Enforced disappearances on the rise
and government crackdown on Muslim protesters
For those of you who have been here long enough, I did a two-part piece on a research report entitled, “The Ethnification of the Ethiopian Media” to mark Sifter’s 10th edition. You can go here to read that.
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Now, to the news.
Enforced disappearances on the rise
Enforced disappearances across the country are rising according to the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission. So is the number of people being held without any knowledge of their whereabouts (formally known as Incommunicado Detention).
Members of the Ethiopian National Defense Force, (former) regional special forces, and opposition political party members are some of the people who have disappeared. The report mentions specifically one central committee member of the Oromo Federalist Congress who after being badly beaten at a security bureau had disappeared without a trace.
Some of these people were called into work first, or simply taken from their homes, and at times, even from the side of the road. They’re taken by government forces without a warrant and while some have randomly shown up weeks, or months later at police stations, others are still missing – with no information on where they are or what’s happening with them.
These incidents, commonly occurring in Addis Abeba, Oromia, and Amhara Regions, infringe on the basic human rights of these individuals, create psychological harm to the families and erode community trust in the justice process.
The Commission says that it is still investigating what took place during the time of disappearance. Ethiopia should also immediately adopt and ratify the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, it added.
The full report by the Commission in Amharic is here.
Protests over mosque destruction (II)
This is a continuation of last week’s update on the protest over mosque destruction in Addis Abeba, where two people had lost their lives.
Last week, in a continuation of the one before, the protests in the city have been met with the usual heavy-handed response from the government. The protests were against the destruction of mosques happening in Sheger City, on the outskirts of the capital.
Security forces entered the historical Anwar Mosque and tried to disburse the crowd through tear gas. This resulted in two people dying and over 100 people being arrested, according to a report by the Ethiopia Human Right Commission. This report was released last Thursday.
The following day, on Friday, during prayer, security forces opened fire on people, killing three and injuring many more.
A story by Addis Standard reported on the response of the government:
This was the work of, “anti-peace forces to hijack the legitimate demands of the followers of the faith and spread the unrest to other areas to achieve their own evil goals.”
The full story on Addis Standard here and the report by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission in Amharic here.
Fighting between security forces, monastery
Fighting broke out in Debre Elias, East Gojam, Amhara Region, last week on the premises of a local monastery. The clashes were between the members of the monastery and the government, which claims that the monastery was being used as a hideout for armed individuals. The reasons are unclear: one person cited in a story by Deutsche Welle says that there was a disagreement between a local administrator and the head of the monastery. The fighting lasted 5 days, and the reports are that 200 security personnel were injured. There were 600 people living in the monastery and a majority of them are reportedly dead or injured.
The story in Amharic on Deutsche Welle here and on Addis Standard in English here.
Abducted woman returned after 10 days
Tsega Belachew, a resident of Hawassa City, was abducted last week Tuesday by none other than the personal security guard of the city’s mayor. It doesn’t end here. She was abducted by this man, from the side of the road, while heading home after work. Her family looked for her days with no luck as the abductor was reportedly tipped off every time they got close.
This event sparked outrage on social media and Tsega was released 10 days later. The abductor is still at large.
The story in Amharic on Al-Ain here.
In other news
As anyone trying to leave the city the past few weekends for any planned excursion across the country may have been aware, safety has been a real issue crossing regions – a tour and travel company I spoke to told me it’s just better to take flights. However, one particular route has been deemed safe enough for travel again. Reported as being a successful peace-keeping mission by the Ethiopian military, the road connecting Gambella Region to Oromia Region – the Gambella Dembidollo Road – has been re-opened and the government is now asking the two regional governments to use this opportunity to strengthen ties. The full story on Addis Standard here.
Recent updates have shown us that the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) and the Ethiopian government failed to come to an agreement at the negotiating table. If you’re looking to find details on this, go here. But the question of whether or not the two parties will be sitting down again soon for another round of talks seems unlikely. Here’s what the OLA’s spokesperson tweeted regarding this: “Contrary to the rumors circulating, there are neither ongoing nor planned discussions between the OLA and the regime. We remain dedicated to a peaceful resolution, despite no second round of talks being scheduled at this point. Any future negotiations will be promptly announced.” The tweet here.
Ethiopian Airlines is being sued for discriminating against ethnic Tigrayans by refusing to sell tickets to Tigrayans aged 15-60 from Mekelle to Addis Abeba. The carrier is also accused of increasing prices for this route. The suit was filed by Human Rights First, a local NGO. Will this stick? Fingers crossed. The full story on The Guardian here.
That’s all for this week. I’ll be back next week with more updates!
In the meantime, you can help support my work by forwarding this email to friends and family who might benefit from keeping up with what’s going on.
Note: I go through all the major news outlets, newspapers, online publications, and will at times, include reports, notes on parliamentary sessions, and go through fact-checking websites as well. I try to provide links to both English and Amharic sources, and I usually time-stamp the video I link to unless I think the whole video is relevant.