Ethiopia Under The TPLF Is A Large Prison: Only Five Percent of Prisoners Released Thus Far

NY/NJ Ethiopians Task Force

Due to internal and external pressures we recently witnessed, the TPLF regime in Ethiopia is admitting for the first time that it is holding political prisoners. The resigned puppet prime minister has shamelessly said that there are no political prisoners on so many occasions, and then he ate his own words after his TPLF bosses allowed him to say otherwise. We have also witnessed the release of few prominent Ethiopian politicians, including Dr. Merera Gudina, Andualem Arage, Eskindir Nega, Bekele Gerba, Ahmed Jebel, Nigist Yirga and Colonel Demeqe Zewdu.

While all Ethiopians are happy to see these prominent Ethiopians released, the number of prisoners released thus far is only about 5%. Based on accounts of released prisoners, the number of people imprisoned every day is much more than the number of prisoners being released right now. The recent state of emergency imposed on Ethiopians by the TPLF is also designed to terrorize, kill and imprison more. As a result, no one should commend or applaud this pathetic attempt by a ruthless regime to appear righteous in the eyes of Ethiopians and donor countries.

While we celebrate the release of brave Ethiopians who selflessly stoodup and fought against a cruel regime, we should never forget that there are so many that are still languishing in prison, there are thousands of Ethiopians who were tortured to the point they can no longer walk, and there are thousands of Ethiopians subjected to inhumane torture conditions, including nail extraction. There were a lot of prisoners who were taken to Mekele secret prisons and disappeared without a trace. Moreover, there are also thousands who lost their lives while being tortured.

The TPLF used the anti-terrorism law, designed to suppress opposition and label anyone fighting for democratic rights as terrorist or a member of opposition parties, including “Arbegnoch Ginbot 7”, a popular freedom fighting organization that is designated by the terrorist regime as a group of terrorists.

Ethiopians are now asking for the release of the remaining 95% including monks from Waldba Monastery and other prominent freedom fighters like Andargachew Tsige, who was illegally imprisoned while traveling via Yemen airport.  His bravery and his determination to fight TPLF tyranny was a huge challenge to the TPLF, who paid millions of dollars to convince corrupt Yemeni officials and snatch him from Sana’a International Airport.

Furthermore, Ethiopians are asking for some accountability after almost three decades of looting, torturing, and killings. TPLF members including Getachew Assefa, Sibhat Nega, Abay Tsehay, Arkebe Ekubay, and General Samora Yunis who approved inhumane torture conditions and gave an order to the massacres of Ethiopians including Irreccha celebrators, Ambo, Kobel, Dembi Dolo, Chelenko, Weldiya, Hamaresa demonstrators must be accountable for the mistery Ethiopians suffered under TPLF tyranny.

Long Live Ethiopian Unity

The Terrorist TPLF Must Go

NY/NJ Ethiopians Task Force (www.ethionynj.com)

Defiance strike in Ethiopia’s Amhara region over state of emergency

(Africa News) The city of Gondar in Ethiopia’s northern Amhara regional state has been hit by a strike days after the declaration of a national state of emergency by the Council of Ministers.

Even though it is not known who called for the sit-down strike, reports indicate that the measure has left the city deserted. Shops have not opened and some government offices remain closed.

According to a top blogger, Befeqadu Hailu, the city is pressing ahead with the strike despite it being a prohibited act under the state of emergency declared late last week. Minister of defense Siraj Fegessa stated that it will be in place for six months.

Amhara region along with Oromia were the main centers of spreading anti-government protests that led to the imposition of the last state of emergency in October 2016.

The six-month measure eventually run for ten months after the government extended it by four months in April. It was lifted in August 2017 and followed by a series of security headaches.

According to government, the latest state of emergency is aimed at curbing rising insecurity across the country following the release of hundreds of political prisoners. Addis Ababa said the move, part of wider reforms, was aimed at fostering national unity.

The state of emergency was imposed almost twenty-four hours after the resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn. He will, however, stay on till the ruling coalition settles on his replacement at their next congress.

‘We strongly disagree’ U.S. Embassy on Ethiopia’s state of emergency

U.S. Embassy Statement on the Ethiopian Government’s Declared State of Emergency

We strongly disagree with the Ethiopian government’s decision to impose a state of emergency that includes restrictions on fundamental rights such as assembly and expression.

We recognize and share concerns expressed by the government about incidents of violence and loss of life, but firmly believe that the answer is greater freedom, not less.

The challenges facing Ethiopia, whether to democratic reform, economic growth, or lasting stability, are best addressed through inclusive discourse and political processes, rather than through the imposition of restrictions.

