OLF denies plotting to assassinate Kenyan presidential aspirant

ADDA BILISUMMAA OROMOO
OROMO LIBERATION FRONT

Mr. Kalonzo Musyoka and the OLF Mistaken identity

Mr. Kalonzo Musyoka, Kenya presidential aspirant, has alleged an assassination plot by the Kenyan government against him and others. He further alleged that the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) was involved in this plot. This allegation was broadcasted by Kenyan televisions and radio networks and was also disseminated in the major newspapers including the Daily Nation and the East African Standard on June 14, 2007.

The OLF vehemently denies that it plotted to assassinate Mr. Musyoka. The unfounded accusations directed at the OLF is an extension of the tyrannical Prime Minster Meles Zenawi regime’s conspiracy to spoil the good name of the OLF and create obstacles to the progress of the Oromo people’s struggle for freedom, democracy and peace. The OLF has never been nor will be in the business of serving as mercenary to assassinate leaders of any country, leave alone leaders of friendly neighboring states.

The information of Mr. Musyoka’s intelligence network implicating the OLF in the conspiracy to assassinate him and other Kenyan Presidential aspirant is totally erroneous and malicious. Apparently some elements within Mr. Musyoka’s security apparatus are double agents serving the notorious and tyrannical regime in Ethiopia known for its duplicity and fabricating accusations. Mr. Musyoka should be warned against these elements in his own intelligence network. We recognize the handwork of the Ethiopian security that is notorious for planting double agents and spreading false and malicious information.

Mr. Musyoka’s intelligence network alleged that ". Armed dissidents of the OLF." were spotted at Nanyuki on their way to Nairobi. It looks as if the OLF is omnipresent and omnipotent! The OLF doesn’t operate in Kenya or from Kenya. We categorically reject the alleged presence of armed OLF units in Kenya. The OLF does not; under any circumstance engage to harm Kenyans. Kenyans are kind and generous people who are hosting thousands of Oromo and other refugees from almost all of its neighbors.

The OLF has a long-standing policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country and that includes the Republic Of Kenya. It is the Ethiopian regime that has engaged in violations of international laws, territorial integrity and willful destabilization of neighboring states and, we trust that Kenya cannot be an exception. We assure Mr. Musyoka that the OLF is not in the business of committing nefarious acts or serve as an assassin for any one or groups. However, he should watch out against those who fed his security personnel with outrageous canard and misinformation. These are agents of the autocratic regime of Meles Zenawi. The regime of Ethiopia is definitely fearful of the democratic development in Kenya. With time, the truth of this matter will come to light and we hope that the unfounded and malicious accusations alleged against OLF will be publicly retracted.

