Genocide Watch and
Survivors’ Rights International
A Genocide Watch and Survivors’ Rights International Field Report
“When
a lion kills a goat in
“People are scared into silence – if you
say something against the government they find a way to arrest you – even
now.”
- Anuak Survivors, September 2004
-
i.
Preface to the Second GW/SRI Report on
State Terror in Anuak Areas…………..… 3
ii.
Map of Gambella
State & Natural Resources………………………………………..… 4
I.
SUMMARY………………………………………………………….……………………. 5
II.
BACKGROUND……………………………………….………………….……………….
8
III.
OPERATION SUNNY MOUNTAIN –
The Massacres of December 2003…………..
9
IV.
MILITARY OCCUPATION –
Continuing State Terror: January to December 2004
17
V.
ACCELERATED PETROLEUM
OPERATIONS……………………….………….…
25
VI.
INTERNATIONAL LEGAL
STANDARDS……………………………….……………
27
A. Crimes Against
Humanity…………………………………………………………
…….. 27
B.
Genocide…………………………………………………………………………………. 28
C. Arbitrary Arrest, Illegal
Detention and Torture………………………………………..…
28
D. Protection of Objects Indispensable to the Survival of Civilians………………………. 29
VII.
THE UNITED STATES AND
VIII.
CONCLUSIONS………………………………………………………………………….. 31
IX.
RECOMMENDATIONS………………………………….….………………………..… 34
X.
APPENDICES…………………………………………………………………………..….37
Appendix I: List of Police
Perpetrators Identified by Government……………………….. 37
Appendix II: Partial List of Anuak Villages Targeted by Ethiopian
Military………..………..…
38
Appendix
III: Anuak Police Jailed by Government During August 2004
Evaluation…………….
40
Appendix
IV: List of Anuak Leaders Jailed 13 December 2003 Prior to Killings of
UN workers..
41
Preface to the Second Genocide
Watch/Survivors’ Rights Report on State Terror in Gambella
In February 2004, Genocide Watch and
Survivors’ Rights International published Today
Is The Day For Killing Anuaks. That
first report was based on a GW/SRI field team investigation in
This second
GW/SRI report updates and corroborates the first report with evidence gathered
in
The additional
testimony gathered underscores the criminal nature of violence committed in the
region
Significant new
information has been gathered and is presented in this report. Most important is
the new evidence of the continuing violence against Anuak civilians conducted by the Ethiopian
army.
GW/SRI’s first report, Today
Is The Day For Killing Anuaks
provides the background for this report, and should be read along with it. This report strongly corroborates
GW/SRI’s first report and provides ample evidence that
state-sponsored violence against the Anuak is
continuing today.
To protect
sources, this report does not specify the exact dates of visits to the region,
names of sources interviewed, or the names of GW/SRI field researchers. However,
all field visits occurred between June and October 2004, with interviews and
investigations conducted in
Genocide Watch
and Survivors’ Rights International remain deeply concerned for the security of
innocent non-combatant Anuak civilians and leaders who
have risked their lives in speaking to our researchers. Many expressed their fear of being
beaten, arrested or killed by government troops or police in
reprisal.
On the first anniversary of
The Gambella region is under total military occupation.
Estimates of the number of Ethiopian troops vary, but GW/SRI sources say between
18,000 and 80,000 EPRDF troops have been deployed in the area, where they commit
daily atrocities on the pretext of “counter-terrorism” and “national
security.”
At least 1500
and probably as many as 2500 Anuak civilians have
died, with intentional targeting of intellectuals, leaders, and members of the
educated and student classes. Hundreds of people remain unaccounted for and many
are believed to have been “disappeared” (murdered) by government forces.
Poor rural villages, where Anuaks
and other ethnic minorities live on the margins of subsistence, have been
attacked, looted, and burned. EPRDF soldiers have burned thousands of Anuak homes (see Appendix II).
Anuak women and girls are routinely raped,
gang-raped and kept as sexual slaves. Girls have been shot for resisting rape,
and summary executions of girls held captive for prolonged periods as sexual
slaves have been reported. In the absence of Anuak men—killed, jailed or driven into exile—Anuak women and girls have been subject to sexual atrocities
from which there is neither protection nor recourse. Due to the isolation
of rural areas, rapes remain substantially under-reported. EPRDF soldiers prey
upon defenseless women and girls as they pursue the imperatives of daily
survival, such as gathering firewood and water or trips to
market.
Some 6000 to 8000 Anuaks remain at
refugee camps in
Some 500 to 600 Anuak men have
reportedly been imprisoned without charge or trial and live under harsh
confinement in Gambella and rural jails. They are reportedly subjected to
torture. At least 44 of these prisoners are held in
Anuak traders are afraid to sell goods, and
vendors in towns have been forced to close shops and stores. Farmers not killed
or driven off are afraid to farm their fields. Crops, food stores and communal
milling equipment have been destroyed. EPRDF soldiers have expropriated schools
in remote villages and rural towns for use as makeshift barracks. While the
educated class has been intentionally targeted, Anuak
children are denied all basic education.
This report
provides further evidence that crimes against humanity and acts of genocide have
been committed against Anuak civilians by EPRDF
soldiers and “Highlander” (in Amharic “cefarioch”) militias in
southwestern
The report
documents the continuing murders, torture, rapes, illegal detention, and other
kinds of persecution deliberately targeting the Anuak
people, with a detailed look at the EPRDF military campaign against unarmed men,
women and children in rural Anuak villages from
December 2003 through September 2004. The perpetrators of extreme violence
committed in rural areas are EPRDF soldiers and Highlander militias who have
been given free rein to murder and rape with impunity.
There is no
evidence whatsoever to support claims that the massacres since 13 December 2003
are the result of communal violence between Anuaks and
the local Nuer ethnic group, as has been reported by
media following a propaganda campaign of denial by the Ethiopian
government.
The report of an
“Independent Inquiry Commission,” chaired by a member of the Meles government, has attempted to cover up the truth about
the massacres in Gambella. The Commission’s report employs every technique of denial,
including blaming the violence on the victims, falsely blaming the killings on other
ethnic groups such as the Nuer, minimizing the number
of dead, claiming that the killings were the result of spontaneous mob revenge
or crimes by “hoodlums,” rather than a coordinated government assault, and even
claiming that the violence was the result of incompetent leadership by the Anuak governor of Gambella, who
was himself a victim driven into exile by the killing. Incredibly, the “Independent Inquiry
Commission” report even states that the EPRDF saved Anuak lives, when EPRDF soldiers were named as the
perpetrators in every murder the Commission’s witnesses referred to in its own
report. The “Commission” report
concludes that only twelve Anuaks were killed by
government troops, when the actual number is in the hundreds. The report is a whitewash that should be
rejected by the international community, which should demand an independent
investigation sponsored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights.
Credible sources
in Gambella and
This report
supports allegations that ethnic cleansing has been approved at the highest
levels of the Ethiopian government, and that the violence initiated by the
This report also
provides credible evidence that as part of its campaign of ethnic cleansing,
other crimes against humanity are being committed against Anuak civilians by EPRDF soldiers and “Highlanders” in
southwestern
A list of names
of Highlanders allegedly responsible for the violence of December 2003 is
provided in Appendix I. The list was reportedly generated at a federal
government “evaluation” meeting about the events of December 2003 intended to
identify perpetrators. Directed by a federal police investigator from
Sources reported
that a federal police investigator from
On
Petroleum operations pursued under the current circumstances will have devastating consequences on the social and political relationships and natural environment of the Gambella region.
