The report included details of extrajudicial killings, torture, and imprisonment committed in three regional states and the capital Addis Abeba

Liyat Fekade

Addis Abeba, June 09/2017 – Human Rights Council (HRCO) Ethiopia, a non-profit, non-governmental organization, has released 49 pages of report detailing widespread human right abuses committed by the security under the current State of Emergency, first declared on Oct. 08, 2016, and extended by four more months in March 2017.

In the report, which was originally published on May 29th, but was largely unseen due to the week-long nationwide internet blackout, HRCO documented details of abuses, including extrajudicial killings, torture, and imprisonment committed in 18 Zones and 42 Woredas of three regional states: Oromia, Amhara and Southern Nations, Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR) states as well as abuses committed in ten different Kifle Ketemas (administrative unites) in the capital Addis Abeba.

The detailed accounts of the report covered the months between October 2016 and May 2017 – of which HRCO said it held field assessments between October 2016 and February 2017.  Accordingly, HRCO published names, background information as well the circumstances of extrajudicial killings of 19 people in various places. Fifteen of those were from the Oromia regional state, the epicenter of the year-long antigovernment protests, while three were from SNNPR and one was from the Amhara regional state. The account of the 19 killed included the Oct. 10, 2016 gruesome killing by security officials of Abdisa Jemal and two of his brothers,  Merhabu Jemal and Tolla Jemal, in east Arsi Zone, Shirka Woreda, Gobesa 01 Kebele, some 270km south east of the capital Addis Abeba.

HRCO also documented the detention of 8,778 individuals from Oromia regional state followed by 5, 769 people from SNNPR, 640 from Amhara, 411 from the capital Addis Abeba and one from the Afar regional state. A total of 6, 926 individuals were also detained from unspecified locations, bringing the total number of people detained in the wake of the state of emergency to 22, 525. It also criticized the inhuman conditions faced by detainees in many of the detention camps.

Out of the 22, 525 people, 13, 260 were detained in several facilities including military camps, colleges and city administration halls located in Oromia regional state, while 5, 764 of them were detained in Amhara regional state; 2, 355 were detained in Afar and 430 were detained in the capital Addis Abeba. This list includes list of names such as journalist Elias Gebru and opposition politician Daniel Shibeshi, who have recently been charged after months of detention. HRCO also said 110 people were held at unknown locations.

HRCO’s report came a little over one month after the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, (EHRC), a government body tasked to investigate recent anti-government protests that rocked Ethiopia, admitted in April that a total of 669 Ethiopians were killed during the 2016 widespread anti-government protests. EHRC’s report, however, has not been released to the wider public, yet.

According to the government’s own account more than 26 thousand Ethiopians were detained in various places including military camps. This number is including those who were detained prior to the state of emergency. More than 20 thousand have since been released but about 5,000 are currently facing trials in various places.

Owing to Ethiopia’s outright refusal to accept outside independent investigation, including from the UN Human Rights Commission, ERCO’s report stands as the only independent investigation into widespread state violence in Ethiopia. AS   

Source:Addis Standard

Ethiopia extends emergency as old antagonisms fester

The Ethiopian government has extended a nationwide state of emergency for four months, hailing it as successful in restoring stability after almost a year of popular protests and crackdowns that cost hundreds of lives.

But while parts of Amhara, one of the hotbeds of the recent unrest, may be calm on the surface, IRIN found that major grievances remain unaddressed and discontent appears to be festering: There are even widespread reports that farmers in the northern region are engaged in a new, armed rebellion.

Human rights organisations and others have voiced concern at months of draconian government measures – some 20,000 people have reportedly been detained under the state of emergency, which also led to curfews, bans on public assembly, and media and internet restrictions.

“The regime has imprisoned, tortured and abused 20,000-plus young people and killed hundreds more in order to restore a semblance of order,” said Alemante Selassie, emeritus law professor at the College of William & Mary in the US state of Virginia. “Repression is the least effective means of creating real order in any society where there is a fundamental breach of trust between people and their rulers.”

The government line is far rosier.

“There’s been no negative effects,” Zadig Abrha, Ethiopia’s state minister for government communication affairs, told IRIN shortly before the measures were extended by four months, on 30 March.

