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(HRW, Nairobi, 31 October 2016) –An Ethiopian government directive under a state of emergency contains overly broad and vague provisions that risk triggering a human rights crisis, Human Rights Watch said today in a legal analysis. The government should promptly repeal or revise all elements of the directive that are contrary to international law.
A woman cries as she attends a prayer session at Biftu Bole Lutheran Church during a prayer and candle ceremony for those who died in the town of Bishoftu during Ireecha, the thanksgiving festival for the Oromo people, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, October 9, 2016.
On October 9, 2016, the government announced a six-month state of emergencyfollowing the destruction of some government buildings and private property by demonstrators. Over the past year, security forces have killed hundreds of protesters and detained tens of thousands in two regions where there have been numerous protests over government policies.“Ethiopia’s state of emergency bans nearly all speech that the government disagrees with anywhere in the country for at least six months,” said Felix Horne, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The state of emergency hands the army new sweeping powers to crack down on demonstrators, further limiting the space for peaceful dissent.”
Under the new state of emergency, the army can be deployed country-wide for at least six months. The implementing directive prescribes draconian restrictions on freedom of expression, association, and assembly that go far beyond what is permissible under international law and signal an increased militarized response to the situation. The directive effectively codifies many of the security forces’ abusive tactics that Human Rights Watch has documented since the protests began.
The directive includes far-reaching restrictions on sharing information on social media, watching diaspora television stations, and closing businesses as a gesture of protest, as well as curtailing opposition parties’ ability to communicate with the media. It specifically bans writing or sharing material via any platform that “could create misunderstanding between people or unrest.”
It bans all protests without government permission and permits arrest without court order in “a place assigned by the command post until the end of the state of emergency.” It also permits “rehabilitation” – a euphemism for short-term detention often involving physical punishment. Many of these restrictions are country-wide and not limited to the two of Ethiopia’s nine regions where most of the unrest took place.
Under international law, during a state of emergency a government may only suspend certain rights to the extent permitted by the “exigencies of the situation.” Many of the measures, including the restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly, and association go far beyond what is permitted under international law.
The government reports that since the state of emergency began, 1,600 people have been arrested, including about 50 for closing their businesses. Human Rights Watch also has received unconfirmed reports of unlawful killings, mass arrests, and looting of houses and businesses by the security forces. There have been some armed clashes between security forces and unidentified groups. Mobile phone access to the internet has been blocked since October 5. Addis Standard, a monthly English language magazine and one of the few independent publications left in Ethiopia, announced on October 25 that it was halting publication of its print edition due to state-of-emergency restrictions.
Large-scale, and mainly peaceful anti-government protests have been sweeping through Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest region, since November 2015, and the Amhara region since July 2016. Ethiopian security forces have killed more than 500 people during protests over the last year. These protests occurred in a context of the near-total closure of political space.
Protesters have voiced a variety of concerns, including issues related to development, the lack of political space, the brutality of the security forces, and domination of economic and political affairs by people affiliated with the ruling party. The emergency measures send a strong and chilling message that rather than dealing with expressed grievances and ensuring accountability for violence by both government forces and protesters, the government will continue and probably escalate the militarized response.
On October 2, in Bishoftu, a town 40 kilometers southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa, tensions ignited at the annual Irreecha festival – an important Oromo cultural event that draws millions of people each year. Security forces confronted huge crowds with tear gas and fired shots and scores of people then died during a stampede. Since then, alleged demonstrators have damaged a number of government buildings and private businesses perceived to be close to the ruling party, setting some on fire.
The government has in part blamed human rights groups seeking to document violations of international law for the recent unrest. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly called for an independent and credible investigation into the security force response to the protests and to the deaths in Bishoftu.
“Many of the abuses committed by security forces since November 2015 have now been codified under the state of emergency,” Horne said. “Trying to use the legal cover of a state of emergency as a pretext for the widespread suspension of rights not only violates the government’s international legal obligations, but will exacerbate tensions and long-term grievances, and risks plunging Ethiopia into a greater crisis.”
The Ethiopian government’s recently imposed state of emergency, which followed months of clashes between political protesters and security forces, has imposed new curfews, limited the movement of civilians and diplomats and outlawed opposition media.
It has also largely silenced the extensive international aid community operating in the country from speaking about what effect the current political dynamic is having on their work.
The quiet itself is telling of the fear NGOs and agencies are operating under. More than a dozen agencies working in a variety of humanitarian and development fields — including the United Nations’ resident humanitarian coordinator — either did not respond to interview requests or declined to speak to Devex for this story, most citing concerns about the potential risk to staff operating in Ethiopia.
Meanwhile, some development projects have been slowed by the government’s reaction to the protests, according to NGO officials. Security forces have fired tear gas and bullets into crowds and temporarily shut down some channels of communication. Transportation restrictions threaten to wreak havoc with the ongoing efforts to address food shortages following monthslong droughts. If violence broadens, it could precipitate a larger humanitarian crisis.
International officials — including from U.N. agencies — appear reluctant to speak candidly on the situation for fear it could cost them access to the communities they are trying to assist or even result in their agencies being expelled from the country. That could be devastating in a country where 9.7 million people are estimated to need food relief before the end of the year.
In Ethiopia, the U.S. Agency for International Development has a “crucial window of time” to use disaster response tools to prevent the very worst impacts of drought.
Yet if not aid agencies, human rights activists wonder who is going to speak up about the situation in Ethiopia. They say the state of emergency has presaged a crackdown on local journalists and civil rights groups. Most diplomats have been wary about offending a key regional partner, even as the situation looks set to worsen.
“Right now the general intolerance the government is demonstrating toward criticism is only fueling people’s frustrations,” said Clementine de Montjoye, the advocacy and research manager for the East and Horn of Africa Human Rights Defenders Project. With the violence looking to continue, aid agencies will remain in the precarious position of calibrating how — or whether — to respond.
Roots of discontent
The current protests date to November 2015 and began in Oromia, the region that extends over much of the country’s south and east like a sideways “V”. Demonstrators initially reacted to a government plan to take land from Oromia to expand the capital, Addis Ababa, which falls inside the region. The proposal stoked long-simmering feelings of marginalization among the Oromo ethnic group — the country’s largest, accounting for more than a third of Ethiopia’s 100 million people.
Clashes recently spread to the Amhara region in the country’s north, home of the country’s second-largest ethnic group. Though the demonstrations are unrelated, they are both rooted in feelings of exclusion from the government, which is dominated by the Tigray — a community that makes up only 6 percent of the population. The government has acknowledged that more than 500 people may have died because of the security force’s response to the protests or in stampedes that have followed, as people have tried to escape.
The roots of the discontent extend beyond political marginalization, said Yared Hailemariam, the executive director of the Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia. Cyclical humanitarian crises — including periodic food shortages — and the slow pace of infrastructural development have deepened frustration. Despite the country’s rapid economic growth over the past decade, progress has come unevenly and left some regions lagging behind.
Oromia and Amhara, in part because they are the largest regions, have the largest numbers of people in need of food assistance, according to a midyear review by the government and aid agencies. After a failed rainy season in 2015 and a drought so far in 2016, three times more people are in need of aid this year, according to the review.
Many areas in these regions rely on domestic and international agencies for support. If the state of emergency interferes with humanitarian relief efforts or development projects, Yare said it could push more people onto the streets. The declaration includes not just a ban on protests, but also a 6 p.m. curfew and a prohibition on foreign diplomats traveling more than 40 kilometers from Addis Ababa without approval.
“Some of the embassies have development projects, for example,” he said. “If they can’t visit those areas and can’t communicate with the staff on the ground, they won’t know what’s going on. Maybe it ignites another round of protests. It’s ridiculous.”
Impact on aid work
The few NGO officials willing to talk told Devex that they are still waiting to find out how the state of emergency will impact their work. Location seems to be the most critical determinant of whether aid projects are directly affected.
Most of Mercy Corps’ projects, for example, are far from the areas where the clashes have taken place, and their services have not been interrupted, said Christine Nyirjesy Bragale, the director of media relations. The organization works on emergency responses to the droughts as well as long-term climate change and other environmental adaptation.
Some of WaterAid’s projects, have been forced to slow down as contractors have refused to show up for work if there are nearby protests, said Lydia Zigomo, the organization’s head for the East Africa region.
Focusing on access to water and raising hygiene and sanitation standards, the organization has funded more than 50 projects in Ethiopia, including ongoing sites in Oromia and Amhara.
Officials and activists also said aid projects experience some overarching challenges in communication as the government regularly shutting down the internet and phone lines.
WaterAid’s Zigomo said the organization has been helped by the perception of the water and sanitation sector as nonpolitical. “We tend not to be in the first line of any problems that are going on.”
The danger of being viewed as political is something the international community is very attuned to, and their caution is likely warranted. The government maintains acute oversight of the international community, including through a 2009 law regulating the activities of nongovernmental organizations. That alone already makes it difficult for groups to even do their work, Yared said.
His own experience is telling of the challenges: Though he operates out of Brussels after escaping into exile in 2005, he said he still gets calls from international aid agencies asking him if he has reports from communities outside Addis Ababa he can share. Relief organizations “can’t get information,” he said. “The government restricts them from moving in these conflict areas.”
Yared said he understands international agencies are in a difficult position. Even the perception of commenting on the effect of the government’s policies could prove devastating for their programs. But he also wonders who will tell the world what is happening in Ethiopia.
An Ethiopian government directive under a state of emergency contains overly broad and vague provisions that risk triggering a human rights crisis, Human Rights Watch said in a legal analysis. The government should promptly repeal or revise all elements of the directive that are contrary to international law. 31 October 2016.
“Internet mobile irrati fayadamuuf mali argameera… akkas agodhani qeeroon Setting..more network….mobile network… access network name…. harka mirgara + kan jedhu tuqu… name kanjedhu … et.wap… APN… et.wap…. proxy…10.204.189.211… port…9028…. authentication… PAP or CHAP kan jedhu guutu… kana booda qeerroon mirgaan galte Mobile jam Tplf irraa hanu… sanan fayadama jira amaan kana.” #OromoRevolution.
Akki itti jirru,akkataan itti jirrus kan wal nama gaafachiisu miti! Kan wal gaafatanis miti!.Haa ta’u malee, dhimma sirni garboomfataa afaan faajjiiuummata keenya taasisuuf yaalu irratti barreessuuf,afaan kobbee kootii saaqe!
Sirni garboomfataa kun salphina hin beeku,qaanii hin beeku,Gadaa hin beeku,caaccuu,bokkuu,siiqqee,dhaabata,alangaa hoodaa,meedhichaaf moggaasas hin beeku! Waraanni wayyaanee kun wanbadee badduu akka taate,murna kana keechaa qaamni ergamtuu dhalatte OPDOn illee xurree wanbadee kanaaf haala aanjessaa,mijeessaa ilmaan Oromoof qilee dhiphinaa qotuun Oromoon gaaga’ama hammana hin jedhamne keessa bu’eera!
Yeroo ammaa kana Oromoon diinaaf akka hin jilbeenfanne,biyyasaa akka hin saamsifneefi eenyummaa isaaf eegumsa fi jaalala guddaa akka qabu hubachuun diinaayyuu diina Uummata Oromoo boqonnaa dhoorgee jira!.Kanaaf Oromoon ammas waan isa barbaachisu mijeeffatee itti fufuu….biyya isaaf Bilisummaa,dachee isaaf walabummaa labata isaaf birmadummaa gonfachuun kanaafimmoo wareega hanga dhumaatti baaasuun dirqama
Haala qabsoo Oromoon amma irra ga’e kana gara fuuladuraatti nu tarkanfaachisuu danda’an irratti jabaachuun egeree Oromiyaa milkeessiif wantoota nu barbaachisan! Continue reading →
Waraanni Wayyanee guyyaa hundaa Oromoota sammuu qaban adamsee ukkaamsuu, ajjeessuu fi mana hidhaati dararuu irraa darbee uummata Oromoo nagaa dhowwachuudhaan akka goolaa jiru gabaasaa Qeerroo irraa hubachaa jirra. Keessattuu hammeenyi bartootaa Oromoo irra gahaa jiruu dhaga’uunu garaa nama hammeessa. Warri ukkamaman yaroo dhumasana akka ajjefaman mamii qabaachuu hin qabnu. Qoteebulaa, hojjetaa, barataa fi artistiin Oromoo uukkaman duba kan quba itti qabutu jira. Qubni cituu malee fala biraa hin qabu.
Qeerroon nagaa eegduu TPLF tokko shan diigee of ijaaree warra quba ilamaan Oromoo itti qabanii ficcisisaa jiran kana hubachuu ni dadhaba jedhee hin yaadu. Warra garaa malee sammuu hin qabnee kanaan ilmaan Oromoo dhumuu fi biyyi Oromoo saamamuun fudhatama hin qabu. Tooftaan TPLF inni duraa Oromoota qara tahan fixxuu dha. Warri qara tahan yoo dhuman isa hafe gowwosaniis tahe dorsiisudhaan hin bitna abdii jedhuu qabu. Kunis kan madduu tuffii fi oftulummaa Wayyaannee irraa akkeeka ka’e akka tahe ifa jira. Akka amma deemaa jiru kanatti yoo qabsoon kun kan itti fufu tahe humni injifachuuf deemu gara kamitti akka madaalaa deemu hubachuun rakkisaa miti. Continue reading →
Central Oromia, in the county of Jarso, Selale zone, the Ethiopian government forces (Agazi) have been raiding homes asking residents to hand in their guns, residents informed the government forces that they have no guns to surrender. The government forces have used this as an excuse to continue harassment, arresting and killings in this area. The residents when attacked have defended themselves and in result one military representative has been killed.
Family members have witnessed horrific abuses againts the prisoners in Kilinto Prison. This notorious prison is well known to imprison innocent Oromo and other political prisoners.
West Hararge in the county of Tullo, in the city of Hirna Agazi militants have targetted Oromo nationalists and have raided and exploited individual homes. The targeted individuals have been taken by the Agazi militants and there whereabouts are not known.
The Oromo community in Perth, Western Australia organised a rally to condemn the killings and human rights abuses conducted by the Ethiopian government. The Oromo community liased with other ethnic groups to hold a successful rally.
Genocide: The person killed in Badessa, West Hararge this morning (19 October 2016) is identified as Koome. He is a businessman. He was arrested by Agazi this morning, forced to withdraw 900,000 birr from his bank account and executed him in the afternoon. Three more people who tried to lift his body were shot.
Most of us use products made in China every day and are aware of its growing economic power as a factory to the world. But China intends to become a developed nation by mid-century, and integral to this ambition is its intense focus on innovation. In a few decades, Chinese companies have evolved from imitators…
Ethiopia: TPLF/EPRDF Crimes Against Humanity in Oromia Escalate After the State Of Emergency is Declared
HRLHA’s Appeal to the International Community
October 30, 2016
Crimes against humanity against the Oromo nation have escalated after the State of Emergency was declared on October 8, 2016 by the TPLF. The Tigray People’s Liberation Front blocked all means of communication in order to hide the heinous crimes it perpetrated all over the Oromo and Amhara regions. According to the unconfirmed information obtained in Oromia regional state, over 1000 Oromos have been killed and about 40,000 Oromos detained in different places from October 8 – 30, 2016. The HRLHA has received a partial list of those killed and detained in the South Oromia Zone in West and Arsi Zones. According to our informants, from October 8 – 30, 2016 , 248 have been killed and 3706 were detained. Most of these were youths.
The following are the names of Oromos among the detainees in Munessa and Digalu districts of Arsii Zone , Oromia
International attention on Ethiopia has been in a continuous ebb and flow since the outbreak of the mass movement that began in November 2015 in Oromia Regional State. Lethal force has been used against the protestors. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa and other international human rights agencies such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have repeatedly reminded the International community to stop the vicious human rights abuses in Ethiopia. However the world community has abstained from taking concrete action.
