Mootummaan Wayyaanee Godina Arsii Aanaalee Adda Addaa Keessa Waraana Isaa Qubachiisaa Jira

FDG uummanni Oromoo Oromiyaa keessatti keessan wal qabatee mootummaan Wayyaanee soda keessa galuun beekamaa dha. Baatiwwan kana keessattis erga barattootni Oromoo manneen barnootaa ol aanaa keessaa boqonnaaf gara maatii isaanitti galanii kaasee Oromiyaa goleewwan garagaraa keessa olola kijibaa tamsaasuun baratootaa fi uumata Oromoo shororkaa itti naquuf jecha karaa dabballoota isaa yaalii guddaa gochaa jiran.

Hawaasa Oromoo keessattuu baadiyyaa xiyyeefate keessatti humni dabballootaa fi tikoota Wayyaanee irraa ijaaraman garee nama 5n ramadamuun baadiyyaa keessa deemuun uumata goolaa jiraachuu dhagahama. Kana irratti hundaawanii gareen kun:-

1. Dabballooti siyaasaa kanneen ABO dhaan ijaaramanii Oromiyaa keessa gadhiifamanii jiran
2. Miseensota dhaaba ABO biyya keessatti humnoomee wal gurmeessuun socho’aati jiru.
3. Caasaadhuma isaa keessaa kanneen shakkii irraa qabu keessattuu hidhattoota irraa shakkii qabuun maqaa qabxiiwwan sadan kanaan ajandaa godhatee Oromiyaa keessatti humni biyya keessatti wal ijaaree socho’uu fi ABOn leenjisee biyya keessa seensise ka’ee waan jiruuf waraana sabaan Oromoon keessa hin jiraatin kan agaaziin socho’u dhalootaan Tigrootaa fi saboota biro ta’an qofa godina Arsii aanaa Zuwaay Dugdaa, Asallaa fi Kofalee keessa facaasee kan jiruu fi humni waraana TPLF kunis kan mul’atu halkan halkan akka tahe gabaasni Qeerroo amma nu gahe ibsa.

Ammas qoratamuunii fi hordofamuun barattootaa daran jabaachuu qaba, shakkiin jiru dargaggoota Oromooti malee abbootii miti kan jedhuun xiyyeeffannoon ammas godina kana qofa irratti kan xiyyeeffate osoo hin taanee Oromiyaa keessatti barattootni ganna kana hordofamuun dirqiidha jedha gabaasi. Gama biraan Yuuniversitii irraa shakkamanii gara qe’ee galan maatii biraa poolisootaan fuudhamanii garaa fi bakka dhabsiisanii hidhaa jiraachuu fi bakki isaanii kan hin beekamne ni jiru jedha gabaasi Qeerroo kun dabalee.

- Qeerroo.org

The Name of the Abominable Crime is Politicide – Deportation and Death in the Dhidheessa Concentration Camp (Cont’d from June 22, 2014)

By Mekuria Bulcha (Prof.)*

THE NAME OF THE ABOMINABLE CRIME IS POLITICIDE
DEPORTATION AND DEATH IN THE DHIDHEESSA CONCENTRATION CAMP
Introduction

In the first part of this article, published on this website on June 22, 2014 under the title “The Name of the Abominable Crime is Politicide: The Mass Massacre and Imprisonment of ORA Orphans – Wallaga 1992-93,” I described the humanitarian activities of the Oromo Relief Association (ORA) among Oromo refugees in the Sudan in the 1980s, and discussed the repatriation of some 1700 orphans, who were taken care of by the association, to Oromia in 1992. As I mentioned in the article, the initial TPLF onslaughts on the fleeing ORA children and their guardians took about three months. The different sources that I consulted indicated that between 170 and 200 children were hunted down, and killed or drowned in flight. In addition, an unknown number of their guardians—as well as inhabitants of the districts through which they passed who helped during their flight—were killed during the onslaught. At the start of the onslaught, about 300 children were captured and sent to the Dhidheessa concentration camp.

Deportation, torture, and political indoctrination
As mentioned before, most of the children were either placed in the care of the people or were sent away to look for relatives before their teachers and caretakers scattered to hide or flee back to the Sudan to seek refuge. However, the TPLF search for ORA children continued for more than a year after the initial onslaught came to an end. Apparently, many of the children who escaped the TPLF-forces’ bullets, and who were not arrested during the onslaught were traced, arrested and sent to jail. One of the survivors H.S. (who lives in a country neighboring with Ethiopia) told me:

I was about eight [years] old when the TPLF attacked us. I fled with the other children and adults in our camp. After sometime, we smaller children, who were unable to keep pace with the rest in the flight, were given to families in different villages along the route. I was placed with a family in a village called Gaara Arbaa. Two of my shelter mates, Kuusaa and Dingata, were also placed in the neighborhood in the same village. However, after a few weeks, the TPLF found and captured us and took us first to Begi town, and then to the Dhidheessa prison camp.

Consequently, the number of the ORA children who ended up in the TPLF jails and died whilst kept captive remains unknown. The limited information I could gather confirms that, generally, the children were treated with cruelty in the concentration camp. In his letter to ORA (see the first part of the article), Raagaa mentions the names of some of the friends he left behind in the Dhidheessa concentration camp grieving that,

The fate of those children mentioned in this note, many hundreds of them, is that they were accused by the TPLF that they were brought up by the OLF and as such need to go through “re-education programs” of the TPLF. Can anybody imagine the children would fight the EPRDF/TPLF back? The truth is the children did not understand anything about the war.

Concerning the TPLF “re-education program,” another informant has also reported that “frequently the children are asked about their attitude towards the EPRDF” and that their “hands are fettered behind their backs” during the interrogations and that “the children’s skin was cut and wounded around their wrists from the rope” with which they were tied. To change their “political attitude,” the TPLF forced the children to participate in a “political education.” The OLF was demonized and the participants (prisoners) were instructed about the “crimes it had committed” and were made to shout anti-OLF slogans at the top of their voices.

The so-called political education was forced not only on the ORA children who were detained in the Dhidheessa concentration camp, but also on the tens of thousands of Oromo prisoners kept in the numerous open and secret prison camps run by the TPLF regime in the early 1990s. One of the prisoners forced to experience the TPLF “political education” was Jamal. He was imprisoned in the Hurso concentration camp, outside of the eastern Oromo city of Dire Dawa. Jamal escaped from Hurso and fled to Djibouti in 1993. In August 1997, whilst in Djibouti, he met the two Swiss journalists Bruna Bossati and Peter Niggli as well as the late Lydia Namarraa of the ORA (UK) and told them about his own experience of the “political education” that was given by the TPLF cadres to Oromo prisoners as follows:

The lessons [were] given by the OPDO [and] were supervised by armed TPLF soldiers. The prisoners were instructed that the OLF was a criminal organization with a misguided anti-democratic program directed against the people. The teachers measured the success of their efforts by the enthusiasm with which their ‘pupils’ shouted slogans, such as: “The OLF kills and slaughters the people” and “We will destroy the OLF.”

