Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on May 15, 2021
For the last six months, communications blackouts and appalling access for human rights researchers and journalists alike have shrouded a conflict raging across the Tigray Region.
But as tens of thousands of Eritrean and Ethiopian national army troops have battled forces loyal to the regional government of Tigray, information has slowly and surely leaked out.
Continuing Atrocities and Denial of Humanitarian Access in Ethiopia’s Tigray Region
US Department of State PRESS STATEMENT
The United States is gravely concerned by the increasing number of confirmed cases of military forces blocking humanitarian access to parts of the Tigray region. This unacceptable behavior places the 5.2 million people in the region in immediate need of humanitarian assistance at even greater risk. The United States unequivocally calls upon the Governments of Eritrea and Ethiopia to take all necessary steps to ensure that their forces in Tigray cease and desist this reprehensible conduct. We also again call on all parties to comply with obligations under international humanitarian law, including those relevant to the protection of civilians, and to cease immediately all hostilities and allow relief to reach those suffering and in greatest need of assistance. The Ethiopian government should lead in this regard and immediately facilitate full and unhindered access for humanitarian actors to all parts of the Tigray region.
There are many credible reports of armed forces in Tigray committing acts of violence against civilians, including gender-based violence and other human rights abuses and atrocities. The conduct of the Eritrean Defense Forces and Amhara regional forces have been particularly egregious. The continued presence of Eritrean forces in Tigray further undermines Ethiopia’s stability and national unity. We again call upon the Government of Eritrea to remove its forces from Tigray. Both Eritrean and Ethiopian authorities have repeatedly promised such a withdrawal, but we have seen no movement towards implementation. We equally urge the Government of Ethiopia to withdraw Amhara regional forces from the Tigray region and ensure that effective control of western Tigray is returned to the Transitional Government of Tigray. Prime Minister Abiy and President Isais must hold all those responsible for atrocities accountable.
“Ethiopia´s government says it is “thankful” to Saudi Arabia for accepting Ethiopian migrants entering the country”
The statement Thursday is Ethiopia´s first public comment after a report in a British newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph, sparked outrage among some governments and human rights groups. The report, with photos showing dozens of African migrants sprawled close together in the desert heat, said hundreds are locked up. Most are Ethiopian men, it said.
“Ethiopia´s government says it is “thankful” to Saudi Arabia for accepting Ethiopian migrants entering the country”
The statement Thursday is Ethiopia´s first public comment after a report in a British newspaper, The Sunday Telegraph, sparked outrage among some governments and human rights groups. The report, with photos showing dozens of African migrants sprawled close together in the desert heat, said hundreds are locked up. Most are Ethiopian men, it said.
Saudi Police Shot And Stole From Ethiopians During Mass Deportation Claim Abused Migrants
Saudi Arabia’s latest wave of deportations began November 11 after several months of warnings by the government.
Authorities say the kingdom has detained around 250,000 people violating its residency laws in the crackdown.
Approximately 50,000 already forcibly flown out of the country.
In interviews with The Associated Press upon their arrival home, the returnees described beatings, theft and stays in dirty prison camps. Their accounts brought to light one of the world’s busiest and most dangerous migrant routes but one that remains overlooked amid the larger rush toward Europe.
In August, traffickers heaved scores of migrants into the sea off Yemen, leaving more than 50 to drown. In March, more than 30 Somali migrants, including children, were killed — apparently in a helicopter gunship attack by a Saudi-led coalition at war in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia’s latest wave of deportations began Nov. 11 after several months of warnings by the government. Saudi authorities say the kingdom has detained around 250,000 people violating its residency laws in the crackdown, with approximately 50,000 already forcibly flown out of the country.
Of those who entered the country illegally, 72 percent were from Yemen and 26 percent were Ethiopians.
Those arriving home in Ethiopia described the process as jarring and unfair. The six who spoke to the AP at the airport in the capital, Addis Ababa, said they were robbed of their possessions by “Saudi police officers” who shared their money between them. Some of the returnees said they saw compatriots being shot and wounded when they tried to escape police roundups.
“The prison cell I was put into was so dirty that some of us were severely sick. It was like a toilet,” said Sadiq Ahmed, a former teacher who went to Saudi Arabia five years ago and was detained for 11 days before his deportation. “As if this was not enough, we were robbed of our belongings. I came here with nothing. I know lots of people who went insane because of this torment.”
Ethiopia’s government says more than 14,000 of its citizens have been deported since mid-November and 70,000 have returned voluntarily, but the International Organization Migration says the number that has left forcibly or voluntarily since the amnesty period ended in June has reached 96,000.
