Declaration of Unity of the OLF

June 28, 2014 (Oromo Liberation Front) — It is with great pleasure that we announce to our people and the supporters of our struggle for freedom the good news that, based on the accord they made in Kampala, Uganda, in November 2012, the two organizations of the Oromo Liberation Front (OLF) known as OLF Shanee Gumii (”OLF National Council”) and OLF Qaama Ce’umsaa (”OLF Transitional Authority”) have resolved our differences and agreed to combine our two leaderships, unify our members, merge our organizational structures and inaugurate a reunified OLF. Although OLF has encountered many obstacles during the last forty years, there was no time when it has stopped the struggle that it was established to lead. No one can deny the fact that the national struggle led by the OLF has scored many victories and made many significant achievements that have taken the Oromo people a long way toward the national goal of independence. Among these great achievements is the level of political awareness of our people.

At the same time, we witness that the Oromo people are being targeted for extinction more than any time before. Oppression has reached intolerable levels making our people to rise up in defiance of tyranny, protesting peacefully in all corners of Oromia. But, as witnessed in the killings of students and others in many places in Oromia, the TPLF regime is responding violently to their lawful demands. Defying enemy atrocities, imprisonment, and torture the young Oromo generation are making it known to the world that they will not tolerate humiliation and oppression anymore and that they will make the necessary sacrifices to liberate their people and homeland from alien oppressors. The OLF extends its condolences to families who lost their beloved sons daughters and expresses its admiration for the courage and bravery they have shown by the young Oromo generation to defend their people’s legitimate rights. As the vanguard of the Oromo struggle for freedom, we re-iterate our determination to continue the struggle until our people become masters of their destiny.

The re-unification of the two organizations of the OLF is a great step that will strengthen the Oromo struggle for freedom. United under one leadership, we are resolute to realize the principal objective of our struggle, namely the liberation of our people and the independence of our homeland Oromia. There is no question about the popularity of the goal of OLF-led liberation struggle among the Oromo people. Therefore, it is with determination that we pledge to make the necessary sacrifices, withstand the challenges ahead and carry through the Oromo national struggle to the ultimate goal of independence.

We are well aware that there are Oromo nationals who are organized separately under other names to advance our people’s legitimate rights. We will do all we can to coordinate our efforts with them to achieve the common goal. The OLF leadership states its decision and commitment to continue to work and conclude the ongoing talks with other forces committed to the same goal. Hence we call on all Oromo organizations that uphold our people’s right to self-determination and independence to join us in carrying out this sacred mission.

We also take this opportunity to express our solidarity with the oppressed nations, nationalities and peoples who are struggling for justice against the same tyrannical regime, and call upon them to join us in the common struggle for basic human and democratic rights.

The TPLF-led regime’s violence against the Oromo people is abetted by military, political and economic assistance from external powers. The OLF appeals again to governments, both in the West and East to strike a balance between their national interests and their international obligation of protecting human rights and stop giving economic, military and political support to a brutal regime that is evicting our people and others from their land and killing innocent civilian who are peacefully demanding their legitimate rights.

Victory to the Oromo People!

Oromo Liberation Front

June 28, 2014

-ayyaantuu

Ethiopia reportedly fires 18 journalists from a state-run outlet

The quiet dismissal of some 10 percent of the station’s journalists underscores the country’s further descent into total media blackout.

By Mohammed Ademo

June 27, 2014 (CJR) – On June 25, when 18 journalists from Ethiopia’s state-run Oromia Radio and Television Organization (ORTO) arrived to start their scheduled shifts, they learned their employment had been terminated “with orders from the higher ups.”

The quiet dismissal of some 10 percent of the station’s journalists underscores the country’s further descent into total media blackout. The firing of dissenting journalists is hardly surprising; the ruling party controls almost all television and radio stations in the country. Most diaspora-based critical blogs and websites are blocked. Dubbed one of the enemies of the press, Ethiopia currently imprisons at least 17 journalists and bloggers. On April 26, only days before US Secretary of State John Kerry’s visit to the capital, Addis Ababa, authorities arrested six bloggers and three journalists on charges of working with foreign rights groups and plotting to incite violence using social media.

Reports on the immediate cause of the latest purge itself are mixed. But several activist blogs noted that a handful of the dismissed journalists have been irate over the government’s decision not to cover the recent Oromo student protests. An Ethiopia-based journalist, who asked not to be named due to fear of repercussions, said the 18 reporters were let go after weeks of an indoctrination campaign in the name of “gimgama” (reevaluation) failed to quiet the journalists. The campaign began earlier this month when a meeting was called in Adama, where ORTO is headquartered, to “reindoctrinate” the journalists there into what is sometimes mockingly called “developmental journalism,” which tows government lines on politics and human rights. The journalists reportedly voiced grievances about decisions to ignore widespread civic upheavals while devoting much of the network’s coverage to stories about lackluster state development.

