Ethiopian government campaign of murder in Gambela

In the past few months, tension begun between indigenous Majengir community and Ethiopian highlanders at Godere district, Gambela region. Ethiopian highland settlers in the area have been killing innocent civilians and the retaliations continued. The situation escalated during Ethiopian New year. On Thursday, 11 September 2014 eight (8) Majengir ethnic were indiscriminately murdered in cold blood in their own ancestral land. The highlanders went door to door hunting for Majengir ethnic community and displaced more than 3000 Majengir people.

Thousands of people from Mezhenger Zone in Gambela, western Ethiopia, are currently fleeing to Tepi followingdeadly clashes with Federal Police.

About 835 people are in hiding in community church faced with lack of food, water and warm clothing. Godere district being one of the area with thick forest and fertile land in the region, is extremely cold exposing children and elderly people to diseases and hardship.

On Sunday, 14 September 2014, further killing took place resulting in the death of 4 Majengir ethnic. Sources on the ground confirmed that many more innocent Majengir people are believed to have been killed in different Kebeles increasing the number of victims.

Many more are hiding in the bushes where they are hunted down by their attackers. The Ethiopian armed forces and federal police are reported to have been despatched to the bushes looking for Majengir survivors to return home. But it is feared that the community wellbeing is under threat from the armed forced who usually side with their fellow Ethiopian highland population.

Though the regional governor and other high level regional government officials are in the Majengir zone trying to bring things to normality, tension remained high and the effort to bring the communities together has not resulted in peaceful co-existence.

The cause of this high level insecurity and loss of innocent peoples’ lives is the Ethiopian government policy that is taking away the indigenous communities land and giving the land to so called investors both foreigners and Ethiopian highlanders. The Majengir like many other indigenous communities; mainly, Anuak, has been pushed off from their traditional land and are left with no option. The Majengir area is a rich area in coffee plantation and the Ethiopian highland settlers want to take this fertile area from the indigenous community. In the recent years, the number of Ethiopian highlanders has increased considerably, threatening the indigenous communities’ livelihoods and way of live. The area was a target for about 70,000 Ethiopian settlers from northern part of the country during brutal military regime.

It is also reported that Ethiopian highland settlers do not obey instructions from the local administrators and are not responding positively to orders from the regional and local administrators. This negative attitude in addition to competition over natural resources are among main factors behind current high level tension and loss of innocent lives.

While the list of those who perished during the current campaign of murder are trickling, the zonal high court president, a Majengir ethnic and his all family were among the victims and his home burnt to the ground. Those in hiding in the community church feared to return home as their attackers remain at large. Their homes and properties have been burnt to the ground.

The government responded by arresting some high level regional, zonal, and district Majengir ethnic group. This is contrary to the abundant evidence that speak for themselves against those who murdered innocent indigenous communities. The arrest includes: regional governor social and economic advisor, a district deputy governor, and a special force commander. Yet, none of the Ethiopian highland settlers who participated in the campaign of murder has been arrested and are at large looking for more victims.

It is be recalled that in 2003, Ethiopian highlanders and TPLF armed forces indiscriminately murdered, displaced, burnt to the ground home belonging to Anuak indigenous community. Nonetheless, Ethiopian government more than ten years after have not arrested any pep traitors.

Ethiopian authorities are believed to be behind the current level of insecurity as the policy of land grabbing failed to address the indigenous communities economic and development needs.

For more information, please contact Nyikaw Ochalla at ochalla@hotmail.com.

Source: ANYWAA SURVIVAL ORGANISATION

ስልጠና የሚያስፈልገው ላልሰለጠነው የወያኔ ጉጅሌና ሎሌዎቹ ነው!

