Zenawi denounces ethnic violence claim

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News By Barry Malone Addis Ababa - Ethiopia's prime minister has denounced a think-tank report that warned his country could descend into ethnic violence ahead of its first national election since a 2005 poll triggered deadly street clashes. In a study last week, the International Crisis Group (ICG) said there was a risk of conflict ahead of the ballot scheduled for May 2010 because of rising ethnic tensions and dissent. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi rejected that. "Some people have too many billions of dollars to spend and they feel that dictating how developing countries manage their affairs is their God-given right," he said late on Wednesday. Continues Below ↓ "We have only contempt for the ICG." The Horn of Africa nation's last elections four years ago were touted as its first truly democratic polls. But they ended in protests and bloodshed after the government declared victory and the opposition accused it of rigging the result. Police and soldiers killed about 200 people who had taken to the streets to demonstrate. At the time, Meles accused the protesters of trying to topple his government. Rights groups regularly accuse Ethiopia's government of cracking down on political opponents. One party leader has been jailed and several former and serving military officers have been charged in recent months with plotting a coup. In a news conference on Wednesday, Meles defended the country's system of "ethnic federalism", under which major ethnic groups control the regions where they are the majority. He said it had saved the giant nation from splitting apart. "The country was on the brink of total disintegration," the prime minister said. "Every analyst worth his salt was suggesting that Ethiopia will go the way of Yugoslavia or the Soviet Union. What we have now is a going-concern." Meles has started talks with the opposition about a code of conduct for the next poll. But the main coalition of opposition parties said last week it had walked out of the discussions and that its potential candidates were being jailed and harassed. "Those parties that apparently are concerned about harassment are not concerned enough to participate in the devising of a code of conduct that is designed to put an end to it, if it exists, or to prevent it if it doesn't," Meles said. "The intent of these individuals is to discredit the election process from day one, not to participate in it." - Reuters

PHOTOS: Angelina Jolie Reaches Out to African Refugees

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News While other A-listers let their checkbooks do the talking, Angelina Jolie is back in Africa spreading good will in person. On Saturday, she spent the day visiting a dangerously crowded camp for Somali refugees. The Dadaab camp, on the Kenyan-Somali border, was opened in 1991 to house up to 90,000 people, but the population is now 285,000 – and growing by as much as 7,000 people a month. Experts say a deadly cholera outbreak is likely with the rainy season coming in October. "The Somali families I met today are full of warmth and affection," said Jolie, who is a UN Refugee Agency Goodwill Ambassador. "I wish more people could meet them, then they would have a stronger desire to help." – Michael Y. Park Photo by: Boris Heger / UNHCR

9% Economic Growth and Begging children on Addis Ababa main roads

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News Ethiopia: Part 1 By Melissa Mendonca September 17, 2009 No Comments Printer-Friendly ShareThis Last November, as I filled out an application for a Rotary Group Study Exchange trip to Ethiopia and Kenya, I was thrilled to learn that Rotary International President, DK Lee, had chosen Make Dreams Real as the theme of his term. I’d later learn that it was in reference to the millions of vulnerable children around the world in need of safe, clean drinking water, medicine, shelter and educational opportunities. For me, it became a sign that my own dream was about to come true. I was born with wanderlust and Ethiopia was tied with Portugal as my next great destination. Ethiopia, the birthplace of the human race and its most valued evolutionary tool, coffee. Ethiopia, the home of my favorite cuisine, characterized by the sour and spongy injera, and berberie-infused wats, sauces and stews that transform chicken, beef, goat and lamb into tender, tasty melt-in-your-mouth morsels. Ethiopia, the final resting place of Lucy, our smaller brained, yet upright walking ancestor. Yes, Mr. Lee, a dream came true the day I was awarded the opportunity to travel here. Rotary Group Study Exchange teams take non-Rotarian professionals between the ages of 25-40 on overseas trips to a reciprocating Rotary District. District 5160, which encompasses the north state, engaged with District 9200 for the 2008-09 year. While District 5160 encompasses an area from Walnut Creek to Yreka, District 9200 is comprised of 5 countries: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda. Our study was based in Ethiopia, but we were also welcomed in Kenya for a Rotary District Conference. As our team, comprised of Rotarian leader Kathy Gailey of San Ramon, Gretchen Ash and Martin Pehl of Vacaville, Alex Cousins of Weaverville, and myself, set out for our exchange (we were always told that this would be neither an “adventure” nor a “vacation”) we were filled with questions. One thing I knew though: the food would be delicious. Travel to a developing country requires a balancing act of belief. You must be able to face up to the fact in a very literal way that much of the world lives in grinding poverty. You must witness children begging when they should be in school, girls–and it is always girls–hauling back breaking loads of firewood or scooping water from polluted streams. But you must also witness and believe in the hope and the promise of the country. And with Ethiopia, you must stand in awe that a people have a history that is thousands of years old. As our team overlooked the Great Rift Valley in Awash National Park, we saw a woman walking on a trail below. Behind her a baboon frolicked at a respectable distance. It was heady to realize we were watching a scene that has been playing out at that location for thousands of years. While most of the news the western world receives of Africa involves war, famine, poverty or AIDS, our group was able to experience a more complete experience of modern life in an ancient land. Please join me for future postings as I write about our experiences.

