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Horn of
Africa for Peace and Stability Forum |
Sophia Tesfamariam
January 11, 2008
A large peaceful demonstration will be held
at Downing Street in London on the 16th of
January 2007 from 13:00 to 18:00 Hrs. The
demonstration will be one of its kind and
will involve from a wide range of
nationalities and ethnic groups including
the Somalis, Eritreans, People from Ogaden
and Oromo. It is organised by the Horn of
Africa for Peace and Stability Forum and is
expected to draw thousands of people from
all over the UK.
Why a peace demonstration?
We are people of the Horn of Africa
suffering at the hands of the minority
regime in Ethiopia. Our people are being
killed, our women raped, our villages burnt
and our land occupied. The entire region is
in turmoil and as a result, the human
suffering and destruction have been
incalculable. The Ethiopian government is
only able to inflict such widespread pain
and suffering with the help of the British
taxpayers’ money that has been made
available to it unconditionally by the UK
government. We will call on the British
government to stop being complicit in the
crimes committed against the people of the
Horn of Africa.
About the Horn of Africa
The Horn of Africa is the easternmost part
of Africa and is a region containing the
countries of Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia,
Somalia and Sudan. It is inhabited by about
110 million people.
Background
The Horn of Africa has suffered from wars
and natural calamity for a long period of
time. As a result of this, there has been
untold human suffering and destruction. The
people of the Horn of Africa have not had
the chance to engage in development
activities continuously. Foreign
interference and bias made the problems
intractable. The area with all its natural
resources remains one of the poorest in the
world.
Currently, the source of the problem is the
minority regime led by Prime Minister Meles
Zenawi currently in power in Ethiopia.
Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in
the world and is ranked 170 out of 177 in
the UN Human Development Report. 81% of its
population lives below the poverty line
earning just $2 a day. Yet, the Ethiopian
government:
·Managed to raise its military budget to
$400 million. Ethiopia has spent about $3
billion just on buying arms (Source: SIPRI).
While the government spends this amount, the
people of Ethiopia find themselves in a dire
situation as a result of disease and famine.
·Invaded a neighbouring country, Somalia, in
violation of the AU and UN Charters while
shelling civilian areas indiscriminately and
causing the death of tens of thousands of
people, destruction of properties and the
displacement of 1.5 million people from
their home. The U.S.A is waging a proxy war
in Somalia through Ethiopia.
·Sent the army to Ogaden to loot, murder,
rape women and children, burn entire
villages and expel aid agencies to stop food
aid from getting to the people in the area
while preventing journalists from having
access to the area to cover up the atrocity.
·Massacred innocent people including
children; caused the destruction of hundreds
of Anuak villages in Gambella which drove
more than 60,000 Anuak people into
neighbouring Sudan and Kenya
·Jailed and killed tens of thousands of
Oromo people
·Orchestrated ethnic clashes among the
various peoples of Ethiopia
·Refused to abide by the decision of an
international court and forcefully occupied
sovereign Eritrean territories. The border
between the two countries remains tense and
volatile with over 500,000 soldiers facing
each other.
·Rigged the vote in the national election in
2005 and slaughtered 196 peaceful
demonstrators in broad daylight and
imprisoned thousands of people.
And the list goes on ...
With the increase in brutality of the
Ethiopian government, the British government
has been happily increasing the financial
assistance given to Ethiopia
unconditionally. The aid given to Ethiopia
has been increased by 600% to £160 million
over the last four years, making Ethiopia
one of the largest recipients of aid in
Africa. This is excluding the money given
for food security and humanitarian purposes.
It is unthinkable that the Ethiopian regime
would be able to cause such chaos and
destruction without the financial support
that it gets from the British government and
others. By virtue of supporting the
Apartheid regime of the Ethiopian
government, the British government is
denying the people of the Horn of Africa the
right to live in peace.
The British government subscribes to the
idea that the people of the Horn of Africa
be subservient to the interests of the
minority regime in Ethiopia. It is for this
reason that we will be asking the British
government to stop propping up the brutal
regime in Ethiopia using taxpayers’ money in
order to end the terrorizing of innocent
people; destruction of properties and
invasion, attack of neighbouring states and
wreak havoc in the region.
For further details or to contact the
organisers, please e-mail to
hornofafrica2008@yahoo.com
http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/viewArticle.asp?articleID=48799 |
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