Fear stalks Oromia after brutal crackdown—the protest is about much more than what you see

"Sparked by a plan to expand the capital, Human Rights Watch says more than 200 people have been killed, but history is also playing a major role."

FEAR is so pervasive in Ethiopia’s largest region Oromia, where the government is accused of killing scores in a crackdown, that people don’t even like to give their names.

Oromia, which surrounds the capital Addis Ababa, is dotted with machine-gun mounted vehicles and Ethiopian soldiers who locals say have disrupted daily life with incessant checks, harassment and intimidation.

“If you go out in the evening, the police will arrest you, check your papers and your phones. If you have music or photos linked to the protests, you’re in serious trouble,” a young man in his twenties said in Ginchi, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) from Addis Ababa.

“I am very scared for our children, for our youths. I no longer sleep at night. Our life has become hell and it has no meaning,” said a mother of two aged in her forties.

Demonstrations began in Oromia in November due to a government plan to expand the boundaries of Addis Ababa into the region, raising fears among the Oromo people that their farms would be expropriated.

Authorities dropped the urban development plan on January 12 and announced the situation in Oromia was largely under control.

But the demonstrations continued, along with the brutal response, which Human Rights Watch said has claimed the lives of more than 200 people, according to Ethiopian activists.

Distinct language

The Oromos are the largest ethnic group in the east African country, estimated at 27 million in a total population of some 99 million.

Their language, Oromo, is distinct from Amharic, spoken by the Ahmara people and used by the national administration.

In Ambo, 40 kilometres to the west of Ginchi, policemen and soldiers patrol the streets. Some shops are open but schools and hospitals have been closed for three months.

Three young bank employees, huddled on small paved street, discreetly recount the latest protests that erupted at the end of last week.

“There are more policemen in Ambo than there are cobblestones,” said one.

Professor ‘disappeared’

“We are scared of soldiers. There have been a lot of arrests. Tension has been growing since the start of the protests,” added another.

At a nearby dimly-lit billiard hall, a dozen-odd students relate their version of last week’s events.

“One of our professors was arrested and we have had no news of him since. We decided to go to the ministry of education to get some news. The police came and asked us what we wanted. We wanted to explain why we were there but they fired tear gas,” said one.

“Then special army commandos arrived and started firing live bullets.”

They said a young man, named Elias Arasasa, died of bullet wounds and his sister Nagasse was injured by gunfire.

“The soldiers do not speak our language. We cannot communicate with them. Weapons are their only language,” said the mother of two.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said security forces have arrested several thousand people since November and are holding them without charge.

“Almost daily accounts of killings and arbitrary arrests have been reported to Human Rights Watch since 2016 began,” said the New York-based non-governmental organisation.

Marginalisation

The HRW’s Horn of Africa expert Felix Horne told AFP that while the expansion of the capital was the spark that triggered the protests, the Oromo people had been feeling marginalised for a long time.

“There is also less and less information coming out from the areas where the protests are happening,” he said.

“Many individuals who provided updates and information have either been arrested, have disappeared, or are afraid to provide further information.”

Addis-based expert Tadesse O’Barr said the “Oromo people have underlying unanswered cumulative political and socio-cultural questions.

PROTEST CRACKDOWNS: BEYOND THE BODY COUNT ‪#‎OromoProtests

‪#‎OromoProtests

What is now widely acknowledged as the ‘Oromo protests’ started in early November 2014 in Ginchi town, about 80km west of the capital Addis Abeba. It was pioneered by a small group of community members who protested against a planned take-over by the government of a plot of land – a land used by youngsters in the small town and its surrounding as a Sunday football pitch. Protesters then picked up the much larger, albeit mired in confusion, issues of the proposed Addis Abeba Abeba Master Plan. The protest then spread throughout the Oromiya regional state, the largest unit of the federated Ethiopia, like a bush fire.

 The two and half months protest left more than 187 Oromo dead, most of them in the hands of the security – according to campaigners; hundreds more were wounded and twice as much are believed to have been incarcerated. Figures collected by social media campaigners also show names and places of hundreds of young students who have disappeared without a trace. Owing to several circumstances, including security agents’ hostility towards on the ground reporting by journalists, real figures of the causality remain highly contested.

