Wide spread arrest in all corners of Oromia continues unabated.

The Advocacy for the Fundamental Rights of Oromos & Others (AFRO-O) would like to inform Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch about the ongoing mass arrests and torture of hundreds of Oromos in Ethiopia at the present time. Last week, when pressed by Oromo opposition parliament members the Ethiopian prime minister admitted that his government is arresting some Oromos because they were Oromo Liberation Front members and supporters. He went even further by accusing senior opposition MPs, including the honorable Bulcha Demeksa and the honorable Dr.Marara Gudina, of being OLF leaders themselves. He further threatened them by saying that “once the government had enough evidence the culprits would be arrested and put on trial.” This in itself is a clear breach of principle of any democratic governance, for the leader of the ruling party to threaten members of parliament with arrest.The Advocacy for the Fundamental Rights of Oromos & Others has just received a list of a list of 148 Oromo men, women, students and farmers and their places of residences and locations of their detentions. We notice the fact that many individuals are brought to the famous Makelawi detention center in the capital, Addis Ababa, known to Oromos as Finfine. We strongly suspect that the reason for transporting these individuals to the Makelawi is to torture them. The Makelawi in Ethiopia is synonymous with torture to the people of Ethiopia. All the listed Oromo individuals are suspected of involvement with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). We believe that the list is a “tip of the Iceberg,” since the arrests are in the thousands according to news reaching us and are ongoing.We appeal to Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to follow up and investigate this new arrests and their plight to all peace loving people around the globe. We suspect that the real reason for these new arrests is to intimidate the electorate into supporting the ruling party of Prime Minister Zenawi.

Thank you for all your work in supporting those whose rights are denied.

Sincerely,

Advocacy for the Fundamental Rights of
Oromos & Others (AFRO-O)
P.O. Box 422 Burtonsville,
MD 20866

Click here for Partial Lists of Oromos Recently Detained by the Ethiopian Regime

Source www.www.afro-o.org

Oromo MPs under Heightened Threat

In a recent parliamentary session that was broadcasted live on Ethiopian Television, the Prime Minister of Ethiopia has threatened Oromo MPs that his government is keeping tab on them since he suspects them of beingmembers of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). These MPs come mainly from the Oromo Federalist Democratic Movement (OFDM) and Oromo National Congress (ONC). The Prime Minster warned that the MPs will be presented to court once enough material is collected against them.
This threat came after the OFDM leader Bulcha Demeksa complained about widespread arrests and harassment in the Oromia region and requested for an immediate investigation. This warning by the PM has re-ignited the memory of the horrific coldblooded killing of the parliamentary-elect Tesfaye Adane (ONC), and the torture and harassment of several Oromo MPs and their families in the recent past.
On June 12, 2005 on a Sunday afternoon, Tesfaye Adane was shot dead and two of his friends wounded by Ethiopian security forces. Tesfaye was just elected as a member of the parliament in the May 2005 election by winning a landslide victory from his district in Arsi Negelle near Shashamene. One of the survivors recounted that the policemen slashed Tesfaye’s abdomen with a bayonet and
“gutted him like an animal”). (Photo Courtesy of Oromo Parliamentarians Council, OPC )).

Not long after this incident, another Oromo elected MP, Mr.Abiyot Kebede, was abducted at night by security forces and taken to a grave yard where he was made to dig his own grave. He was severely beaten there and left for dead.
The Oromo MPs, some of whom have fled the country, criticize the international community for a tragic fate befallen them. The US and the EU in particular had given them assurances and had pressured them to take up their parliamentary seats. Today, these parliamentarians are in a bitter struggle with the ruling party to protect the rights of Oromo citizens by constitutional means. Their repeated cry for solution has virtually fallen on deaf ears both at home and among the international community.
The PM’s response to the enumerable concerns of the Oromo MPs is by alleging that they are "being like Trojan horses for the OLF".
The two leading Oromo opposition leaders in the parliament Dr. Merara Gudina of ONC and Mr. Bulcha Demeksa are very wary of and growing restive over the recent wave of mass arrest in Oromia region. They reported to the Associated Press that over 107 Oromos from Western and West Central Oromia were arbitrarily arrested in just two months.
Currently, over 40,000 Oromo citizens described by the government as being “OLF elements and sympathizers” are in prison. Some are kept in without trial for over 10 years and their age ranges from 10 to 85years.

The Oromo Parliamentarians Council, OPC is struggling to document the condition of the tiny fraction of these largely inaccessible detainees and those who dyed of abuse while in prison.

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Ethiopia>>Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)

Military Communique’

22 October 2007 — Battles continued for a second day yesterday near Wardheer in Ogaden with TPLF regime casualties rising to over 250 killed and an unconfirmed number wounded. 12 Military vehicles which had been part of a TPLF regime counter offensive and dispatched from Qabri-Dahar were destroyed. Thus far, 13 TPLF regime officers including a Colonel and a Captain have been killed in battles around Wardheer during the last two days. The ONLF has in its possession the military ID’s of many of those officers. ONLF casualties have been light given the scope of the engagements.

The TPLF regime counter-offensive against ONLF forces began at mid-day yesterday 21st October with TPLF regime troops attacking ONLF forces at 5 different locations near Wardheer. The counter-offensive involved nearly 1,500 TPLF regime troops in the theater.

ONLF forces have repulsed the counter offensive and have now surrounded a large number of TPLF regime troops in the area near Wardheer. These surrounded troops are being urged to surrender with guarantees that they will not be harmed if they do so.

Any surrendering troops who wish to join the armed forces of organizations allied to the ONLF such as the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Sidama Liberation Front (SLF) or Ethiopian Peoples Patriotic Front (EPPF) will be transferred to those organizations.

Battles near Wardheer are expected to continue in the coming days and the ONLF will provide further information as appropriate.

Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) Military Operations Command Centre (MOCC)

OGADEN

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Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF)

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Related countries :

Ethiopia :

• Ethiopia dismisses Ogaden rebels’ claim of killing 450 troops
• Ogaden rebels allege killing 140 Ethiopian troops

Ethiopian rebels claim killing 140 government troops

NAIROBI: Ethiopian rebels on Sunday claimed they had killed at least 140 government troops in an attack in the Ogaden region, where the army is carrying out a crackdown. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) said in a statement that almost 1,000 of its fighters attacked Ethiopian troops near Wardheer early Saturday, killing more than 140 troops, with "many more wounded". Wardheer is about 650 km southeast of Addis Ababa. "Thousands of rounds of ammunition and military hardware, including communications equipment, were captured by ONLF forces during the operation," it added. The army officers were escorting Abay Tsehaye, a senior official in the Ethiopian ruling party, when they came under attack. "Abay Tsehaye and a few senior officers escaped by helicopter after all land routes out of the area were blocked by ONLF forces," it said. It was impossible to confirm the claims. Journalists and aid workers are blocked from visiting the area, where the military is battling insurgents. The rebels said the attack was "a direct response" to the burning of a village, Caado, and "abuses" of people in the Wardheer area by Ethiopian troops, the ONFL said. The army launched a crackdown on the region, which is about the same size as Britain and has a population of about four million, following an attack by the ONLF against a Chinese oil venture in April that left 77 people dead. The barren Ogaden region has long been extremely poor, but the discovery of gas and oil has brought new hopes of wealth as well as new causes of conflict.

