Kenya: Ethiopian state agents hunted Ogadenis amid violating neighbour's sovereignty!

#Kenya: #Ethiopian state agents hunted #Ogadenis amid violating neighbour's sovereignty! GARISSA COUNTY: On the afternoon of June 9, an unlikely incident in Garrissa helped to reveal the faces and reasons behind a spate of mysterious killings that have rocked the county. That afternoon, a man approached Hassan Yusuf Intabur in his shop on Guled Street in Garissa Town, pulled out a gun concealed in his right hip, and shot him in the head. The gunman then pumped seven more rounds into Intabur’s body until his gun jammed. When this happened, members of the public who had taken cover spotted an opportunity to apprehend the suspect. But the attacker had another weapon. From a plastic paper bag he was carrying, he fished out a grenade, removed the pin and hurled it towards the crowd that was surging towards him. However, his backup failed him, too. The grenade landed softly in the soil, and failed to detonate. With nothing left to thwart the mob, the attacker took off on foot, with wananchi hot on his heels. There was pandemonium in the town as the crowd pursued the attacker who, though fleet-footed, seemed a stranger to the town since he did not know seem to know where to escape to. They eventually caught up with him, tackled him to the ground, and gave him a thorough beating before the police arrived to save him from imminent death. With his capture, the police achieved a rare breakthrough in solving a string of killings that had rocked Garrisa since June. Furthermore, the breakthrough uncovered a vicious war of attrition being fought by the Ethiopian government against one of its secessionist movements. Garissa, a small sand-swept town 350 kilometres east of Nairobi, had become the unlikely hunting ground for Addis Ababa’s special forces against the separatists. When questioned by the police, the attacker, who neither spoke English nor Kiswahili, identified himself through an interpreter as Abdirahman Mohammed Hajir, a chief inspector of police in the Somali regional government of Ethiopia. This is a southern part of Ethiopia dominated by ethnic Somalis. A rebel movement from the area has been fighting to secede from Ethiopia since 1984. The region is also alternately known as Ogaden, or Western Somalia, and the main rebel group is the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF). REVENGE MISSION For years, Addis Ababa has sought to destroy the group through brutal repression, resulting in the scattering of the movement’s members to neighbouring countries and beyond. Hajir told the Kenyan police that he was a member of the Special Police Force, or the Liyu in Amharic, a feared paramilitary unit mainly dedicated to fighting the separatists. This force was once headed by Abdi Mohamoud Omar, the current president of the Somali Regional Government, and who is staunchly against ONLF. Also known as Abdi Ilay, he is a prominent member of Ethiopian Somali People Democratic Party (ESPD), and longtime close ally of former Prime Minister Meles Zenawi. Although he never implicated any of his superiors, Hajir said he had been given orders to carry out a revenge mission for the killing of one of their supporters in Garissa. “It was an incredible tale, almost too difficult to believe,” said Musa Yego, the North Eastern regional director of the Criminal Investigations Department. “For a long time, we were at a loss on what was happening. We thought it was Al Shabab, but the killings seemed targeted, and it was unlike the group to carry out attacks in broad daylight.” The pressure from the Government to find an answer to the killings was mounting with each attack in the county. Garissa has been the worst hit by a spate of terrorist attacks and unexplained killings that have claimed tens of lives. “We have already done much to battle insecurity here. But because these attacks happened almost at the same time as the ones in Lamu, we were under great pressure to bring the culprits to book,” Yego said. Read more: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/mobile/?articleID=2000132638&story_title=ethiopian-clashes-blamed-for-spate-of-killings-in-garissa&pageNo=1

Ethiopia Spymaster infiltrates Kenya police

http://www.radiomwafrika.com/ethiopia-spymaster-infiltrates-kenya-police/

By Kasembeli Albert

Anxiety has gripped the Kenyan corridors of power and the National Police Service Commission  (NPSC) after it emerged that Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) has infiltrated the Kenya police service and established a unit within, which pays allegiance to NISS and executes orders from Addis Ababa.

Security pundits consider this an act of treason on the part of Kenya police officers involved.

Despite notification from the Kenya spy-master – National Security Intelligence Services (NSIS), sources intimated to The Sunday Express that nothing had been done to avert the lurking threat to the national security by such infiltration by a foreign agency.

