This is a sad story about an Ethiopian Air Force officer, Captain Teshome Tenkolu, who was forced to spend two years in underground jails by the regime of the Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front ({www:Woyanne}). When he was released after two years, he was told that he is innocent and that his country needs him now. They asked him to return to the air force as a pilot, which gave him a chance to escape to a neighboring country with an air force plane.
CHICAGO, USA (The Cleveland Leader) – A Chicago man has been arrested for allegedly sending President Barack Obama and his staff envelopes containing HIV-infected blood in the hopes of killing or causing harm to them. A spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service said that this is only the second time that HIV-infected blood has been sent with malicious intent through the U.S. mail system.
According to court documents, Saad Hussein, an Ethopian refugee in his late 20’s, sent an envelope addressed to Barack Obama to offices of the Illinois government in Springfield, Illinois in the week’s leading up to his inauguration. Contained in the envelope was a letter with red stains, and an admission ticket for Obama’s election night celebration in Chicago’s Grant Park.
Court documents reveal that Hussein, who is on medication to treat mental illness, told the FBI that he is “very sick with HIV” and that he cut his fingers with a razor to bleed on the letter.
After the envelope was opened, Hazmat teams were called in. The offices of the Illinois Department on Aging, as well as the Department of Revenue were locked down for about two hours. 300 staff members were thus stuck in their offices.
Using his brother as an interpreter, Hussein told the FBI that he was an “admirer” of Obama. He also said that he was “seeking help from the government”, and that he was hoping to obtain tickets to the inauguration in Washington D.C.
Ethiopia is a federal republic led by Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition. The population was approximately 77 million. In the 2005 parliamentary elections, the EPRDF won a third consecutive five-year term. In local and by-elections held in April the EPRDF and allied parties won virtually all of the more than three million seats contested, severely diminishing opportunities for mainstream political opposition. Prior to the vote, ruling coalition agents and supporters used coercive tactics and manipulation of the electoral process, including intimidation of opposition candidates and supporters. Political parties were predominantly ethnically based, and opposition parties remained fractured. During the year fighting between government forces, including local militias, and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), an ethnically based, nationalist, insurgent movement operating in the Somali Region, resulted in continued allegations of human rights abuses by all parties, particularly diversion of food aid from intended beneficiaries suffering from a severe drought. Although there were fewer reports of extrajudicial killings and other similar human rights violations in the Ogaden than the previous year, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and others reported persistent abuses. While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there were numerous instances in which elements within those forces acted independently of government authority.
Human rights abuses reported during the year included limitations on citizens’ right to change their government in local and by-elections; unlawful killings, torture, beating, abuse, and mistreatment of detainees and opposition supporters by security forces, usually with impunity; poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention, particularly of suspected sympathizers or members of opposition or insurgent groups; police and judicial corruption; detention without charge and lengthy pretrial detention; infringement on citizens’ privacy rights including illegal searches; use of excessive force by security services in an internal conflict and counterinsurgency operations; restrictions on freedom of the press; arrest, detention, and harassment of journalists;restrictions on freedom of assembly and association; violence and societal discrimination against women and abuse of children; female genital mutilation (FGM); exploitation of children for economic and sexual purposes; trafficking in persons; societal discrimination against persons with disabilities and religious and ethnic minorities; and government interference in union activities, including harassment of union leaders.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
Government forces, including militias, and armed elements of the ONLF were responsible for targeted killings in the Somali Region during the year (see section 1.g.).
Security forces committed arbitrary and politically motivated killings during the year.
In December 2007 three government militiamen abducted Welelaw Muche, a supporter of the former Coalition for Unity and Democracy in Enamrit town (West Gojjam Zone, Mecha Woreda, Amhara Region) from his home and arrested him. One of the militiamen shot him to death in a nearby forest. No arrests were made by year’s end.
On July 8, local police in Wonago town (Oromiya Region) shot and killed Aschalew Taye, a supporter of the All Ethiopia Unity Party (AEUP). Officials arrested the police officers involved; at year’s end the trial was in session.