But the current protest by Oromo's  against their government is the biggest in the history of the reign over the past 25 years of the incumbent. It raised a great many and hard-to-confront questions that left the country’s political elites wrestling for answers.

Lost in this chaos are, however, the stories of those who are forced to succumb to despair; the stories of wounds that were left wide open; and the stories of the social fabrics that were shattered beyond repair and are left with no mechanism to heal.

This is the story of the cost beyond the body count.

Ambo’s bleeding wound
For Ambo’s Kebele 06 residents, this year’s Ethiopian Epiphany (Timqet), celebrated on the 21st of January, will not be remembered for the jollity it normally brings in to the young and old, men and women of the city; nor will it be remembered for the songs praising the Lord; rather, it will be remembered for the last moments of Kumsa Tefera, 19, and the countless others who suffered his fate.

Kumsa used to cook and sell French fries, mostly after school, on the sidewalks in his residential area. The kids loved him as much as they loved his French fries. But late that afternoon Kumsa went to attend the Timqet celebration, which involves one of the most colorful public festivities in the Orthodox Christian tradition. He didn’t come home at the end of the day.

Kumsa’s family didn’t want to take the news of him not being at home as ordinary delay in the coming home of a young man. They were apprehensive, a state of mind further intensified by news of shootings, bereavements and detentions that has gripped the town by its neck for weeks before that day. “Just three days prior to that, the body of [a teenager] from our own neighborhood came from the hospital. He was killed by the police,” said Tufa, Kumsa’s older brother. That morning, Tufa said, “there was an air of tension from the very beginning. We heard there were planned protests and the police were firing guns and have arrested several youngsters.”

Merara Chala, a local physician at Ambo Hospital, supported Tufa’s claim. He told Addis Standard about countless injured people who crowded the emergency room on that fateful day. “Some of them were shot. Others were beaten. I particulary remember an elderly in his seventies beaten severely. There were also others, especially kids, who were wounded because of a stampede when people rushed to run away from the police,” Merara said.

It was among those that Tufa found his brother. “In the evening we found out that he was admitted to the hospital,” he says, “there he was, with his friend who was shot on his leg.” Kumsa was shot on his chest, his brother said.

Kumsa succumbed to his wounds the next day and died at around 11 AM. He was an 11th grader. The spot where he used to make the French fries lay empty. “We lost him way too young,” said Tufa, a sigh of grief betraying his soul. “He got into selling the fries to help our mother. I don’t know if she will ever recover from this.”

But for Demekech Biratu, a street vendor and a resident of the town, the agony lies elsewhere. She doesn’t know what happened to her son, a second year student at Ambo Technical and Vocational Education College. He disappeared in mid-January this year. “He went to school and vanished into thin air,” she said, trying to manage her despair. “Since then all I do is to look for him. He is not in the hospitals,” she said, “not knowing the whereabouts of your son is really dreadful.”

After days of searching in vain, a glimpse of hope arrived via a young man who had recently been released from a lockup. “As soon as he told me that he saw my son in prison in Guder, I went rushing,” she said, “but the prison officials couldn’t tell me if my son is there, let alone let me see him.”

Now Demekech spends every day shuttling to and from Guder, 11 km from Ambo, with a small bag carrying food for her son. She leaves the food at the gate of the prison, but doesn’t know whether it reaches him or not. “Let the law judge me,” she wailed repeatedly. “I need to know whatever happened to my son.”

HRW: No Let Up in Crackdown on Protests'''' Killings, Detention of Protesters Enter Fourth Month''''

Ethiopian security forces are violently suppressing the largely peaceful protests in the Oromia region that began in November 2015. Almost daily accounts of killings and arbitrary arrests have been reported to Human Rights Watch since 2016 began.

Security forces, including military personnel, have fatally shot scores of demonstrators. Thousands of people have been arrested and remain in detention without charge. While the frequency of protests appears to have decreased in the last few weeks, the crackdown continues.
“Flooding Oromia with federal security forces shows the authorities’ broad disregard for peaceful protest by students, farmers and other dissenters,” said Leslie Lefkow, deputy Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The government needs to rein in the security forces, free anyone being held wrongfully, and hold accountable soldiers and police who used excessive force.”

