Economic and development analysis: Perspectives on economics, society, development, freedom & social justice. Leading issues in Oromo, Oromia, Africa & world affairs. Oromo News. African News. world News. Views. Formerly Oromia Quarterly
Every authoritarian regime has its own symbol of economic exploitations and monopoly either in an individual face or in an organizational mask.
Ethiopia, despite its success in persuading its western allies that it is combating poverty using its fast economic growth and democratization, remained to be one of the poorest and most closed countries where a group of few individuals control vast economic shares and absolute political power. Unlike many other authoritarian regimes, the most dominant ruling elite group in Ethiopia has a complex behavior in that it claims to represent a minority ethnic group from the northern part of the country, Tigray. In response it has gotten a relatively overwhelming legitimacy among the people of Tigray as compared to other regions; or at least many people, including myself, believe it receives better legitimacy only in that specific region.
Moreover, this elite group has established a chain of several multi-billion dollar worth business firms under a home-grown umbrella called EFFORT, ‘Endowment Fund for the Rehabilitation of Tigray’, which was originally established to serve a harmless looking purpose of ‘rehabilitating’ Tigray, a war-torn region deprived of a fair chance to prosper during decades of successive regimes. In the past 25 years of TPLF’s dominated political rule in Ethiopia, therefore, EFFORT has emerged as one of the leading economic powerhouses in the name of ‘rehabilitating’ the region.
What is in the name?
On the surface, EFFORT is an umbrella company for a group of businesses which are involved in major industrial activities in Ethiopia, such as banking and insurance, import and export, media and communication, construction, agribusiness, and mining, among others.
Having started with an initial capital of around US$100 million, EFFORT’s worth has now reached more than a staggering US$3 billion in paid capital, creating more than 47,000 employment opportunities.
EFFORT companies were first registered as private share companies owned by some of the top leaders of TPLF. Later on, however, the companies were re-registered as “endowment” companies whose profits will not be divided to individuals, according to the 1960 Ethiopian civil code. However, top officials of the TPLF, the most powerful member of Ethiopia’s ruling party EPRDF, remained as the CEOs and GMs of these companies; and some of whom reportedly own small shares designed to motivate them in helping EFFORT stay competitive.
‘The original sin’: How did TPLF accumulate its wealth?
EFFORT’s official profile claims it was established by using seed money from the liquidated amount of capital of the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF), accumulated during Ethiopia’s 17 years civil war of the militarist Derg regime to establish these companies.
In 2008, Aregawi Berhe, a former veteran of TPLF who later on left the party, did his Ph.D. dissertation on ‘The Political History of TPLF’ for Vrije Universteit in Amsterdam, somehow corroborates the story. In his account of the party’s earliest times, Aregawi wrote about one of the first successful operations that the then guerilla fighters ever had: ‘Axum Operation’. It is a military operation that succeeded in raiding a police garrison and a bank in the historic city of Axum in the north during which the TPLF fighters made away with “substantial amounts of arms and ammunition and 175,000 birr (US$ 84,000)”, according to Aregawi.
Having started by raiding public banks, members of the TPLF continued to accumulate wealth and went on to dominate the contested use of ‘aid money’ for political purposes before the party came to control power in 1991. TPLF had also founded the Relief Society of Tigray (REST), a humanitarian wing, during the civil war. “By June 1985,” wrote Aregawi Berhe, “REST had received more than US$100 million from donors in the name of saving famine victims. [… however] the late Meles [Zenawi’s] proposal for the allocation of the relief aid money was as follows: 50% for MLLT [Marxist-Leninist League of Tigray] consolidation, 45% for TPLF activities and 5% for the famine victims.” Predictably, Aregawi’s claim, especially that of aid money allocations, has been vehemently denied by the current TPLF leaders.
Gebru Asrat, another former TPLF veteran who later on established an opposition political party Arena Tigray, has briefly raised this issue in his book, ‘Lualawinet Ena Democracy beEthiopia’, (Sovereignty and Democracy in Ethiopia), and said that the guerilla fighters used to get a lot of money in foreign aid and; ‘it was up to the TPLF [leadership] to allocate which money goes where.” Gebru neither confirmed nor denied Aregawi’s claim that aid money was used for political purposes. If anything, he is of the view that it is impossible to make such allegations.
However, legally questionable ways of accumulating wealth seemed to have continued within the party even after it took control of state power. Ermias Legesse, a former Communication State Minister, who is now in exile, has recently published his second book, ‘Yemeles Leqaqit’, in which he raised multiple controversial points against the establishment and functions of EFFORT.
In Chapter six of this 565 pages book, Ermias tells several stories on how EFFORT used to get its finances unfairly from the Ethiopian state and how it transferred it to its own account. Ermias went an extra mile to display a letter written in 1994 and was signed by the then Prime Minister, Tamrat Layne, demanding the Addis Abeba Health bureau to refund TPLF’s medical expenses of the civil war time. The money requested amounted to more than four million birr (almost 67% of the city’s annual budget at that time), but the total amount paid by the Ministry of Health was actually 17 million birr. Ermias also wrote that the medicines that TPLF had distributed to the locals during the civil war, for which it had requested a refund, was actually robbed by the guerilla fighters from public pharmacies. The money that was paid back in such a bizarre demand by the then Prime Minister was put in TPLF’s accounts.
Of continued sins & controversies
Companies that are currently under the umbrella of EFFORT were originally established as PLCs having a few members of TPLF leaders as shareholders. Later on, in August 1995, they were re-registered as ‘endowment’ companies and still remained under the umbrella of EFFORT.
The re-registration of these PLCs as ‘endowment’ companies was done to justify that these companies were established using the money donated by the shareholders of the preceding PLCs, which in itself portrays a picture that EFFORT, as a conglomerate of these companies, did not use public money to be established. According to the Ethiopian civil code, endowment companies are legally prohibited from distributing their profits to individuals. This fact effectively obscures the few individuals controlling these companies behind a party cover.
In 2004, the Amharic version of the ‘Ethiopian Reporter’, a bi-weekly newspaper owned by a former member of the TPLF rebel group, published series of stories concerning EFFORT and its debt in public banks, including the controversial cancellation of the debt. (The copies of these publications are annexed in the latest book of Ermias Legesse, referred above.)
According to this series of publication, EFFORT had borrowed 1.7 billion birr from the state-owned Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) which later on has risen to 1.8 billion birr debt including the interests. First, CBE officials have denied and said that ‘they did not loan money to EFFORT’. But later on CBE had transferred the debts to yet another state-owned bank, Development Bank of Ethiopia (DBE), for ‘better management’. Finally, DBE reported that the amount of money loaned to EFFORT was ‘none performing’ loan. Ermias claims that the CBE had loaned EFFORT the money with no collateral in the first place. The following year it was reported that DBE, the bank that took over the loan for “better management” was facing a bankruptcy of some 3.5 billion birr; certainly not exclusively attributable to the loan provided to EFFORT, but due in a significant part to it.
The other controversy surrounding EFFORT lies in the manner in which its businesses affiliates operate. Its leaders claim that their extreme obedience to the rule of law and their refusal to bribe local officials often poses a great challenge to their operations, disadvantaging their businesses. However, EFFORT companies are generally known to enjoy a great deal of support from officials. A good example to prove this is a rare ruling by a federal court on the 19th December 2012. The federal First instance court at Lideta ruled that one of EFFORT’s companies, Mega Entertainment Center, which was led by the widow of the late PM Meles Zenawi, Azeb Mesfin, has been running its business in a fraudulent manner by reporting more expenses than the actual and without paying value-added taxes collected from its customers during the preceding eight years.
But the secrecy of most of these companies is such that details like this come to the public’s knowledge only when there is disagreement between stakeholders; this time, it was between Azeb and another management member of Mega, Eqoubay Berhe.
Still, just what is EFFORT?
According to a letter by former US ambassador to Ethiopia, Donald Yamamoto, which was one of the Wikileaks documents, Ex-TPLF veteran Seyee Abraha (who later on fell from favor and was subsequently jailed for corruption) was quoted as saying the objectives of EFFORT during its foundation were “to study, and then establish profitable companies that use locally-available resources and provide employment [opportunities] for Tigray.” In this sense, EFFORT, even though it also gets raw materials from and markets its end products to other regions in Ethiopia, mostly (though not exclusively) hires Tigrians.
In principle, its profit should be used to rehabilitate the region. However, many Tigrians despair the fact that the “Endowment” is merely used by a few corrupt TPLF elites to enrich themselves. Former veteran and ex-president of the Tigray region for a decade, Gebru Asrat, in his book mentioned above admitted that the “endowment” was being exploited by a few TPLF top leaders; he suggested that there must be ways of diverting EFFORT’s profits/wealth to the people of Tigray as the endowment belongs to the Tigrians. His suggestion indicates a return, once again, of the endowment to a share company in which as many individuals could become shareholders. Many Tigrian pro-democracy activists agree with Gebru Asrat’s suggestions.
What do ‘others’ own?
Without a doubt, other regions of Ethiopia have also suffered significant social and economic devastations during the 17 years civil war before it ended in 1991. Military expenditure was Ethiopia’s biggest expense during the entire rule of the militarist Derg regime. Suffice to say, therefore, other regions also needed ‘endowments’ of their own.
It seemed it was in response to this concern that TPLF ‘provided’ seed money for other rehabilitation funds. In Oromia regional state is Dinsho endowment, which was established in 1992 and was renamed Tumsa Endowment for Development of Oromia in 2001. It is led by top officials of the OPDO, the party representing the region within the EPRDF coalition. In Amhara regional state is ‘TIRET’, first established in 1995 and went on to incorporate several pre-existing companies. TIRET is led by senior officials of ANDM, the party representing the region within the ruling EPRDF. And in Southern Nations Nationalities and People’s Region (SNNPR) is WENDO trading, which was established in 1994 and is led by senior officials of SEPDM, the party representing the region within the ruling EPRDF.
Seyee Abraha has admitted: “TPLF gave a portion of its capital to each of the three parties within the EPRDF to establish their own endowment funds”. However, the combined numbers of companies run by these three ‘endowments’ are less than twenty; whereas at least 24 companies are listed under EFFORT; (some put these numbers as high as 380). The nature of secrecy surrounding this delicate matter means one may never find out the real figures.
Nonetheless, the three “endowments” run by OPDO, ANDM and SEPDM were supposed to create employment opportunities for more than 80% of Ethiopia’s population as compared to EFFORT’s targeting of 6% of Ethiopians in Tigray regional state.
According to a research titled ‘Rethinking Business and Politics in Ethiopia’, published in 2011 by Sarah Vaughan and Mesfin Gebremichael, “[TIRET] companies employ only 2,800 staff, as compared with the more 14,000 permanent employees or 34,000 contract staff of EFFORT and its companies.” And the poorest regional states of Ethiopia, namely, the Somali, Afar, Benishangul-Gumuz and Gambella regions do not have ‘endowment companies’ of their own to help them rehabilitate their respective regions, although they are politically administered by EPRDF’s sister parties.
What’s not and what’s owned by EFFORT?
There is a big deal of confusion in identifying EFFORT’s business complexities. Selam Bus Share Company is a good example. Established in 1996, 99.6% of this interregional transport service providing company share is held by Tigray Development Association (TDA); the rest is held by individuals. Although Selam Bus board members, as are EFFORT companies’ board members, are members of the TPLF, EFFORT has no registered share in Selam Bus. However, Selam Bus is a company many people name first when asked to list EFFORT’s businesses. This blurry ownership status is perhaps one of the reasons why Selam Buses were targeted by the last year’s widespread public protesters in Oromia and Amhara regions.
Dejennna Endowment is another example. Established to ‘help promote development in Tigray,’ on the surface Dejenna Endowment is a part of the Relief Society of Tigray (REST). There are 11 companies listed under Dejenna Endowment in its website. In 2009, Dejenna has merged with EFFORT following the appointment of Azeb Mesfin, widow of the late Meles Zenawi, as head of the later. Companies under EFFORT usually hold shares in one another’s companies so that one pulls up when another fails. However, until today little is known about the merger of EFFORT and Dejenna. Besides, the information on the official websites of the two endowments mis-inform readers as if the two are independent of one another. But, some of the companies that are known to be under EFFORT are actually listed as the properties of Dejenna endowment.
The Sheger vs Mekelle narrative
By now, keen observers of the relationship between politics and business in Ethiopia can safely assume that business and politics in Ethiopia are radically divided into two major narratives in defining and perceiving the current TPLF dominated regime. I call these narratives ‘the Sheger narrative’ – a political narrative that is mostly advocated from here in the capital Addis Abeba, and ‘the Mekelle narrative’ – usually advocated by the people in Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray regional state, home to the all too powerful members of TPLF.
However, both narratives go beyond these respective centers depending on whose political view is solicited. The two narratives are only thoughts that do have majority acceptance in their respective centers. ‘The Sheger narrative’ (the most popular one) considers the TPLF dominated administration as a total failure that holds power by force; whereas ‘the Mekelle narrative’ generally sympathizes with the regime and considers it as a legitimate administration, albeit admitting some of its fault lines mostly due to the corrupt practices of some of its leaders.
This definition makes it clear how and why Tigrians (in most cases driven by ‘the Mekelle narrative’) and non-Tigrians (driven by ‘the Sheger narrative’) view the relationship between TPLF and EFFORT differently.
Tigrian pro-democracy activists’ criticism of EFFORT can be clearly seen by how they react to the manner in which former leaders of TPLF, who were expelled during the party’s infamous split in 2001, view EFFORT. Former top leaders of TPLF, Seyee Abraha, as we read him on wikileaks documents, and Gebru Asrat, from his book, both criticize EFFORT’s management. Both regret EFFORT’s failure to rehabilitate Tigray as was stipulated in its foundational principles. However, both believe the people of Tigray are the rightful owners of these ‘endowment’ companies under EFFORT.
On the contrary, most non-Tigrian activists and politicians disown EFFORT and also the rest of ‘endowments’ that are being manipulated by EPRDF leaders. Lidetu Ayalew, former leader of the opposition Ethiopian Democratic Party, and Dr. Berhanu Nega, current leader of the outlawed Ginbot 7, both condemned EFFORT as a party business that monopolized the economy, and both concluded the “endowments” should be dissolved or privatized. Similarly, many other activists want to (and sometimes advocate) boycotting EFFORT services and products to stop TPLF’s hegemonic march.
In the same manner, Tigrian activists claim other home grown charity organizations operating in Tigray, namely REST and TDA, are used to create grassroots networks to dictate the people of Tigray become loyalists of the TPLF, whereas non-Tigrian activists, such as Ermias Legesse, disagree and say these organizations are replicas of EFFORT to simply promote disproportionate social development of Tigrians at the cost of others.
This leads us to conclude that ‘the Mekelle narrative’ generally portrays EFFORT as an organization that rightfully belongs to the ‘Tigrian people’ which is unfortunately being exploited by few members of the top management for personal gains. ‘The Sheger narrative’, on the other hand, defines EFFORT as ‘a tool to exploit the wealth of Ethiopian people and create economic monopoly for the benefit of a [small] group’.
The red line
What is indisputable is speaking truth in a country governed by the TPLF dominated EPRDF is always a dangerous exercise; speaking the truth about EFFORT is even more dangerous. A tax controller from Adama, 100kms south east of Addis Abeba, who is now in Qilinto prison on the southern outskirt of Addis Abeba suspected of ‘corruption’ has recently told me that ‘EFFORT trucks were known to be untouchables on their way to and from Djibouti port’. Similarly, investigating companies under EFFORT is normally a red line no journalist in Ethiopia would like to cross, contributing to the secrecy of the ins and outs of the giant umbrella.
Concealed in this intimidating rubble are crucial facts about EFFORT such as details on tax returns. That is why this article cannot be taken as an exhaustive look into the functions of EFFORT and its affiliates, but just the tip of the iceberg to demonstrate in part some facts about the economic exploitations of the authoritarian regime currently governing Ethiopia.
Ethiopians wait to fill water cans in February during the recent drought. With the return of the rains, however, have come flooding and disease — something the government is reluctant to discuss. (Aida Muluneh for The Washington Post)
ADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA — After going through its worst drought in 50 years, Ethiopia is again seeing rain. In fact, in some places, it’s falling too hard and has set off floods.
So while the number of people requiring food aid has dropped slightly from 10.2 million in January to 9.7 million, according to the latest figures, there is a new threat of disease in a population weakened by drought.
Measles, meningitis, malaria and scabies are on the rise. And most seriously, there has been an outbreak of something mysteriously called “AWD,” according to the Humanitarian Requirements Document, issued by the government and humanitarian agencies on Aug. 13.
“There is a high risk that AWD can spread to all regions with high speed as there is a frequent population movement between Addis Ababa and other regions,” it warned.
The letters stand for acute watery diarrhea. It is a potentially fatal condition caused by water infected with the vibrio cholera bacterium. Everywhere else in the world it is simply called cholera.
But not in Ethiopia, where international humanitarian organizations privately admit that they are only allowed to call it AWD and are not permitted to publish the number of people affected.
The government is apparently concerned about the international impact if news of a significant cholera outbreak were to get out, even though the disease is not unusual in East Africa.
This means that, hypothetically, when refugees from South Sudan with cholera flee across the border into Ethiopia, they suddenly have AWD instead.
In a similar manner, exactly one year ago, when aid organizations started sounding the alarm bells over the failed rains, government officials were divided over whether they would call it a drought and appeal for international aid.
Police break up anti-government protest in Ethiopian capital
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Hundreds of protesters on Saturday clashed with police in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa after campaigners called for nationwide protests due to what they say is an unfair distribution of wealth in the country. (Reuters)
The narrative for Ethiopia in 2015 was a successful nation with double-digit growth, and the government did not want to bring back memories of the 1980s drought that killed hundreds of thousands and left the country forever associated with famine.
“We don’t use the f-word,” explained an aid worker to me back in September, referring to famine.
Like many of its neighbors in the region, Ethiopia has some issues with freedom of expression and is very keen about how it is perceived abroad. While the country has many developmental successes to celebrate, its current sensitivity suggests it will be some time before this close U.S. ally resembles the democracy it has long claimed to be.
Ultimately, the government recognized there was a drought and made an international appeal for aid. The systems put into place over the years prevented the drought from turning into a humanitarian catastrophe — for which the country has earned praise from its international partners.
In the same manner, even though it doesn’t call it cholera, the government is still waging a vigorous campaign to educate people on how to avoid AWD, by boiling water and washing their hands.
Yet this sensitivity to bad news extends to the economic realm as well. Critics have often criticized Ethiopia’s decade of reported strong growth as being the product of cooked numbers. The government does seem to produce rosier figures than international institutions.
After the drought, the International Monetary Fund predicted in Aprilthat growth would drop from 10.2 percent in 2015 to just 4.5 percent in 2016.
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, maintained, however, that growth would be a robust 8.5 percent, despite the falling agriculture productivity and decreased export earnings.
In the political realm, news of unrest and protests is suppressed. During a weekend of demonstrations on Aug. 6 and 7, the Internet was cut, making it difficult to find out what happened.
Human rights organizations, opposition parties and media tried to piece together the toll from the deadly demonstrations, which according to Amnesty International may have been up to 100.
The United Nations has called for international observers to carry out an investigation in the affected regions, which the government has strongly rejected even as it has dismissed estimates of casualties without providing any of its own.
“That is one of the factors we are struggling against with this government, the blockade of information,” complained Beyene Petros, the chairman of a coalition of opposition parties. “Journalists cannot go and verify. We cannot do that.”
Local journalists are heavily constrained, and as Felix Horne of Human Rights Watch points out, Ethiopia is one of the biggest jailers of journalists on the continent.
“Limitations on independent media, jamming of television and radio signals, and recent blocking of social media all point to a government afraid to allow its citizens access to independent information,” he said.
Foreign journalists do not fare much better, especially if they attempt to venture out of the capital to do their reporting.
In March, the New York Times and Bloomberg correspondents were detained by police while trying to report on the disturbances in the Oromo Region.
They were sent back to Addis Ababa and held overnight in a local prison before being interrogated and released.
In a similar fashion, a television crew with American Public Broadcasting Service was detained on Aug. 8 south of the capital trying to do a story on the drought conditions.
They and their Ethiopian fixer — an accredited journalist in her own right — were released after 24 hours, and they were told not to do any reporting outside of Addis.
In both cases the journalists were all accredited by the Government Communication Affairs Office, with credentials that are supposed to extend the breadth of the country but in practice are widely ignored by local officials.
The government spokesman, Getachew Reda, has dismissed the allegations about the information crackdown in the country and in recent appearances on the Al Jazeera network he maintained that there are no obstacles to information in Ethiopia.
“This country is open for business, it’s open for the international community, people have every right to collect whatever information they want,” he said.
Fascist Ethiopia ‘s regime has been conducting mass killings in Awaday, Oromia. Fascist Ethiopia’s regime forces killed several Oromo children in Awaday, Oromia, 1 July 2016.
18 years old young Oromo woman Sabrina Abdalla was shot by fascist Agazi of the TPLF Ethiopia’s regime on 20 June 2016 in Chalanqo, East Hararge, Oromia. She has died at upon arrival at Harar hospital. She was shot in a small hut she uses to sell tea and coffee.
Body of Sabrina Abdalla (18 years), the 10th grade Oromo female student who was gunned down in the night of 20 June 2016 byfascist Ethiopia’s regime soldiers in Chalanqo, East Hararge, Oromia.
June 28 /29 2016: #Oromo protests in Oromia (finfinnee, Hanna Furi) as the regime engaged in destroying residential houses for land grabs.
This is not just a political slight of hand. This is downright tragic. This is simply brutal. This is an act of state terror. This is bureaucracy deployed to disrupt life and terrorize poor citizens. This is a heartless exposure of people to a miserable death on the streets in these dark rainy days. You can’t call out women and children to a meeting and yet demolish their houses in their absence. We say NO to this in the strongest possible terms! NO! to a continued infliction of unnecessary suffering to poor people! Tsegaye Ararssa.
(Nairobi) – Ethiopian security forces have killed more than 400 protesters and others, and arrested tens of thousands more during widespread protests in the Oromia region since November 2015. The Ethiopian government should urgently support a credible, independent investigation into the killings, arbitrary arrests, and other abuses.
The 61-page report. “‘Such a Brutal Crackdown’: Killings and Arrests in Response to Ethiopia’s Oromo Protests,” details the Ethiopian government’s use of excessive and unnecessary lethal force and mass arrests, mistreatment in detention, and restrictions on access to information to quash the protest movement. Human Rights Watch interviews in Ethiopia and abroad with more than 125 protesters, bystanders, and victims of abuse documented serious violations of the rights to free expression and peaceful assembly by security forces against protesters and others from the beginning of the protests in November 2015 through May 2016.
Ethiopian security forces have killed more than 400 protesters and others, and arrested tens of thousands more during widespread protests in the Oromia region since November 2015.
“Ethiopian security forces have fired on and killed hundreds of students, farmers, and other peaceful protesters with blatant disregard for human life,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government should immediately free those wrongfully detained, support a credible, independent investigation, and hold security force members accountable for abuses.”
Human Rights Watch found that security forces used live ammunition for crowd control repeatedly, killing one or more protesters at many of the hundreds of protests over several months. Human Rights Watch and other organizations have identified more than 300 of those killed by name and, in some cases, with photos.
Partial list of Oromos mainly students that have been killed by Ethiopian regime police, security agents, Special and armed force during peaceful demonstration of last three months (updated stand. March. 2016)
Partial list of Oromos mainly students that have been killed by Ethiopian regime police, security agents, Special and armed force during peaceful demonstration of last three months (updated stand. March. 2016)
ABC News: Right Group:Oromia: #OromoProtests: Ethiopia’s security forces carrying out serious rights abuses, killings and rapes in clashes with protesters in Oromia
Sabboonan Oromoo Barataa Tarreessaa Safaraamooraa Yunivarsiitii Mattuu keessatti Ajjeefame. Oromo national Tarreessaa Safaraa, Engineering student at Mattu University murdered by TPLF/ Ethiopian Security agents on 23rd October 2015
Ethiopian Government Paramilitary Commits Torture and Rape in Oromia
The following is a statement from the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA).
HRLHA Urgent Action October 12, 2015
Harassments and intimidations through arbitrary arrests, beatings, torture and rapes were committed in Ada’a Berga district Western Showa Zone of Oromia Regional State against young Oromo nationals on September 24 and 25, 2015. More than 30 young Oromos were picked up from their homes at night by an Oromia paramilitary force. According to HRLHA informants in Ada’a Berga, the major targets of this most recent District Administration officials-sponsored violence were mostly young Oromos working in the Dangote Cement Factory and university students who were there to visit their families in the summer break. HRLHA informants from the area confirmed that this particular operation against young Oromo nationals in Ada’a Barga was led by the local government official obbo Tolera Anbasse. In this incident more than 30 young Oromos (16-25 ages) were arrested; more than 20 were severely beaten by the Oromia Paramilitary and confined in the Ada’a Barga district Police station for three days in violation of the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, Article 19 (3) “Persons arrested have the right to be brought before a court within 48 hours of their arrest. Such time shall not include the time reasonably required for the journey from the place of arrest to the court. On appearing before a court, they have the right to be given prompt and specific explanation of the reasons for their arrest due to the alleged crime committed”. Although it has been difficult to identify everyone by their names, HRLHA informants have confirmed that the following were among the arrestees:
All arrestees were accused of what the police referred to as “instigating the public against the government.”
When the arrestees were brought to court, one man explained to the court that he had been beaten severely in front of his family members and his wife and his sister age 16 were raped by one of the paramilitary members.
The arrestees showed their scarred backs to the court to indicate the torture inflicted on them by the Paramilitary. Even though the court released all the arrestees on bail the police refused the court order and took them to jail.
The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) expresses its deep concern over the safety and well-being of these arrested Oromo nationals and urge the Oromia Regional State Government to make sure that the bail conditions granted by the court are respected and release the arrestees unconditionally. HRLHA also urges the Oromia Regional State and the Ethiopian government to bring the torturers and rapists Ethiopian government paramilitary members to justice.
Naannawa Shagar aanaa Sululta Magaalaa Caancoo keessatti saamicha lafaa fi qotee bulaa humnaan qe’ee irraa buqqiduun daran hammaachuu irraan kan ka’e diddaan uummataa jabaate. Yeroo ammaa kana Wayyaanee fi dabballoonni ishee qotee bulaa lafa irraa buqqisuun saamicha gaggeessaa kan jirtu yoo ta’u uummanni magaala Caancoo diddaa jabaa dhageessisaa jira.
Diddaa uummataa kana dura dhaabbachuuf yeroo hedduu maqaa wal gahii jedhuun uummataa fi hojjattootta mootummaa yaamuun sossobuuf yaalaa kan turte yoo tahu walgahii isheen yaamte irratti hojjattoonni dhalootaan Oromoo tahanii fi uummanni magaalaa Caancoo diddaa jabaa waan dhageessisaniif diddaa kana dura dhaabbachuu hin dndeenye. Kana waan taheef ammas diddaa uummataa kana dhaamsuuf dabballootuma waliin saamicha gaggeessaa turan yeroodhaaf jettee mana hidhaa aanaa Sulultaa magaala Caancootti guuraa jirti.
Haaluma kanaan fakkeessidhaaf lafa saamtanii jirtu sababa jedhuu dabballootuma idhee itti gaafatamaainvestment kan tahe nama Salamoon Debebe jedhamuu fi mahandisoota magaala Caancoo nama sadi yeroodhaaf sagalee fi didaa uummataa dhaamsuuf jettee mana hidhaatti kan darbatte.
Darajjee Goobanaa, Oromo national and 3rd year student at Bule Hora University is murdered by fascist TPLF Ethiopia (Agazi) forces: Barataa Waggaa 3ffaa Yuuniversitii Bulee Horaa Kan Ta’e Sabboontichi Darajjee Goobanaa Rasaasa Poolisoota Wayyaaneen Wareegame.
Barataa Darajjee Goobanaan godina Wallaggaa Horroo Guduruu aanaa Jaardagaa Jaartee jedhamutti kan dhalatee guddate ta’uu fi amal qabeessaa fi qaroo ilma Oromoo akka ta’e barattooti Yuuniverstii Bulee Horaa dubbatu.
Peoples Most under Threat: The Oromo, Anuak, Afars & Somali (Ogaden) and other Indigenous People are Facing Genocide in Ethiopia, the Latest Annual Report Released on 18th May 2015 by Rights Group Reveals May 21, 2015
Yakka waraana mootummaan EPRDF/TPLFn uummata Oromoo fi barattoota Oromoo irratti fudhateen jiraattotii fi hojjettooti hostala Naqamtee haalaan kan gaddan yeroo ta’u Oromoonni adduunyaa irratti bakka hunda faca’anii jiran gochaa hammeenya wayyaanee kaan akka balaaleffatanii fi hirkoo baratootaaf akka ta’an Qeerroo dhaammata.
Gama biraan Haaluma kanaan walqabatee Yuunibarsiitiin Wallaggaa fi Magaalaan Neqemtee rafama guddaa keessa jirti, Mootummaan Wayyaanee lubbuu ilmaan Oromoo fi nageenya uummata Oromoof bakka tokko illee hin qabnee fi tarkaanfii gara jabinaa Oromoo irratti fudhachuun beekamu guyyaa har’aa caamsa 20/2015 immoo Magaalaa Neqemtee keessatti dabballota, fi
kaadiroota isaa waliin hiriira duula filannoo gaggeessa jira. Uummatni Oromoo magaalaa Neqemtee fi yuunibarsiitii wallaggaa humna waraanaa guddaan eegamaa jiruu, Barattootni Yuunivarsiitii Wallaggaa guyyaa hardhaa barnoota dhaabani jiru.
Armed TPLF (Agazi) forces that have camped in and occupied University of Wallagga in Naqamtee City have been engaged in terrorizing and torturing students and civilians in the city. It has been learnt that on 19th May 2015 the Agazi forces shot at and wounded 2 university students.
6 Oromo Students of Three Universities Abducted by TPLF Led Government Forces
Qeerroo Report, May 17, 2015: As the fake 2015 so called Ethiopian election approaches, the TPLF led Ethiopian government has intensified arresting, harassing, and abduction of Oromo nationals, especially Oromo students of universities and higher educational institutions. Accordingly, the following Oromo students of Adama University, Eastern Shoa zone of Oromia regional state have been abducted by the terrorist “intelligence” forces of the Ethiopian regime and their whereabouts are unknown. Read Full; Qeerroo Report, May 17 2015http://qeerroo.org/2015/05/17/6-oromo-students-of-three-universities-abducted-by-tplf-led-government-forces/
5 Oromo students from Adama University have been kidnapped by TPLF (Agazi) security forces. Kidnapping, torturing and violence against Oromo students and civilians is continued all over universities and entire Oromia. See the following table for few latest lists in Afaan Oromo.
Barataan Oromoo maqaan isaa Rabbirraa Biloo jedhamu Kiibxata Caamsaa 04, 2015 Univarsity Wallo, Kampasii Dassee keessaatti fannifamee ajjeefame. Barataan Oromoo kun barataa Health Science waggaa 1ffaa yoo tahu, barataa dadeettii fi namuusa qabeessa akka turee fi gaafa Wiixataa barumsaa isaa barachaa oolee gara naannoo sa’aa 1:00w.b. irraa eegalee akka baheen eessa buuteen isaa waan dhabameef hiriyooti isaa qaama Poolisii mooraa Univarsitichaatti gabasanis yerodhan tarkaanfiin akka hin fudhatamnee fi reeffi barataa Oromoo kanaa dirree kubbaa miillaa Universitichaa keessaatti gaafa Kiibxataa Caamasaa 04, 2015 fannifamee akka argame ibsaniiru. Yeroo reeffi barataa Oromoo kanaa argameetti qaami isaa walqixxaatee akka turee fi mallattoon biraa fuula isaa tahe afaan isaa irratti akka hin argamne hiriyooti isaa ifa godhanii jiru.Duuti barataa Rabbirraa Biloo rakkoo fi miidhaa barattoota Oromoo irraan bulchiinsi Univarsity Walloo fi mootummaan abbaa irree Wayyaanee geessisaa jiraniin kan wal-qabatee tahuu fi akkaataa du’a barataa Oromoo kanaa barattooti Oromoo Univarsity akka seeraan qoratamu bulchiinsa univaristichaa gaafatanis qaami bulichiinsa Univarsitichaa sun qormaati akkasii kan geggeeffamu Hospitaala Maqaleetti yookan immoo Hospitaal Miniliktti jechuudhaan ajjeechaan lammii Oromoo kanaa osoo seeraan hin qulqullaahin gara matii isaatti akka ergame ifa taheera. Barataan Oromoo kun bakki dhaloota isaa godina Shaggar Dhiyaa, aanaa Gindabaratti ta’uun beekameera.Mooraan Kampasii Dassee dallaa tokkollee kan hin qabne ta’uu isaa fi kana barattooti yeroo adda addaa qaama bulchiinsa Univarsitichaatti iyyatanis hawaasi nannichaayyu dalla isiniif taha jechuudhaan mooraa Univarsituchaatti dallaa ijjaaruu akka didan maddeen oduu kana ibsanii jiru.Barattooti Oromoo Univarsity Walloo yaaddoo barumsa isaanii nagaan barachuu fi wabii jireenyaa dhabuu qaban yeroo ibsan, barataan Oromoo mooraa san keessatti akka lammii lammaffaa fi yakkamaatti kan ilaalamuu fi gaaffii mirgaas tahe kan bulchiinsa Univarsity wajjin wal qabatee kamiyyuu yoo gaafatan tarkaanfiin isaan irratti fudhatamu isa dhumaa fi keessa deebii ykn ilaalcha tokko kan hin kennamneef tahuu ibsanii; gaaffii guumii aadaa fi afaan Oromoo hundeessuuf bulchiinsa Univarsitychaaf yeroo dheeraaf dhiyeessanillee hanga har’aatti deebii osoo hin argatiin jiraachuu isaa fi warreen gaaffii mirgaa akkasii dhiyeessan illee tarkaanfiin barumsa irraa hari’uu akka irratti fudhatamu akka akeekkachiifaman beekameera.
Humni Tika fi Loltuun Feederaala Wayyaanee Barattoota Oromoo Yuuniversitii Wallaggaa Hedduu Reebuu Saamaa Jira, Barattoota Afur Reebichaan Gara Malee Miidhe.
Oromo students in University Wallaggaa have been tortured and robbed their belongings by TPLF (Agazi) forces operating in the campus. Among students who have been severely attacked by Agazi are:
Abarraa Ayyalaa fi kanneen biroo maqaan hin qaqqabin dararama jiraachuun maddeen keenya gabaasan. http://qeerroo.org/2015/05/15/humni-tika-fi-loltuun-feederaala-wayyaanee-barattoota-oromoo-yuuniversitii-wallaggaa-hedduu-reebuu-saamaa-jira-barattoota-afur-reebichaan-gara-malee-miidhe/
More than 50 Oromo students arrested by Ethiopia’s tyrannic TPLF regime in Ambo, Oromia; 20 being tortured
The statement from the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA):-Ethiopia: The Endless Violence against Oromo Nationals ContinuesFear of Torture | HRLHA Urgent Action For Immediate Release May 7, 2015 Harassment and intimidation through arbitrary arrests, kidnappings and disappearances have continued unabated in Ambo and the surrounding areas against Oromo youth and intellectuals since the crackdown of last year (April 2014), when more than 79 Oromos, mostly youth, were killed by members of the federal security force. According to HRLHA correspondents in Ambo, the major targets of this most recent government-sponsored violence were Ambo University and high schools Oromo students in Ambo town. In this incident, which started on April 20, 2015, more than 50 university and high school students were arrested; more than 20 were severely beaten by the security force and taken to the Ambo General Hospital for treatment. Although it has been difficult to identify everyone by their names, HRLHA correspondents have confirmed that the following were among the arrestees: Those who were badly beaten and are being hospitalized in the Ambo General Hospital: According to HRLHA reporters, the arrests were made to clear out supporters and members of the other political organizations running for the 5th General Election to be held May 24, 2015. The EPRDF, led by the late Meles Zenawi, claimed victory in the General Elections of 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010. The TPLF/EPRDF government of Ethiopia has started a campaign of intimidation against its opponents. Extrajudicial arrests and imprisonments, particularly in the regional state of Oromia, the most populous region in the country, began late October 2014. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) expresses its deep concern over the safety and well-being of these Oromo nationals who have been arrested without any court warrant, and are being held at police stations and unknown detention centers. The Ethiopian government has a well documented record of gross and flagrant violations of human rights, including the torturing of its own citizens, who were suspected of supporting, sympathizing with and/or being members of the opposition political organizations. There have been credible reports of physical and psychological abuses committed against individuals in Ethiopia’s official prisons and other secret detention centers. HRLHA calls upon governments of the West, all local, regional and international human rights agencies to join hands and demand the immediate halt to such extrajudicial actions against one’s own citizens, and the unconditional release of the detainees. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to the Ethiopian Government and its officials as swiftly as possible, written in English, Ahmaric, or your own language. The following are suggested: – Indicate your concern about citizens being tortured in different detention centers, including the infamous Ma’ikelawi Central Investigation Office; and calling for their immediate and unconditional release; – Urge the Ethiopian authorities to ensure that detainees will be treated in accordance with the regional and international standards on the treatment of prisoners, and that their whereabouts be disclosed, and – Make sure the coming May 24, 2015 election is fair and free. Read full statement from the following links: The Endless Violence against Oromo Nationals Continues, HRLHA Report, 7th May 2015
Ethiopia: Kidnapped And Disappearance of Oromo Civilians
Oromia Support Group Australia Appeal for Urgent Action: To: Committee on Enforced Disappearances and Committee against Torture Human Rights Treaties Division (HRTD) Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Palais Wilson – 52, rue des Pâquis CH-1201 Geneva (Switzerland) Ethiopia: Kidnapped and disappearance of Oromo civilians Magarsa Mashsha And Urgessa Damana: Oromia Support Group Australia Inc. (OSGA) expresses its deep concern regarding the kidnapping a nd disappear an ce of two Oromo civilians by the Ethiopian security forces. Mr Magarsa Mashasha Ayansa was kidnapped and diapere d on April 23rd, 7pm local tim e while Urgessa Damana was on May 4th, 2015. Mr Magarsa, community health worker, a student of Ambo University is the local area resident. He was kidnapped by Ethiopian security forces from the country’s central city Fifinna (Addis Ababa) – Bole area – while he was on a trip for his personal business. In a similar situation, Mr Urgessa Damana a former Rift Valley University Student and resident of Ambo town also captured on 4th of May 2015 by Ethiopian security forces. Since then the whereabouts of theses Oromo civilians remained unknown. OSGA believes that th e Ethiopian government conduct violated the fundamental rights. The right to freedom from torture and the UN Body of Principles for the Protection of All Per sons under Any Form of Detention and Imprisonment including the UN Standard Minimum Treatment of Prisoners is entirely denied. We are concerned that this pattern will continue to worsen. We respectfully believe that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) – Human Rights Treaties Division (HRTD) has a duty to use its diplomatic relationships with the reciprocal expectation of protecting human rights and legitimate democratic governance. These accusations reveal serious violations of human rights and legal process, and without external accountability, many vulnerable people will suffer in the country. We, therefore, urge you to: 1. Request the Ethiopian Government to reveal the whereabouts of these two Oromo civilians and immediate and unconditional release of them including all political prisoners under their captivity. 2. Request to investigate, amongst other things, actions taken by the Ethiopian Government security forces in the state of Oromia and the suffering of Oromo civilians in hundreds of official and hidden torture chambers. 3. Raise this case with the international community and other relevant United Nation bodies. Stress the righ t to remedy, restitution, compensation, non-repetition, and punishment of the perpetrators, in line with the UN Guidelines on the right to treat. We denounce the attacks on peoples who are exercising their fundamental and democratic rights. Thanks for considering of OSGA appeal Oromia Support Group Australia Read More:- osga-appeal-for-urgent-action-on-the-disapperances-of-mr-magarsa-and-urgessa-may-8th-2015-photo-include
Oromo national Urgeessaa Dammanaa, student from Rift Valley University, kidnapped by fascist TPLF Ethiopian security forces on 4th May 2015 and his whereabouts is not known.
Oromoo Hidhuu fi Ajjeessuu Araada Kan Godhate Mootummaan Abbaa Irree Wayyaanee, Sabboonticha Oromoo Barataa Urgeessaa Daammanaa Caamsaa 4 Bara 2015 Edda Ukkaamsee Har’aa Ukkaamsee Eessa Buuteen Isaa Hin Beekamne.
Gabaasa Qeerroo Finfinnee,Caamsaa 4,2015Caamsaa 04,2015 Mootummaan Abbaa Irree EPRDF/TPLF yakka tokko malee ilmaan Oromoo sabboontota ta’an ukkamsaa jira haala kanaan guyyaa har’aa sabboonaan Qeerroo Oromoo kan ta’ee barataa Urgeessaa Dammanaa Kumsaa humnoota tikaa mootummaa EPRDF/TPLF magaalaa Finfinnee keessatti ukkanfame. Barataa Yuunivarsiitii Rift Valley kan ture, Sabboonaan Qeerroon Oromoo Urgeessaa Daammanaa yakka tokko illee utuu hin qabaatiin daa’imummaa isaa irraa eegaluun Oromummaan yakkamee manneen hidhaa biyyattii garaagaraa keessatti hidhamuun dararamaa kan ture,fi bara 2011 Mana hidhaa Maa’ikalaawwii, fi Qaalliittii Waggaa tokkoo oliif badii tokko malee hidhamee dararamaa kan turee fi yeroo garaagaratti mana hidhaa lixaa Shaggar magaalaa Amboottis hidhama kan ture yoo ta’uu, Guyyaa har’aa kanas badii tokkoo malee FDG Qeerroo Bilisummaa Oromoo gaggeessa jiru qinddeessiteetta jechuun yeroo dheeraa erga hordofamaa ture, ammas humnoota tikaa mootummaa Wayyaanee EPRDF/TPLF’n guyyaa hardhaa ukkanfamee eessa buuteen isaa hin beekamne. Sabboonaan Qeerroon barataan Oromoo kun FDG Qeerroon Bilisummaa Oromoo biyyattii keessatti qindeessee gaggeessa jiru keessa harka qabda sabaabaa jedhuun nannoo dhaloota isaa Godina Lixaa Shaggar Magaalaa Amboo kolleejjii Rifti Valley Amboo utuu barachaa jiruu yeroo sochii Warraaqsaa FDG bara darbee Ebla 2014 Qeerroon barattootni fi uummatni Oromoo sirna bittaa Wayyaanee balaaleffachuun mormii guddaa gaggeessa turanitti FDG kana qindeessuu keessa harka qabda jechuun naannoo dhaloota isaa magaalaa Amboo irraa baqachiifame ,barnoota isaas akkatti baratuu dhabuun haala baay’ee rakkisaa ta’ee keessatti gara magaalaa Dirree Dawaatti barnoota isaa itti fufuuf akkuma Koolleejjii Rift Valley Damee Dirree Dawaatti galmaa’ee barnoota eegaletti hordoffiin humnoota tikaa fi dabballoota Wayyaanee itti jabaachuun akka barnoota isaa itti fufee barachuu hin dandeenye dhorkatame akkatti baratuu dhabuun gara magaalaa Finfinneetti deebi’uun hojiilee wardiyummaa fi hojiiwwaan humnaa garaagaraa hojjechuun utuu of jiraachisuu guyyaa hardhaa humnoota tikaa mootummaa EPRDF/TPLF’n ukkanfamee eessa buuteen isaa dhabamee jira. Ilmaan Oromoo biyya abbaa isaanii keessa jiraachuu dadhabuun Mootummaan Wayyaanee diina itti ta’uun mirga namummaa fi dimookiraasii mulqamnee guyyaa irraa gara guyyaatti ilmaan Oromoo ukkaanfamaa jiraaniif dhaabbileen mirga namummaa addunyaa fi mootummootni gamtooman uummata Oromoof dirmachuu qabu, ilmaan Oromoo biyyoota garaagaraa keessa jirtan dhaabilee Idil-Addunyaa mirgoota namummaa kabachiisan hundatti akka uummata keenyaaf iyyaannu Qeerroon bilisuumma Oromoo dhaamsa dabarsa.
11 years old Oromo child from Galamsoo town, Eastern Oromia was tortured and murdered by fascist TPLF security forces. Mootumma abba irree wayyaannen muca daa’ima waggan isa 11 ta’e wajjira poolisii magaala galamsoo keessatti ati ABO dhaf basaasta haati kee eessa jirti, mal hojjetti jedhanii utuu reebanii lubbuun isa darbite.Source: Social networks, 4 May 2015.
Ogeessa Fayyaa fi Barataa Yuuniverstii Amboo Kan Ta’e Sabboonaa Magarsaa Mashashaa Ayyaanaa Humnoota Tika Wayyaaneen Ukkaamfame.
The Ethiopian Government is Responsible for the Inhuman Treatments against Ethiopian Refugees and Asylum Seekers around the World
HRLHA Press Release
25th April 2015
The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa has been greatly saddened by the cold-blooded killing of 30 Christian Ethiopian refugees and asylum seekers in the past week in Libya by a group called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria/ ISIS. The HRLHA also highly concerned about thousands of Ethiopian refugees and asylum seekers living in different parts of Yemen were victimized due to the political crises in Yemen and hundreds have suffered in South Africa because of the unprecedented actions taken by a gang opposing refugees and asylum seekers in the country. The suppressive policy of the EPRDF/TPLF government has forced millions of Ethiopians to flee their country in the past twenty-four years. The mass influx of Ethiopian citizens into neighboring countries every year has been due to the EPRDF/TPLF policy of denying its citizens their socioeconomic and political rights. They have also fled out of fear of political persecution and detention. It has been repeatedly reported by human rights organizations, humanitarian and other non – governmental organizations that Ethiopia is producing a large number of refugees, estimated at over two hundred fifty thousand every year.
The HRLHA calls upon the Ethiopian government to unconditionally release the detained citizens and allow those who have been injured during the clash with police to get medical treatment.In connection with the incident that took place in Libya, on April 22, 2015 tens of thousands of Ethiopians marched on government- organized rallies against the killing of Ethiopian Christians in Libya. However, with the demonstrators’ angry expressions were directed at the authorities, the police used tear gas against them and hundreds of people were beaten on the street and arrested. On the 23rd and 24th of April 2015 others were picked up from their homes and taken to unknown destinations according to the HRLHA reporter in Addis Ababa.
Recommendations:
The Ethiopian government must stop political suppression in the country and respect the human rights treaties it signed and ratified
The Ethiopian Government must provide the necessary lifesaving help to those Ethiopians stuck in crises in the asylum countries of Yemen, South Africa and others.
The EPRDF/TPLF government must release journalists, opposition political party members, and others held in Ethiopian prisons and respect their right to exercise their basic and fundamental rights enshrined in the constitution of Ethiopia and international standard of human rights instruments.
Ethiopia: Police must stop the use of excessive force against demonstrators
April 27, 2015
PUBLIC STATEMENT April 22, 2015 AI Index: AFR 25/1515/2015Amnesty International calls on the Ethiopian authorities to ensure that police refrain from excessive use of force in policing demonstrations, after police violently dispersed mass protests in Addis Ababa yesterday. The Ethiopian authorities must respect the rights of demonstrators to exercise their rights to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly.Video footage and photographs posted online show police beating protestors who appear to be offering no resistance, and tear gas being used against the crowd. A journalist in Addis Ababa told Amnesty International that 48 people had been seriously injured and admitted to different hospitals, and that many others sustained minor injuries. Two photos show wounded people being treated at hospital. Hundreds of others are reported to have been arrested.The protests started on Tuesday following circulation of a video showing the killing of around 30 people believed to be Ethiopians by the armed group ISIS in Libya. Two of the named victims have been identified as coming from Cherkos, Addis Ababa. Hundreds of relatives and friends were gathered outside their family homes before spilling on to the streets towards Meskel Square. Many protestors in the photographs and video footages posted online are shown holding pictures of the two men.Protests resumed on Wednesday morning, with thousands gathering in Meskel Square where a mass rally had been organized as part of the official three days of mourning announced by the government. Around 100,000 people took part in the demonstrations, which were initially targeted against the killings by ISIS, but later turned into anger towards the government, including its inability to protect Ethiopian citizens and more general calls for political reform. According to reports the police began to disperse the gathered crowd by force after some demonstrators shouted slogans during the rally, and as the situation escalated there were clashes between protesters and police.In a statement on Wednesday evening, Communications Minister Redwan Hussein accused the opposition Semayawi (Blue) Party of trying to manipulate the demonstrations for their own political interests and of inciting the public to violence, which the party has denied. The minister said that seven police officers had been injured and hospitalized, but made no mention of injuries or arrests among the protestors. Eight members of the Semayawi Party were arrested, including three candidates in the upcoming general elections on 24 May 2015. They are Woyneshet Molla, Tena Tayewu, Ermias Siyum, Daniel Tesfaye, Tewodros Assefa, Eskinder Tilahun, Mastewal Fekadu and Yidnekachewu Addis. At least one other party member was hospitalized after beaten on the head by police.The Ethiopian authorities have an obligation to facilitate people’s exercise of their right to freedom of expression and of peaceful assembly. If there is a legitimate reason for which it is necessary to disperse an assembly, police must avoid the use of force where at all possible or, where that is not practicable, must restrict any such force to the minimum necessary. Law enforcement officials may use force only when strictly necessary and to the extent required for the performance of their duty.The authorities in Ethiopia must ensure that there is an effective and impartial investigation into the use of force by police against protestors during the demonstrations and ensure that any police found to have used unnecessary or excessive force are subject to disciplinary and criminal sanctions as appropriate. Arbitrary or abusive use of force should be prosecuted as a criminal offence.Amnesty International urges the Ethiopian authorities to ensure that in policing demonstrations in the future, the police comply with international law and standards on the use of force by law enforcement officials. With general elections a month away on 24 May, the Ethiopian authorities should commit to facilitating the right of protestors to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
This is part and parcel of the TPLF Ethiopian government’s ongoing genocidal crimes against Oromo people. Kurnasoo Abdulmaalik Yuunis (in picture) is Oromo national residing in Eastern Oromia, Dire Dawa city. He was attacked and severely beaten on 28 March 2015 by TPLF (Woyane) killing forces in the area while he visited the police station to search for the whereabouts of his kidnapped brother and close friends.
Oromo: HRLHA Plea for Release of Detained Peaceful Protestors
February 8, 2015 By Stefania Butoi Varga, Human Rights Brief, Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law*
From March to April 2014, members of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, engaged in peaceful protests in opposition to the Ethiopian government’s implementation of the “Integrated Regional Development Plan” (Master Plan). The Oromo believe that the Master Plan violates Articles 39 and 47 in the Ethiopian Constitution, by altering administrative boundaries around the city of Addis Ababa, the Oromia State’s and the federal government’s capital. The Oromo fear they will be excluded from the development plans and that this will lead to the expropriation of their farmlands. In response to these protests, the Ethiopian government has detained or imprisoned thousands of Oromo nationals. In a January 2005 appeal, the Human Rights League of the Hornof Africa (HRLHA) claimed that the Ethiopian government is breaching the State’s Constitution and several international treaties by depriving the Oromo prisoners of their liberty. Amnesty International reports that some protestors have also been victims of “enforced disappearance, repeated torture, and unlawful state killings as part of the government’s incessant attempts to crush dissent.” Under the Ethiopian Constitution, citizens possess the rights to liberty and due process, including the right not to be illegally detained. Article 17 forbids deprivation of liberty, arrest, or detention, except in accordance with the law. Further, Article 19 provides that a person has the right to be arraigned within forty-eight hours of his or her arrest. However, according to the HRLHA, a group of at least twenty-six Oromo prisoners were illegally detained for over ninety-nine days following the protests. The HRHLA claims that these detentions were illegal because the prisoners were arrested without warrants, and because they did not appear before a judge within forty-eight hours of their arrest. The Ethiopian authorities’ actions also disregard the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which requires that no one be subject to arbitrary arrest, and that those arrested be promptly brought before a judge. Ethiopia signed and ratified the ICCPR in 1993, and is thus bound to uphold the treaty. Additionally, the Ethiopian Constitution deems torture and unusual punishment illegal and inhumane. According to Article 18, every citizen has the right not to be exposed to cruel, inhuman, or degrading behavior. Amnesty International reports that certain non-violent Oromo protestors suffered exactly this treatment, including a teacher who was stabbed in the eye with a bayonet for refusing to teach government propaganda to his students, and a young girl who had hot coals poured onto her stomach because her torturers believed her father was a political dissident. Amnesty International further recounts other instances of prisoners being tortured through electric shock, burnings, and rape. If these reports are an accurate account of the government’s actions, the Ethiopian authorities are not only acting contrary to their constitution, but also contrary to the United Nations Convention Against Torture (CAT). According to Article 2 of the CAT, a State Member must actively prevent torture in its territory, without exception. In addition, an order from a high public authority cannot be used as justification if torture is indeed used. Ethiopia ratified the CAT in 1994, and is thus obligated to uphold and protect its principles. The HRLHA pleads that the Ethiopian government release imprisoned Oromo protesters. This would ensure that the intrinsic human rights of the Oromo people, guaranteed by the Ethiopian Constitution and several international treaties ratified by Ethiopia would finally be upheld. Furthermore, it would restore peace to and diminish the fear among other Oromo people who have abandoned their normal routines in the wake of government pressure, and have fled Ethiopia or have gone into hiding. *The Human Rights Brief is a student-run publication at American University Washington College of Law (WCL). Founded in 1994 as a publication of the school’s Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, the publication has approximately 4,000 subscribers in over 130 countries.
Ethiopia:- TPLF’s Leaders Arrogance and Contempt – Inviting Further Bloodshed and Loss of Lives – HRLHA Statement
The following is a statement from the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA). ———————- February 23, 2015 Since the downfall of the military government of Ethiopia in 1991, the political and socioeconomic lives of the country have totally been controlled by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front/TPLF leaders and business institutions. As soon as the TPLF controlled Addis Ababa, the capital city, in 1991, the first step it took was to create People’s Democratic Organizations (PDOs) in the name of different nations and nationalities in the country. With the help of these PDOs, the TPLF managed to control the whole country in a short period of time from corner to corner. The next step that the TPLF took was to weaken and/or eliminate all independent opposition political organizations existing in the country, including those with whom it formed the Ethiopian Transitional Government in 1991. Just to pretend that it was democratizing the country, the TPLF signed seven international human rights documents from 1991 to 2014. These include the “Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”. Despite this, it is known that the TPLF has tortured many of its own citizens ever since it assumed power, and has continued to the present day. The TPLF Government adopted a new constitution in 1995; and, based on this Constitution, it formed new federal states. The new Ethiopian Constitution is full of spurious democratic sentiments and human rights terms meant to inspire the people of Ethiopia and the world community. The TPLF’s pretentious promise to march towards democracy enabled it to receive praises from people inside and outside, including donor countries and organizations. The TPLF government managed somehow to maintain a façade of credibility with western governments, including those of U.S.A. and the UK. In reality, the TPLF security forces were engaged in intensive killings, abductions, disappearances of a large number of Oromo, Ogaden, Sidama peoples and others whom the TPLF suspected of being members, supporters or sympathizers of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Ogadenian National Liberation Front (ONLF), and Sidama People’s Liberation Front (SPLF). TPLF – from high officials down to ordinary level cadres in the various regional states – engaged in enriching themselves and their family members by looting and embezzling public wealth and properties; raping young women in the occupied areas of the nations and nationalities in Ethiopia; and committing many other forms of corruptions. After securing enough wealth for themselves, the TPLF government officials, cadres and members declared, in 2004, an investment policy that resulted in the eviction of indigenous peoples from their lands and all types of livelihoods. Since 2006, thousands of Oromo, Gambela, and Benishangul nationals and others have been forcefully evicted from their lands without consultation or compensation. Those who attempted to oppose or resist were murdered and/or jailed by the TPLF1. The TPLF government then cheaply leased their lands, for terms as long as 50 years, to international investors and wealthy Middle East and Asian countries, including Saudi Arabia2. The TPLF government has done all this against its own Constitution, particularly article 40 (3)3, which states that “The right to ownership of rural and urban land, as well as of all natural resources, is exclusively vested in the State and in the peoples of Ethiopia. Land is a common property of the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia and shall not be subject to sale or to other means of exchange”. These acts were also against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 17 (1 & 2)4, which says, “1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. 2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.” In order to facilitate further corruption and embezzlement, the money paid for the leases as long as 50 years were received in cash. For example, the Indian agro investor Karaturi explained to a Guardian newspaper’s reporter that the TPLF government officials asked him to pay in cash in order to get the land, which he called “green gold”5. These gross human rights violations by the TPLF leaders against the Oromos, Gambelas, and Benishanguls have been condemned by many civic organizations, including Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch, the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa, the Oakland Institute and others. The giving away of Oromo land in the name of investment also includes Addis Ababa, the capital city situated at the center of Oromia Regional State. 30,000 Oromos were evicted by the TPLF/EPRDF Government from their lands and livelihoods in the areas around the Capital City and suburbs, and their lands were given to the TPLF officials, members and loyal cadres over the past 24 years. In order to grab more lands around Addis Abba, the TPLF government prepared a plan called “the Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan,” a plan that aimed at annexing about 36 towns and surrounding villages into Addis Ababa. This Master Plan was first challenged by the Oromo People’s Democracy Organization/OPDO in March 2014. The challenge was first supported by Oromo students in different universities, colleges and high schools in Oromia, and then spread to Oromo farmers, Oromo intellectuals in all corners of Oromia Regional State and to Oromo nationals living in different parts of the world. The Oromo nationals staged peaceful protests all over Oromia Regional State. In connection with this Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan, which had the risk of evicting more than two million farmers from around the capital city, about seventy Oromo students from among the peaceful protestors were brutalized by the special TPLF Agizi snipers and more than five thousand Oromos from all walks of life were taken to prisons in different parts of Oromia Regional State. The inhuman military actions and crackdowns by the TPLF government against peaceful protestors were condemned by different international media, such as the BBC6, human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and the HRLHA7. The government admitted that it killed nine of them8. The unrest that started in central Oromia suddenly escalated to such a high level that the TPLF leaders suspended the expansion plan for a while. However, recently, without the slightest regret and sense of remorse over the massacres committed against peaceful protestors of Oromo Nationals by his government in May and April 2014, the TPLF’s co-founder, top official and the current Prime Minister’s (Hailemariam Dessalegn’s) special advisor, Mr. Abay Tsehaye, vowed in public that anyone who attempts to oppose the implementation of the so-called Addis Ababa Master Plan would be dealt with harshly. In his speech, he confirmed that the TPLF government is determined to continue with the master plan, no matter what happened in the past or what may come in the future. In a manner that Abay Tsehaye was reiterating that the annexations of towns and cities in central Oromia into the capital Addis Ababa will go ahead as planned regardless of the absence of consultations and consent of the local people and/or the officials of the targeted towns and cities. Besides displaying his extreme arrogance and contempt for the Oromo Nation, Mr. Abay Tsehaye’s speech was in direct breach of constitutional provisions of both federal and regional states. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) would like to express its deep concern that this TPLFs leader’s speech not only encourages violence against the country’s own citizens, but also invites further bloodshed and losses of lives; it leaves no room at all for dialogue, consultation and consent – norms which are at the core of a genuine democracy. This is still happening despite the killing of more than seventy Oromo youth and the arrest and incarceration of thousands of others as a result of violent and deadly responses by armed forces of the TPLF and the government to peaceful demonstrators in May and April 2014. Conclusion: The HRLHA believes that the gross human rights violations committed by the TPLF government in the past 24 years against Oromo, Ogaden, Gambela, Sidama and others were pre-planned and intentional all the times that they have happened. The TPLF killed, tortured, and kidnapped and disappeared thousands of Oromo nationals, Ogaden and other nationals simply because of their resources and ethnic backgrounds. The recent research conducted by Amnesty International under the title “Because I am Oromo”: SWEEPING REPRESSION IN THE OROMIA REGION OF ETHIOPIA’9 confirms that peoples in Ethiopia who belong to other ethnic groups have been the victims of the TPLF. The TPLF inhuman actions against the citizens are clearly a genocide, a crime against humanity10 and an ethnic cleansing, which breach domestic and international laws, and all international treaties the government of Ethiopia signed and ratified. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa wants to hold the TPLF government accountable, as a group and as individuals, for the crimes they have committed and are committing against Oromos and others. The HRLHA calls on all human rights families, non-governmental civic organizations, HRLHA members, supporters and sympathizers to stand beside the HRLHA and provide moral, professional and financial help to bring the dictatorial TPLF government and officials to international justice. ——————- * The HRLHA is a non-political organization which attempts to challenge abuses of human rights of the people of various nations and nationalities in the Horn of Africa. It works to defend fundamental human rights including freedoms of thought, expression, movement and association. It also works on raising the awareness of individuals about their own basic human rights and those of others. It encourages respect for laws and due process. It promotes the growth and development of free and vigorous civil societies. ——————- We Fight for Human Rights! HRLHA Head Office February 23, 2015 ——————- 1. Genocide Watch, http://www.genocidewatch.org/ethiopia.html; The Oakland Institute, Engineering Ethnic Conflict,http://www.oaklandinstitute.org/sites/oaklandinstitute.org/files/Report_EngineeringEthnicConflict.pdf 2. Saudi Company Leases Ethiopian Land for Rice Export, http://www.pri.org/stories/2011-12-27/saudi-company-leases-ethiopian-land-rice-export 3. Proclamation No. 1/1995 Proclamation of the Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopiahttp://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/research/Proclamation%20no.1-1995.pdf 4. UDHR, http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/ 6. Ethiopia protest: Ambo students killed in Oromia state; BBC; http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27251331 7. Ambo Under Siege; HRLHA; http://www.humanrightsleague.org/?p=14287; and Region-Wide, Heavy-Handed Crackdown on Peaceful Protesters; HRLHA; Http://Www.Humanrightsleague.Org/?P=14668 8. BBC TV Reported 9. Ethiopia: ‘Because I Am Oromo’: Sweeping Repression In The Oromia Region Of Ethiopia,https://www.amnesty.org/En/documents/Afr25/006/2014/En/ 10. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Articles 6&7, http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/InternationalCriminalCourt.aspx
http://gadaa.com/oduu/26561/2015/02/24/ethiopia-tplfs-leaders-arrogance-and-contempt-inviting-further-bloodshed-and-loss-of-lives-hrlha-statement/ Oromo Political Prisoners The young man whose photo you see below is Nimona Chali. He was the Chairman of Gumii Aaadaaf Afaan Oromo (GAAO) and a second year engineering student at Haromaya University. He was arrested from the university campus right after #OromoProtests started last year and he is being kept incommunicado in a dark room at the notorious Ma’ikelawi prison. He has not been charged with any crime nine months after his arrest. Nimona Chali had spent three years as a political prisoner prior to going to Haromaya University. He was born and raised in Ambo, a city known for its proud tradition of resistance against tyranny of Ethiopia.
Two Oromo Farmers in Salale Brutally Murdered; Their Bodies Dragged and Put on Pubic Display for Resisting Oppression Against Tigrean Habesha Rulers [Viewer Discretion Advised: Graphic Photo]
January 6, 2015 Since the March-April 2014 crackdowns against the peaceful Oromo protesters who have protested against the Ethiopian Federal Government’s plan of annexation of 36 small Oromia towns to the capital city of Addis Ababa under the pretext of the “Addis Ababa Integrated Plan”, thousands of Oromo nationals from all walks of life from all corners of Oromia regional state including Wollo Oromo’s in Amhara regional state have been detained or imprisoned. Some have disappeared and many have been murdered by a special commando group called “the Agiazi force”. The “The Agiazi” force is still chasing down and arresting Oromo nationals who participated in the March-April, 2014 peaceful protests. Fearing the persecution of the Ethiopian government, hundreds of students did not return to the universities, colleges and high schools; most of them have left for the neighboring states of Somaliland and Puntiland of Somalia where they remain at high risk for their safety. Wollo Oromos who are living in Ahmara regional state of Oromia special Zone are also among the victims of the EPRDF government. Hundreds of Wollo Oromos have been detained because of their connection with the peaceful protests of March-April 2014. The EPRDF government has detained many Oromo nationals in Wollo Oromia special Zone under the pretext of being members or supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), as prisoners’ voices from Dessie/Wollo prison have revealed. From among the many Oromos who were picked from different districts and places from Wollo Oromia special Zone in Amhara regional state in April 2014, the HRLHA reporter in the area has received a document which shows that 26 Oromo prisoners pleaded to the South Wollo High Court that they were illegally detained first in Kamise town military camp for 36 days, Kombolcha town Police Station for 27 Days, and Dessie city higher 5 Police Station for 10 days- places where they were severely tortured and then transferred to Dessie Prison in July 2014. According to the document, they were picked up from three different districts and different places by federal police and severely beaten and tortured at different military camps and police stations and their belongings including cash and mobile telephones were taken by their torturers. In their appeal letter to the South Wollo high court they demanded Full document in1-Ethiopia-HRLHA-2015
Godina Dhiha Oromiyaa Magaalaa Gimbii Keessaitti Dhaddachi Maana Murtii Godina Wallagga Dhihaa Galmee Hidhamtoota Oromoo 32 Cufe.
Gabaasa Qeerroo Gimbii Muddee (December) 30,2014 Muddee 26 fi Muddee 27/2014 Godina Dhiha Oromiyaa magaalaa Gimbiitti Dhaddachi Mana Murtii Godina Wallagga Dhihaa galmee hidhamtoota Oromoo Oromummaan yakkamanii hidhamanii himatamaa jiran ilaaluun ilmaan Oromoo 32 bilisaan gadi lakkisee galmee hidhamtootaa cufee jira.Mootummaan abbaa irree Wayyaanee sobaan Ilmaan Oromoo yakkee balleessa malee hanga barbaade erga hidhatti ukkamsee booda, galmee sobaan qindeessee ittin ilmaan Oromoo hidhee dararaa ture turtii je’oota hedduu fi waggootan lakka’amuu booda bilisan gadi lakkisuun haamilee fi sammuu ilmaan Oromoo erga torture godhee booda gatii kan hin qabne ta’uun beekamadha. Ilmaan Oromoo jumlaan ukkanfamanii manneen hidhaa Wayyaanee garaagaraa keessatti argaman hundi Oromoo ta’anii dhalachuu fi ani Oromoodha, mirgi keenyaa sarbamuu hin qabu waan jedhanii dubbatan qofaaf yakkamaa ta’an malee balleessa kan hin qabne ta’uun beekamadha. Kanaafuu manneen murtii Oromiyaa dhugaa jiru hubachuun tarkaanfii sirrii fi seeraa warreen fudhachaa jirtan galatni keessan bilisummaa haa ta’uu jechaa ilmaan Oromoo manneen murtii Wayyaanee garaagaraa keessa jirtan waan dhugaa hojjettaniif midhaan fedhe iyyuu yoo isin irra ga’ee uummatni Oromoo cufti dugda keessan duuba jiraachuu hubachuun dhugaa Uummata keessanii fi haqa uummata Oromoo afaan qawween dabsamaa jiru akka dura dhaabbattan amma illee waamicha keenya dabarsina. Maqaa fi galmee himata ilmaan Oromoo irra bilisaan gadi lakkifaman kan isin qaqqabsifnu ta’uu ni hubachifna!!
ETHIOPIA: Outbreak of Deadly Disease in Jail, Denial of Graduation of University Students
HRLHA – URGENT ACTION December 10, 2014 The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) would like to express its deep concern over the outbreak of a deadly disease at Gimbi Jail in Western Wollega, as a result of which one inmate has already died and sixty (60) others infected. HRLHA strongly believes that the very poor sanitation in the jail, absence of basic necessities, and denial of treatment after catching the illness have contributed to Mr. Yaikob Nigaru’s death. HRLHA fears that those who have already caught the disease might be facing the same fate. It is well documented that particularly inmates deemed “political prisoners” are deliberately subjected to unfriendly and unhealthy environments and, after getting sick as a result, are not allowed access to treatment until they approach or reach the stage of coma, which is when recoveries are very unlikely. HRLHA considers it one way of the systematic eliminations of alleged and/or perceived political dissidents. Mr. Ya’kob Nigatu was one of the 224 Oromo Nationals (139 from Gimbi in Western Wollaga, 80 from Ambo, and 5 from Ma’ikellawi in Addis Ababa/Finfinne) who were charged by the Federal Government on the 10th of November, 2014 for allegedly committing acts of terrorism in relation to the April/May, 2014 peaceful protests by Oromo students in different parts of the regional state of Oromia. HRLHA has learnt that five of the 224 Oromo defendants, who were held at the infamous Ma’ikelawi Criminal Investigation for about six months, were subjected to harassments and intimidations through isolations and confinements, with no visitations by relatives and friends, no access to a lawyer, and no open court appearance until when they were eventually taken to court to be given the charges. Those five Oromo nationals, who were transferred to Kilinto Jail right after receiving the alleged terrorism charges, were:
Ababe Urgessa Fakkansa (a student from Haromaya University),
Magarsa Warqu Fayyisa (a student from Haromaya University),
Addunya Kesso (a student from Adama University),
Bilisumma Dammana (a student from Adama University),
Tashale Baqala Garba (a student from Jimma University), and
Lejjisa Alamayyo Soressa (a student from Jimma University).
Besides the outbreak of a deadly disease witnessed at Gimbi Jail, and the likelihood of the same situations to occur particularly at highly populated and crowded jails, Kilinto is known to be one of the very notorious substandard prisons in the country. Such facts taken into consideration, HRLHA would like to express its deep concern over the safety of those young Oromo prisoners. HRLHA has also received reports that 29 Oromo nationals, who have been attending the Addis Ababa/Finfinne University, have been denied proofs of graduations (degrees and/or diplomas) and, as a result, prevented from graduating after completing their studies for allegedly taking part in the April/May peaceful protests of Oromo students and other nationals against the newly drafted and introduced Finfinne Master Plan. The 29 Oromo students were first detained along with 23 other Oromo students of the same university, following the protests, and released on bails ranging between $1000.00 and $4000.00 Birr. Upon re-admission back to the University, they were all (52 of them) forced to appear before the disciplinary committee of the University, where they were asked to confess that their involvement in the peaceful demonstrations was wrong and that they should apologize to the Government and the public. According to reports from HRLHA’s correspondents, it was the students’ refusal to confess and apologize that has resulted in their prevention from graduating, despite their fulfillment of all the academic requirements. HRLHA describes the University’s becoming a political weapon as shameful, and the restrictions imposed on Oromo students as a pure act of racism aimed at partisan political gains. Of the 29 Oromo students who have become victims of the University’s non-academic action, HRLHA has obtained names of the following nine students:
Jirra Birhanu
Jilo Kemee
Mangistu Daadhii
Taddasaa Gonfaa
Lammeessa Mararaa
Ganna Jamal
Nuguse Gammadaa
Dajanee Daggafaa
Gaddisaa Dabaree
BACKGROUNDS: The human rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) has reported (May 1st and 13th, 2014, urgent actions, www.humanrightleague.org) on the heavy-handed crackdown of the Ethiopian Federal Government’s Agazi Special Squad and the resultant extra-judicial killings of 34 (thirty-four) Oromo nationals; and the arrests and detentions of hundreds of others. Besides, Amnesty International in its most recent report on Ethiopia – “Because I am Oromo – Sweeping repression in the Oromia region of Ethiopia” – has exposed how Oromo nationals have been regularly subjected to arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention without charge, enforced disappearance, repeated torture and unlawful state killings as part of the government’s incessant attempts to crush dissent. Also, the provisions in Ethiopia’s anti-terrorism law have been criticized by local, regional, and international human rights agencies such as Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International as violating most of the fundamental rights guaranteed in the Ethiopian Constitution, other legal documents and international human rights standards that the Country has ratified. Given Ethiopia’s proven track record of mistreating and/or torturing suspected members and supporters of opposition political organizations, HRLHA calls upon the world communities, human rights, humanitarian, and diplomatic agencies so that they monitor using all means available how those young prisoners are treated in Ethiopian jails. Please direct your concerns to:His Excellency, Mr. Haila Mariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of Ethiopia P.O.Box – 1031 Addis Ababa Telephone – +251 155 20 44; +251 111 32 41 Fax – +251 155 20 30 , +251 15520 Office of the President of Oromia Regional State Telephone – 0115510455 Office of the Ministry of Justice of Ethiopia PO Box 1370, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Fax: +251 11 5517775; +251 11 5520874 Email: ministry-justice@telecom.net.etUNESCO Headquarters, Paris. 7 place de Fontenoy 75352 Paris 07 SP France 1 rue Miollis 75732 Paris Cedex 15 France General phone: +33 (0)1 45 68 10 00 www.unesco.orgUnited Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)- Africa Department 7 place Fontenoy,75352 Paris 07 SP France General phone: +33 (0)1 45 68 10 00 Website: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/africa-department/UNESCO AFRICA RIGIONAL OFFICE MR. JOSEPH NGU Director, UNESCO Office in Abuja Mail: j.ngu@unesco.org Tel: +251 11 5445284 Fax: +251 11 5514936 Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Office at Geneva – 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland Fax: + 41 22 917 9022 (particularly for urgent matters) E-mail: tb-petitions@ohchr.org (this e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) Office of the UNHCR Telephone: 41 22 739 8111 Fax: 41 22 739 7377 Po Box: 2500 Geneva, Switzerland. African Commission on Human and Peoples‘ Rights (ACHPR) 48 Kairaba Avenue, P.O.Box 673, Banjul, The Gambia. Tel: (220) 4392 962 , 4372070, 4377721 – 23 Fax: (220) 4390 764 E-mail: achpr@achpr.org Council of Europe, Commissioner for Human Rights, F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex, FRANCE + 33 (0)3 88 41 34 21, + 33 (0)3 90 21 50 53 Email (C/O): pressunit@coe.intU.S. Department of State Laura Hruby, Ethiopia Desk Officer U.S. State Department Email: HrubyLP@state.gov Tel: (202) 647-6473 Amnesty International – London Claire Beston, Claire Beston” Claire.Beston@amnesty.org Human Rights Watch Felix Horne, “Felix Horne” hornef@hrw.org.
Waaqeffannaa (Amantii Oromoo), the traditional faith system of the Oromo people, is one version of the monotheistic African Traditional Religion (ATR), where the followers of this faith system do believe in only one Supreme Being. African traditional religion is a term referring to a variety of religious practices of the only ONE African religion, which Oromo believers call Waaqeffannaa (believe in Waaqa, the supreme Being), an indigenous faith system to the continent of Africa. Even though there are different ways of practicing this religion with varieties of rituals, in truth, the different versions of the African religion have got the following commonalities: – Believe in and celebrate a Supreme Being, or a Creator, which is referred to by a myriad of names in various languages as Waaqeffataa Oromo do often say: Waaqa maqaa dhibbaa = God with hundreds of names and Waaqa Afaan dhibbaa = God with hundreds of languages; thus in Afaan Oromoo (in Oromo language) the name of God is Waaqa/Rabbii or Waaqa tokkicha (one god) or Waaqa guraachaa (black God, where black is the symbol for holiness and for the unknown) = the holy God = the black universe (the unknown), whom we should celebrate and love with all our concentration and energy. http://gadaa.com/oduu/11044/2011/09/19/waaqeffannaa-the-african-traditional-faith-system/
Oromo student Rabbirraa Kusha Bayeechaa from Ambo University, Waliso Branch, Accounting 1st year student was abducted by Fascist TPLF Agazi forces on 20th November and being tortured at jail in Waliisoo/Ejersa.
Sadaasa 21,2014 Gabaasa Qeerroo
Barattooti Oromoo Sababaa Gaaffii Mirgaa Kaastan Jedhuun Hidhamuu fi Dararamuun Irraa Hin Dhaabbanne,yeroo ammaa kanas mootummaan EPRDf Wayyaaneen dargaggoota Oromoo irratti duula banteen barataa Rabbirraa Kushaa Bayeechaa sababaa sochii warraaqsaa deemu duubaan jirta jedhuun Ambo college Waliso branch keessaa accounting wagga 1ffaa kan baratu yakka tokkoon malee Sadaasa 20,2014 mana hidhaa magaalaa Waliisoo/Ejerrsa jedhamutti darbamuun ilmaan Oromoo naannichatti Oromummaan yakkamanii hidhaman waliin dararaan guuddaa irraan gahaa jira. Barataa Rabbirraa Kushaa bakki dhaloota isaa godina Kibba Lixa Shaggar aanaa Iluu ganda Bilii jedhamutti kan dhalate yeroo ta’u.Yeroo dheeraaf sababaa Oromummaan yakkamaa akka turee fi yaada itti amanu dubbatee baafachuu dorkamaa turuun gabaasi nu gahe addeessa.
Ethiopia: The Violence Against Oromo Nationals Must Be Stopped, HRLHA
The following is a statement of the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA). ————-
Ethiopia: The Endless Violence against Oromo Nationals Must be Halted
Fear of Torture, HRLHA Press Release November 16, 2014 Harassment and intimidation through arbitrary arrests, indefinite detentions without trial, kidnappings and disappearances have continued unabated in Ambo and the surrounding areas against peaceful protestors since the crackdowns of April 2014, in which more than 36 Oromos were killed by members of the federal security force. According to HRLHA correspondents in Ambo, the major target areas of this most recent government-sponsored violence includes Ambo town and the villages of Mida Qagni district in eastern Shewa zone, approximately 25km south of Ambo town. More than 20 Oromos, students, teachers and farmers from different villages were arrested beginning November 11, 2014, until the time of the compilation of this press release. According to HRLHA reporters, the arrests were made following the protest by the people of the area against the sales of their farmland by the federal Government of Ethiopia to the investors. Although it has been difficult to identify everyone by their names, HRLHA correspondents have confirmed that the following were among the arrested: 1- Kitata Regassa – age 70 – Wenni Village, Farmer 2- Tolessa Teshome – age 15 – Balami High School, 10th grade student 3- Dirre Masho – age 15 – Balami High School, 9th grade student 4- Tarku Bulsho – age 15 – Balami High School, 10th grade student 5- Yalew Banti – Balami High School, Teacher 6- Biyansa Ibbaa – age 15 – Balami High School, 10th grade student 7- Tesfay Biyensa – age 15 – Balami High School, 10th grade student 8- Mangistu Mosisaa – Balami, Businessman On the other hand, in order to “clear and smoothen” the road to the victory of the election, which is to be held in the coming May 2015, the TPLF/EPRDF government of Ethiopia has started the campaigns of intimidation against whom it suspects are members of the other political organizations running for the election. Extrajudicial arrests and imprisonments, particularly in the regional state of Oromia, the most populous region in the country, has begun starting from the end of October 2014. In this most recent wave of arrests and imprisonments that has been going on since the 30th of October 2014, and has touched almost all corners of Oromia, hundreds of Oromos from all walks of life have been apprehended and sent to prison. According to information obtained from the HRLHA reporters, many Oromos from Wollega, Jimmaa and Illu-Ababora Zones, Western Oromia Regional State, Bale and Borana Southern Oromia Regional State were arrested for being members of the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC), the organization operating peacefully in Oromia Regional State. These members of the opposition political organization were accused with terrorism acts, and disseminating false and hateful information against the present government of Ethiopia. Among the detainees, three members Oromo Federalist Congress – Mr. Ahjeb Shek Mohamed, Mr. Mohamed Amin Kalfa and Mr. Naziv Jemal from Jima Zone were sentenced with two years and six months in prison and the fates of the rest detainees are yet unknown. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) expresses its deep concern over the safety and well-being of these Oromo nationals who have been arrested without any court warrant and are being held at Mida Qagni police station and other at unknown detention centers. The Ethiopian government has a well-documented record of gross and flagrant violations of human rights, including the torturing of its own citizens who were suspected of supporting, sympathizing with and/or being members of the opposition political organizations. There have been credible reports of physical and psychological abuses committed against individuals in Ethiopian official prisons and other secret detention centers. HRLHA calls upon governments of the West, all local, regional and international human rights agencies to join hands and demand the immediate halt of such kinds of extra-judicial actions against one’s own citizens, and release the detainees without any preconditions.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to the Ethiopian Government and its concerned officials as swiftly as possible, in English, Ahmaric, or your own language
Your concern regarding the apprehension and fear of torture of the citizens who are being held in different detention centers including the infamous Ma’ikelawi Central Investigation Office; and calling for their immediate and unconditional release;
Urging the Ethiopian authorities to ensure that these detainees would be treated in accordance with the regional and international standards on the treatment of prisoners, and to disclose the whereabouts of the detainees; and
To stop grabbing Oromo land without negotiation with the owners and compensation
Make sure the coming 2015 election is fair and free
Send Your Concerns to:
His Excellency: Mr. Haila Mariam Dessalegn – Prime Minister of Ethiopia
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission: Hearing on the Human Rights Dilemmas in Ethiopia Testimony of Felix Horne, Human Rights Watch Researcher, Africa Division
NOVEMBER 17, 2014
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for providing me the opportunity to speak today about the human rights situation in Ethiopia.The other panelists have articulated some of the critical issues that are facing Ethiopia ahead of the May 2015 elections. I would like to elaborate on human rights concerns associated with Ethiopia’s many development challenges.Ethiopia is the one of the largest recipients of development assistance in the world, including more than $800 million in 2014 from the US government. Many of Ethiopia’s 94 million people live in extreme poverty, and poverty reduction is rightly one of both the US and Ethiopian government’s core goals. Improving economic and human development is fundamental to ensuring that Ethiopians are able to enjoy their rights to health care, education, shelter, food and water, and Ethiopia’s government, civil society, international donors and private investors all have important roles contributing to the realization of these rights.But sustainable development also requires a commitment to the full range of human rights, not just higher incomes, access to education and health care, but the ability for people to express their views freely, participate in public policy decision-making, join associations of their choice, have recourse to a fair and accessible justice system, and live free of abuse and discrimination. Moreover, development that is not rooted in respect for human rights can be counter-productive, associated with abusive practices and further impoverishment of people already living in situations of extreme poverty. In Ethiopia, over the past few years Human Rights Watch has documented disturbing cases where international donors providing development assistance are turning a blind eye to government practices that fail to respect the rights of all beneficiaries. Instead of improving life in local communities, these projects are proving harmful to them. And given the repression of independent voices, media and associations, there are no realistic mechanisms for many local communities to express their views to their government. Instead, those who object or critique the government’s approach to development projects face the prospect of intimidation, harassment and even serious abuse. In 2011 in Ethiopia’s western region, Gambella, Human Rights Watch documented such abuses during the implementation of the first year of the government’s “villagization” program. Gambella is a region populated by indigenous groups who have suffered from political marginalization and lack of development for decades. In theory the villagization program aimed to address some of these concerns. This program required all indigenous households in the region to move from their widely separated homes into larger villages – ostensibly to provide improved basic services including much-needed schools, health clinics and roads. I was in Gambella for several weeks in 2011 and travelled to 16 different villages in five different districts. I met with people who had not yet moved from their homes and others who had been resettled. I interviewed dozens of people who said they did not wish to move but were forced by the government, by police, and by Ethiopia’s army if necessary. People described widespread human rights violations, including forced displacement, arbitrary arrest and detention, beatings, and rape and other sexual violence. Thousands of villagers fled into neighboring countries where they became refugees. At the same time, in the new villages, many of the promised services were not available and the food security situation was dire. The villagization program has also been implemented in other marginalized regions in Ethiopia. These regions are the same areas where government is leasing large pieces of land to foreign investors, often from India, China and the Gulf states, without meaningful consultation with local communities, without any compensation being paid to local communities, and with no benefits for local communities other than low-paying labor jobs on the plantations. In the Omo valley in southern Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch found that the combination of sugar and cotton plantations and hydroelectric development is causing the displacement of up to 200,000 indigenous people from their lands. Massive amounts of water are being used for these projects which will have devastating impacts for Lake Turkana across the border in Kenya and the 300,000 indigenous people who live in the vicinity of the lake and depend upon it. The displacement of communities in the Omo valley is well underway. As in Gambella, communities in the Omo valley told Human Rights Watch about coercion, beatings, arrests and threats from military and police to force people to move to new settlements. Human Rights Watch also found politically motivated abuse in development programs. In 2010, we documented discrimination and “political capture” in the distribution of the benefits of development programs especially prior to the 2010 elections. Opposition party supporters and others who did not support the ruling party were denied access to some of resources provided by donor-funded programs, including food aid, micro credit, seeds, fertilizers, and other critical agricultural inputs needed for food security, and even employment opportunities. Schools, funded as part of education programs by the US and other development partners, were used to indoctrinate school children in ruling party ideology and teachers were required to report youth perceived to support the opposition to the local authorities. These government practices, many of which continue today, show the intense pressure put on Ethiopian citizens to support the ruling party, and the way in which development aid is manipulated to discriminate against certain communities. All of these cases have several common features. First, the Ethiopian government routinely denies the allegations without investigation, claiming they are politically motivated, while simultaneously restricting access for independent media and investigators. Second, these programs are directly and indirectly funded by Western donors, who seem unwilling to acknowledge, much less address human rights concerns in Ethiopia. Monitoring and evaluation of these programs for human rights abuses is inadequate. Even when donors carry out assessments to look into the allegations, as has happened in Gambella, they are not conducted rigorously and do not ensure victims of abuses can speak freely and safely. In the current environment in Ethiopia, it is essential for anyone seeking to investigate human rights violations to go to locations where victims can speak openly, to understand the dynamics of the local communities, and recognize the depths of the fear they are experiencing. All of these problems are exacerbated by the ongoing government crackdown on the media and civil society. The independent press has been ravaged since the 2010 election, with the vast majority of journalists terrified to report anything that is remotely critical of the government. In October I was in a country neighboring Ethiopia where over 30 journalists have fled in the past few months alone. I spoke to many of them: their papers were closed, their families were threatened, and many had been charged under repressive laws merely because they criticized and questioned the Ethiopian government’s policies on development and other issues. I spoke with someone who was forced to seek asylum abroad because he had questioned in writing whether the development of Africa’s largest dam on the Nile River was the best use of money in a country where poverty is pervasive. As for Ethiopian civil society, it has been decimated by another law, the Charities and Societies Proclamation. It has made obtaining foreign funding nearly impossible for groups working on human rights, good governance, and advocacy. Leading members of the human rights movement have been forced to flee abroad. Some people take to the streets to peacefully protest. Throughout 2014 there were various protests throughout Ethiopia. In many of these protests, including during the student protests in the Oromia region in April and May of this year, the security forces used excessive force, including the use of live ammunition against the students. We don’t even know how many Oromo students are still detained because the government publicizes no information, there is no comprehensive human rights monitoring and reporting, and family members are terrified of reporting the cases. Members of the Muslim community who organized protests in 2012 against what they saw as government interference in religious affairs have also paid an enormous price for those demonstrations, with many beaten or arrested and most of the protest organizers now imprisoned on terrorism charges. Finally, bringing about change through the ballot box is not really an option. Given that 99.6 percent of the parliamentary seats in the 2010 election went to the ruling party and that the political space has shrunk dramatically since then, there is little in the way of a viable opposition that can raise questions about government policy, including development plans, or other sensitive topics. This situation leaves Ethiopians no real means to express concerns over the policies and development strategies imposed by the government. They either accept it, they face threats and imprisonment for speaking out, or they flee their country as thousands have done. The refugee communities in countries neighboring Ethiopia are full of individuals who have tried to raise concerns in all of these ways, and are now in exile. To conclude, we all recognize that Ethiopia needs and requires development. The problem is how development is being undertaken. Development projects need to respect the rights of the local communities and improve their quality of life, regardless of ethnicity or political perspective. The United States and Ethiopia’s other major partners can and should play a leading role in supporting sustainable, rights-respecting development. The US should not accept arguments that protecting human rights is in contradiction to development goals and implementation. In 2014, the appropriations bill required the US to scrutinize and suspend funding for development programs in Ethiopia that might contribute to forced evictions in Ethiopia, including in Gambella and Omo. This was an important signal that the abuses taking place were unacceptable, and this should be maintained in the upcoming FY15 appropriations bill, whether it is a stand-alone bill or a continuing resolution. As one of Ethiopia’s key partners and supporters of Ethiopia’s development, the US needs to do more to ensure it is rigorously monitoring and consistently responding to human rights abuses in Ethiopia, both bilaterally and multilaterally. The US should be pressing the Ethiopian government to ensure that there is genuine consultation on development initiatives with affected communities, that more robust monitoring is put in place to monitor for potential abuses within programs, and that independent civil society, both domestic and foreign, are able to monitor and report on rights abuses. Respect for human rights is first and foremost a concern of all Ethiopians, but it is also central to all US interests in Ethiopia, from security to good governance to sustainable development.
#Dargagoo Oromo Yoonas Jedhama Guyya Lama Dura Magalaa Jimma Nannoo Xaana Jedhamuti Miseensi Homa Waranaa Weyanee Fodda Cabse Seenudhan Akko Isa Xiyitii Tokkon Isammo Xiyitii 32 Itti Roobse Ajjesee. Dargagoon Kuni Eega Ji’oota Shan Dura Harmeen Isa Boqatte Booda Obbolessa Isa Kan Hangafa Fi Akko Isa Wajjiin Jiraata Ture. Miseensi Hooma Warana Wayyanee Bombi fi Mesha Waranaa Qabate Lubbu Dargagoo Oromo Kana Haala Sukkanessa Ta’een Dabrse Jira..Akkoon Mucaas Battalummati Boqatani. #BecauseIAmOromo. Sadaasa 15 bara 2014.
The genocidal TPLF (Ethiopian) Agazi troops by invading an Oromo family home in Jimma murdered Oromo youth Yoonas and his grand mum. The killers shot unarmed innocent boy 32 times and his grand mum 2 times. #BecauseIAmOromo. 15th November 2016
Intensifying Mass Arrest, Torture, and Killing will Only Inflame Struggle of for Freedom
Statement of Qeerroo Bilisummaa on Continued Arrest and Conviction of Oromo Students from Various Zones of Oromia
November 16, 2014
It is to be recalled that tens of thousands of Oromo nationals in general and Oromo students in particular have been arrested and severely tortured by the TPLF-led Ethiopian regime over the last few months in connection to a series of Oromo student protests which broke out in large scale and spread out throughout Oromia beginning the month of April, 2014. These protests, organized and led by the National Youth Movement for Freedom and Democracy (aka Qeerroo Bilisummaa), are just one incident in a series of continued struggle of the Oromo nation for freedom, democracy, and justice over the last 23 or so years. Hundreds have been gunned down by live bullets by the so called Agazi troops of the regime in the months of April and May, 2014. In addition to those who have been shot and killed during the protests, many have lost their lives in prison cells unable to stand the brutal torture. Many others have simply disappeared. Qeerroo Bilisummaa believes that those who disappeared have been killed and their bodies hidden – a practice repeatedly perpetrated on the Oromo prisoners by this regime. On July 7, 2014 Qeerroo Bilisummaa has compiled a list of 61 Oromos killed and 903 others rounded up and thrown into jail during the April/May Oromo student protests of universities, colleges, high schools, middle schools and other educational institutions. Our evidence indicates that all those who have been arrested have undergone through intense interrogation which involved severe and brutal torture. Many have lost their lives due to the severe torture. For example, a 2nd year Computer Science Oromo student of Haromaya University, Aslan (Nuradin) Hasan, was killed as a result of extended torture in prison on June 04, 2014. On the same day a 10th grade student, Dawit Wakjira, was arrested and beaten to death in Anfillo district, Qellem Wollega zone. Again on the same day a young high school teacher, Magarsa Abdissa, was beaten and killed in Gulliso Prison, West Wollega zone. The fact that these three young Oromos are known and reported to have been beaten to death on the same day, from different parts of Oromia, is a testimony that prisons in the empire are not safe places under this regime. It has to be noted that many other killings that occurred in the prison cells remained hidden as it is extremely difficult and risky to compile reports of such brutal killings under tight security machinery of the regime. The arrests and tortures have continued non-stop. More and more are being arrested before those who are in jail are released or brought to court. Many of those who survived the torture will remain incarcerated, without any charge, until they confess the accusations brought against them. On many other prisoners, concocted charges and false witnesses have been prepared and they are brought to the kangaroo court of the regime to pass a long time sentence on them so as to legitimize their prison term. Everybody who pays close attention to how the judicial system of the regime operates knows for sure that the so called “court” of the regime is just a place where a fictitious drama is performed. Qeerroo Bilisummaa believes no justice is expected from the so called “court” of the current Ethiopian regime at any level. In this brief statement the data collection team of Qeerroo Bilisummaa has compiled a list of 183 Oromos, from 6 different zones of Oromia, mainly students, on which the regime has finalized its trumped up charges in order to pass a “guilty” verdict on these young innocent Oromo students and others and sentence them to several years of prison. The main content of the charges brought against them is “having connection with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF)” and “participating on the public protest against the government”. These Oromo students and other Oromo individuals are in addition to several hundreds of prisoners Qeerroo has reported in the last few months and our reports indicate that they are going under severe torture and they are denied food, health care, closing and basic needs to sustain their lives. Qeerroo Bilisummaa strongly demands that the Ethiopian regime drop all charges against these Oromo nationals and tens of thousands others and release them immediately and unconditionally. We would like to reiterate that we the Oromo youth Qeerroo will not sit and be silent when part of our body is bleeding. The Ethiopian regime should realize that intensifying arrest, torture and killing will only inflame the struggle of the Oromo people for their right. More oppression doesn’t lead to submission. It rather breeds more dissenting voices. We are certain that eventually the Oromo and other oppressed nations and nationalities will bring down this criminal regime and justice and freedom will prevail. Read Full Statement:- Continued Arrest and Conviction of Oromo Students from Various Zones of Oromia
OMN: Interview with Amnesty International Researcher Claire Beston – Part 2
OMN reported land grabs, mass arrests, killings and evictions by TPLF Agazi and Liyu Police at Mida Qenyi (Central Oromia, Ambo) and at Saweyna & Beelto in Bale, Southern Oromia.
Ethiopia’s federal court in Dire Dawa has handed down 1-5 years prison sentence against 16 Oromo students arrested during #OromoProtests. Below is these list of students:
According to a report obtained by HRLHA from its local reporters in eastern Oromia, the border clash that has been going on since November 1, 2014 around the Qumbi, Midhaga Lolaa, and Mayuu Muluqee districts between Oromo and Ogadenia nationals, has already resulted in the deaths of seven Oromos, and the displacement of about 15,000 others. Large numbers of cattle and other valuable possessions are also reported to have been looted from Oromos by the invaders. . The HRLHA reporter in the eastern Hararge Zone confirmed that this violence came from federal armed forces (the Federal Liyou/Special Police) from the Ogadenia side; the Oromos were simply defending themselves against this aggression- though without much success because the people were fully disarmed by the federal government force prior to the clash starting. Read the detail @ http://www.humanrightsleague.org/?p=15215
Mass killings is being conducted by Liyu Police against Oromo people in Eastern (Harargee) and Southern (Bale) Oromia. OMN News Sources, 7th November 2014.
Mass evictions of Oromo families from their ancestral homes in Buraayyuu (Central Oromia, near Finfinnee), OMN reports, 30 October 2014. Listen to the following OMN, Afaan Oromo News.
Seenaa Abdissa:- Twenty Years Later After the Adoption of the Constitution, Jailed, Abducted and Killed #BecauseIAmOromo
The following short note, but thought provoking and moving paragraph – adopted for the Oromo case from Dr. Martin Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech, is from Seenaa Abdissa’s Facebook. The time to end the injustice on the Oromo people is now; this generation must not run away from this injustice and pass on the duty of fighting against this injustice to the next generation. This generation must face the enemy and defeat it by all nonviolent means necessary. Qeerroo, stand up! ——————– by Seenaa Abdissa “Twenty years ago, when Ethiopians adopted a federal constitution after deposing the cruel dictator Mengistu Hailemariam, this momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Oromo who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity. But twenty years later, the Oromo still is not free. Twenty years later, the life of the Oromo is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. Twenty years later, the Oromo lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. Twenty years later, the Oromo is still languished in the corners of Ethiopian prisons of Maikelawi, Kaliti, Zway and Kilinto and finds himself an exile in his own land and abroad. And so we’ve come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. #BecauseIAmOromo!!!”
Groups at risk of arbitrary arrest in Oromia
‘BECAUSE I AM OROMO’SWEEPING REPRESSION IN THE OROMIA REGION OF ETHIOPIAEthiopia has “ruthlessly targeted” and tortured its largest national group for perceived opposition to the government, Amnesty International said in a damning report on Tuesday.Thousands of people from the Oromo have been “regularly subjected to arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention without charge, enforced disappearance, repeated torture and unlawful state killings,” said the report, based on over 200 testimonies.”Dozens of actual or suspected dissenters have been killed.”At least 5 000 Oromos have been arrested since 2011 often for the “most tenuous of reasons”, for their opposition – real or simply assumed – to the government, the report added.Former detainees, who have fled the country and were interviewed by Amnesty in neighbouring Kenya, Somaliland and Uganda, described torture “including beatings, electric shocks, mock execution, burning with heated metal or molten plastic and rape, including gang rape,” the report said.One young girl said hot coals were dropped on her stomach because her father was suspected of supporting the OLF, while a teacher described how he was stabbed in the eye with a bayonet after he refused to teach “propaganda about the ruling party” to students.‘Relentless crackdown’Those arrested included peaceful protesters, opposition party members and even Oromos “expressing their Oromo cultural heritage,” Amnesty said.Family members of suspects have also been arrested, some taken when they asked about a relative who had disappeared, and had then been detained themselves without charge for months or even years.”The Ethiopian government’s relentless crackdown on real or imagined dissent among the Oromo is sweeping in its scale and often shocking in its brutality,” Amnesty researcher Claire Beston said.”This is apparently intended to warn, control or silence all signs of ‘political disobedience’ in the region,” she added, describing how those she interviewed bore the signs of torture, including scars and burns, as well as missing fingers, ears and teeth.Amnesty International’s report titled, “‘Because I Am Oromo’: A Sweeping Repression in Oromia …” can be accessed here.
Photo courtesy of: Gadaa.com@flickr
According to a report published by Amnesty International on Tuesday October 28, based on the testimony of over 200 people, the Ethiopian government is guilty of widespread human rights violations in the Oromia region. Anyone who is suspected of being a dissident risks arrest and torture, and even family members of those arrested have been targeted on the basis of sharing, or even having inherited their relative’s point of view.Below is an article published by Amnesty International:
Thousands of members of Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo, are being ruthlessly targeted by the state based solely on their perceived opposition to the government, said Amnesty International in a new report released today. “Because I am Oromo” – Sweeping repression in the Oromia region of Ethiopia exposes how Oromos have been regularly subjected to arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention without charge, enforced disappearance, repeated torture and unlawful state killings as part of the government’s incessant attempts to crush dissent. “The Ethiopian government’s relentless crackdown on real or imagined dissent among the Oromo is sweeping in its scale and often shocking in its brutality,” said Claire Beston, Amnesty International’s Ethiopia researcher. “This is apparently intended to warn, control or silence all signs of ‘political disobedience’ in the region.” More than 200 testimonies gathered by Amnesty International reveal how the Ethiopian government’s general hostility to dissent has led to widespread human rights violations in Oromia, where the authorities anticipate a high level of opposition. Any signs of perceived dissent in the region are sought out and suppressed, frequently pre-emptively and often brutally. At least 5,000 ethnic Oromos have been arrested between 2011 and 2014 based on their actual or suspected peaceful opposition to the government. These include peaceful protesters, students, members of opposition political parties and people expressing their Oromo cultural heritage. In addition to these groups, people from all walks of life – farmers, teachers, medical professionals, civil servants, singers, businesspeople, and countless others – are regularly arrested in Oromia based only on the suspicion that they don’t support the government. Many are accused of ‘inciting’ others against the government. Family members of suspects have also been targeted by association – based only on the suspicion they shared or ‘inherited’ their relative’s views – or are arrested in place of their wanted relative. Many of those arrested have been detained without charge for months or even years and subjected to repeated torture. Throughout the region, hundreds of people are detained in unofficial detention in military camps. Many are denied access to lawyers and family members. Dozens of actual or suspected dissenters have been killed. The majority of those targeted are accused of supporting the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) – the armed group in the region. However, the allegation is frequently unproven as many detainees are never charged or tried. Often it is merely a pretext to silence critical voices and justify repression. “People are arrested for the most tenuous of reasons: organizing a student cultural group, because their father had previously been suspected of supporting the OLF or because they delivered the baby of the wife of a suspected OLF member. Frequently, it’s because they refused to join the ruling party,” said Claire Beston. In April and May 2014, events in Oromia received some international attention when security forces fired live ammunition during a series of protests and beat hundreds of peaceful protesters and bystanders. Dozens were killed and thousands were arrested. “These incidents were far from being unprecedented in Oromia – they were merely the latest and bloodiest in a long pattern of suppression. However, much of the time, the situation in Oromia goes unreported,” said Claire Beston. Amnesty International’s report documents regular use of torture against actual or suspected Oromo dissenters in police stations, prisons, military camps and in their own homes. A teacher told how he had been stabbed in the eye with a bayonet during torture in detention because he refused to teach propaganda about the ruling party to his students. A young girl said she had hot coals poured on her stomach while she was detained in a military camp because her father was suspected of supporting the OLF. A student was tied in contorted positions and suspended from the wall by one wrist because a business plan he prepared for a university competition was deemed to be underpinned by political motivations. Former detainees repeatedly told of methods of torture including beatings, electric shocks, mock execution, burning with heated metal or molten plastic and rape, including gang rape. Although the majority of former detainees interviewed said they never went to court, many alleged they were tortured to extract a confession. “We interviewed former detainees with missing fingers, ears and teeth, damaged eyes and scars on every part of their body due to beating, burning and stabbing – all of which they said were the result of torture,” said Claire Beston. Detainees are subject to miserable conditions, including severe overcrowding, underground cells, being made to sleep on the ground and minimal food. Many are never permitted to leave their cells, except for interrogation and, in some cases, aside from once or twice a day to use the toilet. Some said their hands or legs were bound in chains for months at a time. As Ethiopia heads towards general elections in 2015, it is likely that the government’s efforts to suppress dissent, including through the use of arbitrary arrest and detention and other violations, will continue unabated and may even increase. “The Ethiopian government must end the shameful targeting of thousands of Oromos based only on their actual or suspected political opinion. It must cease its use of detention without charge, torture and ill-treatment, incommunicado detention, enforced disappearance and unlawful killings to muzzle actual or suspected dissent,” said Claire Beston. Interviewees repeatedly told Amnesty International that there was no point trying to complain or seek justice in cases of enforced disappearance, torture, possible killings or other violations. Some were arrested when they did ask about a relative’s fate or whereabouts. Amnesty International believes there is an urgent need for intervention by regional and international human rights bodies to conduct independent investigations into these allegations of human rights violations in Oromia.
