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Before airing the full version of Haacaaluu’s last interview with OMN, the government – through relentless media propaganda – had created much anticipation on potential revelations from his replies to journalist Guyo Wario’s questions. It turned out to be much ado about nothing. There’s hardly any content in the interview that supports the Attorney General’s claim that he had been receiving death threats from OLF-SG. Even the most die-hard of PP supporters hoping for incriminating material on OMN staff must have felt highly let down. If there’s anything that stands out from the interview, it’s the fact that Haacaaluu’s last verdict on current state of affairs is that “the Prime Minister has blood on his hands”. The interview is much more damaging to Abiy and his henchmen than to any other group or political entity. From the outset, the government showed little interest in finding the actual perpetrators and delivering proper justice for the victim’s family. The morning after Haacaaluu’s assassination, officials began telling the public about the parties involved in the killing and what their motive was with absolute certainty.There’s no way they could have known at that point unless they had prior intelligence and if they had that why didn’t they provide him protection in the first place? The entire thing is a poorly written drama whose purpose is to divide Oromos along pronvincial lines and help PP consolidate its grip on power. The government has already delivered a political verdict on this case and it’s naive to expect a different outcome from this process. The probe into the killing has to be carried out by an independent and impartial body for it to have a meaningful and acceptable outcome.What we’re seeing now is a political show trial whose intent is annihilating political opponents with Haacaaluu’s killing being used as a useful pretext. For all we know, the assassination may have been carefully planned and executed by a certain wing of PP. In fact it makes much more sense to suspect that he was targeted by reactionary forces working in cahoots with this government. In an older interview with Dejene Gutema of OMN, Haacaaluu had revealed that he’d been attacked at least five times by groups affiliated to these forces while going about his business in the city. And right after his killing, having found a convenient reason to jail and eliminate Oromo nationalists, their agents inside government pounced at this opportunity and arrested their long time nemesis, Jawar. Why on earth would they jail an innocent man who is mourning the killing of his closest friend and brother? It’s just so heartless and vindictive.There’s no doubt that Abiy finds himself impotent and emasculated in the presence of Oromo political heavyweight Jawar Mohammed. The man, who everyone once hoped would transition Ethiopia into a democracy, has now jailed his main political opponents with bogus charges and effectively transformed himself into an autocrat with fascistic tendencies. Abiy and those cheering from the side may temporary feel invincible at this point but they will fail and they will fail miserably.The movement will overcome this! The movement will prevail! #Oromoprotests#JusticeforHaacaaluuHundeessaa#FreeJawarMohammed#FreeAllPoliticalPrisoners
Prime minister Abiy Ahmed has been lauded for his democratic reforms. But Amnesty International are now urging him to investigate allegations of serious human rights abuses
A man waves an Oromo flag as people from the community gather in Addis Ababa in October 2019, on the eve of Irreecha, their thanksgiving festival. Photograph: Yonas Tadesse/AFP Tom Gardner in Addis Ababa Published on Fri 29 May 2020 06.15 BST
Ethiopia’s Nobel peace prize-winning prime minister Abiy Ahmed has been urged to investigate allegations that state security forces have committed a raft of serious human rights abuses including torture and unlawful killings since he came to power in 2018.
According to a report by Amnesty International, published on Friday, Ethiopia’s military and police in its two most populous regions arbitrarily detained more than 10,000 people, summarily evicted whole families from their homes – some of which were burnt and destroyed – and in some cases were complicit in inter-communal violence targeting minorities.
Federal authorities have not responded to the report, which focuses on the period between January and December 2019 in the regions of Amhara and Oromia.
“Given the gravity and the duration [of the period in which abuses were reported] I cannot believe top officials are not aware of what was happening,” the report’s author, Fisseha Tekle, told the Guardian. “And if they are not then it is a dereliction of duty.”
In Oromia, security forces are waging a counter-insurgency campaign against rebels from the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA), an armed guerrilla movement demanding more autonomy for Oromos, which returned from exile in 2018 after Abiy removed it from Ethiopia’s list of terrorist organisations.
The move was part of a package of democratic reforms which won the prime minister widespread acclaim and, along with making peace with neighbouring Eritrea, secured him the Nobel peace prize last year. Shortly after becoming prime minister Abiy also confessed that security officials had in the past committed torture, and promised to ensure the sector was fully accountable in the future.
But the OLA has since returned to armed conflict, and accuses the government of failing to deliver its promises of more democracy and self-rule for Oromos.
Fighting in western and southern parts of Oromia has involved targeted killings of local officials and community leaders and what the UN has described as “serious human rights violations”. In Oromia’s Guji district the unrest had driven 80,000 people from their homes by the start of this year.
Amnesty said it had a list of 39 people suspected of supporting the OLA who had been unlawfully executed in two parts of Guji since January 2019. It also said that on a single day in December 2018, soldiers from the federal military killed 13 people in the town of Finchawa in West Guji. One of those killed was an old woman selling milk on the street, according to an eyewitness who spoke to Amnesty.
Security forces are estimated to have detained more than 10,000 men and women suspected of supporting or working for the OLA, among other abuses documented by the organisation.
Many were detained for several months without being charged, in violation of both national and international human rights laws, under conditions which at times amounted to torture, the report found. Detainees were made to undergo two months of “training” in subjects such as constitutionalism, the rule of law and the history of the Oromo people’s struggle.
In Amhara, according to the report, regional police, militia and local vigilante groups engaged in targeted attacks on ethnic Qemant, a minority group demanding more autonomy, in inter-communal violence which resulted in at least 130 deaths last year. In January 2019, at least 58 people were reportedly killed in less than 24 hours and buried in mass graves.
Nobody has yet been held accountable for the atrocity.
Amnesty said it had sought responses to its findings from nine government offices including the defence ministry and the attorney-general’s office but had only received a response from Amhara’s regional security bureau, which denied that state security forces had been involved in any atrocities. Suspicion and fear linger as Ethiopia’s campus wars go quietRead more
The rights group called on the government to carry out full investigations into human rights violations and to order security forces to stop carrying out unlawful executions, arbitrary arrests and detention, as well as forced evictions and destruction of property belonging to people suspected of supporting opposition political parties or armed groups.
In February last year the former head of the Ethiopian army said it had embarked on “deep institutional reform” as part of the democratic changes sweeping the nation.
The head of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission, Daniel Bekele, told the Guardian: “While the Amnesty findings and ongoing reports of killings and arrests in parts of Oromia region should be taken seriously and fully investigated, it is also important to understand the complex nature of the security operations where armed groups are seriously destabilising the affected areas.”
The prime minister’s office said it would put the Guardian’s request for official comment to the peace ministry, which did not respond in time for publication.
More from Oromian Economist Sources:
Rape, extrajudicial executions, homes burnt down in Ethiopia's security operations in Amhara and Oromia; findings of new report we are releasing tomorrow. For more information, contact press@amnesty.org pic.twitter.com/Gf5OxI3S7u
— AmnestyEasternAfrica (@AmnestyEARO) May 28, 2020
Ethiopian authorities detained the leader of the Oromo Liberation Front, Abdi Regassa, on 29 February 2020. He was held incommunicado for 72 hours and remains imprisoned without charges. Mr Abdi Regassa has been held in detention for reasons that remain unknown. He has not been informed of the charges against him.
Under international human rights standards, anyone who is arrested or detained must be informed of the reasons why they are being deprived of their liberty at the time of their arrest. International standards also require that individuals are brought before a judge promptly after arrest or detention. However, based on the information available to Advocacy for Oromia, as of 29 February the authorities had not formally informed Mr Abdi Regassa of the grounds for his detention nor had they brought him before a court.