“This guys are operating with impunity as though they are no longer officers of the National police Service,” said a senior police officer at Vigilance House.

When contacted the Inspector General, David Kimaiyo denied knowledge of such a unit operating under his arm bit. “Am not aware of that. In fact am hearing it from you,” said Kimaiyo.

Though officials at the Ethiopian Embassy in Nairobi declined to comment on the matter only referring as to Addis Abba, our sources within the embassy divulged that 50 polices officers are on the pay roll of the Ethiopia Government.

The officers under the command of senior police officer based in Nairobi received a total monthly payment of 900,000 Ethiopia Birr (KSh4.5 million) monthly minus the allowances and money meant to facilitate specific operations. The officers are said to live a lavish life and are accessible to top of the range cars.

Even as Ethiopia appears to be using the old spying system. Questions are emerging as to why the government has never taken stern measures against officers involved including charging them with treason because it is clear espionage.

Security analyst Simiyu Werunga attributes this to poor pay and deplorable working conditions, leaving the officers more vulnerable to corruption and bribery. “The government should take a stern action against the suspects for having taken part in criminal activities against their country even after taking an oath,” he said.

It is worth noting that NISS is a very powerful and dreaded organ of Ethiopia’s totalitarian government. It is to protect national security by providing quality intelligence and reliable security services. Under the plans presented, it is accountable to the Prime Minister. The agency has a wide permit to lead intelligence and security work both inside and outside Ethiopia.

“The unit specifically compiles intelligence reports as to specifics missions as requests made by Addis,” said a source privy to operations of the unit. The unit too specifically monitors the operations of Ethiopian dissidents and refugees living in Kenya.

The unit is also said to be responsible for kidnappings of Ethiopian refuges and dissidents and their subsequent repatriation to Addis Ababa where they face death, brutality and long prison sentences. The unit has specific detail to trail their eyes on Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Oganden National Liberation Front (ONLF).

Last week, two police officers appeared in court charged with alleged abduction of two ONLF leaders in Nairobi. On January 26, two top officials of ONLF were abducted from outside a popular restaurant in Upper Hill, Nairobi. The two who were identified as Mr Sulub Ahmed and Ali Hussein were members of the ONLF negotiation team that was in Nairobi for a proposed third round of talks.

It is claimed security agencies from Ethiopia and Kenya were involved in the kidnapping. They were abducted by men who were in three waiting cars. One of the cars, a black Toyota Prado was seized and detained at the Turbi police station on Monday but the two were missing amid speculation they had been taken across to Ethiopia. The ONLF officials were invited by the Kenyan government for peace negotiations.

The two officers charged, a Chief Inspector Painito Bera Ng’ang’ai and Constable James Ngaparini are attached to Nairobi Area CID. He added the officers had been identified by witnesses as having participated in the abduction of Mr Sulub Ahmed and Ali Hussein who were members of the ONLF negotiation team that was in Nairobi for a proposed third round of talks.

Last week, the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) wrote to President Uhuru Kenyatta expressing its deep concern regarding the safety of four Oromo refugees from Ethiopia who were arbitrarily arrested by Kenyan anti-terrorist squad from Isili area in Nairobi on different dates of operations and taken to unknown destinations.

According documents in our possession,  Mr. Tumsa Roba Katiso, (UNHCR attestation File#: NETH033036/1) was arrested by people claiming to by a team of Kenyan police, who arrived at the scene in two vehicles, on February 1, 2014 at around 10:00 AM from 2nd Avenue Eastleigh Nairobi on his way home from shopping. The other three refugees, Mr. Chala Abdalla, Mr. Namme Abdalla, and the third person whose name is not known yet were picked up from their home which is located in the same vicinity.

They are alleged to have been picked by the special police squad on the payroll of Addis Ababa. The whereabouts of those Ethiopian-Oromo refugees is unknown until the time of going to press.

The HRLHA is highly suspicious that those Ethiopian-Oromo refugees might have been deported to Ethiopia. And, in case those Ethiopian-Oromo refugees have been deported, the Ethiopian Government has a well-documented record of gross and flagrant violations of human rights, including the torturing of its own citizens who were involuntarily returned to the country.

The government of Ethiopia routinely imprisons such persons and sentences them to up to life in prison, and often impose death penalty. There have been credible reports of physical and psychological abuses committed against individuals in Ethiopian official prisons and other unofficial or secret detention centres.

