The mayhem in Mogadidhu

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SOMALIA: Abdullahi Osman - "I came back to find my family lying on the ground, blood everywhere"   Photo: Yasmin Omar/IRIN Abdullahi Osman with two of his injured children MOGADISHU, 12 June 2008 (IRIN) - Abdullahi Osman, 46, father of four children aged between three years and nine years, left his house in Laba Dhagah area of Wardhigley district, south Mogadishu, on the morning of 8 June to go to the market where he is a small trader. Osman and his family had been displaced by a previous wave of violence in the city and had returned to their home a day before. However, that weekend saw some of the most intense fighting between Ethiopian-backed government forces and insurgents. Wardhigley was one of the areas most affected. An hour and half after he left his home, tragedy struck: "I knew there was trouble as the fighting had been going on for two days already but I thought I would leave for a bit and they would be alright. Life is very difficult in Mogadishu and you have to struggle to feed your family and I managed as best as I could. "So that morning I left my wife and four children but I kept calling them to find out how they were. On Sunday, at around 8:00 am, I got the news that our house was hit by artillery shells. "I quickly returned but our house was almost gone and the family was lying on the ground, blood everywhere. At first I was not sure who was alive and who was dead. I first got my oldest daughter but she was not moving at all and I realised that she was dead. I then went to my wife; she was alive but hurt very badly in the head and the face. "My neighbours came and we started to take my wife and surviving children to hospital. There were no cars or buses so we had to carry them on wheelbarrows for almost an hour. They are now at Madina hospital. "The doctors tell me that my wife and my youngest daughter [three-year-old] are in a critical condition. They said there is not much they can do for them. The baby has five pieces of metal lodged in her head and my wife has sustained injuries to her head and face. Neither of them is aware of where they are. I am hoping and praying for a miracle. “The other two [six-year-old boy and eight-year-old girl] are doing better. I have been at the hospital since Sunday to stay with them. I don't even know what happened to my stall at the market. I cannot worry about that now. “The hardest thing is not knowing whether they will live or die. This is killing me slowly. But as a religious person I know everything happens for a reason. "So I am leaving everything to God. All I can do is pray that this nightmare will end and we can get our country and our lives back." ah/jm

Satellite proof of Ethiopian atrocity in Ogaden

News: News Archive

http://www.aaas.org//news/releases/2008/0612ethiopia.shtml

 

AAAS Geospatial Analysis Confirms Destruction of Towns, Houses in Eastern Ethiopia

The town of Labigah: 26 September 2005 (top) and 28 February 2008 (bottom)

See larger versions of these images or larger versions with annotations marking buildings that were damaged or removed.

[Images © 2008 DigitalGlobe]

An analysis of high-resolution satellite imagery by AAAS has helped confirm evidence that the Ethiopian military has attacked civilians and burned towns and villages in eight locations across the remote Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia.

The images and analysis provided crucial corroboration for a 130-page report released today in Nairobi, Kenya, by Human Rights Watch following a four-month investigation, which also used eyewitness accounts to demonstrate the attacks on tens of thousands of ethnic-Somali Muslims living in the East African country.

Lars Bromley, project director for the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program (SHRP), obtained and analyzed several "before" and "after" satellite images of villages identified by Human Rights Watch as possible locations of human rights violations. Of the imaged sites, eight bore signs consistent with the attacks described, primarily in villages and small towns in the Wardheer, Dhagabur, and Qorrahey Zones.

"This use of geospatial technologies demonstrates how science and technology can enhance human rights documenting and reporting," said SHRP Director Mona Younis. "AAAS, along with other organizations, is committed to identifying and developing new and practical science-based solutions to human rights challenges, and our geospatial technologies work is one example of that."

Peter Bouckaert, emergencies director at Human Rights Watch, said that because Ethiopian authorities regularly deny human rights observers access to the Ogaden region, his organization teamed with AAAS to corroborate nearly 100 eyewitness testimonies collected in neighboring Somalia and Kenya.