Furthermore, authorities did not provide Mr Abdi with access to his family or a phone call until 72 hours after his detention. People held in custody are entitled to notify a third person that they have been detained. Ethiopian authorities have imprisoned, harassed and intimidated Oromo politicians and activists for more than fifteen decades due to their political activism. We believe that such detention without access to the outside world facilitates torture.
The Ethiopian security forces picked Mr Abdi from his home after he returned home with the OLF leadership on Sept 15, 2018. Mr Abdi is a selfless man who chose to give all he has for Oromo cause for more than thirty years. Advocacy for Oromia affirms Mr Abdi Regassa is a prisoner of conscience who was imprisoned solely for remains committed to the Oromo cause.
Reports suggest he may have been tortured while in detention, something Advocacy for Oromia has not been able to verify in a context where the judiciary are fully controlled by the Executive. Advocacy for Oromia requests the government to unconditional release and access to legal counsel and family while in custody. Mr Abdi doesn’t belong in jail. Mr Abdi is an Oromo hero; he is the future of Oromo leadership.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION
Mass mobilisation is needed to ensure that the Ethiopian authorities release him, and refrain from potentially taking actions that may amount to ill-treatment against him. Please show your SOLIDARITY AND SUPPORT for him in every way you can: changing your social media profile, and campaigning for justice. If you are in Oromia, show up at the police station. Be peaceful. Have his picture. Demand his release. If you are elsewhere, use your social media platforms and demand that justice be done.
The police must account for the whereabouts of Abdi Regassa – a senior member of the opposition political party Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) – who remains missing after security officers in Addis Ababa broke into his home and arrested him alongside eight other party members on 29 February.
The other eight party members were released later the same day, but Abdi Regassa was not. He may have been subjected to enforced disappearance and is at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. The police have denied they are still holding him according to his lawyer and family members.The police deny that they have him yet he was last seen in their custody and there is no evidence that he has been released. Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes
“Abdi Regassa’s family and lawyers have spent the last couple of days frantically searching police stations and detention centres across Addis Ababa in an attempt to locate him,” said Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.
“The police deny that they have him yet he was last seen in their custody and there is no evidence that he has been released. This is understandably causing his family considerable anxiety and distress.”The authorities must come clean and immediately disclose his whereabouts and allow him access to his family and lawyer. Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes
In the early hours of 29 February, security officers stormed a guest house in the southern part of Addis Ababa where five senior members of the OLF and four supporters were staying. All nine were arrested and taken to the local police station.
The OLF members were then split into two groups; the first group of six were moved to the Addis Ababa Police Commission and eventually released within 24 hours of arrest.
The second group of three, comprising Abdi Regassa and Mikael Gobena, both members of OLF’s Executive Committee, and Kenessa Ayana, a member of OLF’s Central Committee, were taken to an unmarked unofficial detention compound around the 6 Kilo area in Addis Ababa. While Mikael Gobena and Kenessa Ayana were released within 24 hours of arrest, the police continued to detain Abdi Regassa, the two told Amnesty International.The Ethiopian authorities must stop arbitrarily arresting and detaining opposition figures. They must immediately disclose Abdi Regassa’s whereabouts, charge him with a recognisable crime under the law or release him without further delay. Seif Magango, Amnesty International’s Deputy Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes
The police confiscated the mobile phones, driving licenses, passports and bank ATM cards of all the OLF members before releasing them, leaving them stranded.
“The Ethiopian authorities must stop arbitrarily arresting and detaining opposition figures. They must immediately disclose Abdi Regassa’s whereabouts, charge him with a recognisable crime under the law or release him without further delay,” said Seif Magango.
#Ethiopian police arrest Oromo Liberation Front #OLF leader Abdi Regassa then deny having him throwing his family into a panic https://t.co/zFBds2JPyj
The whereabout of one of the OLF's Executive Members, Abdi Regassa, remained unknown after government security forces detained him with other OLF's higher officials. pic.twitter.com/qG89WJIR4E
5 #OLF leaders have been arrested after police searched their houses with out court warrant. @AbiyAhmedAli surely taking the country back to its old authoritarian tradition of suppression and intimidation. Will he succeed? Bifa kanaan Abiyyi hunda hidhatti guuruuf deema. pic.twitter.com/VzmUxC5bQd
Ethiopia arrests ex-Somali region head over rights abuses
Abdi Mohamed Omar arrested on charges of human rights abuses and stoking deadly ethnic clashes in restive region. Click here to read Aljazeera news
Update: The police have said they have found five Kalashnikov and four pistols at the house where former #Somali state president Abdi Iley was arrested earlier. The fire arms were placed under police jurisdiction. pic.twitter.com/ZfDn69tsXd
HRW on arrest of ex Prez of Somali Regional State,"Hopefully, arrest of Abdi Illey is start to justice for victims of serious crimes in region.Other officials who directed n supported abuses, incl crimes against humanity&war crimes, shld also be held to account- @MariaHRWAfrica
Today’s arrest of Abdi Iley is a step in the right direction towards accountability and justice for all those who have suffered under his brutal dictatorship. He has left a bitter legacy of pain & suffering for which the noble people of the Ogaden region must be healed. pic.twitter.com/e6GeUcuAid
More than 8,000 Ethiopian refugees have arrived in Moyale Town, Marsabit County in Kenya with tales on how they were evacuated from their homes by soldiers.
They fled the country in the wake of their government’s crackdown on dissidents, with Ethiopian soldiers being accused of killing at least 13 people on Saturday.
The refugees accused the Ethiopian government of abdicating its responsibility of protecting its citizens.
The camps where the 8,200 Ethiopians are staying in Moyale are at Butiye Social Hall, Somare, an NGO camp at Moyale, a plot owned by Marsabit Governor Mahmoud Mohamed and Dambala Fachana Village.
Mr Harsame Halakhe, a 68-year-old father of 19, said that when the soldiers raided their homes, they ordered them to lie down and shot some of them dead.
“Even places of worship, including mosques, became chambers of death. People were killed in a mosque as we watched. We escaped death narrowly and fled with children and cattle,” he said.
Ms Kashure Guyo, 18, said the soldiers attacked them on Saturday at Shawa-bare, a town located three kilometres from the Kenya-Ethiopia border.
She said the soldiers shot at anyone they came across. She was injured in the leg and hand as she fled. “They just came to the market and started shooting. We had to flee for our lives with bullets flying all over.”
Ms Abdia Galma, a 56-year-old mother of 11, said the conflict had been building up over the past several years.
She said the genesis of the crisis was land that had been allocated to some members of one community she did not name.
The refugees spoke even as the Kenya Red Cross Society sounded the alarm over the influx. The society appealed to the humanitarian and security agencies to set up a proper camp for the refugees.
Even as more refugees arrived in the Kenyan border town yesterday, there was no designated area for the consolidation of the numbers and their registration, KRCS upper eastern coordinator Talaso Chucha said.
She noted that the refugees were arriving in the villages, where they were being assisted by their Kenyan relatives and friends, with no proper record of how many they were. Ms Chucha also decried the security risk as there was no system in place to screen and monitor the movement of the refugees arriving in the town.
“So far, they are 8,200 and more are arriving every hour. We have identified at least five points, where they have been assisted by the local community, but we cannot coordinate help when they are scattered. There is a need for a camp to enable us to mobilise resources and avert a crisis,” she said.
At least 15 paramedics had been deployed to Moyale to help the refugees, she said.
“There is a major potential health risk for the refugees and the host community because there are no amenities in the places where they are staying. There is no food, clean water and bedding.
“Children are defecating in the open. Although, so far, there are no reported cases of serious diseases, we cannot rule out an outbreak of cholera if the situation is not addressed,” Ms Chucha warned.