Still, although unprecedented, the biggest tragedy is not the termination of these journalists’ positions. Ethiopia already jails more journalists than any other African nation except neighboring Eritrea. The real tragedy is that the Oromo, Ethiopia’s single largest constituency (nearly half of Ethiopia’s 92 million people) lack a single independent media outlet on any platform.

The reports of the firings come on the heels of months of anti-government protests by students around the country’s largest state, Oromia. Starting in mid-April, students at various colleges around the country took to the streets to protest what they saw as unconstitutional encroachment by federal authorities on the sovereignty of the state of Oromia, which according to a proposed plan would annex a large chunk of its territory to the federal capital—which is also supposed to double as Oromia’s capital. Authorities fear that an increasingly assertive Oromo nationalism is threatening to spin out of state control, and see journalists as the spear of a generation coming of age since the current Ethiopian regime came to power in 1991.

To the surprise of many, the first reports of opposition to the city’s plan came from ORTO’s flagship television network, the TV Oromiyaa (TVO).

A week before the protests began, in a rare sign of dissent, journalist Bira Legesse, one of those fired this week, ran a short segment where party members criticized the so-called Addis Ababa master plan. Authorities saw the coverage as a tacit approval for public displeasure with the plan and, therefore, an indirect rebuke of the hastily put-together campaign to sell the merits of the master plan to an already skeptical audience. But once the protests began, culminating in the killings of more than a dozen students in clashes with the police and the detentions and maimings of hundreds of protesters, TVO went mute, aside from reading out approved police bulletins. This did not sit well with the journalists, leading to the indoctrination campaign which, according to one participant, ended without any resolution.

In the last decade, the country’s economic improvements have become something of a cliche in the West. In March, Time Beijing correspondent Michael Schuman included Ethiopia in his new development acronym, PINEs—the NextGen emerging markets, namely the Philippines, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Ethiopia. Schuman called Ethiopia “one of Africa’s lion economies,” along with Nigeria.

Ethiopia’s state-controlled media touts the country’s “radical” economic transformation ad nauseum. In analysis after analysis, Western journalists and donors such as the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund refer to the country as “one of the fastest growing non-oil economies” in Africa.

There is no doubt that Ethiopia’s economy has improved. But beyond the growth statistics, these reports often miss the widening inequality and corruption that belies the country’s economic progress. Leading private enterprises, including some Addis Ababa-based newspapers, are run by the ruling party or associates with links to the higher echelons of power. While the rich saw fortunes rise over the last decade, the poor have lost their land and ways of life to a ballooning foreign investment scheme. The plan to expand Ethiopia’s capital into the Oromia region is one among such development project.

Over the last few years, while largely a state agitprop, the TVO has become a conduit for hitherto neglected Oromo cultural programming. For the majority of Oromo rural dwellers, TVO and its affiliate radio stations serve as the only sources of information. In the last two years, some of its cultural programs and interviews with prominent Oromo personalities have been well-received even among the vocal Oromo diaspora.

According to former TVO employees, the network’s growing popularity has not always been viewed favorably by the authorities and may have contributed to this week’s mass dismissal. Purges are not new to the ruling party either. It is part of a long tradition of suppressing dissent, be it from within the ruling party or outside. What is new, however, is that the discontent with the party’s practices is reaching new heights.

ayyaantuu

Ethiopian Security Forces Arrest Dozens of Civilians in Degahbur

By Ahmed Abdi | June 26, 2014

Ethiopian Security Forces arrested dozens of civilians in Dehehbur, about 135 kilometers southeast of the regional Capital city of Jigjiga on Wednesday, following after ONLF insurgency killed 10 Ethiopian Security forces and regional administrators on Monday. Local sources said that the Ethiopian-appointed regional President Abdi Mohamoud Omar better known as Abdi Iley ordered the arrest and killing of anyone suspected of aiding ONLF in part of security swoop.

Abdi Iley reappointed infamous Omar Gamble as the Police commissioner immediately after the administration had been sustained heavy assaults by the ONLF in a bid to strike the town residents with an iron fist.

“I have seen at least 50 people that the security forces arrested and loaded on pickup trucks,” said an eyewitness who asked not to be identified.

The source added that 20 civilians that have been transferred to Guna’gado another town near Degehbur, went missing since yesterday and their fate remains unknown.’

ONLF has been fighting against Ethiopian regimes since 1984 and wants its oil and gas-rich Ogaden region to gain full Independence from Ethiopian highlanders. Peace-talk between ONLF and Ethiopia stalled in Oct 17, 2012, after the ONLF refused to accept Ethiopian constitution which it says it says the Ethiopian constitution does not concern the Somalis in Ogaden.