“The state of emergency enabled us to focus on repairing the economic situation, compensating investors, and further democratising the nation… [and] allowed us to normalise the situation to how it was before, by enabling us to better coordinate security and increase its effectiveness.”

Clamping down

On 7 August 2016, in the wake of protests in the neighbouring Oromia region, tens of thousands of people gathered in the centre of Bahir Dar, the capital of Amhara. They had come to vent their anger at perceived marginalisation and the annexation of part of their territory by Tigray – the region from which the dominant force in Ethiopia’s ruling coalition is drawn.

Accounts vary as to what prompted security forces to open fire on the demonstration – some say a protestor tried to replace a federal flag outside a government building with its now-banned precursor – but by the end of the day, 27 people were dead.

That toll climbed to 52 by the end of the week. In all, some 227 civilians died during weeks of unrest in the Amhara region, according to the government. Others claim the real figure is much higher.

A six-month state of emergency was declared nationally on 9 October. Military personnel, under the coordination of a new entity known as the “Command Post”, flooded into cities across the country.

“Someone will come and say they are with the Command Post and just tell you to go with them – you have no option but to obey,” explained Dawit, who works in the tourism industry in the Amhara city of Gondar. “No one has any insurance of life.”

James Jeffrey/IRIN

Local people told IRIN that the Command Post also took control of the city’s courts and did away with due process. Everyday life ground to a halt as traders closed shops and businesses in a gesture of passive resistance.

In Bahir Dar and Gondar, both popular historical stop-offs, tourism, an economic mainstay, tanked.

“In 2015, Ethiopia was voted by the likes of The New York Times and National Geographic as one of the best destinations,” said Stefanos, another Gondar resident who works in the tourism sector. “Then this happened and everything collapsed.”

Lingering resentment

Before it was renewed, the state of emergency was modified, officially reinstating the requirement of search warrants and doing away with detention without trial.

Prominent blogger and Ethiopian political analyst Daniel Berhane said the state of emergency extension might maintain calm in Amhara.

It “isn’t just about security,” he said. “There is a political package with it: Since two weeks ago, the government has been conducting meetings across the region at grassroots levels to address people’s economic and administrative grievances, which are what most people are most concerned about.”

But bitterness remains.

“We have no sovereignty. The government took our land,” a bar owner in Gondar who gave his name only as Kidus explained. “That’s why we shouted Amharaneut Akbiru! Respect Amhara-ness!” during the protests, he added.

Others still feel marginalised and are angry at the government’s heavy-handed response.

“If you kill your own people, how are you a soldier? You are a terrorist,” 32-year old Tesfaye, who recently left the Ethiopian army after seven years, a large scar marking his left cheek, told IRIN in Bahir Dar. “I became a soldier to protect my people. This government has forgotten me since I left. I’ve been trying to get a job for five months.”

A tour guide in Gondar, speaking on condition of anonymity, was also critical of the response: “The government has a chance for peace, but they don’t have the mental skills to achieve it. If protests happen again, they will be worse.”

However, some do believe the authorities have to take a tough line.

“This government has kept the country together. If they disappeared, we would be like Somalia,” said Joseph, who is half-Amharan, half-Tigrayan. “All the opposition does is protest, protest. They can’t do anything else.”

Mountain militias

Even as calm has been restored in some areas, a new form of serious opposition to the government has taken shape: Organised militia made up of local Amhara farmers have reportedly been conducting hit-and-run attacks on soldiers in the mountainous countryside.

“The topography around here is tough, but they’ve spent their lives on it and know it,” said Henok, a student nurse who took part in the protests. “They’re like snipers with their guns.”

James Jeffrey/IRIN

Outskirts of the city of Gondar, in the northern Ethiopian Amhara region

“The government controls the urban but not the rural areas,” he said. “[The farmers] are hiding in the landscape and forests. No one knows how many there are,” he said, adding that he’d seen “dozens of soldiers at Gondar’s hospital with bullet and knife wounds.”

Young Gondar men like Henok talk passionately of Colonel Demeke Zewudud, who led Amhara activism for the restoration of [the annexed] Wolkite district until his arrest in 2016, and about Gobe Malke, allegedly a leader of the farmers’ armed struggle until his death in February – reportedly at the hands of a cousin on the government’s payroll.

