Wayzata World Factbook 1996/The World Factbook - 1996 Edition - Wayzata Technology (3079) (1996).iso/pc/text/humanrts/ethiopia.txt

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TITLE:  ETHIOPIA HUMAN RIGHTS PRACTICES, 1994
AUTHOR:  U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
DATE:  FEBRUARY 1995

                            ETHIOPIA


After a lengthy civil war, the Ethiopian People's Revolutionary
Democratic Front (EPRDF) took power in 1991 and, together with
other groups active in the anti-Mengistu struggle, adopted the
National Charter which established the Transitional Government
of Ethiopia (TGE).  The TGE, headed by President Meles Zenawi,
has been responsible for overseeing the transition to
multiparty democracy.  The Council of Representatives, the
interim quasi-legislature, is controlled by the four
constituent parties of the EPRDF.  The EPRDF and by extension
the TGE are dominated by the Tigray People's Liberation Front
(TPLF).  The ascendance of Tigrayans and a policy of promoting
ethnic identity and regionalism have engendered animosity from
Amharas, who have traditionally held centralized power in
Ethiopia.

The TGE continued to implement its planned devolution of
authority to regional governments.  In June the TGE held
elections for the 548-seat Constituent Assembly, the body
responsible for approving the new Constitution which was
ratified on December 8 and replaced the interim National
Charter.  The Constitution is the basis for parliamentary
elections that are scheduled to be held in on May 7, 1995.  All
major opposition parties boycotted the June Constituent
Assembly elections, charging TGE manipulation of the political
process.  The new Constitution promotes a multiparty system and
limits the role of the future central government to the
preservation of the Constitution, defense, and foreign policy.
Ratification of the Constitution represented an important step
in the TGE's democratization program, which--despite
imperfections--has provided Ethiopian citizens with greater
political freedoms than at any time in the nation's history.

Until the reestablishment and deployment of police forces in
mid-1994, the EPRDF military wing served as both the national
armed forces and an internal security force.  During 1994 the
TGE continued to demobilize TPLF soldiers, integrating some
into new local and regional police forces, which were
increasingly responsible for law and order.  The December
decision of the Fourth TPLF Congress to ban TPLF military
commanders from party membership was a step toward the
establishment of a representative, nonpolitical national army.
The military continued low-level operations to counter the
actions of Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Islamic
fundamentalist movements, especially in the Oromo and Somali
regions where periodic clashes with insurgent and bandit groups
occurred.

The economy is based on smallholder agriculture, with more than
85 percent of the population living in rural areas in very poor
conditions.  Coffee accounts for about 60 percent of export
revenue.  The TGE continued to implement an internationally
supported economic reform program designed to liberalize the
country's economy and bring government expenditures into
balance.

The Government was consistent and forceful in its verbal
commitment to respect human rights, but serious problems
remain.  The judicial system remains weak, understaffed, and at
times subject to political influence.  There were credible
reports that members of the security forces committed a number
of extrajudicial killings and beat or otherwise physically
abused criminal suspects and detainees, although these
practices do not appear to be widespread.  The Government
seldom tried, convicted, and appropriately punished security
force members and police who committed such abuses.  The
Government harassed and detained without charge numerous
journalists and a number of opposition party members, holding
some for as long as several months.  In September the
authorities arrested approximately 500 members of the
All-Amhara People's Organization (AAPO) on charges of unlawful
assembly.  Numerous reports alleged that EPRDF forces,
opposition separatists, and Islamic militias all committed
humanitarian violations, including the summary execution of
civilians, in continued clashes in the eastern parts of the
country.  The TGE's sometimes heavyhanded tactics and an
opposition boycott ensured an EPRDF victory in the June
Constituent Assembly elections.  Discrimination and violence
against women and abuse of children continued to be serious
problems.

However, the Government took a number of steps to improve its
human rights practices.  It released several thousand persons
previously detained without charge and closed the camps in
which they were confined.  It undertook efforts to establish a
nonpolitical and nationally representative military.  In June
the Government conducted a procedurally fair election in which
opposition groups were allowed access to government-owned
broadcast media, and on several occasions opposition groups
staged rallies without interference.

In December the Special Prosecutor's Office (SPO) began legal
proceedings against the first group of detainees charged with
crimes against humanity under the brutal Marxist regime of
Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam (1974-1991).  Following the
reading of charges against the initial group of defendants,
attorneys for the accused requested and received a continuance
until March 7, 1995, to permit more time to prepare their
defense.  At year's end, approximately 1,700 detainees
suspected of involvement in war crimes remained in detention,
most without charge after more than 3 years.  The trials, which
are expected to last for several years, may ultimately involve
more than 3,000 defendants.

RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Section 1  Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including
           Freedom from:

     a.  Political and Other Extrajudicial Killing

According to informed sources, local and regional officials of
the security services committed more than 20 extrajudicial
killings in 1994.  In at least one case thought to be
politically motivated, in August government security officers
assassinated the deputy mayor of Gode.  According to credible
reports, in July EPRDF soldiers fired at five unarmed young men
in Debre Zeit, killing two and wounding two others.  At year's
end, the Government had not begun a public investigation of
either of these incidents or punished those responsible.

In July Alebatchew Goji died under suspicious circumstances
while in police custody in the town of Orghessa, near Dessie.
While the exact circumstances of his death were unknown,
Alebatchew had been detained and interrogated for 6 days about
his fugitive uncle's whereabouts.  After Alebatchew's death,
the police displayed his body in public before instructing his
father to retrieve the body for burial.  There is no evidence
that government authorities investigated this incident.

There were numerous unconfirmed reports of summary executions
of civilians by government and antigovernment forces during
clashes in the eastern "Somali" region which includes the
Ogaden.  Groups involved in these clashes include the EPRDF,
the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), and the Islamic
fundamentalist group "Al-Ittihad Al-Islami."  There was no
evidence to support occasional rumors of "killing squads."

     b.  Disappearance

The independent press published numerous accounts of alleged
disappearances throughout the year.  In most cases, security
forces arrested and held these persons incommunicado for
several weeks before evenutally releasing them without charge.
For example, after the OLF abducted and held a British CARE
international employee for a week, an Ethiopian CARE employee
subsequently disappeared.  Despite repeated denials that he was
in police custody, the local EPRDF office released him 6 days
later.

However, there was at least one unconfirmed report in which the
whereabouts of a person allegedly last seen in police custody
was unknown at year's end.  According to international human
rights groups, in May unidentified security forces reportedly
picked up Mustafa Idris, a telecommunications worker and OLF
supporter, in Addis Ababa.  Previously detained by the Mengistu
regime for 10 years, Mustafa had not been traced to any police
station, and his whereabouts were unknown.

Human rights groups continued to charge that the whereabouts of
dozens of people the TGE arrested when it took power remained
unknown.  In response, the TGE claimed that some of the alleged
missing were among the estimated 1,700 persons in detention
awaiting trial for crimes committed against the civilian
population during the Mengistu regime.

     c.  Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading
         Treatment or Punishment

The National Charter and new Constitution prohibit the use of
torture and mistreatment.  Nevertheless, there were credible
reports that security officials sometimes beat and otherwise
mistreated detainees.  However, instances of torture were
rare.  A reported form of mistreatment is tying a victim's
upper arms behind his or her back with electrical wire,
occasionally resulting in permanent damage to the limbs.
According to some victims and one security official, mock
executions are occasionally staged.  In August EPRDF security
officials took an opposition supporter to an unmarked house in
Addis Ababa and beat and verbally insulted him for several
hours.  The victim was eventually taken to a police station.
Police officers refused an instruction from the EPRDF officials
to imprison the victim and then offered to take the victim to a
hospital.  The Government did not publicly investigate or
punish those responsible.

There were credible reports that EPRDF officials sometimes use
unmarked homes as sites for the temporary detention and
interrogation of political opponents.  However, there is no
evidence to support allegations about the existence of a
network of secret detention or interrogation facilities.  The
Government has agreed to allow international access to any area
or facility suspected of being used in this manner.

In September prison officials shaved the heads of more than 250
supporters of the AAPO who had been detained on September 20
for assembling without a permit.  None of the detainees had yet
been charged with a crime, and it appeared that the act was
designed to humiliate and intimidate the AAPO supporters (see
Section 1.e.).

The Government took steps to improve prison conditions.
Although prison conditions are acceptable by local standards
and are not life-threatening, overcrowding is a serious
problem.  Prisoners are often allocated less than 2 square
meters of space in a room which may contain from 8 to 200
people.  Prisoners typically receive adequate food, often
supplied by relatives on the outside.  Female prisoners are
kept separately from men and receive generally equal
treatment.  Rape does not appear to be a problem in prisons.

