ETHIOPIAN REGIME KILLS 25 PEACEFUL PROTESTERS AND ARREST 1,500 CIVILIANS

ETHIOPIAN REGIME KILLS 25 PEACEFUL PROTESTERS AND ARREST 1,500 CIVILIANS

By 4589  |  Posted August 3, 2013  

 

CNN PRODUCER NOTE    

August 3, 2013 - Ethiopian government forces open fire on unarmed demonstrators throughout the country, killing 25 and injuring dozens more, according to Ethiopian activists who took part in the demonstrations.

One witness says at least one child was among the dead. He also stated government security forces arrested over 1,500 protesters on Friday.

For over a year, Ethiopian Muslims have been holding peaceful protests and mosque sit-ins over the regime's human rights abuses against their community and interference in their religion.

Diddaan Qeerroo Godina Wallagaa Aaanaa Anfilloo Itti Fufuu Irraan Mootummaan Wayyaanee Jeeqame

July 31, 2013 By Qeerroo in Oduu/News Leave a comment

Adoolessa 30, 2013 Anfilloo

Akkuma beekamu baatii hedduu kan hin turre mootummaan wayyaanee qabeenyaa uummata oromoo saamee fi saamsisuu irra darbee naannolee adda addaatti qabeenyaa saba oromoo qofa mancaasisee uummata harka-qallina jireenyaa fi hiyyummaaf saaxilaa jiraachuun isaa kan beekame tahee,yeroo dhiyoo asitti jiraattota qonnaan bulaa godina Qellem aanaa Anfilloo jedhamu irra jiraatan ajajamuu diduu irraan,qabiyyee uummataa qabeenyaa isaatti jijjiirrachuun yakka sababa hin taaneen uummata oromoo mana hidhaatti guuraa akka ture,qabeenyaa uummmata oromoo addatti qabeenyaa Bunaa jireenya uummata naannoo kanaaf hirkoo kan tahe bor qarshii miliyoona baasuu danda’u uummata kana waan godhu dhabuu irraan qabeenyaa Bunaa ciree balleessaa tureera,kunis doorsisa bittaa isaa tahullee uummata kana mana hidhaatti guuraa jirtu.

Haalli kun amma illee daran hammaachaa deemuu irraan ummatis diddaa isaa itti fufee jira.

Haala kanaan Qeerroon aanaa Qeellam Adoolessa 29-30,2013 barruulee warraaqsaa mormii sirna Wayyaanee fi gochaalee farraa mootummichaa kan muldhisu maxxansaa fi alaabaa ABO bakkoota adda addaatti fannisaa  jiru. Haalli kunis heddumminaan manneen barnootaa fi waajiraalee hojii mootummaa irratti waan baayyateef jecha mootummaan wayyaanee rifaatuu guddaa keessa galee jiraachuu qeerroon gabaasa.

Waraqaa maxxansuu ilaalchisee. Kun yeroodhaa yerootti maxxanfamaa ture jira. Waraqaa maxxansuu irratti baayinan tahullee hanga tokko yeroo darbe hidhamuu namootaa irratti magaalaa Muggii keessatti waraqaa dhaadannoowwan :

•  Hidhamuun Keenya Garbummaatti Nun Hambisu!
• Wayyaaneef Hin Jilbeenfannu!
•  Amantaan Garagara Tahuun Keenya Tokkummaa Keenya!
• Oromiyaan Ni Bilisoomti!
• WBOn Ni Injifata!

Kan jedhu waajjiralee magaalaa fi manneen barnootaa jalatti maxxanfamee jiraachuun gabaafame.

Forced Returns to Ethiopia could end with a human rights disaster.

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Norwegian authorities are now beginning to send Ethiopians out of the country by force. Norway is the only European country that has signed an agreement forcibly returned to Ethiopia, and everything should be ready to perform the initial mailings. For ten days ago, a Ethiopian linked to an illegal opposition party arrested to be deported. After it was presented new information in the case, he was released and Immigration Tribunal will now consider the matter.

Forced Returns to Ethiopia could end with a human rights disaster. For some Ethiopians will probably return visit quite good, while others will be exposed if they returned. There is reason to fear that political dissidents and government critics sent back to torture or other serious abuse.

Many Ethiopians have lived in Norway and has been politically active here. Several of them have been granted protection in Norway over the past year, because Norwegian authorities acknowledge that many dissidents Ethiopians risk persecution. However, there are some people associated with illegal opposition parties have been denied. NOAS fear that these people risk serious abuse if they are returned.

