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*THE
STATUS OF HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE OGADEN*
A paper
presented by the Ogaden Human Rights Committee to the Conference
on
"Enhancing
Human Rights and Building Peace in the Horn of Africa".
Stockolm,
Sweden,March 9th , 2002
Ladies,
Gentlemen, my brothers and sisters of the Oromo Community.The
people
of Sweden, the respectable individuals, whom are representing
their various
organisations and are here today, and lastly but not the least
the
organizers of this historic event. On the behalf of the Ogaden
people I
would like to extend to you our warm greetings.
The aim
of my speech is to present to you, the human tragedy unfolding
in my
country, which is under Ethiopian military occupation.
Human rights
abuses inflicted upon the Ogaden people date back to the
Ethiopian occupation of the first part of the Ogaden more than
a century
ago.
Our people's
ordeal started after the conclusion of the ill-fated Berlin
conference for the partition of Africa among the colonial powers
including
Ethiopia, where her emperor Menelik said in his infamous circular
addressed
to Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Russia:-
"If
powers at a distance come forward to partition Africa between
them, I do
not intend to be an indifferent spectator."
After the
expulsion of Italians in 1941, our country came under British
rule, and it remained subjected to the British Military Administration
until
1948.
In 1948,
when the British government decided to cede a great part of
the
Ogaden to Ethiopia without the knowledge and the consent of
our people, the
British Administration and the Ethiopian occupation forces faced
a fierce
resistance, especially when they tried to lower Somali Youth
League's(S.Y.L)
flag and shut down forcibly the office of the S.Y.L. in Jigjiga,
Where they
shot dead more than one hundred people, who were protesting
peacefully against the hand over of Jigjiga town to the Ethiopians.
In 1955,
the British Authorities handed over the last part of the Ogaden,
which is Haud and Reserved Areas, to Ethiopia. At that time
peaceful
demonstrations against the cession of the land to the Ethiopians
were
brutally suppressed by Ethiopian occupation forces.
In 1961,
the Ethiopian imperial Army razed to the ground the towns of
Aisha'
a, Dhagahbour and Qalaafo, killing hundreds of defenceless civilians.
In 1974,
when the military junta overthrew Emperor Haile Selassie's
theocratic rule, the new communist military junta enforced more
oppressive
policies in the Ogaden. Summary executions, arbitrary detentions
and
dispossessing the people of their properties were commonplace.
In its
Amharisation policy, the communist regime of Mengistu has transferred
thousands of Ethiopian settlers into the Ogaden in an attempt
to change the
demographic nature of the region, eliminate the Ogadeni national
identity
and transform the Ogaden into a region of Ethiopia, in which
indigenous
Ogadenis will be an insignificant minority .
In 1991,
when the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic
Front(EPRDF), which is dominated by the Tigray People's Liberation
Front(TPLF) came to power, after the defeat of former government,
the EPRDF
presented a new charter. According to the Transitional Charter,
which was
adopted on 22 July 1991, among other things all democratic principles,
human
rights and right to self -determination of all nations in the
empire-state
of Ethiopia, should be recognized and fully respected.
The new
Charter was welcomed by the Ogaden people, who suffered from
a
century of repression and exploitation under the Imperial and
Military
regimes, which ruled the empire-state of Ethiopia respectively.
The Ogaden
National Liberation Front(ONLF), which was the vanguard of the
Ogaden people's long national struggle against the Ethiopian
occupation,
decided unequivocally to be part and parcel of the new political
process in
Ethiopia by ratifying the newly drafted Charter, in order to
pursue the
realization of the Ogaden people' s rights and national aspirations
by
peaceful and democratic means.
In 1992,
the ONLF accused the EPRDF government of master-minding the
killing
of several ONLF officials, including some members belonging
to the Front's
Central Committee.
In September
1992, the Ogaden people went to the polls to cast their votes
in a free and fair election, for the first time in their long
history to
elect their district councils and representatives for the regional
parliament in a landslide victory , the ONLF won about 84% of
the seats in
the newly elected regional parliament.
In mid-1993,
the regional government accused the central government in Addis
Ababa of flagrant interference in the day to day affairs of
the Ogaden
region, an act which contradicts the commitment to regional
autonomy and
devolution of power to the regions.