The Ethiopian government has followed a pattern first established by the Derg regime of [1] resettling highlanders in Anuak areas and [2] slowly killing and driving out Anuaks. Since 2001, when oil was discovered in Gambella, the campaign of ethnic cleansing of Anuaks has increased in intensity. Many sources believe there is a hidden agenda behind the recent massacres and that it is about control over Gambella’s oil.
After the EPRDF coalition defeated the Derg – with full support of Anuaks
from the Gambella Peoples’ Liberation Front (GPLF) –
EPRDF troops began killing Anuak intellectuals and
students on rural roads, in town, etc., under the pretence that they were common
thieves. This slow process of attrition reportedly provoked military
confrontation between the EPRDF and the GPLF around 1993. The conflict scattered
GPLF forces, most of whom returned to their farms, or fled to
Working to emasculate the GPLF and its capacity to defend Anuak homelands, the EPRDF resumed the process of a slow but steady attrition through the isolated killings of Anuak farmers and other civilians. This process continued through the 1990’s, and resulted in GPLF reactions.
The Gambella People’s Democratic Congress (GPDC) party was
organized in 1999 in opposition to the ruling EPRDF, primarily to challenge
consistent violations of the human rights of Anuaks
and dispossession of Anuak lands. The GPDC immediately
won a majority of seats in the government of Gambella
state. [4] An Anuak, Okello Ngalo, was elected
President (Governor) of
President (Governor) Okello Ngalo was among fourteen Anuaks jailed in April of 2002. According to Anuak sources, President Ngalo was jailed for refusing to sign an Ethiopian government document agreeing to the government’s plan to exploit Gambella’s oil.
Arrests of Anuak men became
increasingly prevalent over a year ago, and some 44 Anuak leaders have been held in jail in
None of the prisoners have been charged in the time since their arrest. They have also been kept in abysmal conditions. Five of the prisoners have died since their imprisonment.
Following the imprisonment of the democratically elected governor, the EPRDF appointed senior officials to take over the administration of the region. Most of these appointments were Anuaks, including the appointed Governor, Okello Akway Ochalla. However, the governor was excluded from decisions about oil exploration because the federal government nationalized all mineral resources and placed their exploitation under the control of the federal government.
The Anuak
situation has grown markedly worse since oil was discovered under Anuak lands by the Gambella
Petroleum Corp., a subsidiary of Pinewood Resources Ltd. of
On
III.
OPERATION
SUNNY MOUNTAIN
The
Anuak Massacres of December
2003
Massacres began after the murders of
eight Ethiopian United Nations refugee camp
officials whose van was ambushed on
Evidence gathered for this
second GW/SRI field report from eyewitnesses in Gambella paints a chilling picture of a military campaign
against the Anuak planned prior to
According to accounts from within the
EPRDF regime, EPRDF plans to exploit
petroleum and gas reserves in Gambella were
made at a top-level cabinet meeting that occurred in
After the September 2003 meeting, EPRDF repression intensified. For example, one witness reported that EPRDF soldiers retaliated against the killing of a highlander in the Pinyudo area in September 2003 by killing four Anuaks in Perbongo village, two in Pinyudo town, and one in Gog Dipatch village (September 2003), although there was no evidence that any of the civilians killed had anything to do with the murder in Pinyudo.
Unknown gunmen reportedly killed road
construction workers in Abobo district in October
2003, and the EPRDF retaliated by killing five Anuaks
the same day, and three more the following day. [5]
Sources have provided GW/SRI with the
name of a high-ranking EPRDF military officer who told them of a meeting held on
In the early morning of 13 December 2003, prior to the attack by unknown assailants on the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation (UNRRA) staff and vehicle, nine Anuak government officials, including five heads of regional government bureaus, were arrested and detained in the Gambella jail. Their names were provided to GW/SRI researchers and are listed in Appendix IV. The Anuaks listed in Appendix IV remain in detention without charge or trial. The arrests reportedly occurred prior to the departure of the United Nations contingent from Gambella town. This list of key Anuak leaders was reportedly drawn up by Omot Obang Olom and is evidence that the plan to eliminate the educated Anuak was premeditated.
GW/SRI sources reported that detainees
Ajow Odol Obang and Ojulu Oriet were tortured on
According to Genocide Watch sources, the
massacres on 13 -16 December 2003 were ordered by the High Commander in Chief of
the Ethiopian army in Gambella, Nagu Beyene (Tsegayi Beyene), a Highlander,
with the direct authorization of Dr. Gebre-ab
Barnabas, an official of the Ethiopian government’s Ministry of Federal
Affairs. The accusation has also been made that lists of targeted
individuals were drawn up with the assistance of a local Anuak government official, Omot
Obang Olom, who has now been
named Chief of Security in Gambella. [7]
Ø
AMBUSH OF THE UNITED NATIONS
PERSONNEL
The ambush of U.N. personnel occurred on the road from Gambella to Itang town. The U.N.
personnel were en route to a village called Odier
where they intended to organize the transfer of non-Anuak refugees from one site to another. The driver of their vehicle was
reportedly an Anuak. The Ethiopian government immediately
blamed Anuak “rebels” for the
killings.
Accepting the Ethiopian
government’s account of the UN killings, several international news reports have
stated that the assailants were most likely Anuaks
seeking to prevent the UN from transferring refugees to a site that would
impinge on Anuak land. Marc Lacey of The New York Times,
for example, reported the Ethiopian government’s version of the murder of the UN
workers as fact.
“The
latest round of violence began last December when a group of armed Anuaks killed some highlanders. The highlanders were working
for
However, Anuak
sources claim that the refugee transfer would actually have been favorable to
Anuak interests, and that the police and military did
not avail themselves of the immediate opportunity to track and possibly
apprehend the killers because they knew that the killers were not Anuaks. [9]
As
noted by an elected member of the Gambella Regional
Council and a founder of the Gambella People’s
Democratic Congress party:
“The
place where the U.N. people were killed is not a place where only Anuak are living. There are Nuers,
Anuaks, Opon and Komo… and they are living together…. But the government did
not make an investigation.” [10]
A year after the ambush, GW/SRI has no
received no replies to its inquiries to the United Nations and the Ethiopian
government asking whether either has undertaken an official investigation of the
killings of eight UN personnel on the morning of 13 December 2003. No
investigative report has ever been released, and no one has ever been arrested
for the murders.
GW/SRI sources in Gambella report that Anuak
policeman Ojo Akway was
among the first group of responders to the site of the ambush on the morning of
GW/SRI sources alleged that Selassie, the Commander of Police in Gambella, subsequently ordered Akway’s execution in order to suppress Akway’s identification of the killers of the UN
personnel. Sources report that
Akway was detained on
As soon as the police returned from the
scene of the UN killings, they called EPRDF soldiers and armed Highlanders
together to incite and organize the massacres of Anuaks. Another UN team with a military escort subsequently
retrieved the bodies of the murdered UN staff. At public meetings, sources report,
EPRDF High Commander Nagu Beyene incited the massacres of Anuaks because, he said, Anuaks
killed the United Nations contingent. [12]
Credible sources in Gambella and
Ø
TODAY IS THE DAY OF KILLING
ANUAKS
The mass killings began about
The pogrom continued unabated in Gambella town until December 15, with massacres,
mutilations, mass rape, and arson of homes deliberately targeting unarmed and
non-combatant Anuak men, women and
children.
