Ethiopia shakes down its Minnesota refugees

September 07, 2009

Immigrants to Minnesota from eastern Ethiopia are being forced to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in ransom payments to support an Ethiopian security force that tortures and kills thousands of innocent Ethiopians.

Under an extortion scheme run by the Ethiopian army, soldiers in the Ogaden region of Ethiopia abduct men, women and teenage boys and girls, holding them without charge in one of scores of military jails in the region, which borders Somalia.

Knowing that many Ogaden families have relatives who live in Minnesota, the Ethiopian army tells the prisoners’ families that their loved ones can be freed upon payment of ransoms ranging from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars.

Hating to pay the money but having no other choice, the Minnesota refugees empty their personal bank accounts and pass the hat to raise ransoms to release their husbands, wives, sons, daughters and friends from overcrowded jails where torture, rape, beatings and killings are common.

Correction: Photo removed

For about 30 minutes on Monday evening, the Daily Planet ran a photograph of a man being tortured by two uniformed soldiers in a grimy cell. Along with the photograph, we explained that we had decided to publish the photograph even though its origin had not yet been conclusively proved. We did so because the photo had been provided by a usually trustworthy source, though we also welcomed anyone reading the story on the Internet to tell us if they knew anything about the photograph’s true origin.

Within minutes of publication, someone did. If you Google “torture in East Timor,” and click on “Images,” you will see the exact photograph that we published, along with several other photographs that appear to have been taken of men wearing similar uniforms, torturing individuals who look similar to the one in the photograph we published. These photographs are themselves not authenticated as to their source, as best we could tell immediately. But their appearance on Google Images immediately shifted the weight of evidence strongly towards the original photograph that we published not being from an Ogaden prison or in Ethiopia. Therefore, we removed it immediately.

We sincerely regret any damage the photograph’s publication did to the important work, now being undertaken by hundreds of people, to widely publicize crimes against humanity being committed in the Ogaden. At the same time, the nearly instant correction we were able to make, using information offered by readers worldwide, did illustrate a transparency of process that is a hallmark of online journalism and that we strive to maintain to the utmost.

Destruction of Villages

“It is a booming business for the Ethiopian army,” said Mohamed, a Minnesota school teacher who immigrated from the Ogaden in 1993. “It happens every day in the Ogaden, and every day someone in Minnesota is sending money.”

Mohamed and other Ogaden immigrants quoted in this story declined to give their full names for fear that their families and friends living in the Ogaden would be jailed, tortured or killed in retribution for their openness.

In recent years, one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises has unfolded silently in the Ogaden region, where a vicious counter-insurgency campaign by the Ethiopian government has wiped out scores of villages, killed thousands of civilians, and displaced tens of thousands or more to refugee camps in Ethiopia and northern Kenya.

About 5,000 Ogaden refugees have found their way to Minnesota, which has one of the largest refugee populations from the Ogaden crisis in the world. They Ogaden refugees in Minnesota are settled mainly in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Willmar, St. Cloud and Faribault.

Frantic Calls

The ransoming of Ogaden refugees in Minnesota is exacting a disastrous economic, psychological and social toll within the Ogaden community and the broader society, Ogaden immigrants here say.

“I cry every night, believe me,” said Abdi, an Ogaden refugee who has sent $600 ransoms on two occasions. “You are forced to do what is not right, you are forced to do the wrong thing. It’s horrible. It lives with us, it lives with us everywhere. No matter where I am, in the bedroom, in the bathroom, in the living room, I cannot hold back my tears.”

Being forced to spend thousands of dollars to free their relatives from jail in Ethiopia slows down the Minnesota Ogadeni refugees' attempts to learn English, to get an education and to successfully assimilate into U.S. society, they say.

“We get frantic phone calls day and night,” says Mustafe, an Ogaden refugee who works at Minneapolis employment agency. “Friends and family need money to be freed from jail. They say ‘Please send us money, please send us money!’ We send it, of course, but as a result we go into debt ourselves. I don’t even dream of going back to school to improve myself until the situation in Ogaden changes and improves.”

Financial Aid

In 2007, Mustafe sent $1,500 towards a $4,000 ransom collected in Minnesota to release a teenaged cousin who was jailed for three months, and was released after the ransom was paid. As a result of that and other ransoms Mustafe has paid, plus monthly support he sends back home to relatives, he is about $10,000 in debt.

The ransoming of Ogaden refugees is only one facet of an extreme humanitarian crisis involving countless crimes against humanity bordering on a full-scale genocide, that has been building in the Ogaden for more than a decade, but intensified sharply in 2007.

