I had fallen in love. Ethiopia does that to people. It sneaks up on you with its lush, mountainous landscape, its delicious coffee, its beautiful people as warm and welcoming as any in the world. And before you know it, you’re sitting in a restaurant in New York or Nairobi, and all you want to do is speak Amharic, taste injera, and drink honey wine.
The trouble with love, though, is that sometimes it isn’t mutual.
In recent months, reports have begun to spill out of Ethiopia detailing human rights abuses and misuse of food aid in its eastern Ogaden region. Human Rights Watch issued a report urging Ethiopia to stop “abuses [that] violate the laws of war.”
The U.S. government considers Ethiopia Woyanne an important ally in the war on terror, since it shares borders with Eritrea, Sudan, and Somalia, the latter invaded by Ethiopia this past Christmas with Washington’s approval. Ethiopia has not been able to extricate itself from Somalia, and the military has been accused of possible war crimes there. Mogadishu even has a new nickname: “Baghdad on the Sea.”
In addition to sending nearly half a billion dollars in aid money to Ethiopia Woyanne every year, more than to any other sub-Saharan African country, the United States also supplies the Ethiopian the Woyanne fascist military with funds, arms, and special forces training from Army Rangers.
Yet with all the recent negative attention focused on Ethiopia, it is easy to forget that the country had been on the right track. In 2005, poverty was down, growth was up, the local press was flourishing, and the capital, Addis Ababa, was brimming with hope and excitement about upcoming elections.
When the results of those elections were made public, however, many felt that something was amiss. The opposition, enormously popular in the capital, came up suspiciously short. They called the elections fraudulent. Many election observers agreed. Protests took place throughout the country.
At this moment, with the international community watching, Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi and his ruling party had a chance to show the world that it was indeed a burgeoning democracy. Instead, it took several steps backward and made Western leaders like Tony Blair, who’d appointed Zenawi to his Commission for Africa, look foolish.
During post-election demonstrations, at least 30,000 40,000 people were arrested, and more than 100 were killed. Snipers were used on protesters. All the top opposition leaders were arrested, as was the mayor-elect of Addis Ababa.
I, too, was arrested. At the time I was working for a regional African newspaper, and I had been caught taking photos of federal police beating young boys. For 12 hours I sat on a dirt floor in an old customs house, and, because I am American, I was largely ignored. The detained Ethiopians were beaten and forced to crawl over sharp rocks and hop up and down on bloodied feet. The lucky ones were released after a few weeks. Others were taken to rural prisons and not heard from for months.
The crackdown was remarkably effective. Fledgling newspapers were shut down, and their editors jailed along with the opposition leaders. Average Ethiopians once again became hesitant to speak out in public about anything potentially sensitive. Government agents are everywhere, friends would whisper to me when I tried to initiate conversations about politics.
Initially, I scoffed at their reluctance to talk and told them they were being dramatic. I did not understand that after this short period of euphoria and political engagement, Ethiopia had quickly sunk back into an era of repression and suspicion, an atmosphere of fear exactly like the ones that had defined the country’s previous regimes, one socialist and one monarchic.
Just how naive I was in 2005 did not become clear, however, until this summer, when I began reporting on the region of Ethiopia known as the Ogaden.
The Ogaden is a hot and unforgiving landscape populated almost entirely by ethnically Somali pastoralists; it takes up a large swath of the Somali region of eastern Ethiopia. Depending on whom you ask, it has a population of 4 million or 7 million people.
Long ignored, the government has started to pay closer attention to the region in recent years, not only because of security concerns posed by rebel groups and Islamists from neighboring Somalia, but also because it has realized it has a valuable asset in the possible oil deposits there.
In April, an Ogadeni rebel group attacked a Chinese-run oil field and killed more than 70 Chinese and Ethiopian workers. After the attack, the Ethiopian military swooped in and vowed “to hunt down” the rebels. They began this effort by closing all roads into the region to commercial and humanitarian traffic, and then terrorizing the civilian population.
When three journalists from the New York Times traveled to the region to try to understand why the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a relatively unknown group, had lashed out so violently, they were detained by the Ethiopian military, threatened, had all their equipment confiscated, and were finally released without charge five days later.
Because I was contributing reporting to the Times, the Ethiopian Woyanne government began to pay attention to me as well. I would later discover that my phone had been tapped months earlier, and there were rumors that I was being followed. While I knew I was under some kind of surveillance, I also knew that I had to begin reporting in earnest on the Ogaden, and so I sought out people who had fled that region and had ended up in Addis Ababa.
