The Ethiopian Community Association in South Africa
PRESS STATEMENT, FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, 7 MAY 2008
The Ethiopian Community Association in South Africa has a proud tradition of activism, and once again issues this joint communiqué in association with the support groups of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party and The United Ethiopian Democratic Forces on the occasion of the planned visit of Meles Zenawi, the butcher of Addis Ababa, to South Africa. Reliable sources indicate that the embassy is using gullible Ethiopians, opportunists and the supporters of the tribal regime to finalize the reception for Meles. They have hired propagandists.
Meles Zenawi leads a blood thirsty minority tribal regime. The number of people that were killed during the last 17 years of Meles Zenawi’s misrule warrants international investigation. The perpetrators of the grand massacres in Addis Ababa, Afar, Ambo, Awassa, Borena, Hosaina, Gambella, Gojam, Gonder, North Shoa, Nekemt, Ogden, Tigrai and other places are well known to Ethiopians. To counter the international campaign for investigation, the dictatorial regime is spending millions, closing diplomatic doors and also confusing Ethiopian emigrants in South Africa and the rest of the world through sectarian politics, and making false economic promises. The fact is in 2008 there are over 10 million Ethiopians that need food aid. There is rampant inflation and unknown amount of war expenditure.
In April 2008 the minority regime made yet another effort to legitimize its atrocities. It administered a local election in which it was the only contestant. This is in addition to the stolen election of May 15, 2005 in which elected parliamentarians were jailed for more than 20 months on concocted charges. The commander of the minority regime himself was personally responsible for ordering the massacre of civilians in Addis Ababa and the rest of Ethiopia. It is for this blood thirsty dictator that Ethiopians in South Africa are being invited to attend a reception! It is evident that Ethiopia has nothing to celebrate and it is rather bizarre that a forum such as the Pan-African Parliament is used to promote a regime with such poor human rights record.
Africa should stop using double standards. It should show the same concern to Ethiopia as it has done for Kenya and Zimbabwe. It is ridiculous to put Meles at the helm of NEPAD when in fact he is a leader of an illegal minority regime. The “war on terror” should not be used to cover up human right abuses in the Horn of Africa. Therefore, we call upon the international community to disassociate itself from this undemocratic regime.
Now we are being informed by a patriotic committee of Ethiopians that Meles Zenawi is actively engaged in the handing over of extensive Ethiopian Territory, tens of thousands of acres, to the Government of Sudan. It seems that the Committee that brought to our attention the recent abrogation of duty by Meles Zenawi to defend and preserve Ethiopia has the added difficulty of penetrating the news blackout imposed by the Meles Government. However, it is to the great credit of such courageous and patriotic Ethiopians that we were able to follow and monitor the activities of Meles Zenawi and the EPRDF and the Sudanese Government Officials and military in connection with the ongoing attempt to dismantle and destroy Ethiopia. It is no news that Sudan has ambition to extend its control of the Tikur Abayi (Blue Nile) River basin and conquer the most prized cistern—Lake Tana, but what is unfathomable is the possibility of an Ethiopian leader collaborating with Ethiopia’s historic enemies handing over Ethiopian territory… Read more >>
Woyannes, who have accused Norway and Qatar of supporting terrorism, and Ethiopian Review and other media of genocide, is now going after Amnesty International, one of the most respected human rights organizations, for exposing the war crimes of Meles Zenawi’s occupation forces in Somalia. Reuters and other media are smearing Ethiopia’s name by associating Woyanne and its evil deeds with Ethiopia, or calling it Ethiopian government. Woyanne is not a government or a political party. It is a gang of murderers, thieves and rapists — it is a criminal enterprise acting as a government or ruling party.
ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) – Ethiopia Woyanne accused Amnesty International of a smear campaign against it on Wednesday after the rights group said Ethiopia Woyanne troops in Somalia had killed civilians by slitting their throats.
Thousands of Ethiopia Woyanne soldiers are stationed in Somalia where they are helping the government fight Islamist-led insurgents.
In its second report on abuses in Somalia in two weeks, Amnesty said on Tuesday that all parties to the conflict had committed abuses.
However, it said it had received an increase in reports of violations of Somalis by Ethiopia Woyanne troops, with allegations of gang rape and civilians having their throats slit among the most common.
“This is an outright and deliberate lie, fed to Amnesty by groups affiliated to al Shabaab, groups that use the cover of human rights to promote their terrorist agenda,” Ethiopia’s Woyanne Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement.
“It is deplorable that Amnesty International has lent itself to an obviously disgraceful smear campaign against the armed forces of Ethiopia Woyanne, using highly emotive, even racist language.”
The ministry accused Amnesty of ignoring widespread human rights abuses by the al Shabaab, including assassinations of political and religious leaders, desecration of dead bodies and the cutting of throats of Muslim clerics who oppose it.
