#OromoProtests

 NOVEMBER 7, 2016 5:42AM EST Australia: Protests Prompt Ethiopia Reprisals Visa for Abusive Ethiopian Official Raises Concerns (Sydney) – The Ethiopian government has arrested and detained dozens of relatives of Ethiopians who participated in a Melbourne protest in June, 2016, and is still holding many of them four months later, Human Rights Watch said today.  Ethiopian Australians protest against an Ethiopian government delegation visiting Melbourne, Australia, June 2016. © 2016 Private On June 12, members of Australia’s Ethiopian community who are from Somali Regional State protested the visit to Australia of an Ethiopian regional government delegation that included Abdi Mohamoud Omar, known as Abdi Iley, the president of Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State. They were also protesting Australia’s support for the Ethiopian government. The Ethiopian delegation did not appear, and after several hours the event was cancelled. The protesters later learned that several dozen of their relatives in Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State had been arrested and detained due to their involvement in the Melbourne protest. “Abdi Mohamoud Omar and his colleagues have added collective punishment to their long list of abuses against the people of Somali Regional State,” said Felix Horne, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The Australian government should raise their concerns with their Ethiopian counterparts at the highest levels.”  Relatives of Australia’s Ethiopian community, who protested against the visit of an Ethiopian regional government delegation to Australia, were arrested due to their involvement in the protest. Human Rights Watch interviewed 10 members of the Ethiopian Somali community in Australia between July and September 2016.They told Human Rights Watch that at least 32 family members had been arrested in Ethiopia. Some have since been released but most were still in detention, the relatives said. The Ethiopian government should immediately release the relatives of the Melbourne protesters, whose detention amounts to unlawful collective punishment of family members, Human Rights Watch said. Ethiopian Somali protesters in Melboune expressed particular concern over Abdi Mohamoud Omar’s visit. The Liyu police, a paramilitary unit that reports directly to Abdi Mohamoud Omar, has been responsible for numerous serious human rights abuses, including extrajudicial executions and torture. Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade told Human Rights Watch that Abdi Mohamoud Omar’s visa application did not raise any serious concerns. The Australian government should ensure that foreign officials implicated in serious human rights abuses do not receive visas, Human Rights Watch said. Numerous Ethiopian Somali Australians said that pro-government supporters living in Australia regularly harass community members perceived as government opponents. Several protesters said that these supporters called or personally confronted them in the days following the arrests and pressed them to make a video pledging support for Abdi Mohamoud Omar in order to secure the release of their relatives. At least three members of Australia’s Ethiopian Somali community have done this. One man described pleas from his family members: “If you do not record something, they will kill us.” Threatening demands for video apologies have been a regular tactic of the Somali Regional State government, Human Rights Watch said. People from Somali Regional State who live in the United States, Canada, and northern Europe have described similar networks and tactics by pro-government supporters there. These videos are often posted to the state-run broadcaster, ESTV, and to various pro-government websites.  Shukri, a Somali-Ethiopian Australian, who protested against the visit of Ethiopia’s President of the Somali Regional State, Abdi Mohamoud Omar, to Melbourne, Australia, in June 2016. In retaliation, Ethiopian paramilitary police rounded up members of Shukri’s family in Ethiopia. © 2016 Human Rights Watch “I don’t feel safe here,” one Australian said. “I thought I was safe. When I came, [I thought] now I will be in a free country. To be in Australia and be scared all the time, it doesn’t go together.” One of the recently released detainees told his relative in Australia that security personnel hit him every night. His interrogators told him: “If you want to be released, you have to talk to [your relative] about support[ing] the government. You have to talk to people and then those people will take it to the embassy.” Arbitrary detention is commonplace in Somali Regional State, and detainees describe frequent torture and other ill-treatment in the region’s many detention sites. Australia has a strong and growing economic relationship with Ethiopia, and Australian companies are exploring opportunities in Ethiopia in mining, energy, and agriculture. In July, an Australia trade delegation from the state of Victoria visited Ethiopia. Granting a visa to Abdi Mohamoud Omar, who previously visited Australia in 2012, raises concerns about the Australian government’s vetting process of people implicated in serious rights abuses. The Department of Immigration and Border Protection is responsible for assessing visa applications and can refuse visas to people suspected of involvement in war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. Given