Posted on 19-4-2004
Genocide in Ethiopia?
by Don Kossick. Making the Links Radio, 15 April 2004
A Canada-based representative of the Anuak Survival Organization
has given
chilling testimony on a genocide being perpetrated against the
Anuak
people in Gambella Province, Ethiopia. Obang Metho spoke to
a special UN
Human Rights Commission meeting in Geneva on April 8, 2004.
Mr. Metho said, “I speak to you as the representative
of a forgotten
people, the Anuak (or Anywaa) of Ethiopia. We number only 100,000
persons
in the Gambella province of south-western Ethiopia. Our province
is the
tongue of fertile land, rich with natural resources such as
oil, gold and
other minerals that extends into southern Sudan. In the past
four months,
over 1137 Anuak have been murdered by the Ethiopian defense
forces and
some others from the highland.”
He stated before the Commision, “This is not an imaginary
or exaggerated
number. In a group as small as ours, we know the name of every
person we
have lost. Over 8,500 Anuaks have fled to refugee camps in Pochalla,
Southern Sudan to escape the ongoing massacres and mass rapes
perpetrated
by the Ethiopian defense force and others who have joined them
by choice
or by force. This is a human catastrophe.”
Obang Metho described the events of December 13, 2003, which
led to the
wholesale killing of 424 unarmed Anuak civilians. “A van
carrying eight
Ethiopian government and UN refugee camp officials was ambushed
near
Gambella. There is no evidence that Anuaks carried out the attack,
but the
Ethiopian government's defense forces brought the mutilated
bodies into
Gambella, displaying them to other highlander civilians, inciting
some of
them, who then together conducted frenzied massacres of 424
unarmed Anuak
civilians during the next three days.”
Mr. Metho further stated, “We have the names and ages
of all those who
have been killed. 221 were buried in a mass grave and this was
witnessed
by the government-appointed governor of Gambella.” “The
Ethiopian
government claims that ‘only’ 57 Anuak were killed
and blames the murders
on ‘ethnic conflict’ between Nuers and Anuak but
the Nuers had nothing to
do with the killings. In fact, it was Nuers and the majority
of Ethiopian
civilians from the highlands who helped save thousands of Anuak
lives by
hiding them under their beds. This is not an ethnic conflict
between Nuers
and Anuak or between highlanders and Anuaks,” said Metho.
Obang Metho also stated that, “the international human
rights
organization, Genocide Watch, declared a genocide watch for
the Anuak on
January 8, 2004, and sent a team to Pochalla, Sudan to interview
eyewitnesses to the Gambella massacres. I went on that mission.
I refer
you to our detailed report, Today is the Day of Killing Anuaks,
available
on the Internet.” “The evidence collected by groups
like Cultural Survival
and Genocide Watch meets the definition of genocide. Eyewitness
accounts
confirm that uniformed Ethiopian troops have targeted and killed
Anuaks.
Currently, there are more than 15,000 Ethiopian troops in Gambella,”
said
Mr. Metho.
Mr. Metho described how the regional government of Gambella
province has
been made non functional. “In July 2002, the regional
government accused
the central government in Addis Ababa of flagrant interference
in the day
to day affairs of the Gambella region, an act which contradicts
the
commitment to regional autonomy and devolution of power to the
regions. In
November 2002, the central government in Addis Ababa reacted
swiftly and
severely by overthrowing and virtually disbanding all democratically
elected regional institutions in the Gambella region, including
the
Regional council. The former Regional President and other council
members
were arrested and transferred to federal prison in Addis Ababa
and remain
in detention without being charged of any crime.”
In his closing remarks Obang Metho stated, “Yesterday,
you heard the
Secretary General urge you not to be ‘held back by legalistic
arguments
about whether a particular atrocity meets the definition of
genocide or
not.’ Crimes against humanity are being committed in the
Gambella region
of Ethiopia. Now is the time to act. Indifference is not an
option. The
delay in a response may lead to conflict and conflict to greater
human
catastrophe which can destabilize the entire country.”
Mr. Metho asked the UN Commission on Human Rights to implement
a series of
measures to avert further acts of genocide which include:
* Appoint a United Nations Special Rapporteur to investigate
the
genocide, ethnic cleansing, and other crimes against humanity
committed against the Anuaks in Ethiopia.
* Recommend to the Economic and Social Council that it request
the
Secretary General of the United Nations to offer his good offices
in
mediating the conflict in Ethiopia, and particularly in the
Gambella
region.
* Condemn all atrocities being committed in Ethiopia and act
to
support an impartial investigation by an independent commission
of
experts.
* Based on the nature of the allegations from the Gambella region
and
Pochalla refugee camp, a team of monitors and humanitarian relief
supplies should go to this area immediately to avert a humanitarian
catastrophe
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