A Call to the Ethiopian Regime to unconditionally stop Systematic and Continuous Violation of the Constitutional rights of Sidama People!
United Sidama Parties for Freedom and Justice (USPFJ)
Press Release, June 10, 2012
The Systematic and Continued Violations of Human Rights by the Ethiopian Regime
The current Ethiopian regime continues to grossly violate the rights of its citizens disregarding its own constitution that guarantees these rights. Human misery and suffering continues amid abject poverty, high diseases burden and lack of respect to fundamental human rights such as freedom of expression, assembly and continued intolerance to diverging ideas and opinions.
The complete absence of the aforementioned essential elements in a modern democratic principle makes the current Ethiopian regime the only place on the planet where the disciples of darkness lead the country towards an unpredictable end. The regime does conduct such hideous actions enjoying the support of Western powers politicians whose vested interests outweigh the sufferings of over 85 million Ethiopians although the majority of the citizens (tax payers) of the Western countries don’t share their politician’s unfair foreign policy stances.
The Ethiopian regime is so virulent to any opposing ideas contrary to its malicious ideologies of brutalizing citizens and targeting all without distinction. Due to the heinous nature, actions and behaviors of the incumbent regime, the citizens of the country live in an atmosphere where relentless intimidation and surveillance is a daily phenomenon.
The majority of the citizens of the country are collectively repressed, suppressed, intimidated, tortured, killed, imprisoned and abused for their views and political opinions. A very few cadres in each region and
administrative areas are given absolute power to do the job for the regime enjoying regime’s uncompromised protection. The Sidama people commemorated one of such heinous acts of the regime, the 10th Anniversary of the Loqqe massacre on the 24th of May 2012. Most of the architects of the Loqqe Sidama massacre were promoted to higher authorities for ordering the massacre of innocent Sidama civilians and effectively managing reactions of the Sidama people to the massacre after the aftermaths of the atrocity; and still the culprits are circulating in the society.
The state expropriates the resources of Sidama as well as other regions by leaving the majority in absolute poverty. Its political party owned trading companies have increasingly monopolized most businesses using the names of various investors. Business opportunities are increasingly interlinked with party membership and loyalty to the regime’s political cadres- as do employment opportunities at the public sectors. Religious rights are often restricted and closely supervised including recently planned religious monasteries for demolishing without being given due attention to religious freedom. The current Ethiopian Muslim’s movement for their rights is so politicized where the leaders are regarded as an anti-regime elements or terrorists. However, the demand of the citizens from all corners of the country regardless of their religious background for freedom and liberty and justice continues unabated. Several political prisoners and journalists languish in prison where kangaroo-courts exist symbolically.
Divide and Rule tactics to cause further bloodshed between Sidama and Oromo
The current Ethiopian regime continually deploys ‘divide and rule’ tactics. This involves creating artificial conflicts between the two subjugated nation’s peoples such as Sidama and Oromo, Sidama and Wolayita, Oromo and Afar, Oromo and Sumali....and others. Currently, the regime is orchestrating such conflict between Sidama and Oromo around Wondo Tiqa, Tatessa and Rimma areas of the Sidama region neighboring Oromia. The said plan is underway and is mature enough to cause further bloodshed between the two. Since 1992 such regime’s masterminded conflicts caused incalculable damages to human
lives and resources to both Oromo and Sidama peoples that peacefully and fraternally coexisted for centuries resolving minor conflicts arising and related with land grazing. The need to understand the hidden agendas of the regime is paramount as is resolving any minor conflicts in costmary manners where elders of both parties resolve issues wisely and democratically in Gadaa and Luwaa systems respectively.
Regime’s further vicious plans targeting Sidama People.
Since day one, the Sidama region remained the focal point of repression and suppression in the South from where the regime’s business companies and politicians expropriate the resources to enrich their region. Besides, the Sidama nation didn’t accept regime’s hidden policies of divide and rule since its inception. Therefore, silencing the Sidama people in the south remains one of the key objectives of the regime. The ultimate goal of stifling the constitutional rights of the Sidama people to self determination is therefore
nullifying their economic role in their own city as the regime is determined to use Hawassa city as its capital for about 56 distinct southern nations under the name of ‘Southern Ethiopia Nations and Nationalities and People’s Regional State.
The regime leaves, no stone unturned to ensure that the voice of the Sidama people is silenced. While some regions with population smaller than 300,000 are accorded regional status, the Sidama people whose population is 15 times larger than these regions remains squashed under the South region. As a result, the Sidama people continue to pay precious sacrifices of their lives seeking these very constitutional rights.
Recent development in Sidama and the Action Plan of the dictatorial regime!
Recently, about several dozens of the Sidama people are collectively imprisoned from whom none has received fair trial to date. The majorities of the said groups of Sidamas who are in jail currently were hand picked by the regime for this particular purpose and currently imprisoned under the pretext
of corruption. The regime intends to prove a fallacious point that the Sidama cadres are unable to govern the capital city of Sidama, Hawassa, therefore to justify a continued economic exploitation of the Sidama city without the involvement of its legitimate beneficiaries. The Sidama people fully recognize that this is a carefully designed plot by the regime to further undermine the continued Sidama demand for self determination.
To implement the said undemocratic, unconstitutional and criminal acts against the constitutional rights of the Sidama people the systematic preparations are almost being finalized to completely uproot the Sidama people from administering their capital city, Hawassa. This is one of the preplanned objectives of the current foreign affairs minister (former Southern regional president prior to the Loqqe massacre of the Sidama civilians and the major player of the ordering of the massacre of the Sidama civilians); the current southern regional president and the PM are tirelessly working towards the said objectives. Their scapegoats, ‘the hand picked Sidama cadres’ renegades) were already thrown into jail.
