HRLHA  Calls for  International Intervention to end Human Tragedy in Ethiopia

November 6, 2016

As is well known, the current state of volatility in Ethiopia  was sparked off  when the Killing squad “Agazi special force” started shooting directly at  the Oromo high school students  peacefully protesting in Ginchi town in Oromia on November 12, 2015.

The crisis that followed has been characterized by senseless killings, torture, abduction and unwarranted imprisonments in concentration camps of those who vehemently opposed the actions of the government force against peaceful protests by those demanding that the government of Ethiopia stop its injustices against the Oromo people and respect their fundamental rights.

This reckless action of TPLF/EPRDF against protestors reignited the grievances of injustice and inequality the Oromo population has faced for over two decades from minority Tigrian elites. In the next few days, the protest quickly spread all over the Oromia regional state. Since then, the protests have included Oromos from all walks of life. After nine months of protests  in Oromia Regional State, the Amhara Regional State joined the protest.  Meanwhile, the special force Agazi has continued killing indiscriminately the people of both regional states.

International and regional human rights organizations have continued to shed light on the killings, torture, detentions and abductions in Oromia and Amhar Regional States  while the world community has remained silent.

The massacre on October 2, 2016 at Irecha, an Oromo Thanksgiving festival  where over 1000 Oromos were massacred and thousands wounded- on the ground and from gunships in the air- has changed the situation dramatically. The peaceful protests have turned violent and several government owned properties have been destroyed and more killings and detentions have followed.

On October 8, 2016, the TPLF/EPRDF government declared a State of Emergency to cool down the situation. As the actions of the government show, the State of Emergency was introduced as a cover to continue the killings, torture and detain in concentration camps more Oromos and Ahmaras instead of cooling down the situation. After the State of Emergency was declared, thousands of Oromos  and Amharas have been killed and tens of thousands arrested.

The HRLHA  has received from its informants  a partial list of those picked up from different  showa zones (centeral Oromia) from October 8 – November 2, 2016 and held in Tolai Military camp .

The following are the numbers of abducted Oromo youths detained in Tolai Military Camp presently.

The following are the names of Oromos,  mostly youths  among the abducted and their whereabouts are unknown

The 2003/2004 Genocide against Darfur in Sudan is a striking lesson; the people there were killed indiscriminately and, more sadly, the perpetrators would go unpunished until it culminated in a full genocide. What is happening in Oromia and Ahmara  regional states today resembles more or less what happened at the embryonic stage of the Darfur genocide in Sudan.

Even the AU, whose headquarters is in the center of Oromia/Addis Ababa, gave late voice after thousands of Oromo children, seniors, men and women had been massacred by the TPLF/EPRDF killing squads.

The donor governments such as USA, UK, Canada and government agencies (African Commission  on Human and Peoples’ Rights, EU Human Rights Commission and  UN human rights council) have expressed  their concerns without taking  any concrete actions. Such inaction doesn’t reflect the AU’s  and the UN’s obligation under their own Constitutive Act, which provides for intervention inside a member state against genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

This is a cosmopolitan ideal of protecting people inside states against mass atrocities as a matter of common obligation. The Responsibility to Protect (R2P), coined in 2001 under the leadership of the Canadian government and adopted by 150 heads of states and governments in 2005, obliged the international community to intervene to stop atrocities.

As a matter of principle, a state shoulders the primary responsibility to prevent and protect its own citizens against horrific acts, but if it is unable or unwilling to prevent and protect its population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity, the responsibility is thus shifted to the international community.  It states, “ when a state is unable or unwilling to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, crime against humanity and ethnic cleansing, the international community has the responsibility to intervene”.

The UN Charter’s first and most essential aim is to “maintain international peace and security”. However, when the UN was first created, it was an enormous undertaking based on hope.

The most immediate motivation for the creation of the UN was to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, just the kind of war in which Allied powers were then embroiled, and to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights which were being so fragrantly and brutally violated by the Axis powers.

Today, one critical question on everyone’s lips is whether the United Nations is living up to its mandate, more particularly, of maintaining international peace and security. Amid ongoing human rights crises in Ethiopia it is hard to figure out what exactly the UN & AU have done to uphold their responsibilities. Nevertheless, it is not too late to act today.  

For the Ethiopian human rights crisis, two ways can be helpful in restoring peace and stability. In this, the international communities and agencies (AU, EU & UN) can play a decisive role:

• Major donor governments, including USA, UK & Canada, should stop funding the authoritarian TPLF/EPRDF government
• Put pressure on the TPLF/EPRDF government to allow neutral investigators to probe into the human rights crisis in the country as the precursor to international community intervention

Therefore, 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 human tragedy in thiopian.

Copied To:

• International Committee of the Red Cross
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• UN Security Council
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• UN Human Rights Council
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• Africa Union (AU)
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• African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
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• The US Department of State Secretarate Secretary
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• UK Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
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• Minister of Foreign Affairs (Canada)
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• Minister of Foreign Affairs (Normway)
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