Getachew Reda, Ethiopia’s communication minister, debates Lencho Bati, committee member of the Oromo Democratic Front.
(Aljazeera) — More than 400 Oromos have been killed and tens of thousands arrested since November, a recent report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) found.
The Ethiopian government says that some protesters who are from Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group have died, but HRW is “very generous with numbers”, and that protests have been overrun by armed groups.
The latest round of protests began over a government plan to expand Addis Ababa, the nation’s capital, to parts of the surrounding Oromia region. The government’s plan has since been cancelled, but protests have continued over what Oromos say is the long-standing marginalisation of the Oromo people.
So is the government guilty of a violent crackdown on the Oromos? In this week’s Arena, Getachew Reda, the country’s communication affairs minister, debates with Lencho Bati, an executive committee member of the Oromo Democratic Front.
Note: winner in this debate is Getachew Reda, because he could divide the Oromo through the incapable ODF interviewee. Very disappointing responses from Lenco Bati of ODF. He is the weakest link and just fell into the divisive work of Getachew Reda. Getachew must celebrate tonight.
Here is what the response should be: by Jawar Mohammed:
Lets be very clear. The Oromo Liberation Front was not and is not a terrorist organization. It has never committed an act of terrorism which is defined as the use of violence against civilians to advance a political agenda. In fact despite existence of several rebel groups, there is no single opposition organization that is engaged in terrorist activity in Ethiopia. The only entity that uses violence against civilians to advance politics is the the Tigrean Liberation Front. If there is a terrorist, its the ruling party. Just because the Tigrean mafia declares an opposition group a terrorist, it doesn’t make it one. We might disagree with ideologies, tactics and leaders of these organizations, but we shall not distance ourselves just because the ruling mafia barked the word ‘terrorist’.
Remember, every person or organization that opposes TPLF is labeled terrorist to justify persecution. Journalist who write dissenting views, farmers who oppose being evicted from land, teachers who protect their students, political leaders of legal opposition are in jail accused and convicted of terrorism by the kangaroo court. Thus, by buying into TPLF’s narrative about terrorism for whatever reason, would inadvertently be contributing towards its strategy of using the ‘terrorism’ discourse to silence dissent and prolong totalitarian rule.