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Oromia: #OromoProtests in Naqamtee (Nekemte) city amid state of emergency, chanted “down down TPLF”.  Dhaloota garaan fincile sossobbaan hin dhaabu February 27, 2018

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Nekemt protests
Picture from the protest scene in Nekemt. Source : ESAT

borkena.com, February 26, 2018


As the state of emergency (SoE) which was decreed a day after Hailemariam Desalegn’s resignation enters its eleventh day today, residents of Nekemte took to the street en masse to oppose government’s move to restrict freedom of expression and freedom of assembly.

No details are available so far regarding casualty so far. However, an intense gunshot is heard in un Unverified video footage shared on social media.

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Protestors demanded the withdrawal of federal security forces from the region and chanted “Down, down Woyane”, “Down, down TPLF” which is a call for an end to the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front Government, as many Ethiopians in the opposition call it.

Pictures shared on social media from citizen activists show roads closed with big rocks and tire burning.

A reception program for released Oromo Federalist Congress leaders including Merera Gudina was organized in the city’s stadium. However, it was canceled after federal security forces detained Merera Gudina and his colleagues in Gute town, just twenty kilometers outside of Nekemete. The opposition leaders were forced to return to the capital Addis Ababa.

The Nekemte protest today seem to be triggered by government action over the weekend, according to local media sources who claim to have insider information.

Last week, there was protest a protest in Wolkite town, south-west of Addis Ababa, and federal security forces were deployed to quell it down.

Over the weekend, fans of Bahir Dar City and Dessie city soccer teams chanted anti-government slogans specifically targeting TPLF.

SoE banned freedom of assembly and freedom of expression, among other things. Activists and politicians alike were warning the government that SoE would rather accentuate the crisis in the country.

One of the protestant churches in Ethiopia,Mekane Eyesus, issued a statement over the weekend calling for the government to repeal the SoE decree.

Last week, the United States embassy in Addis Ababa issued a statement to express “strong” disagreement with the SoE. The European Union on its part advised to make the SoE brief and focus on dialogue with stakeholders.

Theoretically, the SoE was supposed to be approved by the parliament before its implementation. However, the government has bypassed that part of the procedure claiming that it is unable to maintain order and “rule of law” through the regular law enforcement procedures. Today, the government has called the parliament,which is in recess for one month, for an emergency meeting.

For the opposition, SoE is meant to rescue crumbling TPLF power which has lost legitmacy long time ago.


   More from   Oromian Economist social media sources:-

Dhaloota garaan fincile sossobbaan hin dhaabu

 

https://twitter.com/Ethio_Sunshine/status/968174814341955584

 

 

Lets recap how things came to this stage in Western Oromia

– Saturday morning Feb 24, Dambi Dollo, a certain young man was announcing a call for religious conference scheduled for the coming week. Agazi soldiers catch the guy and begin beating him. Elders in the area rush to the scene and try to explain to the soldiers. They too got beaten. Crowd began gathering around and soldiers opened fire killing 1 and wounding 8 others.

– Saturday afternoon Feb 24, leaders of Oromo Federalist Congress who were recently released from prison were heading to Nekemte per invitation from local elders. They had been visiting several towns in previous days with no problem. Locals in Nekemte had secured permit from city administration and reserved the stadium. The leaders heading to Nekemte asked high officials in Finfine and have been told there is no problem with their visit. In fact they were provided with police escort. But 5 Km outside Nekemte a convoy of special forces blocked the road and prevented them from proceeding to the city. They forced them to sleep in the wilderness and turned them back to the capital the next day.
– Sunday Feb 25 Morning- When people of Nekemte woke up and began walking to their jobs , they came under attack from federal police and soldiers. They began beating young and old. The city, still angry about unjustified cancellation of the OFC event a day earlier, erupted in protest against the beating on streets. The protest continued till today. At least one person have been killed and over 10 injured.
-Conclusion: The regime purposely instigated the conflict to justify this state state of emergency that is being rejected even by its foreign supporters. If the regime thinks this is the right course, well let it try. But the best thing for all concerned is to cancel the SOE and sit down with opposition to chart transitional government. Any attempt at further crackdown will only speed up its downfall.


“Oromoon waliif gaachana” Baqqalaa Garbaa Calliyatti

Humnoota Federaalaatu Uummata Nagaa Irratti Haleellaa Oofa: Itti Gaaftamaa Waajjira Kantiibaa Dambi Dolloo

Ethiopia: Political tensions are at a knife-edge, and the future stability of the country and its prospects for development hang in the balance. February 27, 2018

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Odaa Oromoooromianeconomist

Ethiopia is at the precipice

 SHANNON EBRAHIM,  IOL,  26 FEBRUARY

Police officers walk among civilians at the Meskel Square in Addis Ababa. Picture: Tiksa Negeri/Reuters
Never have the stakes in Ethiopia been so high – political tensions are at a knife-edge, and the future stability of the country and its prospects for development hang in the balance.
Up until the last few weeks, most of the country’s opposition leaders and many of their supporters have been locked up as political prisoners. But with the groundswell of popular discontent and burgeoning street protests, the government was compelled to release more than 6 000 political prisoners last month, another 700 two weeks ago, and a further 1 500 on Wednesday. Famous journalists Eskinder Nega and Andualem Arage, as well as prominent Oromo opposition leaders Bekele Gerba and Merera Gudina were among those recently released.
The glue that has held the autocratic ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) together is finally becoming unstuck. The EPRDF has ruled as a multiethnic coalition since 1991 and includes four ethnically based parties.
The Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is the party which has dominated the coalition for more than two decades despite the fact that Tigrayans account for only 6% of the population. The TPLF was the ethnic guerrilla organisation that brought Meles Zenawi to power in 1991, toppling the communist dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam. Zenawi governed for 21 years until his death in 2012, and while he pushed the country’s developmental agenda forward, he was accused of authoritarian tendencies and presiding over extensive human rights abuses.
The popularity of the Oromo People’s Democratic Organisation (OPDO) within the ruling coalition has continued to rise to the detriment of the TPLF. The Oromos are the most populous ethnic group in the country, based in the largest and richest region – Oromia. The Oromos have historically complained of political marginalisation. The OPDO has been perceived in some quarters as having been a puppet of the TPLF.
The third ruling coalition partner is the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), representing the Amhara which are the country’s second-largest ethnic group, which has also historically complained that they are under-represented in the corridors of power. The fourth coalition partner is the Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (SEPDM).
The governing coalition started to lose its grip on power in the face mass of protests following the 2015 elections which the opposition claimed were rigged. The government responded with repression by passing restrictive laws, intimidating and imprisoning the opposition, independent media, and civil society leaders. While political adversaries were crushed, the government tried to co-opt the elites.
Hundreds of people were killed in the ensuing two years of protests that rocked the two most populous provinces of Oromia and Amhara. The situation became so grave that the presidents of the two provinces recently announced that they supported the protests, and demanded an end to Tigrayan dominance.
Ethiopia has now reached a point of no return. Even the usually quiet suburbs in the capital occupied by the business and political elite have been rocked by protests. Prime Minister Hailemariam announced on February 15th that he was stepping down in order to create political space, something unprecedented in modern day Ethiopia. Actually, he had been instructed by his party to step down after the EPRDF’s executive committee blamed the current leadership for its poor governance, the unrest and failing to protect civilians.
Former Ethiopian prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn announces his resignation during a press conference in Addis Ababa. Picture: AP 
The unravelling of the EPRDF’s grip on power was too much for the old guard who supported the declaration of a six-month state of emergency which was imposed a day after the PM’s resignation. Far from regaining control, the security measures only served to embolden protesters demanding the release of all political prisoners and fresh democratic elections.
The potential for chaos and ethnic bloodshed in the country is real, and Ethiopia needs a political way out of this crisis. There seems to be only one way forward – for the ruling coalition to call early elections ahead of 2020. Elections would reduce tension and marginalise the extremists that threaten to let the genie of ethnic violence out of the bottle. The caveat, of course, is that they would have to be free and fair.

If Ethiopia is to preserve and build on the developmental milestones it has achieved, it needs to start the process of political rebuilding in order to regain the confidence of the electorate. The window of opportunity to find a peaceful solution could close very quickly, which requires visionary leadership to chart a new path forward.


Related:

Africa’s power shuffle is a renewal, not a revolution. The ruling elite has engineered a personnel change in the interest of self-preservation says Financial Times #Ethiopia February 25, 2018

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Odaa Oromoooromianeconomist

Zenawi the tyrant still rules after death
angela-merkel-refused-a-handshake-when-faced-hailemariam-dessalegn-no-photo-opportunity-for-the-fascist-in-finfinne-oromia-ethiopia-october-11-2016-africa-visit
Africa’s power shuffle is a renewal, not a revolution. The ruling elite has engineered a personnel change in the interest of self-preservation

DAVID PILLING, FT, 21 February 2018

Ethiopian prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn quit last week after years of public protest against the regime and open discord within the coalition  It is tempting to call it an “African spring”. In a matter of months, in countries as disparate as Angola and Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and South Africa, entrenched leaders have been falling like ninepins. Last week, it was the turn of the Ethiopian prime minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, who quit after years of public protest against the regime and increasingly open discord within the coalition that has run the country since 1991. His sudden departure came just a day after, half a continent away, Jacob Zuma finally agreed to resign as president of South Africa to make way for Cyril Ramaphosa. Those dramatic events followed the even more unexpected fall of Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe, who many thought would die of old age before he was pushed from office. Instead, he took the hint that it was time to go when tanks rolled on to the streets of Harare last November. And just two months before that, in an orchestrated but still highly significant change of leadership in Angola, João Lourenço took over as president from José Eduardo dos Santos, whose 38 years in charge beat Mr Mugabe’s stint by a year. What on earth is going on? Should African leaders be shaking in their boots as renewal sweeps across the continent? Africa, as people repeatedly point out, is not a country. It is a complex continent of diverse nations whose histories, languages and political cultures make them hard to meaningfully compare. There is no reason to believe that events in one have any connection to happenings in another. Yet that doesn’t mean there are no common themes. After all, countries in entirely different continents — take the Philippines, Hungary and the US — may be prone to the same forces of populism or nationalism. One thing Angola, Ethiopia, South Africa and Zimbabwe have in common is they are run by liberation parties that have ossified in power for between a quarter and a half a century. In Angola, the Popular Movement for the Liberation of Angola has run the country since the Portuguese left in 1975. In Zimbabwe, Zanu-PF, which led the armed struggle against white minority rule, has been in power since 1980. Similarly, Mr Desalegn’s Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front has ruled since 1991, although he has been prime minister only since the death of Meles Zenawi in 2012. And in South Africa, yet another liberation movement, the African National Congress, has dominated power since apartheid crumbled in 1994. In each case, these liberation parties are seeking to renew themselves after a generation or more in charge. The transition from exile to government has not always been easy. Power means money. In the case of Angola, huge oil exports and massive Chinese investments have meant a bonanza for the top party cadres, especially for anyone bearing the name dos Santos. In Zimbabwe, socialist rhetoric yielded to the reality of a destroyed economy for the many and rich pickings for a few party hacks loyal to Mr Mugabe. In South Africa, too, particularly in the Zuma years, the righteous task of spreading wealth to the black majority morphed into the less righteous one of spreading it to an ANC-connected black elite. Change now is partly driven by the pent-up frustration of the millions left out. The public has found its voice, pushing the ruling elite to shuffle leaders in the cause of survival. In South Africa, by far the most democratic of the four, ANC support has skidded in successive elections and the party has lost control of four of the country’s most important cities. But even in the other three countries, where elections are far more controlled, opposition forces have found a way to express themselves, both through the ballot box and on the streets. Will new leaders bring genuine change? In Ethiopia, Mr Desalegn’s resignation was followed by the imposition of a state of emergency, hardly a sign of democratic opening. In Angola and Zimbabwe, the ruling parties have probably done enough to present the semblance of a new direction, though whether that translates into more inclusive policies is not yet clear. In South Africa, Mr Ramaphosa is seeking more than cosmetic changes in the interests of restoring both the ANC’s moral and electoral standing. Still, in each country the ruling elite has engineered a personnel change in the interest of self-preservation. More than revolutions from below, they are party reorganisations from above. Other leaders on the continent will be watching, some fearfully. But “African spring” does not capture what is going on. You could call it instead the season of the palace coup.


Related (Oromian Economist sources):

In this video Hailemariam Desalegn admitted  that he is making decisions without all the facts.

Oromia: DHAAMSA QEEROO IRRAA. #OromoProtests  February 24, 2018

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Odaa OromoooromianeconomistNo To Fascist TPLF Ethiopia's genocidal militarism and mass killings in Oromia, Ethiopia

DHAAMSA QEEROO IRRAA 


Peresedantii Mootummaa Xoophiyaatii
Af-Yaa’ii Mana Mare Bakka Bu’ootaa Ummaataa Xoophiyaatiif
Koree ministiroota zoophiyaatiif
Mana Marii Bakka Bu’ootaa Ummaataa Xoophiyaatiif
Dh.D.U.O Tiif
Geggeessitota Sadarkaa Adda Addaatiif
Saba Ballaa Uummata Oromootiif
Qeerroo Naannoo Oromiyaatiif
Fannoo Naannoo Amaraatiif
Zermaa Ummatoota Kibbaa Guraageetiif
Wadala Ummatoota Kibbaatiif
Nabiroo Ummatoota Kibbaatiif
Raayyaa Ittisa Biyyaatiif



Dhimmi isaa: Labsii Yeroo Muddamaa Kan Ilaalatu


Barri hedduun darbaniiru, jechootni akka nadhii dammaa dhamdhamaa tolaanii fi urgaa foolii bookaa qaban waa’ee tokkummaa biyyaa xoophiyaa faarsan baayyeen taphatamaniiru, faarfatamaniiru akkasumas walaloon, Og-barruu fi wellistoonni bayyeen faaruu meshaalee muuziqaa aadaa fi ammyyaan dabalame sirbaniiru waa’ee tokkumma xoophiyaa. Kana duwwaa miti gotootni bayyee aarsaa heddu kaffalaniiru waa’ee tokkumaa xoophiyaatiif. Ammas yeroon dabaree nuuf laattee tookkuma keenya akka mirkaneessinuuf qeerroon Oromiyaa qaamota armaan oliitiif hundaaf waamicha gochaa jirti. 


1. Perezedaantii mootummaa xoophiyaatiif


Yeroo kumaatamni du’ee, kumaatamni mana hidhaatti dararamuu fi Kumatamni biyyaa tokkummaan xoophiyaa kessatti faarsamu kessatti qe’ee, sabni guddaan salphate fi qabeenya isaa irraa buqqa’ee beelaaf hongeen dararamu hin dubbanne, akka perezendaantii biyyaa tokkottillee miti akka nama dhuunfaa tokkoottillee yaada kee hin ibsanne. Yoo aangoon siharkaa jiraattee maaf midhamtu, maaf dararamtu jechuudhaa yoo baatteyyuu as baatee baga duutan , baga qe’ee fi qabeenya keeessan irraa buqaatan osoo jeette nutti tola akka qeerrooti. Silaa maal buuftaa miti waa’ee labsii muddamaa kana irratti waa jechuu kee barbaanna akka lubbuun jirtuu fi hin jirre baruuf. Ta’uu yoo baate reeffa Perezendaantii ta’ee biyya bulchaa jiruu jechuu genus book irraatti si galmeessina. mee onnee godhu, jiraachuun garaa duwwaaf miti, barri dhufee darba seenaa garuu baraan jiraatti.


2. Af-yaa’ii mana mare bakka bu’oota uummataatiif


Gaafa mootiin fari’oo saba israa’el waanjoo garbummaa jalatti waggaa hedduu rakkisaa ture Museetu ka’e . Ulee Museen harkatti qabatee ture saba israa’eeliin garbummaa mootii fari’oonii, loltuu fari’ooni fi bishaanii nyaatamuu galaana diimaa jalaa isaan baase malee garbummaaf yokkiin du’aaf isaan hin laanne. Sobaaf muka walitti hin rukkuttin uleen siharka jirtu yeroo tokkoo fi isa xumuraaf dhimmaa haabaastu , uummata bakka buutee jirtuuf sagalee haa dhageesistu.


