(C-AL7-01035): ETHIOPIA: GOE ORDERS ICRC TO CLOSE

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 04 ADDIS ABABA 002376

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR AF, AF/E, INR/AA, AND PRM/AFR
LONDON, PARIS, ROME FOR AFRICA WATCHER
CJTF-HOA AND USCENTCOM FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/27/2017
TAGS: PREF PHUM PINS MOPS EAID ET
SUBJECT: (C-AL7-01035): ETHIOPIA: GOE ORDERS ICRC TO CLOSE
OFFICES IN SOMALI REGION

REF: A. ADDIS ABABA 2369

B. ADDIS ABABA 2361

C. ADDIS ABABA 2343

D. ADDIS ABABA 1308

Classified By: ERIC WONG, ACTING DCM. REASON: 1.4 (D).


1. (S) SUMMARY. The International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) confirms that Ethiopian officials have ordered the
ICRC to close its two offices in the Somali Region, and to
immediately dismiss all of its staff in the Somali Region.
While portrayed as a decision by regional-level authorities,
federal officials in the Prime Minister's office have
informed ICRC that they are not only not inclined to review
the regional government's decision, but may also take
"additional measures" against the ICRC. As the Somali Region
is a priority for the ICRC's activities in Ethiopia, the ICRC
may decide to curtail its activities throughout the rest of
the country, or reduce them to a minimum. ICRC has been
expelled from Ethiopia twice before: in 1988 by the Dergue,
and again in 1998 (from Tigray) during the war with Eritrea.
Tensions between the ICRC and the GOE, regarding the Ogaden,
have grown since early 2007, and may have been prompted by
the ICRC's submission in May 2007 of a confidential human
rights report on Ethiopian military abuses to the ENDF Chief
of General Staff, who then terminated ICRC's access to
military camps. According to the ICRC, its official contacts
with insurgents of the Ogaden National Liberation Front
(ONLF) were limited to technical discussions intended to
ensure the security of ICRC staff; the only exception were
discussions in London relating to the release of Chinese
workers held in ONLF custody in April 2007. As one of the
few humanitarian organizations specifically mandated with
protection issues, the ICRC's departure from the Ogaden
threatens to hamper the international community's ability to
assess the human rights situation and the scope of the
ongoing counterinsurgency in the Somali Region. Separately,
the World Food Programme (WFP) informed donors and UN
agencies on July 26 that progress had been toward delivering
emergency food relief to the 5 conflict-stricken zones of the
Ogaden, as the federal government's Disaster Prevention and
Preparedness Agency (DPPA) had issued tenders for trucks to
transport food aid to the Ogaden, and expected deliveries
from stockpiles in Dire Dawa to reach the Ogaden within the
next few days. END SUMMARY.


2. (C) On July 27, Ambassador, A/DCM, REFCOORD, and poloff
met with Juan Pedro Schaerer (STRICTLY PROTECT),Addis
Ababa-based Head of Delegation for the ICRC. Schaerer
discussed the GOE's July 21 decision to expel the ICRC from
Ethiopia's Somali Region, explaining that regional government
officials had ordered ICRC to close its offices (located in
Jijiga and Gode),and to dismiss all its staff in the Somali
Region, with seven days. Within the Somali Region, ICRC
therefore needed to withdraw 10 international staff, and was
terminating contracts with nearly all of its 80 local staff
(including guards). Local ICRC staff working in Jijiga and
Gode all hailed from the Somali Region, but it was unknown
how many were ethnic Ogadeni. Schaerer said three local ICRC
staff would be given "the opportunity to live elsewhere," due
to possible persecution for unspecified activities they had
implemented "on instruction" of the ICRC. The removal of
ICRC vehicles and physical assets, including communications
equipment, from the ICRC offices would require three days;
evacuation by road would be by routes to the south, rather
than through the conflict areas of the Ogaden.