In Addis, there are several neighborhoods populated by ethnic Somalis, and one was made up almost entirely of internally displaced people from the Ogaden. I started spending time there, meeting secretly in living rooms with cautious, veiled women and angry men, young and old.
They would tell me their stories and show me their scars. One elderly woman even removed her hijab, exposing her shoulder and back, to show me the grotesque, deep scar hidden there. Ten months earlier, she had been stabbed with a bayonet by an Ethiopian soldier. “He asked me to stand up, and I guess I did this too slowly for him,” she said, focusing her rheumy, blue-rimmed eyes on mine. “He meant to hit my face.”
Every person I interviewed had a similar story. Their villages had been burned. Their men and women had been jailed, tortured, and raped. Many had been killed. One student I spoke with said, “There are only two options for us: Join the rebels or flee.”
After a Times piece detailed these accusations, aid workers and officials within the government became more willing to speak about other things that were happening in the Ogaden, but none would comment on the record or meet publicly. They were afraid to jeopardize their operations in the country. The government had effectively cowed not only the civilian population, but also aid groups, the United Nations, and foreign embassies.
In addition to having my phone tapped, I was now sure I was being followed by plainclothes intelligence agents. On several occasions, after I exited a taxi, the driver would be interrogated by police.
One day, two men in civilian clothes identifying themselves as police officers showed up at my house and questioned my cook, a 15-year-old girl who’d just finished the eighth grade and knew nothing about my work. She was shaken by the experience, and I knew things had changed.
I began to consider leaving Ethiopia. My love for the country collided with my ever-increasing fear and disdain for those who were making my life, and the lives of those who knew me, difficult. For the first time in two years of living in this beautiful place, I was afraid to leave my home. The government’s goal was intimidation, and it was working.
Everyone around me told me to leave, including the U.S. ambassador, who offered to escort me to the airport. It was not an official expulsion, but there was a real chance that I would be arrested and charged under local laws if I stayed. The next day, I reluctantly bought a ticket and packed my bags.
Early on a Saturday morning, I hailed a taxi to take me to the American Embassy. As we pulled away from my house, I noticed my landlord looking out from his door. He had seen me put luggage into the taxi, and I knew he would immediately call the police with this information.
Earlier that week, I had learned that the man I had lived not 200 yards from for two years, the man I paid my rent to and chatted amiably about America with, was an unofficial government spy. In 2005, he had identified and turned in dozens of neighborhood people he suspected of supporting the opposition party. He even appeared on the state-run TV channel urging the ruling party and the police to more effectively punish the city’s young people.
I urged the taxi driver to hurry. At the embassy, I was greeted by the ambassador, who shook my hand and tossed my suitcase into the trunk of his waiting SUV. “I wonder if there’ll be any Ethiopian intelligence guys waiting for you at the airport,” he said, chuckling.
There were not. Only glassy-eyed airport employees and passengers going about the business of waiting. I boarded the plane, and without any fanfare except my own nervous breathing, flew away from Ethiopia—the country I loved that, in the end, didn’t love me back.
______ Will Connors is a freelance writer unsure of where he’s headed next. His work has appeared in the New York Times, the Christian Science Monitor, and BBC.com.
At least seven people have been killed, including three police officers, in the Somali capital, following the formation of a new anti-government alliance.
Armed insurgents staged a hit-and-run attack on a government base in north-east Mogadishu, leaving six dead, a police spokesman said.
Elsewhere, a police captain was shot dead by three men with pistols.
The new alliance has reportedly named former Islamist leader Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed as its chairman.
Prime Minister Mohamed Ghedi has criticised the new Eritrea-based grouping as “trouble-makers and terrorists”.
“The government does not recognise the results of the so-called Asmara conference hosted by the Eritrean president, who is known to be the trouble-maker in the Horn of Africa,” he said, according to the AP news agency.
Two-track
The overnight Mogadishu attack was in Huriwa, seen as an insurgent stronghold.
“It was one of the heaviest attacks we have witnessed for months – they attacked us with a large number of fighters,” said Abdi Hashi Aden, a police officer in the attacked camp.
Local resident Sahra Shiekh Muse said she witnessed a number of government soldiers forced to run out of the camp.
