The right to peacefully assemble to protest is protected in Ethiopian and international law.
The Constitution contains an expansive provision on this right which states “Everyone shall
have the freedom, in association with others, to peaceably assemble without arms, engage in
public demonstration and the right to petition.”24 The response received by Amnesty
International from the Oromia Justice Bureau noted that “appropriate regulations are put in
place in the interest of public convenience relating to the location of open-air meetings and
the route of movement of demonstrators or, for the protection of democratic rights, public
morality and peace during such a meeting or demonstration.” But, it further noted, “This
does not exempt organizers from liability under laws enacted to protect the well-being of
youth or the honour and reputation of individuals, and laws prohibiting propaganda.”25
The United Nations (UN) Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law
Enforcement Officials and the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials establish
guidelines which govern, inter alia, situations in which law enforcement officials may use
force without violating human rights, including the right to life. They state law enforcement
officials may use only such force as is necessary and proportionate to achieve legitimate aims
and may resort to the intentional lethal use of firearms only if strictly unavoidable to protect
human life.
number of large and small-scale precedents in which the federal and regional authorities
aggressively and sometimes violently suppressed protests and demonstrations in Oromia.
They included large-scale incidents involving protests occurring in multiple locations and
smaller, more localised demonstrations.27
Thousands of Oromos have been arrested between 2011 and 2014 for participating in
peaceful protests on a wide range of issues. Several thousand people were reported to have
been arrested in the context of a series of protests carried out by the Muslim community in
2012-2013 against alleged government interference in Islamic affairs, and during and after
the ‘Master Plan’ protests in 2014. Several thousand people were reported to have been
arrested in relation to coordinated protests staged by farmers in 10 locations across Oromia
in 2012. Around 1000 further arrests were reported to Amnesty International as having taken
place in seven different incidents of peaceful protests.
Protests are taken as criticism of, or opposition to, the government, which is not tolerated, no
matter what issue or grievance is the subject of the demonstration. The government has
shown intolerance of protests, particularly since the disputed 2005 elections, in the
aftermath of which security services opened fire on peaceful protestors in Addis Ababa and
thousands of people were arrested around the country.28 Amnesty International is aware of
incidents in other parts of the country of the suppression of peaceful protests and the related
arrests of many people, including during the Muslim protest movement. These are regular
occurrences in Oromia.
Amnesty International interviewed people arrested for demonstrating about job opportunities,
forced evictions, the price of fertilizer, students’ rights, the teaching of the Oromo language,
and, in several incidents, the arrest or extra-judicial executions of farmers, students, children
and others targeted for expressing dissent, participation in peaceful protests or based on their
imputed political opinion – on the accusation they supported the OLF or simply did not
support the government.29 Peaceful protestors made up a significant proportion of the 5000
cases of actual or suspected dissenters arrested in Oromia since 2011 known to Amnesty
International.
Amnesty International has received information and testimonies relating to several incidents
over the last three years in which security services are alleged to have used unnecessary force
against peaceful protestors, including firing live ammunition on unarmed protestors and
allegations of beating of peaceful protestors and, in some cases, bystanders, resulting in
deaths and injuries.30 The killing of protestors during several demonstrations since 2011
amount to extra-judicial executions, as discussed later in this report.
Amnesty International interviewed around three dozen people involved in or witnesses to
incidents in the large scale protests of the 2012-13 Muslim protest movement and the 2014
‘Master Plan’ protests. In addition, Amnesty International interviewed nine people who had
been arrested for their participation in other protests, and around 10 people arrested in
apparent pre-emptive moves against demonstrations happening in 2011.
Some people were arrested during the protest itself but, in at least five reported cases,
people who had been involved and those suspected of organising the protest were also
pursued and arrested after the protest had taken place. People interviewed by Amnesty
International reported incidents of arrests of protestors carried out by local and federal police
and the federal military. Some interviewees reported that the ensuing detention of protestors
– often without charge – was longer in cases of organisers or suspected organisers and that
the organisers were subjected to worse conditions of detention. Incidents of the enforced
disappearance of organisers or suspected organisers were reported to Amnesty International.