Department of Foreign Affairs

Oromo Liberation Front

June 15, 2007

Ethiopia finds "lost" towns

Ethiopia finds ‘lost’ towns
AFP, By Emmanuel Goujon	Published:Jun 15, 2007
NORA, Ethiopia - The discovery of three old Muslim towns in Ethiopia has put a question mark on the history of a nation which prides itself on its overwhelmingly Christian heritage dating back to Biblical times. The first known civilisation in Ethiopia was that of the mighty Aksumite kingdom which was established in 1000 BC in the country’s north. Its best known figure was the Queen of Sheba who is said to have borne King Solomon a son named Menelik, who became the first emperor of Ethiopia and the founder of its ancient Christian dynasty which only ended when Emperor Haile Selassie was toppled in 1974. But the discovery last year of three Muslim medieval towns by French experts and archaeologists has finally helped scholars locate a legendary Islamic kingdom which flourished between the 10th and 16th centuries. "It is a surprising discovery because we generally say that Islam came to Ethiopia late and had a marginal role," said Yonas Beyene, head of paleontology at Ethiopia’s culture ministry. Ancient manuscripts have long spoken of the Shoa kingdom - also written Shewa - which straddled key trade routes between the Christian highlands and the Muslim ports on the Red Sea. But its precise location was never made clear. All that changed early this year when experts from the French Centre for Ethiopian Studies (CFEE), led by its director Francois-Xavier Fauvelle, uncovered the ruins of three medieval towns perched on an escarpment in the desolate but stunningly beautiful Rift Valley. The three towns - Nora, Asbari and Masal - have mosques facing Mecca, Arabic inscriptions and a well-laid out grid. Located 1,300 metres above sea level on a rocky outcrop, the ruins have in some cases been overtaken by shrubs. But many are in still in good shape thanks to the arid and dry climate. "These were towns set up between agricultural zones and the desert. At the time of their glory between the 13th and 16th centuries, they served as the commercial crossroad between the nomads of the desert and the farming population of the highlands," said Fauvelle. Despite the outgrowth, one can still make out the terraced and irrigated agricultural fields in Nora, located about 300 kilometres from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. The ruins reveal it was a densely populated town. According to legend, Nora was founded after the marriage of two lovers, whose families decided to consolidate the alliance by building a town. "They say that the town was very rich and prosperous before being ravaged by an epidemic," said Mohamed Ali, an elder from the local ethnic Argoba tribe who lives in Wasiso, the closest village to Nora. The houses here are rectangular and the streets still have remnants of ornamental tiling. The town was ringed by a wall. The walls of the main mosque are still to four to five metres high and a tall burial mound nearby contains hundreds of Muslim tombs. And pottery abounds at a tell, or artificial mound formed by the remains of ruins, which lies between the mosque and the edge of the necropolis. In Asbari, the mosque was remarkably well-preserved and believed to have been one of the biggest in Ethiopia, according to an earlier statement by the French National Centre for Scientific Research which helped finance the mission. The team also found a cemetery there covering several hectares that contained hundreds of graves. And in Masal, they found a necropolis with a tomb emblazoned with stars and Arabic inscriptions that may have been a royal sepulture. "One tends to ignore that there were Muslim towns in this region during that era which had economic and political links with the Christians in the high lands," said Beyene. Nora, he said, was clear proof "that Islam is not a new element in the region. These towns show the early entrenchment of Islam in Ethiopia." Culture and Tourism Minister Mohamoud Dirir said the discovery proved a more important point. "Ethiopia is a multicultural and multireligious country," he said, adding that the discovery of the towns was a "very important landmark, because it is another assumption that within the Christian community, there has been a Muslim society...for a very long time. "Ethiopia was described (by the earlier Marxist regime of former dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam) as a single people, single religion, predominantly Christian Orthodox... "It is very important to discover such sites and to protect them," he said. Sunday Times

Foreign student caught possessing assault weapons illegally

Jun 13, 2007

Police say 20-year-old Kidus Chane Yohannes, a visiting immigrant student from Ethiopia, was arrested Friday morning, June 8th, at the home where he has been living at 1428 South 680 East.
According to authorities, Yohannes was arrested for falsifying information on the background form for purchasing an assault weapon in March 2007.
Orem police received information from Yohannes roommates on June 7th that Yohannes exhibited concerning behavior and had said things that led his roommates to believe that Yohannes was potentially a danger to others.
According to Orem Police Lt. Doug Edwards, Yohannes had recently lost his job and reportedly spent his free time looking at videos and Internet sites about killing other human beings. Edwards said Yohannes often spoke of killing and made comments that he would like kill the police.
Edwards says roommates brought police AK-47 ammunition and clips and expressed concern for their safety and the safety of others, saying that they didn't want a "Trolley Square" or "Virginia Tech"-type shooting to occur. Police say the roommates reported that Yohannes had recently started parking his car several blocks away from the home and moving it each night, and that they believed he might be hiding something in his car.
Edwards says that although nothing that had been reported regarding Yohannes constituted a crime, they were alarmed enough about what was reported and refused to sit on the information and see if Yohannes was going to make good on his threats.
According to Edwards, the report filed by the roommates on June 7th was assigned to a detective to see if there was anything that could be done to head off a potential threat to the community. The detective contacted ICE authorities to determine Yohannes' country of original and legal status in the United States, according to Edwards.
Edwards added that an ICE agent told Orem Police that a Provo police officer had just made the same inquiry regarding Yohannes. The Orem investigating detective contacted Provo Police and found that an officer had been working on information concerning Yohannes after an arrest made in Provo in March 2007 where an assault rifle had been confiscated from Yohannes, according to Edwards.
Edwards further added the the Provo investigating officer had discovered that Yohannes purchased three assault-type rifles from VanWagenen Finance in Orem since October 2006, and that the Provo detective had obtained copies of the applications to purchase the rifles and noted that different resident alien numbers were used on the applications.
Edwards says that the Provo detective brought that information with him to meet with Orem Detectives and the Orem City Attorney was consulted. It was determined that the use of different resident alien numbers on the applications were grounds for felony charges and an arrest was obtained.
Officers from Orem, Provo, and agents from Immigrations & Customs Enforcement served the warrant on Friday morning as Yohannes slept at his home, according to Edwards.
Search warrants were issued to search Yohannes' belongings and his car that was located some three blocks from his home, according to police.
Officers say they recovered two guns from the car, neither of which were the two SKS assault rifles they had hoped to find.
Edwards says those assault weapons are still unaccounted for, though police can prove that they were purchased by Yohannes. Yohannes has made no comment on the whereabouts of the missing assault rifles, according to Edwards.
Kidus Chane Yohannes remains in custody at the Utah County jail on $250,000 bail.

