Panicked Dictator Zenawi fails to impair Oromo and Ogaden Liberation Forces

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
August 11, 2007

The most inhuman state in the world, tyrannical bogus-Ethiopia entered its shameful history’s final page; that of the end. Unable to fight in Somalia where tyrant Zenawi’s tribal – Amhara and Tigray – soldiers are daily shot dead in great numbers, incapable to maintain his Abyssinian tribal – lawless and uncivil – order in Ogaden, the useless ‘ally’ of the Democrat Administration, Meles Zenawi sees his relic state being gradually decomposed. These are the last days of Addis Ababa, the shameful and disreputable, false name of the occupied capital of Oromo Ethiopia – the correct and authentic name of which is Finfinne.
To make a last effort to survive, the Tigray criminal Zenawi needs arms from uniformed American businessmen, who would be extremely appalled if they knew the iniquitous deeds of the bogus-Ethiopian dictator. His tribal and unrepresentative diplomats, who calmly and pompously address elected administrators and respectable businessmen, would be lynched – if back home – by the tyrannized masses of the impoverished African country, who consider these criminal ‘diplomats’ as the main reason of the afflicted misery and underdevelopment on their otherwise rich and blessed African country. These pseudo-diplomats do not represent more than 16% of their country, namely the Monophysitic Christian Amhara and Tigray populations.
To better diffuse their lies about the mostly unstudied case of tyrannical Abyssinia (falsely and criminally renamed ‘Ethiopia’), these ‘diplomats’ need false news from back home in order to effectively convince their customarily uniformed interlocutors about the supposed, mythical ‘order’ that ‘prevails’ in Abyssinia. Recent lies of the tyrannical and criminal government of bogus-Ethiopia have been denounced with the utmost indignation by the leaders of the oppressed Oromo majority of the country. The Adda Bilisummaa Oromoo – Oromo Liberation Front issued a press release that we find necessary to integrally publish here in order to unveil and deplore the falsification and propaganda machine of Africa’s most loathed and most unrepresentative tyrant.
A Bogus Victory Declaration of TPLF/EPRDF Tyrannical Regime
The Oromo Liberation Front's Statement regarding the August 7, 2007, TPLF/EPRDF's Claim of Victory
In our recent statement the OLF correctly stated that, "the TPLF regime has shown itself to be the mother and father of all lies". Indeed since the time of Nazi Germany, there has never been a regime like that of the TPLF, which has developed lies and deception into an art of governance. The regime has fabricated so many lies to confuse and victimize the Oromos and other peoples of Ethiopia. In the process, the regime's survival has totally depended on manufacturing lies and hate propaganda on those it believes threat to its multiple agendas.
The regime has been fabricating such baseless lies primarily for the consumption of its international financiers. Thus, over the years the regime has perfected the art of manufacturing lies for the purpose of obtaining financial and military support from its international backers.
Continuing with tradition of fabrication of lies, on August 7, 2007, The TPLF/EPRDF's regime's Defense Ministry asserted that his forces killed several "rebels" and "captured hundreds in two months." The Ministry further asserted, "All the elements belonged to the ONLF (Ogaden National Liberation Front), OLF (Oromio Liberation Front), and Al-Ittihad." The latter organization was added to the list, because it serves the TPLF regime as its cash cow.
However, the TPLF/EPRD's Defense Ministry's victory declaration is a bogus claim. During the last two months despite the Ministry's statement claim, the OLF did not operate in the Ogaden. The joint operation of the OLF and OLNF took place in January and February 2007. In that joint operation, the gallant Oromo Liberation Army and the ONLF Army caused heavy damage to the TPLF army. In their historic joint operation and victory over the enemy, the OLF and ONLF liberation armies captured military personnel, weapons and ammunitions. The OLF and ONLF successful joint operation was a military and political blow that shocked the TPLF army and leadership. The Oromo Liberation Front has no contact with Al-Ittihad, and has never had a joint military operation with it. The TPLF's regime's implication that the OLF Army has jointly operated with the Al-Ittihad is a habitual malicious false accusation.

The Oromo Liberation Army has continued its operation in all corners of Oromia. The Oromo Liberation Army's recent successful operations in Burqaa, Babile, etc. of Eastern Oromia have made many TPLF soldiers out of action and captured weapons and ammunitions.
The TPLF army did not and cannot defeat the Oromo Liberation Army. Contrary to the TPLF regime's false assertions, the Oromo Liberation struggle is growing stronger and gathering momentum on each passing day. On the other side, the tyrannical TPLF regime is fast losing ground, being rejected by its international backers on each passing day, not to mention the internal legitimacy it never had. Had the TPLF victory propaganda of the last sixteen years been true, there would not have been a talk about the OLF now. A bogus victory declaration does not save the TPLF/EPRDF tyrannical regime from its inevitable downfall. This is the verdict of history from which the TPLF regime will never escape.
Finally, we would like to reiterate that the Oromo Liberation Army targets the TPLF army, its military installation and assets. The Oromo Liberation Army never targets the civilian population and property.
Victory to the Oromo People!
Oromo Liberation Front
August 8, 2007
www.oromoliberationfront.org

Ethiopian rebels warns against oil exploration activities in Ogaden

Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)
ONLF Press Release
August 7, 2007 — Recent sensational claims by the Ethiopian regime that it has been able to realize military gains in Ogaden have no basis in reality and are designed to give a false sense of security to oil companies being urged by the regime not to abandon their exploration plans in Ogaden.
The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) would like to make clear that our forces are largely intact, operational and effective. We also wish to confirm that the regime of Melez Zenawi does not have effective control of Ogaden, a factor which has contributed to their policy of denying entry to international journalists and expulsion of the ICRC.
Pursuing oil and natural gas exploration activities in Ogaden at this stage can only be characterized as gross corporate irresponsibility given the war crimes being committed against our civilian population.
The ONLF will continue to uphold the principle of justice, democracy and respect for human rights before oil exploration in Ogaden and as such, we will not allow this regime to benefit from our peoples natural resources.

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.

