Female Ethiopian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia being murdered, raped

ESAT News  November 26, 2013

The situation in Riyadh is hopeless say Ethiopians residing in Saudi Arabia that ESAT spoke to. An Ethiopian, who resides in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, said to ESAT that she has witnessed the killing of two Ethiopian women in a place called Mekreyement, Shababiya by Saudi military vehicles. Another Ethiopian lady on her part said that another lady had died hit by an iron while talking to Saudi soldiers. The hand of another Ethiopian lady has been severed. Other Ethiopians have said that there are so many atrocities that are even worse than this.

Over 50 vehicles have been parked for the past 17 days carrying Ethiopians that are waiting to be repatriated voluntarily. The passengers dine and carry out their sanitation around the buses hence polluting the area.  Children are being infected by contagious diseases, according to eyewitnesses.

This crisis has also affected documented Ethiopians living in Saudi Arabia. They say they are finding it very difficult to be employed although they have all the necessary legal requirements fulfilled.

Although unverified, the Ethiopian government has claimed that it has repatriated over 20,000 Ethiopians and the number Ethiopians still concentrated in Menfah Camp in Riyadh is overfull.

http://www.ethiofreedom.com/ethiopian-migrants-victimized-in-saudi-arabia-graham-peebles/

source : EthioFreedom

Urgent Action Needed (አሁንም የድረሱልን ጥሪ ከሳዑዲ አረቢያ)

Wounded in Addis, finished off in Riyadh

From China to Ethiopia and from Belarus to Saudi Arabia, there is no shortage of repressive regimes in the world. In general, repressive societies are defined as exerting pervasive state control over daily life, banning free speech and political opposition, and practicing severe human rights violations. All of these attributes describe the Ethiopian regime from head to toe, but the TPLF regime in Ethiopia has many more attributes that makes it the worst of the worst. Oppressive regimes don not hate their country, yet the Ethiopian regime does. Even though oppressive regimes kill their citizens for a variety of reasons, they don’t kill out of hatred. The TPLF regime in Ethiopia hunts and kills people that it really hates. Almost all countries of the world, authoritarian or egalitarian, show the utmost concern and respect for their citizens who immigrate to other countries. Ethiopia is visibly different; it is really different, so much so, that the Ethiopian embassies throughout the world (including Saudi) are happily opened for certain kind of people and are inhospitable and closed for everybody else.

In recent years, the oil rich kingdom of Saudi Arabia with its growing economy has been a magnet for migrant workers from Ethiopia and other poor countries of Africa and Asia. Although Ethiopian migrant workers have constantly been harassed, abused and treated like a plug horse by their Saudi employers and the police, many young Ethiopians who have been denied opportunities in their native country, have considered Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf Arab states as much better and attractive destinations for hope and better life.

The Ethiopian regime which has a fiduciary responsibility of creating domestic employment has in fact facilitated the migration of young Ethiopians to Saudi and other Gulf States, and its corrupted officials have benefited from this immoral act of “legal human trafficking”. This total neglect of Ethiopians by their own government on one side, and the abundant supply of cheap Ethiopian labor on the other, has encouraged some savage Saudis into believing that they either own or have full control over the migrant workers who work and live with them. As a result, domestic employers, local gangs and the youth mob have assaulted, abused, gang raped, mutilated and even killed helpless Ethiopian migrant workers.
When the Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) saw the persecution to which his followers were subjected to in Mecca, he told them to find safe haven in Ethiopia (aka Abyssinia at the time). His followers trusted their trustworthy leader, and they fled to Ethiopia where they enjoyed the unmatched hospitality of the Ethiopian people. The year was 615 AD, It was the First Hijra (migration); and Ethiopia was its destination. As he would never forget the hospitality and generosity of the Ethiopians, the Prophet Mohammed said: “Abyssinia is a land of justice in which no one is oppressed”
Well, today, 1398 years after the First Hijra, two things have changed dramatically. Ethiopia, hailed as the land of justice by the Prophet, is now the symbol of brutality in Africa. And on the other side, Saudi Arabia, the very land of the Prophet and the Holy Land of Islam, has become the land of acute brutality. Ironically, the victims of this brutality are none than the very people that extended their warm hands to the very first migrants of Islam. In the year 615 AD and thereafter, the people and government of Ethiopia showed their utmost hospitality and love towards the first immigrants of Islam. Today, one of the most repressive and brute regimes in the world, the Saudi regime, is returning the favor with absurdity, brutality, and outright inanity.

