Saturday, September 29, 2007

Eritrea calls on UN to solve border crisis, warns of Ethiopian attack

ASMARA (AFP) — Eritrea urged the United Nations to force its arch-foe Ethiopia urgently to implement a border ruling, warning it feared Addis Ababa was preparing to resume war, in a letter published Friday.
In the letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Foreign Minister Osman Saleh said he believed that Ethiopian threats to scrap the Algiers peace deal that ended their bloody 1998-2000 border war were a precursor to an attack.
"Ethiopia seems to be planning to use its unlawful attempt at renunciation of the Algiers Agreements as a precursor for initiation of renewed hostilities," read the letter, dated Thursday but posted on the Eritrean information ministry website Friday.
Ethiopia is already engaged in hostile acts against Eritrea, said the letter, also addressed to UN Security Council members, the European Union (EU) and witnesses of the original peace deal.
"It is a cardinal principle of international law that forcible occupation of the territory of another state is an act of aggression and Ethiopia's stationing of troops north of the recognised international boundary falls squarely within that category," Osman added.
On Tuesday, Ethiopia Foreign Affairs Minister Seyoum Mesfin said Addis Ababa is mulling "legal and peaceful options, including terminating the agreements or suspending their operation in whole or in part," charging its neighbour with breaching the pact and supporting "terrorism".
The exchanges are the latest in a string of heated remarks between the two countries, which have choked efforts to implement the 2000 peace deal.
Early this month, a meeting of the Eritrea Ethiopia Boundary Commission (EEBC) meeting in The Hague, seen as a last-ditch attempt to break the frontier deadlock, ended in failure.
The UN-appointed border panel will dissolve in November and the frontier will be fixed on maps if no progress has been made by then.
An EEBC ruling to fix the countries' border granted the flashpoint town of Badme that started the 1998 war to Eritrea. But Addis Ababa wants the border ruling revised, saying it splits families.
"Eritrea urges the UN Security Council to shoulder its legal, moral and security responsibilities and take appropriate action to enforce the decision of the EEBC to stem Ethiopia's reckless game," Osman said.

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Eritrea and Ethiopia in war of words over disputed border

Story by Reuters Publication Date: 9/27/2007
Eritrea maintains its demand that Ethiopia implement a border ruling agreed under a pact to end their 1998-2000 war, a minister said today after Ethiopia threatened to call off the peace agreement.
In a letter to Eritrea’s Foreign Minister yesterday, Ethiopia accused Asmara of violating the deal on several fronts including coordinating “terrorist activity”.
Addis Ababa said as a result it was considering terminating or suspending all or part the Algiers agreement that ended the two-year border conflict that killed 70,000 people.
Eritrean Information Minister Ali Abdu said Asmara had no knowledge of any such letter and that it was Ethiopia’s concern.
“That’s not our business. It’s up to them,” he told Reuters by telephone.
“What we know is there has been a legal verdict and what we want is the implementation of that. No more, no less.”
Relations between the Horn of Africa neighbours plummeted when Ethiopia initially rejected a 2002 ruling by an independent border commission, despite agreeing beforehand to accept whatever the commission ruled as final and binding.
Earlier this month, Ethiopia said its soldiers were just metres (yards) apart from Eritrean troops who moved into what is supposed to be a neutral buffer zone.
Analysts and diplomats say neither country wants to go to war, in spite of the inflammatory rhetoric on both sides. But they worry that an unplanned skirmish could trigger conflict.
The two countries are on opposite sides of the conflict in Somalia, with Ethiopia backing the government and Eritrea Islamists forced out of Mogadishu in December.
Eritrea denies Ethiopia’s allegations of support for armed groups. This month, it accused Ethiopia of scuppering demarcation talks on their 1,000 km frontier. Abdu ruled out any dialogue.
“There was not, there is not and there will not be any direct communication between us,” he said.
The Algiers pact said both sides would have to abide by an independent ruling over the frontier, which has never been implemented since Ethiopia initially rejected it when it was made in April 2002.
Eritrean earlier this month accused Ethiopia of sinking talks at The Hague to push the deal forward.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

Challenges Facing the OLF: A Call for Action

Since its establishment in 1973, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has been leading a multifaceted struggle against tyranny, oppression and prejudice unleashed against the Oromo people by Ethiopian imperial state. Through its pragmatic political program and dedication of its members, the organization has not just won the hearts and minds of the Oromo people; it has also fundamentally changed the socio-political landscape of the Eastern African region. Through out these long years of struggle, OLF has gone through several crisis triggered by internal and external factors. Most of the internal factors that precipitated the crisis have been caused by continuous "factionalization" of the leadership that hampered a smooth and decisive march towards achieving its stated objectives.