The roots of the Ogaden crisis lie in the fact that eastern Ethiopia is inhabited by ethnic Muslim Somalis at a time when the Ethiopian government has been waging war against Somalia. In December 2006, with financial aid and military training from the U.S., Ethiopia crushed the Islamic Courts Union, an Islamist government that controlled Somalia.

In 2007, the Ethiopia-Somalia war intensified in Ogaden, where the Ethiopian Army launched an all-out counter-insurgency against a separatist militia, the Ogaden National Liberation Front, which it calls a terrorist organization.

Collective Punishment

The ONLF conducts deadly raids against Ethiopian military, such as an April 2007 attack against a Chinese-run oil operation in the Ogaden which killed not only Ethiopian soldiers but several dozen Ethiopian citizens and nine Chinese nationals.

In retaliation for that attack, Meles Zenawi, the Ethiopian Prime Minister, launched a vicious crackdown on the ONLF, targeting not only ONLF fighters but their families, friends and other supporters throughout the region. In 2008, Human Rights Watch published a report, “Collective Punishment: War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the Ogaden area of Ethiopia's Somali Region.”

The report documented hundreds of cases of torture, rape, executions and indeed the destruction of entire Ogaden villages on the mere suspicion that someone in the village was harboring an ONLF fighter. Human Rights Watch said the likely scale of the disaster was far larger than they were able to document in the report.

Since 2007 all foreign journalists and many aid organizations, including the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, have been forced by the Ethiopian government to suspend operations in the Ogaden.

Virtually all of the ransoms paid by Minnesota Ogadeni refugees to the Ethiopian military are to release friends and relatives who have been jailed on suspicion of knowing, sheltering, or aiding ONLF fighters.

Clan Elders

But in a region like Ogaden, where almost every village has at least one son or daughter who has joined the ONLF, to declare war on all people with even a slight relationship the ONLF is tantamount to declaring war on the entire Ogadeni people – on their society and culture. From an Ogadeni perspective, that is what has happened.

In Minneapolis over the past two weeks, I interviewed 18 Ogaden refugees. Every one confirmed knowledge of the frequent payment of ransoms by Minnesota Ogadenis to free imprisoned relatives held by the Ethiopian army in the Ogaden.

About half of the refugees I interviewed said they had personally paid ransoms to free relatives from jail, and some had done so many times.

The ransom amounts ranged from $300 to $1,500. In some cases those amounts were contributions to total collected ransoms of more than $10,000, which seems to be a typical amount needed to release Ogadeni clan elders who are held.

Here are four ransom stories I was told:

Abdi #1: “In 2002, in the city of Harare, Ethiopian soldiers arrested my brother and beat him badly, tying a rope at the top of his elbows. For five nights they beat him. My Dad had to pay money to get him loose. He came back with marks on his arms above his elbows. Another time, my brother-in-law was arrested. On two occasions, his relatives called me in Minnesota to say he is alive in prison and asked us here to send money. So on two occasions since 2002 we sent $600, but my brother-in-law was never released and we still don’t know if he is alive or dead.”

Mustafe: “In 2007 my brother, who was in high school, was arrested and put in jail. They accused him of being a collaborator of the ONLF. They said he was buying khat [a chewed leaf that is a legal stimulant in Ethiopia and a major cash crop there] to give to the ONLF. But he was only a student with no money and he never did that. We collected $4,000 here in Minnesota to release him which they finally did after three months.”

Mohamed: “In 2005 they put my brother in jail. He is a tea shop owner and the Ethiopian army said he sold some food to the ONLF. My brother’s wife and cousins sold their sheep and goats to get the ransom money and he was released, but five months later they put him back in jail. This time, his wife called me and said ‘Mohamed, our sheep and goats are very thin and weak, it’s the dry season, and none of them can be sold. We need money. They will kill your brother if we don’t pay.’ So I sent what I could afford which was $700. Again he was released, but today, only a few hours ago, I got the bad news from my village that my brother and two others were taken by the Ethiopian army and no one knows their fate. So again I don’t know if my brother and the others are okay or if they are killed. If they aren’t killed, I will once again have to pay ransom, for the third time. They said my brother is a sympathizer of the ONLF, but he is only a tea shop owner. How can he discriminate if a customer who comes in who is ONLF? They don’t wear any uniform, how can he tell?”

