Evil days : thirty years of war and famine in Ethiopia

405 Pages·1991·20.5 MB·English

by  De Waal, Alexander

YEARS OF WAR AND
30
FAMINE ETHIOPIA
IN
A Division of Human RightsWatch
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EVIL DAYS
Thirty Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia
An Africa Watch Report
Human Rights Watch
New York • Washington • Los Angeles • London
This On©
3QQC-
H
Copyright © September 1991 byHuman Rights Watch
Allrights reserved.
Printed in the United States ofAmerica
Coverdesign by DanNdHandDebonhThomas.
Afrka Watch
AfricaWatchwasestablishedin1988tomonitorandpromoteobservanceof
internationally recognized humanrights inAfrica. ThechairofAfricaWatch is
William Carmichael and the vice chair is Alice Brown. Rakiya Omaar is the
executive director;AlexdeWaalistheassociate director; JanetFleischman and
Karen Sorensen are research associates; Nicola Jefferson isa Sandler Fellow;
Urmi Shah and Ben Penglase areassociates.
Libiaiy ofCoafftasCatalog-in-Fnhlicatiflp Data
Evildays: thirt—y years ofwar and famine inEthiopia,
p. cm. (An Africa Watch report)
ISBN 1-5—6432-038-3 : $15.00 — —
I.Ethiop—ia ^Politicsandgovernment—1974-19—91. 2.Eth—iopia Politics
andgovernment 1889-1974. 3.1nsurgency ^Ethiopia ^History 20th century.
4. Eritrea (Et—hiopia)--Hi8tory—Revolution, 1962-1991. 5.
Coiinterinsurgency ^Ethiopia—History—20th centuy. 6. Hnman
Rights—Ethiopia— irtniy—20flicealgy. 7.Flimmrii FWrinpia—IBatoiy^-20ai
century. 8. Food relief—Ethiopia—l]isloiy—20lfa oemmy. LHuman R^gblB
Watch (Organization) U.Series.
DT387.95.E9 1991
963.07—dc20 91-76256 OP
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CONTENTS
Preface page i
GlossaryofAGronynis vii
Maps ix
Intioduction 1
X. Background toWarandFamine inEthiopia 19
2. Scorched Earth inEritrea, 1961-77 39
3. Rebellion and Famine intheNorth under Haile Selassie 55
4. Insurection andInvasion intheSoutheast, 1962-78 65
5.TheSecretWaistoCrushtheSoutheast, 1978-84 81
6.TheRedTerror 101
7. Total WarinEritrea, 1978-84 113
8. Counter-Insurgency and Famine inTigray
anditsBorderlands, 1980-84 133
9. "EconomicWar"onthePeasants andFamme 157
10. Warand the Use ofReliefasaWeapon
inEritrea, 1984-88 177
11. StarvingTigray, 1984-88 195
12. Resettlement 211
13.Vfflagization, 1984-90 231
14. EritreaunderSiege, 1988-91 237
15.AimedDecision: TheNorth, 1988-91 255
16. ThePolitics ofReUef, 1989-91 277
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17. TlieRageofNumbers: Meagistu's Soldieis 291
18. Wars within Wars: The Western and
Southwestern Lowlands 317
19. Divide andMisrule: TteEast, 1984-91 347
20.WesternPolicy towardsEthiopia 359
AMcaWatch'sRecooimendations 379
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PREFACE
This report was initially planned at a time when it was not possible
for Africa Watch to undertake research in government-held areas of
Ethiopia, and access to rebel-held aieas bad not yet been obtained.
Primary leseaich consisted of interviews witfi refiigees and other
Ethiopiansabroad. AfterthefalloftheMengistu government, accessis
now possible, and extensive research in all parts ofE^opia would be
abletopaint amuchmoredetailedpicture oftheabusesassociatedwith
thewar. However, forreasons oftime, that research remainstobedone.
Thisshouldbethetaskofaninvestigative commissionsetupbythenew
government.
Instead,thereportreliesheavilyonsecondarysources, includingrelief
workers,journalists, and others who have travelled to Ethiopia or who
havetalkedtoEthiopians. Asaresult,therearemanyblankareas:whole
campaigns, particularly mthesouth, have scarcelybeendocumented at
all in this report. Another result is tfiat m some cases the incidents
reportedcannotbefullycross-checkedwithindependent sources. Where
reported by sources known to be generally reliable, such incidents have
been included. The source and status of information thathasnot been
independently verified hasbeen indicated.