The Ethiopian government has said that the situation in Oromia is largely under control following the government’s retraction on January 12 of the proposed “Addis Ababa Integrated Development Master Plan.” The controversial proposal to expand the municipal boundaries of the capital, Addis Ababa, into farmland in Oromia sparked the initial demonstrations.

The plan’s cancellation did not halt the protests however, and the crackdown continued throughout Oromia. In late January 2016, Human Rights Watch interviewed approximately 60 protesters and other witnesses from various parts of the Oromia region in December and January who described human rights violations during the protests, some since mid-January. They said that security forces have shot randomly into crowds, summarily killed people during arrests, carried out mass roundups, and tortured detainees.
While there have been some reports of violence during the protests, including the destruction of some foreign-owned farms and looting of some government buildings, most of the protests since November have been peaceful. On February 12, federal security forces fired on a bus after a wedding, killing four people, provoking further protests. A February 15 clash between federal security forces and armed men believed to be local police or militias, resulted in the deaths of seven security officers, according to the government.

On January 10, security forces threw a grenade at students at Jimma University in western Oromia, injuring dozens, eyewitnesses reported. Multiple witnesses told Human Rights Watch that security forces stormed dormitories at Jimma University on January 10 and 11, with mass arrests and beatings of Oromo students.

Security forces have arrested students, teachers, government officials, businesspeople, opposition politicians, healthcare workers, and people who provide assistance or shelter to fleeing students. Because primary and secondary school students in Oromia were among the first to protest, many of those arrested have been children, under age 18.
“They walked into the compound and shot three students at point-blank range,” one 17-year-old student said describing security force reaction to students chanting against the master plan. “They were hit in the face and were dead.”

Human Rights Watch spoke to 20 people who had been detained since the protests began on November 12, none of whom had been taken before a judge. Fourteen people said they were beaten in detention, sometimes severely. Several students said they were hung up by their wrists while they were whipped. An 18-year-old student said he was given electric shocks to his feet. All the students interviewed said that the authorities accused them of mobilizing other students to join the protests. Several women who were detained alleged that security officers sexually assaulted and otherwise mistreated them in detention.

The descriptions fit wider patterns of torture and ill-treatment of detainees that Human Rights Watch and other rights groups have documented in Oromia’s many official and secret detention facilities. Numerous witnesses and former detainees said that security forces are using businesses and government buildings in West Shewa and Borana zones as makeshift detention centers.

At time of writing, some schools and universities remain closed throughout Oromia because the authorities have arrested teachers and closed facilities to prevent further protests, or students do not attend as a form of protest or because they fear arrest. Many students said they were released from detention on the condition that they would not appear in public with more than one other individual, and several said they had to sign a document making this commitment as a condition for their release.

Human Rights Watch has not been able to verify the total numbers of people killed and arrested given restrictions on access and independent reporting in Ethiopia. Activists allege that more than 200 people have been killed since November 12, based largely on material collated from social media videos, photos, and web posts. Available information suggests that several thousand people have been arrested, many of whose whereabouts are unknown, which would be a forcible disappearance.

Human Rights Watch has documented 12 additional killings previously unreported. Most of these occurred in Arsi and Borana Zones in southern Oromia, where protests have also been taking place but have received less attention than elsewhere. This suggests that the scale of the protests and abuses across Oromia may be greater than what has been reported, Human Rights Watch said.

The Ethiopian government’s pervasive restrictions on independent civil society groups and media have meant that very little information is coming from affected areas. However, social media contains photos and videos of the protests, particularly from November and December.

The Oromia Media Network (OMN) has played a key role in disseminating information throughout Oromia during the protests. OMN is a diaspora-based television station that relays content, primarily in the Afan Oromo language, via satellite, and recently started broadcasting on shortwave radio. The Ethiopian government has reportedly jammed OMN 15 times since it began operations in 2014, in contravention of international regulations. Two business owners told Human Rights Watch they were arrested for showing OMN in their places of business. Federal police destroyed satellites dishes that were receiving OMN in many locations. Students said they were accused of providing videos for social media and of communicating information to the OMN. Arrests and fear of arrest has resulted in less information on abuses coming out of Oromia over the last month.