To put
more pressure on the regional government, the EPRDF central
government deprived the Ogaden region of its share of the central
budget and
aid from international community to Ethiopia, as well as obstructing
all
initiatives and projects deemed necessary for the development
of the region.
In 1993,
the Ethiopian security forces arrested the president, (Mr Abdullahi
Mohamed Sadi who is here today to present paper) vice-president
and
secretary of the Regional Assembly, who were transferred to
prison in Addis
Ababa. They have been released after ten months without having
charged or
tried.
On 28 January
1994, at a press conference in Addis Ababa, ONLF called for
a
referendum on self -determination and independence for the Ogaden.
On 22 February
1994, a cold-blood massacre took place in the town of
Wardheer, where more than 81 unarmed civilians were killed by
TPLF militias,
who tried to kill or capture alive, the chairman of the ONLF
Mr. Ibrahim
Abdallah Mohamed, who was addressing at that time a peaceful
rally in the
centre of the town.
On 17 April
1994, the EPRDF|TPLF government Launched a large-scale military
offensive against ONLF positions and detained many suspected
supporters of
ONLF.
On 28 Aprill994,
at a press conference in Addis Ababa, the then TPLF defence
minister Siye Abraha claimed that all resistance movements in
the Ogaden had
been destroyed and stamped out.
In a petition
addressed to the president of the Transitional Government of
Ethiopia (TGE), the elders of the Ogaden asked the Ethiopian
government to
stop the military offensive against the Ogaden people, and seek
a peaceful
dialogue to resolve the conflict, instead of opting a military
solution,
which complicates the situation.
In May
1994, the Regional Assembly passed a unanimous resolution in
accordance with the Transitional Charter, demanding a referendum
on self-
determination and independence for the Ogaden people, under
the auspices of
international and regional bodies such as United Nations, Organization
of
African Unity, European Union, and other independent non-governmental
organizations.
The EPRDF
government in Addis Ababa reacted swiftly and severely by
overthrowing and virtually disbanding all democratically elected
national
institutions in the Ogaden, including the Regional Parliament.
Like their
predecessors, the president of the Regional Parliament,
vice-president and several members of the parliament (MPs),
were arrested
and transferred to prison in Addis Ababa. Mass arrests and indiscriminate
killings also took place.
In 1994,
the EPRDF government sponsored a new satellite party called
Ethiopian Somali Democratic League (ESDL), which is a version
of People's
Democratic Organizations (PDO), which exists throughout Ethiopia
within the
EPRDF framework. The first congress of ESDL was held in Hurso
under the
patronage of the then prime minister of TGE Tamirat Layne, who
appointed a
member of the ruling EPRDF coalition as a chairman of the new
pro-government
party.
On 25 January
1995, the EPRDF government hastily arranged a meeting in the
town of Qabridaharre to convince the ONLF to participate in
the upcoming
federal and regional elections. The meeting, which was chaired
by the then
president Meles Zemawi (the current prime minister), failed
when each side
refused to compromise.
The ONLF,
had broken off all contacts with the EPRDF government, closed
down its office in Addis Ababa and boycotted elections from
1994 to 1995.
Since 20 April 1994, bloody battles are being fought between
EPRDF forces
and combatants of the ONLF.
Certainly,
the ongoing struggle for self -determination and independence
in
the Ogaden continues to cause more human suffering and threatens
peace and
stability in the Horn of Africa.
Ladies
and Gentlemen,,
Both the
1991 Charter and the new Constitution, which was adopted and
ratified by the Constituent Assembly on 8 December 1994, guarantee
a right
to secession of a people if they are, "Convinced that their
rights are
denied, abridged or abrogated," and this applies to the
Ogadeni case.
Article
l of the International Covenant On Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR) states that the right to self -determination is universal
and calls
upon States to promote the realization of that right and to
respect it. The
article provides that:
"All
peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that
right
they freely determine their political status and freely pursue
their
economic, social and cultural development. All peoples may,
for their own
ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without
prejudice
to any obligations arising out of international economic cooperation,
based
upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law.
