Terrorist and criminal attacks targeting Oromo youth, and children, and even pregnant women, have continued unabated since the peaceful protests for justice and freedom began on 12th November 2015 in Oromia. The peaceful and legitimate protests against the injustice in Oromia – in which Oromo people of all walks of life have participated, had a simple and clear demand at the beginning: “Stop Addis Ababa’s Integration of the Master Plan, and stop land-grabbing in Oromia.”
Instead of responding justly to the protesters’ legitimate grievances, and restoring their domestic and international rights, the Ethiopian government has chosen to deploy its special squad “Agazi” and to mercilessly crack down on the peaceful protesters. The ruthless Agazi force have used excessive force, killed many promos, beat and detained thousands to stop the protests, which spread to all corners of the Regional State of Oromia in a few weeks. Towns and villages in Oromia were turned into war zones as the special Agazi force continued its random killings of students, children, men and women. During the first two months of the peaceful protests, more than two hundred (200) Oromos were murdered[1], including infants and pregnant women.
In violation of the “Convention on the Rights of the Child” and other international treaties[2], which the current government of Ethiopia ratified in May 1991[3], Oromo children, including non-schooled children, have been killed by the Agazi force. Aliya, 15-years-old, and her brother Nagassa, 8-years-old, were shot in the leg on March 25, 2016[4] on the streets of Ambo town. Many minors/teenagers were killed, and others wounded by the Agazi force in different parts of Oromia. Some are listed in the following table.
These cruel and inhumane actions of the Agazi force against Oromo have not stopped the angry protesters from demanding their fundamental rights and freedoms.
The Regional State of Oromia’s president Muktar Kedir and the TPLF security intelligence office’s generals removed the civil administration and declared the unofficial martial law as of February 26, 2016. The Regional State of Oromia has been subdivided into eight (8) military zones, each to be led by military generals.
The merciless Agazi force has been allowed officially to quell dissents in Oromia by force. On the day following the martial law declaration, the Agazi squad started breaking into private homes, and savagely started to kill and beat children, men and women, including pregnant women. On February 27, 2016, a seven-months pregnant mother of six, living in the West Arsi zone in Oromia state in Ethiopia, was shot down in her home by security forces which had come to her home looking for her husband. Another six-months pregnant woman – Shashitu Mekonen – was also killed and thrown into the bush in Horro Guduru, Wallaggaa, Oromia.
Schools and universities have served as military camps and battlegrounds. The merciless Agazi force have broken into university dormitories, savagely killed, raped, beat and detained students (such as in Wallaggaa University).
The Agazi murderers have intensified their repressions in all corners of Oromia. Since the November 2015 peaceful protests began, over 400 Oromo nationals have been killed, over fifty thousand (50,000) arrested and placed in different police stations, concentration camps and military camps. Unknown numbers of students have been confined in the Xolay concentration camp, where they are exposed to different diseases because of poor diets and sanitation. No medical attention has been given to them, and a number of prisoners are dying each day, according to information leaked from Xolay concentration camp. This represents the systematic elimination of the Oromo young generation. The late prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the architect of the current TPLF Empire, in 1992 vowed to destroy those he considered major threats to his rule, particularly the most populous nation in the country, the Oromo. He vowed to reduce Oromos to a minority and take over their natural resources.
The longest protests (in terms of duration) in the history of Ethiopia have slowed down by the military crackdowns. When protesters returned home from the street, they started facing another form of atrocity. They were forced day and night to stay indoors, in a kind of house arrest. At night, the Agazi force would walk into individual homes and pick up youth and kill them, leaving their dead bodies in front of their doors. On April 14, 2016, a university Engineering Department graduate from Gonder University was killed in coldblooded murder in the Oromia Zone of Gujii in Oddo Shakisso, where he used to live with his parents.
Since Oromia is now under martial law, information coming out of the Regional State of Oromia is restricted. All social media are being monitored by the military administration. A number of cell phone users were arrested and their phones taken. Gross human rights abuses, killings, arbitrary arrests, torture and other human rights atrocities are happening in Oromia every day and night.
However, the information about these atrocities is not getting out because the military continues to monitor almost all information outlets. The Ethiopian people hear only the well-crafted stories about Ethiopia being on the path to democracy. These stories come from the government mass media. International and domestic human rights organizations have been reporting the atrocities, although their access to information in Ethiopia is very limited due to their researchers being banned from entering the country. But undercover investigative journalists still bring out the news of the genocide and ethnic cleansing committed in the name of development. The current human rights atrocities in Oromia have been condemned by some western governments and government agencies, notably the EU and the U.S.A., and UN experts/researchers. But still no meaningful action has been taken to stop the atrocities in Oromia.
When the regime has been pressured enough, they do make concessions and acknowledge the legitimacy of the protesters’ grievances. Indeed the Prime Minister, Haile-Mariam Dessalegn, has been known to apologize to the people. However, all this seems to be political posturing to deceive the world that is becoming increasingly aware of the atrocities. On the ground, there is no sign of the atrocities abating. There have been no gestures of conciliation. The regime’s force has actually stepped up its mass murders, mass incarcerations and mass rapes.
What is puzzling is that, after all these tragedies, the world donor countries and organizations are still silent. It seems surreal. How many people must die before the world responds? How many millions must be jailed and tortured, how many must be gang-raped before this deafening silence is broken?
Can’t the world community learn from what happened in the past, in Rwanda in 1994, in Bosnia in 1998, and what is happening in Syria ever since 2011? The genocidal act of armed force should not continue and must be stopped by someone, somewhere.
HRLHA is deeply concerned that, if the international community fails to respond to the merciless killings presently taking place in the Regional State of Oromia as soon as possible, this could lead to a genocide comparable to those in Rwanda (1994), in Yugoslavia (1998), and in Darfur/Sudan (2003).
Therefore, the HRLHA respectfully demands that governments of the west, especially those allies with the Ethiopian government, to break their silence about the TPLF hidden agenda of promoting systematic genocide against the Oromo and other nations in Ethiopia, and act swiftly as possible to halt the atrocities in Ethiopia.
Recommendations:
1. The World community must condemn the imposition of Martial Law in Oromia;
2. The United Nations must intervene in Oromia to stop the unprecedented killings, tortures and rapes by the TPLF squad Agazi force deployed under the Martial Law;
3. The U.S. government, EU member states and UN must take meaningful measures against the Ethiopian government to stop it from committing systematic genocide in Oromia, Ogaden, Gambela, and other southern Ethiopian regional states;
4. Intervene to stop the killings in Oromia using the mandate of the three pillars of the responsibility to protect, as stipulated in the Outcome Document of the 2005 United Nations World Summit (A/RES/60/1, para. 138-140) and formulated in the Secretary–General’s 2009 Report (A/63/677) on implementing the responsibility to protect.
a. The State carries the primary responsibility for protecting populations from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, and their incitement;
b. The international community has a responsibility to encourage and assist States in fulfilling this responsibility;
c. The international community has a responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other means to protect populations from these crimes. If a State is manifestly failing to protect its populations, the international community must be prepared to take collective action to protect populations, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
Copied To:
UN Secretary–General
His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki–moon
The Secretary of the U.S. Department of State
His Excellency Mr. John Kerry
UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Rt Hon Philip Hammond MP
Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada)
His Excellency Stéphane Dion
Minister for Foreign Affairs (Sweden)
Her Excellency Margot Wallström
Minister of Foreign Affairs (Norway)
His Excellency Børge Brende
The UN Human Rights Commissioner
Mr. Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein
Council of Europe
Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
No comments:
Post a Comment