the significant evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity by Ethiopian forces in the country in 2007-2008 while Abdi Mohamoud Omar was the Somali Regional State head of security, his visa application should have raised serious questions, Human Rights Watch said. However, Australian government officials told Human Rights Watch that Abdi Mohamoud Omar’s visa raised no red flags. In response to a letter from Human Rights Watch, the Australian government wrote that “all non-citizens wishing to enter Australia are assessed against relevant public interest criteria, including foreign policy interest, national security and character requirements in accordance with relevant legislation. This includes foreign officials with potential character concerns or subject to allegations of human rights abuses.”  A Somali-Ethiopian Australian who protested against the visit of Ethiopia’s President of the Somali Regional State, Abdi Mohamoud Omar, to Melbourne, Australia, in June 2016. “My mother, brother, and sister were all arrested back home. It makes me sad. I was driving a taxi, but I cannot work now. I can’t answer the phone. I cannot sleep. All my family. It’s because of me.” © 2016 Human Rights Watch “Ethiopia has severely cracked down down on protests at home, but has gone a cruel step further by trying to silence Ethiopians protesting abroad by punishing their family members,” Horne said. “These relatives are being wrongfully held and should immediately be released.” For additional information, please see below. The Melbourne Protest The generally peaceful protest on June 12 was marred by several scuffles, in which one man was injured, and the filming of protesters by government supporters. Several protesters said that a United States citizen connected to the Ethiopian ruling party, who was traveling with Abdi Mohamoud Omar, threatened protesters, saying “You will see what will happen to your relatives.” Another protester said that pro-government Ethiopian Australians threatened him at the event, saying, “You will see what happens.” Several witnesses said that Ethiopian government supporters filmed them using smartphones, which would facilitate identifying their relatives in Somali Regional State. Within hours, protesters started receiving calls from family members in Ethiopia saying that relatives – some as old as 85 – had been arrested because of the Melbourne protest. One protester said he later heard from his family: “When they [Liyu police] arrested my brothers, they told them, ‘Your brother is protesting and that’s why we are arresting you.’” Another protester said, “Around 8 p.m. I got a phone call from my uncle back home. He said, ‘Two of your uncles were taken by the security and we don’t know where they went. … [I]t’s about you as they said your nephew did this or that to President Abdi Iley [Abdi Mohamoud Omar], that’s why.’ They took them away to jail.” The 70-year-old mother of a protester was among those arrested. Before taking her to a military camp, the Liyu police asked her: “Are you the mother of [name withheld]? Your son created trouble for the [regional] president.” She was held for almost a month. She told her son that uniformed captors had beaten her in custody.  Ethiopian government delegation, led by Abdi Mohamoud Omar (center), meets with Australian government officials in Canberra, June 2016 Some other relatives of protesters, particularly the sick and the elderly, have also been released, but on the condition that their Australian relatives make a video apologizing to Abdi Mohamoud Omar for their “anti-government” behavior. Other relatives arrested following the protest remain in detention in various locations in Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State. Conflict, Abuses in Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State, consisting largely of ethnic Somalis, has been the site of a low-level insurgency by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) for more than 15 years. The ethnic Somali armed movement, largely supported by members of the Ogaden clan, has sought greater political autonomy for the region. Following the insurgent group’s April 2007 attack on an oil installation in Obole, which resulted in the deaths of 70 civilians and the capture of several Chinese oil workers, the Ethiopian government carried out a major counterinsurgency campaign incurring serious human rights abuses. In 2008, Human Rights Watch found that security forces were involved in extrajudicial executions, torture, rape, and forced displacement of civilians. Human Rights Watch believes the Ethiopian National Defense Force and the insurgent group both committed war crimes between mid-2007 and early 2008, and that the military could be responsible for crimes against humanity. Abdi Mohamoud Omar was the head of security of Somali Regional State during this period. Since 2008, the paramilitary Liyu police, who report directly to Abdi Mohamoud Omar, have frequently been accused of extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and violence against civilians accused of supporting or being sympathetic to the ONLF, including in 2012 when the Liyu police summarily executed 10 civilans. Abdi Mohamoud Omar has been the president of Somali Regional State since 2010. Since 2008, a number of victims of government abuses have told Human Rights Watch that Abdi Mohamoud Omar