3. Koree Ministiroota xoophiyaatiif


Seenaa daba dalaguuf demaa jirtu, nama ni dagoggortu, dogoggara keessaniif immoo qeerroon garaa dhiifamaa qabdi, tarkaanfii fudhachuuf deemaa jirtan kanarraa yoo debitan fi jijjirama siyaasaa fi sirna dimokiraasii hundeen isaa heeraa fi seeraan ol aantummaan isaa mirkanaa’ee akkasumas biyyaa walqituummaan lammiilee keessatti mirkanaa’ee ijaaruuf waadaa seenuun har’uma hojiitti yoo jijjiirtan qeerroonii fi uummanni oromoo afaanuma haak jedhee isin tufuuf ka’een isin degera isin waliin guddina xoophiyaa haaromteef hojjeta. Yoo ta’uu baatee fi humna waaraanaa abdachuun labsii kana uummata nagayaa irratti garee faayyidaa dhuunfaa isaa eeggachuuf carraaqu waliin taatan, waraanni isin ittin boontan kun harki caalaan dhaloota qubee fi qeerroo akka ta’e isin hubachiisuun barbaanna. 


4. Mana Marii Bakka Bu’ootaa Ummaataa Xoophiyaatiif


Uummanni xoophiyaa:


a. Qotee bulaan barressuuf fi dubbisuu hin dandeenye beekumsa naaf ta’i, naaf barreessi naaf dubbissi ,beekumsa naaf ta’i naaf dubbadhu jedhee isin filatee hin dagatiinaa adaraa abba keessannii, adaraa harmee fi adaraa biyyaa.
b. Qaro dhabeenyiin qaroo naaf ta’aa naqaraa, karoo hin qabuu qaroo naaf ta’aa jedhee isin filatee hin dagatiinaa. Adaraa qaroo, argaa ilaalaa murtee kennaa
c. Qoomaa hir’uu bakkan fiiguu dadhabetti fiigii naaf qabi, jedhee sagalee siniif kennee hin daagatiinaa.
Walumaagalatti isin afaan uummataati afaan saba balaati sammuu uummata keessaniin yaadaa. Afaan uummata keessaaniin dubbadha. Rakkoon fi gadadoo uummata keessanii hin dagatiinaa. Nidagattu jennee hin yaadnu haadha fi abbaa ilmoo isaanii ol adeemtoota qeerroo fi qarree dabtaaraa fi qalama qabataniif ganama mana bahanii osoo manatti hin deebiin hafan. Qeerroo fi qeerre fulbaana birraa bariite nagaa dhaammatanii digirri fideen dhufa jechuun waadaa seenanii garaa unirsiitii deeman garuu reeffi isaanii manatti galu. Qabsoon qeerroo homaa kaayyoo kan biraa hin qabu innis tokkoo fi tokkodha. gochaalee armaan olitti caqafaman hanbisuun xoobiyaa biyya dimokiraasii fi biyya walqixxummaan lammiilee keeessatti mirkanaa’ee taasisuu qofadha. Kanaafu uummata bakka buutan dagattanii afaan badii hin ta’iinaa jetti qeeroon.


5. Dh.D.U.O fi Geggeessitota Sadarkaa Adda Addaatiif


Isiniif ergaa gabaabduu fi ijoo taate qabna. Dhuguma qaama uumata oromoo geggeessu yoo taatanii fi boor uummata oromoo waliin biyya geggeessina jettanii abdii qabdu ta’e labsii muddamaa kan gonkuma hin fudhatiinaa, yoo diddee kan murtooftu taate illee hojirra oolmaa isaa irraatti akka qooda hin fudhanne uummata oromoo waliin gumaa taatu of eeggannoo godhaa. Kun akkeekkachiisa uummanni oromoo marti fi qeerroon yeroo xumuraaf isinii kennudha .
Hubachiisa: Mootummaan garboomfataan sadarkaa addunyaatti caaasaa mataa isaatiin biyyaa yokkin saba tokkoo kolonii jala galfatee hin beeku. Kun dhugaa qorannoon mirkanaa’edha. Garuu dabalee bitamtuutti fayyadamuun bandaa warra jedhaman jechuudha, garboomsuu ni danda’a . isin garuu gocha akkasiif karaa fi garaa akka hin laanne abdii qabna nuti qeerroon.


6. Saba Ballaa Uummata Oromootiif 


Labsiin muddamaa kun labsii duguuggaa sanyii ittin raawwachuuf labsame dha. Uummanni oromoo rooroo ofirra qolachuus ni baaka. Nuti oromoo akka beeknutti uummata yeroo obboleessi isaa du’u irraa dheessu, yeroo ilmoo isaa birratti duutu irratti ilaalu miti saba wal irratti du’u male. Kanaafuu labsiin muddamaa kun humnaan nurratti kan labsamu yoo ta’e afaan tokkoon yaada tokkoon xiqqaa fi gudda , dhalaa fi dhiira, qeesii fi sheekii osoon hin jedhiin akka ofirra mormitan dhaamsa isinii dabarsina. Qeerroo egeree biyya irraa akka hin hafne abdii uummata oromoo mara irraa qabana.


7. Fannoo,Zarmaa,wadala fi Nabirootiif 


Nuti keessatuu qaama qabsoo bilisummaati. Biyyi xoophiyaa kun boor nu eeggati, mana keenya booriiti akkasumas biyya nuti kunuunsinee dhaloota nuti aanuuf keninu nudha abdiin biyyaa. Biyya lama hin qabdu boor yoo feene kan dhiifnee demnu miti. Biyya tokkitti qabdu kana immo yeroo gartuun fedhii dhuunfaa isaaf kallatti isatti tale irra yoo barbaade heera fi seera baasee yoo fedhi immoo diigee akka shaqaxaa mummata isaa aangoo harkaa qabuu fayyadamee daldalu teenyee hin ilaalu. Afaan tokkoon aagoon kan uummataati jedha yoo fedhe immoo aangoo siyaasaa haa hafuuti aangoo uumamaa fi mirga namoomaa illee nurraa muulqee uummata balla dararu kana afaan tokkofon kaanee yoo labsiin kun hojiitti jijjiirame mormuu fi yeroo xumuraaf ofirraa fonqolchinuf dursitanii qophii ballaa fi tarsiimoon degerame akka gootan qeerroon dhaamsa isiniif dabarsina. Waliin biyya dimokraasii fi dinagdeen badhaate xoophiyaa haaraa ijaarra.


8. Raayyaa Ittisa Biyyaatiif


Dhumarratti raayyaan itti biyyaa uummata keessaa kan walitti qabame ( ijaarame) uumata isaaf kan hojetu, daangaa biyya isaa diina alaa irraa akka eegu nageenya uumata isaa geeguu dangaa biyya fi gammojjii keessa beelaa fi dheebuu obsuun akka eegan qeeroo sirritti beekti. Haala michataa keessa akka hin jirre ni beekna. Haata’u harmee isaanii ji’a sagal garaatti baatte ciniinsifatte deesse fi abbayyee isaanii marrummaan hidhate isaan guddise , obboleeyyan isaanii waliin tiruu takka boraafatanii dhalatan, qotee bulaa fi daldalaa dafqa isaa cobsee hojjetee mindaa isiniif kaffalu, barataa baradheen bor matii koo fi biyya koof bu’aa buusa jedhee xaaru irra irraatti akka afaan qawween hin dorsisne fi dhukaafne qeerron abdi qabna. Garuu tarii hubannaa fi hariitti dagattanii dogoggora seenaa keessa akka hin seenne qeerroon waamicha isiniif goona. Mootiin ni mo’a ni kufas uummanni garuu ni jira gara kaayyoo keessa dagattaniif harkaa abba irree ta’uu uumata harka duwwaa irraatti ol aantummaa qawwee akka hin agarsiifne irraa deebinee waamicha isiniif goona.
Hubachiisa: Qaama dhimmi ilaaluuf
Keessumaa warri qeerroo xiqqisitanii yaaddan,qeerroo booda uummata ballatu jira, kaan kaan yoo hafe iyyuu humna waraana isin itti biyya bulchina jetteanii abdatan gariin qeeroodha. Ilaallataa lolaa.
Dhugaa qabna ni injifanna!!!!!!!!! injifannoon kan uumataati ballaati.


Qeerroo irraa 


Galagalcha.


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ከኦሮሞ ቄሮ የተላለፈ ጥሪ



ከሁሉም አስቀድመን ባላችሁበት ሰላምታ ይድረሳችሁ።

ሁላችንም እንደሚናውቀው የኦሮሞ ቄሮዎች ህይውታችንን መስዋዕት አዲርገን የኦሮሞ ህዝብ መብትና ብሄርቤረሰቦች እኩልነት የተረገጋጠባትን ኢትዮጽያ ለመመስረት ሰላማዊ ትግል እያደረግን ነው። የኦሮሞ ህዝብ ሰላማዊ ትግል ይህችን አገር እየቀየራት ይገኛል።

ይሁን እንጅ አንባገነን የሆኑ የTPLF ጥቂት ኮንትሮባንዲስቶች ቡድን አገሪቷን ለማዝረፍ በተሃድሶ መሪዎች ና በቄሮ የተዘጋባቸዉን የዝርፍያ መንገድ መልሰዉ ለመቆጣጠር ፣ አገርቷን በጦር ሀይል ለማቆጠጣር አስቻኳይ ግዜ አወጅ እያዋጁ ይገኛሉ። ይሄ አዋጅ በማንኛውም ሁኔታ ተቀባይነት አይኖረዉም።

የተከበራችሁ የህዝብ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት አባላት ኮንትሮባንድስቶች አገሪቷን ለመበዝበዝ እና ለመበታተን በኦሮሞ ህዝብና በመላው ብሄርቤረሰቦች ላይ የታዋጀ አዋጅ እንዲሰረዝ የበኩላችሁን የዜግነት ግደታ በመወጣት አገሪቷን ከዉድቀት እና ከመበታተን እንድታድኑ የኦሮሞ ቄሮ በዚህ ደብዳቤ ጥሪያችንን እናስተላልፋለን።

ከዚህ እልፎ አዋጁ የሚጸድቅ ከሆነ የኦሮሞ ቄሮና ህዝብ የአፀፋ ምላሽ ተጠያቂዎቹ TPLF ና የህዝብ ተወካዮች ምክር ቤት አባላት መሆናችሁን እናሳስባለን።

ከሰላምታጋር
የኦሮሞ ቄሮ


Related article in Oromian Economist, click here

Ethiopia: New State of Emergency Risks Renewed Abuses Overbroad, Vague Provisions Undercut Rights says Human Rights Watch #OromoProtests February 24, 2018

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Odaa OromoooromianeconomistHRW

Ethiopia: New State of Emergency Risks Renewed Abuses

Overbroad, Vague Provisions Undercut Rights

Human Rights Watch, 23 February 2018

The Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus calls on the Fascist Ethiopia’s regime (TPLF) to reverse the state of emergency.የኢትዮጵያ ወንጌላዊት ቤተ ክርስቲያን መካነ ኢየሱስ መልዕክት February 24, 2018

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Odaa Oromoooromianeconomist

The Ethiopian Evangelical Church

(ይህ የኢትዮጵያ ወንጌላዊት ቤተ ክርስቲያን መካነ ኢየሱስ መልዕክት ነው)

ለኢትዮጵያ ፌዴራላዊ ዲሞክራቲክ ሪፓብሊክ መንግስት፤ የካቲት 15-2010 ዓ.ም
ለመላው የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝቦች፤
ለተቃዋሚ የፖለቲካ ድርጅቶች ፤
ለሕዝበ-ምዕመናን በሙሉ፤
የሀገራችንን ወቅታዊ ሁኔታ በሚመለከት ከኢትዮጵያ ወንጌላዊት ቤተክርስቲያን መካነ ኢየሱስ የቀረበ ጥሪ፤
እንደሚታወቀው፣ ቤተ ክርስቲያን ከነገድ ሁሉ፤ ከቋንቋም ሁሉ፣ ከወገንም ሁሉ፣ ከሕዝብም ሁሉ በክርስቶስ ኢየሱስ የተዋጁ ምዕመናን አንድነት ናት፤ የእምነቷ መሠረት የሆነው መጽሐፍ ቅዱስ፣ ቤተክርስቲያንም ሆነች መንግስታት ከእግዚአብሔር የተሰጣቸውን ሕዝቡን በታማኝነትና በጽድቅ የማገልገል ታላቅ ኃላፊነትና አደራ በሚገባ መወጣት እንዳለባቸው በአጽንኦት ያስተምራል፡፡ ስለሆነም ቤተ ክርስቲያን በዚህ ምድር የእግዚአብሔር መንግስት እንደራሴ እንደመሆኗ፤ ሕዝቦችም ሆኑ መንግስታት የሚጠበቅባቸውን ኃላፊነት በፈርሃ እግዚአብሔር በመልካም ሁኔታ እንዲወጡ የማስተማር፣ የመምከርና የማሳሰብ፣ ግዴታ አለባት፡፡
ይህን ታላቅ አደራ ከመወጣት አኳያ የኢትዮጵያ ወንጌላዊት ቤተክርስቲያን መካነ ኢየሱስ ሁኔታዎችን ስታጤን፣ ሀገራችን ኢትዮጵያ አሁን የምትገኝበት ሁኔታ በእጅጉ አሳሳቢ መሆኑን ትገነዘባለች፤ ከሰብኣዊ መብት አያያዝ፣ ከዲሞክራሲ፣ ከፍትህ፣ እና ከመልካም አስተዳደር ጋር በተያያዙ ጉዳዮች ዙሪያ በተለያዩ አካባቢዎች በመንግስትና በህዝቡ መካከል የከረረ አለመግባባት መታየት ከጀመረ ውሎ ያደረ ሲሆን ካለፉት ሁለት አመታት ወዲህ ደግሞ ህዝቡ፤ በተለይም ወጣቱ ትውልድ በሰላማዊ ሰልፍና አንዳንዴም ሀይል በተቀላቀለበት መልኩ ወደ አደባባይ በመውጣት ተቃውሞውን ሲገልጽ መቆየቱ ይታወቃል፤ በእነዚህም እንቅስቃሴዎች መነሻነት በጸጥታ ሀይሎችና በህዝቡ መካከል በተፈጠሩ ተደጋጋሚ ግጭቶች እጅግ በሚያሳዝን ሁኔታ የብዙ ሰዎች ህይወት ጠፍቷል፣ ብዙዎች ለአካል ጉዳት ተዳርገዋል፣ በርካታ ንብረቶችም ወድመዋል፡፡
የኢትዮጵያ ወንጌላዊት ቤተክርስቲያን መካነ ኢየሱስ የህብረተሰቡ አካል እንደመሆኗ መጠን ይህ አሳዛኝ ሁኔታ በተለያዩ ክልሎች መከሰት ከጀመረበት ወቅት አንስቶ ፍትህ የሰፈነበት እርቅና ሰላም እንዲወርድ በጸሎት እግዚአብሔር አምላኳን ስትማጸን የቆየች ከመሆኑም በላይ መንግስት ህዝቡ ለሚያቀርባቸው ጥያቄዎች ተገቢና ፍትሃዊ ምላሽ በአፋጣኝ እንዲሰጥ፣ ህዝቡም ጥያቄውን በሰላማዊ መንገድ ብቻ እንዲያቀርብ ጥሪዋን በተናጠል፣ እንዲሁም ከሌሎች የሃይማኖት ተቋማት ጋር በመሆን ስታቀርብ ቆይታለች፤ መንግስትም ከቅርብ ጊዜ ወዲህ ራሱን በመገምገምና የችግሮችን ምንጮች በመለየት መላውን የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ ይቅርታ ከመጠየቅም አልፎ በህዝቡ ጥያቄ መሠረት የፖለቲካ እስረኞችን መፍታት መጀመሩ የሚያስግነው ነው፡፡ በቀጣይነትም፣ መንግሥትም ሆነ የሚመለከታቸው ሁሉ የሀገር አንድነትና የሕዝቡ ሠላም ይበልጥ በአስተማማኝ ሁኔታ እንዲገነባ በጋራ መግባባት ላይ መስርቶ መሥራት ስለሚያስፈልግ፣ የኢትዮጵያ ወንጌላዊት ቤተ ክርስቲያን መካነ ኢየሱስ የሚከተለውን ጥሪ በከፍተኛ አክብሮትና በታላቅ ትህትና ታቀርባለች፡-
ሀ. ለኢፌዲሪ መንግስት
1. የማንኛውም መንግስት የህልውና ምንጭና መሰረት ሀገርና ሕዝቡ እንደሆነ የሚያጠያይቅ አይደለም፤ ስለሆነም ገዢው ፓርቲም ሆነ የኢፌዲሪ መንግስት ከማንኛውም ፖለቲካዊ አስተሳሳቡም ሆነ እቅዱ ይልቅ ለሀገር ሰላም፣ ለሕዝቡ ደህንነትና አንድነት ቅድሚያ እንዲሰጥ፤
2. ኢትዮጵያ ሀገራችን ሰላሟ ተረጋግጦ እንድትቅጥል፣ ሕዝቦችዋም በአንድነትና በእኩልነት ተባብረውና ተጋግዘው በፍቅር የመኖር ነባር እሴታቸውን አጎልበተው እንዲቀጥሉ ለማድረግ የሚቻለው ሀገራዊ የጋራ መግባባት ሲኖር በመሆኑ፣ የተለያየ ግንዛቤና አመለካከት አለን የሚሉ የፖለቲካ ድርጅቶች/ፓርቲዎች፣ ሲቪል ማህበራት፣ ምሁራን፣ ታዋቂ ግለሰቦች፣ የኃይማኖት መሪዎችና የሀገር ሽማግሌዎች የሚሳተፉበት የጋራ መድረክ በማመቻቸት መንግስት ታሪካዊ ኃላፊነቱን እንዲወጣ፤
3. ቤተክርስቲያኒቱ ሰሞኑን ሀገሪቱ ለሁለተኛ ጊዜ በአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጅ ሥር እንድትተዳደር መደረጉ የፈነጠቀውን የሠላምና የመግባባት ተስፋ አደብዝዞ ሀገሪቱን ይበልጥ አሳሳቢ በሆነ ውስብስብ ችግር ውስጥ ሊያስገባት ይችል ይሆን የሚል ሥጋት ስላሳደረባት፣
3.1 መንግስት ያሉትን ሁኔታዎች በጥልቀት አጢኖ ቢቻል አዋጁን ማንሳት በሚቻልበት መንገድ ላይ እንደገና እንዲመክር፤
3.2 አዋጁ ሥራ ላይ ይዋል ከተባለ ደግሞ በአፈጻጸሙ ወቅት የዜጎች መሰረታዊ መብትና ሰብዓዊ ክብር እንዳይነካ ብርቱ ጥንቃቄ እንዲደረግ፤
4. መንግስት መልካም አስተዳደርን ለማስፈን፣ የሃሳብ ልዩነቶችን በሰላማዊ ውይይትና ድርድር ለማስተናገድ እንዲሁም ከፖለቲካ አስተሳሰብ ጋር በተያያዘ የታሰሩትን እስረኞች በመፍታት ለሕዝቡ ጥያቄ መስጠት የጀመረውን ተግባራዊ ምላሽ አጠናክሮ እንዲቀጥል፤
ለ. ለተቃዋሚ የፖለቲካ ድርጅቶች
1. ከላይ በተራ ቁጥር ሀ.1 እንደተጠቀሰው፣ የግልም ሆነ የቡድን ፖለቲካዊ አስተሳሰቦችን በነጻነት ለማራመድና ተወዳድሮ በማሸነፍና በመሸነፍ ሥርዓት ውስጥ ውጤታማ መሆን የሚቻለው ሀገርና ሕዝብ ሲኖር እንደሆነ የሚያጠያይቅ አይደለም፤ ስለሆነም ሁሉም ተቃዋሚ የፖለቲካ ፓርቲዎች ሀገሪቱ አሁን ከገባችበት ችግር እንድትወጣ ከየራሳቸው መርህና ፍላጎት ይልቅ ለሀገር ሰላም፣ ለሕዝቡ ደህንነትና አንድነት ቅድሚያ እንዲሰጡ፤
2. የሃሳብ ልዩነቶችን በሰላማዊ ውይይትና በድርድር የማራመድ፣ ለጋራ መግባባትና ለሰላም መስፈን የበኩላቸውን አዎንታዊ አስተዋፅዖ እንዲያደርጉና ቁርጠኝነት እንዲያሳዩ፤