Jamal said “Whoever didn’t agree with the slogans was forced to stand up and repeat them at the top of his voice.” Those who showed insufficient enthusiasm were punished. They were beaten. Any resistance, according to Jamal, would have risked death (see Bruna Fossati, Lydia Namarra & Peter Niggli, The New Rulers of Ethiopia and the Persecution of the Oromo Frankfurt am Main: Evangelischer Pressedienst, 1996, Nr. 45e, p. 25). The treatment of the imprisoned ORA orphans followed the same pattern. However, reports indicate that there were those among the ORA children imprisoned in Dhidheessa who resisted the intimidation of the TPLF “political educators,” thus risking their lives. Tarfa Dibaba notes that one of the survivors of the Dhidheessa concentration camp whom he met in Khartoum in 1998 told him about one of the ORA children who was hung upside down during one of the sessions of the TPLF political education, and was ordered to tell its other participants to “give up” the idea that “Oromia shall be free.” But the boy was not intimidated into following the order. He refused to tell his prison mates anything nor did he repeat anti-OLF slogans. He paid with his life. He was tortured and left hanging upside down, and died in the same position in the evening. According to the same source, the boy was about 13 years old. An OPDO-TPLF militia participated in his torture. Another report (Dhaabaa, January 7, 2014) indicates a boy called Simeesso was also killed in the circumstances similar to the above. The report also mentions the names of two other ORA children, Soreessaa and Asabo, who were tortured for showing similar resistance. It is reported that these two adolescents were separated from the other children and were taken away. Nobody knows what happened thereafter.

When a prisoner is “taken away” by the security agents of the TPLF regime, it can mean two things: either execution or solitary confinement in another section of the prison camp, or transfer to another prison in another part of the country. As noted by a former prisoner, Magarsaa Dame who escaped from a firing squad in March 1995 (see the Amharic Weekly Urjii Newspaper, March 1995), prisoners were taken out of the Dhidheessa concentration camp, executed and their bodies left in the open to be devoured by wild beasts. According to another former inmate (see Schmitt & Taera, “An EPRDF Prison Camp from Inside”, Oromo Commentary IV (1), 1994), the Dhidheessa camp constituted several prisons, some of which were open for inspection by international human rights organizations, such as the Red Cross, while others, such as the so-called Korea Sefer, were secret. He said that some of the ORA children were kept in a secret prison “separate from others.” He reported that,

In December 1992, for instance, about 40 children were locked up in a very narrow dark room [and] those kids, who become ill, physically or psychologically, due to the hot climate of the Dhidheessa lowlands and torture, are not given medical treatment (Taera & Schmitt, as above 1994: 25).

According to the same source, the argument of the camp authorities for denying the children medication was that the children were not ill but that their problems were “related to their political attitude towards the EPRDF” (Taera & Schmitt, as above 1994: 25). “Political attitude” stands here for affiliation with the OLF and animosity toward the EPRDF (TPLF).

In the “Korea Sefer” and the other sections of the camp, untreated wounds caused by torture inflicted by the TPLF thugs and their OPDO prisoners of war, thirst and hunger, and above all, contagious diseases which flourished in the overcrowded filthy prison rooms, also caused the death of many prisoners. In the interview he gave in 1993, a former prisoner from Dhidheessa (as above Taera and Schmitt 1994: 25) explained,

In the so-called Korea Sefer section of concentration camp where the ORA children were kept, the prisoners are not allowed to go out to urinate, they do not get water to drink, and are not allowed to wash themselves and their clothing. They are not allowed to go out to get fresh air. On a very narrow space, many people are locked up with almost no possibility to move, heavily guarded from outside. As the consequence of the abhorrent sanitary conditions that prevailed in the concentration camp, there were cases of typhoid fever. Since there are few facilities for washing, many prisoners are also suffering from lice.

However, there is no information whether the two boys mentioned above were taken to a firing squad or to another prison within or outside of the Dhidheessa concentration camp. Describing (in his letter mentioned in the first part of this article) the barbarisms to which he was exposed in the Dhidheessa concentration camp, Raagaa wrote:

I escaped from one oppressor and fell into the hands of another oppressor. When one oppressor is replaced by another oppressor, life begins to be miserable. To adjust oneself from an Amhara military oppressor [the Dergue] to a crueler regime of a Tigre oppressor is not an easy case.

Obviously, it was not. It is impossible to expect human being to adjust to the cruel treatment which the ORA children received in the hands of the agents of the current regime. As Raagaa’s description of the prison conditions suggests, it is plausible to assume that many of them might have not survived imprisonment in Dhidheessa.

“Many have pains in their hearts and their feelings …
Some died like insects”

The words in the sub-title, above, are from Raagaa’s letter. The horrendous atrocities which, according Raagaa and the other sources cited here, the ORA children and apparently Oromo prisoners in general, were made to endure in the Dhidheessa prison camp, are painful even to imagine. However, no information is available about the exact number of those who died from diseases, hunger and torture in the filthy concentration camp. Malaria, in particular, seems to have taken its toll. In the letter, Raagaa expressed the inhumanity he saw and the pains he felt as follows:

Those of us who were detained were between 10 and 16 years of age. Many of us became ill from malaria and lack of food. Many of us were sick from diseases that affect children. Many have pains in their hearts and in their feelings. The worst sight which I will not forget is when the kids got sick from malaria and became crazy and talked nonsense. When their condition became serious their hands and legs were tied and they were made to lie on bare ground to keep them silent. During these hours nobody attended them and gave them medicine. Some died like insects. I do not know how many. I can only remember few of the names of the children I stayed all those days, weeks and months. I and these children have nothing to do with the political and military problems [of the TPLF and OLF]… How can they do such things to children? Nobody can imagine this (Translated from Afaan Oromoo by Tarfa Dibaba. Emphasis mine)

Phrases such the “children became insane,” “have pain in their hearts” and “died like insects” indicate the excruciating pain felt and the unspeakable suffering the children experienced in the prison camp. Raagaa mentions with grief Maritu (female), Waanca (female), Burqaa Nagaasaa (male), Guutuu Injigu (male), Iddoosaa Ammayuu (male), Saloome Abdiisa (female), Galaanee Taariku (female), Aster (female), Almash (female) and Mitiku Abdallah (male) as some of the many former friends and playmates he left behind in the Dhidheessa concentration camp in the conditions described above. The camps in which the TPLF regime incarcerated tens of thousands of Oromos, irrespective age, were death camps. According to Susan Pollock (see “Ethiopia: A Tragedy in the Making”, Oromo Commentary, Vol. VI, no.1, 1996), 3000 men, women and children had died in four of the TPLF regime’s concentration camps from malaria, diseases and lack of food. Dhidheessa was one of these camps. A former prisoner from the Dhidheessa concentration camp has described the conditions that resulted in the death of inmates in the following words.

Many prisoners had lost their lives or become mentally ill as a consequence of illness or maltreatment in the camp. Extremely bad is the situation of the OLF fighters who were disabled in the fight against the Dergue and in the conflict with the EPRDF. Among them, there are many who are blind, and some have lost their arms and legs. They are not offered any support although they are in the most terrible conditions in the camp since they are not able to wash themselves or their clothes or to go to the latrine without help of others. They suffer from unimaginable dirt and lice. (Taera & Schmitt, 1994: 25)

The horrific maltreatment described above was not limited to the inmates of the Dhidheessa prison. Similar conditions prevailed in the many hidden and official concentration camps which had been erected all over the Oromo country by the TPLF in 1992 and after.