was present during interrogations, ordering – and in some cases directly involved in – their torture and that he was present during executions of civilians. One man detained in 2006 in a military camp told Human Rights Watch in July 2016: When Abdi Iley [Abdi Mohamoud Omar] got frustrated that they [soldiers] did not do what he wanted then he did it himself. He would tell them to hit harder or take matters into his own hands. Abdi Iley [Abdi Mohamoud Omar] would say “You must confess.” I was tortured. … We were handcuffed with our arms over our legs, with the legs pulled up. They would put a rod under our legs and hang us up so our head falls back and we hang upside down. I would be hung upside down for periods of 15 minutes and they would hit my buttocks and feet. It was very painful. They would keep us like this for 15 or 20 minutes. Abdi Iley [Abdi Mohamoud Omar] was present for some of these interrogations when we were hanging upside down. The stick was like a rubber hose with an iron bar inside. Once, Abdi Iley[Abdi Mohamoud Omar] thought the officer was not hitting hard enough [so] he took an iron bar himself. A number of people have also alleged that Abdi Mohamoud Omar threatened them on social media. Limitations on access to Ethiopia in general, and Somali Regional State specifically, have not made it possible to corroborate these claims. The Ethiopian government has never meaningfully investigated abuses by the military or Liyu police in the Somali region. International human rights groups are not permitted access to to the area. The government has used various tactics to silence the diaspora. Human Rights Watch has documented numerous examples in which family members of Ethiopians who have been vocal abroad were targeted for arrest or harassment. They have also been targeted for surveillance using European-made malware. Diaspora-based websites are often blocked inside Ethiopia, and the government regularly jams diaspora television and radio stations. Region / Country Africa Ethiopia Australia More Reading  May 26, 2017 News Release Uganda: Set Independent Inquiry in November Killings  May 26, 2017 Commentary 'Every Year, I Give Birth': Why War is Driving a Contraception Crisis in Sudan Skye Wheeler Researcher, Women's Rights Division Published In: The Guardian Source URL: https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/07/australia-protests-prompt-ethiopia-reprisals Links [1] https://www.hrw.org/africa/ethiopia [2] https://www.hrw.org/view-mode/modal/296177 [3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XetB4xHbZnE [4] https://www.hrw.org/asia/australia [5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XJJKs__RJk [6] https://www.hrw.org/about/people/felix-horne [7] https://www.hrw.org/news/2012/05/28/ethiopia-special-police-execute-10 [8] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLjDLUK7tNo [9] https://www.hrw.org/view-mode/modal/296192 [10] https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/ethiopia0608_1.pdf [11] https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/annual-reports/DIBP-Annual-Report-2014-15.pdf [12] https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/supporting_resources/australia_government_response_to_hrw.pdf [13] https://www.hrw.org/view-mode/modal/296195 [14] https://www.hrw.org/view-mode/modal/296197 [15] https://www.hrw.org/news/2008/06/12/ethiopia-army-commits-executions-torture-and-rape-ogaden [16] https://www.hrw.org/report/2008/06/12/collective-punishment/war-crimes-and-crimes-against-humanity-ogaden-area-ethiopias [17] https://www.hrw.org/news/2014/03/25/ethiopia-telecom-surveillance-chills-rights [18] https://www.hrw.org/report/2014/03/25/they-know-everything-we-do/telecom-and-internet-surveillance-ethiopia [19] https://www.hrw.org/report/2015/01/21/journalism-not-crime/violations-media-freedoms-ethiopia [20] https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Australia%3A%20Protests%20Prompt%20Ethiopia%20Reprisals%20https%3A//www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/07/australia-protests-prompt-ethiopia-reprisals [21] https://www.facebook.com/sharer.php?u=https%3A//www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/07/australia-protests-prompt-ethiopia-reprisals [22] whatsapp://send?text=Australia%3A%20Protests%20Prompt%20Ethiopia%20Reprisals%20-%20https%3A//www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/07/australia-protests-prompt-ethiopia-reprisals [23] mailto:?subject=Australia%3A%20Protests%20Prompt%20Ethiopia%20Reprisals&body=https%3A//www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/07/australia-protests-prompt-ethiopia-reprisals [24] http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https%3A//www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/07/australia-protests-prompt-ethiopia-reprisals&title=Australia%3A%20Protests%20Prompt%20Ethiopia%20Reprisals [25] https://plus.google.com/share?url=https%3A//www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/07/australia-protests-prompt-ethiopia-reprisals [26] http://reddit.com/submit?url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/07/australia-protests-prompt-ethiopia-reprisals&title=Australia: Protests Prompt Ethiopia Reprisals [27] https://telegram.me/share/url?url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2016/11/07/australia-protests-prompt-ethiopia-reprisals&text=Australia: Protests Prompt Ethiopia Reprisals

