Genocide Watch and Survivors’ Rights International
A Genocide Watch and Survivors’ Rights International Field
Report
“The
Ethiopian Government knew that something wrong had happened… the truth was all
known. And yet they refused it…. They should have said ‘Look, we are not in the
picture, but we will go investigate. But to say that it was all baseless, when
people have died…!”
“I think that somebody somewhere conceived an idea, that the best
thing is—finish with the Anuaks. How they do it, is what I can’t understand.
How they really came to this conclusion, at a time when we have had the
experience of
“I hope that we, all of us, the international community, can help
in nipping this violence in the bud. Otherwise we will have fire in our hands.”
-- Former Sudanese
Ambassador to the
I. SUMMARY…………………………………………………………………………3
·
Executions
·
Mutilations
·
Mass Rape of Women &
Girls
·
Burning, Looting and
Destruction of Property
·
Arbitrary Arrest, Illegal
Detention and Torture
·
Mass
·
Disappearing &
Confiscation of Bodies
·
Destruction of Evidence
II. BACKGROUND……………………………………………….…………………...7
A. The
Geopolitical History of
B. Anuaks and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A)
C. Natural
Resources and Multinational Corporations in
D. The
III. THE DECEMBER 2003 & JANUARY 2004 MASSACRES…………………..…11
IV. ESCALATING VIOLENCE, RESISTANCE & IMPUNITY…………..…………14
V. INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STANDARDS……………………………………...18
A. Crimes Against Humanity
B. Genocide
C. Arbitrary Arrest, Illegal
Detention and Torture
VI. CONCLUSIONS…………………………………………………………………...20
VII. RECOMMENDATIONS…………………………………………………….….…23
VIII. APPENDIX I: List of Names
of Alleged Perpetrators…………………………….26
Two months after
Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Defense Front (EPRDF) forces and highland
Ethiopian settlers initiated a campaign of massacres, repression and mass rape
deliberately targeting the indigenous Anuak minority
of southwestern Ethiopia, the continued repression and the impunity afforded
the perpetrators has led to a severe escalation of violence with the potential
to provoke a full-scale international military confrontation if not immediately
checked.
This report
calls on the Ethiopian Government of Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi, the United Nations Security Council, and the
African Union to intervene to immediately halt escalating violence and defuse
tensions provoked by recent military attacks and ongoing atrocities. The report
is based on field investigations conducted for Genocide Watch and Survivors’
Rights International in
The report
focuses on five of six Anuak districts engulfed in
escalating violence since
This report
provides substantial evidence that serious human right abuses and violations of
international humanitarian law have been committed against Anuak
civilians by EPRDF soldiers and “Highlander” (in Amharic “cefarioch”) militias in
southwestern
Conflict in Anuak districts of
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 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… The duty of government
is clear for everybody, and it is stated also in the constitution, and that is
to make [an] investigation to know who killed the U.N. people, because the
incident took place away from the [Gambella] town.
But the government did not make an investigation.” [1]
Soldiers
using automatic weapons and hand grenades targeted Anuaks,
summarily executing civilians, burning dwellings (sometimes with people
inside), and looting property. Major massacres
occurred
As of
Reminiscent of
the Interahamwe
civilian militia involved in the attacks against Tutsis in
According to the testimony of an Anuak who survived the genocidal attacks, Ethiopian soldiers said to him, “Let us kill them all. No one will find us accountable or arrest us.”[4]
According to the testimony of nine survivors, during the
killings, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Defense Front forces and
Highlander militias shouted, “From today forward there will be no Anuak;” “There will be no Anuak land;”and “Let today be the first and last time.” Other
similar incitements to commit genocide were also made. The Ethiopian
Highlanders shouted “Erase the trouble makers!” “Let’s kill them all!”[5]
Witness #7
watched 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.” [6]
According to the testimony of one survivor of an incident,
“a mob of Ethiopian settlers or peasants fell upon them with clubs, hammers,
axes, scythes, spades, and saws. Such instruments not only caused more
agonizing deaths than by guns and pistols, but they were more economical, since
they did not involve the waste of powder and shells... In this way they
exterminated almost the whole local Anuak male
population, including men of wealth and breeding, and their bodies, horribly
mutilated, were left on the ground, where they were devoured by dogs and wild
beasts.”[7]
Numerous
assailants have been identified, including government officials, soldiers and
civilians. There are accusations that lists of
targeted individuals were drawn up with the assistance of Omot
Obang Olom, an Anuak government official cited by several interviewees for
his involvement. (Mr. Olom reportedly fled to
Following
early trends, mass rape continues in the region, perpetrated by EPRDF soldiers
and Highlanders, often at gunpoint. Anuak schools were reportedly emptied of
schoolgirls who were gang-raped in nearby huts or in the bush. [8]
In one case,
eyewitnesses heard assailants express their intent to forcibly impregnate an Anuak girl to produce non-Anuak
children. In the absence of Anuak males (killed or
displaced), the vulnerability of women and girls has been grossly exploited.