Ethiopia is a very authoritarian regime, and the government commits extensive human rights violations against its own people. The Ethiopian regime spends considerable resources on monitoring and imprison its critics, whether it is about opposition politicians, journalists and civil activists. Civil society gagged, and Ethiopian government prohibits foreign organizations working on democracy and human rights. There are no independent media left, and Ethiopia in recent years has been the African country most journalists have fled.

Norwegian authorities concluded nevertheless a return agreement with Ethiopia last year. The deal provoked strong reactions. For example, the United Nations expressed concern about the consequences of forced returns. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights questioned whether Norway could ensure that the Ethiopian authorities held the absolute prohibition of torture.

Since no country has so far sent back opposing Ethiopians, no one knows the consequences of the political activity will get. There are several indications that the opposition Ethiopians can face severe sanctions upon return.

When NOAS visited Ethiopia last year, we were told by a representative of the Ethiopian authorities that the activity of illegal opposition parties will have consequences. Several other sources believed that people who are active in illegal fundraising abroad, risking serious abuse if they are returned.

Ethiopian authorities have enacted anti-terror laws which, according to international human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch used to silence political opponents and journalists opinion. Ethiopian authorities have categorized several opposition parties as terrorist organizations. Assistance to, or mention of, these parties punished with years of jail.

Martin Schibbye and Johan Persson, the Swedish journalists arrested in Ethiopia in 2011, was sentenced to severe penalties for supporting terrorism, but was later pardoned. During a visit to Norway earlier this year said that many of their fellow prisoners imprisoned because of oppositional activity or criticism of the government. They stressed that the Ethiopians who were exposed to the same charges as those, meetings far more serious reactions.

Ethiopian authorities monitor dissidents Ethiopians in Norway extensively. The Ethiopian regime has thus a good overview of who has taken part in opposition activities or uttered his authority critical as they have lived in Norway.

The human rights situation in Ethiopia is worsened in recent years. Freedom of the press in the country is gradually tightened, and the persecution of political opponents intensified. Attacks on opposition's of actors at different levels and in different parts of the country. Ethiopia experts stressed that there is considerable arbitrariness both what it takes to be imprisoned, and the reactions of persons subjected to in prison. It is not possible to predict exactly what the reactions against government critics and opposition politicians will be, and the imprisonment and torture can not be excluded.

According return agreement between Norway and Ethiopia, the Ethiopian authorities responsible for the returned - the same government that persecutes its critics. No UN agencies or independent organization to oversee the repatriation and reintegration.

Return agreement contains no guarantees that returned Ethiopians will not be subjected to harassment and abuse. Return agreements with Afghanistan and Iraq commits authorities there to "take the necessary measures to ensure that Afghans / Iraqis can return without fear of harassment, intimidation, persecution, discrimination, prosecution or penalties of any kind." A similar formulation is not in return agreement with Ethiopia, despite the fact that many Ethiopian asylum seekers just fleeing government persecution, and not a difficult security situation, as is the case for most Afghans and Iraqis.

It is highly uncertain what will happen to the Ethiopians sent back, especially those who have been involved in illegal political opposition. The fact that Norway still returning such person is a dangerous experiment. If there is a real risk of torture or other serious offenses, the Norwegian authorities obliged under international law to provide protection. To return opposing Ethiopians is to gamble with human lives.

One Does Not Live as One Knows, but as Time Demands”

September 25, 2012 at 11:56 pm · Gadaa.com

By Ibsaa Guutama* | September 2012

Though not a fundamental one, a symbolic change is taking place in the Ethiopian Empire. A famous kingdom of Wala’ita was destroyed; its leaders wiped out; and its population reduced to less than half of what it used to be from death and enslavement by Habashaa invaders a hundred years (1894) ago. Those enslaved were turned into pack animals to carry goods, and mills to grind grain for the army that continued to invade other lands. Their women, in addition to the labor assigned for them, were also used as gratifiers for the gun wielders. Many were sold in domestic and foreign markets, and converted to cash. Those enslaved had also a great contribution in building the invaders’ palace founded in 1886 in Oromiyaa, another new colony. Today, one of their sons is going to make that palace his dwelling and be their king, and a commander-in-chief of the modern version of that army without forging a spear. Like they made his ancestors prostrate, they are also going to prostrate in front of him.