-Ayyaantuu

An Open letter to Dr. Mitiku Tesso

Rundassa Asheetee Hundee | June 23, 2014

When you and one Tigre official arrived here in America, the news immediately dispersed among the diaspora Oromo. Few days after that, it was revealed that your trip to America wasn’t to support the killing of innocent children of Oromia but to attend certain university conference. Though the truth remain unknown to the Oromo population at large, with the ever increasing Oromo liberation movement, the truth will come to light and expose the crimes that have been committed in Oromia and elsewhere in that evil empire, beyond the Tigreans power sphere. Not knowing this, few mentally weak people continued to work for the Tigre power. Those who have forwarded to you what we have written about you on this network are such example. We are aware that the same individuals are forwarding the information they gather to their Tigre masters. The good news is that we know who they are and we promise to expose these little spies when the right time comes. Until that day, we will let them enjoy their glorious spying job in diaspora.

Coming back to your awkward situation, we want you to understand that you chose to join the Tigre power, not because you couldn’t teach and make a living without joining the OPDO but you saw opportunity in working with the Tigre rulers. For your information, there are hunderds of Oromo scholars who currently teach all over the empire and they never have to lie for the Tigreans. When you declared that not a single person was killed in Ambo by the Tigre tribal army, you lost an essential characteristic that an educated person should have.

For you, the death of 63 people in Ambo alone might be a usual culture of killing woven into the fabric of empire Ethiopia, but for the parents and for the relative who have lost their loved once, it is a matter of losing a vital part of their lives and it is the destruction of their family foundation and human divine nature. True, you may be are safe and even live additional 10 to 15 years and then die natural death. However, surviving for additional 10 years under your current predicament of defending the Tigre killers will remain central to those who stand against murder, rape and subjugation. If there is any lesson we got from you, it is the fact that killers will never be able to perpetuate crimes against humanity without individuals like you who would rear own children at the cost of other people’s kid’s lives.

Case in point is that your own kids are attending school here in America, of course, after they have completed the Habasha school of thought where the values, practical life skills, manners, and fundamental truths of the ruling class was installed into their minds, with calculated objective of enabling them to rise up to the social class that you are enjoying today. In other words, when the Oromo kids are denied the right to ware their national attires in their own country, your kids learned the Habasha culture that you thought are important attributes of Ethiopianism, and will also give them a chance to share power with the Habashas when they are ready. You worked very hard in these areas so that Ethiopia will be able to survive with all it’s essential rearing cultures of Amharinization. Of course, this is the Metekaakaat plan that the Tigreans believe that it has to be every one’s life roll so vital to renew and pass it onto each generation in their colony. This is everything you have learned and you are applying it in real world and congratulations!.

While this is true for you and for the inferiors among us, the majority Oromians have another dream that they want to fulfill as a part of their appointed purpose of carrying on forward. That is what they are doing when they go to Bishooftu and celebrate Hirrechaa and that is what their doing when they opposed to the expansion of Addis Ababa. They know that the expansion of the Habasha garrison city Addis Ababa will destroy their civilization and the wisdom that they want to pass on to the next generation. This is the dream you are trying to throw away when you sided with the killing Tigre army.

To those who live in identity crisis

Look around yourself in every dimension. You are in a crisis. Your crisis is both internal and external because you increasingly seem to have lost your bearings when it comes to understanding the vital importance of humanity. By trying to spy for the evil, you may think you are doing good, but do not forget you are destroying your people’s identity. You build a house in Finfinnee by evicting others. You are waxing the feet of your murderous friends, relatives and family members, but you don’t care if you take away the pleasures of others. Even when you suffer such crises in life, you believe that you stand for truth! In your sick minds, you think your actions are praiseworthy when in fact it is evil that needs to be mocked and ridiculed. You see no problem with advocating for the evil but mean time, you seek God, the God that never questions your evil nature. This is the very essence of what you are, the personality you praise and uphold. Truly, your brain has turned upside down on you and thus you can’t think right.

But try to think about it!. Your soaring desire to live on earth by causing others grief is what causes our society, past or present, a horrible experiences in prisons, refugee camps, in diaspora,… a division, contention and hate. Like your friend Dr. Mitiku whom you are forwarding this note to, you are destroying the Oromo institutions fundamental for our existence.

You are a reason for the disintegration of millions of Oromo families because you chose other nations institutions over your own and glorified your Jewish God. You are so disconnected from the Oromo social and moral obligations because you think that you are free to pursue whatever ends that aggrandizes your thrust for power, to live longer, to go to this imagined heaven etc.

Yes, there are also the weak once who unconsciously absorb and sometimes repeat the evil practiced by the opportunists I am talking about here. No matter what however, the rise of new Oromo generation is the fundamental underlying trend that will bring success to the Oromo world views. When that happens, the irrationals who are now devoting their energy and time will change their colors as usual, and stand as the only great Oromo ever lived. We have seen so many who tried to exploit the sacrifices that the Oromo heroes gave their lives for. Nonetheless, ultimately it will be the rise of the Oromo institution that will destroy these ignoble opportunists who always see greatest share of opportunities for themselves.