ABC4.com

COMMENTARY:

'Kill Anyone Still Alive': American Special Ops in Somalia

by Chris Floyd

Evidently it is now a capital crime, worthy of instant death by special ops or air raid or drone-fired missile, for any Muslim of any nationality to visit or take part in an Islamic regime which the U.S. government dislikes.

Wednesday, 13 June 2007—How many people did American forces actually kill when they attacked refugees fleeing from the U.S.-backed Ethiopian invasion of Somalia last January? We know from reports by Oxfam, the Guardian, the Associated Press and Reuters that dozens of innocent civilians were slaughtered near the Kenyan border, including villagers and nomadic tribesmen hit by American gunships seeking to kill alleged al Qaeda operatives who may or may not have been among the refugees. But a new story in Esquire magazine -- detailing the creation of America's most recent military satrapy, the Africa Command -- provides disturbing indications that the post-invasion killing by American operatives in Somalia was far more extensive -- and deliberate -- than previously known. [Extensive background on the war in Somalia can be found here.]

The Esquire piece, by Thomas Barnett, is a mostly glowing portrait of the Africa Command, which, we are told, is designed to wed military, diplomatic, and development prowess in a seamless package, a whole new way of projecting American power: "pre-emptive nation-building instead of pre-emptive regime change," or as Barnett describes it at another point, "Iraq done right." Although Barnett's glib, jargony, insider piece -- told entirely from the point of view of U.S. military officials -- does contain bits of critical analysis, it is in no way an expose. The new details he presents on the post-invasion slaughter are thus even more chilling, as they are offered simply as an acceptable, ordinary aspect of this laudable new enterprise.

Barnett reveals that the gunship attacks on refugees were just the first part of the secret U.S. mission that was "Africa Command's" debut on the imperial stage. Soon after the attacks, "Task Force 88, a very secret American special-operations unit," was helicoptered into the strike area. As Barnett puts it: "The 88's job was simple: Kill anyone still alive and leave no unidentified bodies behind."

Some 70,000 people fled their homes in the first wave of the Ethiopian invasion. (More than 400,000 fled the brutal consolidation of the invasion in Mogadishu last spring.) Tens of thousands of these initial refugees headed toward the Kenyan border, where the American gunships struck. When the secret operation was leaked, Bush Administration officials said that American planes were trying to hit three alleged al Qaeda operatives who had allegedly been given sanctuary by the Islamic Councils government decapitated by the Ethiopians. But Barnett's insiders told him that the actual plan was to wipe out thousands of "foreign fighters" whom Pentagon officials believed had joined the Islamic Courts forces. "Honestly, nobody had any idea just how many there really were," Barnett was told. "But we wanted to get them all."

