Breaking News: Federal Affairs Minister flees Ethiopia

SEATTLE, Washington – The government of Canada on Saturday denied an entry visa to a senior Ethiopian government official heavily implicated in the Gambella Genocide in which 424 Anuak were massacred in 2003, a press statement has said.

Omot Obang Olum, governor of Ethiopia’s southernmost Gambella region, was on June 7 scheduled to speak to Canadian Ethiopians in Calgary, the Anuak Justice Council (AJC) reported on Saturday.

On May 31 Mr. Olum met with the Anuak in Minnesota but most questions fielded were related to his involvement in the gruesome massacre of the Anuak people, which he denied strongly.

US officials were alerted of the crimes of Mr. Olum but they couldn’t go beyond detaining him briefly because the genocide suspect was carrying a diplomatic visa that offered him immunity from any action, AJC said.

Meawhile, AJC acknowledged the appropriate action taken by the Government of Canada, and cited in its statement how the victims of Mr. Olum would at least get a brief respite that it was a matter of time before Mr. Olum and his seniors in Addis were brought to justice.

High-ranking officials of the government in Addis were never held accountable for their actions, the statement said, highlighting Canada’s actions as one taken in the right direction. AJC pleaded that “Western nations don’t have to be havens for perpetrators of crimes against humanity.”

“Mr. Olum, who was the chief of security for the region at the time of the massacre, had been identified in
testimony from witnesses given to human rights investigators from Genocide Watch, Survivors Rights’
International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) as the individual responsible for compiling and handing
over the list of Anuak leaders who were later targeted and killed,” the statement said.

“Mr. Olum later was appointed as governor of the Gambella region in a suspected payoff for his loyalty.”

A political observer monitoring the events in Ethiopia said the government in Addis, which itself is ultimately responsible for the crimes, sent Mr. Olum to North America as a litmus test whether Canada and US would tolerate visits by individuals already known among human rights watchdogs.

“Zenawi was virtually using Olum as a ‘guinea pig’ whether his visits to North America would pass unnoticed, or would provoke legal actions of both governments and the Ethiopian Diaspora,” one analyst told Ethiomedia.

AJC on its part said the West’s ‘War on Terror’ has contributed to the willingness of donor countries such as Canada and the
United States to turn a blind eye to the horrific violations of human rights and oppression in countries
such as Ethiopia whose partnership in the War on Terror has given them impunity.

“Yet, on the home
front, the prime minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, is terrorizing the Ethiopian people.
Canada’s partnership with Meles Zenawi, also seen by many Ethiopians as complicity with a dictator, is
putting Canada’s own future relationship with Ethiopians in jeopardy,” the press release said.

AJC urged for more actions, and said extending support to criminals in whatever form means extending a helping hand to those who perpetuate crimes against humanity.