Ethiopia, the same regime another Genocide?

G7 Press Release – January 10, 2013

On December 13, 2003, members of the special unit of the Ethiopian military entered the town of Gambella in south western Ethiopia, and over the course of the next three days, the special force unit tortured and killed 424 ethnic Anuaks and burned their houses to ashes. The Ethiopian Human Rights Council and Dr. Gregory H. Stanton, founder and President of Genocide Watch, alerted the international community about the Gambella genocide. The world gave a deaf ear to the horror in Gambella, and as a result, the Ethiopian military continued its crime against humanity killing more than 2000 ethnic Anuaks and causing over 50,000 to flee their ancestral home land.

On December 10, 2013, exactly 10 years after the Gambella genocide, the Ethiopian military strikes again, this time in Southern Ethiopia killing more than 150 men, women, and children. According to an eye witness account, the Ethiopian army surrounded the village of ethnic Suris in South Ethiopia, tied the villagers into a group of two, and massacred them execution style. Ginbot 7, Movement for Justice, Freedom and Democracy strongly condemns the barbaric action of the TPLF security forces against the Suri community and calls on all civilized nations of the world to hold the Ethiopian regime accountable for its actions and bring the perpetrators of this heinous crime to justice.

The continued silence of the international community, especially donor nations such as the U.S, U.K., and members of the European Union has emboldened the Ethiopian regime to continue committing crimes against defenseless people in different parts of the country.

Ginbot 7 is deeply disturbed by the acquiescence of the international community and the quiet support provided to a rogue regime that repeatedly commits crimes against humanity.

Ginbot 7 urges the international community to reconsider its hypocritical policy and use its leverage to rein the TPLF regime to stop the mass killing in Ethiopia.

Ginbot 7 and the Ethiopian people understand the importance of the global war on terror. However, membership in the international military campaign against terror must not allow the criminal regime in Ethiopia to terrorize its own people. The US, the UK and the EU cannot fight terrorism in Somalia while enabling a terrorist regime to commit genocide in Ethiopia. This misguided foreign policy is morally reprehensible and a danger to the long term stability of Ethiopia.