BACKGROUND INFORMATION For over 13 years the government has faced armed opposition in the Somali Region, which is an almost completely closed off military zone, from the ONLF, which is fighting for secession of the Ogaden region.. The army have carried out numerous extrajudicial executions and other human rights violations in the course of this conflict. The ONLF attacked a Chinese oil installation at Abole on 24 April, killing 65 Ethiopian civilians and nine Chinese civilians. The government blamed the ONLF for an attempt to assassinate the Somali Region President in Jijiga in May. The government intensified its military operations against the ONLF in May. It imposed a blockage on trade and movement of food supplies, and restricted access to humanitarian operations, resulting in a humanitarian crisis. In July the government expelled the International Committee of the Red Cross, which had been engaged for 12 years in humanitarian projects in the region, including water and sanitation projects and prison visits, and Médicins Sans Frontières. The army reportedly carried out extrajudicial executions of alleged ONLF supporters, arbitrary detentions and torture, and in some places forced people out of their villages so as to remove support for the ONLF.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as possible, in English or your own language: - expressing concern that Sultan Fowsi Mohamed Ali and Ahmed Mohamed Farah were arrested in Jijiga on 28 August of, and that they are held incommunicado in Jijiga military barracks, where they are at risk of torture; - asking why they were arrested, and why they have not been brought to court within the required 48-hour period; - calling on the authorities to release them immediately and unconditionally; - urging the authorities to allow them immediate access to their families, legal representatives and any medical treatment they may require.
APPEALS TO: Prime Minister His Excellency Meles Zenawi, Office of the Prime Minister, PO Box 1031, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Fax: +251 11 1552020 Salutation: Your Excellency President of the Somali Regional State Abdullahi Hassan Somali Regional State Council, PO Box 11, Jijiga, Ethiopia COPIES TO:
Federal Minister of Justice
Assefa Kesito, Ministry of Justice, PO Box 1370, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Fax: +251 11 5517775
+251 11 5520874
Email: ministry-justice@telecom.net.et
Salutation: Dear Minister
Official Ethiopian Human Rights Commission Ambassador Dr Kassa Gebreheywot, Chief Commissioner, Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, PO Box 1165, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Fax: +251 11 618 0041 Email: hrcom@ethionet.et Salutation: Dear Chief Commissioner and to diplomatic representatives of Ethiopia accredited to your country. PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY. Check with the International Secretariat, or your section office, if sending appeals after 26 October 2007.******** Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton Street, WC1X 0DW, London, United Kingdom
The state of the world's human rights
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