Respondent State's submissions on admissibility
40. The Respondent State claims that the cases of those involved in the alleged violations that took place
in the Gambella Region are currently pending before the Federal Circuiting Court and the Respondent,
therefore, argued that domestic remedies have not yet been exhausted. The State provided a list of about
nine such cases including their file numbers and previous and future dates of adjournments.
41. The Respondent State argues that the rule that local remedies be exhausted is not limited to individuals
and also applies to organisations, including those in no way subject to the jurisdiction of the Respondent
State. According to the Respondent, the Complainant could have sought redress from the domestic courts,
the Judicial Administration Office, the Commission of Inquiry or the Human Rights Commission but did not.
The Complainant has not, argued the State, shown the existence of any impediment to the use of these
remedial processes or that such were unduly long.
42. Without indicating the status of the proceedings, the State argued that all those alleged of human rights
offences associated with the Gambella incident of December 2003 were brought before the Federal Circuit
Court. The State indicated that three domestic remedies were available to the Complainants: the competent
courts, the Judicial Administration Officer and the Human Rights Commission but the Complainants failed
to approach any of them.
Provisional measures
43. The Republic of Ethiopia argues that the Complainant has sought only to present what it claims is prima
facie evidence of violations and has not shown that if such alleged violations continue there will be
'irreparable injury', as required. Finally, the Respondent submits that the Government has presented
sufficient evidence that it has taken adequate measures to rectify the situation and that the situation in
general has stabilised and does not warrant any provisional measures from the African Commission. The
Respondent State submits as follows:
• In February 2004, the Office of the Prime Minister issued instructions to Federal institutions to assist
the Regional Administration in safeguarding the security of the people and institutions and
preventing further violence; soliciting the support of elders, the youth and civil servants in the effort
towards sustainable peace, democracy and development; rehabilitating victims of the violence and
internally displaced people; and bringing to justice those responsible for committing the violence
and the destruction of property.
• The Defence Forces, once deployed, protected the civilian population and allowed humanitarian
assistance and rehabilitation.
• The Federal Government, in cooperation with international agencies, coordinated humanitarian
assistance to alleviate the suffering of the victims of violence and the displaced.
• A Commission of Inquiry has been established to investigate the circumstances surrounding the
crisis; charges have been filed against several individuals as a result.
• The Government has organised various consultations and workshops with the participation of the
local population which have proposed concrete solutions aimed at resolving the problems facing the
region and have identified the root causes of the crisis.
• The Federal Police have recently graduated more than three hundred police officers from the
Gambella region to aid in maintaining law and order in the region once the situation has stabilised.
Law
Admissibility
44. The current communication is submitted pursuant to Article 55 of the African Charter which allows the
African Commission to receive and consider communications, other than from States Parties. Article 56 of
the African Charter provides that the admissibility of a communication submitted pursuant to Article 55 is
subject to seven (7) conditions. The African Commission has stressed that the conditions laid down in
Article 56 are conjunctive, meaning that if any one of them is absent, the communication will be declared
5