The HRLHA again calls upon the international community to act collectively in a timely and decisive manner – through the UN Security Council and in accordance with the UN charter on a case-by – case basis to stop the Ethiopian government’s assaults on its own citizens before it is too late.The International community has a responsibility to use appropriate diplomatic,humanitarian and other means to protect populations from crimes. If a State is manifestly failing to protect its population, the international community must be prepared to take collective action to protect populations,in accordance with the UN Charter.
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The current situation is based on the build up of years of frustration from ethnic groups who have felt marginalized by the government. Ethiopia is made up of about 80 different ethnolinguistic groups with the Oromo nation comprising the largest ethnic group in the country. The communist regime was overthrown in 1991 and the current government, which acts essentially as a single-party, has been ruling as an authoritarian regime since that time.Throughout the years, there have been varying degrees of unrest and protest, the biggest and until now occurring in 2005 during the country’s heavily contested elections. The results of that election, which sustained the ruling party’s power (the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF)), was considered fraudulent by both the opposition as well as outside observers. Now, the country’s two largest regions – Oromia
Ethiopia has “ruthlessly targeted” and tortured thousands of people belonging to its largest ethnic group for perceived opposition to the government, rights group Amnesty International said in a report released Tuesday.
The report, based on over 200 testimonies, said at least 5,000 members of the Oromo ethnic group, which has a distinct language and accounts for over 30 percent of the country’s population, had been arrested between 2011 and 2014 for their “actual or suspected peaceful opposition to the government.”
“The Ethiopian government’s relentless crackdown on real or imagined dissent among the Oromo is sweeping in its scale and often shocking in its brutality,” said Amnesty International researcher Claire Beston.
The rights group said those arrested included students and civil servants. They were detained based on their expression of cultural heritage such as wearing clothes in colors considered to be symbols of Oromo resistance – red and green – or alleged chanting of political slogans.
Oromia, the largest state in Ethiopia, has long had a difficult relationship with the central government in Addis Ababa. A movement has been growing there for independence. And the government has outlawed a secessionist group, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which has fought for self-determination for over 40 years.
Since 1992, the OLF has waged a low-level armed struggle against the Ethiopian government, which has accused the group of carrying out a series of bombings throughout the country.
Amnesty said that the majority of Oromo people targeted are accused of supporting the OLF, but that the “allegation is frequently unproven” and that it is “merely a pretext to silence critical voices and justify repression.”
“The report tends to confirm the claims that diaspora-based Oromo activists have been making for some time now,” Michael Woldemariam, a professor of international relations and political science at Boston University, told Al Jazeera. “What it does do, however, is provide a wealth of detail and empirical material that lends credibility to claims we have heard before.”
Missing fingers, ears, teeth
Former detainees – who fled the country and were interviewed by Amnesty in neighboring Kenya, Somaliland and Uganda – described torture, “including beatings, electric shocks, mock execution, burning with heated metal or molten plastic, and rape, including gang rape,” Amnesty said.
Although the majority of former detainees interviewed said they never went to court, many alleged they were tortured to extract a confession.
“We interviewed former detainees with missing fingers, ears and teeth, damaged eyes and scars on every part of their body due to beating, burning and stabbing – all of which they said were the result of torture,” said Beston.
Redwan Hussein, Ethiopia’s government spokesman, “categorically denied” the report’s findings. He accused Amnesty of having an ulterior agenda and of repeating old allegations.
“It (Amnesty) has been hell-bent on tarnishing Ethiopia’s image again and again,” he told Agence France-Press.
The report also documented protests that erupted in April and May over a plan to expand the capital Addis Abba into Oromia territory. It said that protests were met with “unnecessary and excessive force,” which included “firing live ammunition on peaceful protestors” and “beating hundreds of peaceful protesters and bystanders,” resulting in “dozens of deaths and scores of injuries.”
Oromo singers, writers and poets have been arrested for allegedly criticizing the government or inciting people through their work. Amnesty said they, along with student groups, protesters and people promoting Oromo culture, are treated with hostility because of their “perceived potential to act as a conduit or catalyst for further dissent.”
Al Jazeera and wire services. Philip J. Victor contributed to this report.
The beloved and one of the greatest Oromo musicians, actors and poets, Dabalaa Damee died on 29 October 2016. He was highly talented and gifted artist and selfless. He dedicated all his life to develop the suppressed Oromo art music and culture. He was very incredible. He lived a life as an artist, activist and selfless human being. he was advocating for equality, peace, justice and freedom for Oromo people and all oppressed people.
Remembering his wonderful and gentle soul will forever remain in our hearts. May he rest in peace!
Artist Dabalaa Damee Onkoloolessa 29 bara 2016 du’aan addunyaa kana irraa Boqote.
Dabalaa Damee nama walleef artii Afaan Oromoo keessatti bakka guddaa qabudha.
Jireenya isaa guutuu artii saba kanaaf hanga dhumaatti nama cichaa turedha. Kuusaa artii Oromoo nama jabaa tokko dhabneerra har’a. Biyyoon isatti haa salphatu. Maatii saaf Oromo maraaf immoo rabbi jajjabina haa kennu.
A man attends a prayer session at Biftu Bole Lutheran Church during a prayer and candle ceremony for protesters who died in the town of Bishoftu two weeks ago during Irreecha, the thanksgiving festival of the Oromo people, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, October 16, 2016.
Ethiopian human rights activists, members of opposition parties and those working in the media say their freedom of movement has been severely limited since the government declared a state of emergency three weeks ago. Many are afraid to speak out while others had to stop working.
Ethiopia’s government has insisted the six-month state of emergency — declared so authorities can deal with protests in the Oromia and Amhara regions — does not affect the constitutional rights of citizens.
FILE – In this Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016 file photo, protesters chant slogans against the government during a march in Bishoftu, in the Oromia region of Ethiopia.
But while things might seem calm in the streets of Addis Ababa, those perceived as challenging the government’s views say they are often blocked from carrying out their activities.
Assefa Habtewold is the chairman of the opposition All Ethiopian Unity Party. He says it has become almost impossible for his party members to operate.
“We cannot go from region to region and visit our members,” said Habtewold. “We cannot conduct meetings with our members at different districts. All this is prohibited. All in all we cannot make a meeting of more than two persons. Totally our movement is halted. Until the end of the state of emergency we cannot do anything.”
The party, like other opposition parties, says dozens of its members have been detained or are being harassed.
Addis Standard, a weekly independent magazine, announced last week it is suspending its print edition. No printing house is willing to print their magazine following the state of emergency, says editor-in-chief Tsedale Lemma.
“It makes everybody hung onto this unspecified fear of what’s going to happen if this material is published,” said Lemma. “Will it be misunderstood, will it be used against me? So this has a huge impact on doing journalism for us. As we have seen it now with Addis Standard, it even extends to vendors, and printers, and pretty much everyone involved in making a print product.”
Tsedale says the magazine will continue online, despite the country’s internet being mostly switched off.
Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, has been demonstrating for nearly a year demanding more freedom, economic inclusiveness and proper compensation for land disputes. Hundreds have been killed during clashes with police.
Ethiopia, an important security partner and ally, is heading for crisis. The country is suffering its worst unrest in years in response to the government’s intensifying abuses and restrictions on freedoms, as documented by Freedom House.When Congress adjourned in September, it had failed to vote on resolutions on Ethiopia (S.Res. 432/H.Res. 861).
When it returns, it should pass them without delay.
On Oct. 8, for the first time in the ruling government’s 25-year history, a state of emergency was declared. Thousands of people have since been detained.
The pending resolutions condemn the killing and arrests of protestors and journalists by security forces and call on the U.S. government to review security assistance and democracy strategies for Ethiopia. They are an important first step in addressing the crisis in Ethiopia, and a needed pivot from current inaction by the U.S. government.They should be passed for these reasons.
1. Tensions are worsening.
Unrest began in November 2015, sparked by the government’s plan to expand the capital by seizing land from farmers in Oromia.
This region produces most of the nation’s wealth and is home to the Oromo, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group — and one of its most marginalized.
After security forces brutally responded to peaceful demonstrations, protests expanded, encompassing abuses and restrictions on freedoms and the dominance of Tigrayan elites in the country’s political and economic structures.
The ruling political coalition, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), is led primarily by members of the Tigray ethnic group, which comprises about 6 percent of the population. Ethiopia’s constitution commits the EPRDF to uniting Ethiopia’s more than 80 ethnic groups.
Instead, the EPRDF’s policies have fueled ethnic divisions and distributed economic wealth and political power to the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and political loyalists.
Following the 2005 elections, when the opposition won a third of the seats in parliament, the EPRDF clamped down violently, jailing opposition and enacting laws effectively eliminating independent media and civil society work on human rights, governance and elections issues. The EPRDF has continued to consolidate power, “winning” all 547 seats in parliament in 2015.
The state of emergency — the full text of which is still not public — makes tensions worse. It imposes a strict curfew, travel restrictions on foreign diplomats, limitations on social media, and prohibitions on protests and opposition-supported television channels.
Security forces are going house-to-house searching for violators.
2. U.S. policy hasn’t worked.
The severity of the situation is not disputed, but some policymakers argue private pressure would be better than public resolutions.
Unfortunately, private pressure for the last decade has yielded few results.
Instead of relaxing restrictions to allow critical voices, Ethiopia has tightened them.
The Obama administration’s shifting positions on Ethiopia have proved ineffective. The State Department’s human rights reports document intimidation of political opposition, but last year Undersecretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman praised Ethiopia as a democracy with free and fair elections.
Since then, the State Department has expressed “concern about recent clashes,” called for dialogue with the Oromo community and was “troubled” by the recent state of emergency, but has remained silent at other key moments.
The State Department’s inconsistency and frequent public silence seem to embolden the EPRDF.
In September, the government’s spokesperson bragged, “We will not hire any lobbyists to kill the draft resolution. We have many USG officials that support our government, so we do not need additional lobbyists.”
He dismissed the resolutions as “a seasonal flu that comes every now and then,” and said he would “rather US officials not put out statements about the protests [or] the loss of lives and destruction of property in connection thereof.”
3. Passage of resolutions provides clear direction for U.S. policy.
The resolutions are mild given the severity of the situation.
But they provide key elements currently missing from our Ethiopia policy: a consistent position on the violence and how to address it; clear direction for specific actions by the executive branch; and a call for the Ethiopian government to allow a “full, credible, and transparent investigation,” the results of which can be used to inform a more robust U.S. response.
The Ethiopian government’s current repression is destructive, not only for the EPRDF, but for Ethiopia’s long-term economic growth and effectiveness as a security partner. In order to thrive, it must uphold the rights enshrined in its international commitments and its own constitution.
Passage of these resolutions will send this message and will provide much-needed direction for addressing the worsening crisis after years of inaction and inconsistency from the U.S.
Saga Holidays is among a number of major UK tour operators to cancel trips to Ethiopia as a wave of unrest spreads across the African country.
The Foreign Office (FCO) is advising against all travel to some regions in the east and all but essential travel to central parts that include places such as Lalibela, popular with tourists for its rock-cut churches.
Saga, Kuoni and Cox and Kings are among those to have cancelled tours for this year, offering refunds or alternatives to customers.
The Ethiopian government this month declared a six-month state of emergency and arrested more than 1,600 people as the FCO warned of clashes between protesters and security forces. Protests have been most fervent in the Amhara and Oromia regions.
In August, some 90 people were believed to have been killed after police used live bullets on protesters chanting anti-government slogans and waving dissident flags.
The Foreign Office has different advice for different parts of the countryCREDIT: FOREIGN OFFICE
“Demonstrations have been taking place in the Oromia and Amhara regions in 2016 and further protests are likely,” the Foreign Office said.
“Tensions in Oromia have significantly risen since October 2 when up to 100 people died during a stampede at the Irreechaa religious festival.
“There has been widespread disruption to road travel across Ethiopia. Unauthorised and official roadblocks can appear with little or no warning.”
The country had recently been experiencing a boom in its tourism industry, thanks to its unique mix of history, wildlife and culture. Last year, the country was praised by the European Council on Tourism and Trade for its “excellent preservation of humanity landmarks”.
Beside the rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, other draws include the Simien Mountains National Park, Lake Langano, and the Danakil Depression, one of the hottest places on earth.
A spokesperson for Kuoni, which offers a tour of the highlights of Northern Ethiopia, said it had stopped selling the trip and would be monitoring the situation.
A spokesperson for Saga, too, said all 2016 departures had been cancelled, adding: “The initial change to FCO advice was that some areas should be avoided. As a result tours were amended to ensure that our holidaymakers were nowhere near those areas. However… the advice changed again and advised against all but essential travel to certain regions of Ethiopia. As a result we took the decision to cancel all 2016 departures.”
Cox and Kings said it would only be able to resume its trips should the FCO advice change.
Responsible Travel, which hosts a number of tour operators on its website running trips in Ethiopia, said some of its clients are continuing to offer tours.
“Several of the holidays we market in Ethiopia are run by local tour operators, who will continue to offer and run the same trips as they always have done,” said marketing manager Sarah Faith.
“It is then up to each individual traveller to consider the FCO advice and to purchase insurance that will cover them given the FCO warnings.
“Our local operators in Ethiopia are extremely well-placed to understand the day-to-day situation on the ground in the country.”
Due to the convergence of climatic, conflict, and economic shocks, the number of food insecure people in the region facing Crisis and Emergency (IPC 3 and 4) levels, has doubled in the last 12 months from 11.0 million in September 2015 to 23.4 million people today. The worst affected countries are Ethiopia (9.7 million people), South Sudan (4.79 million people), and Sudan (4.42 million people).
In Ethiopia, anti-government protests by the Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups continued with reports of casualties among protesters and security forces. OHCHR has called upon the Ethiopian government to permit the deployment of independent observers into the country to access the human rights situation.
Drought exacerbated by El Niño, combined with extensive flooding, disease outbreaks and the disruption of basic public services, continue to have a negative impact on the lives and livelihoods of 9.7 million Ethiopians. Overall food security and agricultural production remain severely affected, with cascading effects on livelihoods, nutrition, health, water, sanitation, education and other sectors.
Number of children reached by nutrition screening dropped in Amhara and Oromia
The number of children reached by nutrition screening reduced significantly since July in Amhara and Oromia, coinciding with the increased unrest in the two regions. The drop was most significant in Oromia, where the number of children screened went down from an average of 3 million between January and June to 2.1 million in August. In Amhara screenings reduced from an average of 920,000 in the first half of the year to some 380,000 in August. In contrast, the Afar region has maintained an 80 per cent screening coverage on a monthly basis, according to the Nutrition Cluster. read-more-at-humanitarian_bulletin_24_october_2016
Internally displaced persons in Babile and Kubi need urgent humanitarian assistance
Some 5,100 internally displaced families in Babile and Kubi woredas of the Somali region need urgent humanitarian assistance. According to recent multi-sectoral assessment, priority needs include some 650 metric tons of food per month for the next four months as well as supplementary feeding for children and pregnant and lactating mothers, clean water, and emergency shelter and non-food items. The new displacement is the result of resource-based conflict that started in June-July 2015 in East and West Hararge zones of the Oromia region. The Oromia and Somali region officials are discussing on a possible return of the IDPs to their areas of origin. read-more-at-humanitarian_bulletin_24_october_2016
Ethiopia:“Things are effectively on hold,” said Jim Louth, owner of Undiscovered Destinations, a UK travel company. “If anyone inquires, our policy is to say people are being advised not to go.” Financial Times
#OromoProtests: “Strikes, ‘ghost town days’ and non-violent protests are more common now because they’re so much harder to police, even under the state of emergency.” Financial Times
Protests and state of emergency see bookings to historic sites grind to a halt
A wave of anti-government protests has caused a collapse in tourist bookings to Ethiopia
A wave of anti-government protests and the imposition of a state of emergency has triggered a collapse in tourism bookings in Ethiopia, underlining the effect the unrest is having on one of Africa’s best-performing economies.