The Ethiopian government should end the excessive use of force by the security forces, free everyone detained arbitrarily, and conduct an independent investigation into killings and other security force abuses, Human Rights Watch said. Those responsible for serious rights violations should be appropriately prosecuted and victims of abuses should receive adequate compensation.

On January 21, the European Parliament passed a strong resolution condemning the crackdown. There has been no official statement from the United Kingdom, and the United States has not condemned the violence, instead focusing on the need for public consultation and dialogue in two statements. Otherwise, few governments have publicly raised concerns about the government’s actions. As two of Ethiopia’s most influential partners, the United Kingdom and the United States should be doing more to halt the violent crackdown and to call for an independent investigation into the abuses, Human Rights Watch said.

ODF Statement on Ethiopia’s Current Situation

ODF Statement on Ethiopia’s Current Situation

February , 2016

The Executive Committee of the Oromo Democratic Front (ODF) having deliberated on the unfolding situations in Oromia over the last three months has reached the conclusion that further attempts by the regime to reassert total control are futile and actually counterproductive.

Reiterating our unwavering support for non-violent resistance by the Oromo people in their struggle for human rights, freedom, and democracy, we want to make one thing abundantly clear: No amount of violent suppression by the regime will any longer cow the Oromo into submission.
As the Oromo people, determined to end their marginalization, rises in their millions demanding legitimate rights, there can be no force that can derail it from its course towards certain victory.

The status quo of the last 25 years is shattered and no longer tenable. All attempts by the ruling party to gain control of the volatile situation through single use of security and military means has come to naught. Short of concrete actions towards political liberalization, Ethiopia risk sliding toward chaos and TPLF/EPRDF regime policies are squarely responsible. Having effectively marginalized and destroyed political opponents; imposed the political and economic dominance of a small ruling elite through illegal appropriation of land and wealth; having institutionalized corruption and damaged the legitimacy of state organs; one can no longer hope that weakened national institutions manned by the most incompetent are capable of arresting the situation from spinning out of control. Hence, averting further national tragedy is incumbent on all stakeholders.

The ODF Executive Committee therefore makes a three-pronged call. First, we call on all Oromo political and civic organizations inside and outside of the country to unite. Second, we call on all Ethiopian political and civic organizations to join their Oromo counterparts to consolidate our people’s efforts to free the country from tyranny. Third, we call on the international community to stop fooling itself that the status quo of the last 25 years in which the ruling party single-handedly dictated the country’s future is sustainable and rather help convene an all-inclusive conference to prevent further bloodshed.

Oromo: Ethiopian government continues repression of Oromo Protesters

A tireless struggle continues on Addis Ababa’s streets and in other 100 towns of the Oromiya Region where a multitude of students try to make their voices heard against the creation of the Addis Ababa Master Plan.  The protests started in November 2015 and the Government’s reaction has brought to a number of deaths, injuries and imprisonments. Additionally, it seems that the Government has no intention to investigate the local authorities’ abuses and general aggressive behaviour, which also included several arbitrary detentions without due legal process.

It is happening again, sadly. The government in Ethiopia is back to its signature of killing, maiming and jailing its own people because they are exercising their chance of rejecting state excesses using the only means available: taking to the streets to protest.

Ethiopia is a country that has effectively obliterated several channels that normally help foster a healthy communication between citizens and the state .The sorry state of independent media and civil society organization is distressing; and every day lived experienced of Ethiopians and their contacts with authorities at any level is alarmingly toxic.

Authorities in Ethiopia should have therefore been the last ones to get started by the idea of citizens taking to the streets to make their grievances heard. Alas, that is not to be.

Hundreds and thousands of students and residents in more than 100 cities and towns in Oromiya Regional State (Oromiya for short), the largest and most populous state in Ethiopia, are in and out of the streets since early Nov. last year. Like every experience when Ethiopians were out on the streets protesting state excesses, every day is bringing heart breaking stories of Ethiopians suffering in the hands of security personnel. Since Nov.12th 2015, when the first protest broke out in Ginchi, a small town 80km west of Addis Abeba, countless households have buried their loved ones; young university students have disappeared without a trace; hundreds have lost limbs and countless others are jailed

Ethiopians are once again killing, miming and jailing Ethiopians.