Al Shabaab is the armed wing of a sharia courts movement that ruled most of southern Somalia for six months in 2006 before being ousted by allied Somali-Ethiopian Woyanne forces.
Ethiopia Woyanne said the timing of Amnesty report was designed to help al Shabaab “in the recruitment of terrorists by deliberately inciting hatred and animosity based on lies” and to derail talks due to start in Djibouti on Saturday.
The United Nations has brokered tentative peace talks due to begin on Saturday between 15 officials sent by Somalia’s interim government and a similar number of delegates from the Eritrea-based Somali opposition.
Amnesty urged Ethiopia to read its report and study the allegations against its troops, rather than issue accusations.
“In light of the devastating testimony we received from ordinary Somalis who have been the victims of brutal attacks by all parties to the conflict, we expect the Ethiopian Woyanne government to support a call for an international independent commission into the serious crimes being committed,” a spokesperson said.
Last month Amnesty said Ethiopian Woyanne troops killed 21 people in Mogadishu’s Al Hidaaya mosque, adding that seven of the victims had their throats slit. Ethiopia Woyanne rejected the report and said its forces had never been involved in such incidents.
(Additional reporting and writing by Katie Nguyen in Nairobi; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Jon Boyle)
Reporters Without Borders condemns the arrest of Alemayehu Mahtemework, the publisher and deputy editor of the entertainment monthly Enku, on the night of 2 May in Addis Ababa, and the seizure of 10,000 copies of its latest issue.
The press freedom organisation also condemns the arrest of three people with no connection to the magazine who happened to be in the vehicle carrying the copies that were about to be distributed.
“The Ethiopian authorities have sent a very negative signal by choosing the eve of 3 May, World Press Freedom Day, to arrest a journalist and seize an issue of an independent magazine,” Reporters Without Borders said.
“Although aware of the climate of self-censorship prevailing in Addis Ababa, we chose to send the government a positive signal by withdrawing Prime Minister Meles Zenawi from our list of press freedom predators, in order to salute the efforts it has made in the past year,” the organisation added. “But if this case is not resolved quickly and this kind of incident recurs, we will have to review our decision.”
The cover story of the issue that was seized by the police was about the controversial arrest of Tewodros Kasahun, a very popular singer who supports the opposition.
An Ethiopian rebel group has accused the government of Somalia’s semi-autonomous Puntland region of detaining Ethiopians and handing them over to Ethiopian Woyanne security forces. The Ethiopian government Woyanne denies the accusation that follows similar reports of increased security cooperation between Ethiopia Woyanne and Puntland. Derek Kilner reports for VOA’s East Africa bureau in Nairobi.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front, which is waging an insurgency in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia that borders Puntland, said Puntland officials detained several Ethiopians from Ogaden on May 1, handing at least five over to Ethiopian Woyanne officials.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front says the incident was part of a broader security agreement between Puntland and Ethiopia Woyanne to send Ethiopians suspected of involvement with the rebels into Ethiopia Woyanne custody.
The May 1 incident follows a trip by Puntland’s president Adde Muse to Ethiopia Woyanne last month and has been reported in the Somali media in recent days. But Bereket Simon, [propaganda] advisor to Ethiopian Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi, denies the existence of an agreement with Puntland.
“Basically, we cooperate with regional governments in many respects,” Simon said. “Of course, fighting terrorism is a common agenda for all of us because terrorism is a menace in this part of the world. But we have no deals that infringe on the rights of citizens. So basically, it is a wild accusation.”
Last month, the Ogaden National Liberation Front said two of its members were arrested by Puntland authorities and delivered to Ethiopian Woyanne officials. The rebels say such actions violate international law, because the detainees face a substantial risk of torture or execution by the Ethiopian government Woyanne.
Puntland officials have denied those claims. VOA was unable to reach Puntland officials for comment on the rebel’s recent accusations.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front has been operating for more than two decades in Ethiopia’s Ogaden, an ethnically Somali region that has been contested in the past by the governments of Ethiopia and Somalia.
Many Ethiopians displaced by the conflict have fled across the border to Puntland, and Ethiopia Woyanne says members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front have organized operations from Puntland.
Puntland has warm relations with Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government, whose president, Abdullahi Yusuf, is a former president of Puntland and has supported Yusuf’s cooperation with the Ethiopian government Woyanne. But Puntland has generally avoided the conflict that has wracked southern Somalia, and the extradition of Ethiopian citizens is seen as a new development.
Ethiopian Woyanne troops have occupied Somalia since December 2006, when they backed Somalia’s Transitional Federal Government in wresting control of the capital Mogadishu from the Islamic Courts Union. But since then, a variety of Islamist and clan-based groups have been waging a growing insurgency against the Ethiopian Woyanne presence.