In the past, I thought that religion means is a belief value that makes people think rationally. To me, PHD meant civility and self respect in the political arena. I use to think that all PHD holders are capable of treating all people with decency and respect. I thought being educated means is an important and vital part of human thinking. Yet, PHD, for the opportunists is a trade mark by which one advertises self for the rape of the gun holders.

That’s why I see a PHD holders who bend backwards for an absolute wrong for money and fame as lost men or women. Similarly, white man worshipers so called religious men and women are people with no morality and virtue and compete with street bums when it comes to deception and lies. Basically, by and large, those who work for the enemy in the name of PHD and religion bear no meaning that I thought to be. For me, the true definition of so called religious people is a group of men and women who endorse widespread deception in the name of God. To me, these types of people can’t recognize their shortcomings and bring themselves to basic human standard.

The Oromo responsibility

Oromo itself is an institution compared Ethiopianism and we shouldn’t tolerate those who underestimate the power of OROMUMMAA. We ought to give our best efforts, in cooperation with like-minded persons and institutions, to defend our Oromummaa and raise the voice of the murdered brothers and sisters. Hence, our goal must be to rear a generation strong enough to resist the siren songs of Ethiopianism that few opportunist sing even when our people are murdered everywhere.

Rundassa Asheetee Hundee ti

-Ayyaantuu

Haasaa HD ABO Jaal Daawud Ibsaan Ebla 15, 2014 WBOf Taasisan*

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* Re-posting lost file during the May 2014 computer-server crash.

Credits/Tags: Featured, OLF, Oromo Struggle, WBO

-Gadaa

#OromoProtests: Rally in Brussels in front of European Parliament

Gadaa.com   Waxabajjii/June 21, 2014

Members of the Oromo community in Europe staged a solidarity rally in Brussels, Belgium, at the European Parliament on June 20, 2014, to bring awareness about the human rights violations of the TPLF Ethiopian regime on the Oromo people – including the killing of more than 100 Oromo students and civilians, mass imprisonments of thousands of Oromo students as well as expulsions from universities of Oromo students for nonviolently protesting TPLF’s ‘Addis Ababa Master Plan,’ a plan that is designed to annex land from the State of Oromia and evict millions of Oromo farmers around Addis Ababa – both under the pretext of “urban development.’

Here’s the coverage of the rally by the DW/German radio (Amharic).

Ethiopia: Gross Violations of Human Rights and an intractable conflict

Human Rights League of the Horn of Africa (HRLHA)

26^th Session of United Nations Human Rights Council

Geneva, Palais des Nations,

Presented By :Garoma B. Wakessa : Executive Director of HRLHA

June 19, 2014

Introduction:  It is common in democratic countries around the world for people to express their grievances/ dissatisfactions and complaints against their governments by peaceful demonstrations and assemblies.  When such nonviolent civil rallies take place, it should always be the state’s responsibility to respect and guard their citizens’ freedom to peacefully assemble and demonstrate. These responsibilities should apply even during times of political protests, when a state’s own power is questioned, challenged, or perhaps undermined by assemblies of citizens practicing in nonviolent resistance. If a government responds to peaceful protests improperly, a peaceful protest might lead to a violent protest- that could then become an intractable conflict. Government agents, most of all the police, must respect the local and international standards of democratic rights of the citizens during peaceful assemblies or demonstrations.

The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (1995), articles 29 and 30, grants democratic rights to Ethiopian citizens without distinction[1].  Under these articles, the right of thought, opinion and expression, the right of assembly, demonstration and petition are the legitimate rights of Ethiopians through which they can express their opinions and dissatisfactions with the performances and activities of their government. The UN Human Rights council 19^th Session (A/HRC/19/L.17),  on March  19, 2012 and 25^{th      Session}  (A/HRC/25/L.20,)  on  March 24,  2014   Resolutions #2 calls upon  governments to uphold their responsibilities to promote and protect human rights in the context of peaceful protests  “ States have the responsibility, including in the context of peaceful protests, to promote and protect human rights and to prevent human rights violations, including extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, arbitrary arrest and detention, enforced disappearances, and torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, and calls upon States to avoid the abuse of criminal and civil proceedings or threats of such acts at all times;”

Full Presentation – Click HERE

-ayyaantuu

Swedish journalist Martin Schibbye’s personal story of life in Addis Ababa’s notorious Kaliti prison

June 18, 2014, TURIN, Italy (Philstar) – In the darkened auditorium in this Italian city, some forum participants could be seen dabbing at their eyes while others could be heard blowing their nose.

It wasn’t anything in the air in the 90-year-old former Fiat automobile plant that is now the Lingotto Conference Center that made the delegates misty-eyed the other day. What touched the audience was the speech by a Swedish journalist who spent time in an Ethiopian prison for “terrorism.”

I have attended several of the annual gatherings of the World Editors Forum, where a Golden Pen of Freedom is traditionally awarded to a journalist who embodies the continuing struggle for press freedom around the world.

