April 27, 2007
Ethiopia Finds Itself Ensnared in Somalia
Some Observers See Similarities To U.S. in Iraq
By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, April 27, 2007
Troops patrol Mogadishu on a truck with an antiaircraft gun. The Somali premier declared heavy fighting over yesterday, even as explosions continued. Photo Associated Press
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- Four months after Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi declared his own "war on terror" against an Islamic movement in Somalia, Ethiopia remains entangled in a situation that analysts and critics are comparing to the U.S. experience in Iraq.
Though Meles proclaimed his military mission accomplished in January, thousands of Ethiopian troops remain in the Somali capital, where they have used attack helicopters, tanks and other heavy weapons in a bloody campaign against insurgents that in recent weeks has killed more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, and forced half of the city's population to flee.
On Thursday, the Ethiopian-backed Somali prime minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, declared that three weeks of heavy fighting was over, a statement tempered by the mortar blasts that continued to boom in the distance, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, a political crisis seems to be worsening, as the Somali transitional government, steadfastly supported by the United States, faces a swell of criticism for ignoring concerns of the city's dominant Hawiye clan, whose militias form the core of the insurgency and who are motivated not by the ideology of jihad, but power.
"It's just exactly like the Americans in Iraq," said Beyene Petros, a member of the Ethiopian Parliament and an early critic of the invasion. "I don't see how this was a victory. It really was a futile exercise."
The United States, which had accused Somalia's Islamic Courts movement of being hijacked by extremist ideologues, followed Ethiopia's invasion with airstrikes aimed at three suspects in the 1998 American embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, along with certain Islamic Courts leaders accused of having terrorist ties.
Four months later, however, none of those targets has been killed or captured, and the U.S. airstrikes are confirmed to have killed only civilians, livestock and a smattering of Islamic fighters on the run who were never accused of any crime.
More than 200 FBI and CIA agents have set up camp in the Sheraton Hotel here in Ethiopia's capital and have been interrogating dozens of detainees -- including a U.S. citizen -- picked up in Somalia and held without charge and without attorneys in a secret prison somewhere in this city, according to Ethiopian and U.S. officials who say the interrogations are lawful.
U.S. and Ethiopian officials say they have netted valuable information from some of the 41 detainees, who are being brought before a court whose proceedings are closed to the public.
Others have been quietly released, however, and human rights groups are criticizing the joint operation as a kind of "decentralized Guantanamo" in the Horn of Africa .
Ethiopian officials declined to be interviewed on the subject of Somalia, and a general blackout of information about the war prevails in the capital. Opposition members of Parliament complain that they have not been informed how many Ethiopian soldiers have been killed, how much the war is costing per day or how the government is paying for it.
There is also a sense here that while the invasion served Meles's own domestic interests, Ethiopia was also doing a job on behalf of the United States and is being left with a financial and military mess.
Supporters of Meles are mostly playing down the trouble, even as they are scrambling behind the scenes to find a solution. Knife Abraham, a close adviser to the prime minister, described the situation in Mogadishu -- where the bodies of Ethiopian soldiers have been dragged through the streets -- as "a hiccup."
"The victory was swift and decisive," Abraham said. "Now Ethiopia wants to stabilize the situation and get out."
But it remains unclear how Ethiopia will manage to do that while preserving Somalia's fragile transitional government and preventing more violence.
"The military victory was not complemented by a political victory," said Medhane Tadesse, an occasional adviser to the Ethiopian government who initially supported the invasion. "Long-term stability in Somalia requires a long-term social strategy, but Ethiopia and the U.S. only had a military strategy."
Privately, diplomats in the region say the main problem for Meles comes down to one man: the president of the Somali transitional government, Abdullahi Yusuf, who has always had close ties to Ethiopia. Although Yusuf promised an inclusive government, he has failed to satisfy key leaders of the Hawiye clan, the historic rivals of Yusuf's Darod clan and the main base of support for the ousted Islamic Courts movement.
While Yusuf and Meles have continued to wage what they call a war against "terrorists," experts and even officials close to Yusuf say the insurgency has been heavily motivated by Hawiye clan business interests rather than ideology.
Yusuf's chief of staff, Adam Hassan, accused Hawiye leaders of trying to "hoodwink" Somalis and foreign diplomats into believing that the Hawiye have been treated unfairly, so they can retain property and land they took over after the 1991 fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, who was from Yusuf's Darod clan.
Hawiye leaders said Yusuf wants to assume control of a city they have in many ways administered, and profited from, for years. They said their skepticism of the government has been strengthened by the president, "who labels as 'terrorist' every person or clan who criticizes his policy and clan-style leadership," according to a document outlining their concerns to Ethiopian officials.
One diplomat closely involved in the reconciliation process said Yusuf has refused to meet with Hawiye elders.
In an attempt to breach that gap, Ethiopia has lately been negotiating directly with Hawiye leaders, while the Hawiye seem to be trying to untangle themselves from certain Islamic Courts figures in an attempt to polish their image. This month, the clan asked two of the more extreme Islamic leaders to leave Mogadishu, saying they were a liability.
While the extremist element was always a factor in the Islamic movement, the notion of waging a "war on terror" in Somalia was always an oversimplification of a more complex situation, said Tadesse, the adviser to the Ethiopian government .
The Islamic movement was diverse, made up of extremist military commanders vowing holy war against Ethiopia and moderate leaders, including one, Ibrahim Addow, who taught at American University and holds a U.S. passport.
It was also always fundamentally a Hawiye movement, and Somalis tend to be loyal to clan above all.
Ethiopia and the United States made a mistake, Tadesse and other critics say, by throwing their support entirely behind the transitional government in the name of fighting a terrorist threat that involved just a few individuals, and at the expense of alienating the Hawiye.
This month, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer flew to Somalia in a show of U.S. support for Yusuf's government, a move that further infuriated Hawiye leaders.
Frazer has expressed "concern" for civilians but has offered no public criticism of the transitional government or of Ethiopia for using attack helicopters and other heavy weapons against civilian neighborhoods that have been reduced to ruins.
In his news conference Thursday, the Somali prime minister, Gedi, invited more than 300,000 residents who have fled the city in recent weeks to return to the broken seaside capital, where certain neighborhoods have lately acquired new nicknames.
In an allusion to sectarian violence engulfing Baghdad, residents now call the north part of the city Shiite and the south Sunni.
Gedi said that most of the fighting had ended and that Ethiopian and Somali government troops were merely clearing out the remaining "pockets" of resistance.
But Mohamud Uluso, a prominent leader of a Hawiye sub-clan called the Ayr, said that despite Gedi's declaration, fighting will most likely continue.
"What is worrying for Somalis and the international community now is the possibility of what happened in Iraq," he said. "The fighting was under the control of the Hawiye leadership committee, but once that control disintegrates, then there will be underground leadership. You don't know who or where they are."
Special correspondent Mohamed Ibrahim in Mogadishu contributed to this report.
The Washington Post
By Stephanie McCrummen
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, April 27, 2007
Troops patrol Mogadishu on a truck with an antiaircraft gun. The Somali premier declared heavy fighting over yesterday, even as explosions continued. Photo Associated Press
ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia -- Four months after Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi declared his own "war on terror" against an Islamic movement in Somalia, Ethiopia remains entangled in a situation that analysts and critics are comparing to the U.S. experience in Iraq.
Though Meles proclaimed his military mission accomplished in January, thousands of Ethiopian troops remain in the Somali capital, where they have used attack helicopters, tanks and other heavy weapons in a bloody campaign against insurgents that in recent weeks has killed more than 1,000 people, mostly civilians, and forced half of the city's population to flee.
On Thursday, the Ethiopian-backed Somali prime minister, Ali Mohamed Gedi, declared that three weeks of heavy fighting was over, a statement tempered by the mortar blasts that continued to boom in the distance, witnesses said.
Meanwhile, a political crisis seems to be worsening, as the Somali transitional government, steadfastly supported by the United States, faces a swell of criticism for ignoring concerns of the city's dominant Hawiye clan, whose militias form the core of the insurgency and who are motivated not by the ideology of jihad, but power.
