Press Release of #OromoProtests Solidarity Rally in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada – on August 24, 2016 – Oromo Canadian Community Association of Atlantic Canada, protested and expressed an outrage at the killing of over 1000 Oromo peaceful demonstrators and the systematic destruction of the Oromo population for the last 25 years by the self-appointed dictatorial Ethiopian regime.

The human rights abuse and the crimes against humanity committed by The Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) ignited widespread peaceful demonstrations across all regions of the Ethiopian empire including Oromia, Amhara, Gambela, Afar, Benishangul-Gumuz, Somali (Ogaden), and Southern Nations, Nationalities  & Peoples.

The Oromo are the single largest national group in northeast Africa, and in Ethiopia alone they are estimated to be 50 Million out of the total population of 100 million. There are also communities in neighboring countries and around the world.  Despite being the largest ethnic group in Ethiopia, Oromos are marginalized and denied political, economic, and cultural resources. Since the current junta came to power using gun power by overthrowing the previous Communist dictatorial government, the Oromo and other Ethiopian people’s lives have turned from horrible to unbearable.

The Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) controls all aspects of life including the economy, politics, and the military of the country, and has done so for the last 25 years.

Except for a phony organization created by this junta to be their agents, the real opposition party members, journalists, and suspected individuals have been either killed or are in prison.

The Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) dictatorship government has committed the following Genocide and crimes against humanity in Oromia, Ethiopia:

• The killing of innocent Oromos without due process has occurred for the last 25 years and continues at its highest rate either in prison or at undisclosed locations. A counter-terrorism law was used as a tool to kill innocent citizens immediately without any trace.
• Torture, murder, and inhumane treatment continued in Kaliti, Ziwayi, Hursoo, Dhidheessa, Asoosa, Tigray, Bahir Dar, Wolqayit, and Afar region secret prisons.
• The regime has continued intentionally causing great suffering or serious injuries to the bodies or health of some 20,000 Oromos arrested during the past nine months, including students, opposition party members, business men, and farmers, in various hidden locations. They were either held in an open field without proper clothing or shelter, or in warehouses where there is no light or clean air, or in crowded jails and prisons. Actions have included arresting them and deporting them to different regions at various remote & harsh locations where there is no food, medication, and communication access available & most of the concentration camps are in Afar, Tigray, and Benishangul-Gumuz regions. It is of grave concern that there are over 100,000 Oromo men, women, and children suffering in Ethiopian prisons.
• The regime continued depriving people of the right to a fair trial when accusing them using false evidence. Government agents are planting fake evidence at victim’s homes or property to accuse them with fabricated evidence.
• The junta has continued committing war crimes and has destabilized the Horn of Africa by invading neighbouring countries and killing innocent civilians including those in Kenya, Somalia, The Republic of Sudan, and Eritrea. This regime has forced poorly trained Oromo youth to be cannon fodder & thousands of Oromos have perished in an unwanted and unjust war for the last 25 years.
• The junta has continued kidnapping and taking hostages; Oromo refugees in Kenya, Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, and Yemen were kidnapped, handcuffed by the junta’s secret security agencies (Agazi) on several occasions, and transferred to secret prisons in Ethiopia where they were tortured and killed.
• The junta has continued its involvement in money laundering; the Tigrayan People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) members and their high ranking military officers and security officers have used extortion and embezzlement to own and monopolize the main sectors of the country’s economy including the financial institutions, farming, mining, real estate, energy, transportation, and communication sectors. They are not only using corruption as a means of getting rich quickly, but, when they accuse innocent citizens; they trace their property and bank accounts & confiscate them and share them among themselves.
• The junta has continued using disease and starvation, and controls basic necessities like land and water resources, and medical facilities for their own political supremacy and subjugation. Foreign Aid is used to buy guns, bullets and tanks to oppress citizens. In the name of development, thousands of people are internally displaced and there is no food, medication and shelter for them. Foreign donors are handing the support money & materials to the junta agents and the agents are using many basic necessities as weapons to control the citizens. As we are writing this press release, over 15 million people are in a life or death situation in Ethiopia due to a lack of basic necessities like shelter, food and water and the government is more than happy to see their opponents dying without firing a bullet.
• Political Corruption continues at all levels of government  – the junta’s high-ranking officers, military officers, and security officers have monopolized the country’s main economic resources, and export & import sectors, and most of them are wealthy millionaires and billionaires simply by being from Tigray. In the last 25 years the regime has conducted phony, shame elections to pretend that there is a democracy in the country. The National Electoral Board of Ethiopia and the Federal Supreme Court is handpicked by the junta and commanded by the junta’s security forces. The most recent bogus election, conducted after five years, showed a result in which 6% of the country’s population (from Tigray region) declared 100% of victory over the rest of the 94% Ethiopian population.
• Ethnic cleansing continues to displace Ethiopians  & to replace them by Tigrinya speaking people – this junta has used systematic forced removal or migration of ethnic groups in Oromia, Amhara, Benishangul-Gumuz, Gambela, Somali (Ogaden), and Southern Nations, Nationalities  & Peoples regions, and has resettled armed Tigrinya speaking people – they can shoot to kill if they want to – among citizens to take their property. On the other hand over two million Oromo farmers were removed from their own land in the name of development & the land was given to either Tigrinya speaking in the name of investment or to foreign investors.
•  The junta has continued committing cultural genocide against Wolqayit people. Since this regime came to power in 1991, Wolqayit land has been included into the Tigray region and the Wolqayit people were forced to deny their own identity and language and they were forced to speak Tigrinya as a main language without their free choice. When they ask for their human rights they are persecuted by security forces.
• The junta has continued its apartheid-type policy in which only one race dominates and the rest of the Ethiopians are stricken by poverty.
• Civil administrators have been replaced by military command since February 2016 in Oromia and in 8 military regions each lead by TPLF generals.
• In the last nine months, over 1000 people were killed in Oromia and in the grand protest that took place on August 6, 2016, in over 80 cities across Oromia, over 100 people were killed in a single day and over 20,000 were injured, & thousands were arrested.
• At the beginning of August 2016, over 60 protesters have been killed in Amhara region in one weekend alone.

