The Nation under genocide and the need for a unity leadership to combat it

My slavery forbade me to speak; the truth forbade me to keep silent says African adage. This is a dilemma Oromo nationals have faced. There are Oromo nationals who failed to speak out as the objective of Oromo struggle is abandoned; as the OLF is at the verge of collapse; as the Tigrayan fascist force of darkness has been and is committing genocide against the Oromo people and targeting Oromiyaa for disintegration. I refused to keep silent and instead I choose to speak out the truth.

Facing the hard truth

Today, the Oromo are confronted a dual danger: Internal and external. We need to open our eyes anew to this dual danger. Internally, since 1999 to-date the OLF, the Oromo struggle, and the Oromo people have been without leadership. Those who claim to be a leadership have been unable to lead this nation, this organization and this liberation struggle. The reason is simply they have no a vision and a clear goal. A leadership without a vision creates chaos, conflicts and divisions within nation and organization that it claims to represent. Here what should be clear is a leadership without a vision is a leadership without destination. A leadership without destination has no direction. Hence, it waffles over where to go. At times it says Ethiopian democratization; at another time it says Ethiopian federalization; and still at another time it says independence of Oromiyaa. Think of a vision as a picture of the future that we fighting for to establish-the independence Democratic Republic of Oromiyaa. This is our destination. Hence our vision is our target. In our fighting we establish a roadmap that takes us to the targeted point- armed and political struggle. In this struggle, we have only two options: either to eliminate the TPLF or to be eliminated by it. The choice is ours. Certainly, our choice is to eliminate it. For this, we stop at nothing until Oromiyaa is liberated and the TPLF is annihilated. For this, the armed struggle and political struggle are our roadmaps that take us to the target. An organization without a leadership or organization with leadership that does not have determination, commitment, competence and clear objective cannot survive. In this case, the objective, the goal and revolutionary actions will be diluted. Oromo national liberation movement has faced such conditions. So, we failed to speak against these.

First of all, the Oromo political leadership has already abandoned the country for exile and scattered around the world while the Oromo people are under genocide and Oromiyaa is under destruction. With this, it has become a remote leadership. No liberation front leadership in history has ever abandoned its country, its people, its organization and the national liberation struggle and became a remote leadership in the like of the current leadership of the OLF. In so doing, this “leadership” has ruined the OLF. On the contrary, the former Secretary Generals

Galaasaa Dilboo

Magarsaa Barii and Galaasaa Dilboo as Secretary-General of the OLF had never left Oromiyaa; never abandoned their people, their organization and the struggle of their people. They fought gallantly in the villages, valleys, plains and mountains of Oromiyaa selflessly with bravery, courage and determination despite all odds the OLF had faced. This was during the darkest time in the Oromo national liberation struggle. They saved the Oromo struggle and the OLF. Indeed, they fought a fight of true fighters. Amilcar Cabral had never abandoned PAIGC and left Guinea Bissau, Agostino Neto never abandoned MPLA and left Angola; Filipe Nyusi did not abandoned his organization-FRELIMO to leave Mozambique; Ho Chi Minh did not abandon Vietnam; Fidel Castro never left Cuba; Mao Tse-tung had never left China, Esaias Afewerki had never left Eritrea and the fascist Meles Zenawi-the architect of Oromo genocide and Oromiyaa disintegration, had never left Tigray during their struggles and etc. The sad thing is, all political leaderships of the Oromo liberation movement, without exception, are in exile; abandoned the country and the real struggle.

Not only this, particularly since the “leadership” of the OLF left the country for exile in 1999, the rise of a sectarian climate have been facilitated leading to rifts and split of the OLF. Today, the OLF in its composition does not reflex the Oromo people. Unfortunately, the past is still with us-loyalty to local cliques. Frequently, unquestioning submission to local cliques has been long inculcated. It is narrowed down to only represent particular village at all levels from membership to leadership. One of the criteria of a national liberation front is that it must be organized in such a way that all members of the nation be able to see themselves in it. This means the composition of it from membership to the leadership at all levels must reflect the population. Liberation front is an organization of the people. For this, the OLF is the organization of the Oromo people; it is their children who fight in it; it is the Oromo people who support it; it is the Oromo people that suffer in its name. Individuals join it to contribute his/her share but they do not own it.

