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OGADEN NO RIGHTS,
NO DEMOCRACY
INTRODUCTION
Since the current Ethiopian government came
to power in 1991, hundreds of Ogadenis, including women, children,
elderly people, politicians and religious scholars, have been
killed, disappeared, tortured or remain under incommunicado
detention without charges or trial.
The Ethiopian colonial administration in the Ogaden treats the
Somali Ogadenis as second class citizens in their own country,
exploits the country for Ethiopian gains, and deprives the Ogaden
people of their fundamental human rights, including their inalienable
right to independence and self-determination.
Discrimination and segregation against Somali Ogadenis, in terms
of education, health care, employment and economic development
is the corner stone of the current government's policy.
Government offices in the Ogaden have been purged of anyone
whose views were judged hostile to the state, and replaced by
Tigreans or those who support the government policies.
Such an overt policy of targeting one
group for their political orientation, and preferring others
for their pro-government views, has obviously caused widespread
and deep resentment throughout the region. A particular target
of this policy appears to be suspected supporters of ONLF or
other opposition parties.
For the last two years, the Ogaden has been hit by a severe
drought accompanied by lack of food and medical care, which
caused mass starvation, and break-out of epidemics, related
to malnutrition and bad sanitation. In the worst drought-stricken
areas, dozens of people and hundreds of animals starved to death.
The aid donated by the international community through the Ethiopian
Relief and Rehabilitation Commission (ERRC), have been misused
by the government by diverting the bulk of it to the military
barracks and distributing the rest, which was very little, to
supporters of the government policies, who are usually informers
and collaborators of the Ethiopian troops in the Ogaden.
Article 54 -Protection of objects indispensable to the survival
of the civilian population -of the protocols additional to the
Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 states that
"Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is
prohibited. Il is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render
useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian
population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production
of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations
and supplies and irrigation works, for the specific purpose
of denying them for their sustenance value to the civilian population
or to the adverse party, whatever the motive, whether in order
to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for
any other motives."
In May 1996, the Organisation of African Unit y (OAU) called
on African States not to cut off water supplies to civilians
as a tactic in their wars.
However, in the fertile valley of the Shabelle River in the
Godey area, the Ethiopian government has prevented the people
from cultivating their farms unless they pay 500 Ethiopian birr
for each farm, which is too much for them to pay. The peasants
were threatened with eviction from their lands if they do not
pay the new tax.
In another development, the EPRDF forces indiscriminately mined
areas which civilians frequent, particularly around water wells
and caravan routes, which lead to neighbouring countries, in
order to stop trade movements and starve out the Ogaden people.
The Ogaden people had suffered from a century of repression,
victimization and exploitation under the successive alien Ethiopian
governments, and there is growing disillusionment with the current
EPRDF government.
There is no doubt that the human rights situation
will continue to deteriorate dramatically in the Ogaden unless
the international community steps in to stop the colonial, inhuman
policies of the Ethiopian government in the Ogaden.
So, as long as the Ogaden people are marginalized and their
inalienable right to independence and self-determination is
denied, the international community will continue to witness
more human rights violations, and more bloodshed, which may
lead to the annihilation of entire Ogadeni nation by the Ethiopian
government.
The Ethiopian government has acceded to several international
human rights instruments, including the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, international Covenant
on Civil and Political Rights, International Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, International
Convention on the S suppression and Punishment of the Crime
of Apartheid, Convention on the Prevention and the Punishment
of the Crime of Genocide, Convention on the Right of the Child,
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
against Women, Convention on the Political Rights of Women,
Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment, Slavery Convention of 1926 as amended,
Supplementary Convention on the Abolition of Slavery, the Slave
Trade, and Institutions and Practices Similar to Slavery ...etc
Despite the Ethiopian government's ratification of all these
important international human rights treaties, the OHRC, which
monitors the human rights situation in the Ogaden, confirms
the deterioration of the hum an rights situation in the region,
and believes that the Ethiopian government's accession to the
treaties was intended only to mislead the international community,
in order to avoid international public censure over its human
rights record, and to get more aid from donor countries, which
demand the improvement of human rights situation in the Third
World Countries which receive their aid.
This is the reality of the Ethiopian government's attitude towards
the human rights situation in the Ogaden, which the international
community should take up a tough line with the Ethiopian government
to persuade it to comply with international norms of fundamental
human rights and civil liberties, and force it to honour its
commitments to International Treaties to which it had acceded.
The gross human rights violations and non-compliance to the
international human rights treaties, demonstrate the perfidious
and inhuman nature of the current Ethiopian government.
Article 55 -Protection of the natural environment-of the Protocols
additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 states
that:
"Care shall be taken in warfare to protect the natural
environment against widespread, long-term and severe damage.
This protection includes a prohibition of the use of methods
or means of warfare, which are intended or maybe expected at
cause such damage to the natural environment and thereby to
prejudice the health or survival of the population. Attacks
against the natural environment by way of reprisals are prohibited.
"
However, in the Ogaden, the poor and the fragile ecological
balance has been devastated by widespread exploitation and depletion
of forests for military purposes, firewood and charcoal by EPRDF/TPLF
forces and Tigrean dealers, who have been given concessions
and game-licences by the Ethiopian government, which dominated
by ethnic Tigreans. The rich wildlife, including big- game,
game birds, forests and water resources has all suffered irreparable
damage in the Ogaden under the Ethiopian government.
Ironically, the Ethiopian government, which violates the very
basic human rights of all citizens in the empire-state of Ethiopia,
including the Ogadenis, poses itself as a champion of Democracy
and Human Rights in Africa.
It is the international community's
duty to censure Ethiopia over its human rights record, and hold
its rulers responsible for the gross human rights abuses perpetrated
in the Ogaden by their Army and Security Forces.
If you wish full and detailed report, please contact:
Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC)
P.O.Box 649
7400 AP Deventer
The Netherlands
Or
Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC)
2660 Southvale Crs
Unit 338
Ottawa, ON
K1B 4W5
Canada
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