I hope the Saudi government understands that there is a fine line between tightening its immigration policy and ill-treating and killing immigrants – I only hope because as brute and as injudicious as the Saudi government is, it is never right and it has never been right on anything related to justice, freedom, and human right. Did I say human rights? Oh! Yes, and it does not get more tangled or meshed than this. The Saudi government is known for its sever human rights violations, and Ethiopia is no better if it is not worse. Many young Ethiopians leave their home land and head to Saudi for two main reasons: employment discrimination and lack of opportunity, and lack of freedom and sever human rights violations at home. In Saudi, well; yes Ethiopians are employed in Saudi, but the assault, the abuse and the torture follows them.
The other very strange and undesirable similarity between Ethiopia and Saudi is that, in a very ironic move, these two repressive regimes and three other countries (Russia, China, and Cuba) with questionable human rights records recently secured seats on none other than the UN Human Rights Council. It’s sad, rather absurd that the Saudi and the Ethiopian governments that torture and kill their own citizens are elected to oversee human rights violations elsewhere in the world.
Obviously, from what has been said, the two oppressive regimes, Ethiopia & Saudi, seem to be complementing each other in abusing Ethiopians. Yes, indeed, these two oppressive regimes are as close as ‘lips and teeth’ where one causes the pain and the other finishes off the patient. I personally applaud the current international effort in support of our people in Saudi, but until we tackle the root cause of the problem, the teamwork of Addis and Riyadh continue, and so does the suffering of our people. Therefore, It is crucially important that we start slashing the lip and sending the teeth into the cold.
Saudi Arabia sees Ethiopia as its bread basket for the future, and the ever gluttonous and cash thirty TPLF regime wants to exploit this need by granting the Saudis a massive amount of cheap & fertile land. Hence the leadership in Riyadh harbors no illusion that it is truly interested in the survival of the TPLF regime so long as Addis can keep its promise of supplying cheap labor and land.
In this dominant-submissive relationship, the Saudis take their own self-interest more seriously and do what they want without worrying about Ethiopia. Swallowing its own feelings and avoiding standing-up for the interest of the Ethiopian people, the bigoted and subservient TPLF regime regards Saudi’s needs as paramount. Hence, Ethiopians go to Saudi as domestic workers where they are assaulted, abused and killed; and the Saudis come to Ethiopia as entrepreneurs and get all the respect they may not be getting in their own country.
What we saw in Riyadh and Addis in the last week or two is the reflection of this dominant-submissive relationship. In Riyadh and many other Saudi cities, Ethiopians who protested against the abusive actions of the Saudi regime were arrested, beaten and killed. In Addis, Ethiopians who tried to protest in front of the Saudi embassy were rounded up by the Ethiopian police and beaten like dogs. As long as this dominant-submissive relationship exists, when we talk about Ethiopia and Saudi, as the political satirist Abe Tokichaw would say; it may be very important to make a distinction between Saudi Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia.
In the last two weeks, I watched hours of gruesome and excruciating video clips from Saudi that made me sick to my bones. The street crackdown, the house to house arrest and beating, the rape, the mutilation and the killings have made me ask . . . is Saudi the Holy Land or the land of brutality?
Ethiopia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have become the world of mean streets, where bloody killers are operating with the “immortal certainty” that they will never have to pay for the snuffling out of human life. We must make them pay, and we must stop the team work of this brute and savage duo. There are the Ethiopian people, there is the opposition and there are the damn TPLF gangs. We must get rid of the damn gangs!

by Ephrem Madebo

zehabesha

International Commission of Jurists (ICJ): Ethiopian Leaders to Face a Trial for Genocide

By Betre Yacob.

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) reported to have begun to work to bring Ethiopian authorities to justice for having committed a genocide in the Ogaden region. The International Commission of Jurists is a known international human rights organization composed of jurists (including senior judges, attorneys, and lawyers). The commission is known for its dedication to ensuring respect for international human rights standards through the law.

The report came right after different Swedish TV channels showed a movie smuggled out from Ogaden by an Ethiopian refugee, who had been a government official in the region. The 100 hours long movie is said to have many evidences of genocide committed by the Ethiopian government in the region.

Speaking to journalists, Stellan Diaphragm, the commissioner of the Commission, said that he would do everything necessary to bring the case to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Reports indicate that although Ethiopia is not a member of the ICC, the country can possibly face trial for crimes under international law.

The Ogaden region is a territory in Eastern part of Ethiopia, and populated mainly by ethnic Somalis. Since 2007, the region has been a site of brutal struggle between the government troops and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a rebel group seeking for more autonomy for the region.

Different human right organizations accuse the Ethiopian government of committing grave human right violation (including genocide) against the civilians in attempt to control the ONLF’s public support.

According to the Genocide Wach, the crimes committed in the region include extrajudicial killings, arbitrary detention, rape, torture, disappearances, the destruction of livelihood, the burning of villages and the destroying of life stock.

Source : The daily Journalist

For TPLF's Supporters what would you say?

Ethiopian people has been under colonization for almost 22 years with force and oppression by TPLF the suppression of press freedom has killed the democracy exchange between the people & the gov't.

