The Alarmingly
Dehumanizing Conditions Obtaining in the Awash Arba Military Camp & the
Plight of Amara Prisoners of Conscience Held there
Translation
from
Amharic into English
by
Assefa
Negash, M.D.
25th
of April 2024 -
Amsterdam, the Netherlands
E-mail
address: Debesso@gmail.com
The Awash Arba military
campis
located 214kms south east of Addis Ababa. This place is close to the Awash
River and is surrounded by wild animals and unmarked graves. The temperature at
this place can exceed 47degrees Celsius. This place is currently a center where
Amara prisoners dotted in every nook and crannies of Ethiopia are locked up
under the State of Emergency Law that is euphemistically peddled as Law
Enforcement (ህግማስከበር)by the incumbent government and the the media it
monopolistically controls. The prisoner who related the
following testimony was captured in August 2023 under the State of Emergency Law(SEL).
Officially, the SEL has been imposed on the people living in the Amara regional
state by the incumbent regime. The SEL has made it easier and legally justifiable
to harass Amaras who live not only in the so-called Amara regional state but
also on all Amaras who live in all parts of Ethiopia. The ex-prisoner gave the
following interview upon his release from this notoriously dehumanizing prison.
I have taken the liberty to translate the recorded interview from Amaric
language into English. I have done this in order to bring to light the plight
of millions of Amaras who for the last 10 months have been officially subjected
to an all-out, full-scale war. This genocidal war is exacting heavy toll on
Amaras on a daily basis. I have to rewind the tape recorded interview several
times in order to convey the message this ex-prisoner wanted to get across about the unfolding tragedy in the prisons run by the incumbent regime. That was the
tedious and time consuming part of the translation process.
This former prisoner of
conscience gave this interview on the basis of anonymity lest he is thrown back
into the notorious concentration camp. I have inserted what he said between
inverted commas. He said “I
was
abducted in August 2023 from my
home at 8 PM in the evening while I was
playing with my kid. I was subsequently taken to the
Federal Police Office located at the Mexico square in Addis Ababa city. There I
was subjected to a barrage of degrading insults and threats that were
psychologically damaging to me during 8 days of my stay at this police office”.
He said that “For 8 days I was not allowed to see my family members, talk to
a lawyer and I was held incommunicado. During my interrogation by the
prison officials, sometimes 5 and at other time 7 interrogators came to
interrogate me”.
Degradingly Humiliating
Insults Directed at Amara Prisoners
This prisoner said that "I was addressed as a leprous
Amara, as trouble maker Amaraand I was told that I would be returned to my
place i.e. the Amara region as though Addis Ababa (where he lives and comes
from) was no more a place where I have the right to belong to as an Amara.
Fortunately I was not physically tortured but they have left an indelible mark
on my psyche i.e. they have left me with a psychological scar etched on my mind
and from which I may not be able to recover”.
He said that “Humiliating
and degrading insults accompanied the torture sessions to which the prisoners were
subjected. The interrogations were accompanied by threats, degrading insults
and stigmatizing questions such as you leprous Amara what are you doing here in
Oromia
as though Amaras have no right to reside in the Oromia regional state which is
still part of Ethiopia?”
According to this
former prisoner it has been in the following manner that the Oromo prison
officials threatened him and other Amara prisoners when the latter were
subjected to interrogations:
“Unless and until we
have destroyed the Amaras and the Orthodox Church followers, we will never have
rest” was one of the threatening utterances of the Oromo
torturers. This former prisoner said that he and the other Amara prisoners were
taunted and ridiculed with the following phrases “you Debtera, descendant of
Debteras”.
Further this prisoner
said the Amara prisoners were threatened in the following manner. “If
something happens to the federal army or anything happens in Addis Ababa, we
will take action against you, your children and wife.
You will be the first person against whom we will take drastic measures”. The
ex-prisoner added that “Most of us who have been held in Awash Arba were
abducted from Addis Ababa, the city where we live in. Similar threats were made
against the other Amara inmates at Awash Arba. All these prisoners were taken
from their homes or were abducted from the streets of Addis Ababa as they were
going to their work place or returning from their work place to their homes.
