Life continues in Sebeta after the declaration of a state of emergency. Photo by Getty Images

(Chatham House) — It is possible that after 25 years of power, the ruling coalition will have to reconsider their role and their understanding of the population, and their relationship to the body politic.

Ethiopia’s prime minister Hailemariam Desalegn declared a six-month state of emergency on 8 October, as well as hinting at electoral reform and potential engagement with the political opposition. Demonstrations have been ongoing for nearly a year. Until July, these were significant but sporadic, and largely concentrated in towns across the country’s Oromiyya Regional State. Subsequent tensions around Gondar triggered a wave of protests across towns in the Amhara Region. Intensification of protests in both regions has followed. On 2 October, security forces intervened at a large Oromo religious festival in Bishoftu to disrupt demonstrators, triggering a stampede which reportedly killed as many as 200 people. In the past few weeks, there have been increasing attacks on businesses – largely those associated with the government’s economic development agenda, including large-scale agribusiness, factories (including textiles) and cement plants, concentrated in the industrial corridor between Addis Ababa and its transportation hub and Hawassa to the south.

The state of emergency indicates that the government of the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) coalition, which with its affiliated parties controls every seat in the country’s parliament, recognizes that it is has been unable to impose order. The decree provides legal cover for a more aggressive security posture, which would fit with the pattern of forcefully containing opposition, established since post-election violence in 2005. However, the premier’s hints at electoral reform also indicate that the EPRDF might be seeking alternative approaches. After 25 years in power, the EPRDF finds itself at an important turning point.

In understanding the current situation in Ethiopia it is important to note that the protests erupted from the grassroots, not from a political movement (either political or armed opposition) mobilizing its base. A confluence of three dynamics underpins the unrest:

1. Over the last two-and-a-half decades, there has been a growing contradiction inherent in the expansion of the economy and provision of services, as it is outstripped by growth in expectations, especially among the youth. Every year there are an estimated 600,000 new entrants to the workforce, who have benefited from education, and who seek economic opportunities outside subsistence agriculture. However quickly the economy has expanded, its industrialization is still in its early stages, and employment opportunities are not keeping pace with demand, producing disillusionment and anger.
2. This anger is intensified because of corruption in the political system; the Oromo People’s Democratic Organization (OPDO), the EPRDF member party which controls Oromiyya Region, is seen as particularly corrupt. This has pitted the population against a party which is meant to represent its interests. However far the creation of the ethnic federal system has gone in recognizing Oromo national identity – including respect for its culture and language, with the introduction of primary education in local languages – many Oromo, especially the youth, feel disempowered. Perceptions of corruption fuel resentment, as well.
3. Perceptions are widespread that control of the EPRDF and a disproportionate share of the benefits of the growing economy have gone to ethnic Tigrayans, whose Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) formed the core of the EPRDF when it overthrew the military dictatorship in 1991. The EPRDF coalition structure represents an elite bargain, in which the liberation movement leaders sought to accommodate the interests of various national identities within the framework of ethnic federalism, without losing the central authority necessary for coherent security and development policy.

These dynamics erupted into protests in April 2014, triggered by fears that Addis Ababa would annex parts of Oromiyya Region to facilitate the city’s expansion and continued industrialization. These fears were intensified by decades of resentment over land control in Oromiyya, with roots in the 19th century conquest of southern regions of Ethiopia. After protests broke out again in late 2015, the OPDO formally abandoned the plan. However, this failed to mollify the protesters, as have subsequent efforts to purge the OPDO leadership and to tackle corruption. The spread of protests to Amhara Region, the attacks on businesses and the huge death toll in Bishoftu represent significant watersheds in the history of opposition to the EPRDF. In scale and significance, the demonstrations are likely rivaled only by the widespread popular and student demonstrations that preceded the military coup against the Imperial government in 1974.

However, the EPRDF – and the TPLF in particular – came to power with a vision of itself as a vanguard party. The EPRDF has viewed its role as to lead a population unready for modernity – economic or political – into development. The vast majority of the population relies on agriculture, mainly subsistence, for their livelihoods, and in the 1990s, education was limited. Ahead of the 2015 elections, it appeared that the EPRDF still held the same view of its role vis-à-vis the broader public. Training was held for civil servants and other public sector employees to set out the EPRDF development vision (with a 20-30 year timeframe), and stress that only the EPRDF could deliver.

The demonstrations indicate that the population – especially the youth, which has benefitted from the expansion in education – no longer accepts the EPRDF’s vanguard role. Moreover, demonstrations have largely called for the government to respect the rule of law, and the country’s constitution – rather than calling for the overthrow of the system. It is possible that after 25 years of power, EPRDF elites will have to reconsider their role and their understanding of the population, and their relationship to the body politic. Built up resentment of ethnic privilege and corruption (perceived or real) will be difficult to overcome, but perhaps some of the ingredients are present for compromise. The coming months will reveal whether there is a future for the EPRDF government beyond the vanguard, potentially opening the road for more genuinely participatory governance.

(Addis Standard) — U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Assistant Administrator for the Bureau of Democracy, Conflict, and Humanitarian Assistance, R. David Harden, is visiting Ethiopia As of yesterday, the US Embassy said in a statement. Harden’s visit, which will last until Oct. 23, comes amidst growing intensive crackdown on dissident in Ethiopia following the declaration of State of Emergency for six months.  

According to the statement, “Harden will meet with high-level government officials and will reiterate the long-standing call by the United States government for the Government of Ethiopia to respect its citizens’ constitutionally-guaranteed freedoms of expression and association.”

During his meetings with senior government officials, Mr. Harden “will reiterate the importance of peaceful dialogue, democratic reform, political pluralism and respect for fundamental freedoms for the sustainability of Ethiopia’s economic and development gains,” the embassy further said.

In addition to senior government officials, Mr. Harden will also meet representatives of non-governmental organizations, who are important to developing credible democratic governance and civil society. “In addition, Harden will meet with officials from the United Nations, including the World Food Program, to discuss refugee issues and efforts to lift rural regions out of poverty and create communities resilient to climate shocks.”

Foreign and Defense Policy, Middle East, AEIdeas

ProtestsEthiopia, October 2, 2016. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri.

Putting aside existing conflicts in Libya, Syria, Yemen, the South China Sea, and Ukraine, what crises could blindside the White House in the next four years?  Here are ten countries and potential crises that should certainly be on the next administration’s radar screen:

1. The Maldives.

   The Maldives might be isolated and far from US shores but isn’t that what analysts once said of Afghanistan?

   Let’s start small. Few Americans know the Maldives, but those who do likely think of the low-lying Indian Ocean archipelago as the archetypal tropical island paradise. Outside of the gated resorts, however, Islamist radicalism has been taking root. The Maldivian government has sought US assistance, but the 3 a.m. phone call has now been ringing unanswered for several years. Might the Islamic State seize Western tourists on the island? What would a radical government willing to accept arms and foreign jihadis mean for trans-Indian Ocean shipping? The Maldives might be isolated and far from US shores but isn’t that what analysts once said of Afghanistan?
2. Mauritania. Africa has largely been a success story over the past 20 years, but several countries put that progress at risk. Take Mauritania, for example. European terror analysts regularly listMauritania as perhaps their top, under-the-radar concern. The impoverished country on the Atlantic coast of Africa has the population of Phoenix, Arizona, spread over an area twice the size of California. An Islamic Republic, it is one of the last countries to embrace slavery in practice if not in law. Its largely ungoverned interior has become the domain of smugglers and a safe-haven for terrorists. Loose weaponry from Libya has only poured fuel on the fire. In many ways, Mauritania has become pre-9/11 Afghanistan, just without the diplomatic attention.
3.  Algeria. Africa’s largest country, Algeria should also be one of its wealthiest. But decades of military rule, statist economic policies, and a devastating civil war in the 1990s have taken their toll. Now, southern Algeria is a haven for Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Ailing President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algeria’s long-time strongman, will likely not last out the next four years. There is no clear succession and, even if a president does consolidate political control, he will have to face down Islamic radicals who might seek to avenge their long suppression. One Libya has been destabilizing enough. Another so close to Europe could herald disaster.
4. Ethiopia. Two and a half times the size of California, Ethiopia is one of the world’s oldest countries but, despite an increasingly autocratic and repressive leadership projecting an aura of stability, it looks like it could be among the world’s most fragile states. While the economy has grown rapidly, poverty remains the rule as the population also booms. The agricultural basis of the economy makes Ethiopia susceptible to drought. State-dominated industries mean it competes poorly with the outside world. The country is incredibly diverse. In 1991, Eritrea successfully seceded after a decades-long civil war. While Eritrea had its own colonial heritage, many other ethnic groups are as resentful of Addis Ababa’s control and, specifically, ethnic Tigrean domination. Of greater concern, however, is Ethiopia’s sectarian division. Muslims already represent a third of the population and are growing at a faster rate than the Ethiopian Christian population. Should ethnic and sectarian divisions erupt into open conflict, the resulting insecurity could make Somalia look like Club Med.
5. Nigeria. Concerns about stability in Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, hit international headlines in 2014 when Boko Haram kidnapped hundreds of school girls in order to convert them forcibly to Islam and marry them off to militants. But that’s only one of many problems Nigeria faces. Boko Haram has thrived against the backdrop of endemic corruption. By some estimates, Nigeria has lost $400 billion to embezzlement and corruption since 1960, more than total international aid to Africa during the same period. While the international community has largely eradicated piracy off the coast of Somalia, the problem has skyrocketed in the Gulf of Guinea, and even that is underreported since states don’t always report seizures in their territorial waters. Like Ethiopia, Nigeria faces not only ethnic but sectarian divisions. Tensions between Muslims and Christians plunged the Ivory Coast into civil war in the last decade; Nigeria is far more volatile. If its fragile democracy fails, West Africa may see a conflict worse than any it has seen in decades.
6. Turkey. What would it mean if a NATO ally collapsed? Over the past decade, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has seized dictatorial power. He called the aborted July 15 coup “a gift from God” and used it as an excuse to declare a state of emergency and purge more than 100,000 military officers and civil servants. But there are indications that there could be more violence on the horizon. Doğu Perinçek, a former Maoist turned ultra-nationalist power-broker, leads a shadowy group Turks simply refer to as “the Perinçek group.” Some suggest that Perinçek is Turkey’s real defense minister, behind-the-scenes. In August, Erdoğan hired Adnan Tanriverdi, a former Special Forces trainer close to Perinçek, to be counsel for the president. The question is whether those Tanriverdi trains will be more loyal to Perinçek or Erdoğan when the next blow comes. Regardless, Erdoğan may be a marked man and even if he is killed or forcibly removed, he has so eviscerated the Turkish state that political chaos will likely follow his death.
7. Russia. Like Turkey, Russia is ruled by a strongman who has substituted the illusion of stability for its substance. When President Vladimir Putin dies, the Russian people will have to pay the price for his decades of corruption and mismanagement. Putin’s lasting legacy will be the vacuum of power underneath him. Beyond poor governance, however, Russia will soon face reverberation from its demographic crisis. Its Muslim population is growing as its ethnic Russian population shrinks. At the same time, it faces Islamist radicalism not only in Chechnya and Daghestan, but also increasingly among ethnic Tartars. Here’s the question: As Muslims make up a growing proportion of the conscript-age population, can Russia count on its own army in any sectarian conflict? (On all these issues, the writings of Leon Aron and Anna Borshchevskayaare must-reads).
8. Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia’s facing a perfect storm: US policy has empowered and re-resourced Iran. The price of oil has declined precipitously pushing the Saudi economy to the brink. Saudi Arabia is bogged down in a war in Yemen which seemingly has no end. All of this would be bad in the best of circumstances, but add into the mix a king that very well may have Alzheimer’s and the Kingdom may face a crisis unlike any it has faced in decades. Every US administration since Franklin Roosevelt’s has counted on a strong partnership with Saudi Arabia kingdom to bring stability to the Middle East and order to the world economy. If Riyadh is unable or unwilling to continue that partnership, can Washington find a substitute or fill the gap?
9. Jordan. Even more than Saudi Arabia, the United States has relied on Jordan for generations. The Hashemite Kingdom is perhaps America’s closest Arab ally. But Jordan is in crisis today, even if the Jordanian government will not admit it. With the influx of Syrians, Jordan has now absorbed its third major wave of refugees, putting tremendous strain on the economy. King Abdullah II is far more popular in Washington and London than he is in some corners of his own kingdom. And while Western journalists depict Queen Rania as a romantic and popular figure, she is widely disliked inside Jordan for her profligate spending. All of this has created fertile ground for the Islamic State to infiltrate Jordan even if it keeps its presence low-key. Should he United States and its Iraqi and Kurdish allies push the Islamic State out of Iraq and Syria and lead more of its fighters to enter Jordan, then the assault on Mosul and Raqqa might truly be Pyrrhic.
10. China. Last but not least China, the world’s most populous country. Some pundits have watched China’s economic boom andsung its praises, even suggesting that the communist republic’s dictatorial ways might be superior to those of the United States. Economic development is uneven: coastal, urban incomes are exponentially higher than interior, rural incomes. The legacy of decades of China’s murderous one-child policy are still to come as China faces a demographic precipice. My colleagues Dan Blumenthal and Derek Scissors highlight the implications of stagnation in China. Simply put, future US administrations should worry less about the rise of China and more about its decline. Will a faltering China, for example, lash out militarily as a stagnating Russia has?