In these writers' views, currently, as it happened in the past, the OLF is facing some serious challenges that are shaking the confidence of the Oromo people as well as the international community that awaits to see a better change in the region. This challenge, this writer believes, primarily resulted from "inactive" or "dormant" conditions of the organization and its inability to score palpable political and military gains. This dormancy and lack of practical action has sent a chilling effect among the Oromo populace while it has led the international community to undermine OLF's commitment to its stated goals.

The increasing awareness of the international community regarding the oppression of the Oromo people has offered OLF a great opportunity to score diplomatic and political victory. OLF has to a limited extent exploited this opportunity, but its advance in the battle front is significantly reduced. . Being a politico-military organization, a meaningful military activity is crucial not only to weaken the enemy that chose war but also to boost the moral of its supporters. Thus far, the OLF has miserably failed to live up to the expectation of its supporters and foreign observers . For the past several years the military activities of the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) has been diminishing to the level where some critics question even its existence. Although this writer has tangible evidence as to the presence of a viable OLA that can be mobilized at any time, its inactivity has negative effect on the Oromo movement. The puzzling dormancy at the battle front in the face of a viable army is the major point of criticism that the OLF leadership has not responded to. As a result, OLF is currently facing mounting internal and external challenges.

Internal Challenges
Internally the OLF has been challenged by factions that have broken away from it at different times. Almost all the new factions wind up adapting a nearly identical political agenda. While the cause of the split is mainly internal power struggle, the broken away factions recount all the leadership failures of the organization including the times they were a part of it. Some points they present as a cause for their break away include the alleged disbanding of the OLA, completely forgetting that these faction where at different levels of the political and military leadership at that time. Nevertheless, although these factions are not getting much acceptance from the public, they are spreading pessimistic and discouraging spirit within the Oromo society. The rise of pessimism among the Oromo population, specifically those who live the diasporas is evident from reduced participation in Oromo affairs including community meetings, political participation, etc. This tendency will gradually affect OLF's ability to rely on its Diaspora base for much needed financial support. Therefore, military victory in the field and change of the current status quo will bring back optimism to the people and discourage the factions from waging senseless propaganda.

External Challenges
The external challenges that the OLF is facing comes from two directions. First, lack of military action has led some international organizations to consider OLF as an ineffective organization that is waging "protracted" war against the Ethiopian regime. They do not see the OLF as posing any imminent threat to the regime, nor do they value it as an alternative force to reckon. Therefore, several countries have chosen to support the regime in power as long as it advances their national interest, even it is at the cost of exacerbating human rights violations and corruptions. As stated above, because of the immense effort the OLF and civic organizations, most international organizations and agencies do understand the justified cause of the Oromo people. However they turn blind eye and support the regime, because they see the Oromo movement, when it comes to real challenge, as weak and uncoordinated.

The second external challenge comes from the enemy camp, namely the TPLF regime and its surrogates. The lack of military activity in Oromia has led some people to lose hope. Hence, such people have been joining the surrogate OPDO organization. Similarly, lack of such military activity has led these servants of the enemy to increase their attack on the defenseless Oromo people. In addition, the above mentioned growth of pessimism among the Oromos in the Diasporas has led the enemy to attempt to infiltrate the Diaspora in the name of investment opportunity in Oromia. Although the regime and its surrogates have failed to achieve their goals, this development has revealed some troubling situations within out community. Few years back, it was a shame to be affiliated with Woyane, but today we are seeing some individuals boasting about their OPDO membership while attempting to demoralize Oromo nationalists. More troubling is the new development that some well recognized Oromo "nationalists" have been lured by this "investment" shenanigan. Therefore, the OLF must act in a timely manner to change the current pessimistic environment or face even worse situations.