Previous reportsonhuman rightsabusesinEthiopia which havebeen
compiled without visits to government-held areas have been subject to
criticism, chiefly from defenders ofthe previous government, that such
sources are wholly biased and unreliable. On these grounds a highly
critical report by Cultural Survival on the government's resettlement
program^ wasdismissed by Professor Richard Pankhurst^ and Mr Kurt
Jansson, headoftheUNfaminereliefoperation inEthiopia.^ Asshown
inchapter 12, those dismissals werepremature.
Incompiling this report, Africa Watch has used asextensive arange
of sources as possible. Between 1978 and 1988, the Ethiopian
government deniedtheexistenceofthewaraltogether,andatnotimedid
*Cultural Survival (JasonW. ClayandBonnie K.HolcombcXPoliticsand
theEthiopian Famine1984-1985, Cambridge, Mass.,1985.
* Richard Pankhurst, The Ethiopian Famine: Cultural Survival's Report
Assessed,"Anthropology Today,13,June 1986,pp. 4-5.
'KurtJansson,MichaelHarrisandAngelaPenrose,TheEihiopimFamine,
London, 1987,p.26.
1
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it allow independent access to the war zones. There is virtually no
reliable information available about human rights abuses associated with
the war from official Ethiopian sources. The Ethiopian government
displayed an unhealthy obsession with statistics, and ostensibly-precise
numbers for damage to property and "affected populatkms* fonn the
greater part of its assessmeiit ofthe impact offlie wus and fBooBM,
Given that the govemmeBt cooastently ovedooked te Cixiflteiioe ofa
million peopleinTigray, andinvented halfamillion retunriqgrefiigees
whodidnotexist, such figures must be treated with cavtiOD.
Concerning famine, Africa Watch has made extensive use ofofficial
documents, aid agency reports and the research undertaken by Ethiopian
and foreign scholarsworking in government-held areas. In many cases
it is necessary to "readbetween the lines" asthesescholars were anxious
not to endanger theirsources, careers, libertyorlivesby tellii^ thetruth
in plainwordb.
AsignificantpartofthemfioimationcontainedInthisre^rtoriginates
from thereports, newspaper aiticies, diaries and testimonies ofraceigD
visitors to areas controlled by the rebel fronts, principally the Eritrean
People's Liberation Front (EPLF) and the Tigrayan Peopled liberation
Front (TPLF, which afterJanuary 1989 was the leading member ofthe
Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front, EPRDF). Though
these fronts gavegreater access to the war zones, that access was never
unrestricted. Visitors were usually accompanied by armed guards,
primarily to protect them from government saboteurs, but which also
identified them with the relevant front. The information—obtained is
thereforelesstlianIdeallyIndependent. However,novuilor indndiqg
those who were nnsynqwllietic t—o the fironts and snbaegnently wrote
critical reportsoftheir activities has made anbstantial criticism of
hisorheraccesstothecivilian popnlatlDn, orcome awaywith belief
that the p^eople he or she spoke to were influenced by the presence of
EPLF or TPLF-EPRDF* representatives. Consequently, some of this
information has been used, after careful scrutiny and cross-checking.
Much of the information obtained by visitors to rebel-held areas
consists ofeye-witness accounts ofatrocities and their aftermath; thisis
not subject to thesameproblems ofpotential distortion.
Other mfofmatlaa origlBites fiom refugees. In refugee camps,
mdependentaccesstociviliansispossible. Refugeetestimony cannotbe
regarded as distorted simply because the lefqgee has made apolitiod
^Thedesignation TPLF-EPRDF isintendedtoencompass theTPLFfrom
itsinc^on upuntilthefinmatiflooftheEPRDF,andtheEPRDFthenafler.
11
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statement by fleeing his orher country; neither ofcourse can it be used
uncritically. Inaddition, contrarytotheallegations ofsomedefendersof
the government, many refugees (particularly in the late 1980s) fled to
neighboring countries precisely because they were unsympathetic to the
rebelfronts. Foreiample, mostofthelefiigeesvifbo amved in Sudan
fitom Eritrea in 1989/9 were not suppoften of ttie EPLF: displaced
dvflianswhosupported theEPLFhadremainedbehind inreliefcamps
runbythe EPLF and theEritrean ReliefAssociation.