His religion is one they refer to as “Kinishaa” (derogative for Protestant) with contempt or “Tsera Maariam” (anti-Mary). Even if he is de facto their puppet, de jure, he is their highest king. Nothing could move without his signature. It is not hard to imagine what impact this would have on the psychology and morale of the chauvinists. Since he is yet a tool of oppression, no benefit will come out of him for the oppressed. But, the symbolic victory to be gained by that – will not be simple. Some say because there is the hidden hand of “Xosso” in it, no one can reverse it. They believe that even the money TPLF plundered and piled up, and the network it laid down to ensnare other peoples cannot bend that hand. Like it is said, “That who abuses the destitute cannot become rich.” Even if the hand of “Xosso” or other is not there, the catastrophe that is approaching darkening does not seem to turn back. Maltreatment has reached to peoples’ necks.

What are happening now are different from the past. Though past Habashaa kings were not themselves Habashaa, their origins were highly confidential. For that reason, they used to tag them to Solomon. Before the composition of the Darg was known, it was rumored that their chief was a “Walaamoo.” Even after they were made public, except for the leader’s color being dark, his origin was never mentioned though the onlookers assumed him to be anything they liked. It was tried to make him a son of Minilik’s illegitimate son. After all were gone, the question, “were not the emperor as well as Darg’s leader Oromo?” started to be asked? All that was to say that, since Oromo had contributed leadership for the empire over a long period, they have no right to ask for independence. They know in their hearts that Oromo had never joined them as a people, except as captives, servants and assimilated individuals.

Tigrawayi did not bother to insist on false evidences from history. They tried to mold changes that seemed all-inclusive. First, they said “federal.” Now, they are talking about equal participation in the party. With that, the son of southern peoples, in particular, that of a Wala’ita, has publicly mounted onto the saddle. There is also a fake election surrounding it. All the colonies are in it by a pretentious election. They want to claim that their party is all-inclusive. Still, the system is what the colonizer has laid down for itself. It does not work for others, except for themselves. Many may say that one who mounted has no own personality, except identity to console themselves. The system has decayed; how far the present maneuver can buy it life is not known. But, unless the rights of peoples to national self-determination are publicly recognized and implemented peacefully, what has decayed could suddenly fall apart, and cause more damage.

To benumb liberation movements of the peoples, Wayyaanee had gathered and created for all an organization it called “People’s Democratic Organization,” and declared EPRDF as a coalition of equals. In there, the Southern peoples, Oromo, Amaaraa and Tigrawayi have one organization each. It means on paper south and north has equal voices. That they may not question its authority in the course of time, TPLF entangled them in a system and laws denying them harmonious relations by continuous assessment cessions. Despite that, the others are starting to come forward by utilizing the same system it laid down. True power lies with one that has upperhand on the economy and control mechanisms. For the time, that is Wayyaanee. Whether to dodge hate piled for twenty years or because the rein has fallen from its hand, it has stepped back. It is said that, even most of the economy is in the hands of individuals whom only Mallas knew. What is known in the name of the organization is considered not even to be able to foot credits. It is not known if there is other force behind what is going on at present. For the time, the struggle going on in the oppressor’s camp is covered in mist.

An empire with Habashaa body and non-Habashaa soul is springing forward. The colonial system is trying to refresh itself in that way. The camp of liberation activists is also expected to come up with a matching transformation – if it has to reach its goal. Otherwise, the colonizer tries to transit from era to era with clay shoes that seem strong hiding weaknesses that befall it. Direct enemy is not the people from whom those who constructed the empire system originate, but the system. Be it Amaara, Wala’ita, Oromo or Anyuwak – whoever is at the head, the empire is simply an empire. Oromo in EPRDF do not feel that. Still, they are not released from Mallas’s voodoo. Even now, they did not demand voice that matches the people they pretend to represent.

Solution can be found only if the empire system crumbles. It is like what is said, “changing stoves does not make sauce more palatable.” If a snake molts its skin, it only loses the old one for a new, but it remains a snake. It rather becomes fresher. For this reason, whatever is to be done has to be done before it grew stronger. It is said, “rather than jumping on and snatching away dogs trail after cattle with loose horn hoping that they drop for them.” There are those that are tempted by that in the camp of the oppressed. They never visualize rallying their people and snatching away what belonged to them during the weakness period of the transition, but rather follow them meekly salivating. It needs to be a revolutionary to think in that way.

