November 22, 1999
ARBITRARY KILLINGS AND VIOLATIONS OF RIGHTS CONTINUE
The arbitrary shooting to death which happened in Wereda 9 (Kebelle 09) of Addis Abeba has highlighted the nation wide alarming rate of such acts by the police, security men and vigilantes of the ruling EPRDF government. Tsige Yadete , a 25 years old woman, was shot to death near her house at Negade Sefer when armed police sprayed the area with bullets ostensibly to shoot at a thief.
The dwellers of the area, SOCEPP had learnt, were trying to apprehend the thief and had told the armed government men not to load their rifles or to start shooting. This is not the first time that armed kebelle guards of the government have shot at people at random and arbitrarily. The two particular ones who shot Tsige Yadete to death are under custody but no such killer has ever been tried or jailed for long -- it is safe to assume that they will just be transferred to another area.
In Wolaita Sodo, some five people were shot to death and more than 80 others wounded when police opened fire on students,teachers and parents who were demonstrating against the imposition of the so-called Wogageda "language" as a language to be sued by the schools in the area. The Wogageda "language" is made up of the Wolaita,Goffa,Dawro and Gamo languages which are spoken by the people in these parts of Southern Ethiopia.
The officials literally made up the Wogageda and are trying to impose it to replace the Wolaita language. Elders had been petitioning the government to cease the arbitrary action but to no avail. Many teachers and students are under arrest and the government has sent more security personnel to the troubled area. SOCEPP calls on the government to stop the arbitrary killings, to bring the killers of innocent people to justice and to end the attempt to impose the Wegagoda on the unwilling people of Wolaita and other areas.