The National Drought and Management Authority’s Marsabit County boss, Mr Golicha Guyo, Tuesday said they had called an emergency meeting with all the stakeholders to assess the situation.
“We want to come up with an urgent solution to the crisis because more than 50 people are living in one home,” he said.
Kenyan Red cross extending humanitarian support to the over 50K Oromos displaced by the attacks and massacre of the TPLF military in Moyale. #MoyaleMassacrepic.twitter.com/FJEmtLEFyr
A brutal crackdown on protest and the return of soldiers to the streets of Oromia region has fuelled growing anger and frustration with central government, The Guardian
Ethiopia’s newly proclaimed state of emergency risks further closing the space for peaceful political activity, Human Rights Watch said today. The action dashed hopes that the release of key political prisoners days earlier was a first step toward more widespread political reforms. The government should promptly repeal or revise restrictions that violate the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly, association, and expression protected under international human rights law.
On February 17, 2018, following Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn’s resignation, Defense Minister Siraj Fegessa announced a countrywide six-month state of emergency. The Directive of the State of Emergency contains overly broad restrictions and vague language that will facilitate government abuses, Human Rights Watch said. During Ethiopia’s previous countrywide state of emergency, from October 2016 until August 2017, security forces arrested more than 20,000 people and committed widespread rights violations.
“Ethiopia’s new state of emergency threatens to block the peaceful expression of views on critical issues facing the country,” said Felix Horne, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Banning public protest and handing the army sweeping new powers to crack down on demonstrators, media and political parties violates rights and crushes the potential for meaningful dialogue on the way forward.”
The directive bans all protests without permission of the Command Post, a body led by the prime minister to manage the state of emergency. A blanket ban on protests is an overly broad restriction on the right to peaceful assembly, including during a state of emergency. If any criminal acts are committed during a protest, the authorities can prosecute them under Ethiopian law.
The directive also broadly forbids disseminating any information deemed critical of the state of emergency. The Command Post is empowered to “close any media to safeguard the constitution,” the government’s news agency said. And regional government media outlets are prohibited from commenting on the state of emergency without Command Post permission. These measures pose a serious threat to Ethiopia’s media and expanding social media community, and place at risk Ethiopians who benefit from the media in the Ethiopian diaspora.
Much of the language in the directive is vague, with many terms undefined, including restrictions on “communicating with anti-peace groups,” or any acts that “disrupt tolerance and unity.” Given the government’s lengthy history of conflating peaceful expressions of dissent with criminal activity, the vague provisions provide Ethiopia’s abusive security forces with seemingly unfettered power to determine state-of-emergency violations.
Other problematic provisions give security forces standing permission to enter schools and universities to “arrest and stop mobs,” to search houses without a warrant, and to ban various forms of peaceful protest including stay-at-home strikes, closing shops, and blocking roads.
Anyone found violating the state of emergency is subject to arrest without warrant by the Command Post to face charges or be compelled to undergo “rehabilitation”- a euphemism for detention without charge often involving abusive treatment and political indoctrination. Torture and other ill-treatment in detention remain serious problems in Ethiopia.
Under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which Ethiopia ratified in 1993, during a state of emergency a government may only derogate, or suspend, certain rights “to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation.” These measures must be of an exceptional and temporary nature. Other rights, such as the right to life and freedom from enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment, may never be suspended. Under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, no derogation of charter rights is allowed during a time of emergency.
The United Nations Human Rights Committee, the international expert body that monitors compliance with the ICCPR, has statedthat governments need to “provide careful justification not only for their decision to proclaim a state of emergency but also for any specific measures based on such a proclamation.”
Ethiopia’s constitution permits the government to impose a state of emergency following a foreign invasion or due to the “breakdown of law and order which endangers the Constitutional order and which cannot be controlled by the regular law enforcement.” While there were sporadic protests and incidents of unrest in the week prior to the announcement, Human Rights Watch knows of no evidence of a breakdown of law and order that could not be handled through regular law enforcement. A day before the state of emergency was announced, the communications minister denied that a state of emergency would be declared because “there are no grounds for it.”
It was not clear how the state of emergency will impact upcoming countrywide local elections scheduled for May. The new restrictions raise serious concerns as to whether candidates, particularly from opposition parties, will be able to fully and freely campaign, Human Rights Watch said.
The government has not addressed most protester grievances amid a growing power struggle among parties within the ruling Ethiopian Peoples’ Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition. Large-scale and mainly peaceful anti-government protests have swept through Oromia, Ethiopia’s largest region, since November 2015, and the Amhara region since July 2016 despite extensive government restrictions on peaceful assembly and expression. Additional clashes over the last year, precipitated by attacks from the Somali regional government’s abusive Liyu police inside Oromia region, resulted in hundreds of deaths and over one million people displaced from both the Oromia and Somali regions.
The United States government, historically a close ally of Ethiopia, issued an unusually critical statement to “strongly disagree” with the declaration of a state of emergency. Other allied governments should follow the US lead and strongly urge restoration of basic rights and the opening up of political space, Human Rights Watch said.
Ethiopia’s constitution requires approval of any state of emergency by two-thirds of the House of Peoples’ Representatives within 15 days of its declaration — by March 4. House members should either vote to reject the state of emergency or ensure that all provisions inconsistent with international law are repealed or substantially revised, Human Rights Watch said.
“Restricting basic rights has led Ethiopia into crisis, and further suppression of rights through a new state of emergency only risks making matters worse,” Horne said. “The government’s use of a state of emergency risks plunging Ethiopia into a greater crisis. The parliament can play an important role in pushing for meaningful reforms, starting with rejecting unlawful restrictions under the state of emergency.”
A brutal crackdown on protest and the return of soldiers to the streets of Oromia region has fuelled growing anger and frustration with central government
By Tom Gardner in Ambo, The Guardian,
The streets of Ambo have seen the return of military patrols since ethnic Oromos protested against a shipment of smuggled sugar on 25 October. Photograph: Tom Gardner
It began with a rumour. On 25 October, residents of Ambo, 120km west of the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, heard word on social media that a shipment of smuggled sugar was due to pass through town.
“Sugar is so expensive now, the price has tripled,” explains 18-year-old Israel, a first-year undergraduate at Ambo University. “And they’re exporting it to other parts of the country but the people here don’t have any. It’s not fair.”
So Israel joined the large crowd of young men and women that erupted in protest as three trucks rolled down the high street later that day, seizing hold of the vehicles and setting up roadblocks. He threw stones in the ensuing confrontation with police and covered his face with a scarf to avoid the teargas launched in his direction. And he watched in fear as the national military entered the town that evening and, the next morning, began firing live bullets, killing 10 people and injuring more.
“They were shooting at us with silencers on,” he says. “One of the boys killed was only 15. They killed girls too – one was my friend. A lot of my friends have died.”
The sugar rumour and the tragic events it sparked exposed the bitter web of grievance felt by many in Ambo and the surrounding region of Oromia, home to Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group: anger at what is perceived to be an unequal distribution of the country’s wealth, a pervasive sense of ethnic marginalisation, frustration with the endemic corruption that facilitates crime and contraband, and, above all, a deep mistrust of the authoritarian federal government in Addis Ababa.
Protests and strikes have resumed across Oromia since a nine-month state of emergency intended to quell them was lifted in August. In September hundreds of Oromos were killed and tens of thousands displaced amid an outbreak of sustained violence along Oromia’s border with the neighbouring Somali region. And reports of communal clashes in other parts of the country have emerged in recent weeks.
But for many the return of violence to Ambo’s streets was especially significant: it is the symbolic home of the Oromo struggle.
“Ambo is the heartbeat of the revolution,” says Bilisuma Deberie, a former Oromo activist and political prisoner now living in Addis Ababa. “It is where it all began.”