The world is a dangerous place. These scenarios may be too obscure for the 2016 presidential debates, but ensuring the ability of the United States to react to them should not be.

By David Gilbert on Oct 21, 2016

FILE – In this Sunday, Oct. 2, 2016 file photo, protesters chant slogans against the government during a march in Bishoftu, in the Oromia region of Ethiopia. German Chancellor Angela Merkel is visiting Ethiopia on Tuesday, Oct. 11, 2016, where her meeting with Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn is expected to focus on the country’s newly declared state of emergency after months of protests demanding wider freedoms, and other issues including migration. (AP Photo, File)

(Vice News) — The Ethiopian government has declared a state of emergency in the country as it intensifies a crackdown on widespread anti-government protests born of frustration that’s been fomenting for decades. In the past two weeks alone, authorities have arrested thousands of protesters, overwhelmingly young people by some accounts.

In the unprecedented anti-government protests sweeping the country, this week alone has seen more than 2,600 people detained in the Oromia and Amhara regions, with 450 arrested in the capital Addis Ababa. Those detained include business owners who closed their shops and teachers who “abandoned their schools.” In June, Human Rights Watch reported that “tens of thousands” of protesters had been arrested since the unrest that began 11 months ago.

However, the number arrested is already likely much higher than the figure quoted by the government, according to Fisseha Tekle, the chief researcher for Amnesty International in Ethiopia. He told VICE News that arrests are ongoing and that the focus is on younger people.

“They must have some list, the security forces, because they are not arresting everyone, but they really target the youths, because it is the youths who have been protesting for the last year,” Tekle said. “They don’t arrest older people; students are the main target.”

The protests began last November, triggered by plans made by the government to extend the capital, Addis Ababa, into Oromia. That plan has since been shelved, but the protests have continued, with decades-old frustration and anger at the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front coalition coming to the surface.

“This coalition has been in power for 25 years now and a lot of people want to see something different,” Clementine de Montjoye, the head of advocacy at Defend Defenders, a group that protects human rights workers in Ethiopia, told VICE News.
Because the Ethiopian government limits the operations of human rights activists in the country, many are wary about speaking on the record. One source within a human rights group operating in Ethiopia, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told VICE News that protesters had told them “we don’t have anything to lose anymore, we don’t care if we get killed.”

An Amnesty International report published this week says that in total 800 protesters have been killed by security forces in Ethiopia since these protests began last November.

The government declared a state of emergency on Oct. 9, giving them sweeping powers to crush any dissenting voices. They have also cut internet connectivity in most of the country — including the capital — for the last three weeks.

This has made it difficult to get accurate details of what is happening, especially outside of Addis. And even if a connection can be made, people are still afraid to talk. “People are suspicious because of online surveillance and also mobile phone surveillance, so people might not be [comfortable] talking over the phone about what is happening,” Tekle said.

VICE News contacted several activists on the ground in Ethiopia to talk about the current situation, but due to a combination of fear and lack of connectivity, we were unable to talk to them.

The declaration of a six-month state of emergency followed a high-profile incident at the beginning of the month when a stampede during Irreecha, an Oromo holiday festival, resulted in 55 people killed. As well as increasing the powers of the security forces in Ethiopia to arbitrarily arrest and detain people, the state of emergency aims to silence criticism of the regime. It is now illegal to contact those termed “outsiders” on social media like Twitter and Facebook. “The military command will take action on those watching and posting on these social media outlets,” Siraj Fegessa, Ethiopia’s minister for defense, said.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has made two calls for access to conduct an international, independent, and impartial investigation into the alleged violations, both of which have been rejected by the Ethiopian government. The regime has also sought to limit the impact of human rights organizations in the country with the Charities and Societies Proclamation, which states that if you receive more than 10 percent of your funding from foreign sources, you can’t work on human rights issues in Ethiopia.

Tekle says that Amnesty is refraining from contacting the human rights workers left in the country to avoid revealing their location.

In a report to be launched late Thursday, Defend Defenders has documented at least 27 cases of journalists who have been charged with terrorism since the Anti-Terrorism Proclamation was enacted in 2009. “They have intimidated, arrested, chased away most of the independent media. So if people want to express their frustrations, the only way they have to do it is [by taking] to the streets,” de Montjoye said.

So why isn’t the West doing more to sanction the Ethiopian government?

One reason is Ethiopia’s strategic importance in Africa, helping stem the tide of migrants entering Europe and stopping the spread of Islamic extremism.

According to the European Union’s foreign affairs head Federica Mogherini, citing a report published this week, Ethiopia is among five key African countries that have achieved “better results” in the past four months as part of the EU’s efforts to better manage migration.

Ethiopia is also viewed as a strategic bulwark against the further spread of violent Islamic extremism in the horn of Africa, and it’s been the main military player in fighting the terrorist group al Shabaab in Somalia for years.

Ethiopia is a close ally of the U.S. and given that the political climate in neighbouring countries like Eritrea, Somalia, Sudan and Egypt is fairly shaky, keeping Ethiopia relatively stable is seen as key to preventing chaos in the region.

Cover: ASSOCIATED PRESS

By Ezekiel Gebissa

(Ademmisoma24) –Questions about Oromo loyalty to Ethiopia persist though they are stale, condescending and meaningless.  The sort of questions that Tedla raises have been litigated for nearly three decades. The issue of secession, for instance, was basically settled when federalism was chosen as a solution and secession was enshrined in the Ethiopian Constitution as a right in principle. For those who have remained in the mindset of the ancient regime, however, all Oromo political moves, even a call for a convention, must be scrutinized for some hidden desire for secession.  To be sure, no one Ethiopian group has the moral authority to administer the litmus test of loyalty to Ethiopia. It is unfathomable that Oromos have to answer such questions especially in the wake of what the sacrifices of generation of Oromo to liberate Ethiopia from tyrannical rule.

By responding to these questions, I am not respecting them. But I respect the spirit of dialogue in which Tedla Woldeyohannes raised them.  He did not indict anyone or besmirch anyone’s reputation. His was a plea for clarity. It is the kind of civility that befits the moment and it bodes well for the kind of dialogue we need at this critical point in time in our history. I commend him for his contribution to civil discussion. Let me try as best as I can to respond to his relevant queries.

Question #1: What does “Oromo nationhood” mean? Denying the existence of an Oromo nation was a mission of a succession of Ethiopian ruling elites, including historians of great repute. Under the policy of assimilation of the imperial period, it made sense to deny the existence of the Oromo as a distinct nation. The Oromo of Harer were called Qottuu; the southern Oromo as the Borana of Sidamo. The Oromo in Shewa were often portrayed as Amhara.   The Wallaga Oromo were said to have nothing in common with the Arsi. One historian summed it up: “the Oromo don’t have corporate history.” The conclusion is that the Oromo don’t belong to the same ethno-national group.

In addition to dividing along lines of region and lineage, assimilating the Oromo also meant denying the existence of the Oromo as a people. Until 1974, the Oromo were referred to as Galla, not Oromo. The schools foisted this charade on generations of students, including Oromos who were forced to reject their true self-designation fearing cultural alienation and other forms of retribution. So Oromo endured a culture of dehumanization encapsulated in offensive Amharic clichés. Mohammed Hassen summarizes them as follows.

In the eyes of many Ethiopians, as Donald Donham keenly observed, the “Galla were pagans. They were uncivilized. Ye Galla chewa ye gomen choma yellem (it is impossible to find a Galla gentleman as it is to find fat in greens) or again Galla inna shinfilla biyatbutim aytera (even if you wash them, stomach lining and a Galla will never come clean).” In one Amharic expression, Oromos were equated with human feces: “Gallana sagara eyadar yegamal” (Galla and human feces stink more every passing day). In another, even Oromo humanity was questioned: “Saw naw Galla?” (Is it human or Galla?).

The Galla reference was a mechanism of “othering,” an instrument of sociocultural denigration and psychological dehumanization of the Oromo.   The Oromo nation has survived the onslaught of assimilation and imperial domination. In the last four decades, Oromo has become the accepted designation though only a decade ago someone published a book insisting that Galla is the proper desigination.  The Oromo believe they have overcome the denial, denigration and dehumanization of the past.  The Ethiopian Constitution refers to the Oromo as a nation.  The Oromo nation has always been a nation. It has reclaimed its status today. We just have to get used to it.

Question #2: What does it mean Oromo is a great African nation? Is the Oromo a nation as other African nations? It should not sound strange to state that the Oromo are indeed “a great African nation.” Oromo is great, African and a nation.  Implicit in the query is a suspicion that the reference to the Oromo as a nation presages a claim to statehood.  To be sure, it takes a great a great deal of courage to even raise such a patronizing question.  Who is more Ethiopian than any other group to administer the test of Ethiopianess?

Oromo has always been a great nation. The French traveler Antoine d’Abbadi, a traveler known for his meticulous mapping of the region from Massawa to Kafa in the second half of the nineteenth century, described the Oromo as “a great African nation” in an article he published in 1882. Martial de Salviac also repeated the same description in his book title:An ancient people, Great African nation: The Oromo (1902). In today’s parlance, Oromo is a great nation. The young Oromo generation has made a compelling case for the reinstatement of the historic reference.

Where there Oromo state in the past? When Antoine d’Abbadie crossed the Blue Nile in the 1840s, he encountered a gadaa republic at Odaa Buluq in Gudru. As he travelled south, he came across five Oromo kingdoms known as the Gibe States: Limmu, Gera, Gomaa, Guma and Jimma. These were independent kingdoms that governed themselves, later made tributaries and eventually conquered by the Kingdom of Shewa. Other travelers encountered Oromo gadaa republics everywhere in the rest of Oromia, at Odaa Hule, Odaa Robba, Odaa Bultum, Mae Bokku, and Gummi Gayyoo and so on. That is the history of the Oromo kingdoms and republics, and that is how Oromo custodians of knowledge (argaa dhageetii) have documented it orally. Learning this history or argaa dhageetii (what is seen and heard) is part of being socialized into being Oromo. No text book history can erase or falsify this history. Fortunately, young Oromo scholars have also documented this history with competence and finesse.  Some people just don’t want to believe it.

The writer asks for the locational map of these Oromo entities. On a regular map, the kingdoms emerged in the region that is modern southwestern Ethiopia, to the west of the Gibe and Omo Rivers, and north of the Gojeb. The republics were all over today’s Oromia. I surmise that the question about a unified Oromia independent state in the past. This too is a tired question. Oromo historians have documented the unity of the gadaa republics as all paid homage to the Abba Muudaa at Madda Walaabuu every eight years. These historians are loyal to the cannons of historiography. Their documentation is no less valid than those who claim an exceptional epistemological authority to judge which history is authentic. History is a matter of interpretation. We can debate any one interpretation endlessly. We must muster the courage disagree on interpretations of Ethiopian history and agree on living in the future.

In the present context, self-governing means that the present Oromia Regional State, nominally self-governing today, will be truly self-governing in the future. Oromo politicians have championed the idea of self-rule regionally and shared rule nationally for quite some time now. Apparently, it never sinks in.