አምባገነኖች በውድም በግድም ህዝብ ስብሰባ ጠርተው ህዝቡ ፊት በቆሙ ቁጥር ሌት ከቀን የሚያባንናቸውን የተመረረ ህዝብ የነጻነት አመጽ የሚያስቀሩ ይመስላቸዋል። የህዝብ ሃብትና ጊዜ በከንቱ እንዳሻቸው እያባከኑ፣ ነጋ ጠባ ስብሰባ፣ ግምገማ፣ “ስልጠና” ወዘተ የሚጠሩት ህዝብ የነሱን ፍላጎትና ውሳኔ የኔ ነው ብሎ የሚቀበላቸው፣ የሚሰማቸው እና ፍርሃታቸውን ያቀለላቸው እየመሰላቸው ነው።

የወያኔ ጉጅሌና ሎሌዎቹ ሰሞኑን ተማሪዎችን፣ መምህራንን፣ ሰራተኞችንና መላውን ለፍቶ አዳሪ ተሰብሰብና እናሰልጥንህ የሚሉት በአገዛዛቸው የተንገፈገፈው ህዝብ ምሬቱ ወደ አመጽ እንዳይገነፍል ያደረጉ እየመሰላቸው ነው። ዲሞክራሲንና የህዝብ ወሳኝነትና ልእልናን በተቀበሉ ሀገሮች እንደወያኔና ቀደም ብሎ እንደነበረው የደርግ ስርአት የመንግስት ስብሰባ የማይዘወተረው ለዚህ ነው። የህዝቡን ፍርድ በስብሰባ እና በስልጠና እንደማያቆሙት ስለሚያውቁ ህዝብን ስለሚያከብሩ ነው።

ሰሞኑን በመላ ኢትዮጵያ እየተካሄደ ያለው ወያኔዎች ‘ስልጠና’ ብለው የሚጠሩት፣ በይዘቱ አያቶቻችንን ድሮ ላውጫጪኝ ይጠቀሙበት የነበረውን አፈርሳታ የመሰለ የመደናቆሪያ ስብሰባ አላማው ግልጽ ነው።

አላማው ህዝብ ሰጥ ለጥ ብሎ እንዲገዛ ቢቻል ለማደንዘዝ ካልተቻለም ለማስፈራራት ነው። ግፍን፣ ፍትህ ጥፋትን ልማት፣ ጭካኔን፣ ርህራሄ ለማስመሰል አፈጮሌ ነኝ ያለ ካድሬ ሁሉ የምላስ ጂምናስቲክ የሚሰራበት ጉባኤ ነው። ከተሰብሳቢው ህዝብ ከረር ያለ ጥያቄ በመጣ ቁጥር መላ ቅጡ የሚጠፋቸውም ለዚህ ነው። እነሱ የተዘጋጁት የህዝብ ጥያቄ ለመመለስ አይደለማ! የህዝቡን ጥያቄ እንደማይመልሱማ ያውቁታል።

ነገሩ መልከ ጥፉን በስም ይደገፉ ሆነና ይህንን ቧልት ‘ስልጠና’ ብለው ይጠሩታል። እነዚህ ራሳቸው መሰረታዊ ስልጣኔ የሌላቸው አሰልጣኞች መምህራኑን ስለትምህርት ጉዳይ ሊያሰለጥኗቸው ሲንጠራሩ አይፍሩም። ባለሙያውን ሁሉ በሙያው ካላ ሰለጠንህ ብለው ግዳጅ ስብሰባ ያጉሩታል። ይህ የወያኔ ተግባር እውቀትና ስልጣን ከተምታታባቸው የወያኔ ጉጅሌዎች ስለመጣ ብዙ ላያስገርም ይችል ይሆናል። እንደ ህዝብና እንደ ዜግነታችን ግን በያንዳንዳችን ላይ እየደረሰ ያለ ውርደት ነው። ወያኔ ካላዋረደንና ሰበአዊ ክብራችን ካላሳነሰ የሚገዛን አልመሰለውም።

ግንቦት 7 ውስጥ ያለን የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ ልጆች ይህ ዘርፈ ብዙ ውርደት እንዲቆም ነው የምንታገለው። የኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ በዚህ ዘመን ይህን በመሰለ ውርደት ውስጥ ሊኖር የሚገባው ህዝብ አይደለም ብለን እናምናለን። የማያቋርጠው ጥሪያችን ዛሬም ተመሳሳይ ነው። ፈልገናቸው ሳይሆን በሃይል ራሳቸውን የጫኑብንን የወያኔ ጉጅሌዎች ከጫንቃችን ላይ እናራግፋቸው።

በአንድነት እንነሳ! በያለንበት ለዚህ ውርደት እምቢ እንበል። ውርደታችን እምቢ ያልን ቀን ይቆማል። ያን እለት ጨለማው ይገፈፋል። የነጻነታችንና የክብራችን ጎህ ይቀዳል።

በያለንበት እምቢ እንበል! ስለተገፋንና ስለተዋረድን ማመፅ መብታችን ነው። የቻልክ ተቀላቀለን። ያልተመቸህ በያለህበት በራስህ አነሳሽነት ራስህን አደራጅ። የነጻነታችን ቀን ቅርብ ነው።

ድል ለኢትዮጵያ ህዝብ!!!