What is painful about our abduction is that during our abduction, we were
suddenly surrounded by a large number of security men ranging in numbers from
at least 10 to 20 armed men. The hatred shown to us the prisoners, the arbitrary
manner of our abduction and the size of the group that came to abduct us, were
all meant to strike fear not only in to us and our families
but also the people living around us. The threatening manner with which we the prisoners were confronted during our abduction did not take into account
the negative ramifications of such actions on the social standing of us the
imprisoned individuals in our own neighborhoods. Because of this extremely
threatening and unexpected attack I experienced while being abducted from home,
even after having been released from prison, I still feel very anxious and tense
in my daily life because of the devastatingly pervasive fear that has been
instilled in my mind”.
The former prisoner
added “The fact that I was taken from my home after my home has been
violently searched by more than ten-armed people as though I am a criminal, the
fact that people in my neighborhood had to witness my mistreatment has made me
feel humiliated and feel bad about myself. Experiencing all this has dented my
personal identity, my sense of personhood and my social standing in myown neighborhood”.
This prisoner said that he was taken from Addis Ababa to Awash Arba along with
nine other Amara individuals.
Imprisonment of Amaras
on the basis of Trumped-up Charges
The former prisoner
related:
“We were charged with an
attempt to topple the incumbent government. We were asked if we know certain
individuals whom the incumbent regime suspects are leading the armed opposition
(i.e. The Fano movement) against it. The grueling interrogation process took
between three, four or sometimes up to six hours. The problem is that giving an
answer to their questions invites more problems for us. On the other hand, not
answering their questions also invites problem for us as well. All of us have
spent 8 days at the Federal Police Investigation Office
in Addis Ababa before we were later taken to the Awash Arba military camp
that doubles up as a prison. Having failed to find any evidence that would
incriminate us at the Federal Police Investigation Office in Addis Ababa, they have
subsequently sent us to the Awash Arbaprison before we were even brought to the
court of law”.
This former abductee or
prisoner related the following.
“In addition to being
denied appearance at the court of justice, we were not allowed visit by our
families. We were not assigned lawyers and we have been prevented to have
access to telephones. Our families were not informed about our where abouts. Me
and the other Amara prisoners did not consider ourselves as prisoners sincewe
were not accorded the rights due to legal prisoners such as access to our
families, lawyers and the right to appear at the court of law. I myself and the
other Amara prisoners considered ourselves as abductees. Me and most of the other
prisoners were woken up out of our sleep during our stay in prison in Addis
Ababa and taken away to Awash Arba at 4 AM in the morning so that nobody could
see us when we were transported or whisked away to this hellish prison located
next to a military camp at Awash Arba. At one time, there were 70 Amara prisoners
like me and later that figure has dropped to 60 prisoners. Ten of the prisoners
who fainted and were severely weakened by various factors (hunger, disease,
exhaustion, dehydration, etc) were taken to Addis Ababa. The prisoners at Awash
Arba were all members of the Amara ethnic group and there were no other prisoners
from the other ethnic groups of Ethiopia”.
Subjecting Amaras to Physical
and Psychological Suffering
This former prisoner
added:
“Awash Arba has been
turned into the concentration camp where Amaras are severely punished, made to
suffer physical deprivation, psychological and physical torture. Awash Arba is
the place where educated Amaras are brought to and incarcerated and warehoused
in a highly suffocated room. The ranks of these Amara intellectuals currently
held in the Awash Arba concentration camp run the whole gamut from university
professors, medical specialists, doctors, journalists, engineers, teachers,
nurses, etc. The benumbingly extreme temperature of this hellish place ranges
from 42 to 47 degrees centigrade and owing to the humidity, it is unbearably and
forbiddingly inhospitable place to live in. In one room, 60 Amaras have been squeezed
or huddled together. This room in which 60 Amaras have been huddled together
has no window to let in fresh air. The place at which the Awash Arba prison is
located is very hot, humid, full of wild animals, big snakes, crocodile, insects.
Most of the prisoners have experienced severe weight loss secondary to the
starvation they suffer there owing to the disease-infested and insalubrious
living condition obtaining at this notorious and hellish prison. The heat at
this place is such that the condition of life we experienced in this prison is like
bread that was being cooked in an oven (exposed to fire from below and above)”.
“I myself had lost 6 kg
during my imprisonment at this prison. We were made to suffer at this infernal
place without any due process of law, without our case having been presented at
the court of law. We were not provided enough water and food in that hellish
prison. The one piece of bread we were given was a left-over of rats which were
in abundance in that prison. It was not unusual to find feces of rats inside
the one piece of bread we were given per day. A journalist named Mr. Yehualashet
came across feces of rats in his bread on four different occasions. Worms were
spotted in the bread we were fed and this was deliberately done to harm our
health. In terms of food, we have been deliberately starved very badly. We
were made to undergo both physical and psychological suffering. The other
remaining prisoners are still undergoing this suffering at Awash Arba
concentration camp”.