The declaration of a state of emergency undermines recent positive steps toward creating a more inclusive political space, including the release of thousands of prisoners. Restrictions on the ability of the Ethiopian people to express themselves peacefully sends a message that they are not being heard.

We strongly urge the government to rethink this approach and identify other means to protect lives and property while preserving, and indeed expanding, the space for meaningful dialogue and political participation that can pave the way to a lasting democracy.

Unrest in Kobo and Robit, Northern Wollo, Ethiopia continue

Uprising, unrest, tension continue in Kobo and Robit, Northern Wollo, Ethiopia. Ethiopian regime forces are using excessive force, several people killed including some regime soldiers. (ESAT News)

More deaths of civilians as security forces quash protests in various parts of Ethiopia

Addis Abeba – This week has seen a return to the killings of civilians by Ethiopia’s security forces following protests in east and northern parts of the country; a massive anti-government protest was also held in southern Ethiopia.

Moyale, Duga Bora and Welkite

On Monday, one civilian was killed and three more wounded in Moyale town, in Guji zone in southern Ethiopia, when security forces opened fire at a group of youngsters returning from a local football match, according to  VOA Amharic, which quoted Hussein Guyu, the local administrator. The federal security forces were involved when a skirmish erupted following the football match.

And on Tuesday January 23,  at least three people were killed in Dugda Bora (Alem Tena) Woreda in east shewa zone of the Oromia regional state. According to Boran Hunde, a resident in the nearby Mojo town who spoke to Addis Standard , protesters took to the streets on Tuesday to “demand for justice” for the “continued displacement of our people and the killings of civilians in southern and eastern parts of the country in Ethiopia Somali and Oromia regional states.” But, according to Boran, federal security forces have began telling the protesters to disperse and “have quickly started shooting at protesters.” He says he fears there could be more causalities among the many wounded who were rushed to Meki and Adama hospitals.

On the same day on Tuesday a massive anti-government protest took place in Welkite city, the administrative city of the Gurage Zone in southern regional state. Thousands came out to the streets protesting against the city administration’s failure to deliver a promised hospital. On October 3/ 2010, Ethiopia’s then Minister of health Dr. Tewodros Adhanom, laid a corner stone to launch the construction a 90 million birr hospital intended to provide service within 60 kilometers of radius of the town of Welkite. Eight years later, residents say the project has been diverted and the city remains without a hospital.

Weldiya

These two incidents on Monday and Tuesday followed another killings by security forces in Weldiya, some 510 km north of the capital Addis Ababa, in Amhara regional state, on Saturday January 20.  Officials of the regional state said seven people, including one police officer, were killed; but activists and residents of the city who spoke to the media say the number is higher than seven. Among the victims were  Gebremeskel Getachew, who his brother described as having been killed “riddled with five bullets,” and Yosef Eshetu, a nine year old boy who was pictured riding on a pickup car along with others shortly before he was killed.

Kobo

The killings in Weldiya have set in motion further protests in Kobo town, about 50 km north of Weldiya;  anti-government protests including the destruction of state owned and private properties were happening starting from Tuesday (some residents say it began already on Monday.)

According to Yemiru Yifrashwa, a businessman who runs spare parts shop, the protests began peacefully on Tuesday when “thousands of the city’s residents took to the street to protest against the killings in Weldiya.” According to Yemiru, who spoke to Addis Standard by phone, the “harsh response from security forces triggered anger among many young people in the city.” He said there were arbitrary arrests on Tuesday and Wednesday nights “when members of the federal army began searching for young people by going door-to-door; they have detained many of the city’s young people and took them God knows where.” On Thursday, according to Yemiru, “many people have come out to the streets in anger and started burning and destroying properties belonging to party affiliated companies.”

So far, Yemiru said about “eight people are killed, three of them on Wednesday.”  However, Commander Amare Goshu, chief of the north Wello zone police department said only three people were killed and nine more were wounded in Kobo.And among the properties that have been damaged so far are Zeleke mechanized farm, which is one of the many businesses under Tiret Corporate, a conglomerate owned by the regional state. However, properties belonging to ethnic Tigray business were also targeted in the protest, as was reported by the VOA Amharic  after speaking to Gezay Gebreyesus, a Tigrayan businessman who left the town and who lived in the town for 21 years.

In a televised message through the Amhara region TV station, Gedu Andargachew, president of the region also admitted the death of civilians and property damages both in Weldiya and Kobo. The president blamed it on the regional state’s failure to deliver on its mandates, which led to “piles of grievances.” “This is ANDM’s problem,” he said referring to the party governing the region. “The result of this conflict is loss of lives, property damages and hindrance on civilians from pursuing a peaceful life.”  He promised that the party will work closely with religious leaders, elders and rank and file administrative members if the region to “restore peace.”