UK: Ethiopian ‘Assurances’ No Guarantee Against Torture

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News Source: Human Rights Watch Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone. (London) - The UK government should not rely on unreliable "diplomatic assurances" against torture to deport national security suspects to Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch said today in a letter to the UK government. In December 2008, the United Kingdom and Ethiopia signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU), similar to those the UK has signed with Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt. Under these MoUs, the receiving governments provide "diplomatic assurances" that they will not mistreat persons whom the other country transfers to their territory. Under the agreement, Ethiopia will obtain custody of its citizens now in detention in the UK, while the UK will be able to deport to their home country Ethiopians it considers security threats. "The UK-Ethiopia agreement is intended to get around the absolute ban on returning people to countries where they are at risk of torture," said Tom Porteous, London director at Human Rights Watch. "Ethiopia has a grim record of torture, particularly where suspects are perceived as security threats, and empty promises from Addis will not remove that risk." Human Rights Watch and other organizations have documented the use of torture by Ethiopian police and military officials in both official and secret detention facilities across Ethiopia. Concerns about torture, ill-treatment, and lack of due process are often gravest when individuals are detained on suspicion of affiliation with armed opposition, insurgent, or terrorist activity. In some cases suspects are tortured during interrogations, while in other cases they are tortured as punishment. Methods of torture include: repeated and severe kicking and beating of a naked suspect with sticks, electric cables, rifle butts, iron bars or other instruments, sometimes at gunpoint; tying an individual's hands and feet, then suspending the person upside down and administering a beating; tying bottles of water to a man's testicles; and forcing a detainee to run or crawl barefoot over sharp gravel for several hours at a time. Human Rights Watch has also documented cases of rape of women and girls detained in military barracks in the country's eastern Somali region. "Ethiopia's record of torture of security suspects is all too clear," said Porteous. "The agreement is itself a tacit admission that torture continues to be a major problem in Ethiopia." The agreements Britain has reached with Ethiopia and other states represent an effort to circumvent the strict non-refoulement (no return) obligations under the UN Convention against Torture and the European Convention on Human Rights. Both treaties absolutely prohibit returning people to places where they face a substantial risk of torture. The bodies that enforce compliance with the two treaties, the Committee Against Torture and the European Court of Human Rights, have both repeatedly made clear that no exceptions are permitted to the ban on returns to torture, even where the suspect is alleged to pose a threat to national security. The MoUs contain a measure that purports to act as a safeguard against abuse: establishment of a body, nominated jointly by the two signatory governments, which can periodically visit and privately interview anyone the receiving state takes into custody, and then report on those visits to the sending state. In reality, such post-return monitoring will not protect returnees from torture. Its key deficiency is the lack of confidentiality. Where monitors have universal access to all detainees in a facility and are able to speak with detainees in private, a single detainee can report torture without fear of being identified by the authorities. The International Committee of the Red Cross makes universal access a condition of its monitoring for precisely that reason. But under the British MoUs, with only one detainee or a small group being monitored, such confidentiality cannot be provided. If abuse is reported, the prison or detention facility authorities will know directly where the allegations of ill-treatment came from. Experience has shown that detainees are reluctant to report abuse in those circumstances for fear of reprisals against them or their families. Moreover, the "independent" monitoring body identified to monitor returns under the UK's agreement with Ethiopia is the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, a government-sponsored organization whose members are appointed by the ruling party-dominated Ethiopian parliament. "Expecting an Ethiopian government-sponsored commission to monitor torture cases is farcical, especially when Ethiopia is fast becoming one of the most inhospitable places in the world for independent human rights investigation," said Porteous. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled against efforts by the UK and other European governments to rely on assurances as grounds for returning national security suspects to countries with poor torture records, concluding that the use of assurances did not remove the risk faced by the suspects. The court is currently considering a case brought by a Jordanian terrorism suspect against the UK, challenging its efforts to deport him to Jordan under the MoU with that country, following a February ruling by Britain's Law Lords that the suspect could be returned. In April 2008, Britain's Court of Appeal rejected the return of two national security suspects to Libya under the 2005 MoU between London and Tripoli, concluding that they remained at risk of torture. The UK government did not appeal that ruling.

