Saudi Billionaire to Invest $100 Million in Ethiopian Farm

Employees of Saudi Star rice farm work in a paddy in Gambella. Photographer: Jenny Vaughan/AFP via Getty Images

Saudi Star Agricultural Development Plc, an Ethiopian company owned by billionaire Mohamed al-Amoudi, said it plans to invest $100 million in a rice farm in western Ethiopia next year to kick-start the stalled project.

The company leased 10,000 hectares (24,711 acres) in the Abobo district in the Gambella region, where it’s based, in 2008 and bought the 4,000-hectare Abobo Agricultural Development Enterprise from the government 18 months ago for 80 million birr ($4 million). After delays caused by unsuitable irrigation design and contractor performance issues, Saudi Star wants to accelerate work in 2015 after a change of management, a redesign of the farm and a successful trial of rain-fed rice on 2,000 hectares at the formerly government-owned operation, Chief Executive Officer Jemal Ahmed said by phone.

“We have a very aggressive plan,” he said on Nov. 26 from Jimma, about 260 kilometers (162 miles) southwest of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. “If we’re able to do that we’ll be able to produce more.”

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The project is part of a government plan formalized in 2010 to establish commercial farms on 3.3 million hectares of fertile land in sparsely populated parts of the country such as Gambella. Ethiopia expected to earn $6.6 billion a year from agriculture exports in 2015, according to a five-year economic plan published in 2010, though total goods exports last fiscal year brought in $3.3 billion.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said in October 2013 that progress on the program had been “very slow.”

Billionaire Investor

Ethiopia-born al-Amoudi is worth $8.1 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, which ranks him as the world’s 157th richest person. His company built underground oil-storage facilities in Saudi Arabia and he owns Preem AB, Sweden’s largest crude oil refiner. Al-Amoudi is increasingly investing in formerly government-owned farms in Ethiopia, a nation where companies under his Midroc group operate the only commercial gold mine and built the largest cement plant in 2011.

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Saudi Star’s $100 million investment will focus primarily on building irrigation infrastructure, including finishing the main canal from the more than 25-year-old Alwero Dam built by Soviet engineers, as well as a rice de-husking plant, storage silos and land clearing, according to Jemal.

An initial plan to have the farm divided into 3.75-hectare plots to produce rice from submerged paddy fields has been shelved as unworkable, he said. Only 350 hectares has been developed since 2008 on the land leased for 300,000 Ethiopian birr ($14,908) a year.

Economically Unviable

“It was not environmentally and economically viable, that’s why they were struggling, so we stopped that,” Jemal said. “We want to make it large-scale flood irrigation, not small ponds.”

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Saudi Star’s revenue is forecast to be about $60 million in 2016 once the irrigation system is developed, with 60 percent of the aromatic rice exported mainly to Arab nations on the Persian Gulf, Jemal said.

Hampering current harvesting are late rains and, for two days in October, unrest in Abobo town after violence between ethnic Anuak, who are indigenous to Gambella, and other Ethiopians. The company has Ethiopian soldiers guarding its compound and about 100 stationed nearby. Two Pakistanis and three Ethiopians employed by Ghulam Rasool & Co., a closely held Pakistani engineering company building the irrigation canal, died in April 2012 after an attack by a group of gunmen.

Security Addressed

The government has “taken care” of security issues, farm manager Bedilu Abera said while seated in one of the air-conditioned trailers that are now Saudi Star’s headquarters after they were moved from Addis Ababa.

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Anywaa Survival Organization, a Reading, U.K.-based rights group, said in an Oct. 14 statement that land leases in Gambella have fueled conflict.

“The rush for land, water and other essential natural resources has become a curse for indigenous and minority peoples who barely have legal protection and redress,” it said.

Saudi Star says only two Anuak villages of huts with sweeping grass roofs lie just outside the project’s boundaries in deep forest. Some local residents complain they’ve not benefited from the investment and that they suffer collective punishment by the military.

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“They used to kill people from the village,” Akea Ojullo, a 27-year old teacher, said in a Nov. 23 interview in Perbong village. “It got worse after the attack on Saudi Star,” he said.