Traps in the Path of Oromo leaders

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
August 7, 2007

Following the feedback I have got from Oromo and other African readers, I believe I have to tackle first the issue of possible traps existing in the path of the present Oromo leaders. Before identifying targets and tasks, it is always important to beware of traps and ambushes. In the case of the Oromos, because of the seminal developments the independence of the Oromos would trigger throughout Africa, the traps are more sophisticated and not ostensible. The ambushes take the form of acceptance in the ‘club’ of influential administrations, and the psychological role it plays among people deprived of anything.
Trap 1 – Current Borders of Africa
Believing in their importance, accepting their validity, and admitting their maintenance is a suicidal act for an African. Even more so for an African leader of an oppressed, tyrannized and massacred people. If now the leaders of Africa’s third largest ethno-linguistic group are asked to demonstrate obedience to the most disreputable borderlines in the History of the Mankind, we understand that those who dare ask for it have in mind never to allow the Oromos to form an independent state.
Trap 2 – Replay of the 1991 Ominous Plot
Many voices try to convince Oromo leaders to imitate and repeat the Tigray example of 1991. If an ethnic group representing Abyssinia’s 10 to 11% managed to rule the country for 16 years, the Oromos totaling approximately 40% could eventually dominate for decades, mesmerize these deceitful voices. It would take for an Oromo no less than absolute oblivion of his Oromo-ness to possibly believe this inhuman aberration. Yet, these voices reach Oromo ears in very soft tonalities: if the US managed to deal, negotiate and build a relationship with Meles Zenawi who represents only 11% of Abyssinia’s population, the US administration could envisage the possibility of widening and deepening its involvement in Abyssinia – especially in the light of the recent events in Somalia. These perilous sirens submit the idea that the US would be delighted with an Oromo administration in Abyssinia that would be far more representative than the Tigray tribal plutocracy, suffice it the Oromo leaders do not tear down the “US-friendly” state’s unity, and do not remove their soldiers from Somalia.
Trap 3 – Lack of Interconnection
If you believe that your life’s most important event is to meet a low level US diplomat once every three months, and rely on his consolation and promises, you will have no time to interconnect with your natural allies, the Ogadenis, the Somalis, the Sidamas, the Afars, the Furis of Darfur, the Bejas and the Nubians of Sudan, and the Berbers of Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Mauritania. Like this, you deprive yourself, your movement, your people and your chances from the most dynamic element in the struggle for independence: international respect from the part of the oppressed peoples of the Black Continent, and the world.
Trap 4 – Ignorance of African History
There are many Oromos who manage to travel abroad under at times adverse conditions and settle, study, and live peacefully. Oromos excel in Maths, Engineering, Medicine and Economics. Yet, nothing would enrich their experience and empower liberation struggle more than the study of other African nations’ history, politics, and culture. Interconnection with African independent states is far more valuable, as it allows advocacy in the most fertile ground.
Trap 5 – Reliance on Colonial Powers and Ensuing Ineptitude
The Oromo leaders must understand that the only force they need is the Power to drive their people to Independence, while coordinating with the Ogadenis, the Anuak, the Sidamas, and others. This power does not exist in the hands, the minds, and the pockets of the French, the British, the Americans and the Chinese. All they can offer is an hallucination of independence (if they finally agree on this, after a lot of humiliations – personal and national – of the Oromo leaders) that we noticed in so many cases of postcolonial colonialism. The Power to drive the Oromos to Independence exists among the Oromos, only the Oromos have it, and it is up to the Oromo leaders, up to their shrewdness, their astuteness, their perspicacity to identify it and finally extract. Funds allocated by European and American administrations are Oromo-wise unethical and immoral source of distraction and deviation, whereas little money collected among Oromos in Oromia and in the Diaspora is a blessing that will be wisely used.
Trap 6 – Advocacy: A Key Word Forgotten
The Oromo leaders must understand that under current circumstances only their commitment to successfully plan and carry out an unprecedented Advocacy World Campaign for the ‘Most Numerous People without State’ will corroborate their purpose and justify their future ambitions. All countries of the world must be targeted; all major languages of the world must become the field of the Oromo Advocacy campaign. The Chinese, the Brazilians, the Turks, the Koreans, the Bangladeshis, the Poles, the Danes, the Senegalese and the Moroccans, all must learn words like Gadaa, Waaqo, Finfinne and Kush; all the peoples of the world must have in their languages a brief description of what Gadaa is, and what it can still offer to the entire Mankind.
Trap 7 – Western Soft Power and “mass media democracy”
The most treacherous trap and the most mendacious purpose would indicate to the Oromo leaders how to become ‘democratic’, how to implement ‘democracy’, how to cope with Western Values. There is nothing more inhuman than what a Western politician or diplomat would determine in 2007 as ‘Western values’. We saw these Western values in Darfur, in Uganda, in Ogaden, in Tibet, and in Saudi Arabia. The massacres of 250000 innocent people in Darfur is not an issue for the Western values of the hypocritical gangsters who declare War on Terror and at the same time select as their friends the corrupt and tyrannical leaders of the Islamic terrorism factory ‘Saudi Arabia’. If Europeans want to discuss Western values and if the self-determination of a people is one among them, they have to recognize immediately three European countries that are not recognized yet: Kosovo, Transnistria, and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus. And if they want to discuss ‘democracy’, Oromo leaders should explain to them that the Oromos, thanks to their open, democratic social system of Gadaa, do not need secret associations and occult mysteries in their tolerant and multi-religious society. The Gadaa system should not be replaced by a transplanted Freemasonry of French colonial inspiration.
Note
'Oromia' - Painting by Abebe Zelelew

The forgotten People of Northern Kenya

Abdulkadir Gumi
August 8, 2007
The northern half of Kenya is a vast, sparsely populated desert. The dry shrub lands and rocky wasteland is home to some of Kenya’s most interesting people, such as the Borana-Oromo and Gabra-Oromo tribes. These tribes have been influenced very little by the west, and unlike the Maasai, have had very little contact with tourists as well. They live as they did years ago by herding livestock. The people as well as the awesome scenery make Northern Kenya a nice place to visit.
The current atmosphere between the tribes of Northern Kenya is very touchy, and tribal violence has become quite common. Livestock raids between some tribes have turned violent due to use of automatic weapons, and a vicious cycle of revenge killings has emerged. This is mainly a problem with tribes of Northern Kenya , but violence is also common east of lake, where bandits roam. The danger of bandits is so real that no one goes north of Samburu National Reserve without an armed escort.
Thinking about this expansive region, it is hurting to see the extent of neglect by successive regimes. Clearly no one and I mean no one has interest of developing that region. We have to put aside our difference and demand our share. I lost count how many times we have been promised that the Isiolo-Moyale road will be tarmacked. Soon it will be promised in the forth-coming by-elections. You should know that is a plain lie. Truth will only prevail if we ourselves stood together and demand for what is rightfully ours. This road is our right it’s not a privilege.
urge my Borana-Oromo people every where in the world .In all corner of the world that this is the time when genius may be found through efforts in helping and developing this community. time is opportune for us to change our face and shine the future of the next generation .Our current generation is facing many problems no previous generation ever faced just because of natural calamities that cause the problem in the region like poverty, banditry, and clan feud among others .illiteracy and luck of devastation. we have to see our current situation in our region politically and socially, our people are in hardship where they struggle to in order to survive .we are still a century and no development had happened in our region since Kenya independent and nothing seems forthcoming . we are in a real disaster of ignorance and clan feud with our neighboring clan .unlike the other Kenyans tribes we have virtually no functional infrastructures, our schools ,our roads , our hospitals , and extension service are not more than a stale reminder that of colonial time . It is to us and our priority to manage our work concerning to the situation.
Education particularly the major facts in the future development. An illiterate population makes poor and non productive society .although we are facing logical problems we have to plan to individually to combat the ignorance education is the only key to bringing changes in northern Kenya communities .truth shall never cease to exist simply because they are ignored . It is hurting to see the extent of neglect by successive regimes. I say this trying to bandage my burning injury.
finally We need to have our cultural centers, football teams which I may suggest to be (BIFTUBARI CLUB) also to establish new town at GOTU area to be Called (Nageelle waaso) .

Awake Finfinne! The Venerable Emanation of Kush!

