5ኛው የመድረክ አባል ተገደለ

ሐምሌ ፮ (ስድስት) ቀን ፳፻፯ ዓ/ም ኢሳት ዜና :- መድረክ ባወጣው መግለጫ ከ2007 ምርጫ በሁዋላ ማንነታቸው ባልታወቁ ሰዎች የተገደሉ የመድረክ አባላት ቁጥር 5 ደርሷል። የኢህአዴግ አገዛዝ በደቡብና ኦሮምያ የሚፈጽማቸው ድብደባዎችና እስራቶች መጨመራቸውንም መድረክ ገልጿል።
በከፋ ዞን በግንቦ ወረዳ በአድዮ ካካ ምርጫ ክልል በጎጀብ ምርጫ ጣቢያ የመድረክ ምርጫ ታዛቢ/ወኪል ሆነው የሠሩት አቶ አሥራት ኃይሌ ማንነታቸው ባልታወቁ ሰዎች ቅዳሜ ሰኔ 27 ቀን በተፈጸመባቸው አሰቃቂ ድብደባ ምክንያት ሕይወታቸው ማለፉን የገለጸው መድረክ፣ ድብደባው የተፈጸመው ጎረቤቶቻቸውና ቤተሰባቸው ወደ ገበያ ሄደው በነበረበት ወቅት ነው።
አቶ አስራት ቦንጋ ከተማ 01 ቀበሌ በሚገኘው መኖሪያ ቤታቸው ውስጥ ብቻቸውን እያሉ ከረፋዱ በ4፡00 ሰዓት ላይ ወደ ቤታቸው በመጡና ለጊዜው ማንነታቸው በትክክል ተለይቶ ባልታወቁ ሰዎች ጭንቅላታቸውን ተመትተው ራሳቸውን ከሳቱ በኋላ በተለያዩ የሰውነት አካሎቻቸው ላይ ዘግናኝ ድብደባ ተፈጽሞባቸዋል። አቶ አስራት ወደ ጅማ ሆስፒታል ተወስደው በመታከም ላይ እያሉ ሰኔ 29 ቀን 2007 ዓ ም ህይወታቸው ማለፉን መድረክ ገልጿል።
የቃለሕይወት ቤተክርስቲያን እምነት ተከታይ የሆኑት የአቶ አሥራት፣ ሰኔ 30 ቀን ወደ መኖሪያቸው ቦንጋ ከተማ አስከሬናቸው የተመለሰ በሆንም፣ የቤተክርስያኑ አባላት ሲቀበሩ በቆዩበት የቀብር ቦታ ላይ የቀብር ሥነሥርዓታቸው እንዳይፈጸም ከኃላፊነታቸው ውጭ በጉዳዩ ጣልቃ በገቡትና የካፋ ዞን አስተዳዳሪ የአቶ አስራት መኩሪያ ወንድምና በከተማው የኦርቶዶክስ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ኃላፊ የሆኑት ቄስ መምህር ታፈሰ መኩሪያና በግንቦ ወረዳ ባለሥልጣናትና ፖሊሶች ተከልክሎ መቆየቱን ገልጿል።
ይሁን እንጅ ሕዝቡ ባቀረበው አቤቱታ ረቡዕ ሃምሌ 1 ቀን 2007 ዓ ም የሟቹ አስከሬን መቀበሩን መድረክ አክሎ አስታውቋል።
በካፋ ዞን የመድረክ ተወካይ የሆኑት አቶ አድማሱ አምቦና ሌሎች የዞኑ የፓርቲው አመራር አባላት ሁኔታውን ተከታትለው መረጃ እንዳያስተላልፉ በቢሮ ውስጥ እያሉ ከቢሮአቸው እንዳይወጡ ቢሮው በወታደርና በታጣቂዎች ተከቦ መቆየቱንና ስለሟቹ ማንነትና ስለግዲያው ሁኔታ የማጣራት ሥራ ለማከናወን የተቻለውም የቀብር ሥነሥርዓቱ ተፈጽሞ በመድረክ ጽ/ቤት ላይ ተደርጎ የነበረው ከበባ ከቆመ በሁዋላ መሆኑን ደርጅቱ አስታውቋል።
በኦሮሚያ በሁለት አባላት፣ በትግራይ በአንድ አባል እናንዲሁም በደቡብ በአንድ አባል ላይ ተማሳሳይ ግዲያዎች መፈጸማቸውን የፖለቲካ ድርጀቱ አስታውሷል።
በዚሁ ዞን በፈለገሰላም ወረዳ በጨታ ምርጫ ክልል በቦባ ቀበሌ የመድረክ የምርጫ ታዛቢ ወኪል የነበሩት አቶ ገረመው ቆዲ፣ የምርጫው ቀስቃሾች የነበሩት አቶ አሥራት ሻውአኖ፣ አቶ ገረመው ጋንአቾ እና የሾላይ ቀበሌ ታዛቢ ወኪል የነበሩት አቶ ገዛሃኝ ገንቢ እንደዚሁም በዴቻ ወረዳ ጭሪ ምርጫ ክልል የሚታ ቀበሌ ታዛቢ ወኪል የነበሩት አቶ ተክሌ ቆጭቶ ከሚያስፈሊጋቸውና ከአቅማቸው በላይ የሆነ ማዳበሪያ እንዲገዙ በቀበሌው አመራሮች ታዘው ትዕዛዙን ለመፈጸም ባለመቻላቸው ተይዘው እንዲደበደቡና እንዲታሰሩ ተደርጓል።
በቤንች ማጂ ዞን ሸዋ ቤንች ወረዳ ደግሞ አቶ መኮንን ሚቱስ፣ አቶ ማሙር ሁሌት፣ አቶ ሉቃስ አለሙ፣ አቶ ቶሳ ሳቁያብ፣ አቶ ዘለቀ ታቹያብ፣ አቶ ሐሰን ዴሪያብ፣ አቶ ተስፋዬ ወ/የስ፣ አቶ ሳሙኤል ቸሪቲ፣ አቶ መላኩ ታርሳ፣ አቶ መንግስተ ሾዳ፣ አቶ ኬሪቲ ቡጢያብ፣ አቶ አድነው ወ/የስ እና አቶ አብርሃም ሳሙኤል የሚባሉ የመድረክ አባላት መስከረም ሲሲ በሚባል ቀበሌ ውስጥ ባለው ፖሊስ ጣቢያ ከአራት ቀን እስከ ሁለት ሳምንታት ያህል ጊዜ ታስረው ከቆዩ በኃላ ተለቀዋል፡፡ ባሎቻቸው እቤት ውስጥ ያልተገኙ 12 ሚስቶች ታስረው ከቆዩ በኃላ እንደተፈቱ ፓርቲው አስታውቋል።
በሸኮ ልዩ ወረዳ የፉዥቃ ቀበሌ ነዋሪና የመድረክ የምርጫ ታዛቢ የነበሩት አቶ ደርጀር ዲኩ እና አቶ ፀጋዬ ፉርጃ በወረዳው ፖሊስ ጣቢያ ታስረው ይገኛሉ። ደቡብ ኦሞ ዞን በማሊ ወረዳም እንዲሁ አቶ ታገሰ ቡርዝጋ፣ አቶ ቦት ቦርታ እና አቶ ነጌ ደምቤ የሚባሉ የመድረክ አባላት ለመድረክ ቅስቀሳ አካሄዳችሁ ነበር በሚል ውንጀላ ታስረዋል፡፡
