Mager Media – Monday, July 25, 2022 (Hamle 18, 2014 EC)
Today’s news updates are as follows:
- Detained Fano members have issued a statement;
- Over 700 Amharas abducted by the Abiy regime from Gojjam were found in Afar Region;
- Residents of Gonder city are facing a water shortage crisis and
- Amhara advocacy groups have called on the International Commission for Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) to investigate the ethnic cleansing and genocide against Amharas
Members of Amhara Fano Unity have made an appeal to the greater Amhara people
Members of Amhara Fano Unity issued a statement from Bahir Dar Sebatamit Prison (Bahir Dar city, Amhara Region, Ethiopia) stating the Amhara administration which attacks and wrongfully defames Fano will not have longevity.
The 14 members of Fano Unity outlined that the joint statement from the national intelligence, peace and security, and joint-task force is not based on truth.
The statement issued by the membership was as follows:
The 14 members of Amhara Fano Unity accused of attempting to overthrow, kill and dismantle the police and administrative officials, have on Thursday, June 30, 2022 (Sene 23, 2014 EC) begun to have our matter reviewed closely in Bahir Dar primary courthouse.
On June 27, 2022 (Sene 20, 2014 EC) members of the Amhara Fano Unity gathered in Bahir Dar town for public discussions in a well known hotel and was not a hidden event, due to the horrific ethnic-based massacre of our kin.
As it is known, exercising the right to organize for a private discussion in the absence of a state of emergency is an individual right. The statement issued by the national bureau of intelligence, peace and security on July 23, 2022 (Hamle 16, 2014 EC) against us the 14 Fano members was wrongful.
The accusation filed by the police against us of attempting to overthrow the government, and kill officials was false, and the additional accusation by the joint-task force of possessing firearms and documents capable of committing terrorism is also false. The Ethiopian people should be made aware that aside from our phones, the allegedly seized terrorism documents and weapons did not belong to us, the 14 Fano members.
We, the 14 Fano members were arrested for the simple reasons for struggling for the safety of the Amhara people and the unity of Ethiopia.
Most of us served during the invasion by the TPLF on various fronts. For this reason, we demand that the government and the national intelligence, peace and security joint taskforce cease disseminating falsehoods, address the legitimate concerns of the Amhara people and immediately release all arbitrarily arrested Fano members including us.
To the greater Amhara people, heed our call!
- There will be no Amhara land which are handed over to the enemy by wrongful jailing or attacks against Fano.
- The Amhara people have committed no crime but rather are targets of the government’s deliberate conspiracies.
- Fano is the honorable and heroic heritage of the Amhara people and labeling Fano as “irregular” or “extremist” has no acceptance.
Amharas abducted by the Abiy regime have been discovered in the Afar desert
Over two months ago, thousands of detained Amharas abducted by the Abiy government’s abduction squad from various parts of Amhara Region were taken to a camp in Yetnora Kebele (ward) of Dejen town, of these, over 700 have been discovered in a camp called Sula located in the Bure area of Afar Region.
The youth have called for help from all concerned institutions of human rights, justice and media platforms across Ethiopia, and described facing abuses for 15 days at unknown camps in Debre Markos and Yetnora Kebele, Gozamin Woreda after their abduction from other areas in Amhara Region during the government’s crackdown dubbed “law enforcement operation”.
The abduction squad abducted the victims on May 29, 2022 (Ginbot 21, 2014 EC) tying their hands and legs with electric wiring and blindfolding them and now over 700 suffer in Sula camp in Bure, a barren desert with scarce food and water.
The detainees have issued a plea citing that some prisoners have already died from hunger and heat stroke, and call on human rights institutions.
Residents of Gonder city are facing a water shortage
Residents of Gonder city are facing an intense water shortage and are getting access to water from pipes one day in a month for only a few hours.
The reason for this is that the primary water source for Gonder, the Angereb dam was constructed in 1978 EC, has been filled with sediments, and insufficient water has been retrieved from the Denbiya underground water extraction system constructed in 2000 EC.
The Angereb dam which was meant to function for only 20 years has operated for far longer, and the more modern underground water extraction system in Denbiya which was built with seven large dugouts was built to process water with capacity of 17,000 cubic meters per day but has been unable to process more than 3,000 cubic meters per day.
Residents have said there are no water source alternatives other than the two specified sources.
Residents say they have become dependent on water collection stations and that the city’s population is not receiving adequate support and is facing a crisis according to Reporter Magazine which received the information from the city administration public relations office.
The people of Gonder at this time number an estimated 750,000 and the daily water demand is over 70,000 cubic meters. Both primary water pipe sources along with the seasonal rains produce 13,000 cubic meters of water. After the rainy season is done, and people are unable to utilize the rain, along with the dam’s production shortage, there will be a worsened situation in the city.
Amhara advocacy groups have called on the International Commission for Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) to investigate the ethnic cleansing (genocide) crimes against Amharas
The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) appointed International Commission for Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia (ICHREE) has set out to investigate international human rights violations in connection with the civil war in Ethiopia and has begun a five day official visit. Although the ICHREE was established over one year ago, it remained unable to visit Ethiopia to investigate the human rights violations until now. The ICHREE, based in Nairobi, Kenya and Kampala, Uganda, has only one month left to complete its assignment according to its mandate.
As it has one month remaining to complete its investigation, it has communicated it will spend its five days in Ethiopia speaking to various groups.
Prior to the group’s departure to Ethiopia to fulfill its duties, Mager Media has confirmed from reliable sources that the group spoke to various organizations (which operate outside of Ethiopia). In Ethiopia the human rights violations over the past four years, the ethnic-based massacres, and especially the state-sanctioned genocide against Amhara people have been priorities which have prompted demands for independent investigations and prior to the ICHREE’s departure to Ethiopia, Amhara advocacy groups which met with them discussed: that the investigation of the ICHREE should not focus solely on the northern war and should also focus on the ethnic cleansing and genocide committed in the Oromia and Benishangul-Gumuz Regions, which they elaborated on in detail to the group.
It is known that the ICHREE in its one month investigation, will have limitations in covering the ethnic cleansing committed in Oromia, Benishangul-Gumuz and other Regions of Ethiopia.
Amhara advocates who participated in the discussion informed Mager that there needs to be intense efforts to ensure that the group’s period of investigation is lengthened, that there needs to be continued calls for independent investigations into the state-sanctioned genocide of Amharas.