The typical participants in this forum are senior journalists who tend to be hardened and even jaded to suffering. Monday’s event was the first time that I saw anyone moved to tears by a colleague’s story.

“The first screams were always the worst,” Swedish journalist Martin Schibbye began his personal story of life in Addis Ababa’s notorious Kaliti prison. He would never be free of those screams, he said.

He described regular beatings, of inmates being hanged upside down. In the detention cells they were packed “like slaves” and had to sleep on their side. “Once a month an inmate leaves with his feet first,” he narrated.

More than the torture and disease, Schibbye recalled, the hardest part was “the fear of speaking.”

“It’s not the guard towers with machine guns that keep the prison population calm. It is the geography of fear. People who speak politics are taken away. They disappear,” Schibbye recounted. “It went under my skin… I would wake up wondering if I had said something against the government in my sleep.”

The Ethiopian government continues to toss critical journalists in jail for “treason” and “terrorism.” Schibbye served only 14 months of his 11-year sentence. He and his photographer Johan Persson were pardoned and freed in September 2012. But Ethiopian journalist Eskinder Nega, on whose behalf Schibbye accepted the Golden Pen of Freedom, has been in prison since his arrest in 2011 and may have to serve his full 18-year sentence.

Nega was initially joined in prison by his wife, who in her 17 months of incarceration gave birth to their son. She at least has been freed and is currently seeking asylum in the United States.

“They will never break him,” Schibbye said after reading a letter written by the Ethiopian to an older son.

Even if they have robbed Nega of almost all his freedoms including “the freedom to drink or eat, and even to shit,” what they can’t take away from him is the freedom to be what he wants to be, Schibbye said: “Eskinder is a journalist. And every day that he wakes up in the Kaliti prison is just another day at the office.”

“It’s not us that are fighting for his freedom,” Schibbye said as he concluded his speech, “but rather he who is fighting for ours. Ayzoh Eskinder! Ayzoh!” (The Ethiopian word means “be strong, chin up.”)

Most Filipinos have forgotten the systematic torture of political dissidents during the Marcos dictatorship and may not care what happens in Ethiopia, seen as a hopelessly failed state.

Unfortunately for us, however, instead of being detained and tortured, Filipino journalists are simply killed.

Journalism in the Philippines, as in other countries, also faces new threats that have emerged as technology allows states, private groups and crime gangs to monitor digital communication, and as governments invoke national security to clamp down on press freedom.

* * *

Journalists are facing traditional threats in delivering the news in places where civil liberties are currently being curtailed, such as Thailand and Ukraine. But because of the war on terrorism and because states are increasingly equipped to increase surveillance of individuals, press freedom is under threat even in its traditional bastions: the United States, the UK and other Western European nations.

At one of the sessions here, Associated Press president and CEO Gary Pruitt narrated how the American wire agency cooperated with their government in May 2012 and deferred publication of a foiled al-Qaeda bomb plot in Yemen because, AP was told, certain individuals could be compromised and lives could be placed at risk.

Later it was learned that the US government had secretly seized AP phone records including text messages to find out who leaked the story.

Aghast over what Pruitt described as one of the worst intrusions in its 168-year history, AP asked the US Justice Department to safeguard the records and strengthen their rules governing such cases. The US government agreed and promised that no journalist would be prosecuted for doing his job.

It was good to know no one would be sent to jail “for committing journalism,” Pruitt said, but the incident “created a very real chilling effect” on AP’s sources.

The British press, for its part, has not yet recovered from the phone hacking scandal, which has paved the way for UK officials to impose rules that tend to curtail press freedom.

“We have gone from hero to zero,” said Guy Black, executive director of the UK’s Telegraph Media Group. “Where once we could draw on our history of free speech, now we are held as a shining example that we are shackling the press.”

Why are trends in the US and UK worrisome? As Claudio Paolillo of Uruguay noted, Latin American journalists used to look up to the American and British media as models of press freedom. “Not anymore,” he said.

Worse, Paolillo said, the moves of the US and British governments to curtail press freedom in the name of national security were inspiring despots. The attitude, he said, is, “If the US can do it, I can do it too.”

* * *

I know prominent Filipinos who think the Philippine press could use tighter regulation, but government intrusions on journalists’ work can quickly get out of hand.

Borrowing a line from Winston Churchill, Pruitt reminded the audience, “The media is the worst check on government except for all the others. It’s all we’ve got.”

What can journalists do in the face of increasing government surveillance even in Western democracies? Panel moderator Kai Strittmatter of Germany urged the audience: “Let’s not start getting used to this. Let’s not find some of these things normal.”

“All our freedoms stem from (press freedom),” Black said. “We have to fight.”

Eskinder Nega is doing just that, in the worst conditions. He is showing, Schibbye said, “that they can jail journalists but they can never succeed in jailing journalism.”

