(New York, July 4, 2007) – The Ethiopian [Woyanne] military has forcibly displaced thousands of civilians in the country’s eastern Somali region in recent weeks while escalating its campaign against a separatist insurgency movement, Human Rights Watch said today. Both the government and rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) must protect civilians and ensure their access to humanitarian relief.
In Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region, also known as the Ogaden or Region 5, the Ethiopian [Woyanne regime] military attacks on villages have displaced civilians in the Wardheer, Qorahey and Dhagahbur zones, even in areas where there is no known ONLF presence.
“Ethiopian [Woyanne] troops are destroying villages and property, confiscating livestock and forcing civilians to relocate,” said Peter Takirambudde, Africa director of Human Rights Watch. “Whatever the military strategy behind them, these abuses violate the laws of war.”
Eyewitnesses told Human Rights Watch that Ethiopian [Woyanne] troops burned or ordered civilians to vacate at least a dozen villages around the towns of Dhagahbur (Degehabur), Qabridahare (Kebre Dehar) and Wardheer. In Wardheer zone, many of the residents of villages located within a 100-kilometer radius of Wardheer town have been forced to relocate to other towns because of attacks on their villages, orders from the Ethiopian military or – less frequently – fighting between the Ethiopian army and the ONLF. Villages around Shilaabo, in Qorahey zone, and around Dhagahbur and Qabridahare towns have also been affected by the Ethiopian army campaign.
Witnesses described Ethiopian [Woyanne] troops burning homes and property, including the recent harvest and other food stocks intended for the civilian population, confiscating livestock and, in a few cases, firing upon and killing fleeing civilians. Ethiopian security forces are also responsible for arbitrary detentions in the larger towns, particularly of family members of suspected ONLF members.
In Dhagahbur, at least 20 families who were suspected to have relatives in the ONLF had their camels confiscated. On June 18, in Labiga village, south of Dhagahbur town, Ethiopian forces allegedly killed 21 villagers who resisted when Ethiopian forces tried to take their livestock.
The Ethiopian [Woyanne] authorities have also imposed a trade blockade on the region since June, with few goods (including food) permitted into the area, which depends on commercial traffic from neighboring northern Somalia, particularly the coastal towns of Hargeysa and Bosaso. The attacks on villages and the economic blockade may be part of a strategy to force thousands of people from rural areas to larger towns and deny the ONLF a support base.
ONLF forces have also been responsible for serious abuses. An April attack on Obole, an oil field in northern Somali region, reportedly killed dozens of civilians, including nine Chinese oil workers, and at least 28 civilians working on a farm in nearby Sandhore village.
On May 28, ONLF fighters allegedly targeted two large gatherings in Jigjiga and Dhagahbur with hand grenades. The blasts, and the crowd stampedes that followed, killed 17 people and wounded dozens, including the regional president of Somali region. Most of those who died in these two simultaneous attacks were civilians, including a 17 year-old school boy and a number of women. The ONLF denied responsibility for the attacks, but have a record of targeting civilian officials and clan leaders who refuse to support the insurgency.
“Civilians in Somali region are trapped between the warring parties,” said Takirambudde. “The Ethiopian government appears to be pursuing an illegal strategy of collective punishment of the civilian population, and the ONLF has targeted civilians for attack.”
Human Rights Watch called on both the Ethiopian [Woyanne] government and the ONLF to ensure that civilians and civilian property are protected from targeted or indiscriminate attacks and independent international aid agencies have full, unhindered access to civilians in need of humanitarian assistance.
International humanitarian law, or the laws of war, requires that all warring parties distinguish between military and civilians, protect civilians and their property and take all feasible steps to minimize the harm of military operations on civilians.
Collective punishments – or the punishment of one or more individuals for the acts of others – is also prohibited by international humanitarian law. Hostage taking, which is the holding or use of a person to compel a third party to act or refrain from acting, is also prohibited. Detaining the family member of a combatant to compel the combatant to surrender would thus be unlawful.
Moreover, starvation as a method of warfare is prohibited. It is thus unlawful to destroy or otherwise render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population. Parties to an internal armed conflict must allow humanitarian relief to reach civilian populations suffering undue hardship owing to a lack of foodstuffs and medical supplies essential for their survival.
International humanitarian law also prohibits the forced displacement of the civilian population for reasons connected to the conflict – except when done for the “security of the civilians involved” or for “imperative military reasons.” These prohibitions are applicable to both governments and insurgents.