GW/SRI’s recent
investigations on the ground in Gambella corroborate
the evidence cited in our first report that acts of genocide and crimes against
humanity have occurred with impunity, that they were committed by Ethiopian
state officials and army forces, and that they are still occurring in
The genocidal nature of the massacres was
evident in the intent declared by the killers and in the methods of
killing. The bodies of those killed
were dismembered and mutilated, a sign of the symbolic dehumanization typical of
genocidal massacres. The killers shouted slogans indicating their genocidal
intent. Among the slogans noted in GW/SRI’s first
report, Witness #7 claimed to watch a gang of some 15 to 30 Highlanders armed
with crude weapons attack and kill three Anuaks,
including a student named Omot (grade 9), while
repeatedly chanting:
“Today
is the day of killing Anuaks.” [15]
According to corroborating testimony of
survivors interviewed during GW/SRI’s recent trips to
Gambella and other areas of Ethiopia, during the
massacres, EPRDF forces and Highlander militias shouted,
“We
will wipe you [Anuaks] out of this place.” [16]
“Soldiers
said: ‘You black man, we want to kill you. If you do not leave this area we will
finish you.’ The soldiers and Highlanders said the same words: ‘We will finish
Anuaks. We will kill them. This land is not your land.
This is the
One Anuak
survivor from Gambella town was shot by soldiers three
times on the afternoon of
A GW/SRI interviewee saw seven people
killed on 13 December. One man was running until the EPRDF caught him, tied his
hands and feet and -- while he was still alive and conscious – purposely ran him
over with a military truck, killing him. [19]
Highlander Paulose Akililu was killed by
soldiers on
Another woman who witnessed numerous
killings said troops in uniform arrived at mid-day when she was working with
another woman in her compound. She said she saw troops shooting people, bombing
clay and cement houses, and burning grass houses. When the men came out to escape the
fire, they were murdered. Ojulu Boka was first shot and then attacked by Highlanders with
sharp tools. She saw Odan Omot (~37) killed by machete by Highlanders after troops set
fire to his house and he ran out. She also saw five others murdered: Ajak Okiddy (~38); Okuny Nyigwo (~43); Achim ___ (~36); Oriemi Ojulu (~38) and his son Anuto
(~11). [21]
The EPRDF troops said, “We will kill all
today. We can finish you [Anuaks] all today… When they
saw me crying after they killed my husband they said: “Don’t cry. You [women]
will remain our slaves and we will finish all the Anuak men.” [22]
The Ethiopian
government immediately and publicly blamed the massacres on Nuer and other ethnic groups indigenous to
On
On
At one meeting organized in late December
by the Federal government -- with soldiers and highlanders present -- Anuaks were informed: “This is Ethiopian land, this is not
Anuak land. You are complaining that this is Anuak land, but this is Ethiopian land.” [24]
Reports of mass graves around Gambella town were made by many eyewitnesses, but could not
be verified by GW/SRI researchers due to security concerns. One witness cited a
possible mass grave near
Many Anuak dead
were reportedly buried by their families in makeshift graves near their homes.
GW/SRI researchers viewed one gravesite in an Anuak
compound where five victims of the
Ø
TORTURE OF RETURNING
REFUGEES
An unconfirmed estimate of Anuak refugees in
According to an interview with a
35 year old Anuak man, father of six children: "On
Ø
SYSTEMATIC RAPES OF ANUAK WOMEN &
GIRLS
Interviews in Gambella corroborated GW/SRI’s report of systematic rapes of Anuak women and girls since December 2003, abuses that remain unabated. Local people reported that the number of Anuak women raped in Gambella state is now in the thousands.
The absence of Anuak men—some murdered, most driven into exile—has left Anuak women and girls subject to sexual atrocities from which there is neither physical protection nor legal recourse. Due to the isolation of rural areas, rapes of Anuak women and girls remain substantially under-reported. The following accounts by rape victims and witnesses are representative of many received by GW/SRI:
Victim one, nineteen years old
from Gambella city, reported: “It happened while I was
walking to the river to collect water. It was December 18th in the afternoon
when I left the house and as I was walking... I met three Ethiopian defense
force men. ..They approached me and told me to stop walking. I stopped walking
and one of them took my hand and told me to get in front of them... One of them
told me not to scream or they will kill me” “One soldier yelled, ‘Walk faster,
Baria (slave)’ in Amharic.... They took me to the nearest house with an
aluminum fence and told me not to scream. The first soldier who was walking in
front of us took off his clothes and told me to lie down. I did not know what to
do. He took my head and put it on his private part. I cried and he smacked me
and said, ‘Lie down and open your legs.’ He smacked me again and I screamed and
scratched the ground from the pain. The pain was so severe.” “The other soldiers
were still there standing without saying a word. He asked them, ‘What are you
waiting for? Let’s do her before anyone comes.’” “One of the men took off my
clothes and pushed me down. He stuck his socks in my mouth while the other two
held me down on the ground until he who smacked me got off me and he asked, ‘Who
is next?’ I heard both of them say, ‘Me…me,’ at the same time and I did not say
anything.” “They kept doing what they were doing for over thirty minutes and
then told me to keep quiet. I was crying from the pain. After they told me they
were done, I got up and put my clothes back on. As I was leaving they warned me
not to tell anyone, not even my family or they would shoot all of us to death. I
didn’t say anything. I left for home crying and when I got home my mom knew
exactly what had happened to me.”
Victim two, a twenty year-old
girl, was held in her house in the
One of them came to me and took
my right hand. I told him, ‘Please don’t touch me.’ He told me not to say
anything. Once again I told him, ‘Don’t touch me.’ He slapped me in the face and
pointed his gun at me and told me to shut up. ‘Get down on the ground and take
off your clothes,’ he said. I turned down my head and cried. He pushed me down
and ripped off my clothes and did whatever he wanted with me while the other
soldier held me down with both of his hands. He took a turn as well. I didn’t
struggle or fight. I was afraid that they may kill me. I was held on the ground
for several minutes.”
Victim three, an eleven year old girl who witnessed a rape, told local investigators: “I saw four soldiers come to our house. They pointed machine guns at my older sister. The men were wearing military clothes. They took my sister who was six months pregnant to a nearby bush under a tree. They were hitting her and telling her to be quiet. I and two young children were screaming, and the soldiers also screamed back at us. My sister was resisting, and they beat her. We could hear her screaming. I saw a man take off his clothes and get on top of her. The children didn’t see this but only heard what was going on. We heard them slapping my sister. The children did not understand what was happening to their mother. The children were two and four years old.”
According to a recent report from
a local organization in Gambella town, more than one
hundred women are still suffering from serious injuries which have affected
their sexual organs so that it may not be possible for them to have children in
the future. The report indicated that many victims also may have contracted
sexually transmissible diseases and particularly HIV/AIDS because
Rape is the
rule, not the exception, and – given its prevalence - it appears to be tolerated
and even encouraged at all levels of the EPRDF military command. Women and girls
who resist have been summarily executed. Other women and girls have been taken
and kept as sexual slaves for periods reported to range from a few days to
weeks. Girls taken as sexual slaves are sometimes released, others have escaped,
and sometimes they are killed. EPRDF soldiers have universally preyed upon women
and girls forced to pursue the imperatives of daily survival in the bush:
females are captured and raped as they gather firewood, haul water or go to
market. [27]
IV. TOTAL
MILITARY OCCUPATION
When the appointed Governor,
Okello Akway Ochalla, an Anuak, would not
support or cover up the deliberate EPRDF massacres of the Anuak, he was forced to flee the region in January 2004 for
fear of his own life. He is now exiled in
Following the outbreak of killings in Gambella, the federal government appointed federal representatives to take over the administration of the region. Gambella has become an occupied territory, under the control of tens of thousands of Ethiopian troops. As killings and rapes of Anuaks continue, and the central government now directly controls the regional government, the Ethiopian state continues to tighten its grip on Gambella’s valuable resources.
