(IndepthAfrica) – At least 72 Ethiopian migrants are reported to have drowned last week while attempting to cross from Bossaso, Somalia to Yemen, authorities there reported.
The migrants were traveling in two boats which were hit by strong winds and waves that capsized them miles off the Yemeni shore, state officials disclosed.
Fleeing political oppression and economic hardship, Yemen is seen as a gateway for other parts of Middle East due to its proximity to more prosperous gulf states.
Despite the risks of the voyage, some 75,000 Ethiopian migrants cross the Gulf of Aden annually, according to the United Nation’s refugee agency.
Yemen says it will implement measures in the immediate future that could reduce the rising number of Ethiopian migrants entering the country, according to Interior Minister Abdul-Qader Qahtan.
NAIROBI (AlertNet) – Migrants travelling from the Horn of Africa to Yemen in search of a better life are regularly kidnapped, tortured and raped, according to a new report by the Regional Mixed Migration Secretariat (RMMS).
At least 230,000 migrants have undertaken this hazardous, often lethal, journey over the last six years and the rate of migration is increasing dramatically. In the first eight months of 2012, over 70,000 African migrants entered Yemen, three quarters of whom were Ethiopian.
Kidnapping has become increasingly common in Yemen, with the majority of respondents who arrived in the last 18 months saying they were held for ransom after disembarking from smugglers boats, said the report from RMMS, working to help migrants in the Horn of Africa and across the Gulf of Aden.
“If money [was] sent from our friends or relatives, we would be released and be free. If not, they would beat us to death,” one Ethiopian migrant told the researchers who interviewed some 130 individuals and groups in Yemen in May and June 2012. “Our group was 35 at first, but three of our friends died due to the beating.”
On average, migrants and their relatives pay the criminal gangs $100 to $300 to secure their release and prevent further torture, the report said.
Background:
TPLF/EPRDF security forces (Agazi) massacred 193 people who protested against election fraud in November 2005. The victims were shot, beaten and strangled. The demonstrators were unarmed, yet the majority died from shots to the head. Many people were killed arbitrarily, old men were killed while in their homes, and children were also victims of the attack while playing in the garden.
The unrest followed parliamentary elections in May 2005, which the regime lost, but announced an illegal victory. The opposition parties confronted the regime peacefully and within the constitution, saying the election was marred by fraud, intimidation and violence.
Below are various facts on the Ethiopian Massacre of 2005 in various medium.
Independent Commission Report
Ethiopian police (TPLF’s Agazi) massacred 193 protesters in violence following the 2005 disputed elections, the independent report says.
The Independent commissioners (Mr Wolde-Michael Meshesha, a deputy chairman of a 10-member inquiry) spent six months interviewing more than 600 people, including the prime minister, police officers, witnesses and government officials. In early July 2006, shortly before completing its report, the team held a vote and decided, 8 to 2, that excessive force had been used.
See below the full list, consisting of the victims names, age, address, occupation, weapon used , date of incident and death, evidence, witness …etc.
Read Full List (pdf) Massacres in the International News; • Inquiry Triples Toll in Ethiopia Protests Washington Post • Ethiopian government blocks report of massacre by its forces Guardian • Ethiopian protesters ‘massacred’ BBC
Massacres in pictures
“These pictures are not just numbers and images, they were fellow Ethiopians, with dreams, loved ones and life plans.”
This pictures
• show that the killers used heavy weapons and snipers;
• show that the killers were targeting the head and chests of the victims;
• show the degree of these acts of murder;
• show the tyrannical TPLF rule currently exercised in Ethiopia. Note:
• This pictures where used by Mr Yared Hailemariam, Human Rights Defender (Ethiopia) to give Testimony to Members of the Committees on Development, on Foreign Affairs and the Sub-Committee on Human Rights of the European Parliament on May 15th, 2006.
Related Video of another TPLF/EPRDF Massacre:
• The June 2005 Massacre
A must watch production, highly recommended.
We will Never Forget You!
Your Sacrifice Will Not Be in Vain!
Also click on the banner below to visit the Dedicated page to the victims of June 2005′s TPLF massacres;
Among the accused was Habiba Mohammed, the wife of the former minister of civil service, charged with smuggling funds to support religious extremism
Addis Ababa (AFP) – Twenty-nine Ethiopian Muslims were charged Monday with plotting acts of “terrorism,” the majority arrested after protests accusing the government of interference in religious affairs.
According to court documents, the group is accused of “intending to advance a political, religious or ideological cause” by force and the “planning, preparation, conspiracy, incitement and attempt of terrorist acts.”
The 29 accused – including nine prominent Muslim leaders – were jailed following protests in July staged by Muslims against the government.
Among the accused was Habiba Mohammed, the wife of the former minister of civil service, charged with smuggling funds to support religious extremism.
(IndepthAfrica) – At least 72 Ethiopian migrants are reported to have drowned last week while attempting to cross from Bossaso, Somalia to Yemen, authorities there reported.
Note:
Group A
