Omot Agwa Okwoy and six other Ethiopian pastoralist and indigenous people from Ethiopian were due to attend a workshop on seeds and land issues in Nairobi to help improve the lives and livelihoods of communities in remote parts of Ethiopia. The workshop, which starts today, is funded and organised by Bread for All, the Development Service of the Protestant Churches in Switzerland.

Omot Agwa Okwoy is a Protestant Christian who has served in his capacity as a church leader and in various positions within government. Mr Okwoy is currently studying for his MA in Addis Ababa and due to complete his studies in June this year.

Mr. Okwoy was stopped by Ethiopian security agents at the Addis Ababa airport where he was travelling to attend the workshop. Since then, his whereabouts are unknown. The remaining six other Ethiopian pastoralist and indigenous participants were not on the scheduled flight that was to arrive in Nairobi and we have been unable to contact their mobile phones. The airline has only confirmed that the seven participants did not board the plane. No other information was provided.

We are aware that Mr. Okwoy was approached last week by Ojulu Kaga (Ojuu), an Ethiopian security agent from his home town in the Gambela region. As he had no previous encounter with this person, Omot Agwa Okwoy had already suspected that his security was at risk. However, he chose to attempt to attend the workshop given its importance to his people.

The arbitrary arrest of human rights and indigenous peoples activists is unfortunately frequent in Ethiopia, and there has been a growing repression of any critique of the

baumann@bfa-ppp.ch

Berne, 16th March 2015

To Whom It may ConcernsEthiopia: Urgent request for diplomatic support

Ethiopian representative of Anuak community arrested while travelling to international workshop. Request for urgent support for information on his whereabouts

governments policies on land. This, however, is the first time that Omot Agwa Okwoy has been targeted, and he has previously had no problems travelling outside of the country. The use of torture by Ethiopian authorities on political prisoners has been documented, as has the targeting of indigenous Anuak peoples, such as Mr. Okwoy.

As we are deeply concerned for the safety of Omot Agwa Okwoy and the six other participants, we urge the diplomatic missions, foreign services, international organisations and NGOs to contact the Ethiopian government and request information about the whereabouts of Mr. Okwoy and details on why he has been detained.

Miges Baumann Vice director