Via Birhanemeskel Abebe Segni

This is one of the modern Industrial Parks, dubbed as Light Industrial City, to be built in Ethiopia as part of the larger plan for industrialization. It is situated at the southern outskirts of Addis Ababa, known as Jamo area. The local farmers were involuntarily removed. Now, it is turned into a Killing Park

Credible reports indicate that the security forces are detaining a large number of people in large business storehouses affiliated with the regime and factory buildings built by the regime under the guise of “Industrial Park Development Corporation” around the cities of Addis Ababa, Bushoftu, Adama and Dire Dawa.

By Paul Schemm, The Washington Post

Protesters’ shoes lie scattered on a sidewalk in Addis Ababa, Ethi­o­pia, on Aug. 6 after demonstrators were arrested and taken away by police. (Paul Schemm/The Washington Post)

ADDIS ABABA, Ethi­o­pia (The Washington Post) — The shoes lay scattered on the sidewalk as the detained protesters walked barefoot through the rain, escorted by grim-faced police officers who casually beat them with batons to keep them moving.In nearby Meskel Square here in the heart of the Ethio­pian capital, police kicked around the remnants of protest signs. Just 10 minutes earlier, 500 people had gathered at the site, shouting slogans against the government — before being beaten, rounded up and carted off by police.In Ethiopia’s countryside, however, it was a bloodier story. Rights groups and opposition figures estimate that dozens were killed in a weekend of protests that shook this key U.S. ally in the Horn of Africa.The government had switched off the Internet over the weekend, apparently to prevent demonstrators from organizing, so it was only by Monday that word spread of the extent of the violence across the Oromia and Amhara regions.

[Ethiopia confronts its worst violence in years]

Just a year ago, Ethiopia was basking in the world’s spotlight after a visit from President Obama and global accolades for its decade of double-digit growth and enviable stability in a dangerous region.

Since then, however, this country of nearly 100 million has been hit by a widespread drought that has halved growth, and anti-government protests have spread across two of its most populous regions.

The local weekly Addis Standard estimated that at least 50 people were killed over the weekend — based on phone calls to protest hot spots. Amnesty International put the toll at about 100, citing sources across the country.

On Monday, the government announced that the situation was under control and that “the attempted demonstrations were orchestrated by foreign enemies from near and far in partnership with local forces.”

Merera Gudina, chairman of the opposition Oromo Federalist Congress, told The Washington Post that an estimated 50 people died in the Oromia region Saturday and 27 were killed Sunday in Bahir Dar, the capital of the Amhara region and a major tourist destination.

“The government is responding in the same way it has responded to such incidents for the last quarter of the century,” he said by phone from Washington during a visit with the Ethio­pian community there. “They want to rule in the old way, and people are refusing to be ruled in the old way.”

[History repeats itself in Ethiopia]

Protests began in November in the Oromia region, a sprawling state the size of Nevada that is home to the Oromos, the largest ethnic group in the country. It is also home to the capital.

As a booming Addis Ababa expanded and Ethiopia brought in foreign investors, more and more land from the surrounding Oromia region was confiscated. People also complained of corrupt administrators and, with little recourse to justice, began to stage demonstrations.

The government response was harsh. Human Rights Watch estimated that at least 400 people were killed in protests over the next several months. The official Ethiopian human rights council put the figure at 173.

In the face of the repression, the protests slowly quieted in Oromia, only to erupt last month in the neighboring region of Amhara, the historical ethnic center of the Ethiopian state and home to spectacular rock-cut churches and medieval castles that attract tourists.

A botched government attempt to arrest activists in the northern city of Gondar in mid-July led to two days of rioting that left 11 members of the security forces and five civilians dead. Two weeks later, tens of thousands held a peaceful demonstration over land issues and government repression.

Protesters in Amhara declared solidarity with the Oromo people and their opposition to the government, which many say is dominated by the minority Tigrayan ethnic group.

Activists abroad then called for demonstrations across the two regions this past weekend — a call to which thousands responded despite the Internet shutdown.

“It is clear Ethiopia has a potentially serious and destabilizing unrest on its hands,” said Rashid Abdi, the Horn of Africa project director at the International Crisis Group. “What started off as isolated and localized protests in the Oromia and Amhara regions has now morphed into a much broader movement covering a large swath of the country.”

He said the government has to move swiftly to defuse the crisis by engaging in talks with the communities and addressing the root causes of the dissatisfaction. Despite Ethiopia’s impressive economic gains, the growth has not been enough to “keep pace with rising social inequality” and unemployment, he said.

Opening these lines of communication, however, may be difficult because of a lack of leadership. Opposition parties have been repressed — the ruling coalition won 100 percent of the parliamentary seats in elections last year — and local officials are often mistrusted or viewed as corrupt.

Seyoum Teshome, a university lecturer in Woliso, a town in Oromia where protests also occurred, said people have taken to the streets because they do not feel they have any other choice.

“They have no other option other than protests to explain their grievances,” he said. “They have nothing.”

Gudina, the opposition leader, said his party has been so curtailed by authorities that it has little control over what has been happening in Oromia. Most of the party’s leadership was imprisoned when the protests began last year.

He said that unless the government eased its repression, the violence would worsen.

“These protests are at the level of an intifada — people in their own ways are resisting the government pressure and demanding their rights,” he said, using an Arabic term that means uprising. “I don’t think it’s going to die down.”

Read more:

Ethi­o­pia shuts down social media to keep from ‘distracting’ students

Obama’s trip to Ethiopia alarms some human rights activists

They fled Ethiopia amid war. An economic boom is bringing them home.

Today’s coverage from Post correspondents around the world

(Business Standard) — At least 104 people died and hundreds were injured after security forces in Ethiopia used live ammunition to disperse anti-government demonstrations in various parts of the country over the weekend, a media report said on Monday.

his is martyred Samia Ahmed Hassen who was killed in Awaday, East Hararge by Agazi forces on 6 August 2016

At least 67 died and hundreds were arrested during the protests in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, while in Amhara, at least 30 died in the city of Bahir Dar and seven died in Gondar, Efe news reported.

“The security forces’ response was heavy-handed, but unsurprising. Ethiopian forces have systematically used excessive force in their mistaken attempts to silence dissenting voices,” an official said.

Nearly thousands of people demonstrated in numerous cities of Oromia during the weekend to show their discontent at the ongoing arrests and abuses against opponents, activists and politicians who support the Oromo independence cause.

Protests were called for spontaneously through social networks, but the police use of teargas and live ammunition sparked a new wave of protests.

Bahir Dar and Gondar in the Amhara, the second largest ethnic group in the country after the Oromo, took to the streets demanding political reform and the judiciary after years of marginalisation and persecution by the government of Addis Ababa.

Amid increasing tension, the Ethiopian government decided to disrupt communications and cut off access to major social networks and messaging services.

The Oromo have spent months protesting what they see as unwarranted persecution by the Ethiopian authorities and so far there have been more than 400 deaths since the start of the demonstrations, according to estimates by Human Rights Watch.

–IANS

(NPR)In Ethiopia, activists and witnesses say nearly 100 people were killed by security forces cracking down on anti-government protests over the weekend. The protests began late last year over a government plan to lease a forest to private foreign developers. Ethiopia’s authoritarian government is a key U.S. ally in East Africa.

By Dhala Oromo (PhD)

Amhara zone youth in solidarity with Oromo youth

I read an article “ብአዴን እንደ ኦህዴድ ከዳ?” written by Editor of the newspaper on 01 Aug 2016 (http://www.goolgule.com/andm-defected-like-opdo/). Though I understand the constructive motive of the Editor (author), I felt that it is my moral obligation to pinpoint the wrong expectation and counter orient to possibly de-emphasize the hasty conclusion which could keep the gap in place between the two big nations of the Ethiopian empire. Any genuine approach from elites, writers and heroes of both nations, at least at this critical stages, is to try to build trust (not mistrust), try to defile historic anachronism, to read each other’s face and promote such interests, recognize the rights and benefits of each other, and stand against the immediate common enemy.

In 5th paragraph of the article, Amharic phrase “ምክንያቱም የሁሉም ችግር ፈጣሪ ህወሃት እንደመሆኑ ከጎንደር ለታየው ግልጽ የወገናዊነት ድጋፍና አጋርነት በኦሮሞ አካባቢዎችም እንዲታይ መመሪያ ይሰጡበታል ወይስ “የኦሮሞ ህዝብ ያለማንም አጋዥነት ራሱን ነጻ ያወጣል” በሚል ጭፍን አስተሳሰብ የህወሃትን የዘር ፖለቲካ ሳያውቁት እየደገፉ ይቀጥላሉ? ይህ በቀጣይ ግልጽ ይሆናል ተብሎ ይጠበቃል፡፡” caught my attention and forced me to respond very briefly as I already stated my motto above. I shortly respond to knowing the nature of TPLF, saying this. Comparatively stating the magnitude (or taking the proportional size) of allies of TPLF, who is part and participle of tyrant regime as provider of intelligence service, policy advisor and seeking residual benefit from their drop? I hope the answer to the knowing /unknowing of TPLF is embedded in the fact posed by the question. As a matter of default, better understanding of true evil nature of TPLF doesn’t lead to most cooperation with TPLF! The editor can judge individuals from the two nations compiling and analyzing the data on the matter. Returning to the main issue of my interest, the following paragraph illustrates my response.

1. If the author (also readers) agrees with me that OLF is the most welcomed hero organization of Oromo nation, if not the only one, I base my argument referring to strategic document set forth by this organization. In the document of OLF publicized since 1970’s of its establishment, it had been defined and declared what the interest of Oromo would look like. The document also clarified on the relationship that Oromo should have with other oppressed nations and nationalities neighbors’ of Oromia. Therefore, what the writer of the article I quoted above need to do is, to make sure if the document is really there or not, if it is there take that document as a mirror and find out whether Amhara is currently an oppressed nation who is struggling to break the yoke of slavery. If then, nothing on earth will keep us apart from true and long-lasting cooperation.
2. Coordinators of #Oromoprotest have already disclosed their need to cooperate with non-Oromo citizen in Oromia and beyond. For genuine elite from non-Oromo nation, it is a matter of re-assessing the fact in currently unrest Oromia and come up as witness, instead of expecting the uncertain future action. Future is clearly uncertain because it will be essentially guided by the role of future actors. The current fact on the ground is no frustration is posed against our citizens in Oromia even under the climax hostility of TPLF toward Oromo and of TPLF’s attempt to ignite difference between Oromo and other nations. In fact such holy act of Oromo is not without considering that individuals from non-Oromo nation preferred to be mercenaries of TPLF’s evil act against Oromo as recently witnessed in places such as Arsi.
3. The owners of the Oromo struggle, the Oromo people and specifically Qeeros have always called for cooperation with suffering nations of the Empire including Amhara nation. Specifically, on Adama grand #Oromoprotest held on 6th of August 2016, the protesters were responding to the welcoming cooperation call of the Goder Amhara’s. We all must remember the heart of Oromo is not like the dictators of the past regime wrongly disseminated in their attempt to see Oromo being hated by others. The fact is contrary, and I leave it to you to verify it on the ground. However, take note of the fact that Oromo nation have dual face: lamb and lion. The Oromo nation could use its lamb behavior in the case of genuine effort to solve any common cause but exercises it lion nature when it comes to larceny approach.

I hope every reader understand my decision to use OLF’s document as model to implicate the fate of our (specifically Oromo and Amhara) co-struggle. In any case, my thought is that: if any nation clears its doubt whether to ally with Oromo is affirmatively based on OLF’s tactical and strategically scenario documents, that nation assured itself that no hindrance would encounter it on the co-struggle for common cause and for co-existence as fellow countrymen.

I didn’t mention other Oromo political organizations, the least of which is OPDO that they might not have their own affirmative agenda toward Oromo cause or their strategy is not well defined or inconsistent. This must be evaluated at times of difficulty and plenty which come to pass before they may gain popular acceptance and considered a role model. However, I never skip this paragraph without reminding the readers that there are individual heroes in each Oromo organization except for nature of the organization in question might make their fate of acceptance by Oromo remain obscure.

Therefore, in view of the article I am addressing, it is always genuine to refrain from commenting on internal affairs of each other’s issues (like non-Amhara person seem not pertinent to consider him/herself as most relevant individual to comment on the Amhara issue compared to the Amhara per se). I think it wise to leave some internal differences of other nation instead of tactical attempt to manipulate it to own need. I am not ruling out that exceptionally there exist forthcoming important ideas, thoughts and helpful comments from a person not an immediate member of the nation. If the latter possibility is the case, there are a number of helpful procedures via which we deliver our concerns. Never in a way may it pose inconvenience to the public nor in the way: I know better for you – which is now absolutely very old fashion. Similarly, larceny of the objective of the struggle is not going to be productive tactically or strategically. Equally important is understanding of the fact on the ground and trying to sacrifice our benefits for the sake of the other and yet keeping our inborn right. This seem plausible. An attempt to ignore each other’s need and desire, and yet trying to be ‘smart’ would remain futile effort which will lead to beyond repair.

In conclusion, I would like to remind that the editor of the article entitled ““ብአዴን እንደ ኦህዴድ ከዳ?” wrongly concluded his/her opinion in the face of expecting instruction that leaders of Oromo struggle for freedom might pass to their people. Likewise, the editor seem to forget the very fact of why OLF refused to work with TPLF in fear of eventual death of the Front. Also the editor of the quoted article need to remember that the document of OLF I raised above neither delimits its allies to a selected nation or nationality nor ignores all and declares Oromo only is the partner of its struggle. Probably at some point in time, after exhaustive effort of OLF leader and Oromo activists toward gaining attention of others toward cooperation, may have shown their reluctance to persist such effort and started to look inward only. The decision to look toward the very people of the cause only, as a last resort, is considered just. Nevertheless, since the 1974’s inception of Oromo organization, all oppressed nations were called for co-struggle against the then tyranny and the call stands likewise currently. If you couldn’t find yourself as oppressed nation, it means you are probably irrelevant otherwise you were (are) welcomed by the Oromo leaders even before several decades.