Land mines planted as a result of the 1998-2000 conflict with Eritrea and unresolved border dispute killed at least four civilians in the Tigray Region along the border with Eritrea. In addition, there were unconfirmed reports from a credible source of at least 12 killed and 50 injured in landmine blasts. The government’s demining unit, the Ethiopian Mine Action Office, continued to make progress in its survey and demining of border areas. The office defused 5,274 of an estimated two million landmines in the country, most of which were located along the border with Eritrea in the regions of Tigray and Afar. Two people were also wounded by landmines in the Ogaden Region.
Addis Ababa and other areas experienced several bombings that killed civilians and military personnel during the year. Although no one claimed responsibility, the government charged the bombings were the work of insurgent groups and or agents of Eritrea.
On March 13, a bomb exploded on a public bus in Humera (near the Eritrean border), killing eight persons and wounding at least 27. The government captured the alleged perpetrators, who testified in court to working for dissident groups supported by Eritrea. Their trial was ongoing at year’s end.
The UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea and the Mine Action Coordination Centre reported 10 casualties when unexploded ordinance exploded while persons were burning paper at a school in Humera on the Ethiopian side of the Temporary Security Zone. Among the casualties were a 16-year-old girl, a 50-year-old woman, and eight men.
On April 14, bombs exploded at two commercial gas stations in Addis Ababa, killing four persons and wounding at least 16. The perpetrators remained unknown at year’s end.
On May 20, a bomb exploded on a public minibus, killing six persons and wounding at least five. The police apprehended suspects they claimed were affiliated with the insurgent Oromo Liberation Front (OLF).
On May 26, bombs exploded in two hotels in Negele Borena, Oromiya Region, killing three persons and wounding five. Ethiopian soldiers were among the casualties. Investigation was ongoing at year’s end.
On September 3, a bomb exploded in the Merkato market in Addis Ababa, killing six persons and wounding 26.
On September 27, a bomb exploded outside a hotel in Jijiga, Somali Region, killing four and wounding 20. Police apprehended a suspect whom they identified as a member of Al-Ittihad al-Islamiya, an insurgent group. No trial date had been set by year’s end.
There were no developments in the following 2007 killings: Tesfaye Taddese, Degaga Gebissa, Tsegaye Ayele Yigzaw, Belachew Endale Bitew, Manaye Alamrew, Alemu Tesfaye, Tariku Yakiso, Mensur Musema, and the two students at Gue Secondary School (Gue town, Oromiya Region).
Police officer Alemu Deriba, sentenced to death for a 2006 shooting of four youths, remained on death row at year’s end.
There were no developments in any of the 2006 bombings.
Clashes between ethnic clans during the year resulted in hundreds of deaths (see section 5).
There were no developments in the following 2006 attacks: the bus attack near Bonga town (Gambela Region) by armed men; the hand grenade incident in the town of Jijiga; and the explosion in Addis Ababa.
The Federal High Court in Addis Ababa convicted and sentenced to death in absentia Mengistu Hailemariam and eight of his aides, who were charged with committing genocide and other war crimes, including extrajudicial killings, under the 1975-91 Derg regime (see section 1.e.).
b. Disappearance
There were reports of politically motivated disappearances.
According to the Ethiopian Teacher’s Association (ETA), two active members of their organization (see section 2.b.) disappeared this year. Tilahun Ayalew, chairman of the Dangila town ETA and coordinator of the program Education for All, was detained from December 2007 to March 2008. He reported that Bahir Dar regional police detained and tortured him for three to four days before transferring him to Maikalawi police station in Addis Ababa, where police reportedly tortured him also. The Federal First Instance Court then released him on a habeas corpus petition, citing the lack of formal charges against him. Shortly after seeing his family upon release, Tilahun disappeared, and his whereabouts remained unknown at year’s end.