The immediate trigger factor is the possible implementation of the infamous Addis Abeba and Surrounding Oromiya Special Zone Integrated Development Plan, popularly known as 'the Addis Abeba Master Plan.'

The federal government claims it is a plan aimed at only creating a better infrastructure link between the capital Addis Abeba and eight towns located within the Oromiya Regional State Special Zone. But the reason why it is having a hard time selling this otherwise fairytale like development plan is the same reason why it is responding heavy handedly to any dissent against it: it is what it wants to do.

The current protest is led by the Oromos, who are the largest ethnic majority in Ethiopia. In all the four corners of the Addis Abeba surrounding localities, Oromos also make up the single largest majority whose way of lives have already been affected by mammoth changes Addis Abeba has been having over the last Century.

They are rejecting the central government's top down plan because they are informed by a merciless history of eviction and dispossession. Several researches show that over the last 25 years alone about half a million Oromo farmers have unjustly lost their farmlands to give way to an expansion of a city that is xenophobic to their way to being.

Not the first time

Sadly, this is not the first time Ethiopians are pleading with their government to be heard in regards to the so-called 'Master Plan.' The first protest erupted in April-May 2014 when mostly Oromo student protesters from universities in Ambo and Jimma in the west, Adama in the east and Medaawalabu in south east Ethiopia, among others, expressed their disapproval of the plan. Like today, they have resorted to communicate with authorities the only way they possibly can: take to the streets to protest. And like today authorities have responded the only way they have so far responded to Ethiopian voices calling for justice: killing tens, maiming hundreds and incarcerating thousands.

As of 1991, when the current regime first came to power, students, mostly Oromo students, have staged several protest rallies calling for justice. Each time the end result has been nothing short of a disaster.

Although the 2014 Oromo students protest marked the first of the largest protest against the central government, a not so distant memory of Oromo students' protests and subsequent crackdowns reveal a disturbing history of state brutality gone with impunity. To mention just two, in late '90s Oromo Students at the Addis Abeba University (AAU) protested against a systematic expulsion of hundreds of Oromo students, who, authorities claimed, had links with the then rebel group, Oromo Liberation Front (OLF). But many of those who protested against the dismissal of their dorm mates soon joined the growing list of expulsion; hundreds of were also jailed. Today mothers speak of their kids who have disappeared without a trace since then. And in early 2000 Oromo students have taken to the streets to protest against the federal government's decision to relocate the capital of the Oromiya regional state from Addis Abeba to Adama. Many of them were killed when police opened fires in several of those protests, including the one here in Addis Abeba.

Although in 2005 the federal government decided to relocate the capital of Oromiya back to Addis Abeba, fifteen years later Ethiopian prisons are hosting hundreds of students who were jailed following their protest against the decision in the first place; hundreds of them have left the country via Kenya and have become homeless in foreign lands. Less mentioned are also the lives that have been altered forever; the hopes that were dashed; the students' quest to study and change their lives that were cut short; a country that is deprived of its young and brightest; and family fabrics that were shattered.

State impunity and all that

Following the 2014 Oromo students' protest and the killing

The New Agenda for Oromo Struggle

Oromo youth have created a new agenda that is no more limited to elites but mobilizes the whole population. It is a fluid process that can engulf any impediment on its way. During those days when Oromo were totally suppressed and placed under alien rule and all possible rights were denied no one from the colonizers camp had come out to say “please have compassion for them” When they found no way out from boundless oppression their youth of the sixties were able to find an opening and filled them with hope that liberation was possible. To fulfill that they drew a political program and vowed that they will not turn back until democratic Republic Oromiyaa is found. When they saw this, Ethiopians came out on them from all corners and threw contempt and insults. Even today no one among them has come out to say “they have the truth, wrong is being done on these people in particular, let us correct our policy and find viable solution”. They talk much about unity; its content is for them and is not meant to include non-Ethiopians like the Oromo. One person from among them, student Walalliny Makonnin is being condemned to this day for writing about the right of nations for national self-determination.

