  2002 Annual Report |
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Asia |
| Europe |
| Mid-East |
| Africa |
| Americas |
We were alarmed by the recent surge in violence against student activists in the regional state of Oromiya. It appears that they are suffering from an alleged association with a rebel group called the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which has been fighting the state for greater independence for Oromos. In late March of this year, high-school students from several towns in Oromiya were shot at by the police while demonstrating peacefully and at least two were killed. In May, nearly 200 students in Addis Ababa were arrested after a non-violent march and a number of them remained in jail. We wrote urging the Ethiopian authorities to investigate these crimes and, in the future, to desist from allowing the police to fire upon peaceful student demonstrations.
In a more pleasant vein, former president of the Ethiopian Teachers' Association and indefatigable human-rights worker, Dr. Taye Wolde-Semayat, on whose behalf we intervened repeatedly over the past four years, was released early from serving a fifteen-year sentence.
Kenya
We protested the threats to two Kenyan physicians of being stripped of their official registration for having concluded that a man detained by the police had died from the effects of torture. Dr. Moses Njue and Dr. Andrew K. Gachie had conducted the autopsy on the body of Paul Kimani Wambiru and determined that the cause of death was torture and beating with blunt objects. Following this testimony five policemen were charged with murder and so requested a new autopsy. The chief government pathologist performed the autopsy and asserted that Mr. Wambiru had died of natural causes. A third autopsy confirmed the torture charge. Dr. Njue was fired from his position as central provincial pathologist and both doctors were threatened with de-registration. In response we called on the Kenyan government to protect the physicians and to investigate the charges of torture and murder thoroughly. And indeed, in late July of this year, the Kenyan Ministry of Health confirmed in written statements that Drs. Njue and Gachie would not be de-registered or transferred from their positions.
Sudan
Events at the College of Technological Science in Omdurman at the beginning of the year were alarming. Five students who participated in a symposium on democracy held last year were suspended. In addition, a computer science student was also suspended because she had formed a campus chapter of Sudanese Victims of Torture Group (SVTG) and organized a symposium on International Human Rights Day. Responding to this repression of human rights advocates, we asked the president of the Sudan to require the reinstatement of these students and to prevent similar incidents in the future.