"The Ethiopian authorities frequently dismiss human rights reports, saying that the witnesses we interviewed are liars and rebel supporters," Bouckaert said. "But it will be much more difficult for them to dismiss the evidence presented in the satellite images, as images like that don't lie."

AAAS has pioneered the use of geospatial technology in human rights cases and has helped human rights groups document widespread abuses in Zimbabwe, Burma, Chad, and the Darfur region of Sudan.

In 2006, AAAS analyzed satellite images of Porta Farm, a settlement located just west of the Zimbabwean capital of Harare for an Amnesty International report that found the government had leveled the entire community and forced thousands of its residents to relocate as part of a campaign against government opponents.

In late 2007, AAAS released a report identifying 25 sites throughout eastern Burma (also known as Myanmar) showing significant village destruction, forced relocations, and a growing military presence following opposition to the ruling junta. Relying on Free Burma Rangers, the Thailand Burma Border Consortium, and the Karen Human Rights Group for on-the-ground information, the report documented attacks from 2005 through the report's release.

AAAS analysis of the Ethiopia images was underwritten by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which has been a core supporter of SHRP since its establishment in 1977.

Since 2000, commercial vendors have offered high-resolution satellite images taken from about 450 kilometers above Earth of almost anywhere on the planet. Once a site is photographed, the satellite company will add the image to its archive and make it available for resale. Bromley said images range in price from $250 for an archived image, to upwards of $2,000 for new images of an area that hadn't previously been studied by private satellites.

Bromley said the imaging of Ogaden is an indicator of the technology's power because the region "may well be the most isolated place on earth, save perhaps the densest parts of the Congolese or Amazon rainforests." With only a limited number of dirt roads leading into the sparsely populated, arid, 400,000-square-kilometer region filled with difficult, rocky terrain and heavy brush, it is a challenge for human rights observers to get into the communities and evaluate the destruction.

For the report, Bromley obtained images of the Ogaden region from two satellite vendors. The first, GeoEye, operates the Ikonos satellite that can view images one meter long; it has an eight-year archive of images. The second company, DigitalGlobe, operates the WorldView and QuickBird satellites that can view features as small as 50 centimeters long, but it has a smaller archive.

Bromley said that GeoEye's extensive archives make their satellite useful for "before" images, which the detailed resolution of DigitalGlobe's satellites are preferred for "after" image requests.

Beyond contributing to the Human Rights Watch project, Bromley and AAAS have completed a separate report on the scientific and technical issues surrounding geospatial technology as an instrument for monitoring human rights in Ogaden and elsewhere.

Available online , AAAS's report discusses how weather, towns with multiple names and similar spellings, the lack of archival imagery, and the inability of satellites to capture some crimes, including kidnapping and murder, posed obstacles for Bromley's analysis.

In their reports, both AAAS and Human Rights Watch also identified the nomadic lifestyle of the Ogaden people as a significant challenge for the project. While some towns are considered permanent, others can grow, shrink, or relocate—sometimes with different names—making image comparison very difficult.

Bromley added that the relatively small home sizes "challenge the limits of commercial satellite sensors." Despite being able to view objects as small as 50 centimeters long with DigitalGlobe's satellites, a lot of things "look only like little black squares" unless you have previous knowledge of the structure, he said.

Comparing images of the town of Labigah, for example, AAAS's report found that about 40 structures identified in a September 2005 image had been removed—likely by burning—in an updated image from last February 2008. The analysis corroborates the Human Rights Watch report in which an eyewitness said the Ethiopian army "went into every village and set it on fire."

While the Ogaden area is located in Ethiopia, its residents are ethnic Somalis as are people in neighboring Somalia. Following Somalia's unsuccessful attempts in the 1970s to integrate the region into its borders, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a ethnic Somali insurgency, formed, seeking secession or self-determination for the region. Since then, the ONLF has launched attacks in Eastern Ethiopia. In response to ONLF's attacks, news reports and humans rights organizations report that the Ethiopian government has restricted commercial traffic and humanitarian operations in the region, razed villages, and targeted civilians.