Rape crime against imprisoned children
In an article published on Gadaa.com on May 28, 2013 I described that rape has been one of the dehumanizing torture-methods that are routinely used against Oromo detainees in the TPLF-run prisons in Oromia. The Dhidheessa concentration camp was no exception. One of my informants, Dhaabaa (December 4, 2013), gives the names of 10 of the ORA female children (the names are withheld here) who became pregnant in Dhidheessa prison after being raped by TPLF prison guards. These, it seems, were only some among the many children who were exposed to this outrageous crime in prison. According to the same source, the father of one of the girls (name withheld) committed suicide on hearing that his child had been raped by guards in the concentration camp. The sources also indicate that some of the adolescent girls were forced to marry TPLF soldiers.

“Where are Sagantaa Useen, Tolina Waaqjiraa and Duulaa Tafarra …?”
As indicated above, nobody knew what exactly had happened to the ORA children and their guardians once they were back in their homeland. Therefore, the story described in this article is sad news to everyone who knew them or was involved in helping them. The inquiry “Where are Sagantaa Useen, Tolina Waaqjiraa and Duulaa Tafarra and the others?” which was raised by the teachers and pupils of Heinrich-Gobel-Realschule of city of Springe in Germany in their letter reproduced below was not answered. They were the only people who tried to find out what had happened to the children after they returned to their homeland in the spring months of 1992. They appealed to the German Minister of Foreign Affairs, the German Commission for UNESCO, and the UNCHR Branch Office for Germany, to speak for and protect the ORA children. The following is the content of their letter addressed to Dr. Claus Kinkel the German Minister of Foreign Affairs dated November 2, 1992. I have reproduced its content unabridged in order to give the reader a grasp of the concern of the letter writers and the relations that existed between them the children in question.

Dear Dr. Kinkel,

We are deeply concerned about the fate of 1,600 Oromo orphans in Kobor near Begi in West-Wollega/Ethiopia. We have not received any information from the children’s camp there since July of this year, when Ethiopian government troops marched into West Wollega and also Begi. The ‘Oromo Relief Association’ (ORA) in Addis Ababa, which has been looking after and feeding these children for many years, was unable to establish contact to the camp.

In February 1985, our school organised an African Day with the Ethiopian teacher Terfa Dibaba. In this context we got to know about the starvation and civil war in his homeland and about the work of the indigenous refugee relief organisation ‘Oromo Relief Association’ (ORA). Since that time our school has continuously traced the work of ORA for parentless refugee children. We received oral and written reports and photographs regarding the opening of the refugee settlement in Yabus/Sudan, the opening of the children’s camp in Damazin/Sudan in early 1988, the day-to-day, medical and educational care for the orphans by the devoted and unpaid work of the ORA staff. The pupils, their parents and the teaching staff of our school have organised relief shipments with clothing, school material, toys, sports equipment and musical instruments since 1988.

The number of children in Damazin was increasing, and therefore, ORA opened another camp in Bikore/Sudan in 1990. The last time we received photographs, a letter and some children’s drawings was in August 1991. Duula Tafarra, a 12-year-old boy, closed his letter with the words: “Nagaa nu hundaaf haa tahu GARA JERMANII“. It means “To Germany: Peace be with us all” (emphasis mine).

In spring 1992 the children from Damazin and Bikore could return to their homeland Ethiopia. Our last relief shipment included, amongst other things, 200 notebooks, into which our pupils wrote – in view of the return: “I wish you peace and a good future in your homeland.” “Yeroo biyyakeetti galtu, nagaa fi hegeree gaarii akka argattun siifi hawwa”.

In the meantime, we have received information about several incidents of brutal attacks by Ethiopian government troops (EPRDF) against the Oromo population. The election observers, who were assigned to the regional elections in the Oromo regions of Ethiopia by your Ministry in June this year [1992], told us that they had been asked by the parents of arrested children [not ORA’s] to speak up for their release. Now we heard that in July minors from the ORA camp in Kobor have been arrested [also] and deported to the EPRDF camp in Didessa. Is this information correct? Are they 250, as we heard, or are they more?

We appeal to you to do all you can to shed light upon the fate of the more than 1,600 children from the ORA camp in Kobor. Where are Sagantaa Useen, Tolina Waaqjiraa and Duulaa Tafarra and all the others? Please take action to protect these children. Please try to arrange for the 1,600 Oromo orphans to be returned to the care of their previous guardians and teachers and make sure they can be supplied by the relief organisation ORA as before.

Yours faithfully,

For the teaching staff of the Heinrich-Goebel-Realschule: J. Brennecke, Headmaster, and [14 signatures of teachers], Representing the pupils of the Heinrich-Goebel-Realschule [5 Signatures]

(The letter is translated from German by Kathrin Taera, November, 2013)

Duulaa and his group returned to Oromia in May 1992 and their camp was attacked in June that year. He wrote the letter (below) on behalf of the ORA children in Damazin.

Date 13-7-1991

From the [ORA] School in Damazin,

To pupils [of Heinrich-Gobel-Realschule, Springe) in Germany,

First of all we send you our greetings. How are you? We are well. We who are greeting you are the Oromo children at the school in Damazin. We will like to inform you that we have received the gifts such as balls and other sport materials you sent us and that we are using them. We are happy with the gifts and thank for your generosity. [We] the Oromo children who fled from [our] country and are in Damazin in the Sudan are given the opportunity to learn [and we are happy about that]

We urge you to write to us. He who wrote this letter is Duulaa Tafara. He is in grade five and is 12 years old. May peace be with all of us!

(The letter is translated from Afaan Oromoo by the author)[1]

Regrettably, Duulaa and his friends were deprived not only the peace which he wished for all, but also of the right to life. As I have mentioned in the first part of this article, Duula and his two school (camp) mates mentioned in the letter by the pupils and teachers of Heinrich-Gobel-Realschule, were among the victims of the TPLF assault on the ORA orphans. Tolina Waaqjiraa was killed on the first day when the TPLF forces opened fire on their camp in June 1992. Duula Tafarra and Saganta Usen were killed by the same force in the Carphaa forest where they took shelter with other children after their camp was attacked (Dhaabaa, December 9, 2013).

Notwithstanding, the praiseworthy efforts of the pupils and teachers of the Heinrich-Goebel-Realschule, it seems that, neither the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the officials of the two UN organizations who had received their appeal letters, took the initiative to confront either the late Mr. Meles Zenawi or his regime to find out the whereabouts of the ORA children in 1992 or after. It is unlikely, therefore, that the authors of the letter were informed about what had happened to the children. To my knowledge, this article is, regrettably, the first response to the enquiries they raised twenty-two years ago.

http://gadaa.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/ORA_History_Photo_14.jpg
Photo (Left): This photo is said to be that of Duula Tafarra, Saganta Usen, and Tolina Waaqjiraa. The person (Dhaabaa) who sent it me did not identify who is who in the photo. The only thing he said he knew is that the photo is that of the three boys taken together. I have included the picture here hoping that someone who knew them can help us to identify them.

The case of Duula, Saganta and Tolina reflects not only the fate of many of the ORA children, but also of the numerous other unnamed Oromo children who perished inside and outside the TPLF regime’s concentration camps during the last two decades.

