OLF Statement on the latest violent clash between Borana and Guji Oromo

Using Bloodshed to perpetuate their Rule- a Standing Policy of Ethiopia’s Rulers.
OLF Statement on the violent clash going on in southern Oromia

Since the violent formation of the Ethiopian empire three generations ago, Oromia and Oromo have been in constant conflict, instability, poverty and ignorance. The violence is applied either directly by the regime or through agents instigating conflict between neighbouring peoples or even tribes. Oromia and Oromo, who happen to be the main base of this empire, have borne the brunt of this violence.
Oromo suffered shocking extermination and mutilation, including severing of males’ limbs and females’ breasts, for resisting the imperial conquest. They were disfranchised of their land and dehumanized by reducing them to serfs and distrusting them, along with their dispossessed lands, to serve the victor militia forming the “neft’egna” (arms-bearer’s) system. Conflict was instigated with all the neighbours projecting Oromo as threats so that they would never think of resisting any more. Thus Oromo has to pay sacrifice in lives and property simply because of the possibility of being a threat in the future.
The current Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) regime, that usurped the power in 1991, is a good mirror of the successive regimes of Ethiopia in executing this policy. Under the pretext of development it evicted tens of thousands of Oromo from their ancestral land to sell to rich companies and enrich themselves. It dismissed hundreds of Oromo youth from higher education institutes and put them in jail under flimsy excuses for constant torture, to deprive Oromo of native intellectuals. Countless Oromo have disappeared; tens of thousands have fled their country.
The regime has intensified conflict-instigation between neighbouring peoples and Oromo by arming elements from the other side and presenting itself as a mediator. The case of such elements from Somali, Gumuz, Geede’o, Burji and Afar, with the neighbouring Oromo is a vivid example. They even applied the same policy between Oromo’s own tribes. The latest of such a case is the conflict that is going on between Boran and Guji Oromo tribes in the South.
This conflict, that has been instigated by agents of the regime and is going on for days, has claimed about one hundred lives and considerable property. It is obvious that the regime can stop this immediately has it not been a party to it. There is no better evidence than this for the relation of enmity between this regime and the Oromo people.
The OLF expresses its deepest grief at this conflict and holds responsible and condemns the TPLF regime for instigating and perpetuating it. The OLF calls the Oromo elders, intellectuals and youth to be aware of this enemy schemes to weaken the Oromo unity and discharge their national traditional duty by intervening to immediately stop this conflict and reconcile those involved.
Vicroty to the Oromo people!
Oromoo Liberation Front
March 31, 2014

Read More:- 

Ibsa ABO- Walitti Bu’insa Booran-Gujii irratti- Bitootessa 31, 2014.pdf

OLF Press Release on Boren-Guji Clash- March 31, 2014 – English.pdf

OLF Press Release on Boren-Guji Clash- March 31, 2014 – Amharic.pdf

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KAANSARII FINFINNEE QABATEE OROMIYAA GUUTUTTI DARBUTTI JIRU KAN FAYYISU BILISUMMAA OROMIYAA QOFA

BY FAYISA LEMMA | Bitootessa 30, 2014

Akkuma beekkamu Finfinnee hardha hafteen nafxanyootaa fi wayyaaneen keesaa iyyitu kana waggaa 128 dura gosa Oromoo kan akka Gulallee, Galaan fi Oromoota biraa malee  osoo qorichaafuu barbaadamee habashaan tokko keesatti hin argamu ture. Finfinnees kaansariin hin qabne ture.Qabeenya uumamaanis badhaatuu kan turtee fi lafti ishees bosinaan kan uwwifamte turte. Birbirsa/piyassa bakka yeroo ammaa siidaan nafxanyicha seexana gurraachaa Minilik irra dhaabbatu kana Odaa Yaa’a Gulalleettu irra dhaabbata ture, kun hundi jijjiiramee , qilleensa bareedaa fi qabeenya uumamaa ishee dhabdee gammoojjii tahuu ishee caalaa kan nama gaddisiisu abbaa ishee Oromoota ishee kunuunsaa irra jiraachaa turan sababa kaansarii kanaa dhabuu isheeti.Oromoon akka kaansariin kuni finfinnee hin qabannee wareegama guguddaa kafalee jira,hunda caalaa lubbuu qaqqaalii isaa itti dhabee duguuggin sanyii irra gahee jira.