As the demonstrations spread across the country, governments, including the US, UK, Australia, Canada and Ireland, have advised their citizens against all non-essential travel to the country or Amhara and Oromia regions at the centre of the instability.
Hailemariam Desalegn, Ethiopia’s prime minister, has said the death toll from the demonstrations, which began last November and have been exacerbated by the authoritarian regime’s brutal crackdown on protesters, could be as high as 500. Thousands of people have been arrested and the government imposed a state of emergency as it grapples with the biggest threat to the Horn of Africa nation’s stability in years. The protests originally began over land disputes, but the state’s harsh response caused them to spiral into broader protests against the government.
An American woman was killed after being caught up in a protest on the outskirts of Addis Ababa, the capital, this month.
Travel companies said bookings to the country — home to ancient Christian sites and spectacular highlands — have virtually ground to halt as the unrest and travel warnings keep visitors away.
“Things are effectively on hold,” said Jim Louth, owner of Undiscovered Destinations, a UK travel company. “If anyone inquires, our policy is to say people are being advised not to go.”
Tourism has become an important part of the economy, which has been growing at an annual average of about 10 per cent over the past decade as Ethiopia has attracted increasing levels of foreign investment.
The government estimates the sector contributes about 4.5 per cent of gross domestic product, or $2.9bn. The indirect contribution, through investment, is the same, while about 1.5m people are thought to earn their living from the industry.
More than 750,000 foreign tourists visited Ethiopia last year, with the US by far the largest country of origin, followed by China, Britain and Germany, according to government data.
The blow to tourism comes amid rising investor uncertainty as foreign companies, particularly flower farms and textile factories, have been targeted in a string of attacks that have caused tens of millions of dollars of damage.
The International Monetary Fund warned just before the state of emergency was imposed this month that attracting foreign investment will be crucial to sustaining the high growth rates.
Some travel companies said one problem is that while some of Ethiopia’s most popular sites — such as the city of Aksum — are not located in Amhara or Oromia, people have to travel through those regions to reach them.
“People on their first visit will want to go to the main sites and not be stressed,” said the UK-based Ultimate Travel Company. “More adventurous travellers might still go to places like the Omo valley that haven’t been affected, but most people will simply wait.”
The Ethiopian Tourism Organisation, a government body, insisted that “all tourist areas of the country are safe”.
“It is as safe now for tourists and business visitors to travel in Ethiopia as it has been for the last 22 years since the new constitution has been introduced,” it said in a statement.
Kiros Mahari, the general manager of the Ethiopian Tour Operators Association, said that “while there has been some unrest for a while, the situation has been restored back to normal”.
Emma Gordon, an analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, a risk consultancy, said such statements “come across as unbelievable”.
“The situation is quieter now than a few weeks ago, but the protests have not stopped,” she said. “Strikes, ‘ghost town days’ and non-violent protests are more common now because they’re so much harder to police, even under the state of emergency.”
Ms Gordon predicted that once the protesters had worked out how to cope with the state of emergency, which bans all protests, political communication on social media, and political gatherings, “there will be an upsurge in unrest”.
A story told all too often, especially in Africa. Tear gas, rubber bullets, police charges: the State’s answer to public protest. Nor has the latest wave of murders come suddenly or unexpectedly; it is simply the latest in a catalogue of incidents stretching back to last November, when the Ethiopian government first made public its plans to expand the capital, Addis Ababa, into the surrounding countryside, displacing a significant number of farmers. While those plans appear to have been shelved temporarily, the danger is far from over.
On Sunday in Bishoftu, in the Oromia region, just 40km south-east of the capital, the protests grew out of the traditional Irrecha religious festival, where an estimated two million people were gathered. Community elders seen as being allied to the government were prevented from speaking, and the police responded violently, causing a stampede which saw dozens of protestors fall to their deaths from cliffs.
While in many media outlets, the focus is on ethnic tensions between the Oromo people (the single largest ethnicity in the country) and the Tigrayan minority, this doesn’t give us the full picture. The reality in Ethiopia is one of extreme food insecurity, which has been made worse this year by failed rains, with between 50 and 90 per cent of crops lost in some regions. The government itself estimated that 4.5 million people were in need of emergency food assistance in August, while UNICEF puts the total figure of people in need of humanitarian assistance in the country at over 10 million.
The importance of agriculture to the Ethiopian economy cannot be underestimated: over 80% of the workforce are directly employed in it, and it account for a similar amount of the country’s exports. The desire to increase the latter at the expense of the former threatens to make matters much worse. The government would particularly like to increase sugar production, and has announced its desire to be one of the top-ten sugar producers in the world by 2023. Such plans could mean more mass displacement of indigenous peoples, further exacerbate interethnic tensions and cause further migration out of the country.
One of the drivers in this new direction for the Ethiopian government is Chinese investment, which totals more than $20 billion since 2005. The Chinese-built railway linking the capital to the port of Dijibouti has been built for freight, not passengers: it’s for taking Ethiopian exports out of the country. Making a profit from industrial agriculture will require a large-scale shift in the economy (read: land grabbing), as 95% of agriculture in the country is still run by small-scale family farms, though this figure is being slowly eroded over time as the government seeks to sell off land to foreign investors. As part of its so-called development program, the government has earmarked more than 11 million hectares of land for foreign investment, talking of it as “potential land” as if it were not being currently used by pastoralists.
The government’s official line is that foreign investment will lift the population out of poverty, but the truth is that many will be denied access to their ancestral lands, and forced to work for the new owners in order to stay there. The Ethiopian government has the backing of the UK, the European Union and the World Bank in this endeavor, which the BBC reports will create “100,000 jobs” on two new industrial parks. But at what cost?
At the men’s marathon in the Olympic games in Brazil, the silver medallist Feyisa Lilesa crossed his arms above his head both as he crossed the finish line and again at the medal ceremony, in protest at the government’s actions. “The Ethiopian government are killing the Oromo people and taking their land and resources so the Oromo people are protesting and I support the protest as I am Oromo. My relatives are in prison and if they talk about democratic rights they are killed. I raised my hands to support with the Oromo protest.” After the games, Lilesa did not return to Ethiopia, and is seeking political asylum in the United States.
Slow Food believes that the land belongs to the people who work it with love and care. We will continue our work to support small-scale farmers in Ethiopia through our Presidia in the country and 129 gardens helping people to grow their own food, and speak out in support of people who are fighting for their right to live and work the land in peace.
One of Ethiopia’s few independent magazines has suspended its print edition after the government imposed a restrictive state of emergency in the country.
The editor-in-chief of the Addis Standard, Tsedale Lemma, told AFP that printers and vendors were afraid to be involved in producing the monthly publication in case the government interpreted it as dissent. “We have tried to convince them that the state of emergency only targets ‘inciteful material’ but they fear this can be interpreted and abused,” said Lemma.
Around half of the Standard’s 23 full-time staff are expected to lose their jobs. While the print edition is suspended indefinitely, Lemma said that the digital edition would continue and that new podcasts were in the pipeline. The English-language magazine had been in print continuously since February 2011.
Ethiopian people read newspapers a day before the country’s general election, Addis Ababa, May 22, 2015. Most of Ethiopia’s press is state-controlled.TIKSA NEGERI/REUTERS
Ethiopia’s press is largely controlled by the government. The country is ranked 142 out of 180 nations in the 2016 World Press Freedom Index, compiled by international NGO Reporters Without Borders. Ethiopia arrested ten journalists in 2015, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn brought in the six-month state of emergency on October 9 following months of deadly clashes between security forces and anti-government protesters.
The clashes had intensified after at least 50 people died in a stampede during the Irreecha festival, an annual religious gathering held by members of the Oromo ethnic group. Protesters said that security forces provoked the stampede by firing tear gas and rubber bullets at the crowd.
Under the state of emergency, Ethiopians are barred from using social media to contact so-called “outside forces” and are not allowed to watch certain television channels that are based outside the country. The government is also cracking down on gestures of dissent, including crossed arms above the head, which has become associated with the Oromo protests and was demonstrated at the Rio 2016 Olympics by Ethiopian marathon runner Feyisa Lilesa.
Protests begun among the Oromo, Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, in November 2015 against government plans to expand the capital Addis Ababa. The government abandoned the plans in January, but demonstrations have continued and spread to the Amhara, the country’s second-largest ethnicity.
Human Rights Watch said in June that 400 people had been killed in the course of the demonstrations, and there have been several incidents since—including the Irreecha stampede and clashes in the Amhara region in August, in which almost 100 people reportedly died. The Ethiopian government has denied that the death toll is as high as rights groups say.
The self-defeating tactics adopted by the Ethiopian government to address genuine cries against lack of job opportunities, more political inclusion and more space to enjoy freedoms and rights in the Oromo and Amhara regions may scare away investors, according to theEmbassy of the US.
Nearly a year since the Oromia protests began, and despite efforts by the Ethiopian government to hide the ugly suppression on its own citizens from the rest of the world, it has culminated into a state of emergency for the next six months to restore order in restive Oromia and Amhara regions.
The decision to put one of Africa’s fastest growing nation on lock-down came after three incidents that are likely to redefine one of the continent’s silent massacres where economic and political marginalization has for months been met with brutal force and resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people.
In September, Dutch-owned florist, Esmeralda Farms BV shut down operations in the horn of Africa nation after protesters attacked its farm in Bahir Dar, causing at least $7.8 million of destruction. Last week, the protesters attacked a Dangote Cement plant in the Amhara region.
The government linked the two attacks to the Oromia protests that have rocked the country since November last year.
Prior to the attack on Dangote Cement plant, dozens of people died in a stampede in Bishoftu after helicopter gunship fired on nearly two million celebrants attending the Irreecha festival, an annual thanksgiving ceremony by the Oromo tribe.
The stampede is so far the darkest moment in the clashes. At least 250 people died in the melee, according to social activists quoted byTesfaNews.
Two weeks after the massacre, the government decreed a state of emergency, an uncomfortable admission that state machinery has failed to suppress protests by the two biggest tribes.
Foreign investors are already developing cold feet in a nation where cheap labor and electricity has wooed manufacturers to set up operations. Ethiopia is on course to become the continent’s manufacturing hub in coming years.
The authoritarian regime under Hailemariam Desalegn accused some foreign eyes of inciting the Oromo and Amhara people to the violence. It branded opposition politicians terrorists and dissidents.
This decision follows an all-too familiar tact by African governments that cannot tolerate objective opposition, choosing to label those involved as enemies of the state.
It accused neighboring Eritrea, Egypt and other countries of arming and training the groups that attacked the two plants in the months-long violence that is threatening to undo the nation’s economic gains, The Guardian reported.
Economic and political marginalization became the fire behind the protests that have seen investors leave the nation and others incur losses running into billions of dollars. The government can no longer hide it.
The declaration came days after Ethiopia opened Africa’s first electric railway linking it to Djibouti which will boost Ethiopia’s economy by reducing the transport of imports from the port of Djibouti from three days by road to about 12 hours.
It will handle nearly 90 percent of the nation’s imports currently transported by road, BBCreported.
The government however chose economic growth over the economic inclusion of its people, despite their persistent protests and now it is paying the price through the state of emergency.
After hundreds of deaths ignored by the international community and trampled upon by the government’s security forces, the next six-months are set to be key to the country.
It will be a testing period for the nation to maintain investor confidence on the back of the Oromia protests.
The self-defeating tactics adopted by the Ethiopian government to address genuine cries against lack of job opportunities, more political inclusion and more space to enjoy freedoms and rights in the Oromo and Amhara regions may scare away investors, according to theEmbassy of the US.
(Financial Times, 25 October 2016): A wave of anti-government protests and the imposition of a state of emergency has triggered a collapse in tourism bookings in Ethiopia.
“We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe.” In Ethiopia, the government’s actions have left many people with no other option but to fight.
Screen grab of a video of Irreechaa protest, published by Jawar Mohammed via France24.
Hundreds of Ethiopians have been killed by their government this year. Hundreds. You might not have known because casualty numbers have been played down; “evil forces” and accidents are blamed rather than the soldiers that fired the bullets; we are even deprived of the ability to fully grasp the situation because journalists are not allowed to report on it and the Internet is periodically shut down by the government. (In fact, last week Ethiopia finally admitted to the deaths of more than 500 anti-government protestors. Protesters insist that more people have died.) Whatever we make of the government’s prevarication, the Irreechaa Massacre that took place at the beginning of this month was a point of no return.
Irreechaa is a sacred holiday celebrated by the Oromo people, when several thousands gather annually at the banks of Lake Hora Arasadi in the town of Bishoftu to give thanks. At this year’s Irreechaa celebration, a peaceful protest broke out after government officials tried to control who was allowed to speak at the large gathering. What happened next is unpardonable.
Video footage shows government forces shooting tear gas and live ammunition into the crowd. Panic erupts. Women, children and men who had come to celebrate flee for safety but many are trampled on, drown and fall to their deaths. The government claims only 55 were killed in the incident. Non-governmental sources, however, put that figure at over 300. Mainstream media has conveniently portrayed the cause of the tragedy as a stampede yet simple logic refutes this. “When you fire on a crowd of 3 million close to a cliff and adjacent to a lake, causing mayhem, that is not a stampede. It is a massacre,” says Dr. Awol Allo, a law lecturer at Keele University in the United Kingdom.
Frustrations and grievances in Ethiopia have been growing for years. In 2014, protests began over the Master Plan to expand the capital Addis Ababa into Oromia Region. This was just the spark. Though the Master Plan has been abandoned for now, thousands of people across Oromia and more recently Amhara regions have continued to protest against the government. Their demands are fairly basic: human rights, an end to authoritarian rule, equal treatment of all ethnic groups, and restoration of ancestral lands that have been snatched and sold oftentimes under the guise of development.
The government’s brutal response has only added fuel to the fire. Irreechaa is the most recent example of this. Within days of the massacre a wave of anti-government protests erupted across the country, mostly in the Oromia Region. People are coming out in larger and larger numbers. Fear is dissipating and giving way to determination. Many activists believe it is too late for reconciliation — that “the opportunity for dialogue was closed with Ireechaa”.
No one is to blame for this but the government itself. The EPRDF government in Ethiopia has been tragically recalcitrant and short-sighted in dealing with the legitimate concerns of its citizens. Externally it has touted its success in maintaining stability and spurring double digit economic growth rates as a source of legitimacy, while internally it shoved itself into the seat of power by eradicating any form of real opposition. But anyone who has been to Ethiopia knows precisely well that the image of “Africa’s rising star” is only a façade, which tries to cover up deep rooted social and economic inequalities, abject poverty and human suffering, ethnic patronage and corruption, and a weak economy that is overly reliant on foreign investment. In short, the political, economic and social situation in Ethiopia today is not, by any stretch of the imagination, stable, despite what the EPRDF’s self-interested allies like the United States would like to believe.
Over the years, various groups that have tried many ways to peacefully seek change in Ethiopia. In 2005, opposition groups tried to compete in elections. When they almost won, they were arrested and exiled. In 2012 Muslims across the country peacefully demonstrated for more liberties and autonomy. As their movement gained momentum, many of their leaders were labeled as terrorists and sent to prison. In 2014, Oromos began to protest against the government’s ill-conceived Master Plan and are now paying the price. Throughout this period, countless activists, journalists and students have been arrested, numerous independent media outlets have been shut down, and the space for civil society groups has shrunk almost to the point of nonexistence.