The release of political prisoners in Ethiopia – too good to be true?

Lovise Aalen questions the sincerity of the Ethiopian government’s promise to release political prisoners, and argues that this move is a result of internal power struggles, rather than the desire to improve the country’s reputation.

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(Democracy in Africa) — The Ethiopian regime has surprised the world by stating that they will release political prisoners. This comes from a corner of the world where news about politics and human rights is normally of the bad kind. Human rights organisations like Amnesty hope this may signal the end of an era of bloody oppression in Ethiopia’s history. Others look at this as a desire to improve the international image of a country with a great economic growth, but poor political reputation. Seen in context, however, the prospects seem bleaker. It is uncertain what the regime means by ‘political prisoners’ and if they at all admit it has such prisoners. This move is not an outcome of international pressure, but a result of internal power struggles, which are currently taking place within the ruling party.

Protests in the two largest regions of Oromia and Amhara since 2015 have challenged the ruling party of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) more than expected. The EPRDF, which has been in power since the end of the 1991 civil war, has been dominated by the late TPLF leader and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. He made sure to suppress tensions and conflicts between the different fractions, and managed to keep the coalition together. When Meles Zenawi died in 2012, the much less dominant Hailemariam Desalegn, the leader of the party representing various southern Ethiopian groups took over as prime minister. He was elected as a compromise candidate, who could balance the interests of the various factions and maintain the status quo. He apparently managed this well until recently. The two presidents of Amhara and Oromia, who also represent EPRDF, have since this summer partly supported the protests. They have demanded genuine regional self-rule and an end to TPLF’s dominance.

Since the protests, the EPRDF has gone through what they call a “deep reform” to address causes of the political crisis. In a statement, the executive committee on 30 December 2017 identified the lack of democracy and distrust internally in the party as one of the main causes of the crisis. This has in their view led to poor leadership and governance, which in turn is the cause of the protests. In other words, the EPRDF has not identified the lack of fundamental political and civil rights, and real multi-party elections as part of the problem.

The statement about the release of ‘political prisoners’ is a result of this reform discussion. At a press conference with leaders of all the four EPRDF parties, everyone confirmed that they had gone through an open, honest, and serious discussion and had turned every stone to find solutions to the political crisis. The joint press conference also served the purpose of appearing to be coherent coalition, with all parties behind the same political line. Prime Minister Hailemariam stated that ‘as a step towards securing national consensus and widening the democratic platform, it is decided that charges against arrested politicians and individuals should be dropped or that they should be pardoned’. This formulation is open enough to accommodate very different interpretations. International news agencies, except for one agency, were quick to convert this to ‘all political prisoners should be released’. Reuters did not use the word ‘political prisoners’, but referred to the dropping of charges or pardoning  of ‘dissident politicians’ currently under prosecution. Their interpretation proved to be more in line with the formulation of the Prime Minister. Nevertheless, the statement created international attention and expectations that the Ethiopian regime must think twice about how this will be handled and possibly fulfilled or retracted. This has already led to an immediate revision of the press release.

In an Amharic language article published by Fana Broadcasting Corporation, which is considered a mouthpiece for the EPRDF, a revised statement from the prime minister was published. All references to political prisoners or arrested politicians were replaced by ‘some individuals who are arrested for committing a crime’. International media later published statements from the Ethiopian government suggesting that the Prime Minister was misquoted. With this, EPRDF is not admitting that they have political prisoners, thus continuing the policy of rejecting that there are prisoners of conscience in Ethiopia. As a result, it is still uncertain who will be released and pardoned. Are they the few prominent opposition politicians, who may possibly be pacified through a national dialogue process, or are they the thousands of civilian demonstrators who were arrested during protests?

The prime minister also promised to close and turn the Maekelawi prison in Addis Ababa into a museum. The prison has allegedly been the centre of torture and political imprisonment. In the same breath, he stated that a new prison, with international standard will be constructed. This, along with the nuances and revisions of the Ethiopian news reports, in a political context where control and oppression is part of everyday life, makes it hard to believe that this will bring real and fundamental changes towards democracy in Ethiopia.

Open Letter: Modern Slavery in Libya and the Plight of Ethiopians

Consortium of Ethiopian Civic Society Organizations (TIBIBIR)

The Honorable Fayez Seraj,
Prime Minister, Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA)
Tripoli, Libya.