Peoples right, individual right, democracy and self-determination

Ibsaa Guutama, October 2007

Ibsaa Guutama is a member of the generation that drew the first
Political program of the OLF.

Overview

Peoples right, individual right, democracy and self-determination from Oromo perspective OverviewPeoples rights, individual rights, democratic rule and self determination are phrases the Habashaa toy with but never comfortable with their implications. Currently these concepts are being remolded in Habashaa elite class workshops to reshape, redefine and sell them to Habashaa and world community markets. It must be stated at the outset that what the Oromo demands is not what they call “group right” but people’s independence. For them it is a new tactic being coined to pave the way towards their strategy for sparing the empire from crumbling.

The Oromo are elegant and charming as individuals. They are intelligent and efficient in their performances. They are subjected to racist slurs and abuse because of their national origin not their individual appearances. To stop indiscriminate killings among his people the emperor once ruled “do not kill human beings even if it were a Gaallaa (Oromo). He had doubts if any body would accept the Oromo as human beings. So he has to add the contemptible phrase “even the Gaallaa” to his proclamation. This being the basic outlook of the colonizer they now want the Oromo to accept their deceptive presentation of rights and democracy ignoring the basic issue of peoples rights to self determination.

Oromo had been voicing their grievances to the world and to all concerned from the time they were colonized. In 1974 there was a great commotion in Oromo society concerning land holding system. Spontaneous uprising from all corners scared the colonial system. A revolution was in the setting. It was then that a junta came in to save the empire passing itself for friend of the downtrodden. To check momentum of the revolution, the junta said, I have overthrown the monarchical system for you; it also started to recognize certain rights for nations and nationalities in the empire. But already enough damage has been done to the empire, to return to the past was a lost case even if they vow to the forty four tabernacles.

In the past much has been done by the colonizer to dehumanize and humiliate the Oromo. Millions were massacred, thousands sold into slavery and the remaining made to grind grain for colonial army and the bureaucracy, to cut fodder for pack animals, build fences and roads, and fetch water from down hills for their on top hill garrisons. Many were also used as pack animals to carry loads for their endless campaigns. Their leaders were all wiped out or taken to prisons on Habashaa Mountains never to return to their country. Their language culture and tradition were suppressed. It was total genocide, affecting life, culture and tradition. That was why Oromo movements remained stunted and limited only to occasional scattered spontaneous uprisings for a century. The present Habashaa contempt and arrogance emanates from that history of aggression.

The Oromo are fast learners. With fast developing world Habashaa colonial administration could not sustain its system with mediocre members of its nobility alone. It was why they started to open their schools for few individuals from the colonies. That set ajar a window for the Oromo to look out through. After few years of education some were recruited into the system. Out of them many rose to high ranks in the civil administration and the army. Most of them evolved into Habashaa while very few remained attached to their people. Because of them the colonial system started to get porous.

Each passing day information started to involuntarily trickle to the down trodden through the fingers of the colonial masters. That led to Oromo awakening and the formation of social and political movements. The vanguard organization, Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) was born out of those movements and declared its political program of 1974. In it, it vowed to take the people's kaayyoo, the inspiration that guides the nation to a victorious goal, to the finish line. Oromo shade their blood in thousands for that purpose. That is why the struggle cannot be stopped till victory.

Since then several papers were presented, conferences conducted, interviews made, positions declared, diplomatic campaigns and battles waged. Yet the colonizer and those who lived as parasites on the Oromo had failed to understand the essence of what they were being told. Oromiyaa is not Ethiopia but a colony of Ethiopia. From Raayyaa to Mooyyaale and From Begii to Jaarsoo it is one country mutilated by the colonizer. There are few pockets of indigenous peoples with their own territory, within Oromiyaa. Like any country in the world there are people who came from outside Oromiyaa to work and live, in addition to remnants of the old colonial army and the active occupying force of the present day.

Neighbors of Oromo have smaller population count when compared to Oromiyaa. Many feel deep in their hearts that Oromo cause amounts to their own. On the other hand there are few elites from those neighbors as there are from Oromiyaa who collaborate with the colonizer and try to stand on the way of Oromo and their own peoples’ independence. Among those that collaborate with the oppressors Oromiyaans are the majority. Among the oppressed we have said Oromiyaans are also the majority. Free Oromiyaa will deny the common oppressor majority of such collaborators. Therefore relief and liberty will be for all. To liberate Oromiyaa means to liberate majority people and land of the region. That is why we say Oromo independence would be a guarantee for freedom and stability for the whole region.
The cruelty of Habashaa rulers has been escalating with every passing regime. Unless the victimized stand together, the repression and massacre will continue with more zeal and subtlety by the new greedy generation of the colonizer. People of the south including Oromiyaa had lived the life of second class citizens. Few are benefiting for selling their national interest to the rulers. These sellouts are still conspiring with the colonizer on how to maintain the status quo, for they have established themselves as beneficiaries. Oromiyaa is a multi-religious society.

Oromo as a nation have a centrist temperament. But the Habashaa and their galtuu want to scare the West by placing it on the side of Islamic World in the ongoing “war of cultures”. However that will not stop the Oromo from their legitimate struggle. Waaqeffataa, Moslem and Christians will move hand in hand to freedom. Oromo is leading a life of terror. To fight against it is to satisfy no other interest but their own. Therefore Oromo is a natural ally for all antiterror warriors, not to cover own folly but for survival of the nation.

They also try to scare the masses with negative attributes about free Oromiyaa. Oromiyaa and the southern states had depended on each other, way before they fell under colonialism. Free Oromiyaa will only bring freedom to the south. Like they have fallen together they have to strive to rise together; nothing should jeopardize these long standing cordial relations. They have more chance to a political union with each other through struggle than with their tormenting colonizer. Another scare crow is big power support for the oppressor. But the struggle is between local oppressor and the oppressed and there is no logic for big powers to stand against people and human rights and individual liberties beyond their boarders. The purpose of the struggle is to free Oromiyaa and live in peace under the rule of law and democratic values. As long as one feels the pain and has the determination to be free, there is no excuse not to standup against the reign of terror however colossal and however protracted it may be.