Abdi #2: "My friend and cousin is named Hassan Ahmed, from the town of Jijiga. Last year he was jailed and sentenced to death for supposedly helping the ONLF. But he has asthma and was seriously sick and he needed to go to the hospital. So his mother called me here in Minnesota and said, ‘If we pay $500 they say they will take him to the hospital.’ So we managed to raise $500 which we sent to the family, and they gave it to the Ethiopian army. But he was never let out of prison and we don’t think he was taken to the hospital either. Instead, after they got the money they said, ‘This guy is sentenced to death, he will never get out.’”

Cell Phones

Mohamed, the Ogaden school teacher, has collected records of 182 separate instances of extortion and ransoming of Ogadeni civilians by the Ethiopian Army. The total amount paid in these cases was $84,500, which Mohamed estimates is less than 1% of the total amount of money extorted and ransomed by the Ethiopian Army in the past two years.

“You cannot imagine how widespread this is,” said Mohamed, who collected the data through cell phone calls to contacts in the Ogaden and the global Ogaden diaspora.
As a result of the humanitarian aid and information blackout imposed by Ethiopia on the Ogaden, accounts given by the Ogaden refugees in Minnesota provide one of the richest sources of information about the crisis there.

Money, Army or Jail

Ogadeni shopkeepers and traders are also frequent targets for Ethiopian army threats and shakedowns, Minnesota’s Ogaden refugees say.

“In the town of Gode,” said Mohamed, ‘the Army just last week gathered more than 100 business people recently and told them, ‘You have three choices: you can give us money, you can join the army, or you can go to jail.”

Douglas McGill has reported for the New York Times and Bloomberg News-- and now the Daily Planet. To reach Doug McGill: doug@mcgillreport.org. And visit The McGill Report at www.mcgillreport.org

Douglas McGill

Douglas McGill has reported for the New York Times and Bloomberg News--and now the Daily Planet. To reach Doug McGill: doug@mcgillreport.org. And visit The McGill Report at www.mcgillreport.org.

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Yes, there are tragic, entangled, imponderable quagmires around the planet. The US government can no longer get involved. We have no money and our involvment in foreign incursions has been protracted and disasterous. Let others pick up the torch and save the world. The Europeans, Indians, Chinese and Russians seem to have lots of money. When we try to do something, we are called imperialists who are the cause all the world's problems. Let others dive into the world't issues. If there are some Americans who are willing to spend their money to save the world, have at it. But help them where they live.....don't bring them here. Our immigration problems have are out of control already.

While it is understandable that The US government cannot and shouldn't be the World's police, it is equally fair to say that if US government wasn't supporting morally and materially, Dictators like Males Zenawi - Ethiopia's Prime Minister, whose record of Human Rights Violations is well known the World would have needed less policing and America's image would have been a good.

Reading the story about the Ogadens in Minnesota is only the tip of the iceberg the Ogadens in Ogadenia experience on a daily basis. Have you read the Ogaden villages and it's that were burned as recently as 2007, the daily rape, in discriminate torture?

The heartbreaking part is in actuality that the very tax $$ that these poor Ogadens (the New American) contribute to the core financial well being of the US Government goes to Ethiopia and its Militia to commit these very crimes against humanity to Ogadeian's own people. To know how large these tax money equal do little research as all data is available on the internet... and don't forget how much US government can and should do by attaching stings such as having good governments, democracy, transparent and free elections to better government can be some of those strings attached to any and all Donations US government gives to Dictators and its likes...

Would this be a better and easier policing to the world if US government chose to give your hard earned money to these Dictators and its likes?

Forever,
Ladan

Dear Sir, I would like to Thank you for your wonderful piece of article that shows the true color of Ethiopian regime. It is indeed frustrating when towns and villages been burned down and mass killing become a daily routine and media at large failed to show the world what is taking place in this part of the world. YOU ARE THE VOICE FOR THOSE ARE VOICELESS. Keep up the good work. Thanks,

I remeber seeing this exact fake picture posted a year or so ago by another anti-Ethiopia website. At that time, they claimed same by posting the same picture taken from the internet and lying to be an Ethiopian army torturing somali/ogaden person. This same picture was found to be a picture from Sirilankan army and they were forced to pull the picture from their site and keep their tail between their legs. Again another fool is trying to mislead people by posting the same picture. Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me!

The photo is from East Timor not Ethiopia. Mr Douglas, your sources are liers. Just go to google and search on "East Timor Torture" or click the link below

http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&rlz=1G1GGLQ_ENUS249&um=1&q=east+ti...

Your sources could be terrorists too. Keep an eye on them.

It seems that some writers don't mind to write stories that they don't know any thing about and with out having any trusted and tangible evidence.So you sit down in your laxurius studio here in Twin Cities and write about what happened in the Horn of Africa and your trusted sources are the somali community in Minnesta who are fervent enemies of Ethiopia. I don't know what to say brother!!!!!. Just be balanced!!!!!!!