“As I speak now, our
brothers and sisters are under great suffering at Awash Arba concentration
camp. There is no other food than a piece of bread that is given to us. The
water we are provided is scanty, inadequate and infested with disease-causing
microorganisms. This appallingly unhygienic condition obtaining in this prison has
led to the break out of epidemics. So far,we have experienced epidemic outbreaks
related to disease-infested and unclean water on more than 5 occasions within a
two months period. I have myself suffered from amoeba infection. So, we prisoners
are suffering a lot and words cannot convey the suffering we have gonethrough
out there”.
The Suffering of Amara
Prisoners under the Scorching Heat at Awash Prison
This former prisoner
related:
“There was a time in
which prisoners pleaded with the prison authorities by saying that please take
us out and kill us by bullets than making us suffer under this extreme heat and
suffocation. The prisoners told the prison authorities that they are ready to
sign a statement in which they agree to being shot by bullet than suffering
under extreme heat. We prisoners were obliged to make such desperate plea to
end our lives after it became impossible for us to resist the combination of
hunger, thirst, extreme heat, exhaustion, suffocation and infectious diseases
at the prison where we were held up in the most dehumanizing condition any
human being can think of. As a result of the extremely dehumanizing condition
obtaining in the prison, 18 prisoners fainted and fell on the ground unable to maintain
their bearing or gait and walk normally. For example, Mr. Belete, the husband
of Mrs. Keleb Seyoum, was almost dead when he was finally referred to a
hospital in Addis Ababa for treatment. I do not know when this suffering of our
brothers and sisters is going to end. What I would like to say is that there
are a lot of our brothers and sisters who are still suffering in this prison. Although
few individuals like me have been set free by the will and help of God, there
are still many prisoners who are suffering at this prison. This prison is not
even fit for animals to live in let alone for human beings. Particularly,
individuals such as Mr. Yohannes Buayalew are suffering a lot. His legs are
bursting and fluid is being drained out of his body using syringes. This man
has been so emaciated that only his skeleton remains to be seen. What we have
been urinating was blood
(a medical condition called hematuria). Mr. Yohannes Buayalew (elected member
of the parliament of the Amara regional government), Mr. Christian Tadelle
(member of the parliament of the Federal Ethiopian government), Dr. Kassa
Teshager (elected member of Addis Ababa city council) and Dr. Addise Berhanu
are undergoing severe suffering. All of these people were urinating blood.
Amara prisoners have been
electrocuted, their nails have been removed and they have been beaten up after their
bodies have been immersed in cold water. There are prisoners whose noses and
mouths are bleeding owing to the physical beatings they have sustained and have
been exposed to”.
This former further said:
“When I think of the
punishment meted to us, it is the same kind of treatment to which the Jewish
people were subjected by Hitler. The treatment we have received in this prison
is similar to what Hitler did to the Jews. Hitler exposed Jews to a sealed hall
sprayed with chemicals in order to establish how long a human being can resist
such a harsh regime. In our case, we are held in a sealed and highly congested
cell with temperature higher than 42 degrees centigrade. The government is
subjecting us to such level of heat by way of conducting an experiment on us in
order to find out what level of heat human beings are able to tolerate. Amaras
are being experimented on by being subjected to such a cruel regime of
imprisonment. I do not
know what else this regime can do to us as human beings more than making us
suffer to the point at which our body begins to dissolve and disintegrate under
an extreme level of heat. Many have lost weight ranging from 5, 10, 15 to 18
kilograms. The only thing which they have not done to us by way of causing
suffering to us is to grind our bones and make soap with it like the Nazis did
to Jewish prisoners. If they have not done this so far it is because, unlike
the Nazis, they do not have the technology and the factory to process bones
into soaps.
The prisoners who particularly
need immediate medical care are Mr. Yohannes Buayalew, Mr. Christian Tadelle,
Dr. Kassa Tesahager and Dr. Adisse Birhanu. For example, Mr. Yohannes Buayalew
is someone who already suffers from diabetes mellitus, hypertension and his
body parts are cracking up and releasing fluid. This person could not stand up
on his own. He was briefly brought to a hospital in Addis Ababa but immediately
returned to this prison before he could receive adequate treatment. Mr.