The Oromo love humanity. They are known by their neighbors as kind hearted always willing to help, even to raise children of those in difficulty irrespective of their race or creed. Therefore the safety of those already living in Oromiyaa with good standing cannot be doubted. Oromiyaa has great potential to provide job for its good neighbors. Unlike its colonizers that had never known other than dictatorship the Oromo had the most democratic and egalitarian system when it was a free people. Still that heritage is visible in present day Oromo tendencies. For all who live in Oromiyaa it would be better to struggle for free and democratic Oromiyaa with the Oromo rather than lamenting for a dying colonial system. The colonizer must be humbled and shown the point of contention. Then only could all tackle in unison the problem facing them as good neighbors whose people are going to live side by side for eternity.

Oromo view

The Oromo believe that it is long overdue for Oromiyaa not to be decolonized and for the empire state not to be dismantled. All empires had phased out in that way and it cannot be different for Ethiopia. No conspiracy can stop the wheel of history that has started rolling. Any dialogue with the Oromo by aliens should be on how to affect this smoothly. Other discourses being conducted by Ethiopians is not something that independent minded Oromo could tolerate as a piece of news let alone taking part in them. Their discussions revolve around how they could continue exploiting resources of Oromiyaa and cheap Oromo labor not how to make peace with the Oromo. If Oromiyaa is taken out of their list they will remain with nothing to fight for.

To justify their position they manufacture lies about the nature of the Ethiopian empire and try to feed it to their naïve followers and the international community. They have enrolled some galtuu, equivalent to Imperial French “évolué” in their ranks to claim being multinational. This is part of their deception to their people and the world, as for the truth, they are all “nitsuhi” (original) and naturalized Habashaa.

The Habashaa masses had come for years being fed with lies by the ruling class. They have never questioned the truth of what they say but accepted them with religious fervor. For that reason they have internalized all the lies about their origin, their deeds, their mission, their religion, their history etc. Even now in the age of information technology they are trying to make them believe that the Ethiopian empire is eternal. The demand for independence by some from their “qinyi gizat” (colonies) is an evil machination of the TPLF to destroy the eternal formation. Because they themselves have started to believe in the lies they manufactured they are not able to see the other side of the spectrum that is on the verge of destroying them.

Following their archaic line of thinking Habashaa elites have already pushed aside the Oromo question and started to discuss about group rights versus individual rights. Group for all we know are like sets concerning religion, gender, age classes, gays, special interests, etc. These reactionaries want to consider nations as one of the groups within their system. They do not want to see that a nation like Oromo contains all those groups. They take themselves as all inclusive and so no need for an entity that claims what they claim. For any right to be realized they lay as prerequisite removing Tigree from power. Power struggle between Tigree and Amaara is like struggle between two parties within the same system. For international consumption both try to look inclusive while in reality they are the most exclusives groups in the Horn. Oromo as a people has never been their partner when that happened they think it will be their end.

For the Oromo change of colonial government does not answer their questions. Any government that sits on the throne of the empire state is the institution Oromo address their demands to. Oromo does not contest the seat of Habashaa power; it rather demands independence from it. For a keen observer the convalescing members of the fallen class are not of the generation of information age but the reincarnation of Minilik’s father Nafxanyaa. For the Oromo whether Amaara or Tigree come to power it makes no difference as far as the empire state is in tact.

The incumbent government is at least wiser than all their past rulers in realizing the major problems that are threatening the existence of the empire state. It recognizes the relation of the colonies with the empire state. It is on that understanding that it manufactured its laws and built all tools of oppression to plunder Oromiyaa fast instead of wasting time trying to justify the unjustifiable for independence of the colony is inevitable. Not only that, it also recognizes that the heirs of the fallen class will be mismatch if they are included in the exploit. So it preferred to run it alone until the time to pull back together to Habashaa land comes. But like its hero Yohannis IV it has started to go beyond territories under its control and make war with a neighbor, this time Somalia. That may deny it pulling back in one piece.

From its historical nature and the reality of its existence it is difficult for the present regime to behave otherwise. To deliver solution to a democratic question is outside its scope. Yet it has recognized this short fall and devised tactics to temporarily divert the regional and international negative disposition generated by its nature. Having done so, it did not stop imprisoning, kidnapping and torturing the Oromo in the most insidious way. Who cares for local terror as long as it is a member of international anti-terrorist league?

Members of the fallen class and their collaborators have nostalgia for their past. As a result they do not want to accept the right of the Oromo to national self determination. They never hide that they are allergic even to provisions like article 39 of constitution of the present regime that was provided with intention to lull the colonies. They see no virtue but disaster in it. Every thing done to pacify the people must be erased and the emperor’s model of governance reinstituted with iron hand. They are warning their people that without their dependencies life will not be as rosy as it used to be.

In the course of Oromo struggle the issues of peoples right, individual right, democracy and self determination, had been raised and resolved among Oromo revolutionaries. These were the major elements of Oromo debate in the process of the liberation movement. It was after getting clear understanding of their relation to Oromo struggle that the political program of the OLF was drawn. The rank and file members of the organization had common understanding on these issues before they came out to lay down their lives for kaayyoo of the nation. Similar debates were going on in Habashaa camps but they saw no other solution other than domination. Instead of trying to understand the issue from Oromo point of view diversionary views are being forwarded to mislead the general public on the concept of individual and peoples rights. That is what we refute here.

The Oromo see themselves as one of the nations that fall victim to a phenomenon known as the scramble for Africa. Before that it had a different Political system from the colonizer. It was a democratic system nourished by the egalitarian Gadaa principle. As a separate people from the Habashaa and as a colony their demand for liberation is legitimate. The world body had ruled that all colonies be freed. The Absinian territory and Oromiya are distinctly apart. Even the founder of the empire, Minilik II used to call himself “Emperor of Ethiopia and the Gaallaa countries”. It is these later ones that demand from them to be let free. Even if international law is found not to be adequate to cover the liberation of Oromiyaa it is up to Oromo revolutionaries to fill the gap.

Because of its skin color and its territorial proximity, the colonizer is yet trying to pass for being the same people with the others. Its supporters are also turning deaf ears to the demand for independence of Oromiyaa. They preferred it to continue as is as long as there was no profound challenge to it. The Oromo is a peace loving egalitarian society. Its reluctance to use organized violence for over a century had been taken as consent to its position of servitude. But the Oromo has never willingly submitted to Habashaa rule.

The colonizers are from a minority group that takes, losing power, as an end to its very existence. Never in their history had they treated their own people as equals let alone those of their colonies that they consider as their property. Yet their people had benefited from the colonial system while the others totally lost. Comparing the material life of Habashaa peasants with those of the colonies to say they are of the same status is forgetting the psychological dominance their chauvinist propaganda earned for the first. The poverty in the motherland cannot be justified for the continuation of colonial rule over Oromiya. Oromiyaa had paid more than it produced. It was up to the first warlords to develop their country instead of piling their exploit in foreign land and foreign luxury. They had more years to develop their kingdom than Tigree they despise and no use now to envy when they see how TPLF developed Tigray within two decades.