Sources report ten military camps in the
immediate vicinity of Gambella town, with an estimated
60 to 100 troops at each. The three major camps are Terfshalaka, about seven kilometers from Gambella on the
GW/SRI researchers witnessed truckloads
of soldiers frequently coming and going from Gambella,
and along the roads to rural areas. Soldiers were seen to openly extort money
and goods from civilians. Vehicles traveling along the road are expected to stop
and pick up any soldiers waiting by the sides of roads, and there seem to be
soldiers walking or waiting by the sides of the road everywhere. Researchers
inspected and photographed a church building that had been expropriated by
soldiers and turned into a semi-permanent barracks. A nearby school was also
expropriated and occupied.
EPRDF attacks
spread from Gambella town to outlying Anuak districts in December 2003, but some areas remained
relatively untouched until more recently.
A renewed campaign of EPRDF violence targeting rural areas occurred
between March and June 2004. Appendix II provides a partial list of Anuak villages targeted.
With the onset
of the rainy season (June-September 2004) and the inaccessibility of remote
areas due to rising water levels in
Armed resistance
to the EPRDF appears to have been a driving factor behind the EPRDF’s March to June military campaigns in rural areas.
Military confrontations between armed Anuaks and EPRDF
soldiers in the Dimma area are discussed in the GW/SRI
report of
Pitched battles
have reportedly occurred between Gambella Peoples
Liberation Front (GPLF) and EPRDF soldiers in the border areas near
Some Anuaks believe that the EPRDF will attack the refugee camps
at
The absence of
men combined with the destruction of milling machines and food stores and the
presence of terror across Gambella have grossly
disrupted agricultural cycles, leading to expectations of an imminent famine in
the coming winter months (October-March) in Gambella
state.
Soldiers are
using the school buildings in rural Anuak areas for
barracks. GW/SRI researchers
received eyewitness reports of this practice in Okady,
Gilo Bethel,
Some Anuak villages (e.g. Powatalam and
Aukwy) are said to be entirely depopulated -- though
still occupied by EPRDF soldiers -- with all local people (Anuak and others) killed or driven into the bush.
There are two
main reasons given by the EPRDF for occupation of Gambella and the pogrom against Anuaks:
Counter-insurgency: The EPRDF claim that Anuaks are supporting Anuak
fighters of the GPLF, feeding, hiding and supplying them.
Oil: The EPRDF provides military protection
for intense exploration for and exploitation of Gambella’s State’s oil resources, which have been
nationalized by the Federal government.
Almost every
witness in Gambella said that the EPRDF soldiers were
always talking about the oil. One witness quoted an EPRDF soldier as telling
him,“We want Anuaks out of
here. We will now bring troops here – this oil belongs to
Ø
ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT (EPRDF) VIOLENCE BY
DISTRICT
DECEMBER 2003 – OCTOBER 2004
GW/SRI was not
able to travel to or investigate every district of Gambella State.
However, our researchers were able to verify a widespread, systematic
pattern of crimes against humanity, acts of genocide, and war crimes in many
districts of
1. ABOBO
DISTRICT
Interviews in
the Abobo district indicate that the violence – always
by EPRDF soldiers – began in January, 2004 but escalated greatly between March
and April, and continued through June. Violence was reportedly still occurring
as of late September 2004.
Witnesses and
survivors claim that virtually every man, woman and child was killed during the
attacks against the villages of (1) Dumbang, (2) Kir, (3) Oma and (4) Tierkudhi. Sources suggest that a proper survey would reveal that over 1000
people were killed in the Abobo district in March and
April 2004.
“Major
Thigey gave orders [to kill] in Gambella in December [2003] and he was transferred to Abobo in the beginning of January [2004] and as soon as he
was transferred to Abobo the problems started.” [29]
GW/SRI sources
have visited detainees in the Abobo jail. Reports
indicate that many Anuaks remain in detention in Abobo, under harsh conditions. Visited by GW/SRI sources at
the Abobo police station, former Anuak government officials Ojulu
Ochan and Ochan Ogatu had been seriously beaten under questioning about the
GPLF in
“Those
who went to Pochalla
[
Ø
Conservative
estimates of the dead in Abobo town are 53 people,
with many unaccounted for. Abobo was said to be one of
the physically hardest hit. Grain
stores were burnt by the soldiers and three local Anuak community milling machines, which must be centrally
located and are rare in Anuak communities, were
destroyed.
One interviewee,
a prominent local figure from a nearby sub-village, saw numerous dead bodies.
The witness claimed that soldiers chased victims for up to seven kilometers,
looting everything along the way.
He said that ninety homes were burnt in his sub-village area. The
perpetrators were all wearing EPRDF uniforms. [31]
Mr. Ochan Okongo (~35) was allegedly
taken by soldiers from Abobo in February, and tortured
for three days without food or water. Okongo was
killed, according to witnesses, along with seven other Anuaks described as ‘intellectuals’ – and all were
subsequently disappeared. [32]
Some survivors
of the Abobo violence fled to the nearby
“Everyone said
‘those were killed by troops,’” he added. “Clearly they were running after
people and shooting them.” The
witness saw the shooting of Ochudho Ngu in March. [33]
Interviewees
cited widespread rape, especially along the Gambella-Abobo-Pinyudo road, where soldiers hide and wait
for girls passing, even raping girls who are pregnant and girls who have small
babies. The
“Raping
is still happening.” [35]
Ø
Pinyudo is a large town in the Abobo District. Witnesses from Gambella and other places outside Pinyudo repeatedly warned that the situation in the Pinyudo area remained very bad as of late September 2004.
Estimates of troops in the immediate area are “many
thousands.”
In Pinyudo town “the soldier’s idea was to kill all Anuaks. They brought troops from Gambella to Pinyudo town. Before
December 13 [2003], the military would surround villages in this area – taking
young men and beating them. A guard [Anuak] named
Winkyal was beaten and died before December 13.
Soldiers surrounded people and Anuaks were afraid and
ran.” [36]
A witness
described the flight of males from the village on
Men slowly began
to return to the town and the violence exploded on
He was called
back to town later under the pretense of peace announced by officials on a
loudspeaker. Upon arrival at his compound he found eight dead bodies, including
an old woman named Awili (~65) and an old man Anyi (~60). Additionally, he saw two bodies incinerated in
burning huts. [37]
Some Sudanese
Dinka refugees and Nuer
refugees were indiscriminately killed during attacks against Anuaks in the
A witness claims
that the officer “Abeneth” killed an Anuak man from Jor District on the
night of 13 December 2003, before the violence in Pinyudo was officially unleashed two days later. [38]
In July 2004, an
eyewitness saw a young man named “Okwenyi” (~23)
killed nearby. EPRDF soldiers occupying the nearby school and church claimed he
was “unknown in the area.” The witness also reported that another man named
Omot Aballa (~19) was killed
by soldiers on the road from Gambella in July 2004;
his body was thrown in a nearby waterhole. [39]
“The boy [Okwenyi] was unarmed,” said the witness. “He was from Pinyudo town. His mother and father live here.” “The
soldiers are [responsible for] many, many, many rapes,” the witness said,
describing how soldiers go to Anuak homes at night and
forcibly take girls. He cited two cases in July, 2004, when one girl escaped and
the other was gang-raped by two soldiers. [40]
As of late
September 2004, in and around the Pinyudo area there
are people living in the bush with meager options for food. Plastic sheets for
roofing provided by the Red Cross can be seen all over the Anuak sections of town. Beatings and rapes are reportedly
widespread in the area as women and girls go about the necessary tasks of
survival. Arrests of those who are believed to be “opposing the government” also
reportedly continue.
