The public meetings & “consultations” that TPLF is undertaking in the capital are turning into anger venting conventions that at times they went out of control for the cadres. Insider informants say that the Oromo and Amhara elites are speaking in unison against the TPLF tyranny, all along. We highly recommend and advise every public servant to actively participate in these meetings and rather use them as nice opportunity to turn them into TPLF’s nightmarish public scenes. ‪#‎OromoProtests‬ ‪#‎AmharaProtests‬

Geneva, Switzerland, August 16, 2016

‪#‎OromoProtests‬
Bulchiinsa magaalaa Baatuu guyyaa 09/12/2008 halkaan sa’aati 10:00 ti Dargaggoo Hora Fajjisoo sababii meeshaa woraan qabda jedhuunfi sababa guyyaa hiriraa marsaanii warranaa mana jirenyaa isaati itti banuun kan ajeesaan yoo ta’u akka ajeefamu kan haala mijessee bada sareen xuxiilaan Kadir Gammada I/g W/ra Bulchiinsa fi Nagenyaa Magaalaa Baatuu ta’u bekkame jira ,dhukaasa godhameen Poolisii tokkoo yoo Ajefamuu tokko rukkutame jira . Hora goota seenaanis niyaadataa !,Namichatii saaree hin gennee San Kadir Gammada fi fakkaata isaa qeerroon baatuu lafarraa dhabamsiisu qabu seenaan isiin gaafata!! Via Hofolee Arsi

‪#‎OromoProtests‬ We are hearing that two young men, Bonsa Abdella fi Gammachuu yuusuf, are tortured to death by TPLF agents in secret detention centre in Harar, after having been detained during the‪#‎GrandOromiaRally‬ on 6th of Aug. It’s said that both of them were UV originally from Dire Xayara locality but they are buried there in secret detention centre.

“Girmish oduu gaddaa dhengada torbee dabre magaalaa hararti hidhamee qarshi kuma digdam kafale bahu kiyya siif himeetiin ture arra mucaan wajji hidhamne tokko arra bahe osoo nutumanii nama lamaatu nubira du’e achumatti awalame naan ja’e maqaan isaanii Bonsa Abdella fi Gammachuu yuusuf jadhaman lachuu joolee aanaa dirree xayyaaraati”
Girma Gutema

#‎OromoProtests‬-Guyyaa har’aa waraanni Wayyaanee sa’atii 2:20tti yoo xiqqatee konkolaataa 30 ol kan ta’uudha gar Wolisoran Magaalaa Tulu Bolo keessaa gar Finfinneetti dabarfaman. Akkasumaas loltooni konkoolaata tokko guutuu duubaran turan. Baayyensa walitti aanee deema ture. \Daqiqaa 10nin booda immoo konkolaatan waan akka tanki isumas 15 waan ta’utu darbe. Via Dhábasá W. Gemelal

ODUU AMMEE

Gidduu kanaa jalqabee konkolaataan Wayyaanee ‘SELAM BUS” jedhamu guutummaatti hojii dhaabee jira. Kan bifa haaraan Wayyaaneen as baasaa jirtu ammoo isa cinaa jiru kanadha. Egaa Qeerroo fi Qarree Oromootiin kana/sana godhi jedhamaaree?
Kun bu’aa qabsookeessani ta’uu beeka; ammammoo jara kanatti midhaan gurguruu, oomisha jaraa lagachuu, agaazota mandaraa keessa naannoftutti midhaaniif bishaan gurguruurraa of qoqqobuufi kkf…gumaan dhiiga wallaalota keenyaa qixa hedduun gumaa baafama… Via Moses Gada

By Baaroo Keno Deressa, Dr.

August 16, 2016 (Ayyaantuu) – The Oromo people were colonized during the last quarter of the nineteenth century by a black African nation – Abyssinia – with the help of the European colonial powers of the day. During the same period, of course, the Somalis, Kenyans, Sudanese and others were colonized by European powers. The fact that  the Oromo were colonized by another black African nation makes their case quite special.

For more than 100 years, the Oromo people has been at war with enemies sworn to its destruction. Oromo people has done and still is doing all kinds of struggle in order to eradicate all those injustices and to regain his own god given freedom, full right to live as human being and rebuild his own country Oromia. The Oromo’s paid a heavy price to build Ethiopia but when it comes to power and money they are the last to touch the desk and when it comes to the human-right and equality they are the first to be victim of the system.  None of us on the earth choose to be born where we are born but once born, for example in my case, as an Oromo, there is no way I can change it. Unlike religion, behavior and attitudes towards nature, ethnic belongingness cannot be changed. That is why I cannot stop reminding at every chance I got the international community, TPLF elite and their puppet collaborators that as an Oromo, I am oppressed and I want my freedom and equality.

I am asking myself day to day, month to month and year to year why 50million of Oromo nation is languishing for so long time, so badly and inhumanly under minority rule ( previous one 25million and current TPLF rule 5 million) and while most of the Oromo’s are confronting our enemies with bare hands gallantly, why some of Oromo individuals and groups are working for our enemies TPLF junta. Like OPDO and individuals working in the embassies like ambassador Dina Mufti…etc and individuals in foreign business companies.???

Many Oromo intellectuals try to give diverse explanation to this humiliation namely:

• Effects of colonial injustices and oppression on both individuals and collectivities (Destruction, dependency or assimilation): In all spheres of life, discrimination, subjugation, repression and exploitation of all forms were applied. Everything possible was done to destroy Oromo identity – culture, language, custom, tradition, name and origin.
• Passivity of the Oromo’s sided with colonial state: One explanation for passivity is that precisely the power and pervasiveness of the colonial state has created deep fear, especially among people with family obligations, vulnerable employment and with moderate commitments to democratic freedoms. This group of citizens is aware of cases where colonial powers have affected other citizens who were involved in critical activities, causing job loss and broad suffering and are not willing to sacrifice their security and the welfare of their families.
• Ignorance: those peoples or groups who are not aware of the size, scope and activities of the colonial state. Their practical behavior speaks to the notion that ‘since I am not directly affected it must not exist’. Embedded in everyday life, making a living, enjoying leisure time, entertainment, sports, family and concerned only about household budgets. This mass is so embedded in their personal ‘micro-world’ that it considers the macro-economic and political issues raised by the colonial state as ‘distant’, outside of their experience or interest: ‘I don’t have time’, ‘I don’t know enough’, ‘It’s all ‘politics’. The widespread apoliticism of the public plays into its ignoring the monster that has grown in its midst.

My answer to this question is as follows. It is Stockholm syndrome, is a psychological phenomenon described in 1973 in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending and identifying with the captors. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness. Stockholm syndrome can be seen as a form of traumatic bonding, which does not necessarily require a hostage scenario, but which describes “strong emotional ties that develop between two persons where one person intermittently harasses, beats, threatens, abuses, or intimidates the other. The FBI’s Hostage Barricade Database System shows that roughly eight percent of victims show evidence of Stockholm syndrome (FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin July 1999).

Today Oromo peoples (approximately 50 million) are kept hostage by Tigrian mafia organization called TPLF(Tigray people’s revolutionary Front). The new document reveals that the hostages are beside the standard atrocities like humiliation, torture, killings and harassment they are building underground diverse building for future civilized Tigray nations, namely (modern military equipment depo’s, fully organized hospitals, tunnels..;etc). The most horrific acts of this mafia groups TPLF junta are their act of wildness (killing of those peoples who builds the underground buildings to keep the facilities secret). Normally when your brothers, sisters, mothers, fathers and injustices against human being you have to raise up against those atrocities, but those Oromo organization of individuals who works for them is suffering from Stockholm syndrome (traumatic bonding). That explains also the historic background of the OPDO leaders they are all hostages. My message to the Oromo people, Write down every missed/disappeared family member of you. One day we will bring them to justice those mafia TPLF leaders or we will bring justice to them in front of those secret buildings.

The second topic of my concern is today about our struggle against colonialism with multi faces and stability of our future nations (post-colonial era):

Before I am going to enter the core issues: Let us look two African countries with fundamental characteristics Botswana and Somalia. Both have: (1) one large dominant ethnic group divided into clans; (2) both are sparsely populated in semi-arid conditions; (3) at independence, both depended on livestock for the livelihood of a majority of the population.  While the Botswana leadership was collectively focused and had a vision of what it wanted to do with the country, the leadership in Somalia was divided against itself.  As a result, Botswana learnt to harness its limited resources for generally agreed objectives.  It learned to survive under the shadow of apartheid South Africa.  And it learned to manage its diamond resources well when those resources started flowing in. Somalia, on the other hand had a divided leadership, some of whom wanted to build Greater Somalia by military means, while others simply wanted to get on with running the country they inherited from colonialism.  As a result, the Somali leadership lacked focus and vision, and often fought itself through conspiracies and military coups.  Somalia also went to war with its neighbors.

Currently our leaders are dealing with rapidly changing tactics of struggle(peaceful solution and militarily) namely

• Education, persuasion
• Legal politics: lobbying, lawsuits
• Demonstrations: show numbers or intensity of concern (marches, rallies, petitions)
• Economic pressure (Boycotts, selective buying)
• Confrontation, disruption, civil disobedience
• Property damage
• Military confrontation

In such kinds of condition as organization and leaders we have to be:

• Clever and creative enough to be competent,
• determined, wise and intelligent to keep our question or our goal moving forward,
• flexible and transparent for accepting critics and ideas of your people.