So, turn the concern of the implication of the sentence I quoted from the article I mentioned above inward. If we cleanse our room and yard, the village is gonna cleansed by itself (very easily). It is always important to make sure that if we have done our assignment than wrongly expecting the other, it would comfortably solve our problem. In line with this, I submit to you that you should try to help the effort of your elite group to clear their doubt and gain the benefit of the doubt. Let me remind you election 2005 where you were running alone ignoring the Oromo (for you as usual you may say this and that, and we are with Oromo). Like I stated above, that era of pseudo smartness has gone. As for me, no one should consider to use such self-deceptive tactics. As well I want to reflect my joy on the video message I am just listening from ESAT that Prof. Berhanu Nega is conveying to all his stakeholders. That is good especially when I see it via Oromo lens. Yet it would be best if accompanied by agreement between leaders of typical political organizations of both nations. I end my brief effort to address the sentence in the article quoted above by saying, better to look inward, encourage our elites to clear the doubts and mistrust between us and come up with helpful document which define us on the basis our inborn rights and earned benefits per se and in common.,

I leave the readers with one simple assignment, in fact, less relevant to my topic. Did anyone curiously analyze the key phrase in the article of L/General Tsadikan G/Tinsae? I raise the issue though cognizant of the very draft nature of the article by the x-chief of staff. The interest of which nation (s) do you think he wants to include in the domain he proposes to reform or the interest of all nations in the empire are equally likely invited? Note that the key phrase which revolve around his thought about the existing constitution. On the other hand, whose nation’s elite are struggling to respond, and are commenting at what level? Can one clearly foresee the direction intended by the x-general and the commentators? Does the interaction in any way be linked to the level of our understanding of TPLF? That is why, to my knowledge, clearing our home and getting rid of never working smartness is critically important at this decisive point in history of the Ethiopian empire. Let the readers distinguish the genuine comments I wanted to bring on board instead of an effort to reconsider some comments which must be thrown to dust bin (if the comments seem blindly stated by focusing on the person instead of the issue). Comments focusing on the author instead of the issue basically miss their intellect level.

In a nut shell, by leaving the readers to this self-help assignment, I expect readers will judge the level of determination (or alternatively think of proposals they are deliberating) of such elites for the true struggle against TPLF without which the tyranny responds.

Let Waaqayyoo Uumaa keenya help us! I pray.

Regional protests that began last year in Ethiopia have spread across the country, and despite successive crackdowns analysts say dissatisfaction with the authoritarian government is driving ever greater unrest.

Despite what he described as the “state of siege” imposed on the Oromia region in recent weeks, the protests have refused to die down, and demonstrators have been challenging government more and more openly. File photo
Image by: DARRIN ZAMMIT LUPI / REUTERS

(Times Live) — Demonstrations began popping up in November 2015 in the Oromia region, which surrounds the capital, due to a government plan to expand the boundaries of Addis Ababa.

The region’s Oromo people feared their farmland would be seized, and though the authorities soon dropped the urban enlargement project and brutally suppressed the protests, they badly misjudged the anger it triggered.

Protests have since swept other parts of Oromia, and more recently to the northern Amhara region, causing disquiet in the corridors of power of a key US ally and crucial partner in east Africa’s fight against terrorism.

“Since it came to power in 1991, the regime has never witnessed such a bad stretch… Ethiopia resembles a plane going through a zone of extreme turbulence,” independent Horn of Africa researcher Rene Lafort told AFP.

Despite what he described as the “state of siege” imposed on the Oromia region in recent weeks, the protests have refused to die down, and demonstrators have been challenging government more and more openly.

One rally was even held in Addis Ababa on Saturday, a rare event for the seat of power of a nation ruled by a regime considered among the most repressive in Africa.

More than 140 people were killed when security forces put down the original Oromia land protests, shot or tortured to death, according to rights groups.

A fresh crackdown over the weekend led to the deaths of almost 100 more, according to an Amnesty International toll, with live fire used on the crowds.

“This crisis is systemic because it shakes the foundations of the model of government put into place 25 years ago, which is authoritarian and centralised,” Lafort explained.

The protesters have different grievances but are united by their disaffection with the country’s leaders, who largely hail from the northern Tigray region and represent less than 10 percent of the population.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn heads the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), which won all the seats in parliament in elections last year.

Although he comes from the minority Wolayta people, he is surrounded in government by Tigreans, who also dominate the security forces and positions of economic power.

Getachew Metaferia, professor of political science at Morgan State University in the United States, described the state as “controlled by an ethnic minority imposing its will on the majority,” a crucial factor in understanding the protests.

More than 60 percent of the country’s almost 100 million people are either Amhara or Oromo.

“There is no fundamental discussion with the people, no dialogue… the level of frustration is increasing. I don’t think there will be a return back to normal,” the professor added.

The country’s rulers have cultivated the skyrocketing growth and rapidly improving health outcomes that have changed the face of a nation whose famines weighed on the world’s conscience in 1980s.

But their grip on civil liberties has tightened: Ethiopia ranked 142 of 180 countries in Reporters Without Borders’ press freedom index this year, and social media used to organise rallies is regularly blocked by the authorities.

The use of anti-terror laws to jail opposition critics has also provoked ire, combined with more local issues such as the targeting of Amharan politicians campaigning for a referendum on a district absorbed into Tigrean territory.

The West has largely avoided direct criticism of the country’s rights record because Ethiopia is credited with beating back Al-Qaeda-affiliated Shabaab militants in Somalia, but the protests put its allies in an awkward spot.

“Ethiopia’s leaders have lost the vision of Meles. They are showing signs of nervousness and don’t place trust in their own people,” said one European diplomat on condition of anonymity.

After toppling dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991, Meles Zenawi ruled with an iron fist until he died in 2012, and Hailemariam took over.

More used to its image as an oasis of calm in a troubled region, the government is swift to blame foreign “terrorist groups” for the unrest, usually pointing the finger at neighbouring Eritrea.

Hailemariam last Friday announced a ban on demonstrations which “threaten national unity” and called on police to use all means at their disposal to prevent them.

Merera Gudina, leader of the opposition Oromo People’s Congress, said the nebulous movements were not affiliated with traditional political parties and were focused above all on claiming back freedoms the government has long denied.

“We are nine months into this protest. I don’t think it will stop,” he told AFP. “This is an intifada,” he said, using a term which means uprising.

Bulbulaa Tufaa (Miseensa Gadaa Meelbaa)

Qabsaawonni Adda Bilisummaa Oromoo (ABO/OLF), kaayyoo bara 1976 lafa kaawwatan sana dhugoomsuuf, alaabaa bifa kanaa gadi qabu kana qabatanii qabsoo hidhannoo kutannoon jalqaban. Sana dura, Oromoon qabsoo irra hin turre jechuu miti. Qabsoon bara kana eegalame, prograama qindoomeen hammatamee, alaabaa kana jalatti gaggeeffamun isaa, qabsoo duuraan ture caalaatti akka finiisuu taasisuu isaati. Har’a, alaabaan kun mallattoo dhiiga ilaaman Oromoo ta’ee jira. Garboomfatootaaf ammoo, haddhaa (summii) ta’eera. Si’a kana keessa otuma itti haddhaawuu waan unachaa jiran fakkaatu.

Baandiraan Habashaa (Toophiya), inni  halluun isa magariisuu–keelloo–diimaa ta’ee jiru sun, alaabaa garboomfatootaa ti. Ta’uu isaa Oromoo ta’ee kan haalu ykn mormu yoo jiraate, irra deebi’ee of ilaaluu qaba. Eegga sirna diimookraasii gadaa Oromoo ukkaamsee, alaabaa abbaa gadaa Oromoo jiksee  irratti  of dagaagsuu jalqabee waggaa  150 ol lakoofsisee jira.

Kun Alaabaa Qabsoo Bilisummaa Oromoo(AQBO), isa Addi Bilisummaa Oromoo (ABO/OLF) prograama qindaaye jalatti qabsoo hidhannoo jalqabe dha. Har’a uummata Oromoo biratti mallattoo (symbol) bilisa basaa bira taree, alaabaa Biyya Oromoo(National Flag) ta’aa jira.

Alaabaan Qabsoo Bilisummaa Oromoo, sirna bittaa Dargii fi  sirna faashistummaa Wayyanee-Tigray biraatti “mallattoo shororkeesitootaa” jedhamee fudhatameera. Garboomfataa (colonialists) irraa kan eegamus kanuma. Garboomfataan yoo dirqisiifamee muddame malee, “garbichi” isaa dhala namaa ta’uu isaa tasa hin beeku, amanees hin fudhatu.

Akka seenaa irraa barachuu dandeenyee fi ijaan argaa, gurraan dhagayaa jirrutti (guddannetti), Habashoonni waan uummata Oromoof ta’u maraa, “hin ta’u” jechuu irraa kan hafe, “ni ta’a” jedhanii hin beekan. Kan biraa haa hafuu, hayyoonni (intellectuals) isaanii, “Oromo yemmibaal hizb yellem; jechuun, uummanni Oromoo jedhamu hin jiru” jedhanii afaan guutanii nu biratti dubbachaa turan. Amma illee taanaan, abdii otoo hin kutatiin irratti hojjechaa jiru. Haa, ta’u malee, akkuma uummanni Oromoon injifannoo galmeessaa dhufeen, dabtaroonni isaanii abdii “kutachaa” waan dhufan fakkaatu. Alaabaan qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoos, akka billaacha qilleensa birraa, Oromiyaa keessa innaa balali’u argaa jiru. Alaabaan garboomfataa isaanii ammoo gara mana dhaloota isaa duriitti deebi’uuf, guyyuma guyyaan gadi sigigaachaa innaa deemuu argaa jiru. “Otoo kana hin argiin yaa Waaqi maaliif na hin ajjjeesiin” jedhanii of abaaraa jiru.

Haa ta’u malee, tibba kana keessa,“Amaaraa”[1] warri ofiin jedhan, Alaabaa Qabsoo Bilisummaa Oromootiin “ye Oromoo yetigil baandiraa” jechuu eegalaniiru. Qabsoo uummanni Oromoo gochaa jirus kallattiin balaleeffachuu irraa waan “of qusachaa” jiran fakkaatu. Fakeenyaaf, Ji’a (baatii) sagal fuuldura, meediyaan Habashaa kan maqaan ESAT jedhamu, Afaan Oromootiin yoo tamsaase, sataalaaytiin isaa akka jalaa caccabutti dubbachaa ture. Qabsoon Oromoo biyyatti finiinaa dhufnaan  saatalaayitii sun “caba irraa hafee”, Afaan Oromootiin tamsaasuu eegale. Ijoollee Afaan Oromoo beekanisa qaxaree hojjechiisuu jalqabe. Kun martuu bu’aa dhiiga ilmaan Oromoo, kan rasaasa Toophiyaatiin dhangala’aa jirutu dirqisiise. Qabsoon uummata Oromoos, diina isaa ni jilbeeffachiisa; hamma birmadummaan deebitee dhuftutti dhiigaa ilmaan Oromootiin itti fufa.

 Baandiraa Garboomfataa fi Asxaa Isaa

Baandiraa Wayyaanee Toophiyaa isa bara 1995(?) seeraan tumamee labsame.

Seenaa uummata Oromoo keessatti, baandiraan Habashaa kun  Oromoo wajjin qunnamtii attamii qaqba? jedhamnee yoo gaafatamne, deebiin keenya maal ta’uu qaba? Gabaabumatti, uummata Oromoof, alaabaa garboomfataa ti jechuu irraa kan hafe, waan biraa ta’uu hin danda’u.

Halluun baandiraa Toophiyaa kun (the tri-colour), mootummaa  Toophiyaa kamiinuu jijjiiramee hin beeku. Kan jijjiiramu, akkuma diktaatorri isaanii kudeetaan (coup d’etat) wal jijjiiran,  asxaa isaa  duwwaatu jijjiirama. Kanaafuu, halluun baandira isaanii kun, mallatttoo eenyummaa fi sabboonummaa ilmaan Habashootaa (Amaaraa fi Tigre) karaa maara (karaa amantii, polotikaa, qalbii, waraanaa kkf) waloon waan dhugoomsuuf hawaasa ortodoksi Habasha birattii ulfina guddaa qaba. Abbaan waan ofiif ulfina kennuun seeruma. “Kan kee gatii-abaarii,  kan koo eebsii, tiksii naa faarsi” jechuun seeraa ala;  gonkumaa fudhatama hin qabu.

Tarii, adeemsa keessa, jijiiramni ilaalchaa uummata sana keessatti yoo dhalate, jijjiiramni halluu baandiraa kanaa ykn akkaataan taa’umsa isaa jijjiiramuu danda’a. Biyyooleen hedduun, jeequmsi sirna polotikaa fi bulchiisaa innaa biyya isaanii keessatti dhalatu, akkuma jijjiirraa seeraa  godhan, jijjiirraa bifa alaabaa ykn akkaataa taa’umsa isaa irratti ni godhan. Fakkeenyaaf, faashistiin Xaaliyaanii innaa Abyssinia[2] (Toophiyaa) weerarte, alaabaa kana qabdi ture. Alaabaan kunis waggaa shaniif(1936-1941) alaabaa Toophiyaa  ta’ee  Finfinnee keessa balali’aa ture.