 , Ethnic federalism applied by TPLF has played a role dividing people, spreading hate, and poisoning a nation from being united .
Propaganda of development Only works for corrupted TPLF's members but then instead living expense for the people of Ethiopia became a matter of survival, What else should we add? eviction? students being treated unfair? migration? crisis of living in Ethiopia in general? bad governance? or criticism which helps for the positive change of development became a conviction and crime that will get you imprisoned by Ethiopia regime anti terrorism law? Really what do you say? or which positive part you take side on? for TPLF's supporters? I wonder...*

(by the way i didn't say members , becouse as we all know and as the matter of fact their is a lot of TPLF's members, a forced one, to stay on job, to keep their house, to get Id from keble, to live in peace under the gun, to continue education, to use the opportunity which is available for only members of TPLF)
Throughout this all agony and controversy yet their are Heroes Like Andualem Aragieunique a unique which is very articulate, sharp and fearless,young brilliant opposition leader who stands for the truth and stand against boldly the abusive action done by regime which it scares badly TPLF's
so that He became one of the victim being labeled ,convicted, & imprisoned as a terrorist !!

Listen very well....

Sole opposition MP says Ethiopia bottling up strife

Girma Seifu Maru, Ethiopia’s sole opposition politician in a 547-seat parliament, says the authorities risk provoking social unrest if they do not offer more political space to critical voices.

The 47-year-old economist and consultant said his party, Unity for Democracy and Justice (UDJ), is pushing for greater openness with a petition against an anti-terror law that critics say is used to stifle dissent, and by a campaign of protests.

But it is an uphill struggle for opponents of the ruling coalition in a nation that Girma said was following China’s model in a bid to drag swathes of its 90 million people, many still subsistence farmers, out of poverty by 2025.

“The Chinese model is that economic development is the primary issue, don’t ask about human rights issues, don’t ask about your freedom, keeping silent on people’s rights so that a few politicians get the economic benefits,” he told Reuters in an interview at a modern hotel, where the imprint of China’s growing influence in Africa was evident on many of the fittings.

But he said the government risked a “violent struggle” if it continued that path until parliamentary elections in 2015.

“That will be a seed they are just giving water to at this time if they don’t change their route and give hope to peaceful activities,” he said in Addis Ababa, adding that his party was committed to change by peaceful means.

Ethiopia has won international plaudits for delivering double-digit growth for much of the past decade.

Once known for “Red Terror” purges of the 1970s and famine in the 1980s, the capital is at the heart of a building boom, while new highways are starting to connect far-flung regions.

But economists say the government’s preference for a command economy may be hurting growth prospects by squeezing out private business, while opponents say a heavy-handed state is curbing freedoms that may be bottling up ethnic and other tensions.

In 2005, a disputed election ended in violence and the killing of 200 people. Opposition candidates won 174 seats but many did not take them up, saying the vote was rigged. The government denies this and other charges about quashing dissent.

Girma was the only opponent to win a seat in 2010, saying the government used state institutions to keep out most rivals. Dressed in a tracksuit and sipping a local St George beer, he brushed off with a smile the idea he was lonely in parliament.

“I am one and they are one,” he said, referring to what critics see as the monolithic nature of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) and its allies.

“SPIRIT OF FEAR”

In its bid to ease what he calls the public’s fear of speaking out in the build up to 2015, Girma’s party has launched a campaign he called “millions of voices for change.”

In the past three months, he said his party activists had launched a petition to repeal the 2009 anti-terrorism law, which rights groups say has been used to lock up opponents. Human Rights Watch says 13 journalists have been convicted since 2011. He did not say how many signatures had been collected so far.

“A spirit of fear is very dangerous,” he said. “So if individuals can become free of this fear they can bring change.”

He said the party was organizing demonstrations for freedom around the country, including one in the capital where protesters raised political and economic gripes. Witnesses said hundreds turned up, although Girma put the figure higher.

In June, witnesses said thousands of Ethiopians staged an anti-government protest that was the largest since 2005.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said last week the government was not to blame for the opposition’s poor showing.

“Shall we say to the people elect this guy or that guy?” the premier told Reuters, speaking from offices in the hill-top gardens of what was once the imperial palace of Haile Selassie. “It is the people who decide.”

Girma said his party and the other dozen or so groups in the opposition Medrek coalition only wanted a level playing field.

Girma said his party advocated a more market-led economic system that would relinquish state control of the nation’s mobile phone operator and end state banks’ dominance.

“The only way they can continue as a ruling elite is by controlling the economy,” said Girma, who was studied economics at Addis Ababa University and runs a business consultancy.

Girma also said the EPRDF, made up of four ethnic and regional parties, has entrenched ethnic rivalries rather than united the diverse nation.

“They think it is keeping the balance,” he said. “But if they lose that balance you lose everything.”

Source: ZeHabesha

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