Economic and development analysis: Perspectives on economics, society, development, freedom & social justice. Leading issues in Oromo, Oromia, Africa & world affairs. Oromo News. African News. world News. Views. Formerly Oromia Quarterly
It is happening again, sadly. The government in Ethiopia is back to its signature of killing, maiming and jailing its own people because they are exercising their chance of rejecting state excesses using the only means available: taking to the streets to protest.
Ethiopia is a country that has effectively obliterated several channels that normally help foster a healthy communication between citizens and the state .The sorry state of independent media and civil society organization is distressing; and every day lived experienced of Ethiopians and their contacts with authorities at any level is alarmingly toxic.
Authorities in Ethiopia should have therefore been the last ones to get started by the idea of citizens taking to the streets to make their grievances heard. Alas, that is not to be.
Hundreds and thousands of students and residents in more than 100 cities and towns in Oromiya Regional State (Oromiya for short), the largest and most populous state in Ethiopia, are in and out of the streets since early Nov. last year. Like every experience when Ethiopians were out on the streets protesting state excesses, every day is bringing heart breaking stories of Ethiopians suffering in the hands of security personnel. Since Nov.12th 2015, when the first protest broke out in Ginchi, a small town 80km west of Addis Ababa, countless households have buried their loved ones; young university students have disappeared without a trace; hundreds have lost limbs and countless others are jailed
Ethiopians are once again killing, miming and jailing Ethiopians.
The immediate trigger factor is the possible implementation of the infamous Addis Ababa and Surrounding Oromiya Special Zone Integrated Development Plan, popularly known as ‘the Addis Abeba Master Plan.’
The federal government claims it is a plan aimed at only creating a better infrastructure link between the capital Addis Abeba and eight towns located within the Oromiya Regional State Special Zone. But the reason why it is having a hard time selling this otherwise fairytale like development plan is the same reason why it is responding heavy handedly to any dissent against it: it is what it wants to do.
The current protest is led by the Oromos, who are the largest ethnic majority in Ethiopia. In all the four corners of the Addis Ababa surrounding localities, Oromos also make up the single largest majority whose way of lives have already been affected by mammoth changes Addis Ababa has been having over the last Century.
They are rejecting the central government’s top down plan because they are informed by a merciless history of eviction and dispossession. Several researches show that over the last 25 years alone about half a million Oromo farmers have unjustly lost their farmlands to give way to an expansion of a city that is xenophobic to their way to being.
Not the first time
Sadly, this is not the first time Ethiopians are pleading with their government to be heard in regards to the so-called ‘Master Plan.’ The first protest erupted in April-May 2014 when mostly Oromo student protesters from universities in Ambo and Jimma in the west, Adama in the east and Medaawalabu in south east Ethiopia, among others, expressed their disapproval of the plan. Like today, they have resorted to communicate with authorities the only way they possibly can: take to the streets to protest. And like today authorities have responded the only way they have so far responded to Ethiopian voices calling for justice: killing tens, maiming hundreds and incarcerating thousands.
As of 1991, when the current regime first came to power, students, mostly Oromo students, have staged several protest rallies calling for justice. Each time the end result has been nothing short of a disaster.
Although the 2014 Oromo students protest marked the first of the largest protest against the central government, a not so distant memory of Oromo students’ protests and subsequent crackdowns reveal a disturbing history of state brutality gone with impunity. To mention just two, in late ’90s Oromo Students at the Addis Ababa University (AAU) protested against a systematic expulsion of hundreds of Oromo students, who, authorities claimed, had links with the then rebel group, Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). But many of those who protested against the dismissal of their dorm mates soon joined the growing list of expulsion; hundreds of were also jailed. Today mothers speak of their kids who have disappeared without a trace since then. And in early 2000 Oromo students have taken to the streets to protest against the federal government’s decision to relocate the capital of the Oromiya regional state from Addis Ababa to Adama. Many of them were killed when police opened fires in several of those protests, including the one here in Addis Ababa.