The TGE permits independent monitoring of prison conditions,
military camps, and police stations by the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and often by diplomatic
missions.  However, the ICRC does not have immediate access to
government facilities and must either request permission or
notify each time it wants to visit.  With the advent of
regionalization, the ICRC was also obliged to obtain clearances
from each of Ethiopia's 10 regions.  An Embassy visit with
imprisoned AAPO leader Asrat Woldeyes in October revealed that
he is treated respectfully, was in good health, and received
food daily from his family (see Section 1.e.).

     d.  Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile

The National Charter, the new Constitution, and both the
Criminal and Civil Codes prohibit arbitrary arrest and
detention.  Under the Criminal Procedure Code, any person
detained must be charged and informed of the charges within
48 hours and, in most cases, be offered release on bail.  Those
persons believed to have committed capital offenses, such as
murder and treason, may be detained for 4 weeks while police
conduct an investigation and for an additional 15 days while
the prosecutor prepares the case against the suspect.  In
practice, people are often detained without a warrant,
frequently not charged within 48 hours, and if released on
bail, never recalled to court.

Throughout 1994 the Government continued to arrest and detain
persons without charge.  Although most often it detained people
for short periods only, thousands of criminal suspects remained
in detention without charge or trial at year's end.  Many of
these cases result from a severe shortage of judges,
prosecutors, attorneys, clerks, and courthouses.  The Southern
Regional Supreme Court has only 5 judges, out of an authorized
complement of 15.  Late in the year, the Southern Region had a
backlog of more than 5,000 cases dating back as far as 1991.
The TGE began to address these problems by creating special
judicial teams to reduce backlogs in key areas, which resulted
in the release or arraignment of hundreds of detainees in
Region 4.  In December a special team of judicial officials
reviewed prisoner files and released 220 detainees in the
Southern People's Region, typically for lack of evidence.

In August local police detained 46 supporters of the newly
formed Ethiopian National Democratic Party (ENDP) in Awassa and
Dilla in the southern region, allegedly for planning violent
activities and possession of unregistered firearms.  The
authorities eventually released all but two of the ENDP members
(nine not until early December) for lack of evidence.  In a
separate incident, the TGE detained the president of Region 5
(Somali), Hassan Jiri, in Gode and Addis Ababa without charge
for 55 days in connection with his refusal to step down.  On
September 11, Lemma Sidamo, acting vice-chairman of the Sidamo
Liberation Movement, which the TGE accuses of engaging in armed
insurrection, was removed from his residence by Addis Ababa
police, acting on an arrest order from Sidamo Zone.  No charges
were ever brought against Lemma, who was held in seclusion in
Awassa and the town of Yerga Alem until his release in
mid-November.

In December 1993, the authorities arrested eight leaders of
opposition parties when they arrived in Addis Ababa to attend a
"peace and reconciliation conference" organized by political
opposition groups.  They charged seven with supporting armed
uprising against the State and other related offenses but
dropped charges in February after the group members signed
individual statements renouncing violence.  All of the
detainees had been released by mid-February, except for Abera
Yemane-Ab, who remains in detention on suspicion of involvement
in crimes against humanity committed during the Mengistu regime
(see Section 1.e.).

Throughout the year the Government closed several large
detention facilities, including Hurso and Didessa, and released
over 4,000 persons, mostly OLF members and supporters who had
been held for periods as long as 2 years.  It arraigned about
280 of the detainees in Ziway, formally charged them with
crimes, and transferred them to civilian prisons.   At year's
end no trials for the 280 had begun, despite government
indications it would bring these prisoners to trial quickly.
The Government closed the detention facility at Agarfa earlier
in the year.

Exile is illegal and not used as a means of political control.
However, in May, at the behest of the Eritrean Government, the
TGE arrested 26 Ethiopians for alleged involvement in
activities of the Eritrean Liberation Front-Revolutionary
Command (ELF-RC), a group opposing the Eritrean Government.  As
an alternative to imprisonment or deportation to Eritrea, the
Government permitted several of the ELF-RC members to seek
asylum in Europe and allowed the others to remain in internal
exile in southern Ethiopia.

     e.  Denial of Fair Public Trial

The TGE continued to restructure the judiciary toward a
decentralized federal system, featuring courts at the district
(woreda), zone, and regional levels.  The Central (federal)
Supreme Court adjudicates cases involving federal law,
transregional issues, and national security and hears both
original and appeal cases.  While the goal of a decentralized
system may hold promise of bringing justice closer to the
people, the reality is that the severe shortage of trained
personnel in many regions, serious financial constraints, and
the absence of a clear demarcation between central and regional
jurisdictions combine to keep the judiciary weak.

Until regional legislatures are established and empowered to
pass laws particular to their region, the Criminal Code will
remain the same at both the regional and federal levels.
Trials are public, and defendants have the right to a defense
attorney.  The Government established a public defender's
office to provide legal counsel to indigent defendants.  In
December, the central High Court appointed attorneys to
represent 46 of the initial group of defendants in the war
crimes trials following claims by the defendants that they
could not afford adequate defense.  The Court will pay each
attorney the equivalent of $800 to cover necessary expenses.
Ethiopian law does not grant the defense attorney access to
accusatory material before trial.