The gates of Ambo University. Classes were suspended for a week after the unrest. Photograph: Tom Gardner
Since the October protest, federal police have been stationed in Ambo and other towns along the road to Addis Ababa, some of which experienced similar confrontations between security forces and protesters in the days that followed. Ambo is once again occupied by military troops, whose street patrols bring back unpleasant memories of life under emergency rule.
“They walk around the city with their guns, intimidating people,” says Galana, a student in health science at the university. “People are afraid.”
Shops and businesses were shut for several days after the unrest. Classes at schools and universities were suspended for a week, as students protested against the extra police presence on campus.
“Students fear for their lives,” says Galana’s friend, Ganeti, also a student at the university. “Some don’t want to come to class.”
Though they avoided joining the protests for fear of violence, both sympathise with the cause. In particular, they echo many in Ambo and elsewhere in expressing anger at the mass displacement of Oromos from the Somali region, and outrage at the perceived failure of the central government to protect them from what survivors say were unprovoked attacks and human rights abuses by Somali regional security forces.
In the weeks running up to the protests many of the displaced had arrived in Ambo and the surrounding area seeking shelter.
The fact that the military were sent quickly into Ambo has fuelled suspicions about the motives of the central government. Gadisa Desalegn, head of the town’s communication bureau, says he doesn’t know where the order for the intervention came from. “The people are demanding an answer,” he says.
Since the uprising, the town has been gripped by speculation and conspiracy theory – fed in part by social media – and many now believe the protests were the work of outsiders sent by the central government to incite violence to justify reimposing emergency law.
“The sugar rumour was intentionally circulated to provoke unrest,” says Habtamu Wondemagne, a 28-year-old rickshaw driver. “Sugar always comes through this town – there’s nothing unusual about that.”
He points to two burnt-out trucks on Ambo’s main road and, like other young men in the town, says it was the military, not protesters, who set them alight during the unrest. “This was not a genuine protest,” he says.
The belief that outsiders are responsible for destabilising the region is common across Oromia, strengthened by the mass arrests of largely non-Oromos by the regional government in recent weeks, which has led to concerns that minorities in the area are being targeted unfairly.
Others blame the protests on members of the new Oromo regional administration, pointing to an upsurge in ethno-nationalist sentiment across Oromia in recent months. “A wing has emerged within the leadership that plays the ultra Oromo-nationalist card and could be behind this unrest,” argues René Lefort, a longtime observer of Ethiopian politics.
He is among those who argue that instability across Ethiopia stems in large part from the weakness of the central government and efforts of the various ethno-regional wings of the ruling coalition party, the Ethiopian People’s Ruling Democratic Front (EPRDF), to attain political pre-eminence.
But the most striking shift in Ambo and elsewhere in Oromia over the past year is the widespread popularity of the new regional leadership, with many singling out Lemma Megersa, the regional president, for approval.
“I love him,” says Israel, the young protester. “He is my life.”
Under Megersa, Oromia’s government has promised land redistribution, imposed higher taxes on foreign investors, and demanded that they provide more jobs for local young people.
Locals also note that demonstrations this year have been policed more peacefully by local security forces. The Oromo police, once seen as lackeys of the ruling party, are now widely considered allies in the struggle against the federal government.
For residents of Ambo, it is the assertiveness of this new government that best explains the brutality of the federal military in suppressing the October protest.
“Lemma and his administration are on the side of the people,” says Galana, the student. “The problem now is the central government.”
First there are the undisputed events. Then there are the media reactions, and these – apart from a few rare exceptions, among them some of Ethiopia’s private media – have been perplexing.
Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn at a ress conference in Addis Ababa, October 2016. Michael Kappeler/Press Association. All rights reserved.
In their intensity, scale and duration, the big demonstrations of 2015 and 2016 in the country’s most populous states (or regions), Oromya and Amhara, showed the level of rejection of the ruling power. After a respite attributable to the declaration of the state of emergency, they have recently flared up again in Oromya. Furthermore, the so-called “ethnic clashes” in Oromya and in the Somali Regional State suggest that the same ruling power is now coming apart.
Let us briefly recapitulate from the beginning:
– The population of the border zone between the two federal states of Oromya and Somali has long been mixed, with recurrent conflicts over resources, in particular between pastoralists for access to grazing land and water. Sometimes violent, these disputes were generally settled by traditional mechanisms of mediation.
– In 2004, a referendum was held in 420 municipalities (kebele) of this border zone, to decide which region they should belong to. 80% voted to be part of Oromya. However, this preference was never enacted on the ground.
– In 2007, the ONLF (Ogaden National Liberation Front), a secessionist movement that is the embodiment of Somali irredentism in Ethiopia, attacked an oilfield and killed 74 people, seven of them Chinese.
– The government then decided, as it were, to subcontract the struggle against the ONLF by setting up, training and equipping the only regional armed force in the whole federal state of Ethiopia, the Liyu Police. According to sources, this force now consists of between 25,000 and 45,000 men, as compared with the federal army’s slightly over 200,000.
– Gradually, the Liyu Police extended its field of action to the fight against Al Shabaab in Somalia, supporting the regular Ethiopian army that had been operating there since late 2006.
– International organisations have regularly denounced the multiple and serious human rights violations committed by the Liyu Police in its counterinsurgency actions.
– A few years earlier, Abdi Mohamoud Omar, better known as Abdi Illey, a former electrician turned minor security service officer in the region, had begun a lightning rise through the political ranks: Member of Parliament, head of the regional security services and, in 2010, President of the Region, all with the decisive support of local top brass.
– Shortly before his death in 2012, the country’s all-powerful premier Meles Zenawi seems to have realised his mistake. He considered dismissing Abdi Illey and bringing the force that had become his praetorian guard, the Liyu Police, back into line. It is not known whether in the end he was unwilling or unable to achieve this.
– In October 2015, Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn was planning the same move, but was forced to backpedal within just a few days. In explanation, he cited the force’s fundamental role in the fight against the ONLF. In reality, however, the pressure from Abdi Illey’s military backers in particular was too great, and he also made it clear that if he was dismissed, the Liyu Police would continue to obey him and him alone.
– In October 2016, the government justified its declaration of the state of emergency by the need to end protest in Oromya and Amhara state. The task of implementing the measure was assigned to a “Command Post” that was de facto under the control of the heads of the army and the security services. In reality, the country’s entire administration was “militarised”. In particular, authority over all the armed structures of each of the country’s nine states (regional police, security, militias, etc.), shifted from their governments to the Command Post and therefore – at least on paper – to the Liyu Police as well.
– Two months later, i.e. while the state of emergency was in full swing, the Liyu Police carried out its first significant raid in Oromya, and such raids proliferated in the months that followed. Hundreds were killed. According to the Oromo government spokesman, Adissu Arega, “overall, some 416,807 Oromo have been displaced this year alone in a series of attacks by the Somali region’s Special Police Force” (Associated Press, 17/09/2017) – it is not clear whether the year in question refers to the western or Ethiopian calendar (the period between 10 September 2016 and 2017). The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies stated (30/09/2017) that the “ethnic clashes have led to the displacement of more than 45,000 households (225,000 people)”, though without specifying the period concerned. In any case, it is the largest forced population displacement since the one that followed the end of the war with Eritrea (1998-2000).
– For a long time, the Oromo government spokesman remained vague about the perpetrators of these raids, describing them simply as “armed men”, which can mean anyone in an area where carrying a weapon is common. He claimed that their objective is twofold: plunder and at least symbolic annexation, since they raise the Somali flag in place of the Oromo flag (Addis Standard, 14/09/2017).