In today’s world, skills, industriousness, productivity, and competitiveness are the determinant factors of national greatness. Not even the possession of the nuclear bomb is enough to make a nation great without reference to the industriousness and creativity of its citizens.

The Oromo people have many natural and God gifted chances in order to be great nations and prevent crisis like Somalia, Libya and Syria. Let us look some facts:

1. Nation of peace: we have God given gifts and character of solving all problems peacefully.
2. Nation of heroes: Heroes are fighting the enemy and protecting the family and friends (so we are never kill each other).
3. All province of Oromo’s are rich in natural resources, so there is no need of creating conflict among ourselves. Contrary, our unity is necessary to form powerful force in order to keep the greatness of our nation and utilize our resources adequately.
4. Our peoples are wise, intelligent and nation of love, so we have a cocktail of problem approaching way of life

The worst and the destructive entity of our struggle and the obstacle of our unity are the dormant political organization and weak leaders. Their characteristics are non-productive, invisible in the public, non-creative and absence in the international arena of advocacy.

Weak leaders of Oromo organization especially living in diaspora: At this crucial moment when your mothers and fathers are humiliated in their home, when your brothers and sisters are hunted down like fox and gun down without any criminal activities, when millions of Oromo peoples are bleeding, when Oromo doctors and peasants are paying great sacrifices, when our peoples are crying for help you are doing nothing and calling yourself a leader it is shameful and disgracing.  My proposition is as follows:

• stop making business in the name of our peoples blood
• stop laughing and playing cards on their graves
• Stop calling yourself leader of political organization and go work or study to learn how to help yourself in order to help further your people.
• If you remain to be leader come to the public, tell your history, show your action, organize your community and advocate in the international arena.

Safe yourself from historic national responsibility, you can choose between distractors or unifiers. If you are continuing as now with dormant and non-productive ways you will be remembered as distractors and if you are halting your distractive activities and start to work towards the most essential value of our time empowering our peoples struggle, you will be remembered as unifiers and  hero.

Conclusion: To overcome the atrocities of our enemy, to eradicate the colonization, to expose the open and hidden genocide of TPLF junta, to regain our freedom and our country we have to redouble our duties:

1. We have to elevate our support to OLF and Qeerroo movement in order to empower and strengthen them to crash our enemies. They are ready as always to build mechanized fighters and special commando’s to eliminate the barbaric act and state terrorism. I would like to salute Mr. Daawud Ibsa The chairman of OLF and his comrades for their sacrifices, determination and persistence in order to eradicate the colonial rule under very difficult and complex geopolitical situation, rare resources and time of uncertainty.
2. Our intellectuals, if you are afraid to participate in the confrontational ways wake up to empower your nations in many ways. Namely, communication technology teaching of your people in order to create another form of knowledge to suffocate our enemies,  inventing healthy and agricultural policies and technology in order to treat our peoples, soldiers and commandos.
3. Diplomacy: Towards everybody we have to work day and night. To rich and poor countries, to powerful and powerless countries, to individual and groups, to international and local organizations , to colleges and universities we have to advocate and elevate Oromo nations and our goal.
4. In my previous article on May 24, 2016 I have proposed: “Our leaders has pursued various strategies to solve all kinds of injustice peacefully with our enemies. But their reaction was/is humiliation, destruction and hopelessness. So i am proposing one day, one victory with enormous sacrifice. My proposition as follows, instead of dying a shameful death in the hands of TPLF militia’s, instead of end up in the torture chamber of TPLF, instead of end up building underground building in Tigray and assassination, instead of living unhuman and humiliating life in our birth place, instead of watching powerlessly gang rapes of our mothers, wives, and sister it is time to empower ourselves in order to enhance our freedom and regain our God-given right and true peace.  So my proposition is we are around 50 million peoples, if we are determine to sacrifice ourselves with a big number in one day the remaining of Oromo’s are living free and safe.  Today I will ask our political leaders and Qeerroo movement to organize this issue creatively and consciously together with WBO in order eradicate colonization and to finish ones and for all the TPLF atrocities against Oromo people and all oppressed nations. The co-ordination of this eradication process has to include the exposition of underground buildings complex in Tigray where our brothers and sisters were assassinated.

Dear brothers and sisters, we must find the resources and knowing how in ourselves if we are to succeed in our struggle in order to liberate our nation; otherwise, to paraphrase Shakespeare, “default would be not in our styles but in ourselves”.

Victory to the Oromo people!

Dr. B.K.DERESSA, Medical degree in internal medicine, specialized in Gastro-Hepatology diseases. University Hospital of Brussels-Belgium

Ethiopians in Chigaco Show Solidarity for Oromo & Amhara Protests

U.N secretery bankimun with oromo people in toronto

By Tommy Z. (PhD)

Dear Prof. Mesfin W/Mariam,

I start to draft this open latter once I read your article entitled “ወልቃይትየማንነው? የማይረባ ጥያቄ” posted at http://www.mereja.com/amharic/508322. But it only triggers my letter of today as an effect of long overdue action.

Trust me I have regards for elders, especially so if they are educated and teachers of any sort of valuable education. I hope, nation wise, you may not attribute my personality to that presumed backing TPLF. Think of me on the other extreme otherwise a mixed blood person who decided to choose a nation to belong to. Understand my motive to harshly criticize your long standing wish washy aim which is in no way helpful either for Ethiopia or Amhara per se. Nevertheless I have to pose the following ethical argument on you.

Is it fair to sit there and blindly judge one’s best effort and interest? I don’t think you are best serving the interest of people (regime) who owe you such success.

The identity of elites who say that they are Ethiopians often goes to one nation and that is crystal clear to me. Instead, I am asking, however, why such elites often fail to be self and come up with no camouflaged true nature so as to find true friends in the course of keeping our home-Ethiopia to continue her existence?

Just to bring to one on board, I illustrate my point base on some activities of Professor Mesfin.

I could say you often fail to achieve the goal to favor Ethiopia. I elaborate it a bit presenting brief indicators.

1. At times of the Emperor Hailesilasie, who claim as conqueror lion of Judah, you were lecturing that Amhara is the dominating species.
2. At times of Derg (Amhara junta), you were one of the best advisers (though I am not saying you were giving intelligence service for I have no clear evidence) of the regime, as you recently explained.
3. Toward fall of the junta, you show up as mediator between the outgoing dictator and incoming tyranny. Hope, by doing so, you were clearing ground for your next survival, too.
4. I also listened to the video of the witness you gave to the American congress to dismiss the true nature of the then problem in Ethiopia.
5. Soon after the incumbent, being geographer but aligning as historian you held TV debate with late prime minster of Ethiopia (you already raised it in section two of your article stated above). Academically, you have MSc as he had. You were stating as if there is no nation called Amhara in Ethiopia by presenting people of Wallo as an example. You were messing religious identity to hide ethnic identity. Do you now see any sort of even tiny truth of history you were trying to mix? The late premier was telling you truth about Wallo and surfaced your myth to hibernate under Ethiopia. I can’t hide truth of his brilliance over you on the matter though I hate his other deeds even at this time him in grave. Please follow this link (http://www.ayyaantuu.net/oromoprotests-august-10-2016/) for the site “OromoProtests, August 10, 2016 – Ayyaantuu News Online” and in the middle of the page you will find one minute video and judge about his talent prediction. Then compare to your backward looking article.
6. Following you established a kind of human right in Ethiopia (struggling for Amhara right?). That is not bad! I even welcome such effort. However, your myth is still in what you were doing under the cover. Impartiality on your human right abuse assessment and your acts which appeared as evil are what I can’t tolerate to hide. Can I tell you how others perceived your organization? It goes well in Afaan Oromo: Isemegu, Isa hagu!
7. Remember, in Taitu hotel, with one of your Professor friend that you were saying to the youths you assembled. You were giving bad connotation to the people you considering subjects of the state you spent your life supporting.
8. You were proposing a change of #Oromoprotest to other name denying the possibility of being Oromo and then be Ethiopian. What can you say to the #Amharaprotestjust started to show up? You suggest name change? Or you leave it because any kind of name is considered blessed by you for Amhara. In all possibilities you may recur to, I hope you will remain wrong!
9. When I read section two and three of your present article I quoted, it is that one can immediately though to dustbin for two reasons. First, the comment you have about OLF is useless and puts you irrelevant. Do you expect OLF remain home and die useless? If staying home would have been better for affirmative struggle, we shouldn’t have noticed many Amhara parties crippled or leaders of legally registered party shouldn’t have thrown to jail for expression of their ideas. Simply put, you can remember the case of your advisee Kinijit. All were out of order, and Prof. Berhanu followed OLF after about two decades. You see that far of understanding between your sons/friends and the seer OLF. The second reason is your article should have predicted future scenarios and addressed it wisely. Even in the current affair of Wolkayit you raised, you have gone parallel.
10. When I evaluate your works of over years, in this and that, that it sounds Amhara is beyond shadow of doubt. For public consumption you deny existence of Amhara but for official reasons you are there to fix it in place. Amhara is not just created as you stated in section three of your present article. Amhara as a nation was there and will continue to exist. Please refer to a novel article by Yusuf Yasin (DenHag) I recently read (http://ethiopiazare.com/articles/opinion/3910-efe-conference-den-haag-by-yussuf-yassin). It will help you refreshed even at this elapsing moment.

