June 2008: A Great Moral Victory for the Anuak Nation – Another Victim of the Abyssinian Hell

By: Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
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[ Posted On: 2008-07-05 ]

After years of devoted struggle for Justice, the Anuak Justice Council marked a spectacular victory of moral character when the traveling Anuak butcher Omot Obang Olum, a traitor of the Anuak Nation who collaborated with the Abyssinian occupation forces in the Anuak Genocide (424 Anuak leaders dead - December 2003) only to be appointed as the Gambella Region Governor by the paranoiac Tigray dictator Meles Zenawi, had his visa application for entry into Canada denied.

Similar victory will be marked by other subjugated and tyrannized nations of Abyssinia (fallaciously re-baptized as ‘Ethiopia’), if they better coordinate their struggle for Liberation, Independence, Freedom and Justice. In that great African battle for the ultimate demolition of the colonial times’ relic ‘Ethiopia’, coordination and cooperation among all the subjugated nations will be the key to ultimate success.

Cooperation should be based on principles of Truth, Justice, Equity, Parity, Solidarity and Respect for National and Cultural Identity. And the model for further progress and development should be taken from the demolition of Yugoslavia, which brought peace and development to its members who got liberated from the Serbian totalitarian rule of Slobodan Milosevic, and entered or started negotiations fro adhesion to the EU.

I republish here integrally a News Release issued by the Anuak Justice Council on this occasion; in addition, I publish excerpts from an article – Call to traitors of Abyssinia’s subjugated nations and Human Rights abusers that helps them as reminder to understand that the days of totalitarian racist Abyssinian rule are numbered.

News Release - June 7, 2008
http://www.anuakjustice.org/080607GovernorOfGambellaDeniedVisaToEnterCanada.htm

Unelected Governor of Gambella, Accused of Deep Involvement in Crimes Against Humanity, has been Denied a Visa to Enter Canada

Mr. Omot Obang Olum, the Gambella Region Governor who was appointed to his position following his suspected collaboration with the EPRDF regime of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in the massacre of 424 Anuak leaders in Gambella in December of 2003, has had his visa application for entry into Canada denied by Canadian government officials late on Friday, June 6, 2008.

Mr. Olum was scheduled to speak at a meeting in Calgary to Canadian Ethiopians from the Gambella region on Saturday, June 7, but now will not make it. In an earlier meeting held in Minnesota on May 31, many attendees were dissatisfied with Olum’s emphasis on developing the region while appearing to evade questions or flatly deny his own alleged part in the human rights crimes going on in the region before, during and after the killings. Mr. Omot Olum failed to publicly take the higher ground and admit to his wrongdoing. Anuak would love to be so surprised—if it were deemed honest and sincere.

Efforts to deny his entry into the United States were unsuccessful even though we have learned from anonymous sources that United States officials had detained Olum for questioning after he arrived in the states on May 30, 2008, but that he was later released, allegedly, because he held a diplomatic visa that gave him special privileges and greater immunity against possible action.

Regardless, Canada has now taken a stand against an alleged perpetrator of genocide and human rights crimes. This is all the more significant to the family of these victims as Olum and other legitimate suspects all the way up to the federal offices in Addis Ababa, have never been held accountable for these actions within Ethiopia. Way to go, Canada! No longer do we want western countries to be used as safe havens for those who have committed gross human rights abuses.

Mr. Olum, who was the chief of security for the region at the time of the massacre, had been identified in testimony from witnesses given to human rights investigators from Genocide Watch, Survivors Rights’ International and Human Rights Watch (HRW) as the individual responsible for compiling and handing over the list of Anuak leaders who were later targeted and killed.

Mr. Olum later was appointed as governor of the Gambella region in a suspected payoff for his loyalty to the EPRDF government of Ethiopian unelected Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. To date, no one has been held accountable for the massacre of the Anuak. Neither has anyone been held accountable for the over 200 Ethiopians killed in protests following the hijacking of the Ethiopian National Election of 2005 or for the gross human rights crimes being perpetrated in the Ogaden and into Somalia as well as for the countless other human rights abuses committed throughout Ethiopia.

In a comment made to the Calgary Herald, Karen Shadd, a spokeswoman for Citizenship and Immigration Canada, was quoted in their June 6, 2008 article as saying that "the department takes public safety seriously even though she could not comment on the visa." We now see the proof that her statement had substance to it.

Canadian government figures show that there are over 800 war criminals or human rights abusers currently living in Canada. In 2000, Canada passed a new law that the Canadian courts have jurisdiction to hear cases in court of those found to be in the country—even one related to individuals visiting on a visa who are suspected of committing a human rights crime such as Omot Olum. Should he have been allowed to enter the country, this law could have taken effect on his case.