Also, Addis Ababa police arrested Anteneh Getnet, chairman of the original ETA in Addis Ababa and an ETA coordinator, in 2006 on charges of participating in the Ethiopian Patriotic Front (EPF) an outlawed, allegedly armed group operating in the Amhara Region. The Federal High Court denied his release, but the Federal Supreme Court released him on bail. After a few additional trial appearances, he disappeared in March, and his whereabouts remained unknown at year’s end. Anteneh was first detained in 2006 for more than two months on charges of instigating violence in the 2005 elections. He alleged that he was tortured during his 2006 detention.
There were no developments in the following reported 2007 disappearances: Yohannes Woldu Girma Tesfaye Ayana, Befekadu Bulti Merri, Mulatu Gebremichel, Ismail Blatta, Daniel Worku, and Amha Yirga.
A few of the thousands of civilian protestors who were detained and held incommunicado in 2005 remained in prison at year’s end; however, most had been released by the end of 2006, and an additional 31 were released in August 2007,reportedly following an elders negotiations process in July 2007 (see section 1.d.).
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
Although the constitution and law prohibit the use of torture and mistreatment, there were numerous credible reports that security officials tortured, beat, or mistreated detainees. Opposition political party leaders reported frequent and systematic abuse and intimidation of their supporters by police and regional militias, particularly in the months leading up to the local and by-elections held during the year (see section 3). In Makelawi, the central police investigation headquarters in Addis Ababa, police investigators reportedly commonly used physical abuse to extract confessions.
In December 2007 student Ayena Cheri was arrested in Nekempt on suspicion of being a member of the OLF. The lower court dismissed his case and ordered his release, but he remained in prison until the High Court ordered his release on February 11 following a 1,000-birr ($98) bail. He alleged repeated severe beatings while in detention. On January 11, police and security forces arrested Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) member Alemayehu Seifu while he was on his way home from work in Addis Ababa. He was conveyed to Makalawi where he was allegedly tortured for eight days while his captors sought to force a confession that he was part of a plot to overthrow the government. He was released on January 21 without appearing in court.
On February 9, police and militia broke into the home of Gelaye Tadele, a resident of Arba Minch town in the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region (SNNPR), and beat him. They then took him to a detention facility in Kofele where they fractured his right leg and beat him unconscious. He was eventually taken to the local police station and later admitted to Arba Minch hospital. His mother filed a complaint but local authorities took no action by year’s end.
Of the 37 CUD members arrested and tortured in May 2006, the courts released 26 on a 5,000-birr ($488)bail in October 2007 while denying bail to nine others who remained in jail at year’s end. The other two individuals died in prison.
There were no developments in the September 2007 beating of regional parliamentarian Wegayehu Dejene (Me-ea District, Oromiya Region) and his family members.
There were no developments in the 2006 beatings of one regional parliamentarian of the Oromo Federal Democratic Movement (OFDM) and five of the Oromo National Congress (ONC). [Continued on next page]
Cape Town, SOUTH AFRICA – TWO foreign shopkeepers, both immigrants from Ethiopia, have been killed in their store in Milnerton, a suburb of Cape Town. The robbers took the fruit and fled when they could not open the cash register.
The killings bring the number of immigrants murdered in the Western Cape over the past two weeks to 10.
Milnerton police confirmed yesterday that the two Ethiopians had been shot dead on Tuesday night while working in their shop on Mnandi Street in Du Noon. Station spokeswoman Daphne Dell said a banana and an apple had been stolen.
Dell ruled out the possibility that the murders had been xenophobic. She said one of the suspects had been armed and had fired several shots at Yonatan GebreMeskel, 22, hitting him in the head and chest.
Awake Abebe, believed to be in his early 20s, had been shot in the back. Both had died at the scene.
Both suspects are still at large.
A reliable source told the Cape Argus the murders were about “business”.
“They were hitmen sent to take them out. It’s business,” he said, alleging that Somalis in the area had been ordered by taxi operators to pay a R14,000 “protection fee”.
Last year, after the xenophobic attacks in the Western Cape, Du Noon taxi operators admitted to demanding a protection fee from foreign nationals who ran shops.
The killings follow at least three others involving foreign nationals:
# On Saturday, seven Zimbabweans were burnt alive when a De Doorns shack was set alight. A 26-year-old man has appeared in the De Doorns Magistrate’s Court on murder charges. The names of the dead, aged between 23 and 40, have not yet been released.
