ETHIOPIA: Rights-Related Demands Risking Terrorism
Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA)
PRESS RELEASE, July 28, 2012.
The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) would like to express its deep concern regarding how the TPLF/EPRDF Government of Ethiopia is handling the country-wide peaceful protests by Ethiopian Muslims that have been going on for months, both prior to and following the allegedly hijacked elections of the Supreme Counsel of the Islamic Affairs of Ethiopia. Religious freedoms were among the fundamental rights enshrined in the current Ethiopian Constitution, Chapter three (fundamental rights and freedoms, Article 27(1) Freedom of Religion, Belief and Opinion), which states: “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right shall include the freedom to hold or to adopt a religion or belief of his choice, and the freedom, either individually or in community with others, and in public or private, to manifests his religion or belief in worship, observance, practice and teaching” Read more…
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Ethiopia: 20,000 flee Moyale clashes – Red Cross
Ethnic clashes in southern Ethiopia are reported to have left at least 18 people dead and 12 others injured.
Conflicts over land and water rights have caused clashes between local communities in the past
July 28, 2012 (BBC News) – More than 20,000 people have crossed into Kenya to escape the fighting, the Kenyan Red Cross says.
A spokesman told the BBC that people were continuing to cross the border although Ethiopian government forces had intervened to stop the fighting.
The clashes, in the Moyale area, are thought to have been sparked by a simmering dispute over land rights.
Fighting involving the Borana and Garri communities is said to have started mid-week, and to have continued until Friday. Read more…
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Will Ethiopian crackdown stir Islamist backlash?
Peaceful protests continue in Addis Ababa this week among Muslims angry over what they see as Ethiopian government interference. The government sees foreign extremist threat.
By William Davison, Correspondent / July 27, 2012
(CSMonitor) – With arms raised and wrists crossed, silent Muslim worshippers surrounding the largest mosque in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital, again today peacefully protested what they call a violent government response to legitimate demands.
The act of civil disobedience from Muslims, who constitute at least one-third of the population, is a rare sign of instability in a country seen by US policymakers as a bulwark against radical Islam in the volatile Horn of Africa region.
Last month, members of a committee mediating the dispute over perceived unconstitutional state interference in Islamic affairs were taken into custody, while unrest broke out on two occasions around separate mosques in the city of around 5 million people. Read more…
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