‘Wrong Project’

The company plans to work with local residents by investing in workers, distributing rice and plowing land for them. “We know we’re creating job opportunities, transforming skills, training local indigenous Anuak, but there’s a campaign to have people perceive it as a wrong project,” Jemal said.

The farm still has the backing of officials, even though progress has been slow, Jemal said.

“The government wants the project to be a success and see more Gambella people be able to work and produce more,” he said. “That’s the big hope.”

Large, complex projects like Saudi Star’s need many years to produce results, Gambella President Gatluak Tut Khot said in an interview in Gambella town.

“We are not disappointed about the operation because we know that agricultural operations are very difficult,” he said. “We are giving them time in order to correct every mistake, overcome every obstacle, every challenge they face.”

To contact the reporter on this story: William Davison in Addis Ababa at wdavison3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Antony Sguazzin at asguazzin@bloomberg.net Paul Richardson, Michael Gunn, Sarah McGregor

NOV 25 Professor Gudrun Dahl Returns to Oromo Scholarship After 20 Years Break: Interview

Meet Swedish Professor Gudrun Dahl who returned to the field of Oromo studies after a 20 years break and spoke at the 57th conference of the African Studies Association on the Oromo philophy of "nagaa" (peace) and environmental issues. She loves the Oromo unconditionally. She has important reflections to offer after two decades of absence. Although she is not in a position to do fieldwork as she did in the 1970s among Orma and in Isiolo in northern Kenya, she is monitoring websites to get updates and critiques online resources. She proposed how important it is to put together online repository of publications in a form of bibliogrpahy or database accessible to researchers of Oromo past and present. 




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Oromo studies scholars bring important topics to the table at ASA meeting in Indianapolis

(OromoPress) – Fifteen fellow Oromo studies scholars from around the world presented papers on a wide range of topics under six panels, making this the largest presence of any panels from the Horn of Africa in the program as well as actually in the conference rooms of JW Marriot hotel in the beautiful and cold city of November – Indianapolis.
A few scholars were new entrants into the field of Oromo Studies with brand new focuses, such as gender issues, nagaa, Oromo ecotheology, the state of religions in Oromia and Ethiopia, genocide and land grabbing, among others. Well established topics in social sciences, such as the conquest and domination of Oromia by Abyssinian northerners, were part of the panels. Veteran Oromo studies scholars reinforced their previous works and introduced some newer developments in their fields.
In contrast, there was not a single Ethiopianist panel at this year’s African Studies Association conference. A few angry Habesha walked into one panel and resorted to ad hominem attacks and vented – instead of engaging in rational discussions on historical and ongoing issues, including the fact that Menelik II committed genocide and mutilated limbs and breasts in Annoolee and Chelenko in Oromia of the last quarter of 19th century when the Oromo lost half its population to that genocide. The extremist Abyssinians in the room denied that Menelik II chopped of breasts of women, and limbs of men, commonly rendered in Afan Oromo as “Harma Muraa Aannolee and Harka Muraa Calanqoo.”
Despite the desperate hecklers, Oromo Studies scholars enthusiastically brought to the table many of the important issues relevant to the Oromo people and the broader Horn of Africa region.
The quality and the originality of the papers delivered at these conferences opened the eyes of curious ASA conference participants who were non-Oromos. Some African Americans in Indianapolis who did not hear of the Oromo or Oromia state before expressed their surprises that the stories of a people as large as the Oromo have been systematically cleansed from international attention.
Marit Ostebo from the University of Florida is a new entrant into the field of Oromo studies with her research titled “Can Respect Be Key to the Gender Justice? The Case of Wayyu and Women’s Rights among the Arsi-Oromo of Ethiopia.”
Swedish Professor Gudrun Dahl returned to the Oromo studies after twenty years hiatus, and gave very inspiring talk and reflections on the Oromo philosophy of “nagaa” [peace], and online resources. Gudrun’s work was titled “Morality, Peace, and Environment in Representation of Boran Oromo Culture.” Gudrun told us that she was among the very few expatriate researchers who began working on the Oromo since the early 1970s. That makes her one of the pioneers in Oromo studies. Her contemporary pioneer Oromo studies scholar, Bonnie Holcomb joined Gudrun on the stage to present a paper on “Oromo perspectives on peace and conflict,” which was received very well.