In no case may
a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence. The States
parties to
the present Covenant, including those having responsibility
for the
administration of non-self- governing and trust Territories,
shall promote
the realization of the right of self-determination, and shall
respect that
right, in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the
United
Nations."
Since the
current Ethiopian government came to power in 1991, hundreds
of
ogadenis, including women, children, elderly people, politicians
and
religious scholars, have been killed, disappeared, tortured
or remain under
incommunicado detention without charges or trial.
The Ethiopian
colonial administration in the Ogaden treats the Somali
Ogadenis as second class citizens in their own country, exploits
the country
for Ethiopian gains, and deprives the Ogaden people of their
fundamental
human rights, including their inalienable right to independence
and
self -determination.
Discrimination
and segregation against Somali Ogadenis, in terms of
education, health care, employment and economic development
is the corner
stone of the current government ' s policy.
Government
offices in the Ogaden have been purged of anyone whose views
were
judged hostile to the state, and replaced by Tigreans or those
who support
the government policies.
Such an
overt policy of targeting one group for their political orientation,
and preferring others for their pro-government views, has obviously
caused
widespread and deep resentment throughout the region. A particular
target of
this policy appears to be suspected supporters of ONLF or other
opposition
parties.
For the
last six years, the Ogaden has been hit by a severe drought
accompanied by lack of food and medical care, which caused mass
starvation,
and break-out of epidemics, related to malnutrition and bad
sanitation. In
the worst drought-stricken areas, dozens of people and hundreds
of animals
starved to death.
The aid
donated by the international community through the Ethiopian
Relief
and Rehabilitation Commission (ERRC), have been misused by the
government by
diverting the bulk of it to the military barracks and distributing
the rest,
which was very little, to supporters of the government policies,
who are
usually informers and collaborators of the Ethiopian troops
in the Ogaden.
Article
54 -Protection of objects indispensable to the survival of the
civilian population -of the protocols additional to the Geneva
Conventions
of 12 August 1949 states that ((Starvation of civilians as a
method of
warfare is prohibited. It is prohibited to attack, destroy,
remove or render
useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian
population,
such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of
foodstuffs,
crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies
and irrigation
works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance
value
to the civilian population or to the adverse party, whatever
the motive,
whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move
away, or for
any other motives."
In May
1996, the Organisation of African Unit y (OAU) called on African
States not to cut off water supplies to civilians as a tactic
in their wars.
However,
in the fertile valley of the Shabelle River in the Godey area,
the
Ethiopian government has prevented the people from cultivating
their farms
unless they pay 500 Ethiopian birr for each farm, which is too
much for them
to pay. The peasants were threatened with eviction from their
lands if they
do not pay the new tax.
In another
development, the EPRDF forces indiscriminately mined areas which
civilians frequent, particularly around water wells and caravan
routes which
lead to neighbouring countries, in order to stop trade movements
and starve
out the Ogaden people.
The Ogaden
people had suffered from a century of repression, victimisation
and exploitation under the successive alien Ethiopian governments
, and
there is growing disillusionment with the current EPRDF government.
There is
no doubt that the human rights situation will continue to
deteriorate dramatically in the Ogaden unless the international
community
steps in to stop the colonial, inhuman policies of the Ethiopian
government
in the Ogaden.
So, as
long as the Ogaden people are marginalised and their inalienable
right to independence and self -determination is denied, the
international
community will continue to witness more human rights violations,
and more
bloodshed, which may lead to the annihilation of entire Ogadeni
nation by
the Ethiopian government.
The Ethiopian
government has acceded to several international human rights
instruments, including the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and
Cultural Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights,
International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of
Racial
Discrimination, International Convention on the Suppression
and Punishment
of the Crime of Apartheid, Convention on the Prevention and
the Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide, Convention on the Right of the Child,
Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women,
Convention
on the Political Rights of Women, Convention against Torture
and other
Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Slavery
Convention of
1926 as amended, Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of
Slavery, the
Slave Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery
...etc
Despite
the Ethiopian government's ratification of all these important
international human rights treaties, the OHRC, which monitors
the human
rights situation in the Ogaden, confirms the deterioration of
the human
rights situation in the region, and believes that the Ethiopian
government's
accession to the treaties was intended only to mislead the international
community, in order to avoid international public censure over
its human
rights record, and to get more aid from donor countries, which
demand the
improvement of human rights situation in the Third World Countries
which
receive their aid.
