Monday, August 27, 2007

Ethiopian Sidamas Reject Amhara / Tigray Abyssinian Tyranny


Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
August 26, 2007

As Tigray tribal tyrant Meles Zenawi’s ailing regime entered in its last days, a great number of political heads and national liberation leaders of numerous oppressed peoples rise in the Horn of Africa region that gives these days the impression of an exploding volcano.
It is extremely urgent for the oppressed Ethiopian Kushitic peoples’ leaderships to definitely outmaneuver and irreversibly cancel the murderous and inhuman plans of the Kinijit Amharas, who – unable to repent and ask for forgiveness – dream of a comeback. Shamelessly masqueraded as ‘democrats’ and/or ‘liberals’, the Kinijit thugs are Africa’s most excruciating political fossils who want to drive Abyssinia from Meles Zenawi’s morgue back to its worst days in the Hell of Mengistu and Haile Selassie.
Ogaden is in revolt against Meles Zenawi’s Tigray thugs, who mercilessly kill whomever they meet in the streets of the towns and the villages of the long-tyrannized province of Abyssinia; Oromia is in uprising against the environmentally disastrous policies followed by the current tyrannical administration, and Dr. Negasso Gidada, Oromo and nominal ‘president’ of ‘Ethiopia’ admits the crimes perpetrated during his ridiculous tenure, therefore proving the impossibility of maintaining the present borders of and situation in the Abyssinian tyranny – comically re-baptized ‘Ethiopia’.
The abysmal hell of Abyssinia where numerous peoples have been peremptorily gathered, deprived of their properties and lands, massacred, terrorized and oppressed in the most inhuman ways is about to split to ten pieces, and all the oppressed peoples mobilize their forces to get rid of the Amhara pestilence that spread among them the Black Continent’s most appalling tyranny.
The Sidamas emerge now in the South, with a strong voice and even stronger determination to eradicate the foreign – alien presence and administration of the barbaric Amhara and Tigray rulers; they want to form a new, independent and genuine African Republic that will better reflect their democratic and egalitarian social ideals.
Among the leading personalities and political heads of the Great and Noble Sidama Nation is Mr. Kambata Xoola, an African Original who prospered in his studies, researches and endeavours in the United States. He represents what can be the best combination of Sidama Millennia Long Culture with Modern Science, Technology and Political Vision.
We are convinced that through a multipartite interview, the readers will understand better the multifaceted aspects of Inanity and Inhumanity that Africa’s most execrable tyranny, namely the Amhara – Tigray Abyssinian monarchical – communist and pseudo-federal regimes, applied mercilessly against the Sidama Nation.
Interview with Kambata Xoola, MSc, Chairman, Sidama National Liberation Organization (SNLO)- Part I
- How is the situation in Sidama land, 5 years after the terrible massacres perpetrated at Looqe?
- It has got worse!! The Sidama nationals are suffering in three major ways since the massacre. They include Political subjugation, Economic deprivation and Socio-Cultural domination. The nation is systematically suppressed and silenced by the regime’s security forces and its political cadres since the May 24, 2002’s Looqe massacre and, of course, prior to that since the TPLF took over political power.
Although there has been profound resistance since the May 24 massacre and the aftermaths of the May 15, 2005 highly rigged Ethiopian election that claimed lives of more than three hundred civilians and exposed millions to torture and extrajudicial arrests all over the empire, including Sidama region; the resistance is internally temporarily suppressed. The Sidama regional question is the centre of contention that didn’t get positive response to this date, and remains contentious!
Immediately after the May 24, 2002 massacre of innocent and non-combatant Sidama civilians by the security forces of Meles Zenawi regime, the resistance was fierce; especially by the Sidama intelligentsia and young Sidama University students. This has shaken the foundation of the regime in southern Ethiopia.
Sidama nation’s resistance compromised the position of the regime on various occasions, and obliged Meles Zenawi himself to go to the region to hoodwink some Sidama elders with usual lies and empty promises. Continued and strong resistance by the Sidama nation forced the TPLF leaders to devise another strategy; a strategy based on intimidation. The ultimate power given to inadequately trained and ill-mannered Sidama and southern regional political cadres made the lives of the Sidamas people utterly difficult. The Sidama people are brutalized by their own sons, who were handpicked and appointed simply to deceive Sidama people under the pretext of representation. This is the TPLF policy of indirect rule through the surrogates.
