Information on the "Casa Inces" building in Addis Ababa between the years 1975 and 1991, including its use or occupancy by the government [ETH24621.E]

Information on the Casa Inces building in Addis Ababa between the years 1975 and 1991 could not be found among the sources consulted by the DIRB.

A 1996 unpublished report by Sue Pollock on human rights abuses against the Oromo people includes the "Casa Inchis" in a list of secret detention centres in Ethiopia (Mar. 1996, 16). The author describes the "Casa Inchis" building as an interrogation centre located in "an unmarked compound with a maroon painted fence on a road joining Jomo Kenyatta Avenue and Tito Street behind the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UN-ECA)" (ibid.). A professor of political science at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater stated in a 20 September 1996 telephone interview that a building called "Casa Inches" was located in an Addis Ababa Italian neighbourhood of the same name during the 1950s and 1960s. The professor, who worked at the building when it was occupied by the Peace Corps in the 1960s, described the building as a military office building with garages at street level and offices above (ibid.). The professor further stated that the building was in the neighbourhood behind the UN-ECA building in Addis Ababa, near Tito Street (ibid.). The professor was unaware of who occupied the building during the Mengistu era (ibid.).

In a telephone interview on 17 September 1996 a professor of political science at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, while not familiar with the Casa Inces building, corroborated the information that the neighbourhood near the UN-ECA was known as Casa Inces.

The attached map from La Grande Éthiopie, une utopie africaine indicates a "Casa INCIS" building in the neighbourhood of the Africa Hall building, which is the seat of the UN-ECA (Gascon 1995, 215). Also attached is a map of Addis Ababa indicating that Tito Street intersects with Jomo Kenyatta Avenue in the neighbourhood behind the UN-ECA building (Crowther 1989, 293).

Please note that according to the 1995 edition of Africa on a Shoestring, "there's little point giving ... street addresses [in Addis Ababa] as the roads have more than one name and people commonly know them by quite another. To add to the problem, the fetish for renaming streets renders all addresses obsolete overnight" (Crowther 1995, 318).

For general information on detention facilities in Ethiopia during the Mengistu era, please consult pages 6 and 7 of the 1986 Amnesty International report Ethiopia: Political Imprisonment and Torture attached to Response to Information Request ETH15972.E of 29 November 1993, which is available at Regional Documentation Centres.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below a list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References


Crowther, Geoff et al. May 1995. 7th ed. Africa on a Shoestring. Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications.

_____. 1989. 5th ed. Africa on a Shoestring. Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications.

Gascon, Alain. 1995. La Grande Éthiopie, une utopie africaine. Paris: CNRS Éditions.

Pollock, Sue. March 1996. "Ethiopia(Human Tragedy in the Making: Democracy or Dictatorship?" (Unpublished report)

Professor of political science, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater. 20 September 1996. Telephone interview.

Professor of political science, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Va. 17 September 1996. Telephone interview.

Attachments

Crowther, Geoff. 1989. 5th ed. Africa on a Shoestring. Hawthorn, Victoria, Australia: Lonely Planet Publications, pp. 292-93.

Gascon, Alain. 1995. La Grande Éthiopie, une utopie africaine. Paris: CNRS Éditions, p. 215.

Additional Sources Consulted

Amnesty International Report. 1975-1992.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. 1975-1991.

DIRB Ethiopia Amnesty International Country File. 1983-1991.

Ethiopia: From Bullets to the Ballot Box. 1994.

Evil Days: 30 Years of War and Famine in Ethiopia. 1991.

Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports.

Human Rights Watch Global Report on Prisons. 1993.

Human Rights Watch World Report. 1990 & 1992.

News from Africa Watch. Various reports.

Red Tears: War, Famine and Revolution in Ethiopia. 1989.

On-line searches of media reports (NEXIS).

Four oral sources consulted did not provide information on the requested subject.