ETHIOPIA: REPORTS OF ATTACKS ON ANUAK REFUGEES

C O N F I D E N T I A L ADDIS ABABA 001154

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF DAS YAMAMOTO AND AF/E

E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/12/2016
TAGS: PREF PREL MOPS ET SU
SUBJECT: ETHIOPIA: REPORTS OF ATTACKS ON ANUAK REFUGEES
LIKELY OVERSTATED

REF: A. KHARTOUM 00942

B. IIR 6 830 0125 06

Classified By: Charge A.I. Janet Wilgus for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (SBU) SUMMARY. The United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Addis Ababa and other
embassy contacts confirmed mid-April reports of Ethiopian
troop movements along the Sudanese border in the Gambella
region of western Ethiopia, but deemed media reports of
widescale attacks against the Anuak ethnic group
"exaggerated."


2. (SBU) The UNHCR sub-office in Gambella told emboffs that
under a reported agreement with the Sudan People's Liberation
Army (SPLA),Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) troops
have regularly crossed over the border to disarm Anuak
refugees in Sudan. The Ethiopian government claims armed
Anuak rebel forces are an "anti-peace element" in the
Gambella region. UNHCR staff in Gambella, local clerics, and
embassy RSO contacts, reported that in mid-April ENDF troops
were seen moving across the border with Sudan in the
direction of the Pochalla refugee camp, which is home to over
10,000 Anuak refugees and located 45 kilometers within Sudan.
According to UNHCR, military forces confiscated
approximately 50 firearms during the movement across the
border, but stopped short of entering the Pochalla refugee
camp and did not/not attack any refugees. Embassy RSO
investigators and the World Health Organization noted that
ENDF troops have since returned to Ethiopia but continue to
block vehicular access to Pochalla.


3. (SBU) According to UNHCR officials in Gambella, reports
by some media outlets and the British-based NGO Aegis Trust
that the ENDF's operations in Sudan included a number of
killings and rapes were "exaggerated." The Deputy
Representative for UNHCR commented that the joint action
between the ENDF and SPLA has "contributed to the peace
efforts" in the area and has gone "very smoothly." (Note:
As part of the Ethiopian-Sudanese agreement, SPLA forces are
disarming ethnic Nuers in Ethiopia. End Note.) Embassy
contacts report, however, the military operations have not
been entirely peaceful; a pastor at the Evangelical Church in
Gambella recalled the death of three Anuak men during one of
these disarming operations.


4. (C) ENDF Chief of General Staff Lt. General Samora Yonus
acknowledged to DATT that the ENDF had conducted operations
in southern Sudan and Gambella against rebels, with Sudanese
government approval (reftel). Samora said, however, that the
ENDF did not/not attack refugee camps. Samora stated the
ENDF had not conducted disarming of tribes, but rather had
conducted counter insurgency operations against the Oromo
Liberation Front (OLF) two weeks ago in Sudan. He said the
OLF had received arms, training, and supplies from Eritrea.
He added Sudan remained concerned about Eritrean support to
Sudanese dissident groups as well; therefore Ethiopia had
Sudanese approval for the operations.
WILGUS