Some Possible Solutions
As discussed above, lack of military activity and battle victory has immensely contributed to the development of pessimism which is bringing several challenges to the organization. To change these situations, the organization needs to implement necessary structural, tactical and code-of-conduct reforms within the organization. Structurally, the front needs to develop new model of command set up within its civil and military departments. In this regard, it is important the organization brings new faces to the leadership. There is a laud call from OLF supporters, if there are ears willing to listen, for new leadership that will reshape the organization and revive the hope in our society. The current leadership deserves appreciation for their dedication in leading the organization through one of the most unstable times in the history of OLF. However it's about time they give ways for new persons with fresh perspectives in order to take the organization another step forward. Leaders with a long tenure within the Executive Committee and National Assembly must prepare themselves to relinquish their position . The Oromo nation is deeply indebted to them for their life time commitment to liberate our nation from the yoke of oppression- now they should take the pass on the torch to younger leaders to take the struggle to fruition.

Members and leaders of the organization also need to go through fundamental change in their code of conduct. The long established norms and customs of the organization need to be reevaluated to see if they fit to the current socio-political realities. The common complaints are that OLF members have continued to conduct business using a rather outdated model. For instance, their aggressive attitude towards each other as well as their tendency to silence their critiques must be stopped. The organization and its agents must be willing to tolerate and listen to even unpopular voices, because while some criticisms could be unsubstantiated and not constructive, not all of them are harmful.

In addition, the OLF needs to reflect the diversity of the Oromo people; regional, religious, gender and age representations in all positions from local to national level must not be neglected. For instance, when over half of our population is women and two-third is youth, it's unacceptable and inefficient for the organization to have an all-old-men leadership. Diversifying the leadership structure to represent all segments of the Oromo population would help to defuse some of the current regional tension, and to deny regionalists their recruiting ground.

Conclusion
Thus, OLF must intensify its armed struggle, which is the only solution to defeat the enemy and regain back the pride of our nation. The OLF leadership must stop acting as if they are already leading a freed nation; they must be reminded that they are leading an armed struggle against the worst tyrant in the world. So far its political program permits, any method of struggle must be pursued regardless of what America or any other Western nation would say. Our need for more allies and friends should not be at the cost of prolonging the agony of our people. OLF is the hope of the Oromo nation, and we take pride by its presence, but our national pride has been injured by its lack of action. Siddise Abbamagal**The writer is a public policy student living the USA. She can be reached at sabagalo@gmail.com
Source:http://www.oduu.com/news/index.php?news_id=1462

Monday, September 10, 2007

Somali opposition vows to defeat Ethiopia within months

ASMARA (AFP) — Somalia's opposition leaders predicted Monday that a further surge in Islamist-led insurgency in the capital Mogadishu could defeat Ethiopian troops supporting the government there within two months.
"The liberation forces are gaining strength day after day," said Zakariya Mahamud Abdi, spokesman of a congress in Eritrea's capital Asmara that has gathered Islamist leaders, exiled lawmakers and diaspora representatives.
"There are streams of young men coming to Mogadishu to take part in the liberation (and) I assure you that very soon Somalis will liberate their country, maybe a matter of a month or two months," he told reporters.
Ethiopian troops came to the rescue of Somalia's embattled transitional government forces last year and ousted the Islamic Courts Union, which had briefly taken control of large parts of the country.
Since being defeated by Ethiopia's vastly superior military machine, the insurgents have reverted to guerrilla tactics, launching daily hit-and-run attacks on government targets in Mogadishu.
Islamist and other opposition leaders boycotted a government-sponsored reconciliation meeting that wrapped up late last month and organised their own congress hosted by Ethiopia's arch-foe Eritrea.
The aim of the gathering is to create a unified opposition platform to end Ethiopian occupation of the Horn of Africa country.
"We will have a central command when we establish the organisation here," Abdi said.
Since the ouster of Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991, Somalia has had no central authority and defied several initiatives aimed at ending bloody tribal feuds and restoring stability.

Friday, September 07, 2007

Murtiilee fi Kutanoolee Kora Adda Bilissummaa Oromoo

Hoogganootni fi miseensotni ABO, bikka addaa addaatii dhufan Adoolessa25, 26 fi 27, 2007, magaalaa Minneapolis MN keessatti Kora waggaagodhatanii injifatnoo guddaa fi milkii bareedaan xumuran.