Source: Philstar

-ayyaantuu

Intense fight breaks out in Somalia border with Ethiopia

June 17, 2014 (Shabelle) — A strong battle erupted on the Ethopia-Somalia border that resulted In casualties and losses.

Last night’s encounter broke out between Liyu Police and government troops on one side against Al-Shabaab.

News reports indicate that the fight was intense and various weapons were used.

Reliable sources in Bakool region have confirmed to Shabelle that several fatalities were caused although the precise numbers have not been specified yet.

Source: Shabelle

-ayyaantuu

An Ethiopian child migrant and member of the Oromo community of Ethiopia living in Malta takes part in a protest against the Ethiopian regime in Valletta

June 16, 2014 (Reuters) — An Ethiopian child migrant and member of the Oromo community of Ethiopia living in Malta takes part in a protest against the Ethiopian regime outside the office of Malta’s Prime Minister in Valletta June 16, 2014. The protestors called on Malta and the European Union to stop support for the Ethiopian regime and its plan to displace Oromo farmers. Late last year, the Ethiopian army evicted Oromo farmers from their ancestral land on the pretext of needing the land for an industrial zone, according to the protestors.

REUTERS/Darrin Zammit Lupi

-ayyaantuu

One of the Secret Mass Graves of Oromo Killing Fields Is Exposed at Hammarreessaa

OLF Press Release

June 14, 2014 (oromoliberationfront.org) — The mass murder, arrest, torture, exploitation and oppression perpetrated by Ethiopian regimes against the subject people, has been passing on from one regime to the next unabated. This pattern of the ruling clique well precedes the formation of the Ethiopian empire. This is because the cliques had continually come to power through violence, against the wish of the people, and they had to resort to sheer force of terror to keep the people under control. Ruthless mass murder was the efficient means to terrorize, demoralize and dehumanize the subject people. As no people willfully accept such illegitimate rule the relation between them and the ruling clique remains one of victor and vanquished.

Since maintaining their power is the main priority for such cliques they commit all heinous crimes against the subject people for this purpose. The case of the Ethiopian empire, created and sustained by violence supported by the foreign powers, is no exception. As the successive regimes are bogged down on ruthless repression of the subject people the empire is plunged in poverty and underdevelopment. Even though many nations and nationalities in Ethiopia have been subjected to inhuman subjugations, the Oromo have carried the brunt of the hostility and mass murder because of the potential threats they are thought of posing to the conquerors.

The accidental revelation of a mass grave used by the former Junta and the current Tirgay People‟s Liberation Front (TPLF) regime at Hammarreessaa in eastern Oromia on June 10, 2014 is a good evidence for the ferocity of the regimes‟ crime and the inevitability of the full exposure of such atrocities against the Oromo people.

Since many people are not aware of these locations and the perpetrators some explanation is in order. Hammarreessaa has been a military garrison since the late Emperor Haileselassie regime, with much more function than that. It harboured centres of torture and secret mass and individual murder and grave for those the regimes consider to be threat to their power. The few known mass murders of the Junta and the TPLF are the evidences of this. This camp was evacuated for leasing the land to a company to „develop‟, when the farming machines inadvertently opened up part of the mass grave. There are several other camps still used by the military serving the same purpose.

In 1991, when the situation in Somalia deteriorated and the regime they fled was about to fall, around 350 Oromo refugees decided to go back home from Hargessa. Unfortunately they were greeted not by their kin and kith they had left behind but by the armed forces of the military junta. The regional commanders of the time Generals Bihanu Gembere and Wubshet Dessie ordered the massacre of all these returning elderly, women, children, sick and disabled refugees that included few of our members and supporters. While facing the squad the few members, that included Central Committee member Baatii Burqaa, shouted “our blood will not be shed in vain! Oromia shall be free!” Now that the atrocity that our enemies thought will remain secret has started to be revealed it is upon the Oromo people to redouble the effort to realize that goal.

The TPLF regime inherited this camp in 1991 with its full function. Several survivors of the horror of this camp have given their testimonies.

Whether the junta or the TPLF regime, the atrocities they secretly committed against the innocent Oromo people simply because of their identity, will eventually be fully exposed like the current one. The Oromo people have to be aware of the history of these martyrs and provide them proper burials.

Victory to the Oromo people!

Oromo Liberation Front
June 13, 2014

Source: Oromo Liberation Front

-ayyaantuu

Stop the plunder of the Oromo people

Millions of Oromo farmers in Ethiopia are being displaced without receiving compensation for the land they lose. Protests are brutally faced with violence, torture and murder.

The farmers from the Oromo people around the capital Addis Ababa in Ethiopia losing livelihood and their culture when the government is now giving their land to foreign companies that want to invest in industry and other sectors, writes Badilu Abanesha

By Badilu Abanesha  | June 14, 2014

June 14, 2014, Norway (Aftenbladet) – Oromo are being deprived of their land and their ability to survive financially, and their culture is threatened. This happens at the boundaries of the capital Addis Ababa is substantially extended. Large areas are being given to foreign companies to establish manufacturing and service sectors at the farmers’ fields and orchards. The traditional inhabitants are losing their own food and are left to fend for themselves. If the government plan is completed, approx. 6.6 million people being driven from their homes without compensation.