“The farmers are ready to die,” a priest in Gondar told IRIN on condition of anonymity, stressing that the land is very important to them. “They have never been away from here,” he explained.

Without referring specifically to any organisation of armed farmers, Zadig, the government minister, said the state of emergency had been extended because of “agitators” still at large.

“There are still people who took part in the violence that are not in custody, and agitators and masterminds of the violence who need to be brought before the rule of law,” he said. “And there are arms in circulation that need to be controlled, and some armed groups not apprehended.” 

Solutions?

Terrence Lyons, a professor at The School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University in the United States, said the government must decentralise power to achieve longer-term stability.

“Grievances haven’t been addressed by the state of emergency or by the government’s commitment to tackle corruption and boost service delivery,” Lyons told IRIN. “There needs to be a reconsideration of the relationship between an ethnic federation and a strong centralised developmental state, involving a process that is participatory and transparent – but we aren’t seeing that under the state of emergency.”

In 1995, Ethiopia adopted a federal system of government, which in theory devolves considerable power to the country’s regions. But in practice, key decisions are still taken in Addis Ababa.

“If the government wants a true and real form of stabilisation, then it should allow for a true representative form of governance so all people have the representation they need and deserve,” said Tewodros Tirfe of the Amhara Association of America.

In a report presented to a US congressional hearing in early March, Tewodros said some 500 members of the security forces had been killed in the recent clashes in the Amhara region. “Deeper resentment and anger at the government is driving young people to the armed struggle,” he told IRIN.

But Zadig and the government insisted: “The public stood by us.”

“They said no to escalating violence. In a country of more than 90 million, if they’d wanted more escalation we couldn’t have stopped them.”

Lyons warns of complacency.

“As long as dissidents and those speaking about alternatives for Ethiopia are dealt with as terrorists, the underlying grievances will remain: governance, participation, and human rights,” he told IRIN.

“The very strength of the [ruling] EPRDF is its weakness. As an ex-insurgency movement, its discipline and top-down governance enabled it to keep a difficult country together for 25 years. Now, the success of its own developmental state means Ethiopia is very different, but the EPRDF is not into consultative dialogue and discussing the merits of policy.”

Source:http://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2017/04/03/ethiopia-extends-emergency-old-antagonisms-fester

Ethiopia extends state of emergency by four months

Opposition parties complain that the emergency is being used to clamp down on their members and activities.

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The country’s ruling coalition is controlled primarily by the Tigray ethnic group, who accounts for only 6 percent of the population [Tiksa Negeri/Reuters]

The Ethiopian parliament has extended by four months a state of emergency it declared six months ago after almost a year of often violent anti-government demonstrations.

The widely expected extension comes amid reports of continued violence and anti-government activities in some rural areas.

At least 500 people were killed by security forces during the year of protests, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch group - a figure the government later echoed.

"We still have some anti-peace elements that are active and want to capitalise on disputes that arise among regional states in the country," Ethiopia's defence minister, Siraj Fegessa, told MPs when he called on them to approve the extension on Thursday.

"In addition, some leaders of the violent acts that we witnessed before are still at large and are disseminating wrong information to incite violence."

Opposition parties complain that the emergency powers are being used to clamp down on their members and activities, especially in rural regions far from the capital, Addis Ababa.

The state of emergency, declared on October 9, was a reaction to protests that were especially persistent in the Oromia region. Many members of the Oromo ethnic group say they are marginalised and that they do not have access to political power, something the government denies.

OPINION: The Oromo protests have changed Ethiopia

A wave of anger was triggered by a development scheme for Addis Ababa, which would have seen its boundaries extended into Oromia. Demonstrators saw it as a land grab that would force farmers off their land.

The protests soon spread to the Amhara region in the north, where locals argued that decades-old federal boundaries had cut off many ethnic Amharas from the region.

Crushed to death

Map of Oromia region in Ethiopia [Al Jazeera]

The Oromo and Amhara ethnic groups together make up about 60 percent of Ethiopia's population.

The country’s ruling coalition, which has been in power for a quarter of a century, is controlled primarily by the Tigray ethnic group, who make up six percent of the population.