Although in 2005 the federal government decided to relocate the capital of Oromiya back to Addis Ababa, fifteen years later Ethiopian prisons are hosting hundreds of students who were jailed following their protest against the decision in the first place; hundreds of them have left the country via Kenya and have become homeless in foreign lands. Less mentioned are also the lives that have been altered forever; the hopes that were dashed; the students’ quest to study and change their lives that were cut short; a country that is deprived of its young and brightest; and family fabrics that were shattered.
State impunity and all that
Following the 2014 Oromo students’ protest and the killing spree by the federal and the regional state police, Abadula Gemeda, speaker of the house of people’s representatives and former president of the Oromiya regional state, promised to bring to justice those who were responsible for the killing.
But two outstanding experiences explain why Abadula’s words were mere rhetoric. And the government in Ethiopia should address both if it wants to remain a legitimate representative of the people it claims to govern.
First, so far no one who represents the government has been held accountable for the killings, maiming, disappearances and unjust incarceration for countless Ethiopians following protest crackdowns. No matter how excessive the use of force by its security agents against unarmed protesters is, the government knows (and acts as such) it can simply get away with it, as it did several times in the past. This is wrong. A state that has no mechanism to hold its rogue agents accountable for their excesses is equally guilty.
In addition to that, in what came as a disturbing twist, the government has adopted a new strategy aimed at portraying itself as a victim of public vandalism. It is rushing to clean itself of the crimes committed by its security agents. Using its disproportionate access to state owned and affiliated media currently the government is presiding over the stories of victimhood more than those whose lives have been destroyed by it. In an act of shame and disgrace to the profession, these state owned and affiliated media are providing their helping hands to complete the act of state impunity.
Second, the central government’s first answer to the repeated cries of justice by Ethiopians is to communicate with them through its army. Like in the past, in the ongoing protests by the Oromo, which have largely focused on cities and towns within the Oromiya regional state, protesters are not only facing the regional state’s security apparatus but also the merciless hands of the federal army reserve. This is an act that not only trespasses the country’s constitutionally guaranteed federal arrangement but also makes the horrific crimes committed by necrophiliac security agents against protesters to get lost in unnecessary details, hence go unpunished.
Public protests in the past and the manner by which the current government dealt with them should teach the later a lesson or two. But the first and most urgent one is that it should stop killing, maiming and jailing its people’s questions.
In addition to the unknown numbers of those who have been killed by the police and the army in the wake of the ongoing protest, cities have seen their hospitals crowded with wounded Ethiopians of all ages; hundreds of individuals, including senior members of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), are already thrown into jails without due legal process. In clear violation of the constitution by none other than the state most of them are held incommunicado in places unknown to their loved ones
In the wake of his release after serving four years in prison, Bekele Gerba, the prominent opposition figure, told this magazine in April last year that prison was “not a place one appreciates to be, but I think it is also the other way of life as an Ethiopian.” Sadly, Bekele is once again thrown in to jail because that is Ethiopia does to its people’s questions. But an end to this is long overdue.
A group of civil society organizations are calling for an independent and impartial international investigation into human rights violations in Ethiopia, including the unlawful killing of peaceful protesters and a recent spate of arrests of civil society members documenting this crackdown.
DefendDefenders (East and Horn of African Human Rights Defenders Project), the Association for Human Rights in Ethiopia (AHRE), Amnesty International, the Ethiopia Human Rights Project (EHRP), Front Line Defenders, and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), are concerned about the levels of persecution and detention of civil society members in the country. Since last month, four members of one of Ethiopia’s most prominent human rights organizations, the Human Rights Council (HRCO), were arrested and detained in the Amhara and Oromia regions. HRCO believes these arrests are related to the members’ monitoring and documentation of the crackdown of on-going protests in these regions.