Many chances of easing the Oromo problem were overlooked in the past. The Oromo for the first time was coaxed in 1991 to join Habashaa forces to find solution for the perennial political problems that are destabilizing the region. The Transitional Charter could have helped as an instrument to decolonize the empire and restoring freedom to the colonial peoples. By it trust could have been built and many of the nations and nationalities given the opportunity to choose from independence and some sort of voluntary political union.

But Habashaa autocracy has shown during the exercise of transition administration in 1991/92 that they are not willing to give up power over the empire and let Oromiyaa decide its own fate. That has left an unforgettable lesson that no democratic outcome from relation with them could be expected at any time. It is only those who fail to learn from history that expects Habashaa to democratize.

As a nation they had never had faith in democracy. For Tigrawayi this is the only chance to stay in power. With democracy they remain minority. Even in independent Habashaa they remain the juniors unless they find other way out. That is why Oromiyaa has to suffer.

The only solution for the Oromo is to continue its struggle with all available means it could muster. To paint such struggle as irrelevant, the present regime has “recognized the right of nations to national self determination” in its constitution. But that is an empty word. People are being harassed and executed, allegedly for thinking to be free. Ethiopianist parties legally registered to compete for powers are not spared let alone those who try to break away. In such stifling atmosphere a peaceful struggle for independence is far fetched. Violence initiated by those in power had turned victims into rebels using the same means to counter them.

On the other hand the vocal Amaara which had reminiscence for past glory of the emperor’s days is taking the self-determination provision as a machination to undermine the sanctity of Ethiopia. They recognize no nation in the empire except Habashaa. The others are simply gosa (ethnic) groups. They call the present arrangement as gosa federalism and gosa regional formation. It is doubtful if they can define what they meant by “gosa” in the Ethiopian context. Gosa is an Oromo word for which the Habashaa have no equivalent.

These are persons that glorify Imperial symbols that were used the great massacre of the Oromo and the leaders that lead the genocide. Be it the symbols or the leaders remind the Oromo of the bad days they do not want to remember. Glorifying such symbols and leaders, amounts to a re-declaration of war and widening of the gap that divides them.

The Ethiopian constitution, for the Oromo is another colonial law.

They were not invited as a nation in its making. Even legitimate Oromo organizations like OLF were intentionally thrown out so that they will have no influence on it. Therefore Oromo demands are not based on it but on their own birth right and international law. It is also not a question of secession. It has never willingly become part of Habashaa state. They were conquered by force and obey colonial law not because it is fair but because the barrel of the gun is behind it. Therefore what Oromo demand is restoration of their independence. If existing human law is not enough to cover a wronged situation it cannot be said the situation has to remain as it is but natural law has to set in to correct it. That is when the oppressed peoples are justified to use any means at their disposal to free themselves.

The difference between the present regime and the fallen class is that it recognizes the existence of different peoples in the empire and that Ethiopia as it is today can count a history of only a century. On the other hand the other takes present day Ethiopia as an entity that had been there for three thousand years. But let alone present day Ethiopia there is no proof that the Habashaa state centered at Axum existed for a millennium. Their fiction has given face saving device for those who through them want to interfere in the Affairs of the region.

It is only free Oromiyaa that can deal with any party that want relation with it. Otherwise any dealing would be colonial and unfair for the people. It will be an insult and preposterous for any non Oromo to tell others what is good for the Oromo. It is only the Oromo that has the right to choose what is suiting for it.

Archaic colonialist viewAbove we have presented some of their views in the course of discussing Oromo view on the topic. For them Oromo are people that live in different provinces (Xaqilaayi Gizaat) demarcated by the Crown. There is no state called Oromiyaa. The population is scattered over several provinces and have no common territory. In between there are many minorities that need protection from them. All provinces are administrative regions of the Habashaa state. In the past they were not equally treated. There were human right abuses in the southern provinces and the Gaallaa provinces.

For them what is needed now is to halt those abuses. The right to develop their cultures and languages will be protected by law. But they have to adopt Amharic as the national language. As long as Tigree is in power, human right abuse and dividing the country on ethnic line will not stop. Therefore Tigreans government must first be removed and be replaced by “forces of unity” (Amaara). The protection of rights will then follow. The claim that the Oromo was abused is taken out of proportion.

They say like all Ethiopians Oromo are victims of dictatorial regime. There are people from Tigree, Amaara and other tribes in prison victimized by Mallas. Among the persons they mentioned are those arraigned for corruption and those who attempted to unlawfully topple the legal government. From their own words they were only the Oromo who were in prison because of their national origin and their position on Ethiopian state. But they want to gloss over it so that the fundamental differences are not observed. Every Ethiopian has the right to work and live where ever he/she likes, they say. Ethiopia, Oromiyaa included is for all Ethiopians. Secessionist like the OLF had to be destroyed before they destroy the empire.

They say our forefathers had left us this country with great sacrifice, spilling their blood and breaking their bones. Therefore we their children have the trust to maintain it and pass it to the next generation. There is nothing to regret about and apologize for past deeds. Who ever feel victimized by what was committed to acquire this land for us deserved it. It was a civilizing mission and has achieved its goal. What is expected is that all be thankful for our change of heart and extend human right protection to them as well. Their ethnic language and culture can be developed as long as it is not detrimental to the over all Habashaa Christian culture. For them to unite and challenge our authority must be considered blasphemous.

We are opening our door for them individually to live as equals with the right to elect and be elected based on one man one vote principle. Their individual and civil liberties shall be protected in the framework of Habashaa sovereignty. All symbols of Ethiopian unity and valor had to be given primacy by all. All utensils, clothing, furniture, embroideries etc. must curry the green yellow and red Habashaa colors to remind us our heritage at all times.

Thus we see those color every where as if they were discovered only yester day. For the smart ones it has turned to be a big business and for the naïve a reminiscence for lamentation. That is how they think. They had made themselves believe that they are the natural selection to rule over all peoples in the Horn. They want to continue living without apologizing for past genocide and want others to trust and continue to live with them with minor adjustments. All their leaders from Teedros to the present had made Oromo blood to flow like river. For them these are their icons. Their position is developed from contempt for peoples of the colonies, arrogance, greed and ignorance. Suffice to listen to their nauseating rhetoric on how astray they have gone from demands of the time. They seem comfortable to live in dream of the past in this era of globalization. The Russian and Yugoslav empires had crumbled in front of their eyes but they have no capacity to relate it to their own situation.

