Wüstenschiff

Die äthiopischen Behörden haben seit der Verhängung des Ausnahmezustands Anfang Oktober nach eigenen Angaben mehr als 11.000 Menschen festgenommen [...] Ihnen würden unter anderem Anstachelung zur Gewalt, Zerstörung öffentlichen und privaten Eigentums sowie Verkehrsblockaden zur Last gelegt.

November 12 marked the first anniversary of the Oromo Protests, a non-institutional and anti-authoritarian movement calling for an end to decades of systemic exclusion and subordination of the Oromo. Although the protests were sparked by a government plan to expand the territorial and administrative limits of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, into neighbouring Oromo towns and villages, they were manifestations of long-simmering ethnic discontents buried beneath the surface [...] If the Oromo protests are a battle of ideas, a contest between those who seek equal opportunity and those who deny these opportunities to all but a few, a conflict between bullets and freedom songs, it was also a battle for the control of the narrative. Unequal access to education and the means of narrative production excluded the Oromo from mainstream knowledge frameworks, rendering them invisible and unnoticeable, and condemning their culture and identity to a precarious subterranean existence. The Rio Olympics reconfigured this dynamic [...] This movement has already changed Ethiopia forever. It brought about a change of attitude and discourse in the Ethiopian society, repudiating the ideological proclivities and policies of the state. It enabled the society to see the government, its institutions, its symbols and its western enablers differently. Topics that used to be considered taboo only a year ago, such as the supremacy of ethnic Tigrean elites, are no longer off limits. In short, it enabled suffering to speak.

Die äthiopische Regierung wolle die Zahl der Opfer bei einem Blutbad während eines Erntedankfestes der Oromo-Volksgruppe und die Umstände ihres Todes offenbar gezielt verheimlichen, kritisierte die Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker (GfbV) genau zwei Monate nach den schrecklichen Ereignissen in Äthiopien. "Nach der Auswertung von Zeugenaussagen sind wir davon überzeugt, dass viel mehr Menschen getötet wurden als die offiziell eingeräumten 56. Auch nähren die Aussagen von Augenzeugen große Zweifel an der offiziellen Darstellung eines bedauerlichen Unfalls aufgrund einer Massenpanik" [...] Nach Schätzungen von lokalen Menschenrechtsgruppen und Oromo-Vertretern kamen bei dem traditionellen Irreecha-Fest am 2. Oktober 2016 mindestens 678 Menschen zu Tode, als Sicherheitskräfte massiv gegen rund zwei Millionen Oromo-Pilger vorgingen [...] "Wenn die Verantwortlichen für den Polizei-Einsatz nicht zur Rechenschaft gezogen werden, wird Äthiopien nicht zur Ruhe kommen."

A prominent Ethiopian opposition leader from the country's restive Oromo region has been arrested after he came back from a meeting with members of the European Parliament in Brussels. Merera Gudina, who is the chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, was arrested in his house in the capital Addis Ababa, according to media reports [...] "Police arrested him in his house the same day in the evening. We haven't been given reasons behind his arrest," [...] Ethiopia's state-aligned FBC radio said the Oromo leader was arrested for "trespassing the state of emergency rulings of the country" [...] Merera was arrested for violating the directive stated under article 2, which prohibits any communication with "banned terrorist organisations and anti-peace groups," FBC said.

Um Platz zu schaffen für die Agrarkonzerne, werden die Bauern zwangsumgesiedelt. Als Entschädigung zahlt der Staat 1,5 Birr (umgerechnet etwa 5 Euro-Cent) je Hektar. Dasselbe Land wird anschließend für 20.000 Birr (800 Euro) an einen Ausländer verpachtet. In Oromo haben die Menschen seither das Gefühl, sie werden für dumm verkauft. Ihre Forderungen gehen deshalb weit über die Landfrage hinaus. Inzwischen fordern sie Neuwahlen und eine echte Demokratie [...] Dabei sind es nicht nur die Oromo, immerhin die größte Volksgruppe, die sich gegen das Regime auflehnen. Die Amharen haben sich dem Protest angeschlossen, und bei den Somaliern in der Region Ogaden köchelt es ebenfalls. Die Proteste haben ein Ausmaß angenommen, das die Existenz des ethnisch organisierten Föderalismus in Äthiopien gefährdet.

martin.r hat geschrieben: ↑

Do 29. Dez 2016, 14:20

Hörte allerdings aktuell von Bekannten aus Nairobi, das es in Äthiopien derzeit Probleme mit Aufständen im Norden gibt.

Karl Heinz hat geschrieben: ↑

Do 29. Dez 2016, 17:44

Das kann ich Bestätigen, zwei Fahrzeuge sind vor kurzem etwa 200 Km vor Addis umgekehrt, einen hat es böse erwischt!

lukas1980 hat geschrieben: ↑

Fr 30. Dez 2016, 07:13

Hallo Karl-Heinz,
Kannst Du dazu ein bisschen konkreter werden oder einen Link setzen? Was ist passiert? Und wo genau? Zwischen Bahir Dar und Addis oder auf einer anderen Strecke?