Erga Finfinneen dhukkuba kanan qabatamtee eegalee keessattuu waggaa 23 darbe babaldhachuu dhukkuba kanaatin Oromooti naannawa finfinnee jiraatan seeran ala Wayyaaneen lafa isaanii irraa buqqiffamanii bakka jiraatani fi waan ittiin jiraatan waan hin qabneef maatiin bittinaa’ee kun wardiyaa tahee,kun hojii humnaa qarshii baayyee gadi bu’aa taheen qacaramaa lafa irraa ari’ame irrattti hojjataa kan jiru yoo tahu kan humna hin qabne ammo kadhattuu karaa gubbaa tahee hafee jira.  Akka fakkeenyaatti bara 2012-2013 keessa maqaa “Bole Lemi Industrial Zone” jedhun maatii Oromoo abbaa warraa 800 ol kan buqqisan yoo tahu lafa kana wayyaaneen kampaanii biyya Chaynaa,Turkii, Hindii, Koriyaa fi Xaaliyaniif addaan qooddee gurgurattee jirti. Kana qofa osoo hin taane fabrikooti bakka kana irratti ijaaraman fi kan naannawa finfinnee bakka biraatti ijaaraman hundi kunuunsa fabrikkaan tokko naannawa itti ijaarameef godhuu qabu osoo hin godhin summiin xuraawaan fabrikkaa isaanii keessaa yaa’u lagoota naannawa san jirutti dabalamuu dhaan bishaan qulqulluu faalee yeroo adda addaa horiin baayyeen dhumatee jira,lubbuu namaatirras rakkinni gahee jira . Xuriin adda addaa kan mana fincaanii dabalatee kan FINFINNEE keessa yaa’u laga akka AQAAQII faaluun uummata keenya miidhaa jira, garuu kan miidhamu Oromoo waan tahef wayyaaneen furmaata laatuu hin barbaaddu. Misooma abaaboo maqaa jedhunis  akka fakkenyati Oromoota naannawa Magaalaa Mannaagashaa fi Sabbataa lafa isaanii irraa buqqifaman baayyinnaan warra isaan buqqise kanaaf  hojii humna kan hojjatan yoo tahu, bakka hojiitti akkamitti akka of eeggatuu qaban waan leenjin hin fudhatinif kemikalota  adda addaan dhukkuba gogaa fuudhanii kan du’ani jirus, kan waliin rakkatutti jirus baayyee dha.Kun hundi kan isaan irra gaheef Oromiyaan, lafti abbaa isaanii, kan akaakilee fi abaabileen isaanii, kan isaan hardha irra jiraachaa jiran badhaatuu fi barbaadamtuu waan taatef malee balleessaa tokkollee qabatanif miti.

Gidduu kana osoo rakinni olitti tarraahe hundi uummata Oromoo irra gahaa jiru furmaata kanaa kennuu dhiisanii kansaricha babaldhisuf,lafa daangaa finfinnee keessaa hunda gurguranii waan fixanif,lafa Oromiya tan gurguramtee hin dhumannetti darbuuf shira wayyaaneen lafa jala xaxxe maqaa magaalota naannawa Finfinne jiran Finfinnee waliin “ master plan”  tokko jala galchuu jedhuun baastee dhageenye jirra, ‘ Osuma beeknuu huuba waliin nyaanne jette sareen’, kan hanga hardhaatis wallaallee osoo hin tahin falmannee falmisiisaa oromoon baayyeen itti hidhamee,tumamee, hujii fi barnoota irraa itti ari’amee,biyyaa itti baqatee malee kaansarichi Finfinnee qabate salphaan hin babaldhanne.Hardha murteen kun Oromoof du’aa fi jiruu tahuu qaba,dhukkubi kaansarii kan Finfinnee qabe kun yoo babaldhate Oromiyaa ajjeesuu akka dandahu hundi keenya beekuu qabna.Oromoon kaabaa kibbatti, bahaa dhihatti tokkummaadhaan shira wayyaanee kana dura dhaabachuu qabna,’madaa quba miilaa irra jiruf mudaamuddin nama dhukubdi’, Finfinnee irraa fagaachuu keenyaa yookin rakinni Oromoota naannawa Finfinnee irra gahaa ture fi jiru waan nurra hin gahinif yoo caldhisne seenaan nu gaafata, keesattuu dhalooti qubee  “QUBEE GENERATION”  shira wayyaanee kana hatattaman uummata baldhaa Oromiyaa biraan gahuu fi fincila finiinsuu irratti akkuma asiin dura godhaa turre gahee guddattu nurraa eeggama. Hanga gaafa Oromiyaan bilisoomtutti kaansarin Finfinnee qabate akka hin babaldhanne godhuu qabna,garuu kaansarichi kan fayyu yoo Oromiyaan bilisoomte qofa.