One of the responsibilities of the leadership of a nation is to learn the leadership principles by which its nation had been guided to become a great democratic nation in early generations. Oromo are democratic and open society. It was a great nation. Its leadership must follow this; it must be open to its members and its people. Leadership must be open to dialog and debate, above all, it must listen to its people; to its members; learn from its people and members and act according to the wish and aspiration of its people.

In order to do these, leadership has to be in its country and among its people not in exile. These have to be upheld and followed. Failure to learn these, leads to crisis. This is what has happened to the OLF. Of these democratic aspect of the Oromo people is a term limit. That is to leave office once the term of office is expired is the Oromo traditional way. In their history, the Oromo people established a term limit of eight years. True to this tradition, the OLF established term limit of eight years in its constitution. In its constitution, Article 18, No, 2, states that Secretary General is elected by the National Council from among its members for four years. He/she cannot be elected Secretary General more than two Consecutive terms. Again, Article 19, No. 1, states that deputy Secretary cannot be elected Deputy Secretary more than two Consecutive terms. This must be respected and upheld.

However, to plot and scheme to be re-elected again is contrary to the OLF constitution. The term limit of this leadership has already expired. Both Secretary-General and Deputy Secretaries cannot be re-elected. All of them have to evacuate the office.

The familiar truth
Long before the conquest of Oromiyaa, the Oromo unity under Gadaa System was abandoned. With this, kingdoms were established in many parts of Oromiyaa. For the first, disunity emerged. This disunity weakened the Oromo society at all levels. Menelik of Abyssinia used this Oromo leaderships’ disunity to his advantage and undertook a military campaign against Oromo. And he defeated all regions of Oromiyaa one by one. The familiar truth is that there has been an endless disunity of the Oromo political leaders’ to-date. Still, it is this disunity that has made the Oromo political organizations of today dysfunctional and irrelevant to the struggle. In fact, because of the disunity, the Oromo nation fell from its glory and majestic greatness of its past to humiliation in which it finds itself today under colonial occupation. Again today, it is for this disunity we are unable to fight and defeat the enemy and so fail to restore independence to Oromiyaa. As a popular saying goes, if the enemy has guns and you have spears to fight with- you have a chance to defeat it. If the enemy has nukes, and you have rocks to fight with-you still have a chance to defeat it. However, if the enemy has unity and you have disunity, there is no hope to defeat it. Today’s Oromo political leadership has failed to learn from this. And hence, we have faced a leadership crisis. As of today, no matter how we look at it, we are threatened on every front, with rifts, splits and factions. The truth is these rifts, splits and factions have become common. The reason for these is, there is no a single unifying principle- a common goal.

The Oromo people and the Oromo liberation struggle need a leadership that can fill this vacuum and wisely find a proper response to the danger hovering over them and their country. It must be a leadership that has faith in the people since people are the pillar of the struggle. As it is well- known to all, in 1992 the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) was encamped despite the opposition from the Oromo people and the Oromo nationalists. As it is often times said “Without a People’s army, the people have nothing.” This is what has happened to the Oromo people with the encampment of the OLA. This debacle happened despite the opposition by the truly national leaders like Nadhii Gammadaa, Guutamaa Hawaas, and Mul’is Abbaa Gadaa. These were truly the national leaders with ultimate determination and commitment to liberate their country. They were leaders who fought with courage and bravery. They were leaders with unparalleled self- confidence in themselves and confidence in their people. They have faith in their people and their people have faith in them. They fought with dignity and respect for their country without yielding to the enemy’s demand. For this, they paid ultimate sacrifice in their lives.

.
Nadhii Gammadaa Guutamaa Hawaas Mul’is Abbaa Gadaa

They were truly freedom fighters. They were the best and bravest of their generation.

