16/04/07 (B391) Lu sur le site Hiiraan net.com. Selon cet article en Anglais, un officiel éthiopien aurait envoyé un e-mail anonyme à l’Ambassadeur de l’Union européenne au Kenya, pour critiquer l’intervention armée en Ethiopie, qui aurait été décidée, selon lui, par la minorité au pouvoir en Ethiopie … (Nous publions cet article à titre d’information, sans que cela n’engage les positions de l’ARDHD dans aucune direction) (Info lecteur)

Sophia
Tesfamariam, sophia_tesfamariam@hotmail.com

An anonymous email from a senior security official sent to the European
Union Ambassador Eric Van der Linden, based in Nairobi, Kenya, illustrates
the need for a sober and honest analysis of the facts relating to the US-backed
Ethiopian invasion and subsequent occupation of Somalia, which have been deliberately
and maliciously obfuscated by the deceptive mercenary minority regime in Ethiopia
led by Meles Zenawi, and the self serving puppet “Transitional National
Government of Somalia” led by Abdullahi Yusuf and Ali Mohammed Ghedi.
Here is what the senior security official wrote in the email sent to the EU
Ambassador in Kenya:

“…I need to advise you that there are
strong grounds to believe that the Ethiopian government and the transitional
federal government of Somalia and the African Union (peacekeeping) Force Commander,
possibly also including the African Union Head of Mission and other African
Union officials have through commission or omission violated the Rome Statute
of the International Criminal Court…In regard to the above mentioned
potential violations of international law there arise urgent questions of
responsibility and potential complicity in the commission of war crimes by
the European Commission and its partners…”

The official is right in bringing to the attention of the EU Ambassador the
numerous violations of international laws of war by the Ethiopian and TNG
forces in Somalia. Those of us who have been watching development in Somalia
have also warned of Meles Zenawi’s minority regime in Ethiopia, its
incurable inferiority complex, its abhorrence of international law and propensity
for wanton destruction and violence as early as January 2007. This author
had warned in January of 2007[1] of Ethiopia’s violations of the Geneva
Conventions and is not surprised by the e-mail’s contents. It is about
time someone paid attention to the crimes being committed in Somalia to “prop
up” the illegitimate “TNG” and in the “global war
on terror”.

The US-backed Ethiopian war of aggression and invasion of Somalia in December
2006 in violation of the African Union and UN Charters, in violation of Security
Council resolutions 1724, 1725 and 1744, using false pretexts, “to defend
Ethiopia’s sovereignty”, and “hunt down extremists, jihadists,
and terrorists”, has caused the deaths of hundreds, damage to schools,
private and public properties and other vital infrastructures. The facts on
the ground attest to a fast deteriorating situation and a genocide in the
making:

  • On
    10 April 2007 AFP reported, “At least 1 086 people were killed in
    four days of recent heavy clashes between Ethiopian forces and Islamist
    fighters backed by clan militia in Mogadishu, elders from the Hawiye clan
    said on Tuesday….The fighting, which erupted late last month when
    Ethiopian forces launched a bloody crackdown on suspected insurgents in
    the Somali capital, also left 4 334 people wounded, Hussein Aden Korgab,
    the Hawiye clan spokesperson.”
  • The
    Somalia bureau of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
    Affairs (OCHA) reported « indiscriminate heavy artillery and mortar
    shells rained down on the city, hitting residential areas and resulting
    in a large but as of yet unresolved number of deaths and casualties. »
    The OCHA statement also said, « A hospital accommodating wounded and
    sick was reportedly hit on 30 March, killing one person and injuring others,
    while other health facilities are saturated with patients. Trapped by the
    fighting, many wounded are unable to access medical facilities and lie unattended
    in the streets. »
  • On
    5 April 2007 Jeffrey Gettleman reported that Ethiopian soldiers responded
    by “blasting the entire neighborhood” when they were surrounded
    by insurgents in Mogadishu’s main stadium.
  • The
    Somali Diaspora Network accused the transitional government and Ethiopian
    forces of « collective punishment » and genocide.
  • Abdullahi Yusuf manifesting
    his disregard for the lives of the innocent civilians in Mogadishu warned
    in a recent radio interview that « any place from which a bullet is
    fired we will bombard it, regardless of whoever is there. »
  • “…Ethiopian
    troops using tanks are in fierce face-to-face fighting with hundreds of
    Somali gunmen since dawn…Residents are fleeing in all directions to
    escape the shelling…”-
    IOL, 30 March 2007
  • Ethiopian
    and TNG forces intentionally directed attacks against civilians and ordered
    the displacement of thousands of Mogadishu’s residents.
  • In
    January 2007 AP reported that “helicopter gunships attacked suspected
    al-Qaida fighters in the south in an assault killing 31 civilians…The
    U.S. military official said the strike was probably carried out by Ethiopia
    since the aircraft were identified as Russian-made Hind helicopter gunships
    of the type used by the Ethiopian military
  • Abdirahman
    Dinari, the interim government spokesperson admitting the indiscriminate
    nature of the bombing raids boasting of victory told AFP , “So
    many dead people were lying in the area. We do not know who is who, but
    the raid was a success…”