# Last Monday, Mohamed Mango, 24, of Somalia was shot dead after he tried to stop a group of robbers frisking his friends on a footbridge leading to the Home Affairs Centre in Airport Industria. He was shot in the chest and died on the scene. Police are investigating a case of murder and robbery.
# Last Friday, Congolese refugee Carol Muganguzi, 19, had his lips cut and tongue stabbed by criminals, 10 metres from the Nyanga Refugee Reception Centre.
When the Cape Argus visited Du Noon yesterday, an eye-witness said: “I heard two shots. When I came over to the shop, I saw a pool of blood. One of the bodies was lying close to the fridge with a shot in the head. The other was close to the door with a shot in his back. It’s all about jealousy. The shop was always neat and people loved to come and buy from them,” she said.
She said the victims had re-opened for business only three days earlier, after having closed because of the recent taxi violence, which had resulted in some Somali shops in the area being looted.
“It was not xenophobic nor a robbery. They were not hungry,” said Bazil Congo, the victims’ landlord.
He said a third man had survived the attack by running away.
“It is just senseless and merciless killing,” Congo said.
Another shop owner said: “They were deeply religious, very kind and gentle. They loved to be part of this community, helping where they could.”
A tearful Ethiopian shop owner in the area said: “I don’t know why they killed my brothers and no one is taking responsibility.”
This is the second part of my series on the Ethiopian Prime Ministers Interview with local and international reporters. The Interviews took two hours with the local reporters and an hour and half with the foreign press. Most were repetition of the same theme therefore I will deal in detail with the few issues I feel are important for us to have a deeper understanding.
Today I will deal with the explanation given regarding Judge Bertukan Mideksa’s second arrest and imprisonment to serve a life time sentence by Judge Adil Ahmed after the so called pardon grant by the government. I felt it was important that the reader follows ‘the individuals account’ verbatim and I have offered the entire transcript of his response. I apologize for the length of the article but it was necessary.
Unlike the answers to explain the Somali invasion or the state of the economy where he was constantly looking at the monitor on his desk, ‘the individual’ answered the question on Judge Bertukan from memory. From this it is possible to extrapolate that the issue is personal to him and the exact similarities of the answers both in Amharic and English show that it has been rehearsed at length. Here is the twenty-seven seconds question and a little over seven minutes answer.
Question woman ferenji reporter:
I would like to ask about Bertukan Mideksa, when your government had any discretion in deciding whether to proceed with action on her problem, her breaking the pardon conditions, if you had any discretion and what your attitude would be if you didn’t have discretion how you feel the political effect of being this tragic event?
Answer ‘the individual’
Uh..You are not asking the substance of the dispute and therefore I assumed you are informed enough not to need
Reporter: Mr. Bereket explained it to us.
Answer ‘the individual’
“So I will go ahead with the explanation now uh…uh..I can tell you uh..I was not enthused by uh.. the fact that this lady is in prison uh.. there is nothing that I personally or the government as a government will gain from the incident but I feel we were put in an almost impossible situation uh.. Politically and legally. Legally the law says that if a pardon is given under false pretenses it has to immediately be annulled that is what the law says uh..now when this lady says that she did not ask for pardon that this was a political gain not a legal process as such then it put into question the very decision the pardon had. It means that the initial request is wrong. It was not true or false. If the initial request is false then the law says it has to be, the pardon has to be annulled automatically. So legally there was not much room for maneuver uh.. so the only room for maneuver we could create for ourselves was to take time in implementing it and we took time in implementing it. Uh..we took time in implementing it in a sense that as soon as she arrived after making the statement we notified her of the implication of her statement uh..we notified her about the need for her to reaffirm her pardon request and therefore to correct the statement that she made abroad and to do so in a timely manner. So she was given I think adequate time to think and save all of us the headaches setback that would necessarily have resulted in. Now unfortunately she was not as cooperative as I would like her to be. She refused to correct her statement. After she refused to correct her statement we have no legal discretion what we could do uh…uh…what the law of pardon says. Politically too we have very little room for maneuver uh.. because it was in my view practically why she would refuse to reaffirm a sentence a statement that she had signed in front of the court in front of witnesses uh.. other than the assumption that the government would not dare to register the court sentence. She must have assumed that the government would not dare do that and