Gebrselassie aims to lower record mark in Berlin

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News By Justin McMahon, Contributing Editor Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - The two-fastest marathon runners of all time - Haile Gebrselassie from Ethiopia (2:03:59) and Duncan Kibet of Kenya (2:04:27) - are slated to face off at the real,-Berlin Marathon on Monday, September 20. Gebrselassie, a three-time Berlin champion, has established two world record times at the race in consecutive years (2007 and 2008). Unlike the 36-year- old Gebrselassie, Kibet, 31, only has one year of marathon running under his belt, yet he has drawn attention thanks to his 2:04:27 at the Rotterdam Marathon earlier this year. On the women's side, last year's runner-up, Askale Tafa Magarsa from Ethiopia owns the fastest entry time at 2:21:31, while countrymen Atsede Habtamu Besuye (2:25:17) and Genet Getaneh (2:26:37) own the next two fastest times. The men's field this year features 11 sub-2:10 marathoners, while the women's side features 9 sub-2:30 runners. Already in its 36th year, the real,-Berlin Marathon has become known as one of the world's fastest courses. Since 1998, six world records have been broken. The course begins and ends at the Reichstag as it loops around the historic city before culminating with a pass under the Brandenberg Gate during the last mile. Last year's race boasted 35,783 runners and this year over 40,000 are expected to run. 09/17 12:01:35 ET

Athletics: Gebrselassie versus Kibet -- the fastest marathon duel ever?