Christian Tadelle has a severe back pain problem and he cannot eat food (has
poor appetite). His health condition is very poor.
I do not know what
three of the members of the Investigation Board members, a committee meant to
oversee the conduct of the government under the State of Emergency, felt when
they came to our prison and saw their former parliamentary
colleague in such a state of poor physical health condition. Mr. Christian
Tadelle cannot resist the condition of suffering obtaining in this prison any
more.
Dr. Kassa Teshager does
not sleep at all. He is suffering from anxiety related to the worries he harbors
in regard to the mental illness of his son
who needs someone to care for. All these prisoners have been prevented from
meeting their families and have been denied all the rights due to a legal
prisoner such as visit by family members.
The other person who is
suffering a lot is Dr. Addise Berhanu (brother of Mr. Menber Alemu) who is a
lecturer at Jimma university. Dr. Addise Berhanu had a car accident in the
past. Owing to the damage he sustained during thecar accident, a metal has been
inserted in his right leg. Due to the extreme temperature at Awash prison, the
metal plate inserted in his leg expands during the day and contracts when the
temperature drops down during the night. All this causes severe pain to him. He
cannot move his right leg properly and cannot use the toilet as sitting on a
toilet becomes a very difficult task for him.
A teacher called Mr. Berhane
Meskel Agaje suffers a lot also. He has to be put on glucose infusion on six
occasions after his health condition worsened. He suffers from severe gastritis
and hemorrhoids.
There was a young man who had been released and used to suffer from hemorrhoids.
The prison guards used to ridicule and mock this prisonerwho was suffering from
anal bleeding caused by hemorrhoids by telling him to go outside and expose his
butt to fresh air. The whole picture at Awash Arba concentration camp looks
like this. I cannot exhaustively and adequately describe the suffering of
prisoners in this place.
In all, there were 70
prisoners at this prison all of whom are Amaras. Of these, 10 were sent to
Addis Abeba. Now 60 remain at Awash Arba prison. Of the 60 prisoners, 31 have
left Awash Arba prison but this does not mean that all 31 prisoners have been
released or set free. Of the 31 prisoners who left Awash Arba prison, a man
called Mr. Yonas (who hails from Bahir Dar) is still at the Federal Police
prison station even after he has been issued a certificate that states that he
has been released. The wife of Brigadier general Teferra Mammo,
Mrs. Mennen Haile and a woman nurse named sister Hiwot were also in prison. They
were first held in Addis Ababa and later brought to Awash Arba. They were held
in a dark room for 13 days”.
Visit Made by the
Investigation Board Members Made to the Awash Arba Prison
“Seven members of the
Investigating board came to our prison. Among them were Mr. Sadik, Dr. Mamaat.
I cannot exactly tell you on which date they came as I cannot remember a lot.
The heat at that prison is such that our capacity to remember things and our
memory in general have been severely compromised. I want to let everyone know
this. There are a lot of well-educated Amaras in that prison but we are losing
them. The Board of Investigation which consisted of 7 committee members and
paid a visit to our prison was not willing to listen to our problems and suffering.
The board memberswere rather keen on engaging us in a negotiation with the
incumbent government as if we were leaders of the armed resistance being posed
to the regimeby Fanos in the Amara region. The committee members stayed at our
prison and talked to us for 5 hours. The following is what some of the
prisoners told them”.
The Bold and Defiant
Reply of Mr. Abay Zewduto
the Members of the Investigation Board
“We would not complain
to you about the hunger, thirst, extreme heat we are suffering from as you have
put us in this hellish place with the intent of doing deliberate harm to us.
But let me tell you one thing. You have made my only country Ethiopia, a
country that buys drones to bomb its own innocent people (referring to the
current bombardment of civilians by drones). As for me, you can throw me in the
fire-spewing volcanic lake of Ertale.
There is nothing you have not done to us and to the Amara people. If it was not
for lack of sophisticated technological capacity and input you contend with,
you could have made soap out of our bones. We are being guarded by crocodiles and big snakes in this
hellishly hot area. Our people are suffering from lack of protection,
lack of health care, lack of food. Our people are being bombed by drones and
there is no one to treat their festering wounds. Therefore, there is no reason
why we should tell you about our suffering as you relish and enjoy hearing
about our pain. I am ready to face all the suffering that is meted out to me
for being an Amara, even if that means being hanged in public”.
