Some of the crimes that Da’ud is directly linked to include:Forcible mobilization of civil servants to pick up arms and fight the ONLF. Da’ud Mohamed, as a party deputy leader, was in charge of the campaign to mobilize untrained civil servants to face highly trained armed groups.
Read more >>In an article in the New York Times, see http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/15/world/africa/15ethiopia.html , it was written “Anybody who works for the government — teachers, doctors, clerks, administrators — has to join a militia,” In the same reported that “Several Western officials say they are alarmed about this new strategy, especially when the first signs maybe emerging of a humanitarian crisis that aid officials predicted over the summer.”
• In May 2007, Da’ud Mohamed called for and chaired all civil servant staff meeting which was held at Abdulmajid Hussein Teacher Training Collegall, and in that meeting, ordered all the present civil servants to be transported to the frontline to fight armed groups. Some of them have been killed, others have fled to neighboring countries and those who refused to fight were jailed.
• In October 2008, Mr Daud, accompanied by the head of the regional security Abdi Omar, (also known Abdi Iley), toured Fiq, Korahe and Degahbour zones, to implement similar operations. In Degahbour, he ordered the salaries of Gunagado district to be frozen until they captured or killed the leader of ONLF, whom he believed was in the area at that time.
• In December 2008, the army and the militia, with the approval of the Regional Security Council Chair Mr. Daud Mohamed, massacred 37 unarmed civilians and politicians including Qanyare, a member of Gursum district parliament, Ali Heydar- head of Biyo Ade Kebele administration and Omer Aw Ibrahim- a known elder in the village. Mr Mohamed as the head the Security Council that leads and overseas the military and militia operations in the region approved all these operations.
• In January 2009, hundreds of civil servants were dismissed for not taking up arms against rebel groups by the order of the regional president.
In its 130 page report supplemented with satellite images of the burnt villages, the Human Rights Watch said “During the peak of the army’s counterinsurgency campaign from June to September 2007, witnesses described how Ethiopian troops forcibly displaced entire rural communities and destroyed dozens of rural villages; executed at least 150 civilians, sometimes in demonstration killings to terrorize those communities suspected of supporting the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF); and arbitrarily detained hundreds of civilians in military barracks where they experienced beatings, torture, and widespread rape and other forms of sexual violence.” (http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2008/06/12/collectivepunishment
Buildings in Labigah town, in the Ogaden, are seen before their destruction in this handout satellite image taken February 2008. Satellite images confirm reports that the TPLF/EPRDF military have burned towns and villages in the remote Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia, the American Association for the Advancement of Science reported on eight sites in the rocky, arid region, which borders Somalia, have clear signs of burning and other destruction, the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program said. REUTERS/American Association for the Advancement of Science/Digital Globe/Handout.
The destruction, and damage, to Labigah town’s structures is seen in this handout satellite image taken February 2008. Satellite images confirm reports that the Ethiopian military has burned towns and villages in the remote Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia, the American Association for the Advancement of Science reported on eight sites in the rocky, arid region, which borders Somalia, have clear signs of burning and other destruction, the AAAS Science and Human Rights Program said. REUTERS/American Association for the Advancement of Science/Digital Globe/Handout (Ethiopia).
Amnesty International, Ogaden Human Rights Committee, the US state department and other international institutions have also documented the severe human rights violations in Ogaden
(Seehttp://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2008/af/119001.htm, http://www.amnesty.ca/resource_centre/news/view.php?load=arcview&article=4046&c=Resource+Centre+News, http://www.ogadenrights.org/THE_DIRE.htm, ).
In October 2008 Douglas Alexander, the international development secretary, visited Ogaden and experienced human rights violations in Ogaden first hand after malnourished children and mothers were forcefully removed from the Hospital he visited in Kabridehar region (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/africa/article4965305.ece)
For more information please contact
(OPS) Ogaden people Solidarity
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