I think that assumption have been based on the hope and expectations that she might have felt that she had powerful friends in powerful positions who would have been in place to press Ethiopian government to make sure that they do not that the government does not put her back behind bars again. Uh..uh.. She might have felt that she could create enough havoc by imprisonment to create enough havoc for the government to be punitive about taking a step. Now had we indulged her in that assumptions the message could have completely be something … would be if you are a bigwig nothing happens to you no matter what you do, if you have the right name in the right places you can ride roughshod on everything and you will still arrive safely when you arrive home. That message I think is a very dangerous political message to convey in an emerging democracy. The rules of law and equality of everybody even bigwigs before the law are central to the healthy development of the political processes in our country. Have we dilly dallied about this I think we would have endangered uh… the healthy political process so I think we were not given that much room for maneuver politically or legally”
Out of force of habit his first inclination was to bully the reporter and demean her and reinterpret the question. Unfortunately this time the reporter was a ferenji and she had the nerve to interrupt his cynical attempt to put her down. He was clearly taken aback and threw his hand in surprise.
As explanations go it seems to have a logical flow. The problem is in the details. The choice of the word ‘enthused’ is very perplexing. Why anybody would find arresting and jailing a fellow citizen as interesting experience is beyond me. The fact the government follows the uttering of individuals thousands of miles away during a town hall meeting with fellow Ethiopians is by itself very strange.
To think that a government serving eighty million people that are in dire need of the basic necessities of life has the time and energy to spare to deal with one single person to set the record straight is the height of ‘much ado about nothing’. So according to ‘the individual’ all this involvement by the Federal Police, the court and the Prime Minster’s office is to uphold the rule of law and serve justice. Let us take this at face value and agree with the regime. The question arises, is it acceptable practice to break the law in order to uphold the law?
Judge Bertukan was summoned by the Federal Police Commissioner to appear in person. Being a law-abiding citizen she showed up by the appointed time and demanded explanation for the summons. The Commissioner demanded an explanation regarding her statement in Sweden and threatened to revoke the pardon granted by the President of the country. As a person of the law Judge Bertukan simple response was to ask why it was the business of the police to demand explanation since the matter belongs to the court. His response was ‘this is not an academic matter and she should not ask questions.’
She was again summoned to appear using a messenger instead of a legal court order the law requires which she ignored. The Commissioner was forced to send two police officers with legal documents. Again the discussion centered on her ‘statement’ during her foreign visit. Again she stated her belief that this is a matter for the courts not the Federal Police, whereas the Commissioner gave her an ultimatum stating that if she does not disavow her ‘statement’ regarding her pardon within three days she will be taken into custody. Please read Judge Birtukan’s statement regarding this unfortunate situation at http://www.ethiopolitics.com/pdfiles/birtukan_english.pdf
‘The individual’ is substituting his own overblown and runaway imagination to read the state of Judge Bertukan’s mind. Without the benefit of a court of law in the presence of defense lawyer and a hearing he gathered his kangaroo pardon commission and decided the case in one weekend. It has never been explained where the Federal Police got the authority to interpret the law and take matter into its own hands and throw a citizen in jail. The President of the country on whose authority the pardon was granted, the Justice system that approved the process were nowhere to be seen in this tragic drama. In his haste to protect the workings of ‘an emerging democracy’ he sent his private police to arrest a citizen from a street corner roughing up her friends and supporters as an added bonus.
The long-winded explanation and the attempt to sound rational is nothing but one mans attempt to hide illegal and abhorrent behavior behind noble sounding words void of meaning. The fact of the matter is Judge Bertukan does not have an armed group behind her, have never threatened the peace and stability of the country and on numerous occasion have spoken loud and clear of her desire to bring about change using peaceful and legal means. When you consider the fact that the country is experiencing over 14 million citizens requiring immediate food aid, conflict in the Ogaden, stalemate with Eritrea forcing the regime to station thousands of idle solders on the border, forty to sixty percent inflation, acute shortage in foreign currency reserves it is the height of folly to force conflict on society. A responsible leader rallies his people to gather together and confront the emergency knocking on our door.
