Ethiopia accused of war crimes to quell insurgency - (the Guardian)

[Abtigiis]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/jun/12/ethiopia.humanbehaviour

 

Please see the picture.

[Abtigiis]

ANOTHER ONE!

 

West fails to condemn Ethiopia rights abuses: rights group

Thu Jun 12, 2008

Daniel Wallis

 

NAIROBI (Reuters) - Western donors have failed to condemn war crimes by Ethiopian forces during a year-old campaign against separatist fighters in the country's eastern ****** region, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

 

"The Ethiopian army's answer to the rebels has been to viciously attack civilians in the ******," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director of the U.S.-based group.

 

"These widespread and systematic atrocities amount to crimes against humanity. Yet Ethiopia's major donors, Washington, London and Brussels, seem to be maintaining a conspiracy of silence around the crimes."

 

Ethiopian government officials in Addis Ababa routinely reject such allegations against their counter-insurgency operations in the rocky, arid region, which borders Somalia.

 

They also accuse the rebels of abusing locals.

 

But officials had no immediate comment on the new report.

 

Ethiopia, a key regional ally of the United States, launched its latest offensive after the ****** National Liberation Front (ONLF) attacked a Chinese-run oil field in the region in April 2007, killing more than 70 people.

 

Human Rights Watch said its 130-page report was based on interviews by its researchers with more than 100 victims and eyewitnesses of abuses by soldiers.

 

Ridwan Sahid told how an Ethiopian soldier pushed him into a ditch and tried to kill him by taking a metal rod used to clean his gun and ramming it down his throat.

 

When Ridwan fought him off by twisting his fingers, more troops rushed over and tried to strangle him with a rope. Ridwan passed out and woke up later under the cold body of a friend.

 

BEATINGS, TORTURE

 

One 31-year-old ****** shopkeeper told HRW he was arrested and beaten by troops who demanded he admit being an ONLF member.

 

"They tied both my legs and lifted me upside down to the ceiling with a rope, and kept beating me more, saying I had to confess," he was quoted as saying.

 

"For two months, we underwent this same ordeal, being taken from our rooms at night and being beaten and tortured."

 

The report also includes accounts of villages being burned by the military, which HRW said it had confirmed using satellite imagery. Witnesses said at least 150 civilians were executed.

 

HRW said the government was limiting all access to the region, that the violence was ongoing, and that staff believed their findings represented only a fraction of the actual abuses.

 

Gagnon said the army's tactics were fuelling a looming humanitarian crisis and threatening the survival of thousands of ethnic Somali nomads who cross the area with their livestock.

 

Western nations give Ethiopia more than $2 billion a year in aid, she said, but must speak out now to halt the bloodshed.

 

"The government's attacks on civilians, its trade blockade, and restrictions on aid amount to the illegal collective punishment of tens of thousands of people," Gagnon said.

 

"Unless humanitarian agencies get immediate access to independently assess the needs and monitor food distribution, more lives will be lost."

 

Also accused of abuses by its military in Somalia, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has said in the past human rights groups are selectively and falsely attacking him after falling for propaganda by Ethiopia's enemies.

[xiinfaniin]

A day will come when Ethiopia is reduced to an insignificant client for her giant neighbor, Somalia!

 

Inta ka horreysa, ha iska kaayo cunto intaan gurigeenna hagaajinayno...

[Chimera]

Xabshida Sida oo necebyihiin dadka Somaalida iyo dadka oromada/canfarka wa iskumid sida reer Nazi yahuudka necebaanjireh waagii hore. Xabashiland wa Xabsiland

 

xiin Amiin!

[Thierry.]

I believe this is one of the reasons why Gabre and Co went to Djibouti, to try put some clause into the agreement in which the atrocities would be forgotten, suffice to say he and his Boss Meles failed

[Castro]

U.S. accused of ignoring Ethiopia war crimes

 

Satellite images purportedly show destroyed villages near Somalia

 

 

At left is a satellite image taken Sept. 26, 2005, of the village of Labigah, Ethiopia. At right is an image taken Feb. 28, 2008, that an analysis by the American Association for the Advancement of Science says shows 40 structures removed or damaged. The analysis says the gray-white areas are possible evidence of burning.

 

MSNBC News Services

updated 2 hours, 9 minutes ago

 

NAIROBI, Kenya - The United States and other Western governments are ignoring clear evidence of war crimes by Ethiopia, a key U.S. ally that launched a military crackdown on rebels last year, a human rights group said Thursday.

 

Separately, a U.S.-based science group said satellite images confirm reports that villages have been destroyed in the country's ****** region.

 

New York-based Human Rights Watch said America's relationship with Ethiopia means an alliance with a country repeatedly accused of violating human and political rights. In recent years, Ethiopia has become a U.S. partner in the fight against al-Qaida, which has been trying to sink roots in the Horn of Africa.

 

"The United States is being willfully blind," said Georgette Gagnon, Africa director for Human Rights Watch. "Because Ethiopia is viewed as a key ally in the counterterrorism efforts, they are perhaps prepared to look the other way at abuses committed by Ethiopian soldiers."

 

In a 130-page report, Human Rights Watch said Ethiopian troops have beaten and strangled civilians, staged public executions and burned villages during a year-old campaign against rebels in the ******, an arid stretch of land on the border with Somalia. The group said the allegations were based on more than 100 eyewitness accounts.

 

A State Department spokesman, Gonzalo Gallegos, said officials have not seen the report. He declined to comment generally about the insurgency in the ******. The European Union said it has no comment to make while it is looking into the accusations.

 

Ethiopia denies allegations

Bereket Simon, special adviser to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, denied all allegations in the report.

 

"It's the same old fabrication," he said.

 

But satellite images confirm reports that the Ethiopian military has burned towns and villages in ******, the American Association for the Advancement of Science reported on Thursday.

 

Eight sites in the rocky, arid region, which borders Somalia, have clear signs of burning and other destruction, the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program said.

 

MSNBC