Question # 3: Does national liberation have the same meaning then and now? The Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) adopted a political program in 1976 in which the idea of liberation was enunciated.  Since then a lot has happened and a lot has changed. It looks like some “analysts” are scrutinizing for ways to find reasons to indict the OLF. At the moment, it is not clear which OLF is still promoting the idea of “total independence.”  Over the last half century, the OLF has splintered into several factions. The Oromo Democratic Front (ODF), for instance, has a new political program that doesn’t mention total independence.

In raising it again, Tedla has pulled from a time capsule a question that was asked in 1991. It is the same allegation that the TPLF is spewing today to separate and destroy the opposition against it, which is expressed in recent Amhara-Oromo solidarity. Lumping all Oromo political parties and scrutinizing their statements to find a subterranean meaning, a “hidden agenda,” serves no purpose other than stereotyping a whole group as perpetual iconoclasts.

What is inscrutable is the fact that the idea of self-identification, self-reliance and self-rule that the OLF planted among the Oromo has grown to the sentiment of “national liberation” expressed by the #OromoProtests. The #OromoProtests has been a national drama unfolding before the entire world.  Reasonable people know the demands of the present Oromo revolution.  They don’t torment them with the same question they asked of their predecessors.

Still the idea that the “old” OLF has always been for nothing but secession is an urban legend that never goes away.  The OLF was never wedded to only one avenue of solving the Oromo question. Let me support my case by quoting OLF leaders. First, a speechdelivered by Galasa Dilbo, the former Secretary of the OLF, at the Mesqel Square in 1991 *1992, right?

Today this public assembly affirms that the Oromo nation stands for peace and democracy. It shows that the people are committed to this struggle until its goals are achieved. It wouldn’t be a misstatement to assert today that, because of the unity and freedom of the mind the people have achieved, the Oromo struggle has moved on to a new phase. For the Oromo Liberation Front, this public assembly attests the Oromo are peaceful people. Moreover, it shows that their demands are similar to those of the other oppressed people of Ethiopia. We express our solidarity with them. ….

The OLF has a message for the non-Oromo people of Ethiopia. Our struggle is directed against an oppressive system and it has never harbored hatred for any group of people. Whatever it is yesterday and or today, it has never been our intention to harm the non-Oromo people who live in Oromia. We struggle with you hand in hand to make sure that our rights and your rights are respected. Non Oromos among us have nothing to fear from the Oromo people or from the Oromo struggle.

The OLF has a message for the International Community. We need a stable democracy. We are aware that we have formidable challenges. We don’t have any time to waste. The OLF and the Oromo people do not backtrack from our commitment from working for achieving reliable peace and durable democracy. 

Elsewhere I have written about the issue of the OLF and the charge of secession as follows:

In a testimony of April 8, 1992 before the US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Africa, Taha A. Abdi, member of the OLF Central Committee, asserted that the fall of the Derg created “an opportunity to democratize, transform and create a new Ethiopia in which the equal enjoyment of civil, economic and political rights of all the people are assured, where freedom of expression and religion are guaranteed and above all in which the supremacy of the rule of law will be established. … There is no alternative to the democratization of Ethiopia.” Leenco Lata, former deputy secretary general of the OLF, has written a whole book explaining why democratization is the only viable recourse for both the Oromo and other peoples of Ethiopia. In The Ethiopian State at the Crossroads: Decolonization & Democratization or Disintegration he asserts that, without genuine democratization and federalization, the Ethiopian state cannot escape another round of bloodbath and likely disintegration.

This position is not a matter of politicians seeking expediency. In his “Ethiopia: Missed Opportunities for Peaceful Democratic Process,” Mohammed Hassen had stated: “As an optimist who believes in the unity of free people in a free country, I have an undying dream that one day the Oromo, the Amhara, and Tigrai, and other peoples of Ethiopia will be able to establish a democratic federal system. To me only a genuine federal arrangement offers a better prospect for the future of Ethiopia.” Mohammed also states that only democratization could transform the Ethiopian state from one dominated by one ethnic group into a state of all citizens. (Full article)

It is clear that even OLF isn’t wedded to the idea of secession. In my assessement, the OLF won that battle in 1995. It is OLF’s opponents who are committed to pinning the tag of secession on the OLF. In the last year, the #OromoProtests have demanded and died for their citizens’ rights to be respected. If the blood they spilled to defend democracy, genuine federalism and constitutional rule isn’t sufficient to alley the fear of Oromo imputed secessionism, my purely didactic presentation will not change any mind. But I have offered it for what it’s worth.

Question # 4. Who colonized Oromo nation and how does Oromo relate to the colonizer?

The question of internal colonialism has been a subject of academic debates since the mid-1980s. In Ethiopian studies, the pertinent themes were outlined and discussed in several essays in The Southern Marches of Imperial Ethiopia edited Donald Donham first published in 1986. The eminent sociologist Donald Levine describes the two sides as the “colonialist narrative” and the “nationalist narrative.”  These means the debate has ended in interpretive disagreement.  A generation of students in Oromia and other regions have up grown up learning the “colonialist narrative” version over the objections of the advocates of the “nationalist narrative.” This is a settled issue to need any explanation. It is even pointless to ask for one.  The only remaining issue of interest her academic curiosity that sometimes has the characteristics of debating the number of angels that can dance on a head of a pin.

It seems that Tedla doesn’t have much problem with the intent of the Leadership Convention if it was meant to issue documents that will affirm Oromo unity on the basis of the Oromo gadaa principles and state in broader terms Oromo aspirations. But he finds it difficult to accept idea when he connects several dots in the opening paragraph with the goals of the Convention. The outlines of the documents that the convention hopes to endorse are clear. For now, let’s respect the right of Oromos to come together for a conversation on crucial issues that affect our people.

Within the Oromo community, there are different political positions. We would like to arrive at an overall consensus regarding the future of the Oromo nation. Other political communities in Ethiopia should also do the same. For those who despise “ethnic politics,” what the Oromo are trying to do for themselves as a political community is quite deplorable.  They view these efforts as an active engagement in breaking up Ethiopia. On that issue, we disagree. Oromos have always been affirmative builders. That is the next level of consensus that Ethiopians need to have.

The writer, Ezekiel Gebissa, is professor of history at Kettering University, Flint, MI

(AFP) – When protesters torched a nearby Dutch-run farm in Ethiopia’s Oromia region, Marc Driessen watched anxiously as smoke billowed above the horizon, fearing his own business would meet the same fate.

“I was really terribly scared because I saw AfricaJuice burning from our farm and we were getting noise from people that most likely our farm would be next,” he told AFP from his flower farm, Maranque, which boasts recently installed solar panels worth 600,000 euros ($650,000).

The farm, some 125 kilometres (77 miles) south of Addis Ababa, is at the heart of the restive Oromia region where anti-government anger erupted into violence after at least 55 people died in a stampede at a religious festival on October 2.

Marc Driessen, the Head of Maranque Plants, a Dutch flower farm located near Sodore, in Ethiopia’s restive Oromia Region, works on October 19, 2016 ©Zacharias Abubeker (AFP/File)

An employee of Maranque was among those killed in the disaster. The stampede was blamed on police who fired tear gas at Oromo demonstrators, who are waging an unprecedented protest movement against the authoritarian Ethiopian government.

After nearly a year of protests demonstrators turned their anger to foreign investors who they blame for occupying land appropriated by the government.

Not long after AfricaJuice, a Dutch fruit farm, went up in flames, hundreds of protesters brandishing sticks, rocks and a few guns gathered in front of Maranque.

It was a group of elders from the nearby village who rushed to the farm on their scooters, who saved the day.

“We put ourselves in front of the protesters and we told them ‘Maranque is our property, do not burn it. Burning this farm will not change the government. You’ll kill us rather than destroying this farm’. And our youngsters backed away,” said community elder Shumi Telila.

More than 800 residents of the village of Alaga Dore work at the farm.

– ‘It was like a war’ –

The spike in violence after the stampede, during which government buildings and more than a dozen foreign companies were targeted, prompted authorities to declare a six-month state of emergency for the first time since the fall of communist dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991.

“It was like a war,” said Abraham Negussie, an employee at AfricaJuice, describing an attack by thousands of men, some armed with Kalashnikov rifles, according to witnesses.

“Protesters say we don’t want to hurt the people, only to destroy this property completely,” he added.

The attack left a trail of destruction with warehouses destroyed and vehicles and equipment burned.

Outside the farm several tonnes of passion fruit now lie rotting in the sun as they can no longer be processed into juice destined for Europe.

Calm has returned since the strict state of emergency was put in place, with the government reporting over 1,500 people have been arrested.

Large rocks used by protesters as barricades still line the road, which is now patrolled by numerous soldiers.

The unrest began in November in the central Oromia region then spread to Amhara in the north.

Together, the Oromo and Amhara people make up 60 percent of the population. The protesters accuse the country’s leaders, who largely hail from the northern Tigray region, of monopolising power.

– ‘It will affect investors’ –

International rights groups estimate at least 500 demonstrators have been killed in a bloody crackdown on protests over the past 10 months.

The violence in Ethiopia poses a threat to its reputation as an oasis of relative political stability and its double-digit growth, which make it a magnet for foreign investment.

Driessen, who has been in Ethiopia for 12 years, is convinced that carefully nurtured ties to the local community helped protect his farm, where chrysanthemums, dahlias and lavender grow in greenhouses.

“We built a water line in the village, we put a cement floor in the school, we fixed their electricity generator… we need to do what we can to help the people surrounding us,” he told AFP.

Driessen said he was drawn to the Horn of Africa nation by its low production costs and the ideal climate of the Rift Valley. His company has invested 10 million euros in Ethiopia.

“It will affect new investors dramatically,” he said of the recent violence.

Marc Driessen’s Maranque Plants was under threat of attack by around 250 protesters in the days of unrest following a stampede that occurred in Bishoftu on October 2, 2016, in the Oromia region of Ethiopia ©Zacharias Abubeker (AFP/File)

Workers of AfricaJuice had to toss several tonnes of passion fruit that could no longer be processed after the farm was attacked by protesters ©Zacharias Abubeker (AFP/File)

Political activists from the Oromo ethnic group in Ethiopia. PHOTO | FILE

(Africa Review) — Ethiopia could be headed for large-scale ethnic strife that would have negative repercussions to the region despite the state of emergency and top government officials saying the grievances are being addressed.

Thousands of ethnic Tigrayans belonging to the ruling class are being evicted in the northwestern Amhara region in the protests that began in November 2015 in Oromiya region over land boundaries. The protests have assumed a political dimension and are spreading to Amhara region.

The biggest concern is that Ethiopia’s instability will kill counter terrorism programmes against al-Shabaab. The country is not only a major player in the African Union Mission in Somalia (Amisom), but the leading Western ally in the war against terror in The Horn.

Ethiopian ambassador to Kenya, Dina Mufti Sid, conceded in an interview that instability in Ethiopia is a threat to peace and security in the region but insisted the government has identified and is addressing the grievances.

“The main factors behind the protests are issues of governance, border issues and corruption, which have been compounded by youth unemployment,” said Mr Dina, who added that the protests have reached their climax and will not escalate.

Ethiopia has contributed troops in Somalia, South Sudan, Darfur and the disputed region of Abyei. Ethiopia is also expected to provide the bulk of the proposed regional protection force to be deployed in South Sudan under the umbrella of the United Nations.

Kenya is likely to feel the impact in the form of refugees and an increase in illegal migrants who already use the country as a stop on their way to South Africa, Europe and the US.

Illegal immigrants

Also likely to be affected is Kenya’s Special Status Agreement with Ethiopia, signed in 2012 which covers trade, investment and security, as well as Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport (Lapsset) Corridor project. Kenyan companies have been seeking greater market access into Africa’s second most populous country with one of the fastest growing economies in the region.

Beyond the region, Europe and the US are watching the developments keenly. While Ethiopia is their biggest ally in the war against terror in the region, it is also the source of the majority of the illegal immigrants destined to the West.

Close to 500 Ethiopians have been killed by security forces in the weekly protests forcing Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to declare a six-month state of emergency on October 9.

