Anuak

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Anuak are a river people whose villages are scattered along the banks and rivers of southeastern Sudan and western Ethiopia, in the region of Gambela.

The “Anuak” are from the family of Nilotes. They have lived in the area of the Upper Nile for hundreds of years and consider their land to be their tribal land. The Anuak are ethnically, culturally, linguistically, historically and religiously different from most other Ethiopians. Their indigenous land is totally different from anywhere else in the country in both climate and geography.

Unlike other Nilotic people in the region whose economy is centered on raising cattle, the Anuak are herdsmen and farmers. They are believed to have a common origin with their northern neighbors, the Luo and Shilluk. Also, they share a similar language with their neighbors to the south, the Acholi.

The Luo people are scattered all over Eastern Africa including Sudan and Ethiopia and have been identifying themselves as a special entity who have preserved their cultural heritage wherever they reside. The Luo speaking people of Eastern Africa are found in the Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and the Congo. Their language(s) and dialects belong to the broader cluster known as the Nilo-Saharan Group.

The Gambella region is hot and tropical with rich, fertile, well-watered soil coming from the rivers originating in the mountains of the highlands where there is a much cooler, dryer climate. The difference in geography has separated Ethiopians into distinctive categories of “lowlanders”, such as the Anuak and other indigenous groups in the area, as opposed to the “highlanders” who comprise the vast majority of the population of Ethiopia, such as Amharas, Oromos, Tigrayans,etc.

However, the Anuak and others, who live in the lowlands of Gambella are also distinguished by their color and considered to be black Africans as opposed to most other Ethiopians living in the highlands who are of lighter color African.

There has been overt racial discrimination and marginalization by this government and some others based on skin color. It has affected the Anuak’s access to education, health care and other basic services as well as limiting opportunities for development of the area. It is believed that the central government values the resources in this area, but not the people.

The Anuak of Sudan live in a grassy region that is flat and virtually treeless. During the rainy season, this area floods, so that much of it becomes swampland with various channels of deep water running through it.

The Anuak have been the subject of military oppression from the Ethiopian government. On January 8, Genocide Watch, the widely-respected international NGO, put the Anuak massacre on their emergency list of ongoing genocides in the world. "The situation reminds me of Rwanda in 1993, when all the early warning signs were evident but no one paid attention," Dr. Gregory Stanton, president of Genocide Watch, has written.

Anuak Justice Council.

The Anuak Justice Council (see link below) is an umbrella organization for the Anuak that advocates for non-violent solutions to the widespread human rights crimes being perpetrated against the Anuak in the Gambella region of Ethiopia by Ethiopian Defense Forces. The AJC’s approach to restoring peace, justice and the rule of law to this area is by means of international advocacy, increasing public awareness and utilizing established legal processes. The AJC is a non-profit, non-political organization representing Anuaks in Ethiopia, Sudan, Kenya and in the Diaspora, most of whom live in the United States.

The Anuak Justice Council was formed in response to the serious human rights abuses taking place in Gambella, Ethiopia against the indigenous Anuak (also known as Anyuak, Agnwak, and Anywaa) people, a small ethnic group of only between 100,000 to 150,000 people worldwide, most of whom live in this southwestern area of Ethiopia, with others living directly across the border in southern Sudan.

Human Rights Crimes

On December 13, 2003 Ethiopian Defense troops and some highlander militia groups went home to home in Gambella town, utilizing a list compiled with names of educated Anuak men who were thought to be “anti-government” and brutally massacred approximately four hundred and twenty four persons in less than three days. Many homes and crops were burned. Women were raped and others were imprisoned without charges. Many of the bodies were never identified before being buried in mass graves. Similar actions were taken by Ethiopian troops in the rural towns in the Gambella district, causing the many more victims. Many others fled to the bush or to Sudan for refuge.

Over the past year or more, the Ethiopian military has continued to perpetrate these crimes against the Anuak with impunity. Human Rights Watch released a report in March 24, 2005 that documents systematic and widespread atrocities committed against the Anuak by Ethiopian Defense Forces and some militia groups. In their report, HRW indicates that these acts meet the stringent definition of crimes against humanity.

Anuak men (and some women) continue to be subject to arbitrary arrest, beatings, detentions and extra judicial killings. Rape of Anuak women is widespread and believed to be almost universally suffered by Anuak women throughout the region. Anuaks continue to suffer huge problems with basic access to water, health care or clinics, food, travel, and education. Some NGO’s have been found to be extremely biased against the Anuak population and have sided with Ethiopian Defense forces and highlander civilians in brutal retaliatory attacks against non-combatant Anuak people, including women and children. Entire generations of Anuak children are unable to attend school, and are growing up, if they are so lucky, without any formal or informal education at all.