#Oromoprotests

NEWS

Ethiopia must respect rights, open democratic space – 14 US Senators

Abdur Rahman Alfa Shaban with US SENATE 8 hours ago

ETHIOPIA

Fourteen members of the United States Senate have through a bipartisan resolution jointly called for the Ethiopia government to respect the rights of opponents and to end all forms of political persecution.

Senators Ben Cardin (Democrat, Maryland) and Marco Rubio (Republican, Florida) were the main sponsors of the bill. They also called for a credible accounting of the excesses of the security forces during massive anti-government protests that hit the country for the better part of last year.

Ethiopia is currently under a state of emergency that was imposed in October 2016 to curb the wave of protests. It was extended in April despite the government saying that peace had returned.

The fact that we have partnered with the Ethiopian government on counter-terrorism does not mean that we will stay silent when it abuses its own people.

The United Nations and the European Union requested independent investigations into the protest deaths but Addis Ababa flatly refused saying it was capable of such a probe. The country’s rights body recently released a report that said over 660 people died during the protests.

It is not the first time that US top officials are impressing on the Ethiopian authorities to open up the democratic space. The main ethnic groups of Amhara and Oromo continually protest marginalization in the political space is dominated by the minority Tigray ethnic group.

The Senators while admitting that the US partners with Ethiopia especially in the area of counter-terrorism, insisted that that was not enough grounds for rights to be abused and for democratic space to continue to shrink as is currently the case.

What Senator Cardin said:

“The Ethiopian government must make progress on respecting human rights and democratic freedoms.  I am deeply troubled by the arrest and ongoing detention of a number of prominent opposition political figures. 

‘‘The fact that we have partnered with the Ethiopian government on counter-terrorism does not mean that we will stay silent when it abuses its own people,” said Senator Cardin, ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. 

What Senator Rubio said:

“On the contrary, our partnership means that we must speak out when innocent people are detained, and laws are used to stifle legitimate political dissent.”

“As the Ethiopian government continues to stall on making progress on human rights and democratic reform, it is critical that the United States remains vocal in condemning Ethiopia’s human rights abuses against its own people,” said Senator Rubio, chairman of the Foreign Relations subcommittee on human rights and civilian security. 

“I will continue to work with my colleagues in the Senate to urge the Ethiopian government to respect the rule of law and prioritize human rights and political reforms,” he added.

