FIRST PERSON: Wario Denebo, an asylum seeker living in Newport

(South Wales Argus) — WARIO Denebo, 37, Southern Oromia, in East Africa, talks to ESTEL FARELL-ROIG about his life and how he ended up being an asylum seeker living in Newport.

“I AM FROM Shashemene, in Southern Oromia. Because the country has been controlled by Ethiopia since the early 1900s, people tend to say it’s Ethiopia – but I wouldn’t like to identified as Ethiopian.

“Oromia was invaded by the Ethiopian emperors with the help of firearms provided by the European colonial establishment of the day in 1884. The process was completed in the early 1900s.

“Ever since then, there has been a fight for freedom and the Ethiopian government has been persecuting Oromo people.

“It’s a dictatorial, terrorist regime where dissent is not tolerated and there’s no freedom of speech.

“I stood against that and, as a result, I received threats from the regime.

“I was involved in exposing human rights violations as the Ethiopian regime uses mass arrests and mass killings as well as torture and deliberate starvation to punish people.

“The thing is, if you are Oromo, you need to prove to the Government that you don’t support the Oromo Liberation Front, which is an opposition party.

“The only way you can prove is by signing up for membership of the ruling party. So, if you don’t sign up, even if you are not involved with the Oromo Liberation Front, you appear to be a traitor. They accuse you of whatever to force you to submit.

“Before I fled the country, I had been to jail.

“The first time I was in jail was in 1996 – I don’t even know what charges were held against me, I was so young.

“The soldiers came to my house and arrested me. I was kept in prison for about three months.

“Later, in 2001, when I was about 19 and I was in college studying history education, I was arrested again.

“There were student protests demanding freedom of speech and release of political prisoners. I was part of that and I was arrested.

“I was kept for six months. I can’t go into detail because it’s a horrible story. There was torture and dehumanising treatment.

“When I was there, they beat me – which made me angrier. I was finally released, with no charges against me.

“Despite graduating with top grades, I was banned from working at schools. They said I’d spoil the children as I wouldn’t agree to teach what they wanted.

“I managed to get a job in a non-governmental school. However, I was also banned from working there.

“When I was about 23, I was offered another job at a charity, I worked for them for many years and I enjoyed it.

“I worked on promoting human rights, amongst others, but because of my job, I was put under government surveillance.

“So I changed jobs and started to work for an international organisation, hoping my situation would get better.

“I had to re-train and went back to university to study management and business administration.

“I worked for NGOs, which was really great for me. It was eye-opening.

“I was about 33 when I first started working for international NGOs.

“Nevertheless, even those people working for international NGOs, can be persecuted by the government – which is what happened to me.

“The week I fled the country, about four years ago, I got tipped off by some people who have access to security that my name was on the list of people who are due to be arrested.

“My closest friend who had been working for Oxfam had recently been arrested.

“His office was raided and he was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment. He was accused of supporting opposition parties.

“I don’t know whether he’s alive, I haven’t managed to keep in touch with him.

“One month before I fled the country, I came to the UK for work so I had a visa. It was still tough to arrange to get out of the country.

“I couldn’t take my family with me.

“I claimed asylum in London nearly four years ago now. It wasn’t my choice to come to Newport.

“When you claim asylum, the Home Office decides where you get accommodation.

“In January 2013, I was sent to Newport while my application was being processed. I wasn’t allowed to work and I had to live on £35 a week.

“It usually takes a few months to process your asylum application, but mine took a long time. I applied for asylum in November 2012 and my application was resolved in July 2014.

“I left my wife and my son behind. He was two-and-a-half years old at the time. It was really painful, it’s indescribable.

“I wasn’t allowed to work when I was capable of doing so and I tried to keep myself busy. If I sat down, I worried. I already spoke English as I did all my studies in English but I also wanted to learn about the culture.

“I volunteered for British Red Cross and other organisations that work with refugees and vulnerable people.

“I also volunteered with my church.

“The most difficult aspect of it all was separation from my family. “For me, the entire clan is my family.

“I still miss them and I hope one day things will change and this terrorist regime will go.

“I’m faithful things will change.

“My wife and my little boy joined me in March 2015, I was on my own for a long time.

“At the moment, I feel sad because the situation back home is getting worse. The regime has now declared state of emergency and, for instance, you can’t use Facebook or listen to international media outlets.

“My dad was abducted by the regime at the beginning of May this year and he’s being kept in a high security prison.

“We didn’t know where he was for a few weeks. He’s still there – only because he’s Oromo and he stood for justice. He has spent most of life going in and out prison.

“A few weeks later, my little 18-year-old sister posted on Facebook ‘I miss you, I love you – you’re my hero.’

“The next day, around 40 heavily armed soldiers raided my parents’ house.

“My mum asked them what they want and whether they had a court order. Before she finished the sentence, they beat her.

“This is reflective of the situation, they’ve killed tens of thousands of people over the years.

“I’m a person with mixed emotions. In a way, I’m lucky to be here. “What makes me happy is that I’m safe and that I feel at home in Newport.

“I like the people here and I love my church. I feel like God has given me a family away from my family.

“I’m living in a free country and can say anything I like.

“I now have a job and I work for Bethel Community Church part time as a development officer. I also work as a freelance interpreter and translator.”

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News: Body of a Kenyan Tech Engineer, Zak Muriuki, Who Died in Ethiopia Jail Arrives Home

Zak Muriuki, a father of two girls and a tech engineer by profession, arrived in Ethiopia nearly two years ago on January 9, 2015

(Addis Standard) – The body of a Kenyan engineer who died while in an Ethiopian prison has arrived home on Thursday Dec. 11^th.  

Zak Muriuki, a father of two girls (pictured) and a tech engineer by profession, arrived in Ethiopia nearly two years ago on January 9, 2015, according to information obtained by Addis Standard. He was arrested on January 10 along with another Kenyan, Jadrick Mugo, who is still in prison.

Zak and Jarrick were subsequently charged with “telecommunication fraud” and were facing trials at the Arada High Court Penal Division here in the capital.

Zak was sent to Ethiopia by Intersat, the company he was working for to “help a client install VSAT equipment ”. According information in the company’s website, “Intersat is one of the largest and most respected providers of Internet solutions in Africa providing Internet via Satellite connectivity to some of the leading organizations, government institutions and the private sector.”

“The two had gone to Ethiopia to install VSAT equipment for a customer. This was a normal routine assignment and they had been there before and came back home safely. However, this time around, the customer’s site was raided by Ethiopian police and the 2 arrested and booked by the police,” an anonymous source who spoke to Kenyans said.  Addis Standard learned that both were arrested in Jigjiga town, the capital of the Somali regional state in eastern Ethiopia some 600km from the capital Addis Abeba.

“Zack is back home from prison, after 20 months, in a coffin. He died in an Ethiopian Jail… and we could do nothing about it,” wrote Joseph Ogidi, a presenter at Radio Africa, on his Facebook page. “We are angry…. you should be to. Share and let this government know we are angry.”

According to a source here in Addis Abeba, Zak was held in Kality prison in the southern outskirt of the city, where Jadrick is still detained at. His trial was largely marked by “lack of witnesses, translators [and absences of prosecutors]” on hearing days. The hearings were happening “almost every two month but they [the court] would push the dates forward on flimsy grounds.”

Zak and Jadrick were sent by two different companies “but they hired the same lawyers in Addis”, our source said, “apparently, the lawyers appear to be cons. Out to milk the companies.” Addis Standard couldn’t establish the names of the lawyers representing the duo.

In the last several months Zak was being treated for meningitis but he was not able to get proper medical care in time. He is believed to have died of it. His “family opted not to have an autopsy here [in Addis Abeba],” our source said.

Ethiopia is home to several prisons notorious for their widespread abuses of detainees.

Kenya and Ethiopia enjoy a robust diplomatic relations. Recently, Ethiopia announced that it would back the candidature of Kenya’s foreign affairs minister, Ambassador Amina Mohamed, in her bid to replace the current chairperson of the African Union (AU) Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma come January.  On Nov. 29 Ambassador Amina launched her candidacy in Addis Abeba. She met and held bilateral talks with Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalagn the next day. It is not clear if the issue of the two Kenyans in Ethiopia’s jail was discussed during their meeting.