Therefore, I am trying to tell you that many of your alternatives for struggle against others than that of your nation seem not successful. Likewise your wrong way effort couldn’t help Ethiopia suffering from current situation. Also, it will not maintain the Empire from demise if you decide to continue your journey on your corrugated way.

Forthcoming struggle seem not to welcome an attempt to self hide neither in a wish to hijack other’s identity for own sake nor like a need to fail others for self-success. To my knowledge, what the people from the base are calling for is self identified yet compromised interest and long standing unity. If then, do you think the work of the so called elites like you should stand against the need of the people by messing the truth, denying fact on earth and attempt to playing political game at all junction?

I have moral obligation to tell you this. Any sort of self-hide and approach by the name of pseudo Ethiopia never works: it would probably extend our time under subjugation and offers a better chance for TPLF to successfully execute their interest of Tigrai republic. There were many instances I noted intellects of one oppressed nation saying “TPLF is many fold better than any sort of Amhara coined regime”. Never forget genuine, inclusive and open discussion is the viable solution if Ethiopia is expected to keep its record of about 150 years. Isn’t is plausible to say one of the reason for thus far failure of our elites to come up with acceptable strategic document is such wish washy nature of ideas you often come with?

Meanwhile, can you tell me any other efficient logic to enable Wolkayit back to Gonder. Instead of messing the scenario, think of Wolkait as district of Gonder which is province of Ethiopia. What is bad with this? Are you trying to solicit TPLF by sprinkling water to the ignited mass struggle? Okay how can you handle the fate of the Gonder hero, Colonel Demeke? Because submitting him to TPLF is going to be historical shame for Gonder people. As well, losing Wokayit to Tigai is no less than cut of Gondar throat. Alternatively, you may try to beg TPLF loose the tension in some way and take both Wolkayit and the hero man latter. Even in this scenario, TPLF would seem not to agree because of political and historical features.

I further ask Prof. Mesfin to convenience me whether your ‘smartness’ is not useless if not futile? If not follow strategic interest which is embedded in compromise and respect for each other nation in terms of benefit and recognize the inalienable right of the other nation. Any one elite struggling to solve a problem in the Ethiopian empire without sorting the benefits and inborn rights into different levels of priority for a nation is wasting of effort or working counterproductively.

Finally, I touch the question you used as introduction. For me that question is not bad and ugly. For me it could be good question from perspective of the interviewer. As well, I say it is the right of the interviewee to ask the interviewer to amend his question. For me the problem lies in as to how you concluded the nature of the question! As you stated the answer should be and if the respondent says Wolkayit belongs to Ethiopia, there is immediate issue to be answered to peacefully proceed. Wolkayit must be in the hierarchy of current regime’s administration. Who is gonna administer this disputable area? Amhara or Tigre or you still you keep saying Ethiopiawi? Actually you attributed it as if it is invasion (ይህወረራ) and hence the real manifestation of your interest. So you keep on going forward or looking backward? Hope you stuck there.

Literature dialogue requires merit based analysis not blind traditional approach, which is often the case of ordinary lore. Sorry to tell you that I find most of your writings as never holding water: low profile. Even in your book you raised in the article I am addressing here, I could have showed you the effort you made to twist facts and gave wrong analysis of those facts in an effort to lay ground for future larceny. In short I say this: if you understand the right of both interviewer and interviewee, I hope you are half done to recognize the identities, rights and obligations of nations and nationalities in the Ethiopian Empire. I feel that the best point of start to solve our one half century long problem. The failure you are enjoying at present has come not because nobody/regime failed to take your advice but you were wrong adviser for you were/are trying to hide absolute facts or put effort to misuse the facts.

The implication of my brief statement here is in no way to harass anyone, but show the need to admit existing fact and thus come with viable alternative solutions. It is high time to come to census on historical facts and effectively work toward common benefit!

I thank you,

SEENAA   Y.G  (2005)

Ameerikaan, Ummati ammi kun miidhamuu ijaan osoo argituu maaliif wayyaanee gargaartii? kan jedhu gaaffii namoota hedduuti. Ameerikaan dantaa ishee irraa kaatee waa tokko akka murteessitu kan hubatus danuudha. Dantaa kana irraa ka’uun, wayyaanee irraan dhibbaa tokkollee akka hin geesifnee wayyaaneenu bareechitee beekti. Kanaaf hammeenyi ishee daangaa dhabee, dhiigni ilmaan cunqurfamoo akka bishaanii dhangala’uu taasifama. Ameerikaan dantaa ishee naannichatti gama hunaan  eegisiisuuf jecha, wayyaanee irra harka qabuun waan haqaati. Bara 1991 yeroo wayyaaneen Ameerikaa fi Ingilizii waliin mari’attu, Dolaara tokko Birri shan akka galchituu fi waggaa 20tti , Dolaara tokko birrii 20 akka geesiftuu waadaa seenuu warra keessa beekuutu dubbata. kanaaf karaa boroo ABO wal ga’iin ala godhan . Wayyaaneen Ameerikaa irraa waatokko wayita barbaaddu ykn akka itti hin dubbannee yennaa feetu, warra chaayinaa waliin waliigaltee adda addaa mallatteessitee midiyaan torban tokko guutuu odeessiti. Yeroo kana Ameerikaan rifattee harka gargaarsaa hiixattiif. Kun tapha wayyaaneeti. YKN dippilomaatoota Chaayinaa fi Raashiyaa simachuun Ameerikaa doorsifti. Kun shiroota wayyaanee lakkofsa hin qabnee keessaa isa xiqqoodha. Chaayinaan yeroo dorsiftu akkasuma.

Ameerikaa fi chaayinaa keessaa kamtu haalaan nu miidhaa jiraa? yoo jennee, hedduun keenya, Ameerikaa jennee murteessina. Irra jireessi namootaa deebii akkasii ka kennaniif, chaayinaan Ameerikaa caalaa dhibbaa geesisuu hin dandeessuu yaada jedhu irraa ta’uu mala. Ol aantummaa Ameerikaa ilaalu irraas ta’uu danda’a. Yoo dubbii gadi fageessinee ilaallee garuu, Ameerikaan miidhama keenya ilaaltee callisuu ishee fi wayyaanee irra harka qabu isheetiin nu miidhaa jirti. Ameerikaan yoo baayyatee adeemsa akkasii fi gatii dolaara ishee ol kaasuun dantaa adda addaa argachuun nu miitii ta’aa. Investaroota dhuunfaa warra fakkaataniin warqee fi alabuuda muraasa nu saamuu dandeessi. dhugumatti addunyaa irraa sagalee qabduun dhageetti qabaachuu dandeessi. garuu sagalaeen isaan addunyaa irratti qaban akka kaleessaa miti. humni chaayinaa fi raashiyaa jabaataa dhufeera. Nurratti mitii Biyyoota biraa irrattuu murteeleen fudhachaa jiran yennaa ilaalluu Ameerikaan waan barbaaddu gochuun kaleessa beekamtuu har’aa amma tokko laafataa jira. Har’a chaayinaa fi raashiyaan addunyaa kana osoo hin beekamnee of harka galchuuf adeemsi itti jiran hedduu nama yaaddeessa. Dadhabuun ameerikaa akkuma yeroo fudhatuu, guddinni isaanis yeroo fudhatama malee kan hafuu miti. Dinagdeen isaanii haalaan guddachaa jira. Kunis yaaddoo hegareeti. Isaan walii isaanii irratti siyaasaa dhalootaan wal geeddaruu fi guddaachaa deemuun wal hordofu. Dhalooti isaanii borii ykn waggaa 30, 50, 70 boodaa akkamiin addunyaa kana saamuu fi saamsisu irratti hojjatu. Hegaree ummatoota isaani yaadanii shira meeqa hojjatan. Nuuti ammoo kan har’aayyuu of harkaa dhabnee rakkachaa jirra.Afrikaan waan qabdutti akka fayyadamuu hin eegallee fi qabeenyaan biyya isaanii yoo yeratee Afirikaatii saamuuf , Afrikaanoota siyaasaan wal nyaachisu. Dimokiraasii Biyya isaanii fi afriikaa hiiikkaa isaallee wal caalchisu. Beektoota ishee biyyaa yaasisuu. Hiyyummaan adabu.kun shira. akka hojii rimmaatii

Chaayinaan har’aa addunyaa kana tu’achuuf haalli itti deemaa jirtu haalaan yaaddeessaadha. Humni maallaqa ishee Doolaaraan gadii akka hin taanee, labsamuufii haa hafuu malee, waan murtii irra ga’ee jiruudha. Chaayinaan addunyaa kana tu’achuuf, irra jireessaan faallaa ameerikaan tarkaanfataa jirti. Ameerikaan siyaasa keessaa fi humna ittisaan itti seentee waan barbaaddu raawwattii. Chaayinaan ammoo faallaa kanaa Dingadee fi Teekinolojiin itti seentee, Biyyoota hundaa saamtee, Ummata ishee Biliyoonaan lakkaa’amuu guddisuuf tattaaffatti. Adeemsa chaayina addunyaa irraa yeroo biraa itti deebina. Har’aa garuu akkamiin miidhaa nurraan ga’aa akka jirtuu fi eenyullee xiyyeeffannaa keessa galcheenii akka hin jirree yaadachiisuun barbaada., garuu akka Rimmaa deemtee nu miidhu irraa akka dhaabbattu ykn akka itti dammaqinee jirru hubachiisuun dandaadhaa.