Saudi Arabia ordered all undocumented migrants to leave voluntarily in March, an order later extended until June. The majority of the migrants chose to remain and now face forced deportation.
“I stayed in Saudi Arabia for five years just to support my family and other siblings,” said deportee Fozia Omar, adding that she spent one month in prison but was allowed to bring her luggage. “We have suffered a lot. I would like to beg my brothers and sisters not to repeat the mistake we already made, in the name of Allah.”
An estimated 400,000 Ethiopian migrants had been living in Saudi Arabia.
“The number of returnees could rise even higher in the coming weeks,” the IOM said, adding that around $30 million is needed to cover their immediate needs. Those include transportation to final destinations for many of the most vulnerable such as unaccompanied minors, single mothers and those who said they had been abused.
Posted by addisethiopia / አዲስ ኢትዮጵያ on October 11, 2017
An Italian court has sentenced to life imprisonment a sadistic people smuggler who raped, tortured and murdered migrants trying to reach Europe from North Africa.
Osman Matammud, 22, from Somalia, was found guilty of multiple counts of murder, abduction for ransom and sexual violence against young women and girls.
He was sentenced after a five-hour deliberation by the Court of Assizes in Milan.
Matammud was arrested a year ago after being recognised by fellow Somalis in a migrant reception centre in Milan.
He was almost lynched before police stepped in and arrested him.
He had crossed the Mediterranean in a boat full of migrants and had tried to pass himself off as an asylum-seeker.
He was accused of the horrific abuse of migrants at a squalid detention camp at Bani Walid in the Libyan desert, 100 miles south-east of Tripoli, with prosecutors comparing him to a Nazi concentration camp guard.
During his trial in Milan, 17 witnesses told the court how they had been raped, beaten or tortured by Matammud. He will spend the first three years of his incarceration in solitary confinement.
He had denied all the charges and his lawyer said he would appeal the verdict. His trial revealed the squalid conditions and violent abuse endured by migrants as they try to cross the Sahara on their way to the coast of Libya, from where they pay smugglers to send them in boats towards Italy.
“I’m not Somali, I’m not Muslim – I’m your boss,” he allegedly told migrants and refugees when they arrived at the camp.
Several Somali women told investigators in Italy that they had been repeatedly raped by Matammud, who is from Mogadishu. The violence was in part to exert pressure on their families to pay more money for their passage across the Mediterranean.
Matammud would allegedly place plastic bags on the backs of migrants and set them alight so that molten plastic blistered their skin.
One teenage girl told Milan prosecutors: “The first night, he came into the hangar, he grabbed me and he ripped off my clothes in front of everyone. He penetrated me. I fainted but when I came to, there was blood everywhere. I was raped many times by him – every night.”
“In a career spanning 40 years, I’ve never come across such horrors. And what is going on in Bani Walid is going on in all the transit camps,” said chief prosecutor Ilda Boccassini, who has spent much of her career fighting the Mafia.
አl Sharpton’s NAN Calls On Arab Shopkeepers In Charleston To Leave America – He Called On Them To Go Back To The Middle East
James Johnson, the South Carolina president of Al Sharpton’s National Action Network [NAN], held a press conference in front of Andrew’s Discount Market yesterday. This is a convenience store located in North Charleston and run by immigrants.
Johnson referred to the store’s employee as “Arabs” and “foreigners.” He called on them to go back to the Middle East, saying “we want [them] out of our community completely. We want him gone out of the community. They need to go back to their country where their laws are different from our laws.”
Johnson followed up by saying “We sending a message to all the Arab and the foreigner stores in North Charleston and the city of Charleston that we gonna stop you from taking money from our community and putting none back in it.”
He then told the media he would no longer let foreigners “rape our community anymore.” Johnson is an official spokesman for NAN, who speaks on behalf of the group all the time.
Johnson was flanked by family members of Tyrone Deon Mazyck. This is a 38-year-old black male who was arrested at the store for shoplifting on March 29th. Johnson says the men working at the store were too rough in apprehending Mazyck.
The owner of Andrew’s Discount Market says Mazyck pushed the workers and cut them with a knife. Police say they found a pocket knife at the scene.
After Johnson’s press conference, a group of black men and women staged an angry protest in front of Andrew’s Discount Market. The scene was reminiscent of Al Sharpton’s notorious protest of Freddie’s Fashion Mart in Brooklyn, NY. A protest in 1995 where one of the protesters returned to the store, ordered all black customers to leave, then shot eleven people and set the building on fire. Seven victims died. Sharpton accused the Jewish owners of Freddies Fashion Mart of exploiting the black community.
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