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AMISOM: Since October, Ethiopia has been withdrawing troops from Somalia. The redeployment highlights problems with the international community’s funding of military operations in Africa.

© TOBIN JONES, AU UN IST, AFP | In this handout pictured released by the African Union-United Nations Information Support Team, Ethopian soldiers, wearing their new African Union berets, ready themselves for departure after a ceremony in Somalia

(France 24) — The Ethiopian troops had been assisting the internationally funded African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM). The draw-down could imperil Somalia’s chances of becoming a viable nation state.

Many assumed this redeployment was aimed at bolstering Ethiopia’s security forces in order to tackle the country’s ongoing six-month state of emergency. But the reasons are more complicated, revealing problems with internationally-funded peacekeeping and with AMISOM’s efforts in battling al-Qaeda-linked militants in Somalia.

Since the Ethiopian National Defence Force (ENDF) withdrew its forces, the Islamic insurgency of Al Shabaab has already retaken a number of towns across south and central Somalia.

“AMISOM should be able to do its mission with its quota of 21,000 troops—but it’s not managing it,” said a foreign political adviser in the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa who wished to remain anonymous. “AMISOM can’t do anything without those additional Ethiopian troops.”

The withdrawn Ethiopian soldiers made up most of a force of 4,000 that operated outside of — but provided crucial support to — the multi-African AMISOM mission, which already includes an additional 4,000 Ethiopia troops.

“Ethiopian troops know the land, they’re used to the temperatures, they are the only ones who have previous experience fighting both guerrilla and conventional warfare,” said an Ethiopian Horn of Africa political analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Ethiopian troops crucial

The Ethiopian troops outside of AMISOM, however, didn’t qualify for any of the international funding or UN-backed logistical support that AMISOM receives.

General Samora Yunis, chief of staff of the ENDF, had been saying for months that the army couldn’t sustain the cost of the Ethiopian contingents that were not integrated with AMISOM troops.

But the international community wasn’t willing to pay more than what it was already shelling out for AMISOM — each contributing country receives $1,028 per soldier per month — and for logistical support.

“It wasn’t just the money,” said the Ethiopian political analyst. “The Ethiopian government felt it didn’t have the diplomatic support it should have and that its efforts hadn’t been recognised.”

At the same time, Ethiopia’s state of emergency did have an influence, the analyst noted, although not in the way most assumed.

“The unrest was making those non-AMISOM troops more expensive for Ethiopia, as its foreign direct investment has been hit and its foreign exchange reserves are decreasing,” he said.

The last 600 of Ethiopia’s non-AMISOM troops still in Somalia will be pulled out after Somalia’s ongoing parliamentary election, leaving AMISOM to soldier on amid increasing difficulties.

Taking the fight to Al Shabaab

The UN Security Council voted unanimously last July to renew AMISOM’s mandate to help stabilise the country and facilitate the electoral process.

“In Somalia there’s no peace to keep,” said a security analyst with an international organization in Addis Ababa, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “So the UN is doing something out of its comfort zone, as it doesn’t have a warfighting logistics mechanism.”

Precise figures of AMISOM fatalities are unknown because contributing countries do not release numbers. But estimates range between 1,000 and 2,000 troops killed in operations.

“Ethiopian troops are the main ones that are mobile and taking the fight to Al Shabaab, while the rest of AMISOM usually stay in Mogadishu or a few major bases,” said the Ethiopian political analyst.

‘Militarily effective, politically toxic’

“The ENDF intervention in 2006 was what created Al Shabaab as we know it today,” said peace and security expert Paul Williams, a professor in inetrnational affairs at George Washington University (Washington, D.C.).

“[Ethiopia invaded Somalia in 2006] and it moved them from a fringe element of the Union of Islamic Courts to the dominant force whose ranks were swelled by anti-Ethiopian vitriol.”

During two years of fighting between Ethiopian troops and insurgents, more than one million people, mainly from Mogadishu, were displaced, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.

Furthermore, an estimated 10,000 civilians were killed, with Ethiopian troops accused by local and international human rights organizations of committing atrocities against civilians and indiscriminate bombardment of built-up residential areas.

Some question the extent of such accusations, but a tangible legacy appears to remain.

“ENDF troops are militarily effective against Al Shabaab but potentially politically toxic with the local population, especially the further they move from the Ethiopian border,” Williams said.

State building

Somalia and Afghanistan are of similar sizes, noted the Addis-based international security expert. And, yet, the amounts of money and numbers of international troops that went into Afghanistan is significantly larger compared to Somalia.

“The appetite in the West to spend more money in Somalia is limited — we are not personally invested like we were with Afghanistan,” he said. “It’s other countries’ armies.”

At the same time, he notes, Europe “has shouldered a huge amount of the burden with Somalia”. AMISOM has garnered about €1.25 billion of the European Union’s African Peace Facility initiative since it was set up in 2007.

Now, however, there appear to be increasing worries that all the blood and treasure sacrificed over the last decade may not leave Somalia with the self-sufficiency it needs to be a viable nation state.

“Even with the extra Ethiopian troops, AMISOM can’t take and hold territory,” the foreign security analyst said. “That’s only going to happen with Somali troops and police assisting—and they’re not ready yet.”

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U.S. and Ethiopia Hold 7th Democracy, Governance and Human Rights Bilateral Working Group in Addis Ababa

Joint Press Release

On December 15, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Tom Malinowski, and Ethiopian Foreign Minister Workneh Gebeyehu joined co-chairs State Minister of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hirut Zemeneand the U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to Ethiopia, Peter Vrooman, for the 7th Bilateral Democracy, Governance and Human Rights Working Group.  The Working Group provides an opportunity for representatives of the U.S. government and the government of Ethiopia to discuss frankly the full range of governance and human rights issues.

The discussion at this Working Group addressed a broad range of issues, including the Ethiopian government’s commitment to pursue electoral reform, as stated by HE. Dr. Mulatu Teshome, President of the FDRE, respect for constitutional rights and obligations and prospects for dialogue under the state of emergency, the need to support a strong and vibrant media, ways to counter hate speech while respecting basic freedoms, the important role of civil society in strengthening good governance, and the annual U.S. Human Rights Report.

Both sides welcomed the frank exchange of views during the discussion.

At the conclusion of the meeting, the two governments agreed to continue regularly the Working Group meetings.

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Ethiopia: Lawyer for Dr. Merara Gudina arrested

ESAT News (December 16, 2016)

Security forces detained a lawyer for Dr. Merara Gudina, chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress, who is held in solitary confinement.

Taba Chufa, a lawyer for several political prisoners, was jailed in Ambo, the Chair of OFC’s International Support Coordinator, Negeso Ada told ESAT on Friday. Ada said Chufa represents at least 300 political prisoners.

Dr. Gudina was put behind bars upon his return from Europe where he  testified against government’s repression at the European Parliament.

His other lawyer, Dr. Yacob Hailemariam, who met his client briefly told  reporters that Gudina, who was brought to him handcuffed, was held in solitary confinement. He said his client still doesn’t know his charges.

A member of the European Parliament on Wednesday addressed his case and called for the European Union to end its complicity with the Ethiopian regime that kills peaceful protesters and jails journalists and political opponents.

Mrs. Ana Gomes said the regime call political opponents “terrorists” while it is the real “terrorist.”

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This is a message to the Ethiopian government. Why I made this vid? Read the stories of survivors of human rights abuses on Untold Stories: http://www.untoldstoriesonline.com/

Befeqadu Hailu Prominent Zone 9 blogger

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The Network of Oromo Studies 1st International Conference London 17 – 18 December 20016 Part1

The Network of Oromo Studies 1st International Conference London 17 – 18 December 20016P2

The Network of Oromo Studies 1st International Conference London 17 – 18 December 20016Part3

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Entertaining Petty Differences Whilst People Are Dying Is Treachery Equating to an Ideological Fornication!

