Former president of Somali region in Ethiopia arraigned in court

By The Star Staff Writer

MOGADISHU—The former president of the Somali region in Ethiopia, Abdi Mohamed Omer, on Wednesday appeared in a federal court in the capital along with three of his former ministers to face criminal charges for allegedly organizing the local youth to cause death and displacement of many people in the territory, local media reported.

Heavily armed security forces arrested Omer on Monday hours after the region’s lawmakers stripped him of his immunity. Ethiopia’s state TV showed images of Omer being escorted by armed security forces out of his Addis Ababa house near Atlas Hotel onto a white waiting car. Five assault rifles and four pistols were found at Omer’s house, according to ETV.

“The suspects were accused of causing the death and displacement of many people as well as destruction of religious institutions by equipping and encouraging the youth in the region along ethnic lines,” said the Ethiopian News Agency on Wednesday.

The federal army raided the Somali region’s capital, Jigjiga, on August 4 and ousted Omer’s administration, but the military takeover sparked days of violence that killed dozen of people and destroyed many properties, including churches. Forces allied with Omer have also clashed with the federal army and local Somalis turned on non-Somalis living in the area.

Several days later, the army airlifted Omer to Addis Ababa and placed him under house arrest until Monday, when he’s arrested.

The three ministers who were charged along with Omer were Rahma Mohammed Haibe, former minister of women and children; Abdurazak Sani, former minister of diaspora and Sultan Mohammed, former minister of irrigation development.

All the four suspects were denied bail even though they complained of hypertension, gastric ulcer and poor meals at their detention centers, said The Reporter, a weekly English language newspaper in Ethiopia.

The court gave the police 14 more days to finish its investigation.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed said on Saturday that courts would decide the fate of the former leader, terming abuses committed during Omer’s tenure in the Somali region “shameful,” according to local reports.

He said animals, such as lion, hyena and tiger, were detained with inmates to frighten them into making confession or extracting information from them. He said the violence in the Somali region was a scheme to destabilize the area, whose inhabitants endured human rights abuses, like rape, murder and wealth confiscation.

The inhabitants of the region have already moved on and the ruling Ethiopian Somali People’s Democratic Party, or ESPDP, on August 26 elected Mustafa Muhumed Omer, whose brother was killed by former leader’s security agents, popularly known as Liyu Police or the special police.

The former leader, Omer, who shares the same name with his successor, became the region’s president in 2010. He, however, supervised the area’s security since 2007, when Addis Ababa adopted scorched earth policy, killing tens of thousands of people.

In its session on Sunday, the region’s parliament removed the immunity of six former officials along with Omer. They’re: Abdijemal Kelonbi, head of Justice Bureau; Rahma Mohammed Haibe, minister of women’s and children; Ibrahim Mehd, minister of education; Dek Abdulahi, deputy minister of water resource development bureau; Ibrahim Mohammed Mubarek, mayor of Jigjiga; Omer Abdi; the ruling party’s head of political affairs.

All of them were taken into custody, according to local media.