Barreessaa qunnamuuf :  fayis2003@gmail.com

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Is this the most farcical use of taxpayers’ money ever: Ethiopian gets legal aid from UK – to sue us for giving aid to… Ethiopia

• The farmer claims aid is funding a despotic one-party state in his country
• Alleges regime is forcing thousands from their land using murder and rape
• Prime Minister David Cameron says donations are a mark of compassion
• If farmer is successful, Ministers might have to review overseas donations

By IAN BIRRELL

Gift: Prime Minister David Cameron claims the donations are a mark of Britain’s compassion

March 29, 2014, UK (Daily Mail) — An Ethiopian farmer has been given legal aid in the UK to sue Britain – because he claims millions of pounds sent by the UK to his country is supporting a brutal regime that has ruined his life.

He says UK taxpayers’ money –  £1.3 billion over the five years of the coalition Government – is funding a despotic one-party state in his country that is forcing thousands of villagers such as him from their land using murder, torture and rape.

The landmark case is highly embarrassing for the Government, which has poured vast amounts of extra cash into foreign aid despite belt-tightening austerity measures at home.

Prime Minister David Cameron claims the donations are a mark of Britain’s compassion.

But the farmer – whose case is  set to cost tens of thousands of pounds – argues that huge sums handed to Ethiopia are breaching the Department for International Development’s (DFID) own human rights rules.

He accuses the Government of devastating the lives of some of the world’s poorest people rather than fulfilling promises to help them. The case comes amid growing global concern over Western aid propping up corrupt and repressive regimes.

If the farmer is successful, Ministers might have to review major donations to other nations accused of atrocities, such as Pakistan and Rwanda – and it could open up Britain to compensation claims from around the world.

Ethiopia, a key ally in the West’s war on terror, is the biggest  recipient of British aid, despite repeated claims from human rights groups that the cash is used to crush opposition.

DFID was served papers last month by lawyers acting on behalf of ‘Mr O’, a 33-year-old forced to abandon his family and flee to a refugee camp in Kenya after being beaten and tortured for trying to protect his farm.

He is not seeking compensation but to challenge the Government’s approach to aid. His name is being withheld to protect his wife and six children who remain in Ethiopia.

‘My client’s life has been shattered by what has happened,’ said Rosa Curling, the lawyer handling the case. ‘It goes entirely against what our aid purports to stand for.’

Mr O’s family was caught in controversial ‘villagisation’ programmes. Under the schemes, four million people living in areas opposed to an autocratic government dominated by men from the north of the country are being forced from lucrative land into new villages.

Their land has been sold to foreign investors or given to Ethiopians with government connections.

People resisting the soldiers driving them from their farms and homes at gunpoint have been routinely beaten, raped, jailed, tortured or killed.

Exodus: The farmer claims villagers are being attacked by troops driving them from their land

His London-based lawyers argue that DFID is meant to ensure recipients of British aid do not violate human rights, and they have failed to properly investigate the complaints.

Human Rights Watch has issued several scathing reports highlighting the impact of villagisation and showing how Ethiopia misuses aid for political purposes, such as diverting food and seeds  to supporters.

Concern focuses on a massive scheme called Protection of Basic Services, which is designed to upgrade public services and is part-funded by DFID.

Force: Ethiopian federal riot police point their weapons at protesting students in a square in the country’s capital, Addis Ababa

Critics say this cash pays the salaries of officials implementing resettlements and for infrastructure at new villages.

DFID officials have not interviewed Mr O, reportedly saying it is too risky to visit the United Nations-run camp in Kenya where he is staying, and refuse to make their assessments public.

A spokesman said they could not comment specifically on the legal action but added: ‘It is wrong to suggest that British development money is used to force people from their homes. Our support to the Protection of Basic Services programme is only used to provide healthcare, schooling, clean water and other services.’

BRUTALLY DRIVEN FROM HIS FERTILE LAND – AND HE BLAMES BRITAIN 

Intimidation: Riot police confront a man (not the claimant) near the Tegbareed Industrial College as officers beat rock-throwing students during a demonstration

As he showed me  pictures on his mobile phone of his homeland, the tall, bearded farmer smiled fondly. ‘We were very happy growing up there and living there,’ he said. This was hardly surprising: the lush Gambela region of Ethiopia is a fertile place of fruit trees, rivers and fissures of gold, writes Ian Birrell

That was the only smile when I met Mr O in the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya last year. He told me how his simple family life had been destroyed in seconds – and how he blames British aid for his misery. ‘I miss my family so much,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to be relying on handouts –  I want to be productive.’

His nightmare began in November 2011 when Ethiopian troops accompanied by officials arrived in his village and ordered everyone to leave for a new location.

Men who refused were beaten and women were raped, leaving some infected with HIV.

I met a blind man who was  hit in the face and a middle-aged mother whose husband was  shot dead beside her – she still bore obvious the scars from  her own beating and rape by three soldiers. 

Unlike their previous home, their new village had no food, water, school or health facilities. They were not given farmland and there were just a few menial jobs. 

