Thursday, July 31, 2008

OLF Shakeup: Interview w/ B.G. Kemal Gelchu

The entire executive committee of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) has been relieved of its duties and replaced with a provisional executive council today. >> Majority of the OLF national council members has passed a vote of "No Confidence" on the executive committee in order take the organization out of the current paralysis and stagnation due to an irreconcilable disagreement inside the executive committee. >>Full story

"The same bird different feathers" Meles Zenawi supports Omar Hassen Al-Bashir

The government of Ethiopia (woyane) believes that ICC’s prosecution process is unbalanced, lucks justice and the court’s prosecutor has failed to witness a concrete and convincing testimony. Read more

Qubee as an instrument of Oromo struggle for self-determination
By Argan Beekan(Argan Beekan)
The early writing in the Oromo language began almost two centuries ago. It is the conquest of Oromiyaa by Abyssinia that interrupted its development into full-fledged writing instrument. Of the earliest writing was vocabulary of Oromo ...

The Wheels of Justice Grind Slowly but They do Grind’ - The Case ...
By Argan Beekan(Argan Beekan)
S/He writes, "The Oromo public's right to be informed about the conduct of public figures far outweighs any concern you may have about Obbo Nuuroo's privacy. Also, the evidences are all there for everyone to them check out.

UN ends Eritrea-Ethiopia peacekeeping mission
Anyuak Media, Ethiopia
"The border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea remains total, and the United Nations is withdrawing without having been able to assist the two countries ...

Monday, July 28, 2008

Waamicha Walgahii Haawaasaa Oromoo Maraaf

Akeeka:

Haala ABOn keessa jiru odeeffannoo waliif dabarsuu;
Rakkinoota QBO qancarsan wal-hubachiisuu fi waliin xiinxaluun furmaata itti soquu; fi kkf;

Yoom?

Jimaata, Hagayya/August 1, 2008, Saa 1:00 - 5:00 WB

Eessatti?

Music Hall -Sateren Auditorium
Augsburg College
2211 Riverside Ave
Minneapolis, MN 55454, United States

Beeksisa:

J/Galaasaa Dilboo, xurree quunnamtii ammayyaatti (vidio conference) hirmaatu.
Walgahii kana irratti gumaacha maallaqaa osoo hin tahin gumaacha yaadaa barbaanna.
Konkolaataa "parking lot" Augsburg keessa tola dhaabuu dandeessu.

Oromiyaan Ni Bilisoomt!!

UIC kill 40 Ethiopian soldiers

Ethiopian soldiers in Somalia

40 Ethiopian soldiers have been killed in a pitched battle with the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC) fighters in Somalia's Hiiran region.

The fighting erupted after Ethiopian troops, allied with the Somali military, started shelling the central Somali region's Baladweyn town, a Press TV correspondent reported.

During their indiscriminate attack, the soldiers fired artillery on both the fighters and the town's civilian population ,creating an immediate evacuation.

The UIC were said to have lost 20 fighters during the shelling.

The UIC fighters eventually seized some weaponry from the soldiers and captured the biggest checkpoint in Baladweyn's outskirts.

The foomer US envoy to the United Nations, John Bolton, meanwhile, suggested that the soldiers not be withdrawn from Somalia and thanked them for their contributions. The soldiers' are said to be responsible for the deaths of countless innocent Somali civilians.

Unabated violence has blighted the Horn of Africa nation since the ouster of President Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991.

The fighters enjoy strong popular support. They were removed from power in 2006 following the US-backed invasion of Ethiopian troops.

HN/HAR
related news:
Somalia: Islamists claim responsibility for attack on Ethiopian troops
Mogadishu clashes claim seven
Somalia: A Paper Cease-Fire Turns in to Ashes
Somali troops attack Ethiopian military camp
Heavy Fighting Kills 5 in Somali Capital

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Sudan's President Charged With Genocide, Meles Zenawi is next!

Listen: Deborah Amos talks with BBC's Geraldine Coughlan on 'Morning Edition'

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Listen: Deborah Amos talks with AFP's Jennie Matthew on 'Morning Edition'

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NPR.org, July 14, 2008 · Sudan's president has been charged with genocide by the International Criminal Court's prosecutor after an investigation into atrocities in the country's western Darfur province.

ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo asked the court for an arrest warrant for President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the first sitting head of state to be indicted by an international court since Liberia's Charles Taylor and Yugoslavia's Slobodan Milosevic.

Moreno-Ocampo said al-Bashir's arrest could prevent the slow deaths of more than 2 million people who have been forced from their homes and are still under attack from a government-backed militia.

Al-Bashir called the genocide allegation "lies" and said the ICC has no jurisdiction in Sudan.

"From the beginning, we said we are not a member of the court ... the court has no jurisdiction over Sudan," Bashir said in remarks carried on Sudan state television. "Whoever has visited Darfur, met officials and discovered their ethnicities and tribes ... will know that all of these things (including ethnic cleansing) are lies."

Fearing an upsurge in violence from an enraged al-Bashir and emboldened rebels in Darfur, aid organizations have tightened security in Sudan in recent days.

Judges in The Hague are expected to take months to study the evidence against the Sudanese president.

World

Prosecutor Seeks Arrest Of Sudan's President

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The prosecutor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague has asked the court to issue an arrest warrant for the president of Sudan, Omar al-Bashir. It is the first time the court's prosecutor has filed charges against a sitting head of state.

Bashir is accused of orchestrating a five-year reign of terror in Sudan's Darfur region, where hundreds of thousands have been killed and even more have been driven from their homes. But the prosecutor's move is the first step in a long process that may not result in an arrest.

BBC correspondent Geraldine Coughlan in The Hague talks with NPR's Deborah Amos about the unprecedented move by the ICC.

Coughlan says the prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, said he has enough evidence to show that Bashir bears criminal responsibility in relation to 10 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity — including murder, extermination, torture and rape — and other war crimes charges, including attacks on civilians and ethnic groups.

He spoke to the international media in The Hague for a long while Monday, detailing his investigations, the victims, their suffering and where they are now, Coughlan says.

Moreno-Ocampo asked a panel of three judges to issue the arrest warrant. The judges now will examine the prosecution's evidence from the investigation. "It took five years, so they have a lot of homework to do," Coughlan says, and then it could take weeks or months to determine whether the evidence provides firm enough legal basis to issue an arrest warrant.

The court has no police force to deliver an arrest warrant, however. If the judges do give the go-ahead, the ICC would have to go to the United Nations to ask for support services to help peacekeepers on the ground in Sudan carry out an arrest. But there are only 9,000 peacekeepers in Sudan — there are supposed to be 26,000 — so "the logistics and the tools are just not there at the moment," Coughlan says.

The European Union and the U.N. have expressed concern that the move complicates an already unstable situation in Sudan, putting U.N. peacekeepers and aid workers at increased risk of attack. And the African Union fears that an international prosecution could jeopardize the peace process there, Coughlan says.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Monkey's Game

Ethiopia says arrests 8 bombers

ADDIS ABABA (Reuters) - Ethiopia says it has arrested eight "Eritrean-trained" rebels suspected of carrying out bombings that rocked the capital Addis Ababa and killed eight people earlier this year.

A statement by security chiefs late on Saturday said the attacks were sponsored by arch-foe Asmara "and implemented by its stooges in Ethiopia, the self-proclaimed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)."

Simultaneous blasts at two petrol stations killed two people a day after local, regional and federal elections in April, then a bomb tore through a minibus taxi a month later, killing six.

The statement by the National Intelligence and Security Service did not say when or where the detainees were arrested, but said three "most wanted" suspects remained at large and urged the public could come forward with information.

Ethiopia and Eritrea fought a 1998-2000 border war that killed 70,000 people, and tensions remain high. Officials in Addis Ababa often refer to their counterparts in Amara as terrorists.

Eritrean officials routinely reject Ethiopia's allegations, including that it backs the separatist OLF and ONLF rebels.

