ጋዜጣዊ መግለጫ

“በተከሰተው ሁከት በቀጥታ ወይም በተዘዋዋሪ መንገድ በጥፋቱ ተሣታፊ የሆኑ ሰዎች ሁሉ በሕግ ተጠያቂነታቸው መረጋገጥ አለበት!”
(አዲስ አበባ ጥቅምት 18 ቀን 2012 ዓ.ም.) ፤በወቅታዊ የሰብዓዊ መብቶች ሁኔታ ከኢትዮጵያ ሰብዓዊ መብቶች ኮሚሽን የተሰጠ መግለጫ
በኢትዮጵያ የተጀመረው የለውጥ እና ተሃድሶ እርምጃ በአጭር ጊዜ ውስጥ በርካታ ተጨባጭ ውጤቶች እንዳስገኘ ሁሉ ውስብስብ ተግዳሮቶችም እየገጠሙት ይገኛል፡፡ በተለይ ጥቅምት 12 ቀን 2012 ዓ.ም. ጀምሮ በተቀሰቀሰው ውዝግብ እና ሁከት የተሞላ ነውጥ የበርካታ ሰዎች ሕይወት ከመጥፋቱ፣ የአካል ጉዳት ከመድረሱ፣ ንብረት ከመውደሙ እና የሰዎች መደበኛ ኑሮ እና ሰላማዊ ሕይወት ከመረበሹ በተጨማሪ፤ የህግ በላይነትን በእጅጉ የተፈታተነ እና መሠረታዊ ሰብዓዊ መብቶችን ከፍተኛ አደጋ እና ስጋት ላይ የጣለ እጅግ አሳሳቢ ክስተት ነበር፡፡
በዚህ ሁከት ምክንያት ከሚዲያዎች ዘገባ መሰረት እስከ አሁን ባለው መረጃ ከ70 - 80 የሚደርሱ ሰዎች ሕይወት ጠፍቷል፡፡ ከእነዚህ ውስጥ አስር ያህሉ ከፀጥታ ኃይሎች ጋር በተፈጠረ ግጭት በጥይት ተመተው የሞቱ ሲሆን አብዛኛዎቹ ሰዎች በሁከቱ ተሳተፉ ሰዎች እጅግ አሰቃቂ በሆነ መንገድ በግፍ እና ጭካኔ በተሞላበት ሁኔታ በዱላ በድንጋይ እና በስለት ተደብድበው እንዲሁም በእሳት ተቃጥለው ተገድለዋል፡፡ በመቶዎች የሚቆጠሩ ሰዎች ደግሞ የአካል እና የሥነ ልቦና ጉዳት ደርሶባቸዋል፡፡ በሚሊዮኖች የሚገመት የግለሰቦች፣ የሕዝብና የአገር ንብረት ወድሟል፡፡ እንዲሁም የሃይማኖት ተቋማት ሆን ተብሎ በተፈጸመ ጥቃት ለጉዳት ተዳርገዋል፡፡
አሁን ባለው የኢትዮጵያ ተጨባጭ ሁኔታ ማናቸውም ዓይነት ቅሬታ ወይም ጥያቄ በሕጋዊና ሰላማዊ መንገድ ሊቀርብ የሚችልበት ምቹ ሁኔታ መኖሩ ይታመናል፡፡ ለዚህ ውዝግብ መነሻ በሆነው ጉዳይ ላይ በሰላማዊ መንገድ ሃሳባቸውን ለመግለጽ የሚሹ ሰዎች ቢኖሩም ሁከት የቀሰቀሱ፣ የፈጸሙ እና ያስፈጸሙ እንዲሁም ቀጥተኛና ተዘዋዋሪ ድጋፍ የሰጡ ሰዎች መኖራቸው ግን አይካድም፡፡ ማናቸውንም ዓይነት ቅሬታና ጥያቄ በአመፅ እና በእልቂት ማስፈራሪያ ለማስፈፀም የታየው ተግባር እና የአስከተለው ጉዳት የሕግ የበላይነትን፣ የአገር ሰላም እና ሥርዓትን በአደባባይ በመገዳደር እና በመጣስ ከፍተኛ የሰብዓዊ መብቶች ቀውስ ያስከተለ በመሆኑ በየደረጃው በቀጥታና በተዘዋዋሪ መንገድ በጥፋቱ ተሣታፊ የሆኑ ሰዎች ሁሉ በሕግ ተጠያቂነታቸው መረጋገጥ አለበት፡፡ ይህን ጥፋት የፈፀሙ እና ወይም የጥፋቱን ተግባር እንደ መልካም ሥራ ያወደሱ ሰዎች ሁሉ በዱላ እና በስለት ተደብድበው በእሳት ተቃጥለው የተገደሉ ሰዎችና ቤተሰቦቻቸውን ለአፍታ እንኳን በእራሣቸውና በቤተሰቦቻቸው ተክተው አለማሰባቸው የደረሰውን ጉዳት ይበልጥ መሪር አድርጐታል፡፡ የድርጊቱ ተሳታፊዎች በደረሰው ጥፋት ማዘን መፀፀት እና ለሕግ የበላይነት መከበር የመተባበር ኃላፊነት እና ግዴታ አለባቸው፡፡