14 cosponsors of the resolution

The other colleagues who joined them as original cosponsors included: Senators Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Debbie Stabenow (D-Mich.), Chris Coons (D-Del.),

The remaining were: Cory Gardner (R-Colo.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)

More AboutETHIOPIAPROTESTS IN ETHIOPIASENATOR 

USAPOLITICAL PRISONERHUMAN RIGHTS

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May 18, 2017 3:17PM EDT Dispatches

European Parliament Demands Investigation Into Ethiopia Killings

Resolution Calls for Urgent UN Inquiry Into Protester Deaths and Detention

Felix Horne

Senior Researcher, Horn of Africa@felixhorne1

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Demonstrators chant slogans while flashing the Oromo protest gesture during Irreecha, the thanksgiving festival of the Oromo people, in Bishoftu town, Oromia region, Ethiopia, October 2, 2016.

 © 2016 Reuters

Today, the European Parliament passed a resolution calling for a United Nations-led independent investigation into the killing of protesters in Ethiopia. Between November 2015 and October 2016, Ethiopian security forces killed hundreds of protesters, and detained tens of thousands. An overly restrictive state of emergency has been in place for the past seven months, and tens of thousands more people have been detained under it. Today’s resolution echoes a previous European Union parliamentary resolution, resolutions by other countries, and last month’s request by the UN’s top human rights chief for access to investigate the abuses.

Ethiopia’s government has always rejected outside scrutiny of its horrific rights record, insisting that it can investigate itself. Yet it has conspicuously failed to do so. Past investigations by the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission (EHRC) have not met basic standards of impartiality, including its June 2016 report into abuses during the protests’ first six months. In April 2017, the EHRC acknowledged that 669 people were killed in an oral report to parliament, but found that security forces had used excessive force in just a few situations. This stands in stark contrast to what Human Rights Watch and other organizations have found, drawing on evidence that includes a wealth of video and photographic material. The EHRC hasn’t publicly released a version of their findings, so it’s impossible to assess their methodology or learn how they reached their conclusions.

International experts having access to areas where protests occurred and to people still in detention are important first steps towards meaningful investigations. But there are other obstacles too, like victims and witnesses being too afraid to speak out about government abuses. Thousands of Ethiopians have fled the country since the protests, seeking asylum in bordering countries. They too should be part of investigations into what happened, from locations where they may be more free to speak without fear.

Today’s resolution specifically calls on Federica Mogherini, the EU’s top diplomat, to “mobilise EU Member States” to urgently pursue the setting up of the UN-led international inquiry, and they can take the first step towards this at the upcoming Human Rights Council session next month in Geneva.

It’s hoped that implementing today’s timely resolution can help address the pervasive culture of impunity in Ethiopia. The resolution also reiterates the EU’s recognition of the importance of justice to ensure Ethiopia’s long-term stability. To the many victims of Ethiopia’s brutality, a UN-led inquiry could at least begin to answer pleas for justice that too often have gone unheard.

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Region / Country

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Ethiopia

Topic

 United Nations Human Rights Council

MORE READING

April 21, 2017 Commentary

Fear of Investigation: What Does Ethiopia’s Government Have to Hide?

Felix Horne

Senior Researcher, Horn of Africa

Published In: Addis Standard

March 16, 2017 Dispatches

Ethiopia Lifts Some State of Emergency Restrictions

Felix Horne

Senior Researcher, Horn of Africa

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No Justice in Ethiopia

Africa/Ethiopia/Law & Order/Protests/Terrorism Charges

BREAKING NEWS: ETHIOPIA COURT FOUND FORMER SENIOR OPPOSITION FIGURE YONATAN TESFAYE GUILTY OF TERRORISM CHARGES

 addisstandard /  May 16, 2017/ 4.8k

Mahlet Fasil

 Addis Abeba, May 16, 2017 – The Federal High court fourth criminal bench has today passed a guilty verdict against Yonatan Tesfaye, former opposition Blue Party public relations head.

Yonatan was first arrested in December 2015, barely a month after the first wave of a year-long #Oromoprotests erupted.  He was held incommunicado during the pre-trial weeks and was subsequently charged in May 2016 under Ethiopia’s infamous anti-terrorism proclamation (ATP).

