As of
Saturday, April 7, 2012, Mr. TedoKul
Oman, an eighteen-year-old 12th grader from Gambella High School, was
shot and killed by an Ethiopian Defense troop, accompanied by six other
soldiers. Reportedly, a business owner from town had notified military
authorities that this young Anuak boy might be “a rebel from the bush” because he looked “suspicious.” According to local
sources, the reporter’s only evidence was his opinion that the boy had
“a bad attitude.”
In
response, an attachment of seven soldiers went to a gathering where the
boy’s family and friends were holding a traditional Anuak baby-naming
celebration. The TPLF/EPRDF Defense Forces called him away from the others to
question him, asking for his identification. He refused, saying he had done
nothing wrong, lived in Gambella and was in 12th grade at the local high
school. He turned and started to walk back to the party when one of the
soldiers shot him—execution style—in the back of the head and
through his back. The young man died there in front of everyone.
Perhaps he
should have given them his ID, but as we have reported previously, the anger
and resentment over the land grabs and increasing harassment, arrests, threats
and intimidation of local civilians by the TPLF/EPRDF troops runs high. This is
especially true in the case of some of these young men who are often the chief
targets of the troops.
Following
his death, defense forces along with the local police, arrested his father Mr. Kul Oman, over fears he would retaliate when he heard of
his son’s murder. His father is the head of the police commission in the Dimma district. What kind of country arrests the father of
such a victim of injustice? Only after he was in jail did they tell him about
the death of his son.
Ever since
the March 4th ambush of the passenger bus, where 19 out of 30 people
were killed, thousands of troops have been deployed to this area. The TPLF/EPRDF
defense forces have been known as one of the worst violators of gross human
rights in Africa; however, we know that not all of them are criminals like the
killer of this young man.In this case, one soldier out of six
committed a horrendous crime and should be held accountable; however, the
others may have been horrified by the crime. Some of these defense
troops are our Ethiopian sons, who were forcibly conscripted, and may feel like
prisoners in an evil system. It may be that their only allegiance to the
TPLF/EPRDF is based on fear. Under the right circumstances, they may turn and become
part of the solution.
Right
now, the Meles regime and the military authorities are hoping their foreign
supporters, who have provided military training, financial aid, guns and other
kinds of support, will overlook their endless human rights violations;
including war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity, much of which is
backed up with substantial evidence; however, their guilt is undeniable and
backed up with a shameful history. Meles and the TPLF took power by the barrel
of the gun and prior to that, as communist rebels, they were classified as
terrorists. Their nature and tactics have never changed.
When
that is combined with the simmering anger on the part of the locals over the
land grabs as well as the many incidents of torture, abuse, beatings,
disappearances and extra-judicial killings in the region, it may fully account
for any “bad attitude” he might have had towards those perceived to
be supporting this regime.
A teenager’s refusal to hand over an ID, because he feels he has done no
wrong and that they have no right to ask, has ended in his cold-blooded murder.
His resistance may also result from the fact that Anuak men, especially the
young, are being shot as potential rebels, simply for looking “suspicious.”The Anuak Men
are being forced to go into the bush to search for rebels, but instead what
they find are dead or beaten Anuak on the road or in
bush. Schools have been closed because of fear and there is no freedom of
movement because the government has clamped down due to fear that the rebels
will come.
We
in the SMNE have been gathering information and are gathering the names of 27 people
who have been killed, 59 tortured or 16 who have disappeared since the March 4th
ambush as well as the details surrounding these incidents. Much of the abuse is
taking place in the rural areas of Abobo and Goge districts where the regime claims the rebels are hiding;
however, as a result, the local people are being punished collectively and indiscriminately.
Now, what is taking place in the hidden rural areas is coming to Gambella town.
No one
knows what has happened to the killer who just walked away from the crime like what
he had done was nothing more than shooting an animal. It is proof of how
barbaric some—but not all – of these troops are and how the
military leaders have encouraged such human rights crimes by creating a culture
of impunity. If this soldier could do this in front of everyone, with no fear
of consequences, imagine what is happening to people alone in the rural areas
where no one can see it even though the information from the ground usually does
get out.