Shari'a (Islamic) courts hear religious and family cases
involving Muslims.  The new Constitution protects the existence
of current Shari'a courts and gives the legislature of any
jurisdiction the authority to empower future Shari'a courts.
Under the Constitution, both parties have to agree to be
subject to Shari'a law for it to be applied.  In addition, some
traditional courts still function in remote areas, and, though
not sanctioned by law, resolve legal disputes for the large
number of Ethiopians who live more than a day's walk from a
road, and generally beyond the influence of modern judicial
facilities.

The central courts continued to show signs of judicial
independence.  However, these efforts were sometimes undermined
by political interference in other areas of the judiciary.  The
Central Supreme Court found against the Ministry of Internal
Affairs for misdeeds committed by the previous government's
Internal Affairs Ministry.  The central High Court reprimanded
the Minister of Justice and other senior officials for ordering
the release of two prominent detainees held by the Court.  In
December the central High Court found that the Ministry of
Labor had overstepped its bounds in ordering the closing of the
offices of the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions (CETU).

Senior judicial officers acknowledge government pressure,
noting that judges are sometimes instructed to treat EPRDF
defendants leniently.  Anecdotal evidence suggests that the
exact opposite is true for cases involving members of the
opposition.  At least one judge claimed he was fired for
exhibiting too much independence, and in another case a
presiding high judge replaced one of two fellow judges to
achieve a majority vote to deny bail to two AAPO detainees.  At
year's end, two regional judges remained in prison in the
southern city of Jinka after being illegally dismissed by local
authorities for issuing an unpopular decision.  Officials in
Jinka claimed, incorrectly, that regionalization gives them
complete autonomy over local affairs, and they ignored release
orders from the chairman of the Southern Region Supreme Court
and from the vice chairman of the regional council.

In decentralizing the judiciary, the TGE also established in
1993 federal and regional Judicial Administrative Commissions
(JAC's) which are empowered to help select and discipline
judges.  JAC's--which include the chairman of the relevant
supreme court, representatives of the appropriate legislative
council, local lawyers, prosecutors, and Justice Ministry
officials--have begun to function, although their impact was
mixed.

On October 25, the Special Prosecutor's Office (SPO) handed
down long-awaited indictments against the first group of
defendants to be tried for serious crimes, including for crimes
against humanity during the "Red Terror" and forced
resettlement and villagization, committed during the Mengistu
dictatorship from 1974 to 1991.  The SPO was established in
1992 to create an historical record of the abuses during the
Mengistu government and to bring to justice those criminally
responsible for human rights violations and corruption.  The
trial of the first 66 defendants began on December 13.  In this
first group, the Government is trying 21 of the 66 in absentia,
including the former president, Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam,
who is in exile in Zimbabwe.  It may eventually charge and try
more than 3,000 defendants in connection with these crimes;
some government officials expect the trials to go on for 3 to 5
years.  In 1994 the Government arrested 25 former Air Force
personnel for having bombed civilian targets during the civil
war.  Over 1,600 suspects remained in detention without charge
at year's end, some of whom have been detained for more than 3
years.  The Government declared that the remaining detainees
would be charged by July 1995.

Following a high profile trial, the Central High Court
convicted and sentenced AAPO leader Asrat Woldeyes and four
accomplices to imprisonment for 2 years for involvement in a
1993 meeting in Addis Ababa during which plans for armed
activities against the TGE were allegedly discussed.  In
December the same court sentenced Asrat to prison for an
additional 3 years for "incitement to war" in connection with a
speech made at the provincial town of Debre Berhan in 1992.  At
year's end, Asrat also faced charges of involvement in a May
1994 prison break in Debre Berhan, during which several guards
were killed.  His confinement and trials received significant
press attention and exacerbated tensions between the TGE and
AAPO.  In September, after protesting without a required permit
outside the Central High Court, the authorities arrested
approximately 500 AAPO supporters and eventually charged 250
with "public provocation" and "illegal assembly."  They
subsequently released all of these on bail; further court
action remained pending at year's end.

     f.  Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or
         Correspondence

The law requires judicial search warrants, but government
critics allege they are seldom used in practice.  The TGE
implemented a nationwide campaign to uncover and confiscate
unregistered firearms.  Government security officials conducted
searches of private and commercial vehicles, as well as private
homes.  Leaders of political opposition groups claim their
members have been singled out for illegal searches and often
unfairly detained during this campaign.  These charges were
given additional credibility when 44 of 46 ENDP members,
detained following accusations of illegal weapons possession in
the Southern Ethiopian People's Region, were subsequently
released without charge (see Section 1.d.).  Many people allege
they are under surveillance for expressing antigovernment views.

     g.  Use of Excessive Force and Violations of Humanitarian
         Law in Internal Conflicts

The TGE continued to face low-level armed insurgency and
banditry in various parts of the country, and both the military
and the insurgents committed serious abuses, including
extrajudicial killings.