"It's just exactly like the Americans in Iraq," said Beyene Petros, a member of the Ethiopian Parliament and an early critic of the invasion. "I don't see how this was a victory. It really was a futile exercise."
The United States, which had accused Somalia's Islamic Courts movement of being hijacked by extremist ideologues, followed Ethiopia's invasion with airstrikes aimed at three suspects in the 1998 American embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania, along with certain Islamic Courts leaders accused of having terrorist ties.
Four months later, however, none of those targets has been killed or captured, and the U.S. airstrikes are confirmed to have killed only civilians, livestock and a smattering of Islamic fighters on the run who were never accused of any crime.
More than 200 FBI and CIA agents have set up camp in the Sheraton Hotel here in Ethiopia's capital and have been interrogating dozens of detainees -- including a U.S. citizen -- picked up in Somalia and held without charge and without attorneys in a secret prison somewhere in this city, according to Ethiopian and U.S. officials who say the interrogations are lawful.
U.S. and Ethiopian officials say they have netted valuable information from some of the 41 detainees, who are being brought before a court whose proceedings are closed to the public.
Others have been quietly released, however, and human rights groups are criticizing the joint operation as a kind of "decentralized Guantanamo" in the Horn of Africa .
Ethiopian officials declined to be interviewed on the subject of Somalia, and a general blackout of information about the war prevails in the capital. Opposition members of Parliament complain that they have not been informed how many Ethiopian soldiers have been killed, how much the war is costing per day or how the government is paying for it.
There is also a sense here that while the invasion served Meles's own domestic interests, Ethiopia was also doing a job on behalf of the United States and is being left with a financial and military mess.
Supporters of Meles are mostly playing down the trouble, even as they are scrambling behind the scenes to find a solution. Knife Abraham, a close adviser to the prime minister, described the situation in Mogadishu -- where the bodies of Ethiopian soldiers have been dragged through the streets -- as "a hiccup."
"The victory was swift and decisive," Abraham said. "Now Ethiopia wants to stabilize the situation and get out."
But it remains unclear how Ethiopia will manage to do that while preserving Somalia's fragile transitional government and preventing more violence.
"The military victory was not complemented by a political victory," said Medhane Tadesse, an occasional adviser to the Ethiopian government who initially supported the invasion. "Long-term stability in Somalia requires a long-term social strategy, but Ethiopia and the U.S. only had a military strategy."
Privately, diplomats in the region say the main problem for Meles comes down to one man: the president of the Somali transitional government, Abdullahi Yusuf, who has always had close ties to Ethiopia. Although Yusuf promised an inclusive government, he has failed to satisfy key leaders of the Hawiye clan, the historic rivals of Yusuf's Darod clan and the main base of support for the ousted Islamic Courts movement.
While Yusuf and Meles have continued to wage what they call a war against "terrorists," experts and even officials close to Yusuf say the insurgency has been heavily motivated by Hawiye clan business interests rather than ideology.
Yusuf's chief of staff, Adam Hassan, accused Hawiye leaders of trying to "hoodwink" Somalis and foreign diplomats into believing that the Hawiye have been treated unfairly, so they can retain property and land they took over after the 1991 fall of dictator Mohamed Siad Barre, who was from Yusuf's Darod clan.
Hawiye leaders said Yusuf wants to assume control of a city they have in many ways administered, and profited from, for years. They said their skepticism of the government has been strengthened by the president, "who labels as 'terrorist' every person or clan who criticizes his policy and clan-style leadership," according to a document outlining their concerns to Ethiopian officials.
One diplomat closely involved in the reconciliation process said Yusuf has refused to meet with Hawiye elders.
In an attempt to breach that gap, Ethiopia has lately been negotiating directly with Hawiye leaders, while the Hawiye seem to be trying to untangle themselves from certain Islamic Courts figures in an attempt to polish their image. This month, the clan asked two of the more extreme Islamic leaders to leave Mogadishu, saying they were a liability.
While the extremist element was always a factor in the Islamic movement, the notion of waging a "war on terror" in Somalia was always an oversimplification of a more complex situation, said Tadesse, the adviser to the Ethiopian government .
The Islamic movement was diverse, made up of extremist military commanders vowing holy war against Ethiopia and moderate leaders, including one, Ibrahim Addow, who taught at American University and holds a U.S. passport.
It was also always fundamentally a Hawiye movement, and Somalis tend to be loyal to clan above all.
Ethiopia and the United States made a mistake, Tadesse and other critics say, by throwing their support entirely behind the transitional government in the name of fighting a terrorist threat that involved just a few individuals, and at the expense of alienating the Hawiye.
This month, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Jendayi Frazer flew to Somalia in a show of U.S. support for Yusuf's government, a move that further infuriated Hawiye leaders.
Frazer has expressed "concern" for civilians but has offered no public criticism of the transitional government or of Ethiopia for using attack helicopters and other heavy weapons against civilian neighborhoods that have been reduced to ruins.
In his news conference Thursday, the Somali prime minister, Gedi, invited more than 300,000 residents who have fled the city in recent weeks to return to the broken seaside capital, where certain neighborhoods have lately acquired new nicknames.
In an allusion to sectarian violence engulfing Baghdad, residents now call the north part of the city Shiite and the south Sunni.
Gedi said that most of the fighting had ended and that Ethiopian and Somali government troops were merely clearing out the remaining "pockets" of resistance.
But Mohamud Uluso, a prominent leader of a Hawiye sub-clan called the Ayr, said that despite Gedi's declaration, fighting will most likely continue.
"What is worrying for Somalis and the international community now is the possibility of what happened in Iraq," he said. "The fighting was under the control of the Hawiye leadership committee, but once that control disintegrates, then there will be underground leadership. You don't know who or where they are."
Special correspondent Mohamed Ibrahim in Mogadishu contributed to this report.
The Washington Post
April 13, 2007
Guyyaa Gootota Oromoo
Maal jedhanii darbani?
"Dhiignni koo, dhiiga mirgga uummata Oromoo kabajsiisuuf dhangala'u waan ta'eef dhiiga lafatti badde (dhiiga gumaa hin qabnne) miti. Hojii an hin hojjetiini sobaan na yakkanii namoota adda bu'aa natti murteessani hundda bakkattii kanatti ummatni itiyoophiyaa yeroo gabaabaa keessatti akka inni gatii isaanii kennuuf nan amana. Oolee haa bulu malee mirgi uummata Oromoo wallaansoo fi carraaqa ijoollee isaan kabajamuun isaa hin hafu."
Ajajaa Dhibbaa Maammoo Mazammir
"Mootummaan kun waan kaayyoo keenya balleesse itti fakkaatee ofumaa nu dhiphisa. Yoo kaayyoo keenya ta'e inni akka bofa garaa keessa seenee ti. Yoo garaa alaatti harkisanis ta'e yoo gara keessatti gadi lakkisan firiin isaa tokkichuma. Summiin isaa tamsa'ee jira hoo."
Obboo Hailamaariyaam Gammadaa
"Yaa Ummata Oromoo!, Yaa hiriyyoottan koo fi yaa firoottan qabsoo bilisummaaOromoo! Duutin ani due dua gootoota Oromoo kan eenyummaa Oromoo yeroo jalqabaaf kaasan dua obboo H/Maariyaam Gammadaa, kan Jeneraal Taaddasaa Birruu, dua Dhibbaalaa MaammooMazamirii fi kan gootota Oromoo biroo waliin walfakkaata. Ani kanan hidhameef, kanan ajjeefameefis waanan gaaffii mirgaa Oromoo gaafadheef, waanan cunqursaan Oromoo irra jirtu haa kaatu jedhee gaafadheef akkasumas Oromummaa kootti waanan boonuf malee yakka hojjedheen miti.
Mootummaan gabroonfataan ammoo nama ofitti amanu hin jaallatu, mootummoonni Abashaa kan fedhan Oromoo doofaa kan waan isaan ajajan ishoo jedhee fudhatu malee kanneen sabboonoo taan kaan biyyaa ariuun kan qabate mana hidhaatti hiraarsuun achumaan ajjeesuun aadaa isaa tahee jira.Duuti Oromoo dhaa hamma dua sareellee dhageettii dhabdee jirti.