Yonatan has been defending the charges against him since then. The charges of ‘encouragement of terrorism’, stipulated under article six of the ATP, were largely drawn from his Facebook activism during the protests. According to article six of the ATP, “Whosoever publishes or causes the publication of a statement that is likely to be understood by some or all of the members of the public to whom it is published as a direct or indirect encouragement or other inducements to them to the commission or preparation or instigation of an act of terrorism…” is subject to terrorism charges.

He had presented several defense witnesses, including prominent opposition party leaders from the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), Bekele Gerba and Dr. Merera Gudina, who are in jail at the time of their testimony fighting charges of terrorism and multiple criminal charges respectively, and journalistEskendir Nega, who is serving 18 years in prison for terrorism-related charges.

In addition, Yonatan’s close friend Ephrem Tayachew, his father Tesfaye Regassa, and his sister Gedamnesh Tesfaye as well as academicians from the Addis Abeba University (AAU), including the outspoken philosopher Dr. Dagnachew Assefa and Dr. Yaqob Hailemariam have all appeared in court to testify in defense of Yonatan’s innocence.

However, this morning the court in its verdict overruled all defense testimonials by upholding prosecutors’ accusations. Yonatan’s sentencing is adjourned to May 25.

Yonatan could face from ten to 20 years rigorous prison term in a federal prison; however, the court ruled that he can appeal for a minimum sentence.

***According to new information Addis Standard received, after the sentencing is handed over, Yonatan’s defense team, led by his lawyer Shibiru Belete, is planning to object to the verdict and appeal for the charges to be reduced to criminal charges. 

Cover Photo: Yonatan Tesfaye

Photo credit: His Facebook

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Uneasy peace and simmering Conflict. The Ethiopian town where there flagg fly

Uneasy peace and simmering conflict: the Ethiopian town where three flags fly

Fresh tension in a disputed area has reopened old wounds between the Oromia and Somali states, as ethnic federalism fails to contain violence

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Tom Gardner in Moyale

Tuesday 16 May 2017 16.00 AESTLast modified on Tuesday 16 May 2017 19.44 AEST

Three different flags flutter in the breeze along the road that runs through Moyale in southern Ethiopia. The first is green, yellow and red: the colours of the Ethiopian federal state. Then, on the side of the road: red, black and white, with a tree in the centre, the colours of the Oromo. And a third: the green, white and red, with a camel in one corner, of Somali state.

Moyale, deep in Ethiopia’s dusty south-eastern drylands and straddling the border with Kenya, is split sharply down the middle. The fresh tarmac of the road that divides it marks the long-contested frontier between Oromia and Somali regional states. 

Analysis How long can Ethiopia's state of emergency keep the lid on anger?

 

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These flags fly side-by-side in Moyale as a testament to the success of Ethiopia’s distinct model of ethnically based federalism, established in 1994.

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But it is also a measure of its failings: Moyale has two separate administrations; segregated schools; parallel court systems; rivalrous police forces, and adversarial local militia. More than 20 years after ethnic federalism was introduced, tensions between the two sides – Borana Oromo and Garri Somalis – are as fraught as ever. 

“There is a serious problem emerging,” said Ibrahim, an elderly Somali man in the courtyard of a hotel on the Oromo side of the road. As a clan elder, he has freedom to sit in places that younger Garri men would avoid, he said. Ill feeling between the two communities stretches back decades, but recent events have reopened old wounds. 

A clash between two armed groups near Moyale in April resulted in tit-for-tat killings, with at least one Garri and one Borana reported dead (both groups claim more), and injuries on either side. Locals reported similar deadly flare-ups early this year.

Yet violence in Moyale has remained fairly contained, in part due to the town’s bloody recent past. In 2012, fighting over land between the pastoralists in the surrounding area led to 18 deaths and forced tens of thousands of Moyale’s residents to flee across the border into Kenya.

Memory of this has helped to maintain the peace since, and a community accord struck between clan elders has kept the younger generation in check. But with the latest outbreak of what he calls “revenge killings”, Ibrahim said he was worried that the accord could be broken.