Bandiraa Toophiyaa Bara Bulchiisaa Xaaliyaanii (1936-1941)

Sirni nugusummaan fi sirni faashistummaa Mussoluniin gaggeeffamu eegga dhaabate booda, bara 1948 Xaaliyaaniin “Republic” ta’uu ishii labsite. Alaabaan Xaaliyaaniis isa kanaa gadi  jiru  ta’ee akka hojiirra oolu seeraan murtaa’ee, amma har’aatti tajaajilaa jira. Kan Biyya Jarmanis eegga Nazin (Hitler) mo’amee booda jijjiirraan hedduun irratti godhameera.

Alaabaa Xaaliyaanii bara 1948 irraa kaasee hamma har’aatti kan jiru

Baandiraan Habaasha, Biyya Abbaa Gadaa Oromoo eegga  guyyaa “qinnyi ager” godhate irraa kaasee, bullukkoo fi wandaboo irraa mulluqee “dabaloo”  isaa fidee itti uwwise.  Hamma Axee Minilik, humna qawween Toophiyaa har’aa kana Oromoo irratti ijaaretti, biyyi sirna nugusaan bulu, biyya sirna diimokraasii gadaa Oromoo  garboomfatee hin beeku. Sirni nugusaa eegga Oromiyaa garboomfatee booda, Abyssiniyaa jalatti galchee “Toophiyaa” jedhee walitti qabee waamuu eegale. Baandiraan Toophiyaa kunis, sirna bulchiisa nugusaa fi amantii taabootaa wajjin dhufee Oromoo irratti fe’ame. Waggaa 150 asii kaasee, miila lamaan Oromiyaa irra dhaabatee Toophiyaa  faarsaa jira. Har’a garuu otoo hin jaalatiin alaabaa  qabsoo bilisummaa Oromootiin innaa injifamaa jiru agaa jirra.

Biyya keessatti, alaabaa bilisummmaa kanaan kan fuulduratti deemaa fi adeemsisaa jiru QEERROO BIRMADUMMAA OROMOO ti. Yeroo  gabaabduu keessatti alaabaan kun Tulluu Diimituu (Dhaqaa Araaraa) irratti ol bayee akka balali’u  mamii hin qabu.

Seenaan halluu baandira Habashaa, seenaa amantii, taabootaa fi sirna bulchiisa “zewudaawii aggezaaz“ fi “wattaaderawwii agezaaz” otoo mirkaneessaa jiru, sirna bulchiisa diimookraasii Gadaa Oromoo ta’uu hin danda’u.

          Alaabaan Gadaa Oromoo ni Jige Malee hin Dhangalaane 

Baandiraan Habashaa, inni  halluun isa magariisuu–keelloo–diimaa ta’ee jiru  sun, alaabaa abbaa gadaa durii sana  jiksee kan bakka of buuse dha. Akkuma bandiraan Mussolunii (Xaaliyaanii) dhufee baandiraa Hayile Sillaasee (Abyssinia) buusee bakka of buuse sana jechuu dha.

Alaabaa Birmadummaa Oromoo

Halluun alaabaa  kanaa,  falaasama, ilaacha, aadaa, amantii, seena fi uumama dachee  Oromoo (geographical relief) wajjin kan  walqabatee jirudha. Sirna dimookraasii gadaa Oromoo irratti hundaayee waan uumameef, alaabaan kun mallattoo (symbol) birmadummaa  (sovereignty)  fi abbaa biyyummaa uummata  Oromoo ti.  Alaabaan Qabsoo Bilisummaa Oromoo kun (AQBO) uummata Oromoo, dachee, qilleensa, bosonaa fi bineensa  Oromoo duwwaa bilisa baaasuuf otoo hin ta’iin, alaabaa Abbaa Gadaa kana illee  deebisee dhaabuuf qabsaawa. Alaabaan Abbaa Gadaas ni jige malee hin dhangalaane.

Jalqaba bar-dhibbee kudha-jahaffaa keessa (16th century) innaa Portugaalii fi  Habashaan karaa kaabaa, Turkii fi Misiriin (Egypt)  ammoo karaa bahaa biyya Oromoo dhufanii qabatan, Oromoon alaabaa kana qabatee diina irratti duule. Biyya diina hamaan qabamee saamamaa jiru sana,  bilisa baasee deebisee harkatti galchate. Hamma Minilik bar-dhibbee 19ffaa keessaa faranjiin (Inglizi, Faransaayii, Xaaliyaanii, Russiyaa) gargaaramee dhufee Oromoo garboomfatutti, naannoo sanatti nagaan akka bu’u taasise ture. Haa ta’u malee, sirni nugusoota Habashaa, kan nagaaf hin dhaabanne, nagaa argame sana deebisee booresse. Oromoonis garbummaa hamaa jalatti kufee amma har’aatti hacuucamaa jira.

Akka seenaan dhiyeenya kana bareeffamee jiru nu ibsutti, duulli Oromoon bara sana godhe,  ajajaa waraana lama jalattii gumaayuu isaatti. Isaanis, waraana Abbaa Duulaa Abbayyii Baabboo fi  waraana Abbaa Duulaa Jirmoo Barii jedhamuu” jedha seenaan barreeffame kun[3]. Qophii dheeraa booda, waraanni kun jarsoolii, yuubotaa fi dubartootaan Madda Walaabuutti eebbaan gaggeeffame. Duulli karaa lama bobba’e kun diina mancaasee injifannoo duraan argamee hin beekne galmeesse. Biyya Abbaa Gadaa fi biyya Haadha Siiqqee  kan Portugaala, Habashaa fi Turkiin qabamaa jiru, deebisee bilisa baase. Alaabaan Gadaa Oromoos iddoo diinni buqqise sanatti deebi’ee akka dhaabatu taasise. Qeerroon bara sanaa  kakuu seenee fi waadaa walii gale otoo hin cabsiin, akkuma eebbaan bahe eebbaan deebi’ee gale. Eebbi  abbooti gadaa fi haadha siiqqeen itti biifee bobbaase, waraana Oromoo kanaaf  “happhee” ta’ee injifanoo gonfachiise. Dhaloonni Qubee Birmaduummaa Oromoos akkuma eebbaan qabsootti bobba’e, eebba injifannoon akka xummuurratee galu mamin hin qabnu.

Xummuura

Alaabaa Qabsoo Bilisummaa Oromoo (AQBO) warri jalqaba duraa dirree qabsootti   qabatanii bobba’an, ilmaan Oromoo warra birmadummaa Oromiyaa guutummatti deebisanii dhaabuuf kakuu walii seenan dha. Warri birmadummaa Oromiyaatti hin amanne: (1) Dura kakuu seenan cabsan. (2) Itti aansanii qawween bilisummaaf qophooftee manaa baate, akka rasaasa hin tuftee “fashaleeessan”. (3) Itti fufanii, alaabaa qabsoo bilisuumaa iddoo sadii-afuritti akka addaan bahu godhan. (4) Qabsaawonni Oromoo diina dhiisanii akka walirratti xiyyeeffatan taasisan. Haa godhan malee, dheebuu uumman Oromoo bilisummaaf qabu, aannan barbaadu sana dhugee dheebuu akka hin  baane dhaabu hin dandeenye.

Har’a kaayyoon ganama lafa kaawwamte sun, alaabaa qabsoo bilisummaa wajjin “dhalootaa Abugidaa” gattee deemtee jirti. Dhaloota qubee (Qeerroon: Q=Qawwee, Ee=Eeboo, R= Rasaasa, O= Oromoo ti) harka seentee jirti. Kana booda murteessaan “Qubee Oromoo” ti malee, “Abugidaa Toophiyaa” ta’uu hin danda’u. Fuuldureen Oromiyaas maal ta’u qaba? gaaffii jedhu irratti “Abugidoonni” waan irratti wal-lolaaniif hin qaban.

Dhaloonni Qubee Oromoo sodaa tokko malee  garboomfataa Habashaa, kan  har’a shororkeesitoota Tigreen hoogganamaa jiru, hagayyaa 6, 2016 Alaabaa Birmadummaa Oromoo, Finfinneetti fidanii akka dhungatan godhanii jiru. Boru, Tulluu Diimtuu(Dhakaa Araaraa) irra dhaabuuf kutannoonni bobba’aa waan jiraniif, ilmaan Oromoo warri “Abugidaa Toophiyaa” irraa fagaattanii jiraattan, akka waan qabdaniin bira dhaabattan (dhaabannu),dhiigni ilmaan Oromoo fashiistootaaan  dhagala’aa jiru nu gaafachaa jira. Hagayya 6, 2016 irraa kaasee harka maranii garboomfataa fi ashkaroota garboomfataa, “nagaa nuu buusi, nagaa nuu fidi” jedhanii gaafachuun (kadhachuun)  dhaabachuu qaba.

Qabxii tuqamuu qabu: Rakkinni Oromoo guddaan handhuura Oromiyaa keessa jirti. Rakkinni kunis, maqaa kiristinna ishiitiin, “Addis Ababaa” jedhamtee waamamti. Kana boodaa “Addis Ababaan” kun waa lama keessaa waa tokko filachuun dirqama. (1) Handhuura Oromiyaa  taatee jiraachuu duwwaa otoo hin ta’iin, qaama guutuu Oromiyaa taatee  filattte jiraachuu; yookiin, (2) Kun yoo ta’uufii dide, bakka barbaaddetti Finfinnee irraa kaatee godaanuu. Dhukkuba hamaa kana, Qeerroon Birmadummaa Oromoo xiyyeeffannaa cimaa keessa galchee irratti  hojjechuu qaba.

“Nama Gumaa aafatu malee,  nama Gumaa nyaatu nu hin taanu!!”.

[1] Waa’ee Amaraa ilaalchisee Paul Baxter Akkasi jedha:”From an Oromo view point, an Amhara is anyone who is either born into Amhara society and culture or chooses to enter these by speaking Amharic in domestic situation, by adopting Amharic life style and by acting in public situation in support of Amhara values, in particular by following the fasting rules of the Coptic Church”. See Paul Baxter in Nationalism and Self- determination in the Horn of Africa. I.M. Lewis (ed), 1983.p.137
[2] Xaaliyaaniin innaa dhute biyya sana qabattu,Maqaa Abyssinia jedhamuun dhufte qabatte. Jaarmaan “League of Nations” jedhamus maquma Kanaan ishii beeka.Seenan bara 1940 duuba barreeffamanis maquma Abyssiniatti dhimma baha. (http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/modern-world-history-1918-to-1980/italy-1900-to-1939/abyssinia/ )
[3] Aadam Tiinnaa Jaarraa fi Muusaa Haaji Addam Saaddoo. Seenaa Oromoo fi Madda Walaabuu: Iccitii Jaarraa 16 heesso, Muddee bara 2004/Dec 2011

Baroota 15 dura, qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo qindoomina dabrees hanniisaa itti horuudhaf, humna qabsaawotaa mooraa takkatti walitti fiduun gaafii yeroo belbeltuu akka ture waan yaadatamu. Akkuma beekkamuu malu, hireen qabsoo saba Oromoo dhuma bara 1992 keessaa mudate, hanga bara 2000 keessa Tokkummaan Humnoota Bilisummaa Oromiyaa (THBO) bu’uraawetti, faffaca’iinsa jaarmiyoota kan haalan yaachisaa ti ture. Faca’iinsa uummameef furmaata ma’ii soquun hawwii fii iyyaannaa saba Oromoo maraa ture. Itti dabalees, jaarmiyooleen siyaasaa Oromootis dhiibbaa sabichaatin rakkoo faca’iinsa moraa QBO kessatti dhalateef  hiikkaa aggaamuf yeroo itti dirqaman ture. Haala kanattu, dirree marii jaarmiyoota siyaasaa jidduutti yeroo duraatif bane. Itti ba’iinsi marii kanaatis, tokkummaa jaarmiyoota Oromoo kaayyoo bilisummaa Oromoo fii walabummaa Oromiyaatif qabsaawan mara agoobaro takka jalatti walitti fiduudhan, dhawata keessaa, tokkummaan isaani akka mirkanaawu haala mijeessuu kan jedhu ture. QBO rakkoolee jaarmiyoota fii akkasumas qabsaawota jidduu turaniin gaadi’amee gulantaa ol’aana fii abdachiisa irraa ga’u hanqachuun isaa hubatamuudhan, dhibdeelee qabsicha korkodan irraa aanudhaan, jaarmiyaa cimaa fii waaltawaa tokko kan qabsaawonni marti keessatti hammatamani qooda ga’a itti gummaachuu danda’an, akkasumas hooggana bilchinaa fii qaroominaan qabsicha kayyoo isaatin mamii tokkoon maleetti ga’uudhaf murate sosso’u fii sossoosu tokko horachuudhaf THBO Fulbaana 2000 keessa uummame.

Akeeka eebbifamaa kana bakkaan ga’uudhaf, THBO baroota muraasa ta’aniif akka jaarmiyaa agoobaraatti carraaqii gochaa ture. Haa ta’u malee, rakkoolee danuu irraa kan ka’e, akka hawwametti milkaawuu hindandeenye. Rakkoolewan turan warra seena qabsoo Oromoo hegere barreessaniif diifnee, waan ijaaraa (positive) ta’an irratti hoo fuulleffane, dhalachuun THBO hoo­xiqaate bobbaa wal­balleesu fii maqaa wal­xureessuu jaarmiyoota siyaasaa Oromoo jidduu ture haalan hir’isuun isaa waan haalamuu miti. Kana irraa kana hafe, direen waliin hojjatan bal’achuurra dhiphachaa, akka akeekametti moraa Oromoo keessatti tumsa waliif gochuu takkaahu tokkoomu irratti fuulleffachuun hanqatee, dhaabbolee alagaa kan tarsimoon isaanii faallaa qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo ta’an waliin, jaarmiyaan miseensa THBO ta’e tokko, ABOn, murna Alliance for Freedom and Democracy (AFD) jedhamee beekkamaaa ture keessatti tumsaaf bara 2006 keessa waliigaltee gochuun isaa, baroota dheeradhaaf tokkummaa jaarmiyoota Oromoo jidduutti uumudhaaf tattaaffi godhamaa ture gaaffii keessa akka galu taasifame.