Under Article 33 (1) of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (189 U.N.T.S. 150), to which Kenya is a party, “[n]o contracting state shall expel or forcibly return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his . . . political opinion.”

This obligation, which is also a principle of customary international law, applies to both asylum seekers and refugees, as affirmed by UNHCR’s Executive Committee and the United Nations General Assembly. By deporting the four refugees and others, the Kenyan Government will be breaching its obligations under international treaties as well as customary law.

Though some government officials denied it is official government policy, the Kenyan Government is well known for handing over refugees to the Ethiopian Government by violating the above mentioned international obligations. Engineer Tesfahun Chemeda, who died on August 24, 2013 in Ethiopia’s grand jail of Kaliti due1 to torture that was inflicted on him in that jail, was handed over to the Ethiopian government security agents in 2007 by the Kenyan police.

Tesfahun Chemeda was arrested by the Kenyan police, along with his close friend called Mesfin Abebe, in 2007 in Nairobi, Kenya, where both were living as refugees since 2005; and later deported to Ethiopia. The Ethiopian government detained them in an underground jail in a military camp for over one year, during which time they were subjected to severe torture and other types of inhuman treatments until when they were taken to court and changed with terrorism offences in December 2008. They were eventually sentenced to life imprisonment in March 2010.

“The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) is highly concerned about the safety and security of the above listed refugees who were recently arrested by the Kenyan anti-terrorist forces; and for those who are still living in Kenya,” said a communiqué petitioning President Kenyatta to intervene.

It urges the government of Kenya to respect the international treaties and obligations, and unconditionally release the arrested refugees, and refrain from handing over to the government of Ethiopia where they would definitely face torture and maximum punishments. It also urges all human rights agencies (local, regional and international) to join the HRLHA and condemn these illegal and inhuman acts of the Kenyan Government against defenseless refugees.

HRLHA requests western countries as well as international organizations to interfere in this matter so that the safety and security of the arrested refugees and those refugees currently staying in Kenya could be ensured.

In the recent past, the rendition of Oromo refugees has been in the news. Kenyan authorities have been accused of illegal rendition of Oromo refugees to Ethiopia   under the pretext of cracking down on the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) militias. While in Ethiopia, the individuals are allegedly arraigned before special courts where they are handed heavy jail sentences ranging from death to life in prison.

The fundamental objective of the Oromo liberation movement is to exercise the Oromo peoples’ right to national self-determination and end centuries of oppression and exploitation. The OLF believes the Oromo people are still being denied their fundamental rights by Ethiopian colonialism. According to Terfa Dibaba, head of the Oromo Relief Association (ORA) based in Germany, 21 Oromo refugees have been adducted in Nairobi and Moyale and illegally shipped to Addis Ababa where they have been locked in custody.

Some of the people abducted in Nairobi and Moyale and clandestinely whisked to Ethiopia and languishing in jail include: Jatani Kuuno, Liban Wario and Milki Doyo. These, ORA alleges, were abducted in a friend’s house in Moyale by Kenyans enlisted by the Ethiopia authorities and ferried in two Kenya government’s Land Rovers to Ethiopia.

Others are Dabaso Kutu, Libani Jatani and Deban Wario. They are currently on trial in Ethiopia. Impeccable source have confided that a Kenyan, Abrhim Dambi, the head of the head of Ethiopian Spy network detailed to track down political dissidents has now fled to Addis Ababa where he is hosted by the government after he was exposed.

Kasembeli Albert is a PR & Communications Consultant.

Amidst hunting refugees, Ethiopia destabilizes Kenya and undermines sovereignty:

Security authorities in Garissa County say they are concerned that the conflict between the Ethiopian government and the outlawed Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) is spilling over into Kenya with fatal consequences.

• 
  Armed members of the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) rebel group during a briefing in Aado District, Ethiopia, on October 9, 2011. A number of individuals associated with ONLF have been killed in a recent string of assassinations in Garissa, Kenya. [ONLF]
• 
  Abdi Mohammed, one of a number of Garissa residents who chased down a man suspected of being behind the recent killings of Ethiopian nationals, recovers from a gunshot wound at Garissa General Hospital on July 10th. [Bosire Boniface/Sabahi]

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ONLF is a rebel group that has been fighting with the Ethiopian government since 1984 for independence of the Ogaden region, a territory contested with Somalia during the Ogaden War in 1977-78 and inhabited by mostly ethnic Somalis.

