ETHIOPIA: Clan elder and relatives released - FUA 232/08

Ugaas (clan leader) Abdirahman Qani is now known to have been released on 7 October 2008. His relatives were all released several days later.

Abdirahman Qani, chief of the Tolomoge group of the Ogaden clan, had been detained without charge from 13 July 2008. He was arrested, along with nine members of his family and three others, shortly after his return to his home city of Godey, in the Somali region of Ethiopia, in the eastern part of the country, on 12 July. He had been living abroad for the previous two years and large numbers of people gathered at his house to welcome him. He was arrested and taken to Godey military barracks. In the following days, security forces arrested around 70 people, all of whom have now been released.

Abdirahman Qani, who was President of the Somali region in Ethiopia from April to November 1994, was in 2005 one of a dozen elders seeking to arrange peace talks between the government and an armed group, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF), which is fighting for an independent state of Ogaden, an area that would include most of the Somali region. As part of this mediation, Abdirahman Qani travelled to meet with the Ogaden Diaspora in the US in 2006

Many thanks to all who sent appeals. No further action is requested from the UA network. Amnesty International will continue to monitor the situation, and take further campaigning action as necessary.