.S. State Department Country Report,5 Ethiopia is a police state. The situation in that country today evokes an atmosphere of life under siege.
On the tragic days following Zenawi’s defeat in the 15 May 2005 elections, his special forces, the Agazi, mowed down 193 unarmed civilians, and maimed thousands of hapless city residents. Young college kids were inhumanly bayoneted;6 and unarmed civilians were brutally shot in the back as they ran for shelter. When the indiscriminate killings subsided, hospitals in Addis were crowded with mutilated bodies and gruesome pictures of the disfigured bodies of the victims filled the airwaves. The world watched in disbelief that such atrocities and brutality could be happening in these days and ages. A commission set up by his own government found Zenawi guilty of the massacre,10 and international human rights organizations roundly condemned the action as barbaric.
Several times earlier, the campuses of the country’s universities had also been scenes of experimentation for indiscriminate killings. On April 18, 2001 the Special Forces police opened fire12 on a peaceful protest organized by students of Addis Ababa University and killed at least 41 people and wounded 250. In January of 1993, hundreds of students were shot and mutilated by Zenawi’s police for peacefully exercising their freedom of expression.
Zenawi’s other crimes have also been fully documented. In the Gambella area, the Anuaks have been subjected to a government-sponsored genocide, and many more have been displaced from their homes. The Oromo people have been targeted for constant harassment, killings and torture for refusing to submit to Zenawi’s ethnic policy of divide and rule. In the Ogaden region, he has continued to commit war crimes, “… burning homes and property, including the recent harvest and other food stocks intended for the civilian population, confiscating livestock and, …, firing upon and killing fleeing civilians.” [HRW]
Zenawi has suppressed freedom of speech and the press, while projecting an image of an open society to donor countries. In a recent report, the Committee to Protect Journalists found Ethiopia at the top of a list of 10 countries where press freedom has deteriorated over the past five years.[IHT] In 2006 alone, eight newspapers were banned, two foreign reporters were expelled and several websites were blocked.
The government has used education and health as stealth weapons of oppression. According to the 2007 World Economic Forum report, Zenawi’s government occupies the dismal position of 124th out of 128 countries in terms of health and primary education. In a 2006 Human Development finding, Ethiopia is ranked 170th out of 177 countries with respect to a composite measure of life-expectancy, education and standard of living.20 The tuberculosis death rate per 100,000 population has doubled since Zenawi snatched the reigns of power from the previous dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam.
Added to the specter of terror is the grinding poverty that has gripped the populace, thanks to the widely publicized corruption of Zenawi’s government. According to the 2006 Global Transparency Corruption report Ethiopia had a Corruption Perception Index score of 2.4 out of a clean score of 10. Zenawi and his cronies continue to plunder, launder and squander the scarce resources of the country and the billions of dollars in aid money, through an elaborate financial, military and legal network. The government is run through a highly secretive and mafia-like clique that controls all the vital economic activities of that poor country through shadow corporations. As a consequence, the great majority of the people of Ethiopia are experiencing unprecedented economic hardships. Inflation has sky-rocketed,[CIA] and based on a recent World Economic Forum report, Ethiopia has slid to the rank of 123rd out of 128 countries in 2007 in the Global Competitive Index. Despite the grim economic figures, Zenawi and his cronies are laundering money in foreign bank accounts, and their spending spree on expensive lobbying is running high unbridled.[Harpers]
Chancellor Merkel,
In an eerie reminder of Stalin’s Great Purge, Zenawi recently coerced the opposition leaders he had illegally imprisoned into accepting responsibility for his own crimes, and mendaciously announced to the world his magnanimity in granting amnesty. Goethe said, “There is nothing in the world more shameful than establishing one’s self on lies and fables.” Prime Minister Zenawi has cunningly hoodwinked Western leaders into believing he was a “new breed” of African leader. In its June 2nd, 2007 issue, The Economist summed up as follows the bitter lesson Zenawi taught Mr. Blair:
“… If he [Blair] had left office a couple of years ago, his farewell safari might well have included Ethiopia. Meles Zenawi, …, was the most prominent African member of Mr Blair’s Commission for Africa but he repaid the compliment by allowing his police to shoot scores of protesters dead and arrest hundreds more in the wake of flawed elections in 2005. So now it is back to the old game of figuring out how to help people whose leaders are mainly interested in helping themselves.”
Fortunately, the world is now beginning to recognize Zenawi’s lies and viciousness, and newspapers all over the world are generously reporting his crimes against humanity. However, as Goethe also counseled, “Knowing is not enough; we must apply. Willing is not enough; we must do.” The people of Ethiopia are, therefore, pleading with you to exercise your enormous influence in the promotion of democracy and affirmation of the values that your government and the European Union uphold in the fight against tyranny and totalitarianism. In particular, they request that you stand on their side and support their demands for the:
1. Return of power to the legitimate winners of the 15 May 2005 elections.
2. Prosecution of those in power who are responsible for crimes against humanity.
3. Suspension of direct aid to the brutal and corrupt regime, so that donors’ money is not used for the purpose of oppressing the very people it is intended to help.
