LOWER OMO VALLEY:For decades, herders in Ethiopia's Lower Omo Valley have relied on guns to fendoff rivals as well as hyenas and lions roaming the forests and plains. But overthe past month, security forces have embarked on a campaign of forceddisarmament that pastoralist leaders say has been accompanied by shooting ofcivilians, mass detentions and beatings.
Witness accountsfrom the Lower Omo Valley bolster critics who contend that Prime Minister AbiyAhmed -- named the winner of this year's Nobel Peace Prize -- is presiding overa deteriorating security situation, worsened by the actions of the military andpolice. The violence is unfolding ahead of elections next year in one of the country'smost volatile and ethnically diverse areas: the Southern Nations,Nationalities, and Peoples' Region.
Elders from theBodi community, the main group earmarked for disarmament in the Lower OmoValley, told AFP nearly 40 people had been killed as of mid-October but thetoll could be far higher. Officials denythis account and defend the disarmament campaign as crucial for peace in thissensitive region. "They are killing without any reason," saidShegedin, a Bodi elder who was detained for several days and asked that hisfull name not be used because he feared reprisals. "They just go to thevillages, and if you run they start shooting."
Government andsecurity officials in Jinka, the administrative centre for the South Omo zone,said the disarmament campaign was necessary to secure state developmentprojects including sugar plantations in the area. But as reports of abusesmultiply, human rights groups and researchers who work in the region arecalling for investigations.
"Theaccounts I have seen are sufficiently shocking and come from sufficientlyreliable sources to make it imperative that they are investigated by aninternationally respected human rights organization," said David Turton,an anthropologist at the University of Oxford who has worked in the region for50 years. Failure to investigate"will only add to suspicions that the accounts we've heard are in factaccurate", he said.
A majorescalation
Tensions betweenthe Bodi and the government are long-running, fuelled by Bodi anger at whatthey describe as the loss of their land to Ethiopians resettled from otherregions and to development projects like the Gibe III dam and sugarplantations. But the elders said the latest violence represents a majorescalation.
They said Bodimen and women detained in the town of Hana had been deprived of food and forcedto stand for hours in the sun. They accused security forces of digging up theburied remains of a Bodi spiritual leader and shooting them. And they saidsecurity forces shaved off the hair of one man who had grown it long followingthe death of his brother -- a traditional Bodi mourning custom -- and forcedhim to eat it. "We've never seen anything like this," said Shegedin,one of three Bodi elders who spoke with AFP.
Southern unrest
Federal securityforces assumed control of the Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples'Region back in July. The move followed weeks of unrest resulting from a bid bythe Sidama ethnic group to form a new regional state. Ten other groups arepursuing similar statehood bids, and it is unclear how the government plans torespond to them.
Security in theethnic patchwork of the Lower Omo Valley is crucial to the government in lightof plans to install 100,000 hectares (250,000 acres) of sugar plantations therealong with processing factories. Troops and federal police are among thoseparticipating in the disarmament operation, said Lore Kakuta, an adviser to thechief administrator in Jinka. Seized weapons include AK-47s assault riflesbought from traders shifting arms from conflict-ridden South Sudan.
Lore saiddisarmament was the only option following unprovoked shootings by the Boditargeting sugar plant workers -- allegations that the Bodi elders denied. Loresaid he could not comment on reports of human rights abuses. "We don't know what the security forcesare doing," he said. "Actually, that's not our job." A senior police official in Jinka, who spoketo AFP on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to discussdisarmament, disputed claims that Bodi people had been killed. "Theallegations that dozens of Bodi have been killed is false," he said.
Other groups onedge
As of earlyOctober, the disarmament of the Bodi was "90-percent finished", Loresaid. He added that the operation could be expanded to include the Mursi,another agro-pastoralist community based in the area. A Mursi leader, who spokeon condition of anonymity for safety reasons, said he was concerned thattactics used against the Bodi would be repeated against his people.
"Now theMursi are all worried because maybe the police will come and kill us," hesaid. Laetitia Bader of Human Rights Watch said the Ethiopian government had ahistory of using violence and intimidation to force vulnerable communities fromtheir land. "The federal government should take measures to ensure thatany disarmament efforts are not perceived as a continuation of thisheavy-handed approach," she said. The authorities should also consult withlocal communities and ensure that alleged abuses by its forces "areimmediately investigated," Bader said. - AFP