GENOCIDE Part 3

In our introductory statements on the subject of „Genocide,“ committed, against the Kunama people, by the present PFDJ’s regime of Ato Isaias Afwerki, we had very generally and succinctly mentioned only about the shocking news that the Kunama ethnic-group’s members, had been very indiscriminately detained, imprisoned, poisoned, killed and buried in mass-graves, by the regime’s commanders of operational zones, but, according to the regime’s ex-member of the “counter-intelligence unit, detailed cases of abuses on the spot were as follows:

1.- 10 children ranged from 9-13 years old were sentenced for 6

months at Halhale rehabilitation centre of the third operational

zone,

2.- 13 individuals aged 13-18 were sentenced 1-4 years in Adi

Quala languishing up to the present,

3.- Around 250 Kunama of all ages including mothers with their

little ones were sentenced 1-20 years in Adi Quala,

4.- 12 individuals were used for propaganda purposes,

5.- 2 individuals died during interrogation,

6.- 26 people were poisoned and killed and

7.- 28 Kunama ethnic members were brutally executed.”

First of all, let us state that, as a member of the “counter intelligence unit,” Ato Mengesteab Girmay was not only and insider and a well-informed person on such activities, but he was also an eye-witness of those atrocious killings and therefore the person himself and his reports are worthy of every credibility. He in fact, went on to point out that “explanations for the cases abused under items 4, 5, 6, and 7, it took 5 months (01/2007-05/2007) to rap up the out lined atrocities.”

No matter whatsoever, what kinds of “criminal” activities those “10 Kunama children, 9-13 years old” may have been guilty and accused of, but the very fact of snatching them from the care of their own parents and sending them 200 kilo-meters away from their homeland and keeping them for “6 months in a rehabilitation centre,” is in itself a very “criminal activity.” Everyone knows that children of that age are not fully responsible of their actions and therefore they should not have been either taken away from their homes or no severe punishments of that kind should have been imposed on them. The regime lacks of legal conduct.

To “sentence 1-4 years, 13 individuals aged 13-18” is again, not only illegal, but also an atrocious kind of cruelty which only the PFDJ’s type of a rogue regime could have ever come up with and commit.

To condemn “1-20 years, 250 Kunama of all ages including mothers with their little ones in Adi Quala’s,” high-prison, where usually only major criminals are kept, is an act of the highest treason, the PFDJ’s regime and Ato Isaias Afwerki himself have committed, not only against the Kunama people, but against the entire Eritrean people and they should be very ashamed of it. Punishing children, their mothers and their relatives, for no guilt of theirs, is an atrocious sense of judgement.

For those “2 Kunama individuals, died during interrogation, for those 26 people poisoned, killed and buried, and for the 28 Kunama ethnic members brutally executed” there is no any other hope than just pray to God that their souls may rest in peace, but all the Kunama people at home and abroad, the Voice of the Kunama People/Kunama Agara Mena (VKP/KAM,) the Kunama Civic Society/Kunama Narkaba Tummada (KCS/KNT) and all the Kunama people in general, are very sorrowfully appealing to the PFDJ’s regime and to its President, Ato Isaias Afwerki, to urgently and immediately free all those remaining Kunama children and adults, who have been very unjustly and illegally detained, imprisoned and still languishing in those deplorable prisons. We, as the concerned members of the Kunama ethnic-group, are also appealing to all of the International Human Rights Organisations, not only to urge the regime to release, as soon as possible, those Kunama children, their mothers and adult members, but also to actively intervene and protect the Kunama people from the PFDJ regime’s all-out ethnic-cleansing activities against the Kunama race. The hidden activities of the present Eritrean regime, which have reached a high degree of “cruelty against humanity,” are now being clearly abhorred and openly reported also by its own concerned members. It is high time that the international community too very urgently intervened and put a stop to such kinds of power abuses, before it is too late, in the like of Rwanda’s case. The world cannot sit back and watch that “human rights abuses, cruelty against humanity and ethnic-cleansing activities” be committed and carried out in front of it and do nothing to stop them.

Continuing his detailed report, Ato Mengesteab Girmay, to whom all our due respects, gratitude and appreciation go, affirmed that “to accomplish the project (to rap up the out lined atrocities,) the regime (PFDJ) has come up with a new dramatised fiction. The authors (writers of the fiction) were first major General Omer Tewil, the commander of the third operational zone, Major Tekleberhan Hagos (weddi ayney) and the Minister of information, Mr. Ali Abdu. The prime motive was to look for Kunama individuals who are well articulated in Tigrinya language so that they can easily deceive Eritreans through mass media or propaganda. They were forced to confess and blame themselves that they were those who planted anti-vehicle mines in Shambakko, Geze, Erab, Bimbilna, and Addi Teklehaimanot at the beginning of 2001.”