As a jornalist, you should have gone there and do a fatc finding mission. I asye you it is a complete lie and it is normal for refugees to say things like these so that relatives can immigrate as a refugee. I hope in the future, you will go and find out the truth.

These people can't even do a good job at lying!!!

the fabricated picture was very funny!! LOL they always use those torture pictures in asia like east timor to claim ethiopia is torturing LOL

and to the naive writer, who keeps repeating the same lies again and again from economic asylum winners who always flee ogaden with ONLF terrorist help, may God give you the light one day to tell the truth.

thanks to god, your lies over the years have never affected our beautiful country Ethiopia. but you seem to be the sworn enemy of ethiopia and continue to publish from the ONLF community in minnesota. maybe you will learn a lesson or two from the LTTE community in europe or maybe you will finnaly wake up when you see the "innocent" ogadens in minnesota waving ONLF terrorist organization's flag in the middle of peaceful nation like minesota. the LTTE terrorist group (From sri lanka) is known by all westerners but the LTTE diaspora community still loves the terrorist group. the ONLF and LTTE have the same diaspora supporters and the same destiny, which is defeat.

Despite this one pro-ONLF "douglas" propaganda, we all wish that May the thousands of victims of ONLF terrorists rest in peace. Amen.

Thanks for removing the photo, same action should me taken for the article. This is a flase story. We all know that people make up stories such as this to get asylum. Ethiopia is the most secured and safest place to live in Africa. We face the same problems as all other African countries but ours is the safest. 200 died in our post elections, thousands died in Kenya and other countries. 100 die a year in ethnic violence, tens of thousands die in other countries. 5-10 people die a year of terrorist attacks in Ethipia but look at other countries. Go visit Ethiopia before you publish the story. Ask any refugee from every country and they all have same story. What do you expect a refugee to say for asylum????

Hodam weyana neh ante

I am sure Dougla's posting of this picture was honest mistake, but let me tell you that the turture seen in this picture is nothing comparing to what Ogaden people have been going through in the hands of Zenawi's cruel security. They cut poeple piece by piece alive. Women are gang-raped in the jails becuase raping is kind of Ethiopian techniques against innocents girls and mothers.

Mr. Douglas, the freedom lover, the friend of the voiceless ones, the advocates of the poor and victimized people, will have a place in the hearts of Somali-Ogaden people for his bravery revelation of Ethiopia's gross human right violation.

Thanks sir,

Every story published, there is someone who is happy, and other who will get angry.

I was born in Ogaden, have been living in. therefore no one knows more than I do. if I talk about what I was witnissing, most of you will not believe me. the supporters of TPLF will say " this is a false and facricated" while I am the victim or know lots who were killed, tortured or imprisoned without court trail.

will you believe that, a two years old infant is in a jail?? believe or not, but its what happened in Ogaden. the two years old was acused that his father is a member of ONLF. I my self couldn't able to live peacefully where I was born, I did nothing wrong to any one, and the TPLF led regime knew that, but they acussed me that my father joined the rebels. the victims are always are being acussed of having relatives, a mong the ONLF.

yes, I believe no one can even have an image from the Ogaden prisons, becouse no journalist can cross into Ogaden, we know what happened to newyork times journalist, how they were prisoned.

torrure and rapping is there only weapon to fight innocent people. we have the photos and images of the tortured who escaped Ethiopia and now live in Refugees

Abdirahman

Mr. Doug, I am Minnesotan from Ogaden that when I read your article reminded me same incidents that I encounter every year. Since 2004 and now, I have been sending money to Ogaden, not to support family members in back home, but to save their live to release them from the jail paying a ransom money. Human rights violations in Ogaden are not only confined to kill, rape, displace, and torture innocent civilians, but civilians are source of income for the Ethiopian military officers. One of tactics they use to harm civilians is to detain them blaming that she/he supports ONLF rebel, and because of that he/she will be killed. When relatives and family members hear information that their loved one will be killed, immediately, they start to rescue him or her talking to the Somali interpreters who work as middle men or disguise as mediators. They ask interpreter (s) “what can we do?” “We know our son or daughter is not ONLF supporter, but we are willing to pay a ransom and save his/her live, therefore, we need your help, please, talk to the officer.” That is when relatives and family members live in abroad communicate and urgently pay the ransom. The fact is that Ogadeni civilians who survived or not killed by the cruel and barbaric Ethiopian soldiers had become a source of income for the military officers who give order to harm civilians.