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News No one could have imagined that the BERLIN-MARATHON would become one of the most spectacular sports events in Germany when the race was started for the first time 35 years ago. That happened next to the Grunewald, a forest in West Berlin, and there were only few spectators. Today the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON attracts around one million people who celebrate one of the greatest running events on the globe. It was almost 20 years ago -- after the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 -- when the race got a huge boost. Leading through both parts of the German capital from 1990 onwards the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON became famous for superfast winning times, great crowd support and growing fields. This Sunday we could well see another thrilling race: defending champion and world record holder Haile Gebrselassie (Ehtiopia) will be up against Kenya's Duncan Kibet, who leads the current world season's list. A record number of 40,923 runners from 122 nations have entered the 36th edition of the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON. Since the race belongs to the World Marathons Majors (WMM) even more people want to take part. A year ago 35,783 runners finished the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON. That was the highest number ever in the history of the event and the 2008 event became the seventh biggest marathon ever seen. In 2006 Race Directors of the prestigious marathons in Boston, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York had formed the WMM. Gebrselassie targets his own record once again So far five runners have established personal bests of sub 2:05 at the classical distance. Two of them will run in Sunday's real,- BERLIN-MARATHON. While Haile Gebrselassie had improved his global record in Berlin in 2008 to 2:03:59 Kenya's Duncan Kibet had run 2:04:27 earlier this year and has moved up to number two on the alltime list. Haile Gebrselassie's goal is obvious: He intends to break his world record again. If he succeeds it will be the third time in a row that he would establish a new world best at the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON. So far the 36 year-old has broken an amazing 26 world records during his career. Gebrselassie thinks that he can at least slice off another 30 seconds from his present marathon record. "If everything fits together perfectly then may be even 2:02:59 would be possible," says the Ethiopian, who is going for a record fourth consecutive victory at the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON. But Sunday's marathon could well be the toughest for Haile Gebrselassie in Berlin. In a recent interview Kenya's star runner Paul Tergat named four fellow countrymen who he thinks may be able to break Gebrselassie's world record: Olympic Champion Sammy Wanjiru, Martin Lel, James Kwambai and -- Duncan Kibet. For more than two years Haile Gebrselassie has not competed against an athlete as strong as Duncan Kibet in the marathon. This could well become a fascinating duel. "I feel honoured to be able to run against Haile Gebrselassie," said Duncan Kibet during Thursday's press conference in Berlin. My training went very well and I think it is a very good sign that my training partner James Kwambai ran 59:09 minutes last Sunday at the Rotterdam Half Marathon." Duncan Kibet did not want to comment on a possible world record attack, but said that he intends to break his personal best. For this he must of course run in the region of the world record. "After Rotterdam I though that I might be able to run even faster in Berlin. So this is why I decided to go for this race." Looking ahead to a duel with Haile Gebrselassie the Kenyan record holder said: "I don't know about Haile's training. And he does not know about my training. So we will have to wait and see how it develops. But I will try to run his pace." There will be two more Kenyans and one Ethiopian with high-class personal bests in the race. Francis Kiprop came fourth at the Seoul Marathon in 2008 with 2:08:30 and Mariko Kiplagat (all Kenya) placed fourth at last year's real,- BERLIN-MARATHON in 2:09:04. Ethiopia's Eshetu Wondimu was able to improve to 2:08:41 despite bad weather conditions in this year's Dubai Marathon. The strongest non-African runner could be Atsushi Fujita (Japan) who has a personal best of 2:06:51. This however is already nine years old. Ethiopian favourites in the women's race Askale Tafa Magarsa will be the favourite in the women's race on Sunday. A year ago the 24 year-old Ethiopian finished second behind Irina Mikitenko (Germany), clocking a great personal best of 2:21:31. With that she remained the second fastest woman worldwide in 2008. Now Askale Tafa Magarsa returns to the real,- BERLIN-MARATHON and will be eager to further improve. She may well be able to establish a world season's best, which currently stands at 2:22:11. Irina Mikitenko clocked this time when winning in London in April. Askale Tafa Magarsa's strongest rival probably will be a fellow Ethiopian: Atsede Habtamu clocked 2:25:17 in torrential rain in January's Dubai Marathon, where she took second place. Genet Getaneh will also be in with a chance on Sunday. The 23-year-old Ethiopian finished fifth in 2:26:37 at the Dubai Marathon this year. The strongest Kenyan should be Leah Malot. She has a very good long distance track record and improved to 2:30:29 at the Paris Marathon this April.

