UK tenders to train Ethiopian paramilitaries accused of abuses
Exclusive: documents seen by the Guardian detail £13-£15m government funding for ‘special police’ in Ogaden region
Millions of pounds of Britain’s foreign aid budget
are to be spent on training an Ethiopian paramilitary security force
that stands accused of numerous human rights abuses and summary
executions.
The Guardian has seen an internal Department for International
Development document forming part of a tender to train security forces
in the Somali region of Ogaden, which lies within Ethiopia, as part of a five-year £13m–15m “peace-building” programme.
The document notes the “reputational risks of working alongside
actors frequently cited in human rights violation allegations”. DfID
insists that the training will be managed by NGOs and private companies
with the goal of improving security, professionalism and accountability
of the force, but Human Rights Watch has documented countless
allegations of human rights abuses.
The Ethiopian government’s counter-insurgency campaign in Ogaden is
spearheaded by the “special police”, also known as the “Liyu police”,
which was created after federal security institutions effectively
withdrew from the region after strong condemnation of the Ethiopian
army’s conduct. The force is commanded by Abdullahi Werar,
vice-president of eastern Ethiopia’s Ogaden region, who visited London
this week.
The document says of the Liyu police: “The special police is a force
of some 10,000-14,000 young Somalis mostly recruited from within the
conflict zone (aka the Ogaden sub-region) using recruitment methods
similar to those of insurgent groups.
“Training is minimal and loyalty within the force closely linked to
personalities in leadership positions, of whom the president is
paramount. Human rights abuses committed by the special police are
believed to be more widespread and severe than those committed during
the military campaign.
“However, having a Somali paramilitary force lead operations in the
region is convenient for the federal government, who have been able to
frame the conflict as internal regional politics rather than a
government-led crackdown.”
Human Rights Watch said that the Liyu police has been implicated in
serious abuses against civilians throughout the Somali region of
Ethiopia. It also reports one case in which 10 men were summarily executed by the force in march last year.
Amnesty International’s Ethiopia researcher, Claire Beston said it
was highly concerning that the UK was planning to engage with the
special police.
She said: “There have been repeated allegations against the Liyu
police of extrajudicial killings, rape, torture and other violations
including destruction of villages and there is no doubt that the special
police have become a significant source of fear in the region.”
The army also stands accused of orchestrating a mock execution of a Swedish journalist jailed in Ethiopia in 2011.
DfID’s assistance for Ethiopia, geopolitically a crucial ally for the UK and others against Islamic militancy in east Africa, is the aid body’s largest country programme, with a spend of £390m per year by 2014/15.
The DfID document sets out the terms and reference of a “security and
justice component” for Ethiopia’s Somali region. It states that the
goal of the programme, which will be managed by a DfID team, is “to
build a more peaceful and inclusive Somali region”.
It adds: “The primary recipients of the services will be DfID for the
design element and for the implementation of the regional government of
the Somali Regional State, specifically state and non-state security
and justice service providers.”
The DfID said: “The peace and development programme will be delivered
in partnership with NGOs and UN organisations and no funding will go
through the government of Ethiopia.”
Martin Schibbye, one of the two Swedish journalists jailed after
illegally entering Ethiopia and meeting with ethnic Somali rebels, told
the Guardian about his encounter with the army.
“We were shot and arrested in June 2011 and then we were first kept
in the desert for two days,” said Schibbye, who was freed along with his
photographer colleague, Johan Persson, after serving more than 400 days
of an 11-year sentence.
He described being subjected to a mock execution in which soldiers walked him into the desert.
“They raised their rifles and … said that if you don’t tell the truth we will shoot you here and blame it on the rebels.”
The Ethiopian embassy did not respond to queries about the special
police and the alleged treatment of Schibbye and Persson. Instead, it
referred to a briefing that rejected allegations by Human Rights Watch
of abuses in the Ogaden region.
“Investigations by the Donor Assistance Group, as well as repeated
visits by embassies including several members of the European community,
the UK and the US, and by a raft of NGOs working in the area have all
failed to substantiate Human Rights Watch’s claims – which are as usual
drawn largely, if not exclusively, from people outside the country,
members of externally based armed opposition movements and other
dissidents,” it said.
It added that the Ethiopian government was actively engaged in
discussions with the Ogaden National Liberation Front, a rebel group in
the region, “to encourage it to lay down its arms”.
Source: The Guardian.
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