Cc:
Deutsche Welle, Amharische Redaktion, 53110 Bonn, Deutschland
E-mail: [email protected]
Mr. Günter Nooke, Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office, Auswärtiges Amt, Werderscher Markt 1, 10117 Berlin
BERLIN (Reuters) – Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, who broke the world marathon record on Sunday, believes it is only a matter of time before someone covers the 42.2-km distance in two hours flat.
Gebrselassie, 34, clocked two hours four minutes 26 seconds in Berlin on Sunday to better the four-year-old record held by Kenya’s Paul Tergat by 29 seconds.
“Sure, it will happen,” he told reporters on Monday. “But when? Will it be in 20 years? Or 40 years? Nobody knows. The more technology develops, the more athletes will run faster. I believe one day it will happen.”
Gebrselassie, who fell just 61 seconds short of Tergat’s record last year in Berlin after fading late in the race, ran consistently between 2.55 and 3.00 minutes a kilometre to the 34-km mark. He accelerated to 2.50 to 2.54 for the final eight.
“I can run 2:03, I have that feeling,” he said. “It is possible to run 2:03 here in Berlin. It will happen one day.”
Gebrselassie, the best distance runner of his era, is one of only three men to win consecutive Olympic 10,000 metres titles.
The Ethiopian has now held records at distances ranging from 3,000 metres to the marathon. He won four successive world titles over 10,000 before turning to road racing.
Gebrselassie, who has won four of the six marathons he finished, said there were a lot of flat, fast courses in the world but that London, Amsterdam or Fukuoka did not have all of the ingredients for the spectacular times Berlin has.
“For a special time everything has to be perfect,” he said. “If the marathon record is broken, I’m sure it will be in Berlin. Everything is perfect here.
“The course is fast, the weather was perfect — it’s not too hot or too cold, it’s in between. The air was very clear after the showers. The pacemakers were good. For me everything was perfect. You don’t often get all these things together.”
Gebrselassie said he has acquired a fondness for the German capital, where he also had great success on the track.
“When I missed the record last year, I thought I should do something about it and come back,” he said. “I had such a good memory of Berlin. It was like you go on holiday to a place and it’s nice, you’re happy, and want to go back again and again.
“If I can break the marathon world record again, I’m sure it will be in Berlin.”
A cold rain couldn’t dampen the spirits of the 100 members of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church who gathered on a softball field to celebrate one of their most joyous holidays.
The celebrants, many of whom had their heads and shoulders covered in gauzy white scarves, gathered under a white tent set up in the outfield.
But the focus was on a tower of evergreen branches, twigs and sunshine-yellow flowers, soon to be set alight in a bonfire commemorating the day’s origins.
On Sunday, Ethiopian Orthodox Christians from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and the surrounding area celebrated Meskel, or the day of the holy cross. It marks the discovery of the cross on which Jesus was crucified, decades after it was buried and lost.
Abey Ejegu, chairman of Ethiopian Orthodox Church at Sixth Street and Fairfax Avenue, said Meskel is one of his faith’s most important holidays.
“The cross makes a lot of miracles,” Ejegu said, referring to what he called the True Cross. When smoke from a bonfire ordered by Empress Helena in 326 pointed to the cross’ burial place, it became a day of rejoicing, he said.
The holiday traditionally is celebrated in late September. local Ethiopian Orthodox Christians chose Sunday as the day to celebrate because of their work schedules.
Ejegu estimates that 3,000 Ethiopians now live in Sioux Falls.
Guests Sunday include a bishop from Minneapolis, Kissi Abebe Lamesgen, and a bishop from New York, Abune Abraham.
Beka Megersa came from Minneapolis to attend the celebration. He sang the traditional religious songs, then took time to translate.
“The cross is the light of the world,” Megersa sang.
Church deacons held up ornate crosses, one in a filigreed metal, the other in carved wood. A chorus swayed in a gentle rhythm while playing traditional instruments, including large cloth-covered keberos, or drums.
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Germany’s Commerzbank announced plans on Monday to open a branch in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa.
The move comes before a one-day visit by German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the Horn of Africa nation this week.
“Commerzbank considers Africa as a rapidly emerging economic opportunity and plans to enhance its links with the African market,” the Frankfurt-based bank said in a statement.
Germany is the biggest buyer of Ethiopian coffee, one of the country’s key foreign exchange earners.
It bought 36,399 tonnes of coffee worth $86 million in 2005/06 compared with 50,115 tonnes valued at $117.6 million in 2006/07, according to the Ministry of Trade and Industry.
During her visit to Ethiopia, Merkel is expected to meet Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and address the 53-member African Union, which is headquartered in Addis Ababa.
Officials said she would also visit South Africa and Liberia.
