The world's heart beats in ******

[BiLaaL]

The world’s heart beats in ******

 

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

 

You may find news about Palestine; disregard them! You can read many articles about Iraq; do not look at them! You will notice lists of articles about Russia’s spies; forget them!

 

Do not waste a single moment in reading all sorts of boring descriptions of the European immoral dwarfs’ deliberations about an eventual European Constitution; let the dead bury their own dead.

 

Do not spend time reading articles on Zimbabwe, as they concern a limited number of white people who saw their riches reduced.

 

Do not go through the endless and boring narrations about climate disasters and avian flu that some mysterious force wants recently to have them exceedingly highlighted. Che sera sera! Remember the old song? Whatever will be, will be; the future’s not ours to see…..

 

If you still have some human feelings left within your heart, read more about ******.

 

Tyrannical Abyssinia’s frontier province, ****** was never asked to join the dysfunctional Abyssinian tyranny that turned to become an anachronistic Communist regime that lasted for almost two decades, before the rise of Africa’s Hitler, Meles Zenawi, in 1991.

 

Due to its propinquity with Somalia, and because of the irrevocable, millennia long, historical, ethnic, linguistic, cultural, and religious bonds that link ****** with Somalia, tyrant Zenawi’s Abyssinia, fallaciously re-baptized as ‘Ethiopia’, faces an existential threat.

 

That’s why what is happening now in ****** goes beyond the limits of the most dreadful imagination, and tops the most horrid nightmares the Mankind has ever encountered.

 

The unbelievable crimes that are daily taking place in ******, the hidden province of ‘Ethiopia’, must be known to every one, and every human being must react, and pressurize governments and international bodies to put an end to the most abominable tyranny of Africa.

 

That’s why the veil of mystery must fall, and every one in the free and democratic countries of the West must demand from the supposedly informative mass media adequate, constant and true information about the region that puts our Humanism in test.

 

If we accept what happens today in ******, all the earth will probably very soon become a vast ******.

 

If we accept not to know what happens in ******, probably soon we will be dead, without even knowing it.

 

If we have a heart, today it definitely beats in one place: ******.

 

To partly illuminate the dramatic conditions in which our African brethren live in ******, I publish here integrally the Call that the ****** Communities outside Abyssinia addressed to various governments and NGOs, international bodies and associations last week:

 

Ongoing Hidden Human Rights Abuses in ******

 

We the ****** Community Association of the greater Diaspora express our deep concern over the hidden horrors of the Ethiopian government’s abuse of innocent civilians in the ****** which is under Ethiopian occupation.

 

We are asking the world community to take notice of the Ethiopian regime’s actions that have unleashed a reign of terror throughout the ******. The targets of these indiscriminate attacks are mainly non-combatant women and children.

 

Ethiopian military rule in the ****** that has been in existence for over a hundred years has brought with it horrors for many generations. Yet, these new offensives on civilians, with the governmental malicious tactics, are terrorizing an already demoralized and helpless population. The resulting multitude of human suffering in this unimaginable crisis is building up to be another Darfur in the making.

 

This military campaign the Ethiopian regime is employing includes forced mobilization of population out of their homes; they instill mass fear by using physical and verbal abuse in the open. There are numerous reports of soldiers beating up elderly men in front of their wives and children. To put it bluntly, they are raping the people of their right to live in peace. This strategy of terror is aimed at an entire people simply because of their minority status.

 

Over the few past weeks, the Ethiopian military increased their customary abuses, and carried out unnecessary brutal systematic offenses against defenseless ****** civilians. The following are documented and detailed:

 

- Arbitrary Arrests

 

- Open-ended intimidation of Community and Business leaders

 

- Extra-Judicial Killings

 

- Gang Rape of women

 

- Burning of entire Villages

 

- Severe physical and emotional torture

 

- Random indiscriminate open air shooting at groups of people

 

Even school children have not been able to escape this new. Mutilated bodies of school children have been put on display in city and town centers to instill fear in the public. Schoolteachers are also being targeted in broad daylight inside these town centers. As reported just last week, Hassan Mohamed, a well-respected teacher, was killed in an extra-judicial action without ever a reason being given. The reason behind these killings is not known, but it’s typical of the Ethiopian soldiers to summon civilians in the town centers, and use intimidation and even carryout extra-judicial killings in open-air for the public to see. This has been the case for many reported incidents happening in province of Dhagaxbuur and its environs.

 

Similarly, the jails in some of major cities and areas, such as Jigjiga, Dhagahbur, Qabridahare, Godey and Fiiq, are full of victims of unlawful arrests, and the resulting overcrowding in un-kept below human standards jails is further causing a health risk.

 

Eyewitnesses report the Ethiopian Air force carpet-bombing Abaaqaroow in Godey province, and the towns of Cayuun and Dara-salaam in Nabob Province. The reported casualties from these bombings so far number more than fifty.

 

Similar to Darfur, the ****** region is much neglected and forgotten by the Ethiopian government; there are no schools, no hospitals, no court systems, and because the area is under military rule, military justice (which is neither fair nor just) is the code of conduct. But what makes this case even more troubling is that the killings, rapes and outright terror is being conducted by the State of Ethiopia against citizens living within its sovereign borders.