Conclusion

The general assembly of the United Nations is composed of representatives who in most cases want to maintain the status quo. The far sighted and democratically oriented get through bills with so many modifications that make them vague and short of their targets. Therefore whatever comes out of there cannot be expected to fully satisfy the needs of peace and liberty. Even then the articles cited at the top express the inner feelings of law makers with good intentions. Seen from that angle the solution to solve Oromo question can be found not in the meager international law but in Oromo determination.

The colonizers do not want to compromise their archaic desire to rule the world. Except for the deceptive attempt made by a group to include persons and parties in a transitional arrangement no group from Habashaa restoration movement has ever approached the Oromo with an offer. No one of them had shown remorse and apologized for the destruction of Oromo culture and institutions and the mass genocide that their forefathers had committed on the colonial people. For an African to eat with descendents of his relatives’ killer is a curse that cannot be absolved in a normal way. They know that but their contempt for the peoples did not make them to bother to absolve themselves from past criminal acts. To praise and idolize those leaders that cut limbs, breasts; sold them into slavery and performed more dehumanizing and humiliating acts on the Oromo is no different from participating directly in those acts. To add insult to injury they want the present generation to say “bravo!” to what happened to their ancestors and appreciate how present generation of those murderers had become kindhearted to them. Yes, they now use efficient and effective instruments, yet they still torture, kill and humiliate the Oromo.

In the past they were able to keep the Oromo masses in darkness and imposed their will by threats and terror. Now it is information age. The same model of governance cannot continue. For them, to adjust to modernity will take time. The consequence of that will be far reaching. Nothing short of the realization of national self determination will satisfy the Oromo. That is what we call peoples right. Individual rights and civil liberties will be protected by the people to whom the individuals belong. It is not the colonizer who had never had an idea of democratic practices and the rule of law that should tell the Oromo how to maintain its home.

As a peace loving people the Oromo prefer to reach their goal by peaceful means. But because their adversary is aggressive they are being pushed to the corner. In the absence of cooperation towards common understanding by the other parties, they will be left with no options than fight back hard. The Oromo are ready to talk to any party that recognizes them as an entity by their own right. It also expects an apology from the present generation of the invaders for all the wrongs done to them by their predecessors. That will conclude the chapter on agony of the region and a new beginning as good neighbors will commence. If neighbors cooperate there is a greater world than Oromiyaa to win in this global world. Otherwise all that blood was not shade in vain. But an oath was taken to fulfill the kaayyoo.

If it cannot live as a nation it is being proposed that the Oromo live as individual galtuu of the Habashaa. With the very thought creating local tension could result in common destruction. Oromiyaa if free is sure to be a model for democracy in the world. The rule of law, human rights and civil liberties shall be observed more developed than during the Gadaa period. If that fails there will be no stop to Oromo struggle until victory. It could demand great sacrifice and take years, be as it may, there will be no more submission to the life of humiliation and abuse as a people.

Honor and glory for the fallen heroines and heroes; liberty equality and freedom for the living and nagaa and araaraa for the Ayyaanaa of our forefathers!

Ibsaa Guutama, October 2007

Ethiopian president calls for military buildup to counter Eritrea

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia: Ethiopia's president called on lawmakers Monday to boost the country's military in the face of what he called a growing threat from neighbor and longtime rival Eritrea.
The speech, at the beginning of a parliament session and the end of Girma Woldegiorgis' six-year term in the ceremonial post of president, included repeated calls on Eritrea to commit to peace or face the Ethiopian army. Girma repeated Prime Minister Meles Zenawi's declaration, made in June, that Ethiopia would defend itself if provoked by Eritrea.
"We have been forced to make preparations to defend ourselves against any aggression," Girma said. "We have also undertaken activities to pre-empt the extremist forces which do the bidding of the Eritrean regime."
"The government will present to the House a number of other bills specifically aimed at enhancing the capacity of our security and especially our defense forces," Girma said.
Last month, Ethiopia said it was considering terminating a peace agreement with its rival Eritrea, accusing its neighbor of breaching the terms of the deal that ended a bitter and bloody border war almost seven years ago.
The neighbors have repeatedly accused each other of not honoring the 2000 peace deal and are backing rival sides in Somalia's capital, Mogadishu, where fighting has seen thousands of civilians die this year. Ethiopia also accuses Eritrea of fomenting terrorist acts in Ethiopia and of supporting Ethiopian rebels fighting for greater autonomy in eastern Ethiopia.
Eritrea gained independence from Ethiopia in 1993 after a 30-year guerrilla war, but the border between the two was never formally demarcated. A border war that erupted in 1998 claimed tens of thousands of lives in two of the world's poorest countries.
Monday, Girma told some 500 legislators the Ethiopian government's efforts at initiating dialogue with Eritrea had been repeatedly rebuffed.
"Instead of focusing on improving its own worsening domestic situation, the Eritrean government is continuing its agenda of interference in the internal affairs of neighboring countries, such as the Sudan, Djibouti and Ethiopia," he said. "Moreover, it has consistently expressed its intention to instigate war with Ethiopia."
Parliament plans to elect a new president — or perhaps to re-elect Girma — on Tuesday. Former President Negaso Gidada, who was president from 1995 to 2000, likened the job to the role played by Britain's Queen Elizabeth II. Candidates for the post have not been publicly announced.

Mujahideen In Somalia Kill Nine Ethiopian Soldiers; Assassinate Minister of Defense

Youth Islamic Movement Report Killing 9 Ethiopian Soldiers By Detonating A Mine Field

In The Name Of Allah The Most Gracious The Most Merciful

All praise be to Allah, The Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds. Peace and prayer be upon our prophet, Muhammad, his family, and his companions.

Your Mujahideen brothers from the Youth Islamic Movement, blasted a field of mines targeting the infantry Ethiopian troops on Thursday morning 22 of Ramadan 1428 corresponding to October 4, 2007. This was done in the Suuq al Mawashi, (Cattle Market) area, the doorway to the northern capital. The operation resulted in the death of 9 Ethiopian soldiers and injured a number of others according to the preliminary information, and the harvest is on the rise. So O Allah, guide the shots, and make our feet steadfast and to Allah is all praise and thanks.

Youth Islamic Movement Claim Responsibility for Assassination of the Secretary of Defense

In The Name Of Allah The Most Gracious The Most Merciful

All praise be to Allah, The Cherisher and Sustainer of the worlds. Peace and prayer be upon our prophet, Muhammad, his family, and his companions.

Your Mujahideen brothers from the Youth Islamic Movement, by the grace of Allah, assassinates on Saturday 24 of Ramadan 1428 corresponding to October 6, 2007, the Secretary of Defense in the Wadajer district department by the name of Ahmed Hareed, who was the supervisor of the operations of kidnapping and arresting the Mujahideen in the area. So to hell he went and what an evil abode that it! And all praise is to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds,

And your brothers of the Youth Mujahideen Movement are on their way, going forth in Jihad against the occupiers and disbelievers so that the word of Allah is the highest and there is no more fitnah on earth and the religion is solely for Allah.