Reports from non-Anuak officials in Gambella indicate an average of up to seven rapes per day. [9]
Confronted with
the daily specter of arbitrary arrest, torture, summary executions, and an open
climate of impunity, members of the Anuak community
have taken both defensive and offensive military actions. According to one
interviewee, Anuak men who resisted attacks by
soldiers in Pinyudo town on December 13 or 14 were
able to overcome their attackers and capture automatic weapons. However, such
resistance was mostly absent.
Recent reports
indicate that pitched battles occurred in Dimma
District when Anuak men retaliated for the unprovoked
but brutal torture and killing of a member of the Anuak
community by EPRDF soldiers who openly taunted Anuaks
about the murder. Retaliatory attacks
and counter attacks from January 28 to February 3 reportedly claimed the lives
of scores of EPRDF soldiers in Dimma. After January 30, EPRDF reinforcements reportedly arrived in Dimma with troops, artillery and tanks, and massacred
non-combatant Dinka and Nuer
refugees from the nearby Sudanese refugee camp; with many Sudanese refugees
reportedly wounded. The massacre of noncombatant Sudanese refugees by the EPRDF
not only violates international law
protecting the rights of refugees, but further adds to the potential threats to
international peace and security.
First
person reports from Gambella region describe Anuak prisoners subjected to forced labor under armed guard
by EPRDF captors. Significant numbers of Anuaks
remain unaccounted for; “disappearances” of Anuak
leaders have become frequent.
GW/SRI has
received unverified reports that the federal government of
GW/SRI
has also received eyewitness accounts of eleven uniformed EPRDF soldiers
working under cover of night on
On
This
disarmament of Anuak police is an ominous sign,
because a similar disarmament of Anuak police in Gambella also preceded the genocidal massacres of
Colonel
Mengistu Haile Mariam headed the junta that in 1974 overthrew the government
of Emperor Haile Selassie
in a bloody coup. Known as the "Derg" or
"Dergue," or the "Committee,” the Derg proclaimed a revolutionary agenda for the
country. What followed is widely
described as a campaign of terror. The Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition of regional and ethnic rebel groups,
overthrew the Derg in 1991. In the EPRDF force, the (Anuak) Gambella People’s
Liberation Movement (GPLM) and the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) fought
side-by-side.
The TPLF eventually assumed control of the central government, which
is dominated by Tigrayan Ethiopians, in 1991.
According to eyewitness testimony by an Anuak
survivor, in the course of the ‘liberation’ of Gambella,
non-Anuak TPLF forces devastated the Gambella region. The witness described the intentional TPLF
bombing of the school he was attending at the time in Gambella,
and the subsequent death of some 2,400 students who were locked inside.
Although the TPLF claim at the time was that the Derg
bombed the school, according to the witness, the incident has never been
investigated. [10]
From
1998-2000,
The
agriculturalist Anuak minority (also known as Anywaa or Anywak) number over
100,000 people in
There have been
numerous reports of discrimination and violence against Anuaks
by regional and central (highlander) authorities since 1980. While other groups were allowed to retain weapons after the
overthrow of the Derg regime in 1991, Anuaks were disarmed by the EPRDF. Even Anuak police
were disarmed.
“The Anuak police were disarmed when [Anuak] people were being disarmed. There has been a very
prolonged strategy to disarm the Anuaks because they
knew that if they [Anuaks] were not disarmed then
[EPRDF] scheming would not come true.” [14]
Anuak territory was divided during the colonial delineation of the
international border between
Numerous
sources report that there have been regular massacres of Anuak
since 1980. Cultural Survival has reported on discrimination against the Anuaks in six reports published in the Cultural Survival
Quarterly beginning in 1981 (see e.g.: Issue 5.3, 1981; Issue 8.2, 1984;
Issue 10.3, 1986; Issue 11.4, 1987; Issue 12.4, 1988; and “Oil Development In
Ethiopia: A Threat to the Anuak of Gambella,” Issue 25.3, 2001).