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

August 6, 2007

If Unity is urgently needed among all the Oromos as a first step towards Freedom and Independence, Integrity is the ultimate guarantee of success in the process.

Integrity means for all the Oromos an everlasting commitment to the Kushitic Quintessence of their Tradition, a Transcendent Path in Search of the Primary Oromo Identity, a Permanent Re-assessment and Re-adjustment of the Oromo political choices to what is not ‘politically correct’ but to what is Kushitically Right.

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

The Search for the Kushitic Authenticity is not a historical endeavour for today’s Oromos; it may be so, but only at an elementary level. In fact, the Search for the Oromo Soul, the Oromo Noblesse, the Transcendental Soul will offer the keys to Success and Self – Determination in the years ahead.

A deep search in the Values of the Gadaa system; a Quest for the Pillars of Faith in Waaqo; the Humanity they radiate; the Universal Truth they herald; the Self-Reliance they bestow upon every Oromo; the Self-Fulfillment they demand; the Consolidation they grant.

In a world of Immoral Chaos,

In a collapsed Mankind of absolute, materialistic concern,

In a devious and worthless context of egotistic hysteria,

How can an Oromo fit? What can an Oromo offer?

Will an Independent Biyya Oromo be the accomplishment of one more nation building?

Or will the Oromos be able to Herald a New Era for the entire Black continent through a Revitalized Kushitic Democracy?

Awake Finfinne!

The Inner Voice for Integrity and Authenticity is the only resort the Oromos have in today’s world.

Many other peoples may be in parallel path, with their Dramas, their Paths, their Traditions. Darfur, Kabylia, Ogaden, Sidama, Beja, and so many others.

What makes the Oromo Case Unique?

Perhaps only an Oromo can find in the depth of his soul the bitter truth:

There will be no friends in the Path for Independence.

The oppressors and the enemies of yesterday and today will not become the friends and the associates of tomorrow.

From alien the Amhara will not become an ally.

From the Tigray aggression there will be no egress.

An Amhara oppressor will always be an Amhara transgressor.

And a Tigray malefactor will never turn to benefactor.

The change will all rely on Oromos’ shoulders.

Only the Oromos’ commotion matters, only the Oromos’ action will be the necessary Hirressa ritual that will revivify the Mormor of their souls.

Is it not therefore now the correct time to say

Galataa kee yaa Waaq, kan bishanfqilleensaa nuukenitee

and ultimately cross the river of Darkness, cutting the last chains of oppression that kept Oromos inactive for too long?

What makes the Oromo Case Unique?

Perhaps only an Oromo can find in the depth of his soul the bitter truth:

The Kushitic Integrity cannot be bartered with diplomatic calculations, American advise, and Anglo-French guidance.

The Kushitic Genius cannot be exposed in the Stock Exchange of faraway intruders, be they Russia, China or others.

In a fake world, there are no superpowers; there are not even powers!

What is felt as such is just erroneous projection of inner fear.

But can a Kushite be fearful of filthy and corrupt politicians, and immoral strategists?

What is the force left in the hands of the so-called great powers, except acquired speed of oppression politics and cynical purposes?

Who should fear more? A Kushite original uttering ‘Leemmoo Garaa Taliilaa’ or a Westerner who is today fully aware of the bubble going soon burst?

Awake, Awake, Finfinne! O lovely Emanation of Kush.

Awake and overspread all Nations as in Ancient Time;

For lo! The Night of Death is past and the Eternal Day

Appears upon Tulla Hills. Awake, Finfinne, and come away!

The Asmara Group vs. TA-OLF Court Case: Ibsaa Guutama weighs in

In an interesitng article he wrote in July 2007 and posted HERE, Ibsaa Guutamaa weighs in on the The Asmara Group vs. TA-OLF court case and many other issues currently under debate in Oromo circles.

One of the founders of the OLF, Ibsaa Guutamaa is widely recognized for the leadership he provided to the team that produced millions of school text books in Qubee Afaan Oromoo in 1991-92 while he was Minister of Education and the OLF was a partner in Transitional Government of Ethiopia.

Ibsaa’s article begins with a brief introduction of how the Oromo failed under Abyssinia colonization. Then, it quickly moves to posing the often asked question “what do Oromo[s] want?”which he claims “arise from the mixed message and lack of clarity” of some so-called leaders who carry “two cards one for their freedom craving people another for donors who have interest in the status quo.” The “two cards”, writes Ibsaa Guutama, are the search for solution of the Oromo question within a democratized Ethiopia or in a free and independent state of Oromiyaa.

Of carriers of the first “card,” Ibsaa goes no to say:

"There are Oromo groups that would like to remain within Ethiopia whether others like it or not. They only pray to be tolerated by the Ethiopians. Among these are those with nostalgia for the emperors and the Darg’s era. Others are those promised benefits like land and positions if they join the regime. Still others are those who fraudulently joined the movement with a mission of wrecking it and burying the thought of independence ones and for all. Still others are the confused nationalists who had fallen victims to alien machination.

All together they are not OLF but its zombie. They lack the soul and flesh of Oromoness. Hence cannot represent the OLF in any dealing. Above all no group that doesn’t show credibility and consistency of principle can represent its nation. There are those that remained with the kaayyoo and still have more claim of legitimacy than any one. As long as such credible groups exist and the desire for freedom is engraved on the[ir] minds, even of a small group, OLF can never phase out before the liberation of the Fatherland."

Of the pending court case filed by The Asmara Group vs. TA-OLF, Ibsaa writes:

"Many have abandoned Oromoo tradition of safuu. According to [Oromo Safuu] no Oromo shall expose other Oromo to alien scrutiny for individual or group benefit. But a case where compatriots were exposed to freely extract from them some fifty thousand dollars was observed. In the case against compatriots the OLF was presented as an economic firm. Members were presented as donors. The good will and the trust OLF accumulated over years as a result of the sacrifices comrades made was presented as an effort of the plaintiff group. This exercise by a group has cost both sides a substantial amount of money which could have been used for the struggle against the enemies of the nation. For the group OLF that upholds OLF programs as amended in 1998 are the principal enemy. So no wander if they prefer Ethiopia’s democratization over Oromiyaa’s independence."

"Alien courts will not stand witness for our being OLF. OLF was born and registered in the minds and hearts of all Oromo and its rightful members, signed and sealed by those who paid the ultimate sacrifice. That is the evidence we carry with us all the time..."

Source: Gubrimans Publishing

NOTE: This blogger calls on other heavy weights of our struggle to follow Ibsaa's example and weigh in on this court case to inform the public.

Wake Up, Oromos!

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis

August 5, 2007

Southern Sudan autonomous – following the Naivasha Agreement; Darfur protected by AU / UN military force – following the recent UN resolution; the war of Southern Somalia expands over Ogaden, turning the much loathed Meles Zenawi tyranny to ground. The most inhuman tyranny in the world cannot contain the countries invaded and oppressed by their monarchical ancestors over the span of the last 120 years; it needs US arms that will have great difficulty to get now that more and more people know that Meles is the African name of Hitler.

Where are the Oromos?

One would consider that the occasion is most propitious for Oromos to reach the long-held dream of Independence. But for the time being, nothing! It seems that everything is perfect in Biyya Oromo, and all the Oromos are happy with the tyranny the Tigray tribal thugs of Meles Zenawi have arranged for them!