To further the above plans aimed at incapacitating Sidama nation’s all round lives, the regime recently conducted a week long meetings for both political appointees and the employees of the municipality of the city of Hawassa. The purposes of the meeting that’s started on June 4, 2012 was about systematically lobbying Sidama people to fully handover their nominal power of administering Hawassa to the rulers as the Sidama failed to develop their city as it was fallaciously claimed by the regime to substantiate its hidden agendas of uprooting them from their land. The meeting was carried on until up to the 8th of the June 2012 where the outcome was disaster for the regime’s hidden agendas & it’s a typical tale-tale sign that the regime’s totally lost in all over the country. The Sidama proved this where all cadres as well as employees those who were summoned to the said meetings unanimously rejected regime’s plan defying odds.
Most of the participants gallantly walked out of the meetings. The regime’s cadre facilitators were found soothing entire Sidama representatives of 19 Sidama districts including elders & the employees of the city of Hawassa without success. As the meetings were held separately for the regime to be able to garner support and deploy ‘dived and rule’ tactics; the representatives in all separate meetings unanimously requested for the immediate enquiry into the Loqee massacre of civilians for this very reason & for those who have ordered & carried out the massacre of the Sidama civilians on May 24, 2002 to be unconditionally brought to independent justice where the regime received an unexpected blow & the situation remains fluid.
The failure of the current regime to understand and appreciate the extent, magnitude and depth of the consequences such tragic actions produces, is a cause for alarm by all!
The outcome of such actions will be extremely dangerous to the whole region and beyond -as the Sidama people never give up their land and never give in to intimidation, torture, knell down to harassment, relentless imprisonment and killings!!
Therefore, USPFJ:-
1. Urges the current Ethiopian regime to unconditionally allow the Sidama people to exercise their constitutional rights to self determination without provoking and causing another bloodshed and massacre. The government would be reneging on its promise made by the PM himself after the failed May 2005 elections that the Sidama administration would never be moved from Hawassa and by the time the PM stated that he strongly believes that the Sidama people are constitutionally entitled to regional autonomy and therefore he agreed to fully endorse their claim that remains unresolved. The consequences of such breach of agreement would be catastrophic!
2. Unconditionally demands that the regime to stop imprisoning Sidama civilians whether they are cadres handpicked by them or otherwise to foster the unconstitutional, undemocratic and criminal agendas that aims at depriving the Sidama people of their rights to full economic involvement in their own capital city by removing their rights of administering their capital city.
3. Demands the regime to stop harassing, intimidating, imprisoning and torturing the Sidama people who raise about their legitimate rights to land ownership in their own capital & return their plots of lands they previously owned without further delay.
4. Urges the regime to stop trading the lands of all Ethiopians to the transnational companies unconditionally and return the lands to legitimate owners who are left without choices but destitute and are starving to death.
5. Calls up on all Ethiopian democracy cherishing civic organizations, political and non-political establishments to support the Sidama’s quest for self determination to avoid further bloodshed concomitant to this effect as the Sidama people never surrender their legitimate rights to their land!
6. Emphatically rejects the incumbent regime’s undemocratic, uncivilized and barbaric behaviors, attitudes and practices and unequivocally reminds the regime that the Sidama people will have no option if it doesn’t respect their constitutional rights to self determination, but they will be obliged to take measures to protect their interests and fundamental rights.
7. Requests the continued support of other Ethiopians who live in Sidama region and share their values, ways of lives and lived in Sidama region with the Sidama people peacefully and fraternally.
8. Requests the Support of all others Ethiopian nations and nationalities that believe in democratic principles, fairness and equality that the Sidama people deserve in their demand to regional self determination.
9. Also unequivocally affirms that it stands shoulder to shoulder with all Ethiopians who aspire to create just, fair, equal and democratic Ethiopia where the rule of law becomes supreme and all citizens shall have equal say and equally share the fruits of their country.
10. Once again urges the incumbent regime to unconditionally respond to the demands of the Sidama people to avoid the emergence of further demand that not only shall be unpalatable to the regime but also that might be unsettling to those with whom Sidama people co-existed and continued to do so for dozens of decades peacefully and fraternally!
11. Call up on international community, human rights organizations, Western nations and emerging economies politicians and their wider societies to urge the Ethiopian dictatorial regime to respect the fundamental and constitutional rights of the Ethiopian people in general the Sidama people in particular and further call up on them to urge Ethiopian regime to unconditionally stop selling the lands of Ethiopians for its financial gain at the expense of others’ severe pain!
12. Mobilizes the struggle of the Sidama people and asserts that these are fully materialized democratically for freedom, justice, democracy and liberty!
13. Strongly advises both Sidama and Oromo peoples to refrain from serving the hidden interests of the regime by exercising utmost restraint and working towards common interests of removing common enemy that brutalizes its citizens; and further advises other nations of Ethiopia with similar situations to understand the hidden agendas of the regime and respond accordingly.
14. Makes crystal clear to the current dictatorial regime that our struggle with likeminded democracy loving Ethiopians shall continue unabated until Ethiopians in general and the Sidama people in particular are free from persecution, imprisonment, harassment, intimidation, unlawful killings and torture where eventually they are in a position to make their own choices without coercion.
No comments:
Post a Comment