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Aid workers in Ethiopia's remote Ogaden region are currently facing an impossible dilemma. In order to carry on helping people in the east of the country, the government has warned them that they better keep quiet about allegations of army atrocities in the area.
International humanitarian staff have spoken anonymously to the Boston-based Christian Science Monitor about public executions, rapes, torture, arbitrary detentions and beatings of civilians by government forces in Ogaden, where most people are ethnic Somalis.
Aid workers also accuse separatist rebels in the Ogaden National Liberations Front (ONLF) of terrible crimes against civilians who refuse to help them.
Relief agencies were expelled from Ogaden during Ethiopian government crackdowns on the ONLF in late 2007. They are now gradually being allowed to return with food and medicines - but only if they stay silent about what they see.
"We have two options: either we come out with a nasty press release tomorrow on protection of human rights, and we will have to leave behind a substantial population still facing atrocities, or we just do our work," an aid worker said to the Monitor.
Ogaden's residents have greeted aid workers enthusiastically, eager to share their stories with humanitarians. "They have begged us to stay," an aid worker tells the paper.
Conflicting reports from locals, and a ban on journalists entering the area, mean that allegations are hard to verify. The government denies its troops have committed any atrocities.
"I can assure you that the government is not in the business of killing people and putting them in mass graves," government spokesman Bereket Simon told the Monitor.
The need for aid workers in Ogaden is great. Food and water are in short supply and medical supplies in the Somali area ran out long ago. The U.N. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights still has no access to investigate allegations, and the World Food Programme's food aid distributions have been hampered by conflict in the area.
"You always come down on the same side," the director of one organisation operating in the region said to the Monitor. "It's better to keep yourself operational and to do something."
Some frustrated aid workers are beginning to speak out discreetly, but it's dangerous. International staff run the risk of being expelled or seeing their operations closed down, but the stakes are even higher for local staff. Many said they didn't want to say anything to the Monitor for fear they might be imprisoned or killed.
One local aid worker who talked to the paper said: "It's a relief to speak with you. You hear these things and they weigh on your heart."
But for now, most aid workers are just getting on with the job of delivering humanitarian relief.
When does the moral duty to bear witness outweigh the need to try to save lives? Or where is it more important to stick by people who are suffering, even if it means not speaking out about what's going on?
Does it depend how many aid agencies are on the scene? Is it possible to tell the truth and keep running a relief programme?
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14 responses to “Keep quiet about atrocities, Ethiopia warns aid workers”
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28 Feb 2008 10:09:23 GMT
Males Zenawi is a the Hitler of Africa but the sad thing is he has the Western Nations as his protecter.These Western Nation is lead by the USA and Europe they are defanding the Genocide and in fact they are compensated the Ethiopian for their crimes against humanity.This is very clear and everytime the United Nations wanted to do something about it the USA steping it to cover the crimes commited by Ethiopians.Jendayi and Males have to be brought to court.These crimes must be stoped first.
28 Feb 2008 10:09:59 GMT
The atrocities in Ogaden as of all over the world will continue until there is CHANGE in Washington!!!!
28 Feb 2008 10:11:36 GMT
i am an ogadeni, from san diego CA. i am happy to see people caring about the ogaden people that are dieing in the hands of the ethiopian government, there is ethnic cleansing in the ogaden but yet the U.S. government seems not to care about the poor ogaden people of east africa. please i urge every good hearted american to help my people. and bring down justice to those terrorrist that are the etiopian regime, my people need help, every peoples diserve human rights, the ethiopian government do not want human rights for the ogaden people. as simply as human rights are, it is a dream come true for my ogaden people. stop the ogaden ethnic cleansing stop the GENOCIDE of the ogaden people god bless
28 Feb 2008 10:15:04 GMT
Ethiopia's war on its own By Ronan Farrow, Los Angeles Times February 25, 2008 DADAAB, KENYA -- When Ethiopian government forces swept through his town in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia, burning huts and killing civilians. "The young girls were the first to die. The soldiers shot them and gathered the bodies and burned them," he said. "When they came to my home, they strangled my father with a wire and hung his body in a tree. Then they shot me and left me for dead." In October, Human Rights Watch warned that events in Ogaden were following a "frighteningly familiar pattern" to those in Sudan's Darfur region, noting "ethnic overtones" to attacks and accusing Ethiopia of "displac[ing] large populations" and "deliberately attack[ing] civilians." Government forces have been implicated in escalating looting, burnings and atrocities. Recently, soldiers have begun a brutal campaign of forced conscription, often torturing or killing those who refuse to join.