ሐ. ለመላው የኢትዮጵያ ሕዝብ
1. መላው የሃገራችን ሕዝቦች በተለይም ወጣቱ ትውልድ ነገ የሚረከባት ሀገር የተጎሳቆለች እንዳትሆን፣ ያለውን ጥያቄ ሁሉ በከፍተኛ የሀላፊነት ስሜትና የዜግነት ዲሲፕሊን በሰላማዊ መንገድ ብቻ እንዲያቀርብ፣ በተጨማሪም አሁን መንግስት በተለያዩ ዘርፎች እየወሰደ ያለውን የለውጥ ርምጃ በትዕግስት እንዲከታተል፣ ሁከት ተስፋፍቶ በሀገሪቱ ያለዉ ውጥረት እንዳይባባስ ብርቱ ጥንቃቄ እንዲያደርግ፤
2. አሁን አልፎ አልፎ የሚታዩት ብሄር-ተኮር ግጭቶች አደገኛ አዝማሚያ ስለሆኑ፤ ከጥንት ጀምሮ የቆየው አብሮነት፣ ተግባብቶና ተጋግዞ በፍቅር የመኖርን አኩሪ ኢትዮጵያዊ እሴት/ባህል ከመቼውም ጊዜ ይበልጥ እንዲያዳብረውና እንደ ዓይኑ ብሌን እንዲጠብቅ፤

መ. ለመላው ሕዝበ-ምዕመናን
እኛ፣ የብዙ ብሄር-ብሄረሰቦች እናት የሆነችው ኢትዮጵያ ሀገራችን በማንኛውም አስቸጋሪ ሁኔታ ውስጥ ብትሆን ጠባቂና ታዳጊዋ ልዑል እግዚአብሔር እንደሆነ በጽኑ እናምናለን፤ በመሆኑም፡-
1. በሀገራችን ፍርድ እንደ ውኃ ፅድቅም እንደማይደርቅ ፈሳሽ እስኪሆን ድረስ ምዕመናን ሁሉ በትጋት በጾምና በጸሎት እግዚአብሔርን እንዲማጸኑ፤(2ዜና 7፡14፣ አሞ. 5፡24)
2. ምዕመናን ሁሉ የምድር ጨው፣ የዓለም ብርሃን፣ እንዲሁም የሰላም መልዕክተኞች እንደመሆናቸው፣ የማስታረቅ ተልዕኮአቸውን እንዲወጡ፤ (ማቴ 5፡13-16)
3. ምዕመናን ክርስቲያናዊ የዜግነት ግዴታቸውን በየተሰማሩበት መስክ በመወጣት ክርስቲያናዊ አርአያነታቸውን እንዲያሳዩ፤
ቤተክርስቲያን ጥሪዋን በአጽንኦት ታስተላልፋለች፡፡
ስለዚህ ከላይ ጥሪ የተደረገላችሁ አካላት በሙሉ እንዲሁም ሲቪል ማህበራትና የሀገር ሽማግሌዎች ለዚህ ብርቱ ሀገራዊ ጉዳይ ልዩ ትኩረትና ቅድሚያ በመስጠት እንድትመክሩበት፣ በኢትዮጵያዊ የመቻቻል መንፈስ እጅ ለእጅ ተያይዛችሁ የሚሊዮኖች የጋራ መኖሪያ የሆነችውን ውድ ሀገራችንን ከተጋረጠባት አደጋ እንድትታደጉ ቤተክርስቲያኒቱ ከአደራ ጭምር ጥሪዋን በትህትና ታስተላልፋለች፡፡
እግዚአብሔር አምላካችን፣
ሃገራችንን ይባርክ፣ ይጠብቅ፣
ፊቱንም ያብራላት፣ ጸጋውንም ያብዛላት፣
ፊቱን ይመልስላት፣ ሰላሙንም አብዝቶ ይስጣት፡፡
አሜን!

Don’t underestimate Ethiopia’s crisis, Mail & Guardian February 23, 2018

Posted by OromianEconomist in Uncategorized.
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Oppressed: Oromo mourn the hundreds of people killed by Ethiopia’s security forces in the 2016 Irreecha massacre (Tiksa Negeri, Reuters)
Oppressed: Oromo mourn the hundreds of people killed by Ethiopia’s security forces in the 2016 Irreecha massacre (Tiksa Negeri, Reuters)

For the past four years, ever since the first serious rumblings of discontent began, it has been difficult to appreciate the scale of the political crisis in Ethiopia.

Africa’s second-most populous country maintains an extraordinarily tight grip on information. Local journalists are routinely harassed, intimidated and censored, and foreign journalists are closely watched and prevented from going anywhere too sensitive. Local nongovernmental organisations and opposition parties operate under similar restrictions: under draconian laws, NGOs must tow the government line or risk losing their operating licences; opposition sympathisers are locked up in their thousands.

The international NGOs and think-tanks that operate in Ethiopia are complicit in maintaining the veil of silence. Many agree to refrain from any criticism of the Ethiopian regime in exchange for unfettered access to the African Union, which is based in Addis Ababa. Others turn a blind eye to the government’s routine human rights abuses because of its relatively good record on delivering socioeconomic development — although that record has been called into question by the sheer volume of protest action over the past few years.

In this climate, building an accurate picture of the unrest — and getting any of the usual suspects in the international community to raise the alarm — becomes nearly impossible.

There were plenty of clues, however, that not all was right. The odd massacre made international headlines — such as the dozens, perhaps hundreds, mowed down by security forces at an Oromo religious festival in October 2016. Reports of co-ordinated protests across the restive Oromia and Amhara regions suggested that resistance to the regime ran far deeper and was much better co-ordinated than the government was willing to admit.

Now, the political crisis has exploded into the open, with the resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn — always little more than temporary successor to Meles Zenawi, who died in 2012 — and the imposition of Ethiopia’s second state of emergency in under two years.

This new state of emergency, valid for six months pending parliamentary approval, will give sweeping powers of search and arrest to the security forces and restrict freedom of movement, protest and association. It gives licence for another crackdown on all forms of political opposition.

In this context, it is clear that recent political reform, including the release of hundreds of political prisoners, was not a symptom of more progressive policies but the desperate act of a government increasingly fearful for its very survival.

But the rapturous reception received by the freed opposition leaders, especially the Oromo Federalist Congress’s Merera Gudina and Bekele Gerba, seems to have convinced the hardliners in the country’s ruling coalition to remove the velvet glove and revert to the iron fist, which has served the regime so well for so long.

Now the country waits to see who will replace Desalegn. In another bid to placate protesters, it is almost certain to be someone from the Oromo region, either Lemma Megersa or Abiy Ahmed — both senior officials in the Oromo Peoples’ Democratic Organisation, one of the four ethnically based parties that make up the ruling coalition. The Oromos are Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group but have been long marginalised both economically and politically.

Somehow, the new prime minister will have to find a way to balance the demands of the protesters, who will expect immediate, demonstrable change, with the needs of the powerful securocrats in the ruling coalition who are manoeuvring for their own political futures, especially senior figures in the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front, who have long monopolised power and are not anxious to share.

“Whoever ascends to the top post will have much to prove but they should begin by following the advice of the United States embassy in Addis Ababa, which warned recently that the answer to growing unrest is ‘greater freedom, not less’,” wrote Mohammed Ademo, founder and editor of OPride.com, for African Arguments. “Indeed, Ethiopia sorely needs national reconciliation and an all-inclusive dialogue, and the next leader must act swiftly to make good on pledges of widening the democratic space.”

The alternative is too frightening to contemplate.

“[The ruling coalition] is at a historic crossroads and the options are clear. It can choose to genuinely reform or it can implode under the weight of a bitter power struggle and popular discontent,” said Ademo.

Meles ZenawiHailemariam DesalegnEthiopiaAfrican UnionOromo Liberation Front


Related (Oromian Economist findings):

Ethiopia: New State of Emergency Risks Renewed Abuses

Overbroad, Vague Provisions Undercut Rights,  HRW

Does Ethiopia’s New State of Emergency Dash Hopes for Reform?, Human Rights Watch

‘Game Over,’ U.S. Congressman jabs Ethiopia’s TPLF, Africa News

U.S. condemns crackdown in Ethiopia as political crisis deepens

Ethiopia: Mass protests ‘rooted in country’s history’, Al Jazeera

OMN Insight: Conversation with Jawar Mohammed on Ethiopian Political Crisis (Feb 21, 2018)

የኢትዮጲያ ሕዝብ በህወሓት/ኢህአዴግ ላይ የአስቸኳይ ግዜ አዋጅ ማወጅ አለበት! 

Global community responds to Ethiopia’s political uncertainties

 Ethiopia: Final days of the TPLF regime

Where is Ethiopia heading after Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn’s surprise resignation?

Ethiopia’s Great Rift

OPINION: CAN ETHIOPIA OVERCOME ITS CRISIS AND BE A NORMAL COUNTRY?

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN ETHIOPIA? STATE OF EMERGENCY, PROTESTS AND POLITICAL CRISIS EXPLAINED

Ethiopia crisis needs reforms not emergency rule – E.U. warns govt

Ethiopia’s next Prime Minister

With nobody in charge, Ethiopia declares a state of emergency, The Economist

የኢትዮጲያ ሕዝብ በህወሓት/ኢህአዴግ ላይ የአስቸኳይ ግዜ አዋጅ ማወጅ አለበት! 

First a concession, then a crackdown. The ruling party’s divisions over how to respond to growing revolt are on show

«የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጁ የሰብዓዊ መብቶችን ይገድባል»ጀርመን 

የጀርመን ውጭ ጉዳይ ሚኒስቴር ሰላማዊ ለውጥ እና አስፈላጊ ማሻሻያ የሚያመጣው ከሚመለከታቸው የፖለቲካ አካላት ጋር አካታች እና ሰፊ ውይይት ብቻ እንደሆነ እናምናለን ብሏል። መሥሪያ ቤቱ እንዳለው እንዲሕ አይነቱ ውይይት ለኢትዮጵያ ዘላቂ ውስጣዊ ሰላም እና መረጋጋት መንገድ ይጠርጋል።

Statement of the Chairperson of the Commission of the African Union on the situation in Ethiopia

Ethiopia’s reinstatement of state of emergency worries Sweden

Governments Call for Ethiopia to Revoke its State of Emergency

Ethiopia’s reinstatement of state of emergency worries Sweden February 23, 2018

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Odaa Oromoooromianeconomist

Ethiopia’s reinstatement of state of emergency worries Sweden

A blue field with a yellow Scandinavian cross that extends to the edges of the flag.

(Africa News) — Sweden says it is concerned about Ethiopia’s reinstatement of a state of emergency (SOE) in the midst of reform efforts initiated by government.

Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister, Margot Wallstrom, in a tweet said as an ally, Sweden was ‘following development in Ethiopia closely.’

Continued reform efforts, inclusive dialogue, respect for rule of law and human rights, including freedom of expression should be a priority, her tweet further tasked the government.

Following development in Ethiopia closely. As a long-time partner, Swe is concerned about reinstatement of the SoE. Continued reform efforts, inclusive dialogue, respect for rule of law and human rights, including freedom of expression should be a priority.

The February 16 state of emergency was imposed after a meeting of Council of Ministers supposedly to curb spreading violence across the country. It is the second such measure in the last two years.

The country spent the the first eight months of 2017 under a SOE imposed in October 2016. The recent measure was declared barely 24 hours after PM Hailemariam Desalegn resigned his post. The ruling coalition is set to name his successor at a Congress.

Most western allies including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany have all spoken on the move, tasking the government to soldier on with political reforms and respect for the rights of opponents.


Norway concerned over State of Emergency in Ethiopia February 23, 2018

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Odaa Oromoooromianeconomist

Norway concerned over State of Emergency in Ethiopia

‘As a good friend and strategic partner of Ethiopia I was concerned when learning of the re-imposition of a State of Emergency in Ethiopia, so soon after the last State of Emergency was lifted,’ said Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide.

The reinstatement of the State of Emergency was introduced 16 February for a period of six months.

‘The sustainable political and economic development as well as stability of Ethiopia is important to Norway. It is essential that the recent State of Emergency will not reduce the Ethiopian government’s commitment to ongoing reform processes, including multiparty dialogue, release of prisoners and the dialogue with civil society. These processes, which aim for a more inclusive political environment, are important for the development of democracy. In this respect, I would urge the government of Ethiopia to implement the State of Emergency in a proportional manner and in respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms,’ said Eriksen Søreide.