‘The government was pretending it was about development,’ said Mr O, 33. ‘But they just want to push the indigenous people off so they can take our land and gold.’ 

After speaking out against forced relocations and returning to his village, Mr O was taken to a military camp where for three days he was gagged with a sock in his mouth, severely kicked and beaten with rifle butts and sticks. 

‘I thought it would be better  to die than to suffer like this,’ he  told me. 

Afterwards, like thousands of others, he fled the country; now he lives amid the dust and squalor of the world’s largest refugee camp. He says their land was then given to relatives of senior regime figures and foreign investors from Asia and the Middle East.

‘I am very angry about this aid,’ he said. ‘Britain needs to check what is happening to its money. 
‘I hope the court will act to stop the killing, stop the land-grabbing and stop your Government supporting the Ethiopian government behind this.’ 

As the dignified Mr O said so sagely, what is happening in his country is the precise opposite  of development.

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OPDO Elects Muktar Kedir as its president

Gobana Jama | March 28, 2014

Muktar Kedir, OPDO Presient

Muktar was born in Jimma. He earned his first degree in Law from the Civil Service College (security) and his second degree in International Leadership from Azusa Pacific University in California in August of 2008.

Muktar joined the OPDO in the mid-1990s, and was appointed administrator of the Jimma Zone in 1999, serving in the post until 2003. Unlike, his predecessors, Muktar is not prisoner of war (POW), who formed OPDO, but awesome loyal and confidant to the late Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi. From 2008 to 2010 he served as Vice-President of the Oromia Region state and head of the office of the Ethipian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Font (EPRDF) council.

Under Meles Zenawi, Muktar enjoyed considerable influence especially after he was appointed to run the affairs of the prime minister’s office in 2010. He also joined the national security council at the time, a post that helped him to gain a great deal of knowledge and skill managing large operations that harassed millions.

Muktar is known as a politician of considerable will, and ego. He is an orator given to addressing mass meetings, and is one of few senior EPRDF figures who can communicate with the people. His biggest problem could come from OPDO where there are already two distinct factions, one supporting him, from Islamic areas and the other from largely Christian areas. Muktar was unpopular with the later faction for approving Wahabist groups to organize gatherings when he was vice minster of the Oromia region, a job with much influence in the party.

Debretsion Gebremichael is an architect of security apparatus in Ethiopia. One can comfortably say, he is the ruler of the country after Zenawi. 

From 2012 to 2014 he was one of the country’s three deputy prime Ministers, serving with Debretsion Gebremichael and Demeke Mekonnen, considered “a loyal politician and trusted ally of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn” and he was appointed as minister for the civil service.

Now, Muktar is a personal confidant of a ruthless security chief, Dr. Debretsion Gebremichael, who is responsible for the disappearance of millions in Ethiopia. Debretsion is an architect of the security establishment in the country, inlcuding wire tapping technique, internet access limitations, depriving citizens rights, adopting torturing menus in prisons, etc. He is also reponsible for retardation of the country’s information technology growth. Ethiopia is far lower than the lawless coutnry, Somalia, when it comes to information technology growth.

Muktar will be closely watched by his boss, Dr. Debretsion, who will test him how he handles the relationship with OLF. The growing popularity of OLF, especially among youth, will consume his office. Will he negotiate or follow his predecessors’ hardline approach, who finally ended up in exile?

Muktar’s second problem is the rampant regional corruption within the Oromo communities, which was deliberately designed and created for divide and rule strategy by the TPLF. The third is the unresolved religion issues.

Observers say that Muktar will be another headless, puppet of Debretsion, who will exercise or apply his security knowledge and skill on innocent citizens. Any way time will tell whom he will be working for.

-ayyaantuu-

PRESS RELEASE from BakkalchaTV

Press release from Bakkalcha Tv Date : 23/03/2014

Opening of the new TV channel with editorial in Moss, Norway .

Bakkalcha Tv will primarily address the viewers of Africa 3rd biggest language Oromo . As of today there are minimal television stations which broadcast programs for this target group , and because of this we have created a channel of entertainment for children and adults , education / knowledge , health , finance and news. The TV channel is politically neutral. Bakkalcha - has a great symbolic value for the Oromo people .

We have started test transmissions on www.bakkalchatv.com and apstar 7 satellite. The satellite covers the major areas like Africa , Australia and parts of Asia and Europe.

Official opening is 30.04.2014 with broadcasts 24/7 .

A dream has come true – for a long time we dreamed to create a television channel aimed at the Oromo people.

We both came to Norway as relatively young but with different backgrounds . Jerjerso has since he was a small boy been living in the mountains without his family and lived as a child military , and A / Abdulahi had obtained a highschool education. We immediately saw the importance of proper education and information for personal development and a clear connection to why many get stuck without the development of several generations just because of lack of knowledge and awareness . We wan´t to do something about it.

