THE
ANUAK GENOCIDE
Background Information, Links, Telephone Numbers
A resource for Minnesota media & citizens
Updated 5/18/2004
More
than 1,200 members of the Anuak tribe of Ethiopia live
in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and in
southern Minnesota, having come as refugees to escape ethnic
cleansing that has been been carried out against their tribe over
the past two decades. Including children born in this country
to Anuak parents, the number of Anuak in southern
Minnesota
is well
over 2,000.
On
December 13, 2003, in by far the largest single
incident in the genocide of the Anuak, more than 400 Anuak were
killed by uniformed soldiers
of
the Ethiopian Defense
Force, according to dozens
of eyewitnesses. The killings have continued until
this day and have caused more than 10,000 Anuak refugees
to flee across the Ethiopia-Sudan
border to the area near
Pocalla, Sudan, where there is presently a humanitarian
emergency due to low food and medical supplies.
On
January 8, Genocide Watch, the widely-respected international
NGO, put the Anuak massacre on their emergency
list of ongoing
genocides in the world. "The situation reminds me of Rwanda in
1993, when all the early warning signs were evident but no one
paid attention," Dr. Gregory Stanton, president of Genocide
Watch, has written.
The
Minnesota media is an
early warning system for this African genocide.
The December 13 massacre and subsequent killings have thrown
the Anuak diaspora community in Minnesota into feverish work
to
help
their
suffering relatives at home. Meetings with
the staffs of State senators and representatives are planned;
a rally was held on the steps of the capitol on December 18;
and efforts are being made to raise emergency relief funds
and send aid workers to Pocalla.
The
McGill Report Coverage
Genocide of Anuak
Widens to Women, Children, Small Villages (5/17/2004)
An Interview With Ethiopia's
Minister of Genocide (5/17/2004)
Why Ethiopia Gets a Free
Pass on Ethnic Cleansing (5/17/2004)
"They Killed
You Like a Dog" -- An Anuak Survivor's Story (5/17/2004)
On a Bloody Saturday, Ethiopia
Chose Genocide (1/2/2004)
Minnesota
Anuak Refugees Fear 400 Dead in Ethiopia Massacre (12/22/2003)
The
Minnesota Anuak: A Lost Africa Tribe of the American Midwest (1/14/2003)
The
Anuak Genocide -- Background
Amid
Ethiopia's Strife, a Bathing Spot and Peace (The
New York Times, 6/11/04)
Ethiopia's
Prime Minster Calls Reports of Anuak Massacres "Fiction" (CNN,
4/29/04)
Genocide
Watch: The Anuak of Ethiopia (1/8/2004, Genocide
Watch)
The
Killing of a People -- The Gambella Case (12/31/2003,
Ethiomedia)
Systematic
Killing and Genocide by the Ethiopian Government
(12/30/2003, Ethiomedia)
Oil
Development in Ethiopia: A Threat to the Anuak of Ethiopia (10/31/2001,
Cultural Survival)
Anuak
Displacement and Ethiopian Resettlement (12/31/1988,
Cultural Survival)
Resettlement
and Villagization: Tools of Militarization in SW Ethiopia (12/31/1987,
Cultural Survival)
Ethiopia's
Policy of Genocide Against the Anuak of Gambella (9/30/1986,
Cultural Survival)
The
Anuak: A Threatened Culture (6/30/1984, Cultural Survival)
Ethiopian
Women Agonize About Massacre Back Home (1/3/2004, The
Spokesman-Review)
Pogrom
in Gambella Still Underway (12/31/2003, Ethiomedia)
Letters and Documents
Letter from Sen.
Norm Coleman to U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia (4/30/2004)
List of Anuak Dead
and In Prison (1/18/2004)
An Appeal to the International
Community (Obang
Warajang, 12/18/2003)
Gambella People
of USA Press Release on Dec. 13 Massacre (12/18/2003)
Letter
to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan (12/18/2003)
Letter to U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell (12/16/2003)
Letter to Sen. Coleman,
Sen. Dayton, Rep. Gutknecht (1/13/2004)
Background Paper to Sen. Coleman,
Sen. Dayton, Rep. Gutknecht (1/13/2004)
Alert Memo to
December 13 Massacre (includes early list of dead)
(12/16/2003)
Early
Report of the December 13 Massacre (12/16/2003)
Contacts
Omot Ochan (Relief fundraising)
St. Paul, Minnesota
c: 612-408-8145
h: 651-686-5854
Jim
Struck (Relief fundraising)
c/o
Christ Lutheran Church
1930 Diffley Road
Eagan, MN 55122
651-454-3664
Obang
Jobi
Secretary, Anuak Community Association
of
North America (ACANA)
St. Paul, MN
952-892-0784
Obang
Metho
Director, Gambella Development
Agency
Saskatchewan, Canada
(306) 933-4346
(306) 955-7549
Omot Nyigwo
Mankato, Minnesota
(507)386-0837
Ojulu Odola
Sydney, Australia
61
2 9631 3629
LeRoy
G. Christoffels
Pastor, Worthington Christian Reformed Church (many
Anuak parishioners)
Worthington, MN
o: 507-372-2811
h: 507-376-4092
Ujulu Goch
Washington, DC
(202) 431-0839
Copyright
@ 2004 The McGill Report