Facebook not going to charge users any fee

NEW YORK: An article on the satirical website National Report, which stated that the social networking site is going to charge its users $2.99 per month starting Nov 1 is fictional, media reports said.

“At a press conference, Facebook rolled out their new monthly service plan which begins November 1st of this year. The social media giant says they will start charging members $2.99/mo to use the services that the site has to offer,” the article read.

The article also used “made up” quotes from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Epoch Times reported.

“After thinking long and hard about this decision, at the end of the day we were forced to add this monthly fee. If we don’t do something about our rising costs now, Facebook could cease to exist in the near future,” the website quoted Zuckerberg as saying.

Later, the fake piece of information led people throng social media platforms expressing outrage over the article.

Recently, the social networking website announced that they would add a ‘satire’ tag with their news feed for articles from parody news outlets like The Onion.

“This is because we received feedback that people wanted a clearer way to distinguish satirical articles from others,” a Facebook spokesperson told Ars Technica website.

Source: The Economic Times

ISIS fighters terrified of being killed by female troops

WASHINGTON — Kurdish fighters battling ISIS desperately want more guns and armor, but they already have a secret weapon: The fanatics they’re fighting fear that if they get killed in combat by a woman, they won’t go to heaven.

“They have many female battalions, as you know who fought very bravely,” Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), who chairs the House International Relations Committee, told The Post of the Kurds.

Royce, who met this week with the foreign minister of Kurdistan, cited recent reports of young female Kurdish troops “laughing” at ISIS forces they had turned back.

“These ISIL soldiers apparently believed that if they were killed in battle, they went to paradise as long as they were killed by a man,” Royce explained, using another acronym for the terror group.

“And these female soldiers were communicating their satisfaction with the fact that they had taken the fight to ISIL and had stopped the advance, turned back the advance — slayed a number of these fighters, who would then run away,” he added with a chuckle.

Women have long fought in Kurdish peshmerga forces, who have been battling ISIS in northern Iraq and in Kurdish areas of Syria.

A 27-year-old female Kurdish fighter named Tekoshin fighting in northern Iraq recently gloated to AFP: “I think [ISIS] were more afraid of us than of the men.” The Kalashnikov-toting fighter added: “They believe they’ll go to hell if they die at a woman’s hands.”

Some women who have fled the brutal oppression of ISIS have been organized into special Women’s Protection Units in Syria to do battle.

Hend Hasen Ahmed, a 26-year-old female fighter in Syria’s Kurdish region, told Britain’s Telegraph during the ISIS siege of Mt. Sinjar: “We are being trained to use snipers, Kalashnikovs, rocket-propelled grenades and hand grenades … For myself and for my people, I will go to [Mount] Sinjar to either die or live there freely.”

Radical imams have invoked interpretations of Koran passages to recruit jihadists, promising them a trip to paradise and 72 brown-eyed virgins if they die in battle or in what’s considered a martyrdom operation.

Seeing a woman staring at them down the barrel of a machine gun apparently isn’t what they had in mind.

Some women joined resistance units after ISIS brutes slaughtered neighbors and relatives and forced them to flee their homes.

But now, the fighters — and Kurdistan’s government — are pleading for more help, as the US ramps up aid to the Free Syrian Army and other forces.

Royce said the Kurdish regional foreign minister, Falah Mustafa Bakir, contacted him three weeks ago to complain that 190,000 Kurdish troops still don’t have the anti-tank missiles and long-range mortars that they need to defeat ISIS.

“The point the foreign minister was making to us is that his battalions — male and female — need to be equipped to handle the armor and the artillery” that ISIS has captured, said Royce.

Source: New York Post