We also see the possibility that some of those already living in Norway as refugees can get into the work market in our business .

Links : http://nn.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oromo

Regards The founders of Bakkalcha TV . A / Abdulahi Nuur and Jerjerso Whorsu Wade

Press Contact Norway Grete Rotoey

Tel : 90609725 website: www.bakkalchatv.com email: grete@bakkalchatv.com

For other languages : Jerjerso Whorsu Wade Tlf 004799874452 Email: wadaay@bakkalchatv.com

Or

A/Nuur Abdulahi Tlf:0047 96671888 Email:bottaa@bakkalchatv.com

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Guest: The flaw in Bill Gates’ approach to ending global poverty

The first step is not identifying technical solutions, but ensuring poor people’s rights, writes guest columnist William Easterly.

By William Easterly

William Easterly

March 26, 2014 (The Seattle Times) — SOMEHOW — probably my own fault — I have wound up on Bill Gates’ list of the world’s most misguided economists. Gates singled me out by name in his annual 2014 letter to his foundation as an “aid critic” spreading harmful myths about ineffective aid programs.

I actually admire Gates for his generosity and advocacy for the fight against global poverty through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle. We just disagree about how to end poverty throughout the world.

Gates believes poverty will end by identifying technical solutions. My research shows that the first step is not identifying technical solutions, but ensuring poor people’s rights.

Gates concentrates his foundation’s efforts on finding the right fixes to the problems of the world’s poor, such as bed nets to prevent malarial mosquito bites or drought-tolerant varieties of corn to prevent famine. Along with official aid donors, such as USAID and the World Bank, the foundation works together with local, generally autocratic, governments on these technical solutions.

Last year, Gates cited Ethiopia in a Wall Street Journal guest column as an example, a country where he described the donors and government as setting “clear goals, choosing an approach, measuring results, and then using those measurements to continually refine our approach.”

This approach, Gates said, “helps us to deliver tools and services to everybody who will benefit.” Gates then gives credit for progress to the rulers. When the tragically high death rates of Ethiopian children fell from 2005 to 2010, Gates said this was “in large part thanks to” such a measurement-driven program by Ethiopia’s autocrat Meles Zenawi, who had ruled since 1991. Gates later said Meles’ death in August 2012 was “a great loss for Ethiopia.”

Do autocratic rulers like Meles really deserve the credit?

Gates’ technocratic approach to poverty, combining expert advice and cooperative local rulers, is a view that has appealed for decades to foundations and aid agencies. But if technical solutions to poverty are so straightforward, why had these rulers not already used them?

The technical solutions have been missing for so long in Ethiopia and other poor countries because autocrats are more motivated to stay in power than to fix the problems of poverty. Autocracy itself perpetuates poverty.

Meles violently suppressed demonstrations after rigged elections in 2005. He even manipulated donor-financed famine relief in 2010 to go only to his own ruling party’s supporters. The donors failed to investigate this abuse after its exposure by Human Rights Watch, continuing a long technocratic tradition of silence on poor people’s rights.

Rulers only reliably become benevolent when citizens can force them to be so — when citizens exert their democratic rights.

Our own history in the U.S. shows how we can protest bad government actions and reward good actions with our rights to protest and to vote. We won’t even let New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie get away with a traffic jam on a bridge.

Such democratic rights make technical fixes happen, and produce a far better long-run record on reducing poverty, disease and hunger than autocracies. We saw this first in the now-rich countries, which are often unfairly excluded from the evidence base.

Some developing countries such as Botswana had high economic growth through big increases in democratic rights after independence. Botswana’s democrats prevented famines during droughts, unlike the regular famines during droughts under Ethiopia’s autocrats.

Worldwide, the impressive number of developing countries that have shifted to democracy includes successes such as Brazil, Chile, Ghana, South Korea and Taiwan, as well as former Soviet Bloc countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia.

If the democratic view of development is correct, the lessons for Gates are clear: Don’t give undeserved credit and praise to autocrats. Don’t campaign for more official aid to autocrats. Redirect aid to democrats. If the democratic view is wrong, I do deserve to be on Gates’ list of the world’s most misguided economists.

William Easterly is professor of economics at New York University and author of “The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor.”

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Ethiopian maids targeted in Kuwait

March 26, 2014 (Migrant Rights) –  Kuwait’s Ethiopian community has become the target of bigoted accusations and vitriolic attacks following the March 16 murder of a 19-year-old Kuwaiti woman by an Ethiopian domestic worker.  The young housemaid murdered her employer’s daughter, child of ex-football player and current Kuwaiti official Humood Flatih al-Shammari, and proceeded to turn herself in at the local police station. One media report claims the murder was a reaction to “mild criticism from the victim regarding the housemaid’s housework.”  According to authorities, she may face the death penalty.

