Oromia for Oromo: Jan 16, 2011

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Extra-judicial Arrests of Oromo Refugees in Djibouti; Fear of Deportations and Tortures

Djibouti: Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa/HRLHA Urgent Action and Appeal, January 2011

PUBLIC, 12 January 2011

The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) is highly concerned about the safety of nine Oromo refugees from Ethiopia whose whereabouts are not known since they were extra-judicially arrested and taken away by members of the Djibouti force in Djibouti on different occasions in the months of November and December 2010, and January 2011.

Mr. Jundi Bakar Ahmad (a father of 7), Mr. Mohammad Aliyyi Mummad, Mr. Ahmad Mohammad Sa’id, Mr. Umar Ibrahim Yussuf, Mr. Ali Ahmad Mohammad, and Mr. Anwar Jamaal were all arrested by a joint force of Djibouti Police and Ethiopian security agents on December 22, 2010 in Djibouti at a place called Nagar Ambouli Sortie. Prior to that, Mr. Ibrahim Hussien, Mustafa Muktar (very young and age 16), and Mr. Kadir Umar were arrested in the same way on November 25, 2010; and their whereabouts are not known since then.

What further raises HRLHA’s concern about those refugees is that the Ethiopian security agents were involved in both their apprehensions and interrogations, according to information obtained through HRLHA reporters. Given this direct involvement of the Ethiopia security agents in the arrests and interrogation activities, it is very likely that the cases of those refugees have been politicized and that they might have been subjected to tortures, and might have also been deported to Ethiopia, where they could face further severe punishments. There are also unconfirmed reports that refugees in Djibouti are subjected to forced labour once they are arrested, regardless of their ages; and often physically assaulted.

The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) calls up on the Djibouti government to disclose the whereabouts and current situations of those refugees to all concerned bodies. We also request the government of Djibouti to abide by both international and regional covenants, treaties and agreements, and ensure that the rights of refugees in its territory are respected.

Background Information
Previously, the Djibouti government had handed over many refugees of Ethiopian Oromo origin at different times to Ethiopian government in breaching the international refugees’ rights agreements.

The Ethiopian government has a well-documented record of gross and flagrant violations of human rights, including the torturing of its own citizens who were involuntarily returned to the country. The government of Ethiopia routinely imprisons such persons and in some cases sentences them to long terms in prison. Some face the harshest punishment, including death penalty. Ethiopia currently has many former refugees, who were handed over by Djibouti and other neighboring countries, who were given death sentences and awaiting execution after being arrested similarly and handed over to the Ethiopian government in different years. There have been credible reports of physical and psychological abuses committed against individuals in Ethiopian prisons and other secret places of detention.

HRLHA has a profound belief that the two countries – Djibouti and Ethiopia – are acting jointly in hunting, arresting and punishing alleged members and/or supporters of opposition political organizations and human rights activists. The obligation that a country should not return a refuge to the country they have fled, which is also a principle of customary international law, applies to both asylum seekers and refugees, as affirmed by UNHCR’s Executive Committee and the United Nations General Assembly.

By handing over the Ethiopian Oromo refugees to the Ethiopian governments, the Djibouti government is breaching its obligations under international treaties as well as customary laws.

Under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (1465 U.N.T.S. 185), the Djibouti government has the obligation not to return a person to a place where they are likely to face torture or ill-treatment. Article 3 of the Convention against Torture provides that:

1. No state party shall expel, return (“refouler”) or extradite a person to another state where there are substantial grounds to believe that they would be in danger of being subjected to torture.

2. For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the state concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights.

Due to these and other similar facts, HRLHA is highly concerned about the fate of those arrested refugees. Therefore, HRLHA calls upon regional and international humanitarian and diplomatic communities and agencies to approach and pressurize the Djibouti government to disclose the whereabouts and the current situations of those refugees, and also refrain from deporting them. HRLHA also calls upon those same agencies and communities to exert pressure on the Horn of African countries to refrain from becoming tools of authoritarian regimes and instead respect the rights of refugees to safety and protection according the regional and international refugees rights agreements.

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to the Djibouti government and its concerned officials as swiftly as possible, in English, French, or your own language expressing:

* concern at the apprehension and fear of deportation of the refugees who are being held in detention since November and December 2010 at different times, and in January 2011 and calling for their immediate and unconditional release;

* urging the authorities of Djibouti to ensure that these detainees are treated in accordance with regional and international standards on the treatment of prisoners.

APPEALS TO:

His Excellency Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, President of Djibouti
PO Box 185
Tel: (253) 35 39 95
Fax: (253) 35 39 40

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
United Nations Office at Geneva
1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Fax: + 41 22 917 9022
(particularly for urgent matters)
Email: tb-petitions@ohchr.org

UNHCR main office Geneva, Switzerland
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Case Postale 2500
CH-1211 Genève 2 Dépôt, Suisse
Tel: +41 22 739 8111

African Commission on Human and Peoples‘ Rights (ACHPR)
48 Kairaba Avenue, P.O.Box 673, Banjul,
The Gambia
Tel: (220) 4392 962 , 4372070, 4377721 – 23
Fax: (220) 4390 764
Email: achpr@achpr.org

U.S. Department of State
Tom Fcansky – Foreign Affairs Officer
Email: TOfcansky@aol.com
Washington, D.C. 20037
Tel: +1-202-261-8009
Fax: +1-202-261-8197

Amnesty International – London
Tom Gibson
Tel: +44-20-74135500
Fax: +44-20-79561157
Email: TGibson@amnesty.org

Human Rights Watch – New York
Tel: +1-212-290-4700
Fax: +1-212-736-1300
Email: hrwnyc@hrw.org

- The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA)

