(C) OGADENI ELDERS DETAIL RAMPANT HUMAN RIGHTS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ADDIS ABABA 003482

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/05/2017
TAGS: PHUM MOPS PGOV ET
SUBJECT: (C) OGADENI ELDERS DETAIL RAMPANT HUMAN RIGHTS
ABUSES

REF: ADDIS 3466

Classified By: DCM Deborah Malac for reasons 1.4 (B) and (D)

SUMMARY
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1. (C) In a series of private discussions on the margins of a
December 1-2 pastoralist conference held in Ethiopia's Somali
region (reftel),reliable senior Ogadeni elders reported to
Deputy Political Counselor and USAID Officer (EmbOffs) a
disturbing pattern of widespread, systemic human rights
abuses by Ethiopian Government (GoE) and Ethiopian military
(ENDF) forces in the Ogaden. Elders from four of the five
Ogaden zones told consistent reports of hangings of
civilians, branding people, gang rape, arbitrary detentions
and killings, forced conscription, and denial of access to
food and water resources. These, combined with consistent
reports from elsewhere in the region over the past few
months, paint a picture of the horror inflicted on the
civilian population as part of Ethiopia's counter-insurgency
against the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). End
Summary.

FEAR OF MEETING
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2. (C) In light of the noticeable GoE presence at the
gathering the Ogaden was barely mentioned in conference
plenary sessions. Ogaden elders expressed fear that the GoE
would punish them for contacts with EmbOffs but nonetheless
were eager to meet with EmbOffs discreetly. The elders said
that much of their information was dated because they were in
exile or hiding in cities in the Ogaden, events having
occurred between January and September 2007. They insisted
conditions in the Ogaden have not improved. It was very
difficult to elicit specific names, times and dates of
incidents of human rights abuses. The elders did not express
any fear of terrorism or extremism in their areas but,
rather, clearly saw the GoE and the ENDF as a real threat to
their safety.

A LITANY OF HUMAN RIGHTS ABUSES
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3. (C) The common refrain from Ogaden elders was "it would
take two days to tell you the horrors we have seen. We are
seeing things now that we have never seen before." The
Ogadeni elders blamed the ENDF for a number of ongoing human
rights abuses in the Ogaden, including: 1)
hanging/strangulation by wire; 2) "branding" of people with
hot irons and hiding the branded people in dog kennels; 3)
arbitrary detention; 4) arbitrary killings of civilians; 5)
collective punishment, including denial of access to food and
water sources; 6) forced conscription of civil servants.
When asked what effects the ENDF tactics have had on
Ogadenis' attitudes toward the GoE, one Korahe elder said
frankly "our only option now is separation." Other elders
were less willing to be so blunt.

ABUSES PREVALENT THROUGHOUT THE OGADEN
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4. (C) Degehabur elders told EmbOffs that: 1) more than 200
Ethiopian soldiers had been killed at in the April 23 attack
on the Chinese oil site in Abole; 2) clans are refusing to
pay blood money, to the GoE for the deaths; 3) women were
gang raped and killed by the ENDF in response to this
incident; 4) the GoE is asking each community to provide 50
men for militia, but many will only muster between 10-20; 5)
health workers are exempt thus far; and 6) the ENDF has been
hanging people. One Degehabur elder said that in areas where
the ONLF had been active, the ENDF has denied communities
access to water for as many as 10 days.


5. (C) Warder Elders told EmbOffs that: 1) all vehicles were
being stopped in their region and no food was getting in or
out; 2) people are dying of hunger; and 3) there is no
freedom of movement ) the ENDF kills people seeking to
travel from one kebele to another. One Warder elder said
that the ENDF has made a practice of walking into villages,
calling everyone to a meeting, and arbitrarily killing six or
seven people as a warning to others. In one case, an ethnic
Somali ENDF member reportedly vomited when forced to hang

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people and was immediately killed himself (the ENDF allegedly
tightened a wire around his neck until he asphyxiated). The
message of the hangings to Warder elders is "You don't even
deserve a bullet."


6. (C) Fik elders told EmbOffs that: 1) the ENDF denies
people access to water; 2) thousands are dying from
malnutrition; and 3) there is no freedom of movement.


7. (C) Korahe elders told EmbOffs that: 1) the ENDF seeks 100
camels in 'blood money' for every ENDF soldier killed; 2)
villagers are too scared not to pay; and 3) people are being
indiscriminately detained and forced to pay 5000 birr
(roughly 550 dollars) for the release of family members. One
elder said his 70 year-old cousin had been shot on suspicions
of working with the ONLF. One Korahe elder also said that
the ENDF is allowing food into Korahe only by military escort
and has been involved in profiteering and resale of essential
food and nonfood items.

MP ACKNOWLEDGES CONSCRIPTION
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8. (C) Federal Member of Parliament and Chair of parliament's
pastoralist subcommittee confirmed to UK EmbOff that: 1) the
GoE uses untrained and under-equipped militia to engage the
ONLF; 2) the ONLF's support base appears to have increased,
with some fluctuations in numbers; and 3) overzealous local
ENDF leaders appear to exceed their authority. While the MP
noted that Ethiopia's National Security Advisor Abay Tsehaye
is firmly in charge at the top, he does not 'micro-manage'
about tactics on the ground.

COMMENT
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9. (C) While the lack of specific dates, names, or locations
related to the acts reported by the elders renders it
effectively impossible to verify or confirm any particular
allegation among the host of elders' reports, the common
trends reconfirm the findings conveyed privately from the
early-September UN assessment team: a clear pattern of
systemic gross human rights abuses by Ethiopian government
and military officials against the people of the Ogaden
region. While it is certainly possible, and probably quite
likely, that senior Ethiopian government officials have not
sanctioned or may not even be aware of such tactics deployed,
the overwhelming consistency in specific details conveyed by
disparate individuals from far flung regions of the Ogaden
across a period of several months leaves little doubt that
the Ethiopian military has, and continues to, engage in
wanton human rights abuses. End Comment.
YAMAMOTO