Ethiopia forces civilians to fight

KC
Posted: 2007-12-18 18:26:34

Enmeshed in a bloody conflict in Somalia while amassing troops for a possible war with Eritrea, Ethiopia is imposing forced draft on civil servants to fight at a third front against separatists of Somali origin in the troubled area of Ogaden, reported The New York Times on Saturday, December 15.

"Anybody who works for the government - teachers, doctors, clerks, administrators - has to join a militia," said Hassan Abdi Hees, a former head accountant in a government office.

"I left because I didn't want to die," added Hees who is now seeking asylum in Kenya.

The government has published public bulletin boards ordering civil servants to report for duty, said a member of the regional parliament and two Ethiopian administrators who have fled the country and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Soldiers had stormed hospitals to conscript doctors and medics, according to a Western aid official, who also requested anonymity.

A government official said his entire department, including white-collar professionals, clerks, watchmen and drivers, had been forced to go on reconnaissance patrols in Ogaden.

The forced conscription also included several employees who work for programs financed by international donors like the World Bank and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Many of those who defied army orders were fired, jailed and in some cases tortured, according to the Ethiopian administrators and the MP.

Ogaden is located in the Somali Region in Ethiopia, one of the nine ethnic divisions of Ethiopia.

Ogaden's inhabitants are predominantly ethnic Somali and Muslim.

The Somali Region is often called Somalia, though it is not to be confused with the independent neighboring country of the same name.

Easy target

Having no hands-on military experience or training, the civilians are an easy target for well-trained guerrilla fighters in Ogaden.

"We don't know how to operate guns, but the government sent us to the front lines," said the government official, whose entire department has been recruited.

He said many of his employees had been killed while on patrol.

Civilians say they were not given camouflage, and even had to buy their own rifles.

"It's terrifying," said Ali Mahamoud, an Arabic teacher.

"You can't see the rebels when they're shooting at you. And the Ethiopians will kill you if you try to run."

Many of those untrained civilians have been killed in recent days, according to Western officials and aid workers.

The forced conscription left many civilians and professionals with no option but to flee the country.

"I faced so many problems from the army," said Dr. Sadik Mohammed Hajinur, a Sudanese-trained doctor who is now seeking asylum in Sweden.

Abuses

Many forced conscripts, who have recently defected, have reported brutal killings and grisly human rights abuses by Ethiopian occupation troops in Ogaden.

Ahmed Mohammed, a 24-year-old former conscript, recalled how his commander saw off the head of a civilian driver by his hunting knife for trying to bypass a check point.

"We left the body by the road," said Mohammed, who is now a refugee in Kenya.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has documented grisly and shocking crimes by Ethiopian occupation troops, including gang rapes, arsons, hangings and beheadings, which meant to terrorize Ogaden locals.

Ethiopian invaders also repeatedly seal off many areas in Ogaden on claims of choking off logistic support for the rebels and deny access to the commercial traffic and emergency food aid, raising the prospect of a famine in the region.

"We've crossed the line into a humanitarian crisis," said one Western diplomat, wishing not to be named.

The siege has left many refugees with nothing but to eat grass.

Hasba Ghaffir said her 4-year-old son starved to death.

"I remember him saying to me, ‘Mom, bring me food, Mom, bring me tea, Mom bring me water,'" said Ghaffir, who arrived at a camp in Kenya four weeks ago after Ethiopian occupation troops burned her fields and shot her husband.

"It is like they are trying to wipe us out," she said.

Source: Agencies