December 18, 2016, By Denboba Natie

Agreeing to disagree is a democratic principle whose ethos underpin freedom of choice, assembly, expression and by far human dignity. However, disagreeing due to petty differences -whilst children, youth/old, men/women are getting murdered on daily basis -their bodies are buried in communal graves and the rest are thrown into bushes to be devoured by wild animals; tens of thousands of woman and girls are gang rapped by the regime’s army and hundreds of thousands are unlawfully incarcerated and tortured; such disagreements become treachery and utter betrayal.

I’m focusing on discussing the above fact. I’m not here to dictate any terms and conditions, which will never be the case. Nor am I here to entertain lies and deceits, or decorating the ugly faces of something inherently wrong. I can’t deny fact or embellish the reality with beautiful, yet heartless and soulless mantras. Moreover, I’m not talking theory and hypothesis emphasizing as to how, the struggle of nation and peoples in Ethiopia must progress.

I’m rather talking about the unshakable belief I and the other tens of millions uphold based on the reality on the ground about the yearning of the peoples of this region for freedom, equality and justice – that is denied to them by TPLF’s ruthless regime for the last 25 years. I’m arguing that their sacrifices are going to be in vain if the Diaspora recklessly continue bickering on its petty differences (within one ethnic nation or multi-nationally). Ultimately, as the other millions I’m voicing the voices of barbarically murdered civilians by ruthless TPLF’s regime and its army. I’m echoing the calls of the brutalized souls of hundreds of thousands of Oromo, Ogadenia, Sidama, Amhara, Afar, Gambella, Konso and Benshangul civilians and the rest parts of Ethiopia civilians. Their souls are crying for a united action to avenge their killers. The ghosts of unlawfully massacred martyrs are begging the actors to come together to achieve the cause for which they have died and their fellow sisters and brothers are dying. Their ghosts are begging for an unconditional unity of all to be able to remove the regime that has murdered them to turn the country into a mega-structured prison hall.

Therefore, I’m reiterating indisputable fact that the peoples of Ethiopia are subjected to. But I’m not never dance to the tune of unity or disunity of any political groups or the entire country. I’m not and never be the follower of any party’s hullaballoo whose objective is ambiguous and misleading. However, I feel morally compelled, intellectually convinced and politically coerced to discuss the gripping reality on the ground. The gripping reality is the ongoing massacre of unarmed civilians by the regime’s forces day and night. The reality is subjecting the peoples to ongoing state terrorism under the pretext of State of Emergency. The reality is the peoples’ houses are turned into a prison cells where torture and abuse are rampant. The reality is the peoples of the country are increasingly impoverished by TPLF’s regime whilst the minority are building their own empire by the suffering of the majority. I’m arguing this on behalf of the voiceless majority who’re paying heavy sacrifices with their precious lives.

More than any other time since this regime has assumed power in June 1991 toppling its predecessor, it’s increasingly become unforgiving and ruthless; ruling the entire country with iron feast. Most the subjects became virtual slaves who don’t have any say about pertinent issues affecting their lives. TPLF’s elites brutalize the subjects whilst Diaspora continues to argue, disagree and bicker on petty differences.

The lands of most of peasants in most parts of the country have been confiscated from them by TPLF’s generals by leaving legitimate owners destitute. Within a blink of an eye, the TPLF’s generals who were mainly barbaric illiterate and had only AK 47 with some ammunitions and few hand grenades, about 25 years ago, when they captured the capital; currently they became multibillionaires. For example, they have created special schools and universities for Tigray children whilst relegating the rest regions. Hundreds of their children are also being schooled in some of prestigious European and American elite private schools; whilst their subjects in Oromia, Sidama, Amhara, Ogaden and the rest parts of Ethiopia are gunned down on daily basis for asking their fundamental right. They control the entire economy, politics, security, foreign affairs and defense. The Diaspora in the contrary continues to argue and bicker on minor issues.

Currently, under the State of Emergency, the regime’s security forces, army and the other elements are confiscating all belongings including gold and monies from the Oromia’s vast region. They arrest, torture and kill their subjects with impunity. TPLF’s officials and generals continually confiscate all resources of the country to keep their booty’s in the banks of some of European, American or various Asian countries. The peoples of Ethiopia argue that, the regime’s elements keep their looted multi millions of dollars out of the country simply because when the worst-case scenario unfold, the culprits can flee the country to these countries, after destabilizing it and the region afar.

Therefore, unsatisfied with such unlawfully accumulated wealth, the TPLF and its agents to date terrorize the peoples of Ethiopia, they are bestial and unrepentant. This is the system the people in Oromia, Amhara, Ogadenia, Konso, Gambella, Benshangul, Sidama and the rest places are saying, ‘we had enough of suffering and subjugation’. The people are saying ‘we had enough of brutality and relentless massacre of un armed civilians’. This is the barbaric regime the peoples of Ethiopia are telling ‘we can’t bear your brutality any longer’. This is the regime the peoples of Ethiopia are telling ‘we had enough of poverty and deprivation’. The regime however, as always continues responding with live bullet and unprecedented level of brutality.

The death of over 1,500 civilians and the incarceration of over 60.000 in Oromo alone since November 2015’s Oromo resistance- talks volume. The number of dead and imprisoned in Oromo are exponentially increasing. Since the regime has imposed ‘State of Emergency’ on the 8^th/9^th of October 2016; hundreds of bodies have been discovered in various parts of Oromia’s vast region after being devoured by wild animals. Several communal graves have been discovered in various parts of Oromia, Amhara, Konso, Afar, Ogadenia, Gambella, Benshangul and the rest parts of Ethiopia since the current Oromo, Amhra and the rest Ethiopian peoples has begun in November 2015. Tens of thousands of Oromo, Amhara, Ogadenia…and the rest nations are often rounded up and taken to concentration camps like the ‘Auschwitz’, Jewish concentration camps involving incinerating the inmates whenever TPLF’s military commanders feel like burning prisoners. Mothers and daughters are rounded up by TPLF’s special commando to be gang-rapped on daily basis in most regions, i.e. in Oromia and Ogaden Somali regions.

The Amhara civilians are also paying heavy sacrifices as the Oromo and Ogadenia as well as the rest parts of Ethiopia. The regime has heinous agenda against the Amhara nation since it has assumed power. I think the regime views the Amhara nation as its arch enemy. The previous view of the TPLF’s regime of Amhara is similar like it is being currently viewed by the other non-Tigran over 95 million peoples of Ethiopia. This is for two fundamental reasons. First and foremost, TPLF views the Amhara nation as the fundamental enemy of the Tigray nation and as colonizing agent. Therefore, TPLF whilst in guerilla warfare with its predecessor has indeed believed that, the Tigray nation must be an independent nation free from Amhara oppression, and this belief to date tacitly persists. Currently, however the regime is deceptively singing to the tune of Ethiopianism with the aim of bewildering its subjects. Secondly, there are power and competition elements. This is because traditionally, any person who’s ruled Ethiopia has ruled the country since 1890s in the name of Amhara (Habasha). Therefore, TPLF fears this and remotely wants it to happen anymore. Part of its plots against the Amhara nation is annexing one of its neighboring districts (Woqayt and Xegede) to Tigray region. The ongoing Amhara resistance is due to this and it’s gaining momentum.

The Ogadenia genocide has been attested by the international human rights groups since 2008 and it is continuing unabated. The Gambella genocide (2003), the Sidama massacre of May 24, 2002 and the Keficho and Messenger massacre of early 2003 and the Addis massacre of May 2005 are some of key empirically supported facts about the TPLF’s unpreparedness to relinquish power peacefully. This is the reason why the regime responds to any peaceful quests with live bullet and unprecedented level of brutality.

While this is the unfolding reality, bickering of the Diaspora on minor issues is beyond comprehension and serious case for concern. As I have discussed above, the time is serious needing serious attention and careful and practical consideration. The time for a united effort is now and it’s crucially important to unite to shorten the suffering of the people of Oromia, Ogadenia, Amahra, Gambela, Konso, Gedeo, Sidama… and elsewhere in Ethiopia. If the Diaspora focusses on inaptly theorizing and haphazardly hypothesizing, whilst bickering on minor issues by glamorizing themselves and their efforts, the struggle of the people back in Oromia, Amhara, Ogadenia, Sidama and elsewhere in Ethiopian moves a step forward and more than two backward. Do we need this? Can we afford doing so?