A case of politicide
The sources indicate that the ORA children were very conscious of their identity and were, above all, eager to repatriate and live in their homeland in peace. An Oromo scholar who knew the ORA children in the Sudan (mail communication with Asafa Dibaba, July 4, 2014) wrote,

I lived in Damazin two and half decades ago, and together with Nagaasaa [killed in 1992 in a battle with the TPLF], I used to visit the children in Bikoree from time to time. The children were, as far as I remember, between 7 and 15 years, and most of them had passed the Gammee age group (0 to 8 years). Their knowledge of Oromo history and culture was beyond expectation. Their knowledge of makmaaksa (folktales), riddles hibboo (riddles), and the flora and fauna of Oromia was also remarkable. The children narrated their family histories and genealogy as if they were growing up in family homes with their parents and grandparents. Although their education was based on a curriculum that followed by schools in Ethiopia, it reflected the cultural and education programs laid down by the OLF. They used to tell me that their hope was to return to an independent and Oromia to grow up and serve their people (freely translated from Afaan Oromoo by the author).

Once they started an open war with the OLF, the TPLF leaders did not want to leave the ORA children in peace. The fact that the said children were brought up by an organization which was associated with the OLF was enough for the TPLF to see them as potential enemies and persecute them. Its argument about “political education,” mentioned above, indicates that the ORA children were seen as “carriers” of Oromo nationalism, a “problem” which the TPLF leaders associate with the OLF. In his letter to ORA mentioned above Raagaa noted,

We [the ORA children] were accused by the TPLF of being brought up and educated by the OLF. Can anybody imagine the children would fight the EPRDF/TPLF back? The truth is the children did not understand anything about the war.

The three-month long pursuit of the fleeing children by the TPLF troops in the summer of 1992 and the search for children who were entrusted to the local households in western Wallaga by their guardians indicates that the children were, as indicated above, seen as bearers of the seeds of Oromo nationalism and the OLF aspiration of establishing an independent state. Therefore, I will argue that the TPLF believed that their best course of action was to exorcise the ideas and inspirations with which they believed the Oromo children were imbued (through their association with the OLF) before these spread among the Oromo youth at large. The so-called political education was, for example, to brainwash and make them subjects loyal to the TPLF-led regime. Those who were resistant to the process were eliminated physically.

In general, the intention behind the atrocious massacre committed by the TPLF-led regime against the ORA children, and the murderous crackdowns which it has been conducting currently against Oromo high school, college and university students during the last fifteen years can been seen as a policy of politicide with the aim of nipping Oromo nationalism in the bud. As the comments which were repeatedly made on many occasions by the late Meles Zenawi reflected, the TPLF saw in any and every socially and politically conscious Oromo, a potential member or sympathizer of the OLF. It is common knowledge that tens of thousands of Oromos who were labelled as such have been in one way or another victimized by the TPLF-led regime. Therefore, its criminal actions against the ORA orphans in the 1990s and against Oromo students during the last fifteen years are hardly surprising.

Children labelled “terrorists” and killed by the TPLF
Associating and killing of Oromo children by the TPLF-led regime did not stop with the assault on the ORA orphans in western Oromia. Many Oromo children were detained and killed in other places for the same reasons. The Oromia Support Group (OSG Press Release No. 13, 1996) notes that in 1996 the government forces killed Usen Kaallu, aged 12, Badiri Shaza, also aged 12, Awal Saani, aged 13, and Awal Idire, aged 16 years old, in Tukaana village near the town of Gasera in Bale in the southeast. Their “crime” was tattooing the initials “ABO” (the Oromo version of OLF) on their hands. It seems that, not knowing the consequences, schoolchildren have been tattooing the initials on their bodies or embroidering them on their caps and clothes in many places throughout the Oromo country. The same report indicates, for example, that seven other children between the ages of 12 and 14 years of age were imprisoned, accused of committing similar “crimes” in the nearby Dabool village at the same time. The report gives their names and ages as Muyidin Haj Useen (14), Kaliil Useen (13), Eliyas Haj Abdo (12), Idris Aman (13), Qadiro Useen (12) and Shitta Usman (12). However, the report does not indicate how long they were imprisoned nor any details about what had happened to them in prison or afterwards.

After the al Qaida 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York in 2001, the TPLF-regime changed the characterization of its “Oromo enemies,” including schoolchildren, from members or supporters of the “OLF” to “terrorists.” The Human Rights Watch (HRW, 2005) wrote that “In early 2004, police in Dembi Dollo, arrested a twelve-year-old schoolboy and imprisoned him after discovering that he had tattooed ‘ABO’, the Afaan Oromoo acronym for ‘OLF’, onto his hand.” His father told HRW that,

They [the police] said he was a terrorist. They said he was a supporter of the OLF. The child’s family petitioned the local authorities and secured his release after two weeks of detention, but the police continued to follow and harass the boy until the family was forced to send him to live with relatives in Addis Ababa.

The HRW notes that between 2001 and 2005, “At least twenty other children under the age of fifteen have been imprisoned for similar reasons in Dembi Dollo alone” (emphasis mine). Furthermore, a relative of a boy who was arrested in 2003 told a HRW reporter, “I had an eleven-year old relative who wrote ‘ABO’ on the blackboard at school. He was dragged off to the police station and imprisoned there. They released him after several days because there was “too much noise about it” from the local people who were affronted by the imprisonment of an 11-year-old child. However, the HWR writes that the “child also experienced problems with the police after his release and eventually left [home] to live with relatives in Canada.” The TPLF regime did not see the 11 year old boy as a child but as an enemy—a terrorist and a supporter of the OLF.

There are international conventions signed by the UN member-states to prevent genocide and other crimes against humanity of which the 1948 Human Rights Convention was the first. Regrettably, however, the conventions did not end the evil which was the cause for the origins of the convention—the evil which is epitomized by the acts of Adolf Hitler and his cronies.As mentioned in the first part of this article, the telling metaphor “hunted like kurupé” (used by Oromo peasants to describe the predicament of the fleeing children they had witnessed) reveals not only the physical movement called forth by the existential instinct to escape from life-threatening danger, but also the horror and angst the children felt as a consequence of the unconcealed vicious intentions of the armed units who were chasing them from one district to another, shooting at them and wounding or killing them. Notwithstanding the size of the affected population, the cruelty reflected in the assault on the ORA children brings to mind the evil deeds of the Nazis against Jews, and in particular, incidents which Serge Klarsfeld (2010) describes in his book French Children of the Holocaust — a Memorial concerning deportation to death camps. In his descriptions of some of the incidents, Klarsfeld reveals how Jewish children who attempted to escape deportation were callously shot down by the Gestapo as though they were not human beings. Even the TPLF action against the local peasants who helped the fleeing ORA children and their guardians was reminiscent of what Nazi thugs did to those who tried to rescue the European Jews and their children from deportation to the concentration camps. The nature of the evil, the intent to harm their victims with impunity which underpinned the actions of the TPLF forces, reflects a shocking similarity with the murderous behavior of the Nazi criminals. Nothing is as evil as treating human-beings as wild game as the TPLF forces did to the ORA children.