The state of emergency prohibits protests, gatherings, making political gestures such as crossing the arms above the head that has become the symbol of the Oromo protests, posting messages on social media, and bans people from listening and watching radio and TV progammes at the Ethiopian satellite service (Esat) and the Oromia Media Network. Foreign diplomats are also not allowed to travel more than 40km outside of the capital Addis Ababa.

Amnesty International issued a statement on Tuesday saying that heavy-handed measures by the Ethiopian government will only escalate the crisis.

“These measures will deepen, not mitigate, the underlying causes of the sustained protests we have seen throughout the year, which have been driven by deep-seated human rights grievances. These grievances must be properly addressed by the authorities,” said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

But Mr Dina maintained it is the nature of the state of emergency that citizens might forgo some civil liberties, but added that the emergency may not last six months because the majority of Ethiopians want reforms that can only be addressed in a peaceful atmosphere.

Agence France Presse

Somalia’s soldiers patrol in Afgooye, some 30 kilometers south of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, on October 19, 2016. / AFP

MOGADISHU (The Daily Star) — Fighters from the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab group said Sunday they had retaken control of a town in central Somalia after hundreds of Ethiopian troops serving with the African Union’s AMISOM force withdrew.

It was the third time this month that the Islamist group moved into a town in the region after the departure of Ethiopian forces.

Al-Shabaab said on the smartphone app Telegram that their fighters had “stormed the town (of Halgan) soon after the enemy pulled out” Sunday.

“The brave fighters of Islam have taken full control of the town, the Islamic flag is waving over the station and the district headquarters,” the statement added.

After leaving Halgan together with Somali army soldiers, situated at a key junction on the road to the capital Mogadishu, the Ethiopian troops headed towards the provincial capital, Beledweyne, according to several sources.

“The Ethiopian soldiers pulled out of Halgan town this (Sunday) morning. We are getting (reports) that they have destroyed their bases and trenches around the town before heading for Beledweyne,” said Mohamed Nur Adan, a security official in Beledweyne.

“The Ethiopian soldiers vacated their bases this morning, we saw them heading towards Beledweyne. There were tanks and big trucks in their convoy,” witness Osman Adan told AFP by phone.

Halgan, situated about 70 kilometres (40 miles) from Beledweyne, came under assault from the Al-Qaeda-linked Shabaab in June.

The Islamists then attacked the Ethiopian army base with a suicide car bomber and gunmen. Scores were reported killed on both sides, however casualty numbers are impossible to verify.

The fall of Halgan is likely to increase pressure and attacks on AMISOM forces in Buloburde, which is the second largest town in the central Hiran region.

Earlier this month hundreds of Ethiopian troops pulled out of El-Ali — also in the Hiran region — after also withdrawing from nearby Moqokori.

Shabaab forces moved back in to both towns after the Ethiopians left.

No explanation has been given by the Ethiopian military or AMISOM.

The Shabaab was forced out of the capital, Mogadishu, five years ago but continues to carry out regular attacks on military, government and civilian targets in its battle to overthrow the internationally-backed administration.

PHOTO: Ethiopians in Perth want Australia to put pressure on the Ethiopian Government. (ABC News: David Weber)

By David Weber

Australia (ABC News) — Hundreds of members of Ethiopia’s ethnic communities have marched in Perth to raise awareness of a government crackdown leading to the detention of thousands of people.

Authorities in Ethiopia have detained more than 2,000 people in recent weeks, amid large anti-government protests.

President of the Oromo Community in Perth Nuru Said has called on the Australian Government to put pressure on its Ethiopian counterpart.

“What we say is the Australian Government [should] not support this terrorist government who is killing [its] citizens and also to put pressure to abide human rights in Ethiopia,” he said.

“Australia is one of the leading democratic countries with respect for human rights.

“And this Government is violating the basic human rights and the constitutional rights of the people.

“So I think the Australian Government can play a major role on this.”

State of emergency

Human rights groups say hundreds of people have died over the past year as a result of clashes with authorities.

A state of emergency was declared a week after more than 50 people died on October 2, when an Oromo religious festival in the town of Bishoftu turned into a protest and a stampede ensued.

Ethiopia’s Prime Minister said the state of emergency was declared due to the “enormous” damage to property.

An Ethiopian Government statement last week said more than 1,600 people had been detained in the Oromia and Amhara regions, on top of 1,000 arrests near the capital.

PHOTO: Omar Hasan says foreign aid is being misused. (ABC News: David Weber)

Authorities said the arrests near Addis Ababa were made in response to attacks on warehouses and factories, which had been set on fire.

Members of the Oromo, Amhara and Ogaden communities came together for the protest march in Perth.

Chairman of the Ogaden community Omar Hasan said there had been many deaths in detention.

“The Ethiopian Government gained the power and they want to keep the power by gun,” he said.

“We’re urging the Australian Government to stop financing, and cut off all the democratic relationship.

“Investment should be stopped – foreign aid is misused.

“There’s a lot of civilian unrest and it’s not appropriate for Australian companies or corporates to try to invest in Ethiopia.”

A colorful Oromo rally jointly organized by Oromo Communities Association-North America (OCA-NA) and Oromo Community Association of Washington, DC (OCO) was conducted on Friday, October 21, 2016 here in Washington, DC. A large number of Oromos who came from different states of the US have gathered in front of the White House to express their opposition and anger against the Irreecha Massacre of Bishoftu, Oromia in which TPLF/Agazi military force have committed genocide on peaceful Oromo people who have been attending the nation’s only annual Thanks Giving festival on October 02, 2016.

The protesters were chanting slogans that denounce the Irreechaa Massacre and the on going killing, mass incarceration and all rounded crimes against the Oromo people in all corners of Oromia by the dictatorial and minority regime led by TPLF in Ethiopia.

The rally covered a march to World Bank head office here in Washington, DC up on which president of the Oromo Communities Association-North America, Dr. Gulumma Gammada presented a letter detailing the grave human right abuses, killings, torture, forceful evictions, displacements including the recent Irrecha Massacre that the TPLF led minority regime has been committing against the Oromo and other peoples in Ethiopia with the fund it get from the World Bank and other international financial institutions under the disguise of development.

The World Bank representative after receiving the appeal letter from Dr. Gulummaa, expressed that his organization is closely following the situation in Ethiopia & Oromia and also handed to Dr. Gulumma a press release issued by World Bank (WB) on October 18, 2016 regarding the situation in Ethiopia and the Banks activities in the country.

After a brief stay in front of the World Bank the Oromo protesters who were outraged by the brutality of the TPLF Agazi marched towards the US State Department chanting slogans that request the US government to stop financing and supporting the brutal TPLF led regime in Ethiopia that is on the verge of collapse and civil war that can lead to genocide at large.

In front of the State Department, the Oromo protesters were loudly asking the US government and State Department to support the Oromo just struggle and demanded US to stop financing the undemocratic & killer regime in Ethiopia that is committing all kinds of crimes against humanity by keeping the people in dark away from international media.

The Organizers of the rally submitted another appeal letter to the Ethiopian Desk Officer in State Department. The Officer then promised to examine the concerns and demands of the Oromo protesters.

An Ethiopian soldier takes aim. U.S. Navy photo

Crackdown on social media follows a bloody campaign by the state

by PETER DOERRIE

(War is boring) — The Ethiopian government declared a nationwide state of emergency in October 2016 that severely restricts democratic rights. Rallies and public gatherings are now prohibited without prior permission, and the security forces declared a right to detain and search people without a court order.

Siraj Fegessa, Ethiopia’s defense minister and head of the ominously named “Command Post” tasked with dealing with country’s ongoing political crisis, declared that watching or listening to Voice of America and Deutsche Welle is illegal, in addition to banning any contact to groups labeled as terrorists.

The regime has placed a special emphasis on limiting the flow of information out of the country. Want to post an opinion about what is going on in Ethiopia on Facebook? If you do so within the country, you could face a three-to-five year jail sentence.

The Ethiopian government has also restricted all foreign diplomats to the capital and its immediate environs, limiting one of the most important ways to observe the development of the often violent crisis, which erupted one year ago as protesters demanded reform to the country’s one-party rule.

Foreign media has been restricted from covering the protests from the beginning, and the author’s visa request was recently denied by Ethiopia without comment, as were similar requests by a number of colleagues.

The government has also seemed to severely restrict access to the Internet. Statistics provided by Google show that traffic to YouTube (a Google property) fell off a cliff in early October. These harsh new laws are not a good sign for those who hoped that tensions and violence in Ethiopia would subside.

The 40th anniversary rally of Ethiopia’s ruling party in 2015. Rwandan government photo

The Ethiopian regime is facing its greatest challenge since it took power in 1991.

Twenty-five years ago, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front swept into power — and was popular — as it replaced thoroughly brutal and corrupt Marxist regime that reduced Africa’s only uncolonized nation to famine and poverty.

The EPRDF implemented a federalist constitution and a parliamentary democracy. But while allowing a greater space to the political opposition and strengthening human rights, the ruling party never risked giving up its control over the state.

While the EPRDF is officially a coalition of several ethnic political parties, its Tigrayan members — who were instrumental to the insurgency that brought it power — have long dominated the party.

Over time, the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front further strengthened its control over the coalition and the state’s political institutions. It further took control of the military — a key U.S. ally and one of the better equipped and trained forces on the continent.

The protests that erupted in November 2015 can be traced to the perceived dominance of Tigray politicians, businessmen and officers over Ethiopian affairs. Since those protests began, Ethiopia’s security forces have killed more than 500 people.

Originally the protests were staged largely by Oromo youths, but Amhara protesters have since joined them — uniting the country’s two largest ethnic groups. They share demands for greater participation in the political process, and the devolution of resources and rights to Ethiopia’s ethnic-based federal states.

The protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful, with no organized and violent anti-state movement being apparent. The regime could acquiesce to the protesters’ demands and open a dialogue about the future of Ethiopia’s political system. However, the state of emergency and its draconian rules make clear that this won’t be happening any time soon.

Instead, it is likely that the new legal instruments, and reduced scrutiny from abroad, will give the regime license to increase the level of violence against its opponents.

The opposition, meanwhile, has little hope of resisting such a coordinated effort from the state. The regime has successfully undermined opposition groups in recent years, leaving the protesters without a national platform or individuals to organize around.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn at the 2014 U.S.-Africa Summit. State Department photo

A continuation of the crisis will severely harm Ethiopia’s economy. Some investors are already pulling out, throwing one of Africa’s few economic success stories into jeopardy. But the regime might decide that the risk is worth it, hoping to come out of the conflict with even stronger control over the country.

Currently, there is only one strategy that would almost certainly force the government to change course — a coordinated withdrawal of international development assistance.

Ethiopia received more than $3.5 billion in development assistance in 2014. In 2011, official development assistance amounted to more than 100 percent of central government spending.

But international donors are exceedingly unlikely to pull the plug. German chancellor Angela Merkel visited Ethiopia in October 2016 to — yes, you’re reading this correctly — inaugurate the African Union’s new headquarters for peace and security operations.

While she criticized Ethiopia’s democratic deficits, she made no threat to withdraw resources. On the contrary, Merkel proposed to support the training of Ethiopian security forces “so that protests won’t result in so many deaths.”

Merkel, at least, took the time to meet with some representatives of the opposition. U.S. president Barack Obama refused to do so last year, instead calling the Ethiopian government “democratically elected.”

This statement came to the consternation of human rights organizations, which pointed out that the ruling party currently holds 100 percent of the seats in Ethiopia’s parliament.

The reason for this blatant refusal to take action is simple — faced with the threat of terrorism in Ethiopia’s neighbor Somalia, and several civil wars in the region, Western powers are betting on the Ethiopian regime to pull through this crisis and provide the region with an “anchor of stability,” in Merkel’s words.

For European countries, this primarily means holding back refugees who would otherwise make their way across the Mediterranean, potentially further destabilizing the political landscape in the European Union — already battered by the Brexit and a surge of right-wing populist movements.

It’s a risky gamble. While the Ethiopian regime is unlikely to falter in the short term, further entrenching its control over the Ethiopian state and military will be practically impossible to reverse at a later point.

No regime lasts forever, and if the events of the Arab Spring are any guide, the most “stable” regimes also create the biggest messes.