Wayyaaneen shiraan dorgomaa hin qabdu. Nuuti ammoo shira kana dadhabna. Wayyaanee shira irratti hojjatanii kuffisuutu danda’ama. Wayyaaneen oromiyaa keessatti OPDO tti hirkattee jirti. OPDO kana jalaa dhahuun furmaata. Biyyoota adda addaatti hirkattee dallaaloota siyaasaa bittee siyaasa taphatti kana jalaa kaasuun dansaadha. Walumaa galatti shira wayyaanee qophixeessuu hojjachuun barbaachisaadhaa. Kana namni hin yaadu osoo hin taanee irratti hin hojjannuu haa sirreeffannu. Wayyaaneen Biyyoota akka Chaayinaa, Raashiyaa, Ameerikaa, Ingilizii, Jarman, Saa’udii, Farnsaayii, kkf fakkaatan gama hundaan keessattu gama dingadee fi Investimantiin Tigiraayii fi naannoolee kan biraa keessa osoo hin qubsiisiin maaliif Oromiyaa keessa akka qubatan taasiftii? jarri kun shira wayyaanee, wayyaaneen jiraachuu baannaan akka badanitti guutamanii jiru. kana harkaa baasuu barbaachisa. kana karaa dandeenyeen amansiisuu, yoo didan rifaasisuutu qoricha. Chaayinaan har’aa Itoophiyaa irraa liqii doolaara Biliyoona 50 ol qabdii. Wayyaanoonni kana waa lamaaf raawwatu. Tokko, maallaqa pirojekitii dhuunfaa isaanitti geeddaratan argatu. 2ffaan ammoo Biyyoonni liqeessan kun jaallatamus jibbamuus, jiraachuu wayyaaneef falmu. Dhumaatiin ummataa gonkumaa itti hin dhaga’amu.

Chaayinaan har’aa ijoollee kumoota dhibbaan lakkaa’aman Oromiyaa keessatti barnoota malee hanbiftee jirti, warshaa fi kubbaaniyyoonni chaayina ijoollee baadiyyaa godaansisuuN, maatii irraa kutTee gatii gadi aanaan itti taphachaa jirti. wayyaaneen akka dhuunfaatti dingdeen badhaatee malee akka Biyyaatti hin jirtu. Chaayinaan garuu saamicha maqaa liqiin gaggeeffattuuf jeettee, pirojaktoota adda addaa uumtee wayyaanee jiraachisaa jirti. Chaayinaan wayyaanee caalaa Oromiyaa saamaniiru. Maallaqa liqii kan deebisaa jiru qabeenyaa Oromiyaatii. Chaayinaan Oromiyaa keessaa saamicha gaggeessitu gara biyyasheetti dabarsuuf karaa Jibuutii Dooniin dhiheessaa jirtu, kan amma dirree kubBaa ga’uu faa’aa akka ta’ee dubbatamaa jira. Saamicha kana ariifachiisuuf, baaburri haaraan ijaaramaa jiru hedduu kan nama raajuudha. Kun hundi qabeenyaa saamamuu deeddeebisuuf qophaa’aa jira. Karaa mombaasaa wanni yaadamaa jiru, karaa maluu keniyaa kan karoorfamee gaggeessffamaa jiru harki 80 chaayinaan gara biyyattitti waan fidduu fi baaftu irratti xiyyeeffatanii hojajtamaa jiran. Daandiin baaburaa guutummaa Biyyattii keessatti hojjatamaa jiran kaampaaniilee fi warshaalee chaayinaa tajaajiluuf yaadamaniiti.

Yeroo ammaa kana lammiilee chaayinaa Itoophiyaa keessa jiran lakkoofsaan Afirikaa irraa tokkoffaadha. Harki 98 mana hidhaa keessaa kanneen dhufaniiidha. Galii argataniin mootummaan biyya isaanitti deebisee isaan ijaara. Guruuppiin ijaaramanii jiru. akkuma IMXA wayyaanee. qabeenyaa keenya duguuganii fixaa jiru. chaayinaan Biyyoo diimaa keenyaa halakanii fi guyyaa biyya isheetti guuraa jirti. Albuuda adda addaa wayyaaneenu meeshaa hin beeknee galchitee qorannoo soda malee gaggeessuun lafee keenya qofatti nu hanbisaa jirti. Anarra warri ogummaa isaaniin waan bira ga’aan ifa baasuu jedheen abdadha.

Chaayinaan , Tigiraayi keessatti pirojekitii saatalaayitii “TIG-SAT” jedhamu samiitti erguuf jirtu,  warri tigiree Yoo xiqqaatee Afirikaa harka 80 akka tu’achuu akka danda’anitti hojjataafi jiru . keessattu Gaanfi afiriikaa, boruu akkuma Arab fi Naayil saati Gibitsifaa’aa irraa kireeffatu, Tigiraayi irraa kireeffachuuf taa’uu. Chaanaaloonni har’aa Itooophiyaa baayyifamaa jiran karoora wayyaanee madda galii boriif tolfachaa jirtuudhaa. Oromiyaanis boruu irraa kireeffatti. Saatalaayitiin lokaalii kun, “TIG-SAT” qofaa osoo hin taanee, teekinoolojii midiyaa televizyinii fi raadiyoo akka ukkaamsu, humna Intarneetaa guutummaatti kan balleessuudha. Kana irratti haalaan hojjachaa jiru. TIG-AIRWAY jechuuf jiru. TIG-MOBIL gabaa irra jira. Finfinneen har’a nama dhuunfaatti osoo hin hafnee waan guyyuu dubbatuu fi katabuu akka hordofan kan taasisan chaayinaadhaa. Meeshaa loltoonni eessa akka jiran osoo hin hafnee hojjtee kan kenneef chaayinaadha. Sulultaa irratti maqaa saatalaayitii jedhuun shira hojjachaa jiran addunyaatu beeka. Isnaayiparii har’a lammiileen keenya mataa ittin facaasaa jiran guutummaatti kan bitamee karaa Siyyuum masfina chaayinaa irraati. Manneen hidhaa keessatti meeshaalee teekinolojiin torcher gadhan kan kenneef chaayidhaa.

Kubbaaniyyoonni fi warshaaleen chaayinaa Oromiyaa keessatti ramadaman hundi isaanii bakka albuudii adda addaa lafa keessaa jiru irratti dha. Jarri habaaboo homishnaa jedhanii kan hojjtan waan biraati. Simntoo baafnaa jedhanii kan oomishan kan biraati. Hammeenyi kun hundii chaayinaadhaan lammiilee keenya irratti raawwatamaa jira. Kana caalaa yeroon dubbii haalaan dubbannu ni dhufa. Ilmaan Oromoo BIYYAA ALAA JIRTAN, mormii wayita dhageesiftan gama tokkon qofaa hin ilaaliinaa. Gama hundaan ilaalaa. Beektoonni keenya baruma baraan gadaa qorachuu irra, waan har’aa nu balleessaa jiru irratti qorannoo gaggeessaa fala kaa’aa. Yaada gumaachaa. Chaayinaan miidiyaalee oromoo hundaa cufsiisuuf halakanii fi guyyaa hojjachaa jirti. Finfinnee kaasee hanga Adaamaatti Industirii zoonii chaayinaa ijaaruuf jedhamee Ilmaan Oromoo meeqatu buqqaa’aa jira? warshaa simintoo chaayinaa Aqaaqitti dhaabbatee, DOLAARA miliyoona 300n ijaaramee keessaa maal argannee. Mootummaan naannoo oromiyaa maal argatee? warshaan sun ilmaan Oromoo kumootaan lakkaa’aman aaraa fi dhukkeen miidhaa hin jiruu? chaayinaan Golgaa mootummaa wayyaanee taatee hojjachaa jirti. Meeshaa militarii guutummaatti dhiheessaa jirti. Dawaa seeraan alaa torchariif itti fayyadaman isaatu wayyaaneef dhiheessa. Meeshaalee sagalee ittin waraaban mi’oota adda addaa waliin hojjachuun waajjiraa fi bakkoota adda addaatti ilmaan cunqurfamuu hiisisaa fi ajjeesisaa kan jiran isaanii . kanaafan Hojiin chaayinaa fi Rimmaa tokko jedhee. Chaayinaan haalaan nu miidhaa jirti.kana hubachiisuun dansaadhaa. Ameerikaa qofatti himuun ga’aa hin ta’uu. Chaayinaatti aanee kan wayyaanee goobsaa jiru, saa’uudii Allaamuddiin tajaajilamaa jirtuudhaa. Hindiinis akkasuma. Dantaa keenya ilaallee Ameerikaa fi chaayinaa gidduu taphachuunis karaa qabaa itti haa yaadinuu.

GALATOOMAA !!!

HORAA BULAA !!!!!!!

Largest ethno-national group has been under martial law with citizens killed and subjected to beatings, torture and detention in concentration camps.

By SAMANTHA SPOONER

Ethiopians wearing traditional Oromo costume ride to the prime minister’s palace in Addis Ababa to pay their respects to the late prime minister Meles Zenawi in 2012. (Carl de Souza/AFP)

(Mail & Guardian) — Countrywide demonstrations by the Oromo in Ethiopia have flared up again. Ethiopia’s authorities reacted with heavy force, resulting in the death of 100 civilians. SAMANTHA SPOONER asked Professor Asafa Jalata, a leading scholar on the politics of Oromia, about the countrywide protests

Who are the Oromo people?

The Oromo are the single largest ethno-national group in northeast Africa. In Ethiopia alone they are estimated to be 50-million strong out of a total population of 100-million. There are also Oromo living in Kenya and Somalia.

