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Μεταφράστε:
              Γκουαντανάμο έρευνας `Αφρικής»
Πέμπτη, 2η Οκτωβρίου 2008 Το Salim Awadh μιλά σε με από μέσα από ένα κύτταρο κάπου στο αιθιοπικό κεφάλαιο, Αντίς Ababa. Από Robert Walker | Υπάρχουν επτά άλλοι φυλακισμένοι που κρατιούνται στο ίδιο μικρό, σκοτεινό δωμάτιο, αρχίζει να με λέει. Κατόπιν σταματά ξαφνικά. Μπορώ να ακούσω το μανιώδες ψιθύρισμα στο υπόβαθρο. Κατόπιν λέει ότι είναι ασφαλές να συνεχίσει. «Οι όροι είναι πραγματικά κακοί: δεν έχουμε αρκετά τρόφιμα, δεν έχουμε αρκετή πρόσβαση στην ιατρική. Το κύτταρο είναι υγρό,» λέει. «Κοιμόμαστε στο πάτωμα παρά τα διάβροχα στρώματα. Ένας από τους άλλους φυλακισμένους κτυπήθηκε τόσο άσχημα αυτός έχουν σπάσει το πόδι του.» Το Salim είναι σε θέση να μιλήσει σε με επειδή έχει δωροδοκήσει μια φρουρά και μια αποκτημένη πρόσβαση σε ένα κινητό τηλέφωνο. Για τις εβδομάδες έχω προσπαθήσει να ανακαλύψω τις πληροφορίες για τον και άλλους κρατουμένους σε αυτό που έχει κληθεί «Γκουαντανάμο της Αφρικής». Είναι μια ιστορία που οι κυβερνήσεις σχετικές δεν θέλουν να μιλήσουν για: Η πρώτη μαζική απόδοση των τρομοκρατικών υπόπτων στην Αφρική. Ιανουαρίου 2007, τα αιθιοπικά στρατεύματα είχαν πάρει τον έλεγχο του κεφαλαίου της Σομαλίας, Mogadishu, που αντικαθιστά την ένωση των ισλαμικών δικαστηρίων (UIC), μια μετακίνηση Islamist που είχε ελέγξει ένα μεγάλο μέρος της νότιας Σομαλίας για τους προηγούμενους έξι μήνες. Τα μέλη του UIC, οι μαχητές και οι πολίτες όλοι πολιτοφυλακών έφευγαν προς την Κένυα. Μεταξύ τους ήταν Salim Awadh, Κενυάτης, και η τανζανική σύζυγός του, Fatma Chande. Και οι δύο συλλήφθηκαν καθώς διέσχισαν τα σύνορα. «Κρατήθηκα σε ένα κύτταρο με άλλες γυναίκες. Κατόπιν η κενυατική αντιτρομοκρατική αστυνομία με εξέτασε - μου ρώτησαν γιατί πήγαμε στη Σομαλία,» Fatma λένε. Συναντώ Fatma στο μικρό σπίτι δύο-δωματίων της σε Moshi, βόρεια Τανζανία. Μιλιέται ήσυχα και η φωνή της υποχωρεί δεδομένου ότι εξηγεί τι συνέβη έπειτα. «Τους είπα το σύζυγό μου που αποκτήθηκε μια εργασία επισκευάζοντας τα κινητά τηλέφωνα στη Σομαλία. Αλλά προσπάθησαν να με αναγκάσουν για να αναγνωρίσουν ότι ο σύζυγός μου ήταν τρομοκράτης. Είπαν ότι έπρεπε να τους πω την αλήθεια ή θα με στραγγάλιζαν.» Ανησυχίες συνόρων Η κυβέρνηση της Κένυας - και οι δυτικοί σύμμαχοί του - είχε δει από καιρό τη Σομαλία ως λιμάνι για τους τρομοκράτες που συνδέθηκαν με Al-Qaeda, συμπεριλαμβανομένων των ατόμων για τους βομβαρδισμούς του 1998 των αμερικανικών πρεσβειών την Κένυα και την Τανζανία. Με το UIC στην υποχώρηση, αυτοί φοβισμένοι που η δύναμη εξτρεμιστών προσπαθεί να γλιστρήσει στα σύνορα. In the first weeks of early 2007, news began to filter out that several hundred people - including children - had been arrested trying to enter Kenya. Al Amin Kimathi, the head of Kenya’s Muslim Human Rights Forum, sent volunteers to police stations across the capital, Nairobi, trying to collect information. “Some very frustrated senior police officers told us point blank: it’s not our operation, go and ask the Americans, just call the American embassy. We even saw the Americans bring in detainees and take them out of certain police stations in Nairobi,” he said. Before Kenyan lawyers’ applications for their release could be considered, the authorities took an extraordinary step. “It was a Saturday, the police called us in the middle of the night. We were taken to the airport. My husband was made to kneel down on the tarmac,” says Fatima. “We had our hands tied behind our backs with plastic cuffs. There were men, women, children. We were blindfolded. People were crying. The police were telling them to keep quiet.” Two hours later, Fatma and Salim found themselves on the tarmac of Mogadishu airport. The Kenyan government sent two other planeloads of prisoners to Somalia. According to the passenger manifests at least 85 prisoners were on board. Most of them were soon picked from Somali prison cells and taken to Ethiopia. “A week after we arrived we were interrogated by whites - Americans, British, I was interrogated for weeks,” Salim says. “They had a file which was said to implicate me in the Kenyan bombings. So I was taken away and was placed in isolation for two months - both my hands and legs were shackled. “The interrogations went on for five months. Always the same questions about the Nairobi bombings.” Threats Former detainees have also told the BBC they were questioned by US agents. One said he was beaten by Americans. Two others said they were threatened and told that if they did not co-operate they could face ill treatment at the hands of Ethiopian guards. All said they believed it was the Americans and not the Ethiopians controlling their detention and interrogation. Human rights groups in the region say this was a new form of extraordinary rendition. The US did not play an overt role in the transportation or detention of suspects as it has in the rendition of other suspected terrorists, but it nevertheless controlled their interrogation and treatment. Al Amin Kimathi believes Ethiopia was seen as the ideal destination. “It was the most natural place to take anyone looking for a site to go and torture and to extract confessions. Ethiopia allows torture of detainees. And that is the modus operandi in renditions.” In April last year, Ethiopia acknowledged that it was holding 41 people from 17 countries, describing them as “suspected terrorists”. Most of the detainees were released after a few months, among them Fatma Chande, apparently as their interrogations were completed or under pressure from their home governments. The Ethiopian government acknowledges up to 10 foreign suspects are still being detained. “I’m not sure whether they have appeared before a court. The investigation continues,” Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Tekede Alemu told the BBC. “These are people who were engaged in causing harm to the national interest, the security interest… These are not innocent people.” The minister rejected claims the detainees have been mistreated. He also denied US agents had been allowed to control the interrogations of foreign prisoners. More than a year and a half after the renditions, the US government still refuses to respond to questions on the alleged US role. “I have no knowledge of it nor as official policy can I comment on such matters,” US Assistant Secretary of State for Africa Jendayi Frazer told the BBC. The Kenyan police say no Kenyans were amongs those flown by the Kenyan government to Somalia. Meanwhile Fatma is still waiting anxiously for news of her husband. After Salim got access to a mobile phone, he was able to speak to her from his cell for the first time in more than a year. Now the phone has stopped working, Salim has disappeared once again.
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