Somalia militants hit African Union base; 9 dead

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News Shabab militants say the suicide attack on the peacekeepers' base in Mogadishu was retaliation for the U.S. strike this week in southern Somalia that killed an Al Qaeda fugitive. People help a woman injured in clashes between African Union troops and insurgents in the Somali capital. The peacekeeping troops, stationed to guard the airport, sea port and the presidential palace, are planning to expand their role in Somalia and go on the offensive against the rebels. (Farah Abdi Warsameh / Associated Press / September 17, 2009) Related U.S. careful of civilians in Somalia raid, official says U.S. forces kill insurgent in Somalia Somalia fighting take heavy toll on children Stories In Somalia, troops for peace end up at war By Edmund Sanders September 18, 2009 E-mail Print Share Text Size Reporting from Nairobi, Kenya - In swift retaliation for the U.S. killing this week of a suspected Al Qaeda fugitive in Somalia, insurgents attacked the main African Union peacekeeping base in Mogadishu with twin truck bombs Thursday, killing at least nine people, including four AU soldiers. Suicide bombers attempted to infiltrate the heavily guarded seaside base by impersonating U.N. personnel, AU officials said. Among the wounded were unidentified senior Somali government officials, who were visiting the base, and the newly arrived African Union force commander, Ugandan Maj. Gen. Nathan Mugisha, who suffered minor injuries, AU and government officials said. Five of the dead appeared to be Somalis, but AU officials said they did not yet know whether they were civilians or assailants. Nine soldiers were evacuated to Nairobi for treatment, AU spokesman Maj. Barigye Ba-Hoku said. Leaders of the hard-line Somali Islamist group Shabab claimed responsibility, saying the attack was a response to the U.S. strike. On Monday, Special Forces commandos in helicopters fired at a vehicle carrying six Shabab operatives in a remote village in southern Somalia. All six were killed, among them Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, a Kenyan-born fugitive accused of helping to plan and execute strikes against a hotel and an Israeli charter airline in Mombasa, Kenya, in 2002. "These suicide attacks were revenge for the enemy of God's [America's] killing of Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan and the massacre of Somali civilians by mercenary Ugandan forces," said Shabab spokesman Sheik Ali Mohamoud Rage. He said five "martyrs" targeted buildings where they believed high-level officials were meeting. The nearly 5,000 African Union troops in Somalia, mostly from Uganda and Burundi, are engaged in one of the most dangerous missions in the world. They are sorely understaffed and underfunded. Before Thursday's attack, 33 peacekeepers had been killed in Somalia since the mission's start in early 2007. About 20 have died of disease and accidents, including six who died this summer from a malnutrition-linked disease. Since Ethiopian troops withdrew from Somalia at the beginning of the year, AU soldiers have borne the brunt of mortar fire and roadside bombings by insurgents. AU Special Representative for Somalia Nicolas Bwakira called Thursday's attack "barbaric" but said in a statement that "the African Union remains resolute in its commitment to support the Somali people and the transitional federal government in their peace and reconciliation efforts." AU officials said the bombers' vehicles had "U.N. markings," but they could not say whether they were stolen or disguised SUVs. According to some accounts, one of the vehicles managed to enter the compound. "Shrapnel flew all over the area," said Yasin Sheik Ali. "I saw smoke rise and peacekeepers opened fire in the sky." The base, which serves as the force's headquarters, is one of the most heavily guarded places in Mogadishu, the Somali capital. It is adjacent to the airport, sitting amid coastal sand dunes and heavy brush. Smaller African Union outposts were seen as more vulnerable, including the Burundi base in central Mogadishu where 11 troops were killed in a suicide attack in February. AU soldiers' primary duties are guarding Mogadishu's airport, seaport and presidential palace, where the transitional government is based. But in recent weeks, AU commanders have expressed their intention to take the offensive in combating the militants, including "preemptive" strikes outside the force's current 8-square-mile zone. In an interview last month, Mugisha, the AU force commander, said his mission had received "fresh rules of engagement" from AU leaders and that he planned to get tougher on insurgents rather than have his soldiers stay inside bases like "sitting ducks." edmund.sanders@ latimes.com Special correspondents Lutfi Sheriff Mohamed and Mustafa Haji Abdinur in Mogadishu contributed to this report. Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times Related storiesAround the Web EXCLUSIVE: U.S. Launches Military Strike in Somalia Against al Qaeda Target