On 14 August, authorities arrested Tesfa Burayu, Chairperson of HRCO’s West Ethiopian Regional Executive Committee at his home in Nekemte, Oromia. Tesfa, who had been monitoring the protests for the organization, was denied access to his family and his lawyer, and released on 16 August without charge. Two days earlier on 12 August, Abebe Wakene, also a member of HRCO, was arrested and taken to the Diga district police station in Oromia. Abebe Wakene remains in detention with no formal charges against him. In addition, on 13 August, Tesfaye Takele, a human rights monitor in the Amhara region, was arrested in the North Wollo zone and is still detained without charge.
The lack of independent and transparent investigation of human rights violations in Ethiopia strongly implies that the Ethiopian government’s investigation of the ongoing human rights crisis will not be independent, impartial and transparent.
HRCO’s human rights monitors were arrested for attempting to document the large-scale pro-democracy protests and the following violent crackdown by the authorities in the Oromia and Amhara regions, as well as in the capital Addis Ababa on 6 and 7 August. Amnesty International reported that close to 100 protesters were killed and scores more arrested during the largely peaceful protests.
Three journalists were also arrested and detained by Ethiopian security officials for 24 hours on 8 August 2016 in the Shashemene area of the Oromo region. According to the Foreign Correspondents’ Association of Ethiopia, Hadra Ahmed, a correspondent with Africa News Agency, was arrested along with Public Broadcasting Services (PBS) reporters Fred de Sam Lazaro and Thomas Adair, despite having proper accreditation. They were reporting on the government’s response to the drought in the Oromia region, where protests have been ongoing since November 2015. Their passports and equipment were confiscated and they were forced to return to Addis Ababa.
“Despite the systematic repression of peaceful protestors, political dissents, journalists and human rights defenders, the absence of efficient and effective grievance redress mechanisms risks plunging the country into further turmoil,” said Yared Hailemariam, Executive Director of AHRE.”
Ethiopia’s National Human Rights Commission, which has the mandate to investigate rights violations in Ethiopia, has failed to make public its own June report on the Oromo protests, whileconcluding in its oral report to Parliament that the lethal force used by security forces in Oromia was proportionate to the risk they faced from the protesters. Since November 2015, at least 500 demonstrators have been killed and thousands of others arrested in largely peaceful protests in the Oromia and Amhara regions and other locations across the country.
“The lack of independent and transparent investigation of human rights violations in Ethiopia strongly implies that the Ethiopian government’s investigation of the ongoing human rights crisis will not be independent, impartial and transparent” said Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes. “It is time to step up efforts for an international and independent investigation in Ethiopia.”
DefendDefenders, AHRE, Amnesty International, EHRP, Front Line Defenders, and FIDH urge the Ethiopian authorities to (i) immediately and unconditionally release civil society members targeted for their work and (ii) facilitate access for international human rights monitoring bodies including the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to conduct thorough, independent, impartial and transparent investigations into the ongoing human rights violations in the Oromia, Amhara and Addis Ababa areas.
#OromoProtests 30 August 2016: Arsi,Dodola, Gannata Haaraa, Oromia, 30 August 2016
Hagayya 30/8 bara 2016 Godina Arsii lixaa Aanaa dodolaa Qeerroon Ganda Gannata Haaraa bifa kanaan gaddaa ilmaan Oromoo dhumaniif kanneen mana hidhaa jiraniif gaddaa fi finxilaan dabarsan.
Motummaan nama nyaata wayyaneefi jala deemtu wayyanee Opdofi yoomillee hin jilbifannuu mirga kenyaaf ni falmanna haqa qabna ni moona injifannoon kan ummaata Oromoti jedhan.
#KonsoProtests 31 August 2016: The Konso people have maintained their protests against fascist TPLF Ethiopia’s regime.
Uuummanni saba koonsoo kan naannoo uummattoota kibbaatti argamu wayyaanee waliin walitti bu’aa jiru. Barana kan wayyaanee hin jibbine hin jiru.
RUELTY of TPLF
#OromoProtests 31 August 2016: You might recall the report about killing of 15 farmers in West Hararge, masala District Choma village over the last four days. You also remember reading how the military prevented people from burying the dead and helping the wounded. Today they are dressing body of dead civilians in military uniform and video taping it. They want to make fake documentary claiming they killed armed combatants.
