Ethiopia's Somali region was once the most ill-treated place in all of Ethiopia. No longer
?” asks Bashir Ahmed Hashi, smiling broadly, as he bounds out of his jeep towards the gates of Jigjiga prison. Entering the courtyard, the commissioner is greeted by a loud cheer. Excitable inmates jostle to shake his hand and pat him on the back. “For 24 hours a day we are happy now,” says one. Bashir, who was appointed prison chief for eastern Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State less than a year ago, looks a little bashful. “I’m popular here,” he explains.
Since then Mustafa has overseen the most dramatic turnaround in the region’s recent history. “It is the safest place in Ethiopia right now,” says Kamal Hassan, another recent returnee. When your correspondent visited Jigjiga in the final months of Abdi’s rule, former detainees refused to meet in public for fear of reprisals. Today many of them are in government.
Reforming such an authoritarian set-up is tricky. Take the Liyu. One of Mustafa’s first moves was to recall its top commanders to Jigjiga to undergo a two-month evaluation. The most notorious were fired, the rest given lessons in human rights and the constitution. Rubber batons replaced live ammunition for crowd control.
Even more vexing is the question of justice for past crimes. Only Abdi and some of his closest associates have been put on trial. Mustafa calls it a “moral dilemma”. Stability, he says, was the priority when he took office: “We had to balance the need for justice with the pragmatic reality that we need a special force here to keep peace.”
Deutschland Neuesten Nachrichten, Deutschland Schlagzeilen
Similar News:Sie können auch ähnliche Nachrichten wie diese lesen, die wir aus anderen Nachrichtenquellen gesammelt haben.
Parkland Rising Executive Producer Will.i.Am Has A Message About Gun ReformParkland Rising is a documentary about the aftermath of the February 14, 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. The shooting claimed the lives of 17 people, and ignited a movement against gun violence.
Weiterlesen »
Kipruto wins photo finish to claim steeplechase goldKenya's Conseslus Kipruto edged out Lamecha Girma of Ethiopia in a photo fi...
Weiterlesen »
Your Money: U.S. tax reform further complicates federal student aid formU.S. tax reform is finally catching up with the college financial aid process, a...
Weiterlesen »
Priceless 18th century crown will return home after 21 years abroadA priceless 18th century crown will be returned to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia after more than two decades in a Rotterdam, Netherlands apartment.
Weiterlesen »
Showing Solidarity with Women in PrisonAs the 2020 candidates have begun to roll out criminal justice reform proposals, we cannot forget the 219,000 women currently incarcerated in the United States. Tragically, women are often overlooked in plans meant to reduce the number of Americans held in jail cells or sent to prison each year.
Weiterlesen »