“Many
of the Amara prisoners have defiantly and fearlessly spoken out about the
injustice that has been perpetrated on us and the Amara people at large. The
members of the Board of Investigation have been made to hear not what they
expected to hear. They were told by the Amara prisoners the bitter truth they
did not want to hear about.The members of this Board of Investigation have been
told about the cruelty and evil character of the regime which has turned
Ethiopia into a country whose history would be remembered as one shot through
and through by barbarism and a killer system.The members of this Investigation Board,
who claimed that they have no power to do anything about the plight of us the
prisoners,were told that they are actually collaborators and accomplices of the
incumbent regime that kills and maims innocent citizens. The members of this Investigation
Board were challenged by the prisoners with the following question.
If you feel powerless to do anything as members of the Board of
Investigation that is supposed to have oversight over what is happening under
the State of Emergency Law at this time, what are you doing then as committee
members of this board? The members of the board of investigation were very
upset by the content and the defiant tone of the response they got from us the
prisoners. What they heard from us the prisoners was not what they expected to
hear.. The Board of Investigation (የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጅ መርማሪ ቦርድ) which is supposed to have
oversight upon the State of Emergency imposed by the incumbent government was
informed about the alarming conditions obtaining in our prison. But they did nothing to improve
our plight”.
Political Training and
Indoctrination Given to Amara Prisoners Before their Release
“Before we were
released, we were taken from Awash Arba to Awash Sebat the latter being a training center of the federal police. Fifteen
(15) prisoners were taken from Awash Arba and ten (10) prisoners were brought
from a prison in Addis Ababa. Of the ten (10) prisoners who were brought from
Addis Ababa, figure individuals like Mrs. Mennen Haile and Mrs. Hiwot (a nurse).
These twenty five (25) prisoners were taken to Awash Sebat for what the prison
officials dubbed training.
After they were taken to this place, they were told that they are now released
because they have not committed any crime. Look at what happened. After they
subjected us to severe punishment by putting us in a place where wild animals
roam, they took us to Awash Sebat Federal Police training center where we were
to be subjected to a so-called training program of five (5) days. The training
was given by political cadres of the ruling Prosperity Party wing that hail
from the Amara region. One
of these trainers is named Mr. Werkalemahu whose father’s name I am not
willing to divulge. He is
the mayor of Debre Birhan town in northern Shewa. The other trainer was a man named Fentahun,
who said he is mayor of Gondar, a city in northern Ethiopia. I think
both are probably members of the newly created Amara Democratic party, part of
the ruling Prosperity party.
The training manual was
45 or 47 pages-long
document and it was entitled ሰላም ለሁላችን፤ሚናችን ለሰላማችን
(in Amaric language) which translates into Peace to All of Us & Our Role in
Peace. We were made to read this document.The document details the advantages
and disadvantages of peace. It contains threatening and criminalizing
statements. These documents criminalize us the prisoners and tell us that we
are not free from crime. It accuses us the prisoners of being killers. It
alleges that we have killed Prosperity Party members. At the same time, it
makes a plea to us not to kill the Prosperity Party members. It is ironic that
these very government officials who imprison and kill us accuse us of killing their
members. We as prisoners were threatened with the possibility of being
imprisoned once again even afterrelease from prison. Although these government
functionaries talk about peace, actually they are not preaching peace.
Actually, we the prisoners are individuals who know more about the advantage of
peace than them. Medical doctors whom this government has imprisoned know the
benefit of peace – something which they need in order to treat sick people and
restore their health. Preaching peace to a medical doctor or a religious father
in this prison who starts his sermon with prayer about peace as these
government officials have been trying to impress upon us, sounds paradoxical or
ironical. What is paradoxical than preaching about peace to Mrs. Mennen Haile
after her husband Brigadier General Teferra Mamo has been denied permission to
travel abroad and get medical treatment he badly needs? What sounds ironical
than preaching peace to Mrs. Menen about peace while she is arbitrarily thrown
into prison while her wounded husband who needs her support badly is left home
on his own? The fact is though these government officials who were giving us
training were brazenly bare-faced individuals and accordingly not ashamed of
what they have been doing to us. These government officials were repeatedly
using words such as extremist, killer, unitary, etc to depict the Amara Fano
fighters. These statements are meant to cast aspersion on the Amara Fanos as
being a group of people bent on promoting an extremist political agenda. They
accuse Amaras for allegedly trying to impose a unitary state model on
non-Amaras and working to bring about Amara supremacy. These government
functionaries were not able to give an answer when challenged or pressed by us to
define who really the killer or terrorist is – the government or the Fano”?