An
Ø
According to
GW/SRI sources, killing in Pokwo began on
One witness
claimed that some 15,000 homes were looted around Pokwo in December 2003, and that the soldiers were looking
for money. The witness was badly beaten and scarred.
The community’s
milling machine for grain was intentionally destroyed, crippling the Anuak people’s capacity to feed themselves and others.
Twenty cattle were taken from farmers in Pokwo.
“They
destroyed anything that can generate income for Anuaks.” [41]
Witnesses said
that two hundred men from the village are missing. They said that many men were
killed on the road while fleeing to
From December
2003 to June 2004 there were many cases of rape and other sexually-based crimes
against humanity. “They [soldiers] come at night and surround the people
[villages and homes]; they take girls and after they do what they want with them
they let them go. Some girls are taken for three or four days. Some girls have
been killed if they resist.” [43]
The witnesses
noted that the land is swampy, that it is the rainy season from June to
September, and that they all expect the troops to come back once the rain and
the rivers subside.
“They
are still causing the same problems in places where there are no rivers.” [44]
2. GOG
DISTRICT
Ø
On approximately
According to a
witness, “Many men ran away. Women and girls are left undefended in their homes.
They are raping many girls. They keep some women by force [for days] and some
people were complaining so they let them go.” [45]
Troops remain in
full military occupation of Powatalam. Hundreds of
people remain missing or unaccounted for.
3. ITANG
DISTRICT
The Anuak villages in the Itang
District reportedly suffered somewhat less violence than other areas because
Itang is the home area of the Anuak official Omot Obang Olom, an EPRDF collaborator
cited in GW/SRI’s first report in February 2004 by
numerous GW/SRI interviewees for his involvement in the pogroms against Anuaks. It is also an area with a
high percentage of non-Anuak residents, and is not
expected to be one of the major oil producing regions of Gambella. Nonetheless, beatings,
looting, burning of homes and mass rape have been widespread.
Ø
Achwa is a sub-village in Itang town where many people were killed. Troops stationed
in Itang prior to
“Every
day they were coming… We were hearing boys crying… they were coming into every
home and forcing women… They took everything worth anything.” [46]
With most men
remaining absent from Abol, the EPRDF soldiers have
targeted females who are raped and beaten if they refuse to
submit.
Sources
suggested that over 40 people were killed in this small village and – as was
often reported because of the four huge rivers in Gambella state – the bodies were frequently dumped in the
One witness
listed amongst the dead six individuals whom he had known: [1] Lwal Obang (~38), a guard at the
clinic; [2] Omot Obom (~18)
a student; [3] Ochang ___ (~24); [4] Otien Cham (~40) a farmer; and [6]
Opera ___ (~60) an old man. The witness claimed that many men were taken and
disappeared. [47]
Ø
Abol village is a small village located on
the shores of the
GW/SRI
researchers saw Nuers who had fled Nuer vs. Nuer communal disputes
living peacefully among their friendly Anuak neighbors
in Abol, evidence of the falsehood of the “ancient
tribal hatreds” theory the Ethiopian government has tried to employ to pin blame
for EPRDF massacres of Anuaks on the Nuer.
Rapes were
common in Abol. Angango
Omod (~18) was raped by soldiers in April. When Angango’s two month-old child died soon after the mother was
raped, villagers attributed the child’s death to the young mother’s trauma of
being gang-raped by five soldiers. [48]
V. ACCELERATED PETROLEUM
OPERATIONS
GW/SRI sources
interviewed in Gambella town and rural areas of Gambella state, and displaced Anuaks interviewed in
According to
Anuak sources, the Federal government held a public
meeting in Gambella in February 2004, even as violence
against Anuak in rural areas was continuing to rise.
One witness testified:
“They
told people about the oil and how it would benefit everyone. But the Anuak said: ‘How can you talk to us about oil when people
are still being killed? We don’t want to talk about the oil.’ But the government
said, ‘No, we want to talk about the oil now.’”
The GW/SRI field investigation has verified
that petroleum operations in the Gambella region are
moving very rapidly. The Zhongyuan Petroleum Exploration Bureau (ZPEB), a powerful
subsidiary of the second largest national petroleum consortium in China, the
China Petrochemical Corporation (SINOPEC), appears to be the principal
petroleum exploration and development firm operating in Gambella at present, under subcontract to Malaysia’s
national oil company PETRONAS.
“On
May 7th, 2004, Malaysia National Petroleum Corporation (PETRONAS) awarded ZPEB
Corporation (Africa) a 2D seismic data acquisition contract with the contract
value totaling $16.42 million; the project shall be performed by ZPEB
Geophysical Prospecting Company, covering 1,200 Km.” [49]
GW/SRI
researchers have reviewed a specialized map of petroleum operations in
The base camp
for ZPEB equipment and petroleum exploration is located approximately 1.5
kilometers from the center of Gambella town on the
Abobo-Gambella road. The Ethiopian site manager, Mr.
Degefe (Gambella telephone:
51-13-37), is a highlander who tersely described himself as “responsible for
making all operations and security.” The base camp is under tight security and
heavily guarded by EPRDF military. Questions about petroleum operations, the
base camp or the people involved were unwelcome. GW/SRI’s
questions were greeted with suspicion and alarm.
While local sources claim
that ZPEB is subcontracted for road construction to support seismic and drilling
operations, Assistant Project Manager Zhang Xuefeng
stated that ZPEB is pursuing seismic testing. ZPEB appears to have been awarded
the seismic and drilling subcontract originally designated for PETRONAS
subsidiary Carigali Overseas Sdn Bhd (as noted
above).
According to ZPEB sources:
“Zhongyuan Petroleum
Exploration Bureau (ZPEB), known as Zhongyuan
Oilfield, is a state-owned large-scale comprehensive enterprise under China
Petrochemical Corporation (SINOPEC). ZPEB engages in oil/gas exploration and
development, petrochemical processing, oilfield services and other diversified
businesses. ZPEB Headquarters are located in
PETRONAS and the
China National Petroleum Corporation currently operate in
On September 18,
2004, a notice was posted around Gambella town
indicating that the Southwest Development Company (a new highlander company)
would be accepting applications for new hires to fill some 117 positions, to
begin immediately, in support of “construction and petroleum related operations
in Gambella region.” On
Anuak sources in Gambella state that: “The Anuak
people have not been involved in the discussions about the oil, our leaders have
not agreed to these projects, and they will not hire any Anuaks for these jobs. If any Anuak says anything about the oil he will be arrested.” [52]
VI:
INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STANDARDS
A.
CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY
Crimes Against
Humanity have been crimes under customary international law since at least 1945,
and are currently codified in Article 7 of the Statute of the International Criminal
Court as follows:
1. For the purpose of this Statute,
“crime against humanity” means any of the following acts when committed as part
of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population,
with knowledge of the attack:
(a)
Murder; (b) Extermination; (c) Enslavement; (d) Deportation or forcible transfer
of population; (e) Imprisonment or other severe deprivation of physical liberty
in violation of fundamental rules of international law; (f) Torture; (g) Rape,
sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization,
or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity; (h) Persecution
against any identifiable group or collectivity on political, racial, national,
ethnic, cultural, religious, gender or other grounds that are universally
recognized as impermissible under international law, in connection with any act
referred to in this paragraph or any crime within the jurisdiction of the Court;
(i) Enforced disappearances of persons; (j) The crime
of apartheid; (k) Other inhumane acts of a similar character intentionally
causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or to mental or physical
health….