Ethiopia is said to have about 80 ethno-national groups. The Oromo represent 34.4% and the Amhara 27%. The rest are all less than 7% each.

The Oromo call themselves a nation. They have named their homeland “Oromia”, an area covering 284 538 square kilometres. It is considered to be the richest area of northeast Africa because of its agricultural and natural resources. It is often referred to as the “breadbasket” of the region. Sixty percent of Ethiopian economic resources are generated from Oromia.

The capital city of Ethiopia is located in the heart of Oromia. What the world knows as Addis Ababa is known to the Oromo as Finfinnee. When the Abyssinian warlord Menelik colonised the Oromo during the last decades of the 19th century, he established his main garrison city in Oromia and called it Addis Ababa.

Despite being the largest ethno-national group in Ethiopia, the Oromo consider themselves to be colonial subjects. This is because they have been denied equal access to their country’s political, economic and cultural resources. It all started with their colonisation by, and incorporation into, Abyssinia (the former Ethiopian empire) during the Scramble for Africa.

Today, comprising just 6% of the population, Tigrayans dominate and control the political economy of Ethiopia with the help of the West, particularly the United States. This relationship is strategic to the US, which uses the Tigrayan-led government’s army as their proxy to fight terrorism in the Horn of Africa and beyond.

The Oromo have been demonstrating since November last year. What triggered the protests?

The Oromo demonstrations have been underway for over eight months, first surfacing in Ginchi (about 80km southwest of the capital city) in November last year. It began when elementary and secondary schoolchildren in the small town began protesting the privatisation and confiscation of a small football field and the sale of the nearby Chilimoo forest.

The sentiment quickly spread across Oromia. The entire Oromo community then joined the protests, highlighting other complaints such as the so-called Integrated Addis Ababa Master Plan and associated land grabbing. The master plan was intended to expand Addis Ababa by 1.5-million hectares on to surrounding Oromo land, evicting Oromo farmers.

Last year’s demonstrations were the product of over 25 years of accumulated grievances. These grievances arose as a result of the domination by the minority Tigrayan ethno-national group. Because of this dominance the Oromo people have lost ownership of their land and become both impoverished and aliens in their own country.

What was different about these demonstrations was that, for the first time, all Oromo branches came together in co-ordinated action to fight for their national self-determination and democracy.

Which part of the Oromo is organising the rallies?

It is believed that underground activist networks, known as Qeerroo, are organising the Oromo community. The Qeerroo, also called the Qubee generation, first emerged in 1991 with the participation of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) in the transitional government of Ethiopia.

In 1992 the Tigrayan-led minority regime pushed the OLF out of government and the activist networks of Qeerroo gradually blossomed as a form of Oromummaa or Oromo nationalism.

Today the Qeerroo is made up of Oromo youth. These are predominantly students, from elementary school to university, organising collective action through social media. It is not clear what kind of relationship exists between the group and the OLF. But the Qeerroo clearly articulate that the OLF should replace the Tigrayan-led regime and recognise the Front as the origin of Oromo nationalism.

What are their demands?

Their immediate demands are for the Ethiopian government to halt the so-called Addis Ababa Master Plan, land grabbing, corruption and the violation of human rights.

Their extended demands are about achieving self-determination and sovereignty by replacing the Tigrayan-led regime with a multi-ethno-national democratic government. These demands gradually emerged to create solidarity with other ethno-national groups, such as the Amharas, who also have grievances with the regime.

How has the government reacted to the protests?

The government reaction has been violent and suppressive. Despite Oromia being the largest regional state in Ethiopia, it has been under martial law since the protests began. The government has been able to use this law to detain thousands of Oromos, holding them in prisons and concentration camps.

Security structures called tokkoo-shane (one-to-five), garee and gott have also been implemented. Their responsibilities include spying, identifying, exposing, imprisoning, torturing and killing Oromos who are not interested in serving the regime.

There have also been deaths and reports of thousands of Oromos who have been maimed as a result of torture, beatings or during the suppression of protests. For example, during the Oromia-wide day of peaceful protest on July 6, the regime army, known as Agazi, massacred nearly 100 Oromos. According to Amnesty International, 400 Oromos were killed before July 6. But in reality nobody knows exactly how many Oromos have been victims of violence.

What effect have these protests had on the country?

The Oromo protest movement has started to change the political landscape of Ethiopia and shaken the regime’s foundations. Erupting like “a social volcano”, it has sent ripples through the country, and several groups have changed their attitudes to stand in solidarity with the Oromo. The support of the Ahmaras has been particularly significant as they are the second-largest ethno-national group in Ethiopia.

For the first time in history, the plight of the Oromo people has also received worldwide attention. International media outlets have reported on the peaceful protests and subsequent government repression.

This has brought about diplomatic repercussions. In January the European Parliament condemned the Ethiopian government’s violent crackdown. It also called for the establishment of a credible, transparent and independent body to investigate the murdering and imprisonment of thousands of protesters. Similarly, the United Nations human rights experts demanded that Ethiopian authorities stop the violent crackdown.

Not all global actors are taking a strong stance. Some are concerned about maintaining good relations with the incumbent government. For example, the US State Department expressed vague concern about the violence associated with the protest movement. In sharp contrast, they signed a security partnership with the Ethiopian government.

Nevertheless, the momentum of the Oromo movement looks set to continue. The protests, and subsequent support, have seen the further development of activist networks and Oromo leadership, doubling their efforts to build their organisational capacity.

Is this the first time the Oromo have demonstrated their grievances?

No. The Oromo have engaged in scattered instances of resistance since the late 19th century when they were colonised.

In the 1970s the Oromo started to engage in a national movement under the leadership of the OLF. The Front was born out of the Macha-Tulama Self-Help Association, which was banned in the early 1960s, and other forms of resistance such as the Bale Oromo armed resistance of the 1960s. Successive Ethiopian regimes have killed or sent Oromo political and cultural leaders into exile.

How do you believe their grievances can be resolved?

Critics believe the Tigrayan-led minority regime is unlikely to resolve the Oromo grievances. Oromo activists believe that their national struggle for self-determination and egalitarian democracy must intensify.

I am sure that, sooner or later, the regime will be overthrown and replaced with a genuine egalitarian democratic system. This is because of the size of the Oromo population, abundant economic resources, oppression and repression by the Tigrayan-led government, the blossoming of Oromo political consciousness and willingness to pay the necessary sacrifices.

This is an edited version of an article that was originally published on theconversation.com

Tigray People’s Liberation Front security officers reportedly warned non-Tigray, specifically ethnic Oromo and Amhara military members.

Ogi Jokanovic, Research Assistant, Indian Ocean Research Programme

Background

(Future Directions) — Decades of inter-ethnic tension and perceived government marginalisation and discrimination have led to a wave of new protests that not only threaten the legitimacy of the ruling party, but also the fragile stability of the wider region. The demonstrations, a result of generations of animosity and distrust, stem from long-held grievances between the country’s two largest ethnic groups – the Oromo and the Amhara – over their treatment by the Tigrayan-dominated central government. While protests like these are not unusual or uncommon in Ethiopia, the current situation is the first in many years that has the possibility of causing widespread domestic and regional instability.

Summary

Ethiopia is a diverse state made up of many different tribal, ethnic and religious groups. The Oromo (34 per cent of the population) and the Amhara (27 per cent) are the two largest of the more than eighty recognised ethnic groups. Combined, they account for over half of the total population of Ethiopia. The two peoples, although traditional and historical rivals, have worked in unison during these most recent protests against the central government. The central government itself, while claiming to be a cross-representation of all groups within Ethiopia, is in fact dominated by one political party, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), a coalition that is dominated by the Tigrayan ethnic group. The Tigrayans, who only account for six percent of the total population, have dominated politics in both Ethiopia and neighbouring Eritrea for several decades and are accused by the Oromo and Amhara of widespread persecution and discrimination.

The protests, which began in November 2015, were sparked by the introduction of the Addis Ababa City Integrated Master Plan, a government initiative to expand the territorial limits of the country’s capital into neighbouring Oromo towns, threatening the large-scale displacement of Oromo farmers and possibly annexing certain areas of the Oromo-dominated region to the Tigrayan-led federal government. While the Master Plan initiative was subsequently scrapped in January, protests against the government have only continued to grow.

The protestors claim that the reactions to their peaceful demonstrations have been undemocratic and violent, resulting in hundreds of deaths and thousands of cases of false imprisonment. They view the response of the security forces as a continuation of the EPRDF’s long-standing policy of discrimination and harassment against their ethnic groups and have called for international condemnation of the government and its policies. The government, on the other hand, disputes the number of alleged casualties. It claims that the demonstrations have been anything but peaceful, that they are being led and funded by foreign-based activists and, most worryingly, that the protestors themselves have “terror links”.

While the international community has been cautious (or slow) in its response due to a lack of credible information from on the ground (which the protestors claim is a result of government blocks on the internet and social media), human rights groups and international organisations from within Ethiopia and around the region have been united in their condemnation of the government’s handling of the demonstrations.

The lack of a unified international response to the deteriorating situation – especially by Western governments and media – while worrying, is perhaps not surprising. The ruling EPRDF has strong relationships with both the European Union – which relies on Ethiopia’s help and support in containing the ongoing refugee crisis in Europe, and with the United States – which sends millions of dollars’ worth of aid each year to Ethiopia and views it as a strong security partner against the Islamic terrorist group al-Shabaab in neighbouring Somalia. While this diplomatic and cautious approach may be fine for the time being, there is a very real threat that the situation could escalate even further and threaten the stability not only of Ethiopia, but also of the surrounding region.

