rampant military conscriptions
and the peacekeepers that can't go home
Hi there,
I was in Senegal over the past week at the eighth edition of the African Women in Media Conference. Coincidentally, I also happen to be there at the same time as the Dakar Biennale, also known as Dak'Art. The art exhibition, which closed on December 7, featured several African artists, including, Ethiopian artist, Ezra Wube. You can check out some of the art here.
To new subscribers, welcome!
My name is Maya Misikir, and I’m a freelance reporter based in Addis Abeba. I write Sifter, this newsletter where I send out the week’s top 5 stories on human rights and news in Ethiopia.
Now, to the news.
Oromia: conscription possible at any minute
Unlawful military conscriptions are happening across Ethiopia’s Oromia region, contravening the procedures and criteria of the Ethiopian National Defense Force.
I wrote about this two weeks ago, when the story first came out on Addis Standard, and now an investigation carried out by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission says these conscriptions are happening in towns like Jimma, Shashamane, Adama as well as Bishoftu, which is an hour’s drive away from Addis Abeba.
The region’s administration, security personnel, and militia are unlawfully detaining people including children according to the Commission’s statement. According to the criteria set by the Ministry of Defense, potential recruits need to fulfill requirements including being over 18 and having finished an eighth-grade education, among others.
In some areas, militiamen are rounding up people, and children, under the guise of recruiting for the Defense Forces and then forcing their families to pay ransom to let them go. This was widespread across certain areas, including in the city of Adama.
In Shashamane, the Commission says young children (14 to 16 years old) were told they would be given money if they joined the military and once they got into the camps, were not able to leave. One child interviewed is cited as saying he found out he was at a conscription camp from others after militiamen detained him while walking around his neighborhood at night.
The Commission has documented several instances where family members of children and adults were forced to pay from 25,000 to 100,000 ETB (200-800 USD) to free them. There were cases where children remained in detention because their families could not afford to pay or raise the money to secure their release.
The reason behind these forced conscriptions in Oromia? Administrators trying to hit conscription quotas for the military and using this opportunity to make money, says the statement.
The full statement in Amharic, from the Commission, here.
Peace: a rebel’s rebel faction
I’ve written updates in Sifter when the Ethiopian government was in talks with the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) representatives in Tanzania, back in 2023, in April, and then again in November.
Both talks were unsuccessful, neither brought a ceasefire to the years-long conflict, or an agreement between the two sides. When negotiations first started, I wrote an update on the OLA’s manifesto; to better understand their ideology (on paper). You can go here to take a look at that.
What were the reasons cited for the failure of the last round of talks? The government said that the demands of the OLA were unrealistic. The OLA said that the government wasn’t interested in a real conversation but rather in co-opting the group, by offering them positions of power.
Over the past week, the Oromia regional government has announced that a peace deal was struck with the OLA on December 1 and that the ‘fighters who have accepted the peace initiative “are now moving into camps prepared for them,’ according to a story by Addis Standard.
Here’s an excerpt from that story:
Although the government has not publicly disclosed the exact number of fighters who have surrendered, regional media reports indicate that “more than 800 fighters from the districts of Ginde Beret, Chobi, Elfata, Ambo, Midakegn, and Jibat in the West Shewa Zone have responded to the call.
The OLA’s representatives say that this is misinformation, and a ‘desperate attempt to manipulate public perception’. This agreement was signed by the group’s central zone command (‘a disgruntled former member’) and doesn’t represent the group, but rather, ‘opportunistic actors with personal agendas’.
The group’s latest press release says that this agreement is a tactic to get funds under the guise of a fraudulent Demobilization, Disarmament, and Reintegration program.
The full story on Addis Standard here, the response denying the discussions from OLA, here, and their latest press release, here.
Tigray: peacekeepers unable to return home
Hundreds of former Ethiopian soldiers who were in the UN’s peacekeeping mission in Sudan are still there in refugee camps, despite their mission ending in 2022. The former soldiers, who are ethnic Tigrayans, stayed on in Sudan, asking for asylum, after war broke out in Ethiopia’s Tigray region, according to a story in The Reporter.
A few who returned to Ethiopia faced detention in military camps, and others were sentenced to years of imprisonment.
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
The remaining ex-peacekeepers, who currently reside in Sudan’s Gedaref province, say the fear of persecution, as well as the unstable conditions in Tigray, are keeping them from making their way back home. A lack of funds necessary for the journey is also part of the problem.
Over a hundred soldiers who returned after completing their mission still did not receive payment for their service, according to the story, which cites the report of Human Rights First Ethiopia.
In the report, the organization, ‘urged the federal government to facilitate the return of former peacekeepers still in Gedaref and pay them the salaries and benefits they are owed.’
The full story, on The Reporter, here.
Finance: asking for government oversight on prices
Parliamentarians were in session last week with the country’s Minister for Trade and Regional Integration, and demanded answers about the ‘soaring prices of essential household and food items.’
The questions directed at the minister were particularly on the ‘government’s response to illegal trading activities’ (or lack thereof), and the ‘sharp increase in prices of locally produced items,’ according to a story on The Reporter.
While parliamentarians were saying that ‘public servants and low-income earners’ are unable to keep up with the rising prices of goods, the Minister instead, ‘clarified the distinction between inflation and the cost of living’ adding that, ‘inflation, defined as the rate of increase in prices over a given period, has been declining in recent months’.
Here’s an excerpt from what he said:
According to Kassahun, the cost of living relates to consumers’ purchasing power. “The government is addressing the cost-of-living challenges by adjusting the salaries of civil servants.”
I have written about the government’s plans to increase civil servants’ salaries, but despite these plans, ‘many federal employees and workers in the Addis Abeba municipality have yet to see the adjustment.’
The full story, on Addis Standard, here.
Health: new study on lead poisoning
One in three children in Ethiopia is exposed to lead poisoning (‘from improper recycling practices, unregulated consumer products’) according to a story by The Reporter.
Exposure to lead, which is ‘common in household appliances and tools imported from China and India’, affects the development of the brain.
Here’s an excerpt from the story:
Experts warn that scrap metal, which is often recycled into household utensils, as well as children’s toys, water pipes, construction materials, paint, and scratchable ink (such as the kind used on prepaid airtime cards) can contain unsafe levels of lead.
Accurately identifying the source of lead poisoning is difficult because of a lack of capacity as is dealing with the widespread poising.
The full story, on The Reporter, here.
That’s all for this week. I’ll be back next week with more updates!
In the meantime, feel free to share this with anyone you think can benefit from keeping up with what’s going on in Ethiopia.
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These poor people and their families: “The reason behind these forced conscriptions in Oromia? Administrators trying to hit conscription quotas for the military and using this opportunity to make money, says the statement.”