The following
acts reportedly committed by the EPRDF and Highlanders as part of their
widespread and systematic attack against the civilian Anuak population, constitute crimes against humanity and are
punishable as violations of customary international law:
1) Widespread
and systematic murders and executions of Anuaks and
other minorities
2) Arson and
murder in order to forcibly deport the Anuak
population
3) Mass rape of
Anuak women and girls
4) Forced
pregnancy to produce non-Anuak
children
5) Enforced
disappearances of Anuak persons
6) Arbitrary
arrests, detention and torture of Anuak
persons
7) Purposeful
transmission of HIV/AIDS to Anuak rape victims
(inhumane acts)
8) Intentional
mutilation of Anuak persons
9) Other cruel or inhumane acts
intentionally causing great suffering or bodily harm.
B. GENOCIDE
According to Article II of the Convention
on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), genocide means
any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part,
a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, as such:
a.
Killing members of the
group;
b.
Causing serious bodily
or mental harm to members of the group;
c.
Deliberately inflicting
on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical
destruction in whole or in part;
d.
Imposing measures
intended to prevent births within a group;
e.
Forcibly transferring
children of the group to another group.
The following
acts reportedly committed by the EPRDF constitute acts of
genocide:
1) The
intentional killing of Anuak civilians for the purpose of destroying a substantial
part of their ethnic group.
2) The
deliberate targeting of members of the Anuak ethnic
group to cause serious bodily or mental harm.
3) The deliberate infliction on the Anuak group, through burning of homes and destruction of
food supplies, of conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical
destruction.
4) The
systematic use of rape as a weapon against a large number of Anuak women, causing serious bodily or mental harm, with
intent to destroy the Anuak ethnic group, by:
a.
Forcing Anuak women to bear the children of
non-Anuak fathers.
b.
Intentional infection of Anuak women with
HIV/AIDS so as to cause death.
c.
Rapes of Anuak young girls so as to damage
their reproductive systems in order to prevent them from having children in the
future.
C.
ARBITRARY ARREST, ILLEGAL DETENTION & TORTURE
Article 9 of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights prohibits arbitrary arrest
and detention. It provides in its relevant part:
Section
2:. Anyone who is arrested shall be informed, at the time of arrest, of the
reasons for his arrest and shall be promptly informed of any charges against
him; and
Section
3:. Anyone arrested or detained on a criminal charge shall be brought promptly
before a judge or other officer authorized by law to exercise judicial power and
shall be entitled to a trial within a reasonable time or to
release.
States parties to the ICCPR
are prohibited under Article 9(1) to deprive persons of liberty “except on such
grounds and in accordance with such procedures as are established by law.”
The African Charter on
Human and People’s Rights states in Article 6:
Every
individual shall have the right to liberty and to the security of his person. No
one may be deprived of his freedom except for reasons and conditions previously
laid down by law. In particular, no one may be arbitrarily arrested or
detained.
The ICCPR states that: “no one shall be
subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or
punishment.”
The United Nations Convention Against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, which
entered into force in June 1987, defines torture as:
Any act by which severe
physical or mental pain or suffering is intentionally inflicted by, at the
instigation of, or with the acquiescence of someone acting in an official
capacity, to obtain information or a confession, to punish, intimidate or
coerce, or for any reasons based on discrimination.
There is strong evidence that Anuaks in Gambella and elsewhere
in
D. PROTECTION OF OBJECTS INDISPENSABLE TO
THE SURVIVAL OF CIVILIANS
Article 54 of Additional
Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (1949) protects objects indispensable to
the survival of the civilian population.
The relevant provision states:
"Starvation
of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited. It is prohibited to attack,
destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the
civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production
of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies and
irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance
value to the civilian population or to the adverse party, whatever the motive,
whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any
other motives.
The Ethiopian military in rural areas
from December 2003 to December 2004 has destroyed crops, burnt food stores,
disrupted planting cycles, and destroyed agricultural equipment. These actions
are in clear violation of Article 54 of Additional Protocol I to the Geneva
Conventions.
VII: THE UNITED STATES AND
Immediately
following the February 2004 release of the first GW/SRI report on the Anuak massacres (Today is the Day of Killing Anuaks) the United States State Department issued a
public call for “[f]ully transparent and independent investigations by the
[Ethiopian] government” that would “encourage restoration of peace in the
troubled region,” and called on the Ethiopian government to investigate
allegations of EPRDF involvement in atrocities committed against Anuaks and other victims. [53]
The State Department’s
hope that the Ethiopian government would conduct a truly “transparent” and
“independent” investigation quickly proved to be illusory. The EPRDF government in the spring of
2004 launched an “independent inquiry” into the Gambella violence. The Independent Inquiry Commission,
established by the Ethiopian House of Peoples’ Representatives to investigate
the Anuak massacres, was chaired by one of the
officials responsible for them. It
was neither independent, nor did it conduct a genuine inquiry. It visited Gambella twice, setting up its headquarters in State
government offices where Anuak witnesses were afraid
to go. It spoke to 61 people. All fifteen of the witnesses it quoted
reported murders by government troops.
Yet the Commission’s report states that only thirteen murders were
committed by members of the Ethiopian Defense Forces, and only 65 people died in
total, most at the hands of civilians.[54] Minimization of the numbers of deaths is
a typical technique of genocide denial.
In 1 April 2004
testimony before a U.S. House of Representatives appropriations panel, USAID
representatives asked Congress to approve $80 million in funding for Ethiopia
programs in FY 2005 (October 2004 to September 2005).
In a
On
On
“The
Committee notes with concern reports of ethnic violence in southwestern
“The
Committee directs the State Department to report within 180 days after the
enactment of this Act on the extent of human rights abuses committed in
southwestern Ethiopia, efforts by the Government of Ethiopia to investigate and
bring to justice the perpetrators of these abuses and measures taken by the
State Department and other relevant U.S. Government agencies to provide
humanitarian assistance to the region and to vet assistance to the Ethiopian
military, consistent with the Leahy Law. The report shall also include an
assessment concerning the credibility of the efforts of the Government of
Ethiopia on this issue.” [58]
To the Anuak and other indigenous minority people of southwestern
The Gambella region is under total military occupation.
Estimates of troops vary, but sources say between 18,000 and 80,000 EPRDF troops
have been deployed in the area.
They commit countless atrocities under the cover of “counter-terrorism.”
EPRDF soldiers are perpetrating a scorched-earth campaign of terror against
innocent men, women and children in
Genocide Watch
and Survivors’ Rights International have uncovered strong evidence that crimes
against humanity are being ordered at the highest levels of the EPRDF
government, and that the violence initiated by the December 13-16 massacres in
Gambella was deliberately calculated to eliminate
Anuak leadership and destroy a substantial part of the
Anuak ethnic group. These are intentional acts of
genocide. The genocide was driven
by an economic motive: Federal control and exploitation of Gambella’s petroleum and gas reserves.
Credible sources
in Gambella and
What happened in Gambella warrants a criminal investigation by
Individual Ethiopian soldiers and
military commanders have committed acts of genocide, crimes against humanity and
war crimes. To date,
The masterminds of the genocide, now
openly referred to by the Ethiopian government as a “scorched earth campaign,”
have not been arrested or prosecuted. The Ethiopian government has completely
failed to co-operate with victims and international human rights organizations.
Thus far, nearly 170 killers have been named by survivors and eyewitnesses; yet
Ethiopian authorities have refused to
arrest or investigate them. Indeed, Ethiopian government troops still
kill, rape, and torture Anuaks on a daily
basis.