Thanks Doug for your efforts to disclose such a black market crime. Any time someone tell the truth, or talks about human rights abuses taking place somewhere on the earth, there are and will be some individuals who are dedicated to defend crime perpetrators.

Please, keep speaking for the victims of the crime committed by Meles Senawi and his cronies.

Thank You and God may help you as you spoke up for those who cannot speak themselves.

If a journalist can not even be bothered to run a Google check on a fake torture photo, how much effort will he make to verify facts in his article? The fact this article is still posted alongside an apology for a fake torture photo, simply boggles the mind. I am embarrassed for this reporter.

This is an Ogadeni's natural life.Torture,killings,ransom,putting one's self a stone as a pellow and hitting another one at the head.

The world is justing hearing this as a tale,but as an ogadeni it is our doomsday.

I think this is God's punishment.One day God Almighty will help as from the merciless enemy of Ethiopia.

I would like to Thank the Twin Cities Planet for taking concerns for our problems

and we pray Allah to show our problems the World.

that is only slight portion of what is happing in ogaden and other region in ethoipia. i am a stutden from ogaden who is in india. two days befor some of may causin called me and told me that two of may brothers and may farther are rrested in jigjiga capital of somali region.

that is normal things in ethoipia jail ,rape, beeting ransom, intimidation,

Our world could have been much more pleasant and benign without people like douglas, and probably his informants. Douglas is the main culprit in this fake journalism.

Mr. Doug, you did more humanly actions to reveal the truth in Ogaden while you are in U.S. More over, you familiarize your self what Congressman, Donald Payne, Senator, Russfeingold, and U.S Vice president, Joe Biden are familiar, or heard before you. I mean that, don't waste any time for the un-realistic comments or contacts from the pro-Woyane (EPRDF) cadres who are trying to miscomment the Photo of RIDWAN HASSAN SAAHID which had met the honorable congressman, Mr. Payne in INTERCONTINENTAL Hotel of Nairobi in early of 2009.

I encourage to you to proceed the activity you started until you discover the real image of Meles regime, to make them prosecuted in the Hague court. Despite your efforts, I am sure that the regime in ADDIS ABABA will try to reach you using any mechanism including Foreign affairs ministry's official response to your article as they did in the era's of Jeffrey, NYTimes journalist.

I really congratulate your bravery, speaking the issue of Ogaden seems too risky.......

Males Zenawi is our Hitler he has starved Millions of Ogadenians and in return he recieves International aid which never reachs its intended targets.For the past 3 or 4 years Ogaden has been one big Prison the Ethiopians accupiers makes sure no Food goes in and out and no one can report the scale of the Genocide that is taking place in my homeland.The so called International comunity it self have blood of inocent Ogadenians on their hands becouse they finance these Crimes agains Humanity.So much for Democracy.I my self I'm an Ogadenian Refugees who can never go back to his Country becouse Of Ethiopian Occupiers who are hell bent on Killing as all

Shame to you, where are the photographs? How long will you stay reporting false stories to the world. Sorry for your did.

Mr. Douglas McGill

You are just a very good story teller, only if you could verify your facts. A governement asking for ransom? Do you just write what ever you were told? Although , I know there are some conflicts in the Ogaden area I also know 100% this is hearsay.

Please verify your story before you just write what they tell you.

just admit it, u got chaugt red handed loool how does it feel to be a fool!!! posting a fake news looool

Don`t use the people to achieve you hiden interest

These stories are 100% true, because it happened to me 16 years ago. One day a man called me and asked me to pay $5,000 US for ransom to release my Father from jail unfortunatly I didn't pay and three days later they killed him.

I ask God to punash those who killing innocent people

Thank you Douglas McGill

Well orchestrated propaganda by ONLF terrorist organization and well consumed by the author of this article. How vain?

All woyane blood suckers don't like to hear the history from Ogaden. Instead of upraising the TPLF human right abuse against your fellow countryman you try to disprove the stories in Ogaden ground that have been recorded by human right Organizations.

you always question the victims and story tellers instead of questioning your country's actions, and this is why Ogaden people will never be part of Ethiopia.

Sir you should be ashamed of being called Ethiopia, the land of hunger, the land of ignorance and the land of backwardness.

I ask God to punash those who killing innocent people

Thank you Douglas McGill

I strong believe that all these and much more happening in Ogaden region.

There is a pregnant woman who is right now in our home her body is totally bleeding by the torture of Ethiopian Army.I wish that UN find her and see her.

If you want her photos I guarantee that I will send her photo to Twin City planet.Just let me know and drop me an email.