Guyyaa hardhaa ilmaan Oromoo 15 Harargee Lixaa Aanaa Masalaa Araddaa Coommaa keessatti ajjeefaman san reeffa isaanii huccuu waraanaa offisuun fiilmii sobaatiif viidiyoo waraabaa jiran. Source: Jawar Mohammed
Frankfurter Allgemeine, Germany’s No 1 well respected newspaper, published a big feature story about Ethiopia and Oromo Protest. It is an in-depth reporting & published on page 3 of the newspaper.
Afar people protests, #AfarProtests 29 August 2016 and solidarty with #OromoProtests
De senaste månaderna har otaliga kvinnor, män och barn dött i Etiopien. Ännu fler har fängslats. Detta för att de valde att inte blunda för de orättvisor som pågår. Detta för att de valde att säga ifrån när människor behandlas illa. De senaste dagarna har Facebook fyllts av bilder som denna, människor som visar sin heder för alla de som inte längre är bland oss. Vi fotograferas med händerna korsade, en symbol för att om några av oss fängslas för att ha krävt att mänskliga rättigheter respekteras, är vi alla fängslade med dem! Vi måste säga ifrån när människor mister livet för att helt enkelt ha brytt sig om varandra! Låt oss fylla internet med bilder som denna. Tagga dem med #OromoProtestsoch #AmharaRistance. Det visar att du står med Oromofolket, Amharafolket och alla etiopiens folk som i årtionden förtryckts av den etiopiska regimen. Visa att du bryr dig. Om vi alla gör något litet blir det tillsammans något stort. Tack! By Melody Sundberg
#Amhara Protests in Gojjam, 28 August 2016, Road closure in action in Kosobar, Gojam and also they are in solidarity with #OromoProtests. More anti TPLF protests are going on in various cities and towns in Gojjam and Gonder.
Ethiotelecom has lost at least 30 million birr in potential revenue as a result of yesterday’s hacking that enabled customers to make free call domestically and international. The company is now trying to recover its loss by billing customers although it mostly provides prepaid service. Looking at the bills it is been sending, the loss could be way higher than the above estimate.
Oromia: Athletic nation Report: Short poem (Rio) about Oromo Olympian Fayyisaa Lalisaa, the world icon of #OromoProtests (the call for social justice). Oromian EconomistAugust 23, 2016
Oromia: Athletic Nation Reports: Crowdfunding campaign for #OromoProtests world icon, Rio 2016 Olympian, Fayyisaa Lalisaa has been exceeding the target. Dirmannan Goota Oromoo Fayyisaa Lalisaaf ta’aa jiru hamma abdatamee oli ta’aa jira. Oromian EconomistAugust 22, 2016
Oromia: Athletic Nation Report: #Rio2016 Olympic Marathon: Oromo athlete Fayyisaa Lalisaa has demonstrated his Solidarity to #OromoProtests as he wins silver medal. Oromian Economist August 21, 2016
(Yahoo Sports) — With the eyes of the world upon him, Ethiopian marathonerFeyisa Lilesaused the stage of Sunday’s Olympic marathon to daringly protest his own government back home.
As he neared the finish line and a silver medal, Lilesa raised his arms to form an ‘X’. The gesture is a peaceful protest made by the Oromo people, the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia and one that is facing a brutal response to widespread protests that began late last year.
Human Rights Watch estimated in June that 400 people have been killed and thousands more injured as the government attempted to stop the estimated 500 protests that the Oromo people staged to draw attention to systemic persecution by the govermnent.
Lilesa is from Oromia, which is home to a large majority of the country’s 35 million Oromo. He didn’t back down from the protest after the race either, flashing the sign for cameras as a press conference and pledging to do it again during Sunday night’s closing ceremony.
Rule 50 of the Olympic charter bans political displays or protests and the American duo of Tommie Smith and John Carlos was famously stripped of its medals after the pair flashed the black power salute on the medal stand at the 1968 Summer Games.
