September 4, 2000
GROSS VIOLATIONS OF RIGHTS CONTINUE
" Human and democratic rights of Ethiopian citizens shall be respected". (Art. 10/2 of the Constitution of the FDRE)
The EPRDF government continues to trample on its own laws and to violate the human rights of the people in a stepped up effort to use violence for silencing any or possible dissent.
1. While the Constitution recognizes the freedom of the press (article 29), th EPRDF government has been consistently violating this particular freedom and has earned the notoriety as one of the worst enemies of the free press in the world. The recent decision by the government to hike the price of printing paper by more than 30% emerges as nothing but an attempt to close down the existing independent newspapers. Printing presses which print all newspapers are owned and controlled by the government. Already two newspapers have closed while the government on its part is spending millions of Birr to launch yet another pseudo-independent daily ("Illetawi Addis"). It is not surprising to learn that the new daily will sell at the derisory/low price of 0.50 cents. The government has also stepped the physical harassment of journalists. GOH publisher Yohannes Abebe was not only summoned and grilled for a day by the police but his wife was separated from her infant and detained for a day at the police station. Such acts of harassment are common and many journalists now report not only the intensification of the interception of their mail but the fact that their home and office telephone lines are being cut off. It is to be recalled that journalists BERHANU IJIGU and KUMSA BIRAYU who had been jailed and then "disappeared" remain totally unaccounted for.
2. While the Constitution guarantees the right to life, liberty and the security of person (article 14), the EPRDF government continues to engage in arbitrary and extra judicial killings. A case in point is KUMELA BERI, a peasant who was shot dead by security forces in Ilama Berbers, 15kms outside of Ambo town, and whose corpse was left unpicked for three days and nights. After three days and nights, the government authorized the relatives to bury Kumela but "without any tears or wailing". An act that horribly brings to mind the brutal features of the Red Terror in the late seventies, such arbitrary killings have now become common, especially in Amhara and Oromo areas, as the government moves with force to stamp out any possible sign of dissent. In Addis Abeba, security forces have jailed the deputy chairman of the Metcha Tulema Association, Dr. Moga Frissa, and warned the association not to engage in any ati-government protests. Pro-government OPDO leader Yonathan Dibessa has publicly stated that the government will take drastic action against anyone expressing or mobilizing opposition against the government and its policies. These same government sources now admit that no less than 800 people have been detained I the past months in Nazareth town without ever being brought before a court of law. It is to be remembered that 650 people are purging 8-year prison sentences after being railroaded as the arsonists for the fire that devastated the forests of Bale (an act attributed to the government itself).
3. Government police and security forces have started to round up street children and prostitutes in Addis Abeba. The operation is being conducted at night and up to now the government has given no explanation for the action even though some of the detained have been released. This is the second such operation in the past two years and there are fears that the government may repeat the brutal act of the past, during which it dropped the children in the forests of Kotebe and Burayu and some were consequently devoured by hyenas. The EPRDF has time and again violated the right of children to life and to be free of inhumane treatment.
4. The government has ignored its expressed duty to assure that people do not starve and that they are helped when faced by catastrophes. The government has not only ignored the AIDS epidemic and the ongoing meningitis attack in several areas but it has diverted the food aid meant for the famine victims and exposed the people to suffering and death. In Western Hararghe region, more than 530,000 people are on the verge of abandoning their areas in search of ffod as the aid slated for them gets diverted by the government. In the past months, the government has distributed only 27,000 quintals to all these people while the remaining has been stored by the government and is being guarded by soldiers or is being sold by cadres of the ruling party (TPLF). Reports indicate that in Asbe Teferi and surrounding areas more than 45 children and elderly people are dying of hunger daily. The same situation repeats in Eastern Hararghe where out of 416 kebelles people living in 409 (that is 534,000 people) have little or nothing to eat and have been forced to eat the wild fruits of the "Qanchara" tree in an around Babile town. Once again, the food aid destined for the area has been diverted and is being stored in Harar town. It is to be noted that the government uses food aid and access to fertilizers for political reasons and avails the food or the fertilizer only to those who express loyalty and support it.
5. The government is separately organizing ethnic Tigreans into exclusive IDIR (self help associations) and arming them in a clear manifestation of ethnic discrimination and bias. Stepped up repression, increased reliance on force and the security services, illegal detention, arbitrary killings, attempts to stifle the independent press, etc…the dismal human rights record of the government of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi becomes even more shocking and worthy of strong condemnation.
SOCEPP