– The tension escalated after the arrest by the Liyu Police and subsequent murder of two Oromo officials (denied by the Somali government spokesman) followed, perhaps in direct response, by a massacre of 18 to 32 people (depending on the sources), the large majority of them Somali, in Awaday in Oromya. Ethnic cleansing was unleashed, essentially in Oromya since, according to the federal government spokesman, 70,000 Oromos and 392 Somalis have been “displaced”, once again with no clear identification of the period involved (The Reporter, 7/10/2017)
– Interviews with “displaced” Oromos confirm that their departure was mostly forced by Somali officials: Liyu Police, Somali militias, local authorities. Some even report that their Somali neighbours tried their best to protect them. On the other hand, there is no reliable information on what role, if any, their Oromo counterparts may have played in the expulsion of Somalis from Oromya.
– On either side, the Somali and Oromo spokesmen are engaged in a war of words, but the leaders of the two states remain silent. On the Somali side, there are claims of “mass killings and torching of villages” by members of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF, a long-standing armed secessionist movement, described as “terrorist” by Addis-Abeba) “in coordination with officials of the Oromo regional state”, the latter having “direct links” with the former (Voice of America, 12/09/17). But no proof has been forthcoming. On the Oromo side, the finger was eventually pointed directly at the Liyu Police and the Somali militia, but the Somali authorities are never implicated (Associated Press, 14/09/2017).
“Border disputes”
In response to these indisputably documented events, the media reactions – apart from a few rare exceptions, among them some of Ethiopia’s private media – have been perplexing. First, a long absence of information. Then a one sentence summary: “the events triggering the recent violence between Oromo and Somali remain unclear” (Africa News, 7/10/2017). Overall, these events are presented as a resurgence of ordinary “clashes”, as “tribal border conflict”, “fighting between two ethnic groups”, “interethnic violence”, motivated by a long tradition of “territorial competition which often leads to disputes and conflicts over resources, including wells and grazing land” (BBC, 18/09/2017), in short just another revival of the old conflicts typical of border zones.
As if, one fine morning, for no particular reason, a few overexcited Oromos had decided to turn on their Somali neighbours, and vice versa, to act out an ancient and unresolved “ethnic conflict”. This account of things has one essential outcome: these events are attributed to ancestral tribal urges, responsibility for them to unstable locals, and the regional or federal authorities are ultimately exonerated from all responsibility other than their failure to contain the violence. And though the role of the Liyu Police in the raids and expulsions is sometimes mentioned, nobody points out the obvious: they can only act on the orders of the Somali authorities, and therefore of Abdi Illey in person.
However, the Ethiopian authorities have adopted precisely the same position. First, months of deafening silence. Then, at the end of April, news of the signature of an agreement between Oromya President Lemma Megersa and Abdi Illey, “to bring an end to the hostilities stemmed from the recent border disputes” (Ethiopian Herald, 21/04/2017), hostilities to which no high-ranking official had previously referred. Lemma’s declaration on this occasion – “it is unacceptable to fuel unrest in the pretext of border dispute” – can be interpreted as a veiled criticism of the Somali authorities. Abdi Illey denied all direct responsibility, likewise turning it back on “those who instigate violence in these two states”. We know what became of this agreement.
It was not until 16 September, by which time the “displaced” could be counted in tens – and even hundreds – of thousands, and the dead in hundreds, that a leading political figure took a position on the events. Given the gravity of the situation, it was expected that the Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn, would prove energetic and lay down the law. In fact, his words were vague, timorous and sounded like a confession of impotence. At “a meeting with community elders, tribal and religious leaders” of the two states concerned, in other words without their respective leaders, he began by refraining from a precise assessment of the crisis, despite the fact that he should undoubtedly be familiar with all its ins and outs. He couldn’t do differently: this deliberate omission was his only way to avoid recognising that the situation had moved beyond his control.
According to agency reports (Africa News and Fana, 17-18/09/2017), he stuck to the story that a “boundary dispute arose between the regional states”, resulting in “clashes” between “feuding parties”. At no point would any member of the government say anything more explicit. In his speech to Parliament on 9 October, President of the Republic Mulatu Teshome again spoke of “rabble-rousers who have triggered violence in both regions” (Walta, 9/10/17). Even Lemma Megersa would reduce the “conflict” to the “criminal activities of some individuals” (Walta, 18/09/2017).
“Organized groups”
Sole slim exception: government spokesman Negeri Lencho’s acknowledgement that those “displaced” from the Somali region had not been driven out by the Somali people, but by “some organized groups” (The Reporter, 7/10/2017). For his part, the Oromo government spokesman implicated only the Liyu Police, never the Somali authorities, let alone Abdi Illey.
True, Hailemariam announced that the government would send federal police to patrol the main roads, “the deployment of the Ethiopian Human Rights Commission to investigate rights violation in the conflict” and humanitarian aid for “displaced persons”. He added that he would do everything to “disarm weapons in the area of the conflict” and that “security forces of both regional states will withdraw from the conflict areas”, thereby equating the Somali region’s seasoned military force with Oromya’s simple regional police force. However, the essence of the message sounded like a cry for help addressed to “civil society”: “the Premier called on all stakeholders to assist the government’s efforts to resolve the boundary dispute” (Fana, 18/09/2017). In short, the federal authority, at least in public, exonerated the main instigator and actor of this unprecedented crisis – the Somali authorities – and assigned responsibility equally to unspecified Oromo and Somali actors.
Except when the Somali spokesman went a step too far, just three days after Hailemariam, this time in the presence of the Presidents of both regions, had declared that “the ongoing efforts to fully stop the border conflict need to be further consolidated” (Walta, 5/10/2017). Speaking on behalf of the “regional state” and the “traditional leaders”, the spokesman wrote, under the headline “Oromo People’s War on Ethiopian Somalis”, that “Oromo is going forcibly for land expansion and creating relationship to neighboring sea ports such as Somaliland and Somalia for importing heavy weapons for federal government destruction which Somali region become the only existing barrier confronted”. He continued: “Ethiopian Somalis opposed Oromo illegal upraising and re-establishing cruel Derg regime and also violating federal system and the supremacy of constitution. This illegal upraising was aimed to collapse current federal government”.[1] The government responded that “the statement violates the federal government’s direction” and threatens the “sustainable peace and security of the nation” (Addis Standard, 8/10/2017). Ultimately, according to a recent story in The Reporter (07/10/2017), “Somali-Oromya conflict persists”.
Ethno-nationalism
To understand why, two factors need to be highlighted. The first, to put it succinctly, is that ethno-nationalism is intensifying to the point of detonation, triggering centrifugal forces in the federal system of power. Like it or not, the regional authorities are increasingly asserting their autonomy vis-à-vis the federal centre – Addis Ababa – where the Tigrayan elite has long played a disproportionate role and kept them too long under its control.
As a result, this federal centre is disintegrating. [2] Not only is emancipation supported by numerous Oromos and Amharas, as well as others, but many want to go much further. It is no accident that the slogan that dominated their protests in 2015-16, and again this year, is “Down Woyane!”, a Tigrinya word that has come to refer to Tigrayan power.
This ethno-nationalism is particularly strong in Oromya. The region was subjugated by force, then quasi colonised, in the last era of Ethiopian feudalism. The ethnic Oromo party, the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO), was for a long time swallowed up by the TPLF (Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front), to the point that it was not until 2015 that it was able to elect its own leaders without external pressure. Finally, the top-down, authoritarian mode of development has gone down particularly badly here. As Ethiopia’s richest region, Oromya has been heavily affected by the brutal eviction of small farmers, with derisory compensation, to make way for investors (“land grabbing”).