THE ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT CONTINUES COMMITTING CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY WITH IMPUNITY February 22, 2018

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THE ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT CONTINUES COMMITTING CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY WITH IMPUNITY

THE ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT CONTINUES COMMITTING CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY WITH IMPUNITY


Human rights League of the Horn of Africa

Human Rights League of Horn of Africa (HRLHA)
Written Statement Submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council,

37th Session,  26February – 23March, 2018


Item 4:Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention


(Country- Ethiopia)


THE ETHIOPIAN GOVERNMENT CONTINUES COMMITTING CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY WITH IMPUNITY
 
With the Terror Law Proclamation of 2009, which declared three Ethiopian opposition Political groups- namely the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and Ginbit-7 “terrorists”, remaining in effect despite pleas from numerous national and international human rights organizations, the Ethiopian government continued cracking down on whoever protests against its repressive rules. The Proclamation fully contradicts the whole catalogue of human and legal rights stipulated in the Ethiopian Constitution. Citizens have no freedom to express their views or meet in public, and whoever dares to defy the Proclamation is charged with being a terrorist or affiliated with a terror group, subsequent to which s/he is thrown into jail without the right to bail. As a result, the numbers of political prisoners held in Ethiopian prisons and makeshift sites have reached an unprecedented level, forcing the government to starve other sectors of the economy in order to build new prisons. The number of political prisoners in the country remains secret as the government denies holding any, even though a few weeks back and under pressure from the public, it declared that it would soon release all political prisoners. The promise, however, was not kept as it released only 153 prisoners out of the thousands held in federal government prisons. Prominent opposition party leaders like BekeleGerba, AndargachewTsigie and journalists like EskendirNegahave remained imprisoned.
 
The judiciary remains as dependent as ever and Court rulings are far from being fair. In most cases, the judges were given orders by authorities in the ruling party to sentence alleged political figures to a certain number of years, although it is evident that the charges were fabricated. In cases where some independent judges dared to release political prisoners on bail, as happened with the case of Mr. BekeleGerba, it was the prison officials, with a link to the ruling party officials, who defied the court ruling and kept the prisoner. At the time of this writing and for almost a year now, Mr. Gerbastill languishes in prison not knowing what the future may hold for him. Some political prisoners who were on the list of those to be released from prisons following the announcement by the government were kept behind, and brought to court where they were sentenced for violations of the norms of the Proclamation on Terror. This is just one indication that the Ethiopian judiciary is completely under the control of the government.
 
The government is targeting the non-EPRDF member citizens in general, and the youth in particular, who have been fighting for equality and justice for almost a decade now. The citizens, however, have continued with their peaceful uprising for an unprecedented three years in a row since November 2015, unifying the people of all ages and from all corners. During these three years of continuous protests, over 4,000 citizens have been killed, thousands others injured, and unknown numbers forcefully disappeared. The civilian police and the military killed over 700 Oromos on October 2, 2016 alone during the celebration of Irrecha, the Oromo Thanksgiving festival.
 
After all these cruel actions of the government, the Oromo people didn’t give up their demands for equality and justice and continued their peaceful protests. Unable to suppress the uprising, the government declared-on October 8, 2016-a six- month state of emergency which de jure suspended all constitutional rights. With a pretext of participating in protests, over 70,000 Oromos were thrown into prison and military camps and kept in inhumane and degrading conditions. Some 30,000 were released, but many Oromos remain detained in unknown locations and without official charges.
 
Although the government officially admitted that the mass uprising was the result of failure on its part to deliver good governance, it continued arresting and killing civilian demonstrators and ignoring their legitimate demands for equality and justice. It is reported that during the 2017 civilian demonstrations alone in Oromia and Amhara regions, more than 1,000 persons were killed. Since the beginning of 2018, the security forces killed nearly 100 persons during demonstrations in these two regions.
 
The killings, beatings and imprisoning of the citizens in Ethiopia didn’t stop them from demanding equality, justice and freedom. To silence the grievance of the citizens by military force, the government created on November 12, 2017 the so- called “National Security Council” led by the Defense Minister who declared de facto military rule. Following the decision, the government deployed its military force into the Oromo and Amhara Regional States to effect repression. The National Security Council- which is led by the Defense Minister SirajFegessa- has controlled the regional states’ police and security activities, paralyzing regional police and security institutions, in violation of article 39(3)[1] of the Ethiopian constitution of 1995 which stipulated that “Every Nation, Nationality and People in Ethiopia has the right to a full measure of self-government which includes the right to establish institutions of government in the territory that it inhabits and to equitable representation in state and Federal governments”.
 
The Federal government, in its attempt to engage the different ethnic groups (nations and nationalities) against each other and rule them as divided entities, encouraged the Somali Regional government to declare an outright war against the adjacent Oromo people as a result of which nearly one million Oromos were forced to leave their homes and villages. The government, although admitting for the first time in its history that Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) existed on its territory, deprived the displaced of the right to access food, shelter and water by blocking access roads as well as making them unsafe for humanitarian relief workers. As a result, the million displaced people had to seek permanent settlement in other parts of Oromia, with the help of Oromo Nation and regional authorities without the involvement of the Federal government.
 
Conditions in Ethiopian prisons remain the same as we last reported in 2017 at the UN Human Rights Council 34th Session. Political prisoners have the right to a reasonable space/room for sleeping, access to daylights, to proper sanitation and family visits as well as meeting with their respective lawyers. In one of the worst correctional facilities in the world, none of these have been afforded. The level of torture, as reported by those who were recently released from these prisons, is simply unbearable. The government continues denying access to international human rights organizations, the UN Human Rights Special Rapporteurs and the ICRC, whose report could have shed more light on the situations in the prisons.
 
The economic situation in the country is going from bad to worse. With the “developmental state economic policy” of the government, the few at the top amassed the entire wealth of the nation leaving the population in abject poverty. Graduates of the various universities can hardly find jobs in the country, and as and when they take their frustration to the streets, the security forces are meeting them with live bullets. All in all, the security situation and the physical safety of the youth in the country remain un-secured, resulting in a mass exodus of the entire young generation who is leaving illegally in search of a better life elsewhere. In doing so, hundreds are being drowned in the Red Sea or the Mediterranean, while some others end up being hostages of human traffickers and organ collectors in the Sinai or the Sahara. Young girls are lured into the criminal world and remain exploited by human traffickers in Middle Eastern countries.
 
The HRLHA once again renews its calls to the international community to act collectively in a timely and decisive manner – through all available mechanisms of the United Nations in accordance with the UN charter to stop the Ethiopian government’s assaults on its own citizens before it is too late. Based on the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document Paragraphs 138 and 139 on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P)[2], the international community has the responsibility and the mandate to use appropriate actions, diplomatic, humanitarian and other available means to protect the people who are only demanding their fundamental human rights as recognized by the United Nations. It is not a new practice of the United Nations that when States violate the terms of the social contract they have with their own population, it has always been the responsibility of the international community to step in and save the defenseless civilians from being exterminated, as is the case now in Ethiopia. When the State is unable or unwilling to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, the international community has the responsibility to intervene.
*****
[1] Proclamation No. 1/1995 Proclamation of the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopiahttp://www.ethiopianembassy.be/wp-content/uploads/Constitution-of-the-FDRE.pdf

Crisis in Ethiopia: elections, and fast! RENÉ LEFORT, Open Democracy February 20, 2018

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Capsizing: The system of government introduced in 1991, and monopolised by Meles Zenawi from the early 2000s, is irremediably dead. It had been in its death-throes since Meles’s sudden demise in 2012. The snap resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn on February 15 marked the serving of the official death certificate.

What is urgent is to bring down the tension by focusing the hopes and energies of the activists on a political way out, in the form of a tested, unchallengeable mechanism.

Recently resigned Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn speaking in China, May 15, 2017. Lan Hongguang/Xinhua News Agency/Press Association. All rights reserved.


The crisis in Ethiopia has suddenly gained momentum and reached a tipping point. Things could go either way. The country could dig itself even deeper, with consequences that don’t bear thinking about. Or there could be a broad realisation that Ethiopia is “at the precipice”, bringing a surge of realism and pragmatism that would finally start a process of political rebuilding on solid, inclusive and lasting foundations.

This will require compromise, an attitude that is, to say the least, somewhat unfamiliar in traditional Ethiopian culture. All the actors will have to find a balance between what they would like to get and what they can get, between the short-term and the long-term. But time is short, numbered in weeks, maybe days.

Capsizing

The system of government introduced in 1991, and monopolised by Meles Zenawi from the early 2000s, is irremediably dead. It had been in its death-throes since Meles’s sudden demise in 2012. The snap resignation of Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn on February 15 marked the serving of the official death certificate.

He had privately indicated his intention to resign, but not until after the planned spring congress of the governing coalition of the four major ethnic parties: the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), the Oromo Peoples’ Democratic Organisation (OPDO), the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) and the Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement (SEPDM).

The reason he gave for his resignation, as “vital in the bid to carry out reforms that would lead to sustainable peace and democracy”, is particularly open to question in that he was a well-known reformist. Did he quit because he was pushed or because he had become aware of his powerlessness? In the midst of the worst storm that the country has experienced for decades, he was the official captain of a crew that had become so disparate, divided and disloyal that his vessel was pitching and yawing wildly.

Hailemariam probably did not want to be held responsible in the event that it should capsize. He may also have hoped that his departure would back the ruling coalition into a corner and leave it with no other alternative than to set a course out of the storm and form a new crew capable of following it.

Hegemony?

In parallel with this decline in central power, the respective strength of the coalition’s regional parties, starting with the OPDO, has continued to rise to the detriment of the TPLF, which had dominated the coalition for more than two decades despite the fact that Tigrayans account for only 6% of the nation’s population. And alongside this centrifugal movement, opposition forces – both legal and illegal, national and anchored in the diaspora – were growing in power, after long years of repression had kept them in the wilderness.

As the body politic fragments and levels out, the protests show no sign of abating, mainly in Oromya, even though not a week goes by without its death toll of victims of the security forces. Oromo complaints of marginalisation have gradually shifted towards claims of what they believe they deserve as the country’s most populous and richest region: to be at the top.

The home strike on February 12 and 13 paralysed Oromya as far as the gates of Addis Ababa, demonstrating that a blockade of the capital would not be inconceivable. Unprecedented crowds in multiple cities celebrated the return of the most prominent political prisoners: around 6,000 have been freed since a gradual amnesty announced at the beginning of January. Buoyed up by its successes, the street – at least in Oromya – could misinterpret the disarray of the EPRDF to the point that it could believe itself to have achieved an hegemonic  position that none can deny it.

However, this popular movement, mostly spontaneous and therefore loosely organised, has its shadow side, at least on the margins. While the primary responsibility for the forced displacement of almost a million people – mostly Oromo, a minority Somali – essentially since September 2017, described as “interethnic clashes”, is attributable to the Somali authorities, at grassroots level it has stirred up ethnic tensions that were previously latent, or at most sporadic and sparse.

Ethnic clashes and nationalist hysteria

The frequent claim that multi-ethnic communities have lived in peace for centuries is both true and false. “Ethnic clashes” have always taken place around basic issues: land, pasturage, water. They have flared up with all the major upheavals and subsequent power vacuums of recent decades, such as the agrarian reforms of 1975 and the introduction of the federal system in 1992-1993.

The national parties, mainly OPDO and ANDM, have backed the quest for “national identities” and claims of “national rights” in order to assert themselves vis-à-vis the TPLF and ride the wave of protests. Some of their leaders have even given their imprimatur, at least through inaction, to outbursts of nationalistic hysteria that itself also masks well-known interests, ultimately leading to “ethnic cleansing” accompanied by dispossession and pillaging.

Recently, thousands of Tigrayans, identified with their governing elite, whose powers and resources are disproportionate, were driven out of the Amhara region. Members of the Kemant, a subgroup of the Agwa ethnicity, were massacred there. Students have had to flee their universities to escape a sometimes murderous wave of “ethnic purification”.

“Ethnic clashes” are proliferating. In some cases the regional or local security forces do nothing to stop them. A symptom of this odious climate: on websites accessible in Ethiopia , especially in the comments sections, overtly racist interethnic attacks, which would be an offense anywhere else, are flourishing as never before.

Fundamental divide

Finally, in parallel with this threefold process – disintegration in the system of power, continuing protests with sometimes violent outbursts, and rising ethnic hysteria – a fundamental divide is forming, even if it does not reach the light of day. The ultra-dominant official rhetoric is reformist, founded on a key expression: “deep renewal”. However, websites (like Aigaforum.com or Tigraionline.com) that say out loud what is only whispered in certain circles of the TPLF, insist that the only effect of the government’s acts of appeasement is to make the protesters even more demanding and exacerbate the disorders.

In this view, the only way to put an end to both is to employ every possible means in a trial of strength. In addition, questions remain about some interventions by federal forces – army, police, the elite Agazi unit – carried out without the prior agreement of the regional authorities, a legal requirement, and frequently accompanied by the use of disproportionate violence. These forces are disciplined and battle hardened, so individual excesses or blunders are highly unlikely. These cases of autonomous and brutal conduct, running counter to official policy, are undoubtedly commanded, or at least tolerated, by the heads of these units, although they cannot be unaware that they are an essential contributor to escalations in radicalisation and violence.

How to draw back from the precipice

Drawing back from the “precipice” requires an urgent Copernican revolution. It can be built on four cornerstones.

– Apart from a few very marginal elements, no one fundamentally questions the Constitution. It can therefore provide the frame of reference for any change.

– None of the members of the ruling coalition envisages putting an end to it, however formal and forced its perpetuation may be. They all know that the coalition’s official collapse could devour them all. At least in the short term, it is hard to find any sign of any alternative coalition that could form, let alone govern. If the EPRDF broke up, the probability that Ethiopia would become a “failed state” is very high. However weakened it is, there would still be one hand on the helm.

– At no point, so far, has the spearhead of protest in Oromya, the Queerroo (youth), called for armed struggle. This is a major change: in the history of Ethiopia, power has always come through the barrel of a gun. However, there is a growing radical fringe which believes that taking up arms will be sufficient to put an end to the regime.

– Finally, even the opposition, which was calling for the immediate formation of a transitional government of national unity, has more or less abandoned this demand. It was unrealistic. The EPRDF has just rejected it. If it had agreed, its divisions and the scattered nature of the opposition would have bogged down the formation of such a government in interminable bargaining and one-upmanship and, once in place, would have condemned it to impotence.

However, the longer the power vacuum continues, the closer the “precipice” approaches. Regardless of its divisions, the EPRDF must at all costs make the internal compromises needed to appoint a credible prime minister and government, and then actually support them so that they can take back the helm. Of course, the appointment of Lemma Megersa, although he cannot legally occupy this position, would satisfy Oromo protesters. However, it would require such major concessions in the light of what we know about the balances of power, that another Oromo or Amhara figure, or even a southerner, would seem more feasible, a remake of the compromise reached for Meles Zenawi’s successor.

State of emergency

The proclamation of the state of emergency on February 16 caused an outcry, prompting the US Embassy to issue a statement of a severity unprecedented in contemporary US-Ethiopia relations, almost an ukase (“We strongly disagree with the Ethiopian government’s decision to impose a state of emergency… (This) undermines recent positive steps…  We strongly urge the government to rethink this approach”).

According to the Minister of Defence, it was decided unanimously by the Council of Ministers, and therefore by its OPDO and ANDM members, who reportedly came on board after first having vigorously rejected it. If this is true, what compromises were required? At present we don’t know the terms, any more than we know what is debated behind the scenes on all the different issues, making the state of emergency just one aspect of a global negotiation. There is still much to play for.

Does it signify that political openings have been rejected and the priority placed on repression, in other words a major victory for the “hardliners”? This will also depend on its scope, those enforcing it and their behaviour. The only indication comes from the official agency press release, which states that the purpose is “to protect freedom of movement and the rights of citizens to live wherever they choose as well as build assets”, in other words first and foremost to put an end to the “ethnic based attacks” mentioned a few lines below.

It is noteworthy that it makes no mention of restrictions on political activities. If, and only if, future information on the state of emergency confirms this analysis, and if, and only if, the federal forces show a minimum of restraint in their behaviour, the government will have taken the decision incumbent on any government facing the risks of an explosion of violent excesses, including ethnic unrest on this scale.

That may perhaps be why OPDO and ANDM, which had condemned the ethnic attacks, was ultimately able to accept the state of emergency. Under these circumstances, it can also be assumed that Parliament might approve it.

However, intervention by the security forces alone will not suffice to prevent this threat if nothing changes elsewhere. They were overwhelmed during the previous state of emergency. Ethiopia has around 15,000 rural communities (kebele), each with a few dozen militiamen. In other words, probably 400,000 armed men who owe their loyalty to the leader of the kebele. There is no proof that these leaders would be willing or able to hold back ethnic attacks perpetrated by a majority of inhabitants.

At this level of crisis – breakdown in the system of government, dispersal and weakness of the legal opposition, protest that is increasingly heated, disparate in its organisation and simultaneously extreme and nebulous in its goals, proliferation of ethnic clashes – it is unrealistic to think that time and resources are sufficient for a big negotiation, a sort of “national conference”, even one that brought together the main stakeholders in and outside the country, to be able to start everything afresh and rebuild a global alternative system step-by-step.