A multitude of parties, organizations, liberation fronts and associations of all sorts are unable to join forces and discuss Unity.

Divided, manipulated, easily orchestrated without understanding it, the various elements of Oromo opposition look like the most uncoordinated political forces in Africa.

Oromo leaders in Finfinne

Those based in occupied Biyya Oromo have no courage to articulate a word about the infinite jails where hundreds of thousands of Oromos are treated as insects.

What can they be possibly afraid of?

Can a leader be Leader if he does not dare speak about his People's Right to Independence?

Can a leader be Leader if he is afraid to be imprisoned and tortured? Would it be so terrible in jail after all? Whom would an Oromo leader meet in a jail like Kaliti? Other Oromos or Sidamas, Ogadenis, Afars and other innocent victims of the Neo-Nazi Meles’ paroxysm of tyranny. Is that not honorable to be with them, instead of associating himself with the lewdest and the lowest of the African butchers?

Oromo leaders abroad

Those based abroad can certainly be proud for having spent several years in clandestine struggle, prison, and nightmarish persecution; they escaped from the Morgue ‘Ethiopia’. They tried to carry out the good work to advocate, to publicize, to organize the struggle from distance, and to contact representatives of other peoples, diplomats of civilized countries, international bodies, NGOs, academia, and administrations.

Their concern and effort were honorable; but were they effective enough?

They brought with them to the four cardinal points the entire diversity and the multiplicity of the Oromo society, so multicultural, multi-religious, and ultimately colourful.

One should envy the descendants of a traditional democratic system of society, the poorly known in the West Gadaa system, and should admire the African people whose parts with serenity ascribe themselves to either Islam, Christianity or Waaqefanna, the monotheistic and aniconic traditional Oromo religion that stipulates that the Great and Invisible Waaqo is the Great Architect of the Universe.

Who can be prouder than an Oromo for the variety among the Arsi, the Borana, the Wollo, the Tullama and the other, in total 12, Oromo Galaxies?

But all this should be forgotten for an hour, for a minute, for a second.

For the time of Unity and Last Fight!

Unity of all the Oromo fronts, parties and organizations

Who does not see how close the Independent Biyya Oromo is?

Who cannot see that the last effort will be undertaken only through Monolithic Unity?

United, the Oromos will appear as credible interlocutors of governments and international bodies.

United, the Oromos will not be exposed to the lies of various administrations, colonial and / or post-colonial, that have it easy to promise without delivering, and to manipulate the divided ones, causing tremendous damage and ultimately canceling the Independence perspective.

United, the Oromos will drive the paranoid tyrant Meles to voluntary exile, because the moment of Oromos’ Unity will sound as his death warranty.

The Unity should start among the Oromos abroad. An extraordinary conference should be held to settle all existing issues, and to herald the Unity – Uniformity of all the Oromo political fronts, parties and associations into one Independent Biyya Oromo.

The entire final success will come after Unity, and if they fail in this, Oromos leaders will fail in everything. That’s is why the last 10 meters before the Free Finfinne become so important a distance to describe and to analyze. On this we will focus in a series of forthcoming articles.

Haqaan waan hin qabne Iyyaan hin argatan!!!

Yoo sabatti qoosan kaleessa akka laayyoo,
"Maal dhibdi" jechuudhaan yennaa ganan kaayyoo;
Imaanaa jallanii yennaa achi buusan,
Kaleessa yogguu sana yoom maqaa barbaadan?

Halagaan gorsamuun asiif achi utaaluun,
Tasa wanta hin taane kijibaan caraanuun;
Faallaa sabaa deemaa maqaa gaarii hawwuun,
“Mulqiitii naaf kennii” halagaatti iyyachuun;
Abjuu kaleessaati; dhadhaa abidda buute!!!
Maqaa har’a hawwan isaantu of harkaa gate.




“Himata” dhaqanii waan hin taane abjoochuun,
Tasa bajuu baddee; maaf dhama’uu jarreen?

Dalagaatu muldhisa maqaa fi eenyummaa abbaa,
Nuti kan nyi beeknu seerri keenya saba;
„Mana seeraa“ isaanii eenyutu quba qaba?
Jarreen maaf maraatuu? Maaf dalagu daba?

Aadaa fi seenaan ala Safuuf saalfii gatan;
Lammii tuffatanii halagaa abdatan.
Dhugaa haguuganii kijibaan booqqatan;
Amantee gatanii gantummaa filatan.

Maqaa abbaa gatanii "AFD" jedhan;
Mee maal barbaacha egaa har’a kan dhama’an?
Oromiyaaf falmuu irra "Toopiyuummaa" filatan;
“Addunyaan luucofte” jechuun qabsoo dabsan;
“Diimokaraasii” jechuun bilsummaa dhiisan;
Maqaa isa kamiree kan jarreen barbaadan?

Kaleessa gananoo har’a eessa hafidan?
Doolaara kuma shantam ofumaa kan gatan.
Sabini isaan tufeeraa kana haa beekkatan;
Murtee jiru kanaa adaba haa godhatan.


Kaleessa utuu hin dhihin; namni utuu hin dhaga’in,
Xurii fi qullaan isaanii utuu bakkee hin ba’in;
Jaarsaaf hayyuun meeqa yoo isaanitti himu,
Gurra duuchatanii yennaa dhaban sammuu;
Jalee diinaaf ta’uuf tumsa waliin tuman,
Maqaa yennas gatanii har’a eessaa haafidan?



Eessa geessi jechuun lammii tuffatanii,
Maqaa ofii gatanii dantaa jaaldhatani;
“Qinjit, Arbaynooch” jechuun tarreessanii,
Tokkuumma Ethiopiyaaf tarree tataa’anii;
“AFD” jechuun of moggaasatanii,
Kabaja Oromummaa of irra mulqani.
Saphina isa gadhee yennaas unatanii,
Har’a maqaaf iyyuu kaleessa of gatanii?

Egaa maal hawwuree Shaneen Toophiyootaa?
Qinjit, Arbanyooch kan ta’aniif “tooftaa”
Ilmaan habashootaa kan godhatan gooftaa,
Mana seeraa hin jirre kan dhaqan himata.

Duruu qaanii beekuu? duroo gumaa nyaatan;
Ilmaan gabroomfattuu maddii kan dhungatan.
Halaaba Habashaa jala yennaa boqotan;
Safuu wallaalanii dantaadhaaf of gatan.
Lammii ofii gananii diinaan fira jedhan;
Nu hin ajaa’ibsiisu guyyaan yoo abjootan.

Dur gumaa nyaattanii maqaa abbaa gatnoo;
Eenyu isaaniif naha yoo dhaqan iyyanoo?
Dirmata hin qabani tasa dhaggeeffanoo!!!
Yaa raajii gantootaa hooda kan keessanoo!

Maqaa bilsumman dalaguudhaa daba,
Bitamtanii diinaaf gowwoomsuudhaaf saba;
Of hin gowwoomsinaa sabni ija qabaa!
Shirri isin xaxxan burkutaayee cabaa!!!