Honorable Prime Minister,

The Consortium of Ethiopian Civic Society Organizations (TIBIBIR) is a coalition of 27 major Ethiopian civil society groups within and outside Ethiopia that have consolidated their efforts to defend and advance human rights, justice and the rule of law, national consensus, peace and reconciliation as well as the institutionalization of a democratic society in Ethiopia. Among the major concerns the Consortium is dealing with today is to draw global attention to the plight of Ethiopian migrants in Libya, a center of human trafficking and modern slavery that is unacceptable to the human conscience and human dignity.

Our Consortium is pleased to note that the UN system, the African Union Commission, regional organizations and human rights groups such as the International Office for Migration (IOM), the governments of Chad and Rwanda, news organizations such as CNN, BBC, the Guardian, CBS, the New York Times, Reuters and Al-Jazeera have drawn attention to the despicable act of modern slavery in Libya. The struggle against modern slavery is and should be a global effort. It must be deliberate and sustained to prevent it from recurring.

Given the outrageous nature of this practice in the 21st century, we commend the government of Libya for taking the initiative of investigating the dehumanizing practice of selling black Africans. We hope and pray that the culprits will be brought to justice and made accountable for crimes against humanity.

Our organization has been approached by a number of Ethiopian migrants including women with children seeking financial support in order to pay the requisite ransom that will enable them to become free. One female Ethiopian migrant with children was asked to pay $30,000 in ransom payments. The going rate is $400 minimum. While we empathize with the plight of our compatriots, we have decided not to raise funds for this outrageous practice of ransom for freedom.

Our Consortium also wishes to commend CNN and the Libya based Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency that provided primary data and evidence to this news organization for its timely investigative report. On November 19, 2017, the Journalist Nour Youssef provided insight and urged the government of Libya to ensure that human traffickers and traders are convicted. “Priorities of the investigation are not only to convict those responsible for these inhumane acts, but also to identify the location of those who have been sold in order to bring them to safety and return them to their countries of origin” (Sale of Migrants as Slaves in Libya Causes Outrage in Africa and Paris).

The outrage prompted a spontaneous demonstration in Paris. Protestors condemned the outrageous act and urged Western governments and the African Commission to express outrage. An official investigation by the government of Libya followed. “Hundreds of protesters, mostly young black people, demonstrated in front of the Libyan Embassy in central Paris on Saturday — with some carrying a sign that said, “Put an end to the slavery and concentration camps in Libya,” and chanting, “Free our brothers!” This expression of outrage took place “three days after CNN aired footage of migrants being auctioned off in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.”

The widespread and dehumanizing nature of “migrants are being auctioned” like sheep in Tripoli reminded African leaders of the slave trade. Outraged and angered by the auctions of African migrants in Libya. Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chairman of the African Union Commission and the foreign minister of Chad, issued a statement after the rally, calling the auctions “despicable.” He urged the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to assist the Libyan authorities with the investigation that they opened in response to CNN’s report.

The government of Chad announced that it was ready to send troops to Libya to crush African slave traders and the Government of Rwanda has offered to provide refuge to 30,000 African Migrants suffering Slave-like conditions in Libya.

Our Consortium is cognizant of the fact that Ethiopian migrants flee their homeland because of civil conflict, a suffocating political and social environment and because of lack of job opportunities in Ethiopia. They are attracted by the prospect of opportunities in the West and in the Middle East. They are part of the IOM estimated “700,000 to one million migrants in Libya” of whom more than 2,000 have died at sea this year alone. These migrant pay enormous amounts of money to smugglers and end up living in overcrowded detention centers for several months. Sadly, the Libyan coast has become a hub for escape. This harrowing and dehumanizing condition forces thousands to seek employment with minimum or no pay. Females are raped routinely and migrants are abused and tortured by smugglers, traders and employers.

Mr. Prime Minister,

Our Consortium joins the international community and urges the government of Libya and others that modern slavery should be met with a unified and sustained effort. In this connection, we commend the African Commission that has begun negotiations with the government of Libya and other stakeholders in North Africa and the rest of Sub-Saharan Africa to seek practical and concrete steps that will address the plight of hundreds of thousands of African migrants.

We would like to specifically appeal to all International organizations and Governments to exert maximum effort to get all victims of these inhumane acts to safety without delay, to bring the culprits to justice and to take reliable measures to prevent similar crimes from happening anywhere in the world.

On our part, we will do all we can to dissuade Ethiopian migrants to refrain from taking huge personal risks in their genuine efforts to find meaningful life outside Ethiopia. The best option is for the government of Ethiopia to deal with the root causes that push hundreds of thousands of Ethiopian youth out of their homeland.

We thank you in advance for your attention to this human tragedy that also affects the reputation of Libyan society and its government.