FILE – Ethiopian migrants, all members of the Oromo community of Ethiopia living in Malta, protest against the Ethiopian regime.
Amnesty International has issued a new report claiming that the Ethiopian government is systematically repressing the country’s largest ethnic group, the Oromo. Amnesty International says Ethiopia’s ethnic Oromo are subject to arbitrary arrest, detentions without access to lawyers, repeated torture and even targeted killings to crush dissident. Claire Beston is the Ethiopia researcher for Amnesty International. She says the East African country is hostile to any kind of dissent but particularly fears the Oromo for a number of reasons. “Including the numerical size of the Oromo because they’re the largest ethnic group; a strong sense of national identity amongst the Oromo; and also kind of history of perceived anti-government sentiment,” said Beston. Oromia is the largest state within Ethiopia and about 35% of the population is considered to be ethnically Oromo. Oromo students protested in April and May against the capital city’s restructuring plan – which they said would dilute Oromo culture through annexing traditional Oromo land surrounding Addis Ababa. The rare protests led to violence. Several dozen people were killed and hundreds arrested. Peaceful Oromo Muslim protests in 2012 and 2013 were also crushed with force and mass arrests. Beston says Oromo students and protestors are not the only ones who are at risk in Ethiopia. “We’re talking about hundreds of people from ordinary people from all walks of life including teachers and mid-wives, and even government employees, singers and a range of other professions who’re all arrested just on the suspicion that they don’t support the government,” said Beston. Amnesty International has not been allowed into Ethiopia since 2011. Researchers based the report’s findings on several hundred interviews with Oromo refugees outside Ethiopia and telephone and email conversations with Oromo inside the country. Many of the respondents said they had been detained in prisons, police stations, military camps or unofficial detention centers where they were subjected to repeated torture. Amnesty has concluded at least 5,000 Oromo have been arrested and detained since 2011, many for weeks or months without being charged. The report says they are usually accused of supporting or being members in the outlawed armed group, the Oromo Liberation Front. The OLF has been fighting for self-determination for more than 40 years. The report claims this is just a pretext for silencing dissent. In response to Amnesty, the government – through the state-run Oromia Justice Bureau – says there is no clear evidence of violations as claimed by Amnesty and calls the allegations “untrue and far from the reality”. Beston says repression throughout the country, and particularly against the Oromo, is likely to increase as the May 2015 elections approach.
Oromo demonstrators protest in London earlier this year following the killing of student protesters in Oromia state by Ethiopian security forces. Photograph: Peter Marshall/Demotix/Corbis
Ethiopia has “ruthlessly targeted” and tortured its largest ethnic group owing to a perceived opposition to the government, Amnesty International has said. Thousands of people from the Oromo ethnic group have been “regularly subjected to arbitrary arrest, prolonged detention without charge, enforced disappearance, repeated torture and unlawful state killings,” according to a damning report based on more than 200 testimonies. “Dozens of actual or suspected dissenters have been killed.” At least 5,000 Oromos have been arrested since 2011 often for the “most tenuous of reasons”, for their opposition – real or simply assumed – to the government, the report added. Many are accused of supporting the rebel Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). Former detainees who have fled the country and were interviewed by Amnesty in neighbouring Kenya, Somaliland and Uganda described torture “including beatings, electric shocks, mock execution, burning with heated metal or molten plastic and rape, including gang-rape”, the report added. One young girl said hot coals had been dropped on her stomach because her father was suspected of supporting the OLF, while a teacher described how he was stabbed in the eye with a bayonet after he refused to teach “propaganda about the ruling party” to students. There was no immediate response from the government, which has previously dismissed such reports and denied any accusation of torture or arbitrary arrests. “The Ethiopian government’s relentless crackdown on real or imagined dissent among the Oromo is sweeping in its scale and often shocking in its brutality,” the Amnesty researcher Claire Beston said. “This is apparently intended to warn, control or silence all signs of ‘political disobedience’ in the region,” she added, describing how those she interviewed bore the signs of torture, including scars and burns, as well as missing fingers, ears and teeth. With nearly 27 million people, Oromia is the most populated of the country’s federal states and has its own language, Oromo, which is distinct from Ethiopia’s official Amharic language. Some of those who spoke to Amnesty said people had been arrested for organising a student cultural group. Another said she was arrested because she delivered the baby of the wife of a suspected OLF member. “Frequently, it’s because they refused to join the ruling party,” Beston added, warning that many were fearful attacks would increase before general elections slated for May 2015. In April and May, security forces shot dead student protesters in Oromia. At the time, the government said eight had been killed, but groups including Human Rights Watch said the toll was believed to be far higher. Amnesty said “dozens” had been killed in the protests.
Many Oromo people flee Ethiopia to take refuge in neighbouring states
Thousands of Oromo people had been subjected to unlawful killings, torture and enforced disappearance, it said. Dozens had also been killed in a “relentless crackdown on real or imagined dissent”, Amnesty added. Ethiopia’s government denied the allegations and accused Amnesty of trying to tarnish its image. It has designated the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which says it is fighting for the rights of the Oromo people, a terrorist organisation. ‘Missing fingers’At least 5,000 Oromos have been arrested since 2011 “based on their actual or suspected peaceful opposition to the government”, Amnesty said in a report entitled Because I am Oromo – Sweeping repression in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Former detainees who had fled the country described torture, “including beatings, electric shocks, mock execution, burning with heated metal or molten plastic and rape, including gang rape”, it added. Amnesty said other cases of torture it had recorded included:
A young girl having hot coals poured on her stomach while being held in a military camp because her father was suspected of supporting the OLF
A teacher being stabbed in the eye with a bayonet while in detention because he had refused to teach propaganda about the ruling party to his students
A student being tied in contorted positions and suspended from the wall by one wrist because a business plan he had prepared for a university competition was seen to be political
It compiled the report after testimonies from 200 people who were exiled in countries like Kenya and Uganda, Amnesty said. “We interviewed former detainees with missing fingers, ears and teeth, damaged eyes and scars on every part of their body due to beating, burning and stabbing – all of which they said were the result of torture,” said Claire Beston, Amnesty Ethiopia researcher. Ethiopian government spokesman Redwan Hussein dismissed Amnesty’s report. “It [Amnesty] has been hell-bent on tarnishing Ethiopia’s image again and again,” he told AFP news agency. Ethiopia is ruled by a coalition of ethnic groups. However, the OLF says the government is dominated by the minority Tigray group and it wants self-determination for the Oromo people.
Former detainees describe beatings, electric shocks, and gang rape, according to Amnesty International report
Al jazeera, October 28, 2014
Ethiopia has “ruthlessly targeted” and tortured thousands of people belonging to its largest ethnic group for perceived opposition to the government, rights group Amnesty International said in a report released Tuesday. The report, based on over 200 testimonies, said at least 5,000 members of the Oromo ethnic group, which has a distinct language and accounts for over 30 percent of the country’s population, had been arrested between 2011 and 2014 for their “actual or suspected peaceful opposition to the government.” “The Ethiopian government’s relentless crackdown on real or imagined dissent among the Oromo is sweeping in its scale and often shocking in its brutality,” said Amnesty International researcher Claire Beston. The rights group said those arrested included students and civil servants. They were detained based on their expression of cultural heritage such as wearing clothes in colors considered to be symbols of Oromo resistance – red and green – or alleged chanting of political slogans. Oromo, the largest state in Ethiopia, has long had a difficult relationship with the central government in Addis Ababa. A movement has been growing there for independence. And the government has outlawed a secessionist group, the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which has fought for self-determination for over 40 years. Since 1992, the OLF has waged a low-level armed struggle against the Ethiopian government, which has accused the group of carrying out a series of bombings throughout the country. Amnesty said that the majority of Oromo people targeted are accused of supporting the OLF, but that the “allegation is frequently unproven” and that it is “merely a pretext to silence critical voices and justify repression.” “The report tends to confirm the claims that diaspora-based Oromo activists have been making for some time now,” Michael Woldemariam, a professor of international relations and political science at Boston University, told Al Jazeera. “What it does do, however, is provide a wealth of detail and empirical material that lends credibility to claims we have heard before.”
Missing fingers, ears, teeth
Former detainees – who fled the country and were interviewed by Amnesty in neighboring Kenya, Somaliland and Uganda – described torture, “including beatings, electric shocks, mock execution, burning with heated metal or molten plastic, and rape, including gang rape,” Amnesty said. Although the majority of former detainees interviewed said they never went to court, many alleged they were tortured to extract a confession. “We interviewed former detainees with missing fingers, ears and teeth, damaged eyes and scars on every part of their body due to beating, burning and stabbing – all of which they said were the result of torture,” said Beston. Redwan Hussein, Ethiopia’s government spokesman, “categorically denied” the report’s findings. He accused Amnesty of having an ulterior agenda and of repeating old allegations. “It (Amnesty) has been hell-bent on tarnishing Ethiopia’s image again and again,” he told Agence France-Press. The report also documented protests that erupted in April and May over a plan to expand the capital Addis Abba into Oromia territory. It said that protests were met with “unnecessary and excessive force,” which included “firing live ammunition on peaceful protestors” and “beating hundreds of peaceful protesters and bystanders,” resulting in “dozens of deaths and scores of injuries.” Oromo singers, writers and poets have been arrested for allegedly criticizing the government or inciting people through their work. Amnesty said they, along with student groups, protesters and people promoting Oromo culture, are treated with hostility because of their “perceived potential to act as a conduit or catalyst for further dissent.” Al Jazeera and wire services. Philip J. Victor contributed to this report.
Ethiopia illegally detains 5000 Oromos in the Past four years: Amnesty, 27 October 2014
The Ethiopian Government, led by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) is engaged in systematic destruction of the Oromo social fabric. It is committing, at times, acts of genocide against the Oromo People for forcibly suppress their demand for self-determination (photo: Hundreds of detained and shaved Oromo students at a certain concentration camp).
Thousands of Ethiopians have been tortured by the country’s brutal security forces while Britain funnelled almost £1billion in aid to the country’s government, a damning report has revealed. Human rights group Amnesty International said more than 5,000 Ethiopians had been arrested, raped and ‘disappeared’ in a state-sanctioned campaign to crack down on political dissent over the past three years. At the same time, the Department for International Development gave Ethiopia £882.9million. The east African country is the second largest recipient of British aid after Pakistan. It pocketed £261.5million in 2012/13 and £284.4million in 2013 – and is due to get another £337million this year. David Cameron wrote to the Ethiopian prime minister earlier this month after a British man was sentenced to death without access to lawyers. The British ambassador in Addis Ababa has been allowed to meet Andargachew Tsige only once, seven weeks after he was arrested. His wife, Yemi Hailemariam, said she fears that Mr Tsige will face the same brutal treatment described in the Amnesty report. Its dossier of ‘sweeping repression in the Oromo region of Ethiopia’ was based on 240 testimonies and interviews with 176 refugees from the country’s majority Oromo ethnic group, reported the Times newspaper today. Women were gang raped by groups of prison guards, and men told how they had bottles of water ‘suspended from their genitalia’. The report says: ‘One man interviewed by Amnesty said his brother had had to have 70 per cent of his penis removed after release from detention as a result of being subjected to this treatment.’
More than 5,000 citizens were tortured, raped and burnt by Ethiopia’s security forces in a state-sanctioned campaign to suppress political dissent, a rights group claimed yesterday, while Britain gave almost £1 billion in aid. An Amnesty International report said that thousands of victims, including women and children, faced arbitrary arrest, forced disappearance, “repeated torture and unlawful state killings” in the past three years. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/news/politics/article4250755.ece
Does British aid to Africa help the powerful more than the poor?
‘Sadly, anyone familiar with Ethiopia will not be surprised. With a long record of suppressing dissent, its government is one of the most authoritarian in Africa. Yet Ethiopia also benefits handsomely from British aid, receiving £329 million last year, making it the biggest recipient of UK development assistance in Africa – and the second biggest in the world.’
Does British aid to Africa help the powerful more than the poor? As Ethiopia’s regime is accused of atrocities, David Blair asks whether British aid might – inadvertently and indirectly – be subsidising repression? British aid to Ethiopia amounted to £329m last year. Ethiopia’s security forces have carried out terrible atrocities during a brutal campaign against rebels from the Oromo Liberation Front. So reports Amnesty International in a horrifying investigation which concludes that at least 5,000 people from the Oromo ethnic group have suffered torture, abduction or worse in the last three years alone. Sadly, anyone familiar with Ethiopia will not be surprised. With a long record of suppressing dissent, its government is one of the most authoritarian in Africa. Yet Ethiopia also benefits handsomely from British aid, receiving £329 million last year, making it the biggest recipient of UK development assistance in Africa – and the second biggest in the world. You could put these facts together and reach the headline conclusion: “British aid bankrolls terrible regime”. But the Department for International Development (DFID) would point out that things are not quite so simple. First of all, Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world, with a national income per capita of less than £300. At least 25 million Ethiopians live in absolute poverty, defined as an income of less than 60p per day. Should you refrain from helping these people just because, through no fault of their own, they happen to live under a repressive government? Second, no British aid goes to Ethiopia’s security forces. Instead, our money is spent on, for example, training nurses and midwives, sending children to primary school and ensuring that more villages have clean water. If an Ethiopian military unit carries out an atrocity in the Ogaden region, would it really help matters if Britain stopped funding a project to give safe water to a village in Tigray? This is a serious argument and there are no easy answers. But DFID’s case also has two key flaws. First, when outside donors spend large sums in a poor country, they change the way the relevant government allocates its own resources. Put simply, if rich foreigners are prepared to pick up a big share of the bill for useful things like health and education, then the government could, for example, take the opportunity to spend a lot more on its horrible security forces. The great risk attached to aid is that you give national administrations more freedom to spend their money on what they think is important. That’s fine if the government concerned has the welfare of its people at heart. I put the point delicately: this is not universally true in Africa. In Ethiopia, there must be a real possibility that the government has bought more weapons for its appalling security force than would otherwise have been possible if DFID had not been covering a share of the bill for health, education, water, sanitation and so forth. The danger is that, inadvertently and indirectly, we could be subsidising Ethiopia’s campaign of repression. The second problem concerns the political setting in which aid is spent. Ethiopia is an authoritarian state with a dominant ruling party that holds 499 of the 547 seats in parliament. In this context, any outsider who invests large sums in Ethiopia will probably end up strengthening the regime’s grip on power, whether intentionally or not. Every time a school is built or a hospital opened, the ruling party will claim the credit. And if the party in question has a long history of crushing it opponents with an iron fist – which is certainly true in Ethiopia – then the donors could find themselves underwriting this system of repression, albeit indirectly. None of this suggests that Britain should cut off aid to Ethiopia tomorrow or that all our money is necessarily wasted. My only purpose is to show that the law of unintended consequences works more perniciously in the field of international development than just about any other. There are real dilemmas – and aid can end up helping the powerful more than the poor. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/…/Does-British-aid-to-Africa-hel…
Amnesty Says Ethiopia Detains 5,000 Oromos Illegally Since 2011
By William Davison
Bloomberg, Oct 27, 2014,
Ethiopia’s government illegally detained at least 5,000 members of the country’s most populous ethnic group, the Oromo, over the past four years as it seeks to crush political dissent, Amnesty International said. Victims include politicians, students, singers and civil servants, sometimes only for wearing Oromo traditional dress, or for holding influential positions within the community, the London-based advocacy group said in a report today. Most people were detained without charge, some for years, with many tortured and dozens killed, it said. “The Ethiopian government’s relentless crackdown on real or imagined dissent among the Oromo is sweeping in its scale and often shocking in its brutality,” Claire Beston, the group’s Ethiopia researcher, said in a statement. “This is apparently intended to warn, control or silence all signs of ‘political disobedience’ in the region.” The Oromo make up 34 percent of Ethiopia’s 96.6 million population, according to the CIA World Factbook. Most of the ethnic group lives in the central Oromia Regional State, which surroundsAddis Ababa, the capital. Thousands of Oromo have been arrested at protests, including demonstrations this year against what was seen as a plan to annex Oromo land by expanding Addis Ababa’s city limits. Muslims demonstrating about alleged government interference in religious affairs were also detained in 2012 and 2013, Amnesty said in the report, titled: ‘Because I am Oromo’ – Sweeping Repression in the Oromia Region of Ethiopia. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-27/amnesty-says-ethiopia-detains-5-000-oromos-illegally-since-2011.html
ETHIOPIA: A Minor Gets Prison Terms for Alleged Instigation
HRLHA – URGENT ACTION October 14, 2014 The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) strongly condemns the sentencing of Abde Jemal, a fourteen-year old minor, in adults’ court to four years in prison and $700.00 Birr fine for allegedly inciting people to political violence. According to HRLHA’s correspondents, Abde Jemal was arrested by the security agents while tending his parents’ cattle out in the field. HRLHA has learnt that Abde Jemal was severely beaten up (in other words, physically tortured) following his arrest by members of the security force in order to coerce him into confessing in court to the alleged crime. To begin with, this was allowed to happen despite the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child 1990, to which Ethiopia is a signatory, and which clearly states under Article 37(a) that State Parties shall ensure that “No child shall be subjected to torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”; and additionally guarantees under article 40, sub-article 2(a) that every child alleged as or accused of having infringed the penal law should … “Not be compelled to give testimony or to confess guilt.” HRLHA has also learnt through its correspondents that Abde Jemal, after being sentenced to four years in jail on the 2nd of September, 2014, in criminal charge file #06055 in the Bilo Nopha District Court, in the western Illu Abbabor Province of the Regional State of Oromia, was soon sent to Bishar, the provincial grand prison in Mettu, where adult offenders of all kinds of common crimes including murder are held. Being born to a poor family, Abde Jemal assumed the responsibilities of supporting his parents and himself at this very young age. In the first place, it is undoubtedly abnormal and unusual to accuse a child of Abde Jemal’s age for inciting or being part of a POLITICAL violence. What is more, the Ethiopian Criminal Code, Chapter IV, sub-section I, under “Ordinary Measures”, states that, “In all cases where a crime provided by the criminal law or the Law of Petty Offences has been committed by a young person between the ages of nine and fifteen years (Art. 53), the court shall order one of the following measures …”: admitting to a curative institution (Art. 158), supervised education (Art. 159), reprimand; censure (Art. 160), school or home arrest (Art. 161), and other similar and light conditional sanctions and measures that facilitate the reforming, rehabilitation and reintegration of the young offender. The Criminal Code also provides, particularly under sub articles 162 and 168 in the same chapter, that the court shall order the admission of young offenders “… into a special institution for the correction and rehabilitation of the young criminals …” and “When the criminal was sent to a corrective institution, he shall be transferred to a detention institution if his conduct or the danger he constitutes renders such a measure necessary, or when has attained the age of eighteen years and the sentence passed on him is for a term extending beyond his majority.” Besides, the above mentioned UN Convention, under article 40, provides that “States Parties recognize the right of every child alleged as, accused of, or recognized as having infringed the penal law to be treated in a manner consistent with the promotion of the child’s sense of dignity and worth, and which takes into account the child’s age and the desirability of promoting the child’s reintegration and the child’s assuming a constructive role in society”. These all provisions inarguably show that minor offenders of Abde Jemal’s age deserve none of what have been imposed on him, including sending him to adults’ jail such as Bishari. Also, the UN Declaration of the Rights of the Child, another international document that Ethiopia has ratified, states that the child shall in all circumstances be among the first to receive protection and relief, and that the child shall be protected from practices which may foster racial, religious and any other form of discrimination. In spite of these all, according to HRLHA’s belief, Minor Abde Jemal has been subjected to all forms of discrimination – racial and political in particular, and was not given any of the protections he is entitled to as a child or a minor. By allowing such extra-judicial impositions to happen to its own citizen, a minor in this case, the Ethiopian Government is inviting the questioning of the credibility of its own justice system, and its adherence to international documents it has signed and ratified. Therefore, HRLHA calls up on the Ethiopian Government to unconditionally reverse all that have been imposed on Abde Jemal and other minors like him, if any, in adults’ criminal court, and ensure that the Minor gets fair trial in an appropriate judicial setting, in case he has really committed a crime. We also request that the Ethiopian Government honours all international documents that it has signed and that apply to children’s rights. HRLHA also calls up on regional and international diplomatic, democratic, and human rights agencies to challenge the Ethiopian TPLF/EPRDF Government in this regard; and join HRLHA in its demand for a fair treatment for Minor Abde Jemal. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to the Ethiopian Government and its concerned officials as swiftly as possible, in English, Ahmaric, or your own language:
Expressing your concerns over the absence of fair and appropriate delivery of justice, and the political biases impacting on the overall justice system,
Urging the concerned government offices and authorities of Ethiopia to ensure that Minor Abde Jemal would get a fair trial in appropriate court and based on the proper provisions of the criminal code as well as the constitution of the country,
Urging the Ethiopian Government to abide by all international instruments that it has ratified
Requesting diplomatic agencies in Ethiopia that are accredited to your respective countries that they play their parts in putting pressure on the Ethiopian Government so that it treats its citizens equally and fairly, regardless of their racial, religious, and/or political backgrounds.
Kindly send your appeals to:
His Excellency Haila Mariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of Ethiopia,
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
United Nations Office at Geneva 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland Fax: + 41 22 917 9022, (Particularly for urgent matters) E-mail: tb-petitions@ohchr.org Office of the UNHCR, Telephone: 41 22 739 8111 Fax: 41 22 739 7377 Po Box: 2500, Geneva, Switzerland.
African Commission on Human and Peoples‘ Rights (ACHPR)
48 Kairaba Avenue, P.O.Box 673, Banjul, The Gambia. Tel: (220) 4392 962, 4372070, 4377721 – 23 Fax: (220) 4390 764 E-mail: achpr@achpr.org Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights
Ethiopia: Systemic human rights concerns demand action by both Ethiopia and the Human Rights Council
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC STATEMENT AI Index: AFR 25/005/2014 22 September 2014 Systemic human rights concerns demand action by both Ethiopia and the Human Rights CouncilHuman Rights Council adopts Universal Periodic Review outcome on Ethiopia With elections coming up in May 2015, urgent and concrete steps are needed to reduce violations of civil and political rights in Ethiopia.� Considering the scale of violations associated with general elections in 2005 and 2010, Amnesty International is deeply concerned that Ethiopia has rejected more than 20 key recommendations on freedom of expression and association relevant to the free participation in the elections and the monitoring and reporting on these. These include in particular recommendations to amend the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, which continues to be used to silence critical voices and stifle dissent, and recommendations to remove severe restrictions on NGO funding in the Charities and Societies Proclamation.� The independent journalists and bloggers arrested just days before Ethiopia’s review by the UPR Working Group in May 2014 have since been charged with terrorism offences. Four opposition party members were arrested in July on terror accusations, and, in August, the publishers of five magazines and one newspaper were reported to be facing similar charges. While Amnesty International welcomes Ethiopia’s statement of ‘zero tolerance’ for torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and its commitment to adopt preventative measures,� it is concerned by its rejection of recommendations to investigate and prosecute all alleged cases of torture and other ill-treatment and to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.� The organization continues to receive frequent reports of the use of torture and other ill-treatment against perceived dissenters, political opposition party supporters, and suspected supporters of armed insurgent groups, including in the Oromia region. Amnesty International urges Ethiopia to demonstrate its commitment to strengthening cooperation with the Special Procedures by inviting the Special Rapporteur on Torture to visit the country.� Unfettered access by independent monitors to all places of detention is essential to reduce the risk of torture. Ethiopia’s refusal to ratify the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance is also deeply concerning in light of regular reports of individuals being held incommunicado in arbitrary detention without charge or trial and without their families being informed of their detention – often amounting to enforced disappearances.� Ethiopia’s UPR has highlighted the scale of serious human rights concerns in the country. Amnesty International urges the Human Rights Council to ensure more sustained attention to the situation in Ethiopia beyond this review. Background The UN Human Rights Council adopted the outcome of the Universal Periodic Review of Ethiopia on 19 September 2014 during its 27th session. Prior to the adoption of the review outcome, Amnesty International delivered the oral statement above. Amnesty International had earlier submitted information on the situation of human rights in Ethiopia:http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/asset/AFR25/004/2013/en/95f2e891-accc-408d-b1c4-75f20c83eceb/afr250042013en.pdf Public Document International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UKhttp://www.amnesty.org Document in PDFhttp://qeerroo.org/2014/09/24/ethiopia-systemic-human-rights-concerns-demand-action-by-both-ethiopia-and-the-human-rights-council/
The UN Human Rights Council adopted the outcome of the UPR of Ethiopia
Statement from HRLHA September 21, 2014 The UN Human Rights Council adopted the outcome of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Ethiopia on September 19, 2014. On that date, Ethiopia was given 252 recommendations by the UN Human Rights Council member States[1] to improve human rights infringements in the country, based on the general human rights situation assessment made to Ethiopia on May 2014 at UPR. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa welcomes the adoption of the outcome of the UPR on Ethiopia and appreciates the majority of the UN Human Rights Council member states’ recognition that one of their members, Ethiopia, has committed gross human rights abuses in its own country contrary to its responsibility to protect and promote human rights globally. Most of the Recommendations the Ethiopian Government received on September 19, 2014 were similar to the 2009 recommendations that were given to the same country during the first round of UPR human rights situation assessment in Ethiopia[2]. This proves that the human rights situation in Ethiopia continues to deteriorate. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa also welcomes the Ethiopian government for its courage of admitting its wrongdoings and acknowledged most of the recommendations and promise to work further for their improvements. The HRLHA looks forward the Government of Ethiopia to shows its commitment to fulfil its promises, and not to put them aside until the next UPR comes in four years (2019) However, the government of Ethiopia failed again to accept the recommendations not to use the anti-terrorism proclamation it adopted in 2009 to suppress fundamental freedoms of expression, assembly and demonstrations. The country also rejected the recommendation of the member states to permit a special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association to travel to Ethiopia to advise the Government. Today, thousands of people are languishing in prison because they formed their own political organizations or supported different political groups other than EPRDF. Thousands were indiscriminately brutalized in Oromia, Ogadenia, Gambela, Benshangul and other regions because they demanded their fundamental rights to peaceful assembly, demonstration and expression. These and other human rights atrocities in Ethiopia were reported by national and international human rights organizations, and international mass media, including foreign governments and NGOs. The Government of Ethiopia has repeatedly denied all these credible reports and continued with its systematic ethnic cleansing. The HRLHA appreciates the UN Human Rights Council members who have provided valuable recommendations that have exposed the atrocity of the Ethiopian Government against defenceless civilians and the HRLHA urges them to put pressure on the government of Ethiopia to accept those recommendations it has rejected and put them into practice. Finally, the HRLHA strongly supports the recommendations made by UN Human Rights Council member states and urges the Ethiopian Government to reverse its rejection of some recommendations, including:
Ratifying the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC),
Ratifying the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, OPCAT,
Permitting the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association to travel to Ethiopia to advise the Government;
Improving conditions in detention facilities by training personnel to investigate and prosecute all alleged cases of torture, and ratify OPCAT,
Repealing the Charities and Societies Proclamation in order to promote the development of an independent civil society “Allowing Ethiopia’s population to operate freely”
Removing vague provisions in the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation that can be used to criminalize the exercise of the right to freedom of expression and association and ensure that criminal prosecutions do not limit the freedom of expression of civil society, opposition politicians and independent media ;and use this opportunity to improve its human rights record.
UN experts urge Ethiopia to stop using anti-terrorism legislation to curb human rights GENEVA (18 September 2014) – A group of United Nations human rights experts* today urged the Government of Ethiopia to stop misusing anti-terrorism legislation to curb freedoms of expression and association in the country, amid reports that people continue to be detained arbitrarily. The experts’ call comes on the eve of the consideration by Ethiopia of a series of recommendations made earlier this year by members of the Human Rights Council in a process known as the Universal Periodic Review which applies equally to all 193 UN Members States. These recommendations are aimed at improving the protection and promotion of human rights in the country, including in the context of counter-terrorism measures. “Two years after we first raised the alarm, we are still receiving numerous reports on how the anti-terrorism law is being used to target journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders and opposition politicians in Ethiopia,” the experts said. “Torture and inhuman treatment in detention are gross violations of fundamental human rights.” “Confronting terrorism is important, but it has to be done in adherence to international human rights to be effective,” the independent experts stressed. “Anti-terrorism provisions need to be clearly defined in Ethiopian criminal law, and they must not be abused.” The experts have repeatedly highlighted issues such as unfair trials, with defendants often having no access to a lawyer. “The right to a fair trial, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to freedom of association continue to be violated by the application of the anti-terrorism law,” they warned. “We call upon the Government of Ethiopia to free all persons detained arbitrarily under the pretext of countering terrorism,” the experts said. “Let journalists, human rights defenders, political opponents and religious leaders carry out their legitimate work without fear of intimidation and incarceration.” The human rights experts reiterated their call on the Ethiopian authorities to respect individuals’ fundamental rights and to apply anti-terrorism legislation cautiously and in accordance with Ethiopia’s international human rights obligations. “We also urge the Government of Ethiopia to respond positively to the outstanding request to visit by the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of peaceful assembly and association, on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and on the situation of human rights defenders,” they concluded. ENDS (*) The experts: Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Ben Emmerson; Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai; Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye; Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst; Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Gabriela Knaul; Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan Méndez. Special Procedures is the largest body of independent experts in the United Nations Human Rights system. Special Procedures is the general name of the independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms of the Human Rights Council that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Currently, there are 38 thematic mandates and 14 mandates related to countries and territories, with 73 mandate holders. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity. Read @ http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=15056&LangID=E
The Ethiopian government has been demolishing the homes of Oromo farmers in order to implement its “Integrated Master Plan”, meant to integrate Addis Ababa with the surrounding towns of the minority’s home region. According to residents of the town of Legetafo at least two people were shot by government forces as they tried to prevent the destruction of their homes. http://unpo.org/article/17521Below is an article published by the The Nation:
Yehun and Miriam have little hope for the future. “We didn’t do anything and they destroyed our house,” Miriam told me. “We are appealing to the mayor, but there have been no answers. The government does not know where we live now, so it is not possible for them to compensate us even if they wanted.” Like the other residents of Legetafo—a small, rural town about twenty kilometers from Addis Ababa—Yehun and Miriam are subsistence farmers. Or rather, they were, before government bulldozers demolished their home and the authorities confiscated their land. The government demolished fifteen houses in Legetafo in July [2014]. The farmers in the community stood in the streets, attempting to prevent the demolitions, but the protests were met with swift and harsh government repression. Many other Oromo families on the outskirts of Ethiopia’s bustling capital are now wondering whether their communities could be next. These homes were demolished in order to implement what’s being called Ethiopia’s “Integrated Master Plan.” The IMP has been heralded by its advocates as a bold modernization plan for the “Capital of Africa.” The plan intends to integrate Addis Ababa with the surrounding towns in Oromia, one of the largest states in Ethiopia and home to the Oromo ethnic group—which, with about a third of the country’s population, is its largest single ethnic community. While the plan’s proponents consider the territorial expansion of the capital to be another example of what US Secretary of State John Kerry has called the country’s “terrific efforts” toward development, others argue that the plan favors a narrow group of ethnic elites while repressing the citizens of Oromia. “At least two people were shot and injured,” according to Miriam, a 28-year-old Legetafo farmer whose home was demolished that day. “The situation is very upsetting. We asked to get our property before the demolition, but they refused. Some people were shot. Many were beaten and arrested. My husband was beaten repeatedly with a stick by the police while in jail.” Yehun, a 20-year-old farmer from the town, said the community was given no warning about the demolitions. “I didn’t even have time to change my clothes,” he said sheepishly. Yehun and his family walked twenty kilometers barefoot to Sendafa, where his extended family could take them in. Opponents of the plan have been met with fierce repression. “The Integrated Master Plan is a threat to Oromia as a nation and as a people,” Fasil stated, leaning forward in a scuffed hotel armchair. Reading from notes scribbled on a sheet of loose-leaf notebook paper, the hardened student activist continued: “The plan would take away territory from Oromia,” depriving the region of tax revenue and political representation, “and is a cultural threat to the Oromo people living there.” A small scar above his eye, deafness in one ear and a lingering gastrointestinal disease picked up in prison testify to Fasil’s commitment to the cause. His injuries come courtesy of the police brutality he encountered during the four-year prison sentence he served after he was arrested for protesting for Oromo rights in high school and, more recently, against the IMP at Addis Ababa University. Fasil is just one of the estimated thousands of students who were detained during university protests against the IMP. Though Fasil was beaten, electrocuted and harassed while he was imprisoned last May, he considers himself lucky. “We know that sixty-two students were killed and 125 are still missing,” he confided in a low voice. The students ground their protests in Ethiopia’s federal Constitution. “We are merely asking that the government abide by the Constitution,” Fasil explained, arguing that the plan violates at least eight constitutional provisions. In particular, the students claim that the plan violates Article 49(5), which protects “the special interest of the State of Oromia in Addis Ababa” and gives the district the right to resist federal incursions into “administrative matters.” Moreover, the plan presents a tangible threat to the people living in Oromia. Fasil and other student protesters claimed that the IMP “would allow the city to expand to a size that would completely cut off West Oromia from East Oromia.” When the plan is fully implemented, an estimated 2 million farmers will be displaced. “These farmers will have no other opportunities,” Fasil told me. “We have seen this before when the city grew. When they lose their land, the farmers will become day laborers or beggars.” The controversy highlights the disruptive and often violent processes that can accompany economic growth. “What is development, after all?” Fasil asked me. Ethiopia’s growth statistics are some of the most impressive in the region. Backed by aid from the US government, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), the country’s ruling coalition, is committed to modernizing agricultural production and upgrading the country’s economy. Yet there is a lack of consensus about which processes should be considered developmental. Oromo activists allege that their community has borne a disproportionate share of the costs of development. Advocates like Fasil argue that the “development” programs of the EPRDF are simply a means of marginalizing the Oromo people to consolidate political power within the ruling coalition. “Ethiopia has a federalism based on identity and language,” explained an Ethiopian political science professor who works on human rights. Nine distinct regions are divided along ethnic lines and are theoretically granted significant autonomy from the central government under the 1994 Constitution. In practice, however, the regions are highly dependent on the central government for revenue transfers and food security, development and health programs. Since the inception of Ethiopia’s ethno-regional federalism, the Oromo have been resistant to incorporation in the broader Ethiopian state and suspicious of the intentions of the Tigray ethnic group, which dominates the EPRDF. As the 2015 elections approach, the Integrated Master Plan may provide a significant source of political mobilization. “The IMP is part of a broader conflict in Ethiopia over identity, power and political freedoms,” said the professor, who requested anonymity. Standing in Gullele Botanic Park in May, Secretary of State Kerry was effusive about the partnership between the United States and Ethiopia, praising the Ethiopian government’s “terrific support in efforts not just with our development challenges and the challenges of Ethiopia itself, but also…the challenges of leadership on the continent and beyond.” Kerry’s rhetoric is matched by a significant amount of US financial support. In 2013, Washington allocated more than $619 million in foreign assistance to Ethiopia, making it one of the largest recipients of US aid on the continent. According to USAID, Ethiopia is “the linchpin to stability in the Horn of Africa and the Global War on Terrorism.” Kerry asserted that “the United States could be a vital catalyst in this continent’s continued transformation.” Yet if “transformation” entails land seizures, home demolitions and political repression, then it’s worth questioning just what kind of development American taxpayers are subsidizing. The American people must wrestle with the implications of “development assistance” programs and the thin line between modernization and marginalization in countries like Ethiopia. Though the US government has occasionally expressed concern about the oppressive tendencies of the Ethiopian regime, few demands for reform have accompanied aid. For the EPRDF, the process of expanding Addis Ababa is integral to the modernization of Ethiopia and the opportunities inherent to development. For the Oromo people, the Integrated Master Plan is a political and cultural threat. For the residents of Legetafo, the demolition of their homes demonstrates the uncertainty of life in a rapidly changing country.
Ethiopia: A Generation at Risk, Plight of Oromo Students Fulbaana/September 7, 2014 ————————– The following is an Urgent Action statement from the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA). ————————– HRLHA Urgent Action FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 06, 2014 The human rights abuses against Oromo students in different universities have continued unabated over the past six months – more than a hundred Oromo students were extra-judicially wounded or killed, while thousands were jailed by a special squad: the “Agazi” force. This harsh crackdown against the Oromo students, which resulted in deaths, arrests, detentions and disappearances, happened following peaceful protests by the Oromo students and the Oromo people in April-May 2014 against the so-called “Integrated Master Plan of Addis Ababa.” This plan was targeted at the annexation of many small towns of Oromia to the capital Addis Ababa. It would have meant the eviction of around six million Oromos from their lands and long-time livelihoods without being consulted or giving consent. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) has repeatedly expressed its deep concern about such human rights violations against the Oromo nation by the EPRDF government(1). The HRLHA reporter in Addis Ababa confirmed that, in connection with the April-May, 2014 peaceful protests, among the many students picked from different universities and other places in the regional State of Oromia and detained in Maikelawi/”the Ethiopian Guantanamo bay Detention camp,” the following nine students and another four, Abdi Kamal, TofiK Kamal and Abdusamad – businessmen from Eastern Hararge Dirre Dawa town, and Chaltu Duguma (F), an employee of Wellega University, are in critical condition due to the continuous severe torture inflicted upon them in the past five months. The current ongoing arrests and detention of Oromo students started when the students were forced to attend a “political training” said to be a government plan to indoctrinate the students with the political agenda of EPRDF for two weeks before the regular classes started in mid-September 2014. Before the training started, students demanded that the government release the students who were imprisoned during the peaceful protests of April-May 2014. Instead of giving a positive answer to the students’ legitimate questions, the federal government deployed its military forces to Ambo and Wellega University campuses to silence their voices; many students were severely beaten, and hundreds were taken to prison from August 20-29, 2014. Through the brutality of the federal government’s military “Agazi,” students from Ambo University, Hinaafu Lammaa, Kuma Fayisa, Tarreessaa Waaqummaa Mulugeta, Sukkaaraa Cimidi, Leensa Hailu Bedhane (F) and Elizabeth Legesse (lost her two teeth) were among those harshly beaten in their dormitories, and then thrown outside naked in the open air. The HRLHA reporter documented the following names among hundreds of students taken to different detention centers from both Ambo and Wellega Universities on August 28 and 29, 2014. Among many Wellaga University students, those who were severely beaten on 28/08/2014 – Markos Taye, Ganati Desta and Mosisa Fufa – were first taken to Nekemte Hospital and later transferred to Tikur Anbasa, a hospital in the capital city, more than 300km away, for further treatment. They remain there in critical condition. The most recent report (Sept. 3, 2014) received by HRLHA from Ambo town indicates that more than 250 students released from Senkele detention center have been taken back to their villages so that their parents or guardians can sign documents stating that their children are responsible for the conflict created between the students and the federal military. The parents of the students rejected the attempt of the government to make their children guilty by supporting, instead, the demands of the students “Free our friends, bring the killers of the students to court.” By killing, torturing and detaining nonviolent protesters, the government of Ethiopia is breaching: 1. The 1995 constitution of the Ethiopia, Articles 29 and 30, which grant basic democratic rights to all Ethiopian citizens(2). 2. All international and regional human rights instruments that Ethiopia signed, and the UN Human Rights council 19th(3) and 25th(4) sessions resolutions that call upon states, with regard to peaceful protests, to promote and protect all human rights and to prevent all human rights violations during peaceful protests. Therefore, the HRLHA calls upon the Ethiopian Government to refrain from systematically eliminating the young generation of Oromo nationals and respect all international human rights standards, and all civil and political rights of citizens it has signed in particular. HRLHA also calls upon governments of the West, all local, regional and international human rights agencies to join hands and demand an immediate halt to such kinds of extra-judicial actions against one’s own citizens. Detainees should be released without any preconditions and the murderers should brought to justice. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to the Ethiopian Government and its appropriate government ministries and/or officials as swiftly as possible, both in English and Ahmaric, or in your own language: – Expressing concerns regarding the apprehension and possible torture of citizens who are being held in different detention centers, including the infamous Ma’ikelawi Central Investigation Office, and calling for their immediate and unconditional release; – Request that the government refrain from detaining, harassing, discriminating against Oromo Nationals; – Urging the Ethiopian authorities to ensure that detainees are treated in accordance with the regional and international standards regarding the treatment of prisoners; – Also send your concerns to diplomatic representatives in Ethiopia who are accredited to your country. —– (1) http://humanrightsleague.com/2014/05/ethiopia-ambo-under-siege-daily-activitiesparalyzed– hrlha-urgent-action/ (2) Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia 1995,http://www.wipo.int/wipolex/en/text.jsp?file_id=193667 (3) http://blog.unwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/Protection-of-Human-Rights-in-the-context-of-Peaceful– Protests1.pdf (4) http://blog.unwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/Peaceful-Protest-Resolution-2014.pdf
Oral statement, Human Rights Council, 19 June 2014
August 27, 2014 Fleeing from abuse in Ethiopia and seeking refuge in Kenya, Djibouti, Somaliland, South Africa and Egypt, 187 refugees have described in detail, during hour-long interviews how they and their close families were persecuted.[1] Nearly all reported arbitrary detention of relatives and 126 were themselves detained. Over half of those interviewed (95 – 51%) had been tortured, which amounted to 75% of former detainees. Rarely do refugee populations report experiencing torture to this extent. Rape was reported by 25% of women/girl refugees (21 of 85). Just over half of women/girl refugees who had been detained (41) were raped in detention, almost always repeatedly and by more than one officer, and sometimes by up to eight at a time. Refugees reported 87 disappearances in detention, of whom 69 were first degree relatives – parents, children, siblings or spouses. Extra-judicial killings of those whom refugees were able to name – friends, neighbours, relatives or co-detainees – were reported of 372 individuals, 84 of whom were first degree relatives. There are more than 250,000 Oromo refugees in the world. If only one tenth of that number has experienced the intensity of abuse meted out to the interviewees in Africa, hundreds of thousands of detentions without trial, at least 50,000 political killings, over 11,000 disappearances and over 6000 cases of rape by members of the security forces can be assumed to have taken place in Ethiopia since 1992. While Ethiopia has enjoyed favoured aid status and millions of it population have remained dependent on food aid, its oppressive policies have stifled pluralism and denied more than a fraction of democratic space to opposition groups. It has one of the most sophisticated security and surveillance systems in Africa and maintains a large, well-equipped army and air-force. Despite ongoing food-dependency, more than one million hectares of arable land has been leased to foreign investors growing for foreign markets while hundreds of thousands of local farmers have been evicted from their land. [1] http://www.oromo.org/osg/Report_46.pdf;http://www.oromo.org/osg/pr47.pdf; http://www.oromo.org/OSG/pr_48.pdf;http://www.oromo.org/OSG/pr_49.pdf; 26 Oromo refugees were interviewed by OSG in Cairo, 20-29 May 2013. Report is in preparation.
Oromia: Enhanced Master Plan to Continue Committing the Crimes of GenocideThe actions taken were aimed at destroying Oromo farmers or at rendering them extinct. ~Ermias Legesse, Ethiopia’s exiled EPRDF MinisterAugust 30, 2014 (Oromo Press) — The announcement of the implementation of the Addis Ababa Master Plan (AAMP) was just an extension of an attempt by EPRDF government at legalizing its plans of ridding the Oromo people from in and around Finfinne by grabbing Oromo land for its party leaders and real estate developers from the Tigrean community. The act of destroying Oromo farmers by taking away their only means of survival—the land—precedes the current master plan by decades. Ermias Legesse, exiled EPRDF Deputy Minister of Communication Affairs, acknowledged his own complicity in the destruction of 150,000[1] Oromo farmers in the Oromia region immediately adjacent to Finfinne. He testifies that high-level TPLF/EPRDF officials are responsible for planning and coordinating massive land-grab campaigns without any consideration of the people atop the land. Ermia’s testimony is important because it contains both the actus reus and dolus specials of the mass evictions[2]:Once while in a meeting in 1998 (2006, Gregorian),the Ethiopian Prime Minster Meles Zenawi , we (ERPDF wings) used to go to his office every week, said. Meles led the general party work in Addis Ababa. We went to his office to set the direction/goal for the year. When a question about how should we continue leading was asked, Meles said something that many people may not believe. ‘Whether we like it or not nationality agenda is dead in Addis Ababa.’ He spoke this word for word. ‘A nationality question in Addis Ababa is the a minority agenda.’ If anyone were to be held accountable for the crimes, everyone of us have a share in it according to our ranks, but mainly Abay Tsehaye is responsible. The actions taken were aimed at destroying Oromo farmers or at rendering them extinct. 29 rural counties were destroyed in this way. In each county there are more or less about 1000 families. About 5000 people live in each Kebele (ganda) and if you multiply 5000 by 30, then the whereabouts of 150,000 farmers is unknown.Zenawi’s statement “the question of nationality is a dead agenda in Addis Ababa” implies that the Prime Minister planned the genocide of the Oromo in and around Finfinne and others EPRDF officials followed suit with the plan in a more aggressive and formal fashion.Announcement of the Addis Ababa Master Plan and Massacres and Mass DetentionsAAMP was secretly in the making for at least three years before its official announcement in April 2014.[3] The government promoted on local semi-independent and state controlled media the sinister plan that already evicted 2 million Oromo farmers and aims at evicting 8-10 million and at dividing Oromia into east and west Oromia as a benevolent development plan meant to extend social and economic services to surrounding Oromia’s towns and rural districts. Notwithstanding the logical contradiction of claiming to connect Oromia towns and rural aanaalee (districts) to “economic and social” benefits by depopulating the area itself, the plan was met with strong peaceful opposition across universities, schools and high schools in Oromia. Starting with the Ambo massacre that claimed the lives of 47 people in one day[4], Ethiopia’s army and police killed over 200 Oromo students, jailed over 2000 students, maimed and disappeared countless others over a five-month period from April-August 2014.
Update Naqamte Indoctrination Conference (27 August 2014): After heated debate over the Addis Ababa Master Plan yesterday, federal police raided dormitories last night taking away hundreds of students to unknown detention center. Hospital sources confirm three students have been admitted to emergency room. Similar arrest and disappearances are being reported from other universities and meeting venues as well. Update on other campuses will follow.Although the cadres have been trying to discuss the three themes prepared for for the conference, the issue surrounding the Addis Ababa Master Plan continues to dominate the discussion. The tension has worsened following claim by cadres that the controversial Master Plan has been cancelled. Students have demanded that the alleged cancellation shall be made official and public. #OromoProtests, #FreeOromoStudents, Jawar Mohamed
ETHIOPIA: Relentless government violence on Oromo students and nationals continues, says human rights organization Posted: Hagayya/August 27, 2014 · Gadaa.com ————————- The following is a press release from the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA). ————————- August 27, 2014 While fresh arrests and detentions, kidnappings and disappearances of Oromo nationals have continued in different parts of the regional state of Oromia following the April-May crackdown of peaceful demonstrators, court rulings over the cases of some of the earlier detainees by courts of the regional state are being rejected by political agents of the governing TPLF/EPRDF Party. The renewed violence by government forces against Oromo nationals started particularly following what was termed as “Lenjii Siyaasaa” (literally meaning “political training”) that has targeted Oromo Students of higher educational institutions and has been going on in the past two weeks in different parts of Oromia. Although the agendum for the “Political Training” was said to be “the unity of the country,” it instead has become an opportunity of carrying out further screenings and arrests of students, as around 100 more students have so far been arrested from Ambo University campuses alone and sent to a remote, isolated military camp called Sanqalle, leaving families and friends in fear in regards to the safety and well-being of the students in particular, not to mention the disruption of their studies. The arrests were made following the students’ protest of their confinement into the campuses during this so call “Political Trianing,” and the demand that the killers of their fellow students be brought to justice prior to discussing “unity.” Also, five students of Wallaga University, from among those who were gathered for the same purpose of “Political Training,” were kidnapped on the 22nd of August 2014, and taken away in a vehicle with plate number 4866 ET; and their whereabouts are not known since then. HRLHA correspondents have also traced another fresh arrests and detentions of around 100 Oromo nationals in a small town called Elemo, Doranni District in the Illu Abba Borra Zone. It took place on the 14th of August 2014; and Waqtole Garbe, Sisay Amana, Tiiqii Supha, Ittana Daggafa, Badiru Basha, Kamal Zaalii, Rashiid Abdu, Zetuna Waaqoo, Daggafa Tolee, Adam Ligdii, Indush Mangistu, Dibbeessa Libaan, and Ofete Jifar were a few among those detainees in Elemo Prison. More worrisome and frustrating is agents of the federal government’s interference with regional and local judicial systems. More than one hundred students and other Oromo nationals, from among the thousands who were detained following the April-May nationwide protest, have been granted bails in local courts of the regional government of Oromia. These include 64 detainees in Dembi Dollo/Qellem, 10 in Ambo, 40 in Sibu-Sire and Digga District. But, all the court decisions were overruled by political officials representing the federal government. The Dembi Dollo/Qellem detainees in particular were granted bails four times, only to be turned down by political officials all the four rounds. On the other hand, there have been some cases in which prison terms ranging from six months to a year-and-half were imposed on the Oromo detainees, not in courts, but by those representatives of the federal government. Also, some independent lawyers complain that they were threatened by officials from the ruling party; and, as a result, refraining from representing the Oromo detainees. Usual as it has been in the past fifteen or so years, this case of interfering with and disobeying court rulings indicates that the case of these most recent Oromo detainees is purely political. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) calls upon the Ethiopian Government to refrain from harassing and intimidating students through such extra-judicial means as killings, arrests and detentions, and denials of justice after detention; and instead, facilitate conducive teaching-learning environments. HRLHA also calls upon the Ethiopian Government to unconditionally release the detained Oromo students and other nationals; and, as requested by their fellow students, bring to justice the killers of innocent and peaceful protestors during the April-May crackdown. BACKGROUNDS: The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) has reported (May 1st and 13th, 2014, urgent actions, HumanRightsLeague.com) on the heavy-handed crackdown of the Ethiopian Federal Government’s Agazi Special Squad and the resultant extra-judicial killings of 34 (thirty-four) Oromo nationals; and the arrests and detentions of hundreds of others. Although the brutalities of the armed squad and the resultant fatalities happened to be very high in Ambo Town, the peaceful protests by Oromo students of different universities and faculties have been taking place in April and May in various towns and cities of Oromia, including Diredawa and Adama in eastern Oromia, as well as Jimma, Mettu, Naqamte, Gimbi, and Dambidollo in western Oromia. The Oromo students of universities and colleges in different parts of the regional state of Oromia took to the streets for peaceful demonstrations in protest to the decision passed by the Federal EPRDF/TPLF-led Government to expand the city of Finfinnee/Addis Ababa by uprooting and displacing hundreds of thousands of Oromos from all sorts of livelihoods, and annexing about 36 surrounding towns of Oromia, the ultimate goal of which is claimed to be redrawing the map of the Oromia Region. The federal annexation plan, which was termed as “The Integrated Development Master Plan,” is said to be covering the towns of Dukem, Gelan, Legetafo, Sendafa, Sululta, Burayu, Holeta, Sebeta, and others, stretching the boundary of Finfinne/Addis Ababa to about 1.1-million hectares – an area of 20 times its current size. – HumanRightsLeague.com: http://www.humanrightsleague.com/
3rd year Water Engineering student Alamayyoo Sooressaa of Jimma University was kidnapped 4 months ago by Agazi (TPLF) forces. He is being tortured in Ma’ikkelawi with the rests of Oromo students held there. #FreeOromoStudents, 25th August 2014.
#FreeOromoStudents #OromoProtests, posted 25th August 2014
More than 200 university students gathered at Ambo University for political indoctrination by government cadres have been arrested.
The students are being kept at Sankalle Police Training Camp and have been subjected to severe beatings for opposing the indoctrination. #OromoProtests, 25th August 2014.
5th year Law student Iskandar (Obsaa) Abdulkadir of Haromaya University kidnapped by Agazi (TPLF) forces. Iskandar (Obsaa) Abdulkadir was kidnapped from Somaliland and sent to Ethiopia through extraordinary rendition. Obsa reportedly took refuge in the neighboring country following the student protest in May.
24 August 2014.
ODUU BAYEE NAMA NASIISTUU FI GADDISTUU BARAATAA SEERA WAGAA 5ffaa tii. WAYAANEN QIINDEESSA FDG UNIVESITII HAROMAYAA JECHUU DHAN ISSAA KANA SEERAF DEHESSUF YALAA TURAAN.YEROO HANGAA TOKKO BOODA ISKANDAR ABDULKADIR YKN OBSA ABDULQADIR TO’ANAA MOTUMMA WAYAANEE JALAA OLUU ISSAA MIRKKANAWEE. ISKANDAR YKN OBSA ABDULKADIR JECHUUN BARATOOTA WAGAA KANA ABOOKKATUMMAN EBIIFAMUU KESSA TOKKO TUREE GARUU OROMUMMATUU ISSA DORKKEE.OBSA YKN ISKANDAR PREZINDANTII BARAATOTAA UNIVERSIITII HAROMAYAA KAN TUREE. #oromoprotests #freeoromostudents
3rd year law student Waaqumaa Dhaabaa and high school student named Dereje from Ambo (Oromo nationals) were kidnapped by TPLF (Agazi) forces on 19th August 2014 and their whereabouts is not known. Ambo residents are being terrorized b Agazi forces#OromoProtests.
For details listen the following OMN.
Sad News (12th August 2014): Oromo youth (student) named Biqila Balaay, who was wounded by Agazi in Ambo during the #OromoProtests has passed away on 11 August 2014 at Tikur Anbassa Hospital.
Oduu Gaddaa amma nu qaqqabe!!Mormii Maaster Pilaanii Finfinneetiin wal qabatee sochii adeemsifamaa tureen Naannoo Ambootti Rasaasaan kan miidhamanii yaalamaa turan keessaa tokko kan ta’e Dargaggoo Biqilaa Balaay hospitaala Xuqur Ambassaa keessatti guyyoota hedduuf osoo daddeebi’ee yaalamuu miidhamni kun “Infection” itti ta’ee kaleessa galgala du’aan Addunyaa kana irraa Wareegameera. Reeffi isaa Hospitaala Miniilik keessatti erga sakatta’amee booda Galgala kana gara bakka dhaloota isaa Horroo Guduruu Wallaggaa Magaalaa Kombolchaatti gaggeeffameera. Sirni Awwaalcha isaa guyyaa borii magaalaa Kombolchaa keessatti ni raawwata!!!Biyyeen sitti haa salphatu!!!
Oduu Gaddisiisaa fi Seenaa Gabaabaa Gooticha Barataa Biqilaa Balaay Toleeraa
Gootichi Barataa Biqilaa Balaay Abbaa isaa Obbo Balaay Troleeraa fi Haadha isaa Aadde Siccaalee Mul’ataa Abdataa irraa Godina Horroo Guduruu Wallaggaa aanaa Habaaboo Guduruu ganda Caalaa Fooqaa keessatti bara 1991 A.L.Otti dhalate. Dhalatees Hiriyyoota isaa waliin taphachuu, Seenaa baruuf tattaafachuu fi barsiisuu kan jaallatu sabboonaa qaroo ilma Oromooti. Barataa Biqilaan guddatee barnootaaf akka gahetti bara 1999 AL.Otti mana barumsaa sadarkaa 1ffaa Caalaa Fooqaa seenuudhaan kuitaa 1ffaadhaa hanga 8ffaatti barate. Barnoota isaa sadarkaa lammaffaa mana barnootaa sadrkaa lammaffaa Kombolchaa seenuudhaan kutaa 9ffaa fi 10ffaa barate. Barnoota isaa Cinaatti ilmaan Oromoo sabboonummaa barsiisaa gama kallattii garaa garaadhaan QBO keessatti qooda olaanaa fudhachaa kan ture bara 2009 AL.Otti kutaa 10ffaa akka xumureen Koollejjii Horroo Guduruu magaala Fincaa’aa seenuun bara 2011 A.L.Otti muummee Veternarydhaan eebbifame. Barataa Biqilaa Balaay dhiibbaa mootummaan wayyaanee ilmaan Oromoo irraan geessu argaa bira kan hin dabarre QBO keessatti qooda fudhachaa kan as gahe Fincila diddaa garbummaa bara 2014 dhimma naannawa lafa Finfinnee qabatee dhoheen magaala Amboo keessatti hiriira barattootnii fi Uummatni gamtaan gaafa Ebla 25, 2014 gaggeessan keessatti qooda fudhachuun rasaasa mootummaa wayyaaneedhaan sa’a 12:29 PM irratti mataa rukkutame. Rukkutamees waldhaansaaf gara Hospitaala Xiqur Ambasaa guyyaa sana kan fudhatame yoommuu tahu maallaqa hedduu dhangalaasuudhaanis waldhaansa olaanaa irra ture. Waldhaansi olaanaan taasifamus rukkuttaa bakka hamaa rukkutamee fi waldhaansa taasisfameen qorichi kennamaafii ture mataa isaa keessaa rasaasa baasuuf yaalii godhamaa ture summii itti tahuun gaafa hagayya 11 bara 2014 Addunyaa kana irraa du’aan boqoteera.Qabsaa’aan ni kufa! Qabsoon itti fufa!Qeerroo Bilisummaa Hagayya 15, 2014
Sad News (4th August 2014):Teacher named Wakjira Barsisa, who was wounded in Gimbi during the #OromoProtests has passed away at Tikur Anbassa Hospital.In related news, the following 11 students have been released from Maekalwi prison after being detained and subjected to torture for the last three months. 1. Falmataa Bayecha 2. Mo’ibul Misganuu 3. Bekele Gonfa 4. Nimonaa Gonfa 5. Ebisaa Dhabasa 6.Ratta Dajash 7. Araarsaa Leggesse 8. Ashanafi ( Jaarraa ) Marga 9. Barisso Jamal 10. Abu ( Guyyo) Galma * 11. Alii Shadoo** Abu (#10) is a 14 years old , while Alii ( #11) is 15 years old. They were both 9th grade students at the time of their arrest.
Oromo star artists, Haacaaluu Hundeesa and Jaamboo Joote were arrested today in Finfinnee, but finally left the country. They are on their way to Washington Dulles International Airport. This is typical Woyaane tactic to chase away Oromo figures. Seif Nebelbaal News, 4th August 2014.
Mass killing’s in Ambo conducted by fascist Woyane (TPLF) army, Agazi.
Testimony of a youngman whose friend was murdered by Ethiopian securitymen during protest against the government decision to annex farming areas into Addis Ababa – which is believed to evict farmers from their ancestral homeland (https://wordpress.com/read/post/id/9822596/204/
Ethiopia’s Compliance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child Report for the Pre-Sessional Working Group of the Committee on the Rights of the Child Submitted by The Advocates for Human Rights, a non-governmental organization in special consultative status with ECOSOC and The International Oromo Youth Association, a non-governmental diaspora youth organization 69th Session of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, Geneva 22–26 September 2014http://www.theadvocatesforhumanrights.org/uploads/tahr_ioya_crc_loi_submission_july_1_2014.pdf
(The Advocates for Human Rights, Adoolessa/July 26, 2014, Finfinne Tribune, Gadaa.com ) – The Advocates for Human Rights, in collaboration with the International Oromo Youth Association, submitted a report for the Pre-Sessional Working Group of the Committee on the Rights of the Child. This report identifies numerous violations of the rights of children in Ethiopia, particularly with respect to the rights of the child to equality, life, liberty, security, privacy, freedom of expression and association, family, basic health and welfare, education, and leisure and cultural activities. Unless otherwise noted in the report, these violations occur without distinction based on the ethnic group of the child. In some cases, however, children belonging to the Oromo ethnic group—the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia—face discrimination or other rights violations unique to their ethnicity. The Advocates has worked extensively with members of the Ethiopian diaspora for purposes of documenting human rights conditions in Ethiopia. Since 2004, The Advocates has documented reports from members of the Oromo ethnic group living in diaspora in the United States of human rights abuses they and their friends and family experienced in Ethiopia.The Ethiopian Government has adopted strict constraints on civil society; Government monitoring and intimidation, as well as fear of reprisals, impede human rights monitoring and journalism in the country. In spite of this, The Advocates has documented the continued discrimination against the Oromo and other ethnic groups. In recent months, the Ethiopian Government has also violated the right to life of Oromo children and youth by using excessive force in response to peaceful protests, including violence, killing, mass detentions, and forced expulsions.Further, the Government fails to protect children from abuse in the family and from harmful traditional practices such as FGM. Perpetrators of physical and sexual violence against children enjoy impunity. The Government also fails to promote and protect rights of many children with disabilities. The Government’s “villagization” program places the health of children in rural areas at risk and impedes their right to an adequate standard of living. Children in Ethiopia continue to be denied access to primary education, especially in rural areas, and child domestic labor remains a serious concern.- Details: The Advocates for Human Rights and the International Oromo Youth Association report to the Committee on the Rights of the Child- Source: The Advocates for Human Rights
Oromo mother angry over murdered son
Yeshi, mother of man shot dead in April in Ambo By Hewete HaileselassieBBC Africa, Ethiopia
“Yeshi” is still trying to come to terms with the trauma of discovering the body of her son being carried through the streets of the Ethiopian city of Ambo.
A rickshaw driver in his 20s, he had been caught up in deadly protests between the police and students in the city in April. They were demonstrating about plans to extend the administrative control of the capital, Addis Ababa, into Oromia state.
Oromia is the country’s largest region and completely surrounds Addis Ababa – and some people feared they would be forced off their land and lose their regional and cultural identity if the plans went ahead.
Anger over ‘violent crackdown’ at protest in Ethiopia
BBC News, 28 July 2014
A plan by the Ethiopian government to expand the capital’s administrative control into neighbouring states has sparked months of student protests.
Security forces have been accused of cracking down on demonstrators in the region of Oromia. The government says 17 people died in the violence, but human rights groups say that number is much higher. The BBC’s Emmanuel Igunza has gained rare access to the town of Ambo where the protests took place.
Four Oromo students of Madda Walaabuu University have been abducted by TPLF/Agazi forces while with their family in Western Oromia (Wallagga, Gidaami). Their where about is yet unknown.
Barattooti Oromoo Yuuniversitii Madda Walaabuu 4 Boqonnaa Yeroo Gannaaf Gara Maatii Isaanii Wallagga, Gidaamii Itti Galan Tika Wayyaaneen Qabamuun Bakka Buuteen Isaanii DhabameGabaasa Qeerroo Qellem, Gidaamii – Adoolessa (July) 26, 2014Mootummaan wayyaanee barattoota boqonnaa yeroo gannaaf maatii galan maatii irraa irraa ugguruudhaan qabee mana hidhaatti galchaa akka jirtu gabasi nu gahe addeessa. Har’a gabaasni Qeerroo Qellem Giddamii irraa nu dhaqqabe kan ibsu barattoota madda Walaabuu Yuuniversitii irraa galan aanaa Gidaamii ganda Giraay Sonqaa jedhamu irraa basaasaa wayyaanee aanaa kaan irratti ilmaan Oromoo dabarsee diinaf saaxilun kennaa jiruun saaxilamanii humna waraana Wayyaanetti kennamuudhaan Adoolessa gaafa 18/2014 qabamanii hidhamanii jiru. Basaasaan wayyaanee maqaan isaa Waaqgaarii Qan’aa kan jedhamu jiraataa aanaa Gidaamii ganda Giraay Sonqaa jiraataa kan ture amma garuu ganda Afteer Saanboo jedhamutti teessoo jireenya isaa kan jijjiirrate maqaa qindeessitoota FDG, Miseensa ABO, Alabaa ABO fannisuutiin, uummata kakaasuu fi ijaaruun duras aanaa kana keessatti isaan kun warra duraati jechuudhan yuuniversitii irratti hojii kana hojjetaa akka turan jedhee diinaaf kennee kan jiru gabaasni nu gahe ibsa, ijoollotni kuni maqaan isaanii akka arman gadii kan taheedha:1. Gammadaa Birhaanee 2. Solomoon Taaddasaa 3. Mallasaa Taaffasaa 4. Amaanu’eel Facaasaakan jedhamaniidha, namootni maatii akka tahanii fi amma gara itti hidhamanillee kan hin beekmne tahuu isaa Qeerroon gabaasee Qellem Wallaggaa Gidaamii irraa nuuf gabaasee jira.
(July 22, 2014) – According to sources, the following Oromo political prisoners, who were arrested in connection with #OromoProtests over a month ago, had been transferred to the notorious Maekelawi prison recently. Before they were brought to Maekelawi, they had been apparently kept at the headquarters of the Ethiopian National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) – where they were subjected to severe torture. Their ordeal was so severe that many of them were carried on stretchers into their new prison cells at Maekelawi. One prisoner, who was there at Maekalawi before them, apparently said to his visiting families: “I thought I had the worst torture until I saw the latest Oromo students.’ In particular, a female student Chaltu Dhuguma from Wallaggaa University, has contracted a breast infection from injuries she had sustained at the NISS headquarters. Although these Oromos have been in detention since early May 2014, they have not been brought before a court, or charged. They have been denied the right to attorney, and family visits are restricted. Jimmaa University 1. Falmata Barecha 2. Ebisa Daba 3. Lenjisa Alemayehu 4. Gamachu Bekele Wallaggaa University 5. Mo’ibuli Misganu 6. Bekele Gonfa 7. Ratta Dinberu 8. Chaltuu Dhuguma Adama University 9. Adugna Keesso 10. Bilisumma Damene Haromaya University 11. Nimonaa Chali 12. Abebe Urgeessa 13. Bilisumma Gonfa 14. Magarsa Bekele 15. Jara (Ashenafi) Marga 16. Ararsa Legesse Farmers from Wallaggaa 17. Aga Bekana 18. Dereje Businessmen from Jimmaa 19. Mohammed Chali 20. Ahmed Abagaro 21. Hussien Abagaro Borana 22. Galma Guyo 23. Korme Udesso 24. Roba Salaha 25. Aliyi Qellam Wallaggaa Farmers 26. Shariif Usumaan 27. Daani’el Akkumaa 28. Aliyyii Tarfaa Farmers from Jimmaa 29. Shiek Mohaammed Abbaa Garoo 30. Hassan Abdala Farmers from East Wallaggaa 31. Afrika Kebede Farmers from Western Shawaa 32. Tamire Chala From Dire Dawa 33. Abdusemed Mohammed 34. Tofik Abdalla 35. Bariso Jamal 36. Abdii Kamal
Addunya Keesso was a 4th year engineering student at Adama Science and Technology University in Adama, Oromia, Ethiopia. He was dismissed from the university after government officials accused him of playing a leadership role in the peaceful student protest against the infamous Addis Ababa City Master Plan which many believe will result in the eviction of millions of Oromos from their ancestral land. On may 29 Addunya Keesso and two other ASTU students (Bilisumma Daammana and Mekonnen Kebede) were abducted from Franko neighborhood in Adama and taken to Ma’ikelawi prison in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where political prisoners are routinely tortured. Sources say Addunya Keesso has been tortured and has not been taken to court. It is to be recalled peaceful protesters were attacked by Ethiopia’s Federal Police and Agazi army since last April and scores of high school and college students have been killed and thousands detained in towns and villages across the Oromia region of Ethiopia. #FreeAddunyaaKeesso#FreeOromoStudents, 22nd July 2014
Oromo national, Bilisummaa Daammanaa, Final year Adama University student is being tortured in Fascist TPLF Ma’ikelawi torture chamber. #FreeOromoStudent. 20th July 2014. Bilisummaa Daammanaa jedhama.Barataa Yuuniversitii Saayinsii fi Teeknoloojii Adamaatti bara kana kan eebbifamu ture garuu,yuuniversitii irras ari’amuun,Gaaffii mirga Abbaa Biyyumaan wal qabatee,badii tokko malee yeroo amma kana mana hidhaa Wayyanee ma’akkalawwitti dararamaa jira! Gabaasa Qeerroo Adoolessa 19,2014 Finfinnee Barataa sabboonticha Bilisummaa Daammanaa jedhamu mooraa Adaamaa Yuuniversitii irraa kan baratuu fi baree baranaa kan xumuruun eebbifamu yoo tahu Ebla 29/2014 guyyaa FDG mooraa Yuuniversitii Adaamatti tokkummaa barattoota Oromoo moorichaan mootummaa Wayyaanee dura dhaabbachuudhaan gaggeessaniin tikoota Wayyaaneen hiriyoottan sabboontota Oromoo nama 40 ol tahan waliin qabamanii torbanoota lamaa oliif bakka buuteen isaanii dhabamee ture irraa kaasee bakka tursan tursanii gara mana hidhaa Maa’ikelaawwii keessatti sabboonaa beekamaa fi itti gaafatamaa dargaggoota ykn Qeerroo Yuuniversitii Adaamaa kan tahe,akkasuma dursaa maadhewwan mooraa fi magaalaa Adaamaa kan tahe Addnuyaa Keessoo waliin rakkina guddaa fi gocha suukkanneessaa waraana Wayyaaneetiin mana hidhaa Maa’ikelaawwii keessatti irratti raawwachaa tureera. Ammas gara jabinaan waan dhala namaa irratti hin raawwanne barataa Bilisummaa Daammanaa jedhamu kana irratti ammas irratti raawwacha jiru du’aa fi jireenya gidduutti argamuu isaa gabaasi qeerroo addeessa. http://qeerroo.org/2014/07/20/mana-hidhaa-maaikelaawwii-keessatti-barataa-sabboonaa-bilisummaa-daammanaa-reebichaan-rakkina-hamaa-keessa-jira/
Oromo national Walabummaa Dabale, 4th year Engineering student at Adama University is in TPLF Torture Chamber. He is the author of the above book in Afaan Oromo titled ‘Faana Imaanaa’.
Walabummaa Dabalee Barataa Yuuniversitii Saayinsii fi Teeknoloojii Adaamaatti barataa Injineeringii waggaa 4ffaa ture.yeroo ammaa kana mana hidhaa mootummaa Wayyanee keessatti dararamaa jirachuun isaa ni beekama.#FreeOromoStudents
High school student #Samuel Ittaana from Gimbii, Oromia was shot by fascist Ethiopia’s federal police (Agazi) while taking part in a peaceful demonstration during #Oromoptotests. #FreeOromoStudents
The above picture is some of the thousands Oromo student youths kidnapped by fascist TPLF (Agazi) forces and sent to its torture camp in Afar state. They are forced to shave and skin heads. The TPLF falsely claimed that they are ‘Godana Tadaadar’ (homeless, street residents). #OromoProtests #FreeOromoStudents 13th July 2014
Suuraan amma olii kun kan mootumaan Ethiopia ykn TPLF, dargagoota egeree boruu ta’an baraachiidhaan, barnoota isaanii irraa arii’uudhaan, qabeenyaa ykn qe’ee isanii irraa ariitee ergaa jettee booda asi deebitee maqaa itti baasitee ‘Ye Godaana Tadadari’ jechuun, dhiiraaf durba otuu hin jennee kan kumaatamatti lakkawaman mataa irraa aaduudhaan gara nanoo Afar keesatti ergitee jirtii. Kunis kan ta’ee filannoo itti aanuu rakkina amma tokko dhufuu danda’u irra hiridhisa kan jedhuu irra kan ka’ee karoorafatanii ta’uu isa beekamee.Dargagoota sodaa irra qaban kuma afurii ta’uun isanii beekamee. #OromoProtests
MORE THAN 3000 SHAVED HEADED OROMO STUDENTS WERE SENT TO AFAR CONCENTRATION CAMP
Following massive crock-down on Oromo students throughout Oromia, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Front (EPRDF) regime moved thousands of Oromo students who participated in peaceful protests to various concentration camps. Besides putting those students in extremely dangerous detention centers, the detainees are usually exposed to various kinds of corporal punishments. According to Ethiopian Review report, among Oromo students who were arbitrarily arrested following massive arrest that took place in May this year, around 3000 of them were put to a massive head shaving ritual. The EPRDF regime practiced this kind of cruelty and act of barbarism against Oromo nationalists since it came to power 23 years ago. Prominent Oromo singer and nationalist Ilfinesh Qano is one of those who went through this ugly and inhumane practice of detainees handling. Reports show that more than 30,000 Oromos were rounded up and put in different camps following the demonstration that took place in Ambo, Addis Ababa, Robe, Nakamte and other Oromia cities and villages.
Humnootni tikaa sirna wayyaanee barataa Mootii Mootummaa ukkaamsanii fudhatan namoota shan oggaa ta’an, isaan keessaa tokko kana dura magaalaa Ambootti tika wayyaanee kan turee fi yeroo ammaa Adaamaadhaa kan hojjetu nama maqaan isaa Tasfaayee jedhamu ta’uunis barameera. Barataa Mootii Mootummaa Abdii barreessaa kitaaba “Qaroo Dhiiga Boosse” jedhamuu oggaa ta’u, sabboonummaa Oromummaa nama qabu akka ta’es kanneen isa beekan ibsaniiru. Mootummaan wayyaanee akkuma ilmaan Oromoo hedduu ukkaamsee nyaataa turee fi jiru barataa Mootii Mootummaa Abdii irrattis yakka fakkaataa raawwachuun isaa hin oolu kan jedhan hiriyootni isaa, ilmaan Oromoo biyya ambaatti argaman dararaa fi lubbuu ijoollee Oromoo hidhaa keessatti argamanii hambisuuf kanneen mirga dhala namaaf falmanitti iyyachuufii jabeessanii akka itti fufan dhaamsa dabarsaniiru.
Maqaan isaa Waaqjiraa Biraasa jedhama hojiin isaa barsiisaa yoo ta’u sababa sochii /mormii barattoota Oromootiin miidhaan irea gahee hospital Xuqur Anbassaa keessatti argama. Oromo national and teacher Waaqjiraa Biraasaa is in life and death situation after being tortured by Agazi/TPLF. At the time of this posting he is in Xiqur Ambassa (Black Lion Hospital), Finfinnee. #OromoProtests. #FreeOromoStudents. 13th July 2014. 31 Oromo students, under 16 year old teenagers are being tortured by Agazi (TPLF) in jail at Ambo. The National Youth Movement for freedom and Democracy listed (in its 10th July 2014 publication) their names which is in Afaan Oromo as follows:-Dararamni Oromoo mana hidhaa Wayyaanee keessaa umurii hin filatu Dargaggoonni maqaan isaanii armaa gadi xuqame guyyaa 23/08/2006 (A.L.E) irraa eegalee sababa tokko malee jumulaan walitti qabamanii shakkiidhaan hidhamuu irraan kan ka’e ma/mu/ol/Go/ Sh/Lixaatti akka dhihaatanii fi himannaan dhiyaate waan hin jirreef jedhee ajajaan akka gadi lakkisaman murteesse. Haa ta’u malee ajajni mana murtii kun hojii irra ooluu irra umurii daa’imummaan mana hidhaa keessatti dararamaa jirra jechuun ma/mu/waliigalaa Oromiyaatti ol iyyatanii hanga yoonaatti deebii hin arganne. Isaanis;
Shibirree Mokonnon G/Yesus Umuriin waggaa 15
Misgaanaa Oolgaa Dawoo umuriin waggaa 16
Alamituu Fayyeraa Baayisaa umuriin waggaa 16
Haaluma wal fakkaataan namoonni armaa gadii ammoo qabamanii mana qajeelcha poolisaa godinaa irraa gara mana sirreessaa Go/Sh/Lixaatti darbuun himannaa fi murtii tokko malee dararamaa jirani. Sababa kana irraa ka’uun dhimma isaanii hordofachuu akka hin dandeenye ibsachuun nama dhimma isaanii hordofuuf bakka buufachuun ma/mu/walii gala Oromiyaatti iyyatanii hanga yoonaatti deebii sirnaa akka hin arganne maddeen mirkaneessu. Isaan kunis;
A Summary of Oromos Killed, Beaten and Detained by the TPLF Armed Forces during the 2014 Oromo Protest Against The Addis Ababa (Finfinne) Master Plan Compiled by: National Youth Movement for Freedom and Democracy (NYMFD) aka Qeerroo Bilisummaa
July 05, 2014
Background
It is a well-documented and established fact that the Oromo people in general and Oromo students and youth in particular have been in constant and continuous protest ever since the current TPLF led Ethiopian government came to power. The current protest which started late April 2014 on a large scale in all universities and colleges in Oromia and also spread to several high schools and middle schools begun as opposition to the so called “Integrated Developmental Master Plan” or simply “the Master Plan”. The “Master Plan” was a starter of the protest, not a major cause. The major cause of the youth revolt is opposition to the unjust rule of the Ethiopian regime in general. The main issue is that there is no justice, freedom and democracy in the country. The said Master Plan in particular, would expand the current limits of the capital, Addis Ababa, or “Finfinne” as the Oromos prefer to call it, by 20 folds stretching to tens of Oromian towns surrounding the capital. The Plan is set to legalize eviction of an estimated 2 million Oromo farmers from their ancestral land and sell it to national and transnational investors. For the Oromo, an already oppressed and marginalised nation in that country, the incorporation of those Oromian cities into the capital Addis Ababa means once more a complete eradication of their identity, culture, and language. The official language will eventually be changed to Amharic. Essentially, it is a new form of subjugation and colonization. It was the Oromo university students who saw this danger, realized its far-reaching consequences and lit the torch of protest which eventually engulfed the whole Oromia regional state.For the minority TPLF led Ethiopian regime, who has been already selling large area of land surrounding Addis Ababa even without the existence of the Master Plan, meeting the demands of the protesting Oromo students means losing 1.1 million of hectares of land which the regime planned to sell for a large sum of money. Therefore, the demand of the students and the Oromo people at large is not acceptable to the regime. It has therefore decided to squash the protest with its forces armed to the teeth. The regime ordered its troops to fire live ammunition to defenceless Oromo students at several places: Ambo, Gudar, Robe (Bale), Nekemte, Jimma, Haromaya, Adama, Najjo, Gulliso, Anfillo (Kellem Wollega), Gimbi, Bule Hora (University), to mention a few. Because the government denied access to any independent journalists it is hard to know exactly how many have been killed and how many have been detained and beaten. Simply put, it is too large of a number over a large area of land to enumerate. Children as young as 11 years old have been killed. The number of Oromos killed in Oromia during the current protest is believed to be in hundreds. Tens of thousands have been jailed and an unknown number have been abducted and disappeared. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa, who has been constantly reporting the human rights abuses of the regime through informants from several parts of Oromia for over a decade, estimates the number of Oromos detained since April 2014 as high as 50, 000In this report we present a list of 61 Oromos that are killed and 903 others that are detained and beaten (or beaten and then detained) during and after the Oromo students protest which begun in April 2014 and which we managed to collect and compile. The information we obtain so far indicates those detained are still in jail and still under torture. Figure 1 below shows the number of Oromos killed from different zones of Oromia included in this report. Figure 2 shows the number of Oromos detained and reportedly facing torture. It has to be noted that this number is only a small fraction of the widespread killings and arrest of Oromos carried out by the regime in Oromia regional state since April 2014 to date. Our Data Collection Team is operating in the region under tight and risky security conditions not to consider lack of logistic, financial and man power to carry the data collection over the vast region of Oromia.
June 29, 2014 Dear Sir/Madam: We are reaching out to you as the Board of Officers of the International Oromo Youth Association (IOYA) whose nation is in turmoil back in Oromia, Ethiopia. Recently, Oromo students have been protesting against the new Addis Ababa “Integrated Master Plan” which aims at incorporating smaller towns surrounding Addis Ababa for the convenience of vacating land for investors by displacing millions of Oromo farmers. As a political move, this will essentially result in the displacement of the indigenous peoples and their families. Oromo farmers will be dispossessed of their land and their survival both economic and cultural terms will be threatened. The Oromos strongly believe that this plan will expose their natural environment to risk, threaten their economic means of livelihood (subsistence farming), and violate their constitutional rights. The Ethiopian government is executing its political agenda of progressive marginalization of the Oromo people from matters that concern them both in the Addis Ababa city and the wider Oromia region. The master plan is an unconstitutional change of the territorial expansion over which the city administration has a jurisdiction. The government justifies the move in the name of enhancing the development of the city and facilitating economic growth. The justification is merely a tactical move masked for the governments continued abuse of human rights of the Oromo people. While the Oromos understand that Addis Ababa itself is an Oromo city that serves as the capital of the federal government, they also consider this move as an encroachment on the jurisdiction and borders of the state of Oromia. The protesters peacefully demonstrated against this move. University students and residents have been in opposition to the plan, but their struggle has been met by a brutal repression in the hands of the military police (famously known as the Agazi). It has been reported that shootings, arrests, and imprisonments are becoming rampant. It is also reported that the death toll is increasing by the hour. Recently, sources indicate that over 80 people have been shot dead, others severally injured and thousands arrested. In addition, Oromo students have been protesting peacefully for over three weeks now, despite mass killings and arrests by Ethiopian security forces. University and high school students from more than ten universities have been engaging in the Oromo protests. The peaceful rally has now spread across the whole country and is expected to continue until the Ethiopian government refrains from incorporating over 36 surrounding smaller towns into Addis Ababa. It is stated to be displacing an estimate of 6.6 million people and violating constitutional rights of regional states. As an organization subscribing to broader democratic engagement of the Oromo youth, we oppose the brutal violence that the Ethiopian government is meting out on innocent, unarmed young students who are peacefully protesting. As leaders of the Oromo community, we support and stand in solidarity with Oromo protests in Ethiopia. The human rights volitions being carried out by the Ethiopian government against innocent students are unacceptable. Continuous assaults, tortures, and killings of innocent civilians must be stopped. We urge you to join us in denouncing these inhumane and cruel activities carried out by the Ethiopian government. We believe it is imperative that the international community raise its voice and take action to stop the ongoing atrocities that are wreaking havoc to families and communities in the Oromia region. We urgently request that such actions be taken in an attempt to pressure the Ethiopian government to stop terrorizing and killing peaceful protesters:
The US government and other International organizations should condemn the Ethiopian government’s brutal action taken on unarmed innocent civilians. Furthermore, we demand over 30,000 innocent protesters to be released from prisons, as they will be subjected to torture and ill treatment.
The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is currently terrorizing its own electorates/nation. Under the law of R2P in the UN constitution, the international community is obliged to protect a nation that is being terrorized by its own government and EPRDF should be taken accountable.
We demand Ethiopia to be expelled from any regional and international cooperation including and not limited to AU and UN for its previous and current human rights violations. The International community should stop providing support in the name of AID and development to Ethiopia as it is violating the fundamental and basic needs of its nation.
The Ethiopian government should be stopped on immediate effect; its forceful displacement of the indigenous peoples across Ethiopia is unjust and unconstitutional. We ask the United States, European Union, and the United Nations to stand in solidarity with peaceful student protesters who are condemning such injustice.
The onus is on the international community to act in favor of the innocent and civilian populace that is seeking its fundamental right. Punitive actions towards this government should be taken for cracking down on freedom of expression and other democratic rights being expressed by its citizens.
We believe it is in the interest of our common humanity to take responsibility, to pay attention to this problem, to witness the plight of the voiceless victims, and to raise concerns to the Ethiopian government so it can desist from its brutal acts of repression. We count on your solidarity to help the Oromo youth be spared from arbitrary arrest, incarceration, and shootings. Yours Respectfully, International Oromo Youth Associationhttp://ayyaantuu.com/horn-of-africa-news/oromia/oromoprotests-ioya-appeal/https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E31gqU_fbpMAbdi Kamal Mussa is Oromo political prisoner kept in Dire Dawa. He graduated from Dire Dawa Universityin 2013 and was working at Ethiopian Commercial Bank, Jigjiga branch. He was arrested in May 2014 on bogus accusation of providing financial support to the student protesters. He is languishing in the gulag without any charge and legal representation. #OrmoProtests #FreeOromoStudents
Maqaan isaa Alamaayyoo Dassaalee Kumii ( miidiyaa hawaasaa barruu fuula duraa ykn facebook kana irratti Sabom Alekso Desale) jedhama. Dhalatee kan guddate godina Wallagga Bahaa aanaa Kiiramuutti. Barnoota sadarkaa ol’aanaa kan hordofes Naqamtee Kolleejjii ASK jedhamutti. Magaala Naqamtee yeroo turetti gama sochii jabeenya qaamaatiinis gurbaa sadarkaa guddaarra ga’edha. Si’ana oguma barsiisummaa ittiin leenji’een hawaasa leenji’eef tajaajiluuf Godina Addaa Saba Oromoo kan taate Kamisee, aanaa Dawwee Haarawaatti argama. Saabom Alamaayyoon yeroo hojii idilee isaarraa ba’utti boqonnaa malee dargaggoota magaalaa Booraatti argaman sochii jabeenya qaamaa fi gorsa naamusaa kennuufiin nama jaalalaa fi kabajaa guddaa argateerudha. Hawaasa oromoo magaala Booraa (magaala guddoo aanaa Dawwee Haarawaa) fudhatama argachuun sabboonaa kanaa kan isaan yaaddesse jala adeemtotni wayyaanee aanichaaf amanamoodha jedhaman hinaaffaa fi sodaa guddaa keessa waan isaan galcheef, haal duree tokko malee Oromummaa isaa qofaan yakkuudhaan Waxabajji 20, 2014 guyyaa keessaa naannoo sa’a 4:00 harka,ijaa fi miila isaa xaxuudhaan: ati ABO waliin hidhata qabda, haasawaa ABO’n wal qabatu yoo haasofte malee uummanni akkamiin akkas si sifeeffate, Hiriyoota kee si waliin ABO deeggaran eeri…fi gaaffilee inni sammuu keessaa hin qabneen jaanjessanii eeyyama tokko malee mana jireenya isaa erga sakatta’anii booda mana hidhaatti darbataniiru. Wanti guddaan akka namummaatti nama gaddisiisu garuu ilmi namaa yakka tokko malee, biyya namni jiru keessatti guyyaadhaan dirree irratti ija raramee yommuu dhiittaan mirga namoomaa daangaa darbe akkanaa irratti raawwatamu birmataan tokkollee dhibuu isaati. Namoonni sobaan balaaloo hammanaa irratti xaxanis kanneen akka Habtaamuu Calqaa (hojjetaa mana maree aanichaa) fi Jamaal ( itti gaafatamaa mana maree aanaa Dawwee Haarawaa) ta’uutu bira gahame. Yeroo ammaa kanatti bakkuuteen isaas akka dhabame hiriyyootni isaa soorata geessuuf barbaadan hadheessanii dubbataa kan jiran yommuu ta’u, maatiin isaas eessa buutee ilma isaanii dhabanii burjaaja’aa jiru. #OromoProtests
The following are photographs and backgrounds of 5 students abducted from Madda Walabu University. #OromoProtests
Jeylan Ahmed Mohammed West Hararghe, Abro Disttict, Haji Musa Vilage, Tourism Management majorn Class 2014
Diribe Kumarra Taasisaa, Kellem Wollega, Laloo Qilee District, Bilee Buubaa Village, Class 2014
Haile Dhaba Danboba, South west Shewa Dawoo District, Busaa 01 kebele, Economics, Class 2014,
Leenco Fixa Soboqa South West Shewa, Sadeen Soddoo District. Tolee Dalotaa Village, Water Engineering major 2nd year
Twenty Ethiopia state journalists dismissed, in hiding
“If they cannot indoctrinate you into their thinking, they fire you,” said one former staff member of the state-run Oromia Radio and Television Organization (ORTO), who was dismissed from work last month after six years of service. “Now we are in hiding since we fear they will find excuses to arrest us soon,” the journalist, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal, told CPJ.
On June 25, 20 journalists from the state broadcaster in Oromia, the largest state in terms of area and population in Ethiopia, were denied entry to their station’s headquarters, according to news reports. No letters of termination or explanations were presented, local journalists told CPJ; ORTO’s management simply said the dismissals were orders given by the government. “Apparently this has become common practice when firing state employees in connection with politics,” U.S.-based Ethiopian researcher Jawar Mohammed said in an email to CPJ. “The government seems to want to leave no documented trace.” Read more @http://www.cpj.org/blog/2014/07/twenty-ethiopia-state-journalists-dismissed-in-hid.php
STATE FIRES 20 JOURNALISTS FOR “NARROW POLITICAL VIEWS”
Reporters Without Borders condemns last week’s politically-motivated dismissal of 20 journalists from Oromia Radio and Television Organization (ORTO), the main state-owned broadcaster in Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest regional State.The 20 journalists were denied entry to ORTO headquarter on 25 June and were effectively dismissed without any explanations other than their alleged “narrow political views,” an assessment the management reached at the end of a workshop for journalists and regional government officials that included discussions on the controversial Master Plan of Addis that many activists believe is aimed at incorporating parts of Oromia into the federal city of Addis Ababa.The journalists had reportedly expressed their disagreement with the violence used by the police in May to disperse student protests against the plan, resulting in many deaths.It is not yet clear whether the journalists may also be subjected to other administrative or judicial proceedings.“How can you fire journalists for their political views?” said Cléa Kahn-Sriber, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Africa desk. “The government must provide proper reasons for such a dismissal. Does it mean that Ethiopia has officially criminalized political opinion ?“In our view, this development must be seen as an attempt by the authorities to marginalize and supress all potential critiques ahead of the national elections scheduled for 2015 in Ethiopia. These journalists must be allowed to return to work and must not be subjected to any threats or obstruction.”Ethiopia is ranked 143rd out of 180 countries in the 2014 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.http://www.siitube.com/articles/state-broadcaster-fires-20-journalists-for-“narrow-political-views”_293.html
Up to 20 journalists reportedly fired from Ethiopian broadcaster
Ethiopian state broadcaster’s alleged dismissal of reporters prompts questions over press freedom.
Ethiopia’s state-run Oromia Radio and Television Organization (ORTO) allegedly sacked(link is external) up to 20 journalists on June 25. Neither the station nor the government has given reasons for the reported firings, but Reporters Without Borders said(link is external) ORTO management found the reporters had “narrow political views”.
#OromoProtests- (Vancouver Canada, 26th June 2014) Amnesty International Human Right against torture awarness public forum. Discussing forum on Oromo students tortured & killed by Ethiopian government because of questioning their constitutional rights.
52 students called before the disciplinary committee of Finfinnee (Addis Ababa) University
The TPLF listed the following students from Finfinnee ( Addis Ababa) University to be Punnished for being in peaceful Oromo students rally:
18 journalists of Oromia Radio and Television Organization (ORTO) have been fired
18 journalists of Oromia Radio and Television Organization (ORTO) have been fired. The journalists say they received no prior notice and learned of their fate this morning when security prevented them from entering the station’s compound located in Adama. Members of the management informed the journalists that they cannot help them as decision terminate their employment and the list of names came from the federal government. This firing follows a 20 day reindoctrination seminar given to journalists and reporters of the ORTO and workers of the region’s communication bureau.Main agenda’s for the seminar were the ongoing #OromoProtests and the upcoming election. Speakers at the seminar included Bereket Simon, Waldu Yemasel ( Director of Fana broadcasting), Abreham Nuguse Woldehana and Zelalem Jemaneh.http://www.siitube.com/articles/17-journalists-of-oromia-radio-and-television-organization-orto-have-been-fired_253.html
On June 25, when 18 journalists from Ethiopia’s state-run Oromia Radio and Television Organization (ORTO) arrived to start their scheduled shifts, they learned their employment had been terminated “with orders from the higher ups.” The quiet dismissal of some 10 percent of the station’s journalists underscores the country’s further descent into total media blackout. The firing of dissenting journalists is hardly surprising; the ruling party controls almost all television and radio stations in the country. Most diaspora-based critical blogs and websites are blocked. Dubbed one of the enemies of the press, Ethiopia currently imprisons at least 17 journalists and bloggers. On April 26, only days before US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to the capital, Addis Ababa, authorities arrested six bloggers and three journalists on charges of working with foreign rights groups and plotting to incite violence using social media. Reports on the immediate cause of the latest purge itself are mixed. But several activist blogs noted that a handful of the dismissed journalists have been irate over the government’s decision not to cover the recent Oromo student protests. An Ethiopia-based journalist, who asked not to be named due to fear of repercussions, said the 18 reporters were let go after weeks of an indoctrination campaign in the name of “gimgama” (reevaluation) failed to quiet the journalists. The campaign began earlier this month when a meeting was called in Adama, where ORTO is headquartered, to “reindoctrinate” the journalists there into what is sometimes mockingly called “developmental journalism,” which tows government lines on politics and human rights. The journalists reportedly voiced grievances about decisions to ignore widespread civic upheavals while devoting much of the network’s coverage to stories about lackluster state development. Still, although unprecedented, the biggest tragedy is not the termination of these journalists’ positions. Ethiopia already jails more journalists than any other African nation except neighboring Eritrea. The real tragedy is that the Oromo, Ethiopia’s single largest constituency (nearly half of Ethiopia’s 92 million people) lack a single independent media outlet on any platform. The reports of the firings come on the heels of months of anti-government protests by students around the country’s largest state, Oromia. Starting in mid-April, students at various colleges around the country took to the streets to protest what they saw as unconstitutional encroachment by federal authorities on the sovereignty of the state of Oromia, which according to a proposed plan would annex a large chunk of its territory to the federal capital—which is also supposed to double as Oromia’s capital. Authorities fear that an increasingly assertive Oromo nationalism is threatening to spin out of state control, and see journalists as the spear of a generation coming of age since the current Ethiopian regime came to power in 1991. To the surprise of many, the first reports of opposition to the city’s plan came from ORTO’s flagship television network, the TV Oromiyaa (TVO). A week before the protests began, in a rare sign of dissent, journalist Bira Legesse, one of those fired this week, ran a short segment where party members criticized the so-called Addis Ababa master plan. Authorities saw the coverage as a tacit approval for public displeasure with the plan and, therefore, an indirect rebuke of the hastily put-together campaign to sell the merits of the master plan to an already skeptical audience. But once the protests began, culminating in the killings of more than a dozen students in clashes with the police and the detentions and maimings of hundreds of protesters, TVO went mute, aside from reading out approved police bulletins. This did not sit well with the journalists, leading to the indoctrination campaign which, according to one participant, ended without any resolution. – See more at:http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/ethiopia_cans_18_journalists.php#sthash.ewAVFyXB.dpuf Dhaabbanni Raadiyoofi Televiziyoonii Oromiyaa kaleessa jechuun Roobii 25/6/2014 gaazexeessitoota Oromoo ta’an 18 balleessaa tokko malee hojiirraa dhaabuusaa gabaafame.Dhaabbinni Woyyaaneen maqaa Oromootiin Adaamatti banatte-Dhaabbanni Raadiyoofi Televiziyoonii Oromiyaa ilmaan Oromoo 18 kaleessaa kaasee baleessaafi sababa tokko malee hojiirraa dhaabee jira. Odeeffannoo hanga ammaa qabnuun maqaan gaazexeessitootaa 18 nu gahee jira. 1. Birraa Laggasaa-dubbisaa oduu afaan Oromoo 2. Abdisaa Fufaa-qopheessaa qophii dokumentarii 3. Olaansaa Waaqumaa-qopheessaa qophii barnootaa 4. Obsee Kaasahun-oduu dubbistuuf dhiheessituu qophii bohaartii 5. Abdii Gadaa-qopheessaa qophii dargaggootaa 6. Baqqalaa Atoomaa-reppoortera afaan Oromoofi English 7. Zallaqaa Oljiraa-qopheessaafi repportera 8. Kabbaboo Ibsaa-qopheessaa oduufi sagantaa afaan Oromoo 9. Ayyaanaa Cimdeessaa-qopheessaa qophii gola Oromiyaa 10. Yusuuf Warqasaa-qopheessaa qophiilee afaan, aadaafi tuurizimii 11. Izqeel Argaw- qopheessaa qophii barnootaa 12. Margaa Angaasuu-qopheessaa qophii ispoortii 13. Zallaqaa Oljiraa-qopheessaa qophii ‘haloo doktaraa’ 14. Xilahun Magarsaa – rippoortara website dhaabbata sanii 15. Liisaanewok Moges- qopheessaa sagantaa Afaan Oromoofi Amaaraa 16. Addis Tegeny- rippoortara afaan Amaaraa 17. Hamzaa Hussien- ripportara Afaan Oromoofi English 18.Bosonaa Dheeressaa-qopheessaafi gulaala oduu afaan Oromoo
#OromoProtests: U.S. Senators Say Ethiopian Govt’s Respect of All Ethnic Groups’ Human Rights Must Be Central to the U.S.-Ethiopia Relationship
Photos: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (L) and Sen. Al Franken (R) of Minnesota Two more U.S. Senators, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, wrote a letter to the U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry, to express concerns about the Ethiopian government’s human rights violations, particularly the Ethiopian government’s recent acts of violence against Oromo peaceful demonstrators in Oromia. In the letter, the U.S. Senators urged the U.S. State Department to make the “respect for the rule of law and human rights in Ethiopian government’s treatment of all ethnic groups” central to the U.S.-Ethiopia relationship. It’s to be noted that U.S. Senators from the State of Washington, Sen. Maria Cantwell and Sen. Patty Murray, also wrote a letter earlier in June – expressing their concern about the Ethiopian government’s acts of violence against Oromo peaceful demonstrators. http://qeerroo.org/2014/06/24/oromoprotests-u-s-senators-say-ethiopian-govts-respect-of-all-ethnic-groups-human-rights-must-be-central-to-the-u-s-ethiopia-relationship/
HRLHA on Ethiopia: Gross Violations of Human Rights and an Intractable Conflict
The following is a report presented by Mr. Garoma B. Wakessa, Executive Director of the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA), at the 26th Session of United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva, Palais des Nations, on June 19, 2014.http://gadaa.net/FinfinneTribune/2014/06/hrlha-on-ethiopia-gross-violations-of-human-rights-and-an-intractable-conflict/——————– Ethiopia: Gross Violations of Human Rights and an Intractable ConflictIntroduction: It is common in democratic countries around the world for people to express their grievances/ dissatisfaction and complaints against their governments by peaceful demonstrations and assemblies. When such nonviolent civil rallies take place, it should always be the state’s responsibility to respect and guard their citizens’ freedom to peacefully assemble and demonstrate. These responsibilities should apply even during times of political protests, when a state’s own power is questioned, challenged, or perhaps undermined by assemblies of citizens practicing in nonviolent resistance. If a government responds to peaceful protests improperly, a peaceful protest might lead to a violent protest- that could then become an intractable conflict. Government agents, most of all the police, must respect the local and international standards of democratic rights of the citizens during peaceful assemblies or demonstrations. – Read the Full Reporthttp://gadaa.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/HRLHA_June2014.pdf
UNPO Condemns Recent Crackdown of Oromo Student Protests by Ethiopian Government
Following last month’s violent answer of the Ethiopian armed forces against peaceful protesters in Oromia, UNPO expresses its support to the victims’ families. Urgent attention from the international community to the situation of the Oromo people in Ethiopia is required. Over the course of the month of May, students in Oromia have been facing harsh repression by Ethiopia’s authorities. The peaceful student protests against the government’s planned education reforms, were met by excessive violence, causing the death of approximately 30 students and teachers. Reportedly, the youngest victim was only 11 years old. Ever since, international outrage spread, and in many cities solidarity protests were held. The Ethiopian Government has denied any responsibility, and is exercising a strict control over the local media. By staging the protests, the students wanted to express their concern about the government’s project to expand the municipal boundaries of the capital city, Addis Ababa. This would imply that the Oromo students’ communities, currently under regional jurisdiction, would no longer be managed by the Oromia Regional State. In addition, the reform would include the displacement of Oromo farmers and residents. Considering their vulnerable status in Ethiopian society, this would make the situation for Oromo individuals even worse than it already is. The discrepancy between the nature of the protests and the Ethiopian authorities’ reaction is extremely alarming, and gives further evidence of the human rights abuses to which the Oromo community is systematically subjected in Ethiopia. The Oromo suffer from severe discrimination, not only in terms of freedom of expression, as was the case in these recent events, but also in terms of basic human rights, cultural expression, socio-economic conditions and political representation. Housing development in Ethiopia regularly happens at the expense of Oromo farmers, who are forced to give up their lands, with insufficient or no financial compensation in return. These acts of forced removal or land grabbing are mostly achieved through violent attacks and killings. Over the past few years, many reports stated that Oromo individuals had been killed by the Ethiopian Special Police Forces, including women and children. According to a recent report published in 2013 by Human Rights Watch, numerous Oromo political prisoners were tortured and executed in secret prisons in Oromia and Ethiopia. UNPO strongly condemns the crackdown on the Oromo community and urges that those responsible are held accountable. UNPO furthermore calls on the Ethiopian government to stop violating the fundamental human rights of its citizens, and to respect and abide by the international conventions it signed and ratified. http://www.unpo.org/article/17246 – See more at:http://www.unpo.org/article/17246#sthash.Op7f2o5F.dpuf Oromo youth Galanaa Nadhaa murdered by TPLF/Agazi. Waxabajjii 23/2014 Sirni Awwalcha Gooticha Sabboonaa Oromoo dargaggoo Galanaa Nadhaa guyyaa har’a ganda dhaloota isaa Godina Lixa Shawaa Aanaa Tokkee Kuttaayee ganda qonnaan bulaa Tokkee Konbolchaatti bakka uummaanni Oromoo Godinotaa fi aanaawwaaan garaagaraa irra irraatti argamanitti gaggeeffama jira. keessattuu uummaanni aanaawwaan kanneen akka Aanaa Amboo, Gudar, Xiiqur Incinnii, Tokkee kuttaayee, Calliyaa Geedoo, Midaa Qanyii ,Shanaan, Finfinnee, fi bakkota hedduu irra uummaatni Oromoo tilmaamaan 3000 olitti lakka’amu irratti argamuun gaddaa guddaa sabboonaa Oromoo kana ibsachuun Dhaadannoo, eessaan dhaqxu sabboonaa Oromoo isa bilisummaa keenyaaf falmuu, Goota Oromoo mucaa dandeetii fi sabboonummaan nama boonsuu Galaanaa Nadhaa jechuun uummaanni haal;a ulfataa ta’een gaddee, jira. Qeerroowwan sabboontotni Oromoo sirna awwaalchaa kanarratti argamuun gumaan ilmaan Oromoo hin haftu, gumaa Galaanaa Nadhaa ni baasna, qabsoo goototni ilmaan Oromoo irraatti wareegamaan galmaan ga’uuf kutannoon qabsoofnaa, Wareegama ilmaan isheetiin Oromiyaan ni bilisoomti, Mootummaan wayyaanee EPRDF/TPLF/OPDO’n seeraatti dhiyaachuu qabu jechuun yeroo amma kanatti dhaadannoo dhageesisaa jiru. ummaanni Fardeen fe’atee dhaadannoo akkam jabaa ta’ee fi dheekkamsaan guutame dhageesisaa jira, kanneen kaan garaftuudhaan of reebuun hanga of dhiigsanitti gaddaa guddaa isanitti dhaga’amee fi roorroo garbummaa uummata irraa jiru ibsacha jiru.http://qeerroo.org/2014/06/23/sirni-awwalcha-sabboonaa-dargaggoo-oromoo-galaanaa-nadhaa-haala-hoaa-taeen-gaggeeffamaa-jira/ Galaanaan Nadhaa abbaa isaa obbo Nadhaa cawwaaqaa fi haadha isaa aadde Geexee Haacaaluu irraa godina lixa shawaatti bara 1972 ALH tti dhalate.Umuriin isaa wayita barnootaaf gahu mana barumsa baabbichaa sadarkaa lammaffaatti kuyaa tokkoo hanga sadii barate.kutaa 4 hanga 8 mana barumsaa tokkeetti barachuun qabxii gaarii fidee mana barumsaa Amboo sadarkaa lammaffaatti barnoota isaa kutaa saglaffaa itti fufe.Galaanaan nama sabboonummaa orommummaa qabuu fi qalqixxummaa dhala namaatti nama amanu ture.Galaannaan rakkina saba oromoof furmaanni qabsoo gochuu qofa jedhee amana.kanaafis gummaacha isarraa eegamu bahaa ture.bara 1992 yeroo bosonni baalee gubate barattoota oromoo adda dureen mormii dhageessisan keessaa tokko ture.mormii inni dhageessiseefis diinni qabee mana hidhaatti dararaa hangana hin jedhamne irraan gahe.haa ta’uu garuu Galaanaan nama doorsisa diinaaf jilbeeffatu hin turre.Jireenyi isaa qabsoo ture.Bara 1994 yeroo FDG oromiyaa keesssa deemaa ture Galaanaan ammas qooda lammummaa bahu irraa of hin qusanne.ammas diinni qabee mana hidhaa galche..Galaanaan bara kutaa 12 qorame ture mana hidhaa taa’ee.qabxii olaanaa fiduun yunivarsiitii maqaleetti ramadame.Achitti balaa dhibee waggaa kudha tokkof isa gidirseef saaxilame. kunis gochaa ilmaan tigireeti.Galaanaan waggaa kudha tokkoof erga dhukkubsatee booda sanbata darbe addunyaa kanarraa du’aan boqote.sirni awwaalcha isaa guyyaa har’aa bakka uummanni oromoo bal’aan argametti har’aa magaala tokkee bataskaana mikaa’el jedhamutti raawwatame.qabsaa’aan kufus qabsoon itti fufa!!!! IUOf!!!!!!!!!. ‘My name is Hambaasan Gudisaa. I was born in Gincii, West Showa, Oromia, Ethiopia. I was a third year student (Afaan Oromo major) at Addis Ababa University. I am the author of ‘AMARTII IMAANAA,’ a recent book written in Afaan Oromo. I was abducted from the university library by Ethiopian security forces on Thursday, June 19, 2014. Only my abductors know where I am or even whether I am dead or alive. There are thousands of young Oromos like me. Remember us in your prayers!’ #OromoProtests
Oromo Geologist Takilu Bulcha kidnapped by TPLF/Agazi security forces and his where about is unknown
Maqaan isaa Takiluu Bulchaa jedhama. Maqaa addaa Bokkaa jedhamuun beekama. Bakki dhaloota isaa Magaalaa Najjooti. Yuunivarsiitii FINFINNEE kiiloo 4 Muummee Geology/Earth Science kan seene ALI tti bara 1992 ture. Haa ta’u malee Gidiraama Wayyaaneen irraan ga’aa turteen barumsa isaa addaan kutee Jooraa turee waggaa Muraasaafis mana hidhaa Qaallittii keessa turee erga ba’ee booda, bara 2003 ALItti Mooraatti deebi’ee. Bara 2005 ALItti Eebbifamee ba’uudhaan Ji’a 3 project Gibe III keessa erga hojjetee booda, deebi’ee Ministeera Albuudaa Kan Magaalaa Finfinnee Naannoo Magganaanyaa Shoolaatti argamu keessa dorgomee gale. Kanaan booda Achi keessa naannoo ji’a 6tiif dalageera. Osoo kanaan jiruu Fiildiitiif ergamee Naannoo uummata Kibbaa keessa Ji’a 3′f dalagaa turee Gara Finfinneetti akkuma deebi’een Guyyaa 2 erga bulee booda dhabamsiisani. Hiriyaa fi maatiin issa iraa akka baree innii galuu dhabnan itii bilbilaa isaas yaalaanii dadhabuu issani nu ibsaan. Hiriyyoota isa waliin hojjetani ijoollee Habashaa tokko gaafatanii akka inni dalagaarra hin jirre tahuu issa baraan.Gaafa June 04-2014 iraa jalqabee ykn san duraas tahuu mala kan dhabamuu issa bekkamee duubaa yaa oromoo.