Kan sin dura turan gantoonni kaleessaas,
Warrii abbaa garaa Tigroota keessaas;
Kan Amaaratti galtan isin warri hardhaas,
Oromoon isin beekaa hin fiiginaa hangas.

Maqaan isin qabdan kan isiniif malu,
AFD irratti yoo feetan dabaluu;
GANTUU isiniin jenna!!! kan isiif tolu;
Egaa maal barbaaddu maqaa kan caaluu?

Dhugaatu isin tufe; Sabatu isin jibbe;
Waan gumaa nyaattaniif cubbuun isin gube.
Ekeraatu iyyee boqota isin dhowwa,
Imaanaa nyaattanii sichuu buutu bowwaa.
Maqaa abbaa gattanii; iyyaa ammallee booyaa!
Dhugaa irraa maqxanii gubadhaa bobayaa!

Qabsoon ummatichaa jallan hedduu qabaa,
Kanneen isa tiksan ta’aniif utubaa;
Kan kaayyoo isaa tiksan gallii isaa xumuraa,
Maqaa isaantu qabaa gantoota achi goraa.

Dadhabdanii jirtuu dhaqaatii boqodhaa!


Ilmaan habashootaa maddii dhudhungadhaa.
Warra Habashaa waliin dhaqaa ta’aa tarree,
Qaamatti xaxadhaa halaabaa minilik coraatu isin qorree.

Kan Oromiyaaf falmu Addi bilisummaa,
Kaayyoo kan godhate galii walabummaa;
Karaa irraa hin maqu dhaabbiisaa kanuma,
Maqaa fi injifannoon kan isaati gonkumaa!!!
Maqaa fi injifannoon kan isaati gonkumaa!!!

Oromo>>Manni Maxxansaa Oromia hojii jalqabe.

Dhibdeelee barreessitootni Oromoo karaa maxxansaa fi raabsaa qaban furuu fi guddina dagaagina aadaa fi og barruu afaan Oromoo keessatti hirmaannaa ol- aanaa ba’uuf kan akeekkatee bu’urri mana maxxansaa Oromia xumuramee hojii jalqabee jira.

Waggaa lama dura yaada namoota baayyee muraasaan yaadni isaa kan jalqabe ijaarsi mana maxxansaa kun Adoolessa 26 bara 2007 magaalaa Minneapolis Minsootaa keessatti walgahii gaggeeffateen, seera bulmaataa, diriirsa bulchiinsa hojii, fi sagantaa hojii mana maxxansaa kanaa irratti bal’inaan erga mari’ateen booda miseensota boordii nama torba qabu kan ofi keessaa file yoo ta’u, koree hojii gaggeessituus ramaduun walaghii isaa milkiin xumuree jira. Manni maxxansaa Oromia kun Ormia Publishing LLC jedhamee kan beekamu yoo ta’u akka seera Amerikaa kutaa Georgiattis seeraan galmaa’ee jira.

Oromia Publishing LLC(OPLLC) Hojii isaa isa jalqabaa kan ta’e kitaaba Oromummaa jedhamuu fi Dr Asaffaa Jaallataan barreeffame dhiheenya maxxansiisee magaalaarra kan oolche yoo ta’u, dhiheenyattis kitaabota adda addaa afaan Oromoo fi biroonis barreeffaman maxxansiisee magaalaarra oolchuuf jira.

Carraa kanaanis namoonni kitaaba barreessitanii akkaataa itti maxxansiifattan dhabdanii jirtan, kan barreessaa jirtanii fi barreessuuf yaada qabdan, akkasumas barreeffama do’ii fi fiilmii ta’uu danda’an kanneen barreessuu dandeessan martuu mana maxxansaa Oromia yoo qunnamtaniif gatii dadhabbii keessanii baasuun hojii keessan fuunee magaalaarra isinii oolchuu akka danda’u OPLLC amumaan isin beeksisa

Explosion kills one person and injures three in Addis Ababa

Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) One person was killed and three others injured when a mortar exploded in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, APA learnt here on Friday.

Police said the mortar exploded in Merkato, one of the largest open markets in Africa.

“The four people were trying to use the mortar for another purpose unknowingly, and it immediately resulted in the death of one person while it injured the three people seriously,” police said.

The incident occurred in one place of Merkato mainly known for the sale of second hand and used metals and other materials.

Police are investigating how the mortar came into the hands of the people who are said to be used materials sellers.

DT/pm/APA

2007-08-03

African Press Agency

Kan Quba qabduu?? All These done in the past 15 yrs?

Almeda Textile factory( ALTEX) in Adwa, which cost Birr 600 million, has an estimated annual turnover of Birr 320 million. This factory has created employment opportunities for over 1000 people. Other companies that come under EFFORT include:

• Hiwet Agricultural Mechanization Company;
• 
  
• Tesfa Livestock Resources Development Company; proposed investment capital for this project is about Birr 150 million;
• 
  
• Mesfin Industrial Engineering Company;
• 
  
• Addis Pharmaceutical Factory; established with Birr 50 million and its asset is valued at about Birr 250 million;
• 
  
• Ethio Rental House created with initial capital of Birr 120 million;
• 
  
• Addis Engineering Consultancy Company;
• 
  
• Almeda Knitting & Garment Factory established at a cost of Birr 56.6 million and annual turner of Birr 45 million. The factory employs 850 people;
• 
  
• Messobo Building Materials Production Company. It employs 550 people;
• 
  
• Ezana Mining Development established at a cost of Birr 14 million;
• 
  
• Saba Dimensional Stones Company founded with a capital of Birr 75 million and employs 200 people;
• 
  
• Guna Trading House established in 1992 and its present yearly turn over is estimated to be around USD 100 million;
• 
  
• Trans-Ethiopia Company;
• 
  
• Wegagen Bank;
• 
  
• Africa Insurance Company;
• 
  
• Desalegn Veterinary Drugs & Input Supplies Company;
• 
  
• Star Pharmaceuticals and Medical Supplies Company;
• 
  
• High Tech Park Company;
• 
  
• Express Transit Services;
• 
  
• Experience Ethiopian tour;
• 
  
• Sheba Tannery Company- proposed investment capital over Birr 230 million;
• 
  
• Projects under consideration include: Adigrat Glass Works Company, Paper packaging, plastic project and irrigation development.
• 
  

4 SU-27 Ethiopian fighter pilots defect

Four Ethiopian SU-27 fighter pilots have fled the government over lack of freedom, democracy and justice, and the overall worsening political repression in the country.

The four fighter pilots are Captain Samuel Getachew, Lt. Haimanot G. Mariam (female), Lt Yitibarek Tekle and Lt. Fikre-Selassie Feleke. Their whereabouts for the time being remains unknown.

In addition to the repression, the pilots blamed the Zenawi regime for the disappearance of two Air Force pilots who had defected to neighboring Djibouti in June 2005 but were forcibly returned to Ethiopia and have never been heard of again.

The four pilots were students of former Ethiopian Air Force Captain Teshome Tenkolu, a pilot instructor who was tortured and held incommunicado in a dark cell for over two years up to 2000. Captain Teshome, who now lives in exile in Canada, survived a gruesome ordeal and chronicled perhaps the most heart-wrenching story of torture and melancholy to ever befall an innocent Ethiopian citizen.