The Oromo and the Amhara are not the only ethnic groups in Ethiopia who feel marginalised by the central government. The Somalis, an overwhelmingly Muslim minority in the country’s south, are another group who may enter the conflict, further escalating tensions and possibly leading to more violence. While this possibility would no doubt worry the ruling government, it would also be concerning for the region and the international community. If the heavy-handed tactics that are allegedly being used against the Oromo and the Amhara were to be used against the Somalis, it could very likely result in cross-border violence with neighbouring and unstable Somalia and possibly turning Ethiopia into a new battlefront for the expansion of Islamist-inspired terrorism. The government will be hoping that it can end the demonstrations before this worrying, but very real threat has any chance of reaching fruition.

The underlying cause of the current situation is rooted in the inability of the government to allow its citizens the right to peacefully display dissent through traditional methods, such as the media and civil society. The ruling party’s stranglehold on parliament (of which it holds almost all of the seats), as well as its control over the flow information through the media – both domestically and internationally – leaves very little opportunity for other voices to be heard, or for criticism to be taken constructively. These factors, coupled with decades of distrust, animosity and a lack of government-sponsored economic and social development in Ethiopia’s poorer regions, has led to the violence and instability of today – instability that could, in the not too distant future, become a major threat to peace in this part of the Indian Ocean region.

By FikreJesus Amahazion

(Pambazuka News) — A massive government crackdown on protestors and dissidents is underway in Ethiopia, but the international community has turned a blind eye to this reign of terror. The first, and possibly most far-reaching and effective, response by the international community should be to openly condemn the regime in Addis Ababa and withdraw the unwavering support for the repressive government.

Dozens of anti-government protesters have been killed and others arrested by government authorities amid ongoing unrest in Ethiopia. For months, hundreds of thousands of protestors from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic groups have rallied to protest political marginalization and systematic persecution by the government.

In June, a 61-page human rights report was released by Human Rights Watch, condemning the Ethiopian government’s heavy-handed response to the protests. According to the report, Such a Brutal Crackdown: Killings and Arrests in Response to Ethiopia’s Oromo Protests, during the widespread protests, largely arising within Oromia (but now extending to other regions), Ethiopian security forces have resorted to excessive and unnecessary lethal force and mass arrests, engaged in the harsh, ruthless mistreatment of those in detention, and restricted access to information. Estimates suggest that over 400 protesters or others had been killed by security forces, while tens of thousands more have been arrested, figures that will now have risen significantly.

Corruption and poor governance remain deeply embedded within Ethiopia’s socio-political structure, and the country consistently scores extremely poorly on a range of international governance indicators. The Ethiopian government has been consistently criticized by an array of international rights groups for its broad range of human rights abuses including its harsh repression of minorities and journalists, press censorship, draconian anti-terror laws that are utilized to silence all forms of dissent, and brutal crackdowns upon opposition groups and protestors.

Although the ongoing crisis encapsulates the government’s utter contempt for basic human rights and the overwhelming “politics of fear” that pervades the country’s socio-political landscape, it also reveals, in crystal clear detail, the highly troubling role played by much of the international community, led by the US and the West. Specifically, while the government’s brutal crackdown warrants a strong rebuke and condemnation, there has been a severely muted international response, with many of Ethiopia’s foreign supporters remaining silent.

Rather than condemn and censure Ethiopia’s brutal crackdown, the international community has turned a blind eye, abdicated its responsibility, and instead been acquiescent to Ethiopia’s persistent violations and repression. Last year, both US President, Barack Obama, and US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Wendy Sherman, granted legitimacy to the Ethiopian government by praising its “democracy” – even though the country’s ruling party, the Ethiopian People’s Ruling Democratic Front (EPRDF), swept the national elections by winning 100 percent of the parliamentary seats.

When the French statesman, Talleyrand, was told by an aide of the murder of a political opponent, the aide said, “It’s a terrible crime, Sir.” In response, Talleyrand answered, “It’s worse than a crime, it’s a blunder.” Likewise is the West’s propping up of the Ethiopian government. Unwavering support for and appeasement of Ethiopia are part of a policy approach based upon the misguided belief, dating back to the immediate post-World War 2 period but rearticulated more recently in terms of regional “anchor states” designations, that Ethiopia is vital to protecting US and Western geostrategic interests and foreign policy aims.

However, not only is this approach morally reprehensible, with the US and West being directly complicit in the mass crimes, transgressions, and reign of terror perpetrated by the Ethiopian government, the misguided policy approach has largely failed to achieve its objectives, to even a minor degree, and instead only served to stunt regional development and destabilize both Ethiopia and the broader Horn of Africa region.

In seeking to address Ethiopia’s flagrant dismissal of international norms and blatant disregard for human rights, a number of measures could be undertaken (e.g. sanctions). However, the first, and possibly most far-reaching and effective, response by the international community should be to withdraw its unwavering support for the repressive Ethiopian government.

George Galloway, respected British politician, broadcaster, and writer, has frequently voiced concern of how the West’s support for dictatorial, tyrannical regimes in the name of security only results in “blowback” and harming the populations of those countries. Regarding Ethiopia, Galloway has decried how the UK and US policy of encouraging, arming, training, financing, and facilitating the Ethiopian government’s “reign of terror” is “morally vacuous.”Similarly, respected international economist, William Easterly, has recommended that the international community“stop financing tyranny and repression” in Ethiopia.

For decades, Ethiopia has been highly dependent on external economic assistance. In 2012, it was the world’s seventh largest recipient of official humanitarian aid and received $3.2 billion in total assistance, the latter figure representing between 50-60 percent of its total budget, while its 2011 share of total official development assistance – approximately 4 percent – placed it behind only Afghanistan. Problematically, however, even while it is one of the world’s leading recipients of foreign aid, and is currently requesting even greater financial support, the Ethiopian government also annually spends hundreds of millions of dollars on weapons and arms – which are now being used against its own civilians.

With such a critical dependency on foreign aid, threats to “turn off the tap” unless Ethiopia changes course may be a viable step toward improving the country’s rights record. Alternatively, rather than providing aid directly to the Ethiopian regime, which has a long track record of corruption and misappropriation, the international community should consider directly supporting local human rights and democracy groups (although this may be difficult due to Ethiopia’s draconian laws on civil society and NGOs).

An indication of the possible far-reaching effects of removing external support from a harsh, brutal regime can be seen in the example of Indonesia. Noam Chomsky, internationally renowned professor and activist, has written and spoken extensively on how US and Western support for the despotic regime in Indonesia played an indirect, yet extremely harmful, role in the carnage and deaths of hundreds of thousands in East Timor. However, in 1999, after much pressure, the US finally “pulled the plug” on its support for the Suharto regime, quickly leading to the end of Indonesia’s brutal campaign. Specifically,

“[f]or 25 years, the United States strongly supported the vicious Indonesian invasion and massacre, a virtual genocide. It was happening right through 1999, as the Indonesian atrocities increased and escalated, after Dili the capital city was practically evacuated. After Indonesian attacks, the US was still supporting it. Finally, in mid-September 1999, under considerable international and also domestic pressure, Clinton quietly told the Indonesian generals ‘It’s finished.’ And they had said they’d never leave, they said “this is our territory.” They pulled out within days, and allowed a UN peacekeeping force to enter without Indonesian military resistance. Well, you know, that’s a dramatic indication of what can be done.”

While the socio-political dynamics and historical contexts of Indonesia and Ethiopia are admittedly quite different, the comparison also offers relevant and striking similarities. Both regimes received decades-worth of external economic, military, and political support (particularly from the US). Additionally, both regimes systematically and persistently violated human rights, transgressed various international laws (such as through military occupation), and engaged in large-scale campaigns described as “genocidal.”

With Ethiopia continuing to overlook basic international norms, standards and laws in its brutal crackdowns upon opposition groups and protestors, the international community must end its complicity in and indirect support for the government’s various transgressions. As Clinton relayed to Indonesia’s leadership, the international community must tell Ethiopia, “It’s finished.”

* Fikrejesus Amahazion, PhD, is a Horn of Africa researcher and commentator.

I was on the phone with my barely 15 years old brother who just got released from prison. He was arrested on 6th August of Grand ‪#‎OromoProtests‬ by merciless Agazi in Ambo. I was shocked by what the school boy told me about the prison condition in Ambo (Karchalle), where he was confined with more than 300 other teenagers in a single room. Over 800 inmates of teenagers only, he said, who are arrested on 6th August are currently languishing at Karchalle, in Ambo. Some are relocated to unknown places, he adds.
The following is absurd. But he calls it the conditions of their release (he just got released along with 20 other teenagers):
“1) Facebookii irrat olola deemaa jiru hin ilaaliinaa
2) Hiriyyootan keessan Facebookii fayyadaman hunda akka isaan oduu facebookii irrat odeefamu hindhageenye gorsaa.
3) Hiriira nagaa jettanii bakka namoon walgahan tokkot argamuu dhiisii miilli keessan akka ach hinejjene
4) Yoo akeekachisaa kana hojii irra hinoolchitan ta’ee adabbii guddaatu isin eeggata jedhuun ergaa guyyaa 11 nu tursanii booda nubaasan” jedha.
I thought these conditions are too smart to sway them away from protesting :), but the young man replied with a BIG NO!
Gudiin Wayyaanee baranuma yoo ijoollen akkas jette maaltu haferree?  Via Leta T. Bayissa

#‎Oromo‬ protest
Bahaa oromiyaa Gaara Mul’ataa Anaa gola-odaa keessatti sirnii goleesituu wayyaane baraatota university galaani fi dargaagota biiyyaa mana-hidhaatti galchuun Waajjira Poolisaa Anichaa kessaatti gidirfaama akka jiraan dubaatan reebichaa fi midhaan adda addas akka irraa gahaa jiruu Message Inbox Naaf Dhufte Ni Ibsiti

Grand ‪#‎OromoProtests‬ MUST SEE: Soldiers shooting and killing a peaceful protesters in Robe, Bale. The victim is Abdela Kadir.