Tensions reached an all-time high after a stampede in which at least 52 people were crushed to death fleeing security forces at a protest that grew out of a religious festival in the town of Bishoftu on October 2nd.

In the following days, rioters torched several mostly foreign-owned factories and other buildings that they claimed were built on seized land.

The government, though, blamed rebel groups and foreign-based dissidents for stoking the violence.

The state of emergency initially included curfews, social media blocks, restrictions on opposition party activity and a ban on diplomats traveling more than 40 kilometres outside the capital without approval.

Authorities arrested over 11,000 people during its first month.

Some provisions of the state of emergency were relaxed on March 15th, two weeks prior to Thursday’s announced extension. Arrests and searches without court orders were stopped, and restrictions on radio, television and theatre were dropped.

Protesters run from tear gas being fired by police during Irreecha, the religious festival in Bishoftu where at least 52 people died [Tiksa Negeri/Reuters]

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies

Ethiopia: Prosecutors file terrorism charges against Col. Demeke et al

The 19th bench of the federal high court in Addis Ababa on Tuesday presided over the case of Colonel Demeke Zewdu and et al, who are leaders and members of a committee that spearheads the demands of the people of Wolkait, Tsegede and Telemt.
The defendants lead the demand by the people of north Gondar to reclaim their land that was illegally incorporated into Tigray region when the Tigrayan-led regime took power 25 years ago.
The prosecutor accused the defendants of taking missions from Patriotic Ginbot 7 to destabilize the country. They were also accused of killing and abduction of local officials in Gondar and Tigray.
Colonel Demeke Zewdu was accused of killing 11 regime security forces and injuring 7 police officers.
Five defendants appeared before the court on Tuesday but the Colonel, considered by many as the leader of the uprising and resistance in the Amhara region, remain at the Angereb prison in Gondar. Several attempts by regime security forces to bring him to Addis Ababa failed due to resistance by the people and the Amhara police. Six of the defendants are held at the Central Investigation prison in Addis Ababa, while nine are held in Gondar.
They are also accused of causing damages to property worth over 20 million dollars in Gondar and Gojam.
The court is adjourned to January 12, 2017 as per the request by the prosecutor for further investigations.

Source: http://ethsat.com/2016/12/ethiopia-prosecutors-file-terrorism-charges-col-demeke-et-al/

Jawar Mohammed on Amhara Resistance

Teachers, students strike defying martial law

ESAT News (November 9, 2016)

Teachers and students in Mota, East Gojam in the northern Ethiopia went on strike defying the six month state of emergency declared in October.

The strike came after a teacher by the name Solomon was detained by authorities. The authorities accused  Solomon of encouraging teachers and students to protest against the regime.

Tensions were high in the town as authorities threaten to take action against teachers and students if they don’t resume classes immediately.

Meanwhile, 70 people were arrested in the last few days in Finote Selam accused of what security forces say coordinating protests against the regime.  

In Amba Giorgis, Soldiers and the police detained 74 youth.

The state of emergency, declared by the tyrannical regime after a year long protest against the oligarchy, gives power to security forces to arrest anyone without a court warrant.

Up to 1500 people were killed and 60,000 detained since the protest began a year ago against the minority oligarchy in Ethiopia, according alocal opposition political party.

source:http://ethsat.com/2016/11/teachers-students-strike-defying-martial-law/

Ethiopia: Dozens killed in skirmish between regime forces and freedom fighters

ESAT News (November 9, 2016)

A skirmish between regime forces and freedom fighters in northern Ethiopian continued for the second day on Thursday. Regime forces used local farmers to do the fighting for them resulting in the death of about 40, the freedom fighters claim.

Sources said the skirmish in Wogera, in a place called Ankash, has also resulted in the death of 2 from the freedom fighters side.

Residents of Wogera meanwhile said the death toll on the side of the regime forces could be 30. Other sources in Gondar say bodies of regime soldiers have reached the town on Thursday.

Local authorities say two fighters have surrendered to the regime forces while 2 other “terrorists” were killed.

There have been several reports of gunbattle between regime soldiers and armed resistance groups in northern Ethiopia. The Ethiopian regime continues to deny and belittle the attack by armed groups in that region who have claimed to have killed several soldiers of the regime.