Haa ta’u malee, jaarmiyooleen miseensa THBO ta’an gariin kan tokkummaan humnoota Oromoo QBOtif murteessadha jedhanii akeeka tokkummaa irratti cichan, hojii isaan tokkomsu irratti fuulleffatan; dhawataanis tokkumma isaanii Bitooteessa bara 2010 mirkaneeffatan. THBO jaarmiyaa agoobara ta’uun isaa hafee kara jaarmiyaa tokko kan hooggana tokkoon masakamutti akka muuxatu taasifame. Erga gaafa THBO akka jaarmiyaa siyaasaa Oromoo tokkoo ti of labsee kaasee hanga har’aatti, humnoota Oromoo gola jaarmiyaa ada adaa keessatti faca’anii jiran akka mooraa tokkotti, humna jaarmiyaa cimaa tokkotti, hoggana tokko jalatti of gurmeessanii qindoominan QBO tinnisan waamicha wal­irraahincinne gochaa ture. Waamicha qofaa osoo hintaane, jaarmiyoota maqaa Adda Bilisummaa Oromoo (ABO) dhahatan maraan yeroo adda addaatti garee­lamaan (bilateral) haa ta’u akka garee­tuutatti (multilateral) bu’ura humnoota Oromoo tokkoomsu irratti ijibbaata onnee irraa madde, yeroo dheeradhaf osoo hin­nuffin, dhimma jaarmiyaa ofii kan dhuunffa caalaa, dhimma waloo kan humnoota Oromoo tokkoomsu irratti fuulleffachuudhan tattaaffi hagana hinjedhamne hanga walakkeessa bara 2015 ti godhaa ture. Garuu, ijibbaanni THBO bu’ura tokkummaa tarkaanfachiisu irratti godhee firii tokkoollee argamsiisu waan hanqateef, xiyyeeffannaa isaa guutu karaa hojii jaarmiyaa ofiitti akka fuulleffatuuf dirqamee jira.

Har’a, QBO yeroo kamuu caala irree tokkumma akka barbaadduu ifaa dha. Kana ta’e odoo jiruu, har’alee erga calqaba THBO bara 2000 keessa bu’uraawe kaasee, wogaa 16 booda, jaarmiyooni siyaasaa Oromoo tokkummaa dhugaa uummanni keenya irraa hawwu sana milkiidhan xumurachuudhaf hindhangi’amne. Keessattuu, yeroo kamuu caalatti haccuuccan mootummaa gabrooffataa Wayyaanee daran uummata Oromoo irratti si’ana cimee odoo jiruu, yeroo sabni Oromoo akka sabaatti lafa irraa akka baduuf diinni xiyyeeffatee bobbaa gochaa jiruu, yeroo badii irraa of oolchuf uummanni Oromoo dhaloota haarawaan durfamee diina irratti tokko ta’ee falmii seena qabeessa galmeessaa jiruu, jaarmiyooni siyaasaa Oromoo garuu irree isaanii tokkoomsanii balaa saba Oromoo irratti agaamameef gaachana ta’u hanqachuun isaani haalan saba keenya gaddisiisun isaa waan hin­haalamne. Ammas akkuma duriitti, goluma ofii keessatti waan danda’an gochuudhumaaf batattisuudhan alatti, of gurmeessanii irree tokkummaatin QBO qindoominan gaggeessudhaaf akkasumas guutu sabaa qabsoo irratti hirmaachisudhan dhibdee hundeedha kan saba keenya baraatamaan gidirsu, harqoota gabrummaa Habashoota, hundeedhan buqisuudhan uummata Oromoo badii irraa baraarudhaf qophaawoo mitti; of qopheesufis hamileedhan itti hinjiran.

Haalli kuni qabsaawota dhugaa dabrees uummata keenyaa yaaddessuu qaba; yaaddoo qofaa odoo hintaane, har’a­boru odoo hinjjenne rakkoo QBO sakaale, xurree itti falamuu dand’u walitti birmatanii soqachuun gaaffii yeroo ti. Kana ta’uu baannan, badii saba keenya irratti dhaqabuu maluuf, itti­gaafatamni duraa ceekuu humnoota siyaasa Oromoo irratti kufa jenna. Itti­gaafata akkanaa irraa of baasuf, jaarmiyooni Oromoo yeroon hir’ina qaban itti furatan oddo hinbubbulin amma ta’uu qaba.

Tokkoffaa, akkuma gubbanatti tuqametti, humnooni akeekan walfakkaatan gurmuu tokko ta’anii soosso’uudhaf bu’ura tokkummaa yeroo mara ka’u xumura itti gochuu fii tokkummaa hojiidhan mirkaneessuu qabu. Fafakkeessu dhaabu qabu; kana jechaan, tokkummaa uummane jedhanii sabatti of labsanii, hojiidhan garuu labsichi qalbiidhuma ummataa yeroodhaf ittiin booj’uudhaf qofa gochi godhamu dhaabbachuu qaba. Haqaan, fedhii guutudhan, qaama­qalbiidhan rakkoo(lee) qabsaawota akkasumas jaarmiyoota siyaasaa akka hin­tokkoomne danqe(an) akka yayyaba guutu sabichaa (pressing national agenda) godhatanii furmaata akeekuf hatattaman walitti birmachuun duree argachuu qaba jenna.

Kan lammataa, humnooni tokkooman jaarmiyaa cimaa fii muuxataa ta’e, kan qabsaawota maraaf hiree ga’a akka QBOtif gumaachaniif kennataa ta’e, kan yeroo irra yeroo ti of haaromsu, jaarmiyaa adda hundaanu diina dura dhaabatu dabrees injiffanno injifannoorratti galmeessu, jaarmiyaa ummata Oromootif gaachana ta’e, kan roorroo itti agaamamu hunda bakka fi yeroo mara irraa qolachuu danda’u tokko jaarrachuun milkaawu akeeka QBOtif murteessa ta’uun hubatamee carraaqii irratti gochu. Jaarmiyaa haala kanaan utubame keessaa, hoogana qaroo qabsoo Oromoo xaxama amma keessa jiru keessa baasu, gutu sabichaa hiriirfatu, manyee diinaa Oromiyaa keessa baleessudhan gabrumaan dhaloota irraa dhalootatti dabraa dhufe xumura itti godhu tokko biqilchuu fi guddiffachu.

Kan sadaffaa, diinni motummaa Wayyaanetin durfamu saba Oromoo guutu irratti waraana labsee, xiqaa­-gudda, dhiira­-dubartii, jaarsaa-­jaarti odoo hinjedhin yeroo kamuu caala Oromoo ajjeesaa, hidhaa, dhabamsiisaa, lafa irra buqisaa, biyaa irra baasaa yammuu jiru kana, saba Oromoo badii irraa baraaruf humna­ittisaa abdachiisaa ta’e horachuun jaarmiyaa bilisa baaftu ofin jedhan irra kan dursaadhan eegamu. Kanaaf, humnooni bilisummaa Oromoo tokkummaa isaanii mirkaneeffatanii jaarmiyaa waalta’a tokko horachuu qofaa odoo hintaane, Waraana Bilisummaa Saba Oromoo (WBSO) abdii fi gaachana saba Oromotif ta’u danda’u tokko dabreetis galii QBOtif akka wabii ta’u ti jaaru.

Hoo jaarmiyoon siyaasa Oromoo bu’uraalewan armaa olitti tarreeffaman irraatti murannoodhan bobba’anii hojiitti hattattamaan hinsharafne, QBO maraamartoo baroota dheeradhaaf keessa jiru kessa ba’uun isaa mamiidha ta’a. Haala amma itti jiraniin itti fufnaan, gaag’amni qabsoo Oromoo dabreetis saba Oromo irra ga’uu malu tilmaamun rakkisaa hinta’u. Kanaaf, saba Oromoo kiyyoo badii irraa hambisuun, qabsoo isaa gatantara kessaa baasanii humneessun hojii boru odoo hintaane kan ammaa ta’u qaba jenna.

Yeroo dheeradhaaf, yoomuma jaarmiyooni siyaasaa Oromoo tokkoomanii, qabsoo bilisumma saba isaanii gulantaa xumuraa irraan ga’anii, sirna gabroomfataa Habashoota hundeedhan buqqisanii, sirna Gadaa Oromoo deebisanii jaaranii, akka Oromiyaan nagaa fii badhaadhinan bultu haala murteessaa mijeessu, gaaffii jedhu sabni Oromoo wal­gaaffachaa har’a ga’ee jira. Gaaffin kuni deebii malee gaaffiidhumaan hafee jira. Waan kana ta’eefis, uummanni Oromoo jaarmiyoolii maqaa sabichaattin warraaqan irratti abdii guutu dhabuun isaa waan wal­namagaafachiisu miti.

Ammaan boodatti, jaarmyooni bilisummaa saba Oromoo fii walabummaa Oromiyaatif qabsoofna jechaa jiran, kaayyoo kana tarkaanfachiisu irratti tokkoomanii, hojii qabatamaa fii abdachiisa hatattamaan agarsiisuf qophii ta’uu baannan, uummanni Oromoo jaarmiyolee kana irratti qofaa abdii gutu godhatee ta’uun isaa dhaabbachuu qaba jenna. Filmaata biraa akka qabaatuf irratti of qopheessuu qaba. Akka abbaa QBOtitti, haala fii fala diina isaa gabroomfataa ittiin injifatu dabrees milkiidhan qabsoo isaa galmaan ga’atu irratti yaadun gar­malee barbaachisaadha ta’a. Yaada qofaas odoo hintaane, of ijaarudhan humna QBO ariitidhaan milkeessu horuudhaf qophaawun filmaata yeroon gaafachaa jiru jenna.

Keessattu dhalooni haaran, qeerron, humna addaa tokko kan QBOtif hawwamuu fii filmaata ta’u bu’urreesuf of qopheessutu irraa eeggama. Warraaqsi si’ana gochaa jiran heeddu seena qabeessa. Wareegama qaalii lubbuu gaafatu baasudhaan, tokkummaa saba keenyaa firaaf akkasumas ambaaf mirkaneessanii jiru. QBO, gulantaa addaa, kan sadarkaa addunyaan qabsoo saba Oromoo itti beekun ga’anii jiru. Amma kan isaanitti hafu fii caalatti irraa eeggamu, QBO humneessudha.

Qabsicha humneessudhaaf, xurren isaan qaban lamatu. Takkaahuu, danda’amnaan, jaarmiyoota siyaasaa amma jiran keessa galuudhaan jijjiirraa hundeedha jaarmiyoota keessatti fidu. Jijjiiran dhufuu qabus, kan jaarmiyooni kuni tokkummaan akka sosso’aniif hurrii amma ija isaanii irra jiru saaqu; kan mooraa tokkummaadhan warraaqamu keessatti, guutun qaamota sabichaatis QBO keessatti hirmaannaa ga’aa qabaatanii, qabsichaaf gumaata ol’aanaa itti kennan ta’uu qaba. Kun hindanda’amu taanan, QBO filmaata jaarmiyaa siyaasa addaa akka horatu gochuun dirqama dhaloota haara kanaa ti ta’a.

Waraaqisi amma qeerron itti jiru, warraaqsa takka ka’ee takka dhaamu akkasumas takka jabaatee takka laafu odoo hintaane, waraaqsa humna cimaa fii dhaabbataatti of jijjiiru ta’u qaba. Humni kunis, humna (jaarmiyaa) bilisummaa shaffisaadhan fiduu danda’uutti of jijjiiree waraaqu ta’uu qaba. Humna adda hundaanuu diinan falmuu fii badii uummta Oromoo fii qabsoo isaa irratti aggaamamu ittisu danda’utti of jijjiiru qaba. Kana ta’uu baannan, wareegamni baasanii fi bu’aan QBOtif galmeessan walgituuf hinjiraatu. Ilmaan qaroo boru Oromiyaadhaf abdii ta’antu dhiinan lafa irraa dhabamuuf jiraatu. Daran, kumaatamaan hidhaa fii akkasumas biyya ambaatti baqachuudhaf saaxilamu. Bobbaan uummata Oromoo laffarraa dhabamsiisu itti cimuuf jiraata.

Erga warraaqsi qeerrodhaan durfamu calqabee kaase, keessumattuu baatii kurnaan dabran kana keessatti, gola dawoo ta’uuf biyya keessa dhabuu irraan kan ka’e, wareegamni ilmaan Oromoo baasan garmalee ulfaatadha. Humni jaarmiyaa siyaasaa Oromoo abdatamaa ta’e tokko silaa jiraate, diina harkatti akkuma laafatti dhumuurra hookin biyyaa baqachuurra, humna akkanaatti makamanii QBOtif humnaa fii dandeetti isaanii murannoo qaban kanaan gumaachani qabsoo sabichaa gulantaa abdachiisarran ga’u danda’uu turan. Hiree akkanaa moraa QBO irraa dhabuun isaanii, qabsoo saba Oromootif gaa’gama guddaadha jenna. Qabsoon dhaloota haarawa hammatee dureedhan qabsicha irraa isaan hin­hirmaachifne hir’ina danuu qabaachu isaatu mamii tokko malee garsiisa.

