Anuak Justice Council

Read a collection of Obang Metho's speeches and essays

Open Letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. - Anuak Justice Council, July 18, 2007

Open Letter to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, - Anuak Justice Council, February 20, 2007

Obang Metho addresses the Annual Policy Conference of the Group of 78, Ottawa, Canada, - Anuak Justice Council, September 29, 2006

Obang Metho testifies to the Parliament of the European Union, Anuak Justice Council, May 17, 2006

Testimony to the U.S. House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Human Rights and International Operations, Anuak Justice Council, March 28, 2006

For crimes against humanity, a claim has been filed against the Ethiopian government at International Criminal Court at The Hague, Netherlands, Anuak Justice Council, June 13, 2005

Ethiopia: Crimes Against Humanity in Gambella Region - Human Rights Watch, March 24, 2005

April 3, 2010
Security Forces Clamp Down in Gambella as Shootings, intimidation, rumors of large-scale arrests and more troops Threaten Region
New threats are again on the rise in Gambella as the Meles government attempts to exert increasing federal control of the region, leading to new clampdowns against civilians. Many believe that these actions are meant to suppress the deepening local protest over the increasing land-grabs, the upcoming pre-determined election—where names of election ‘winners’ have already been leaked—and to the increasing pressure by government authorities on the citizens to cover up the real perpetrators of the 2003 genocide of the Anuak by attributing the blame to the Anuak themselves. read...

March 8, 2010
Letter to Justice Navanathem Pillay, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights
Dr. Gregory Stanton - Genocide Watch
No one has ever been brought to justice in Ethiopia for the massacre of 424 Anuak in Gambella, Ethiopia on December 13-16, 2003, and genocidal massacres that killed one thousand more Anuak in 2004... A culture of impunity exists. Investigation by the High Commissioner for Human Rights is critical. read...

The Anuak Justice Council, a 501(c)(3) organization, is a representative voice for the Anuak community worldwide. Our mission is to advocate peacefully for the rights and security of the Anuak wherever they live.

The Anuak are a small minority group in Ethiopia and Sudan, residing mainly in the Gambella region of southwestern Ethiopia. They have been the predominant landowners in the region for several generations, enjoying relative peace and coexisting with other minority groups, although tensions with the Ethiopian government over land ownership have existed for decades. The current regime in Ethiopia has not acted favorably toward the Anuak and over the last decade has become an increasingly oppressive reality for the Anuak.

On December 13, 2003, members of the Ethiopian military and other ethnic groups massacred more than 400 people in the town of Gambella. Since that time, the Anuak have continued to suffer genocide and other on-going crimes against humanity.

In the months following the December 2003 massacre, many Anuak expatriates felt scattered and powerless in their efforts to raise awareness of the oppression against their people and to help family members in immediate danger. Compounding this frustration was the lack of coverage of this tragedy by the international press.

As the atrocities continued, the urgent need for an organized voice for the Anuak became apparent, and in response to that need the Anuak Justice Council was formed. Representatives from the AJC have presented testimony to governmental bodies in the UN, the US, Canada and the European Union.

The AJC has also formed partnerships with international law groups to bring legal pressure to bear against the current Ethiopian regime in international court, and through contacts with other human rights organizations has been instrumental in initiating extensive investigations into the alleged crimes of genocide. Noteworthy among those investigations is the report by Human Rights Watch, a report that strongly implicates the Ethiopian government as a perpetrator of genocide.

The hope of the Anuak Justice Council is that with the help of pressure from the international community, a process of negotiation with the Ethiopian government can begin that would lead to a peaceful solution to the violence in Gambella, and ultimately to a safe and secure homeland to which the scattered Anuak can return.