Ethiopia lessons in repression: violations of academic problems, HRW

the disputes. On the contrary, they have often led otherwise peaceful students to take unplanned
actions that have eventually resulted in destructions. 138
The crackdown on high school protests in Oromia in 2002 described at the beginning of this chapter was
reminiscent of a crackdown in the same region two years earlier. On March 9, 2000, high school students in
Ambo demonstrated after authorities arrested four students who were sent to express concerns about the raging
forest fires. EHRCO reported that students threw stones at police who tried to enter the high school compound to
disperse the demonstration and that police responded by first firing into the air and then beating students
indiscriminately, beating one student to death and wounding nine others. The Oromia Support Group reported
that 300 civilians had been detained after the protest. 139 An educator said a woman boldly stood up in an Ambo
community meeting he attended and accused security forces of having beaten her nephew to death. He recalls
that local officials claimed the boy had been killed by stones thrown by other students but promised to investigate
his death. As far as Ambo residents know, he told Human Rights Watch, nothing came of the investigation. 140
A group of Oromo university students demonstrated in protest and raised the issue of the death of the
Ambo student in a meeting with then president of Oromia Regional State, who reportedly dismissed their
concerns and claimed that students had stoned another student to death. 141 High school students also protested in
towns around Oromia and police reportedly killed a girl in Dembi Dolo. 142 EHRCO reported a similar chain of
events in Nekemte, where students initially attempted to enlist local officials to help extinguish the fires but,
considering their overtures to have been rebuffed, staged a demonstration on April 13. Special Forces surrounded
the school compound and fired into the air. A melee ensued in which students threw stones and police chased and
beat them. Several students were wounded and dozens arrested. 143
Another student demonstration was put down violently in Awassa in December 2000. Local and college
officials reportedly grew angry when students at Awassa Teachers College went on a hunger strike to protest
living conditions on the campus. Tensions quickly escalated, and, on the first day of the strike, large numbers of
students began to protest. Armed security forces came to the campus and beat students. The following day,
students again clashed with police, who fired their weapons reportedly killing one student. Junior high and high
school students demonstrated to express their solidarity with the college students the following week, a
demonstration police dispersed by firing into the air; some sixty students fleeing the scene were arrested and
others beaten. A high school student died after being hit in the neck by a stone. Schools in the town were closed
for two weeks. 144 High school students in Awassa demonstrated again in May 2001, this time protesting
conditions of peasants in Hossana and Hadiya where many of their families lived. Police again responded with
guns, reportedly killing six students. 145
Lethal repression of political protests has unfortunately been a recurring theme in Ethiopia, not only in
protests involving students. The most deadly crackdowns on demonstrations in 2002 took place in the towns of
Awassa and Tepi of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples’ State. On May 24, 2002, thousands of
Sidama residents of Awassa and neighboring villages came to town to demonstrate against a plan to change the
city’s administrative status. The police apparently claim that demonstrators shot each other. 146 However,
eyewitnesses interviewed by Human Rights Watch, journalists, and other researchers unanimously confirm that
138 Ethiopian Human Rights Council, “Stop the Repeated Violation of the Rights of Students,” 37 th Special Report, January
23, 2001.
139 Ethiopian Human Rights Council, “Human Rights Violations in Ambo,” 31 st Special Report, April 20, 2000; Oromia
Support Group, Summary Press Release no. 31, July 2000.
140 Human Rights Watch interview, Addis Ababa, July 26, 2002.
141 Human Rights Watch interview, Nairobi, July 10, 2002.
142 Human Rights Watch interview, Nairobi, July 10, 2002.
143 Ethiopian Human Rights Council, “Repeated Violation of Freedom of Expression,” 33 rd Special Report, August 31, 2000.
144 Ethiopian Human Rights Council, “Stop the Repeated Violation of the Rights of Students.”
145 Human Rights Watch interview, Addis Ababa, July 26, 2002.
146 “Ethiopia: Interview with president of the southern nations region (SNNPR),” IRIN News, July 19, 2002.
Human Rights Watch
28
January 2003, Vol. 15,No. 2 (A)