Kan hubatamuu qabu, handhuurri dhibee qabsoo saba keenyaa qaama sabichaa mara QBO keessatti akka barbaachisutti hirmaachisuu dadhabuudha. Bu’urri dadhabii kanaatis, rakkoolee qabsaawotaa dabreetis jaarmiyolii siyaasaa Oromoo jidduu jiraniif furmaata soqachuu dhibuun, moora ilaalcha takka calaqistu keessatti jaarmiyaa cimaa kan guddina saba keenyattin wal­gitu tokko jaarrattanii hooggansa ga’a keennuu hanqachuu dha. Gaaga’ama hanqini kuni QBO irratti fidaa jiru ifaa dha. Karaa fulduraatti hanqinii jiru kuni furamuu baannan, QBO qofaa odoo hintaane Oromoon akka sabaatti jiraachun isaa gaafi keessa galuu danda’u isaatu Oromoo yaaddessuu qaba. Kanaaf, haala yaaddessaa akkanaa keessa saba Oromoo baraaruf, gaaffiin qabsaawota akkasumas jaarmiyoota tokkoomsuu gaaffii hundee kan faffakeesudhan baraatama bira taramu ta’uu hinqabu. Odoo hinbubbulin, gaaffii kana gadi fageenyan baranii deebii isaa faluun QBO akka karaa fulduraatti furgaafatu gochuu irratti dhiibbaa hoo qabaatu, rakkoo akka qabsaawotaatti waltajjiitti qabnu har’a furachuun, boru gaafa abbaa biyyuumaa keenya qabsoo keenyan mirkanaawe akkaata haala tasgabaawen biyya keenya nagaadha fii badhaadhinaan bulchinuuf karaa nu bana jenna.

Tokkummaan humna!

Oromiyaan ni bilisoomti!

Camadaa Hundee irraa

Guddinni siyaasa oromoo fi falmiin bilisummaa isaaf taasisu bu’aa bahii eddu keessa darbee yeroo ammaa sadarkkaa bifa kamiinuu duubatti deebi’uu hin dandeenye irra gahee jira. kun injifannoo hunda caaluu dha. ilmaan oromiyaa kaabaa kibbaa, baahaa lixaa tokkummaan falmii bilisummaa isaanii, yeroo finiinsan shororkaan mooraa diinaa keessatti uumee jiruu fi abbaan biyyummaa fi bilisummaan oromoo kan hin afne ta’uu dhugoomsee jira. kanatti ilma oromoo ta’ee kan hin gamme yoo diina ta’e malee hin jiru. kanaaf kabajaa fi ulfinni bara baraa jaallan wareegamanii qabsoo ilmaan oromoo sadarkaan kanaan gahaniif haa ta’u.

Barruu kiyya kana keessatti dhimma yeroo ammaa diina isa ilmaan oromiyaa lafa irraa fixaa jiru dhiisanii kan kootu caalaa fi ana malee kan biraa qabsoo kana keessaa qooda hin qabaatu ykn qooda qabaachuun akka yakkaatti ilaalamee, olola jaanjummaa oofaa jiran irratti waa jechuufan.  Qabsoo oromoo, gareen ykn jaarmiyaan tokkichi duwwaan kan itti gaafatamu ykn itti waamamu miti. Qooda ilmaan oromiyaa fi jaarmiyaa oromoo bifa hawaasummaanis ta’ee bifa jaarmiyaa siyaasaan ijaaraman qooda keessaa qabanii dha. kanaaf kan abbaa qoroo itti tahu ykn itti waamamu hin jiru. qabsoon oromoo dhalootaa dhalootatti darbaa kan dhufee dha.

Gara dubbii ijoo kiyyaatti yeroon deebi’u #oromoprotest ykn diddaa garbummaa bifa jedhuun baatii sagaliif finfilli deemaa ture sadarkaa addunyaatti fakkeenya qabsoo ilmaan cunqursfamaaf ta’ee jira. kanatti hundi keenya boonuu qabna. Keessumaa dhalooti qubee sochii kana hoogganuu fi qooda olaanaa bahuu isaatiin gara boqonnaa haaraatti cehee jira.

Kun kanaan otoo jiruu yeroo jalqabaaf hiriira nagaa ykn fincila diddaa garbummaa guutummaa oromiyaatti hooggansa dhaloota qubeen #oromoprotest  maqaa jedhamuun waamame, golee oromiyaa hunda keessatti ilmaan oromoo sagalee tokkoon diina akka falmatan taasisee jira. kana keessatti gaheen dargagootaa hooggansa kennuu fi caasaa caasessuu keessatti qaban murteessaa ture.

Yeroo ammaa kana maaliif otoo nuti jirruu maqaa dargaggoota itti waamama bifa jedhuun jaarmiyaaleen siyaasaa tokko tokko yeroo qurruma sochii kanaaf qaban muldhisan arguun qaanii dha.

Duulli bifa ifa ta’een hooggantoota qabsoo bifa harawaan karaa dargaggoon gaggeefamaa jiru irratti baname diina tumsuun ala fayidaa tokko iyyuu hin qabu. duulli Jawaar Mohammadii fi dargaggoota ilmaan oromiyaa fincila kana hooganaa jiran irratti baname, anaaf eddu raajii natti ta’ee jira. ani nama dhuunfaa ykn Jawaariif falmuuf otoo hin taane ka’umsa dubbii kanaatu ammam namootiin tokko tokko duubatti akka deebi’aa jiran muldhisa. bifa maqaa jaarmiyaatiin gareen jiran sochii ilmaan oromoo akka maalaqa kiisha isaaniitti ilaaluuf yeroo namatti dutan arguun ammoo eddu nama raja. Sochii dargaggootaa hooggansa dorgootan ykn dhaloota qubeen gaggeefamutti gammaduun ala, maaliif masaanuu akka itti ta’an naaf hin galle. Kanaafan namni fuula gubataa, abiddatti nama arkisa oromoon jedhutti gargaarame. Jawaarii fi qindeessitoota #oromoprotest maaliif duulama? Maaliif amma ibsa ijjannoo irratti baasu? Maaliif karaa caasaa isaanii hiriira nagaa guutummaa oromiyaa keessatti waamame akka milkiin hin qabaanne karaa caasaa isaanii dhaamsa dabarsu? maaliif ammoo waanta isaani hin waamnee fi mormaa turan gaafa ummati waamicha hooggansa dargaggootaa kana dhagahee bahu deebi’anii maaliif akka waan ofiif harka keessaa qabaniitti irraa dubatu? Kun raajii dha. dhalooti qubee hooggansa qabsoof kennuun silaa itti gamaduu qabna. Duubbiitu namni kufaatii hin nuffine , kan biraas akka kufu hawwa jedhan sana taate. Jawaar Mohammad waanti inni godhe yoo jiraate seenaa oromoo keessatti innii fi dargaggootii akka isaa yaada harawaa qabachuun media waltawaa fi ilmaan oromoo hunda walitti qabuu danda’u gadi dhaabee jira. kun ilmaan oromoof injifannoo guddaa dha. akkuma jecha isaa keessatti “qilleensa Oromiyaa bilisoomsuu qabna” jedhe sana qilleensa oromiyaa kan duri diinni duwwaan keessa burraaqu bilisoomsee jira. ilmaan oromiyaa kaabaa kibbaa bahaa lixaa walitti hidhee jira.  nama ija banatee ilaaluuf injifannoo oromoo ti. Nama ykn garee akka masaanuutti ilaaluuf ammoo kufaatii dha. hiriira nagaa oromiyaa keessatti gaafa 6/8/2016 taasifame keessattis dhoksaa malee ifatti waamicha taasisee jira. maal gochuu akka qabus ifatti ummatatti himee jira. yeroo jalqabaaf waamicha waloon oromoon kan sagalee tokkoon diina dura dhaabbate hooggansaa fi qophii dargaggoon dhaloota qubee taasisaniin tahuu isaa mamiin hin jiru. kanaaf kanatti gammaduun ala maaliif duula qopheessitoota #oromoprotest irratti banuun barbaachise? Kan wayyaaneen irratti bante gahaa natti fakkaata. Baruma baraan dhaloota qabsoo oromoo hoogganuuf mataa olqabatan irratti duuluun amilee cabsaa jiraachuun seenaa tahuu qaba. aadaan “misingaan dura geese, tokko girrisaaf tokko furrisaaf” jedhamu sana hordofuun dhaabbachuu qaba. kanaaf jaarmiyaan siyaasaa ofiin jechaa nama dhuunfaa fi hooggantoota sochii fincila oromoo irratti ibsa ijjannoo fi duula karaa dabballee fi paltalk banaa jirtan dhaabbadhaa jechuun fedha. Yoo dandeessan itti makamaa. Yoo dadhabdan gufuu qabsoo ta’uu fi dhaloota qubee amilee cabsuu irraa of qusadhaan dhaamsa kiyyaa dha.

Warri kaleessas qabsoo kana gaggeessaa turan itti galateefatamuu qabu. garuu kana irra darbamee dhaloota harawaatti gufuu tahuu hin qaban. Dhalooti qubee akka ani yaadutti akka yaadan tasa hin barbaadu. Bilisummaan akka dhaloota qubeetti akka yaadanan barbaada. Sammuun bilisaan ummata bilisa akka gadi dhaaban gochuutu dirqama kiyya. Akkan ofii yaadutti akka yaadan yoon godhe ammuma ofii yaadan akka yaadan taasisa. Aadaan kun hundeen cabuu qaba. dhalooti kaleessaa gahee isa irraa eegamu bahee jira. dhalooti qubee dirqama mataa isaa qaba. kanaaf dhalooti kaleessaa, dhaloota qubee eebbisuun hooggansa itti kennuun dirqama seenaa ti. Jecha Jereraali Waaqoo Guutuu as irratti qalbeeffachuun eddu gaarii dha. “dandeenyu ofii of bilisoomsina , dadhabnu ilmaan itti guddifanna” jecha jedhutu yeroo ammaa hojiirra oolaa jira. kanaaf dhaloota haarawaatti gufuu ta’uu tasa hin barbaachisu. Jaarmiyaan oromoo kamuu ilma oromoo mirga isaaf famtu keessatti gahee olaanaa qaban kamuu akka qaroo isaatti fudhachuu qaba. akka masaanuu fi maaliif ana malee nama biraa ilaalaniitti yaaduun kun dadhabbina siyaasaa ti.

Leelloo Sabaa irraa

Hagayya 6, bara 2016 irraa eegaleee, Fincilla Xumura Gabrummaa, Qeerroo Bilisummaatiin hoogganamee, guutuu Oromiyaa keessatti, bifa addaan,akka abidda saafaa boba’aa jiru keessatti,   Oromoo meesha maleeyyiin rasaasa mootummaa gabroomfataa Impaayera Ixoophiyaatiin ajjeeffaman hanga har’aatti 283 gahuu isaa maddeen:  Jaarmota mirga dhala namaa, hospitalota fi poolisaa irraa dhagahamaa jira. Fincila kana keessatti kanneen wareega baasan, harki 92.8: shamarran, dargaggoo fi daa’imman egeree fi abdii borii Oromiyaa ta’anii dha. Maatiilee Oromiyaa ilmaan isaanii rasaasa Tigreetiin: qeyee isaanii keessatti, balbala mana isaanii duratti, abbaa fi haadha isaanii biratti Hagayya 6, bara 2016 irraa eegalee dhaban keessaa tokko, haadha Musxafaa oggaa taatu, rasaasa Ixoophiyaatiin mucaa dhabde kanaaf kan:  rifatte, kan sodaatte, kan hamileen cabe osoo hin taane, wareegama mucaan isii Musxafaa jedhamu bilisummaa Oromiyaaf kaffale ittiin boonuu fi ittiin dhaadatuun isii, kanneen: aarii, fedhii, hawwii, dandeettii fi muratnoo ummata Oromoof tuffii qaban hunda kan ajaa’ibe oggaa ta’u, gootummaa fi muratnoo isiin agarsiiftetti kan ittiin booname qofa osoo hin taane, “haadha goota deesse” jedhamtee ummata Oromoo hunda biratti akka faarfamtuu fi kabajamtu taasisee maatiilee Oromoo rasaasa wayyaaneetiin ilmaan isaanii dhaban hunda kan jajjabeesse ture.

Dubartiin Oromoo kun, mucaa deessee fi guddifte kana, wanneen inni barbaadu fi akeeka inni wareegameef waan beektuuf, “Dhiigi mucaa kiyya dhangala’ee hin hafu. Oromiyaan ni bilisoomti !” jettee sagalee guddaa fi aariidhaan ummata Oromoo taaziyaaf gara isii dhufe keessaa garmaamtee dhiiga mucaa isiitiiin Oromiyaan akka bilisoomtu sodaa tokko malee labsaa turte. Dhiigi ilmoo isiitii, kan bilisummaa argamsiisu malee kan lafatti badu akka hin taane abdii qabdus shakkii tokko malee ibsaa turte. Dhaadannoon isii kun , “guyyaan itti ilmaan keenya bilisummaa argan ni dhufa” jechuudhaan kan Roobaa Bultum bara Miniliki raage, waggoota dhibba tokko ol booda illee, akeeki ummata Oromoo, Oromiyaa bilisoomte arguu qofa akka ta’e kan mul’isee dha. Akeeki bilisummaa Oromiyaa, akeeka dhaloota irraa dhalootatti darbee har’a gahe,  jaarra tokko oliif hawwii ummata Oromoo kan  ture fi fuuldurattis, itti fufee,  qabsoo ummata Oromoo kan   hoogganuu ta’uu ifa kan taasise dhaadannoon ‘haadha gootaa’ kun, ajjeechaa fi hidhaan bara: Minilik, Haayile Sillaasee, Dargii fi Wayyaanee  ummata Oromoo fi qabsaawota isaa irratti raawwataa  ture,  akeeka bilisummaa Oromiyaa irraa ummata Oromoo of booda akka hin deebifne, ajjeechaa fi hidhaan fuulduratti ummata Oromoo irratti geggeeffamus , haga Oromiyaan bilisoomtutti, ummata Oromoo of booda deebisuu akka hin dandeenye guutuutti kan mirkaneesse qofa osoo hin taane,  kanneen muratnoo ummata Oromoo irratti  shakkii qaban illee, shakkii isaanii  dhara/soba taasise.