Scholars of Oromo Studies made their presence felt at the 57th congress of the African Studies Association, speaking directly to the theme of the conference, “Rethinking violence, reconstruction, and reconciliation.” Oromo scholars had a lot to offer not only to Oromo Studies, but to research on the African continent. As scholars representing the Oromo nation facing extreme violence in the Ethiopian state, it was only fitting that Oromo studies scholars participated in the conference, unveiled new topics and mapped future research topics to place the Oromo on the continental African and world maps.


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OLOLA OMN IRRATTI OOFAMAA JIRU ILAALCHISEE IBSA HOOGGANSA OMN IRRAA KENNAME.

Guyyoota muraasa dabre kana ololli hogganootaafi jaarmaya OMN maqaa xureessuu irratti fuulleffate gama adda addaan oofama akka jiru ni beekna. Hamma ammaatti dhimma kanarratti qaamni hoggansa OMN waan tokkollee hin dubbanne. Sababni isaas maddi dubbii kanaa hariiroo hojjataafi jaarmayaa kan seera ilaallatu waan ta’eefi. Hamiifi komiilee deddeemaa jiran hoggansi sadarkaan jiru sirritti erga ilaaleen booda qabxiilee armaan gadii kana ummataaf ifa godhuun barbaachiseera.

OMN hojjataas ta’ee hoggansa sadarkaan jiru heeraafi seera lafa kaayateen adabuu, hojirraa kaasuu ykn olguddisuuf mirga guutuu qaba. Akkasumas hojjataan ykn hogganaan tokko yeroo fedhetti caasaa jaarmaya beeksisuun hojii gadi lakkisuuf mirga guutuu qaba.

Hanga ammaatti hojjataan OMN irraa ari’ame tokkolleen hin jiru. Ji’a darbe kana keessa hojjattoota lama irratti tarkaanfin bulchiinsaa (disciplinary action) fudhatamuun dhugaadha. Erga adabbii kennameef fudhatanii booda fedhii isaanitiin hojii gadi lakkisanii jiran. Hojjattoota kana dhabuun keenya nu gaddisiisus kun mirga akka hojjataa tokkootti heerri bulchiinsa OMN fi seerri Ameerikaa isaanif kenne waan ta’eef ni kabajna. Gumaata hamma ammaatti jaarmaya kanaaf godhaniif ni galateeffanna. Gara fuulduraas jaramaya kanaan waliin bifa adda addaatiin akka hojjatan abdii qabna.
Haa ta’uutii, erga hojjattoonni kun bahanii booda hamiin bifa gara garaatiin ummata keessatti facaafamaa jiru, imaammata, adeemsa hojii fi kaayyoo OMN gaggeessaa jiru wajjin kan wal-faalleessudha.OMN dhaabbata walabaa fi karaa dhugaa qabatee haqa ummata Oromotiif kan dhaabbatee hojjataa jirudha. Kanas, qabtamaan hojiidhaan agarsiisaa jira. Imaammata editoriyaalii keenya, Qophiilee fi Oduu OMN tamsaasaa ture www.oromiamedia.org irraa hordofuun ni danda’ama. Ammallee, OMN dheebuu odeeffannoo ummata keenyaa baasuuf halkaniif guyyaa tattaafachaa jira. Yeroon kan hojiiti.

Daaw’attoonnifi deeggartoonni OMNis kana hubatanii bifa tasgabbaa’een OMN sadarkaa guddaatti ceesisuuf tattaaffii godhamaa jiru bira akka dhaabattan asumaan dhaamsa keenya dabarsina.

OMN sagalee ummata keenyaa ta’ee hojiisaa daraan cimee ittifufa.