Background
Ethiopia’s eastern Somali region, known as Region 5 or the Ogaden, is the site of a long-running, low-intensity armed conflict between the Ethiopian government and the ONLF.
The ONLF fought against the Derg, the military dictatorship of Menghistu Haile Mariam, but was not allied to the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), the guerrilla movement led by Ethiopia’s current prime minister, Meles Zenawi. In 1992, the ONLF won control of the government of Ethiopia’s newly formed Somali region, becoming the only party not allied to the TPLF to score such a success. However, the ONLF’s open advocacy of secession for Somali region and its frosty relations with the ruling party led to its ouster from government in 1995.
The ONLF then reverted to waging armed attacks against the Ethiopian government, which has continued in the intervening years. For more than a decade, a heavy Ethiopian military presence in the region has been accompanied by widespread reports of human rights abuses committed by both sides. Those reports have generally been difficult to confirm because of the Ethiopian military’s effective closure of the region to independent research and reporting.
The escalating Ethiopian military campaign is likely catalyzed by several recent high-profile ONLF attacks in the region, including the April attack on the Chinese oil site at Obole and the May attacks on Jigjiga and Dhagahbur. In a June 9 news conference, Meles stated that the Ethiopian military was launching a “political and military operation to try to contain the activities of the ONLF.”
The current campaign in Somali region is also linked to Ethiopian military operations in south-central Somalia. One motive for Ethiopia’s ouster of the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) in December 2006 may have been to cut the links between the ONLF, the ruling Islamic Courts and Eritrea, including arms and logistical supply lines from Eritrea and Somalia to the ONLF in Ethiopia’s eastern region.
July 3, 2007 (KHARTOUM) — A joint Sudanese-Ethiopian committee would start today to hand over agricultural lands to residents of more than 17 Sudanese villages located in eastern Atbara River along the Ethiopia-Sudan border.
The agricultural lands remained a source of dispute for more than 100 years.
Governor of Al-Gadarif State, in eastern Sudan, Abdelrahman al-Khidir told Akhir Lahzah that this step came as an implementation of 1971 agreement which stated re-demarcation of the border between the two countries.
He added that technical arrangements have been finished and a committee of seven experts from each side would give the Sudanese farmers their lands, pointing out that his government is ready to append these farmers with the current agricultural season.
He said that with the end of the committee’s work which might last for a week, the lands would be back to their owners.
He explained that they have formed 17 cooperative societies in addition to other previous societies in order to support the farmers within the framework of the agricultural campaign on one hand and to consolidate the Sudanese land on the other.
Furthermore the governor called for dealing with the border issue with a good spirit between the two countries, adding that people should look at the border issue as an area of integration not of conflicts.
He explained that the final operation of border re-demarcating which might conclude after the autumn season would put an end for all kinds of security breaches and instability situation in the area.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia – Ethiopia’s World 5000m and 10,000 champion Tirunesh Dibaba just loves travelling to Paris and it is not because of the delicious brassieres or the breathtaking sight of the Eiffel Tower!
The Ethiopian will be one of the star attractions at the Friday’s Meeting Gaz de France Paris Saint-Denis (6 July), the second of six meetings of the IAAF Golden League 2007.
“I love France and the city of Paris,” Dibaba confirms. “I have a very good feeling even when the name of the country is called out.”
Dibaba’s affection towards France and the French capital in particular comes as no surprise. Nearly four years ago, the-then 17-year old became the youngest ever individual gold medallist in the history of the IAAF World Championships in Athletics when sneaking a surprise 5000m title in front of a capacity home crowd in the Stade de France.
Eighteen months later and competing at the Hippodrome race course, she became only the second woman in history to win the short and long course double at the 33rd IAAF World Cross Country Championships in St. Etienne/St. Galmier, in central France.
And in last year’s Meeting Gaz de France Saint-Denis, the 21-year-old out sprinted compatriot Meseret Defar in the 5000m as she drew first blood in what turned out to be an intense rivalry between the two Ethiopians in the summer track season.
“I have run a lot of races in the last four years, but I will always remember the 5000m race (at the World Champs) in Paris four years ago,” commented Dibaba. “It was probably the happiest moment of my life.”
With all the fond memories neatly tucked away, Dibaba will line up for the 5000m race in Paris on Friday (6) with the knowledge that she has some catching up to do in the track season.