መንግሥት የሕግ የበላይነትን ለማረጋገጥና አጥፊዎችን በሕግ ፊት ለማቅረብ ሳያወላውል እንደሚሠራ መግለጹ ተገቢ ሲሆን፤ ይህ የመንግስት ኃላፊነት እና ተግባር በስልታዊ የምርመራ ሥራ እና በሕጋዊ ሥርዓት በአፋጣኝ በሥራ ላይ ሊውል ይገባል፡፡
ከዚህ በመቀጠል ለሚደረገው የወንጀል ምርመራ ሥራ ማንኛውም ሰው በመተባበር እና ውጤቱን በትዕግስት በመጠባበቅ፣ በየአካባቢው የተጐዱ ሰዎችንና ቤተሰቦችን በማጽናናት በመደገፍ እና በመጠገን፤ እንዲሁም የመንግሥት፣ የፖለቲካ እና የልዩ ልዩ ቡድኖች መሪዎች የፖለቲካ ውጥረቱን ከሚያባብሱ ቆስቋሽ ንግግሮች እና ድርጊቶች እራሳቸውን በመቆጠብ ሰላምና መረጋጋት ለማስፈን እና ሰብዓዊ መብቶች ሁሉ እንዲከበሩ የሚደረገውን ጥረት ማገዝ እና ይህን የመሰለ ጥፋት ዳግም እንዳይፈጸም የሚመለከታቸው አካሎች ሁሎ በከፍተኛ ኃላፊነት ስሜት ሊሰሩ ይገባል፡፡
https://www.facebook.com/Ethiopian-Human-Rights-Commission-202584253551816/?__tn__=kC-R&eid=ARAnvsbDrmOoi4OF5FBGfajXNG788UzefnrC37ec4RkS62iwSsVxLBDgGsQ0XAKIBMnEMyivCKrlA72G&hc_ref=ARQ8PZLTBM9zIeroWNBWSBwMslXo7abd_sy4dwZnpSG7MLfSA1eqpy2HDt5Bnbm-FH8&__xts__[0]=68.ARDlYrPWhLB1C8l2VdsdrTV2_gooyGmC7Ya2feOhUDHtmK4U9ADK9EguyUoGDZOD3r1LwZMhN3jWxpHDl7_EakopDM0X-lei-XPvfT0cqzI-6fXL5bXdzU3cHLLNZJ4ehDNI65yydD9uNBNgrJdY6CHGPhQ1d2YEnJPRyDDocYv5adVl42jbYhYc3IN9bMmH3U62Ri9rkgUCbvOgpDT66yq_XjJgKm06EAtZNkDzUnnZvtVi2RUzA0IUykLQ4_m1yhCYtLMYgTfS8En0V2GmXjpvClN9ZA_fen8jYj6hk0Y_SLYtfltO1MgXmdTFwH2m-rgH-bIg4WDsiTHVXrQ

AHRE in utmost terms alerts the international community about the looming threat of civil war in Ethiopia.