Police spokesman Colonel Abdi Wahid Mohamed denied the claim.
The attacks came hours after a night-time curfew was relaxed for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The new Alliance for the Liberation of Somalia (ALS) groups together former Islamists and opposition figures.
It aims to remove the Ethiopian Woyanne-backed government by negotiation – or war.
“We have two-track options – first is the liberation of Somalia through military struggle, the second is through diplomatic efforts,” said Zakariya Mahamud Abdi, spokesman for the Somali Congress.
The spokesman had a stark warning for Ethiopian Woyanne troops, heavily deployed in Somalia since they rescued embattled transitional government forces last year.
“We warn Ethiopia Woyanne to withdraw immediately. It is now or never and in a few weeks they will not have a route to withdraw,” Abdi said.
Sheikh Ahmed was seen as a relative moderate in the Union of Islamic Courts, which took control of much of southern Somalia last year.
It is not yet clear whether Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, an architect of the Mogadishu insurgency and on the US list of terror suspects, will be a senior member of the alliance.
Boycott
The Islamists have resorted to guerrilla tactics, launching daily hit-and-run attacks on targets, mainly in Mogadishu.
The UN refugee agency says some 400,000 people have fled the fighting in the capital in the past four months as a result of the surge in violence.
The Islamists, along with other opposition leaders like Hussain Aideed, boycotted a reconciliation meeting sponsored by the transitional government last month.
Instead they chose to organise a meeting hosted by Ethiopia’s Woyanne’s arch-enemy, Eritrea.
Ethiopian Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi has said his troops will withdraw once an African Union peacekeeping force arrives in Mogadishu.
But pledges by AU nations to contribute troops to the planned 7,000-strong peacekeeping mission have yet to be honoured and so far only 1,600 Ugandan soldiers have been deployed.
Now that the Millennium celebrations are over, Ethiopia’s regime (Woyanne) appears ready to attack Eritrea with tacit US backing.
Over 100,000 people were slaughtered the last time these two countries fought a war in 1998 – 2000. This time, the death and destruction as well as the long term dislocation and suffering could be worse.
U.S. takes sides
Incomprehensibly, the Bush administration is fanning the flames and taking sides in a tribal war between two dictators. Current U.S. policy in Africa appears to be dictated more by the force of personalities than strategic principles.
Africa is rarely high on the U.S. agenda. So, important decisions are relegated to low-level political appointees. Inexperienced diplomats such as Jendayi Frazer are easily manipulated by fast-talking African dictators such as Meles Zenawi. Frazer’s singular legacy so far is the debacle in Somalia.
Meles Zenawi – the Ahmed Challabi of the Horn of Africa
Just as in Iraq, the U.S.-backed invasion of Somalia was based on false intelligence and assumptions. Now it’s about to be repeated in Eritrea. Just as Ahmed Challabi fed US lies about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Meles Zenawi fabricated stories about Somalia being a haven for terrorists.
The invasion of Somalia was waged to capture or kill three terrorists Meles claimed were hiding in Mogadishu. The three fugitives were wanted for the 1998 U.S. embassy bombing in Nairobi. None of these terrorists were captured or killed. Yet, some 5,000 Somalis have been killed, thousands wounded and some 400,000 made homeless.
Zenawi and his generals got paid handsomely. His Woyanne (Tigrean People’s Liberation Front) regime has one simple over-arching agenda: to ensure their minority rule over 70 million Ethiopians. They have managed to impose their rule through mass arrests, disappearances and killings that amount to war crimes. In return for their services in the so-called war against terror, the Bush administration has condoned the murderous activities of Woyanne’s rulers.
Can Eritrea be a breeding ground for Islamic extremists?
It will be the ultimate folly and ignorance to construe the fight among Eritreans and Tigreans as one between supporters and opponents of Islamic extremism.
Isaias Afewerki’s government is a secular, nationalist/leftist government. The Eritrean population is roughly half Moslem and half Christian. But political leadership has traditionally been dominated by the Christians. If anything, a Moslem upheaval is a threat to Eritrea’s current government. It is therefore absurd to believe that Eritrea will want to be a breeding ground for Islamic terrorists, as some ill-informed American officials assert.
Clearly, Eritrea is supporting Somali opposition forces opposed to Ethiopia’s dictatorship that happen to be Moslems. Eritrea is also supporting Ethiopian opposition forces that are secular and fighting Tigrean domination.