Mr Ron Rallis, Somalis are not here because they want your money or houses. Somalis are here because certain policies of your country had turned their lives upside Down. Ethiopia receives half a billion US dollars a year from your government, which it uses mostly to buy up arms and kill it own citizens or its neighbours. If you want Somalis to stop coming here, first you need to stop supporting dictators abroad. You go and muddle peoples lives and they blame them for the consequences!. The American people must know why the Ogaden Somalis are here. They are running away from Criminals who are funded by members of the international Community. They must know how the money they so dearly earn are being abused by dictators such as Meles Zenawi. As for the Agents of the Ethiopian government or foolhardy Ethiopians, you hate the truth. Regardless of how much you try, the truth comes out in mysterious ways. If you have succeeded in putting an Iron Curtain around the Ogaden, you cannot gag American Journalists too. Although the American government may at times err on the side of dictators, the American people are good at the core. They may be misled once or twice, but once they get wind of a bad deed, they are steadfast in voicing their convictions. Bullying and intimidation tactics do not work well on Americans, keep it for your victims in Ogaden or Ethiopia. The Atrocities committed by the Ethiopian Army do not need much evidence. It was done in broad daylight in Front of the international cameras in May 2005 in Addis Ababa, where the Ethiopian Army mowed down around two hundred unarmed civilians; regardless of the names you call them. What is happening in the Ogaden is not something that can be summed up by few articles here or there. A Crimes of unimaginable proportions has happened in the Ogaden and regardless of what you say, one day those responsible will brought to just. Mr McGill let them not silence you. The likes of you are sending by providence to atone for the mistakes of certain members of the human family. Thank you and thank you again. Since the beginning of time, brave men fought injustice and tyranny. The USA is the Country of Washington, Jefferson, and Lincoln- Giants who refused injustice. Keep moving, they cannot hurt you, for the Almighty rewards good deeds.

if ogadens are here because US armed ethiopians, then why didn't 5 million other ogadens stay in ethiopia? while 5 million ogadens are fighting the ONLF terrorists, some opportunist ogadens support ONLF and use that as excuse to go to rich countries. then they send money back to finance terrorism. their new excuse is government forcing them to pay. LOL.

ethiopia should have been a rich nation by now! LOL

we ethiopians have to subsidize everything for the pro-ONLF ogadens whose desert land has nothing and they contribute zero money to ethiopian economy.

so if this story about true, oh, that is actually great news!! lol

Mr Douglas , first of all I'm not sure how to call you or what to think of you , but from this article as I can assume that you are a journalist or columnist without no knowledge of journalistic ethic or knowledge at all , how come the picture you have recived from the usual reliable source become a forge one ? if the picture of torture is not from ethiopia , then what makes you belive that all those testemonial of the so called Ethiosomalians in Minnesota are telling you the truth ? also as a proffesional what kind of action or procedure did you follow up to proof that all those accusation are wether they are true or wrong ? I don't think you done any of the above , so there for I shall call you not a columnist or journalist , but rather a journalist who going to back ward , or some one should be charged of vandalism on journalism . Any ways just as a concern citizen I want to tell you and your Minnesota friends whom I assume they wrote you a fat check in rewarding you for this article as well , Ethiopia has a very strong and very proffesional army with a good manner and reputation throughout the continent for serving as a peace keepeing force in defferent conflict zones .As ONLF , OLF , AlSHEBAB , whom they all suported by a mad dog from Eritrea and plotting a terrorist attack on Ethiopia we all know it, and this is an open book for those who are interested in the truth , our defence army will crash them , squash them and destroyed them as usual and you can continue to fabricate and fabricate and fabricate stories over and aver again , but want to assure you that over the seventy million people of Ethiopia are very proud of thier countree army on thier bravery , profesionalism and heroism , and we allways stand behind them one hundred percent as our history shall tech you a lesson again and again .

The author of this piece (or any piece) should at least check the basic facts of his story. One of the areas of concern should be to question (ascertain) if his sources will have any motive other than their stated motive in telling him/her the story they are telling.

It is a well known fact that there has been tribal (ethnic) fighting in Ethiopia for many decades.

Each group uses whatever means it can to bolster its image among its constituents and among people around the world to presumably get support (financial, political, etc).

One way to do this is to present oneself (a group, individual, etc) as victims. The more victimized one is the more sympathy one gets (presumably).

Journalists should do all they can to report facts (whether these are crimes against people as a group or individual, or any human interest stories).

Journalists should be careful not to be used as tools to propagate false stories though.

Ethiopians in the US tend to aggregate in certain cities. Some cities tend to have a large number of Ethiopian that come from a particular region of Ethiopia.

