PUBLIC AI Index: AFR 25/006/2004
21 May 2004

UA 180/04 Fear of torture/Arbitrary detention/prisoners of
conscience

ETHIOPIA Diribi Demissie (m), president of the Macha Tulema Association
(MTA)
Gemechu Feyera (m), MTA Vice-President
Sentayehu Workneh (m), MTA Treasurer
13 other members of the Oromo ethnic group, names not known

Fifteen members of the Oromo ethnic group, including the first two men named
above, were arrested on 18 May in the capital, Addis Ababa. Sentayehu Workneh
was arrested on 20 May. They are reportedly held incommunicado at the 3rd
police station, the Central Investigation Department ("Maikelawi"), where
torture and ill-treatment of political prisoners has been reported in the past.
Amnesty International considers them to be prisoners of conscience.

Sentayehu Workneh was reportedly beaten at the time of his arrest.

Diribi Demissie is the President of an officially registered Oromo community
welfare organization, the Macha Tulema Association (MTA). Gemechu Feyera is the
Vice-President of the MTA and Sentayehu Workneh is the treasurer. Others
arrested reportedly include university students. The police have alleged that
they were suspected of involvement in a hand-grenade attack at Addis Ababa
University on 29 April, which killed one student. Police reportedly accused the
MTA of links with this incident because they had given financial support to
students expelled from the university in January. The police claim they are
linked with the armed opposition Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), based in
Eritrea.

Amnesty International believes Diribi Demissie, Gemechu Feyera and Sentayehu
Workneh are prisoners of conscience who have not advocated violence or
supported the OLF. The MTA is a non-political organization which has been
working for over 40 years, despite frequent government harassment. It has
recently been raising funds to assist over 300 Oromo students arrested on
campus on 21 January when they protested about the earlier arrests of eight
Oromo students accused of damaging university property, including breaking
windows. The 300 were released after a few days, and the eight were later also
released on bail. The 300 had been taken to Kolfe police training centre,
forced to crawl on stones and beaten. Most were later suspended and 25 expelled
from the university. (See UA 30/04, AFR 25/003/2004, 23 January)

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

These arrests follow over four months of disturbances and arrests of members of
the Oromo ethnic group (one of Ethiopia's largest "nationalities") in the
Oromia region and Addis Ababa. They were protesting against the federal
government's order that the offices of the Oromia Regional State administration
should be transferred from Addis Ababa, the national capital, to Adama (also
known as Nazareth), a town 100km east of Addis Ababa. The transfer was
percieved to be against Oromo interests.

On 4 January 2004 the MTA organised a demonstration in Addis Ababa against the
decision to move the regional capital. Police declared the demonstration
illegal, detained Diribi Demissie, other MTA officials and many demonstrators
for some hours or days, and beat demonstrators with sticks to disperse them.
Many of those detained reported they were severely beaten in detention. (See UA
03/04, AFR 25/001/2004, 6 January)
In February and March hundreds of students and teachers were arrested in the
Oromia region because of similar demonstrations and demands for the release of
students. Many are still detained without trial, and have allegedly been
tortured. Many schools in Oromia region are still closed and arrests are
continuing (See UA 148/04, AFR 25/005/2004, 19 April).
In the past two months several grenades have been thrown in schools and
colleges, in the Oromia region as well as Addis Ababa University, killing at
least three and possibly as many as seven students, and injuring dozens. The
government has blamed the OLF for instigating the demonstrations and bombings,
which it has denied. During this time several other Oromos have been arrested
in Addis Ababa and accused of links with the OLF. They are held incommunicado,
their whereabouts not known, and they may be prisoners of conscience. Among
them are people connected with the MTA: board members Dechassa Benti (m) and
Shane Korma (m), and former Secretary Legesse Detti (m), arrested in
mid-March; Dabassa Wakjira (m) and Shifferaw Insermu (m), from the
state-controlled Oromo-language television service, who were arrested on 22
April and accused of passing information to the OLF; Ashebir Kebede (m),
Lelisse Timkata (f) and Fikreselassie Bulcha (m) of development NGO Hundee, and
Dirar Abdissa (m) of Finfine Oromo Self-Help Organization.

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