The great Frantz Fanon explained that, “we revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no longer breathe.” In Ethiopia, the government’s actions have left many people with no other option but to fight. It is a country that has experienced much civil violence in the past, and is reluctant to return to it. However, the people’s patience is limited. Already, protestors are beginning to take more desperate measures. Some have torched foreign companies to send a message to the government and its foreign investors that their concerns and frustrations can no longer be brushed aside. From Eritrea, Dr. Berhanu Nega — who once ran as part of an opposition party in the 2005 elections — is preparing for a full-fledged guerilla war.
At this point the EPRDF only has two options: cut its losses, gradually cede power and make way for meaningful elections or dig its boots deeper into the ground, like a stubborn child, and hold out for as long as it can. The consequences of the second option will be more bloodshed and in the end a much greater fall for the regime. History has shown that when Ethiopians have had enough, they have overthrown even an imperial monarchy dating back centuries. The old Ethiopian proverb should be a warning: “When spider webs unite, they can tie up a lion.”
A recent joint report by the Open Observatory for Network Interference and the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Technology Law has concluded that there is sufficient evidence of recent internet shutdowns in Ethiopia, which pose restrictions on demonstrations and human rights generally. Consequently, Access Now has urged technology companies not to sell software used in supressing human rights.
“What’s happening in Ethiopia and how can we protect human rights?”
Ethiopia has issued a six-month state of emergency in the country following months of citizen protests. The state of emergency comes in an environment of increasing repression. Government forces have killed more than 500 people since November 2015and authorities have already shut down access to social media in the Oromia region four times this year…Internet shutdowns do not restore order. They hamper journalism, obscure the truth of what is happening on the ground, and stop people from getting the information they need to keep safe.
…In the U.N. statement last week, special rapporteurs Maina Kiai and Dr. Agnes Callamard said, “We are outraged at the alarming allegations of mass killings, thousands of injuries, tens of thousands of arrests and hundreds of enforced disappearances…We are also extremely concerned by numerous reports that those arrested had faced torture and ill-treatment in military detention centres.”…
[We urge] companies selling products or services in Ethiopia] to d]esist from selling or servicing technology that is used to infringe on human rights in the country. This includes technology used to surveil citizens or technology used to disrupt access to information online. Some of the companies with a record of bad practices in Ethiopia include Hacking Team and Gamma International.
Author: Moses Karanja (CIPIT), Maria Xynou & Arturo Filastò, in Open Observatory of Network Interference’s blog
“Ethiopia: Internet Shutdown Amidst Recent Protests?”
Nearly 100 deaths and thousands of arrests have been reported in Ethiopia over the last days, as part of protests against the marginalization and persecution of the Oromos and Amharas, Ethiopia’s two largest ethnic groups…Last weekend, the internet was reportedlyshut down in the country.
In an attempt to understand whether the internet was in fact shut down, we looked at some public sources of data that contain information about internet traffic. Such data provides strong indicators that the internet was most likely shut down during the Ethiopian protests last weekend, though it remains unclear if this occurred in all regions and/or on all types of networks across the country…
Internet shutdowns effectively pose restrictions on demonstrations and on human rights generally. In the recent case of Ethiopia, shutting down the internet in the middle of intense protests likely not only had an effect on the mobilization and coordination of protesters, but also on the communication between families and friends of victims. This also likely had an effect on journalists reporting on the protests in real-time on the ground, if they were using networks that were blocked.
CALAIS, France, Oct 24 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Deep in the Calais “Jungle” migrant camp in northern France, hundreds of Oromo Ethiopians set up their own school.
An Irish volunteer came to teach classes during the day, but at other times groups of Oromo men, and a few women, gathered to discuss the news from Ethiopia: this month’s announcement of a state of emergency, or the rising death toll in protests.
On the sides of makeshift wooden shelters they painted the crossed arms protest symbol of the Oromo struggle, publicised by Ethiopian marathon runner Feyisa Lilesa at the summer Olympics.
“Feyisa never give up,” was written on one wall, and “Stop killing Oromo students” was scrawled on another.
People from Oromiya, a region at the heart of Ethiopia’s industrialisation efforts, accuse the state of seizing their land and offering tiny compensation, before selling it on to companies, often foreign investors, at inflated prices.
“When we went to demonstrations they killed many people, they arrested many people, they put in jail many people. So we had to escape from the country,” said Solan, a 26-year-old from Addis Ababa.
An Oromo Ethiopian plays a video showing unrest and pictures of protesters who have been imprisoned or died during the unrest in Ethiopia, in Calais, France, November 20, 2016. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Sally Hayden
The former science student left Ethiopia in 2014 after his family was forcibly evicted from the land they had lived on for generations, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
Now Solan and hundreds of his fellow Oromo in the Jungle face eviction once again.
On Monday, French authorities began clearing the sprawling, ramshackle camp outside the port town of Calais, in preparation for the demolition of the shanty-town that has become a symbol of Europe’s struggle to respond to an influx of migrants fleeing war and poverty.
Hundreds of migrants carrying suitcases lined up outside a hangar to be resettled in reception centres across France.
But most migrants in the camp have made their way to Calais because they want to reach Britain, and make regular attempts to sneak aboard trucks or trains bound for the UK.
Groups like the Oromo say they have a particular reason for doing so. They are worried France won’t grant them asylum because it doesn’t recognise them as persecuted, based on the experience of others who have been rejected.
ASYLUM
The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said everyone in the Calais camp would be offered the chance to be transferred to a reception centre where they could apply for asylum.
“There will be no blanket decisions for certain nationalities,” spokeswoman Laura Padoan said.
French asylum chief Pascal Brice recently visited the Jungle and offered reassurances to the migrants and refugees, including the Oromo group, said Solan.
Brice was not available for comment when the Thomson Reuters Foundation contacted his office on Monday.
“If they accept us we want to stay here (in France),” said Solan, who did not want to give his full name. “We are not searching for a better country, we are here (in Calais) because England accepts Oromo people.”
An Oromo Ethiopian pictured with “Jungle News”, an information leaflet handed out to migrants, in Calais, France, November 20, 2016. Thomson Reuters Foundation/Sally Hayden
The latest unrest broke out last year in Oromiya, as people took to the streets accusing the state of seizing their land and handing it over to investors with minimal compensation.
Unrest spread to other areas, including parts of Amhara region north of the capital, over land rights and wider complaints over political freedoms.
Ethiopian authorities said on Thursday they had detained 1,645 people since declaring the state of emergency in a bid to quell mass protests and violence.
Rights groups report more than 500 have been killed in protests in Oromiya since last year, but the government denies using excessive force and says the death toll is exaggerated.
Solan has been moving back and forth between Calais and a makeshift migrant camp in Paris for the past year, he said. In that time many other Oromo have come and gone from Calais – some as young as 12 or as old as 65. Many lose hope of reaching Britain and instead go to the Netherlands or Germany, he said.
“I am asking for everybody to stay with us, to support us, to save our children, to save our home, to save our story, to save our land,” he said.
(Editing by Ros Russell; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, corruption and climate change. Visit http://www.trust.org)
Related:-#OromoRevolution Oromo refugees protest against the regime that forced them into this life as they are being evicted from Calais refugee camp in France
Down
Down
Weyane
An Irish proverb says, “Put a silk on a goat and it is still a goat.” As whatever pretext, name they attest to themselves, portrayes and propagates, history has repeatedly proved that tyrants are always tyrants independent of time and place.
They possess contradictory behaviors of an anomaly, live with fear because they do know their deeds in thier life. They consistency lies, and posses the culture of denials, hypocrsy, nepotism, fabrications used to erect false edifices that must maintain at all costs till they cought red handed, captured and brought to justice or killed. Power for the tyarnt is a license to corruption, killing, torturing, incarcerating, burning, looting and lust for wealth. Tyrants held power by armed supression, grisly combination of maschine-gun and mysticism on down-trodden populations.
They generally moves with four M’s (Motivations, Muscles or Maschine-guns, Murder and Mysticism) in their lifetime. Their primary motivation sets on lust to acquire wealth, chauvinism, cynicism, greediness, and selfishness. To achieve their goal they implementes a grisly combination of muscle; machine-gun in holding, maintaining and clinging into political power as the main means to achieve their goal and solutions for ever challenges they face.
A year after the current regime led by Meles, the architect and the brain of the TPLF–gangster clan took power planned, calculated and systematically implemented Stalin style of power-holding and maintaining. The regime began the process of elimination of the genuine political parties and their political leaders with whom they drafted the charter of transition after the collapse of the military junta in 1991.
The regime began in overt and in covert operations against them, began targeted killing, jailing in mass, hunting closed all offices, facilites, pludrerd their properties and forced to exile. The overt and covert elimination was ordered against formidable political forces, personals and institutions and systematically and cold-blooded killings followed all form atrocities committed against their sympathizers, business mean artists, e.t.c. people from all sphere of life, indiscriminately, who said no to the tyrant WAYANE hegemony.
The regime operated and still do operates under the masks of Federalism, Democracy, Terrorism, Development, e.t.c., as a client stuck with the political west, mentored, financed, blessed as “good guys” by the same people who tells us today that the regimes stakeholders belongs to one clan, the very minority and tell us the statistics.
During his Stalinist-style of power consolidation and maintenance, the regime conducted the act of genocide, in Oromia, Ogaden, Gambel, the lists go on, and evicted millions of the indigenous people from the ancestral soil, incarceration in one of the poorest barbaric, predatory empire in the horn of Africa ruled iron-fisted until his death in the year 2012.
Haile Mariam Desalgn a perfect assimilate from the south was brought to the position from nowhere to avoid the internal clashes between the deep-rooted TPLF rival groups after his master, Legesse “Meles” Zenawi has physically gone that turned his back against his own people and becomes a marionette and a talking drum of the TPLF commanded and ruled regime. fabricated, cloned, branded by Meles as a good product, loyal servant during his iron-fisted rule.That is why people official says and continues saying that “Meles is ruling from his graveyard” and that does not come out of the vacuum, rather based on the facts on the ground of the commanding power of WEYANE. Once they brought him to the post, H. Mariam sworn to proceeds with his master’s project, plans, and preaches in the name of his master.
The famous anti-slavery hero of the African-American Frederick Douglass reminds us that:
Those who profess to favor freedom; and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground. They want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its waters. This struggle may be a moral one ; or a physical one ; or it may be both moral and physical; but it must be a struggle. Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did, and it never will. Find out just what people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them;and this will continue till they are resisted with other words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress. He further said: Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and any one class is made to fill that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.
Today while we thank our Heroes and Heroines of our people who sacrificed their life to preserve our culture and tradition that went through planned, calculated and implemented wars and waged to wipe out Oromummaa:, the Gada-Seeqqee System:the unique primordial pure African culture and holidays like Irrecha, the apex of Oromo cultural celebration among many others.
Oromummaa went through extremely genocide and ethnocide for centuries by aliens of the north, the Habeshas /Abyssinia to the very date. Never theless, whatever vilification was done and still do, It survived. Now more than every, our culture is found in renaissance (the revival of of anything which has longbeen in decay or extent), in the position of flowering, in each and every angle of Oromia and no one on the planet reverses it and furthermore gained global reckon. Let the pictures of Hora Sadii speak for itself.
Irreesa as the apex of the holidays of thanksgiving to Waaqa to all Oromo people, the Omnipotent, the creator of the universe according to Oromo philosophy, and Worldview. Irreessa has been celebrated two times annually, in Birraa (Spring) and Arfaasaa /Afraasa (Autumn) seasons before it suffered extreme ethnocide since the Occupation of Oromia. Irreessa a signature of the identity of the Oromo people (Orommumaa/ Oromonesss) part and parcel of the complex unique egalitarian system of Gada-Seeqee System of Oromos in the horn of Africa.
The Oromos celebrate their symbolical rituals of their Irrecha in the open air around their Waaqas (God) given beautiful natural lakes (Hora), Malkaa (Streams), Mountains, Hills, e.t.c. Water is primordial, a source and maintains of Life in Oromo philosophy and mythology. They prepare from one to the next Irrecha holiday celebration and show up with their beautiful cultural dressings and symbolical tools and express their personal and collective experiences of the past and their hopes for the future after the Rainy season (Gana) has passed.
Nothing is new, but there are new Ears!
The Declaration of a state of emergency by TPLF tyrant regime: Today, while we thank the heroes and heroines who sacrificed their life for freedom and liberation with empty hand crossed and to the technological advances of human endeavor, Internets, face books, youtubes, twitters, google etc, an era of flowering Oromo medias and global medias like Aljazira, the gruesome acts of the regime, at list can’t leave hidden to the world. It will not stay long as untold history buried in the empire whatever major the tyrants deploys.
The planned, calculated and systematically implemented massacre (ethnocide) committed by the regime on holy Ireessa celebration of 2016 Sunday, October the 2nd in Bishooftu at Hora Arsadii on Pilgrims was brought to the world at the spot to be watched and judged.
The world had witnessed fighter jets flying lower and lower to the Masses, again and again, spraying tear- and- burning gasses, dropping stones packed with paper right from the top tanks rolling and shooting on the ground, armed disguised surrogate killers intermingled within the crowd and shooting the person next to them
The atrocities committed by trained sniper-shooters with modern automatic rifles hidden in the bushes around Hora Arsadii hills began precise shot in the head and heart. As the military jet began spraying the gas and shooting began from all sides the masses of the pilgrims were turned into panic, Hora Sadii was turned to a death toll of the beautiful colored Oromo pilgrims.
The massacre what the world has destined to witness in Horsade, Bishooftu at an umbilical cord of Oromia on the day of IRREECHA PLIGRAMAGE on October 2, 2016 is nothing more than spilling more Benzine to the Ring of Fire and Flame of the Liberation Struggle people blowing toward the the heart of OROMIA, and to others with similar historical fates and victims of genocide and ethnocide to dismantle one of the most gruesome tyrant’s, TPLF-Fascist regimes that controlled the empire at gunpoint for the last solid 25 years and conducted genocide and annihilation policy.
The year 2016 was expected to be the final phase of Irreessa or Irrecha Oromo culture and Religion celebration in Bishooftu, Hora Arsadii to be registered as the UNESCO World Heritage in Human History. For this unique holiday, a conservative estimation of about two million people who succeed to arrive at Hora Sadii/Sadee, Bishoftu to their destiny for celebration by hook or crook, breaking down all hurdles and manipulations the regime has worked on it in every angle to block them once the Abba Gada had announced the Date of celebration of Irrecha festival of year 2016 on Sunday, October the 2nd.
Right know we are witnessing that the tyrant TPLF gangsters are acting like a dog infected by theRabies virus and do not know what come out of their stinging mouth and calcified Brain. They do sense that they are sitting on the epicenter of the HOT VOLCANO at the umbilical cord of OROMIA in Finfinne surrounded by the RING OF FIRE and FLAME blowing toward them in every direction with tempo and to melts them as a piece of butter droped in to flame the very soon.
Attribute to those Pilgrims who lost their life by TPLF-Bloodthirsty Ogres in Hora Sadii, Bishooftu;Oromia. one of my favor Poet, let her Soul RIP, Maya Angelou:
Recovery
A Last love, proper in conclusion, should snip the wings forbidding further flight. But I, now, reft of that confusion, am lifted up and speeding toward the light.
Hundreds of members of Ethiopia’s ethnic communities have marched in Perth to raise awareness of a government crackdown leading to the detention of thousands of people.
Authorities in Ethiopia have detained more than 2,000 people in recent weeks, amid large anti-government protests.
President of the Oromo Community in Perth Nuru Said has called on the Australian Government to put pressure on its Ethiopian counterpart.
