IRINnews.org, 25. juni 2002

Loke village where the demonstrators started their march - ©  IRIN

AWASA, 25 Jun 2002 (IRIN) - Bekele Sakuma is now hoping for calm and peace. Just four weeks ago he identified the body of his 17-year-old son, shot dead during clashes with security forces in the southern Ethiopian town of Awasa. "The hardest thing a father can do is pick his son out of a line of bodies," said Bekele, a 55-year-old security guard who lives in the nearby village of Loke.

The village was where some 7,000 protesters gathered on 24 May before marching towards Awasa to demonstrate against a change in the town's status. Like many Sidamas – the ethnic group whose heartland surrounds Awasa - he believed that he might lose his land with impending political changes.

Awasa is the regional capital of the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples' Regional State (SNNPRS), one of the country’s nine federal regions. The town, at present, also acts as the zonal capital for the Sidama. But fears have circulated among the rural community that their zonal capital was to be transferred to Aleta Wondo - some 80 km away.

"We are worried that we are going to lose our land," said Bekele. "We heard from some of the elders and community groups that we would lose our land, and that we need to take action. I knew my son was going on the march, but I thought it would be safe."

The fear of losing land rights, according to the government, is unfounded. It also said the change in status was still at a draft stage, and that discussions were still taking place. It added that Awasa would remain in the Sidama Zone - one of Ethiopia's most densely populated - with about 2.5 million people living on 721,000 ha of land.

But despite attempts to allay fears, an uneasy calm now hangs over the town, some 250 km from the country's capital, Addis Ababa. Although a curfew has been lifted, there is still a military presence in surrounding villages, where many Sidamas live. The area is also out-of–bounds to United Nations staff after dark – classified as a "Red-No-Go Area".

The clash on the afternoon of 24 May left at least 17 people dead, according to the federal authorities. The Ethiopian Human Rights Council, which has investigated the shootings, says the figure is 25. Opposition groups, meanwhile, estimate at least 39 died.

Two policemen were also among the dead. What is clear is that the shootings in Awasa represent one of the worst clashes in the country since rioters fought pitched battles with police in Addis Ababa in April last year. At that time, some 40 people were killed and hundreds wounded.

Solomon Tesfaye, the Awasa regional government's deputy head of information, told IRIN that a formal investigation into the shootings was under way. But he dismissed claims that the security forces – which were blamed for the shootings - had been heavy handed.

"If a group of people that was five kilometres away from Awasa got to Awasa, there could have been more bloodshed," he said. He added that the government had evidence that some people had come to loot the town. "There is calm now," he told IRIN from Awasa. "It is totally calm."

Solomon said elders were now been holding talks in a bid to avert further bloodshed, and that no more "illegal" demonstrations had taken place. He noted that the proposed change in Awasa's status was part of a government plan to boost economic development, pointing out that under the current local administration, officials were using locally raised taxes for their own purposes. "There was corruption," he said. "We need a professional administration. People were profiting from the taxes."

He went on to stress that the people "are not going to lose their land. Why should they lose their land?" Solomon also said that in a proposed new assembly in Awasa the Sidamas would hold 25 out of 100 seats, so would still be able to wield power.

Some 45 different ethnic groups make up the total 10 million population of the SNNPRS – Sidamas being one of the largest ethnic groups. The farmers in the area mainly live off coffee, maize, wheat, teff, barley, haricot beans and khat (Catha edulis – a mildly narcotic shrub). The area was particularly hard hit during a 1999 drought, and the situation has been made much worse by massive soil erosion and failure to tackle the drought problem.

Federal government sources say the peasants have clearly been manipulated and told Awasa was going to be sold. They say the change in status will not affect the Sidamas and they will not lose any lands.

But opposition groups argue that this change in status will affect the economic and political rights of the Sidamas. Beyene Petros, who heads the Council of Alternative Forces For Peace and Democracy in Ethiopia and the Southern Ethiopia People’s Democratic Coalition, is an MP in the region. "Awasa is the economic centre of the south and the kind of tax money raised and rents is much better than it would be in Aleta Wondo. So it is really economic for the Sidama people," he said.

"The proposal is to put that city under the federal jurisdiction so the federal government will collect taxes. The government is now telling them, in economic terms, move out." He went on to say that if the federal government believed there were illegal activities taking place, it should pursue the matter through the courts rather than by changing the status of the town.

Beyene added that the policy of the government was to place "economically viable" towns and cities under federal control. He said the Sidamas also felt aggrieved on a cultural level. "This is their cultural centre. They effectively built this town. Internally it is very tense, and there is a bitterness among the Sidamas and there is a temptation for retaliation on the side of the Sidamas," he said.

Philipos Yosef, 28, who took part in the 24 May demonstration, said it was planned because the Sidamas believed they should have their own regional state given the size of their population. Many of them had been waving placards calling for the right of Sidamas to be protected and asking why Awasa could not remain their zonal capital.

"Before the march, the demonstrators asked permission. But the day before there was an announcement on television and radio that we could not march. They said certain political groups were involved and the march would be illegal," he said. Philipos, an agricultural specialist, said after the march some people believed to have been behind the demonstration were rounded up and imprisoned. He said police had also raided villages where they believed weapons had been hidden.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Council supports his claims of a peaceful march. In a detailed report after the shootings, it laid the blame firmly at the door of the security forces and government. It called for those responsible to be brought to justice. The council also demanded that anyone unlawfully held in jails after being rounded up should be released.

But for Bekele, who is mourning his lost son, the protests have resolved nothing. "We want to live in peace now. The protest had no value, because the situation is still the same. At the moment there is peace, but if the land issue is true, then there will still be problems. But we have to accept what the government says even if some people do not agree with it," he said.