Date: 3 December 2006
To: UNHCR, P.O.Box 2560 , Khartoum , Sudan , sudkh@unhcr.ch
From: Oromo Community in Switzerland
Ref: An application against forced deportation of Oromo refugees in Sudan

Dear Madam/ Sir,

We are writing this letter to you to take to heart our case to promote respect for Oromo refugees’ tragic wandering problem. It is crystal clear that the Oromo people lost their freedom and human dignity and most Oromos have been existing under a fatality situation merely due to their political opinion and ethnic origin since a century. The successive Ethiopian regimes have been inherited with extra-judicial killings, disappearance of civilians suspected of belonging or sympathizing to opposition political groups and by torturing innocent people in prisons as well as in the bare fields. We Oromos are specifically targeted by those successive Ethiopian regimes because of our struggle to end the repression, subjugation, and marginalization, and charting a future founded on freedom and democracy as a goal. It is anchored on respect for the right to self-determination, a right recognized by international law. Especially the current Tigrean-led dictatorial government of Ethiopia has deployed its selected employed forces called “Agazi “in Oromia for wanton killings, harassment and arbitrary detentions of Oromo nationals and to prolong it’s colonial rule over Oromia.

Currently there is no limitation of human suffering causing by TPLF/EPRDF - the ruling party of Ethiopia . Especially since the lost May 2005 election, there were or have been comprehensive reports of human rights violations and repression against humanity on Ethiopians in general and on Oromo people in particular. Amnesty International, human rights watch, Oromia Support Group, Committee to protect Journalists, etc. reported on high level human right violations, i.e. arrests of political prisoners, detention without trial, torture, disappearance, extra-judicial killings, etc. At this period there are more than 35,000 Oromos imprisoned without trial in known and secret detention centers as well as in military camps like Didessa, Bilate, Hamaressa, Zuway, and so on.

The TPLF/EPRDF regime led by Meles Zenawi also took brutal actions for several times on Oromo student protesters who have been asking for their rights, democracy and human respect of dignity. Many Oromo soundest were killed in school institutions, detention centers, and on streets by TPLF/EPRDF special force called “Agazi”. Several students expelled from their schools and universities. Because of these wave of state organized terror and ethnic cleansing many Oromos are fleeing to neighboring countries like Sudan, Kenya, Djibouti, Yemen, Somalia, Eritrea and far abroad.

It is known that Orormos have been fleeing to the Sudan for decades. Still about 10 - 20 Oromos are daily coming to Sudan . Several Oromos in the Sudan are political refugees who are left their beloved country and families due to the above mentioned human rights violation and persecution in view of their political opinion and ethnic origin. It is known that many of them are accused of being members or sympathizers of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) by Ethiopian government. The current decree of the Sudanese government concerning the arresting of Oromos and deporting them
to the country where they had been victimized by regime is against the universal declaration of human rights. We are worried for hundreds Oromo who were arrested in Khartoum on November 15, 2006 and deported to Ethiopia on Nov, 17, 2006. Some of them listed below are in different detention centers:

1. Salmaa Abbaa Tamaam
2. Tamaam Dilbatoo
3. Muftaah Xaahir
4. Kamaal Nashaa
5. Muusxafaa
6. Abdullaxiif
7. Jeeylaan
8. Abdulqaadir
9. Muktaar
10. Nasraddiin
11. zahraa
12. Abdullaakim

For your information: on Oct 19, 2006 in his recent speech in parliament Meles Zenawi said “The number of people imprisoned in Oromia is increasing because they are the supporters and members of the Oromo Liberation Front. To be a member of Oromo Liberation Front is strictly forbidden and it is punishable criminal act”. It is known that he declared war on OLF and Oromo people since 1991.

At this time when there is a wide spread political repression by the regime to break the resistance of the Oromo people; when the regime suspects as an OLF supporter and persecutes every Oromo who believes in the Oromo movement or whose relatives are members or supporters of the OLF ; and when there is no independent judiciary and no reliable legal system to protect respect for human rights in the country, it is to be considered that, deportation of Oromo refugees to Ethiopia, they will be a target without a reliable independent judicial system before which they can defend themselves. Hence endangering their life.

Therefore, we request you to understand the above stated situation and current political situation in Ethiopia and to save Oromo refugees’ lives and we sincerely appeal to you to give necessary protection and assistance to the Oromo refugees in the Sudan . Thank you very much for your attention.

Best regards

Oromo Community in Switzerland
Bern

C.C.

- Amnesty International, International Secretariat, United Kingdom
- Human Right watch, hrwnyc@hrw.org
- Amnesty International Swiss Section, Bern

- OLF Info Desk, Berlin, Germany
- Dr Abdel Moneim Osman Taha, Rapporteur, Advisory Council for Human Rights, Khartoum , human_rights_sudan@hotmail.com