Lilesa, however, has bigger things to worry about than just losing a medal as such dissent puts his life in real danger if he returns to Ethiopia.
Columbia University students in USA are in solidarity with #OromoProtests
The U.S. State Department issued a travel alert for Ethiopia on Friday 19 August 2016 over anti-government protests.
“Protests are likely to continue, and could spread to other parts of the country, including the capital, Addis Ababa,” the State Department said in a statement. The embassy said disruptions and internet services have hampered its ability to communicate with American citizens.
Hagayya 19,2016 Gguyyoota lamaa asitti godinaalee Oromiyaa hundarraa Qeerroon hidhamaa jiru. Sababa addaa hin qabu gochi addaas hin jiru garuu Bilisummaan waan dhiyateef wayyaaneen kufaatii ishees waan mirkaneessiteef jecha uummata oromoo hidhaatti guuruu murteesse. Kaan tarkaanfii ajjechaan diinni uummata oromoo irratti aggaamee jiru biraa deebihaa kan hin jirrree fi bakka uummanni fi iji namaas hin arginetti ilmaan Oromoo ajjeessuunis Oromiyaa keessa magaalota tokko tokkotti kan mul’ataa jiru tahuunis Qeerroon gabaasaa jira. kun uummata Oromoof haaraa tahuu baatus FXG oromiyaa keessatti isa xumuraa itti fufuu irraan amma hidhaan daran jabaatee jira.
Godina Qellem ona garagaraa irraa Qeerroon gabaasaa jiruun fakkeenyaaf Anfilloo irraa namotni 15 ol tahan kaleessuma ukkaamfamuu akkasuma
Jimmaa Horroo irraa
– Dargaggoo Hasan Jamaal
– Dargaggoo Bulchaa Qalbeessaa
– Dargaggoo Tizaazuu Akkattii fi
– Dargaggoo Qalbeessaa Tolasaa kan jedhaman ukkaamfamuun gabaafamee jira.
Dabalataan onuma kana manneen jireenya namoota 4 WBO jiraachisu jechuun humna waraana Wayyaaneen sakatta’amuu irraa eegamaa jiraachuun kan gabaafame
– Mana jireenyaa Lataa Wiirtuu
– Mana jireenyaa Caalii Ganjoosaa
– Mana jireenyaa Yaadasaa Danuu fi
– Mana jireeenyaa Solomoon Gurichoo
Kan jedhaman humna agaaziitiin eegamaa jira. Akkasuma ona Gaa’oo Qeebbee, Gidaamii fi Begii keessaa ijoolleen dargaggeyyiin hidhaatti guuramaa jiru. Kun godina oromiyaa maratti akka tahes Qeerroon gabaasaa jira.
Godina Shaggar kaabaa, shagger Bahaa fi shaggar Lixaa Qeerroon hidhamuun daran jabaatee jira. uummannis hidhaanii fi ajjechan Bilisummaa nun dhorku nu doorsisuun FXG hin hambisu jechuun dhaadannoo isaa itti fufee jira. Hidhamtootni hedduun bakka itti hidhaman irraa bakka biroottis jijjiiramuudhaan hedduun namootaan bakka buuteen isaanii dhabamaa jira. Kanuma keessatti FXG ammas yeroo dhumaa kanaaf kan wayyaanee aangoo isheetti xumura taasisu itti fufuun uummannis gibira diduun, walgahiin wayyaaneen oromiyaa magaalotaa fi godinaalee adda addaatti gaggeessuuf uummata mariisisuuf deemtus bakka hundatti gara FXGtti jijjiramuu fi feshelatuun Wayyaanee isa dhumaa abdii kutachiisuudhaan bifa naasuutiin uummata hidhaatti guuruu murteeffachuun beekameera.
#OromoProtests, Black Lion Medical school students in Finfinnee, the capital, Oromia, protesting fascist Ethiopia’s regime mass killings on 18 August 2016.