Interviews with Anuaks consistently reveal that Anuak have been treated like third class citizens, denied basic educational opportunities afforded to other ethnicities, and have been increasingly excluded and displaced from positions in government and civil society over the past decade. As one witness testified: “There is an unwritten law of discrimination against Anuaks.” [15]
The Gambella People’s Democratic Congress party was organized
in 1999 in opposition to the ruling EPRDF, primarily to challenge consistent
violations of the human rights of Anuaks. The GPDC
immediately won a majority of seats in the government of
Arrests of Anuak men became
increasingly prevalent over a year ago, and some 44 Anuak
leaders have been held in jail in
Witness #16 from Gambella reported
that more than 50 Anuaks were killed in a massacre in
Itang District on
Answering
inquiries about the violence in the Gambella region,
the Ethiopian Government on
"The conflict in Gambella town last
weekend was triggered by members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) supported
by the Eritrean People's Liberation Front (EPLF) and al Itihad
al Islamiya," Minister of State for Federal
Affairs Gebrehab Barnabas said in a statement. [18]
The OLF has denied any involvement in the
attacks and has asserted its support for the Anuak
people in keeping with their mutual history of increasing repression and human
rights violations by the EPRDF government.
The relationship between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) and the Anuak minority is complicated by geographic, ethnic and
political factors, leading many Anuaks to question
the security of Anuak refugees and the position of
the SPLM/A with respect to the Ethiopian government’s persecution of Anuaks.
The
SPLM/A is partially comprised of Anuaks.
Additionally, some 85,000 Sudanese refugees, mainly Nuer
and Dinka, remain in the Gambella
region, where they have fled from the war in
While
a ‘peace process’ has been underway between the
Numerous
Anuak refugees expressed concern for the security of
refugees in SPLM/A territory, given the complicated relationships between the
SPLM/A and the EPRDF government, and the potential for the SPLM/A to support
EPRDF government interests in resolving the Anuak
problem through, for example, forced repatriation. [20]
C. Natural Resources
and Multinational Corporations in
Multinational corporations have set their
sights on the natural resources of the Gambella
region. Central Ethiopian authorities thus
have powerful economic incentives to seek control of these resources. Petroleum
(oil & gas), water, tungsten, platinum and gold are the principal resources
in the Gambella region that are of interest to
international financial and extraction corporations.
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
Petronas and the China National Petroleum Corporation are currently
operating in
D.
The
In
January 2004, special operations soldiers from the 3rd U.S. Infantry
Regiment replaced the 10th Mountain Division forces at a new base
established in Hurso, in rural
From
1995-2000, the
In August 2003, the
In 2003, USAID, working with Africare
and Catholic Relief Services, was providing disaster relief to “combat famine
in the drought-stricken Gambella region of
The U.S. State Department was informed about
unfolding violence in the Gambella region as early as
As of
“Interethnic clashes are prevalent in the
western-most tip of the Gambella Region in west
III. THE DECEMBER 2003 MASSACRES
The most recent
massacres began after the murders of eight U.N. and
Ethiopian government refugee camp officials whose van had been ambushed
on
Eyewitness
#3, from Gambella, described how soldiers abducted a
19 year-old Anuak security guard and driver for a Gambella church, with his vehicle, and took him to the jail
where they tried (but failed) to forcibly extract a (false) “confession” about
how the church vehicle he drove was involved in the massacre of the U.N.
personnel. [28]
Eyewitnesses
recount an immediate mobilization of EPRDF troops on December 13, within an hour
of the UN van killings. Reportedly working
with lists of names of Anuak people, EPRDF soldiers
and Highlander militias proceeded to murder Anuaks,
mostly targeting students and the educated class.
Between
“Almost an hour after what happened in Gambella,
[EPRDF soldiers] started shooting people in Pinyudo...
The local people responded, and quite a number of troops were killed… People
were really angry, because this thing has been going on for a number of years.
Guns are taken from them, and so on and so on, and it never improves. So this
time they said, ‘this is too much. We are going to respond now.’ ” [29]
However, Anuak resistance was apparently confined to small groups in
Pinyudo town.
The EPRDF
/ Highlander violence
spread through the four predominantly Anuak districts
of Gambella (including Gambella
town), Abobo, Itang and Gok (including Pinyudo town).