Let us here very clearly declare that in all this “fiction” and in its

execution, the following individuals,

1.-“Major General Omer Tewil, the commander of the third

operational zone,

2.- the information Minister, Mr. Ali Abdu,”

3.- the one-time governor of the “Gash-Barka region, Al-Said Mustafa

Nur Hussein” are related, not only in their ethnic and religious identities, but they are also the prime co-responsible elements for the beginning and continuation of the ethnic-cleansing activities, against the Kunama people, in the Kunama land as well as in the neighbouring regions. Those individuals, including their aids like,

1.- “Major General Philipos W/Yohannes, the previous commander

of the Gash-Barka region,

2.- Major Tekleberhan Hagos (Weddiayney,) staff intelligence

member of the third operational zone,

3.- Captain Kibrom Seyoum Tsaada Guna, head of the counter

intelligence unit of the third operational zone, and

4.- Major Bereket Weldegebriel (qewihi)- Staff intelligence unit of

the 25th regiment” are and will remain the major accountable subjects accused of the “crime against humanity,” committed against the Kunama people and indicted in the court of justice. The Kunama shall see that those criminals get their due retribution through the Kunama people’s traditional justice system. Only so is a true retribution rendered.

Analysing the “fiction,” Mr. Mengesteab Girmay reported that, “underlining the shortage of the propaganda material at hands, Mr. Ali Abdu was so grateful and once things are arranged well by the commanders of the third operational zone, he agreed to send the best camera man and journalist. He thought it could be a great opportunity to blackmail the Woyane (Ethiopian government) in the eyes of all Eritreans.”

It is amazing and, at the same time, very saddening that the existence of a human-being’s life, the lives of innocent members of a “peaceful, peace-loving and conflict-avoiding” ethnic-group and the existence of that very race is being put at stake, for mere “propaganda purposes.” The actors in that “fiction,” have left and are leaving behind a legacy of horrible cruelty which is very likely to have its dire consequences in the Kunama communities and in the respective communities of those criminal gangs themselves. Those are the discord-sowing elements of our society.

In their pursue to find hair in an egg “next, the leaders of the third operational zone, Major Tekleberhan Hagos and Kibrom Seyoum have elected 12 Kunama prisoners from Mendefera for the mission at hand and took them to Boshoka. In order to make the mission successful, those prisoners were treated well in all conditions by stuffing them with food, clothing, cigarettes etc. hereafter, they were taken to the sites where mines were blasted to rehearse and took lessons on how to plant a mine though they were all soldiers. They were told by the mission organisers that they will be free once they accomplished the given task. Later, completing the first phase of the fictitious operation, Ali Abdu sent Girmay Debesay as a journalist, Mohammed as a camera man and Alem as a driver with all the needed media equipments to report and record the drama in Boshoka.” It is our conviction, that the “information Minister, Ali Abdu,” was the masterminding man in this inhuman operation and therefore he carries the major responsibility of those Kunama people’s lives. The department he commands is notorious for its invented stories, camouflages and provision of deceitful information materials, but that it would go down to that depth to fathom out such kinds of nefarious propaganda material, surpasses every imagination.

“To decorate the drama in utmost level and colour, the prisoners were well advised, taught and trained to say --- they were stooges sponsored by the government of Ethiopia and planted mines….. etc… On the other hand they were also told to praise and thank the PFDJ regime for the good handlings albeit to their wrong doings. Amazingly enough, the contribution of Girmay Debessay – the journalist in organising that drama was marvellous. What else can he do if ordered by Ali Abdu?”

This drama, conjured out by the PFDJ regime’s “information minister,” clearly explains and proves how much of the past and of the present information material provided has been and is being invented “out of the blue” and offered, mainly for the consumption of its blind supporters. On the diplomatic level, it is an obvious insult and offence to the Ethiopian government which being falsely and unjustly accused of the crimes, the PFDJ’s regime itself is committing through its information department. Who could ever trust and believe this regime’s official news-media and the information materials provided by its various institutions?

Mr. Mengesteab Girmay admits: “I was in person in the process, I had been astonished by the drama; and the following were the innocent victims during the scandal

After the successful completion of the dramatised project, the prisoners were immediately taken to the prison site of Maidima for which the intelligence unit of the 25th regiment is accountable. There after, the prisoners were told to dig a 4m x 4m hole with 5m depth around their prison cells. Additional 14 Kunama prisoners were also brought from Addi Quala to help the 12 prisoners in digging the hole. Now and then, the personnel of the prison site have used to tell the purpose of the hole as for a toilet. At other times they said for a water reservoir. Unfortunately they were digging their own permanent home without their knowledge.”

Since the whole “fiction” and its dramatic execution has bee foiled, by Mr. Mengesteab Girmay’s responsible intervention and the whole of the secretly carried out poisoning, killing and mass-berying of those Kunama prisoners have come out to the daylight and the entire Kunama populations has been badly shocked, the PFDJ’s regime, Ato Isaias Afwerki, “the commanders of the third operational zone and the intelligent unit of the 25th regiment” are obliged to officially apologise to the Kunama people, free all the Kunama still languishing in the regime’s prison cell around the country and, as a gesture of its good will, the PFDJ’s regime should see that its “information Minister, Ali Abdu,” his accomplices, “Major General Omer Tewil” and his companions be given the punishment they deserve; if not, the Kunama have all the reason to continue to believe and claim that the regime itself is not only yielding to the criminal activities of its military forces, but itself too is waging an open ethnic-cleansing war against the Kunama people and against their Kunama race.

Finally, let us put it bluntly that the PFDJ’s regime of Ato Isaias Afwerki owes the Kunama people, an official apology for the injustices itself and its forces have been committing all these years and assure them that similar crimes will not be committed upon them any longer. We the Kunama people, who have been taking an active part in following and condemning the on-going ethnic-cleansing operations of such criminal forces against our race, shall be continuing to do so until we see clear steps from the regime’s authorities which will really bring relief to the troubled lives of

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