The time we were born, the time we grew up and the time of our old age had all differences. Technology, human knowledge, climate, etc. will slowly go on bringing about change. It is possible that development and growth that come with time may bring positive or negative change with them. All that could have influence on one’s outlook. If change is dragged, it may invite revolution. By change, it is meant that, when in society, something that is different from the known way happens. It is like the one where a non-Habashaa becomes the head to the “Christian Island” without his identity being hidden. As one knows an empire in which only Habashaa is the head. A social condition is a meshed up web where change comes in turns. The desire of a human being for independence, freedom, peace and justice will not be satisfied by changing faces of the oppressor. It rather continues to sharpen its methods in order to go on surviving.

When coming to the struggle for independence and freedom, we do not look at it differently from possible changes taking place in society. Whether change comes slowly or in a revolutionary way, it is to negate stagnation problems in society. That is something that comes naturally or hastened by leadership. When one says ‘live according to the times,’ it means to compete with change that occurred as not to be overtaken by stagnation. Since there is no growth in stagnation, society has existed carrying out a never-ending change to accommodate the coming new generation. For this reason, to move leaving space for others is a natural order. Lack of that could create chaos. Chaos serves no one sane purpose.

No reason can hinder struggle for survival. Life is a life of competition. Those who are prepared overcome it. Time, that comes changing, demands more strength than the previous. Many peoples and civilization in the world were wiped out or swallowed by the powerful. Those that survived destruction so far are those that had strong systems and are ever prepared to face what comes and save their identity. Oromo was one among those. It came so far falling and felling, falling and springing up. It is one that has strength that could save oneself. Had the gene of the Gadaa system not remained in Oromoo,Oromummaa could have been lost so far. All are hurrying up to wipe out that from Oromo.

It can be observed that, in the world, the desire to enrich oneself by consuming the other is getting more aggressive than ever before. To look at it silently will have without doubt fatal repercussion. If the Oromo chose to look at that silently, they may exist not as self sustaining nation, but as downtrodden individuals for the time. Soon, they will not have country, language, history, culture and tradition to refer to. That could be learned from some Oromo tribes in the north. But, if they pull all the courage and defend themselves with determination, the opportunity for survival is immense. Self-defense is blessed by all situations, religion and laws. Even if activists of that time are now aging, the Oromo struggle that commenced four decades ago is still young. It should not be surprising, if there are among them some, who are fed up of the long journey. But, if patriotic activists and the young generation start disarming before the questions that released the struggle got answers, then only could it be worrisome. With that, Oromo survival as a people could come under question.

Those against whom the struggle is being waged still question if Oromo have any claim against them. They are rather seen planning for more sinister move to extend their rule over Oromia for eternity. There are among Oromo activists, who ignited the fire for the liberation struggle and who said to them “had you understood the question we raised, you would have known that they were not meant to separate us; forgive us if it appeared that way, and let us plan together on how we can be accommodated in your grand plan.” It does not even seem if they have arranged for a fallback if they refuse accepting their apology. Is this what they say, “Do not stand by, but join in plundering of your father’s house?” or is it contempt for oneself?

Many saboteurs were born in the process of the struggle. For over a hundred years, they kept the Oromo people apart. They divided Oromiyaa into several regions convenient for their purposes. They scattered Oromo tribes that were its pole and rafters over those regions. Regions, tribes and religion that were strong for generations – now became their weak joints. They have to go back to situations before they were occupied, and look into how these differences served as strength and Oromize their outlook. Otherwise, looking at the self and each other with alien spectacles will blur their sight.

Regions in which they find themselves are those that aliens divided them into and not something they made for themselves, so cannot be things to brag or be proud about. Oromo tribes are still foundations of their unity. That means they are their poles and rafters. Oromo nation is the top most structure, its pillar and roof that knots them all together. Tribalism is not something that competes with nationalism, but strengthen it. Concerning religion, Gadaa system had already laid out on how harmony could be achieved. In the past, Oromo had only one religion. Even then, religion does not interfere in the affairs of politics, and vise versa. That was how the forefathers of Oromo kept religion and governance apart. The present generation has a lot to learn from them.