Thus the Kenyan border area -- where tens of thousands of civilians were fleeing -- was meant to be "a killing zone," Barnett writes:

America's first AC-130 gunship went wheels-up on January 7 from that secret Ethiopian airstrip. After each strike, anybody left alive was to be wiped out by successive waves of Ethiopian commandos and Task Force 88, operating out of Manda Bay. The plan was to rinse and repeat 'until no more bad guys, as one officer put it.

At this point, Barnett -- or his sources -- turn coy. We know there were multiple gunship strikes; and from Barnett's account, we know that the "88s" did go in at least once after the initial gunship attack to "kill anyone still alive and leave no unidentified bodies behind." But Barnett's story seems to suggest that once active American participation in the war was leaked, the "killing zone" was abandoned at some point. So there is no way of knowing at this point how many survivors of the American attacks were then killed by the "very special secret special-operations unit," or how many "rinse-and-repeat" cycles the "88s" were able to carry out in what Barnett called "a good plan."

Nor do we know just who the "88s" killed. As noted, the vast majority of refugees were civilians, just as the majority of the victims killed by the American gunship raids were civilians. Did the "88s" move in on the nomadic tribesmen decimated by the air attack and "kill everyone still alive"? Or did they restrict themselves to killing any non-Somalis they found among the refugees?

Concerning the latter, evidently it is now a capital crime, worthy of instant death by special ops or air raid or drone-fired missile, for any Muslim of any nationality to visit or take part in an Islamic regime which the U.S. government dislikes -- even if, like Somalia's Islamic Councils government, that regime is not at war with the United States and strenuously denies any connection to al Qaeda. This is borne out by the "good plan" to kill "thousands of foreign fighters" who had, allegedly, come to the aid of the Islamic Courts government (just like the thousands of foreign fighters who joined the American-backed jihad against the Soviets in Afghanistan). There was an automatic, unquestioned assumption by the Pentagon that these people were to be wiped out to the last man. This does not seem to jibe very well with "Africa Command's" professed intent to win the hearts and minds of Africa's Muslims and prevent encroachment by extremists there.

But then, none of Bush's "Terror War" policies seem designed to produce their ostensible goal. Indeed, a cynic might be forgiven for suspecting that the formenting of extremism, violence and endless, ever-profitable war was in fact the actual aim of these policies.

UPDATE: Bush's Terror Warriors are planning more airstrikes in Somalia, this time in the northern region of Puntland, a follow-up to shelling by American warships in the area last week, AFP reports. (Via Raw Story)

US warplanes are overflying the northern Somali region of Puntland in preparation for air-strikes against suspected Al-Qaeda fugitives, more than a week after US warships shelled the area, officials said Tuesday. The semi-autonomous regional government had authorised the overflights to pursue Al-Qaeda members believed to be hiding in the moutainous area, Puntland's security minister Ibrahim Artan Ismail told reporters.

"The warplanes are looking for Al-Qaeda hideouts and when they get them, they will bomb them," he said, adding that the air operation covers areas where intelligence shows Al-Qaeda elements are hiding.

Once again, we see the identification of any Muslim on the outs with the Bushists and their allies as "al Qaeda." First, the Bush Administration said there were three al Qaeda operatives in Somalia -- the ones they killed 70 or more innocent civilians trying to get in January airstrikes. As we've seen in the Esquire story above, the aim was actually to kill thousands of Muslims who had joined with the now-deposed Islamic Courts Council government in Somalia, which had strenuously denied ties to al Qaeda. It's now apparent that anyone who ever fought for the Islamic Courts Council, whether foreign or Somali, will be tarred with the "al Qaeda" brush.

No doubt, the brutal destruction of the broad-based Courts government -- which had brought Somalia its first measure of stability in more than 15 years of violent anarchy -- will in fact spur the rise of al Qaeda-related groups in Somalia, feeding on the chaos and despair engendered by the Bush-backed invasion. Thus, American forces will always have a handy excuse for striking Somalia whenever they please, as they strive to "project dominance" over Africa.

With the new airstrikes coming in Puntland, however, the questions arise: How many innocent civilians will be murdered by the blunderbuss assault? And will these attacks too be followed by the "88s" dropping in to kill everyone still alive? Is this another "rinse and repeat" cycle from Africa Command?

