HORN OF AFRICA: Humanitarian Situation Deteriorates as New Year comes and goes

December 28, 2013

HRLHA’s 2014 New Year Message

Dear friends,

Time does seem to pass ever more quickly. Has it really been a year since the HRLHA office last shared its thoughts on the occasion of the 2013 New Year? The fact is our attention is totally consumed by the job we are doing. For those who are languishing in prisons simply because they hold different political views from those of the ruling party of Ethiopia, for those Ethiopians and others who escaped from fear of persecution and are in refugee camps or live on the streets of the countries they took asylum in looking for their daily slice of bread, even a minute is too long. Soon we all will be joining together to welcome a new year with another new hope to do better. We must recognize the fact that doing better doesn’t happen simply because we wish it to be true. Rather, first we need to take our time and assess this year’s achievements or losses and compare them against the promises we made as this year began. In short, it is a time for “self-analysis”.

The Strange Twist in Amhara Politics: Rehabilitating Past Tyrants

December 19, 2013 | Gulele Post

The latest fanfare surrounding the celebration of Menelik’s centennial marks an interesting strategic shift in Amhara politics. This memorialization function which, both by design and default, turns every futile, petty, even downright brutal acts of ancient kings into a dazzling action, began a decade ago with a successful resurrection of Haile Selassie I. Now it’s Menelik’s turn.  With the publishing of his memoirs and multiple interviews, Mengistu is just around the corner.  I argue that the resurrection and rehabilitation of the memory of past rulers is not just an obsession of  the fringe in the right and some populist artists, but  a calculated and systematic undertaking by intellectuals supported by the broader political community suggestive of a deeper and seismic shift  in the Amhara politics.

Mourning the Departure of Freedom Icon and African Hero Nelson Mandela While Celebrating His Achievements

Press Release, December 9, 2013 

We, the Board of Directors and Staff members of the Human Rights League of Horn of Africa (HRLHA), would like to express that we are deeply saddened by the passing away of our African hero and freedom icon Mr. Nelson Mandela, also known as Madiba especially among his funs and lovers. It is everyone’s belief that this icon of freedom, although he is peacefully departing, has left behind an everlasting legacies of hope for the better future, perseverance in the struggle for equality, justice and dignity for all human beings as well as forgiveness. We could say that not only the South Africans but also the rest of African and other global communities are better off because of his priceless sacrifices, democratic achievements, spirits of hope, forgiveness, peace, harmony, and overall human dignity. HRLHA believes that those of us at all ages and generations who are staying behind are expected to take lessons from his legacies and carry on the torch of freedom that this freedom icon has ignited from where he has left it, and make Africa a much better place where political differences are settled through roundtable discussions, negotiations, and reconciliations, and policies are framed based on respect for human rights.

Simbirtu Radio: Oromo Journalist Usman Bayu Flees Oromia due to threats of persecution and imprisonment in Ethiopia

Muddee/December 03, 2013 | Ayyaantuu.com

Usman Bayu Tatago used to work for the Oromian Radio and TV organization (ORTVO) as a journalist. He worked as a producer and anchor of many entertainment programs. The government security personnel and ORTVO authorities were not happy with his programs, because of they focused on revitalization of the Oromo culture and history. Usman received a series of warnings, investigation, harassment and imprisonment by Ethiopian security men.

For more information click Simbirtuu.com

Ethiopia: Torture in the heart of Addis, even as leaders gather in gleaming AU building

Laetitia Bader

October 21, 2013 (HRW) — Many journalists and diplomats who attend events in Addis Ababa’s gleaming new African Union building are probably unaware that it rests on the site of one of Ethiopia’s most notorious prisons. While that prison was torn down in 2007, its legacy of torture and abuse continues today at the heart of the capital.

Over the past year, I have spoken to dozens of people who were held in a detention centre called Maekelawi in central Addis. They described dire conditions and a range of abusive interrogation methods to extract information and confessions.

Are Oromos Singled Out and Disproportionately Tortured in Ethiopia?

October 21, 2013 (Oromo Press) — You may ask people in Oromia, what is the language most widely spoken in Ethiopia’s prisons? Who are the ethnic groups singled out and subjected to extreme torture in Ethiopia’s notorious torture facilities? The answers to both questions are Afan Oromo (the Oromo language), and Oromo people respectively. People have pointed to this time and again to the point that torture and political imprisonments are almost becoming synonymous with one ethnicity in Ethiopia, the Oromo people.

Human Rights Watch just released a riveting account of torture in Maekelawi (comparable to Auschwitz of the Nazi era  and Gitmo of the post-9/11 period). The conditions Oromo political prisoners, including school children, who have barely come of age, face in Maekelawi and Kaliti and other facilities of torture is similar to those faced by the Jewish community during the Holocaust. The comparison to Gitmo might be a little far-fetched since Oromo detainees are innocent and unarmed civilians who get thrown into torture prisons in most cases for no other valid reasons than their default belonging in a nationality group that is different, politicized and competing with the nationality group that controls the levers of power through totalitarian parties known as the Tigire Peoples Liberation Front/ The Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Democratic Front.