"The pilots have defected because they wanted to protest against the brutal political conditions in the country, and cited the case of Captain Teshome and the disappearance of the other pilots as cases in point that there is no rule of law and justice in the country.

Captain Behailu Gebre and Lt. Abiyot Mangudai defected to Djibouti in June 2005 after they disobeyed government orders to use their gunship helicopter to fire on anti-government protesters in Addis. Human rights organizations condemned the Djibout regime after deporting the pilots.

Fear of Ethiopian national anger forced Djibouti to misinform BBC on July 19 that the pilots were repatriated voluntarily but tearful family members of the pilots in Addis told Ethiomedia their return was a deportation order carried out jointly by the security forces of President Omar Guelleh of Djibouti and Prime Minister Meles Zenawi."

The pilots who fell back into the hands of Meles, were tortured, and witnesses said the two were limping when they appeared before a Military Tribunal at Debre Zeit Air Force base, 32 km south of the Ethiopian capital.

At that time, Amnesty International called on the Meles regime to allow the pilots immediate access to relatives, lawyers and any medical treatment they may require. Amnesty also called for an investigation to establish whether the pilots had been "forcibly returned" to Ethiopia, in breach of international conventions.

The calls fell deaf ears.

The Foremer Ethiopian President Gidada admist guilt and wants to be accountable.

Re: Inciting hatred without absolution- Negaso Gidada volunteers and Accepts Guilt and Wants to be Punished or to be accountable as he put it....

This a very interesting story unfolding in Minnesota. The former President claims there was a lot of injustice done to Ethiopia under his watch and wants to be accountable if Ethiopia decides to charge the case.

Will the current Ethiopian Government Charge Negaso Gidada based on his own admission. Will this be an issue at the next meeting of Ethiopian Parliament.

This is a very good and interesting development, accpeting responsiblity for crimes committed under ones watch. Is he really saying he is reponsible or trying to pass the buck off and yet point fingers at others.

Please read the following interesting "Ethiopian parliamentarian summer brake activities,.....



Twin Cities Planet, Minnesota


Posted: Sat, 07/28/2007


Plight of ethnic groups in Ethiopia discussed at U
conference

By Abdi Aynte , Minnesota Monitor


15,000 Oromo in Minnesota include many victims of
torture, persecution.


Seldom does a former head of state express remorse
about crimes committed under his watch, but that's
exactly what Dr. Negasso Gidada, the former president
of Ethiopia, told more than 100 people Thursday
evening at the University of Minnesota.


Speaking at the Oromo second annual international
human rights conference, Gidada said he's "ready to be
accountable for crimes I committed … and those
committed by the Ethiopian government" during his
tenure.


Most of the people in attendance were Oromo, the
largest of Ethiopia's 86 ethnic groups. Gidada also is
an Oromo, but the current regime is dominated by a
minority ethnic group called the Tigre. He held the
largely ceremonial post of president between 1995 and
2001.


Now an opposition member in the Ethiopian parliament,
Gidada admitted that the "rule of law was enforced
brutally" while he was president. But he reiterated
that he couldn't stop most of those crimes, because
the power lied with the Tigre prime minister.


More than 15,000 Oromo refugees, the largest anywhere
in the country, live in Minnesota, according to the
Oromo-American Citizenship Council, which helped
organize the event.


The State Department's human rights index ranks
Ethiopia, a close U.S. ally in the war on terror, as
one of the worst human rights violators in the world.
Oromo-Americans said they are particularly
disappointed with how the United States turned its
back on the protection of human rights in their
country.


Ethiopia is already fighting a proxy war for the U.S.
in Somalia, said Professor Abdi Samatar, a panelist
who teaches geography and global studies at the
University of Minnesota.


"With blessings from Washington, the Ethiopian
military killed thousands in Somalia since January,
displaced 450,000 and destroyed one-third of
Mogadishu's infrastructure," said Samatar, who studied
Ethiopia closely as a Fulbright scholar seven years
ago.


A study by the Minneapolis-based Center for Victims of
Torture found in 2004 that 69 percent of all Oromo men
and 37 percent of women in Minnesota were victims of
torture -- one of the highest percentages among
refugees in the state.


`Color of your passport matters'


Minnesota is also home to the largest Anuak ethnic
population in the United States. When Ethiopian
soldiers were in the middle of killing more than 400
Anuak people in three days in 2003, Obang Metho,
executive director of the Anuak Justice Council,
called the U.S. State Department.


According to Metho, who also spoke at the event, the
woman who answered his 1 a.m. call told him: "'People
are killed over there all the time,'" and the phone
went dead. Metho, who now lives in Canada, called back
five minutes later. The woman chided him but before
she could take her next breath, he interjected that
U.S. citizens could be among the dead. Then he hung up
on her.


The woman called back with a frantic question: "'Do
you know where they live? Their Social Security
numbers?'" Metho supplied whatever information he had.



Less than two hours later, he received a call from the
U.S. embassy in Addis Ababa, informing him that staff
members were on the way to Gambella, where the
massacre was under way. But they needed his help.


"At that time, I learned that the color of your
passport matters," he said.


Hope in legislation


Members of the Ethiopian community in Minnesota and
across the nation, who organized a massive rally
Thursday morning at the state Capitol, are hoping for
eventual passage of a bill that cleared a subcommittee
in the U.S. House of Representatives last week.


The bill, authored by Rep. Donald Payne, D-N.J.,
connects U.S. financial and military assistance to
Ethiopia to improved human rights, freedom of the
press and democracy.


U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., who spoke at the
Oromo human rights conference through video uplink,
told the audience that he supports the bill.


"Those who committed human rights violations ought to
be brought to justice," he said.

OLF Legal Woes: This Just In

Thursday, July 26, 2007

OLF Legal Woes: This Just In

No sooner than I posted the last update, I received an e-mail message from my source in TA-OLF informing me that the “temporary restraining order granted to the Asmara Group has been vacated as of this morning. Our (OLF’s) planned public meeting today will proceed as planned. Will update you on details of the case at my earliest convenience.”

Calls to my sources in the Asmara Group of OLF for their reactions has not been returned.

Stay tuned. Also, have your say.

OLF Legal Woes: an Update

It is to be recalled that Oromo Affairs reported the lawsuit brought against TA-OLF by the Asmara Group of OLF in a Minnesota Court. It looks like the Minnesota Court has decided on one of the four judgments the Asmara Group had applied for.

An internal source with in the Asmra Group of the OLF has informed this blogger that they have succeeded in obtaining a “temporary restraining order against TA-OLF and its members from passing themselves off as OLF and its officers or representatives pending a full hearing on the merits of the lawsuit.” (E-mail message from Source, July 25, 2007) According to this source, this judgment in effect has forced TA-OLF to cancel its planned public meeting for July 26, 2007, and that “in granting the temporary restraining order, the judge has concluded that there is a reasonable likelihood the plaintiff will prevail on its claim.”

The date for the commencement of the trial, which is expected to last for one and a half day, has been set to be August 16, 2007 at 2:00 PM.