See Los Angeles Times for more infomation. GerrieLijam28 Feb 2008 10:17:41 GMT
Ogaden has been suffering by the hand of the Imperailist of Ethiopian highlanders. many refugees are fleeing to Kenya,Djibouti,puntland as well as somaliland why the media and diploments do not play a good role is that Ogaden somalis are mastly muslim. the restive barren and desolated land of Ogadenia became an intersting Natural resourses but who cares the human rights abuses. We hate American policy toward Ethiopia especially Ogaden.
28 Feb 2008 16:51:06 GMT
It is great to hear the suffering of the innocent civilians from different sources. That one itself is an achievement. There was a time that the new Ethiopian government deserved to be spoonfed and given time to make change. But, now, everything is clear that things are getting worse in the hands of the new dictator. The human rights abuse in Ethiopia is not only in the Ogaden, it is everywhere, Ogaden is the worst. 50% of the members of TPLF-the heading party of Tigrai are in jail since 2002, just because of opposing Meles's atrocities. Many members of the elected MPs are in detention centres. The economy is collapsing. HIV/AIDS is prevailing in a skyrocketing speed. I don't blame all these on Meles Zenawi. I blame the US government and the Bush Administration for backing up all these problems just for the sake of the fear of the unexisting islamic terrosrists in the Horn of Africa, which even if it exists Meles regime will only e! xasperate the sitaution, buit can not do anything to destroy them. There are more than 100 million people in the Horn of Africa, I can say 100 million of them hate the United States government more than Meles Zenawi. We do not only hate the Bush Admin, but we are starting to think of even supporting anyone who opposes Bush's policy in whatever expenses. Then, if there are millions of people with this kind of attitude, what is the benefit of the American people in simply empowering a regime and shadowing all its atrocicities on its own people. We all beg from the supreme power of this universe to bring change to US government who then make justice to all.
28 Feb 2008 16:51:31 GMT
What Etniopian army doing here in Ogaden is accepted by World including The UN so we are in this corner of the world humanrights isn't repected,
28 Feb 2008 16:52:07 GMT
Hodan Dualeh has never set foot in the Ogaden, but her passion for the land and people could not be stronger. Dualeh is president of the Ogaden Youth Network (OYN), a youth group from the Ogaden region of Ethiopia.
âOur aim is to change U.S. foreign policy specifically as concerns the Ogaden,â Dualeh said, using the gestures of a politician to help get her point across. âThat is really the main objective, whether itâs though lobbying or through education,â The Ogaden is a large desert in eastern Ethiopia. Most of its residents are ethnically Somali and speak Somali. The Ethiopian government has a record of perpetrating human rights abuses in the region, mainly through the military. This treatment has caused local groups to develop their own rebel militia. The conflict between militia groups and the military continues to ravage the region. According to the Minnesota state demographerâs office, it is difficult to tell exactly how large Minnesotaâs Ogaden community is, because it is not identified as a separate category. Most Ogadanians count themselves as Somali instead of Ethiopian, which further complicates the figures. Members of the OYN estimate the number to be more than 15,000. http://www.tcdailyplanet.net29 Feb 2008 09:19:56 GMT
Why do people always blame the US? As far as I can see it is the Ethiopian government that should be blamed, the US is sending in food. The best answer would be to send in a UN force to make the fighting stop, I would say send in the African Union but the AU is run by a bunch of corrupt cronies, is understaffed and too ineffective to actually achieve anything. Unfortunately there is always the lack of political will, with much hand washing while people get mutilated, tortured and killed
29 Feb 2008 09:20:24 GMT
to answer the question posed, both broad advocacy and ground level survival promotion needs to be engaged in Eastern Ethipoia. Can one agency or one person do both? I believe not. Perhaps a specialization of abilities should be employed. Those who are irreplaceable on the ground should do their work well, trusting that others are publicaly speaking out against atrocities that are occurring. If you just can't stand to be helping on the ground and not speaking out publicly, leave your job and go work in advocay- but don't jepardize your agencies work with your lack of discipline. Remember, in this connected world, there are always ways of getting information passed from the ground up to the advocating agencies or individuals outside of the immediate situation.