The formation of the Gadaa republic of Oromia

The Abyssinians, be they are the Eritreans, the Tigreans who currently rule Oromia and the Amaharas, tactic in Oromia is to make OROMIANS problems complicated so that their economic and political upper hand in Oromian will remain unchanged but the only way to reverse their evil and cunning artificially engineered problems in Oromia is to simplify and clarify it. In addition to the above reality, the Oromians must understand that the goal of American advisers to the Tigre government in Finfinee is to enforce a strong central government idea sponsored by the estate department of America. To accomplish their mission, the Americans are advising Malsaa Seenaa to drag on the colonization time until Oromians question for independence is destroyed. To prolong the Tigre colony in Oromia, the Amhara chauvinism will be as the a common threat to all ethnic group in empire Ethiopia so that the Tigreans are looked at as the only force that can keep the Amhara chauvinism at bay.. Recognizing these grand agendas of the White man and the Abyssinians, the reality on the ground shows that, from an economic aspect, food prices are sky rocketing, more children are starving and the Tigreans are becoming richer and richer every day in Finfinnee and Oromia because they control the entire economy of of Oromia. Further more, let alone bringing back the Assab port, Badame is lost to Eritrea, the Amharas have lost half of Gondar to Tigri, half Wallo was partitioned towards Tigri following TPLF’s agenda of creating greater Tigri and a former poor Tigri province continues to look like Europe capturing the imaginations of millions of destitute people of empire Ethiopia. From global political front, Aboma’s coming to power in America and the departure of conservative Christian Bush have brought dark cloud upon Africa’s dictators. Hence, despite OLF’s weak political influence inside empire Ethiopia today, the TPLF regime doesn't have the support it claims to have from the people of empire Ethiopia. That means, the only formidable force that can tip the balance of power in empire Ethiopia are the people of Oromia if they are united and organized in order to build other ethnic groups confidence and lead them to true freedom. Therefore, it is an absolute fact that the Oromians build a political infrastructure that will facilitate their unity and superiority over their weakness. Political infrustructure is the spirit of cooperation and the ideas, the interests and ingredients that binds different groups together on free will. In general terms, infrustructure is an invisible -expensive - useful stuff that makes our lives work so well: For example, water, sewer, open spaces, libraries, energy pipelines, schools, public safety systems and transportation networks are social infrucstuctures available to connect every one. When transilated to a sense of building a political infrastructure among Oromia's political parties or groups or entities, the formation of alliances must be understood by the above example. As long as the liberation objective of Oromia is not formulated in a precise language which the society can understand, the Oromians and the OLF will continue to suffer endless barrages of confusions and TPLF's Dogs such as the OPDO will have so much to say in order to manipulate the Oromians against their own liberation organizations. Evidently, the OLF suffered a political setback because of the shift it made in 2005 from it’s original political objective. By acknowledging the value of this key concept, including the importance of understanding the nature of a conflict inside itself and Oromia’s localities, the OLF can re embark upon the friction and the fog that seem affecting it’s relationship with the Oromians and quickly transition to the formation of the CAFFEE OROMIYAA or the parliament of united republic of Oromia. Numerous Oromian scholars have observed that the tactical shift made by the OLF since 1991 have encouraged misinterpretation about the intentions of the OLF to stand with it’s original objective of liberating Oromia despite millions of Oromians commitment to the idea of liberating Oromia from the colonization of the Abyssinians (the Tigre and the Amharas). It is very important to understand why the Oromians opinion have taken a dim view at large-scale today. The utilization of Ethiopianist tactical approach limits Oromian’s desire to be a part of the revolution movement because OLF’s recognition of the survival of empire Ethiopia will eventually result in the strengthening of a tainted and outdated Abyssinians institutions and military doctrine dictums. In-order to wage a decisive battle on Abyssinian colonization, first, a war must take place against those intermittent tactical moves emphasized by the OLF in 2005 and of-course a war on irregularity requires the untimely death of political duality, i.e, it limits OLF’s ability to claim Ethiopia and Oromia at the same time. None-the less, a focus on strict objective of the liberation of Oromia gives a clear understanding of the mission sought by the founders of the Maccaa and Tulamaa Association and the OLF when it also provides a broader political platform that unify the Oromians and rally them around a single objective that gives a relative advantage to finish the remaining historical journey of liberating and defending Oromia from the colonial yoke of the Abyssinians. A focus on the original objective of liberating Oromia will help the Oromians to overcome the inherent imperfection of localist and religious differences which the Abyssinians utilized to divide the Oromians and rule them for century and half now. In other words, the conflicts that escalates among the Oromians here and there will end when the Oromians are focused on a strict objective of liberating their country Oromia.. That means, a focused aim of liberating Oromia will bring natural reconciliation among Oromians opposing views by being a conceptual model by shedding light on a single political purpose while entirely plugging off all loop holes through which the Abyssinians sneaked in in order to manipulate the Oromians towards to division and weakness. Hence, Oromians and OLF’s dedication to the idea of the formation of the Gadaa republic of Oromia, will serve as a decisive battles against the colonizing force of the Tigre in Oromia. In the following manuscript or a “rough draft”of the Gadaa constitution of the democratic republic of Oromia, a dialectical method of reasoning have been employed in order to clear up littered Oromian political past of contradictions and redundancies that mislead the Oromians and the world at large. To read the entire manuscript, please subscribe to KAAYOO journal 2009 edition. The Oromian Scholars and Professionals Association (O.P.S.A)

Oromia for Oromo

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Extra-judicial Arrests of Oromo Refugees in Djibouti; Fear of Deportations and Tortures

Goota bilisummaa isaaf wareegame

The formation of the Gadaa republic of Oromia

Oromia

Guyyaa Gootota Oromoo

Oromia for Oromo