2.Kiflee Jigsaa-Ogeessa fayyaati, namni kuni humna waraana wayyaanee mana jireenya isaa cabsanii mana isaa keessatti erga reebanii booda gara manahidhaatti geessan.
3.Mitikuu Ittaana-Qote Bulaa
4.Isaayyas Bulchaa-Qote Bulaa
5.Taammiruu Tarfaa-Qote Bulaa
6.Yoohannis Aseffaa-Qote Bulaa
7.Kumarraa Waaqjiraa-Qote Bulaa
8.Birhaanuu Tarfaaa-Qote Bulaa
9.Malkaanuu Geetachoo-Qote Bulaa
10.Galahuun Leencaa
11.Tasfaayee Fiqaduu-Barsiisaa
12.Abiyoot Ayyaanaa-Qote Bulaa
13.Asheetuu Dhinaa-Qote Bulaa
14.Dabalaa Waaqjiraa-Qote Bulaa
15.Lammaa Dureessaa-Qote Bulaa
16.Charuu Tashoomee-Barataa
17.Addisuu Iddoosaa-Barataa
18.Maaruu Baajisaa-Qote Bulaa
19.Nagaash Gonjjoraa-Qote Bulaa
20.Misgaanuu Wandimmuu
21.Zelaale Dingataa-Qote Bulaa
22.Masfin Ofgaa-Qote Bulaa
23.Nagaasaa Yaadasaa-Qote Bulaa
24.Boshaa Baqqaabil-Qote Bulaa
25.Dawit Mitikkuu-Barataa
26.Ayyanaa Ittafaa-Qote Bulaa
Isaan kana keessaa gariin isaanii torbeewwan lamaa ol mana hidhaa keessatti humna waraana Wayyaaneetiin dararfmaa akka jiran Qeerroon gabaasee jira, gariin isaanii Waxabajjii 19,2014 akka qabaman addeessa.
#Oromoprotests+ 20 June 2014 8 senior year Oromo students suspended for a year from Ambo University. They are accused of being leaders of #OromoProtests. Below is list of these students and a sample letter posted on campus notifying students about the decision. 1.Bikila Galmessa 2.Morka Keneni 3.Awal Mohammed 4.Usma’il Mitiku 5.Fayisa Bekele 6.Yonas Alemu Ragassa 7.Hundessaa Abara 8.Tamirat Aga
OPINIONS
Aftenbladet
The farmers from the Oromo people around the capital Addis Ababa in Ethiopia losing livelihood and their culture when the government is now giving their land to foreign companies that want to invest in industry and other sectors, writes Badilu Abanesha.
Stop the plunder of the Oromo people
Badilu Abanesha , Oromo Association of South Rogaland
Published: Jun 13. 2014 3:19 p.m.Updated: Jun 13. 2014 3:28 p.m.
Millions of Oromo farmers in Ethiopia are being displaced without receiving compensation for the land they lose.Protests are brutally faced with violence, torture and murder.
Oromo are being deprived of their land and their ability to survive financially, and their culture is threatened. This happens at the boundaries of the capital Addis Ababa is substantially extended. Large areas are being given to foreign companies to establish manufacturing and service sectors at the farmers’ fields and orchards. The traditional inhabitants are losing their own food and are left to fend for themselves. If the government plan is completed, approx. 6.6 million people being driven from their homes without compensation.
Over 100 killed
There have been peaceful protests against these plans all over Oromia.Students at ten universities and large groups of people have protested against the plans, but their peaceful struggle has been met by brutal military police. There have been reports of shooting, detention and torture. Death toll rises with every passing day. Via various sources it has emerged that over 100 people have been shot and killed, while others are badly injured and thousands have been arrested. Oromo students have protested peacefully for over a month now, despite the killings and arrests by Ethiopian security forces. Oromo are Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group with over a third of the country’s population. They have traditionally been oppressed by Amhara and tigreanere, which has been the dominant, state income and country’s leading ethnic groups in Ethiopia.
Stop remittances
The Norwegian people, the Norwegian government and other international organizations should condemn the Ethiopian government’s brutal attack on unarmed innocent civilians. We demand that the detainees will not be subjected to torture and ill-treatment. We require all innocent protesters arrested are released from prison immediately. The Ethiopian government should immediately stop its movement by the original people from their own lands throughout Ethiopia. We also believe that financial transfers to management in Ethiopia must be stopped while of government does not respect the fundamental and basic rights of its own people. We worry about really what is happening in Ethiopia. It is difficult when we are not physically able to take part in their fight against injustice. Therefore, we have a great desire to pass on their plea for help to the outside world. Our hearts bleed, and we have awakened the people so they can see what is happening and help the injustices and massacres stopped. See @http://www.aftenbladet.no/meninger/Stopp-plyndringen-av-oromofolket-3441527.html#.U5-PjdJDvyv
#OromoProtests– Gindbarat, Kachis town invaded by Agazi/TPLF fascist forces (the above picture) Agazi/ TPLF armed forces killed three unarmed high school 912th grade) Oromo students on Thursday morning 12th June 2014 in Kachisi town ( Gindebert district, W. Shawa, Oromia) located 120 km from Ambo. The names of the three students killed: 1. Damee Balchaa Baanee 2. Caalaa Margaa 3. Baqqalaa Tarrafaa Oromo people of Gindaberete Protesting the shootings and killings of unarmed school students Waraannii Wayyaanee Aanaa Gindabarat irra qubsiifamee jiru, uummaata sivilii irratti waraana banuun barattoota Oromoo kutaa 12ffaa Sadii ajjeese. Waxabajjii 12/2014 Waraannii Mootummaa Wayyaanee Godina Lixaa Shawaa aanaa Gindabarat Magaalaa Kaachiis irra qubatee jiru eda galgala sa;aatii 1:00 irratti waraana banuun barattoota Oromoo kutaa 12ffaa Sadii (3) ajjeese jira. Mootummaan Wayyaanee duula dugugginsa sanyii genocide uummaata Oromoo irraatti banee jiru jabeessuun itti fufee, Wayyaaneen humna waraanaa of harkaa qabu uummata Oromoo irratti bobbaasuun yeroo amma kanatti uummata sivilii irratti waraana banuun dhukaasee ajjeesa jira,
Addaatti barattoota Oromoo adamsee rasaasaan reebee ajjeessuu itti fufee jira, haala kanaan barattootni Oromoo kutaa 12ffaa bara kana xummuran sadii(3) kan barattootni 1ffaa barataa Damee Balchaa Baanee, fi 2ffaa barataa Caalaa Margaa fi 3ffaa barataa Baqqalaa Tarrafaa kanneen jedhamaan Ilmaan Oromoo mana ba’anii nagaan galuu dadhabanii rasaasa loltuu wayyaaneetiin reebamanii ajjefamanidha. galgala edaa kana waraana loltuun wayyaanee ilmaan Oromoo nagaa irratti baneen yeroo amma barattootni Oromoo kun wareegamanii jiru,dhukaasnii meeshaa waraanaa Magaalaa Kaachiisi dirree waraanaa guddaa fakkeessa bulee, Tarkaanfii Gara jabinaa kanatti aaruun halkanuma edaa erga barattootni aajjeefamanii booda halkan keessa sa:aatii naannoo sa”a 6:00tti waraanaa wayyaanee fi Poolisota dhalootaan Oromoo ta’an kan aanaa Gindabarat magaalaa kaachiis keessatti argamanii fi Waraanaa wayyaanee gidduutti waldhabdeen guddaan dhalatee boombiin waajira poolisaa Magaalaa kaachiisii irratti dhoowofamuun poolisootnii fi waraannii wayyaanee madeeffamuun ibsame jira. gamaa lamaan irraa iyyuu hangi ajjeeffamee fi madeeffamee ammaf kan adda hin baafamne ta’uu maddeen keenya nuuf ibsan. Tarkaanfii Suukkaneessa galgala edaa wayyaaneen uummata sivilii irratti waraana banuun fudhateen balleessa tokko malee barattootni Oromoo nagaan qurumsa biyyooleessaa kutaa 12ffaa bara kana fudhatan 3 ajjeefamuun uummata daran kan aarsee waanta’eef, uummaanni nuti reeffaa iyyuu hin barbaadnu, wayyaaneen waliitti qabdee nu haa fixxuu malee ilmaan keenya irratti duuna jechuun yeroo ammaa kanatti uummaanni Aanaa Gindabart Magaalaa kaachisii fi Abunaa Gindabarat FDG guddaa gaggeessa jira, daandiin konkolaataa Abunaa Gindabarat irraan gara magaalaa Kaachisiitti dabarsuu uummataan cufamee jira, fincila guddaatu gaggeeffama jira. Wayee barataa Damee Baalchaa kalleessa (11/6/2014) ajjeefamee VOA Afaan Oromoo akkas jedhe: Dameen barataa kutaa 12ffati duraan walga’i ummataa magalaa kaachis kessatti akkas jedhe gaafate”Waa’e danga oromiyaatif kan falmuu barata qofaa?”jedhe ergasi barbaadama ture kana irra ka’udhan qormaata akka hin hojjanne dhorkinan barattonnis DAMEE malee hin qoramnu jedhan, kanan booda itti dhaadacha admiishin kardi kennafi guyya kalessa ‘form’ guute gale. Galgala ibsan badee jennaani shamaa bitatee osoo galuu namichi Caala (hidhata gandaa) Kilashidhaan suuqi jala dhokate ajjese. kannen biroo sadii midhan cimaan kan irra ga’edha, kunis kan ta’e poolisi oromiya waliin ta’uun namichi Shambel Gizu jedhamudhani. Barataa Caala Marga du’aafi jirenya giddu jira. Baratan maqan isaa hin beekamne rukutame hospitala seene achi poolisin fudhee achi buuten isaa dhabameera.Ummanni qarshii 8000 walitti qabuudhan reeffa damee gara hospitala tti qorannoof ergeera. Injifannoon Uummata Oromoof!!http://gadaa.net/FinfinneTribune/2014/06/ibsa-abo-ajjeechaa-ilmaan-oromoo-irratti-dhoksaan-hammarreessa-keessatti-barootaan-raawwatamaa-ture-ifa-bahe/
#OromoProtests- 11th & 12th June 2014 , Deeggaa, Illuu Abbaa Booraa, western Oromia, Lalisaa Sanaagaa High School and Sanaagaa Wuchaalee Primary & Middle Secondary School
on 11th June 2014, 5 school children were heavily beaten by Agazi/ TPLF forces. These students were taken to Beddallee hospital. on 12th June 2014 the rests of students from these schools were put in a lorry by Agazi forces and taken to unknown place. Waxabajjii 11 Bara 2014, Godina Iluu Abbaa Booraa Aanaa Deeggaa Mana Barumsaa sadarkaa 2ffaa Lalisaa Sanaagaa fi Sadarkaa 1ffaa fi Giddu Galeessa Sanaagaa Wucaalee irraa barattootin humna goolessituu ergamtoota wayyaanee wajjin walitti bu’iinsa uumameen barattootin 5 reebicha hamaa irra gaheen Yaalaaf gara Hosptaala Baddalleetti ergamuu gabaasuun keenya ni yaadatama. Oolaan guyyaa har’aa akkuma suuraa kana irraa argtanu konkolaataa fe’isaa mooraa Mana Barumsaa keessaa dhaabanii Ilmaan Oromoo akka meeshaati walitti guuranii fe’uun gara hin beekamnetti fuudhanii adeemaniiru jedhu maddeen keenya. Maatiin ijoollota kanaa dhaamsa nuu birmadhaa dabarfataniiru.
At Jaardagaa Jaartee, Horroo Guduruu Wallaggaa, Aliiboo town, Western Oromia, 11 Oromo nationals have been dismissed from their jobs an the allegations that they were involved in opposing the TPLF tyrannic rules.
Huseen Said, Political Science student, Haromaya University, attacked by TPLF forces. Waxabajjii 11,2014 Gabaasa Qeerroo Hidhaa fi ajjechaa mootummaa Wayyaanee jalaa dheessee gara Bosaassootti socho’aa kan ture barataan Oromoo tokko rasaasaan rukutamuun isaa gabaafame. Oduun Qeerroo dhaqqqabe akka hubachiisutti Yunversitii Haramaayaatti barataa Saayinsii Polotikaa kan ture barataa Huseen Sa’id Haajii jedhamu FDG barattoota Oromoo Yunversitichaan geggeeffamu keessaa harka qabda jedhamee hordoffii hidhaa fi ajjechaa mootummaa Wayyaanee jalaa baqatee gara Bosaassoo Puntlanditti osoo socho’aa jiruu, tikootni Wayyaanee isa hordofuun barataan kun kellaa magaalaa Qardhuu jedhamutti loltoota Puntlandiin akka rukutamu taasisanii jiran. Barataa Huseen Sa’id Haajii yeroo ammaa kana gargaarsaa fi waldhaansa ga’aa tokkoon maleetti Hospitaala Bosaassoo ciisee kan jiru oggaa ta’u, bakki dhaloota isaas Godina Baalee Ona Agaarfaa irraa ta’uun gabaafameera. See @http://qeerroo.org/2014/06/12/yunversitii-haramaayaatti-barataa-saayinsii-polotikaa-kan-tae-barataan-huseen-said-haajii-loltoota-wayyaaneen-rukutame-hosptala-gale/
Ethiopia’s Police State: The Silencing of Opponents, Journalists and Students Detained
By Paul O’Keeffe June 11, 2014 (Global Research) — Detention under spurious charges in Ethiopia is nothing new. With the second highest rate of imprisoned journalists in Africa[1] and arbitrary detention for anyone who openly objects to the Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) regime’s despotic iron fist, the Western backed government in Addis Ababa is a dab hand at silencing its critics. Eskinder Nega and Reeyot Alemu are just two of the country’s more famous examples of journalists thrown in prison for daring to call the EPRFD out on their reckless disregard for human rights. This April the regime made headlines again for jailing six[2] bloggers and three more journalists on trumped up charges of inciting violence through their journalistic work. Repeated calls for due legal process for the detainees from human rights organisations and politicians, such as John Kerry, have fallen on deaf ears as they languish in uncertainty awaiting trial. This zero-tolerance approach to questioning of government repression is central to the EPRDF’s attempts to control its national and international image and doesn’t show much signs of letting up. Stepping up their counter-dissent efforts the regime just this week detained another journalist Elias Gebru – the editor-in-chief of the independent news magazine Enku. Gebru’s magazine is accused of inciting student protests[3] which rocked Oromia state at the end of April. The magazine published a column which discussed the building of a monument[4] outside Addis Ababa honouring the massacre of Oromos by Emperor Melinik in the 19th century. The regime has tried to tie the column with protests against its plans to bring parts of Oromia state under Addis Ababa’s jurisdiction. The protests, which kicked off at Ambo University and spread to other parts of the state, resulted in estimates[5] of up to 47 people being shot dead by security forces. Ethiopia has a history of student protest movements setting the wheels of change in motion. From student opposition to imperialism in the 1960s and 1970s to the early politicisation of Meles Zenawi at the University Students’ Union of Addis Ababa. The world over things begin to change when people stand up, say enough and mobilise. Ethiopia is no different. Similar to its treatment of journalists Ethiopia also has a history of jailing students and attempting to eradicate their voices. In light of such heavy handed approaches to dissent the recent protests which started at Ambo University are a telling sign of the level discontent felt by the Oromo – the country’s largest Ethnic group. Long oppressed by the Tigrayan dominated EPRDF, the Oromo people may have just started a movement which has potential ramifications for a government bent on maintaining its grip over the ethnically diverse country of 90 million plus people. Students and universities are agents of change and the EPRDF regime knows this very well. The deadly backlash from government forces against the student protesters in Oromia in April resulted in dozens[6] of protesters reportedly being shot dead in the streets of Ambo and other towns in Oromia state. Since the protests began scores more have been arbitrarily detained or vanished without a trace from campuses and towns around the state. One student leader, Deratu Abdeta (a student at Dire Dawa University) is currently unlawfully detained in the notorious Maekelawi prison for fear she may encourage other students to protest. She is a considered at high risk of being tortured. In addition to Ms. Abdeta many other students are suspected of being unlawfully detained around the country. On May 27th 13 students were abducted from Haramaya University by the security forces. The fate of 12 of the students is unknown but one student, Alsan Hassan, has reportedly committed suicide by cutting his own throat all the way to the bones at the back of his neck after somehow managing to inflict bruises all over his body and gouging out his own eye. His tragic death became known when a local police officer called his family to identify the body and told them to pay 10,000 Birr ($500) to transport his body from Menelik hospital in Addis Ababa to Dire Dawa town in Oromo state. Four of the other students have been named as Lencho Fita Hordofa, Ararsaa Lagasaa, Jaaraa Margaa, and Walabummaa Goshee. Detaining journalists and students without fair judicial recourse may serve the EPRDF regime’s short term goal of eradicating its critics. However, the reprehensible silencing of opponents is one sure sign of a regime fearful of losing its vice-like grip. Ironically the government itself has its own roots in student led protests in the 1970s. No doubt it is well aware that universities pose one of the greatest threats to its determination to maintain power at all costs. Countless reports of spies monitoring student and teacher activities on campus, rigid curriculum control and micro-managing just who gets to study what are symptoms of this. The vociferous clamp-down on student protesters is another symptom and just the regime’s latest attempt to keep Ethiopia in a violent headlock. The regime would do well to remember that stress positions cause cramps and headlocks can be broken. It can try to suppress the truth but it can’t try forever. Paul O’Keeffe is a Doctoral Fellow at Sapienza University of Rome. His research focuses on Ethiopia’s developing higher education system. [1] http://www.cpj.org/2014/05/ethiopia-holds-editor-in-chief-without-charge.php[2] http://allafrica.com/stories/201404290650.html[3] http://www.theguardian.com/global-development/poverty-matters/2014/may/22/ethiopia-crackdown-student-protest-education[4] http://www.war-memorial.net/Aanolee-Martyrs-memorial-monument-and-cultural-center-1.367 [5] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-27251331 [6] http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/05/05/ethiopia-brutal-crackdown-protests Source: Global Research Read @ http://ayyaantuu.com/horn-of-africa-news/ethiopias-police-state-the-silencing-of-opponents-journalists-and-students-detained/#OromoProtests- 15 Oromo students were kidnapped on 9th June 2014 by TPLF/Agazi forces from Madda Walaabuu University, Oromia. Their where about is unknown (see their details as follows:
Barattootni Oromoo Yuunivarsiitii Madda walaabuu 15 tika mootummaa wayyaaneen halkan ukkaamsamuun bakka buuteen isaanii dhabame
Mass Grave of Oromos Executed by Govt Discovered in Eastern Oromia Posted: Waxabajjii/June 10, 2014 · Finfinne Tribune | Gadaa.com According to sources, a confrontation between residents and Ethiopian government officials broke out on June 9, 2014, over a mass grave discovered at the former Hameressa military garrison near Harar city, eastern Oromia. The mass grave is believed to contain remains of political prisoners executed during both the Dergue era and the early reigns of the current TPLF regime. Among those who were executed and buried in the location was Mustafa Harowe, a famous Oromo singer who was killed around early 1980′s for his revolutionary songs. Thousands more Oromo political prisoners were kept at this location in early 1990′s – with many of them never to be seen again.
The mass grave was discovered while the Ethiopian government was clearing the camp with bulldozers to make it available to Turkish investors. Upon the discovery of the remains, the government tried to quietly remove them from the site. However, workers secretly alerted residents in nearby villages; upon the spread of the news, many turned up en mass to block the removal of the remains and demanded construction a memorial statue on the site instead. The protests is still continuing with elders camping on the site while awaiting a response from government. In addition to the remains, belongings of the dead individuals as well as ropes tied in hangman’s noose were discovered at the site. See @ http://gadaa.net/FinfinneTribune/2014/06/mass-grave-of-oromos-executed-by-govt-discovered-in-eastern-oromia/ ——————— Lafeen ilmaan Oromoo bara 1980moota keessa mootummaa Darguutin, baroota 1990moota keessa ammoo Wayyaaneen dhoksaan kaampii waraanaa Hammarreessaa keessatti ajjeefamanii argame. Ilmaan Oromoo mooraa san keessatti hidhamanii booda ajjeefaman keessa wallisaan beekamaan Musxafaa Harawwee isa tokko. Musxafaa Harawwee wallee qabsoo inni baasaa tureef jecha qabamee yeroo dheeraaf erga hiraarfamee booda toora bara ~1991 keessa ajjeefame. Hiraar Musxafaarra geessifamaa ture keessa tokko aara wallee isaatirraa qaban garsiisuuf muka afaanitti dhiibuun a’oo isaa cabsuun ni yaadatama. Baroota 1990moota keessas Oromoonni kumaatamaan tilmaamaman warra amma aangorra jiru kanaan achitti hidhamanii, hedduun isaanii achumaan dhabamuun yaadannoo yeroo dhihooti. Haqxi dukkana halkaniitiin ajjeesanii lafa jalatti awwaalan kunoo har’a rabbi as baase. Dhugaan Oromoo tun kan amma as bahe, mootummaa kaampii waraanaa kana diiguun warra lafa isaa warra Turkiitiif kennuuf osoo qopheessuuf yaaluti. Lafee warra dhumee akkuma arganiin dhoksaan achirra gara biraatti dabarsuuf osoo yaalanii hojjattonni ummata naannotti iccitii san himan. Ummanniis dafee wal-dammaqsuun bakka sanitti argamuun ekeraan nama keenyaa akka achii hin kaafamneefi siidaan yaadannoo akka jaaramu gaafachaa jiran. Hamma feetes turtu dhugaan Oromoo awwaalamtee hin haftu.
#OromoProtests- 8th June 2014- Confrontation between residents and government officials is reported over mass grave discovered at the former Hameressa military garrison near Harar city. The mass grave is believed to contain remains of political prisoners executed during the Dargue era and the early reigns of TPLF. Among those who were executed and buried in the location is Mustafa Harowe, a famous Oromo singer who was killed in 1982? for his revolutionary songs. Thousands of more of political prisoners were kept at this location in early 1990s, with many of them never to be seen again.The mass grave was discovered while the government was clearing the camp with bulldozers to make it available to Turkish investors. Upon discovery of the remains, the government tried to quietly remove it from the site. However, workers secretly alerted residents in nearby villages who spread the news and turned up en mass to block the removal of the remains and demanding construction of memorial statue on the site. The protests is still continuing with elders camping on site while awaiting response from government.
#OromoPprotest at Hameressa military camp where mass grave was discovered on Sunday 8th June 214. Three people were injured when federal police attempted to forcefully remove residents who have camped on the location to protect the remains and demand conversion of the location into memorial site.
#OromOProtests (10 June 2014) – TPLF’s repressive action against our Oromo in East Oromia resulting in 3 people been injured. The regime wants to give away to foreigners a hallowed ground where mass grave is just been discovered. May be the regime is worried about possible unearthing and identification of remains of its own victims from 1990s.
After deciding that we wanted to leave Ethiopia, we had return to Ambo to pack our bags and say goodbye to our friends. Packing our bags turned out to be the easy part.When we arrived back in Ambo, the destruction was still apparent, although the cleanup had already started. The burned cars were pulled to the side of the road. The debris from the damaged buildings was already being cleared. The problem, however, was that the courthouse was one of the buildings that was burned. How do they plan on having trials for those hundreds of people we saw in jail, we wondered. We wanted to tell all our friends why we were leaving, but how could we say it? Maybe we should say, “It’s not OK for the police to hunt down young people and shoot them in the back.” Or maybe we should say, “It’s not OK for us to have to cower in our home, listening to gunshots all day long.” Or maybe we should say, “It’s not OK for the government to conduct mass arrests of people who are simply voicing their opinion.” Since the communication style in Oromia is BEYOND non-direct, with people afraid to really say what they mean, we knew exactly what to tell people:”We are leaving Ambo because we don’t agree with the situation,” we repeated to every friend we encountered. Everyone knew EXACTLY what we were talking about.We told our friend, a town employee, we were leaving, and he said, “Yes, there are still 500 federal police in town, two weeks after the protests ended.”We told a neighbor we were leaving, and he said, “Now there is peace in Ambo. Peace on the surface. But who knows what is underneath?”We told a teacher at the high school we were leaving, and she was wearing all black. “Maal taate? (What happened)” we asked. One of her 10th grade students was killed during the protests.We told the local store owner we were leaving, and she said, in an abnormally direct way, “When there is a problem, your government comes in like a helicopter to get you out. Meanwhile, our government is killing its own people.”After a traditional bunna (coffee) ceremony, and several meals with some of our favorite friends, we were the proud owners of multiple new Ethiopian outfits, given as parting gifts so we would ‘never forget Ethiopia.’How could we forget?We still don’t know exactly who died during the protests and the aftermath. It’s not like there is an obituary in the newspaper or something. But questions persist in our minds every day:
Our two young, dead neighbors remain faceless in our minds…was it the tall one with the spiky hair?
Students from the high school were killed…had any of the victims been participants of our HIV/soccer program?
What about that good-looking bus boy that is always chewing khat and causing trouble…is he alive? in jail?
How many people were killed? How many arrested?
If we knew the exact number of people killed or arrested, would it actually help the situation in any way?
I was at a fundraiser today. The majority of it was in Afaan Oromo, a language I’m trying to learn, but still very far from understanding. Still, I was tempted to decline when a woman in my row moved over to sit next to me and offered to translate for me. I kind of like to try to listen and pick out what I can. If I had turned her down, I would have missed the emotion conveyed in her translation. Her tone told me what I hadn’t figured out yet (though I should have known) – the son was going to die…a double injustice since the real-life plot not only includes the loss of ancestral lands, but also the lack of freedom to protest that loss, and death or imprisonment for those who dare to do so anyway. It was more of a skit, really. A powerful skit, regardless of acting ability, because the story is so powerful. A story of a family of three. Just one son, supported in his schooling by what his family was able to produce on their farm. The land was key. His parents had not been able to get an education. With the land, now he could. Yet when an investor came asking the government official if land was available, he was told, yes, there is much land that is ‘not being used.’ When the investor was brought to see the land in question, it was as if the farmer was invisible. The deal was made right there between the investor and a local intermediary while the farmer continued to plough his field. Then their son came home from school saying he was going out to march with other students to protest what was happening to the land – to all of the farmers in the area – the mom cautioned him to be safe, the government can not be trusted, she said. My translator began to cry in earnest. … I remembered once when I had to act out a similar scene. I’m not a big fan of role-plays, so I was going along with the activity, but holding back quite a bit. A group of us were given roles to act out a lesser known bit of Canadian history when indigenous children were forcibly removed from their villages and their families and taken to residential schools to be ‘educated,’ as well as assimilated, often abused, even experimented upon. Often, they never returned. Almost always, those who did return spoke of their lost childhood and traumatic memories. I was an Anishinabe mother in the role-play. In real life at the time, I had left my only child, a two year old boy, home for two weeks with his dad so I could participate in this delegation, mostly to learn more about the Anishinabe history in general and one community’s struggle in particular. Though the experience was meaningful, that day I was starting to wonder if two weeks was too long to be away from my son. One person had come to the delegation with me, Jared, a young man in his twenties. I knew him well in the sense that we were part of the same intentional living community. We had eaten together, worshipped together, sat in consensus decision-making meetings together, sang, cooked, and worshipped together over the previous three years. He was given the role of my son. Jared and I stood in the circle area with a few other people who had roles as part of the Anishinabe village. I was just going through the motions of the role-play, not really into it. Wishing I enjoyed that kind of thing more. Then they came for Jared. In that moment when they snatched him away, I cried out and reached out for him but he was gone and I was left sobbing. Somehow it had become real. Five years later, I still hear comments about how real my heartbreak felt to everyone in the room. … As the woman next to me struggled to speak through her tears, we watched the skit draw to its inevitable close. The security forces blocked the path of the unarmed protesters. The protesters held their ground. The security forces escalated the situation by firing at the students. The only child of the farmer and his wife was gunned down. His parent actors bitterly mourned his loss. He too is gone. It’s hard to clap after that. Hard to will one’s hands to applaud the actors when you’re thinking of the families that have gone through similar situations so recently. Many Oromo students are gone. Some known to be killed, some disappeared, arrested or abducted without releasing names. Many die in detention centers and prisons. Yes many students are gone. Some may return from imprisonment with accounts of mistreatment and suffering, with harrowing stories of other students locked up years ago, still in prison with no trial, no real charges and very little hope. Others will not return. One of those is Alsan Hassan, abducted May 27 from his university after participating in a hunger strike. On June 1, his family was notified of his death. They were told he killed himself, a story commonly invented by the authorities to cover up the real cause of death: torture. His parents came to retrieve their son. His body was severely disfigured from the abuses he had suffered. Still they could not simply take him home. They were charged an exorbitant price and had to return home, borrow money just to secure the release of his body and finally make journey home to bury him. The thought of Alsan and the other sons and daughters lost to their families – that is why the woman translating for me (and I) couldn’t keep from crying, however predictable the plot of the skit. I was sitting next to my six year old son. Her 11-or-so year old son was on the other side of her. We can’t help but hear these stories not only as fellow human beings, but as mothers. We translate, we write, we do whatever we can from the other side of the world in the hopes that we will inform and inspire enough people to bring an end to the unjust imprisonment of dissenting young voices. See @ http://amyvansteenwyk.tumblr.com/post/88273995454/gone To read more about Alsan: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1398441760444684&set=a.1389352578020269.1073741828.100008366190440&type=1&theater For more on the Oromo Protests: http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2014/06/06/community-voices-oromoprotests-perspective
(OPride) — A 21-year old Oromo student, Nuredin Hasen, who was abducted from Haromaya University late last month and held incommunicado at undisclosed location, died earlier this month from a brutal torture he endured while in police custody, family sources said.
Members of the federal and Oromia state police nubbed Hassen (who is also known by Alsan Hassen) and 12 other students on May 27 in a renewed crackdown on Oromo students. Friends were not told the reason for the arrests nor where the detainees were taken.
Born and raised in Bakko Tibbe district of West Shawa zone, Alsan, who lost both of his parents at a young age, was raised by his grandmother.
The harrowing circumstances of his death should shock everyone’s conscience. But it also underscores the inhumane and cruel treatment of Oromo activists by Ethiopian security forces.
According to family sources, on June 1, a police officer in Dire Dawa called his counterpart at West Shewa Zone Police Bureau in Ambo and informed him that Alsan “killed himself” while in prison. The officer requested the local police to tell Alsan’s family to pick up his body from Menelik Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia’s capital. The West Shewa zone police relayed the message to the district police station in Bakko Tibbe and the latter delivered the message to Alsan’s family. Three family members then rushed to the capital to collect the corpse of a bright young man they had sent off, far from home, so that he can get a decent shot at college education.
Upon arrival, the hospital staff told the family to search for his body from among 30 to 40 corpse’s kept in a large room. According to our sources, what they saw next was beyond the realm of anyone’s imagination. The details are too gruesome to even describe.
They found their beloved son badly tortured, his face disfigured and barely recognizable. His throat was slit leaving only the muscles and bones at the back of his neck connecting his head to the rest of the body. There were large cuts along his eyelids, right below the eyebrows as if someone had tried to remove his eyes. There were multiple wounds all over his face and head. Both of his arms were broken between his wrists and his elbows. It appeared as if the federal forces employed all forms of inhumane torture tactics, leaving parts of his body severely damaged and disjointed. The family could not grasp the cruelty of the mutilation carried upon an innocent college student.
Their ordeal to recover Alsan’s body did not end there either. Once the body was identified, the federal police officer who brought the body from Harar told the family to pay 10,000 birr (roughly $500) to cover the cost of transportation the government incurred. They were informed that the body will not be released unless the money is paid in full.
The family did not have the money, nor were they prepared for the unexpected tragedy. After friends and relatives raised the requested sum to cover his torturers costs, Alsan’s body was transported to Bakko Tibbe, where he was laid to rest on June 2. There was little doubt that Alsan was murdered while in detention, but in police state Ethiopia, the family may never even know the full details of what happened to their son, much less seek justice. In an increasingly repressive Ethiopian state, being an Oromo itself is in essence becoming a crime. To say the gruesome circumstances surrounding Alsan’s death is heart-wrenching is a gross understatement. But Alsan’s story is not atypical. It epitomizes the sheer brutality that many Oromo activists endure in Ethiopia today. On June 6, another Oromo political prisoner, Nimona Tilahun passed away in police custody. Tilahun, a graduate of Addis Ababa University and former high school teacher, was initially arrested in 2004 along with members of the Macha Tulama Association during widespread protests opposing the relocation of Oromia’s seat to Adama. He was released after a year of incarceration and returned to complete his studies, according to reports by Canada-based Radio Afurra Biyya. Born in 1986, Tilahun was re-arrested in 2011 from his teaching job in Shano, a town in north Shewa about 80kms from Addis Ababa. He was briefly held at Maekelawi prison, known for torturing inmates and denying legal counsel to prisoners. And later transferred between Kaliti, Kilinto and Zuway where he was continuously tortured over the last three years. Tilahun was denied medical treatment despite being terminally ill. His death this week at Black Lion Hospital is the third such known case in the last two years. On August 23, 2013, a former UNHCR recognized refugee, engineer Tesfahun Chemeda also died under suspicious circumstances, after being refused medical treatment. In January, a former parliamentary candidate with the opposition Oromo People’s Congress from Calanqo, Ahmed Nejash, died of torture while in custody. These are the few names and stories that have been reported. Ethiopia holds an estimated 20 to 30 thousand Oromo political prisoners. Many have been there for more than two decades, and for some of them not even family members know if they are still alive. While Alsan, Chemeda, Nejash and Tilahun’s stories offer a glimpse of the brutality behind Ethiopia’s gulags, it is important to remember thousands more face similar heinous abuses everyday. Since Oromo students began protesting against Addis Ababa’s unconstitutional expansion in April, according to eyewitnesses, more than a 100 people have been killed, hundreds wounded and many more unlawfully detained. While a relative calm has returned to university campuses, small-scale peaceful protests continue in many parts of Oromia. Reports are emerging that mass arrests and extrajudicial killings of university students are far more widespread than previously reported. Last month, dozens of students at Jimma, Madawalabu, Adama and Wallaggauniversities were indefinitely dismissed from their education. In addition, an unknown number of students from all Oromia-based colleges are in hiding fearing for their safety if they returned to the schools. Given the Horn of Africa nation’s tight-grip on free press and restrictions on human rights monitoring, in the short run, the Ethiopian security forces will continue to commit egregious crimes with impunity. But the status quo is increasingly tenable. For every Alsan and Tilahun they murder, many more will be at the ready to fight for the cause on which they were martyred. As long repression continues unabated, the struggle for justice and freedom will only be intensified. No amount of torture and inhumane treatment can extinguish the fire that has been sparked. Written by Amane Badhasso, the president of International Oromo Youth Association, and a political science and legal studies major at Hamline University &. Badhatu Ayana, an Oromo rights activist.
See @http://www.opride.com/oromsis/news/3758-the-torture-and-brutal-murder-of-alsan-hassen-by-ethiopian-police ….DUBBADHU QAALLIITTI!!! dubbadhu qaallitti abaaramtuu lafaa yoo dubbachuu baatte xuriinsaa sitti hafaa ajjeechaa Niimoonaa akkaataa du’a isaa si qofaatu beeka jalqabaaf dhuma isaa dubbadhu qaallitti Oromoon si hin dhiisu maal jedhe Niimoonaan yeroo qofaa ciisu? yeroo kophaa ciisee dukkana daawwatu hunduu dabaree dhaan yeroo gadi dhiittu yeroo midhaan dhabee mar’ummaan wal rige yeroo bishaan dhabee qoonqoon itti goge yeroo madaa irratti madaa dabalate yeroo lammiif jecha waanjoo guddaa baate atis akka isaanii garaa itti jabaattee? Moo,bakka keenya buutee jabaadhu ittiin jette? dhiitichaaf kaballaa ciniinatee obsee iccitii keessa isaa yeroo diina dhokse maal jedhe Niimoonaan waa’ee miidhama isaa afaan keen itti himi si eegu maatiin saa dubbadhu qaallitti ol kaasi sagalee namni beeku hin jiru yoo waaqaaf si malee uummata isaaf jedhee rakkoo hunda obsee iji imimmaan didee yeroo dhiiga cobse Niimoonaan maal jedhe dhaamsa maal dabarse? dubbadhu Qaallitti himi waan dhageesse!! sirna awwaalchaa Niimoonaa Tilaahuun Imaanaa!!! Nimoonaa Xilaahuun Imaanaa (1986-2014). Oromo National, Banking and Finance Graduate of Finfinne University (AAU) & Teacher. Tortured and murdered by TPLF while in jail.http://qeerroo.org/2014/06/07/sbo-waxabajjii-08-bara-2014-oduu-ibsa-abo-waxabajjii-15-guyyaa-hundeeffama-sbo-waggaa-26ffaa-ilaachisee-dhaamsota-baga-ittiin-isin-gahee-fi-qophiilee-biroo-of-keessatti-hammatee-jira/
#OromoProtetsts– Gabaasa godina wallagga lixaa magaalaa Gimbii irraa
Four Oromo elders from Gimbi town of Oromia are being tortured in TPLF’s jail (Report received 6th June 2014).
“I mourn the death of our youngsters,” says the Rev. Teka Obsa Fogi of dozens of casualties witnessed since April 25 among peacefully protesting students throughout Oromia Regional State by security force shootings and beatings.* Pr. Fogi is pastor of Oromo Resurrection Evangelical Church (“OREC”) in Kensington, Maryland, a worshiping community of the Metro D.C. Synod with direct ties to the region, one of nine ethnically-based states of Ethiopia. “OREC and all Oromo churches are praying for our young students, their parents and those the government wants to dispossess of their land,” he says. “Please pray with us.” Protests, which began at universities in large towns throughout Oromia then spread to smaller communities in the region, erupted over the release in April of the proposed Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan. The “Master Plan” outlines substantial municipal expansion of Addis Ababa to include more than 15 communities in Oromia according to Human Rights Watch, an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights.* “The problem is, if this ‘Master Plan’ is put into action, many Oromo farmers will be uprooted from the land they get their living from. They were tilling this land for generations. Compensation, if the government gives any, will only help them for a while,” Pr. Fogi anticipates, “and after that, they will be homeless.” An Ethiopian government statement on May 1 blamed protests by “anti-peace forces” on “baseless rumours” being spread about the “integrated development master plan” for the capital and acknowledged a limited number of protest-related deaths as reported by BBC News.** This report is one of few from traditional news sources available on the current situation. Indirectly emphasizing the challenge of telling this story, the United Nations human rights chief in a May 2 news release “condemned the crackdown on journalists in Ethiopia and the increasing restrictions on freedom of opinion and expression.”*** “The situation of family members and friends of Oromo members of our congregations and community is very fragile, and communications are very difficult and sensitive,” said the Rev. Michael D. Wilker, senior pastor of Lutheran Church of the Reformation in D.C. The congregation did respond to Pr. Fogi’s request for prayer during worship services May 11. “We trust that God hears us when we cry in pain and shout for justice. May God’s creativity, compassion and courage be with the Oromo people and all the residents of Ethiopia,” added Pr. Wilker. The Rev. Kathy Hlatshwayo, interim pastor of Oromo Evangelical Lutheran Church in D.C., was one of several local Lutheran pastors in attendance at an Oromo rally near the White House and State Department on May 9 to draw attention to the situation and protest the human rights violations. “We ask your prayers,” she said, “for the Oromo people, especially mothers and fathers whose children have been killed, the region of Oromia, Ethiopia, and those in diaspora and our congregations.” The Rev. Philip C. Hirsch, Assistant to the Bishop of the Metro D.C. Synod who also attended the rally, shares the following: God of mercy and of justice: We pray together with our Oromo sisters and brothers in Lutheran congregations in our synod for those who have suffered recent violence in Ethiopia. We pray for the students who were attacked, arrested or killed while protesting. We especially lift up to you the mothers, fathers and community members of the victims. Grant them peace. Grant them justice. In Christ’s holy name we pray, Amen.
Ambo story – shocking human right violations against Oromo people
In a recent interview with a local media, Mr Abdulaziz Mohammed – the Vice President of Oromia Region stated that “No one is arrested and we don’t have any information about the arrest.” The Vice President’s single statement says two contrasting ideas at a time – denying the arrest allegations and ignorant about the arrest. In the first place it is a shame for the Vice President to deny the reality on the ground – where more than 49 people were killed and 800 people have been arrested, tortured and imprisoned. These atrocities are in response to a series of demonstrations or protests by the Oromo people who demand the government to stop removing farmers from their ancestral homeland in the name of ‘development’. The demonstration at the initial stage was peaceful and in order before the government’s heavily armed security forces and the military started shooting and killing people. The harsh environment for the media in Ethiopia has made it absolutely difficult to get information about the depth of human right violations in Ethiopia. I was furious with the government’s intent to belittle the recent killings and human right abuses in many parts of Oromia – Ambo, Bale Robe, Adama, Bushoftu, Nekemte, Guder, Haromaya, Bulle Hora, Dire Dawa and many small towns in Western Oromia. I decided to visit the communities that have gone through these abuses and met with different people in a very cautious and careful way. I made my first visit to Ambo – where the arrests and torturing are still taking place. I talked with mothers who have lost their children, and young men who have been beaten and tortured, and people who have survived dreadful bullet hits and bodily injury. Ambo stories are dreadful and shocking!
“My name is E.B. I am 18 years of age. I dropped out of grade 5 – to help my poor parents to make some income and buy food. I live in Ambo town – where I do a labor job. I joined Ambo University Student’s protest about the government’s decision to take away farmers land around Addis Ababa. The first day was peaceful. But on the third day of the protest – the morning of 30th April 2014 the government security men started shooting demonstrators. It was unbelievable and shocking to see the soldiers shooting at unarmed people. We started dispersing to save our lives. Everyone was running except some of the young men who were trying to turn and shout at the shooters. I was running when a young man before me fell into the ground. I stopped to help him. I kneeled down beside him and lifted him up from his head – his eyes were blinking too fast. He was bleeding from his head. He was hit by a bullet in the back of his head. While I was trying to help him, I felt a sharp sting in my back. I felt watered-down my lower chest. I left the dead young man there and I tried to run a few meters. I looked my bottom chest and saw that air was getting out through the bullet wound. The bullet hit me in the back and went through my lower chest. I was staggering and fell into the ground. I didn’t recognized what happened since then – before I regained my consciousness two days later in a local hospital. The room where I was lying was full of people who were wounded by bullets.”
E.B. was hit by three bullets in his back. His friends lifted him from where he fell and took him to hospital. One of the bullets went through his lower chest and two more remained in his belly. He had to go through operation – where the two bullets were removed with his infected pancreas. His parents covered the cost of his medication from their meager income – his father as a clinic security guard and his mother as a cook.
“The doctor told me that I shouldn’t do any labor job and be careful with my injury. He told me that as my pancreas has been removed, there is less likely to recover from any future wounds even if I am not even sure whether I am going to fully recover and survive the present injury. Oooops it is painful – can’t sleep comfortably. I am worried about my future as I still continue to depend on my parents since this young age or…?” Tear gushing down from his eyes…this shouldn’t have happened to me. We were protesting peacefully… we don’t deserve bullets in return!”
http://oromo1refrendum.wordpress.com/2014/05/19/ambo-story-shocking-human-right-violations-against-oromo-people/ #OromoProtests- Fascist TPLF/Agazi’s genocidal crime against humanity. 10th grade student Dawit Waqjira shot and killed by TPLF/ Agazi on 3rd June 2014, Qellem Wallaggaa, Anifillo, Western Oromia. Ajjeefamuun Barataa Oromoo Daangaa Dhabe! Barataan Kutaa 10ffaa Daawwit Waaqjira Wallagga Anifilloo Keessatti Waraana Wayyaaneen Rukutamee Wareeganuun Gabaafame Posted: Waxabajjii/June 4, 2014 · Gadaa.com (Qeerroo.org – Waxabajjii 03, 2014 – Dambi Doolloo) – Gabaasa Qeerroo Qellem Wallaggaa Anfilloo Waxabajjii 03/2014 galgala keessaa sa’a 3:40 irratti.Mootummaan wayyaanee humna agaazii oromiyaa keessa tamsaasuudhaan gaaffii tokko malee nama oromummaa isaaf dhaabbatu rasaasaan rukuchiisaa jira.Gabaasni kun akka addeessutti kaleessa Waxabajjii 02/2014 barataa kutaa kurnaffaa qormaata biyyoolessaa fudhatee gale sabboonummaa isaatiin kan ka’e yakka tokkollee kan hin goone humna waraana agaaziitiin qabamee bosona seensisuudhaan reebicha hamma du’aatti irratti raawwatan,erga reebanii miidhanii booda sadarka du’a isaa beekuudhaan rasaasaan rukutani. Barataa Oromoo wareega qaalii kafale kana bosona keessatti reebanii erga hamma du’aatti deemsisanii booda galgala daandiitti baasaniiti rasaasaan akka rukutan kan ijaan argan ni dubbatu. Barataan kun maqaan isaa Daawwit Waaqjira jedhama.Guyya har’aa sirni awwaalcha isaa kan gaggeeffame yoo tahu humni waraana agaazii wayyaanee jedhamu kun uummata naannessee marsuudhaan hamma reeffi mucaa awaalamee xumuramutti akka waan rukuttaadhaaf qophiin jiruutti bakka qabachuudhaan gandi Ashii jedhamtu dirree waraanaa fakkaattee ooltee jirti jedhu maddi gabaasa Qeerroo Anfiilloo! Kana malees ganama Waxabajjii 03,2014 dargaggoon Addisuu Aagaa jedhamu magaalaa Laaloo Qilee keessa Motorbike qabatee osoo nagaan deemaa jiruu poolisoonni Oromiyaan reebamee Hosptala Ayiraa gullisoo galee akka jiru gabaasi naannicha irraa nu gahe addeessa. – Qeerroo.org: http://qeerroo.org/2014/06/04/ajjeefamuun-barataa-oromoo-daangaa-dhabe-barataan-kutaa-10ffaa-daawwit-waaqjira-wallagga-anifilloo-keessatti-waraana-wayyaaneen-rukutamee-wareeganuun-gabaafame/ #OromoProtests-Genocidal TPLF’s crime against humanity. Oduu Gaddaa ( Very sad News), 4th June 2014 Teacher Magarsa Abdisa tortured and died at military detention at Ayiraa detention center, Western Oromia.
Magarsaa Abdiisaa Mana Hidhaa Wayyaanee Wallagga Baha Ayiraa Keessatti Reebicha Loltoota Wayyaanee Irraan Wareegame
Mootummaan Wayyaanee ajjeechaa ilmaan Oromoo irratti geessitu jabeessuun kan itti fufte Godina Wallaggaa lixaa magaala Guulisoo keessatti barsiisaa BLLTO kan tahe barsiisaa Magarsaa Abdiisaa jedhamu kan dhalootaan Wallaggaa bahaa aanaa Jiddaa kan tahe reebichaa loltoota Wayyaanee irraan kan ka’e wareegame. Barsiisaa Magarsaa Abdiisaa sabboonummaan dhalatee kan guddate miindaa mootummaa Wayyaanee nyaatnee Uummata Oromoof hojjenna malee bitamna miti jechuun ejjennoo jabaa qabatee ilmaan Oromoo keessumattuu daraggootaa fi barattoota barsiisaa kan ture yoommuu tahu mootummaan Wayyaanee gaaffii abbaa biyyummaa gaafatamaa dhufeen wal qabatee mana hidhaatti kan ukkaamse yoommuu tahu reebicha addaa irraan gahuun Lubbuu isaa dabarsanii jiran. Uummatni Oromoo maal eegna?? Kana booda Uummatni martuu mirga isaaf ka’uun dirqama akka tahu waamicha jabaa dabarsina. Ajjeechaa mootummaan wayyaanee gaggeessaa jirus daran balaaleffanna. Qeerroon wareegama barbaachisaa baasee Uummata Oromoo bilisa baasuuf jabaatee kan hojjetu tahuus mirkansa. #OromoProtests-Genocidal TPLF’s crime against humanity. Oduu Gaddaa ( Very sad News), 2nd June 2014 Aslan Hasan, one of the 10 Oromo students kidnapped on May 29, 2014 from Haromaya University has died while in military detention center in Harar city. Apparently he collapsed during one of the torture sessions, then was taken to Tikur Anbessa Hospital in the capital, where he died on June 1, 2014. The regime told his families that the student committed suicide. Aslan was a 2nd year engineering student at the University. He was born in Bakko and attended high school in Burayu. His body has been taken to Gudar. Barataa Nuraddin(Alsan) Hasan dhalootaan magaalaa BAAKKOO’tti dhalate. Barnoota isaa sadarkaa 1ffaa achuma magaalaa Baakkootti xumure. Barnoota isaa sadarkaa lammaffaaf qophaa’naa obboleessa isaa bira taa’ee magaalaa BURAAYYUU tti xumure. Bara 2005(2013) yuuniversiitii Haramayaa saayinsii Injiinariing(Engineering science) jalattii muummee ‘Electirical Computer Engineering’ filachuun barataan sabboonaaf garraamiin kun haala hoo’aaf milkaayina qabuun barnoota isaa hordofaa utuu jiruu, humni mootummaa abba hirree wayyaaneen guyyaa gaafa 29/05/2014 mooraa guddicha YUUNIVERSIITII HARAMAYAA keessaa bakka GADA-JAHE(IOT CUMPUS) jedhamuun beekamu, Gamoo H lakk-doormii 26 (H-26) duulli mootummaa wayyaanee saroota OPDO waliin doormiitti itti seenan, hiriyoota isaa faana qayyabachaa utuu jiruu, qabame. Barataan sabboonaan Nuraddin(Alsan) Hasan guyyaa gaafa qabamee kaasee hanga guyyaa kaleessaatti (01/06/2014) barattoota kakaaste hidhata dhaaba alaa waliin qabda jechuun barataa barumsa qofaaf maatii isaa irraa adda bahee barnoota isaa hordofaa jiru, magaalaa Hararitti guyyoota sadii guutuu fannisanii reeban. Erga inni of dadhabees, sobdee akka nuti si dhiifnuuf malee hin miidhamne ittiin jechuun, utuu reebanii lubbuun isaa dabarte. Gocha hammeenyaa hagana ga’u raawwatanii, hidhamaan of ajjeeseera, gara hospitaalaa haa deemu, haa qoratamu. Jechuun reeffa isaa gara hospitaala XIQUR AMBASSAA geessan. Obboleessa isaa SULXAAN HASAN, waamuun obboleessikee mana adabaatti of-ajjeese gara finfinneetti kottuu reeffa fuudhi, jechuun maatii isaatti bilbilan. Yeroo ammaa kana reeffi barataa kanaa magaala GUDAR ga’uu isaa ergaan bilbilaa nu ga’eera. “Lubbuukeef Jannatan Hawwa” itttiin jedhaa! Maddi oduu peejii “kuusaa Dhiiga Oromoo” ti peejicha ‘like’ haa goonu press ‘like’ link on Kuusaa Dhiiga Oromoo’s page. RAKKOO AMBOO KEESSA JIRU!#OromoProtests- 2nd June 2014 Akkuuma beekamu FDG FI WAA’EEN MASTEER PLANII erga jalqabe kaase Magalatii keessatti saba Oromoo irratti kan rawwatama jiru mutumma kamiyyun kan rawwatama ture waliin hin madalamu jechudhan gabasaan magala Amboo irra nu qaqabee jira! Waan Nama gadisiisu keessa Barataa yunviristi tokko kan guyya finciilli itti jalqabee rasaasan rukutamee hanga ammatti bakka warri Ogumma fayya itti barataan(Mana reeffa)keessa keessa tursuun Jimaata darbee halkaan keessa sa’ati 10 irratti gara dhalotasa Arsii geeffame!Maqaassa fi waan jiru qulqulleesine isiin geenya! Kana irra kan ka’e Baratoon guyyaa kaleessa irra egalaani nyaata lagachuun barumsaa fi qormaata dhabuun isanii yaddoo gudda Bulchinsa yunv.Ambootti ta’e jira! Kan biraan Barataa Afaan oromoo kan ta’e fi bara kana kan eebbiifamu Kitaaba wagga sadii kaase kan barreessa turee manxase gabaa irra olchuuf jedhe waliin kan qabamee lafa buteensa kan dhabame ture yeroo amma yoo kitaaba kee kana gubuuf gabaa irra olchuu baatte murtii du’a sitti murteesiina jedhanii yoo itti himanille hanga du’atti Ani qopha’a dha malee waan isiin jettaan kana naaf hin liqimsanu jechuunsa beekame! Mani murtii yeroo amma kana waraana wayyaane wajjiin uummaata fi baraatootta miilla isaani kateenan hidhamaan konkoolata guuddatti fe’uudhan garaan keessa ciibsani mana murtiiti deedebissa jiraachun isanii beekame jira! Magaala Amboo keessa Bishaani erga bade ji’a sadii kan ta’e yommu ta’u Ibsa halkaan dhamsuun Mana nama cabsuun sakata’aa yoo ijoollee Shamaraan jiratee Abbaa fi Hadha isaan qabani eerga hidhanii dirqisiisani akka gudeedan bira ga’amee jira!yeroo amma kana seerri fi Motumaan kan keessa hin jirreef humna waraana fi tika wayyaaneen akka rakkacha jirtuu bekameera! FDG itti fuuffa malee kan hin dhabaanne ta’u isa beekisisaniru! Ijjifannoon Uummaata Oromoof!!!
May 29, 2014 (Jen and Josh in Ethiopia) — After the protests and violence in Ambo, we fled to the capital city of Addis Ababa and stayed at a little hotel called Yilma. Immediately, we started telling everyone about what happened in Ambo. We called and texted our friends, we talked to anyone at the hotel that would listen, and we posted things on Facebook. If we tell everyone about the protesters in Ambo being imprisoned and killed, surely it will stop, we reasoned.The next day, two strange men – one tall with dark skin, the other short with lighter skin – struck up a conversation with us in the hotel restaurant.“We’re from Minnesota, here to visit our family in Wollega,” they said. “Oh, we’re from St. Paul!” we replied, excited. “Oh, we’re from St. Paul, too!” they said, pulling out a fake-looking Minnesota driver’s license.The address said Worthington, not St. Paul.“How long have you lived in St. Paul?’ we asked. “Yes.” the tall man said, nervously. “I mean…how long have you lived in St. Paul?” we said, slower. “Just 2 weeks.” “And you’re already back in Ethiopia. And you just drove through Ambo, past all the protests and the police, to visit your family in Wollega?” we asked, thinking about the single paved road that heads west through Ambo. “Yes.” he replied. “You must be very brave,” we said, thinking about how the road was closed due to the violence. “Why?” he asked, baiting us with a stoic face.We froze, afraid to speak further. At that moment, after 20 months in Ethiopia, we finally understood why so many people in Oromia are afraid of spies. When we first arrived in Ambo, people thought WE were C.I.A. spies, which we found amusing…spies who couldn’t even speak the language? If we had beenspies, we certainly weren’t very good at our job. But now, the tables were turned.The two men began following us around the hotel area, sitting next to us whenever possible, walking slowly past our table, then returning slowly past our table – sometimes up to 10 times per hour. A different man followed us to a restaurant about a mile from the hotel, then sat at the closest table to ours, rudely joining a young couple’s romantic dinner.For the next three days, we stopped telling people about the protests and the imprisonments and the killings in Ambo. We were afraid that the two men would be listening. We were afraid that someone was monitoring our communications on the government-controlled cell phone service and the government-controlled internet. Were we just paranoid? Were we really being monitored? Maybe we had just integrated too much, to the point where we had become Oromo, afraid of government spies and afraid of speaking out and being put in jail. While being ferenji (foreigners) gave us some level of protection, thoughts of the Swedish journaliststhrown into an Ethiopian jail in 2011 lingered in the backs of our minds. The journalists “were only doing their jobs, and human rights group Amnesty International said the journalists had been prosecuted for doing legitimate work.” Did we seem just as suspicious to the government as those Swedish journalists? We didn’t want to find out.Peace Corps gave all the volunteers strict instructions NOT to blog or post on Facebook about the protests or killings across Oromia. It is just too dangerous to say anything about the Ethiopian government, they pointed out.That’s when we decided to leave Ethiopia. For us, staying in Ambo, not ruffling any feathers, was not an option. How could we go back and pretend that our neighbors, students, and and fellow residents didn’t die or didn’t end up in prison? http://jenandjoshinethiopia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/ambo-protests-spying-spy.htmlhttp://etefa.wordpress.com/2014/05/29/ambo-protests-spying-the-spy/
Breaking News: Amma Galgala Kana Barattooti Oromoo Yuuniversitii Haromaayaa 10 Doormii Keessaa Lolotoota Wayyaaneen Ukkaamfaman.
Walabummaa Goshee kan inni baratu Economics waggaa 2ffa bakki dhalootaa godina shawaa lixaa Ambo,
Irranaa Kabbadaa kan inni baratu agricultural wagga 2ffaa bakki dhalootaa godina Shawaa lixaa Ambo
Sanyii Yaalii kan inni baratu economics waggaa 3ffaa bakki dhalootaa godina Shawaa lixaa AMBO
Biqila Toleeraa kan inni baratu veternari Medecine waggaa 6ffaa bakki dhaloota godina kibba lixa Shawaa AMBO
Raggaasaa kan inni baratu waggaa lammaaffaa water engenering bakki dhalootaa Godina Shawa lixati 10.maqaan nu hin geenye.Ammaaf maqaan hin baramne.
In picture: student Leencoo Fiixaa
#OromoProtests-
Oromo Students Abducted From Haromaya University on May 28 Ten Oromo students were abducted from Haromaya University by Ethiopian (TPLF/Agazi) security forces on Wednesday, 28th May 2014. Their where abouts is unknown. Among the abductees are: 1. Lencho Fita Hordofa, 3rd year in the Department of Agriculture. He was born in the district of Dawo, South Shewa Zone of Oromia state 2. Ararsaa Lagasaa, 4th year student in the Department of Water Engineering. He was born and raised in the Tolee distrit of South Shewa Zone 3. Jaaraa Margaa, 4th year student in the Department of Water Engineering. He was born and raised in Sabata, South Shewa Zone 4. Alsan Hasan, 2nd year student in the Department of Electrical Engineering. He was born and raised in Ambo, West Shewa Zone 5. Walabummaa Goshee, 2nd year student in the Department of Economics. He was born and raised in Ambo, West Shewa Zone.
6. Irranaa Kabbadaa, 2nd year student in the Department of Agriculture. He was born and raised in Ambo, West Shoa Zone.
7. Sanyii Yaalii, 3rd year student in the Department of Economics. He was born and raised in Ambo, West Shoa zone.
8. Biqila Toleeraa, 6th year medical student, Department of Veterinary Medicine. He was raised in Ambo, South West Shoa zone.
9. Raggaasaa, 2nd year student in the Department of Water Engineering. He was raised in Ambo, West Shoa zone.
The names of the 10th student is not identified at this time. Shown in the photograph is Lencho Fita Hordofa, one of the ten kidnapped.
Submission from the HRLHA 26th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council (10 – 27 June 2014)
May 27, 2014Submission from the HRLHA 26th Regular Session of the Human Rights Council (10 – 27 June 2014)
Item 3:Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development
(Country- Ethiopia) HRLHA is a non-political organization which attempts to challenge human rights abuses suffered by the peoples of various nations and nationalities in the Horn of Africa. HRLHA is aimed at defending fundamental human rights including freedoms of thought, expression, movement and organization. It is also aimed at raising the awareness of individuals about their own basic human rights and that of others. It focuses on the observances as well as the due processes of law. It promotes the growth and development of free and vigorous civil societies. Executive Summary This report covers mainly the gross human right violations in Ethiopia that have happened in the past twenty- three years in general, and the current human rights crisis in the Regional State of Oromia in Ethiopia in particular. The EPRDF/TPLF Government has committed gross human rights violations against the people of Ethiopia since it came to power in 1991 after toppling the dictatorial Dergue regime, contrary to the constitution of Ethiopia (1995) and international human rights treaties it has signed and rectified. It has continued to suppress the freedom expression, political and civil rights and, as a result, has sent dozen of journalists, bloggers, and hundreds of leaders and members of opposition political parties to jail. In violations of the right to protest and demonstrations, peaceful demonstrators have been shot at and killed, kidnapped and disappeared; hundreds have been arrested in mass and detained. A good case in point is the most recent very violent attack against unarmed and peaceful protestors of Oromo students of universities, colleges, and high schools in the regional state of Oromia. Methodology The information in this report is mainly based on HRLHA’s reports on human rights violations in Ethiopia as well as reports from other sources such as various international human rights organizations and civil society groups, and the US State Department annual country report of 2013. Violations of Fundamental Rights The current EPRDF government claims that the basic and fundamental rights of the citizens are respected in Ethiopia, and that the country is heading towards democracy. However, on the contrary, the basic and fundamental rights of citizens enshrined in the Ethiopian Constitution of 1995, under Chapter three (fundamental rights and freedoms, articles 13-28 and democratic rights ,articles 29-44)[1] which guarantees civil liberty and life in peace and harmony has been extremely violated. In the above articles are included individuals and common rights, such as equality before the law, freedom of speech and expression, freedom of association and peaceful assembly, freedom to practice religion. All are highlighted on paper only for the political consumption. In other words they are used as a cover-up for the gross violations of human rights.. Democratic Rights After the first global expression of rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, to which all human beings are inherently entitled, has been adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The international, regional and national documents were created to enforce the promotion of the rights enshrined in the declaration. Peaceful assembly (Article 20(1)) in the UDHR, while often characterized by marches, rallies and mass demonstration, which obviously involves the presence of a number of individuals in the public places, has been echoed in international law, regional standards, and national constitutions throughout the world. It becomes customary that in different parts of the world people are expressing their grievances/ dissatisfactions and complaints against their governments by peaceful demonstrations and assemblies. When such nonviolent and peaceful civil rallies are taking, place it should always be the state’s responsibility to respect and guard their citizens’ freedom of peaceful assembly and demonstration. These responsibilities also should apply even during times of political protest, when a state’s power is questioned, challenged, or perhaps undermined by assemblies of citizens practicing in nonviolent resistance. The 1995 Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, articles 29 and 30 also grant these democratic rights to the Ethiopian citizens without distinction[2]. The Right of Thought, Opinion and Expression, The Right of Assembly, Demonstration and Petition are the rights of Ethiopian citizens through which they can express their opinions and dissatisfactions with the performances and activities of their government However, in the past two decades the current Ethiopian government proved that peaceful assemblies and demonstrations, expression of thoughts are not tolerated. Since the current government came to power in 1991, thousands of citizens who held political agenda different from the ruling party’s were systematically jailed, abducted or killed. Those who criticized the government of Ethiopia including journalists, bloggers, universities and high school students and teachers who took to streets to demand their rights peacefully were beaten, arrested and detained or killed. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa has been reporting in different ways on the systematic human rights violations by the Ethiopian government and its security agents against peaceful demonstrators. These include the recent case of Oromo students from different universities and colleges. The Oromo students were discriminately targeted particularly in the past six years[3]. The current political crises in Oromia regional state of Ethiopia is the continuation of the above facts. Peaceful protests against the so called the Master plan of Addis Ababa, which is likely to cause the estimated eviction of around 6 million Oromo peasants around the area and planed to be sold to the wealthy non-Oromos, should not be considered as a criminal activity. Instead it should be tolerated and be considered as one of the ways that the citizens can express their thoughts and concerns on the development plan of the government in which they were not consulted and did not give their consent. The Addis Ababa Expansion-related protests quickly spread around universities, colleges and high schools all over Oromia. And in response, contrary to the provisions in the constitution of the land and international basic and fundamental rights of the citizens, the Ethiopian government launched a brutal crackdown against peacefully demonstrating Oromo students in order to freeze the peaceful demand of the protestors. As a result of this brutal crackdown by special squads, more than 36 students were killed, hundreds wounded and thousands of others arrested and thrown into detentions. The protest against the expansion of Addis Ababa was not limited to students only, but also involved city dwellers, farmers and workers in Oromia. The most affected area was the Ambo Town and its surroundings where 16 University and high school students were killed, including the eight (8) year old boy. The Ethiopian Government’s atrocities that targeted the Oromo nation during the nationwide protest from April 24 to May 24, 2014 have been condemned by worldwide human rights organizations, public media, and other civic organizations.. The Human Rights Watch[4], Amnesty International[5], Oromia Suport Group[6], Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa[7], The guardian[8], BBC[9] , CNN[10] and The Create Trust[11] are among the organizations which condemn and reported the crime against humanity taken against the Oromo nation by Ethiopian armed force. The Ethiopian Government has repeatedly implemented various excessive forces to dissolve peaceful protests in violations of international treaties it has signed and ratified. The responses to legal, constitutional and peaceful protests should not include actions that violate human rights, such as arbitrary arrests and detentions, even guns or other violence. HRLH believes many atrocities, that were not reported on due to the tight controls, restrictions, and censorships on all local and international media, are taking place. The Ethiopian Government does not have any justification for the illegality of the protests for taking such brutal action against peaceful and unarmed students and other protestors. An illegal protest may happen if the protest becomes violent or is in violation of the state’s laws of public order and civility. Even if some peaceful protests include deliberate acts of civil disobedience, in which case it is permissible for states to make individual arrests of law offenders. However, as recognized by an HRC panel discussion on the matter (A/HRC 19/40)[12], the increasing use of criminal law against protest participants may ultimately contradict the states’ responsibility to uphold the right to peaceful assembly. In this situation the Ethiopian Government clearly violated the right to legal peaceful protest. Recommendation:
The Ethiopian Government first of all must respect and implement the rights of citizens enshrined in the constitution of the country (1995) and enforce the Ethiopian penal code of 2004
Ethiopia must avoid an excessive force in response to Oromo protests
The Ethiopian Government must abide by all international human rights instruments to which the country is a signatory
The Ethiopian Government must allow a fully independent, civilian-led investigation into the death of Oromo students and civilians including gross human rights violation in Oromia.
Ironically, as we sat at home, listening to gunshots all day long, John Kerry was visiting Ethiopia, a mere 2 hours away in Addis Ababa, to encourage democratic development. Around 3pm, while the sounds of the protests were far on the east side of town, we heard gunshots so close to our house that we both ducked reflexively. An hour later, we talked to a young man who said, numbly, “I carried their bodies from their compound to the clinic.” Our two young neighbors – university students – had been hunted down by the federal police and killed in their home while the protest was on the opposite side of town. Another friend told us about 2 students who were shot and killed by the federal police in front of a primary school…again, far away from the protest. Wednesday night, we slept fitfully, listening to the sounds of the federal police coming around our neighborhood. They were yelling over a bullhorn in Amharic, which we didn’t understand, but was later translated for us: “Stay inside your compound tonight and tomorrow.” Thursday, the bus station was closed and there weren’t any cars on the roads. That morning, a Peace Corps driver finally came to get us, looking terrified as he pulled up quickly to our house. We had to stop at the police station to get permission to leave town. While waiting at the station, we saw at least 50 people brought into the station at gunpoint, some from the backs of military trucks and many from a bus. Inside the police compound, there were hundreds of demonstrators overflowing the capacity of the prison, many of them visibly beaten and injured. After the U.S. Embassy requested our release, we headed out of town. The entire east side of town, starting from the bus station, was damaged. A bank, hotel, café, and many cars were damaged or burned. Our driver swerved to avoid the charred remains of vehicles sitting in the middle of the street. We couldn’t help but shed tears at the sight of our beloved, damaged town. – Read more @http://jenandjoshinethiopia.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/ambo-protests-personal-account.html?spref=tw
Ethiopia: Worrisome Situations in Detention Centres Where #OromoProtests Protesters Imprisoned; an HRLHA Urgent Action
Posted: Caamsaa/May 24, 2014 · Gadaa.com
The following is a statement from the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA).
———————— May 24, 2014 For Immediate Release While kidnappings and/or extra-judicial arrests and detentions have continued particularly around academic institutions in different parts of the regional state of Oromia in Ethiopia, disturbing and worrisome reports are coming out of detention centres where the Oromo students arrested in the past two weeks are being held. According to HRLHA correspondents in Nakamte, Wollega Province in western Oromia, there have been cases of tortures of varying levels as well as detainees being taken away in the middle of the night to unknown destinations for unknown reasons. Fifty (50) detainees, including thirteen females, were taken away at one time alone; and their whereabouts were not known. In relation to tortures, the reports indicate that some of the detainees are isolated from others and held in separate rooms handcuffed and legs tied together with their hands on the their backs. There were ten students subjected to this particular situation, among whom were Std. Tesfaye Tuffa (male) and Std. Bontu Hailu (female). Although not confirmed at this point, there were also eight students who were screened out in order to be transferred to a detention or investigation office at the federal level; and these include: 1. Chalaa Fekaduu Gashe (high school student), 2. Chalaa Fekaduu Raajoo (high school student), 3. Nimoonaa Kebede (Wollega University 5th year law student), 4. Moi Bon Misganuu (Wollega University, student), 5. Abdii Gaddisaa (high school student), 6. Abel Dagim (high school student), 7. Qalbessa Getachew (high school student), 8. Mulgeta Gemechu (high school student), 9. Edosa Namara Dheressa, Civil Engineering, Wallaga University In the meantime, reports indicate that kidnappings and/or extra-judicial arrests and detentions have continued in different parts of the regional state of Oromia, particularly in Hararge/Haromaya, West Showa, and West Wollega, all in relation to the protests that have been going on in the Regional State of Oromia in opposition to the newly introduced master plan to expand the Capital City of Addis Ababa/Finfinne in all directions by displacing the local Oromo residents. The following are among the hundreds of the most recent cases of kidnappings, arrests and detentions: 1) Edosa Namara Deressa – Wollega University (Civil Engineering) 2) Walabuma Dabale -Adama University, West Showa, 3) Ebisa Dale -Adama University 4) Ganamo Kurke -Adama University 5) Liban Taressa – Adama University 6) Adam Godana -Adama University 7) Bodana (last name not obtained) – Adama University Name of other detainees arrested May 15-17, 2014: The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) is highly concerned about the life-threatening situations in the detention centres where those young Oromos were held, and the safety and wellbeing of those who were taken to unknown destinations. Therefore, HRLHA calls upon the Ethiopian Government to abide by all international human rights instruments that it has signed, and refrain from subjecting the young detainees to such harsh situations. It also calls upon all local, regional, and international human rights organizations including UN Human Rights Council, humanitarian, and diplomatic agencies to put pressure on the Ethiopian Government so that it: 1. Unconditionally releases the Oromo students who were detained in the past two and three weeks simply because the attempted to exercise some of their fundamental rights in a peaceful and absolutely non-violent manner. 2. Stop killing, arresting and abducting Oromo nationals 3. To form an independent committee from civilians for investigation and Prosecution of the killing and torturing crimes. – HRLHAhttp://humanrightsleague.com/2014/05/ethiopia-worrisome-situations-in-detention-centres-hrlha-urgent-action/
Since 25th April, students have demonstrated throughout the Oromia Regional State, protesting against the government’s sinister sounding ‘Integrated Development Master Plan’. The Oromo people constitute Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group — around 27 million people — almost a third of the population. They have been marginalised and discriminated against since the 19th century when Empress Taytu Betul (wife of Menelikk II) chose the site of Addis Ababa for the capital. As the city grew Oromos were evicted from their land and forced onto the margins — socially, economically and politically: “time and again, Oromo farmers were removed from their land under the guise of development without adequate compensation.”[Geeska Africa]. Like tyrants everywhere, the paranoid EPRDF is hostile to all forms of dissent no matter the source; however they react with greater levels of brutality to dissenting voices in Oromia than perhaps anywhere else in the country, and “scores of Oromos are regularly arrested based on their actual or suspected opposition to the government.” [Amnesty International (AI)] The proposed ‘master plan’ would substantially expand the boundaries of Addis Ababa into areas of Oromia surrounding the capital. “Protestors claim they merely wanted to raise questions about the plan — but were answered with violence and intimidation.” [BBC] They rightly feel smallholder farmers and other groups living on government land (all land in Ethiopia is government owned) would once again be threatened, leading to large scale evictions to make way for land leasing or land sales, as has happened elsewhere in the country. In addition many Oromos see the proposed expansion as a broader threat to their regional and cultural identity and say the scheme is “in violation of the Constitutionally-guaranteed protection of the ‘special interests’ of the Oromia state.” [AI] Constitutional guarantees that mean nothing to the members of the ruling party, or a politically controlled judiciary. Killing, beating, intimidating University campuses have formed the beating heart of the protest movement that has now spread throughout the region. On Tuesday 29th April around 25,000 people, “including residents of Ambo town in central Oromia, participated in a city wide demonstration, in the largest show of opposition to the government’s plans to date.” [Revolution News] Somewhat predictably, security forces, consisting of the federal police and military Special Forces known as the ‘Agazi’, have “responded by shooting at and beating peaceful protesters in Ambo, Nekemte, Jimma, and other towns with unconfirmed reports from witnesses of dozens of casualties.” [Human Rights Watch (HRW)] A witness told Amnesty International that on the third day of protest in Guder town, near Ambo, the security forces were waiting for the protesters and opened fire when they arrived. “She said five people were killed in front of her. A source in Robe town, the location of Madawalabu University, reported that 11 bodies had been seen in a hospital in the town. Another witness said they had seen five bodies in Ambo [80 miles west of Addis Ababa] hospital.” Whilst the government says that “at least nine students have died” during the protests, “a witness told the BBC that 47 were killed by the security forces” — a misleading term for government thugs, who are killing, beating and intimidating innocent civilians: Amnesty reports that children as young as 11 years of age were among the dead. In addition to killing peaceful protesters, large numbers have been beaten up during and after protests, resulting in scores of injuries, and hundreds or “several thousands”, according to the main Oromia opposition party, the Oromo Federalist Congress (AFC), have been arbitrarily arrested and are being detained incommunicado. Given the regime’s history those imprisoned face a very real risk of torture. In many cases the arrests took place after the protesters had dispersed. “Security forces have conducted house to house searches in many locations in the region, [looking] for students and others who may have been involved. New arrests continue to be reported,” [AI] and squads of government thugs are reportedly beating local residents in a crude attempt at intimidation. Amnesty reports the case of a father whose son was shot dead during a protest, being ‘severely beaten’ by security forces, who told the bereaved parent “he should have taught his son some discipline.” The Oromia community has often been the target of government aggression, and recent events are reminiscent of January 2004, when several Oromia students at Addis Ababa University were shot and killed when protesting for the right to stage an Oromo cultural event on campus. Many more were wounded and 494 [Oromo Support Group (OSG)] were arrested and detained without charge or trial. HRW reported how “police ordered both male and female students to run and crawl barefoot, bare-kneed, and bare-armed over sharp gravel for three-and-half hours; they were also forced to carry each other over the gravel.” The Police, HRW goes on to say, “have repeatedly employed similar methods of torture and yet are rarely held accountable for their excesses.” The recent level of extreme violence displayed by the State is not unusual and takes place throughout Ethiopia; what is new is the response of the people. Anger at the security forces criminality has fuelled further demonstrations in Oromo as friends and family of those murdered have added their voices to the growing protest movement. This righteous stand against government brutality and injustice is heartening for the country and should be supported with condemnation and pressure from international donors and the UN more broadly. Those arrested during protests must be immediately released and investigations into killings by security personnel instigated as a matter of utmost urgency. Tools of control The government’s heavy-handed reaction to the Oromo protests is but the latest example of the regime’s ruthless response to criticism of its policies. Political opposition parties, when tolerated at all have been totally marginalised, dissenting independent voices are quickly silenced and a general atmosphere of fear is all pervading. Despite freedom of expression being a constitutional right virtually all media outlets are either government owned or controlled; “blogs and Internet pages critical of the Ethiopian government are regularly blocked and independent radio stations, particularly those broadcasting in Amharic and Afan Oromo, are routinely jammed.” [HRW] The EPRDF has created “one of the most repressive media environments in the world.” Reinforcing this condition, “the government on April 25th and 26th arbitrarily arrested nine bloggers and journalists in Addis Ababa. They remain in detention without charge.” [Ibid] International human rights groups (whose activities have been severely restricted by the stifling Charities and Societies Proclamation of 2009) as well as foreign journalists are not welcome, and reporters “who have attempted to reach the current demonstrations have been turned away or detained,” [Ibid] making it difficult to confirm exact numbers of those killed by government security personnel. The UN Human Rights Council recently reviewed Ethiopia’s human rights record under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Since the first review in 2009 the human rights condition has greatly deteriorated. The EPRDF rules the country through fear and intimidation, they have introduced ambiguous, universally condemned legislation to control and intimidate: the Charities and Societies Proclamation (CSO law) and the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation specifically. Laws of repression that together have made independent media and civil society completely ineffective. Freedom of assembly – another constitutional right – is not allowed, (or as can be seen with the Oromo protests) is dealt with in the harshest manner possible; the Internet and telecommunications are controlled and monitored by the government and phone records/recordings are easily obtained by security personnel. Arbitrary arrests and false Imprisonment of anyone criticizing the government is routine as is the use of torture on those incarcerated. In the Ogaden region the regime is committing gross human rights abuses constituting crimes against humanity and in Gambella and the Lower Omo Valley large numbers of indigenous people have been forcibly moved into government camps (Villagization Programme), as land is sold for pennies to international companies. In short, human rights are completely ignored by the Government in Ethiopia. As the people begin to come together and protest, international pressure should be applied on the regime to observe the rule of law and uphold the people’s fundamental human rights. Read more @http://www.counterpunch.org/
#OromoProtest- Barbaric Attack On peaceful and unarmed Oromo Students and civilians by TPLF/Agazi forces at Madda Waalabuu University, Bale Soutrhern Oromia, 21 May 2014.
IOYA Appeal Letter
Dear Sir, Madam, We are reaching out to you as the Board of officers of the International Oromo Youth Association (IOYA) whose nation is in turmoil back in Oromia, Ethiopia. Recently, Oromo students have been protesting against the new Addis Ababa “Integrated Master Plan” which aims at incorporating smaller towns surrounding Addis Ababa for the convenience of vacating land for investors by displacing millions of Oromo farmers. As a political move, this will essentially result in the displacement of the indigenous peoples and their families. Oromo farmers will be dispossessed of their land and their survival both economic and cultural terms will be threatened. The Oromos strongly believe that this plan will expose their natural environment to risk, threaten their economic means of livelihood (subsistence farming), and violate their constitutional rights. The Ethiopian government is executing its political agenda of progressive marginalization of the Oromo people from matters that concern them both in the Addis Ababa city and the wider Oromia region. The master plan is an unconstitutional change of the territorial expansion over which the city administration has a jurisdiction. The government justifies the move in the name of enhancing the development of the city and facilitating economic growth. The justification is merely a tactical move masked for the governments continued abuse of human rights of the Oromo people. While the Oromos understand that Addis Ababa itself is an Oromo city that serves as the capital of the federal government, they also consider this move as an encroachment on the jurisdiction and borders of the state of Oromia. The protesters peacefully demonstrated against this move. University students and residents have been in opposition to the plan, but their struggle has been met by a brutal repression in the hands of the military police (famously known as the Agazi). It has been reported that shootings, arrests, and imprisonments are becoming rampant. It is also reported that the death toll is increasing by the hour. Recently, sources indicate that over 80 people have been shot dead, others severally injured and thousands arrested. In addition, Oromo students have been protesting peacefully for over three weeks now, despite mass killings and arrests by Ethiopian security forces. University and high school students from more than ten universities have been engaging in the Oromo protests. The peaceful rally has now spread across the whole country and is expected to continue until the Ethiopian government refrains from incorporating over 36 surrounding smaller towns into Addis Ababa. It is stated to be displacing an estimate of 6.6 million people and violating constitutional rights of regional states. As an organization subscribing to broader democratic engagement of the Oromo youth, we oppose the brutal violence that the Ethiopian government is meting out on innocent, unarmed young students who are peacefully protesting. As leaders of the Oromo community, we support and stand in solidarity with Oromo protests in Ethiopia. The human rights violations being carried out by the Ethiopian government against innocent students are unacceptable. Continuous assaults, tortures, and killings of innocent civilians must be stopped. We urge you to join us in denouncing these inhumane and cruel activities carried out by the Ethiopian government. We believe it is imperative that the international community raise its voice and take action to stop the ongoing atrocities that are wreaking havoc to families and communities in the Oromia region. We urgently request that such actions be taken in an attempt to pressure the Ethiopian government to stop terrorizing and killing peaceful protesters:
The US government and other International organizations should condemn the Ethiopian government’s brutal action taken on unarmed innocent civilians. Furthermore, we demand over 30,000 innocent protesters to be released from prisons, as they will be subjected to torture and ill treatment.
The Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) is currently terrorizing its own electorates/nation. Under the law of R2P in the UN constitution, the international community is obliged to protect a nation that is being terrorized by its own government and EPRDF should be taken accountable.
We demand Ethiopia to be expelled from any regional and international cooperation including and not limited to AU and UN for its previous and current human rights violations. The International community should stop providing support in the name of AID and development to Ethiopia as it is violating the fundamental and basic needs of its nation.
The Ethiopian government should be stopped on immediate effect; its forceful displacement of the indigenous peoples across Ethiopia is unjust and unconstitutional. We ask the United States, European Union, and the United Nations to stand in solidarity with peaceful student protesters who are condemning such injustice.
The onus is on the international community to act in favor of the innocent and civilian populace that is seeking its fundamental right. Punitive actions towards this government should be taken for cracking down on freedom of expression and other democratic rights being expressed by its citizens.
We believe it is in the interest of our common humanity to take responsibility, to pay attention to this problem, to witness the plight of the voiceless victims, and to raise concerns to the Ethiopian government so it can desist from its brutal acts of repression. We count on your solidarity to help the Oromo youth be spared from arbitrary arrest, incarceration, and shootings. Yours Respectfully, International Oromo Youth Association http://ayyaantuu.com/horn-of-africa-news/ioya-appeal-letter/https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=biinZe1Edeo
Gambella Nilotes Army Condemns Killing Oromos for Their Land
Press Release 15th May 2014, Gambella “Ethiopian Government Must Stop Killing Oromos for their Land”
Gambella Nilotes United Movement/Army (GNUM/A) condemns the mass killing perpetuated by the TPLF-Led Ethiopian government’s security forces against the Oromo University students and other innocent civilians which occurred in many parts of Oromia Region particularly in Ambo Zone since last two weeks. The students were peacefully demonstrating their constitutional right for the Oromo farmers who were/are forcefully and illegally evicted from their ancestral land around Finfine (Addis Ababa) due to new Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan imposed upon them. As our sources confirm the killings continue in Nekemte town and other areas of which unconfirmed number of innocent Oromos are being massacred. Many are arrested and many more disappeared from their homes as the protest demonstrations continue. It should be known that the proposed Master Plan by the TPLF – Led government of Ethiopia did not consider the interest and participation of the Oromo people to ensure that it would not cause eviction of people and land grabbing. The plan affirms the continuation of land grabbing policy designed to displaced poor rural people of Gambella, Ogaden, Benisgangul Gumuz, Afar, South Omo and other parts of the country. The Master plan will evict million of Oromo farmers from their ancestral land and make them landless, an act which denies their traditional land ownership rights around Addis Ababa. It must be condemned at all might for it is undemocratic and barbaric. It follows the mode of Menelik who built the country on slave trade economy in raiding slaves and plundering resources of the subjects, in exchange for weapons from European colonisers to build his hegemony, of which the Oromos, Gambellans, Ogadenians, Beneshagul/Gumuz people, Afar, south western nations and nationalities, and others were the victims. The wounds inflicted by the Menelik in the past are still open and bleeding, and it is immoral for the TPLF- Led government to scratch the wounds inflicted by their ancestors against Oromos without remorse. For this reason we call upon all the Oromos to unite. Whatever differences may exist, Oromos must unite as one body and seek solidarity from other oppressed people who are fighting for their freedom. The TPLF – Led Ethiopian government is racist beyond any doubt, and it is a failed state that believes in enforcing its racist policies at gun point. The unity and moral we have are more than the weapons they put their belief. We shall prevail. It must not be allowed to sell out Oromo land to foreign investors or to settle their own people in Oromos’ land while Oromos are evicted. Currently other Ethiopian are not entitled to own large land for their business unless those coming from northern part of the country. The land taken from all the oppressed people elsewhere in the country including the Oromos should be categorized as stolen property, in which day has come, actually it is very near to claim it back from all TPLF members and supporters. We encourage all Oromo people to continue with their demonstration not to allow any inch of Oromo land to Addis Ababa Master Plan. We call upon all the Oromo people throughout the world to strengthen their solidarity in support to those who are sacrificing their lives in the country for the freedom of Oromos. Gambella Nilotes United Movement/Army (GNUM/A) is also calling upon all people of Gambella and other South Western Nilotes to stand together with Oromo people who are suffering under brutal Ethiopian government. We call upon the international community, international human rights organizations and other concerned bodies to condemn the ongoing human rights abuses and atrocities perpetrated by the TPLF/EPRDF regime against the Oromo innocent civilians who are demanding their constitutional rights from the government. We are also calling upon the United Nations, EU, AU, and all other humanitarian organizations operating in Ethiopia to closely monitor the political and military action against the innocent civilian in Oromia region. At last we call upon the TPLF/EPRDF government to stop killing of the Oromos; to release our brothers kept in various prisons in the country under inhumanly conditions; to recognize the communal land rights and ownership in accord with the UN provisions; to respect Article 39 provision in the constitution and recognizes territorial integrity to stop extinction measures; to respect our independence development and foreign policies to ensure our freedom and prosperity in our territories. In conclusion the Gambella Nilotes United Movement/Army (GNUM/A) will continue its struggle for all people of Gambella and other oppressed Ethiopian to ensure freedom, justice, security and prosperity are brought to the oppressed. “Freedom and Justice for All Oppressed People of Oromo”“Unite We Must to Fight for the Rights and Justice of IndigenousSouth Western Nilotic and Omotic Peoples of Ethiopia”GAMBELLA NILOTES UNITED MOVEMENT/ARMYCENTRAL COMMITTEEOur contact:gambellagnuma@yahoo.comORgambellagnuma@gmail.comhttp://ayyaantuu.com/horn-of-africa-news/gambella-nilotes-army-condemns-killing-oromos-for-their-land/ Barattoota Oromoo kan Yuuiversitoota garagaraat osoo karaa nagaan hiriira bahani dhimma abba biyummaa isaanii falmata jiranuu lubbuun isaanii waraana mootummaa Wayyaanen darbite keessaa seenaa gabaabaa barattuu Tigist Maammoo Simaa isiniif qooda. Tigist Abbaa ishee Obbo Maammoo Simaa fi Haadha ishee Aaddee Ayeetuu Maammoo irraa bara 1992 akka lakkoofsa Oromootti Biyya Oromiyaa Godina Kibba lixa Shawaa Aanaa sadeen Sooddoo Ganda Saaririti jedhamutti dhalattee. Mana barnoota sadarkaa 1ffaa kan barattee 1-8 mana barnoota Calalaqa kan jedhamu miilan deemsa sa’a lama deemte barattee.sadarkaa 2ffaa 9-12 mana barnoota Harbuu Cululleetti baratte.
#OromoProtetsts- Tigist Mammo, Oromo student at Madda Waalabu University, murdered by TPLF/ Agazi forces.http://maddawalaabuupress.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/seenaa-gabaabaa-gootittii-oromoo.html?spref=fb#OromoProtests- Peaceful Oromo students and civilians were attacked and wounded by Agazi in Nekemte, Western Oromia. Denied medical help. Agazi forced them out from hospital. Medical workers at Nekemte hospital were attacked by Agazi for giving medical services to wounded students and civilians. 20th May 2014
ODUU GADDISISSA!! Godina Wallagga lixaa aanaa Gimbii ganda waloo yesuusitti dhalata barataa Gammachiis Dabalaa umuriin 16 yoo ta’u barataa kutaa 9ti. Jireenyasaa keessatti cilee gubee gara magaalaa gimbii geessee ittin barataa maatii saas gargaara . Akkuma amalasaa cilee fuudhee guyyaa gaafa 02/09/2006 akka lakk habasha ganama gara magaalaa gimbii utuu deemuu loltuun wayyaanee naannoo gafaree bakkaa addaa mana indaaqqoo jedhamutti duukaa buutee ariun rasaasaan miilla isaa dhoofte. gaafuma sana hospitaala adventisti Gimbii ciise. Ta’us carraa fayyuu hin arganne guyyaa gaafa 12/09/2006tti lubbuunsaa darbite kichuutu hudhaatti cite ayiiiiiiiiiiii yaa oromoo lakkii ka’iiiiii uuuuuuuuuuuuuu —————————————SAD NEWS!! In west wallagaa in the town of Gimbi in the neighborhood of Waloo-yesuus. There was a 16 year old grade 9 student named Gammachiis Dabalaa. In his life time he used to burn firewood to make charcoal so he can support his family as well as paying for his education. Like his day to day duty, while he went to fetch woods and burn for charcoal on his way to Gimbi town in the morning on 02/09/2006(E.C) he was shot on his foot by a woyanee(TPLF) soldier. Since that day this young boy was spending his time in the Adventist Hosptal in the Gimbi town. Due to lack of quick recovery he passed away on 12/09/2006. May his soul rest in peace!!!!!!!!
#OromoProtests- Victim of TPLF/Agazi, in Western Oromia, Gimbi, Wallagga, 21st May 2014.
#OromoProtests – Victim of genocidal TPLF/Agazi. Photo of Milishu Melese who was killed by Agazi by a car yesterday in Adama. Family members say he was previously a political prisoner for 8 years ( 3 at
Maekelawi and 5 in Kaliti).He was ran over by car in broad daylight on 16th May 2014 along his
friend Bilisumma Lammi.
#OromoProtests- Photo of Oromo student Bilisumma Lammi of Rift Valley University college who was killed by by Agazi on 16th May 2014 with his friend in Adama.
OromoProtests– TPLF/Agazi’s crime against humanity. Wounded Oromo students from Wolega university in Nekemte hospital as of 17th May 2014
Dimokraasiin Biyya Ethiopia jedhamtu keessatti kunoo kana fakkaata!!! Hospitalli Naqamtee dhiiga Ilmaan Oromootiin guutameera!!! Saffisaan Oromiyaa guddisuun Qaroo Ilmaan Oromoo Abdii buroo kan ta’an itti duuluu, ajjeesuu, hidhuu, tumuu, mana barumsarraa’ari uu, doorsisuu, fi k.kn f.f taniin oromia nuuf guddifuun lallabaa jiran
Ethiopia: Ambo under Siege, Daily Activities Paralyzed
HRLHA Urgent ActionFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 13 May, 2014. The brutal attempts of crackdown against Oromo protesters by the Agazi Special Squad continuing unabated in different parts of the regional state of Oromia, reports coming from Ambo in central Oromia indicate that the town and its surrounding has come under virtual seizure by the Agazi Federal Armed Force, daily movements and activities becoming almost impossible. According to information obtained by HRLHA (this morning) form its correspondents, the Agazi Special Squad has been deployed in Ambo Town and its surrounding in much larger number than before and engaged in indiscriminately kidnapping the local people from along the streets and throwing them into detention centres in the area. There are also reports of widespread rapes being committed against female detainees. Although the protests against the plan to annex some central small towns of Oromia into the Capital Addis Ababa/Finfinne have been involving Oromos from all walks of life, age and gender, the prime targets have been the youth, university, college, and high school students in particular. Since the protest started in different parts of the regional state of Oromia two weeks ago, more than 50,000 (fifty thousand) Oromos have been arrested and detained from Ambo, Gudar, Tikur Inchini, Ginda-Barat, Gedo, and Bakko-Tibe towns in West Showa Zone of Central Oromia alone, Apart from along the streets in cities and towns, especially students are being picked up even from dormitories and classrooms on universities and college campuses. Reports add that there have been around twenty(40) extra-judicial killings so far that have resulted from brutal actions against unarmed and peaceful protesters by armed forces. Ever since the violence against Oromo protesters started two weeks ago, and following the release of its first urgent action over the incidents, the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) has been monitoring the situation through its correspondents in the region; and has been able to obtain some of the names of the Oromos (students and others) who have so far been killed, kidnapped or arrested, and detained or disappeared. There are also cases of beatings and wounds or injuries inflicted on some of the protesters by the heavy-handed federal armed force. The names are listed below:
Partial List of arrested Students from Addis Ababa University May 11, 2014
1
Abebe gadafa
12
Lataa Olani
2
Alamayo Taye
13
Melaku Girma
3
Gaddisaa dabalee
14
Mulata Eliyas
4
Gamada Dhidhita
15
Nigusie Gammada
5
Gudata Wakne
16
Nigusie Yoosef
6
Guddina
17
Sisay Safara
7
Indalu Yigezu
18
Taye Teshome
8
Jabessa ekele
19
Teshome Ararsa
9
Jamal Usman
20
Waqo Roba
10
Jilo Kamew
21
Yaatanii Utukan
11
Kebede Guddata
May 11, 2014 Arrestees from different universities in Oromia
No
Name
Department
Institute Name
1
Abebe Taddese
Political Science
Addis Ababa University
2
Chala Dirriba
Dirre Dawa University
3
Lencho
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Adama University
4
Fawaz Ahmed Usman
Mechanical Engneering
Adama University
5
Obsa Jawar
Management
Adama University
Partial list of Oromos killed by Agazi Armed Force of the Federal Government
NAME
SEX
Birth Place
Occupation
Academic institution
Place of execution
1
Ababa Kumsa
M
student
Wallaga
2
Abdii Kamaal
M
student and Krate Trainer
Gudar
Gudar
3
Abdiisaa Guutuu
M
9 years old teenager
–
Gudar
4
Abdiisaa Fiixee
Bussinessman
Gudar
5
Abdisa Nagasa
M
student
Wallaga
6
Alamnee Bayisa Tashoomee
M
9th grade
Ambo
Ambo
7
Alamayyoo Hirphasaa
M
9th grade
Ambo
Ambo
8
Alemaayyoo Urgeessaa
M
Farmer
Gudar
Gudar
9
Baayisaa Soorii
M
10
Biikkolee Dinqaa
M
11
Biqilaa Belay
M
Merchant
–
Ambo
12
Bultii Yaadasaa
M
Jibaat
Techinical student
Shanaan
13
Darejjee
M
Kebele Milisha
–
Ijaajjii
14
Falmata Bayecha
M
Medicine 5th year
Jimma
Jimma
15
Galana Adaba
M
Governance 3rdyear
Jimma
Jimma
16
Getachew Darajie
M
Governence 3rdyear
Jimmaa
Jimma
17
Geetahuun Jiraataa
M
Junior Secondary school
Gudar
Gudar
18
Geetuu Urgeessaa
M
student
Ambo
19
Gexe Tafari
F
student
Wollega
20
Gurmuu Damxoo
M
Junior Secondary school
Gudar
Gudar
21
Gosomsaa Baayisaa
M
Farmer
–
Ambo
22
Haacaaluu Jaagamaa
M
Jibaat
Shanaan
23
Husen Umar
M
Uni student
Jimmaa
Jimma
24
Indaalee Dessaalenyi
M
Ambo
Diplom holder, Bajaji driver
Ambo
Ambo, 01 Kebele
25
Indaalee Lammeessaa
M
9th grade student
Ambo
Ambo
26
Isra’el Habtamu
M
Uni student
Jimma
Jimma
27
Kebbedee Boranaa
M
Ambo
28
Kumalaa Guddisa
M
Tikur Incini
10th grade
Gudar
Gudar
29
Maammush Gaaddiisaa
M
Busssinessman
–
Gudar
30
Mammush Guutuu
M
11 years old teenager
–
Gudar
31
Naasir Tamaam
M
Driver
Gudar
32
Nagaasaa Lameessaa
M
Farmer oromo elder of 80 years old
Ambo
33
Olmaan Biinagdee
M
Ganjii Gooree
Farmer, 75 years Oromo elder
–
Ambo
34
Taddasee Gashuu
M
Waddeessaa,
Ambo Liibaan Machaa J.S.SchoolAmboAmbo35Tashome DawitM Uni studentWallaga 36Zabana BarasaM Governance 3rdyearJimmaJimma
Partial list of injured or wounded protestors
NAME
sex
Occupation
Academic institution
Region
Date
1
Abrhaam Suufaa
M
12th grade student
Ambo
Ambo
2
Balaayi Kuusaa
M
Midaa Qanyii
Ambo
01.05.2014
3
Baayisaa Obsaa
M
Midaa Qanyii
Ambo
01.05.2014
4
Baqalee Itichaa
M
5
Bitamaa Baayisaa
M
7th grade
Ambo
Ambo
6
Darrasaa Ayyaanaa
M
Midaa Qanyii
Ambo
01.05.2014
7
Geetuu warquu
Ambo
8
Gonfaa Mul’isaa
M
Bajajii driver
Ambo
9
Kasaahun Aseffaa
M
Ambo
10
Miidhaksaa ijiguu
M
Bussinesman
Ambo
11
Misgaanaa Mammuyyee
Ambo
12
Roobee Beenyaa
M
Ambo
13
Shallamaa Caalasaaa
M
High School student
Midaa Qanyii
Ambo
14
Shantamaa Qanaa’aa
M
Ambo
15
Sintaayoo Mirreessaa
F
5th grade student
Addis ketema, Ambo
16
Taaddalaa Tsagaayee
M
9th grade student
Ambo High School
Ambo
17
Warquu ijjiguu
M
Bussinesman
–
Ambo
18
Zarihuun Urgeessaa
M
Ambo
Partial list of indiscriminately arrested or kidnapped and detained protestors
Below is the list of some of the estimated 50,000 Oromos picked up and detained from different towns in West Showa Z0ne:
Name
Sex
Occupation
Place arrested
1
Ababaa Moosisaa
M
Tikur Incini
2
Alamayyoo Irreessoo
M
Was ONC Elected member of Oromia regional in 2005
Ambo
3
Ashannaafii Buusaa
M
12th grade student
Ambo
4
Agidoo Waqjiraa
M
Midaa Qanyii high school
Ambo
5
Ayyaantuu Dagaagaa
F
Merchant of cultural dresses
Ambo
6
Baqqaluu Gidaada
F
Ambo
7
Baayiluu Mallasaa
M
Gudar School
Gudar
8
Bilisee Indaaluu
F
High school student
Midaa Qanyii
9
Biraanuu Addunyaa
M
High school student
Tikur Incini
10
Burgudee Araarsaa
F
Highschool student
Ambo
11
Caalchisaa Aanaa
M
Preacher
Midaa Qanyii
12
Caalaa Baayisaa
M
With his 5-family member
Ambo
13
Camadaa Jaalataa
M
Farmer
Midaa Qanyii
14
Dagguu Takkaa
M
Elementary J.S. School, 8th grade
Addis Ketama-Ambo
15
Dammee Taddasaa
F
Ambo
16
Dararaa Galataa
M
High school Student
Midaa Qanyii
17
Darrasaa Guutataa
M
Farmer
Midaa Qanyii
18
Dawuti Raggaasaa
M
9th grade student
Liiban Maccaa Ambo
19
Dheeressaa Tarfaa
M
Bussinessman
Gudar
20
Dhibbaa Tutishaa
M
Assistant driver
Ambo
21
Gadaa
M
Ambo uni student
Ambo
22
Gechoo Dandanaa
M
High school student
Midaa Qanyii
23
Getaachoo dandanaa
M
Businessman
Gudar
24
Goobanaa Abarraa
M
High school student
Midaa Qanyii
25
Goobanaa Tolasaa
M
Tikur Incinni
26
Gonfaa Dhaabaa
M
Bussinessman
Ambo
27
Gudinaa Abarraa
M
High school student
Midaa Qanyii
28
Iddeessaa Magarsaa
M
Chairperson for Waqqeffata for Ambo area
Amboo
29
Lachiisaa Fufaa
M
Tikur Incinni
30
Lateeraa shallamoo
M
Tikur Incinni
31
Mallasaa Kabbadaa
M
Bussinessman
Ambo
32
Mootummaa Tasfaayee
M
Tikur Incinni
33
Nagarii Dhaabaa
M
Ambo
34
Qanaa’aa Chuuchee
M
Employee of KFO
Ambo
35
Salamoon Dhaabaa
M
11th grade student
Ambo
36
Shallamaa caalaa
M
Gudar
37
Shallamaa Caalasaaa
M
High School Student
Midaa Qanyii
38
Shallamaa Diroo
High School Student
Midaa Qanyii
39
Taaddasaa Misgaanaa
M
Tikur Incinni
40
Taamiruu Caalsisaa
M
Tikur Incinni
41
Tammiree Caalaa
Employee of youth and Sport commission
Caliyaa Geedoo
42
Tamasgeen Abarraa
M
Bussinessman
Ambo
43
Tasfayee Daksiisaa
M
High School Student
Midaa Qanyii
44
Tolaa Geeddafaa
M
High School Student
Midaa qanyii
45
Wabii Xilaahuun
M
Ambo university 3rd year
Ambo
HRLHA calls up on the Ethiopian Government to:
Immediately stop the racial and discriminatory violence against Oromos, and bring the culprits toJustice
Unconditionally release the detained Oromo students and facilitate the resumption of normal classes;
Reverse the decision of the plan and present it for discussion and consultations to the concerned Oromo People, and obtain their consents;
Compensate all loses and damages that resulted from the brutal actions of its armed forces.