THE OROMO MOVEMENT: THE EFFECTS OF STATE TERRORISMAND GLOBALIZATION IN OROMIA AND ETHIOPIA

The Oromo movement is engaging in struggle to empower the Oromo people in order to

restore their control on their economic resources such as land and cultural resources and to

overcome the effects of Ethiopian state terrorism and globalization. The Oromo people were

colonized and incorporated into Abyssinia, present Ethiopia, and the capitalist world

system during the “Scramble for Africa” by the alliance of Ethiopian colonialism and

European imperialism. This colonization involved terrorism and genocide in order to

transfer Oromo economic resources, mainly land, through destroying Oromo leadership and

the cultural foundation of the Oromo society. The Oromo resistance that started with the

colonization of the Oromo was transformed into the anti‐colonial movement in the 1960s

and still continues in various forms. On their part, successive colonial Ethiopian

governments have been using various forms of violence to destroy the Oromo struggle for

national self‐determination and democracy. Starting in 1992, the Tigrayan‐led Ethiopian

government has been imposing state terrorism, genocide, and political repression, with the

assistance of big powers and international institutions on the Oromo, the largest ethnonational

group, and other groups in order to destroy the Oromo national movement led by

the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) and to dominate the political economy of Oromia (the

Oromo country) and Ethiopia in order to transfer economic resources, particularly land, to

Tigrayan state elites and their domestic and international supporters.

This paper first provides the historical background for these complex issues.

Second, it outlines theoretical and methodological approaches of the paper. Third, the piece

explains the role of big powers in supporting the Ethiopian state at the cost of democracy

and human rights in order to promote “savage development” (Quan 2013) or “violent

development”(Rajagopal 2003) in this age of globalization. This section also explores how

the Tigrayan‐led Ethiopian government and its international supporters are using the

discourses of democracy, human rights, and economic development while terrorizing the

Oromo and other indigenous peoples by dispossessing them of their rights and their

ancestral land and natural resources. Fourth, it explains how the ongoing peaceful Oromo

mass protest movement has emerged in Oromia, how and why the regime is violently

cracking down on protestors, including Oromo school children and university students,

farmers, and other sectors of the Oromo society, and why the West is facing a political

dilemma regarding supporting a government that is openly massacring peaceful protestors

and violently repressing dissent. Finally, the piece explores the larger political and

economic consequences of the Oromo protest movement in bringing about a fundamental

transformation to the political economy of Oromia and Ethiopia.

Background

The Ethiopian colonial terrorism and genocide that started during the last decades of the

nineteenth century with the assistance of England, France, and Italy still continue in the 21st

century with the support of global powers (Jalata 2010). During Ethiopian (Amhara‐Tigray)

colonial expansion, Oromia, “the charming Oromo land, [would] be ploughed by the iron

and the fire; flooded with blood and the orgy of pillage” (de Salviac 2005 [1901]: 349).

Martial de Salviac (2005 [1901]: 349) called this event “the theatre of a great massacre.”

The Oromo oral story also testifies that the Abyssinian armies destroyed and looted the

resources of Oromia and committed genocide on the Oromo people and others through

terrorism, slavery, depopulation, cutting hands or breasts, and creating a series of famines

and diseases during and after the colonization of Oromia. According to Martial de Salviac

2005 ([1901]: 8), “With equal arms, the Abyssinia [would] never [conquer] an inch of

[Oromo] land. With the power of firearms imported from Europe, Menelik [Abyssinian

warlord] began a murderous revenge.”

The colonization of Oromia involved human tragedy and destruction: “The

Abyssinian, in bloody raids, operated by surprise, mowed down without pity, in the country

of the Oromo population, a mournful harvest of slaves for which the Muslims were thirsty

and whom they bought at very high price. An Oromo child [boy] would cost up to 800 francs

in Cairo; an Oromo girl would well be worth two thousand francs in Constantinople” (de

Salviac 2005 [1901]: 28). The Abyssinian/Ethiopian government massacred half of the

Oromo population (5 million out of 10 million) and their leadership during its colonial

expansion (Bulatovich 2000: 68). The Amhara warlord, Menelik, terrorized and colonized

the Oromo and others to obtain commodities such as gold, ivory, coffee, musk, hides and

skins, slaves and lands. Menelik controlled slave trade (an estimated 25,000 slaves per year

in the 1880s); with his wife he owned 70,000 enslaved Africans; he became one of the

richest capitalists. He invested in American Railway Stock; “Today the Abyssinian ruler had

extended the range of his financial operations to the United States, and is a heavy investor in

American railroads . . . with his American securities and his French and Belgian mining

investments, Menelik has a private fortune estimated at no less than twenty‐five million

dollars.” (New York Times, November 7, 1909).