Minnesota in general (and St. Paul/Minneapolis in particular) is known to have a large number of Oromos and ethnically Somali Ethiopians. The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) have some of their ardent sympathizers in the twin cities and MN in general. Many in the Ethiopian diaspora are also not fond of the current regime (because of political and ethnic grievances. The current state of development in political discourse in Ethiopia often degenerates into pure hate politics and "do anything to delegitimize your opponents " tactics.

So, it would make sense that a journalist writing on this issue would check and double-check his "facts" knowing that the people telling him these stories may have motives (such as political motives) other than purely expressing grievances. A real investigative reporter will actually try to visit such sites. An easier and presumably trustworthy source for checking these "facts" would also be the US Embassy in Ethiopia or US State Department sources, and sources from the European Union, or other sources who may not be blatantly partisan (although even such corroboration may not always be conclusive).

In spite of what the author of this piece may believe, the Ethiopian government is not full of total morons that let such atrocities committed by its army, to the detriment of its own legitimacy among the Oromo and Somali people of Ethiopia. Comparing the regime to the absolute dictatorships of the past (both in Ethiopia and elsewhere) is simply not understanding the current facts in Ethiopia.

There is a serious "battle" being fought for the future of Ethiopia. Both (all) camps purport to have the countries best interest and that may be true. But their methods to get there often makes one wonder if they truly mean what they say.

In my humble opinion and sources of information as someone who is currently living in Ethiopia, these "facts" as stated seem to be highly exaggerated at best and flat out lies at worst. I encourage interested readers to do a double take by consulting sources from both sides of the "fight" or at least sources they know have no ax to grind and have been proven trust worthy in the past.

Lazy journalism is disservice to all of us!

my friend, this is such a true story and amazing! wow, so sad!! LOL...just kidding. maybe next, you will "interview" nazis to tell you balanced stories about the jews. LOL

our somali enemies can say anything but they can't hurt us any longer. we remember during the ethiopia-adal war many centuries ago when somali jihadists invaded us using the Ottoman empire. soon we defeat the somalis and the ottomans!!! then the jihadist somalis invaded us in 1970s with help of egyptians and arabs, we ethiopians again defeat them. then, the somalis since 1991 became stateless and homeless! LOL

the only thing somalis have left is douglas to fabricate negative stories about ethiopia from miles away. LOL

poor somali jihadists

Thanks for bringing this to the attention of millions, however one thing that has to be clear is that the cruelty of this government is not restricted to Ogaden area only, millions and millions are suffering similar faith if not worst (body mutilation and killing etc) throughout every corner of the country.

In addition to the forced displacement, village burnings and killings, Ethiopian forces have also carried out a large number of reprisal killings and other serious human rights violations. refer the Human Rights Watch's report. It is time the American government do something about it, before we have another DARFUR in our hands. It is not difficult for the American government to stop this Genocide given the nature of the Ethiopian government which stands on alms given by the generous American and other European Taxpayers.

Simply writing fabricated stories are becoming a norm for some news outlets in the west. Ethiopia has well discipline army and they get paid well on based on the country standard. I don't think it is too late to correct your stories in order to restore your credibility and this is a white lie

Mr McGill and Daily Planet,

Instead of dancing around your egregious error by putting correction and disclaimer, what you need is the courage and professional ethic to retract your article which is full of unsubstantiated allegations and accusations. You do not have any reason to be in the business of blackmailing the Ethiopian Government and people that have been supportive of anti-terror efforts of the US to appease a few disgruntled individuals from Eastern Ethiopia. These are people who have been openly supporting the massacre of more than 90 Ethiopian and Chinese mine workers by the ONLF. I believe your profession and work ethic is at stake here!

Douglas, Please do not let those crying Ethiopian agent to discourage you. You are a man with dignity.

The ransom story is not new, it happens daily in Ogaden. The solders come and arrest you and you have to pay ransom if you want to be released

Some times soldiers fine the poor people just to get money from them.

The stroy i hear from Ogaden makes my stomach upset. The gang rape, the inhumane killing, looting property, burning down entire villages

Ps, I have some pcitures which shows the distruction coused by ethiopian soldiers.. if need I can share with you. I live in twin cities

Mr. McGill, you have the audacity to write this: "Hating to pay the money but having no other choice, the Minnesota refugees empty their personal bank accounts and pass the hat to raise ransoms to release their husbands, wives, sons, daughters and friends from overcrowded jails where torture, rape, beatings and killings are common."