What is urgent is to bring down the tension by focusing the hopes and energies of the activists on a political way out, in the form of a tested, unchallengeable mechanism that will be as speedy, practical and unifying as possible. The mechanism that would meet these criteria is early general elections, held well ahead of the current schedule of spring 2020.

Early general elections

First, they would clarify the political landscape. Each force would be required to present voters with its flagship measures for rebuilding the system of political, economic, military or security power. The goal would not simply be a change of regime. It would include the distribution of powers and resources within the federation, hence the famous “nationalities question” that lies at the heart of the current crisis and for almost two centuries has undermined the capacity of Ethiopians to live together.

Following the elections, this landscape could be structured and hierarchized on clear and transparent foundations, and the inevitable alliances would be formed first around their respective weights and projects. Since these foundational elections would be legislative, Parliament would finally acquire the primary role assigned to it in the Constitution. The verdict of the electorate, founded on universal suffrage, would make the outcome unchallengeable.

Finally, elections would channel protest that is both vigorous and inchoate into a concrete, tangible and decisive goal. The Queerro who favour a shift to armed struggle remain a very small minority, but they have the wind in their sails. All the voices that count in Oromya and in the diaspora continue to call for calm, for patience, arguing that change is now inevitable but needs to be given time. If they are listened to and if, moreover, the undertaking to hold these general elections could reduce the tension, defuse the reasons for protesting and therefore the risks of outbreaks, there would be a greater chance that the most extreme elements would become isolated and ethnic clashes less probable.

Free and fair

However, this scenario can only work on one condition: that these elections are “free and fair”. For this to happen, a supreme authority needs to be established, emanating from all the main stakeholders, whether government, opposition or civil society, in Ethiopia or abroad.

The former head of the military, General Tsadkan, even proposed that, in order to guarantee its independence from the current government, no member of the EPRDF should be able to be part of it, though it would be difficult for the coalition to agree to submit to the authority of a body that would resemble a weapon directed against it.

This authority would be vested with the powers needed to guarantee the ability of all the competitors to organise and express themselves freely, including the power to put on ice laws that contravene it and that it would be formally impossible to repeal rapidly.

Finally, it would set a realistic date for elections.  The oppositions must have a certain amount of time to build their electoral machines, but the date should be as soon as possible. In the meantime, the government would continue to deal with day-to-day matters.

It may be objected that the formation of this supreme authority and its mandate would encounter the same kinds of difficulties as a transitional government. However, there is one big difference in scale and scope: whereas the purpose of the latter would be nothing less than to govern, the former would be restricted to a single goal: to organise and manage elections. Still unrealistic? Possibly, but probably the least unrealistic scenario to enable the country to step back.


Related:

Ethiopia’s Great Rift: Will a power struggle within the ruling party lead to reform — or more repression?

Washington Puts Ethiopia’s Human Rights Abusers on Notice, Tesfa News

Ethiopia: End Game? Having achieved so much through protest, it is unlikely that the Ethiopian people will accept half-hearted reforms.  ,     Oromian Economist     

198 Ways to Fight the T-TPLF’s State of Emergency in Ethiopia and Win, Al Mariam’s Commentaries February 19, 2018

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Odaa OromoooromianeconomistNo To Fascist TPLF Ethiopia's genocidal militarism and mass killings in Oromia, Ethiopia

198 Ways to Fight the T-TPLF’s State of Emergency in Ethiopia and Win


One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” — Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The T-TPLF state of emergency declaration is an unjust law!

The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress… If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters.” — Frederick Douglass, anti-slavery statesman.

The endurance of the Ethiopian people suffering under T-TPLF ethnic apartheid rule has completely vanished. Today, they are on the move agitating and mobilizing for peaceful nonviolent change.

Author’s Note:

Make no mistake about it!

The peaceful struggle for political change in Ethiopia is now in its final and terminal phase.

On February 16, 2018, the Thugtatorship of the Tigrean Peoples’ Liberation Front (T-TPLF) declared a war of the people of Ethiopia for the third time since October 2016 by declaring a state of emergency. That is the T-TPLF’s response to the Ethiopian people’s peaceful demands for change.

That declaration of a state of emergency is the T-TPLF’s last hurrah, their curtain call.

But the whole emergency declaration is a crock of horse manure. This is the third emergency declaration since October 2016. The people’s demand did not stop. What is so different now?

The T-TPLF state of emergency declaration should be called by its proper name: License to kill. License to jail. License to torture.

But the T-TPLF has had that license for 27 years. It is nothing new. It changes nothing.

When they T-TPLF massacred thousands of people in October 2016 at the Irrecha Festival, they did not have a declaration of emergency. For 27 years, the T-TPLF has massacred, jailed and tortured hundreds of thousands of innocent Ethiopians without a declaration of emergency.

Do the T-TPLF bosses now believe the people will kneel down to them, kiss their shoes and become their slaves in their ethnic apartheid empire simply because they scribbled a piece of paper with the words, “state of emergency”? That declaration is not worth the paper it is written on.

The fact of the matter is that the T-TPLF bosses today are desperadoes, criminals with no place to run or hide. They are at the end of their ropes, on their last legs. They do not know what to do to continue to cling to power and maintain the ethnic apartheid system they have enjoyed over the past 27 years.

So they try to prove they still have power and they are still the masters of Ethiopia’s 100 million people.

But make no mistake.

The state of emergency declaration is about sending a message to the people of Ethiopia and to the world. It is a message that announces the T-TPLF is making its final stand to cling to power come hell or high water:

The T- TPLF will never, never give up power peacefully and allow a democratic transition in Ethiopia.

The T- TPLF will kill, massacre, jail and torture to crush the people’s demand for peaceful change and cling to power.

The T-TPLF would rather see a civil war than give up power peacefully.

The T-TPLF would rather go down blazing than find peaceful ways of addressing the people’s demands.

The T-TPLF will have it ONLY its way: All for itself and nothing for anyone else. It will be the T-TPLF way of the highway.

The T-TPLF in its emergency declaration is offering the Ethiopian people a stark  choice: Bow your heads, drop down on your knees and live like slaves, or die trying to be free with your nonviolent civil disobedience boots on.

So, the dreaded day has come for the T-TPLF. Ethiopia is at the crossroads and the crosshairs.

The T-TPLF wants an Armageddon.

The people of Ethiopia want peace, truth and reconciliation.

The people have resolved to free themselves of ethnic apartheid rule.

The T-TPLF is determined to keep them under ethnic apartheid rule.

The T-TPLF bosses know the end is near; and they are facing the final curtain.

How so?

The people have met their most formidable enemy. That enemy was hiding within them.

For decades, that enemy dwelled in their hearts, minds and every cell in their bodies.

That enemy goes by the name FEAR.

But the people have conquered FEAR and in so doing conquered the T-TPLF.

Robert Holmes (“The Ethics of Nonviolence”, 2013 at p. 226”), explained it best:

For power dissolves when people lose their fear. You can still kill people who no longer fear you, but you cannot control them. You cannot control dead people. Walk through a cemetery with a bullhorn, if you like. Command people to rise up, clean the streets, pay taxes, report for military duty, and they will ignore you. Political power requires obedience, which is fueled by the fear of pain to be inflicted if you refuse to comply with the will of those who control the instruments of violence. That power evaporates when the people lose their fear…

Simply stated, nonviolent social change by civil disobedience and mass resistance simply means the people have lost their fear of their oppressors.

What is to be done by people who have lost their fear of their oppressors?

What is to be done in the face of T-TPLF’s declaration of state of emergency and beyond?

In 1901, V.I. Lenin wrote a pamphlet entitled, “What Is to Be Done?” (p. 47). He argued the working class will not be politically mobilized into action simply by fighting economic battles over workers’ wages, working conditions and other economic rights. To transform the working class into a potent Marxist political force, Lenin said it would be necessary to form a “vanguard” of dedicated revolutionaries to spread Marxist political ideas among the workers.  He prescribed, “To bring political knowledge to the workers the Social Democrats must go among all classes of the population; they must dispatch units of their army in all directions.”

I say what is good sauce for the goose is good for the gander. The principles that apply to a violent revolution apply equally to a peaceful nonviolent revolution.

The peaceful nonviolent movement led by the “youth vanguard” cannot win the struggle without educating and empowering all segments of Ethiopian society.

The youth vanguard must educate, inform, empower and mobilize all segments of the  population, all members of ethnic groups in their own languages and traditions, all age and faith groups, all members of the professions and trades in the techniques of nonviolent struggle in the fight for democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

The time is NOW for the youth vanguards of the Ethiopian peaceful nonviolent revolution to penetrate every nook and cranny of Ethiopian society.

The youth vanguard, above all, must teach and preach ETHIOPIAWINET which is simply defined as LOVE.

The ultimate aim of the Ethiopian struggle must be the victory of ETHIOPIAWINET over ethnic hate and ethnic apartheid system.

Teaching and preaching peaceful change must be made synonymous and go hand in hand with teaching and preaching of  ETHIOPIAWINET way of life.

The youth vanguard must teach and preach the philosophy and practice of nonviolent peaceful change and ETHIOPIAWINET in the schools, colleges and universities.

They must teach and preach peaceful change and ETHIOPIAWINET in the churches and mosques.

The must teach and preach peaceful change and ETHIOPIAWINET in the civil service and bureaucracy.

They must teach and preach peaceful change and ETHIOPIAWINET in the armed forces, the police and security forces.

They must teach and preach peaceful change and ETHIOPIAWINET among women and girls.

They must teach and preach peaceful change and ETHIOPIAWINET to the urban and rural youth.

They must teach and preach peaceful change and ETHIOPIAWINET in the tea rooms, restaurants and bars.

They must teach and preach peaceful change and ETHIOPIAWINET in the shops and market places.

They must teach and preach peaceful change and ETHIOPIAWINET in the stadiums and sports fields.

They must teach and preach peaceful change and ETHIOPIAWINET among the elites, the wealthy and privileged.

They must teach and preach peaceful change and ETHIOPIAWINET among the poor, the powerless and defenseless.

They must teach-in and teach-out peaceful change and ETHIOPIAWINET.

They must preach on and on!

They must be the change they want to see. They must live a life of ETHIOPIAWINET.

I have been teaching and preaching nonviolent social change and promoting truth and reconciliation for over 12 years.

I got involved in the Ethiopian human rights struggle because I was outraged by the Meles Massacres of 2005.

The Meles Massacres stirred deep emotions in me. For the first time in decades, I realized that though I had left Ethiopia, Ethiopia had not left me. The Meles Massacres made me realize that even though I had moved away from Ethiopia permanently, Ethiopia had not moved out of me permanently. It is a feeling that is hard to explain even today. I can only say that the massacre of those unarmed citizens (and the shocking photographs) triggered in me an emotion of volcanic outrage (that some say still flows unabated; I will not argue with them). I was not merely shocked and appalled; I was shaken to the core.

It has been said that in desperate times, we either define the moment or the moment defines us. It was at this time that I resolved to define my moment by using my pen (keyboard) as a weapon of nonviolent resistance against the tyranny of Meles Zenawi and his gang of criminals in designer suits.

I believe it is my moral obligation (and all human beings) to speak up against human rights crimes and agitate for peaceful nonviolent resistance. In my efforts, I have tried to make a small contribution by providing civic education in nonviolent resistance.

Indeed, before Official Day 1 of my involvement in the Ethiopian human rights struggle on July 3, 2006, I wrote a three-part commentary on civil disobedience and nonviolence and its relevance in the struggle for freedom, democracy and human rights in Ethiopia.  I undertook that effort after the Tegbar League Addis Ababa Leadership Committee issued a statement in March 2006 indicating that it

will organize nonviolent actions such as blocking major roads, work slowdowns, boycott of schools, and boycott of products that are produced or sold by EPRDF-affiliated companies. These nonviolent actions are intended to systematically make the country ungovernable and paralyze the Meles regime. There will be no public demonstration and direct confrontation with the blood thirsty Federal Police and Meles Zenawi’s death squad.

To provide intellectual support to Tegbar and spread knowledge about the philosophy and practice of nonviolence and civil disobedience, beginning in April 2006, I issued my series.

In Part I “Of Civil Disobedience and Nonviolence” (April 23, 2006), I examined the ideas of Henry David Thoreau, who inspired Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King in leading an independence and civil rights movement.

In Part II “Of Civil Disobedience and Nonviolence” (May 10, 2006), I examined Gandhi’s use of  “Satyagraha,” which he defined as “truth-force,” “love-force” or “soul-force.” In fighting for human dignity of Indians in South Africa and later independence of India. Gandhi’s message to the colonial oppressors of India was simple. “My ambition is no less than to convert the British people through nonviolence, and thus make them see the wrong they have done to India. I do not seek to harm your people.”

In Part III “Of Civil Disobedience and Nonviolence” (May 18, 2006), I examined MLK’s efforts to bring peace, harmony and interracial unity between black and white people in America”.

Over the past decade, I have written dozens of commentaries promoting nonviolent change, truth reconciliation, direct action and have tried to mobilize Ethiopian intellectuals to join me in the effort.

In October 2008, I wrote a commentary entitled, “The political economy of remittances in Ethiopia”. That commentary was in fact an analysis of the billions of dollars Diaspora Ethiopians send back to Ethiopia. I raised a number of questions which focused on the role of remittances in providing economic buoyancy to help keep afloat, support, prolong and entrench the one-party, one-man dictatorship of the T-TPLF in Ethiopia.

I am gratified to learn of recent efforts by an “international task force calling for remittance boycott against regime in Ethiopia.”

In my September 2013, commentary, “The Diplomacy of Nonviolent Change in Ethiopia”, I wrote abut how people lose their fears of oppressive government and muster courage to fight back with civil disobedience. The “diplomacy” of nonviolent change involves the use of  dialogue, negotiations, compromise, bargaining, concessions, accommodations, cooperation and ultimately peace-making and reconciliation.

In my September 2013 commentary , “Interpreting and Living MLK’s Dream”, I discussed Dr. King’s message of hope and redemption for our time and his unlimited imagination and hope in the infinite capacity of humanity to be humane while acutely aware of  “man’s inhumanity to man”.

In 2014, I joined the boycott of Coca Cola Company for its disrespectful and humiliating treatment of the great Ethiopian patriot Teddy Afro. In my June 2014 commentary“Why I am boycotting Ȼoca Ȼola”, I called on my readers to boycott Coca Cola products. I promised then never to touch a Coca Cola product, a promise I have kept to this day.

In my January 2017 New Year message, “Dare to Dream With Me About the New Ethiopia in 2017”, I shared my dreams of the Beloved Ethiopian Community to peacefully emerge from the nightmare of T-TPLF ethnic apartheid rule. Here are a few of those dreams of: ONE Ethiopia at Peace with itself. Ethiopians finding their unity in their humanity instead of their ethnicity. Ethiopians regardless of ethnicity, religion and region subscribing to the creed, “I am my brother’s, my sister’s keeper.” The day when Truth shall rise from the ashes of lies and lead all Ethiopians on the path of reconciliation in Ethiopia. Human rights extinguishing  government wrongs in Ethiopia. True multiparty democracy with iron clad protections for human rights. Learned men and women using their intellectual powers to teach, preach and touch the people. The release all political prisoners.

Above all, I have a dream of the day when Ethiopia’s young people will put their shoulders to the wheel and take full charge of their country’s destiny, leaving behind the politics of hate and ethnicity; turning  their backs on those wallowing in moral bankruptcy and corruption and creating a new politics for a New Ethiopia based on dialogue, negotiation and compromise.

Simply stated, I dream of the New Ethiopia, rising over the horizon in a peaceful revolution, as a shining “city high on top of the African hill”.

In my December 2013 commentary, “Mandela’s Message to Ethiopia’s Youth: Never give up…!” Never give up and keep on trying to build your Beloved Ethiopian Community! Dare to be great. Change yourselves first before you change society. Keep on trying. Come together. Be virtuous. Be patriotic. Be courageous. Dream big. Lead from behind. Be optimistic and determined.  Learn and educate the people.

In my January 2018 commentary, “Unarmed Truth and Unconditional Love (Reconciliation): Dr. Martin Luther King’s Message to Ethiopians Today”, I examined Dr. King’s lifelong message of nonviolence, peace, reconciliation in the context of Ethiopia’s dire crises today and building of a new Beloved Ethiopian Community.

All Ethiopians have a moral and ethical obligation to engage in peaceful, nonviolent change in their motherland

The time has come for all freedom-loving Ethiopians to stand up and be counted. It is time for truth or consequences. We all have a choice to make: Stand with the people of Ethiopia, or by not doing so stand with their oppressors.  It is a choice without moral relativism or ambiguity. One can choose to be part of a 27 year-old problem or part of the solution to usher in the New Ethiopia.

