Kidnapped, detained, tortured - a victim of the Ethiopia’s secret war

29 November 2012  |  Ogaden Online 

Kidnapped, detained, tortured -a
victim of the Ethiopia’s secret war
Ogaden people are one of the few nations that are still under colonial occupation. They are tormented and subjected to immerse sufferings in the hands of their occupier, Ethiopia. The Emotional and mental sufferings they bear, the physical scars and tortures which could be seen on their frail and malnutrition bodies. Mohamed is one of the Ogaden civilians who were brutally tortured by the Ethiopia military, which left him with these physical scars.

When Ogaden Online visited him at his place of residence in Dhadhaab refugee camp, Kenya, he told our reporter that the Ethiopian military captured him while he was tending to his camel at nearby Yoocaale village, near Awaare which is Degahbour Province in Ogaden. The Ethiopian military accused him of being an ONLF supporter and mercilessly tortured him. When asked about some specific types of torture methods that he
went through, he said, “They hogtied me.. my hands and legs behind my back” and put an oversized rock over my head and then flogged me while pinned down. As you can see on Mohamed’s face, his face was brutally destroyed and disfigured to the point where he can’t be recognized. Also, due to these extreme and barbaric tortures, Mohamed’s mouth was destroyed and developed a disability in his verbal communication.

Mohamed has arrived Dhadhaab refugee camp recently and when asked about his life and health condition in general other than these crippling physical tortures, he said, “when I arrived here, I felt a sense of security away from Ethiopia’s abuses, but other than that, I did not feel any other changes; I did not receive anything tangible from these International Aid Organizations. I did not even get a refugee ration card from the camp administration” 

There are many Ogaden refugees in the camp who left their homeland, after Ethiopian military committed massacres and widespread human right abuses against Ogaden populace which were documented by reputable human rights organization such as Human Rights Watch. 
Ogaden Online

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