There were street killings reported on December 24 in the Anuak
Numerous
eyewitnesses gave accounts of Anuak civilians being
shot in the back while running away. [31]
Witness #1, from
Gambella, reported that violence occurred in villages
of Gambella, Pinyudo, Ilya and Akadin almost
simultaneously. He also showed a scar on his arm caused by his being beaten by
EPRDF soldiers, and he reported knowledge of a list of some 91 people to be
targeted. The witness’s daughter identified two Highlander assailants. His
family was also beaten. The witness was taken to the military barracks where he
found 200 Anuaks under detention, many covered with
blood and some hacked with knives. When soldiers first appeared at his house
they were shooting. The witness described language by the EPRDF suggesting that
they knew he was an Anuak and had specifically
targeted his house accordingly. “They obviously knew that my house was an Anuak house; my neighbors were highlanders.”[32]
Several
witnesses exposed scars on their bodies. Survivors reported that soldiers,
followed by armed groups of Highlanders, systematically attacked Anuak homes. One witness who saw three people killed early
on December 13 stated:
“It was
a military tactic: the military would shoot Anuaks,
then have the Highlanders come and butcher these people. Two were still alive;
one was dead when the Highlanders attacked.” [33]
Fleeing Anuaks were sometimes harbored by non-Anuaks.
Hundreds of houses and huts were burned, whether occupied or empty; Gambella and Pinyudo towns saw
widespread arson. Another witness
stated, “They burned the entire village.”
Hand grenades
were thrown inside or near structures clearly occupied by women and children. [34]
Policeman Ojulu Omot (~35) and Pastor Okwer Olatho (~45), both Anuaks, were summarily executed at close range after they
jumped out of a window of a burning hut that had been torched by soldiers. The
soldiers occupied strategic posts and executed occupants as they fled.
Insisting that he be the first of his family to flee a burning house surrounded
by soldiers, Pastor Okwer Olatho
was shot by soldiers after jumping from a window, and then he was hacked to
death by Highlanders.
Witness #2 gave
the names of five people killed, including his son and Pastor Okwer Olatho, and he described in
detail how the killings occurred on December 13 in Gambella
town. [35]
Witness #4
described numerous killings in detail, in Gambella
town, including the killing of his father, who was bludgeoned on the head with
a rock and then mutilated by Highlanders. The witness alleges seeing a
Highlander, Ketem Alemuyu,
set fire to his house. He reported: a “gang of Highlanders with Temesgan Tadese was tricking
people into coming out of hiding and then killing them.” [36]
Some witnesses
describe being taken to military barracks where hundreds of other Anuaks were being held. Surviving physical assaults,
witnesses reported seeing wounded Anuaks taken from
these barracks, allegedly to hospital. Detainees were apparently released
within one or two days, instructed to go home, and sometimes escorted by
soldiers. Witnesses offered detailed accounts of abuse and intimidation by
soldiers. Survivors generally described a coordinated effort by authorities to
deceive and confuse Anuaks into believing the
military and police were acting to protect civilians. “They arrested and released
us and then killed us,” one witness testified.
Soldiers were
consistently described as EPRDF personnel in clearly marked uniforms with
standard equipment. Assailants were identified by name in numerous cases.
However, evidence suggests that soldiers and police were not universally
involved in committing atrocities, and that some (non-Anuak)
soldiers and police worked to stop or mitigate the violence and defend victims.
[37]
Several
witnesses testified to seeing trucks driving over corpses on the street. [38]
On
The
On
One witness
testified to counting over 30 bodies as he fled. Scores of injured Anuaks were seen by people arriving at hospital for
treatment, or by those inquiring about missing persons. Several eyewitnesses
recount seeing trucks loaded with dead bodies arrive or depart from the
hospital. One witness described “hundreds of bodies” laid out and numbered. [39]
Many corpses
were picked up or confiscated by authorities and were never seen again.
Soldiers drove off, and sometimes shot, relatives who sought to retrieve or
bury the dead. Survivors also buried the dead in makeshift graves when possible.