Bouckaert added that, beyond their evidentiary value, the images send a direct and powerful message to abusive governments that try to keep human rights investigators out.

"They can deny us access on the ground," he said, "but they can't prevent us from still telling the truth about what is happening inside."

Benjamin Somers

12 June 2008

  Source AAAS

XISBIGA KULMIYE OO U HIILIYEY JABUUTI

Xisbiga KULMIYE oo Cambaareeyey weerarka Erateriya ku qaadday Jabuuti

June 12th, 2008

Hargeysa (Somaliland.org) – Xisbiga ugu weyn mucaaridka Somaliland ee KULMIYE ayaa ku cambaareeyey dowladda Eriteriya dagaalka ay la gashay Jabuuti. Waxana uu ugu baaqay dowladda Eriteriya inay joojiso duullaanka ay ku soo qaadday dalka yar ee ugu xasilloonida badan gobolka ee Jabuuti, wadahadalna lagu dhammeeyo khilaafka.

Xisbiga KULMIYE, warsaxaafadeed uu ka soo saaray maanta dagaalka ka dhex qarxay Jabuuti iyo Erateriya oo uu ku saxeexan yahay Xoghayaha Guud ee Xisbiga, mudane Keyse Xasan Cige, waxa uu ku tilmaamay dagaalkaas oo uu ku eedeeyey Erateriya inuu wax u dhimayo xasilloonida iyo nabadgelyada gobolka Geeska Afrika.

Waxana uu yidhi, warsaxaafadeedku:

"Hogaanka Xisbiga KULMIYE wuxuu cambaareynayaa duulimaadka ay Xukuumadda Erateriya ku soo qaaday Waqooyiga Jabuuti maalintii Salaasada ee bisha Juun ahayd 10, 2008.

Waxaanu aad uga xunnahay weerarkaasi ay Erateriya ku soo qaaday Jabuuti oo aanu u aragno midaan loo baahnayn wakhtigan la joogo oo Dadweynaha ku nool Gobolkani iyo guud ahaan adduunkuba ay soo food saareen dhaqaale xumo, sicir barar iyo macaluuli.

Waxaanu aaminsanahay in weerarada noocan ahi aanay waxba ku soo kordhinaynin nolosha iyo wadciga dhabta ah ee yaala Gobolkan, haseyeeshee ay ku sii siyaadinayaan dhibaatooyin iyo duruufo adag oo hoos u dhiga adeega aasaasiga ah ee nolosha bulshada ku nool labada waddan ee Jabuuti iyo Eriteriya iyo guud ahaan Gobolka Geeska.

Waxaynu ognahay inay Jabuuti ka mid tahay goobaha ugu xassiloon Gobolka Geeska Africa, sidaa daraadeed aan loo baahnayn in wax loo dhimo degenaanshahaasi, kaasoo saamayn weyn ku yeelan kara nabbada iyo xassiloonida Gobolka guud ahaan.

Waxaanu ugu baaqaynaa Xukuumadda Eriteriya inay joojiso weerarada aan waxba soo kordhinaynin, laguna dhameeyo arrinta ka dhaxaysa labada wadan ee Jabuuti iyo Ereteria wadahadal".       

 Magaalada Hargeysa oo xidhiidh la leh Jabuuti ayaa si weyn looga dareemay dagaalka ka dhex qarxay Jabuuti iyo Erateriya, iyada oo ay dadku iska waraysanayeen ilaa shalay dagaalkaas, aragtiyo kala duwanna ay ka bixinayaan.

C/risaaq M. Dubbad, Somaliland.org, Hargeysa.

HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION

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SOMALIA: Violations against children on the increase, UN   Photo: Yasmin Omar/IRIN A child injured by shrapnel in the latest round of fighting in Mogadishu, lies in hospital after recieving medical attention NAIROBI, 12 June 2008 (IRIN) - The United Nations has accused both Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), and the insurgents fighting it, of committing grave human rights violations against children in the country. In a report to the UN Security Council on 11 June, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "The level of grave violations against children in Somalia has been increasing over the past year, particularly with regard to the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict; the killing, maiming and rape of children; and the denial of humanitarian access to children." "The widespread use of children in almost all fighting forces in the country was noted, particularly in Mogadishu," Ban reported, adding that the recruitment of child soldiers was also increasing, although exact numbers could not be verified. Ban called on the transitional government and opposition groups to renounce the recruitment and use of children in their armed forces, and urged such forces in Somalia "to make all efforts to minimise civilian casualties during fighting". Ahmed Dini of Peaceline, a Somali civil society group that monitors the situation of children in the country, told IRIN that if one looks at the displaced camps where tens of thousands are sheltering, or in hospitals, the "vast majority are children". Dini said: "Unfortunately in all aspects of the Somali tragedy children are more often than not most affected and least able to cope." Christian Balslev-Olesen, the Representative of Unicef, said that, "Just outside Mogadishu there are hundreds of thousands of children displaced, many of whom are not accessing education." Since serious fighting began in early 2007, at least one million Somalis have fled their homes, while an estimated 6,500 civilians have been killed. Some 2.6 million Somalis need assistance and this figure is expected to reach 3.5 million by the end of the year if the humanitarian situation does not improve, according to the UN. Ban's account noted that the number of cases of rape and other sexual assaults against children reported to UN and partner monitoring organizations rose from 115 in 2007 to 128 this year.. Unfortunately in all aspects of the Somali tragedy children are more often than not most affected and least able to cope However, these numbers are not reflective of the actual numbers of cases. "The vast majority of cases of sexual violence in Somalia are not reported," said Balslev-Olesen. Dini said many children under the age of 16 were being recruited by all sides in violation of international law. "There are no exact figures, but there are probably several thousand children in all the armed groups," added Dini. Ban called for investigations into all incidents of grave child rights violations and urged the TFG to end the detention of children and to control the proliferation of small arms. Moreover, Ban urged the Ethiopian forces to "refrain from indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects, including but not limited to schools and hospitals," and called on the Ethiopian authorities to investigate allegations of grave violations against children by their forces. [Full report at: www.un.org]

 

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HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION IN SOMALIA

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SOMALIA: Violations against children on the increase, UN   Photo: Yasmin Omar/IRIN A child injured by shrapnel in the latest round of fighting in Mogadishu, lies in hospital after recieving medical attention  NAIROBI, 12 June 2008 (IRIN) - The United Nations has accused both Somalia's Transitional Federal Government (TFG), and the insurgents fighting it, of committing grave human rights violations against children in the country. In a report to the UN Security Council on 11 June, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said: "The level of grave violations against children in Somalia has been increasing over the past year, particularly with regard to the recruitment and use of children in armed conflict; the killing, maiming and rape of children; and the denial of humanitarian access to children." "The widespread use of children in almost all fighting forces in the country was noted, particularly in Mogadishu," Ban reported, adding that the recruitment of child soldiers was also increasing, although exact numbers could not be verified. Ban called on the transitional government and opposition groups to renounce the recruitment and use of children in their armed forces, and urged such forces in Somalia "to make all efforts to minimise civilian casualties during fighting". Ahmed Dini of Peaceline, a Somali civil society group that monitors the situation of children in the country, told IRIN that if one looks at the displaced camps where tens of thousands are sheltering, or in hospitals, the "vast majority are children". Dini said: "Unfortunately in all aspects of the Somali tragedy children are more often than not most affected and least able to cope." Christian Balslev-Olesen, the Representative of Unicef, said that, "Just outside Mogadishu there are hundreds of thousands of children displaced, many of whom are not accessing education." Since serious fighting began in early 2007, at least one million Somalis have fled their homes, while an estimated 6,500 civilians have been killed. Some 2.6 million Somalis need assistance and this figure is expected to reach 3.5 million by the end of the year if the humanitarian situation does not improve, according to the UN. Ban's account noted that the number of cases of rape and other sexual assaults against children reported to UN and partner monitoring organizations rose from 115 in 2007 to 128 this year.. Unfortunately in all aspects of the Somali tragedy children are more often than not most affected and least able to cope However, these numbers are not reflective of the actual numbers of cases. "The vast majority of cases of sexual violence in Somalia are not reported," said Balslev-Olesen. Dini said many children under the age of 16 were being recruited by all sides in violation of international law. "There are no exact figures, but there are probably several thousand children in all the armed groups," added Dini. Ban called for investigations into all incidents of grave child rights violations and urged the TFG to end the detention of children and to control the proliferation of small arms. Moreover, Ban urged the Ethiopian forces to "refrain from indiscriminate attacks against civilians and civilian objects, including but not limited to schools and hospitals," and called on the Ethiopian authorities to investigate allegations of grave violations against children by their forces. [Full report at: www.un.org]
Report can be found online at: http://www.irnnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78711