-------------- --------------
PM'S OFFICE THREATENS "ADDITIONAL MEASURES" AGAINST ICRC
-------------- --------------


3. (C) The president of the ICRC had sought to appeal what
was nominally a regional government decision (in Jijiga) to
federal government authorities (in Addis Ababa). Schaerer
said the Somali Regional president had noted the possibility
of the ICRC remaining in the region, if "an apology" were
submitted. However, the office of Prime Minister Meles had
informed ICRC that it was not only "not interested" in
reviewing the regional authorities' decision, but also was
considering taking "additional measures" against the ICRC,

ADDIS ABAB 00002376 002 OF 004


Schaerer said.


4. (C) Just one day prior to the regional government's July
21 decision, the foreign ministry had informed the ICRC that
it had asked GOE bodies to review their cooperation with the
ICRC; a letter from Foreign Minister Seyoum Mesfin had cited
"lack of discretion" several years earlier with regard to
relations between the ICRC and the GOE. Nevertheless,
Schaerer said, the ICRC had seen the FM's letter as positive,
following a July 12 meeting with the MFA in which the ICRC
had raised three issues: regaining access to federal prisons
(suspended since political unrest in 2005); access to the
Somali Region; and the detention of 180 named fighters
(primarily ethnic Oromos from Ethiopia, as well as Kenyans
and Somalis) who had been captured in either Somalia or
Kenya, and whom ICRC believed remained in Ethiopian custody.
Schaerer noted that apart from an unspecified number of
foreign fighters "from the Middle East," foreign fighters
with U.S. or European citizenship were believed to have all
been deported already from Ethiopia.

-------------- --------------
EXPULSION COULD PROMPT ICRC DRAWDOWN THROUGHOUT ETHIOPIA
-------------- --------------


5. (C) Citing the ICRC's lack of access to federal prisons
throughout the country since 2005, due to restrictions
imposed by the federal government, and the current order to
end all ICRC activities in the Somali Region, Schaerer
questioned whether ICRC could maintain its presence in other
areas of the country. "We are not present where we should
be," he said, noting that the Somali Region was a priority
for ICRC. If the GOE failed to accept ICRC's neutrality in
the Somali Region or Ogaden, then how could ICRC continue in
other parts of Ethiopia, he said. Schaerer said he would
travel to ICRC headquarters in Geneva in the following week,
to discuss options for ICRC's future in Ethiopia. While
ICRC's total withdrawal from Ethiopia was unlikely, due to
the difficulty of returning following such a decision,
downsizing ICRC activities in Ethiopia "to the minimum
possible" was an option, Schaerer said. Schaerer had not
personally traveled to the Somali Region since the beginning
of the counterinsurgency; he anticipated personally departing
Addis Ababa in October to assume an Iraq-related position in
Amman.


6. (C) The GOE had expelled the ICRC twice before, Schaerer
said: once in 1988 (during the former Communist Dergue
regime); and again in 1998, when ICRC was expelled from
Tigray Region following the outbreak of hostilities with
neighboring Eritrea. Questioned about expulsion from other
countries, Schaerer noted that the ICRC had been asked to
leave Myanmar, following the ICRC's decision to denounce
human rights conditions in that country publicly.

-------------- --------------
TENSIONS FOLLOWED SUBMISSION OF HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT TO ENDF
-------------- --------------


7. (S) Tensions between the GOE and ICRC had arisen earlier
this year, Schaerer said.

-- In March-April 2007, a contact close to the GOE had
informed the ICRC that the GOE was upset about a supposed
ICRC report that had been submitted to Geneva. Further
investigation suggested that the GOE had incorrectly
attributed a report of the London-based Ogadeni Human Rights
Committee to the ICRC; with the exception of a single public
case, the additional human rights cases mentioned in this NGO
report did not appear in ICRC reports.

-- In May 2007, Schaerer submitted a confidential report--on
"the behaviour" of the Ethiopian National Defense Force
(ENDF) in the Ogaden during 2006 and on "problems civilians
were facing"--to ENDF Chief of General Staff Lieutenant
General Samora Yonus. According to Schaerer, the report was
given only to General Samora. Samora asserted that previous
ICRC reports on alleged ENDF abuses had included false
allegations; he then subsequently denied ICRC any further
access to ENDF military camps.