For
example, in the late afternoon of March 28, 2012 in Itang
town, a 27 year-old elementary school teacher Mr. Lol
Tot, of Nuer ethnicity was asked by three defense
forces to give his ID. When he refused, he was shot and killed. In response to
the killing of the Nuer teacher, the authorities told
the Nuer that they had arrested the man responsible
for the killing and were holding him at the army base. The Nuer
did not believe them and wanted to see him; demanding that the defense forces
“hand over the killer,” but their request was denied. The Nuer then threatened to go to the army base to get the
perpetrator themselves, warning authorities that they would otherwise take
revenge for his death on anyone. Fearing what would happen, the government has
now tried to work towards calming down the Nuer;
however, the tensions are increasing. After more questions and pressure, the
defense forces claimed they had killed the guilty man for his crime so the Nuer should just drop their complaint.
The same
lack of action is occurring in the case of the young man. After the murdered
boy’s father was released from jail, he went to the office of the
governor of the region, Omot Obang Olom, to state his complaint and to demand justice. Mr. Olom told him that they could not proceed with the case
because they did not know who committed the crime. This is absurd since there
were so many witnesses to the killing. Mr. Olom said
that someone else might have been posing in the uniforms of the TPLF/EPRDF
Defense Forces and gave no indication that the case would be investigated.
On March
31, 2012, in Pinudo, three young teens between the
ages of 14 and 18 were returning from the river. Defense troops told them to
stop but instead they were afraid and ran. The troops ran after them and
captured them. The military troops then brutally beat these young people with
the barrels of their guns so severely that two of them had to be hospitalized
in the clinic.
On
April 2, 2012, in Abobo, defense troops went to the
home of a man suspected of being a rebel. When they did not find him home, they
questioned his wife regarding his whereabouts. When she said she did not know
where he was, they removed a log from the fire and used the intensely burning
red end of the log to torture her on her back. According to her testimony, as the
TPLF/EPRDF Defense troops were torturing her, they made it clear they were
there for the benefit of the investors. She reported the following threats: “We would rather let you disappear
from here because the government has much more to lose if the investors
leave….If these rebels in the bush
are going to cause problems for the investors to come or for them to do their
job, we would rather eliminate them… if your husband is part of the
rebels and it is his intention is to make it difficult for these investors, we
will do whatever we can to make sure that they go, rather than the investors.”
In Gambella right
now, everyone is afraid because in reality, everyone is unsafe. There is not
enough security to carry out daily activities of life. This TPLF regime has
lost its legitimacy. They are doing the same in Benishangul-Gumuz,
the Afar region, the Ogaden region and Oromiyaa. They are displacing innocent Amharic in the South;
forcing them to leave homes and property. They are destroying Ethiopian
religious sites in the Amhara region to make way for
development. The people are not wanted; only the resources.
All of this
demonstrates the endemic lawlessness of this country; especially because the
government, who is supposed to protect the people, has become the chief executor
of injustice and murder. Now the regime is said to be bringing five
more tanks from the highlands to Gambella to deal not only with those rebels in
the bush, but with the local people.People should not be surprised with
what could happen under these volatile conditions. We are very concerned about
the potential for bloodshed.
Already, some of
the Anuak young people have taken the law into their own hands by burning down
the shop of the business owner who had singled out the young man to the
authorities as a “troublemaker,”
despite the fact he did not even know the boy. The police have now ended up
arresting the business owner, perhaps out of fear of retribution, and are now making
this man the scapegoat. This is an example of how these people prey on smaller
fish.
In the past, the
TPLF/EPRDF regime’s troops have only targeted the Anuak in the region,
but now they are also perpetrating human rights abuses on the Nuer as well. Unlike the Anuak,
who were disarmed prior to the genocide, the Nuer still have their guns and are
calling for revenge as they see the reluctance of the local authorities to respond
to their demands for justice. As a result, the government is now giving the
Anuak and the Nuer strong reason to unify; something this regime has been
actively working against for many years.
