Displaced Oromians race to free their homeland

Although it is one of Africa’s largest nations, Oromia is either forgotten by or unknown to the majority of the world today. A July 29 first-ever race around Lake Calhoun was intended in part to rectify that oversight.Only four nations in Africa have larger populations than Oromia (estimated at 40 million), which is located in the Horn of Africa and makes up a large part of Ethiopia. It is about the size of Texas. However, throughout most of their early history, the Oromo people have been utterly mistreated. During the last quarter of the 19th century, Oromia was colonized by Abyssinia, a Black African nation that received help from the European colonial powers of the day. Between 1870 and 1900, the Oromo population was cut in half from 10 million to five million. Many were killed by the colonial army, while others died of famine and epidemics and others were sold as slaves. The Abyssinian leaders called the Oromians “Galla,” which means “inherently inferior,” a term the Oromo people still disdain today. When the late Ethiopian ruler Haile Selessie was in charge, he continued the genocidal practices against the Oromians and did everything possible to destroy the Oromo culture (they believe in self-sufficiency), their language (Oromo, or Afan Oromo, closely related to Somali), and religious customs (Oromians believe in Waaqa (God) and either follows Islam or Christianity). Despite being the majority in Ethiopia, the Oromo people have no representation in the minority-ruling Ethiopian Peoples Revolutionary Party government, which has been in power since the early 1990s. Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has continued the century-plus oppressive policies that have driven out many of the Oromo people, forcing them to neighboring African countries such as Somalia, or even farther west to America. The largest number of Oromians living in the U.S. are found in Minnesota. The Oliqaa Foundation sponsored a first-time “Run for Oromia” 5K and 10K race at Lake Calhoun July 29. It was originally billed to honor past Oromian runners such as Abebe Bikila, the first African to win an Olympic gold medal, and Derartu Tula, the first Black female athlete to win the 10K gold medal. Run for Oromia’s main purpose was to call attention “in a peaceful way” to the human rights violations currently being committed by the Ethiopian government against the Oromo people, said its organizer Mike Abebe. He explained that a primary reason so many of his native Oromians chose Minnesota as their home away from home is because of the history of working with missionaries of Norwegian decent in Ethiopia, many of whom came from Minnesota. As a result, when asked where they like to live once they reach the United States, Oromians often choose Minnesota, he noted. There were approximately 500 participants in the two races, said Abebe. Spectators greeted the runners at the finish line, cheering them on while waving Oromo Liberation Front flags. Mathew Chesano of Kenya, which borders Oromia to the south, won the 5K race, and Wegayehu Tefera, an Oromian who now lives in New York, finished second. Another Oromian, Yimenasha Taye, was the top female 5K finisher. All were pleased with their results, but solidarity with the Oromo people was more important to them. “I ran for my neighbors,” said Chesano. Now living in New York, Tefera said through an interpreter, “I’m so glad to be a part of this.” Berhanu Wakene of Seattle, a 5K runner, said that the race is “about the freedom of our land.” Abebe left his homeland 20 years ago. Now living in Atlanta, he has visited family members back home in Oromia in the past but now feels that he might not be able to go back because of the attention Run for Oromia might bring. “I don’t feel good [about not returning to his homeland], but I told everybody that this is not about me and my family, but it’s about millions of people,” he said matter-of-factly. “The biggest concern is about human rights,” said Abebe’s assistant Alecia Crumby of Atlanta, Georgia. She participated in events leading up to the race during Oromo Week, which was declared in Minnesota for the last two weeks of July. The American-born Crumby noted, “It bothers me a lot because I have a lot of friends who are Oromians, and I work with Oromians, too. A lot of people get killed [in Oromia] for speaking their minds. [They] don’t have freedom of speech that we have here.”After spending 15 days in jail, Kassa Dadhi, a 10K runner, said he left Oromia as soon as he could after his release. He has been in the United States for 10 years, and lives in St. Paul. “Some of my friends and family are dead,” he painfully recalled. Abraham Dalu, a 5K runner who also lives in the Twin Cities, said he, too, fled his homeland and relocated in the U.S. 20 years ago because of the oppressive conditions in Oromia. “It was a die or live situation,” he pointed out. “Of course, it is a natural thing to opt for life.”He visited family members in Oromia earlier this year. “[The conditions] are so bad for our people,” Dalu said, also decrying the Ethiopian government for sending soldiers into Somalia and committing atrocities against Oromo refugees there. Many were deported back to Ethiopia and jailed. “They [the soldiers] killed a lot of Oromo people who fled [Ethiopia] because of persecution.” Mihref Sarka once was a reporter in Oromia. “I was working for Barisa, the only newspaper in Ethiopia. It is a government newspaper.” He left Oromia in 1995 because of limited press freedoms, and now lives in Hannover, Germany. “It wasn’t easy leaving,” Sarka noted. “Losing my homeland is losing friends, peer groups…losing everything.”In the United States for the first time to visit his three brothers and other relatives, Sarka said he will return to Germany later this month. For now, he can’t go back to Oromia. “I know the risk waiting for me back there,” he said.These transplanted Oromians want to see change in their homeland, but according to Sarka, it won’t happen anytime soon. “The change is very slow,” he said, “and our people are dying rapidly. I can say I have been an eyewitness to the brutality of this regime.”Added Dalu, “Hopefully, the world community will recognize what is going on in terms of human rights abuse and the lack of true democracy in the country. Hopefully, the Western countries will open up their eyes and learn what really is going on.” When his native land becomes more democratic, Dadhi said, “I want to go back home.” Said Crumby, “I challenge everyone to take a look at what is going on over there. It is not right.”“Going back home [one day] is our target,” concluded Sarka.Charles Hallman welcomes reader responses to challman@spokesman-recorder.com.