“For those caught in the middle of Ethiopia’s dirty war, even sleep, it seems, is no respite”
The Ethiopian military is once again busy suppressing dissent and silencing critics of the Ethiopian regime. According to the latest new report on the News Week Magazine, the Ethiopian military has stepped up its operation of collective punishment and eradication of the dissent groups especially the Ogaden. This comes as record amount of American money is being poured into the county to beef up the Ethiopian military to take part in larger battle against the spread of Islamic terrorism. There are already allegations, that much like the other dictator’s that have been bank-rolled by the State Department to fight America’s War on Terror, the Ethiopian dictator is diverting a large section of the aid money to silence and eliminate his political opponents. The article details the grave human rights violation being committed in the Somali region of Ethiopia and paints the ugly reality of mass-massacre and torture being committed by the Ethiopian military. According to the article:
“One 30-year-old man selling clothes in the marketplace in Degehebur says he came to the dusty town five months ago after Ethiopian troops burned his village of Leby, 18 miles southwest of the town. Fifty civilians were killed, he says. “At the time I had a shop, a good house,” he says, refusing to give his name out of fear of government reprisal. “We are in trouble.”
The story of the 30-year old man mentioned above is not unique not is it isolated incident:
“The Ethiopian government, after they fight the rebels, they often turn on us and kill women and children,” he says. “We’re very scared. I’m afraid speaking to you now. There’s lots of spies. They’re everywhere.” He estimates that more than two dozen civilians are killed monthly in the area around Gode, before abruptly cutting off the interview as a crowd gathers“
Much like other totalitarian regimes in the world who have capitalized on the War on Terror as an excuse to eliminate dissent groups, the Meles regime is unique in the sense that employs a highly catastrophic tactic of punishing whole villages and towns just to punish few opponents of the regime. What is so scaring is that all of this is being done behind the scenes, as the regime props up itself as an effective tool against the spread of terrorism and on the other hand engaging in actions that contribute to the spread of terrorism and radicalism, in sum offering the best breeding grounds for future terrorists. What is disturbing about the Ethiopian regime’s actions is that it employs a highly shocking level collective punishment which has led to humanitarian crisis. In fact, afraid that the influx of international aid organizations might expose the grave human rights abuses being committed in the Somali region of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian regime have chosen to expel aid organizations such as the Red Cross rather than lose face.
“blockage of commercial traffic with neighboring Somalia has also contributed to malnutrition. The embargo, together with locusts and drought, have forced grain prices up—many Somalis say prices have doubled in the past year. The one doctor in the hospital in Gode, Zilalim Eschetu, estimates that 75 percent of the children who visit the hospital are malnourished. “It’s a visible crisis,” he says. Among the patients in Eschetu’s malnutrition ward is two-year-old Sugah Hash, whose emaciated legs curl helplessly on her mother’s lap. “We had no food for a few months, so we had to run to this hospital,” says Mariam Ali, her mother”
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Leslie Lefkow, a researcher at Human Rights Watch who has tracked the crisis, “There is no question that in the last eight months the Ethiopian military went on a very intensive scorched-earth campaign.”
The article finishes with a grim reminder of the disturbing human rights violations being committed in the Somali region and elsewhere in Ethiopia:
“The conflict has been visible enough for Ridwan Hassan Zahid, who miraculously survived her would-be executioners. Left for dead, she was found the next day by Somalis from a nearby village who came to bury the corpses. The other nine were not so lucky. Some had been hung from trees, others hung over holes in the ground like Zahid. Some of the men had been stripped naked and their tongues had been cut out.
Zahid hid in the countryside for three days, but eventually she was told the army had learned she was still alive and was searching for her. Then began a two-week odyssey on foot, camel, and finally by truck to safety in a neighboring country, which she asked NEWSWEEK not to disclose.
She complains that her neck still pains her and she can’t use her right hand. “We never had links to the ONLF,” she says of her fellow captives.
“I am worrying still,” Zahid says. “When I sleep at nights I have dreams.”
For those caught in the middle of Ethiopia’s dirty war, even sleep, it seems, is no respite.”
Link for the original article