Hagayya 14,2016 Sochiin Warraaqsaa Biyyoolessaa Oromiyaa FXG daran jabaachuun Walqabatee Addaatti Magaalootni Gurguddoo Oromiyaa fi Magaalotni Oromiyaa naannawaa Finfinneetti argaman homaa waraana wayyaaneen shororkeeffaama jiru.
Sochiin warraaqsaa biyyoolessaa Oromiyaa utuu wal irraa hin citiin ji’oota 8 guutuu gaggeeffamaa jiruun motummaan abbaa irree raafama ulfaata keessa seenuun kasaaraa Siyaasaa , Dinagdee fi hawaasummaa ulfaataa keessa seenee kan jiru abbaan Irree Wayyaanee EPRDF/TPLF ummata Oromoo Uummata Sivilii mirgaa fi haqa dhugaa isaaf falmatu irratti hoomaa waraanaa bobbaasuun uummata shororkeessuu ittuma fufe jira . Magaalootni Oromiyaa Naannawaa Finfinnee Sulultaa, Burraayyuu, Sabbataa, Holotaa, Aqaaqii Qaallittii, Duukkam, Galaan bishooftuu, Moojoo, Adaamaa, Laga Xaafoo laga daadhii fi Sandaafaa Hoomoo waraanaan shororkeeffamaa kan jiran Yoota’uu, Oromiyaan Bulchiinsa Waraana Wayyaanee Komand post ifatti labsiin jala erga galfamtee ji’oota 8 oli lakkoofsisaa kan jiru. Uummatni Oromoo fi goototni dargaggootni Qeerroon Oromoo soda waraanaa gabrummaaf harka akka hin kennineefi hanga gaaffiin mirga abbaa Biyyummaa uummata Oromoo deebii argatutti warraaqsaa irraa duubatti akka hin deebine diinaaf mirkaneessan.
Warraaqsii Biyyoolessaa Oromiyaa FXG Gaaffiin mirga abbaa biyyummaa haalaa caalatti mootummaa wayyaanee kasaaraa guddaa keessa galchuu danda’uu fi aangoo irraa qaarisuu danda’uun jabaatee rogaa hundaan kan itti fufu malee shororkeessa waraana wayyaanee fi hidhaa jumlaa, ajjeechaa duguginsa sanyii wayyaaneen rawwachaa jirtuun kan hin dhaabbatne ta’uu Qeerroon bilisummaa Oromoo hubachiisa.
A massive deployment of police in Ethiopia’s restive Oromo and Amhara regions prevented fresh anti-government protests over the weekend, an opposition leader said Monday. #OromoProtests 15 August 2016.
Aljazeera Inside Story – What is triggering Ethiopia’s unrest?
August 14, 2016 in
Calls for an international investigation in Ethiopia have surfaced after more than 100 people were killed in demonstrations.It is a conflict that has led to 400 deaths since November, 100 of them in the last week alone, according to human rights groups.The Ethiopian government is cracking down on ethnic Oromos and Amharas, who are calling for political reforms.Human rights groups have called the reponse ruthless. And the United Nations wants to send international observers to investigate.Ethiopia has denied that request, saying it alone is responsible for the security of its citizens. But what can be done to ensure the Ethiopian government respects human rights?Presenter: Folly Bah ThibaultGuests:Getachew Reda – Ethiopian communications affairs minister.Felix Horne – Ethiopia reseracher for Human Rights Watch.Ezekiel Gebissa – Profesor of History and African studies at Kettering University.- Subscribe to our channel: http://aje.io/AJSubscribe– Follow us on Twitter:https://twitter.com/AJEnglish– Find us on Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/aljazeera– Check our website: http://www.aljazeera.com
#OromOroprotests 14 August 2016: Walfalmii mooraa OPDO keessatti deemaa jiru kam miliiqee saba gahe:
#OromoProtests: A candlelight vigil in in front of The White House in honor of innocent peaceful protesters -brutally gunned down in cold blood by Ethiopian government. 12 August 2016
“DHIIGI MUCAA KOOTII DHANGALA’EE HIN HAFU. OROMIYAAN NI BILISOOMTI!” :AKEEKA UMMATNI OROMOO BAKKAAN GAHUUF MURTEEFFATE.