(Reporting by Tsegaye Tadesse; Writing by Daniel Wallis)

Working hard to make us Amhara

"DR Fikre Tolosa is working hard to make us amhara. he is using derogatory word in his writing. bye the way. who the he is?
p.s read his junk study

I will try to be as brief as I can to respond to your queries about the origins of the words, "Oromo" and "Galla", and why and when the latter one began to invoke a negative connotation, because, the answer involves detail, even though the question seems simple.

As I mentioned in my Note on the origin of the Amara and Oromo, both the Amara and Oromo descend from one father- the prophet Deshet, who lived in Gojam. He had four sons: Maji, Jimma, Mendi and Medebay. Maji begat Mara (Amara). There is a place called in Ethiopia at present commemorating maji. He and his descendants being wise in the days of yore, they were sought after in Egypt and elsewhere. The word "magic" comes from them, and connotes wisdom. Medebay became the father of the Oromo. Before they were named Oromo, they used to be called, "Medebay", after their father. Before they became pastoralists, they had been priests for centuries, in the order of Melchizedek, their great ancestor, known in the Bible as King of Salem and the high priest of the Most High God to whom Abraham and many kings bowed in reverence and sought his blessings.

Medebay and his children inherited from Ethiop, the son of Melchizedek, whose name Ethiopia bears, priesthood and kinship. For this reason, The Medebay who were named "Oromo" and "Galla" later on, continued to be priests interpreting and teaching the divine, historical and astronomical books composed in the Suba language, that were passed on to them by Melchizedek and Ethiop up until the time of Menelik the I, who destroyed their books, their lanugage, the Suba language, which was the language of both the Amara and Oromo up to this time, as well as many of their wise men.

Why did the young Menelik I, do that? Two reasons. One of the reasons needs a long explanation. I will not go into that. I will give the shorter one. Menelik left Ethiopia for Israel when he was 14 years and stayed there for three years with his father, The Wise King Solomon, learning the ways of the his father's people including the abc of their religion. When he returned to Ethiopia at 17, he was a zealot and advocate of Judaism. He set out to destroy the old religion of Ethiopia which had descended from Melchezedek and Ethiop; the very religion which trained Moses for 40 years in Median with Ethiopian high priest of God, Jethro, his father-in-law, who was the descendant of Melchizedek and Ethiop, before Moses was converted and long before he received the Ten Commandments, which became the foundations of Judaism. Are you still with me Joe?

So, this young zealot called Menelik, who looked down upon the religion and culture of his mother, Queen sheba, favored that of his father, King Solomon, and set out to replace the priesthood of Melchizedek (the very priesthood order Jesus will inherit during His millennial rule on Earth, according to the yet to be fulfilled prophecy of the Bible), with Judaism. So, he destroyed the Medebay priests and their precious books. He duplicated the replicas of the Tabot (the tablets of the Ten Commandments) built temples and elevated and appointed some of the Jews and Israelites from Gaaza (there were 40, 000 of them with him) to priesthood and kingship.

The surviving Medebay began to hide their books and themselves. It is said that one influential Medebay priest and philosopher didn't know where to hide his books. So, he fed them to his cattle. Much later on, after Mekenlik had left the region, we are told, he killed some his animals to look for the parchments. In the meat of the animals his children found some letters which they tried to decipher so that it was said that the history of the Medebay people was written in the meat of animals. This tradition went on for generations. The fact that the Medebay were trying to decipher the knowledge that what was written on meat (actually the fat of the meet called 'Mora') gave them two names in Suba, their old language- "galla" meaning , "to decipher knowledgeably" and "Oromo" , meaning, wise, "decipherer of what is concealed in meat and the heart of man". This was about 2900 years ago. It was a compliment then to be called Galla and Ormomo, since it these words were adjectives for wise men and philosophers who revealed to laymen hidden secrets. Unfortunately, this knowledge later was transformed into magic and witchcraft.