Kora kana seenaa Oromoo gara fuuladuraatti barreeffamu keessatti adda godhee kan jiraachisutu jira. Kunis, murni Shanee Gumii dhaaba keenya fi miseensota keenya kaayyoo ganamaa qabatanii sosso’an mana seeraatti geessuuisaaniiti. Iyyata isaanii keessatti maqaa ABOn sosso’uun keenya miseensotafi galii isaanii jalaa akka xiqqeesse tuquudhaan abukaattootti fayadamanii galmeessan. Yeroo itti abukaattoo bitannuuf illee akka nuti yeroohin arganneef jecha xalayaan hammeessaa isaanii Jimaata fi Sambataduraanu gahee mana seeraatti immo Hojjaduree 8:30 WD akka dhi’aannuufgodhame.
Manni seeraas iyyata isaanii fudhatee maqaa ABOn walgahii hawaasaagafaa Adoolessa 27, 2007 yaamaa turree akka nuti hin godhanneefyeroodhaaf nu dhaabee ture. Haata’u iyyuu malee, tarkaanfii bareedduu miseensotni dhaaba keenyaa yeroodhaan fudhatan irraa kan ka’e deebiin gargaarsa abukaattootti fayyadamnee dh’eeffanne fudhatama argatee dhowwi nuirra kaa’ame nu irraa ka’ee walgahii hawaasaa fi kan miseensotaa akka saganteeffanneetti milkiin godhachuu fi xumurachuu dandeenyee jirra. Deggersi miseensota fi lammiwwan Oromoo bilissummaa Oromiyaaf qabsaa’an dhaamsi deggersaa isaan dhaaba keenya fi miseensota maqaadha’amanii hammeeffamaniif ergan hamilee kan nama kakaasu turan.
Isaan hundumaanis galata qabsoo argadhaa ittiin jechuu jaallanna.Haala akkanaa keessatti walgahiin fi korri tahe ejjenoolee fikutannoolee armaan gadii baasuun raawwatame.


Mootummaa Wayyaanee ilaalchisee:


1. Koloneeffataan Mootummaan Wayyanee maqaa diimookraasiin ijaarameeharka lafa jalaan garuu sirna fokkataa faashistummaatti fayyadamee ummataOromoo mirga dhabamsiisaa, qabeenyaa saamaa fi lubbuu isaaniigalaafataa jiraatuun isaa har’a firaafii fi diinaafiis ifaa ta’ee jira. Gochaafaashistummaa isaa kana guddifnee balaalleeffanna. Gocha kana akkaammuma ariitiin dhaabu ni gaafanna.


2. Ummata keenya kan sarbamee bittaa habashaa dhufee-darbaajalatti hacuucamaa jiru, bilisa bahee akka kaayyoo dhaaba keenyaaABOtti Republikii Dimookraatoftuu Oromiyaa dhaabbatuuf qabsoo jalqabne hamadhumaatti ittuma fufna.


3. Mootummootni fi dhaabboleen biyyotaa ollaa fi fagoo kan hacuucaa fisirna gabroomfataa ummata keenya irratti akka lubbuun dheeratuuf karaagaraa garaan mootummaa Wayyaanee utubaa jirtan hundumtuu, tarkaanfiifudhachaa jirtan akka dhaabdan maqaa ummata keenyaa Miliyoonaafurtamaatti heregamaniin isin gaafanna.


4. Lammiiwwan keenya waggoota dheeraadhaa jalqabee bittaa habashaajalaa miliquuf qee’eesaa fi dachii isaa dhiisee, biyyoota ollaattibaqatee jiraachaa jiru, mootummaan Wayyaanee isaan faana bu’ee adamseeajjeessaa akka jiru argina. Hojjii fokkataa kana osoo ilaalanii mirgabaqataa eeguu hanqachuun, loltuun Wayyaanee akka saree maraatuu asi fiachi lixxee baqataa Oromoo cicciniinaa jiraachuu ishee akkadhaabduufi dhaabboleen akka UNHCR dhiibbaa akka irratti godhanii fi hawaasabaqataa Oromoo iddoo kamittu akka golgan ni gaafanna.