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"The EU must stand up for the people of Ethiopia

Translated by Google Translate

If Ethiopia continues to oppress its own citizens and stifle dissent, the EU should consider how agreements with Ethiopia to look ahead, writes MP Anders Österberg (S).

In the past two weeks have reminded the outside world about how the Ethiopian senior political and military deals with those who openly dare to protest against the regime. Although the Ethiopian Constitution states that you as citizens have freedom of speech, you are anything but free to express your opinion.

For 11 months ongoing civil protests against the regime in Addis Ababa with hundreds of deaths as a result. The protests have been met with bullets. Especially bloody was there during the festive feast Irreecha two weeks ago. Where anti-government protests were met with tear gas and gunfire. In the panic that arose were trampled many people to death or drowned in water-filled ditches.

A week ago announced the Ethiopian authorities that they face a six months long state of emergency. At a stroke transformed Ethiopia into the world's largest outdoor prison. After the announcement of the state of emergency was given notice Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn that the state is required because "foreign enemies" and "anti-peace forces' trying to destabilize Ethiopia.

The argument, however, is a game for the gallery. The regime chose to blame a vague external enemy as a way to explain away that it is in their own home as discontent ferment. Even before the regime has tightened the freedom of expression in the country, for example: if you like the Ethiopians in social media express anything negative about the government, it can provide up to 25 years in prison. The state risk only increasing unrest in the country even more and there is a risk that it will soon boil over completely.

Sweden has a long relationship with Ethiopia. During the 1850s, Swedish missionaries among the first Europeans to visit the country in depth. During the brutal Italian occupation traveled some Swedish volunteers down and trained Ethiopian forces. Swedish assistance has built many school buildings and institutions in the country. Today, Sweden is among other assistance to Ethiopia to be put on agriculture to more ecologically sustainable, and that more young people will be able to commence postgraduate studies. No Swedish development aid goes directly to the regime.

The crimes in progress of human rights in Ethiopia today can no longer be ignored by major players such as the EU and the US. The EU should call for the right to secure the investigation of the murders which have taken place while the ongoing repression must be condemned. Right now, the EU plans to provide even more support to Ethiopia. If Ethiopia continues its pattern of repressing its own citizens and stifle dissent, the EU should consider how agreements with Ethiopia to look forward.

Recently, both the people and the opposition gathered and shown that they are ready to work together to build a democratic and united Ethiopia. Sweden's commitment to human rights and freedoms is well known by the people of Ethiopia. Sweden's voice has a great impact among the Ethiopians, and even in opposition. With Sweden's help, the good forces in Ethiopia start as a seed that can grow strong and start reaping democracy also in Ethiopia. But Sweden can not work alone, the EU must be able to stand up to the Ethiopians unconditional right to freedom of expression.

Anders Österberg (S), Member of Parliament, deputy of the Foreign Affairs Committee

Source: http://www.dagensarena.se/opinion/eu-maste-sta-upp-for-folket-i-etiopien/

Ethiopia Criminalize Watching Esat and OMN, Diplomats Cannot Travel Out Of Addis Abeba Now

De Birhan

Under The State Of Emergency, Diplomats Cannot Travel Out Of Addis Abeba Now
15-10-2016
The specifics of the Ethiopian regime’s Command Post State of Emergency state that diplomats cannot travel outside of Addis Abeba, maximum being 40 km radius, without the knowledge of the Command Post. If this ban applied to diplomats, it is possible  that it will also affect tourists who wish to travel outside of the capital.
The declaration contains around 30 articles. It could now be soundly claimed that the Ethiopian Defense Forces, dominated by one ethnic group, has taken over by conducting a negotiated or silent coup. The names of the members of the new Command Post has not been made public but the faces being shown on TV include Siraj Fegessa, Minister of Defense and the Attorney General, Getachew Ambaye and “PM” Hailemariam Dessalegn. These three individuals are being used as PR by a secret team of TPLF military personnel, who form and lead the Command Post.   Some of the main articles include:
- Fifty km inside the borders  of the country have been flagged red zones.

-All major roads leading to regional cities and borders, except to Mekele/Tigray region, have been marked red zones.