HRLHA also calls up on regional and international diplomatic, democratic, and human rights agencies to challenge the Ethiopian TPLF/EPRDF government on its persistent brutal, dictatorial, and suppressive actions against innocent and unarmed civilians who are attempting to exercise some of their “said-to-have-been-granted” democratic rights.
Caamsaa 14,2014 Gara Jabeenya Wayyaanee TPLFn Magaalli Naqamte Akkasitti Oolte. TPLF’s cruelty Against Oromo students and civilians at Nekemte, Wolega university, 14 May 2014. 6 innocent people murdered.
DOCUMENT – ETHIOPIA: AUTHORITIES MUST PROVIDE JUSTICE FOR SCORES OF PROTESTERS KILLED, INJURED AND ARRESTED IN OROMIA
AMNESTY INTERNATIONALPUBLIC STATEMENT13 May 2014AI Index: AFR 25/002/2014
ETHIOPIA: AUTHORITIES MUST PROVIDE JUSTICE FOR SCORES OF PROTESTERS KILLED, INJURED AND ARRESTED IN OROMIA
Amnesty International condemns the use of excessive force by security forces against peaceful protesters in a number of locations across the Oromia region during the last two weeks, which has resulted in the deaths and injuries of dozens of people including students and children. Many hundreds of protesters are reported to have been arbitrarily arrested, and are being detained incommunicado and without charge. Detainees are at risk of torture. The Ethiopian government must immediately instruct the security forces to cease using deadly force against peaceful protesters, and to release any person who has been arrested solely because of their involvement in peaceful protests. These incidents must be urgently and properly investigated, and suspected perpetrators should be prosecuted in effective trial proceedings. Since late April, protests have taken place in many universities and towns across the Oromia region over the ‘Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan’ – a plan from the central government to expand the capital, Addis Ababa, into parts of Oromia – the region which surrounds the city. The government says the master plan for expansion would bring city services to remote areas. However, the protesters, and many other Oromos, the ethnic group that makes up the significant majority of the population of Oromia regional state, fear that the move will be detrimental to the interests of Oromo farmers, and will lead to large scale evictions to make way for land leasing or sale. Many Oromos also consider the move to be in violation of the Constitutionally-guaranteed protection of the ‘special interests’ of the Oromia state. Numerous reports from witnesses, local residents and other sources indicate that the security forces have responded with excessive force against peaceful protesters. Forces comprised of the federal police and military special forces known as ‘Agazi’, have fired live ammunition at unarmed protesters in a number of locations including in Wallega and Madawalabu universities and Ambo and Guder towns, resulting in deaths in each location. One witness told Amnesty International that on the third day of protest in Guder town, near Ambo, the security forces were waiting for the protesters and opened fire when they arrived. She said five people were killed in front of her. A source in Robe town, the location of Madawalabu University, told Amnesty International that 11 bodies had been seen in a hospital in the town. Another witness said they had seen five bodies in Ambo hospital. There are major restrictions on independent journalism and human rights monitoring organizations in Ethiopia as well as on exchange of information. Because of these restrictions, in conjunction with the number of incidents that occurred in the last two weeks, it is not possible to establish the exact number of those who have been killed. The government acknowledged that three students had died at Madawalabu University, and five persons had died in Ambo town, but did not state the cause of death. Numbers of deaths reported by witnesses and residents within Oromia are significantly higher. Investigations into these incidents must include the establishment of comprehensive numbers of people killed and injured in all incidents. According to eye-witness reports received by Amnesty International, of those who were killed some people, including students and children, died instantly during protests, while some died subsequently in hospitals as a result of their injuries. Children as young as 11 years old were among the dead. Students and teachers constitute the majority of those killed and injured. Protesters were also reportedly beaten up during and after protests, resulting in scores of injuries in locations including Ambo, Jimma, Nekempte, Wallega, Dembi Dollo, Robe town, Madawalabu, and Haromaya. Hundreds of people have been arrested across many locations. The main Oromo opposition party, the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) which has been collecting information from its members throughout the region, believes those arrested may total several thousand. Witnesses told Amnesty International that in many cases the arrests took place after the protesters had dispersed. Security forces have conducted house to house searches in many locations in the region, for students and others who may have been involved. New arrests continue to be reported. A small number of people have been released, but most of those arrested remain in incommunicado detention, in many cases in unknown locations. The OFC also reports that two of its members were arrested in Ambo because they had spoken to a Voice of America reporter about events in the town. Hundreds of those arrested have been taken to unofficial places of detention including Senkele police training camp. One local resident, whose nephew was shot dead during the Ambo protests, told Amnesty International that detainees in Senkele have been prevented from seeing their families or receiving food from them. Military camps in Oromia have regularly been used to detain thousands of actual or perceived government opponents. Detention in military camps is almost always arbitrary – detainees are not charged or taken to a court for the duration of their detention, which in some cases has lasted for many years. In the majority of cases, detainees in military camps have no access to lawyers or to their families for the duration of their detention. Amnesty International has received countless reports of torture being widespread in military camps. The organization fears that the recent detainees are at serious risk of torture and other ill-treatment. There is a very high security force presence in towns across the region in recent days, including in university campuses. Witnesses in several locations say that classes have been suspended in the universities. Amnesty International has heard from other locations, where classes have continued or resumed, that attendance registers are being taken for every class, with serious repercussions threatened for those not present. Amnesty International has also received several reports that in a number of locations throughout the region local residents are being beaten and in some cases, arrested by the police, ostensibly to intimidate them against taking part in further protests. Police are also threatening parents to control their children. One witness told Amnesty International that one man who went to collect his son’s body, who had been shot dead during a protest, was severely beaten by security forces telling him he should have taught his son some discipline. The OFC says the response of the security forces has fuelled further protests as the colleagues, parents and community members of those killed and injured have joined in further protests against the brutality of the security forces. In some locations anger at the actions of the security forces has resulted in burning of cars and damage to property. The Ethiopian authorities regularly suppress peaceful protests, which has often included the use of excessive force against protesters. The Oromos have long felt discriminated against by successive governments. The current government is hostile to all dissent. However, this hostility often manifests most fiercely in the Oromia region, where signs of dissent are looked for and suppressed even more brutally than in other parts of the country. Scores of Oromos are regularly arrested based on their actual or suspected opposition to the government. The recent events are highly reminiscent of events in 2004 when months of protests broke out across the Oromia region and in Addis Ababa by college and school students demonstrating against a federal government decision to transfer the regional state capital from Addis Ababa to Adama (also known as Nazret), a town 100 kilometres south-east of Addis Ababa. The transfer was perceived to be against Oromo interests. Police used live ammunition in some incidents to disperse demonstrators, killing several students and wounding many others, which led to further protests. Hundreds of students were arrested and detained for periods ranging from several days to several months, without charge or trial. Many were severely beaten when police dispersed protests or in detention. Subsequently hundreds were expelled or suspended from university and many suffered long-term repercussions such as repeated arrest based on the residual suspicion of holding dissenting opinions. The events of the last two weeks in Oromia demonstrate that there has been no improvement in Ethiopia’s policing practices in the last decade, and that very serious concerns remain about the willingness of the Ethiopian security forces to use excessive force against peaceful protesters. These events also show that major restrictions remain on the ability of peaceful protesters to express grievances or make political points in Ethiopia. The environment for peaceful protest, freedom of expression and political participation has worsened over the last decade. The recent events in Oromia fall at a time when the local population and interested parties internationally, are starting to look towards the general elections in May 2015. The aftermath of the disputed 2005 elections also saw excessive use of force against peaceful protesters during widespread demonstrations against the alleged rigging of the election by the ruling EPRDF party. Security forces opened fire on protesters in Addis Ababa resulting in the deaths of more than 180 people. The recent events bode very ill for the run up to the 2015 elections, still a year away. Unless substantial reforms are urgently initiated, Amnesty International is concerned that the run up to the elections will be characterised by further serious violations of human rights. Amnesty International urges the Ethiopian authorities to immediately and publicly instruct the security forces to cease using excessive force against peaceful protesters in Oromia. While some of the recent protests in Oromia are reported to have seen incidents of violence, including destruction of property, the use of force, including lethal force, by security forces must comply with human rights standards at all times in order to protect the right to life. Amnesty International urges that any police response to further protests must comply with international requirements of necessity and proportionality in the use of force, in line with the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials. These principles state that law enforcement may use only such force as is necessary and proportionate to maintain public order, and may only intentionally use lethal force if strictly necessary to protect human life. Thorough investigations which are credible and impartial must urgently take place into allegations of excessive use of force against peaceful protesters, and the torture of protesters and other members of local communities in Oromia, and where admissible evidence of crimes is found, suspected perpetrators should be prosecuted in effective trial proceedings that meet international standards. All persons arrested solely because of their participation in peaceful protests must be immediately and unconditionally released. Amnesty International urges that no-one suffers any violation or denial of their human rights as a result of their involvement in peaceful protests including any suspension or termination of their education. Finally, Amnesty International urges the Ethiopian government to respect all Ethiopians’ right to peacefully protest, as guaranteed under the Ethiopian Constitution and in accordance with Ethiopia’s international legal obligations, including under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The government should immediately remove all restrictions on free and open political participation, including restrictions on the independent media, civil society and political opposition parties.
Press Release from the Oromia Support Group (OSG) on the Oromo demonstrators arrested, beaten and shot dead by the Ethiopian Agazi Security Forces
Posted: Caamsaa/May 9, 2014 · Gadaa.com
Press Release from the Oromia Support Group-UK 7 May 2014 60 Westminster Rd Malvern, Worcs WR14 4ES UK Tel +44 (0)1684 573722 Email: osg@talktalk.net Demonstrators arrested, beaten and shot dead At least 16 peaceful student demonstrators were shot dead by the Agazi, Ethiopia’s riot police, between 28 April and 1 May. Protests against the planned extension of Addis Ababa city administration, which would evict thousands of farmers and split Oromia Region in two, were met with live ammunition and indiscriminate beating. Several killings were in Ambo, where 27,000 reportedly took to the streets, but demonstrations were also met with violence in Guder, Adama, Dire Dawa, Robe, Jimma, Metu, Nekemt, Gimbi and Dembi Dollo – high schools and universities in central, east and west Oromia Region. Sources claimed 25-50 were killed. At least seven were confirmed dead in Ambo alone. Many were badly injured and hundreds were taken from streets and university campuses to places of detention, where protestors and opposition party supporters are routinely tortured and raped. Names of confirmed dead, injured or detained are given overleaf. Those killed include Endale Desalegn (Temesgen), and Tasfaye Gashe, both ninth grade students in Ambo. Individuals in the UK are requested to write to their MPs, requesting them to ask the Minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, and the Minister for International Development, Lynne Featherstone, what the British Government intends to do in response to this latest episode of killing and detaining peaceful demonstrators. Killed: Ababa Kumsa – Wallega Abdi Kamal – Guder Junior Secondary School Abdisa Nagasa – Wallega Endale Desalegn (or Temesgen) – Ambo High School Falmata Bayecha – Jimma 5th yr Medicine Galana Adaba – Jimma 3rd yr Governance Getachew Daraje – Jimma 3rd yr Governence Getahun Jirata – Guder Junior Secondary School Gexe Tafari – Wallega Gurmu Damxoo – Guder Junior Secondary School Hussen Umar – Jimma Israel Habtamu – Jimma Kumala Guddisa – Guder Junior Secondary School Tadesse Gashee – Ambo Liban Macha Junior Secondary School Tashome Dawit – Wallega Zabana Barasa – Jimma 3rd yr Governance (or Oromo Folklore) Injured: Balay Kusa – Mida Qanyi School – W Showa Bayisa Obsa – Mida Qanyi School – W Showa Dararsa Ayana – Mida Qanyi School – W Showa Adama University students detained and beaten: Abrahm Makonin Ararso Abenzari Hagaye Yohannis Abdala Hussen Julio Amnu’el Burka Danka Andu’alam Telahun Alemayo Ayantu Jalta Misha Bilisuma Lamii Agaa Bonsa Badhadha Bati Bultu Wadaju Bultum Chala Galan Dabiso Datamo Fayera Shif Dane Abo Bushira Dani’el Admasu Tamsgen Didaa Ahmed Ibroo Duni Hussen Walbu Ebisa Malka Nuruu Etihafa Tuffa Soraa Fantale Faru Qarsuu Fayisa Girma Biranu Gada Dinqa Bayisa Humin’esa Miliki Fanta Ibraham Musa Awal Ifabas Burisho Nuruu Iliyas Ishetu Ibsa Lami Marga Gabru Lelisa Ayansa Marga Marga Tuffa kiltu Magris Banta Sodaa Muktar Jeyilan Sa’ed Musxafa Kadir Siraj Nuho Gudata Irre Odaa Damis Bonjaa Shibiru Tariku Falke Sidise Jara Tashome Bakele Sabbatichal Tadalu Mamo Bacha Takalinyi Ketama Baharu Tayee Tafara Agaa Tullu Bonus Tura Welbuma Ragasa Qalbesa
Security Forces Fire On, Beat Students Protesting Plan to Expand Capital Boundaries
(Nairobi) – Ethiopian security forces should cease using excessive force against students peacefully protesting plans to extend the boundaries of the capital, Addis Ababa. The authorities should immediately release students and others arbitrarily arrested during the protests and investigate and hold accountable security officials who are responsible for abuses.On May 6, 2014, the government will appear before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva for the country’s Universal Periodic Review of its human rights record.“Students have concerns about the fate of farmers and others on land the government wants to move inside Addis Ababa,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director. “Rather than having its security forces attack peaceful protesters, the government should sit down and discuss the students’ grievances.”Since April 25, students have demonstrated throughout Oromia Regional State to protest the government’s plan to substantially expand the municipal boundaries of Addis Ababa, which the students feel would threaten communities currently under regional jurisdiction. Security forces have responded by shooting at and beating peaceful protesters in Ambo, Nekemte, Jimma, and other towns with unconfirmed reports from witnesses of dozens of casualties.Protests began at universities in Ambo and other large towns throughout Oromia, and spread to smaller communities throughout the region. Witnesses said security forces fired live ammunition at peaceful protesters in Ambo on April 30. Official government statements put the number of dead in Ambo at eight, but various credible local sources put the death toll much higher. Since the events in Ambo, the security forces have allegedly used excessive force against protesters throughout the region, resulting in further casualties. Ethiopian authorities have said there has been widespread looting and destruction of property during the protests.The protests erupted over the release in April of the proposed Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan, which outlines plans for Addis Ababa’s municipal expansion. Under the proposed plan, Addis Ababa’s municipal boundary would be expanded substantially to include more than 15 communities in Oromia. This land would fall under the jurisdiction of the Addis Ababa City Administration and would no longer be managed by Oromia Regional State. Demonstrators have expressed concern about the displacement of Oromo farmers and residents on the affected land.|Ethiopia is experiencing an economic boom and the government has ambitious plans for further economic growth. This boom has resulted in a growing middle class in Addis Ababa and an increased demand for residential, commercial, and industrial properties. There has not been meaningful consultation with impacted communities during the early stages of this expansion into the surrounding countryside, raising concerns about the risk of inadequate compensation and due process protections to displaced farmers and residents. Oromia is the largest of Ethiopia’s nine regions and is inhabited largely by ethnic Oromos. The Oromos are Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group and have historically felt marginalized and discriminated against by successive Ethiopian governments. The city of Addis Ababa is surrounded on all sides by the Oromia region. Given very tight restrictions on independent media and human rights monitoring in Ethiopia, it is difficult to corroborate the government crackdown in Oromia. There is little independent media in Oromia to monitor these events, and foreign journalists who have attempted to reach demonstrations have been turned away or detained. Ethiopia has one of the most repressive media environments in the world. Numerous journalists are in prison, independent media outlets are regularly closed down, and many journalists have fled the country. Underscoring the repressive situation, the government on April 25 and 26 arbitrarily arrestednine bloggers and journalists in Addis Ababa. They remain in detention without charge. In addition, the Charities and Societies Proclamation, enacted in 2009, has severely curtailed the ability of independent human rights organizations to investigate and report on human rights abuses like the recent events in Oromia. “The government should not be able to escape accountability for abuses in Oromo because it has muzzled the media and human rights groups,” Lefkow said. Since Ethiopia’s last Universal Periodic Review in 2009 its human rights record has taken a significant downturn, with the authorities showing increasing intolerance of any criticism of the government and further restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and association. The recent crackdown in Oromia highlights the risks protesters face and the inability of the media and human rights groups to report on important events. Ethiopian authorities should abide by the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, which provide that all security forces shall, as far as possible, apply nonviolent means before resorting to force. Whenever the lawful use of force is unavoidable, the authorities must use restraint and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offense. Law enforcement officials should not use firearms against people “except in self-defense or defense of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury.” “Ethiopia’s heavy handed reaction to the Oromo protests is the latest example of the government’s ruthless response to any criticism of its policies,” Lefkow said. “UN member countries should tell Ethiopia that responding with excessive force against protesters is unacceptable and needs to stop.”
Oromo: Ethiopia Uses Force Against Peaceful Student Protesters
The Ethiopian government has used excessive force against students peacefully protesting the Government’s plans to expand the municipal boundaries of Addis Ababa, which would threaten the communities currently under regional jurisdiction, and would no longer be managed by Oromia Regional State. Demonstrators have expressed concern about the displacement of Oromo farmers and residents on the affected land. Below is an article published by Human Rights Watch: Ethiopian security forces should cease using excessive force against students peacefully protesting plans to extend the boundaries of the capital, Addis Ababa. The authorities should immediately release students and others arbitrarily arrested during the protests and investigate and hold accountable security officials who are responsible for abuses. On May 6, 2014, the government will appear before the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva for the country’s Universal Periodic Review of its human rights record. “Students have concerns about the fate of farmers and others on land the government wants to move inside Addis Ababa,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director. “Rather than having its security forces attack peaceful protesters, the government should sit down and discuss the students’ grievances.” Since April 25 [2014], students have demonstrated throughout Oromia Regional State to protest the government’s plan to substantially expand the municipal boundaries of Addis Ababa, which the students feel would threaten communities currently under regional jurisdiction. Security forces have responded by shooting at and beating peaceful protesters in Ambo, Nekemte, Jimma, and other towns with unconfirmed reports from witnesses of dozens of casualties. Protests began at universities in Ambo and other large towns throughout Oromia, and spread to smaller communities throughout the region. Witnesses said security forces fired live ammunition at peaceful protesters in Ambo on April 30 [2014]. Official government statements put the number of dead in Ambo at eight, but various credible local sources put the death toll much higher. Since the events in Ambo, the security forces have allegedly used excessive force against protesters throughout the region, resulting in further casualties. Ethiopian authorities have said there has been widespread looting and destruction of property during the protests. The protests erupted over the release in April of the proposed Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan, which outlines plans for Addis Ababa’s municipal expansion. Under the proposed plan, Addis Ababa’s municipal boundary would be expanded substantially to include more than 15 communities in Oromia. This land would fall under the jurisdiction of the Addis Ababa City Administration and would no longer be managed by Oromia Regional State. Demonstrators have expressed concern about the displacement of Oromo farmers and residents on the affected land. Ethiopia is experiencing an economic boom and the government has ambitious plans for further economic growth. This boom has resulted in a growing middle class in Addis Ababa and an increased demand for residential, commercial, and industrial properties. There has not been meaningful consultation with impacted communities during the early stages of this expansion into the surrounding countryside, raising concerns about the risk of inadequate compensation and due process protections to displaced farmers and residents. Oromia is the largest of Ethiopia’s nine regions and is inhabited largely by ethnic Oromos. The Oromos are Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group and have historically felt marginalized and discriminated against by successive Ethiopian governments. The city of Addis Ababa is surrounded on all sides by the Oromia region. Given very tight restrictions on independent media and human rights monitoring in Ethiopia, it is difficult to corroborate the government crackdown in Oromia. There is little independent media in Oromia to monitor these events, and foreign journalists who have attempted to reach demonstrations have been turned away or detained. Ethiopia has one of the most repressive media environments in the world. Numerous journalists are in prison, independent media outlets are regularly closed down, and many journalists have fled the country. Underscoring the repressive situation, the government on April 25 [2014] and 26 [2014] arbitrarily arrested nine bloggers and journalists in Addis Ababa. They remain in detention without charge. In addition, the Charities and Societies Proclamation, enacted in 2009, has severely curtailed the ability of independent human rights organizations to investigate and report on human rights abuses like the recent events in Oromia. “The government should not be able to escape accountability for abuses in Oromo because it has muzzled the media and human rights groups,” Lefkow said. Since Ethiopia’s last Universal Periodic Review in 2009 its human rights record has taken a significant downturn, with the authorities showing increasing intolerance of any criticism of the government and further restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression and association. The recent crackdown in Oromia highlights the risks protesters face and the inability of the media and human rights groups to report on important events. Ethiopian authorities should abide by the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials, which provide that all security forces shall, as far as possible, apply nonviolent means before resorting to force. Whenever the lawful use of force is unavoidable, the authorities must use restraint and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offense. Law enforcement officials should not use firearms against people “except in self-defense or defense of others against the imminent threat of death or serious injury.” “Ethiopia’s heavy handed reaction to the Oromo protests is the latest example of the government’s ruthless response to any criticism of its policies,” Lefkow said. “UN member countries should tell Ethiopia that responding with excessive force against protesters is unacceptable and needs to stop.” See more at: http://www.unpo.org/article/17121#sthash.fL16bpV8.dpuf
HRLHA Urgent Action
May 1, 2014
The human rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) would like to express its deepest concern over the widespread brutalities of the Ethiopian Government in handling protests in different parts of the regional state of Oromia by peaceful demonstrators. In a heavy-handed crackdown being carried out by the federal armed squad called Agazi, which is infamously known for its cruelty against innocent civilians particularly during such public protests, 16 (sixteen) Oromo students have so far been shot dead in the town of Ambo alone and scores of others have been wounded, according to HRLHA correspondents in the area. The victims of the brutal attacks were not only from Federal Police brutality in Ambo town among those who were out protesting in the streets, but also among those who stayed behind on university campuses. Hundreds of others have also been arrested, loaded on police trucks, and taken to unknown destinations.
Although the brutalities of the armed squad and the resultant fatalities happened to be very high in Ambo Town, the peaceful protests by Oromo students of different universities and faculties have been taking place in the past couple of days in various towns and cities of Oromia including Diredawa and Adama in eatern Oromia, as well as Jimma, Mettu, Naqamte, Gimbi, and Dambidollo in western Oromia.
The Oromo students in all those and other universities took to the streets for peaceful demonstrations in protest to the recently made decision by the Federal EPRDF/TPLF- led Government to expand the city of Finfinnee/Addis Ababa by uprooting and displacing hundreds of thousands of Oromos from all sorts of livelihoods, and annexing about 36 surrounding towns of Oromia, the ultimate goal of which is claimed to be re- drawing the map of the Oromia Region. The federal annexation plan, which was termed as “The Integrated Development Master Plan”, is said to be covering the towns of Dukem, Gelan, Legetafo, Sendafa, Sululta, Burayu, Holeta, Sebeta, and others, stretching the boundary of Finfinne/Addis Ababa to about 1.1million hectares – an area of 20 times its current size.
The Oromo protesters claim that the decision was in violation of both the regional and federal constitutions that guarantee the ownership, special interests and benefits of the Oromo Nation over Finfinne/Addis Ababa. Similar unlawful and unconstitutional action taken at different times in the past fifteen and twenty years have already resulted in the dispossessions of lands and displacements of hundreds of thousands of Oromos farmers and business owners from around the city of Finfinne, forcing them into unemployment and day labourer.
The HRLHA has been able to obtain the names of the following students from among those who have been shot dead, wounded, and/or arrested and taken away:
No Name Gender University & Department
1 Falmata Bayecha M Jimma, Medicine 5th year 2 Galana Ababa M Jimma, Governance 3rd year 3 Zabana Barasa M Jimma, Oromo Folklore 3rd year 4 Getacho Darajje M Jimma, Governance 3rd year 5 Isra’el Habtamu M Jimma 6 Husen Umar M Jimma 7 Ababa Kumsa M Wallagga 8 Abdisa Nagasa M Wallagga 9 Tashome Dawit M Wallagga 10 Gexe Tafari F Wallagga
By so doing, the Ethiopian Government violates the property rights of peoples, which is clearly described both in local and international agreements including the Ethiopia constitution of 1995 article 40(3). While strongly condemning the brutality of the Ethiopian Government against its own people, specifically the youth, HRLHA would like to once again express its deep concerns regarding the whereabouts as well as safety of the students who have been taken into custody in relation to this protest.
HRLHA calls up on the Ethiopian Government to immediately stop shooting at and killed unarmed peaceful protestors who are attempting to exercise some of their fundamental rights and freedom of expression; and unconditionally release the detained students. We also request that the Ethiopian Government bring to justice the security agents who have committed criminal offences against own citizens by violating domestic and international human rights norms. HRLHA also calls up on regional and international diplomatic, democratic, and human rights agencies to challenge the Ethiopian TPLF/EPRDF government on its persistent brutal, dictatorial, and suppressive actions against innocent and unarmed civilians.
RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to the Ethiopian Government and its concerned officials as swiftly as possible, in English, Ahmaric, or your own language expressing:
Your concerns over at the apprehension hundreds of students, and fear of torture of the citizens who are being held in Ma’ikelawi Central Investigation Office and other detention centers since February, 2011 to present at different times, and calling for their immediate and unconditional release;
Urging the authorities of Ethiopia to ensure that these detainees are treated in accordance with regional and international standards on the treatment of prisoners,
Urging the Ethiopian Government to disclose whereabouts of the detainees and,
Your concerns to diplomatic representatives of Ethiopia accredited to your respective countries,
Send Your Concerns to
His Excellency: Mr. Haila Mariam Dessalegn – Prime Minister of Ethiopia P.O.Box – 1031 Addis Ababa Telephone – +251 155 20 44; +251 111 32 41 Fax – +251 155 20 30 , +251 15520
Office of Oromiya National Regional State President Office Telephone – 0115510455
• Office of the Ministry of Justice of Ethiopia PO Box 1370, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Fax: +251 11 5517775; +251 11 5520874 Email: ministry- justice@telecom.net.et
UNESCO Headquarters Paris. 7, place de Fontenoy 75352 Paris 07 SP France 1, rue Miollis 75732 Paris Cedex 15 France General phone: +33 (0)1 45 68 10 00 http://www.unesco.org
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)- Africa Department 7 place Fontenoy,75352 Paris 07 SP France General phone: +33 (0)1 45 68 10 00 Website:http://www.unesco.org/new/en/africa-department/
UNESCO AFRICA RIGIONAL OFFICE MR.JOSEPH NGU Director
UNESCO Office in Abuja Mail: j.ngu(at)unesco.org Tel: +251 11 5445284 Fax: +251 11 5514936
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights United Nations Office at Geneva 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland Fax: + 41 22 917 9022 (particularly for urgent matters) E-mail: tb-petitions@ohchr.org this e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Office of the UNHCR Telephone: 41 22 739 8111 Fax: 41 22 739 7377 Po Box: 2500 Geneva, Switzerland
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) 48 Kairaba Avenue, P.O.Box 673, Banjul, The Gambia. Tel: (220) 4392 962 , 4372070, 4377721 – 23 Fax: (220) 4390 764 E-mail: achpr@achpr.org
Office of the Commissioner for Human Rights
Council of Europe F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex, FRANCE + 33 (0)3 88 41 34 21 + 33 (0)3 90 21 50 53 Contact us by email
U.S. Department of State Laura Hruby
Ethiopia Desk Officer U.S. State Department HrubyLP@state.gov Tel: (202) 647-6473
Amnesty International – London Claire Beston Claire Beston” <claire.beston@amnesty.org>,
Human Rights Watch Felix Hor “Felix Horne” <hornef@hrw.org>
Mekonnen Hirphaa, Civil Engineering student killed at Madda Walabuu University, Robe.
Since Ethiopia’s Tigrean Peoples Liberation Front apartheid army massacred over 52 people and injured as many on April 30th in Ambo town, confirmed killings have spiraled to 85, including 5 students killed, in Dambi Dollo town in Western Oromia today. Eyewitnesses told Oromo Press, 1 female student and 4 others were gunned down in Dambi Dollo on May 6 during a peaceful protest against the Addis Ababa Master Plan, which aims to evict 10 million Oromo farmers from Finfinne and surrounding towns and villages. Students were chanting, “Oromia will not be sold,” when they were indiscriminately fired on by Ethiopia’s army. 30 students are reported injured from live ammunition and excessive tear gas application.
Kumala Gudisa Bali, who was shot in Ambo, on April 30th and transported to Finfinne (Addis Ababa) for hospitalization, also died today at Black Lion Hospital.
Kumala Gudisa Bali, 1 of 52 massacred in Ambo
Many of students who were killed were shot multiple times on the head, neck and on the chest proving the brutality of the ethnically-pure Tigirean Agazi military unit. Other brutal methods of killings include hurling grenades into a crowd of students in soccer fields–one person died this way and 70 were injured this way at Haromaya University. Some members of the federal police gauged out eyes of some Oromos under arrest uttering ethno-racial slurs and “you will never see again.”
In a related breaking news from Fiche town, in north central Oromia, schools are shut down and surrounded by TPLF Ethiopia’s army. Witnesses saw at least 50 people, including students, teachers and residents being loaded and whisked away in military convoys. The students at Fiche were not even protesting when the army falsely told them that they were there to detonate a bomb and an explosive buried in the school compounds.
Ethiopia’s TPLF government is disarming Oromia regional police and replacing them with the more loyal and ethnically-pure TPLF soldiers and federal police. Oromia Times confirmed the imprisonment of “4 Oromia police commanders for refusal to order the use of lethal forces” against civilians and students. The Oromo police commanders were Lieutenants: Tadesse Legesse Gemechu, Habtamu Ragassa, Ayana Milkessa, and Alemu Kitessa Sanyi.
As many reporters, including BBC’s Mary Harper rightly observe: “it is very, very difficult for information to come out showing just how the authorities there are very repressive.”
Even human rights organizations with better resources, including Human Rights Watch, have been unable to get the exact numbers of students and civilians killed, injured and imprisoned in Oromia over the last 13 days. The general consensus, however, is that excessive force is being used by Ethiopia’s army to respond to peaceful student protesters demanding an end to ethnic-cleansing under the guise of urban development and city expansion.
The following is a statement from the International Oromo Youth Association (IOYA).
——————— May 1, 2014 Oromo students in Ethiopia are currently facing assault, imprisonment, and death due to the mass protests in Universities against the “Integrated Development Master Plan, “also known as the, “Addis Master Plan” The proposed plan aims to expand the current territory of Ethiopia’s capital by evicting and displacing thousands, if not millions of Oromo peasants from their lands. Student protestors are opposing the eviction of peasants from their lands and illegal expansion at the expense of indigenous people. Students at multiple universities including Jimma, Wollo, Haramaya, Ambo, Wollega, Metu, Bolu Hora, Adama, Maddawalabu and Dire Dawa University campuses continue to express their concerns through ongoing peaceful protests. On April 29, 2014, an estimated 25,000 people in Ambo marched in the streets of Oromia in opposition to the government’s plan. In an attempt to intimidate and deter further protests, Ethiopian security forces responded with gunfire and killed several students, leaving many others injured. To date, the numbers of deaths are still rising and Security forces are sent into various cities to silence further protests. The current crackdown on innocent students is no surprise to the international community. The Ethiopian government has been silencing dissenting voices by violently intimidating, killing, and torturing those who dare question or oppose its policies. Local reports indicate that the protests will continue so long as the Ethiopian government ignores the basic constitutional and free speech rights of the Oromo people. The atrocities and dehumanization of Oromo students must be stopped. Ethiopia continues to devalue basic human rights of the Oromo people and we cannot affirm their policies by staying silent. Our organization as a collective will be making a campaign video to raise awareness about the issue unfolding in the Oromia Region. We are asking for other communities to follow in solidarity and demand their respective communities to condemn atrocities being committed against students in Oromia. IOYA calls upon all Oromo and all human rights organizations to write letters to the international community and publicly stand in solidarity with the protesters right to condemn land eviction, displacement and disregard for regional constitutional rights. Sincerely, International Oromo Youth Association Website: www.ioya.org
Massacre of Peaceful Demonstrators- Perpetual Habit of TPLF RegimeOLF Press Release The level of repression and exploitation exacted by the successive regimes of Ethiopia on the subject peoples under their rule in general and the Oromo people in particular has been so unbearable that the people are in constant revolt. It has also been the case that, instead of providing peaceful resolution to a demand peacefully raised, the successive regimes have opted to violently suppress by daylight massacre, detention and torture, looting, evicting and forcing them to leave the country. Hundreds of students have been dismissed from their learning institutions. This revolt, spearheaded by the Oromo youth in general and the students in particular, has currently transformed into an Oromia wide total popular uprising.The response of the regime has, however, remained the same except this time adding the fashionable camouflage pretext of terrorism and heightened intensity of the repression. This has been the case in Ambo,MaddaWalabou,DambiDoolloo,Naqamte,Geedoo,HorrooGuduruu,BaaleeandCiroo in Oromia;andMaqaleeinTigray aswellGojjam in Amhara region, by the direct order fromtheTigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) leaders in the last 22 years.Tens of peaceful demonstrators, including children under the age of 10,have been massacred in Ambo,MaddaWalabou yesterday April 30, 2014. Hand grenades have been deliberately thrown on student demonstrators in AmboandHaramaya Universities causing several death and serious wounds.Morehave been detained. Indiscriminate severe beating, including elderly, women and children by Federal Police and militia, is widespread.TheOLF condemnsthe perpetration of these atrocities and holds, the Prime Minister of the regime, the army, federal police and security chiefs, directly responsible for these crimes selectively targeting the Oromo, who peacefully presented their legitimate demands.TheOLF renews its call on the Oromo nationals who are serving in the armed forces of this regime not only to refrain from partaking in this crime against their parents, siblings and children; but also to resist and stand in defense of their kin and kith and other civilians.We call upon the Oromo people both inside and outside the country, to realize that wehave been pushed to the limit. The only way out of this and to redeem the agony visited upon us for the past is to fight back in unison. We specially call upon you in the Diaspora to act on behalf of your brethren, who are under siege, and urge the nations who host you to discharge their responsibility as government anda community of human beings towards thelong suffering Oromo and otherpeoples under the criminalTPLF regime.We urge again and again that the international community, human rights and organizations and governments for democracy to use their influence and do all they can to stop the ongoing atrocity against the Oromo people. Failure to act immediately will be tantamount to condoning.Victory to the Oromo People!Oromo Liberation Front May 01,2014ABO:HumnaWaraanaanHiriiraNagaaUkkaamsuunIttiFufaGochaaMootummaaWayyaaneWagga 22tiIbsaABOirraakennameHacuuccaa fisaaminsisirnootaabbootiiirreesirnootadarabeenItophiyaabitanbifa addaaddaangaggeeffamuummatootaItophiyaaadddattiammooummataOromooirraanmiidhaandhaqqabsiisesadarkaa hinobsamnedhaqqabuuirraaummatniOromoogaaffiimirgaa fidimokraasiikaasuudhaanwaggootadheeraafqabsoottijira.QabsoonummatniOromoosirnabittootaairrattiadeemsisaaturee fijirukunis har’a sadarkaa olaanaattitarkaanfateeguutuuOromiyaakeessattigarafincilaummataattijijjiiramee argama.Haa tahumaleemootummootniItophiyaagaaffiiummatniOromookaraanagaadhiheeffatu dhaga’anii furmaataittigochuuirrahumnaanukkaamsuu kanfilatantahuundhugaairra deddeebi’ee mul’ate dha.QabsoohaqaaummatniOromooittijiruufdeebisabarbaachisukeennuuirra “farranagaa, farramisoomaa,shororkeessota fikkfjechuunjumulaanajjeesuu,hidhuu,tumuu fibiyyaabaqachiisuuntarkaanfiileemootummootniItophiyaafudhataaturanii fijirani dha.Yeroo ammaa kanabarattootnii fidargaggootniOromooakkasumasummtniOromiyaaguutuukeessattigaaffiimirgaakaasuunhiriira nagaaadeemsisaajirankeessattideebiinargataajiranakkumaadeeffatamegaaffiibarattootaaofittifudhatuundeebiikennuuirrahaalasuukanneessanajjeechaa,reebicha fihidhaatahaajira.TarkaanfiiajajahogganootasirnaWayyaaneenhumnawaraanaaamanamaasirnichaanilmaanii fiummataOromooirrattifudhatamaajiruunlammiiwwanOromoo kanijoolleenumrii10nigadiikeessattiargamanAmboo,MaddaWalaabuu fibakkootabiroottikudhanootaanajjeefamaniijiran.Amboo fi UniversityHaromayaakeessattiboombiileedargaggotaa fiummataharkaqullaairratidhoosuungaraajabinaanlubbuundhabamsiifamaajira.Hedduun manahidhaattigatamaniiru.Jaarsaa fijaartii,guddaa fixiqqaaosoo hinjennereebichiummataOromoobakkayyuuttiirragahaajirusukanneessaa dha.TarkaanfiifudhatamaajirukunisittifufaajjeechaabarattootaOromoogaaffiimirgaakaasuuirraa Ambo,DambiDoolloo,Naqamte,Geedoo,HorrooGuduruu,Baalee,Ciroo fiOromiyaanalattisTigrayMaqalee fiGojjamkeessattiajjeefamaa fijumulaanmanneenbarnootaakeessaa ari’amaa turanii ti.ABOn gaaffiihaqaaummatnikaasaajiruufdeebiigahaakennuuirratarkaanfiisuukanneessaamootummaaWayyaaneenfudhatamaa kanjirujabeesseebalaaleffata. Tarkaanfiigarajabinaahumnaaddaawaraanaa,poolisaFederaalaa fihidhattootaanfudhatamaajiru kanaajajuu firaawwachiisuukeessattikanneenqoodaqaban,MuummichiMinistaraasirnichaa,ajajaanhumnawaraanaa figaafatamaantikaamootummaaWayyaaneegaafatamootahuu hubachiisa.Kanatti dabalees ABOnilmaanOromoohumnawaraanaa fipoolisaakeessattiargaman kanajjeefamaa,hidhamaa fitumamaajiranabbootii,haawwanii fiobboleewwanisaaniitahuuhubatuuntarkaanfiihammeenyaa fidiinummaa fudhatamaajiru kanakeessattiakkaqooda hinfudhanneqofaosoo hintaaneakka duradhaabbatanirra deebi’eewaamicha dhiheessaaf.Ummatni Oromookeessaa fi alajiruammaanboodagidaarattidhiibameefilmaatadhorkamee kanmayiiirraagahuuhubateeharkaawalqabateemirgaisaafalmatuu figumaakanneenwaggaa 22darbanajjeefamaabahanii fiammasgaraalaafinamaleejumulaanajjeefamaajiraniiseeraanistahekaraa danda’amu hundaanakkafalamtuwaamichakeenyacimsineedabarsina.Addattikanneen alajirtansagaleeummata kanadhageessisuufakkasochootani fidirqamasabummaakeessanbaatan waamichagooana.Hawaasni addunyaa, dhaabbattootni mirga namoomaaf dhaabbatanii fi jaarmayootni mirga dimokraasiif falman hundis tarkaanfii mootummaan abbaa irree ummata fayyaaleyyii gaaffii mirgaa fi dimokraasii kaasan irratti fudhataa jiru farra dimokraasii tahuu hubatuun gochaa isaa hatattamaan akka dhaabuuf dhiibbaa barbaachisu akka godhan ABOn hubachiisa. Gochaa kana callisanii ilaaluun gochaa kana eebbisuu keessaa qooda fudhatuu tahuu ABO deddeebisee hubachisa.Injifannoo Ummata Oromoof!Adda Bilisumma Oromoo!
OLF Statement | Ibsa ABO: Massacre of Peaceful Demonstrators- Perpetual Habit of TPLF Regime
Partial lists of Oromo students of Adama University kidnapped by Agazi and the whereabouts are not know: As of 3rd May 2014 The total number of Oromo students and residents of Adama city reached over 100. Barattoota University Adaamaa Kaleessa Guyyaa 5/1/2014 Mana Hidhaatti Guuran Keessaa Kan Ammaaf Maqaa Isaanii Arganne Armaan Gaditti Laalaa… 1.ebisa maliika Nuruu 2.Musxafa kadir siraji 3.bulitu wadaju bulitum 4.bilisuma lamii agaa 5.ifabas burisho Nuruu 6.tullu bonus tura 7.tayee tafara agaa 8.fanitale faru qarisuu 9.didaa ahimad ibiroo 10.odaa damis bonjaa 11.calla galan dabiso 12.marga tuffa qiliixu 13.shibiru tariku falqaa 14.dani’eli adimasu tamsigen 15.etihafa tuffa soraa 16.bonsa badhadha bati 17.fayisa girma biramu 18.dane aboo bushira 19.nuho gudata irre 20.abidal hussen julio 21.walbum ragasa qalibesa 22.lami marga gabiru 23.lelisa aynisa marga 24.humin’esa miliki falta 25.magris banita sodaa 26.gada dinqa bayisa 27.tashom baqal sabbatical 28.abirahmi makonin ararisu 29.takalinyi katam baharu 30.abenzari hagaye yuhanis 31.amnu’el buriqa daniq 32.duni hussen walbu 33.andu’alami xilahun almayo 34.ayantu jalta mishap 35.sidise Jara 36.iliyas ishetu Ibisa 37.tadalu mamo baca 38.ibrahami musan awal 39.muktar jeyilan sa’edi 40.datamo fayer shifa#Oromoprotests the following students have been arrested Monday 12th May 2014 morning at Adama University. 1) Fawaz Ahmad Usman.Mechanical, Engineering, 3rd yr 2) Obsa Juwar, Management 2nd yr 3) Lencho (las name unidentified) Electrical and Computer Engineering, 2nd yr.
Their classmates are unable to locate where they were taken after being arrested 36 Oromo Students Arrested by TPLF Ethiopian Regime As Part of Ongoing Violent Crash of the #OromoProtests FDG Posted: Caamsaa/May 12, 2014 · www.gadaa.com Breaking News reaching our desk: an estimated 36 Oromo students have been arrested by the TPLF Ethiopian regime in Haro Limu (Eastern Wallaggaa, Oromia) over the last week. These arrests are in addition to the several hundred others being carried out across Oromia by the TPLF Ethiopian regime to crash the ongoing Oromo Students #OromoProtests FDG Movement.
The Oromo Students #OromoProtests FDG Movement opposes the implementation of the Addis Ababa Master “Genocide” Plan, and demands the institutionalization of the Special Interests of the State of Oromiyaa over Finfinnee as per the Constitution. In addition, as the TPLF Ethiopian regime has resorted to violence to resolve the demands of #OromoProtests FDG, the Movement seeks justice for the slain Oromos and release of those arrested by the TPLF regime.
Godina Iluu Abbaa Booraa, Aanaa Beddellee Magaala BEDDELLEE keessatti mootummaan wayyaanee yeroo ammaa kana barattoota Oromoo baay’ee isaanii badii tokko malee hidhuu fi reebuu itti fufee jira. Guyyaa gaafa kamisa, 01/05/2014 barattoota qabanii hanga ammaatti maatin wal argaa dhorkamani jiran keessa kannen maqaa jaraa bira geenye kan armaan gadiiti. 1. Barataa MANSUUR KAMAAL kutaa 10ffaa Mana barumsaa Ingibii sadarka 2ffaa magaala Beddele ira 2. Barataa MUJAAHID JAMAAL kutaa 12 ffaa mana barumsaa S/2ffaa fi Qophaa’ina magaalaa Beddele irraa 3. Barataa KAMAAL kan jedhamu maqa abba isaa kan nu qaqqabne yo ta’u, kutaa 10ffaa Mana barumsaa Ingibii sadarka 2ffaa magaala Beddele irraa kan baratudha. Kanneen biroo yeroo maqaa isaanii argannu sinii ibsina. QABSOON ITTI FUFA. Qerroo Magaala Beddellee irraa! Post nuf godha. #OromoProtests #OromoProtests This is horrible! Yesterday (7th May 2014) night (local time reference) two young males are reportedly found dead, Nekemte town, one around the area knows as mirtizer and the other around board. According to an eye witness regarding the later body: today early morning, on the newly constructed cobble stone road taking from board down towards celeleki, in front of Bethel KG school, a body watched by very few people and with no ID card was taken by police who said nothing but drive their car towards where they came from, pocket road towards kuteba! #OromoProtests8th May 201- The following students have been arrested and remain in jail in Galamso (W. Hararge) due to the protest that took place few days ago. They are kept at the ‘karchale’.
#OromoProtests: Over the last several days we have been hearing from observers and officers that Oromia police ( both regular and special) has been disarmed, particular in areas where protest took place. This decision seems to have come following the decision by Oromia police not disperse protesters at Madda Walabu University. Since then Federal police and Agazi forces did not only take over security response but also have been seen in many cities using vehicles marked Oromia Police (Poolisii Oromiyaa). More over, Oromia police commanders are not included in the ‘ Emergency Command Post’ created to suppress and contain the protest. The so called Command Post was first established at regional level now extend to all zones. Representatives of Oromia Police are not found in any of these command posts. The security slot in these Commands are filled with federal police commanders, intelligence officers and military personnel ( More in this soon).
Also note that almost all cases of clashes and use of lethal force happened where federal police/ Agazi special military contingent was deployed. The two pictures show Oromia Police monitoring protest without violence. The other picture show federal police riding in Oromia Police vehicle with heavy machine gun mounted. #OromoProtests– picture of Darartu Abdata, student and head Oromo Students Cultural Association at Dire Dawa University who has been isolated from the rest of the student population and kept incommunicado. Its feared she might subjected to torture and other harm. #OromoProtests Oromo student Wabii Tilahun, 2nd year Afan Oromo student at Ambo University kidnapped by Agazi, his where about is not known.Micaan Kun Wabii Xilahn Jedhama Barata Afan Oromoo Waggaa 2 ffaa Godina Wallagaa Baha Aana limmuu dhufee Umatii Magaala Kana Osoo Ijaa Keessaa Ilaaluu kitabaa isaa 700 Maxxaanfmee Osoo Hin Gurguramiin Hafe Hidha hin hiikamnee jedhuu Waliin Fudhanii Deemaan Hospital Mana Hidha Amboo Keessaa Akkaa Hin Jirreee Biraa Geenyee Jirraa. Essaa Akkaa Busaan ni Wallaallee!!!!! Iyii iyaa dabarsii yaa Ilmaan Oromoo!!! Magarsaa Worku, Oromo student of Haromaya University, kidnapped by Agazi #OromoProtests- OBALAYAAN KOO AKKA GARII HUBADHAA DUBISSAA ! INNII KUNI BARAATAA UNIVERSITY HAROO MAYA DHA TII MAQAAN ISSAA MAGARSSA WORKUU DHAA. GAFAA MORMII DIDAA GARBRUMMAA JALQAABEE SAN ISSAA KANATUU XALAAYAA GAFII HAYYAMAA HIRIRAA BAHUU KAN BARESSEE WAJIRALEE DHIMAA LALCHIFTUU HUNDAA KAN AKKA MOTUMMAA FEDERAL FI MANA CAFEE OROMIYAA FI WAJIRALEE BAHA OROMIYAA POLIS KOMISHIONERA FI WARA ILALCHIISSUU HUNDAA HARKKA ISSAN GALCHEE KAN GAFATEE TAHUU ISSA ISSIINII IBSAA.DUBAA ARAA BARATOOTAA SII FINCILSSISE JECHUU DHAN MIRGA BARATOOTAAF WAAN FALMATEE JECHUU DHAA MOTUUMAAN WAYANEE FARA NAGAYA BORESSITUU JECHUU DHAAN QABANII MANA HIDHAA SHINILE YKN KARSHALE DHIMAA WARA SIYASSA ITII MANA DUKKANA DACHII JALAA GALCHANII KOOBAA ISSA GUYAA MAY 10/2014 GANAMAA MAGALA DIRE DAWATII HIDHAMEE.MAGARSSA WORKU ARAA MANA HIDHA DACHII JALAA SHINELE DIRE DAWA ITII HIDHAA JIRAA.FREE MAGARSSA WORK .NO FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN ETHIOPIA
#OromoProtests this is Ababa Tilahun, a 2nd yr statistics student who was injured during an explosion at Haromaya University. Doctors at Hiwot Fana Hospital complain that police harassment and interference is hindering provision of proper medical aid to students.Kun Abbabaa Xilaahun, barataa waggaa istaatistiksii waggaa lammafati. Bombii magaalaa Haroomaayatti dhoo’een madaaye. Doktoroonni Hospitaala Hiwoot Faanaa doorsisni poolisootaan nurra gahaa jiru tajaajila fayyaa bifa tasgabbayeen kennuu nu hanqise jedhuun komatu.
Its killings, imprisonment, and all illegal acts of atrocities immediately,
Respect the constitution of the land (article 49/5) and terminate the so called “Integrated Development Addis Ababa Master Plan.”
Respect the rule of law and bring those who committed extrajudicial killings to court
Release all political prisoners, journalists and prisoners of conscience without any prerequisite.
All concerned NGOs are also kindly requested to come to the assistance of the people that become victims of the current siution in the country. 02 May 2014 Addis Ababa Seal: http://ethiomedia.com/16file/4559.html
Statements on the Massacre of Oromo youth by TPLF regime in Ethiopia
(OPride) — Ethiopia is gripped by widespread student demonstrations, which has so far left at least 47 people dead, several injured and hundreds arrested, according to locals. In a statement on April 30, the government put the death toll at 11. About 70 students were seriously wounded in a separate bomb blast at Haramaya University in eastern Oromia on April 29, the statement added. The protests began last month after ethnic Oromo students voiced concerns over a plan by Addis Ababa’s municipal authorities, which aims to expand the city’s borders deep into Oromia state annexing a handful of surrounding towns and villages. Ethiopia’s brutal federal special forces, known as Liyyu police, responded to nonviolent protests harshly, including with live bullets fired at close range at unarmed students. The government’s brutal crackdown swelled the ranks of demonstrators as defiant students turned out around the country expressing their outrage. Ethiopia maintains a tight grip on the free flow of information; journalists are often detained under flimsy charges. Given the difficulty of getting any information out of the country, it is very difficult to fully grasp the extent, prevalence, and background of the latest standoff. Here are ten basic questionsabout the protests:
Who are the Oromo?
The Oromo are Ethiopia’s single largest ethnic group, constituting close to 40 percent of the country’s 94 million population. Despite their numerical majority, the Oromo have historically faced economic, social and political marginalization in Ethiopia. Theoretically, this changed in 1991, when Ethiopia’s ruling party deposed Mengistu Hailemariam’s communist regime. The transitional government set up by a coalition of rebel groups endorsed ethnic federalism as a compromise solution for the country’s traumatic history. The charter, which established the new government, divided the country into nine linguistic-based states, including Oromia — the Oromo homeland. Covering an area of almost 32 percent of the country, Oromia is Ethiopia’s largest state both in terms of landmass and population. Endowed with natural resources, it is sometimes dubbed as “Ethiopia’s breadbasket .” Want to know more? Here is a handy guide: http://www.gadaa.com/thepeople.html
What are the Oromo students protesting exactly?
In a nutshell, the protesters oppose the mass eviction of poor farmers that are bound to follow the territorial expansion of Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Addis Ababa is a busy city that’s been rapidly expanding over the last decade — dispossessing and rendering many a poor farmer into beggars and daily laborers. Last month, in an apparent effort to improve the city’s global competitiveness and accommodate its growing middle-class, city officials unveiled what they call an “Integrated Development Master Plan,” which would guide the city’s growth over the next 25 years. But Ethiopia’s constitution places Addis Ababa in a peculiar position where it is at once a federal city and a regional capital for Oromia. While the city’s horizontal growth has always been contentious, this is the first attempt to alter its territorial boundaries.The actions by the authorities raise several disturbing questions. First, how does a jurisdiction annex another constitutionally created jurisdiction without any due process? What does this say about the sanctity of Ethiopia’s federalism? What arrangements were made to mitigate the mass eviction of poor farmers that accompanied previous expansions? Oromo students say the “master plan” is meant to de-Oromonize the city and push Oromo people further into the margins. But there’s also a long history behind it.
The Oromo, original inhabitants of the land, have social, economic and historical ties to the city. Addis Ababa, which they call Finfinne, was conquered through invasion in 19th century. Since its founding, the city grew by leaps and bounds. But the expansion came at the expense of local farmers whose livelihoods and culture was uprooted in the process. At the time of its founding, the city grew “haphazardly ” around the imperial palace, residences of other government officials and churches. Later, population and economic growth invited uncontrolled development of high-income, residential areas — still almost without any formal planning. While the encroaching forces of urbanization pushed out many Oromo farmers to surrounding towns and villages, those who remained behind were forced to learn a new language and embrace a city that did not value their existence. The city’s rulers then sought to erase the historical and cultural values of its indigenous people, including through the changing of original Oromo names.
Ethnic Oromo students at various universities around the country sparked the protests. It has now spread to high school and middle schools in the Oromia region. A handful of those killed in the last few days have been identified. Media is a state monopoly in Ethiopia. There is not a single independent media organization — in any platform — covering the state of Oromia. For this and other reasons, we may never know the identity of many of these victims. But thanks to social media, gruesome photographs of some students who sustained severe wounds from beating and gunshots have been circulating around social media. Here are few names and images (view these at your own discretion):http://gadaa.com/oduu/25751/2014/05/02/in-review-photos-from-the-oromoprotests-against-the-addis-ababa-master-plan-and-for-the-rights-of-oromiyaa-over-finfinne
Are the protests related to the recent arrest of bloggers and journalists?
Yes and no. Yes, the struggle for justice and freedom in Ethiopia is intractably intertwined as our common humanity. So long as the ruling party maintains its tight grip on power, the destiny of Ethiopia’s poor — of all shades and political persuasions — is one and the same. Oromo students are being killed and harassed for voicing their concerns. Ethiopian bloggers and journalists are jailed for speaking out against an ever-deepening authoritarianism. As the Martin Luther King once said, regardless of our ethnic and political differences, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” This is much closer to home. No, technically because the bloggers were not part of the protests opposing Addis Ababa’s expansion. But we would go on a limb to suggest that they would have been the first to show a moral support and chime in on social media. Their past conducts suggest as much.
But the government says the plan is still open to public consultations
When an elite drawn from small minority ascends to power, the process of consolidation brings about two developments that are complementary and conflicting at the same time. On one hand, as they try to consolidate power by fending off potential rivals, they develop an exclusionist policy that leads them to accumulate disproportionately high wealth and power. On the other, such exclusionist policy leads to developments of resentment among excluded groups which would be expressed through generalized hostility towards the privileged group as whole. These two developments enable the regime to increase internal cohesion. The control of huge resource among the minority elites allows them to spread it around hence reducing internal competition and conflict. More importantly the ever increasing hostility of elites of the ‘other’ towards the privileged group in general creates sense of collective insecurity and solidarity making ‘sticking together’ an inevitable reaction.
This is basically what has been happening in Ethiopian politics in the last two and half decades. Tigreans who make up no more than 6% of the population have come to monopolize the meager wealth and power that country has. The TPLF regime has control over national resource that can be spread around the Tigrean elite reducing competition and conflict among them. The repression and exclusion of the rest has led to ever intensification of vocal hostility towards Tigreans. In such situation, even those Tigreans who might not support the regime policy and are not attracted to wealth and power would have to join the mothership due to shared sense of existential threat to the collective.
The return of the Tigrean rebels to TPLF camp might be shocking to those who have been counting on them to serve as reliable ally. However for those who has followed recent development carefully, this event could hardly be surprising. In the last few years, particularly since Meles’ death, we have been witnessing re(unification) of Tigrean forces and Molla Asgedom’s decision to abandon opposition politics and rejoin the mothership is part of this trend.
1) Those who were purged during the the 2001 have either officially rejoined ( eg. Bitew Belay), or become active supporters of the regime ( Generals Tsadkan G/Tensai & Abebe Teklehaymanot) or have muted their criticism ( Seeye Abreha who has quit politics and took up a UN job. Even Gebreu Asrat has reduced his opposition to infrequent soft criticism).
2) Those intellectuals and media personnels who were once fierce critiques are slowly returning to the…
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislators, administrators, andarbitrators. Government is the means by which state policy is enforced, as well as the mechanism for determining thepolicy of the state. A form of government, or form of state governance, refers to the set of political systems and institutions that make up the organisation of a specific government.
On the surface, identifying a form of government appears to be easy, as all governments have an official form. The United States is a federal republic, while the former Soviet Union was a socialist republic. However self-identification is not objective, and as Kopstein and Lichbach argue, defining regimes can be tricky.[7] For example, elections are a defining characteristic of a democracy,[citation needed] but in practice elections in the former Soviet Union were not “free and fair” and took place in a single party state. Thus in many practical classifications it would not be considered democratic.
Identifying a form of government is also complicated because a large number of political systems originate as socio-economic movements and are then carried into governments by specific parties naming themselves after those movements; all with competing political-ideologies. Experience with those movements in power, and the strong ties they may have to particular forms of government, can cause them to be considered as forms of government in themselves. Read more at:
Decolonising Development:The Political and Cultural Locations of Nationalism and National Self-determination (the Case of Oromia)
Several scholars have argued that national self-determination is a claim for cultural independence and that nationalism in general is based on the right to cultural autonomy, right to a culture. In the Oromo context, national self-determination is about the representation of collective identity and dignity. It is the demand of the Oromo people to govern themselves. Practically, this can be interpreted as let us be governed by people who are like us, people of our nationality or people who accept and respect our value system. For the last hundred years and so, the Oromo nation has suffered from Abyssinian expansionism, social, ecological and economic destruction and continuous and intensive cultural and physical genocide. The Abyssinians and Oromians connections have been the coloniser (refers to the former) and the colonised (refers to the latter) relationships. Contrary to the Ethiopianist discourse, they have not developed a common unifying identity, social and political system. While the Abyssinians feel a sense of glory of their kings, warlords and dictators, the Oromians feel victimisation to these rulers, so they have not emerged a common ancestry, culture and collective memory, which can result in common ‘Ethiopian’ identity. From the perspective of Oromo social construction, the present Ethiopian domination over Oromia is a continuation of what pervious generations of Oromo nation had experienced. Thus, the Oromo people, sees the present political arrangement as illegitimate because it is a rule by the people who have engaged in destroying them. So, they claim not only cultural but also political independence. Oromo nationalism is also very democratic. It follows the UN principles of self-determination for the citizens of Oromia, claiming independence from the tyranny of Ethiopian Empire. The latter has been constructed based on Amhara-Tigre nationalism. The Oromo nationalism also offers democratic solutions to the ethnic minorities in the Ethiopian Empire. Scholars of Oromo studies claim that there is fundamental behavioural, linguistic, ethnic and cultural differences between the Abyssinians (northern) and their subjects (Southern). The Oromo, Sidama, Afar and the Ogaden (Ogaden Somalians) nations, beyond their common Cushitic progeny, they have common experiences of victimisation and illegitimately absorbed by Abyssinian southward expansion. Their collective memory of past experiences and present victimisation are making common identity. This identity is a key to understand politics there and to work together for self-determination, to recover their lost humanity.
For the early version of this article, see Temesgen M. Erena, The Political and Cultural Locations National Self – Determination, Oromia Quarterly, Vol. II, No.2, March 1999; Temesgen, M. Erena, Oromia: The Nation and the Politics of National Self – Determination, Oromia Quarterly, Vol. I, No.2, December 1997, ISSN 1460-1346.
Man knows himself only insofar as he knows the world, and becomes aware of the world only in himself, and of himself only in it. Every new object, well observed, opens a new organ in ourselves.
-Goethe, Maximen und Reflexionen, VI Build therefore your own world. -Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature
Introduction
The passions of national freedom and national interest are probably the strongest in the whole political spectrum that characterises the present world. Kellas (1998) holds that it is stronger than the passions aroused by religion, class, individual or group interest. This passion is not all futile, either. In Gellener’s (1983) understanding, nationalism has been considered as essential to the establishment of a modern industrial society. According to Smith (1991), it is ‘the sole vision and rationale of political solidarity.’ For Kellas (1998), it provides legitimacy to the state, and inspires its citizens to feel an emotional attachment towards it. It can be a source of creativity in the arts, and enterprise in the economy. Its power to mobilise political engagement is unrivalled, particularly in the vital activity of nation building. It is intimately linked with the operation of popular democracy. Indeed, the global pattern is a mosaic of political drives, economic interests, linguistic pride, cultural imperatives, psychological needs and nations seeking identity. These factors are manifesting as a powerful staying power in a modern Africa, either. As European colonialism and socialism melted away, the perpetual existence of the backlash against ‘neo-colonial’ colony colonialism and the reviving of national selfdom become more and more significant in social and political dynamics of contemporary multi-ethno-nation African societies. The African experience is motivated by the same aspirations as that of elsewhere. At its root is a need for freedom, dignity, for the right of people of distinct social communities to function freely and independently. In this regard, Oromia represents the case of rejuvenating claim for national freedom and the struggle against more than a century old Abyssinian Empire colonialism in Africa. Oromia is a homeland for an Oromo nation, a group of people with a common culture and value system (seera fi aadaa), language ( Afaan Oromo), political institutions (Gadaa), and historical memories and experiences. Oromia is the single largest, homogeneous and endogenous nation in Africa with a population of 40 to 45 million. Both in terms of territorial and population size, more than two-third’s today’s sovereign states that are making members of UN (United Nations) are smaller than Oromia. The Cushite (see Demie, 1998) Oromo people have inhibited their homeland, Oromia, since pre-history and in antiquity were the agents of humanity’s documented Cushitic civilisation in terms of science, technology, art, political and moral philosophy. The links between the Oromo and the ancient civilisations of Babylon, Cush and Egypt has been discussed in Asfaw Beyene (1992) and John Sorenson (1998) scholarly works. Utilising prodigious evidence from history, philosophy, archaeology and linguistics, Diop (1974 and 1991) confirms that the Cushite Egyptian civilisation was emerged from the Cushite civilisations of North East Africa, particularly, the present day Western Sudan and upper Nile Oromia (also known as Cush or Punt). Indeed, except the name of places, saints and prophets, many of the Old Testament and the Holy Koran moral texts are copies of the Oromo moral codes. The formers are written documents while the latter are orally transmitted. Since the late 1880s the Oromo people have disowned their sovereignty. They disowned their autonomous institutions of governance, culture, education, creativity, business, commerce, etc. Thus, they have been claiming for national self-determination, national-self government and the right to their own state and resist the Abyssinian Empire saver (supremacist’s) nationalism. The Oromians are not only against the quality of Ethiopian Empire governance but also against the philosophy on which it is based: domination, dehumanisation, inequality, double standard, hypocrisy, deceit, exclusion, chauvinism, war institution, rent-seeking, extractive state, conservatism, feudalism, Aste fundamentalism (Aste Tewodros, Aste Yohannis, Aste Menelik, Aste Haile Sellasie), etc. The political goal of national self-determination (national self-government) is asserted in the outlook and attitudes of the Oromo political and social organisations. Of course, the Oromo nationalism, which supports the interests and identity of the Oromo people, is a more subtle, complex and widespread phenomenon than common understanding and observation. It is within this context that we are going to discuss the Oromos’ politics of national self-determination and the search for the national homeland, the demand for reinventing a state of their own in the following sections.
Defining Nation, Nationalism and Self- determination
To define nation and nationalism is as Benjamin Akzin (1964, pp. 7-10) discussed five decades ago, to enter into a terminological jungle in which one easily gets lost. Different scholarly disciplines have their own more or less established and more or less peculiar ways of dealing with nation and nationalism. Ideally, our definition of nation and nationalism should be induced of elements of nationalist ideology. Getting at such a definition has confirmed phenomenally strenuous. Hugh Seton-Watson, an authority in this domain, has deduced that ‘no scientific definition’ of a nation can be concocted. All that we can find to say is that a nation exists when significant number of people in a community consider themselves to form a nation, or behave as if they formed one (Seton-Watson, 1982, p.5).Van den Berghe (1981) defines a nation as a politically conscious ethnic group. Several attempts have been made at making a cardinalist definition of the term, pointing out one or more key cultural variables as defining variables. Among those tried are language, religion, common history/descent, ethnicity/race, statehood and common territory (homeland). For a group of people to be termed a nation, its members typically have to share several of these characteristics, although historically, one criterion may have been predominant (for example, language in Germany, or culture and history in France). In the case of Oromo, common language (Afaan Oromo), common territory (Biyya Oromo, dangaa Oromiyaa or Oromia), common historical experiences (victimisation to Ethiopian Empire rules or Abyssinocracy) are particularly very significant. Stalin made his undertaking in 1913. His definition includes four criteria: the members of a nation live under the same economic conditions, on the same territory, speak the same language, and have similar culture and national character (Seton-Watson, 1982, p.14). Neither Ernest Gellner nor Eric Hobsbawn, two influencials, gave definite definitions of the nation in their major achievements. Indeed, they are very hostile towards what they define as nationalism. ‘…For ever single nationalism which has so far raised its ugly head…’ (Gellner, 1983, p.45), this is a Gellner’s conception and sees the world as naturally divided into nations, each with its own individuality. This implies an acceptance of the nationalist self-perception. There are also other conceptualisations. A social anthropologist, Thomas Hylland Eriksen (1992, p. 220) says ‘a nation is an ethnic group whose leaders have either achieved, or aspire to achieve, a state where its cultural group is hegemonic’, Anthony H. Birch (1989, p.6) considers that a nation is best defined as ‘a society which either governs itself today, or has done so in the past, or has a credible claim to do so in the not-too- distant future. Kellas (1998) defines the nation as a group of people who feel themselves to be a community bound together by ties of history, culture and common ancestry. Nations have ‘objective’ characteristics, which may include a territory, a language, a religion, or common descent, and ‘subjective’ characteristics, essentially a people’s awareness of its nationality and affection for it. In the last resort it is ‘the supreme loyalty’ for people who are prepared to die for their nation. The definition of ‘nation’ which we will make use of in the following is one suggested by Anthony D. Smith (1983,pp. 27-109, 1991, p. 14; 1995); a definition mastering well the ‘sounding board’ dimension. Smith here defines a nation as ‘a named human population sharing a historic territory, common myths and historical memories, a mass, public culture, a common economy and common legal rights and duties for all members. A recent definition of Smith holds nationalism, one manifestation of national-self-determination, as ‘an ideological movement for attaining and maintaining autonomy, unity and identity on behalf of a population deemed by some of its members to constitute an actual or potential ‘nation’ (Smith, 1991, p. 73; 1995). For Smith nationalism has a deep ethnic roots and rejuvenates itself in response to global and domestic impulses. While the phenomenon of globalisation and technocratic culture are there, nationalism is an eternal nature and nourishes and propels itself on technocratic innovations. In this context, national self-determination may be defined as many part aspirations of a nation: To be free to freely determine one’s own national identity, culture, including language, education, religion, and form of government, to be free of rule by another ‘nation’, that is to overcome social and political systems of domination and exclusion in which nations other than one’s own wield predominant power. To be free to select its own form of government; and those governed within it have the right of unflagging consent.
Culture and the Politics of Self-determination
Nation, nationalism and national self-determination are commanding attentions. One of the perennial issues within nationalism is whether national self-determination can stand alone, or whether it requires a ‘qualifier’ from within cultural or political ideas or both to clarify its precise cultural and political location. Several scholars have argued that national self-determination is a claim for cultural independence and that nationalism in general is based on the right to cultural independence and that nationalism is based on the right to a culture. Nielson, for example, peers a nation as groups of people whom ‘perceive themselves as having a distinct culture and traditions’, and Tamir presents that a nation is a community in which individuals develop their culture, and they therefore regard their place within a nation as membership in a cultural group. Indeed, she argues that ‘the right to national-self determination stakes a cultural rather than a political claim, namely, it is the right to preserve the existence of a nation as a distinct cultural entity.’ Will the people who demand national self-determination be satisfied with such an arrangement? Tamir gives credence to that the idea of basing the right to self-determination on the right to a culture is the one that has best conformity with a liberal internationalist viewpoint. That is thinkable, but international liberalism is incompetent on this particular matter. A nationalism, which is based on culture and cultural distinctions, was not very long a go. It is a concept that characteristic the thesis of right wing, or romantic theorists such as Herder. Indeed, Herder’s nationalism was not political, and it distrusted a state as something external, mechanical, not emerging spontaneously from the life of the people. Nevertheless, in the Oromo context the claim for national self-determination is a political rather than a cultural one. If we look at the distinction between the two, it would seem that the claim for national self-determination involves more than a demand to be tolerated while the cultural question is. For example, the Catalan’s and Quebecois’ culture and identity have been tolerated and respected to some extent, and yet many of them thought that this did not reflect a situation of self-determination. Indeed, meeting their claim would involve legislation and redefinition of institutions within the state, and perhaps even a new state. In the Oromo case the demand is actually the claim to have control over their lives. This does not mean over every individual’s private life, but over the public aspect of one’s existence, i.e. the system of mutual relationships, which reflect and sustain one’s membership of a certain collective. Here the self is conceptualised within the context of community, but one that has to be real, actual, and functioning and performing. Otherwise these communal ties are too abstract, which makes it impossible for the self to be defined by them. The statement of Cohen has to be recalled: ‘A person does not only need to develop and enjoy his powers. He needs to know who he is, and how his identity connects him with particular others. He must… find something outside himself which he did not create… He must be able to identify himself with some part of objective social reality’ (Cohen, 1988). Moreover, self-realisation, however, cannot be merely a mental situation; thus this community cannot be only cultural. It must be a political situation at least so that, in order for the Oromo people to realise themselves, they must not be dependent on the goodwill of a second party. They then must be certain that their self-realisation in all spheres of life will not be prevented by the Abyssinian government, the TPLF, the Orthodox Church, and so forth. They should therefore be politically active and watch such institutions carefully. In addition, they must participate in politics in order to decide collectively upon public matters, which influence their self-realisation. So the Oromos claim for national-self determination is about the realisation of their potential status, ability and collective character, which may be achieved only through participation in autonomous political institutions. But for more than a century Oromos have been denied access to these institutions, either officially or in practice. In other words, if Oromos as a nation achieve self-determination they will better able to participate, better represented, better able to deliberate, gain much more control over their life than formerly and more autonomous. The Oromos demand for national self-determination thus, aims at establishing those institutions, which are needed for the realisation of the self-determination. When an Oromo demands national self-determination, he/she is not asserting that he/she would like to control his/her private life, e.g. his/her job, his/her shopping activities, his/her love affairs. Many Oromos do not control these aspects of their lives and yet nevertheless demand national self-determination. But the same principle also applies to cultural life. The Oromos may be allowed more-or-less to use their language, have their own newspapers and theatre, and the freedom of worship, etc. which are making cultural freedom. Actually, these rights are hardly exist at present. But when they claim national self-determination they are not only referring to these aspects of life, as political community: they want to be able to form and choose among and vote for the Oromo political parties, to observe the Oromo constitutional laws, to pay taxes to an Oromo authority, and to have a history (and indeed, myth) of independent Oromo state, from which their identity and self-determination can derive. Thus, the Oromo’s Declaration for Independence will emphasise parliamentary participation and the need to form a constitution, rather than cultural activities. In general the Oromos demand for national self-determination entails that the individuals in this nation should be citizens, engaged in politics as members of a community committed to the realisation of certain (their own) common goods, rather than participating as individuals who seek their self-interests, as it is implied by the right- to- culture school of thought and Liberal Internationalists. Perhaps for this reason Margalit and Halbertal revise the right-to- culture argument, arguing that the right is to a certain culture rather than to culture. A certain culture, then, becomes a common good. And yet, this is not enough, because they still regard the common good in cultural rather than political terms: ‘shared values and symbols… are meant to serve as the focus for citizens’ identification with the state, as well as the sources of their willingness to defend it even at the risk of their lives (Margalit and Halbertal, 1994). Why, then, do theories adhere to the culture discourse? Of course, for most of the Western theorists, the term national self-determination is affiliated to the strive to become part of humanity, to regain the human condition of autonomy; it is adjoined to the struggle to be part of the free world, of the more progressive forces; it is seen as decolonisation, as civilisation, as an attempt made to become part of the world of liberty, rights, and justice. But, it is seen as part of centrifugal forces, from the centre to the global, universalism or what Lane (1974) calls as ‘total situation’ or citizenship based on individual freedom and social justice. These theorists, therefore, universalise the notion of national self-determination: they make it part of liberalism. The liberals’ universal approach tends to be uniformist. This makes a society rootless and a citizen far removed from those who control his/her destiny. On the other hand, the notion as it is put forward and used by the Oromos that the demand for national self-determination is also centripetal, from the global and the greater units to the smaller ones. These groups demand the disengagement from the ‘other’, the global, the colonist, even from other humanity, by asserting that ‘we are not merely the essential equal and part of humanity, but rather we are also different and distinct: we have our own political identity, which we want to preserve, sustain, and establish institutionally, like the Scottish vision in multi-nation state Europe. This is the language of liberation from colonisation. It is also the language of particularisation within the universal or the global, and it seems that the uniformist approach is not sensitive enough to the real Oromos problems. Thus, the Oromos quest for self-determination involves the ultimate goal of particularism (its own unique space), reinventing the Oromia State, owning the national homeland. Of course, in a heterogeneous society of the Ethiopian Empire, though uniformity may simplify system of control, social justice will not be attained in one vast monolithic block of oppressed by colonial legislation, bureaucrats and its armies. An important work of Professor Asafa Jalata, an authority in the study of Oromo nationalism kindly quoted as’ The Oromo question involves both colonialism and ethno nationalism. Ethiopian colonialism has been imposed by global capitalism on the Oromo nation. Ethiopians, both Amharas and Tigrayans, through establishing settler colonialism in Oromia, have systematically killed millions of Oromo and expropriated their lands and other resources from the last decades of the nineteenth century until today. Ethiopian colonialists already destroyed the people called Agaw by taking their lands, systematically killing them, and assimilating the survivors. They attempt to do the same thing to the Oromo by destroying the Oromo national movement, confiscating Oromo lands, and forcing the remaining Oromo into ‘settlement villages’ or (reservations). Many times, some Oromo organisations attempted to democratize Ethiopia so that the Oromo would achieve equal citizenship rights and maintain their ethno cultural identity. Determined to maintain their colonial domination and to destroy the Oromo cultural personality through ethnocide or assimilation, Ethiopian colonialists destroyed or suppressed those Oromo political forces that attempted to transform Ethiopia into a multinational democratic society. Therefore, most Oromos are convinced that their rights and freedom cannot be obtained and respected without creating their own state, or state that they can create as equal partners with other ethno national groups interested in forming a multinational democratic society to promote ethno cultural diversity and human freedom. Hence, Oromo nationalism is an ideology of the subjugated Oromo who seek human rights, freedom, justice, and democracy’ (Jalata, 1997). In fact social justice can be attained when and only when the oppressed majority able to rule its homeland. The Oromos work for national self-determination is the great humanist and historical task in terms of Freire (1993) argument ‘To liberate themselves and their oppressors as well. The oppressors, who oppress, exploit, and rape by virtue of their power, cannot find in this power the strength to liberate either the oppressed or themselves. Only power that springs from the weakness of the oppressed will be sufficiently strong to free both. Any ‘attempt to soften the power of the oppressor in difference to the weakness of the oppressed almost always manifest itself in the form of false generosity; indeed, the attempt never goes beyond this.’ In this context, for Oromos in order to have the continued opportunity to express their ‘generosity,’ the Habasha colonist must perpetuate injustice, too. Tyranny is the permanent fount of this ‘generosity,’ that sustains at the price of death, dehumanisation, despair and poverty. ‘True generosity consists precisely in fighting to destroy the causes which nourish false charity.’ (Freire, 1993). For further discussions on Oromo nationalism, universalism, globalism, Ethiopianist discourses and Oromo Nationalism, see Sorenson (1998) and Sisai Ibssa (1998).
Concluding Thoughts
Man as a social animal always seeks his own territory and belongings to a social group in which his identity and sense of community is observed and respected. In the defence of the cause for social justice and social ecology, these are basic tenets to backlash against the danger of the rhetoric of universalism, polyarchy and false perspectives of social uniformity, which appear to appreciate the social problems from a single privileged point. Georg Hegel, The Phenomenology of Mind ( New York, 1967 edition), in his famous philosophical discussion of the relationship between ‘lordship and bondage’ maintained that a single consciousness could know itself only through another, even in a condition of totally unequal power relationship. According to this philosophical model, the lord (the oppressor) is lord only through the relationship with a bondservant (the oppressed, the one whose humanity is stolen). In the relationship, however, the other is annulled. The self of the mastery, the lord, derives from the conquest and negation of the servant, the bond. Only recognition of the selfhood of the other permits for its annulations. Thus, lordship covertly recognises the separate identity of the dominated. They are normally equal selves locked into unequal hierarchy. Metaphorically, Hegel’s dialectics of lordship and bondage is very important to understand the Ethiopian domination over Oromia. However, in the Ethiopianist discourse, the essential equality of the selves has been escaped totally. Rather, the persisting hierarchy has taken for granted. According to Sorenson (1998), Ethiopianist scholars like Clapham, Sven Rubenson and Levine because of their attachment to one version of the Ethiopian past and present make them either or unwilling to engage with the full complexity of the problem. From this point of view, to accept the unchanging polarity of Ethiopia and Oromia in the lordship-bondage relationship is to succumb to a structure of Ethiopian aggression and colonialism. The Oromians demand for national self-determination is, however, the civilised step out of the polarity upon which the coercive hierarchy relies, it is the collective political demand, as its main purpose is to achieve the good of the social whole, humanisation, the essential liberation of the Oromo national identity, dignity and the reinvention of Oromia as a sovereign state. The Abyssinian occupation of Oromia, the existence of the Abyssinian Rule, war-lordism and their armies in Oromia and the making of Finfinnee their garrison station, the centre of their crowds is not only an act of conquest, aggression and colonialism but also, from Oromo perspective, such elements are symbols of bondage and slavery that negate the Oromo selfhood as equal essential. For the last over hundred years, the Oromo nation has disowned selfhood, its own state or administration, and lived as a bondage of Abyssinia. The Abyssinian administration which has undermined the Oromo national traditions, exploited it economically, and maintained order through mechanical and repressive means- such a nation actually must seek national self-determination to foster within its politics, to bring dignity, justice, freedom and democracy and to survival as essential equal, as a nation and as part of humanity and its civilisation. It is necessary for Oromians to build the world of their own, a world which make them capable to sustain as a group of human people. They must able to liberate themselves and the violent, the oppressor too. In this context, the Oromo issue is a test case to the deceptive ‘democracy world-wide’ which is being advocated in the USA foreign policy and manipulated by the neo-nafxanyas (see Ibssa, 1998). It is a challenge to contemporary theories of democracy and polyarchy (Robinson, 1997) and actors of post cold war Ethiopian politics who simply take for granted that the boundaries and powers of political community in the ‘Horn’ have already been settled. Thanks to the dedicated works of human rights activists, particularly the OSG (the Oromia Support Group) and its UK based publication, Sagalee Haaraa, we have been well informed on plights of human population and their environment in the entire region. We are interested to recommend this publication to all actors of the region. In this context, we are confident to say that Ethiopian democracy rhetoric or federalism sham politics is nothing more than a fig leaf, covering up the continuation of an extraction of the ‘politics of the belly’, in terms of Bayart (1993) from ‘prudish eye of the West.’ Its democratic rhetoric is a new type of rent seeking (extracting economic rent). By making believe, it enables the collection of international aid that includes diplomatic, military and humanitarian. It enables the seizure of the resources of the modern economy for the benefit of the Tigrayan elites. The situation is not in democracy’s favour, rather it is a situation that the Tyranny is retaining control over the security forces, economic rents and the support of the West. Such manipulation is not new for Africa. Menilik, Haile sellassie, Mengistu, Mobutu, Biya, Senghor and Diouf did the same thing either in Ethiopia or elsewhere in the continent at one time or another. The Quote from Bayart’s (1993) African analyis comes to our mind ‘…The support of western powers and multilateral institutions of Bretton Woods and the Vatcan, who despite having waved the flag of democratic conditionality and respect for human rights, have not dared to pursue such sentiments to their logical conclusion and have continued to think in terms of ‘Mobutu or Chaos’ where Gorbachev given up saying ‘Ceaucescu or chaos’…’. Indeed, very recently, we have read the deceptive descriptions to neo-Mobutu, neo-Mengistu, etc.: democratic, new generation, confident and pragmatic, etc. Sadly, everything changes so that everything stays the same. Nevertheless, the oppressed Oromos are not passive objects, either. They have not allowed themselves to be ‘captured’, as in the past they have demonstrated their historical ability to resist dehumanisation, despair and poverty, and predictably will continue to resist until the justice will come to them. An everyday Oromo coins the following: ‘Victory to the Oromo people! Oromia shall be free!’ We feel moral and social responsibility to support the just cause of fellow humanity.
Listen to Oromo Voice Radio (OVR) Broadcast Afaan Oromo interviews with Dr. Almayayyoo Birru on topic of Self-determination:
‘External self-determination, in particular, seems to carry dual meaning. On the one hand it is taken to mean full independent statehood, while on the other hand it is taken to mean external recognition by other states within the
international community.’
A Chronological Summary of Oromian Student Movement Led by Qeerroo Bilisummaa: November 2013 – November 2014
Compiled by Daandii Qajeelaa November 7, 2014
In memory Oromo students who lost their lives during the November 2005 and April/May 2014 Oromo student movement known as Fincila Diddaa Gabrummaa (Revolt against Subjugation).
Introduction
In recent years an Oromo youth wing known as “the National Youth Movement for Freedom and Democracy (NYMFD)”, widely known among the Oromo as “Qeerroo Bilisummaa” or simply “Qeerroo”, has reinvigorated the struggle of the Oromo nation for freedom, democracy and justice. From the publications and public statements of the group, one can easily see a strong connection or affiliation of the group with the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). For example, the radio of OLF, Sagalee Bilisummaa Oromoo (SBO), routinely reports the movements of Qeerroo, and conversely, Qeerroos radio, Sagalee Qeerroo Bilisummaa, also routinely reports the military activities of the OLF army. However, the chairman of OLF, Mr. Daud Ibsa Ayana, was reluctant to disclose the apparent affiliation of his organization with Qeerroo in a recent interview he made with Oromia Media Network (OMN). Perhaps he refrained from doing so for obvious reasons.
While considered as the “youth wing” of the OLF, “Qeerroo” has been vibrant and visible than the OLF itself in just few years of its formation. To see the validity of this statement, it will be enough to look at the volume of information provided by Qeerroo website www.qeerroo.org, frequently updated each day, since the formation of the group in 2011. When an incident such as Oromo student protest, unlawful arrest of Oromo nationals, school dismissals related to student unrests, incidents of land grab and eviction of Oromo farmers, and so on occurs at any corner of Oromia, it is usually this youth group (its website and web-based radio) that reports first from every corner indicating that the group is well organized and widely spread not only in Oromia but also throughout the entire Ethiopia. For example, during the widespread Oromo student protests in spring 2014, it was only this group who managed to compile a list of 61 Oromo students killed 903 others languishing in several prisons in all corners of Oromia, East, West, North, and South. It is remarkable how a single youth group managed to compile all these names, not to consider all the details: school/university the student was attending, major subject the student was in, year (1st year, 2nd year, etc.), place of birth, and so on virtually from everywhere in the region. In many cases when Oromo students are killed by the regime, it is this youth group that makes the names and in some cases the pictures of the victims public. This has been happening continuously over the last four years. What is more remarkable is that the group managed to compile all these data under tight security machine of the regime and with almost no known financial or material support.
Inspired by the 2011 revolution of North Africa and the Middle East known as Arab Spring, this Oromo youth group Qeerroo Bilisummaa was formed in 2011. At first, very few people paid serious attention to it. Many believed it to be just another bluffing of desperate groups opposing the government from the Diaspora. But soon enough the group showed itself on the ground that it is for real. The movement of the group started showing itself mainly in universities and higher educational institutions in Oromia. A series of Oromo student protests broke out in several universities and colleges soon following the formation of the group.
On April 7, 2011, following the founding declaration of Qeerroo, Oromo students of Mizan Tepi University revolted. The government federal police fired live ammunition on the protesters in which 114 Oromo students were reported to have been wounded and hospitalized. 50 others have been abducted from their dormitories the next night and taken to unknown location. On April 12, 2011 Oromo students of Haromaya University staged a peaceful protest demanding the release of their classmates who have been abducted from their dormitories. Their protests however resulted in more arrests and more abductions. On April 15, 2011 Oromo students protested in Arba Minch University, SNNP regional state, which resulted in arrest of several students. On May 2, 2011 Oromo students of Jijjiga University, Ogaden regional state, protested. On May 15, 2011 Oromo students of Fiche Preparatory School, Northern Shoa, protested. May 19 – 21, 2011 Oromo students of Adama University protested. These are just few of the incidents of protests and the response of the government following the formation of Qeerroo in 2011.
Oromo student protests continued on and off, but non-stop throughout the years 2011-2014 in Oromia, apparently under the [underground] leadership of this youth group “Qeerroo Bilisummaa”. The government suppression also continued. The most wide spread and bloodiest of all the protests is the series of protests that occurred in the spring of 2014. At one time alone Qeerroo managed to compile the list of some 61 Oromo students that were killed in mainly Ambo, Gudar, and Robe (Bale zone), but the actual number of Oromo students that have been killed by the forces of the regime in the months of April and May, 2014 is probably several hundreds and those arrested are estimated in tens of thousands.
Some of the students killed in Ambo – April 30, 2014The purpose of this report is to compile and document the most visible movement of the Oromo youth movement against subjugation (Fincila Diddaa Gabrummaa), led by Qeerroo Bilisummaa, of the year 2013 – 2014, in the English language. Almost all of the report is taken directly from Qeerroo website www.qeerroo.org. While I have taken the liberty to ignore some reports which are incomplete or ambiguous, I have made no effort to verify the validity of any of the information provided. However, the fact that such details of the information presented on a large scale from every corner, it is easy to see that most of the information and data given in this report are largely true. In the report, I have attempted to document the day-to-day activities related to Qeerroo in a chronological order. On a given day, I have translated only headlines of the item(s) I considered are significant. I have provided the link to the incident for those who want to verify for themselves from the source. It has to be noted that, due to the high volume of information given on the website, only the most relevant and a small fraction is presented in this report.
Ethiopian government soldiers firing at unarmed and defenseless Oromo students
While I have been closely following [and reporting] the Oromo student movement in general, and that of Qeerroo Bilisummaa in particular in recent years, it has to be known that I am not a member of this group Qeerroo. Nor am I involved in the activities of this group in any shape or form.
Headlines of Qeerroo’s Activities and the Response of the Government
Nov. 2013 – Nov. 2014
Date
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government esponse
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
November 15, 2013
Oromo students of Arba Minch University staged a peaceful protest aginst the regime. The regime’s forces used live ammunition to disperse the students during which a 4th year electrichal engineering Oromo student Samuel Dessalenyi was severely injured.
Oromo students of Gondar University, Amhara regional state, staged a peaceful protest. The government used live ammunition to disperse the protest during which a 3rd year marketing Oromo student named Anteneh Asfaw Legesse was shot and severely wounded. The student died in the hospital few days later. Several students have been arrested.
40 Oromo nationals, including a 13 year old child have been arrested and tortured in Ebantu district, Hinde town, East Wollega zone, for allegedly having connection with the OLF and for opposing the construction of the so called “Renaissance Dam”. The list of those arrested can be seen in the link provided to the right.
An estimated 3000 Oromo students staged another peaceful protest in Gondar University, when the news of the passing away of Oromo student Anteneh Asfaw, wounded by live bullet during the November 26 protest was spread in the university campus. New wave of arrest followed the protest.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government esponse
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
December 7, 2013
The Administration of Gondar University expelled 36 Oromo students who are accused of leading the peaceful protest of November 26 -30 and gave warning to 150 others. Among the 36 students, 8 are dismissed completely, 9 are suspended for two years, and 19 others are required to pay money and hence not to return to the university until they pay in full.
Oromo youth of Alibo town, Jardaga Jarte district, Horo Guduru Wollega zone, staged a peaceful protest. The government forces arrested 6 government employees accusing them of having connection with the youth (qeerroo) protest.
A new radio program “Oromo Voice Radio” started broadcasting to Oromia three days a week on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday at 7:00 PM (Oromia time) at 16 MB or 17850 kHz.
Internet radio, “Radio Sagalee Qeerroo Bilisummaa” started broadcasting. Here is the link to the first broadcast.
Date
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government esponse
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
January 4, 2014
Oromo students of Mattu University, Ilubabor zone, staged a peaceful protest. At least two students have been severely wounded by government forces.
Qeerroo Bilisummaa Singers Group released an inspirational song (a response to a popular Amahara singer Teddy Afro, who is known for praising King Minilik II through his song) on YouTube by a popular young Oromo singer Shukri Jamal.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government esponse
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
January 12, 2014
Qeerroo Singers Group released another revolutionary song named “kunoo akkasi yaa lammi koo garaan na ciise reefuu” (yes my fellow countrymen (Oromos), I am now happy [that you continue fighting]) on YouTube.
13 Oromo students of Mattu University are expelled from the university as a consequence of their opposition and protest against Beddellee Beer. (Many young Oromos protested against Beddelle Beer factory because the owner of the brewery sponsored Teddy Afro who is known for his song of praising King Minilik II which Oromos consider as “Hitler of Africa” for the genocide he committed on Oromos and other peoples of Southern Ethiopia during the 2nd half of the 19thcentury).
Oromo students of Ambo university showed disobedience by making a hunger strike demanding for the armed forces of the regime leave the University campus. 3 Oromo students are arrested.
Oromos residing in Sululta (vicinity of Finfinne [Addis Ababa]) revolted against the repressive policy of the government by singing revolutionary songs and distributing leaflets of Qeerroo. In response the government arrested at least 5 Oromos out of which 3 are members of the ruling OPDO party.
Oromo students of Haromaya University revolted in the university campus by chanting slogans, signing revolutionary songs and refusing to eat food. In response the government arrested at least 4 employees of the university. In Jimma University, Qeerroo leaflets have been distributed.
Armed forces of the regime continued terrorizing Oromo students and other Oromo nationals in Ambo university and other towns of West Shoa zone. At least 5 have been arrested.
Oromo students of several middle schools and high schools in East Wollega zone protested against the government in their respective school campus. Among several schools in which student protests took place are Haro Limmu, Leqa Dullacha, Jimma Arjo, and Kiramu high schools.
Oromo students of Mattu university staged a peaceful protest demanding the return to school of 15 Oromo students who were expelled from the university.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
March 2, 2014
Renowned Oromo vocalist Hirpha Ganfure released an inspirational revolutionary song named “Ka’I dubbiin booree taatee” meaning roughly “stand up for your right” through YouTube.
Oromo students in West Shoa zone, Midaqanyi and Chaliya districts staged a peaceful protest in Gedo town. At least six Oromo students have been abducted in connection to the protest and disappeared.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
March 10, 2014
Renowned Oromo vocalist Elemo Ali released a YouTube Song (video) about the cruel “hand and breast cutting” (harma mura Anole) of Oromo men/women by King Minilik entitled “Maali Mallisaa” meaning “what is the solution”.
Oromo students of Shakkiso Secondary and Preparatory school, Guji zone, staged a peaceful protest against the illegal gold mining project of the Shakkiso area while the region remains deprived of services and infrastructure. Students are reported to have been beaten by the armed forces of the regime and at least 30 have been severely wounded. Many others have been thrown into jail.
A young Oromo vocalist Fesel Haji released a new video on YouTube entitled “Anis Oromoo dha” meaning “I am Oromo too”.
Oromo students of Shakkiso Secondary and Preparatory School staged another peaceful demonstration opposing the exploitation of Gold from the area by the government and the selling of their natural resources to the so called “investors”. Government armed forces fired live ammunition on protesters seriously wounding at least 23 students. The names of the students who are wounded is given in link to the right.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
March 20, 2014
Oromo students of Jimma University staged a peaceful demonstration in the University campus following a cultural show event by singing revolutionary songs recently released by Shukri Jamal “Minilik nuuf diina” (Minilik is our enemy) and by Qamar Yusuf “Minilik bineensa” (Minilik is a beast) and revolutionary songs of several other Oromo Artists such as Hacalu Hundessa (suma Abdiin koo Qeerramsoo koo), Amin Hussen (Abba Biyya hoo), Hirpha Ganfure (Ka’ii Qeerroo), Haylu Kitaba (Qeerroo Loli), Adnan Mohammed (Baala Adaamii) and more.
Oromo students of Haru Chululle School, South West Shoa zone, staged a peaceful protest demanding the return to school of a 12th grade student named Gabbisa Tammiru who has been expelled from school because of being accused of “promoting the work and agenda of the OLF”.
About 100 Oromo students who became jobless after graduating from different universities and colleges staged a peaceful demonstration in front of the zone police commission in West Shoa zone, Ambo town.
“Baandii Tokkummaa” or “Unity Band” has shown inspirational revolutionary songs (including the famous “Minilik is our enemy” song by Shukri Jamal) in Haromaya University firing up Oromo students of the university.
Students are seen carrying the singer in the video released later by Qeerroo. See part of the YouTube video here:
The Central Committee of Qeerroo Bilisummaa released a statement calling Oromo youth and the entire Oromo nation for revolt against the repressive Ethiopian regime in general and against the so called “Master Plan” in particular. One can see that this call was the beginning of the Oromia wide revolt that spread in the region in the months of April and May, 2014. The full statement in Afan Oromo can be seen here:
20 Oromo students of Adama university have been arrested while they were traveling to Arsi zone to commemorate the “breast cutting” of King Minilik at Anole, Arsi zone. See the names of the students in the link provided to the right.
Oromo students of Jimma University staged a huge protest in the university campus chanting slogans such as “Oromo land belongs to Oromos”, “The Statue of King Minilik should be removed from Finfinne (Addis Ababa)”, “Minilik is our enemy”, “Finfinne (Addis Ababa) belongs to the Oromo”, and more. Watch a brief YouTube video posted by Qeerroo Bilisummaa here:
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
April
13, 2014
Renowened Oromo vocalist Jafar Yusuf released his famous revolutionary song called “Finfinnee” (Addis Ababa) on YouTube denouncing the eviction of Oromo farmers around the capital and opposing the expansion of the capital (through the so called “Master Plan”).
“Qeerroo Bilisummaa Singers Group” (Hawwisoo Qeerroo Bilisummaa) released a new collective song about Oromo Martyers Day (Guyyaa Gootota Oromoo) on YouTube.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
April
16, 2014
Oromo students of Adama Science and Technology University staged a protest inside their campus by chanting slogans, singing, and denouncing the TPLF led Ethiopian government and some Habasha singers and publishers who are engaged in tarnishing the history and diginity of the Oromo people.
Oromo students of several universities and high schools in Oromia organized under Qeerroo Bilisummaa commemorated “Guyyaa Gootota Oromoo” (Oromo Martyrs Day): Hawasa University, Wollega University (Nekemte, Shambu, Ghmbi), New Generation College (Nekemte), Ambo University, Gedo [high school], Tikur Hinchini [high school], Waliso, Walqixxe, Haromaya University (Haromaya), Haromaya University (Chiro), Finfinne (Addis Ababa) University (“kilo” 4, 5, 6, and Kotebe), Mattu, Jimma, Robe (Bale) universities, and several other places.
Many students who are members of the ruling OPDO party also are reported to have participated on this commemoration (although the event is done underground without the knowledge of the authorities).
Popular Oromo Artist Jafar Yusuf was arrested by the TPLF-led Ethiopian “security” forces because of his revolutionary song “Finfinne” (Addis Ababa) which he released five days ago (on April 13). He was taken to a military camp and severely beaten for several days after which he was hospitalized and taken to ALERT hospital. After his release he is reported to have been forced to go into exile. Here was his song:
Oromo students of Jimma University stood in unison, went to Jimma Police station and demanded the release of their classmates which were arrested earlier. This bravery of the students created a surprising and unseen turn of events when the police station unexpectedly accepted their demand and released 10 Oromo students. The students returned to their dormitories happy and singing. The names of the released students can be seen from the link provided on the right.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
April
20, 2014
Oromo students’ protest in Jimma University is renewed and intensified. A protest is also broke out in Mattu University, Illubabor zone. In both places the studdents protested mainly against the so called “Addis Ababa Master Plan”. The government military force was dispatched to both universities and has beaten several students and also was seen firing live ammunition at the students. Especially, Jimma University was reported to have looked like a war zone.