The imprisonment of the Oromo’s prominent politician, professor Merara Gudina’s narrates millions about the regime final stage. Peaceful belief is becoming futile for those who advocate for this avenue as the TPLF’s regime is capable of misleading and lying to its domestic and international audiences. The time has come to swallow our differences if we genuinely believe in alleviating the sufferings of the propels of Ethiopian from East to West and North to South. If we think that we indeed care for those lives have been cut short by TPLF’s barbaric apparatuses, let’s make sure, that we put ourselves in their shoes. They are dying for the causes we claim it legitimate, therefore, let’s stop bickering!

December 18, 2016, By Denboba Natie       

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COLONIAL TRAUMA, COMMUNITY RESILIENCY AND COMMUNITY HEALTH DEVELOPMENT: The Case of the Oromo people in Ethiopia

By Begna F. Dugassa

INTRODUCTION

In human history it is well known that among the many people who have lived in highly stressful social conditions, most of them are likely to die prematurely, live in poverty, and experience other social adversities in their lives (Lang & Dickason, 1996). A few of them successfully overcome these adversities and are able to lead competent lives. Those who overcame these diffi culties are considered resilient. However, it has not been clearly understood how these individuals and communities overcame the stress and adversities while the others did not. To understand how some communities overcome stress and violence and lead successful lives, it is important to enquire into the conditions in which the community members lived and identify the circumstances that are common to them and take a close look at how these groups rebuild healthy community following adversity. In addition, one needs to look at the social conditions that are essential for resiliency and if such conditions can be replicated in other places and look for the building blocks of community resiliency.

This paper has emerged from the presentation I made in 2004 in the conference of the Canadian Association for Studies in International Development (CASID). In this paper, using primary and secondary data, I take a close look to understand what those who overcome stress and trauma have in common, and identify the necessary social conditions for resilience. In doing so, I make an effort to fi gure out whether or not the Oromo people’s healing and resiliency could be cultivated.

It is well known that lived circumstances are a factor in predicting achievements. Researchers in public health identifi ed the social determinants of health (Raphael, 2004; Farmer, 2003) and the conditions that help protect people who might be at risk of developing health problems. Our knowledge in this area suggests that negative life experiences or living conditions are linked to poor health. In the past, scientists had closely looked into the biological conditions that make the difference between healthy survivors and those who succumb to diseases. They discovered antibodies for a number of disorders (Bock & Sabin, 1997), and were able to develop vaccinations against deadly infectious diseases. From the time of Virchows work in 1848 in Upper Silesia, a region predominantly Polish but ruled by Germany, the pathogencity of colonial power relations and unhealthy social relations has been well known (Taylor & Rieger, 1985). However, there is still a lack of understanding regarding community healing and resiliency processes. Recognizing the importance of individual and community resiliency or healing processes is recently capturing the imagination of researchers and policy makers.

The vulnerability of a community to a given risk is a function of its sensitivity to a potential threat and its adaptive capacities (Farmer, 1999). For example, it is well known that community social order is central to community resiliency. If there was no social order, an individual’s selfi sh desire would run wild and such societies would lead disrupted life conditions. To prevent this, society has to be empowered in order to establish order in the community. However, under colonial rule where justice is denied, poverty follows, and when the State is organized to oppress, conspire, rob and degrade, the community cannot maintain any social order and heal itself.

The study of community resiliency and healing begins with the ’diagnosis’ of clear accomplishments or resiliency despite adversity and violence faced by a community. This paper examines resiliency conditions in Oromia, touching on the social and economic problems that the Oromo people face. Oromia is environmentally prosperous, however, war, wide spread human right violations (Human Rights Watch, 2006), famine, HIV/AIDS, malaria epidemics and Iodine Defi ciency Disorders (Dugassa, 2005, 2006) have ravaged it. Part one of this paper introduces the concept of community resiliency or the healing process, collective violence and collective rights. Under this, I explore the necessary conditions that are vital for individuals and the community to overcome adversity and develop better community health conditions. Part two of this paper examines the role played by individuals and community resiliency in community health development. Part three of this paper takes a close look at the presence or absence of resiliency conditions in Oromia. Capturing the experience and the realities with which the Oromo people have lived for over a century, this paper reveals the social and the economic problems and their root causes. Part four covers how and why resiliency conditions have been hampered in Oromia. Here I examine the relationship between the long-term effects of collective violence against the Oromo people and community resiliency. In part fi ve, I discuss the ways that resiliency or healing conditions can be cultivated. The Oromo people are the single largest ethno-national group in the Horn of Africa. In studying the situation of Oromo people, this paper brings of light another dimension for the socio-economic and health problems such as famine, war and instability in the Horn of Africa.

Read full report PDF

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Results from Gambella Commercial Farms Disappointing
Report reveals 84% of loans DBE advanced used for intended purposes

(Addis Fortune – pro government website) — Massive loans poured over the years into commercial farms in the Gambella Regional State have results with 84% spending on the intended purposes, but with disappointing results of productivity that is a fraction of the investments, a report presented to the Prime Minister’s Office reveals.

The report comes after an investigation into allegations of mismanagement of loans, favoritism and impropriety on the part of recipients surfaced last year.

Many of the allegations were about the subversion of over 3.3 billion Br in loans advanced by the two state owned banks to private investments in the regional state, known to have vast fertile land and lightly populated area in the South-Western part of the country. However, large chunk of these loans were made available by the Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE), whose long time President, Esayas Bahre, was relived off his position few weeks ago by the Prime Minister’s Office. He was accused of favoring certain group of developers in loans provisions, which were allegedly misused for investments other than commercial agriculture.

Out of a total of 600 developers in Gambella, 200 of them received loans from the DBE and the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) to finance 206 projects, and before the DBE suspended loans to the commercial farming sector earlier this year. They were issued with close to five billion Birr in loans, to be disbursed over a certain period of years. Of that amount, DBE provided 2.76 billion Br, while CBE’s share was 587 million Br.

“Most of the allegations have to do with the money being used for unrelated things,” said one commercial farm developer who asked to remain anonymous. “There were rumors that some of the investors used the money to put up buildings here in the capital or abused their duty free privileges.”

There were indeed cases of misuse of funds and abuse of privileges, according to the investigation carried out by a technical committee of 13, composed of members from experts from three ministries, the regional state, the two banks, and two experts from Agricultural Investment & Land Administration Agency. It was under the supervision of another political body, comprising of seven high profile members of the Administration, appointed by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, in May 2016. Alemayehu Tegenu, a state minister for Agriculture & Industrial Policy & Planning Implementation Supervision, chaired the investigative committee, thus owns the report, which reveals list of inappropriate use of funds.

In one instance, Alemayehu’s report found out that an unnamed developer has brought to the country 78 vehicles abusing a duty free privilege, while another developer has failed to use 498.7tns steel imported, worth over three million Birr, for the purpose of constructing a camp inside the farm.

A significant number of vehicles bought using loans and duty free privileges were used for purposes other than farming, including sales to third parties, says the finding. Of the 189 imported vehicles, all but 33 were nowhere to be found when investigators visited the farms.

But DBE officials find that hard to believe.

“They can’t be sold to third parties,” said a senior manager at the DBE. “The vehicles are supposed to be registered under the DBE. That is unless they were unregistered from the beginning.”

What should be more troubling to the DBE though is a higher percentage of the loans taken as working capital was spent on unrelated purposes. Close to 278 million Br was not spent on the farms, from a total of 1.2 billion Br injected into commercial farms as working capital.

“Although much of the loans were used for their intended purposes, some of the developers have used their loans to purposes that were not aimed for,” says Alemayehu’s report.

However, these and plenty of other misuses represent 16pc of the total loans, reveals the report.

The report, submitted to the Prime Minister, prompted a meeting couple of weeks ago held by Hailemariam and Kebede Chanie, director-general of the Ethiopian Revenues & Customs Authority (ERCA) with presidents of the two banks, officials from the Ministry of Agriculture & Natural Resources, and Gambella Regional State.