Today, we now know that over 124,000 Somalis
have fled Mogadishu since January 2007 and there are fears that the fighting
will resume, and bring more deaths and destruction to this war torn nation.
The wanton destruction of homes, hospitals, schools and vital infrastructure
is in violation of the Nuremberg Principles VI which says:

“…The crimes hereinafter set out are
punishable as crimes under international law: wanton destruction of cities,
towns, or villages, or destruction not justified by military necessity…”

Also, premeditated use of weapons (tanks, helicopter gun ships, C130 airplanes
etc. etc.) known to cause unnecessary and indiscriminate deaths, destructions
and sufferings are all a violation of the Geneva Conventions, Part IV, Article
48 which clearly says combatants:

“…shall at all times distinguish between
the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military
objectives and, accordingly, shall direct their operations only against military
objectives…”

Under the Geneva Conventions, it is a war crime to launch indiscriminate attacks
affecting the civilian population or civilian objects in the knowledge that
such attacks will cause excessive loss of life, injury to civilians, or damage
to civilian objects. Abdulahi Yusuf and his cohorts are committing crimes
of calculation in Somalia and must be held accountable. There is absolutely
no justification for using excessive fire power in residential neighborhoods
and the “TNG” has the responsibility to protect, not to kill.

There were numerous reports of dead bodies littering the streets of Mogadishu
for days. Not only is it a health hazard for the residents of Mogadishu, and
the violation of their religious and human rights, it is a violation of the
Geneva Conventions which not only prohibits desecration of the dead, but require
the belligerents “to search for the dead and prevent them from being
despoiled.”

The Ethiopian forces and the “TNG” as well as the African
Union forces, failed to do that in Somalia.

The European Union is responding by calling for an investigation. There is
no need to conduct an investigation. First of all, in the past, the US State
Department and the Tony Blair regime have knowingly shielded the minority
regime in Ethiopia as it committed genocides in the Gambela region of Ethiopia
and will do the same today and prevent the international community from bringing
it to justice for its crimes in Somalia, an aggressive war or invasion and
occupation backed, planned and executed by the US itself. Secondly, the European
Union has admitted that it has no mechanism for investigating and prosecuting
war crimes in Somalia, and that the International Criminal Court is the entity
that can do so. This case should be sent to the ICC for prosecution.

Considering Meles Zenawi’s belief that “might makes right”,
and his recorded genocide against his own people in Gambela, and the numerous
violations of international law that he has committed and continues to commit,
there is no doubt that he is has committed heinous international crimes in
Somalia. He is a habitual offender. For the record, allow me to present some
of the minority regime’s past crimes against humanity:

