By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — Ethiopia’s government is committing war crimes in its military campaign against rebels in the Ogaden region, a rights group charged Thursday in a report that complained the U.S. and other Western governments have remained silent about abuses.

New York-based Human Rights Watch said Ethiopian troops are beating and strangling civilians, staging public executions and burning villages in Ogaden. It said the allegations were based on more than 100 eyewitness accounts.

An Ethiopian official denied the charges.

Washington looks to Ethiopia for help in the fight against Islamic extremists in East Africa, where al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for several attacks, including the 1998 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania that killed 225 people. Ethiopia is helping the U.N.-backed government in neighboring Somalia against Muslim insurgents.

Ethnic Somalis have been fighting for more than a decade seeking greater autonomy in the desolate Ogaden, which is being explored for oil and gas. Ethiopian forces stepped up operations after rebels attacked a Chinese-run oil exploration field in April 2007, killing 74 people.

“The Ethiopian army’s answer to the rebels has been to viciously attack civilians in the Ogaden,” said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director for Human Rights Watch.

The group also said the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front has violated humanitarian law by conducting the oil attack and by setting land mines along roads. Ethiopia accuses the rebels of being financed by its archenemy, Eritrea.

Bereket Simon, special adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, denied all allegations in the report.

“It’s not true,” he said. “It’s the same old fabrication.”

Asked whether an internal investigation was planned, he said: “How can we investigate lies and innuendoes? How can we try to disprove lies by investigating?”

Gagnon chided Ethiopia’s leading donors, including the United States, Britai and the European Union, accusing them of ignoring what is happening in Ogaden.

“These widespread and systematic atrocities amount to crimes against humanity,” she said. “Yet Ethiopia’s major donors, Washington, London and Brussels, seem to be maintaining a conspiracy of silence around the crimes.”

Gagnon said Western governments and institutions give at least $2 billion in aid to Ethiopia every year.

“Influential states use many excuses, such as lack of information and strategic priorities, to downplay the grave human rights concerns in Somali Region,” she said. “But crimes against humanity can’t be swept under the carpet.”

Ethiopian Review’s Intelligence Unit has learned that Ginbot 7 Movement for Justice and Democracy is currently holding high level talks with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) that could result in a politico-military alliance.

According to ER sources in both Ginbot 7 and OLF, the talks have started several weeks ago and that they are progressing positively.

ER sources have not revealed whether other groups, such as the ONLF and EPPF are involved in the talks, but they are expected to be important partners in any possible alliance that will come out of the talks.

ER has recently recommended the creation of a joint military command under a new alliance involving Ginbot 7, OLF, ONLF, EPPF and TPDM. The army that would come under such a joint military command can assume the role of future Ethiopian National Defense Force.

The only reason the fast decaying Woyanne regime continues to plunder Ethiopia and terrorize our people is because there is no strong opposition party that can finish it off. If the leaders of these five organizations genuinely stand for the interest of their people, there is no reason in the world for not coming up with a common agenda that will enable them to quickly forge a formidable alliance that will end the Woyanne era of terror once and for all.

The common agenda that brings the organizations together should be democracy (one man, one vote). All outstanding political disagreements can be resolved through a genuinely democratic system.

ER sources in both Ginbot 7 and OLF are not ready to disclose where the secret talks are being held, but for maximum political effect, any agreement that they reach needs to be signed in Asmara. Any one who doubts the significant role the Eritrean government can play in destroying Woyanne is either politically ignorant, or a closet Woyanne sympathizer, or does not fully comprehend the severity of the crisis our country is facing. Woyannes understand the significance and are working day and night to minimize or eliminate the threat. Invading Somalia and giving away Ethiopia’s land to Sudan are some of the desperate measures Meles and Sebhat have recently taken.

Woyanne cannot easily be defeated in a conventional warfare. So the alliance should rely instead on the people of Ethiopia to rise up in a massive nation-wide civil disobedience and bring Meles and Sebhat to justice.

Once every thing is in place and targets are carefully identified, the alliance has to do only one thing to get rid of Woyanne. Tell the people of Ethiopia tenes on a specific day and week. Woyanne will be wiped out in a matter of days in a wave of uprisings — politically guided by the alliance so that no innocent civilian or foreign national would be harmed.

