France: Migrants, Asylum Seekers Abused and Destitute

January 20, 2015, Paris (HRW) – Asylum seekers and migrants living in destitution in the port city of Calais experience harassment and abuse at the hands of French police, Human Rights Watch said today. The abuses described to Human Rights Watch include beatings and attacks with pepper spray as the migrants and asylum seekers walked in the street or hid in trucks in the hope of traveling to the UnitedKingdom.

Several thousand asylum seekers and migrants, most from Sudan, Eritrea, and Ethiopia, are living in makeshift camps or in the streets in Calais. Some said that their treatment by police, a lack of housing for asylum seekers, and delays in the French asylum system had deterred them from seeking asylum inFrance.
“Asylum seekers and migrants shouldn’t have to face police violence in France, and no one who applies for asylum should be left to live in the street,” said Izza Leghtas, Western Europe researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Providing adequate reception conditions and humane treatment for asylum seekers isn’t only a matter of meeting legal obligations, it is also the right thing to do to help end the limbo for many asylum seekers in Calais.”
In November and December 2014, Human Rights Watch spoke with 44 asylum seekers and migrants in Calais, including 3 children. Most interviews were conducted in groups. The migrants and asylum seekers described what appear to be routine abuses by police officers when they tried to hide in trucks or as they walked in the town.

Nineteen, including two of the children, said police had abused them at least once, including beatings. Eight had visible broken limbs or other injuries, which they alleged were caused by police in Calais and surrounding areas. Twenty one, including two children, said police had sprayed them with pepper spray.

Sad News: Five Oromo refugees die on the Sudanese-Libya border

Report by Boruu Barraaqaa | January 18, 2015

Dungujee Ittanaa (from her facebook profile)

According to a close source, five Oromo refugees have reportedly died and other wounded after they just crossed the border into Libya. The report didn’t identify the exact date and time of the accident, but confirmed that it happened in the last week.

More than half a dozen Oromo refugees were carried on the back of an old Toyota pickup owned by human traffickers when the accident happened. The car was heading from Khartoum to Tripoli, crossing the dangerous Sahara Desert with the haphazard fast speed.

The reason that caused the accident was also said to be driving with the highest speed in attempt to escape from the border police.

The source identified Dunguje Itana, a sister of Feven Itana, a famous spiritual (Christian) singer in Afan Oromo was one of the victims. Dunguje, who was a businesswoman and had her own house in Finfine had gotten her house being demolished by government forces under the pretext of ‘illegally built house’, said the report.

She was left with no compensation for her demolished house, moreover, previously she had been experienced prolonged persecution by government militias in Finfinnee due to her allegiance to being OLF supporter, added the report.

According to one of her close friends, it was this political reason that forced her to flee to Khartoum, however, the city has never been a safe place for thousands of Oromo refugees like Dungujee from acrossOromia.

It is estimated that in 2014 alone, more than 5000 Oromo refugees left Sudan for Egypt and Libya, looking for safe place and better life. Among them more than half were forced to leave the capital, fearing day and night persecution by Ethiopian government security agents.

Boruu Barraaqaa

Oromo in Steinkjer, Norway, Demonstrate Against Oppression

Oromo in Steinkjer demonstrate against the government in their home country.

Alisee Fira Aynagee from Oromo people organized demonstration in Steinkjer, Thursday.

January 16, 2015, Steinkjer, Norway (Trønder-Avisa – Google Translation) — Thursday could hear slogans chanted throughout the square in Steinkjer. The reason was that a group of Ethiopians demonstrated against what they perceive as a dictatorial regime in their homeland.

Being persecuted:
– We belong to the Oromo people, the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, with around 40 percent of the population. The Government of Ethiopia is dominated by minority tribe that makes around 6 percent of the Ethiopian Population. Oromo being pursued by this government – including putting journalists and politicians from our group of people in jail, telling Alisee Fira Aynagee, who organized the demonstration.
– You are far away from Ethiopia now. What do you hope to achieve?
– We hope that some of the residents in Steinkjer come to hear our message, and we hope to arouse the Norwegian government, which supports the regime in Ethiopia, says Aynagee.

