UN Peacekeeping Forces to Supplant Tigray Gansgter Zenawi’s ‘Ethiopian’ Death Squads in Ogaden

By: Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

[ Posted On: 2008-06-30 ]

In three articles (Ogaden Human Rights Committee Appeals to the United Nations Against Terrorist State 'Ethiopia' - http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/66548 / 'Ethiopia': State Specialized in Extrajudicial Killings, Rape and Child Molestation and Torture - http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/66622 / Stop the Torture of Subjugated African Nations in the Illegal, Terrorist State 'Ethiopia' - http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/66648), I republished parts of a Press Release and Appeal to the International Community, issued by the Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC), in which the leading Ogadeni Human Rights NGO urges the UN and the donor countries to take action against the Terrorist State of Abyssinia (fallaciously re-baptized 'Ethiopia') immediately. More specifically, following parts have been republished: 'Recommendations and Appeals', the 'Background', 'the Human Rights Situation', and 'the Humanitarian Situation'.

In their momentous Appeal, OHRC places the international body and governments of several major countries in front of their historical responsibility to put an end to a most appalling – and extensively documented and reconfirmed – genocide. With the present article, I complete the publication of the OHRC Appeal; in the Appeal's last part, the role of the United Nations is widely explored. The leading Ogadeni Human Rights NGO highlights the possibility and the responsibility of the international body to effectively interfere and irrevocably terminate the present, absolutely unacceptable, situation in Ogaden.

Ogaden : the Dire Human Rights and Humanitarian Situation and the Role of the United Nations
http://www.ogadenrights.org/the_dire.htm

The Role of the United Nations

Since its foundation on June 13th 1995, the Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC) has requested repeatedly the UN to send a fact-finding mission to the Ogaden as well as appointing a Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the region[1].

On August 30th 2007, UN Humanitarian Assessment mission arrived in the region. The OHRC, community elders, peace activists and members of civil society welcomed wholeheartedly, the visit of the UN mission to the region.

On September 05th 2007, U.N. aid officials and human rights investigators ended a week-long mission to the Ogaden. United Nations mission, which visited some parts of the Ogaden, was not given unfettered access to many places and was accompanied and guided by Ethiopian officials as Mr. Abdi Mohamoud Omar the head of the Somali Regional State Security and Justice Bureau told BBC Somali Service in an interview during the visit of the UN mission[2].

Prior the arrival of the UN team in Qabridaharre the Ethiopian chief officer declared his government's intention to punish severely anyone who tells anything bad about the government. He ordered army units to put on civilian clothes during the visit of the UN team and keep an eye on those who may disobey his orders.

In fact the Ethiopian government has confused, manipulated and rendered meaningless the UN mission and in hindsight the mission was a waste of time and money for the following reasons:

I. United Nation's fact-finding mission was not given unfettered access to many places and did not visit Fiiq region and Wardheer region where sites of mass graves and many torched towns, villages and hamlets are located. For unknown reason to the OHRC the UN mission did not visit the following crime scenes: Toon-Ceeley, Xodayo, Lan-Jaleelo, Xero-Bilcir, Garwaan, Lix-Irdood, Samo, Masaarre, Fooljeex, Galadiid, Farmadow, Geerigo'an, Gabagabo, Dalaad , Jiica, Farmadow, Shilaabo, Madax-Maroodi, Karin-Bilcille, Gurdumi, Maraacaato, Daratoole, Laasoole, Higlalay, Labiga, Bulaale, Dawacaale, Dharkeenley, Ceelxaar, Qamuuda, Wacdi, Jinoole, Caado, Balli-Garabey Arraweelo, Xodayo, Taaloole, Dundumo-Cad, Qoriile, Babaase and many others.

II. The final report of the UN mission was given to the Ethiopian authorities for approval before making it public.

III. United Nation's fact-finding mission's recommendations were treated as a dead letter, by the Ethiopian government and the United Nations.

Hence, the Ogaden Human Rights Committee asks for an international, independent, transparent and thorough investigation into the gross human rights violations as well as the appalling humanitarian situation in the Ogaden.

Due to the magnitude and scale of the oppression and violations of the basic human rights in the Ogaden, a large number of Somalis from the Ogaden region flee from their homeland to neighbouring countries, namely; war-torn Somalia Kenya and Djibouti, seeking asylum, shelter and safety.

Refugees from the Ogaden who escape from the Ethiopian government's unceasing infringement on their basic human rights are being persecuted in Puntland, Somaliland and Transitional Federal Government (TFG) areas, where they are constantly imprisoned, tortured and then handed over to the Ethiopian government in exchange for ammunition, materials or simply to prove loyalty, cooperation and friendship to Ethiopia.