This is
the reality of the Ethiopian government's attitude towards the
human
rights situation in the Ogaden, which the international community
should
take up a tough line with the Ethiopian government to persuade
it to comply
with international norms of fundamental human rights and civil
liberties,
and force it to honour its commitments to International Treaties
to which it
had acceded.
The gross
human rights violations and non-compliance to the international
human rights treaties, demonstrate the perfidious and inhuman
nature of the
current Ethiopian government.
Article
55 -Protection of the natural environment -of the Protocols
additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 states
that: Care
shall be taken in warfare to protect the natural environment
against
widespread, long-term and severe damage. This protection includes
a
prohibition of the use of methods or means of warfare which
are intended or
may be expected to cause such damage to the natural environment
and thereby
to prejudice the health or survival of the population. Attacks
against the
natural environment by way of reprisals are prohibited."
However,
in the Ogaden, the poor and the fragile ecological balance has
been
devastated by widespread exploitation and depletion of forests
for military
purposes, firewood and charcoal by EPRDF|TPLF forces and Tigrean
dealers,
who have been given concessions and game-licences by the Ethiopian
government, which dominated by ethnic Tigreans. The rich wildlife,
including
big- game, game-birds, forests and water resources have all
suffered
irreparable damage in the Ogaden under the Ethiopian government.
Ironically,
the Ethiopian government, which violates the very basic human
rights of all citizens in the empire-state of Ethiopia, including
the
Ogadenis, poses itself as a champion of Democracy and Human
Rights in
Africa.
It is the
international community's duty y to censure Ethiopia over its
human rights record, and hold its rulers responsible for the
gross human
rights abuses perpetrated in the Ogaden by their Army and Security
Forces.
HUMAN
RIGHTS ABUSES:
In The
Ogaden, arbitrary detentions without charge or trial, torture
of
detainees to death, summary executions, gang raping of women,
child
molestation, looting and illegal confiscation of property are
commonplace,
and are daily practised by the Ethiopian army and security forces
with
impunity.(See Human Rights Violations in the Ogaden by Ethiopia,
1991 to
1996 ref: OHRC/01/96, Deterioration of Human Rights Situation
in the Ogaden
unabated ref: OHRC/07/96, Mass Killings, Torture and Disappearances
in the
Ogaden ref: OHRC/08/96, Ogaden: No Rights, No Democracy ref:
OHRC/08/97,
Ogaden: An Endless Human Tragedy ref: OHRC/12/98 and Ogaden:
Graveyard of
Rights ref: OHRC/10/99).
RECOMMENDATIONS
AND APPEALS:
1. The
international community publicly censure Ethiopia over its human
rights record.
2. The
Ethiopian government should be held responsible for infamous
mass
killings, disappearances, arbitrary arrests, torture and other
cruel,
inhuman and degrading treatment
3. The
Ethiopian government release of all detainees and close down
of all
notorious detention camps in Ogadenia & Oromia.
4. Restoration
of all democratically elected national institutions in
Ogadenia, which were abolished by the EPRDF government.
5. Respect
of the basic human rights in Ogadenia in accordance with the
United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
Geneva
Conventions and norms of international law.
6. The
Ogaden & Oromo people must exercise their inalienable right
to
self-determination through a fair and free referendum under
the auspices of
the international bodies such as, United Nations, European Union,
Organisation of African Unity.etc
7. The
international donor community help the Ogaden people generously
and
directly through international NGO's in order to assure the
reach of the
food aid to the victims of the famine; otherwise the relief
will end up in
military barracks as usual.
8. The
international community refrain from aiding and supporting the
Ethiopian government as long as it violates human rights and
fundamental
freedoms in the empire-state of Ethiopia.
9. The
Ogaden Human Rights Committee urges the Ethiopian government,
the
Ogaden National Liberation Front and other parties to the conflict
to allow
all humanitarian and relief organisations to operate freely
in the Ogaden as
well as international and local human rights organisations and
the
international press.
Finally,
we would like to express our deepest thanks and gratitude to
the
organizers of this conference.
Thank you
for your attention.
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