Allah is the greatest! Allah is the greatest! Allah is the greatest!

Your brothers,
Youth Islamic Movement
25 Ramadan 1428
October 8, 2007

Translation Copyright © Jihad Unspun 2007

Sorce: www.jihadunspun.com

At least 10 killed as Somaliland, Puntland fight over town

MOGADISHU (AFP) — At least 10 people were killed Monday in heavy fighting between forces from the breakaway states of Somaliland and Puntland over a disputed town on their border, military sources said.

The fighting, which lasted for more than hour and involved exchanges of heavy artillery fire, took place in and around Las Ano, a town near the Ethiopian border claimed by both Puntland and Somaliland.

A Puntland military commander on the frontline said Somaliland forces had started the hostilities.

"They have attacked our bases today, using heavy weapons and we are still in defensive positions in the Las Anod area," Ahmed Bile told AFP by phone.

"I can't tell you the exact number of people killed in fighting today but I'm sure that more than 10 people were killed," he added.

Speaking from Hargeysa, which has been designated the capital of the self-declared republic of Somaliland, a military commander from the opposing side said his forces had taken control of the town.

"Our forces are winning this war, we have the upper hand. Puntland forces have been provoking Somaliland for a long time but this time they lost. Our forces are now controlling Las Ano," Abdi Jamal told AFP.

"We are getting information that they are reinforcing but we are ready to defeat them," he added.

A local tribal elder said at least nine people were killed in the fighting and several others wounded.

"So far we have seen nine dead bodies inside the town. They are from both sides," said Hashi Omar Diriye, an elder from Las Ano whose clan is not involved in the fighting.

"We have also been told that three other bodies are lying on the outskirts of the town. Several other injured people were brought in," he added.

A relative calm had returned to the disputed town by the end of the afternoon but sporadic artillery fire could still be heard, according to witnesses.

"Now one side is inside the town and the other is outside. They are regrouping and we fear the fighting might continue," he told AFP.

The elder added that he and other elders in Las Ano had set up a committee to protect civilians inside the town.

In a statement, Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on Somaliland to release reporter Ahmed Aadan Dhere, a correspondent of privately-owned Haatuf newspaper, who was arrested four days ago in Berbera township.

"The Somaliland authorities have a tendency to arrest journalists whenever they think it is in their interest, but if media issues are involved, this constitutes a serious violation of democratic standards," RSF said in a statement.

"In this particular case, Dhere is the victim of a conflict between a local politician and the central government. He obviously must be freed at once," the statement said.

Somaliland broke away from greater Somalia in 1991, months after the overthrow of former dictator Mohamed Siad Barre. It has since enjoyed relative prosperity but failed to secure recognition as an independent state.

Neighbouring Puntland declared itself autonomous from the rest of Somalia in August 1998 under the leadership of Abdullahi Yusuf Ahmed, the current president of the Somali interim government.

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

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

Eritrea and Ethiopia in war of words over disputed border

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

Challenges Facing the OLF: A Call for Action

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Somali opposition vows to defeat Ethiopia within months

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

Murtiilee fi Kutanoolee Kora Adda Bilissummaa Oromoo

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

Kora kana seenaa Oromoo gara fuuladuraatti barreeffamu keessatti adda godhee kan jiraachisutu jira. Kunis, murni Shanee Gumii dhaaba keenya fi miseensota keenya kaayyoo ganamaa qabatanii sosso’an mana seeraatti geessuuisaaniiti. Iyyata isaanii keessatti maqaa ABOn sosso’uun keenya miseensotafi galii isaanii jalaa akka xiqqeesse tuquudhaan abukaattootti fayadamanii galmeessan. Yeroo itti abukaattoo bitannuuf illee akka nuti yeroohin arganneef jecha xalayaan hammeessaa isaanii Jimaata fi Sambataduraanu gahee mana seeraatti immo Hojjaduree 8:30 WD akka dhi’aannuufgodhame.

Manni seeraas iyyata isaanii fudhatee maqaa ABOn walgahii hawaasaagafaa Adoolessa 27, 2007 yaamaa turree akka nuti hin godhanneefyeroodhaaf nu dhaabee ture. Haata’u iyyuu malee, tarkaanfii bareedduu miseensotni dhaaba keenyaa yeroodhaan fudhatan irraa kan ka’e deebiin gargaarsa abukaattootti fayyadamnee dh’eeffanne fudhatama argatee dhowwi nuirra kaa’ame nu irraa ka’ee walgahii hawaasaa fi kan miseensotaa akka saganteeffanneetti milkiin godhachuu fi xumurachuu dandeenyee jirra. Deggersi miseensota fi lammiwwan Oromoo bilissummaa Oromiyaaf qabsaa’an dhaamsi deggersaa isaan dhaaba keenya fi miseensota maqaadha’amanii hammeeffamaniif ergan hamilee kan nama kakaasu turan.

Isaan hundumaanis galata qabsoo argadhaa ittiin jechuu jaallanna.Haala akkanaa keessatti walgahiin fi korri tahe ejjenoolee fikutannoolee armaan gadii baasuun raawwatame.

Mootummaa Wayyaanee ilaalchisee:

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

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

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

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

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

Murna Shanee Ilaalchisee:

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

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

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

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

Tumsa Kaayoo Qabsoo Oromoo (TKO) Ilaalchisee:

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

WBO ilaalchisee:

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

Kora ABO Adoleessa 2007.