Fascist Ethiopia’s regime’s detaining and torturing Oromo children.
#OromoProtests 13 August 2016: Children make up a third of the protesters jailed in connection with Grand #OromoProtests. This photo was taken at Iyasu IV prison in Gara Mulata, East Hararge. (The former emperor was jailed there after loosing power to Hailesilassie)
Ijoollee Oromoo kan Waajjira poolisii magaala Burrayyuutti hidhamanii darara hamaan irra ga’aa jiru irraa dhaamsa nu gahe. I#OromoProtests 12 August 2016.
This is martyred Oromo teenager girl Mamiituu Hirphaa who was killed by cruel fascist Ethiopia’s regime Agazi forces in Ambo town, West Shawa, Oromia on 6 August 2016, Grand #OromoProtests
Kun wareegamtuu keenya Maammituu Hirphaa, kan godina Shawaa Lixaa, magaalaa Amboo keessatti hiriira guddaa Oromoo irratti Hagayya 6 bara 2016 wararana Wayyaaneen wareegamte.
Mammituu intala sabboontuu otuu mirga saba Oromoof falmituu wareegamte. Gootota Oromoo kumaatamaa wajjin nagaan nuuf boqodhu!
Qabsoon hanga bilisummaatti itti fufa!!
Rabbi lubbuu ishii haa qananiisu.
#OromoProtests, a determination of an Oromo man, 80 years old confronting fascist Ethiopia’s regime, Agazi forces, Arsi, Oromia, 12 August 2016
Grand#OromoProtests: POWERFUL!! A woman takes the stage during saturday protest in Dallo Manna ( Bale) moves the crowd to a higher spirit of resistance.
Hidhamuun nu gaya
Ajjeefamuun nu gaya
Oromiyaa waraanni hin bulhu
oromiyaan bulchiinsa ofiitin bulti
Grand #OromoProtests 7 August 2016 in Amboo Continues:Guyyaa 07,08,2016 Oduu oromiyaa magaalaa Amboo irraa
Magaalii Amboo kaleessaa irraa kaassee hangaa ammaatti raafama guddaa keessaa jirtii ,finciili uummaata har’as itti fufee oole jedhu jirraatoon ,poolisiin oromiyaa fi poolisiin fedderaala magaalaa keessaa hin muldhatani, magaalaa kan dhunfatee jiruu raayyaa ittisaa biyyaa(agaaze) yoo ta’uu isaannis irraa caalii saba Tigiree afaan Tigirfaa dubbatani,nama argani hundaa daa’ima,jarsaa fi jartii osoo hin jedhiini mana cabsanii reeba fi hidhaa jiruu .
hangaa ammaatti sagaleen dhukaasa magaalaa keessaa dhaga’amaa jiraa ,kan hidhaa jiruuf kan du’ee addaan baafachuun hin danda’aminee jedhuu.
Finicilaa kaleessaa keessaatti magaaluma ambootti mucaa waggaa kudha sadii (13) hin caalee alaabaa abo qofaa waan qabatee deema tureef Agaazen konkolaatan ari’anii irraa baasuun gara jabbinaan ajjeesaniiru jedhuu warrii ijaan argan.
Grand #OromoProtests, Grand #OromoProtests full scale Military massacre has been conducted by Ethiopia’s fascsit regimei n Naqamte, East Walaga. 6 August 2016 pcture.
Similar genocidal mass killings all over Oromia (in town and rurals of Hararghe, Shaggar, Finfinnee, Arsi, Baalee, Boranaa, Gujii, Walloo, Wambaraa, Jimmaa and Eluu Abbaa Booraa).
Grand #OromoProtests on August 6, 2016, Norwegian Embassy in Finfinnee, travel restrictions
BBC: Oromo community calls for more protests in Ethiopia
Emmanuel Igunza
BBC Africa, Nairobi
Posted at11:43
Activists from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, have called for more anti-government protests this weekend, days after thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in the northern city of Gondar.