Disturbing silence over crimes against humanity
As noted by the famous physicist Albert Einstein “The world is too dangerous to live in – not because of the people who do evil, but because of the people who stand by and let them” (cited in S. Bruchfeld & P. Levine, Tell Ye Your Children: A Book about the Holocaust in Europe 1933-1945, Revised Edition, 2012, p. 14).

It would not be an exaggeration to construe that today the world has become too dangerous for the Oromo to live in. Whether it is at war or at “peace” with the Oromo and the other oppressed peoples in Ethiopia, the TPLF regime has been committing crimes against them and “against humanity” during the last twenty-three years.

A crime against humanity targets a given group and is carried out as a “widespread and systematic”

Forty organisations have called on Ethiopia Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to free Zone 9 bloggers and revise it's overly broad anti-terror law.

Forty organisations have called on Ethiopia Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn to free Zone 9 bloggers and revise it's overly broad anti-terror law.

Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn
Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia Office of the Prime Minister
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia    

Re: Detained journalists and bloggers

Dear Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn,    

We write to you to express our grave concern regarding the terrorism charges laid against seven bloggers associated with the Zone 9 website and three independent journalists in Ethiopia.  

Ethiopia is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which both expressly protect the right to freedom of expression. We therefore urge your government to fulfill its obligations under international law and release all individuals who have been arbitrarily detained in violation of their fundamental rights.   

As you may be aware, six of the bloggers (Zelalem Kibret, Atnaf Berahane, Natnael Feleke, Mahlet Fantahun, Befeqadu Hailu, and Abel Wabela) and the three journalists (Tesfalem Waldyes, Asmamaw Hailegeorgis, and Edom Kassaye) were arrested in late April, shortly after it was announced that the Zone 9 website would resume its activities after suspending operations because of increasing harassment and surveillance.  

All nine detainees were subsequently held for nearly three months before any specific allegations were presented or formal charges filed against them.  

Most concerning, however, are reports that some of the detainees have complained of serious mistreatment by investigators and that defence lawyers and their clients have been excluded from some of the proceedings.    

Recent reports now indicate that the detained bloggers and journalists have been charged under the widely-criticised 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, including provisions that provide for the death penalty. A seventh blogger, Soleyana Gebremicheal, was also charged in absentia.  

In accordance with the requirements of both Ethiopian and international law, we call on you to ensure that all allegations of torture or other forms of ill-treatment are promptly investigated and that no statements obtained through such means are admitted in court.  

Further, we call on you to ensure that the detainees have full access to the assistance of legal counsel and that the proceedings related to this case are open to the public, the media, and members of the diplomatic community.    

Unfortunately, these prosecutions are only the most recent example of a worrying pattern.  

Outspoken Ethiopian journalists Eskinder Nega, Reeyot Alemu, and Woubshet Taye have all received long prison terms under the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation, in trials marred by procedural flaws. Similarly, opposition activists including Andualem Arage have received sentences of up to life imprisonment on such grounds.    

While your office has asserted that the prosecution of these individuals is unrelated to their work as journalists, independent inquiries have found that this is not the case.  For example, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention held that the imprisonment of Mr Nega violated Ethiopia’s obligations under international law and requested his immediate release.  

In addition to procedural violations, the Working Group found that the detention of Mr Nega resulted directly from his exercise of free expression and that the overly broad offences established by the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation constituted “an unjustified restriction on expression rights and on fair trial rights.” Despite such a finding, however, Mr Nega remains in prison.    

Other international bodies have similarly criticized your country’s Anti-Terrorism Proclamation for being overly broad and a tool through which freedom of expression is limited. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights adopted a resolution in 2012 stating that it was “gravely alarmed by the arrests and prosecutions of journalists and political opposition members, charged with terrorism and other offences, including treason, for exercising their peaceful and legitimate rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association.”  

This message reinforced an earlier statement by five United Nations special procedure mandate holders, including the Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights, which expressed their “dismay at the continuing abuse of anti-terrorism legislation to curb freedom of expression in Ethiopia.” During Ethiopia’s Universal Periodic Review earlier this year, similar concerns were raised by a number of countries, including security allies of Ethiopia such as the United States of America.    

Despite these clear findings that the targeting of writers under the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation is inconsistent with Ethiopia’s international obligations, prosecutors have now charged the seven Zone 9 bloggers and three independent journalists under that very law. As a result, they face exceedingly long prison sentences or even death. Such a practice violates international law and threatens to undermine the legitimacy of international security efforts in the region.   

In light of these serious concerns, we urge you to facilitate the immediate release of all journalists and bloggers imprisoned under

Tokkoomuu ABO fi Qaama Ce’umsaa ABO Irratti Ibsa Qeerroo Bilisummaa Oromoo Irraa Kenname

Nuti gareen hoggana Qeerroon Bilisummaa Oromoo labsa tokkoomuu ABO fi Qaama Cee’umsaa ABO gidduutti mirkanaa’ee jiru yeroo dhageenyutti gammachuu guddaatu nutti dhagaa’ame. Ammaan dura waggoota muraasaaf wal hubatnoo dhaba ABO gidduutti mudatee turetti gaddaa kan turre, yeroo ammaa rakkoon jiru karaa nagaa furamee tokkummaan ABO jabaatee waliigalteen tokkummaa mallatteeffamuun hoggansii ABO qaama tokko jalatti deebii’uun milkii guddaa fi injifannoo boonsaa ta’uu Qeerroon dinqisiifachuun ibsa armaan gadii dabarsee jira.

1. Bakka buutonni Qeerroo bilisummaa Oromoo Godina Oromiyaa bakkoota gara garaa keessatti FDG bifa qindaa’een qabsiisuun abbaa irree Wayyaanee waawwachisa yeroo jirrutti ibsa tokkoomuu ABO fi qaama cee’umsaa ABO yeroo dhageenyu hedduu gammadne.ABO’n gaachana uummata Oromooti. Uummanni Oromoos dhaaba kana ni jaalata, ni kabaja, yeroo ammaa kanatti uumata Oromoo Oromiyaa keessa jiru biratti ABO jechuun mallattoo eenyummaan Oromoo fi Oromiyaa itti beekamu ta’uu irraan ummati Oromoo akka eenyummaa isaatti ilaala.ABO’n uummatni Oromoo gita bittaa kam jalaa iyyuu ba’ee mirgii namoommaa fi mirgii dimookiraasii kabajameefii mirgi abbaa biyyummaa uummata Oromoo mirkanaa’ee Oromoo fi Oromiyaan akka wal simatan dhaaba uummata Oromoo fedhii uummata Oromootiin hundeeffame jarmiyaa ulfina qabeessa Oromoon itti amanudha. Kanaaf rakkinni hogganoota dhaaba kana gidduutti mudatee ture karaa nagaan furamuun jijjiramni siyaasaa fi wal danda’uu guddaan dhaabicha giddutti uumamuun jijjirama siyaasa Oromoo waan ta’eef labsa tokkomuu ABO kana dachaan kan deeggaru ta’uu hoogganni Qeerroo bilisummaa Oromoo gammachuu itti dhaga’amee jiru ibsata.