27th October 2019 by Admin

Press Statement

October 27, 2019

The news coming from Ethiopia this week is extremely disturbing and alarming. Dozens of people are ruthlessly killed based on their ethnicity and faith. At least 67 people have died, according to reports, out of which 54 were stoned to death and remaining died from gunshot from police. The violence had started after Jawar Mohammed, executive director of Oromo Media Network (OMN) and prominent activist, posted a note to his over a million followers on his Facebook page that police had circled his house and tried to withdraw his security forces this Wednesday around 2 AM Ethiopian time. Many of his followers in different parts of Oromia region marched on the streets stating their loyalty to Jawar, which then escalated into violence. Dozens of people were violently killed by crowds of youth, businesses and places of worships were burned to the ground.

According to DW Amharic, in Dodola, 14 people were killed since Wednesday. Residents told DW that, many whose houses had been burnt by mob, are still taking shelter in Churches. In Bale, in two days nine people were buried while two bodies had been sent to families elsewhere. AHRE has videos of helpless citizens who took shelter in churches begging the outside world for help. The number of recorded videos and audios from ethnic minorities is deeply disturbing to hear. Several others have been killed in different parts of Oromia, including in Sebeta, town located in the Oromia Special Zone Surrounding the capital, where eight ethnic Gamos were violently killed two days ago. 

In an extremely worrying development, a video is circulating on social media today where a group of people had summoned a large number of people in Bale Robbe, Oromia region. They instruct the crowd, among other things to evict ‘Neftegnas and Dorzes’, terms largely used to describe Amhara and Gamo ethnic group respectively. They also say, “we will no longer trade with Neftegnas and Dorzes; anyone who refuses order shall be cursed. in addition, they warn against eating with, worshiping, and living together with the Neftegnas. The video was in afaan Oromo and AHRE has not independently verified the translation, however different sources have similar translation.

AHRE has released many statements for the past couple of years alerting international institutions and the government about increasing ethnic based attacks, violence and displacement. Executive Director of AHRE, Mr. Yared Hailemariay, says that “Having closely followed these unfortunate incidents, AHRE strongly believes that the current situation is grave and particularly different because the killings have occurred at the same time in different parts of Oromia, including in the outskirts of the capital city; because of the tensioned political climate between the prime Minister and Jawar Mohammed and in general the weak nature of the central government; and because the video circulating will likely lead to more killings.” He also says that “The death toll and violence does not seem to abate and AHRE was still receiving unconfirmed reports of violence in Oromia when preparing this report.” Majority of the deceased are ethnic minorities and Christians.

There are a number of cases where police have ceased a high number of firearms; local news has reported about these firearms repeatedly in this year alone. This is particularly worrisome because officials and police have collaborated in the attack against minorities in recent violence, which worsens the already dangerous situation.

Therefore, it is with utmost urgency and gravity, that we alert the international community about the looming threat of civil war and likelihood of genocide in Ethiopia. Action must be taken swiftly by government forces, international community and all concerned bodies. We urge and alert all concerned bodies that every important action must be taken immediately to avoid civil war in the country. 

https://ahrethio.org/2019/10/27/ahre-in-utmost-terms-alerts-the-international-community-about-the-looming-threat-of-civil-war-in-ethiopia/?fbclid=IwAR3x6113VcIWTzu_P-MswMSkjvt7oetVaNAknHmx3ro_pYFJMzYdXVfMcxY

67 Killed in Ethiopia Unrest, but Nobel-Winning Prime Minister Is Quiet

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia — Weeks after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed is coming under harsh criticism over his silence in the face of protests this week that police said had resulted in the deaths of 67 people.

Mr. Abiy remained at a summit meeting of African leaders in the Black Sea resort town of Sochi, Russia when thousands of people took to the streets of the Ethiopian capital and several regional towns on Wednesday.