 

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HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION IN OGADEN, ETHIOPIA

HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH

Ethiopia: Army Commits Executions, Torture, and Rape in Ogaden

Donors Should Act to Stop Crimes Against Humanity

(Nairobi, June 12, 2008) – In its battle against rebels in eastern Ethiopia's Somali Region, Ethiopia's army has subjected civilians to executions, torture, and rape, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today. The widespread violence, part of a vicious counterinsurgency campaign that amounts to war crimes and crimes against humanity, has contributed to a looming humanitarian crisis, threatening the survival of thousands of ethnic Somali nomads.

The 130-page report "Collective Punishment: War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in the Ogaden Area of Ethiopia's Somali Regional State," documents a dramatic rise in unchecked violence against civilians since June 2007, when the Ethiopian army launched a counterinsurgency campaign against rebels who attacked a Chinese-run oil installation. The Human Rights Watch report provides the first in-depth look at the patterns of abuse in a conflict that remains virtually unknown because of severe restrictions imposed by the Ethiopian government.  
 
"The Ethiopian army's answer to the rebels has been to viciously attack civilians in the Ogaden," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director at Human Rights Watch. "These widespread and systematic atrocities amount to crimes against humanity. Yet Ethiopia's major donors, Washington, London and Brussels, seem to be maintaining a conspiracy of silence around the crimes."  
 
Human Rights Watch researchers located and interviewed more than 100 victims and eyewitnesses to abuses, as well as traders, business leaders, and regional government officials located in neighboring Kenya, the semi-autonomous region of Somaliland in northern Somalia and in Ethiopia. The research, largely carried out between September and December 2007, was further supplemented with satellite imagery that confirmed the burning of some villages. In chilling accounts, witnesses and victims described to Human Rights Watch nightly beatings with the barrel of a gun, public executions, and the burning of entire villages.  
 
The report describes the army's response to the April 2007 attack by the rebel Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) on a Chinese-run oil installation in Obole that killed more than 70 Chinese and Ethiopian civilians. During the peak of the army's counterinsurgency campaign from June to September 2007, witnesses described how Ethiopian troops forcibly displaced entire rural communities and destroyed dozens of rural villages; executed at least 150 civilians, sometimes in demonstration killings to terrorize those communities suspected of supporting the ONLF; and arbitrarily detained hundreds of civilians in military barracks where they experienced beatings, torture, and widespread rape and other forms of sexual violence. Thousands of civilians fled the conflict-affected areas for neighboring countries. Some of the patterns of violence are ongoing, and Human Rights Watch believes its findings represent only a fraction of the actual abuses.  
 
Ethiopian authorities also stepped up their forced recruitment of local militia forces, many of whom are sent to fight against the ONLF without military training, resulting in large casualty rates.  
 
The rebel ONLF has also been responsible for serious violations of the laws of war, including the summary executions of Chinese and Ethiopian civilians during the April 2007 attack on the Obole oil installation and killing suspected government collaborators, which are considered war crimes.  
 
Many civilians living in the conflict zone are nomads who must move to fresh grazing areas and regional markets to sell their livestock. Since mid-2007, Ethiopian forces have imposed a series of measures aimed at cutting off economic support to the ONLF, including a trade blockade on the war-affected region, restricted access to water, food and grazing areas, confiscation of livestock and trade goods, and obstruction of humanitarian assistance. In combination with the drought produced by successive poor rains, this "economic war" is threatening the lives of thousands of civilians, yet many of them lack access to food aid due to government manipulation of food distribution.  
 
