Neamin Zeleke
TO: His Excellency Mr. Antonio Guterres @antonioguterres
The Secretary-General of United Nations United Nations Headquarters
405 East 42nd Street,
New York, NY 10017, USA
FROM: Ethiopian Solidarity Movement Virginia, USA.
RE: The Wanton Killing of Africans, Including Ethiopians, in South Africa.
Dear Excellency Antonio Guterres:
We, members of the Ethiopian Solidarity Movement (ESM), request that your esteemed office intervene on behalf of fellow Africans, including Ethiopians, who are facing ongoing killings in South Africa. The xenophobic fervor that is now unfolding in South Africa challenges the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted in 1948, especially Article 3, which affirms the right to life, liberty, and personal security. The post-apartheid South African government has adhered to this principle, but it must also enforce it. Similarly, the core principle of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, “freedom, equality, justice and dignity,” to which South Africa acceded in 1996, must also be realized and put into practice by the government.
The South African government must be strongly reminded that African countries, including Ethiopia, wholeheartedly supported the anti-apartheid movement. It must be remembered that the Frontline States, whose citizens are now being victimized in South Africa, also paid with precious lives and material resources during the struggle against the apartheid regime. South Africans were welcomed, warmly embraced, and allowed to live freely among fellow Africans throughout the continent. At the height of the struggle against the apartheid regime in the 1980s, some of us supported the South African struggle by demonstrating against apartheid, giving lectures, and exposing the brutality of the apartheid regime by showing The Last Grave at Dimbaza, a film shot clandestinely that exposed the shocking inequalities in South Africa under apartheid.
Beyond the struggle against apartheid, South Africa was exemplary in teaching the rest of the world its tradition and values of “Ubuntu,” which uphold essential human values, compassion, humanity, and the avoidance of victimization of fellow human beings. We in Africa were especially enamored with Ubuntu’s cardinal principle: “I am because we are.”
South Africans, especially the government, must be reminded of this golden principle that they birthed and must take legal action against the perpetrators and enablers of the killings of foreign nationals. These foreign nationals are contributing to the economic and social development of South Africa and must be given the highest protection by the government of South Africa.
While African governments, including Ghana, Nigeria, and Mozambique, have expressed concern about what is unfolding in South Africa and the crimes being committed against their citizens, the government of Ethiopia has chosen the proverbial stance of “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.” The government of Prime Minister Abiye Ahmad is equally, if not even more, guilty of advancing divisive ethno-politics, engaging in gross human rights abuses, dismantling the longstanding cultural, historical, and religious heritage of Ethiopia, and establishing a network of looting machines. It has waged war and committed human rights abuses against its own citizens, and the people are living in hell.
The recent rise in the exodus of young Ethiopians to South Africa and other countries under the current regime is due to abhorrent human rights abuses and lack of opportunities, while the government squanders resources on unproductive sectors that will not contribute to the mitigation of poverty and inequality or the achievement of sustainable development. We would like to appeal to the U.N., other multilateral organizations, and influential nations to exert diplomatic pressure on the government of South Africa to protect the human rights of Africans who live within its borders. The government must also be urged to bring to justice the perpetrators of such heinous crimes and to compensate the victims.
Respectfully yours,
Badege Bishaw Badege Bishaw, Ph.D.
Chair, Ethiopian Solidarity Movement.
CC. His Excellency Cyril Ramaphosa , Prime Minister of South Africa @CyrilRamaphosa
His Excellency Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Chairperson of the African Union Commission, @ymahmoudali
Her Excellency Therese Blanchet Secretary General of the European Union,
His Excellency Marco Rubio, U.S. Secretary of State @StateDept
His Excellency Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Union @vonderleyen
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