THE 2014 ‘MASTER PLAN’ PROTESTS
In April and May 2014, protests against the ‘Addis Ababa and Oromia Special
Zone Integrated Development Master Plan’ took place in many universities and towns across
Oromia. According to the government, the ‘Master Plan’ would bring urban services to remote
areas. However, protestors and other Oromos feared that the move would be detrimental to
the interests of Oromo farmers and would lead to large-scale evictions to make way for land
leasing or sale, which had already happened in some parts of the region. Many Oromos also
considered the move to be in violation of the Constitutionally-guaranteed protection of the
“special interest” of Oromia in relation to the “supply of services or the utilization of
resources or administrative matters arising from the presence of the city of Addis Ababa
within the state of Oromia.”31 The security services responded to the protests with
unnecessary and excessive force and arbitrary arrests. The violent response of the security
services to the initial protests contributed to fuelling further protests. Eye-witnesses, local
residents and other sources told Amnesty International that security services, comprised of
federal police and the military special forces, opened fire with live ammunition on peaceful
protestors in Ambo and Guder towns and at Wallega and Madawalabu universities.32 Due to
the ongoing military operation, restrictions on independent media and human rights
organizations and the number of incidents involved, even three months after the incidents
there was no confirmed number of those killed during the protests. However, reports
consistently indicated at least 30 people had been killed. Students and children as young as
eleven were among the dead. According to available information, at time of writing, no
investigations had taken place into the incidents.
Amnesty International received reports of the security services beating hundreds of people,
during and after the protests, including protestors, bystanders and parents of protestors for
failing to ‘control’ their children, resulting in scores of injuries in locations including Ambo,
Jimma, Nekemte, Wallega, Dembi Dollo, Robe town, Madawalabu and Haromaya.33
Thousands of people were reported to have been arrested in the wake of the protests.
Witnesses told Amnesty International many of the arrests took place after the protestors had
dispersed. Security services conducted house-to-house searches in a number of locations in
the region, looking for students and others who may have been involved. Hundreds were
initially taken to Senkele police training camp near Ambo. Subsequently, detainees were
reported to be in prisons across the region, including in Ambo, Dire Dawa, Gimbi, Dembi
Dollo and Kelem Wallega. Arrests continued to be reported during June 2014.34
Following the protests, local residents told Amnesty International there was a high security
force presence in several towns across the region and on some university campuses. In early
May, sources in Oromia told Amnesty International that classes were suspended in some
universities, and in other universities where classes had not been suspended or had already
resumed after brief suspensions, attendance registers were being taken for classes and those
not present would fall under suspicion of involvement in the protests, which could result in
further repercussions.Most of those arrested were reported to have been initially detained without charge and
incommunicado. Some who fell under suspicion of having organised the protests or who were
previously suspected of dissenting tendencies were transported to Maikelawi. Amnesty
International had received the names of 43 individuals transferred to Maikelawi by the end of
July 2014 and some reports indicated 40 other people may also have been transferred. These
were reported to include students from Haromaya, Jimma, Wallega and Adama universities,
as well as farmers and businesspeople from various locations throughout the region. Amnesty
International received information from the family of one of the detained students that they
had been denied access to visit the detainee in Maikelawi in mid-June 2014.35
In July 2014, Amnesty International received several reports that a number of people
arrested in relation to the ‘Master Plan’ protests continued to be held in detention in Kelem
Wallega, Jimma and Ambo despite the fact the courts had ordered their release on bail or
their unconditional release.
Many of those arrested were released after varying periods of time in detention, between May
and October 2014. By late September sources indicated that many of those arrested had
been released either on bail or released without charge. However, Amnesty International also
received information of individuals who were denied bail, and others who continued to be
detained without charge, including in Maikelawi. Others, including students and Oromo
Federalist Congress (OFC) opposition political party members, were prosecuted and convicted
in rapid trials on various charges relating to the protests, including a group in Ambo
reportedly convicted in late September and sentenced to periods of imprisonment ranging
from one year to six years. Amnesty International received information that some protestors
were charged with offences such as theft during the protests, while others were reportedly
charged with ‘inciting unrest to overthrow the government.’
The OFC reported that further arrests of their members, students and other people took place
in September and October 2014, including several hundred arrests in early October in
Hurumu and Yayu Woredas in Illubabor Zone, of high school students, farmers and other
local residents.36
2012-2013 MUSLIM PROTEST MOVEMENT
In 2012 and 2013, another large-scale protest movement witnessed arrests and the reported
use of excessive and unnecessary force by security services, as the Muslim community staged
a series of demonstrations against alleged government interference in Islamic affairs. These
took place in Addis Ababa, a number of locations across Oromia and other parts of the
country. Amnesty International is aware of at least five incidents in Oromia that resulted in
the arrests of people involved in, or suspected of involvement in, the Muslim protest
movement. As with the ‘Master Plan’ protests, local and federal police, and the federal
military were reported to have been responsible for arrests in relation to the Muslim
movement.
