Panelists describe first-hand accounts of violent Gambella region.
By Jon Swedien
February 28, 2006

On December 13, 2003, 420 Anuak people of the Gambella region of Ethiopia were killed.

Thursday during the Pan African Conference, a panel was assembled, by Minnesota student Okony Cham, to discuss the Anuak Community. Cham, an Anuak, assembled two other Anuak students, Obang Okello from Bethel University and Apee Jobi of MSU, for the panel. The third member was journalist Doug McGill.

The panel’s discussion focused on the Dec. 13, 2003, killings, the events, attitudes and tension leading to violence and the violence which ensued afterwards.

The larger Ethiopian society has, for decades, marginalized the Anuak, according to Cham. Cham said that during the Ethiopian Famine in 1984, 60,000 people from the interior of Ethiopia called “highlanders” by the Anuak were armed and placed in Anuak villages causing violence.

During the Sudan civil war, the United Nations placed Nuer refugees, a historical antagonist to the Anuak, in Gambella, according to McGill. Because they were coming from a civil war, the Nuer were armed, whereas the Anuak were unarmed because of sweeps by the government, which removed arms. McGill said it was a recipe for violence.

“They were only too happy if the Nuer, as proxies of the Ethiopian government, murdered Anuak,” said McGill, explaining Ethiopia’s stance towards the Anuak.

Okello and Jobi explained during their presentations the rift between the Anuak and the rest of Ethiopia.

“The killing wasn’t an isolated incident,” Jobi said. It was a “portion of a larger issue.”

Lama is a defamatory word used by Ethiopians to insult the Anuak, said Jobi; it is on the level of an ethnic slur. Okello stressed, however, that the Anuak have no plans to reciprocate such hateful actions.

“We want you to understand we don’t speak with a hate towards Ethiopia, we don’t like the system,” said Okello who is an executive chair for the Anuak Justice Council, which works with groups like Amnesty International and Genocide Watch to stop violence in Gambella.

McGill said he became involved with the Anuak four years ago when he started hearing stories about oppression. McGill said he started to hear about the lack of schools, healthcare and jobs for the Anuak.

McGill said Dec.13, 2003, was a turning point in Anuak history because the Ethiopian government — not proxies — executed the killings.

According to a Human Rights Watch Report “Targeting the Anuak,” on Dec. 13, 2003, an armed group, allegedly Anuak, ambushed “highlander” civilians. The ambush was on eight persons including persons from the Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs, all of who were killed, according to the report. The perpetrators were never caught but were suspected to be armed Anuaks. According to the report, the probable reason for hostilities was a proposed fourth Sudanese refugee camp in Anuak territory. Genocide Watch, in its report “Operation Sunny Mountain,” hesitates to state the killers were Anuak. They discredit the Ethiopian government’s explanation that Anuak were responsible for the killings.

The Human Rights Watch report states Ethiopian soldiers and “highlander” civilians killed Anuak men, raped Anuak women and burned 400 homes.

The massacre lasted three days, according to Genocide Watch, and it was estimated that those who died or disappeared may amount to 1,500 people. According to McGill, soldiers had lists of educated Anuak leaders. McGill said the soldiers asked for people on the list and, when found, those people were shot.

Organizations such as Genocide Watch, Human Rights Watch and members of Thursday’s panel all state the Ethiopian military was involved in the Dec. 13, 2003 massacre. However the Ethiopian Government denies any responsibility and contends the massacre was executed by the Nuer. According to Genocide Watch, some Nuer were also targeted in the attacks.

Two years after the incident, Genocide Watch claims that none of the Dec. 13, 2003 perpetrators have been apprehended or tried.

According to McGill, since the Dec. 13, 2003, killings, 10 percent of the Anuak population is in refugee camps.

There are 12 Anuak who are MSU students, according to Cham.

“Students here form a good part of the Anuak leadership,” said McGill.

“Any help we Minnesotans can give, we should,” said McGill.

Thursday’s panel stated there are two different reactions by the Anuak. Some have formed groups and are conducting random assaults on “highlanders” while others have taken a peaceful approach.

Faisal Mohamed is a student at MSU. He is not an Anuak but an Oromo. Despite the Oromo compromising 40 percent of the Ethiopian population and being the largest population in the nation, Mohamed says the Oromo are told they are not Ethiopians and are being repressed as well.

Mohamed stated the Ethiopian government has been jailing student protesters and have conducted fraudulent elections.

Mohamed’s statements concur with reports by Amnesty International which claim that eight Oromo students at Addid Ababa University were arrested and detained for protesting the regional government. In some places live ammunition rounds were used to scatter crowds and several students were killed.

Anuak were also warned not to organize memorial services after the massacre. Okello partook in a memorial service in St. Paul. Okello said the head of Genocide Watch read the organization’s eight stages of genocide and spoke on how the plight of the Anuak meet this description. According to the Anuak Justice Council, when the news of what occurred in St. Paul reached Gambella, prominent Anuak Omot Ojullu Abella, who had been arrested just prior to the massacre, was beaten.

“My and other leaders’ relatives were thrown in jail,” said Okello. He said he has had family killed and thrown in jail and most of his family is now in exile.

Jon Swedien is a Reporter staff writer at Minnesota State University Mankato