The protests were spurred by a prominent critic of the prime minister who had accused the police of plotting an attack on him. The critic, Jawar Mohammed, is the founder of an independent media network, and claimed that there was a plan to arrest or possibly kill him at his house in the capital, Addis Ababa.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/25/world/africa/ethiopia-protests-prime-minister.html

In Ethiopia, a forgotten refugee in her own land

Sululta, Ethiopia - The rain beats loudly on the metal roof of Amina Yuya's new home, as her neighbours hastily gather clothes from a washing line and bundle a foam mattress through a doorway to escape the downpour.

Under the glow of a single light bulb, Amina tells the story of her flight from the eastern Ethiopian town of Jijiga, the capital of Ethiopia’s Somali region, almost exactly two years ago.

"They came at night at around 7pm," she recalls, as the youngest of her seven children squirms on her lap. "There was about 10 or 15 of them. They dragged us from our home and began beating us. They set houses on fire and killed three of my neighbours. I was lucky to escape."

She does not know what happened to her husband that night but she assumes he, too, was killed.

The 35-year-old mother was one of tens of thousands of ethnic Oromos chased from their homes by armed gangs in eastern Ethiopia two years ago.

During 2017 nearly one million people were displaced following clashes between ethnic Oromos and ethnic Somalis in Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali regions.

Hundreds were killed, on both sides, mostly by regional security forces.

Amina fled with her children to a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs), where she stayed for seven months.

Once they brought us here we were crushed morally ... we didn't get what we expected. We are starving, we are suffering, and we are all alone.

AMINA YUYA

She was then taken by bus to the town of Sululta, near the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa. That's where she now lives, 650km from her old home town, in a block of corrugated iron sheds with some 30 other families.

"They told us they'd build us a house in Finfinee," she says, using the Oromo name for the national capital. "But once they brought us here we were crushed morally ... we didn't get what we expected. We are starving, we are suffering, and we are all alone."

'I don't have full hope in the government'

Amina's story is echoed across Ethiopia, which in the past two years has witnessed an eruption of land, resource and identity-related conflicts resulting in vastly swollen ranks of IDPs.

In 2018, following the appointment of Abiy Ahmed as prime minister and the process of liberalisation he set in motion, nearly three million people were displaced - the highest figure for new displacements recorded anywhere in the world.

The government's response to the humanitarian crisis was widely criticised, although today it claims there are almost no IDPs left. For several months aid to some camps in the south was blocked, in order to encourage the displaced to return home. In some parts of the country IDPs were forcibly returned, despite fears for their safety.

Oromos like Amina, who said they wished never to return to the Somali region, were promised resettlement within Oromia and in the booming satellite towns which surround Addis Ababa.

Yet two years on, Amina and her neighbours feel they have been abandoned by a government which promised to support them.

She says her view of Abiy, who comes from Oromia and heads the Oromo faction of Ethiopia's ruling party, is mixed.

"At times it seems good things are happening in the country, but at the same time people are still suffering. So I don't have full hope in the government."

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/ethiopia-forgotten-refugee-land-190923074100052.html

Restoring Calm in Ethiopia after High-profile Assassinations

https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/horn-africa/ethiopia/restoring-calm-ethiopia-after-high-profile-assassinations

The shocking murders of five high-ranking officials have exposed the gravity of Ethiopia’s crisis. To mitigate risks, politicians should refrain from doing or saying anything provocative, while the federal government and ruling elites take urgent steps to heal deep and dangerous internal rifts.

A series of assassinations on 22 June has jolted Ethiopia. That evening, in Amhara state, the country’s second-largest federal region, gunmen killed regional leader Ambachew Mekonnen and two of his advisers. A few hours later, a bodyguard reportedly shot dead General Seare Mekonnen, chief of staff of Ethiopia’s military, along with a retired officer, at the general’s home in the capital, Addis Ababa. The Prime Minister’s Office linked the killings and cited a coup attempt in Amhara, the federal government imposed an internet blackout across the country – still in effect – and the military launched a manhunt for the alleged mastermind, the hardline Amhara security chief named Asaminew Tsige. State media announced that Asaminew was killed by the military in a firefight on 24 June.