Ethiopia in Minnesota: The Local Front of a Distant War

www.nazrett.com Home of Ethiopian News and Blog Breaking News What am I, truly? Saint or sinner? Hero or boob? When I report the harrowing stories of the torture and persecution of Ethiopian refugees who now live safely in Minnesota, am I being “noble” and “brave,” a “freedom-loving” journalist who is “a friend to the voiceless ones"? Or am I – as dozens of riled-up critics of my reporting charge – in fact being a sucker for refugees who lie to win asylum status, and even worse being a “biased,” “ignorant,” “confused white man” who “sits down in [my] luxurious home in the Twin Cities to write about what happens in the Horn of Africa,” believing that I am helping to heal the world while in fact I am only “fostering more violence”? When I published two recent articles reporting crimes against humanity that refugees in Minnesota claim are being committed against their families who still live in Ethiopia, a roaring Niagara of comments flooded the Twin Cities Daily Planet. Most of the commenters listed me in one of these two categories – as a magnificent fellow or as a dupe, as a paragon or a propagandist, as a saint or a fool. Justly Famous This strange purgatory is well-known to human rights activists and aid workers around the world. Delivering food to starving refugees, they are vilified because the food is sometimes stolen by partisans, diverted to feed militias, or sold by profiteers. Giving medicine to those wounded in war, they are accused of aiding the enemy, fattening soldiers, or choosing sides in the continuing violence. And yet, I am not reporting from the front lines of an Ethiopian war, drought or famine. My accounts of the strife of war, which elicited such anguished and desperate response, originated from far behind the front lines, indeed from right here in Minnesota, where I live and work as a journalist. Our state is justly famous as a safe harbor and place of healing for traumatized refugees – so what is going on? What reality does this depth of response in Minnesota point to? One way to answer this – and thus to show how the worsening war in Ethiopia is concretely degrading life in our state – is to return to the more than 100 comments posted at the Daily Planet and take a closer look. In particular, in the criticisms of my reporting I see several themes that, were I to engage them, might help to illuminate the strange territory that is diaspora politics – the politics of “here and there,” where “here” is Minnesota and “there” is 8,000 miles away in Africa, yet where the one affects the other like two billiard balls colliding on green felt. Armchair Journalist? Here are the four main threads of criticism of my reporting, as I see them, and my response to each: 1. I’m an armchair journalist who is blind to America’s own faults. I should focus on those faults and keep my nose out of Ethiopian affairs. My answer is that I don’t primarily report on the civil war that is being waged, at various intensities and on several fronts, inside Ethiopia today. Rather, I mainly write about the social, economic and psychological impact of Ethiopia’s civil war on the tens of thousands of Ethiopian refugees who live in Minnesota and beyond, in the U.S. and global diaspora. To understand these impacts on our state and its people, I must, to some degree, and with the help of many sources and readers who are better-informed than I am, try to explain and describe conditions past and present in Ethiopia. 2. I’m a pushover for Ethiopian refugees who invent and exaggerate hardship stories in order to win political asylum in the U.S. Of course, fabricating persecution stories does happen. But I do my best through various interview procedures to screen out such claims. For example, I try to interview people as close to the time of an actual reported event as possible; and I try to interview people who witnessed an event firsthand if possible. I also find people to interview who are presented to me not through intermediaries and handlers, but rather by approaching people randomly at markets and by reading every email and comment posted to my stories. Finally, I interview a great many people for each article so that patterns of stories, and patterns of details within stories, appear. A pattern is by no means a conclusive verification of fact, because rumors create patterns as well as truths. But when mixed with other elements of reported narratives, such as closeness to the time of an event, the vividness of idiosyncratic detail, and when physical or photographic evidence is also present, patterns of reported stories can solidify trust in a given account. 3. The families of Minnesota refugees live 8,000 miles away in a desert with little communication infrastructure. Why give Minnesota-based accounts of present-day conditions in Ethiopia any credibility at all? There are two answers to this. One is that cell-phone connections, and in some cases land lines, exist in most of the major cities of the Ogaden region including the capital city, Jijiga, as well as in Dhagahbur, Wardheer, Fiiq, Kabridahar and Gode. Most of the Minnesota refugees from the Ogaden region maintain frequent telephone contact with their families and friends in those cities, as well as in smaller towns and villages throughout the Ogaden. Second, Because Ethiopia has banned foreign journalists from the Ogaden region, information that is passed to Minnesota’s Ogaden refugees and elsewhere in the diaspora over telephone connections is one of the few steady sources of up-to-date information on conditions in the region. Those accounts can be very accurate. On December 22, 2003, by interviewing refugees from the Anuak tribe of Ethiopia who lived in Minnesota, and by interviewing eyewitnesses living in Ethiopia myself over a cell phone, I reported that about 400 Anuak men had been killed by Ethiopian soldiers in the town of Gambella nine days earlier, on December 13, 2003. A year later, in March 2005, Human Rights Watch published its own report on the December 13 massacre, concluding that 424 Anuak were killed that day. (Parenthetically, to the critics who say I’ve never been to Ethiopia, I did travel and report from there, as well as from Sudan and Kenya, in 2004.) 