Migrants with their belongings queue at the start of their evacuation and transfer to reception centers in France, and the dismantlement of the camp called the “Jungle” in Calais, France, October 24, 2016. REUTERS/Pascal Rossignol

CALAIS, France (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Deep in the Calais “Jungle” migrant camp in northern France, hundreds of Oromo Ethiopians set up their own school.

An Irish volunteer came to teach classes during the day, but at other times groups of Oromo men, and a few women, gathered to discuss the news from Ethiopia: this month’s announcement of a state of emergency, or the rising death toll in protests.

On the sides of makeshift wooden shelters they painted the crossed arms protest symbol of the Oromo struggle, publicized by Ethiopian marathon runner Feyisa Lilesa at the summer Olympics.

#OromoStruggle-Kun mooraa baqattoota biyya France Calais. Ilmaan Oromoo bakka jirutti jabaate jira, rabbiin isiini wajjiin haa jiratuu. Photo courtesy Sally Hayden

“Feyisa never give up,” was written on one wall, and “Stop killing Oromo students” was scrawled on another.

People from Oromiya, a region at the heart of Ethiopia’s industrialization efforts, accuse the state of seizing their land and offering tiny compensation, before selling it on to companies, often foreign investors, at inflated prices.

“When we went to demonstrations they killed many people, they arrested many people, they put in jail many people. So we had to escape from the country,” said Solan, a 26-year-old from Addis Ababa.

The former science student left Ethiopia in 2014 after his family was forcibly evicted from the land they had lived on for generations, he told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

#OromoStruggle-Kun mooraa baqattoota biyya France Calais. Ilmaan Oromoo bakka jirutti jabaate jira, rabbiin isiini wajjiin haa jiratuu. Photo courtesy Sally Hayden

Now Solan and hundreds of his fellow Oromo in the Jungle face eviction once again.

On Monday, French authorities began clearing the sprawling, ramshackle camp outside the port town of Calais, in preparation for the demolition of the shanty-town that has become a symbol of Europe’s struggle to respond to an influx of migrants fleeing war and poverty.

Hundreds of migrants carrying suitcases lined up outside a hangar to be resettled in reception centers across France.

But most migrants in the camp have made their way to Calais because they want to reach Britain, and make regular attempts to sneak aboard trucks or trains bound for the UK.

Groups like the Oromo say they have a particular reason for doing so. They are worried France won’t grant them asylum because it doesn’t recognize them as persecuted, based on the experience of others who have been rejected.

ASYLUM

The U.N. refugee agency UNHCR said everyone in the Calais camp would be offered the chance to be transferred to a reception center where they could apply for asylum.

“There will be no blanket decisions for certain nationalities,” spokeswoman Laura Padoan said.

French asylum chief Pascal Brice recently visited the Jungle and offered reassurances to the migrants and refugees, including the Oromo group, said Solan.

Brice was not available for comment when the Thomson Reuters Foundation contacted his office on Monday.

“If they accept us we want to stay here (in France),” said Solan, who did not want to give his full name. “We are not searching for a better country, we are here (in Calais) because England accepts Oromo people.”

The latest unrest broke out last year in Oromiya, as people took to the streets accusing the state of seizing their land and handing it over to investors with minimal compensation.

Unrest spread to other areas, including parts of Amhara region north of the capital, over land rights and wider complaints over political freedoms.

Ethiopian authorities said on Thursday they had detained 1,645 people since declaring the state of emergency in a bid to quell mass protests and violence.

Rights groups report more than 500 have been killed in protests in Oromiya since last year, but the government denies using excessive force and says the death toll is exaggerated.

Solan has been moving back and forth between Calais and a makeshift migrant camp in Paris for the past year, he said. In that time many other Oromo have come and gone from Calais – some as young as 12 or as old as 65. Many lose hope of reaching Britain and instead go to the Netherlands or Germany, he said.

“I am asking for everybody to stay with us, to support us, to save our children, to save our home, to save our story, to save our land,” he said.

This map is presented for information only. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade accepts no responsibility for errors of omission of any georgaphic feature. Nomenclature and territorial boundaries may not necessarily reflect Australian Goverment policy. For the latest travel advice visit smartraveller.gov.au. Provided by the Commonwealth of Australia Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia licence.

(Smart Traveller) — The Ethiopian government has issued a public statement outlining the measures in place under the State of Emergency including: random arrest and searches, suspension of rights to write and circulate inflammatory messages, outlawing of unauthorised demonstrations, curfews and blocking the internet. Failure to comply with these measures could lead to arrest (see Safety and security). The level of advice has not changed. We continue to advise Australians to reconsider their need to travel to Ethiopia. Higher levels apply in some parts of the country.

Summary

• We advise you to reconsider your need to travel to Ethiopia, including Addis Ababa, due to ongoing civil unrest and the threat of terrorist attack.
• The Ethiopian government has declared a six month State of Emergency from 9 October 2016. This follows months of protests and unrest in the Oromia and Amhara regions, which have resulted in deaths and injuries. The Ethiopian government outlined the measures in place under the State of Emergency including: random arrest and searches, suspension of rights to write and circulate inflammatory messages, outlawing of unauthorised demonstrations, curfews and blocking the internet and other communications technology. Failure to comply with these measures could lead to arrest. See Safety and security.
• Carry identification, avoid all large gatherings and protests, monitor the media for details on the application of the State of Emergency and follow all instructions issued by local authorities. See Safety and security.
• Due to the uncertain security situation as a result of these demonstrations, officials at the Australian Embassy have been advised against private travel outside of Addis Ababa until further notice. See Safety and security.
• Roadblocks and checkpoints can be established without warning and disruptions to services – including telephone and internet networks – have been experienced.
• The attack on the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi, Kenya in 2013 underscores the ongoing threat posed by Somalia-based militants in the region.
• Be vigilant in the Merkato area of Addis Ababa. On 11 December 2015, a grenade attack occurred at the Anwar Mosque in this area.
• We strongly advise you not to travel to border areas with Somalia and the Somali Region in eastern Ethiopia.  Ongoing conflict occurs along the border with Somalia.
• We strongly advise you not to travel to the border areas with Kenya, South Sudan, and Sudan, including the Gambella Region and the Danakil desert area in eastern Ethiopia, because of the extremely dangerous security situation in these areas.
• We strongly advise you not to travel to the disputed border area with Eritrea due to the threat of violence at any time. Clashes between Ethiopian and Eritrean armed forces took place in June 2016 around the Tsorona Central Front militarised border area. Fighting was reported in the areas of Humera, Tsorona, Zalambessa and Badme.
• Sporadic violence continues in the Gambella Region, most recently resulting in over 200 deaths following an armed incursion by elements of South Sudan’s Murle community in April 2016. Tensions in the area remain high, with the likelihood of further clashes.
• Because of the dangerous security situation, we strongly recommend that you register your travel and contact details, so we can contact you in an emergency.
• See Travel Smart for general advice for all travellers.

Entry and exit

Visa and other entry and exit conditions (such as currency, customs and quarantine regulations) can change at short notice. Contact the Embassy of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia for the most up-to-date information.

The website of the Government of Ethiopia lists Australia as a country whose nationals may now obtain a visa on arrival. However, in practice this only applies to visitors arriving at Bole International Airport in Addis Ababa.

The Government of Ethiopia has increased the fines for travellers who overstay their visas for Ethiopia. The fine has been increased from US$20/month to US$10/day.

Ethiopia is listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as endemic for yellow fever. Yellow fever is a serious and potentially fatal disease preventable by vaccination. We strongly recommend that all travellers be vaccinated for yellow fever before travelling to Ethiopia (see Health). If you are arriving from another country infected with Yellow Fever, you will be required to present a Yellow Fever vaccination certificate to be allowed entry into Ethiopia. For more information about yellow fever, including Australian re-entry requirements, see the Department of Health website.

Make sure your passport has at least six months validity from your planned date of return to Australia.

Safety and security

Civil unrest/political tension

State of Emergency: The Ethiopian government has declared a six month State of Emergency from 9 October 2016. This follows months of protests and unrest in the Oromia and Amhara regions, which have resulted in deaths and injuries. The Ethiopian government has issued a public statement outlining the measures in place under the State of Emergency; including random arrest and searches, suspension of rights to write and circulate inflammatory messages, outlawing of unauthorised demonstrations, curfews and blocking the internet and other communications technology. Failure to comply with these measures could lead to arrest. See unofficial independent translation of emergency arrangements.

Carry identification, avoid all large gatherings and protests, monitor the media for details on the application of the State of Emergency and follow all instructions issued by local authorities.

Due to the uncertain security situation, officials at the Australian Embassy have been advised against private travel outside of Addis Ababa until further notice.

Avoid demonstrations and large gatherings throughout the country as they have the potential to turn violent. International events and political developments may trigger large demonstrations. You should monitor the media and other local news sources for safety information.

Large crowds are common on key national and religious dates. These include 7 January (Ethiopian Christmas); 19 January (Epiphany/’Timket’); 2 March (Victory of Adawa); 5 May (Ethiopian Patriots’ Victory Day); 28 May (Downfall of the Derg); 11/12 September (Ethiopian New Year); 27 September (The Finding of the True Cross/’Meskel’). Large crowds also gather on Ethiopian Easter; Eid (End of Ramadan); Eid Al Aradha and the Birthday of the Prophet Mohammed.

Ethiopian security forces do not have a widespread presence in the country and may not have the capacity to respond to incidents.

Border with Kenya: We strongly advise you not to travel to the areas bordering Kenya due to the presence of armed groups and landmines. Cross-border violence occurs, including kidnapping, armed banditry, and tribal and clan disputes.

Border with Somalia: We strongly advise you not to travel to the areas bordering Somalia due to violent clashes between government forces and insurgents. Ethiopian troops are in Somalia and tensions in the border region remain extremely high. Somali and Ethiopian government troops have been involved in violent clashes with militant insurgents since December 2006. Firearm, grenade and landmine attacks on security forces are common. Civilians have been killed and injured.

Heavy fighting has been reported on the Ethiopia-Somalia border and the Kenya-Somalia border. The risk of violent attacks and terrorist acts is ongoing.

Border with Sudan and South Sudan, including the Gambella Region: We strongly advise you not to travel to the areas bordering Sudan and South Sudan, including the Gambella Region, due to the presence of armed groups, inter-tribal clashes and landmines and the risk of banditry and kidnapping. The security situation in these areas is extremely volatile and there is a high threat of violent crime and civil unrest. Continuing unrest and sporadic violence in this region resulted most recently in over 200 deaths following an armed incursion by elements of South Sudan’s Murle community in late April 2016.

Border with Eritrea, including the Danakil desert area: We also strongly advise you not to travel to the disputed border area between Ethiopia and Eritrea due to the extremely dangerous security situation and the presence of landmines. This includes the Danakil desert area bounded by the Dessie-Adigrat road, the Dessie-Djbouti road and the disputed Ethiopia-Eritrea border.

Clashes between Ethiopian and Eritrean armed forces took place on 13 and 14 June 2016 around the Tsorona Central Front militarised border area. Fighting was reported in the areas of Humera, Tsorona, Zalambessa and Badme. These events demonstrate the unstable environment of the border regions between the two countries. Due to the potential for violence in these areas at any time, we strongly advise against all travel in the area.

In January 2012, five western tourists were killed and two kidnapped by gunmen in the Danakil desert area. The kidnapped tourists were released in March 2012. In April 2009, two Ethiopians were killed and a foreign tourist injured when a landmine exploded in the Danakil desert area. In 2007, three British nationals were kidnapped in the same region. They were released after being held for several months.

Terrorism

There is an ongoing threat of terrorism in Ethiopia. We continue to receive reports that terrorists are planning attacks against a range of targets, including commercial and public places frequented by foreigners.

The 21 September 2013 attack on the Westgate shopping centre in Nairobi, Kenya, underscores the ongoing threat posed by Somalia-based militants across neighbouring countries and in Ethiopia.

In planning your activities consider the kind of places known to be terrorist targets and the level of security provided. These include clubs, hotels, resorts, restaurants, bars, schools, places of worship, landmarks, markets and marketplaces, shopping centres and malls, political and sporting events, public gatherings (including large religious festivals and concerts), outdoor recreation events, embassies, Ethiopian government buildings and tourist areas. Aircraft, airports, petrol stations, buses and bus terminals, railways and other transport infrastructure are also possible terrorist targets.