Oromo is one nation. Being one does not guaranty having unity. Unity is to be wholesome and show integration with harmony knowing, but not exaggerating, existence of differences. Required unity is the unity of kaayyoo, the unity for defending one’s country and people from evil. The love of one’s country must be expressed from the heart, not from the mouth. That would be realized when one starts to look at the self, at each other and at the world from the Oromo perspective. Oromo had ethical standards, lines not to be crossed in internal and external relations. In the independent Oromiyaa, the laws of Waq and those of men enforced them. Now, they may need social pressure and volunteers to be reintroduced and enforced.

Oromo have several political organizations. It will be a mistake to see those or cause to be seen same as none existent. To run away from strengthening those that are already there and try to suggest coming up with a strong new one is unlikely. The brain and experience are those that built, but unable to pull it down or prop it up. The seeming weak that different problems hindered from leaping forward have only a temporary glitch and will overcome soon. Like it is said, “Broken pieces are together wholesome.” They can make it faster if they rise hand in hand. That is likely.

Habashaa elites can no more hold the empire – as it used to be. For now, they have chosen their commander-in-chief with own identity from their colonies for the first time. Though fake, it has a symbolic significance for the region. What TPLF started as “federal” to disguise the nature of the empire state, without changing its structure and function, now has crossed to political party. They are coming out declaring one whom peers voted for in the party can rule the country irrespective of the national origin. But, that cannot change nature of the state. There coming that far indicate their understanding of problems going to engulf the region.

 They know that, for the enslaved, the change that started cannot be stopped until the empire state is dismantled. “One does not live as one knows, but as time demands” is a saying with great depth that came down from Oromo forefathers. It is required to wait prepared to catch what the time hurls. To be active – so as not to miss for laziness the opportunity that time holds can save one from extinction. When Oromo enemy comes out with changed tactics and strategy, unless one meet it with matching organization, counter tactic and strategy, it would be extending agony on oneself. It should not be forgotten that assumed weak joints that the enemy tries to poke at are also each others strength.

 To understand Oromummaa together and see problems ahead with one eye, it is wise to go back and search for solution in the Gadaa system. Oromo is one; it is a people that have one language, one history, one common base for culture and tradition, and one common source of oppression. So far, no Oromo has come out denying this. What is mixed up is the inability to fix in common the standard of good and evil, honor and humiliation. An enemy for one is seen being friend for the other. If they cannot differentiate that together, they are bound to be enemy to each other. That is happening because their source of reference is not their own, but one that aliens kept aside for them. Oromo civilization is different from others. To use that, it is essential to go back to one’s civilization roots and research. The panacea for doubting and wavering could be found there. In a struggle, there could be no alternative with success to commitment and determination.

Honor and glory for the fallen heroines and heroes; liberty equality and freedom for the living and nagaa and araaraa for the Ayyaanaa of our fore parents!

* Ibsaa Guutama is a member of the generation that drew the first Political program of the OLF.

Statement of peaceful demonstration of Union of Oromo Students in Germany

June 7, 2013 at 6:31 am · Gadaa.com

We, members of the Union of Oromo Students in Germany (UOSG), protest against human rights violations of the criminal Ethiopian regime known as the Tigray People’s Liberation Front or Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (TPLF/EPRDF). For example, the Oromia Support Group in United Kingdom, a non-political organization founded to raise awareness of human rights violations in Ethiopia, has reported four-thousand two-hundred seventy-nine (4,279) extra-judicial killings and 987 disappearances of civilians in Ethiopia from 1994–2010.

The TPLF/EPRDF regime’s anti-peace characteristics are demonstrated by multidimensional human rights violations: eviction of peasants from ancestral land without compensation, large-scale displacement of rural communities through initiation and aggravation of local conflicts, killing freedom of expressions, illegal interference in religious affairs, increasing refugees, environmental degradation, perpetrating & aggravating conflicts in the Horn of Africa, maintaining border conflicts, negative impacts of border war with Eritrea, war crime in Somalia, and etc.

We believe it is necessary to refrain from sponsoring anti-peace and authoritarian policies of the TPLF/EPRDF regime in order to realize sustainable peace and stability particularly in Ethiopia and generally in the Horn of African region. Principle of peace & security for all humanity is the universal value that it should also be applicable for the human beings in Ethiopia and the Horn of Africa.

Therefore, we appeal respectfully to families of international communities in general and the Federal Democratic government of Germany in particular to stop indirect or direct involvements in activities suppressing the struggle of the Oromo people in particular and the oppressed peoples of the Horn of African region.