A call to my sources in TA-OLF confirmed the trial date and the temporary restraining order, but would not confirm whether it is against TA-OLF or “some individuals.” The same source added that the judge also ordered the Asmara Group to post $25,000 bond to by noon on July 24, 2007 failing which the case will be dismissed. He believes the Asmara Group has posted the required bond which he says is “squandering $25,000 of Oromo hard earned dollars donated toward the struggle to defeat enemies of the Oromo people but are being used against Oromo nationalists.”

On the question of the temporary restraining order, according to my TA-OLF source, the US laws allow for restraining orders only in cases where monetary compensation will not remedy the complainants claimed potential damage which would ensue if the motion is denied. According to this source, this is clearly NOT the case here as the Asmara Group has already applied for $50,000 in compensatory damages in its application and therefore a restraining order is not allowed here. “Naturally, this is an order which should not have been granted in the first place and which we hope will be vacated in the next few days” said my TA- OLF source. He would not elaborate on how they plan to do this except to warn me to “Stay tuned.”

www.oromoaffairs.blogspot.com

Ethiopian Millennium: Will you have any part in it?

For those who are not aware, the Ethiopian empire uses the Julian calendar which divides the year in to twelve months of thirty days each and a thirteenth month of 5 or 6 days (in leap year) in length. On September 11 or 12 (I am not sure which one) of this year, true to its nature, the Ethiopian empire will enter the third millennium years after the western world and with the indisputable distinction of being the last vestige of colonial empires. Dubbed “a prison of nations,” the Ethiopian state as we know it today came into existence towards the end of 19th century as a result of colonial conquest by emperor Minilik of Abyssinia, later renamed Ethiopia in mid 1920s.

This last vestige of colonial empires is in the middle of preparations to celebrate its millennium with much pomp and ceremonies unparalleled in the empire’s history.

First, A look back in time...



In 1972, Haile Sellassie’s 80th birthday was celebrated amidst much pomp and ceremonies. While his entourage and cronies were busy congratulating him, unbeknownst to the world and even to the other parts of the empire, a large famine was devouring Wollo. Had it not been for Jonathan Dimbleby, the world would not have known the scope of the famine and the loss of life it caused. While Haile Sellasie’s subjects were starving, Haile Sellassie, his family and their cronies were busy lining up their pockets and stashing away millions of dollars in foreign banks. As a conquered indigenous nation, the Oromo were people without land relegated to serfdom for the conquistadors. Conquered and humiliated, their language, culture, music, art and every thing Oromo was ridiculed and languished under harsh suppression. This was the state of the Oromo nation and the empire when Haile Sellasie’s 80th birthday celebration came around.



Fast forward to 1984. Twelve years later, when the tyrant before this one - Mengistu Haile Mariam - celebrated his 10th anniversary of coming to power, with no less ostentatious display, another famine was ravaging the empire. Liberation struggles were raging in the east, west and north of the empire. Unconcerned and oblivious to the suffering of the people, just like their predecessors, Mengistu and his officials were busy enjoying life and accumulating wealth. Not much had changed for the Oromo people. Still a conquered and humiliated nation, they continued to toil the land but only this time for a different land lord – the DERG. “Disappearance,” incarceration, murder and torture visited those who dared to speak up in defense of their people’s rights. This was the state of the empire and the Oromo people when the DERG celebrated its 10th anniversary with a great deal of fanfare.

Fast forward to the Wayyanee era …



Today, another exercise in pomp and cermonies is in the making with no change in the Oromo situation.

Preparation is underway for a year long celebration of the Ethiopian millennium.

A millennium festival council, whose Members are hand picked TPLF cronies reporting directly to Meles Zenawi or Seyoum Mesfin, has been put together to oversee the preparation. The TPLF propaganda machine is hard at work round-the-clock trying to entice the habasha diaspora to join in the celebrations. International organizations, foreign governments, NGOs and wealthy individuals are urged to fund this extravagant celebration. As in the preceding two cases, today, the empire is awash with political conflicts. Grinding poverty has not loosened its grip on the people. Oblivious to the suffering around them, just like their counterparts in the previous regimes, TPLF officials are lining up their pockets and stashing away millions in foreign banks. They do so through EFFORT (Endowment Fund For Rehabilitation of Tigray), the vast business conglomerate, only second to Sheik Al-Amudi’s MIDROC (Mohammed International Development Research and Organization Companies) in the empire.

What of the Oromo situation?

The Oromo situation is no different today than it was under the previous two tyrants. Our people continue to “disappear”, be murdered and incarcerated for prolonged period of time for political reasons. Don't take my words for it; visit Oromia Support Group and other respected Human Rights advocates. Oromo children continue to grow up without fathers while their fathers are either murdered and buried 6 feet under or languishing in TPLF dungeons. Oromo resources continue to be taken advantage of to develop other regions – Tigray in this case.

Will the empire ever learn from history? You think? As an Oromo national would you have any part in this millennium celebration? Would you step over the bodies of our fallen heroes and heroines for a one night high?

Have your say!

4 Comments:

Anonymous said...

You know Habashas refer to it as Ethiopian calendar as if they invented it. They like to claim anything they can put their hands on, they have no shame. It just shows how backward they are, I with rest of the world celebrated millennium 7 years ago. For me their Millennium is just meaning less just as Chinese calendar.

6:53 PM

Anonymous said...

Haile Silase and Mangistu had wasted so much money to oranize the event, but, Meles, in contrary be using the celebration as a fund raising event. Ofcourse, part of the fund will be going to a "war torn Tigray". Part will be deposited or invested by Meles & Co.
The rest will be offered a milenum version Meles brand Democracy.

Kufnee Kaana

8:06 PM

Anonymous said...

It's Oromos resource they are spending irresponsibly. All most all foreign currency the Ethiopian empire earns from trade comes from Oromo land. Be it Haile Silase, Mengistu or Meles use Oromo's resource to dominate Oromos themselves. I don't think they care much for the expenditure since it does not belong to them. I guess they just want to use in a lavish expenditure such as this before they are ousted by the real owners of the resource.

8:24 AM

Anonymous said...

The Oromo have nothing to do with the Ethiopian Calendar. Of course, with the exception of the Ethiopianized Oromo. For example, visit the Shanee Qinijjit's website and clic AFD. You then can read their New Year 1999 message. How bizzar? The only confusion is they write in Afaan Oromoo. Were you surprised when their leader Kibur Ato Dawud Ibsa kept quite on the New Year Eve 2006?

We, the Oromo, have created our own calendar long time ago. Let us research about our own heritage. Leave what is others to others.

God bless Oromia!

The Asmara Group of OLF takes TA-OLF to a Minnesota Court

Monday, July 23, 2007

Just when the Kinijit legal saga seems to have come to an end, OLF’s has begun in a USA court.

Reliable sources have informed this Blogger that the Shane Gumii faction (aka the Asmara Group) of the OLF has filed a lawsuit against the TA-OLF faction on two counts: that the later group has violated the “Uniform Deceptive Trade Practices Act” and that it interfered with the Asmara Group’s “prospective economic advantage.”