“We the prisoners, who
were following the so-called training, asked them as to when the targeting of
Amaras is going to end. We suggested to the prison authorities the following
conditions that need to be created to bring about peace:
-
the return of
displaced Amaras to their former homes,
-
stopping the
killing and eviction of Amaras,
-
stopping the discrimination
to which Amaras are subjected economically, politically, socially, educationally
and in terms of employment opportunities, etc.
Our trainers who gave us
the political indoctrination lesson told us that the present Amara generation
has been victim of false narratives which have been taught to children at
schools during the last decades. Those non-Amaras who have been fed on these
false narratives starting from the first grade in elementary school are the
ones who are killing Amaras”.
The trainers who came
from the Amara regional government office said:
“Yes, those false
narrativesare making Amaras pay dearly with their lives. However the fact Amaras
are paying with their lives owing to these false narratives is justified. According
to our trainers, who represent the Amara regional government, the massacre of
Amara children, the dumping of the bodies of massacred Amaras in mass graves
with bulldozers without any culturally prescribed burial ceremony is justified.
In short according to these representatives of the Amara regional government
who doubled up as political indoctrinators, the fact that Amaras are paying heavy
price with their lives is justified.These Amara government officials
who were training us were telling us such contradictory statements. As we were
in their hands and wanted to leave this prison, we could not engage in a
genuine discussion. However, even under these threatening circumstances we found
ourselves in, we were able to raise valid questions which did provoke their ire
and to which they had no answer.
These political trainers
who were indoctrinating us have been using such terms as extremist, killers,
unitarist to depict those members of the opposition Fano armed movement who are
struggling against the incumbent regime. Our political indoctrinators, who came
from the Amara regional government, know that the Amara people have totally
abandoned them. What is clear from the words of our trainers is that they seem
to have difficulty cracking down the present organizational structure of the
popular Fano movement that has been widely embraced by the Amara people.
Out of the twenty five
(25) Amara prisoners who were told they would be released, Mr. Belay Haile, Mrs.
Menen Haile,
one federal police member who used to work at the police station located close
to the Mexico square in Addis Ababa and a fourth prisoner were not released.
They are still held as prisoners”.
How is the Moral Stature
of the Amara Prisoners Like?
“With regard to the
morale of the Amara prisoners, psychologically all of them are very strong and
highly confident of the just cause they stand for or uphold. The Amara
prisoners, far from thinking about their plight in prison, have in fact been worrying
about those Amaras who are daily subjected to the ravages of a full-scale war
being waged against them currently.
These prisoners have
been saying that there is nothing worse than the present situation Amaras in
Ethiopia find themselves in. In fact, the prisoners are happy that through
their sacrifice they are writing a new chapter as makers of history. These
prisoners, far from dwelling on their current suffering, and plight, rather think
about the likes of the little Amara girl (massacred in Wellega by Oromo
ultra-nationalists) who begged her killers to spare her life by saying please
do not kill me. These Amara prisoners do not worry about their own lives. It is
the plight of the Amara people who are bombed by drones and subjected to
genocide currently that worries the Amara prisoners at Awash Arba. These
prisoners realize the fact that Amaras cannot experience something worse than
being unceremoniously buried in mass graves as happened in the last five years.
These prisoners radiate such a high morale and confidence that the prison
authorities and guards are very fearful of them. We the prisoners have been able
to glean or discern the fear which our prison guards experience from their body
languages. Owing to their fear of us the guards at our prison have been constantly walking with their fingers on the
trigger of the guns they carry with them”.
The Oromuma
regime has primarily targeted the Amara ethnic group. The Amarasrepresenta big ethnic
group the identity of whose members is intimately entwined with the identity of
Ethiopia. Owing to the size of the Amara population and their history of
jealously guarding the independence of Ethiopia at a great cost, the incumbent regime fears that once organized the Amaras would pose the greatest threat to its political
project of creating a new Oromiacountry
on the ruins of Ethiopia. Although Amaras have been targeted today as the main
enemies of the regime, the highly repressive and expansionist policies of the
incumbent regime have not spared other ethnic groups such as the Gurages,
Gamos, Konsos, Gedeos, Sidamas, Afars, Somalis, Gambella, Benishangul etc.
