US Department of State accuses Ethiopia of politically motivated killings
Ministry of Foreign Affairs says report is biased and inaccurate

By Kirubel Tadesse

On Tuesday March 11, 2008, the United States Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, released ‘Country Reports on Human Rights Practices’ for the year 2007, after it was submitted to the Congress. The report has accused the Ethiopian government of engaging in a number of politically motivated killings and disappearances. Wahide Belay, Spokes person of the Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Capital that the report is biased, exaggerated and untimely.
According to the US Department of State report, during 2007, fighting between the Ethiopian government forces and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), an ethnically-based, nationalist insurgent movement operating in the Somali Region, resulted in widespread human rights abuses.” While civilian authorities generally maintained effective control of the security forces, there were instances in which elements within those forces acted independently of government authority,” the reports states.
According to Donald Yamamato, US Ambassador to Ethiopia, this report which is annually submitted to Congress pursuant to Foreign Assistance Act requirement, doesn’t put Ethiopia in the worst list which is explained in the introductory part, with countries like North Korea, Iran and Eritrea.
“Government forces and armed elements of the ONLF were responsible for numerous targeted killings in the Somali Region during the year. Security forces committed politically motivated killings during the year. For example, on January 16, two police officers beat, shot, and killed Tesfaye Taddese, who was an organizer for the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) during the 2005 parliamentary elections.
An autopsy later revealed that the victim had lost several teeth and one eye from the beating before being shot. The police officers were arrested and an investigation was ongoing at year’s end.
On March 2, the opposition United Ethiopian Democratic Forces (UEDF) party reported that Degaga Gebissa, a party member from Meta-Robi District, Oromiya Region, was taken from his house by police and shot and killed. Police allegedly refused to allow an autopsy or to provide any information to UEDF party officials.
On March 5, Tsegaye Ayele Yigzaw of Debre Markos town, Gondar Region, died as a result of prolonged beatings and torture while in police custody. Tsegaye, a member of the opposition Ethiopian Democratic Party (EDP), was arrested and interrogated initially in late 2006. Reports indicate that he was kept in custody beyond the legal limit, denied food and water, and severely beaten to extract a confession. On March 5, the court ordered that Yigzaw be released for lack of evidence; however, he died before being set free. The victim’s family was not given a copy of the autopsy report, “states the Report on its’ Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life’ subsection.
In the ‘Disappearance’ subsection, it was stated that there were reports of politically motivated disappearances.
The above serious accusations was quoted from the 37 page report which Wahide described as baseless allegations, which are probably taken from opposition and other groups which only target to satisfy their interest of sabotaging the country’s democratization and development process.
“During the year fighting between government forces and the ONLF, an ethnically-based, nationalist insurgent movement operating in the Somali Region resulted in widespread human rights abuses, including targeted killings, torture, rape, abductions, arbitrary arrest, burning of villages, the displacement of thousands of civilians, and a restricted supply of food and medicine. Since it was outlawed in 1994, there have been numerous violent conflicts between the ONLF, which seeks greater autonomy for the Ogadeni people and the Somali Region, and the Ethiopian National Defense Forces (ENDF) and security services,” states the report and also accused the Eritrean government in worsening the situation by supporting the ONLF.
The report blames the ONLF April 24 attack on Chinese-run oil facility in the Degehabur zone of the Somali Region for triggering a widespread human rights abuse.
“On May 28, several individuals attacked a crowd with automatic weapons and hand grenades during an official public holiday celebration in Jijiga town, Somali Region; six persons were killed and several wounded, including the regional administrator, Abdullahi Hassan. The ONLF denied responsibility for the attack, but coming on the heels of the April 24 attack, the ENDF responded with a massive counterinsurgency campaign,” explained the report.
“The government and rebel forces restricted delivery of necessary food aid from donor organizations into the five zones in which military activity was the most intense. Flow of commercial traffic into these zones was also prevented, thereby creating food and supply shortages, a doubling of grain prices, and a 30 percent reduction in the price of livestock, a principal source of revenue, “states the report “by year’s end, the flow of humanitarian aid had resumed. Substantial improvements in food aid deliveries allowed relief to reach primary destination points, but distribution to secondary towns, rural areas, and to final beneficiaries remained limited. “
The Ethiopian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on its part issued a statement on Friday, March 14, 2008 stating the report on Ethiopia appears to be dwelling on events in 2005 in an effort to paint a darker picture of the country.
“It makes baseless allegations about political prisoners, killings and other violations. The actions of Ethiopian law enforcement agencies are based on the law,” reads the statement,” Ethiopia has its own system of ensuring that allegations of human rights abuses are addressed. These avenues include the regular courts at district, Federal and Supreme Court level, the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, the Office of the Ombudsman and where appropriate the House of Peoples’ Representatives. “
The statement explained that the Bureau, which prepared the report often, appears simply to parrot allegations made by various opposition groups with political objectives. “It introduces political classifications that do not reflect reality on the ground, diverting consideration from what is intended to be its main aim of promoting human rights. Ethiopia will continue to express its displeasure to the State Department about this routine and unhelpful practice of the Bureau, and underline the need to correct what appears to be a deep rooted bias against Ethiopia,” the statement concluded.