Anuak Justice Council

Read a collection of articles and essays from the AJC

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

January 18, 2012
The People of Gambella Have Been Heard
(Vancouver) - The Anuak Justice Council commends Human Rights Watch for their in-depth investigation of the Government of Ethiopia’s massive resettlement program in Gambella State and its impact on indigenous populations, among which are the Anuak who have lived in the region for centuries. read ...

January 16, 2012
Human Rights Watch
Ethiopia: Forced Relocations Bring Hunger, Hardship
(London) – The Ethiopian government under its “villagization” program is forcibly relocating approximately 70,000 indigenous people from the western Gambella region to new villages that lack adequate food, farmland, healthcare, and educational facilities, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. State security forces have repeatedly threatened, assaulted, and arrested villagers who resist the transfers. read ...

“Waiting Here for Death”
This report in Ethiopia’s Gambella Region,” examines the first year of Gambella’s villagization program. It details the involuntary nature of the transfers, the loss of livelihoods, the deteriorating food situation, and ongoing abuses by the armed forces against the affected people. Many of the areas from which people are being moved are slated for leasing by the government for commercial agricultural development. read ...

December 13, 2011
Remembering that the December 13 Massacre of the Anuak is Going On Throughout Ethiopia!
(Ottawa)--December 13-15th, 2011 marks the eighth anniversary of the Anuak genocide that began with the brutal massacre of 424 Anuak leaders and young students in less than three days, but continued for another two years. Up to 1,500 more were killed, many more atrocities were committed and the limited infrastructure of the region was significantly destroyed. Today we clearly understand that the TPLF/EPRDF’s intent was to take over control of the land, water, oil and natural resources from the Anuak and other indigenous people in the region—the Nuer, the Majanger, the Opo and the Komi. read...

December 3, 2011
Anuak Mourn the Passing of Their Anuak King in Southern Sudan
The Anuak Justice Council shares in the profound grief of all Anuak and friends of the Anuak throughout the world upon the loss of the king of the Anuak, His Majesty King Adongo Agada Akwai Cham, who died on November 30, 2011 following a serious illness. After seeking medical help in India and Kenya, he passed away in Nairobi, Kenya, only ten years after he assumed the throne of the Anuak kingdom in 2001. read... read in Amharic... (pdf)

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.