Waan taheefis ani bilisummaa Oromootiifan wareegame irra deddeebitanii hidhii xuuxuun waahuu akka hin fidne beektanii kaayyoon ani itti wareegameef akka galmaan geessan imaanaa/adaraan tokkoon tokkoo Oromootiif dhaammadha. Kanaaf yaa uummata Kuttaayee, yaa uummata Amboo, yaa uummata Sulee , yaa uummata Giincii, yaa uummata Guduruu,Yaa Ummata Sikkoof Mandoo, Yaa Ummata Ittuuf Humbanaa ,Horteen Booranaa fi Barreentumaa walumatti qabaatti Uumatni Oromoo marti gumaa koo goodatti hin hambisinaa! Karaan irra jirru karaa sirriifii kan Jaallan Oromoo itti wareegamaa jiran waan taheef waan nu itti ajjeefamne kana murannoon galmaan gahuun hoji-manee keessan waan taheef mirga keessan kabachiifachuuf sochoaa!
Duuti siree irrattuu kan hin hafne waan taheef ani ammoo bilisummaa saba guddaa gabrummaa jala jiru kanaaf osoon lubbuu lama qabaadhee kenneefii waan na gabbisiisu miti. Wanti guddaan dagatamuu hin qabne garuu Oromoon inni hafe gumaa koo baasuuf hirbuu naa seenuu qaba!"
Dhaamsa Barataa Gaaddisaa Hirphasaa
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April 10, 2007
Who wants to push Africa to Islamic Terror, using as proxy Abyssinian tyrant Zenawi?
Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
April 9, 2007
Insightful into the culture of the Meles Zenawi’s regime, this article reveals the danger of supporting tyrants against Islamists; only Freedom and Independence to Abyssinia’s tyrannized Oromos, Ogadenis, Afars, and Sidamas can ensure progress in Eastern Africa.
Abyssinian supporters of Tyrant Meles Zenawi, and their ‘culture’
Recently published articles on Abyssinia and the tyrannical practices of Meles Zenawi, were widely republished among Oromo, Sidama and Ogadeni websites allover the world, as well as in many websites in Eritrea and Somalia. The fact that I insisted extensively on the fact that Meles Zenawi, with his failed interference in Somalia, risks contributing to Islamic Terror expansion allover Africa, was perceived by his supporters as an alarming warning.
The Abyssinian elite, deep inside their minds, know very well how risky the military intervention of pariah Abyssinia in Somalia is; they can imagine very well the Islamic Terror volcano explosion I have long been talking about. Contrarily to Western somnolence or ignorance, the Abyssinian tyrannical rulers and their supporters know very well that they have no chance of success.
The question is why the West should face a worse front with Islamic Terror because of undeserved and unnecessary support of Africa’s most anachronistic and dysfunctional dictatorship.
I guess Western readership may be at times astounded when I use marked terms and strong epithets for the Abyssinian medieval relic. As a matter of fact, there has long been a quasi-total lack of information in the West about the real nature of the Abyssinian tyranny. To demonstrate that my terms are modest, and pale in comparison with the appalling practices of the Abyssinian tyranny, I publish here the letter sent to me by a supporter of Meles Zenawi.
Through reference to my earlier articles, a reader can understand that Ms. Eleni Betemariam represents in terms of ethnic – religious appurtenance 16 – 18% of the country’s entire population. To understand better her background, consider that illiteracy runs at 65% among that ethnic – religious group, and that total Internet penetration in Abyssinia according to the CIA World Factbook does not exceed 0.2% (130000 people among 75 m in 2005). In brief, Ms. Eleni Betemariam’s representativity basis equals approximately 0.04%. Which equals the Abyssinian ruthless administration.
The importance in Ms. Eleni Betemariam’s text is the ‘culture’, the mentality, the attitudes involved, and I believe the non specialized reader will have a wonderful insightful into the nightmare of today’s Abyssinia through her text and my response at the end. For the average reader’s information, contrarily to what Ms. Eleni Betemariam suggests, a “poor person” cannot pay me a return ticket to Abyssinia, even if he / she lives three lives……
I have not edited Ms. Eleni Betemariam’s text.
Letter by Ms. Eleni Betemariam, Supporter of Abyssinian Tyrant Meles Zenawi
MR Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis,
Please please, if you have any heart, for christ's sake, have some dignity!! You are creating more hate against Oromos in East africa because we know you represent the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)
please stop writting crazy things!
You say, " The ongoing Somali revolution against the presence of the most hated enemy shows the terrible weaknesses of the Abyssinian "
-- Please please Sir, you are writting nonsense. The somali people have clans. The 40% Darod and Rahanweyn clans support the transitional government. the other ogadeni clans in other countries are helped ethiopia. the somaliland and puntland people are 95% supporting ethiopia. we are talking about almost 8 million people of 10 million somali are SUPPORTING ETHIOPIA!! Please have some dignity!! please!!! The subclan inside Hawiye clan is the only one fighting against Ethiopia.
-- you say, "The use of the name Oromo is prohibited in this African Cemetery of Peoples, being disreputably replaced by the Amhara – Tigray tyrants with the derogatory pseudonym ‘Galla’. "
--- sir, our brother, this is not the truth!!!!! the word "Galla" has been disallowed and let alone using the word Oromo, even the Oromo language IS BEING THOUGHT IN ALL ETHIOPIAN SCHOOLS, MOST COLLEGES, INSTITUTIONS FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! ALL TYPE OF OROMO CULTURE IS BEING FREELY PRACTICED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME!!! please PLEASE PLEASE ASK ANYONE FOR THIS INFORMATION!!! PLEASE DO US A FAVOR!!
please visit these websites to have some knowledge on oromos
http://www.ethiopar.net/
http://www.oromiagov.org/
http://www.ethiopar.net/main.html
please PLEASE go to Ethiopia and visit our country.
poor ethiopians would create a fundraising event to finance your airplane ticket to ethiopia so that you can stop being used by the OLF group, stop spreading OLF lies and stop spreading hate.
please have some dignity and humanity!!!!
All ethiopians know that you are representing the OLF. your crazy articles, completely inaccurate, very sad articles are not going to be read by George Bush. Your articles are being read by regular Ethiopians so YOU ARE MAKING US HATE OLF AND SPREADING MORE HATE AGAINST PEOPLE!!!! PLEASE STOP THIS NONSENSE!!!!
GO TO ETHIOPIA JUST FOR ONE DAY.
PLEASE STOP THIS HATE.
My response to Ms. Eleni Betemariam
Ms. Betemariam,
As you persist and invite me to your country, I have to reply.
First, I already visited Abyssinia. Ok, I do not know Abyssinia as well as I do Sudan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Israel, Turkey and Greece, but I know sufficiently well the local realities.
I studied your country's history (late 70s and early 80s), long before I came to Abyssinia (early 90s); I have an elementary knowledge of Gueze and Amharic.
As Historian, I know very well that your country's name is Abyssinia, not Ethiopia.
What is even worse for you, I know who was the person (and I know that person very well) who convinced Haile Selassie to call Abyssinia 'Ethiopia'.
All this is a first point.
The second point is that I have nothing to do with the OLF, either you know it or not, either you believe it or not.
The third point is that when I wrote analytically the Historical Truth - that your country's name is Abyssinia, not Ethiopia - I received all sorts of barbaric insults, hideous and vulgar emails, as well as public threats by Amharas and Tigrays, who through their hatred against me revealed me how fake the transfiguration of Abyssinia to Ethiopia had been.
They attacked me precisely in the way a guilty person attacks the one who reveals his guilt in public. They keep sending mails, thinking that they just insult me.
They are so blind in their hysterical passion that they do not read my CV to realize that I am Greek citizen of Turkish origin, and not Egyptian! I simply lived in Egypt during the past 6 years.
So mad they are in their irrational aberration that they do not read other articles of mine in which I attack - proudly I must say it, as no other scholar in the world - the Pan-Arabism, the falsehood of the so-called Arabic Nation, and the fabrication of the so-called modern Arabic language.
