fire in wire

Amnesty International has created an Urgent Action alert for recent events occurring in Ethiopia, in which a number of students from the Oromo ethnic group have been detained for holding peaceful anti-government demonstrations in different parts of the country. Eleven students are named, but thousands are at risk. From the UA:

The arrests have taken place during a wave of student demonstrations which began on 9 November 2005. The demonstrations are still taking place in some areas. Most of those taking part were secondary school students, some of them children under 18 years old, but teachers, farmers, businesspeople and others have also been detained in connection with the demonstrations. Most demonstrations reportedly began peacefully but some police and demonstrators were injured, property was damaged and explosions were reported in some places.

View the entire Urgent Action here: Ethiopia: Detention without charge/ fear of torture or ill-treatment
For background information on the situation in Ethiopia, see Human Rights Watch's May 2005 report here: Suppressing Dissent: Human Rights Abuses and Political Repression in Ethiopia's Oromia Region

In Sudan, a new wave of attacks has displaced an estimated 70,000 people in recent days. At least 50,000 of those people were attacked in camps for internally displaced peoples (IDPs). From the IRIN (Integrated Regional Informational Networks) report:

The first attack occurred on 24 January, when Arab militia attacked Mershing - approximately 80 km north of the state capital, Nyala. They looted the central market as well as the houses and shelters of town residents and IDPs.

According to ACT-Caritas, which has programmes in South Darfur, gunmen on camels and horses prompted the mass exodus. Gillian Sandford, the NGO's field communicator, said the movement of people from Mershing started when Kele camp was looted. Attacks were also launched against Silo, Tege, and Um Gozein camps.

Read the entire story here: SUDAN: Thousands displaced by recent attacks in South Darfur

Other Sudan news:

A new tripartite agreement between Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the United nations could see repatriation of thousands of refugees to those countries within months. Read the Reuters Alertnet story here: DRC-SUDAN: New agreement could see thousands of refugee repatriations

Recently, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights released its second periodic report on the human rights situation in Sudan. Read the press release and download the report (in .doc format) here: UN Rights Office Calls on Sudan to End Impunity and Ensure Non-Discrimination in Distributing Resources to Population

Amnesty International (AI) is a worldwide movement of people who campaign for internationally recognized human rights. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln chapter is committed to activism and education on campus and in the Lincoln community.

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