በዚሁ ወረዳ የኩንታር ቀበሌ ነዋሪ የሆኑ 26 አርሶ አደሮች የመድረክ ደጋፊና ቀስቃሾች ስለነበራችሁ የእርሻ መሬታችሁን ልቀቁ በመባላቸው በቀበሌው አመራር አባላት የእርሻ መሬታቸውን ተነጥቀዋል፡፡
በጋሞጎፋ ዞን በካምባ ወረዳ ደግሞ በመድረክ በኩል በምርጫው ወቅት የምርጫ ጣቢያ ወኪል/ታዛቢዎች ሆነው የሠሩት አቶ ግዛ ግብሳ እና አቶ ገጦሬ ገባሌ የተባሉ የግብርና ኤክስተንሽን ሠራተኞች ከሚያዚያ ወር 2007 ጀምሮ ከሥራና ከደመወዛቸው
የታገዱ ሲሆን፣ አቶ ሕዝቃኤል ፋንጌ እና መምህር አቴ አይሳ የተባሉት የመድረክ የክልል ም/ቤት ዕጩ ተወዳዳሪዎች ደግሞ የየካቲት ወርና ከሚያዚያ ወር 2007 ጀምሮ እስከአሁን ድረስ ያለው ደመወዛቸው በሥራ ላይ እያሉ ታግዶ ይገኛል፡፡
በወረደው ውስጥ ለጊዜው ቁጥራቸው ያልታወቁ በርካታ የመድረክ አባላትና ደጋፊ የሆኑ አርሶ አደሮችም ከአቅማቸው በላይ እንዲገዙ የተመደበባቸውን ማዳበሪያ በወቅቱ አልገዙም በሚል ሰበብ እስከ 1000 ብር የሚደርስ የገንዘብ ቅጣት እየተጣለባቸው እንዲከፍሉ ተገደዋል ሲል ፓርቲው አስታውቋል።
በኦሮሚያ በጉጂ ዞን ዋመና ወረዳ አቶ ሮባ ገልቹ፣ በቦረና ዞን መልካ ሶዳ ወረዳ አቶ ጠደቻ አሬሮ፣ በምስረቅ ሻዋ ዞን ሞጆ ወረዳ አቶ ዝናቡ ዳምጤ የሚባሉ የኦፌኮ/መድረክ አባላት በየወረዳዎቻቸው ላለፉት ሁለት ሳምንታት ታስረው ይገኛሉ፡፡
በምሥራቅ ሸዋ ዞን ቦሰት ወረዳ ደግሞ አቶ አሸናፊ ነጋሽ፣ አቶ ለሚ እንዳለማው፣ አቶ ባብሣ ገመዳ፣ አቶ ጉዳታ ቢራ፣ ወ/ሮ ወይንሸት፣ አቶ እሸቱ ዲማ፣ አቶ አንበሳ ያኢ፣ አቶ ታምሩ ቁምቢ፣ አቶ ቀነኒ ደሜ እና ወ/ሮ ደምበልቱ ዳሜ የተባሉ የመደረክ አባላትና ደጋፊዎች የሆኑ 10 አርሶ አደሮች መኖሪያ ቤቶች በቀበሌው አመራሮች እንዲፈርሱ ተደርጓል፡፡ በምዕራብ ሸዋ ግንደበረት ወረዳ የኦፌኮ መድረክ አደራጅና በምርጫው ወቅት የመድረክ ቀስቃሽና ተዘዋዋሪ ታዛቢ የነበረው ተማሪ ጉቱ ሦሬም በምርጫው ቅስቀሳ ወቅት ያልተፈቀደ ስብሰባ አካሄደሃል በሚል መሠረተብቢ ክስ በጸጥታ ኃይሎች ተደብድቦ ታሥሮ እንደሚገኝ ፓርቲው የላከው መግለጫ ያመለክታል።
ከምርጫ 2007 በሁዋላ የተገደሉ የተቃዋሚ ድርጅት አባላት 6 ደርሷል።

