Ethiopia lessons in repression: violations of academic problems, HRW
Ethiopia lessons in repression: violations of academic problems, HRW
Ethiopia lessons in repression: violations of academic problems, HRW
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were obliged to move to other areas <strong>of</strong> the country to accommodate the language change, and many <strong>of</strong> these were<br />
demoted, sent to remote areas, or otherwise harassed as punishment for hav<strong>in</strong>g criticized the policy. 187<br />
Fasil, who taught <strong>in</strong> Hossana from 1992 to 1998 and has now been granted asylum <strong>in</strong> Canada, was one <strong>of</strong><br />
the teachers who compla<strong>in</strong>ed. He described the impact be<strong>in</strong>g “blacklisted” had on him as follows:<br />
I was blacklisted three times, once for dissent<strong>in</strong>g over the language policy. . . . For example, they<br />
wrote the education <strong>of</strong>fice and told them to cut <strong>of</strong>f my salary as a warn<strong>in</strong>g, when I went to<br />
compla<strong>in</strong> they said they would make enquiries. . . . Because I am not married and I do not have<br />
wife and children to support, these <strong>problems</strong> don’t hurt me as much. I could eat with friends.<br />
Another physics teacher and a math teacher were also blacklisted. They had families . . . . At one<br />
time, they demoted me to teach <strong>in</strong> junior high school (seventh and eighth grades), and not <strong>in</strong> my<br />
specialized field.<br />
I applied for teacher tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> Nazret, and was denied. I got no response to requests to attend<br />
summer courses for cont<strong>in</strong>u<strong>in</strong>g education. The government refused to let me go accept a<br />
scholarship for further studies <strong>in</strong> Germany. I was the only teacher who had studied electricity,<br />
but when I applied to Nazret Teachers College to study teach<strong>in</strong>g electricity, the Education Office<br />
refused to issue me a letter say<strong>in</strong>g that I had been a teacher dur<strong>in</strong>g the past years. I compla<strong>in</strong>ed to<br />
the m<strong>in</strong>istry <strong>of</strong> education that I was refused these opportunities and tried to assure them that I<br />
only wanted further tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g so I could come back and teach. The m<strong>in</strong>istry did not respond. 188<br />
Many teachers cont<strong>in</strong>ue to suffer abuses as a result <strong>of</strong> the still-evolv<strong>in</strong>g policy <strong>of</strong> ethnic federalism, as<br />
they were when ETA sent the above-mentioned memorandum <strong>of</strong> teachers’ concerns to the government <strong>in</strong> July<br />
1992. In Nazret, for example, <strong>in</strong> the Oromo Regional State, Amharic-speak<strong>in</strong>g teachers compla<strong>in</strong> that all non-<br />
Oromos are treated as second-class citizens. At the same time, Oromo-speak<strong>in</strong>g teachers who have chosen not to<br />
jo<strong>in</strong> the OPDO lament that they are branded as sympathizers <strong>of</strong> the OLF. A government delegate present at the<br />
mandatory July teachers’ workshop <strong>in</strong> Nazret did not dispute that non-party members may be marg<strong>in</strong>alized:<br />
“There is no seat between two chairs,” he told the Oromo teachers, suggest<strong>in</strong>g that failure to belong to the<br />
government satellite party could lead to their dismissal. 189<br />
Thirteen Oromos <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g seven teachers, a former teacher who produced educational radio programs for<br />
the Oromia State Education Bureau, a twelfth grade student, a civil servant, and two traders were arrested and<br />
deta<strong>in</strong>ed <strong>in</strong> Sendafa from May 1 to June 21, 2002 on charges they collaborated with the OLF. 190 One <strong>of</strong> the<br />
deta<strong>in</strong>ed teachers said his sister had come to visit him at the Sendafa police camp and, while one guard had told<br />
her she could speak to her brother, another came and threatened to beat her if she didn’t leave. Family members<br />
<strong>of</strong> another said that police had <strong>in</strong>s<strong>in</strong>uated they must be OLF members if they were visit<strong>in</strong>g OLF members <strong>in</strong><br />
prison and threatened to arrest them if they cont<strong>in</strong>ued to visit. A lawyer who attempted to visit one <strong>of</strong> the<br />
deta<strong>in</strong>ees said the guards refused to allow him <strong>in</strong>.<br />
One <strong>of</strong> the teachers said that police <strong>of</strong>ficers told him that the district court decl<strong>in</strong>ed to release them on bail<br />
earlier because high-level politicians had <strong>in</strong>structed them not to. They appealed the denial <strong>of</strong> bail to the Oromia<br />
State Supreme Court, which later ordered their release on bail. When Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terviewed them <strong>in</strong><br />
late July, they had yet to be re<strong>in</strong>stated <strong>in</strong> their jobs despite written requests to local, state, and national authorities.<br />
187 Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terview, Addis Ababa, July 20, 2002.<br />
188 Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terview, Nairobi, July 10, 2002. Fasil enrolled <strong>in</strong> AAU <strong>in</strong> 1999 to study educational<br />
adm<strong>in</strong>istration. He was active <strong>in</strong> the student community and became spokesman for the students dur<strong>in</strong>g the strike. As noted<br />
above, he fled the country after be<strong>in</strong>g arrested and tortured <strong>in</strong> the wake <strong>of</strong> the 2001 student strike.<br />
189 Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terview, Addis Ababa, July 25, 2002.<br />
190 The follow<strong>in</strong>g is based on Human Rights Watch <strong>in</strong>terviews and review <strong>of</strong> documents, Addis Ababa and Sendafa, July 30,<br />
2002.<br />
Human Rights Watch<br />
35<br />
January 2003, Vol. 15,No. 2 (A)