“What we say is the Australian Government [should] not support this terrorist government who is killing [its] citizens and also to put pressure to abide human rights in Ethiopia,” he said.
“Australia is one of the leading democratic countries with respect for human rights.
“And this Government is violating the basic human rights and the constitutional rights of the people.
“So I think the Australian Government can play a major role on this.”
State of emergency
Human rights groups say hundreds of people have died over the past year as a result of clashes with authorities.
A state of emergency was declared a week after more than 50 people died on October 2, when an Oromo religious festival in the town of Bishoftu turned into a protest and a stampede ensued.
Ethiopia’s Prime Minister said the state of emergency was declared due to the “enormous” damage to property.
An Ethiopian Government statement last week said more than 1,600 people had been detained in the Oromia and Amhara regions, on top of 1,000 arrests near the capital.
#OromoProtests peaceful global solidarity rally was held on Friday, October 21, 2016 in Washington, DC., USA. The rally was jointly organized by Oromo Communities Association-North America (OCA-NA) and Oromo Community Association of Washington, DC (OCO). A large number of Oromos who came from different states of the US were gathered in front of the White House to express their opposition and anger against the Irreecha Massacre of Bishoftu, Oromia in which TPLF/Agazi military force have committed genocide on peaceful Oromo people who have been attending the nation’s only annual Thanks Giving festival on October 02, 2016.
The rally also protesting against fascist TPLF Ethiopia’s regime emergency and the going on mass arrests and killings.
The protesters were chanting slogans that denounce the Irreechaa Massacre and the on going killing, mass incarceration and all rounded crimes against the Oromo people in all corners of Oromia by the dictatorial and minority regime led by TPLF in Ethiopia.
The rally covered a march to World Bank head office here in Washington, DC up on which president of the Oromo Communities Association-North America, Dr. Gulumma Gammada presented a letter detailing the grave human right abuses, killings, torture, forceful evictions, displacements including the recent Irrecha Massacre that the TPLF led minority regime has been committing against the Oromo and other peoples in Ethiopia with the fund it get from the World Bank and other international financial institutions under the disguise of development.
The World Bank representative after receiving the appeal letter from Dr. Gulummaa, expressed that his organization is closely following the situation in Ethiopia & Oromia and also handed to Dr. Gulumma a press release issued by World Bank (WB) on October 18, 2016 regarding the situation in Ethiopia and the Banks activities in the country.
After a brief stay in front of the World Bank the Oromo protesters who were outraged by the brutality of the TPLF Agazi marched towards the US State Department chanting slogans that request the US government to stop financing and supporting the brutal TPLF led regime in Ethiopia that is on the verge of collapse and civil war that can lead to genocide at large.
In front of the State Department, the Oromo protesters were loudly asking the US government and State Department to support the Oromo just struggle and demanded US to stop financing the undemocratic & killer regime in Ethiopia that is committing all kinds of crimes against humanity by keeping the people in dark away from international media.
The Organizers of the rally submitted another appeal letter to the Ethiopian Desk Officer in State Department. The Officer then promised to examine the concerns and demands of the Oromo protesters.
By Charlotte Allan, , Lawyer, Blogger, Hyper-Activist, Huntington Post, 20 October 2016
(Huntington Post) — The athlete looked up at the sky when he crossed the finish line, and made an X shape above his head with his wrists. The stadium cheered, a new moment in history was made. Later when he took to the podium with ‘Ethiopia’ written across his top to collect a medal for the marathon he had run, he made the gesture again.
Two months after the 2016 Olympics, this protest salute made by runner Feyisa Lilesa before a TV audience of millions, is still the most audacious red flag on what was a largely ignored iceberg. The iceberg being the Ethiopian state’s deadly crackdown on its Oromo people. His protest was in support of the struggles of an estimated forty million Oromo in Ethiopia’s Oromia region against an authoritarian rule historically committed to keeping them in their place. In a month that has seen Ethiopia call a State of Emergency in an attempt to stop the massive Oromo protests from spreading, Lilesa’s daring stand and thewill he-or-won’t he question of whether he will return to Ethiopia continues to force the subject onto the global news agenda and encourages people to ask: who are the Oromo and why are they protesting?
The answers lie in the history of the Oromo. The Oromia region was once made up of autonomous sultanates with distinct cultural traditions. Its people lived on the land for over five hundred years before the Abyssinian Empire moved in and established its new capital of Addis Ababa in the centre of Oromia at the end of the 1800s. What followed was a mass eviction of the Oromo, and then a state waged campaign against them, continued to this day by the modern Ethiopian government, which has previously sought to extinguish Oromo traditions, ban the language of Oromiffa in schools, and prevent Oromo civil and political status.
For the last year, the Oromo have been protesting the Ethiopian government’s plans to extend the capital into Oromia further still, however in recent months the protests have turned into a broader call for a multi-ethnic government, justice and the application of the rule of law. The Amhara ethnic group, their number estimated at 20 million, have now begun their own protests in the Amhara region and voiced their concern at a repressive government made up of one ethnic group. However since the protests began, at least 500 deaths have been confirmed, reports of torture and forced disappearances are widespread and an additional one thousand people have been detained so far in October alone.
Media attention on the protests therefore couldn’t come at a more important time. Since Lilesa’s salute and following a horrific stampede at an Oromo thanksgiving festival at the start of October, killing between 52 and 300 people (concrete figures are difficult to come by in Ethiopia) after police used teargas, rubber bullets and batons on protesters, the Ethiopian government has ordered a six month state of emergency. It has also continued to blame the violence and deaths at protests on banded opposition groups and gangs funded by Ethiopia and Eritrea, the former of which has already denied the claim and the latter of which has maintained a frosty silence. Human Rights groups however implicate the security forces in the deaths.
As a result of the state of emergency, Ethiopia is on lock down. Foreign diplomats have been banned from travelling more than 40kms outside the capital, protests in schools, universities and other higher education institutions are forbidden, there are country-wide curfews, security services are barred from resigning, satellite TV, pro-opposition news and foreign news are banned and posting links on social media a criminal activity. In short, there is a total news black-out of anything that is not state sponsored.
On the African continent, condemnation of Ethiopia’s actions by African governments has been very quiet. However, the protests have been well covered by African media and civil society organizations particularly in Uganda, Kenya and South Africa, while protests supporting the Oromo have taken place in South Africa and Egypt.
Although it is disappointing that African governments have not spoken out, it is important that the Ethiopian diaspora, along with African and global civil society continue to call loudly for an independent investigation into the deaths and violence occurring and that wealthy Western governments continue to evaluate their support for the increasingly authoritarian Ethiopian state.
Indeed an independent investigation is key and not without precedent. The Burundian government vowed to cooperate with an African Union investigation into state abuses only this week. However, the Ethiopian government should also be pressed to pass inclusive multi-ethnic state reforms as quickly as possible before this crisis escalates. The Oromo and Amhara are 65% of the Ethiopian population so it is suggested the Ethiopian government tread more thoughtfully and less violently because as precedents on the continent show, mismanagement can lead to devastating losses in any numbers game.
Charlotte Allan is a lawyer and human rights activist from the UK. She has lived in Egypt, Switzerland, France and Tanzania, and is currently based in Johannesburg, South Africa as the Policy & Advocacy Officer for CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation. She has previously worked as a Protection Advisor for UNHCR and as a Legal Advisor for African Middle Eastern Refugee Assistance (AMERA). Her specialisms are refugee law, women’s rights and global protest movements while her other passion is using pop culture to engage youth in politics and activism. You may tweet with Charlotte at twitter
In Ethiopian Empires’ political history, the year 1977-78 is remembered as the year when Mangistu Haile Mariam’s political power was absolutely threatened and his rule was shaken. The opponents to his power became so strong and lethal such that Mangistu was forced to declare “Red Terror” on its real or imagined enemies to its reign in Ethiopia between 1977-78. By this declaration of “Red Terror”(Mangistu’s state of emergency), Mangistu asserted that all “progressives” were given freedom of action in helping to root out enemies of his rule. Peasants, workers, public officials and even students loyal to the Mangistu regime were provided with arms to: assassinate, kill, imprison and loot as they wished. Militia attached to the Kebeles, the neighborhood watch committees were given freedom to train their gun on anyone with whom they have even personal but no ideological disagreement. All people allied to Mangistu went into killing spree and even children were not spared. During these years of “Red Terror”, Amnesty International estimated that up to 500, 000 to 2,000,000 people were butchered and thousands were left on the street for their body to decompose. In May 1977, the Swedish general secretary of Save the Children Fund estimated too that “1000 children have been killed and their bodies are left in the streets and being eaten by wild hyenas.” Parents of the deceased were asked to collect the bodies of their loved ones by paying money for the bullet wasted killing their children.
All this crimes against humanity and genocide were planned and executed under the watch of the United Nation, United State of America, Europe and African Union. However, all this horrendous decision and action by Mangistu Haile Mariam did not safe his regime from collapse but lead to the collapse of his terrorist regime and his demise from the political scene by running for his life to Zimbabwe were he was sentenced to death in absentia in the year2008.
Having got freedom to: kill, loot, rape, arrest, imprison, and torture Oromians from the Prime Minister of Ethiopian colonial and brutal rule in Oromia, Ethiopian: military, security and administrative organs have intensified their “Red Terror” on innocent Oromians since October 11, 2016. In Oromia, bodies of innocent Oromian killed on the :street, in the forest, in the mountain, urban, towns and country sides are decomposing and being eaten by wild hyenas and rogue dogs. On the top of big trees in Oromian forests today, you can see vultures who fed on the bodies of young Oromians butchered by wayyaanee under those trees. You can see young and innocent Oromian students riddled by Ethiopian soldiers bullet who got full lee way to do whatever they want on Oromians from: Haile Mariam Dessalegn, Abbay-Tsehaye, Saamoraa and Abbaa Duulaa Gamada. The entire Oromia is in prison today.All this crimes against humanity and genocide against Oromians have continued to be committed, still under the watch of : United Nations, European Union, the USA, African Union in Oromia and all foreign Ambassadors. As we witnessed the Ruwandan genocide of the 1994 under the watch of the United Nation then lead by Kofi Anan, we are witnessing genocide being committed on Oromians under the watch of the United Nation lead by Bank Moon. As Menelik, killed 5,000,000 Oromians and reduced Oromian population by half, the reign of “Red Terror” declared on Oromians today by Haile Mariam Dessalegn and his god fathers will definitely going to be existential threat to Oromia and Oromians. This “Red Terror”by Haile Mariam and his god fathers is involving poisoning: rivers, food, drugs, alcohol and beverages. Viruses (HIV/AIDS)and bacteria, as well as using poisonous gases (chemical weapon) are being used. Than more than any time in its history of slavery under Ethiopia, Oromians are under threat of extinction today.As the Oromians struggle for the right to self-determination for Oromia started to tie a rope around the neck of Ethiopia’s colonial and brutal rule in Oromia, on October 11, 2016, the government of Ethiopian Empire lead by Wayyaanee declared its so called state of emergency, Derg’s equivalent of “Red Terror.” According to this declaration of ‘Red Terror” on Oromians, Ethiopian colonial government in Oromia suspended all rights that have never been there after all. It declared that all human right laws provided for in its colonial constitution (that have never been there after all) have been suspended for six months. According to this declaration of “Red Terror” by the terrorist Ethiopian empire government in Oromia, all military, security and administrative agents loyal to the regime have the right to: kill, arrest, rape, imprison, confiscate properties of Oromians who Wayyaanee considers real or imagined enemy. No warrant of arrest or search are required from the court to : arrest, imprison, kill, torture Oromians and confiscate the properties they got by their sweat labeling them they belong to the Oromo LiberatinFront,the vanguard, the restorer and the savior of Oromian independence and the dignity of its citizen.
The national duties under such a circumstance is to rise up in unity to defend ourselves from Ethiopia and its puppets that is bent on securing its life only by exterminating us from the face of Oromia. If we think, we are going to be immune from this reign of horror by Ethiopian colonial rule lead by Haile Mariam, the 500,000 up to 2000000 people killed by Mangistu Haile Mariam is going to be like a Christmas gift. Before it is to late, the national call for all of us Oromians from all walks of life is to rise up and save ourselves from extinction. Today, we are witnessing “the harma muraa and harka muraa Annoolee”repeating itself by the order from Haile Mariam Dessalegn. Today, we are witnessing “the Calii Callanqoo and Watar Massacre” repeating itself. Today, we are witnessing the repeat of “Boruu Meda” massacre by Yonnis of Tigray. If we do not stand up for our survival today, the killing spree of 5,000,000 Oromians by Menelik is going to look like a Christmas movie.
Today, Oromia is in crisis of unparalleled magnitude ever seen since its birth. We are under the threat of the enemy that is determined to destroy us the same way aborgines were exterminated in the USA, Australia and Europe. If we are expecting any foreign power to save us, we are going to be like a sheep that is waiting to be slaughtered on the Christmas or Arafa .
The vehicle is already on the road and moving forward toward securing our survival and freedom from all threats in its all forms from Ethiopia and its colonial governor Haile Mariam Dessalegn. That vehicle is the Oromo Liberation Front, committed from its establishment to guarantee the survival and freedoms of Oromians by defeating Ethipian colonal rule in Oromia and declaring an Independent and Democratic Republic of Oromia, the surest way to save Oromians from extinction. The Oromoo Liberation Front is our insurance and guarantee for safety and security tomorrow and for posterity. The Oromoo Liberation Front lead by Chairman Daawwud Ibsaa isour: Spear, shield and sword. Our todays situation does not need any bickering but to be at the war front defending our people from extermination. At the war front, in the trenches of Oromia, defending our people and securing our future, we find our gallant sons and daughters of Oromoo Liberation Front, the Oromoo Liberation Army and its Youth wing Qeerroo Bilisummaa. From each one of us, big or small, old or young, female or male, rich or poor, educated or uneducated, from urban or countryside, from students or teachers, from employed or unemployed, the situation in which we find ourselves need unwavering and practical support for The Oromoo Liberation Front and its armed wing, the Oromoo Liberation Army and its youth wing, Qeerroo Bilisummaa.
Haile-mariam Desalegn
By all means at our disposal, lets sharpen its capability and strength over the enemy whose dream is only to eradicate us from our God given and blessed country, The Republic of Oromia. Let’s rise up and stop this enemy from achieving its dream of finishing Oromians and bring them to the court of free Oromia. We have to redouble our effort more than ever before. We have to mobilize all our savings and wealth for our survival through The Oromo Liberation Front.We have to witness the day Haile Mariam Dessalegn and his god fathers face justice in our life time. Lets give Ethiopian colonial rule in Oromia the last blow. Lets show to our enemy the miracle of the power of Oromians. Lets defeat this enemy and freely exercise our right to self determination for Oromia through free and internationaly observed referendum.Lets realize :free, united, peaceful, prosperous and happy life the pioneers of the struggle for Oromian independence envisaged for Oromians.
The U.S. Department of State warns U.S. citizens to defer all non-essential travel to Ethiopia due to ongoing unrest that has led to hundreds of deaths, thousands of arrests, as well as injuries and extensive property damage, especially in Amhara and Oromia States. The U.S. Embassy’s ability to provide consular services in many parts of the country is limited by the current security situation.
The Government of Ethiopia declared a State of Emergency effective October 8, 2016. An October 15 decree states that individuals may be arrested without a court order for activities they may otherwise consider routine, such as communication, consumption of media, attending gatherings, engaging with certain foreign governments or organizations, and violating curfews. The decree prohibits U.S. and other foreign diplomats from traveling farther than 40 kilometers outside of Addis Ababa without prior approval from the Government of Ethiopia, which severely affects the U.S. Embassy’s ability to assist U.S. citizens. The full text of the decree implementing the State of Emergency is available on the U.S. Embassy’s website.