Karl Heinz hat geschrieben: ↑

Fr 30. Dez 2016, 07:32

Hi Lukas,
habe die Info von einem Weißen in Arusha der beide Fahrzeuge samt Fahrer gut kennt. Beide waren von Kenia nach Addis unterwegs. Einem wurde durch Demonstranten der Wagen demoliert. Danach sind sie zurück. Der andere etwas später, selbe Route, konnte rechtzeitig vorher umdrehen. Ich hatte selbst überlegt nach Addis zu fahren deshalb war ich nach Infos unterwegs.

steffen hat geschrieben: ↑

Di 3. Jan 2017, 00:18

In diesem Sinne ein ruhiges friedliches 2017

Eye witnesses reveal, last Wednesday night a bomb blasted in front of Bahir Dar Grand Hotel. Until this news went to print, it was not reported if there were sustained human or property damages. No one has claimed the responsibility nor has indicated the reason regarding the bomb that blasted at 8 PM local time. Nevertheless, it is to be reminded leaflets opposing the staging of the music festival last Sunday were distributed.

A hand grenade attack at a Hotel in Gondor town of Ethiopia’s northern Amhara region claimed the live of one person and injured at least 11 others, regional police disclosed on Wednesday. The incident occurred Tuesday evening when an unidentified attacker threw a hand grenade at Entasol, a hotel known for its recreation activities [...] Officials are yet to disclose details on whether if the attack was a terrorist one or linked with the latest violent anti-government protests sparked in Oromia region and spread to Amhara regional state over demands of territorial, political and economic rights [...] “The attack might be a new tactic started by anti-peace forces as the strategy they had been pursuing in the past failed” regional police official told the state affiliated Fana Broadcasting Corporate.

A new tax levied by authorities on small businesses and vendors has reportedly led to protests in Ethiopia’s Oromia region with the military and police deployed to bring the situation under control. The tax hike is being imposed on businesses with an annual turnover of up to 100,000 birr ($4,300), as part of a new government proposal to boost the tax base and raise much-needed government revenue. Residents in Ambo city in Oromia damaged two state-owned vehicles, according to Addis Standard newspaper, while businesses in Woliso town shut their businesses in protest. The paper also quoted state officials saying that even though the situation was currently under control, there were plans for region-wide protests.

Ethiopia has lifted a state of emergency enacted on October 9, 2016 after a deadly week of arson and violence left many private and state-owned firms in flames. The Ethiopian parliament based in Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa Friday formally lifted the state of emergency after hearing report from Siraj Fegessa, minister of the Ethiopian Ministry of Defense, which said Ethiopia's stability has been sufficiently restored to warrant full lifting of martial law.

Thousands of people have fled Ethiopia's Somali region following deadly clashes in recent days between ethnic Somalis and Oromos [...] The clashes have displaced at least 30,000 people, some of whom have taken refuge in makeshift camps at a stadium in the eastern city of Harar, whilst others are camping at police stations [...] Following intense anti-government protests that plagued the Horn of Africa country during most of 2016, the government imposed a 10-month state of emergency, which was lifted in July. While this heightened state of alert calmed most of the restive areas in the Oromia region, it did not stop cross-border clashes in the Oromia and Somali areas [...] Additionally, clashes that occur between the two communities can easily spread to neighbouring regions and countries because of shared ethnic ties. The recent conflict has reportedly inspired the killing of two Ethiopians of Oromo origin in Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland. People are reportedly trying to escape the violence by fleeing to the Kenyan town of Moyale, which also has a history of Oromo-Somali conflict.

An Ethiopian official says protests in the restive Oromia region left six people dead Wednesday as anti-government demonstrations return to some parts of the East African country. Oromia regional official Abiy Ahmed says more than 30 people were injured in clashes in Shashamane town and an area called Boke. He did not say who was responsible for the killings. Blogger and university lecturer Seyoum Teshome says more than 15,000 people rallied again Thursday in Wolisso town against the country’s ruling elite. He says it was mostly peaceful.

At least five people were killed in a town in Ethiopia’s restive Oromiya region on Thursday after police opened fire during a protest, witnesses said. Protesters had blocked the main road in Ambo, some 130 km (80 miles) west of the capital Addis Ababa, to demonstrate against sugar shortages, before police arrived to disperse the crowd [...] Separately, ethnic clashes killed at least 11 people this week in the same region. Another bout of violence along Oromiya’s border with the country’s Somali region last month displaced hundreds of thousands of people.

IRIN hat geschrieben:
Ethnic violence displaces hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians

Lifting her robe the young woman revealed undulating scar tissue blanketing her breasts, stomach, and extending up her neck and along her arms. “They poured petrol over me then lit it,” said 28-year-old Husaida Mohammed. “They were Somali boys.”

When IRIN met Mohammed she was in a camp of about 3,500 displaced Oromo people on the outskirts of Harar, the ancient walled city in Ethiopia’s Harari Region. It had taken her over a month to make the 100-kilometre journey to safety from Jijiga, the capital of Ethiopia’s far eastern Somali Region. For weeks she lay hidden in an empty Oromo-owned house tended to by friends as she recovered from her injuries.

