HRLHA URGENT ACTION

No 5 October 2008

Appeal to regional and international human rights agencies and organizations

Arrest, Torture and Deportation of Refugees

Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) has learnt through its informants that the government of Somaliland, in violation of international treaties, arbitrarily apprehended twelve Ethiopian Oromo refugees on October 15, 2008 and deported them to Ethiopia. All twelve refugees were picked up from different places and taken to the military camp in Hargessa by the security forces of the Somaliland Government on the same day. Particularly, it was very saddening to hear that those refugees were tortured while they were in the detention centre. Finally, they were handed over to Ethiopian security forces 0n October 17, 2008. It has been difficult to obtain the names of all of the victims of these joint actions of the Somaliland and the Ethiopian governments. Two of the refugees who have been identified by their names were: 

1.       Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Mohamud -  UNHCR attestation papers number 03/RF/SOMH/036

2.       Mr. Mohamed Sheika.

                                        Mohamed Ahmed Mohamud

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Urgent Action                          

In Ethiopia no week, even no day, passes away without human right violations. Futurity in this country is always tinged with fear and despair not with hope and optimis for a better life. This is even truer to the Oromos than to any other ethnic group except perhaps to the Somalis in Ogaden.   

The TPLF/EPRDF regime started last week, Thursday and Friday (30-31 October), another wave of mass imprisonment of the Oromos. According to the information we received, the imprisonment is an all out government action in the entire Oromia region. But because of difficult accessibility of information in provinces, we have names of the imprisoned for the time being only from the capital city, Addis Ababa. The following are some of the imprisoned individuals among others whose names we didn’t yet manage to get:

1. Mr. Bekele Jirata, a general secretary of Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM), which is a legal opposition party with its own seat in the Parliament.

 Renowned Oromo Artist Zerihun Wadaajoo Kidnapped by TPLF Security Force!

Reliable Sources from Finfinnee (Addis Ababa), the capital city, reported that the famous and most celebrated Oromo Artist Zerihun Wadajoo has abducted on November 7, 2008 by the Ethiopian regime “security” forces. His where about is yet unknown. Artist Zerihun Wadaajoo, a husband and father of four children, is one of the pioneers who revived the Oromo music and culture which was about to wither away by cultural suppression during the successive Ethiopian regimes. And he dearly paid for his purely artistic contributions.

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