Less than a week after the murder,  Kuwaiti officials, citizens, and media outlets have proposed recruitment bans and even deportations of Ethiopian migrants. The ministry of interior announced an indefinite moratorium on the recruitment of all Ethiopian migrants and yet again, Kuwaiti officials failed to responsibly and reasonably address crimes involving the expatriate community . Parliament members were amongst the first to stoke fear and anger by implicating the Ethiopian community as a whole; parliament members called for a unilateral ban on Ethiopians migrant workers and for the deportation of the estimated 80,000 currently residing in Kuwait.  One parliament member directly called on Kuwaiti families to proactively deport their Ethiopian housemaids, 45,000 of whom workacross the country, and to swallow resulting financial losses as though it were a national duty.  MP Talal Al-Jalala  reiterated calls for regular testing of domestic workers to “ensure they are not suffering from psychological diseases” and demanded a tougher punishment for so-called “killer maids.” MP  Humood al-Hamdan  also suggested measures to avoid recruiting workers with “mental or psychological problems” as well as  awareness campaigns to “familiarize the expatriate workers on the local culture and nature of the Kuwaiti society…” Each of these members claims that workers are predisposed towards crime because of mental instability or cultural differences, failing to acknowledge the documented impact of exploitative employment conditions on workers. Gulf-based studies link both workers’ crimes and mental disposition to employer mistreatment, providing an evidence-based opportunity for intervention. But rather than securing much needs rights for domestic workers or launching public service announcements to encourage the fair treatment of domestic workers Kuwaiti officials choose to recklessly incite hostility against the migrant community and further perpetuate the cycle of violence.

Furthermore, on March 19 the Ministry of interior launched raids on recruitment agencies. The ministry arrested 12,984 domestic workers in one night and intends to deport them shortly – without granting them access to legal services or to a trial to contest their status.  One media outlet reported that the ministry intended to shut down violating offices, and also confiscated agencies’ insurance funds. The ministry ordered the deportation of all domestic workers temporarily placed at these offices, most of whom had been ‘returned’ to the agency and were awaiting the location of another employer. Among the 12,000+ domestic workers arrested, 2,136 were Ethiopians; 234 females and 1,902 males.

The ministry condemned agencies attempts to exchange maids or ‘sell’ them to different sponsors as a form of human trafficking, and according to a local newspaper, “the ban is enforced until recruitment procedures as well as regulations that organize the work of recruitment offices and medical tests in Kuwait are reviewed.” Yet, the Kuwaiti government established this ‘probationary period’ to protect sponsors investments, allowing them to ‘return’ domestic workers to recruitment agencies if they are unsatisfied with their work. While it is critical that Kuwait seems to have recognized the risk this period exposes domestic workers to, Kuwait’s response is misguided; By choosing to summarily deport these workers, Kuwait has once again disproportionately imposed the burden of it’s own under-regulation, as well as the transgressions of Kuwaiti citizens, onto migrants.

The demonization of nationalities following major crimes committed by expatriates is not unique to Kuwait; Last year, the murder of a child by a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia immediately invoked widespread outcry against Ethiopians and resulted in a ban on their recruitment. Saudi officials similarly failed to address the actual causes such crimes and instead implemented measures based largely on social media hysteria. By addressing the race of a domestic worker rather than the conditions of domestic work, Saudi accomplished little except invite maid shortages and higher recruitment fees.

The UAE has been more vocal about the impact of employment conditions on domestic workers and has produced several awareness campaigns about fair treatment. However, these campaigns similarly cast suspicion on domestic workers, implying that workers should be treated well not for the sake of their rights, but for the sake of the family’s safety.  These warnings can put workers at further risk, as employers feel they must consolidate their control.  Additionally, the campaigns have not been coupled with legislative reforms that protect domestic worker’s rights.

Kuwait should learn from the experiences of other Gulf states as well as it’s own.  Without any trial, Kuwaiti officials have already determined the motivation of the crime and have already acted with abrasive, uncalculated measures. Rarely do Kuwaiti officials speak out about attacks against migrant workers, and never with such expedient demands for official action. Murder of course can never be justified, and should always be condemned – but in Kuwait, this outcry is dependent on the citizenship of the victim and the nationality of the murder.

Collective punishment fails to meaningfully address the root cause of such crimes and furthermore directs public anger towards Ethiopian domestic workers.  Rather than inflaming suspicions against foreign domestic workers, Kuwait should implement a balanced reform of the entire domestic worker sector that ensures the safety of employers and workers alike.

Kuwaiti officials have chosen to incite suspicion against foreign domestic workers rather than to develop sound protective measures that ensure the safety of employers and workers alike.