To hoodwink the question people have for ownership of their country they started saying all peoples of Ethiopia have questions of class the harm done to Oromo is no different from others and so can be overcome through class struggle. Oromo youth fooled by this rallied to fight their wars. Later they were betrayed and crushed. Some that survived joined those that had held firmly to the question of independence and freedom. Though some dropped out of the struggle by unknown pressure those that newly joined the struggle are numberless. They are still trying to repeat those lies. But there will be no turning back until what is aimed for is achieved. Youth that excel their elders and more proud of their identity are coming forth. The question is not one that can be gaged bay Wayyaanee but one that is feared to bring about her demise. She knows that people’s arms cannot be bent with Agaazii club; that is why the struggle for her is becoming the last birth pang and so catastrophic.

Oromo revolutionaries had taken vow that in Democratic Republic Oromiyaa human rights for all Oromiyaan citizens will be realized equally. In the same manner that it will be a country where universal human rights shall be respected and will not be where they are gagged and humiliated like in Ethiopia was ensured by fathers that built organization for the struggle. To get these rights respected Oromiyaa will not expect permission or suggestion from any one. The youth have asserted that the right of nations to national self-determination is a birth rights not something that someone bestows on a nation. All nations and nationalities that want to befriend them have to accept this truth. Oromiyaa is not a twig of anybody but a self-dependent country. Historically Oromiyaa is known as a country that allows others to live with it its laws not one that pushes away immigrants. With Oromo let alone human beings all living things will not be touched outside the law, it is also safuu (unethical).

Despite that knowledge, there are those that are sneaking around to create discord among Oromiyaans. To fend off these is the duty of all natural and naturalized Oromiyaa citizens. That is only to get own law respected not from fear of anyone. With Oromo anyone refusing to abide by the law is equally accountable for one’s action. If the exclusive right of the Oromo over Oromiyaa is not recognized that life for them has no meaning is already determined. Never again will they live denied the democratic heritage of their forefathers, suppressed by minority and traitors. There are groups that have taken this determination seriously and started to correct therir approaches. This is victory for Oromo youth.

To rally their constituency some Ethiopian elites still repeat what their fathers were bellowing on them that countries occupied during formation of their empire are their exclusive gift from their day of birth. That is why they are lamenting that “a country cannot be created with struggle for identity”. This shows that they are stunned by the coming forth of identity they thought to have suppressed long ago. The Oromo has nothing to fight for more than to get their Oromummaa (Oromoness). Oromummaa means personality, land, history, culture and resources. For what are they expected to fight if not for these? There is no doubt that identity of Oromo is created by Oromiyaans and identity of Ethiopia is created by Ethiopians. The Oromo had never accepted and will not accept formation of Ethiopian identity by crushing that of the Oromo. The colonies have broken their chains. Henceforth their will not be any capable “moderate” Oromo that could help driving the Oromo back to chains.

Agenda of the struggle has now changed from the first phase. The doubt about Oromo unity created between diaspora Oromo has been aborted and its being as strong as steel has been assured by Oromo youth. They have also asserted that the Oromo struggles only for one thing, for realization of being owners of their country and get back the lost right of national self-determination including independence. Oromo youth has never mentioned about secession but independence; they do not even understand what it means. The struggle is not to replay the role of Obbo Goobana Daaccee but to correct his mistakes. That did not benefit even him but rather destroyed him.

Will Expressing Concern Prevent State-Led Mass Murder in Oromia?

The number of Oromo civilians killed, maimed, tortured, disappeared and raped by Ethiopian government forces has been increasing after Ethiopia’s Foreign Minister Dr. Tedros Adhanom met with the European Union and US Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Powers. Ignoring concerns by the EU and Ambassador Powers over Ethiopia’s government’s violent responses to peaceful Oromo protesters, Tedros’ government has continued with the killings and many other forms of atrocities against the Oromo people, including killing children.

The number of state-led killings has now increased to 185, according Abiyi Atomsa, an Oromo activist who provided the “minimum death tolls”. Another source, Ethiopia Crisis, a group that monitors the crisis and provides updates on the violence, reported on January 29, 2015 that the number of people killed for peacefully protesting against the government over land grabbing “exceeds 200.” A month ago, Human Rights Watch reported that 140 members of the ethnic Oromo were killed for protesting a government plan to expand the boundary of Addis Ababa city into Oromia regional state by evicting Oromo farmers. HRW stated “arrest of respected politician” Bekele Gerba, Deputy Chairman of the Oromo Federalist Congress, marked the escalation of the crisis.