[40]
Beginning on the
15th of December, and perhaps earlier, authorities began urging
people to return to their destroyed homes. Witnesses claim that soldiers
prevented people from gaining sanctuary at churches, and that officials ordered
the churches emptied. [41]
Most of the
3,000 to 5,000 people who sought sanctuary in churches remained there for up to
one week, aware that violence had not subsided and that soldiers hovered
outside. Church officials were able to prevent further atrocities against
civilians in some, but not all, cases. Survivors who hid in the bush recount
atrocities committed against Anuaks who emerged from
hiding in response to the directives of the authorities. [42] People fleeing sites of violence were
pursued, detained, threatened with death if they continued to flee, monitored
for extended periods, forcibly returned to their home areas, and frequently
beaten. [43]
Genocide Watch obtained a list
of the names of Anuaks murdered in December 2003 and
after checking it with eyewitnesses, published it on
Systematic Rape of Anuak Women
An 18 page report by the Anuak Survival Organization was the first to combine all credible reporting on rape during the Gambella genocide.
The Anuak Survival Organization
documented 26 cases of rape by the Ethiopian forces against Gambella
Anuak women immediately before and during the
December massacres, and believes that many more incidents of rape have gone
unreported. The report says that rapes were not rare and isolated acts
committed by individuals, but rather were used deliberately as an instrument to
terrorize the civilian population, and push people to flee their homes.
Virtually all of the sexual assaults Anuak Survival
Organization has documented were gang rapes involving at least three
perpetrators.
The actual number of women raped
in Gambella between December 17 and January 2004 was certainly
much higher than twenty-six. A regional police
officer recorded 138 cases of women raped in Gambella
town in December 2003. There were so many cases that he was finally ordered to
stop taking reports.
Due to strong social taboos, Anuak
victims of rape are generally reluctant to speak about their experiences, and
those who remained in Gambella throughout the
conflict may not have had an opportunity to report abuses.
In
the absence of Anuak men—some murdered, many 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 women and girls
in rural areas, rapes in rural areas remain substantially under-reported and
undocumented.
All witnesses
reported that rape was widespread. In one instance, for example, in Pinyudo, assailants threatened a 10 year-old girl with
death for screaming, and they shouted (translation): “We are going to kill your
men and the next generation of Anuaks will be
produced by us.” [44]
Case of rapes are too numerous to be listed here, but a few notorious cases give a sample of the crimes committed.
On
On
On
On
On
In a locally much-publicized
case, a 16 year old student at
Ajullu
Ogula was raped and then shot dead in her home in Abobo district on
An Anuak
woman from Pinykiwo village was raped on
On January 28, EPRDF soldiers summarily executed a father
for attempting to challenge the soldiers who that day raped his 10 year-old
daughter.
On January 28, after being raped by six EPRDF soldiers in Pinyudo, a 15 year-old girl, went home and committed
suicide. [45]
The Dimma
Gold Mine Massacre
On
Informed
of the murder, armed Anuak gold miners attacked an
EPRDF contingent sent from Dimma to disarm them on
January 30. EPRDF forces were
defeated. There are conflicting reports of the numbers of soldiers and
civilians killed, with estimates of some 160 total dead.
The Anuak gold miners, armed with weapons seized from the EPRDF
troops they had killed, descended on Dimma town and
murdered a number of civilian highlanders.
They left Dimma town and warned Anuaks to leave. Anuak women and
children began to flee Dimma in fear of EPRDF
retaliation and atrocities. [47]
An eyewitness
reporting on
Anuaks arrested in Dimma
reportedly have been tortured in attempts to extract information about the
whereabouts of Anuak combatants, weapons caches, and
the location of the President of Gambella, Okello Akway Ochalla
(an Anuak). GW/SRI received an eyewitness account
from a Sudanese Nuer refugee of EPRDF beating people
at a military barracks.
On
The
EPRDF troops killed over 40 Anuaks still in Dimma town, and then went to a nearby Sudanese refugee
camp, and killed non-combatant Dinka and Nuer refugees. Many other Sudanese were wounded.