For the last 25 years, the Ethiopian Regime has violated most of the regional and international treaties including:

• The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia adopted on 8 December 1994, and in particular the provisions of Chapter III on fundamental rights and freedoms, human rights and democratic rights
• Universal Declaration of Human Rights, ratified by Ethiopia 13 Nov 1945
• The Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, ratified by Ethiopia 14 March 1994
• The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, ratified by Ethiopia 1998
• UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, Accession by Ethiopia 11 June 1993
• Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, ratified by Ethiopia 10 Dec 1981
• International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Accession by Ethiopia 11 June 1993
• International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, Accession by Ethiopia 23 Jun 1976
• Convention on the Rights of the Child, Accession by Ethiopia 14 May 1991
• Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, ratified by Ethiopia 1 Jul 1949

This regime should be accountable for Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity.

The world community was silent for the last 25 years; however there has been some good progress in the last few months:

• In January 2016 the European Parliament resolution on the situation in Ethiopia (2016/2520(RSP)).
• In April 2016, 11 United States Senators condemned the lethal violence used by the government of Ethiopia against peaceful protesters.
• Amnesty International has been publicizing frequently the human rights violations in Ethiopia for the last 25 years.
• Human Rights Watch constantly documents human rights violations in Ethiopia
• The mass media is fully controlled by the government and journalists are either in jail or have left the country for their lives. However, over 60 well-known mass media outlets have reported, in various languages, the atrocities that took place in Oromia.
• Social Media has played a significant roll while government is constantly blocking independent satellite TV, radio, and telephone communications.
• Several investors are pulling out of Oromia.
• The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has called for the release of detained anti-government protesters in Ethiopia as well as “urgent” access into the country to assess the killing and torture of innocent people.
• Rio de Janeiro, August 21, 2016 – Oromo athlete, Feyisa Lilesa, who finished 2nd and took Silver in Summer Olympic in men’s Marathon,

crossed the finishing line with his hands crossed, an iconic sign of Oromo protest against tyranny for the last nine months. The images were beamed across the globe and almost all mass media outlets have reported in various languages.

The Brutal Ethiopian regime discriminates and conducts mass killings against Oromo people. Even under these harsh circumstances, 7 of the 8 medals counted to Ethiopia in Rio Olympics are won by Oromo athletes.

Appeal:

We, therefore, respectfully request the world community, government, NGO’s, and individuals to use whatever influence you may have to put pressure on the Ethiopian government to immediately and unconditionally:

1. lift the merciless military rule imposed on our people
2. end the Agazi rule in Oromia, Ethiopia
3. stop the killing, beating, maiming, imprisoning and torturing of innocent people
4. release all protesters and all political prisoners
5. bring to justice those responsible for the atrocities
6. restore the constitutional rights of the people to hold peaceful rallies
7. allow people to participate in the affairs affecting their lives and livelihoods
8. restart participatory development that includes people’s development
9. allow UN independent observers access to affected areas
10. allow a UN independent investigation into the events in Oromia since the protests started in November 2015.
11. allow Doctors Without Borders to treat the victims.

We call upon the Ethiopian people to pay attention to this notice, to bear witness, and to stand in solidarity with its Oromo brethren and sisters.

We call upon Oromo people, Oromo political groups, Oromo Civic organizations, living back home, or abroad to understand this dire situation and stand with the usual resolve and determination as they stand in unison to demand their just and God-given rights in their own land.

OROMO CANADIAN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION OF ATLANTIC CANADA, has organized a peaceful public demonstration on August 26, 2016 from 10:00 to 11:30 AM (ADT) in front of Province House, 1726 Hollis Street Halifax, Nova Scotia B3J 2Y3, Canada

Freedom, Democracy, and Peace for all!

OROMO CANADIAN COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION OF ATLANTIC CANADA