You must have given the best justification for those terrorsits who are funding terrorism in the Horn of Africa-poor Ogaden origin Ethiopians sending dollars to ransom Ethiopian soldiers. You can not go lower than this Mr. McGill!

<b>A fake story supported by a fake picture in the name of a terrorist organization Douglas McGill propagates to unsuspecting readers. It is digusting beyond belief.</b>

It is only with the help of such genuinely concerned for humanity journalists like Douglas that the evil deeds of the Tigrian regime be exposed to the world. This isn't an Ogaden problem only, it is what non Tigrians face in Ethiopia on dai;y basis.

The issue of the photo is a non-issue.

Thanks Man!

Dear Mr. McGill

Have you, by any chance, watched the movie "Resurrecting the Champ"? If you have not, I recommend that you watch it! It is an excellent movie: your subjects in Minnesota really fooled you!!

Thank you so much Mr.Dougless I wish you a long life.I am from Ogaden.My family is living under unbearable conditions.I fled my country when Ethiopian Soldiers said to me:You have two choice either join the Militias fighting against ONLF fighter or spy the families who support the ONLF fighter.I had no choice rather than fleeing my home.I am very sorry to be away from my parents and my loved ones.and I am very sorry to abonden my school in Dagehbur.

Mr. Magill's "Ethiopia shakes down its Minnesota refugees" article is a cheap blow to the credibility and resourcefulness of journalism. I am sure the writer has never visited the land, the people or has not made adequate research to base his conclusion. His sources are hearsays of disgruntled individuals who are free to make all sorts of accusations.
I wonder what Mr. Magill would say if he is asked to validate his allegations. Writing what a person says does not necessary warrant accuracy. The first amendment accords free speech to all, but the article is filled with unimaginable malicious accounts concocted to malign the Ethiopian government. It is way too low to see journalists such as Mr. Magill to be used in the dissemination of such innuendoes.
While enlightening readers about a possible allegation committed ten thousand miles away is worthy work of inquisitive journalist, presenting it as fact with out thorough investigation is a deliberate misleading act. Yes, there are problems in the Eastern part of Ethiopia - including sporadic wars between ONLF - an organization that wants to secede and kills thousands of innocents and the government that has a constitutional responsibility to protect its citizens. Yet, the article mediums including the sources it used, and the vivid descriptions accounts are totally false.
Whether the Ethiopian government should let a huge chunk of its population and land mass secede is not an issue Mr. Magill has NO business with.
I wander if the writer reflects on the following concepts. Was the death of 600,000 Americans to keep the union worthy? Can we avoid the death of innocents in Afghanistan and Iraq? In retrospect, does he have enough credible information to write the article? Although the torture picture has now been removed, what does it tell on the trustworthiness of the people who provided it to him, and his journalistic judgment to print it?
I am saddened to see Mr. Magill engaged in such tittle-tattle behavior with out making the needed cautious investigations.

Respectfully

Abel

TPLF has massacred about 500 innocent Gambella citizens, 290 Adis Ababa residents during the 2005 elections, Addis Ababa University students,thousands of Oromo and Ogadenis. They have never admitted of doing any thing wrong in the past 18 years. They rather blame the BBC , New York Times, Aljazeera,McGil, Donald Payne and other congreemen, Ana Gomez and the European Union, USAID, Channel four, ICRC, MSF, Oxfam......world bank for not funding the dam construction..... TPLF is blameless!!!!!!!!! that is what the inhumane and cheap TPLF guardians want us to beleive!

McGil, keep up the good work!

this must be the joke of the century.

the somalis who are sending money to terrorists like ONLF who are buying arms, burning huts and killing innocent ethiopians are now saying they send money to get their families released from prison?? funny.

How much money did you get out of this false story? it is recession time, may be you are broke. white people lie for money and you are one of them. no more game, we are smarter than you, you can not fool ethiopians. sorry, budy you are lost.

Somalia's - Somalis are not welcome by any of thier neighboring countries exacept Ethiopia. When ten of thousands of Somalis migrated to Kenya we know how they get treated. However, Somalis in Ethiopia especially in Addis Ababa live freely and happily. If the Ethiopia government really opressing Somalis why the government allowed ten of thousands of illegal Somalis to live in Ethiopia? Ethiopian - Somalis are Ethiopia - they have thier own university, polica, and run thier state using Somalis language that no other somalis in Kenya and Djibouti enjoys these prevelages.

Please check this web page and you will see how they shaking us here in MN

WWW.Cakaaranews.com . The Ethiopian are posting the dead body of what they call ONLF, bacause the want to intimidate the poeple of Ogaden clan.

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Ethiopia shakes down its Minnesota refugees

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