Within this general context, the Somali state has followed the same trajectory, but with its own characteristics and objectives. No other state has seen anything like the rise of Abdi Illey and the Liyu Police: none of them is led by such an all-powerful figure, supported by this kind of regional armed force. It was a development that faced opposition from the federal authority, but in vain since the latter was overmatched, as events have shown: the support of part of the military top brass, especially within the command responsible for Somalian operations and at the head of the military security service – at daggers drawn with its civilian counterpart – and probably also the support of part of the TPLF.
Three factors are at work. First, Abdi Illey and the Liyu Police have become irreplaceable in the overcoming of any armed dissidence – the ONLF is now only a shadow of its former self – and in the war against Al Shabab in Somalia itself. It is equally indispensable in the iron grip it maintains over the Somali state: not a hint of protest is tolerated there. Irreplaceable, but also a threat: Abdi Illey makes no secret of the fact that the Liyu Police answers to him and him alone, and that its destiny is indissociably bound up with his own.
Next, the business links between the leading clans and this military group are as profitable as they are interwoven, entailing above all the smuggling of khat, technology products such as mobile phones or household electric appliances, arms, and even basic food products. And finally, they are now coupled with a shared political goal.
The Somali authority justifies itself by claiming to be “the only existing barrier” against those who, “violating federal system and the supremacy of constitution”,seek “to collapse current federal government”. The first target here is obviously the Oromo authority: overtaken by “narrow nationalism” and ultimately in sympathy with the OLF, it is claimed to seek nothing less than “federal government destruction”.
Flawed federal system
By posing as the keeper of the flame, Abdi Illey gains the support of anyone opposed to reform of the federal system. The flaws of the federal system have been at the heart of the protests that have been raging for three years, in particular among the Oromos and Amharas. To redress them is deemed inevitable and urgent by the reformist section of the leadership, even within the TPLF. Opposition to reform, Abdi Illey’s support, comes first from the military group mentioned above, essentially Tigrayan, unlike moderately or unequivocally reformist senior officers, including army chief Samora Yunus and head of the civilian security services Getachew Assefa, both pillars of Tigrayan power. However, this support probably also encompasses a fringe of the Tigrayan ruling elite, which is ready to fight – by force if necessary – for the status quo, i.e. the reestablishment of a highly centralised authority de factounder Tigrayan dominance.
Numerous websites that say out loud what is being said in private in certain TPLF circles call for this approach. They claim that the protests are being surreptitiously stage-managed by foreign countries – headed by Egypt and Eritrea – who want “Ethiopia to break up into fiefdoms”. They argue, for example, that “the state of emergency should have been kept for a few more years”. “Unless the government in Ethiopia makes a major policy change towards domestic security, things will get worst and the integrity of Ethiopia will be in danger.”[3] The proliferation of gestures of friendship made by the Somali authorities to the Tigrayan population is obviously no coincidence.
This state of affairs explains why Abdi Illey retains a sufficiently free hand to advance his own pawns, including his pursuit of the ancestral goal of Somali expansionism. In so doing, he serves the aspirations of his supporters, who do not shy away from worst-case political scenarios. Weakening the new Oromo leadership, markedly more nationalist and therefore autonomous than its predecessors, by showing that it is unable to protect its population. Proving that the federal authority is incapable of containing protest and, beyond this, maintaining law and order. With the implication that law and order must be reinstated at any price, and the subtext that if the government does not do it, others will have to do it in their place.
However, the attempt to discredit the Oromo leadership seems to be coming back to bite its promoters. According to reports, chants of “Lemma Megersa is our president!” were heard at the most recent demonstrations in Oromya, though this has not been confirmed. In any case, the slogan “Down Woyane!” continues to dominate.
In the eyes of the demonstrators or Oromo’s “displaced persons”, there is no doubt that behind the Somali authorities and the Liyu Police, it is the TPLF that is pulling the strings (Le Monde, 13/10/17). In this view, the manoeuvre is yet another version of the so-called “triangulation” operations the Front uses to set the Oromo against the Somali, in order to defuse the tension between itself and the Oromo. Oromo opposition websites have always advanced this thesis: Abdi Illey and the Liyu Police are TPLF creations, toeing the TPLF line to the letter; the leadership of the Liyu Police includes numerous Tigrayan officers.
The reality is more complex. First “the” TPLF no longer exists as a homogeneous organisation: Tigrayan domination within the EPRDF has eroded, the military and security command has become more independent of political authority, and is moreover deeply divided. Abdi Illey has a hold over the federal authority and the military and security apparatus because his armed support is irreplaceable and answerable only to him. Reciprocally, those forces, including the group closest to him, have a hold over him, because the Liyu Police could not operate without the support, at least material, they provide. Neither is subordinate to the other. They are bound together by a convergence of political, military and material interests, and reciprocal support.
The most powerful wave of protests since its instatement (the demonstrations of 2015-16 in Oromya and the Amhara Region) threw the ruling power into disarray for months. However, it eventually found the necessary inner resources to respond, albeit after months of internal prevarications and rifts, and albeit by largely handing over control to the military and security forces.
But the state of emergency would seem to have brought no more than a respite: after a marked reduction in the intensity and scale of protest, it has just resumed on a large scale, as evidenced by the wave of demonstrations in Oromya since 10 October. More significant still: “Local officials and police officers either joined the protests or were submerged by it.”[4] And while a consultation process was undertaken with the opposition, its scope is unknown and its outcomes so far unseen.
In response to an “ethnic conflict” which, in reality, is nothing less than armed aggression by one federation state within another, triggering ethnic cleansing on an unprecedented scale, the federal authority initially remained silent. When it finally took a stance, it was so far from reality that it was little more than an admission of its powerlessness to play one of its fundamental roles: to impose a minimum of respect for the constitution on one of the federal states, at least by preventing its aggression.
Why? The federal government executes the decisions of the Executive Committee of the EPRDF, where the four major ethnic parties – Oromo, Amhara, South, Tigrayan – have equal representation. It is hard to believe that a majority of the Executive Committee wouldn’t be aware of the danger and wouldn’t like to bring Abdi Illey back into line. The most plausible explanation is that even if it has the will, it no longer has the means, because it has had to give way to at least a part of the military and security apparatus that opposes such a move.
Power shifts
It was known that the power balance between the politicians and the military/security apparatus had shifted in favour of the latter, in particular with the declaration of the state of emergency. There were questions about whether ethnic nationalism had also penetrated the ranks of the military/security forces and hence undermined their cohesion. There is now reason to wonder not only about their degree of autonomy and ethnic cohesion but also the scale of their divisions, and even their internal conflicts over how to respond to the many-sided crisis that Ethiopia faces. In these circumstances, can the regime still count on the use of force as the ultimate guarantor of its survival?
Behind an appearance of normality, based on the continuing day-to-day operation of the state apparatus, there lurks a question: are the political and executive federal institutions simply in a deep slumber, or already plunged in an irreversible coma?
The more the four major ethnic parties that form the dominant coalition play their own cards, the emptier the shared pot becomes, and the greater the fragmentation of the federal authority responsible for supranational interests.
The OPDO is looking at the possibility of the resignation of some of its senior officials after its strongman, Abadula Gemeda, stood down from his post of Speaker of the House of Representatives, on the grounds that “my peoples and party were disrespected” (AFP, 14/10/2017). If he doesn’t go back on his protest gesture, with almost no precedent in the recent Ethiopian history, this bluntly means: the leading coalition being incapable of fulfilling the legitimate aspirations of the Oromo, to the point that Oromya’s elementary right to be protected is flouted, why continue to support this impotent structure by remaining one of its key figures? But taking into account the very role of the Speaker, this gesture is more symbolic than consequential. From what is known, Abadula remains a member of OPDO’s Central Committee, so de facto its bigwig.
