REPRESSION OF DISSENT IN OROMIA (full report of Amnesty)

“I was arrested for about eight months. Some

school students had been arrested, so their

classmates had a demonstration to ask where

they were and for them to be released. I was

accused of organising the demonstration because

the government said my father supported the OLF

so I did too and therefore I must be the one who is

organising the students.”

Young man from Dodola Woreda, Bale Zone1

The anticipation and repression of dissent in Oromia manifests in many ways. The below are some of the numerous and varied individual stories contained in this report:

A student told Amnesty International how he was detained and tortured in Maikelawi Federal Police detention centre because a business plan he had prepared for a competition was alleged to be underpinned by political motivations. A singer told how he had been detained, tortured and forced to agree to only sing in praise of the government in the future. A school girl told Amnesty International how she was detained because she refused to give false testimony against someone else. A former teacher showed Amnesty International where he had been stabbed and blinded in one eye with a bayonet during torture in detention because he had refused to ‘teach’ his students propaganda about the achievements of the ruling political party as he had been ordered to do. A midwife was arrested for delivering the baby of a woman who was married to an alleged member of the Oromo Liberation Front. A young girl told Amnesty International how she had successively lost both parents and four brothers through death in detention, arrest or disappearance until, aged 16, she was left alone caring
for two young siblings. An agricultural expert employed by the government told how he was arrested on the accusation he had incited a series of demonstrations staged by hundreds of farmers in his area, because his job involved presenting the grievances of the farmers to the government.

Fullreport amnesty

Ethiopia 'targets' Oromo ethnic group, says Amnesty

Many Oromo people flee Ethiopia to take refuge in neighbouring states

Ethiopia has "ruthlessly targeted" its largest ethnic group for suspected links to a rebel group, human rights group Amnesty International says.

Thousands of Oromo people had been subjected to unlawful killings, torture and enforced disappearance, it said.

Dozens had also been killed in a "relentless crackdown on real or imagined dissent", Amnesty added.
Ethiopia's government denied the allegations and accused Amnesty of trying to tarnish its image.
It has designated the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which says it is fighting for the rights of the Oromo people, a terrorist organisation.

'Missing fingers'
At least 5,000 Oromos have been arrested since 2011 "based on their actual or suspected peaceful opposition to the government", Amnesty said in a report entitled Because I am Oromo - Sweeping repression in the Oromia region of Ethiopia.

Former detainees who had fled the country described torture, "including beatings, electric shocks, mock execution, burning with heated metal or molten plastic and rape, including gang rape", it added.
Amnesty said other cases of torture it had recorded included:

• A young girl having hot coals poured on her stomach while being held in a military camp because her father was suspected of supporting the OLF
• A teacher being stabbed in the eye with a bayonet while in detention because he had refused to teach propaganda about the ruling party to his students
• A student being tied in contorted positions and suspended from the wall by one wrist because a business plan he had prepared for a university competition was seen to be political

It compiled the report after testimonies from 200 people who were exiled in countries like Kenya and Uganda, Amnesty said.

"We interviewed former detainees with missing fingers, ears and teeth, damaged eyes and scars on every part of their body due to beating, burning and stabbing - all of which they said were the result of torture," said Claire Beston, Amnesty Ethiopia researcher.

Ethiopian government spokesman Redwan Hussein dismissed Amnesty's report.
"It [Amnesty] has been hell-bent on tarnishing Ethiopia's image again and again," he told AFP news agency.


Ethiopia is ruled by a coalition of ethnic groups. However, the OLF says the government is dominated by the minority Tigray group and it wants self-determination for the Oromo people.


=>bbc

Amnesty Says Ethiopia Detains 5,000 Oromos Illegally Since 2011

Case studies to accompany Amnesty International report

‘Because I Am Oromo’: Sweeping Repression in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia

October 2014

The Government of Ethiopia anticipates a high level of opposition in Oromia, and
signs of dissent are actively sought out and suppressed. People from all walks of
life are regularly arrested based solely on the suspicion that they do not support
the government, or conversely, that they support the Oromo Liberation Front
(OLF), the armed group in the region.

Below is a small sample of the testimonies documented by Amnesty International
in the course of conducting the research for ‘Because I Am Oromo’: Sweeping
Repression in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. Many of those interviewed by
Amnesty International – students, teachers, writers and medical professionals,
among others – had their lives torn apart by repeated human rights violations over
many years.

Read More amnesty