For now, order appears to have returned, in both Addis and Bahir Dar, seat of the Amhara regional government. Still, the events laid bare the extent of the country’s political crisis. To prevent an escalation, politicians from all camps should avoid inflammatory speech or actions. The authorities should take urgent steps to convene discussions – including considering mediation by respected Ethiopians – to calm the wrangling within the governing Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) on issues including power sharing, territorial disputes and demands in certain regions for greater autonomy. Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed should consult broadly on General Seare’s replacement to minimise suspicions of ethnic favouritism.

 The killings highlight the volatility at the heart of the country’s political system despite the enormous promise of the 2018 transition. 

Ethiopia’s political crisis is, in a sense, an extension of the crisis within the EPRDF. Since taking office in April 2018, Prime Minister Abiy has carried out significant reforms at breakneck speed, overhauling the federal security apparatus, making peace with neighbouring Eritrea, releasing political prisoners and inviting exiles back home. These steps, while long overdue, have come at a cost: they weakened the unity of the EPRDF, an alliance of four regional parties that has controlled all tiers of government from the federal to the village level since 1991 and routinely used repressive tactics to sideline challengers. Security reform in particular altered the balance of power in the central government by reducing the number of top officials from the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), one of the EPRDF’s four component parties, representing the Tigray minority that had long dominated the ruling coalition and security apparatus.

One upshot is that ethno-nationalist parties are presently on the rise in Ethiopia’s regional states, pushing strident agendas and presenting themselves as true defenders of communal interests. The EPRDF parties – themselves created to govern autonomous federal states and represent regional demands in the capital, as per Ethiopia’s ethnic federalist system – now feel compelled to outflank them. The heightened ethno-nationalist rhetoric contributes to intercommunal violence, which over the past eighteen months has reached levels unprecedented in many decades in Ethiopia.

This dynamic is particularly evident in the two most populous regional states, Amhara and Oromia. In the former, the one-year-old National Movement of Amhara challenges the EPRDF's Amhara Democratic Party (ADP) by presenting itself as the standard bearer of Amhara interests. It is pressing territorial claims on neighbouring Tigray region and asserting that it would stop the “persecution” of Amharas living outside Amhara state. In the case of Oromia region, leaders of a formerly exiled insurgency, the Oromo Liberation Front, returned in September 2018 amid joyous demonstrations, and on the understanding they would continue its struggle for Oromo rights and autonomy through peaceful and democratic means. Yet since the movement’s return, the military has confronted armed groups associated with it in western Oromia.

Against this backdrop, the 22 June assassinations are ominous signals. The Prime Minister’s Office claims that Asaminew orchestrated the Amhara chief administrator’s killing to oust the regional government. It also has alleged that the two sets of murders – in Addis and in Bahir Dar – were connected, and part of the same plot. Whether or not these claims are correct, the killings highlight the volatility at the heart of the country’s political system despite the enormous promise of the 2018 transition.

 The most pressing threat is that the 22 June killings could trigger intensified power struggles and violent reactions in politically sensitive locations across the country. 

Conflicting accounts of the killings’ aftermath have added fuel to the fire. The Prime Minister’s Office said on 23 June that authorities had detained Seare’s assassin. The following day, the Federal Police said he committed suicide just after the killing, but then amended their position to say he was in hospital injured. The confused messaging has led to theories that contest the official account. One such theory is that an Oromo-led federal government used the crisis to assert control over Amhara region, which is indicative of a brewing power struggle between Oromia and Amhara. A tactical alliance against the TPLF between parts of the Amhara and Oromia EPRDF parties was critical to bringing Abiy to office last year, but is now under strain.