They accuse me of being an agent of Egypt, when I ask the global community to shut down the Arab League, considering Pan-Arabism the main reason of the Islamic Extremism.
They have no idea about my hobby, Psychology; I enjoyed reading all this original and unparalleled stuff that is enough to make me write 10 articles about the public culture and education, as well as the behavioural system of the Amharas and the Tigrays! Not one!
Why I have not done so?
I am the master of my time; I decide when! And please, do not ask me to disclose this info for you!
There are more points to discuss with you.
Fourth point is that in a normal democracy, all fronts, parties, organizations must be allowed to participate in elections; I am sure that you do not suggest that I prohibited OLF from participating in the elections in Abyssinia!
The murderous thug Zenawi did, so I simply criticize his deeds - which are real indeed.
Fifth point is that if people of a region want to shape an independent country, a free referendum must take place, and if the majority - let's say of the Catalans in Spain or the Ogadenis in Abyssinia - want to secede and form an independent country, this must happen immediately.
I am sure you know better than I do that if such referenda are held tomorrow in Abyssinia, the outright majority of the Oromos, the Sidamas, the Ogadenis, and the Afars will prefer independence. If you disagree, demand that such a referendum be held so that you prove you are right. Well, between us, let me advise you not to ask for this loudly in Abyssinia, for they will imprison you on the spur of the moment.
Sixth point is what you say about the national name of Oromo, namely that it is now allowed to be in use in tyrannical Abyssinia; great achievement!
This is not the point; you seem to forget for how many long decades the derogatory term Galla was used; the representatives of the Amhara political, social, economic, academic and intellectual elite have to apologize and denounce the practice for all times.
A crime has been committed; it cannot go forgotten, you know!
In addition, the overall picture of the Abyssinian universities is far worse than your nice description. I will soon focus on this in a separate article. When students support OLF, they get arrested and imprisoned without trial!
Wonderful sort of paradise!
I therefore envy your ‘paradise’, and I accept your invitation for one more trip to Abyssinia; will you take me to Kaliti jail to help me make another report?
Seventh point is the fact that not Somalis but all the peoples of the world are made of tribes and clans; few peoples have been settled for centuries in cities, and have transformed their earlier social structures, melting them within urban life.
The social structure of Somalia is not a hindrance in the country's national pride; they were and they are proud of being Somalis either in Berbera, in Bosaso, in Ras Hafun or in Kismayu. And they all want Abyssinian army out. Either they belong to Somaliland, to Puntland or to (Southern) Somalia; their desire to arrange their country as they find best has nothing to do with the Abyssinian criminal interference and invasion.
More than them, all the reasonable people in the world want this idiotic enterprise terminated, because longer the Abyssinian army stays there more people in Somalia, Abyssinia, Kenya, Sudan, Chad, Libya, Algeria, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Central African Republic, and Uganda turn to the Islamists as the only possible alternative.
Tyrant Meles Zenawi risks making of the entire world volunteering supporters of Ossama Bin Laden. It is a paranoia!
And - it is ironical - I am sure that when all the oppressed peoples of Abyssinia achieve their independence, Meles Zenawi will start demanding Tigray independence from the Amharas!
The websites you suggest are all fabrications of a totalitarian regime that promises no referendum as above! Why wasting time on them?
In Nazi Germany, would you consider Goebbels as an authoritative source of information?
At the end of your letter you ask me to stop the ‘Hatred’ against your country; I don’t think I hate your country. I rather love its oppressed peoples. You therefore ask me to stop loving!
How illuminating, coming from a Christian!
(Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis is Orientalist, Assyriologist, Egyptologist, Iranologist, and Islamologist, Historian, Political Scientist. Dr. Megalommatis, 49, is the author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly articles, hundreds of encyclopedia entries, and thousands of articles. He speaks, reads and writes more than 15, modern and ancient, languages.)
April 9, 2007
Insightful into the culture of the Meles Zenawi’s regime, this article reveals the danger of supporting tyrants against Islamists; only Freedom and Independence to Abyssinia’s tyrannized Oromos, Ogadenis, Afars, and Sidamas can ensure progress in Eastern Africa.
Abyssinian supporters of Tyrant Meles Zenawi, and their ‘culture’
Recently published articles on Abyssinia and the tyrannical practices of Meles Zenawi, were widely republished among Oromo, Sidama and Ogadeni websites allover the world, as well as in many websites in Eritrea and Somalia. The fact that I insisted extensively on the fact that Meles Zenawi, with his failed interference in Somalia, risks contributing to Islamic Terror expansion allover Africa, was perceived by his supporters as an alarming warning.
The Abyssinian elite, deep inside their minds, know very well how risky the military intervention of pariah Abyssinia in Somalia is; they can imagine very well the Islamic Terror volcano explosion I have long been talking about. Contrarily to Western somnolence or ignorance, the Abyssinian tyrannical rulers and their supporters know very well that they have no chance of success.
The question is why the West should face a worse front with Islamic Terror because of undeserved and unnecessary support of Africa’s most anachronistic and dysfunctional dictatorship.
I guess Western readership may be at times astounded when I use marked terms and strong epithets for the Abyssinian medieval relic. As a matter of fact, there has long been a quasi-total lack of information in the West about the real nature of the Abyssinian tyranny. To demonstrate that my terms are modest, and pale in comparison with the appalling practices of the Abyssinian tyranny, I publish here the letter sent to me by a supporter of Meles Zenawi.
Through reference to my earlier articles, a reader can understand that Ms. Eleni Betemariam represents in terms of ethnic – religious appurtenance 16 – 18% of the country’s entire population. To understand better her background, consider that illiteracy runs at 65% among that ethnic – religious group, and that total Internet penetration in Abyssinia according to the CIA World Factbook does not exceed 0.2% (130000 people among 75 m in 2005). In brief, Ms. Eleni Betemariam’s representativity basis equals approximately 0.04%. Which equals the Abyssinian ruthless administration.
The importance in Ms. Eleni Betemariam’s text is the ‘culture’, the mentality, the attitudes involved, and I believe the non specialized reader will have a wonderful insightful into the nightmare of today’s Abyssinia through her text and my response at the end. For the average reader’s information, contrarily to what Ms. Eleni Betemariam suggests, a “poor person” cannot pay me a return ticket to Abyssinia, even if he / she lives three lives……
I have not edited Ms. Eleni Betemariam’s text.
Letter by Ms. Eleni Betemariam, Supporter of Abyssinian Tyrant Meles Zenawi
MR Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis,
Please please, if you have any heart, for christ's sake, have some dignity!! You are creating more hate against Oromos in East africa because we know you represent the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)
please stop writting crazy things!
You say, " The ongoing Somali revolution against the presence of the most hated enemy shows the terrible weaknesses of the Abyssinian "
-- Please please Sir, you are writting nonsense. The somali people have clans. The 40% Darod and Rahanweyn clans support the transitional government. the other ogadeni clans in other countries are helped ethiopia. the somaliland and puntland people are 95% supporting ethiopia. we are talking about almost 8 million people of 10 million somali are SUPPORTING ETHIOPIA!! Please have some dignity!! please!!! The subclan inside Hawiye clan is the only one fighting against Ethiopia.
-- you say, "The use of the name Oromo is prohibited in this African Cemetery of Peoples, being disreputably replaced by the Amhara – Tigray tyrants with the derogatory pseudonym ‘Galla’. "
--- sir, our brother, this is not the truth!!!!! the word "Galla" has been disallowed and let alone using the word Oromo, even the Oromo language IS BEING THOUGHT IN ALL ETHIOPIAN SCHOOLS, MOST COLLEGES, INSTITUTIONS FOR THE FIRST TIME!!! ALL TYPE OF OROMO CULTURE IS BEING FREELY PRACTICED FOR THE FIRST TIME IN A LONG TIME!!! please PLEASE PLEASE ASK ANYONE FOR THIS INFORMATION!!! PLEASE DO US A FAVOR!!
please visit these websites to have some knowledge on oromos
http://www.ethiopar.net/
http://www.oromiagov.org/
http://www.ethiopar.net/main.html
please PLEASE go to Ethiopia and visit our country.
poor ethiopians would create a fundraising event to finance your airplane ticket to ethiopia so that you can stop being used by the OLF group, stop spreading OLF lies and stop spreading hate.
please have some dignity and humanity!!!!