However, the current denial of Olum’s visa is the best first step and Canadians have taken it. This is the kind of action that is needed to bring to an end the human rights abuses and the repression of freedom and democracy in Ethiopia being carried out by the regime of Meles Zenawi.

We are hoping that this action is an indication of a new level of commitment to upholding the principles of freedom and democracy in Third World countries that western countries like Canada and the United States hold so dear.

The West’s War on Terror has contributed to the willingness of donor countries such as Canada and the United States to turn a blind eye to the horrific violations of human rights and oppression in countries such as Ethiopia whose partnership in the War on Terror has given them impunity. Yet, on the home front, the prime minister of Ethiopia, Meles Zenawi, is terrorizing his own people.

Canada’s partnership with Meles Zenawi, also seen by many Ethiopians as complicity with a dictator, is putting Canada’s own future relationship with Ethiopians in jeopardy. If Canadians in leadership and in the media fail to acknowledge how our support of this dictator is a means to perpetuate human rights abuses, the sabotage of the democratic process and the repression of the press, we will end up compromising not only our moral principles as a free country, but we will be putting our own future national interests at greater risk as these average Ethiopians become hostile to us in the west due to our silence and self-interest. Please do something to change the course of these events!

If there is a group interested in further pursuing this, please contact us for more information.

Human Rights Abusers: "Watch Out, You May Not Find the West a Safe Haven Anymore!"

As pleased as the Anuak Justice Council is with the recent decision by Canadian authorities to deny entry into Canada to Omot Obang Olum, the Anuak governor of the Gambella region suspected of complicity in the Anuak massacre of 2003, we are far more pleased with the prospects of what this means to other Ethiopians suspected of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity who may attempt to seek entry or asylum in the West.

For the Canadian authorities to deny a visa to a human rights criminal suspect like Olum, is a victory for justice and is an encouraging indication to other victims of such crimes within Ethiopia. For perpetrators who have inflicted unbearable pain on their fellow Ethiopians, thinking they are above the law of God and country, it is a stern and chilling warning to find out that a door in the West has just slammed shut to them as a potential safe haven.

In Ethiopia, human rights crimes can be committed without legal consequence if one is "rightly connect" to the government, but after this action by Canadians, these perpetrators can no longer automatically assume they will be able to escape to the West should the brutal and repressive Meles regime fall.

For the Anuak who were tortured, put in jail or who lost loved ones at the hands of such suspected human rights criminals as Olum, they will be encouraged that finally someone has been held accountable for crimes covered up and seemingly forgotten, even though it was done by strangers living over a thousand miles away from where it was perpetrated.

Even though many Anuak and other victims of oppression within Ethiopia are afraid to confront their Woyane governor or Meles himself, fearful of their power to punish any objecting to their rule, the denial of this visa into Canada serves as proof that those guilty of such crimes may finally answer for their actions.

Justice, righteousness and truth are all parts of God’s holy character and those who violate these principles violate universal codes set in place not by man but by God. Most every human being knows this in his or her heart which is exactly the reason for the extensive lies, denials and cover-up being advanced by the Ethiopian propaganda machine of Meles Zenawi.

The truth would demand a just response and they know it! That is why they continue to offer up pathetically weak lies in the face of voluminous evidence to the contrary. In other words, they want to escape the consequences of their actions, but thankfully, it did not work this time!

That same desire for truth is the reason why some Anuak and I boycotted the meeting—because we knew the truth would be dodged and manipulated. Establishing the truth is the same reason why the AJC was initially set up because in December of 2003, something evil and outrageous happened in a dark corner of Africa when the Anuak were massacred by their own government.

In arrogance, the Meles regime thought they could get away with it, but it led to the formation of the AJC and the truth got out. In fact, with the visit of Olum the heinous crimes committed against the Anuak were again repeated in newspapers all over the world through new press articles.

Now, with the release of the recent Human Rights Watch report on what is happening in the Ogaden and into Somalia, more publicity is directed towards the horrific tactics of the Meles government, but with it, more predictable denials. It is only a matter of time before incidents in the Afar region, in Beningshangul-Gumuz, in Oromia, along the Sudanese-Ethiopian border and in other parts of the country will be added to the list.

Strangely, the lying is becoming progressively more absurd in the face of mounting evidence; but the more it does so, the less likely it seems that Meles and company will ever change. Everything is pretense on the outside and fake on the inside—democracy, justice, stability, development and even our gold—are all just trappings. Instead, we are left with a hollow core, expected to live an illusion while desperately needing healing.

We have become a country of lies and we all are experiencing the consequences of that. Meles government is even lying about the hunger and starvation of millions of Ethiopians in fear of being found responsible. Yet, such lies will never feed the people. Instead, Jesus Christ said, "the truth will set us free."

.....................

Be warned, this is not what the Meles regime wants for Ethiopians. He and his puppets in charge in every district and region of the country want us to agree to be silent about injustice and to compromise on the truth and our morality.