Internet, cellular data, and phone services have been periodically restricted or shut down throughout the country, impeding the U.S. Embassy’s ability to communicate with U.S. citizens in Ethiopia. You should have alternate communication plans in place, and let your family and friends know this may be an issue while you are in Ethiopia. See the information below on how to register with the U.S. Embassy to receive security messages.
Avoid demonstrations and large gatherings, continuously assess your surroundings, and evaluate your personal level of safety. Remember that the government may use force and live fire in response to demonstrations, and that even gatherings intended to be peaceful can be met with a violent response or turn violent without warning. U.S. citizens in Ethiopia should monitor their security situation and have contingency plans in place in case you need to depart suddenly.
U.S. government personnel are restricted from personal travel to many regions in Ethiopia, including Oromia, Amhara, Somali and Gambella states, southern Ethiopia near the Ethiopian/Kenyan border, and the area near the Ethiopia/Eritrea border. Work-related travel is being approved on a case-by-case basis. U.S. government personnel may travel to and within Addis Ababa without restrictions. For additional information related to the regional al-Shabaab threat, banditry, and other security concerns, see the Safety and Security section of the Country Specific Information for Ethiopia.
Due to the unpredictability of communication in the country, the Department of State strongly advises U.S. citizens to register your mobile number with the U.S. Embassy to receive security information via text or SMS, in addition to enrolling in the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program (STEP).
Contact the U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia, located on Entoto Street in Addis Ababa, at +251-11-130-6000from 7:30 a.m.- 5:00 p.m. Monday-Thursday. After-hours emergency number for U.S. citizens is+251-11-130-6911 or 011-130-6000.
Call 1-888-407-4747 toll-free in the United States and Canada or 1-202-501-4444 from other countries from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday (except U.S. federal holidays).
WASHINGTON, Oct 21 (Reuters) – The U.S. State Department urged U.S. citizens on Friday to defer all non-essential travel to Ethiopia because of ongoing unrest that has killed hundreds of people, led to thousands of arrests and prompted restrictions on diplomatic travel.
The Ethiopian government declared a state of emergency on Oct. 8 and issued a decree on Oct. 15 that permitted the arrest of individuals without court order for some routine activities like attending gatherings and engaging with foreign organizations, the State Department said.
An American woman was killed when her car was stoned earlier this month and foreign-owned factories and equipment were damaged during a wave of protests over land and political rights.
(Reporting by David Alexander; Editing by Eric Beech)
The government of Ethiopia has responded to a groundswell of protests, which are calling for democracy and human rights for all, by imposing a six-month long state of emergency, effective October 8.
The list of measures curtailing freedoms through the emergency are far-reaching. They include bans on: social media; accessing news outlets such as the US-based ESAT and Oromo Media Network; participating in or organizing protests without government authorization; making gestures, including the infamous crossing of arms above your head; and visiting government, agriculture or industry facilities between 6pm and 6am. With Addis Ababa as the seat of several international organizations including the African Union, foreign diplomats are now only allowed to travel within a 25 miles radius of the capital. Security forces have been given greater powers, including the ability to search people and homes without a court order and the authority to use force, while due process is suspended. Finally, opposition groups are barred from issuing statements to the press, and Ethiopians are not allowed to discuss issues that could “incite violence” with foreigners. This includes speaking to the media or providing information to international civil society groups such as the Oakland Institute.
A poster of Olympic silver medallist Feyisa Lilesa at a protest in Oakland, California. Making the crossed arm gesture is now a criminal offense under Ethiopia’s state of emergency. Credit: Elizabeth Fraser.
These measures are appalling, especially given that a major cause of the protests was the prevailing lack of basic human rights, democracy, and freedoms of speech and assembly in the first place. Ethiopia has been under a de-facto state of emergency for a long time. These new draconian rules don’t address the situation in the country. Instead, they legalize and expand the authoritarian and repressive rule that the Ethiopian regime has maintained for years.
The international community must take swift action to denounce the state of emergency and the continuous repression of basic human rights in the country. If they do not, history will remember donor countries – including the US – as complicit, while hundreds have already been killed and thousands lie in jail for speaking out for democracy, human rights, and true development for all.
Ethiopia’s State of Emergency: Cracking Down on Basic Freedoms
The state of emergency in Ethiopia puts significant restrictions on basic freedoms of assembly and expression. But this is not new.
Numerous bloggers and journalists continue to suffer in Ethiopia’s prisons because of their vocal opposition to the government. On October 1, 2016, prominent blogger Seyoum Teshome was arrested after being quoted in a New York Times article about anti-government protests and announcing his plans to start a new blog. Seyoum is yet another addition to a long list in a country that is the third worst jailer of journalists in Africa.
Opposition parties have also experienced serious crackdowns on their ability to express themselves. Bekele Gerba, deputy chairman of one of the largest opposition parties, was arrested in August 2011 after meeting with Amnesty International. He was released prior to President Barak Obama’s visit to Ethiopia in July 2015, and re-arrested in December of the same year when protests started in Oromo. He continues to languish in jail.
Similarly, bans on social media and internet black outs are common, with numerousreports of internet shut downs this year.
This further crack down on social media and freedom of expression is an effort to shut out the international community, making it easier for the Ethiopian government to supress dissent. Repressing freedoms of expression and assembly have already created a highly volatile situation – these new measures will only worsen things.
Ruling with an Iron Fist
In early October 2016, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister admitted that 500 protesters had been killed by security forces in previous months, stating that the number of casualties was unimportant and threatening to deal with protesting groups forcefully. This declaration came a week after the Irreechaa tragedy, where between fifty-five and several hundred protesters were killed after security forces used tear gas, rubber bullets, and live ammunition on crowds at the country’s largest religious and cultural festival, triggering a stampede. It came a month after a fire in the Kilinto prison, which holds numerous political prisoners and anti-government protesters, left dozens of prisoners dead. And it came two months after the Prime Minister threatened that his government would use “its full forces to bring the rule of law” to protesting regions.
With the state of emergency, the government legalizes and legitimizes a long tradition of ruling by force. It has already had a significant impact. Between October 17 and 20, over 2,600 people were arrested under the new laws. This number will undoubtedly increase in the days, weeks, and months to come.
Due Process: A Farce in Ethiopia
Due process has long been a farce in Ethiopia. The country’s draconian Anti-Terrorism Proclamation (ATP), adopted in 2009, has been used to arbitrarily detain and arrest students, bloggers, land rights defenders, indigenous leaders, opposition politicians, religious leaders, and more for exercising basic freedoms. The law violates international human rights law, as well as modern criminal justice and due process standards.
Amongst the thousands who have been unlawfully detained under the ATP are Pastor Omot Agwa and Okello Akway Ochalla.
Pastor Omot, a former interpreter for the World Bank Inspection Panel, was arrested in March 2015 while attempting to travel to a food security conference, organized by Bread for All, in Nairobi. He was charged as a terrorist under the claim that the meeting he was attending was a terrorist meeting. He has been in jail since then, and is still waiting for a trial.
Okello Akway Ochalla was illegally kidnapped in South Sudan and renditioned to Ethiopia. His charge is based on his vocal opposition to the Ethiopian government, and its role in a massacre of indigenous Anuak people in December 2003. After two years of detention, during which Mr. Okello was forced to sign a false confession under duress, his sentence was lessened from terrorist to criminal charges. He was still given nine years in prison.
The suspension of due process under the state of emergency increases the likelihood of arbitrary detainments and unfair trials, two issues already endemic to Ethiopia and must be addressed immediately.
The Failure of the International Community
The mainstream media is finally waking up to the brutality of the Ethiopian regime. The Financial Times called this Ethiopia’s “Tiananmen Square moment.” Foreign governments are also taking notice, however, their statements remain very mild and fail to firmly condemn the violence and repression.
The US State Department declared that it was “troubled by the potential impact” of the state of emergency, reiterated its “longstanding call for the Government of Ethiopia to respect its citizens’ constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms,” and called for “peaceful dialogue” in the country. Statements by the United Nations, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs, andEuropean Union make similar calls for “inclusive dialogue” that are stunningly disconnected from the reality on the ground.
This toothless rhetoric fails to acknowledge the years of oppression and abuse that Ethiopians have faced under the current regime and that generated these protests. More importantly, it must be asked who can take part to the dialogue when so many political opponents and community leaders are in jail or in exile?
For years, the US, UK, and others have heralded Ethiopia as a blueprint for development, and provided massive financial support to their champion. But the model has failed. As our recent report shows, economic growth in Ethiopia has not lifted up the masses – it has happened alongside widespread hunger and poverty, forced displacements, and massive human rights abuses. This has led to the current tipping point, and tensions in the country are finally, understandably boiling over. The international community must recognize the failure of this model – and their role in it – and step in before more blood is shed.
Ten countries whose stability can’t be taken for granted (The Maldives, Mauritania, Algeria, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Turkey, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, China)
Ten countries whose stability can’t be taken for granted
Political science is heavy on the political and light on science.
As George W. Bush and Al Gore debated prior to the 2000 elections, neither Iraq nor Afghanistan merited serious mention. Eight years later, neither Barack Obama nor John McCain foresaw chaos in Syria and Libya. Political science is heavy on the political and light on science. Area studies specialists failed to predict the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the fall of the Soviet Union, or the Arab Spring. Policymakers are much more comfortable second-guessing what they saw in the rearview mirror than gazing over the horizon. Simply put, the world is unpredictable and the chief concerns for the next administration might be barely a blip on the radar today.
ProtestsEthiopia, October 2, 2016. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri.
Putting aside existing conflicts in Libya, Syria, Yemen, the South China Sea, and Ukraine, what crises could blindside the White House in the next four years? Here are ten countries and potential crises that should certainly be on the next administration’s radar screen: The Maldives might be isolated and far from US shores but isn’t that what analysts once said of Afghanistan?
The Maldives. Let’s start small. Few Americans know the Maldives, but those who do likely think of the low-lying Indian Ocean archipelago as the archetypaltropical island paradise. Outside of the gated resorts, however, Islamist radicalism has been taking root. The Maldivian government has sought US assistance, but the 3 a.m. phone call has now been ringing unanswered for several years. Might the Islamic State seize Western tourists on the island? What would a radical government willing to accept arms and foreign jihadis mean for trans-Indian Ocean shipping? The Maldives might be isolated and far from US shores but isn’t that what analysts once said of Afghanistan?
Mauritania. Africa has largely been a success story over the past 20 years, but several countries put that progress at risk. Take Mauritania, for example. European terror analysts regularly list Mauritania as perhaps their top, under-the-radar concern. The impoverished country on the Atlantic coast of Africa has the population of Phoenix, Arizona, spread over an area twice the size of California. An Islamic Republic, it is one of the last countries to embrace slavery in practice if not in law. Its largely ungoverned interior has become the domain of smugglers and a safe-haven for terrorists. Loose weaponry from Libya has only poured fuel on the fire. In many ways, Mauritania has become pre-9/11 Afghanistan, just without the diplomatic attention.
Algeria. Africa’s largest country, Algeria should also be one of its wealthiest. But decades of military rule, statist economic policies, and a devastating civil war in the 1990s have taken their toll. Now, southern Algeria is a haven for Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria’s long-time strongman, will likely not last out the next four years. There is no clear succession and, even if a president does consolidate political control, he will have to face down Islamic radicals who might seek to avenge their long suppression. One Libya has been destabilizing enough. Another so close to Europe could herald disaster.
Ethiopia. Two and a half times the size of California, Ethiopia is one of the world’s oldest countries but, despite an increasingly autocratic and repressive leadership projecting an aura of stability, it looks like it could be among the world’s most fragile states. While the economy has grown rapidly, poverty remains the rule as the population also booms. The agricultural basis of the economy makes Ethiopia susceptible to drought. State-dominated industries mean it competes poorly with the outside world. The country is incredibly diverse. In 1991, Eritrea successfully seceded after a decades-long civil war. While Eritrea had its own colonial heritage, many other ethnic groups are as resentful of Addis Ababa’s control and, specifically, ethnic Tigrean domination. Of greater concern, however, is Ethiopia’s sectarian division. Muslims already represent a third of the population and are growing at a faster rate than the Ethiopian Christian population. Should ethnic and sectarian divisions erupt into open conflict, the resulting insecurity could make Somalia look like Club Med.
Nigeria. Concerns about stability in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, hit international headlines in 2014 when Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of school girls in order to convert them forcibly to Islam and marry them off to militants. But that’s only one of many problems Nigeria faces. Boko Haram has thrived against the backdrop of endemic corruption. By some estimates, Nigeria has lost $400 billion to embezzlement and corruption since 1960, more than total international aid to Africa during the same period. While the international community has largely eradicated piracy off the coast of Somalia, the problem hasskyrocketed in the Gulf of Guinea, and even that is underreported since states don’t always report seizures in their territorial waters. Like Ethiopia, Nigeria faces not only ethnic but sectarian divisions. Tensions between Muslims and Christians plunged the Ivory Coast into civil war in the last decade; Nigeria is far more volatile. If its fragile democracy fails, West Africa may see a conflict worse than any it has seen in decades.
Turkey. What would it mean if a NATO ally collapsed? Over the past decade, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has seized dictatorial power. He called the aborted July 15 coup “a gift from God” and used it as an excuse to declare a state of emergency and purge more than 100,000 military officers and civil servants. But there are indications that there could be more violence on the horizon. Doğu Perinçek, a former Maoist turned ultra-nationalist power-broker, leads a shadowy group Turks simply refer to as “the Perinçek group.” Some suggest that Perinçek is Turkey’s real defense minister, behind-the-scenes. In August, Erdoğan hired Adnan Tanriverdi, a former Special Forces trainer close to Perinçek, to be counsel for the president. The question is whether those Tanriverdi trains will be more loyal to Perinçek or Erdoğan when the next blow comes. Regardless, Erdoğan may be a marked man and even if he is killed or forcibly removed, he has so eviscerated the Turkish state that political chaos will likely follow his death.
Russia. Like Turkey, Russia is ruled by a strongman who has substituted the illusion of stability for its substance. When President Vladimir Putin dies, the Russian people will have to pay the price for his decades of corruption and mismanagement. Putin’s lasting legacy will be the vacuum of power underneath him. Beyond poor governance, however, Russia will soon face reverberation from its demographic crisis. Its Muslim population is growing as its ethnic Russian population shrinks. At the same time, it faces Islamist radicalism not only in Chechnya and Daghestan, but also increasingly among ethnic Tartars. Here’s the question: As Muslims make up a growing proportion of the conscript-age population, can Russia count on its own army in any sectarian conflict? (On all these issues, the writings of Leon Aron and Anna Borshchevskaya are must-reads).
Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s facing a perfect storm: US policy has empowered and re-resourced Iran. The price of oil has declined precipitously pushing the Saudi economy to the brink. Saudi Arabia is bogged down in a war in Yemen which seemingly has no end. All of this would be bad in the best of circumstances, but add into the mix a king that very well may have Alzheimer’s and the Kingdom may face a crisis unlike any it has faced in decades. Every US administration since Franklin Roosevelt’s has counted on a strong partnership with Saudi Arabia kingdom to bring stability to the Middle East and order to the world economy. If Riyadh is unable or unwilling to continue that partnership, can Washington find a substitute or fill the gap?