They were greeted with a report that disclosed that of the 229,755ha of land conceded to commercial farms developers in eight weredas of the Gambella Regional State, close to half of them began their initial operations and preparations with investments worth two billion Birr remain in project phase.

“There is confusion in the commercial farming industry and elsewhere about how the DBE loans were disbursed,” said a senior banking official at the DBE. “There were some things in the report that could have been explained by DBE’s operators.”

Following the appointment of Getahun Nana to the presidency of the DBE, many meetings have been held to discuss the issue of investments in commercial farms. In one of the meetings with district managers, the new president expressed his confusion on the findings of the Alemayehu’s report. Getahun has called for another detailed study to be conducted, although no details have been announced yet.

Getahun, who has served the central bank for many years prior to his current appointment, was unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts by Fortune.

The Bank he is entrusted with suffers from higher percentage (over 50pc) of non-performing loans from a total of 11.8 billion Br loans and advances it has made in 2015/16. But much of the default comes from its financing of the manufacturing sector, whose share of these loans reaches at close to 60pc. The share of the agricultural sector in default is less than 15pc, according to company sources.

Nonetheless, the Bank’s senior managers and the Administration officials who have made the DBE a policy-bank have a lot to worry about on value for money. Of the 3.35 billion Br the Bank has disbursed, the return on investment was only 6.6pc, exposing that investments in commercial agriculture is not after all a bonanza.

“Productivity in private farming is not profitable; takes longer years to recover the loans; and its contribution to the national economy is insignificant,” Alemayehu’s team passed its verdict in its findings.

Access to land, provisions of loans and advances as well as administration of commercial farming estates are major sources of “rent seeking” where there is a network of middlemen, transacting kickbacks from 50,000 Br to 400,000 Br, disclosed Alemayehu’s report. Unusually, the report has identified the names of 21 middlemen accused of running the network of high-level corrupt individuals.

The investigative report is not without a challenge from the Bank and within the Administration. The criticisms come as a result of the exclusion in the committee of some of the developers or the private sector, while the report suffers from an oversight on those commercial farms which have succeeded. It also skips the profits made at the end of the fiscal year, for the investigation was conducts in the middle of it. It has also failed to identify the role and place of foreign investors in the region such as the now bankrupt Karaturi, an Indian investment, and Saudi Star.

“This report proves to us that there really is a bias against the sector and against us the investors,” said a group of five commercial farm developers who spoke with Fortune on the condition of anonymity, due to the controversy the report now flares.

These are among 231 developers who had applied for loans from the DBE, but were forcibly evicted from their leased properties in Gambella by regional authorities in February 2016. The authorities say that the developers were accidentally given lands that were under federal jurisdiction.

But they are not alone in their challenge to the findings. The Gambella Agricultural Investors’ Cooperative, chaired by Yemane Seifu, sent an email to Fortune, expressing its disappointment over the Alemayehu’s report with no uncertain terms.

“The committee presented a misleading report to the Prime Minister,” said the Cooperative.

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The Human Cost of Ethiopia’s Sweeping State Of Emergency: “I Never Wanted to See Tomorrow”
Addis Abeba Dec. 19/2016 (Addis Standard) – On Saturday Dec. 17, Siraj Fegessa, Ethiopia’s minister of defense and the secretariat of the command post tasked to implement the country’s sweeping six-month state of emergency (SOE), had news that should have come as a relief to tens of thousands of Ethiopians.  Minister Siraj, a civilian, told journalists mostly drawn from state-controlled and state-affiliated media houses that some 9, 800 individuals who were detained under the SoE will be released by Wednesday Dec. 21 while 2, 449 others “will be brought to justice.”

But the mood among Ethiopians following the announcement is not that of a celebration; for many, the damage their loved ones have sustained while held at one of the half dozen detention facilities (referred to by many as ‘concentration camps’) is too deep to have been undone by the announcement of their release, and rightly so.

By the government’s account, a total of 24,799 individuals were arrested in two rounds under the SoE since October this year. However, this figure doesn’t mention whether those who were detained prior to the decreeing of the SoE on October 9 are accounted for. And, informed by previous brutalities of the security apparatus, Ethiopians are under no illusion that this figure is much higher than what’s being admitted by the government.

Even one is to take the government’s figures to account, it simply means that thousands of university students have missed this academic year’s attendance; thousands others who were the breadwinners of their families and extended family members have failed to deliver on their promises; and thousands have lost their jobs.

But for some, the cost is too personal to recover from. One such Ethiopian is Alemayehu Merga, (name changed upon request), a former clerk at a private Bank in Awash town some 91 km south east of the capital Addis Abeba.

In a letter sent to Addis Standard a few weeks ago, Alemayehu says when he was arrested from his hotel room (name of the hotel withheld) in Merkato, an open market hailed as the largest in Africa, he was preparing for his wedding scheduled to take place on Sunday September 16 in Adama, 100k south east of Addis Abeba.

The intense crackdown by the police that led to Alemayehu’s arrest followed a massive anti-government protest on August 06, 2016. The weekend protest was called by online activists of the #OromoProtest and was dubbed “Grand Oromo Rally”.  It ended when regional and federal police have brutally suppressed the protesters, killing hundreds and detaining thousands. But instead of receding, thousands more of protesters raged through the Special Zone of the Oromia Regional State, eight neighboring towns mostly located within 25k radius from the capital Addis Abeba.

The bedrock of these protests was a 10 month persistent anti-government protest that began in Oromia regional state, the largest regional states in federated Ethiopia, in November 2015; it was followed, several months later, by another anti-government protest in Amhara regional state in the north.

The protests in these two regional states have quickly escalated into a large scale anti-government protest that posed the ultimate challenge to the hitherto unchallenged quarter century reign of the ruling TPLF-dominated EPRDF regime in Ethiopia.

A pre-wedding trip gone dreadful

Almayehu’s arrest happened at a time when, reeling from uncontrollable protest flare ups in most parts of the country, the federal and city police began conducting random stop and search and have arrested unknown numbers of individuals from the city. Low-cost hotels throughout Addis Abeba have also received letters from their respective Kebele administrations ordering them to declare the identities of their guests who come from the countryside.

“I came to Addis Abeba from Awash to buy some household materials and pick my wedding suit which was ready at a tailor’s shop in Piassa. But I was arrested on September 10,” his letter narrates.

Alemayehu was then held at a police station commonly known in Addis Abeba as “Sidistegna” Police station located in the heart of the city. He was kept there incommunicado for about a month. No one from his family knew what happened to him. And he missed his wedding.

“I kept telling the police officers that I was only in town to prepare for my wedding, but they kept telling me I was in town to organize young people to protest. I had a few invitation cards that I was planning to give out to my friends and relatives living in the city. I never managed to give them as I was arrested the very next day after I arrived in the city. And even if I kept showing my wedding invitation cards to the police officers, no one wanted to believe me.”

Alemayehu joined hundreds of others detained under similar circumstances. Most of them are young Ethiopians and all of them were held incommunicado at several police stations in the city.

On October 02, the unthinkable happened when police fired shots at a gathering of millions of Oromo who came to celebrate the annual Ireechaa festival in Bishoftu town, 40 km south of the capital.

For many, the death by stamped of yet unverified numbers of Ethiopians at this sacred, otherwise peaceful festival was the turning point of the almost year-long anti-government protests that gripped the nation. A ‘five-day rage’ was called by online activists of the Oromo protests following what was quickly hashtaged as “IreechaaMassacre. It resulted in protesters attacking foreign owned businesses in several parts of the country. It also led to the near collapse of the country’s tourism industry, forced the government to declare the current SoE and to reshuffle the Prime Minister’s cabinet only a year after it was sworn in to the office.

But for Alemayehu and thousands of others detained pre and post the SoE, the ordeal has just began.

Three days after the decreeing on Oct. 9 of the sweeping SoE, which practically suspended most parts of the constitution, Alemayehu and “roughly 2000 others” held in police stations in Addis Abeba were transported to Awash Abra Military camp, not far away from Alemayehu’s birth place in Awash.