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Ethiopia: Arrests and Detentions of Oromo Students in Southern Oromia

HRLHA Urgent Action

March 26, 2014

Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) would like to express its deep concern over the safety and fates of Shakiso High School Oromo Students who became victims of discriminate mass arrest and detention in Shakiso Town of Guji Zone in southern Oromia. Around two hundred ethnic Oromo Students have been sent to a jail in the nearby Adola Town, and some have received varying degrees of injuries both from bullets that were shot by the security forces during the interference and by beatings.

Shakiso High School

Those high school Oromo Students, almost all of whom are juvenile, were arrested and/or picked up at different times from different places including the school compound following a minor clash between them and ethnic Amhara Students of the same high school. According to information obtained by HRLHA through its correspondents, the clash between the two groups occurred following a provocation by the ethnic Amhara Students in opposition to the singing of the regional anthem in the regional Oromo Language by ethnic Oromo Students during flag raising ceremony at the school based on the rules and regulations provided for by the constitution of the regional state. The ethnic Oromo Students were reporting the incident and filing their complaints with the school administration when the school compound was raided by the federal security forces. Among the ironies surrounding this incident were that:

1. The Federal Security Forces were deployed to interfere in such very minor and localized issues that could easily be dealt with by local administrative bodies and communities including that of the school itself,
2. The ethnic Oromo Students, who were the victims of the clash, were discriminately double-victimized while those who triggered the violence were left unquestioned,
3. Not only that such constitutional provisions as a regional anthem that have been in place for close to two decades becomes a subject of dispute, but also those who attempted to exercise such legal provisions were deemed criminals that belong to detention instead of those who contradicted the constitution head on.

The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) has been able to obtain the names of the
following Oromo students among those who have been detained:

1. Bezabish Gurmeessaa (MEMBER OF OPPOSITION OFC)- wounded by bullet,
2. Desta Waaree – beaten up and injured,
3. Bali Chachu (MEMBER OF OPPOSITION OFC)
4. Buno Shaggola (MEMBER OF OPPOSITION OFC)
5. Bakalcha Oddo (MEMBER OF OPPOSITION OFC)
6. Bezabish Gurmeessaa
7. Chaltu Birbissa
8. Hotessa Soree
9. Yohanes Jisso
10. Kifle Areri
11. Badhadha (father name not identified)
12. Beyena Jarso
13. Shambel Galchu
14. Jemal Aga
15. Wendimu Areri
16. Nagessa Gedo
17. Getachew Demise
18. Boru Dube
19. Gemechis Bilu
20. Chari Chana
21. Ware Kottola ,

Although the interference of the government security forces was not far from expectations, the very harsh and violent actions that have resulted in life-threatening injuries are not acceptable by any standard. Given the violent way the students were dealt with, it is also very likely that they could be subjected to tortures.

Therefore, HRLHA calls up on the Ethiopian government to unconditionally release the detained
students; and allow necessary treatments for those who have been injured and/or wounded. It also calls upon the Ethiopian government to investigate the clash and bring the culprits to justice so that they refrain from continued racist provocations that will create conflicts between the two nations.

-ayyaantuu

Ethiopia: Telecom Surveillance Chills Rights

March 25, 2014 (Berlin) – The Ethiopian government is using foreign technology to bolster its widespread telecom surveillance of opposition activists and journalists both in Ethiopia and abroad, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

The 100-page report, “‘They Know Everything We Do’: Telecom and Internet Surveillance in Ethiopia,” details the technologies the Ethiopian government has acquired from several countries and uses to facilitate surveillance of perceived political opponents inside the country and among the diaspora. The government’s surveillance practices violate the rights to freedom of expression, association, and access to information. The government’s monopoly over all mobile and Internet services through its sole, state-owned telecom operator, Ethio Telecom, facilitates abuse of surveillance powers.

“The Ethiopian government is using control of its telecom system as a tool to silence dissenting voices,” said Arvind Ganesan, business and human rights director at Human Rights Watch. “The foreign firms that are providing products and services that facilitate Ethiopia’s illegal surveillance are risking complicity in rights abuses.”

The report draws on more than 100 interviews with victims of abuses and former intelligence officials inEthiopia and 10 other countries between September 2012 and February 2014. Because of the government’s complete control over the telecom system, Ethiopian security officials have virtually unlimited access to the call records of all telephone users in Ethiopia. They regularly and easily record phone calls without any legal process or oversight.

Recorded phone calls with family members and friends – particularly those with foreign phone numbers – are often played during abusive interrogations in which people who have been arbitrarily detained are accused of belonging to banned organizations. Mobile networks have been shut down during peaceful protests and protesters’ locations have been identified using information from their mobile phones.

