PRESS STATEMENT (Date: May 24, 2010)
Somalia Cause strongly condemns and denounces the Ethiopian government for sending its heavily armed forces with tanks to cross into Buuhodle, a peaceful northern Somali city. The local humanitarian organizations in the region reported that the Ethiopian troops engaged in slaying innocent civilians, unlawful arrests, and massive looting of privately owned properties.

The May 21 Ethiopian aggression against the residents of Buuhodle has caused people in the city including women, children and the elderly to flee the city thereby causing displacement of civilians, with no water, shelter, and other basic needs.

The city of Buuhodle is still surrounded by the Ethiopian armed troops and they are not allowing the civilian to return to the There has been a pattern of Ethiopian attacks and ongoing infringements in Somalia with no regard to the sovereignty and the territorial integrity of Somalia.

This latest belligerence of the Ethiopian troops against the residents of this peaceful city of Buuhodle, in Northern Somalia is uncalled for and inexcusable.

Somali Cause condemns the silence of the international Community, the TFG and Somali regional administrations for keeping this massacre under the table and for not calling Ethiopian Government to stop this aggression.

Somali Cause urges and calls for:

– The international community to denounce this blatant violation of human rights and abuses by the Ethiopian troops in many parts of Somalia and particularly the latest incursion in Buuhodle city and to immediately accommodate the peaceful return of the displaced residents of Buuhodle to their homes.

– Immediate delivery of humanitarian assistance to the displaced people of Buuhodle

– Immediate and unconditional withdrawal of the Ethiopian troops from Buuhodle and other parts of Somalia.

– The international community to hold the Ethiopian government accountable for the crimes against humanity that its forces have been committing in Somalia.

-Send fact finding UN mission in the region

Abdirizak Mohamed

Somali Cause Chair

Somali Cause is an umbrella of seven Somali organizations in the USA and Canada that united to: (a) Educate the world about the plight of the Somali people, (b) Provide humanitarian assistance to the suffering people of Somalia, (c) Provide an alternative to the clan and regional based politics, and (e) Safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Somalia.

Member organizations include:

1. Alliance for Peace and Development (AFPD), Columbus, OH
2. Baltimore Somali Community, Baltimore, MD
3. Greater Boston Somali Community, Boston, MA
4. Somali Advocacy Council, Washington DC
5. Somali Canadian Diaspora Alliance (SCDA), Toronto, Canada
6. Somali Diaspora Network (SDN), Fairfax, VA
7. Somali Institute for Peace and Justice (SIPJ), Minneapolis, MN

Tel: (202) 285-0780

Email:info@somalicause.org

Site: www.somalicause.org