Garissa County Director of Criminal Investigation Department Musa Yego said local authorities are concerned that the conflict may have spilled over into Kenya following a string of assassinations in Garissa of Ethiopian nationals suspected to be ONLF members.

On June 1st, Muslim cleric Sheikh Abdirashid Mohamed "Jelani" was shot dead after leaving Khalifa Mosque in Garissa town.

Then on June 17th, gunmen shot and seriously injured two men identified as Abdirashid Geel Qaad and Deek Mohammed Ahmed, who was Jelani's brother.

Ten days later on June 27th, gunmen shot Abdirashid Ali Bashir, 36, around Guled area in Garissa town.

The killings continued with Khathar Ismail, 28, shot dead at a cafeteria in Garissa town on July 1st, followed by the assassination on July 9th of his cousin Mohammed Hassan Abdi, a 48-year-old shopkeeper along Guled Road.

Yego said police have arrested five suspects, including three Ethiopians, in connection with the killings. The victims, he said, were all Ethiopian nationals with refugee status who had been in Kenya for several years.

"We have no doubt that they are part of a hit squad that has been responsible for some of the killings in Garissa," he told Sabahi, describing the arrests as a major breakthrough. "They have been killing under the cover of thenumerous al-Shabaab attacks. We hope to make more arrests and end the senseless killings."

Yego said they have reports that the assassins are allegedly Ethiopian government mercenaries and that the slain nationals were associated with ONLF.

"From our investigations we have established that [the victims] have links with the ONLF but we have not established the positions they held in the group," he told Sabahi.

He named the Ethiopian suspects awaiting trial as Abdirahaman Mohammed Hajir, Khalif Hassan and Abdirahman Abdi. The Kenyan suspects are Hussein Osman Abdi, a taxi driver accused of transporting the killers to their targets, and Abdishakur Mohamed Hassan, a landlord who allegedly provided them housing.

An analysis of the firearm recovered from Hajir has so far established that it was directly connected to five recent killings, including that of Jelani, Yego said.

Garissa County Commissioner Rashid Khator said he hopes that the arrest and prosecution of the suspects will bring some closure to residents.

"We do not want to be entangled in what is going on in Ethiopia, but we will definitely ensure that the conflict in other countries does not spill into Kenya," he told Sabahi. "Those fighting on Kenyan soil will be dealt with in accordance with Kenyan laws."

Taking advantage of prevailing insecurity

According to Ahmed Farah Mohamud, chairman of the Ogaden Refugee Council in Kenya, his organisation has provided numerous official reports to the Kenyan authorities concerning the killings.

"We have even provided names of the people we suspect to be assassins. But it is not until now that action has been taken and the suspects apprehended," he told Sabahi.

The killing of suspected ONLF members in Kenya has been ongoing since 2011, with a brief break in 2013, Mohamud said. "The killings in 2011 mostly occurred in Dadaab refugee camps while the 2012 killings occurred in Nairobi," he said. "This year the killings have mainly been executed in Garissa town."

"We feel that Ethiopian forces are taking advantage of the prevailing al-Shabaab attacks in Kenya to perform similar attacks against Ogaden political refugees in Kenya just as it happened in 2011 and 2012," he said, adding that the goal of the assassinations is to silence alleged dissent.

Ethiopia's Ambassador to Kenya Shamsudiin Ahmed said he was liaising with Kenyan authorities in the investigations to "get to the bottom of the serious matter".

"I am not aware of any Ethiopian mercenaries in Kenya," he told Sabahi. "Nevertheless, we are following up to establish the real identities and motives of the alleged killers."

Garissa County Women Representative Shukran Hussein Gure said Kenya's security apparatus should be relentless in pursuing the perpetrators of violence in the county.

"If those we host in the country have their own issues they should settle them in their country and not here," she said.

Gure praised the public for their collaboration in nabbing Hajir after he shot his victim.

"In the past residents have complained that suspects are mysteriously released after an arrest. We hope that the suspected criminals being handed to the police do not find their way out because it will be discouraging and endanger the residents who give out information to the security officers," Gure told Sabahi.