Ethiopia needs a comprehensive peace process in order to find a way out of the current quagmire.

 Ethiopia needs a comprehensive peace process in order to find a way out of the current quagmire.

There are multiple political, governmental and non-governmental armed and non-armed forces in the country.

Some key examples of armed Forces:

1. Ethiopian National Defense Force (ENDF) is federal armed force;

2. Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) is a non-governmental regional armed force;

3. Tigray Defense Force (TDF) is regional governmental armed force;

Any foreign governments and non-government entities interested in assisting Ethiopia reconcile with itself and ultimately achieve a sustainable peace for the people SHOULD NOT ignore any of these forces.

In fact, any national dialogue should prioritize all of these forces along non-armed political parties.

Recently, Facebook App or Meta decided to ban Oromo armed group from this virtual space. I strongly believe that is a wrong policy direction for Facebook and ultimately achieves nothing for Oromo and Ethiopia in general.

I’m strong believer and apostle of non-violent political resistance. There shouldn’t be any exception to that principle. However, Oromo armed group is a pro-democratic liberation force that is struggling to bring a sustainable peace for the Oromo people, just the same way Tigray Defense Force (TDF) is going.

For the sake of comprehensive peace, we can’t afford to eliminate them from this virtual space. The country benefits from hearing from them and what they stand for.

It is completely unfair for Facebook to ban Oromo Libration force from this space while other forces are allowed to keep using this platform, rightfully.

Part of the problem with Facebook’s decision goes back to cultural and knowledge gap that exists in the process of social media policy crafting for foreign users.

Even though Oromo content moderators were recently hired by Facebook to fill this gap, they aren’t doing a good job for reasons not clear to most of us.

Fist of all, they come with their own political baggage and biases against the Oromo people. Therefore, it is easy for them to unduly flag anything related to Oromo Liberation force.

Second, they come with little knowledge about the history of Oromo liberation struggle. They don’t seem to understand the complex political issue of the state of Ethiopia and how it interacts with the Oromo. There has always been a difficult political interaction between Ethiopian state and the Oromo people.

This task requires a meticulous understanding and sharp knowledge of the country’s politics. Knowledge of social media content moderation doesn’t cut it.

This is a plea to Facebook/Meta to reconsider its recent decision on Oromo Liberation Force.

For the sake of broader opportunity to try to bring peace in the country, Facebook should look deeper into the matter of Oromo liberation force.