January 20, 2006 (ANDnetwork) - The Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC)has called on the international community to publicly censure the government of Ethiopia and the administration in the breakaway republic of Somaliland for the mass killings, disapperances, torture and other forms of inhumane treatment still being metted out to the Oromo people in both countries.
After the collapse of Mohamed Siad Barre’s despotic rule, in 1991, some tribes of the Northwest Region of Somalia declared unilaterally the formation of a new state called “Somaliland”. Since its proclamation in May 1991, the self-declared Republic of Somaliland has got no recognition from the international community, which considers the region a part and parcel of the Somali Republic, which came to existence afterthe reunification of British and Italian Somalilands in 1960.
When Eritrea gained its independence in 1993, Ethiopia lost its sea outlet and became a landlocked country. In 1998, after the breakout of Ethio-Ertrean border war the then Somaliland President Mohamed Ibrahim Egal offered the Ethiopian government the use ofBerbera seaport freely. The two sides forged an alliance against their respective opposition, namely ONLF, OLF and the real SNM of the Somaliland’s founding father, and its first president the late Abdirahaman Ahmed Ali, also known as Abdirahman Tuur, who rejected the notion of secession from Somali Republic.
Ethiopia established an intelligence-gathering bureau called “Ethiopian Interest Protection Office” to pursue its opposition through its numerous agents in Hargeisa, who has been given free license to detain, rape, torture and kill any Somali from the Ogaden suspected of being an ONLF supporter.
In the past 9 years, many Somalis from the Ogaden were detained, tortured, their private properties confiscated and then handed over to the Ethiopian government against their will, in exchange for ammunition and other materials. Some of the detainees are: Abdullahi Haliye, Ahmed Mohamed and Abdullahi Qaji, members of ONLF Central Committee. They were detained in Hargeisa, Northwest Somalia, on 31 July 1996, bymilitia loyal to Mr. Egal, while they were visiting their relatives in the area.
On October 20th 1996, they were handed over to the Ethiopian government against their will, in exchange for ammunition. After repatriation, they were transferred to prison in Diri-Dhabo (Dire-Dawa). The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), was given access to them, and has visited them several times.
On April 10th 2002, a large number of Somalis from the Ogaden, were rounded up and detained without charges, in Hargeisa, by Somaliland and Ethiopian security forces. Many of them were transferred to Baligubadle – a border village between the Ogaden and northwest Somalia – to prepare the ground for their hand over to the Ethiopian government against their will, in exchange for ammunition.
Among themwere: Mukhtar Moalin Yusuf, Khadar Abdi Haji, Mustaf Sheikh, Hussein Moalin, Abdiaziz Ahmed, Badel Aw Ahmed, and Dahir Abdi Haji, all traders. After repatriation they were transferred to prison in Jigjiga, and then to Harar where they subsequently disappeared. Their families and relatives have no idea about their fate and whereabouts.
In November 2003, Egal’s successor Dahir Riyaale Kahin, who is former head of the much feared and notorious Siad Barre’s secret service, known as National Security Service (NSS) in the port city of Berbera, declared all Somalis, who are not from Somaliland as persona non grata and ordered their expulsion within 45 days.
In the 1990s, colonel Dahir Reyaale Kaahin was allegedly responsible for detaining and torturing to death many innocent Somalis, who were accused falsely of being members of Somali National Movement (SNM). Survivors and relatives of Dahir Riyaale’s past atrocities are seeking justice, and would like to see him indicted as war criminal.
On November 30th 2003, 75 Somalis from the Ogaden were arrested and their properties confiscated, in Hargeisa, Northwest Somalia, following raids conducted by Somaliland militia and Ethiopian Security Forces. The detainees were humiliated and beaten up, and were held in incommunicado detention in overcrowded locations. No charges had been laid formally against them and no trial date has been set.
Several weeks later most of the detainees werereleased after they paid extortion money. However, the remaining detainees were accused of ONLF sympathy and membership and were transferred to Hargeisa Central Jail.
Among them were: Mohamed Abdi, Ibrahim Ahmed Abdi, Adan Jibril Hirsi, Mukhtar Muhumed Ibrahim, Abdi Muhumed Digale, Muhumed Abdi Khalif, Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed (Ducaysane), Saatir Yusuf Ibrahim, Sahardid Hussein Abdullahi, Mahamud Muse Hassan, Mahamud Abdi Adan (Wagad), Ali Abdullahi Omar, Muhiadin Dahir Mohamed, Abdi Abib Ahmed, AbdiMohamed Abdi, Abdullahi Ahmed Dahir (Jamal), Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed (Godane), Abdi Ahmed Muhumed, Hassan Muhumed Abdi (Keyd), Abdifatah Farah Abdi, Ahmed Mohamed Hussein (Kukiyo), Abdi Mohamed Abdi, Mohamed Abdi Hussein, Ayale Mohamed Ali, Mohamed Muhumed Mohamed, Hussein Ali Ahmed, Mohamed Deek Khalif (Tin Tin), Abdullahi Ahmed Abdi, Hussein Abdi Osman (Carlos), Ahmed KhalifIlimoge, Abdirahman Dayib Abdi.
They were subjected to extensive torture and maltreatment in the jail during interrogations to extract confessions and information about the ONLF. Many of them are bearing scars of torture on their bodies. Hiis Muse Jama, was subjected to extensive physical and psychological torture in Hargeisa Central Jail. He was denied medical treatment and passed away in his cell.
Source: HANA News