Names of seventeen
Anuak civilians reported killed in the Dimma massacre on
On
A teacher named
Oman Thwol was reportedly tortured on
GW/SRI has received reports that EPRDF troops are ready to
cross the border into
According to
numerous reports coming out of the region, as of February, 2004, the southwestern Gambella region of
In Gambella town, telephone services, normally uninterrupted,
were intentionally disabled for some 48 hours on
The movement of Anuaks is being forcibly restricted. People are confined to
their homes at night and monitored. Anuaks are
coerced during daylight hours to proceed with life as if all is normal. However, the Anuak
population exists in perpetual fear, afraid of accessing medical services,
attending schools, visiting restaurants, etc. An EPRDF helicopter has allegedly
been deployed since February 3 for security operations and for air assaults
against Anuaks. EPRDF have reportedly blocked all
roads to
Hundreds—perhaps
as many as 500—Anuaks arrested since December 13
remain in prison, or are unaccounted for. One of the most egregious cases is
that of the illegal arrest, detention and torture of Othow
Akway Ochalla, the brother
of exiled President of Gambella, Okello
Akway Ochalla. Mr. Ochalla was last seen on
Family members
of surviving prisoners have been allowed visitations, but many people have not
been seen since they were arrested. During daylight hours, Anuak
prisoners are subject to forced labor under armed guard, and are reportedly
forced to cut trees and rebuild dwellings incinerated or otherwise destroyed
during the December pogrom. [55]
V.
INTERNATIONAL LEGAL STANDARDS
Crimes Against
Humanity have been crimes under customary international law since at least
1945. Article 7 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court
codifies them 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….
Crimes committed in violation of customary international law cannot be perpetrated against a civilian population, regardless of whether the State has ratified a particular convention or treaty. According to a current codification of customary international law (articulated in Article 7 of the Rome Statute of the ICC), numerous acts constituting “crimes against humanity” have taken place.
The following
acts reportedly committed by the EPRDF and Highlanders as part of the larger
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
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 the Convention on the Prevention
and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948), Article II, genocide means any
of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a
national, ethnical, 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 committed by the EPRDF constitute acts of genocide:
1) The intentional killing of members of the Anuak ethnic group, targeted solely because they are Anuak, destroying a
substantial part of the Anuak 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.
3)
The systematic use of rape as a weapon against a large number of Anuak women in order 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 future death.
c.
Rapes of Anuak young girls so as to prevent
them from having children in the future.
C. ARBITRARY ARREST, ILLEGAL DETENTION & TORTURE
Article 9 of the ICCPR prohibits
arbitrary arrest and detention. It provides in its relevant part:
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
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 paragraph (1) of Article 9 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
Two months after the massacres committed by EPRDF troops and
Highlander militias in mid-December, 2003, the EPRDF government of
Perhaps the most authoritative eyewitness to the December
2003 massacres, Okello Akway
Ochalla, former Gambella
Regional President, said on
“The Ethiopian troops and Highlanders who organized and executed the Anuak genocide must bear full responsibility for it.”
Despite widespread acknowledgement that the killings in Gambella constituted acts of genocide, as defined by the Genocide Convention, the killings have not stopped. Unarmed Anuak civilians continue to be deliberately killed, albeit not on a scale comparable to the genocidal massacres that took place in December 2003.
Arbitrary arrests, illegal
detentions and torture (which all constitute crimes 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. There is strong evidence that violence against the Anuak ethnic group may be part of an intentional policy of persecution and destruction of the Anuak group, as such.
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, sexual crimes have been committed with the intent to destroy the Anuak group. Through gang rapes specifically targeting Anuak females, attackers enunciated their intent to destroy
the Anuak as a group, and characterized sexual violence
as a means to achieve that destruction.
An independent inquiry is required to establish
whether the actions described in this report were ordered, encouraged or
condoned by the Ethiopian government, and whether there was intent to destroy,
in whole or in part, a substantial number of people of the Anuak
ethnic group. If there was such intent, these massacres should be prosecuted
under Ethiopian and international law as acts of genocide. Other serious crimes against humanity have
also been committed by the Ethiopian Government against the Anuak
ethnic group. There is also evidence that crimes against humanity have been
committed by the Ethiopian Government against other ethnic groups, particularly
Sudanese Nuer and Dinka
refugees in the Gambella region.
A thorough independent investigation into these
atrocities is a priority. The inquiry must begin immediately because of reports
that EPRDF military forces are exhuming mass graves and destroying evidence of
their atrocities in the Gambella region.
With 20,000 Ethiopian troops poised on the Sudanese border,
ready to cross into
The specter of genocide still hovers over the Anuak land. Ethiopian troops are allied with highlander militias. These groups are still murdering and raping unarmed Anuak civilians, including young children.
The government forces
responsible for these genocidal acts cloak their intentions as “anti-terrorist”
or “counter-insurgency” operations. Whatever the pretext, Anuak
civilians living in the Gambella region face the threat
of being murdered, "disappeared", tortured, raped, or subjected to other forms of cruel, inhuman
or degrading treatment.