- A curfew has been imposed after 6pm and before 6 am on all private and government investments, projects and institutions.

- All political parties are banned from issuing pressers that may contain any sense of incitement.

- Watching listening  or reporting to diaspora based Ethiopian media outlets such as ESAT, OMN  is banned and vaguely called “other radio stations.”

- Communicating with outside groups/forces using social media such as Facebook has been banned.

- Security forces cannot seek resignation or an annual leave during the period of the State of Emergency.

- Terminating or shutting own’s business or service has been banned.

- Demonstrating inside educational institutions is banned.

- Religious leaders are banned from speaking about political issues or current affairs.
To cover and implement the curfew and SoE, the regime’s army will be stretched and this will loosen the border security. The curfew will also cripple businesses, education, and government’s own services.It is difficult to even imagine if this declaration would bring about the intended purposes or rather have unexpected and indirect consequences on national security and economy.

Source: http://debirhan.com/?p=10646

Clash in North Gonder Armachio Left 50 ENDF Dead and 31 Injured

Armed group kills dozens soldiers

An armed opposition group operating in north Gondar has reportedly killed dozens of Ethiopian regime soldiers in a battle on Wednesday night.

A source told ESAT on the phone that the fifth regiment of the army in the area sustained a serious damage as the freedom fighters repulsed a surprise attack by the forces killing at least fifty-five.

Thirty-one others were injured and fifteen have surrendered, the source said. The injured were taken to Soroka Camp.

This was not the first time an armed attack resulted in the death of government soldiers in northern Ethiopia where people have raised arms to fight back a brutal regime.

Two fighters including the leader of the armed group, Abera Gobaw were killed in the fight.

There has been a spike in defections in the Ethiopian army as the rank and file have become subjects to the commanders and top brass officers who hail from the ruling Tigrian minority.

Gondar has seen deadly protests since this summer and security forces killed over a hundred protester who demanded an end to the TPLF rule.

Source: Esat

Ethiopia Declared state of emergency for the first time in 25 years amid security deterioration in oromia state

By abenezer_a

Addis fortune reported that The Ethiopian government declared state of emergency amid security deterioration in the oromia state. It was declared on an urgent meeting the prime minster cabinet conducted on Saturday afternoon.This is the first time in 25 years declared state of emergency  According to the article 93 of the constitution.    "In the exercise of its emergency powers the Council of Ministers can not, however, suspend or limit the rights provided for in Articles 1, 18, 25, and sub-Articles 1 and 2 of Article 39 of this Constitution.  " "The state of emergecy will last for 6 months or could be shorted"  a senior government official told Addis fortune


Security forces have killed more than 500 people during protests over the course of the last year as though the country is in state of emergency. With in one day, on October 2, 678 people were killed on ireecha celebration according to Oromo Federalist congress, the government lower the number to 55. UN human right council has multiple times  called for independent investigation but Ethiopian government has been declining requests. More killings  and arrests are expected in the coming days. State of emergency is already on effect as of saturday evening oct 8, 2016.

#OromoProtests:Soldiers brutality in Robe on Aug6 @getachewkreda said protesters were violent on #AjinsideStory pic.twitter.com/3tFnFYqfTl

— Ethiopian Press (@abenezer_a) August 17, 2016

Ethiopia Human Rights Abuses Spark U.S. Congressional Action

 by J. David Thompson
U.S. Representatives push for legislation targeting Ethiopia after Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch document human rights abuses.

A bipartisan group of U.S. Representatives has proposed legislation targeted at the government of Ethiopia, after Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch documented hundreds of cases of alleged human rights abuses. House Resolution 861, titled “Supporting respect for human rights and encouraging inclusive governance in Ethiopia,” was introduced by Reps. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Keith Ellison (D-MN), Al Green (D-TX), Mike Coffman (R-CO), and Eliot Engel (D-NY).

“It is an abomination when any country tortures its own citizens,” said Rep. Smith, at a September 13th press conference on Capitol Hill. The human rights abuses, waged primarily against the Oromo and Amhara populations, have come to light despite Ethiopian authorities efforts preventing independent screeners from conducting transparent investigations.

The Resolution condemns the killing of peaceful protesters, the arrest and detention of students, journalists, and political leaders, and the stifling of political dissent under the guise of “counterterrorism.”