All ethiopians know that you are representing the OLF. your crazy articles, completely inaccurate, very sad articles are not going to be read by George Bush. Your articles are being read by regular Ethiopians so YOU ARE MAKING US HATE OLF AND SPREADING MORE HATE AGAINST PEOPLE!!!! PLEASE STOP THIS NONSENSE!!!!
GO TO ETHIOPIA JUST FOR ONE DAY.
PLEASE STOP THIS HATE.
My response to Ms. Eleni Betemariam
Ms. Betemariam,
As you persist and invite me to your country, I have to reply.
First, I already visited Abyssinia. Ok, I do not know Abyssinia as well as I do Sudan, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Syria, Israel, Turkey and Greece, but I know sufficiently well the local realities.
I studied your country's history (late 70s and early 80s), long before I came to Abyssinia (early 90s); I have an elementary knowledge of Gueze and Amharic.
As Historian, I know very well that your country's name is Abyssinia, not Ethiopia.
What is even worse for you, I know who was the person (and I know that person very well) who convinced Haile Selassie to call Abyssinia 'Ethiopia'.
All this is a first point.
The second point is that I have nothing to do with the OLF, either you know it or not, either you believe it or not.
The third point is that when I wrote analytically the Historical Truth - that your country's name is Abyssinia, not Ethiopia - I received all sorts of barbaric insults, hideous and vulgar emails, as well as public threats by Amharas and Tigrays, who through their hatred against me revealed me how fake the transfiguration of Abyssinia to Ethiopia had been.
They attacked me precisely in the way a guilty person attacks the one who reveals his guilt in public. They keep sending mails, thinking that they just insult me.
They are so blind in their hysterical passion that they do not read my CV to realize that I am Greek citizen of Turkish origin, and not Egyptian! I simply lived in Egypt during the past 6 years.
So mad they are in their irrational aberration that they do not read other articles of mine in which I attack - proudly I must say it, as no other scholar in the world - the Pan-Arabism, the falsehood of the so-called Arabic Nation, and the fabrication of the so-called modern Arabic language.
They accuse me of being an agent of Egypt, when I ask the global community to shut down the Arab League, considering Pan-Arabism the main reason of the Islamic Extremism.
They have no idea about my hobby, Psychology; I enjoyed reading all this original and unparalleled stuff that is enough to make me write 10 articles about the public culture and education, as well as the behavioural system of the Amharas and the Tigrays! Not one!
Why I have not done so?
I am the master of my time; I decide when! And please, do not ask me to disclose this info for you!
There are more points to discuss with you.
Fourth point is that in a normal democracy, all fronts, parties, organizations must be allowed to participate in elections; I am sure that you do not suggest that I prohibited OLF from participating in the elections in Abyssinia!
The murderous thug Zenawi did, so I simply criticize his deeds - which are real indeed.
Fifth point is that if people of a region want to shape an independent country, a free referendum must take place, and if the majority - let's say of the Catalans in Spain or the Ogadenis in Abyssinia - want to secede and form an independent country, this must happen immediately.
I am sure you know better than I do that if such referenda are held tomorrow in Abyssinia, the outright majority of the Oromos, the Sidamas, the Ogadenis, and the Afars will prefer independence. If you disagree, demand that such a referendum be held so that you prove you are right. Well, between us, let me advise you not to ask for this loudly in Abyssinia, for they will imprison you on the spur of the moment.
Sixth point is what you say about the national name of Oromo, namely that it is now allowed to be in use in tyrannical Abyssinia; great achievement!
This is not the point; you seem to forget for how many long decades the derogatory term Galla was used; the representatives of the Amhara political, social, economic, academic and intellectual elite have to apologize and denounce the practice for all times.
A crime has been committed; it cannot go forgotten, you know!
In addition, the overall picture of the Abyssinian universities is far worse than your nice description. I will soon focus on this in a separate article. When students support OLF, they get arrested and imprisoned without trial!
Wonderful sort of paradise!
I therefore envy your ‘paradise’, and I accept your invitation for one more trip to Abyssinia; will you take me to Kaliti jail to help me make another report?
Seventh point is the fact that not Somalis but all the peoples of the world are made of tribes and clans; few peoples have been settled for centuries in cities, and have transformed their earlier social structures, melting them within urban life.
The social structure of Somalia is not a hindrance in the country's national pride; they were and they are proud of being Somalis either in Berbera, in Bosaso, in Ras Hafun or in Kismayu. And they all want Abyssinian army out. Either they belong to Somaliland, to Puntland or to (Southern) Somalia; their desire to arrange their country as they find best has nothing to do with the Abyssinian criminal interference and invasion.
More than them, all the reasonable people in the world want this idiotic enterprise terminated, because longer the Abyssinian army stays there more people in Somalia, Abyssinia, Kenya, Sudan, Chad, Libya, Algeria, Mauritania, Nigeria, Niger, Mali, Central African Republic, and Uganda turn to the Islamists as the only possible alternative.
Tyrant Meles Zenawi risks making of the entire world volunteering supporters of Ossama Bin Laden. It is a paranoia!
And - it is ironical - I am sure that when all the oppressed peoples of Abyssinia achieve their independence, Meles Zenawi will start demanding Tigray independence from the Amharas!
The websites you suggest are all fabrications of a totalitarian regime that promises no referendum as above! Why wasting time on them?
In Nazi Germany, would you consider Goebbels as an authoritative source of information?
At the end of your letter you ask me to stop the ‘Hatred’ against your country; I don’t think I hate your country. I rather love its oppressed peoples. You therefore ask me to stop loving!
How illuminating, coming from a Christian!
(Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis is Orientalist, Assyriologist, Egyptologist, Iranologist, and Islamologist, Historian, Political Scientist. Dr. Megalommatis, 49, is the author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly articles, hundreds of encyclopedia entries, and thousands of articles. He speaks, reads and writes more than 15, modern and ancient, languages.)
April 06, 2007
Oromo Youth Led a Successful Rally in Washington DC
Abdi Galgalo
Abdi Galgalo is a graduate student in life sciences.
“Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.” Author Francis Bacon
The successful rally led by Oromo youth on Saturday March 31, 2007 in Washington DC marked the Oromo youth fulfillment of Sir Francis Bacon’s depiction of the youth. The rally was organized by the International Oromo Youth Association (IOYA), an umbrella organization of all Oromo Youth Associations and Student Unions which was founded in 2006 with the vision of engaging in a multifaceted struggle to bring freedom and justice to the Oromo people. In addition, IOYA is committed to working to alleviate the economic, social, and human rights deprivations of the Oromo nation at no cost to any other nation or country. We, the IOYA, are committed to achieving these goals by investing our time, energy, wealth, and lives. The Oromo youth, want to reaffirm that we are highly committed to the well-being of the Oromo people and will not stop until our people’s destiny rests in their own hands.
The Oromo people are at a critical juncture in our history in which the century-old repression and persecution of our people has surpassed the boundaries of the Ethiopian Empire, and is now rampant in neighboring countries, particularly Somalia. Since the U.S.-backed invasion of Somalia by the so-called Ethiopian Defense Force, the repressive Tigrean minority regime has become emboldened due to the United State’s unconditional support. Lack of media coverage of the atrocities committed by TPLF-regime in Oromia as well as in Somalia has only allowed this situation to worsen.
In front of the demonstrators was a scene depicting the mistreatment of Oromos by Ethiopian Militia
Alarmed by the irresponsible support by the United States, and by the consequent flagrant acts of ethnic-cleansing operations being carried out by the ethnocentric Ethiopia’s Tigrean minority regime, IOYA organized the rally in the Nation’s capital to bring the issue to the attention of the international community. Young and old, women, men, and friends of the Oromo people from all parts of the country flocked to Washington DC to participate in this historic rally. Hundreds of people drove for days from as far away as Minnesota, California, and Seattle to show their solidarity for the just cause of our people, and echoed our calls for an end to the persecution of the Oromo people in Oromia and Somalia. The crowd also demanded the United States to be more accountable for their support to the repressive regime in Ethiopia.