The popular Oromo singer Shukri Jamal released another inspirational revolutionary song on YouTube known as “abbaan lafaa dhabe lafasaa” (the owner lost his land). It is a song which opposes the land grab and also the expansion of the capital [Addis Ababa] to Oromia. Here is the video:
At least 12 Oromo students of Jimma University have been abducted and arrested by the government police for participating on the peaceful protest of students of the university. Meanwhile, all the four campuses of Jimma University are filled by Federal police and students are prohibited to move from place tp place in those campuses.
Oromo students of Jimma University organized in Unison again and went to Jimma police station and bravely demanded the release of their classmates. This time the Jimma Police station released 8 students. The names of those released are given in the link provided to the right.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
April
25, 2014
Oromo students of Ambo University staged protest this time coming out of their university campus in which the residents of the town also joined, chanting slogans such as “Minilik bineensa” (Minilik is a beast), “Finfinneen keenya” (Finfinne [Addis Ababa] is ours”, and more. At least 15 students have been arrested on the protest. Below is the audio of the protest recorded and released by Qeerroo Bilisummaa:
At the same time Oromo students of Haromaya University staged a huge protest getting out of their campus in which many residents of Haromaya city joined. At least 5000 students are said to have been participated on the protest. The students were chanting slogans such as “Finfinne is ours”, “Sebeta is ours”, “Oromia shall be free”, “Oromo need freedom”, “Jafar Yusuf should be released [from jail]”, and many more. The president of Haromaya University Dr. Girma Lammessa tried to calm the students but was rejected by the students. The audio of the speech of the university president was recorded and released by Qeerroo Bilisummaa:
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
April
26, 2014
Oromo students of Wollega University staged a huge and historic protest defying the order of the regime’s police and getting out of their campus and moving in the [Nekemte] city. The so called Federal police of the regime attacked the students with live bullet. Several students were injured and hospitalized and several others have been arrested. Some of of the slogans of the students were: “Finifinne is ours”, “Today it is Bishoftu[taking of Oromo land], tomorrow it is Jimma”, “Minilik’s Statue should be removed from Finfinne (Addis Ababa)”, and more.
The audio of the student protest was recorded and released by Qeerroo Bilisummaa as follows.
Oromo students of Wollega University continued protest for the 2nd day. The Agazi force of the government [special police force of the Federal government known for its cruelty] wounded several students by beating as well as by live bullet fired directly at students peacefully protesting. At leat 6 were wounded severely and taken to Nekemte Hospital.
Oromo students of Adama Science and Technology University staged a peaceful protest chanting the same slogan that Oromo students of other universities were chanting. The regime arrested at least 10 students.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
April
29, 2014
Continued
Oromo student protest spread to several places all over Oromia. Students in all places were more or less chanting the same slogan indicating that all these protests are well planned and coordinated [by no other entity than “Qeerroo Bilisummaa”, Oromo youth group]. All happening on the same day, at the same time.
Ambo University, all schools in Ambo town and the people of Ambo staged a historic demonstration. An estimated 25, 000 people participated on the protest. The government forces initially used tear gas to disperse the crowd but later used live bullets shooting and killing protesters.
Adama Science and Technology University staged a historic protest in the Adama city. At least 10 arrested. Qeerroo’s video is here:
Alibo Preparatory Secondary School, Jardaga Jarte district, Horo Gudru zone
All school in Nekemte town, East Wollega zone (students were seen burning the Habasha/Woyane flag)
Schools in Shambu town, Horo Gudru zone
Oromo student protests intensified in Dembi Dollo, West Wollega zone; Gudar, West Shoa zone; Mattu University, Ilubabor zone [second day].
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
April
30, 2014
A historic and bloody day in the history of the struggle of the Oromo nation for freedom. Oromo student protest spread to all parts of Oromia.
The biggest and bloodiest of all the protests took place in the city of Ambo, West Shoa zone, where the peaceful protest turned into violence when government so called Agazi force shot and killed a 9thgrade student. Cars and buildings were ablaze on fire. The protest included all people of the city. Several people were killed hundreds wounded. Ambo looked like a war zone. BBC reported at least 30 people were killed by live bullet including 8 students. Listen to live report recorded (interview, live from the scene):
Oromo students of Dire Dawa University staged a peaceful protest.
Listen to audio interview by Radio Qeerroo Bilisummaa Oromoo:
Oromo students of Balami Secondary School, Mida Qanyi district, West Shoa zone staged a peaceful protest.
Oromo student protests continued in several universities, including Addis Ababa [Finfinne] University, colleges, high schools and middle schools and towns.
Oromo people of Alibo town, Horo Gudru zone, completely controlled the city chasing away the local government officials.
Oromo students of Madda Walabu University, Robe Town, Bale zone, staged a historic and blody protest. The notorious government Agazi force fired live ammunition on protesting students and several students were killed.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
May
1, 2014
Continued
A huge protest was held in Gudar town, West shoa zone. Government forces fired live ammunition and killed several students. With the brutal killing of the regime’s forces, the protesters turned to violent action. The military camp of the regime located in the town was burned.
In Ambo town the whole town remained closed. Government forces went house to house and arrested several people, including three school teachers several students.
Oromo students of Finfinne [Addis Ababa] University staged a peaceful protest. Video recorded and released by Qeerroo Bilisummaa:
Oromo student protests are reported to have continued in Haromaya, Jimma, Madda Walabu, and Shambu universities.
Oromo student protests continued spreading to several other universities and high schools, middle schools throughout Oromia:
In Mida Qanyi district, West Shoa zone, the intensified protest of the Oromo students and people led by Qeerroo forced the administrator of the district, Shumi Lata, abandon his government and surrender to the people. The protesters controlled the administration office and the police station.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
May
2, 2014
continued
Student protest intensified in Mandi town, West Wollega zone. In this video recorded and released by Qeerroo Bilisummaa, the Federal police is seen directly shoting at protesters.
Oromo students of Ayira Gulliso, West Wollega zone staged a peaceful protest. Audio of the protests in Ayira, Mandi, Mida Qanyi, and Haromaya is released by Qeerroo Bilisummaa as follows:
Oromo students of Arba Minch University continued protest for the third day in a row.
Oromo students of Gindabarat and Xuqur Hincinni districts, West Shoa zone, staged peaceful protest
Oromo students of Haromaya University continued protesting in Haromaya town.
Oromo students of Ganji Secondary School, West Wollega zone, staged a peaceful protest.
Oromo students of Burrayyu Secondary School, Finfinne Special zone, staged a peaceful protest.
Oromo student protest continued in several towns in Oromia:
In Horo Guduru zone, Jardaga town, protesters chased away the police and local armed forces of the regime and controlled the town.
Protests continued in Horo Guduru Wollega zone, Kombolcha town.
Oromo student protests continued in the following cities on this day: Shambu, Horo Guduru Wollega; Sibu Sire, East Wollega; Bakko, West Shoa; Wal Qixxe, Wanchi, Taji, Sabata, Sadan Sodo, Ammaya, South West Shoa zone.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
May
5, 2014
Student Protest Continued in Mida Qanyi district, West Shoa zone. Agazi force is sent to the area and terrorized the civilian population.
The regime arrested four commanders of its police force in Nekemte town, East Wollega, accusing them of having connection with the OLF.
Oromo student protest intensified in several places of East Wollega: Haro Limmu, Limu Gelila, Guto Wayyu, Guto Gidda, Kiramu, Gidda Ayana, Ebantu, Gatama, Sibu Sire, Nunu Qumba, Bako, Billo Boshe, Guttin, Arjo Guddattu, and Digga Sasigga.
Protests expanded to several places of West Wollega zone: Inango, Nedjo, Dongoro, Ghmbi, Ayira, Gulliso, Gidami, Begi, Gidami, Jimma Horo, Qebe, Qaqe, and Haro Sabu.
Oromo student protests also continued in Horo Guduru Wollega zone at places such as Jardaga, Jarte, and Agamsa.
Popular Oromo singer Addisu Karayyu released his famous revolutionary song named “Ka’ii Loli” meaning “Stand up and fight” on YouTube.
Oromo students of Dembi Dollo town, West wollega zone staged a huge protest. Government Agazi force is reported to have beaten the students with stick and used tear gas, but also used live bullet to disperse the protest. Qeerroo reported that 2 students are killed.
Protest was spread to towns and villages near Dembi Dollo such as Mugi, Ashi, and Garjeda. Several students are reported to have been arrested indiscriminately.
In connection with the protests, several students of Adama University, East Shoa zone have been abducted by government forces and disappeared. One of the students arrested, Adunya Kiso, was the leader of Oromo cultural show known as GAASO.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
May
8, 2014
Ethiopian government unlished its forces in West shoa zone and made indiscriminate and massive arrests.
At least 400 people have been arrested in Mida Qanyi, West Shoa zone, students, teachers, farmers, government employees, including many local government officials and OPDO members in connection with the protest in the area.
The widespread and indiscriminate arrests occurred after the protests have slowed down in this area. In West Shoa zone alone mare than 600 Oromo students, including 15 year old girls, have been abducted and arrested.
Oromo students and residents of Ghmbi town staged a protest which is reported to have been turned into violence when an Oromo student was killed by an Amhara business man who lived in the city for many years. Some buildings are set on fire and many shops are reported to have been destroyed.
Oromo people of Bakko and Bakko Tibbe towns, West Shoa zone, protested and closed the road from Finfinne (Addis Ababa) to Finca’a town, Horo Gududru Wollegga zone.
3-Day Minnesota-State-Capitol OromoProtests Solidarity Hunger-Strike ended successfully at the Passing of Minnesota House Resolution condemning the Ethiopian govt’s violence on Oromo students.
Oromo student protest continued in Innango, West Wollega zone
Several Oromo students of Jimma University arrested.
Oromo protests solidarity hunger-strikers hold a mock funeral in front of the Minnesotan State capitol for slain Oromo students and civilians in Oromia.
Popular Oromo singer Hangatu Balcha released an inspirational revolutionary song on YouTube.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
May
14, 2014
Another round of Oromo student protest broke out in Wollega University. The government forces are reported firing live ammunition on the students. Several students are injured many others are abducted and taken away.
Government forces continued terrorizing Oromo students of Jimma University. Beating and arresting indiscriminately.
Qeerroo Bilisummaa Singers Group released a new revolutionary song named “Oromiyaa Keessaan Qeerroon sitti marse” (You are surrounded in Oromia by Qeerroo) on YouTube.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
May
15, 2014
Beating and firing live ammunition on Oromo students continued in Wollega University. More than 150 students hospitalized. Doctors and other health professionals of Nekemte Hospital are beaten for treating the injured Oromo students.
Oromo students of various colleges in Nekemte town staged peaceful protest and brutally beaten by government forces.
Oromo student protest broke out in Nedjo town, West Wollega zone. The Oromo students controlled Nedjo town for several hours until government Federal force arrived from Ghmbi town. The federal police started beating everyone indiscriminately upon arrival. Hundreds of students arrested. Others escaped to rural areas and remained there for several months. Many others are forced to permanently disappear from the area, some of them into exile.
A Young Oromo artist Jirenya Shiferaw released an inspirational and revolutionary song on YouTube.
At least 6 Oromo students are reported to have been arrested from their dormitories in Adama University in connection to the student protest held in the area.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
May
17, 2014
Continued
Two Oromo students, Milishu Mallasa and Bilisumma Lammi have been murdered in Adama town by government forces immediately after being released from prison.
Young Oromo artist Dadhi Galan released a new song named “dagachuu hin qabnu kan kalee” (we should not forget what happened [to us] yesterday). The singer is later arrested on the 2014 irreechaa festival (see October 22 report below).
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
May
24, 2014
Oromos and other Ethiopians staged peaceful protest in the capital Finfinne [Addis Ababa] against the government brutality on peacefully protesting Oromo students.
Oromo students of several schools in Ambo, Nekemte, and Nedjo demanded the release of their classmates who have been jailed, before they take the 10th grade national exam.
At least 10 students of Haromaya Uinversity have been abducted from their dormitories accused of refusing to celebrate the so called “Ginbot 20” (May 28).
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
June
4, 2014
Oromo student of Haromaya University, Aslan (Nuradin) Hasan, has been killed in prison as a result of extended and brutal torture.
A new protest of Oromo students broke out in Ambo, West Shoa zone, in Homacho Secondary School, demanding the release of Oromo students who have been jailed for participating in student protests. The director of the school was beaten badly by the protesting students when he tried to call government armed forces on the students.
An Oromo student named Dawit Wakjira was killed in Anfilo district, Qelem Wollega zone, by government forces. His death sparked a new wave of violence in the area.
A young Oromo high school teacher named Magarsa Abdissa is beaten and killed in Gulliso prison, West Wollega zone.
More than 200 Oromos have been adbucted and jailed from Begi town, West Wollegga zone. 9 of these ditainees have disappeared and their families could not find where they were taken.
15 Oromo students have been abducted from Madda Walabu University and their whereabout is unknown.
75 Oromo students (8 of them female students) are reported to have been under severe torture in prison in West Shoa zone. Their names can be found on the link given to the right of this row.
A new revolutionary song is released on YouTube by a young Oromo artist Kekiya Badhadha.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
June
10, 2014
Protest broke out in Anfilo, Qellem Wollega. At least 40 people arrested. The protesters closed the road between Mugi and Dembi Dollo for two days in a row.
Government military deployed in Gindeberet, West shoa zone, killed three 12th grade students: 1) Dame Balcha, 2) Chala Marga, 3) Bekele Terefe.
11 government employees (including three OPDO officials) are fired from their job accused of having ties with the OLF in Jardaga Jarte district, Alibo town, Horo Guduru Wollega zone.
A political Science Oromo student of Haromaya University, Husein Seid, is severely beaten by government armed forces and hospitalized.
A hidden massive grave, found at Hamareysa, East Oromia, infuriarated Oromo people of the area.
Oromo students of Qellem Preparatory Secondary Schhol, Dembi Dollo, Qellem Wollega zone, protested demanding the release of their class mates who are jailed. Their protest was met with brutal force of the government and many more students have been arrested.
A young Oromo man, Galana Nadha, who has suffered continuous torture in the Ethiopian prison, passed away and buried in Tokkee Kusaye district, West Shoa zone. The cause of death of Galana is widely belived to be directly related to his traumatic torture after which he developed a mental illness, eventually leading to his death. Some three thousand Oromo people attended his funeral.
New protest is ignited in Begi town, West Wollega zone, when several Oromo students who have been unjustly sentenced to long-prison for participating on protest were about to be transferred to Ghmbi Prison.
16 Oromo journalists of Oromoian TV, STVO, are fired from their job accused of not properly reporting the propaganda and lies of the regime and reporting the Oromo students’ protests and/or indirectly supporting the rightful demands of the Oromo people.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
June
27, 2014
Two students, among several Oromo students detained for participating in peaceful protests, escaped from prison in Begi town, West Wollega. In response, the government arrested several people and reportedly tortured them severely, including the mother of one of the students who escaped.
OLF- ShG and OLF-QC completed their unification process which was going on for two years. Their declaration is provided on Qeerroo website (see the link to the right).
Popular Oromo singer Hirpha Ganfure released a famous revolutionary song on YouTube praising the movement of Qeerroo. Hirpha Garfure is one of many Oromo artists who are forced to flee into exile, now lives in Norway. It is to be recalled that Hirpha also had released another inspirational “Ka’I Qeerroo” song following the formation of Qeerroo in 2011.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
July
7, 2014
Qeerroo Bilisummaa released a list of 61 Oromos killed and 903 others arrested and being tortured in different prisons accused of participating on the student protests of April and May 2014.
An Oromo student and an author of a book named “Qaroo Dhiga Boosse” (An Eye with Blood Tears) was abducted from Wollega University accused of having connection with the student protest
Oromo student Bikila Belay Tolera passed away, after staying in hospital following the gun shot wound he incurred when he participated in student protest in Ambo town, West Shoa zone.
Oromo students of Mattu University and Ambo University staged peaceful protest refusing the so called “political training” the regime started conducting in different universities in the region. The students chanted slogans in their campuses. Audio of the protest is recorded and presented by Qeerroo Bilisummaa (see the link to the right).
Oromo students of Jimma and Ambo Universities intensified their protest against the training of the regime. In Ambo, Oromo students burned the manual (book) distributed to them for training. Audio is presented in the link to the right.
Oromo students continued protesting against the training in Ambo, Jimma, Bule Hora and other universities. The audio of Jimma University is given below.
At least 53 Oromo students of Ambo University have been abducted and beaten on this day. Over 230 have been arrested from Ambo University in the last 3 days alone.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
August 27, 2014
The confrontation of Oromo students of Ambo Universityand Wollega University and the government forces is recorded and presented by Qeerroo Bilisummaa. Listen.
At leats 800 students of Wollega Uinversity arrested.
The university campus looked like war zone. One student killed in Wollega University. Amazing slogans of students. Listen the audio below.
Qeerroo released statement disclosing the names of 25 Oromo nationals who are on the verge of losing their lives by severe torture. Read the full statement here. The pictures of three of the Oromos at risk are below.
Sena Solomon, a young singer of Qeerroo Singers Group, released a new revolutionary song named “Gootni Baroode” (the Hero is Roaring [in the jungle]) on YouTube.
Oromo students of Jimma University protested in the University campus surrounded by the Federal Police and Agazi Force of the regime. The protest of the students erupted when the so called President of Oromia, Muktar Kadir, attempted to make an intimidating speech to the students through Plasma TV. In an unprecedented bravery, the Oromo students have been chanting slogans denouncing the regime, standing right in front of the brutal Agazi trrops.
A new protest erupted in Finfinne (Addis Ababa), Nefas Silk area, at a School called “Ginbot 20 School”. The protest is said to have attracted other nations and nationalities of the country.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
Sep.
16, 2014
Qeerroo Singers Group released a new revolutionary song “Jabaadhu WBO Abdii Saba Kiyyaa” (Be Strong WBO, Hope of My People) on YouTube. (“Waraana Bilisummaa Oromoo (WBO)” means “Oromo Liberation Army (OLA)”).
Irreechaa (Oromo Thanksgiving) is celebrated at Lake Arsadi, Bishoftu, Eastern Shoa zone. An estimated 4 million people participated on the occasion. Oromo youth participated in large numbers and expressing their grievances through various revolutionary songs.
One of the songs says: “Si eegee dadhabee ka’ee baduu laata?” (I waited too much for you [OLF], should I ran away?[to look for you]).
Three Oromo soldiers who are members of the regimes military, Eastern Command, have been arrested accused of having connection with the Oromo student protests in the area.
Qeerroo Activity and/or Ethiopian government response
Link for details of the news in Afan Oromo
November 5, 2014
21 Oromo students of Dire Dawa University, who have been languishing in jail for several months accused of participating in the Oromo student protest, have been unjustly sentenced to prison ranging from one year to five years. It has to be noted that Qeerroo has reported on August 30, 2014 (included in this report) that these students have been severely tortured and are at risk of losing their lives.
Darartu Abdata, sentenced to one year and 500 Birr payment
#OromoProtests (Qeerroo FDG) – Previously Unreleased Video of Oromo Students’ Protest at Finfinnee University Against the Addis Ababa Genocidal Master Plan
Barattootni Yuunivarsiitii Finfinnee Damee Science fi Technlogy Diddaa Kaasan.
Walgayiin barattootaa adeemsuma gaaffiwwan dhiyeessuutiin Yuuniversitii hunda irratti kan itti fufeedha. YuuniversitiiwwanAmboo,Wallagga,Jimmaa, Adaamaa fi kkf keessatti gaaffileen mirgaa dhiyaachaa jiran deebii argachu kan hin dandeenye ta’ullee ammas barataan kam iyyuu walgayii irratti hirmaachaa kan jiran gaaffiin deebii argachuu qabuuuf deebii dhabuun isaa sodaa mootummaa Wayyaanee barattootaa irraa qabu tahuun isaa waan beekameef dabalata Yuuniversitiilee hunda irratti barataan kamuu mooraadhaa ala bahu akka hin dandeenye hanga guyyaan walgayiin kun xumuramuutti mootummaan murtoo kan baase tahuu gabaasni Qeerroo addeessa. Keessattuu Yuuniversitii Wallaggaa irratti barataan mooraadhaa ala bahuu hin danda’u jedhamee murtoon guyyoota sadii asitti waan baheef barattootni diddaa jabeessaa jiru. Gaaffiin hin fuudhamu, dhimma guddina biyyaa fi qulqullina barumsaa irratti mareen barattootaa kan itti fufu malee gaaffii dhuunfaa fi dhimmi uummataa kana booda ka’uu hin qabu kan jedhus mootummaan Wayyaanee ibsa baasaa akka jiru gabaasni caasaa mootummaa irraanis ibsa. Walgayiin barattootaa guyyoota borus kan itti fufu waan ta’eef sochii fi fincilli barattootaa ammas haaluma wal fakkaatuun itti fufiinsa irra akka jirus qeerroon gabaasa. Gama biraan mootummaan Wayyaanee Yuunivarsitii Harammayyaa keessatti walitti qabamuun ololaa afaan faajjii irratti gaggeessa jirtu mormuun Iyyaannoo marasaa 2ffaa kan gaaffii mirga abbaa biyyummaa qabxii 10 of irraa qabu galfachuun walga’ii wayyaanee fudhachaa akka hin jirre ibsatan.http://qeerroo.org/2014/09/01/gaaffii-hin-fudhatnu-isa-isinitti-himnu-qofa-fudhaa-jedhchuun-hogganooti-wayyaanee-barattoota-oromoo-mirga-gaaffii-dhorkaa-jiru/
Oromia: Enhanced Master Plan to Continue Committing the Crimes of Genocide
The actions taken were aimed at destroying Oromo farmers or at rendering them extinct.
~Ermias Legesse, Ethiopia’s exiled EPRDF Minister
August 30, 2014 (Oromo Press) — The announcement of the implementation of the Addis Ababa Master Plan (AAMP) was just an extension of an attempt by EPRDF government at legalizing its plans of ridding the Oromo people from in and around Finfinne by grabbing Oromo land for its party leaders and real estate developers from the Tigrean community. The act of destroying Oromo farmers by taking away their only means of survival—the land—precedes the current master plan by decades. Ermias Legesse, exiled EPRDF Deputy Minister of Communication Affairs, acknowledged his own complicity in the destruction of 150,000[1] Oromo farmers in the Oromia region immediately adjacent to Finfinne. He testifies that high-level TPLF/EPRDF officials are responsible for planning and coordinating massive land-grab campaigns without any consideration of the people atop the land. Ermia’s testimony is important because it contains both the actus reus and dolus specials of the mass evictions[2]:
Once while in a meeting in 1998 (2006, Gregorian),the Ethiopian Prime Minster Meles Zenawi , we (ERPDF wings) used to go to his office every week, said. Meles led the general party work in Addis Ababa. We went to his office to set the direction/goal for the year. When a question about how should we continue leading was asked, Meles said something that many people may not believe. ‘Whether we like it or not nationality agenda is dead in Addis Ababa.’ He spoke this word for word. ‘A nationality question in Addis Ababa is the a minority agenda.’ If anyone were to be held accountable for the crimes, everyone of us have a share in it according to our ranks, but mainly Abay Tsehaye is responsible. The actions taken were aimed at destroying Oromo farmers or at rendering them extinct. 29 rural counties were destroyed in this way. In each county there are more or less about 1000 families. About 5000 people live in each Kebele (ganda) and if you multiply 5000 by 30, then the whereabouts of 150,000 farmers is unknown.
Zenawi’s statement “the question of nationality is a dead agenda in Addis Ababa” implies that the Prime Minister planned the genocide of the Oromo in and around Finfinne and others EPRDF officials followed suit with the plan in a more aggressive and formal fashion.
Announcement of the Addis Ababa Master Plan and Massacres and Mass Detentions
AAMP was secretly in the making for at least three years before its official announcement in April 2014.[3] The government promoted on local semi-independent and state controlled media the sinister plan that already evicted 2 million Oromo farmers and aims at evicting 8-10 million and at dividing Oromia into east and west Oromia as a benevolent development plan meant to extend social and economic services to surrounding Oromia’s towns and rural districts. Notwithstanding the logical contradiction of claiming to connect Oromia towns and rural aanaalee (districts) to “economic and social” benefits by depopulating the area itself, the plan was met with strong peaceful opposition across universities, schools and high schools in Oromia. Starting with the Ambo massacre that claimed the lives of 47 people in one day[4], Ethiopia’s army and police killed over 200 Oromo students, jailed over 2000 students, maimed and disappeared countless others over a five-month period from April-August 2014. Read more @http://oromopress.blogspot.co.uk/
Barattootni Oromoo Godina Wallagga bahaa , Horroo Guduruu Wallaggaa fi Qeellam Wallagga irraa University Wallaggaatti walitti qabuun walgahiin wayyaanee gaggeeffamaa jiru hanga guyyaa har’atti milkii tokko malee mormii guddaan wayyaanee kan mudatee fi walgahichi barattoota Oromootiin fudhatama dhabee danqamee jiraachuun gabaafamera. Walgahii kana irrattis barattootni Oromoo gaaffii mirgaa fi iyyata galfachuun mirgi hiriira nagaa gochuu akka
hayyamamuuf gaafatan, walga’iin wayyaanee kunis fudhatamaa kan hin qabnee fi uummata Oromoo kan hin fayyadne ta’uu barattootni ifatti gaafachuun gabaafamera.
Walgahiin wayyaanee kun Oromiyaa bakkota hedduutti mormii barattootan fashaala’a jiraachuun hubatamera. Keessattuu Godina shawaa lixaa Amboo, Godina Jimmaa , Iluu A/Booraa, wallagga Lixaa fi wallagga bahaatti sochiin barattoota Oromoo wayyaanee haalan raasee boqonna dhorkuun gabaafamera.
Godina wallagga bahaatti barattoota manneen barnoota sadarkaa 2ffaa fi qophaa’ina barattoota bara kana qorumsa kutaa 12ffaa qoramanii University seenuuf jiraniif illee Onoota godinichaa irratti qopheessuun mormii guddaan barattoota kutaa 12ffaa irraas haala walfakkaatuun wayyaanee mudachuun wayyaanee fi ergamtoota lukkeelee wayyaanee OPDO abdii kutachiisa jiraachuun gabaafamera.
Walga’ii kanarratti barattootni mana barumsaa sadarkaa 2ffaa Biiftuu Naqemtee barattootni kutaa 12ffaa walitti qabamanii turanwayyaanee irraatti fincila guddaa kachiisuun gaaffii keenyaaf deebiin nuuf hin kennamne, walgahii keessan hin fudhannu gadi nu gadhiisa jechuun ergamtoota wayyaanee jeeqan.
Ergamtootni wayyaanees barattoota nu jeeqaa jiran kanneen University fi kutaa 12ffaas yoo ta’ee walgahii kana irraa isin ariina jechuun gaaffii barattootaaf deebii dhabnaan kana deebisan.
Barattootni Oromoo University garaa garaa irraa University Wallaggaa damee Gimbii, Shaambuu fi University Wallaggaa Naqemteetti walitti qabaman hanga guyyaa har’atti walgahii wayyaanee hin fudhannuu jechuun mormii guddaa waltajjii wayyaanee irratti kaachisuun garaaf bultoota wayyaanee boqonnaa
dhorkachuun abdii kutachiisa jiraachuun gabaafame.
Bakkota sadan irraa iyyuu FDG guddatu ka’a jedhamee waan eegamuuf humni waraanaa wayyaanee lakkofsi guddaan Shaambuu, Naqemtee fi Gimbii irra qubsiifamuun gabaafamera. Sochiin barattoota yeroo ammaa kanatti haalan kan ho’ee fi uummata FDG kan dammqsee jiru ta’uun immoo ittumaa wayyaanee fi lukkee wayyaanee OPDO yaaddeessee jira. Haaluma kanaan walgahiin wayyaanee kun FDG guddaan xummuramuuf jira.
Hagayya 21 yuuniversitii Mattuu irratti kan waamaman barattootni Oromoo 2000 ol ta’an walgayii wayyaanee diiganii ganama sa’a lama irraa kaasaanii dhaadannoo garagaraa dhageessisaa oolaniiru.
FDG Yuuniversitii Barattootni Walgayii Itti Waamamanitti Eegalee Jira
Mootummaan wayyaanee barattoota walgayii afeeruun isaa of dagachiisuuf ykns gaaffii mirgaa lamuu lammataa akka hin gaafatamneef haala isaan burjaajessuuf yaalee ka’ee dha, kun kan itti caale tahee argame,walgayiin yuuniversitiilee oromiyaa keessatti qophayanii waamaman irratti FDG har’a bakkooota muraasatti kan eegalee dha, sochii fi karoorri Qeerroon qabatee jiru ammas bakka hundaatti barattootan kan eegalee fi har’a ganama Hagayya 21 yuuniversitii Mattuu irratti kan waamaman barattootni Oromoo 2000 ol ta’an walgayii wayyaanee diiganii ganama sa’a lama irraa kaasaanii dhaadannoo garagaraa dhageessisaa oolaniiru.
Walagyii hin feenu,gaaffiin keenya hanga deebii argatutti nun gaggeessitan, gaaffiwwan yeroo darbe obboleewwan keenya itti wareegaman irra tarkaanfannee walgayii keessaniif kabajaa hin laannu jechuudhaan walgayiin wayyaanee yuuniversitii Mattuu irratti afeeramanii jiran har’a fesheletee jira.
Akkasuma yuuniversitii Amboo fi naannowwan godina Shawaa Lixaa Ona Tokke Kuttaayee, Calliyaa, Miidaqany, Amboo, Gindabarat fi kan hafan keessatti uummanni barattoota waliin gaaffii mirgaa isaa dhiyeessuun halkan edaa irraa kaasee weellisa qabsoo fi barruulee adda addaa bittimsuu irratti kan argamaa jiranii dha.Yuuniversitii mara irratti sochiin barattootaa FDG kaasuun kan wal qabateen eegalaa jiru itti fufa.
MADDA ODUU SBO/VOL Hagayya 22 Bara 2014 #OromoProtests
Godina Iluu Abbaa Booraa Aanaa Mattuu Gandoota Gabaa Guddaa , Siibaa fi Aadallee Gumara ( Mardaafa ) keessatti Finccilli ka’e jabaatee itti fufee ooleera. Hagayya 21 Bara 2014. #OromoProtests Illuu Abbaa Borora, Western Oromia.
Godina Iluu Abbaa Booraa Aanaa Mattuu Gandoota Gabaa Guddaa , Siibaa fi Aadallee Gumara ( Mardaafa ) keessatti Finccilli ka’e jabaatee itti fufee ooleera. Finccila kana daran kan hammeesse ergamtootin Diinaa Shamarree Lalisee Geetaahoo ganni ishee 16 ta’e ganda Aadallee Gumar ( Mardaafa) keessatti Osoo isheen kophaa adeemttuu arganii Billaan mormma ishee qaluuf kufisanii bakka jiranutti ummatin qaqabee irraa buusuun battaumati miidhamttuu gara hospitaala mattuuti kan geessan yeroo ta’u gochaan gara jabina daanggaa hin qabne Kun raawwatamuun isaa ummata gar malee aarsuun jeequmsi jabaan uumamee jiraachuu maddeen Keenya gabaasaniiru.
Barattoota Oromoo Sagalee Ummata Oromoo: The Oromo Students are the Voices of Oromo Nation
21 August 2014
Barattoonni keenya Sagalee uummata keenyaa ta’uu isaanii ammaas irra deebi’uu dhaan Mirkaneessaa jiru!!! bakkeewwan Mootummaan maree dhaaf Barattoota keenya walitti qabde mara keessatti osoo mareen hin jalqabin mormii guddaan uumamaa jira.mormii kanaaf sababa kan ta’an keessaa Durgoon barbaachisaa ta’e kaffalamuu dhabuun isa tokko yoo ta’u Dhimmi Maaster Pilaanii finfinnee waltajjii Marii kana keessaa dhibuun Barattoota keenya dheekkamsiiseera!! dhiigni Ilmaan Oromoo kan irratti dhangala’ee dhimmi Maaster Pilaanii Finfinnee osoo Xumura hin argatin biyya Dimokiraasiin keessatti dagaage Ijaaruuf mari’achuun bu’aa tokko illee hin qabu jechuu dhaan mormii kaasaa jiru.Barattoota kana mari’achiisuuf kan ergaman “Dhimmi Maaster Pilaanii Finfinnee yeroo dhaaf waan dhaabbatee jiruuf isa irratti mari’achuu hin barbaachisu” jedhanis, Barattoonni keenya “yeroo dhaaf osoo hin taane dhimmi maaster pilaanii Finfinnee yoom iyyuu taanaan akka Lafaa hin kaane Mootummaan waadaa nuuf seenuu qaba. akkasumas Lubbuu darbeef qaamni itti gaafatamummaa fudhate ifa ba’uu qaba!!” jechuu dhaan mormii isaanii dhageessisaa jiru!!
TPLF’s Oromo students indoctrination conference at the meeting at Haromaya University – Dire Dawa Campus has been discontinued after panelists refused to entertain questions regarding Addis Ababa master Plan and Per Diem payment. During the morning session students demanded the issue of the Mater Plan and Land Grab must be added to the agenda, and also per diem must be paid. The panelists, led by Faysal Aliyi ( formerly at Washington DC embassy and now head of diaspora affairs at foreign ministry), responded saying they have no authority over such matter. Failing to break deadlock, both side walked out practically ending the meeting for the day.
In Ambo, where students are attending the meeting under heavy federal police presence, none of the agenda items have been presented yet as student continue to protest towards inclusion of the Master Plan issue and payment of Per Diem payment.
Gimbitti walgahiin har’aa mootummaa dargii durii abaaruun eegalame, Guyyaa guutuu Dargii fi ABO abaaraa oolan. Sa’a booda marii akkaataa aanaa irraa dhufaniin taasifame irratti gaaffiin bartootaan ka’e, utuu dhimmi masterplani finfinnee hiika hin argatiin, kanneen hidhaman gad hin dhiisamiin, kan ajjeesan seeraan hin gaafatmiin, gaaffiin Oromoo marti deebii hin argatiinitti waa’ee badii dargii fi ABO akkasumas gaarummaa wayyaanee nutti hin haasa’inaa jedhan yoo kana hin taane ammoo gad nu yaasaa gara maatii keenyaa deemna jedhan. Kanneen akkataa aanaatti marii gaggeessaa turan gaaffii keessan kana nama walgahii kana gaggeessuf finfinnee irraa dhufetti isiniif dhiheessina nuti kana isiniif deebisuu hin dandeenyu jedhan. Kanumaan kana sa’a booda ture addaan citee jira.
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In Gimbi unlike other venues students were divided into their home district. The meeting started with condemnation of the previous Dergue regime and followed by accusation against OLF. Students protested saying its pointless to talk about Dergue and OLF while refusing to engage us on the Master Plan, releasing jailed students and bringing to justice those who perpetuated killing. Panelists resorted to similar excuse saying they have no authority to answer question that are not on the manual provided to them by the government. The meeting discontinued on this point.
#OromoProtests, 21st August 2014
Breaking News: Hagayyaa (August) 20, 2014 FDG Marsaa 2ffaan Godina Lixa Shawaa Yuunibarsiitii Amboo Keessatti Goototata Dargaggoota Oromoon Qabsiifame. #OromoProtests in Central Oromia, Ambo University.
The planned indoctrination conference of Oromo Students at Walaga University- Naqamte Campus dispersed before it began due to disagreement between regime cadres and students. Its reported that students demand for per diem payment since they are forced to gather at the expense of their vacation time when they could earn money by helping their parents or through summer jobs. The cadres told student they have no power to make such arrangement, at which time students walked out promising to return when an entity with such power comes to meet their demand.
Similar question was raised at the Gimbi meeting, however the cadres were able to buy time promising they will make the necessary arrangement for payment. The cadres then introduced three themes of the conference 1) Building democracy in Ethiopia 2) Security and foreign policy of Ethiopia 3) Religion as cause of Oromo Student Protest. Students immediately raised procedural demand insisting the issue of Finfinne and land grab should be discussed before moving into the theoretical and policy focused issues . The cadres responded saying they were given syllabus with strict order and hence cannot discuss any other issue. Meeting adjourned while still in deadlock.
These indoctrination meeting is planned to take place in Gimbi, Naqamte, Adama, Madda Walabu and Haromaya. The regime has threatened that students who fail to attend one of these meetings will not be allowed to enroll back to college in Fall. http://www.siitube.com/article_read.php?a=587
In order to raise global awareness about the protests and the imminent threat facing students who have been expelled from school and those imprisoned, the International Oromo Youth Association (IOYA) is launching a social media campaign. IOYA has prepared a short informative documentary that provides a summary of the protests to date. IOYA is also calling for the immediate release of thousands of Oromo students currently being held in detention and are likely to face torture for peacefully protesting against the Integrated Development Master Plan. The Ethiopian government’s continuous use of brutal force, arbitrary detentions, and torture to severely restrict freedom of expression and rights of citizens should be condemned. The campaign will call on various international human/governmental organizations to urge the Ethiopian government to release the students arrested and to refrain from expelling and abducting innocent students. To follow everything related to the social media campaign use #FreeOromoStudents
THE ADDIS ABABA MASTER PLAN IS A PLAN TO MASSACRE AND DISAPPEAR THE OROMO PEOPLE
By Yunus Abdellah Ali | July 14, 2014
Why the Oromo students decided to sacrifice their life against AAMP of the brutal dictator government of Ethiopia? The AAMP is the core issue of the complete oromo struggle.So it is the question of life and death for the whole oromo population. Millions of oromo s have been massacred by the emperor Minilik, emperor Haileselase, Derg, and TPLF for more than 120 years. But our oromo elders paid their life, their bones, their blood to bring a lot of achievements in the oromo struggle,and they did it. We have achieved some of the fruit of our elders struggle. We have regained the name Oromia for our land, oromo for our people, Afaan Oromoo for our language, our culture, in general we have gained our identity by the blood of oromo freedom fighters with an unforgettable dream of regaining our unique system of governance the Gadaa system.
But recently we the qube generation is facing one of the biggest challenge ever in the middle road of journey to freedom,that is the Addis Ababa Master Plan (AAMP). This plan is the plan that will take all of our achieved rights by our past struggles. So the qube generation is decided to protest against this AAMP in many parts of the world especially in the Ethiopian universities and high schools .This protest is not simply a protest, it the question of life and death,we qube generation are not only protest against this illegal plan, but also we will defend our land from being sold even if we continue being killed by the brutal Ethiopian government.
The Oromia students protest is the life costing struggle for the question of life and death. The dictator Ethiopian government is expanding Finfine , This means, the Weyanes want to expand from the center of Oromia and taking the the oromo land in to their federal territory. The AAMP going to take away our rights we gained through our years struggle with the blood of oromo elders. So that this master plan obviously is not about investment but it is about disappearing of the oromo people.this master plan is targeted directly towards the struggle of the oromo people ,which affects the oromo people directly in a lot of ways.
The current federal language amharic will expand again,in other words the working language of Oromia is going to be amharic based on long term expansion.Once the late prime minister Meles said that he will eliminate the dominance of oromo population in terms of number and the land. That is why the TPLF government have massacred the oromo people in different parts of Oromia and now displacing thousands of oromo farmers from their land. As he already said, in long term, the oromo people will be weak financially, small in number with out unity, and will be eliminated . But we oromo youngsters know that we can’t let our land to to be sold to the investors or government based NGO s even if it costs us our lives.
The Ethiopian government has been displaced many oromo farmers in eastern shewa, western side of Finfine in the name investment. For example in Oromia region in the areas of Zuway , Holeta, and other places there are flower farming. That farm is toxic naturally. And release a lot of toxic chemicals in to the soil kills the soil nutrient for 100 years,so the oromo farmers around that area have died by drinking toxic water that flows from those toxic soil to the lakes and rivers around, the release of chemical dusts from the local industries to the river. Many industries in Oromia release such toxic fluids in to the river of oromo farmers using for drinking water.
In conclusion the Addis Ababa Master Plan is not planned for investment but for elimination of the oromo nation one of the nation in Africa. This master plan is a plan with a mission of hidden eradication of the oromo people identity and population with the progressive erosion of oromo resources, culture, politics, language, land ,people and others from every angle.
So that we Oromo people will struggle by protesting both inside and outside until the end, to cancel the Addis Ababa Master Plan(AAMP) at any costs.
#OromoProtests– 19th June 2014, joined with their families, primary and secondary school students in Najjo, western Oromia, have boycotted classes and staged demonstration today.
#OromoProtests- FDG Magaalaa Dambi Dolloo Irratti Itti Fufee Jira
Gabaasa Qeerroo Qellem Dambi Dolloo Waxabajjii 18
Waxabajjii 17 Bara 2014 barattootni mana barumsaa sadarkaa olaanaa fi qophaayinaa Qellem gaffii mirgaa dhimma hidhamtoota oromoo mana hidhaa keessatti dararamaa jiraniin wal qabsiisanii hiriira bahaniin tikni wayyaanee dura dhaabbachuudhaan barattoota hedduu gara mana hidhaatti guuraa oole.
Hidhamuu barattoota kan guyyaa kaleessaa waraana wayyaaneetiin jilmaadhaan mana hidhaatti guuramaniin har’a waxabajjii 18 uummannii fi barattootni mana barumsaa sadarkaa garagaraa magaalaa Dambi Dolloo keessatti argamu itti fufuudhaan gaaffii mirgaa gaafachuudhaan barattootnni hidhaman nuf haa bahan jedhanii ganama kana irraa kaasanii iyya isaanii dhageessisaa jiru.
Humni waraana wayyaanee diddaa kana dhaamsuuf magaalaa kanatti guuramaa jira, uummanni fi barataan magaalichaa keessaa hidhamtootni gaaffii abbaa biyyummaa gaafatanii hidhaman akka bahaniif diddaa isaanii ciminaan gaggeessaa akka jiran Qeerroon gabaasaa jira.
Radio Afuura Biyyaa Waxibajjii (June) 16, 2014. Interview with Dr. Gizachew Teferra Tesso. The topic of discussion at RAB studio this time is the environmental impact assessment.
Why Resist the Master Plan?: A Constitutional Legal Exploration
Tsegaye R. Ararssa
When the Ethiopian government announced its readiness to implement its “Integrated Regional Development Plan” (the “Master Plan” for short) in the middle of April 2014, it provoked an immediate reaction from university students across the National Regional State of Oromia. Through the instrumentality of its security forces (such as the Federal and State Police, the Army, and the Special Forces), the Ethiopian government responded with brutal repression of the protests. In a series of campus-based and street protests that barely lasted for two weeks, over a hundred innocent Oromos are killed and thousands are jailed. To date, sporadic and spontaneous protest demonstrations continue to erupt in various parts of Oromia. Fuelled by anger triggered by the reckless words and utter disdain expressed in the course of a televised discussion between the Addis Ababa City Administration and the mayors and other executive heads of the surrounding towns over the Master Plan, and informed by history of killing, mutilation, dispossession, and political marginalization (all of which continue unabated), the protests were more a spontaneous reaction than a planned resistance.
Ignored by the state and local government, lied on by the national propaganda machine, neglected by international media and NGOs (with few exceptions), the students continue to resist. Diaspora Oromo communities, in a gesture of solidarity, voiced the plights of the students at home, and they took the occasion to ‘witness’ the violence once more. The non-Oromo Ethio-political elite, which always finds it difficult to speak out on atrocities perpetrated on Oromos, rather characteristically, is still struggling with itself on how to express anger at the mass killings without siding with the cause of the Oromo. (Basking on the nation-wide challenge to the regime as a fertile political moment, they sought to make gestures of solidarity in the hope that they won’t be left out in the event that the tide gets traction thereby leading to the eventual crumbling of the regime.) But very few groups came out in public and condemn this state-orchestrated terror. To be fair, they did well in voicing the plight of the six bloggers and three journalists arrested in the weeks following the start of the unrest. And that is to be appreciated. But the contrast was nothing less than disheartening to those who expected more than gestures of solidarity and had hoped that Oromo lives and rights would be valued as any other lives and rights in Ethiopia.
In this piece, I seek to make a close reading of the constitutional-legal frame within which to situate the master Plan. Accordingly, first, I seek to explore the constitutional-legal context within which the Master Plan should be considered and analysed. Next, I will present a summary of four major constitutional-legal arguments against the Master Plan.- Read the full text @ http://www.gulelepost.com/2014/06/04/why-resist-the-master-plan-a-constitutional-legal-exploration/
#Oromo Protests- Jen & Josh (Ijoollee Amboo) witnessed the cruelties of TPLF/ Agazi forces against peaceful Oromo students and civilians in Ambo, Oromia
The Sidama Liberation Movement (SLM) and Mederk have Successfully & Peacefully Demonstrated in Hawssa! @ Sidama capital, Hawassa, June 14, 2014
The Sidama Liberation Movement (SLM) and Mederk (Coalition of Opposition Parties in which SLM is a part of) have successfully conducted their anti-TPLF’s government demonstration in Sidama capital Hawassa amid tremendous fear of civilians resulted from a systematic over weeks’ intimidations and terror deliberately created by the regime’s army, Security forces and police personnel of federal and regional as well as Sidama Zone’s TPLF’s messengers, all of whom remained patrolling the entire Hawassa and its outskirt for the past five days leading to the June 14, 2014 demonstration. The ultimate aim of the regime’s agents who were busying themselves with missions of intimidation, harassment, repression and suppression- literally terrorising peoples individually and at family levels going from house by house- was hindering the participants from taking part in the said demonstration although they have only partially succeeded in doing so as the expected number of over 100,000 was cut by over 80%.
From another angle however, symbolically the numbers of participants who have taken part in today’s Hawassa demonstration exceeded the expectations of the organisers as it has happened against odds despite the fact that TPLF’s authoritarian regime has left no stone unturned to obstruct the participants from taking part deploying various means including sending the entire Sidama civil servants (majority of whom could have added several thousand if not tens of 1000s) out of Hawassa city under the pretexts of trainings to various southern regional towns for 3-4 days since June 12, 2014.
Besides, the leadership of both SLM/Medrek have expressed their fair satisfaction with the numbers of participants, which has been estimated to be between 11, 000 and 12,500. Given regime’s heinously planned hard work put into this involving deploying its army to harass and terrorise the civilians for the last few days, the numbers were significant victory to both SLM and Medrek. Additionally, since the 13thof June 2014, the regime has also paid the owners of public transportation vehicles in the entire Sidama districts further ordering them to remain out of work until the demonstration is over to hinder the Sidama civilians from taking part. Regardless these all hurdles, the people of Sidama nation have defiantly travelled hundreds of miles on foot to take part on today’s demonstration. The leadership of SLM and Mederk have expressed their gratitude to the people of gallant Sidama and Oromo nation and others who have taken part in today’s demonstration, inviting all to do similar in the future.
ETV (the only and State owned Ethiopian television) has fully satisfied the expectations of genuine minded peoples of SLM/Medrek supporters by putting the numbers of today’s Hawassa demonstrators at about 200!! No wonder if TPLF’s Media (ETV) has significantly cut the number to under 2% as it always does when it comes to success of the opposition parties such as SLM and Medrek. Thus, expecting the regime that deliberately undermines its constitution to speak the truth will by itself be utter naivety.
The slogans of the demonstrators involved:-
Unconditionally Respect the Rights of Nations and Nationalities!!
Unconditionally Release all political prisoners!!
The rights of peoples individually and collectively must respected as they are constitutionally guaranteed!!
Unconditionally Stop the uprooting of the Oromo peasants from the outskirts of Finfinnee and bring those who have massacred Oromo civilians to an independent justice!
Stop Finfinneee Master Plan! Stop uprooting Sidama from the outskirt of Hawassa!
Bring those security forces and authorities who’ve massacred Sidama civilians on May 24, 2002 in Looqqe village to justice and unconditionally respond to the Sidama national quest to regional self-administration for which the Sidama civilians have sacrificed their lives!
Stop harassing, intimidating and terrorising civilians of the country who have demanded their constitutional rights to be respected!!
Stop displacing peasants under false promises of fake Development!!
Stop selling the lands of nations and nationalities to transnational companies!!
We need Freedom!! We need justice not bullet!! Any numerous others.
The demonstration was peacefully concluded despite the fact that the regime planned to slaughters Sidama civilians soon after the 12th Anniversary of Looqqe massacre.
#OromoProtests- Finfinnee (Addis ababa) organised by Oromo Federalist Congress, 24th May 2014
Guyyaa har’a kana Kongereessiin Biyyoolessa Oromiyaa hiriira nagaa magaala Finfinneetti waame haala ho’a ta’een bahe ummani Oromoo. Sa’a sadii hanga sa’a torbaatti kan geggeeffamee yoo ta’u dhadhannoo arman gadii dhageessisuuni
1. Hidhaan fi ajjeechan barattoota Oromoo irratti rawwatamaa jiru yaa dhaabbatu
2. Master plan yaa dhaabbatu
3. Godinaa addaa naannoo Finfinnee kan Oromiyaati dabarsinee hin kenninu
4. Rasaasnii furmaata hin ta’u
5. Namoonni ajjeecha raawwatan seeratti yaa dhiyaatan
6. Mootummaan amma jiru uummata bakka hin bu’u
6. Ol aantummaa seera,haqa,bilisummaa ,walabummaa ,birmadummaa ni barbaanna fi kkf irratti sagalee dhageessisa turan.
(May 24, 2014) – Hundreds of thousands of protesters in the Ethiopia’s capital Finfinnee (Addis Ababa) today demanded the TPLF Ethiopian regime to stop killing Oromo students, and to stop evicting Oromo farmers and grabbing their land in the name of “development.” The protest rally was called by Medrek, a coalition of political organizations, including the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC).
The protesters have demanded justice for the Oromo students and civilians slaughtered by the TPLF Ethiopian regime during the Oromia-wide #OromoProtests in April and May 2014 against the Addis Ababa Master Plan, which outlines the Addis Ababa City’s plans to annex land from the Federally and Constitutionally instituted Oromia in the name of “development,” thereby evicting millions of Oromo farmers and subjecting them to both genocide and ethnocide in their own land.
Among the slogans chanted by the protesters at today’s rally in Finfinne include: “Stop eviction of farmers in the name of development,” “Stop the massacre,” “Bring culprits to justice,” “Free all political prisoners,” “Stop the land grab,” and “We need freedom of expression.”
Waltajjiin falmii araddaa finfinnee fi naannoo gochaa yakkamaa shira diinaa kana jabeessee kan balaaleffatu ta’uu ibsaa dhala OROMOO fi qaama dhimmi kun laallatu hundaaf kan gadditti tuqame kana qaabachiisuun barbaachisaa dha jedhee amana.
Akka sabaatti haalli keessa jirruu fi itti nudhiibaa jiran saalfachiisaa fi jibbisiisaa jireenyaa gadiiti. Haala kana falmii qindaaheen, kutannoo fi wareegama amma lubbuu gaafatu malee kan keeessaa nubaasuu danda’u hin jiruu hubannee wareegama gara hundaa bilisummaan gaafattu keessaa qooddachuun dirqama namaa fi qaama oromummaan laallatu hundaa ta’uu qaba. Wareegama nama biraatin bilisummaa hawwuun yakka yakkaa olii ta’uunis hubatamuun akka.
Diinni keenya garaagarummaa ilaalcha siyaasaa, amantii, gandaa fi dantaa xixxiqqoo qabnutti dhimma bahee bittaa gabrummaa issaa nurraatti dheereffachuun salphina jaarraa 21ffaa keessa harkaa nuqabu. Falli salphina kana ittiin obbaafannu waan hunda dura oromummaa dursuun qofa akka ta’e hubachiifna.
Buqqa’iinsa Lafaa Uummata keenya naannoo finfinnee irratti raawwatee fi raawwachaa jiru keessaa Oromoonni beekaa ykn otoo hin hubatin bu’aa yarootin hawatamtanii lafa abbaa keessanii oromoon dhiigni keessan irraa buqqaafame diina yakkamaa kana harkaa safartanii fudhachuun yakka dhala OROMOO irratti raawwatamaa jiru keessaa qooddachuu ta’uu hubatanii akka irraa ofqusattan isiniif dhaamna.
Barattoonni dargaggoo fi shamarran dhaloota qubee akkasumas qoteebultoonni fi jiraattonni magaalaa, ojjattoonnii fi waliigalli uummata oromoo daba Oromoo fi Oromiyaa irratti aggaammate hubattanii dura dhaabbachuun wareegama hulfaataa amma lubbuu gahu kanflatanii fi kanfalaa jirtan wareegamni keessan itti fufa wareegama gootummaa falmii mirgaa, Tufaa Munaa irraa amma Laggasaa Wagii fi sana boodalleen kanfalamee waan ta’eef seenaa keessatti kabajaan yaadatamaa jiraattu.
Sochii mormii gootonni barattoonnii fi dargaggoonni akkuma obboleewwan isaanii kan kaleessaa ciminaan akka Oromoo lafarraa buqqisuun dhaabbatuuf itti jiran hin deeggarra. Madaan issaanii madaa keenya. Duuti issaanii du’a keenya. Kanaaf akka dhiigni issaanii bilisummaa uummata keenyaa marguuf waan barbaachisee fi danda’amu hundaan bira dhaabbanna.
Hogganootaa fi ojjattoota mootummaa naannoo Oromiyaa, miseensota OPDO, Humna poolisii fi waraanaa dhalootaan oromoo ykn saba fe’erraa taatanii tarkaanfii garajabinaa wayyaaneen barattootaa fi uummata oromoo irratti fudhatee fi fudhachaa jiru ifatti ykn karaa isiniif aanja’e hundaan dura dhaabbattan kabajaan isiniif qabnu guddaa dha. Kanneen ammalleen garaa fi garaacha issaaniif yaaduu bira kutuu hanqatanii faallaa mirga Oromoo dhaabbatan maraatummaa fi raatummaa itti jiranirraa yaroon gara qalbii fayyaatti deebi’uuf akka yaalan gaafanna.
Badiin har’a uummata Oromoo irratti aggaammate kun akkuma kana dura waan hedduu waliin dhamdhamne boru isinis xuquun kan hin oolle ta’uu hubachuun sabnii fi sablammoonni biyyattii keessa jirtan akka falmii mirgaa barattoonnii fi uummanni Oromoo itti jiru bira dhaabbattan isin gaafanna
Saba Tigraay tiif
Gochaalee olitti xuqame kan dhaaba sikeessaa dhaltee siinis utubame kanaan Oromoo irratti raawwachaa turee fi itti jiru balaaleffattee harka kee xurii dhiigaa irraa qulqulleeffachuuf yaroon ati qabdu ammaa fi amma qofa. Kun ta’uu baatee akkuma kaleessaa qarqara dhaabbattee ililtaan harka dhooftaaf taanaan gatii guddaa har’a si mataa kee ykn dhalaa fi dhaloota kee boruu kanfalchiisuun waan hin oolle ta’uu siif himuu feena
Saba Amaaraa tiif
– Mootummoota kalee saba Amaaraa keessaa bahaniin biyyaattiin sun gidiraa
– Waggaa dhibbaa baattee jiraachuuf dirqamuun dhugaa dha. Haa ta’u malee
– Qotee bulaa fi cinqurfamaan saba amaaraa akka sabaatti bu’aan addaa
– Mootummaa maqaa keetin dhaadachaa turerraa hargatte ammamuu
– Mul’ataa Miti. Akkuma saboota biraa rakkinaa fi gadadoo keessa turuun kees
– Beekkamaa dha. Uummanni Oromoo fira malee diina kee miti. Atis oromoo
– Dhaaf fira malee diinaa miti. Mirgi oromoo kabajamuun akkuma waan mirgi kee kabajameetti lakkaa’ama. Kana hubattee kanneen maqaa keetiin dhaaba
– Faallaa mirga Oromoo ijaarrataniin gowwoomtee akka faallaa qabsoo mirgaaf
– Godhamaa jiruu hin dhaabbanne sigaafanna.
Irra deebinee waliigala Uummata Oromootif
– Mirga uumamaan qabdu garuu diinaan sirraa mulqame deebifattee
– Bilisummaa dheebotte gonfachuuf fallii fi malli issaa harka kee malee
– Harka eenyuutuu miti. Kana gachuun wareegama gaafatu qaba. Wareegama
– Malee mirgi addunyaa kanarratti kabajamee, mul’atees hin beeku. Waan ofii
– Gootuun malee kan namrraa eegduun milkii hawwaa jiraachuun ga’uu qaba
– Warra ebeluu fi ebelutu kana gochuu didee komii himachaa bara guutuu
– Aadaa jiraachuun gahee kara siif mijate hundaan qabsoo bilisummaa fi mirga
– Abbaa biyyummaaf godhamu keessaa qooda fudhadhu.
Dhaabboleen siyaasaa biyya keessaa fi alatti maqaa OROMOO tin sochootan
– Yaroon ofii harka walqabatanii akka uummanni harka walqabatee human ta’u
– Itti ojjattan amma ta’uu qabaan waamicha keenya.
Humni milkii qabsoo bilisummaa fi mirga abbaa biyyuummaa furgaasu tokkummaa OROMUMMAA irratti hundaa’e qofa!
#OromoProtests– Wealth gained by corruption, land grabs and mass killings :TPLF’s general Alemeshet’s new building in Finfinnee. The building, which is located at CMC Mikael in Finfinnee (Addis Ababa), is partially rented for 500,000 birr per month to several Chinese companies, one bank and one restaurant on the first floor. The building is registered under his wife Ansha Seid.http://mereja.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=79369
Gabaasi Qeerroo magaalaa Dambi Dolloo irraa
Caamsaa 21,2014 addeessuun har’a barattootni mana barumsaa Qellem barumsa dhaabuudhaan gara gaaffii keenya bu’uuraa kan deebi’uu dideetti deebina jedhuun mooraa mana barumsaa keessatti wal gayuudhaan diddaa eegaluuf gana sa’a 2:30 irratti waltti qabaman, Lukkeen waraanni wayyaanee eessaa dhufeen isaa fi eenyumaan isaa kan hin beekamne barattoota kana akka amala isaanii reebuuf gara mooraa mana barnootatti ol gamuu yoo eegalan barattootni tokkommudhaan barsiisota dabalatee dhagaadhaan of irraa qolachaa akka turan Qeerroon gabaasee jira, barataan guyyaa guutuu mooraa keessa waraanni wayyaanee mooraa manicha barumsaatti marsanii hamma ammaatti akka jiran gabaasni Qeerroo addeessa. Barattootni hamma dhugaanii ifa bahutti hamma gaaffiin uummata keenyaa deebi’utti barumsa akka hin baranne murtoo dhumaa fi beeksisa baasanii maxxansanii akka jiran gabaasni addeessa.#OromoProtests– Dambi Dolloo, Western Oromia, 21st May 2014.
Oroomoon martuu dubbiisu qabduu eerga kana !
Obboo Ermiyas Legesse ittii aana Ministeera Data fi information kan turan Wagga 12 fis motuumma wayyaanne waliin kan hojjeeta turaan yeroo amma biyyaa gadhiisudhan biyya ambaati argaamu isaanis Gaffiifi deebii Televizioonaa ESAT waliin tasiisan kessa yaadoota tokko tokkoo gabaabse isiin fi ka’ati na caqaasa .
1Gafiin Dura Magaala Finfinne Eenyuu tu bulcha ka jedhu ture
Obbo Ermiyas : akka seraa fi heeraa biyyaattitti magaalan finfinnees tae kan nannoo ofiin of bulchu ka jedhu barreeffame jira.
Gabaabumatti deebiisufi ofiin of bulchuun kan eegalu yoo namnii ati filaatte sii bulche fi akkasuuma yoo seeraan siin tajaajille yeroo barbaaddettis nan ta’u jette kastee qofadha.kun immoo akka finfinneettis akka gutuumma biyyaattitis hin jiruu.Sabaabnisa filaanno walaabatti wayyaannen wan hin amanneefi
2.Wa’e Master planii finfinnee yeroo amma ilaalchisee
Obboo Ermiyas: Gara master planii finfinne isa amma osoo hin tane waema guddiina fi lafa qabaanna nannoo finfinnee irraattin waa siif himuu barbaada.
Gazeexessanis :Tole
Obboo Ermiyas : Nannoo finfiinneeti wantoota qote bulaa fi jiraata Oroomo nannoo finfinnee irra jiraatani yoo kasnee mardhuummantu sii gubaata.
Maqaa Investmentiitin Hayat Real State kan jedhaamu kan qabeenyuumman isa namoot
Tigiraayi ta’e lafa duwwaa argaate mara irraatti mana xiqqoo (service) ijaarudhan maqaa manaattiidhan lafa duwwaa hektaara kumaataman lakaa’amu gurguuratani fixan
Akkaasumas dhaboolen adda maqaa ijaarsa mana irraatti bobb’an edduun kan qabeenyuumman isa warra Tigiraayi ta’e Oroomo kumaatama lafa isaarra buqqiisudhan abba warra gara kuma dhibbaatokkoo fi shantama qe’e isaarra buqqaasani bakka kanaatti aboottin warra kun ijoolle meqaa qabu matii maqaa qabaachu danda’u kan jedhuun bayiisati Oroomon meqaa akka buqqa’e tilmaamun isiin hin rakkiisu.
Fakkeenya nama anii beekuu tokkoo siif kenna Abbaan shanqoo lafa baldha qabu turaani qotee bulaadha shanqoon ijoolle gulbee ykn gatiitti fi surraa qaban nannoo anii jiraadhu kessa tokkoodha
Abbaan shanqoo lafa nannoo Hospiitala Bethel akka jiruutti kan sanii ture nannoon kun g
kara Ayar xenaa bakka jedhaamu fi zennaaba werqi bakka radio fm 97 .1 ttii bakka dhihatuudha namoota hin bekneefi
Shanqoon dur midhaan abbaan isa omiishe hardheetti fe’e gabaatti gurguure gala ture eerga laftii abba isa gurguurame warrii abba qabeenya itti ijaarraatani bioda garuu shanqoon dur midhaan abba isa hardheetti fe’e fidee gurguurun afee
Mana magaazinadha namoota fi hardheetti fe’e gara mana isaanitti gessuu eegale dur namnii midhan ofii isa gurguuru jechuudha.
Kun fakkeenya nama tokkooti garu seenna Oroomo nannoo sani 10 yks yks 40 yks 100 ykn 1000 lakka’amaniiti
Fakkeenya kan bira Dubartii Oroomo dhabbaata miti motuumma tokkoo kessa sha’e gurguurte jiraattu tokkoo mee siif ha kasuu
Hiriyaan ko tokko NGO tokko dhabuudhan namoota HIV dhan qabaamanifi gargaarsa tasiisa ture
Gafa tokko gara dhabbatichatti na affeere wae dubartii HIV qaban kana kan achii sha’e danfiisudhan jiraatani kana naf kasee
Dubartiin kun dur utuu laftii isaani jala hin fuudhatamiin dura hadha warra qotee bulaa cima turaani yeroo mara hardhee fi gangeetti midhan fe’udhan gara gabaatti midhaan gessuu turaani
Garuu laftii isaani gafs gurguuramu abban warra isaani jireenyi isaani qonnaa irraatti wan xiyyeeffatefi qonnaas wan jaallatanifi lafti isasni gafa gurguuramu yeroo jalqaab fi isa xumuuradha fi qonna waliin naga waliitti dhamaani
Kana boods gara magaalatti galuun qarshii isaani kanan harii irraan kan ka’e akka malee dhuguus eegalani yeroo kanas gara shamarran mana buna biira deemuu eegaalani HIV dhafis saxiilamani
ati warra isaanis HIV dhan qabaamani mucaan gidduu kanaatti dhalaattes HIV waliin dhalaatte
Ilmii isaani dargagfessis HIV dhafi saxiilame
Jartiin kun jalqaaba muca ishee isa xiqqaa awwaalte ittii ansuudhan abba warra ishee itti ansuun ilma ishee isa dargaggeessa
Amma xumuurri ishe dhabbata miti motuumma NGO tti galuudhan hojii sha’e danfiisu kana hojjeette jiraatti
Garuu isheen matii ishee hunduuma awwaalte fixxee boor garuu isheen awwaalcha hin qabduu .
Kun seenaa Oroomo tokko lama miti 50 yks 100 hanga kumaatamati
Gabaaba dhumastti kun anaaf Genocide dha yks Duguugga sanyii Oroomo irraatti xiyyeeffatedha.
Oroomon kumni dhibbaa tokko fi kuma shantaama ol ta’u bakka handhuurri isa awwaalamte irraa buqqiisun fayyaatti du’a ittii murteessu jechuudha kun .
Wan dubbiistaniifi galaatoma!
———————————————————————-
Short summary:
English Translation by: Henok Oromia Kan Oromotti
Every Oromo must read this summarized translation!!
Mr. Ermiyas Legesse Former Vice Minister of Data and Infromation who had been in office for 12 years working within the TPLF government. Mr. Ermiyas is currently a refugee outside Ethiopia. He had an interview with the ESAT television and I would like to give you a summarized version of the interview. I hope you read my summarized version!!
.
1. (Interviewee) The first question: Who governs the city of Addis Ababa(Finfinnee)?
Mr Ermiyas: According to the governments law and regulation written in the constitution the city of Finfinnee should be able to govern it self. In short, self govern means(starts) if the person/party you have selected is the full representative of you, and you as a citizen can decide whether to like or not to like the law being proposed. Unfortunately the government of the city of Finfinnee let alone the government of the country don’t live on its own constitution. The reason is the government does not believe in free and fair rule(election).
2. Speaking of the current situation on the Finfinnee Master Plan:
Mr: Ermiyas: Before we jump in to the Finfinnee master plan issue there is one thing I would like to clarify(tell you) first.
Interviewee: Sure go ahead!
Mr. Erimyas: If we start talking about the livelihood of the Oromo Farmers and the Oromo people within the outskirts of Finfinnee you will burn in side. In the name of investment, there was Hayat Real Estate which was constructed on “Free Open” land which is solely owned by Tigray investors. These investors build small “service” constructions and sell each lands of thousands of hectares.
In addition, many of contractors and investors are of Tigray ethnic background, who evacuate thousands of Oromo people from their ancestral land. If we put this in numbers the Oromo people being evacuated can be around 150,000 who were displaced from their own land. To find out the scale of how many Oromo people were displaced in this area is not hard to find out.
For instance let me tell you of a Family I knew. Shanqoo’s Dad (Abba Shanqoo) who is a farmer, used to have a huge farm land. Abba Shanqoo had a land that was up to the Bethal hospital. That whole area used to belong to him.
In the neighborhood of Ayer-xenaa and Zenaba Werqi near the radio 97.1 studio there is no one who doesn’t know Shanqoo. He used to carry the vegetables his father cultivated on a donkey and took it there to sell. However, ever since there land was taken and sold away, the vegetables that Shanqoo used to take to the market was no more.
Currently he delivers magazines on his donkey to those area. This is just an example of one person but there are many Oromos like him in that area maybe 10 maybe 40 maybe 100 maybe even over 1000 in numbers!
Another instance, there is an Oromo girl who sell tea for living, let me tell you about her. One of my friends was NGO for assisting HIV affected individuals.
One day he invited me to his organization and mentioned to me about a girl who was living with HIV and was selling tea. This girl long ago before their land was not sold to investors, her mother was a strong farmer. Every now and then they used to take the cultivated vegetables to the market on their donkey and mule. But ever since there land was sold their dad payed his last tribute to his land and migrated to the city and started to drink(intoxication). The intoxication is due to depression and anger. At this time he was visiting the coffee shops and having contacts with women, and unfortunately had contacted HIV. His wife contacted HIV and a child was born between them this child(tea girl) had HIV.
This woman’s(tea girl) first child was lost, then her husband then her teenager son. Now she is part of the NGO where she currently works as a tea lady to support her self.
She burried her whole family but tomorrow she has now one to burry her. This is not a story of one Oromo this is a story of many more like her maybe 50 or 100 more.
To me just to summarize, this is genocide that is specifically focused on the Oromo People.
Oromoo of over 150,000 who are buried in their own capital is just like a complete execution.
SAD NEWS!! #OromoProtests
In west wallagaa in the town of Gimbi in the neighborhood of Waloo-yesuus. There was a 16 year old grade 9 student named Gammachiis Dabalaa. In his life time he used to burn firewood to make charcoal so he can support his family as well as paying for his education. Like his day to day duty, while he went to fetch woods and burn for charcoal on his way to Gimbi town in the morning on 02/09/2006(E.C). He was shot on his foot by a woyanee(TPLF) soldier. Since that day this young boy was spending his time in the Adventist Hosptal in the Gimbi town. Due to lack of quick recovery he passed away on 12/09/2006. May his soul rest in peace!!!!!!!
This photo shows the colonial mansion of Abadi Zemo – one of TPLF’s men. The house is in Yerer Ber. Just a decade or so ago, Yerer was an Oromo district.This 19th-century-U.S.-plantation like colonial mansion was not built by evicting one Oromo farmer and family. It was built by uprooting an entire community of Oromos in Yerer. No one knows what has happened to that Oromo community uprooted from Yerer to make way for Abadi Zemo’s colonial mansion. Who must stand for those Oromo communities being uprooted across Oromia in TPLF’s land-grabbing campaign? – Gadaa.com
This is just tip of the iceberg of TPLF’s empire of corruption.
Aduna Workneh, father of five, lives across bunches of flower farms near Addis Ababa. Officials from the government and flower farms came and talked to him in person. They told me I will benefit better if I take the offer from the government and leave my land. Initially, I refused the offer – because they money would feed my family for a few years, but my land will feed till the ages of my grandchildren and even beyond.” However, Aduna was forced to take the offer and he is now a landless man. He is not sure about his future.
These flower farms benefit us nothing; at least they were expected to provides employment opportunity, says Aduna. Only a few members of our community got employed; as for the majority are not from this area. Showing across the valley, Aduna says – this whole valley was covered by indigenous trees – now is cut down and green houses have been constructed on them. We were able to collect firewood from leftovers and foliage in the forest – the flower farms have taken away everything from us.
#OromoProtests: Dambi Dollo, Western Oromia, Wallaggaa, 14th May 2014
#OromoProtests- Oromo students peaceful protest and Agazi’s brutality at Jimma university, 14th May 2014
#OromoProtests FDG: Renewed Anti-Land-Grabbing Students Protests at Wallaggaa University. Four Oromo Students Reported Dead; Several Hundred Oromo Students Injured
May 14, 2014 (gadaa) — #OromoProtests FDG continued at Wallaggaa University in the Nekemte Campus on May 14, 2014 to demand that the Addis Ababa Master Plan be annulled, and to demand for the institutionalization of the Special Interests of Oromiyaa over Finfinnee per the Constitution. The Addis Ababa Master Plan is termed as the Master “Genocide” Plan by Oromo activists as it aims to evict millions of Oromo farmers around Addis Ababa (whose Oromo name is Finfinnee), and hand out the land to local and foreign land-grabbers – with the Chinese being main actors of the ongoing land-grabbing campaigns in Oromia/Ethiopia.
According to sources, three Oromo students were reported dead at the Wallaggaa University May 14, 2014 #OromoProtests FDG, and one fell/was thrown from a high-rising building. And, medical staff at the nearby hospital have reported up to 200 injured Oromo students being brought to the emergency room. The Agazi TPLF Ethiopian Security Forces continue to lead the violent crackdown of the nonviolent Oromo Students Movement known as #OromoProtests FDG. When students barricaded themselves in dorm rooms, the Agazi forces have demolished walls to enter the rooms, and carry out their harassment, killings and arrests of the students.
Meanwhile, several hundred Oromo students are being arrested en masse at Jimmaa University; this latest campaign of mass arrests by the TPLF Ethiopian regime is in addition to the already arrested hundreds of Jimmaa University Oromo students and Oromo university professors/instructors.
Here are some photos from today’s Wallaggaa University incident: photos show the atrocities being committed by the Agazi TPLF Ethiopian Security Forces on unarmed Oromo students. Warning: some of the photos are gruesome; viewer discretion advised. –For more images click Gadaa.com
#OromoProtests at Walaga University when students barricaded themselves in dormitory, Agazi’s broke down the walls and doors. 14th May 2014
#OromoProtests- Agazi’s brutality at Nekemte (Naqamtee) Wallaggaa University, 14th May 2014
Agazi & the brutal regime(TPLF) in Ethiopia is killing peacefully demonstrating oromo students. The TPLF/ Agazi is also showing its brutal actions on victims’ families and health workers who have showed their empathy to the victims. They are showing their cruelness in each and every action they take on the voiceless peaceful civilians. What does the international legislation, the WHO’s patients’ rights says to this ignorant regime? They are disrespecting international laws in multiple ways.
#OromoProtests FDG Renewed Anti-Land-Grabbing Students Protests at Wallaggaa University.
Four Oromo Students Reported Dead; Several Hundred Oromo Students Injured Posted: Caamsaa/May 14, 2014 · Finfinne Tribune | Gadaa.com
#OromoProtests FDG continued at Wallaggaa University in the Nekemte Campus on May 14, 2014 to demand that the Addis Ababa Master Plan be annulled, and to demand for the institutionalization of the Special Interests of Oromiyaa over Finfinnee per the Constitution. The Addis Ababa Master Plan is termed as the Master “Genocide” Plan by Oromo activists as it aims to evict millions of Oromo farmers around Addis Ababa (whose Oromo name is Finfinnee), and hand out the land to local and foreign land-grabbers – with the Chinese being main actors of the ongoing land-grabbing campaigns in Oromia/Ethiopia.
According to sources, three Oromo students were reported dead at the Wallaggaa University May 14, 2014 #OromoProtests FDG, and one fell/was thrown from a high-rising building. And, medical staff at the nearby hospital have reported up to 200 injured Oromo students being brought to the emergency room. The Agazi TPLF Ethiopian Security Forces continue to lead the violent crackdown of the nonviolent Oromo Students Movement known as #OromoProtests FDG. When students barricaded themselves in dorm rooms, the Agazi forces have demolished walls to enter the rooms, and carry out their harassment, killings and arrests of the students. Meanwhile, several hundred Oromo students are being arrested en masse at Jimmaa University; this latest campaign of mass arrests by the TPLF Ethiopian regime is in addition to the already arrested hundreds of Jimmaa University Oromo students and Oromo university professors/instructors. Here are some photos from today’s Wallaggaa University incident: photos show the atrocities being committed by the Agazi TPLF Ethiopian Security Forces on unarmed Oromo students. Warning: some of the photos are gruesome; viewer discretion advised. Agazi breaking into dorimtories. #OromoProtests reports that medical staff at Nekemte Hospital being harassed and assaulted by federal police. Altercation began when police tried to remove a wounded individual from the critical unit.
#OromoProtests, Gimbi, Wallaggaa, Western Oromia, May 1oth 2013
Gimbi continued their protest again the dictatorial regime for the Oromo land grab and Finfinne. Accordingly, the TPLF/ Ethiopian government security forces (Agazi) are burning buildings and other stores in the Gimbi town. Qabsoon qeerroo gara dhihaa onnee guuttun itti cimee fufeera. Magaala Gimbii keessatti Mormiin uummataa itti fufee jira.
The brutal crime and atrocity of T.P.L.F thugs committed on unarmed peaceful Oromo student’s and civilians is continued. While the Oromo Community in diaspora demanding for justice still the killing is continued in Oromia. This picture is from Gimbi, Wallagga, Western Oromia.
#OromoProtests Dembi Dolloo, Qellem Wallagaa, Western Oromia, 6th May 214
#OromoProtests Arjoo (JImma Arjo and Nunnuu Qumbaa), East Wallaggaa, Western Oromia, 6th May 2014.
2nd May 2014#OromoProtests pictures from the rally at Galila (E.Walaga)
#OromoProtests Photo: Addis Ababa University Oromo students urge Mr. John Kerry, U.S. Secretary of State, who’s on a visit in Finfinnee (Addis Ababa), to condemn the government violence on unarmed Oromo students protesting against the Addis Ababa Master Plan to expand the city limits, and thereby evict in millions those Oromos living around the Capital, and also dispossess them of their land (May 1, 2014)
#OromoProtests 2nd May 2014 in Dongoro town (27 KM from Gimbi) – low resolution picture
#OromoProtests #Oromo, 2nd May 2014, Arsi (Dodola) Ethiopia Godina Arsii Lixaa magaala Dodoolatti barattoonni mana baruumsa sadaarka lammaaffa dodoola Fdg eegaluf moona mana baruumsa afootti osoo marii’ata jiran,humnoota mootummaan addaan bittiinayan.barattoonni kun osoo sagaale hin dhageesisin addan bittiinaayanis bakka mirgi Abbaa biyyumma ummaata oromoo hin kabajaminitti hin barannu jeechun yeroo amma kana mormi dhageessisa jiran.
#OromoProtests, 4th May 2014: Guduruu (Kombolcha), Horroo Guduruu Wallagaa, Western Oromia
kaleessa godina horro gudduru wallagaa magaala kombolcha aanaa guduruutti ummanni oromoo fi baratoonni oromoo hirira nagaa bahan ta’us haala nagayan itti fufu hin dandeenye sababni isaa saroonni fi jaleen wayyaanee ummata fi baratoota mirga isaaf dhaabate kana reebanii adda adda fachaasani haa ta’u malee gaafa kibxataa(28:8:06) haala nama ajaa’ibun hiriira nagaa bahuuf qopha‘ani jiru kanaaf uummanni oromoo hundi qabsoo isaa itti fufuu qaba jenna nutti oromoonni hundi keenya mirga keenyaaf dhaabachu qabna hamma yoomiitti cunqursama hafnaa??
Oromo diaspora (Norway) joined the Oromia (at home) peaceful movement, 1st may 2014 in protest of the Tyranny of Ethiopia and its genocidal master plan.
#OromoProtests– SIREE town, 50km from Adama, Siree high school and preparatory student are going to protest “The Master Plan” that is planned by #TPLF to annex 20 oromia towns. The people are also preparing to abandon him/herself from any activity, teachers are going to stop teaching, student are going to stop learning, there is no marketing, gov’t employer are going close the office until the questions of oromo student get response. When and where the Siree high school and preparatory student will going to hold demonstration is not publicized for security purpose. 5th May 2014
Horrifying Scene from the Ambo Massacre of April 29, 2014 – #OromoProtests – Peaceful Oromo protesters – opposing the Addis Ababa Master Plan – chased by the TPLF security forces as they (the TPLF security forces) indiscriminately batter rally-goers
Photos/Videos: the Global Oromo Community and Friends of the Oromo Express Solidarity with #OromoProtests and Demand Justice for Slain Oromos
Posted: Caamsaa/May 4, 2014 · Gadaa.com
(Gochaa Abba irre Motummaa Wayyaanee ummata Oromoo irratti raawachaa jiru, mormudhaan tarkaanfii waloo fi hatattama fudhachuuf Marii waamame ture milkaawe jira. Qophiin kuni, akka aadaa Oromootti Ebbaa Jaarsoole Oromoon dungoo qabsiisuudhaafi yaadannoo Gotoota Oromoo nuf waregamnin jalqabame. Marii kana irratti namoota dhibban lakkawaaman kan argaman yemmu ta’u, bakka bu’oota Hawaasa Oromoo Berliin-HOB. ev fi Hawaasa Oromoo Munchen fi Nannoo-HOMN e.V, Murtii isaani ummataaf ibsani gaaffii ka’eefis deebi kennaniiru. Waluma galatti Hirira nagaa gaafa Caamsa 9, 2014tti geggeffamu ilaalchisanis haalli qindaawee akka jiru ibsame, hawaasonni biro fi Jaarmooli siyaasas misensoota isaani kan hirmaachisan ta’u isa akkasumas, Warri yakka kana ummata kenya irratti rawwatan haga Seeraan Gaafatamani murtii isaani argatanitti fi gaaffin Saba Oromoo deebii hamma argattutti utu giddutti hinkutiin qabsoo kana kessa hirmaachuuf waada galaniiru. Jarmooleen Siyaasaa Oromoos gargarummaa ilaalchaa siyaasaa qabaan dhiphiifataa diina irratti xiyeeffachuun akkataa dantaa ummataa Oromoo kabajchisuu fi tiksuu irratti garaa fuulduraa maarii bal’aa kan hawaasni keenyaa ifatti qoodaa irraa fudhaatuu akkaa yabboo(Forum)n tolfamuu hirmatoonii walgahii kanaa dhammatnii jiru. Tokkummaan Humna! – 03.05.2014 – Muenchen)(Oromo Community in Munich, Germany; May 3, 2014)(Oromo Community in Munich, Germany; May 3, 2014)(Oromo Community in Munich, Germany; May 3, 2014)(Oromo Community in Munich, Germany; May 3, 2014)(Oromo Community in Munich, Germany; May 3, 2014)(Oromo Community in Munich, Germany; May 3, 2014)(Oromo Community in Munich, Germany; May 3, 2014)(Photo: Oromo Diaspora in Minnesota – the largest community outside Oromia – met on Sunday, May 4, 2014, to discuss on how to best help Oromo Students’ #OromoProtests)(Photo: Oromo Diaspora in Minnesota – the largest community outside Oromia – met on Sunday, May 4, 2014, to discuss on how to best help Oromo Students’ #OromoProtests)(Photo: Oromo Diaspora in Minnesota – the largest community outside Oromia – met on Sunday, May 4, 2014, to discuss on how to best help Oromo Students’ #OromoProtests)
The so-called Addis Ababa Master-Plan is meant to physically/ethnically/nationally cleanse Oromo from Tulama-land. Let us see this case, Lafto was an Afan-Oromo speaking Oromia district a mere 15 years ago. Over the last decade or so, the Afan-Oromo Lafto has been transformed into an Amharic-speaking region inside Addis Ababa – with no significant Oromo nationals there; thus, by expanding to the Lafto area, the Habesha government of Addis Ababa has committed ethnocide on the Oromo in Lafto (it changed the ethnic/national makeup of the Lafto area). This is a point in addition to physically murdering the Oromo farmers who used to live in Lafto area – where are they now? With no land, home and livelihood to depend upon, they have been left to die slowly – which is the genocide committed on the Oromo as a result of the expansion of Addis Ababa into Lafto. The same can be said about other Oromo regions now forcefully incorporated into Addis Ababa, especially over the last few decades: CMC, Kolfe, Kotebe, etc. In other words, the expansion of Addis Ababa has nothing to do with “urbanization” or “development” – but only for committing the physical liquidation (genocide) of the Oromo farmers, and extermination of their language and culture (ethnocide). To summarize, the expansion of Addis Ababa results in the death of Oromo farmers and their families, and also in the death of their culture and language. This is to say, the Master Plan of Addis Ababa is the Habesha’s Mein Kampf on the Oromo. (Note: Mein Kampf is Hitler’s hateful plan for extermination of the Jews). By all means necessary, all Oromos and friends of the Oromo – and peace-loving citizens of the world – must destroy the Habesha’s Mein Kampf on the Oromo – aka the Master Plan of the Addis Ababa City. Those behind this document must be brought forward to face justice for attempting/vouching to perpetrate ethnic cleansing and ethnocide on the Oromo. – Gadaacom Oromo
The Secrets of the New Master plan of Finfinnee (Addis Ababa) Expansion
THE NEW MASTER PLAN (MASTER CLAN KILLER) OF FINFINNE (ADDIS ABABA): Critique and Protest Against Utopian (Nowhere) Comprehensiveness and Physical (Tabula Rasa) Determinist Master Plan.
It is a politically motivated move based on driving the surrounding Oromo community into deeper poverty offering only empty promise to others simply echoing what they think people may want to hear such as, international standard, accelerated development, modernizing the city, experts from prominent European master planners, etc. They have wrongly judged the Oromo thinking and aspirations when they try to trick the Oromos by naming few Oromo individuals like Kumaa Dammaksaa, Berhane Deressa, Driba Kuma, etc. These individuals have always been on the other side of the Oromo issue that the dictators were ingenuous to think that such names would soften the position of the Oromos to thwart the grand political question that they have been asking. No cover ups and use of Oromo names can answer this questions, only the rule of law implemented without political infringement can. The current Ethiopian constitution touted 20 years ago then is politically void in that many of its provisions including articles 40, 43, and 49 remained hollow promises. Particularly, Article 49 of the fake constitution gives only lip service concerning the special interest of Oromia on Addis Ababa. So far, the acclaimed special interest had not met any interest of the Oromo people and the State of Oromia except the contamination of rivers, unmanaged urban runoff, untreated grey water, and pollutions from different land uses of Finfinnee continue to wreak lives and destroy livelihoods of the surrounding Oromos. No considerations of inclusionary practice for Oromo people who use water from the contaminated rivers is made in the recent master plan; it rather plans to do worse, uproot the remaining communities and clear up the swaths of land for the alien settlers. The plan is not inclusive and has no room for managing conflicting interests. So, it is morally, ethically, and professionally wrong and void. Politically flawed; federally owned or territorial boundary of the city has no geographically limited space and no sustainable growth management practices are evinced within the master plan document. The territories of States are divisible and can be manipulated all the time for hidden and clear goals where the state of Oromia has no clear boundaries. The master plan has a clear expansionist goal that will divide the state of Oromia in to two separate regions while it gives access (connection) to the Amhara region and Gurage zone in the near feature. So, the acclaimed master plan is an open venue for the urban sprawl and the development it claims can create political instability for that country. Legally unconstitutional and has no legal means is provided to acquire 1.1 million hectares of land. It is aimed to transfer a political power, state property, and private property to the other private owner (the riches). This is illegal because government cannot take a property from one citizen and transfer it to other private citizen or cannot treat its citizens prejudicially and undermine the rights of indigenous population. The so called master plan has unbearable outcomes; it is aimed to disintegrate the shared values of Oromo people, kills the sense of belongingness, the clans, sub-clans, hamlets, and traditional norms. That master plan has ignored the right of the Oromo people and the state of Oromia to administer a large city and has the intent of building a single municipal government on the big chunk of land. The so called prominent European experts on the advisory payroll seemed to have no clue of multijurisdictional planning or ignored the underlying effects of planning that can destroy existing unique identity. If growth is desirable the undesirable effects of planning could be averted. For instance, cities can have contiguous shape or spotted (leapfrog) settlements while having different local governments that leave sensitive places open as it is in between the cities such as farm lands, environmentally sensitive places, historical places, and indigenous population. Why is the state of Oromia cannot administer satellite (suburban) cities? No reason except there is a hidden goal.That master plan is naive about the sociological formation of indigenous people and assumed as if no diversity exists. Its planning contents disrespected existing values that are given for diversity of culture, values, and different interests of the Oromian state position. No principles and normative theory is evidenced. That master plan is naive about the sociological formation of indigenous people and assumed as if no diversity exists. Its planning contents disrespected existing values that are given for diversity of culture, values, and different interests of the Oromian state position. No principles and normative theory is evidenced. No answer is provided for questions such as, who is going to be evicted? Why they are evicted? Where is their destination? And where is the end point of expansion of the city of Finfinnee? No equal opportunity and equitable conditions provided for the affected.
By Gamsiis (Ph.D.)
Introduction
The aim of this short essay is to protest and critique the newly declared Master Plan of Finfinne (Addis Ababa), the central city of Oromia. Moreover, it is also aimed to advocate for and bolster the voice of the underrepresented Oromo communities living in around Fifinne who are affected by this master plan. The so called new master plan of the city of Addis Ababa (Finfinnee) is a top-down, utopian, physical determinist, a blue print production oriented plan, and filled with politically void terms, laden with hidden agenda that has a grand aim of disintegrating the territorial integrity of the state of Oromia and expand federal government and the minority settlers it has been sponsoring for the last 23 years at the heart of Oromo land, Finfinne.
Prior to discussing the details of the so called master plan this article will define and analyze three major planning and plan related issues. Here we will discuss the theoretical and practical considerations in defining a city planning, and the legal frameworks surrounding city planning practices.
City planning (Town planning) in general term is an activity that regulates the urban development to efficiently manage the urban land use in order to improve the lives of its community by creating safe, healthy, equitable, well situated, and attractive social and economic opportunities for the present residents without compromising the need and possible aspirations of future generations.
Therefore, Master plans (comprehensive plan, general plan) should be aimed to create more development opportunity, better living conditions, healthy and livable place. There are multiple outcomes that are expected from the genuine planning activity. Planning should focus on providing and creating better job opportunity for the community, build improved tax base for the city government, and facilitate the provision of better public services such as transportation, supply, utility services, schools, safety services (policing, fire protection, etc.), recreations, and park services. Secondly, planning is aimed to facilitate economic development outcomes that encourage existing economic institutions and attract new development opportunities. Thirdly, planning activity must create equitable benefits (conditions) for the business community, the public, and the local government (city government). Fourth, city planning activity should empower environment friendly development activities while regulating activities that can have negative environmental impacts and severe environmental hazards such as industrial pollutions, management of urban runoffs, and control other land use externalities.
Contrarily, planning can have negative impacts on property values, can affect peoples’ life negatively, may have hidden values or vague goals, and can have negative political impacts against citizen. Planning activity without legal and judiciary means of protecting civil right can serve as covert exercise of power over the private property, and natural amenities can have a devastating outcome. Authorities, business community, and interested stakeholders may use planning as a land grabbing tool or can impose unfair land use management practices.
Moreover, planning itself can be viewed as a political exercise that manifests itself as taking power (eminent domain) or policing power over public/community properties as well as private property. In its perfect sense, planning should be purely apolitical and it is a governmental duty exercised by city government. But planning can unequally benefit/harm citizens, and even displace and evict communities, destroy shared common values, culture, identity, history and heritage of people, and can kill the sense of belongingness and ownership. Particularly, in places like Finfinne where the unique merger of history and power accorded aliens the privilege of carving a settlement for themselves among the indigenous people, planning to expand, modify the settlement (city) will have always adverse effect on the surrounding indigenous communities. In addition to the scramble for the physical land resources there exist invaluable cultural and historical heritage heritages that may be destroyed by planning practices. There are diverse multi layered socio-cultural orders, common shared values, systems, clans, sub clans, villages, traditional settlements, historical places, and related religious amenities of indigenous nature on which planning can have a devastating effect. It can kill all of these values if not practiced carefully and if legal measures and institutions are not in place to protect all of these including environmentally sensitive areas.
Additionally, planning is value laden practice and with multi-faceted interest where affected parties need to consulted, counseled and legally represented at all planning levels and their needs and rights given proper consideration. Planning graphics, maps, colors, and planning jargons can be very complex, can be hard to be understood by layperson, and are full of professional terms. In some cases planning can have hidden goals where the outcomes are not clear to everyone including the stakeholders they were meant to serve.
The Master Clan Killer
As the case study conducted about the current and newly proposed master plan shows
The analysis of the newly proposed master plan of Finfinnee (Addis Ababa) indicated that its content and quality has imposed issues (values) that are dictatorial and top-down planning activity. The so called master plan is aimed at physical development such as land acquisition for the expansion of the city without full social, cultural, and environmental planning concepts. The industrial zonation of the south east Finfinne was an example of bad planning practice that did not take in to account the impact it can have on the environment. Industrial wastes from this zone have affected thousands of individuals along Akaki (Aqaaqii) river banks and the effects have been felt as far south as Koka (Qooqaa). Therefore, this and earlier master plans were aimed to achieve physical design goals i.e., a plan to expand the perimeter of federal constituency at the expense of social, cultural, environmental, historical and economic injustices to the nearby indigenous communities. The so called master plan failed the affected communities, destroyed their values and can be called the CLAN KILLER. The following is a justification why it has to be called the MASTER CLAN KILLER.
The acclaimed master plan is socially blind and has never mentioned to have a social oriented goal. So, it is socially reckless physical design oriented towards achieving a narrow goal of undermining the state of Oromia and the Oromo people and expanding breathing ground for aliens settled in the city.
It is blind towards the cultural and historical heritage of Oromo people that existed for thousands of years before the inception of Finfinnee. No evidence of any attempt was presented to protect the cultural and historical heritages of the local communities and the major Oromo clans of the area such as Abbichuu. Gullallee, Galaan, etc, are on the verge of extinction.
It is a politically motivated move based on driving the surrounding Oromo community into deeper poverty offering only empty promise to others simply echoing what they think people may want to hear such as, international standard, accelerated development, modernizing the city, experts from prominent European master planners, etc. They have wrongly judged the Oromo thinking and aspirations when they try to trick the Oromos by naming few Oromo individuals like Kumaa Dammaksaa, Berhane Deressa, Driba Kuma, etc. These individuals have always been on the other side of the Oromo issue that the dictators were ingenuous to think that such names would soften the position of the Oromos to thwart the grand political question that they have been asking. No cover ups and use of Oromo names can answer this questions, only the rule of law implemented without political infringement can. The current Ethiopian constitution touted 20 years ago then is politically void in that many of its provisions including articles 40, 43, and 49 remained hollow promises. Particularly, Article 49 of the fake constitution gives only lip service concerning the special interest of Oromia on Addis Ababa. So far, the acclaimed special interest had not met any interest of the Oromo people and the State of Oromia except the contamination of rivers, unmanaged urban runoff, untreated grey water, and pollutions from different land uses of Finfinnee continue to wreak lives and destroy livelihoods of the surrounding Oromos. No considerations of inclusionary practice for Oromo people who use water from the contaminated rivers is made in the recent master plan; it rather plans to do worse, uproot the remaining communities and clear up the swaths of land for the alien settlers. The plan is not inclusive and has no room for managing conflicting interests. So, it is morally, ethically, and professionally wrong and void.
Politically flawed; federally owned or territorial boundary of the city has no geographically limited space and no sustainable growth management practices are evinced within the master plan document. The territories of States are divisible and can be manipulated all the time for hidden and clear goals where the state of Oromia has no clear boundaries. The master plan has a clear expansionist goal that will divide the state of Oromia in to two separate regions while it gives access (connection) to the Amhara region and Gurage zone in the near feature. So, the acclaimed master plan is an open venue for the urban sprawl and the development it claims can create political instability for that country.
Legally unconstitutional and has no legal means is provided to acquire 1.1 million hectares of land. It is aimed to transfer a political power, state property, and private property to the other private owner (the riches). This is illegal because government cannot take a property from one citizen and transfer it to other private citizen or cannot treat its citizens prejudicially and undermine the rights of indigenous population.
The so called master plan has unbearable outcomes; it is aimed to disintegrate the shared values of Oromo people, kills the sense of belongingness, the clans, sub-clans, hamlets, and traditional norms.
That master plan has ignored the right of the Oromo people and the state of Oromia to administer a large city and has the intent of building a single municipal government on the big chunk of land. The so called prominent European experts on the advisory payroll seemed to have no clue of multijurisdictional planning or ignored the underlying effects of planning that can destroy existing unique identity. If growth is desirable the undesirable effects of planning could be averted. For instance, cities can have contiguous shape or spotted (leapfrog) settlements while having different local governments that leave sensitive places open as it is in between the cities such as farm lands, environmentally sensitive places, historical places, and indigenous population. Why is the state of Oromia cannot administer satellite (suburban) cities? No reason except there is a hidden goal.
That master plan is naive about the sociological formation of indigenous people and assumed as if no diversity exists. Its planning contents disrespected existing values that are given for diversity of culture, values, and different interests of the Oromian state position.
No principles and normative theory is evidenced.
No answer is provided for questions such as, who is going to be evicted? Why they are evicted? Where is their destination? And where is the end point of expansion of the city of Finfinnee?
No equal opportunity and equitable conditions provided for the affected
No evidence of public participation and the affected side has no say in it. All planning jargons, engineering graphics, color codes, and the full intent of the plan supposed to be explained to the unskilled public. Legal representation and professional advocacy supposed to be rendered for the affected community. The so called master plan has no principles or notion of inclusive community development plan. Its participants are outsiders and foreigners to the Oromo public and have nothing to do with Oromo to discuss their future destiny on behalf of our community. No authority is vested to any foreign nationals or foreign government or any non-Oromo group to decide on them or ratify any type of master plan on behalf the State of Oromia. This will create distrust between the representatives of Oromian state and the Oromian nationals at large while undermining the fake constitution of Ethiopia. The leaders of OPDO should rise and remove the curtain that has blinded them for too long. If they need any sort of credibility among the Oromo people, this is their chance. They have to stand firm and oppose this TPLF sponsored master plan of destroying Oromia and the Oromo people. The destruction of the Oromo people as we know is the end of OPDO as well.
It is a perpetrated document for federal government to practice an overtly eminent domain and expand the federal government holdings.
It is a document aimed to kill (weaken) the tax base of the state of Oromia and economically marginalize Oromian citizens while holding them in a perpetual poverty trap.
It is a planning document without zoning ordinance and legal support.
It is a top-down faceted planning activity and it is the same as the past failed master plans. It is a dictatorial planning system that has no public interest envisioned.
It is an old style, rigid, and inflexible blueprint without common value.
From Ambo in West, to Melka Jebdu/Dire Dawa in East, to Jimma in South, to Kombolcha/Walloo in North, Oromia is Up for Grabs Under the Cover of “Industrial Zones”
Posted: Ebla/April 15, 2014 · Gadaa.com
According to documents acquired by Gadaa.com, the scale of land grabbing (land thefts) underway in Oromia by the TPLF junta, its Habesha “INVESTORS” (aka Neo-Neftegna’s) and its foreign financiers is larger than previously known to the public. According to information aggregated by Gadaa.com, prime farmlands in Oromia, including the Walloo territory in the North, will be divided into at least 8 “industrial zones” and ownership of Oromo farmlands will be transferred to Habesha “INVESTORS” (aka Neo-Neftegna’s) and their foreign financiers under the pretext of the “Growth and Transformation Plan – GTP – Development” scheme. Ambo, in West Oromia, is slated to be ultimately incorporated under the authority of Addis AbabaAdministration, together with Bole-Lemmi, Sandafa, Dukem, Kilinto and other small Oromian towns Surrounding Addis Ababa. Under this scheme, Oromo farmers in Kilinto have been completely evicted off their farmlands over the last year in 2013/2014, as it was reported last week on Gadaa.com. Farmlands around Jimma in South Oromia and those in Melka Jebdu around Dire Dawa in East Oromia will all be incorporated into the adjacent cities, and the ownership of the land be transferred to Habesha“INVESTORS” (aka Neo-Neftegna’s) under the pretext of “development,” “Growth and Transformation Plan – GTP,” and so on. In Northern Oromia, the TPLF regime has already doled out land to “INVESTORS” under its GTP scheme around Kombolcha, near Bati, Walloo. The full TPLF plan, if implemented, will uproot millions of Oromos from their farmlands, and condemn them to further poverty with no land and livelihood. Here are some documents: – The 8 so far known “industrial zones” designed by TPLF for land theft and grabbing in Oromia (includes Jimma, Dire Dawa and Kombolcha/Walloo): – Ambo and Other Towns Around Finfinnee: the expansive Addis Ababa will ultimately bring these Oromian towns under its authority per the TPLF plan: http://gadaa.com/oduu/25363/2014/04/15/from-ambo-in-the-west-to-melka-jebdudire-dawa-in-the-east-to-jimma-in-the-south-to-kombolchawalloo-in-the-north-oromia-is-up-for-grabs-under-the-disguise-of-industrial-zones/#.U0y_ONMGNwM.facebook
The Oromo Federalist Congress(OFC) has sounded its sternest alarm about the ongoing land-grab activities in Oromia, especially the plan regarding the Oromian towns surrounding Finfinnee, in a statement released on April 14, 2014. OFC issued the statement at the conclusion of its meeting in Finfinnee on April 13, 2014.
In the statement, OFC also condemned the Ethiopian government’s Land Policy, which is being enforced in Oromia without Oromo’s participation, as a plan that will ignite violence between Oromo farmers and investors. Furthermore, OFC reminded the Ethiopian government about the Special Interests of Oromia in Addis Ababa (Finfinnee), which has not been implemented so far, per the Constitution.
Ibsa ABO | The OLF Condemns the Acts of Ethnic Cleansing in Finfinnee
The OLF Condemns the Acts of Ethnic Cleansing Perpetrated Against the Oromo People by the TPLF-led Regime in Finfinnee (Addis Ababa)
PRESS RELEASE 16th April 2014
We are gravely concerned that the Tigray People’s Liberation Front-led (TPLF) regime has, once again, intensified its policy of cleansing the Oromo people from Finfinnee, the capital city of Oromia, and the surrounding districts.
The regime first created the so-called Oromia Special Zone in 2008 and since pursued a relentless systematic removal of the indigenous Oromo people from their ancestral land in the name of “land for investors”, with the sole purpose of forcefully usurping and controlling Oromo land and resource.
The Oromo towns including Akaki, Bonsa, Burayu, Chaffe, Chancho, Dukam, Galan, Holata, Mojo, Mulo, Sabata, Sandafa, Sululta, and Walamara, which the regime has brought under the administration of the “Special Zone”, are scattered along the four main gates to and from the capital in the range of 25Km to 50Km from the capital city.
The regime has launched its most recent atrocity under the guise of “Addis Ababa and the Surrounding OromiaIntegrated Development Plan Project” and annexed the aforementioned towns from Oromia. The regimes’ long-term sinister strategic plan is to surgically remove Finfinnee and the surrounding from Oromia and annex it to the neighboring Amhara state and deprive Oromia of its vital economic and political capital when Oromia eventually becomes an independent country.
Having compulsorily and illegally evicted the Oromo people from areas surrounding their capital city, and now removing a huge landmass and vital strategic towns away from Oromia, the regime has — as it did in 2004 when it imprisoned, killed and exiled over 350 Oromo students for opposing the eviction of Oromo institutions from their capital city — provoked the Oromo youth to rise up and protest. Now it will use this as pretext to dismiss Oromo students from universities, imprison them, and send them into exile en masse.
The TPLF regime and its collaborators need to understand that the land taken from the Oromo people will be returned to its lawful owners sooner or later.
The regime has been waging state terrorism against the Oromo people to suppress their protest against eviction from their homeland and confiscation of their farmlands. It has imprisoned tens of thousands of them for their objection to its apartheid-like educational policy and for their demands of political rights and the right of self-determination for the past two decades. Numerous reports from credible regional and international human rights organizations confirm that the TPLF considers all socially and politically conscious Oromo nationals as enemies, and that it targets them as such.