Dr. King said, “One has a moral responsibility to disobey unjust laws.” He explained, “A just law is a man-made code that squares with the moral law or the law of God. An unjust law is a code that is out of harmony with the moral law. Any law that uplifts human personality is just. Any law that degrades human personality is unjust.”

The T-TPLF’s state of emergency declaration is an unjust law. It is a law that contravenes God’s law. It violates natural law. It is a government wrong against God-given human rights.

The peaceful, nonviolent struggle in Ethiopia must go on.

We must have Churchillian resolve in our peaceful nonviolent struggle.

Facing an imminent invasion of Britain by the Nazis, Winston Churchill was ready to fight and threw down the gauntlet. “We shall go on to the end. We shall fight in France, we shall fight on the seas and oceans, and in the air, on the beaches, the landing grounds, in the streets, in the hills; we shall never surrender.”

Ethiopians in Ethiopia and in the Diaspora must go on to the end. We must fight the T-TPLF using every weapon of peaceful nonviolent struggle.

We must fight them with civil disobedience and mass resistance in the schools, in the colleges and universities, in the streets, in the urban and rural areas, in places of worship and public gatherings, in every hamlet, village, town and city.

We must fight the T-TPLF in every open and closed political space, in the workspace and even in the prison space. We must fight them in the monkey courts and in the kangaroo parliaments. We must fight them during the day and in the night. We must fight them in the sunshine and in the rain.

Diaspora Ethiopians in the West must do their fair share. We must fight their lobbyist in the halls of Congress and in the White House. We must fight them in the newspapers, on television and radio. We must fight their trolls in cyberspace and social media.

We must fight them, to paraphrase what Churchill said of the Nazis, and carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New Ethiopia, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of all Ethiopian people from the yoke of T-TPLF ethnic apartheid system.

A very special request, my humble plea to all who are engaged in the peaceful struggle – Please no violence

We must not bring ourselves to the level of the T-TPLF.

That is because we have the most powerful weapon in our hand, hearts and minds.

That weapon is nonviolence.

We must not resort to violence against our brothers and sisters, neighbors and compatriots.  Gandhi said, “the strong are never vindictive” and have no need for violence.

We who advocate nonviolent change are strong! In body, spirit and soul.

Let us heed Dr. Martin Luther King’s words:

Hate begets hate; violence begets violence; toughness begets a greater toughness… The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy, instead of diminishing evil, it multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases hate…. Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

Mahatma Gandhi said, “An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind.”

For 12 years, I have toiled day and night, night and day, to see the daylight, the sunlight of freedom and equal opportunity shine on Ethiopia.

I do not ever want to see Ethiopia full of blind people, blinded by hate and revenge.

My dream is to see Ethiopia blinded by the light of love and of truth.

I have stood with Ethiopia’s young people through thin and thick for a long time

Now I ask them to stand with me in actively practicing NO VIOLENCE. NO DESTRUCTION OF PROPERTY. NO REVENGE.

Hate and violence cannot drive out hate and violence out of Ethiopia. Only love, understanding and tolerance can do that.

We are better than the hate mongers, those who use violence to suppress human rights.

Let us become the change we want to see!

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How can every Ethiopian man, woman and child live up to their moral and ethical obligation to resist T-TPLF tyranny and work for peaceful nonviolent social and political change.

Let me count the ways!

The following document is authored by Prof. Gene Sharp, the “intellectual father of peaceful resistance” and founder of the Albert Einstein Institution, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the study of nonviolent action. Prof. Sharp passed away on January 28, 2018. He has influenced numerous anti-government resistance movements around the world.

PDF copy of the document is also available.

Prof. Sharp prepared the 198 Methods of Nonviolent Action to demonstrate that “practitioners of nonviolent struggle have an entire arsenal of ‘nonviolent weapons’ at their disposal.” He classified those “weapons” into three broad categories: nonviolent protest and persuasion, noncooperation (social, economic, and political), and nonviolent intervention.   

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                                  198 METHODS OF NONVIOLENT ACTION

THE METHODS OF NONVIOLENT PROTEST AND PERSUASION

Formal Statements

  1.                    Public Speeches
                      2. Letters of opposition or support
                        3. Declarations by organizations and institutions
                        4. Signed public statements
                        5. Declarations of indictment and intention
                        6. Group or mass petitions

Communications with a Wider Audience

  1.                    Slogans, caricatures, and symbols
                      8. Banners, posters, and displayed communications
                        9. Leaflets, pamphlets, and books
                        10. Newspapers and journals
                        11. Records, radio, and television
                        12. Skywriting and earthwriting

Group Representations

  1.                    Deputations
                      14. Mock awards
                        15. Group lobbying
                        16. Picketing
                        17. Mock elections

Symbolic Public Acts

  1.                    Displays of flags and symbolic colors
                      19. Wearing of symbols
                        20. Prayer and worship
                        21. Delivering symbolic objects
                        22. Protest disrobings
                        23. Destruction of own property
                        24. Symbolic lights
                        25. Displays of portraits
                        26. Paint as protest
                        27. New signs and names
                        28. Symbolic sounds
                        29. Symbolic reclamations
                        30. Rude gestures

Pressures on Individuals

  1.                    “Haunting” officials
                      32. Taunting officials
                        33. Fraternization
                        34. Vigils

Drama and Music

  1.                    Humorous skits and pranks
                      36. Performances of plays and music
                        37. Singing

Processions

  1.                    Marches
                      39. Parades
                        40. Religious processions
                        41. Pilgrimages
                        42. Motorcades

Honoring the Dead

  1.                    Political mourning
                      44. Mock funerals
                        45. Demonstrative funerals
                        46. Homage at burial places

Public Assemblies

  1.                    Assemblies of protest or support
                      48. Protest meetings
                        49. Camouflaged meetings of protest
                        50. Teach-ins

Withdrawal and Renunciation

  1.                    Walk-outs
                      52. Silence
                        53. Renouncing honors
                        54. Turning one’s back

THE METHODS OF SOCIAL NONCOOPERATION

Ostracism of Persons

  1.                    Social boycott
                      56. Selective social boycott
                        57. Lysistratic nonaction
                        58. Excommunication
                        59. Interdict

Noncooperation with Social Events, Customs, and Institutions

  1.                    Suspension of social and sports activities
                      61. Boycott of social affairs
                        62. Student strike
                        63. Social disobedience
                        64. Withdrawal from social institutions

Withdrawal from the Social System

  1.                    Stay-at-home
                      66. Total personal noncooperation
                        67. “Flight” of workers
                        68. Sanctuary
                        69. Collective disappearance
                        70. Protest emigration (hijrat)

THE METHODS OF ECONOMIC NONCOOPERATION: ECONOMIC BOYCOTTS 
Actions by Consumers

  1.                    Consumers’ boycott
                      72. Nonconsumption of boycotted goods
                        73. Policy of austerity
                        74. Rent withholding
                        75. Refusal to rent
                        76. National consumers’ boycott
                        77. International consumers’ boycott

Action by Workers and Producers

  1.                    Workmen’s boycott
                      79. Producers’ boycott

Action by Middlemen

  1.                    Suppliers’ and handlers’ boycott

Action by Owners and Management

  1.                    Traders’ boycott
                      82. Refusal to let or sell property
                        83. Lockout
                        84. Refusal of industrial assistance
                        85. Merchants’ “general strike”

Action by Holders of Financial Resources

  1.                    Withdrawal of bank deposits
                      87. Refusal to pay fees, dues, and assessments
                        88. Refusal to pay debts or interest
                        89. Severance of funds and credit
                        90. Revenue refusal
                        91. Refusal of a government’s money

Action by Governments

  1.                    Domestic embargo
                      93. Blacklisting of traders
                        94. International sellers’ embargo
                        95. International buyers’ embargo
                        96. International trade embargo

THE METHODS OF ECONOMIC NONCOOPERATION: THE STRIKE 
Symbolic Strikes

  1.                    Protest strike
                      98. Quickie walkout (lightning strike)

Agricultural Strikes

  1.                    Peasant strike
                      100. Farm workers’ strike

Strikes by Special Groups

  1.                    Refusal of impressed labor
                      102. Prisoners’ strike
                        103. Craft strike
                        104. Professional strike

Ordinary Industrial Strikes

  1.                    Establishment strike
                      106. Industry strike
                        107. Sympathetic strike

Restricted Strikes

  1.                    Detailed strike
                      109. Bumper strike
                        110. Slowdown strike
                        111. Working-to-rule strike
                        112. Reporting “sick” (sick-in)
                        113. Strike by resignation
                        114. Limited strike
                        115. Selective strike

Multi-Industry Strikes

  1.                    Generalized strike
  2.                    General strike

Combination of Strikes and Economic Closures 

  1.                    Hartal
  2.                    Economic shutdown 

THE METHODS OF POLITICAL NONCOOPERATION 
Rejection of Authority

  1.                    Withholding or withdrawal of allegiance
                      121. Refusal of public support
                        122. Literature and speeches advocating resistance

Citizens’ Noncooperation with Government

  1.                    Boycott of legislative bodies
                      124. Boycott of elections
                        125. Boycott of government employment and positions
                        126. Boycott of government depts., agencies, and other bodies
                        127. Withdrawal from government educational institutions
                        128. Boycott of government-supported organizations
                        129. Refusal of assistance to enforcement agents
                        130. Removal of own signs and placemarks
                        131. Refusal to accept appointed officials
                        132. Refusal to dissolve existing institutions

Citizens’ Alternatives to Obedience

  1.                    Reluctant and slow compliance
                      134. Nonobedience in absence of direct supervision
                        135. Popular nonobedience
                        136. Disguised disobedience
                        137. Refusal of an assemblage or meeting to disperse
                        138. Sitdown
                        139. Noncooperation with conscription and deportation
                        140. Hiding, escape, and false identities
                        141. Civil disobedience of “illegitimate” laws

Action by Government Personnel

  1.                    Selective refusal of assistance by government aides
                      143. Blocking of lines of command and information
                        144. Stalling and obstruction
                        145. General administrative noncooperation
  2.                    Judicial noncooperation
                      147. Deliberate inefficiency and selective noncooperation by enforcement agents
                        148. Mutiny

Domestic Governmental Action

  1.                    Quasi-legal evasions and delays
                      150. Noncooperation by constituent governmental units

International Governmental Action

  1.                    Changes in diplomatic and other representations
                      152. Delay and cancellation of diplomatic events
                        153. Withholding of diplomatic recognition
                        154. Severance of diplomatic relations
                        155. Withdrawal from international organizations
                        156. Refusal of membership in international bodies
                        157. Expulsion from international organizations 

THE METHODS OF NONVIOLENT INTERVENTION 
Psychological Intervention

  1.                    Self-exposure to the elements
                      159. The fast
                                            a) Fast of moral pressure
                                            b) Hunger strike
                                            c) Satyagrahic fast
                        160. Reverse trial
                        161. Nonviolent harassment

Physical Intervention

  1.                    Sit-in
                      163. Stand-in
                        164. Ride-in
                        165. Wade-in
                        166. Mill-in
                        167. Pray-in
                        168. Nonviolent raids
                        169. Nonviolent air raids
                        170. Nonviolent invasion
                        171. Nonviolent interjection
                        172. Nonviolent obstruction
                        173. Nonviolent occupation

Social Intervention

  1.                    Establishing new social patterns
                      175. Overloading of facilities
                        176. Stall-in
                        177. Speak-in
                        178. Guerrilla theater
                        179. Alternative social institutions
                        180. Alternative communication system

Economic Intervention

  1.                    Reverse strike
                      182. Stay-in strike
                        183. Nonviolent land seizure
                        184. Defiance of blockades
                        185. Politically motivated counterfeiting
                        186. Preclusive purchasing
                        187. Seizure of assets
                        188. Dumping
                        189. Selective patronage
                        190. Alternative markets
                        191. Alternative transportation systems
                        192. Alternative economic institutions

Political Intervention

  1.                    Overloading of administrative systems
                      194. Disclosing identities of secret agents
                        195. Seeking imprisonment
                        196. Civil disobedience of “neutral” laws
                        197. Work-on without collaboration
                        198. Dual sovereignty and parallel government

Without doubt, a large number of additional methods have already been used but have not been classified, and a multitude of additional methods will be invented in the future that have the characteristics of the three classes of methods: nonviolent protest and persuasion, noncooperation and nonviolent intervention.

It must be clearly understood that the greatest effectiveness is possible when individual methods to be used are selected to implement the previously adopted strategy. It is necessary to know what kind of pressures are to be used before one chooses the precise forms of action that will best apply those pressures.

[1] Boston: Porter Sargent, 1973 and later editions.

====================

Additional resources on the application, techniques and experiences of nonviolent resistance in different countries:

https://www.aeinstein.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/198-Methods.pdf

http://canvasopedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Handbook-for-Working-With-Activists.compressed.pdf

http://canvasopedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/50-Crucial-Points-web.pdf

http://canvasopedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/CANVAS-Core-Curriculum_EN.pdf

http://canvasopedia.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/MOB_English_May2014.pdf

U.S. ‘strongly disagrees’ with Ethiopia state of emergency February 17, 2018

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Odaa Oromoooromianeconomist

U.S. ‘strongly disagrees’ with Ethiopia state of emergency, Africa News

U.S. 'strongly disagrees' with Ethiopia state of emergency

ETHIOPIA

The United States embassy in Ethiopia said on Saturday it disagreed with the government’s decision to impose a state of emergency to calm political unrest the day after the prime minister’s surprise resignation.

The statement came after the council of ministers imposed yet another six months nationwide state of emergency last night, which defence minister Siraj Fegessa, said would include a ban on protests and publications that incite violence.

‘‘We strongly disagree with the Ethiopian government’s decision to impose a state of emergency that includes restrictions on fundamental rights such as assembly and expression,’‘ the statement said.

We strongly disagree with the Ethiopian government’s decision to impose a state of emergency that includes restrictions on fundamental rights such as assembly and expression.

The prime minister’s resignation followed a wave of strikes and demonstrations successfully demanding the release of more opposition leaders.

‘‘We recognise and share concerns expressed by the government about incidents of violence and loss of life, but firmly believe that the answer is greater freedom, not less,’‘ it said.

Under a previous state of emergency, declared in October 2016 and lasting 10 months, thousands of Ethiopians were arrested by the military.

The current state of emergency has to be approved by the national parliament, which is currently on recess, giving the council 15 days to enforce the emergency rule until parliament reconvenes.

The statement urged the government in Ethiopia “to rethink this approach and identify other means to protect lives and property while preserving, and indeed expanding, the space for meaningful dialogue and political participation that can pave the way to a lasting democracy.”


Related:-

Ethiopia’s authoritarian regime backtracks on reforms. With an economic record at risk, Ethiopia is sacrificing democracy, FT

What triggered unrest in Ethiopia? Al Jazeera

Ethiopia: Final Days of the Regime, Counter Punch

Obboo Baqqalaa Garbaa: Labsiin Yeroo Hatattamaa Qabsoo Uummataa Hin Dhaabu, VOA Afaan Oromoo

Dhaamsa Dr Maraara Qeerroo Hundaaf Guyyaa hardhaa, Kichuu

ANALYSIS: AMID A REVOLUTIONARY STUPOR, ETHIOPIA’S RULING PARTY DUMPS ITS LEADER, AS

Ethiopia 2024 dollar bond hits 6-mth low after PM resigns, Reuters

Reform or repression? Ethiopia ‘faces watershed moment’ after PM resigns, Democracy Digest

Why is Ethiopia in upheaval? This brief history explains a lot, WP

Ethiopia’s Counterproductive State of Emergency, Atlantic Council

 

Déjà vu: Ethiopia’s fascist regime (TPLF) again declares state of emergency to continue with its genocide. U.S. issues Ethiopia alert, warns of tricky security situation February 16, 2018

Posted by OromianEconomist in Uncategorized.
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Odaa Oromoooromianeconomisttravel-warning-do-not-travel-to-ethiopia-terrorist-tplf-from-tigray-is-killing-people-and-looting-propertiesNo To Fascist TPLF Ethiopia's genocidal militarism and mass killings in Oromia, Ethiopia

Labsiin Yeroo Hatattamaa Labsame Haggamiif Akka Ta’e Hin Ibsamne, VOA Afaan Oromo


State of emergency declared in Ethiopia amid political unrest, The Guardian

Emergency rule imposed by ruling EPRDF coalition following prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn’s decision to resign

Supporters of Bekele Gerba
 Supporters of Bekele Gerba, secretary general of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), chant slogans to celebrate his release from prison. Photograph: Tiksa Negeri/Reuters

Ethiopia has announced a state of emergency after prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn on Thursday announced his intention to step down amid a political crisis in the country.