Some local hotels, including the Hilton and the Ghion, have received bomb threats in the past.

Terrorist incidents include:

• On 11 December 2015, a grenade attack occurred at the Anwar Mosque in the Merkato area of Addis Ababa, causing at least one death and several injuries.
• On 13 October 2013, a bomb blast in the Bole district of Addis Ababa killed two people. Somalia-based militants claimed responsibility.
• On 20 May 2012, tourists travelling by vehicle between the towns of El Dima and Kibbish, West Omo, were fired upon by a gunman.
• In January 2012, five foreign tourists were killed and two kidnapped from the Afar region (Danakil Desert area). The kidnapped tourists were released in March 2012.You should be particularly vigilant in the lead up to and on days of national or religious significance (see Civil unrest section), or international meetings in Addis Ababa, as militants may use these occasions to mount attacks.Somali Region of eastern Ethiopia: We strongly advise you not to travel to the Somali Region of eastern Ethiopia due to the extremely dangerous security situation, the threat of terrorist attack and the persistent high threat of kidnapping.

  Conflict along the border with Somalia is ongoing. The risk of violent attacks and terrorist acts has increased.

  The Australian Government’s longstanding policy is that it does not make payments or concessions to kidnappers. The Australian Government considers that paying a ransom increases the risk of further kidnappings, including of other Australians. If you decide to travel to an area where there is a particular threat of kidnapping, you should seek professional security advice and have effective personal security measures in place. For more information about kidnapping, see our Kidnapping page.

  Terrorism is a threat throughout the world. See our Terrorist Threat Worldwide bulletin.

Crime

There has been an increase in violent assaults against foreigners in Addis Ababa, including in areas around the Hilton and Sheraton Hotels and the Bole Road.

Pickpocketing, bag and jewellery snatching and other petty crimes are common in crowded areas, especially in the Mercato open air market, Piazza areas, and tourist areas near the main post office of Addis Ababa. These crimes are often carried out by groups of young children. Visitors should avoid walking alone at night. A number of recent robbery victims have been assaulted after refusing to hand over their property.

Highway banditry and armed carjacking have been reported outside the main urban centres. When driving you should ensure that car doors are locked, windows are up and that valuables kept out of sight. When parked, you should ensure that valuables are kept out of sight.

Due to the high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, victims of violent crime, especially rape, are strongly encouraged to seek immediate medical assistance.

Money and valuables

Australian dollars cannot be changed in Ethiopia. US dollars can be changed in most banks. There are limited ATMs in Addis Ababa; mostly in large hotels.

Currency controls are strict in Ethiopia. Foreign currency cash notes exceeding US$3000 or equivalent in any other convertible currency must be declared on arrival and departure, this includes transit travellers staying in Ethiopia for more than 24 hours. You may export up to 200 birr (Ethiopian currency).

Your passport is a valuable document that is attractive to criminals who may try to use your identity to commit crimes. It should always be kept in a safe place. You are required by Australian law to report a lost or stolen passport online or contact the nearest Australian Embassy, High Commission or Consulate as soon as possible.

Local Travel

Landmines are a hazard in the border areas with Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia. If travel to these regions is essential, travellers should remain on well-travelled roads.

In 2016, a US national travelling by car was killed by rocks thrown by protestors on the road from Holeta to Addis Ababa. In the past, buses have been attacked outside Addis Ababa.

Driving in Ethiopia can be hazardous due to poor road conditions, poorly maintained vehicles local driving practices and inadequate lighting. Pedestrians and livestock, particularly camels, are additional safety hazards.

When travelling outside Addis Ababa consider travelling in a party and leave details of your travel itinerary with a reliable person. Carry a comprehensive medical pack. Telephones, including the sole mobile network, are unreliable. For further advice, see our road travel page.

Airline safety

The Australian Government does not provide information on the safety of individual commercial airlines or flight paths. See instead the Aviation Safety Network website for information on aviation safety in Ethiopia.

Please also refer to our general air travel page for information on aviation safety and security.

Laws

You are subject to the local laws of Ethiopia, including ones that appear harsh by Australian standards. If you’re arrested or jailed, the Australian Government will do what it can to help you under our Consular Services Charter. But we can’t get you out of trouble or out of jail. Research laws before travelling, especially for an extended stay.

Australians who might engage in activities that involve local legal matters, particularly with regard to family law (divorce, child custody and child support), are strongly advised to seek professional advice and ensure they are aware of their rights and responsibilities.

The death penalty may be imposed for serious crimes, such as aggravated murder.

Penalties for drug offences are severe in Ethiopia and include long jail sentences and heavy fines. See our Drugs page.

Homosexual behaviour is illegal and penalties include imprisonment. See our LGBTI travellers page.

Permits are required for the purchase or removal of Ethiopian antiquities or animal skins and other cultural artefacts. These may include Ethiopian crosses. Permits can be processed by the export section of the Airport Customs Office.

There are limits on the amount of precious stones and minerals that can be exported for personal use. Check with local authorities if in doubt.

Owning ivory is illegal in Ethiopia and penalties may include confiscation of the ivory, fines or detention.

Under Ethiopian laws, drivers involved in car accidents can face severe punishments, including custodial sentences and fines.

Photography around military zones, assets and personnel is illegal and may result in arrest and detention. You should obey signs prohibiting photography and refrain from taking photos if the location or infrastructure may be considered sensitive. The area around the Presidential Palace in Addis Ababa should not be photographed.

Some Australian criminal laws, such as those relating to money laundering, bribery of foreign public officials, terrorism, forced marriage, female genital mutilation, child pornography, and child sex tourism, apply to Australians overseas. Australians who commit these offences while overseas may be prosecuted in Australia.

Australia has strengthened legislation relating to female genital mutilation and forced marriage to protect Australian residents from being taken overseas for these purposes. The new criminal offences carry significant penalties ranging up to 25 years imprisonment. For more information about these crimes please refer to the Forced marriage and Female genital mutilationpages.

Local customs

There are conservative standards of behaviour and dress in Ethiopia. You should take care not to offend. If in doubt, seek local advice.

The Julian calendar is used in Orthodox Christian areas in the highlands, and some Ethiopians set their clocks differently to standard practice elsewhere, resulting in significant time differences. To avoid confusion, always check bookings and appointments.

Information for dual nationals

Ethiopia does not recognise dual nationality. This may limit our ability to provide consular assistance to Australian/Ethiopian dual nationals who are arrested or detained.

Our Dual nationals page provides further information.

Health

We strongly recommend that you take out comprehensive travel insurance that will cover any overseas medical costs, including medical evacuation, before you depart. Confirm that your insurance covers you for the whole time you’ll be away and check what circumstances and activities are not included in your policy. Remember, regardless of how healthy and fit you are, if you can’t afford travel insurance, you can’t afford to travel. The Australian Government will not pay for a traveller’s medical expenses overseas or medical evacuation costs.

It is important to consider your physical and mental health before travelling overseas. We encourage you to consider having vaccinations before you travel. At least eight weeks before you depart, make an appointment with your doctor or travel clinic for a basic health check-up, and to discuss your travel plans and any implications for your health, particularly if you have an existing medical condition. The World Health Organization (WHO) provides information for travellers and our health page also provides useful information for travellers on staying healthy.

Medical facilities

Health facilities are limited in Addis Ababa and inadequate in rural areas. In the event of a serious illness or accident, medical evacuation to a destination with appropriate facilities would be necessary. Medical evacuation costs would be considerable.

Health risks

Ethiopia is listed by the World Health Organization (WHO) as endemic for yellow fever. Yellow fever is a potentially fatal viral disease transmitted by mosquitoes, which is preventable by vaccination. We strongly recommend that you are vaccinated against yellow fever before travelling to Ethiopia. See the Entry and Exit section for important information about vaccination certificate requirements. For more information about yellow fever, see the Department of Health website.

Malaria is prevalent in Ethiopia, except for the capital Addis Ababa and areas above 2000 metres. Chloroquine resistant strains are prevalent in some areas. Other insect-borne diseases (including dengue fever, leishmaniasis, filariasis and African sleeping sickness) also occur. We encourage you to take prophylaxis against malaria where necessary and take measures to avoid insect bites, including using an insect repellent at all times, wearing long, loose-fitting, light-coloured clothing and ensuring your accommodation is mosquito proof.

Water-borne, food-borne and other infectious diseases (including acute diarrhoea, cholera, typhoid, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, measles, tuberculosis, brucellosis and meningitis) are also prevalent with more serious outbreaks occurring from time to time.

We advise you to boil all drinking water or drink bottled water, avoid ice cubes and raw and undercooked food. Do not swim in fresh water to avoid exposure to certain water borne diseases such as bilharzia (schistosomiasis). Seek medical advice if you have a fever or are suffering from diarrhoea.

Ethiopia is no longer infected with wild poliovirus, but is still vulnerable to international spread of the disease. It is recommended that Australians travelling to Ethiopia are up to date with routinely recommended vaccinations against polio, including a booster dose, as per the Australian Immunisation Handbook, prior to departure. Further information is available from the Australian Department of Health polio website.

The altitude in the mountainous regions of Ethiopia can cause problems for travellers, particularly those who suffer from lung, heart or chest problems. Healthy travellers may also feel the effects of the lack of oxygen.

The outbreak of Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) in west Africa is the most serious in recorded history. In an effort to prevent the spread of the disease into Ethiopia, authorities have introduced additional health screening and information requirements for travellers arriving by air and land. Travellers who register a high temperature during screening may be quarantined. For more information on the outbreak and other travel restrictions and preventative measures, see the Ebola outbreak in west Africatravel bulletin.

Where to get help

Depending on your enquiry, your best option may be to first contact your family, friends, airline, travel agent, tour operator, employer or travel insurer. Your travel insurer should have a 24 hour emergency number.

For criminal issues, contact the local police. The national emergency number is 991. You should also obtain a police report when reporting a crime.

The Consular Services Charter explains what the Australian Government can and can’t do to assist Australians overseas. For consular assistance, see contact details below:

Australia has an Embassy in Addis Ababa which can provide consular assistance. The address is:

Australian Embassy, Addis Ababa

Turkish compound (off Cape Verde street)
Bole Subcity, Woreda 3
PO Box 3715
Addis Ababa, ETHIOPIA

Telephone: +251 11 667 2678
Facsimile: +251 11 667 2868
Email: consular.addisababa@dfat.gov.au
Website: www.ethiopia.embassy.gov.au

See the Embassy website for information about opening hours and temporary closures that may affect service provision.

In a consular emergency if you are unable to contact the above mission, you can contact the 24-hour Consular Emergency Centre on +61 2 6261 3305, or 1300 555 135 within Australia.

Additional information

Natural disasters, severe weather and climate

Some areas of Ethiopia are experiencing severe drought after four years of below average rainfall. Local services and the availability of water and basic food may be affected. An increase in disease has also been reported.

Ethiopia is in an active earthquake and volcanic zone.

The rainy season is from July to September when flooding may occur and some roads can become impassable.

Information on natural disasters can be obtained from the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System. If a natural disaster occurs, follow the advice of local authorities.

By Gabisso Halaale

In his recent article, “The Oromo Leadership Convention and the Future of Ethiopia: A Reply to Tedla Woldeyohanes’s Plea for Clarity”, Professor Ezekial Gebissa offered a candid feedback befitting the past and the current narrative on Oromo renaissance. He had gone a great length to elucidate to all the doubting Thomas out there that the Oromo has always been a great indigenous African nation and a willing partner to build a sovereign territory in which we all can live as equals.  I could not agree more.

That the Oromo has always been a nation has been attested not only by foreign historians but also by some of Ethiopia’s own progressive revolutionaries of the past although many today seem to be unware or unwilling to fathom it out. In his seminal article of 1969, “On the Question of Nationalities in Ethiopia” the late Wallelign Mekonnen, the most progressive leader of the student movement of the 1960s,  argued rather eloquently that Ethiopia was never a nation-state, but that it was made of various nations who lived in it. Wallelign Mekonnen (1969) posited: “What are the Ethiopian peoples composed of? I stress on the word peoples because sociologically speaking, at this stage, Ethiopia is not really one nation. It is made up of a dozen nationalities with their own languages, ways of dressing, history, social organization and territorial entity. And what else is a nation? It is not made of a people with a particular tongue, particular ways of dressing, particular history, particular social and economic organization? Then, may I conclude that, in Ethiopia, there is the Oromo Nation, the Tigrai Nation, the Amhara Nation, the Gurage Nation, the Sidama Nation, the Wellamo [Wolayta] Nation, the Adere [Harari] Nation, and however much you may not like it, the Somali Nation.”