There has been no regime that has pushed the Oromo people harder than the TPLF in their history. They are being pushed to the limit by the brutalities of the regime and have no alternative but to rise up in unison. Hence, the current TPLF-led regime needs to be reminded that its premeditated human rights abuses and dehumanization of the Oromo people constitute a recipe for a disastrous civil war.
The OLF believes the TPLF must be stopped. The OLF will do all in its power to strengthen its struggle against the regime. We will also renew our call to our people to stand shoulder to shoulder and strengthen our unity to defeat the enemy and guarantee the survival of our nation.
Oromia shall be free!
Oromo Liberation Front
Addi Bilisummaa Oromoo Mootummaan Wayyaanee Oromoo Finfinnee fi Naannoo Keessaa Haxaayee Baasuuf Itti Jiru Ni Balaaleffata
An office called “Addis Ababa and the surrounding Oromia Integrated Development Plan” prepared an International and National Conference on June 2013 at Adama Town, Galma Abba Gadaa.
The Objective of organizing the conference of the top ranking government cadres (mostly OPDO’s) was to work on the manifesting of the proposed Integrated Regional Development Plan (IRDP) and prepare the cadre’s to work on the people.
On the Conference, it was stated that, the Purposes of the “IRDP” are: Instrumental to unleashing Regional Development Potentials Enables localities addressing their mutual development challenges Enables localities addressing their mutual development challenges Strengthens complementarities and interconnection of localities These purposes can be the explicit or clear objectives of the plan. However, the plan have hidden or implicit agenda. Systematically bringing the land under their custody so that, it will sooner or later scramble among their impoverished people in their region. For example, the Finfinnee City Administration and Finfinnee Special Zone can address their mutual development challenges without being incorporated into one master plan. However, the Master plan is not prepared on mutual benefit as the plan is solely prepared by Finfinnee City Administration, despite the name of the office. Hence, though development is boldly emphasized, the main purpose seems to clear the Oromo farmers from their lands in the name of unfair Economic Development. It was also stated that the Pillars of the Integrated Regional Development Plan are: Regional Infrastructure Networks Natural Resource and Environment Stewardship Cross – Boundary Investments/ e.g FDI) Joint Regional Projects However, there seem hidden agenda behind these pillars. For example, in the name of cross-Boundary Investments, local Oromo farmers are going to lose their land for the so-called “investors” and under the pretext of promoting national economy through FDI initiatives In addition, if the plan is going to be realized natural and environmental degradation is inevitable. In addition, the Basic Principles of the Integrated Regional Development Plan are: Ensuring Mutual Benefits A joint development Framework – not a substitute for local plans An Integrated Regional Plan voluntarily accepted by participating partners Differences resolved through negotiation and under in-win scenario Nevertheless, the plan will not ensure a mutual benefit at it is largely intended to displace Oromo farmers from their land. In additions, the populations of the two areas are not homogenous. Hence, they have no common interest. Even though it is said the “IRDP’ will be voluntarily accepted by participating partners, the top cadres in Oromia themselves have strongly opposed the plan on the conference. Beside, the implicit objective of the plan is to remove/avoid the differences in language and culture there by to plant “Ethiopianism or Tigreans” on Oromo land. The plan is intended to say good bye to Oromo Culture and language. The other thing is that the differences between Oromo and others cannot be resolved as it is intended to eradicate Oromo identity, culture and language. As we know from history, Oromo’s never compromised on these issues. Hence, if the plan is to be implemented, peaceful co-existence may not be there.
Oromos are demanding Article-49.4 of the Constitution Be Respected.
Article 49 – The Capital City
4. The special interest of the State of Oromia with respect to supply of services or the utilization of resources or administrative matters arising from the presence of the city of Addis Ababa within the State of Oromia shall be protected. Particulars shall be determined by law.
19 years since the 1995 ratification of the Constitution; why is the TPLF government violating its own Constitution by delaying and ignoring ARTICLE-49.4?Deliberate and systematic extermination of identities of indigenous peoples of Ethiopia through land grabbing (1870 – 2014) Land grabbing is classically known as the seizing of land by a nation, state, or organization, especially illegally or unfairly. It is recently defined as large scale acquisition of land through purchase or lease for commercial investment by foreign organizations (4). Abyssinian governments of Ethiopia are systematically used land grabbing as a tool either to eradicate completely or to reduce indigenous peoples of Ethiopia particularly Oromo and generally Southern peoples in favor of Abyssinian identities. Both micro and macro scales of land grabbing have effectively resulted in disappearance of indigenous identities over time, because in agrarian society land is not only a fixed asset essential to produce sufficient amount of crops and animals to secure supply of food, but it is the foundation of identities (language, culture, and history) of a community or a nation. Changes to land use without consultation with traditional owners of the land, mainly by forceful displacement of indigenous peoples, can, in a long term, result in the disappearance of languages, cultures, and histories of the peoples traditionally identified by ancestral land. Both the expansion of amorphous towns and cities without integration of identities of indigenous peoples and large scale transfer of rural land to investors are the major political strategies of current Abyssinian government to successfully achieve the target of eradicating identities of indigenous peoples of Ethiopia in order to replace it with Abyssinian identities. Thus, problems associated with land grabbing become very complex in Oromia and Southern Ethiopia where the peoples are unrepresented by the Abyssinian government of Ethiopia.http://gadaa.com/oduu/25483/2014/04/22/deliberate-and-systematic-extermination-of-identities-of-indigenous-peoples-of-ethiopia-through-land-grabbing-1870-2014/#.U1Wk8iPYF14.facebook Read the Full Article (OromoPress.Blogspot.com):http://oromopress.blogspot.com/#!/2014/04/eprdfs-addis-oromia-special-zone-master.html
In 1907, Addis Ababa (Finfinnee) had Birbirsaa and Finfinne Hot Springs as its outskirts (border) on the western and southwestern direction. This is when Menelik II was still alive, and merely 21 years after the fall of the Oromo Finfinnee region under the Shoan Amhara kingdom led by Menelik II. On the eastern side, only few embassies were venturing out to the Eekka area (where today’s British Embassy is situated today was the city limit). Today, Addis Ababa has expanded close to ~1800% to what it used to be in 1907 – and in the process, millions of Oromo farmers who used to till and live around the outskirts have been murdered genocidally or ethnocidally (i.e. either directly killed or relocated to other peripheries of the Empire to die helplessly, or their Oromo heritages (culture/language) have been destroyed.) In other words, as the Addis Ababa city expands beyond limits, it has done so at the expense of the Oromo people living around it. The Habesha governments have been using the “expansion of Addis Ababa” as a means (a tool) to perpetrate genocide on the Oromo. Stopping the expansion of Addis Ababa means stopping the genocide on the Oromo living around it.
CNN report: There has been widespread protest by Oromo students in universities in Ethiopia against unpopular ‘Addis Ababa-Finfinnee surrounding integrated master plan’. Oromo students in Haromaya, Jimma, Ambo and Wollega universities held protests. Although officials in Oromia state and Addis Ababa city administration insist the plan only intends to develop Addis Ababa and its surrounding, Oromo students and the wider Oromo elites believe the plan is to displace farmers in the outskirts and suburban areas of the city, meet the growing demand for land, and weaken the Oromo identity. The Ethiopian constitution grants a special interest to the Oromia state regarding administrative, resource and other socio-economic matters in Addis Ababa, in its article 49 which never have been implemented. This has largely resulted in significant resistance within the ruling party, OPDO, in Oromia and a continues pressure to materialize the implementation. The protest against the doomed to fail master plan is held in four universities sofar. Yesterday (26/04/2014) at Wollega University, the infamous and notorious Federal police opened fire at innocent Oromo students. Reports and eye witness indicate unknown number of students were hurt and some have fled to the bushes. The people of Nekemete town were prevented from joining the resistance. Even then some of the residents broke through line of federal police force and joined the protest. At similar protest in Jimma university, the security forces picked more than 10 students and jailed them. Further 15 students in Ambo university were jailed. The uproar against the plan is resonating across different segments of Oromo society. A singer by name Jafar Yusuf was jailed last week that is believed to be because he released a single condemning the plan. The diaspora is is voicing its concerns through the newly launched diaspora based Oromia Media Network The security forces in Ethiopia are dominated by the Tigrayan minority who have been in power since the downfall of Derg communist regime in 1991. The Oromos are the most prosecuted in Ethiopia. More than 40000 Oromos are in jail, although the correct figure is hard to know.http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1125264
April 26, 2014 (Oromo Free Speech) – Oromo students’ nonviolent protests are underway at Wallaggaa University against the plan (called the Addis Ababa Master Plan) to evict millions of Oromo farmers and dispossess them of their land in Oromian districts surrounding Finfinnee under the pretext of the “urban development of Addis Ababa.” According to published data, under the current TPLF regime, Addis Ababa has expanded by ~400% since 1991 (from ~13,763.3-ha in 1991 to ~52,706.2-ha in 2014 – see d
Gallant Oromo Students are Heroically Demanding their rights!
‘Gallant Oromo Students are heroically moving forward opposing Government’s unlawful and Unconstitutional plan to uproot Oromo Peasants from the outskirts of Finfine to create Room for settlers and trade Oromo land for its benefit. All peoples of nations and nationalities of Ethiopia must support Oromo Students and demand the regime to unconditionally stop its unlawful plans with immediate effect.’ http://sidamanationalregionalstate.blogspot.co.uk/
Dispossession and annexation of land from the Oromo people and other people of Ethiopia is part of TPLF’s original play book or master plan. Once they changed their strategy from seceding from Ethiopia to ruling Ethiopia, they were determined to dispossess the Oromos of their ancestral land.As everybody knows, the land policy in Ethiopia is that it does not belong to anybody but to the Ethiopian state. Who rules the Ethiopian state? -the TPLF regime rules it. In effect, they have made sure that all the land belongs to them and they have ascertained this legally. They have created this legal pretext to evict anybody they want.Their focus has mainly been the Oromo farmers. Under the guise of development, they have displaced thousands of Oromo farmers without any compensation forcing them to become beggars or laborers on their own ancestral land.The Tigryan led minority regime disguised behind multi ethnic puppet representatives will continue this trend until they change the whole demographic situation of Ethiopia, mainly of the Oromos.The current Oromo generation and all who stand for peace, justice and democracy in Ethiopia should fight this trend and put a stop to it. An injustice to one is injustice to all. This call includes the peace loving people of Tigray who have been duped by this regime.If this continues, it will reach a stage where it would be irreversible and would remain a shame and a wound on the history of the Oromo people-and this is a strategic goal of the TPLF from the very beginning.What everybody has to understand is that this is part of the regime’s grand strategic scheme to change the demography of Ethiopia when it comes to the Oromo people. In fact, they have also annexed huge chunk of the Amhara land in Gondar and other places in their pursuit to form a greater Tigray.How long will this shame continue? How long will this trick continue? How long will making the Oromos beggars on their ancestral land continue? What is life full of shame, slavery and dispossession in the 21st century?The TPLF regime disguised behind a prime minster from the South and an Oromo symbolic president would like the world to believe that they are purely doing well by pursuing development goals and who by any means speaks against what they do is against Ethiopia’s bright future.Any kind of development that is not in the best interest of the indigenous people, any kind of development that goes ahead without respecting the people’s interest, any kind of development that is based on dispossessing the people of their land and their properties by force is bound to have a negative and destructive consequence in the end.Unbalanced development dictated by the few with a far reaching strategic consequence to destroy a nation is bound to fail.It is time to rise up and stop the shame, denigration and destruction of a great nation. Life without freedom is meaningless!! http://ayyaantuu.com/horn-of-africa-news/dispossession-annexation-tplfs-strategic-goal/http://ayyaantuu.com/horn-of-africa-news/dispossession-annexation-tplfs-strategic-goal/VOA Afaan Oromo reporting on Oromo students peaceful demonstrations:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeFLCX3ZDQ4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzO3tr0rfZwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=tx8LqDvWSPEProtests Grow Over Addis Ababa’s Expansion
Oromo students in Ethiopia are ratcheting up opposition to the territorial expansion of the Horn of Africa nation’s capital, Addis Ababa. Thousands of students at all eight regional universities in Oromia, the largest of Ethiopia’s federal states, turned in recent days to demand an immediate halt to the city’s so-called “Integrated DevelopmentMaster Plan,” unveiled earlier this month.
Today, Tuesday 29 April, an estimated 25,000 people, including residents of Ambo town in central Oromia, participated in a city wide demonstration, in the largest show of opposition to the government’s plans to date. A handful of students have been injured and others arrested in protests at the campuses of Jimma, Haromaya, Ambo, Wollega, Metu, Bolu Hora, Adama and Maddawalabu universities, according to local reports.
Once dubbed a “sleeping beauty,” by Emperor Haile Selassie, Addis Ababa is an awakening city on the move. Vertically, buoyed by a growing economy and rural to urban migration, there is construction almost on every block — so much so that locals refer to it as “a city underconstruction.” The country’s first light rail transit which will connect several inner city neighbourhoods, being constructed with the help of the China Railway Group Ltd, is reported to be60% complete. Horizontally, over the last decade, not least due to an uptick in investment from returning Ethiopian expats from the U.S. and Western Europe, the city has expanded at a breakneck pace to swallow many surrounding towns.
Addis Ababa’s rapid urban sprawl is also getting noticed abroad. In 2013, it’s the only African city to make the Lonely Planet’s annual list of “top 10 cities to visit.” In April 2014, in its annual Global Cities Index, New York-based consultancy A.T. Kearney named Addis Ababa, “the third most likely city to advance its global positioning” in sub-Saharan Africa, only after Johannesburg and Nairobi. If it maintains the pace of development seen over the last five years, Kearney added, “the Ethiopian capital is also among the cities closing in fastest on the world leaders.”
Overlapping jurisdictions
Founded in 1886 by emperor Menelik II and his wife Empress Taytu Betul, Addis Ababa sits at the heart of the Oromia Regional State. According to the country’s constitution, while semi-autonomous, Addis Ababa is treated as a federal district with special privileges granted to the Oromia region, for which it also serves as the capital.
The Addis Ababa City Administration, the official governing body, has its own police, city council, budget and other public functions overseen by a mayor. The overlapping, vague territorial jurisdictions have always been the subject of controversy. Now contentions threaten to plunge the country into further unrest.
Home to an estimated 4 million people, Addis Ababa offers Ethiopia one of the few gateways to the outside world. The state-run Ethiopian airlines, one of the most profitable in Africa, serves 80 international cities with daily flights from Addis to Europe, different parts of Africa, the United States, Canada, Asia and the Middle East.
In addition to being the seat of the continental African Union, the city hosts a number of United Nations regional offices, including the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. There are also more than 100 international missions and foreign embassies based in Addis, earning it the nickname of ‘Africa’s diplomatic capital.’ All these attributes require the city to continually grow to meet the needs and expectations of a global city.
City officials insist the new “master plan”, the 10th iteration since Addis Ababa began using modern city master plans in 1936, will mitigate the city’s disorganised growth and guide efforts to modernize it over the next 25 years.
According to leaked documents, the proposed plan will expand Addis Ababa’s boundaries to 1.1 million hectares, covering an area more than 20 times its current size. Under this plan, 36 surrounding Oromia towns and cities will come under Addis Ababa’s jurisdiction. Oromo students, opposition and activists say the plan will undermine Oromia’s constitutionally granted special interest.
A history of problematic growth
Addis Ababa’s spatial growth has always been contentious. The Oromo, original inhabitants of the land, have social, economic and historical ties to the city. Addis Ababa, which they call Finfinne, was conquered through invasion in 19th century. Since its founding, the city grew by leaps and bounds. But the expansion came at the expense of local farmers whose livelihoods and culture was uprooted in the process. At the time of its founding, the city grew “haphazardly” around the imperial palace, residences of other government officials and churches. Later, population and economic growth invited uncontrolled development of high-income, residential areas — still almost without any formal planning.
While the encroaching forces of urbanisation pushed out many Oromo farmers to surrounding towns and villages, those who remained behind were forced to learn a new language and embrace a city that did not value their existence. The city’s rulers then sought to erase the historical and cultural values of its indigenous people, including through the changing of original Oromo names.
Ultimately, this one-time bountiful farm and pasture land from which it draws the name Addis Ababa – meaning ‘new flower’ – where Oromos made laws under the shades of giant sycamore trees, grew foreign to them by the day. It is this traumatic sense of displacement that elicits deep passions, resentment and resistance from the Oromo community. The Oromo are Ethiopia’s single largest ethnic group, numbering over 25 million – around 35% of the total population – according to the 2007 census.
Ethiopia’s constitution makes a pivot to Addis Ababa’s unique place among the Oromo. Article 49 (5) of the constitution stipulates, “the special interest of the state of Oromia with respect to supply of services, the utilisation of resources and joint administrative matters.”
The Transitional Government of Ethiopia, which drafted the constitution, was fully cognisant of the potential conflicts of interest arising from Addis Ababa’s unbridled expansion, when it decided “to limit its expansion to the place where it was before 1991 and to give due attention to its vertical growth,” according to Feyera Abdissa, an urban researcher at Addis Ababa University.
But in the city’s 1997-2001 master plan, which has been in effect over the last decade, the city planners determined vertical growth posed key urbanisation challenges. In addition, most of Addis Ababa’s poor cannot afford to construct high-rise dwellings as per the new building standards. Officials also noted that the city’s relatively developed infrastructure and access to market attract the private investment necessary to bolster its coffers; the opening up to privatisation contributed to an upswing in investment.According to Abdissa, during this period, “54% of the total private investment applications submitted in the country requested to invest in and around Addis Ababa.” In order to meet the demand, city administration converted large tracts of forest and farmland in surrounding sub-cities into swelling urban dwellings, displacing local Oromo residents.
Local self-rule
In 2001, in what many saw as a conspiracy from federal authorities, the Oromia regional government decided to relocate its seat 100kms away, arguing that Addis Ababa was too “inconvenient” to develop the language, culture and history. The decision led to Oromia-wide protests and a brutal government crackdown, which left at least a dozen people, including high school students, dead. Hundreds of people were also arrested. In 2005, regional authorities reversed the decision amid internal pressures and protracted protests in the intervening years.
But the current opposition to the city’s expansion goes far beyond questions of self-rule. Each time Addis Ababa grew horizontally, it did so by absorbing surrounding Oromo sub-cities and villages. Many of the cities at the outskirts of the capital today, including Dukem, Gelan, Legetafo, Sendafa, Sululta, Burayu, Holeta and Sebeta, were one-time industrious Oromo farmlands. While these cities enjoy a level of cooperation with Addis Ababa on security and other issues of mutual interest, they have all but lost their Oromo identity. If the proposed master plan is implemented, these cities will come directly under Addis Ababa City Administration — thereby the federal government, further complicating the jurisdictional issue.
Among many other compromises made possible by Ethiopia’s ethnic federalism, each state has adopted the use of its native tongue as the official language of education, business and public service. In theory, the country’s constitution also grants autonomous self-rule to regional states. Under this arrangement, each state makes its own laws and levy and collect taxes.
In contrast, municipalities that fall under federal jurisdiction, including Addis, are governed by their own city administrations and use Amharic, Ethiopia’s federal working language. For the Oromo, as in the past, the seceding of surrounding towns to Addis means a loss of their language and culture once more, even if today’s driving forces of urbanisation differ from the 19th century imperialist expansion.
As seen from its recent residential expansions into sub-cities on the peripheries such as Kotebe, Bole Bulbula, Bole Medhanialem, Makanisa and Keranyo, the semi-agrarian community, including small, informal business owners, were given few options. The city’s new code requires building high-rises that are beyond their subsistence means. Unable to comply with the new city development code, the locals were pressured into selling their land at very low prices and eke out a living in a city that faces chronic unemployment. As a result, the horizontal expansion and displacement of livelihoods turned a one time self-sufficient community into street beggars and day labourers.
Activists fear that the latest expansion is part of a grand plan to contain a resurgent Oromo nationalism. As witnessed during the 2001 protests, any attempt to alter Addis Ababa’s administrative limits, unites Oromos across religious, regional and political divides. Unless halted, with a steam of opposition already gathering in and outside of the country, the ongoing of protests show ominous signs.
In a glimpse of the fervent opposition that could quickly turn deadly, within weeks after the plan was unveiled, two young and upcoming Oromo artists have released new music singles lamenting the city’s historic social and cultural heritage. One of the singers, Jafar Yusef, 23, was arrestedthree days after releasing his musical rendition — and has reportedly been tortured. Despite the growing opposition, however, the Addis Ababa municipal authority is vowing to forge ahead with the plan, which they say was developed in consultation with a team of international and local urban planners. Federal Special Forces, known as Liyyu police, who have previously been implicated in serious human rights violations, have been dispatched to college towns to disperse the protests. Soldiers in military fatigues have laid siege to several campuses, preventing students from leaving, according to eyewitness reports.
Trouble at the top while those at the bottom lack the basic necessities
The city administration is also riddled by a crippling legacy of corruption, massive inefficiency and poor service delivery. Its homeless loiters in the crowded streets that are shared by cars, pedestrians and animals alike. There are few subsidised housing projects for poor and low-income families. Many of the residents lack clean drinking water, healthcare and basic education. While some progress had been made to upgrade the city’s squatter settlements, the city is full of dilapidated shacks. Despite poor drainage system and other infrastructural deficiencies, studies show that there is a general disregard for health and environmental hazards in Ethiopia’s urban redevelopment scheme.
A lot of these social and economic problems are caused by the city’s poorly conceived but dramatic urban expansion. In the last two-decades, in an effort to transform the city into a competitive metropolis, there have been an uptick in the construction of high-rise buildings, luxury hotels and condominiums, which displaced poorer inhabitants, including Oromo farmers. “No one is ensuring the displaced people find new homes, and there are no studies about what his happening to them,” Mara Gittleman of Tufts University observed.
Regardless, the outcome of the current controversy will likely test Ethiopia’s commitment to ethnic federalism. The advance of the proposed master plan would mean further estrangement between the Oromo masses and Oromia regional government. Long seen as a puppet of the federal regime, with substantial investment in cultural and infrastructural development, regional leaders are only beginning to sway public opinion. Allowing the master plan to proceed would engender that progress and prove suicidal for the Oromo Peoples’ Democratic Organization (OPDO), the Oromo element in Ethiopia’s ruling coalition. In the short run, the mounting public outcry may not hold much sway. The country’s one-time vibrant opposition is disarray and the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) has almost complete control of the political system.
The opposition to the expansion plans does not pose an immediate electoral threat to the EPRDF who, controlling the system as they do, are likely to claim an easy victory in next year’s elections. However, opposition, and the government’s possible aggressive response to it, could make Oromo-government relations more difficult. The government now has a choice, violently crackdown on protestors, labelling them “anti-development”, or engage with them as stakeholders representing historically marginalised communities. Ethiopia’s federal constitution suggests the latter course of action; sadly, recent history may suggest the former.
Correction 29/4/14: The article originally stated that Jafar Yusef was 29, rather than 23. This has been changed.
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Following the peaceful demonstrations held by Oromo students in nine Universities across Oromia [Haromaya, Jimma, Ambo, Adama, Bule Hora, Wallaga, Madda Walabu, Kotebe and Dire Dawa Universities], more than a dozen people are so far reported to have been killed by the TPLF mercenaries in Ambo (10) and Bale Robe (3). Today, the public outrage in Ambo that subsequently claimed 9 more lives and property losses came after the TPLF forces opened live rounds on demonstrators and killed a 9th grader, by the name Endale Desalegn (picture attached herewith). It is so revolting and heartbreaking to hear that these security forces gunned-down peaceful demonstrators for no other reason; but for they were simply asking their constitutionally protected rights be respected. As the entire Oromo nation is in deep agony following these tragic events happening across Oromia, 2nd May 2014 #OromoProtests ALERT: Muhaba Hussien, the lead actor in the Afaan Oromo drama ‘Sakaallaa’ has been in jail in Adama for last few days. Family and friends have been denied access. Unconfirmed report indicate that he might have been transferred, overnight, to Maekelawi along about 100 students and residents arrested from Adama and neighboring towns.Victim of Police shooting in Bale Robe, #Oromia,#Ethiopia during a protest against the new Addis Ababa Master Plan | April 30, 2014 Below is Finfinnee (Addis Ababa) University as invaded by Agazi/TPLF Army 1st May 2014
Disturbing Images of Oromo Students Injured By TPLF’s Military Police at a Peaceful/Nonviolent Rally in Wallaggaa, Oromia
Barsisaa isporti Tiquando kan ta’e suraa isaa kan armaan olitti argamu maqaan isaa Abdi Akmal kan jedhamu waraana TPLF n ajefameraa. Kumalaa Gudisa jirata magala amboo yerota’u kalesa galgala mana yalaa xiqur anbasa ti samuisa gubaa huna motuummaa wayaneen rasaasaan rukute subii guyyaa 1/05/2014 boqotee refi isa gara magala diree inciniti gefamaa jira. #OromoProtests Barataa Taddasaa Gaashuu Barataa kutaa 9ffaa amboo Keessa gaafa 30/4/2014 rasaasa agaaziitiin wareegame jira.#OromoProtests Barataa Taddasaa Gaashuu Barataa kutaa 9ffaa amboo Keessa gaafa 30/4/2014 rasaasa agaaziitiin wareegame jira. RIP kichuu Ayiii#OromoProtests photo of Alemayoo Urgesaa who was killed in Gudar during last week’s massacre. He was laid rest 5th May 2014. May he join our martyrs in heaven. #OromoProtests Barataa Taddasaa Gaashuu Barataa kutaa 9ffaa amboo Keessa gaafa 30/4/2014 rasaasa agaaziitiin wareegame jira.OROMO STUDENTS AND RESIDENTS INCLUDING KIDS OF AMBO FIRED BY ARMED TPLF& INJURED NOW IN AMBO HOSPITAL , 1ST MAY 2014 Humna hidhattota Wayyaane tiin Fanjii dhoyeen Barattota Universitii Haromayaa’rra miidhaan hamaa ga’ee jira. Kan wareegaman ni jiru, dhibbatti lakkawwamani’mmoo madayaaniiru” jedhama.2/04/”014. #OromoProtests #OromoProtests update 2nd May 2014; the number of students who were killed the bomb attack on Haromaya University campus has reached four. One died on the same day three passed away yesterday and today at Hiwot Fana hospital where this picture was taken. 10 students are still listed as critical in ICU. WARNING Gruesome and disturbing picture. 2nd May 2014, victims of TPLF’s voilence @Najjoo, Westwrn Oromia. Shamaran sadii fi dhira tokko Dhukassa federal midhamanii dhigni isaan gar malee kan dhangala’ee kunoo kana fakkata! @Nadjo Hospital!! 2nd May 2014, Oromia Innocent Oromo mother while she coming from market, attacked by Agazi, wayooooo wayooooooo!!! Uuuuuuuuuuuuuu 2nd May 2014,Oromo student Mohammed Abdulhamid shot dead by Agazi while at peaceful demonstrations at Balee Robee, Oromiyaa. GUYYA KALEESA HIRIRAA BALEE ROBEE KESSATI BARATOONI OROMOO KAN RASASSAN NU BIRAA AJJEEFAME BARATAA MOHAMMED ABDULHAMID JEDHAMAA UMRII DHAN IJOOLA WAGGA 21. #OromoProtests 2nd May 2014, Daarimuu, Abbaa booraa, Oromia Caamsaa 2/2014 Godina Iluu Abbaa booraa aanaa Daarimuu irratti fincila diddaa garbummaa geggeefameen qotee bulaan oromoo rasaasa poolisii federaalaan rukutame Hospitaala Karl Mattuu du’aaf jireenya gidduu jiruu dha. “Hiriyyottan koo lubbuu koo olchitaniif galanni koo guddadha. Kan na biraa lubbuun keessan darbeef waqayyoon lubbuu keessan haa yaadatu. Qabsa’aan ni kufa qabsoon itti fufa.” http://www.spreaker.com/user/ragabaa/roorroo-dachaa?sp_redirected=true #OromoProtests RIP Hachalu Jagama who was killed in Jibat while peacefully protesting. He was a university graduate, who was working as day laborer. Data from Oromia regional government show that less than a third of those who graduated in the last 2 years were able to land job. #OromoProtests Kumala Gudisa Bali who was shot by Agazi in Ambo on April 30 and passed away at Tikur Ambassa Hospital. May he join the rest of our martyrs in heaven.#OromoProtests body of Mekonnen Hirpa who was killed at Madda Walabu by University by Agazi. May he join the rest of our martyrs in heaven. Your sacrifice will not be in vain.#OromoProtests Student Abbabaa Xilahun, statistics 3rd year shot wounded by Agazi and denied medical treatments requires. Kun Abbabaa Xilaahun, barataa istaatistiksii waggaa lammafati. Bombii magaalaa Haroomaayatti dhoo’een madaaye. Doktoroonni Hospitaala Hiwoot Faanaa doorsisni poolisootaan nurra gahaa jiru tajaajila fayyaa bifa tasgabbayeen kennuu nu hanqise jedhuun komatu. Mothers of Oromo students crying for their lost sons and daughters killed by TPLF snipers http://dhaamsaogeetti13.wordpress.com/2014/05/03/in-review-photos-from-the-oromoprotests-against-the-addis-ababa-master-plan-and-for-the-rights-of-oromiyaa-over-finfinne-03-05-14/https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ndJ1NE0qV_Mhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkQyKa4JP2chttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3_AWytE16g
BREAKING NEWS: MASS ARREST AND KILLING OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS!!!
The recent plan to partition Finfine (Addis Ababa) by the current regime has received a single, united and resounding NO from Oromo’s all across the globe. Ethiopia’s plan to partition large portions of land that belongs to Oromo’s in a pseudo-quasi excuse of expanding the capital city is not only unlawful, but an unprecedented move. The Ethiopian constitution, although vague and widely disapproved by citizens grants special interest to the state of Oromia in regards to administrative and resource management in the capital city. However, the government has chosen to ignore the interests of Oromo’s, the state of Oromia, and its own constitution with its unprecedented move to dislocate thousands of Oromo’s in the interest of expanding the capital city. Not only does this violate Ethiopia’s own constitution, but that of many globally accepted governing bodies. According to Article 14 of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights, “The right to property shall be guaranteed. It may only be encroached upon in the in¬terest of public need or in the general interest of the community and in accordance with the provisions of appropriate laws.” Furthermore, article 21 (2) states, “In case of spoliation the dispossessed people shall have the right to the lawful recovery of its property as well as to an adequate compensation.” The current regime has broken its own law as well as that of the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights. Ironically, Finfine is home to the African Union, however, the unelected and dictatorial regime continues to unjustifiably remove Oromo’s mostly peasants who depend on the land for livelihood from surrounding areas in Finfine. The African Union must stand in unison with Oromo’s, lawful owners of the land and hold the Ethiopian regime to account for breaking the Charter on Human and People’s Rights. Otherwise, what is the purpose of such organization if it cannot legally protect disenfranchised citizens from aggression of unelected and illegitimate government? In addition to AU’s Charter, globally accepted governing norms dictate the Ethiopian regime has broken international laws far too many times. The latest one should be the last if the world legitimately expects the Oromo people and other ethnic groups throughout Ethiopia to live in peace without fear of losing life, liberty, and property. According to one of the most recognized governing bodies in the world, the United Nations in Article 17 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: “1. everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. 2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his [or her] property.” Given this UN declaration as well as that of the African Union’s Charter, the Oromo’s are not only legitimate owners of the land, but should legally be entitled to protection from these governing bodies. These governing bodies are obligated to STOP the mass discrimination, injustice, and growing inequality toward Oromo’s and should immediately put in place mechanism to protect over 40 million Oromo’s. After all, the language Oromiffa is the fourth widely spoken language in Africa, which suggests the depth of Oromo population. Oromo’s have been victimized for far too long and can no longer remain silent, so it is in the international community’s interest and obligation to step in and mitigate this matter before further escalation. In addition to violating the rights of land owners, Ethiopia continues to further disregard human rights. In a widely condemned move, the regime has sent armed federal troops to Universities across the country to suppress the voices of countless students who are peacefully protesting the partition plan. Countless students have been beaten, arrested, and 8 have been confirmed dead, a number that is expected to sharply increase as crackdown on peaceful protesters intensifies. Government officials who ordered armed federal troops to open fire on innocent protesters should be brought to justice. This is a heinous crime against humanity. The mere fact the Ethiopian regime has no regard for its young citizenry is a concern that should cause individuals and governments all over the world to openly condemn and unequivocally voice their grave concern! Oromo’s have been victims at the hands of various Ethiopian regimes for nearly a century. However, in this day and age where social media has proven it can topple dictatorships like the recent Arab Spring in North Africa and the Middle East, we the people can bring about change with a united and resounding voice of disapproval for the current unelected regime. Oromo’s have suffered enough under brutal regimes and more than 23 years of power for a single party is beyond ample time, in fact it is quite absurd by western standards, therefore, immediate change of government is not only necessary, but a must to end all atrocities! Therefore, those in the west who enjoy unparalleled freedom must speak up for over 45,000 voiceless Oromo’s languishing in Ethiopia’s inhumane prisons, current students suffering for voicing their concern, and the mass number of Oromo’s who are forced to vacate their ancestral land. Whether one voices their opinion through social media, by word of mouth, letters to elected officials, or simply contacting international media’s like CNN, BBC, Al Jazeera etc… we must exercise our right to voice our opinion. Innocent students were brutally beat and killed for simply exercising their inherent right guaranteed by UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a right those in the west so often take for granted. Thus, silence is no longer an option, let us all unite to support Oromo students, prisoners, and landowners throughout Ethiopia! http://www.oromotv.com/breaking-news-mass-arrest-and-killing-of-university-students-3/https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=h4STfZRg_28
Massacre of Peaceful Demonstrators- Perpetual Habit of TPLF Regime
OLF Press Release The level of repression and exploitation exacted by the successive regimes of Ethiopia on the subject peoples under their rule in general and the Oromo people in particular has been so unbearable that the people are in constant revolt. It has also been the case that, instead of providing peaceful resolution to a demand peacefully raised, the successive regimes have opted to violently suppress by daylight massacre, detention and torture, looting, evicting and forcing them to leave the country. Hundreds of students have been dismissed from their learning institutions. This revolt, spearheaded by the Oromo youth in general and the students in particular, has currently transformed into an Oromia wide total popular uprising. The response of the regime has, however, remained the same except this time adding the fashionable camouflage pretext of terrorism and heightened intensity of the repression. This has been the case in Ambo, Madda Walabou, Dambi Doolloo, Naqamte, Geedoo, Horroo Guduruu, Baalee and Ciroo in Oromia; and Maqalee in Tigray as well Gojjam in Amhara region, by the direct order from the Tigray Peoples Liberation Front (TPLF) leaders in the last 22 years. Tens of peaceful demonstrators, including children under the age of 10, have been massacred in Ambo, Madda Walabou yesterday April 30, 2014. Hand grenades have been deliberately thrown on student demonstrators in Ambo and Haramaya Universities causing several death and serious wounds. More have been detained. Indiscriminate severe beating, including elderly, women and children by Federal Police and militia, is widespread. The OLF condemns the perpetration of these atrocities and holds, the Prime Minister of the regime, the army, federal police and security chiefs, directly responsible for these crimes selectively targeting the Oromo, who peacefully presented their legitimate demands. The OLF renews its call on the Oromo nationals who are serving in the armed forces of this regime not only to refrain from partaking in this crime against their parents, siblings and children; but also to resist and stand in defense of their kin and kith and other civilians. We call upon the Oromo people both inside and outside the country, to realize that we have been pushed to the limit. The only way out of this and to redeem the agony visited upon us for the past is to fight back in unison. We specially call upon you in the Diaspora to act on behalf of your brethren, who are under siege, and urge the nations who host you to discharge their responsibility as government and a community of human beings towards the long suffering Oromo and other peoples under the criminal TPLF regime. We urge again and again that the international community, human rights and organizations and governments for democracy to use their influence and do all they can to stop the ongoing atrocity against the Oromo people. Failure to act immediately will be tantamount to condoning. Victory to the Oromo People! Oromo Liberation Front May 01, 2014
Latest News: Godina Wallaggaa lixaa aan aa Ganjii Mana barum saa sadarkaa lammaff aa Ganjii Ganjii kee ssatti Barattootni H iriira gaggeessun dh aadannoo dhageessisu u irratti argamu
Witnesses say Ethiopian police have killed at least 17 protesters during demonstrations in Ethiopia’s Oromia region against plans to annex territory to expand the capital, Addis Ababa. Authorities put the protest-related death toll at 11 and have not said how the demonstrators were killed. The main opposition party says 17 people were killed while witnesses and residents say the death toll is much higher. Residents say that an elite government security force opened fire on protesters at three university campuses. The demonstrations erupted last week against plans by the Ethiopian government to incorporate part of Oromia into the capital. Oromia is Ethiopia’s largest region and Oromos are the country’s largest ethnic group. Oromos say the government wants to weaken their political power. They say expanding the capital threatens the local language, which is not taught in Addis Ababa schools. – VOA Newshttp://gadaa.com/oduu/25780/2014/05/02/voa-deadly-protests-in-ethiopia-over-plans-to-expand-capital/#.U2PO0unJ7BY.facebookhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nQ3x0L9wfpUhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=821Ijw2GoXM Partial lists of Oromo students of Adama University kidnapped by Agazi and the whereabouts are not know: as of 3rd May 2014 Barattoota University Adaamaa Kaleessa Guyyaa 5/1/2014 Mana Hidhaatti Guuran Keessaa Kan Ammaaf Maqaa Isaanii Arganne Armaan Gaditti Laalaa…
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for providing me the opportunity to speak today about the human rights situation in Ethiopia.
The other panelists have articulated some of the critical issues that are facing Ethiopia ahead of the May 2015 elections. I would like to elaborate on human rights concerns associated with Ethiopia’s many development challenges.
Ethiopia is the one of the largest recipients of development assistance in the world, including more than $800 million in 2014 from the US government. Many of Ethiopia’s 94 million people live in extreme poverty, and poverty reduction is rightly one of both the US and Ethiopian government’s core goals. Improving economic and human development is fundamental to ensuring that Ethiopians are able to enjoy their rights to health care, education, shelter, food and water, and Ethiopia’s government, civil society, international donors and private investors all have important roles contributing to the realization of these rights.
But sustainable development also requires a commitment to the full range of human rights, not just higher incomes, access to education and health care, but the ability for people to express their views freely, participate in public policy decision-making, join associations of their choice, have recourse to a fair and accessible justice system, and live free of abuse and discrimination.
Moreover, development that is not rooted in respect for human rights can be counter-productive, associated with abusive practices and further impoverishment of people already living in situations of extreme poverty. In Ethiopia, over the past few years Human Rights Watch has documented disturbing cases where international donors providing development assistance are turning a blind eye to government practices that fail to respect the rights of all beneficiaries. Instead of improving life in local communities, these projects are proving harmful to them. And given the repression of independent voices, media and associations, there are no realistic mechanisms for many local communities to express their views to their government. Instead, those who object or critique the government’s approach to development projects face the prospect of intimidation, harassment and even serious abuse.
In 2011 in Ethiopia’s western region, Gambella, Human Rights Watch documented such abuses during the implementation of the first year of the government’s “villagization” program. Gambella is a region populated by indigenous groups who have suffered from political marginalization and lack of development for decades. In theory the villagization program aimed to address some of these concerns. This program required all indigenous households in the region to move from their widely separated homes into larger villages – ostensibly to provide improved basic services including much-needed schools, health clinics and roads.
I was in Gambella for several weeks in 2011 and travelled to 16 different villages in five different districts. I met with people who had not yet moved from their homes and others who had been resettled. I interviewed dozens of people who said they did not wish to move but were forced by the government, by police, and by Ethiopia’s army if necessary. People described widespread human rights violations, including forced displacement, arbitrary arrest and detention, beatings, and rape and other sexual violence. Thousands of villagers fled into neighboring countries where they became refugees. At the same time, in the new villages, many of the promised services were not available and the food security situation was dire.
The villagization program has also been implemented in other marginalized regions in Ethiopia. These regions are the same areas where government is leasing large pieces of land to foreign investors, often from India, China and the Gulf states, without meaningful consultation with local communities, without any compensation being paid to local communities, and with no benefits for local communities other than low-paying labor jobs on the plantations.
In the Omo valley in southern Ethiopia, Human Rights Watch found that the combination of sugar and cotton plantations and hydroelectric development is causing the displacement of up to 200,000 indigenous people from their lands. Massive amounts of water are being used for these projects which will have devastating impacts for Lake Turkana across the border in Kenya and the 300,000 indigenous people who live in the vicinity of the lake and depend upon it. The displacement of communities in the Omo valley is well underway. As in Gambella, communities in the Omo valley told Human Rights Watch about coercion, beatings, arrests and threats from military and police to force people to move to new settlements.
Human Rights Watch also found politically motivated abuse in development programs. In 2010, we documented discrimination and “political capture” in the distribution of the benefits of development programs especially prior to the 2010 elections. Opposition party supporters and others who did not support the ruling party were denied access to some of resources provided by donor-funded programs, including food aid, micro credit, seeds, fertilizers, and other critical agricultural inputs needed for food security, and even employment opportunities. Schools, funded as part of education programs by the US and other development partners, were used to indoctrinate school children in ruling party ideology and teachers were required to report youth perceived to support the opposition to the local authorities. These government practices, many of which continue today, show the intense pressure put on Ethiopian citizens to support the ruling party, and the way in which development aid is manipulated to discriminate against certain communities.
All of these cases have several common features. First, the Ethiopian government routinely denies the allegations without investigation, claiming they are politically motivated, while simultaneously restricting access for independent media and investigators. Second, these programs are directly and indirectly funded by Western donors, who seem unwilling to acknowledge, much less address human rights concerns in Ethiopia.
Monitoring and evaluation of these programs for human rights abuses is inadequate. Even when donors carry out assessments to look into the allegations, as has happened in Gambella, they are not conducted rigorously and do not ensure victims of abuses can speak freely and safely. In the current environment in Ethiopia, it is essential for anyone seeking to investigate human rights violations to go to locations where victims can speak openly, to understand the dynamics of the local communities, and recognize the depths of the fear they are experiencing.
All of these problems are exacerbated by the ongoing government crackdown on the media and civil society. The independent press has been ravaged since the 2010 election, with the vast majority of journalists terrified to report anything that is remotely critical of the government. In October I was in a country neighboring Ethiopia where over 30 journalists have fled in the past few months alone. I spoke to many of them: their papers were closed, their families were threatened, and many had been charged under repressive laws merely because they criticized and questioned the Ethiopian government’s policies on development and other issues. I spoke with someone who was forced to seek asylum abroad because he had questioned in writing whether the development of Africa’s largest dam on the Nile River was the best use of money in a country where poverty is pervasive.
As for Ethiopian civil society, it has been decimated by another law, the Charities and Societies Proclamation. It has made obtaining foreign funding nearly impossible for groups working on human rights, good governance, and advocacy. Leading members of the human rights movement have been forced to flee abroad.
Some people take to the streets to peacefully protest. Throughout 2014 there were various protests throughout Ethiopia. In many of these protests, including during the student protests in the Oromia region in April and May of this year, the security forces used excessive force, including the use of live ammunition against the students. We don’t even know how many Oromo students are still detained because the government publicizes no information, there is no comprehensive human rights monitoring and reporting, and family members are terrified of reporting the cases. Members of the Muslim community who organized protests in 2012 against what they saw as government interference in religious affairs have also paid an enormous price for those demonstrations, with many beaten or arrested and most of the protest organizers now imprisoned on terrorism charges.
Finally, bringing about change through the ballot box is not really an option. Given that 99.6 percent of the parliamentary seats in the 2010 election went to the ruling party and that the political space has shrunk dramatically since then, there is little in the way of a viable opposition that can raise questions about government policy, including development plans, or other sensitive topics.
This situation leaves Ethiopians no real means to express concerns over the policies and development strategies imposed by the government. They either accept it, they face threats and imprisonment for speaking out, or they flee their country as thousands have done. The refugee communities in countries neighboring Ethiopia are full of individuals who have tried to raise concerns in all of these ways, and are now in exile.
To conclude, we all recognize that Ethiopia needs and requires development. The problem is how development is being undertaken. Development projects need to respect the rights of the local communities and improve their quality of life, regardless of ethnicity or political perspective. The United States and Ethiopia’s other major partners can and should play a leading role in supporting sustainable, rights-respecting development. The US should not accept arguments that protecting human rights is in contradiction to development goals and implementation.
In 2014, the appropriations bill required the US to scrutinize and suspend funding for development programs in Ethiopia that might contribute to forced evictions in Ethiopia, including in Gambella and Omo. This was an important signal that the abuses taking place were unacceptable, and this should be maintained in the upcoming FY15 appropriations bill, whether it is a stand-alone bill or a continuing resolution.
As one of Ethiopia’s key partners and supporters of Ethiopia’s development, the US needs to do more to ensure it is rigorously monitoring and consistently responding to human rights abuses in Ethiopia, both bilaterally and multilaterally. The US should be pressing the Ethiopian government to ensure that there is genuine consultation on development initiatives with affected communities, that more robust monitoring is put in place to monitor for potential abuses within programs, and that independent civil society, both domestic and foreign, are able to monitor and report on rights abuses. Respect for human rights is first and foremost a concern of all Ethiopians, but it is also central to all US interests in Ethiopia, from security to good governance to sustainable development.
WITNESS LIST:
Soleyana S.Gebremichale, Co-founder, Zone NineBloggersRobert Herman, Vice President of Regional Programming, Freedom HouseSusan Valentine, Africa Program Coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists
Felix Horne, Ethiopia Researcher, Human Rights Watch
Joshua Klemm, International Rivers
Read more @ http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/11/17/tom-lantos-human-rights-commission-hearing-human-rights-dilemmas-ethiopia
SUMMARY: REPRESSION OF DISSENT IN OROMIA “I was arrested for about eight months. Some school students had been arrested, so their classmates had a demonstration to ask where they were and for them to be released. I was accused of organising the demonstration because the government said my father supported the OLF so I did too and therefore I must be the one who is organising the students.” Young man from Dodola Woreda, Bale Zone1
The anticipation and repression of dissent in Oromia manifests in many ways. The below are some of the numerous and varied individual stories contained in this report: A student told Amnesty International how he was detained and tortured in Maikelawi Federal Police detention centre because a business plan he had prepared for a competition was alleged to be underpinned by political motivations. A singer told how he had been detained, tortured and forced to agree to only sing in praise of the government in the future. A school girl told Amnesty International how she was detained because she refused to give false testimony against someone else. A former teacher showed Amnesty International where he had been stabbed and blinded in one eye with a bayonet during torture in detention because he had refused to ‘teach’ his students propaganda about the achievements of the ruling political party as he had been ordered to do. A midwife was arrested for delivering the baby of a woman who was married to an alleged member of the Oromo Liberation Front. A young girl told Amnesty International how she had successively lost both parents and four brothers through death in detention, arrest or disappearance until, aged 16, she was left alone caring for two young siblings. An agricultural expert employed by the government told how he was arrested on the accusation he had incited a series of demonstrations staged by hundreds of farmers in his area, because his job involved presenting the grievances of the farmers to the government.
In April and May 2014, protests broke out across Oromia against a proposed ‘Integrated Master Plan’ to expand the capital, Addis Ababa, into Oromia regional territory. The protests were led by students, though many other people participated. Security services, comprised of federal police and the military special forces, responded to the protests with unnecessary and excessive force, firing live ammunition on peaceful protestors in a number of locations and beating hundreds of peaceful protestors and bystanders, resulting in dozens of deaths and scores of injuries. In the wake of the protests, thousands of people were arrested. These incidents were far from being unprecedented in Oromia. They were the latest and bloodiest in a long pattern of the suppression – sometimes pre-emptive and often brutal – of even suggestions of dissent in the region. The Government of Ethiopia is hostile to dissent, wherever and however it manifests, and also shows hostility to influential individuals or groups not affiliated to the ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) political party. The government has used arbitrary arrest and detention, often without charge, to suppress suggestions of dissent in many parts of the country. But this hostility, and the resulting acts of suppression, have manifested often and at scale in Oromia. A number of former detainees, as well as former officials, have observed that Oromos make up a high proportion of the prison population in federal prisons and in the Federal Police Crime Investigation and Forensic Sector, commonly known as Maikelawi, in Addis Ababa, where prisoners of conscience and others subject to politically-motivated detention are often detained when first arrested. Oromos also constitute a high proportion of Ethiopian refugees. According to a 2012 Inter-Censal Population Survey, the Oromo constituted 35.3% of Ethiopia’s population. However, this numerical size alone does not account for the high proportion of Oromos in the country’s prisons, or the proportion of Oromos among Ethiopians fleeing the country. Oromia and the Oromo have long been subject to repression based on a widespread imputed opposition to the EPRDF which, in conjunction with the size of the population, is taken as posing a potential political threat to the government. Between 2011 and 2014, at least 5,000 Oromos have been arrested as a result of their actual or suspected peaceful opposition to the government, based on their manifestation of dissenting opinions, exercise of freedom of expression or their imputed political opinion. These included thousands of peaceful protestors and hundreds of political opposition members, but also hundreds of other individuals from all walks of life – students, pharmacists, civil servants, singers, business people and people expressing their Oromo cultural heritage – arrested based on the expression of dissenting opinions or their suspected opposition to the government. Due to restrictions on human rights reporting, independent journalism and information exchange in Ethiopia, as well as a lack of transparency on detention practices, it is possible there are many additional cases that have not been reported or documented. In the cases known to Amnesty International, the majority of those arrested were detained without charge or trial for some or all of their detention, for weeks, months or years – a system apparently intended to warn, punish punish or silence them, from which justice is often absent. Openly dissenting individuals have been arrested in large numbers. Thousands of Oromos have been arrested for participating in peaceful protests on a range of issues. Large-scale arrests were seen during the protests against the ‘Master Plan’ in 2014 and during a series of protests staged in 2012-13 by the Muslim community in Oromia and other parts of the country against alleged government interference in Islamic affairs. In addition, Oromos have been arrested for participation in peaceful protests over job opportunities, forced evictions, the price of fertilizer, students’ rights, the teaching of the Oromo language and the arrest or extra-judicial executions of farmers, students, children and others targeted for expressing dissent, participation in peaceful protests or based on their imputed political opinion. Between 2011 and 2014, peaceful protests have witnessed several incidents of the alleged use of unnecessary and excessive force by security services against unarmed protestors. Hundreds of members of legally-registered opposition political parties have also been arrested in large sweeps that took place in 2011 and in 2014, as well as in individual incidents.
In addition to targeting openly dissenting groups, the government also anticipates dissent amongst certain groups and individuals, and interprets certain actions as signs of dissent. Students in Oromia report that there are high levels of surveillance for signs of dissent or political activity among the student body in schools and universities. Students have been arrested based on their actual or suspected political opinion, for refusing to join the ruling party or their participation in student societies, which are treated with hostility on the suspicion that they are underpinned by political motivations. Hundreds of students have also been arrested for participation in peaceful protests.
Expressions of Oromo culture and heritage have been interpreted as manifestations of dissent, and the government has also shown signs of fearing cultural expression as a potential catalyst for opposition to the government. Oromo singers, writers and poets have been arrested for allegedly criticising the government and/or inciting people through their work. People wearing traditional Oromo clothing have been arrested on the accusation that this demonstrated a political agenda. Hundreds of people have been arrested at Oromo traditional festivals.
Members of these groups – opposition political parties, student groups, peaceful protestors, people promoting Oromo culture and people in positions the government believes could have influence on their communities – are treated with hostility not only due to their own actual or perceived dissenting behaviour, but also due to their perceived potential to act as a conduit or catalyst for further dissent. A number of people arrested for actual or suspected dissent told Amnesty International they were accused of the ‘incitement’ of others to oppose the government.
The majority of actual or suspected dissenters who had been arrested in Oromia interviewed by Amnesty International were accused of supporting the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) – the armed group that has fought a long-term low-level insurgency in the region, which was proscribed as a terrorist organization by the Ethiopian parliament in June 2011. The accusation of OLF support has often been used as a pretext to silence individuals openly exercising dissenting behaviour such as membership of an opposition political party or participation in a peaceful protest. However, in addition to targeting demonstrators, students, members of opposition political parties and people celebrating Oromo culture based on their actual or imputed political opinion, the government frequently demonstrates that it anticipates dissenting political opinion widely among the population of Oromia. People from all walks of life are regularly arrested based only on their suspected political opinion – on the accusation they support the OLF. Amnesty International interviewed medical professionals, business owners, farmers, teachers, employees of international NGOs and many others who had been arrested based on this accusation in recent years. These arrests were often based on suspicion alone, with little or no supporting evidence.
Certain behaviour arouses suspicion, such as refusal to join the ruling political party or movement around or in and out of the region. Some people ‘inherit’ suspicion from their parents or other family members. Expressions of dissenting opinions within the Oromo party in the ruling coalition – the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO) – have also been responded to with the accusation that the dissenter supports the OLF. Family members have also been arrested in lieu of somebody else wanted for actual or suspected dissenting behaviour, a form of collective punishment illegal under international law.
In some of these cases too, the accusation of OLF support and arrest on that basis appears to be a pretext used to warn, control or punish signs of ‘political disobedience’ and people who have influence over others and are not members of the ruling political party. But the constant repetition of the allegation suggests the government continues to anticipate a level of sympathy for the OLF amongst the Oromo population writ large. Further, the government appears to also believe that the OLF is behind many signs of peaceful dissent in the region.
However, in numerous cases, the accusation of supporting the OLF and the resulting arrest do not ever translate into a criminal charge. The majority of all people interviewed by Amnesty International who had been arrested for their actual or suspected dissenting behaviour or political opinion said that they were detained without being charged, tried or going to court to review the legality of their detention, in some cases for months or years. Frequently, therefore, the alleged support for the OLF remains unsubstantiated and unproven. Often, it is merely an informal allegation made during the course of interrogation. Further, questions asked of actual or suspected dissenters by interrogators in detention also suggest that the exercise of certain legal rights –for example, participation in a peaceful protest – is taken as evidence of OLF support. A number of people interviewed by Amnesty International had been subjected to repeated arrest on the same allegation of of being anti-government or of OLF support, without ever being charged.
Amnesty International interviewed around 150 Oromos who were targeted for actual or suspected dissent. Of those who were arrested on these bases, the majority said they were subjected to arbitrary detention without judicial review, charge or trial, for some or all of the period of their detention, for periods ranging from several days to several years. In the majority of those cases, the individual said they were arbitrarily detained for the entire duration of their detention. In fewer cases, though still reported by a notable number of interviewees, the detainee was held arbitrarily – without charge or being brought before a court – during an initial period that again ranged from a number of weeks to a number of years, before the detainee was eventually brought before a court.
A high proportion of people interviewed by Amnesty International were also held incommunicado – denied access to legal representation and family members and contact with the outside world – for some or all of their period of detention. In many of these cases, the detention amounted to enforced disappearance, such as where lack of access to legal counsel and family members and lack of information on the detainee’s fate or whereabouts placed a detainee outside the protection of the law. them again. The family continued to be ignorant of their fate and did not know whether they were alive or dead.Many people reported to Amnesty International that, after their family members had been arrested, they had never heard from.
Arrests of actual or suspected dissenters in Oromia reported to Amnesty International were made by local and federal police, the federal military and intelligence officers, often without a warrant. Detainees were held in Kebele, Woreda and Zonal3 detention centres, police stations, regional and federal prisons. However, a large proportion of former detainees interviewed by Amnesty International were detained in unofficial places of detention, mostly in military camps throughout the region. In some cases apparently considered more serious, detainees were transferred to Maikelawi in Addis Ababa. Arbitrary detention without charge or trial was reported in all of these places of detention.
Almost all people interviewed by Amnesty International who had been detained in military camps or other unofficial places of detention said their detention was not subject to any form of judicial review. All detainees in military camps in Oromia nterviewed by Amnesty International experienced some violations of the rights and protections of due process and a high proportion of all interviewees who had been detained in a military camp reported torture, including rape, and other ill-treatment. Actual or suspected dissenters have been subjected to torture in federal and regional detention centres and prisons, police stations, including Maikelawi, military camps and other unofficial places of detention. The majority of former detainees interviewed by Amnesty International, arrested based on their actual or imputed political opinion, reported that they had been subjected to treatment amounting to torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, in most cases repeatedly, while in detention or had been subjected to treatment that amounts to torture or ill-treatment in and around their homes. Frequently reported methods of torture were beating, particularly with fists, rubber batons, wooden or metal sticks or gun butts, kicking, tying in contorted stress positions often in conjunction with beating on the soles of the feet, electric shocks, mock execution or death threats involving a gun, beating with electric wire, burning, including with heated metal or molten plastic, chaining or tying hands or ankles together for extended periods (up to several months), rape, including gang rape, and extended solitary confinement. Former detainees repeatedly said that they were coerced, in many cases under torture or the threat of torture, to provide a statement or confession or incriminating evidence against others. Accounts of former detainees interviewed by Amnesty International consistently demonstrate that conditions in detention in regional and federal police stations, regional and federal prisons, military camps and other unofficial places of detention, violate international law and national and international standards. Cases of death in detention were reported to Amnesty International by former fellow detainees or family members of detainees. These deaths were reported to result from torture, poor detention conditions and lack of medical assistance. Some of these cases may amount to extra-judicial executions, where the detainees died as a result of torture or the intentional deprivation of food or medical assistance.
There is no transparency or oversight of this system of arbitrary detention, and no independent investigation of allegations of torture and other violations in detention. No independent human rights organizations that monitor and publically document violations have access to detention centres in Ethiopia.
In numerous cases, former detainees interviewed by Amnesty International also said their release from arbitrary detention was premised on their agreement to a set of arbitrary conditions unlawfully imposed by their captors rather than by any judicial procedure, and many of which entailed foregoing the exercise of other human rights, such as those to the freedoms of expression, association and movement. Failure to uphold the conditions, detainees were told, could lead to re-arrest or worse. Regularly cited conditions included: not participating in demonstrations or other gatherings, political meetings or student activities; not meeting with more than two or three individuals at one time; not having any contact with certain people, including spouses or family members wanted by the authorities for alleged dissenting behaviour; or not leaving the area where they lived without seeking permission from local authorities. For a number of people interviewed by Amnesty International, it was the difficulty of complying with these conditions and the restricting impact they had on their lives, or fear of the consequences if they failed to comply, intentionally or unintentionally, that caused them to flee the country. The testimonies of people interviewed by Amnesty International, as well as information received from a number of other sources and legal documents seen by the organization, indicate a number of fair trial rights are regularly violated in cases of actual or suspected Oromo dissenters that have gone to court, including the rights to a public hearing, to not be compelled to incriminate oneself, to be tried without undue delay and the right to presumption of innocence. Amnesty International has also documented cases in which the lawful exercise of the right to freedom of expression, or other protected human rights, is cited as evidence of illegal support for the OLF in trials. Amnesty International also received dozens of reports of actual or suspected dissenters being killed by security services, in the context of security services’ response to protests, during the arrests of actual or suspected dissidents, and while in detention. Some of these killings may amount to extra-judicial executions. A multiplicity of both regional and federal actors are involved in committing human rights violations against actual or suspected dissenters in Oromia, including civilian administrative officials, local police, federal police, local militia, federal military and intelligence services, with cooperation between the different entities, including between the regional and federal levels. Because of the many restrictions on human rights organizations and on the freedoms of association and expression in Ethiopia, arrests and detentions are under-reported and almost no sources exist to assist detainees and their families in accessing justice and pressing for remedies and accountability for human rights violations.
The violations documented in this report take place in an environment of almost complete impunity for the perpetrators. Interviewees regularly told Amnesty International that it was either not possible or that there was no point in trying to complain, seek answers or seek justice in cases of enforced disappearance, torture, possible extra-judicial execution or other violations. Many feared repercussions for asking. Some were arrested when they did ask about a relative’s fate or whereabouts. As Ethiopia heads towards general elections in 2015, it is likely that the government’s efforts to suppress dissent, including through the use of arbitrary arrest and detention and other violations, will continue unabated and may even increase. The Ethiopian government must take a number of urgent and substantial measures to ensure no-one is arrested, detained, charged, tried, convicted or sentenced on account of the peaceful exercise of their rights to the freedoms of expression, association and assembly, including the right to peacefully assemble to protest, or based on their imputed political opinion; to end unlawful practices of arbitrary detention without charge or trial, incommunicado detention without access to the outside world, detention in unofficial detention centres, and enforced disappearance; and to address the prevalence of torture and other ill-treatment in Ethiopia’s detention centres. All allegations of torture, incidents involving allegations of the unnecessary or excessive use of force by security services against peaceful protestors, and all suspected cases of extra-judicial executions must be urgently and properly investigated. Access to all prisons and other places of detention and to all prisoners should be extended to appropriate independent, non-governmental bodies, including international human rights bodies. Donors with existing funding programmes working with federal and regional police, with the military or with the prison system, should carry out thorough and impartial investigations into allegations of human rights violations within those institutions, to ensure their funding is not contributing to the commission of human rights violations. Further, the international community should accord the situation in Ethiopia the highest possible level of scrutiny. Existing domestic investigative and accountability mechanisms have proved not capable of carrying out investigations that are independent, adequate, prompt, open to public scrutiny and which sufficiently involve victims. Therefore, due to the apparent existence of an entrenched pattern of violations in Ethiopia and due to concerns over the impartiality of established domestic investigative procedures, there is a substantial and urgent need for intervention by regional and international human rights bodies to conduct independent investigations into allegations of widespread human rights violations in Oromia, as well as the rest of Ethiopia. Investigations should be pursued through the establishment of an independent commission of inquiry, fact-finding mission or comparable procedure, comprised of independent international experts, under the auspices of the United Nations Human Rights Council or the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
UN experts urge Ethiopia to stop using anti-terrorism legislation to curb human rights
GENEVA (18 September 2014) – A group of United Nations human rights experts* today urged the Government of Ethiopia to stop misusing anti-terrorism legislation to curb freedoms of expression and association in the country, amid reports that people continue to be detained arbitrarily.
The experts’ call comes on the eve of the consideration by Ethiopia of a series of recommendations made earlier this year by members of the Human Rights Council in a process known as the Universal Periodic Review which applies equally to all 193 UN Members States. These recommendations are aimed at improving the protection and promotion of human rights in the country, including in the context of counter-terrorism measures.
“Two years after we first raised the alarm, we are still receiving numerous reports on how the anti-terrorism law is being used to target journalists, bloggers, human rights defenders and opposition politicians in Ethiopia,” the experts said. “Torture and inhuman treatment in detention are gross violations of fundamental human rights.”
“Confronting terrorism is important, but it has to be done in adherence to international human rights to be effective,” the independent experts stressed. “Anti-terrorism provisions need to be clearly defined in Ethiopian criminal law, and they must not be abused.”
The experts have repeatedly highlighted issues such as unfair trials, with defendants often having no access to a lawyer. “The right to a fair trial, the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the right to freedom of association continue to be violated by the application of the anti-terrorism law,” they warned.
“We call upon the Government of Ethiopia to free all persons detained arbitrarily under the pretext of countering terrorism,” the experts said. “Let journalists, human rights defenders, political opponents and religious leaders carry out their legitimate work without fear of intimidation and incarceration.”
The human rights experts reiterated their call on the Ethiopian authorities to respect individuals’ fundamental rights and to apply anti-terrorism legislation cautiously and in accordance with Ethiopia’s international human rights obligations.
“We also urge the Government of Ethiopia to respond positively to the outstanding request to visit by the Special Rapporteurs on freedom of peaceful assembly and association, on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and on the situation of human rights defenders,” they concluded.
ENDS
(*) The experts: Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, Ben Emmerson; Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, Maina Kiai; Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, David Kaye; Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Michel Forst; Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Gabriela Knaul; Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, Juan Méndez.
Special Procedures is the largest body of independent experts in the United Nations Human Rights system. Special Procedures is the general name of the independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms of the Human Rights Council that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Currently, there are 38 thematic mandates and 14 mandates related to countries and territories, with 73 mandate holders.
The term capital flight has been given many interpretations in the economic literature and in the press, leading to confusion and misinterpretations. In the popular press, capital flight is presented as illegal or illicit financial flows. It is housed in the same domain as money laundering, tax evasion, transfer pricing, underground trafficking. Yet, while these activities are illicit, not all of them amount to capital flight. At the same time, while most capital flight may be deemed illicit. Capital flight may be illicit in one of three ways: when it consists of money acquired illegally and transferred abroad; when funds are transferred abroad illicitly by violating capital account regulations; when capital is hidden abroad and therefore not being subject to taxation and other government regulations. It is not possible to make this determination a priori from the data that is used to calculate capital flight, which involves a reconciliation of recorded capital inflows (mainly external borrowing and foreign direct investment) and the use of these resources (to cover the current account deficit and accumulation of reserves). The term capital flight means capital flows from a country that are not recorded in the country’s Balance of Payments (BoP). If all the ransactions were correctly and systematically recorded, inflows would balance out with outflows, except for small and random statistical errors as recorded in the ‘net errors and omissions’ line of the BoP. Where large discrepancies are observed, in other words, where there is substantial ‘missing money’ in the BoP, this is taken as an indication of the presence of capital flight.
Ethiopia’s capital flight is estimated at US$24.9 billion or 83.8% of the GDP
(Source: Political Economy Research Institute, the University of Massachusetts).
August 17, 2014 (PERI Research) — Ethiopia’s capital flight is estimated at about US$24.9 billion which is 83.8% of the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Ethiopia is ranked 8th in the group of 33 countries for which data are available but it stands first when compared to non-oil and/or mineral exporting countries. Even the latter was considered to be substantially lower than the actual flows give that large stock of immigrants. The true figure could be as high as one billion dollars. If so, Ethiopian capital flight would be commensurately larger than the estimated.
Capital losses through trade misinvoicing and unrecorded remittance
Substantial export underinvoicning (net outflows) couple with import underinvoicing (net inflows), with the balance resulting in a net outflow, as in the case of Sudan or a net inflow, as in the cases of Ethiopia and Ghana.
Unrecoreded remittances also contribute substantially to estimated capital flight in some countries. In Ethiopia, the volume of remittances reported by the World Bank in 2010 was about half the amount reported by the Central Bank ($661 million).
The following figures are in millions
(Source: Political Economy Research Institute, the University of Massachusetts).
The levels of poverty and authoritarianism are higher in the Horn of Africa than anywhere else in the continent. Civil liberties are collateral victims. http://rsf.org/index2014/en-africa.php
World Press Index 2014: Ethiopia ranked 143/ 180
According to related index by freedom House, Ethiopia ranked 176/197
Ethiopia is rated Not Free in Freedom in the World 2014, Freedom of the Press 2014, and Freedom on the Net 2013.
The 2014 World Press Freedom Index spotlights the negative impact of conflicts on freedom of information and its protagonists. The ranking of some countries has also been affected by a tendency to interpret national security needs in an overly broad and abusive manner to the detriment of the right to inform and be informed. This trend constitutes a growing threat worldwide and is even endangering freedom of information in countries regarded as democracies. Finland tops the index for the fourth year running, closely followed by Netherlands and Norway, like last year.
The 2014 index underscores the negative correlation between freedom of information and conflicts, both open conflicts and undeclared ones. In an unstable environment, the media become strategic goals and targets for groups or individuals whose attempts to control news and information violate the guarantees enshrined in international law, in particular, article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Protocols Additional 1 and 2 to the Geneva Conventions. Tyrannic countries such as Ethiopia, Turkmenistan and North Korea where freedom of information is non-existent continue to be news and information black holes and living hells for the journalists who inhabit them.
Post-Zenawi Ethiopia – a missed chance to liberalize
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s death in August 2012 and his replacement by Hailemariam Desalegn raised hopes of political and social reforms that would benefit freedom of information. Sadly, these hopes have been dashed. The repressive anti-terrorism law adopted in 2009 is a threat that continues to hang over journalists, forcing them to censor themselves. Media that dare to violate the code of silence, especially as regards government corruption, are systematically intimidated.
Djibouti – unable to hear the voice of those without a voice
Djibouti is a highly strategic regional crossroads. Because of its economic and geopolitical advantages, it is easy to turn a blind eye to the dictatorial methods used by Ismail Omar Guelleh, who has ruled since 1999. Under Guelleh, Djibouti has steadily cut itself off from the outside world and suppressed criticism. The list of journalists who have been jailed and tortured gets longer and longer. Releases are only ever provisional. The journalist and Guelleh opponent Daher Ahmed Farah is a case in point. He has been jailed five times and arrested a dozen times since returning to Djibouti in January 2013.
The concept of independent media is completely alien to Djibouti. The only national broadcaster, Radio-Télévision Djibouti, is the government’s mouthpiece. The few opposition newspapers have disappeared over the years. There is an independent radio station based in Europe – La Voix de Djibouti. Two of its journalists have been jailed in the past 12 months.
There are no longer any privately-owned media, and the state media are subject to such close surveillance that they have to conceal entire swathes of contemporary history such as the Arab Spring. Accessing reliable information is impossible in the absence of satellite and Internet connections. A few independent radio stations, such as Radio Erena, manage to broadcast from abroad.
Somalia – danger and authoritarianism
Those who had seen some improvement in Somalia were quickly disabused. Journalists still trying to provide objective news coverage are targeted by both terrorists and security-driven government officials. In 2013, seven journalists were the victims of terrorist attacks blamed with varying degrees of certainty on the Islamist militia Al-Shabaab. In November, Al-Shabaab deprived an entire region of television by seizing satellite dishes on the grounds they carried images that did not respect Islam. Information is seen as threat.
Unfortunately, the Somali government does not help. On the interior minister’s orders, police evicted Radio Shabelle, winner of the 2010 Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Prize, from its building and seized its equipment in October 2013 after a series of reports criticizing the upsurge in violence in Mogadishu. It was a double blow because the station also used the building to house its journalists, for whom moving about the city is very dangerous. When the equipment was returned a few weeks later, it was so badly damaged as to be unusable. Not that the station is authorized to broadcast anyway, because the communication ministry refuses to give it a permit.
The fact that we are gathered here today to honor the founding of Macha Tulama 50 years ago speaks to the fact that despite all odds, we, as a people are survivors. Ethiopian history is full of attempts to annihilate the Oromo—culturally, politically, socially, economically, in all and every ways possible.Oromos — cast as foreign, aliens to their own lands, have been the targets of the entire infrastructure of the Ethiopian state since their violent incorporation. Our identity, primarily language, religion and belief systems and cultural heritage have been the main targets of wanton destruction. Oromo and its personhood were already demonized, characterized as embodiments of all that is inferior, shameful and subhuman from the beginning. Oromo people were economically and politically exploited, dominated and alienated.
By HELEN EPSTEIN, The New York Times, Opinion page, AUG. 1, 2014
A specter is haunting Africa — the specter of impunity. Many countries the United States considers allies are in the grip of corrupt, repressive tyrants; others are mired in endless conflict. As Washington prepares to host the first-ever U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit next week, American policy makers must acknowledge their contributions to this dismal situation. By lavishing billions of dollars in military and development aid on African states while failing to promote justice, democracy and the rule of law, American policies have fostered a culture of abuse and rebellion. This must change before the continent is so steeped in blood that there’s no way back.
The summit seeks to highlight Africa’s development successes and promote trade and investment on a continent rich in oil and natural resources. Justice and the rule of law aren’t on the agenda. But they should be, unless American C.E.O.s want to see their investments evaporate.
‘The international community’s failure to demonstrate strong opposition to the antidemocratic trajectory of many African countries is allowing authoritarian heads of state to gain more power and influence. The United States should single out and prioritize the needs of the few African leaders working to comply with international law and to promote democratic governance domestically and regionally. One way Washington can do this is by acknowledging and giving preference to the democratic states participating in the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit next week. If current trends are not thwarted, the future of the continent could fall under the control of a resurgent “Dictators’ Club.”’
“Repressive leaders are also copying one another’s laws, which collectively undermine basic freedoms for the continent’s citizens. In 2009, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia enacted the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation and the Charities and Societies Proclamation, which essentially aimed to eliminate independent civil society activity. Within a few years, Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya had introduced nearly identical laws, which are muzzling the work of human rights defenders, the independent media, local journalists, and members of the political opposition across East Africa.”
Reemergence of the African Rat Pack
Alyssa Rickard, Program Associate, Africa Programs
Freedom House.
(Freedom House, 30 July 2014) The reemergence of unconditional solidarity among Africa’s incumbent leaders is threatening respect for human rights and good governance throughout the continent. The phenomenon is obviously bad for the people of Africa and for the overall progress of democracy. But the worst consequence of many African leaders’ support for even their most authoritarian colleagues is the growing regional acceptance—and in some cases promotion—of deeply repressive policies.
Strong bilateral relationships in Africa, for instance between Presidents Jacob Zuma of South Africa and Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, are undercutting domestic and regional democratic frameworks. In Zimbabwe’s 2013 election, Zuma—acting as the chief election facilitator for the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC)—disregarded his obligation under the organization’s Principles and Guidelines Governing Democratic Elections to maintain neutrality by publicly rebuking a technical team for questioning the election preparations. Zuma then endorsed Mugabe’s reelection on behalf of SADC, even when clear evidence of vote rigging emerged, which Botswana cited as another violation of SADC’s guidelines. Nevertheless, Zuma stood by his counterpart in Zimbabwe, bolstering the idea that the region’s entrenched leaders can rely on one another in their efforts to maintain power, even if this means violating their own democratic standards.
This type of solidarity in Southern Africa has extended beyond domestic affairs to include limiting citizens’ access to justice on a regional level, as clearly demonstrated by the disbandment of the SADC Tribunal, launched in 2005 to enforce the SADC Treaty. The tribunal’s fate was sealed when it ruled that Zimbabwe’s seizure of land from white farmers without compensation was illegal and discriminatory. Mugabe refused to obey the decision, challenging the court’s authority and paving the way for its suspension in 2010. Despite the best efforts of civil society groups in the region, Southern Africa’s heads of state sided with Mugabe and voted to remove the individual mandate of the court, meaning victims of state abuse could no longer file cases against their governments. Not only was this a blow to human rights protection, but it also discouraged private-sector investment, as property owners would have no legal recourse beyond national courts. Once the SADC court ruled against the big man’s interests, political imperatives suddenly took precedence, and legal order was sidelined.
Repressive leaders are also copying one another’s laws, which collectively undermine basic freedoms for the continent’s citizens. In 2009, Prime Minister Meles Zenawi of Ethiopia enacted the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation and the Charities and Societies Proclamation, which essentially aimed to eliminate independent civil society activity. Within a few years, Presidents Yoweri Museveni of Uganda and Uhuru Kenyatta of Kenya had introduced nearly identical laws, which are muzzling the work of human rights defenders, the independent media, local journalists, and members of the political opposition across East Africa.
A similar contagion effect occurred after the signing of what UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay referred to as “a piece of legislation that in so few paragraphs directly violates so many basic, universal human rights.” Nigeria’s Same-Sex Marriage Prohibition Act, signed early this year, went far beyond other anti-LGBTI laws by banning association with or operation of “gay” organizations. Instead of pushing back, many of the continent’s leaders supported Nigeria with their own repressive measures, including the signing of an “anti-homosexuality” bill in Uganda, the introduction of a draft law to criminalize gay and transgender people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the launching of a parliamentary caucus to ensure the implementation of anti-LGBTI laws in Kenya, and the refusal of justice for victims of homophobic attacks in Cameroon. Many argue that this is not surprising given the preceding rise in homophobic rhetoric from many African leaders, but since the Nigerian bill was enacted, attacks against LGBTI people across the continent have increased, even in more tolerant countries such as Côte d’Ivoire and Sénégal. Nigeria’s leadership catalyzed a steep regression for the protection of LGBTI individuals that could take decades to reverse.
Big-man interests are also driving a movement to withdraw en masse from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which would enable impunity for mass atrocities. Urged on by President Kenyatta, who is currently accused of crimes against humanity at The Hague, the African Union (AU) held a special meeting in October 2013 to discuss an ICC withdrawal. Due to the efforts of countries like Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, and Sénégal, the AU rejected the proposition, but Kenyatta succeeded in obtaining a resolution calling on the ICC to postpone his trial and to exempt sitting heads of state from international prosecution. As if this were not enough, an amendment to the newly established Protocol on the Statute of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights was adopted at a June 2014 summit, giving immunity to African heads of state and senior government officials (yet to be defined) at what was supposed to be the continent’s new regional human rights court.
If the immunity amendment to the African court’s statute is ratified by AU member states, leaders will not be deterred from committing the same crimes of the past, and African citizens will have one less option for protection against human rights abuses. Furthermore, the amendment is entirely at odds with the normative frameworks already ratified by the AU member states to protect human rights, including the African Charter on Democracy, Elections, and Governance and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Compliance with and enforcement of these frameworks are the best hope for strengthening democratic governance in Africa. However, these treaties, laws, and protocols will be useless if authoritarian leaders succeed in working together to ignore and actively undermine them.
It is therefore extremely important for countries like the United States to work actively with their African partners to uphold democratic principles on the continent. The international community’s failure to demonstrate strong opposition to the antidemocratic trajectory of many African countries is allowing authoritarian heads of state to gain more power and influence. The United States should single out and prioritize the needs of the few African leaders working to comply with international law and to promote democratic governance domestically and regionally. One way Washington can do this is by acknowledging and giving preference to the democratic states participating in the U.S.-Africa Leaders’ Summit next week. If current trends are not thwarted, the future of the continent could fall under the control of a resurgent “Dictators’ Club.” Read @http://freedomhouse.org/blog/reemergence-african-rat-pack#.U9lHW9JDvys
Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) minority led regime has ruled Ethiopia for 23 years. During the years TPLF has been in power, they have used various methods to control everything in the country. One of these methods was false accusations against individuals or groups of sympathizing with the Oromo Liberation Front although the question of these individuals or groups has been based on the constitution of the country.
At the beginning when they came to power after overthrowing the Derg regime they promised to democratize the country, however they didn’t take time before they started targeting those who didn’t support their ideas as dissenters were subjected to torture and terrible sufferings in mass detention centres across the country. Over the last 23 years they have been in power, they have carried out unimaginable destruction against human life and natural resources in the country particularly in Oromia region. For instance destruction of Oromia forests and other natural resources as well as the killing of Oromo students, farmers and Oromo intellectuals in all parts of the region.
In December 2003 the government security forces massacred more than 400 Anuak Civilians in Gambella region as reported on January 8, 2004 by Genocide Watch, a US based Human Rights group. Police violence in Tepi and Awassa in the Southern Nations-Nationalities, and Peoples (SNNP) regional state, resulted in the death of more than one hundred civilians and the arrest of hundreds. The Human Rights Watch report 14 January 2003 termed it as Collective Punishment.
War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity in the Ogaden area of Ethiopia’s Somali Regional State, June 2008 and 19 October 2006, the Ethiopian police massacred 193 protesters in violence following last year’s disputed elections, an independent report says. These are very few among many such incidents that I have elected to mention as an example of TPLF security forces’ atrocious acts against innocent people in different parts of the country. The victim of these brutal acts range from very young children to the elderly people by age categories. For example, there was a report that an eight years old child was killed by federal police in Gudar in May 2014.
If any individual does not agree and support their agenda, automatically that person is a member of OLF, according to Woyane regime’s definition. For example, Bekele Gerba, who was a lecturer at Addis Ababa University was arrested in 2010 by the TPLF-led regime simply because he clearly depicted the true evil nature and behavior of TPLF and its members. He said the land inOromia is a private property of the ruling party members. If they want they will sell it or they will give it to the people who support them and these are people who got rich in a way that cannot be reasonably explained. Many Oromo prisoners testified about Oromo people suffering in jail after they have been released or escaped from prison. To name some of them, Ashenafi Adugna and Morkaa Hamdee are among the victims who suffered at the hands of Woyane security forces while they were in prison. Many innocent Oromo people sentenced to life term and death without any evidence that shows their involvement in any criminal act. What happened in the Oromia region against Oromo University and high school students by federal police as reported by the BBC and other mass media is evident to mention as an example.
In general, the brutal acts against Oromo people by TPLF security forces have never been witnessed anywhere in the world. This clearly depicts what the TPLF government and its party members stand for and lack of their perception about personal worth, and the contempt they have for a human being. One can be quite sure that oppression cannot continue forever, and the dark time for Oromo people shall be replaced with justice and freedom.
In a democratic country, the people have right to express themselves freely in accordance with the constitution and the laws of the country; but in Oromia, there is no freedom of speech. No one in Oromia can freely express him/herself. In oromia, the will of the people has been replaced by the will of the TPLF regime. What has been unfolding for the last 23 years in Oromia region is that the TPLF regime is busy fabricating false documents that are used by the brutal regime’s security forces to incriminate, intimidate, persecute, harass, arrest, torture and kill the innocent Oromo people. So for Woyane democracy means not to allow people their freedom of expression, intimidating, persecution, harassment, arresting, torture and killing innocents in cold blood.
Generally, woyane is a tyrant regime which uses power oppressively and unjustly in a harsh and cruel manner against Oromo people to keep itself in power as long as they could, but I strongly believe that the crimes woyane carried out against Oromo people as a part of its lust for wealth and power will not keep them in power rather it shall hasten the time the Oromo people will achieve freedom. It would be wrong to say woyane will stay in power while using excessive force of power and committing crimes against innocent Oromo people in horrible and oppressive character. What the government is doing now by the name of development is meaningless and inhuman; how one can bring development while exposing people to suffering and death is beyond anyone’s imagination.
Playing game with human life to gain wealth and acquire luxurious life in modern time by robbing and plundering the Oromo people’s wealth is simply unacceptable. The TPLF regime should have been grateful to the Oromo people instead of making Oromo people live a horrible life; because the better life enjoyed by the TPLF politicians came as a result of Oromia’s natural resources. Instead of displacing Oromo farmers, dismissing, arresting and killing Oromo students and dismissing Oromo workers from their job, would have given more respect and value for all Oromos. The problem is that the TPLF regime and itsSatellites parties like OPDO never understand the importance of Oromo people and Oromia region in Ethiopia. Oromia is bleeding since woyane has come to power, because woyane governed Oromia by using excessive force and violence.
All countries that have diplomatic relationships with Ethiopia have also played a major role in keeping woyane in power, because woyane has received too much money from these developed countries under the name of humanitarian assistance which woyane uses to buy weapons to brutally crackdown Oromo students, farmers and scholars. Under woyane’s political system there is no legal and moral right, in general, no rule of laws and justice.
On May 2, 2014, BBC reported that the security forces of the regime in Ethiopia had massacred at least 47 University and high school students in the town of Ambo in Oromia region. Human rights watch and other Non- governmental organizations also reported how the Ethiopian government abuses its own citizens for the benefit of the ruling party members.
The inhuman acts of TPLF regime against the Oromo students shows that it does not only kill students but also TPLF wants to kill the whole young generation psychologically which is their evil strategy and tactics in fact became in vain as Oromo students have continued their struggle for justice in Oromia region. We, Oromo should stand together to bring the perpetrators of massacre in Ambo town and other Universities to justice. It is true that as long as Woyane keep getting money and other facilities from developed countries; as developed countries also give priority for strategic interest than human right, it will be like climbing the top of a mountain; however, we should not let them to continue their inhuman action. What we have to know is that those students who have been massacred by woyane security forces could have been mine, our relatives or children. These students are hope of their family, Oromo society and the Oromia region in general.
TPLF-led regime in Ethiopia never understand the value of human being, what democracy and freedom of speech means because since they came to power, they have never learned from their mistakes rather than its political system goes from bad to the worst. Atrocities against our people have to continue because of just addressing the human right issue and the question of justice and freedom. So, to change the woyane’s oppressive and horrible political system in Oromia, all people who believe in justice and who know the value of human being should stand with the Oromo people and say no to the fascist and terrorist government of Ethiopia. Killing Oromo University and high school students in April and May 2014, beating and arresting students and local people, when the students and local people protested peacefully against the expansion of Finfinne and the eviction of Oromo farmers from their indigenous land is a proof that the regime in Ethiopia is being the fascist and terrorist regime. Woyane is always looking for a scapegoat for their evil actions and behaviors, but it is only woyane and its members who are responsible and will be held accountable for the crimes they committed against innocent Oromo people.
Fake leadership in Ethiopia have destroyed the Oromo people, and the constitution and the law of the country is always in favour of the TPLF regime, not the Oromo people. The TPLF regime is simply the worst government I have ever seen in the modern era.
At the end of my piece of writing, I challenge all Oromos to unite, as unity is strength and to contribute whatever we can to bring down woyane and its members from power and to bring justice and freedom to Oromia and I challenge and hope developed countries also will stop financial and technical support to terrorist regime in Ethiopia.
Read more@ http://ayyaantuu.com/horn-of-africa-news/oromia/what-does-democracy-mean-for-tplfeprdf/
Pre 2015 Election and The Fate of The Opposition In Ethiopia
By Firehiwot Guluma Tezera
When we talk about election in Ethiopia, the 2005 national election has become foremost as previous elections under both Derg and EPRDF were fake. The national election of 2005 has shown a hint of democracy until election date in Addis Ababa but in regions it was until one month before the voting date. The ruling party has been harassing the opposition and has killed strong opposition candidates. In Addis Ababa the hint of democracy disappeared after the ruling party diverted the election results.
Having no other option than forcefully suppressing the anger of the people caused by its altering of election results, the ruling party intensified the harassment and killing. So the outcome for the opposition was either to go to prison or follow the path given by EPRDF. Election 2005 ended in this manner.
The plan of the ruling party to give a quarter of the 540 parliamentary seats to the opposition and to minimize outside pressure and to restart the flow of foreign aid was unsuccessful. The election has made the party to assess itself. Even though it was widely accepted that EPRDF had altered the outcome of the 2005 election and had not anticipated the outcome, many have expected that the party will correct its mistakes. But the party says it has learnt from its mistakes but it made the following strategies:
Measures taken post 2005 election
To harass print medias and to formulate and implement harassing press legislatures
The government is the main American ally in east Africa in the anti-terrorist campaign. Through this it gets significant military and financial aid. Using this as a pretext the government formulated and implemented anti-terror laws and used it to harass and imprison parties that struggle peacefully. And through this to weaken peacefull struggle.
Labeling jobless youth as dangerous and discriminating against the educated was identified as mistake during the election. To correct it they tried to share benefits by replacement and to appoint to political positions and making them members
Letting jobless youth to organize and allowing them to get loans but making party membership a precondition and to stop youth joining the opposition by means of benefit
To organize the rest of the people in groups of five and to disperse security personnel among the people and make difficult for the opposition to work with the people
To change the roads built by aid organizations by cobble stone by employing unemployed youth. Employing the youth was good but they request exaggerated amount from the people. By doing this they are hitting two birds with one stone, to make its members beneficiaries and increase their numbers.
EPRDF used the above strategies for the preparation of 2010 elections. By implementing the strategies it has succeeded in increasing its members but they were not genuine supporters but they supported for benefits. When such kind of members increase, it becomes difficult to fulfill their benefits and at the end they become corruptionists. And they will become the ultimate enemies of the party.
The strategies mentioned above have enabled the party to claim to be winning 99% of the votes. Thenext day the then prime minister said” the people have given us 5 years contract believing that we have learnt from our past mistakes. This is a big warning for us. If we don’t live to their expectation they will take away their votes.” This was his scorning speech. But both the people and they know how they won and the 2010 election was declared error free.
Any system which crushes its brightest should not be considered a success….The Ethiopian government likes to trumpet its higher education system to its western aid backers as a crowning success of its development policy. As billions in foreign aid are spent annually on Ethiopia, the west must be more cognisant of the fact that this money helps reinforce a government which cuts down those who dare to speak out against it.
Ethiopia crackdown on student protests taints higher education success
Western backers of the Ethiopian education system should not ignore reports of violent clashes on university campuses
Oromia, Ethiopia, where at least three dozen people were reportedly shot dead by security forces during student protests
Over the past 15 years, Ethiopia has become home to one of the world’s fastest-growing higher education systems. Increasing the number of graduates in the country is a key component of the government’s industrialisation strategy and part of its ambitious plan to become a middle-income country by 2025. Since the 1990s, when there were just two public universities, almost 30 new institutions have sprung up.
On the face of it, this is good news for ordinary Ethiopians. But dig a little deeper and tales abound of students required to join one of the three government parties, with reports of restricted curricula, classroom spies and crackdowns on student protests commonplace at universities.The Ethiopian government likes to trumpet its higher education system to its western aid backers as a crowning success of its development policy. As billions in foreign aid are spent annually on Ethiopia, the west must be more cognisant of the fact that this money helps reinforce a government which cuts down those who dare to speak out against it.
Nowhere has this been more evident than in Ambo in Oromia state. On 25 April, protests against government plans to bring parts the town under the administrative jurisdiction of the capital, Addis Ababa, began at Ambo University. By the following Tuesday, as protests spread to the town and other areas of Oromia, dozens of demonstrators had been killed in clashes with government forces, according to witnesses.
As Ethiopia experiences rapid economic expansion, its government plans to grow the capital out rather than up, and this involves annexing parts of the surrounding Oromia state. An official communique from the government absolved it of all responsibility for the clashes, claiming that just eight people had been killed and alleging that the violence had been coordinated by a few rogue anti-peace forces. The government maintains that it is attempting to extend Addis Ababa’s services to Oromia through its expansion of the city limits.
However, Oromia opposition figures tell a different story. On 2 May, the nationalist organisation the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) issued a press release that condemned the “barbaric and egregious killing of innocent Oromo university students who have peacefully demanded the regime to halt the displacement of Oromo farmers from their ancestral land, and the inclusion of Oromo cities and surrounding localities under Finfinnee [Addis Ababa] administration under the pretext of development”. The Addis Ababa regime dismisses the OLA as a terrorist organisation.
While news of the killing of unarmed protesters has caused great concern among many Ethiopians, there has been little coverage overseas. The government maintains strict control over the domestic media; indeed, it frequently ranks as one of the world’s chief jailers of journalists, and it is not easy to come by independent reporting of events in the country.
Nevertheless, the government’s communique does run contrary to reports by the few international media that did cover the attacks in Ambo, which placed the blame firmly on government forces.
The BBC reported that a witness in Ambo saw more than 20 bodies on the street, while Voice of America (VOA) reported that at least 17 protesters were killed by “elite security forces” on three campuses in Oromia. Local residents maintain that the figure [of those killed] was much higher.
These reports, while difficult to corroborate, have been backed up by Human Rights Watch, whichissued a statement saying that “security forces have responded [to the protests] by shooting at and beating peaceful protesters in Ambo, Nekemte, Jimma, and other towns with unconfirmed reports from witnesses of dozens of casualties”. One university lecturer said he had been “rescued from the live ammunition”, and that it was the “vampires – the so-called federal police” who fired on the crowds.
The Ethiopian government likes to trumpet its higher education system to its western aid backers as a crowning success of its development policy. As billions in foreign aid are spent annually on Ethiopia, the west must be more cognisant of the fact that this money helps reinforce a government which cuts down those who dare to speak out against it.
Inevitably, continued support for such an oppressive regime justifies its brutal silencing of dissent. Yes, the higher education system has grown exponentially over the past 15 years but the oppression and killing of innocent students cannot be considered an achievement. Any system which crushes its brightest should not be considered a success.
Paul O’Keeffe is a doctoral fellow at La Sapienza University of Rome, where he focuses on the higher education
When students in Ethiopia started protesting last month against the Ethiopian Government’s proposal to annex territory from the state of Oromia to facilitate the expansion of the capital city Addis Ababa, diasporans mobilized to show their solidarity. As federal “Agazi” security forces cracked down, opening fire on peaceful protesters, placing students on lock-down in their dormitories, and conducting mass arrests, Oromos around the world staged rallies and hunger strikes to raise international awareness and to call on the governments of the countries where they live to withhold aid and put pressure on the Ethiopian Government to respect human rights.
In the first three posts in this series, I discussed the Oromo diaspora’s mobilization to shed light on the human rights violations on the ground, the sharp criticism the government of Ethiopia faced during the Universal Periodic Review on May 6, and the steps the Oromo diaspora in Minnesota is taking to show solidarity and press for accountability in Ethiopia. This final post tells some of the stories of Oromos in the diaspora who have spoken with friends and family on the ground in Oromia about events over the past three weeks, and also covers the Ethiopian government’s formal response to the UN review and offers some suggestions for next steps.
Not “voiceless,” but deliberately silenced by Ethiopian government
“We need to be a voice for the voiceless” has been a common refrain from the diaspora. But in my view, the students and others who are protesting in Ethiopia are far from voiceless. They have been bravely marching, placing their lives and academic careers on the line, to express their opposition to the government’s “Integrated Development Master Plan for Addis Ababa.” In the words of 2004 Sydney Peace Prize winnerArundhati Roy, “there’s really no such thing as the ‘voiceless.’ There are only the deliberately silenced, or the preferably unheard.”
The government controls the media and telecommunications in Ethiopia, effectively placing a stranglehold on open debate and criticism of the government. Historically, efforts by western media, including CNN, to cover events on the ground in Ethiopia have been stymied. The government’s repression and intimidation also create obstacles for independent journalists trying to cover the story from outside the country. I spoke with one U.S.-based reporter who covers the Horn of Africa, and he explained that when he tried to confirm casualty reports, hospital personnel in Ethiopia refused to speak to him, fearing for their jobs.
The TPLF Ethiopian government is a government controlled by one person, or a small group of people. In this form of government the power rests entirely in the hands of one person or cliques, and can be obtained by force or inheritance.
The dictator(s) may also take away much of its peoples’ freedom. In contemporary usage, dictatorship refers to an autocratic form of absolute rule by leadership unrestricted by law, constitution, or other social and political factors within the state.
In the 20th century and in this early 21st century hereditary dictatorship remained a relatively common phenomenon.
For some scholars, a dictatorship is a form of government that has the power to govern without consent for those who are being governed (similar to authoritarianism, while totalitarianism describes a state that regulates nearly every aspect of public and private behavour of the people. In other words, dictatorship concerns the source of the governing power (where the power comes from) and totalitarianism concerns the scope of the governing power (what is the government).
In this sense, dictatorship (government without people’s consent) is a contrast to democracy (government whose power comes from people) and totalitarianism (government controls every aspect of people’s life) opposes pluralism.
There for, in the case of Ethiopian’s dictatorial system , not only disappearance of exercising democracy, free speech, free election, free mass media and freedom of demonstrations but also the existence of droughts, poverty and hunger through out the ages of Ethiopian empire.
In fact, Ethiopia today is 123 out of 125 worst fed countries in the world. According to a new Oxfam food database “while the Netherlands ranks number one in the world for having the most plentiful, nutritious, healthy and affordable diet, Chad is last on 125th behind Ethiopia and Angola.”
In the presence of democratic right, according to the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights:
Here, we’ve got all we need: Article 1, paragraphs 1 and 2 (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which includes the exact same text as the first article) :
All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
All people may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic cooperation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.
On the contrary Ethiopia is facing an ecological catastrophe: deforestation, desertification, soil erosion, overgrazing and population explosion .Tens of thousands of Oromo’s who are sick and dying from drinking the polluted waters of Lake Koka, once a pristine lake, located some 50km south of FINFINNE. Like the people who are dying around Lake Koka, the people who live in the Omo River Basin in South-western Ethiopia are facing an environmental disaster that could push them not only to hunger, starvation, dislocation and conflict, but potentially to extinction through habitat destruction. According to International Rivers, a highly respected environmental and human rights organization committed to protecting rivers and defending the rights of communities that depend on them. Furthermore, in 2004 when the then President of Oromia ( now Refugee) agreed to move Caffe Oromia from Finfinne To Adama, Oromo students peacefully demonstrated to oppose the systematic disposition of Finfinne from Oromia. Hundreds of students dismissed from universities, dozens of Metcha Tulema leaders thrown to prison, the Organization which was functional for over 40 years get closed.
In the last 100 years under various regimes of Abyssinians, Oromo farmers and peasants were systematically displaced from the land they lived on for generations. Under TPLF Wayanes regime, oromos in areas around Finfinne have been snatched off their land and left for destitution and forced to work as a daily laborer on their own land or their whereabout is unknown.
Obviously the present project of displacing Oromo’s by Tigrians and amharas is complete, and the next step is the official take over, that is including these areas under Finfinne. When will these expansions stop? Holota? Ambo? Bushoftu? Who is next? We have stopped fighting for ownership of Finfinne since 2004, and they want to take more!
The rights based response to the problem of land and grabbing article 11:
The States Parties to the present Covenant recognize the right of everyone to an adequate standard of living for himself and his family, including adequate food, clothing and housing, and to the continuous improvement of living conditions. The States Parties will take appropriate steps to ensure the realization of this right, recognizing to this effect the essential importance of international co-operation based on free consent.
The States Parties to the present Covenant, recognizing the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, shall take, individually and through international co-operation, the measures also including specific programmers, which are needed:
To improve methods of production, conservation and distribution of food by making full use of technical and scientific knowledge, by disseminating knowledge of the principles of nutrition and by developing or reforming agrarian systems in such a way as to achieve the most efficient development and utilization of natural resources;
Taking into account the problems of both food-importing and food-exporting countries, to ensure an equitable distribution of world food supplies in relation to need.
In additional, the government has a responsibility to respect his people’s rights!!
The right to life and freedom from torture and degrading treatment. Freedom from slavery and forced labor.
The right to liberty.
The right to a fair trial.
The right not to be punished for something that wasn’t a crime when you did it.
The right to respect for private and family life freedom of thought, conscience and religion, and freedom to express your beliefs freedom of expression freedom of assembly and association.
The right to marry and to start a family.
The right not to be discriminated against the respect of these rights and freedoms.
The right to peaceful enjoyment of your property.
The right to have an education.
The right to participate in free elections.
The right not to be subjected to the death penalty.
“Compare free development in Botswana with authoritarian development in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia in 2010, Human Rights Watch documented how the autocrat Meles Zenawi selectively withheld aid-financed famine relief from everyone except ruling-party members. Meanwhile democratic Botswana, although drought-prone like Ethiopia, has enjoyed decades of success in preventing famine. Government relief directed by local activists goes wherever drought strikes.”- http://time.com/23075/william-easterly-stop-sending-aid-to-dictators/
Traditional foreign aid often props up tyrants more than it helps the poor. It’s time for a new model.
Too much of America’s foreign aid funds what I call authoritarian development. That’s when the international community–experts from the U.N. and other bodies–swoop into third-world countries and offer purely technical assistance to dictatorships like Uganda or Ethiopia on how to solve poverty.
Unfortunately, dictators’ sole motivation is to stay in power. So the development experts may get some roads built, but they are not maintained. Experts may sink boreholes for clean water, but the wells break down. Individuals do not have the political rights to protest disastrous public services, so they never improve. Meanwhile, dictators are left with cash and services to prop themselves up–while punishing their enemies.
But there is another model: free development, in which poor individuals, asserting their political and economic rights, motivate government and private actors to solve their problems or to give them the means to solve their own problems.
Compare free development in Botswana with authoritarian development in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia in 2010, Human Rights Watch documented how the autocrat Meles Zenawi selectively withheld aid-financed famine relief from everyone except ruling-party members. Meanwhile democratic Botswana, although drought-prone like Ethiopia, has enjoyed decades of success in preventing famine. Government relief directed by local activists goes wherever drought strikes. In the postwar period, countries such as Chile, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan have successfully followed the path of free development–often in spite of international aid, not because of it. While foreign policy concerns have often led America to prop up dictatorial regimes, we need a new rule: no democracy, no aid. If we truly want to help the poor, we can’t accept the dictators’ false bargain: ignore our rights abuses, and meet the material needs of those we oppress. Instead, we must advocate that the poor have the same rights as the rich everywhere, so they can aid themselves.
Easterly is the co-director of New York University’s Development Research Institute and author of The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor.
As protestors from Kiev to Khartoum to Caracas take to the streets against autocracy, a new book from economist William Easterly reminds us that Western aid is too often on the wrong side of the battle for freedom and democracy. In The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators, and the Forgotten Rights of the Poor, Easterly slams thedevelopment community for supporting autocrats, not democrats, in the name of helping the world’s poorest. Ignoring human rights abuses and giving aid to oppressive regimes, he maintains, harms those in need and in many ways “un-develops” countries.
The Tyranny of Experts takes on the notion that autocracies deliver stronger economic growth than freer societies. Easterly argues that when economic growth occurs under autocratic regimes, it is more often achieved at the local level in spite of the regime’s efforts. In some instances, growth under autocracies can be attributed to relative increases in freedoms. He points to China as an example of this, attributing the country’s phenomenal growth to its adoption of greater personal and economic freedoms, especially compared to the crippling Maoist policies of the past.
Easterly also rejects the myth that dictators are dependable and that a certain level of oppression should be overlooked for the sake of economic growth and overall prosperity. Most recently, the violence and chaos following the 2011 Arab uprisings has made some nostalgic for the stable, if undemocratic, governments that kept civil unrest in check, allowing for a measure of economic development to take hold. Easterly stresses that instability and tumult in the wake of ousting a dictator is not the fault of an emerging democracy, but instead an understandable result of years of autocratic rule. The answer is not to continue to support autocrats in the name of stability, but rather to start the inevitably messy process of democratization sooner.
Still, the hard questions remain: how to help those without economic and political freedoms? And when should donors walk away from desperately poor people because their government is undemocratic? Easterly argues that the donor community should draw the line with far more scrutiny than it does today – not just at the obvious cases, such as North Korea, but with other undemocratic countries, such as Ethiopia, where human rights abuses are rampant. He debunks the notion that aid can be “apolitical,” arguing that it is inherently political: giving resources to a government allows it to control and allocate (or withhold) resources as it sees fit. The aid community should focus on ways to help oppressed populations without helping their oppressors. For example, scholarship programs, trade, and other people-to-people exchanges can give opportunities to people in need. At the very least, Easterly argues, development actors should not praise oppressive regimes or congratulate them on economic growth they did not create.
