H.E Dr. Lam Akol
Sudanese Foreign Minister
Embassy of Republic of Sudan
2210 Massachusetts Ave. NW
Washington DC 20008
Tel.: (202) 338-8565
Fax: (202) 667- 2406
Your Excellency,
We would like to use this opportunity to express our deep appreciation to the people and government of the Sudan for the kind and generous hospitality they have rendered to our Oromo fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters who had fled their homeland to save their lives from successive dictatorial Ethiopian regimes. The Oromo people choose the Sudan as their save-haven from the brutal regimes of Ethiopia due to long standing historical relations between our peoples.
We are sadly distressed by events that have transpired since mid-November, 2006 - to our dismay the Sudan government has started detaining Oromo refugees and involuntarily repatriating them back to Ethiopia where they would definitely face death, torture, and imprisonment. Needless to mention that the human rights records of the Ethiopian government against Oromo and other peoples of the country has been tainted with blood and innocent lives. Human Right Watch, Amnesty International, and US State Department\'s Human Right Reports on Ethiopia have repeatedly reported the brutality of Meles regime in Ethiopia.
We Oromos residing in Diaspora hereby appeal to your friendly government to stop the repatriation of Oromo refugees from your territory. As you know, refugees are powerless and weak individuals whose safety depends on the protection of host countries. It is unbefitting for the Sudan, a country prominent for protecting the weak and the vulnerable, to defy its history and tradition and hand these refugees for a slaughter. We the undersigned humbly appeal to your government to protect Oromo refugees and stop repatriation of Oromo refugees to Ethiopia.
Respectfully,