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all who participated in the rally. We want to affirm our commitment to organizing similar marches for peace and justice for Oromo people. We call on all Oromos, friends of Oromo, and all peace-loving people to join our second rally on Thursday, July 26, 2007 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
We thank all organizations and individuals who supported the efforts in making this rally a success.
Freedom for Oromo People, Freedom for All!
International Oromo Youth Association
Abdi Galgalo is a graduate student in life sciences.
“Young people are fitter to invent than to judge; fitter for execution than for counsel; and more fit for new projects than for settled business.” Author Francis Bacon
The successful rally led by Oromo youth on Saturday March 31, 2007 in Washington DC marked the Oromo youth fulfillment of Sir Francis Bacon’s depiction of the youth. The rally was organized by the International Oromo Youth Association (IOYA), an umbrella organization of all Oromo Youth Associations and Student Unions which was founded in 2006 with the vision of engaging in a multifaceted struggle to bring freedom and justice to the Oromo people. In addition, IOYA is committed to working to alleviate the economic, social, and human rights deprivations of the Oromo nation at no cost to any other nation or country. We, the IOYA, are committed to achieving these goals by investing our time, energy, wealth, and lives. The Oromo youth, want to reaffirm that we are highly committed to the well-being of the Oromo people and will not stop until our people’s destiny rests in their own hands.
The Oromo people are at a critical juncture in our history in which the century-old repression and persecution of our people has surpassed the boundaries of the Ethiopian Empire, and is now rampant in neighboring countries, particularly Somalia. Since the U.S.-backed invasion of Somalia by the so-called Ethiopian Defense Force, the repressive Tigrean minority regime has become emboldened due to the United State’s unconditional support. Lack of media coverage of the atrocities committed by TPLF-regime in Oromia as well as in Somalia has only allowed this situation to worsen.
In front of the demonstrators was a scene depicting the mistreatment of Oromos by Ethiopian Militia
Alarmed by the irresponsible support by the United States, and by the consequent flagrant acts of ethnic-cleansing operations being carried out by the ethnocentric Ethiopia’s Tigrean minority regime, IOYA organized the rally in the Nation’s capital to bring the issue to the attention of the international community. Young and old, women, men, and friends of the Oromo people from all parts of the country flocked to Washington DC to participate in this historic rally. Hundreds of people drove for days from as far away as Minnesota, California, and Seattle to show their solidarity for the just cause of our people, and echoed our calls for an end to the persecution of the Oromo people in Oromia and Somalia. The crowd also demanded the United States to be more accountable for their support to the repressive regime in Ethiopia.
We would like to express our deepest gratitude to all who participated in the rally. We want to affirm our commitment to organizing similar marches for peace and justice for Oromo people. We call on all Oromos, friends of Oromo, and all peace-loving people to join our second rally on Thursday, July 26, 2007 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
We thank all organizations and individuals who supported the efforts in making this rally a success.
Freedom for Oromo People, Freedom for All!
International Oromo Youth Association
April 03, 2007
HRW Letter to Kenyan Director of Political Affairs Thomas Amolo
HRW Letter to Kenyan Director of Political Affairs Thomas Amolo
March 22, 2007
Thomas Amolo
Director of Political Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Nairobi, Kenya
Dear Mr. Amolo:
Human Rights Watch was pleased to meet with you recently in Nairobi and we appreciate the time you took to discuss several issues with our researcher.
As discussed in the meeting on February 28, 2007, Human Rights Watch writes to provide further details regarding issues of concern related to the Somalia crisis, particularly the arbitrary detention, deportation, and apparent enforced disappearance of dozens of individuals who fled Somalia in December 2006 and January 2007.
" Human Rights Watch’s research has found that the governments of Kenya, Ethiopia, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, and the United States have closely cooperated in a detention operation along the Kenyan-Somali border following the armed conflict between the Union of Islamic Courts and the joint forces of the Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopia. "
Human Rights Watch’s research has found that the governments of Kenya, Ethiopia, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, and the United States have closely cooperated in a detention operation along the Kenyan-Somali border following the armed conflict between the Union of Islamic Courts and the joint forces of the Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopia.
All parties to the armed conflict in Somalia—including the various Somali forces and participating Ethiopian and US military forces—must abide by international law, including provisions relating to the treatment of civilians and combatants captured in the context of the conflict. Individuals detained in Kenya upon fleeing Somalia should be treated in accordance with international human rights law, including the protections codified in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and, when applicable, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
Detainees are entitled under Kenyan and international law to be protected from torture and other mistreatment under all circumstances and at all times. This includes individuals suspected of affiliation with groups responsible for serious violations of international law, including the Union of Islamic Courts, Al Qaeda, and Ethiopian insurgency movements such as the Oromo Liberation Front or the Ogaden National Liberation Front. All countries, including Kenya, are prohibited from expelling or transferring any individuals to countries where they might be subjected to torture or other forms of mistreatment.
Arbitrary Detention
Human Rights Watch’s recent research in Kenya indicates that since late December 2006, Kenyan security forces arrested at least 150 individuals from some 18 different nationalities at Liboi and Kiunga border crossing points with Somalia. The Kenyan authorities then transferred these individuals to Nairobi where they were detained in prisons and other detention facilities in and around Nairobi for periods that exceed the length of time permitted for pre-trial detention under Kenyan law. Article 9 of the ICCPR, which Kenya ratified in 1976, prohibits arbitrary detention.
While in detention in Nairobi, US and/or other national intelligence services interrogated several foreign nationals who were denied access to their consular representatives. At least 85 people were then secretly deported from Kenya to Somalia in what appears to be a joint rendition operation of those individuals of interest to the Somali, Ethiopian, or US governments.
The conditions of detention of the 150 people detained in Kenya appear to violate Kenyan and international legal standards. From early January through early March 2007, Kenyan regular and anti-terrorism police engaged in an apparent policy of holding individuals detained in connection to the Somalia crisis in incommunicado detention, with no regard to the legal procedures underway respecting several of these individuals in the Kenyan courts, the court orders of the Kenyan judiciary, or the standards embodied in the ICCPR. For instance, the Human Rights Committee—the international body that monitors compliance with the ICCPR—has stated that incommunicado detention may violate ICCPR Article 7 (prohibiting torture and ill-treatment) and Article 10 (safeguards for persons deprived of their liberty).
According to eyewitness and first-hand accounts, Human Rights Watch has learned that the Kenyan police denied many detainees access to family members, legal counsel, diplomatic representatives, and representatives of human rights groups, including members of the Kenyan National Human Rights Commission. On a number of occasions, family members inquired at police stations where they had reasonable grounds to believe their relatives were held, but police officials deliberately misinformed them, and told them their relatives were not held at that location.
In addition, dozens of individuals were held in prisons and other detention facilities in and around Nairobi for several weeks, long exceeding the standard 24-hour period for detention without charge and even the 14-day limit provided for pre-trial detention for capital offenses under Kenyan law.
Information obtained by Human Rights Watch indicates that Kenyan security forces and foreign intelligence services closely cooperated during the detention and interrogation phase of the operation in Kenya. Several credible witnesses reported being questioned and sometimes threatened by members of US or other national intelligence services while simultaneously being denied access to their consular representatives.
For example, Canadian consular officials were refused access to Canadian national Bashir Ahmed Makhtal while he was in detention at a Nairobi police station in January 2007, but in the same period he was interrogated by several individuals from the Kenyan anti-terrorism police unit as well as by people he believed to be from Ethiopian security services.
Several US nationals—Daniel Joseph Maldonado and Amir Mohamed Meshal—and several UK nationals were also interrogated by members of the US security and British services respectively, which appeared to be operating in close cooperation with Kenyan security services, but were simultaneously denied access to US and UK consular officials.
Illegal Rendition or Expulsion in Violation of National and International Law
Human Rights Watch is particularly concerned that many of the individuals detained by the Kenyan security services were subsequently rendered from Kenya into the custody of Somali and Ethiopian authorities in Somalia. Given the ongoing conflict in Somalia, the lack of a functioning justice system, and widespread human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch has serious concerns about the security and conditions of detention in Mogadishu and other locations in Somalia.