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

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

Realities and operating ground: experience from Northern Kenya

Abdulkadir Gumi
August 30, 2007

Northern Kenya People ( Borana-Oromos) has continued to be a marginalized community where it has been ignored by politicians and developers in the rest of the country. Previously known as the Northern Frontier District, the North has been cut off from the rest of the country as it is inaccessible. Many promises have come to execute a Marshall Plan in Northern Kenya, but none been implimented . the Kenya government should ensure that roads that connect Northern Kenya with the rest of the country should be made allowing the inhabitants to develop a sustainable livestock economy such as that in Somaliland.disenfranchising Northern Kenya puts the rest of the country at a security risk.A few months ago, President Kibaki elevated the Isiolo Airport .from local airport to an international one,We argues that the President is not investing in developing the airport's infrastructure and that should not be only verbal promise without doing work on it to boost the economy of Northern Kenya.The report notes that Northern Kenya is known for its insecurity and endemic cattle rustling and inter-tribal and -clan clashes. These clashes encompass Moyale, Marsabit and Isiolo in Northern Kenya and other North eastern Region (NFD).
Since these two provinces are neglected geographically, economically and socially, the region is of little economic significance and to make ends meet, the pastoralist communities there keep large herds of cattle, goats, camels and donkeys. It is no surprise to hear people from that region venturing south say that they are “going to Kenya”. People so neglected must, indeed, find it hard to comprehend that they are part of this country. The livestock they keep has been their main cause of misery due to drought and the resultant inadequacy of water and grass. Depending on the location of the watering points and /or grazing areas, indigenous communities give very difficult conditions which may involve cash payments or payments in form of animals for water or grass. This results into violent activities, hence the intermittent skirmishes. Even though cattle rustling is a cultural practice since time immemorial - and is one of the mother cause of tribal and clan animosity -- political representation in Parliament and local councils have also precipitated and perpetuated skirmishes.
The principal causes of disputes over water and grazing rights, territorial aggrandisement and hegemonism, through the desire for political representation acquired a complicated and serious political dimension. We note that the communities in Northern and North Eastern Kenya see themselves as neglected and forgotten people, which in a way has fostered and inspired general lawlessness in the region. It recommends the Government take deliberate steps to open up the the region for economic and social development so that the communities in the region are not only developed economically and socially, but also, made to feel wanted.
All in all, the government should:- invest in water resources in the area in order to minimise undue competition of water during drought; stamp out banditry which leads to tribal animosity by keeping the Northern border under regular surveillance; improve marketing outlets for livestock to reduce overstocking and minimise pressure on water points and grazing areas and should improve communication especially road and telecommunication. What makes the situation even more serious is that the Isiolo-Moyale road was designed many years ago as part of the Trans-African Highway supposed to traverse the continent from south to north. Our neighbours, Tanzania to the south and Ethiopia to the north, long ago completed their portions.
It is Kenya which has been extremely laggard in the project. That probably reflects official thinking that development resources are best employed where there will be immediate and visible returns. So the trend has been to take these to areas which are already well-endowed. The need to open up neglected areas has never featured much as a development priority. Yet the benefits should be all too obvious. Such projects provide hitherto neglected areas with vast new opportunities.
Probably if the roads were better, the Judicial Commission could have visited the area and listened to, and documented the plight of the victims, as it did with other affected areas.
Northern Kenya population lives below the poverty line. Infrastructure is very poor; people live on average 25 km. from water sources and health clinics. The environment is extremely risky; last year a livestock disease killed 60% of the herd. Research on health, education and income sources is quite inadequate.
World Bank and IMF conditionality have focused on public sector reforms (privatisation of parastatals, civil service reform, reform of the judiciary); streamlining and prioritising public budgeting and expenditure (improved monitoring systems, the development of a realistic medium-term expenditure framework); and improved accountability (providing information on public investments, participation of the intended beneficiaries in all stages of the project cycle).
Much of this hardly touches people in Northern Kenya, or seems irrelevant to them. The government appears very distant. What people see is cuts in much needed social spending, increased taxation and many uncompleted donor projects. The winners from structural adjustment appear to be trans national corporations and some local businessmen (who have benefited from the lifting of price controls); the losers are smallholders, the rural landless, female-headed households, the urban poor and the pastoralists.
What is the role for Kenya Government in its policy toward these people and land in its dialogue? the members of parliament should make the voice of the poor heard, to monitor the implementation of policy changes, to monitor public expenditure, and to influence the design of micro policies. Perhaps most importantly: to run for changing the face of northern kenya.
Ethiopian Aggression in Kenya border and killing Kenyan citizen.
Very serious and ever increasing human right violation directed against the Oromo -Boorana Population in Kenya. Devastating effects of the Ethiopia Military action in northern Kenya border and its impacts on the social-economical situation for the oppressed people of northern Kenya under the pretext of hosting foreign rebels.The Daily human right violation and killings of Innocent Kenyan Boorana by Ethiopian security in northern Kenya towns and in Nairobi city. This act of aggression against Boorana must be condemned by all peace loving people of Kenya. It is very wonderful that foreign soldiers and security agents from Ethiopia can enter into Kenya easily and kill innocent Kenyan nationals. This has continued since colonial era but still Kenya allows this evil continues to be done against its people." The world need anger, the world often continues to allow evil because it is not angry enough.....Bede Jarre.
Northern Kenya people love peace and stability for themselves and for all Kenyans. Kenya is a beloved nation, the land of their birth, while Northern kenya people are lucking democratic, political, economical civil and citizenship rights.
Oromo-Boorana people occupy the northern Corridor; it is true that Boorana are part of larger Oromo who are majority of Ethiopia Nation. Boorana People of Kenya had a long suffering along Kenya-Ethiopia Territory. Unheard daily massacres that even pen can't write all the reports by human rights since 1990s.What is so wonderful and shocking is that Kenya Government had took decision with Ethiopian Government to get involved in Military action against Boorana People in Northern kenya and secret killing of Boranas by Ethiopian Spies under the pretex of supporting OLF. To add more injury on the heart of all Boorana and to make the matter worse.
Ethiopian is known to the world that they it is turning all Horn of Africa people in torn of fire and war. This military cooperation brings bad name to the long-standing democratic and pro-peace stature Kenya enjoys among its neighbors. It could leave an indelible scar between our brotherly peoples. Kenya has also been known of its neutral position on democracy and peace for it's and African people.
What still wonder me why Kenya shouldn't look at its future and future of its people and nation. Why does Kenya allow foreign country to changes its policy toward its citizen? Ethiopia is killing its citizens daily and likewise like Kenya to share the blood shade of innocent people. Logically speaking there is no time and place for Northern Kenya people Boorana to host foreign Rebels. OLF is no different from any other freedom fighters who were fighting for independence of there country like SPLA of Southern Sudan and MAU MAU of Kenya in colonial era, Kenya should understand that. The problem of Northern Kenya may confirm that Ethiopia don't like peace for whole Kenyan people. As they have manufactured tact's of beating one tribe against others.
We wonder why only northern Kenya is a place of Disasters and massacres. Is it only Northern Kenya where one tribe lives in different border? The example of Maasai Kenya and Tanzania, Somali Kenya and Somalia. Luo Kenya and Uganda and rest are living in peace. We are grieved to say that insecurity, poverty in northern Kenya was created by under-development, since colonial rules up to now. Kenya should learn from its neighbors? Kenya should learn how many Ethiopian refugees are in Kenya? How many of other nation? Do we like to join the record of refugee producing countries in the world? Kenya should remember the noble slogan of PEACE, LOVE and UNITY. Everyone knows that the name of democracy is widely known in Kenya than other African Countries, the current situation is evidence.
We can say similar things with regards to health, education, communication, and transport. No body is happy about the state of northern Kenya people and the developments. Boorana people everywhere are furious and frustrated about future of there people there is deep resentments for Ethiopian policies and involvements in Northern Kenya in particular.
To proceed.