During the funeral
service, Anuak elders strongly cautioned the young people to not seek revenge,
even though there is no “rule of law” in the land. They also encouraged
the young people to not run away to refugee camps saying: “We should not have to go anywhere but should stay. This is our
land! Even if we die, let us die here rather than in a foreign land. If we are
not wanted in our land, we can still rest beneath it like our ancestors who
came before us and like this brother Tedo who just
left us today.”
However, 300 young
people have already left and more are going. Murders, beatings, arrests and
intimidation are all another way the Meles regime has used to force the
deportation of our people, not just from the region but from the country. If you
make things bad enough, most people will try to escape.
Another elder at
the service acknowledged the intense pain and grief of the young people but
that it should not lead to hurting another person. He said: “Our land has been suffering, grieving and crying
for so very long; but even though the pain is so unbearable right now, do not go
out and hurt another person. Even though for some, the tears waiting to be shed
are still being held back, we can see the pain and know your hearts are
bleeding. If your tears from that pain were allowed to freely flow from your
eyes, they would flood our fertile land that is so wanted by others and
foreigners who do not want us.”
Noticeably absent
from this emotional farewell to this young Anuak man, whose life was prematurely
taken away, was the indigenous Anuak governor, Omot
Obang Olom, who claims to be the leader of the region.
He did not even have the courage to go to the family of this boy—although,
as previously mentioned, his father remained locked up in jail until several
days later—but stayed away from the funeral. Is he really a leader of the
people or the leader of the TPLF defense force? Most Gambellans
will know the answer to this.
It is a dangerous situation and we are highly concerned that it is
only a matter of time before things get out of control; not only in Gambella,
but in various regions of the country where the same is happening. Those who
care about the stability of Gambella and all of Ethiopia should take this
situation very seriously. For donors or those who are supporting the TPLF/EPRDF
regime for their own national interests, these same national interests may be
in greater jeopardy in the long run if they ignore the warnings of imminent
implosion.
For those who continue
to support Meles and his TPLF regime because they do
not see a viable alternative should think twice for Meles will never allow a
viable opposition to emerge. Any reforms
can only be cosmetic for they know that genuine democratic reforms would only
lead to their downfall and a call for justice and accountability for their
countless human rights crimes. Because of these limits on opposition
activity within Ethiopia, solutions must focus on building alternatives outside
of Ethiopia which could be merged when possible with an Ethiopian-based
movement.
Which democracy-building
donors and institutions are now willing to invest in supporting a genuine
democratic movement that would be prepared for the inevitable downfall of Meles? As the TPLF/EPRDF targets innocent civilians in
Gambella is there any question that Meles would call out all his forces to
brutally suppress any uprising of the people?
This is a very precarious
time. Historically, hunger, rising food costs and the inability to feed
one’s family have triggered unrest in many places, one of them being Ethiopia
under the Derg. The combination of these factors again exist
in the country as Ethiopia: 1) is ranked the fourth hungriest country in the
world,[i]
2) has the second highest level of inflation in the world and with it, rising
food prices,[ii]
3) has forcibly displaced subsistence farmers from their land and then leased it
to foreign investors who export most of the produce, and 4) is committing
increasing and widespread human rights violations against those who protest;
all becoming a recipe for national disaster
as people’s hunger and desperation incite them to mobilize against the
oppression as they believe they have nothing to lose anymore.
Do those who care
about peace and security in the region see what is happening? If this all blows
up, it will be a grave threat to the security of the entire Horn. Under these
conditions, can concerned onlookers and stakeholders afford to wait for
promised reforms that will never happen? Would it not be better to deal with it
before it is too late? For the sake of the people, we hope so.
May God help Ethiopians
to realize the humanity of one another and that it is not an ethnicity but the TPLF
regime that should be held accountable for what is going on. May we people care
about the death, pain and suffering of all our people and may it unify us in
bringing about the healthy transformation of our society into a New Ethiopia.