The destruction of Oromo lives and institutions were aspects of Ethiopian colonial

terrorism. The surviving Oromo who used to enjoy an egalitarian democracy known as the

 

gadaa system ((Legesse 1973; 2006) were forced to face state terrorism, genocide, political

repression, and an impoverished life. Alexander Bulatovich (2000: 68) explains about the

 

gadaa administration: “The peaceful free way of life, which could have become the ideal for

philosophers and writers of the eighteenth century, if they had known it, was completely

changed. Their peaceful way of life is broken; freedom is lost; and the independent, freedom

loving [Oromo] find themselves under the severe authority of the Abyssinian conquerors.”

The Ethiopian colonialists also destroyed Oromia’s natural resources and beauty. Oromia

was “an oasis luxuriant with large trees” and known for its “opulent and dark greenery used

to shoot up from the soil” (de Salviac 2005 [1901]: 21–2). The colonialists devastated “the

forests by pulling from it the laths for their houses and [made] campfires or firewood for

their dwellings.” Bulatovich (2000: 21) applied to Oromia the phrase “flowing in milk and

honey” to indicate its abundance of wealth in cattle and honey before and during its

colonization.

The Ethiopian colonial state gradually established settler colonialism and developed

five major types of colonial institutions, namely, slavery, the colonial landholding system,

 

the nafxanya‐gabbar system (semi‐slavery), the Oromo collaborative class, and garrison and

non‐garrison cities (Jalata 2005 [1993]). It introduced the process of forced recruitment of

labor via slavery and semi‐slavery (Holcomb and Ibssa 1990: 135). The Haile Selassie

government consolidated these institutions and practices between the 1930s and 1970s.

Furthermore, the military regime that emerged in 1974 under the leadership Colonel

Mengistu Haile Mariam continued state terrorism, dictatorship, and Ethiopian colonial

policies. When Oromo activists and citizens started to resist the military regime, it

intensified its state terrorism and political repression. The military regime had committed

massive human rights violations in the 1970s and 1980s in the name of the so‐called 

Revolution with the assistance of the so‐called socialist countries such as the former Soviet

Union and its satellite countries. As Norman J. Singer (1978: 672–73) notes, those who

were killed during the initial three months of “the campaign of the ‘ Terror’ . . . numbered

around 4000–000 in Addis Ababa alone; the killings continued in March 1978, spreading

to the rest of the country . . . Those detained for political instruction numbered from 30,000

upwards . . . Torture methods . . . included severe beating on the head, soles of the feet . . .

and shoulders, with the victim hung by the wrists or suspended by wrists and feet from a

horizontal bar . . . sexual torture of boys and girls, including pushing bottles or red‐hot iron

bars into girls’ vaginas and other cruel methods.”

In 1980, one Oromo source said, “The Oromo constitutes the majority of the more

than two million prisoners that glut Ethiopia’s jails today” (The Oromo Relief Association

1980: 30). In the 1980s, thousands of Oromo activists or nationalists were murdered or

imprisoned; the regime also terrorized Oromo farmers and students. The military

government terrorized the Oromo population by holding mass shooting and burying them

with bulldozers: “Over years this procedure was repeated several times. When the method

did not work and the Oromo population could not be forced into submission, other methods

were used. The victims were made to lie down with their heads on stone, and their skulls

were smashed with another stone . . . . When the Oromo movement could not be quenched

by shooting or by the smashing of skulls, [the government] came up with a new idea. Men’s

testicles were smashed between a hammer and an anvil, ” Gunnar Hasselblatt (1992: 17–19) writes. As explained below, Ethiopia has maintained its terrorism and oppressive and

repressive structures on the Oromo and other colonized peoples by the assistance of

successive global powers, namely, Great Britain, the United States, the former Soviet Union,

and China. Before continuing the analysis, the introduction of the theoretical and

methodological approaches is needed.