"The government's attacks on civilians, its trade blockade, and restrictions on aid amount to the illegal collective punishment of tens of thousands of people," said Gagnon. "Unless humanitarian agencies get immediate access to independently assess the needs and monitor food distribution, more lives will be lost."  
 
The Ethiopian government did not respond to Human Rights Watch's requests for access to the conflict-affected area, and has tried to stem the flow of information from the region. Some foreign journalists who have attempted to conduct independent investigations have been arrested and residents and witnesses have been threatened and detained in order to prevent them from speaking out. In July 2007, the government expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross from Somali Region, although it has since permitted some UN and nongovernmental humanitarian organizations to operate, albeit under tight controls.  
 
The report also analyzes the Ethiopian government and international community's responses to the continuing abuses. Ethiopia continues to deny the allegations but has yet to investigate them or hold anyone accountable. Human Rights Watch says that donor governments are failing to demand human rights accountability, despite the substantial economic aid to Ethiopia and its partnership in regional counterterrorism efforts.  
 
Western governments and institutions alone, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and the European Union, give at least US$2 billion in aid to Ethiopia annually, but have remained silent on the widespread abuses being committed in the Ogaden area. The US government, which views Ethiopia as a key partner in regional counterterrorism efforts, has failed to use its significant leverage, including military aid, to press for an end to the crimes.  
 
Human Rights Watch called on major donors to press Ethiopia to end the violence and recommended that:  

 
 

• The US government should investigate reports of abuses by Ethiopian forces, identify the specific units involved, and ensure that they receive no assistance or training from the United States until the Ethiopian government takes effective measures to bring those responsible to justice, as required under the "Leahy law," which prohibits US military assistance to foreign military units that violate human rights with impunity.
  

    
   

• The UK government and the European Union should condemn the abuses, publicly call on the Ethiopian government to investigate the crimes in Somali Region, demand that civilian and military officials are held accountable, and monitor development funding to ensure it is not being used for security operations.
  

   
   

 
"Influential states use many excuses – such as lack of information and strategic priorities – to downplay the grave human rights concerns in Somali Region," said Gagnon. "But crimes against humanity can't be swept under the carpet. Donor governments should reconsider their policies on Ethiopia until these abuses end and those responsible are brought to justice."  
 
Witness accounts from the report:  
 
"The soldiers came to Aleen, after they burned down Lahelow. Then they burned Aleen. We were there at the time. The soldiers arrived and ordered the people out of their homes. They gathered all of the people together. Then the commander ordered the village burned. The commander told us, 'I have told you already to leave these small villages,' and then they forced us out. Then they burned down all the homes. The houses are just huts, so it is easy to burn them."  
– Villager, September 23, 2007  
 
"I was taken away with two men, Hassan Abdi Abdullahi and Ahmed Gani Guled. First, they pulled ropes around the necks of the two men and pulled in opposite directions, and both fell down. They put me in a ditch while they were strangling the other two. One soldier tried to strangle me with the metal stick used for cleaning the gun [by pushing it down on my throat], but I twisted his finger until he released me. Then two other soldiers came and they put a rope around my neck and started pulling. That is the last thing I remember, until I woke up, still in the ditch. A naked body was on top of me, it was Ahmed Gani Guled, who was dead. I couldn't move out of the ditch until I was found by some women who came to the waterhole."  
– Ridwan Hassan-rage Sahid, October 30, 2007  
 
"They started beating me with the backs of their AK-47 guns. They hit me once with the gun in my face, and then started beating me. They also hit me with the gun barrel in my teeth, and broke one of my teeth. Then they started beating me with a fan belt on my back and my feet. It lasted for more than one hour. Then they tied both my legs and lifted me upside down to the ceiling with a rope, and kept beating me more, saying I had to confess. For two months, we underwent this same ordeal, being taken from our rooms at night and being beaten and tortured."  
– Thirty-one-year-old shopkeeper, September 20, 2007  
 