Dhaadannoon ‘haadha gootaa’ kana irraa dhagahamaa ture, akeeki Adda Bilisummaa Oromoo, kan bilisummaa Oromoo fi walabummaa Oromiyaa, waggoota 43 dura lafa kaa’ame, har’a illee, akeeka hawwii ummata Oromoo calaqqisu ta’uu kan ifa taasise qofa osoo hin taane, akeeki ABO kun, akeeka dhaloota qubeetiin haammatame fi itti fufiinsa isaa illee shakkii tokko maleee kan abdachiisee dha.Hawwiin mucaa isii fi kan hunda Oromootaa, bilisummaa Oromiyaa waan ta’eef, dhaadannoo dhageessifte kanaan, Oromoon itti fufee qabsaawee, bilisummaa Oromiyaatiin gumaa ilma isii akka baasu abdii isiin ummata Oromoo irraa qabdus kan agarsiisuu dha.

Waan kana ta’eef, maatiileen Oromoo, ilmaan akka qaroo ija isaanitti ilaalan rasaasa Ixoophiyaatiin/wayyaaneetiin dhaban hundi: obsa, muratnoo fi abdi bilisummaa “haadha gootaa” kana irraa mul’ate akka fakkeenyaatti fudhatuun, ilmaan Oromoo hundi  bilisummaa Orommiyaatiif  akka qabsawan jajjabeessuu qaban. ‘Haatii gootaa’ kun,”Dhiigi mucaa kooti dhangala’ee hin hafu. Oromiyaan ni bilisoomti !” jettee dhaadachuun, abdii guddaa isiin dhaloota ammaa irraa qabdu kan calaqqisu waan ta’eef, hawwii isii kana bakkaan gahuuf ummatni Oromoo itti fufee,  akeeka bilisummaa  Oromiyaa ABO’n hoogganamu bakkaan gahuuf  gootummaan qabsaawee abdii isiiin irraa kaayyatte  kana dalagaan mul’isuu qaba. Kana malees, wareegama ilmi isii kaffale kana butatanii, akeeka bilisummaa Oromiyaa, kan ‘haati gootaa’ kun raagde, karaa  irraa jallisuun tokkummaa Ixoophiyaa kan haga har’atti cunqursaa siyaasaa fi saamicha diinagdee jalatti Oromoo kuffise, itti fufanii Oromoo irratti fe’uuf Oromoota fi Habashoota olii fi gadi kaatan, qaroominaan  hordofee akeeka Ixoophiyummaa isaanii dura dhaabbatuun, akeeka Adda Bilisummaa Oroomoo, kan  bilisummaa Oromiyaa tiksuu qaba. Qabsoon  ummatni Oromoo haga har’aatti geggeesse, bilisummaa Oromiyaa dhaluuf foolachaa oggaa jiru kanatti, qabsicha gatachiisuuf humnooti Oromoo fi Ixoophiyaa shira hedduu xaxaa waan jiraniif, humnoota seenaa irraa hin baranne, gabroomfattootaa fi albaadhessoota siyaasaa kana hunda irraa qabsoo ummata Oromoo tiksuun,  sochiin ummata Oromoo, bilisummaa Oromiyaatiin akka xumuramu godhuun dirqama olaanaa kan yeroo ti. Obruu/midhaan bilchaataa jirutti, diinni akka itti heddummaatu, qabsoo ummata Oromoo galma isaatti dhiyaate jiru kanattis, diinni keessaa fi ala  itti heddummaata. Kanaaf, ummatni Oromoo, injifatnoo haga har’aatti galmeesse dammaqa cimaadhaan diiina keessaa fi alaa irraa tikfataa, qabsoo isaa bilisummaa Oromiyaatiin  xumuree dhiigi ilmaan Oromoo rasaasa Ixoophiyaatiin/Wayyaaneetiin dhangala’e gatii malee akka hin hafe godhuun dirqama seenaa fi gootummaa Oromoo ti.

Dhiigi ilmaan Oromoo, dhangala’ee hin hafu !

Dhiigi ilmaan Oromoo dhangala’e Bilisummaa Oromiyaa ni biqilcha !

Abdiin Bilisummaa Oromiyaa, ABO fi Ummata Oromoo ti !

Injifatnoon Ummata Oromoof !

Ezekiel Gebissa, Special to Addis Standard

(Addis Standard) — In the last two years, the Oromia region has gone through tumultuous times. New political realities are emerging. A new generation of Oromos has arisen demanding respect for constitutionally-guaranteed, universally-accepted human rights. The awakening of a new demand-bearing generation is a new political reality signifying the Oromo struggle for human dignity has now reached a stage of irreversibility. This is a new experience that gives hope to future generations of Oromos. Every generation has passed on ideas worth fighting for to the succeeding generation.

In the current political dispensation in Ethiopia citizens are constantly harangued to accept the charade that the rule of violence is required to achieve democracy, development, and peace. However, the current young generation of Oromos has not given in to despondency and cynicism. In fact, members of this generation have rebelled against double-talk and demonstrated their willingness to turn their lives into a testing ground for the idea of dying for consistency between work and life. That is a frighteningly beautiful idea championed by the generation some callqeerroo, and others refer to as the qubee generation.

For this generation, to live is to work, to function according to design. It is a generation who has shown that to live in freedom requires paying the ultimate price for it. It is a generation of young people who have a clear sense of who they are. It is a generation that has realized that the Oromo have committed no offense, nor violated any principle to deserve to be subjected to the perpetual violation of their human dignity, let alone to be deprived of their citizen rights. It is a generation that has decided to overcome the moral and existential ambiguity of the political class’s double-entendre. Rather than live in the subliminal state of being alive but without really living as human beings, the new generation of Oromo has decided to take the riskiest of paths and has chosen never to negotiate their right to be free. The historic Oromo Protests of 2014-16 is their defining moment as a generation. It is an epochal event that has revealed, tested and shaped the new Oromo generation. I call it the dinnee generation.

The protests have created a new chapter in the history of the Oromo people’s struggle for freedom. They have opened a new era in which all political organizations that claim as their objective the realization of a political system that respects Oromo human rights must reassess their reason for existence. Only those that succeed in repurposing themselves can continue to provide leadership at a particularly difficult time in the history of the Oromo nation. In this article, I focus on a political party, the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO). My intention is not to privilege the OPDO over other organizations or to single it out for criticism. I address the OPDO because it is a party that could do the most harm to the Oromo cause and to the Oromo nation. Conversely, it could take the Oromo struggle and nation to a new plane if it successfully adjusts to the new situation created by the Oromo protests.

Diagnosis or prescription
In his co-authored book, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading, Ronald Heifetz, Professor of Public Leadership at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, states that success in resolving human problems of any nature begins with proper diagnostic work of separating technical problems from adaptive challenges. According to Heifetz, technical problems can be addressed with known solutions or existing know-how. Problems that are not amenable to authoritative expertise or standard operating procedures are adaptive challenges. Solutions to such problems involve significant (and often painful) shifts in people’s habits, status, role, identity, and ways of thinking. Heifetz posits that these problems call for “adaptive leadership” which mobilizes people and units that frequently have different needs, priorities and perspectives toward new ways of working and ways of thinking.

According to Heifetz, the “most common cause of failure in leadership is produced by treating adaptive challenges as if they were technical problems.” If Heifetz is correct, all indications are that OPDO officials have gotten off to a terrible start defining what the protests are all about. High ranking leaders of the OPDO have been musing about the causes of the protests. Almost universally, they seem to define the Oromo Protest as an issue of mismanagement that could be solved with good governance practices. In an interview with Horn Affairs, Feqadu Tesema Degefa, the Oromia government spokesperson, went beyond the issue of good governance, almost seeming to take credit for the protests. I have quoted him in extenso:

After a bitter struggle, the OPDO has built a new order in which political, economic and social rights have been fully respected. We have built a new order and a politically-conscious population that is not satisfied with the demands that have been met. We have created a population that has rising expectations that looks for more victories, wishes for more development, and is relentless in demanding more rights. We have said that the Oromo have achieved political rights and glowing victories. In the protests, we see the fulfillment of our objective to create a population that is able to defend its rights at any time. … Oromia is a huge part of our country’s development, which has in turn created a demanding people who are aware of their rights. … The people made it clear to us that they are not satisfied with the work we are doing during the 5th round national election. By protesting, they wanted us to be accountable. We see [the protests] as a fruit of our struggle. We are not ashamed of it. We don’t see it as a sign of weakness. We struggled to create a demand-bearing people. We did not struggle to produce students who don’t raise demands, those that are satisfied with their condition and sit back quietly. In the future, we like to see people with more expansive demands. The goal of our struggle has always been to create people who refuse to live in trepidation under an oppressive government. We understand that the people are sovereign over us. As an organization and myself as an individual, we are gratified to see the fruits of our struggle. The protesters’ demands are about several issues related to good governance; second, they are attributable to our failure to explain the true objectives of the Master Plan. … The people protested to hold accountable a government they voted with 100 percent of their vote. People voted in massive numbers and the next day went to development work. And by protesting they expressed their vote of confidence for the party and for the government.

This is the latest iteration of the OPDO version of the causes of the historic protests. We are now told that the uprising wasn’t a problem that required a reasoned response but a victory to celebrate and a vote of confidence in the government. To the extent that the spokesperson explained the OPDO’s take on the cause of the Oromo Protest, he mentioned the lack of good governance and the lack of clarity in explaining the objectives of the Addis Abeba Integrated Development Master Plan. Elsewhere in the interview, he also added unnamed transnational activists who exploited the situation to advance a hidden political agenda.

To be sure, the way the OPDO official defines the protests does not comport with either side of Heifetz’s two categories of organizational problems. It doesn’t make any sense to argue that young people spilled their blood to hold their government accountable or express their vote of confidence in the government they overwhelmingly “elected” only a few months previously. The mind-warping assertions aside, it looks the OPDO’s take on the Oromo Protests is a classic case of what Heifetz describes as the “most common failure of leadership.” Looked at in Heifetz’s framework, it is clear that the causes of the Oromo Protests were not technical problems that could be fixed by administrative reform. The protests presented adaptive challenges that required new ways of thinking and working, and significant (and often painful) shifts in habits, status, role, and identity.

In this vein, the OPDO must first recognize that the Oromo protests have changed the political environment. Technical fixes not only fail to solve the problem but also cause irreparable damage that actually increase the cost of rebuilding exponentially. When faced with adaptive challenges, it is the organization that must adapt to the changed environment. In this case, it is the OPDO that must adjust to the post-Oromo protests political dispensation. Adaptive challenges require adaptive work which, according to Heifetz, demand three “very tough, human tasks: first, figuring out what to conserve from past practices; second, figuring out what to discard from past practices; and third, inventing new ways that build from the best of the past.” Here is how Heifetz’s three human tasks may apply to the OPDO case.

What to conserve
In organisms, successful adaptations take the best from the organism’s history into the future. Similarly, organizations remain true to their roots and adapt to the changing surrounding environment. What does this suggest in the case of the OPDO? Three decade ago, Oromia was a concept in the minds of Oromo nationalists, the qubee script a fancy dream of an Oromo organization striving to educate Oromos in the use of a foreign script, and being an Oromo a great obstacle to self-improvement in a world dominated by Amharic hegemony. Today Oromia is a self-governing entity with delineated boundaries and institutions of governance recognized by the Ethiopian government. The qubee script is the sole means of written Afaan Oromoo, and the Oromo language is the medium of administration, instruction, justice and modern sector commerce in Oromia. The Oromo people have proudly embraced their heritage as individuals and as a collective. These achievements are the foundations of Oromo identity, unity, and nationhood along with the civil society institutions that support them. Finfinne (Addis Abeba) is the umbilicus of all. The OPDO cannot afford to risk the mistake of 2003 when it relocated to Adama.

The OPDO should see to it that these gains and the structures that support them, the constitution and the federal arrangement, are here to stay. A successful transformation of the so-called “prison house of nations” into a democratic, multinational state which the OPDO advocates will not only solve the Ethiopian empire-state’s vexing problems of nationalism but also will set a model that nations with problems of ethnic, racial and national questions can adapt to address their own situations. As the Oromo scholar Asafa Jalata put it in his book Fighting Against the Injustice of the State and Globalization: Comparing the African American and Oromo Movement, democratic multiculturalism has a good chance of bringing about fundamental political, economic, and social transformation. But the kind of rhetorical flourishes and the gloating that permeates the OPDO spokesperson’s interview, saying that they have built a new democratic federal unity, is not what will conserve the gains. Building a political arrangement that accommodates the Oromo people‘s will is a project no Ethiopian ruling party is willing to undertake. The EPRDF regime has made it clear that it is not willing to share power. The intransigence of the ruling class should not force the OPDO to overhaul the vision of democratic unity. It should guard it vigilantly.