Jordan. Even more than Saudi Arabia, the United States has relied on Jordan for generations. The Hashemite Kingdom is perhaps America’s closest Arab ally. But Jordan is in crisis today, even if the Jordanian government will not admit it. With the influx of Syrians, Jordan has now absorbed its third major wave of refugees, putting tremendous strain on the economy. King Abdullah II is far more popular in Washington and London than he is in some corners of his own kingdom. And while Western journalists depict Queen Rania as a romantic and popularfigure, she is widely disliked inside Jordan for her profligate spending. All of this has created fertile ground for the Islamic State to infiltrate Jordan even if it keeps its presence low-key. Should he United States and its Iraqi and Kurdish allies push the Islamic State out of Iraq and Syria and lead more of its fighters to enter Jordan, then the assault on Mosul and Raqqa might truly be Pyrrhic.
China. Last but not least China, the world’s most populous country. Some pundits have watched China’s economic boom and sung its praises, even suggesting that the communist republic’s dictatorial ways might be superior to those of the United States. Economic development is uneven: coastal, urban incomes are exponentially higher than interior, rural incomes. The legacy of decades of China’s murderous one-child policy are still to come as China faces a demographic precipice. My colleagues Dan Blumenthal and Derek Scissors highlight the implications of stagnation in China. Simply put, future US administrations should worry less about the rise of China and more about its decline. Will a faltering China, for example, lash out militarily as a stagnating Russia has?
The world is a dangerous place. These scenarios may be too obscure for the 2016 presidential debates, but ensuring the ability of the United States to react to them should not be.
The Ethiopian government has declared a state of emergency in the country as it intensifies a crackdown on widespread anti-government protests born of frustration that’s been fomenting for decades. In the past two weeks alone, authorities have arrested thousands of protesters, overwhelmingly young people by some accounts.
In the unprecedented anti-government protests sweeping the country, this week alone has seen more than 2,600 people detained in the Oromia and Amhara regions, with 450 arrested in the capital Addis Ababa. Those detained include business owners who closed their shops and teachers who “abandoned their schools.” In June, Human Rights Watch reported that “tens of thousands” of protesters had been arrested since the unrest that began 11 months ago.
However, the number arrested is already likely much higher than the figure quoted by the government, according to Fisseha Tekle, the chief researcher for Amnesty International in Ethiopia. He told VICE News that arrests are ongoing and that the focus is on younger people.
“They must have some list, the security forces, because they are not arresting everyone, but they really target the youths, because it is the youths who have been protesting for the last year,” Tekle said. “They don’t arrest older people; students are the main target.”
The protests began last November, triggered by plans made by the government to extend the capital, Addis Ababa, into Oromia. That plan has since been shelved, but the protests have continued, with decades-old frustration and anger at the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front coalition coming to the surface.
“This coalition has been in power for 25 years now and a lot of people want to see something different,” Clementine de Montjoye, the head of advocacy atDefend Defenders, a group that protects human rights workers in Ethiopia, told VICE News.
Because the Ethiopian government limits the operations of human rights activists in the country, many are wary about speaking on the record. One source within a human rights group operating in Ethiopia, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told VICE News that protesters had told them “we don’t have anything to lose anymore, we don’t care if we get killed.”
An Amnesty International report published this week says that in total 800 protesters have been killed by security forces in Ethiopia since these protests began last November.
The government declared a state of emergency on Oct. 9, giving them sweeping powers to crush any dissenting voices. They have also cut internet connectivity in most of the country — including the capital — for the last three weeks.
This has made it difficult to get accurate details of what is happening, especially outside of Addis. And even if a connection can be made, people are still afraid to talk. “People are suspicious because of online surveillance and also mobile phone surveillance, so people might not be [comfortable] talking over the phone about what is happening,” Tekle said.
VICE News contacted several activists on the ground in Ethiopia to talk about the current situation, but due to a combination of fear and lack of connectivity, we were unable to talk to them.
The declaration of a six-month state of emergency followed a high-profile incident at the beginning of the month when a stampede during Irreecha, an Oromo holiday festival, resulted in 55 people killed. As well as increasing the powers of the security forces in Ethiopia to arbitrarily arrest and detain people, the state of emergency aims to silence criticism of the regime. It is now illegal to contact those termed “outsiders” on social media like Twitter and Facebook. “The military command will take action on those watching and posting on these social media outlets,” Siraj Fegessa, Ethiopia’s minister for defense, said.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has made two calls for access to conduct an international, independent, and impartial investigation into the alleged violations, both of which have been rejected by the Ethiopian government. The regime has also sought to limit the impact of human rights organizations in the country with the Charities and Societies Proclamation, which states that if you receive more than 10 percent of your funding from foreign sources, you can’t work on human rights issues in Ethiopia.
Tekle says that Amnesty is refraining from contacting the human rights workers left in the country to avoid revealing their location.
In a report to be launched late Thursday, Defend Defenders has documented at least 27 cases of journalists who have been charged with terrorism since the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation was enacted in 2009. “They have intimidated, arrested, chased away most of the independent media. So if people want to express their frustrations, the only way they have to do it is [by taking] to the streets,” de Montjoye said.
So why isn’t the West doing more to sanction the Ethiopian government?
One reason is Ethiopia’s strategic importance in Africa, helping stem the tide of migrants entering Europe and stopping the spread of Islamic extremism.
According to the European Union’s foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini, citing a report published this week, Ethiopia is among five key African countries that have achieved “better results” in the past four months as part of the EU’s efforts to better manage migration.
Ethiopia is also viewed as a strategic bulwark against the further spread of violent Islamic extremism in the horn of Africa, and it’s been the main military player in fighting the terrorist group al Shabaab in Somalia for years.
Ethiopia is a close ally of the U.S. and given that the political climate in neighbouring countries like Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Egypt is fairly shaky, keeping Ethiopia relatively stable is seen as key to preventing chaos in the region.
The athlete looked up at the sky when he crossed the finish line and made an X shape above his head with his wrists. The stadium cheered, a new moment in history was made. Later when he took to the podium with ‘Ethiopia’ written across his top to collect a medal for the marathon he had run, he made the gesture again.
Two months after the 2016 Olympics, this protest salute made by runner Feyisa Lilesa before a TV audience of millions is still the most audacious red flag on what was a largely ignored iceberg. The iceberg being the Ethiopian state’s deadly crackdown on its Oromo people. His protest was in support of the struggles of an estimated forty million Oromo in Ethiopia’s Oromia region against an authoritarian rule historically committed to keeping them in their place. In a month that has seen Ethiopia call a State of Emergency in an attempt to stop the massive Oromo protests from spreading, Lilesa’s daring stand and the will he-or-won’t he question of whether he will return to Ethiopia continues to force the subject onto the global news agenda and to encourage people to ask- who are the Oromo and why are they protesting?
The answers lie in the history of the Oromo. The Oromia region was once made up of autonomous sultanates with distinct cultural traditions. Its people lived on the land for over five hundred years before the Abyssinian Empire moved in and established its new capital of Addis Ababa in the centre of Oromia at the end of the 1800s. What followed was a mass eviction of the Oromo, and then a state waged a campaign against them, continued to this day by the modern Ethiopian government, which has previously sought to extinguish Oromo traditions, ban the language of Oromiffa in schools, and prevent Oromo civil and political status.
For the last year, the Oromo have been protesting the Ethiopian government’s plans to extend the capital into Oromia further still, however, in recent months the protests have turned into a broader call for a multi-ethnic government, justice and the application of the rule of law. The Amhara ethnic group, their number estimated at 20 million, have now begun their own protests in the Amhara region and voiced their concern at a repressive government made up of one ethnic group. However since the protests began, at least 500 deaths have been confirmed, reports of torture and forced disappearances are widespread and an additional one thousand people have been detained in October alone.
Media attention on the protests, therefore, couldn’t come at a more important time. Since Lilesa’s salute and following a horrific stampede at an Oromo thanksgiving festival at the start of October, killing between 52 and 300 people (concrete figures are difficult to come by in Ethiopia) after police used teargas, rubber bullets and batons on protesters, the Ethiopian government has ordered a six-month state of emergency. It has also continued to blame the violence and deaths at protests on banded opposition groups and gangs funded by Egypt and Eritrea, the former of which has already denied the claim and the latter of which has maintained a frosty silence. Human rights groups, however, implicate the security forces in the deaths.
As a result of the state of emergency, Ethiopia is on lock down. Foreign diplomats have been banned from travelling more than 40kms outside the capital, protests in schools, universities, and other higher education institutions are forbidden, there are country-wide curfews, security services are barred from resigning, satellite TV, pro-opposition news and foreign news are banned and posting links on social media a criminal activity. In short, there is a total news black-out of anything that is not state-sponsored.
On the African continent, condemnation of Ethiopia’s actions by African governments has been very quiet. However, the protests have been well covered by African media and civil society organisations particularly in Uganda, Kenya and South Africa, while protests supporting the Oromo have taken place in South Africa and Egypt.
Although it is disappointing that African governments have not spoken out, it is important that the Ethiopian diaspora, along with African and global civil society continue to call loudly for an independent investigation into the deaths and violence occurring and that wealthy Western governments continue to evaluate their support for the increasingly authoritarian Ethiopian state.
Indeed an independent investigation is key and not without precedent. The Burundian government vowed to cooperate with an African Union investigation into state abuses only this week . However, the Ethiopian government should also be pressed to pass inclusive multi-ethnic state reforms as quickly as possible before this crisis escalates. The Oromo and Amhara are 65% of the Ethiopian population so it is suggested the Ethiopian government tread more thoughtfully and less violently because as precedents on the continent show, mismanagement can lead to devastating losses in any numbers game.
“This is a typical textbook example of repression. You shut down media, you arrest dissidents and try to use propaganda to co-opt,” Chala told Quartz.
“Internet shutdowns do not restore order,” Ephraim Percy Kenyanito, the sub-Saharan Africa policy analyst at Access Now recently wrote. “They hamper journalism, obscure the truth or what is happening on the ground, and stop people from getting the information they need to keep safe.”
To a large extent, the government might be succeeding in muffling both the direct flow or the volume of information coming out of the country, Chala says. “But I am not sure if they will stop the movement [of protest] that is already out of their control,” he said.
The internet shutdown in Ethiopia will drain millions of dollars from the economy, besides undermining citizens’ rights to impart and seek information, observers of the current state of emergency say. Mobile internet remains down across the country since the government announced a six-month, nationwide emergency in early October. The government also this week banned the…
The latest rules guiding the state of emergency are items that amount to human rights violation that has been deliberately put together by Ethiopia and targeted against the Oromia people.
The Ethiopian government has announced the rules that will guide the 6-month state of emergency declared last week. The conditions bar diplomats from going beyond 40km outside the country’s capital city of Addis Ababa because of “their own safety”.
The government has also categorized posting about the country’s situation on Facebook and other social media as a criminal offence. Unfortunately, these deliberate human rights violations that should be a global concern are yet to be seriously condemned globally.
Other things outlawed during this period in Ethiopia include broadcast media. Ethiopians cannot watch the TV channels Ethiopian Satellite Television and Radio and Oromia Media Network, which are both based outside the country. The government says those media belong to “terrorist organisations”.
There are also reports that listening to other foreign media that have constantly reported the crisis in Ethiopia has also been banned and criminalized. Protests have also been banned in the country and a 6pm – 6am curfew imposed.
The Ethiopian government declared a state of emergency last week Sunday. Ventures Africa explained that a state of emergency may be less effective and the Ethiopian government will need more than this suppressive approach to restoring order to the country.
The latest rules guiding the state of emergency are items that amount to human rights violation that has been deliberately put together by Ethiopia and targeted against the Oromia people. The United States, a major ally to the East African country, has also refused to condemn this attack on human rights.
Since the protest in Ethiopia began about a year ago, the number of people killed has been put at no fewer than 500. If the silence from international stakeholders persists, the people of Ethiopia, particularly those with dissent voices to the government would be a subjected to the worst human rights violation ever witnessed in Ethiopia in recent times.
Heavy-handed measures by the Ethiopian government will only escalate a deepening crisis that has claimed the lives of more than 800 protesters since protests began in November 2015, said Amnesty International today after the government issued a directive imposing wide-ranging restrictions as part of a state of emergency.
The directive authorises arrests without warrants, as well as rehabilitation measures. When such measures have been used in the past, they have led to arbitrary detention of protesters at remote military facilities without access to their families and lawyers.
“These emergency measures are extremely severe and so broad that they threaten basic human rights that must not be curtailed even under a state of emergency,” said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
“These measures will deepen, not mitigate, the underlying causes of the sustained protests we have seen throughout the year, which have been driven by deep-seated human rights grievances. These grievances must be properly addressed by the authorities. Further crackdowns and human rights violations will only make the situation worse.”
It is the government’s failure to constructively engage with the protesters that continues to fuel these protests. It must now change course
In a public statement issued today Amnesty International recommends that instead of further curtailing human rights, the government should seize the moment and recommit itself to respecting, protecting and fulfilling them, in line with its regional and international obligations.
“It is the government’s failure to constructively engage with the protesters that continues to fuel these protests. It must now change course,” said Muthoni Wanyeki.
“The government must ensure an end to excessive and arbitrary use of force by the security forces against demonstrators and release all protesters, opposition leaders and supporters, as well as journalists and bloggers, arrested for exercising their rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly.”
At least 600 protesters have been killed in Oromia and 200 in Amhara since November last year.
Background
Protests began in November 2015 when ethnic Oromos took to the streets fearing possible land seizures under the government’s Addis Ababa Masterplan, which aimed to expand the capital’s administrative control into Oromia. The protests continued even after the Addis Ababa Masterplan was scrapped, evolving into demands for accountability for human rights violations, ethnic equality and the release of political prisoners.
Protests later spread to Amhara, a region that has long complained of marginalization.
The worst incident involved the death of possibly hundreds of protesters in a stampede on 2 October at Bishoftu, about 45 kilometres southeast of Addis Ababa, during the Irrecha religious festival. Protest groups say the stampede was caused by the security forces’ unnecessary and excessive use of force. The government has denied this, instead blaming the deaths on “anti-peace forces.”
What’s happening in Ethiopia and how can we protect human rights?
17 OCTOBER 2016
Protests, internet shutdowns, deaths — and a new law that threatens digital rights when the people of Ethiopia need them most
Ethiopia has issued a six-month state of emergency in the country following months of citizen protests. The state of emergency comes in an environment of increasing repression. Government forces have killed more than 500 people since November 2015 and authorities have already shut down access to social media in the Oromia region four times this year: in January, July, August, September, and October. Now the situation is escalating, with the government cutting mobile internet in the capital Addis Ababa for more than a week (the previous shutdowns affected only the Oromia region).
Human rights advocates are taking action. On October 10th, seven U.N. human rights experts issued a statement calling on the Ethiopian government to allow an international investigation into allegations that it has violated the human rights of its citizens. Additionally, on October 12th, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights released a statementhighlighting the fact that it will investigate the Ethiopian situation with regard to human rights.
More atrocities to come?
Ethiopia began a series of shutdowns in January 2016 after activists shared a video online showing police brutality. The deaths during protests – and the government’s decision to disrupt the internet — underscore how shutting down the internet often precedes or is accompanied by atrocities. This new state of emergency could not have come at a worse time, because it will set a lower threshold for arresting and detaining citizens, just when more human rights protections are needed.
This is a dark time for human rights in Ethiopia. Shutting down communications networks, even during times of conflict, violates the human right to freedom of expression and access to information. Shutdowns also cause knock-on effects.
Internet shutdowns do not restore order. They hamper journalism, obscure the truth of what is happening on the ground, and stop people from getting the information they need to keep safe. Further, shutdowns harm the local economy; by June 2016,Ethiopia had already lost $8.5 million due to internet disruptions, according to a recent report by the Brookings Institution.
In the U.N. statement last week, special rapporteurs Maina Kiai and Dr. Agnes Callamard said, “We are outraged at the alarming allegations of mass killings, thousands of injuries, tens of thousands of arrests and hundreds of enforced disappearances…We are also extremely concerned by numerous reports that those arrested had faced torture and ill-treatment in military detention centres.”