"They wanted to intimidate the rest of us, so they brought the two girls who they said were the strongest ONLF supporters. They made the rest of us watch while they killed the two girls. First they tried to get them to confess, saying they would kill them otherwise. Then they shot both of them with their guns. Their names were Faduma Hassan, 17, and Samsam Yusuf, 18. Both were students."  
– Student, September 23, 2007  
 
"We have a well in Qoriley which is surrounded by wire. The army has prohibited us from using it, so you have to sneak in at night. All these things have been imposed on us this year. At nighttime, we will try and get some water to store in our houses. But if the soldiers see you are fetching water, they can kill you."  
– Villager, September 22, 2007  
 
"If [the federal government] followed the law, it would be good, but even the law they've created is not being followed."  
– Former regional court judge, December 5, 2007  

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West ignoring Ethiopian war crimes, says rights body   Thursday, June 12, 2008 Nairobi (dpa) - The European Union, British government and US government are deliberately ignoring war crimes committed by the Ethiopian army in the Horn of Africa nation's Somali region, Human Rights' Watch (HRW) said in a report released Thursday. The Ethiopian army has been carrying out a counterinsurgency operation since an April 2007 attack on a Chinese oil installation by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) killed more than 70 Chinese and Ethiopian civilians. However, HRW said the army's response was to use 'brutal force' against ethnic Somali civilians in the Ogaden Area of the Somali Region. 'Our report finds that Ethiopia has been executing, torturing and raping civilians,' Georgette Gagnon, HRW's Africa Director, told journalists at the launch of the report in Nairobi. 'It has burned villages as part of a scorched earth campaign.' London, Brussels and Washington provide billions of dollars in aid and military assistance to Ethiopia every year, but are overlooking the issue, Gagnon said. 'The silence of donors amounts to complicity,' she said. The US sees Ethiopia as a key ally in fighting terror in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopian forces are also active in neighbouring Somalia, where they are helping the weak transitional government fight Islamic insurgents the US fears are linked to al-Qaeda. 'Ethiopia is one of the US's key partners in the war on terror,' Gagnon said. 'In this context, the US is allowing Ethiopia to carry out its own war of terror.' HRW called on Washington to investigate reports of abuse and withdraw funding to the specific units involved. Peter Bouckaert, HRW's Emergencies Director, said that the US was well aware of the abuses, as it had military personnel on the ground and also some aid workers had been allowed in to the area. 'Its silence is not based on ignorance. It is based on ignoring available information,' he said. The body called on Brussels and London to condemn the abuses and publicly call on the Ethiopian government, which HRW says is orchestrating the campaign, to investigate the crimes. HRW interviewed more than 100 victims and eyewitnesses in Kenya, northern Somalia and Ethiopia to put together the report. According to HRW, the army has executed at least 150 people - many of them in demonstration killings - forcibly displaced tens of thousands of people, burned dozens of villages and conscripted civilians into militias to the fight the ONLF. One testimony in the report related how Ethiopian soldiers executed two teenage girls. 'They wanted to intimidate the rest of us, so they brought the two girls they said were the strongest ONLF supporter,' an unnamed student told HRW. 'They made the rest of us watch while they killed the two girls. First they tried to get them to confess ... then they shot both of them.' The body's report showed satellite images of villages before and after allegedly being torched by Ethiopian forces, with many of the structures apparently gone. HRW said that it believed that the cases documented in the report only represent a fraction of the abuses due to the difficulty of accessing the region. The peak of the abuses came last year, Gagnon said. However, it has only tailed off because most of the villages have already been burned, she added. The Ethiopian government has repeatedly denied it is targeting civilians and burning villages. However, it heavily restricts access to the Somali Region, and HRW is concerned that this could lead to a humanitarian crisis when an expected famine hits Ethiopia this year. 'If famine sets in, the Somali Region will be badly hit. Humanitarian agencies can't get in,' Bouckaert said. Source: dpa, June 12, 2008

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