That Ethiopia is not a nation-state today as much as it was not five decades ago, as Wallelign forcefully articulated, is indisputable. It is not insurmountable to illuminate the extreme fallibility of the arguments of the protagonists of Ethiopian “nationalism”.  The Ethiopian “nationalists” assume that because certain territories were annexed by force into the Ethiopian empire they would automatically constitute a nation-state. This is erroneous for several reasons.

First, an empire-state is not a nation-state. The Ethiopia created following the imperial expansion by King Minelik II in the 1880s and 1890s was an empire which was ruled by empresses and emperors from the Shoan Amhara ruling dynasty. Until the 1974 revolution, therefore Ethiopia was a dynastic state not a nation-state. True, the imperial regime pursued active policies to discredit ethnic identity and assimilate the various ethno-national groups including Oromo, Sidama, Somali, Afar, Hadiya, and others into an Ethiopian “identity” using the Amharic language and the Amhara culture as an official medium of assimilation. Nonetheless, the policy of assimilation failed despondently because it was confined to rudimentary state structures and few garrison towns. The policy of assimilation never penetrated the rural communities where the vast majority, i.e. over 95%, of the annexed peoples lived.  The majority of the annexed peoples remained illiterate and never had any opportunity to learn to speak the national language, Amharic, which was an instrument of assimilation. Ethno-linguistic nations preserved their national identities with minimal intrusion from the center during both the imperial and the Derg regimes.  The Imperial regime and the Derg regime that replaced the former unwittingly believed that the successes in assimilating of the Agew into the Tigrai and the Amhara societies over several hundred years would naturally follow in the newly annexed vast territories of the south. The assimilation never happened as anticipated outside of few garrison towns and in fact since 1991 it has been gradually reversed.

Secondly, social and administrative integration does not imply political integration: true, after annexation, the various ethno-national groups in the south were integrated into various administrative units known as districts, awrajas and provinces. Nonetheless, this did not achieve political integration. John Markakis, who studied extensively nation-state building processes and center-periphery relations in Ethiopia during the three successive regimes, from the imperial to the totalitarian TPLF dictatorship, argues that the various regimes in Ethiopia attempted to integrate the country socially and administratively during the past 130 years but have never succeeded to integrate it politically. In his book entitled Ethiopia: The last two frontiers; Markakis (2011) identifies two peripheries that until today remain politically unintegrated. These are: (1) The physically lowland borderlands such as Afar, Somali, Southern Oromia, as well as Nuer, Berta and Gumuz in the west of the country, and (2) The more integrated highland peripheries inhabited by Sidama (including the broader Sidama sub groups of Halaba, Xambaro, Qewena, and others), central Oromia,  and other regions. According to Markakis, nation-state building can­not occur without the integration of the peripheries, i.e. without equal share of political power by the various peoples that inhabit the terri­tory and the prerequisite autonomy to decide on their future within the sovereign territory.

Thirdly, nation states cannot be built in isolation from economic modernization and industrialization: Ernest Gellner (1983) in his book “Nations and Nationalism” links successes in nation-building to an epochal shift from an agricultural to an industrial society. Gellner argues that the industrial mode of production, needs a mobile and flexible labor force supplied by a rationalized, standardized education in a common language providing workers with the generic skills to shift from job to job and communicate effectively with strangers leading to a homogenized culture which is the foundation of a nation-state. From the 1890s up until 1974, Ethiopia languished under a brutal feudal system of serfdom that sucked the blood of tenants. Landless tenants were confiscated three-fourths of what they produced by the landlords and the church. As opposed to the rest of the world where the feudal mode of production was a precursor to industrial revolution by galvanizing capital and labour that was the backbone of industrialization, in Ethiopia, the surplus generated by feudal landlords was wasted in conspicuous consumption and Ethiopia never industrial until today. The overwhelming majority of the 100 million Ethiopians today eke out a living as subsistence farmers in rural areas with sever implications on environment and food security. Come El Nino 20 million face famine instantly.  Ethiopia failed to feed its own people for nearly 50 years in a row since the Wollo famine led to the ouster of the emperor. This is an unprecedented evidence that Ethiopia is no nation-state that some wish it to be.  No nation- state has failed to feed its people in this magnitude in human history.

Finally, due to little economic modernization, Ethiopia remained the least urbanized country today even by the African standard. According to the World Bank, only 19.4% of Ethiopia’s population lived in urban centers in 2015 compared to 43% in Egypt, 54% in Ghana, and sub-Saharan average of 37.7% in the same period.

The utter failure of nation-state building in Ethiopia meant that the various ethno-linguistic groups not only preserved their national identities intact but also resented to remain in the forced marriage in the empire with little prospect for economic development and prosperity. It is only natural therefore that ethno-national political movements such as the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), the Sidama National Liberation Front (SNLF), the Ogaden National Liberation Front (ONLF) opted initially for total emancipation from the empire state. Their current positions are however more reconciliatory and inward looking.

What perturbs me most is that after all the pain and suffering these ethno-linguistic nations have gone through in the past 130 years, they are still required to justify measures they anticipate to take to improve their plights.  The fact that these questions are arising at the time when thousands of the Oromo Qerroo (youth) as well as hundreds of the Amhara youth are paying ultimate sacrifices in their lives to put an end to tyranny is the most unnerving. There is nothing sinister about holding a National Convention by an oppressed nation that has demonstrated its indefatigable determination for liberty before the eyes of the world. Throughout one full year of painfull struggle for liberty, and in spite of little support from other ethno-national groups including my own, the Oromo nation has displayed an exceptional care and protection to non-Oromos living in its region. What else do we want the Oromo nation to prove that it stands for freedom for all?  For me, demanding the Oromo to explain consultations amongst themselves for freedom from tyranny is off limits. For the oppressed nations and for the Cushite in particular, the Oromo nation will always remain a torch bearer for self-determination. Sooner or later, the oppressed nations of the south will stand by the Oromo nation in support of the just cause they stand for.

In conclusion, the Ethiopian empire symbolizes marriage by abduction and not marriage among the consenting adults. In the case of the latter, all parties commit to remain loyal to others until “death do them part”. In this version of marriage, loyalty is openly expressed in vows and can be invoked when any party senses any breach in loyalty.  In the former case, an adolescent who feels invisible gathers his friends and abducts a girls for marriage. The girl is then raped and forcefully made a wife. Now, whether the girl will stay in this marriage or not depends on a host of factors including, the laws of the country, how the “husband” treats her in subsequent periods, opportunities to liberate herself from abduction, the support she receives from her family, and so on. The ethno-national groups in Ethiopia have time and again expressed their commitment to remain in the marriage, whatever form it took initially, if their right for self-rule within their territories is fully respected. Ensuring that this will happen is not the responsibility only of the Oromo nation, the Sidama nation or the Somali nation but of all stakeholders in Ethiopia.

Key Issues

• Number of children reached by nutrition screening dropped in Amhara and Oromia
• Internally displaced persons in Babile and Kubi need urgent humanitarian assistance
• Cluster continues to support Government’s logistics response capacity and coordination
• The Humanitarian Country Team is seeking clarity on the impact of the State of Emergency on humanitarian response

(Relief Web) — Drought exacerbated by El Niño, combined with extensive flooding, disease outbreaks and the disruption of basic public services, continue to have a negative impact on the lives and livelihoods of 9.7 million Ethiopians. Overall food security and agricultural production remain severely affected, with cascading effects on livelihoods, nutrition, health, water, sanitation, education and other sectors.

Number of children reached by nutrition screening dropped in Amhara and Oromia

The number of children reached by nutrition screening reduced significantly since July in Amhara and Oromia, coinciding with the increased unrest in the two regions. The drop was most significant in Oromia, where the number of children screened went down from an average of 3 million between January and June to 2.1 million in August. In Amhara screenings reduced from an average of 920,000 in the first half of the year to some 380,000 in August. In contrast, the Afar region has maintained an 80 per cent screening coverage on a monthly basis, according to the Nutrition Cluster.

Internally displaced persons in Babile and Kubi need urgent humanitarian assistance

Some 5,100 internally displaced families in Babile and Kubi woredas of the Somali region need urgent humanitarian assistance. According to recent multi-sectoral assessment, priority needs include some 650 metric tons of food per month for the next four months as well as supplementary feeding for children and pregnant and lactating mothers, clean water, and emergency shelter and non-food items. The new displacement is the result of resource-based conflict that started in June-July 2015 in East and West Hararge zones of the Oromia region. The Oromia and Somali region officials are discussing on a possible return of the IDPs to their areas of origin.

Cluster continues to support Government’s logistics response capacity and coordination

The Logistics Cluster continues to support the Government of Ethiopia in strengthening the logistics response capacity and coordination. To address human resource gaps, the cluster provided funds to the GoE to recruit nearly 500 storekeepers for the National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC) and nearly 190 staff for the Somali Regional State Disaster Prevention and Preparedness Bureau. The cluster is also recruiting approximately 300 staff to fill different programme coordinator positions in Afar, Amhara, Gambella, Oromia and SNNP regions as well as warehouse support positions for NDRMC federal logistics hubs in Nazareth, Dire Dawa and Kombolcha through a third party recruitment agency. Induction sessions were completed for new recruits in the Somali region and remaining regions are expected to be completed by mid-November. Warehouse management trainings will be given to all federal NDRMC hub staff in November.

The Humanitarian Country Team works with authorities on State of Emergency

The Humanitarian Country Team is liaising with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs regarding the State of Emergency, as humanitarian partners continue to assist the Government in the provision of humanitarian assistance to nearly 10 million Ethiopians across the country as well as to more than 760,000 of refugees. The HCT is seeking formal clarity on how the humanitarian response can continue amid restrictions stipulated in the State of Emergency on restriction of movement, designated “red zones” and restricted freedom to assembly.

A $500 million investment aims to keep migrants at bay

By James Jeffrey

(IRIN News) — Set off a busy main road, it hosts refugees from the conflicts and struggles in South Sudan, Congo, Uganda, Somalia, Eritrea, Yemen, Burundi, and more besides.

Ethiopia has a refugee population of 700,000, the largest in Africa. In the first few weeks of October alone, an additional 31,000 people fleeing the crisis in South Sudan arrived in the west of the country.

But Ethiopia is not only an important destination for refugees, it’s also a key country of origin and transit for migrants as well.

No jobs

The economy struggles to provide opportunities for its youth, who are increasingly heading to the Middle East via Yemen, or travelling south to South Africa looking for work.

The tight local job market means that although refugees are provided with sanctuary, they have no employment rights.

A $500 million initiative by the UK government, the European Union, and the World Bank aims to provide some of the answers.

The Partnership Framework initiative plans to build two industrial parks in Ethiopia to generate about 100,000 jobs, with Ethiopia required to grant work to 30,000 refugees as part of the deal. By investing in tackling the root causes, it aims to help put a lid on irregular migration.

“Our investment is not going to solve the problem, but it may have a domino effect by showing others that this can work,” Francisco Carreras, head of cooperation at the Delegation of the European Union to Ethiopia, says of the $250 million coming from the EU.

“We’re putting migrant-related issues at the heart of our support to countries.”

The initiative is part of a pilot programme also supporting Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, and Mali. The new strategy uses targeted aid to tackle the migrant crisis afflicting both Europe and Africa.

During the UN summit on refugees in New York this September, UK Prime Minister Theresa May described the project as, “a model for how we can support host countries [in creating] jobs for their own people and refugees – a mutually beneficial solution and one we must replicate”.

Total official development assistance to Ethiopia was $3.6 billion in 2014.

 A “free prison”?

New jobs would certainly be welcome here.