Over 100 killed

There have been peaceful protests against these plans all over Oromia. Students at ten universities and large groups of people have protested against the plans, but their peaceful struggle has been met by brutal military police. There have been reports of shooting, detention and torture. Death toll rises with every passing day. Via various sources it has emerged that over 100 people have been shot and killed, while others are badly injured and thousands have been arrested. Oromo students have protested peacefully for over a month now, despite the killings and arrests by Ethiopian security forces.

Oromo are Ethiopia’s largest ethnic group with over a third of the country’s population. They have traditionally been oppressed by Amhara and Tigreans, which has been the dominant, state income and country’s leading ethnic groups in Ethiopia.

Stop remittances

The Norwegian people, the Norwegian government and other international organizations should condemn the Ethiopian government’s brutal attack on unarmed innocent civilians. We demand that the detainees will not be subjected to torture and ill-treatment. We require all innocent protesters arrested are released from prison immediately.

The Ethiopian government should immediately stop its movement by the original people from their own lands throughout Ethiopia.

We also believe that financial transfers to management in Ethiopia must be stopped while of government does not respect the fundamental and basic rights of its own people.

We worry about really what is happening in Ethiopia. It is difficult when we are not physically able to take part in their fight against injustice. Therefore, we have a great desire to pass on their plea for help to the outside world.

Our hearts bleed, and we have awakened the people so they can see what is happening and help the injustices and massacres stopped.

Badilu Abanesha, Oromo Association of South Rogaland

Source: Aftenbladet

Note: This report is translated from Norwegian by Google Translate

-ayyaantuu

Waraannii Wayyaanee Aanaa Gindabarat Irra Qubsiifamee Jiru

Posted: Waxabajjii/June 12, 2014 · Finfinne Tribune | Gadaa.com | Comments

Waraannii Wayyaanee Aanaa Gindabarat irra qubsiifamee jiru, uummaata nagaa irraatti waraana banuun barattoota Oromoo kutaa 12ffaa Sadii ajjeese.

(Gabaasa Qeerroo – Lixa Shawaa – Waxabajjii 12, 2014) – Waxabajjii 12/2014 Waraannii Mootummaa Wayyaanee Godina Lixaa Shawaa aanaa Gindabarat Magaalaa Kaachiis irra qubatee jiru barattoota irratti waraana banuun barattoota Oromoo kutaa 12ffaa Sadii (3) ajjeese jira. Mootummaan Wayyaanee duula dugugginsa sanyii genocide uummaata Oromoo irraatti banee jiru jabeessuun itti fufe.

Wayyaaneen humna waraanaa of harkaa qabu uummata Oromoo irratti bobbaasuun yeroo amma kanatti uummata nagaa irratti waraana banuun dhukaasee ajjeesa jira. Addatti ammoo barattoota Oromoo adamsee rasaasaan reebee ajjeessuu itti fufee jira, haala kanaan barattootni Oromoo kutaa 12ffaa bara kana xummuran sadii (3):

1. Barataa Damee Balchaa Baanee
2. Barataa Caalaa Margaa kanneen
3. Barataa Baqqalaa Tarrafaa

Jedhaman keessatti argamu.

- Qeerroo.org

-Gadaa.com

አብዲ ብያ:- አዲሱን የአዲስ አበባ ማስተር ፕላን የምንቃወምባቸዉ ምክንያቶች

Posted: Waxabajjii/June 10, 2014 · Finfinne Tribune | Gadaa.com | Comments (1)

አብዲ ብያ

የአዲስ አበባን ማስተር ፕላን የምንቃወመው፣

1. ህገ መንግስቱን ስለሚጥስ፡፡ ኦሮሚያ በፌዴራል አወቃቀር ሉዓላዊ ክልል ነው፡፡ መሬቱንም የሚያስተዳድረው ክልሉ ነው፡፡ አዲስ አበባ ደግሞ ተጠሪነቱ ለፌዴራል መንግስት ነው፡፡ ክልል በፌዳራል ስልጣን ውስጥ ጣልቃ አይገባም፣ ፌዴራል መንግስትም በክልል ጉዳይ ውስጥ ጣልቃ አይገባም፡፡

2. አዲስ አበባ በኦሮሚያ መሃል ስለምትገኝ፣ የተፈጥሮ ሃብት አጠቃቀምን፣ የአካባቢ ብክለትን በሚመለከት ለኦሮሚያ ልዩ ጥቅም ይጠበቅለታል የሚለው ህገ መንግስታዊ ድንጋጌ ከፀደቀ 20 ዓመታት ቢያልፈውም ተፈጻሚ ሊሆን አልቻለም፡፡

