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