SOCEPP had in the past regularly exposed the pernicious consequences of the collusion between the governments of Djibouti and Addis Abeba. Exchange of political refugees, jointly organized kidnappings of political exiles, harassment of political refugees: all this and more have been done by both governments whose security agents collaborate on a routine level.

       SOCEPP has now received a list of ETHIOPIAN prisoners tortured to death in the Gabode prison with the clear collusion of the EPRDF embassy with the police of Djibouti. Most of the victims were arrested on political grounds though some had been conveniently accused of vaguely put "aggressions". Kept 15 to 20 in small fetid cells, denied medical treatment, tortured routinely, the Ethiopian prisoners have perished like flies without anyone raising a protest. SOCEPP has learnt that the EPRDF embassy in Djibouti is well aware of the number, names, and fate of the Ethiopian prisoners.

Here follows a very partial list of the Ethiopian prisoners who died in the Gabode prison:

1. Mulugeta Mengesha: 26 years old, imprisoned for two years, beaten and denied medical care, died in December 1997 in Cell No. 4;
2. Abera Alemayehu: kept in prison for 19 months without ever being charged or tried, his spinal cord was broken by torture and he died as a conequence of his wounds without ever being treated medically;
3. Mezgebe, jailed in March 1998, has also died following torture;
4. Abeba Tasana: who hailed from Dire Dawa, she died after being tortured (1995);
5. Mulugeta Bishaw: who hailed from Raya, died from torture wounds in 1995;
6. Abdi and two othe unidentified friends of his from the Ogaden died in 1995 after being tortured;
7. Yassin, from Wollo, tortured to death in 1995;
8. Mohamed from Assaita (Wollo) tortured to death in 1995;
9. Tsegaye Beshah: from Dire Dawa, tortured to death in 1996;
10. Ahmed Tayeb: from Harar, shot to death by a Djibouti policeman in 1996;

11. Abdurahman Mohamed, from the Ogaden, died in 1996 aftr being tortured by the Djibouti Gendarmes (police);

12.. Omar Idris Abdo, from Bati (Wollo), was detained in March 1996 and repeatedly tortured-- he died of his wounds on 5/11/1998;

13. Ali, another Ethiopian who died due to lack of medical care, in Gabode in 1996;

14. Abera Demissie: from Raya, tortured by the Gendarmes, he died in December 1997;

15. Mezgebe Alemayehu: from Addis Abeba, tortured to death in June 1997;

16. Mohamed Sugeh, from Babille (Harar), was kept for 7 years in Gabode without ever being tried or condemned. He died from lack of medical care in 1997;

17. Sultan, from Harar died in 1997 after being sick for a long period without getting any medical care;

18. Ahmed Elmy Hersi, from Meiso (Harar) died in 1997 after being tortured brutally;

19. Dan Gogo, from Dire Dawa, was jailed in 1997 and died in 1998 as a result og a hunger strike he made demanding justice;

20. Baye Tesfaye: from Dire Dawa, jailed in 1997, he died from torture in 1998;

21. Assalelet Abiyu died of torture in 1998;

22.. Ahmed Aden, died during a hunger result he was making in 1998 (the Prosecutor of the Djibouti Republic admitted the fact but argued that the victim was "an Ethiopian");

23. Hayat Aberra, kept for 6 years in prison without ever being tried or convicted--she died in 1999 from a non treated illness;

      This is only a very partial list. The likes of SOLOMON DAWIT and HUSSEIN KASSIM, tortured and on the verge of death, are many. The EPRDF embassy collides with the Djibouti authorities to accuse exiles of belonging to one or other opposition organization ( OLF,ONLF,EPRP, etc.) and to order their imprisonment. In return, the EPRDF forcefully deports Djiboutian refugees or detains them in Ethiopia itself. Djibouti political exiles deported by the EPRDF (Kadami Mohamed and others) are still suffering in Gabode while others like Abdi Houfaneh Liban have already died from lack of medical care. (A Sudanese prisoner who died in October 1998 from lack of medical was called Aboubakr Mohamed).

1. write to President Omar Gelleh (Boite Postale 6, Djibouti, fax no. 253 355049) protesting on the deaths of the above mentioned Ethiopians and calling on him to release all Ethiopian political prisoners jailed in Gabode;
2. write to the UNHCR calling on the organization to protect the Ethiopian political exiles in Djibouti and to stop colliding with the EPRDF embassy;
3. write to the Djibouti embassy or consulate near you to voice your protests;
4. to write protest letters to the EPRDF (Addis Abeba or the embassy near you) damanding an end to the unholy collusion with Djibouti, to the deportation of Djiboutian refugees, to the use of the Djibouti authorities to harass, cause the imprisonemnt or death of Ethiopian political exiles.