But if the OPDO were to formally distance itself by the resignation of some top officials from key posts, as internally discussed, what would remain of the coalition’s legitimacy if a nation that accounts for more than a third of the country’s total population were no longer represented?
In these circumstances, the Amhara party, the Amhara National Democratic Movement (ANDM), could be a key player. Amid the multiple faultlines that divide both the EPRDF and each of its components, three clusters can be identified: OPDO, ANDM, and an alliance of the “peripheries”, i.e. TPLF and the South, which are attempting to win over other peripheral nations. Historically, there has been a longstanding rivalry between Amhara and Tigrayans, but – as fellow Abyssinians sharing the same culture and Coptic religion – they would bury the hatchet when they perceived an Oromo threat. Will this alliance continue, or will ANDM join forces with OPDO? And if so, at what price?
Four scenarios
At least four scenarios merit consideration. The EPRDF is in the midst of preparations for its next Congress, set for March 2018. The first possibility is that it reaches an agreement on a way out of the crisis that is sufficiently substantive, credible, innovative and unifying to defuse at least the most radical opposition and to rally the various ethnic governing elites. Its primary focus will need to be a response to the eternal “national question”, or rather the “nationalities question”.
To this end, the only road to success is for the ANDM and OPDO to join forces, acquire allies among Tigrayans and Southerners in the upper levels of the EPRDF, perhaps also take advantage of their majority in the Parliament, and begin to establish a remodelled federal system consistent with the spirit and the letter of the constitution.
To do so, they could capitalize on two strengths. First, the unprecedented size and scale of the popular protest. Second, even the most activist of the younger generation have at least until now largely proved their non-violence and that they are not lured with a call to arms like the revolutionaries of the 70’s and 80’s, while they could have plenty of reasons and opportunities to do so.
If this were to fail, even leading lights of the EPRDF have been predicting for years where the country might be headed: towards a Yugoslavian scenario. That’s the second scenario.
However, a third scenario is possible, arising from a relative balance of forces: none of the elements in place – the civil opposition or the regime as a whole, the federal centre or the centrifugal ethnic forces, the “reformists” or the “hardliners” – would be strong or determined enough to get the upper hand. The power system would continue to stumble along, the country would more or less hold together, and thus the key problems would remain if not deepen.
Unless – fourth scenario – the military decided that it could and should take responsibility for countering the remodelling of the federal system, the risk of a Yugoslavian outcome, or the decay of the regime. Which raises another question: the military as a whole, or one of its factions?
#OromoProtests activists have denounced the violence that the TPLF/Woyane government has unleashed on Oromia through its agent-provocateurs and paid non-Oromo agents. In order to tarnish the nonviolent (peaceful) Oromo movement, the TPLF/Woyane government has resorted into manufacturing violence through its agents to burn Oromia. Some of these agents have been apprehended by the Oromia Police, according to media reports. Here are some of the comments and reports on social media about the ongoing violence in Oromia.
International Human Rights Day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on December 10, 1948. Crafted in the shadow of the horrors of the Holocaust and World War II, the Declaration gave the world the vision it needed to stand up to fear and the blueprint it craved to build a safer and more just world. Its single premise is: “Recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.”
Human Rights Day Message:United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein’s message for Human Rights Day 10 December 2014.
In observing Human Rights Day, its important to highlight the horrific going on in 2014 in our world. The following document is the summary of horrific repression going on against Oromo people by tyrannic Ethiopian regime:
” data-medium-file=”” data-large-file=”” class=”alignleft wp-image-4426″ src=”https://qeerroo.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/hrlha.jpg?w=151&h=151″ alt=”HRLHA” style=”margin: 0px 7px 2px 0px; padding: 4px; border: none; float: left; display: inline;”>February 26, 2017The Ethiopian Somali Liyu Police led by the Ethiopian Federal government’s killing squad have been engaged in a cruel war for the past six months against the Oromo nation in fifteen districts of Oromia. The Oromia districts that have been invaded by the two aforementioned forces are in east and east- west Hararge Zone, Eastern Oromia, Guji, Borana and Bale, South Oromia zones, Southern Oromia of Oromia Regional State.
In his interview with VOA, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, Tom Malinowski discussed the current Ethiopian situation and his concerns regarding human right protection. He said, “It’s a very difficult situation. The country is under a state of emergency, and a state of emergency by definition means that certain rights are suspended. Due process is suspended. And however much the government may feel that the state of emergency has brought calm temporarily to the country, it also brings with it certain risks. It risks adding a new layer of grievances to those grievances that initially led people in Oromia and Amhara to come out onto the streets. At first they were concerned about land seizures and lack of jobs and representation, all of which the government has acknowledge to be real and legitimate. But now they’re also upset about the arrests and the violence. And the longer this continues, the more those grievances are likely to build. At the same time, it risks giving greater power to the security apparatus in a way that could delay the introduction of the reforms that the Prime Minister and the government have, to their great credit, said are necessary.” Listen the first part of VOA interview at: http://bit.ly/2h3kmYO https://www.facebook.com/us.emb.addisababa/posts/1372399152802454
An Ethiopian government directive under a state of emergency contains overly broad and vague provisions that risk triggering a human rights crisis, Human Rights Watch said in a legal analysis. The government should promptly repeal or revise all elements of the directive that are contrary to international law. 31 October 2016.
“Internet mobile irrati fayadamuuf mali argameera… akkas agodhani qeeroon Setting..more network….mobile network… access network name…. harka mirgara + kan jedhu tuqu… name kanjedhu … et.wap… APN… et.wap…. proxy…10.204.189.211… port…9028…. authentication… PAP or CHAP kan jedhu guutu… kana booda qeerroon mirgaan galte Mobile jam Tplf irraa hanu… sanan fayadama jira amaan kana.” #OromoRevolution.
For those following the Feyisa Lilesa and #OromoProtests in Ethiopia: Sifan Hassan on his demonstration – “He’s my hero.”
Kana malees barattoonni hagi tokko magaalaa gadi dhiisanii baadiyatti baqataniiru. Barattoonni kutaa 10ffaa fi 12ffaa ammoo qormaata xumuranii gara maatii isaanitti deebi’aniiru.
Mana hidhaa magaalaa Amboo fi buufata leenjii poolisii Oromiyaa Sanqalleetti kanneen hidhamanis heddu ta’uu nutti himtee jirti.
Loltoota Wayyaaneetiin wayta ammaa kana guutumatti nagaa fi tasgabbiin dhabameera kan jettu barattuun magaalaa Amboo tun rakkoo kana irra aanuuf ammoo gaaffiin ummata Oromoo deebii argachuu qaba.
Ba’aa gabrummaa Wayyaaneen nurratti feetee jirtu ufirraa qaarisuu qofatu fala jechuun ni dubbatti.
Barattoota barumsa isaanii hordofuudhaaf gara mana barumsaa deemanitti danqaa uumuun loltoota Wayyaanee haarawa akka hin taane himtee, inni ammaa garuu sodaa jabaadhaan kan guuttameedha.
Bittootni Itophiyaa seenaan ummata Oromoo, aadaa fi afaan isaa akka hin dagaagne, hin baratamnee fi hin beekamne taasisuu irratti baroota dheeraaf hojjatan. Dhabama aadaa, afaanii fi seenaa ummata Oromoo irratti kan ofii dagaagfatuun akeeka bittootaa waan tureef wanneen eenyummaa Oromoo mul’isan hundi ugguramoo kan ittiin hin baratamne, ittiin hin hojjatamnee fi ittiin wal hin quunnamamne taasifamuun dhabamaatti dhiheeffamaniii turan.