We would like to remind you that objectives of the struggle of the Oromo people are to overcome century-old injustice, to live in freedom, to build peace, to practice democracy, and to achieve stability.

Justice and Peace Shall Prevail!

Members of Union of Oromo Students in Germany
Aschaffenburg and Würzburg Branch

4th of June 2013, Würzburg, Germany

————–
PHOTOS FROM THE RALLY

Deprivation, despair at a migrant dead-end in Yemen

Ethiopian teenage migrants taking part in a voluntarily programme to return home

July 4, 2013 (IRIN) – In temperatures in the high forties around 1,000 Ethiopian migrants, sweating profusely, turn their backs to Saudi Arabia and start the walk south – away from the Yemeni border town of Haradh and their dreams of a new life.

On the road they silently pass others heading north, still hopeful of crossing the border.

Haradh is at the crossroads of these dreams – a potential gateway to a new life in Saudi Arabia, but getting there is becoming increasingly difficult.

To get here, the migrants have endured considerable hardship; often taking on debt to fund the journey, walking for weeks to get to the East African coast and then crossing the shark-infested Red Sea.

Thousands get picked up by smugglers in Yemen who kidnap and torture them to extract ransom money.

Then, they reach what for many is the end of the road and their hopes: a dusty poverty-stricken town, 10km from an increasingly impenetrable Saudi Arabia.

“There’s a general feeling of depression. They come with dreams. Some just keep trying – they owe so much money”, Fatwa Abdok, psychiatrist, MSF

“There’s a general feeling of depression. They come with dreams. Some just keep trying – they owe so much money,” Fatima Abdo, a psychiatrist working with Médecins Sans Frontières in Haradh, told IRIN.

She describes hearing testimonies of “torture you can never imagine” from those held captive by smugglers.

“Some of them are completely destroyed. Some get consumed just coping with it. It all depends on the strength of the person. Some recover when they have food and a place to sleep. Ethiopians are strong people, but some go crazy,” she said.

The numbers of arrivals in Yemen from the Horn of Africa in the last three years has doubled – from 53,382 in 2010 to a record 107,532 in 2012.

Ethiopians make up the majority of arrivals – up from 64 percent in 2010 to 78 percent last year.

The fence

“The Saudis have cracked down. The border’s not closed but it’s more difficult to get in,” said one aid worker who asked not to be named.

“You see the migrants on the road and they’re stuck. They trudge up to the border from Haradh. It’s an awful place. There’s nothing there. They trudge up to the border and they come back and they’re stuck.”

Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia announced plans to resume construction of a 3m-high fence along its 1,800km border with Yemen.

Work on the controversial project initially started in 2003, but was suspended a year later. In 2008 a fence was put up along the coastal area around Haradh where much of the cross-border smuggling of people, drugs and weapons is concentrated.

In addition to the fence, Saudi Arabia has also cleared the border areas of settlements and uses floodlights and thermal detection cameras to try to stop the often heavily-armed smugglers.

Growing crisis

These restrictions have led to a build-up of pressure in Haradh and the surrounding Hajjah Governorate, where poverty is widespread.

The governorate, which depends on economic ties with Saudi Arabia, already supports more than a 100,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) who fled neighbouring Sa’dah Governorate after the 2004 Houthi uprising and subsequent conflicts.

Some of the IDP families at the al-Mazraq IDP camps a short drive from Haradh rely on breadwinners in Saudi Arabia, but residents complain that the border restrictions have pushed them into poverty.

“We used to work in construction in Saudi, but now because of the fence, lots of Yemenis have been jailed there. Now there are video cameras and machine guns stopping us getting across,” said one camp resident, Saleh Hassan.

Recent changes to Saudi labour laws have also threatened tens of thousands of Yemenis with expulsion, which would further add to the country’s economic difficulties two years after the turmoil of the Arab Spring.

Press reports quoted government officials this week saying 53,000 Yemenis had been deported from Saudi Arabia since the beginning of June, and tens of thousands more are expected in the coming days.

Women migrants at the IOM centre in Haradh

Community leaders in Haradh say the new restrictions have led to a significant decrease in economic activity, making it more and more difficult for the town to support the tens of thousands of African migrants.

“We are afraid for the migrants because of the torture they often suffer, and also of them. Now with the fence up, they are creating more problems,” the head of the local council in Haradh, Sheik Hamoud Haidar, told IRIN.

