ETHIOPIA: Flagrant Human Rights Abuses Against Oromo Nationals Continues – HRLHA Urgent Action

The following is a statement from the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA).

—————–

Feb 01, 2015

For Immediate Release

Ketama Wubetu on the right and his friend

It is cruel, brutal and inhumane to hang any person for any wrongdoing, particularly in Ethiopia, a country that claims democracy is its core principle of governance. The execution of Ketama Wubetu and his friend by Ethiopian solders – by hanging on a fence – on December 9,2014, in Salale zone of Dera District in the regional State of Oromia was barbaric. If the hanged men were members of an opposition group fighting against the government, once they were captured, they should have been brought to justice.

Sadly enough, the government soldiers shamelessly displayed the bodies of these two Oromo nationals to the public, including children. This kind of inhuman and fascistic action will not solve the political crisis in the country. Rather, it will complicate and escalate it to anotherlevel. The fascistic action committed against the two Oromo nationals by the government army clearly shows that justice in the country is dysfunctional and symbolic.

By doing this, the Ethiopian Government has blatantly violated international humanitarian law and international human rights law principles, including international human rights standards.

The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa highly condemns the federal armed force, as well the Oromia regional state militia, for their fascistic acts against these two individuals and calls upon the Ethiopian government to bring the killers to justice. The Government of Ethiopia should also explain the situation to the world community, particularly to the UN Human Rights Council, that it is a member of.

The HRLHA calls upon regional and international donors, UN member states and organizations to take measurable steps against the Ethiopian TPLF/EPRDF government for its persistent brutal, dictatorial, and suppressive actions against civilians. It also urges all national, regional and international diplomats, donor countries and organizations and human rights groups to join hands in putting pressure on the Ethiopian government so that it invites immediately neutral body to investigate the human rights situation in the country.

BACKGROUNDS:
The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) has reported (May 1st and 13th, 2014, urgent actions,www.humanrightleague.org) on the heavy-handed crackdown of the Ethiopian Federal Government’s Agazi Special Squad and the resultant extra-judicial killings of 34 (thirty-four) Oromo nationals, and the arrests and detentions of hundreds of others. Amnesty International, in its most recent report on Ethiopia – “Because I am Oromo – Sweeping repression in the Oromia region of Ethiopia” – has exposed how Oromo nationals have been regularly subjected to arbitrary arrests, prolonged detentions without charge, enforced disappearances, repeated tortures and unlawful state killings as part of the government’s incessant attempts to crush dissent.

- Read the Full Statement