29 Feb 2008 09:29:09 GMT
In my experience working for aid agencies in the horn of Africa, there are a diversity of agencies, some of whose mission includes speaking out and potentially losing access, while others, like the ICRC, prioritize access and discretion. This diversity of mandates means that sometimes both goals--speaking out against abuses, and maintaining access by some agecies--can be achieved.
In this case, the Ethiopian government may hold all agencies accountable for the press releases of only one. Humanitarians have an important mission on the ground, and cannot lose access. Neither are humanitarians responsible for finding a solution to Ogaden's problem, which requires a political solution. Too often, humanitarian action is substituted for political action, when the international community doesn't care (20 years of civil war in southern Sudan) or is afraid of the committment required to effect change (Darfur). Yes, humanitarians will leak information about the abuses in Ogaden to the UN, to governments, even to the press from time to time. BUT it is the international community, lead by the UN, that has the moral responsbility to do something about it.29 Feb 2008 09:46:27 GMT
I applaud your reporting to further expose the war crime perpetrated against the Ogaden people. It has been 18 years the tyranical melese regime terrorizing the Ethiopian people. In fact, it has become even worse than the previous Derge regime it replaced. This time around,it unleashed war of annihilation against any and all politcial resistance. The only thing new,if it is news by any standard, the visiousness and quantity of its victms exponentialy increaased.A few years back it started agaianst the Amhara ethnic group,then the Anuak of Gambella, the oromos, the southern peopl(Gurages,kembata,Hadiya and etc..) At the present time the Somali Ethiopians.The Melese government is a totaltarian stalinst regime. The west particularly the present US adiminstration bares all responsiblity by failing at least the minimum of to protecting and curbing the outright violation of human rights for its own long term interst.The tragedy of human kind is we still keep silent until the horrors of others knocks at our own door. Thanks goodness, the world is only save against itself for the courgeous reporters and news media like this one God Bless you!!
04 Mar 2008 12:37:47 GMT
The government of Meles Zenwi is so unpopular in the country since it forced it self on Ethiopians it could only stay on power by intimidating, imprisoning, raping, humiliating and killing the people of Ethiopia to a degree that is comparable to atrocities that are described as genocide and crime against humanity.
Since the two darlings of the west Meles Zenawi and Isayas Afeworki came to power in 1991 the number of people killed, imprisoned, raped and displaced from the horn of Africa as a direct result of their ambition to stay on power would eclipse any atrocity that is committed any where in the world for that period of time. And the means to commit this atrocities and a cover is provided by the west, mainly by US and to a lesser extent European countries because this criminals pose no threat to the wests interest and comply to the demands of the west to it's own interest to keep getting the support they need to stay on power. I don't see any moral dilemma here. A stand has been taken by the west to forsake an entire population to benefit from a weak government that depends entirely on the support from the west for it's existence. Zimbabwe and Burma if properly compared with Ethiopia for the number of people victimized by their respective regimes Meles Zenawi would dwarf Robert Mugabe or the Burmese junta on any scale, yet in the west the government organs, the media and the NGOs go with all their might against the lesser evils but not only their voices are muted when it comes to Meles Zenawi but provide the necessary material and political support to maintain this regime. The difference between Meles Zenawis and the other mentioned dectatorial regimes is that Meles Zenawi complies to demands to promote the wests interest while the others are defiant. The government organs, media and NGOs of the west should visit the question of morality when they maintain a murderous regime for it's own benefit. Ignoring the bigger moral blunder and invoking the question of morality for this story is another cover and only meant to feel good about one self.09 Apr 2008 08:54:52 GMT
The social, political, and economic havoc being perpetuated in Africa in general and that in the Horn in particular is the deliberate outcome of the policy of hegenomy formulated by the U.S. and its Europen partners. For these partners to continue exploiting the continent of its minerals and oil, they need the services of warlords and mercenery regimes throughout the continent. In the Horn of Africa, the mercenary regime of Meles Zenawi is funded and maintained by the U.S. and Britain. Due to the total support by these powers, the Ethiopian Hitler, Meles Zenawi, has been alowed to unleash the genocide which is currently taking place in the Somali Ogaden. The NGOs have the moral obligation to expose the atrocities being commited by this sadistic regime before it is too late. The Ruwanda genocide is being revisited in the Ogaden and those with conscience should seak out NOW.