Ethiopia: Beatings, Arrests and Detentions at Addis Ababa University

HRLHA Urgent Action

January 05, 2013

 The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) would like to express its deep concern regarding the unknown situations of students of Addis Ababa/Fininne University, who were arrested and detained following the clash between two groups of students on the Arat kilo University Campus (College of Natural Science) on the 2^nd of January, 2013.

According to information obtained by HRLHA through its correspondents, more than 100 (one hundred) students, the big majority of whom are Oromos, have been taken into custody after being dealt with heavy-handedly by government security forces. HRLHA has also learnt that a lot of Oromo students have received from minor to major life-threatening injuries; and, as a result, a lot have been admitted to hospitals. There is also unconfirmed report that a student named Gammachu Abdi  has already died from the severe injuries inflicted on him by the security agents. HRLHA has managed to get the names of the following students from among those who have been arrested and detained:

   Different sources indicate that the clash between the two groups was triggered when some students of Tigre nationals posted posters containing derogatory messages that aimed at the Oromo people. It is recalled that the same incident took place exactly in the same manner a year ago at the Mizan-Teppi University in the south (HRLHA Urgent Action, April 11, 2011, a fierce Crackdown against University in the South-Western Ethiopia). The only difference is that the actions by the government forces in handling the current situation included students of other ethnic backgrounds including the Tigreans.

Although the interference of the government security forces was not far from expectations, the very harsh and violent actions that have resulted in life-threatening injuries and death are not acceptable by any standard. Given the violent way the students were dealt with, it is also very likely that they could be subjected to tortures.

So, HRLHA calls up on the Ethiopian government to unconditionally release the detained students; and allow necessary treatments for those who have been injured and/or wounded. We also call upon the Ethiopian government to investigate the clash and bring the culprits to justice so that they refrain from continued racist provocations that always aimed at the same nationality – the Oromos.

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