HieEPLFandTPLF-EPRDFalsodisplayedanabidingpreoccupation
with numbers. These may or may not have been more accurate than
government figures. Ontherareoccasionswhenthesefigureshavebeen
alluded to, their origin and ourview oftheirreliability hasbeen noted.
Thisreportcoversabusesbyall sides. Wheredocumented, abusesby
the rebel fronts have been included as well as those conunitted by the
government. However,thegreatmajorityofabusesagainstcivilians*and
actions leading to funine, were committed bf the govenmient. The
fronts certainly had authoritaria—n political structures and tolenited litde
dissent in theirown ranks, but— like the government's crackdown on
theinstitutions ofdvilsociety suchabusesfoiloutside thescopeof
this report.
The relative paucity of rebel abuses noted in these pages is not a
matter of the absence of reliable sources of critical information on the
activities of the fronts. All the fronts have their dissenters, who are
fiercely critical of certain of their actions and policies. These people
have provided information on some abuses by the fronts, but generally
agreethatthetreatmentofchfiliansandprisonersofwarhasbeengood,
evenenmpUuy. Thesecriticsmduderefugeesmteiviewed mSudan.
Thisreportdoesnotseektojustifyorcondemn thedecisionbyrebel
frontsto engage in armed struggle, northe decision by thegovernment
torespondwithmilitaryaction. AfricaWatch'smandatedoesnotextend
todirectlypromoting peace. Insteadthefocusisontibemannerinwhich
thewarswerefought.
Statistics
This report contains dfacusskms of tfie available statistics for tiie
number cxfdeaths attributable to the fBomnes and foiced idocations m
Ethiopia, andtiiecontroversy overthesizeofthe population ofTigray.
Thetechnical aqiectsofstatistical analysis and demographic modelling
have been kept to a minimum. The reason for the indusioo of this
material isthat it isunpoctant toknow how many people suffered and
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died. It is the least respect that is dueto thevictimstohavethefactof
their living and dying taken seriously.
The United Nations and other concerned institutions have been
remarkably cavalierabout thenumbers ofpeoplewho died, especially in
the 1983-5 famine. UsuallyGthgemfigure ofonemillion famine deaths is
quoted for 1983-S. Hiis has absoliildy no scientific basis
whatsoever. Itisatrivializationaadddiamanizidonoflioman^^
such a figure to be produced without even a mfaiimal pretense at a
systematic investigation. Ifthe UN were to be equally cavalfer about
numbers ofpolitical detainees, ornumbersofpeoplekilled whensecurity
forces fire on protesters, itwould be rightly condemned as ignorant and
irresponsible. Yet in Ethiopia and other countries which receive little
international attention, itappearsabletoquotewhollyfictionalfiguresfor
famine deaths andremain unchallenged.
Itisnowtoolateforaproperdemographic investigationintofamine
mortality during 1983-5, andAiticaWatdhlackithelesonrcestocany
outsuchaninquiry inanycase. TheanalysisistheralDreveiycmsoiy,
andbasedon existingsurveys. Neverlfaele8S» itisthefiisttifloethatsndh
an analysis has been done, and it certainly provides a more accniale
assessment of the human impact of the famine than other figures
produced to date. Throughout, lower figures for deaths havebeenused,
so allestimates eiionthesideofcaution (oroptimism).^
Geographical Terms
Ethiopia isbesetbycoofliciiqgteiritarialdaims;thestatusofEritrea
isonlythebest-known instance. Eritreaisrefeiredtoasa"tenitory", a
wordthataspirestobeneutralbetweentheanirfiigtli^claimsIfatfitisa
province and that it isby right an independent country. In addition, the
provinces that existed under Haile Selassie had their boundaries and
namesrevisedoncertainoccasions,became"administrative regions" after
the revolution, and thenwerecompletely reconstituted in 1987, with the
introduction ofalargernumber ofregions and some autonomous zones.
This report used the term "province" to refer to geographical and
administrative entitiessuchasHarergheandShewa in theform inwhich
they existed up to 1987. "Oonder" is used for the province formerly
known as "Begemdir". Hiere are anrflictiiig daims as to
geographical extent of Hgiay. Purely tat coBwaiaaa^ the smaller
^This iscontrarytothegeneralpncticeofcitingonlytiieupperlunitsto
estimates of£uninemortality.
bf
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