HRLHA Urgent Action
____________________________________

August 17, 2016

Ethiopia, a UN Human Rights Council member since 2011, and an elected  member of the  UN Security Council as of 2017  is  committing  state- sponsored terror against the Oromo nation in violation  of the  UN Human Rights Council responsibility  for the promotion and protection of all human rights   and the UN Security Council  responsiblities for  maintaining international peace and security as well as the human rights treaties it has signed and ratified.

The government- trained and highly funded Agazi force shot  Gebeyehu Jalata, a medical doctor, several times at his personal clinic  in East Wallaga Nekemt town on August 6, 2016 while he was allegedly treating wounded protestors at his clinic. Dr. Gebehu Jalata was taken to the Nekemt hospital for treatment and died on August 15, 2016 .

The Agazi killing squad also invaded Mr. Hora Fajisso’s home- he is a farmer  in East Showa Zone Adami Tulu district, Batu town- and murdered him in his bed in front of his three children and his wife at 5:00 am on August 16, 2016.

During the grand nationwide Oromo nation protests on August 6,2016, the Agazi force killed at least 70 people and arrested tens of thousands of others in Oromia Regional State.

The August 6, 2016 massacres of Oromo  raised the total number of Oromos murdered since the protests started in November 2015 to over 700.

Awaday town in East Hararge Zone, Nekemt town in East Wallaga zone, Adaba town, West Arsi zone  and Dodola  town, Bale Zones were the places where many protesters were brutalized on August 6, 2016. Many Oromos have been also killed including in the capital Finfinnee/Addis Ababa city, Adama and Shashamane East Showa zone towns.

Among the  Oromos  killed on August 06, 2016  the HRLHA reporters managed to get the names of the following 65 people:

The HRLHA calls upon governments of the West, the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Security Council, of which Ethiopia is a member, and all local, regional and international human rights agencies to condemn the barbaric actions of the  Ethiopian government against its citizens and to demand that Ethiopia pull back its killing squad and allow a neutral body to investigate the human rights atrocities in Oromia.

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 Some pictures that shows the brutality of Ethiopia’s Agazi Killing Squad

Warning: Too Graphics!!

Samia Ahmed Hassan Killed in Awaday, East Harageh

Abdalla Mohammed Qobo, East Harargeh

Abda Jilo Asasaa West Arsi

Abdii Daawid who was tortured and killed by Agazi forces in Kombolcha district, Malka Rafu town, East Hararge on 7 August 2016. Abdi was arrested from his home on 6 August 2016 night and taken to jail where he was tortured and killed on the hands of the tyrant military forces.

Sardaa…. Mogor West Shewa

Mustafa Mohammednur Gimbi West Wollega

Kidane Garoma, killed in Kake

Melese Teshome Killed in Neqemte Kebele 05

WASHINGTON, DC (VOA Afaan Oromoo) — Hojii dhaabinsii mormii Dilbata darbee kaasee guyyaa sadiif magaalaa Gondar keessatti gaggeeffame sochii jiru gutummaatti cufuu isaa jiraattonni dubbatanii jiru.Kunis dhiittaa mirga namoomaa mootummaan geessisuuf fi ukkaamsaa fi hidhaa jiru mormuuf kan gaggeffame jedhu jiraatonni. Angawoonni mootummaa garuu uummata waliin walgahii gaggeessuuf akkasumas uummanni sodaa qabu irraa cufee jedhu.

Magaalaa Debre Marqos keessattis haalli wal fakkaataan jiraachuu fi bulchiinsa naannoo Amaaraa gama bahaa keessatti sochiin waraanaa hedduun akka jiru jiraatonni ibsanii jiru. Angawoonni gama isaaniin rakkoo jiru furuuf mariachuun akka barbaachisu kun ta’u baannaan mootummaan olaantummaa seeraa eegsisuun dirqama isaa akka tahe dubbatan. Sababaa ilaalacha siyaasaa qabuun kan hidhame tokko akka hin jirre mirkaneessiina jedhan.

By Engidu Woldie

Sources close to ESAT disclosed that the TPLF regime in Ethiopia is prepared to carry out deadly attacks that mimics the work of terrorists in cities across the nation and use that as an excuse to squash the growing popular resistance against the regime in the name of fighting Al Shabaab terrorists.

The sources said the TPLF intelligence and security has selected five locations – Adama, Dire Dawa, Gondar, Bahir Dar and Shashemene – to target public places and higher institutions of learning. The plan was to use Somali speaking individuals from the Ethiopian Somali region to carry out attacks at the selected locations, according to the sources.

The sources also said the regime hopes to garner support from Western allies posing as a regional peacekeeper and fighter of terrorism in the Horn of Africa.

Last year there were a number of explosions at colleges in the Oromo region during ongoing protests in the region and at the Grand Anwar Mosque in Addis Ababa as the Ethiopian Muslims staged a protest rally. The government had blamed what it called terrorist elements but failed to corroborate its claims. A bomb blast in the Bole area of the capital killed two in 2013. In 2011 the regime said it had foiled a planned bomb attack by Eritrea at the African Union Summit in Addis Ababa.

Its past records show that the Ethiopian regime has a habit of using deadly tricks of throwing grenades at public gatherings and institutions and put the blame on resistance groups and neighboring Eritrea, in a futile scheme to get them labeled terrorists.

Regarding the 2006 explosion in Addis, the Wikileaks Ethiopia file exposed the diplomatic cable from the US Embassy in Addis reported that “The GoE announced that the bombs went off while being assembled, and that the three dead were terrorists from the outlawed Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) with links to the Oromo National Congress (ONC). An embassy source, as well as clandestine reporting, suggests that the bombing may have in fact been the work of GoE security forces.”

The regime at the time reported that “the bombs were part of a coordinated terror attack by the OLF and Sha’abiya (Eritrea) aimed at disrupting democratic development,” according to the cable.

The cable published by the Wikileaks at the time quoted Dr. Merara Gudina as saying that “thedeceased had not died while constructing a bomb, but rather at the hands of GoE cadres. Dr. Merera said that the men had been picked up by police a week prior, kept in detention and tortured. He said police then left the men in a house and detonated explosives nearby, killing 3 of them.”

Not coincidentally, political observers believe, the Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (IGAD) issued a report on Monday warning that terrorist attacks from Al Shabaab were not just confined to Somalia but also threatens neighboring countries.

It should be noted that the regime in Ethiopia is a leading member of the regional body, IGAD and the Security Sector Program that launched the 53 page report is led by Ethiopian regime officials.

It remains to be seen if the regime, which is hit hard by ongoing public resistance all across the nation calling for its demise, would once again use its deadly trickeries knowing that its deceits in the past were exposed widely.

Previous same tactics:

1. Ethiopia Bombs Itself, Blames Eritrea – Foreign Policy Journal – Wikileaks
2. Bombings Blamed on OLF Possibly the Work of Government of Ethiopia – Wikileaks

Press release      

08/17/2016

By Malik Ibrahim

Unarmed peaceful protesters were shot dead in Robe, Bale, August 17, 2016

(Geopolitical Monitor) — It has now been just over three months since Abdirahman Mahdi warned al-Jazeera that “Ethiopia is now boiling.” A founding member of the Ethiopian Somali rebel group known as the Ogaden National Liberation Front, Mahdi described an Ethiopian government in disarray as its citizens – divided among 80 different ethnic groups – rose up against the country’s Tigrayan minority rulers in what he saw as a new Arab Spring.

Ethiopia’s longstanding political tensions have been boiling over since late last year, as escalating violence has claimed nearly 100 lives in the latest round of protests. Even so, it’s been difficult for Western observers and Ethiopians alike to understand the extent of the upheaval. Despite the frequent portrayal of Ethiopia as a reliable (and critically, stable) partner in one of the most turbulent regions in Africa, Ethiopians live in one of the continent’s most repressive states and contend with draconian laws that curtail a free press and limit digital access. Now, United Nations officials are demanding entry for international observers to assess the mounting evidence of human rights violations, including the government’s use of lethal force against its citizens. According to Amnesty International, hundreds of protesters have been detained.

Separate protests in Ethiopia’s Oromia and Amhara regions come after months of simmering frustrations among the two ethnic groups, who together account for more than 60 percent of a population of 100 million. The proximal causes of their grievances – including a failed attempt to annex land the Oromo claim as their own to the Addis Ababa capital region – have triggered an outpouring of anger which had been pent up since 1991, when the current regime came to power. Fueling that anger are underlying ethnic tensions and the dominant power of the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) at the heart of the regime.