---

Chris Floyd is an American journalist. His work has appeared in print and online in venues all over the world, including the Nation, CounterPunch, Columbia Journalism Review, the Christian Science Monitor, Il Manifesto, the Moscow Times and many others. He is the author of Empire Burlesque: High Crimes and Low Comedy in the Bush Imperium, and is co-founder and editor of the "Empire Burlesque" political blog. He can be reached at cfloyd72@gmail.com.

This column originally appeared on Chris Floyd's site, and is republished here with the permission of the author.

Baltimore Chronicle

US says "concerned" over Ethiopia court moves

US says concerned over Ethiopia court moves

Wed 13 Jun 2007, 5:39 GMT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Tuesday it was very concerned by an Ethiopian court's guilty verdict of 38 opposition officials and said it was watching the situation very closely.

Ethiopia, a close ally of the United States in anti-terrorism efforts, has cracked down on the opposition, especially after disputed elections in 2005.

Those found guilty on Monday by an Ethiopian court were among 131 opposition leaders, journalists and civil society activists charged in December 2005 with treason, inciting violence and attempting to commit genocide.

They could face the death penalty when sentenced, which local media said would take place next month.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the United States was looking into whether the court's action was in accordance with Ethiopia's constitution and law.

"It would appear that this is a peremptory action that was taken by the court that surprised not only us but the defendants, as they were working to mount a defense against these charges," said McCormack.

"Suffice to say, it is something we're very surprised about, quite concerned about and watching very closely," he added.

A former professor from Norfolk State University in Virginia, Yacob Hailemariam, was among the opposition leaders convicted in Ethiopia, the State Department said.

Hailemariam was a former prosecutor for the U.N.'s tribunal on war crimes in Rwanda and returned to Ethiopia in 2005 to take part in the elections.

Reuters/ AlertNet

TPLF clique’s strategy of creating enmity among the people and ethnic polarization aggravates the Ethiopian people’s bitterness to the highest level, President Isaias underscores

TPLF clique’s strategy of creating enmity among the people and ethnic polarization aggravates the Ethiopian people’s bitterness to the highest level, President Isaias underscores

Listen Part I - Part II - Part III
Asmara, 11 June 2007 – In a live interview he conducted with the Eritrean media last night regarding the objective situation in Ethiopia and regional issues, President Isaias Afwerki underscored that the TPLF clique’s strategy of creating enmity among the people and ethnic polarization in a bid to prolong its stay in power has aggravated the Ethiopian people’s bitterness to the highest level.

Pointing out that the TPLF clique’s program right from the onset was “The Independence of Tigray”, the President underlined that when this proved to be unacceptable, it developed into the twin idea of the “Independence of Tigray and Ethiopia”. Moreover, when this same idea did not rest on a single platform, the clique on assuming power adopted the strategy of so-called “federalism” which in essence aimed at “divide and rule policy”.

President Isaias went on to indicate that over the last 16 years, the TPLF clique committed three historic blunders, namely trying to control the Ethiopian people through resorting to a policy of ethnic polarization, looking for external victims so as to cover up its internal problems and searching for external supporters as it did not have trust in the people. Even the intrigue it resorted to in the name of the people of Tigray has only led to hatred of the latter on the part of the rest of the Ethiopian population, though for no fault of the Tigray people, he added. The President elaborated that “the TPLF’s wrongdoings have rendered the people of Tigray victims.”

As regards the outcome of the May 2005 elections and its consequences, President Isaias pointed out that as far the TPLF were concerned the elections represented a drama of buying a 5-year ticket for staying in office. He further asserted that the outcome witnessed the aggravation of the Ethiopian people’s bitterness to the highest level, and as its suddenness was shocking the clique was compelled to introduce basic change in the way it has been handling things in different domains.

Explaining that the Ethiopian economy relies on relief assistance and external subsidy, President Isaias indicated that the poor-rich gap in the country keeps on widening with each passing day. Talk of “the Ethiopian economy has shown growth” is for mere propaganda consumption, he underlined. The President further noted that the so-called millennium hullabaloo is but a futile drama designed to cover up one’s utter failure.