This statement highlight dangers exacerbated by the ongoing internet shutdowns, which are happening concurrently with the state of emergency. As we have pointed out, research shows that internet shutdowns and state violence go hand-in-hand. We are deeply concerned that the casualties due to state actions will increase over the next six months.
New computer crime law threatens privacy, free expression
The shutdowns are not the only cause for worry when it comes to fundamental rights. There’s also a new computer crime law that legislators in Ethiopia have approved and have forwarded for presidential signature, the Computer Crime Proclamation of 2016 (draft text). It threatens people’s free speech and privacy just when they need it most.
Our analysis of this new law shows it would hobble digital rights. The proclamation aims “to prevent, control, investigate and prosecute computer crimes and facilitate the collection of electronic evidences.” However, the legislation would infringe human rights and chill cybersecurity research not only in Ethiopia but throughout the African continent.
The law goes against Ethiopia’s commitment to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, among other international instruments, which support the right to privacy (Article 17, ICCPR), the right to freedom of expression (Article 19, ICCPR), and the right to freedom of association (Article 22, ICCPR). Ethiopia is also a party to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Banjul Charter), which establishes the rights to dignity (Article 5) and freedom of information and expression (Article 9), among other rights.
This proclamation hasn’t been signed into law yet, so there’s still time to strip out harmful provisions. This should take place as part of the electoral reforms that were announced last week by Ethiopia’s prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, after pressure from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
How to promote human rights in Ethiopia now
It will take effort from many corners to restore Ethiopia from its human rights crisis, stop rights violations from happening, and protect privacy and free expression in the long term.
Our recommendations are:
For the government of Ethiopia and the federal Attorney General
Call on the Ethiopian government to immediately restore full internet access in the country.
Urge the government to safeguard human rights in the Computer Crime Proclamation 2016 and to recommend repealing or amending sections of the law that threaten human rights.
Advise the government on international best practices to protect democracy and free speech in the country. This includes acting on all recommendations accepted at the United Nations Universal Periodic Review process.
For donors and governments trading with Ethiopia
Push Ethiopia to fulfil its human rights obligations and reforms its practices impacting access to the free and open internet.
Hold corporations registered in Ethiopia responsible for any of their technology used to infringe on human rights in Ethiopia.
For companies selling products or services in Ethiopia
Desist from selling or servicing technology that is used to infringe on human rights in the country. This includes technology used to surveil citizens or technology used to disrupt access to information online. Some of the companies with a record of bad practices in Ethiopia include Hacking Team and Gamma International.
For civil society organizations and individuals who want to make a difference in Ethiopia
Request that your government question Ethiopia about human rights at its mid-term review for United Nations Universal Periodic Review, taking place in May 2017.
Right now, our thoughts are with the people of Ethiopia. We call on humanitarian and digital rights organizations globally to draw attention to what is happening and join us in our efforts to #KeepItOn so Ethiopians can exercise their rights and freedoms, and above all, stay safe from harm.
Ethiopia, home to the third largest number of diplomatic missions in the world, only after New York and Geneva—has limited foreign diplomats from traveling beyond a 40-kilometer radius (25 miles) out of the capital Addis Ababa.
It’s part of new stringent laws published in the wake of a nation-wide state emergency. The government said the diplomats shouldn’t travel without official permission for reasons related to “their own security,” as the country grapples with renewed protests and a security crackdown.
The new rules also prohibit making contacts with groups labeled as terrorists, posting updates about the current state of the country, and introduced a dusk-to-dawn curfew around farms, factories, and government institutions. The new directives are the government’s response to the protests that have engulfed the country since Nov. 2015, which have led to the death of more than 500 people, according to international human rights organizations.
Protests started over plans to expand the capital, Addis Ababa.(Reuters)
The new raft of measures has come as a surprise to many, who have viewed Ethiopia as an economic success and a bastion of stability in a turbulent region. As the continent’s oldest nation state, observers say the country cannot afford the current ethnic unrest to derail its economic progress.
“This is a state of emergency and we expect repressive measures,” a western diplomat told AFP on condition of anonymity on Monday. “But we also expect an opening of the political space for the opposition as stated by the president in front of the parliament. This is not what seems to be happening.”
The bustling capital of Addis Ababa is also known as the ‘political capital’ of Africa, and hosts the seat of the African Union. The body’s $200 million headquarters is also the tallest building that dominates the skyline of Addis Ababa. The city was first recognized s Africa’s ‘capital’ after Ethiopia’s then leader Emperor Haile Selassie, convened leaders from around the continent for an African Summit in May 1963.
Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia, poses with African heads of state in Addis Ababa in May 1963 at the end of their “summit” conference. (AP Photo)
Ethiopia also hosts the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and is home to more than 100 foreign embassies, according to Embassy Pages, which assembles a directory of foreign embassies and consulates.
The new wave of unrest has worried the AU, which has called for restraint from all parties and encouraged dialogue to address the socio-political and economic issues motivating the protests. Members of the Oromo and Amhara communities have been protesting economic and political marginalization from the Tigray-dominated government. The UN secretary general also expressed concern on Monday (Oct. 17) regarding the recent developments in the country, and urged authorities “to ensure the protection of fundamental human rights.”
As part of the emergency laws, political parties are also banned from issuing pressers that may incite any violence. Security forces are also not allowed to resign or go on holidays during the six-month emergency period. Those who break the terms of the state of emergencyrisk jail terms of three to five years.
Cell phone internet access has also been reportedly cut for weeks in most parts of the country.
(UNITED NATIONS) – U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is urging the Ethiopian government to ensure “the protection of fundamental human rights” following its imposition of stringent rules under its state of emergency.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday that Ban has been following developments in Ethiopia “with concern” following the imposition of the state of emergency effective Oct. 8. The new rules announced late Saturday include a ban on any contact with groups that are labeled as “terrorist.”
Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, began protesting almost a year ago. According to human rights groups and opposition activists, hundreds of people have been killed in the past year in protests demanding wider freedoms.
Dujarric said Ban “reiterates his call for calm and restraint and calls for inclusive dialogue to resolve all grievances.”
A protest in Bishoftu, Ethiopia, on Oct. 2. No place exposes the cracks in the narrative of Africa’s rising better than Ethiopia, which is one of the continent’s fastest-developing but most repressive nations. Credit Associated Press
NAIROBI, Kenya — For decades Africa was eager for a new narrative, and in recent years it got a snappy one.
The Economist published a cover story titled “Africa Rising.” A Texas business school professor published a book called “Africa Rising.” And in 2011, The Wall Street Journal ran a series of articles about economic growth on the continent, and guess what that series was called?
“Africa Rising.”
The rise seemed obvious: You could simply stroll around Nairobi, Kenya’s capital, or many other African capitals, and behold new shopping malls, new hotels, new solar-powered streetlights, sometimes even new Domino’s pizzerias, all buoyed by what appeared to be high economic growth rates sweeping the continent.
For so long Africa had been associated with despair and doom, and now the quality of life for many Africans was improving. Hundreds of thousands of Rwandans were getting clean water for the first time. In Kenya, enrollment in public universities more than doubled from 2007 to 2012. In many countries, life expectancy was increasing, infant mortality decreasing.
But in recent months, as turmoil has spread across the continent, and the red-hot economic growth has cooled, this optimistic narrative has taken a hit. Some analysts are now questioning how profound the growth actually was.
“Nothing has changed on the governance front, nothing has changed structurally,” said Grieve Chelwa, a Zambian economist who is a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard.
“Africa rising was really good for some crackpot dictators,” he added. “But in some ways, it was a myth.”
A cafe in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, in October. Credit Mulugeta Ayene/Associated Press
No place exposes the cracks in the “Africa rising” narrative better than Ethiopia, which had been one of the fastest risers.
Ethiopia is now in flames. Hundreds have been killed during protests that have convulsed the country.
The government, whose stranglehold on the country is so complete that not a single opposition politician sits in the 547-seat Parliament, recently took the drastic step of imposing a state of emergency.
Many of the Ethiopia’s new engines of growth — sugar factories, textile mills, foreign-owned flower farms — now lie in ashes, burned down in a fury of anti-government rage.
At the same time, a report by the McKinsey Global Institute, an arm of the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, just listed Ethiopia as the fastest growing economy on the continent from 2010 to 2015. The Democratic Republic of Congo, which is also rapidly sliding toward chaos — again, was second.
Political turmoil on the one hand, rosy economic prospects on the other. Can both be true?
“It comes down to how sustained the turmoil is,” said Acha Leke, a senior partner at McKinsey.
In Ethiopia’s case, the unrest appears to be just beginning. Videos show demonstrations of hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians chanting antigovernment slogans, giving a sense of the depth of discontent. The protesters hail from Ethiopia’s two largest ethnic groups, a population of more than 60 million, leading many analysts to predict that this is no passing fad.
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Deadly Stampede at an Ethiopian Festival
Police fired on antigovernment demonstrators at a religious festival in Bishoftu earlier this month, triggering a stampede that killed more than 50 people.
It seems the continent as a whole is heading into a tough period. Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, faces its gravest economic crisis in years because of low oil prices. At the same time, it is trying to fight off Boko Haram, one of the most bloodthirsty insurgent groups on the planet.
South Africa, the continent’s most developed nation, has been wracked by waves of unrest. Troops with assault rifles stomp around college campuses, trying to quell student protests. The country’s currency, the rand, hovers near a record low.
South Sudan, which topped The Economist’s list in 2013 of the world’s fastest-growing economies, is now a killing field, the site of one of Africa’s worst civil wars.
Mr. Leke, one of the authors of the McKinsey report, says that political turbulence can drag down any economy, and that the growth of recent years has not been shared among the people nearly as widely as it could have been. According to a recent report by the African Development Bank, unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa remains close to 50 percent and is a “threat to social cohesion.”
As Mr. Leke said, “You can’t eat growth.”
Still, he says, there have been fundamental — and positive — changes on the continent, like increases in disposable income for many African consumers.
Mr. Chelwa, the Zambian economist, has a different view. The fundamentals of African economies have not changed nearly as much as the “Africa rising” narrative implied, he said, with Africa still relying too heavily on the export of raw materials and not enough on industry.
“In Zambia, we import pencils,” he said.
He also points out that some of the fastest-growing economies, like Ethiopia, Angola and Rwanda, are among the most repressive. These governments can move ahead with big infrastructure projects that help drive growth, but at the same time, they leave out many people, creating dangerous resentments.
In Ethiopia, that resentment seems to be growing by the day.
The trouble started last year when members of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, began protesting government land policies. Soon Ethiopia’s second largest ethnic group, the Amhara, joined in, and the protests have now hardened into calls to overthrow the government, which is led by a small ethnic minority.
If you track the news coming out of Ethiopia, you would not be a fool to think it is two totally different countries. One day, there is a triumphant picture of a new electric train, with Chinese conductors standing next to shiny carriages (China remains a huge investor in Ethiopia.) The next, there are grisly images of dead bodies that witnesses said were people gunned down by police.
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A light-rail station in Addis Ababa this month. A report by the McKinsey Global Institute, an arm of the consulting firm McKinsey & Company, recently listed Ethiopia as the fastest-growing economy in Africa from 2010 to 2015. Credit Mulugeta Ayene/Associated Press
Several witnesses said the security forces might be beginning to split, with some officers taking off their uniforms and joining the protests.
The most recent economic data shows Africa’s growth slowing because of political instability and a global slump in commodity prices. Morten Jerven, a Norwegian economic historian who has studied statistics from across Africa, argues that the growth was never as robust as had been believed.
He said that the economic indicators for many African economies in the 1990s and early 2000s were inaccurate, and that the economic progress in the last five to 10 years that appeared to have been sudden was, in fact, gradual.
In other cases, Mr. Jerven said, African governments made bold economic assumptions or simply used fake numbers to make themselves look good. “The narrative had been too rosy,” he said.
Africa Yearning or Africa Struggling might be a more apt characterization, but neither of these is especially new. Whatever narrative emerges should include what Mr. Chelwa calls the continent’s “ghastly inequality,” and the sharp increase in the number of people who are now better equipped with technology and information and are demanding more from their governments.
Of course, it is difficult to apply a sweeping narrative to all 54 countries in Africa, where analysts agree that the picture is mixed. For instance, Rwanda remains stable with new businesses and floods of tourists while its neighbor, Burundi, teeters on the edge of chaos.
Some of the same economic factors that investors cite as grounds for optimism, like Africa’s growing cities, cut both ways. According to Mr. Jerven, rapid urbanization in Africa often leads to sprawling slums, low wages and legions of disenfranchised youth.
“All the economic variables for turmoil are there,” he said.
The string of protests against the Ethiopian government among Canada-based runners continued on Sunday as Kindi Asefa crossed his arms above his head at the Scotiabank Toronto Waterfront Marathon. The Toronto Olympic Club athlete won the half-marathon in 1:08:34 and made an “X” above his head– a gesture in solidarity with the Oromo people.
The Oromo protests gained international attention at the Rio Olympics when Feyisa Lilesa famously crossed the finish line in second place in the men’s marathon while performing the protest. The Oromo people cross their arms above their head to imitate being handcuffed.
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Lilesa is currently in the United States with a special skills visa and did not return home to Ethiopia because he feared for his life.
RELATED: Quebec City Marathon winner Ebisa Ejigu replicates Olympic medallist’s political protest.
According to Human Rights Watch, as many as 500 people have been killed in the protests between November 2015 and June 2016. The protests are occurring because the Ethiopian government is extending the capital city’s municipal boundary which is forcing the Oromo people away from their homes.
The boundary is extending into Oromia, home to much of the country’s Oromo people. The Oromo people are the largest ethnicity in the Horn of Africa. The Oromo people, according to BBC News, claim that the government is oppressive and that they have been marginalized.
After Lilesa’s political protest at the Olympics, Ebisa Ejigu made the gesture at the Quebec City Marathon. Soon after, Hajin Tola made an “X” with his arms at the CanKen 5K road race in Mississauga, Ont. Asefa, along with Tola and Ejigu, all train with the Toronto Olympic Club.
RELATED: Winner of Mississauga CanKen 5K race protests in support of Ethiopia’s Oromo people.
On Sunday, Asefa won by 10 seconds over Matthew McNeil. Erin McClure was the top woman in 1:20:40.
They are the biggest ethnic group in Ethiopia but they are rarely heard: For almost a year the Oromo people have been demanding their rights. The government has responded brutally and has now declared a state of emergency. Tesfalem Waldyes felt the harshness of the regime: he was jailed for more than a year.
OCTOBER 30, 2016 Statements
e was shaken. The opponents to his power became so strong and lethal such that Mangistu was forced to declare “Red Terror” on its real or imagined enemies to its reign in Ethiopia between 1977-78. By this declaration of “Red Terror”(Mangistu’s state of emergency), Mangistu asserted that all “progressives” were given freedom of action in helping to root out enemies of his rule. Peasants, workers, public officials and even students loyal to the Mangistu regime were provided with arms to: assassinate, kill, imprison and loot as they wished. Militia attached to the Kebeles, the neighborhood watch committees were given freedom to train their gun on anyone with whom they have even personal but no ideological disagreement. All people allied to Mangistu went into killing spree and even children were not spared. During these years of “Red Terror”, Amnesty International estimated that up to 500, 000 to 2,000,000 people were butchered and thousands were left on the street for their body to decompose. In May 1977, the Swedish general secretary of Save the Children Fund estimated too that “1000 children have been killed and their bodies are left in the streets and being eaten by wild hyenas.” Parents of the deceased were asked to collect the bodies of their loved ones by paying money for the bullet wasted killing their children.