2. Jijjiiramni siyaasaa ABO keessatti yeroo amma mallatteeffamee jirutti ija gochuuf Qeerroon Bilisummaa Oromoo wareegamaa barbaachisuu itti fufinsaan kanfaluuf qophii ta’uu ibsuun nuti Qeerroon bilisummaa Oromoo qabsoo eegallee jirru daran jabeessuun kan itti fufnu ta’uu ejjeennoo keenya sochiin kan mul’ifnu ta’uu ni hubachiifna.

3. Hogganootni ABO yeroo amma garaa garummaa uumaamee jiru akka sirrii hin taanee hubachuun rakkoon waggoota muraasaaf mul’atee ture dogoggora ta’uu hubachuun, tokkummaa ABO dhugoomsanii jiran hedduu dinqisiifanna. Mooraa qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo jabeessuun jabeessuun bilisummaa uummata keenya gonfachiisuuf dhugaa kana hojiitti jijjiruun kutannoo fi muratnoon qabsoon bilisummaa Oromoo galii isaa akka ga’uuf qaamootni kunii fi nuti Qeerroon bilisummaa Oromoo dirqama addaa qabaachuu keenya ni hubachiifna.

4. Uummaatni Oromoo akeeka eebbifamaa kana hubachuun tokkummaa isaa jabeeffachuun murnoota siyaasaa Oromoo qabatanii qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoof sochoona kanneen jedhan illee gara dirree waliigaltee kanatti fiduun waliigaltee araaraa itti fufinsa qabu gadi dhaabuun bilisummaa uummata keenya galiin ga’uuf Oromoon hundinuu dirqama lammummaa ba’uu qabna.

5. Uummaatni Oromoo hundi farreen Qabsoo bilisummaa Oromoo karaa ilmaan habashaa fi karaa ilmaan Oromoo diinaaf meeshaa ta’uuf fiiganii dura dhaabbachuun fashaluun yeroon gamtaan qabsaa’an amma.

6. FDG baatii Ebla 11, 2014 irraa eegaluun biyaa keessatti bifa qinda’een gaggeessaa jirruuf ilmaan Oromoo biyyoota ambaa garaagaraa fi biyya keessa dirmannaa nuuf gochuun sochii kana keessatti ga’ee keessan baahatanii fi ba’aa jirtan galatni keessan bilisummaa uummata Oromoo haata’u jechaa; Hoggansii Qeerroo Bilisummaa Oromoo godina Oromiyaa adda addaa biyyaa keessatti FDG bifa qindaa’een qabsiisuun mootummaa abbaa irree akka nama bishaan nyaatee hoomachaa qabachuu dadhabee gochaa waan jirruuf, FDG gaggeessa jirruutti ilmaan Oromoo waan dandeessan cufaan dirmannaa akka nuuf gootanii FDG kun itti fufiinsaan gaggeeffamuuf ga’ee keessan akka baataniif waamicha keenya dabarsinee jirra.

ጦማሪያኑና ጋዜጠኞቹ በሽብርተኝነት ተከሰሱ

ተከሳሾቹ ከግንቦት ሰባትና ከኦነግ ጋር ግንኙነት እንዳላቸው በመዝገቡ ተገልጿል

      በፌደራል ፖሊስ ከታሰሩ አራት ሳምንት የሆናቸው ስድስት የድረገጽ ፀሐፊዎች (ጦማሪዎች) እና ሦስት ጋዜጠኞች ትናንት በአቃቤ ህግ የሽብር እና የአመጽ ክስ የቀረበባቸው ሲሆን፤ በክሱ ላይ አስተያየት ለመስጠት ለሐምሌ 28 ቀን ተቀጠሩ፡፡ “ዞን 9” በሚል ስያሜ የሚታወቁት ስድስቱ ጦማሪዎች እና ሦስቱ ጋዜጠኞች፤ በድብቅ (በህቡዕ) ተደራጅተው ሲሰሩ ቆይተዋል በማለት የገለፀው አቃቤ ህግ፤ ህቡዕ የተባለው ድርጅት “ዞን 9” ይሁን ሌላ በስም አልጠቀሰም፡፡ የግል የመልእክት ልውውጦችን በሚስጥር የመጠበቅ ዘዴ በአገር ውስጥና በውጭ ስልጠና ወስደዋል በማለትም አቃቤ ህግ ሁሉንም ተከሳሾች ጠቅሷል፡፡ ስልጠናዎቹ በማን እንደተሰጡ ባይገለጽም፤ ፀሐፊዎቹና ጋዜጠኞቹ በአለም አቀፉ የፕሬስ ነፃነት ተቋም (አርቲክል 19) አማካኝነት፤ ለጋዜጠኞች የሚዘጋጅ የመረጃ አጠባበቅ ስልጠና ወስደዋል ተብሎ ሲዘገብ ከነበረው ስልጠና ጋር የሚገናኝ መሆን አለመሆኑ በግልጽ አልታወቀም፡፡ አቃቤ ህግ በስም ዝርዝር ባቀረበው ክስ፤ ተከሳሾቹ ተቃውሞና አመጽ እንዴት ማካሄድና መቀስቀስ እንሚደቻልም ሰልጥነዋል ብሏል፡፡ 
በተከሳሾቹ ኮምፒዩተር፣ ፍላሽ ዲስክ ወይም በመኖሪያ ቤት የተለያዩ የፖለቲካ ጽሑፎች እንደተገኙ የጠቀሰው አቃቤ ህግ፤ በግንቦት ሰባት ወይም በኦነግ የተሰራጩ ጽሑፎችን አግኝቼባቸዋለሁ ብሏል፡፡ ጽሑፎቹ ከተከሳሾቹ የጋዜጠኝነት ሙያ ጋር የተያያዘ መሆን አለመሆን በእርግጠኝነት ለማወቅ እንዴት እንደሚቻል በክሱ ውስጥ ባይጠቀስም፤ አቃቤ ህግ ጽሑፎቹ የግንቦት ሰባት አስተሳሰብና እቅድ መቀበልን እንደሚያሳዩ ያመለክታል ብሏል፡፡ 
በዘጠኙ ታሳሪዎች እና በውጭ አገር በምትገኘው ሶልያና ሽመልስ ላይ የቀረበው ክስ ተመሳሳይ ቢሆንም፤ ሶልያና እና ሌሎች ሦስት ተከሳሾች በቀጥታ ወይም በተዘዋዋሪ ከግንቦት ሰባት ጋር ግንኙነት ፈጥረዋል ተብሏል፡፡ በአንድ ተከሳሽ ላይ ደግሞ፤ ለአመጽ በሚውሉ ተቀጣጣይ ነገሮች ላይ ስልጠና ወስዷል የሚል ሃሳብ በክሱ ውስጥ ተካትቷል፡፡ አቃቤ ህግ በአስር ገጽ ካቀረበው ክስ ጋር፣ ማስረጃ ይሆኑኛል የሚላቸው በመቶዎች የሚቆጠሩ የጽሑፍ ገፆችን አያይዞ አቅርቧል፡፡ ተከሳሾችና ጠበቆች በአቃቤ ህግ በቀረበው ክስ እና የማስረጃ ሰነዶች ላይ አስተያየት ለመስጠት ለሐምሌ 28 ቀን ቀጠሮ ሰጥቷል - ከፍተኛ ፍ/ቤት፡፡  
የተከሳሾች ጠበቆች በበኩላቸው፤ በፀረ ሽብር አዋጁ አንቀፅ 3 ከ1-6 ከተዘረዘሩት ወንጀሎች አንዱንም ስላልፈፀሙ ዋስትና የሚያስከለክል ጉዳይ የለም፣ ቋሚ አድራሻ አላቸው፣ ከዚህ በፊት በዋስ ተለቀው አልቀርብም ያሉበት ሁኔታ ስለሌለ የዋስትና መብታቸው ተከብሮ ጉዳያቸውን ይከታተሉ በሚል ተከራክረዋል፡፡ 
በተለይም የ9ኛ ተከሳሽ የኤዶም ካሳዬ ጠበቃ ዶ/ር ዳንኤል ለገሰ፤ ደንበኛዬ የተከሰሰችበት ሁኔታ በጸረ-ሽብር አዋጁ አንቀፅ 3 ከተዘረዘሩት ውስጥ የፈፀመችው የሽብር ድርጊት ስለሌለ ዋስትና መከልከሏ ከህገ መንግስቱ ጋር የሚጣረስ በመሆኑ ለፌደራል ህገ መንግስት አጣሪ ጉባኤ ጉዳዩ ይላክልኝ ሲሉ ፍ/ቤቱን የጠየቁ ሲሆን አቃቤ ህግ ማሰብ፣ ማሴር፣ በህቡዕ መደራጀት የሚሉት ክሶች በፀረ-ሽብር አዋጁ ተካትተዋል፣ በፀረ ሽብር አዋጁ የተከሰሰ ሰው ዋስትና ተከልክሎ በእስር ይቆይ ስለሚል ጉዳዩን ወደ ህገ መንግስት አጣሪ ጉባኤ ውሰዱልኝ የሚለው መከራከሪያ ህጋዊ መሰረት የለውም ሲል ተከራክሯል፡፡ ጠበቃው አመሃ መኮንን በበኩላቸው፤ “ተደራጁ - አሰቡ” የሚባለው ጉዳይ መብታቸውን ተጠቅመው ተደራጁ እንጂ