The European Union Parliament, which correctly assessed the crisis and debated on it and passed a 15-point “resolution on the situation in Ethiopia”, is the only international actor with concrete plans to curb massive rights abuses by the Ethiopian government in Oromia if and when this monumental resolution is translated into actions. Not only did the EU parliament condemn the excessive use of violence by government forces against peaceful protesters, it also called for impartial investigations into killings and other human rights violations and for the prosecution of responsible government actors. More importantly, the EU made it clear that aid to Ethiopia will be contingent upon the protection of human rights going forward. The resolution “stresses that financial support to Ethiopia from the EU should be measured attending to the country’s human rights record and the degree to which the Ethiopian government promotes reforms towards democratization, as the only way to ensure stability and sustainable development.”

Contemptuous of the EU and concerns of Western nations providing aid, $3 billion amounting to half of Ethiopia’s national budget, the Ethiopian regime has not taken any steps to de-escalate the situation. In fact, it’s escalating the use of lethal force against unarmed protesters in Oromia and Gambella regions.

The United States government has failed to follow the good example set by the EU parliament; the US does not yet have a concrete plan to curb the unfolding crimes against humanity against the Oromo population by the Ethiopian state. Despite a stark omission of violence against the Oromo protesters by Ethiopian government from a recent White House National Security Council statement, the State Department and some US diplomats have publically expressed increasing levels of concerns about the killings in Oromia, and urged the Ethiopian government to “allow peaceful protests” and called for “a meaningful dialogue about Oromo community [people’s] concerns.”

While increasing expressions of concern are welcome by the Oromo people, all these statements from the US government lack any concrete plans on how to stop the atrocities by the Ethiopian government. Having observed the reluctance by the United States, the Ethiopian government continued with massive atrocity crimes in the state of Oromia. These statements cleverly avoid the need for involving political actors in the said dialogue. It is very well known that the situation calls for more than a dialogue at this stage—a possible change of system or a comprehensive negotiation of a transitional order involving all political actors with opposing ethno-nationalist agenda. Activists on social media tweeted to the White House, the State Department and Ambassador Samantha Powers and demanded a more concrete action that would lead to holding the regime accountable.

Britain has also expressed concern through its member of parliament. James Duddridge, member of the UK Parliament, posted a message on Twitter saying that he, “raised concerns with Tedros Adhanom [Ethiopia’s MFA] about Oromo protests—important for authorities to exercise restraint and address the root causes.” This expression of concern on social media is welcome, but it raises a question as to whether the United Kingdom has any concrete plans to hold the government it helps finance accountable over killings and other forms of crimes against humanity in Oromia and all parts of Ethiopia. Social media activists pointed out to the UK MP that expressing concern will not alter the violent behavior of the Ethiopian government toward Oromo civilians. Activists cited that the killings continued after James Duddridge expressed concern. So, the concern did not have any impact on the behavior of the regime.

However, except for issuing foreign travel advice in Ethiopia to protect its citizens, the British Home Office has not issued a statement condemning the excessive use of force against Oromo civilians. Like the U.S., the U.K. has no publicly-available plan with which to hold its aid darling Ethiopia accountable over massive human rights abuses. The British Department for International Development has kept pumping aid into Ethiopia without accountability mechanism in place regarding how this aid would be used.

Although asking favors is not a bad thing, the Oromo people are not asking the West to do them a favor when they protest in Western cities such as Washington DC, Seattle, Minneapolis, Ottawa, London, Berlin, Melbourne and so on. They are asking for the withdrawal of foreign aid or the conditioning of aid on the protection of human rights because they believe currently the Ethiopian government is using foreign aid to finance its military campaigns in civilian quarters in Oromia and Ethiopia. Oromo demonstrators in the United States, Canada, and at the United Nations headquarters in New York City, demanded them to stop supporting “tyrannical Ethiopian government that is killing children in schools, colleges and universities across Oromia.”