The lawsuit, filed on July 19, 2007, lists one active and two inactive Oromo non-profit organizations, seven individuals and a “John Doe.” The three organizations are “Oromo self-help Association, Inc”, “Oromo self-help Organization” and “Oromo self help Association, Inc” all incorporated under MN law on June 3, 2005, July 8, 1999 and March 7, 1994 respectively.

The OLF split into two in 2001 over what some say differences of political strategy but others claim power struggle within the highest echelon of the organization. They have both claimed the name OLF since the split. Attempt at reconciling the two factions have so far produced no results.

The lawsuit alleges that the defendants have interfered with The Asmara group’s prospective economic advantage and have “caused and/or [have] threatened to cause plaintiff [the Asmara Group] to suffer damages in the form of lost good will, lost members or potential members and loss of donations.” This being the primary fund raising season of the year for Oromo political organizations, has worried the Asmara Group who some say will not be able to raise as much funds as it has been able to in the past years due to its very unpopular alliance with CUDP (aka Kinijit.)

The Asmara Group is asking the Fourth Judicial District Court of the State Of Minnesota to enjoin TA-OLF to cease and desist from using the “trade” name OLF permanently, to award the Asmara Group compensatory damages in excess of $50,000.00 and to grant a temporary injunction against the Oromo public meeting called for July 26, 2007 by TA-OLF. The motion for the injunction request is to be heard on July 23, 2007 at 8:30 AM.

The source tells this blogger that this is nothing new and that the Asmara Group has done all it could in the last six years to sabotage Oromo public meetings called by TA-OLF. In support of this allegation, my source pointed me to an audio file at HERE in which someone claiming to be an agent of the OLF asked owners of the meeting hall which TA-OLF had rented for their last year Oromo public meeting “NOT to cooperate with the group....”

Finances collected from Oromo public with the promise to use them toward the Oromo struggle should not be squandered by using them to take another Oromo political group to court or to defend ones group against such a lawsuit. Such money is better used toward taking the Meles Zenawi regime to World Court for its crimes against the Oromo people, lobbying western governments, raising or strengthening a liberation army, or supporting families of our compatriots who are currently political prisoners in TPLF’s Ethiopia.

This is a political issue - a struggle for Oromo hearts and minds - which should be waged, and won or lost, in Oromo public court, NOT in US legal courts.
http://www.oromoaffairs.blogspot.com/

38 opposition politicians and activists released after Ethiopian government pardon

07/20/2007

By ANITA POWELL / Associated Press

Three minibuses left an Ethiopian prison carrying 38 opposition politicians and activists pardoned by the government Friday. Dozens of family members and supporters outside shouted in joy and whistled.

The politicians and activists were released only minutes after Prime Minister Meles Zenawi told journalists the government had pardoned them. They had been sentenced to various prison terms, including life, for inciting violence in an attempt to overthrow the government.

As their minibuses left Kalici Prison, some of the politicians made the victory sign, which is also the symbol of Ethiopia's opposition.

The family members and supporters gathered outside waved Ethiopian flags and also made victory signs. They then pursued the minibuses in other vehicles. It was not clear where the politicians and activists were being taken.

Meles had said he hoped the pardon "conveys the message that people are given a second chance as long as they seek it." The prisoners had written the government asking to be pardoned.

Meles said that the prisoners' right to vote and seek public office also had been restored. A Federal High Court ruled on Monday that those sentenced to life would have those rights permanently revoked and others would be barred for five years from seeking public office.

The United States had urged the government to show clemency in the case, which had been widely condemned by international human rights groups.

After the sentences were announced Monday, state-owned Ethiopian Television had reported the politicians and activists had written to the president to ask for pardons. Amnesty International said the defendants reportedly signed a statement some weeks ago that was expected to lead to a pardon and reconciliation with the ruling party.

Those pardoned included the leader of the Coalition for Unity and Democracy, Hailu Shawel; Berhanu Nega, who was elected mayor of Addis Ababa; former Harvard scholar Mesfin Woldemariam; and former U.N. special envoy and a former professor at Virginia's Norfolk State University, Yacob Hailemariam.

International human rights groups had accused the government of trying to silence its critics, and opposition leaders have claimed the trial was politically motivated.

The Federal High Court trial began in December 2005 following postelection violence that erupted during protests over balloting six months earlier.

The opposition won an unprecedented number of parliamentary seats in the 2005 vote, but not enough to topple Meles. The opposition claimed the voting was rigged, and European Union observers said they were marred by irregularities.

Initially, the opposition leaders, journalists and others were charged with treason, inciting violence and attempted genocide. Judges dropped the treason and attempted genocide charges in April and later that month freed 25 prisoners, among them eight journalists.

Since April, a total of 52 people faced four other charges, but only nine chose to put up a defense. The trial for the remaining nine continues on July 25.

Late last year, Ethiopia acknowledged that its security forces killed 193 civilians protesting alleged election fraud but insisted they did not use excessive force. A senior judge appointed to investigate the violence had accused the security forces of excessive force.

Life in jail for Ethiopia leaders

Life in jail for Ethiopia leaders

The opposition blames the violence on the security forces

An Ethiopian court has handed down life sentences to all of the main opposition leaders convicted of links to violent election protests in a major trial.

Eight of the 38 opposition figures in court were given shorter prison terms. The prosecution had demanded the death penalty for them all.

They refused to recognise the court, saying the trial was political.

Their relatives say the detainees have signed a document which could pave the way for their release.

High court judge Adil Ahmed also barred the 30 Coalition for Unity and Democracy (CUD) leaders from voting or standing for election.

Before the sentences, the US had warned that any judgement should promote reconciliation between the government and the opposition.

The BBC's Elizabeth Blunt in Addis Ababa says the trial has been closely watched in the city, a CUD stronghold.

She says that the entire front row of seats in the court was taken up by diplomats and a simultaneous English translation was provided.

Apology?

Five of the 38, including CUD leader Hailu Shawel, were also convicted of inciting, organising and leading armed rebellion.

Democracy on trial

Ethiopia's government has always stressed that the courts are independent and denies that the trial is political.

Relatives of the 38, who include two women, say they have signed a document which lead to them being freed. Our correspondent says this could be some form of apology or plea for mercy.

Among the 38 are the entire CUD leadership, several of the capital's elected MPs and city councillors, including Berhanu Negga, mayor-elect of Addis Ababa.

Prosecutor Abraham Tetemke said they had tried to bring down the government when he called for the death penalty last Monday.

Hundreds of thousands took part in demonstrations complaining of fraud and rigging in the elections won by Prime Minister Meles' party.

Some 193 people were killed in protests at alleged vote-rigging.

Most of the dead were protesters, killed by security forces.

Tarnished

An independent inquiry carried out by an Ethiopian judge concluded that the police had used excessive force.

He went on to accuse them of carrying out a massacre. The judge later fled Ethiopia, saying he had been put under pressure to change his findings and had received death threats.

The government points out that it introduced multiparty elections to Ethiopia after years of military rule.

In the elections, the opposition made huge gains but says it was cheated out of victory.

Three months ago, a judge threw out controversial charges of attempted genocide and treason against another 111 people arrested after the election protests.

The violence and the charges of election fraud have tarnished Mr Meles' image as a favourite of Western donors and one of a new wave of reforming African leaders.

Some donors have reduced aid over the case.