For immediate release : Call on US and Canadian Authorities to Deny Visit by Ogaden Genocide Perpetrator
Da’ud Mohamed Ali, governor of the Ogaden region of eastern Ethiopia, is heading up a delegation that is expected to tour North America, which includes a planned visit to Minnesota this weekend and on to Canada next week. Why Minnesota? Minnesota is now home to more Somali Ogadens than anywhere else outside of Ethiopia.
We believe that if the US and the Canadian public knew more about this man and his central complicity in committing massive atrocities against his own people, they would not only be outraged; they would never allow him entrance into either of these free countries. In March of 2009, Dr. Gregory Stanton, president of Genocide Watch, has called Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles’s regime “serial killers” and has referred the case on to the International Criminal Court to consider doing an in-depth investigation, particularly citing the case of the Ogaden regon. Base on Da’ud’s perpetration of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the Ogaden region (Somali Regional State), we are hoping—that the US and Canadian Governments will deny him a visa.
Da’ud has been connected to massive crimes against humanity, war crimes and the destruction of livelihood, as documented by human rights organizations and humanitarian groups working in the area. Food, medical aid and other humanitarian assistance have been blocked and thousands were displaced by Da’ud’s orders. Recently 42 international organizations have been kicked out of the country, allegedly for providing information on the human rights situation, later used in the US State Department’s disparaging human rights report on Ethiopia.
The genocide and dictatorship by a corrupt and brutal government under the leadership of Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, known for using tactics to suppress the people while pretending to be a partner in the War on Terror. Zenawi uses ethnic “puppets,” like Da’ud, to carry out schemes usually attached to the exploitation of natural resources; in this case, the large gas and oil reserves in the region. Americans and Canadians should shun any support of such genocide perpetrators and not give them a voice or a platform to intimidate and silence those among us.
This coalition of concerned American and Canadian are asking that the both goverments exercise their established laws against human rights violators in respect to Da’ud and his delegation, excluding them from entry. Indeed it will give voice to the silenced victims in Ethiopia—something that would indeed be an encouraging source of hope to some who have been discouraged by US and Canadian quietness of this terrorist regime.
Ethiopians have been divided by ethnicity, region, political view, religion and other differences, but those in this new coalition hope that by coming together in solidarity around principles of putting “humanity before ethnicity” or any other difference; that they can better create society that is free, democratic, just, reconciled and prosperous. we are working together to bring about the transformation based on the principle that “no one will be free until all are free.” This is the only way to break the cycle of dictatorship, injustice, ethnic conflict, poverty, exploitation and corruption that is now rampant on the continent.
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For more information Please Contact
Mr.Yassin Kassim
Executive Director
East African Human Rights Coalition
Mailto ;- Yassin@solidaritymovement.org
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