Dr. Hamzaa Abdurazzaaq, Dura Taa’aa Boordii OMN
Girma Tadesse, Daareektara Koree Hojii Raawwachiiftuu

Dr Birhaanuu Dirbabaa, Gulaalaa Muummee


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In Defense of the Latest Amnesty International (AI) report Repression in the Oromia

Begna Dugassa, Ph.D | November 14, 2014

Dear the Secretary General & the Minsters of the Ethiopian Federal Government:

I am writing this letter to defend the latest Amnesty International (AI) report BECAUSE I AM OROMO’ Sweeping Repression in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia1 from the attacks and mischaracterizations of the Ethiopian government presented on BBC Radio and other media outlets. I believe I am entitled to do this for four reasons.

The first reason is, I was born and raised in Oromia among the followers of the Oromo indigenous religion– Waqefaata. I have witnessed human violations perpetuated by consecutive Ethiopian regimes. During the Haile Selassie regime, I witnessed my family members giving a quarter of their harvests to the Abyssinians and paying taxation without representation in the government. I witnessed many Oromo family members tried not to allow baptizing their children in the Abyssinian Orthodox Church. In the belief that if someone first goes through the Waqefaata ceremony known as Amachisa, the person will remain Waqefaata, my community members developed strategy to take their children through the indigenous ceremony first. Accordingly, in the Amachisa ceremony I got the name Tolera = things are good. After that, they had me baptized because the Oromo people were forced to baptize their children in the Orthodox Church. In the ceremony of baptism they gave me a name Gebre Giyorgis = the slave of George. I leave it to the readers to compare the differences in meaning between the two names.

I heard many stories about many innocent Oromo persons being charged with the crimes they did not commit. In most cases it was to free the Abyssinians from crimes they had committed. There is a case that I well knew- about an Oromo person being penalized for referring to the Supreme Court judge as (አንች=anchi) ‘you’, a term used in Amharic in reference to women,-instead of (እርስዎ=irswo) ‘you’ used in reference to the higher officials. The person did not use the term አንች (anchi) to undermine the Supreme Court. The reason was that he did not fully understand the Amharic language. This means that the Oromo people’s cultural rights are regularly violated and such violations are legal. As the UN document clearly states “human rights are indivisible, interrelated and interdependent”; the rights of the Oromo people to social, economic, political and cultural rights are being violated and this is clearly demonstrated in this case of a person being penalized for making a grammar mistake.


— Full Document in PDF


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Land Wars: Ethiopia Accused of Massacring Civilians to Clear Way for Foreign Farms

By Lara Whyte

WARNING: This article contains disturbing images

Ethiopia, one of the world's hungriest countries, is selling off vast chunks of its land to foreign investors who are growing food products for export — and those who get in the government's way are being killed or silenced, according to a new investigation.

Under the country's controversial "villagization" scheme, huge populations of farming communities are being moved out of their homes on land eyed for development and into new settlements built by the government. Residents not lured out by promises of better infrastructure and services are often forced to go against their will, and resistance often brings violence or intimidation into acquiescence or exile, US-based rights group the Oakland Institute says in a report due for release on Monday.
Now, for the first time, pictures obtained exclusively by VICE News appear to show evidence of the widespread atrocities and abuses being reported by farming communities and minority groups across the country.

An image of a Suri tribe member said to have been of the alleged February 2012 massacre

The pictures were sent to the Institute in April 2012, and are said to depict a massacre carried out by government officials and members of the ethnic Dizi group on behalf of the Ethiopian state against the Suri, one of Ethiopia's many ethnic indigenous farming groups, in the market town of Maji in February that year.

Since 2010, it is estimated that the government's "growth and transformation plan" has relocated 1.5 million people into village settlements, rights groups say. The areas afflicted include the Gambella, Afar, Somali, Lower Omo, and Benishangul-Gumuz regions, where local tribes do not have formal land rights. At the same time, huge tracts of land are being sold to investors for development. So far, it is estimated that the government has sold off the rights to 26 percent of Ethiopia's farmland.
The Suri people own large amounts of cattle and travel through a rapidly shrinking area in southwestern Ethiopia grazing their animals. The land they traditionally use has been sold to investors operating the Koko plantation, a Malaysia-backed project that exports palm oil and other food and farming products. According to testimonies taken by the Oakland Institute, the dispute that led to the reported massacre stems from an incident when three government officials, policemen from the Dizi ethnic tribe, were killed as they attempted to mark areas within a Suri community into which the Koko plantation was expanding.