Affected by Mombasa
“I have not been the same since running in Mombasa,” she says of her tiresome silver-medal effort behind Dutchwoman Lornah Kiplagat in the World Cross Country Championships last March. “Many other Ethiopian athletes were either injured or out of shape immediately, but I started feeling the effects only in the last month. I feel very tired and exhausted after training.”
Leg injury
The effects of Mombasa’s heat and humidity did not seem to affect the World Indoor 5000m record holder as she stormed to a now-defunct world leading 14:35.67 in the Reebok New York Grand Prix in June.
“I gave everything I had in that race,” she says. “I returned home with a leg injury and have not been able to do well in training. I have been advised by coaches not to run until Osaka, but I have to test myself in competition.”
Happy for Defar
While Dibaba has been nursing an injury, her compatriot and arch-rival Meseret Defar has smashed World records or set World bests in two of the three races she has in the outdoor season.
“I clapped and cheered her after watching the Oslo race,” says Dibaba. “It was a good race and even the second placed runner (Kenyan Vivian Cheruiyot) improved the previous record. It was fantastic and I want to congratulate Meseret for the victory.”
Would she have wanted to run with Defar in that race so that she too could become a part of record-breaking history?
“I do not think the outcome would have been the same if I had been part of that race,” says Dibaba. “It’s very difficult to say that Meseret would have run solely against the clock if I had been in that race.”
Dibaba had also planned her own World record assault in Paris, but says the effort could prove difficult after her injury problems this summer.
“I do not think I am in the sort of shape to chase a World record especially now that Meseret has broken it by a large margin,” she says. “I want to focus on winning in Paris.”
Osaka 5000m/10,000m double
Unlike her compatriots who will continue to run in major European meetings and the All-African Games in Algiers, Algeria, Dibaba has opted to compete only in Paris and then skip the remainder of the track season before the World Championships in Osaka in August.
“I have to recover from the injury and then prepare for Osaka,” she says. “I am planning to defend both my 5000m and 10000m titles in Osaka.”
Because she is the defending champion in both events, Dibaba will automatically qualify without the need of achieving qualifying standards for both competitions. She has raced extensively over the shorter distance since her impressive double two years ago, but how will she make up for lack of competition over the 10,000m?
“I have not competed over the 10,000m since Helsinki,” says Dibaba who has run only two races over the distance in her career. “After Paris, I will rest a bit, treat my injury, and then hopefully train for the 10,000m.”
Ever-rising popularity
Her period of no-competition before Osaka now means that athletics fans will have to wait until August for a repeat of another Defar vs. Dibaba battle. “On my part, I have no plans to avoid her in competition,” she says. “I think it is just coincidence that we have not met in competition this year.”
Another successful double in Osaka will put her among the all-time greats of female distance running and further expand her fan base in her home country.
“I feel that everyone in Ethiopia knows me,” she says. “It is a great sense of pride and joy for me. It is a big motivation that I am known and admired by many people in my country.”
I love sleeping
Dibaba remains humble and down-to-earth despite her celebrity status that rivals musicians, artists, and film actors in her country. After four years at the top and lots of public exposure, she maintains that her favourite place in the world is her bedroom and her favourite activity is sleeping.
“I love sleeping,” she says. “I only wake up for training. It is one of the reasons why I run well because my body is rested and ready to train.”
When she goes out of her house, Dibaba’s favourite destinations are Addis Ababa’s two amusement parks where she likes to accompany her two younger sisters on a rollercoaster ride.
“I like that a lot,” she smiles. “I have finished my childhood, but my sister Genzebe (a runner who finished fifth in the junior race in Mombasa) is still only a kid and loves to play. I have grown out of it, but Genzebe and my cousins drag me into the game.”
By Greg WilcoxHAILE GEBRSELASSIE has told organisers to have a big, fat cheque ready for when he runs in the 2008 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon in January. The Ethiopian will take his place on the start line of the world’s richest ever marathon in a bid to claim the $1 million prize on offer for breaking the world record.
And he is confident he can pose a real threat to Paul Tergat’s time of two hours four minutes and 55 seconds on the fast Dubai course.
“The organisers had better be careful because if there is $1 million on offer then I am going to get it,” Gebrselassie said yesterday. “Tergat’s record will be broken, so why not here in Dubai?” he added. “The course here provides a really good opportunity for quick times. It’s very flat, it’s at sea level and the weather should be perfect so it is a good possibility. If I am in good shape then it could happen.”
