MORESH WEGENIE AMARA ORGANIZATION ሞረሽ ወገኔ የዐማራ ድርጅት
8221 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD. 20910
Tel: (202) 230-9423 www.moreshwegenie.org
Date: February 24, 2016
Number: MW-EXT0020-2016
To Members of European Parliament
Wiertzstraat 60
B-1047 Brussels,
Belgium
From : Moresh Wegenie Amhara Organization (MWAO)
8221 Georgia Avenue Silver Spring, Maryland, MD 20901 USA
(2016/2520(RSP)) B8-0091/2016.
This article states:
“Whereas Ethiopia is highly diverse country in terms of religious beliefs and cultures; whereas some of the largest ethnic communities, particularly the Oromo and the Somali (Ogaden) have been marginalized in the favor of the Amhara and the Tigray with little participation in political participation”.
Your excellencies;
First of all, we pray to the Almighty that He may grant full health to the members of the Parliament, and peace, development and wealth to the world population.
Moresh Wogenie Amara organization (MWAO), which submits this plea to the August Parliament, is an Amhara Organization based in America. It is legally registered in Maryland, USA, as a civic society and has branches all over the world. The Amhara is one of the two major ethnic groups of Ethiopia. MWAO aspires to share the plight of the Amhara with nations who stand for justice in general and to concerned human rights organizations in particular.
The evidence shows that this ethnic group is currently in dire need of rescue from being reduced to insignificance or total elimination by mass killing of its members. It has been the target of criminal ethnic elimination by several brutal means of ethnic cleansing conducted by the Tigray People Liberation Front (TPLF) that has been ruling the country since 1991 under the guise of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). Within the three years of its existence, MWAO has issued over eighty documents, in text and video, as evidence of the quiet but systematic elimination of the Amhara by the TPLF.
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It inspires hope that the European Union Parliament has finally noticed the crimes the TPLF/EPRDF is committing against the people of Ethiopia, under the pretext of the growth of Addis Ababa by incorporating surrounding farmers’ lands into the city.
Our organization is indebted to the individuals who have made the effort to bring the case to the attention of the Parliament and to the Parliament in passing this historic resolution on the situation in Ethiopia (2016/2520(RSP)) B8- 0091/2016). But, we are dismayed by the wording of paragraph E, in which the Amhara is wrongly represented:
“E. whereas Ethiopia is a highly diverse country in terms of religious beliefs and cultures; whereas some of the largest ethnic communities, particularly the Oromo and the Somali (Ogaden), have been marginalized in favor of the Amhara and the Tigray, with little participation in political representation.”
The truth is the Amhara are the marginalized group in favor of Tigray and other ethnic groups, with no participation in the political representation. For example, the ruling front/TPLF has 60 Military Generals out of which 58 (96.7%) of the Generals are from the ruling TPLF and the majority are from the same district either from Adwa, Axum or Mekele. The military chain of commands are all controlled by the TPLF. The top position within the Government is run by Individuals from Tigray and Eritrean Origin. This includes the handpicked Bereket Simon who was assigned to represent the Amhara is an Eritrean (both parents are Eritreans). The foreign minister Tewodros Adhanom is also an Eritrean.
The last twenty-four years of the Tigrean dictatorship has been a period in which Oromo and Somali Liberation Fronts have cooperated with the regime in the ethnic cleansing of the Amharas in the regions where the Oromo and the Somali are in the majority. We, therefore, humbly request that the Parliament make the necessary amendment to reflect the reality on the ground. If the resolution remains as it now stands, it will definitely encourage the evil activities of ethnic cleansing in every region of the country. We will list the necessary pieces of information for the Parliament to undertake the desirable amendment: It is widely known to all, including the European Parliament, we believe, that as of May 28, 1991, the time the TPLF/EPRDF took political and religious power of Ethiopia, the Amhara have been deliberately excluded from any decision making in the economic, political, and social life of the nation. On the contrary, since the TPLF has targeted the Amhara people as its enemy from its inception. During its twenty-five years in power, it has been cleansing the regions of Amhara on a genocidal level. The following steps were taken in preparation for committing the said crimes on the Amhara:
1. When the military junta fell and the TPLF took power, it invited, on May 28, 1991, representatives of ethnic groups to a conference to form a transitional government, but it deliberately excluded the Amhara’s people (35% of the general population) from participation, whereas the Oromo and the Somali (Ogaden), which the Parliament has described as “have been marginalized,” were full participants. To be exact, while Oromo’s were represented by 4 organizations /24 individuals and Somali’s were represented by 1 organization/ 4 individuals, none represented Amara’s either as an individual or as an organization. The TPLF leader at that time was not ashamed to clearly declare Amara’s were not represented in the conference to form the transitional government. (See attached appendix 1 for details regarding the organizations and individuals represented in the transitional government conference). The Charter of the Transitional government adopted by the conference was actually drafted by Eritrean People’s Liberation Front, Tigray People’s Liberation Front, and Oromo Liberation Front long before the conference. Clearly, the Amhara, the second largest group in the nation was marginalized.
2. The driver of Ethiopian power today is the TPLF. When this front was established on February 18, 1975, it issued its first manifesto which stated: “The national struggle of the people of Tigray is against the enemy, which is the Amhara,” (1976, p. 18; see also Welkait.com.