A few days later, in an apparent act of retaliation, between 30 and 50 Suri men and women were allegedly killed with machetes and stones at a Saturday market in the town of Maji. The bodies were then dumped in a nearby stream. The Oakland Institute said: "It has not been possible to confirm the precise numbers of dead since no police report was filed."

The pictures prompted an investigation that is detailed in a report by the Oakland Institute scheduled for publication at 9am PST (5pm GMT) on Monday. The investigators encountered many difficulties, they said, as it was "clear that the Suri fear retaliation for speaking out against the government."
The Institute said the alleged killings show how the state is exploiting complicated, historic ethnic tensions between the Dizi and Suri by employing men from Dizi communities as policemen and local government officials, and tasking them with clearing the Suri communities off the land they have relied on for 300 years.

Maji market, site of the alleged massacre. Image via Katie Sharp

The interviewees are identified only by their initials as the fear of reprisals is great. Activists say the penalty for smuggling this type of information out of Ethiopia can be death. Rights groups in the UK say their contacts inside the country have been arbitrarily arrested and held in torturous conditions for apparent crimes of "communications." The electronic war Ethiopia has waged against some of its citizens has been reported by Felix Horn from Human Rights Watch.

Speaking to VICE News, Horn said the scale of intimidation is difficult to overestimate. Gaining access to the areas afflicted is almost impossible and telephone lines are problematically easy to trace.

"When you are permitted access to key areas, individuals are terrified to speak to foreign NGOs or journalists. And rightfully so — many Ethiopians are harassed or detained for doing exactly that. In addition, the CSO Law has decimated the ability of local groups to monitor rights abuses — all of which makes Ethiopia one of the most difficult countries in Africa to do meaningful human rights research."

The use of the CSO Law as a means of denying fundamental rights, tempering freedoms and jailing journalists has been documented. Reports of massacres, rape and forced relocations have been slowly emerging over the past few years, but pictorial evidence has not existed in a credible form.
Anuradha Mittal, the executive director of the Oakland Institute, said it was clear the government's villigization scheme was creating new tribal conflicts by exploiting old ones, as communities are being forced to compete for the remaining land and water across the country.

She told VICE News the facts were being ignored by the international community, which funds the Ethiopian regime to the tune of $3.2 billion each year.

An image purporting to show a Suri victim of the alleged Maji massacre

"The donors are well aware of the situation on the ground and have chosen to turn a blind eye to gross human rights abuses by their closest ally in Africa."
Reports of abuses are widespread, having been documented by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and, most comprehensively, by those behind Monday's report.
As a result of the growing catalogue of evidence, this year the US Senate included provisions to ensure American aid was diverted away from projects "associated with forced evictions." Though this admission has been welcomed by campaigners, it remains painfully unclear how this will actually be achieved. Those US and UK citizens who paid their taxes last year gave approximately $600 million and £200 million to the Ethiopian government respectively. Almost 10 percent of funding in Ethiopia comes from aid.

A site on Maji's outskirts where bodies were found following the alleged massacre. Image via Katie Sharp

There have been other accounts of similar instances of violence by the Ethiopian government against the Suri people. An unverified feature on CNN's iReport, included pictures purported to be of an alleged December 2012 massacre which claimed the lives of 147 people. The writer described the aftermath of a dispute over land that was said to have been sold to a gold mining company:
"The dead bodies are buried in mass graves deep inside Dibdib forest and some bodies were transported to gold mining holes not far from the Dibdib forest.

Some bodies were left out and eaten by vultures and predators. Most of the children were thrown into Akobo River.

After the massacre, the army sent warnings all around the area that if anyone reports about this, the army will do things to these people who report, and more, even worse, things to the Suri."
The CNN reported could not be verified by VICE News. The picture evidence does not appear to match the massacre described, according to researchers, and the claims have not been independently corroborated. The person who wrote the report is thought to be still inside the country.