Amnesty calls for action

A report by Amnesty International tells of persecution, imprisonment, torture and killing of Oromo people in Ethiopia. Among other reports of youths being captured in military camps, where they get glowing coal on empty stomach, because they support the Oromo People’s Liberation Movement, Oromo Liberation Front. Teachers are being tortured when they refuse to teach in government friendly propaganda, and it is expected that Oromo politicians will be gagged towards the election in Ethiopia later this year.

“At least 5,000 of the Oromo people have been imprisoned in Ethiopia between 2011 and 2014 because of peaceful opposition against the government,” writes Amnesty.

Karuturi is on the verge of collapsing in Ethiopia, under the spotlight

January 17, 2015 (The Ethiopian Reporter – pro-government website) — Officials fretful on loanrepayment, land lease and country’s image

Ram Karuturi

CEO says will settle local debts this month

It has been over a year since the Ethiopian government expressed discontent with the performance of the Indian giant, Karuturi Global Limited, a company engaged in the business of commercial farming.

Karuturi Global, which earlier agreed with the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) to grow wheat on 300 thousand hectares of fertile land has fell to deliver its promises of becoming a leading agricultural company.

Karuturi was almost foreclosed after failing to repay a 65 million birr (a little over USD three million) loan extended via overdraft facility from the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE). However, the company immediately settled the minimum, 25 percent of the debt. But government officials told The Reporter that Karuturi is no longer reputed in Ethiopia.

Abera Mulat, director of agricultural investment and land administration agency, at the MoA told The Reporter that Karuturi no longer a reputable company in Ethiopia. According to Abera, the Indian giant has failed to deliver. The official went on to say that Karuturi is on the verge of collapsing in Ethiopia. “Karuturi has gone bankrupt following internal management crisis,” Abera said.

In a telephone interview from Bangalore, India, Ram Karuturi, CEO of the company, told The Reporter that he will continue investing in Ethiopia. Currently, he is selling out machineries and equipment worth some 15 million birr to repay debts the company has incurred here. Karuturi is known for borrowing from CBE, Dashen and Zemen banks. The loan extended to the company exceeds 170 million birr and the CEO said that his company is set to settle the debts by the end of this month.

ETHIOPIA: Oromo Voices from Ethiopia Prisons

HRLHA Urgent Action

January 6, 2015

Since the March-April 2014 crackdowns against the peaceful Oromo protesters who have protested against the Ethiopian Federal Government’s plan of annexation of 36 small Oromia towns to the capital city of Addis Ababa under the pretext of the “Addis Ababa Integrated Plan”, thousands of Oromo nationals from all walks of life from all corners of Oromia regional state including Wollo Oromo’s in Amhara regional state have been detained or imprisoned. Some have disappeared and many have been murdered by a special commando group called “the Agiazi force”. The “The Agiazi” force is still chasing down and arresting Oromo nationals who participated in the March-April, 2014 peaceful protests. Fearing the persecution of the Ethiopian government, hundreds of students did not return to the universities, colleges and high schools; most of them have left for the neighboring states of Somaliland and Puntiland of Somalia where they remain at high risk for their safety. Wollo Oromos who are living in Ahmara regional state of Oromia special Zone are also among the victims of the EPRDF government. Hundreds of Wollo Oromos have been detained because of their connection with the peaceful protests of March-April 2014. The EPRDF government has detained many Oromo nationals in Wollo Oromia special Zone under the pretext of being members or supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), as prisoners’ voices from Dessie/Wollo prison have revealed.

From among the many Oromos who were picked from different districts and places from Wollo Oromia special Zone in Amhara regional state in April 2014, the HRLHA reporter in the area has received a document which shows that 26 Oromo prisoners pleaded to the South Wollo High Court that they were illegally detained first in Kamise town military camp for 36 days, Kombolcha town Police Station for 27 Days, and Dessie city higher 5 Police Station for 10 days- places where they were severely tortured and then transferred to Dessie Prison in July 2014. According to the document, they were picked up from three different districts and different places by federal police and severely beaten and tortured at different military camps and police stations and their belongings including cash and mobile telephones were taken by their torturers. In their appeal letter to the South Wollo high court they demanded

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