The Woyane leadership [Ethiopia’s regime], on the other hand, has a vested interest in presenting the fight as one between good and evil – just the simplistic way the Bush administration likes it. Zenawi has masterfully manipulated U.S. obsession with Islamic extremism to present their clan war with Eritrea as a fight against terrorism and those harboring terrorists. In truth, the Tigrian leadership could care less about the fight against terrorism. In the 1970s and 80s the Tigrai Liberation Front (TPLF) group regularly engaged in terrorist activities such as kidnapping and murder.1 So the only permanent interest the group has is staying in power.
U.S. verbal attack against Eritrea
Jendayi Frazer, the US diplomat in charge of Africa, is labeling Eritrea a terrorist haven, creating the psychological climate for what appears to be a justification for the invasion of Eritrea.2
Frazer’s coddling of Ethiopia’s Zenawi while blasting Eritrea’s Afewerki is reminiscent of Donald Rumsfiled’s embrace of Saddam Hussein 3 and his endorsement of Hussein’s invasion of Iran. Yet another senseless U.S. strategic blunder is about to be played out in the Horn of Africa.
Other US diplomats are busy flattering Ethiopia’s ruler while attacking Asmara.
“Ethiopia’s political leaders have committed themselves to a new collaborative relationship for the good of the country,” said James Swan, on August 5, 2007. Mr. swan is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs. He made the remark at the 4th International Conference on Ethiopian Development Studies Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan.4
According to Mr. Swan, “Eritrea has chosen to support extremist elements, including the al-Qaida affiliated al Shabaab militia in Somalia, in an effort to undermine the political process. While the rest of the region and the international community have united behind a common strategy for achieving lasting peace and stability in Somalia, Eritrea has opted to support terrorists and spoilers while encouraging continued violence. There is no justification for such actions. The ruling cabal is – to our great regret — leading Eritrea along the path toward increased domestic repression and hardship, and regional and international isolation.“
These are serious charges. Charges that indicate the Bush Administration and the Ethiopian leadership are working closely to overthrow the Eritrean government.
Coup d’etat or war?
Ethiopia’s ruling Tigrai Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) would engage in such risky venture only if it believes it can launch a blitzkrieg similar to the one used in the invasion of Somalia. But Eritrea is no Somalia. And there is no guaranty of a quick, easy victory.
What’s guaranteed, however, is tremendous human slaughter and suffering of an unprecedented scale. Hence the need for people of good will to speak up before yet another war engulfs two of the poorest countries in the world.
Ethiopia’s Tigrai Liberation Front could be entertaining two possible scenarios:
1. Decapitation/ coup d’etat against the Eritrean leadership; or
2. Outright invasion.
The first scenario is what Meles Zenawi and his politburo would prefer. The decapitation can be accomplished with logistical and intelligence support from the Israel and the United States.
The Woyanne leadership has come to the conclusion that Isaias Afewerki is weak and unpopular; hence easily replaceable. Afeworki may be unpopular, but it remains to be seen whether Ethiopia’s Woyanne leadership could easily orchestrate regime change in neighboring Eritrea.
The Woyanne leadership brags that the road to Asmara can be a cakewalk. It has amassed enough troops on three fronts to engage in a pincer movement. In addition, some 5,000 highly trained special forces are said to be on standby to parachute to the environs of Asmara on short notice.
The preparation for regime change appears to be in full throttle. Ethiopia is also training and supporting dissident forces such as the Eritrean Democratic Alliance.
If a coup d’etat or decapitation of the Eritrean leadership is not possible, Zenawi will have to resort to a costly invasion. An invasion will very likely be supported by secret U.S. air strikes and satellite intelligence.
The U.S. will also provide the disinformation, demonizing the Eritreans while legitimizing violence initiated by Woyanne. As a prelude to what is in the pipeline, Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Jendayi Frazer indicated the U.S. readiness to label Eritrea a terrorist state. This could presumably be followed by some UN resolution, which will then provide a legal cover for the invasion of Eritrea.
For the Pentagon and its newly minted Africa Command (AFRICOM) as well as the Department of State, condoning an invasion may be a tempting way to reward Zenawi and his Woyannes for being good boys. Zenawi and company have been both the manipulators and the compliant locals always eager to do any dirty deed and to please the master. The invasion of Somalia was a reflection of the incestuous relationship between the local tyrants and the Bush administration.