Ethnic divisions at the root of the crisis

The Tigray elites, representing just six percent of the population, hail from a small northern territory that shares its border with Eritrea. Their role in the overthrow of Colonel Mengistu Haile Mariam, the former ethnic Amhara dictator whose political career spanned decades of internal violence, positioned them atop Ethiopia’s ruling class. That has left the Oromo, the largest ethnic group, oppressed and discriminated against for decades by successive governments. Their longstanding lack of civic and economic opportunity has fueled the current upheaval, an unprecedented challenge to TPLF leadership.

The spark came in April 2014, when the Ethiopian government announced its Addis Ababa Integrated Master Plan. The urban plan required the annexation of Oromo territory and the forced removal of Oromo farmers from precious arable land. The first protests came soon afterward, as did the first reported deaths at the hands of the Ethiopian military. Because the Ethiopian government tends to punish dissent under laws that interpret activism as a threat to peace and even as terrorism, officials blamed the bloodshed on protesting students and citizens.

The current anti-government protests have spread across the Oromia region since November 2015, stoked by outrage over the previous killings and detained protesters who are still missing. Even though the plans for Addis Ababa’s expansion were shelved in January, the crackdown on the Oromo continued. As their protests persisted, the show of defiance motivated the Amhara (who have their own longstanding disputes with the Tigray) as well as ethnic Somalis in their own long and bloody civil conflicts.

Implications for the U.S. and the Horn of Africa

Despite a track record of human rights abuses that include lengthy sentences for journalists, police-state surveillance strategies, torture, and extrajudicial killings, the United States and other Western partners consider Ethiopia a valuable partner in the war on terror. Geopolitical realities, and the strategic interests of the U.S. in particular, make financial and diplomatic investment in Ethiopia an ugly expedient. For its part, Ethiopia’s merciless repression – even if partially masked by intense censorship – fits neatly into the counterterrorism narrative it presents to the global community. The security rationale serves as an excuse for the repression of ethnic minorities like the Somalis, while the United States continues to provide material support to a regime that violates democratic principles on nearly every measure. In the midst of the current upheaval, this has gone so far as shutting off state-controlled Internet access to those few citizens who have it.

The U.S. has been circumspect in its concern over the escalating violence in Ethiopia, a cautious approach informed by the breakdown of state structures in neighboring South Sudan and Somalia. American officials have taken a similar approach in dealing with neighboring Djibouti, where strongman Ismail Omar Guelleh’s controversial re-election to a fourth term this year followed a violent crackdown on opposition groups. Security forces loyal to Guelleh killed 19 people in an attack on a religious gathering and a meeting of political opponents last December, and opposition parties boycotted the presidential contest after the Djiboutian leader broke the terms of a previous settlement. The American response to the tainted elections reflected the security relationship between the two countries, including the American lease on Camp Lemonnier and Djibouti’s role as a staging ground in the regional war on terrorism.

That political developments in Ethiopia and Djibouti so closely align should come as little surprise, given their close relationship; Guelleh has even floated the idea of a political union in the past. In addition to the United States, China also has a vested interest in the maintenance of the status quo in both countries. Beijing recently began building its first overseas base in Djibouti, and a spate of Chinese infrastructure investments in both Ethiopia and Djibouti are aimed at integrating the two and facilitating Chinese access to the landlocked Ethiopian market. Unfortunately for dissidents and rights activists on the ground, the world’s two most powerful states have little incentive to upset a fragile applecart in either of these repressive states.

By Peter Doerri

NAIROBI, August 17, 2016. Public Diplomacy & Regional Security News  (HAN) –Violent protests have shaken Ethiopia in the last month. More than 50 people have died, most of them shot dead by security forces. In contrast to an earlier wave of demonstrations that claimed the lives of more than 400 protestors and security agents early this year, this time the protests weren’t limited to the Oromo federal state, but instead originated in the Amhara region.

The spread of the protests — and the accompanying violence — points to increasing dissatisfaction with the government among large segments of the population. Together, the Oromo and Amhara people, whose presence largely correlates with the eponymous federal states, account for more than 60 percent of Ethiopia’s population.

Ethiopia is a key ally of the United States in the Horn of Africa region. It’s landlocked but occupies a strategically important position bordering Sudan, Eritrea and Somalia, all of which have hosted or supported terrorist groups hostile to U.S. interests. Parts of the massive U.S. targeted killing and intelligence program rely on drones based in Ethiopia and neighboring Djibouti.

The protests’ exact origins are murky, but the demonstrations seem to have originatedin what security forces claim to be an anti-terror operation in the city of Gondar, north of the capital Addis Ababa. Officials rounded up several men accused of murder, robbery and hostage-taking, sparking protests by supporters who claimed the men were targeted for their involvement in an Amhara identity movement and their association with a contentious land-rights issues involving Ethiopia’s third ethnic group, the Tigray.

Contrast this with the protests of the Oromo people, which erupted in November 2015 around the issue of the expansion of Addis Ababa, for which a government master plan required the resettlement of thousands of Oromo farmers.

So while some observers have described the recent protests as an historic alliancebetween the the country’s two largest ethnic groups, which in the past have often been at odds, in reality it’s not so much a shared vision, but shared grievances, that have led representatives of both groups to protest against the government.

These grievances are well-founded. While Ethiopia in theory has a federalist constitution that guarantees wide-ranging autonomy for the ethnic-based federal states and equal participation in national politics, in practice political, economic and military power is concentrated in the hands of a Trigray-dominated elite.

These power structures can be traced back to Ethiopia’s civil war that lasted from 1974 to 1991 and which was eventually won by the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, which later transformed itself into the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front.

The EPRDF, like many resistance movements that have ascended to power, has displayed authoritarian tendencies. But these tendencies worsened in the later years of resistance leader and later prime minister Meles Zenawi, as well as under his successor Hailemariam Desalegn.

Zenawi, influenced by the example of China, organized Ethiopia around the principle of a developmental state, prioritizing economic growth above all else.

These efforts have had a certain measure of success. Ethiopia’s GDP per capita more than doubled between 1991 and 2015, rising from $270 to $619. And while some commentators have attributed the protests to rising inequality, by most measuresEthiopia is not suffering from high inequality — at least not in the typical sense of the word.

Instead, an U.N. report has warned of an increasing gap between rural and urban growth, something that is reflected in the Oromo protests. But these rising discrepancies shouldn’t hide the fact that most Ethiopians, Oromo and Amhara included, are economically better off today than they were 20 years ago — and that this is a feather in the cap of the government.

The protests are therefore unlikely to reflect frustration with the country’s economic development, but rather the lack of political space, for young people in particular, to influence this development. And in contrast to the current narrative of inter-ethnic solidarity between Oromo and Amhara youth, it should be read as a continuation and evolution of Ethiopia’s long-standing problems with ethnic competition, this time pitting Oromo and Amhara against Tigray.

The ethnic dimension shouldn’t come as a surprise, least of all to the ruling elite. Tigray dominance of the armed forces has long been accepted as a given in Ethiopia, as has the political dominance of the Tigray elite. And while not every member of Ethiopia’s military-political complex is of Tigray origin — Prime Minister Desalegn for example hails from the minority Wolayta ethnic group — the narrative is by now accepted as fact by most Ethiopians.

Proponents of the developmental state defend the required authoritarianism with promises of rapid economic growth. In their minds, pluralistic democracies and effective poverty reduction are incompatible.

Unfortunately, Ethiopia is currently on track to become exhibit A for the counter theory. Any gains made by rapid economic growth are nullified if insufficient political participation leads to widespread social conflict and violence.

The Ethiopian government has so far shown a complete unwillingness to address the concerns of the protesters. While the Addis Ababa master plan, the original source of the Oromo protests, was cancelled, a general dialogue about the relationship between the state and its citizens and Ethiopia’s political trajectory in recent years has never been proposed.

Instead, the government has chosen to treat the protests as an existential threat to the state, using anti-terrorism legislation and rhetoric to justify the extreme brutality of its actions against the protesters.

Ironically, this reliance on overwhelming force and in the eyes of most observers unjustified delegitimization of the protests only proves the protestors’ point. And even if the government should decide to enter negotiations at some point, this is easier said than done. Thanks to the repression of all organized political opposition over the last few years, there are essentially no individuals or organizations that would be able to speak credibly on behalf of the protesters.

For the United States and other Western governments this situation is becoming increasingly uncomfortable. Ethiopia has been not only a close ally in the war on terror, in some way rendering the United States guilty in the misappropriation of the term to largely peaceful protesters, the government is also a major recipient of development aid, which it has used to legitimize its increasingly authoritarian tendencies.

In a world where foreign policy was value-based, the United States and other Western democracies would use their economic, diplomatic and military influence to pressure the Ethiopian elite to reduce the violence and address the grievances voiced by the opposition.

But the reality is fundamentally different. Both the United States and European countries are focused primarily on “stability” in their foreign relations, defined as the perpetuation of the status quo wherever possible. This is especially true for countries like Ethiopia, which are perceived as beacons of stability in otherwise chaotic and threatening regions.

For Ethiopia’s protest movements, this means that there is little hope for outside pressure on the Ethiopian government. Given the coherence of Ethiopia’s elite and its control over the very capable and well-equipped security forces, forcing the government to address their grievances will be an uphill battle, to say the least.

The West, meanwhile, will waste another opportunity to mitigate the very real long term risk of a destabilization of a major regional power, because it prioritizes short-term stability.

Peter Doerrie is a freelance journalist and analyst specializing in resource politics and security in Africa.