  • Exposing
    his bigotry and racist attitude, the Tigrayan Prime Minister in July 1998,
    at the height of the Eritrea Ethiopia border conflict ordered the massive
    and inhumane deportations of over 80,000 Eritreans and Ethiopians of Eritrean
    origin from Ethiopia, by saying, “The Ethiopian government has the
    unrestricted right to expel any foreigner from the country for any reason
    whatsoever. Any foreigner, whether Eritrean, Japanese, etc., lives in Ethiopia
    because of the goodwill of the government. If the Ethiopian government says
    ‘Go, because we don’t like the color of your eyes,’ they have to leave.”
    The African Union, US and European Addis based “diplomats”,
    “political analysts”, “experts” etc. remained silent
    as thousands of sick, old, young, men, women and children, religious leaders,
    etc. were forced to cross through mine-infested borders because Meles Zenawi
    did not like the “color of their eyes”.
  • Meles
    Zenawi’s security and military apparatus massacred 44 University students
    in cold blood in Addis Ababa in 2001.
  • On
    May 2002, Meles Zenawi’s forces massacred over 100 people in Awassa, his
    forces committed illegal acts against innocent citizens who were demonstrating
    against a change in the administrative status of Awassa. Security agents
    used machine guns mounted on armored vehicles to fire into a group of unarmed
    peasants, workers, women and children. Twelve of those killed were children.
  • Dubbed
    “Operation Sunny Mountain” by Meles Zenawi and his minority
    regime, plans to procure Annuak territory, a zone coveted by corporate interests
    for its oil and gold, were laid out at a top-level cabinet meeting in Addis
    Ababa led by Meles Zenawi on September 2003. At that meeting, “the
    militant ethnic cleansing of the Anuaks” was openly discussed and
    a coordinated military operation to systematically eliminate Anuaks began
    on 13 December 2003. The minority regime in Ethiopia willfully burned villages,
    massacred hundreds of Anuaks and Nuers and caused over 15,000 inhabitants
    of Gambela to flee to neighboring Sudan and Kenya.
  • Meles
    Zenawi’s minority regime rigged the May 2005 Elections and stole the
    people’s votes that ignited the nationwide protests. Having declared
    a “State of Emergency” on 16 May 2005, and after taking full
    command of the police, security and army apparatus, the genocidal regime
    continues to detain all the opposition leaders, journalists, civil society
    leaders and opposition supporters on trumped up charges of treason and inciting
    violence, and detained over 40,000 Ethiopians all over the country while
    its military and security forces have massacred over 200 people since the
    elections.
  • The
    minority regime in Ethiopia has harassed and intimidated the Ethiopian Inquiry
    Commission and prevented it from presenting its Report to the Ethiopian
    Parliament. The Chairman and other members of the Commission mandated to
    investigate the post election violence in Ethiopia, have been forced into
    exile.

The mercenary minority regime in Ethiopia,
emboldened by the diplomatic, financial, military and political shield provided
by his US sponsors, has terrorized the people of Ethiopia and Somalia and
has wrecked havoc in the lives of millions. His warmongering agendas threaten
to destabilize the entire Horn region and exacerbate an already dire humanitarian
situation.

The Security Council must act to stop the massacres in Somalia. It cannot
remain impotent as innocent civilians are slaughtered as the US and Ethiopia
pursue phantom “terrorists”, “extremists” etc. etc.
The Security Council’s credibility and integrity have been greatly undermined
by the United States and its so called allies in the “global war on
terror”, who are themselves terrorizing innocent civilian populations,
committing gross human rights violations, and engaging in religious and ethnic
cleansing. The carnage in Somalia must stop. What is needed is not an investigation
but swift appropriate actions to prevent further deaths.

  1. The
    international community must strongly condemn the Ethiopian regime and the
    illegitimate puppet “Transitional National Government of Somalia”
    for committing war crimes.
  2. The
    United States and the European Union should stop financing the mercenary
    terrorist regimes in Ethiopia and Somalia immediately. The United States
    is a major financial supporter of the Somali government and the peacekeepers,
    pledging more than $120 million since the US-backed Ethiopian invasion and
    occupation of Somalia. The United States and the European Union must also
    stop all military support-given under the auspices of the “war on
    terror”- for the minority regime in Ethiopia and the “TNG”
    in Somalia.
  3. The
    United States should stop enabling Ethiopia’s violations of international
    laws and its continued violations of the Arms Embargo on Somalia and North
    Korea.
  4. The
    Security Council must call for the immediate and unconditional withdrawal
    of Ethiopian forces from Somalia
  5. All
    concerned individuals and groups should draw the attention to the gravity
    and seriousness of this heinous crime and call for immediate action of their
    governments and representatives before it is too late, and the religious
    and ethnic cleansing in Somalia get worse.

The
senior security official who sent the email must be commended for bringing
international attention to Meles Zenawi’s war crimes in Somalia.

The minority regime in Ethiopia and the illegitimate puppet “TNG”
led by Abdulahi Yusuf and Ali Mohammed Ghedi are not supporting the war on
terror; they are themselves terrorists, who are committing genocide and ethnic
cleansing and untold war crimes in Somalia. The US and European leaders who
insist on providing Meles Zenawi with the means to perpetrate human rights
violations against his own people and now the people of Somalia, are equally
responsible for the deaths and destructions his apartheid regime is causing.

The rule of law must prevail over the law of
the jungle!