These other groups realize that after the defeating and destroying the Amaras,
the incumbent regime would turn against them with the goal of destroying their
identity, occupying their lands and creating a homogenous Oromia state.
The Oromumma regime is
slowly creating a new Oromia country that has no any previous history of
independence existence. Today, if you go to Mercato (the biggest market in
Africa), Oromos have been elbowing out from the business sector other ethnic
groups such as the Tigreans, Gurages, Amaras, etc. Today the Oromos dominate
this market to the determent of non-Oromo ethnic groups. All these bode ill for
the peace and coexistence of the Ethiopian people in this country. No ethnic group would be spared from this
onslaught of the Oromumma regime. To prevent the disintegration of Ethiopia and
mutual destruction, I urge the people of Ethiopia to join hands and remove the incumbent
political order”.
Names of Some of the
Amara prisoners held in the Awash military camp feature the following
individuals
Mr. Yohannes Buayalew –
elected member of the Amara regional parliament who suffers from diabetes
mellitus and complications thereof.
Dr. Girma (lecturer at
Jimma University)
Dr. Kassa Teshager,
elected member of the Addis Ababa city council
Mrs. Mennen Haile (wife
of Brigadier general Teferra Mammo former head of the Amara Special Forces).
Her husband who has been wounded repeatedly in various wars has been denied
permission to leave Ethiopia for medical treatment abroad. This happened long
after medical doctors inside Ethiopia who have examined him have advised him to
seek specialized treatment outside Ethiopia as the treatment which he needs is
not available in Ethiopia.
Sister Yeshi (a nurse)
Mr. Sintayehu Chekol
Dejene(a
diabetic patient)
Mr. Abay Zewdu (is a
journalist who was repeatedly imprisoned before). He told them upfront that
they can pound or batter his bones and is not afraid of death.
Mr. Christian Tadelle,
elected member of the Ethiopian Federal Parliament
Mr. Bekalu Alamrew
Shitu, a journalist
Mr. Melak AyanawTigabe
Mr. Temesgen
DilnesaAlegn
Mr. LikkuEnawgawYihune
Mr. Temesgen Abebe
Mesfin
Dr. Adisse Berhanu
(lecturer at Jimma university)
Dr. SimegnewAlemineh, a
medical doctor who used to work at the Black Lion Teaching hospital and
chairman of the Amara Medical Association in Ethiopia.
After this interview
was conducted, many other Amaras have been abducted and thrown into the Awash
Arba concentration camp. One such individual currently languishing at Awash
Araba is Mr. Belay Manaye. He is a prominent journalist, who a few years ago,
was also imprisoned following the killing of Mr. HatchaluHundessa, an Oromo
ultra-nationalist and singer. As I write this paper, reports coming out
of Ethiopia say more than one thousand Amara youth have been abducted from
Addis Ababa and thrown into the Awash Arba concentration camp.
Translator's note:
During the last 33 years, Ethiopia has been ruled by two ultra-nationalist regimes whose policies are informed by a fascist ideology that openly preach the supremacy of a chosen ethnic group (Tigreans between 1991-2018 and now Oromos since 2018). Both regimes have created an apartheid system in Ethiopia. The incumbent regime whose policies are informed by fascist ideology is trying to destroy the pan-Ethiopian institutions that held together Ethiopians across the religious and ethnic divide. Pan-Ethiopian institutions have become targets of destruction for both the TPLF and the incumbent Oromo regime. For the current Oromo regime, pan-Ethiopian institutions are seen as impediment to its drive of creating a new Oromo state ethnically cleansed of non-Oromos. It is based on this apartheid policy that part of Addis Abeba city has been annexed to the so-called Oromia regional state and the city of Shegerhas been ethnically cleansed of non-Oromos by driving out 700000 non-Oromos. This has been accomplished by demolishing the houses of non-Oromos and reducing these non-Oromos into destitute people overnight. The Oromization of the capital city Addis Abeba is in line with the claim made by five different Oromo political groups in Ethiopia who came out boldly on Ethiopian television and claimed Addis Ababa as an Oromo city. This regime like all fascist regimes before it is war-like, thrives on crisis, pursues expansionist polices that violate the rights of non-Oromos that it perceives as a threat to its political project of creating a homogenous Oromia state ethnically cleansed of non-Oromos. The incumbent Oromumma regime has created a visible sense of supremacy and entitlement among millions of its radicalized youth Oromo followers known as the Queros. Jawar Mohammed, a fascist thug has been able to mobilize millions of radicalized Oromo youth crowds,went with his fanatic followers to an area called Koye Fetche and demanded the distribution of thousands of apartments to Oromos who did not pay a penny for these apartments. Thousands ofEthiopians of non-Oromo descent who paid money for years hoping to get these apartments were denied the very apartments for which they paid so much money. It was Mr. Takelle Umma, an Oromo ultra-nationalist who was unlawfully made mayor of Addis Ababa that unabashedly gave away to Oromos freely thousands of apartments for which many non-Oromos have paid huge amounts of money.This is the sense of entitlement Oromos in present Ethiopia feel in the same way Tigreans felt in a strong sense of entitlement in the period from 1991-2018.