OPDO delegates chased away by Oromo youth in Minnesota

Source: oromoindex.com
On Saturday August 27, 2007, there was a secret meeting scheduled to take place in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The delegates of the "Oromian Regional Government" were supposed to speak at that meeting. Although the meeting was claimed to be public, there was no publicity or announcement prior to the meeting. In fact it was rumored that the meeting would take place on September 1st, 2007, which was the information released to mislead the public.
However, the cover of that highly secretive meeting was blown up when information leaked to Oromo youth activists on the evening of Friday, August 24. The youth rapidly transmitted the information and were well prepared to face the sellout delegates. The youth marched to the Hilton Hotel in Bloomington and waited for the "delegates" to arrive. After almost an hour, the "delegates" arrived led by Faisal Abrahim, an agent working for the "Diaspora Affairs" at the Ethiopian Embassy in Washington DC. He took the lead and introduced his guests and their ranks within the surrogate OPDO government. In the meantime, tension in the room was raising, any observer could read fear and confusion on the face of the "delegates." Especially the self-proclaimed vice president of Oromia Muktar Kedir was sweating bullets and staring blankly into the audience.
Before the delegates said a word, the youth asked permission to comment on the agenda of the meeting. However Faisal refused to allow such comments and instead called the security just as he would do against unarmed Oromo students in Oromia by calling Agazi commandos. This led to confrontation between the audience and the delegates. The police arrived but stayed aside because the youth explained to them the reason for the stand off which was legal action without violence. It was at this time that the so called delegates realized that they were the only members and supporters of OPDO in the room while the rest of the audience was there to confront them. The debate became heated to the level where Faisal was forced to resign from chairing the meeting and the youth activists took over the meeting. One young audience member told the delegates that just as they the delegates, were made to take order from Melles in Oromia, now they should not refuse to take order from the Oromo youth.
Scared by such development, the delegates ran out of the room. The youth followed them denouncing the OPDO and its master the TPLF. An attempt by the nervous dark suited delegates to attack a female member of the audience led to a brief moment of physical confrontation which resulted in the audience overpowering the delegates. The meeting was cancelled and the victorious Oromo youth showed their solidarity to their peers back home who are the subject of gross human rights violations by the wayanes and their surrogates. The latest information indicates that the humiliated delegates have cancelled their remaining tour to other states and have returned back to the country. It was noted that the so called Oromia V/ President Mukhtar was taken to Emergency Room at local hospital and all delegates had visible cuts and burses when they were departing to DC the next day.
One thing very obvious at that meeting was the absence of local OPDO members and sympathizers. The reason for their absence is that they didn’t want to be identified by the community due to fear of isolation. The most amazing of all is that just as they spy for the regime in Finfinne, they were also serving as double agents providing information against the delegates. This is an indicator of the nature of the relationships between the TPLF and its surrogates; a relationship based on mistrust and betrayal. This relationship is a positive development and advantageous to the camp of those who struggle for freedom, justice and democracy.
This heroic action of the Oromo youth in Minnesota should serve as an example for all those who oppose the regime in Ethiopia. It is crucial that we stop the regime’s agents from dividing the Diaspora in the name of investment while in fact the regime is engaged in gross human rights violations and looting of national resources.________Baker Ware, Freelance reporter, Minnesota Oromo Index News (OIN)

Ethiopian: To Celebrate Millenium , Years of sorrow, years of shame Oppression against Oromo people

Abdulkadir Gumi
August 26, 2007

We are pained and indignant that Oromia the land of a great Oromo civilization of Gadaa system records as the place where the human right violation is practiced against the powerless and vulnerable people in Oromia . Tragically the power countries have ignored the cries of distress from Oromo people in Oromia and the oppression against them.
It was since 100 years ago that Oromo People were colonized by Abyssinian atrocities
The genocide and persecution unleashed against Oromo people and other ethnic group which was racially motivated, inhuman policy has had remarkable in the mind of all Oromo's, by doing that Ethiopia became the world’s latest sovereignty to attempt genocide as a way to solve its problems with a troublesome minority. Mercilessly conducted by ‘Ethiopian’ Dictators helps only the further radicalization of the peaceful and tolerant Oromia nation that for many long decades has been inhumanly oppressed within tyrannical Abyssinia. Oromos were never asked about their – most hateful and most inhuman – inclusion in the most repugnant African tyranny. The government of Ethiopia has directly and indirectly fostered conflict and bloodshed between Oromo, Amhara, Isaa, Degodia, Gedeo, Gabre and Sidama peoples. Ethiopian security forces have killed Oromo citizens residents of Ethiopia and Kenya .
However long the night, the dawn will break". --Oromo Proverb

Details emerging from Oromo refugees everywhere in the world are disturbing, the stories we have are horrible and shocking to human conscience. The government of Ethiopian is intensifying its repressive action on Oromo of Ethiopia and in refugees, who have sought to exercise there cultural right.
Many Oromo nationalist , artist , Teachers , social workers from different association were gunned down or persecuted by TPLF thugs (government of Ethiopia) in all of Horn of Africa and even in refugee camps in the past years they become refugees and asylum seekers leaving the fruitful and wealthy country of Oromia . They were threatening their authority because they were Oromos and very popular in their home country , they only need democracy and Oromo rights to be implemented and article 39 of Ethiopian constitutation , those charismatic Oromo nationalist , teachers artists , social workers and student. Until now, no power asked Ethiopia over the genocide and crimes committed by Tigre and Amhara successive regime on Oromo people since long time. Many kind of evidence produced, those people were killed except that they were a proud Oromos. The irony of it all, they were killed and imprisoned in the heart of their home Oromia without any crime by an Alien invaders Tigre and Amhara people and there previous government . Yet, many people were killed just because they were suspected known to have never been involved or have any kind of connection with politics. there blood are not in vain.
Many more thousand if not millions of bright Oromians lost their life in the hand of TPLF government of Ethiopia. While as many languish throughout Ethiopian Empire jail. One day without a doubt, TPLF leaders have to answer for all the crimes they have been committing against the Oromo people. They will pay for it dearly.
"The world
Perhaps Prime Minister Males Zenawi knows very much that one day he will answer. knowing that Oromo's are AWAKING and They will fight for justice that they were killed for until the day million Oromo's will die in search of just peace.
What celebration and millennium is that of Ethiopia historically, I hope no Oromo's in Diaspora will put there feet or face Ethiopia to celebrate such bogus celebration. In doing that I think you have contributed in the Genocide against Oromo's throughout the decade of Oromo's.

Ethiopian Sidamas Reject Amhara / Tigray Abyssinian Tyranny

Dr. Muhammad Shamsaddin Megalommatis
August 26, 2007

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