Separate from the CUD trials, a parliamentary inquiry was established in December 2005 to investigate the demonstration killings. This body initially concluded that Ethiopian security forces had used excessive force. However, the Chair and other members of the inquiry commission were later forced to flee the country, after receiving threats that they must alter their findings. The remaining members of the commission subsequently endorsed a report accepted by the parliament in October 2006 that the actions of the security forces had been “legal and necessary.” No member of the security forces has since been arrested or charged with any offense in connection with the demonstration violence.
Ethiopia’s Border Dispute with Eritrea
Despite the government of Ethiopia’s stated acceptance the international boundary commission ruling in 2002, following the 1998-2000 border war between Ethiopia and Eritrea, it has resisted the implementation of this ruling and called for further negotiations. Not surprising, Eritrea has refused to allow the commission’s ruling to be re-examined and demanded international enforcement instead. The ICB was dissolved in November without any further progress toward formal demarcation. The potential for mass abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law in the event of renewed combat along the border is grave, with new deployments by both sides in late 2007. Instability and threats of violence have already had dire effects on the livelihood, health and right to movement of local populations.
Though the mandate for the UN Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE) was renewed in December 2007, Eritrea has created such severe obstacles to its function that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon is temporarily disbanding UNMEE pending further UNSC consideration.
Ethiopian Blockade in the Somali Region (the Ogaden)
The government of Ethiopia, initially in response to attacks by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) on an oil installation in Obole in April 2007, which reportedly killed 65 Ethiopian and six Chinese oil workers, stepped up counter-insurgency operations in the Somali Region, including a blockade of aid and commercial trade that has had devastating impact on conflict-affected districts of the region, including food shortages. It has also further injured Ethiopia’s overall relationship with the people of Somalia.
Amnesty International has received reports of mass arrests, lengthy detentions without trial, beatings, rape and other forms of torture, forcible conscription and extrajudicial executions of alleged ONLF supporters by Ethiopian forces. And the ONLF has reportedly assassinated some civilian officials.
A UN fact-finding mission in August 2007 reported on the humanitarian crisis, but a subsequent mission to assess human rights conditions in the Somali Region has not yet materialized. In addition, Sultan Fowsi Mohamed Ali, a clan elder and mediator, was detained in August, reportedly to prevent him from speaking with members of the UN fact-finding mission, and he is still being detained without trial. Amnesty International considers him to be a prisoner of conscience.