3. Based on this manifesto, untold crimes, that contradict article (E) of the Parliament’s resolution, have been perpetrated on the Amhara:
Ancestral fertile lands of the Amhara; the entire Raya and Azebo from Wello; and Setit Humera, Wolqait, Tegede, Telemt, and Armachiho from North Gonder Administration were taken and made part of Tigray, which is the region of the ruling group. The Amhara residents in these regions, who objected to the land grab and forced change of ethnicity, were executed, imprisoned, and displaced. Those forced into exile number in the thousands (Appendix 2 and 3).
4.1. From 1991 to 1995 alone, the following crimes have been committed on the Amhara:
(a) 196 killed;
(b) 44 whose whereabouts are unknown;
(c) 9 exiled;
(d) 45 imprisoned from two to eight years (Appendix 4);
4.2. List of Amhara brutally hacked to death in Hararge and Arsi since the TPLF took power:
(a) In Arsi, in Dec. 1991-Jan. 1992: The following crimes have been committed on the Amhara who resided in the province of the Hiquach ena Butajera and the Arsi Negelle district:
60 killed;
60 wounded;
6203 domestic animals looted;
64 houses demolished;
7246 stacks of grain destroyed;
247 hectares of harvest destroyed;
1200 domestic animals were put on fire;
12766 pieces of corrugated iron for building houses were looted;
Church property, including holy items, estimated 431120 Birr (US 21,556), have been looted.
702 family heads and 6987 members have been displaced;
754 were killed, 87 of which were slaughtered with the knife;
405 were injured with bullets and swords;
56 girls were sexually assaulted;
76 wives were sexually assaulted before their husbands;
The whereabouts of 248 juveniles remain unknown;
1554 houses were set on fire;
10380 remain without shelter;
7 pregnant women were shot to death;
8 churches were burned down.
(b) Since 1991, heinous crimes have been committed against the Amhara in different districts of the administrative region of Harar.
76 were killed in Gara Mulleta;
300 were killed in Watar;
123 were killed in Beddeno by being hurled down the precipice of Aneftu;
8 were killed in the city of Dire Dawa;
In a search conducted in Gelemso in 1992/3, 16 sacks of Amhara sculls were exhumed from a placed where mass execution was committed. A sack was estimated to contain an average of 100 sculls. That means 1600 Amharas had perished;
20 were killed in Habru;
8 were killed in Mechara;
14 were killed in Wofi;
15 were killed in Ketera;
8 were killed in Dereku;
7 were killed in Mitcheta;
10 were killed in Qersa;
15 women were killed with amputation of their breasts;
4 churches were burnt down.
4.3 In East Wellegga:
754 were killed;
6251 houses were set on fire;
52303 cattle were looted;
222 granaries were burned down;
96 domestic animals were burned.
4.4 In Gurra Ferda, in the Maji zone, between 2011 and 2015:
Different sources show that 78,000 people were displaced. Adolala, a reporter of Sub-Sahara TV, has reported from Gurra Ferda that 22,000 Amharas were displaced.
Over 600 Amharas were killed on September 30, 2015;
250 houses were set on fire on this same day;
On the same day, the houses of over 3364 Amharas were confiscated and their owners were driven out;
Over 860 children were thrown out on the street;
A church was set on fire.
4.5. Since 1992, the following crimes were committed against the Amhara in Beni-Shangul-Gumuz:
Over 10,000 were killed in 1992. In fact, the Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) reports that on July 16, 1992, 270 Amharas were killed, 6833 houses were set on fire, and over 60,000 people were displaced.
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5200 Amharas were displaced in 2012, in the Metekel Zone;
4500 Amharas were displaced in the Kemash Zone in 2013 (see (EHRCO, Release no.126);
On May 16 and 17, 2015, 160 Amhara were slaughtered with machetes and knives; the flesh of 80 were eaten by those who committed the crime.
4.6. The following crimes were committed on the Amhara in 2015 in the district of Nonno, in eastern Shoa:
1 man was killed;
10 were gravely injured;
124 houses were set on fire (see EHRCO, special report no. 136).
4.7. Between 1991 and 2014, the following crimes were committed against the Amhara, in the Afar Administrative region:
2,000 were killed;
200 were exiled;
94 were drowned in the Red Sea as they fled to Saudi Arabia.
5. In summation, during the 25 years of TPLF’s dictatorship, over five million Amhara are decimated by several means of the regime’s machinations. They were killed in droves, forced into exile, and women were given anti-fertility tablets under the guise of birth control to make an end to Amharas existence as an ethnic group. Additionally, by spreading the HIV virus among the Amhara, they have exposed the ethnic group to death and incurable illness.
Water and vector borne diseases like diarrhea and particularly seasonal malaria outbreaks in areas like Dembia, Gojam and Gonder were left unchecked without any preventive measures. The lack of staff and supply in this areas has caused deaths on an epidemic proportion among many young children, pregnant women and elderly mothers and fathers.
We sincerely can provide the Parliament with additional facts and figures to back up our cases whenever requested.
Respectfully,
Tekle Yeshaw Mekonnen
Chairman/Moresh Wegenie Amara Organization