To answer your last question, dear Joe, the Oromo and Galla, who were converted to Judaism, intermarried and intermingled with members of the Solomonic Dynasty as early as 2,900 years ago and became administrators, kings, queens and even emperors and empresses. For instance, the so-called Amara Emperor Yekuno-amlak, the restorer of the Solomonic Dynasty after it had been restored by the Zagwe Dynasty for a few hundred years, was an Oromo on his mother side. He was the son Gifti Mendiya, who was the daughter of Chala, an Oromo. The Oromo were then highly revered until the rise of Ahmed Gragn.

When Ahmed Gragn invaded his own country enticed by and to serve mainly the needs of the Turks and Arabs, the historical, archenemies of Ethiopia, in the 16 Century, during the reign of Aste Libene-degil, at the Battle of Shinera Qure (Adama), a few Oromo kings of Shoa, sided with Ahmed Gragn because he allured them with gifts. They were: Aba Gucha, Aba Wossen Tuluma, Aba Kurto, Aba Merzo and Aba Bula. The Emperor defeated and killed them later on. Ever since then, the Oromo and Galla became synonymous with treason, paganism and untrustworthiness; connoting absence moral qualities. This was passed on to our time. Dear, Joe, this is it in a nutshell. It was tiresome to write you this note. However, it will benefit you and other readers, be it.

I have attached for you copy of a letter which an Egyptologist wrote after he read my "A Brief Note On The Origin of The Amara and Oromo" on another web site. This Egyptologist who probably reads the hieroglyphics, confirms that my assertion is evidenced by writings on the pyramids and other Egyptian sources. I am as excited as he is by our complimentary assertions.

I am too tired to edit this note to you, dear Joe. Therefore, I will send it as it is, without any corrections.

Good night.

Fikre Tolossa

PS: Joe, after I read the letter of Ato Legesse' the Egyptologist, who confirmed that my assertions were right, I asked him whether he could read the hieroglyphs and he sent me the following as I was preparing to attach his previous letter to the editor of the web site that had posted my note. Yes he can read the hieroglyphs, which is similar to Suba, the lost language of Ethiopia, the one that was destroyed by Emperor Menilik the I. This is exciting! Please check everything out.

From: "Dereje Dadi" kuyyuu2007@yahoo.com
ONA

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Somali Islamist Fighters Attack Presidential Palace; One Killed

By Hamsa Omar

July 8 (Bloomberg) -- Islamist fighters attacked Somalia's presidential palace and an airport in the southern town of Baidoa with mortars, killing a government soldier and wounding six others.

The attack was carried out last night by al-Shabaab, the youth militia of the Islamic Courts Union, Sheikh Mukhtar Robow, a spokesman for the militia, told reporters today in a teleconference in the capital, Mogadishu.

It's the first time Baidoa, the seat of Somalia's parliament situated 250 kilometers (155 miles) south of the capital, has been attacked since January 2007. That month, Islamist fighters were ousted from southern and central parts of the country by United Nations-backed Transitional Federal Government and U.S.-supported Ethiopian troops.

``Baidoa is the last entrenchment that the Ethiopians and this puppet government has and I call on all our Mujahedeen to put pressure on Baidoa in order to eradicate them,'' Robow said.

Seven government soldiers were admitted to Baidoa's hospital after the attack, Fadumo Hussein, a nurse, said in a telephone interview from the city.

``All have shrapnel wounds,'' she said, adding that one of the soldiers later died.

The attack comes after the government and the Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia, an opposition group, agreed to a cease-fire last month. The Islamic Courts Union has rejected the accord, which calls for Ethiopian troops to withdraw from the country within four months and be replaced by UN peacekeepers.

``There is no cease-fire agreement until Ethiopians pull out of our country,'' Robow said.

Somalia hasn't had a functioning central administration since the 1991 removal of former dictator Mohammed Siad Barre.

To contact the reporter on this story: Hamsa Omar in Mogadishu via Johannesburg at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net.

Sudan says Ethiopia attacked military base

Reuters

Tue 8 Jul 2008

KHARTOUM - Sudan’s army accused Ethiopian troops on Tuesday of attacking a military camp in northern Sudan and killing about 19 people.

Ethiopian officials were not immediately able to comment on the attack which Sudan’s army spokesman said happened early on Monday in the Jabel Hantub area of Sennar state.

