The petition
Ethiopians plead for justice . . . Help us Extradite Mengestu.
Dear Sirs and Madams,
As you may be aware, on Tuesday Dec 12, 2006 Ethiopian court has found the former ruler of Ethiopia Mengestu Haile Mariam (1975 – 1991) guilty of genocide. For the thousands who were witnesses and survivors of this period, the verdict was bitter-sweet. After waiting three decades we are told that this man may never serve his sentence because the government of Zimbabwe, which has granted him exile, has refused to extradite him.
Countless of Ethiopians paid the ultimate price. According to Amnesty international several thousand to perhaps tens of thousands of men, woman and children, were killed, tortured, and imprisoned. Other sources estimated that, during 1977 – 78, about 30,000 people had perished as a result of the Red Terror and the harsh conditions in prisons, kebele jails, and concentration camps. During the Red Terror in Addis Ababa, the mutilation of bodies of political dissidents, the dumping of bodies along roads and street corners was common place. During 1984 – 85 famine in northern Ethiopia, Mengistu’s scheme to resettle 1.5 million people to southern Ethiopia proved to be catastrophic as those forced from their land fled to Sudan or tried to flee back to their northern homelands. International observers’ medical groups and humanitarian organizations have estimated between 50,000 to 100,000 people died as a result of Mengistu’s resettlement policy. Finally, Mengistu refused to allow food to be distributed in areas he deemed unworthy, as they were located in rebel regions.
The survivors were left to wonder the globe for over thirty years, some toiled in refugee camps, fleeing starvation or the gun barrel, the snipers, the firing squads. A whole generation has been suspended, traumatized it became the lost generation wondering around the world in its quest for a new home, one that would help restore its human dignity.
The twenty first century, has set historical record bringing to justice dictators wherever they may be. We saw in 2001 the former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinoche stripped of his immunity by the House of Commons and flown back home to face prosecution. Hussein Habre of Chad was brought to trial by a Belgium court. More recently in June 2003 the UN-backed Sierra Leone Special Court indicted the warlord Charles Taylor for atrocities committed against humanity in Liberia (Taylor’s home land), Sierra Leone and neighboring countries.
We recall that in 1996 the African Unity and its council of ministers endorsed a plan of action against impunity. Subsequently in 2000, the AU condemned genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in the continent and pledged to cooperate with relevant institutions in the continent and outside that are set up to prosecute perpetrators.
Esteemed leaders of the free world, we plead with you to help us. In the names of the millions of victims of Mengestu Haile-Mariam’s atrocities, and in the name of thousands of witnesses and survivors, the dictator Mengestu must face justice. He must be extradited now.
c.c. Mr. Bush, President of the United States
c.c. Ms.Gertrude Mongella, Head of State of African Union
c.c. Mr. Denis Sassou-Nguesso, Chiar of the AU Assembly of Heads of State and Government
c.c. Alpha Oumar Konare, Chairman of the African Union Commission
c.c. Mr. Joseph Biden, Head of Foreign Relations Committee, United States Senate
c.c. Mr. Tom Lantos, Chairman of Committee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Representatives
c.c. Ms. Irene Khan, Head of Amnesty International
c.c. Minky Worden Media Director Human Rights Watch International Court of Justice
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