The Woyanne regime is in trouble
The war in Somalia is going very badly for the US-backed Woyannes and the Transitional Federal “Government.” In the meantime, international human rights groups are accusing the Woyannes and the Transitional Somali government of war crimes.
So, the question is, will the Woyanne leadership opt for war on two fronts? As unlikely as that may seem, the Zenawi group may opt for war. War, after all, is what the TPLF knows best.
The Woyanne leadership feels a legitimate threat from Eritrea. It has skillfully monopolized political and economic power in Ethiopia for the last 16 years. It managed to do so by ruthlessly holding down the local population while manipulating Western donors into lining its pockets.
Eritrea is now threatening the Tigrean stranglehold on Ethiopia by harboring Ethiopian dissidents and Somali forces opposed to Woyanne and the fragile Somali Transitional Government.
Zenawi has masterfully exploited U.S. fears of Islamic terrorism in the wake of the September 2001 attacks. He has promoted himself as an indispensable American ally in the fight against terrorism. In return, the Bush administration has condoned the many crimes and human rights abuses committed by the Zenawi regime.
Why does the U.S. condemn Eritrea and not Ethiopia’s Woyanne regime? Why the moral double standard?
Zenawi and his organization were once labeled terrorists by the United States. Apparently, if you do this administration’s bidding, it does not matter how heinous your crimes are.
Let’s look at the highlights of crimes committed by the Woyanne regime:
* Possible war crimes in Somalia. Indiscriminate shelling of civilians, hospitals, blocking food convoys, and the use of white phosphorous chemical weapons.
* The genocide currently underway in Ethiopia’s Ogaden region.
* The June and November 2005 killings of over 193 people, the arrest of over 40,000 protesting electoral fraud.
* Upwards of 15,000 killed, tens of thousands imprisoned in Oromia region.
* Over 425 ethnic Anuaks massacred by Ethiopian forces in December 2003; some 10,000 made homeless.
Time to speak up
Ethiopia and Eritrea are among the poorest countries in the world. Food and freedom, and not war, are the real issues. Thousands of Eritreans are suffering from food shortages and economic deprivation. Over four million Ethiopians need food assistance.
For the Ethiopian minority regime, this is a preemptive war. The cost of the war may be underwritten by some American counter-insurgency slush fund. How about human lives? The Woyanne group sacrificed over 50,000 lives in Eritrea before. It’s now sacrificing thousands in Somalia. But since this is a regime that does not have to account to its own people, lives don’t matter.
Where is the morality for a big power like the U.S. egging two poor people towards war? Why the haste to sacrifice so many African lives in the name of some ill-conceived, dubious cause.
This is the time for all people of good will to speak up against an impending senseless war.
______
The writer can be reached at [email protected]
Somali Islamists and opposition leaders meeting in Eritrea have joined forces in a new alliance to overthrow Somalia’s transitional government. More than 300 delegates, including Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys, have approved a constitution and central committee.
Sheik Aweys emerged from hiding
to attend the talks [photo: BBC]
A spokesman said the new movement will be called The Alliance for the Liberation of Somalia.
It aims to remove the Ethiopian Woyanne-backed government by negotiation – or war.
“We have two-track options – first is the liberation of Somalia through military struggle, the second is through diplomatic efforts,” said Zakariya Mahamud Abdi, spokesman for the Somali Congress.
The Alliance for the Liberation of Somalia (ALS) will have a 191-member central committee that will function as a parliament with a 10-person executive committee to be elected shortly.
The spokesman had a stark warning for Ethiopian Woyanne troops, heavily deployed in Somalia since they rescued embattled transitional government forces last year.
“We warn Ethiopia Woyanne to withdraw immediately. It is now or never and in a few weeks they will not have a route to withdraw,” Abdi said.
Key role
Reporters at the Somali Congress for Liberation and Reconstitution in Asmara say the alliance is unlikely to be Islamist-led as the opposition is hoping to draw on the broad political support and fundraising opportunities of the Somali diaspora.
The participants want to see
the Woyanne invading forces out
within two months [photo: BBC]
But observers say it will be interesting to see if a position is offered to the Islamist leader Sheikh Aweys, an architect of the Mogadishu insurgency, who has been in hiding since the Islamic Courts’ Union was routed by the Ethiopian army last year.
In an interview with the Eritrean media, Sheikh Aweys, has dismissed US allegations that he is a “terrorist”.