“I’ve been idle for three years and my plan is to remain idle. That’s all I can do,” says 28-year-old Daniel, a qualified dentist who fled Eritrea for Ethiopia after his involvement with a locally produced publication drew the government’s wrath.

Refugees from the war in Yemen

Based on his qualifications, he managed to find a potential healthcare job in Addis Ababa. “The employer said I was a good match, but when he checked with the authorities they said I couldn’t be employed.”

Although Ethiopia’s authorities often turn a blind eye to refugees doing casual work, Ethiopia’s proclamation on refugees prohibits them from official employment.

“If Ethiopia feels for refugees, why doesn’t it change the law so they can work,” says Shikatende, a 35-year-old Congolese refugee who has been in Ethiopia for seven years. “It’s a free prison here. We are free to stay, but with no hope or future.”

A change in the law will be required for the industrial park initiative, observers say, although any wholesale opening of Ethiopia’s job market to refugees is highly unlikely while Ethiopia’s 100 million population continues growing at 2.6 percent a year.

“That means creating millions of new jobs every year. The challenge for Ethiopia is huge,” Carreras says, adding that the giving of millions of euros to Ethiopia is far from altruism.

“It’s in our own interests and a matter of survival for us: we can’t be surrounded by countries in difficulties and expect that building a wall or the sea alone will keep us sanitised from others’ problems.”

Build it and they (hopefully) will come

Despite his enthusiasm for the project, Carreras admits that success requires fending off myriad challenges.

“You’ve got to build the right sectors in the right places and ensure the right procurement—achieving all those ‘rights’ isn’t easy,” he says. And even if all that is pulled off, he adds, you’ve then got to attract the investors, after which you have to make sure it’s all sustainable: investors must obtain enough profit so they remain and don’t leave after a couple of years.

Those connected to the Ethiopian government appear confident that history is on Ethiopia’s side.

“Thirty years ago, large-scale labour left the US and Europe and moved to China,” says Zemedeneh Negatu, an economic adviser to the Ethiopian government.

“But monthly labour costs there now are around $450-$600 a month – Ethiopia is a fraction of that, added to which a lot of the raw materials are already coming from here.”

Hence Ethiopia’s embracing of industrial parks, which Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn has placed at the forefront of economic strategy.

Seven are in the process of being built at a rough cost of $250 million each. One park is already operating around Awassa, about 300 kilometers south of Addis Ababa, where it’s serving as a promising bellwether, having attracted more investor interest than it could accommodate, according to Carreras.

But there is as yet no timeline for completion of the two industrial parks under the Partnership Framework, and no word yet on how refugees will be chosen for the earmarked jobs.

And all of a sudden, Ethiopia’s reputation as a safe investment option – attracting tens of billions of dollars in foreign investment over the past decade – is looking increasingly shaky.

Refugees haven’t won yet

Protests against the government that have been smouldering since November 2015 have taken on a more violent edge recently. At the beginning of October, more than two dozen foreign companies suffered millions of dollars in damage.

The timing clearly doesn’t help when it comes to luring foreign investors into industrial parks. By mid-October, foreign embassies in the capital were holding situation briefings with concerned investors to try and allay mounting concerns.

At least those foreign investors have options.

“The situation makes me nervous,” says Daniel the dentist. “Not only am I a foreigner but I’m from an enemy country. It could get bad. They can beat me or kill me. There’s no one to protect me.”

Wrong sort of human capital

“It was a bold and brave decision by Ethiopia to offer to take in foreigners when so many of its own have dire needs,” Carreras says, contrasting this stance with how Hungary recently voted against housing about 18,000 refugees.

But at the same time, there is a less salubrious side to the refugee situation in Ethiopia. Encountering groups of refugees in Addis Ababa, it’s not long before someone is sidling up to you, eyes furtively glancing around, wanting to talk about problems.

Many have harsh words for both the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, and Ethiopia’s Administration for Refugee and Returnee Affairs, ARRA.

There’s talk of thousands of dollars changing hands so Ethiopians can pose as refugees for resettlement in Europe, of scholarship funding meant for refugees being given to Ethiopians, and of the numbers of refugees in Ethiopia being inflated to ensure foreign funding keeps coming in.

“The numbers are accurate and based on research by UNHCR,” insists Zeynu Jernal, ARRA’s deputy director. “We gain no financial benefits from the Ethiopian operation and are in fact underfunded – last year the required $280 million budget was only 60 percent funded.”

Zeynu acknowledges that giving 30,000 refugees jobs still leaves many more without – hence other schemes being initiated.

These include plans for 20,000 refugee households to be given land so they can farm; 13,000 long-term Somali refugees being integrated into the eastern city of Jijiga with resident and work permits; and higher education opportunities for refugees who pass the university entrance exams.

Some of the refugees in Addis Ababa who have been following news about the initiatives online, however, seem less sure whether they will really benefit.

“Refugees in Ethiopia is a business. That’s what needs to be addressed,” says Shikatende from Congo.

“If you want to solve the refugee problem, you need to deal with the real cause of refugees, which is African leaders – but [foreign donors] are providing them with more money.”

jj/oa/ag

TOP PHOTO: Playing dominoes in the Jesuit Refugee Service compound, by James Jeffrey

By Tom Gardner

An area confiscated from Oromo farmers. A general view shows the Yeka Abado condominium on the outskirts of Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa, October 19, 2016. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

ADDIS ABABA (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – On weekday mornings traffic on the road northeast from Jemo into the center of Addis Ababa grinds to a near standstill, as taxis, minibuses and tuk-tuks wrestle for space along the narrow arterial highway.

Situated near the slopes of the hills that circle the Ethiopian capital’s southern flank, Jemo is a colossal condominium complex, completed in 2010 and comprising over 10,000 apartments.

When it opened, Jemo was the largest such housing site in the city, and today is home to some 50,000 people, many of whom work several miles away in the city center.

Sitting in a cafe on the ground floor of an apartment block on a leafy boulevard a few streets across from the highway, Tedros Worku gestures in the direction of the traffic.

“It is too far from Addis,” he says. “It is too far from work, and the road is too busy.”

Like several of the men he sits with, Worku is unemployed.

When he moved to Jemo four years ago, as a beneficiary of the Ethiopian government’s low-income housing scheme, the Integrated Housing Development Programme (IHDP), Worku planned to set up an informal business, as he had done when he lived in slum housing in the inner city.

But when his friends in Jemo tried to set up a small street stall, the local authorities quickly shut them down.

They were told that only formal businesses in the area’s expensive ground floor units were permitted.

Despite waiting seven years to receive his single bedroom apartment in Jemo, Worku now plans to rent it out and use the income to move back to his old neighborhood.

“I miss my friends, my social life, my work,” he says. “I have a nice house but no income.”

ETHIOPIA’S HOUSING BOOM

Worku’s predicament is one felt by many residents of the multi-storey housing units, known as condominiums, that have sprung up all across the city since the program was launched in 2005.

As governments in much of the Western world have fallen out of love with top-down mass-housing schemes, the Ethiopian authorities have been rolling out what experts consider to be the largest social housing project in Africa, and one of the most ambitious in the developing world.

“In Africa, there is nothing comparable in terms of numbers,” says William Cobbett of Cities Alliance.

Addis Ababa’s skyline is now peppered with construction and from the sky, vast estates can be seen sprawling out from the edges of the city towards the wooded hills.

In order to deal with rapid population growth and an acute shortage of affordable housing, authorities in Addis Ababa and in smaller cities across the country have been building condominium units targeting low and middle-income groups, financed entirely with public money.

Although Ethiopia is one of the least urbanized countries in the world, Addis Ababa’s population is now thought to be close to four million, and growing at a rate of nearly four percent per year.

The number of houses needed to meet supply is estimated to be as many as half a million.

HOUSING LOTTERY FOR POOR

The new housing complexes are typically four storeys high, with the aim of promoting densification and containing the city’s urban sprawl.

Poor residents like Worku, who do not own property and are instead reliant on insecure tenancies, are encouraged to register for a lottery system which allocates the units as they become available.

Those who can afford the deposit and the scheme’s generous mortgage repayment terms are then granted ownership of their units, although all land in Ethiopia is still formally owned by the government.

The aim is to transform a housing sector historically characterized by rental occupation into one based on private home ownership.

Under the previous communist regime, known as the Derg, approximately 60 percent of housing in Addis Ababa was rental accommodation and government-owned housing in the Kebele municipal divisions accounted for 93 percent of the sector.

Kebele housing today is of typically poor quality, with homes made of wood and mud and without proper sanitation and infrastructure.

According to a report produced for the World Bank in 2016, the IHDP marks a “radical departure” from previous approaches to housing in Ethiopia.

The government aims to regenerate the inner city by replacing Kebele slums with condominiums.

But many residents want to return to their Kebele homes.

Emeret Tadese, a mother and housewife whose husband is a mechanic, now lives in Yeka Abado, a new condominium site on the eastern edge of Addis Ababa that is still under construction.

The 200-acre (80.94 hectares) expanse will one day provide 18,000 apartments, according to authorities.

But Tadese, like Worku, wants to move back to her kebele neighborhood in Piazza, the old Italian quarter of central Addis Ababa, although even with an income from rent the area would be too expensive today, she says.

“I live away from my relatives and friends,” she says. “It is empty, and there are no churches around here.”

“Transport is really tough. My husband struggles to get to work.”

Some residents complain that they have been forced to downsize.

Yehaulaishet Feleke, who sells eggs beneath her apartment in an inner city complex called Balderas, says that after four years waiting for a unit she was eventually given one that, though cleaner than her old home, is much smaller.

In her kebele house she had three bedrooms, whereas now she has one, sleeping five people.

“If I had a choice I would have stayed,” she says.

IMPROVE DON’T DEMOLISH

Slum upgrading, rather than demolition and reconstruction, can be a more effective – and less disruptive – way of promoting urban development, experts say.

But upgrading programs in Addis Ababa remain piecemeal and small scale, despite 80 percent of the city still consisting of informal settlements, according to a UN report published in 2010.

However, many are impressed by the IHDP, despite its drawbacks.

“For a country like Ethiopia, being able to complete more than 200,000 units between 2005 and 2015 is a huge achievement,” says Bisrat Kifle, a PhD student at the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development.

The program has done a significant amount to address Ethiopia’s historically under-developed housing sector, he says.

And teams from neighboring countries like Rwanda, Burundi and Tanzania are looking to Ethiopia to learn lessons, he notes.

The real problem is that the IHDP has failed to target the city’s poorest effectively, he says.

The 2016 report for the World Bank notes that the poorest cannot access the program because they struggle to afford the deposit.

Moreover, the lottery system does not allocate according to need, although a new rule stipulating that 30 percent of new units must be allocated to women aims to address this by targeting poor, single mothers with little education.

The UN also notes that many of the poorest beneficiaries are unable to service their mortgage repayments, and are forced to rent their units out and move to cheaper accommodation.

Well-located complexes like Balderas are inhabited increasingly by reasonably well-off professionals, while peripheral sites tend to be populated by those on lower incomes.

Gottera, also in central Addis Ababa, is known by locals as the “Facebook site” because it is popular with young graduates and professionals in the technology sector.

There is a risk of “ghettoisation”, experts warn.

CONSTRUCTION BOOM FUELS JOBS

However, admirers point out that the IHDP is about job creation as much as housing.

The sight of independent metalworkers, bricklayers, and carpenters hard at work in the building sites of Yeka Abado is testament to the IHDP’s distinctiveness as an urban planning scheme.

A study by the Cities Alliance in 2012 said it had created 176,000 jobs.

“This is one of the successes of the program: to create housing with employment,” says Mekonnen Wube, an urban planner with the Addis Ababa Housing Development Project Office.

The government says small businesses are also encouraged to set up and provide for the new estates.

Mulgugeta Sherefa, a butcher and martial arts instructor in his early twenties, rents a single-bedroom apartment in Jemo with his two brothers and sister for 3,000 birr ($135) a month so that he can work on the site.

He is not yet registered for the scheme, but hopes one day to own an apartment nearby.

Worku, sitting drinking coffee beside him, shakes his head.

“In the old housing you could always find work,” he says.

(Reporting by Tom Gardner, Editing by Paola Totaro; Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers humanitarian news, women’s rights, trafficking, property rights and climate change. Visit news.trust.org)