What to discard
An organism discards or rearranges the DNA that no longer serves the species’ current needs. As an organization, the OPDO should do the same. It could begin by discarding terrible claims that don’t even make for good propaganda. The idea extant in the spokesperson’s words, i.e., that a political party created people who demand their rights, is outrageous. It is true that the Oromo people today are united and aware of their rights. They are willing to pay any price to preserve the victories they have gained and to fight for more. The OPDO may ultimately take a place in history for contributing to the making of the Oromo nation and the victories attained. But to claim that the OPDO is responsible for the creation of Oromo national consciousness and the present generation of politically conscious Oromos is historically inaccurate. The OPDO knows it has a distinct history that it may not recite with pride.

The OPDO spokesperson also repeats the constant refrain used by regime officials – that the lack of good governance in its multifarious facets and the failure to explain the “true” intention of the Master Plan caused the protests. He also asserts that crafty “agents of destruction” exploited the crisis situation. OPDO officials should always keep in mind that their most important target audience is the Oromo people. The notion that some faceless activists exploited the muddied field created by the regime’s failure to consult the people denies the fact that the protesters have legitimate political, economic and social rights. The spokesperson’s claim, that Oromo protesters who were martyred actually paid with their lives in order to demand marginal rights, is non sequitur.

In fact, the spokesperson goes as far as suggesting the protests were an expression of the political consciousness that the OPDO itself created and that, as such, it is a cause for celebration. The OPDO knows that its public claims are simply false because in closed meetings its officials talk the truth. Both Abbadula Gammada and Fekadu Tessema’s voices have been leaked to the public affirming their knowledge of the truth. Overall, the cost of repeating lame excuses that both the Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn and House Speaker Abbadula Gammada have repudiated diminishes credibility, a rare commodity any government needs in order to have even marginal legitimacy.

Denying that the problem exists isn’t the place to start solving problems. The problems that led to the massive protests are real. If we judge by the slogans that the demonstrators showed, people demanded respect for their human and constitutional rights at the minimum. The Oromo protested marginalization, discrimination because of their identity and exclusion from consultation in political or economic decisions. The new Oromo gave their lives for genuine grievances to be redressed, not for the luxury of encouraging officials to do more development or holding them accountable for mismanagement. The OPDO should abandon charades such as 100 per cent electoral victory and its officials should adjust to the new situation. Nothing can be hidden from the Oromo public. This is the emerging reality. If the OPDO chooses to continue business as usual, as Abbadula Gammada himself once said in one of the party’s deliberately leaked tapes, “the flood of the protests will wash away” both the party and the government.

What to innovate
An organism creates DNA arrangements that give the species the ability to flourish in new ways, in more challenging environments. It is not a secret that OPDO was created by the TPLF during the final offensive against the Derg as its forces moved into Oromo areas. The founding members were prisoners of war from the Derg military who happened to speak the Oromo language. At the time, most were descendants of the Amhara settlers in Oromo areas who knew the Oromo language enough to echo the OLF, but not quite committed to the Oromo cause owing to their non-Oromo background. These were the Oromo infiltrators.

Once in power, the OPDO began to recruit new members. The first new OPDO recruits were members of the Oromo elite who had come through the Derg era either as apolitical bureaucrats who serve any government that comes to power or political opportunists who joined the incoming rebel groups in order to gain clemency for the crimes they had committed as members of the Derg era institutions. They offered their expertise to the OPDO in return for protection and stability in their personal lives. These are the Oromo opportunists who had no qualms renting out their expertise in exchange for personal improvement or immunity.

As the TPLF consolidated its power and the OLF gradually disappeared from the scene, some Oromos joined the OPDO to try and work within the legal framework to improve the lives of the Oromo people. Their objective of this group is not to prevent independent Oromo groups coming to power. This group believes in gradual change and is led by the belief that the political space should not be ceded to those who have no interest in advancing the Oromo cause. This group was the Oromo pragmatists.

In its early days, thus, the OPDO was a fractured party composed of three groups: the non-Oromo infiltrators, the Oromo opportunists and the Oromo pragmatists. In the aftermath of the national elections debacle of 2005, many university graduates joined the OPDO. Some joined to obtain government jobs. Others did as so as pragmatic nationalists who felt they could advance the Oromo cause incrementally within the increasingly restricted atmosphere of an EPRDF regime reeling from the shock of an ignominious electoral defeat. Under the presidency of Abadula Gammada, the OPDO has accomplished several things that would prove enduring for the Oromo people. This was made possible because the lower to middle level administrative positions of the Oromia government’s bureaucracy was occupied by the fourth generation OPDO members. By the end of the decade, many of them had managed to become mayors, woreda administrators, schools’ directors, kebele managers, party chair persons at woreda and zonal levels, and leaders of various party affiliated ‘development’ associations. In a way, this is the cohort that the late Prime Minister Meles sardonically described: “if you peel off the OPDO surface, you will find the OLF.” He could have quite appropriately called them Oromo nationalists. In time, this group turned the OPDO into a vehicle of resistance against EPRDF excesses.

The clearest signal that the OPDO is capable of resistance to the administrative fiat of the federal government came in 2009 when the Oromia government, unable to get the House of Representatives to promulgate legislation governing Oromia’s special interest in Addis Abeba, established a ‘Special Zone’ of towns and districts that surround Addis Abeba. This was the act that led to the creation of the “Integrated” Development Master Plan. Without this act, Addis Abeba would have annexed land from the Oromia region as it had done for two decades prior.

The most dramatic resistance from the OPDO came at a meeting held in Adama town on April 12-14, 2014 for the Oromia regional state employees who were designated to implement the plan. In a performance whose historical import was not immediately evident, OPDO officials raised serious concerns about the Master Plan. The stage was set by a speaker who stated: The issue of Finfinne and the Oromia Special Zone towns is not a question of city management. Looked at from any direction, it is clearly a question of identity. Successive speakers objected to the Master Plan’s implementation citing that it violates several provisions of the constitution, federal jurisdictional boundaries, constituency representation and principles of popular sovereignty. The participants even questioned the paternalistic approach by which the federal government prescribed the kind of development projects the Oromia region needs. Where the officials left off, university students picked up and rose in protest against the Master Plan.

The OPDO has come a long way. In its evolution, it has shown in many instances that the desire of the overwhelming majority of party members is to be on the side of the people. At this stage, the behavior of party officials reveal the conundrum of being organizationally tied to the EPRDF but emotionally attached to the plight of the Oromo. But divided loyalty is a recipe for organizational failure. There is an ancient scriptural wisdom: one cannot serve two masters. It is also a contemporary philosophy. In his famous essay, “The Pursuit of the Ideal,” philosopher and historian of ideas, Isaiah Berlin, states: “Some among the Great Goods cannot live together. That is a conceptual truth. We are doomed to choose.” The notion that one can have both ways is not only unattainable but self-delusional. OPDO must choose. At the moment when it has outlived its usefulness to its TPLF patrons, survival should dictate the choice: become the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization.
_____________________________________//_________________________________

ED’s Note: Ezekiel Gebissa is a Professor of History and African Studies at Kettering University in Flint, Michigan.

Police brutality in Addis Abbaba,How Oromo’s are Mistreated

90 deaths in Oromia and Amhara regions must be investigated by international observers, UN human rights chief says.

Protesters chant slogans during a demonstration over what they say is unfair distribution of wealth in the country at Meskel Square in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, on August 6, 2016. (REUTERS/TIKSA NEGERI)

(Aljazeera) — The UN human rights chief has urged Ethiopia to allow international observers to investigate the killings of 90 protesters in restive regions at the weekend.

Zeid Raad Al Hussein, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said on Wednesday that allegations of excessive use of force across the Oromia and Amhara regions must be probed and that his office was in discussions with Ethiopian authorities.

“The use of live ammunition against protesters in Oromia and Amhara, the towns there of course would be a very serious concern for us,” Zeid told the Reuters news agency in an interview in Geneva.

He also said that his office had “not seen any genuine attempt at investigation and accountability” since January when the killings of protesters first began.

READ MORE: The ‘Ethiopia rising’ narrative and the Oromo protests

Unrest continued in Oromia for several months until early this year over plans to allocate farmland surrounding the regional capital for development.

Authorities in the Horn of Africa state scrapped the scheme in January, but protests flared again over the continued detention of opposition demonstrators.

At the weekend, protesters chanted anti-government slogans and waved dissident flags.

Some demanded the release of jailed opposition politicians. Information on the reported killings has been difficult to obtain, Zeid said.

Zeid said that any detainee, who had been peacefully protesting, should be released promptly.

The state-run Ethiopian News Agency said on Monday that “illegal protests” by “anti-peace forces” had been brought under control. It did not mention casualties.

Ethiopia must allow in observers after killings: U.N. rights boss

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein gestures during an interview with Reuters in Geneva, Switzerland, August 10, 2016. REUTERS/Pierre Albouy

(Reuters) — The U.N. human rights chief urged Ethiopia on Wednesday to allow international observers into restive regions where residents and opposition officials say 90 protesters were shot dead by security forces at the weekend.

In his first comments on the incident, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, said that allegations of excessive use of force across the Oromiya and Amhara regions must be investigated and that his office was in discussions with Ethiopian authorities.

Since January, when he said the killings of protesters first began, his office had “not seen seen any genuine attempt at investigation and accountability”.

“The use of live ammunition against protesters in Oromiya and Amhara, the towns there of course would be a very serious concern for us,” Zeid told Reuters in an interview in Geneva.

Unrest flared in Oromiya for several months until early this year over plans to allocate farmland surrounding the regional capital for development. Authorities in the Horn of Africa state scrapped the scheme in January, but protests flared again over the continued detention of opposition demonstrators.

At the weekend, protesters chanted anti-government slogans and waved dissident flags. Some demanded the release of jailed opposition politicians. Information on the reported killings has been difficult to obtain, Zeid said.

“So I do urge the government to allow access for international observers into the Amhara and Oromiya regions so that we can establish what has happened and that the security forces, if it is the case that they have been using excessive force, that they do not do so and promptly investigate of course these allegations.”

Zeid said that any detainee who had been peacefully protesting should be released promptly.

The state-run Ethiopian News Agency said on Monday that “illegal protests” by “anti-peace forces” had been brought under control. It did not mention casualties.

As in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which Zeid visited last month, it is vital that security forces employ non-lethal means during peaceful protests, he said.

(Reporting by Stephanie Nebehay; editing by Mark Heinrich)

NPR: August 10, 2016

NPR: August 9, 2016

Protesters chant slogans at a demonstration in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa, on Aug. 6. Demonstrations took place last weekend across the country, and Amnesty International says dozens of peaceful protesters were shot dead. Tiksa Negeri/Reuters

This video showed thousands of people in the streets of the northern Ethiopian town of Gondar. The size of the crowd was significant in a country where civil protests are usually banned.

Even more significant? The location o f this anti-government protest.

For the last nine months, protests have erupted further south, in Oromiya, home to Ethiopia’s largest but historically marginalized ethnic group, the Oromo. But now the protests have spread north to a second region, the Amhara.

The different protesters have different grievances, but they share a growing frustration with the rule of a third, minority ethnic group — the Tigrayans. They say the Tigrayan elite has a cartel-like grip on the government, military and the fast-growing economy.

The response by the Ethiopian military to the protesters was swift and brutal. Amnesty International says that nearly 100 people were killed over the weekend when soldiers fired directly on demonstrators.

The U.N. human rights chief has “urge[d] the government to allow access for international observers” to investigate what happened.

Even after those weekend confrontations, witness reports were still filtering back to Addis Ababa, the capital. “We’re hearing who’s been wounded, who’s in hospital, who’s been killed, not to mention those who’ve disappeared without a trace,” said Tsedale Lemma, editor in chief of Addis Standard, one of the few Ethiopian magazines that risks open critiques of the government.

She described an Orwellian spectacle on state-run television, with “ferocious PR work” to discredit the protests. “People are being paraded in the TV, being made to denounce the protests. People denouncing even the use of Facebook.”

For years, Ethiopia’s government has warned against a social media-fueled uprising like the one that happened just north, in Egypt, in 2011.

If you watch Ethiopia’s state TV broadcasts, what you’ll be told is that the country’s protests are fueled by ethnic separatists — or even ethnic terrorists.

Tsedale disputes this explanation, saying the protesters’ beef is with the government, not with any particular ethnic group. “I don’t see that people are deliberately orchestrating ethnic violence in the country,” she says. “Of course, the government is eager to identify it as such.”

In Ethiopia, politics is ethnicity, and ethnicity is geography. The country is formally divided into autonomous ethnic states, each with its own ethnic government. It’s a controversial system called “ethnic federalism” that was instituted by the current regime. Political parties are organized along ethnic lines. Thus any critique of the central government will automatically take on ethnic dimensions.

The protesters impugn the Tigrayan elite — the government officials and army generals — who, they say, have a choke-hold on the country. The government accuses the protesters of fomenting ethnic war on all Tigrayans, rich and poor. And in the fragile ethnic balance that is Ethiopia, the battle to claim the narrative is just as important as the battle in the streets.

Protesters demonstrate over what they say is unfair distribution of wealth in Ethi­o­pia at Meskel Square in Addis Ababa on Aug. 6. (Tiksa Negeri/Reuters)

By Editorial Board

(The Washington Post) — OVER THE weekend, Ethiopia reminded the world of how it treats those who dare demonstrate against the government. At least 90 protesters were shot and killed by Ethiopian security forces in the regions of Oromia and Amhara. As demonstrations unusually reached into the capital of Addis Ababa, the regime censored social media posts and blocked Internet access.