 

For several years now, the Military leaders have not allowed journalists to go to the area and report on what is happening on the ground, a practice that is indicative of someone hiding something. On June 18, 2007, New York Time’s reporter Jeffery Gentlemen wrote an article, which has exposed the hideous barbarism of Ethiopian military actions in the ******. Mr. Gentlemen himself and his news crew became victims of the very regime they were reporting on! They were arrested and detained for five days in Dhagaxbur, and were refused contact with the American Embassy.

 

A breathtakingly alarming new development indicates that there is now a military force of approximately over twenty thousand (20,000) soldiers enforcing a blockage on all travel in and out of villages, towns and cities. This will strain the already meager food and medicine supplies, and will restrict aid that civilians desperately need. This action puts the entire population on a fast track to starvation.

 

As documented in the U.S. State Departments Human Rights Report on March 2007, these abuses are evidence of concerted effort to completely disregard Human Rights.

 

“Human rights abuses reported during the year included: limitation on citizens' right to change their government during the most recent elections; unlawful killings, and beating, abuse, poor prison conditions; arbitrary arrest and detention, violence and societal discrimination against women and abuse of children; societal discrimination against persons with disabilities and religious and ethnic minorities.”

 

By its own action targeting civilians, the Ethiopian government has ceded its legitimacy to the people of ******.

 

What is taking place in ****** fits to the letter both the moral and legal definition of genocide. The world needs to act now with determination to help the helpless.

 

You are encouraged to research the issue yourself.

 

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis - Orientalist, Historian, Political Scientist. Dr. Megalommatis, 50, is the author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly articles, hundreds of encyclopedia entries, and thousands of articles. He speaks, reads and writes more than 15, modern and ancient, languages. He is a Greek citizen of Turkish origin.

[Kashafa]

Over the few past weeks, the Ethiopian military increased their customary abuses, and carried out unnecessary brutal systematic offenses against defenseless ****** civilians. The following are

documented and detailed

:

 

- Arbitrary Arrests

 

- Open-ended intimidation of Community and Business leaders

 

- Extra-Judicial Killings

 

- Gang Rape of women

 

- Burning of entire Villages

 

- Severe physical and emotional torture

 

- Random indiscriminate open air shooting at groups of people

Just like carpet-bombing civllian Mogadisho, the above is how our 'beloved friend, neighbor, and ally' shows the Somali people how much they care for them.

 

Question: Overdue Reckoning, Where art thou ?

 

Answer: I'm a-coming, brother. Slowly but surely, Allah(SWT) willing, I shall arrive.

[BiLaaL]

I would like to request the moderators of SOL (MMA and others) to remove the word ''******'' from the list of banned phrases/words on this forum. I fully understand and support the banning of certain phrases for the valid reasons outlined in SOL's strict policies. However, because postings related to this region naturally contain the name of the region, most posts come up with many maked out words. This makes posts very untidy and unintelligible to the unfamiliar reader.

 

The word ''******'' has come to occupy a unique place in the media (especially Western) which facilitates swift dissemination of information with regards to the cause and its aims. The word has taken on a life of its own - separate from the usual connotation of it as a clan name. The Western media simply wouldn't understand other connotations such as 'Western Somalia' or 'Abyssinian Somaliland'. Sure, it remains a clan name but those using the word often use it to refer to the region in its entirety rather than the clan itself.

 

As the above article illustrates, calling attention to the horrendous crimes being committed against the peoples of Western Somalia has never been more important than it is now. The fact that the inhabitants of this region happen to be our own brothers and sisters makes it even more poignant. Removing ''******'' from the banned list of words/phrases on this forum will allow us to adequately continue voicing the cries of the people in this neglected region.

 

Moderators - your swift reply and due consideration of the above request would be very much appreciated.

[Miskiin-Macruuf-Aqiyaar]

Bilaal, it was a colonial strategy to rename colonized Soomaali regions and gave them clan names instead. They did it in Bari, in Soomaali Galbeed and in Jabuuti. They did this in order to emphasize and promote clans than Sooamalinimo.

 

That region has a neutral Soomaali created name -- Soomaali Galbeed. I don't know why some don't use this. Just substitute it to Soomaali Galbeed and it is solved, including those in the copy and pasted articles. Easy.

 

PS -- If this is allowed, then some will argue Bari [Waqooyi Bari] too had a former colonial-created clan name and should be revived.

[BiLaaL]

MMA - Somali Galbeed or 'Western Somalia' is a perfectly sound name. Personally, i prefer 'Western Somalia' to the 'O' label. However, the fact that the sole liberation movement in the region used the 'O' name has elevated it above all other names including 'Western Somalia'. In recent history, whether we like it or not, the 'O' name has become synonymous with the struggle. 'Soomaali Galbeed' is a name we can use among ourselves but the 'O' one is the more famous among the Western media. The ONLF themselves chose the name 'Jabhadda Waddaniga Xoreeynta Ogadeeniya'. According to some in the ONLF, this name creates a sound byte in the Western media that other names such as 'Western Somalia' would not have been able to garner.

 

I'm aware that this request of mine might create a precedent. I totally understand your concerns in relation to that. Thanks for your prompt reply.