In February 2004, Genocide Watch and
Survivors’ Rights International called for an independent inquiry to establish
whether the actions described in this report were ordered, encouraged or
condoned by the Ethiopian government. That call was ignored. Instead the
Ethiopian government appointed an “Independent Inquiry Commission” that was
neither independent nor interested in conducting an honest inquiry. The Commission’s report is a whitewash –
a cover-up for the government’s crimes.
The report of the “Independent Inquiry Commission” employs every classic technique of genocide denial, including blaming the violence on the victims, falsely blaming the killings on other ethnic groups such as the Nuer, minimizing the number of dead, claiming that the killings were the result of spontaneous mob revenge or crimes by “hoodlums,” rather than a coordinated government assault, and even claiming that the violence was the result of incompetent leadership by the Anuak governor of Gambella, who was himself a victim driven into exile by the killing. Incredibly, the “Independent Inquiry Commission” report even states that the EPRDF saved Anuak lives, when EPRDF soldiers were named as the perpetrators in every murder the Commission’s witnesses referred to in its own report. The report claims that only twelve Anuaks were killed by government troops, when the actual number of named victims collected by Genocide Watch and local organizations is in the hundreds, and is now well over a thousand. The Commission’s report should be publicly rejected by the international community, as Amnesty International has done. Governments should demand an independent investigation sponsored by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Despite credible evidence that
the killings in Gambella constitute acts of genocide,
as defined by the Genocide Convention, the killings have not stopped. Arbitrary arrests, illegal
detentions and widespread torture, which constitutes a crime against humanity,
are occurring throughout
Numerous reports indicate that summary executions, mass rape, and disappearances continue to occur in contravention of international law. These killings and rapes have deliberately and systematically targeted civilians of the Anuak minority. GW/SRI researchers have uncovered evidence that the violence against the Anuak ethnic group is due to an intentional policy of persecution and destruction of the Anuak group.
As testimonies in this report indicate,
extremely serious bodily and mental harm has been inflicted through targeted
sexual violence against Anuak women and girls.
According to the acts and statements of perpetrators, as recounted by witnesses,
through sexual acts and gang rapes specifically targeting Anuak females, attackers enunciated their intent to destroy
the Anuak as a group. The trauma inflicted by these
acts will have long-lasting repercussions.
These acts are not only crimes against humanity and war crimes in
contravention of the Geneva Conventions; they also constitute acts of genocide
as defined by the Genocide Convention.
In this second report, Genocide Watch and
Survivors’ Rights International have provided further evidence that the EPRDF
government and Highlander militias continue to demonstrate intent to destroy, in
whole or in part, a substantial number of people of the Anuak ethnic group. Government investigations have
identified many perpetrators and others have been named in GW/SRI reports. These
massacres should be prosecuted under Ethiopian and international law as acts of
genocide.
GW/SRI believes that the Ethiopian
Government continues to commit serious crimes against humanity not only against
the Anuak, but also against other African ethnic
groups, particularly Sudanese Nuer and Dinka refugees in the Gambella
region, and the Majenger and Nuer people in
Ten months
after the massacres of December, 2003, the EPRDF government of
GW/SRI finds the apparent absence of any
formal United Nations investigation into the
With at least 20,000 Ethiopian troops poised on the Sudanese border, the situation already has international dimensions and should be placed on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council. Warfare in the region continues to escalate, and if reports of the growing numbers of separatist and anti-government forces in the region are true, then the situation will only worsen as forces attack targets such as oil installations and the government retaliates.
The government forces responsible
for these massacres cloak their campaign as an “anti-terrorist” or
“counter-insurgency” operation. In fact, the “terrorists” in Gambella are EPRDF troops. Anuak
civilians living in Gambella State face the constant
threat of being murdered, "disappeared", tortured, raped, or subjected to other
forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment by the EPRDF.
Foreign governments know what is happening in Gambella, yet few attempts have been made on the international level to stop the killings. This attitude of apparent indifference on the part of the international community is enabling the perpetrators to continue violating human rights with little fear of censure. Warnings by Genocide Watch, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the World Organization Against Torture, and the Ethiopian Human Rights Council have not been heeded and the human rights situation has worsened.
The few reports about the situation that have appeared in the international press have misrepresented and distorted the nature of the violence. Press reporters traveling to the region have relied upon the EPRDF for security and information, and attempts by Anuaks to make the truth known have been ignored.
The genocide victims are strongly
convinced that the Ethiopian government will neither investigate nor prosecute
the heinous crimes committed in Gambella. Sadly, even
if there were a true investigation by an independent organization, the Ethiopian
government’s internal judicial system is so under-resourced that prosecutions
would be nearly impossible. Successful diplomatic intervention by the
international community to stop the killing, rape, and torture in Gambella is the Anuak people’s
only hope.
A.
To
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi
and the Government of
·
Issue and enforce clear orders to all
EPRDF forces to respect the rule of law and stop all killings, rapes, illegal
arrests, torture, intimidation of civilians, burnings, lootings, and occupation
of schools for military purposes.
·
Suspend and investigate members of the
EPRDF forces and government officials suspected of involvement in civilian
massacres, rapes and other violations of Ethiopian and international law, and
arrest and prosecute individuals who committed crimes.
·
Publicly condemn all violence being
committed in southwestern
·
Order Ethiopian military and other
government agencies to disclose all information in their possession to an
independent international commission of inquiry, including evidence about the
U.N. van killings and subsequent atrocities in the region.
·
Guarantee the protection of refugees and
international relief workers in
·
Permit the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to inspect all detention and jail facilities,
and to conduct private interviews with any prisoners or detainees.
·
Allow unimpeded access by
humanitarian organizations, human rights monitors, and independent
journalists.
·
Refrain from cross-border
incursions into the sovereign
·
Disclose all existing
military exchanges, arms and service contracts, agreements or programs between
the Ethiopian government or EPRDF and other governments or
corporations.
·
Make public the contracts
and plans for the exploration and production of oil and gas signed by the
Ethiopian Ministry of Mines and PETRONAS for “Block G” in
B.
To the Government of the
·
Continue to privately and diplomatically
protest killings, rape and torture committed by Ethiopian government troops and
authorities in
·
Vigorously and publicly denounce killings
and other atrocities against civilians in
·
Release a de-classified version of the
report on the violence in Gambella prepared following
the U.S. Embassy team’s
·
Take
a lead role in advocating creation of an international, independent, transparent
investigation into the ongoing violence in the Gambella region.
·
Support and assist investigations by
international human rights organizations in Gambella.
·
Suspend all tactical support, training,
and field assistance to the EPRDF.
·
Suspend arms shipments to
C. To the World Bank, IMF, African
Development Bank, and Export-Import Bank:
·
Refrain from lending to or
funding the government of
·
Disclose and suspend all
“development” initiatives, projects or financial programs, either ongoing or
planned, for the
D. To the United
Nations:
·
Recommend that the Secretary General
offer his good offices in mediating the conflict in
·
Disclose the results of any
investigations into the killings of U.N. personnel in Gambella on
·
Place the situation in Gambella on the agenda of the United Nations Security
Council.
·
Impose a U.N. Security
Council embargo on the trade and transfer of all arms and other war materials
from any person, company, or country to the Ethiopian government and any rebel
groups operating inside
·
Immediately condemn all
atrocities being committed in
E. To all Members of the United Nations,
the European Union, and the African
·
Publicly denounce killings and other
atrocities against civilians in
·
Appoint and fund a Special Rapporteur to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights and
the Economic and Social Council to investigate alleged acts of genocide, crimes
against humanity, and war crimes committed in
·
Investigate and make public
any information confirming or refuting reports that Ethiopian government
security and intelligence operatives are targeting Anuak dissidents in exile. Take action to ensure the
security of Anuak dissidents and leaders in
exile.