President Isaias underscored that TPLF clique’s baseless accusation against Eritrea, at one time under the pretext of terrorism and at another “supporter of opposition forces”, attests to the clique’s diversionary campaigns as well as its bankruptcy, cheapness and state of acute worry. He went on to indicate that the clique is heading to the abyss.

Furthermore, the President gave in-depth briefings regarding the Somali and Darfur issues, Eritrea’s stance on these issues and the efforts being made to resolve them.
Listen Part I - Part II - Part III

www.hornofafrica.de

Eritrean President renews rhetoric against Ethiopia

By Bonny Apunyu
(SomaliNet)

Eritrea's president stepped up the rhetoric against archrival Ethiopia Monday, saying that its claims that his government backs terrorism indicated that its regime was floundering and headed "to the abyss."

In an interview with the Eritrean press, Issaias Afewerki said that Ethiopia was "looking for external victims so as to cover up its internal problems and searching for external supporters as it did not have trust in the people."

In comments reported in an information ministry statement, the president said that accusations that Eritrea supported Somali Islamists with alleged links to Al Qaeda as well as rebels in Ethiopia were "diversionary campaigns."

The claims attested to Ethiopia's "bankruptcy, cheapness, and state of acute worry," Issaias said, adding: "The [governing] clique is heading to the abyss."

The impoverished Horn of Africa neighbors have been at odds since they fought a bitter territorial war between 1998 and 2000, and are yet to reach final settlement despite the presence of a peace deal.

Issaias said that Ethiopia's "strategy of creating enmity among the people and ethnic polarization in a bid to prolong its stay in power has aggravated the Ethiopian people's bitterness to the highest level."

At least 193 Ethiopian civilians and six police officers died in Addis Ababa during post-election violence in 2005, when the state used force to crack down on opposition demonstrations against alleged poll fraud.

Issaias, who has been in power since Eritrea's independence from Ethiopia in 1993, also said that the Ethiopian economy relied on outside aid and warned that "the poor-rich gap in the country keeps on widening with each passing day."

Ethiopian officials were not available to comment on the remarks.

The main cause of Asmara's bitterness has been Ethiopia's refusal to implement a ruling by an independent boundary commission that awarded the flashpoint border town of Badme to Eritrea.

The town remains under the control of Ethiopia, which insists that the ruling should be altered since it will split families and villages between the two countries.

The international community has repeatedly urged both nations to refrain from actions that might spark new clashes. In May, the UN Security Council said that it remained "deeply concerned" by the tensions between the two.

SomaliNet/ Dehai News

38 Are Convicted in Ethiopia After Political Crackdown

By Stephanie McCrummen

Washington Post Foreign Service
Tuesday, June 12, 2007; Page A18

NAIROBI, June 11 -- An Ethiopian court found 38 prisoners guilty Monday of charges ranging from "outrage against the constitution" to aggravated high treason in a trial the prisoners called a sham, and which international human rights groups have roundly condemned.

The convictions came even as U.S. officials had been negotiating for months behind the scenes for the prisoners' release.

The prisoners' families and others have accused the U.S. government of softening criticism of Ethiopia's human rights record in light of the country's recent military intervention to oust a radical Islamic movement in Somalia. The U.S. government supported that intervention.

"The U.S. government will not pressure the government here because they have an interest in Somalia," said a relative of one of the prisoners, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of being harassed by Ethiopian security forces. "It really is a big disappointment."

The prisoners were among an estimated 30,000 people arrested in a government crackdown following national elections two years ago.

Though opposition candidates made significant gains, they contested some of the results. When protesters began rallying in the streets, Ethiopian security forces responded with ferocity, spraying crowds with bullets, killing at least 193 people. In some instances, sharpshooters targeted certain opposition leaders, according to a government commission report.

Some of the victims were killed with a single bullet wound to the head. Among the other victims was a 14-year-old boy killed during demonstrations, and his brother, who was shot from behind when he ran out to help him. The wife of an opposition candidate was gunned down outside her house, in front of her children and her husband, who was being arrested, the commission report said.