Nyikaw Ochalla, a UK-based activist with Anywaa Survival Organization told VICE News it was important to see the alleged massacre in Maji as part of a wider assault. "I saw the pictures and I think it is the reality of what is taking place in Ethiopia right now. The pastoralists are being denied their livelihood and their land is being leased out to foreign investors without their knowledge or consent."

An image said to show corpses piled up following the alleged market massacre

He also stressed the risks associated with reporting atrocities, both to him and others outside the country, and, most gravely, to those inside. One of his contacts from Gambella is currently being detained in a prison hundreds of miles away in Addis Ababa. "He was not told why he was detained, but (during his) torture it was revealed it was because he had been communicating with me."
Ochalla was just one interviewee for this report who said they were concerned their communications were being monitored.

The Ethiopian embassy did not respond to questions from VICE News on the Maji market massacre allegations. A UK government spokesman issued a statement saying they "regularly raise human rights with the relevant authorities, including at the highest level of the Ethiopian government." They also said they were limited in what they could comment on, as the UK Department for International Development (DFID), which handles aid distribution, is being taken to court by an Ethiopian man from another ethnic tribe who says that he was forced off his land and that his community endured atrocities similar to those depicted here.

The British High Court will hear the case of Mr O, now a refugee living in Kenya, early next year. His lawyer Rosa Curling told VICE News the case will challenge the government's "ongoing failure to properly asses whether UK aid money has been involved in Ethiopia's villagization program, a program which had a devastating effect on our client and his family."

Ngo Hole, a member of the Suri tribe killed in the alleged massacre, who previously appeared in a Spanish reality TV show. Image via Katie Sharp.

Mittal said the pictures show how Mr O's story is being replicated all over the country, and called on the international community to act in the face of mounting evidence. "It is time for the US government, other donors, and international institutions to take a strong stand to ensure aid in the name of development is not contributing to the ongoing atrocities nor supporting the forced displacement of people. "She stressed the Suri are not the only ones being targeted: "Anuaks, Majang in Gambella, Mursi, Bodis, Nyongtham and several other groups in lower Omo and around the country are equally impacted."

The plantation whose operations prompted the alleged massacre is now reported to have closed down, earlier this year. It is unclear whether the Suri have been allowed back to their land to grow their food, in a country where almost half of the population is malnourished. The government of Ethiopia appears to have done a remarkable job in suppressing dissent, jailing journalists and preventing those with evidence of abuse from letting the donor community know what their taxes are funding.


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Ethiopia: The unresolved “Border Dispute” has claimed more lives in eastern Ethiopia

HRLHA Urgent Action

November, 09, 2014
The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) would like to express its deepest concerns about the so-called “Border dispute” between Oromo and Ogadenia nationals which began at the beginning of this month- for the second time in four years- in eastern Hararge Zone of Oromia Regional State.
According to a report obtained by HRLHA from its local reporters in eastern Oromia, the border clash that has been going on since November 1, 2014 around the Qumbi, Midhaga Lolaa, and Mayuu Muluqee districts between Oromo and Ogadenia nationals, has already resulted in the deaths of seven Oromos, and the displacement of about 15,000 others. Large numbers of cattle and other valuable possessions are also reported to have been looted from Oromos by the invaders.
The HRLHA reporter in the eastern Hararge Zone confirmed that this violence came from federal armed forces (the Federal Liyou/Special Police) from the Ogadenia side; the Oromos were simply defending themselves against this aggression- though without much success because the people were fully disarmed by the federal government force prior to the clash starting.
The names of the seven dead Oromos obtained from the HRLHA reporter are:

No		Name	Age	District
1		Mohamed Rashid Godobe	40	Qumbi, (Mino Town)
2		Yusuf Hasa Ibrahim	35	Qumbi (Mini Town)
3		Abdunasir Abdulahi	53	Mayyuu
4		Hasen Nuruye	42	Midhaga Lolaa
5		Yasin Adam	32	Midhaga Lolaa
6		Hasan Abdule	45	Midghaga Lolaa
77	Mohamed Dheeree		29	Mayyuu Muluqqee