Ethiopia: Political Detainees Tortured

Police Abuse Journalists, Opponents to Extract Confessions

Ethiopian riot police crackdown on riots

October 18, 2013, Nairobi (Human Rights Watch) – Ethiopian authorities have subjected political detainees to torture and other ill-treatment at the main detention center in Addis Ababa. The Ethiopian government should take urgent steps to curb illegal practices in the Federal Police Crime Investigation Sector, known as Maekelawi, impartially investigate allegations of abuse, and hold those responsible to account.

The 70-page report, “‘They Want a Confession’: Torture and Ill-Treatment in Ethiopia’s Maekelawi Police Station,” documents serious human rights abuses, unlawful interrogation tactics, and poor detention conditions in Maekelawi since 2010. Those detained in Maekelawi include scores of opposition politicians, journalists, protest organizers, and alleged supporters of ethnic insurgencies. Human Rights Watch interviewed more than 35 former Maekelawi detainees and their relatives who described how officials had denied their basic needs, tortured, and otherwise mistreated them to extract information and confessions, and refused them access to legal counsel and their relatives.

Libya: Thousands of Refugees in Life-Threatening

HRLHA Urgent Action

September 24, 2013

For Immediate Release

The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) has learnt through its correspondents that hundreds of thousands of refugees in Libya, most of whom were from the Horn of African countries such as Ethiopian and Eritrea, are in a very dangerous situation after they were evicted from their original refugee camps in Benghazi, Libya where they stayed for the past three years. The eviction took place following the infiltration and assault of the refugees by who were described as workers of the Libyan Red Crescent on the 13^th of September, 2013. The assault included beating and stabbings by knives. Those who broke out of the shelters to run away from the assaults were met with Libyan armed forces that were stationed around the camps prior to the starting of the assault. Then, the refugees were forced out of the camp on allegations that they attempted to instigate disturbances in the city, and taken to remote area known as Alshatti.

Ethiopia: Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review to Nineteenth session of the UPR Working Group of The Human Rights Council

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Ethiopia

Submission to the UN Universal Periodic Review
Nineteenth session of the UPR Working Group of
The Human Rights Council
May-April 2014 Geneva, Switzerland
Submitted: September 2013

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The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) is a non-political organization which attempts to challenge human rights abuses suffered by the peoples of various nations and nationalities in the Horn of Africa. The HRLHA aims at defending fundamental human rights including freedoms of thought and expression, and raising the awareness of individuals about their own basic human rights and that of others. It focuses on the observances as well as the due processes of law and promotes the growth and development of free and vigorous civil societies. The HRLHA holds the Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council.

Facebook billionaire Zuckerberg’s “Internet as a human right” faces policy barriers

The most-restrictive countries are China, Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Iran, Vietnam, Ethiopia, Burma and Pakistan.

Aug 23, 2013 (National Constitution Center) — Facebook billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is leading a drive to give almost everyone in the world access to the Internet. But such a lofty goal comes with questions abroad and in the United States that could impair the initiative.

Mark Zuckerberg. Creative Commons: Silverisdead

Zuckerberg spoke with CNN this week about his project, which represents a $1 billion effort on his part to bring the Internet to countries and people who don’t have it.

“They’re going to use it to decide what kind of government they want, get access to healthcare for the first time ever, connect with family hundreds of miles away that they haven’t seen in decades.”

Ethiopia: The Justice System Becoming a Political Tool in Ethiopia

HRLHA

HRLHA – Calls for Reversal of Racially and Politically Motivated Sentences

August 15, 2013

Press Release

The Federal High Court of Ethiopia sentenced 21 Oromo Nationals (most of whom are university students) to as much as 2-8 years in prison on 7^th August, 2013. The report HRLHA received indicates that all of them have spent about three years pending trials on alleged charges of collaborating with the opposition organization of Oromo Liberation Front with the intention of committing terrorist crimes. According to information obtained by HRLHA through its correspondents, most of the defendants were very young Oromo students picked up at different times from different universities and colleges in the regional state of Oromia and other parts of the country.

Wayyaaneen ummata kuma 75 dachee irraa buqqisuuf karoorfatte; “ummati immoo dachee keenya irraa hin buqqaanu,” jechaa jira.

14 Amajjii 2013

(Qeerroo, Naqamtee):—Mootummaan Wayyaanee akkuma barattetti ummata Oromoo lafa irraa buqqisuuf saganteeffataa akka jiru saaxialame; umamti immoo lafa keenya irratti dhumana malee irraa hin kaanu!” jechaa jira.

Qeerroon maddeen amanamoo wabeeffatee akka gabaasetti, mootummaan Wayyaanee abbootii warraa gara kuma saddeetii olii Arjoo fi Dhedheessaa keessaa buqqisuuf kan bara darbe akeekkatee diddaa ummataatiin fashalee ture irra deebi’ee hojii irra oolchuuf kaabineewwan OPDO addaddaa waliin irratti maryachaa jira.