This fresh outburst of repression follows months of unrest in the Oromia region over government plans to expand the Addis Ababa capital territory into the lands of the Oromo, the country’s largest ethnic group. According to Human Rights Watch, Ethiopian security officers have killed more than 400 people in clashes over the Oromia land dispute since protests broke out in November. Tens of thousands more have been detained. The clashes represent the worst ethnic violence that Ethiopia has seen in years. That the unrest is spreading to regions beyond Oromia underscores the depth of anger against the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front party.

The weekend’s bloodshed should prompt the West to reconsider its aid to the regime. Ethiopia has been hailed as a model of economic development and touts its progress on global anti-poverty indicators as proof that its “developmental democratic” style is working. But the repeated use of force to silence dissent threatens development by sowing seeds of future unrest.

The United States has long relied on Ethiopia as a partner in the fight against al-Shabab’s terrorism in Somalia and sends the country tens of millions of dollars in development assistance, tiptoeing around Ethiopia’s human rights abuses and resistance to democratic reforms. On Monday, the U.S. Embassy in Addis Ababa remarked that it was “deeply concerned” and expressed its “deep condolences to those who suffered as a result” but stopped short of explicitly urging the Ethiopian government to refrain from using excessive force against its citizens. The Obama administration should encourage a credible investigation into the killings and publicly make clear that Ethiopia’s continued crackdowns are unacceptable.

Europe is on the verge of helping to provide Ethiopia with even more aid. Ethiopia is one of the key countries to which the European Union is offering “cash for cooperation,” meaning aid and trade incentives in exchange for helping to keep refugees and migrants from reaching Europe. Now Ethiopia is providing a litmus test of the stated E.U. commitment to human rights. If Ethiopia continues its pattern of abusing its citizens and stifling dissent, and if it fails to credibly investigate the recent killings, the European Union should make clear to the regime that it risks being dropped from the migrant agreements.

Ethio­pian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn said in response to criticism of the regime’s human rights record that “building democratic culture will take some time. But we are on the right track. It’s improving.” That’s hard to square with the continued killing and jailing of protesters.

Ethiopia video shows security forces beating protesters

The government’s plan to improve football infrastructure is getting locals offside

(The Economist) — BROKEN windows; fraying nets; chairs with missing legs: the Yidnekachew Tessema Stadium in Addis Ababa has seen better days. Rehabilitated by Emperor Haile Selassie after his return from exile in 1941, it was once a proud monument to Ethiopia’s restored independence following five years of Italian occupation. In 1962 it hosted the African Cup of Nations (Afcon); the national football team—known as the ‘Walias’—won. But the Walias, like their stadium, have struggled since. In 2012 they ended a 31-year stretch in the wilderness by qualifying for Afcon; in 2013 they duly crashed out in the first round.

Enough is enough, says the government. Ethiopians are proud of their sporting heritage: the country’s long-distance runners are among the best in the world. “We were the founders of African football,” says Juneydi Basha, the president of the Ethiopian Football Federation. Addis Ababa hosts the African Union; the government wants it to host Afcon, too.

In every major town, new football stands are going up. The federal government, which is paying, says eight “world-class” stadiums—each with a capacity of at least 30,000—are being built. Six smaller ones are also under way in the capital. The flagship is a 60,000-seater (as big as Arsenal’s Emirates stadium in London) in the centre of Addis Ababa, being built by the Chinese State Construction and Engineering Corporation at a projected cost of at least $110m.

Ordinary Ethiopians scent folly. The ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), has a solid reputation for managing the country’s infrastructure, but the stadium programme has people talking. The claim that it is simply responding to popular demand seems doubtful. “It makes no sense,” says Leoul Tadesse, a local sports journalist. “Building stadiums won’t solve our problems.” Football enthusiasts cramming into bars underneath the old stadium to watch European football matches point out that state-of-the-art infrastructure is no substitute for skills. Just look at England, which has a rich, fabled league but a poor national team.

Is the EPRDF, which has governed Ethiopia since winning power in 1991 after a decade of armed struggle, scoring an own goal? The country’s revered former prime minister of 17 years, Meles Zenawi, would probably not have let the programme kick off. The stern veteran of the EPRDF’s bush war, who died in 2012, is said to have remarked once that Ethiopia needs fertilisers, not stadiums. With the country only just starting to recover from drought, and this week wracked by widespread anti-government protests, in some of which the government is accused of having fired into crowds, his words sound prescient.

FILE – Protesters chant slogans during a demonstration in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, Aug. 6, 2016.

By Salem Solomon

The deadly protests that rocked Ethiopia in the past week stem from a diverse host of regional grievances but they reflect a shared sense of marginalization that may be bringing two of the country’s largest ethnic groups together, analysts say, warning that there could be more unrest on the horizon.

Nearly 100 people were killed as security forces crushed the demonstrations over the weekend, according to opposition political parties and Amnesty International. Security forces opened fire on protesters, activists say.

The Ethiopian government blames the opposition in and outside the country for organizing what it calls “unauthorized protests by anti-peace forces.” According to a statement by the government communications office, some protesters were carrying lethal weapons, including explosives. Opposition leaders deny the allegations, stating that the protesters were peaceful and unarmed.

The dispute in central Ethiopia dates back to November 2015. Demonstrators opposed a government plan to expand the municipal boundaries of the capital, Addis Ababa, into the Oromia Region. Farmers in the region were particularly upset, worrying that it could mean an end to their livelihood. The protests claimed the lives of more than 400 people, according to Human Rights Watch. Video showed security forces beating unarmed protesters and using live ammunition.

The government put the capital expansion on hold, and protests quieted down — but the grievance did not go away.

FILE – Protesters are seen gathered in Gonder, in the Amhara region.

In early July, another wave of protests began, this time farther north in the city of Gonder, in the Amhara region.

The main complaint by people in Amhara is that they want three districts — Welkait, Telemt and Tsegede — to be reintegrated into the Amhara Regional State. Currently, the three districts are under the Tigray Regional State. The people living in those zones identify as ethnic Amhara and want to be part of the Amhara Region administration, protesters say.

Decades-old dispute in Gonder

Last month in Gonder, members of a group known as the Welkait committee were arrested. Residents took to the streets demanding their release, resulting in clashes with police and destruction of property.

The Welkait committee is demanding the reversal of the 1991 decision to place Welkait, Telemt and Tsegede in the Tigray Region, said committee leader Colonel Demeke Zewdu, in an interview with VOA Tigrigna Service prior to his arrest.

“The people have been opposing this in different forms until now,” he said. “Under the Tigray Region administration, the people didn’t gain any benefits. Land has been taken away from them and they don’t have socio-economic advantages. The society feels like it is regarded as second-class citizens.”

Since the 15th century, the region known as Begemeder, which includes modern-day Gonder, had been autonomous and separate from the Tigray Region, said Alemante Gebre-Selassie, professor of law emeritus at the College of William & Mary in the U.S. state of Virginia.

FILE – A protest is held in the Tigray Region, April 25, 2016.

Gebre-Selassie believes the move was an effort by Ethiopia’s post-1991 leaders, who were from the minority Tigrayan ethnic group, to expand their homeland, an accusation echoed by protesters.

“The whole purpose of annexing this region into Tigray was for their economic benefit. In other words, these lands are fertile,” he said. “They wanted these fertile lands to be incorporated into Tigray. They brought thousands of people from Tigray and settled them without any consultation of people. … The people of Welkait were displaced as a result of this settlement.”

Oromia, Amhara solidarity

Decades of rivalry between the Oromo and Amhara may be giving way to solidarity, said Awol Allo, a fellow in human rights at the London School of Economics.

At rallies in the city of Bahir Dar, protesters were seen carrying signs that read “Stop Killing Oromo People” and “Free Bekele Gerba.” Gerba is the deputy chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress, an opposition party whose leaders are currently in prison.

Youth are key to this movement, Allo said. “[This is] a generation that would say it doesn’t matter what force is used, I am determined to make my demands and to make my voice heard.”

Ethiopia’s Constitution states that regional borders can be redrawn.

“The constitution gives the basic rights of people for self-administration and where they can identify themselves as a home,” said Soleyana S. Gebremichael, an Ethiopian lawyer and human rights advocate. “So the question of Welkait is directly related with that. People identify themselves as Amharas and they consider themselves as Amharas. They wanted to be administered by the region with their own language and promote their culture accordingly.”

Government response

The government has defended its use of the military and police force and restricted access to the internet, in particular social media.

“People have already learned how to go around that using proxies, using VPN. So the initial batch of videos came in using proxies and VPN. It seems to me that when authorities noticed that the information is still getting out, that’s when they moved to shut down the entire internet,” said Mohammed Ademo, a journalist with Al Jazeera and the editor of Opride.com, a news website that focuses on Oromo issues.

Organizers continue to work the old-fashioned way, by word of mouth, said Gebremichael.

“The organizing had been done at the grass-roots level, so with or without the internet,” she said. “People already had the urgency of going out to protest and then presenting their question and petitioning the government. That’s what we saw in the past weekend because the internet was down for 48 hours and the protests happened anyway.

Salem Solomon is a journalist and web producer at Voice of America’s Horn of Africa Service, where she reports in English, Amharic and Tigrigna. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Poynter.org, Reuters and The Tampa Bay Times. Salem researches trends in analytics and digital journalism, and her data-driven work has been featured in VOA’s special projects collection.

Grand ‪#‎OromoProtests‬ Ijoolleen Oromoo sambata duraa (Sabtii) dabree Finfinnee keessatti hiriira nagayaa bahanii Alaabaa Oromoo waggoota 25niin booda handhura Finfinneetirratti mirmirsan hundi gocha seenaa qabeessa ta’e dalagan. Gocha ilmaan Oromoo cufaan kabajamu godhan. Ijoolleen kunniin hedduun isaanii hidhamanii hanga ammaatitti hidhaa akka jiran ni beekama. Dararama hamaa keessas akka jiranis ni yaadama. Mee keessattuu ijoollee Alaabaa qabatanii bahan kanniin asirratti mul’atan kun haala isaani akka hordofnee (jala buunee) addunyaafii ummata keenyattis iyyannu warri isaan beektan nu gargaaraa. Maqaaf eenyummaa isaanii akkasumas amma eessatti akka hidhamanii jiran odeeffannoo qabdan sarara keessaatiin nuuf dabarsaa. Galatoomaa!
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The protesters seen on these pics did great history by coming out while bravely waving the Oromo resistance flag, which the international media called a “dissident flag”, in Oromia’s heart land of Finfinne-a settler mega city very much hostile still to the Oromo people in the face of TPLF police brutality. We know that many of these peaceful protesters are detained and being tortured by the TPLF security agents as we speak. But what ever the conditions they could be in currently, we would like to probe up their conditions further to let the international community & Oromo people know. And hence, please send us what you know about these brave souls, esp those who are shown waving the flag in these pictures. Thank you. Via Hassan Ismail

የመለስ ዜናዊ ራዕይ የኦሮሞ ተቋውሞ አስመልክቶ

For those who can listen to Swedish language

Warra afaan Arabaa dhagahaniif

‪#‎OromoProtests‬– Wayyaaneen yaadaa fi qalbii ummata keenya jijjiiruuf shira qopheessaa jirti. Waayee nageenyaa osoo yaaddoo irra jirruu, Biiroon Aadaa fi Turizimii Oromiyaa kabaja ayyaana irreechaa bara 2016 irratti ibsa kennaa oole harra. Achirratti waan akka akeekkachiisaa dubbataa turan.

Innis ummanni faayaa, huccuu, t-shirt, barreeffamoota, sirbootaafi faaruulee dhaaba siyaasaa kamiyyuu (paartii biyya bulchaa jiru dabalatee) uffachuu, qabachuu fi sirbuun dhorkaadha.
Yoo kana ta’e mootummaan tarkaanfii fudhachuuf dirqama jedha.
Inni biraa:godinooti ittigaafatamummaa fudhachuun ummanni naannawa isaanii wayyaa, faayaa fi dha’annaa rifeensaa godina isaanii uffatanii akka dhufan gochuun godina godinaan addaan qoodamanii gara Harsadeetti deemuu qabu malee hundu akka arge uffatee, tokkummaan hiriira guddaadhaan deemuu hinqabu jedha. Kunimmoo humnoonni isaanii ummata gidduu haala salphaan akka seenaniifi ummata immoo haala salphaan adda baasuuf akka danda’an tooftaa ka’atanidha.

What does the deadly response to the Oromo and Amhara demonstrations mean for the country’s future?

Protesters chant slogans during a demonstration over what they say is unfair distribution of wealth in the country at Meskel Square in Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, on August 6, 2016. (REUTERS/TIKSA NEGERI)

(Aljazeera)– Dozens are dead and many more injured in Ethiopia after security forces opened fire on anti-government protesters last weekend. In the latest round of protests, thousands took to the streets across Ethiopia’s Oromia and Amhara regions to fight against what they say is the marginalisation of the two largest ethnic groups in the country, the Oromo and Amhara.

The Oromo protests first began in November 2015 after the Ethiopian government introduced the “Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan.” Officials say it was an economic and infrastructure initiative, but activists argue it would have displaced many Oromos living in towns and villages close to the capital city. Over the course of the next several months at least 400 people were killed and thousands arrested for their involvement in anti-government demonstrations, according to Human Rights Watch. The government eventually cancelled the Master Plan, but the movement continues. And last month, the country’s second largest ethnic group, the Amhara, joined the protests in solidarity with the Oromos. They are calling on the government to address similar political and economic grievances that they have.

Tension between the Ethiopian government and the Oromos and the Amhara has been growing. In the run up to this weekend’s demonstrations Prime Minister Haile Mariam Dessalegn announced a ban on the protests saying they “threaten national unity”. But critics say the government’s moves are intended to control dissent. Dessalegn says his government will continue to make efforts to address the concerns of the protesters.

Join us as we discuss the latest developments.

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