The ruling EPRDF coalition’s council met on Friday and decided to impose emergency rule for an unspecified period, the state-run Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation said. The council “came to the conclusion that imposing emergency rule would be vital to safeguarding the constitutional order of our country”. Further details are expected to be given by the defence minister on Saturday morning.

An opposition leader said earlier on Friday the ruling coalition had lost its authority and that all parties must help map the country’s future.

Mulatu Gemechu, deputy secretary of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, said Ethiopia needed a completely new political system after years of unrest. “Ethiopians now need a government that respects their rights, not one that keeps beating and killing them,” he said.

Rights advocates have frequently criticised Ethiopia’s government for mass arrests and long jail terms handed to political opponents and journalists. But more than 6,000 political prisoners have been freed since January as the government has struggled to quell discontent.

The prime minister’s resignation followed a wave of strikes and demonstrations demanding the release of more opposition leaders.



Ethiopia declares state of emergency after PM quits, JAZEERA NEWS

Ethiopia's prime minister resigned on Thursday amid widespread public protests [Tiksa Negeri/Daylife]
Ethiopia’s prime minister resigned on Thursday amid widespread public protests [Tiksa Negeri/Daylife]
Ethiopia has declared a state of emergency, a day after the country’s prime minister abruptly resigned.

The measure was announced on Friday by the Council of Ministers, the Ethiopian government’s cabinet, according to state broadcaster EBC.

Local media said the measure is effective as of Friday, but it was not immediately clear how long it would last.

Quoting an unnamed source “close to the government”, the Addis Standard newspaper reported that the Council was debating whether to make the measure span three or six months.

In August 2017, Ethiopia lifted a 10-month state of emergency imposed after hundreds of people were killed in anti-government protests demanding wider political freedoms.

Ethiopia’s Oromo and Amhara people – who make up about 61 percent of the country’s population – have staged mass demonstrations since 2015 demanding greater political inclusion and an end to human rights abuses.

Jawar Mohammed, an Oromo rights activist and head of the Oromia Media Network, said the state of emergency declaration was “unnecessary, unhelpful and unwise”.

“The best way to ensure stability at this time is not to declare state of emergency that was tested and failed,” Mohammed wrote on Facebook earlier on Friday.

Felix Horne, a Human Rights Watch researcher on Ethiopia, said during the last state of emergency – the first in 25 years – more than 20,000 people were arrested.

“Those released speak about how it has only angered them further. It didn’t work then, what does [the government] hope to achieve now?” Horne wrote on Twitter.

Political uncertainty

Hailemariam, who has sat at the helm of the Ethiopian government since 2012, announced on Thursday he would be stepping down as prime minister and head of the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition.

He cited ongoing “unrest and a political crisis” in the country as major factors in his resignation, which he described as “vital in the bid to carry out reforms that would lead to sustainable peace and democracy”.

Hailemariam said he will stay on as prime minister in a caretaker capacity, until the EPRDF and the country’s parliament accept his resignation and name a replacement.

READ MORE

Ethiopia ‘at crossroads’ after Hailemariam resignation

The executive committees of both the EPRDF and his own party within the coalition, the Southern Ethiopian People’s Democratic Movement, have so far accepted his decision to step down.

Tsedale Lemma, editor-in-chief of Addis Standard, said there has been a political struggle within the ruling party since the death of former prime minister, Meles Zenawi, in 2012.

Appointing a new prime minister from within the Oromo community would be “a conciliatory gesture”, Lemma said.

But whomever replaces Hailemariam, she said Ethiopia “needs a very serious political surgery to heal it from its structural [disfunction]”, which would include dismantling repressive laws and strengthening the independence of the judiciary.

Mulatu Gemechu, deputy secretary of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, said earlier on Friday that Ethiopia needs a new political system after years of unrest.

“Ethiopians now need a government that respects their rights, not one that keeps beating and killing them,” he told Reuters news agency.


MORE ON ETHIOPIA from Al Jazeera

Related:

Ethiopia declares state of emergency after PM’s resignation, Reuters


OMN: GRD – የአስቸኳይ ጊዜ አዋጅ (LIVE) Feb 16, 2018

Regime in just declared new state of emergency for a third time since onset of in early 2015. Regime has already killed thousands, and displaced 3M+ people in Oromia. Now wants to continue the genocide campaigns.  Oromo Press


During the 10 month state of emergency in 2016-2017 over 20k were arrested for no reason. Those released speak about how it has only angered them further. It didn’t work then, what does govt hope to achieve now? Any goodwill from prisoner releases will be gone.  Felix Horne



Ethiopia: End Game? Having achieved so much through protest, it is unlikely that the Ethiopian people will accept half-hearted reforms. #OromoProtests #OromoStrikes February 15, 2018

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Crowds waiting for Bekele Gerba, February 13, 2018

The protest movement playing out in Ethiopia is one of the most consequential conflicts on the African continent – more than any other, it has the potential to upend US policy in the Horn of Africa. It could disrupt counterterrorism efforts in Somalia and reduce the number of peacekeeping troops in South Sudan. But alarmingly, it has barely registered in Washington policy discussions or in the American press.

Ethiopia’s Oromo population is celebrating a victory today that is probably unprecedented in African history. Without extensive violence or bloodshed, and while almost all of its leading voices languished in jail, a grassroots protest movement has managed to force one of the most powerful regimes in Africa to surrender to its demands. As an organized strike involving tens of thousands of Oromo youths drew closer to the capital city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopian authorities agreed to release a host of important political prisoners, including Bekele Gerba, a compelling activist whose release from prison the government has fiercely resisted. (Just the week before, Bekele had been sentenced to an additional half-year behind bars, for the crime of singing a protest song in front a judge.)

In honor of Bekele Gerba’s release, the Oromo strikes were suspended, and the crowds in the street turned jubilant. Then, on February 14, authorities stunned and delighted the protestors further by releasing other extremely prominent dissidents (including among others the blogger Eskindir Nega, opposition leader Andualem Aragie, former Gambella Governor Okello Akway, and the Muslim religious freedom activist Ahmedin Jebel), some of whom had been imprisoned on “terrorism” charges for years.

ETWEET1

Ethiopian prime minister Hailemariam Desalagn had promised the release of a large number of political prisoners in early January, and did later release a number of political activists, including opposition leader Merera Gudina. Government officials claimed at the time that the move was intended to widen the political space and foster a genuine dialogue with the political opposition and with the ethnic-based protest movements. But skeptics (including the majority of protestors) saw the move as largely symbolic, and perhaps even calculated to sow discord within the opposition, as some individuals were released and not others, and particularly as the most influential figures remained behind bars.

After the events of February 13 and 14, however, there can be little doubt about the seriousness of the Ethiopian authorities. The severity and persistence of the protest movements have clearly become an existential threat to the regime, and the need to diffuse the protests’ momentum is imperative enough, apparently, to overcome differences of opinion between the so-called “moderate” and “hardliner” factions with the Tigrean People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), which is the most powerful faction with the ruling party.

The TPLF’s alarm is well-founded; the only question is whether its belated concessions to the protestors, after years of growing unrest, may be too little, too late. Anger at the perceived economic and political dominance of the small Tigrean ethnic faction is a moving force behind the protests, and the threat of a genocide or other targeted ethnic violence against Tigrean individuals appears to be escalating. Fearful Tigrean citizens have reportedly relocated in large numbers from the Amhara and Oromo regions of the country, and attacks on Tigreans (a rarity in the past) are reported. At the same time, violent clashes between other ethnic groups, particularly the Oromo and Somalis, have dramatically increased. Tensions are high across the board; the protestors are flush with victory; and the newly-released scores of political dissidents may vie for prominence. Is there any chance of the protests subsiding?

Probably not, though it is surely the TPLF’s hope that Bekele Gerba, Ahmedin Jebel, Eskindir Nega and their colleagues will prove to be wise and moderating voices in the coming dialogue. They have in the past not only been decisively less radical, but have been firmly committed to non-violence – unlike the radio and social media personalities, some of the based in the diaspora, that have risen to prominence in their absence and are now driving the opposition discourse in real time.

ETWEET2.1

Having achieved so much through protest, it is unlikely that the Ethiopian people will accept half-hearted reforms. Speculation is rampant, for example, that Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalagn – who is not Tigrean but is widely regarded as an instrument of the TPLF elite – will be replaced with an Oromo at the ruling party’s upcoming conference in three weeks’ time. (Lema Megersa, president of the Oromia Regional State, is a prime focus of this speculation.) These rumors are mere speculation, but have taken on the force of expectation, and disappointment could easily lead to another round of protests. Another round of civilian deaths at the hands of Ethiopian security forces, or the declaration of another state of emergency, could have the same effect. Next time, the Ethiopian government’s concessions may not be enough to halt the protests. If dialogue fails, and the security forces are unleashed, the resulting conflict will be bloody and awful – and will certainly not succeed in ending the uprising.

ETWEET3.1

Implications for US Policy

Washington, of course, has every incentive to avoid such a scenario.

The United States has much at stake in Ethiopia, whose troops and cooperation have been essential to Washington’s efforts to stabilize Somalia and South Sudan. American strategy in the Horn of Africa is deeply flawed and is demonstrably failing to achieve its objectives (as the situation in both countries continues to deteriorate). But no alternative policy proposals are on table, and a sudden collapse of Ethiopian capacity to support American policies with African boots on the ground would be catastrophic. The African Union mission in Somalia, already on its last legs, would probably not survive a sudden and wholesale withdrawal of Ethiopian forces – and countless civilian lives in Southern Sudan would be endangered. A disordered Ethiopia is of course more vulnerable to incursions by the al Qaeda-linked Somali terror group, al Shabaab, which has already managed to establish a vibrant offshoot in Kenya amid similar social conditions (a large population of unemployed youths, a disenfranchised and villified Muslim population, and rampant police brutality).

Unfortunately, few countries are more poorly positioned than the United States to play a constructive role in Ethiopia’s future. This stems from Washington’s long history of providing budgetary support to the Ethiopia’s ruling party, the close cooperation between the two countries’ military and intelligence services, and the long-standing refusal of American officials to criticize the human rights record of the regime or to challenge the imprisonment of thousands of civilians.

Washington’s silence on Ethiopia’s deteriorating human rights and security situation is a result of many factors. First and foremost, of course, the Ethiopian regime has served as Washington’s indispensable partner in the “war on terrorism” since the early 2000s. Second, the former prime minister and architect of the ruling party, Meles Zenawi, cultivated warm personal friendships with senior American policymakers who subsequently championed the regime and shield it from public criticism. Third, as is the case in Rwanda, Western policymakers paraded Ethiopia as an “African success story” as a means of facilitating continued aid and investment to the continent, and drawing attention to the human rights narrative was inconvenient. Fourth – and not least important – public criticism of the Ethiopian regime was found by American diplomats not to work very well: over the years it has resulted in numerous journalists, diplomats and American non-governmental organizations being expelled from Ethiopia over the years, without causing a whiff of improvement in the regime’s conduct. And Ethiopia’s ability to restrict access to the African Union (AU headquarters are located in Addis) has led many otherwise reputable analysts and journalists to practice self-censorship. Ethiopia has also proved very willing to retaliate against diplomatic pressure by holding American security interests hostage: in September 2017, for example, when the House Subcommittee on African Affairs attempted to pass a resolution drawing attention to Ethiopia’s human rights abuses, Ethiopia’s then-ambassador to the United States, Girma Birru, visited the Subcommittee members and threatened to withhold counterterror cooperation in Somalia. Faced with this threat, the Subcommittee immediately abandoned the resolution. (The Subcommittee threatened yesterday to bring the resolution to the floor for a vote on February 28, unless the Ethiopian government gives UN investigatory teams access to the country.)

The most credible voices among the protest movement have already condemned US inaction, and would not consent to a dialogue with US officials – indeed, they argue that engaging with Washington would erode their credibility, and they are probably right. Washington can of course attempt to pressure or persuade the TPLF to undertake credible and meaningful reforms – but Washington’s chequered diplomatic history with Addis suggests that such efforts are unlikely to bear fruit. It is also unclear what reforms would appease the public: while there have been calls for Ethiopian security forces to leave the Oromo and Amhara and other regions (including the Somali or “Ogaden” zone), absolutely no one is demanding fresh elections (which have historically been heavily rigged) or other staple democratic measures to restore the peace.

The next month, and days, will be decisive. The Ethiopian regime will either commit to its current course and expand on its commitment to reform, signaling this commitment perhaps by offering the prime ministership to an Oromo leader. Or it will double down on its previous course, and declare a state of emergency. But this would be a deadly decision, as a new state of emergency would surely be regarded by opposition leaders and the protestors as a declaration of war.

Ethiopia’s only hope for peace is a series of rapid and sincere concessions by the TPLF elite, which must certainly involve a meaningful redistribution of political and economic power. The Ethiopian public has tasted its power, and one way or another, the status quo will not survive.

Bronwyn Bruton is deputy director and director of programs and studies in the Atlantic Council’s Africa Center. Follow her on Twitter @BronwynBruton.


Related  Articles:

Victory to OromoProtests

Ethiopia: #OromoProtests: Oromia state rocked by protests. Oromo leader and prisoner of conscience Bekele Gerba freed, Oromia Economist

 

Simannaa obbo Baqqaalaa Garbaa Adaamaa- Obbo Baqqaa is a wise leader, Kichuu

Ethiopia: Top Oromo Opposition Leader Freed from Prison, Democracy NowHEAD LINE FEB 14, 2018

Ethiopia’s Oromia region celebrates release of political detainees, Africa News

Washington puts Ethiopia’s human rights abusers on notice, The Hill

The release of Ethiopian political prisoners, Addis Standard

Ethiopia: The relentless protests that forced the Prime Minister to resign, African Arguments

Ethiopia’s prime minister resigns amid political turmoil, WP

Ethiopia ‘at crossroads’ after Hailemariam resignation, Al Jazeera News

Ethiopia: Prisoner Release Should Be First Step, Freedom House, 14 Feb. 2018

Ethiopia: #OromoProtests: Oromia state rocked by protests. Oromo leader and prisoner of conscience Bekele Gerba freed. February 13, 2018

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Odaa Oromoooromianeconomist

Mass protests force Ethiopia to free opposition leader.- The Guardian.

OromiaStrikes

Oromia state rocked by protests and killings amid a 3-day market boycott, OP News


Ethiopia’s Oromia region at standstill as 3-day social shutdown kicks off, Africa News

OMN: Lagannaa Gabaa guyyaa 1ffaa (Gur 12, 2017)

 

Wantii Hundumtuu Uummata Keenyaan Ta’e, Guddaa Galatomaa. Obbo Baqqalaa Garbaa


Oromo leader and prisoner of conscience Bekele Gerba freed.

 

 

 


Ethiopia frees Oromo leader and prisoner of conscience Bekele Gerba

(OPride) — Ethiopia on Tuesday released prominent Oromo opposition leader Bekele Gerba and six of his Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) colleagues from prison.

Authorities dropped all charges against the freed leaders, a day after a #OromiaStrikes blocked roads and staged rallies bringing the restive Oromia state to a standstill. The news of Bekele’s release was welcomed with warm and spontaneous celebrations across the country.

Bekele, secretary-general of OFC, was arrested in December 2015 at the height of the three-year long Oromo protests. He was initially charged terrorism but his charges were later reduced to criminal offenses for allegedly inciting violence.

“He just walked out of prison. We have confirmed that all charges against him have been dropped,” Mulatu Gemechu, a member of the OFC’s leadership told Reuters.

The other six OFC leaders released today are Gurmessa Ayano, Addisu Bulala, Dajane Xafa, Getu Garuma, Tesfaye Liban and Beyene Ruda.

The move is a response to deepening protests demanding Bekele’s release and part of a promise Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn made last month to build national consensus and widen the democratic space.

 

Ethiopia frees Oromo leader and prisoner of conscience Bekele Gerba

Mohammed Ademo

 @OPride

Ethiopia on Tuesday released prominent Oromo leader Bekele Gerba and six of his Oromo Federalist Congress colleagues from prison and dropped all charges against them, a day after #OromiaStrikes blocked roads and staged rallies across the state.

  1. Bekele Gerba and his colleagues pose for photo shortly after their release from prison earlier today. They’ve been in jail since December 2015. Text on their shirts reads: “Our land is our bone. We won’t be displaced.” A slogan that has been the battle cry of the .

    View image on TwitterView image on Twitter
  2. Breaking: Prominent Oromo opposition leader @BekeleGerba and 6 of his comrades released from prison this morning. They should not have been in jail in the first place but relieved that Bekele can now access critical medical care. Their freedom is welcome. Critical reforms needed.