The bold assertion of five Oromo political organizations that the capital city Addis Ababa belongs to Oromos six years ago another instance of a hyperbolized sense of entitlement and brazen assertion of Oromo supremacy in Ethiopia. The brazenly expansionist drive of armed Oromo forces into non-Oromo territories by way of annexing these regions through ethnic cleansing of non-Oromos clearly corroborates this fascist drive and search for Lebensraum (life-space) a la Nazi Germany. What the Tigreans did by illegally occupying Welkait, Telemet and Raya was in line with creating a comfortable life space (Lebensraum) for the superior ethnic group of Ethiopia. Repeatedly, the Oromo Liberation Front, which is visibly supported by the incumbent Oromumma regime, has launched a deadly attack on the town of Ataye, and destroyed many houses, ransacked and pillaged the town and forced tens of thousands of people in areas of north Shewa like Dera, Shewa Robbit, Kara Kore, Majete, etc and eastern Shewa (such as Minjar, Awra Godana town), etc. Awra Godana town was ransacked and more than 3200 of its Amara inhabitants forcibly displaced after the incumbent regime and the Oromo specialized forces its dispatched carried out heinous deeds against the defenseless Amaras who used to live in this town. Today, this town which lies on the strategic route connecting Addis Ababa with Dijbouti has been duly incorporated as part of the Oromia state.
This fascistic regime is bent on a social engineering political project through which it has been able to annex part of what was Addis Ababa to the Oromia regional state thereby creating an Oromo city called Sheger after having demolished more than one hundred and ten thousand houses owned by non-Oromos. By so doing, it has ethnically cleansed the Amara people and to some extent the Gurages, Gammos and other people of southern Ethiopia. It has embarked on a systematic ethnic cleansing of Addis Ababa city by imposing exorbitant urban land tax meant to break the economic backbone of non-Oromos who would be forced to leave the city unable to pay such exorbitant taxes. All this is done by way of ethnically cleansing non-Oromos from the city. Mr. Shimeles Abdissa has openlysaid that his government has embarked on the task of “returning Oromos to their original place”implying that the non-Oromos who are being ethnically cleansed from Addis Ababa are aliens or intruders who have no right to live in Addis Ababa.
During the last 6
years, government institutions are preponderantly staffed by Oromos who feel
entitled to lord it over Ethiopians. As I write this paper, several historical
neighborhoods of Addis Ababa city are being demolished in a manner that has no
precedence in any part of the world. The systematically directed genocidethat
has particularly targeted the Amara people dotted in every nook and corner of
Ethiopia by the now defunct Tigrean minority regime has been even amplified
more during the last 6 years by its successor the Orommuma regime. Amaras in
the last 6 years have been targeted for genocidal killings not only by the
incumbent Orommuma regime but also by its ideological brother the Oromo
Liberation Front’s armed wing. True to a fascist state, genocidal campaigns
have targeted Amaras owing to their ethnic identity. The Fano movement emerged to
end the unprecedented existential threat posed to the Amara people once and for
all and create a political order where human rights, rule of law and respect
for the lives of all Ethiopian citizens is respected and guaranteed across all
nooks and cranniesof Ethiopia irrespective of one’s ethnic/religious identities
or cultural shibboleth.
--------------------------------------------------End---------------------------------------
- Mr.
Sintayehu Chekol Dejene is a man who has been jailed on multiple occasions by
the now defunct TPLF and incumbent regimes.
He suffers from diabetes mellitus – a disease that is exacerbated by
stressful conditions obtaining in this prison.
