ETHIOPIA:ETHIOPIAN SOLDIERS have executed, tortured and raped civilians as they battle rebels in the country's Somali region, according to a report published yesterday by Human Rights Watch.
Researchers said brutal counter-insurgency operations had taken the Ogaden region to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe and threatened the survival of thousands of nomads.
It follows similar allegations that Ethiopian soldiers are guilty of indiscriminate killing and looting in neighbouring Somalia.
Georgette Gagnon, Africa director of Human Rights Watch, said international donors were turning a blind eye as they continued to pump billions of dollars into the country.
"The Ethiopian army's answer to the rebels has been to viciously attack civilians in the Ogaden," she said. "These widespread and systematic atrocities amount to crimes against humanity. Yet Ethiopia's major donors, Washington, London and Brussels, seem to be maintaining a conspiracy of silence around the crimes."
Ethiopia is seen as a key ally in the global "war on terror" and a bulwark against the spread of radical Islam in the Horn of Africa.It has stepped up operations in its Somali region since rebels from the Ogaden National Liberation Front attacked a Chinese oil installation, killing more than 70 Chinese and Ethiopian civilians, in April last year.
Researchers interviewed more than 100 victims and eye witnesses, who described nightly beatings with the barrel of a gun, public executions and the burning of entire villages.
Ridwan Hassan-rage Sahid told how he had been abducted with two other men. "First, they pulled ropes around the necks of the two men and pulled in opposite directions, and both fell down. They put me in a ditch while they were strangling the other two. One soldier tried to strangle me with the metal stick used for cleaning the gun [by pushing it down on my throat], but I twisted his finger until he released me," he said.
"Then two other soldiers came and they put a rope around my neck and started pulling. That is the last thing I remember, until I woke up, still in the ditch" A naked body was lying on top of him.
The report also alleges that Ethiopian forces have imposed an economic blockade, restricted access to water, food and grazing areas, confiscated livestock and obstructed humanitarian access as they attempt to choke off support for the rebels.
Bereket Simon, adviser to the Ethiopian prime minister Meles Zenawi, denied the allegations and said Human Rights Watch had been duped. "They don't have any representative on the ground but have chosen to issue a report on hearsay from the liberation front apparatus," he said.