 

Theoretical and Methodological Considerations

  

This work draws from an analytical framework that emerges from theories of the world

system, globalization, nationalism, and social movements. It combines a structural approach

to global social change such as globalization, neoliberalism and capital accumulation with a

social constructionist model of human agency of the Oromo social movement. In this era of

neoliberal globalization, in the name of democracy, development, and human rights the

Ethiopian state and its global supporters are engaging in dispossessing land and other

resources of the Oromo and that of others while repressing and terrorizing civil societies

and their social movements, particularly that of the Oromo. A few scholars, who have

understood these contradictory processes, see the capitalist/socialist development as the

process of violence or call it savage development. Balakrishnan Rajagopal (2003: 3)

amnesty USA: "Ethiopia must release opposition politician held for Facebook posts!!!"

The Ethiopian authorities must immediately and unconditionally release a prominent opposition politician facing a possible death sentence on trumped-up terrorism charges over comments he posted on Facebook, said Amnesty International.

Yonatan Tesfaye, the spokesman of the opposition Semayawi (Blue) party, was arbitrarily arrested in December 2015 and held in lengthy pre-trial detention for comments he posted on Facebook. The government says his posts against a government plan to extend the capital’s administrative authority to the Oromia region were in pursuit of the objectives of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF), which it considers a terrorist organization.

“The Ethiopian authorities have increasingly labelled all opposition to them as terrorism. Yonatan Tesfaye spoke up against a possible land grab in Oromia, which is not a crime and is certainly not terrorism,” said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes.

“He and many others held under similar circumstances should be immediately and unconditionally released.”

Tesfaye was arbitrarily arrested in December 2015 and held without charge for months on end. It was not until May 4, 2016 that he was charged with “incitement, planning, preparation, conspiracy and attempt” to commit a terrorist act. The state prosecutor charged that Tesfaye’s remarks were in pursuit of the OLF’s objectives.

“Yonatan Tesfaye has no demonstrated links to the OLF. His arrest is just another example of government overreach in the application of its seriously flawed anti-terrorism law. This law is once again being used as a pretext to quash dissent,” said Wanyeki.

The Ethiopian authorities should also promptly, impartially, thoroughly and transparently investigate claims that he may have been tortured or otherwise ill-treated in detention at the Maekelawi Prison, a jail notorious for its widespread use of torture.

AFP: Ethiopia activist charged after anti-govt Facebook posts

Addis Ababa - The ex-spokesperson for Ethiopia's main opposition Blue Party has been charged with inciting violence and being a "ring leader" of a banned rebel group after he criticised the government on Facebook.
Yonatan Tesfaye, who has been jailed since December 2015, in one message accused the ruling Ethiopian People's Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF) of using "force against the people instead of using peaceful discussion with the public."
He was referring to the authorities' response to protests that have rocked the Oromia region in Africa's second-most populous nation.
Home to some 27 million people, Oromia encircles Addis Ababa and stretches over large parts of the rest of the country.

Yonatan Tesfaye Regassa

It has its own language, Oromo, distinct from Amharic, the language of Ethiopia's government.
The demonstrations began in November against a government plan to expand the boundaries of Addis Ababa into Oromia.
According to court records, Tesfaye was charged on Wednesday with 11 counts including inciting violence "to disrupt the social, economic and political stability of the country."
He is also accused of being a "ring leader of the far-left Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) to inflame demonstrations," the court records said.
OLF is a banned separatist movement opposed to the Ethiopian government which police routinely blame for "terrorist" acts.
Rise up
Authorities consider Tesfaye's writings as a call to rise up against the government and given the country's tough anti-terror law he could face up to 15 years behind bars if convicted.
Tesfaye was until recently the Blue Party's spokesperson and comes from a generation of young activists determined to challenge the authoritarian regime that has ruled the nation for 25 years.
"When people become popular and give a voice to the voiceless, [the government] charge them with fabricated charges and put them in jail," Blue Party head Yilkal Getnet told AFP.
"This is what happened to Yonatan," he added.

TPLF’s Hidden Agenda of Reducing the Oromo Population Must be Stopped!!!

HRLHA Appeal and Request for Immediate Action

Terrorist and criminal attacks targeting Oromo youth, and children, and even pregnant women, have continued unabated since the peaceful protests for justice and freedom began on 12th November 2015 in Oromia. The peaceful and legitimate protests against the injustice in Oromia – in which Oromo people of all walks of life have participated, had a simple and clear demand at the beginning: “Stop Addis Ababa’s Integration of the Master Plan, and stop land-grabbing in Oromia.”