“They hit a camp belonging to the central reserve police and they killed about 19 people,” the army spokesman said. He did not know how many people were injured.

The central reserve police are a heavily armed military unit and are often deployed along border areas or to defend the capital Khartoum.

“This was an attack and we don’t know the reason — we have no problem with Ethiopia and there are no border disputes or tribal clashes in that area,” the army spokesman said.

Sudan signed a north-south peace deal in 2005 which ended Africa’s longest civil war and also improved relations with its east African neighbours.

One Sudanese security source and another government official said the attack may have been because Sudan had given refuge a few weeks earlier to local Ethiopian officials and refused to hand them over to Addis Ababa.

It was not clear why they had sought refuge in Sudan. Ethiopia is fighting rebels from the Oromo region which borders Sudan and who want greater autonomy for their areas.

The Sudan army spokesman said a joint Ethiopian-Sudanese committee had been formed to investigate the attack.

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Ethiopia'a Prime Minister Meles Zenawi endorses Mugabe at AU summit

Birds of the same feather

I was not surprised but a little shocked to watch on CNN Zimbabwe's de facto president, Robert G. Mugabe, hurling insults at journalists, who were trying to interview him at the African Union Summit in Egypt. Mugabe shouted, "You British IDIOTS go away from me!" His own spokesperson also addressed the media saying; ''the West should go and hang a thousand times".Answering the question "Is President Mugabe well accepted by his African peers?” Mugabe's spokesperson said Ethiopia endorses/accepts Mr. Mugabe very well. What a revelation!What this endorsement exposes is that Zimbabwe's president Robert Mugabe and Ethiopia's Prime Minister are illegitimate leaders that cling to power by the use of brute force. They snatched the will of their people many times at the polls and pronounced themselves over their peoples as leaders. It is very shocking to see killers like Mugabe and Meles Zenawi, holding the Holy Bible in their bloody hands while being sworn in. Traits that Mugabe and Zenawi have in common

both are dictators, who rigged votes and forced oppositions to pull out of elections;

both ordered mass murders and ethnic-cleansing;

both control the media and allow no press freedom;

Mugabe is at 28 years in power and Zenawi is 17 years in power (Zenawi is soon to catch up age wise);

arrogant and irresponsible use of language when addressing the media;

Two of the heavy armies on the continent of Africa.

Famine is hitting the masses of both countries hard.

both set strong precedent for other leaders in denying democracy in Africa;

both have potential to harbor terrorists;

Supplying weapons to both regimes can maybe eventually counter-productive as it was in Afghanistan.

The west must watch out for Prime Minster Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia as much as they do for Mugabe. Otherwise, differential treatments/ coverage would make the west look like they have agenda in Zimbabwe. This is exactly what the sophist rhetoric from the entourages of the Mugabe regime would like the world to believe; they would like the world to believe Mr. Mugabe is a born 'anti-imperialist power' in Africa. The truth of the matter, however, is that both Mugabe and Zenawi are birds of the same feather as dictators and they should receive the same treatment. Powerful western nations should consistently adopt a mono-standard towards all dictators who hide under different rhetoric.

Zenawi, for example, hides under rhetoric of ‘fighting terrorism’ while in reality he just wants to extend his tyranny over the peoples in Ethiopian without being questioned by the major world powers. On the other hand, Mugabe, hides under a very popular rhetoric of 'anti-imperialism and colonization' amongst African dictators. This is the reason leaders in Southern Africa, have been reluctant to openly criticize Mugabe’s regime. It is easy to underestimate the role that these rhetoric would play in unifying African dictators, but the effect is far-reaching and frustrating. To effectively isolate the two dictators, it takes looking seriously beyond their rhetoric. I do underscore that the endorsement Ethiopia is giving Mugabe as witnessed by his spokesperson, is reveling the many similarities the two regimes have in common. The danger is that Mugabe has a potential of destabilizing the Southern Africa region while Zenawi has already been destabilizing the Horn of Africa region. To overcome this, it is only fair to adopt a uniform parameter of isolating and sanctioning dictators.

Qeerransoo Biyyaa

Oromia