‘The individual’ says he does not understand why she refuses to agree with his interpretation of the so-called ‘pardon’. The simple fact that she might be right in her assertion does not even enter his mind. The logical move to gather the ‘elders’ that facilitated the process and arriving at a mutual accommodation is completely foreign to him and his associates. It is my way or the highway mentality at work. But can a government use its resources to prove a point no matter the consequences? Is governing a task of balancing the many needs and conflicting demands of society or an exercise in the use of intimidation and coercive methods to stay in power.
It was the great mountaineer George Mallory who said ‘because it is there’ when asked why he wanted to climb Mount Everest. That is good for mountains, but governments do not arrest and torture citizens because they are there. Just because you can do something it doesn’t mean you should. It is only children and immature adults that give in to their impulses and suffer the consequences of their hasty deeds.
So where do we stand now? Judge Bertukan is in solitary confinement denied visitation rights by family and friends, books, radio and consultation with her attorneys. It has been fifty-eight days since her arrest. The regime is pretending that the matter is closed and we should all go home and forget about the injustice. It is just a wishful thinking on their part. The Ethiopian people are silently witnessing another bizarre behavior by not elected cadres masquerading as legitimate leaders. The Ethiopian Diaspora are using all available resources to remind the world of the injustice and possibility of a man-made disaster in our ancient kingdom. The European Union, the US government and Congress are demanding her immediate release and respect for human right. International organizations such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Doctors without Borders are recording their displeasure and asking for an all out effort to secure hers and other political prisoners release.
After everything is said we again ask Prime Minster Meles to find the time to step out of this bubble prison he has managed to insulate himself for the last eighteen years and try to see the real Ethiopia he has forgotten. Meet the other seventy-nine million five hundred thousand who can only manage one meal a day if at all, the mothers that witness their children die of hunger in their arms, the families that can not even dream of a better tomorrow for their children, the fathers that work on a plot of land as big as a basketball field day in and day out but can not even grow enough to sustain life, the young ones whose mal-nutritioned body with their bloated stomachs are waiting for death, the youth who are not capable of envisioning a better life and waste away in front of their families, and those that make a deal with the devil and attempt to cross rivers and oceans to far away places based on rumors of the possibility of work and decent living but end up as dinner for wild animals or sharks while a few are found washed away on strange shores. We say to you life and living is not a test of ones will and a stage to prove ones might and manhood. Our country has seen cruel usurpers, benevolent monarchs and misguided solders that have brought calamity and hardship on our people. They are all gone but their misdeeds are etched in our psyches and minds for generations to come.
We ask you to see the bigger picture and remember the promise and oath you made when you assumed that powerful position which entitles you to have the power of life and death over eighty million people and stop this path of destruction and ruin that you have chosen.
Thus the argument goes that she refused to cooperate and accept ‘one man rule’ because she thought she has powerful friends. The fact of the matter is she does have powerful friends all over the world. Their power is not measured in armed solders, guns or tanks but in the strength of their character and their determination to stand up for what is right. Our sister, mother and leader knew the cost of fighting for freedom in a hostile environment. She knew there was risk involved. Leaders are willing to pay the price. She is following the footsteps of Gandhi, Marin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and Aung San Suu Kyi. This episode is the third time Judge Bertukan Mideksa is being tested. We promise the regime we will not stop our struggle to free our people from the clutches of dictatorship and fascism and we are sure that in the end we shall overcome. That my friend is never in doubt!
Dhuko, Oromiya, Ethiopia – The numbers of livestock held by southern pastoralist families have fallen drastically over the past two decades as animals die from {www:disease} induced by climate change and the {www:severe} drought it brings, according to a new {www:report} by Ethiopian and Netherlands researchers.