The military camp is one of the dozen camps throughout the country where tens of thousands of Ethiopians detained under the SoE are currently held.

The 2013 country report by the US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor describes these camps as “unofficial detention centers throughout the country, including in Dedessa, Bir Sheleko, Tolay, Hormat, Blate, Tatek, Jijiga, Holeta, and Senkele. Most were located at military camps.”

“None of my family members, including my bride-to-be, knew I was there,” Alemayehu’s 3-pages letter recounts. All of them were told they were arrested by the “orders of the command post”, after they were transported to the camp. By now, the government announced that the command post was led by defense minister Siraj and was comprised of other unnamed senior officials.

“Hell breaks loose”

“Once inside the military camp, we were told we would undergo an ideological training on the current federal arrangement and we will be taught about the illegalities of the protests.”

According to Alemayehu’s letter, in the beginning, there were about 3,000 detains who came from the Oromia regional state. “But after a week, and the weeks that followed our numbers grew, in my estimate, to about 6000. We were told we would only be there for two weeks’ training and be released afterwards.”

Describing the situation inside the military camp, Alemayehu wrote: “It was the moment I experienced how hell breaks loose.”

“The heat is unbearable during day time, and at night the temperature drops to a freezing cold. There was only one meal a day (often bread) and the temporary corrugated iron shacks we were held inside had no running water, no toilets no sleeping places. Sometime in mid-October what looked like a cholera outbreak spread. We have seen many dead bodies being transferred out of the camp at night times.”

“I never wanted to see tomorrow” 

 The said training didn’t begin during the first week, Alemayehu’s letter further said, “but every night dozens of us would be called for investigations. I was lucky to not have been called for the night time investigations, but many of those who did often come back limping after being tortured beyond words.”

When the training began, it involved hours-long lectures given mostly by military officials on the legacy the late Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the history of the party he co-founded, TPLF, and the 17 years sacrifices its members had paid to overthrow the military Derg in 1991. It also included the ruling party’s economic ideology of building a developmental state, the concept of federalism and multi-party democracy, according to the letter.

“But most of the time, we would just sit there in the blazing sun, hungry and thirsty, waiting for the officials to arrive. Sometimes, nobody shows up and we would be told to return to the barracks and come back tomorrow morning. But I never wanted to see tomorrow. All I wanted was to die and end my misery.”

Two weeks into his ordeal at the military camp, Almayehu was released after a “police officer who knew who I was and what I did for living in Awash spotted me there.”  “After what I think was this police officer’s attempt to help me, I was called one morning and told to pack up and be ready. There will be a car ready to transport me to Adama. That was it; no one to ask for justice; no one to ask for a letter to my employees, nothing.”

Alemayehu is back in Awash, from where he e-mailed us his letter. He is unemployed after the bank he was working for refused to take him back on “administrative grounds. I am now looking for a job.”

And he has since learned the devastating news of the disappearance of his fiancé. “Like me, no one knows where she is at now. I was told that after my mysterious disappearance she was struggling to face the possibilities that I may have simply deserted her. The last time she was seen in the town, where she was living with family members, was on Oct. 13, after that she has simply vanished; it is like she never existed.”

Alemayehu’s story of families torn apart and the hopelessness that follows resonates with hundreds and thousands of others who have been detained and still remain in one of the seven temporary detention facilities throughout the country.

A brief report released yesterday by the Ethiopia Human Right Project sampled 24 individuals, mainly opposition party members, bloggers, and journalists, who are currently detained under the SoE.

The three salient circumstances all the 24 detainees share in common are, according to the report: almost all remained detained without due court process; some have been informed of the reasons for their arrests after they were taken to the detention facilities; and some have not even been informed of the reason for their detention.

By all accounts, it is a story of the human cost in a country under a sweeping State of Emergency; a country where the news of the release of thousands would come too little too late to restore the hopes that were dashed, for some, forever.

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Ogaden News Agency (ONA) – Heavy fighting reported between ONLF Army and TPLF regime forces in Ogaden.

The report says there has been heavy fighting between the Ogaden National Liberation Army (ONLA) and TPLF regime forces in Ogaden.

TPLF regime forces were engaged in harassment activities around the Dumodlay Village of Qabri-dahar district including rape, beatings, and arbitrary detention.

The Ogaden National Liberation Army attacked the regime’s forces in Dumodlay Village on the 15th of December, 2016 and has caused considerable damage against regime forces, killing 6 soldiers and wounded 8 others.

Ogaden is war-zone and the conflict between ONLF Army and TPLF regime forces is on daily basis.

ONA Ogaden.

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Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir (R) and his visiting Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry give a joint press conference following a meeting on July 23, 2015 at the ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Saudi city of Jeddah. AFP PHOTO / STR / AFP PHOTO /

(Middle East Eye) — A Saudi visit to Ethiopia and a tweet falsely attributed to a Qatari official have harmed relations between Cairo and Gulf monarchies

Egyptian media lashed out at Saudi Arabia over a high-level Saudi delegation visit to the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) during a short trip to Ethiopia on Friday. Experts said the decision to visit the GERD was an act of revenge against Egypt that could deepen tensions between the two countries.

Ahmed al-Khateeb, a senior adviser at the Saudi royal court and board chairman of the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD), visited the site and met Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and other officials to discuss GERD’s construction project.

Khateeb’s trip came after the Saudi agriculture minister visited Ethiopia last week, making it the second visit by a Saudi official to Addis Ababa in less than a week.

“Egypt is not obliged to continue to contain its reactions towards Saudi Arabia… any interference [by Saudi Arabia] in the GERD project implies a direct threat to Egypt’s national security,” he said on Egyptian TV.

Khayr went as far as accusing Saudi policy makers of being “amateurs” that have caused bilateral relations between the two countries to completely break down as a result of this visit.

On Saturday, Ahmed Moussa, another journalist, threatened Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states that if they were to invest in Ethiopia, their investment would be lost in the Nile.

Workers build the Grand Renaissance Dam near the Sudanese-Ethiopian border (AFP)

Moussa continued to condemn the visit over his talk show on Sada al-Balad, an Egyptian satellite TV channel.

“The GERD will not last forever, a volcano might erupt at any moment. So for those looking to invest billions [of dollars] in this project, your money might as well be going to waste,” said Moussa.

‘Egypt has many cards’

Egyptian media personalities were joined in their denunciation of the Saudi visit by several academics who voiced strong criticisms against the Gulf state for its policy.

“You will soon hear that we [Egypt] have the capacity to intervene in the Gulf region’s affairs and provide support for the royals who oppose current Saudi policies,” Tarek Fahmy, a lecturer at the American University in Cairo, told viewers of Sada al-Balad on Saturday.

Fahmy warned Saudi Arabia that Egypt’s patience is waning and that Cairo will no longer accept actions that threaten its national security.

“Egypt has many cards to pressure Saudi Arabia, which we have yet to use,” Fahmy said.

However, he added that Cairo wanted to continue its friendly relations with its “siblings in the Gulf”.

Meanwhile, Egyptian political science professor Hassan Nafaa told Daily News Egypt on Sunday that the visit was an indirect message from Saudi Arabia that it could align itself with anyone if Egypt does not comply with Saudi foreign policy.

Nafaa said the visit will likely increase tensions in Saudi-Egyptian relations, saying that Cairo would not be tolerating Saudi’s implicit support for the GERD.

Many Eyptians fear that the waters of the Nile will drop with the opening of the Ethiopia dam (AFP)

The 6,000-megawatt GERD, which is not yet 70 percent complete, is situated close to Ethiopia’s border with Sudan. While Ethiopia hopes it will be able to export energy generated by the dam, Egypt has long expressed concerns that the dam might reduce the amount of Nile water it receives, thus affecting its main source of irrigation water.

Relations between Cairo and Riyadh have soured since Egypt voted in favour of a UN Security Council draft resolution by Russia regarding the Syrian civil war.

Egypt took an opposing position to Saudi Arabia by choosing to support the Syrian government and army against rebel fighters – Saudi’s envoy to the UN described Egypt’s vote as “painful”.