Asaminew has long been a controversial figure. He was jailed along with other ex-military colleagues in 2009, allegedly for being part of the Ginbot 7 opposition group, then banned, and plotting a coup against then Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s government. He was released in February 2018 as part of an EPRDF amnesty before Abiy became prime minister; nine months later, the ADP and the regional government appointed him security chief. His appointment was an indicator of the Amhara ruling party’s increased chauvinism and appeared to be an attempt to claw back popular support from the Amhara ethno-nationalists: Asaminew championed many of the same issues as the National Movement of Amhara and backed efforts to reclaim land that Amhara state leaders say they lost to Tigray in the early 1990s. But his appointment drove the EPRDF parties further apart, worsening the Amhara-Tigrayan territorial dispute and fuelling Amhara-Oromo tensions. Oromo leaders suspected Asaminew of ordering violence against Oromo in an administrative enclave of Amhara region in April and training local Amhara militias across the state.

As a result, federal and regional leaders increasingly considered Asaminew a liability. Ambachew, appointed in March by the regional parliament as Amhara chief, was reportedly about to fire him before being murdered. Asaminew’s death at the military’s hands, and conflicting accounts of the other assassin’s death, could further polarise the situation, particularly by sharpening discord between Amhara and Oromo. The 22 June killings confirm the dangers in handing security portfolios to hardliners like Asaminew who are ready to pander to extreme ethno-nationalists, from whichever of Ethiopia’s ethnicities.

Addressing Ethiopia’s many economic, political and security challenges will require time. For now, however, the most pressing threat is that the 22 June killings could trigger intensified power struggles and violent reactions in politically sensitive locations across the country. The EPRDF and government should take urgent steps to restore calm, including:

1. A clear commitment by Prime Minister Abiy to try to rein in intra-EPDRF dissension, in recognition of the gravity of the country’s political crisis. The EPRDF parties will have to resolve differences over sharing federal power, internal borders and regional autonomy. For now, however, they need to put those differences aside in order to help the government maintain order. That may be difficult, given the pressure they face from within their own ethnic constituencies, but it is necessary. All party leaders should be open to mediation by respected Ethiopians if they cannot ease problems in EPRDF forums and should publicly commit to work with the Reconciliation Commission, established by parliament in December 2018, to investigate the causes of past conflicts in order to prevent future violence.
    
2. A concerted effort to counter damaging rumours. The federal and Amhara governments should, as best they can, keep the public informed about what they know and do not know as the situation unfolds. The Prime Minister’s Office statement issued on 23 June went some way toward that goal, though it should release any evidence it has linking the Ambachew and Seare assassinations in order to quell speculation.
    
3. A push to keep the military united and prevent its politicisation. Seare’s assassination raised troubling questions about divisions within the military, though government sources stress that it was an isolated incident. For the most part, the military has remained cohesive and effective during the transition, even as Abiy has taken steps to reform it, notably by seeking to rebalance its upper echelons away from Tigrayan predominance. An initial challenge lies in the appointment of a new chief of staff. The next in line, Deputy Chief of Staff and Head of Military Operations Berhanu Jula, is an Oromo, and his appointment could fuel tensions with Amhara nationalists and other opponents stemming from allegations that Abiy favours his own Oromo ethnicity. The prime minister should consult across the political spectrum and take a consensual decision on Seare’s replacement.
    
4. In tandem with these official steps, all politicians – inside and outside the EPRDF, and representing all the country’s regions and peoples – ought to refrain from exploiting the situation through provocative rhetoric or hate speech, whether out of anger or as part of calculations of self-interest.

Ethiopia’s transition has been an inspiration across Africa and beyond. The 22 June assassinations have shaken that transition but, if prudence and precaution prevail, they need not derail it.

Obang will give talk about his extensive travel in Ethiopia, and his assessment of the country's transformation/regression towards better future. Please join us for an informed discussion on this topic and support Obang's voice of reason

Press Release

Press Release regarding the Gross Human Rights Violations
Targeting Renowned Journalist Eskindir Nega and Colleagues

