𝐑𝐞𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐍𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐅𝐨𝐜𝐮𝐬 𝐨𝐧 𝐏𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐧𝐬.

 "Our credible sources indicate that the top military leaders agreed to launch a new military assault with a "scorched earth policy" as a major military tactic to "wipe out" OLA from Oromia. "

OLF Statement on Ethiopian and Eritrean New Military Pact

OLA

The relationship between Ethiopia and Eritrea has passed through ups and downs. It has harbored one of the deadliest wars in which millions have lost their lives, economies devastated, and social fabrics damaged. Thirty-Year War of Eritrean liberation, the 1998-2000 so-called “border conflict”, and the 2020-2022 Tigray War are the best examples. The suffering and human rights abuses that the world recorded in Tigray yesterday resulted from ill-framed relations. The culture that makes war the only option to resolve incompatibilities should change for good.

OLF commends the peaceful resolution of the Tigray War and always encourages all parties to engage in constructive dialogue for enduring peace. OLF also strongly underscores that the end of one war should not lead to the beginning of another.

On 3 April 2023, delegates of Eritrean army generals and senior officials led by General Abraha Kasa, head of Eritrean National Security Agency visited Ethiopia. Eritrean Official Yemane G.Meskel reported that "the central purpose of the current visit is to further consolidate the ties of military cooperation between the two countries". While it is legitimate for countries to consolidate cooperation on any common concern, it is also clear that the military cooperation between Ethiopia and Eritrean has divulged the Ethiopian peoples and exacerbated misery in Tigray and Oromia. In Oromia, we have earlier warned that the Eritrean involvement, in alliance with the Ethiopian Army, in the war against the Oromo Liberation Army (OLA) could only increase human suffering and would not produce any positive results at all. That is what happened in Oromia in the last four years.

It is a pity that the two countries’ military cooperation again overshadowed other burning issues. People of both countries are currently suffering from deprivation, hunger, displacement, lack of good governance, corruption and all forms of human insecurities. Sensible governments give priorities to these burning issues than forming a new military pact for further devastation.

Our credible sources indicate that the top military leaders agreed to launch a new military assault with a "scorched earth policy" as a major military tactic to "wipe out" OLA from Oromia. Top military leaders such as Field Marshal Birhanu Jula, Major General Abebawu Tadese and Colonel Tesfaye Ayaleu from the Ethiopian side and Major General Romadan Awliya, Brigadier General Hadish Ephrem and General Fissehie from the Eritrean side were given this responsibility. The OLF strongly condemns continued Eritrean involvement against the struggle of the Oromo People for freedom, democracy and justice.

It is also bewildering to note that the words and actions of the government of Ethiopia is self-contradictory. The statements from the Prime Minster Dr Abiy Ahmed and the Oromia Regional President Mr Shemelis Abdisa, on the federal parliament and regional council meetings, gives the impression that the government is taking action to resolve the war in Oromia peacefully. But the current military pact with Eritrea is a preparation for all-out military attack in Oromia.

Once again, the OLF would like to remind the Oromo people and the rest of the Ethiopian peoples that any unwarranted and hasty engagement with an external force against people they claim as their citizen, like the one that happened in Tigray, must be opposed and condemned. We also like to bring to the international community’s attention that another military buildup and coalition between Ethiopia and Eritrea against innocent and defenseless people will create another round of human suffering. The international community should use any leverage possible to abate it. Peace and security are the only mechanisms that guarantee the international community’s development assistance.

Victory to the masses!

Oromo Liberation Front

April , 2023

Finfinnee