Next to her in the large warehouse being used to shelter the displaced was a woman in a striking pink robe. She had no visible injuries but didn’t utter a word. “She was throttled so badly they damaged her vocal chords,” a doctor explained. “She can’t eat anything, only drink fluids.”

Tit-for-tat ethnic violence in Ethiopia’s two largest regions of Oromia and Somali began in September and has forced hundreds of thousands from their homes. Local media have reported upwards of 200,000 displaced, humanitarian workers at the camps talk of 400,000.

Chronology

The unrest began when two Oromo officials were reportedly killed on the border between the two territories, allegedly by Somali Region police. On 12 September, protests by Oromo in the town of Aweday, between Harar and the city of Dire Dawa, led to rioting that left 18 dead. The majority were Somali khat traders, a mildly narcotic leaf widely chewed. Somalis who fled Aweday said the number of dead was closer to 40. In response to Aweday, the Somali Regional government began evicting Oromo from Jigjiga and the region. Officials say this was for the Oromo’s own safety, and that no Oromo died as a result of ethnic violence in the region – a claim disputed by those displaced.

In addition to the camps around Harar and Dire Dawa – cities viewed as neutral safe havens – they have popped up elsewhere along the contentious regional border. In these camps Oromo and Somali tell equally convincing stories of ethnic violence. They accuse the regional special police – in the Somali Region known as the Liyu, and in Oromia as the Liyu Hail – of being behind many of the attacks. Both regional governments deny their police forces were involved. The federal government faces fierce accusations ranging from not doing enough, to deliberately turning a blind eye to the violence.

The Oromo see this as punishment after their year of protests against the ruling party that led to a state of emergency. There has also been a legacy of distrust of the Somali Region in Addis Ababa. The perception is that among the population there is revanchist sympathy for the idea of a Greater Somalia. Another possibility is that the government simply has not had the capacity to effectively respond, so widespread has been the violence.

Oromia and Somali share a 1,400-kilometre long border. The Oromo are Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, numbering about 35 million, a factor Ethiopia’s other ethnic groups remain deeply conscious of – especially its 6.5 million Somalis.

History of hate

Ethnic conflict along the common border and in the rural hinterland has long existed – with Oromo migration a particular source of friction. The ongoing drought, which has put pressure on pasture and resources, could be another.

“As you move west of the regional border the land becomes higher with more water and pasture,” said the head of a humanitarian organisation who spoke on condition of anonymity over the sensitivity of the issues. “Where the regional border runs is very contentious – you’ll find different maps giving a different border,” he added.

At the same time, many of the displaced spoke of their shock at how the violence broke out in formerly close-knit communities that had integrated peacefully, often for centuries, and in which intermarriage between Oromo and Somali was the norm. Some of the history and scale of this violence can be found 80 kilometres east of Dire Dawa, just over the regional border in the Somali Region, where two giant camps for displaced Somalis are co-located in the lee of the Kolechi Mountains. In the older camp are 5,300 Somali households displaced by a mixture of drought and ethnic violence since 2015. In the newer camp are 3,850 households – roughly six to 10 people each – all made homeless by the recent trouble.

One Somali man who arrived nine months ago, before the current surge of unrest, recounted his experience at the hands of Oromia’s Liyu Hail in Oromo’s Bale zone, hundreds of kilometres to the southwest. He said a violent mob of Oromo militia had come to his village so he and a group of about 40 men went to the regional police to request protection. “But the man in charge ordered his men to fire at us,” the Somali man said. “Everyone fell – I wasn’t hit but I was covered in so much blood from the others the police thought I was dead, and I escaped.” He claims 200 people in total were killed and 893 houses were burned: “Everything was looted, all livestock taken – it was unimaginable.”

The people in both camps pull back clothing to reveal old bullet wounds, scars, and lesions from burns, and broken bones that never healed. A number of displaced Somalis say they survived thanks to the intervention of soldiers from the Ethiopian Defence Force during the recent violence. But it wasn’t enough to persuade them to remain, or to return. “If the federal government sends forces to keep the peace, they stay for a week or a month, and then after they leave it happens again,” said one Somali man. “We can’t risk staying.”

What next?

The violence has also crossed borders with reports of Oromo leaving ethnically Somali Djibouti and Somaliland, where two Ethiopians were reportedly killed in the capital, Hargeisa. It’s believed this could have been the revenge of relatives of some of the traders that died in Aweday. For the Oromo and Somali displaced from their homes, the next step is to find a long-term solution. But Ethiopia’s federal system devolves quite a bit of power to ethnic regional states. With sectarian anger still running high, this leaves the government in a quandary over how to respond to the crisis, some commentators have pointed out.

“[Those displaced] could be integrated in the communities where they are now, resettled elsewhere, or returned to their original communities,” said one official in an international organisation who asked for anonymity. “The government [is] committed to everyone being able to return home, as is their constitutional right to live where they want, but for most [of them] we are not sure whether this is possible.”