Ethiopia: Involvement of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in any attacks against non-combatants, including specifically whether or not there is any record of OLF leaders setting fire to a village and killing 144 individuals, or forcing them to jump off cliffs (1976-2003)

For information on the involvement of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in attacks against non-combatants, please consult ETH36657.E of 9 April 2001, KEN33251.E of 25 November 1999, and ETH14712 of 23 July 1993.

According to the United Kingdom's Asylum and Appeals Directorate,

the police blamed the OLF for grenade attacks in Addis Ababa in April 1997 which killed two and injured 75. Other fatal attacks in Dire Dawa and Harar in 1997 were attributed to both the OLF and the al-Ittihad al-Islamia. The murders in March 1997 of the Mayor of Dolo Mena, a Danish nurse and a passing motorist were also blamed on the OLF. 150 to 200 suspected OLF militants attacked the Jeldu Wereda police station on 13 July 1997, killing three policemen and wounding five (Dec. 1998).

In September 1999, the Ethiopian government claimed that its forces had captured 180 members of the OLF and killed 31 including its leader who was allegedly "personally responsible" for the killing of "more than 350" people in four different localities of eastern Ethiopia since 1995 (ARB Sept. 1999, 13660). His victims allegedly included "70 children and elderly men and women in Degaga locality of Kuni Woods (district)...and 27 Ethiopian Somali in Borenda locality of Barka district" (ibid.).

Amnesty International reports that in 1992, over 20,000 Oromos suspected to be members of the OLF were arrested throughout the Oromo region and in Addis Ababa, where "many Oromos live" (AI Apr. 1995. 15). Although the majority of them were released in mid-1994, 280 remained in custody (ibid., 16). These 280 were "charged with genocide, armed rebellion and homicide" in early 1995 for their alleged implication in the killings of more than 150 people in April 1992 in Bedeno town in eastern Ethiopia (ibid.). An inquiry into the incident conducted by a Council of Representatives attributed the killings to OLF militias although its report was never published (ibid., 17). OLF militias who reportedly controlled the area at the time "reportedly detained or abducted more than 150 people, killed them and threw their bodies over a cliff and into a ravine" (ibid.).

Information on whether the OLF was involved in setting fire to a village could not be found among the sources consulted by the Research Directorate.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Africa Research Bulletin: Political, Social and Cultural Series (ARB) [Oxford]. September 1999. Vol. 36, No. 8. "Ethiopia: OLF Defeated?"

Amnesty International. April 1995. Ethiopia: Accountability Past and Present: Human Rights in Transition. Amnesty International: London Secretariat (AI Index: AFR/25/6/95).

United Kingdom, Country Information and Policy Unit, Asylum and Appeals Policy Directorate. December 1998. Ethiopia Country Assessment.

Additional Sources Consulted

Africa Confidential

Country Reports

IRB Databases

Keesing's Record of World Events.

NEXIS

Resource Centre. Country File. Ethiopia

ICRC

Internet sites including:

All Africa

Relief Web

UNHCR

Search engines including:

Google