Bittootni eenyummaa Oromoo dhabamsiisuuf yaalii ol aanaa godhan illee beektotni Oromoo garuu matayyaanis tahe gareen dhabama irraa hambisuuf gumaachi godhan ol aanaa dha. Afaan Oromoo afaan quunnamtii qofa osoo hin taane Afaan hojii fi barnootaa akka tahuuf yaaliin baroota dheeraaf adeemsisan milkaa’ee Afaan hojii fi kan barnootaa kan tahe waggoota 26n dura bara 1991 keessa tahuunis ni yaadatama. Continue reading
When marathon silver medalist Feyisa Lilesa crossed the finish line at the Rio Olympics, he crossed his arms above his head in an “X”, a sign of protest against the Ethiopian government’s treatment of his people, the ethnic Oromo.
FeyisaLilesa crosses the finish line of the Men’s Marathon athletics event during the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on August 21, 2016. Lilesa crossed his arms above his head as a protest against the Ethiopian government’s crackdown on political dissent. | ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images
“[I knew] I would be jailed or killed if not, I would [never be allowed] out of that country and allowed to participate in any international competition or race at all,” Lilesa told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
“I am quite sure those things would happen to me,” he said in a Skype interview from Rio where he has been staying since Monday when the rest of his team mates returned to Ethiopia.
The Oromia region, home to more than 25 million Oromos, has been riven by unrest for months over land rights and allegations of human rights violations.
Lilesa, 26, is one of thousands of Ethiopians estimated by activists to have left the country amid a security crackdown on demonstrations sparked by a conflict over land use policies.
Map of municipal plans to expand city limits and include some parts of the Oromiya region within the capital city Addis Ababa.
Human Rights Watch estimated 400 demonstrators were killed by security forces between November 2015 and June 2016 during protests triggered by government plans to include some parts of Oromiya within the capital Addis Ababa’s limits.
Victim shot down during protests. | Oromia Media Network
Up to 100 people were shot in a single weekend in August when security forces also shut down the internet for 48 hours, according to activists.
Thousands more have been arrested, including the prominent Oromo activist Bekele Gerba, who was taken from his home in December.
The government, which disputes the death toll and says the protests are being staged illegally, stoked by rebel groups and overseas-based dissidents, did not respond to several requests by the Thomson Reuters Foundation for a comment.
Lilesa’s fear of being jailed upon his return home reflects the experiences of other Ethiopians who have spoken out against the government.
In the Greek capital Athens, 26-year-old Muaz Mahmud Ayimoo is staying in a cramped apartment with five other Oromo friends who are traveling with him.
A student from Haro Dumal city in Oromiya, Ayimoo was arrested by authorities and imprisoned for a month last November after he attended several non-violent protests along with fellow students.
Conditions for those detained were wretched and abuse was regular, Ayimoo said.
“They used to take us out one by one, torture us with electricity and beat us badly,” he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.
MuazMahmudAyimoo, a 26-year-old Ethiopian refugee is staying in a cramped apartment in Athens with five other Oromo friends who are traveling with him. | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Ayimoo’s family in Ethiopia paid a bribe for his release, later selling everything they had to get him to Europe.
“I can’t go back because I would lose my life,” he said.
Those in Athens are the lucky ones: Ayimoo’s wife and baby girl drowned in April after the boat they were on crossing the Mediterranean from Libya sank, killing hundreds, according to survivors.
“I could hear the screaming of my baby as I fell. I couldn’t save my family,” he said.
MuazMahmudAyimoo shows photograph of his wife and daugther before their boat sank in the Mediterranean Sea. | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Other Ethiopians now following the unrest from abroad include the journalists of the Oromia Media Network, a dissident satellite TV channel broadcasting into Ethiopia in the Oromo language from Minneapolis in the United States, a city home to around 40,000 Oromo.
Jawar Mohammed, executive director of the Oromia Media Network in Minneapolis. | Thomson Reuters Foundation
“We became part of the whole protester story,” said Jawar Mohammed, executive director of the network, which he said is watched by more than 11 million people in the Middle East and Africa at peak times.
Mohammed also regularly posts updates on his Facebook page, with more than 800,000 followers, about the unrest in his homeland.
Abel Wabella, 30, an activist who wrote for Zone9, a blog which focused on social and civic issues in Ethiopia, was imprisoned between April 2014 and October 2015 in what critics say was an attack on press freedom.
“I think the government is not ready for real reform the people are demanding right now. The people are tired of their false promises and will escalate their resistance,” he said.
Top image: Like many Ethiopian protesters across the world, women cross their hands during a protest against human rights violations in Ethiophia’s Oromia region, in front of United Nation’s information center in Pretoria, South Africa. | Ihsaan Haffejee/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
“This is a typical textbook example of repression. You shut down media, you arrest dissidents and try to use propaganda to co-opt,” Chala told Quartz.
“Internet shutdowns do not restore order,” Ephraim Percy Kenyanito, the sub-Saharan Africa policy analyst at Access Now recently wrote. “They hamper journalism, obscure the truth or what is happening on the ground, and stop people from getting the information they need to keep safe.”
To a large extent, the government might be succeeding in muffling both the direct flow or the volume of information coming out of the country, Chala says. “But I am not sure if they will stop the movement [of protest] that is already out of their control,” he said.
The internet shutdown in Ethiopia will drain millions of dollars from the economy, besides undermining citizens’ rights to impart and seek information, observers of the current state of emergency say. Mobile internet remains down across the country since the government announced a six-month, nationwide emergency in early October. The government also this week banned the…
(ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia) — Ethiopian security forces shot dead several dozen people in weekend protests across the country as frustration with the government grows, an opposition leader and Amnesty International said Monday, while hundreds staged a rare demonstration in the capital after calls via social media. The government again blocked the internet over the weekend,…
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
#OromoProtests- Lists of Oromo Political Prisoners in Ambo (as of 9th June 2014) Gaabaasa Qeerroo Godina dhihaa Oromiyaa List Maqaa Hidhmtoota Oromoo Amboo fi naannoo Amboo Waxabajjii 9/2014 Gaabaasa Godina Lixa Shawaatti maqaa hidhamtoota Or
Waxabajjii 29,2017/Yuunversiitii Wallaggaa keessatti sirna eebbifamtoota bara kanaa irratti diddaan ka’uu. mala jechuun Wayyaaneen baratoota ba’aaf gala dhorkaa jiraachuu Qeerroon gabaase.
Waxabajjii 30.2017/ Godina Arsii Aanaa Shirkaa Magaalaa Gobeessaa keessatti Dargaggoonni Oromoo hidhamaa jiru. Godina Arsii Aanaa Shirkaatti Ayyaana Iidalfaxriitti Ummanni Akka mormii godhuuf waamicha karaa adda addaatin godhaa turtanii jirtu jechuun Ilmaan Oromoo mana isaanitii guuramuun hidhatti darbatamaa jiru. Akka gabaasni Aanicharraa nu gahe addeessutti dargaggoonni hanga ammaatti mana hidhaatitti darbataman Muhammad Jabboo Aliyyii, Huseen Amaan Gaaradoo, Turaa Jamaal Waakkannee, Ibraahim Jamaal H/ Hasan, Reeduwaan Sh/ Amiin Turee, Awwaloo Ahmad Aloo , Abdii Muhaammad Jamaal, Mahdii Muhaammad Amiin kanneen jedhaman kan keessatti argaman ta’uu maddeen keenya Shirkarraa gabaasanii jiru.
Biiroon Barnoota OPDO Oromiyaa keessatti tartiiba qubee Afaan Oromoo A B C E F….Z ture jijjirudhaan tartiiba haaraa L irraa eegalu uumee kitaaba barnootaa maxxansee barsiisuu eegaluun wal qabatee gutummaa Oromiyaa keessatti 
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
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:
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 @ 