·
Provide assistance to the
populations suffering the effects of violence in
Abobo Abobo town All types (more than 53 killed) April 2004
Abobo
Dumbang
All types (village totally destroyed)
March-April 2004
Abobo
Kir
All types (village totally destroyed)
March-April 2004
Abobo
Okuda
All types (more than 90 homes burned)
--
Abobo
Oma
All types (village totally destroyed)
March 2004
Abobo
Perbong
All types
May 2004
Abobo
Pokwo
All types
--
Abobo
Pinyudo
All types (1500 homes burned)
Dec. 2003 – Feb. 2004
Abobo
Pukedi
All types (ten women raped in June)
March-April 2004
Abobo
Tierkudhi
All types (village totally destroyed)
March-April 2004
Gambella Gambella All types December 2003
Gog Aukwy All types (completely depopulated) --
Gog Chiyaba All types (EPRDF occupied school) --
Gog Dipatch All types (EPRDF occupied school) --
Gog Janger All types (EPRDF occupied school) --
Gog Gog town Military occupation --
Gog Powatalam All (47 dead, depopulated, school occupied) September 2004
Itang Abol A, D, K, L, R, T --
Itang Achwa A, D, K, L, R, T --
Itang Emar K, R (4 girls killed for resisting rape) --
Itang Itang town A, D, K, L, R, T --
Itang Pokwo A, D, L, R, T --
(Jor?) Tado K (more than 40 people) February 2004
Agana School occupied by EPRDF thru Sept. 04 --
Gilo Bethel School occupied by EPRDF thru Sept. 04 --
Pochalla (Eth) School occupied by EPRDF thru Sept. 04 --
Okady EPRDF occupied school thru Sept 04 --
________________________________________________________________________________
Notes to Appendix II:
[1] “Type of violence reported” includes:
A- Arbitrary arrest and illegal detention
B- Burning of homes and/or entire village
D- Disappearing
K- Killings/extrajudicial executions
L- Looting/destruction of personal/communal property, including crops, food stores & cattle
R- Rape of females, gang rapes and/or sexual slavery
T- Torture (excluding sexual), beatings
[2] This table is not exhaustive. It only reports on villages where GW/SRI was able to verify violence. Many other villages were also attacked. The absence of an Anuak village – and there are many villages unreferenced herein – does not mean that there has been no violence in that village. Rather it indicates that no information was recently provided. Similarly, the absence of a “type of violence reported” in this table does not indicate its absence in the village, only that it was not reported during the limited survey undertaken.
[4] While “peak of violence” is estimated for the purposes of this table, this report is based on field research in Gambella up to October 2004. Violence in many of these villages may be continuing.
[5] Witnesses & survivors claim that almost all men, women and children were killed during the attacks against villages of (1) Dumbang, (2) Kir, (3) Oma and (4) Tierkudhi, estimating that a proper survey would find over 1000 people had been killed in the Abobo district in March and April 2004.
[6] According to witnesses, the Itang District was spared the “scorched earth” campaign inflicted upon other areas by soldiers because it is the home district of the alleged EPRDF collaborator Omot Obang Olum, the Anuak Chief of Security for the Gambella region. It is also an area with a high percentage of non-Anuak residents, and is not expected to be one of the major oil producing regions of Gambella.
[7] Numbers of people killed, raped, etc. reflect the belief or knowledge of the witness(es) who gave testimony, frequently including the names of specific victims. However, they are estimates.
[1]
GW/SRI interview #17,
[2]
GW/SRI interview #27,
[3]
GW/SRI interviewee #20,
[4]
Interview with Abella Obang
Agwa, founder of the GPDC,
[5] GW/SRI interviewee #22, Gambella,
Ethiopia, 2004.
[6] GW/SRI interview #33, Gambella, Ethiopia,
2004.
[7] Omot Obang Olom is currently the head of Gambella Peoples' National Regional State Justice and Administrative Coordinating Bureau.
[8]
E.g. Marc Lacey, “Amidst
[9] GW/SRI interviewee #22, Gambella,
Ethiopia, 2004.
[10] GW/SRI interview,
[11] GW/SRI interview #20, Gambella, Ethiopia,
2004; GW/SRI interview #21, Gambella, Ethiopia, 2004; GW/SRI interviewee #22,
Gambella, Ethiopia, 2004; GW/SRI interview #27, Gambella, Ethiopia,
2004.
[12] GW/SRI interview #33, 2004, Gambella,
Ethiopia, 2004.
[13]
GW/SRI interview #17,
[14] GW/SRI interview #33, Gambella, Ethiopia,
2004.
[15]
GW/SRI interview, witness #7 of Gambella,
[16]
GW/SRI interview #17,
[17]
GW/SRI interview #24,
[18]
GW/SRI interview #25,
[19]
GW/SRI interview #17,
[20]
GW/SRI interview #33, 2004,
[21]
GW/SRI interview #19,
[22]
GW/SRI interview #19,
[23] GW/SRI interview #33, 2004, Gambella,
Ethiopia, 2004.
[24]
GW/SRI interview #17,
[25]
GW/SRI interview #17,
[26]
GW/SRI interview #32,
[27]
GW/SRI interview #18,
[28]
GW/SRI interview #29,
[29]
GW/SRI interview #31,
[30]
GW/SRI interview #18,
[31]
GW/SRI interview #30,
[32]
GW/SRI interview #31,
[33]
GW/SRI interview #18,
[34]
GW/SRI interview #31,
[35]
GW/SRI interview #31,
[36]
GW/SRI interview #29,
[37]
GW/SRI interview #29,
[38]
GW/SRI interview #29,
[39]
GW/SRI interview #29,
[40]
GW/SRI interview #29,
[41]
GW/SRI interview #26,
[42]
GW/SRI interview #26,
[43]
GW/SRI interview #26,
[44]
GW/SRI interview #20,
[45]
GW/SRI interview #28,
[46]
GW/SRI interview #24,
[47]
GW/SRI interview #24,
[48]
GW/SRI interview #23,
[49]
http://www.zpebint.com/index.asp
: “ZPEB
Wins Contract of Seismic Survey in
[50] See: <http://www.zpebafrica.com/Business/contact/contact_eng.htm> and <http://zpeb.sinopec.com.cn/Brief/1.htm?BigClassID=1&SmallClassID=1>.
Address:
[51]
See: Sudan, Oil and Human Rights, Human Rights Watch, September 2003; and
Sudan: Global Trade, Local Impact, Human Rights Watch, Vol. 10, No. 4(A),
August 1998: n83. See also, “China
Invests Heavily in
[52]
GW/SRI interviewee #20,
[53] See UN Integrated Regional Information Networks,
“Ethiopia: US Government Wants Gambella Violence
Investigated,”
[55] “Top U.S. Aid Priorities: Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Ethiopia, AIDS,” Written Testimony of Administrator Andrew S. Natsios, USAID, Testimony before the Subcommittee on Foreign Operations, Committee on Appropriations, U.S. House of Representatives, April 1, 2004.
[56] Michael M. Honda; Ed Royce; Marty Kaptur; Gregory Meeks; Barbara Lee; Brad Sherman; Joseph Hoeffel; Chris Bell; Thomas H. Allen; Betty McCollum; Neil Abercrombie; Tom Lantos.
[57]
Refugees International report,
“
[58] Senate Rpt.108-346 – Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriation Bill, 2005, http://thomas.loc.gov/
[59] AI Index: AFR 25/014/2004