3. አሁን ሀገሪቱን እያስተዳደረ ያለው መንግስት መሬትን በመቀራመትና አርሶ አደሮችን ያለበቂ ካሳ ለመፈናቀል ተወዳዳሪ የማይገኝለት መንግስት በመሆኑ፣ የመሬት ስሪቱም መሬት የመንግስት ነው በሚል ታፔላ አርሶ አደሮችን ለማፈናቀል ወደ ኋላ ስለማይል ማስተር ፕላኑን መቃወም ተገቢ ነው፡፡ የኦሮሚያ መሬት እየተፈለገ ያለው ሁሉንም በእኩል በሚጠቅም ዘላቂ ልማት ሳይሆን በኪራይ ሰብሳቢነት መልክ የኢህአዴግ አባላትና ግብረ አባሮቹ መሬቱ ላይን ምንም ዕሴት ሳይጨምሩ የግል ሃብት ለማካበት አቋራጭ መንገድ ስለሆነ ሊፈቀድላቸው አይገባም፡፡

4. አዲስ አበባ/ፊንፊኔ ለኦሮሞ ህዝብ ታሪካዊ ከተማ እንደመሆኗ መጠን ለኦሮሚያ ክልል ህጋዊ ዋና ከተማ መሆን ሲገባው፣ በተግባር ኦሮሚያ አዲስ አበባ ቢሮ ከፍቶ ከመቀመጡ ውጭ ምንም የባለቤትነት መብት የለውም፡፡ አማራ ክልል፣ ደቡብ ክልል፣ ትግራይ ክልልና ሌሎቹም ብሄራዊ ክልሎች ዋና ከተማቸውን ለራሳቸው ያስተዳድራሉ፡፡ ኦሮሚያ የራሱን ዋና ከተማ ማስተዳደር ዕድል አላገኛም፡፡ በታሪክም ሆነ በጆኦግራፊ አቀማመጥ ከፊንፊኔ ውጭ ሌላ ከተማ ለኦሮሚያ ዋና ከተማነት አይታሰብም፡፡

5. የ125 ዓመታት የአዲስ አበባ ከተማ ዕድገት ጋር በተያያዘ ነባሩ የኦሮሞ ህዝብ ከከተማው ሲፈናቀል እንጂ በከተማው ዕድገትና ልማት ውስጥ ሲታቀፍ አልተመለከትንም፡፡ ይህ የሆነው ደግሞ በመሳሪያ ጦርነት ሳይሆን በባህልና ቋንቋ ጦርነት ነው፡፡ አዲስ አበባ ከተማ ከምኒልክ ጊዜ ጀምሮ ስታበረታተ የነበረው የአማርኛ ቋንቋ ተናጋሪ ባህልና ቋንቋን ነው፡፡ የባህልና ቋንቋ ተጽዕኖው ኦሮሞ ከአካባቢው እንዲሸሽ ያደርገዋል፡፡ ቋንቋና ባህል ማለት ድምጽ የሌለው መሳሪያ ማለት ነው፡፡ ቀላል ምሳሌ ልስጥህ፣ በአሁኑ ጊዜ አንድ ከጎጃም የመጠና አንድ ከሰበታ የመጠ የቀን ሰራተኛ በአንድ የግል ወይም የመንግስት ድርጅት አዲስ አበባ ውስጥ ተቀጥሮ በቀን ስራ ለመተዳደር የትኛው ዕድል ያለው ይመስለሃል? መቶ በመቶ የጎጃሙ ቀን ሰራተኛ የመቀጠር ዕድል ይኖረዋል፡፡ ምክንያቱም ባህልና ቋንቋ በሰው ልጅ ማህበራዊ፣ ፖለቲካዊና ኢኮኖሚያዊ እንቅስቃሴ ውስጥ ከፍተኛ ተጽዕኖ አለው፡፡ ስለዚህ በፊንፊኔ ከተማ ውስጥ በነበሩት ኦሮሞዎች ላይ የደረሰው የዘር ማጽዳት ዘመቻ በሌሎች ኦሮሚያ አካባቢ አንዲደገም ስለማንፈቅድ ማስተር ፕላኑን ለመቃወም ከበቂ በላይ ምክንያታዊ ነን፡፡

-Gadaa.net

Ethiopian maid throws herself over a bridge in Jeddah suicide attempt (s)

June 9, 2014 (Akhbaar24) — Proceeded maid of African nationality to attempt suicide threw herself from the top of a bridge on the road to King Abdullah in Jeddah, today (Sunday), but she was only several injuries quoted on the impact to the hospital.

A media spokesman for the Red Crescent in Mecca that the operations room of the Red Crescent in Jeddah received a report stating the fall of Ethiopian maid nationality of one of the bridges accidentally King Abdullah, which resulted in her injuries and fractures in the limbs and face.

He pointed to some passers-by hurrying covered until the arrival of Red Crescent teams, which took her to hospital for treatment.

Source: Akhbaar24