“I am a Somali nationalist fighting for a free and united Somalia,” he said “and this is considered by the US administration to be terrorism.”
The UN refugee agency says some 400,000 people have fled the fighting in the capital in the past four months as a result of the surge in violence.
The Islamists, along with other opposition leaders like Hussain Aideed, boycotted a reconciliation meeting sponsored by the transitional government last month.
US warnings
Ethiopian Prime Minister dictator Meles Zenawi has said his troops will withdraw once African Union peacekeepers arrive in Mogadishu.
But pledges by AU nations to contribute troops to the planned 7,000-strong peacekeeping mission have yet to be honoured and so far only 1,600 Ugandan soldiers have been deployed.
Just days ago, a senior US official said the presence of Sheikh Aweys in Asmara was further evidence Eritrea gave sanctuary to terrorists.
The gathering of further intelligence could lead to Eritrea being named as a state sponsor of terrorism – followed by sanctions, the official warned.
The millennium party that was organized by Woyanne billionaire businessman Sheik Al Amoudi was attended by very few people other than Meles Zenawi, his puppet, President Girma Wolde-Giorgis, Woyanne officials and some opportunist individuals.
The much-talked-about party, which was organized at the cost of $10 million in the Bole district of Addis Ababa, was being shown live on the state-run TV.
The party hall was almost empty, as the TV cameras showed tonight. Meles himself appears to be uneasy as he listened “Don’t Lie” by Black Eyed Peas band from the U.S. The only person who is seen enjoying himself seems to be Meto Aleqa Girma Wolde-Giorgia, because food is in abundance supply at the party.
There was another party in Addis Ababa Stadium that was hosted by the Woyanne-installed mayor of Addis Ababa. That party was also a bust. There were very few people inside the stadium, as shown on TV. The Federal Police, Meles Zenawi’s trigger-happy killers, may have outnumbered the party-goers.
In Jan Meda, there were more people, but almost all of them teenagers. Even that one did not look any thing close to a millennium party.
So this was how the millennium was received in Ethiopia — Meles listening to Black Eye Peas from the U.S., “President” Girma attacking a table full of food, the Woyanne mass murderers getting drunk, may be to forget about their murder spree, and the rest of Ethiopians staying at home and praying to God for a better future for the country.
It was the height of hypocrisy any way for Meles and his Woyanne gang to try to celebrate Ethiopia’s 2000. Didn’t they say that Ethiopia’s history is only 100 years old?
The Meles regime released today 17,765 political prisoners who are suspected of being members of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy Party (Kinijit) and the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), according to members of the elders council Prof. Ephrem Isaac and Pastor Daniel.
It is to be remembered that Woyanne Propaganda chief Bereket Simon had repeated said there are no political prisoners in Ethiopia.
The 17,000 who have been released today are those who have been rounded up from the streets and their homes suspected of being members of OLF and Kinijit.
Tens of thousands of political prisoners who are members or suspected of being members of the the Ethiopian People’s Patriotic Front, the Ogaden National Liberation Front and other rebels groups remain in jail.
Most of the prisoners have been tortured and abused while incarcerated without trial for several months and years.
The astonishing number of the political prisoners is just one example of the kind of atrocities the Meles Zenawi and his Woyanne regime are perpetrating in Ethiopia.
_____________ Report by Ethiopian News Agency
Federal, regional governments grant pardons to 17,765 prisoners
September 11, 2007
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (ENA)- Federal and Regional Governments have granted pardons to 17,765 prisoners who submitted requests for
clemency, said the Ministry of Information.
The Ministry quoting the Justice Ministry said the requests for pardon by prisoners in the regions were given answers to after having been looked into
by the regional boards of pardon and approved by presidents of the respective regional governments. The requests made by prisoners at federal prisons
were approved by the head of state upon recommendation by the federal board of pardon.
Accordingly,
Oromia pardons 6,942 prisoners
South Ethiopia Peoples’ State 4,995
Amhara 3,108
Tigray 1,800
Benishangul Gumuz 458,
Harari 60
Gambella 19
and from the federal government 383 in the wake of the new millennium.
The pardon applied to individuals who have shown good behaviour, and in view of the contributions they could make to national economic building –
criteria against which each of the pardoned had been evaluated by committees.
The pardoned include individuals who were convicted and were serving prison terms ranging to as many as 20 years for crimes such as rape, murder,
armed robbery and other criminal offenses.
