As an organizations concerned with human rights in Ethiopia, SOCEPP is deeply aggrieved by the ongoing Ethio-Eritrean war which has led to the slaughter of thousands of people on both sides. With reason and restraint thrown to the winds, the persecution of the war and the accompanying hate propaganda have favoured the carnage in what in the end is an unwinnbale war, a war that has already made both sides the losers.

SOCEPP has received reports that the EPRDF government is using FORCE to recruit people into its military. Furthermore, concrete evidence also proves that the government is using CHILD SOLDIERS (both male and female) in the front lines. These acts are in no way justified by the argument that the other side is or may be doing the same. For example, all the recruits who are now found in Ambagiorgis (Gondar) were forcefully rounded up from the province of Wegera. Some forced conscripts have also been seen at the Aberja training camp. Similar attempts to use force in recruting youngsters from Gojjam has reportedly failed in the face of the hostility of the local people to the EPRDF and such practices.

Moreover, there are disturbing reports that the EPRDF government is using force ONLY in selected areas inhabited by certain ethnic groups. The same reports allege that the ethnic policy of the government has been in practice in the battle fields and that the majority of the casualties are youngsters from certain ethnic groups( outisde of Tigrai) who have been thrown into the war as canon fodders. The EPRDF government has the duty to give clear accounts on these questions.

SOCEPP condemns the conscriptions and the use of child soldiers and calls for these practices to cease without any delay. It also calls on both sides to let the Red Cross visit the war prisoners and, if possible, to lend their ears to the calls for reason and peace.