ADDIS ABAB 00002376 003 OF 004



-- The GOE also required, at the beginning of its
counterinsurgency campaign in the Ogaden (following the April
24 ONLF attack on a Chinese oil facility),that the ICRC
provide 3 days advance notification of any travel in the
Region, a condition that the ICRC accepted.

-- More recently, the GOE had suspected that the ICRC was the
"prominent country director" quoted in a press article
criticizing the effects of the counterinsurgency in the
Ogaden, a charge Schaerer denied. The GOE also accused local
ICRC staff (in the Somali Region) of assisting the ONLF; one
local staff member had been arrested two weeks ago.


8. (S) Citing the GOE's recent detention (and release) of
several U.S. persons in the Ogaden, and press articles
referring to the continued detention of an Amcit in Harar,
Ambassador noted the suspicion of some senior GOE principals
(refs A-B) that foreigners--including humanitarian agencies,
NGOs, and international media--were assisting the ONLF.

--------------
LIMITED ICRC CONTACTS WITH ONLF AND UWSLF
--------------


9. (S) Recent ICRC contacts with the ONLF had been
"irregular," occurring outside Ethiopia, and limited to
technical discussions to assure ICRC's safety in the Ogaden
area, Schaerer said. He acknowledged that in 1998, the ICRC
had provided the ONLF with unspecified "communications
equipment" to allow it to maintain contact with ICRC, but
said that none had been provided recently. The ICRC had
played a role in negotiating the release of 7 Chinese workers
taken into ONLF custody following the April 24 attack in the
Ogaden (REF D),but all related communications had occurred
in London. The ICRC had sought to keep a "low profile," and
had kept public statements related to the "hostage" situation
to a minimum. The ICRC had provided a satellite phone to an
unspecified member of the United Western Somali Liberation
Front (UWSLF),Schaerer said. Questioned about contacts with
the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) (which the GOE asserts is
assisting the ONLF),Schaerer said that except for possible
camps in Kenya and the Bale Zone of Oromiya Region, the ICRC
assessed that the OLF was largely not active militarily.

--------------
DETAINEES HELD IN MILITARY CAMPS
--------------


10. (C) Addressing human rights conditions in the Ogaden and
Somali Region, Schaerer said that as the region's only prison
was in the capital, Jijiga, many detainees were held in
military camps and police stations. Under Ethiopian law, the
military was empowered to arrest individuals, but could not
detain them, and was supposed to transfer them to police
custody. Schaerer noted that elsewhere in Ethiopia,
detainees were physically held by the military but were
technically "under authority" of the federal police; in such
cases, ICRC had no access to them (as the GOE had barred ICRC
access to federal prisons since 2005). ICRC had been able to
visit military camps until May 2007; it now no longer had
such access. Food was reaching towns, but not rural areas,
he added.


11. (C) COMMENT. Although the ICRC has been asked to close
its two offices in the Ogaden area, its other extensive
activities throughout Ethiopia currently continue. While the
human rights situation in the Ogaden remains a concern, it
does not appear to be as grim as portrayed by recent media
reports. However, the departure of ICRC from the Somali
Region--coupled with the voluntary decision by Medecins Sans
Frontieres-Holland to depart Warder Zone following a July 24
ONLF attack (ref C) on the garrison town there--will severely
reduce the presence of international NGOs or humanitarian
agencies actively operating in the Ogaden. ICRC is one of
the few organizations with a protection mandate; remaining
NGOs in the Ogaden are focused primarily on health and
nutrition.


12. (SBU) COMMENT CONTINUED. Separately, WFP Country

ADDIS ABAB 00002376 004 OF 004


Director Mohamed Diab informed donors and UN agencies on July
26 that progress had been made toward delivering emergency
food relief to the 5 conflict-stricken zones of the Ogaden,
as the federal government's Disaster Prevention and
Preparedness Agency (DPPA) had issued tenders for trucks to
transport food aid to the Ogaden, and expected deliveries
from stockpiles in Dire Dawa to reach the Ogaden within the
next few days. Ambassador has raised the issue of the Ogaden
and humanitarian access with the Prime Minister and other
senior officials (refs A-B),and Post will continue to pursue
this issue aggressively with all GOE contacts. END COMMENT.
YAMAMOTO