protesters which took place on 3 June 2019, over a dozen protesters disappeared and their fate is still unknown.28 • In South Africa, political violence resulted in the disappearance of more than 2,000 people, the majority of whom were disappeared between 1985 and 1994 in the Transvaal and Natal regions, where apartheid-era political violence was concentrated.31 Reflecting common patterns of ED in conflict, over 90% of the disappeared in South Africa are male, and more than 70% are under the age of 36.32 Most (70%) were members of liberation movements, and fewer than 10% were security force members or supported pro-government movements, reflecting the fact that most disappearances were conducted by the government in an effort to quell political violence or dissent.33 Primary contexts Despite the lack of statistics, the circumstances in which ED occurs are clear. Governments deploy ED as a means to exert pressure during times of armed conflict and civil unrest, as part of “security and counter-terrorism”-related operations, and in the context of managing migration and internal displacement. Additionally, ED is used to silence the opposition, to deter dissent and to instill fear in the population as a way to hold on to power. Human rights advocates, political opposition, union leaders, journalists and minority groups are often targeted. • Similarly, widespread ED was conducted during the “Ethiopian Red Terror,” when thousands of people were arbitrarily arrested, tortured, and disappeared. The count of those disappeared varies widely, but most reports agree that tens of thousands of Ethiopians were impacted by disappearances during the period from 1974 to 1991.34 Political opponents of the Derg, Ethiopia’s military junta that controlled the government from 19741978, were arrested en masse, and many were disappeared; Amnesty International estimated that 30,000 political detainees were held in prisons by the end of 1978, and that many (the precise numbers are unknown) were ultimately disappeared.35 The majority of detainees and disappeared were young people, who are now referred to as Ethiopia’s “lost generation.”36 The following sub-sections explore in detail the context in which ED occurs in Africa, and the profile of those targeted. ED during armed conflict and civil unrest Many ED in Africa have occurred, and continue to occur, in the context of armed conflict, above and beyond the large – and increasing – numbers of persons who are reported missing as a result of armed conflict.29 • In Sudan, the former Al-Bashir regime deployed the use of ED to quell military uprisings and civil unrest in various parts of the country. In Darfur, the Janjaweed, a government supported militia, was deployed to target the uprisings of the non-Arab population, resulting in thousands of civilians being murdered, displaced and disappeared.37 While ED also occurs outside of armed conflict, the collapse of the rule of law in the midst of conflict and the lack of political will or ability to hold perpetrators accountable can exacerbate or create the conditions for the commission of ED.30 As the case studies included in this report illustrate, ED has been systematically employed in conflicts and situations of political violence throughout Africa for decades. For example: 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 • In Algeria, during the civil war in the 1990s, approximately 8,000 persons were forcibly disappeared. African Center for Justice and Peace Studies ("ACJPS"), Enforced Disappearance in Africa: Baseline Study for Sudan, September 2020, p. 22. See UN Security Council, Resolution 2474, UN Doc S/RES/2474 (2019) (discussing the issue of missing persons as a result of armed conflict). Ibid. Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Report of the Human Rights Violations Committee: Abductions, Disappearances, and Missing Persons, Vol. 6, Sec. 4, Chap. 1, at para. 37. Ibid. Ibid. Human Rights Watch, Ethiopia: Reckoning Under the Law, December 1994, Volume 6, No. 11. Marshet Tadesse Tessema, Prosecution of Politicide in Ethiopia: The Red Terror Trials 14 (2018). Jacob Wiebel, “Let the Red Terror Intensify”: Political Violence, Governance and Society in Urban Ethiopia, 1976–78, 48 Int’l J. of African Historical Studies 13 (2015). Report of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur to the United Nation Secretary-General, 25 January 2005, Geneva, p. 39. 17