Most of the 85 people known to have been expelled from Kenyan detention were suddenly and secretly deported from Kenya to Mogadishu and Baidoa, Somalia, on three flights on January 20, January 27, and February 10 respectively. Members of the Kenyan security services were present on all three flights to Somalia. The January flights were reportedly chartered by African Express Airways from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, and the February 10 flight was chartered by Bluebird Aviation from Wilson Airport.
For example, the Canadian citizen Bashir Ahmed Makhtal was among at least 34 people secretly deported from Kenya to Somalia on January 20, 2007 on an African Express Airways flight to Mogadishu that included at least 11 people believed to be of Ethiopian Oromo origin, at least four individuals of Ethiopian Somali origin, and at least three alleged Eritrean nationals.
Although the exact location and conditions of detention of Bashir Makhtal and the other individuals deported with him are unknown, we are concerned that these people and others have now been transferred to Ethiopia. It is essential that all of these individuals are able to access consular representatives, when relevant, as well as independent international monitors, such as delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The evidence shows that Kenyan authorities were coordinating the deportation flights. In one case documented by Human Rights Watch, the Kenyan Ministry of State for Immigration and Registration of Persons provided a declaration on January 26, 2007 authorizing the deportation of Tuwein Kamilya Mohamed—a citizen of the United Arab Emirates—on the grounds that her presence in Kenya was “contrary to national interest.” Ms. Mohamed was expelled the following day on the African Express Airways flight of January 27, 2007 to Mogadishu, and Human Rights Watch has been unable to locate her since her transfer to Somalia.
At the time of their deportation, a few individuals were the subject of habeas corpus applications in the Kenyan courts. This includes Tunisian national Inez Chine, who was deported on February 10 to Baidoa despite the fact that a habeas corpus application was filed in the Kenyan courts on January 31.
Family members and human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, are making efforts to trace the locations of many of these individuals. These efforts however are difficult given that the Ethiopian and Somali authorities have yet to acknowledge that dozens of individuals were detained under their authority or to provide full access to international monitors seeking to visit detention facilities. Of those individuals believed to be in Ethiopia, at least one, US national Amir Mohammed Meshal—who was previously detained in Kenya and deported to Baidoa, Somalia on February 10, 2007—now appears to be held at a maximum security prison in Addis Ababa.
Risk of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment
Human Rights Watch is extremely concerned that many of the individuals expelled from Kenya to Somalia and then Ethiopia in January and February face a serious risk of torture and other mistreatment at the hands of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, the Ethiopian authorities, or both. Article 3 of the Convention against Torture, which Kenya ratified in 1997, states that no state party “[s]hall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another state where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”
Evidence suggests that some of the detainees were subsequently transferred to Ethiopia following their deportation to Somalia. Human Rights Watch fears that many of the detainees will face mistreatment and possibly torture or execution in Ethiopian custody. Human Rights Watch has previously documented that Ethiopian forces routinely engage in torture of criminal, political and military detainees, and in its recent human rights country report on Ethiopia, the US State Department noted that in Ethiopia “[t]here were numerous credible reports that security officials often beat or mistreated detainees. Opposition political parties reported frequent and systematic abuse of their supporters by police and regional militias. . . . in detention centers police often physically abused detainees.”
A large number of the individuals who were expelled are Ethiopian nationals from the Oromia and Somali regions of Ethiopia. Several Eritrean nationals were also among the individuals secretly deported from Kenya on the January 20 flight to Mogadishu. Ethiopian security services may suspect some individuals of having connections to Ethiopian insurgency movements, in which case they may face torture or even summary execution if delivered into Ethiopian custody. Human Rights Watch is equally concerned about the security of other individuals who may be linked, or perceived to be connected, to the Union of Islamic Courts and who have now been delivered into the custody of the Transitional Federal Government.
Human Rights Watch is also concerned that among the individuals expelled to Somalia by the Kenyan government were some individuals who, based on the identification documents we have collected, appear to have been Kenyan citizens. In addition, a few of the foreign nationals had Kenyan residency or possessed valid Kenyan visas. For the Kenyan government to deport its own citizens or others legally residing in Kenya to Somalia without any judicial procedure presents a serious breach of their due process rights. For Kenyan citizens, such action could effectively render them stateless, a serious violation of international law. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that “[n]o one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.”
New Detentions in Kenya
Finally, Human Rights Watch has received credible reports that the Kenyan security services have detained additional people in recent weeks. Based on the recent patterns of detention, we are concerned that these individuals may face the prospect of incommunicado detention in Kenya or the risk of rendition to Ethiopia or other countries where they may be tortured and mistreated.
We urge the Kenyan government to ensure that any individuals detained in Kenya within the context of counter terrorism operations or detention operations linked to the Somalia conflict are permitted access to legal counsel as required under Kenyan and international law and to independent international monitors such as the ICRC.
We also urge the Kenyan government to publicly and privately call on the government of Ethiopia and the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia to immediately acknowledge those individuals detained in their respective countries and permit international access by diplomatic representatives and independent monitors such as the ICRC.
Furthermore, we call on the Kenyan government to undertake immediate efforts to secure the prompt return to Kenya of those Kenyan nationals who have been illegally deported as well as those foreign nationals who were Kenyan residents.
We would be pleased to provide further information should you require it, and look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Peter Takirambudde
Executive Director, Africa Division
Cc:
Mr. Thuita Mwangi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Hon. John Michuki, Minister for Internal Security
Hon. Martha Karua, Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs
March 22, 2007
Thomas Amolo
Director of Political Affairs
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Nairobi, Kenya
Dear Mr. Amolo:
Human Rights Watch was pleased to meet with you recently in Nairobi and we appreciate the time you took to discuss several issues with our researcher.
As discussed in the meeting on February 28, 2007, Human Rights Watch writes to provide further details regarding issues of concern related to the Somalia crisis, particularly the arbitrary detention, deportation, and apparent enforced disappearance of dozens of individuals who fled Somalia in December 2006 and January 2007.
" Human Rights Watch’s research has found that the governments of Kenya, Ethiopia, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, and the United States have closely cooperated in a detention operation along the Kenyan-Somali border following the armed conflict between the Union of Islamic Courts and the joint forces of the Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopia. "
Human Rights Watch’s research has found that the governments of Kenya, Ethiopia, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, and the United States have closely cooperated in a detention operation along the Kenyan-Somali border following the armed conflict between the Union of Islamic Courts and the joint forces of the Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopia.
All parties to the armed conflict in Somalia—including the various Somali forces and participating Ethiopian and US military forces—must abide by international law, including provisions relating to the treatment of civilians and combatants captured in the context of the conflict. Individuals detained in Kenya upon fleeing Somalia should be treated in accordance with international human rights law, including the protections codified in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR); the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and, when applicable, the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
Detainees are entitled under Kenyan and international law to be protected from torture and other mistreatment under all circumstances and at all times. This includes individuals suspected of affiliation with groups responsible for serious violations of international law, including the Union of Islamic Courts, Al Qaeda, and Ethiopian insurgency movements such as the Oromo Liberation Front or the Ogaden National Liberation Front. All countries, including Kenya, are prohibited from expelling or transferring any individuals to countries where they might be subjected to torture or other forms of mistreatment.
Arbitrary Detention
Human Rights Watch’s recent research in Kenya indicates that since late December 2006, Kenyan security forces arrested at least 150 individuals from some 18 different nationalities at Liboi and Kiunga border crossing points with Somalia. The Kenyan authorities then transferred these individuals to Nairobi where they were detained in prisons and other detention facilities in and around Nairobi for periods that exceed the length of time permitted for pre-trial detention under Kenyan law. Article 9 of the ICCPR, which Kenya ratified in 1976, prohibits arbitrary detention.
While in detention in Nairobi, US and/or other national intelligence services interrogated several foreign nationals who were denied access to their consular representatives. At least 85 people were then secretly deported from Kenya to Somalia in what appears to be a joint rendition operation of those individuals of interest to the Somali, Ethiopian, or US governments.
