November 27, 2000

 ARBTIRARY SHOOTINGS BY SECURITY FORCES CONTINUES

GOVERNMENT soldiers and security forces stationed in several towns and camps continue to harass, beat and shoot at innocent civilians. Many such incidents have been reported from Wolaita, Hadiya and Kenbatta regions. The latest report comes from Ambo, where the government has a long-standing feud with the people. Government soldiers shot and wounded three women just because the women pleaded with the soldiers to stop their ongoing beating of two youths. The soldiers were beating the two young boys with the butts of their AK-47 rifles. The three women who pleaded with the soldiers to end the assault were themselves shot and wounded. 

The wounded women were

 (1) Weizero Kemne Afa, mother of two,

(2)Weizero Gudeme Ali and 

(3) a young woman called Dinke Bekele who was wounded on both her legs. 

The soldiers came from the nearby HORMAT camp. Protest from the people forced the authorities to arrest the soldiers who wounded the women but it was later learnt that they were all released and transferred to another town while another soldier, who was not present at the shooting, has been charged. This is a usual government tactic and in most cases involving such arbitrary shootings (and killings) the culprits have hardly ever been brought before a court of law. Reports indicate that the government soldiers and security forces continue to act arbitrarily and brutally and have imposed a climate of fear and terror in many rural towns. The force in Ambo has proved to be particularly repressive and the people have continued to ask for justice-up to now without any result.

SOCEPP