Since the vote, the Saudi ministry of petroleum said that Aramco, the Saudi state-owned oil company, has suspended its oil aid to Egypt but that the five-year agreement is still in effect.

Egyptian officials, including President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and foreign minister Sameh Shoukry, have repeatedly denied any tension with Saudi Arabia.

Qatari-Egyptian relations shaken

As Egypt’s alliance with Saudi Arabia continues to deteriorate, bilateral relations with Qatar have also been tested in a new series of obstacles.

Tensions grew after a Qatari national wrote on Twitter that Qatar will no longer be issuing work permits for Egyptians.

“Qatar has been extremely patient in regard to Egypt’s ‘dirty’ policies. It is now time for payback,” he added in the tweet.

After the tweet was mistakenly ascribed to deputy Qatari minister of trade Sultan bin Rashed al-Khater, news of Qatar’s “new policies” spread across Egyptian media platforms with Egyptian commentators condemning the alleged move as an official decision to deny Egyptians entry into the Gulf state.

In a television interview on Egyptian satellite TV channel Alassema 2, Sultan said: “We are completely transparent when it comes to information we receive. Any changes would be communicated directly to you all.”

Sultan said citizens should verify information before circulating it to avoid the spread of rumours such as this, it was reported by Elwehda news website.

At the same time, the minister of manpower, Mohamed Saafan, denied reports that Qatar had decided to reject applications by Egyptians for work permits, adding that there were 150,000 Egyptians working in Qatar at the moment.

Saafan said he met with the Qatari minister of labour on Thursday to discuss the rights of Egyptian workers in Qatar, highlighting that Egyptian-Qatari relations continue to be fully respectful.

Meanwhile, Egyptian commentator Jaber al-Qarmouty condemned the Egyptian media for circulating the tweet and building false reports upon it.

“Circulating information without verifying it has resulted in disastrous ramifications, which in this case can only be considered a slap in the face of Egyptian media personalities,” Elwehda news website quoted Qarmouty as saying.

Relations between Qatar and Egypt have been shaken since Doha showed support for former Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi – who was ousted in a military coup led by then General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. Qatar has also voiced support for Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood, which was outlawed by Cairo.

Egypt has accused Qatar of using state-funded Al Jazeera news network to tint the image of Egypt’s military by publishing news and documentaries that show the army in a negative light.

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Ethiopia to release over 9000 curfew detainees, 12,500 new arrests reported

(Africanews) — Ethiopian authorities have disclosed that some 9,800 people detained under the current state of emergency will be released next week after receiving training.

According to the Command Post in charge of implementing the State of Emergency, some 2,449 others will be arraigned before the courts.

Some of the reasons given in November for the arrest of persons included creating and inciting violence, spreading terror and creating instability, burning private and public service institutions and destroying investments.

Authorities had earlier reported that over 11,000 people believed to have taken part in anti-government protests had been arrested.

Ethiopia to release over 9000 curfew detainees, 12,500 new arrests reported https://t.co/s487jK2hLu

— africanews (@africanews) December 20, 2016

Justice Minister Siraj Fegessa disclosed to journalists that the Command Post had managed to arrest 19 mob groups that had participated in the protests, the state affiliated FANA Broadcasting corporate reported.

He added that a second round of arrests had led to detention of 12,500 suspects across the country. They will also be given training whiles culpable ones will be made to face the law. Persons were detained at different centers across the country, amongst others; Awash, Tolay, Ziway, Dilla, Yirgalem, Bahir Dar and Addis Ababa centers.

The country declared a six-month state of emergency to curtail the widening protests which started over a year ago. The government declared the curfew following a discussion by the Council of Ministers on the loss of lives and property damages occurring in the country.

The government has since promised political reforms to include a wider group of citizens. A recent cabinet reshuffle by Prime minister Hailemariam Daselegn, saw key positions handed to Oromos – who are part of the minority, their region has been the center of protests.

The government has since released some 2000 people after they had been counseled, it is unclear whether that figure is part of the current statistic or otherwise.

The authorities also lifted a curfew directive which restricted diplomats from travelling beyond a-40 kilometers radius out of the capital, Addis Ababa without the permission of the Command Post.

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Federal High Court Found Kedir Mohammed Yusuf et.al Guilty of Terrorism, Violating Penal Code

Addis Abeba Dec. 21/2016 (Addis Standard) – The federal High Court 19^th criminal bench has today found 20 defendants, including two journalists, guilty of terrorism related charges and violating the country’s penal code.

The court has adjourned the sentencing until 3 January 2017.

 The accused under the file name of the first defendant Kedir Moahmmed Yusuf were charged with several articles of Ethiopia’s 2009 infamous anti-terrorism proclamation and the 2004 Penal code. They were first charged in Dec. 2014 and the trial has been ongoing since then.

Accordingly, the 20, all of them Muslims, were charged for contravening article 7(1) of the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation (652/2009) and articles 32(1) (a) and 38(1) of the FDRE Penal Code of 2004.

They were initially accused of conspiring and entering into an agreement to coerce the government to release 18 members of the Ethiopian Muslim arbitration committee, from custody where they were being tried for  terrorism related offenses. However, the charges have grown to include accusations of, among others, “organizing and communicating, including via telephone, to recruit members to incite violence and participating with terrorist organizations.”

Although the 18 members of the Ethiopian Muslim arbitration committee were jailed to lengthy terms of varying periods, the 20 individuals, including two journalists: Kalid Mohammed Ahmed, 26, and Darsema Sori Banqash, 48, from Radio Bilal, who were accused of coercing the state to release the 18, remained jailed.

In September 2016, Ethiopia’s President Mulatu Teshome has signed a certificate pardoning nine of the 18 members of the Ethiopian Muslim arbitration committee, including the first defendant, Abubeker Ahmed, a prominent Muslim scholar who was jailed for 22 years on August 03 2015.

However, prosecutors have continued pressing the charges against the 20 defendants. They are now found guilty by the federal high court this morning.

The charges against the 20 defendants also include “inciting protests among Muslims in the cities of Addis Abeba, Jimma and Wolkite by preparing and distributing fliers and stickers claiming that the government arrested “The Committee”; organizing unlawful demonstrations calling for and inciting protests.”

The trial over the last two years of Abubeker Ahmed and the remaining 19 has been marked by several irregularities including inconsistent witness statements and complaints by the defendants of having had no access to their lawyers and having been subjected to torture and duress.

Background

Ethiopian Muslims were protesting since 2011 against what many of them say were an uncalled for interference by the government in the affairs of their religion. The protests came to a disturbing twist on Monday Oct. 29th 2012 when a federal court in Addis Abeba decided to charge 29 Muslim protestors arrested in July of the same year with “plotting acts of terrorism” under the country’s infamous anti-terror proclamation.

Many of the arrested were the Ethiopian Muslim arbitration committee members who volunteered to become members in order to seek solutions to narrow the widening gap between Muslims and the government.

The three outstanding differences the Ethiopian Muslim arbitration committee, simply known as “The Committee”, were trying to resolve were the demand by Muslims for the restoration of the Awoliya College and Secondary School administration which was sacked by the government in Dec. 2011; a free election without the interference of the government to replace members of the Islamic Supreme Council (Mejlis), again sacked by the government; and an end to the government’s attempt to publish and distribute books which carry a new Islamic teaching called Al-Habesh. The government denied its hands were on all the three demands but claimed Awoliya College and Secondary School, a highly regarded Islamic school based in Addis Abeba, had become a breeding ground for radicalism and Wahabia.

The incident triggered one of the most disciplined and sustained Friday sit-in protests by hundreds of thousands of Muslim protestors here in Addis Abeba and other major towns throughout the country that lasted for more than four years. it also gave birth to a famous online activism on twitter and facebook by an underground group called ‘Dimtsachin Yisema’ (let our voices be heard) which has attracted the participation of thousands who campaigned for the release of the committee members and others arbitrarily detained during sit-in protests. However, the Friday-sit-in protests were often met by the presence of large numbers of police forces who at many occasions have clashed with protestors which led to polices’ brutal use of force.