  3. Fantastic news to hear reports that Bekele Gerba and his colleagues were released today! Their detention encapsulated the many things that are wrong with ’s judiciary. Hoping Bekele can continue his work with OFC without further arrest or threats/harassment from the govt

  4. Bekele Gerba et al’s release is a victory for and the Oromo people as a whole. His release came on the second day of a statewide in the form of market boycott, which has brought the restive Oromia state to a standstill. https://www.opride.com/2018/02/13/ethiopia-oromia-state-rocked-protests-killings-amid-3-day-market-boycott/ 

  5. To afford Bekele and his colleagues a heroic welcome and in recognition of today’s victory, Oromo activists are expected to call for the suspension of on its 3rd and final day tomorrow. A huge devt. as credible sources warn of plans for re-imposition of martial law.

  6. The third day has been suspended in reaction to release of Bekele Gerba and his comrades. The third day will be dedicated to welcoming heroes and cleaning street.

  7. Here are the heroes! Lafti keenya lafee keenya, hin buqqaanu!!

    View image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on TwitterView image on Twitter
  8. Shashemene erupts upon hearing release of Bekele Gerba and comrades

    View image on Twitter
  9. Ambo erupts in celebration of victory

    View image on Twitter
  10. What a victory for those youth who relentlessly pursued justice against incredible odds!

    Whats more inspiring than this?

  11. Bekele Gerba, Gurmessa Ayano, Addisu Bulala, Dajane Xafa, Getu Garuma, Tesfaye Liban & Beyene Ruda

  12. This generation of enlightened Oromo youth/Qeerroo are game changers; change makers. free from prison, among others. Freedom is on the horizon 2018.

    View image on Twitter
  13. The protesters that I saw with my own eyes weren’t violent in any way.

    They had clear demands.

    -The end of dictatorship.
    -The immediate release of political prisoners.
    -The cry to end poverty and systemic economic disfranchisement.

  14. Bekele Gerba released from prison amid protests. Hopeful releases will mark a new chapter in Ethiopian politics https://reut.rs/2Hd5br2 

  15. Amazing news this morning. We learn of the release of Bekele Gerba along with his colleagues. Hoping he can continue to work with OFC and his greater people without the fear of being reincarnated, threatened, and harassed by the government.

  16. : The release of Bekele Gerba and six others is great news! Now, this should lead to the unconditional and immediate release of all prisoners of conscience imprisoned for peacefully voicing their dissent with the Ethiopian government.

    View image on Twitter
  17. Bekele Gerba and seven other prisoners of conscience are released from jail. Releasing innocent individuals who should not have been jailed in the first place should not be seen as a favour doled out to them. The government should go further & release all political prisoners.

  18. It will be interesting to watch how OPDO leaders react as their base erodes little by little. Bekele Gerba is a force of nature and has a lot of appeal to a wide base.

  19. Congrats to () organizers and protesters for the release of and other political prisoners. The government is forced to release them because of your consistent works. Thank you!

  20. We are happy to hear the release of opposition figure, Bekele Gerba, who was illegally arrested, prosecuted and harassed for his fight for human right respect and freedom. We well come his release & fight for the cause he was arrested. Congratulations for his family & friends.

    View image on Twitter

 



Ibsa lagannaa gabaa Oromiyaa yeroodhaaf dhaabuu ilaalchisee kenname


Hoggantoota KFO 7 injifannoon erga hiiksiseen booda Qeerroofi Qarreen haala laguun kun itti deemu malu xiinxaleera.
Xinxala kanarratti hundaayuun laguun guyyaa boruu (roobii) akka dhaabbatuufi guyyaa hafte kana hoggantoota injifannoon hidhaa bayan simachuuf, daandii fi magaalota sochiin guyyoota lamaan darbe keessatti ta’e mara qulqulleessuuf akka oolu murteesseera.
Qindeessitionni Qeerroo diddaafi lagannaa gabaa namusa cululuqaafi injifannoo addaan xumurame kanaarratti lammiilee hirmaatan maraaf kabajaa fi dinqisiifanno guddaa akka qabu ibsuu barbaada.

Bilusummaan Uummata Oromoof, Bilisummaan uummattoota Itoophiyaa maraaf.

Qeerroo Oromiyaa

Guraandhala. 13, 2018

 

#HammarreessaaMassacre: Fascist Ethiopia’s regime (TPLF) Agazi forces conducted another barbaric mass killings against internally displaced Oromo people at Hammareessaa (Hameressa) camp, Eastern Oromia February 12, 2018

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Odaa OromoooromianeconomistFascist ethiopian regime (TPLF) Agazi forces conducted another barbaric mass killings  at  Hammaaressaa, ternally displaced people  camp in Eastern Oromia.png Fascist TPLF’s Agazi forces conducted another mass killings in Hameressa IDP camp.

Ethiopia army accused of deadly attack on IDP camp in Oromia, Africa News.

Another massacre by TPLF’s Agazi in Hameressa refugee camp Oromia/Ethiopia.

OMN: Oduu Amma Nu Gahe – Ajjeechaa Hammarreessaa (LIVE) Gur 11, 2018

https://twitter.com/NatnaelMekonne7/status/962752856444096513

 

 

Congressman Mike Coffman scores ‘hero status’ with local Ethiopians for work on African human rights abuses – Aurora Sentinel February 10, 2018

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Odaa Oromoooromianeconomist

Coffman scores ‘hero status’ with local Ethiopians for work on African human rights abuses

“This has pretty much elevated Congressman Coffman to hero status,” said Neb Asfaw, an organizer for the Ethiopian community

By KARA MASON, Aurora Sentinel, 8 February 2018

Ethiopia Politicians FreedSupporters of opposition leader Merara Gudina, wait for his release, in Burayu, Ethiopia, Wednesday, Jan. 17 2018. Ethiopia’s top opposition figure and hundreds of others were released from prison on Wednesday as part of the government’s recent pledge to free detained politicians and “widen the democratic space for all” after the worst anti-government protests in a quarter-century. Gudina led the Oromo Federalist Congress party and was arrested a year ago under the country’s state of emergency after he returned from Europe, where he had briefed European lawmakers on widespread and sometimes deadly anti-government protests. (AP Photo/Elias Meseret)


AURORA | The Ethiopian community in Aurora — the largest foreign born population in the city — is praising Congressman Mike Coffman for his work to ensure the Ethiopian government improves its human rights record.

“We hear about these violations on a daily basis now,” said Yoseph Tafari, chairman and co-founder of the Ethiopian American Civil Council. Tafari said of the more recent troubling incidents was in late January where at least seven people were gunned down by government forces for anti-government chants outside a religious celebration in the northern region of the country.

Last week, Coffman invited Tafari and the Ethiopian delegation from Aurora to Washington for a round of negotiations, which Tafari said was successful, especially as the Ethiopian government paid a lobbyist a monthly salary of $150,000 for a year to ultimately defeat a resolution Coffman is carrying that condemns the Ethiopian government for its human rights record.

Coffman is an original co-sponsor of the resolution, which was introduced by Rep. Chris Smith, R-NJ.

“The Ethiopian Human Rights Council reported 102 deaths by April 2016 and Human Rights Watch subsequently reported that the Ethiopian security forces had killed between 500 and 800 peaceful protesters in the Oromia and Amhara regions by November 2016, and the number is likely higher,” the resolution said.

The resolution, which now has 77 co-sponsors in the House, has been temporarily put on hold as the Ethiopian government has until Feb. 28 to decide whether to let observers from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights into the country.

If the government decides against the option, the resolution will move onto the House floor. It was scheduled for a vote in October, but was delayed after the Ethiopian government threatened to end security cooperation with the U.S. if the resolution was heard on the House floor.

“In a sign of willingness to work with the Ethiopian government and to get the Ethiopian government to release political prisoners, the Majority Leader cancelled the already scheduled vote,” said a news release from Coffman’s office last fall.

The resolution calls on the Ethiopian government to “end the use of excessive force by security forces,” conduct an investigation into killings and excessive force, release political prisoners, guarantee the freedom of the press, and allow the UN to do its own investigation.

Tafari said he felt it was a major indicator that Ethiopia is afraid of the U.S. taking action against the country after hiring a lobbyist to handle the resolution. According to justice department documents, the lobbyist was paid $1.8 million for a year’s worth of work in Washington.

“We need to deal with this one way or another,” Tafari said. “In one sense here is a government that has a sector of the population that doesn’t even have food, but they’re spending $2 million to prevent a resolution from passing through the U.S. Congress. And it’s the taxpayers’ money. They’re clinging to U.S. money (for aide).”

While Coffman is urging the Ethiopian government to do more, there has been some positive progress recently.

“While (the) Ethiopian government’s announcement that it’s releasing political prisoners and closing down one of its torture camps, is a step in the right direction— all human rights violations by the Ethiopian government must come to an end,” Coffman said last month. “The Ethiopian government has engaged in terrorists acts against its own people and such behavior is unacceptable and I will continue, as I have, to make sure that the United States holds the Ethiopian government responsible for all of its promises in respecting the human rights of all of the Ethiopian people.”

Nearly 3,000 Ethiopians call Aurora home, according to the city. And they’ve been paying special attention to the resolution.

“This has pretty much elevated Congressman Coffman to hero status,” said Neb Asfaw, an organizer for the Ethiopian community.

Tafari echoed Asfaw’s comment, saying that for a Democratic-leaning group the Ethiopian community is very fond of Coffman, particularly for how he’s approached issues important to the community, such as the human rights of their home country.

Asfaw said it’s a common conversation throughout the Ethiopian community that if the GOP as a whole approached minorities the way Coffman has, they’d have even more success and support from those communities.

For Asfaw, whatever happens on the resolution —the Ethiopian government allowing for the UN to observe or the resolution reaching the floor — is progress.

“It is extremely positive, the fact that the government drew a line in the sand to make sure that the bill would not pass majority leader’s office and go to to the floor for a vote (is substantial),” he said. “It’s a small step forward either way, we’ve been waiting for a long time. For Congress to look at this and make a demand for better human rights when they (Ethiopia) is considered an ally is a major shift of policy and it’s welcome by many Ethiopians from Aurora and across the country.”

Oromia: Athletc Nation Report: Oromo athlete Genzebe Dibaba clocks second fastest indoor 1500m of all-time to top five world leads in Karlsruhe February 5, 2018

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Living up to her meeting poster girl billing, Genzebe Dibaba powered to the second fastest indoor 1500m of all time to highlight the Indoor Meeting Karlsruhe on Saturday (3), the opening leg of the 2018 IAAF World Indoor Tour.

The Ethiopian’s sensational 3:57.45 run was one of five world leading performances to play out before a vociferous sell-out crowd of 4,500 at the Messe Halle Karlsruhe, but the only one likely to remain atop the world lists, unless Dibaba herself decides to attack it later this season.

Clearly, Dibaba likes to race in Karlsruhe. The Ethiopian set the 3:55.17 world indoor record at this meeting four years ago on the nearby Europahalle track. She clocked 4:00.13 two years prior to that, which is, after this evening, the 10th fastest run of all-time.

On this return engagement, she looked like the Dibaba of 2014, attacking her world standard from the gun. She looked eager early on, testing her patience behind the pacesetter Nelly Jepkosgei, who opened with a 1:01.16 opening 400m. That was well inside the 62.5 in Dibaba’s world record run, but too quick for Jepkosgei, who struggled in the waning stages of her 800-metre assignment. The tempo not to her liking, Dibaba forged ahead to go it alone, passing the 800m mark in 2:07.52, a second-and-a-half faster than four years ago.

Unrelenting, her record assault intentions, mere whispers prior to the race, were clear by 1100m. Here the clock read 3:10.57, almost identical to the 3:10.5 en route to her record. Forging on, she finally ran out of steam midway through the final bend, but still managed to finish well under the formidable indoor four-minute barrier for the third time. No other woman can claim that achievement.

While Dibaba went for broke from the outset, the race for second was a contest of patience. Kenyans Beatrice Chepkoech and Winny Chebet tried to maintain for the first 800 metres, but quick paid for those ambitions, both falling back over the next two laps. That played well into the hands of Konstanze Klosterhalfen, who often prefers to run alone. Passing the Kenyan duo, the German, who will celebrate her 21st birthday on 18 February, pushed on to eventually reach the line in 4:04.00, a personal best.

Chepkoech was third in 4:08.33 and Chebet fourth clocking 4:09.45.

NELVIS IMPROVES TO 7.80

While Dibaba was the meeting’s main global attraction, that role’s national counterpart was played by Pamela Dutkiewicz, whose star has risen considerably since she took world 100m hurdles bronze last summer in London. But Sharika Nelvis of the US rained on that parade after she emerged victorious in a blanket finish in the 60m hurdles, clocking 7.80, another world lead and nabbing ten World Indoor Tour points.

IAAF


 

Activists pushed for passage of Ethiopian Human Rights bill in the US Congress February 5, 2018

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Odaa Oromoooromianeconomist

Bekele Gerba, a university Professor & one of the prominent political prisoners is in a critical condition denied of medical care in #Ethiopia. #MedicalCare4BekeleGerba #FreeBekeleGerba #OromoProtests @ScholarsAtRisk February 1, 2018

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Odaa Oromoooromianeconomist

Free Bekele Gerba and all political prisonners in Ethiopia


Bekele Gerba, a university Professor & one of the prominent political prisoners is in a critical condition denied of medical care in Ethiopia. #MedicalCare4BekeleGerba #FreeBekeleGerba #OromoProtests @ScholarsAtRisk

NEWS: IMPRISONED OPPOSITION LEADER BEKELE GERBA RISKS LOSING LEFT EYE VISION, HIS DISTRAUGHT DAUGHTER SAYS    

Obbo Baqqalaa Garbaa Wal’ansa Fayyaa Dhabuun Nu Gaddisiisa: Maatii, VOA Afaan Oromoo

አቶ በቀለ ገርባ ግራ ዐይናቸው መጎዳቱን ልጃቸው ቦንቱ በቀለ ገለፀች. VOA


#MedicalCare4BekeleGerba: Activists launch online campaign amid jailed leader’s deteriorating health,  OPride 


Ethiopian activists on Thursday launched an online campaign demanding the release of and immediate medical treatment for jailed Oromo opposition leader, Bekele Gerba. The campaign is themed, “Bekele Gerba’s eye is our eye. He won’t lose his sight while we watch idly.”

Bekele, the deputy chairperson of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), is at risk of losing his eyesight due to hypertension and other health issues. The Qilinto prison administration, where he has been held since December 2015 accused, among other things, of inciting the #OromoProtests, have refused to allow Bekele to seek medical treatment at a local private clinic despite a referral from government hospital in the capital, Addis Ababa.

Bekele, a champion of nonviolent movement and who during previous prison term translated Martin Luther King’s speeches to Afaan Oromo, was widely expected to be released as part of government amnesty announced last month. However, so far, authorities have remained tight-lipped about whether his release and the release of other prominent political prisoners is forthcoming. Merera Gudina, the chairperson of OFC, was released 12 days ago.

“The doctors told us Bekele needs specialized doctors to treat his retinal blood vessels which are severely damaged due to a high blood pressure he has been experiencing since his detention, which has not been treated,” his distraught daughter, Bontu, told Addis Standard on Thursday. “We don’t know what is going to happen, my father’s left eye vision is completely blurred and he is in pain.”

At the last check-up, Bekele’s blood pressure reportedly came in at 190/110, which according to Addis Standard, “is considered hypertensive crisis or an emergency.” 

A quick timeline of Bekele’s ordeal:

  • Bekele was detained in December 2015 for allegedly inciting the popular Oromo protests.
  • Bekele was charged in April 2016 along with 21 defendants that included defendants Dejene Fita Geleta, Secretary General of OFC, and Gurmesa Ayano, another senior member, with various articles of the country’s sweeping Anti-Terrorism Proclamation.
  • A federal high court in July acquitted five of the 22 defendants, and reduced the terrorism charge against Bekele to crime charges under article 257/A of the 2004 Criminal Code.
  • In August, a panel of three judges at the Federal High Court denied Bekele’s request for bail.
  • On Oct. 30, 2017, the  Supreme Court overruled the high court decision and granted Bekele bail on appeal.
  • The court ordered Bekele’s release pursuant the posting of bail bond for 30, 000 birr (about $1, 000.)
  • On Oct. 31, the Qilinto prison administration refused to release Bekele claiming that the file number was incorrect.
  • On Nov. 1, the high instance court, also known as cassaction bench, suspended the bail. Bekele was asked to file a response.