Activists say that hundreds have been killed in a security crackdown
They say they will hold countrywide protests against what they describe as continued killings and other abuses by the authorities.
In the latest incident earlier this week, at least six people were allegedly shot dead by police in the eastern town of Awaday.
Prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn warned on Tuesday that Ethiopia was sliding towards ethnic conflict similar to that in neighbouring countries.
Ethiopia’s second largest ethnic group, the Amhara, held a large demonstration last Sunday in Gondar.
The ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front has been in power since 1991 and won all seats in parliament in last year’s elections.
30 August 2016 – The Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, is deeply alarmed by the deteriorating human rights situation in Ethiopia, and especially, the arbitrary killing, arrest and detention of protesters.
According to reports, the Ethiopian government forces have killed more than 500 protestors since November 2015, and have arrested and detained thousands.
We recall that on the eve of calls for protests, the Ethiopian Prime Minister Haile-Mariam has warned that measures will be taken against protesters. Eventually, when protests took place in the Amhara and Oromia regions in August 2016, nearly a hundred protesters were killed. The public statements of warning by the senior government officials stirred the suspicion that the ongoing human rights abuses by government forces are happening by the approval of the Ethiopian government.
The Ethiopian government has rejected the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ (UNOHCHR) request that the government allow international observers to assess the human rights violation in Ethiopia. The government has stated that it would establish a domestic body to investigate the matter.
However, the findings of the commissions of inquiry established in the past by the Ethiopian Parliament (House of Peoples’ Representatives) have generated mistrust by stakeholders, human rights organisations and other bodies. In the past, instead of the main perpetrators of the violence that actually committed the arbitrary killings and detentions, individuals who took part in the protests have been held accountable on charges like incitement and terrorism. The commissions of inquiry have not implicated members of government forces and senior government officials, and as a result, they have not been held accountable. These commissions of inquiry have also lacked adequate participation of stakeholders and transparency.
Moreover, the fact that senior government officials have been, and continue to make statements threatening protesters from making peaceful protests amounts to approving the human rights violations. Such statements send a signal to the Ethiopian security and military forces to assume that the ongoing arbitrary killings, arrests and detentions are legitimate.
With a view to addressing these problems, making a credible, independent, impartial, effective and transparent inquiry is imperative. To this end, the Centre is convinced that international or regional inquiry mechanisms are better suited than domestic commission of inquiry in Ethiopia.
Therefore, the Centre for Human Rights makes the following requests:
The United Nations Human Rights Council should put the serious human rights violations in Ethiopia in its agenda on the 33rd regular session in September 2016. It should be noted that Ethiopia is currently a member of the Human Rights Council. The Council should consider whether to suspend Ethiopia’s membership of the Council for having committed “gross and systematic violations of human rights” (as provided for under A/RES/60/251 paragraph 8).
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Killings should make an urgent appeal to the Ethiopian government, and undertake a visit to Ethiopia with a view to gather first-hand information of the arbitrary killings according to its mandate, and to release it reports.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions should investigate the arrests and detentions of protesters in Ethiopia.
While we take note of the letter expressing grave concern about the violations by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, we urge the Commission to undertake a visit into the country and in order to assess the human rights violations.
The Chairperson of the African Union, with its seat located in Addis Ababa, should denounce the human rights violation in Ethiopia
The Ethiopian government should consent to fully cooperate with international and regional inquiry mechanisms to undertake their investigation; it should release political detainees; it should respect the right to peaceful demonstration, which is protected in art 30(1) of the Ethiopian Constitution and various human rights treaties to which Ethiopia is a party; it should note that the limitations of this right are to be construed narrowly; and it should desist from further using excessive force and violence to disperse peaceful protests.
For more information, please contact:
Prof Frans Viljoen
Director, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
Tel: +27 (0) 12 420 3228 / 3810
Mobile: +27 (0) 73 393 4181
Email: frans.viljoen@up.ac.za
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