The three years trial of the Ethiopian Muslim arbitration committee members until they were jailed in August 2015 hasn’t been without tense moments too. Most importantly, the judicial independence was believed to have been tarnished when a state sponsored documentary called “Jihadawi Harekat” was aired by the national television soon after the trial began. Legal experts believe the incriminating contents of the documentary had severely affected the independence of the judiciary, which struggles to maintain its distance from political pressures, often in vain.

Last week, a radio station called Radio Daandii Haqaa released a new documentary called “The Movement” chronicling the story of Ethiopian Muslims and their struggle since 2011.

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Ethiopia says Oromo leader detained for meeting terrorist group in Brussels

(Africa News) — Ethiopian authorities have clarified that leading opposition figure and Chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), Dr Merera Gudina is in detention for flouting state of emergency rules.

The specific provision he is said to have flouted related to an alleged meeting with a terrorist group during his visit to Brussels. The authorities said investigations are currently underway to verify the allegation.

A statement published by the Embassy of Ethiopia in Belgium refuted the assertion that Dr Gudina was arrested for meeting members of the European Parliament (EP).

Hence, the arrest of Dr Merera Gudina is not related with the meeting in the European Parliament but the alleged discussion with the leader of a terrorist group. If this meeting is confirmed by the investigation, this would have to be considered as a clear and deliberate violation of the state of emergency.

‘‘Despite his awareness of these provisions, Dr. Merera Gudina allegedly met and discussed with the leader of a group listed as terrorist in Brussels from 7-9 November 2016.

‘‘Hence, the arrest of Dr Merera Gudina is not related with the meeting in the European Parliament but the alleged discussion with the leader of a terrorist group. If this meeting is confirmed by the investigation, this would have to be considered as a clear and deliberate violation of the state of emergency,’‘ the statement read.

The EP last week officially wrote to the Ethiopian government seeking clarification on the arrest of Dr Gudina.

Ethiopian security forces arrested the academician and OFC leader shortly after his arrival in the capital Addis Ababa on December 1 from Belgium. Reports indicated that together with other Ethiopian activists and the Olympic athlete Feyisa Lelisa – he met with Members of the European Parliament on 9 November 2016.

SUGGESTED READING Ethiopia: A year after protests started – Timeline of events [1]

Ethiopia is currently under a six month state of emergency imposed to quell spreading anti-government protests in the Oromia and Amhara regions of the country. The protests which started in November last year continued into this year.

Since January 2016 the human rights situation in Ethiopia has not improved at all. Human Rights Watch reports that security forces have killed more than 500 people during protests over the course of 2016.

The government reported mass arrests of persons believed to be behind the protests, some are to be released whiles others will be arraigned before the courts on offences of destroying private and public property.

The Command Post administering the curfew says relative peace has returned to the country. There are issues also surrounding communication access with slow internet in most parts of the country. Some European countries have lifted their travel advice for Ethiopia with the ‘return to peace.’

The European Parliament adopted an urgency resolution on the violent crackdown on protesters in January 2016, which requested that the Ethiopian authorities stop using anti-terrorism legislation to repress political opponents, dissidents, human rights defenders, other civil society actors and independent journalists.

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Leather goods firm Pittards has warned that falling demand and political unrest in Ethiopia will result in a hit to its full-year performance.

Pittards said the overall performance for the full-year is likely to be “lower than our expectations at the time of the half-year results”

(Belfast Telegraph) — The Somerset-based firm said a state of emergency in the African country has affected the company’s tannery in East Shewa, where some production has been lost.

The company said: “Levels have not yet returned to the levels pre-disruption. The effect has to some extent been mitigated by undertaking production in the UK but there will nevertheless be an impact on the results for the second half of the year.”

Pittards added that a “prolonged depressed demand for leather” has resulted in disappointing sales volumes in the last few months of the year, meaning that the overall performance for the full year is likely to be “lower than our expectations at the time of the half-year results”.

The firm said a new management team is now in place and further progress has been made in the second half to simplify the group and better position it for growth.

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The Year in Human Rights Videos – Oromo Peaceful Protesters at the top

Amy Braunschweiger
Senior Web Communications Manager

(HRW) — The gunning down of peaceful protesters in Ethiopia. Animations depicting the devastation of Saudi Arabia’s male ‘guardianship’ system on women’s lives. From these to child brides and LGBT rights, here are the year’s most-watched videos on Human Rights Watch’s YouTube Channel.

1. When we pieced together cell phone footage showing the deaths of peaceful protesters in Ethiopia, it became by far our most-watched video this year – both in English and Amharic.

Ethiopian security forces have killed more than 400 protesters and others, and arrested tens of thousands more during widespread protests in the Oromia region since November 2015.

2. Under Saudi Arabia’s guardianship system, women need a male guardian’s permission to marry, go to school, work, or even undergo certain medical procedures. This holds true even if a guardian – a father, husband, or even son – is abusive.

Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship system remains the most significant impediment to women’s rights in the country despite limited reforms over the last decade.

3. People who don’t conform to traditional ideas of gender in Sri Lanka face discrimination and abuse.

Transgender people and others who don’t conform to social expectations about gender face discrimination and abuse in Sri Lanka, including arbitrary detention, mistreatment, and discrimination accessing employment, housing, and health care. These abuses take place within a broader legal landscape that fails to recognize the gender identity of transgender people without abusive requirements; makes same-sex relations between consenting adults a criminal offense; and enables a range of abuses against LGBTI people by state officials and private individuals. The Sri Lankan government should protect the rights of transgender people and others who face similar discrimination.

4. Thirty-seven percent of girls in Nepal marry before age 18, and 10 percent are married by age 15.

Many children in Nepal are seeing their futures stolen from them by child marriage. Nepal’s government promises reform, but in towns and villages across the country, nothing has changed.

5. In Saudi Arabia, the permission of male guardians is required for women to be released from prison.

Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship system remains the most significant impediment to women’s rights in the country despite limited reforms over the last decade.

6. … and to travel.

Saudi Arabia’s male guardianship system remains the most significant impediment to women’s rights in the country despite limited reforms over the last decade.

7. How LGBT students are bullied in Japan…

The Japanese government has failed to protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students from school bullying.

8. A victim shares how he escaped Boko Haram, and talks of those who couldn’t…

9. This man tells how he was tortured in a CIA-run detention center.

A Tunisian man formerly held in secret United States Central Intelligence Agency custody have described previously unreported methods of torture that shed new light on the earliest days of the CIA program. Lotfi al-Arabi El Gherissi, 52, recounted being severely beaten with batons, threatened with an electric chair, subjected to various forms of water torture, and being chained by his arms to the ceiling of his cell for a long period.

10. And at number 10, how tobacco companies make money off the backs — and health — of Indonesian child workers.

Thousands of children in Indonesia, some just 8 years old, are working in hazardous conditions on tobacco farms.

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Ethiopia ‘to free nearly 10,000 detainees’ – Most of whom are Oromo

Mary Harper
Africa editor, BBC World Service

(BBC Highlights, Dec 21) — Ethiopia says it’s releasing nearly 10,000 people detained under the state of emergency imposed in October.

Another 2,500 will be charged with crimes related to unrest.

The authorities say those released have been given special training to ensure they will no longer engage in “destructive behaviour”.

Most of the detainees are from the regions of Oromia and Amhara, where there were months of protests against political and economic marginalisation.

The situation has been relatively calm since the state of emergency came into force.

Ethiopians in the diaspora have constantly protested against the state of emergency

Read: Ethiopia’s secretive government

Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Addis Ababa

(BBC Highlights, Dec 21) — Nearly 10,000 people detained under the current state of emergency in Ethiopia were freed this morning, deputy government spokesman Zadig Abraha has confirmed to the BBC.

On Saturday, the government said more than 24,000 people have been arrested since the state of emergency was declared three months ago and half that number still remain in custody without charge.

The government has dismissed reports by human rights and opposition groups that many of those arrested have been tortured at various camps and their families have been refused permission to see them.

People in Ethiopia’s Oromia and Amhara regions have been demanding greater political freedom

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