ABO tokkoomsuuf, walgahii bakka bu’oota Gumii Sabaa ABO Shanee Gumii fi Qaama Cehumsaa biyya Jarmaniitti gaafa 25/06/2014-28/06/2014tti geggeeffame fi murtii darbe irratti ibsa ejjennoo miseensota ABO kan biyya Keenyaa.

Nuti miseensotni ABO, kan duraan garee Shanee Gumii fi Qaama Cehumsaa keessa turre, guyyaa gaafa 12/07/2014 bakka tokkotti walgahii geggeeffannee, ABO tokkoomsuun murtii walgahiin Bakka bu’oota Gumii Sabaa garee ABO lameenii biyya Jarmaniitti dabarse irratti marii bal’aa fi dimookraatawaa eerga geggeeffannee booda ibsa ejjennoo armaan gadii dabarfanneerra.

1. Tokkummaan qabsaawota walabummaa Oromiyaa, Oromiyaa
walaboomte keessatti bilisa ta’ee jiraachuuf mirga ummatni Oromoo qabu kabachiisuuf qooda olaanaa waan qabuuf, kun hubatamee, ABO tokkoomsuuf tarkaanfii hoogganni ABO fudhatetti ni boonna.

2. ABO tokkoomsuun murtii walgahiin Gumii Sabaa waloo (kan gareen Shanee Gumii fi QC-ABO) biyya Jarmaniitti dabarse: fedhii, gaaffii fi hawwii miseensota fi deggertoota ABO fi ummata Oromoo bal’aaf, akkasumas, firoota qabsoo walabummaa Oromoof deebii kan kenne waan ta’eef, guutummaatti akka deggerru ibsachaa akka hojii irra oolchinus irbuu seenna.

3. Tokkummaan qabsaawota walabummaa Oromiyaa, utubaa qabsoo walabummaa Oromiyaa waan ta’eef, tokkummaa ABO biyya Jarmaniitti mirkanaawe kana akka qaroo ija keenyaatti tikfataa faalla tokkummaa kana kanneen ta’an dura jabinaan ni dhaabbatna.

4. Jabinni ABO fi hooggana isaa, sadarkaa duraatti miseensota isaa irra madda waan ta’eef, dirqama dhaabi nutti kennu, kan duraanii caalaatti gahummaa, muratnoo, gootummaa fi of-keniinsa cimaan raawwatnee ABO fi hooggana isaa daranuu jabaa ni taasifna.

5. Hawwaasa tokko keessatti miseensoti dhaaba tokkoo, dhaaba bakka bu’an sana calaqqisu. Kana waan ta’eef, kan duraanii caalaatti, naamusaa fi sansakkaan hawaasa Oromoo fi hawaasa biro kan biyya kanaa irratti hojjechuun daranuu ABO jala akka hiriiran ni goona.

6 .Qabsaawoti walabummaa Oromiyaatti amananii fi qabsaawan, kan gurmuu Oromoo adda addaa keessa jiran, tokkummaa ABO keessatti akka haamatamaniif shaffeessan akka irratti hojjetamu gaafanna.

7. Qabsoo walabummaa Oromiyaa ABO’n geggeeffamu bakkaan gahuuf, qabeenyaa guddaan ummata Oromoo keessaa madda. Waan ta’eef, ABO tokkoome kana cina hiriiree qooda lamummaa Oromiyaa akka bahatuuf ummata Oromoo biyya Keenyaa keessa jiraatuuf yaamicha lamummaa dabarsinaafi.

Injifatnoon Ummata Oromoof!

Dhimma mirga namaa Oromiyaadhaa gadi fageenyaan akka hordofu mootummaan France beeksise

Dhiibbaa mirga namaa Itophiyaa keessattiiyyuu kan saba Oromoo irratti raawwatamu ilaalchisee mootummooti biyya adda addaa balaaleffachaa turuun ni beekam. Hidhaan, reebichiifi ajjeechaan barattoota Oromoo irra baatii Eebilaa 2014 dhaabbilee barnootaa Oromiyaa keessatti raawwatames kan dhaloota saba kanaa bira darbee qaama heddu rifachiseef yakka sukkanneessaa kana akka mormanu taasiseedha.

Ajjeechaa barattootaa kana mormuun Caamsaa 9, 2014 Oromooti jiraattota biyya France ta’aniifi kanneen yakka mootummaa abbaa irree Itophiyaa kana balaaleffatanu hiriira mormii magaala gudditti Paris waajjira ministra dhimma alaa akkasumas Embasii Itophiyaa duratti bahun yakka shororkkeessaa kana balaaleffachuun ni yadatama.

Hawaasni Oromoo biyya France kan balaaleffate yakka mootummaa Itophiyaa qofa utuu hin ta’in deggersa mootumman France mootummaa abbaa irree sanaaf laatu keessattiiyyuu hirmmaannaa qophii «master plaanii Finfinnee» jedhamu irratti fudhatanu ilaalchisee ture.

Mormiin hawaasa kanaas barreeffamaan waajjira Prezidantii France irraa eegalee qaamota dhimmi isa ilaala jedhamee yaadame hundaaf akka gale oduu si’as tamsa’e irratti ibsamuun ni yaadatama.