In one of three areas surveyed, Borena zone of Oromiya region, the average numbers of livestock owned by pastoralist households were found to have declined from 10 to 3 oxen, 35 to 7 cows, and 33 to 6 goats.
For families entirely {www:dependent} on their animals for income and as a food {www:source}, losses on this scale would be disastrous.
Climate-change impacts increased {www:poverty} and food insecurity as livestock possession fell, according to the report, Climate Change-Induced Hazards, Impacts and Responses in Southern Ethiopia.
Unidentified diseases
The {www:research} was carried out by the Ethiopian Forum for Social Studies and the Netherlands group, Cordaid – a partner of the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre in The Hague, with {www:experience} of drought management in the Horn of Africa.
Tick and skin diseases in camels, cattle, goats and sheep are common anyway during severe droughts, the study said, while even camels and goats – normally considered more resistant to drought and adopted as a “coping strategy” by pastoralists in place of cattle – are affected by newly prevalent diseases.
The distribution of diseases and pests has also changed in the study area, according to senior researcher Aklilu Amsalu. “Existing diseases… are expanding and new types are emerging,” he said, while unidentified new diseases were also causing the {www:sudden} death of camels and goats.
As their animals died, people became dependent on aid, while dry seasons triggered local “resource conflicts” over water and pasture, the study found. “About a quarter” of all households in Borena and Guji zones suffered from cattle-raiding related to {www:conflict} in the period 2004–8.
Recent press reports in Ethiopia, meanwhile, said 50 per cent of people in the country’s Somali region will remain dependent on international food-aid until at least the middle of the year. In Somali region “humanitarian access and aid remains very erratic”, said the Reporter newspaper. The International Federation in December launched an appeal for nearly US$ 100 million – one of its biggest ever for a “hidden disaster”– and with the Ethiopian Red Cross Society is planning to carry out food distributions shortly in mainly pastoralist areas.
However, donor response to date has been very limited. As things stand, only one major {www:distribution} “hub” – out of a planned four in Ethiopia – is guaranteed.
“I pray for rain”
“We’re doing the very best we can with the donor backing we’ve had,” says Roger Bracke, the Federation’s Addis Ababa-based head of operations for the Horn of Africa.
“Everyone was pleased the latest inter-agency assessment brought the Ethiopian national total of people outside the government {www:safety} net needing emergency food aid down to just under 5 million last month,” he adds. “But that’s still a very large number.”
Ute-Muda Garero knows all about rustling. He’s one of the few pastoralist herdsmen who have stayed behind in Dhuko village, Oromiya, to sit out the dry season, fearful of getting mixed up in a local conflict over water and pasture he says bedevils an area where hundreds of other men from the village have temporarily migrated, seeking better grazing.
But his animals are suffering for it. They have already deteriorated to the exact mid-point of the official yardstick of animal health: between two and three on a four-point scale, four meaning near death. “I pray for rain,” he says.
“My cattle will be ‘threes’ even if the rains start on time,” he explains, referring to the main seasonal rains due next month. “If the rains fail, they’ll die for sure.”
Apart from the women and children, only a handful of community leaders and elders are left Dhuko.
Reduced rations
It’s there and in countless thousands of settlements like it that the {www:disaster} in the Horn of Africa is hidden: difficult to see, even standing in the middle of it.
Children who look half their age from malnutrition; unnecessarily high infant-mortality statistics; “resource wars” fought between tribes who might otherwise live in {www:peace}; the gradual erosion of an ancient lifestyle –- pastoralism.
Earlier this month the World Food Programme (WFP), the Federation’s main UN partner in the Horn operation, reported a relief-funding shortfall of just over US$ 400 million for 2009.
Reduced food rations have applied since July 2008, WFP said, adding that households continue to engage in “negative coping strategies in order to meet their basic food needs [including] selling a higher number of productive assets than usual (44 per cent), reducing the number of meals… (92 per cent), and borrowing food or money (69 per cent).”
In February WFP was distributing reduced rations for cereals and oil and prioritizing blended food for beneficiaries “in hotspot areas only, including Somali region”.