The presence of Gebrselassie in the field is a stunning coup for the Dubai event. He will run only two marathons next year, the first here and the second at the Beijing Olympics. “Next year is a very important year for me as I have two priorities. First to break the world record, and second to win the Olympics. But the breaking of the world record is my top priority. So from tomorrow I will train hard for this marathon. That is one of my goals.”
In a country that has produced legendary names such as Abebe Bikila and Kenenisa Bekele and a countless number of other world-class distance runners, Gebrselassie is undoubtedly the true superstar. Arguably the greatest distance runner of all-time, he was keen to run marathons in his early twenties before breaking world records and winning Olympic gold medals at 5,000 and 10,000 metres.
To date, he has broken 24 world records – but times can only tell you so much. His true greatness is seen in his versatility. His fastest time at 1,500m (three minutes 33 seconds) suggests he could have been a world-beater at that distance had he wanted to, and since 2004 he has focused on the marathon.
Typically, the conversion has been a smooth one, with Gebrselassie winning three of his six starts over the 42 kilometre distance. “In the marathon you have to be patient and determined,” he said. “Running for over two hours is different from 10,000m around a track. In the track races you are running against people. In the marathon you run against the distance. The marathon is tougher as it taxes you hard mentally as well as physically. That’s where the extra challenge comes.”
Many critics say that at 34, Gebrselassie is getting too old to compete for much longer. But the great man, keen to keep on rewriting the record books, says he’s going to go on running at the highest level for as long as he keeps on improving. “I still feel young and all I am interested in is getting better,” he said. “I am thinking about racing at the London Olympics in 2012. I will only be 39 so won’t be that old as many Ethiopian athletes run well into their late thirties. As a runner I am never satisfied, I always want more – that’s normal.
“The most important thing is to win and to keep on achieving.”And such is his talent and determination it would be a brave person to bet against him doing that and picking up the $1 million bonus in Dubai next year.
HIT THE ROAD WITH HAILE
HE SAYS: “If you want to run the marathon it’s important that you train a lot – it’s a tough race. Your aim should be to increase your stamina and not your speed. And it’s ok to walk at times – so long as you feel comfortable and can compete the session. When it comes to competition don’t set off too fast as you should aim to run the second half quicker than the first. And remember you are racing against the distance and not other people.”
Alexa.com, a web information company, ranks EthiopianReview.com as the number one Ethiopian web site (8,518th in the United States) based on the number of daily, weekly and quarterly visits. The Woyanne regime-financed web sites don’t even make the top 3. In fact, the #1 Woyanne web site, AigaForum.com (Bereket Simon’s Lie Factory), ranks over 600% lower than EthiopianReview.com.
Ethiopian Review continues to grow in popularity as more readers appreciate its honesty and steadfast support for the cause of human rights, freedom, and rule of law in Ethiopia.
The following is the ranking for the top 10 Ethiopian web sites in the United States as of July 3, 2007:
ADDIS ABABA, July 3 (Reuters) – Rebels in Ethiopia’s remote eastern Ogaden region on Tuesday said they had killed 43 government soldiers in an ambush on a military convoy.
The government declined to comment on the reported clash, which the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebels said took place near Shilaabo town on Monday.
There was no independent confirmation of the clash.
“The bodies of 43 TPLF regime troops were counted on the battlefield after the operation,” the ONLF said in a statement, referring to government soldiers. Five ONLF fighters died, it said.
“The surprise attack ambushed a convoy consisting of over 20 armed vehicles and trucks carrying fuel, armaments and troop reinforcements to TPLF regime forces based in Shilaabo and other parts of eastern Ogaden.”
Last month, Ethiopia’s dictator Meles Zenawi announced a crackdown on the ONLF, which drew global attention in April when it killed 74 people in a raid on a Chinese-run oil field.
The government says the ONLF, one of several guerrilla groups fighting Meles’ government from remote corners of the vast nation, are terrorists supported by arch-foe Eritrea.
The ONLF says it wants more autonomy for its underdeveloped region on the border with Somalia in the Horn of Africa. Last week, it accused the government of using warplanes to bomb three villages, killing about 40 people. The government denied it.
In its statement on Tuesday, the ONLF said it captured 35 government troops and a “wide range” of weapons and munitions.
It said “battlefield engagements” with government forces over the last three weeks have killed 247 government soldiers, but it was not possible to verify that independently. The rebels said 38 of their members had been killed in the same period.