The list of targets should be at most a few hundred or thousand hard core Woyanne leaders and officers — along with Al Amoudi and cohorts. The rank and file members of Woyanne should be allowed to switch side and receive amnesty. Many of them in fact should be incorporated into the new national defense force after given orientation on how to be normal human beings who value human life and dignity.

First thing first: Let these organizations come up with an alliance all of us can support without unnecessary delay. Any sacrifice that is required should be paid to help the alliance succeed and go on to save our country and people from the Woyanne cancer.

Meanwhile, Ginbot 7 supporters around the world should get together, organize themselves and apply for membership to become part of the movement. Do not wait for a call from the leadership. ER has learned that already several Ethiopians are doing just that. Today, for example, the Kinijit Support Group in South Korea has decided to join Ginbot 7. A group of Ethipians in Dubai have gotten together and became a Ginbot 7 chapter this week. Others are following their example.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Tsehai Conferences announced its third Annual Conference, which will be held at George Washington School of Law in Washington, D.C., a city renown for its vibrant yet burgeoning Ethiopian community, from June 28 to July 3, 2008.

The conference theme, “Ethiopia’s Youth, Ethiopia’s Future,” will serve as a forum to discuss new developments in Ethiopia’s social and political landscape and provide participants with the opportunity to network with leaders in diverse sectors of the Ethiopian community from around the world.

Founder of Tsehai Conferences Elias Wondimu, an exiled journalist and now Publisher, said, “as Ethiopia passed its watershed millennium mark almost one year ago, it is important to remember that the youth have arrived to claim its future.” In this spirit, Tsehai Conferences proudly announces the first conference that focuses on the youth and about the future of the youth. “The youth are frequent subjects of conversation, but in spite of their significant role, very little space has been made for them,” Wondimu said. “Tsehai Conference 2008 will lead the effort in bridging this gap,” he added.

Most importantly, the conference will remain a neutral space to ensure that the conference continues to have the most thorough and deep conversations possible, Wondimu explained. “The conference is not ideological, rather it is a medium for the exchange of thought.” The Conference also aspires to help participants gain insight into the past by featuring leaders of the 1970’s student movements and the then political leaders, and also highlights today’s young professionals and community leaders to show their vision for tomorrow.

The conference will include a film festival featuring various documentaries as well as a feature film, lectures and numerous panel discussions. The panelists will address current issues that have been at the center of discussions, past legacies, current challenges and future prospects. While helping us understand various problems Ethiopians confront, panelists will also recommend strategies for solving problems and moving ahead forward.

“Bringing the youth into the center of our conversation allows us to learn from our past mistakes without recrimination, and frees us to look into the future with an open arms towards each other” Wondimu said. “It is important for us to accept that it is impossible to undo our past mistakes, but we can do the right things today, in order for the young generation to start fresh and build the future with a new vision.”

Tsehai Publishers widely known for its books conceives of the conference as an important supplement to its contribution to knowledge production. Indeed “to many of our authors, it is an opportunity to get out of one’s desk and interact with the public, a page simply is not enough for people to truly understand the humanity behind the dialogue,” Wondimu said.

Tsehai Conference panels will provide attendees perspectives from distinguished friends and Ethiopian scholars, researchers, politicians, artists, educators, historians, social scientists, journalists, and authors who will be addressing diverse issues of importance in a format that can engage its audience into fruitful discussions. Our distinguished panelists will include Messay Kebede, Alem Hailu, Damtew Taffesse, Ayele Bekerie, Davis Shinn, Sulyman Young, Yonas Kifle, Kay Shelemay, Tseday Abera, Terrence Lyons, Pietro Toggia, Muse Clark, Belachew Yemaneh, Winta Teferi, Ellias Fullmore, Nahom Beyene, Abezash Tamrat, and more. (check the website for updated list.)

The conference is sponsored by the George Washington University, School of Law; Loyola Marymount University; Katten Muchin Resenman LLP; Howard University’s African Studies Department; PEN USA; Antioch University, Los Angeles; and George Mason University’s Center for Global Studies. The conference is also a collaborative effort, including the Ethiopian Heritage Foundation, Tsehai Publishers and Distributors, Ethiopian Institute for Nonviolence Education and Peace Studies, AGM Enterprise and the African Tribune.

For more information regarding past conferences and details regarding Tsehai Conferences 2008, visit the website at http://www.tsehaiconferences.com, or contact us via email: [email protected].

Nader Alsheikh can be reached at via email: [email protected].