One incident in the town of Kofele in August 2013, resulted in the deaths of at least 11
people, including children. The demonstrators were protesting against the arrests of members
of the local Muslim community. Witnesses told Amnesty International the police and military
opened fire on the demonstrators. One resident of Kofele told Amnesty International 14
people were shot dead by the army, including at least three children. Another said that 11
people had been killed. One resident told Amnesty International:
“They didn’t even shoot towards the sky, they shot at the people who
were running. I don’t even have the words to describe it.”37
A young man told Amnesty International that his father had been beaten by soldiers when he
went to retrieve the body of his 14-year-old son (the interviewee’s brother) who had been
killed at the town mosque.38 Many hundreds of people were reported to have been arrested,
including in house-to-house searches after the demonstration dispersed. A significant
security presence was reported around the area in the aftermath of the incident.
In April 2012, the police allegedly shot dead at least four people in Asasa town, Arsi district,
in relation to the Muslim protest movement during that year.39 Reports about the incident
from the government and from those involved differ. The violence is reported to have
occurred when the police attempted to arrest an Imam from the mosque. In statements to the
media after the event, the government stated supporters of the Imam attacked the police
station to try to secure his release. However, eye-witnesses said the police had opened fire in
the town when supporters tried to prevent the man’s arrest. The Imam was reportedly arrested
because he had refused to undergo ‘training’ in Al Ahbash ideology, which the government
had made obligatory for Muslim preachers.40
OTHER PEACEFUL PROTESTORS TARGETED BETWEEN 2011 AND 2014
Between 2011 and 2014, peaceful protests across Oromia have resulted in arrests of
protestors and incidents of the alleged use of unnecessary and excessive force by security
services against unarmed protestors.
Amnesty International interviewed nine people arrested for actual or suspected participation
in individual protests on a wide range of issues and received information from other sources
about further protest-related arrests. Another 10 interviewees told Amnesty International their
problems with the government had begun when they participated in a peaceful protest in
previous years.
In three of these cases, arrests took place at demonstrations against incidents of arbitrary
arrest and detention, enforced disappearance or killing of class-mates, friends or community
members. A former student told Amnesty International he and his fellow students had staged
two demonstrations demanding information on the whereabouts of four of their class-mates
arrested by the military and subjected to enforced disappearance for their membership in a
student development association:
“We asked the university where the four students were but they said
they had asked the military what happened to them and the military
said they didn’t know anything about them. So we organised a
demonstration to demand where they were. After the demo dispersed,
we heard that the military were coming to arrest the people involved, so
we left the university and went into hiding.”Another young man told Amnesty International dozens of people were arrested in Dodola town
in early 2012 for demonstrating about the shooting by the military of a young boy as he went
home from school.42
In two of the incidents reported to Amnesty International, people were arrested for
demonstrating over a lack of job opportunities for graduating Oromo students, which they and
their fellow students believed was due to discrimination in the distribution of jobs by the
government:
“In October 2012, I was arrested the second time. We demonstrated
because Oromos who graduate from college are not offered a job.
People were asking for their rights because the government is supposed
to give them jobs.”43
“In early 2013, many people demonstrated in Chiro because most
Oromo students do not get assigned to any job because of our ethnicity
if we’re not a member of OPDO. Twelve people were arrested for that
demonstration.”44
Another man interviewed by Amnesty International was arrested for petitioning the local
authorities over a road-building project which he said had caused displacement with no
consultation or compensation of the local community:
“We took our complaint about the road-building project and the lack of
compensation for people to the regional level. A large number of us
were arrested that day. If you complained about anything to do with the
project, they say you are anti-government and pro-OLF.”45
Another young man told Amnesty International how he had been arrested after taking part in
a demonstration in 2011 in Chancho town in Gololcaha Woreda, Arsi Zone of young people
and their parents protesting about children being taught in Amharic in school, instead of
Afan Oromo:
“We demonstrated to say we wanted to learn in Afan Oromo. The
farmers were demonstrating because they wanted their children to learn
in the Oromo language. Even some people in the local government who
felt bad about the decision that we should be taught in Amharic joined
in. Then the military came and took us to the jail. About 250 people
were arrested, including many students.”46
In early 2011, the authorities made large-scale arrests which appeared to be pre-emptive – to
prevent demonstrations from taking place. Hundreds of students and opposition political
party members were arrested across Oromia, apparently in relation to the ‘Arab Spring’
uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa of that period. The government showed signs of
fearing the unrest would be replicated in Ethiopia and large numbers of opposition political
party members, students and other dissenters, including independent journalists and
advocates of reform, were arrested. Of the cases of arrests made known to Amnesty
International, the majority were Oromos.47 In addition to the large numbers of opposition
political party members and students targeted in the sweeps, farmers, lecturers, pharmacists,artists, employees of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and others were
also arrested.
