“Only Honest, Genuine, and All-inclusive National Dialogue Can Solve the Country’s Political Crisis” OFC

 

OFC

Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) has been repeatedly called for and appealed to the current ruling party and its leaders to change course from the present perilous road to destruction and the political dead-end thereof, which has pushed the country to brink of a potential disintegration. For the ruling party and its leaders are not bold enough to take concrete positive measures dangers are looming on the land of Ethiopia. To tackle the imminent danger, we hereby again strongly reiterate that peaceful resolution is a panacea for the current Ethiopian crises.

Starting from the assumption of power by Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed in 2018 after 27 years of a one-party authoritarian rule, Ethiopians in general and the Oromo people in particular, have become hopeful for a successful democratic transition through honest and genuine national dialogue that can lead the country to durable peace, democratic governance and meaningful economic development, which in turn could pull millions of our citizens out of poverty. However, the incumbent government quickly moved to fulfill its ambition of a one-party rule that squandered the opportunity for a real democratic transformation, dashing the hopes of millions of people who were dreaming for freedom and democracy.

Our party, OFC used every opportunity to cooperate with the ruling party to draw a common road map for smooth transition. Our effort to help the ruling party move in the right track has become to the risking of the safety of our members who have been imprisoned in mass, forced to flee from their loved ones, beaten, and even shot dead just for disagreeing with the path the government has chosen.

Sadly, the government’s response to all our peaceful plea was the closure of almost all our party offices across the country, except just three, in addition to forcing the OFC out of the 2021 ill-designed elections hosted by illegitimate election processes that resulted in the usual, “I won 99% or 100% of the vote” tradition we experienced from Ethiopia’s past dictators or elsewhere in Africa. Consequently, today, Ethiopia is at a critical crossroad of uncertainty, which forced us to forward the below points as an alternative for solution. For sure an avoidable war is raging all over the country consuming the lives of tens of thousands and bringing misery for tens of millions. And, more than ever before in our country’s history, the war is not limited to armed factions, but also ordinary citizens with no real training for war or have no knowledge of international rules of engagements in war have become active actors of the horror.

After assessing the on-going blood bath in the country and the potential for a war of all against all whose end-result cannot be predicted, our party is calling for the following steps to immediately be taken to salvage our people from civil war, our country from disintegration and the entire region from potential destabilization.

1. We call for the immediate establishment of an interim government chaired by an individual accepted by major stakeholders that will serve for a period of 3-6 months with a mandate to maintain law and order, undertake the charting of a common roadmap and facilitate the national dialogue processes.
2. We urge all warring parties to negotiate for a ceasefire immediately. An end to hostilities including providing unfettered humanitarian access to feed the starving, tend to the sick, permit the displaced to return to their homes, and restore essential services to all areas. This will include a total repudiation of all incitements to violence and hate speech in all forms.
3. All political prisoners held at various prisons and detention centers must be released immediately.
4. During the mandate of the interim administration, all parties will begin negotiations on the formation of an all-inclusive transitional government that shall last for 18 months. No major stakeholder shall be excluded from these negotiations.
5. The all-inclusive transitional government shall adopt a transitional charter, including all necessary measures for economic stabilization, and recovery, as well as finalize the national dialogue processes to determine the future of Ethiopia. The interim administration shall end its mandate by organizing ‘free, fair, and credible’ elections.
6. As the on-going civil war has destroyed the economy of our country and millions are facing starvation, we call upon the international community to support the new transitional arrangement by providing diplomatic, financial, and material supports for the workings of the new transitional government so as to ensure security as well as the wellbeing of our citizens.

In conclusion, OFC urge all Ethiopians, the international community, and the warring parties to hear our voice and cooperate in achieving durable peace and stability to salvage our country. In this regard, the Oromo Federalist Congress (OFC) strongly reiterates its support for any genuine and honest political solution that helps the redemption of Ethiopia.

Statement from families of Jawar Mohammed, Bekele Gerba and other Oromo political prisoners

 Statement from families of Jawar Mohammed, Bekele Gerba and other Oromo political prisoners

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We would like to inform the Oromo public, Ethiopians, and the international community about a startling development around the safety of Oromo political prisoners currently held at Kality prison. We know there have been several reports of an imminent threat to their lives over the last few months but we would like to share with you one frightening incident that took place last week.

On the evening of Nov. 18, 2021, around 8:40 PM, a vehicle carrying several armed men with federal police uniform and three men dressed in civilian clothing entered the prison facility without the prior knowledge and authorisation of the prison administration.

The men asked the guards to take them to the cell where Jawar Mohammed and his colleagues were held. The guards refused to allow them access to the facility, and an altercation broke out. The commander on duty that night arrived and asked the men to leave the compound, which they did.