4. I’m being manipulated by the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), a separatist group that fights against the Ethiopian government to achieve autonomy or independence the Ogaden region. The ONLF is the rebel group in the Ogaden whose attacks on Ethiopian government troops and foreign commercial operations in 2007 unleashed the brutal government counter-insurgency that may have sparked crimes against humanity on the scale of Darfur. The ONLF is represented in the West by educated, fluent English-speaking members of the Ethiopian global diaspora, including perhaps some who live in Minnesota, including some perhaps whom I have met – I just don’t know. This ambiguity is part and parcel of reporting on such a complex situation, and it needs to be kept in mind by journalists and readers alike. This is not to disown my particular responsibilities as journalist, as I’ve defined above in relation to avoiding partisan accounts, and will expand upon below in relation to human rights reporting in particular. It’s only to say that to insist on certainty – “Is so-and-so a member or a sympathizer of the ONLF?” – is both utterly impossible, and utterly a dangerous road to follow. It’s impossible because the ONLF is, with some significant exceptions, a populist militia whose members are drawn deeply and broadly across the Ogaden. It would be impossible in many villages to find a single family that didn’t have a son, daughter, or close relative who had either joined the ONLF or given them aid at some point. And it’s a dangerous road to go down because to demonize such a group is to demonize an entire people, which is the road to genocide. Many human rights groups believe that line has already been crossed and compare the tragedy of the Ogaden to Rwanda and Darfur. The Human Truth Defining the proper role of journalism in human rights reporting, to me, is the crux of the matter. Because the role of the journalist, if journalism means anything, is to find and report the truth. But what truth? The political truth or the human truth? To which truth does journalism owe its first allegiance? The two truths can collide. Here in Minnesota, based on what I’ve seen, every single refugee from the Ogaden region is suffering from the loss of close family members, friends and other loved ones. They’re suffering from their separation from their homeland and at times they wonder, in their nightmares, if a single person in the Ogaden will be left alive. This, as I’ve seen it, is the human truth of the Ogaden diaspora in Minnesota. The Political Truth But the political truth is different. When it comes to who has committed atrocities and who has not; and who has committed crimes of war and who has not; these are altogether different questions. Not all victims are necessarily innocent of such crimes, and not all soldiers or government officials are, de facto, guilty of them. In the present case, no one disputes that both parties – the ONLF and the Ethiopian government – have acted atrociously and inhumanely at times. In my coverage of how the Ethiopian civil war plays out in Minnesota, I follow two rules of thumb to navigate steadily through complex terrain. The first rule is to remember that those parties who wield the most power – in this case the Ethiopia government by far -- need the most careful journalistic scrutiny and attention. There is no doubt that the ONLF is sometimes brutally violent. But it is ridiculous to compare their rag-tag militia to a modern army equipped with tanks, helicopters and fighter jets, that has been supported by U.S. military training, and that receives hundreds of millions of dollars of total foreign aid. More fundamentally, my second rule of thumb is to seek the human truth beneath the political truth, and to report the underlying human truth as best I can. In saying so, I’m saying no more than that politics itself is meant to serve humans, and that a useful and human politics must be built on sound and accurate human truths. It’s not only reasonable but necessary for journalism to ferret out, to accurately describe, and to widely share the human truths of our lives on this earth. Reasonable & Necessary This is a reasonable journalistic goal, because journalism is a literary form that at its best can convey the authentic poignancy of human suffering, which has proved itself to be one of the strongest motivators of collective global aid and cooperation. And it’s a necessary goal, because power usually seeks to hide the truth of human suffering. It is doing so with a vengeance in Ethiopia today, barring reporters any access to the Ogaden region, and imprisoning reporters who manage to sneak in. But in Minnesota, the Ogaden refugees are free to speak. That’s why I sit down with them and listen. Not to determine their “guilt” or “innocence,” their level of “membership” or “sympathizing,” or whether they are politically pure at heart. Rather, I sit down to listen to their human stories of fear and flight, hope and struggle, suffering and release. Because that’s where good politics must begin. Copyright @ 2009 The McGill Report Permalink http://www.mcgillreport.org/hrjournalism