The HRLHA reporter also confirmed that, in the invaded areas of Mayyuu Muluqqee, Midhagaa Lolaa, and  Qumbii  districts, the hundreds of thousands of people who  have been  displaced have  fled to the highland areas in the eastern Hararge Zone in search of temporary shelters and other basic needs.
Meanwhile, the federal government forces in coordination with the Oromia regional state police are harassing the Community of Grawa in the district of east Hararge Zone of Oromia regional state, saying that they are clearing the community of risky weapons including “Mancaa” the traditional instrument the people of this zone use for cutting trees and other purposes.  During this weapons disarming campaign, among those who resisted handing over their “Manca”, Shek Jemal Ahmed, 32 was beaten to death by the federal forces in Grawa district in October 2014.
Background Information[1]:
The HRLHA has reported in May 2013, the government-backed violence against Oromo  in the name of border dispute around the Anniya, Jarso and Mi’esso districts in eastern Hararge Zone between the Oromia and Ogaden regional states which had claimed the death  of 37 Oromo nationals and the displacement of about 20,000 others
The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa urges the Ethiopian Federal Government and the Regional Government of Oromia to discharge their responsibilities of ensuring the safety and stability of citizens by taking immediate actions to bring the violence to an end and facilitate the return of the displaced Oromos back to their homes. It also calls upon all local, regional and international diplomatic and human rights organizations to impose necessary pressures on both the federal and regional governments so that they refrain from committing irresponsible actions against their own citizens for the purpose of political gains.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to the Ethiopian Government and its concerned officials as swiftly as possible, in English, Ahmaric, or your own language expressing:

• Refrain from creating the so-called “border-dispute” between Oromo and Ogadenia nations by its “Liyyu Force” literary mean special force camped in Ogaden regional state
• Respect the Responsibility to protect (R2P) which states, a state has a responsibility to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and ethnic cleansing[2].
• Bring the killers of innocent citizens to the court,

Send Your Concerns to:

• His Excellency: Mr. Haila Mariam Dessalegn – Prime Minister of Ethiopia

P.O.Box – 1031 Addis Ababa
Telephone – +251 155 20 44; +251 111 32 41
Fax – +251 155 20 30 , +251 15520

• Office of Oromiya National Regional State President Office

Telephone –   0115510455

• Office of the Ministry of Justice of Ethiopia

PO Box 1370, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Fax: +251 11 5517775; +251 11 5520874 Email: ministry-justice@telecom.net.et
Copied To:

• Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

United Nations Office at Geneva 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland Fax: + 41 22 917 9022 (particularly for urgent matters) E-mail: tb-petitions@ohchr.org this e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

• Office of the UNHCR

Telephone: 41 22 739 8111
Fax: 41 22 739 7377
Po Box: 2500
Geneva, Switzerland

• African Commission on Human and Peoples‘ Rights (ACHPR)

48 Kairaba Avenue, P.O.Box 673, Banjul, The Gambia.
Tel: (220) 4392 962 , 4372070, 4377721 – 23 Fax: (220) 4390 764
E-mail: achpr@achpr.org
 Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights

• Council of Europe

F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex, FRANCE
+ 33 (0)3 88 41 34 21
+ 33 (0)3 90 21 50 53
Contact us by email

• U.S. Department of State

Laura Hruby
Ethiopia Desk Officer
U.S. State Department
HrubyLP@state.gov
Tel: (202) 647-6473

• Amnesty International – London

Claire Beston
Claire Beston” <Claire.Beston@amnesty.org>,

• Human Rights Watch

Felix Hor
“Felix Horne” <hornef@hrw.org>
[1]  HRLHA Urgent Action,  Loss of Lives and Displacement Due to “Border Dispute” in Eastern Ethiopia
May 7, 2013,     http://www.humanrightsleague.org/?p=13867
[2] 2005 world summit outcome, http://www.who.int/hiv/universalaccess2010/worldsummit.pdf


For PDF version click HRLA Argent Action


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