Waajjirri Prezidantii France deebii iyyata hawaasaa kanaaf laate irratti ajjeechaa naannoo Oromityaa keessattiiyyuu Universitoota Jimmaa, Amboofi Adaamatti raawwatame siriitti hubachuu isaa ibsee mootummoota lamman gidduu hariiroon jiruu cimaa ta’uyyuu hundeen isaa kan kabajaa mirga dhala namaa irratti hundaahe akka ta’e dubbata.

Fakkeenyaafis gumii mirga dhala namaaa irratti France mootummaa Itophiyaatif kabaja mirga namaa ilaalchisee hubachiisa laachuu isii; kunis kabaja bilisummaafi mirga dhala namaa guutuutti kabajuu akka ta’e ibsa.

France qindaahina gamtaa Awrooppaa jalatti socho’uun hidhaa balaaleffatoota mootummaa akkasumas gaazexessitootaa irratti baatii Caamsaa darbe raawwatame balaaleffachuun kun dhiibbaa mirga yaada ofii ibsuufi wolabummaa sab-qunnamtii kan hubu ta’uu isaa addeesseera.

Itti ida’uunis Embaasiin France kan Finfinneetti argamu miilttowwan isaa kan Awrooppaafi Amerikaa woliin ta’uun dhaddacha himatamtoota kanaa irratti argamuun dhugaa jiru adda baafachuuf yaaliin godhame diddaa mootummaa Itophiyaatiin gufachuu isaa saaxileera.

Hata’u male jedha deebiin wajjiraPrezidaantii kun hariiroon Franciifi Itophiyaa gidduu jiraatu uumamatti kan kaayyoo kabaja mirga dhala namaa, wolabummaa seeraafi guddina diinagdee irratti hundaheedha jechuun dhuma irratti mootummaan France iyyata hawaasa Oromoo kana hubannaa itti laatee akka hodofu ibseera.

Kara biraatiin Masterplaanii Finfinnee kan woldiddaafi gaaga’ama uume irratti hirmaannaa fudhateera kan jedhamu bulchiinsi magaala Lyon (France) deebii barreeffamaan woldaa hawaasa Oromoo France kanaaf erge irratti komii dhimma kana irratti dhihaate xiinxalaa jiraachuu isaa ibseera.

Hawaasni Oromoo biyya France ammas hanga mirgi ummata keenyaa guutummaatti kabajamutti fageenyi lafaa utuu isa hin daangessin falmii isaa akka itti fufu hubachiisa.

———- ENGLISH TRANSLATION* —————–

The Chief of Staff of the President of the Republic

ESSA LENJISSO

ASSOCIATION OF OROMO COMMUNITY
125 BOULEVARD de DE CHARONNE
75011 PARIS

The president has received the letter you sent him concerning the situation of human rights and the Oromo people in Ethiopia.

Responsive to your request, MR François HOLAND assigned me to take care of your case.

The France has learned the deadly incidents that occurred last April in Universities of the Oromia region, particularly that of Jimma, Adamaa, Ambo cities, in the context of a protest against new territorial reform.
France maintains very good relations with Ethiopia, at this very case, feels entitled to monitor the situation of human rights in the country. At the Council of human rights for example France attracts the attention of Ethiopia authorities on the importance of respect for the freedoms and human rights for all countries aspiring to become emerging.

France is taking action in the European context following the arrest of nine journalists and bloggers and several members of the oppositions in the beginning of last May; the European Union has condemned the attacks on the respect of freedom of expression and media. Our Embassy in Addis Ababa has tried unsuccessfully, with our European partners and Americans, to attend the opening of their trial to testify to the interest that France has to this situation.

Furthermore, the French cooperation with Ethiopia naturally meets the objectives of promoting human rights, social justice and sustainable economic development.

Ensuring that these issues are carefully followed, please accept the assurance of my highest consideration.

Isabelle SIMA

Ethiopia's Democratic Transition: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

Twenty Ethiopia state journalists dismissed, in hiding

By Tom Rhodes/CPJ East Africa Representative

People demonstrate in Addis Ababa on May 24 against security forces who shot at students at a peaceful rally weeks eearlier in Oromia state. (Reuters/Tiksa Negeri)

"If they cannot indoctrinate you into their thinking, they fire you," said one former staff member of the state-run Oromia Radio and Television Organization (ORTO), who was dismissed from work last month after six years of service. "Now we are in hiding since we fear they will find excuses to arrest us soon," the journalist, who asked not to be identified for fear of reprisal, told CPJ.

On June 25, 20 journalists from the state broadcaster in Oromia, the largest state in terms of area and population in Ethiopia, were denied entry to their station's headquarters, according to news reports. No letters of termination or explanations were presented, local journalists told CPJ; ORTO's management simply said the dismissals were orders given by the government. "Apparently this has become common practice when firing state employees in connection with politics," U.S.-based Ethiopian researcher Jawar Mohammed said in an email to CPJ. "The government seems to want to leave no documented trace."

The journalists, some of whom had worked for the state broadcaster for over five years, can only speculate on the reason for their dismissals. Two of them told CPJ they believe it is linked to student protests earlier in the year.

On April 25, students at Ambo University, Oromia State, protested the government's "Master Plan" to cede parts of Oromia State to the capital, Addis Ababa, a federal region, according to news reports. The state claimed in a statement that eight people died in violent protests in Ambo over a plan designed to provide urban services to rural areas. Oromo citizens say that many more died in Ambo at the hands of security forces for demonstrating against a proposal they fear will lead to the federal government grabbing their land and reducing local autonomy, news reports said. More student and civil society protests ensued soon after the Ambo University demonstrations and authorities were determined to quell any reporting on the unrest.

But the Oromo state broadcaster, listened to by millions of Oromo citizens, hardly covered the protests, according to local journalists. ORTO only discussed the protests after they had concluded, dismissing one of the region's largest social actions as an illegal initiative conducted by violent elements, one journalist said.

Prior to the protests, however, TV Oromia aired a short segment where ruling party members criticized the plan to cede parts of Oromia State to the capital, local journalists told me. Many were surprised by the critical coverage coming from the state broadcaster, the same sources said. Senior members of Ethiopia's ruling party may also have been surprised.

Last month, senior ruling party members such as former Communications Minister Bereket Simon and the pro-government Director of Fana Broadcasting, Waldu Yemasel, led an indoctrination program called "gimgama" (meaning "re-evaluation") for the ORTO staff at the station's headquarters in Adama, journalists who attended the program told me.

"The main purpose of the training was not to build the skill and profession of the journalists, but rather to identify the political positions of the staff," said one of the journalists in attendance. The 180 staff members were divided into 12 groups with two ruling party cadres in charge of evaluating the staff within each respective group, the journalist told me. Some of the ORTO staffers suspect the government decided to rid the broadcaster of staff who sympathized with the protesters. The management told one source that the government was not pleased with them for not producing "developmental journalism," a term local journalists define as "positive reporting on government projects."

The fear of being imprisoned next is not unfounded. Ethiopia is the second worst jailer of journalists in Africa, trailing only Eritrea, with 17 journalists currently behind bars. They are all imprisoned on trumped-up charges or none at all, according to CPJ research. Under such conditions, local journalists told CPJ, many resort to fleeing the country to evade arrest. CPJ has assisted 41 Ethiopian journalists in exile since 2009.