April 19, 2002
Mr. John Aschcroft,
The Attorney General, US Department of Justice,
950 Pennsylvania Ave.,NW
Washington DC 20530-0001
U.S.A.
E mail: askdoj@usdoj.gov
BRING MASS MURDERERS TO TRIAL
Respected Attorney General, At a time when those accused of genocide and mass murder are being hunted down or brought before courts of law it saddens us to note that quite a few mass murderers from ETHIOPIA have been given political asylum and protection by the government of the USA.
SOCEPP takes into account that America has declared it will not try such criminals so long as the crimes were committed before 1994. This, of course, excludes several Ethiopian mass murderers and torturers (now living in the USA) of the defunct Mengistu regime which launched the infamous Red Terror against its own people and slaughtered more than 250,000 innocents. America has become home to many other mass murderers who committed grave crimes against the Ethiopian people since 1991 when the new regime (EPRDF) took over. A case in point is HASSAN ALI who is directly responsible for the murder of hundreds of people in the Arbagugu area, Arsi, of Ethiopia. Hassan Ali is now living freely and safely in the USA.
Hassan Ali is responsible, along with Kuma Demeksa, Captain Weldesenbet,Dima Gumessa, for the genocide that took place in the the province of Arbagugu in Ethiopia in the districts of Abule,Amshira,Gebre Tekle,Ashe,Guna, Chole and Gelecha. At the time, Hassan Ali was the president of the so called Oromia region in which the above villages were situated. These being remote villages in Africa no TV cameras or newspapers covered the carnage as was done in Bosnia or Kosovo but the mass murders did take place. Hassan Ali was president of the region and a top leader of the Oromo People's Democratic Party (OPDO), a member of the ruling EPRDF coalition. The OPDO cadres and leaders led the mass killing of hundreds they identified as members of the Amara ethnic group in what was an undisputed campaign of bloody ethnic killing. Hassan Ali's deputy who was previously the deputy administrator of the Arsi region, Hussein Adem, was directly involved and his speech at the Abomssa market place (calling on the local people to "wipe out the snakes in your midst", meaning the Amaras) led to the death of scores of innocent people in the hands of a fired up mob.
Hassan Ali has too much blood on his hands for him to be able to walk freely in the USA.
Sir,
SOCEPP, which is a non political human rights organization that has been advocating for the respect of human rights in Ethiopia, calls upon you and the DOJ to take proper legal action against the mass murderers like Hassan Ali who are living freely in the USA\after committing such horrendous crimes against the Ethiopian people. SOCEPP and Ethiopians at large will be more than ready to document the cases/charges against these murderers who have been given asylum by the USA.
Thanking you,
Ezra Natnael SOCEPP/Berlin