Source:http://ethsat.com/

Ethiopia: Onslaught on human rights ahead of elections

The run-up to Ethiopia’s elections on Sunday has been marred by gross, systematic and wide-spread violations of ordinary Ethiopians’ human rights, says Amnesty International.

“The lead-up up to the elections has seen an onslaught on the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. This onslaught undermines the right to participation in public affairs freely and without fear as the government has clamped down on all forms of legitimate dissent,” said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

The Ethiopian authorities have jailed large numbers of members of legally registered opposition political parties, journalists, bloggers and protesters. They have also used a combination of harassment and repressive legislation to repress independent media and civil society.

The lead-up up to the elections has seen an onslaught on the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly. This onslaught undermines the right to participation in public affairs freely and without fear as the government has clamped down on all forms of legitimate dissent.
Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
In the run-up to Sunday’s elections, opposition political party members report increased restrictions on their activities. The Semayawi (Blue) Party informed Amnesty International that more than half of their candidates had their registration cancelled by the National Electoral Board. Out of 400 candidates registered for the House of Peoples Representatives, only 139 will be able to stand in the elections.

On 19 May, Bekele Gerba and other members of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC)-Medrek were campaigning in Oromia Region when police and local security officers beat, arrested and detained them for a couple of hours.

On 12 May, security officers arrested two campaigners and three supporters of the Blue Party who were putting up campaign posters in the capital Addis Ababa. They were released on bail after four days in detention.

In March, three armed security officers in Tigray Region severely beat Koshi Hiluf Kahisay, a member of the Ethiopian Federal Democratic Unity Forum (EFDUD) Arena-Medrek. Koshi Hiluf Kahisay had previously received several verbal warnings from security officials to leave the party or face the consequences.

In January, the police violently dispersed peaceful protesters in Addis Ababa during an event organized by the Unity for Democracy and Justice Party (UDJ). Police beat demonstrators with batons, sticks and iron rods on the head, face, hands and legs, seriously injuring more than 20 of them.

At least 17 journalists, including Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu and Wubishet Taye, have been arrested and charged under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation (ATP), and sentenced to between three and 18 years in prison. Many journalists have fled to neighboring countries because they are afraid of intimidation, harassment and attracting politically motivated criminal charges.

Civil society’s ability to participate in election observation has been restricted under the Charities and Societies Proclamation (CSP) to only Ethiopian mass based organizations aligned with the ruling political party.

Amnesty International calls on the Africa Union Election Observation Mission (AU EOM) currently in Ethiopia to assess and speak to the broader human rights context around the elections in both their public and private reporting. It also calls on the AU EOM to provide concrete recommendations to address the gross, systematic and widespread nature of violations of the rights to freedom of expression, association and assembly which have undermined the right to participate in public affairs freely and without fear.

“The African Union’s election observers have a responsibility to pay attention to human rights violations specific to the elections as well as more broadly,” said Wanyeki. “The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights protects the right of Ethiopians to freely participate in their government. This right has been seriously undermined by violations of other civil and political rights in the lead-up to the elections.”

Background

Amnesty International has been monitoring, documenting and reporting on the human rights situation in Ethiopia for more than four decades.

Since the country’s last elections in 2010, the organization has documented arbitrary and politically motivated arrests and detentions, torture and other ill-treatment, as well as gross, systematic and wide-spread violations of the rights to freedom of expression and association.

Source: https://www.amnesty.org/articles/news/2015/05/ethiopia-onslaught-on-human-rights-ahead-of-elections/

Ethiopian Opposition Activist Dies Due To A Protest Self-Immolation: Bloomberg Reports