Amnesty International received the names of at least 60 students who were reported to have
been arrested. In addition to this, sources believed that there had been further arrests, but
the details of those arrested were not known. Therefore, the true figure of students arrested
may have been higher.48 Students were reportedly arrested across Oromia, including from the
universities of Jimma, Haromaya, Awassa, Wallega, Nekemte, Ambo and Addis Ababa. A
student from Jimma University arrested in April 2011 had the same opinion on the cause of
the arrests:
“They feared the same [the uprisings] would happen in Ethiopia,
particularly in universities and particularly in Oromia. So, to prevent
that, they arrested students from the universities to frustrate any ideas
they had about uprisings.”49
He was arrested alongside four other students from his department and detained without
charge for one month. During his detention, he was interrogated to tell if he knew of a
clandestine student network in the universities. He was released but said the four others were
not and were transferred to Maikelawi. Another student arrested from Addis Ababa University
in 2011 was also held in Maikelawi for six weeks. He told Amnesty International that Oromo
students were detained with him from universities across the region as well as many from
Addis Ababa University.50
The arrests continued throughout the year. Further, members of the Oromo opposition
political parties were arrested in August and September 2011, as well as a number of
students in August 2011. Amnesty International also received information about the arrests
of more than 75 students from Wallega and Adama universities and Gimbi town in December
2011.
Many of the people who reported protest-related arrests to Amnesty International said that,
after the demonstrations, the government searched for and tried to establish the leaders or
organisers. Interviewees said those suspected of having organised the demonstrations were
treated as more serious cases – resulting in longer detention periods, incommunicado
detention or enforced disappearance:
“Those who were accused of organising the demonstration were treated
the worst.”51
“In the military camp, those put underground and in the other building
in the dark were the ones of accused of organising the
demonstration.”52
A man who worked as an agricultural expert in a Zonal Bureau of Agriculture,53 told Amnesty
International large numbers of farmers were arrested on a regular basis either for protesting
about economic concerns or simply on the suspicion they supported the OLF. He said that, in
May 2012, peaceful demonstrations took place in 10 different locations in the course of one
week to protest about the availability and price of fertilizer and the detention of other farmers
on the accusation of supporting the OLF. Hundreds of farmers were arrested by the militaryfor their involvement in the demonstrations:
“The government sent soldiers and hundreds of farmers were detained.
I was not involved in the demonstration but my job was presenting
those kind of questions from the farmers to the government so they
accused me of being behind the demonstration. While the people were
detained at the Kebele level – in the Kebele office and at the police
station – they took some time and identified who they suspected was
behind the demonstration and they took those people to the military
camp – Dembi Dollo camp in Kebele 7. I was among about 500 who
were taken to the camp.”54
Several people said they had been targeted when the government was searching for those
responsible after a demonstration because they were already under suspicion for reasons
including, inter alia, previous involvement in a demonstration, refusal to join the ruling
political party or because of the known or suspected political affiliation of their family
members. A number of dissenters arrested for various reasons said they were threatened by
the authorities that they would be held responsible if demonstrations or similar political
activities took place in their area:
“I was arrested for about eight months. Some school students had been
arrested, so their classmates had a demonstration to ask where they
were and for them to be released. I was accused of organising the
demonstration because the government said my father supported the
OLF so I did too and therefore I must be the one who is organising the
students.”55
Several people who had been arrested for their participation in peaceful protests told
Amnesty International they were accused, while in detention, of having had alternative
political motivations – that they did not genuinely wish to raise the issue the protest was
ostensibly about, but merely wished to oppose the government. Several people also told
Amnesty International it was alleged the demonstration they took part in – no matter what
grievance was being protested – was instigated by the OLF:
“They said I was behind the demonstration and was inciting farmers
against the government. They said I had a connection with OLF.”56
It was reported to Amnesty International that during the 2014 ‘Master Plan’ protests, the
2012-13 Muslim protest movement and other individual demonstrations, bystanders within
the vicinity of the demonstrations were also arrested:
“In October 2012, there was a demonstration in our town because
people were not being offered jobs by the government when they
graduated. I did not participate but I was standing in front of our shop
watching the demonstration. The military came and started beating and
arresting people and they arrested me too. Many were arrested on that
day. I was arrested for one month in a military camp.”57
A journalist told Amnesty International how he had been arrested while trying to report on a
demonstration in Adama in May 2012 about unemployment, inflation and other economicissues. The demonstration was broken up by the military:
“I was filming the demonstration. The military came and took the video
camera. They broke it. I ran away from them. In the evening, the
military came to my house and arrested me.”58
Participation in demonstrations can cause long-term repercussions. Amnesty International
interviewed 10 people who said they experienced recurring problems with the government –
suspicion, harassment or arrest – based on previous participation in a demonstration. These
included students being suspended or expelled from school or university. One student
arrested for participating in a peaceful demonstration said:
“Although we were released, the government cadres continued to watch
over all of us on a daily basis. This helps the government to identify
where to target those who oppose them.”
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