A former opposition party member told Human Rights Watch: “One day they arrested me and they showed me everything. They showed me a list of all my phone calls and they played a conversation I had with my brother. They arrested me because we talked about politics on the phone. It was the first phone I ever owned, and I thought I could finally talk freely.”

The government has curtailed access to information by blocking websites that offer any independent or critical analysis of political events in Ethiopia. In-country testing that Human Rights Watch and Citizen Lab, a University of Toronto research center focusing on internet security and rights, carried out in 2013 showed that Ethiopia continues to block websites of opposition groups, media sites, and bloggers. In a country where there is little in the way of an independent media, access to such information is critical.

Ethiopian authorities using mobile surveillance have frequently targeted the ethnic Oromo population. Taped phone calls have been used to compel people in custody to confess to being part of banned groups, such as the Oromo Liberation Front, which seeks greater autonomy for the Oromo people, or to provide information about members of these groups. Intercepted emails and phone calls have been submitted as evidence in trials under the country’s flawed anti-terrorism law, without indication that judicial warrants were obtained.

The authorities have also detained and interrogated people who received calls from phone numbers outside of Ethiopia that may not be in Ethio Telecom databases. As a result, many Ethiopians, particularly in rural areas, are afraid to call or receive phone calls from abroad, a particular problem for a country that has many nationals working in foreign countries.

Most of the technologies used to monitor telecom activity in Ethiopia have been provided by the Chinese telecom giant ZTE, which has been in the country since at least 2000 and was its exclusive supplier of telecom equipment from 2006 to 2009. ZTE is a major player in the African and global telecom industry, and continues to have a key role in the development of Ethiopia’s fledgling telecom network. ZTE has not responded to Human Rights Watch inquiries about whether it is taking steps to address and prevent human rights abuses linked to unlawful mobile surveillance in Ethiopia.

Several European companies have also provided advanced surveillance technology to Ethiopia, which have been used to target members of the diaspora. Ethiopia appears to have acquired and used United Kingdom and Germany-based Gamma International’s FinFisher and Italy-based Hacking Team’s Remote Control System. These tools give security and intelligence agencies access to files, information, and activity on the infected target’s computer. They can log keystrokes and passwords and turn on a device’s webcam and microphone, effectively turning a computer into a listening device. Ethiopians living in the UK, United States, Norway, and Switzerland are among those known to have been infected with this software, and cases have been brought in the US and UK alleging illegal wiretapping. One Skype conversation gleaned from the computers of infected Ethiopians has appeared on pro-government websites.

Gamma has not responded to Human Rights Watch inquiries as to whether it has any meaningful process in place to restrict the use or sale of these products to governments with poor human rights records. While Hacking Team applies certain precautions to limit abuse of its products, it has not confirmed whether and how those precautions applied to sales to the Ethiopian government.

“Ethiopia’s use of foreign technologies to target opposition members abroad is a deeply troubling example of this unregulated global trade, creating serious risks of abuse,” Ganesan said. “The makers of these tools should take immediate steps to address their misuse; including investigating the use of these tools to target the Ethiopian diaspora and addressing the human rights impact of their Ethiopia operations.”

Such powerful spyware remains virtually unregulated at the global level and there are insufficient national controls or limits on their export, Human Rights Watch said. In 2013, rights groups filed a complaint at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development alleging such technologies had been deployed to target activists in Bahrain, and Citizen Lab has found evidence of use of these tools in over 25 countries.

The internationally protected rights to privacy, and freedom of expression, information, and association are enshrined in the Ethiopian constitution. However, Ethiopia either lacks or ignores judicial and legislative mechanisms to protect people from unlawful government surveillance. This danger is made worse by the widespread use of torture and other ill-treatment against political detainees in Ethiopian detention centers.

The extent of Ethiopia’s use of surveillance technologies may be limited by capacity issues and a lack of trust among key government ministries, Human Rights Watch said. But as capacity increases, Ethiopians may increasingly see far more pervasive unlawful use of mobile and email surveillance.

The government’s actual control is exacerbated by the perception among many Ethiopians that government surveillance is omnipresent, resulting in considerable self-censorship, with Ethiopians refraining from openly communicating on a variety of topics across telecom networks. Self-censorship is especially common in rural Ethiopia, where mobile phone coverage and access to the Internet is very limited. The main mode of government control is through extensive networks of informants and a grassroots system of surveillance. This rural legacy means that many rural Ethiopians view mobile phones and other telecommunications technologies as just another tool to monitor them, Human Rights Watch found.

“As Ethiopia’s telecom system grows, there is an increasing need to ensure that proper legal protections are followed and that security officials don’t have unfettered access to people’s private communications,” Ganesan said. “Adoption of Internet and mobile technologies should support democracy, facilitating the spread of ideas and opinions and access to information, rather than being used to stifle people’s rights.

-anyuakmedia-