Over the last few days, we have been enquiring to establish the identity of these men and the motivation for their visit. We now have credible evidence that these men were security agents from NISS, led and directed by Mr. Kifle Ismalealem, the head of the counter-terrorism unit within NISS. Mr. Kifle used to work in the intelligence and nationality security team during EPRDF years, before he was suspected of working for the then Ginbot 7 party and removed from his post. He was reinstated after Abiy came to power.

We now know that Mr. Kifle was directed by Mr. Ingidaw Abebaw, the Acting Directory of Internal Security within NISS, and has been to Kality prison several times. Both Mr. Ingidaw and Mr. Kifle report to Mr. Temesgen Tiruneh, the Prime Minister’s Director of National Security.

We are extremely worried that either the government or elements within national security are trying to either assassinate or move the prisoners to unknown locations. The government has already changed the prison guards and there were efforts to remove the commander too.

It is absolutely critical that the Ethiopian government, countries in the region, and the international community look into this issue as a matter of urgency and ensure the safety of the political prisoners. Jawar, Bekele, and many others were jailed for political reasons and should be released immediately.

The Mobilization of Peoples of Ethiopia into Senseless War

 

OLF

It is distressing to see the Ethiopian peoples in general and the Oromo people, in particular, are unwillingly trapped into endless war and conflicts for more than a century. Since the formation of the Ethiopian empire, the country remained the home of internal conflicts. In these vicious circles of conflicts, the majority of Ethiopian peoples were victims of war for more than a century-long. Particularly the Oromia people, which is a peace-loving society, having a deep-rooted tradition of solving any sort of conflicts peacefully, had been the most victimized society under the endless war of the Ethiopian ruling system. The selfish nature of consecutive dictators of the Ethiopian ruling regimes, who mostly come to power by the armed military force, had plunged the Oromia citizens and other Ethiopians into war and conflicts from generation to generation. This Authoritarian type of political system packed with elements of dictatorial regimes had put the Ethiopian peoples into continuous war and conflict and left the country without a shred of civilization and economic development.

The Oromo people had been persistently resisting this conflict-driven ruling system for more than a century. Particularly since the OLF started consolidating the Oromo national struggle for self-determination 50 years ago, huge sacrifices had been made to change the dictatorial and conflict-driven system into democratic governance. In this journey, the Oromia citizens, particularly the Oromo youth, have paid heavy sacrifices to change the empire system into peaceful and democratic governance.

However, the consecutive Ethiopian regimes, particularly the current Prosperity Party have chosen the war line and continued reproducing conflicts after conflicts and trapping the Ethiopian peoples in endless war. OLF denounces this repeated extension of war. In this regard, the OLF seriously denounces the recent call of the Oromia Regional Government (aka Oromia Prosperity Party) to intensify the war against opposition groups. This last-minute call of ‘every able body to fight’ has no contribution to the peace and security of the country but is designed to keep the Prosperity Party officials in power at the expense of human lives. The OLF believes that sending innocent youngsters to the senseless war is committing crimes against this generation. We strongly denounce this generational crime and believe the mobilization of civilians for this dangerous war has no positive outcome but will be an additional loss of people’s lives and destruction of the country’s resources.

We would strongly advise the citizens of Oromia to reject the recent call- to- fight issued by Oromia Regional Government and instead ask the Oromia citizens to focus on building their regional governance and defending their regional territory. In this regard, we call the Oromia citizen to strengthen their regional governance and solidify the structure of the Oromia National Regional State Transitional Government and protect themselves. Every citizen of Oromia must clearly understand that the widespread conflicts orchestrated by the PP ruling group may engulf into Oromia regional state whereby the defenders must be only the Oromia citizens and its armed forces, nobody else. We also call upon the Oromia citizens to maintain and strengthen peaceful co-existence with their neighboring regions and peoples.

The OLF wants to use this opportunity to remind the TPLF and its force TDF to respect the sovereignty of the Oromo People and refrain itself not to entering into Oromia territory militarily. We hope the reason for our reminder will be understood.

We would like to advise the Ethiopian peoples to denounce any call that intensifies conflicts among peoples and instead focus your attention on a peaceful way of reestablishing Federal Republic Governance involving multi-nation societies and working together for peace and stability and organizing free and fair elections that reflect the long aspirations of Ethiopian peoples.

We urge the international communities to step up for seeking genuine and all involving peaceful solutions to multifaceted crises in Ethiopia and pressure all the stakeholders for peace and security and establish a transitional system that paves the way for all-inclusive political dialogue.