Ethiopia is a strategic ally of the United States. The country headquarters the 54 nation African Union, and, critical to U.S. interests, assists in counterterrorism efforts against al-Shabab, an Al-Qaeda aligned jihadi terrorist group based in Somalia. Ethiopia is also host to a staggering 750,000 refugees from the war torn region.

image ethiopia

In a press statement Rep. Ellison said, “While Ethiopia is an important ally for the United States, continuing to let the Ethiopian government oppress its own people will only further destabilize the region. We must do all we can to ensure that the human rights of all Ethiopians are respected.” Rep. Smith added, “A valuable contributor to global peacekeeping missions, growing unrest in Ethiopia in reaction to human rights violations by the government threaten to destabilize a nation counted on to continue its role on the international scene”.

Resolutions, like the one proposed, tend to be more of an opinion that often do little in themselves because they lack the political leverage to prompt much action. They often fail to hold allied nations to a standard of conduct, as countries and international organizations are hesitant to regulate how other nations behave within their own borders.

The bill expressly calls on the government of Ethiopia to end the use of excessive force by security forces; hold security forces accountable after a full, credible, transparent investigation; release dissidents, activists, and journalists who have been imprisoned for exercising constitutional rights; respect freedom of assembly and freedom of the press; engage with citizens on development; allow the United Nations to conduct independent examinations; repeal certain proclamations limiting inclusive growth; and investigate shootings and a fire on September 3, that killed 23 people at a prison housing high-profile politicians.

Noteworthy, is that the bill also seeks to apply financial and other pressure towards the government, by calling for the Secretary of State to “conduct a review of security assistance to Ethiopia” and “improve transparency” with respect to such assistance, and to “improve oversight and accountability of United States assistance to Ethiopia”.

Image Ethiopia protest
OROMO AND AMHARA PROTESTERS CALL FOR EQUITABLE RIGHTS, AUGUST 6, 2016. REUTERS/TIKSA NEGERI
Despite the good intention of the bill, critics highlight that it doesn’t go far enough. Henok Gabisa, a visiting Academic Fellow and faculty member at Washington and Lee University School of Law, stated in a personal interview:

“H.RES.861 is generally a good gesture from the United States Congress. It is very specific in a sense that it points out the consistent and constant patterns of corrosion of civil and economic liberties in the country. It also seems to give scrupulous attention to the marginalized groups who remain on the receiving end of the pain. That is really great. Nonetheless, owing to the mammoth financial aid transported to Ethiopian government by the U.S. under their bilateral security partnership, H. RES. 861 failed to deploy the political leverage of the [United States Government], and as a result it is nowhere nearer to fulfilling the goal it promises. In fact, Resolutions by merit are just declaratory statements or positions of a government. They may not be considered law in a positivist school of law. Yet again, H.RES.861 has no teeth to bite those who fail to comply the soft obligations it enumerated under the last sections 3-6.”

Experts give the bill a 32% chance of getting past the Foreign Affairs Committee and a 29% chance of being agreed to completely. Comparatively, from 2013-2015, 46% of simple resolutions made it past committee.

In a country of over 86 million, Oromos and Amharas constitute the two largest ethnic groups, combining for over 61% of the population. Yet, they are the most politically marginalized and economically disenfranchised. In 2015 Ethiopia’s ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front, won every seat in parliament despite little ethnic diversity. The EPRDF has remained in power since the overthrow of Ethiopia’s military government in 1991.

Lima Charlie News, by J. David Thompson

J David Thompson (US Army) is a Juris Doctor candidate at Washington & Lee University School of Law focusing on International Human Rights Law. He is a Veterans in Global Leadership Fellow, and brings experience on human rights, international relations, strengthening civil society, refugee issues, interagency collaboration, and countering violent extremism. Prior to Washington & Lee, he served in the US Army as a Military Police officer and Special Operations Civil Affairs with multiple deployments to Afghanistan and one to Jordan—receiving a Bronze Star amongst other decorations. In Jordan, David worked at the US Embassy in countering violent extremism, strengthening civil society, and refugee response with other United States Government organizations, the United Nations, and various non-governmental organizations.