The report found that the protesters were unarmed and that the government used excessive force.

After an international outcry, most of the 30,000 prisoners were released, but others, including the 38 found guilty Monday, remained in jail on charges that at one point included genocide.

Amnesty International called them prisoners of conscience.

According to family members, efforts by U.S. officials in the region were compromised by an apparent desire not to offend the government of a key military ally in the unstable Horn of Africa. The families said U.S. officials encouraged them to persuade their imprisoned relatives to sign a letter of apology to the Ethiopian government as part of a deal securing their release.

The prisoners refused to admit any guilt, however, and the 18-month-long trial proceeded.

"As an American, I'm ashamed and embarrassed that this is what my country can do," said the daughter of one of the prisoners, who is a U.S. citizen. "Not only am I sad. I'm terribly ashamed."

Though some of the prisoners had refused to defend themselves in the trial because they considered the charges bogus, others were considering whether to go forward with their defense when the verdicts were announced Monday to surprise in the courtroom.

Last week, a joint U.S. and European Union conference focused heavily on Ethiopia.

Rep. Donald M. Payne (D-N.J.), who chaired the conference and has been involved in efforts to free the prisoners, said he was "shocked" to hear of Monday's verdicts. Payne, who chairs the House Foreign Affairs subcommittee on Africa and global health, expressed concern that a kind of Cold War foreign policy had developed toward Africa, only this time with the fight against terrorism as its defining feature.

He cited the case of Sudan, in which he and other critics of U.S. foreign policy have said the U.S. relationship with Sudanese officials is compromising tougher action on the conflict in Darfur. He also cited Ethiopia.

"I think that the Ethiopian authorities are very astute," Payne said. "They are aware of our behavior, and I think that they felt it wasn't even a calculated risk" to pronounce the prisoners guilty. "They thought they would be able to do this with impunity."

Special correspondent Kassahun Addis in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, contributed to this report.

The Washington Post

INTERVIEW- Ethiopia rebels say govt crackdown targets civilians

By Katie Nguyen

LONDON, June 11 (Reuters) - Ethiopian rebels accused government troops on Monday of raping women and destroying villages in the southeastern Ogaden region to suppress a separatist insurgency.

Prime Minister Meles Zenawi announced a crackdown at the weekend against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), whose fighters raided a Chinese-run oil exploration field in April, killing 74 people.

It was one of the bloodiest attacks in a sporadic but long-running conflict between government forces and the ONLF, which seeks more autonomy for its under-developed region bordering Somalia.

Abdirahman Mahdi, an ONLF founder-member, said he feared the government would use the operation as a pretext for oppressing Ogaden's ethnic Somali population, which has long complained of neglect and marginalisation.

"At the beginning they just used to harass ONLF members. Now they do blanket harassment. They are raping our women, killing our elders and burning our villages," Mahdi told Reuters in an interview.

"They want to punish the people. They cannot defeat the ONLF and now they want to start a scorched earth policy," he said in London, where he has lived for a decade.

Ethiopian officials were not immediately available for comment.

Mahdi accused Ethiopia, which sent soldiers to defend neighbouring Somalia's interim government, of violating human rights with impunity both at home and across the border.

"See what happened in Mogadishu -- a whole population was bombed. Who spoke out about it?" he said, referring to rounds of shelling in the Somali capital earlier this year.

"What we are worried about is that they will commit genocide in our own country -- and the international community will ignore it because their eyes are on Mogadishu."

Critics say Meles, once hailed as part of a new generation of African leaders, has grown increasingly authoritarian in the years since his rebel group shot its way to power.

Rights groups accused the government of repressing dissent before Ethiopia's last election in 2005 and say Meles has become more emboldened by U.S. support for his intervention in Somalia.

Mahdi warned of more violence to come.

"Our people are under siege. The only way is to fight, to become more vicious," he said.

"The situation will escalate because the Ethiopian government will only opt for the military solution. We have to show the world that Ethiopia does not control the Ogaden."

Mahdi denied any Islamist agenda or aspiration to establish a "Greater Somalia", calling it Ethiopia's "cheap propaganda".

Reuters