Omot Olum is an Anuak and people within the AJC know him. As a person we have nothing against him, but we stand against the evil things he has done. We even know that no one has ever reported seeing him pull the trigger to kill anyone, but we have strong evidence that his actions have contributed to the loss of Anuak lives and caused great pain to many Anuak. For that reason, we want him to be held accountable.

We also know he was responsible for the arrests and imprisonment of many Anuak, especially Anuak leaders arrested in 2002 who were imprisoned in Addis Ababa until 2007, losing productive years of their lives. Their families suffered from their absence. Some of the prisoners died while in prison.

Mr. Olum arrested them because he was the most trusted supporter of the Meles regime and because he did was threatened by his own people who were upholding truth and justice in the way they conducted their lives. He was also in charge of security for the region when the massacre took place. The governor at the time reported that Olum was the one to give the names to the military commander who later issued the order to kill the Anuak.

Without his help, the TPLF military would not have known which Anuak were threats to their total sovereignty. Now, for them to come to ask Anuak to talk about peace, investment and development is settling for something far less than justice and that is unsettling! Olum and his counterparts in other regions throughout the country should be found accountable.

We know that Olum is a tiny fish among bigger fish and we know that he and many more within the TPLF throughout Ethiopia have done the same for those on the top, but the benefits will not last. The denial of his visa is sending a message to Meles and his gang-style government that seems willing to do most anything to remain in power even if its own citizens are starving or being killed that when this government finally goes down, and it will, like every other one like it, there will be no room for Meles and his supporters in the West for safe haven.

This message is not only for lower ranking perpetrators like Olum, but also for top officials complicit with gross human rights crimes. Not only is Canada working on policies prohibiting war criminals and human rights criminals from entering their country, but similar policies are being discussed by human rights advocates and policy makers in the US, the UK and in the EU. This is what HR 2003 is all about.

Once this is a law, there will be no room for people like Olum in the West. To Meles supporters who have helped in one way or another in committing human rights abuses, your time has come and there is no room for you to hide. People know who you are and all the authorities may need is your name, your involvement and your crime. One by one justice can be done. The choice is yours to continue supporting this government and committing crimes against humanity under the short-lived protection of a dying regime or changing your ways for good.

If you do not, you may never find the same impunity enabling you to live in luxury in another country that you have relished in Ethiopia during these fleeting last days under the Meles regime. To those who are now working in the administration, take the higher moral ground and refuse to take part in crimes against your fellow Ethiopians like one of the delegates accompanying Olum recently did.

When Olum came, five EPRDF delegates from Gambella accompanied him. One of them was another Anuak man named Obang Oman. He gave the government line publicly, but when it came time to return to Ethiopia, he was nowhere to be found and remains in America. It is not surprising that this additional downturn in Olum’s visit, this defection, was not covered in the EPRDF news

Apparently, Obang Oman stated that even though he and the others had come to encourage the Anuak to return to Gambella to help develop the region and to invest, that what they had told the attendees about Ethiopia being more democratic, more stable and full of more opportunities right now was a lie and he did not want to continue to advance this lie and be part of it. This man has now stood up for the truth and that is why he remained in the US. His refusal to return to Ethiopia speaks more loudly than any words.

In fact, the truth always speaks for itself, much more strongly than the lie. Even a recent Ethiopian News agency press release falsely claimed that 2500 Gambella people had attended the meeting with the Olum and the other Gambella delegates and that the people wanted to come back to develop the region.

The truth is, the number at the meetings in both Minnesota and Nebraska was closer to 300 —combined— and the article’s writer failed to mention three important points: the angry response of many of the people, the fact that one of their delegates remained in America and the fact that Omot Olum’s meeting was cancelled in Canada because he was denied entrance into Canada—not surprising oversights!

This illegitimate government of Meles has demonstrated a lack of morality accompanied by the willingness to lie about anything, just to remain in power. Meles Zenawi even maintained his power during the last election through lies and force. He and his EPRDF government were never legitimately elected and they obviously care very little for the people they are supposed to be serving, like a parent who has abandoned his own children after abusing them.

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Our only hope is in our only real father, God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth who loves the children He has created. Do we return that love with our obedience to His life-giving principles?
.........................

Mr. Obang Metho,
Director of International Advocacy
Anuak Justice Council
E-mail: Obang@anuakjustice.org

Article Source: http://www.afroarticles.com/article-dashboard

About The Author: Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis - is Orientalist, Assyriologist, Egyptologist, Iranologist, Islamologist, Historian and Political Scientist. Dr. Megalommatis, 51, is the author of 12 books, dozens of scholarly articles, hundreds of encyclopedia entries, and thousands of articles. He speaks, reads and writes more than 15, modern and ancient, languages.

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