The conditions of detention of the 150 people detained in Kenya appear to violate Kenyan and international legal standards. From early January through early March 2007, Kenyan regular and anti-terrorism police engaged in an apparent policy of holding individuals detained in connection to the Somalia crisis in incommunicado detention, with no regard to the legal procedures underway respecting several of these individuals in the Kenyan courts, the court orders of the Kenyan judiciary, or the standards embodied in the ICCPR. For instance, the Human Rights Committee—the international body that monitors compliance with the ICCPR—has stated that incommunicado detention may violate ICCPR Article 7 (prohibiting torture and ill-treatment) and Article 10 (safeguards for persons deprived of their liberty).
According to eyewitness and first-hand accounts, Human Rights Watch has learned that the Kenyan police denied many detainees access to family members, legal counsel, diplomatic representatives, and representatives of human rights groups, including members of the Kenyan National Human Rights Commission. On a number of occasions, family members inquired at police stations where they had reasonable grounds to believe their relatives were held, but police officials deliberately misinformed them, and told them their relatives were not held at that location.
In addition, dozens of individuals were held in prisons and other detention facilities in and around Nairobi for several weeks, long exceeding the standard 24-hour period for detention without charge and even the 14-day limit provided for pre-trial detention for capital offenses under Kenyan law.
Information obtained by Human Rights Watch indicates that Kenyan security forces and foreign intelligence services closely cooperated during the detention and interrogation phase of the operation in Kenya. Several credible witnesses reported being questioned and sometimes threatened by members of US or other national intelligence services while simultaneously being denied access to their consular representatives.
For example, Canadian consular officials were refused access to Canadian national Bashir Ahmed Makhtal while he was in detention at a Nairobi police station in January 2007, but in the same period he was interrogated by several individuals from the Kenyan anti-terrorism police unit as well as by people he believed to be from Ethiopian security services.
Several US nationals—Daniel Joseph Maldonado and Amir Mohamed Meshal—and several UK nationals were also interrogated by members of the US security and British services respectively, which appeared to be operating in close cooperation with Kenyan security services, but were simultaneously denied access to US and UK consular officials.
Illegal Rendition or Expulsion in Violation of National and International Law
Human Rights Watch is particularly concerned that many of the individuals detained by the Kenyan security services were subsequently rendered from Kenya into the custody of Somali and Ethiopian authorities in Somalia. Given the ongoing conflict in Somalia, the lack of a functioning justice system, and widespread human rights abuses, Human Rights Watch has serious concerns about the security and conditions of detention in Mogadishu and other locations in Somalia.
Most of the 85 people known to have been expelled from Kenyan detention were suddenly and secretly deported from Kenya to Mogadishu and Baidoa, Somalia, on three flights on January 20, January 27, and February 10 respectively. Members of the Kenyan security services were present on all three flights to Somalia. The January flights were reportedly chartered by African Express Airways from Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, and the February 10 flight was chartered by Bluebird Aviation from Wilson Airport.
For example, the Canadian citizen Bashir Ahmed Makhtal was among at least 34 people secretly deported from Kenya to Somalia on January 20, 2007 on an African Express Airways flight to Mogadishu that included at least 11 people believed to be of Ethiopian Oromo origin, at least four individuals of Ethiopian Somali origin, and at least three alleged Eritrean nationals.
Although the exact location and conditions of detention of Bashir Makhtal and the other individuals deported with him are unknown, we are concerned that these people and others have now been transferred to Ethiopia. It is essential that all of these individuals are able to access consular representatives, when relevant, as well as independent international monitors, such as delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The evidence shows that Kenyan authorities were coordinating the deportation flights. In one case documented by Human Rights Watch, the Kenyan Ministry of State for Immigration and Registration of Persons provided a declaration on January 26, 2007 authorizing the deportation of Tuwein Kamilya Mohamed—a citizen of the United Arab Emirates—on the grounds that her presence in Kenya was “contrary to national interest.” Ms. Mohamed was expelled the following day on the African Express Airways flight of January 27, 2007 to Mogadishu, and Human Rights Watch has been unable to locate her since her transfer to Somalia.
At the time of their deportation, a few individuals were the subject of habeas corpus applications in the Kenyan courts. This includes Tunisian national Inez Chine, who was deported on February 10 to Baidoa despite the fact that a habeas corpus application was filed in the Kenyan courts on January 31.
Family members and human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, are making efforts to trace the locations of many of these individuals. These efforts however are difficult given that the Ethiopian and Somali authorities have yet to acknowledge that dozens of individuals were detained under their authority or to provide full access to international monitors seeking to visit detention facilities. Of those individuals believed to be in Ethiopia, at least one, US national Amir Mohammed Meshal—who was previously detained in Kenya and deported to Baidoa, Somalia on February 10, 2007—now appears to be held at a maximum security prison in Addis Ababa.
Risk of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment
Human Rights Watch is extremely concerned that many of the individuals expelled from Kenya to Somalia and then Ethiopia in January and February face a serious risk of torture and other mistreatment at the hands of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia, the Ethiopian authorities, or both. Article 3 of the Convention against Torture, which Kenya ratified in 1997, states that no state party “[s]hall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another state where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”
Evidence suggests that some of the detainees were subsequently transferred to Ethiopia following their deportation to Somalia. Human Rights Watch fears that many of the detainees will face mistreatment and possibly torture or execution in Ethiopian custody. Human Rights Watch has previously documented that Ethiopian forces routinely engage in torture of criminal, political and military detainees, and in its recent human rights country report on Ethiopia, the US State Department noted that in Ethiopia “[t]here were numerous credible reports that security officials often beat or mistreated detainees. Opposition political parties reported frequent and systematic abuse of their supporters by police and regional militias. . . . in detention centers police often physically abused detainees.”
A large number of the individuals who were expelled are Ethiopian nationals from the Oromia and Somali regions of Ethiopia. Several Eritrean nationals were also among the individuals secretly deported from Kenya on the January 20 flight to Mogadishu. Ethiopian security services may suspect some individuals of having connections to Ethiopian insurgency movements, in which case they may face torture or even summary execution if delivered into Ethiopian custody. Human Rights Watch is equally concerned about the security of other individuals who may be linked, or perceived to be connected, to the Union of Islamic Courts and who have now been delivered into the custody of the Transitional Federal Government.
Human Rights Watch is also concerned that among the individuals expelled to Somalia by the Kenyan government were some individuals who, based on the identification documents we have collected, appear to have been Kenyan citizens. In addition, a few of the foreign nationals had Kenyan residency or possessed valid Kenyan visas. For the Kenyan government to deport its own citizens or others legally residing in Kenya to Somalia without any judicial procedure presents a serious breach of their due process rights. For Kenyan citizens, such action could effectively render them stateless, a serious violation of international law. Article 12 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that “[n]o one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.”
New Detentions in Kenya
Finally, Human Rights Watch has received credible reports that the Kenyan security services have detained additional people in recent weeks. Based on the recent patterns of detention, we are concerned that these individuals may face the prospect of incommunicado detention in Kenya or the risk of rendition to Ethiopia or other countries where they may be tortured and mistreated.
We urge the Kenyan government to ensure that any individuals detained in Kenya within the context of counter terrorism operations or detention operations linked to the Somalia conflict are permitted access to legal counsel as required under Kenyan and international law and to independent international monitors such as the ICRC.
We also urge the Kenyan government to publicly and privately call on the government of Ethiopia and the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia to immediately acknowledge those individuals detained in their respective countries and permit international access by diplomatic representatives and independent monitors such as the ICRC.
Furthermore, we call on the Kenyan government to undertake immediate efforts to secure the prompt return to Kenya of those Kenyan nationals who have been illegally deported as well as those foreign nationals who were Kenyan residents.
We would be pleased to provide further information should you require it, and look forward to hearing from you at your earliest convenience.
Sincerely,
Peter Takirambudde
Executive Director, Africa Division
Cc:
Mr. Thuita Mwangi, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Hon. John Michuki, Minister for Internal Security
Hon. Martha Karua, Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs
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