People are not allowed to photograph or otherwise record evidence, either because they are denied access to the areas where most of the killings are occurring, or because they are afraid to carry the images out for publication. It has become increasingly difficult and dangerous for local government and human rights workers to investigate reports of massacres and to publish them. Nevertheless, eyewitness testimony from hundreds of refugees interviewed for this report has established a consistent and systematic pattern.
The vast majority of the killings in the Gambella
region have been carried out by Ethiopian government troops. Those who kill do
so with impunity.
On
This
disarmament of Anuak police is an ominous sign,
because a similar disarmament of Anuak police in Gambella also preceded the genocidal massacres of
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, and the Ethiopian Human Rights Council have not been heeded and the human rights situation continues to worsen.
The killings in Gambella are not inevitable. The Anuak people have the right to live in peace, free from fear. The international press, governments, and non-governmental organizations must not allow the international community to turn its back on another African genocide. The crisis in Gambella is not over; the violence has not ended.
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 and intimidation of
civilians.
·
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.
·
Ensure the rights of autonomy and self-government guaranteed by
the Ethiopian Constitution to the peoples of the Gambella
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 others detained in connection with the conflict.
·
Allow unimpeded access by humanitarian organizations, human rights
monitors, and independent journalists.
B.
To the Government of the
·
Vigorously
and publicly denounce killings and other atrocities against civilians in
·
Suspend
tactical support, field assistance and arms shipments to
C. To the United Nations Security Council:
·
Recommend
that the Secretary General offer his good offices in mediating ethnic conflict
in
·
Impose and enforce an embargo on the trade and transfer of all
arms and other war materiel from any person, company, or country to the
Ethiopian government or any rebels operating inside
·
Condemn all atrocities being committed in
D. To all Members of the United Nations, the
European Union, and the African
·
Publicly
denounce killings and other atrocities against civilians in
·
The U.N. Commission on Human Rights and the Economic and Social
Council should appoint and empower a U.N. Special Rapporteur tasked with
investigating alleged acts of genocide and crimes against humanity 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
·
Economically and politically assist in reconstruction of villages,
schools, and other structures destroyed in the Gambella
region, through the establishment of a special fund for education and
development.
E. To the World Bank, IMF, African Development Bank,
and Export-Import Bank:
·
Refrain from lending to or funding the government of
F. To the Gambella
People’s Liberation Force (GPLF), Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Eritrean
People's Liberation Front (EPLF) and other rebel forces operating, or planning
to operate, in the region:
·
Publicly
condemn all violence being committed in southwestern
·
Ensure the protection of civilians in conflict areas, including
competing ethnic or religious groups, women, and children.
·
Allow unimpeded access by humanitarian organizations, human rights
monitors, and independent journalists to all areas of
·
Cooperate with efforts of human rights monitors to investigate and
publicize abuses of human rights and humanitarian law occurring in the Gambella region.
·
Refrain from recruiting children under the age of eighteen (18)
for military purposes.
·
Respect international law in dealing with combatants and treatment
of prisoners.
G. To the SPLM/A and the SRRC:
·
Ensure the security and well being of all refugees (returning and
new arrivals) in territory under SPLM/A control.
·
Publicly condemn abuses against civilians and adhere to human
rights and humanitarian law standards in any territories where you operate, and
in the Gambella region.
·
Investigate allegations of human rights and humanitarian law
abuses by SPLM/A forces; cooperate with efforts of human rights monitors to
investigate and publicize abuses of human rights and humanitarian law.
·
Ensure the protection of civilians in conflict zones, particularly
members of minority ethnic groups, women, and children.
·
Allow unimpeded access to conflict areas and refugee populations
by humanitarian organizations, human rights monitors, and journalists.
·
Permit the I.C.R.C. to conduct inspections of all detention and
jail facilities, and to conduct private interviews with any prisoners or others
detained in connection with conflicts involving the SPLM/A.
·
Immediately demobilize all child soldiers under the age of
eighteen (18) and cooperate with appropriate agencies in their efforts to
reunite the children with their families.
H.
To Multinational Corporations operating in extractive industries in
·
Make
public any pending or existing exploration contracts, memorandums and
agreements.
·
Suspend
all exploration, development, extraction and related contracting or
subcontracting in the Gambella region and neighboring
areas, until the Ethiopian government has instituted human rights and
environmental protections for the people of the region.
