By Ahmed Abdi
Somalilandsun – An Ethiopian -Paramilitary force slaughtered 8 men during a June Operation 2014 in the immediate vicinity of a little village near Rabaso in the district of Aware, the province of Degehabur neighboring Somaliland, about 150 kilometers of South-west of Hargeisa the capital of Somaliland.
“We came to a village not far from Aware near Rabaso to forcibly recruit men to fight for the ONLF, but they rejected our order as we were from 11th regiment stationed in Guna’gado as they asked for a regiment from their district of Aware,” A defector Liyuu Police Captain who declined to be named said.
The Captain said 12 men aged between 18 to 40 were present at the village and they selected 8 out of 12 and then took them from the village at gunpoint.
He said Col. Bashir Afdhere ordered his armed men to tie every two of the men together as they were not ultimate patriots.
“I was ordered to shoot the first man on the head by Col. Bashir Afdhere, I pointed my gun to one of them’s head to kill him by shooting, but failed due to malfunction. My Col. ordered me to reload my gun and shoot the man, but I rejected it,” he said, adding that he thought the man was a true-believer that did not deserve to be killed as he did not die for the first attempt.
The Captain said when he rejected the order, then Col. Bashir Af-dhere selected 6 of his armed men including Farhan Taman, Farhan Fora’re, and Ahmed Muhummed Nour ,and ordered them to slaughter those 8 men from Abakor sub-clan of Isaaq .
“They (villagers) slaughtered two of their goats to feed us, but they (Liyuu Police) slaughtered the villagers like animals to save their own bullets,” he said.
Both Ethiopia and Somaliland governments do not comment on this incident.
Local people say the Liyuu police take the law into their own hands and kill at will in daily basis without the presence of the media in the area. It made difficult for journalists to report real time information and updates after Ethiopia has banned the media to have access in the region.
Human Rights watch said that the special (Liyuu) police has been implicated in grave abuses against civilians throughout the Somali region of Ogaden.