According to the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol relating to the status of refugees, it is the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to protect, support and assist refugees in their return or resettlement. The UNHCR prevents forcible repatriation of refugees to a country where they face persecution.

Article 14 (1) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that:
"Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution".

Human rights instruments provide protection against refoulement. The UN Convention against Torture, in Sub article (l and 2) of Article 3 states that:

"1. No State Party shall expel, return (refouler) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.

2. For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the State concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights."

United Nations' Declaration on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance provides in article 8:

"1. No State Party shall expel, return (refouler) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of enforced disappearance.

"2. For the purpose of determining whether there are such grounds, the competent authorities shall take into account all relevant considerations including, where applicable, the existence in the state concerned of a consistent pattern of gross, flagrant or mass violations of human rights."

Principle 5 of the UN Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, arbitrary and Summary Executions states:

"No one shall be involuntarily returned or extradited to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing that he or she may become a victim of extra-legal, arbitrary or summary execution in that country."

On the bases of the Geneva Convention of 1951, and the protocol of 1967,Somali refugees from the Ogaden have well founded ground to apply for asylum and their applications deserve due consideration.

Nevertheless, many refugees from the Ogaden who sought the protection and the help of the UNHCR in Kenya and Djibouti were turned away and denied their rights as refugees by the UNHCR official in Nairobi and Djibouti.

The rejected refugees live in fear to be caught and deported. If they are deported to Ethiopia, they will end up in prison without trial, where they will face torture, disappearance or death, like many other individuals, who were deported from Djibouti or the war-torn Somalia before[3].

Somali refugees from the Ogaden are not economic immigrants, they are genuine asylum seekers who are fling from ethnic cleansing, political and religious persecution waged against them by successive Ethiopian governments. Therefore, the Ogaden Human Rights Committee calls upon the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to recognize the Somali refugees from the Ogaden as genuine refugees and provide them the necessary shelter protection and maintenance according to its mandate under the Geneva Convention of 1951, and the protocol of 1967.

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC)

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee (OHRC) is an independent, voluntary, non-political non-profit making organisation, founded on June 13th 1995, in Godey, Ogadenia, to monitor and promote the observance of internationally accepted human rights standards in the Ogaden. It investigates all allegations of human rights abuses, and when it is satisfied that the claim is authentic, documents it.

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee prepares reports, press releases and appeals to publicise human rights violations in the Ogaden by the Ethiopian government. It campaigns for the improvement and respect of basic human rights by educating the people and putting the spotlight on the Ethiopian human rights record in the Ogaden.

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee is supported by contributions from its members. It accepts unconditional funds from private individuals and foundations.

The Organisation is based in Godey, Ogadenia, and has branches throughout the Ogaden.

The Ogaden Human Rights Committee has associate members in Switzerland, Germany, Norway, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, USA, Australia, Africa, and the Middle East.

For enquiries and contributions all correspondence and donations should be channelled through international co-ordination offices of the Ogaden Human Rights Committee in Europe and North America.

Ogaden Human Rights Committee
www.ogadenrights.org

Notes

1. See Ogaden Human Rights Committee's Reports and Press Releases from 1996 to 2008. www.ogadenrights.org

2. See "Ethiopia: Attempts to Render Meaningless the UN Mission's Work in the Ogaden" Ogaden Human Rights Press Release ref: OHRC/PRO6/0907, 19th September 2007

3. See "Ogaden: No Rights, No Democracy" Ogaden Human Rights Committee Report 1997, OHRC/08/97, August 15, 1997, "Ogaden: An Endless Human Tragedy" Ogaden Human Rights Committee Report 1998, OHRC/12/98, April 1998 and "Ogaden: Graveyard of Rights" Ogaden Human Rights Committee Report 1999, OHRC/10/99, August 23, 1999

Note

The OHRC Appeal was released at a Press Conference organized by the OHRC at the Swiss Press Club in Geneva on Thursday, 26 June 2008. Fowsia Abdulkadir and Abdulkader Sulub Abdi of the OHRC.

For Arabic speaking readership: http://aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/68611A57-33E0-4ED0-86DF-664F9CCAEAA1.htm

For enquiries contact: 41 79 468 2342
E-mail: ohrc@ogadenrights.org / samsulub@hotmail.com
www.ogadenrights.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.

| View Profile & All Articles By: Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis |

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