Rather than being seduced by “benevolent dictators,” Easterly urges donors to focus their energy on “freedom loving” governments that need help. The Millennium Challenge Corporation is a step in the right direction but, as Easterly pointed out during the CFR meeting, MCC’s approach is undermined by other U.S. aid agencies, such as USAID, that continue to assist countries even when they don’t meet certain good governance and human rights standards.
March 26, 2014 (The Seattle Times) — SOMEHOW — probably my own fault — I have wound up on Bill Gates’ list of the world’s most misguided economists. Gates singled me out by name in his annual 2014 letter to his foundation as an “aid critic” spreading harmful myths about ineffective aid programs.
I actually admire Gates for his generosity and advocacy for the fight againstglobal poverty through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle. We just disagree about how to end poverty throughout the world.
Gates believes poverty will end by identifying technical solutions. My research shows that the first step is not identifying technical solutions, but ensuring poor people’s rights.
Gates concentrates his foundation’s efforts on finding the right fixes to the problems of the world’s poor, such as bed nets to prevent malarial mosquito bites or drought-tolerant varieties of corn to prevent famine. Along with official aid donors, such as USAID and the World Bank, the foundation works together with local, generally autocratic, governments on these technical solutions.
Last year, Gates cited Ethiopia in a Wall Street Journal guest column as an example, a country where he described the donors and government as setting “clear goals, choosing an approach, measuring results, and then using those measurements to continually refine our approach.”
This approach, Gates said, “helps us to deliver tools and services to everybody who will benefit.” Gates then gives credit for progress to the rulers. When the tragically high death rates of Ethiopian children fell from 2005 to 2010, Gates said this was “in large part thanks to” such a measurement-driven program by Ethiopia’s autocrat Meles Zenawi, who had ruled since 1991. Gates later said Meles’ death in August 2012 was “a great loss for Ethiopia.”
Do autocratic rulers like Meles really deserve the credit?
Gates’ technocratic approach to poverty, combining expert advice and cooperative local rulers, is a view that has appealed for decades to foundations and aid agencies. But if technical solutions to poverty are so straightforward, why had these rulers not already used them?
The technical solutions have been missing for so long in Ethiopia and other poor countries because autocrats are more motivated to stay in power than to fix the problems of poverty. Autocracy itself perpetuates poverty.
Meles violently suppressed demonstrations after rigged elections in 2005. He even manipulated donor-financed famine relief in 2010 to go only to his own ruling party’s supporters. The donors failed to investigate this abuse after its exposure by Human Rights Watch, continuing a long technocratic tradition of silence on poor people’s rights.
Rulers only reliably become benevolent when citizens can force them to be so — when citizens exert their democratic rights.
Our own history in the U.S. shows how we can protest bad government actions and reward good actions with our rights to protest and to vote. We won’t even let New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie get away with a traffic jam on a bridge.
Such democratic rights make technical fixes happen, and produce a far better long-run record onreducing poverty, disease and hunger than autocracies. We saw this first in the now-rich countries, which are often unfairly excluded from the evidence base.
Some developing countries such as Botswana had high economic growth through big increases in democratic rights after independence. Botswana’s democrats prevented famines during droughts, unlike the regular famines during droughts under Ethiopia’s autocrats.
Worldwide, the impressive number of developing countries that have shifted to democracy includes successes such as Brazil, Chile, Ghana, South Korea and Taiwan, as well as former Soviet Bloc countries such as the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovenia.
If the democratic view of development is correct, the lessons for Gates are clear: Don’t give undeserved credit and praise to autocrats. Don’t campaign for more official aid to autocrats. Redirect aid to democrats. If the democratic view is wrong, I do deserve to be on Gates’ list of the world’s most misguided economists.
The UK government is providing financial aid to human rights abusers in Ethiopia through funding training paramilitaries, who perpetrate summary killings, rape and torture in the impoverished African country, local media reported.
Through its foreign aid budget, the UK government provides financial support to an Ethiopian government security force known as the “special police” as part of its “peace and development programme”, which would cost up to £15 million in five years, The Guardian reported.
The Department for International Development warned in a leaked document of the “reputational risks” of working with organizations that are “frequently cited in human rights violationallegations”, according to the report.
The Ethiopian government’s counter-insurgency campaign in Ogaden, a troubled region largely populated by ethnic Somalis is being enforced by the 14,000-strong special police.
This is while police forces are repeatedly accused by Human Rights Watch of serious human rights abuses.
Claire Beston, the Amnesty International’s Ethiopia researcher, said it was highly concerning that Britain was planning to work with the paramilitary force.
The deliberate expansion of the amorphous city they call “Addis Ababa” is politically created to divide Oromiyaa into east and west sector. It is not a master plan. It is an evil plan mastered to consummate an evil goal.
When we see the history of Abyssinian political philosophy, from which we have a written record, it is entirely based on the philosophy of depriving the Oromos from having any right to homeland. To convert Oromummaa to Amaarummaa and ultimately to Itiyophiyawwinnet has been the policy in action up to this very day.
What happened to those Oromos who were living in Finfinnee for centuries? Particular mention has to be made about those Tulama Oromo groups of Gullallee, Eekkaa, Galaan, Aabbuu, Jillee. The answer is very simple: They were mercilessly decimated; their villages burnt down, their pasture and arable lands confiscated and shared among the invading Manzian Nagasii families of whom the Dejazmach Mangasha Seifu and the Ras Birru families were the most notorious ones. Thereafter, the Oromo territory occupied by Matcha-Tulama was officially changed to the expanding Kingdom of Showa, a detached enclave from Gonder, Abyssinia. Finfinnee was given a new colonial name “Addis Ababa”, just like Zimbabwe was changed to Rhodesia, Harare to Salisbury. Under this excruciating condition, the conquered Matcha-Tulama region had to lose its historic significance and had to be involuntarily submitted to the colonial name Showa.
Among the major Oromo descent groups, the Matcha-Tulama group has got one of the largest populations, stretching on vast area of land in central and western Oromia. As we are able to learn from our fathers, Matcha and Tulama are Borana brothers, being Tulama angafa (first born) and Matcha qixisuu (second born son). As common to all Oromo ethno-history, the tradition that governs the social role of “angafa and qixisuu”, which begins right from the immediate family unit, has a deep genealogical meaning and social role in re-invigorating the solidarity of the nation. From the earliest time of which we have a tradition hanging down to us,
Matcha-Tulama Oromo has had a supreme legislative organ known as Chaffe. The Chaffe legislates laws which will eventually be adopted as Seera Gadaa
They have a senatorial council known as “Yaa’ii Saglan Booranaa”, in which elected individuals from major clans are represented. The function of Yaa’ii Saglan Booranaa is to deliberate on issues pertaining to regional issues, resolve inter-clan disputes and oversees how interests of each clan in the confederacies are represented; how local resources are fairly shared and wisely utilised according to the law.
These two northern Boorana brothers are historically referred to as Boorana Booroo or Boorana Kaabaa
Among the known five Oromo Odaas, Odaa Nabee and Odaa Bisil are found in Boorana Booroo
However, beginning from the 13th century onward, the Match-Tulama country (Boorana Booroo), adjacent to Abyssinian border, has begun to be ravaged by a group of individuals whose legendary genealogy connects them to a certain King Solomon of non-African origin. They came and settled at a place they call “Manz”.They organised themselves at this place, and started to attack neighbouring villages of Cushitic Oromo family stock of Laaloo, Geeraa and Mammaa. The attacked villages were gradually incorporated into the expanding Manz, which eventually developed to a military outpost known as Showa in the late 18th century. Hereafter, they declared themselves “Ye Negasi Zer, the root of Showa Amhara Dynasty.
After vanquishing Agaw people’s identity and sovereignty on the northern frontier, the Solomonic Negasi Dynasties of Showa intensified their attacks against the Match-Tulama of Borana and the Karrayyu of Barantu Oromos. In such turbulent situation, the rule of yeNegasi Zer entered nineteenth century era, which ushered the era of the Scramble for Africa by European imperialist powers. From Africa, it was only King Minilik of Showa (1866-1889) who was recognised as a partner and invited to attend the Berlin Imperialist Conference of 1884. In this conference, Minilik was represented by his cousin, Ras Mekonnen Tenagneworq Sahile-Sellasie (1852-1906). After completing their mission, King Minilik and the European imperialist powers made concession on border demarcation. After the border demarcation had been completed, a systematic elimination of his prominent general, Ras Goobanaa Daacci (1819-1889), was meticulously carried out. Minilik was so confident to declare himself Emperor of Ethiopia (1889- 1913).This was the Ethiopia, the first time in the history of the region, that brutally annexed and included Oromo, Sidama, Walaita, Kaficho, Beneshangul, Gambella, and others to the expanding of Abyssinia.
The years 1887-89 were the boiling point for Minilik’s declaration of being “Emperor of Ethiopia, yeItiyophiya Nuguse, nägest. Why?
Because, it was the time when he exterminated the Gullallee Oromo from the marshy-hot spring and pasture land of Finfinnee and collectivised the place under a new colonial name Addis Ababa.
Because, it was the time when he built full confidence in himself and built his permanent palace at Dhaqaa Araaraa, a sacred hill, where the evicted Oromos peacefully used to sit together and conduct peaceful deliberation for reconciliation.
It was the time when he annexed three-fourth of southern peoples’ territories, including the Oromo territory, to the expanding Showan Dynasty and put under the iron-fist of his inderases(viceroys).
It was the time when he assured un-shivering confidence of being continued to be assisted and advised by his European colonial partners: militarily, diplomatically and technically.
Here is the question: What happened to those Oromos who were living in Finfinnee for centuries? Particular mention has to be made about those Tulama Oromo groups of Gullallee, Eekkaa, Galaan, Aabbuu, Jillee. The answer is very simple: They were mercilessly decimated; their villages burnt down, their pasture and arable lands confiscated and shared among the invading Manzian Nagasii families of whom the Dejazmach Mangasha Seifu and the Ras Birru families were the most notorious ones. Thereafter, the Oromo territory occupied by Matcha-Tulama was officially changed to the expanding Kingdom of Showa, a detached enclave from Gonder, Abyssinia. Finfinnee was given a new colonial name “Addis Ababa”, just like Zimbabwe was changed to Rhodesia, Harare to Salisbury. Under this excruciating condition, the conquered Matcha-Tulama region had to lose its historic significance and had to be involuntarily submitted to the colonial name Showa.
In addition to the former derogatory term “Galla”, imposed on the conquered Oromos as a whole, the new regional name of Showa is prefixed to the derogatory term Galla.Hence, “ye Showa Galla” came into force as a collective insulting name in addressing the whole Oromo of Matcha-Tulama. This clearly justifies the vertical segregation policy of the conquerors for easy identification of who is who in the newly colonised territory.
Using various forms of oppressive models, Abyssinian colonial tactics and strategies have been going on violently and, now entered into the first half of the 21st century. Since the second half of the 19thcentury in particular, the oppressive models have been amassing massive firearms from European colonialist partners, enjoying diplomatic immunities and profitable political advises.
In the late 19th century, one European writer commented that, if the Abyssinians had not been armed and advised by global colonial powers of the day, notably France and Britain, late alone to defeat the ferocious Oromo forces, they could not have even dared to encroach upon the limits of Oromo borders. He wrote what he witnessed the real situation of the time as follows:
“Against the Galla [Oromo] Menelik has operated with French technicians, French map-makers, French advice on the management of standing army and more French advice as to building captured provinces with permanent garrison of conscripted colonial troops. The French also armed his troops with firearms, and did much else to organize his campaigns. Menelik was at a work on these adventures as King of Shewa during John’s lifetime; adding to his revenues and conscripting the Oromo were thus conquered by the Amhara for the first time in recorded history during the last thirteen years of the nineteenth Century. Without massive European help the Galla [Oromo] would not have been conquered at all.”
The writer further explained what he personally encountered during the campaign in the following unambiguous language:
“A large expedition was sent as far South in Arsi as frontier of Kambata to return with100, 000 head of Cattle. The king’s army fought against tribes who have no other weapons but a lance, a knife and shield, while the Amahras always have in their army several thousand rifles, pistols and often a couple cannon.—-Captive able-bodied males and the elderly were killed. The Severity of the Zamacha [campaign] was aimed at the eradication of all resistance. Whenever the army surged forward, there was the utmost devastation. Houses were burned, crops destroyed, and people executed:”
When we see the history of Abyssinian political philosophy, from which we have a written record, it is entirely based on the philosophy of depriving the Oromos from having any right to homeland. To convert Oromummaa to Amaarummaa and ultimately to Itiyophiyawwinnet has been the policy in action up to this very day. Even though the policy works on all Oromos indiscriminately, the one which has been exercising on the Oromos of Tulama in Finfinnee and surrounding areas has its own unique feature. Some of the unique features are embedded in the formation of “Addis Ababa” itself; as a seat of colonial headquarters with all its oppressive machineries. To have ample space for the settlers, to build army headquarters, to build churches in the name of numerous Saints of Greek and Hebrew origins, to build residences and offices for foreign embassies and missionaries, to build factories and storage houses the crucial demand is land. To fulfil these crucial demands of the customers, helpless Oromo peasants of the area have to be evicted. They have been under routine eviction and land deprivation since the seizure of Burqaa Finfinnee and the establishment of Ethiopian Imperial capital at this place.
It could be incorrect to think of the current TPLF-Arinnet Tigray regime as a detached entity from the whole system of Abyssinian colonial regimes, when we equate what they need against the survival needs of the peoples they generically conquered as “Galla and Shanqilla”. Though since 1991, the Ethiopian imperial system has been overtaken from the Showan Nagasi Dynasty by their junior Tigrean brethren, the life of the colonised Oromo people has been going down from worse to the worst.
What makes TPLF-Arinnet Tigray different from its predecessors is its total monopolisation of resources of the empire, right from the imperial palace to the bottom village levels, from the centre to the periphery. Arable and pasture lands, plain and forest lands, rivers and mining areas are totally under its predatory control. It is routinely evicting peasants from their plots, their only means of existence. They are selling to Chinese, Indians, European, Turkish, Pakistani, Arabians and other companies at the lowest price. In making this huge business, the most preferable area in the empire is Oromoland; of which the land around Finfinee holds rank first.
This politically architected scheme, in the name of investment and development, is daily evicting Oromo peasants around Finfinnee often with meagre or no compensation at all. As a consequence,
some of the evicted families are migrating to cities like Finfinnee and are becoming beggars
Some of them are leaving the country for unknown destination and found being refugees in neighbouring countries like Kenya and Yemen.
Since most of them who have no any alternative, they remain on the sold land and become daily labourers, earning less than half dollar a day.
Farm lands that had been producing sufficient grains of various types are now turned to produce non-edible flowers and toxic chemicals that contaminate rivers and lakes.
The incumbent Ethiopian regime of TPLF-Arinnet Tigray, more than any other imperial regimes of the past, is committed to make the Oromo people an “African Gypsy”. At one time the deceased prime minister of the Empire and EPDRF leader, Meles Zenawi, refers to the Oromos, who are numerically majority ethnic group in the Empire, said, “It is easy to make them a minority”. They are practically showing us the evil mission they vowed to accomplish. When they become rich of the richest in the Empire, the Oromo peasants they are daily uprooting are becoming poor of the poorest, being reduced to beggary and often deprived of burial sites after death. This evil work, as indicated above, has given priorities to sweep off “garbage” around Finfinnee and ultimately to encompass three-fourth of the region of “Showa” as a domain of “non-garbage” dwellers.
As vividly explained above, the Oromo of Tulama, since the onset of colonisation, have begun to be collectively addressed as “ye Showa Galla”. Those who resisted the derogatory name, the eviction, and the slavery system have been inhumanly executed or hanged. Their land and livestock have been confiscated and shared among the well-armed conquering power.
When Minilik invaded the Gullalle Oromo in Finfinnee, for instance, they remarkably resisted to the last minute but finally defeated. Those who remained behind the massacre had no other option except to leave for other regions against their choice. In their new homes, they have been even treated as collaborators of the invading “Showans” by their own kinsmen, calling them “Goobanaa”.Those able-bodied Gullallee, Eekkaa, Galaan, Abbichuu youths were involuntarily conscripted to the colonial army which is typical to all colonial policies. They were forced to go for further campaign to the south, east and west commanded by Showan fitawuraris and dejazmaches
From time to time, all Abyssinian forces, changing forms of their names, swearing in the name of Ethiopian unity and inviolable sovereignty, have never turned down the initial policy of evicting and persecuting the Oromo from their ancestral araddaa. Araddaa Oromoo is the embryonic stage whereOromummaa has begun to radiate from. Hence, by virtue of its original formation, now and then, it could not be integrated into the enforced Abyssinian policy of Itiyophiyawwinnet .
Since the enforced policy has shown no visible success for the past 130 years, this time, it has taken on to shoulder the last option of “sweeping them off” from around what they call “Addis Ababa” as a priority number one. As a consequence, came into being the destruction of Oromo survival relationship with their ancestors’ plot of land. The desecration of their shrines, sacred rivers, sacred mountains and sacred trees of which the case of Odaa and Burqaa Finfinnee, Dhakaa Araaraa and Caffee Tumaa in the vicinity of Finfinnee are quite enough to mention. TPLF’s long range missile policy of destroying Oromos’ relation to their historic araddaa is not the end. It is just the beginning extrapolated to destroy Biyyoo Oromoo.
At this critical time, any concerned Oromo should not be oblivious of the dreadful situation going on in Oromiyaa right now; in Finfinnee and surrounding areas in particular. The deliberate expansion of the amorphous city they call “Addis Ababa” is politically architected to divide Oromiyaa into east and west sector. It is not a master plan. It is an evil plan mastered to consummate an evil goal.
At this critical time, may we believe in the “No life after death”? Rather, may we are for the life right now? Those who are for the life right now are genuinely expected to show discernible power through tangible solidarity to our victimised families at home. Pursuant to our tradition, we have been nurtured learning the wisdom of “Dubbiin haa bultu”. Now, we should redirect this wisdom to “Dubbiin kun hin bultu”,that we ought to swear by great confidence to move in unison against the inhuman act, endless atrocities and perpetual eviction of our families from their ancestral araddaa. Thereof, could we recall the intrinsic wisdom of our fathers’ saying “Tokko dhuufuun namummaadha, lama dhuufuun harrummaadha?”
This study critically discuses the “Africa rising” story and the sub-narratives it carries, including the rise of the African woman, the rise of the African middle class and the power of innovation. The articles included inform that, in too many cases, it is not the wider population but small segments and interested parties, such as the local political elite and foreign investors, who are benefiting from economic growth and resource wealth. Social cohesion, political freedom and environmental protection carry little importance in the comforting world of impressive growth statistics. The glamorous images of Africa’s prominent women and rising middle class produced and re-produced in the media prevent the less attractive and more complex stories about ordinary people’s daily struggles from being heard.
GDP tells us nothing about health of an economy, let alone its sustainability and the overall impact on GDP is simply a measure of market consumption, which has been improperly adopted to assess economic performance. Rebuilding Libya after the civil war has been a blessing for its GDP. But does that mean that Libya is on an enviable growth path? When there is only one brick left in a country devastated by war or other disasters, then just making another brick means doubling the economy (100 percent growth). Another problem is the reliability of GDP statistics in Africa. Economic growth figures for most African countries are incomplete, thus undermining any generalisation about overall economic performance in the continent. Besides statistical problems, there are important structural reasons why one should be suspicious of the ‘Africa rising’ mantra. Most fast- growing Africa economies are heavily dependent on exports of commodities.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) in it recent research report exposes that Ethiopia has built up a large monitoring system for controlling citizens’ network and phone usage. According to this report the government has a sole monopoly of telecommunications and network. And there is no right constraints that prevent the government from gaining an overview of who have contact with anyone on the phone, sms and internet. The government also saves phone calls on a large scale. The authoritarian regime is using imported technology to spy on the phones and computers of its perceived opponents. HRW accuses the government of trying to silence dissent, using software and kit sold by European and Chinese firms. The report says the firms may be guilty of colluding in oppression.
“While monitoring of communications can legitimately be used to combat criminal activity, corruption, and terrorism, in Ethiopia there is little in the way of guidelines or directives on surveillance of communications or use of collected information to ensure such practices are not illegal. In different parts of the world, the rapid growth of information and communications technology has provided new opportunities for individuals to communicate in a manner and at a pace like never before, increasing the space for political discourse and facilitating access to information. However, many Ethiopians have not been able to enjoy these opportunities. Instead, information and
communications technology is being used as yet another method through which the government seeks to exercise complete control over the population, stifling the rights to freedom of expression and association, eroding privacy, and limiting access to information—all of which limit opportunities for expressing contrary opinions and engaging in meaningful debate.”
“Human Rights Watch interviews suggest that a significant number of Oromo individuals have been targeted for unlawful surveillance. Those arrested are invariably accused of being members or supporters of the OLF. In some cases, security officials may have a reasonable suspicion of these individuals being involved with OLF. But in the majority of cases, Oromos were under surveillance because they were organizing cultural associations or trade unions, were involved in celebrating Oromo culture (through music, art, etc.) or were involved in registered political parties.
“Like the OLF, the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) was initially a political party, but began a low-level armed insurgency in Ethiopia’s Somali region in response to what it perceived to be the EPRDF’s failure to respect regional autonomy, and to consider demands for self-determination. In 2007, the ONLF scaled up armed attacks against government targets and oil exploration sites, triggering a harsh crackdown by the government. As with the government’s counterinsurgency response to the OLF, the Ethiopian security forces have routinely committed abuses against individuals of Somali ethnicity, including arbitrary detentions, torture, and extrajudicial killings, based on their ethnicity or perceived support for the ONLF.”
“Internet usage in Ethiopia is still in its infancy with less than 1.5 percent of Ethiopians connected to the Internet and fewer than 27,000 broadband subscribers countrywide. By contrast, neighboring Kenya has close to 40 percent access.The majority of Internet users are located in Addis Ababa. According to the ITU, Ethiopia has some of the most expensive broadband in the world. Given these costs, Ethiopians usually access the Internet through the growing number of cybercafés or from their mobile phones.Internet has been available to mobile phone subscribers since 2009.Increasingly available in many of the more expensive hotels and cafes. Connectivity speeds countrywide are quite low, and are prone to frequent outages.”
“State-owned Ethio Telecom is the only telecommunications service provider in Ethiopia. It controls access to the phone network and to the Internet and all phone and Internet traffic must use Ethio Telecom infrastructure. There is no other service provider available in Ethiopia. Ethio Telecom therefore controls access to the Internet backbone that connects Ethiopia to the international Internet. In addition, Internet cafés must apply for a license and purchase service from Ethio Telecom to operate.”
“As Internet access increases, some governments are adopting or compelling use of technologies like “deep packet inspection” (DPI). Deep packet inspection enables the examination of the content of communications (an email or a website) as it is transmitted over an Internet network. Once examined, the communications can be then copied, analyzed, blocked, or even altered. DPI equipment allows Internet service providers—and by extension, governments—to monitor and analyze Internet communications of potentially millions of users in real time. While DPI does have some commercial applications, DPI is also a powerful tool for Internet filtering and blocking and can enable highly intrusive surveillance. Finally, some governments have begun using intrusion software to infiltrate an individual’s computer or mobile phone. Also known as spyware or malware, such software can allow a government to capture passwords (and other text typed into the device), copy or delete files, and even turn on the microphone or camera of the device to eavesdrop. Such software is often unwittingly downloaded when an individual opens a malicious link or file disguised as a legitimate item of interest to the target.”
“The vast majority of the cases documented by Human Rights Watch involving access to phone recordings involved Oromo defendants organizing Oromos in cultural associations, student associations, and trade unions. No credible evidence was presented that would appear to justify their arrest and detention or the accessing of their private phone records. These interrogations took place not only in Addis Ababa, but in numerous police stations and detention centers throughout Oromia and elsewhere in Ethiopia. As described in other publications, the government has gone to great lengths to prevent Oromos and other ethnicities from organizing groups and associations. While the increasing usefulness of the mobile phone to mobilize large groups of people quickly provides opportunities for young people, in particular, to form their own networks, Ethiopia’s monopoly and control over this technology provides Ethiopia with another tool to suppress the formation of these organizations and restrict freedoms of association and peaceful assembly.”
“Ethiopia was the first sub-Saharan African country to begin blocking Internet sites. The first reports of blocked websites appeared in May 2006 when opposition blogs were unavailable, and blocking has become more regular and pervasive ever since. Human Rights Watch and the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab conducted testing in-country in July and August of 2013 to assess the availability of 171 different URLs that had a higher likelihood of being blocked, based on past testing, on the Ethio Telecom network. A total of 19 tests were run over seven days to ensure reliability of results.”
Africa’s youth will protest to remove self-seeking and repressive elites
“Some examples: authoritarian regimes, as in Ethiopia and Rwanda, are consolidating their positions. In Zambia, Angola and Mozambique, the press, civil society organisations and the opposition are under threat for demanding that the proceeds from raw material exports and billion dollar multinational corporate investments should benefit everyone. ….Short-term greed is, once again, depriving the African populations of the right to share in the continent’s immense riches. No-one can predict the future, but what can be said with certainty is that the possibility of a sustainable long-term and fair development that is currently at hand in Africa is being put at risk. The frustration that is fuelled among populations that are hungry and feel ignored by their rulers will bring about increasingly strident and potentially violent protest. In the near future, this will change the political climate, not least in urban areas. Utilising the internet and their mobile phones, Africa’s youth and forgotten people will mobilise and act together to remove self-seeking and repressive elites. But the situation is not hopeless, on the contrary. Civil society is growing stronger in many places in Africa. The internet makes it possible for people to access and disseminate information in an unprecedented way. However, I get really disappointed when I hear all the ingenuous talk about the possibilities to invest and make quick profits in the ‘New Africa’. What is in reality new in the ‘New Africa’? Today, a worker in a Chinese-owned factory in Ethiopia earns one-tenth of the wage of an employee in China. Unless African governments and investors act more responsibly and ensure long-term sustainable construction for people and the environment ‒ which is currently not the case ‒ we must all ask ourselves if we should not use the consumer power we all possess to exert pressure. There are no excuses for letting African populations and their environment once again pay for the global demand for its raw materials and cheap consumer goods.” – Marika Griehsel, journalist, film-maker and lecturer
“Thousands of people are demonstrating on the streets to protest against low salaries, the highcost of living and an insufficient state safety net. A reaction to austerity measures in Greece? Or a follow-up to the Arab Spring? No, these are protests for greater equality in Sub-Saharan Africa, most recently in Burkina Faso. The widening gap between rich and poor is as troubling in Africa as in the rest of the world. In fact, many Africans believe that inequalities are becoming more marked: A tiny minority is getting richer while the lines of poor people grow out the door. The contrast is all the more striking in Africa since the poverty level has been at a consistently high level for decades, despite the continent’s significant average GDP growth. Some take a plane to get treated for hay fever, while others are pushing up daisies because they can’t afford basic malaria treatment.”
It is now evident that the African ‘lion economies’ have hardly even begun the economic and democratic transformation that is absolutely necessary for the future of the continent.
The largest movement ever in Africa of people from rural to urban areas is now taking place. Lagos, Nigeria, and Nairobi, Kenya, are among the world’s fastest growing cities.
The frustration that is fuelled among populations that are hungry and feel ignored by their rulers will bring about increasingly strident and potentially violent protest.
Soon, this will change the political climate, not least in urban areas. Utilising the internet and their phones, Africa’s youth and forgotten people will mobilise to remove self-seeking and repressive elites.
This piece was written in Namibia, where I was leading a tour around one of Africa’s more stable nations. There are several signs confirming the World Bank’s reclassification of Namibia as a middle-income country, which in turn means that many aid donors, including Sweden, have ended their bilateral cooperation.
I see newly constructed, subsidised single-family homes accessible for low-income families. I drive on good roads and meet many tourists, although this is off-season. I hear about a growing mining sector, new discoveries of natural gas and oil deposits. I read about irregularities committed by people in power, in a reasonably free press whose editors are not thrown into jail. There is free primary level schooling and almost free health care.
Most people I talk to are optimistic. A better future for a majority of Namibians is being envisaged. This is in all probability the result of the country having a small population ‒ just above 2 million ‒ and a functioning infrastructure despite its large area.
In Namibia, economic growth can hopefully be matched by implementing policies for long-term, sustainable social and economic development that will benefit more than the élite.
But Namibia is an exception. Because it is now evident that the African ‘lion economies’ have hardly even begun the economic and democratic transformation that is absolutely necessary for the future of the continent.
Some examples: authoritarian regimes, as in Ethiopia and Rwanda, are consolidating their positions. In Zambia, Angola and Mozambique, the press, civil society organisations and the opposition are under threat for demanding that the proceeds from raw material exports and billion dollar multinational corporate investments should benefit everyone.
The International Monetary Fund, IMF, predicts continued high growth rates across Africa with an average of over 6 per cent in 2014. That is of course good news for the continent. Perhaps the best, from a macroeconomic viewpoint, since the 1960s, when many of the former colonies became independent. This growth is mainly driven by the raw material needs of China, India and Brazil.
Meanwhile, the largest movement ever in Africa of people from rural to urban areas is now taking place. Lagos, Nigeria, and Nairobi, Kenya, are among the world’s fastest growing cities. But, in contrast with China, where the migrants from the rural areas get employment in the manufacturing industry, the urban migrants in Africa end up in the growing slums of the big cities.
In a few places, notably in Ethiopia, manufacturing is beginning to take off. But the wages in the Chinese-owned factories are even lower than in China, while the corporations pay minimal taxes to the Ethiopian state.
Short-term greed is, once again, depriving the African populations of the right to share in the continent’s immense riches. No-one can predict the future, but what can be said with certainty is that the possibility of a sustainable long-term and fair development that is currently at hand in Africa is being put at risk.
The frustration that is fuelled among populations that are hungry and feel ignored by their rulers will bring about increasingly strident and potentially violent protest. In the near future, this will change the political climate, not least in urban areas. Utilising the internet and their mobile phones, Africa’s youth and forgotten people will mobilise and act together to remove self-seeking and repressive elites.
But the situation is not hopeless, on the contrary. Civil society is growing stronger in many places in Africa. The internet makes it possible for people to access and disseminate information in an unprecedented way. However, I get really disappointed when I hear all the ingenuous talk about the possibilities to invest and make quick profits in the ‘New Africa’.
What is in reality new in the ‘New Africa’?
Today, a worker in a Chinese-owned factory in Ethiopia earns one-tenth of the wage of an employee in China. Unless African governments and investors act more responsibly and ensure long-term sustainable construction for people and the environment ‒ which is currently not the case ‒ we must all ask ourselves if we should not use the consumer power we all possess to exert pressure.
There are no excuses for letting African populations and their environment once again pay for the global demand for its raw materials and cheap consumer goods.
Some examples: authoritarian regimes, as in Ethiopia and Rwanda, are consolidating their positions. In Zambia, Angola and Mozambique, the press, civil society organisations and the opposition are under threat for demanding that the proceeds from raw material exports and billion dollar multinational corporate investments should benefit everyone.
Economic growth in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) remains strong with growth forecasted to be 4.9% in 2013. Almost a third of countries in the region are growing at 6% and more, and African countries are now routinely among the fastest-growing countries in the world […] [however the report] notes that poverty and inequality remain “unacceptably high and the pace of reduction unacceptably slow.” Almost one out of every two Africans lives in extreme poverty today.
‘Our knowledge of the nature of identity relations in pre-colonial Africa is less than complete. However, there is little doubt that many parts of the continent were torn apart by various wars, during that era. Many of the pre-colonial wars revolved around state formation, empire building, slave raids, and control over resources and trade routs. The slave raiding and looting empires and kingdoms, including those of the 19th century, left behind complex scars in inter-identity relations. It is beyond the scope of this paper to discuss in detail the nature of pre-colonial empires in Africa. The examples of the Abyssinian Empire and the Mahdiyya state in Sudan provide a glimpse of the impacts of pre-colonial empires on the prevailing problems in inter-identity relations. The Abyssinian Empire, for example, is credited for creating the modern Ethiopian state during the second half of the 19th century and defending it from European colonialism. However, it also left behind a deeply divided country where the populations in the newly incorporated southern parts of the country were ravaged by slave raids and lootings and, in many cases, reduced into landless tenants, who tilled the land for northern landlords (Pankhurst, 1968). The Empire also established a hierarchy of cultures where the non-Abyssinian cultures in the newly incorporated territories were placed in a subordinate position. There are claims, for instance, that it was not permissible to publish, preach, teach or broadcast in Oromiya [Afaan Oromo] (language of the Oromo people) in Ethiopia until the end of the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie (Baxter, 1978, 228). It requires a great deal of sensitivity to teach Ethiopian history in the country’s schools, since the empire-builders of the 19th century are heroes to some identities while they are viewed as villains who brought destruction and oppression by others. Similarly, Sudan’s Mahdiyya state, which professed Arab identity and was supported by slave raiding communities, left behind complex scars in inter-identity relations, which still plague the country (Francis Deng, 2010).’ pp 10-12
Diversity Management in Africa: Findings from the African Peer Review Mechanism
and a Framework for Analysis and Policy-Making , 2011.
No Oromo has constitutional or legal protection from the cruelty of the TPLF/EPRDF regime.
A country is not about its leaders but of its people. It goes without saying that the people are the symbolic mirror of their nation. That is exactly why foreigners particularly the development partners assess and evaluate a nation through its people. In other words, a happy people are citizen of not only a peaceful and happy nation but one which accepts the principles of democracy, rule of law and human and people’s right. On the contrast, heartbroken, timid and unhappy people are subjects of dictatorial, callous and brutal regimes. Such people are robbed of their humanity and identity through systematic harassment, intimidation, unlawful detention, extra judicial killing and disappearances by the leaders who transformed themselves into creators of human life or lords. The largest oromo nation in Ethiopia through the 22years of TPLF/EPRDF repressive leadership has turned into a nation sobbing in the dark. One does not need to be a rocket scientist to figure this out. All it takes is a closer look at any Oromos in the face. The story is the same on all the faces: fear, uncertainty, and an unquenchable thirst for freedom. The disturbing melody of the sobs in the dark echo the rhythmic desire to break free from TPLF dictatorial shackles.
The Horn African region of the Ethiopia is home to just 90 million people, it is also home to one of the world’s most ruthless, and eccentric, tyrannical regime .TPLF/EPRDF is ruling the nation particularly the Oromos with an iron fist for the past two decades and yet moving on. Today dissents in Oromia are frequently harassed, arrested, tortured, murdered and put through sham trials, while the people are kept in a constant state of terror through tight media control, as repeatedly reported by several human rights groups. It has been long time since the Woyane government bans most foreign journalists and human rights organizations and NGOs from operating in the country for the aim of hiding its brutal governance from the world. While the people in Ethiopia are being in terrorized by TPLF gangs, the western powers are yet looking at the country as a very strategic place to fight the so called terrorism in horn African region. But In today’s Ethiopia; as an Oromo, No one can speak out against the dictatorship in that country. You can be killed. You can be arrested. You can be kept in prison for a long time. Or you can disappear in thin air. Nobody will help. Intimidations, looting Oromo resources and evicting Oromos from their farm lands have become the order of the day everywhere across Oromia.
No Oromo has constitutional or legal protection from the killing machinery of the TPLF securities. The recent murdering of Tesfahun Chemeda in kallitti prison is a case book of the current Circumstance.
The So called EPRDF constitution, as all Ethiopian constitutions had always been under the previous Ethiopian regimes, is prepared not to give legal protections to the Oromo people, but to be used against the Oromo people. Prisons in the Ethiopia have become the last home to Oromo nationalists, human right activists or political opponent of the regime. Yet the international community is either not interested or have ignored the numerous Human Right abuses in Ethiopia simply because, they think there is stability in the country. Is there no stability in North Korea? I don’t understand why the international community playing double standard with dining and wining with Ethiopian brutal dictators while trying to internationally isolate other dictators. For crying out loud, all dictators are dangerous to humanity and shaking their hands is even taboo much more doing business with them.
Without the support of the USA and EU, major pillars of the regime would have collapsed. Because one reason why TPLF is sustaining in power is through the budgetary support and development funding of the EU, the United States and offered diplomatic validation by the corrupted African Union. Foremost, the US and EU as the largest partners are responsible for funding the regime’s sustainability and its senseless brutality against ordinary citizens. They would have the capacity to disrupt the economic might of this regime without negatively impacting ordinary citizens, and their failure to do so is directly responsible for the loss of many innocent lives, the torture of many and other grievous human rights abuses. Helping dictators while they butcher our people is what I cannot understand. What I want to notify here is, on the way of struggling for freedom it is very essential to call on the western powers to stop the support they are rendering to dictators in the name of fighting the so called terrorism in Horn Africa, otherwise it will remain an obstacle for the struggle.
Holding elections alone does not make a country democratic. Where there is no an independent media, an independent judiciary (for the rule of law), an independent central bank, an independent electoral commission (for a free and fair vote); neutral and professional security forces; and an autonomous (not a rubber stamp) parliament, no one should expect that the pseudo election will remove TPLF from power. The so-called “Ethiopian constitution” is a façade that is not worth the paper which it is written on. It does not impose the rule of law; and does not effectively limit governmental power. No form of dissent is tolerated in the country.
As my understanding and as we have observed for more than two decades, it is unthinkable to remove TPLF regime without a military struggle or without popular Uprisings. They are staying, staying, and staying in power – 10, 20, 22 and may be 30 or 40 years. They have developed the mentality of staying on power as their own family and ethnic property. So that they are grooming their clans, their wives, sons, cats, dogs and even goats to succeed them. They are simply the worst mafia regime and the most politically intolerant in the Africa. It is impossible to remove them electorally because we have been witnessing that the electoral system is fundamentally flawed and indomitably skewed in favor them. Every gesture and every words coming from TPLF gangs in the last several years have confirmed that to remove them by election is nothing but like to dream in daylight.
The late dictator “Meles Zenawi” had once said that TPLF “shall rule for a thousand years”, asserting that elections SHALL NOT remove his government. He also said: “the group who want the power must go the forest and fight to achieve power”. Therefore, taking part in Pseudo election will have no impact on reducing the pain of the oppressed people. Evidently, the opposition and civil societies have been rendered severely impotent, as any form of dissent attracts the ultimate penalty in Ethiopia. Furthermore, we are watching that this regime is intensifying its repression of democracy each day, and ruling strictly through the instrument of paralyzing fear and the practice of brutality against ordinary citizens.
As we are learning from history, Dictators are not in a business of allowing election that could remove them from their thrones. The only way to remove this TPLF dictatorship is through a military force, popular uprising, or a rebel insurgency: Egypt (2011), Ivory Coast (2011), Tunisia (2011), Libya (2011), Rwanda (1994), Somalia (1991), Liberia (1999), etc. A high time to fire up resistance to the TPLF killings and resource plundering in Oromia, is now. To overthrow this brutal TPLF dictatorship and to end the 22 years of our pain, it is a must to begin the resistance with a nationwide show of defiance including distributing postures of resistance against their brutality across Oromia and the country. Once a national campaign of defiance begins, it will be easy to see how the TPLF regime will crumble like a sand castle. Besides, we the Oromo Diaspora need to work on strengthening the struggle by any means we can. It is the responsibility of the Diaspora to advance the Oromo cause, and at the same time to determine how our efforts can be aided by the international community. As well, it is a time for every freedom thirsty Oromo to take part in supporting our organization Oromo liberation Front by any means we can.
These days, TPLF regime is standing on one foot and removing it is easier than it appears. Let all oppressed nations organize for the final push to liberty. The biggest fear of Woyane regime is people being organized and armed with weapons of unity, knowledge, courage, vigilance, and justice. What is needed is a unified, dedicated struggle for justice and sincerity. Oromo’s are tired of the dying, the arrests, the detentions, the torture, the brutality and the forced disappearances. This should come to an end! DEATH FOR TPLF LEADERES ,.long live FOR OROMIYA
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The author, ROBA PAWELOS, can be reached by bora1273@yahoo.com
‘Briefcase bandits’
Africa’s spin doctors (mostly American and European) deliberately choose to represent what the Free Africa Foundation’s George Ayittey so refreshingly describes as “Swiss-bank socialists”, “crocodile liberators”, “quack revolutionaries”, and “briefcase bandits”. Mr Ayittey – a former political prisoner from Ghana – pulls us a lot closer to the truth.
If the mainstream media adopts Mr Ayittey’s language, the free governments of the world would be forced to face the truth and take necessary steps to tie their aid and trade deals to democratic reform for the benefit of Africa’s population. Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and we must combat the work of firms that provide “reputation management” to oppressive states by exposing their role in abetting injustice.
Those firms may want to consider atoning by volunteering for the civil society groups, human rights’ defenders and economic opportunity organisations working to make Africa free and prosperous.’…………………………………………………
A number of African governments accused of human rights abuses have turned to public relations companies to salvage the image of their countries.
The BBC’s Focus on Africa magazine asked two experts whether “reputation management” is mostly a cover-up for bad governance.
NO: Thor Halvorssen is president of the New York-based Human Rights Foundation and founder of the Oslo Freedom Forum.
Thor Halvorssen has published extensively on the subject of lobbying
For Public Relations (PR) companies and their government clients, “reputation management” can be a euphemism of the worst sort. In many cases across Africa, it often means whitewashing the human rights violations of despotic regimes with fluff journalism and, just as easily, serving as personal PR agents for rulers and their corrupt family members.
But they also help governments drown out criticism, often branding dissidents, democratic opponents and critics as criminals, terrorists or extremists.
Today, with the preponderance of social media, anyone with an opinion, a smart phone and a Facebook account can present their views to an audience potentially as large as any major political campaign can attract.
This has raised citizen journalism to a level of influence unknown previously. Yet, this communication revolution has also resulted in despotic governments smearing not just human rights advocates, but individuals with blogs as well as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook accounts. This undermines the power and integrity of social media.
And as PR firms help regimes “astroturf” with fake social media accounts, they do more damage than just muddling legitimate criticism with false comments and tweets linking back to positive content – they also make the general public sceptical about social media.
It is no surprise that ruthless governments that deny their citizens basic freedoms would wish to whitewash their reputations. But PR professionals who spin for them should be exposed as amoral.
It is no surprise that ruthless governments that deny their citizens basic freedoms would wish to whitewash their reputations”
For instance, Qorvis Communications, a PR and lobbying firm in the United States, represents Equatorial Guinea – among other allegedly repressive governments – for a reported $55,000 a month. The firm is said to have amassed more than $100 million by helping their clients with “reputation management”.
By burying opposing public opinions or spinning false, positive stories of stability and economic growth on behalf of President Teodoro Obiang Nguema’s brutal regime, the firm is seriously hampering the progress of human rights in the country.
In response, Qorvis says that customers with troublesome human rights records are a very small part of its client base, and that these governments are using Qorvis as a means to be heard in the “court of public opinion”.
Washington Media Group, another American PR firm, was hired in 2010 by the Tunisian government. The autocracy was subsequently described in various media outlets as a “stable democracy” and a “peaceful, Islamic country with a terrific story to share with the world”. Only after the regime’s snipers began picking off protesters did Washington Media Group end its $420,000 contract.
‘Limited engagement’
When a PR firm spins a dictator’s story, it does not just present a different viewpoint, as the firm might want you to believe; rather, it undermines the resources from which people can draw opinions. If a website or magazine commends the government, how is an average citizen to know for certain if the information is accurate or true?
President Teodoro Obiang Nguema
Teodoro Obiang Nguema is accused of leading a brutal regime in Equatorial Guinea
Many firms that operate, or have done, on behalf of kleptocracies in Africa are based not only in the US but also in the United Kingdom. They include Bell Pottinger (Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt), Brown Lloyd James (Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya) and Hill & Knowlton (Yoweri Museveni’s Uganda).
There are likely many more that continue to do this work under the cover of corporate secrecy. When firms get caught or criticised for their activities many say it is “limited engagement” for only a few months or that the task only involved “tourism” or “economic progress”.
If, for instance, a firm served the questionable government in the Democratic Republic of the Congo they would probably insist they are “consultants” helping to create “economic opportunity” and, no doubt, providing a “guiding hand” to the current president as he improves the lot of the Congolese poor.
Yet the spin doctors most probably ignore the fact that President Joseph Kabila’s security forces killed Floribert Chebeya, arguably the DR Congo’s leading human rights defender, and likely “disappeared” his driver (he is still missing). Only after an international uproar were the policemen directly responsible for the killing brought to justice.
Meanwhile, political opponents routinely disappear, journalists are arrested for criticising the government and any comprehensive human rights report contains appalling anecdotes and painful analysis about a country with little judicial independence and respect for the rule of law.
PR agents do not create “economic opportunities” – they alter reality so that certain deals and foreign aid can flow faster and in larger quantities – all the while being rewarded handsomely.
‘Briefcase bandits’
Africa’s spin doctors (mostly American and European) deliberately choose to represent what the Free Africa Foundation’s George Ayittey so refreshingly describes as “Swiss-bank socialists”, “crocodile liberators”, “quack revolutionaries”, and “briefcase bandits”.
Mr Ayittey – a former political prisoner from Ghana – pulls us a lot closer to the truth.
If the mainstream media adopts Mr Ayittey’s language, the free governments of the world would be forced to face the truth and take necessary steps to tie their aid and trade deals to democratic reform for the benefit of Africa’s population.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant, and we must combat the work of firms that provide “reputation management” to oppressive states by exposing their role in abetting injustice.
Those firms may want to consider atoning by volunteering for the civil society groups, human rights’ defenders and economic opportunity organisations working to make Africa free and prosperous.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights: What is it? Who uses it? Why was it created?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was adopted by the UN General Assembly on 10 December 1948, was the result of the experience of the Second World War. With the end of that war, and the creation of the United Nations, the international community vowed never again to allow atrocities like those of that conflict happen again. World leaders decided to complement the UN Charter with a road map to guarantee the rights of every individual everywhere.(http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/history.shtml)
“Compare that with the mean wealth of a South African at $11,310, Libyan ($11,040) and Namibian ($10,500). While the average Ethiopian has his asset base standing at a mere $260 despite years of economic growth and foreign investment – wealth has not filtered through to the people. With this kind of glaring inequality between and within countries, the “Africa Rising” narrative risks masking the realities of millions of Africans struggling to get by in continent said to be on the move.” http://www.africareview.com//Blogs/Africa-is-rising-but-not-everywhere/-/979192/2219854/-/12at0a8/-/index.html?relative=true
“Africa Rising” is now a very popular story – a near-universal belief that the continent is the next investment frontier after more than a decade of sustained high growth rates and increased foreign direct investment.
We even now have memes for this new narrative.
But some people have their doubts about this whole “Afro-optimism” talk – they say Africa isn’t really rising.
They argue that Africa’s low levels of manufacturing and industrialisation discredit the continent’s “growth miracle”. Its share of world trade is remains very small compared to Asia.
Well, Africa cannot be reduced to a single narrative. We have been victims of this before – for hundreds of years the continent has always been seen in a kind of Hobbesian way – where life is poor, nasty, brutish and short.
Now, there is a minority global elite working round the clock trying to turn this long-held view of a continent.
While I do not begrudge them for their PR efforts – we cannot mask the glaring inequality in Africa by developing a new optimist narrative about the continent.
There are many stories about Africa. Not just one.
Genocide
While the sun shines bright in Namibia, not the same can be said of Malawi where the government is bankrupt or the Central African Republic (CAR) where sectarian violence is increasingly becoming genocidal.
Pretty much everyone else in the world seems accustomed to the living hell that is Somalia.
But we have also come to a consensus that Botswana and Ghana are the model countries in Africa.
South Africa is a member of the BRICS. While the petro-dollars are changing the fortunes of Angola – it has grown its wealth per capita by 527 per cent since the end of the civil war in 2002.
Not much can be said of South Sudan. Oil has not done anything despite pronouncements by the liberation leaders that independence holds much promise for the young nation’s prosperity.
The country imploded barely three years into into its independence.
This is the problem of a single narrative – it is indifferent to the growing and glaring inequality in Africa and its various political contexts.
Many Africans still have no access to the basic necessities of life. Millions go to bed without food and die from preventable diseases.
Others live in war-ravaged countries in constant fear for their lives. You can bet the last thing on their mind is not a blanket “rising” narrative about Africa and the promise it holds. That is not their Africa, its someone else’s.
Yes. “Africa Rising” may be real. But only to a small minority.
Wealth distribution
A report by New World Wealth highlights the variations in wealth distribution across the continent’s 19 wealthiest countries.
Africa’s total wealth stood at $2.7 trillion last year down from $3 trillion in 2007 after taking a hit from the global financial crisis.
These 19 countries control 76 per cent while the remaining 35 scrape over $648 billion. And most of this wealth is concentrated in northern and southern Africa.
The western, central and eastern regions have some of the poorest individuals on the continent with the highest per capita wealth from this group – with the exception of Angola – coming from Nigeria at $1,350.
Compare that with the mean wealth of a South African at $11,310, Libyan ($11,040) and Namibian ($10,500).
While the average Ethiopian has his asset base standing at a mere $260 despite years of economic growth and foreign investment – wealth has not filtered through to the people.
With this kind of glaring inequality between and within countries, the “Africa Rising” narrative risks masking the realities of millions of Africans struggling to get by in continent said to be on the move.
The sun may be shining bright in Africa – but only in favoured parts of it.
“Nations fail economically because of extractive institutions. These institutions keep poor countries poor and prevent them from embarking on a path to economic growth. This is true today in Africa, in South America, in Asia, in the Middle East and in some ex-Soviet Union nations. While having very different histories, languages and cultures, poor countries in these regions have similar extractive institutions designed by their elites for enriching themselves and perpetuating their power at the expense of the vast majority of the people on those societies. No meaningful change can be expected in those places until the exclusive extractive institutions, causing the problems in the first place, will become more inclusive.” http://otrazhenie.wordpress.com/2014/02/16/how-to-end-poverty/#
“If we are to build grassroots respect for the institutions and processes that constitute democracy,” Mo Ibrahim writes for Project Syndicate, “the state must treat its citizens as real citizens, rather than as subjects. We cannot expect loyalty to an unjust regime. The state and its elites must be subject, in theory and in practice, to the same laws that its poorest citizens are.” http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mo-ibrahim/africa-needs-rule-of-law_b_4810286.html?utm_hp_ref=tw
I was always wondering about the most effective way to help move billions of people from the rut of poverty to prosperity. More philanthropy from the wealthy nations of the West? As J.W. Smith points it, with the record of corruption within impoverished countries, people will question giving them money as such ‘donations’ rarely ‘reach the target’. Building industries instead? While that approach seems to provide better results (see few examples described by Ray Avery in his book ‘Rabel with a cause‘), it still did not provide a silver bullet solution, as it does not address the roots of poverty and prosperity.
In their book ‘Why nations fail?‘, that examines the origin of poverty and prosperity, Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson conclusively show that it is man-made political and economic institutions that underlie economic success (or the lack of it). Therefore only the development of inclusive…
‘Much of the “Africa Rising” narrative is based on the cyclical growth in income revenues from commodities. But who knows how long this will last? Dr Moghalu wants African governments to grasp hold of their future by creating industrial manufacturing so that Africans can consume what they produce. If that could be achieved, the continent will have moved away from being an import-driven consumer-driven economy. It is only then, he argues, that we can say Africa has truly risen.’
The term “Africa Rising” is on the lips of many these days particularly as seven of the world’s fastest growing economies are believed to be African. But can this current wave of Afro-optimism bring genuine prosperity to the African continent? Dr Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria thinks not.
“Hope is good,” he says. “But hope must be based on concrete substantive strategy going forward, so I pour a little bit of cold water of the Africa Rising phenomenon. I think it could lead to illusionary thinking. I recall that when African countries became independent that there was a huge sense of euphoria around the continent that independence guaranteed economic growth, political development and stability. But this did not happen in the following 30 to 40 years.”
In his latest book, Emerging Africa: How the Global Economy’s ‘Last Frontier’ can prosper and matter, Dr Moghalu presents his own ideas on how Africa can become truly prosperous. He describes it as “a vision for Africa’s future based on a fundamental analysis of why Africa has fallen behind in the world economy”.
In doing so, the LSE alumnus discusses some fundamental misunderstandings about which African states need to revise their assumptions.
The first is the idea that globalisation is automatically good. Rather, Dr Moghalu describes it as a huge and influential reality which Africans must engage with a sense of sophistication and self-interest. It is important to find a way to break that stranglehold because globalisation is neither benign in its intention nor agnostic in its belief. It is driven by an agenda and there are people who drive it.
Economist Dambisa Moyo caused controversy with her first book, Dead Aid: Why foreign aid isn’t working and how there is another way for Africa. Dr Moghalu echoes some of her arguments describing foreign aid as one of the leading reasons why Africa is impoverished. “It has removed the incentive of many African nations to seek solutions for their economic challenges and create wealth for their citizens,” he argues. “Instead it has perpetuated poverty because they are simply content to survive from one day to the next.”
Foreign aid does have its place, Dr Moghalu admits, but “it should always be within a limited time frame and it should focus on economic wealth creation activities rather than just helping people survive”. On the day we meet, the UK Secretary of State for International Development Justine Greening is in the news revealing that there will be a radical shift in future UK aid into economic development, concentrating on economic growth and jobs. Dr Moghalu expressed great pleasure at this announcement remarking that “it is very interesting that British policy is catching up with the recommendations in my book”.
Another fundamental understanding that the central banker develops in his book is the importance of understanding the four different kinds of capitalism and the implications they have for Africa’s growth. The first is state capitalism which is not very common, although it is practised by China. It is, in fact, an oxymoron. Many African states do not have the capacity to run state capitalism because you need an all-knowing state with a huge reserve of strategic thinking capacity to be able to direct wealth creation for the purposes defined by the state. There is also oligarchic or crony capitalism in Russia and some African states. This can be turned into strategic activity if cronyism is not rampant. South Korea did that by creating the Chaebols, the family-held businesses which today dominate the South Korea economy. Welfare capitalism is the norm is Europe. Some African states have practised welfare capitalism without generating the type of revenue that will sustain it into the future. Now it is out of favour. Entrepreneurial capitalism is what made America wealthy and this is what Dr Moghalu recommends for most African economies because it suits the African culture. Along with a certain amount of oligarchic and welfare capitalism, it would do Africa a world of good, he adds.
Much of the “Africa Rising” narrative is based on the cyclical growth in income revenues from commodities. But who knows how long this will last? Dr Moghalu wants African governments to grasp hold of their future by creating industrial manufacturing so that Africans can consume what they produce. If that could be achieved, the continent will have moved away from being an import-driven consumer-driven economy. It is only then, he argues, that we can say Africa has truly risen. http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2014/02/12/afro-optimism-will-not-transform-africa/
Oakland, CA – In a historic move, the US Congress has taken a stance on land grabs-related human rights abuses in Ethiopia. The 2014 Omnibus Appropriations Bill contains provisions that ensure that US development funds are not used to support forced evictions in Ethiopia.
The bill prevents US assistance from being used to support activities that directly or indirectly involve forced displacement in the Lower Omo and Gambella regions. It further requires US assistance in these areas be used to support local community initiatives aimed at improving livelihoods and be subject to prior consultation with affected populations. The bill goes further and even instructs the directors of international financial institutions to oppose financing for any activities that directly or indirectly involve forced evictions in Ethiopia.
According to Anuradha Mittal, Executive Director of the Oakland Institute, “We welcome this move as it aims to address one major flaw of US assistance to Ethiopia. The step taken by the US Congress is very significant, as it signals to both the Ethiopian government and the US administration that turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in the name of development is no longer an option.”
Several reports from the Oakland Institute have raised alarm about the scale, rate, and negative impacts of large-scale land acquisitions in Ethiopia that would result in the forced displacement of over 1.5 million people. This relocation process through the government’s villagization scheme is destroying the livelihoods of small-scale farmers and pastoralist communities. Ethiopian security forces have beaten, arrested, and intimidated individuals who have refused to relocate and free the lands for large-scale agricultural plantations.
Ethiopia’s so-called development programs cannot be carried out without the support of international donors, primarily the US, one of its main donors. Oakland Institute’s on-the-ground research has documented the high toll paid by local people as well as the role of donor countries such as the US in supporting the Ethiopian policy.
This language represents an important first step towards Congress initiating a comprehensive examination of US development practices in Ethiopia. As the oversight authority of the State Department, Congress must now ensure that the law is fully upheld and implemented. This warrants thorough scrutiny of USAID programs to Ethiopia and their contribution to forced resettlements and human rights abuses.
With this bill, USAID, the State Department, as well as the World Bank, will have to reconsider the terms and modalities of the support they provide to the Ethiopian government. According to Frederic Mousseau, Oakland Institute’s Policy Director, “This is a light of hope for the millions of indigenous people in Ethiopia who have sought international support from the international community to recognize their very destruction as communities and people.” Read Further @
USAID’s cover-up of Ethiopia abuses overruled by Congress 12 February 2014
The United States Congress has acted to prevent its aid to Ethiopia being used to fund forced evictions of tribal peoples in the south west of the country.
The provisions in the Omnibus Appropriations Bill for 2014 represent a slap in the face for USAID, which last month said that ‘there are no reports of widespread or systematic human rights abuses’ in the region.
In fact, tribes of the Lower Omo Valley are being violently evicted from their villages by the government to make way for lucrative cotton, palm oil, and sugarcane plantations whose irrigation will be made possible by the controversial Gibe III dam. Transferred to designated resettlement areas, the once self-sufficient tribes will be left with no access to their livestock or lands and, consequently, will be unable to sustain themselves. Intimidation tactics, such as rape and beatings, have reportedly been used against those who resist resettlement.
One Mursi man told Survival International, ‘We are waiting to die. We are crying. When the government collects people into one village there will be no place for crops, and my children will be hungry and have no food.’
The Ethiopian government has not consulted any indigenous communities over its aggressive plantation plans in the Omo Valley, and very few were consulted over the construction of the Gibe III dam.
This sugarcane plantation, part of a government sponsored land grab, now occupies land used by tribes of the Lower Omo Valley since time immemorial.
Ethiopia is one of the biggest recipients of American and British aid through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the UK Department for International Development (DFID).
Although the provisions in the recent spending bill will force USAID to reevaluate the funding given to Ethiopia, it will ultimately be the responsibility of Congress to guarantee that the terms are upheld.
Survival International Director Stephen Corry said today, ‘This bill is a huge step in the right direction, and shows that USAID’s shameful denials of the human rights abuses being committed in the Lower Omo simply haven’t been believed.
‘American taxpayers want to be sure that their money isn’t going toward the destruction of tribal peoples’ lives. Hopefully the historic provisions in this year’s spending bill will ensure that’s the case. It is now high time that British parliamentarians follow suit and ensure that DFID does not use UK taxpayers’ money to fund human rights violations in the Lower Omo.’ http://www.survivalinternational.org/news/9983
Further References on land grabs in Africa
Around 90 percent of the population of 87 million still suffers from numerous deprivations, ranging from insufficient access to education to inadequate health care; average incomes are still well below $1500 a year; and more than 30 million people still face chronic food shortages.
And while there are a number of positive and genuine reasons for the growth spurt – business and legislative reforms, more professional governance, the achievements of a thriving service sector – many critics say that the growth seen in agriculture, which accounts for almost half of Ethiopia’s economic activity and a great deal of its recent success, is actually being driven by an out of control ‘land grab’, as multinational companies and private speculators vie to lease millions of acres of the country’s most fertile territory from the government at bargain basement prices.
At the ministry of agriculture in Addis Ababa, this land-lease programme is often described as a “win-win” because it brings in new technologies and employment and, supposedly, makes it easier to improve health care, education and other services in rural areas.
“Ethiopia needs to develop to fight poverty, increase food supplies and improve livelihoods and is doing so in a sustainable way,” said one official.
But according to a host of NGO’s and policy advocates, including Oxfam, Human Rights Watch and the Oakland Institute, the true consequences of the land grabs are almost all negative. They say that in order to make such huge areas available for foreign investors to grow foodstuffs and bio-fuels for export – and in direct contravention of Ethiopia’s obligations under international law – the authorities are displacing hundreds of thousands of indigenous peoples, abusing their human rights, destroying their traditions, trashing the environment, and making them more dependent on food aid than ever before.
“The benefits for the local populations are very little,” said renowned Ethiopian sociologist Dessalegn Rahmato. “They’ve taken away their land. They’ve taken away their natural resource, because these investors are clearing the land, destroying the forest, cutting down the trees. The government claims that one of the aims of this investment was to enable local areas to benefit by investing in infrastructure, social services … but these benefits are not included in the contract. It’s only left up to the magnanimity of the investor.”
And those investors, he continued, are simply not interested in anything other than serving their own needs: “They can grow any crop they want, when they want it, they can sell in any market they want, whether it’s a global market or a local market. In fact most of them are not interested in the local markets.”
He cited as an example a massive Saudi-owned plantation in the fertile Gambella region of south west Ethiopia, a prime target area for investors: “They have 10,000 hectares and they are producing rice. This rice is going to be exported to the Middle East, to Saudi Arabia and other places. The local people in that area don’t eat rice.”
But the most controversial element of the government’s programme is known as ‘villagisation’ – the displacement of people from land they have occupied for generations and their subsequent resettlement in artificial communities.
In Gambella, where two ethnic groups, the Anuaks and the Nuers, predominate, it has meant tens of thousands of people have been forced to abandon a traditional way of life. One such is Moot, an Anuak farmer who now lives in a government village far from his home.
“When investors showed up, we were told to pack up our things and to go to the village. If we had decided not to go, they would have destroyed our crops, our houses and our belongings. We couldn’t even claim compensation because the government decided that those lands belonged to the investors. We were scared … if you get upset and say that someone stole your land, you are put in prison. If you complain about being arrested, they will kill you. It’s not our land anymore; we have been deprived of our rights.”
Despite growing internal opposition and international criticism, the Ethiopian government shows no sign of scaling the programme back. According to the Oakland Institute, since 2008, an area the size of France has already been handed over to foreign corporations. Over the next few years an area twice that size is thought to be earmarked for leasing to investors.
So what does all this mean for the people on the ground? In Ethiopia – Land for Sale, filmmakers Veronique Mauduy and Romain Pelleray try and find out.
Farming and food in Africa and the battle over land, water and resource rights
Africa is being heralded as the new frontier for commercial farming but, as governments and investors sign deals, a counter movement of family farmers is promoting alternative pathways to development.
The International Year of Family Farming is now underway, and never before have family farmers in Africa been more under threat.
Large land deals between African governments and usually foreign (and sometimes domestic) investors have seen swathes of the countryside leased or conceded, often for as much as 50-99 years. From Senegal in West Africa to Ethiopia in the Horn, and down to Mozambique in the south, land considered idle and available has changed hands, with profound implications for local people and the environment.
Kiir is accused of creeping authoritarianism, strengthening his control over the security apparatus and threatening to curb non-government organisations and the media. A newspaper reportedly found itself in trouble for daring to publish a photo of the president wiping sweat from his brow. One foreign diplomat commented: “There is a danger that this country that fought so hard for its liberty is going to end up resembling the country it fought against.”
Peter Adwok Nyaba was higher education minister but says he could not get an audience with Kiir from July 2012 until his dismissal in July 2013. “Things were going wrong in the education system but I had a complete year of not being able to meet him,” says Nyaba, who has been under house arrest since Christmas Day. “Many people complained of the same thing. I think being president of the country is too big for him, which is showing itself in him being unable to take charge of the current situation. He’s just a village chief.”
Even the US president was reportedly given short shift. One aid agency official recalls: “Kiir treated Barack Obama like shit. The story goes they were supposed to meet at the UN in New York but Kiir kept him waiting for 20 or 30 minutes. People should have said this guy is not our friend.”
America is feeling buyer’s remorse, the source adds. “The people who were pushing the narrative South Sudan good, Sudan bad, are now calling out the South Sudanese government, but it’s too late. When a crisis like this breaks, the US’s leverage gets less and less.”
Kiir’s increasingly autocratic behaviour sowed division within his governing party, the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM), struggling, like so many militant liberation movements before it, to transition to a political party. Last July, his vice-president, Riek Machar, a charismatic and ruthless former warlord once married to a British aid worker, openly defied him, telling the Guardian: “To avoid authoritarianism and dictatorship, it is better to change.” Machar and the rest of the cabinet were sacked three weeks later.
In early December, Machar and other malcontents amplified their dissent at a press conference and planned a public rally. “Growing disenchantment and international criticism created fertile ground for opportunists masquerading as democrats,” noted one insider. On 14 December, Machar and seven others walked out of an SPLM meeting. The following day, with the mood volatile, fighting broke out within the presidential guard. Kiir accused Machar, a rival of old, of attempting to overthrow him in a coup. But many observers pour scorn on this notion. “If it was a coup attempt it was the worst organised, worse conceived and worst executed coup ever,” says a diplomatic source. “There’s a constant battle between chaos and conspiracy in South Sudan. Nine times out of 10, it’s chaos.”
Nevertheless, Machar was content to ride the wave and subsequently accept leadership of a rebellion that quickly took on ugly ethnic dimension. Kiir is a Dinka, the biggest group, while Machar is a Nuer, the second most populous. Some say Kiir used the alleged coup attempt as a pretext to unleash his own private militia and, whether he intended it or not, Nuers were the victims. Machar, linked to a massacre of Dinkas in 1991, stands accused of stoking tribalism and mobilising a Nuer force known as the “white army”.
There is nothing inevitable about this, experts argue, noting that for most of their history Dinkas and Nuers have coexisted peacefully and inter-married. Indeed, five of 11 detainees accused of plotting against Kiir are Dinka, while there are Nuers in his government. Yet in villages across the country, where three in four people are illiterate, each group is feeding a spiral of paranoia about the other. Ivan Simonovic, the UN assistant secretary-general for human rights, warned in Juba last Friday: “There are completely different worldviews and narratives among communities. Truth is becoming ethnicised.”
Nowhere is this more evident than at the UN base in Juba, where more than 20,000 Nuers are crammed into about 45 acres, including young children, who can be seen defecating in the dirt, and heavily pregnant women. Many here believe the Nuer are the target of nothing less than ethnic cleansing and, officials say, some who have dared to venture beyond the gate in search of food and water have been murdered on sight.
Among them are a group of Nuer politicians roughing it inside a tent, lying on mattresses amid suitcases and jerry cans, their suits hanging in zip-up garment bags, one of which has the label, “Shoreditch, London”. One, too fearful to be named, tells me: “Men with guns came to my house and knocked on the door. They started shooting into the house and a bullet just missed my left eye and went into the wall. I ran and told my children to lie down. I felt toothless. It’s what happened in Rwanda exactly: if you were found in your house, you were dead.”
As peace talks in neighbouring Ethiopia go nowhere fast, many are gloomy about the prospects for peace in the short term and democracy in the long term. The conflict appears to be driving Kiir into the arms of Bashir and Uganda’s strongman president Yoweri Museveni, who is providing military support. The Americans are being spurned – described as “heartbreaking” for many senior officials who feel professionally and personally invested in the new nation.
But amid the atrocities on both sides there have been redemptive stories of Dinkas giving hunted Nuer families refuge in their homes and vice versa. No one interviewed by the Guardian believes that South Sudan was a mistake or regrets secession in those idealistic days of 2011. They do, however, blame the political elite. “Independence, with all its challenges, was the best thing that happened to this country,” insists Mading Ngor, a journalist and commentator. “I don’t know anyone who is looking for reunification with Sudan.
“There were a lot of emotional faces on independence day. People teared up when they saw the flag going up for the first time. There were youths running about celebrating the rise of a new nation: Dinka youths, Nuer youths. Now those youths are killing each other. There is a need for a new generation to accomplish what the politicians failed to do, which is to build. My hopes are pinned on the people of South Sudan. The future is always better.”
On 15 December 2013, South Sudan was rocked by fighting in the capital Juba. The conflict was apparently sparked by a dispute within the presidential guard, pitching Dinka against Nuer in support of, respectively, the President Salva Kiir Mayardit and his previous vice-president Riek Machar. Soon it spread like a wildfire to other parts of the country.
What began as a political power struggle within the political elite soon turned into deadly ethnic conflict taking the life of several thousands. While President Kiir accused his opponents of trying to seize power through a military coup, his opponents led by Riek Machar accused him of trying to use the incident to suppress his opponents. The outbreak of the fighting followed a drawn out political struggle between the two political rivals.
Mr. Machar accused Kiir of incompetence, failure in curbing corruption, ensuring national unity, state building and making progress towards socio-economic development. The president retorted by accusing him of undermining his government. The president also told his opponents to abandon the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) and form their own party.
The opponents however know very well that abandoning the SPLM spells political suicide because it means ending up in the cold. Instead of heeding the admonition of the president they opted to utilize the SPLM in challenging Salva Kiir. Thus, they decided to test their luck within the SPLM and demanded the convening of the SPLM congress.
Instead of convening a congress, however, Kiir decided to cleanse the SPLM and the government from his opponents. Riek Machar was fired as vice-president on 23 July 2013 and Pagan Amun from his post as Secretary General of the SPLM. Then the cabinet was dissolved on 31 July to pave the way for the president to install his loyalists.
After resisting persistent demand to convene the National Liberation Council (legislative organ of the SPLM), the president agreed to call the meeting which took place on 14 December 2013. The NLC however failed to reach an agreement that led to walk out of opponents that sparked the incident of 15 December.
Two interlinked factors of failures could explain the outbreak of the conflict.
The first is the failure of the SPLM government to transform itself from a liberation movement to a democratic political governing party and from bearer of a liberation political culture to civic political culture. Liberation political culture demands loyalty to the leader. Those who harbor political ambition and disloyalty and incline to express rivalry with the leader are thus thrown out in the cold.
In accordance with this political culture the vice-president and the secretary general of SPLM were fired from office because they expressed their intention to run against the president in the coming elections, which was construed by the president as harbouring lack of loyalty to him.
This action of the president threw the ruling party and the government into deep political crisis. Unfortunately democratic institutions of governance and conflict resolution that could mitigate and manage disputes are markedly absent in South Sudan. Therefore the political struggle among the political elite got out of hand plunging the new nation into an unprecedented spree of ethnic massacres.
The second failure concerns the transformation of the, virtually conglomerate, army of militias into an integrated national disciplined army. During the liberation struggle several ethnic based militias emerged and latter were incorporated into the SPLA (Sudan People’s Liberation Army). Following secession no efforts to transform the SPLA was carried out. Rather the SPLA remained divided on ethnic basis.
Militias that fought against the SPLA during the liberation struggle were simply incorporated in the emergent national army following the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005. The incorporation took place without necessary political education that would lead to integration and cohesion of the national army. Indeed the incorporation remained mechanical. When the political struggle within the political elite exploded the army simply degenerated into its ethnic origins.
This double failure of transformation aggravated the already highly fractured society along ethnic fault-lines. The all-time precarious inter-ethnic relation and fragile state building process was further thrown into disarray. The post-secession nation building and state construction has suffered immensely.
It seems now that whatever efforts of negotiation and reconciliation are attempted between the rivals it will be near to impossibility to bring them to a cordial working relation. There is no way they could work together again. The reconciliation process has come too late and the blood spilled in this conflict will haunt the nation for a long time to come.
Uganda’s meddling has also complicated the mediation and reconciliation efforts. Therefore there is a real possibility that South Sudan could be heading towards prolonged bloody civil war with ethnic accentuation unless friends and neighbours exert real pressure on the leaders. The role of the friendly states, external actors in general, mildly expressed, in the post-secession reconstruction have been paradoxical. It is time that they reassess their role!
Amid this near impossibility of reaching political reconciliation the following measures could be considered to be of critical importance:
Convening the congress of the SPLM as soon as possible. One of the problems that contribute to the current crisis is the overdue delay of the congress of the SPLM.
Dissolution of the SPLM. The SPLM has proven itself to be impotent, corrupt and domineering. It has also become divisive and impossible to reform therefore needs to be replaced by other political parties.
Quickly organise presidential election. This will address the power struggle for the office of the presidency. It will lead to democratic, constitutional and institutionalised transfer of power.
Undertake serious reconciliation. Throughout the liberation struggle the movement was divided and beset with bloody inter-ethnic civil wars. That history has never been addressed. The current crisis is a reminiscence of that history.
External actors should exert concerted pressure on the leaders. The leaders on their own are not capable to strike reconciliation. They need all the help they can get.
Immediate withdrawal of the Ugandan army from South Sudan. The intervention of Ugandan forces in the inter-ethnic conflict not only has complicated the negotiation and national reconciliation; it might also be implicated in the atrocities committed.
‘The second poorest country in the world according to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Multidimensional Poverty Index, [2] Ethiopia consistently ranks extremely low upon a variety of socioeconomic, development and human rights indicators. [3] Recently, however, Ethiopia has experienced economic growth – making it amongst ‘Africa’s best performing economies.’ [4] This development reiterates the Ethiopian government’s lofty ambitions to attain ‘middle-income status by 2020.’ [5] The validity, sustainability, and possible ramifications of Ethiopia’s purported and ambitious economic transformation in the near future – which could prove beneficial domestically and regionally – merits closer analysis.’ – http://pambazuka.org/en/category/features/90435
To begin with, it is important that Ethiopia’s economic growth translate into broad scale development. While Ethiopia has reportedly witnessed tangible progress on the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), [7] the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has noted that there still remains ‘a pressing need for policies to translate positive growth outcomes into stronger employment gains and further reduction in poverty and set off a dynamic, virtuous cycle of self sustaining and broad-based growth.’ Further challenges include high levels of youth and female unemployment, greater efforts being required to identify and address the needs of those in severe and chronic poverty (approximately 25 million or 27 percent of Ethiopians live in extreme poverty), and pervasive malnutrition. [8]
Ethiopia’s economic growth also arouses questions of equitable growth and redistribution. Handley et al. (2009) outline that, although essential, economic growth is not always wholly sufficient to reduce poverty or inequality. Rather, an assortment of measures must be undertaken to ensure that poorer strata of society are incorporated into national economic growth. [9] Even with Ethiopia’s past reduction of much national inequality, dramatic inequities in education and employment – and broad discrimination – along rural-urban, gender, and ethno-religious lines are starkly apparent. [10]
Another critical issue emanating from Ethiopia’s economic growth and general developmental efforts is the manner in which they have been pursued. For example, a vital component of Ethiopia’s agricultural development strategy is the ‘villagization’ program that entails the relocation of millions of people from locations reserved for industrial plantations. [11] Ethiopia is an agrarian-based society in which more than 80 percent of Ethiopians depend on agriculture and pastoralism for subsistence. Issues arising from the program have led to greater food insecurity, a destruction of livelihoods and the loss of cultural heritage. Additionally, the program, which frequently utilizes forced evictions, has been plagued by a plethora of human rights violations. A variety of human rights groups have documented beatings, killings, rapes, imprisonment, intimidation and political coercion by the government and authorities. [12]
While Ethiopia has suggested that leasing land to foreign investors is necessary to modernize farming, enhance domestic food production and generate employment, [13] it continues to struggle mightily with hunger, under-nutrition and stunting. [14] Further, a UN report has even suggested that such investment deals negatively impact local populations. [15]
Importantly, projections of Ethiopia’s forthcoming evolution into a middle-income country must address the fact that Ethiopia remains overwhelmingly dependent on foreign aid. Long unable to produce enough food for its population, the nation has been dependent on foreign food aid for decades; [16] recent World Food Programme data illustrates that the country remains one of the largest recipients of food aid in the world. [17]
Siyoum, Hilhorst, and Van Uffelen (2012) also note that more than 8 million Ethiopians rely on food aid. Furthermore, the authors find that Ethiopia’s food insecurity stems from government failures in addressing major structural problems including poor soil fertility, environmental degradation, population pressure, fragmented landholdings and a severe lack of income-generating opportunities outside of agriculture. [19]
In addition to its reliance on food aid, Ethiopia is highly dependent on external economic assistance. In 2011, Ethiopia was the world’s fifth largest recipient of official humanitarian aid and received $3.6 billion in total assistance, [20] the latter figure representing between 50-60 percent of its total budget. [21] Additionally, Ethiopia’s 2011 share of total official development assistance – approximately 4 percent – placed it behind only Afghanistan.
According to Finland’s Country Strategy for Development Cooperation in Ethiopia, published by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ethiopia’s dependency challenges include the fact that its ‘…humanitarian support programmes are fragmented,’ [22] an outcome likely influenced by the expansive network of foreign development, religious, and charity organizations (2000-4000 in total). [23] The Finnish report also notes that ‘a large proportion of the Ethiopian people have limited coping mechanisms at their disposal.’ Furthermore, the country is faced with ‘an immediate need [to] transition from humanitarian aid to development [and]…without a range of dynamic and comprehensive activities to promote effective private sector development, particularly in agriculture, it will be very difficult to achieve the anticipated growth rates under the [growth and transformation plan].’ [24]
In fact, recent years have seen Ethiopia’s vaunted annual GDP growth rate decrease. [25] Utilizing World Bank data, which reports Ethiopia’s 2012 GNI per capita as $380 (current US$), [26] Ethiopia’s transition to lower middle-income status (between $1,036 – $4,085) [27] would require an annual growth rate of approximately 20 percent. This would appear to be highly unlikely, even if overlooking its recent descending economic trend or the negative effects of inflation.
These issues may be exacerbated by an array of financial risks. According to the IMF, Ethiopia faces growing external debt, [28] even though it was the beneficiary of debt cancellation in 2005 via the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) and Multilateral Debt Relief Initiatives (MDRI) programs. [29] Additionally, it is has experienced a worsening of its foreign exchange shortage, and a lack of sufficient financing for its growth and transformation plan. [30]
Beyond the aforementioned developmental challenges, issues of aid dependency and financial risks, domestic governance and external geopolitical factors represent critical concerns for Ethiopia. A multicultural, ethnically-diverse country with a state-structure built along institutionalized ethnic entrenchment in a nominal federal arrangement dominated by a single minority group; rising tensions with a resilient, large and historically repressed Islamic constituency; and troubled ties with neighbours are both challenges and possible impediments to Ethiopia’s projected economic growth unless adequately addressed.
Currently, political oppression, ethnic discrimination, extrajudicial executions, torture and other abuses in detention, [31] in addition to economic factors, have led hundreds of thousands of Ethiopians to flee the country. Many fall prey to human smugglers and traffickers who engage in a variety of the most depraved forms of abuse or exploitation. [32]
Additionally, Ethiopia has been at the forefront of a variety of conflicts. The separatist Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) continues to wage an insurgency against the central government, [33] while terrorism – largely arising from Ethiopia’s policies and interventions in neighbouring regions – has been a constant threat. According to Global Humanitarian Assistance, in each of the years from 2002-2011 Ethiopia was engaged in some form of active conflict. [34] Prior, the 1998-2000 period saw Ethiopia wage a costly war against Eritrea. Since then, Ethiopia has failed to abide by its obligations as ruled by the international Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission, [35] and instead continues to occupy sovereign Eritrean territories – thus posing an unnecessary problem to both countries and the surrounding region. [36] Ethiopia’s recent tension with Egypt regarding the construction of Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam is an additional dimension that complicates an already tenuous regional political landscape. [37]
Last, a potential crisis within or outright collapse of the Ethiopian state calls into question any projections of Ethiopia’s impending transition to middle-income status. Since 2006, Ethiopia has experienced a downward trend in the Fund for Peace (FFP) Failed States Index, while for 2013 it received amongst the lowest rankings. [38] This outcome is buttressed by Marshall and Cole’s (2011) State Fragility Index and Matrix which classifies Ethiopia as one of the eight ‘most fragile’ states in the world. State fragility is reported as an aggregate score of an array of governance categories including state effectiveness, legitimacy, security, armed conflict and other socio-economic and political factors. [39] Finally, the National Intelligence Council’s Global Trends 2030: Alternative Worlds (2012) suggests that Ethiopia is among the top 15 ‘high risk’ nations slated for state failure by 2030. [40]
In conclusion, Ethiopia’s recent economic growth and developmental progress are respectable achievements, particularly within a region long plagued by a variety of ailments. However, suggestions of Ethiopia’s socioeconomic transformation may prove fanciful if they fail to consider and address a variety of significant concerns.
The interactive snapshot of 125 countries showing the best and worst places in the world to eat, and the challenges people face getting enough of the right food.
Around the world, one in eight people go to bed hungry every night, even though there is enough food for everyone.
Ethiopia ranks 123 (worst) in over all food availability.
Repression in the Ogaden is mainly carried out by the notorious Liyu Police; this is a locally recruited force that has been widely condemned for the repressive methods that it uses.
This is how the force is described by Human Rights Watch:[6]
“Ethiopian authorities created the Liyu (“special” in Amharic) police in the Somali region in 2007 when an armed conflict between the insurgent Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) and the government escalated. By 2008 the Liyu police became a prominent counterinsurgency force recruited and led by the regional security chief at that time, Abdi Mohammed Omar (known as “Abdi Illey”), who is now the president of Somali Regional State.
The Liyu police have been implicated in numerous serious abuses against civilians throughout the Somali region in the context of counterinsurgency operations. The legal status of the force is unclear, but credible sources have informed Human Rights Watch that members have received training, uniforms, arms, and salaries from the Ethiopian government via the regional authorities.”
In January 2013 it was reported that the Liyu police numbered between 10,000 and 14,000. The force was accused of numerous human rights abuses and summary executions.[7] The Guardian newspaper reported that it had seen an internal British government document, from the Department for International Development, indicating that there were plans to spend £13m–15m of aid money on the force as part of a five year “peace-building” programme. The report was denied by the British government, which said all funding would go via United Nations agencies and not through the Ethiopian authorities.[8]
Despite these assurances concern about the behaviour of the Liyu police remains. The testimony below and the reports of atrocities carried out in recent weeks indicate these are well placed.
Testimony of Captain Hassan Mohammed Abdi aka Hassan Afo, a former member of the Liyu Police, who was active with the force in Degehbur Province. June 2012.
“In Balidhuure village (Eastern Degehbur Province) located in between Gurdumi and Koore, a Liyu police unit that left from Aware and commanded by Major Kidinbir rounded up and finally driven away most of the people that lived in the area. Among them was a disabled man who walks with a stick named Ina-Yul-yul or the son of Yul-yul. Not far from the village of Balidhuure, the handicapped man, Ina-Yul-yul could not continue walking. One of the Liyu policemen noticed this and he informed Major Kidinbir by radio. Major Kidinbir said, “He can’t walk? Then kill him where he is at right now.” That’s how Ina-Yulyul was shot and killed. He was killed because of one of his brothers was among the ONLF fighters.”
Reports of human rights atrocities committed in the Ogaden Region over the previous month.
25/12/13: In Guna’gado district of Degahbur province, at least 25 civilians were detained and 25,000 Ethiopian birr was stolen from them
5/1/14: In Gasaangas in Hamara district 5 civilians are unlawfully detained. They were: Hassan Geday, Hassan Nour Moalim Ibrahim, Rukiya Moalim Ibraahin, Anbiya Sheikh Mohammed and Nafis.
5/1/14: In Dhuhun a girl named, Halimo Duulane was detained .
10/1/14: In Eastern Iimay, Fadumo Wacdi Ahmed, Sa’ada Hassan and Gordo Abdi God were detained by the Ethiopian Security Forces.
10/1/14,In Guna’gado, Mohammed Isse Gu’had was tortured, detained and his 11 camels were stolen.
3/1/14: Hamuud-ka, in Fiq Province, the security forces detained Mohammed Ibrahim.
5/1/14: Ya’hob Village in Fiq Province, the security forced killed in a cold-blood Abdullahi Lo’bari in cold blood and injured Ahmed Hassan Awl.
5/1/14: Hamaro in Nogob Province, the security forces detained several people : Mohammed Abdi Rahman Omar, Abdirahman Bade, Ta’kal Yousouf and Ina-Barud.
Annex
Amnesty International on Ethiopia’s Ogaden region[9]
In September, the government and the ONLF briefly entered into peace talks with a view to ending the two-decade long conflict in the Somali region. However, the talks stalled in October. The army, and its proxy militia, the Liyu police, faced repeated allegations of human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, extrajudicial executions, and rape. Torture and other ill-treatment of detainees were widely reported. None of the allegations was investigated and access to the region remained severely restricted. In June, UN employee Abdirahman Sheikh Hassan was found guilty of terrorism offences over alleged links to the ONLF, and sentenced to seven years and eight months’ imprisonment. He was arrested in July 2011 after negotiating with the ONLF over the release of two abducted UN World Food Programme workers.
The Ogaden is Ethiopia’s dark, dirty secret. It is far from prying international eyes, where almost anything can be done to anyone the government does not like.
The Ogaden was conquered and forcibly incorporated into Ethiopia by Emperor Menelik II in the last quarter of the 19th century. Its Somali speaking, almost exclusively Muslim community, never really accepted an Ethiopian identity. In 1977 it was the scene of an international conflict, as Somali President Siad Barre attempted to wrest the region from Ethiopia. The Soviet Union poured arms and Cuban troops into Ethiopia and the invasion was halted. The Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) has been fighting the Ethiopian government since 1995, and local people have been caught up in the conflict.
The Ethiopian authorities have sealed off the region to international journalists.
‘Recognising that poor countries are poor because they have extractive institutions helps us understand how best to help them. It also casts a different light on the idea of foreign aid. We do not argue for its reduction. Even if a huge amount of aid is siphoned off by the powerful, the cash can still do a lot of good. It can put roofs on schools, lay roads or build wells. Giving money can feed the hungry, and help the sick — but it does not free people from the institutions that make them hungry and sick in the first place. It doesn’t free them from the system which saps their opportunities and incentives. When aid is given to governments that preside over extractive institutions, it can be at best irrelevant, at worst downright counter-productive. Aid to Angola, for example, is likely to help the president’s daughter rather than the average citizen. Many kleptocratic dictators such as Congo’s Mobutu Sese Seko have been propped up by foreign aid. And it wasn’t foreign aid that helped to undermine the apartheid regime in South Africa and got Nelson Mandela out of prison, but international sanctions. Those sanctions came from pressure on governments — including the British government — that would have preferred not to see them implemented. Today it is no different. Governments don’t like cutting their ties to dictators who open doors for international business, or help their geopolitical agendas. Pressure needs to come from citizens who do care enough about international development to force politicians to overcome the easy temptation of short-run political expediency. Making institutions more inclusive is about changing the politics of a society to empower the poor — the empowerment of those disenfranchised, excluded and often repressed by those monopolising power.’ –Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson, The Spectator magazine, 25th January 2014
Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson in their articles in The Spectator put forward the following interesting analysis regarding what is really at stake and leading issues in Africa’s development problems. They brought to our attentions why aid has failed and proposed how the predicaments can be tackled:-
David Cameron speaks compellingly about international aid. Eradicating poverty, he says, means certain institutional changes: rights for women and minorities, a free media and integrity in government. It means the freedom to participate in society and have a say over how your country is run. We wholeheartedly agree and were flattered to see the Prime Minister tell this magazine that he is ‘obsessed’ by our book on the subject, Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty. But diagnosing a problem is one thing; fixing it another. And we don’t yet see the political will — in Britain or elsewhere — that could turn this analysis into a practical agenda.
The British government is strikingly generous in foreign aid donations. It spent £8.7 billion on foreign aid in 2012 — which is 0.56 per cent of national income. This is to rise to £11.7 billion, or 0.7 per cent of national income, next year. But if money alone were the solution we would be along the road not just to ameliorating the lives of poor people today but ending poverty for ever.
The idea that large donations can remedy poverty has dominated the theory of economic development — and the thinking in many international aid agencies and governments — since the 1950s. And how have the results been? Not so good, actually. Millions have moved out of abject poverty around the world over the past six decades, but that has had little to do with foreign aid. Rather, it is due to economic growth in countries in Asia which received little aid. The World Bank has calculated that between 1981 and 2010, the number of poor people in the world fell by about 700 million — and that in China over the same period, the number of poor people fell by 627 million.
In the meantime, more than a quarter of the countries in sub-Saharan Africa are poorer now than in 1960 — with no sign that foreign aid, however substantive, will end poverty there. Last year, perhaps the most striking illustration came from Liberia, which has received massive amounts of aid for a decade. In 2011, according to the OECD, official development aid to Liberia totalled $765 million, and made up 73 per cent of its gross national income. The sum was even larger in 2010. But last year every one of the 25,000 students who took the exam to enter the University of Liberia failed. All of the aid is still failing to provide a decent education to Liberians.
One could imagine that many factors have kept sub-Saharan Africa poor — famines, civil wars. But huge aid flows appear to have done little to change the development trajectories of poor countries, particularly in Africa. Why? As we spell out in our book, this is not to do with a vicious circle of poverty, waiting to be broken by foreign money. Poverty is instead created by economic institutions that systematically block the incentives and opportunities of poor people to make things better for themselves, their neighbours and their country.
Let us take for Exhibit A the system of apartheid in South Africa, which Nelson Mandela dedicated himself to abolishing. In essence, apartheid was a set of economic institutions — rules that governed what people could or could not do, their opportunities and their incentives. In 1913, the South African government declared that 93 per cent of South Africa was the ‘white economy’, while 7 per cent was for blacks (who constituted about 70 per cent of the population). Blacks had to have a pass, a sort of internal passport, to travel to the white economy. They could not own property or start a business there. By the 1920s the ‘Colour Bar’ banned blacks from undertaking any skilled or professional occupation. The only jobs blacks could take in the white economy were as unskilled workers on farms, in mines or as servants for white people. Such economic institutions, which we call ‘extractive’, sap the incentives and opportunities of the vast mass of the population and thereby keep a society poor.
The people in poor countries have the same aspirations as those in rich countries — to have the same chances and opportunities, good health care, clean running water in their homes and high-quality schools for their children. The problem is that their aspirations are blocked today — as the aspirations of black people were in apartheid South Africa — by extractive institutions. The poor don’t pull themselves out of poverty, because the basic ability to do so is denied them. You could see this in the protests behind the Arab Spring: those in Cairo’s Tahrir Square spoke in one voice about the corruption of the government, its inability to deliver public services and the lack of equality of opportunity. Poverty in Egypt cannot be eradicated with a bit more aid. As the protestors recognised, the economic impediments they faced stemmed from the way political power was exercised and monopolised by a narrow elite.
This is by no means a phenomenon confined to the Arab world. That the poor people in poor countries themselves understand their predicament is well illustrated by the World Bank’s multi-country project ‘Voices of the Poor’. One message that persistently comes across is that poor people feel powerless — as one person in Jamaica put it, ‘Poverty is like living in jail, living under bondage, waiting to be free.’ Another from Nigeria put it like this: ‘If you want to do something and have no power to do it, it is talauchi [poverty].’ Like black people in South Africa before 1994, poor people are trapped within extractive economic institutions.
But it is not just the poor who are thus trapped. By throwing away a huge amount of potential talent and energy, the entire society condemns itself to poverty.
The key to understanding and solving the problem of world poverty is to recognise not just that poverty is created and sustained by extractive institutions — but to appreciate why the situation arises in he first place. Again, South Africa’s experience is instructive. Apartheid was set up by whites for the benefit of whites. This happened because it was the whites who monopolised political power, just as they did economic opportunities and resources. These monopolies impoverished blacks and created probably the world’s most unequal country — but the system did allow whites to become as prosperous as people in developed countries.
The logic of poverty is similar everywhere. To understand Syria’s enduring poverty, you could do worse than start with the richest man in Syria, Rami Makhlouf. He is the cousin of President Bashar al-Assad and controls a series of government-created monopolies. He is an example of what are known in Syria as ‘abna al-sulta’, ‘sons of power’.
To understand Angola’s endemic poverty, consider its richest woman, Isabel dos Santos, billionaire daughter of the long-serving president. A recent investigation by Forbes magazine into her fortune concluded, ‘As best as we can trace, every major Angolan investment held by dos Santos stems either from taking a chunk of a company that wants to do business in the country or from a stroke of the president’s pen that cut her into the action.’ She does all this while, according to the World Bank, only a quarter of Angolans had access to electricity in 2009 and a third are living on incomes of less than $2 a day.
Recognising that poor countries are poor because they have extractive institutions helps us understand how best to help them. It also casts a different light on the idea of foreign aid. We do not argue for its reduction. Even if a huge amount of aid is siphoned off by the powerful, the cash can still do a lot of good. It can put roofs on schools, lay roads or build wells. Giving money can feed the hungry, and help the sick — but it does not free people from the institutions that make them hungry and sick in the first place. It doesn’t free them from the system which saps their opportunities and incentives. When aid is given to governments that preside over extractive institutions, it can be at best irrelevant, at worst downright counter-productive. Aid to Angola, for example, is likely to help the president’s daughter rather than the average citizen.
Many kleptocratic dictators such as Congo’s Mobutu Sese Seko have been propped up by foreign aid. And it wasn’t foreign aid that helped to undermine the apartheid regime in South Africa and got Nelson Mandela out of prison, but international sanctions. Those sanctions came from pressure on governments — including the British government — that would have preferred not to see them implemented.
Today it is no different. Governments don’t like cutting their ties to dictators who open doors for international business, or help their geopolitical agendas. Pressure needs to come from citizens who do care enough about international development to force politicians to overcome the easy temptation of short-run political expediency.
Making institutions more inclusive is about changing the politics of a society to empower the poor — the empowerment of those disenfranchised, excluded and often repressed by those monopolising power. Aid can help. But it needs to be used in such a way as to help civil society mobilise collectively, find a voice and get involved with decision-making. It needs to help manufacture inclusion.
This brings us back to David Cameron. When answering a question at New York University almost two years ago, he put it perfectly. ‘There is a huge agenda here,’ he said. It is time to ‘stop speaking simply about the quantity of aid’ and ‘start talking about what I call the “golden thread”.’ This, he explained, is his idea that long-term development through aid only happens if there is a ‘golden thread’ of stable government, lack of corruption, human rights, the rule of law and transparent information.
As the Prime Minister says, this is a very different thing to setting an aid spending target. Promoting his golden thread means using not just aid but diplomatic relations to encourage reform in the many parts of the world that remain in the grip of extractive institutions. It means using financial and diplomatic clout (and Britain has plenty of both) to help create room for inclusive institutions to grow. This may be a hard task — far harder than writing a cheque. But it is the surest way to make poverty history.
Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson are the authors of Why Nations Fail, which David Cameron last week declared one of his five favourite books of all time.
Read the full text of this article @:
The novel opens with the animals’ plot to overthrow their human master, Jones, with the argument that man exploits animals to serve only his own interests, and he furthermore “consumes without producing”. The revolt is successful and a new order is established in which the animals agree that they “must not come to resemble [man]. Do not adopt his vices… no animal must ever tyrannize over his own kind”, and there the story really begins.
What starts off as a logical distribution of labour based on the animals’ strengths and weaknesses inevitably leads to the formation of a hierarchy. In this case, the pigs come out on top and they use a variety of cunning and disturbing schemes to wield and maintain power.
All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
They encourage the other workers to engage in idealisation-devaluation behaviour whereby good things are due to the leader and bad things are attributed to enemies (perceived or real). They blatantly change the Commandments (rules for living) to suit themselves by exploiting the other animals’ inferior literacy skills and memory. They also use the fear of Jones’ return to keep the workers obedient. The story takes a more violent turn when one of the pigs rears a litter of newborn puppies for the sole purpose of eliminating political rivals and all other would-be revolutionaries.
The well-ordered flow of the story is testament to Orwell’s writing ability but also demonstrates how natural the progression seems to be from dictatorship to revolution to idealised society to new dictatorship. He skilfully uses the animals’ concern at the discrepancies between the vision for Animal Farm and its reality, as well as several unforeseen events occurring outside of the farm, as the driving force for the pigs’ totalitarian propaganda. The mixture of inside and outside influences that could destroy the regime are dealt with swiftly and ruthlessly.
What is so clever about the story is that although it is very clearly about humans’ desire for and abuse of power, the use of animals gives the impression of being a simpler story; animals have simpler motives and simpler relationships. This helps in explaining in a succinct and sensible manner how the pigs are able to maintain their grip on power and hoodwink the other animals into believing this is for the good of everyone.
Warning: the following paragraph describes how the story ends.
The story ends with the pigs, having broken all of the original Commandments, adopting the very human traits of management and organisation of the farm, and enjoying the majority of the food output while not producing any food themselves. This is echoed by the eerie imagery of the pigs walking on their hind legs and playing cards with human farmers of neighbouring properties. In the final scene, the two species (at this point equals at the apex of the hierarchy) accuse each other of cheating at cards, suggesting that the desire for power knows no bounds, and that shared power inevitably leads to one trying to outrank the other through all possible means.http://anastasiafontaine.wordpress.com/2014/01/24/one-hundred-books-to-read-09-animal-farm/
Animal Farm is what every serious novel should be: it is short but has interesting themes which are explained well. Although supposed to parallel the Russian Revolution and its aftermath, it works equally well to describe the pursuit of power in the general sense.
The marks of Aannolee, Azulee, and Chalanqoo/Calanqoo cannot be erased from the memory of Oromo generations The marks of Aannolee, Azulee, and Chalanqoo/Calanqoo cannot be erased from the memory of Oromo generations. By Leenjiso Horo
The marks of Aannolee, Azulee, and Chalanqoo Cannot be erased from the memory of successive Oromo generations and from the history of the Oromo people. These marks are incorporated into our collective memory. For this, centuries may pass, generations may come and go but the crimes of Abyssinia-the mutilation of breasts of women and girls and of the right hands of men and boys at Aannolee and the mass massacres at Azulee and Chalanqoo will not be erased, will never be diminished, and never be forgotten.
Menelik II’s mutilation of breasts of women and girls and of hands of men and boys is the first one in warfare throughout written history-from antiquity to modern times, unless proven to the contray. Those who support Menelik’s genocide at Aannolee, Azulee, and Calanqoo as a “holy war” or as a war of “reunification of Ethiopia” should hold full entitlement to it.
During the campaign of colonization of the south in the late nineteenth-century king Menelik II of Abyssinia exterminated the Oromo population by 50%, Kaficho by 75%, Gimira by 80% and Madii by over 90% (Radio Simbirtu interview with Prof. Mekuria Bulcha, 19 December 2013, part 2). These are genocides of highest proportion. The basic argument of the Abyssinian genocide denials has, however, remained the same as always—it never happened, the term “genocide” does not apply-it is a “reunification of Ethiopia.” Recently, the tactics of denial of genocide has been shifted from “reunification of Ethiopia” to “holy war.”
Abyssinians always avoid public discourse of the genocide at Aannolee, Azulee, and Chalanqoo believing that sooner or later in the course of time that generation would pass from the scene and their children would become acculturated and assimilated in the Abyssinian way of life and Abyssinian political thought and then the issue of genocide dies out and will be forgotten. However, what the Abyssinians forgot or failed to understand is that the genocide at Aannolee, Azulee, and Chalanqoo shapes not only the outlook of the immediate victims of the generation of the time but also of subsequent generations of the future. It is very important for the descendents of the perpetrators- the deniers of Oromo genocide to engage introspection to face and learn from their own history. It is time for the Nafxanyaas-the deniers of genocide to ask themselves question as to how that gross mass genocide could have occurred, instead of denying it and trying to maintain a false righteous self-image.
The Abyssinians are unable or unwilling to deal with the truth. They have always refused to recognize the crimes committed against the peoples of the south, Oromo included as genocide. Instead they elevated it to the level of a “holy war/qidus xorrinnat”; then took pride in it; identified with it, enthusiastically embraced it, glorified and glamorized it. This campaign is in support of their political and religious elites, scholars, governments, institutions, and individuals those who have been preaching genocide committed against Oromo and the south as a “reunification of Ethiopia.” The Oromo Genocide and Tigrayans’ attempt to deny it
Today, the Tigrayan regime is behind the discussion of the past genocide to divert attention from itself, while it is committing genocide itself more dangerous than that of the past ones. It has undertaken open and total war campaign against the Oromo people. It is vitally important, therefore, that we should focus our attention on current genocide the Tigrayan regime is committing, while at the same time reminding ourselves the genocide that the Amhara regime of Menelik II committed a century ago. The Amharas have been denying the genocide against the Oromo and other southern peoples that their regime of Menelik II committed and now the Tigrayans are also denying the genocide that their regime is committing.
The Amharas are simply dancing and singing to the ghost of Menelik II but they do not possess the means and capabilities to commit anther genocide. Today, it is the Tigrayan regime led by TPLF that is committing genocidal mass murder against the Oromo people; it is this regime that possesses the means and capabilities to commit genocide. Its means are the army, paramilitary unit, the police force, special police or Liyyuu police, secret state agents, Death Squads, the bureaucratic and judicial system. All of these are already fully utilized for this purpose.
The sudden descend of the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) upon Oromiyaa in 1991, set in a rapid motion a process to eliminate any opposition to its rule that culminate in the arrests, tortures and killings. Then since 1992, it has been carrying out a systematic, methodical, pre-planned, and centrally-organized genocidal mass murder against the Oromo people. Meles Zenawi was the notorious architect and organizer of policy of the Oromo genocide with his culprits and other thousands of perpetrators of genocide who are still implementing his policy after his death. His brutality against Oromo people has surpassed that of all his predecessors combined. His regime has erected concentration camps across Oromiyaa, camps such as Hursoo, Bilaattee, Dhidheessaa, Zuwaay, and Qalittii are the well known ones. But numerous other clandestine prison cells where the victims are eliminated have been established across the empire. The regime has openly undertaken a major Oromiyaa-wide persecution of Oromo. Hence Ordinary people, for the first time, being rounded up and sent to these clandestine centers for interrogation through torture. In the torture, few survived and many perished.
The pattern of destruction has been repeated over and over in different parts of Oromiyaa. Many of these repetitive destructions are far from the major cities; such repetition are a centrally design one. Further, reward structure set in place. That reward is geared towards those who implement the policy. The regional governors and officials who refuses to carry out orders to annihilate the Oromo are summarily replaced as disloyal and OLF agent. Community leaders are arrested and persecuted. Many of women, children, and elderly run into forests and deserts to escape slaughter. Today, the Oromo people are in violent historical moment. They are the target of Tigrayan regime for physical extermination and forcible removal from their lands. Hundreds of thousands have been killed; millions have been forced out from their lands and their lands haven been sold or leased to local and multination land-grabbers.