“We are afraid of them because they are hungry. A hungry man is an angry man.”

Around 2,000 migrants have also been freed around Haradh in recent months following army raids on smuggling yards to free them from captivity. Deportations from Saudi Arabia also push African migrants back into Haradh – an estimated 40 percent of the 3,000 migrants using the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Migrant Response Centre in Haradh have come from Saudi Arabia.

“It is clear that it is the right of any country to close its borders to clandestine operations. Having said that, we are today faced with 25,000 people who are trapped in the border,” said Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the humanitarian coordinator in Yemen.

“Every time there is a military operation, we discover another 500 or 700 who have been in this or that camp controlled by human traffickers and abusers. So the number is only increasing – 25,000 is something that Yemen today cannot absorb.”

Returns

The increase in demand for migrant services in Haradh this year came at just the wrong time for the supply of humanitarian relief services, which face cutbacks due to funding shortfalls.

IOM suspended large-scale return flights in September 2012, and the World Food Programme’s provision of hot meals to around 3,000 migrants at the IOM centre was scaled back temporarily in January by 90 percent, though these have now been restored.

The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has been working with NGO InterSOS and the Yemeni government in providing temporary support to a Child Protection Centre in Haradh, where IRIN met 50 Ethiopian children getting ready to fly back home.

“We were beaten, tortured and scarred by armed gunmen when we arrived in Yemen. We escaped and made it into Saudi Arabia, but we were caught,” said Saed Oumar Youssouf, 16.

“After a night in jail, and 12 nights elsewhere, we were shipped back to Yemen.”

All the children said they were looking forward to returning to Ethiopia. Preliminary registration at the IOM centre in Haradh for return flights to Ethiopia restarted at the end of May, and since early June 633 migrants have voluntarily returned, with places given as a priority to the most vulnerable.

Health

IOM’s operations in Haradh are focused on the Migrant Response Centre set up in October 2010. It has voluntarily returned nearly 10,000 migrants since then, and treated 52,000 at the health centre, where they deal with 100-150 cases per day depending on the season.

New arrivals in Yemen
Year	Total arrivals	Ethiopians
2010	53,382	34,422
2011	103,154	75,651
2012	107,532	84,376
2013*	42,137	35,240
*up to 31 May                 Source: UNHCR

“The numbers are just growing. Many of the cases we see are infectious diseases and diarrhoea; their immunity is very weak due to malnutrition,” said IOM’s doctor at the centre, Fadl Mansour Ali.

He said a large number of patients had malaria and other parasite infections, and also depression and anxiety.

Not everyone recovers. The morgue in Haradh has room for 17 bodies, but has been keeping around 50, almost all unclaimed bodies of dead migrants. The electricity supply is unreliable and the single generator repeatedly breaks down creating a terrible smell.

Korom Asmro Noqassa from the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia shares a bed with another patient inside the small cabin that forms the main part of the IOM clinic.

After four months in Haradh, he says he is ready to go home. “I wanted to go back as soon as I realized it was so hard to get across; back home maybe I can find a job and support my family. Most here want to go back home now,” he said.

“I’m going to tell people my own story. Smugglers cost money and aren’t reliable. But it’s very hard for people to say that they have failed.”

Changing perceptions

There is broad recognition that tackling the migration at source can really help reduce the suffering.

“IOM is talking about flying back 500 but by that time there will be another 2,000 here,” said Haradh local council chief Sheik Haidar.

“I’m willing to go to Ethiopia and Djibouti to explain how challenging migration is because the picture there now is that you can go to Saudi, [and you can get] thousands of dollars and dream jobs,” he added.

Conversations with migrants in Haradh suggest many think it will be socially difficult to explain their lack of success, and that means thousands continue to cross into Yemen with little appreciation of the risks and difficulties.

“The problem is that somehow at the origin people are not receiving the information. They are still thinking that this is an El Dorado and it will change their lives,” said Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

“The reality is that the border is now totally fenced or closed and the camps that are receiving them in Yemen are completely overwhelmed, so it’s a dramatic situation.”

He says part of a solution would be a regional conference between the concerned countries including Yemen, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia among others.

“It’s a case that has to be addressed with a sub-regional approach. The point is simply to say that it goes beyond the possible effort of the government of Yemen and the possible financial means and capacity of Yemen.”

–IRIN News