·
Plan to prevent the negative side-effects (e.g. displaced persons,
warfare, repression and environmental devastation) that so often have
accompanied the operations of mining and extraction industries in
According to Genocide Watch sources, the massacres on 13 -
The following list was compiled during
interviews in
1.
Tadese
H/Selasie
2.
Tadese
Guta
3.
Lewedu
4.
Hadgu
5.
Ayalew
6.
Anbesie
7.
Desalegu
8.
Derege
Haile
9.
Temesgen
10.
Befkadu
11.
Tadese
12.
Duballe
Tesema
13.
Tesema
Abebe
14.
Worku
Alemu
15.
Anoke
Debebe
16.
Muleta
The following alleged perpetrators are listed
with the interviewee/eyewitness who provided them:
17.
Tadese
(policeman) – killed Pastor Okwer Olatho
(reported by eyewitness #2)
18.
Abashe
(Highlander) (reported by eyewitness #2)
19.
Temesgan
Tadese (reported by eyewitness #4)
20.
Ketem
Alemuyu (reported by eyewitness #4)
21.
Chambele
-- Military Sergeant (reported by
eyewitness #11 involved in gang-rape)
22.
Temesgen
Baharu (Highlander merchant) (reported by eyewitness
#8)
23.
Tesegaye
Berre – Military commander – (reported by witness #14
to have come to the Catholic Church in Gambella and
worked with Omot Obang to
try to get people to leave.)
The last two allegedly
intimidated Anuaks prior to
24.
Wad Cirse (sp?) (has
one eye clouded) (reported by eyewitness #4).
25.
Derege Tadese (policeman;
sergeant) (reported by eyewitness #4).
[1] GW/SRI interview,
[2]
SRRC official registration count,
[3]
Electronic communication to GW/SRI from Pochalla,
[4]
GW phone interview
[5] GW interviews with Anuak community leaders, December, 2003
[6]
GW/SRI interview, witness #7 of Gambella,
[7]
GW phone interview
[8] GW/SRI interview, witness #2 of Gambella,
[9] GW/SRI interview, based on telephone conversation in early February with non-Anuak police official in Gambella.
[10]
GW/SRI interview,
[11]
UN Integrated Regional Information Networks,
[12] See e.g.: Ethiopia: Lessons in Repression, Human Rights Watch, Vol. 15, No. 2(A), January 2003.
[13]
[14]
GW/SRI interview,
[15]
GW/SRI interview, witness #16,
[16]
Interview with Abella Obang
Agwa, founder of the GPDC,
[17]
GW/SRI interview, witness #16 from Gambella,
[18]
Reuters, “
[19]
“
[20]
GW/SRI interviews,
[21]
Addis Tribune,
[22] 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.
[23]
U.S. Gov. Press Release 39/03,
[24]
“Old Guard Establishes Base in
[25] Foreign Military Sales, Foreign Military Sales Deliveries (etc.) 2001.
[26]
U.S. Gov. Press Release No. 54/03,
[27]
Africare News Release,
[28]
GW/SRI interview, witness #3,
[29]
GW/SRI interview, Philip Obang Ojway,
[30]
GW/SRI interview, witness #3,
[31]
GW/SRI interview, witness #15 of Gambella,
[32]
GW/SRI interview, witness #1,
[33]
GW/SRI interview, witness #15, of Gambella,
[34]
GW/SRI interview, witness #10 of Gambella, 01/2104,
[35]
GW/SRI interview, witness #2,
[36]
GW/SRI interview, witness #4 , of Gambella,
[37]
GW/SRI interview, witness #4, of Gambella,
[38]
GW/SRI interview, witness #5 of Pochalla,
[39]
GW/SRI interview, witness #15, of Gambella,
[40]
GW/SRI interview, witness #9, of Gambella,
[41]
GW/SRI interview, witness #14 of Gambella,
[42]
GW/SRI interview, witness #4 of Gambella,
[43]
GW/SRI interview, witness #15, of Gambella,
[44]
GW/SRI interview, witness #11 of Pinyudo,
[45]
GW/SRI telephone interview,
[46]
GW/SRI telephone interview,
[47]
GW/SRI telephone interview,
[48]
Telephone interview,
[49]
GW/SRI telephone interview,
[50]
GW/SRI electronic communication,
[51]
Telephone interview,
[52]
GW/SRI electronic communication,
[53]
GW/SRI telephone interview,
[54]
GW/SRI interview on
[55]
GW/SRI telephone interview,