May 21, 2015
The mother and sister of Getahun Abraham, an Ethiopian activist who committed suicide a month before May 24 elections. Photographer: William Davison/Bloomberg
A month before Ethiopia’s elections, opposition activist Getahun Abraham walked into a compound of government offices in the southern town of Gimbichu, doused his body in gasoline and set himself alight. It took more than 10 minutes for bystanders to extinguish the flames.
“We were in a meeting when we heard a scream,” local police chief Moges Bafe recalled of the day the 25-year-old physics teacher committed suicide. “When we ran out, he was burning and we also screamed. The fire looked like a big house was being burned.”Getahun had become desperate after the authorities rebuffed his requests to transfer him from his home village to Gimbichu and believed the refusals were politically motivated, according to his friend, Teshome Demissie, a hospital cashier.
Unlike Mohamed Bouazizi, the unemployed Tunisian whose self-immolation helped trigger the Arab Spring in December 2010, Getahun’s suicide hasn’t sparked protests in Ethiopia. Africa’s second-most populous nation after Nigeria with the continent’s fastest-growing economy over the past decade remains under the firm grip of the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front, which won all but one of the 547 parliamentary seats in elections five years ago.
Little is expected to change on May 24 when Ethiopians vote for federal and regional lawmakers.
‘Big’ Victory

The ruling party “will win big time” because of its development record and better organization, Dereje Feyissa Dori, Africa research director at the International Law and Policy Institute in Norway, said in an e-mailed response to questions. While the opposition is divided and unable to articulate alternative policies, they might gain “at least some protest votes,” he said.
When Getahun joined Medrek, a four-party bloc that forms the main opposition to the ruling EPRDF, his brother Wondimu Abraham warned him he was risking trouble.
“I told him don’t be part of Medrek, don’t get involved, as after a time you will face a problem,” Wondimu, a 30-year-old member of the EPRDF who works at the main court in Gimbichu, about 211 kilometers (131 miles) southwest of the capital, Addis Ababa, said in an interview.
Getahun grew depressed by the authorities’ denial of his repeated requests to be transferred from the school in his family’s village of Humaro, to Gimbichu, 7 kilometers away, Wondimu said.
Political Activity

The chief administrator in Gimbichu, Elias Ersado Benchamo, said local officials weren’t aware of Getahun’s political activity and didn’t receive any transfer requests. Getahun killed himself because he was lovesick, isolated from his family or addicted to the stimulant khat, Elias said in an interview on May 8.
Medrek members say they face routine harassment by the authorities. The U.S., which backs the Ethiopian army’s role in battling al-Qaeda-linked militants in neighboring Somalia, has echoed United Nations’ condemnations of the government’s jailing of activists and journalists.
Ethiopian officials say they only prosecute activists and journalists who break the law.
The nation’s authorities have used “multiple channels” to enforce “political control,” London-based Amnesty International said in a February report. Steps include “politicizing access to job and education opportunities.”
Transform Ethiopia

The four-party EPRDF, with more than 7 million members, says it’s seeking to transform Ethiopia into a middle-income nation by 2025. The state controls strategic economic sectors such as telecommunications.
The party’s dominance was clear in Gimbichu, located in the ethnic Hadiya zone of Ethiopia’s southern region. On a muddy high street of small cafes and barbershops most buildings were plastered with the ruling coalition’s worker-bee symbol. A couple of Medrek posters were also displayed.
A color billboard on Gimbichu’s outskirts showed images of some of the EPRDF’s economic achievements: low-cost housing and a hydropower dam. Infrastructure and social-services spending has helped economic growth average 10 percent over the past decade, the UN Development Programme said this month.
While Ethiopia’s poverty rate fell from 39 percent to 26 percent between 2005 and 2013, a quarter of the country’s 100 million people still live below the UN poverty threshold of $1.25 a day, it said.
Talking Politics

Getahun didn’t believe in the ruling party’s success claims and often stopped people in the countryside to talk about politics.
“He thought the EPRDF used democracy as cosmetics,” Teshome said. “Internally they use dictatorship, and their cover is democracy.”
About two weeks after Getahun’s self-immolation, charred scraps of clothing still litter the grass at the government compound. Nearby, he had left cash, a copy of the New Testament, a suicide note and his Medrek membership card, his brother said.
In the five-page letter, Getahun took responsibility for his actions and described his despair over family issues and feelings of persecution.
“Being in politics shouldn’t get you punished this much,” he wrote.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-21/activist-s-suicide-shows-opposition-plight-before-ethiopia-vote