On March 30, 2019, the Ethiopian police banned Mr. Eskindir Nega and his colleagues from holding a press conference at the Ras Hotel for the recently formed Council of Concerned Ethiopians to Protect the Rights of Residents of the City of Addis Ababa.
Members oh UHD and particularly, Ethiopian Asylum seekers, in Toronto and surrounding area discussed the ban and expressed their concern with the government’s extreme reaction to Eskinder’s and the Council’s peaceful and lawful activities. At the end of the meeting, the participants issued a four-point declaration:
1. Every Ethiopian has freedom of expression and assembly that includes advocating for and organizing for a legitimate cause and engaging in activities to advance such a cause by peaceful means. By establishing the council to advocate for the rights and interests of the residents of Addis Ababa, Eskindir and colleagues were only exercising their right to freedom of assembly and association as enshrined in Article 30 and 31 of the Ethiopian constitution and other international conventions, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

2. The ongoing acts of intimidation and harassment, including Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s recent statement using the rhetoric of war against Eskindir Nega and colleagues for establishing the Council of Concerned People for Addis Ababa, are unjustified and represent an outright attack on freedom of expression and assembly.
3. The recent ban of the press conference is a violation of Eskinder Nega’s freedom of expression, and a violation of the freedom of assembly of the Council established to protect the rights of the residents of Addis Ababa.

4. The government must cease its threats and illegal prohibiting of Eskinder and his colleagues from reaching out to Ethiopians and the residents of Addis Ababa through the mass media, and its prohibiting of Addis Ababa residents from exercising their right to freedom of assembly by establishing the Council and its branches in various part of the city.


We call upon the government of Canada, the international community and human rights organizations, including the United Nations, African Union, European Union, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Freedom House to denounce in clear terms the Ethiopian government’s violation of its citizens’ freedom of expression and assembly.

Unity for human rights and democracy Toronto
March 30, 2019

Managing Ethiopia’s Unsettled Transition Ethiopia’s charismatic new prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, has generated great excitement with initiatives breaking with the past. But he faces challenges as formidable as his promises are bold: he urgently needs to halt communal strife, smooth the road to elections and boost the ailing economy.

Executive Summary After four years of street protests, the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) elected Abiy Ahmed Ali prime minister on 2 April 2018. For many Ethiopians Abiy is a breath of fresh air. He admits the ruling coalition’s shortcomings, pledges reform, preaches unity and has made peace with Ethiopia’s old foe, Eritrea. Yet if Abiy has raised enormous expectations, he also faces daunting challenges. Insecurity has intensified and proliferated across the country, with communal violence tearing at the multi-ethnic fabric of Ethiopian society. Regional leaders demand more power. The economy is on life support, with foreign debt in excess of $24 billion, many young people without jobs and an old guard resistant to reform. There are no easy fixes for these challenges, but Abiy can give himself the best odds by focusing on three priorities – working to stop communal conflict, preparing for 2020 elections and reforming the dangerously weak economy. The crisis that led to Abiy’s assumption of power was years in the making. Protests broke out in 2014 over discrimination against the Oromo – the country’s largest ethnic group – and spread to other groups, especially the Amhara, its second largest. Discontent with tough socio-economic conditions, as well as with the ruling party’s 27 years in power and its domination by a small, mostly Tigrayan, elite, was already widespread. The EPRDF, weakened by factional quarrels after the August 2012 death of strongman Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, struggled to contain the unrest. Meles’s successor, Hailemariam Desalegn, veered from cabinet reshuffles and political prisoner releases to crackdowns including new arrests of opposition leaders and demonstrators. In October 2016, a state of emergency brought temporary calm, but the protesters’ demands for political reform and socio-economic improvements still largely went unmet. On 15 February 2018, Hailemariam resigned. By then the EPRDF elite – and especially its Tigrayan component – had lost its grip. With power dispersed among the security sector’s upper echelons, who were divided over whether to reform or protect the status quo, the EPRDF proved unable to steer the battle for succession. The Oromo People’s Democratic Organization, one member of the EPRDF coalition, stepped most assertively into the breach. Backed – in a break from tradition – by the Amhara National Democratic Movement, another EPRDF party, it propelled the Oromo nominee, Abiy Ahmed Ali, into the premiership. At age 42, Abiy is considerably younger than the old guard and, with the sympathy of many protesters, he appears well suited to the task of assuaging the grievances of the country’s neglected groups

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