Ethnic tensions here are part of a wider confrontation that stretches all along the border from Moyale in the south to Dire Dawa, some 1,000km (620 miles) north. Ethiopia’s government, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), imposed a state-of-emergency in October following widespread protests against the regime in Addis Ababa, the capital, which resulted in at least 669 deaths.

 Members of the Oromo community gather in Bishoftu, Oromia, in October 2016, as a series of protests erupted in the capital, Addis Ababa. Photograph: Zacharias Abubeker/AFP/Getty Images

But while stability returned to the rest of the country in the following months, the Somali-Oromo regional border saw an outburst of violence on a scale that many said was unprecedented. According to residents in Oromo districts along there, violent incursions by Somali militia began in December and continued sporadically over the next three months. Human Rights Watch, which received reports of dozens of casualties, said these clashes were of a different order to the pastoralist struggles over water points and farmland that have long afflicted the region in times of drought.

Instead, the clashes involved heavily armed men on both sides in locations all along the border. Schools were looted and civil servants shot in their offices, said Fekadu Adugna, an academic at Addis Ababa University, who specialises in Oromo-Somali relations. 

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Residents on the Oromo side also reported widespread rapes and said they had found ID cards belonging to members of the controversial Somali special police, know as the “Liyu”, among the remains of the dead. The worst of the violence took place in the area around Negele, another frontier town about 500km from Moyale. 

There has been no official investigation into the events and there are no exact figures for the numbers killed. According to Ibrahim Adam, a conflict-resolution field officer for Igad, an east African regional bloc, more than 100 people died and thousands were displaced in February and March in the Negele area alone. Oromo activists have claimed much higher numbers.

Few now dare take the road from Moyale to Negele, which runs through both Garri and Borona districts. Residents of Moyale claim that young men at roadblocks have been threatening travellers from a different ethnic group. 

An indication of the scale of the conflict came in March when the prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, referred to it in a speech to parliament. For the first time, it was framed not as a dispute over resources but as a battle between two regional militias and police forces. “The problems have no relation to ethnic conflicts,” Desalegn said. “It is our lower political leadership that commands these actions.”

This surprisingly candid explanation tallies with those given by Moyale residents, who see the conflict as one waged by local officials with expansionist agendas. Both regional governments have claimed contested territories in the past couple of years. “This is no longer just between two communities but between two governments,” said Fugicha, a Borana. “It serves their interests.”

 Camel herders collect water for their animals at one of the few watering holes left in the drought-affected region near Moyale on the Ethiopian border. Photograph: Ben Curtis/AP

Last month, the federal government stepped in to administer a peace agreement between the two sides. It promises to enforce the border that was demarcated following a referendum in 2004, and settle the status of Moyale, which was excluded from that referendum because its ethnic politics were deemed too complex.

Moyale’s Oromo, in particular, have expressed concern about the outcome of the peace agreement. Rumours of a second referendum, and Somali encroachment in a town regarded as historically Oromo, were behind last month’s revenge killings, they said. 

Somalis, on the other hand, have pointed to the assertiveness of the new Oromo regional government that came to power in the wake of last year’s protests. It recently issued an extensive list of claims on Addis Ababa, which activists regard as rightfully Oromo too. “The Oromo have never accepted the division of Moyale,” said Ibrahim, the clan elder.

Both sides are pessimistic. One widespread theory is that the federal government’s failure to step in early to end the violence was politically motivated. “People here think the TPLF [the Tigrayan ethnically based political party] initiated this to weaken Oromo resistance to the central government,” said Fugicha. Others have suggested that flashes of ethnic violence suit a regime that defends its heavy-handedness as necessary to prevent the country unravelling.

Whatever the truth, the wider problem is more intractable. Ethiopia’s ethnic-federal model has helped ensure the recognition of minority groups – and kept the peace, many say – but it has also aggravated regional tensions by binding once-fluid ethnic identity to administrative control over territory. 

“Federalism brought this problem,” said Adam, the Igad officer. “People now think no one else can live in their area.”

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