5. Ilamaan Oromoo kan biyya ambaa jiraattan, maqaa lafa argannajedhuun diinaaf irree taatanii Oromoo lafa isaa irraa buqqisiiftanii lafafudhataa jirtan hammeenna kana saba keessan irratti hojachuu akka dhaabdanisin hubachiifna. Seenaa hamtuu dhimma mataa keessaniif jettanii,ofii keessan jaalachuudhaan saba keessan irratti yakka seenaa kan keessaahin hojataa jirtu. Gocha kana irra akka deebitan isin gaafanna.


Murna Shanee Ilaalchisee:


1) Oromiyyaa irraa biyya hiixuu tahe keessatti of ijaaree tarkaanfiiuummata keenyaaf bilissummaa isa dhugaa fidu osoo hin tahin hawwiijaraa guutuudhaaf uummata Oromoo afaanfajjeessuu irraa akka dhaabatugaafanna.


2) Ummata keenya uummata Oromoof daandiin siyaasaa kam akka bu’aafiduuf isaan fuuldura dhaabbannee wal falmuu osoo hin tahin,maallaqa hawaasni Oromoo qabsoo bilissummaaf gummaache gaaga’uu kan danda’umana seeraa biyya ambaa filachuu murna shanee jabeessinee balaaleffanna.Kun tahee osoo jiruu daandii dhugaa fi haqaa kan uummata keenyabilissummaa isaatiin gahu qabannee adeemaa akka jirru waan amannuuf shira nuirratti xaxamu mara ciccirree gatuuf boodatti akka hin deebine irbuuseennee ni haaressina.


3) Qabsaa’onni dhuga murna kana jalatti akka miseensaattigalmaa’anii kan fi deggertoota Shanee Gumii, osoo gad fageessanii hinhubatiin umirii jara kanaa dheeressa jiraniin, qabsoon keenya isinirratti osoo hin tahin bilissummaa Oromoo dura kan dhaabatu irratti tahuuisaa isin yaadachiifna.


4) “Tooftaaf”, maqaa jedhuun uummatni keenya haga har’aattiQabsoo isaatiin mirga tokko tokko inni galmeeffate illee dachaasuufqophaa’uu isaanii kan hin dhoksine oftuultota habashaaf daandii isaanittiin deebi’anii aangootti ol bahanii hawwii isaanii ittiin guuttatantahaa jiraachuu isaa, murni shanee akka hin daganne yaadachiifna.


Tumsa Kaayoo Qabsoo Oromoo (TKO) Ilaalchisee:


Tumsi Kaayoo Qabsoo Oromoo gaafa utubame irraa jalqabee waldhaansi innikaayoo bilisummaa saba Oromoo akka karaa irraa hin maqne godheguddifnee dinqisiifanna. Tumsa kana hundaanuu bira dhaabachuu murteefanne.Tumsi kun akka seminaara naannoo akka Washington, DC, Minneapolis, MN,fi Torontoo, Kanada fa’atti godhu ni gaafanna.


WBO ilaalchisee:


WBOn abdii bilisummaa ti; abdii Oromoo ti; irree saba Oromoo ti.Qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo jabeessuu fi Oromoo bilisummaa gonfachiisuufmurteessaan WBO ta’uun isaa amanamee, isa jabeessuuf murteeffanne.


Kora ABO Adoleessa 2007.

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

The taking to court of the Oromo nationalists is not only wrong, but it is contemptible, it is a taboo and unOromo way

The taking to court of the Oromo nationalists is not only wrong, but it is contemptible, it is aIn the height of its conspiracy to undo the Oromo Liberation struggle for independence, the Asmara Group (aka Shanee) took officials and members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) to the Fourth Judicial District Court of Minnesota, USA, on 19th of July 2007. As one well knows, since its split from the OLF in 2001, Shanee has made every effort to savagely undermine and destroy the OLF, its principle and the objectives it wants to achieve. After its attempts to undermine the OLF had failed and after its hostile ideas toward the Liberation of Oromia were soundly defeated, Shanee begun seeking the alliance of colonialist organizations. Having found them, it made peace, agreements and alliance with them and named the alliance the AFD (Alliance for Freedom and Democracy) to jointly fight the OLF. For more>>> http://oromooswiss.blogspot.com/