In April the TGE armed forces launched a military operation in
eastern Region 5 to control military activities of the Islamic
fundamentalist Al-Ittihad Al-Islami and the military wing of
the separatist ONLF.  Numerous unconfirmed reports allege that
all parties summarily executed civilians and that Al-Ittihad
and the ONLF employed land mines and hand grenades against both
military and civilian targets.  Toward the end of the year a
number of suspected ONLF landmine attacks were directed at
civilian targets, primarily along the Harar-Jijiga road, and
resulted in more than 10 civilian deaths and numerous injured.
In Regions 3 and 4 (Amhara and Oromia), rebel groups
occasionally clashed with government forces resulting in deaths
on both sides.  Militants of the Oromo Liberation Front engaged
TGE forces sporadically during the year.

Section 2  Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:

     a.  Freedom of Speech and Press

While the National Charter, the 1992 Press Law, and the new
Constitution provide for the right to free speech and press,
the TGE restricted both of these freedoms on numerous
occasions.  People are generally free to discuss publicly any
topic they choose, but those expressing anti-TGE views were
vulnerable to government harassment.  For example, police
detained a person overnight for speaking about Asrat's case
(see Section 1.e.) and forced him to sign a statement
forswearing any future discussion of the professor.  Press
criticism of both the Government and the opposition is common.
Opposition parties and the Ethiopian Human Rights Council
(EHRCO) were generally able to hold rallies or press
conferences expressing anti-TGE views without apparent
retribution.

The vast majority of Ethiopians outside Addis Ababa have no
ready access to the print media.  A small-circulation private
press continued to operate in Addis Ababa despite the arrest of
more than a dozen journalists for violations of the Press Law
and Criminal Code.  The Press Law is vague, and many
journalists complain that it can be interpreted broadly to
target journalists whom the Government dislikes.  This often
results in self-censorship.  The clause most commonly invoked
is the prohibition on dissemination of false information, which
is often translated into "telling only one side of a story."
Many journalists fall victim to this clause because of the
refusal of virtually all government officials to speak to the
private press, even to confirm or deny an allegation.  Denial
of entrance to private journalists at government press
conferences further limits their access to information and
undermines the TGE's affirmations of a free press as a
cornerstone of democracy.  However, some elements of the
private press were irresponsible in their reporting of
developments in the country.

The authorities detained a number of independent journalists
and editors for long periods (as long as 4 months) without
informing them of the charges they face.  Many publishers
decided against continuing involvement in the news business
after being detained, sentenced to prison, or fined up to
$3,200 (20,000 birr).  There were credible allegations of
executive influence in judicial proceedings against
journalists.  Judges set fines on an ad hoc basis.  When a
convicted person is unable to pay a fine, it is a common
long-standing practice to divide his monthly salary into the
outstanding fine to determine the number of months in prison.
On three occasions judges applied this practice to detained
journalists.  As a result of poor management, market forces,
and government harassment, the number of available newspapers
declined from the high of 65 that were in operation at various
times during 1993.  By the end of 1994 there were about 20
weekly and 2 monthly magazines in circulation in Addis Ababa
with a circulation of about 5,000 to 7,000 each.

Foreign journalists, including from the Voice of America,
continued to operate freely in Ethiopia during this period,
often writing articles critical of TGE policies and practices.
The Government controls radio, the most influential medium in
reaching the rural population, as well as the sole television
station, and ensures that TGE policies are reflected in their
programming.  The official media devoted slightly more coverage
to the activities of opposition groups than in 1993, but much
of this coverage was negative.

The new Constitution provides for academic freedom.  In January
1993, security forces killed an Addis Ababa University (AAU)
student while dispersing an unauthorized demonstration against
Eritrean independence at the University, in which protesters
threw rocks at police.  In February 1994, a commission of
inquiry, which had been established to investigate the
incident, found that the students, university security, and
police were each partly to blame.

At year's end, none of the 41 AAU faculty members dismissed in
April 1993, reportedly for expressing antigovernment views, had
been reinstated.  Only 4 of the 41 received any type of
compensation from the Government, and the teachers' suit
against the Government for wrongful dismissal continued to move
slowly through the courts.  The negative impact of the
dismissals continued to resonate among AAU faculty.