Instead of responding justly to the protesters’ legitimate grievances, and restoring their domestic and international rights, the Ethiopian government has chosen to deploy its special squad “Agazi” and to mercilessly crack down on the peaceful protesters. The ruthless Agazi force have used excessive force, killed many promos, beat and detained thousands to stop the protests, which spread to all corners of the Regional State of Oromia in a few weeks. Towns and villages in Oromia were turned into war zones as the special Agazi force continued its random killings of students, children, men and women. During the first two months of the peaceful protests, more than two hundred (200) Oromos were murdered[1], including infants and pregnant women.
In violation of the “Convention on the Rights of the Child” and other international treaties[2], which the current government of Ethiopia ratified in May 1991[3], Oromo children, including non-schooled children, have been killed by the Agazi force. Aliya, 15-years-old, and her brother Nagassa, 8-years-old, were shot in the leg on March 25, 2016[4] on the streets of Ambo town. Many minors/teenagers were killed, and others wounded by the Agazi force in different parts of Oromia. Some are listed in the following table.

These cruel and inhumane actions of the Agazi force against Oromo have not stopped the angry protesters from demanding their fundamental rights and freedoms.
The Regional State of Oromia’s president Muktar Kedir and the TPLF security intelligence office’s generals removed the civil administration and declared the unofficial martial law as of February 26, 2016. The Regional State of Oromia has been subdivided into eight (8) military zones, each to be led by military generals.
The merciless Agazi force has been allowed officially to quell dissents in Oromia by force. On the day following the martial law declaration, the Agazi squad started breaking into private homes, and savagely started to kill and beat children, men and women, including pregnant women. On February 27, 2016, a seven-months pregnant mother of six, living in the West Arsi zone in Oromia state in Ethiopia, was shot down in her home by security forces which had come to her home looking for her husband. Another six-months pregnant woman – Shashitu Mekonen – was also killed and thrown into the bush in Horro Guduru, Wallaggaa, Oromia.
Schools and universities have served as military camps and battlegrounds. The merciless Agazi force have broken into university dormitories, savagely killed, raped, beat and detained students (such as in Wallaggaa University).
The Agazi murderers have intensified their repressions in all corners of Oromia. Since the November 2015 peaceful protests began, over 400 Oromo nationals have been killed, over fifty thousand (50,000) arrested and placed in different police stations, concentration camps and military camps. Unknown numbers of students have been confined in the Xolay concentration camp, where they are exposed to different diseases because of poor diets and sanitation. No medical attention has been given to them, and a number of prisoners are dying each day, according to information leaked from Xolay concentration camp. This represents the systematic elimination of the Oromo young generation. The late prime Minister Meles Zenawi, the architect of the current TPLF Empire, in 1992 vowed to destroy those he considered major threats to his rule, particularly the most populous nation in the country, the Oromo. He vowed to reduce Oromos to a minority and take over their natural resources.


The longest protests (in terms of duration) in the history of Ethiopia have slowed down by the military crackdowns. When protesters returned home from the street, they started facing another form of atrocity. They were forced day and night to stay indoors, in a kind of house arrest. At night, the Agazi force would walk into individual homes and pick up youth and kill them, leaving their dead bodies in front of their doors. On April 14, 2016, a university Engineering Department graduate from Gonder University was killed in coldblooded murder in the Oromia Zone of Gujii in Oddo Shakisso, where he used to live with his parents.
Since Oromia is now under martial law, information coming out of the Regional State of Oromia is restricted. All social media are being monitored by the military administration. A number of cell phone users were arrested and their phones taken. Gross human rights abuses, killings, arbitrary arrests, torture and other human rights atrocities are happening in Oromia every day and night.
However, the information about these atrocities is not getting out because the military continues to monitor almost all information outlets. The Ethiopian people hear only the well-crafted stories about Ethiopia being on the path to democracy. These stories come from the government mass media. International and domestic human rights organizations have been reporting the atrocities, although their access to information in Ethiopia is very limited due to their researchers being banned from entering the country. But undercover investigative journalists still bring out the news of the genocide and ethnic cleansing committed in the name of development. The current human rights atrocities in Oromia have been condemned by some western governments and government agencies, notably the EU and the U.S.A., and UN experts/researchers. But still no meaningful action has been taken to stop the atrocities in Oromia.