The Tigrayan regime has fully undertaken the implementation of the policy of Oromo extermination since 1992. The Amhara genocidal denialists are fully subscribed to this policy. In the Tigrayan regime’s jails millions of Oromo perished as the result of starvation, disease, the harsh environment, and physical extermination.
We are the nation of heroes, heroines and victims. We were the victims of genocide yesterday and we are the victims of genocide today. Yesterday, we were victims of genocide under Amhara successive regimes and today, we are victims of genocide under the Tigrayan regime. Indeed, we are a wounded and bled nation in our country by another nation- the Abyssinian nation.
We oftentimes say, never again to genocide in Oromiyaa. We say, the seeds of Aannolee, Azulee, and Chalanqoo must not be allowed to sprout again in Oromiyaa. And yet it has already sprout; violence is again around us; violence of genocide is still consuming our people. Menelik’s genocide at Aannolee, Azulee and Chalanqoo is reconstructed and renewed by Meles Zenawi and implemented Oromiyaa wide. Hence, the past genocide has now become the present new genocide. Hence, the dead Oromo are still dead; more are still dying; expropriated Oromoland is still expropriated; The pillaging of Oromiyaa is at its height and the colonized Oromiyaa is still colonized.
The way forward
The way forward is Oromo nationalists’ unity and the fight against occupation. For this, it is important to rebuild the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) as superior mighty force both in quantity and quality to protect the population and secure liberation. This enables the nation to drive out the Tigrayan regime and establish independent Democratic Republic of Oromiyaa. Again, it is vitally important to remove Menelik’s statue from Oromiyaa; establish National Genocide Memorial Day for the victims of Aannolee, Azulee and Chalanqoo. This Oromo Genocide Memorial Day should be established and observed annually while we are still fighting for independence. The date and the month must be different from Oromo Martyrs Day/Guyyaa Gootoota Oromoo.
No one escapes from the history of one’s people. For this, we should and must not allow the past to rest and to be forgotten. Every generation must teach the succeeding generation about the past history, their heroes and heroines. The past, the present as well as the future belong to the succeeding generations. Each new generation hold the entitlement of the past and the present. For this, the establishment of the Oromo Genocide Memorial Day is the order of the day that the marks of Aannolee, Azulee, and Chalanqoo Cannot be erased from the memory of successive Oromo generations.
Oromiyaa Shall Be Free!
The Empire States of Ethiopia is a product of colonial conquest. Ethiopia is formed during the 19the century colonial scramble for Africa after the Abyssinian State, the only Black colonial power that took part in the colonial partition of Africa, conquered the Oromos, Sidamas, Ogadenese and other present day Southern Ethiopian peoples. Because of the conquest, the Oromos and other subject peoples were forcefully incorporated into Abyssinia, which was later on renamed Ethiopia.
As an outcome of a colonial conquest, the essence of the Ethiopian Empire State is the deprivation, oppression, subjugation and exploitation of the conquered peoples’ national, political, civic, cultural, social and economic rights. Stated differently, the defining characteristics of the Ethiopian Empire state, since its formation up to present, are the denial of national rights, human rights, and freedoms to the Oromo and other subject peoples. Furthermore, as the old adage goes, “a nation that oppresses others it not itself a free nation,” the successive Ethiopian regimes did not also respect the human rights and freedoms of its citizens, the Abyssinians.
The successive Ethiopian regimes’ stance on ratification of or accession to International Instruments designed for the promotion and protection of human rights corroborates the Ethiopian Empire State’s long-standing anti-human rights policies. It is a fact of history that the Ethiopian regime led by the late Emperor Haile Sillassie was among few states that did not sign/ratify the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948. The Emperor Haile Sillassie regime, which was laboring in consolidation of the colonial conquests and Amharization of the conquered peoples, was engaged in gross violation of human rights, including practice of slavery and servitude failed to sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that, among others, abolished slavery and servitude and set standard for human rights protection.
It is instructive to note that, the Emperor Haile Sillassie regime declined from signing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights with, among others, the then minority apartheid regime of South Africa, the other notorious regime for being anti-human rights. The Ethiopian regime led by Emperor Haile Sillassie became Member of the United Nations on 13 November 1945, but it did not become a party to any Intentional Human Rights Conventions.
A military regime, known as Dergue, led by Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam overthrew Emperor Haile Sillaasie’s regime in 1974. As far as respect for human rights and accession to Intentional Human Rights Conventions is concerned, the Dergue regime continued its predecessor’s anti-human rights policy and practice. The Military regime did not become a party to International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights that have entered into force in 1976.
However, apparently following its patron the now defunct Soviet Union, the Ethiopian Military regime became a party to International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, 23 June 1976, Convention on the Elimination of All Form of Discrimination against Women, 10 September 1981, and Convention on the Rights of the Child, 14 May 1991.
It is a mockery that the Ethiopian Military regime that failed to be a party to International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, became a party to International Conventions that prohibit racial discrimination, discrimination against women and the Conventions on the Rights of the Child. Unlike the incumbent Tigrai Peoples Liberation Front, (TPLF) led Ethiopian regime, the two preceding Ethiopian regimes did not pretend to be champions of human rights and stayed out of the International Instruments and Mechanisms made and established for ensuring the protections of Human Rights and freedoms.
As a result of the proposal and strong push made in 1991-92 by Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) group who were then a member of Ethiopian Transitional Government, the current Ethiopian regime of TPLF was forced to depart from the positions held by its predecessors and has acceded to the following international human rights treaties: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 11 June 1993, International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 11 June 1993, and Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment, 13 March 1994,
Apparently, accession to International Human Rights Treaties were one of the decisions the TPLF regime made as soon as it came to power as a consequence of two significant factors: (1) the proposal and the push the OLF group made to accept ICCPR and ICESCR and (2) the attempt the TPLF Regime made to please its foreign donors. However, the regime’s gross and appalling human rights violation records in the last fourteen years prove a contrary intention. Stated differently, the TPLF regime’s human rights record proves that the TPLF regime’s position on human rights is not any better, if not worse, than its predecessors that were not parties to the International Human Rights Covenants.
The TPLF regime’s engagement in a gross human rights violation of Oromos and other people is being recognized not only by reputable international non-governmental organizations that monitor states’ compliance with international human rights laws, but also by State Members of the United Nations, including the Untied States of America.
Read more from original source@ http://www.oromoliberationfront.org/Publications/OSvol11Art1003.htm
Oromia Speaks Vol. 11 Issue 1
‘Article 2, paragraph 2 of the ICESCR obliges each State Party to guarantee that the rights enunciated in the Covenant are exercised without discrimination as to, inter alia, ethnic origin. In practice, however, the Government of Ethiopia directly and indirectly discriminates against several disadvantaged ethnic groups, including but not limited to the Oromo and the Anuak.’ –http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/cescr/docs/ngos/AHR_Ethiopia_CESCR48.pdf
“Ethiopia history” even as a term continues to be controversial for what has been written so far is based on the idealized views of the leaders and covers only the positive deeds. Many argue history making is a societal issue and involves both positive and negative deeds. The lessons learnt from past history is the single most important benefit of having history. Since Ethiopian history does not acknowledge the negative deeds in the past and does not serve this important benefit many fail to acknowledge it as their history. It is largely based on “what is good for me by choice should be good for you by force and if you don’t obey you don’t belong”. It is based on systematic exclusion and pushing faraway deviant groups as a strategy to pull them in.
This strategy has been designed in a way that it imposes the culture and identity of one group putting in charge generation from the same group to defend it. The assignment of assimilating the others far deep inside and very fast is high on their agenda. However as the history that is systematically constructed to keep the supremacy of one group, it is dressed with myths and far reaching legends which are closely connected to supernatural power and symbolized places. The legend queen Sheba and her mythological relation with King Solomon signifies the same and leaders of the Solomonic dynasty systematically traced their decadency from this legend to load unshakable leadership on the society. The general population in the country, regardless of their ethnicity and religion, obeyed the rules in the chain for violation of their leadership is considered violation of the supernatural power. Societal and individual development in the country has also been stacked in theological stage as the result of this leadership techniques and many issues received their analysis from creationist and supernatural relation perspective even till today.
The radical lefts group that emerged in the 1960s questioned the validity of this connections, between leaders and the supernatural power and whether their leadership is really sacred, however not many extended the question to the sacred history of the country till very recently. Although, the history of the country is more of sacred and holly as some described and describing it, it has caused many dangers that deserve attentions. Over 80 ethnic groups in the country had pain in relation to Ethiopian state formation, Minlik II and subsequent leaders and not few grew up hearing those mind shaking pains. Now wonder that this generation can extend questioning the relationship between leaders and supernatural power to the meanings attached to the entire Ethiopian history and that already happened. This questioning nudes the false statues of Ethiopian history.
There is no doubt that this same act can cause a strong pain on those who nurtured that Ethiopian history has been crafted in a way that serves their personal interest and they should die to defend and maintain their supremacy in the country. As a response to this socialization call, the right wingers are now wagging a movement which can be equated to naked politics, not body based but evidence dressing. The couple of writings I am reading in the news paper, on blogs and social medias reflect this and they are all naked from evidence. They most often try to attack individuals, they publicly discuss how to physically attack people who nudes the history they were socialized to defend and die for, they misname institutions and personalities and assassinate characters, they try to divide and rule over members of movements based on their religion and place of origin and even aiming to oppose people and place name changes and removing monuments constructed to signify the injustice done on ethnic groups by Minilk II. For me this is doing nothing butter and different from their fathers and forefathers and by this techniques all they can achieve and some already achieved is losing their readers and followers. This is also equivalent to trying to attract attention by standing naked.I would like to argue evidence is the best weapon to win public opinion and attentions in this globalized world and standing, jumping and running naked may not help much and there is no much place for them as the son of the 19th century king in Ethiopia now because few (themselves) recalls that and if other do, that brings bad memory. So they better get dressed well with evidence to attract at least their own attentions.
The Human Right Issues and Violations in the Horn of Africa,Ethiopia-Oromia
The modern concept of human rights is rooted in the experiences of ‘legal lawlessness’ when crimes were committed with the authorization of the law, and when some human beings were denied their status as such. An answer to these experiences was the emergence of the international human rights law. The main aim of this branch of international law is to prevent broad violations of fundamental rights from recurring in the future. Appreciating the worth of every human being, the international community decided to eliminate elements that could destroy the individual person, but also to create the conditions that would enable him or her to develop and flourish. Accordingly, the Preambles to the International Bill of Rights provide that the “foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world” is the “inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family”. (International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966). However, the dictator government of Ethiopia otherwise known TPLF is unable in the enforcement of these rights and remain a headache,mainly due to technical blockades; lack of effective institutions or the existence of weak institutions only; and lack of political will to implement human rights with differing degrees. Therefore asking your rights in Ethiopia will either lead you to be imprisoned or counted you as anti-government.
Instability in Horn of Africa and TPLF
The current crisis in the Horn of Africa is, on the one hand, a struggle between oppressed people who are fighting for self-determination and, on the other hand, the regime of the Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) that is trying to impose its rule by force.
The regime has set loose war, hunger, poverty, and disease to ransack the country. In particular, the regime has been and is systematically violating human rights of the Oromo and other peoples of in the country as well and the neighborings too.
The OLF also believes in peace, democracy and development . As the main organ that is championing the right of self-determination of the Oromo people, it fully realizes the present day global reality. It affirms that the international community does have legitimate concern and interest in political stability and economic development of the Horn of Africa. Moreover, the OLF is cognizant of the fact that the day of carving spheres of influence and promoting clients in superpower rivalry has given way to globalization. Further, the OLF firmly believes in the immediate termination of the vicious cycle of political conflicts, economic backwardness, environmental degradation, natural and man-made disasters that today ravage the peoples of the Horn of Africa.
(http://www.oromoliberationfront.org/PressReleaseArchive/Articles/Liberating.htm) Human Right Issue in Ethiopia
Allegations of arbitrary detention, torture, and other ill-treatment at the hands of Ethiopianpolice and other security forces are not new. But since the disputed 2005 elections, the Ethiopian government has intensified restrictions on freedom of expression, association,and assembly, deploying a range of measures to clamp down on dissent. These include arresting and detaining political opposition figures, journalists, and other independent voices, and implementing laws that severely restrict independent human rights monitoring and press freedom.
Since 2009 a new law, the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, has become a particularly potent instrument to restrict free speech. The law’s provision undermine basic legal safeguards against prolonged pre-charge detention and unfair trials. In this context, Maekelawi has become an important site for the detention and investigation of some of the most politically sensitive cases.
Many detainees accused of offenses under the law—including some of Ethiopia’s most prominent political prisoners—have been detained in the Maekelawi facility as their cases were investigated or prepared for trial (Human Rights Watch, 2013). As a result of enforcement of the FDRE Proclamation 621/2009 that has been intended to impose superior regulation of charities, the party leaders decide who should receive and who should not receive the emergency support at grassroots level in the respective community.
Older Oormo people are usually victims of this type of abuse because of their allegiances to the values of the Oromo Gadaa system, that promotes respect and dignity to people in difficult situation. In so doing, technically, the authorities decide who should die from and who should survive the hunger. http://www.minorityvoices.org/news.php/fr/1381/ethiopiauk-oromo-rally-in-london Endless focus on Oromos by TPLF, why?
The Oromo people constitute the single largest national groups in the Ethiopia empire and the horn of Africa with the total of over 40 million people. The number of the oromo people and the geographical location of their country Oromia make the oromo country ( Oromia) the heart of Ethiopia. The Ethiopian empire mainly survives on the economic resources of Oromia. Although the Oromo people are one of the most impoverished and terrorized indigenous people .Recognizing that Oromia is the richest and largest populous state, the Tigrayan led Ethiopia government has been using collective violence to dominate, control and exploit Oromia which the key in controlling the Ethiopia government has been using political economy. Understanding the situation in Oromia helps in generalizing what is going through the country (Hassen,2011).
The Oromo people are just arrested and accused of being a member or supporter or sympathiser of the Oromo liberation struggle. To the Ethiopian government authorities, every Oromo appears to be a member of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), a political organisation struggling for the socio-economic, cultural and political rights of the Oromo people. One has to prove he/she is not a member or supporter of the OLF in order to live in relative peace. The safest proof is one and only one – to become a member of the EPRDF, the ruling party;failure to proove non-affiliation with OLF or any attempt to remain politically indifferent has come to be dangerous in Ethiopia for every ordinary Oromo. Business persons are systematically eliminated from investment and small scale business if they fail to be members of the ruling party in any case. Every student in college or university is required to secure membership of the ruling party at the campus in order for her/him to get job in public institutions or to run private business after completion of the study. The situation is worse for the rural people whereby farmers are required to be members of and demonstrate allegiance to the EPRDF in order to get agricultural inputs and/or have their children learn in school without assault by the government security. It always seems impossible untilit is done – Nelson Mandela
Ethiopia: land of slavery & brutality – the League of Nations, Geneva 1935
‘
An old Abyssinian was shooting with the sight adjusted at more than a thousand
metres. I said to the Dedjiajmatch [dejazmach] that the bullets might fall on the mountain
and kill someone. He burst out laughing and said, “What does it matter if they
do? There is nobody here but Shangalla [shankilla]”.’
Friends at ER:
The above quote was an extract from a document or a memorandum presented by the Italian Government delineating the reasons for the expulsion of Ethiopia from the League of Nations, the forerunner of today’s United Nations Organisation. The main point of their argument was the condition of slavery and gebbar (a slave-like system) to which Abyssinia/Ethiopia had reduced its subject populations in the southern half of its empire, while pillaging their lands.
The change of political masters in Addis Ababa has so far been a mere case of taking turns at abusing the populations of these same southern provinces of Ethiopia to benefit the gun-toting invaders from the “Habesha highlands” of northern Ethiopia (Tigre-Woyane at the moment).
In this light, you may find the following document of great historical significance. It also provides an insight into the unchanged modus operandi of all Ethiopian regimes before or since.
Here is the complete document….
“Geneva, September 11th , 1935. Official No. C.340.M.171.1935.VII.
(I) CONDITIONAL ADMISSION OF ETHIOPIA TO THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.
As regards the condition required by Article I of the Covenant [accord]
regarding effective guarantees of a sincere intention to observe international
obligations, the Sub-committee pointed out that, in the past, Ethiopia had not
fully observed her international engagements. During the discussion it was
stressed how difficult it was to reconcile Ethiopia’s demand with the
circumstance that Ethiopia, once admitted to the league, might sit in judgement
on countries under mandate, more civilised than Ethiopia herself and not
stained with the disgrace of slavery…
(II) POLITICAL STRUCTURE AND CONDITIONS OF ETHIOPIA IN RELATION TO ARTICLE I OF
THE COVENANT [of the League of Nations].
(Summary):
Clear distinction between the Abyssinian State and the territories conquered by
it. Difference of religion, language, history, race, and political and social
structure. Negus’s domination over non-Abyssinian populations. The gebbar
system (a form of slavery) applied to subject populations. The Ethiopian
Government’s responsibility for the decimation of the subject populations.
Ethiopia’s incapacity to possess a colony.
ABYSSINIA AND HER “COLONIES”: DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE ABYSSINIAN STATE AND THE
CONQUERED TERRITORIES.
On this subject it is first of all necessary to obtain a fundamental idea of
the position. It is commonly said that Ethiopia is a national State in Africa
which forms a single unit. Nothing could be further from the facts. The
Ethiopian State, in its present form, is composed of two regions which are
clearly distinct both geographically and politically.
(i) The old Abyssinian State, consisting of the regions inhabited mainly by
Abyssinian populations speaking kindred languages derived from Southern Arabic.
But the old Abyssinian State itself could not be called a national State,
because even in those regions there are considerable non-Abyssinian minorities,
such as the Agau in the Tsana and Nile regions, the Falasha of Semien,
professing the Jewish religion …and others. Nevertheless, their common
allegiance to the dynasty of the House of Solomon, and the fact that for ages
they [peoples of the northern half of Ethiopia] had belonged to the same group
of States, have to a certain extent welded all these regions into a political
unit which, though rough and shapeless in structure, might have a position of
its own in the composition of present-day Ethiopia.
This Abyssinian State has well-defined and exact historical, geographical and ethnical boundaries. On the west, towards the Nile basin, and on the east, towards Danakil, the frontier of
the Abyssinian State coincided with the edge of the plateau. The Abyssinians, a
mountain people, are clearly distinguished by race, language and religion from
the populations which inhabit the torrid Danakil plain and the valleys sloping
down towards the Sudan.
To the south, the boundary of the Abyssinian State was marked by the course of
the Blue Nile as far as its confluence with the Adabai, by the watershed
between the Blue Nile and the Awash, and by the course of the river Awash as
far as its entry into the Danakil plain. The territories beyond these
boundaries, in the south, are inhabited by non-Abyssinian populations which,
throughout the centuries of their history, have been traditional enemies of the
Abyssinian State.
(ii) The non-Abyssinian areas recently conquered by the arms of the Negus
Menelik.-Beyond the confines of this nucleus of the Abyssinian State there
were, until forty years ago, other native States, some of which have a long
historical tradition of independence. Among the principal may be mentioned the
Emirate of Harrar, which comprised the regions between the river Awash, the
Webi Shebeli, and the south-eastern edge of the plateau, having the inhabitants
of Ogaden as tributaries.
The Emirate of Harrar is a Moslem State which was
ruled for centuries by the dynasty of its Emirs, and was the cultural and
religious centre of Islam in South-East Africa. The continuous relations
maintained by the Emirate with the Arab countries of the Levant had brought
that state up to a level of civilisation far superior to that of Abyssinia. We
need only mention the fact that, even to-day, Harrar is the only town in the
territory of the present Ethiopian State which is built of masonry and is not
composed of huts hovels made of branches, apart from few buildings in Addis
Ababa.
In the south-west, the kingdom of kafa was founded by the western Sidama
peoples. The political and social constitution of this kingdom and its history
(which comprises at least 600 years of independence, from the fourteenth
century to the Abyssinian conquest) form the subject of various well-known
works published only recently; and, not to quote Italian writers, we need only
refer to the voluminous work of the Austrian traveller Franz Bieber.
In the south, there is the kingdom of Wollamo, founded by the Sidama
populations of the Omo. How this peaceful little agricultural State was
devastated and destroyed by the Abyssinians is described in a work by a
Frenchman, M Vanderheym, which is nothing les than an indictment of the
Abyssinian State.
In the west, there is the Sultanate of Jimma, a Moslem State that became a
centre in Westrn Ethiopia towards which Moslem currents flowed from Harrar and
Egypt. Under the patriarchal administration of its sultans of the local
dynasty, Jimma had reached a high degree of economic prosperity, which it
retained, being the only Moslem State remaining independent of the Abyssinians
until the Negus annexed it to Ethiopia a few months ago.
The Abyssinian State is completely different in every respect from these vast
“colonies” which it has recently acquired:
(a) In religion, because the Abyssinians are Monophysite Christians, whereas
the Somali, Harrari, [deleted] [Oromo], Sidama are largely Moslem, and in part
still pagan;
(b) In language, because the Abyssinians speak Amharic and Tigrai (Semitic
languages), whereas in the conquered regions the languages spoken are totally
different from the Abyssinian languages, but are interrelated among
themselves-e.g.-Galla [Oromo], Somali, Kafi, Wolamo, etc.;
(c) In political and social structure, because the Abyssinian State is based on
the feudal system, whereas the Emirate of Harrar was organised on the model of
the States of the Arabian peninsula, and the Sidama States have a highly
centralised organisation of their own;
(d) In race, because the Abyssinians are Semiticised people, whereas the [deleted],
Sidama, Somali, Tishana, Yambo and the rest are Cushitic and Nilotic peoples;
(e) In history, because the Emirate of Harrar, for instance, has for centuries
waged relentless warfare against the Abyssinian State. Indeed, this warfare
might be said to constitute the whole history of Abyssinia itself; records of
it existed from at least the fourteenth century onwards. The Abyssinian
domination constitutes, in fact, the subjugation of a conquered people by its
age-long enemy.
DOMINATION OF THE NEGUS OVER NON-ABYSSINIAN POPULATIONS.
The Abyssinian domination in the conquered countries takes concrete form in the
slave trade and the so-called gebbar system. The slave trade will be considered
below. It should be pointed out here, however, that the slave trade is due not
only to a desire for gain, but also to the idea, deep-rooted in the
Abyssinians’ mind, that their victories have left them absolute masters of
populations which, in their eyes, are no more than human cattle.
This conception of the Abyssinians is confirmed b a typical incident narrated by Sir
Arnold Hodson in his work Where the Lion Reigns (page 41): ‘An old Abyssinian
was shooting with the sight adjusted at more than a thousand metres. I said to
the Dedjiajmatch [dejazmach] that the bullets might fall on the mountain and kill someone.
He burst out laughing and said, “What does it matter if they do? There is
nobody here but Shangalla [shankilla]”‘ (Shangalla is the name given by the Abyssinians to
the Nilotic peoples).
The gebbar system is a form of slavery, and is regarded as such by European
writers and travellers. In each of the countries conquered and annexed by
Abyssinia, a body of Abyssinian troops is stationed, comprising the soldiers
themselves and their families. The inhabitants of the conquered country are
registered in families by the Abyssinian chiefs, and to every family of
Abyssinians settled in the country there is assigned one or more families of
the conquered as gebbar. The gebbar family is obliged to support the Abyssinian
family; it gives that family its own lands, builds and maintains the huts in
which it lives, cultivate the fields, grazes the cattle, and carries out every
kind of work and performs all possible services for the Abyssinian family. All
this is done without any remuneration, merely in token of the perpetual
servitude resulting from the defeat sustained thirty years ago. It amounts to
what Anglo-Indians are accustomed to call “the law of the jungle”.
The gebbar can never obtain freedom from their chains, even by ransom. They must not leave
the land assigned for their work, and, if they run away, they themselves are
subject to the terrible punishment which are inflicted in Ethiopia, and to
which we shall refer shortly, while their village is bound to supply the
Abyssinians with another family to be reduced to the condition of gebbar, in
place of the fugitive family.
As to the effects of slavery and the gebbar system, all who know the facts are
agreed: the non-Abyssinian regions of Ethiopia are becoming a vast desert.
Every Abyssinian chief sent to those parts finds it necessary on his arrival to
provide himself with slaves and his soldiers’ families with gebbar. And when he
leaves the conquered countries to be transferred elsewhere, he takes away with
him, and allow his soldiers to take away with them, the greatest possible
number of slaves and gebbar to be employed at his new residence. This constant
draining of the population of the subject territories is particularly terrible,
because the slaves and gabbar are decimated, during the long journeys, by
hunger, thirst and ill-treatment from their Abyssinian masters. We quote
evidence from non-Italian sources.
Sir Arnold Hodson (Seven Years in Southern Abyssinia, London, 1927, page 146)
writes of Kafa: ‘There has recently been a change of Governors in Kafa, and, as
usual, the outgoing official was taking away as much as he could in goods and
slaves’. … Thus the population of Kafa, which Cardinal Gugliemo Massaja
estimated at a million and a half before the Abyssinian conquest, is now
reduced to 20,000. Again, whereas Vittorio Bottego estimated the population of
the Burji in 1895 at 200,000, there are now no more than 15,000 people in the
region. And Sir Arnold Hodson, who was Consul at Gardulla, not far from Burji,
writes as follows (Seven Years in Southern Abyssinia, page 102): ‘Burji had
been sadly devastated quite recently, and very few natives were left there. The
responsibility for this rests with a former Governor of Sidamo, named Ato
Finkabo, who appears to have carried on a very flourishing business in slaves
from these parts. In fact, he became so enterprising that most of the natives
who were left fled to Conso and Boran to escape falling into his clutches’.
George Montandon calculates (Au pays des Ghimirra, page 223) that the
population of Ghimirra has declined in a few years from 110,000 to 10,000.
The responsibility of the Addis Ababa Government for this incredible state of
affairs in the non-Abyssinian areas of the south is particularly great, because
it has compelled some of the more warlike non-Abyssinian peoples to arm
themselves in defence of their lives and liberty; and theses foreign peoples,
having acquired arms and ammunition, have in their turn become slave-raiders,
preying upon the unarmed neighbouring tribes, and so have increased the
destruction and the scourge of slavery.
In conclusion we need only quote …Major M Darley, who has had a very long
experience of Ethiopian affairs, and who wrote in 1926, three years after
Abyssinia’s entry into the League (Slaves and Ivory, page 34): ‘Abyssinia
should be the heart of North-East Africa, but all the veins or roads, which
should supply the rest of the starving body with nourishment, are blocked by
the Abyssinian policy, abysmal and suicidal, of depopulation, retrogression and
racial extermination’.
It will thus be seen that the Ethiopian State, administratively and politically
disorganised as It is, carries the dire effects of its domination (slavery and
gebbar) into vast regions of East Africa which were conquered by the arms of
the Negus only a few years ago. It is surely in the interests of civilisation
that the Harrari, [deleted] [Oromo], Somali, Sidama, and other peoples which have
for centuries formed separate national entities, should be removed from
Abyssinian oppression. To effect an immediate settlement of this grave problem
is, indeed, to act in conformity with the spirit of the covenant, which
requires that colonisation should be carried out only by advanced States which
are in a position to ensure the development and welfare of the native
peoples…
The documents show:
(a) That Ethiopia recognises slavery as a legal condition;
(b) That raids for the capture of individuals for purposes of slavery are
continuing on a large scale, especially in the southern and western regions of
Ethiopia;
(c) That the slave trade is still practiced;
(d) that the Ethiopian Government participates directly in the slave trade by
accepting slaves in payment of taxes and allowing detachments of regular troops
to capture new slaves;
(e) That, in addition to slavery proper, there exists the institution known as
“gebbar”, to which the population of non-Ethiopian [sic] regions are subject,
and which is a form of servitude akin to slavery;
(f) That the Ethiopian Government has taken no account of the recommendations
made to it by the committee of Experts on slavery, more particularly as regards
the abolition o the legal status of slave, as appears further from the report
submitted to the League of Nations in May 1935…
By her conduct, Ethiopia has openly placed herself outside the covenant of the
League and has rendered herself unworthy of the trust placed in her when she
was admitted to membership. Italy, rising up against such an intolerable
situation, is defending her security, her rights and her dignity. She is also
defending the prestige and good name of the League of Nations.”
“The government tends to favor Tigrayan ethnic interests in economic and political matters, and the EPRDF is dominated by the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front. Repression of the Oromo and ethnic Somalis, and government attempts to co-opt their parties into subsidiaries of the EPRDF, have fueled nationalism in both the Oromia and Ogaden regions.” -Freedom House
Ethiopia is not an electoral democracy. Parliament is made up of a 108-seat upper house, the House of Federation, and a 547-seat lower house, the House of People’s Representatives. The lower house is filled through popular elections, while the upper chamber is selected by the state legislatures, with both serving five-year terms. The lower house selects the prime minister, who holds most executive power, and the president, a largely ceremonial figure who serves up to two six-year terms. All of these institutions are dominated by the EPRDF, which tightly controlled the 2010 elections and the succession process following the death of Prime Minister Meles Zenawi in 2012. While the 1995 constitution grants the right of secession to ethnically-based states, the government acquired powers in 2003 to intervene in states’ affairs on issues of public security.
Corruption is a significant problem in Ethiopia. EPRDF officials reportedly receive preferential access to credit, land leases, and jobs. Petty corruption extends to lower level officials, who allegedly solicit bribes in return for processing documents. In a survey of 1,000 people conducted by Transparency International (TI) in 2011, 64 percent of respondents reported having had to pay a bribe to customs officials, and 55 percent to a member of the judiciary. Ethiopia was ranked 113 out of 176 countries surveyed in TI’s 2012 Corruption Perceptions Index.
The media are dominated by state-owned broadcasters and government-oriented newspapers. One of the few independent papers in the capital, Addis Neger, closed in 2009, claiming harassment by the authorities. Privately-owned papers tend to steer clear of political issues and have low circulations. A 2008 media law criminalizes defamation and allows prosecutors to seize material before publication in the name of national security.
Journalists reporting on opposition activities face serious harassment and the threat of prosecution under the country’s sweeping 2009 Antiterrorism Proclamation. In July 2012, six journalists were convicted of terrorism. While five were convicted in absentia, the sixth, Eskinder Nega, received 18 years in prison. The judge said that he had consorted with the political group, Ginbot 7, a designated terrorist entity in Ethiopia. The United States, European Union and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed dismay at the verdicts. In other cases, the courts reduced sentences handed out to journalists convicted of terrorism. In August, a columnist with the Feteh weekly newspaper had her 14-year sentence reduced to 5 years; while in September, two Swedish journalists who had received 11-year sentences in 2011 for assisting the ONLF were pardoned.
Due to the risks of operating inside Ethiopia, many of the country’s journalists work in exile. The Committee to Protect Journalists says that Ethiopia has driven 79 journalists into exile in the past decade, more than any other nation. The authorities use high-tech jamming equipment to filter and block news websites seen as pro-opposition. Legislation adopted in May criminalizes the use of telecommunications devices to transmit any “terrorizing message.” Critics said the vaguely worded law also effectively banned the use of Skype and other voice-over-internet protocol services that cannot be closely monitored by the government.
The constitution guarantees religious freedom, but the government has increasingly harassed the Muslim community, which has grown to rival the Ethiopian Orthodox Church as the country’s largest religious group. Muslim groups accuse the government of trying to impose the beliefs of an obscure Islamic sect, al-Ahbash, at the expense of the dominant Sufi-influenced strain of Islam. Before his death, Meles said the Muslim community was a source of extremism, claiming it had links to Al-Qaeda.
Academic freedom is restricted. The government has accused universities of being pro-opposition and prohibits political activities on campuses. There have been reports of students being pressured into joining the EPRDF in order to secure places at universities.
The presence of the EPRDF at all levels of society inhibits free private discussion. Many people are wary of speaking against the government for fear of being overheard by party officials. The EPRDF maintains a network of paid informants, and opposition politicians have accused the government of tapping their telephones.
Freedoms of assembly and association are guaranteed by the constitution but limited in practice. Organizers of large public meetings must request permission from the authorities 48 hours in advance. Applications by opposition groups are routinely denied. Peaceful demonstrations were held outside mosques in July 2012, but the security forces responded violently, detaining protestors, including several prominent Muslim leaders. A total of 29 Muslims were eventually charged with offences under the antiterrorism law. They were awaiting trial at year’s end.
The 2009 Charities and Societies Proclamation restricts the activities of foreign NGOs by prohibiting work on political and human rights issues. Foreign NGOs are defined as groups receiving more than 10 percent of their funding from abroad, a classification that captures most domestic organizations as well. NGOs have struggled to maintain operations as a result of the law, which also requires them to reregister with the authorities. According to Justice Ministry figures, there were 3,522 registered NGOs before the law was passed and 1,655 afterward. In 2010, the Human Rights Council (HRCO) and the Ethiopian Women Lawyers’ Association had their bank accounts frozen for violating the rules on receiving foreign funds. An appeal against the ruling by the HRCO was rejected by the Supreme Court in October 2012.
Trade union rights are tightly restricted. All unions must be registered, and the government retains the authority to cancel registration. Two-thirds of union members belong to organizations affiliated with the Confederation of Ethiopian Trade Unions, which is under government influence. Independent unions face harassment. There has not been a legal strike since 1993.
The judiciary is officially independent, but its judgments rarely deviate from government policy. The Antiterrorism Proclamation gives great discretion to the security forces, allowing the detention of suspects for up to four months without charge. It was used in 2011 to detain more than 100 members of opposition parties; terrorist suspects were denied legal assistance while they awaited trial. A total of 31 people have been convicted under the law, 12 of them journalists. Conditions in Ethiopia’s prisons are harsh, and detainees frequently report abuse.
The government tends to favor Tigrayan ethnic interests in economic and political matters, and the EPRDF is dominated by the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front. Repression of the Oromo and ethnic Somalis, and government attempts to co-opt their parties into subsidiaries of the EPRDF, have fueled nationalism in both the Oromia and Ogaden regions. Persistent claims that war crimes have been committed by government troops in the Ogaden are difficult to verify, as independent media are barred from the region. However, Human Rights Watch accused government paramilitaries of executing 10 men during an operation in the Gashaamo district in March 2012.
Private business opportunities are limited by rigid state control of economic life and the prevalence of state-owned enterprises. All land must be leased from the state. The government has evicted indigenous groups from various areas to make way for projects such as hydroelectric dams. It has also leased large tracts of land to foreign governments and investors for agricultural development in opaque deals. Up to 70,000 people have been forced to move from the western Gambella region, although the government denies the resettlement plans are connected to land investments. Journalists and international organizations have persistently alleged that the government has withheld development assistance from villages perceived as being unfriendly to the ruling party.
Women are relatively well represented in Parliament, having won 152 seats in the lower house in the 2010 elections. Legislation protects women’s rights, but they are routinely violated in practice. Enforcement of the law against rape and domestic abuse is patchy, with cases routinely stalling in the courts. Forced child labor is a significant problem, particularly in the agricultural sector. Same-sex sexual activity is prohibited by law and punishable with imprisonment.
The state of freedom declined for the eighth consecutive year in 2013, according to the latest edition of Freedom House’s annual survey, ‘Freedom in the World.’
The following is Human Rights Watch World Report 2014 on Ethiopia:
Hopes that Ethiopia’s new leadership would pursue human rights reforms following Prime Minister Meles Zenawi’s death in August 2012 have been shattered; there was no tangible change of policy in 2013. Instead, the Ethiopian authorities continue to severely restrict the rights to freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, using repressive laws to constrain civil society and independent media, and target individuals with politically motivated prosecutions.
Muslim protests against perceived government interference in their religious affairs were met by security forces with arbitrary arrests and detentions, beatings, and other mistreatment throughout the year. The trial of 29 protest leaders who were arrested in July 2012 has been closed to the public, media, and family members since January. Others convicted under the country’s deeply flawed antiterrorism law—including opposition leaders and four journalists—remain in prison.
Ethiopia’s ambitious development schemes, funded from domestic revenue sources and foreign assistance, sometimes displace indigenous communities without appropriate consultation or any compensation. Security forces have also used violence, threats, and intimidation to force some groups to relocate, such as in the Lower Omo Valley where indigenous people continue to be displaced from their traditional lands, which are earmarked for state-run irrigated sugar plantations.
Freedom of Peaceful Assembly
Since early 2012, members of Ethiopia’s Muslim community—which constitutes at least 30 percent of the country’s population—have organized regular public protests. Demonstrations were triggered by perceived government interference in the Supreme Council of Islamic Affairs and the Awalia mosque in Addis Ababa.
The government has clamped down heavily on the protests, arbitrarily detaining and beating protesters, including 29 prominent activists and leaders who were arrested in July 2012 and charged in October 2012 under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. In January, the High Court closed those hearings to the public, including media, diplomats, and family members. Some defendants have alleged mistreatment in detention and the trials raise a number of due process concerns, including lack of access to legal counsel for some defendants for almost two months, and erratic access to relatives.
The government has also undermined the defendants’ presumption of innocence by broadcasting inflammatory material and accusations against them on state television. In February, the state-run Ethiopian Television (ETV) broadcast a program called “Jihadawi Harakat” (“Jihad War”) that included footage of at least five of the defendants filmed in pretrial detention. The program equated the Muslim protest movement with Islamist extremist groups, casting the protest leaders as terrorists.
Despite the arrests, protests continued throughout 2013. In early August, protests were organized in the capital, Addis Ababa, as well as in other cities to commemorate Eid al Fitr, the end of Ramadan. Witnesses described a heavy police presence in Addis Ababa, and credible sources said that police used excessive force to disperse the demonstrators and detained hundreds, at least temporarily.
The Semayawi Party (“Blue Party”), a newcomer to Ethiopia’s political scene, held a peaceful protest in June—the first large-scale protest organized by a political opposition party in eight years. A planned protest in August was cancelled when the Blue Party offices were raided by security forces, resulting in the arrest of dozens of people and the confiscation of equipment. The Blue Party had earlier been denied a permit by government to hold the protest.
Arbitrary Detention and Ill-Treatment
Arbitrary detention and ill-treatment in detention continues to be a major problem. Students, members of opposition groups, journalists, peaceful protesters, and others seeking to express their rights to freedom of assembly, expression, or association are frequently detained arbitrarily.
Ill-treatment is often reported by people detained for political reasons, particularly in Addis Ababa’s Federal Police Crime Investigation Center, known as Maekelawi, where most individuals are held during pre-charge or pretrial detention. Abuse and coercion that in some cases amount to torture and other ill-treatment are used to extract information, confessions, and statements from detainees.
Individuals are often denied access to legal counsel, particularly during pre-charge detention. Mistreated detainees have little recourse in the courts and there is no regular access to prisons and detention centers by independent investigators. Although the government-affiliated Ethiopian Human Rights Commission has visited some detainees and detention centers, there is no regular monitoring by any independent human rights or other organizations.
In July, a delegation from the European Parliament was denied access to Kaliti prison in Addis Ababa by Ethiopian authorities, despite having received prior authorization.
Freedom of Expression and Association
Since 2009, when the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation and the Charities and Societies Proclamation (CSO Law) were passed, freedoms of expression and association have been severely restricted in Ethiopia. The CSO law is one of the most draconian laws regulating nongovernmental activity in the world. It bars work on human rights, good governance, conflict resolution, and advocacy on the rights of women, children, and people with disabilities if organizations receive more than 10 percent of their funds from foreign sources.
Ethiopia’s most reputable human rights groups have either dramatically scaled down their operations or removed human rights from their mandates. Several of the country’s most prominent human rights activists have fled the country due to threats.
Ethiopian media remains under a tight government stranglehold, and many journalists practice self-censorship. Webpages and blogs critical of the government are regularly blocked, and foreign radio and TV stations are routinely jammed. Journalists working for independent domestic newspapers continue to face regular harassment and threats.
The Anti-Terrorism Proclamation has been used to target political opponents, stifle dissent, and silence journalists. In May, the Supreme Court upheld the 18-year sentence of journalist and blogger Eskinder Nega Fenta, who was convicted in July 2012 for conspiracy to commit terrorist acts and participation in a terrorist organization. Eskinder received the PEN Freedom to Write award in 2012. Reeyot Alemu Gobebo, a journalist for Feteh, was convicted on three counts under the terrorism law for her writings. Her sentence was reduced from 14 to 5 years on appeal, but her appeal of the remaining five-year sentence was dismissed in January. Reeyot was awarded the prestigious 2013 UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize.
Journalists covering the Muslim protests were threatened and arbitrarily detained. Solomon Kebede, chief editor of the now-defunct Yemuslimoch Guday (“Muslim Affairs”), was arrested in January and charged under the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation. Yusuf Getachew, his predecessor, was charged under the same law in 2012. Several other journalists fled Ethiopia in 2013, making it one of the top three countries in the world in terms of the number of journalists in exile.
Forced Displacement Associated with Development Programs
Both the government of Ethiopia and the donor community have failed to adequately investigate allegations of abuses associated with Ethiopia’s “villagization program.” Under this program, 1.5 million rural people are being relocated, ostensibly to improve their access to basic services. However, some of the relocations in the first year of the program in Gambella region were accompanied by violence, including beatings and arbitrary arrests, and insufficient consultation and compensation.
On July 12, the World Bank’s board of executive directors approved the recommendation of the Inspection Panel, the institution’s independent accountability mechanism, to investigate a complaint from ethnic Anuak refugees alleging that the bank violated its own safeguards in Gambella. The investigation was ongoing at time of writing.
Ethiopia is proceeding with development of a sugar plantation in the Lower Omo Valley, clearing 245,000 hectares of land that is home to 200,000 indigenous peoples. Displaced from their ancestral lands, these agro-pastoralists are being moved to permanent villages under the villagization program.
Key International Actors
Ethiopia enjoys warm relations with foreign donors and most of its regional neighbors. Ethiopia has forged strong ties based on its role as the seat of the African Union (AU), its contribution to United Nations peacekeeping, security partnerships with Western nations, and its progress on some of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). These strong relationships have contributed to the international community’s silence on Ethiopia’s dismal human rights record.
The year 2013 saw Ethiopia continue to play a mediation role between Sudan and South Sudan, while its troops maintained an uneasy calm in the disputed Abyei region. Ethiopia continues to deploy its troops inside Somalia, but outside the AU mission.
Ethiopia also continues to receive significant amounts of donor assistance—almost US$4 billion in 2013. As partners in Ethiopia’s development, donor nations remain muted in their criticism of Ethiopia’s appalling human rights record and are taking little meaningful action to investigate allegations of abuses associated with development programs.
Relations with Egypt worsened in 2013 due to Egyptian concerns that Ethiopia’s Grand Renaissance Dam will divert valuable water from the Nile River. An estimated 85 percent of the Nile’s waters originate in the Ethiopian highlands and Egypt is completely dependent on the Nile for all its water needs. At 6,000 megawatts of electricity, the dam will be Africa’s largest hydroelectric project. Construction started in 2012 and the dam is scheduled to be completed in 2018.
In addition to Western donors, China, India, and Brazil are increasingly financing a variety of large-scale development initiatives. Foreign private investment into Ethiopia is increasing with agro-business, hydroelectric, mining, and oil exploration all gaining prominence in 2013. Agro-business investment is coming mainly from India, the Gulf, and the Ethiopian diaspora, attracted to very low land prices and labor costs. As seen in several of Ethiopia’s other large-scale development projects, there is a serious risk of forced displacement of people from their land when some of these programs are implemented. The full text of the report is available@:
Oromia Support Group
According to HRLHA reporters, the arrests were made to clear out supporters and members of the other political organizations running for the 5th General Election to be held May 24, 2015. The EPRDF, led by the late Meles Zenawi, claimed victory in the General Elections of 1995, 2000, 2005 and 2010. The TPLF/EPRDF government of Ethiopia has started a campaign of intimidation against its opponents. Extrajudicial arrests and imprisonments, particularly in the regional state of Oromia, the most populous region in the country, began late October 2014. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) expresses its deep concern over the safety and well-being of these Oromo nationals who have been arrested without any court warrant, and are being held at police stations and unknown detention centers. The Ethiopian government has a well documented record of gross and flagrant violations of human rights, including the torturing of its own citizens, who were suspected of supporting, sympathizing with and/or being members of the opposition political organizations. There have been credible reports of physical and psychological abuses committed against individuals in Ethiopia’s official prisons and other secret detention centers. HRLHA calls upon governments of the West, all local, regional and international human rights agencies to join hands and demand the immediate halt to such extrajudicial actions against one’s own citizens, and the unconditional release of the detainees. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to the Ethiopian Government and its officials as swiftly as possible, written in English, Ahmaric, or your own language. The following are suggested: – Indicate your concern about citizens being tortured in different detention centers, including the infamous Ma’ikelawi Central Investigation Office; and calling for their immediate and unconditional release; – Urge the Ethiopian authorities to ensure that detainees will be treated in accordance with the regional and international standards on the treatment of prisoners, and that their whereabouts be disclosed, and – Make sure the coming May 24, 2015 election is fair and free. Read full statement from the following links: 
Magaalaa Qassoo Keessatti Gaaffii Mirgaa Kaasuun Poolisoota Wayyaanee Waliin Wal Qabaa Jiru. Wallaggaa, aanaa Waamaa Hagaloo magalaa Qassoo keessatti Bitootessa 10 bara 2015 Humna uumata Oromoo FDG gaggeessaa jiruu fi ergamtoota Wayyaanee jidduutti walitti bu’iinsi guddaan uumameen magaalli Qassoo dirree falmaa ta’uu Qeerroon naannicha irraa gabaasa. Gaaffii uumannii fi qonnaan bultooti naannichaa gaafataniin wal qabatee guyyaa har’aa hiriirri magaalaa kanatti ta’ee fi dhadatnooleen uumataa kan isaan rifaasise poolisoonni Wayyaanee uumata nagaa qabanii hidhuu fi hiraarsuu itti fufanii jiru. Haaluma kanaan sabboontota armaa gadii kana magaalaa Qasoo keessaa waraanni Wayyaanee guyyaa har’aa qabee akka hidhee jiru qeerroon gabaasa. 1. Qajeelaa Raggaasaa 2. Boodanaa Baqqalaa 3. Misgaanuu Raggaasaa 4. Danjaa Dhangi’aa 5. Dhugaasaa Abdiisaa 6. Booboo Addunyaa 7. Misgaanuu Addunyaa fi kanneen biroon mana hidhaatti argamu Oduu dhuma wal fakkaatuun lubi waldaa makaana yesuus darabaaWaggaarii Ayyaanaa jedhamu mootummaan akka kufuuf Waaqayyoon kadhatte jedhamee achi buuteen isaa kan dhabamedha. 
February 23, 2015 Since the downfall of the military government of Ethiopia in 1991, the political and socioeconomic lives of the country have totally been controlled by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front/TPLF leaders and business institutions. As soon as the TPLF controlled Addis Ababa, the capital city, in 1991, the first step it took was to create People’s Democratic Organizations (PDOs) in the name of different nations and nationalities in the country. With the help of these PDOs, the TPLF managed to control the whole country in a short period of time from corner to corner. The next step that the TPLF took was to weaken and/or eliminate all independent opposition political organizations existing in the country, including those with whom it formed the Ethiopian Transitional Government in 1991. Just to pretend that it was democratizing the country, the TPLF signed seven international human rights documents from 1991 to 2014. These include the “Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”. Despite this, it is known that the TPLF has tortured many of its own citizens ever since it assumed power, and has continued to the present day. The TPLF Government adopted a new constitution in 1995; and, based on this Constitution, it formed new federal states. The new Ethiopian Constitution is full of spurious democratic sentiments and human rights terms meant to inspire the people of Ethiopia and the world community. The TPLF’s pretentious promise to march towards democracy enabled it to receive praises from people inside and outside, including donor countries and organizations. The TPLF government managed somehow to maintain a façade of credibility with western governments, including those of U.S.A. and the UK. In reality, the TPLF security forces were engaged in intensive killings, abductions, disappearances of a large number of Oromo, Ogaden, Sidama peoples and others whom the TPLF suspected of being members, supporters or sympathizers of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), Ogadenian National Liberation Front (ONLF), and Sidama People’s Liberation Front (SPLF). TPLF – from high officials down to ordinary level cadres in the various regional states – engaged in enriching themselves and their family members by looting and embezzling public wealth and properties; raping young women in the occupied areas of the nations and nationalities in Ethiopia; and committing many other forms of corruptions. After securing enough wealth for themselves, the TPLF government officials, cadres and members declared, in 2004, an investment policy that resulted in the eviction of indigenous peoples from their lands and all types of livelihoods. Since 2006, thousands of Oromo, Gambela, and Benishangul nationals and others have been forcefully evicted from their lands without consultation or compensation. Those who attempted to oppose or resist were murdered and/or jailed by the TPLF1. The TPLF government then cheaply leased their lands, for terms as long as 50 years, to international investors and wealthy Middle East and Asian countries, including Saudi Arabia2. The TPLF government has done all this against its own Constitution, particularly article 40 (3)3, which states that “The right to ownership of rural and urban land, as well as of all natural resources, is exclusively vested in the State and in the peoples of Ethiopia. Land is a common property of the Nations, Nationalities and Peoples of Ethiopia and shall not be subject to sale or to other means of exchange”. These acts were also against the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 17 (1 & 2)4, which says, “1. Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others. 2. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.” In order to facilitate further corruption and embezzlement, the money paid for the leases as long as 50 years were received in cash. For example, the Indian agro investor Karaturi explained to a Guardian newspaper’s reporter that the TPLF government officials asked him to pay in cash in order to get the land, which he called “green gold”5. These gross human rights violations by the TPLF leaders against the Oromos, Gambelas, and Benishanguls have been condemned by many civic organizations, including Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch, the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa, the Oakland Institute and others. The giving away of Oromo land in the name of investment also includes Addis Ababa, the capital city situated at the center of Oromia Regional State. 30,000 Oromos were evicted by the TPLF/EPRDF Government from their lands and livelihoods in the areas around the Capital City and suburbs, and their lands were given to the TPLF officials, members and loyal cadres over the past 24 years. In order to grab more lands around Addis Abba, the TPLF government prepared a plan called “the Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan,” a plan that aimed at annexing about 36 towns and surrounding villages into Addis Ababa. This Master Plan was first challenged by the Oromo People’s Democracy Organization/OPDO in March 2014. The challenge was first supported by Oromo students in different universities, colleges and high schools in Oromia, and then spread to Oromo farmers, Oromo intellectuals in all corners of Oromia Regional State and to Oromo nationals living in different parts of the world. The Oromo nationals staged peaceful protests all over Oromia Regional State. In connection with this Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan, which had the risk of evicting more than two million farmers from around the capital city, about seventy Oromo students from among the peaceful protestors were brutalized by the special TPLF Agizi snipers and more than five thousand Oromos from all walks of life were taken to prisons in different parts of Oromia Regional State. The inhuman military actions and crackdowns by the TPLF government against peaceful protestors were condemned by different international media, such as the BBC6, human rights organizations, such as Amnesty International and the HRLHA7. The government admitted that it killed nine of them8. The unrest that started in central Oromia suddenly escalated to such a high level that the TPLF leaders suspended the expansion plan for a while. 
However, recently, without the slightest regret and sense of remorse over the massacres committed against peaceful protestors of Oromo Nationals by his government in May and April 2014, the TPLF’s co-founder, top official and the current Prime Minister’s (Hailemariam Dessalegn’s) special advisor, Mr. Abay Tsehaye, vowed in public that anyone who attempts to oppose the implementation of the so-called Addis Ababa Master Plan would be dealt with harshly. In his speech, he confirmed that the TPLF government is determined to continue with the master plan, no matter what happened in the past or what may come in the future. In a manner that Abay Tsehaye was reiterating that the annexations of towns and cities in central Oromia into the capital Addis Ababa will go ahead as planned regardless of the absence of consultations and consent of the local people and/or the officials of the targeted towns and cities. Besides displaying his extreme arrogance and contempt for the Oromo Nation, Mr. Abay Tsehaye’s speech was in direct breach of constitutional provisions of both federal and regional states. 
The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) would like to express its deep concern that this TPLFs leader’s speech not only encourages violence against the country’s own citizens, but also invites further bloodshed and losses of lives; it leaves no room at all for dialogue, consultation and consent – norms which are at the core of a genuine democracy. This is still happening despite the killing of more than seventy Oromo youth and the arrest and incarceration of thousands of others as a result of violent and deadly responses by armed forces of the TPLF and the government to peaceful demonstrators in May and April 2014. Conclusion: The HRLHA believes that the gross human rights violations committed by the TPLF government in the past 24 years against Oromo, Ogaden, Gambela, Sidama and others were pre-planned and intentional all the times that they have happened. The TPLF killed, tortured, and kidnapped and disappeared thousands of Oromo nationals, Ogaden and other nationals simply because of their resources and ethnic backgrounds. The recent research conducted by Amnesty International under the title “Because I am Oromo”: SWEEPING REPRESSION IN THE OROMIA REGION OF ETHIOPIA’9 confirms that peoples in Ethiopia who belong to other ethnic groups have been the victims of the TPLF. The TPLF inhuman actions against the citizens are clearly a genocide, a crime against humanity10 and an ethnic cleansing, which breach domestic and international laws, and all international treaties the government of Ethiopia signed and ratified. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa wants to hold the TPLF government accountable, as a group and as individuals, for the crimes they have committed and are committing against Oromos and others. The HRLHA calls on all human rights families, non-governmental civic organizations, HRLHA members, supporters and sympathizers to stand beside the HRLHA and provide moral, professional and financial help to bring the dictatorial TPLF government and officials to international justice. ——————- * The HRLHA is a non-political organization which attempts to challenge abuses of human rights of the people of various nations and nationalities in the Horn of Africa. It works to defend fundamental human rights including freedoms of thought, expression, movement and association. It also works on raising the awareness of individuals about their own basic human rights and those of others. It encourages respect for laws and due process. It promotes the growth and development of free and vigorous civil societies. ——————- We Fight for Human Rights! HRLHA Head Office February 23, 2015 ——————- 1. Genocide Watch, 
![Two Oromo Farmers in Salale Brutally Murdered; Their Bodies Dragged and Put on Pubic Display for Resisting Oppression Against Tigrean Habesha Rulers [Viewer Discretion Advised: Graphic Photo]](https://i1.wp.com/finfinnetribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Oromo-in-Salale-Murdered-Dragged-and-Displayed-2015.jpg?resize=950%2C713)
![Two Oromo Farmers in Salale Brutally Murdered; Their Bodies Dragged and Put on Pubic Display for Resisting Oppression Against Tigrean Habesha Rulers [Viewer Discretion Advised: Graphic Photo]](https://i0.wp.com/finfinnetribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Oromo-in-Salale-Murdered-Dragged-and-Displayed-2015-3.jpg)
Dargaggoonni aanaa kanaa naamusa filannoo jeequuf warra qophaya jiran waan taheef jedhamee barattootas tahee dargaggoota hundaafuu kaardiin filannoo dhorkamuu Qeerroon gabaasaa jira. Akkasuma aanama kana keessa ganda Baabboo jedhamu keesstti dargaggootaan qarshii 3, 3 fidaa waraqaa eenyummaa baafadhaa isaan booda filannoof kaardii isiniif laanna jedhame tole jechuun dargaggoonni qarshii jedhame kana kennan, horiin isaan irraa fuudhames gara darbe dargaggoonni kaardiis fudhachuu hin dandeenye qarshii keenya deebisa Wayyaanee silaafuu hattuudha jechuudhaan daraggoonni Oromoo guyyaa kaleessaa FDG kaasanii jiru. Haala kanaan namootni 6 dargaggoota kan qindeessu filannoon aka hin gaggeeffamneef dargaggoota ijaaraa kan jiraniidha jedhamuun ganda Baabboo irraa konkolaataa poolisiin galgala sa’a 12 booda waajjira poolisii aanichaatti gaaffeman, namootni kun maqaan isaanii: 1. Mikaa’el Hirkisa-ogeessa fayyaa Looniiti 2. Nuuraddiin Muusaa-Daldalaa 3. Amad Horaa-Qonnaan Bulaa 4. Shaful Boshoraa-Barataa 5. Iddoosaa Raagaa-Qonnaan Bulaa 6. Shuumaa Lammeessaa-Qonnaan Bulaa Namootni kun amma waajjira poolisii aanaa Jimmaa Horroo keessa jiru, maqaan ittiin yakkaman tokko namusa filannoo kan jeeqan, kana gochuufis uummata fi dargaggoota ijaarsa irratti kan argaman jedhamuun. Suuraaleen kun barattoota qabamanii fi loltoota sirncha muldhisa. 
Since the March-April 2014 crackdowns against the peaceful Oromo protesters who have protested against the Ethiopian Federal Government’s plan of annexation of 36 small Oromia towns to the capital city of Addis Ababa under the pretext of the “Addis Ababa Integrated Plan”, thousands of Oromo nationals from all walks of life from all corners of Oromia regional state including Wollo Oromo’s in Amhara regional state have been detained or imprisoned. Some have disappeared and many have been murdered by a special commando group called “the Agiazi force”. The “The Agiazi” force is still chasing down and arresting Oromo nationals who participated in the March-April, 2014 peaceful protests. Fearing the persecution of the Ethiopian government, hundreds of students did not return to the universities, colleges and high schools; most of them have left for the neighboring states of Somaliland and Puntiland of Somalia where they remain at high risk for their safety. Wollo Oromos who are living in Ahmara regional state of Oromia special Zone are also among the victims of the EPRDF government. Hundreds of Wollo Oromos have been detained because of their connection with the peaceful protests of March-April 2014. The EPRDF government has detained many Oromo nationals in Wollo Oromia special Zone under the pretext of being members or supporters of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), as prisoners’ voices from Dessie/Wollo prison have revealed. From among the many Oromos who were picked from different districts and places from Wollo Oromia special Zone in Amhara regional state in April 2014, the HRLHA reporter in the area has received a document which shows that 26 Oromo prisoners pleaded to the South Wollo High Court that they were illegally detained first in Kamise town military camp for 36 days, Kombolcha town Police Station for 27 Days, and Dessie city higher 5 Police Station for 10 days- places where they were severely tortured and then transferred to Dessie Prison in July 2014. According to the document, they were picked up from three different districts and different places by federal police and severely beaten and tortured at different military camps and police stations and their belongings including cash and mobile telephones were taken by their torturers. In their appeal letter to the South Wollo high court they demanded Full document in
ETHIOPIA: Relentless government violence on Oromo students and nationals continues, says human rights organization Posted: Hagayya/August 27, 2014 · Gadaa.com ————————- The following is a press release from the Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA). ————————- August 27, 2014 While fresh arrests and detentions, kidnappings and disappearances of Oromo nationals have continued in different parts of the regional state of Oromia following the April-May crackdown of peaceful demonstrators, court rulings over the cases of some of the earlier detainees by courts of the regional state are being rejected by political agents of the governing TPLF/EPRDF Party. The renewed violence by government forces against Oromo nationals started particularly following what was termed as “Lenjii Siyaasaa” (literally meaning “political training”) that has targeted Oromo Students of higher educational institutions and has been going on in the past two weeks in different parts of Oromia. Although the agendum for the “Political Training” was said to be “the unity of the country,” it instead has become an opportunity of carrying out further screenings and arrests of students, as around 100 more students have so far been arrested from Ambo University campuses alone and sent to a remote, isolated military camp called Sanqalle, leaving families and friends in fear in regards to the safety and well-being of the students in particular, not to mention the disruption of their studies. The arrests were made following the students’ protest of their confinement into the campuses during this so call “Political Trianing,” and the demand that the killers of their fellow students be brought to justice prior to discussing “unity.” Also, five students of Wallaga University, from among those who were gathered for the same purpose of “Political Training,” were kidnapped on the 22nd of August 2014, and taken away in a vehicle with plate number 4866 ET; and their whereabouts are not known since then. HRLHA correspondents have also traced another fresh arrests and detentions of around 100 Oromo nationals in a small town called Elemo, Doranni District in the Illu Abba Borra Zone. It took place on the 14th of August 2014; and Waqtole Garbe, Sisay Amana, Tiiqii Supha, Ittana Daggafa, Badiru Basha, Kamal Zaalii, Rashiid Abdu, Zetuna Waaqoo, Daggafa Tolee, Adam Ligdii, Indush Mangistu, Dibbeessa Libaan, and Ofete Jifar were a few among those detainees in Elemo Prison. More worrisome and frustrating is agents of the federal government’s interference with regional and local judicial systems. More than one hundred students and other Oromo nationals, from among the thousands who were detained following the April-May nationwide protest, have been granted bails in local courts of the regional government of Oromia. These include 64 detainees in Dembi Dollo/Qellem, 10 in Ambo, 40 in Sibu-Sire and Digga District. But, all the court decisions were overruled by political officials representing the federal government. The Dembi Dollo/Qellem detainees in particular were granted bails four times, only to be turned down by political officials all the four rounds. On the other hand, there have been some cases in which prison terms ranging from six months to a year-and-half were imposed on the Oromo detainees, not in courts, but by those representatives of the federal government. Also, some independent lawyers complain that they were threatened by officials from the ruling party; and, as a result, refraining from representing the Oromo detainees. Usual as it has been in the past fifteen or so years, this case of interfering with and disobeying court rulings indicates that the case of these most recent Oromo detainees is purely political. The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) calls upon the Ethiopian Government to refrain from harassing and intimidating students through such extra-judicial means as killings, arrests and detentions, and denials of justice after detention; and instead, facilitate conducive teaching-learning environments. HRLHA also calls upon the Ethiopian Government to unconditionally release the detained Oromo students and other nationals; and, as requested by their fellow students, bring to justice the killers of innocent and peaceful protestors during the April-May crackdown. BACKGROUNDS: The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) has reported (May 1st and 13th, 2014, urgent actions, HumanRightsLeague.com) on the heavy-handed crackdown of the Ethiopian Federal Government’s Agazi Special Squad and the resultant extra-judicial killings of 34 (thirty-four) Oromo nationals; and the arrests and detentions of hundreds of others. Although the brutalities of the armed squad and the resultant fatalities happened to be very high in Ambo Town, the peaceful protests by Oromo students of different universities and faculties have been taking place in April and May in various towns and cities of Oromia, including Diredawa and Adama in eastern Oromia, as well as Jimma, Mettu, Naqamte, Gimbi, and Dambidollo in western Oromia. The Oromo students of universities and colleges in different parts of the regional state of Oromia took to the streets for peaceful demonstrations in protest to the decision passed by the Federal EPRDF/TPLF-led Government to expand the city of Finfinnee/Addis Ababa by uprooting and displacing hundreds of thousands of Oromos from all sorts of livelihoods, and annexing about 36 surrounding towns of Oromia, the ultimate goal of which is claimed to be redrawing the map of the Oromia Region. The federal annexation plan, which was termed as “The Integrated Development Master Plan,” is said to be covering the towns of Dukem, Gelan, Legetafo, Sendafa, Sululta, Burayu, Holeta, Sebeta, and others, stretching the boundary of Finfinne/Addis Ababa to about 1.1-million hectares – an area of 20 times its current size. – HumanRightsLeague.com: 
31 Oromo students, under 16 year old teenagers are being tortured by Agazi (TPLF) in jail at Ambo. The National Youth Movement for freedom and Democracy listed (in its 10th July 2014 publication) their names which is in Afaan Oromo as follows:- Dararamni Oromoo mana hidhaa Wayyaanee keessaa umurii hin filatu Dargaggoonni maqaan isaanii armaa gadi xuqame guyyaa 23/08/2006 (A.L.E) irraa eegalee sababa tokko malee jumulaan walitti qabamanii shakkiidhaan hidhamuu irraan kan ka’e ma/mu/ol/Go/ Sh/Lixaatti akka dhihaatanii fi himannaan dhiyaate waan hin jirreef jedhee ajajaan akka gadi lakkisaman murteesse. Haa ta’u malee ajajni mana murtii kun hojii irra ooluu irra umurii daa’imummaan mana hidhaa keessatti dararamaa jirra jechuun ma/mu/waliigalaa Oromiyaatti ol iyyatanii hanga yoonaatti deebii hin arganne. Isaanis;
June 29, 2014 Dear Sir/Madam: We are reaching out to you as the Board of Officers of the International Oromo Youth Association (IOYA) whose nation is in turmoil back in Oromia, Ethiopia. Recently, Oromo students have been protesting against the new Addis Ababa “Integrated Master Plan” which aims at incorporating smaller towns surrounding Addis Ababa for the convenience of vacating land for investors by displacing millions of Oromo farmers. As a political move, this will essentially result in the displacement of the indigenous peoples and their families. Oromo farmers will be dispossessed of their land and their survival both economic and cultural terms will be threatened. The Oromos strongly believe that this plan will expose their natural environment to risk, threaten their economic means of livelihood (subsistence farming), and violate their constitutional rights. The Ethiopian government is executing its political agenda of progressive marginalization of the Oromo people from matters that concern them both in the Addis Ababa city and the wider Oromia region. The master plan is an unconstitutional change of the territorial expansion over which the city administration has a jurisdiction. The government justifies the move in the name of enhancing the development of the city and facilitating economic growth. The justification is merely a tactical move masked for the governments continued abuse of human rights of the Oromo people. While the Oromos understand that Addis Ababa itself is an Oromo city that serves as the capital of the federal government, they also consider this move as an encroachment on the jurisdiction and borders of the state of Oromia. The protesters peacefully demonstrated against this move. University students and residents have been in opposition to the plan, but their struggle has been met by a brutal repression in the hands of the military police (famously known as the Agazi). It has been reported that shootings, arrests, and imprisonments are becoming rampant. It is also reported that the death toll is increasing by the hour. Recently, sources indicate that over 80 people have been shot dead, others severally injured and thousands arrested. In addition, Oromo students have been protesting peacefully for over three weeks now, despite mass killings and arrests by Ethiopian security forces. University and high school students from more than ten universities have been engaging in the Oromo protests. The peaceful rally has now spread across the whole country and is expected to continue until the Ethiopian government refrains from incorporating over 36 surrounding smaller towns into Addis Ababa. It is stated to be displacing an estimate of 6.6 million people and violating constitutional rights of regional states. As an organization subscribing to broader democratic engagement of the Oromo youth, we oppose the brutal violence that the Ethiopian government is meting out on innocent, unarmed young students who are peacefully protesting. As leaders of the Oromo community, we support and stand in solidarity with Oromo protests in Ethiopia. The human rights volitions being carried out by the Ethiopian government against innocent students are unacceptable. Continuous assaults, tortures, and killings of innocent civilians must be stopped. We urge you to join us in denouncing these inhumane and cruel activities carried out by the Ethiopian government. We believe it is imperative that the international community raise its voice and take action to stop the ongoing atrocities that are wreaking havoc to families and communities in the Oromia region. We urgently request that such actions be taken in an attempt to pressure the Ethiopian government to stop terrorizing and killing peaceful protesters:
Abdi Kamal Mussa is Oromo political prisoner kept in Dire Dawa. He graduated from Dire Dawa Universityin 2013 and was working at Ethiopian Commercial Bank, Jigjiga branch. He was arrested in May 2014 on bogus accusation of providing financial support to the student protesters. He is languishing in the gulag without any charge and legal representation. #OrmoProtests #FreeOromoStudents 
Photos: Sen. Amy Klobuchar (L) and Sen. Al Franken (R) of Minnesota Two more U.S. Senators, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Sen. Al Franken of Minnesota, wrote a letter to the U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. John Kerry, to express concerns about the Ethiopian government’s human rights violations, particularly the Ethiopian government’s recent acts of violence against Oromo peaceful demonstrators in Oromia. In the letter, the U.S. Senators urged the U.S. State Department to make the “respect for the rule of law and human rights in Ethiopian government’s treatment of all ethnic groups” central to the U.S.-Ethiopia relationship. It’s to be noted that U.S. Senators from the State of Washington, Sen. Maria Cantwell and Sen. Patty Murray, 
Following last month’s violent answer of the Ethiopian armed forces against peaceful protesters in Oromia, UNPO expresses its support to the victims’ families. Urgent attention from the international community to the situation of the Oromo people in Ethiopia is required. Over the course of the month of May, students in Oromia have been facing harsh repression by Ethiopia’s authorities. The peaceful student protests against the government’s planned education reforms, were met by excessive violence, causing the death of approximately 30 students and teachers. Reportedly, the youngest victim was only 11 years old. Ever since, international outrage spread, and in many cities solidarity protests were held. The Ethiopian Government has denied any responsibility, and is exercising a strict control over the local media. By staging the protests, the students wanted to express their concern about the government’s project to expand the municipal boundaries of the capital city, Addis Ababa. This would imply that the Oromo students’ communities, currently under regional jurisdiction, would no longer be managed by the Oromia Regional State. In addition, the reform would include the displacement of Oromo farmers and residents. Considering their vulnerable status in Ethiopian society, this would make the situation for Oromo individuals even worse than it already is. The discrepancy between the nature of the protests and the Ethiopian authorities’ reaction is extremely alarming, and gives further evidence of the human rights abuses to which the Oromo community is systematically subjected in Ethiopia. The Oromo suffer from severe discrimination, not only in terms of freedom of expression, as was the case in these recent events, but also in terms of basic human rights, cultural expression, socio-economic conditions and political representation. Housing development in Ethiopia regularly happens at the expense of Oromo farmers, who are forced to give up their lands, with insufficient or no financial compensation in return. These acts of forced removal or land grabbing are mostly achieved through violent attacks and killings. Over the past few years, many reports stated that Oromo individuals had been killed by the Ethiopian Special Police Forces, including women and children. According to a recent 
Oromo youth Galanaa Nadhaa murdered by TPLF/Agazi. Waxabajjii 23/2014 Sirni Awwalcha Gooticha Sabboonaa Oromoo dargaggoo Galanaa Nadhaa guyyaa har’a ganda dhaloota isaa Godina Lixa Shawaa Aanaa Tokkee Kuttaayee ganda qonnaan bulaa Tokkee Konbolchaatti bakka uummaanni Oromoo Godinotaa fi aan
Galaanaan Nadhaa abbaa isaa obbo Nadhaa cawwaaqaa fi haadha isaa aadde Geexee Haacaaluu irraa godina lixa shawaatti bara 1972 ALH tti dhalate.Umuriin isaa wayita barnootaaf gahu mana barumsa baabbichaa sadarkaa lammaffaatti kuyaa tokkoo hanga sadii barate.kutaa 4 hanga 8 mana barumsaa tokkeetti barachuun qabxii gaarii fidee mana barumsaa Amboo sadarkaa lammaffaatti barnoota isaa kutaa saglaffaa itti fufe.Galaanaan nama sabboonummaa orommummaa qabuu fi qalqixxummaa dhala namaatti nama amanu ture.Galaannaan rakkina saba oromoof furmaanni qabsoo gochuu qofa jedhee amana.kanaafis gummaacha isarraa eegamu bahaa ture.bara 1992 yeroo bosonni baalee gubate barattoota oromoo adda dureen mormii dhageessisan keessaa tokko ture.mormii inni dhageessiseefis diinni qabee mana hidhaatti dararaa hangana hin jedhamne irraan gahe.haa ta’uu garuu Galaanaan nama doorsisa diinaaf jilbeeffatu hin turre.Jireenyi isaa qabsoo ture.Bara 1994 yeroo FDG oromiyaa keesssa deemaa ture Galaanaan ammas qooda lammummaa bahu irraa of hin qusanne.ammas diinni qabee mana hidhaa galche..Galaanaan bara kutaa 12 qorame ture mana hidhaa taa’ee.qabxii olaanaa fiduun yunivarsiitii maqaleetti ramadame.Achitti balaa dhibee waggaa kudha tokkof isa gidirseef saaxilame. kunis gochaa ilmaan tigireeti.Galaanaan waggaa kudha tokkoof erga dhukkubsatee booda sanbata darbe addunyaa kanarraa du’aan boqote.sirni awwaalcha isaa guyyaa har’aa bakka uummanni oromoo bal’aan argametti har’aa magaala tokkee bataskaana mikaa’el jedhamutti raawwatame.qabsaa’aan kufus qabsoon itti fufa!!!! IUOf!!!!!!!!!. ‘My name is Hambaasan Gudisaa. I was born in Gincii, West Showa, Oromia, Ethiopia. I was a third year student (Afaan Oromo major) at Addis Ab
Six/Seven TPLF/Agazi armed men against two unarmed Oromo youth. Humni diinaa biyya keenya humnaan qabattee jirtu, kunoo haala kanaan, gara-jabina daangaa hin qabneen, amma nyaattee-dhugdu ol-fuutee ijoollee keenyatti buufatti. Innumtuu tokko yookaan lama miti; shan, jahaa fi torbaa taatee. see @
Still, I was tempted to decline when a woman in my row moved over to sit next to me and offered to translate for me. I kind of like to try to listen and pick out what I can. If I had turned her down, I would have missed the emotion conveyed in her translation. Her tone told me what I hadn’t figured out yet (though I should have known) – the son was going to die…a double injustice since the real-life plot not only includes the loss of ancestral lands, but also the lack of freedom to protest that loss, and death or imprisonment for those who dare to do so anyway. It was more of a skit, really. A powerful skit, regardless of acting ability, because the story is so powerful. A story of a family of three. Just one son, supported in his schooling by what his family was able to produce on their farm. The land was key. His parents had not been able to get an education. With the land, now he could. Yet when an investor came asking the government official if land was available, he was told, yes, there is much land that is ‘not being used.’ When the investor was brought to see the land in question, it was as if the farmer was invisible. The deal was made right there between the investor and a local intermediary while the farmer continued to plough his field. Then their son came home from school saying he was going out to march with other students to protest what was happening to the land – to all of the farmers in the area – the mom cautioned him to be safe, the government can not be trusted, she said. My translator began to cry in earnest. … I remembered once when I had to act out a similar scene. I’m not a big fan of role-plays, so I was going along with the activity, but holding back quite a bit. A group of us were given roles to act out a lesser known bit of Canadian history when indigenous children were forcibly removed from their villages and their families and taken to residential schools to be ‘educated,’ as well as assimilated, often abused, even experimented upon. Often, they never returned. 
Almost always, those who did return spoke of their lost childhood and traumatic memories. I was an Anishinabe mother in the role-play. In real life at the time, I had left my only child, a two year old boy, home for two weeks with his dad so I could participate in this delegation, mostly to learn more about the Anishinabe history in general and one community’s struggle in particular. Though the experience was meaningful, that day I was starting to wonder if two weeks was too long to be away from my son. One person had come to the delegation with me, Jared, a young man in his twenties. I knew him well in the sense that we were part of the same intentional living community. We had eaten together, worshipped together, sat in consensus decision-making meetings together, sang, cooked, and worshipped together over the previous three years. He was given the role of my son. Jared and I stood in the circle area with a few other people who had roles as part of the Anishinabe village. I was just going through the motions of the role-play, not really into it. Wishing I enjoyed that kind of thing more. Then they came for Jared. In that moment when they snatched him away, I cried out and reached out for him but he was gone and I was left sobbing. Somehow it had become real. Five years later, I still hear comments about how real my heartbreak felt to everyone in the room. … As the woman next to me struggled to speak through her tears, we watched the skit draw to its inevitable close. The security forces blocked the path of the unarmed protesters. The protesters held their ground. The security forces escalated the situation by firing at the students. The only child of the farmer and his wife was gunned down. His parent actors bitterly mourned his loss. He too is gone. It’s hard to clap after that. Hard to will one’s hands to applaud the actors when you’re thinking of the families that have gone through similar situations so recently. Many Oromo students are gone. Some known to be killed, some disappeared, arrested or abducted without releasing names. Many die in detention centers and prisons. Yes many students are gone. Some may return from imprisonment with accounts of mistreatment and suffering, with harrowing stories of other students locked up years ago, still in prison with no trial, no real charges and very little hope. Others will not return. One of those is Alsan Hassan, abducted May 27 from his university after participating in a hunger strike. 
On June 1, his family was notified of his death. They were told he killed himself, a story commonly invented by the authorities to cover up the real cause of death: torture. His parents came to retrieve their son. His body was severely disfigured from the abuses he had suffered. Still they could not simply take him home. They were charged an exorbitant price and had to return home, borrow money just to secure the release of his body and finally make journey home to bury him. The thought of Alsan and the other sons and daughters lost to their families – that is why the woman translating for me (and I) couldn’t keep from crying, however predictable the plot of the skit. I was sitting next to my six year old son. Her 11-or-so year old son was on the other side of her. We can’t help but hear these stories not only as fellow human beings, but as mothers. We translate, we write, we do whatever we can from the other side of the world in the hopes that we will inform and inspire enough people to bring an end to the unjust imprisonment of dissenting young voices. See @ 
Nimoonaa Xilaahuun Imaanaa (1986-2014). Oromo National, Banking and Finance Graduate of Finfinne University (AAU) & Teacher. Tortured and murdered by TPLF while in jail.
Aslan Hasan, one of the 10 Oromo students kidnapped on May 29, 2014 from Haromaya University has died while in military detention center in Harar city. Apparently he collapsed during one of the torture sessions, then was taken to Tikur Anbessa Hospital in the capital, where he died on June 1, 2014. The regime told his families that the student committed suicide. Aslan was a 2nd year engineering student at the University. He was born in Bakko and attended high school in Burayu. His body has been taken to Gudar. Barataa Nuraddin(Alsan) Hasan dhalootaan magaalaa BAAKKOO’tti dhalate. Barnoota isaa sadarkaa 1ffaa achuma magaalaa Baakkootti xumure. Barnoota isaa sadarkaa lammaffaaf qophaa’naa obboleessa isaa bira taa’ee magaalaa BURAAYYUU tti xumure. Bara 2005(2013) yuuniversiitii Haramayaa saayinsii Injiinariing(Engineering science) jalattii muummee ‘Electirical Computer Engineering’ filachuun barataan sabboonaaf garraamiin kun haala hoo’aaf milkaayina qabuun barnoota isaa hordofaa utuu jiruu, humni mootummaa abba hirree wayyaaneen guyyaa gaafa 29/05/2014 mooraa guddicha YUUNIVERSIITII HARAMAYAA keessaa bakka GADA-JAHE(IOT CUMPUS) jedhamuun beekamu, Gamoo H lakk-doormii 26 (H-26) duulli mootummaa wayyaanee saroota OPDO waliin doormiitti itti seenan, hiriyoota isaa faana qayyabachaa utuu jiruu, qabame. Barataan sabboonaan Nuraddin(Alsan) Hasan guyyaa gaafa qabamee kaasee hanga guyyaa kaleessaatti (01/06/2014) barattoota kakaaste hidhata dhaaba alaa waliin qabda jechuun barataa barumsa qofaaf maatii isaa irraa adda bahee barnoota isaa hordofaa jiru, magaalaa Hararitti guyyoota sadii guutuu fannisanii reeban. Erga inni of dadhabees, sobdee akka nuti si dhiifnuuf malee hin miidhamne ittiin jechuun, utuu reebanii lubbuun isaa dabarte. Gocha hammeenyaa hagana ga’u raawwatanii, hidhamaan of ajjeeseera, gara hospitaalaa haa deemu, haa qoratamu. Jechuun reeffa isaa gara hospitaala XIQUR AMBASSAA geessan. Obboleessa isaa SULXAAN HASAN, waamuun obboleessikee mana adabaatti of-ajjeese gara finfinneetti kottuu reeffa fuudhi, jechuun maatii isaatti bilbilan. Yeroo ammaa kana reeffi barataa kanaa magaala GUDAR ga’uu isaa ergaan bilbilaa nu ga’eera. “Lubbuukeef Jannatan Hawwa” itttiin jedhaa! Maddi oduu peejii “kuusaa Dhiiga Oromoo” ti peejicha ‘like’ haa goonu press ‘like’ link on Kuusaa Dhiiga Oromoo’s page. RAKKOO AMBOO KEESSA JIRU!#OromoProtests- 2nd June 2014 Akkuuma beekamu FDG FI WAA’EEN MASTEER PLANII erga jalqabe kaase Magalatii keessatti saba Oromoo irratti kan rawwatama jiru mutumma kamiyyun kan rawwatama ture waliin hin madalamu jechudhan gabasaan magala Amboo irra nu qaqabee jira! Waan Nama gadisiisu keessa Barataa yunviristi tokko kan guyya finciilli itti jalqabee rasaasan rukutamee hanga ammatti bakka warri Ogumma fayya itti barataan(Mana reeffa)keessa keessa tursuun Jimaata darbee halkaan keess
(RAB, Waxibajjii 1, 2014) Mootummaan Woyyaanee Hegeree Biyyaa akkasitti karaatti hambisaa jira! Dargaggoo Nimoonaa Xilaahun bara 2007 yunversiitii Finfinneetii eebbifamee godina Kaaba shawaa mana barumsaa Shanootti barsiisaa ta’ee yeroo ramadame akkuma dargaggoo Oromoo kaanii innis ummata isa guddisee, barsiisee kanaan isa ga’e tajaajiluuf hawwii guutuudhaan ture kan inni hojii barsiisummaa eegale. Akkuma dargaggeessa kamii iyyuu mana dhaabee ijoollee godhatee jireenya gaggeessuuf abjuun isaa bara dheeraa waan bakka ga’aa dhufe itti fakkaate. Waxibajjii 26, 2008 namni mul’ataa kun hojii barsiisummaa jalqabee reefuu baatii muraasa hojechuu isaati. Guyyuma kana akkuma guyyoota kaanii hiriyyoota isaa wojjin utuu mana barumsaa inni barsiisuu galaa jiruu konkolaataan lakkoofsa gabatee ishee 3-F taate dingata dhuuftee fundura isaa dhaabbate. Konkolaataan kun kan Poolisii Federaalaati. Konkolaataa kana keessaa namootni uffata sivilii uffatan utaalanii bu’uudhaan balleessaa tokko malee barsiisaa Nimoonaa ukkamsanii fuudhanii sokkani. Dargaggoo Nimoonaa utuu gara wojjira poolisii anichaatti illee hingeeffamiin dabarfamee iddoo hinbeekamnetti geeffamuu isaa namootni yeroo sana ijaan argan himaniiru. Haalli kun kan isaan yaadesse Oromootni baayyeen dhaabbileen mirga dhala namaa tiksan addunyaa dhiimma kana duukaa bu’anii lubbuu dargagoo Nimoonaa akka baraaraniif waamicha godhanii turan. Woggaa tokko, waggaa lamaa, sadii … woggootiin 6 nilakkaa’aman……… Mootummaan Woyyaanee ilmaan Oromoo, keesummaa immoo hegeree biyyaa kan ta’an dargagoota Oromoo hamilee cabsuuf tooftaa inni itti gargaaramu keessa inni tokkoo dargaggoota oromoo sammuu cimaa qaban ukkamsee mana hidhaa buusee, achitti torchii godhee, namummaatii isaan baasee gaafa isaan qarqara boollaa irra ga’an gadi darbachuu yookanis mana hidhaa keessatti ajjeesee reeffa isaanii baasuudha. Dargaggoo Nimoonaas carradhuma kanatu isa argate. Woggootii ja’aan darbaniif Manneetii hidhaa Mayikelaawwii, Qaallittii, Qiliinxoo, akkasumas Ziwaaytti gidiraa ilmoon namaa arguu hinqabne baayee arge. Kana irraa kan ka’es dhukkuba irra bu’e. Dhukkuba isaa kanaafis yeroo dheeraa fuundura woldhaansa haakimaa argachuun irra ture hinargatiin hafe. Bulchiinsi mana hidhaa Lubbuu dargaggoo kanaa baraaruuf gargaarsi woldhaansaa hakimaa olaanaan akka isa barbaachisu yoo beeke illee yeroo dheeraadhaaf irratti ilaaleera. Dhuma irratti guyyaa muraasa fuudura waardiyyoota poolisii federaalaa afuriin marfamee eegamaa hospitaala Xiqur Anbessaa akka seenu yoo godham iyyuu dhukkubni isaa waan baayyee irra tureef, yeroo itti gargaarsa argatutti waan hinargatiin hafeef hakiimotni kana booda waan baayee gargaaruu akka hindandeenye dubbataniiru. Umrii waggaa digdamootaa keessatti kan argamu dargaggoo xobbeen abdii borii amma guyyaa du’a isaatii eegachaa jirra jedhamee iddi himamee guyyaa yartuu boda gaafa Waxabajjii 5 bara 2014 wareegame. –
While kidnappings and/or extra-judicial arrests and detentions have continued particularly around academic institutions in different parts of the regional state of Oromia in Ethiopia, disturbing and worrisome reports are coming out of detention centres where the Oromo students arrested in the past two weeks are being held. According to HRLHA correspondents in Nakamte, Wollega Province in western Oromia, there have been cases of tortures of varying levels as well as detainees being taken away in the middle of the night to unknown destinations for unknown reasons. Fifty (50) detainees, including thirteen females, were taken away at one time alone; and their whereabouts were not known. In relation to tortures, the reports indicate that some of the detainees are isolated from others and held in separate rooms handcuffed and legs tied together with their hands on the their backs. There were ten students subjected to this particular situation, among whom were Std. Tesfaye Tuffa (male) and Std. Bontu Hailu (female). Although not confirmed at this point, there were also eight students who were screened out in order to be transferred to a detention or investigation office at the federal level; and these include: 1. Chalaa Fekaduu Gashe (high school student), 2. Chalaa Fekaduu Raajoo (high school student), 3. Nimoonaa Kebede (Wollega University 5th year law student), 4. Moi Bon Misganuu (Wollega University, student), 5. Abdii Gaddisaa (high school student), 6. Abel Dagim (high school student), 7. Qalbessa Getachew (high school student), 8. Mulgeta Gemechu (high school student), 9. Edosa Namara Dheressa, Civil Engineering, Wallaga University In the meantime, reports indicate that kidnappings and/or extra-judicial arrests and detentions have continued in different parts of the regional state of Oromia, particularly in Hararge/Haromaya, West Showa, and West Wollega, all in relation to the protests that have been going on in the Regional State of Oromia in opposition to the newly introduced master plan to expand the Capital City of Addis Ababa/Finfinne in all directions by displacing the local Oromo residents. The following are among the hundreds of the most recent cases of kidnappings, arrests and detentions: 1) Edosa Namara Deressa – Wollega University (Civil Engineering) 2) Walabuma Dabale -Adama University, West Showa, 3) Ebisa Dale -Adama University 4) Ganamo Kurke -Adama University 5) Liban Taressa – Adama University 6) Adam Godana -Adama University 7) Bodana (last name not obtained) – Adama University Name of other detainees arrested May 15-17, 2014: 
The Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA) is highly concerned about the life-threatening situations in the detention centres where those young Oromos were held, and the safety and wellbeing of those who were taken to unknown destinations. Therefore, HRLHA calls upon the Ethiopian Government to abide by all international human rights instruments that it has signed, and refrain from subjecting the young detainees to such harsh situations. It also calls upon all local, regional, and international human rights organizations including UN Human Rights Council, humanitarian, and diplomatic agencies to put pressure on the Ethiopian Government so that it: 1. Unconditionally releases the Oromo students who were detained in the past two and three weeks simply because the attempted to exercise some of their fundamental rights in a peaceful and absolutely non-violent manner. 2. Stop killing, arresting and abducting Oromo nationals 3. To form an independent committee from civilians for investigation and Prosecution of the killing and torturing crimes. – HRLHA
Press Release 15th May 2014, Gambella “Ethiopian Government Must Stop Killing Oromos for their Land”
Barattoota Oromoo kan Yuuiversitoota garagaraat osoo karaa nagaan hiriira bahani dhimma 
#OromoProtests- Peaceful Oromo students and civilians were attacked and wounded by Agazi in Nekemte, Western Oromia. Denied medical help. Agazi forced them out from hospital. Medical workers at Nekemte hospital were attacked by Agazi for giving medical services to wounded students and civilians. 20th May 2014
Sources claimed 25-50 were killed. At least seven were confirmed dead in Ambo alone. Many were badly injured and hundreds were taken from streets and university campuses to places of detention, where protestors and opposition party supporters are routinely tortured and raped. Names of confirmed dead, injured or detained are given overleaf. Those killed include Endale Desalegn (Temesgen), and Tasfaye Gashe, both ninth grade students in Ambo. Individuals in the UK are requested to write to their MPs, requesting them to ask the Minister for Africa, Mark Simmonds, and the Minister for International Development, Lynne Featherstone, what the British Government intends to do in response to this latest episode of killing and detaining peaceful demonstrators. Killed: Ababa Kumsa – Wallega Abdi Kamal – Guder Junior Secondary School Abdisa Nagasa – Wallega Endale Desalegn (or Temesgen) – Ambo High School Falmata Bayecha – Jimma 5th yr Medicine Galana Adaba – Jimma 3rd yr Governance Getachew Daraje – Jimma 3rd yr Governence Getahun Jirata – Guder Junior Secondary School Gexe Tafari – Wallega Gurmu Damxoo – Guder Junior Secondary School Hussen Umar – Jimma Israel Habtamu – Jimma Kumala Guddisa – Guder Junior Secondary School Tadesse Gashee – Ambo Liban Macha Junior Secondary School Tashome Dawit – Wallega Zabana Barasa – Jimma 3rd yr Governance (or Oromo Folklore) Injured: Balay Kusa – Mida Qanyi School – W Showa Bayisa Obsa – Mida Qanyi School – W Showa Dararsa Ayana – Mida Qanyi School – W Showa Adama University students detained and beaten: Abrahm Makonin Ararso Abenzari Hagaye Yohannis Abdala Hussen Julio Amnu’el Burka Danka Andu’alam Telahun Alemayo Ayantu Jalta Misha Bilisuma Lamii Agaa Bonsa Badhadha Bati Bultu Wadaju Bultum Chala Galan Dabiso Datamo Fayera Shif Dane Abo Bushira Dani’el Admasu Tamsgen Didaa Ahmed Ibroo Duni Hussen Walbu Ebisa Malka Nuruu Etihafa Tuffa Soraa Fantale Faru Qarsuu Fayisa Girma Biranu Gada Dinqa Bayisa Humin’esa Miliki Fanta Ibraham Musa Awal Ifabas Burisho Nuruu Iliyas Ishetu Ibsa Lami Marga Gabru Lelisa Ayansa Marga Marga Tuffa kiltu Magris Banta Sodaa Muktar Jeyilan Sa’ed Musxafa Kadir Siraj Nuho Gudata Irre Odaa Damis Bonjaa Shibiru Tariku Falke Sidise Jara Tashome Bakele Sabbatichal Tadalu Mamo Bacha Takalinyi Ketama Baharu Tayee Tafara Agaa Tullu Bonus Tura Welbuma Ragasa Qalbesa
The Ethiopian government has used excessive force against students peacefully protesting the Government’s plans to expand the municipal boundaries of Addis Ababa, which would threaten the communities currently under regional jurisdiction, and would no longer be managed by Oromia Regional State. Demonstrators have expressed concern about the displacement of Oromo farmers and residents on the affected land. Below is an article published by 
#OromoProtests Oromo student Wabii Tilahun, 2nd year Afan Oromo student at Ambo University kidnapped by Agazi, his where about is not known.Micaan Kun Wabii Xilahn Jedhama Barata Afan Oromoo Waggaa 2 ffaa Godina Wallagaa Baha Aana limmuu dhufee Umatii Magaala Kana Osoo Ijaa Keessaa Ilaaluu kitabaa isaa 700 Maxxaanfmee Osoo Hin Gurguramiin Hafe Hidha hin hiikamnee jedhuu Waliin Fudhanii Deemaan Hospital Mana Hidha Amboo Keessaa Akkaa Hin Jirreee Biraa Geenyee Jirraa. Essaa Akkaa Busaan ni Wallaallee!!!!! Iyii iyaa dabarsii yaa Ilmaan Oromoo!!! 
Magarsaa Worku, Oromo student of Haromaya University, kidnapped by Agazi #OromoProtests- OBALAYAAN KOO AKKA GARII HUBADHAA DUBISSAA ! INNII KUNI BARAATAA UNIVERSITY HAROO MAYA DHA TII MAQAAN ISSAA MAGARSSA WORKUU DHAA. GAFAA MORMII DIDAA GARBRUMMAA JALQAABEE SAN ISSAA KANATUU XALAAYAA GAFII HAYYAMAA HIRIRAA BAHUU KAN BARESSEE WAJIRALEE DHIMAA LALCHIFTUU HUNDAA KAN AKKA MOTUMMAA FEDERAL FI MANA CAFEE OROMIYAA FI WAJIRALEE BAHA OROMIYAA POLIS KOMISHIONERA FI WARA ILALCHIISSUU HUNDAA HAR
l Gumuz,Muddee 7/2014 Godina Beenishaangul Gumuuz Magaalaa Asoosaa bakkaa Wayyaaneen ayyaanaa sabaa fi sab-lammoota kabajan jira jechuun ololaa jiranitti goototni barattootni Oromoo fi lammiileen cunqurfamoo biyyatti Yuunibarsiitii Asoosaa wallee warraaqsaa irratti wallisuu fi roorroo dhageessifachuun mootummaa Wayyaanee dura dhaabbachuu eegalan. Barruuleen warraaqsaa haalaan bittinneeffaman. Qeerroon barattootni Oromoo wallee warraqsaan ABO fi qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo faarsan.
May 14, 2014 (gadaa) — #OromoProtests FDG continued at Wallaggaa University in the Nekemte Campus on May 14, 2014 to demand that the Addis Ababa Master Plan be annulled, and to demand for the institutionalization of the Special Interests of Oromiyaa over Finfinnee per the Constitution. The Addis Ababa Master Plan is termed as the Master “Genocide” Plan by Oromo activists as it aims to evict millions of Oromo farmers around Addis Ababa (whose Oromo name is Finfinnee), and hand out the land to local and foreign land-grabbers – with the Chinese being main actors of the ongoing land-grabbing campaigns in Oromia/Ethiopia.
(Gochaa Abba irre Motummaa Wayyaanee ummata Oromoo irratti raawachaa jiru, mormudhaan tarkaanfii waloo fi hatattama fudhachuuf Marii waamame ture milkaawe jira. Qophiin kuni, akka aadaa Oromootti Ebbaa Jaarsoole Oromoon dungoo qabsiisuudhaafi yaadannoo Gotoota Oromoo nuf waregamnin jalqabame. Marii kana irratti namoota dhibban lakkawaaman kan argaman yemmu ta’u, bakka bu’oota Hawaasa Oromoo Berliin-HOB. ev fi Hawaasa Oromoo Munchen fi Nannoo-HOMN e.V, Murtii isaani ummataaf ibsani gaaffii ka’eefis deebi kennaniiru. Waluma galatti Hirira nagaa gaafa Caamsa 9, 2014tti geggeffamu ilaalchisanis haalli qindaawee akka jiru ibsame, hawaasonni biro fi Jaarmooli siyaasas misensoota isaani kan hirmaachisan ta’u isa akkasumas, Warri yakka kana ummata kenya irratti rawwatan haga Seeraan Gaafatamani murtii isaani argatanitti fi gaaffin Saba Oromoo deebii hamma argattutti utu giddutti hinkutiin qabsoo kana kessa hirmaachuuf waada galaniiru. Jarmooleen Siyaasaa Oromoos gargarummaa ilaalchaa siyaasaa qabaan dhiphiifataa diina irratti xiyeeffachuun akkataa dantaa ummataa Oromoo kabajchisuu fi tiksuu irratti garaa fuulduraa maarii bal’aa kan hawaasni keenyaa ifatti qoodaa irraa fudhaatuu akkaa yabboo(Forum)n tolfamuu hirmatoonii walgahii kanaa dhammatnii jiru. Tokkummaan Humna! – 03.05.2014 – Muenchen) 
(Oromo Community in Munich, Germany; May 3, 2014) 
(Oromo Community in Munich, Germany; May 3, 2014) 
(Oromo Community in Munich, Germany; May 3, 2014) 
(Oromo Community in Munich, Germany; May 3, 2014) 
(Oromo Community in Munich, Germany; May 3, 2014) 
(Oromo Community in Munich, Germany; May 3, 2014) 
(Oromo Community in Munich, Germany; May 3, 2014) 
(Photo: Oromo Diaspora in Minnesota – the largest community outside Oromia – met on Sunday, May 4, 2014, to discuss on how to best help Oromo Students’ #OromoProtests) 
(Photo: Oromo Diaspora in Minnesota – the largest community outside Oromia – met on Sunday, May 4, 2014, to discuss on how to best help Oromo Students’ #OromoProtests) 
(Photo: Oromo Diaspora in Minnesota – the largest community outside Oromia – met on Sunday, May 4, 2014, to discuss on how to best help Oromo Students’ #OromoProtests)
– Ambo and Other Towns Around Finfinnee: the expansive Addis Ababa will ultimately bring these Oromian towns under its authority per the TPLF plan: 
The Oromo people are opposing the TPLF’s new master plan to destroy the Oromo nation, identity and home land: 
Ebla 30/2014 uuummaanni Oromoo fi Dargaggeessii Oromoo Baraattootni Oromoo fi Barattootni Oromoo sadarkaa 1ffaa, 2ffaa, Qopha’inaa fi University Amboo yeroo amma kanatti hiriiraa guddaa guyyaa shaniif itti fufiinsaan gaggeessa jiru. Kessaattuu isa guyyaa har’aa wanti adda isa godhuu, Ummaanni Oromoo Magaalaa Amboo Jaarsaa, Jaartii, Manguddoon, Da’imnii waggaa 8tii olii, Shamarraan Dargaggeessii, Daldaltootni, fi Barattootni utuu hin hafiin keessatti qoodaa guddaa Fudhachuun FDG gaggeeffamaa jira. daandiin konkolaataa Finfinnee Amboo keessa dabarsee Dhiha Oromiyaa geessuu Cufameera,Gudarii fi Amboo Gidduu Bakka 16ttii Daandiin mukaa fi dhagaa Goommaa Konkolaataa karaa irratti Guuruun gubuun, Warannii Wayyaanee akka Wallaggatti gadi hin darbinee Amboo ittisee qabee Bilisummaa isaaf falmachaa jir.
Manneen barnootaa sadarkaa lammaffaa fi Qophaainaa keessatti barattootni Oromoo goototni imaanaa gootawwanii tiksan gaaffii abbaa biyyummaa itti fufuun magaala Gimbii mana barumsaa sadarkaa lammaffaa fi Qophaainaa Kompiriheensivii Gimbii keessatti FDG gaggeessan. Barattootni Oromoo gaaffiin mirgaa ilmaan Oromoo QBO keessatti wareegama baasaa as gahee fi haras itti jiru deebiuu qaba jechuudhaan FDG gaggeessanii jiran. Barattootni oromoo kunneen mana barumsaa keessatti walgahuudhaan tokkummaadhaan ABO gaachana ilmaan Oromoo tahuu kan dhaadatan Yoommuu tahu waardiyaan mana barumsaa fi waraanni mootummaa wayyaanee dura dhaabbatus gaaffii mirgaa irraa humni duuba nu deebisu tokko illee hin jiru, Uummatnis gamtaadhaan kaee falma jabaa gaggeessuutu irraa eegama jechuudhaan murtii dhumaa dabarfatanii jiran. Manneen barnootaa sadarkaa tokkoffaa keessattis barattootni Oromoo gaaffii mirgaa abbaa biyyummaa fi walabummaa Oromiyaa itti fufuu Qeerroon Gimbii gabaasee jira.
Mootummaa wayyaanee irratti diddaan Barattootaa jabaachuudhaan kan itti fufe Yuunivarsiitii Dirree Dawaa keessatti finiinuun itti fufe. Mootummaan wayyaanee garboomfataa dha, Hundeedhaan buqqauu qaba, Kanneen hidhaman nuuf haa hiikaman, Siidaan Minilk haa buqqau, Finfinneen handhuura Oromiyaatu, Lafa naannawa Finfinnee Murree hin kenninu jechuudhaan dhaadannoo qababachuudhaan ganama saa 8:00 AM irraa kaasanii dhaadannoo dhageessisuu kan eegalan Barattootni Yuunivarsiitii Dirree Dawaa Uummatni Oromoo magaala Dirree Dawaa keessatti argamus Dargaggootni Oromoo hiriiraa fi dhaadannoo dhageessifamaa turetti dabalamuun mootummaa wayyaanee dhiphina guddaa keessa seensisee jira.Goototni barattoota Oromoo Yuunivarsiitii Dirree Dawaa mootummaan wayyaanee hiriira nagaa seera biyyaan lafa kaawe deebisee dhorkuun isaa abbaa irrummaa isaa dachaan mirkansa kan jedhan yoommuu tahu wayyaaneen waraana hedduumminaan bobbaasuun reebichaa fi doorsisaan akkasumas hidhaan dura dhaabbachuu yaaltus barattootni Oromoo gamtaan kauun diina dura dhaabbachuun dhaadannoo dhageessisaa oolanii jiran.
Ebla 30/2014 Godina 
2nd May 2014 
Below is Finfinnee (Addis Ababa) University as invaded by Agazi/TPLF Army 1st May 2014
Agazi, the TPLF’s murdering forces are marching with gun against unarmed peaceful demonstrators 
Hu
2nd May 2014, victims of TPLF’s voilence @Najjoo, Westwrn Oromia. Shamaran sadii fi dhira tokko Dhukassa federal midhamanii dhigni isaan gar malee kan dhangala’ee kunoo kana fakkata! @Nadjo Hospital!! 
2nd May 2014, Oromia 
2nd May 2014,Oromo student Mohammed Abdulhamid shot dead by Agazi while at peaceful demonstrations at Balee Robee, Oromiyaa. 
#OromoProtests 2nd May 2014, Daarimuu, 
“Hiriyyottan koo lubbuu koo olchitaniif galanni koo guddadha. Kan na biraa lubbuun keessan darbeef waqayyoon lubbuu keessan haa yaadatu. Qabsa’aan ni kufa qabsoon itti fufa.” 
#OromoProtests 
Mothers of Oromo students crying for their lost sons and daughters killed by TPLF snipers 
Oromian Economist 