Jan 23, (2013 (QOL)
UK tenders to train Ethiopian paramilitaries
accused of abuses; Exclusive: documents seen by the Guardian
detail £13-£15m government funding for ‘special
police’ in Ogaden region:
This letter is in response to the Guardian article on the
UK government’s support to the Ethiopian Special Police
and the letters from DFID and the Ethiopian Embassy in London
which specializes in sugar coating crimes perpetrated by
the Ethiopian regime in Ogaden.
ONLF thanks the Guardian for airing this important issue.
Brave journalists are the bane of all dictatorial regimes
and the regime in Addis Ababa is so apprehensive in the
media airing the crimes they are committing in ogaden, they
have adopted the policy of shoot on sight of any journalist
who venture to the Ogaden.
The Ogaden national Liberation Front (ONLF) would like to
thank also the UK government for its public commitment to
help the Somali people in Ogaden. However, development and
security in the Ogaden will require justice, peace and stability
that involve a resolution of the long-standing armed conflict
that has blighted the Ogaden.
The assumption that the Special police or other security
services that operate in the Ogaden can be professionalised
without a robust commitment to investigate and prosecute
them for their crime is deeply flawed. The ONLF supports
calls for an independent investigation and prosecution of
perpetrators of human rights violations in the Ogaden. Therefore,
ONLF is deeply concerned by the UK government’s decision
to fund training for the special “Liyu“ police,
who have committed widespread killings, summary executions,
rape, destroyed of hundreds of villages, and displaced of
more than hundred thousand people and committed other inhumane
acts in the Ogaden.
The Liyu Police were set up by the Ethiopian government
as a tool for counter-insurgency and control, meting out
collective punishment to the Ogaden civilian population
who hold aspirations for self-determination and an attempt
to reframe the conflict between the ONLF and the Ethiopian
government as an internal conflict within the Ogaden people.
There have been no recent independent investigations into
the Ethiopian Army’s crimes against humanity by international
Humanitarian organisations and independent international
media. Furthermore, it’s unfortunate that the UK government
has decided to support the Ethiopian government when they
have consistently refused access to international human
rights agencies and media into the region to report on these
crimes. If Ethiopia has nothing to hide, let it accept the
recommendations of the UN human Rights council and allow
an independent investigation by the UN human Rights rapporteur,
international Human Rights organisations and unfettered
access for international media.
Although providing training to the Liyu police will not
change the balance of power in Ogaden, what is at risk in
this decision is the neutrality of safety of international
humanitarian actors – NGO’s, UN aid agencies
and international Humanitarian effort in Ogaden. The funding
of Liyu police training or other Ethiopian government oppressive
security establishments by the UK government and the involvement
of international NGO’s in their training will risk
making it a part to the human rights violations of the Ogaden
people in the eyes of the those who have suffered considerably
at the hands of the Liyu police or those similar institutions.
Therefore, no amount of re-branding of this paramilitary
force or other similar oppressive instrument of the Ethiopian
government will remedy the damage already done to the Ogaden
civilians.
The Ogaden National liberation Front is deeply committed
to finding a resolution to this conflict through political
dialogue. Despite this provocative decision, it informs
the UK government and international community, that ONLF
will uphold its position of refraining from any attacks
upon all civilians including all international NGO’s
and other aid agencies in the Ogaden though it will not
be able to guarantee their safety.
The ONLF kindly requests the UK government to amend this
project in a way that is transparent and does not involve
any of the warring parties or stop such project and instead
concentrate on vigorously supporting an internationally
mediated solution to the Ogaden conflict as it did in other
parts of Africa. ONLF believes that this is the only way
to attain a sustainable peace and stability in the whole
Horn of Africa.
Albert Einstein defined insanity as doing the same thing
repeatedly and expecting different results. Therefore, isn’t
it insane that Ethiopian government keeps creating “
ONLF factions” or other terrorist groups and claiming
to negotiate and reach peace agreements with them, while
running away from the genuine mediation efforts by neutral
third parties, such as the recent Kenyan government led
effort and expecting the Ogaden conflict will evaporate
into thin air. Accordingly, the Ethiopian government must
realise that Peace and Justice are two sides of the same
coin and it cannot have one while avoiding the other. The
leadership of the current Ethiopian regime resided in London
in the early seventies and eighties and if being dissents
in a foreign country is a crime, they shall be the ones
to be brought to trial.
Finally, it is an open secret that the Ethiopian government
funds through proxies many of the extremists in the Horn
of Africa, in order to ride the band-wagon of the War on
Terror and hide the many crimes it commits against the Ogaden
and its own people. ONLF is fighting for the right of the
Somali people to exercise their inalienable right to self-determination
without any pre-conditions in an internationally supervised
plebiscite. The Ogaden issue precedes the Ethiopian constitution
or the situation in the failed state of Somalia and is a
national liberation issues. Therefore, Ethiopia’s
attempt to reduce it to a religious issues is cheap and
has already failed. ONLF has no relationship with Al-Shabab
or for that matter any other organization that professes
the terror against unarmed civilians.
Issued by ONLF
22 January 2013