The uprooting of the Sidama people from their capital city and its vicinity already became effective. Those who have been forcibly uprooted from their ancestral lands have been left destitute without any protection, while those who are supposed to protect voiceless Sidama nationals are supporting rulers and their loyalists to takeover Sidama capital city (Awassa) and exploit their scarce resources. The said affiliates are trading by the name of Sidama nation by selling Sidama land for those who are capable of buying, i.e. ‘Abyssinians’ and their loyalists. The Sidama people can’t afford to buy land in Awassa simply because they have been systematically robbed and incapacitated for over a century.
The Sidama TPLF/EPRDF political cadres represent and protect the interests of Abyssinian rulers instead of standing for the Sidama people. They are neither capable of articulating the ambitious goals of the Abyssinian successive rulers, or the effects of the injustices and systematically imposed policies on the various nations and nationalities in the country. In particular, they are unable to understand the reason behind the fumigation of various nations and nationalities in South Ethiopia for simple reason of taming them for modern slavery. The cadres don’t have know-how and above all, courage to address Sidama’s national grievances in particular, and southern nations’ in general.
Therefore, these past years have been years of sufferings, hopelessness and frustration, ordeal, relentless mourning and abject poverty for the Sidama nation in particular, and for other systematically subjugated nations of Abyssinian Empire in general. Equally, these years have been a time of underground movement that is born out of continued injustices and brutal treatments. The political cadres and their federal and regional masters are getting richer by the bloods of innocents, whilst the wider society is suffering untold ordeal in the history of Sidama nation.
- Would you describe the basic social problems Sidamas are currently facing?
- The Sidama nation will soon face a serious socio-economic and politico-cultural tragedy, if several issues are not addressed on time; this will happen for three basic reasons. Firstly, there is no genuine political representation for the nation, which is nonetheless the fifth populous nation in Ethiopia following the Oromos, the Amharas, the Tigrays, and the Ogaden Somalis, according to the regime’s Central Statistical Authority population figures. Secondly, if there is no political representation with courageous and visionary leadership, the nation can’t economically prosper. Its intellectuals will not be able to create ideas and thoughts for their nation. There will not be any form of enthusiasm and conducive atmosphere for creativity. Its business community can’t have opportunity to do their best under occupation.
Thirdly, to do these, there need to be socio-cultural freedom and liberty. The nation needs to have ownership of its land, cultural heritage, political leadership and control over its resources to solve its social problems. Today, all these are non-existent in Sidama land.
Additionally, non-Abyssinian nations of the empire are made to feel inferior to their colonial masters although the Sidama nation hasn’t voluntarily surrendered its liberty and national integrity. However, due to their militarily upper hand, the Abyssinian successive regimes kept their pervasive, all rounded domination in the past century as it is today. Therefore, social problems in Sidama region are pretty intertwined with political, cultural and economic problems deliberately perpetrated by successive Abyssinian regimes.
- To what extent do traditional social systems survive today among the Sidamas?
- Culturally egalitarian nation of Sidama was obliged to give its way for the brutish and incompetent Abyssinian rule since it has fallen at the hands of Abyssinian colonizers. The Sidama nation’s socially accepted true ways of life and its egoistic derive are dramatically diminishing amongst young Sidamas - especially those who are primarily involved in protestant Christianity and those who are loyalists of the successive Abyssinian regimes. The socially accepted ways of life, ‘halaale’ is being destroyed and replaced with an alien culture which is the result of systematic subjugation of Sidama cultural heritage by the successive rulers. The colonizers regard Sidama ways of life uncivilized and backward.
However, the majority of the people in the nation in particular older people and highly educated groups of the society kept their belief and traditional ways of life intact despite relentless pressures. Sidama National Liberation Organization (SNLO) struggles and tirelessly works to preserve Sidama’s cultural heritage whilst adopting modern technology in such a way that both be integrated for the benefit of our society.
Note
The daily Sidama reality is not as idyllic as the Lake Awassa shores.

No comments: